When one is on a train, or coach or on a boat. Does one focus on the thing nearby for a long time on a long journey? It is not stable or fixed; its shaking and quivering may make you sick. So let us look outward, beyond, above and far, to the horizon that has left us and to the one that is to meet us.
Dunya is this world. It is moving, unstable and not fixed. We are on a long journey. Dunya comes from a word meaning ‘lowest of the low’, so too much Dunya will make you sick. Another meaning is something that you can not grasp, even with all your effort, however close it may seem. Like someone chasing their shadow, it keeps escaping them and gets farther and farther, even though it is really quite close. The wise guided one knows to go straight for the source. So find the Sun and walk towards it, the source of the shadow, then the shadow that is Dunya, that is Creation, will chase after you, as it can not escape you either.
Opening Dua
There are two hand outs with the Arabic, the transliteration and translation of certain verses from the Quran. These are for when starting a lesson and closing a lesson, or a gathering of even two people or even when going through it by yourself revising alone. It is highly recommended that one opens and closes with the dua that you have been given and are about to be told about. Know that this dua has come down the generations, practiced by many saints and their students. So follow in their laid out example. The first sheet to read is the one starting with ‘Sura 2 – Ayat 32’.
As you can see, they are short verses, so the dua should not be burdensome and should be easy to memorise naturally; as you should be using it to close and open at least twice a week insha-Allah. After reading the verses, you should end the dua with the following…
Ila hadratin – nabiy Muhammadin Mustafa
Rasulallah (s.a.w.)
Al Fatihah
(recite Al Fatiha)
AMEN
Ila hadratin means ‘in the presence of’. Sometimes you have the title Hudrat before the name, to mean that the person has a great ‘presence’ that keeps you in remembrance of Allah.
Read through the translation and you shall notice why such verses are chosen. With the first bit relate to the story of Khidr and Moses(as). This can be found in the Koran in Sura Al-Kahf(18), verses 60 to 82. Please read and familiarise yourself with this. Now there was a time when they were both walking near the coast I believe. Khidr saw a stalk bend its neck and drop its head, so that its beak would scoop up water from the ocean. Immediately Khidr(ra) said this is a sign from Allah. He said knowledge is an ocean and Allah’s Knowledge is infinite and eternal. Like the amount scooped up by the beak, be humble, knowing that the only two immediate sources of knowledge you have, are your eyes and ears. Know that they are weak, limited and impotent. Your hearing and sight is restricted and not permanent. The details of how they function are also beyond most people’s knowledge and also beyond your immediate control. What is meant here, is that you do not know how light reflected from something beyond your own body goes into your eye, through the lens, hits the retina, is converted into another form, sent down the optic nerve to somewhere in the back of the brain and then some processes occur which are a complete mystery. You have very limited power over how your eyes focus and how your ears focus. Most of all the details of the process of hearing and seeing is carried out without your knowledge and outside your immediate control. So reflect upon what a statement our Creator has made upon His Creation with that verse.
The second verse is what Moses (as) said and prayed to Allah. Moses had a speech impediment, yet is a great Prophet. Why great? Cause he begged to Allah sincerely and really sincerely wanted to be closer with Allah. The line that says “Expand me my breast”, look how Allah gives and how Allah takes. We receive from Allah and we give back to Allah. Who controls our heart and breathing? So be humble and if you sincerely believe in Allah, then sincerely ask of things from Him alone. Follow the example of Moses (as), beg for means of pleasing Allah and being closer to Allah.
The third verse relates to the fact that revelation does not just land on Earth from Heaven as just a book or scroll to be freely interpreted and implemented by anyone in anyway. Here the Koran is telling you that the Messenger is also the Message. Allah sends “Messengers from amongst yourselves; so that we can relate directly to them. Just like me and my Sheikh relate to one another, and you and I relate to one another. Sunnah of Rasul (s.a.w.). What does the words following mean? See the concern between teacher and student, the guide and the guided, like the shepherd and the sheep. ‘The Alchemist’; all this derives from Rasul (s.a.w.), all the way down through the chains of transmission, from Shaikh to student and so forth. Also note, that Allah knew who was to read and every letter of Koran, when, where and how. That the Koran came before Creation. So know when you read Koran, Allah is speaking directly to you. So there is an element of a personal relationship within the universal relationship.
The fourth verse, yes there is deep concern and love, but the main support and source is Allah. So go to Allah when worried of flock and stay with Allah. If still flock leaves, don’t follow them over the cliff. Keep trust with Allah, not too much with Creation. Maintain the right balance and moderation. Stick within boundaries. My shepherd is Sheikh, his shepherd is his Sheikh, and so forth to the Greatest of all shepherd Muhammad (s.a.w.), who was guided and protected by Allah.
The fifth verse … my Sheikh says that there are people that love Allah, but Allah will not fully love them back until they follow His Beloved (s.a.w.). Follow Rasul (s.a.w.), Allah will love you and forgive you. So do not worry into a state of depression if you fail sometimes and mess up. ‘You can only try your best, And leave to Allah the rest’. Allah will forgive you.
We are getting closer to our graves. What knowledge have we acquired and what has it done for us? Is knowledge just for knowledge itself? To know what? Is it not to lead to know what to do or not to do? To do and not to do what? So new knowledge, real knowledge must be with acknowledgement of this. People of disbelief are blind, thus can only assume and presume. Like those trapped in “The Matrix”.
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