A’udhu billahi minash shaytanir rajim, Bismillahir rahma nir rahim, Alhamdu lillahi rabbil alamin. Was salatu was salamu ala ashrafil mursalin, Sayyidina Muhammad, wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma’in.
(Meded Ya Sayyidi, destur Ya Sayyidi).
La hawla wa la quwwata ila bilahil aliyyil adhim.
Ash hadu alla ilaha illallah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh.
[I seek the protection of Allah from the accursed Shaytan. In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Good. All praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessings on the most honoured Messenger, our Master Muhammad, and on all of his family and Companions.
(Spiritual support, O my Master. Permission, O my Master).
There is no power and no strength except with Allah, the Most Mighty, the Most Powerful. I bear witness that there is no god other than Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger.]
[A mute lady entered Islam prior to the congregational dhikr. A week before three ladies entered Islam at the Rondebosch East Masjid, الحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ (Alhamdu lillah: all praises be to Allah). They were all from Mfuleni, one of the black townships.]
I think most of you witnessed what took place here tonight (a lady reverting to Islam) in the masjid, before the start of the dhikr. Sometimes we do not always understand, or we don’t want to understand the processes that are taking place inside the Naqshbandi Order. Either we don’t want to understand or we cannot understand. The other day for example when I went to one of the masjids, I heard one of the people there saying: “Boeta Yusuf moet hulle leer,” he was talking about some of the poor children from the black townships, “om onder-kufiyas te dra.” (I must teach them to wear skull caps.) I looked at this man and thought to myself, “We are involved in the changing of hearts, and he talks to me about onder-kufiyas.” He said it deliberately so that I could hear. I ignored his foolishness. We are busy with major work in order to “bring” more and more people into Islam. We don’t have time for these kinds of things. Be careful! I hope that one day the ladies won’t tell me that there are some children from the black areas, girls, ladies who do not have white socks on. I want you to ignore all those things. We have a major task in this Order to “bring” people into Islam. This was the instruction that had been given to us. Ignore all the other things. We “bring” women into Islam and then their husbands remain outside of Islam. We can’t tell them that they also have to remain outside of Islam. There are many things we have to overlook because of the kind of work we are doing. And please, I am appealing to you, don’t watch and see what other people are doing.
There are people within this organization that are busy with the task of “bringing” people into Islam and working with the imams in the poor areas. They have a major task in front of them. It is day-to-day hard work that these people are involved in. Please don’t talk to me about onder-kufiyas or white socks. I don’t have time for those things. When people are involved in the changing of hearts, we don’t have time for that. You saw what happened last week. You’ve seen what happened this week. Almost every single week people are reciting Shahadah in our presence. You must understand the significance of this. It is important for us to understand this. Why did Allah Almighty decree this for us, that in our presence, that in the different masjids we go to, the people are going to recite Shahadah? And the kind of role being played by people like Imams Ismail, Muneer, Yusuf, and the others? We must appreciate this and thank Allah Almighty that He has given us a small portion of this, that He has given us a small portion of “bringing” His creation into Islam. This was the Prophetic Mission.
The mission of Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ) was to “bring” people into Islam. We are following that route. Please don’t pass comments. I am sorry to say this. In many of these cases it reflects very bad racist attitudes that we have learnt in this country. We must ask Allah Almighty to purify our hearts from those things because we want to approach Him. We are going towards Allah Almighty. We can’t go towards Him with bad attitudes toward His creation. The people who are sitting here: His creation. The people living all over the world: His creation. If we show disrespect to people, we are showing disrespect to the Creator. And don’t think it is not like that. Some people, I understand, did not even greet those people who became Muslim. What kind of attitudes do we have? Is it too much? Then tell Allah Almighty: “I don’t want to obey Thee, and that:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ إِخْوَةٌ
The believers are but a single brotherhood (xlix: 10).
does not mean anything to me.” Tell Him: “I don’t want to greet them.” Tell Him! At least then you are honest about the matter.
Please, I am appealing to you. We are walking a special road. We want to try hard for special achievements. We want Allah Almighty to give us special grants. If this is so, then we must embrace all human beings, whether they are white, whether they are black, whether they are brown, whether they are yellow, we must embrace them. Whether they have flat noses, sharp noses, whatever the case maybe, we must embrace them. They are the creation of Allah Almighty. That is why when Allah Almighty addresses people in the Quran: يأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ (Ya ayuhan nas: O people), then He is talking to all of humanity.
We must have correct attitudes. The Naqshbandis must have correct attitudes. We must be known in the community for the fact that we embrace all people. Everybody must know this about us, that the Naqshbandis embrace all people. We put our arms around all people. We don’t play games. It is such an important principle. One of the most important religious principles that Allah Almighty gave to Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ) was:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ إِخْوَةٌ
The believers are but a single brotherhood (xlix: 10).
The fact that Muslims are reaching this low ebb today is because they are disobeying this principle. And the fact that we can’t progress with our affairs, is because we are disobeying this principle. How can we raise our hands to our Lord in prayer and we are so divided? How can we raise our hands to our Lord when we think badly of other people? How can we do that? Do you think that Allah Almighty will accept our du’as ?
Look at the honour He is giving us! Come, you name any other group having this honour. I don’t want to boast about this, but you name any other group having the honour that Allah Almighty has granted to us. And look at the mission that He has granted to us. This is not accidental. Our work is not accidental. Our work has been decreed by Him. This was the message to us: “Go work amongst the poor. Go bring the people to Islam.” That was not Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s message. That is Allah Almighty’s message. It is His message. He decrees. It only came on the tongue of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim.
So please, I am appealing to you, please! Ask Allah Almighty: “O my Lord, I have bad feelings towards certain ladies, or men, or old people or young people, or black people or brown people. Please take those feelings out of me.” And whenever we make du’a or make dhikr, whatever the case might be, we must appeal to Allah Almighty for that kind of purification so that our hearts are pure towards other people. There must be nothing, nothing in our hearts that shows prejudice, that shows racism, that shows ugliness. Nothing like that! I hear the most appalling stories. Would that fellow have said those things in the masjid if those children were not from Khayelitsha? Would he have said that they did not have something on their heads? No! It is because they are black children. “Boeta Yusuf moet hulle leer om onder-kufiyahs op hulle koppe te sit.” We are busy here with changing hearts. Must we take an audit of who has fezzes on and who does not have fezzes on? The message we have received is: “Go bring people to Islam,” not “go put onder-kufiyahs on their heads”. The onder-kufiyahs will come when the time is there. Of course, Allah Almighty brings people to Islam. He changes hearts, not us. It is only our way of speaking because He has involved us in the process, الحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِِ (Alhamdu lillah: all praises be to Allah).
We ask Allah Almighty to help us. We need this so badly. We need His assistance so badly. We need His support so badly. We need His encouragement and security so badly. We must always raise our hands to Him and say: “O my Lord! We are striving to be Thy servants, help us in this.” We ask for all of these with the blessings of Suratul-Fatihah …
And Allah knows best, and I ask forgiveness for any mistakes or distortions in what I have said or have not said correctly, Amin.