Nafs

and Rizq Ego and Provision

Sheikh Muhammad Nazim Al-Haqqani An-Naqshibandi, Sohbet of 1983.

Madad ya Sa'datina l-Kiram. A'udhu billahi min ash-shaytani r-rajim. Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim. La
hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi l-Aliyyi l-Azim. Allahumma alhimna rushdana wa a'izana min shururi
anfusina.
Let's set up this work on a sound foundation, a strong foundation. The main foundation for every work, for
every building is "Ash'hadu an la ilaha illaAllah wa ash'hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa Rasuluhu
sallalahu ta'ala alaihi wa sallam." That's it. This is the important point. Well. The one, who says it, makes a
step into the circle of faith and finds peace. If he's able to depart with it from this world, he will have found
eternal happiness and peace.
It is important to be able to carry this amana (trust) without losing it to the enemies or harming it or letting
it weaken, until the last breath, to be able to stay on this way. That's why, "Wa ma tawfiqi illa billahi 'alayhi
tawakkaltu wa ilayhi unib". (11:88) Don't think we can handle it. No. You can't handle it. If Janab ul-Haqq
grants success, it will remain in your hands. And whom does Janab ul-Haqq grant success to? To the one,
who knows the value of this jewel and appreciates it. Aman ya Rabbi, the enemy is strong and very greedy.
Besides, my ego is with him. Therefore, ya Rabbi, I entrust to You my faith that You granted to me. Guard
it for me, ya Rabbi. Don't give my ego a chance. It will hand me over to shaitan straight away. Don't give a
chance to shaitan. It will capture my ego immediately. That's why, our Prophet alaihi salatu wa salam, said
"Ya Rabbi la takilni ila nafsi tarfata 'ayn." He asked for this in his dua. "Don't leave me to my ego for the
blink of an eye".
The ego has many tricks. The ego is the source of evil. It has a big claim. What is its claim? Asta'idhu
billah. JanabAllah tells us the story of Pharaoh "Faqala ana rabbukumu l-'ala"(79:24) He had a big claim.
Ego has a big claim. What does it want to say? It wants to be God by itself. It claims that it is God. It keeps
its claim wherever it goes. If it has one person under its command, it tries to make him accept it. "You must
know that I'm your God". If it can't find anyone then it tells you: "be careful, don't say la ilaha illAllah, I'm
here. Say la ilaha illa nafsi (there is no god but my ego). Accept my lordship. Accept my divinity. I'm not
pleased if you accept someone else." If he finds one man to listen, he'll get on him. If he finds a thousand
men, he'll get on them. He says "Be careful". If you give a million to him and if the ego has a chance, it
makes its claim. Be cautious. That's why, ego is full of disloyalty and evil.
Don't look for evil somewhere else. Why do you look for evil somewhere else when you have its source with
you? Evil is boiling and pouring out from your ego. As soon as it has that chance... A snake bites when it
has a chance. A scorpion releases its poison too when it has a chance. Similarly, when your ego has a
chance, it won't miss it. Would a cat miss a mouse if it sees one? It will catch it immediately. This is the
craft of a snake and a scorpion. If they have a chance, they will poison immediately. Know that your ego is
like that. It will poison you directly. Don't sleep. Yes. You have to fear. But you won't know from where it
comes. It has a very delicate craft. It has many tricks and traps. Therefore, we should beware. Our Prophet
alaihi salatu wa salam informed us to beware. He says "Ya Rabbi, protect me from my ego. Don't leave me
even for a blink of an eye." This is a very important point. It is possible that someone can fill this world
with his worship but when he obeys his ego at one time, he strikes a match that can destroy everything.
Iblis worshipped in seven heavens when he was Azazil. Shaitan was Azazil before becoming Iblis. He
worshipped in seven heavens. He worshipped for 40,000 years in each heaven. How many months is each
year? It's not the 12 months that you know. It is 40,000 months. So you do the counting. And each month
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is not 30 days like we know. Every month of those 40,000 months is 40,000 days. And the day is not 24
hours as you know. It is the count of angels. Each of their days is 50 years. What happened to him at last
with all this worship? What is our rank to be able to worship like this? How can we worship this much? We
can't cope with a worship of his one day. Because he didn't have dunya in his every day of 50 years. He
didn't have worldly matters, family issues and children matters. That was his work. He didn't eat or drink,
didn't sleep and rest. He wasn't sick of it, wasn't tired. He always worshipped. It makes a number we
cannot estimate if we count these years. Despite being busy with so much worship, he fell down. Why?
With so much worship.
Open your eyes, O believer. He increased his ego with that worship. He became proud. He assumed he
became great by doing this. He thought he turned to divinity from servanthood. And when Janab ul-Haqq,
Jalla wa 'Ala, created Adam, alaihi salatu wa salam, and honored him, he said Asta'idhubillah, "Ara'aytaka
hadha lladhi karramta 'alayya"(17:62) "Look, You created him from clay just now. He hasn't prostrated to
You yet. Despite all my worship, You didn't give me this respect and instead honored this one. You dressed
him with the attribute to be your khalifa." Strange. He didn't go astray because of worldly ways and ranks
but from worship. "Did You put this one You created from clay above and more respected than me? You
gave him the rank I had hoped for. And then You order me to make sajda. Will I make sajda then?" This is
the problem. An important issue. As long as you see your ego, Prophets, alaihumu s-salam, have always
come to teach servanthood through various means.
The duty of all prophets is to invite us to servanthood. Give up serving your ego. Be a servant of Allah. All
Prophets came to say this. And don't glorify your ego for worshipping. No. Your ego should be finished by
worship. Let your ego finish. Let no ego remain. Let no pride of your ego remain. Your ego is your horse.
You mustn't destroy it. The meaning of finishing it is to leave it to do the service appointed for you and the
duty for which it was created. And you are putting your horse on a throne and tying the owner of the
throne to a stable. This is darkness. You have tied a guest to a stable and you brought a donkey and sat it
on a pillow by the table. Then you appoint yourself to serve it. What is this? "Nafsi kamatiyyatuka" said
our Prophet, alaihi salatu wa salam. And see for whom is our 24-hour service. For the guest or for the
donkey? We are serving the donkeys. It is so. "What shall we give it for eating and drinking? How shall we
please our donkey not to whine? So that it won't weep and snarl." We are trying for that and because of
that anxiety we are suffering and grieving. "Will my donkey die of hunger? I must gather and collect more
so that my donkey doesn't die of hunger"
Ya Hu, a man lives by his spirit. He doesn't live by his ego. Aren't archangels creatures created by Janab
ul-Haqq? How do they live? They have a spirit too. How do they live? They live with dhikr and tasbih. Do
they need food and drinks? No. When your spirituality becomes strong, you desire a tiny provision.
Sahabas became like lions when they ate one date. We eat a whole pot and are not useful. Yes. You think
food is what feeds you. That is shirk. Janab ul-Haqq is the One who feeds. You eat a whole pot like Uj ibn
Unuk. All ovens of one country worked for that Uj. He finshed bread in one oven and ran to another one.
People took when they could. If not, he would visit every oven and finish it. And he wasn't full. If you have
such an attribute, how can you be full? Allah is the one, who makes us full. Say "Bismillahi r-Rahmani rRahim". Say "Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim" for everything. Your eyes and stomach will be full.
Because we follow various worries of our ego, we lost the thread and whole world has fallen into worry
about provision. They say the population is growing. How will we sustain it? Let's stop reproducing then so
that no children are born. Because we are shrinking with new birth. Alhamdulillah we have many
mosques. If outside is narrow, we have wide mosques. We are sitting in comfort without crowd. Janab ulHaqq knows the population of every year 60,000 years before creating these universes. This is transferred
to us for information. He created the provision of the worshipers and creatures thousands of years ago.
Then when the provisions are created, people and nations come to this world. When a soul enters its
mother's womb from the place of souls, an angel is appointed to write three things: to write his lifetime,

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provision and if he is righteous or wrong. They come with ready provision. However, what happens when
there is no faith in Allah? Jewish people say we're becoming overcrowded. A couple of Jewish scholars
appeared in the world to lead it into mischief. Pharaoh was killing Bani Israel. And now they are seeing
everyone as Pharaoh and want to take revenge. "We must invent something. It increases this much this
year, it will increase this much next year. After this many years there will be no place in the world. How
will they sustain themselves?"
What should the believer's attributes be, the attributes of a believer? If the sky is completely covered with
iron and the earth is covered with copper, and if a person worries about his provision, he is kafir then. He
is not mu'min, he leaves faith. Asta'idhu billah "Wa ma min dabbatin fi l-'ardi illa 'ala llahi rizquha"(11:6)
In how many places JanabAllah told us: "Your provision is on Me." There is no creature struggling on
earth whose provision is not on Allah. You can see different types of creatures. One man... Bayazid Bistami
was a traveller. He always travelled and went to one country once. He prayed in a mosque. And when the
imam turned back, he saw a jamaat in strange clothes. He asked "What do you do, O Muslim, O servant
of Allah?" He said "I'm a travelling dervish." "Where do you eat and drink from?" He said "Wait a
moment. I thought you were a Muslim imam and I followed you in prayer. I have to pray all over again.
You don't know where the provision comes from. Let me make up my prayer and I will answer you."
Then he said "Ya Hu, there are so many cats and dogs. You don't stop and ask them which office they
work at - 'Are you a clerk? Are you a trader? Are you a gardener? How do you support your life?' You
don't ask this from cats and dogs? You saw me suitable and asking how I support myself. Why don't you
ask them? The One who is sustaining them is also sustaining me. Do I have to have a salary? Do I have to
have a shop or a garden? I am finding some provision too. And provision is from Janab ul-Haqq. It's not
from our struggles and work." As we are weak, it is from the door of mercy and to stop fitna. You see it
now, when it is the weekend, events increase. During work days they are busy with work and shaitan can't
find a chance to use them. When there are unemployed people, mischief arises. JanabAllah sentenced
people of the end of times to this world completely. HafadhanAllah. What would we do if every day was a
holiday? Even children have holidays at school. They don't leave anything - built, destroyed and broken.
Therefore doubting about provision leads to doubting Ar-Razzaq. Yes. These people... Now look. ArRazzaq is Janab ul-Haqq. If we gather all people all over the world and put them next to each other, they
won't fill Cyprus. Put them next to each other, from one to another they will or not fill the island of
Cyprus. If you say they will fill and won't fit, we can put all of them in Turkey. It can fill half of it. It's a
huge world. There are still many unseen places. There are many untouched treasures. If JanabAllah
showed jinns, if He made them visible, oceans and rivers would become like full of reeds and the world
would be full -they are so many. And JanabAllah is Ar-Razzaq giving provision to all of them. His treasures
never end. But we must believe. We must believe. Belief is necessary for these people. We don't need
anything else. We have everything but faith. If we have faith, everything will be perfect. Because if
someone loses his faith, he loses all his physical and spiritual values. If a community loses its faith, it will
lose everything spiritual and physical.
Mankind has lost its faith nowadays in this century. Their spiritual and physical values became zero. Yes.
Why? These people are putting money first. Humanity, which values people with money, has nothing to do
with humanity. Finished. Ask from this community. Ask what is valued in the community where you live.
Who are the reputable ones everywhere? Virtuous people or people with money? Who have a reputation?
Who are respected? Who's work is done? Look to the whole world and inside our community. It is like this.
This humanity has nothing to do with humanity. Humanity measuring the value of people by the money in
their pockets and banks is out of humanity. You can either accept it or not. The truth is like this. Yes.
That is why, O believer, don't be weak against dunya. Allah has honored you with His servanthood. And
as a result, Qiyama is approaching. Asta'idhu billah "Innahum yarawnahu ba'idan. wa narahu

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qariban"(70:6,7) JanabAllah says they see Qiyama as far, we see it as close. Asta'idhu billah "Faqad ja'a
ashratuha" (47:18) JanabAllah says its signs are here. He's been telling since 1,400 years. Janab ul-Haqq
says the signs of Qiyama have come. Its signs are showing. And you believe in words of philosophers. How
many million years are there? There's no hoja telling about Qiyama either. If you go up and speak about
Qiyama, they're making Qiyama out of it. Ya Hu, they speak on Qiyama. They speak on hell and
paradise. Where shall we speak from? Are you not fed up with dunya? You want us to speak in mosques
also. Yes. And they are upset. If you say Qiyama is close, they'll all be upset. And who's able to speak says it
is millions and billions years away. When the sun extinguishes, then our world will freeze too. Life will end
according to that, they say. And how much time is there until the sun burns out. "Several billions". Why do
you bother if there are a billion years? You live today and tomorrow. And your life is cut with every breath.
You are walking and approaching it.
Yes, Qiyama is close. This is true. And our Prophet alaihi salatu wa salam, the Prophet of last times came
as a sign of Qiyama. It started with him. And he told that Sahib ul-Waqt will come. JanabAllah told that
He will send a Sahib for poor believers after telling about the conditions we live in today. The 'Owner of
time' will come. And when that holy being comes, all believers will gather in Sham. Because immediately
after him Dajjal will appear. "Ahlu l-Islam fistatu l-muslimin yawma malhamatu l-kubra bi l-'ardi n-yuqalu
laha al ghuta. fiha Madinatun yuqalu laha Dimashq. khayru manazili l-Muslimin." So is told in the hadith
sharif of the Prophet alaihi salatu wa salam. When Dajjal appears in Sham Sharif after the Great War, ahl
ul-Islam will gather there. They say if you throw sand in such place it won't hit the ground, the plain of
Sham will be that crowded. Siddiq ul-Akbar asked from our Prophet (saw) how will they sustain
themselves? "What will be the sustenance of believers in that time?" He asked that question as knowledge
for us so that people get its answer and listen. "Ya Abu Bakr, that time when Sahib ul-Waqt comes with
takbir, a person, who takes one bite will be full for 40 days as if he ate a whole lamb. Janab ul-Haqq will
inject angelic power into believers in that time" That's why, don't be anxious by listening to philosophers
and thinking of how we'll support ourselves when 21st century comes and we'll be billions. If the whole
world from its beginning till the end was a head, a river of people, JanabAllah Jalla wa 'Ala is Al-Qadir and
Al-Muqtadir, supporting them with dhikr and tasbih and providing for them without letting them out of
the way. A lesson of faith is given in this maqam.
Our sohba is belief, to make people believe. If you believe, you'll be light, you'll be rescued from burden
and raised to angel-hood. When you don't believe, you are heavy. This place looks and waits saying "When
will this burden leave me?" We seek refuge in Allah. Ya Rabbi, grant us faith. Grant us certainty. Amin.
Amin.
Bi hurmati Habibika l-Karim wa bi hurmati s-sirri surati l-Fatiha. Let's be content with this much.

Video link: http://saltanat.org/videopage.php?id=15475&name=1983-00-

00_tr_NefsVeRizik_SN_a.mp4

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