BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Question: What is the main maksud/purpose of servanthood in the way of Tarikat?

BismillahirRahmanirRahim. Holy Prophet (asws) he has thousands of names, and we recited some of it in the Khutba, anyone remember? That is taken from the Dalail ul Khairat, do you remember some of his names, some of his titles, in the beginning of the Khutba? You are all sleeping. The Possessor of Might, the Possessor of Majesty.

In Dalail ul Khairat alone he has over 200 names. Of course he has an Ismul Azam too, he has the name that is the most powerful name. He does, of course he does. But not only two hundred, he has thousands of names. And he has names, not only in the Arabic language. All the Prophets they are sent to every race in this world, isn’t it? And did they not speak about Prophet (asws)? Of course they did. 124 000 Prophets they spoke about the Holy Prophet (asws), in the language of their people. And he had names for them too, thousands, from that time until now. But when he was asked, ‘What is your most favorite name ya Rasulullah? What is your most favorite title? What is the one that you love the most?’ He says, ‘Abdullah, the servant of Allah.’ To him, with all this majestic names that is given to him by Prophets, given to him by Angels, given to him by Allah, given to him by everything, he likes the one that Allah gives, which is Abdullah.

That is our maksud, that is our purpose. We have been created to know and to worship Allah. To become Abdullah. So the main purpose of servanthood, in the way of Tarikat, is to teach you how to become an Abdullah, how to become a servant. Not theory. Not academic. But with your life, with your energy, with your understanding, with your breath. Because the servant, it is the opposite of what? Master. And who is the Master? Allah.

The servant it is the opposite of the Master. If you don’t become a servant, you are trying to be the master, one way or another. That is a hidden shirk. And the servant, it is the opposite of what the ego wants. The ego is declaring itself Ilah, a Lord, a Rab. And a servant it is opposite to that. Which means if you are on the way of servanthood but you are still feeling proud, you are still serving your ego, you are still being stubborn, you are not doing too well until you get rid of all these. And it comes in hundreds and thousands of tricks and traps too. Maybe you say, ‘Oh, I don’t swear. I’m such a clean, good one, I don’t swear.’ But if you are in the training of a Sheykh, the Sheykh may find a spot in you that when he touches that, not only you are going to swear, you want to destroy everything. So if you are not taking your ego out and understanding it, then you won’t know how to have power over it, and you are not going to become a servant. Look to the Sahaba e-Kiram. Don’t look so far. They spent twenty-three years being the servant to the Prophet (asws).

May Allah not test us. But may Allah make us to become stronger and not to pass from this world until we have the title of servant. For the sake of the Holy Prophet (asws). Al-Fatiha.

Sheykh Lokman Efendi Hz
Khalifah of SahibulSaif Shaykh Abdulkerim el Kibrisi (qs),
OSMANLI DERGAHI- New York
16 Zul Qaida 1437, August 19, 2016.