Defender of Truth

BismillahirRahmanirRahim,

As-Salaam wa Alaikum wa Rahamtullahi wa Barakatahu,

Subhan'Allah! Posted below is a beautiful Sohbet delivered by our dear Sheikh Effendi in response to the flagrancies committed against Him and the Osmanli-Hakkani order in the New York Times. He reminds us that no matter who may be against us, if we are on the side of Allah, then Allah is on our side. Subhan'Allah. May Allah protect the rank of Sheikh Mevlana and Sheikh Effendi, and elevate their station. Ameen, Ya Rabbul-Alameen. May Allah guide us to always defend truth, with each living moment and until our dying breath. Ameen, Ya Rabbul-Alameen. For the sake of the Holy Prophet(ASWS), Sheikh Mevlana, and Sheikh Effendi.



BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Response to Accusations in the NY Times

Sohbet given by Sheykh Abdul Kerim el-Hakkani el-Kibrisi

Monday 12 Rabi-ul Awwal, 1427
April 10, 2006
Osmanli Naks-i'bendi Hakkani Dergah, Siddiki Center, New York.


Auzu billahi minash shaitanir rajim
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Hasbinallah wa ni'mal wakeel
Wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil aliyil azim
La ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min az-zalimeen


Medet ya Seyyidi ya Sultanul Awliya, Medet.


We have been created and sent to this world for one purpose. The reason of creation and being sent to the world is to know Allah and to worship Allah. First we have to know Allah to be able to worship Allah. The reason of creation is to worship Allah. Nothing else. If a man is doing nothing but only worshipping, that one is better than anybody else. One day Isa (as) was passing through the mountains and he saw a man in a cave. Isa (as) greeted him and he greeted Isa (as) saying, "Welcome to you ya Ruh Allah." He said to himself, "He knows that I am Isa." Isa (as) said to him, "What are you doing here?" He said, "I am surprised. You are the prophet of Allah and you are asking me what I am doing here? Everyday I am worshipping Allah only." Isa (as) asked, "How long have you been here?" He said, "Only seven hundred years, not moving from here and worshipping only." He said to him, "Ya Isa, your nation and the nation of the Seal of Prophets Muhammad (alayhi salatu wa salam) are going to have such a short life but they are going to run away from the worship of Allah. So don't think that I am doing something big."

There was also a time when Isa (as) was worshipping. All of a sudden he felt hungry and he wanted to have bread. He hadn't eaten for a long time. He just felt inside that he wanted to have bread. As soon as he felt that, bread appeared in front of him. He said, "Thank you Ya Rabbi", he took it and he started eating. He looked that another man was passing from there, and Isa (as) said to him, "I was just worshipping. I desired to have some bread and my Lord just put it in front of me." The man said, "Astaghfirullah Ya Rabbi! It is known to You that I have never desired anything except to worship You." Isa (as) looked at him and said, "Ya Rabbi! Please don't let me desire anything except to worship You." People at that time had peace. They didn't have anything worldly but they had peace.

People in this time have everything but they don't have peace. The refrigerators are packed. The houses are like supermarkets. The bed is made out of feathers. They are living better than the kings' lives. But everyone is in trouble. Everyone is running top-speed for Dunya. And when we are saying to our own selves, "At least, let's escape from time to time, at least for one hour a day. We are living twenty-four hours. Let's escape at least one hour a day from the slavery of Dunya and turn our faces to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)", then we are finding even the Muslims attacking us. MashaAllah. Leave the non-Muslims. Leave the Christians or others. Muslims are attacking us saying, "They are mad people, madmen. They don't know what they are doing." Huh, alhamdulillah. We are in the Sirat-ul Mustaqim. We are following the footsteps of the Holy Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam). He said, "Work for this world as much as you are going to live in it and work for Akhirat as much as you are going to stay there." We just finished another Maghrib prayer. We don't know if we are going to reach to tomorrow morning. That's how believers should live, always preparing himself for the journey, the great journey, the big journey that is waiting for us.

Islam is the lifestyle. Islam teaches us how to live, Islam teaches us how to work, when to work, when to eat, when not to eat, when to worship, when to enjoy, what to have and what not to have. Islam is a lifestyle. Without Islam, without the Holy Prophet's (sws) traditions and sunnats we cannot know how to live. What we will learn then is only from television, from media and from other people that we copy. But Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has given a secret to every individual. Every individual has one secret and you have to discover that secret. You have to discover that secret while you are in this world. And you have to discover that secret through the teachings of the Holy Prophet (sws). You cannot discover that in any other places. You cannot buy that with money. You cannot have that because you are famous. You cannot earn that because you reached to high stations in Dunya (in this world) or you have worldly power in your hand. The angel of death is waiting right behind your neck blowing air on you, on me, on those and on everyone.

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is Merciful, the Most Merciful One. What are we doing? We are trying to give the love of the Holy Prophet (sws) to others, for them to understand the love of the Prophet (sws), for them to reunite themselves with that love, to understand their reason of creation and to turn themselves to their Lord with the love of that Prophet (sws). And that is an obligation to every believer, to share the beauty they have with others, to try to reach to others, to try to reach someway somehow to those who are suffering in the holes of this Dunya. You cannot do that by force. You cannot have people by force. Islam is not a forceful religion. In Islam, you have to take Shahadat willingly by yourself accepting through your heart. You cannot say Shahadat through the tongue and not accepting by heart. Both have to come together. No one can force anyone. But you may just give the message. If the person listens then he may find better in his life. You cannot have forceful ways with your children. Most of you know me. Many of you don't know me (you know me from far away). You are here right now. Do you see my sons here? I have two sons, one is twenty-six years old and the other one is twenty-one years old. I have a daughter who is eighteen years old. I just say to them. I have no way of forcing them.

So I think anyone who knows me and is reading that story in the NY Times newspaper (April 9, 2006) will be laughing at the story because it's all cheating and lying. And yes, as I said to the media, as I said to this person, to this lady reporter, "Why are you running after me? There are so many people in the world. There are so many Muslims organizations." She said, "I am making a story about Sufism. I am researching about Sufism." I said, "I am just a simple man, I have a couple of people around. There are so many other ones, big ones." She said, "I think you are interesting." I said, "No. I think you are already trying somewhere, someway, somehow to put that I am a bad guy. You can try your best but you are not going to be able to do that. You are just going to lie about it."

I am speaking to the whole world. I have her recording. I have her speaking. And I said to her, "Well, of course you can come here. But you already have enough information from here and there, (people that you spoke with lied about me and you lied to me about them) to label me with whatever you are planning to label me with. But you are not going to be able to do that because I am not a bad guy." And I said to her, "Yes, you are welcome. I know your intention, why you want to come here. But you are still welcome." But I said to her, "Don't think that I trust you or any media because this is the same media who is attacking my fourteen-hundred-years old Prophet (sws). You started attacking him non-stop now. You are the same media. If you want, then put this in the newspaper too and I will be very happy." Hmm.

So if anyone is looking to find something other than what they are seeing (at the dergah) then they are going to be very disappointed because we are sitting in the middle and our door is open to the whole world. We have no fear and we are not hiding anything from anyone. Anytime anyone wants, they can come to see what we are doing. Things that we see are right we say that it's right. Things that we see wrong, according to the teachings and traditions of the Holy Prophet (sws), we say it's wrong. Wrong is always wrong and the right is always right.

Fear. Majority of the people are fearful. When you are in the way of Allah you have no fear. Allah sent Yunus (as) to his nation to give them the message. He was addressing that nation everyday and not one of those people accepted him. He was a prophet. Not one individual accepted him. They were attacking him, they were cursing at him andthey were cursing at his Lord, our Lord. He was so fed up with them that he turned to leave away from that nation saying, "These people are never going to get the message. So I am leaving." The story is very long. He was taking the ship, escaping and all of a sudden the sea started moving with waves and the ship was ready to sink. Yunus (as) knew that he was escaping from the job of Allah that He gave to him because those people were tyrannizing him. And he said, "My Lord, I know I was running away. But there is no place where I can escape. You are everywhere." In that dark night he said, "I sacrifice myself to you. Do as You like." And he jumped into the sea. And the big fish came, looked at him and it swallowed him. But he said, "La ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min az-Zalimeen." You are the Subhan, the Most Perfect One and I have become one of the tyrants because I am running away from the job that you have given to me. And You are enough for me." His fear was gone and that darkness of the sea became light to him. The fish became his friend. It came in top-speed and threw him to the shore. He went quickly back to his nation saying, "Oh my nation, leave this foolish lifestyle. Turn your way to your Lord." They started attacking him again. But he never gave up.

He didn't (give up). No prophet did and we are not going to also inshallah. Our job (which I take as a job from my Lord) is to speak to people who come and who want to hear from me. I speak. If you want to take it, take it to yourself. If you don't want to take it, leave it here. You are not under any force or any authority. You are free. If you take it and apply to your life you will win for yourself. If you are not taking it, leaving it here and going, I collect those rewards for myself.

I am not asking any money from you or from anyone and all of you know that up till now I have never asked and I am not intending to ask. We also do not ask for donations on our web site. We are not in need of your money to keep our masjid up masha'allah. We are working and paying for this; but because Allah cc has ordered believers to take care of the masjids, we have a sadaka box there. Otherwise, you know that when you want to make a donation, I check your intention and where the money comes from; and we send it to Sheykh Mevlana.

Most of the people lied in that newspaper. One was saying that he was giving money to us. This message is to him. Most of you know that they went bankrupt and I gave them shelter for months, to their children and to the whole family, and I put money in their pocket. I helped them, I put money down so they could buy a house. `X' is witness. He is one of the guys that signed the papers for an interest-free loan. They left the association because they did not want to pay the loan back. But that shows that they have no fear from Allah. What I do for people, I like to keep secret. But when they start lying and attacking us worldwide in the media, then we have no choice but to clarify for people who may start thinking bad about us. That's why we are opening this up.

So I am clean. Anybody can attack. All those words that are attacking me, I am clean from those words. Allah is my witness. And up till this age I have not put one haram penny in my body. And not to the people around me too. I never gave any food to anyone that is from haram money. If wrong money is coming, then I sent that money to other places. Every food you are eating here are halal and it's always going to be halal inshallah. It's not mine. This is the dergah of our master (Sheykh Mevlana Muhammad Nazim al-Hakkani). I am just sitting here now not knowing what will happen tomorrow. Allah knows. He has the authority in His Hand and I submit myself to Him. Everyone has to know it like this and this is how it is. As long as I live I am a dust under his feet and I am asking Allah never to make me become disobedient to him and always to follow his orders through the tongue and through the heart. So many times he is not giving me any orders through the tongue but I am following through the heart inshaAlalh ar-Rahman.

So, in a night like this, (the most beautiful night of the Holy Prophet's blessed birth,) the world has turned into darkness. Everywhere there is darkness. This is the second Jahiliyya time. Holy Prophet (sws) is saying that the second Jahiliyya is going to be worse than the first Jahiliyya because in the first Jahiliyya time people were ignorant. They didn't know and when the Sahabis were explaining it to them they knew right away. They turned and they submitted. They knew that they were doing wrong and they reached to safety. And with that safety and with the love of the Holy Prophet (sws) they reached to the heavens. Holy Prophet (sws) is saying that the second Jahiliyya is going to be worse than the first because in the second Jahiliyya time everyone is going to be able to read and write and they are going to be very proud with their knowledge. But the sources of knowledge that they are going to have are going to come to them from the wrong places. They are never going to understand the Quran because they are going to interpret the Quran according to what fits to them. And they are going to leave the sunnat of the Prophet (sws). They are not going to carry the sunnat of the Prophet (sws).

So there are some Imams that are attacking us also in that paper who are planting hair into their heads. Yes. I know those Imams who plant hair in their heads. And they are attacking us saying that we don't know Islam. (Sheykh smiles). And the Holy Prophet (sws) is saying to us, "Anybody who puts other people's hair on his head is carrying the curse of Allah on him." Meaning, once you start losing your hair, don't be sad. If you are a woman, don't be sad because you have a hijab and you are covering your head. If you are a man, don't be sad because Holy Prophet (sws) was shaving his head every time he was going to the Kaba. Do it like that. That's how I have been from twenty years of age. Before that I was in the army. That's how I have been there too. I had hair only for a short time when I was working in some places. (Other than that) I always keep my hair zero. And also, the other time when my hair grew is when they put me in jail. They didn't want me to cut my hair. So my hair grew then in the jail. So don't worry if you are losing hair. And my message is to those ones too. They should shave their heads again because they are carrying the curse on their heads.

From that kind of Islam, yes, we are definitely far away from that kind of Islam. We are following the footsteps of the Holy Prophet (sws). Yes, definitely we are far from their Islam.

Wa min Allahu taufiq

Bihurmatil Habib

May Allah give a long life to our master and keep him with us always spiritually and not put any fear in our hearts because we are with him. And everyone of us should know that Holy Prophet (sws) and all the Sahaba-e Kiram went through so many difficulties that we cannot even bear to think. We have good days and good times still, alhamdulillahi rabbil Alameen.

El-Fatiha.