What is the Cure for Darkness of the Heart?
We have no tongue, no words, and no statement that is sufficient to pay gratitude to Allah subhana wa ta'ala, who, with His favour, His blessings, His grace, His extreme mercy and bounty has allowed us to reach this part of Ramadhan with goodness, well-being, safety and security. Alhamdulillah, we are present here in the goodness of today, with the safety of Iman and with the safety of our hearts. We pray that Allah ta’ala also allows us to reach the end of Ramadhan with safety and integrity. We sit here with Allah's mercy, His blessings and grace, and we gather for a short time, and this ability is given to us with Allah’s permission. And with Allah's Fadhl, His Karam and His grace, we listen to a few words and points. There's a massive difference between hearing in normal days and hearing in these days, SubhanAllah - a massive difference.
And especially if you wash your Niyyah and clean your intentions, because the biggest destination for us in our effort and striving and trying is that a person makes Niyyah for that biggest objective, which is ‘Oh Allah, please do our Islah - improve us and rectify us!’ There is no greater achievement for a human being than attaining Islah. If a normal person improves somebody else, then that is a massive favour he has done for that person. There is no bigger favour that you can do for another human being than to rectify or improve that person. So Islah takes place with Allah’s Fadhl, and it's all based on the intention that a human being has. If your Niyyah is pure and sincere, Allah does not leave you empty handed - Allah will give definitely to you if your Niyyah is sincere. This success is based on our Niyyah, mine and yours.
Allah gave us such great company in the form of the Kamil Wali of his generation, Hadhrat Ali Murtaza qaddasaAllahu sirrah, and He has allowed us to reach his gathering - this is his gathering. I rely on the statements of the pious predecessors because I don't have that much brainpower - you have, but I am speaking about myself. This is how I can understand these points. We think that it is our power that has brought us here, and we are doing Dhikr, and we are sat here, and we have come here, and we are this or we are that - brothers, you are connected to the pious elders and the impetus for all this is not coming from here; rather, it is coming from before. In reality, the situation is different, and the scenario is different.
In the same way, the pious elders have said you have to be careful when you go to Majalis such as these. Definitely be careful of one thing: when you come to a Majlis with Adab, if you want to attain something, then ask whether you have a connection with somebody in that gathering. If you do have a connection, then what is the nature of that connection? How strong is that connection? How good is that connection? And if you go with this desire, you should analyse before you sit down to ensure you know who this person is connected to – find out who he has Nisbat with and how strong his connection is and what Mujahidah has taken place. Then, alhamdulillah, if a good answer comes, if a positive answer comes, then that Majlis will be beneficial for you – SubhanAllah. Why? Because it's not about the man in that gathering, it's about the line, the chain that came before him - say SubhanAllah. That's where the weight come from. The weight is from those who came before him, from the chain, the order, the fountain, the foundation from where the current emanates.
So this is why we need to think a little bit. This Majlis is a great Majlis because it is connected to a great Wali of Allah. And if I start praising him and introducing him now, then we will go to that side and the whole discussion will be taken up with that topic. Anyway, with my own eyes I saw him, and I had his Sohbat, and I’m not just praising him because he was my Sheikh. I've met great personalities in every corner of the world, but until this day I have never in my life met a Sheikh like him. Somebody like him? Never. Even after meeting him, I could not see anyone as great as him after I saw him. I thought ‘Okay, let me go to Hajj and I’ll look for people – I’ll see if I can see someone like Hadhrat at the time of Hajj, because such great personalities come for Hajj, Alhamdulillah.’ I looked and I looked - these eyes looked everywhere, in Arafat, in Mina, while drinking Zamzam, whilst doing Tawaf. I embraced the Ka’abah and I sought a personality as great as him. I cried as I sought such a person, and made Dua at Multazam in search of such a person. From everywhere, the same answer came – ‘Did you not see your Sheikh in your dream?’
One person saw a dream in which the Minaret of the Ka’abah fell down, so he asked Hadhrat Sahib to explain the meaning of the dream. Hadhrat Sahib gave a sigh and said ‘A Wali will depart from the world this year, and he will never be replaced - there will be no compensation for his loss.’ Allahu Akbar - no one like him would come into this world after that. So these people know that we are close to Qiyamah and that greatness is going and falsity is coming. If you look at the previous generations, they didn't know of things such as artificial butter or milk which is not real milk. They couldn't imagine that fake things and non-genuine things would come - they thought everything that they consumed and ate in their lives was authentic - and look how lengthy their lives were. There was no organic and inorganic or all these special ingredients - this is all fake in this day and age we are living in. For them, it was all purity – life was Khalis and everything in their lives was authentic. What a golden generation. One sign of Qiyamah is that everything that is pure will become impure - both Deen and Dunya will become impure.
So should we take the benefit from this Majlis or not? We are in Ramadhan and in the Majlis of such a great Wali of Allah, alhamdulillah - what a great statement and what a great fact. Delaying your attendance or being lazy about this or leaving a Majlis like this is doing Dhulm on yourself. Definitely go to other places as well - go and sit and so on. But if you don't find what is in this Majlis, and if you don't have Nisbat with that place, if your connection with it is weak, then there is no basis or foundation to your attendance. It doesn't matter how many people are there, you will not get benefit. I'm telling you the Haqq, the truth, today, so understand the point. We don't have that much time nowadays in our lives. We don't have time to keep doing different things and going here and there. Allah has given us a gauge - if you attain Allah in that gathering, just stick to that. That’s it - you will attain everything, from A to Z, from that gathering. With Allah’s Fadhl and His grace, we don't need to go left and right and here and there. Don't waste time - we don't have that much time today to be seeking and looking up and down. ‘Oh, let me look here - let me try him out. Let’s go to this place.’ Junaid won't come and Bayazid won't come – nor will Ali Murtaza come. Those who came before have gone, and now their Faidh is prevalent and has spread. And you will get that Faidh from those who are given Ijaza to spread their Faidh, and from nobody else. Nobody else - say SubhanAllah. So this is the fact – this is the point.
So Alhamdulillah, we were discussing previously about Ramadhan - what were we saying about the favours of Ramadhan? We were trying to fulfil the rights of Ramadhan by understanding the Ihsan, the grace and favour of Allah that we get through Ramadhan; and Allah’s favour and Ihsan is such that the whole situation of our life is based on that. Yes? For example, when you go home, you arrive home to your family, and it's night-time so you have to eat, you have to change your clothes, you have to do Wudhu, you have to prepare for Salah - everything has to be done quickly in Ramadhan, doesn’t it? Okay, so if you arrive and find that the lights are not working, that it is dark throughout the house, intense darkness everywhere, what will happen? Tell me. Everything will become late for you if there's no light. You have to change your clothes, but you can't see. Your eating will be delayed, your drinking will be delayed, all of your actions will be delayed - disturbance will come into your life schedule, won’t it? Will this happen or not? And you will be peering here, putting your hands out there, stumbling here, and you won’t be able to find your clothes, all due to the darkness. You can't see, so you would get distressed and a bit upset. Everything's up and down, left and right, your programme, your schedule, your timetable - everything will be disturbed; everything you were supposed to do at that time has gone.
Such darkness is very negative and has a bad effect on things, my friends. The dark is such a bad thing that the biggest Adhab Allah ta’ala has given in the Akhirah is darkness. The biggest punishment in the Akhirah is darkness. The more sinful a person is, the more sinful, evil, disobedient to Allah that a person is and the more he increases in Shirk and Kufr, the more Adhab that person will get. What will be the punishment? Darkness. Allah has made a special arrangement in Jahannam whereby Jahannam was created out of darkness. The formulation or the recipe was set out with its ingredients, and it was cooked and cooked and the final position in which Allah left it was what? Intense darkness - may Allah forgive.
So think for yourself - that's where punishment starts, in intense darkness. When death comes, this darkness comes. When you go into the grave, there's darkness - we've seen this, haven’t we? When you wake up on the Day of Resurrection, there will be darkness; when you get away from Resurrection, on the Bridge of Sirat, there will be darkness. May Allah not allow, but if you fail, then there's darkness in Jahannam – pitch black darkness. How dangerous is darkness? Tell me. It destroys a person so much that we can’t put up with darkness in our homes - so what will we do in the darkness of the Hereafter? Tell me. We can’t even take a few minutes of darkness in the home, this darkness that destroys a person. This is the reality, the truth: when there's darkness inside a person, then he is also spoiled. If there's darkness inside your home, then everything finishes - you can't do anything. And besides the home, if there is darkness in your heart and in your whole body, then you are finished - Allahu Akbar. Yes?
What is our Markaz, our fountain, and our foundation? The heart. If you can't bear darkness in your home for even a few moments, then tell me, if your heart is even more dark, will you remain alive? Every one of the actions in your in life will be disturbed. If there is darkness in the house, you can’t even eat - eating will be late, waking up late, clothes on late, Salah late, Wudhu late, bathroom late, going to work late, everything will be late. Your whole schedule will be upside down - if you reach for your phone, you’ll grab something else. If there's darkness in the home, you can't do anything, so if there's darkness in the heart, then imagine how that person's life would be. Could his life be good if he has darkness in his heart? How can that person live his life in the world? He will do Shirk and Bid’aat and sin and Shahawaat and lust and he will steal people's money and commit sins A and B and C. He cannot expect any action of his life to be good and correct and upright. A person cannot imagine that his life will be upright if he has this darkness in his heart that destroys a person in the world.
If light is not present or created or developed in a person’s heart, then he is finished. Whenever you see that a person is spoilt and is not in a good way, then this is not due to some particular action or to shaytan - no, nothing like this. The biggest factor is that there is darkness in his heart. He says ‘Oh, I'm lazy so I can’t pray Salah.’ Why? ‘Oh, I try to go to Fajr Salah, but I can’t wake up. Oh, I tried my best to come to Dhikr, but I can’t do Dhikr. I feel like praying Salah, and I get to the prayer mat, but I don't know what happens – when I stand there, I turn back and make a U-turn.’ I've heard these feelings and words with my own ears from people and I'm repeating them to you. Or they say ‘I don't know what it is, and I can’t understand it - I planned to go to the Masjid and pray Salah, but I didn’t manage to go. Why not?’ There is obviously a reason and a root cause, so look for that factor and that common denominator.
Which enemy is running after us and not allowing us to practice as we want? We say ‘Oh, it’s shaytan, it’s shaytan,’ but shaytan just does one thing. He just does one thing. For example, if he targets a man, he wants to trip his fuse. That's his work, and the man does the rest. So shaytan trips the fuse and then he steps back and that's it; he's done his work. He's just tripped the fuse, and all the mistakes in the darkness that come after that are made by the individual. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? He initiates the sequence, and then we make all these the excuses after that, claiming impurity, saying ‘I try not to, and I don't want to do this sin, but I end up doing it.’ Obviously, when you are in darkness, instead of the phone you pick up something else. You can't see your clothes, so instead of the Shalwar, you pick up the Kameez, and instead of the Imamah you end up with something else. This is what happens in darkness. So in the same way, Insan takes good as bad and he takes bad as good – it’s all upside down. He takes interest and says that it is progression and advancement as he accumulates wealth, and he thinks that a person who has got no money is a waster. He thinks that a person who stands at his shop counting money has progressed; he thinks he has arrived and has achieved and has done it, while he thinks that a person who leaves his shop or his business to go and pray Salah is backward and is a fundamentalist and doesn't know anything. Is this not the case?
So in other words, we don't look for the reason behind all this wrong thinking. Who is brainy? Who has got Aql and wisdom? Who is an intellectual? We’ve got the Qur’an, and whoever lives his life according to the Qur’an, he is a person of intellect. If he lives by divine guidance, he is a person of intellect. Otherwise, what we realise is that the darkness of Jahannam has come into the heart of that person and it has overwhelmed his life and is destroying his actions and his thinking. It is like his shadow – it is always in his sight. All of this wrong that a person does is due to the darkness, that intense darkness in the heart. So my brothers, my friends, the result of this is that sin overwhelms you, overtakes you, and you get the urge to commit sin because shaytan and Nafs overcome you, and so you start to enjoy that laziness. The phrase ‘I'm lazy’ keeps coming out of your mouth, or ‘I don't feel like it - I don't know why.’ When such words come out of our mouth, like ‘I don't know why my attraction and inclination is towards sin and I am pulled towards bad’ and when you start liking wrong actions, and when sin after sin is coming into your life and disobedience is taking over, then consider immediately that darkness has overtaken your heart and there's no other reason. There's no other reason.
Ramadhan has given a beautiful solution to this. It has made us practice for thirty days in a complete, comprehensive way. The programme is comprehensive, and it started from a beautiful point because an action was given so that the darkness can be taken away - say SubhanAllah. If we don't understand this, then we should consider that we have not spent Ramadhan correctly, because if we do the action correctly, all of the success of Ramadhan comes into us and our hearts become illuminated. They are lit up, and after Ramadhan goes, our emotions will have changed and been improved due to all those actions we did in Ramadhan. We think that it’s just Ramadhan and we're just passing through Ramadhan with fasting and being hungry but is not about fasting and hunger. Ramadhan is curing and solving our issues, and this will result in our hearts becoming illuminated, and afterwards we'll make that a reality for the rest of our lives - say SubhanAllah. This is the light that has changed our emotions and makes us want to keep praying Salah and praying Tarawih and wanting to read the Qur’an and come to the Majalis. This positive feeling means that the darkness of the heart has gone away. Yes? The darkness of the heart has become distant now.
So what did Ramadhan do? Which action of Ramadhan has brought about this result? What has been given to us? What action has it made us do that illuminated our hearts and made us feel like leaving the bad things that we used to do? We leave work to come and pray, we dislike wealth, we run and hasten to Allah’s gatherings, we put sleep to the side, we crush our desires and our lust - say SubhanAllah. So there must be a factor and a quality in Ramadhan that has allowed us to do this. There must be something that Ramadhan has made us do which has made these good desires and this glimmer come into our hearts so that bad things now seem dirty and impure to us. Very often, after Ramadhan passes, we forget why we had so much strength to do good. We forget that factor and that quality, but if we keep that quality that Ramadhan made us practice alive, then inshallah Ramadhan will be with you always.
What's the first factor of Ramadhan? Factor number one is where we start from - everything has a logic behind it, brothers. So factor number one - what does Ramadhan demand from you? Factor number one is that Ramadhan speaks to your stomach. Where does factor number one start from? From the stomach. These are the lessons and the factors that you must keep going after Ramadhan. So the whole of the matter regarding the darkness and the light of the heart starts from where? From the stomach of the human being - the stomach. So factor number one in Ramadhan, the important item and action that it makes us do, without which there is no fast, is that we refrain from food and drink. Yes? This is factor number one, and any human being cannot have a fast unless he does Amal on this factor. If you eat and say ‘I'm fasting’ does your fast exist? No. It is essential that you have to do something with the stomach. If you're fasting, what do you have to do with the stomach? What? You have to empty the stomach, SubhanAllah. Say SubhanAllah. Yes, this is the way to illuminate the heart - you start from the stomach. So there are two aspects to the emptying of the stomach, and one is the real and one is superficial; one is genuine and the other is non-genuine. There are two ways that the fast controls the stomach - say SubhanAllah. On the outward level, the food ceases to go into the stomach physically, just like at the moment, we haven’t eaten, and our hearts are illuminated. This is because food has physically stopped going into the stomach - the fast has stopped this by physical prevention.
And after that, the Haqqiqi aspect, the real thing that is being explained to you is that okay, so you have physically stopped eating and the fast is in existence, is valid and has reached the stage of acceptance. But there is a second thing you have to do with your stomach and that is where real caution is needed. What is that? This happens when you get permission to eat, for the practice of Ramadhan at that time is what? Say it - you have to break the fast. Or do you have to pray Salah first? Which do you do first? You have to break the fast – that is the way, isn’t it? Allah ta’ala has not said ‘Don’t break the fast but pray your Salah first, and then eat at your leisure.’ No – this is not the philosophy here – say SubhanAllah. Here, Allah has put this great action of Salah to the back. Why? Because Allah says that Salah has a link with the light and the illumination of the heart, and you have to illuminate the heart first.
So with your Barakah, I'm sharing these points with you, which I am understanding right now. Yes? So in Ramadhan, Allah tells us to put this great action of Salah to the back, to put it to the side and to delay it. Don't give Adhan yet – wait. Even if you give the Adhan, still wait. Why? Because first we need the cure. Allah says ‘You need the cure first, the solution.’ So what's the solution? What do you need to do? To break the fast. Yes? In other words, you can now prepare your stomach for food. So step number two comes after you have externally stopped food from going into the stomach, and you have seen the enjoyment of that, and seen how your heart has been illuminated through the day of fasting, and seen how you have felt light and everything else - but this is not enough to succeed. Yes? Allah says ‘Now you need to break the fast’ - and breaking the fast is the most fantastic of times. When you break the fast, Allah says that food has to go into your stomach with whatever you have to break the fast with. If it doesn't actually go into the stomach, the fast hasn’t been broken –SubhanAllah. Look how closely connected are the fast and the stomach. If you ask a Mas’ala and say ‘I kept a fast and water came into my mouth,’ then the question is whether it crossed the boundary. Did it go beyond the throat? If it went down, then the fast is broken. What is the Hadd, the boundary? It is the throat. So the fast breaks when food goes beyond your throat, through the pipe and into your stomach. And then your fast is broken at that time - say SubhanAllah.
So that's where the point comes. That is the real situation with the stomach now. After you have fasted, you're given control and you can put food in. You have kept the fast and have eaten, so now you can find out if your fast was right or was wrong. So now the point is that you have to be cautious about your food. Yes? Allah tells us to eat {حَلَـٰلاً۬ طَيِّبً۬ا} in the Qur’an - the food has to be Halal. Is the food that you are inserting into your mouth and your stomach Halal and lawful? Say SubhanAllah. The Hukm comes that we must not break the fast with Haram food. Do not do so, otherwise what will that fast become? Nothing but hunger and poverty, Allahu Akbar. Say SubhanAllah. So the biggest factor here for us is what? The food itself! If you want to illuminate your heart and keep that darkness far away from you, the number one factor is that your food has to be controlled - your sustenance, your food. This is message number one, factor number one.
If you fast and stay hungry for the whole day, if it's not being accepted, then the darkness will not go far from you. Remember this in the world and understand Halal and Haram when you're eating. What is Tayyib? Lawful - so don't just put anything and everything you like into your mouth. Don't consume the wrong resources that you're earning in the wrong way, because the food that’s going into your body will become digested and turn into blood and go into your liver, your kidneys and your organs. It will make your heart dark and thus it will make everything in your body dark if it's not lawful. Allah ta’ala is demonstrating this practically. He is saying ‘When you break your fast, you can see for yourselves’ - say SubhanAllah. So brothers, the first step, number one, is that the human being needs to protect his stomach. This is the first step. Step number one, factor number one of Ramadhan is to be cautious. Whether it is your business, your employment, your work, your accounts, as much as these are clean, pure, Tayyib and lawful, and are also clear and transparent, the more your heart will be pure and clean and Noorani. We say ‘I pray a lot of Salah, and I do Hajj upon Hajj,’ but one thing will be looked at: what is the source of your income? With what resources are your food and your water purchased? Where is it coming from? Where is your food purchased from? What do you eat and what you drink? Brothers, if you want light in your heart, the factor number one, the biggest factor is your food and water – how are they being earned? You need to control your stomach in this way.
Next step - number two. Step number two – what is the next thing that delivers darkness to your heart? It is the desires of the Nafs and the lust and the passion of the Dunya. This is step number two now, factor number two, and this is a very dangerous part. These are called the desires, the base desires. Whether I get something or not, I want it. I want this palace, I want this mansion, I want this action, I want this item, I want this asset, I want to marry someone else, I want to marry that person or have three marriages, I want this and that, I want her - these desires keep revolving in your mind and inside yourself. Why do these things happen and take place? Because our heart is dark. The heart is dark. So what does the fast teach us? Alhamdulillah. What does the fast teach us? That when Insan, the human being, starts to fast, the first thing is that his desire, his base-desires and lust are controlled. His biggest desires are food and drink, SubhanAllah. Yes? The biggest ongoing desire for a human being is what? Food and drink; first he starts to eat and drink, and then he goes to the next level of desires. So the fast teaches this, that if you want to enlighten your heart, then you need to suppress your desires; you need to control them and become realistic, practical and real. Don't go beyond realism. Treat things which have not been ordained for you as if they are strangers to you. That which is yours, consider that yours. Don't have grief for everything, and don't have desire for everything. This is the second message of Ramadhan. Because you have reduced these things in your fasting, you have annihilated your desires, and so another bulb, another light, is illuminated in the heart. So the second factor, number two, which is a barrier for you and which destroys the heart is what? The desires of the human being. If Allah has given you something, then be grateful; have Shukr and say ‘Allah has given this to me, Alhamdulillah,’ and don't go towards things which are not permissible.
The third factor, factor number three, is going back to sins that you committed previously. Yes? Control of the sins is also an important point, a very important point. Ramadhan has also made us practice this, and we have done fantastic practice of this in Ramadhan. Yes? If you want to keep your fast correct, then save yourself from sins and prevent the sins from being committed. Has Ramadhan told us this or not? Tell me. The fast at the end of the day, which is the best, the most beautiful and decorated part of the day, has become Ahsan Ibadah, and this is because a human being has controlled his tongue, his hand, his eyesight, his body and his thinking all day long. He has saved them all from sins. Does Ramadhan make us practice this? Those who don't fast like this have failed, those who don’t want to fast correctly and who don't understand the beauty of the fast, who say ‘I've just left food and water, so I’ve fasted. I break the fast with a date in the evening and have Paratha and eggs in the morning - end of story.’ No, no, no - this is not the case.
This factor number three, leaving the sins, is another element of the practice of Ramadhan. When the human being practices this for thirty days, controlling his sins, his mind, his body, his tongue, his ears, his eyes and his hands, when he saves himself, then Alhamdulillah, this affects him in that saving himself from the sins and revising and repeating this practice and continuously being cautious has a very great effect on a person, because immediately, the darkness of the heart changes to light and illumination – SubhanAllah. That's why after Ramadhan goes, a man realises what has gone. That is the third factor.
The fourth factor is a very important factor. I'm telling you all of these points that the pious predecessors have taught us and explained to us. They worked hard and presented us with the flowers of their understanding, the bunches of flowers that save a person from hellfire. The fourth and final factor is one which Ramadhan says is the most precious and important thing we will be given, and this is the biggest bulb to illuminate the heart with, and what is that? The company of good people - good company - SubhanAllah. The pious predecessors say that this is the greatest, most tremendous gift of Ramadhan that can illuminate your heart. Good company, pious company. Why? Because in Ramadhan you've kept the fast and you're suppressing your desires, Alhamdulillah, and you're controlling your heart and your heart is illuminated and your food and drink are Halal. And you are cautious and do not want to do wrong or commit a vice and do wrong things – this is the case is it not? You are suppressing your desires, quashing your desires and saving yourself from sins, and on top of that, when the heart of Insan is illuminated, then his heart starts wanting to find a place and an environment where his heart can get more Sakinah, more Sukoon. His heart automatically desires this and requests this.
To fulfil this need, we try hard to go to speeches in the Masjid, to Taqrirs, to Nasheed gatherings where people are invited and where speakers will address gatherings – all this happens in Ramadhan. It is not just in Ramadhan that you get these gatherings where scholars have responded, with some coming from India and others from Pakistan - from here and there people are being called. But we don’t know the reality, nor do we understand why we are doing all these things. Why am I just doing this in Ramadhan? We don't understand the reality, and the reality is that Ramadhan is pulling and demanding that you look for pious company. You're searching for that - SubhanAllah. What a fantastic factor – this is the most important factor of Ramadhan. When your heart is alive and lit up, it wants more food and more sustenance. It has that desire, that pull – this is just like in the house. When you have light, you can see everything. So now the heart can see everything, so you start preparing to get your heart beyond that. But those hearts which are illuminated and enlightened decide ‘I want the right food to go into my heart to keep it alive and to feed it. I don’t enjoy that Majlis, I don’t want to go to that gathering, and I didn’t enjoy that speech because I didn't get what I wanted.’ Taqrirs and Bayans and lectures are all happening, and the demand is building inside.
Unconsciously and unknowingly, that that demand is there, but we don't know how to satisfy it, so Ramadhan demands that you need to do one other action today. Ramadhan is saying ‘I have put the light in your heart, but you need something else - pious company, good company. You need to search for good company, and it is your duty now to seek that.’ So when a human being arrives in good company, when he reaches pious company, SubhanAllah, and it's Ramadhan, and he's fasting, and he's trying and he's eating Halal and saving himself from Haram and from sins, and then he sits in the company of the Sheikh and gets the proper food in the Dhikr of Allah and gets that spiritual sustenance and food, then the heart becomes a lantern of the heavens, SubhanAllah. It becomes a lantern of the heavens and those people then continue to take enjoyment from that good and pious company after Ramadhan.
This is the combination of the factors of Ramadhan that I have just explained to you - what a beautiful combination we attain in Ramadhan, SubhanAllah. The person who gets these four factors, then Alhamdulillah, SubhanAllah, nothing can compete with the enjoyment of his Ramadhan due to these four qualities. Nothing can compete with that enjoyment - nothing. So when you attain these four factors in Ramadhan, Ramadhan says ‘I have enlightened your heart and illuminated it. Look how I have illuminated it! Now Your duty is to understand my message. When you depart from Ramadhan, I will go and my requirements will end, but I will leave these four things behind with you.’
And if you want to keep that light illuminated in your heart, then be very cautious with your food. Make your approach to food and drink very cautious even if you’re not fasting. You've been given the training and the teaching through the practice of Ramadhan, and it is not about the hunger; rather, you have to be cautious about what you are eating and drinking. Is this Halal or is it Haram? Are my earnings Halal or Haram? From those earnings, I am eating, and I am feeding my children and my family. Yes? They must be one hundred percent Halal – don’t even become slightly weak in this matter. Even if a person swears while he makes a sale, he has earned his wealth in the wrong way. There's a big punishment for this. There’s a big punishment if a person sells his stock and he swears and promises dishonestly – if he does so, then he should be prepared for darkness to come into his heart. There will be a severe punishment that he is bringing down on himself, if for example, he thinks it is a small action and a small sin that he's lying when he sells the stock. Yes? If he incorrectly describes his stock, it becomes Haram, and then you what you eat from that sale will make your heart become dark and your effort will go to waste.
And by contrast, if a person is honest and upright and describes his items correctly and then sells the stock and has Tawakkal, then what is his Maqam? His Maqam is so great that it is higher than the Shuhada in the Hereafter - the Maqam of the true, honest businessman is higher than the Shuhada. Why? Because the income that you consume is linked to your stomach. It's connected to your stomach. So we have to be extremely cautious and careful to ensure that there is permission in the Shari’ah for the different types of transaction that are available to us. Ask yourself ‘Is there permission in Shari’ah for me to take funds like this? Is it allowed in Shari’ah that I use my money like this or spend like that, because the effects will come into my home and we will all be utilising the result of this?’ When this caution comes into our life, Alhamdulillah, then Ramadhan says ‘I will illuminate your heart afterwards just like it was illuminated during Ramadhan.’
In addition, work hard with the second, third and fourth qualities and factors that I have explained to you and make effort on them. Control the sins - control the sins. If you can do this in Ramadhan, then you can do that after Ramadhan as well. Why? If you've given Halal Rizq to your stomach, then the sins will be controlled. If you have not earned Halal Rizq, then you can't control your sins and your heart will remain black and dark. Proceed step by step, in order. Yes? And when the desires are controlled - number three - then after that, if you get pious, good company, then never leave that good company in your life ever. Value it and appreciate it, not just in Ramadhan, but appreciate it and value it after that as well. And if you can't go every day, they go the next day, or every other day; and if you can't go every other day, then go every third day; and if you can’t go every third day, then Hadhrat Sahib said you should go once a week. Come to the gathering at least once a week, and if you can't come once a week, then come quarterly – SubhanAllah. But if you attend the gathering every day, then it is Noor ‘ala Noor - light upon light.
Somebody asked what amount of time is needed for this. You need enough time to go and look at your Sheikh, and then you can depart – SubhanAllah. If you don't have time and you're restricted because you have to go to work and arrive on time, then if you're in the car, drive your car towards the headquarters of your Sheikh where he is sat hosting Dhikr. Take that route and that direction - I'm giving you small little pointers here, a method so that your life doesn’t stop. I understand that people have issues, and I don't tell people to stop their work and employment, but a person shouldn’t say that he can’t sit in my company either. There has to be a balance – permission is not given for either of these two options. There should be no loss in your Dunya, and you should have no loss in your Akhirah either.
What do the friends of Allah see? Once in Multan in Pakistan, the great Sheikh of Multan, Hadhrat Baha’uddin Zakariya rahmatullah alayh, who was a great Sheikh in Multan in Pakistan – you can see his Mazhar from all corners of Multan. He was a Suhrawardi Sheikh, and I obtained a lot of Faidh from him, MashaAllah. Rather I will say – and I am grateful for this Ni’mah – that, in reality, my initiation was from there. I don’t want to be ungrateful for this Ni’mah. He was a great Wali Allah, a great Sheikh. And he had a grandson, and it sometimes happens that it is not from the son, but from the grandson that the order continues. It sometimes continues from the grandson - this is Allah’s dispensation. We cannot say anything – there is no rule or principle here. So his Nisbat went to his grandson - these friends of Allah who have come into my mind and about whom I am speaking had such a great status. So his young life was such that he was present at his grandfather’s gatherings, so what would the grandson do? He was a small child, about one and a half or two years old, and he would come out of the house and he would tidy the shoes - if a shoe was upside down it, he would put it correctly the right way up and align all the shoes in two nice lines. People told his grandfather, who called him and said ‘What is this that you are doing here?’ He said ‘I tidy the shoes, oh my grandfather. I just separate the shoes into those that are destined for Paradise and those that are destined for hell.’ He had the Kashf at that age, SubhanAllah!
There was a king at one time in Hindustan – I can’t remember his name. This was his era – Ghaznavi, perhaps? I can’t remember the king's name. Anyway, what did he do? The king would announce ‘I am going to come out of the city, so get my elephants ready.’ Once he got ready to come out, and it was in the heat of the afternoon and he decided to go out on a journey. When he got onto his elephant, he said ‘Whoever comes out to see me today is forgiven!’ SubhanAllah - he announced this. Look at the work of Allah ta’ala’s Ni’mah and favour. These things sound weird to us when we hear them, but people would come from far away to do Ziyarah of the king. The word went round, so they would say ‘Let’s do Ziyarah today, because through his Jalal and Karam and mercy, whoever sees him is forgiven.’ Sohbat-e-Sheikh is like this, and the Walis of Allah have explained this point knowing that a day and age would come when you don't have the time - and this time has come now. Where do we have time? Some work on computers, someone drives a taxi, some are programmers, some have shops, and they all want the Akhirah as well as to live in the Dunya, but they don't have time. So the Tariqa is this - the Rahmah, the Mercy of Allah spreads and it continues to spread and it goes on and on. And when the ocean is there, the river continues to flow – Allah is not going to stop it. So go when you get time and drink a sip from that ocean - SubhanAllah.
So what's the point here? If you have to go to work, alter your route a little bit and go there - even if you stay outside, still stand and for two minutes, do ‘Allah Allah Allah.’ Do Dhikr and then depart, SubhanAllah. Even if you haven’t got that much time, have Yaqeen and you will see that in that day, there will be a difference – you will see a positive difference. Positivity is what I'm promoting here. Say ‘Allah’ and look at your Sheikh - do Ziyarah standing in the doorway if you have to. People will say that what I'm saying is mad and sounds crazy, but everything that the Dervaish does is given the title of crazy! Only the people of intellect understand what I am saying. Just say ‘Allah’ three times - I swear by Allah – say ‘Allah Allah Allah,’ do Ziyarah of your Sheikh, then depart. Sohbat of the Sheikh has been attained and your life in that day is protected and sealed.
So my brothers, this is a very important topic. Remove the darkness from your heart because otherwise this will become a big Adhab. Whoever’s heart is hard today, then he will have the darkness of Jahannam in the Hereafter; but if his heart is illuminated today, then SubhanAllah, in the Hereafter he will get the glowing and sparkling Jannah. We need to be very careful and cautious and we need to take care that the light is always illuminated in our hearts - the hearts should always be lit up. If you see that you are getting lazy and negligent and this or that is happening, and if you are lazy in Sohbat and lazy in Dhikr, then understand that the light of the heart has become dim. Don't look at your wealth, rather look at the light of the heart.
May Allah ta’ala give all of us the Tawfeeq and the understanding and capability. Ameen
Recite Durood Sharif
18th May, 2021
Same here?, May Allah SWT make it possible. SubhanAllah
8th May, 2021
The greatest honour of my life is to be able to do ziyarat of the greatest Murshid Kamil day and night ❤️ All praises to Allah سبحان الله
8th May, 2021
That is the bounty of Allah, which He gives to whom He wills!
8th May, 2021
Of course, this is possible only by the tawfeeq and help of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala
8th May, 2021
Men are very lucky because they can visit their Sheikh day and night.
O lucky ones, visit sheikh day and night. Irrigate the hearts, cool the eyes. What else do you want? The Ka'bah is the same. Medina is the same.
Allah Hu Akbar, SubhanAllah SubhanAllah SubhanAllah
We have no tongue, no words, and no statement that is sufficient to pay gratitude to Allah subhana wa ta'ala, who, with His favour, His blessings, His grace, His extreme mercy and bounty has allowed us to reach this part of Ramadhan with goodness, well-being, safety and security. Alhamdulillah, we are present here in the goodness of today, with the safety of Iman and with the safety of our hearts. We pray that Allah ta’ala also allows us to reach the end of Ramadhan with safety and integrity. We sit here with Allah's mercy, His blessings and grace, and we gather for a short time, and this ability is given to us with Allah’s permission. And with Allah's Fadhl, His Karam and His grace, we listen to a few words and points. There's a massive difference between hearing in normal days and hearing in these days, SubhanAllah - a massive difference.
And especially if you wash your Niyyah and clean your intentions, because the biggest destination for us in our effort and striving and trying is that a person makes Niyyah for that biggest objective, which is ‘Oh Allah, please do our Islah - improve us and rectify us!’ There is no greater achievement for a human being than attaining Islah. If a normal person improves somebody else, then that is a massive favour he has done for that person. There is no bigger favour that you can do for another human being than to rectify or improve that person. So Islah takes place with Allah’s Fadhl, and it's all based on the intention that a human being has. If your Niyyah is pure and sincere, Allah does not leave you empty handed - Allah will give definitely to you if your Niyyah is sincere. This success is based on our Niyyah, mine and yours.
Allah gave us such great company in the form of the Kamil Wali of his generation, Hadhrat Ali Murtaza qaddasaAllahu sirrah, and He has allowed us to reach his gathering - this is his gathering. I rely on the statements of the pious predecessors because I don't have that much brainpower - you have, but I am speaking about myself. This is how I can understand these points. We think that it is our power that has brought us here, and we are doing Dhikr, and we are sat here, and we have come here, and we are this or we are that - brothers, you are connected to the pious elders and the impetus for all this is not coming from here; rather, it is coming from before. In reality, the situation is different, and the scenario is different.
In the same way, the pious elders have said you have to be careful when you go to Majalis such as these. Definitely be careful of one thing: when you come to a Majlis with Adab, if you want to attain something, then ask whether you have a connection with somebody in that gathering. If you do have a connection, then what is the nature of that connection? How strong is that connection? How good is that connection? And if you go with this desire, you should analyse before you sit down to ensure you know who this person is connected to – find out who he has Nisbat with and how strong his connection is and what Mujahidah has taken place. Then, alhamdulillah, if a good answer comes, if a positive answer comes, then that Majlis will be beneficial for you – SubhanAllah. Why? Because it's not about the man in that gathering, it's about the line, the chain that came before him - say SubhanAllah. That's where the weight come from. The weight is from those who came before him, from the chain, the order, the fountain, the foundation from where the current emanates.
So this is why we need to think a little bit. This Majlis is a great Majlis because it is connected to a great Wali of Allah. And if I start praising him and introducing him now, then we will go to that side and the whole discussion will be taken up with that topic. Anyway, with my own eyes I saw him, and I had his Sohbat, and I’m not just praising him because he was my Sheikh. I've met great personalities in every corner of the world, but until this day I have never in my life met a Sheikh like him. Somebody like him? Never. Even after meeting him, I could not see anyone as great as him after I saw him. I thought ‘Okay, let me go to Hajj and I’ll look for people – I’ll see if I can see someone like Hadhrat at the time of Hajj, because such great personalities come for Hajj, Alhamdulillah.’ I looked and I looked - these eyes looked everywhere, in Arafat, in Mina, while drinking Zamzam, whilst doing Tawaf. I embraced the Ka’abah and I sought a personality as great as him. I cried as I sought such a person, and made Dua at Multazam in search of such a person. From everywhere, the same answer came – ‘Did you not see your Sheikh in your dream?’
One person saw a dream in which the Minaret of the Ka’abah fell down, so he asked Hadhrat Sahib to explain the meaning of the dream. Hadhrat Sahib gave a sigh and said ‘A Wali will depart from the world this year, and he will never be replaced - there will be no compensation for his loss.’ Allahu Akbar - no one like him would come into this world after that. So these people know that we are close to Qiyamah and that greatness is going and falsity is coming. If you look at the previous generations, they didn't know of things such as artificial butter or milk which is not real milk. They couldn't imagine that fake things and non-genuine things would come - they thought everything that they consumed and ate in their lives was authentic - and look how lengthy their lives were. There was no organic and inorganic or all these special ingredients - this is all fake in this day and age we are living in. For them, it was all purity – life was Khalis and everything in their lives was authentic. What a golden generation. One sign of Qiyamah is that everything that is pure will become impure - both Deen and Dunya will become impure.
So should we take the benefit from this Majlis or not? We are in Ramadhan and in the Majlis of such a great Wali of Allah, alhamdulillah - what a great statement and what a great fact. Delaying your attendance or being lazy about this or leaving a Majlis like this is doing Dhulm on yourself. Definitely go to other places as well - go and sit and so on. But if you don't find what is in this Majlis, and if you don't have Nisbat with that place, if your connection with it is weak, then there is no basis or foundation to your attendance. It doesn't matter how many people are there, you will not get benefit. I'm telling you the Haqq, the truth, today, so understand the point. We don't have that much time nowadays in our lives. We don't have time to keep doing different things and going here and there. Allah has given us a gauge - if you attain Allah in that gathering, just stick to that. That’s it - you will attain everything, from A to Z, from that gathering. With Allah’s Fadhl and His grace, we don't need to go left and right and here and there. Don't waste time - we don't have that much time today to be seeking and looking up and down. ‘Oh, let me look here - let me try him out. Let’s go to this place.’ Junaid won't come and Bayazid won't come – nor will Ali Murtaza come. Those who came before have gone, and now their Faidh is prevalent and has spread. And you will get that Faidh from those who are given Ijaza to spread their Faidh, and from nobody else. Nobody else - say SubhanAllah. So this is the fact – this is the point.
So Alhamdulillah, we were discussing previously about Ramadhan - what were we saying about the favours of Ramadhan? We were trying to fulfil the rights of Ramadhan by understanding the Ihsan, the grace and favour of Allah that we get through Ramadhan; and Allah’s favour and Ihsan is such that the whole situation of our life is based on that. Yes? For example, when you go home, you arrive home to your family, and it's night-time so you have to eat, you have to change your clothes, you have to do Wudhu, you have to prepare for Salah - everything has to be done quickly in Ramadhan, doesn’t it? Okay, so if you arrive and find that the lights are not working, that it is dark throughout the house, intense darkness everywhere, what will happen? Tell me. Everything will become late for you if there's no light. You have to change your clothes, but you can't see. Your eating will be delayed, your drinking will be delayed, all of your actions will be delayed - disturbance will come into your life schedule, won’t it? Will this happen or not? And you will be peering here, putting your hands out there, stumbling here, and you won’t be able to find your clothes, all due to the darkness. You can't see, so you would get distressed and a bit upset. Everything's up and down, left and right, your programme, your schedule, your timetable - everything will be disturbed; everything you were supposed to do at that time has gone.
Such darkness is very negative and has a bad effect on things, my friends. The dark is such a bad thing that the biggest Adhab Allah ta’ala has given in the Akhirah is darkness. The biggest punishment in the Akhirah is darkness. The more sinful a person is, the more sinful, evil, disobedient to Allah that a person is and the more he increases in Shirk and Kufr, the more Adhab that person will get. What will be the punishment? Darkness. Allah has made a special arrangement in Jahannam whereby Jahannam was created out of darkness. The formulation or the recipe was set out with its ingredients, and it was cooked and cooked and the final position in which Allah left it was what? Intense darkness - may Allah forgive.
So think for yourself - that's where punishment starts, in intense darkness. When death comes, this darkness comes. When you go into the grave, there's darkness - we've seen this, haven’t we? When you wake up on the Day of Resurrection, there will be darkness; when you get away from Resurrection, on the Bridge of Sirat, there will be darkness. May Allah not allow, but if you fail, then there's darkness in Jahannam – pitch black darkness. How dangerous is darkness? Tell me. It destroys a person so much that we can’t put up with darkness in our homes - so what will we do in the darkness of the Hereafter? Tell me. We can’t even take a few minutes of darkness in the home, this darkness that destroys a person. This is the reality, the truth: when there's darkness inside a person, then he is also spoiled. If there's darkness inside your home, then everything finishes - you can't do anything. And besides the home, if there is darkness in your heart and in your whole body, then you are finished - Allahu Akbar. Yes?
What is our Markaz, our fountain, and our foundation? The heart. If you can't bear darkness in your home for even a few moments, then tell me, if your heart is even more dark, will you remain alive? Every one of the actions in your in life will be disturbed. If there is darkness in the house, you can’t even eat - eating will be late, waking up late, clothes on late, Salah late, Wudhu late, bathroom late, going to work late, everything will be late. Your whole schedule will be upside down - if you reach for your phone, you’ll grab something else. If there's darkness in the home, you can't do anything, so if there's darkness in the heart, then imagine how that person's life would be. Could his life be good if he has darkness in his heart? How can that person live his life in the world? He will do Shirk and Bid’aat and sin and Shahawaat and lust and he will steal people's money and commit sins A and B and C. He cannot expect any action of his life to be good and correct and upright. A person cannot imagine that his life will be upright if he has this darkness in his heart that destroys a person in the world.
If light is not present or created or developed in a person’s heart, then he is finished. Whenever you see that a person is spoilt and is not in a good way, then this is not due to some particular action or to shaytan - no, nothing like this. The biggest factor is that there is darkness in his heart. He says ‘Oh, I'm lazy so I can’t pray Salah.’ Why? ‘Oh, I try to go to Fajr Salah, but I can’t wake up. Oh, I tried my best to come to Dhikr, but I can’t do Dhikr. I feel like praying Salah, and I get to the prayer mat, but I don't know what happens – when I stand there, I turn back and make a U-turn.’ I've heard these feelings and words with my own ears from people and I'm repeating them to you. Or they say ‘I don't know what it is, and I can’t understand it - I planned to go to the Masjid and pray Salah, but I didn’t manage to go. Why not?’ There is obviously a reason and a root cause, so look for that factor and that common denominator.
Which enemy is running after us and not allowing us to practice as we want? We say ‘Oh, it’s shaytan, it’s shaytan,’ but shaytan just does one thing. He just does one thing. For example, if he targets a man, he wants to trip his fuse. That's his work, and the man does the rest. So shaytan trips the fuse and then he steps back and that's it; he's done his work. He's just tripped the fuse, and all the mistakes in the darkness that come after that are made by the individual. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? He initiates the sequence, and then we make all these the excuses after that, claiming impurity, saying ‘I try not to, and I don't want to do this sin, but I end up doing it.’ Obviously, when you are in darkness, instead of the phone you pick up something else. You can't see your clothes, so instead of the Shalwar, you pick up the Kameez, and instead of the Imamah you end up with something else. This is what happens in darkness. So in the same way, Insan takes good as bad and he takes bad as good – it’s all upside down. He takes interest and says that it is progression and advancement as he accumulates wealth, and he thinks that a person who has got no money is a waster. He thinks that a person who stands at his shop counting money has progressed; he thinks he has arrived and has achieved and has done it, while he thinks that a person who leaves his shop or his business to go and pray Salah is backward and is a fundamentalist and doesn't know anything. Is this not the case?
So in other words, we don't look for the reason behind all this wrong thinking. Who is brainy? Who has got Aql and wisdom? Who is an intellectual? We’ve got the Qur’an, and whoever lives his life according to the Qur’an, he is a person of intellect. If he lives by divine guidance, he is a person of intellect. Otherwise, what we realise is that the darkness of Jahannam has come into the heart of that person and it has overwhelmed his life and is destroying his actions and his thinking. It is like his shadow – it is always in his sight. All of this wrong that a person does is due to the darkness, that intense darkness in the heart. So my brothers, my friends, the result of this is that sin overwhelms you, overtakes you, and you get the urge to commit sin because shaytan and Nafs overcome you, and so you start to enjoy that laziness. The phrase ‘I'm lazy’ keeps coming out of your mouth, or ‘I don't feel like it - I don't know why.’ When such words come out of our mouth, like ‘I don't know why my attraction and inclination is towards sin and I am pulled towards bad’ and when you start liking wrong actions, and when sin after sin is coming into your life and disobedience is taking over, then consider immediately that darkness has overtaken your heart and there's no other reason. There's no other reason.
Ramadhan has given a beautiful solution to this. It has made us practice for thirty days in a complete, comprehensive way. The programme is comprehensive, and it started from a beautiful point because an action was given so that the darkness can be taken away - say SubhanAllah. If we don't understand this, then we should consider that we have not spent Ramadhan correctly, because if we do the action correctly, all of the success of Ramadhan comes into us and our hearts become illuminated. They are lit up, and after Ramadhan goes, our emotions will have changed and been improved due to all those actions we did in Ramadhan. We think that it’s just Ramadhan and we're just passing through Ramadhan with fasting and being hungry but is not about fasting and hunger. Ramadhan is curing and solving our issues, and this will result in our hearts becoming illuminated, and afterwards we'll make that a reality for the rest of our lives - say SubhanAllah. This is the light that has changed our emotions and makes us want to keep praying Salah and praying Tarawih and wanting to read the Qur’an and come to the Majalis. This positive feeling means that the darkness of the heart has gone away. Yes? The darkness of the heart has become distant now.
So what did Ramadhan do? Which action of Ramadhan has brought about this result? What has been given to us? What action has it made us do that illuminated our hearts and made us feel like leaving the bad things that we used to do? We leave work to come and pray, we dislike wealth, we run and hasten to Allah’s gatherings, we put sleep to the side, we crush our desires and our lust - say SubhanAllah. So there must be a factor and a quality in Ramadhan that has allowed us to do this. There must be something that Ramadhan has made us do which has made these good desires and this glimmer come into our hearts so that bad things now seem dirty and impure to us. Very often, after Ramadhan passes, we forget why we had so much strength to do good. We forget that factor and that quality, but if we keep that quality that Ramadhan made us practice alive, then inshallah Ramadhan will be with you always.
What's the first factor of Ramadhan? Factor number one is where we start from - everything has a logic behind it, brothers. So factor number one - what does Ramadhan demand from you? Factor number one is that Ramadhan speaks to your stomach. Where does factor number one start from? From the stomach. These are the lessons and the factors that you must keep going after Ramadhan. So the whole of the matter regarding the darkness and the light of the heart starts from where? From the stomach of the human being - the stomach. So factor number one in Ramadhan, the important item and action that it makes us do, without which there is no fast, is that we refrain from food and drink. Yes? This is factor number one, and any human being cannot have a fast unless he does Amal on this factor. If you eat and say ‘I'm fasting’ does your fast exist? No. It is essential that you have to do something with the stomach. If you're fasting, what do you have to do with the stomach? What? You have to empty the stomach, SubhanAllah. Say SubhanAllah. Yes, this is the way to illuminate the heart - you start from the stomach. So there are two aspects to the emptying of the stomach, and one is the real and one is superficial; one is genuine and the other is non-genuine. There are two ways that the fast controls the stomach - say SubhanAllah. On the outward level, the food ceases to go into the stomach physically, just like at the moment, we haven’t eaten, and our hearts are illuminated. This is because food has physically stopped going into the stomach - the fast has stopped this by physical prevention.
And after that, the Haqqiqi aspect, the real thing that is being explained to you is that okay, so you have physically stopped eating and the fast is in existence, is valid and has reached the stage of acceptance. But there is a second thing you have to do with your stomach and that is where real caution is needed. What is that? This happens when you get permission to eat, for the practice of Ramadhan at that time is what? Say it - you have to break the fast. Or do you have to pray Salah first? Which do you do first? You have to break the fast – that is the way, isn’t it? Allah ta’ala has not said ‘Don’t break the fast but pray your Salah first, and then eat at your leisure.’ No – this is not the philosophy here – say SubhanAllah. Here, Allah has put this great action of Salah to the back. Why? Because Allah says that Salah has a link with the light and the illumination of the heart, and you have to illuminate the heart first.
So with your Barakah, I'm sharing these points with you, which I am understanding right now. Yes? So in Ramadhan, Allah tells us to put this great action of Salah to the back, to put it to the side and to delay it. Don't give Adhan yet – wait. Even if you give the Adhan, still wait. Why? Because first we need the cure. Allah says ‘You need the cure first, the solution.’ So what's the solution? What do you need to do? To break the fast. Yes? In other words, you can now prepare your stomach for food. So step number two comes after you have externally stopped food from going into the stomach, and you have seen the enjoyment of that, and seen how your heart has been illuminated through the day of fasting, and seen how you have felt light and everything else - but this is not enough to succeed. Yes? Allah says ‘Now you need to break the fast’ - and breaking the fast is the most fantastic of times. When you break the fast, Allah says that food has to go into your stomach with whatever you have to break the fast with. If it doesn't actually go into the stomach, the fast hasn’t been broken –SubhanAllah. Look how closely connected are the fast and the stomach. If you ask a Mas’ala and say ‘I kept a fast and water came into my mouth,’ then the question is whether it crossed the boundary. Did it go beyond the throat? If it went down, then the fast is broken. What is the Hadd, the boundary? It is the throat. So the fast breaks when food goes beyond your throat, through the pipe and into your stomach. And then your fast is broken at that time - say SubhanAllah.
So that's where the point comes. That is the real situation with the stomach now. After you have fasted, you're given control and you can put food in. You have kept the fast and have eaten, so now you can find out if your fast was right or was wrong. So now the point is that you have to be cautious about your food. Yes? Allah tells us to eat {حَلَـٰلاً۬ طَيِّبً۬ا} in the Qur’an - the food has to be Halal. Is the food that you are inserting into your mouth and your stomach Halal and lawful? Say SubhanAllah. The Hukm comes that we must not break the fast with Haram food. Do not do so, otherwise what will that fast become? Nothing but hunger and poverty, Allahu Akbar. Say SubhanAllah. So the biggest factor here for us is what? The food itself! If you want to illuminate your heart and keep that darkness far away from you, the number one factor is that your food has to be controlled - your sustenance, your food. This is message number one, factor number one.
If you fast and stay hungry for the whole day, if it's not being accepted, then the darkness will not go far from you. Remember this in the world and understand Halal and Haram when you're eating. What is Tayyib? Lawful - so don't just put anything and everything you like into your mouth. Don't consume the wrong resources that you're earning in the wrong way, because the food that’s going into your body will become digested and turn into blood and go into your liver, your kidneys and your organs. It will make your heart dark and thus it will make everything in your body dark if it's not lawful. Allah ta’ala is demonstrating this practically. He is saying ‘When you break your fast, you can see for yourselves’ - say SubhanAllah. So brothers, the first step, number one, is that the human being needs to protect his stomach. This is the first step. Step number one, factor number one of Ramadhan is to be cautious. Whether it is your business, your employment, your work, your accounts, as much as these are clean, pure, Tayyib and lawful, and are also clear and transparent, the more your heart will be pure and clean and Noorani. We say ‘I pray a lot of Salah, and I do Hajj upon Hajj,’ but one thing will be looked at: what is the source of your income? With what resources are your food and your water purchased? Where is it coming from? Where is your food purchased from? What do you eat and what you drink? Brothers, if you want light in your heart, the factor number one, the biggest factor is your food and water – how are they being earned? You need to control your stomach in this way.
Next step - number two. Step number two – what is the next thing that delivers darkness to your heart? It is the desires of the Nafs and the lust and the passion of the Dunya. This is step number two now, factor number two, and this is a very dangerous part. These are called the desires, the base desires. Whether I get something or not, I want it. I want this palace, I want this mansion, I want this action, I want this item, I want this asset, I want to marry someone else, I want to marry that person or have three marriages, I want this and that, I want her - these desires keep revolving in your mind and inside yourself. Why do these things happen and take place? Because our heart is dark. The heart is dark. So what does the fast teach us? Alhamdulillah. What does the fast teach us? That when Insan, the human being, starts to fast, the first thing is that his desire, his base-desires and lust are controlled. His biggest desires are food and drink, SubhanAllah. Yes? The biggest ongoing desire for a human being is what? Food and drink; first he starts to eat and drink, and then he goes to the next level of desires. So the fast teaches this, that if you want to enlighten your heart, then you need to suppress your desires; you need to control them and become realistic, practical and real. Don't go beyond realism. Treat things which have not been ordained for you as if they are strangers to you. That which is yours, consider that yours. Don't have grief for everything, and don't have desire for everything. This is the second message of Ramadhan. Because you have reduced these things in your fasting, you have annihilated your desires, and so another bulb, another light, is illuminated in the heart. So the second factor, number two, which is a barrier for you and which destroys the heart is what? The desires of the human being. If Allah has given you something, then be grateful; have Shukr and say ‘Allah has given this to me, Alhamdulillah,’ and don't go towards things which are not permissible.
The third factor, factor number three, is going back to sins that you committed previously. Yes? Control of the sins is also an important point, a very important point. Ramadhan has also made us practice this, and we have done fantastic practice of this in Ramadhan. Yes? If you want to keep your fast correct, then save yourself from sins and prevent the sins from being committed. Has Ramadhan told us this or not? Tell me. The fast at the end of the day, which is the best, the most beautiful and decorated part of the day, has become Ahsan Ibadah, and this is because a human being has controlled his tongue, his hand, his eyesight, his body and his thinking all day long. He has saved them all from sins. Does Ramadhan make us practice this? Those who don't fast like this have failed, those who don’t want to fast correctly and who don't understand the beauty of the fast, who say ‘I've just left food and water, so I’ve fasted. I break the fast with a date in the evening and have Paratha and eggs in the morning - end of story.’ No, no, no - this is not the case.
This factor number three, leaving the sins, is another element of the practice of Ramadhan. When the human being practices this for thirty days, controlling his sins, his mind, his body, his tongue, his ears, his eyes and his hands, when he saves himself, then Alhamdulillah, this affects him in that saving himself from the sins and revising and repeating this practice and continuously being cautious has a very great effect on a person, because immediately, the darkness of the heart changes to light and illumination – SubhanAllah. That's why after Ramadhan goes, a man realises what has gone. That is the third factor.
The fourth factor is a very important factor. I'm telling you all of these points that the pious predecessors have taught us and explained to us. They worked hard and presented us with the flowers of their understanding, the bunches of flowers that save a person from hellfire. The fourth and final factor is one which Ramadhan says is the most precious and important thing we will be given, and this is the biggest bulb to illuminate the heart with, and what is that? The company of good people - good company - SubhanAllah. The pious predecessors say that this is the greatest, most tremendous gift of Ramadhan that can illuminate your heart. Good company, pious company. Why? Because in Ramadhan you've kept the fast and you're suppressing your desires, Alhamdulillah, and you're controlling your heart and your heart is illuminated and your food and drink are Halal. And you are cautious and do not want to do wrong or commit a vice and do wrong things – this is the case is it not? You are suppressing your desires, quashing your desires and saving yourself from sins, and on top of that, when the heart of Insan is illuminated, then his heart starts wanting to find a place and an environment where his heart can get more Sakinah, more Sukoon. His heart automatically desires this and requests this.
To fulfil this need, we try hard to go to speeches in the Masjid, to Taqrirs, to Nasheed gatherings where people are invited and where speakers will address gatherings – all this happens in Ramadhan. It is not just in Ramadhan that you get these gatherings where scholars have responded, with some coming from India and others from Pakistan - from here and there people are being called. But we don’t know the reality, nor do we understand why we are doing all these things. Why am I just doing this in Ramadhan? We don't understand the reality, and the reality is that Ramadhan is pulling and demanding that you look for pious company. You're searching for that - SubhanAllah. What a fantastic factor – this is the most important factor of Ramadhan. When your heart is alive and lit up, it wants more food and more sustenance. It has that desire, that pull – this is just like in the house. When you have light, you can see everything. So now the heart can see everything, so you start preparing to get your heart beyond that. But those hearts which are illuminated and enlightened decide ‘I want the right food to go into my heart to keep it alive and to feed it. I don’t enjoy that Majlis, I don’t want to go to that gathering, and I didn’t enjoy that speech because I didn't get what I wanted.’ Taqrirs and Bayans and lectures are all happening, and the demand is building inside.
Unconsciously and unknowingly, that that demand is there, but we don't know how to satisfy it, so Ramadhan demands that you need to do one other action today. Ramadhan is saying ‘I have put the light in your heart, but you need something else - pious company, good company. You need to search for good company, and it is your duty now to seek that.’ So when a human being arrives in good company, when he reaches pious company, SubhanAllah, and it's Ramadhan, and he's fasting, and he's trying and he's eating Halal and saving himself from Haram and from sins, and then he sits in the company of the Sheikh and gets the proper food in the Dhikr of Allah and gets that spiritual sustenance and food, then the heart becomes a lantern of the heavens, SubhanAllah. It becomes a lantern of the heavens and those people then continue to take enjoyment from that good and pious company after Ramadhan.
This is the combination of the factors of Ramadhan that I have just explained to you - what a beautiful combination we attain in Ramadhan, SubhanAllah. The person who gets these four factors, then Alhamdulillah, SubhanAllah, nothing can compete with the enjoyment of his Ramadhan due to these four qualities. Nothing can compete with that enjoyment - nothing. So when you attain these four factors in Ramadhan, Ramadhan says ‘I have enlightened your heart and illuminated it. Look how I have illuminated it! Now Your duty is to understand my message. When you depart from Ramadhan, I will go and my requirements will end, but I will leave these four things behind with you.’
And if you want to keep that light illuminated in your heart, then be very cautious with your food. Make your approach to food and drink very cautious even if you’re not fasting. You've been given the training and the teaching through the practice of Ramadhan, and it is not about the hunger; rather, you have to be cautious about what you are eating and drinking. Is this Halal or is it Haram? Are my earnings Halal or Haram? From those earnings, I am eating, and I am feeding my children and my family. Yes? They must be one hundred percent Halal – don’t even become slightly weak in this matter. Even if a person swears while he makes a sale, he has earned his wealth in the wrong way. There's a big punishment for this. There’s a big punishment if a person sells his stock and he swears and promises dishonestly – if he does so, then he should be prepared for darkness to come into his heart. There will be a severe punishment that he is bringing down on himself, if for example, he thinks it is a small action and a small sin that he's lying when he sells the stock. Yes? If he incorrectly describes his stock, it becomes Haram, and then you what you eat from that sale will make your heart become dark and your effort will go to waste.
And by contrast, if a person is honest and upright and describes his items correctly and then sells the stock and has Tawakkal, then what is his Maqam? His Maqam is so great that it is higher than the Shuhada in the Hereafter - the Maqam of the true, honest businessman is higher than the Shuhada. Why? Because the income that you consume is linked to your stomach. It's connected to your stomach. So we have to be extremely cautious and careful to ensure that there is permission in the Shari’ah for the different types of transaction that are available to us. Ask yourself ‘Is there permission in Shari’ah for me to take funds like this? Is it allowed in Shari’ah that I use my money like this or spend like that, because the effects will come into my home and we will all be utilising the result of this?’ When this caution comes into our life, Alhamdulillah, then Ramadhan says ‘I will illuminate your heart afterwards just like it was illuminated during Ramadhan.’
In addition, work hard with the second, third and fourth qualities and factors that I have explained to you and make effort on them. Control the sins - control the sins. If you can do this in Ramadhan, then you can do that after Ramadhan as well. Why? If you've given Halal Rizq to your stomach, then the sins will be controlled. If you have not earned Halal Rizq, then you can't control your sins and your heart will remain black and dark. Proceed step by step, in order. Yes? And when the desires are controlled - number three - then after that, if you get pious, good company, then never leave that good company in your life ever. Value it and appreciate it, not just in Ramadhan, but appreciate it and value it after that as well. And if you can't go every day, they go the next day, or every other day; and if you can't go every other day, then go every third day; and if you can’t go every third day, then Hadhrat Sahib said you should go once a week. Come to the gathering at least once a week, and if you can't come once a week, then come quarterly – SubhanAllah. But if you attend the gathering every day, then it is Noor ‘ala Noor - light upon light.
Somebody asked what amount of time is needed for this. You need enough time to go and look at your Sheikh, and then you can depart – SubhanAllah. If you don't have time and you're restricted because you have to go to work and arrive on time, then if you're in the car, drive your car towards the headquarters of your Sheikh where he is sat hosting Dhikr. Take that route and that direction - I'm giving you small little pointers here, a method so that your life doesn’t stop. I understand that people have issues, and I don't tell people to stop their work and employment, but a person shouldn’t say that he can’t sit in my company either. There has to be a balance – permission is not given for either of these two options. There should be no loss in your Dunya, and you should have no loss in your Akhirah either.
What do the friends of Allah see? Once in Multan in Pakistan, the great Sheikh of Multan, Hadhrat Baha’uddin Zakariya rahmatullah alayh, who was a great Sheikh in Multan in Pakistan – you can see his Mazhar from all corners of Multan. He was a Suhrawardi Sheikh, and I obtained a lot of Faidh from him, MashaAllah. Rather I will say – and I am grateful for this Ni’mah – that, in reality, my initiation was from there. I don’t want to be ungrateful for this Ni’mah. He was a great Wali Allah, a great Sheikh. And he had a grandson, and it sometimes happens that it is not from the son, but from the grandson that the order continues. It sometimes continues from the grandson - this is Allah’s dispensation. We cannot say anything – there is no rule or principle here. So his Nisbat went to his grandson - these friends of Allah who have come into my mind and about whom I am speaking had such a great status. So his young life was such that he was present at his grandfather’s gatherings, so what would the grandson do? He was a small child, about one and a half or two years old, and he would come out of the house and he would tidy the shoes - if a shoe was upside down it, he would put it correctly the right way up and align all the shoes in two nice lines. People told his grandfather, who called him and said ‘What is this that you are doing here?’ He said ‘I tidy the shoes, oh my grandfather. I just separate the shoes into those that are destined for Paradise and those that are destined for hell.’ He had the Kashf at that age, SubhanAllah!
There was a king at one time in Hindustan – I can’t remember his name. This was his era – Ghaznavi, perhaps? I can’t remember the king's name. Anyway, what did he do? The king would announce ‘I am going to come out of the city, so get my elephants ready.’ Once he got ready to come out, and it was in the heat of the afternoon and he decided to go out on a journey. When he got onto his elephant, he said ‘Whoever comes out to see me today is forgiven!’ SubhanAllah - he announced this. Look at the work of Allah ta’ala’s Ni’mah and favour. These things sound weird to us when we hear them, but people would come from far away to do Ziyarah of the king. The word went round, so they would say ‘Let’s do Ziyarah today, because through his Jalal and Karam and mercy, whoever sees him is forgiven.’ Sohbat-e-Sheikh is like this, and the Walis of Allah have explained this point knowing that a day and age would come when you don't have the time - and this time has come now. Where do we have time? Some work on computers, someone drives a taxi, some are programmers, some have shops, and they all want the Akhirah as well as to live in the Dunya, but they don't have time. So the Tariqa is this - the Rahmah, the Mercy of Allah spreads and it continues to spread and it goes on and on. And when the ocean is there, the river continues to flow – Allah is not going to stop it. So go when you get time and drink a sip from that ocean - SubhanAllah.
So what's the point here? If you have to go to work, alter your route a little bit and go there - even if you stay outside, still stand and for two minutes, do ‘Allah Allah Allah.’ Do Dhikr and then depart, SubhanAllah. Even if you haven’t got that much time, have Yaqeen and you will see that in that day, there will be a difference – you will see a positive difference. Positivity is what I'm promoting here. Say ‘Allah’ and look at your Sheikh - do Ziyarah standing in the doorway if you have to. People will say that what I'm saying is mad and sounds crazy, but everything that the Dervaish does is given the title of crazy! Only the people of intellect understand what I am saying. Just say ‘Allah’ three times - I swear by Allah – say ‘Allah Allah Allah,’ do Ziyarah of your Sheikh, then depart. Sohbat of the Sheikh has been attained and your life in that day is protected and sealed.
So my brothers, this is a very important topic. Remove the darkness from your heart because otherwise this will become a big Adhab. Whoever’s heart is hard today, then he will have the darkness of Jahannam in the Hereafter; but if his heart is illuminated today, then SubhanAllah, in the Hereafter he will get the glowing and sparkling Jannah. We need to be very careful and cautious and we need to take care that the light is always illuminated in our hearts - the hearts should always be lit up. If you see that you are getting lazy and negligent and this or that is happening, and if you are lazy in Sohbat and lazy in Dhikr, then understand that the light of the heart has become dim. Don't look at your wealth, rather look at the light of the heart.
May Allah ta’ala give all of us the Tawfeeq and the understanding and capability. Ameen
Recite Durood Sharif