Always To Be In Change

The Fuqara Must Ask Always To Be In Change- By Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi

The du'a of the Muslim is, "O Allah, keep me in change." Keep mealways changing because everything is changing and every day Allah ison a new creation.You must be renewing and renewing yourself. You have to always be inchange. You must remember that the company of the fuqara is thehighest company. You must keep each other company.

You must travel toother places where there are fuqara. You must sit with the fuqara inevery place. You must be an example to them and take example fromthem when you meet people of quality. Seek the people of knowledge,seek the people of love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the peopleof love of Rasul, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam. To take the adab ofthe great ones you have to sit with them, you have to sit with thepeople of knowledge. It is by your company that you are purified.

Tasawwuf is keeping company, then tasawwuf is listening, thentasawwuf is acting upon what you hear. There is only one enemy andthat is your self. The nafs has nothing good in it. The worst of allthings to the Sufis is the recognition of their own good qualitiesover and against that of other people – it is what sets them back andsmashes them on the rocks of destiny. You must not look at your goodqualities. You must consider them something that in themselves havebeen spoiled even by your being conscious of them. You do not look atyour self.You do not find fault with others, you find fault with your self.You must look at your self and say, "What is wrong with it?" Harithal-Muhasibi went over his day, then went over his hours and then wentover his minutes, then went over his breath until he had verifiedthat it was pleasing to Allah, that it was acceptable to Allah.

Two great `ulama met in Baghdad and they argued and fought with eachother. At the end one of them said, "Let us meet tomorrow and discussthis matter further and the other one said, "No, let us meet tomorrowand make peace and forget all about it."

This is the way of the Sufis – to begin again.You must not be limited in your forgiveness of the faults of othersbut you must not have any measurement of any attention to yourself.Any consciousness of your self you must turn from. You must turn awayfrom the nafs and the method of turning away from the nafs is not apsychological method, it is dhikrullah. (Surat ar-Ra'd, 28 ) "Only inthe dhikr of Allah can the heart find peace."

You must do dhikr ofAllah. You must remember Allah standing, sitting and reclining onyour side. You must call upon Allah.You cannot afford to be out of the company of the people who loveAllah for any amount of time in this age that we live in. You must bewith the people who love Allah, you need them. You need the people ofAllah because they will remind you of Allah. You need the people ofknowledge because you have to be strong in your Deen and you have tobe correct in your Deen in an age where every mosque has a differentway of going into sajda, let alone the higher things of the Deen.

You must speak well of people and have a good opinion of people. You mustbecome people of futuwwa, you must become these people who are spokenof because of the high aspiration, the high himma you have which ison a universal scale that when you go to the Ka'ba, with all thetroubles that are there, you must look for the people of Allah thereand sit with them. Beware of the people of dunya. Beware of thepeople of dunya until you are safe, and when you are safe it does notmatter where you go. If you are not safe then you must be careful.

You must have taqwa and you must have wara'. You must take care, takecare, watch, until you are on Sirat al-Mustaqim because when thingsgo wrong you have to remember that all you have got is then to turnto Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.Remember, even tawba is nothing to do with you – it is because Allahhas decreed for you tawba because He wants you, so even that is notyours, it is not your good achievement.Your asking forgiveness is not your good achievement, it is simplyAllah claiming you and you recognising that He has claimed you.

Youbelong to Allah. You have come from Allah and you are going to Allah.This is what you have to tell yourself. You must not be hypnotised bydunya.Remember that Rasul, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, indicated that thesmall coin of the poor person is as dangerous as the gold of therich, so you must be generous. To be generous is to follow the way ofRasul, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam. You must be generous, you musthave a good opinion of other people, you must not say bad thingsabout other people and if you do say them you must go back and cleanit out and you must ask their forgiveness.

If someone is totally against you and totally in the wrong then you have to forgive themand you have to forget it and you have to go back and put thingsright. This is how the Deen has always been. This is how these greatmen have lived in the past.Just finally to remind you – look what has become of futuwwa – theelders of the organisation of people calling themselves al- Fatah aretying dynamite to youngsters' bellies and shoving them out to blowthemselves up, when the people who fought with Rasul, sallallahu`alayhi wa sallam, pushed the young people aside in order that theycould go and fight fisabilillah, fight in the service of Rasul,sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam.

So the whole Deen has to start all overagain.You are the people who must start it and in this continent is whereit will begin. It is from your people and from your children, but youmust have an adab to them, you must treat them with courtesy. Youmust treat your children with courtesy, you must treat the young withcourtesy just as you must treat the old with courtesy. You mustbecome the people of adab and if you become the people of adab youwill be safe.

If you become people of adab you will be Sufis. At-Tariqa kulluha-adab. The Tariqa is nothing but adab, that is all itis – adab.You must also have some respect for yourself. That respect foryourself is only manifest by the fact that all the people around youare at ease and in harmony with you and pleased that you are there.This is how you must be.

You must be a blessing on the earth. Youmust be a baraka for everybody. You must be ones that when you entera room it all lights up because of your love of Rasul, sallallahu`alayhi wa sallam, your love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, andbecause your tongue is supple with the name of Allah and not thematters of dunya.Dunya will not fail to happen. All its strategems and spoils will notfail to crash about your ears, they have always done it and they willcontinue to do it.

When the People of the Cave came out, there again faced with the world and all its problems and all its difficulties, but Allah loves the people of tawhid and loves thepeople who love Him
and this is the company, the company of the Sufis.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that we prefer to go
to the company of people who only want to go to Allah
in preference to anyone who may do anything to help
give us advantage in this world.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to make us ready for the tests
come so that we can respond to Him and remember to praise Him
in every situation. Alhamdulillahi `ala kulli hal.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to bless this mosque
and its imams and its guardians and that it continues
to be a witness for Islam as it has been
in the troubled times of the past.

Amin.