Mirror as a waseelah - Mawlana Shaykh Nazim

Bismillah.

Man's highest desire is to reach his Lord, his Creator, Who is bringing him from nothing into something! O Salafi `ulamas, did you come to dunya by yourselves and for what? Do you know? Say to people! Wabtagha ilayhi. What is dunya? Wa maa siwaa. Do you think that Allah Almighty orders you to run after this Creation or does He ask you to reach to your Creator?

It is nothing. Ma siwa Allah - everything except your Lord [is nothing]; they are like shadows. There may be shadows on earth. When the sun is shining you may see your shadow on earth, under your feet. There is another shadow for you that you may see yourself, not like a shadow on earth. You may look to a mirror and through there you can see another being that looks just like you, but it is not you. So that you are saying, "I am asking to reach to that person's real being."

Do you understand? I am not asking you to look through this mirror. I may see a beautiful lady on it, it is not enough for me when I am looking and asking to reach her. How are you going to reach?

O People! You must understand the Holy Qur'an! They do not understand anything! W'abtaghaw ilayhi, when you are looking at a mirror - ayna miratu 'l-haqiqah. Mirrors are of two kinds. One is showing through it not a real being. You are not asking for that one, because when you spread your hands, you can't touch it. You are asking for a mirror which and when you look into it, you may reach to that one inside! Yes, this is the mirror that you are looking for to see. What do you think Salafi `ulama, [is there] a mirror for the Creator? No mirror? [There] must be a mirror because without a mirror you cannot look at Him.

And you are asking to reach to Him. That is matlabul `alaa, the highest desire for Man, to reach for what he is asking to reach. Because when you are reaching the One through the mirror, you look at yourself [and then] you just disappeared and vanished, and there [remains] the One only!

[From the] Holy Qur'an, some people may understand something from the past, from `ulamas and from awliyas. Sometimes they are looking, sometimes they are reaching, sometimes someone, they are 'being'. When 'it' enters, finished, no more your personality, your personality just disappeared, you vanished. That is matlabu 'l-`ala - the highest desire which has no end to it, no ending for that manzhar (vision)! We ask how is that? What is the meaning of w'abtaghaw ilayhi al-waseela? If you are asking to reach yourself, first of all you must have one mirror. That mirror is a waseelah, that is the means for you to look to you. There are so many realities, so many stages, so many stations, so many levels going up to be reached; and what are you asking to reach? To get to a point where you are going to vanish, lose yourself and looking at what you are asking, vanish too!

What are we saying now? They are making me speak on some point which is important. We are saying about Shaytan. Allah (swt) takes that away from His servants. Yes, Shaytan is the biggest enemy and we are in need to save ourselves from Shaytan's tricks and traps.

How can it be? One ayatu 'l-kareemah, a holy verse comes to my heart for me to speak: wattabi` sabeela man anaaba ilayy. Kitab is addressing one and at the same time it address everyone! The summary of our speech that is coming to me is: fa ata`ba sababa.... Nabi Musa and Sayyidina Dhul Kifl were wondering, how can we do it as they walked and ran to their target? He was stepping: فَأَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا fa atba`sababa, and so he chose the right means (Qur'an18:85).

SubhaanAllah it is such an ocean. You can find everything that man wishes to learn, that is the key. Through that key you can open everything - wa sakhara lakum maa fi 's-samawaati wa maa fi 'l-ard. If you do not step on it you will not reach. Step on which point? Fa atba`sababa. Therefore, this world, the whole thing is tied or linked to a reason. Without a reason, there can't be anything and Nabi, Prophet Sayyidina Dhul Kifl was running towards a goal. He was asking to reach to that point and step on the steps of reasons. Therefore, this world is `alam ul-inkaan (possibility), everything can be achieved by means of  sabab (reasons). Without reason, you can't reach any targets here and the Hereafter.

'Alam ul inkam, this world, everything [is of] impossibility. But after this life, it is not an impossibility mumkin. And the second one is `alamu 'l-inkaan, mumkinaat, and `alamu 'l-inkaan. Possible and impossible.

Now dunya, everything on it is linked to reasons. When Mahdi (a) comes, people would still be depending upon possibilities which is sunnatullah. Everything on this sunnatullah means everything is linked with reasons. When Mahdi (a) comes, everything [will be] linked on qudratullah. Sunnatullah is just based on reasons. But for Qudratullah there is no need for sabab (reasons) and when Mahdi (a) comes - (Mawlana stands.) Alfu salaat, alfu salam ala khalifatullah Sayyidina Mahdi (a). (Mawlana sits.) - it will be based on qudratullah which is without reasons, "Kun fa yakoon!" That is the highest rank that a person may reach but one cannot reach that point if one does not use waseelah. Whoever asked to reach qudratullah, he may say for anything "Be!" and it comes to be. For that you need not use sabab. That is something else. Waseelah is something else.

May Allah forgive us and give us good understanding. This is an important explanation, perhaps some awliyas just mentioned it but now some high level awliyas will know the secret. And from that secret a little bit of drop is being sent now to prepare people for the coming of Mahdi (a) that he is going to use, "Kun fa yakoon, Be! and it will be."

- Excerpts of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim sohba
on 31 Jan 2010, Cyprus (Language has been slightly edited)
Read the entire sohba transcript  and watch its video recording at sufilive.com.
Credit: sufilive.com Pic credit: Sali Mae /Cyprus/April 2009

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O son, what I understood from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim's sohba is that he is asking us to look into the mirror and consider what/who our real being is. A mirror is a medium through which we could see our true nature. There is a 'mirror' that reflects Allah. Man is His mirror. Our highest aim therefore, is to reach Allah. This is only attainable through self negation until one reaches to a point of complete 'non-being' or annihilation (fana). The norms (sunnatullah) of this world is that everything happens with a reason. But qudratullah is of a special kind as it needs no cause. Imam Mahdi (a.s) is one who has reached this high station. He has the capability to make things happen simply by saying kun fa yakoon.
Wallahu a'lam.