A number of persons have asked me about some of the major issues bedeviling Muslims throughout the world. This paper is a very humble attempt to change the “eye glasses” through which we normally look at the world, and to pose the questions about Islam and its adherents in another way. Especially during the last few decades, what has been left of the truth of all the major religions and other human discourses and thought has to a large degree disappeared. The greatest display of hypocrisy is to be found, very unfortunately, in the fields of religion and politics, and the expression, “lies, lies, and more lies” can quite aptly be used to express what is going on in these two fields. It is almost impossible today to trust most politicians and religionists, whatever their ilk, and to trust what they say and do. From very minor interpersonal relationships to

 We express deep gratitude to Allah Almighty for bringing us together tonight [2006] to celebrate His praises. With deep, deep, deep intense gratitude from the depths of our souls we call on him with الحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ (Alhamdu lillah: all praises be to Allah)ِ: “O our Lord we are in deep gratitude to Thee for granting us this privilege of celebrating Thy praises.” All people have not been granted this privilege. Allah has nominated only certain people from humanity to come together in groups like this to call His Name. He says in the Qur’an: قُلِ اللهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِى خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُوْنَ Say: “Allah” and leave them to plunge in vain discourse and trifling (vi: 91). Let others go on with their games and their sports while we say: “Allah”. We thank Allah Almighty for giving us guidance, for the light of guidance, for honouring us so that we are able

     One of the murids told me when we came in that his father-in-law has now been dead for six years. He has been away from them, and is in the Barzakh now, for six years. It seems like just the other day when he passed away. One day Imam Shafi’i (r.a.), when his son had passed away, stood in front of the bier and said: “Is this where it all ends?” Of course, Allah has given each one of us an allotted time on earth, a certain number of days, hours and minutes, whatever the case might be. And it is this allotted time that we have to answer for when we come into the Divine Court. Part of our questioning is going to involve what we had done with our time. This is what life and death are all about. When I look at my own life,

    We ask Allah for support. There is nothing that we can do without His support. It appears to many of us, of course, that we can do a lot of things without Allah’s support but if He should withdraw His support from the universe, this whole universe will collapse. It is important for us to understand that. It is important for us to understand that whatever we do as Muslims, we are able to do because Allah has given us the physical strength to do those things. He has also given us the mental capability to do them, and also to understand what we are doing. Because of the grants that He has given us, of physical strength, of mental capabilities, of spirituality and of all other things, we are able to sujud and ruku’, to recite Qur’an, and to make du’a and adhkar. We are able to

   Recently [2006] I read an article about Shaykh Adil Jum’ah, the Grand Mufti of Egypt. If one is a Grand Mufti, it means that one is in charge of the issuing of all religious decisions and that all such decisions have to go through him. This means in fact that Shaykh Adil is most probably one of the most learned scholars in Egypt or one of its top scholars. During an interview with him, he said: “Sufism is Islam and Islam is Sufism.” Now if a thing like that comes from a person of his calibre, then one has to take that statement very, very seriously because he does not talk from the top of his head. He is an extremely learned scholar, probably one of the best in the world today, and he will not just make a statement like that. What was he in fact talking about?

Parents and children[1]    Allah Almighty has established for us certain relationships without which our Islam is destroyed. He has, first of all, established the relationship between us and Him. That relationship was established right at the beginning of the creation of human beings, when Allah addressed all the descendants of Nabi Adam (a.s.), all the descendants from the beginning of time until the end of time. The Qur’an says: أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُوا بَلٰى شَهِدْنَا “Am I not your Lord?” They said: “Yes truly. We do testify!” With this interchange of words, Allah established between us and Him a relationship. He is Lord and we are His servants or His creation. This is the one relationship, which has to do with the recognition and acceptance by us of Allah as Lord. Without this relationship we have no religion. Then Allah also established a relationship between us and Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ).

    I want to speak to you about a few things tonight [2006]. You must not imagine that I am some spiritual guru who has the answers to everything. I am just like all of you trying very, very hard to receive certain spiritual grants. I know some of you give me titles, but don’t worry about that. I can’t worry about that. My major concern is that Allah Almighty gives all of us certain spiritual grants. That is why I am talking about these things because I know from my experience, from my studies, and from what Mawlana Shaykh Nazim tells me and from my discussions I had with Shaykh Kabbani that there are these Divine Grants available. Allah Almighty prepares these Divine Grants and gives them to people. That is why Mawlana Shaykh Nazim is a Sultanul Awliya. He had worked hard and Allah gave him that grant.

   I’m sitting here [2006] in the middle of a congregational dhikr and the room is full of ladies who have come to celebrate the remembrance of Allah Almighty. The important thing with regard to what we are doing, is that everything that we do must be a step for Islam, must be a step for Allah. All our ibadat, and all the other things that we do as Muslims must always be in terms of what Allah wants, and the message that He has sent through Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ) to us. This is very important for us to understand. As Muslims we run to Allah and say: “O My Lord or Ya Rabbi, I am here to obey Thee. I’m here to carry out Thy instructions. I’m here to obey Thy Messenger (ﷺ) and I’m here to obey the instructions of Thy Messenger (ﷺ).” And so Allah has provided

   We ask Allah that He must strengthen our Islam and guide us in what we do and provide support for us, and that this Jumu’ah must be for us an important step in our development as Muslims. We ask that all the things we do and all the different kinds of ibadat must be steps towards Him. All our activities as human beings must be for Him and must be towards Him. That’s the only way that we can get our Islam right. That is not in fact what I want to talk to you about today. On a previous occasion I had told you: (a)The story of Alqamah, the Companion, who was unable to say لاَ إِلٰهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُوْلُ اللهِ (La ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah: there is no god other than Allah. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) on his death bed because he had preferred