Divan-i Hilkati

(from the divan of Hilkat)

The ruined slave of ashk’s possessions wails in despair, the great cry. One hundred thousand intelligent ones are running towards that goal; in fact, they’re crushing each other. What can you say? Those who run with their intellects, because they always see faults in the road, get stuck on obstacles. It is in the place where the mild ones who have come to the awareness of their nothingness come together that the Beautiful One is kept secret.

Protect the plant that you have planted in your field from the weeds of separation until you can get its seeds. When the heat of ashk has killed the germs you will be a pure tongue. The purpose is to live this essence. You cannot go to the door of the Beloved with strangers or foes. Come pleasantly, heart. Come empty, heart.
To this gathering come quickly, heart.

I will never be fooled if you come in front of me with hypocrisy. I will take you and wrap you in the decree of authority, in the life force of my life. Oh, one beautiful misfortune is worth a thousand pieces of advice! On your path the fox and lion have become kings next to you and fallen into the the painter’s jar just like a buffoon.

The oppression of the night is lit up in the rose garden of my Beloved. The surroundings of Nur are circled with oppression, because He is ruh ul-kuddus, the Holy Spirit.

On the beaten path, this head of mine has become a throne. The bloody tears of my eyes have turned to dust and smoke in the desert of Kerbela.
When He came neither was I left, or you.

Thanks again to those who originally put these up on the web. When I have time to go back through and find all the sources, I'll post your links. Again, my purpose here is to put into one place various things about Sherif Baba and related paths into one place. I had all of these things put together in a Word Document and printed them for myself, and then a friend suggested that I put them all up here. I'm literally trying to put every sohbet that's online in one place. So thank you, those who did the work for these.


Sherif Baba's Opening Sohbet, Rumi Festival, September 26, 2002

Welcome, everybody.

In order for this beauty to spread throughout the world, for people's hearts to stick to one another with peace and love, there is the attribute of Salaam of Allah. So, insh’allah, let's do first a teffekur, a meditation on the attribute of Salaam.
We're going to repeat it together three times, and then we're going to do a little nifestation of Allah.

Because it is from here that Allah manifests, it is from here that Haq is known, it is here that it is seen, and it is here that it is lived. It is with these values that human beings come to this universe. If we know this value, we will look to each other with the eyes of Haq. And divisions will then dissipate, and we will love one another. As you know, this is the week of Mevlana, and we're going to give place to the views of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, wondering what messages Mevlana gave for humanity. By summarizing the messages given by all of the prophets, he held up a light in a way that we would understand. So, because we're going to be celebrating the birthday of Mevlana, we'll be speaking in explanation of some of the views of Mevlana.

As you all know there is this famous saying of his that he used-all of you know this one-he says, "Come, come, no matter what you are, come." So it begins with the call. He's calling out the most beautiful azhan, the most beautiful call to prayer. This is the call to prayer of humanity: "Come, no matter what you may be, come!"

Come where? Don't come under the tent, don't come inside the four walls, don't come to any specific place, but come to yourself. Everything is inside of you. The mystery of this universe is in you. The beauty of the Creator is in you. And in order to make this work, you've been given five senses. And on top of them all, that which he createdin the most magnificent way, the mind.

When people can work these, they will know their own worthiness. That's when you
understand how valuable and worthy all people are. A person who does not know his own
worth will not be able to understand the worth of other people, nor will they be able to understand the preciousness of the environment, the animals, the plants. A life that is lived without value will take you into darkness and will also take the world into darkness. The path of all of the prophets has all been established on one set of rules of ahlak, of morality. All came with the same justice; all showed the same path. They all show one path.
According to the understanding of the people of their days, it has been evaluated with different names. But there is but one way.

And what is that one way? It's the path that Mevlana called us on with "Come, come!" Come to humanity, find the human being, know that it is all in the human being, and be within your human- beingness. It is only a human being that can train another human being. Because we have this kind of value, however much we thank our Creator, it still will not be enough. We will not even be able to become one drop of water within the great ocean.

Just think, in order to nourish us, in order to let us live, everything has been given in the most beautiful way. Such beautiful justice has been created. This has been set on the system of ahlak, of morality. If there is justice that is not established on ahlak, then it is harmful. This is this way in business, this is this way in your personal life-everything has to be just and on ahlak.

And as you know, justice is not equality or equalness. We think that justice means being equal-it is not. Some people are shortened, some are made taller, some are given little, others are given much. But when they all join together, it creates a balance.

I always give this example: this hand. Look, all of the fingers have different lengths. Not one of them is equal to the other in length. If they were, then you wouldn't be able to do anything with them. because they're all different lengths, when they gather together, they become one point. You can hold a pen; you can do your work. But if they were all long, then we would disrupt the balance.


And justice is the same way. Some are strong and powerful, some are weak; some are poor, some are wealthy. But for all of them to join together in one place, we need the system of ahlak. All religions have been established on the system of ahlak, of morality that is in Tassawuf, in Sufism. And the prophets, according to the times they lived in, explained this, and connected them to rules, to laws. Here we gather, and here we see, and here we try to know what these rules and laws are, and to live them, so we can come to humanity, and become human beings. Allah said, "I have created the human being in the most perfect way, in the most holy way."

But people are left in gaflet, in unawareness, and forgot justice, and have been no longer able to live their ahlak, so that same human being says, "They are animals, in fact maybe even lower than animals." Now, who is this being said to? It's being said to us-people. There's no color here; there's no religion. All in unity, this address was made to all of humanity as one being. What fools us are labels. "I'm a Muslim, the other's a Christian, the other is Jewish, the other is Buddhist, the other is a Hindu..."

No matter what people are, it's these labels of names that fool us. We have all been sent here with the same value as human beings. Allah filtered us through this cave, this cellar, and brought us into this world. We all come from the same water, and we didn't come here with labels. We came here naked. It is here that we clothe ourselves. But as we leave, we also leave naked.

The meaning of this is to show the beauty and purity of Allah. Adam is safiyullah; Adam is the pure one of Allah. So it is because Adam manifested this attribute to humanity that this name was given to him. What brings us to gaflet, to unawareness, is duality, labels. "That one is red, this one is black, that one is Jewish, this one is Muslim, Christian"-these don't exist. Mevlana was raised as a Muslim, but when he said, "Come, come," he wasn't calling people to Islam. He was calling out to humanity.

Today, you see that from east to west, everywhere, the Masnawi is being read, and it is giving the light of peace to the whole world. Where this came out of was a source of Islam-but he didn't say Christian, he didn't say Jewish. But he brought a transaction among people inside of peace, and this expanded that culture in such a way that it's spreading its light everywhere in the world now. And you have this, I have this; it's in the east, it's in the west. Allah sent us with this worthiness into the world, with these values.

If we do not work, it darkens. And then let's complain to Allah: "It's dark! Ya Rabb, Lord, make it light again!" So is Allah an electrician that he's going to turn on a switch? We are the electricians. Allah taught us everything, how is it going to turn on, how it is going to turn off, and we have to learn this. All of the great ones-all of the saints, all of the prophets-all showed us the path of humanity.

It doesn't matter how you pray. Allah doesn't just know one language. So we have to recite everything in Arabic, we have to pray in Arabic, or do we have to pray in Turkish? No. Whatever language you have, it is with that that you get yourself close to Allah, because that language inside of you is the language of the Creator. Don't make it into one mold; don't limit it into one thing. Allah is capable of all things. Allah is Kabir and Basir, Allah knows of and sees all things, and Allah will manifest into everybody's hearts. It doesn't matter how you approach it, but just look to be close to Allah.

It is when we people can approach each other and become unified, and Allah, who is
watching us with his attribute of Raqib, becoming happy with this union of ours, will give us this beauty. We have to work, and find it, and become it. How? By looking at each other. What's lacking in me, when I look at you I will complete this in myself. Say I'm a very impatient person, and you're very patient. I'm going to look at you, and from you, learn patience. When you do your work in patience, and in time, attain this beauty, and I'm doing my work with impatience, and I'm being harmed-what's going to happen? In my mirror, you see this harm, and in your mirror, I see this benefit.

So how are we going to evaluate this? That means that when you work with Sabur- with
patience-beauty happens, peace happens, Ashk is lived, and unity is established. And when work is done with impatience-harm. Now I was giving an example from Sabur, from
patience, but everything is this way when people are working together. When people can become mirrors to each other this way-now you can tell me what the result will be, because I don't know it. Look around you and see what the results are. In order to become, we all have to become mirrors for each other, and look at each other with the eyes of Haq.

Hajji Bektashi Veli had this saying: "As you look, so you will see." However you look, that's how you get. So, for example, someone will come here, will look, and say "Oh, this is beautiful-trees. Such beautiful greenery, beautiful air! Everything is so beautiful," they will say.

This is the same nature that we're talking about. Someone else comes to look, says, "Look at these dry trees. There's poison ivy all over the place." They look in this different way, and however much criticism there is, they lay it on. So, in other words, turn their tongue into an axe, and bring down all these trees.

The same nature is given its value through how you look. And this look establishes in you an understanding, and that's when you try to become mature. Life is this way. However you look at it, that's the energy that you're going to get from it. When you look with the eyes of criticism, then you're going to be harmed by this energy. When you look with eyes of goodness, and work in a constructive manner, you'll get the energy of Ashk.

Don't wait for this to come from Allah. Allah's given it to you. This Internet is working in you, and you're the one who has to run it. Whatever you write, whatever kind of messages you send out, that's the kind of answers you're going to get back. Transaction with Allah is transaction with human beings.

I don't know if I've been able to explain myself. It's easy to talk about it, but to live it is hard, because I asked first of all myself: "You're talking about this stuff, but are you living it?" And so I criticize myself. We're all trying at every moment to do the muhassabeh of the nafs, the self-analysis. A person cannot live on his or her own, cannot work on his or her own. But if it is in unity, people can help each other, so when you fall, they can reach out to you and pick you back up. The only one that does not fall and get back up again is Allah.

A child, in order to learn how to walk, has to fall and get back up. It doesn't come out of the womb walking. Look, you see that child there, it's crawling. Tries to set a balance, falls back down, the mother picks him or her back up, helps him a little bit. But every time they get back up, their knees get stronger. They get this energy, they learn how to fall and get back up again. The brain is able to give its commands to those knees, and tells them, "You're going to fall, but you're going to get back up and you're going to learn how to walk.

And the same way that this happens on the Zahir, the outer, on the path of humanity the same thing happens. So when we become unified, we can fall. They will pick us up by the hand and raise us up again. But when we're alone-if a child would fall all by itself, get lost in the mud, maybe die. But when there's someone near them, they will lift them back up, and this is how humanity is. We cannot look at people's colors or sizes. We're not to look at whatever religion or sect they belong to. All of us have to give this message to each other: "Come, come!" Not "Come to us," but "Come to the enlightened heart."

There is this gönül, this enlightened heart, and that is what creates that beauty inside of a person's heart. All of us have to enter into this gönül, into this enlightened heart. That's the house of Allah. Allah has no address. The address of Allah is Lam Ikyan (?), the unnamed, nonexistent place. But his abode, the place where Allah manifests, is the human being.

I told you once a story. If you give me permission, let me tell the story again. It's a story that's giving evidence to our words. This happened about 50 years ago in Istanbul. One of the dervishes, a very poor man, couldn't find any money, couldn't find any work, so he started rebelling. He says, "I'm going to write Allah a letter."

His friend says, "how can you write Allah a letter? What address are you going to send it to? Where's the money going to come from-is it going to fall out of the sky?"

He says, "I know the address." This dervish was just so pure; he was in a state of rebellion, but within that rebellion, he's living the beauty of Allah, without even knowing it. So he wrote a letter.

It said, "Dear Allah, I can't find any work. My family's hungry." But he's writing it with such sincerity-not in a ridiculing manner, but he's writing it with faithfulness and sincerity. "I'm hungry, my family is hungry." In those days, 50 lira was a lot of money. He says, "Send me 50 lira."

So he wrote this letter, put it in an envelope, stuck a stamp on it, and then wrote this address: "Dear Allah, the City of Lam Ikyam, the nonexistent city"-and threw it in the post box.

So now it's going to be mailed to Allah. Which way is it going to go? It goes to the post office, it's going through the distribution system, and it's all being sorted out according to addresses. They all sort them out, according to all these different ways. So one of the postmen looks, and it says "Dear Allah, the City of Lam Ikyam, the nonexistent city." So he
takes it to the postmaster, and he says, "We got this letter; what are we going to do?" And they're afraid to open it up.

The postmaster looks at it, and he opens it, and he reads it. And as he's reading it, he cries. Because that letter was written with so much compassion, the compassion of the person reading it becomes inflamed. So he took the address of the man who sent it, and put 50 lira in the envelope, and wrote this man's address on the envelope, and then on the back he says, "Sent by Allah," or "the servant of Allah," whatever-he wrote something, and he sent it.

So the man gets this envelope, and he gets so happy! He says, "You see-I knew Allah's
address. You see how He sent it?" So you see where Allah works from. With sincerity, with compassion-when people can live with these, then people go into action, and that Ashk manifests. If that man had not written this letter with sincerity, and if the other man had not read it with compassion, there would be no Ashk, and they would have said, "This man is crazy!"and thrown it away. But that sincerity that brought Ashk into action, when it's joined together with compassion-the man read it and he cried. And he put the 50 lira in there and he sent it.

So that means it doesn't come from the sky! This is a story that actually happened, but here it is telling us something. When people connect to each other with sincerity and faithfulness, you see how Allah works from heart to heart. The Prophet said that "From heart to heart, there is the path of Allah." Now whatever kind of path or road that is-maybe it's like the paths of the Internet, or maybe like train rails-some kind of road, but it works from person to person. That means that if we want to gain the Nur of Allah, we have to connect to each other with love, and be sincere.

No matter where you are-place is not important-what is important is your time. However you evaluate that time, that's where Allah is, along with you. Because the Creator is asking us, in every breath, "Every moment, every instant, I was with you. Who were you with?"

Now answer this. Who are we with? This is how we have to take hold of each other, how we have to love each other. When we love each other, then we can give Allah the answer through our states. To be one and together with the dosts, the true friends of Allah, is to live Allah in your heart. If you remember Allah whenever you see me, and forget Him when you don't, then you're forgotten Allah. All of us are like this. When we see one another as if we are seeing Allah-we have to look with the eyes of Haq. Everything is in our hands. Allah has given us this. There is this ayet that I recited at the beginning of the sohbet: Allah is giving a message. "Because people live in a state of gaflet, of unawareness, for surely they are in a state of darkness and sadness." Then he explains to us the characteristics of those who have
been able to save themselves from this darkness. They have iman-they have faith-and they connect to one another, and they do good works. These are those who have been saved from darkness." Then he opens up two of their attributes. These are what they do and it is this that brings light to the darkness.

And what are those two attributes? They advise each other in Haq, they speak beautiful things to each other, and they are patient with each other, they have Sabur with each other. Now, mashallah, we have such beautiful Sabur, such beautiful patience. May Allah increase it for us! Because if we keep on like this, always complaining and complaining, instead of this rain coming down on our heads, it'll be mud coming down on our heads. We have to have Sabur and try to see the beauty in everything.

One day, when the Prophet was walking through the desert with his companions, they saw the carcass of a dog. In that heat, it was crawling with maggots, and smelled very bad. All the companions grabbed their noses and made a big "U" around it. The Prophet looked at the dog, and went and squatted down right in front of his head. He looked at this dog and went into teffekur, into meditation. The he called his companions. "Come," he said. Of course, everyone had to let go of their noses when they came up to the Prophet. "A few minutes ago, you were holding your nose because of the stench-now,did the smell change, that you let go?"

But they came. He said, "Sit down. Look this dog; what do you see?"

And they all said, "We don't know, Rasulullah. You know. You see better than we do."

He says, "Look at those teeth! They're so beautiful, so white." That's it. Then they get up and leave.

Now you understand whatever you can get from that, because there are so many messages
being with that, all with just one sentence... to see one beauty. You didn't see this beauty here-you saw the maggots, you saw the stench, and you ran from it. But look, because inside it, surely, there is some beauty. So yeah, there are places in life where you have the stench of the carcass. But inside it, there's still a beauty. It is our responsibility to see this beauty.

"Oh, this happened, or that happened..." With these kinds of complaints, and with this kind of criticism, you're not going to get light-only increase the darkness. All of us have to do the responsibility that befalls us. We have to advise each other to beauty, and we have to advise each other to patience. We have to enlighten ourselves, and we have to enlighten our world. If we can possess this beauty, immediately the sun will come, and the hurricane will change its path and go. All of this depends on your beauty, because we're the ones who reflect it. We are the ones who give direction. We have to ask, we have to advise each other in beauty, and we have to live this beauty. We came here beautiful, we have to leave beautiful, and we have to live this eternal life beautifully. Our purpose is to become beautiful human beings,
to help one another.

May Allah make us beautiful human beings. I have only one prayer, and it's this. Every language understands this prayer. The meaning of the four books is all in that one statement.

Ya Rabb, make us beautiful human beings. All the laws have been put in order to explain this phrase. Thank you.

Transcribed by Rafi' Wright
Sohbet / Poem
Sherif Baba…Sunday, June 30, 2002, Vancouver, BC,
Beginning of Sohbet - First Draft

The Creative Power became in Ashq, in love, with Its own Being
And created all these beautiful ones from Its own being
And hid within it Its own Being.

Those songs were all hidden.
It applied Its art and said Sebel Mesani.
This art is being worked into the world.

The beauties chase each other.
The sun chases the moon.
The stars chasing each other.
The opposites were created.
The opposites were joined.

And It showed It’s own Being.
Its hidden treasures were opened with these songs.
The harmonies of these melodies wrapped around the universe.
Wrapped around…
Wrapped around…
Going in and out,
It applied Its art

Every moment applied Its art…
Everything open to be seen…
Hidden in the ones who hide it.
But those who are open will see.

Allah is inside this beauty.
Its presence is known and It is seen through us.
It is Its own being that is seen.

So don’t wear yourself out.
Don’t run for nothing.
Don’t run for nothing.
Follow the beautiful ones.

Walk in and out
Embrace with Ashq
It is in that Beauty that Allah is.

If you find Allah, you will be intoxicated at every moment.
This is how the Kalender were.

This divine mystery is the Sebel Mesani that is inside of the Fatiha.
They embrace each other.

Allah is always seen in the joining of the opposites.
We are to embrace,
not to become tired
and chase each other.

To search for Allah is to search for your own being.
It is not in a place,
Not in the street,
Not in the sky,
but in your heart.

The enlightened heart is Allah’s home.
That place is the Beyt ul-Rahman.
That place is where you go around,
not some stone building.

That beauty is from the Nur of Allah.
That beauty has reflected from your heart as Jamal.

This we have to see.
Allah works from here.
and is seen from here.

We have to run.
We have to turn.
We have to turn inside our hearts.

We have to expand the movement of the muslimin*
through the turning inside our hearts.

We have to stick to one another,
not become detached.

Everything is chasing each other.

Why are you sitting?

O you, wake up.
Open your clothing.
Disrobe from this clothing of sin and
become enlightened with the purity of Muhammediyeh.
This caravan is the caravan of the ehli-beyt.
Run to this caravan, follow it, don’t be left behind.
It is Allah’s Being that works through you.
It applies Its art…
Every moment It applies it.

Try to see this.
Wipe your eyes.
Look inside yourself.
Look around you and you will see
And you will find what you are looking for.
You will know and you will be.
The beauty in the well will be pulled
out of your mind with a rope.

Drop that rope into the well
And pull that beauty out of it.
It lives within you.
It works within you.
It is the Sebel Mesani.
It has been given to us as a present.

The door of Miraj was opened to us.
Divinity is the garden at Its gate.
It is made up of the angels.
The angels are made up of your thoughts.
They all bow before you.
The universe bows before you.

The bowing is not to a rock.
it is not to a wall…
it is to the Didar, the face of Allah.**
We have to bow and see It in one another.

The Prophet says “Whoever sees me sees Haq”.

That most beautiful of the beautiful
did not leave Allah as an illusion,
but brought It down into the human being
and showed Haq in his own being.
And you are like him.

Don’t be lazy…work.
This is the secret of An al-Haq…I am.
And it is screaming out of you.
Don’t be deaf.
Listen to it.

Mevlana, for this reason said, “Listen.”
We have to listen.
We have to hear that sound in ourselves.

There is only one sound in the universe
and that is the Seda*** of Allah

It is only the Seda of Allah
that will remain Baqi, eternal.

Try to hear this.

Run after humanity.
Don’t see separation.

Don’t walk on the sand
so that your footprints are left behind.

Run into the ocean.
Lose your footprints.
Flow like the rivers.
Flow with joy.

Split your head open on the rocks as you come.
Say Haq.

Until you enter into the ocean,
Say Haq.
Run.
Run.
Join.
Join together.

The presence of Allah is the joining of the opposites inside of you.

Make this vuslat, this union,
a miraj, an ascension in your heart.

As this beauty is chased,
chase that beauty inside of yourself.

Don’t sit there…run…search…find…be…


This is what the Creator wants.
It doesn’t look to your name.
It doesn’t look to your body.
It doesn’t look to your color.

What does it look to?
It is watching Its own Beauty in us.
And you have to watch Its Beauty in yourself.

Sebel Mesani is to be mirrors two by two.
We have to look into this mirror
and we will see that being.

We are to chase the beautiful ones.

Ashk
Ashk
On the path of Ashk we have to give our lives
as the prize for Haq.

Like the Budala,
Like the Kalender,
We have to be mestane.
We have to join the opposites together.
We are not to say good or ugly.
We are not to say old or new.

But…love…embrace…run together.

Say…Ashk…Ashk

With Love
let us turn around
in our Gönül,
our enlightened hearts
*muslimin... the submitted ones.
**Didar...The Only Face, the Beloved's face,
the face of humanity.
*** Seda...the voice of Allah
****mestane...intoxication, ecstacy, drunk with Ashq

Sherif Baba discusses the Miraj

Miraj was the night on which it was announced that Hazret-i-Muhammad was raised to the level of Allah, and spoke to It. In the Sura of Esra, the 15th sura, this was written in the Koran. In Sura Al-Najm, the 53rd sura of the Koran, this is explained. Miraj means to ascend, to rise up. It is the opening of the esma of Mu'izz in the human being. As a person gains their dignity, as they serve people beautifully, as they are exalted on the road of Haqq, of truth, of correctness, Allah will allow them as their allotment the Miraj, the ascension.
Hazret-i- Muhammad, one night, when he was at the age of 53, was sent a buraq by Gabriel, and mounting this buraq he was taken to the Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, and from there he ascended to the level of Allah. Together with Jibreel, with Gabriel, they made this journey, until they came to sidrat-ul-Muntaha (that means the Last Boundary), and when they came to that spot, Jibreel stopped, and Hazret-i-Rasul Allah went on in. He said to Jibreel, Come too, but he said, I cannot. I have no permission. If I come inside I will burn. I will wait for you here. And the Prophet entered through that door, and had his words with Allah. According to one tradition he took 90,000 words, and everything from the beginning of the world to the Day of Resurrection was shown to him, and he was allowed to know everything. And one of the requirements of Islam, the salat, the namaz, the ritual prayer, was given on that night. Many things were shown on this Miraj, and he asked and learned about everything that was shown. When he came back from Miraj, he explained this to his umma, to his people.
Within the 90,000 words that he spoke with Allah, there were three kinds of words. These were spoken without sound, without breath, without hearing. One part of this was opened up to people in an outer way, a zahir way, The second part was given to Ehli Beyt, to the family of the Prophet, and this is called ilmi ledün. And the third part he kept within himslf as a divine mystery. Within this are the zat ul-ilm, the essential knowledge, and that belongs to him. He allowed us to know these. so that when we work with this beauty and goodness, and hold onto the commands of Allah, and follow the paths of the prophets, that Allah will also allow it to be our nasib to have this Miraj as well. Because this is what Hazret-i-Peygamber, the Prophet, said. He said, my Miraj has been given to my umma, to my people, through the namaz. This all happens within one night, and it all passes in one instant, in one moment, in a way that the mind cannot comprehend, with great hikmet, wisdom, in great mystery.
They asked about this, when the Prophet came back from Miraj. they asked, Where was he? His wife said that he was sleeping in the bed next to her. He went on Miraj and came back. The place he was lying was still warm, she said, when he came back. So this is how short a time he was physically gone. A person's mind stops here. What is this? What does he go with? What does he come back with? What was Jibreel? What was Muhammad? What was the Miraj?
I tell you of this in every sohbet that we have, and I'm saying it again now, that if we follow these paths, that Allah will allow us as our nasib, this greatness. Because Allah is Wahhab; He gives, He bestows. Allah is Karim; He will give it to you through His generosity. Allah is Latif; He gives, and you can gain everything. That looks to our work. However much it is that we work, He will give us the latoof in the same ratio. In Tassawuf, Miraj is to live the beautiful ahlak, and you know we are always speaking of the systems for doing this. That which elevates a person's character, that which gives a person honor, are the systems of ahlak. Then Allah will allow us to have our Miraj.
So what's going to happen if we have our Miraj? We 're going to gain the joy of the days in which we live, and we will get also the joy of the days we are going to live, now. And within this beauty and goodness that Allah gives we are going to live in a beautiful way, and we will give beauty and goodness to the people. The testimony of this was seen within Hazret-i- Muhammad. After he came back from Miraj, he spoke of this beauty and goodness. He lived it, and allowed it to be lived. And Allah called him Rahmet ul-alemin, the mercy of the worlds. We have sent you to the worlds as mercy and compassion, He said. This was addressed to him, and through him to the deserving human beings. So we also have to be deserving of this, and try to live these paths.
Even if it is a little, even if it is slow, if we get out on this road with beautiful intentions, Allah will allow us to live it. Allah says, To those who will take one step towards Me, I will advance to them in ten steps. What does this mean? For the goodness that you do, He will give you ten beauties, and you will grow very quickly in beauty and goodness. Then you will find your peace and tranquility, and you will give peace and tranquility, huzur, to those around you. It is for this that we have come to this world. The Nur that brings light to this world is people. Allah is the Nur of the heavens and the earth, and people, human beings, are the reflectors of it. So let us know each other's value and live with belief so that we can enter into the attribute of Mu'min, believer, of Allah. And by finding our rahmet, our beneficience, let us also be rahmet ul-alemin, the mercy and compassion of the world. This was the attribute of the Prophet, and this was the present that he gave to us. Let us do our worship, as much as is possible for us; let us not shirk our duties; let not the negativity that is outside enter into our ears. Even if these negative words come into our ears, let us change it into beauty and goodness. And let us speak beautifully to one another, and not carry bad words. To the degree that we can serve beautifully, that is how quickly the doors of the Miraj will open for us.
After the Prophet did his Miraj, he unfurled the flag of "a may ul hamid" for people. To the degree that we can give praise, hamd, for Allah has allowed us to come together in such beautiul places, with such beautiful people, then we will also enter under the banner of hamd, of praise, and we will be enlightened with the Nur of all of the prophets. We came as beautiful from Allah. We will go to Allah as beautiful. We have come from Allah, we are going back to Allah. We were seen as one drop, and we have turned into huge oceans. A person might be seen as a small thing, but he is the mystery of all of creation, of all of the universes. So you're carrying a huge world. If we know our own worth, we will gain our character, and exalt.
May Allah make us beautiful human beings.
This is our one point. When we step on this point of beauty and goodness, then the beauty and goodness of all of our lives will come, and all existence is hidden within there. Even if you suffer difficulties it will be beautiful. If you cry it will be beautiful. Even if you receive punishment it will be beautiful. If you cry it will be beautiful, if you laugh it will be beautiful. If you are poor, it will be beautiful. If you are rich, it will be beautiful. But if it is not goodness and beauty, then everything that comes to you will bring you harm. Look at all of history; all beauty has been lived. How? Always with its opposites. Allah might seem to be giving punishment, but follows it with beauty and goodness. The scenarios of the prophets were always in this way. Look at Yusef, look at Eyyub, at Job, look at Yunus. It is always with opposites that they have found this beauty and goodness. So we have to give praise, hamd, to every state we are in. Be thankful, and always say this: Ya Rabb, make us beautiful human beings, and allow us the nasib to walk on this beautiful path.

A Sufi shaykh discusses coffee...

The prophet says “There are such mistakes that it will be steps in the evolution of my people.” Now this doesn't mean go out and make mistakes, but it means to come to awareness there. If a person can't cry, they can't really feel the joy of laughing. The events of our lives are training us, are cooking us. Now coffee is a fruit which represents ashk, because it totally represents the realm of the heart. In Tassawuf we have this state called seyri suluk. This journey, from the beginning to the end, is described with the words seyri suluk. And so the seyri suluk of the coffee is completely ashk.



Now, coffee, when it grows in a tree, is a fruit covered by a shell. And then it goes through so many steps. First they take it, break open the shell, then they roast it, and keep turning it as it's roasting, the poor seed is screaming out there the whole time. As it's being roasted, the filthy scents are being burned out of it. And then what do they do with it? They take it, put it into a grinder, and just grind it. Just like a mureed in the hands of a murshid gets ground and ground… And turns into, like, flour. Its color has changed. Its name has changed. We call it coffee now. But if you just ask that poor coffee up to that point, how much pain it had to go through – and then you take it from there, it is not over yet, you put it in water, and then put it under the fire again. So there the second fire is burning it. Then it starts to dance, foaming on top, and then the Beloved drinks it.


And that's how ashk is. First it develops in the heart. Just like coffee. But it's got this shell around it, so in other words there is gaflet, unawareness enveloping it. So first you have to break that shell open, and then it's got to darken first in the sun. It's the nazr of the murshid, when you are seen by a murshid, the look... But still, it is hard, if you try to bite it, it will break your tooth. Then you put it into the fire. There, he's put into the love of people. When you enter into the love of people, you go in with the ego. There you plant your plum tree. But in the end, you are going to eat the grape. There, after that, you are put into the grinder. The lessons that the murshid gives, the systems of living in our lives, so all of these encounters, events, crush you. There you learn humility, patience, you learn how to be halim and salim, soft and gentle, you learn sukud, silence. You learn not to be hasty, and to do everything in its time. Now all of this is to be crushed with the events in our lives. It's easy to say, but to live it is really tough, just like that coffee that's being ground between those two rocks, the heart gets ground there. Then that hard coffee becomes soft. Then they take you and they put you in the water. But you still haven't reached kemal yet, you haven't reached full evolution yet. Underneath you that fire of ashk has to burn. That's when that true ashk has to begin. And such a compassion develops that it envelops the whole world, all people. If you hit that person, he'll take out the morsel in his mouth and give it to you. Ashk brings you to such a state, the state of the Prophet, of being rahmet alemin, the compassion of the world, is the makam, the station, of ashk. Every person who lives this ashk will take people under his wings. That's why the emblem of the Sufi Order is the winged heart, because they take you underneath your wings. This is coffee. That's why you all love coffee so much. We always drink coffee after we eat, in small cups.

SHERIF BABA

The 99 Names of God

Ya Allah
Ya Hu
Ya Rahman the All Merciful
Ya Rahim the All Compassionate
Ya Malik the Absolute Ruler
Ya Quddus the Pure One
Ya Salam the Savior
Ya Mu’min the Inspirer of Faith
Ya Muhaymin the Guardian
Ya Aziz the Victorious
Ya Jabbar the Compeller
Ya Mutakabbir the Greatest One
Ya Khaliq the Creator
Ya Bari the Maker of Order
Ya Musawwir the Shaper of Beauty
Ya Ghaffar the Forgiving
Ya Qahhar the Crusher
Ya Wahhab the Giver of All
Ya Razzaq the Sustainer
Ya Fettah the Opener
Ya Alim the Knower of All
Ya Qabid the Constrictor
Ya Basit the Reliever
Ya Khafid the Abaser
Ya Rafi the Exalter
Ya Mu’izz the Bestower of Honors
Ya Mudhill the Humiliator
Ya Sami the Hearer of All
Ya Basir the Seer of All
Ya Hakam the Judge
Ya Adl the Just
Ya Latif the Subtle One
Ya Khabir the All-Aware
Ya Halim the Forbearing
Ya Azim the Magnificent
Ya Ghafur the Forgiver and Hider of Faults
Ya Shakur the Rewarder of Thankfulness
Ya Ali the Highest
Ya Kabir the Greatest
Ya Hafiz the Preserver
Ya Muqit the Nourisher
Ya Hasib the Accounter
Ya Jalil the Mighty
Ya Karim the Generous
Ya Raqib the Watchful One
Ya Mujib the Responder to Prayer
Ya Wasi the All-Comprehending
Ya Hakim the Perfectly Wise
Ya Wadud the Loving One
Ya Majid the Majestic One
Ya Ba’ith the Resurrector
Ya Shahid the Witness
Ya Haqq the Truth
Ya Wakil the Trustee
Ya Qawi the Possessor of All Strength
Ya Matin the Forceful One
Ya Veli the Finder and Protector
Ya Hamid the Praised One
Ya Muhsi the Appraiser
Ya Mubdi the Originator
Ya Mu’id the Restorer
Ya Muhyi the Giver of Life
Ya Mumit the Taker of Life
Ya Hayy the Everlasting One
Ya Qayyum the Self-Existing One
Ya Wajid the Finder
Ya Majid the Glorious
Ya Wahid the Only One
Ya Ahad the One
Ya Samad the Satisfier of All Needs
Ya Qadir the All-Powerful
Ya Muqtadir the Creator of All Power
Ya Muqaddim the Expediter
Ya Mu’akhkhir the Delayer
Ya Awwal the First
Ya Akhir the Last
Ya Zahir the Manifest One
Ya Batin the Hidden One
Ya Wali the Governor
Ya Muta’ali the Supreme One
Ya Barr the Doer of Good
Ya Tawwab the Guide to Repentence
Ya Muntaqim the Avenger
Ya Afu the Forgiver
Ya Ra’uf the Clement
Ya Malik al-Mulk the Owner of All
Ya Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram the Lord of Majesty and Bounty
Ya Muqsit the Equitable One
Ya Jami the Gatherer
Ya Ghani the Rich One
Ya Mughni the Enricher
Ya Mani the Preventer of Harm
Ya Darr the Creator of the Harmful
Ya Nafi the Creator of Good
Ya Nur the Light
Ya Hadi the Guide
Ya Badi the Originator
Ya Baqi the Everlasting One
Ya Warith the Inheritor of All
Ya Rashid the Righteous Teacher
Ya Sabur the Patient One


Ya Hannan The creative power in ashk by which we gain our eternality.
Ya Mennan All of the bounty created in the 18,000 worlds.
Ya Deyyan The only Beloved worthy of worship is Allah.
Ya Burhan The most beautiful evidence of the Divine being, the human being.
Ya Subhan Everything created calls upon Allah.

Sherif Baba: Sohbets on the Esma el-Husna (99 Names)

Jemil
Allah Jemil Allah Hu.
The esma, attribute, of Jemil reflects the beauty of Allah. The esma of Jemil is manifest in people as Jemal. We are going to try to do tefekkur of this beautiful Name of Allah.
"Allah is beautiful and loves the beautiful." Allah created the universe with beauty. He created all beauties for humanity. The sun, the moon, everything that we see He created for people to live beautifully, and He is giving good energy through all of it. If people know how to use this well, then they will find this beauty, and they will beautify their lives. If they are not able to find this beauty, then this beauty in them will become negative, and this example of paradise, this life, will turn into fire.
Allah did not create anything bad. He created everything as good and beautiful. He has given everything to the service of humanity. There is not one thing that will serve else as humanity. Everything that is done, everything that we see, is serving humanity. If we see these truths, these realities, then we will walk towards the Reality, and we will find beauty.
We are all dependent upon this beauty. Allah created the universe with His ashk, Divine love, and through the esmas of Jemil and Jelil this is reflected onto humanity. People are living with this ashk. Everything of beauty comes with this ashk. That's why the greatest key is ashk. It opens the hearts of people, who opens the door of Paradise.
How can this be lived? There is a discipline involved. There is a system involved. To learn this system comes with learning good ahlak, behavior or conduct. Everything that Allah has created is tied to this system. If something is missing in our ahlak, then we will find the beauty with difficulty. We are always inside of this beauty, but we are not able to find it.
Let's say that this room became dark, and there's no light. There's only one key that you have lost, but you can't find it. Whenever you turn on the light, you will find the key. This beauty has been created, and we are living inside of it, but we can't find it because it's dark. Living with good ahlak enlightens this darkness.
Humbleness, sincerity and service to humankind come in the beginning of good ahlak. When these are lived with correctness, as a present from Allah, the ashk will come into our hearts. When this ashk comes, then we are in possession of all beauty. That's why in the hadith that we read at the beginning, Allah says "I am beautiful and love the beautiful." This beauty is not physical. The ones who ties themselves to and are walking on the spiritual path in possession of good ahlak--they are the beauty. If we people can tie to each other with our hearts, and if there's no badness in our thoughts, then Allah will show us this beauty. Let us keep our thoughts clean and let our love live. Let us never be prideful, let us not feel bigger, greater. Greatness belongs to Allah. The One who created everything is Allah. Beauty belongs to Allah. Allah is beautiful. We are going to try to find this beauty, and when we find it, then we ourselves will become more beautiful, and our surroundings will become more beautiful. Our world will become more beautiful.
How is this going to happen? We are not alone. There are millions of angels around us. Their duty is to spread the beauty that we cause to live around the world. You will think something good here, and with this gathering will come to a good and beautiful decision. Some time later, from somewhere else, the beautiful thing that you thought will be brought about.
There is no nearness or distance. Everyplace is in the possession of Allah. And the Nur, the Divine light of Allah, is everywhere, and will show this beauty, this goodness. So, let us be three here, let us be five, let us live the goodness and beauty. Let us speak beautifully, let us serve beautifully, and the beautiful energy that will come from this work that we have done will be reflected all over the world. There will be peace in the world, there will be love in the world, and humanity will be lived. Where this is tied together is with the system of good ahlak. We have to learn this.
Our path is this path. We have no other path. All of our service is towards goodness and beauty, and to live this good and beautiful ahlak. If people live in this way, then they will be good and beautiful mirrors to each other. Let us leave the badness of the nefs in a corner. This badness will bring us loss. If we put the ashk of Allah in our hearts, all of this badness will turn into goodness.
The examples of this have been seen all over the world. A person who knows nothing, a person who is living with negativity, meets someone who is beautiful and good, and has been connected to that person with his heart, and has tried to live that goodness and beauty. By turning into goodness, all of his negativity has given positive energy to the surroundings. For centuries this has been seen. The examples are out in the open.
So let us live with beautiful people, listen to beautiful sohbets, discourses, and let us advise each other in beauty, and let us be patient in the face of the events of this life. To become angry and to be stressed will come to us in an instant, but we will not let that live in our hearts. Why? Because if we let that live in our hearts, it will pour negative energy into our bodies. If our intentions are good, what we wish for from Allah is good, and so this goodness and beauty does not allow negativity to live inside or us. For example, an ugly smell that goes into a beautiful place will disappear immediately, and the beautiful smell will rule. If there's a beautiful smell inside of a person, then the negative scent that will come from outside will quickly go away.
To find this goodness, this beauty, let us put out thoughts out openly into the meydan, the circle. Let us not live in darkness. Let Allah bring us out into the light. Let Him increase the love in our hearts. Let us be connected to one another. Let us serve each other. As long as there are beautiful thoughts, then Allah will always grace us with beauty and goodness. These beautiful meclis, gatherings, are everywhere in the world, If you are searching for this goodness and beauty, then Allah will show it to you everywhere.
Service is from us; the reward is from Allah. If we serve Him, He will help us. However much we work, that is how much we will gain. May the rahmet, the compassion, of Allah be on all of us. We are dependent upon the rahmet of Allah. When we find this goodness and beauty then we will all be brothers and sisters, and Shaitan will not live between us. The being of Shaitan is negative energy, bad thoughts. Otherwise, there is not a being, a person, as such.
To not let this negative energy live, let us think well and beautifully. Let us not gossip. Let us not speak behind people's backs. Let us not think badly of anyone. And let us help all people in the way of goodness. If you have money you can help with your money. If you have no money, you can help with beautiful words. To give the gönül, the heart, is the greatest of help.
May Allah make us beautiful human beings. We are always saying this, because we are dependent on this beauty. Allah created us beautifully. Let us go there with beauty; let us not go badly. If we go badly, there is no return. We will be stuck as we go. Then, however much goodness that is done in our names will have no benefit to us, because whatever we do, that is what we gain. That's what we took with us when we left.
Where are we going to go? We are going to the new world that we are going to create. This world is created here. If we want to live well in that world, then we have to find this goodness and beauty here, and we must take it from here.
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Al-Malik: the Absolute Ruler

Allah Malik, Allah Hu.
The esma of Malik is one of the 99 attributes. This esma shows that the Creator Allah is the owner of all things that are created. Allah is the only owner of all things. All ruling belongs to Him. The absolute ruler is He. It has created this rule Itself, created it from nothing, and with this ruling, by allowing the beauty to live, It has established His kingdom over all that lives. The real owner of the kingdom is Allah, and the wisdom, the hikmet, of this kingdom is for the beauty of the things that are created. When we say, kingdom, let us not compare it to the kingdoms that people establish here on earth. The kingdom of the creator is different, and the kingdom of the created human being is different. In the kingdom of Allah, there is the goodness and the beauty of everything that He has created, and they all have their responsibilities, and on all of them is the ruling of Allah. And these rulings, with the justice of Allah, with the compassion of Allah, with the generosity of Allah, with the Nur, the divine light, of Allah, is working for the benefit and the goodness of all things created. But in the kingdoms, the sultanates, of people, there are differences. So let's not mix up the kingdom of Allah with the kingdoms of worldly kings.
The compassion of Allah has become victorious over all things, and the beauty in His kingdom has created life for human beings. And inside of this light, by listening to his ruling, we are trying to do our servitude to Allah. And so the beauty that befalls us from this esma, this attribute of Malik, is to be owner, ruler, over our own nafs, our soul. In Tassawuf, this is called malik-i-nafs. And how can you be Malik over your nafs? To take possession of your nafs happens with checking yourself. You have to know your actions, you have to know what you speak, you have to know your thoughts, and when you are in possession of yourself, then you can establish the kingdom of your own being, and you will be in possession of your own nafs. Then the ruling that you give will come from your maturity, and will create goodness for everyone, and you will be getting along well with everyone. You will have justice, you will have compassion, you will be generous, you will serve human beings, and you will have then shown that you are in possession of your own nafs, your soul, your ego-self.
And so Allah, with His esma of Malik, is letting us know these things. We have to check our nafs, we have to know what we speak, we have to try not to hurt people, and believe me the most difficult thing is to speak with people, because it can be misunderstood, and be misdirected, and then people will go towards their detriment. If a person doesn't check themselves, without being in possession of their nafs, they cannot give other people advice. The advice that they give will bring about their own detriment, and will also be detrimental to the person that they are giving it to. That's why we have to check our nafs, we have to know our surroundings, and be sincere with people.
Allah Malik, Allah Hu.
Let us know our nafs. If we do not forget that Allah is Malik, then we will be Malik over our own nafs. Now for example, here we are a small gathering, and our Malik, our owner, is Allah, and the owner of this gathering is all of us. We have to be respectful to one another, show love to one another, and not misunderstand what is said to us. If we are saying something to you, if there is something you don't understand, then come and ask us again, because our circle is open, it is not a mistake to bring forth the correctness and truth - we are going to put our thoughts into the middle. In Tassawuf this is called mushareret. Allah says when you are in difficulty, speak with one another, converse, and come to an understanding. So when you hear something, if you want to know if these words have come from me, then come and ask me. Everyone can say something.... but if you wish to believe in Haqiqat, in reality, then come, and ask me. We are always here. And so the esma of Malik of Allah shows ownership, and we, to you, by taking refuge in this characteristic of Allah, by asking in this name of Allah, we wish to be in ownership of our nafs, so we are your owners, and we don't wish for you to fall into a bad state. And however Allah wishes for the goodness of His servants, we wish also for your goodness and beauty. And your goodness and beauty, is our goodness and beauty. Your happiness, is our happiness. If we live in such a way, your sadness is our sadness. Then our hands will be one. Our hearts will be one. Our thoughts will be one. And then we will have proven testimony of one Allah. And where will we have proven this one Allah? In our own understanding, in our own nafs, in our own actions. Everything that we are doing is proving the oneness. So let us try to connect to one another, and live beautifully, with goodness. Let us not let go of love. Our capital is love - we can spend it everywhere, both in this world, and also in the world we are going to. So let us be Malik to one another, let us be in possession of one another, let us protect one another from badness. Amin.
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Al-Quddus: the Pure One

Allah Quddus, Allah Hu.
The esma of Quddus, one of the esmas of the 99, is a divine attribute which shows the holiness of Allah. It is one of the creative attributes of Allah. Its holiness has come from Its own creative attribute. Allah is far from shortcomings, mistakes, and blemishes. He is not lacking anything. He is far from heedlessness, and is able to do everything, and is pure and clean. This attribute of His, comes from his ulvyet, His exaltedness, His creativeness. This attribute of Quddus shows that everything is holy. Allah is holy, and created everything as mukaddes, holy. The most holy of what Allah has created are the prophets that He has sent, and the four great books that He has sent. These are all a reflection from the attribute of Quddus, and if people follow these, they will find this esma of Quddus in their own bodies, and they will make themselves, mukaddes, holy.
How does a person become mukaddes? First of all, comes the cleanliness, ihdikat, the love of Allah, the belief in Allah, the fear of Allah, and to remove the duality in your thinking, and to believe without doubt in one being. If a person is in possession of this ihdikat cleaning, then comes the cleaning of the heart. And how does the heart become cleansed? It is only with the zikr of Allah that the hearts can be cleansed. And after this cleaning comes the cleaning of ibadet, of worship. What is the cleaning of worship? Every endeavor that is done with sincerity, every action that is performed with seriousness, every service that you do as if you see Allah, is the cleaning of worship. Otherwise, to do just the ritual worship as a form of habit, the worship that is performed just because your mother and father did it, and you have seen it, and are doing it just for form - is meaningless. A person has to do this, being in possession of these three forms of cleanliness, thereby benefitting from the esma of Quddus, they will bring their own nafs to perfection. When Allah with His beauty brings perfection to one of His servants, then He will have Himself done the remembrance, the zikr, within that servant, and so when Allah does His zikr from within your being, then you would have praise for the perfection that He has given, and you would have done the tesbih of this, and tesbih means to remember to praise the great attribute of Allah, and then the person will have cleansed his nafs, his soul, and so the attribute will work on the human being.
Allah has created everything that He has created with value. We have said this before. Because it is Quddus, it is holy, it is mukaddes, everything that He creates He creates as precious, and gives them his mukaddes-ness, His holiness. And everything that is created does the tesbih - the grass, the trees, the flowers that you see, the animals - they all do the tesbih of the remembrance of Allah. But how do they do this tesbih? Because they have all been created with a value in their creation, and they have all been created to do a most valuable duty, so, performing these duties brings them to perfection. And so everything does the tesbih of Allah. Allah says that everything in the skies and everything in the earth is in the process of doing tesbih of Allah. So something that you see as valueless, is the most valuable thing! But because you cannot see this, you will step on it, crush it, and see it as being without value. But Allah has created nothing without value. If there is cleanliness in your ihdikat, if there is cleanliness in your belief, if you know the attribute of Quddus of Allah, then you are going to see that everything is mukaddes, holy. You cannot see anything as being beneath you, or bad. The holiness of everything is in the being of Allah. Allah has created nothing without value. There is value in everything. I am going to tell a story that is testimony to this.
A dervish goes to a bath one day, and as he is washing in the bath, a cockroach falls into the water. The dervish gets angry and throws it away, "Ya Rabb, O Lord, why did you create this dirty thing?" Time passes, and this dervish becomes ill, doctors, remedies, medications - nothing helps. He is about to die. His lungs have begun to dry out. Then one day this crone came, one with great experience, and made him a remedy. "I'm going to give you a remedy," she said, "If you do this, then your lungs will find life and you will be saved." Now the man is about to die, so whatever they say, he'll do. And she says to the man, "You're going to take cockroaches, and you're going to dry them, you're going to powder them up, and every morning you're going to eat one spoon of this with a glass of water. Will you do this?" The man is about to die! Whatever you say, he will agree to. And so he does it, and his eyes open. He finds life, and he becomes strong.
Now why did I tell this story? This cockroach that he saw as having no value, see what kind of value it brought about! So Allah, with his attribute of Quddus, has created everything as mukaddes, as holy. Don't see anything as beneath you. Don't see anything as bad. In everything there is a goodness. For example, these roses, here, when they are on their bush, what condition are they in, and when they are brought here, what condition are they in? When it is on its bush, it is quite alive and giving a beautiful smell, and beautifying its life from day to day. When it is on its branch it is doing the tesbih of Allah. Now we put it here, to allow this beauty to be lived, we are putting water in the glass, so that it may find life, because we give it value. And everything is like this. Let us see everything as precious, and give it value. And as we said, at the head of all of these precious creations come the prophets, and the holy books, and the pirs, the evliyas, the friends of Allah, the murshids, that allow this holy path to continue. And so that brings the taktes, the perfection, through this esma of Quddus, of holiness. And how do they bring this Quddus to you? After you have done the accounting of your nafs, of your soul, when you are in possession of good ahlak, they will see this goodness and beauty in you, and with the esma of Quddus of Allah, they will do taktes of you, and every breath, every action, will be tesbih of Allah.
So this esma of Quddus, you can recite every morning, 100 of them, for the beauty of your own nafs, your soul, for their holiness, and to be close to Allah. The esma of Quddus of Allah brings us to perfection with this beauty, brings us to places like this, and to one another in this holy way, we are doing taktes. How are we doing this? With love. With respect. And we know that Allah has created the human being as a most precious creature, and is working these 99 attributes inside the human being, and at the top of this comes the attribute of Quddus. When a person completes his good ahlak, then that person is a mukaddes person, a holy person, and this is what we are working for, for the cleaning of the heart, the cleaning of worship, good ahlak, and we are trying to do our beauty to Allah, so that with the Quddus esma of Allah, we will come to a holy state. Because we came to this world as mukaddes, and we have to go back to Allah in the same way. So all of our endeavors are from our own being to our own beings, because the owner of this being, the creator Allah, is showing all His being through you. However holy, mukaddes, you can become, that is how much you will be testimony to the beauty and goodness of Allah, and you will spread the Nur, the divine light of Allah, onto this world. And with this goodness and beauty that you do, with this service that you perform, you will have brought people from darkness into light. So let us not forget....
Let us altogether say His tesbih of Quddus:
Subuhun quddusun rabbinah ver rabul malaiketi ver ruh.
Allah has created the spirit and the angels thru the esma of Quddus, and with this esma of Quddus they do the tesbih of Allah, and this prayer we have just recited says this. It means that all of the mukaddes, the holy things that Allah has created are praising the goodness and beauty of Allah, and this place is tesbih.
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Ar-Rezzak: The Sustainer

Allah Rezzak Allah Hu.
The honored Name of Rezzak is one of the giving attributes of Allah. Everything that Allah has created He has provided with this attribute. As this attribute works, all the needs of His creatures are met, and the name of the energy that comes is rizk, sustenance. Rizk has been allotted. Allah says in the Quran, "We have allotted and given the sustenance for each person." If a person believes that his rizk is going to come, then he will never fall into fear and suspicion and he will not get caught up in his ambitions and chase after his rizk. It is, in fact, the rizk that will chase you because Allah is going to give that. Allah, with this attribute of Rezzak, the Provider, works with the esma of Gayyur, the Encourager. He will encourage us because He needs to provide the sustenance for His creations.
Now this rizk is in two forms. One rizk is physical and one is spiritual. The physical sustenance - what you eat and drink, the air that you breathe - keeps your physical body on its feet. This is called the material or the physical rizk. As long as you are given this you will live and when this is cut, you die. That is why it is Allah who gives the rizk, the sustenance, and a person should never have fear or doubt about his sustenance. No matter where you go, rizk will find you. If you go up to the top of a mountain, if you live there, then still your rizk will come to your feet there because Allah has promised this in the Quran. He does not turn from His word; He does what He says, and so your sustenance will find you wherever you go. This physical sustenance will chase you and will let you live.
Then there is the spiritual rizk. Allah has created this as well and gives this to you and with this your spirituality lives. For example, to come to spiritual gatherings, to listen to beautiful words, is your spiritual rizk. This will make your iman, your faith, stronger and bring you closer to Allah. For example, the Divine Books, the great books that have come from Allah, so that they can take people on the correct path, commanding the beauty and goodness of Allah, are also your spiritual rizk. You get your physical rizk by working. When you get this sustenance you choose between that which is good and bad. You say, "Let me find that which is good, let me eat that which is good, so that I can live well." You think about this for your wordly life, so you have to think about it for your eternal life. The rizk of the eternal life is also given here and this is revealed by the Divine Books that are sent by Allah. The coming of the Prophets to us is spiritual rizk. They were all the same. None of them have brought a different rizk. They have all spoken to prepare humanity for Allah. Let us gather this spiritual rizk together so that we will go to the eternal life in a healthy way.
Now, we give an example. You open a store and you are making money; your rizk is coming to you and you are using this and you buy good things and you look for things that will give you benefit. To live comfortably you use this rizk. So to gain the spiritual life, you have to follow these spiritual roads and learn this ilm, this knowledge, and grow with this rizk. Allah created this rizk to be of benefit to people. Allah has created everything for the benefit of human beings. For example, the animal has its rizk. The animal eats, the animal breeds, and all of its physical sustenance is provided. And Allah also allows it, through his esma of Rezzak, to grow and to live, and by gathering its physical rizk it is trying to find its spiritual rizk. And how is it going to find its spiritual sustenance? For us to find it, we read the Divine Books, we follow the roads of the Prophets and by giving ourselves to this specialness we gather spiritual sustenance. And for them, these animals, to gather their spiritual sustenance, they serve human beings with their meat, with their milk, with their skin, with the medication that they are going to give. There are some animals that are very valuable in medicine; they give benefit to human beings. Medicine is made, tests are made, and their service is in this way for humanity. They gather their spiritual rizk in this way and when they enter into a human being with a Divine metamorphosis they are elevated to a higher state.
If we know this esma of Rezzak, then our submission to Allah will increase, we will not fall into fear, and we will not fall into suspicion or doubt. Before Allah created us, He created this and wrote this into our notebooks. This is called lehva mahfuz. There our rizk is known. Every breath that you take is a rizk. The number of these are written in this lehva mahfuz. Because their numbers are known, definite, before this sustenance ends let us use them well. When the rizk of the breath is finished, then the journey of death begins and so this breath is also a rizk and this mind that Allah has given is also a rizk. However well we can use these provisions, then our physical and spiritual lives will increase to that extent. Allah Rezzak, Allah Hu.
This is our spiritual rizk. We come here every week and we take rizk from here and this spiritual rizk is worship. This brings us close to Allah, this gives ashk, endless love, to the hearts of people, and with this people can live in peace. If we cannot get this rizk, then everything will change and then instead of love, enmity will start. So however much of this spiritual sustenance we can get, that is how much our beauty will increase and we will be dost with each other. This is the allotment of the esma of Rezzak.
Allah Rezzak, Allah Hu.

More explanations from Sherif Baba on the Esma el-Husna

Al-Fettah: The Opener

Allah Fettah Allah Hu.
The esma, the Name or attribute of Fettah means to open. In both the spiritual and the material world of a person Allah will surely open everything. We are going to do the tefekkur, the contemplative meditation, of this and insh'Allah, with Allah's permission, I am going to open on the subject of this esma.
The honored Name of Fettah, the Opening, in the Dictionary of the Quran, comes from the root fetih and Fettah is its attribute. It comes from opening and it means the Opener. Opening implies many different meanings. For example, there is opening a box, there is opening a closed door, opening anything that is closed. But the meaning of opening in the Quran is the opening of the heart, the opening of the thoughts and the opening of spiritual goodness and beauty. So the esma of Fettah is announcing this opening. And the meaning in Tasawwuf, in Sufism, is the opening of ilmi ledun, the mystical knowledge in the heart, and to bring it out into the open and to reflect this into daily life. This is the opening of the esma of Fettah amoung people.
This attribute of Allah is working on all of the people of this world. If you know this or you do not know it, this attribute is working inside of you. If we look around us, Allah has opened everything and from every place that he has opened He is showing this beauty and goodness to us. He has hidden nothing from us. He has opened it for us; we have hidden it. And how did we hide it? With the negativity of our thoughts we have hidden this. So if we continue on this esma of Fettah of Allah, if we do the zikr, the remembrance, and the tefekkur, the meditation, of this, then these beauties that Allah has opened for us will open inside of us and we will see this, too.
Now, for example, we are born, we grow up, we have come until these days. Allah has opened countless doors for us. He has opened our rizk, our sustenance, put all of the goodness out into the open and we are living inside of this, that which He has opened for us. If we think of it, we are going to live this whether we are aware of it or not. The only difference is in seeing how these esmas are working and to work with this in mind so we can be close to Allah with these attributes. If Allah had not opened these beautiful doors for us, we would not have been able to come to these beautiful places today. We did not come to these beautiful places with our minds. Allah has opened these beautiful doors for us through the doors of knowledge in our hearts; He has given us Nur, Divine Light, and keeping this in mind we have lived it in our lives and we have come to these places.
So this is the opening of the esma of Fettah. I am giving these examples so that you can realize that the esma of Fettah is working in us every minute of our lives. If we come to the awareness of this, there is a moment inside of this esma when we can catch that moment, and then we have come to the most holiest of moments of Allah. Allah will create with beauty everything that we wish and give it to us. Another meaning of fetih is to give victory to the people. And where is this victory given to us? When we do the accounting of our nefs, our soul or ego self, when we come out of the badness of our nefs, when we start working towards beauty and goodness, with the help of this esma of Fettah more beautiful doors are opened for us and we become victorious over our nefs.
The Sura al-Fatiha in the Quran has manifested from this esma of Fettah. It has opened. And what has opened? The Sura al-Fatiha has seven ayets, seven verses; it shows the seven makams, seven levels. The Sura al-Fatiha shows the opening of the seven makams of the human being and because this is from the esma of Fettah they have called this Fatiha. It is the sura of salvation. If we recite it often, we will attain the beauty of our nefs. For example, every day we should recite it seven times. We should recite it for ourselves; we should recite it for the spirits of the great ones who came before us. As we recite for their spirits, for their ruhs, beautiful energy will come to us and with the hlpe of this energy our nefs will start to rise from day to day. That is why Sura al-Fatiha comes at the beginning of the Quran. It is not inside of the Quran; it is at the beginning of the Quran, because the Sura al-Fatiha was sent as a present to the Prophet. As we recite this often, then the grudges in us will start to leave, the badness will leave, and peace will begin amound people, love will begin. Then both will the person himself be saved and so will humanity be saved. Then victory will come for humanity. This is how the esma of Fettah is working in the world.
Know, learn this, memorize this esma of Fettah very well and when stress comes to your heart recite the esma of Fettah. Say Allah Fettah, Allah Hu so that with the offering of Allah, with the kudret, power, of Allah, doors will open. The only One Who is saving us from this difficulty, the One Who opens these beautiful doors, is Allah. If we take refuge in Him with this esma of Fettah, He will save us in the most difficult of days and will allow us ease in our lives.
Allah Fettah Allah Hu.


Al-Mu'izz: The Bestower of Honor


Allah Mu'izz Allah Hu.
The esma of Mu'izz is an attribute that comes from the root word "IZ". "IZ" has the meaning of exaltedness and dignity. It is the attribute of Allah that gives pride and dignity to all of His creations. When Allah created His servants, He created them with this beauty and goodness, and in order that they did not lose the beauty and goodness he sent them knowledge, and through these attributes he has allowed this beauty and goodness to be known. And one of these attributes is His attribute of Mu'izz. If we live our life beautifully, if we pass our days in the way Allah wishes us to, every day he will honor us anew.

Every thing that Allah has created, he has created as service to us. He has not denied us any joy or pleasure. With every joy, with every pleasure, we will gain our dignification, our honor. But there are ways in which to do this. There are rules. When we follow these rules we will gain our dignity. Then , our honor will increase in the eyes of Allah. We will find beauty and goodness. When we find this beauty and goodness, we will serve the people through goodness and beauty. If we live the opposite of this... the opposite of this is arrogance. People sometimes compare arrogance with pride. The dignity and pride that Allah gives, is the dignity and pride that you find in the beauty and goodness that you attain through living the way that Allah wishes you to live. Then you will know your nafs, your soul, you will know and recognize people. You will know and recognize life, and you will always go after that which is good and beautiful. If you live the opposite of this, then you have arrogance. You think that you know yourself, look down on people, and think that you do everything yourself. Because this comes completely from the ego nafs, this is not dignity. This is arrogance. Then the doors of jahannem, of hell, are opened. What is hell? Your own loss of inner peace, loss of huzur, it's your own fire inside yourself. So we have to distinguish between dignity and pride.

The esma of Mu'izz is the esma that is given to you within the beauty and goodness. Inside of it there is sincerity, there is humbleness. There is service to people. Then your character will be exalted, and you will find the izet, the dignity, and they will call you arif, one who knows. You will be a possessor of irfan, of enlightenment from experiential knowledge. You will live with hikmet, with wisdom. And you will speak with hikmet, and so many great doors will open for you. If we live the opposite of this, if we come in front of Allah and his prophets in the opposite way, then our nafs will rage. We will become zalim, tyrants, and we will become arrogant, and we will think this to be exaltedness, dignity; like, for example, what the Pharoah did to Musa, Moses. Musa had izet, he had dignity. He was in service with the beauty of Allah. He was testimony to his own character's exaltedness. The Pharoah said, I have this too. With his ego he made arrogance, and proved the opposite of it. That arrogance made him one of the zalim, of the tyrants. It was the same between Ebu Jehil and Hazret-i-Muhammad . In Muhammad, there was izet, there was dignity, and with his own honor he was bestowing honor on those around him. He was bringing people to service, and he was connecting people to one another with sincerity and faithfulness. Whereas Ebu Jehil was doing the opposite. He was a man of knowledge. He saw himself as better and in arrogance said, I know better. He said, I can rule over people in a better way. Just like the Pharoah he became one of the oppressors.

Allah has given us these examples in the Koran, so that we, people, can find the correct path, and live with that great dignity. And not become arrogant. This is from the attribute of Mu'izz. As this opens within people, the people can come to a great many secrets.

Allah Mu'izz Allah Hu
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Al-Mudhill: The Humiliator
Allah Mudhill Allah Hu.
The esma of Mudhill is the esma that shows that Allah is the degrader of those It has created.
The esma of Mudhill is the esma that will degrade and humiliate those who Allah has created when Allah wishes it. Last week we explained the esma of Mu'izz. These are esmas that are opposites of each other. Mu'izz was the esma that gave honor and elevated the servant, the esma that allowed one to attain an elevation in their character, and the esma of Mudhill is the opposite. We have studied the esma of Khafid, the Abaser, before; this one resembles that one. These are esmas that are used by Allah to train Its servants. Through using Its ability the Creator brings people to balance with this esma, with this name. If we live this beauty and goodness, if we are in beautiful service to people, if we are correct and faithful, if we are sincere and serious, then It will exalt us, and It will make us honored ones. If you are not able to do this, if you think badly of people, if you work badly, if you are always trying to fool people with lies, then It will degrade you, and leave you as a characterless abased one. If we live the rules the that the Creator has brought us in a beautiful way - and you know that which comes at the head of these: justice, compassion, generosity, service, submission, and ashk, through respect for human beings - when you live with this beauty, then you will be one who is honored, and find your exaltedness. But if you are not able to live with justice, if you have no compassion, if you are one who harbors bad thoughts about people, if you do not help people and are stingy, if instead of humbleness you display arrogance - in other words, if you have all these bad, or ugly, attributes - then It will abase you. Because there is the ayat, the verse, the words of Allah in the Koran, "We have created the human being with beautiful ahlak, morality, but he has fallen to the lowest of the low, of his own accord." Now, what does this mean, "of his own accord, through his own desires"? Instead of living according to the rules and wishes of the Creator, when he lives in a corrupt manner amoung people, then he brings his nafs, his soul, into the lowest level, and fools himself into [ed. deceives himself with] the finite pleasures of this finite world, lives forgetting the beauty and goodness of the Creator, then he will encounter the esma of Mudhill, and fall into abasement.
May Allah make us beautiful human beings.
May It allow us to live this beauty always, so that we can be like the beautiful people, honored ones. ________________________________________________________________________
Al-Hafiz: The Preserver

Allah Hafiz Allah Hu.
Insha’Allah, we are going to say “Allah Hafiz Allah Hu,” and curl the tongue against the roof of the mouth, bend the head over the heart and then go into tefekkür, contemplative meditation. Then afterwards I will try to open up the meaning of this esma, this attribute. Allah Hafiz Allah Hu.

The esma of Hafiz is one of the Creator Allah’s attributes of preserving, keeping and protecting His creation. He is the One who knows to the most delicate, finest point everything that He has created, and He keeps it and protects it. I am going to try to open this up to you with examples. What is it to preserve? What is it to protect? They are all inside this honored name of Hafiz.

Look at the sky that Allah has created. How many things are turning within that emptiness of space? None of them crash with each other; all of them turn within their own boundaries. None of them cross over their own boundaries and into the boundaries of the others. These are preserved with the Hafiz attribute of Allah, and then He protects them. And how is He protecting them? By making them do the duty that He has given them. If He does not protect, then they will not be able to do their duty, and they will be lost.

We look at people. They memorize a book. For example, they memorize the Quran, and we call those people hafiz. Such a person can keep in his memory the 6,666 ayets, and because he keeps it with the esma of Hafiz, this person is called a hafiz.

A second meaning of Hafiz is to protect. So a person preserves this in his memory; how does he protect it? His protection is to know the knowledge that is inside of this and to live it. Then he will have both preserved it and, by living this knowledge, protected it. It is then that that person can be given the name of hafiz. This is the Hafiz that Allah is asking for; meaning to protect the commands that Allah has sent, to live them and allow them to be lived. If this does not happen, then he will just be a person who memorizes dryly.
Harun al-Rashid, one of the Abbasid halifes who lived a thousand years ago, had a parrot. It was a very smart parrot. He made the parrot memorize Ya Sin-i Sherif, which is six pages, and this parrot could recite it. This is also preservation. He memorized, but he was not able to be a hafiz. Why? Because he is an animal in his creation. He does not know what he recites, does not know what he’s living. So this means that to be a hafiz is not just through preservation, but by living the meaning as well.

Now, insha’Allah, we have understood the difference between preservation and protection. For example, you gather fruit and you make a preserve, a jelly. So that the goodness is not lost, you preserve it. With what? You put elements into it to preserve it so that its taste does not become corrupted, and it maintains its life there. But you have to protect it. How are you going to protect it? You put it in a jar and close its lid so that air does not come in and there you have put it under protection.

Look, Allah created us, and He has taken us under His protection with such a use of the Hafiz attribute. He has put the most valuable part of you, your brain, into a box that is strong and does not break. Look under what protection He is putting it. He has given you a heart and lungs, and put these in such a box that when something bumps up against it, or when you fall, an elastic cage that does not break protects it. These are all the characteristics of the esma of Hafiz. The most valuable artery that comes from your heart doesn’t go in an open and surface place. It is stuck to your bones so that it does not become damaged in an accident. It is kept protected. How is it protected? The muscles which surround it protect it completely, so that it doesn’t get damaged in a trauma or accident.
This is the kind of Hafiz that Allah is. He is protecting us better than we protect ourselves. So how are we to protect ourselves? There are prescriptions that He has sent to us. Which ones are beneficial to us? Which things are harmful to us? We have to know these, and we have to protect ourselves with them. For example, Allah created bread and made it halal, lawful, for us to consume. We eat it, we take our nourishment, we take our vitamins from it. Now you can toast this bread, but if it burns and turns to coal then all of its vitamins are lost. This bread that was halal becomes haram, unlawful, to us. Then He says, “Don’t eat it.” Why? Because there is no nourishment in this. It will poison you. And He allows you to know this through your instincts. It is in such a way that you can protect yourself.

This is an example from the material world, and if we give an example from the spiritual, He has given you a ruh, spirit. He has given you a trust. How are you going to protect this? With worship. With zikrs. With sincerity. With service to human beings. You are then going to place yourself under material and spiritual protection. In Tasawwuf, Sufism, the actual Hafiz is the title given to someone who puts his iman, faith, and his behavior under protection. You are to take no suspicion and you are to carry no duality so that you can put yourself under protection. If you carry duality, then your protection will be corrupted, and this negative energy that we call Shaitan, Satan, will come into you. That is why we should do our worship with sincerity, not as a show. Let the zikrs that we perform carry meaning. Let them give joy to your heart. Let them give you huzur, peace and tranquillity. Let them increase the ashk, the endless love, that you have for Allah. Then through the angels that Allah has created you will be put under protection. And what are those angels that take you into protection? I spoke of this the other night. They are the goodness and beauty that is in your thoughts. These thoughts will rule the molecules that are in your body. Then these molecules do the job that it is their duty to do, and protect you in your life.
Allah created everything with the order “Be.” He sent you to this universe with love, and He is allowing you to live through His love. And so that you do not lose His love, He has opened some doors of examination, of tests for you, and for you to pass one test He has sent you prescriptions through the prophets. What are they? They are the Divine Books. The Torah, the Gospel, the Quran, the Psalms of David. And through the prophets these were allowed to be known, and this trail is continuing still today. If we lose this trail, then we will come out of protection, in the same way that if you eat the things that are unlawful to you, you will poison yourself, and you will be out of protection. Then what will you do? You’ll send yourself to your grave. In the same way that you are protecting your body through your instincts, you also have to keep the spiritual trust that Allah has given you under protection.

You know that this one of the 99 esmas, the esma of Hafiz, is working in this way in people. Every esma works in the human being. Allah has given these 99 esmas to the human being. In the Quran this is verified with ayets. It says, “We have given all of the esma to Adem, son of man.” That’s why every week we try to explain one of them. Let us know these; let us learn these and try to live. Let us come to awareness. May Allah help us, and not separate us from the goodness and beauty.
Allah Hafiz Allah Hu.

Al-Mukit: The Nourisher

Allah Mukit, Allah Hu. The esma of Mukit is one of the ninety-nine attributes of Allah. It is the esma that shows that Allah gives everything that It has created their rizk, their sustenance, and nourishes them. Insha’Allah, now we're going to do the teffekür, the contemplative meditation, of this esma, and after the teffekür we'll try to expand it. Say it again; Allah Mukit, Allah Hu.
The esma of Mukit is the attribute of Allah giving nourishment to all that It has created, and sustaining it. It comes from the root ikata. Ikata means one who dispenses food. I will give an example from the world. There were the ashanes, soup kitchens, to help people, and from there, food and rizk, sustenance would be dispersed, and the person who was doing the dispersing would be called the mukit.
Allah, who is the Creator, sustains with nourishment all that It has created. This comes from inside the attribute of Rezzak, the Sustainer. They resemble each other, Rezzak and Mukit; it is a division that comes forth from Rezzak. Before we spoke of the esma of Rezzak. Rezzak has a very wide, encompassing meaning, whereas Mukit means the one that sustains through nourishment. And this has been determined according to the length of one's life.
Nobody can take from another’s nourishment. And nobody can leave without having completed their nourishment. Everyone will get, and when they finish it, they will die. That's why nourishment is determined. Rizk, having a wide encompassing meaning, covers everything. For example, the breath that you take is connected to rizk. That also nourishes you, but not physically; it nourishes you in a spiritual way. The knowledge that you gain from what you see and what you learn is also your rizk, it is also your nourishment, but it is not Mukit, it is rizk. For example, we go and travel around, this going and traveling is also from Allah's rizk. Because rizk and Mukit resemble each other, I'm giving you these examples so that we can understand the differences.
The Creator Allah is nourishing everything that It has created, be it plants or animals. For example, the child that is in its mother's womb is being nourished through the umbilical cord that is connecting it to the nourishment that its mother is taking in. The seed that you plant in the earth is being nourished through the minerals and the vitamins that are in the earth. This nourishing is Mukit.
Because the evliyas, the Friends of Allah, know this attribute of Mukit very well, they look at the being of a person and then they give the spiritual nourishment, the spiritual rizk, accordingly. Some people, for example, have short lives, and they need to take nourishment quickly. Some have long lives, and they need to take their nourishment in time. With the attribute of Mukit, Allah sets this firmly, and It allows the servants, the evliyas, to know this.
I'll give you an example. One of the arifs, a gnostic individual, had a son. He would go to the bars all the time, to the taverns, and drink, secret from his father. His father found out about this, but didn't say anything to him. He went and found the tavern keeper and told him secretly, “However much my son is going to drink here, give him more. However much he wants, give him even more, and don't tell him that I came.” Time passed, and if the child asked for one, he got two, if he asked for two, he got four, and in this way, he completed the nourishment that he was going to get there. This is an appearance of the attribute of Mukit.
In other words, maybe he was going to go there for four years, and drink four thousand glasses, but because that arif knew of his Mukit esma, he had him given this nourishment in much more quantity so that four years became shortened. When his nourishment there was finished, the boy did not go back to the tavern, and did not fall back into those bad ways, and repenting, went and followed his father's path. I gave you this example so that the attribute of Mukit could be better understood.
All of our rizk, our nourishment and sustenance, is predetermined. No matter where we are, we will find it. We cannot chase it, it will chase us. No matter how much extra action you perform, no matter how much more you work, your nourishment is known. If it is two grams, it is two grams. With your working extra hard it won't become four. So what is the duty that befalls us here? To show acceptance and satisfaction for what is given by Allah, and to have tevekkül, trust, in Allah. And here we have to allow our surrender, our submission, to be known.
We know that these ninety-nine attributes are all working in us. Why? For our maturity. Allah created people with love. Then, in a mature way, with mature nourishment, It is sustaining us, and making us then in possession of kemalat, of maturity, of perfection, It is going to take us back. So we came to this world being loved, and we are going to leave again being loved. Allah Mukit, Allah Hu. Let us know the esma of Mukit in this way, learn it as so, and not confuse it with the esma of Rezzak.
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Al-Kerim: The Generous One

Allah Kerim Allah Hu.
The esma of Kerim is one of the 99 names or attributes of Allah. It is the esma that shows the generosity of Allah.
The esma of Kerim is the attribute of generosity of Allah Who has created everything. Allah is able and capable of all things, it is He Who has created all things and everything that He has created is in the state of offering and the attribute that shows the generosity in the state of offering is the attribute of Kerim. This attribute of Kerim is one of the greatest attributes that comes after Rahman, the Merciful, and Rahim, the Beneficent. It is with this that He is offering to all things that are created and it is through this offering that we find life. When the attribute of Kerim is opened inside of people, then those people also begin to become generous and this generosity is giving, not just giving money, but also giving love, giving a sweet word, showing a smile, being patient when angry, not doing bad things and showing goodness as a response to badness. All things like this fall under giving.
People have two important characteristics and it is these characteristics that will bring you closer to Allah. The first characteristic is giving and the second is loving. and this giving and loving are twins. When people live with these, they become perfect. Loving and giving, both of these characteristics make a person beautiful and bring a person closer to Allah.
We have to look at generosity. At least, whatever we are eating we should also feed the people we are with. What does this mean? This means that people have to help one another. However much we can be an offering to one another, Allah will also be that much an offering to us. Because the true place of those who are Kerim is Allah.
The path of dervishness is the road that goes to the attribute of Kerim. A dervish is giving, he is not one who holds. He will give all of the love in his heart to people and he will give it to animals. He will give this love to everything that lives in nature and in exchange for this he will get the love of Allah.
All of the prophets who are in possession of the Divine Light of Muhammed, all of the Aziz, the saints, all the evliyas, the friends of Allah, have attained the attribute of Kerim.
Ya Rabb, we ask of you, do not separate us from their footsteps. Make it our nasib, our lot, to walk their beautiful path and let us live among each other with this love. Always increase the ashk, the Divine Love, in our hearts. Ya Rabb, do not separate us from one another. Make it our nasib to have the Nur of Muhammed, the Divine Light of Muhammed, born in our hearts. These come from the attribute of Kerim. With His attribute of Kerim Allah is offering to all things He has created. To work is up to us. To give comes from Allah. However much we work that is how much offering we will get in exchange. Allah says, "Surely, I will give you what you have worked for."
Allah Kerim, Allah Hu.
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Al-Hayy: The Everlasting One

Allah Hayy Allah Hu.
The esma of Hayy shows the life and aliveness that Ya Allah the Creator has given to all Its creation. The One that is in possession of perfect life is Allah. All aliveness is in Allah.
Allahu la illaha illa Hu al Hayy al Qayyum.
Allah is Hayy, and Allah is Qayyum.
Allah is alive and living. The eternal life is Allah's. Everything is to return to Him, and the actual life is to be found there. Allah is Hayy, and the servant will see this as being in its place, and will take their precaution. Allah has created everything in its place and beautiful., and given this life, and this life passes. Inside of this life, to make people work, It has given them knowledge, and with this people are acting. The minerals, the plants, the animals - everything that is created - inside of this attribute of life, with the knowledge that Allah has given - are living in a beneficial way. They are living in a way that is beneficial for human kind. Everything that is created is created for service to humankind, and everything has a life. For example, you see that tree? It has life. How do you know this? When it has shed its leaves and is dried up as if it was dead... but when the time comes, the leaves come out green. And It shows Its aliveness. And everything is like this. Look at this moment, at nature everywhere in the world - places that are dead have all come alive, and have become green. And that is why the color of the esma of Hayy is green.
It is with this that Allah has given life. If we know the value of this life, and we live well in the existence of this life, we will gain the eternal life of Allah. Allah has given us eyes, and It sees with this Nur, the divine light of life. Allah has given us breath, it is with this that our life continues. This is existence in the human being, and also in the animal, and also in the minerals that It has created and in the vegetation that It has created. It sees everything; everything feels, and everything lives in the best way for their own life.
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Al-Qayyum: The Self-Existing One
Allah Qayyum Allah Hu.
The esma of Qayyum is the esma, the self-existing one, that keeps everything in its place and animated and on its feet. The esma of Qayyum that comes from the root of qayim, is the esma that brings everything to life.
Earlier we had spoken of the esma of Hayy, and now we are going to speak on the attribute of Qayyum. These two attributes are one whole that is not divisible. This week I'm going to speak on the attribute of Qayyum. This is an attribute of the most important ones of the creator Allah. The one that holds everything that It has created in its place, and makes them live, and animates them, is the attribute of Qayyum. If we look around us, we will see how this attribute works. It is a very lively attribute. Look at the universes that Allah has created. There are many planets in space, many stars. There is the planet that is called earth. Everything is working in its place, correctly. None of them become confused about their place, and they are all standing, and this shows the attribute of Qayyum. When we do it, we will see this attribute. When we look at ourselves, Allah created us, gave us a spirit (in today's terminology we call this 'energy'); this made us alive, and the attribute of Qayyum is keeping this standing. For example, in the human body there are thousands of cells that are dying and coming to life, and their dying and being resurrected again is the attribute of Qayyum. He brings them to life with the attribute of Qayyum, with the attribute of Hayy gives them life, and because the two work together, the attributes of Hayy and Qayyum are known as the ismi-azam, the great names, in the Koran. It is a very important name, and when people are in problems, if they do the tesbih, the repetition of the Hayy and Qayyum esmas, then they will come to the opening of this ismi-azam, this great name. They will find life, and they will find aliveness.
One of the beauties of the attribute of Qayyum, without changing anything, is holding everything in its own attribute. It seems to be changing, but its essence doesn't, it is only the views of the attributes that are changing. Let me give an example. There are coins, and let us say this one coin is worth $1000. You remove this money, and you put paper money in its stead. Its essence is still there, but its appearance has changed. That paper money has become qayim, standing in the place of, that coin; it is holding it in its place, without changing its essence. And we, people, are also like this. Without corrupting our essence, we will live in different dimensions, and this is the manifestation of the esma of Qayyum. We are standing in our own essence; what changes are the appearances. And this world is the same. The planets are the same. Everything that works in the universe, works with the manifestation of the attributes of Hayy and Qayyum.
There are more expanding explanations, and these cannot be opened up in a short period. We would need much time and much experience, for a person to be able to understand these attributes with their own feelings. Whenever you can feel these existences, then a person will be able to understand these attributes better, because these attributes that show the existence of Allah, can only be explained so far through ilim, through knowledge. Only through living and gaining experience, and seeing this within your own inner being - then you will be able to understand this better. And these 99 attributes are like this. If you listen to the tapes of these esmas of Hayy and Qayyum you will understand better. One of the meanings of the esma of Qayyum is to stand: You will be sleeping, they will wake you up - and one of the meanings of waking up is to stand. And one of the meanings of the attribute of Qayyum, is coming from the same word, qiyamet, resurrection. What is qiyamet? Is is the people lighting up, and this is also from the attribute of Qayyum. This lighting up amoung people can happen with beauty and goodness and it can happen with badness, and this is called qiyamet, the resurrection. Again, this is inside of the attribute of Qayyum.
The essence doesn't change; the essence is the human being. It is the appearance of the characters that can change. That's why we have to understand the attributes of Hayy and Qayyum very well, so a person can know how and where to live. This world is finite; what is infinite is Allah. He is always Hayy and Qayyum. He is self-existent. His own being is always living, and as long as He is, humanity also will be. The attributes that change here are the characters, the attribute of Allah doesn't change: He will let those 99 attributes work; these attributes will change the characteristics that you have. That is why we are emphasizing these 99 attributes so much; they are necessary for all of us. All of us have to look into this mirror and straighten our characters accordingly. The most beautiful mirror is the mirror of these 99 esmas, and these have been taught to us by the prophet and the saints, the evliya. As we follow their path our experience will increase, and with our own feelings we will be able to understand these esmas. Hayyum-Qayyum is ismi-azam, a great name, so let us not forget this. Whenever you are stressed, whenever you are under pressure, let us recite this a lot, and we will push the stress off of us, and then we will be with the Being within His Being.
Allah Qayyum, Allah Hu
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Az-Zahir: The Manifest One- The attribute of Zahir is the attribute that is most evident in the world. As long as all of the world, all of the human beings in this world, don't correct their Zahir, the goodness and beauty of Allah will not manifest. If we take our steps properly, then we will encounter the beauty of Allah. What is our Zahir? It is our actions. We have to correct these, and then we can find goodness and beauty.

Allah Zahir Allah Hu.
The esma of Zahir is one of the 99 attributes of Allah. Its meaning shows the manifest face, the evident face, of Allah the Creator in everything that He has created. It is the reflection of the outward face of Allah on the surface of this world.
Everywhere our eyes are seeing His being. It is with this attribute of Zahir that He is manifest, and by seeing this everywhere we bear witness to it. Everywhere His being exists. The attribute of Zahir, the External, is the outer appearance. Everything that Allah has created has two appearances. One is the external. This is the one that is necessary for us in this world; it is reality. Then there is the inner appearance, and this is Batin. When Allah is manifest in this world, it is both with His attribute of Zahir and with the attribute of Batin. Everything is fixed accordingly.
Allah checks the actions of the human beings that He has created with the Zahir. This is what He says in the Qurani Kerim: "It is by looking at the Zahir, the Outward, that We pass judgment." However the human being lives in the Zahir, however he acts, determines what he encounters. Allah's judgment is dependent on your actions, because this is what He offers in the Quran: "Whatever your Zahir is like is what My judgment will be." That is why we are always saying that our actions that come into the Zahir have to reflect Allah's oneness so that when Allah gives His judgment, it will be for our own beauty and goodness. If corrupt actions come into our Zahir, then the judgment that Allah gives will cause us to suffer difficulties. We have to live with good ahlak, behavior and conduct, so that our actions can become beautiful, and then Allah's judgment will come to us with goodness and beauty.
Allah created everything, and created it beautifully and well, but because we can't correct our Zahir, prophets have been sent down to this world from the Zahir face of Allah. All of the prophets that have come, all of the evliya, the saints, the friends of Allah, by showing the Zahir attribute of Allah, have given direction to humanity towards this Oneness. The attribute of Zahir is always evident, at every moment. Every breath that we take is reflecting His Zahir attribute. We have to use all of ourselves in a beautiful and good way. We have to correct our Zahir because Allah has given us the mind to do so. He will correct our Batin, our inner side, Himself. That is dependent upon His internal strength. We have to occupy ourselves with the Zahir, and when we correct this Zahir, then Allah is going to send to us the beauty and goodness of the Batin as a present.
The actions that we perform are all the attribute of Zahir of Allah. As we let this good ahlak live, we are showing its reflection of the world on ourselves. Allah gives His judgment by looking at our Zahir. Let us not forget this. To become beautiful, we have to make our Zahir beautiful. Then we are going to turn to our inner face.
Allah Zahir Allah Hu.