The previous week we had a discussion on the attributes of Allah Almighty and we reached for the last attribute from the essential attributes through which we are able to perceive the presence of Allah Almighty in the Universe and we said that they are: liveliness, every living being has its life and zest from Allah Almighty. Imagine a world where there is no Creator, where the alive, the things which move do not have an eternal connection; life does not make sense that way. Hence, life mainly passes through two important borders, those of birth and death. For the one who reasons, there would be no meaning if life was only between these two limits. One of our scholars illustrates a very good example he says: imagine putting one person in an island and telling him that he has to live there for 15 years, and to tell him that in these 15 years he will have all rights, that he could do whatever he wanted, but however all that he would be able to do would remain in that island even when the person would no longer be there. Meaning that after 15 years when the man will be pulled away from the island, then the person would be unable to take anything with him. The scholar says, the man will not develop anything lasting after 15 years in that island, but mainly will be focused on his 15 years of life that he will have on that island. Hence, even with world without the existence of Allah Almighty is a dream in confusion Confused dreams are difficult and when we are awaken in the morning we cannot recall what we have dreamt of. This also accounts with this world and when we will wake up from the sleep in our graves. When we will wake up before Allah Almighty, it will seem to us as a dream in confusion; especially those who have given priority to directly connect with the eternal zest. We said that He is the all-knowing, all of our knowledge is focused on the knowledge of Allah Almighty; whatever we are aware of, is a piece of the knowledge of Allah Almighty. Oftentimes man is proud of what he has achieved, but think to what extent, in reality, man is predestined. Let’s say now, Besar, God has enabled for him to be a student of 2nd year (he has promised me he will even do his PhD) but perhaps in Tetovo there are some other guys with the same age to whom Allah Almighty has not given the same brains; these persons have come to this world intellectually disabled and automatically Besar cannot feel as if he is better than others, because he has come to this world as predestined. If he did not have the brain God gave him, Besar would be unable to be student of 2nd year in university. The potential so that we can actually do something in this world has been given to us by Allah Almighty; we have come with this potential from somewhere else. Even the one who has come to this world as intellectually disabled, has its own good; that is another story on itself.
If knowledge is attached to Allah Almighty then it makes us successful in this world, it makes us human, remember this. the greater the connection with God is, the more human we become. There is one term greatly used by the Qur’an, Takwa, which means the devoted one, piety and in the 13th verse of the Hujurat Surah (it is good to read this Surah especially for relations between humans) where Allah Almighty says: “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted”. In essence the word takwa means to be a better human, the best among the human, more humane. The humane is directly linked with Allah Almighty, hence through the attributes through our knowledge, our hearing, our sight, will and our conversation we are able to connect with Allah Almighty. Have you ever thought why for instance there is a repetition of certain prayers? For example why we always recite the Al-Fatiha surah in each rekat of namaz? Or for instance why do we often need to perform some dhikr such as La Ilaha Ilallah Muhammedun Resulallah (Kelmei teuhid)? Because through them the connection with Allah Almighty is established, from all points of view, from the domain of being alive, knowledge, hearing and language. At times we wish to remember God / dhikr aloud; at times when we recite aloud some attributes of Allah Almighty unite: we feel our zest, then through knowledge and declaration we confirm our knowledge, then we speak, we say it out loud / kelam and hear it / sem and hence all the attributes of Allah Almighty unite in one remembrance. Some namaz are prayed in silence, and some out loud, do you know why? Because even our ears needs to conduct the ibadah of remembrance of Allah Almighty. I had one professor who would say that when you go to sajdah to pray naamz and to be devoted to Allah Almighty, you shouldn’t just go to sajdah (sujud / prostration) only with your heads, but together with your head, the mind, the rationality and the reason should also join. As long as the mind motions without reason on sajdha, that sajdah is not as its supposed to be. The Islamic Jurists have established some rules which proclaim which sajdah is correct. For instance in order for the sajdah to be properly conducted the hands need to be below, the tip of the feet need to be below, the knees need to be below, the forehead and the nose need to also be below, whereas the Sufis claim that the most important from this all is that reason/rationality/mind of man to be below. If on the sajdah in extremity/ organs go to Allah Almighty, whereas the mind/soul is somewhere else then we haven’t achieved anything. One of my favorite professors, Huesin Ef. Xhozo, one of the greatest scholars in the world at that time (his works have been translated even in Albanian, for instance there is the book “Islam in time” – Islam u vremenu” it’s a very good work, its good to be read), he said something like: if one just simply thinks about the farz, wajib, mendubet, in other words for the good things of namaz then the person will remain without the namaz, because he shall not be focused on the namaz. Focusing is one of the essential elements and through this concentration the connection with Allah Almighty is established.
The final attribute which we shall encounter tonight is Takwin. Takwin in Arabic language means creation, and form-given. Allah Almighty has an attribute which is exclusive for Him, meaning that to nobody else he enabled the process of creation; everything as an act of creation is conducted by Allah Almighty. The movements, the reason of creation of things might also be because of people, but creation as an act belongs merely to Allah Almighty. It was Allah Almighty who created the skies and earth, Allah Almighty is the one who created man, Allah Almighty is who created life and death. Oftentimes among us people discuss that if one person kills another, then who creates death? Death again is created by Allah Almighty, we can only think of death, but the same thing goes for life as well; even for life the mother and the father are responsible, but the baby is created from God, man is created by God. So as can man be responsible for death, both for life is also man responsible, but man doesn’t create man, even if man is a reason for the arrival on this world by another man, the creation is conducted by Allah Almighty; that is the reason I inferred that the creation is an exclusive right of Allah Almighty. Philosophy and all the philosophical mindsets, even in the past, have discussed the matter of causality. Causality infers the relationship between action and reaction. However if it’s to believed that every reaction has it s action, then there a circle of viciousness created which prevents for the initial reason to be noticed. The religious mindset says that the initial action even for matter which later act as action-reaction come from Allah Almighty; this is where teism, religion, belief in God is distinguished from other things. Inasmuch, Allah Almighty is the initial reason of all things; of the creation on this earth. There are many examples in nature and history which show that causality is not absolute. Before I bring you an example from the Qur’an, I will give you an example with a western philosophy by David Hume. He has contradicted the matter of causality and the laws of nature. For instance according to Hume it is merely the will of the Creator, and moreover according to the Qur’an it is so as well. To be honest Hume has obtained this frame of thinking by Imam Ghazali. Why does he say this? Because (as many of you who deal with natural sciences know) in natural sciences in order for something to become law, it should have never had a contraction with that matter in question prior, otherwise it remains a hypothesis or a theory. Inasmuch one of the laws of nature as we know for instance that fire can burn you, and that water can drown you. For instance Abraham (PBUH) did not get burned by fire. Noah (PBUH) did not get drowned by water; Noah’s (PBUH) son was more prepared in terms of ability of swimming in comparison with Noah (PBUH) , and we can even see the conversation between Noah and his son in the Qur’an.
Noah (PBUH) is one of the prophets who has called the most in the name of religion, 950 years, thus I ask you to never take for granted or to be appalled at people who do not share our religious invitation. Noah has called in the name of religion for 950 years and his son didn’t believe him, all his life he has invited people in belief however according to some transmissions only 7 people believed him. You know that the people of Noah were punished with a storm (the story of Noah is one great occurrence described in the Qur’an). When Noah began to build the ship his people made fun of him, they told him: “where do you see the sea that you are building this ship?”. In reality Noah (PBUH) is the first man in the history of mankind who has built a ship, and sailing on the sea has began with Noah; inasmuch the Revelations reveals to us the first ship. If we stop and make an analyses of the history of the ship before Noah and before Torah, the Qur’an, the Bible you will notice that nobody infers anything about the boat. The people made fun of him, whereas Noah (PBUH) replied to them: “If you are making fun of me today, tomorrow I will be making fun of you” and then Allah Almighty decreed the earth to reveal its water, decreed the sky to reveal its water from above and drowned the people of that nation, whereas Noah told his son: “Get on the ship so you can survive”, his son replied: “I will climb that cliff and I will survive the punishment of God”, and then Noah replied to him” Today there is no surviving from the punishment of God, expect for the one which God has embarked on this boat” and the boat of Noah (PBUH) (there a metaphor for all of us here) that once the Day of Judgment arrives, I mean to say the day when all the people will motion onto the other world, there will be no turning back. Two groups of people shall ask from God to turn back, one group is mentioned by the Qur’an, the other group is inferred in one transmission / hadiith of the Prophet (PBUH). It conveys that, that day two groups will want to come back, one group are the ones who have fallen martyr; they will say: “dear God please enable us to go back so we can fall martyr for 100 more times on Your path, so we can come because we can see that there are many privileges to be a witness / shahid”. To be a martyr / shahid does not only mean to get killed on a war. To seek and try to educate your child is also shahid, the Prophet (PBUH) says “whomever revives a tradition of mine during a period when the people / my ummah are in weakening, he has a reward of 100 shahids”, thus even educating your child during a period where demoralization is everywhere, during a time when everyone is alarming the wicked, when everyone is bias on the wicked, the Prophet (PBUH) says that that person will have reward as 100 shahids. The second groups are the ones who motions onto the other world as unbelievers, God forbid. They will be saying “ ya Rabb, enable us to go back onto the other world, so we can believe and as believers to come here anew”.
We are still speaking about the creation of Allah Almighty. The link should be directly established with Allah Almighty and Hume says “If fire didn’t get Abraham (PBUH) burned, then we cannot consider this to be a law, because fire might not burn. If Noah was not drowned by the water, then it doesn’t have to be a law; it doesn’t necessarily have to drown a person”. Whereas we have some theories which are considered as laws, which in the Qur’an are not inferred as such; when God wants they don’t have to be laws, in order to show us that creation is His. Moreover it is the same instance with a conversation, for example Allah Almighty had reveled to us the Qur’an, He has sent it on the Arabic language which is pure and oftentimes it happens that man is deluded that he believes that the word of God can be perceived completely, and in order for this delusion to be cleared up, God has given some Qur’anic codes which nobody knows what they infer. For instance the second Surah in the Qur’an, the Al-Baqarah Surah begins with the code Elif Lam Mim; three letters of the Arabic language. Nobody knows what this means, according to some transmissions even the Prophet (PBUH) was not revealed its meaning. Or another example is the Surah Marjam (the Surah which speak for Hazrat Marjam) which begins with Kaf Ha Ja Ajn Sad. Nobody knows their meaning in order for man not to become deluded by thinking that he knows the most. Within the pages of this Surah Allah Almighty speaks about the case of Zakariyah and Maryam (if you read the Maryam Surah you will notice that the first 5-6 pages are very pleasant, it is good to have them read). One night Zakariyah said to his God “Dead God behind me there shall be nobody who can follow the tradition of Abrahan (PBUH), Musah (PBUH), Yakub (PBUH) because I don’t have children and my wife is sterile (cannot make any children), grant me a descended”. Allah Almighty turned to Zakariyah “I shall grant you one son and you will name him Yahya, a name which nobody has had before”. In the Arabic language Yahya, as a word, derives from the word haj, yahya means eternal zest. According to some transmissions Zakariyah has been 110 years old, whereas his wife has been 90 years old and was sterile. In this surah Allah Almighty conveys the dialogue between God and Zakariyah (PBUH)…Zakariyah told God that how could he possibly have children. If God wants something, that matter takes place and it occurs. And what should be the sign of this story. Do you know what Allah Almighty told Zakariyah (PBUH)? For three days you shall not speak to anybody, you will only speak in signs (recall why at times I don’t allow you to speak), second, not speaking is a sacred aristocracy; when one speaks a lot this is signs of wickedness because the devil has said “What? Adem? I am better than Adem. “ The first comparison has been made by the devil.
After that, Jibril went to Maryama (PBUH) one night, as she was inside Masjid. There was a special place inside, mihrab it was called (in the mosque they call it mihrab, the place where the imam conducts prayers), the mihrab was as a room, it was where Maryam went in and stayed. Maryam was a female, until then the woman was not even permitted to enter into a place of praying but she wasn’t even considered as part of the community. Maryam is the first woman which Allah Almighty put her in a place of praying, that place was the main building of the government at the time of Jews. In one speech which Faqir held on the rights of women, I have said that you shouldn’t think that Klara Cetkin and Rose Luxembourg have approved the rights of women; the rights of women have been approved by Hazrat Maryam because she has said “I don’t need a man and I don’t need to have a child” and Isa (PBUH) was born without a man. One night as she was inside Jibril came to her and told her that he was sent by God and that she will have a child which shall be born from her. She has said: “Who are you? I don’t know you. I didn’t have to do with any man. Why have you come? “ The angel says: “I am Jibril (PBUH), God has sent me.” After that Isa (PBUH) was born, she wasn’t in Baytul Makdis. When she had come back to Baytul Makdis people said to her: “oh sister of Harun, how could you have done such a thing, without being married you have given birth, your family has been a pure family”, whereas Maryam turns to them “I have promised God that I shall not speak to anyone, “but she points at Isa (PBUH), the boy who she kept in her arms. They again spoke to her: “How is it possible for us to speak t a baby / sabi”, then Isa (PBUH) spoke as a baby and said “I am a servant of Allah Almighty, God will give me the book and He has made me a Prophet”. Hence in order to ruin the monotony of causality (this was my point), Allah Almighty created Isa without a need of a father; Adam was created without a father neither a mother and the Qur’an infers this “The case of Isa is like the case of Adam, Adam (PBUH) was created from soil, He said Be and it was created:, He created Isa just with one of the parents and it was created. God created the son of Zakariyah, Yahya from parents who were old and according to the normal expected system of nature they cannot borne a child; even Zakariya’s wife was sterile. Inasmuch this shows us that creation is an exclusivity of Allah Almighty. Hence from the domain of the things in this world nobody can infer or conclude that he or she is the owner of the owner of something as long as that matter was not created by him. Only when one does create something, can that person be an owner of that thing he created himself. Mainly in the Islamic literature both at Muslims and Christians, among the religious ones the term creation is not used by man. In the recent periods, after the XIX century the term creation has began to be used on art and literature, for instance literature creation, artistic creation is used among us here and do you know why? Because art and literature are made with the origin of God in man, meaning that in this there is something in the human which is not material, it is not physical and this is the breath of God. Did I give you the example with iblis / the devil when he saw Adam (PBUH) laying in heaven? I will say this once again. He saw Adam (PBUH) laying down in Jannah, still without spirit and he approached him, and knocked on his chest. He knocked on Adam’s chest and heard a deep noise, as if he was knocking on an empty vase and the devil turned his back and said “there is no hope / benefit from this one, he is empty inside”. Allah Almighty said to him “I will fill him with my soul and I breathed to him from my breath, from my soul and then told the angels and jins to make sajdah to him”.
Inasmuch man experiences the human when he is conscience of this breath within him and Allah Almighty through this breath enables to man poetry and art. The ones who haven’t it developed within him this breath or the ones who didn’t prioritize it or the ones who do not emphasize this breath of Allah Almighty in the inner part of man, regardless if they are Muslims or not, they are unable to create art and literature. Do you know when the greatest poets, the greatest artists are able to write and make art the best? When that person experiences either great sorrow or great joy within him, in other words when their soul is activated; when their soul arises they are able to create literature and art.
Inasmuch as a conclusion we can say that Allah Almighty is the creator of everything in the Universe and we as such belief in Allah Almighty and in this manner we experience the Universe. Our responsibility as people is on things which we become reason of creation, but if we seek to be comfortable in this world then we should concentrate our mind and energy in the things which are close to us, not the distant things, both from the domain of existence as well. If we dwell in thought or we seek to know things which are at our distance, then believe that between us and the matter which is afar there will be an abyss upon which we shall first fall, not others. I mean to say that submission and deity on God from our perception is much sweeter than rationalization about matters which we cannot perceive. One Sufi poet of the XIX century, Erzurum Ibrahim Hakk says: “: “ Deme niçin bu böyle, yerindedir o öyle, görelim Mevlam ne eyler, ne eylerse gűzel eyler”/ “ Don’t judge why one thing is such as it is, instead it is as it is, let us see what God does / creates, whatever He creates, He creates in the most beautiful shape”. Thank you
