As you know that about 30 of us were in Lefke, and most of us had just arrived back a few days ago. And I think that all of us will say again that we had an unusual, wonderful experience to be with one of the most pious people in earth. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim is considered by other awliya' as Sultanul Awliya', as one of the highest in the world today. And to be able to sit with him and talk to him and greet him and kiss his hand, and eat with him, was one of the rare privileges we had when we went over there. I don't want to go into detail with all the things that happened but there were some very nice things that happened. I want to mention to you some of these things. First of all, of course, every night we made dhikr using a massive rosary that was spread around the room, and while we were reciting the tahleel, others were reciting qasidahs. The South Africans made a major hit. Every night they were asked to do Ya Sayyidi and other qasidahs. They just carried the right, every night for so long, and when they left, the whole thing just flopped. They were so good, Alhamdu lillah. They even did a video of the South Africans.
People come from all over the world to be there. At the place where I was staying. for example, there were three people from Moscow, one from Argentina and one from England. They come from all over the world, speaking all kinds of languages. One of the rare experiences that we had there was with regard to two ladies who were pregnant, Nadeem William's wife and Achmat Fakier's wife. Shaykh took his stick and put it on their tummies and made du'a for them, and said: "One boy, one girl". [He addressed Rafiqa's baby in the feminine so those of us who understood Arabic knew that she was going to have a girl. And so it happened. Rafiqa had a girl and Faeeza a boy.]. Then he took two of the mureeds, husband and wife, and put their heads together and he made du'a. This was so precious.
Of course, one of the things you later learn as you go along on the path of tasawwuf, which I want to speak to you a little bit about tonight, is that your Shaykh contributes immensely to your spiritual development, in different kinds of ways. I'm not going to go into detail with that tonight. Some night, insha Allah, when we have time, I'm going to speak to you more about that. Many of you, I think, do not understand that. And you think there is no spiritual relationship between you and your Shaykh. There is in fact a major spiritual relationship. On one occasion he said that he links with the mureeds wherever they are in the dunya, East or West, North or South. And he said with regards to one imam: "I will twist his ear for him." He is in Lefke, and he said he will twist that man's ear here in Cape Town: "I will twist his ear for him if he continues to behave in this way." And so these people's spiritual power is immense. They are the inheritor's of the Prophets. He is an inheritor of the Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.s.), and has certain very very special qualities. On one occasion he told me with regard to a certain person: "If that person must show his spirituality, he will not be able to stand people and people will never be able to stand him," so Allah Almighty has covered him up, so that he can communicate with people and do his work.
One day I was sitting there with others having a meal. Now the ladies of course, they end up talking to him all the time. I told another khalifah sitting next to me: "I think we are very quiet?" He said: "We have the right adab. With your Shaykh, you don't speak. He will speak to you." That is a very important rule. And so we've come to learn a number of different things with regard to that. One of the things I have come to learn in my experiences with him is that you must speak on authority. I want you to listen very carefully to this. In tariqah, your Shaykh gives you the authority to deliver talks or to deliver lectures. When I heard this I became very worried, and I approached him on the matter. He then gave me the authority Now as far as I know, and I'm not blowing my own trumpet, I'm just explaining this to you, I'm the only one so far as I know that has been given the authority by the Naqshbandi Grand Shaykh to speak to people on the religion of Islam in South Africa. If anybody else has been given the authority, you must please come and tell me. I don't know. He would have told me. So please my appeal to you is to listen to that. Don't read a few books and then you want to make speeches on Spirituality. Spirituality is the personal experience of a process. I want to repeat that to you. You can't learn Spirituality from books. Anybody in this field who understands this view will tell you, what you learn in books is only information for you, and you don't worry too much about it. But for your own personal growth and development, each individual, walks his own particular path in this field. And he has his own experiences. And when he reaches, insha Allah the pinnacle of this path, then Allah Almighty might grant him friendship. Then he will be able to say, this and this and this are the things that I've experienced on this path. It will probably be different from the experiences of other persons. So one must be very careful when one reads a few odd books about Spirituality and one now thinks that one is an authority on this subject. The only people who are authorities on the subject of Spirituality are the Awliya of Allah. They had travelled the path. Those who had travelled the path and who can speak authoritatively on their own personal experiences are the Awliya of Allah.
The Awliya of Allah are of the only people once they've reached that station who are able to control their egos. We are not able to do that. They are able to do that. And as they progress in the station of friendship with Allah, so, more and more, they are able to control their egos. The control of the ego is directly related to spirituality. How far one develops in spirituality will determine the extent one is able to control one's ego.
If you read anything on Spirituality and you wish to talk about it, tell people that you had read such and such and such in a book. Don't speak as if it is your experience. Now I'm going to repeat to you that the only people who can speak authoritatively about this path are those who had travelled it. And they can tell you at the end of the path that this is the nature of this path. They are the people into whose hand you must place your hand to take you on this path. You listen to them, you obey them, you do what they say, and then success will be granted to you. This is why any person who has not travelled this path is not able to take you on this path. People who are not Awliya of Allah cannot take you on this path. They don't know what it is about. Be as humble as you can and be as calm as you can as you travel this path. Don't assume that you know. Always assume you don't know. Don't assume that you well developed. Always assume you under-developed. Don't assume you have made great strides. Always assume that you had made little or no strides. In this field you must be humble. That's why that man said to me: "In front of your Shaykh (or his khalifah), you don't open your mouth". Only speak with permission from them.
One day I was in Johannesburg at a big dinner. I was sitting about three or four people away from Shaykh Nazim. One of the other guests started to explain Spirituality to Shaykh Nazim. He was telling a Sultanul Awliya about tasawwuf. I became very embarrassed. Shaykh Nazim turned to him and said: "Da Costa doesn't say anything." He was telling him to stop talking but the man went on for about another half an hour. I told you once that this road that we are walking is a very very sensitive road. Be careful of it. You can be successful but you can also fail. I'll repeat that to you. You can be successful but you can also fail. So many have failed. When you put your hand in the hand of your Shaykh, grip, grip, and he will lead you and help you on that path until eventually Allah declares in the Heavens that He had granted that servant of His friendship. My word! Don't we want that? Don't mess around. Don't we want that? Don't we want that one day Allah must declare to Jibril: "I love this servant of Mine. I grant this servant of My friendship." Don't we want that? We want to fool around. Allah has given us jewels in religion and we scratch around in the sand.
The one thing that's expected from us is when we are prepared to give our hands to our Shaykh is to obey him. One of the worst things in this field is disobedience to your Shaykh, not listening to him, not obeying him. Be careful about this and don't even think that you are an authority on tasawwuf because you had read some books. I've read hundreds of books on tasawwuf and once I put my hand in the hands of Shaykh Nazim, I realized that I had wasted so much time. He showed me that this is the path I have to walk. You may read the books for information, that's about all. Its not like other subjects. Its not like History or Geography. It is a totally different matter.
In our hearts must be a deep strong passion to want to become a pious person. This passion must be almost like a madness in one, wanting to became a pious person. Make du'a for that everyday. Ask Allah every single day, as many times as you can: "O Allah make me of Your pious servants," and "O Allah! Grant to me what you grant to your pious servants." We must ask every day. Allah Almighty says in the Qura'n: "Ask me." The reply comes to your Shaykh. You ask and the reply comes to your Shaykh.
Don't pretend that you know about tasawwuf, rather pretend that you know nothing, until some day when Shaykh tells you that he grants you the authority to speak. Until that day, keep your mouth. Your time will come. You must be patient. The time will come when Shaykh says: "Riedwaan, you may now speak. Shafiek you may now speak." Wait! I am seventy. You are forty. Right, that's the difference. Sheikh gave that to me, and I'm seventy. You people still have a long road to go. Be careful about this path. If you want to travel this road, travel it correctly. Otherwise you do something else with your life. We are the possessors of Islam on this continent. People in tariqah, in the sufi orders, are the possessors of Islam. It is only in the tariqahs that Islam is surviving. The rest is just imagination. I don't want to go into detail with you about that, perhaps some other time.
Al-Fatihah...
And Allah knows best, and I ask forgiveness for any mistakes or distortions in what I have said, Amin.
NB: Two important lessons, amongst others, come from this talk:
(a) One's knowledge of tasawwuf grows as one proceeds through its process under the guidance of a shaykh.
(b) In the presence of one's shaykh (or his representative), the murids have to sit quietly. They only speak when addressed, or when asked to make a contribution, or when participating in a general meeting. This is the proper adab.