BismillahirRahmanirRahim

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin. Wasalatu wa salamu ala rasulina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain nahmadulllahu ta’ala wa nastaghfiruhu wa nashadu an-lailaha ilallahu wahdahu la sharika lah wa nashadu anna sayyidina Muhammadin abduhu wa habibuhu wa rasuluhu salallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa azwajihi wa ashabihi wa atbaihi.

Khulafail Rashidin mahdin min ba’di wuzerail immeti alal tahkik. Khususan minhum alal amidi khulafai rasulillahi ala tahqeeq. Umara il mu’mineen. Hazreti abu bakr wa umar wa uthman wa ali. Wa ala baqiyati wa sahabai wa tabieen, ridwanallahu ta’ala alayhim ajmain.Ya ayyuhal mu’minun al hadirun, ittaqullaha ta’ala wa ati’uh. Inna allaha ma allathina-ttaqaw wal-lathina hum muhsinun. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa Salatu wa Salamu ala Ashrafil Ambiya’i wa Imam al-Mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Mawlana Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain.

All praises are due to Allah, Lord of the Universes. All praises are due to Allah Who created our Father Adam (asws) from water and clay. All praises are due to Allah Who has created mankind in Ahsani Taqwim, the Most Perfect Form. All praises are due to Allah Who has raised us from the Nation of His Habib, Sayyidina Muhammad (asws).

And may all peace and blessings be upon the Sultan of Creation, the Prophet of Mercy, the Guide to Goodness, the Intercessor for the sinners, the Master of the First and Last, Sayyidina Muhammad (asws), and upon his noble family and blessed companions, especially upon the Four Khulafa-e-Rashideen, Hz. Abu Bakr el-Siddiq, Hz. Umar el-Faruq, Hz. Osman el-Ghani, and Hz. Ali el-Murtaza, and all those who follow them until the Last Day.

Ya Ayyuhal Mu’minoon. O Believers! Welcome to you on this Holy Day of Jummah, the Last Jummah of the Month of Shawwal. Welcome to you as we are about to enter into the Month of Zul Qaida, and as we are getting ready for the Month of Hajj and the Day of Kurban.

Ya Ayyuhal Mu’minoon! Allah swt has not created us for nothing. Allah swt has created us for a reason and with a purpose. And He is saying, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala Jalla wa ‘Ala, in the Holy Quran, in Surah Al-e-Imran, ‘BismillahirRahmanirRahim: Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the changing of the night and the day are signs for men of understanding. Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or lying on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, saying, “Our Lord, You did not create this for nothing; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire.’SadaqallahulAzeem (3:190-191).

And in another Surah, Surah Takwir, Allah swt is giving a message to the people of understanding saying: ‘BismillahirRahmanirRahim: When the sun with its spacious light is folded up. When the stars fall, losing their glimmer, when the mountains vanish like a mirage, when the she-camels, ten months pregnant, are left untended, when the wild beasts are herded together, when the oceans boil over with a swell, when the souls are sorted out. When the little girl who was buried alive is questioned for what crime she was killed, when the scrolls are laid open, when the world on High is unveiled, when the Blazing Fire is kindled to fierce heat and when the Garden is brought near, then shall each soul know what it has put forward. So I swear by the retreating stars, those that run their courses and disappear- and the night as it closes in, and the dawn as it breathes away the darkness. Verily this is the word of a most Honorable Messenger, dressed with Power, with a Rank before the Lord of the Throne, with authority there, faithful to his trust. And your friend, Muhammad (asws), is not a person who is crazy. Without a doubt he saw him in the clear horizon. And Muhammad is not a with holder of the knowledge of the unseen. And the Quran is not the words of the accursed sheytan. So where then are you going? Verily this is no less than a Message to all the worlds, for whoever wills among you to take a right course. And you do not will except what Allah wills- Lord of the Worlds.’ Sadaqallahul Azeem.

O Believers. Allah swt in this Surah is giving a description of the End of Times and of the oncoming of the Day of Judgment. And He is giving these signs and descriptions as a warning to the Children of Adam. And after giving this warning and after confirming the Message of the Holy Prophet (asws) and after praising him, Allah swt asks us a very, very, simple question:’Where then are you going?’ That is a very simple question, but it is a very big question. And it is a question that every human being that has ever lived on the face of the earth who really sits and contemplates, has to ask himself, ‘Where then are you going?’

And for us to answer that question and know where we are going, we have to look, first at where we are, what we are supposed to do where we are. Believers, where we are, it is not only where we are physically in the world. It is also where we are in time. And without a doubt, we are in the Ahir Zaman. We are in the Age of Tyranny. We are in the Second Jahiliyya, the Second Period of Ignorance. So what is it that we must be busy with in this End of Times? What must the one who is looking for safety and the Pleasure of his Lord do in these End of Times?

If we look at the Muslim world, if we look at 21st Century Muslims, we find that majority do not know the answer to this question. Yes, because we find that we do not know where we are going. Because, as our Sheykh is saying, Muslims today, we have lost our compass. There are some from the Muslims who say, ‘in this end of time, we must completely disappear. We must hide our Islam. We must blend in and be in identity, with the unbelievers. If we do that, then people will accept us and we will live in peace and we will be able to participate in dunya and relax. If the people want to accept homosexuality, we will also accept. If the people want to accept adultery and all the wrong actions, we will also accept it. If the people want to break every Law of Allah, then we will accept it.’ This is a very dangerous game that they are playing in front of Allah swt, because the believer, he must stand for Truth. And if he cannot stand for Truth through his hand or his tongue at the very least, his heart must stand up for the Truth. So if we forget what the Truth is and we accept every batil, we have already lost. We have already become the tools of dajjal, we are going to be from the losers.

And on the other side there are those who say, ‘everyone in this world is evil. Nobody in this world is on Tawheed. The Muslims are not on Tawheed, they are not believing in Allah, properly and sincerely, the non-Muslims are not on Tawheed,’ so they are all not on Tawheed except for themselves, ‘so we must kill all of them.’ They adopt the twisted ideology of the heretics of Islam like the Kharijis, and Ibn Taymiya, and Abdul Wahhab, and say that those who commit any disobedience, any disobedience, those who commit any wrong, they are Wajib al-Qatal, that they must be killed, it is obligation for them to be killed. And so they go around killing. And they say, ‘through this killing, through this terrorism, through this cruelty, we are standing up for the Truth and we are fulfilling the mission of the Prophet.’ They are the misguided ones. They are not only misguided, they are evil.

The Holy Prophet (asws) said in his Hujjatul Wada’, in his Farewell Sermon, ‘Do not go back to disbelief after me by cutting the necks of one another.’ So we find that these are the paths that today’s Muslims, majority are taking. That is where they are going. And one, in reality, is supporting the other. Without one, the other is not going to survive. And the direction that they are heading in, it is not the direction that is given to us by the Holy Prophet (asws). What is the order of the Holy Prophet (asws) for the End of Times? Our Sheykh, SahibulSaif Sheykh Abdul Kerim el-Kibrisi el-Rabbani (qs) is telling us, saying, ‘This world is reaching to the end, and we are the nation that’s reaching completely to the end of the time of this world.’ Alhadulillahi Rabbil Alameen.

Holy Prophet (asws) is saying, `Islam began Gharib, strange, and it’s going to end strange.’ And he says, his blessings and his Rahmat, mercy to those ones that are reaching to Ahir Zaman. And they are going to be strange among the people. He says, `Keep that way. Don’t drop it. If you do, you will drop your faith.’ The world population of Islam is reaching up to two billion. But the ones that are walking, trying to walk the footsteps of the Prophet (asws), not only the Prophet (asws) but the Sahaba-e Kiram, the Companions of the Prophet, the most important. Everyone is claiming, saying, ‘We are following the Prophet.’ How are you following the Prophet (asws) if you are not following the footsteps of the Companions? The Companions of the Prophet were the ones who were following the Prophet (asws).

Our Sheykh’s words, like the Prophet’s words, are clear and they are precise. What is he teaching us? He is teaching us that in this Ahir Zaman, in this Second Jahiliyya, for us to live properly we must look at the way that the Holy Prophet (asws) and his Sahaba-e-Kiram lived in the First Jahiliyya, in the first Age of Ignorance. What were the Companions busy with? They were busy with changing their egos and falling into complete submission and obedience to the Prophet. They were busy with what the Prophet was busy with. And what was Fahr-i-Kainat, Muhammad Mustafa (asws) busy with? Was he busy with teaching classroom knowledge? Was he busy with trying to fit into society? Was he busy with pleasing the unbelievers around him?

Holy Prophet (asws) is saying ‘Ad-dabbanee Rabbi; My Lord gave me good manners.’ He was teaching the good manners that were given to him by Allah swt to the Sahaba-e-Kiram. And through that Edep, they changed the whole world. So many people are looking down on Edep today. They are saying, ‘this is very simple, basic knowledge, too low level. We want to be busy with Hakikat, and Marifat, and Azamat.’ They are saying, ‘Edep is low.’ All the Hakikat and Marifat and Azamat, all the knowledges from the beginning to the end, it is all contained there, it is all contained in manners. Edep makes a man to know who his Lord is. Edep makes a man to know who his Prophet is. Edep makes a man to know where he is going. And that Edep is a light, and that light, it will take the whole world out of darkness.

In this Ahir Zaman, it is not the time for physically fighting and going to war. We are not going to war. Allah swt has given this time to the Tyrants. Just as the Holy Prophet (asws) and his Sahaba-e-Kiram did not go to war in the First Jahiliyya. They did not go to war until the Hijrah. This is the time to go to war with our egos and with sheytan, with our desires and with this dunya. Yet we see no one is going to war with these. Their ego and this dunya, their desires and definitely sheytan are their best friends, they are our allies. This is the time to fight against our ego. To fight that greater jihad. And that fighting of the ego, it makes the human to be dressed with Edep, and to become a true Servant of his Lord.

We are living in America. Alhamdulillah, through our Sheykh’s blessings, we are travelling across America. Travelling, for the sake of Allah, it is a very big Sunnat and it is a big principle of Tarikat, because it makes a man to reflect and to learn. And what we are seeing, travelling across this nation, is that the souls of the people are crying out. And their souls, they are desperate for the light of the Holy Prophet (asws), and the Light of the Evliyaullah. When they see anyone who is carrying that light, who is coming with that Edep, you see that their spirits they are finally, they are in peace. Not to preach. Not to hand out pamphlets. Not to give lectures. Definitely not to have conferences. But to have that Edep, to be carrying that light, that is enough to pull people’s hearts out of the darkness.

To spread that work, that is a big work of the Ahir Zaman, and it is the work of our Sheykh. It is the work that is given to our Sheykh by our Grandsheykh, Sultan el-Evliya. Sheykh Mawlana Muhammad Nazim Adil el-Hakkani said to our Sheykh, SahibulSaif, ‘The service that you do is beautiful, with the blessing of your holy ancestors, continue that service. Bringing a person to Islam, Iman, Tarikat is more valuable and rewarding than acquiring all of America in your hands. Continue it. Do not look at what people say. May you have no business with gossip. You are with permission, look at your job. If someone interferes then I will interfere. I have given you the permission. Gather as much as you can gather.’ And the words of Sultan ul-Evliya speaks the truth.

So what is the work of SahibulSaif? That is the work of SahibulSaif for us, Murids. Where then are we going? Are we being part of that work? Or are we letting our ego to overtake us? Or are we being lazy, saying, ‘somebody else can do it,’? Or are we being lazy, saying, ‘I’m just going to be busy with myself, making zikr, my family, and not try to reach out. I have to take care of my family. I have to take care of my house. I have to take care of my bank. I have to live my personal, selfish life.’

That is not the way of our Sheykh. The Way of our Sheykh, Holy Prophet (asws) is saying, ‘the way that you live, that’s how you are going to die. The way that you die, that’s how you are going to be raised.’ Our Sheykh passed from this world as a Syahid, because he lived as a syahid, and he will be raised as a syahid. Because he gave up everything, he gave up from his life. He also gave up from his family. He also gave up from his relations he gave up from the things that he loved, and the people that he loved, so many they betrayed him anyway. His life and his passing, it is only to witness Allah swt. Because only with a sacrifice can you become nothing. He is our guide. He is above us. He gave up everything, to show people the way to Allah and His Prophet, and we know that nothing made our Sheykh happier than pulling people out of their problems and bringing them into the Sirat al-Mustaqim. Yes, he pulled us all out of that darkness. He has been veiled from this world, and he has left us to that mission. So where, then, are we going? Are we pulling people out from their darkness? Or are we still in darkness, and pulling people into our darkness?

Never forget his Wasiyyat, SahibulSaif, may Allah raise his station, saying, ‘Believers must carry their proper manners outside and when people look at them, the appearances of the Holy Prophet (asws), the appearances of your Sheykh must appear through you to them. When that appears then they have no choice but to love in their hearts.’ This is our duty. We cannot do more than that.We have to try our best to do whatever is given to us to try to save ourselves and, as much as we can, others from that fire that is coming. There is a big fire coming now but we cannot say, ‘Big fire is coming and we saved ourselves. Now run away.’ No. If we are in safety then we are going to be in safety everywhere. We are going to be safe even inside the fire. Don’t worry. If you are working for Allah then you are going to be in safety everywhere. There is no worry for that one then.

So insha’Allah, we must try to spread this everywhere we can. If we do that then we are becoming beloved to Allah, beloved to the Holy Prophet (asws) and beloved to the Evliyaullah. If we love Allah and His Prophet then does Allah and His Prophet (asws) love us back? This is what we have to look at. And the only way we can get that love in return is if we are running to bring people out of that mess that they are in. Then Allah will love you. If Allah loves you then you don’t need anything. His Prophet (asws) and all Evliyaullah, everyone will love you then. All those who loves Allah will love you. All who they don’t love Allah, they will run away from you, that’s okay. That’s better then.

Insha’Allah, we must try a little bit harder. We must not lock ourselves into each other. Even if we are three or four people it doesn’t matter. It’s going to spread. It’s spreading. When we came here first we came as one person. One. All these areas, within a hundred miles distance in every direction there was no Azan calling, nobody knew Islam around here and nobody heard anything about it. People are busy with the cows and with their sheep. They were not even sitting and watching television. Slowly they started seeing and asking. “Oh, what is this and what is that?” Word passed from one to another and another and it’s spreading, Alhamdulillah. Now in a short time they know that there are Muslims living here and these Muslims, these Muslims, they are not like those ones that the television is showing as terror-merror and all these kinds of nonsense. It’s because we are trying to bring out the manners of our Sheykh. The manners of our Sheykh is the most perfect in the Divine Presence.

O Believers! Let us make intention to carry this mission of our Sheykh forward, so that we may be from those who are Beloved by our Sheykh, as those who are continuing his Way. Amin.

Jumma Khutba by Sheykh Lokman Efendi Hz,
Khalifah of SahibulSaif Shaykh Abdulkerim el Kibrisi (qs),
OSMANLI DERGAHI- New York
24 Shawwal 1437
July 29, 2016.