“The emperor stood beneath the banner of the Prophet [AS] and raised his hands in prayer: ‘Oh God, yours is the power and the strength, yours the bestowing of aid in battle; yours is the grace and the favour, yours the kindness, yours the protection. Turn not away from this powerless body of Muslims. Take not the part of the strong-armed enemy.’ The soldiers of Islam witnessed the tears falling from the sultan’s eyes as he prayed. To a man they gave out a wondrous moan and weeping, which all took for a sign of divine favour. As the autumn leaves fall from the trees, they fell from their horses and pressed their faces to the black earth. In that moment they cried out with broken-hearted humility and all committed themselves to eternal life”

-(Solakzade (d.c. 1658). The public prayer of Sultan Suleyman I before the battle of Mohacs in Hungary (1526), one of the most celebrated Ottoman victories in south-central Europe. The battle led to the establishment of the Ottoman province in Hungary in 1541 within only a few days’ march of Vienna, capital city of Ferdinand, Habsburg king of northeastern Hungary and brother of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V.

January 05, 2008
The Daily Star - “The Newspaper for the Heartland of New York”

In the name of Allah, the all Compassionate, all Merciful. He sent the prophets to us to guide us from this world back to where we came from. He created us, put us into these physical forms, and sent us to this world. He put divine laws on us for living and getting the benefit of the world, without damaging our selves. Our aim is to go clean from this world, back to our origin.

People are pleasing either the Lord or the self (ego). If we want to please the Lord of the heavens, our creator, then we have to live according to his laws, not according to our own ideas. If we say that we “don’t care,” we are living according to ego. Shaytan (satan) supports the ego.

Intelligence supports the spirit. Through intelligence, we can learn to work with spirituality to reach higher spiritual stations. From the first prophet, Adam (peace be upon him) to the last prophet, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)- 124,000 prophets came to teach one thing: “Turn away from the ego and from this world back to your Lord.”

Holy Prophet Muhammad said, “One who knows himself knows his Lord.” Through spiritual striving to approach the Divine Presence, first you find your identity: who you are and what you are about. Then you realize, “I am nothing. I am no one. Without Him, I have never been and I am never going to be.” Then you will know your Lord. He is the Creator and He is not like us- His creatures.

Only the spirit that He gave us makes us the most perfect of creatures. Without spirit, this body is nothing. As soon as the spirit leaves, the body falls down and doesn’t move. If we are not cleaned in the world, the body slowly disappears until the dirt cleans everything. We prepare ourselves to leave this world, entering the grave clean to be ready for Judgment Day. That is the sufi concept of “Marifat” - to die clean by getting rid of the wrong habits of the ego. We learn how through association with the inheritors of the prophets.

Look at how much difficulty Prophet Ayyub (Job) passed through until Allah cured him. People have lost that faith now. Mankind doesn’t know. The prophets knew; and the Friends of Allah (saints) know. Allah is teaching them. And He is saying: “When you don’t know something, ask from the People of Zikir.” (Zikir is a practice of remembering God by reciting His holy names). Allah doesn’t say, “Ask the scholars, the knowledgeable people.” He says, “Ask the people who are always remembering Me.” They know because one who is in Zikir all the time is with Allah all the time. If you ask them a question, they turn to the Lord for the answer. They don’t need computers and books for knowledge. They take from the Source and they give to people.

Everytime we declare our faith, Allah Almighty dresses the body with more Nur (heavenly light). If a believer’s light becomes apparent in this world, it can hide the sun. We must protect that light. Shaytan runs after it to steal it and to put the person into spiritual darkness.

We try to sit for some time every night in meditation. So many people run all night long; they play; they run after their ego in the night hours. Early in the morning, when the divine provision is raining, they sleep. Then they get up late, running again trying to find something. They cannot find anything.

People go to their jobs; but we are not only for this world. We prepare things in this world to make life easier. We can have good things in our house - couches, a nice bed, better this and that; but if we fall into comfort, it’s going to trick the ego. Then shaytan may fool us. Don’t worry so much for the world. Whatever is prepared for us is going to come to us. Believers are wise people. They look to see from where Allah is sending their daily bread, and then they go that way.

The days are passing. As one day is finished (sundown), the books are closed for this world and for whatever we sent to the hereafter. Anybody who ran for this world all day long collected worldly benefit. But we cannot bring property or money to the grave- only our physical form. The main priority to an individual is Life Hereafter. That life is going to be forever.

The new year begins on Jan. 9 (the first day of the lunar month of Muharram, year 1429). The best intelligence is to take time for our Lord in these holy days. Send something ahead to receive in the afterlife. Otherwise, the days and months come and go. These days are full with blessings. We should make them different, following the advice of the Holy Prophet and the Friends of Allah to win in the world and in eternity.

Sheykh Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi is a Sunni Muslim and a Nakshibendi sheykh. He leads a sufi community in Sidney Center.

http://www.thedailystar.com/archivesearch/local_story_005041510.html

There was a close bond between Mawlana Ala ad-Din and the venerable Shaikh Abd al-Kabir Yamani. At the beginning of his spiritual career, Shaikh Abd al-Kabir used to leave his native Yemen and travel about in the Arab and Persian lands. After twenty years of wandering, he became a resident in the vicinity of the Sacred Shrine [in Mecca]. At the time, he seems to have been the meeting point of visitors to the blessed sites. Mawlana Ala ad-Din was frequently in contact with him, during his residence at the Sacred Shrine [Haram].

The Shaikh asked Mawlana: “What is wrongdoing [zulm]?”

“Putting something in a place that is not its proper place.”

“The place in which to remember the Truth is the heart. It is wrongdoing to put anythin gother than the Truth into that place.”

The Shaikh also asked: “What is rememberance [zikr]?”

“It is the affirmation of Oneness [Tawhid].”

“This is not remembrance; it is worship [ibada].”

“What is remembrance, then? You tell me!”

“Remembrance is acknowledging that it is not possible for Him to be truly acknowledged.”

The Shaykh went on to say: “It is necessary to emphasize ignorance, and to formulate the intention to perform the ritual prayer by saying ‘I shall worship Allah, whom I am incapable of truly knowing!’”

-Rashahat Ain al-Hayat

The followers of the Truth (ahli-i haqq) are distinguished by their being the objects of vulgar blame, especially the eminent ones of this community. The Apostle, who is the examplar and leader of the adherents of the Truth, and who marches at the head of the lovers (of God), was honoured and held in good repute by all until the evidence of the Truth was revealed to him and inspiration came upon him. Then the people loosed their tongues to blame him. Some said, “He is a soothsayer;’ others, “He is a poet; ” others, “He is a madman ;” others, “He is a liar;” and so forth.. And God says, describing the true believers : “They fear not the blame of anyone ; that is the grace of God which he bestows on whomsoever He pleases ; God is bounteous and wise (Kor. v 59). Such is the ordinance of God, that He causes those who discourse of Him to be blamed by the whole world, but preserves their hearts from being preoccupied by the world’s blame. This He does in His jealousy : He guards His lovers from glancing aside to “other” (ghayr) lest the eye of any stranger should behold the beauty of their state; and He guards them also from seeing themselves, lest they should regard their own beauty and fall into self-conceit and arrogance. Therefore He hath set the vulgar over them to loose the tongues of blame against them, and hath made the blaming soul (nafs-i lawwama) part of their composition in order that they may be blamed by others for whatever they do and by themselves for doing evil or for doing good imperfectly.

–Kashf Al-Mahjub of Al-Hujwiri: “The Revelation of the Veiled” : An Early Persian Treatise on Sufism

Speaking of the chamber housing the sacred mantle of the Prophet:

Under Sultan Ahmed (III) visiting the mantle became an elaborate state ceremony that took place annually on the 15th of Ramadan, the full moon on the middle day of the holiest month in the Islamic Calendar. The previous day the Sultan would take part in the ritual cleaning of the chamber and in preparing the mantle for display. Contemporary ‘Books of Ceremonies’ give precise details of the ritual - who was to participate, with their order of precedence sketched in diagrammatic fashion, what they must wear, and the prayers to be performed. [ref: Osman's Dream - Caroline Finkel, source: Necipoglu, Architecture, Ceremonial and Power]

Besides this specific yearly ceremony, the cleaning of the chamber which held the Prophet’s (S) belongings was a routine ritual of the Ottoman Sultans. The Ottoman Sultans are described as getting on their hands and knees and sweeping the floor and belongings.

They would then ask to be buried with that dust which had touched the Prophet’s (S) belongings.

After Sultan Mehmed II conquered the territory in 1463, he issued the following firman:

“I, the Sultan Khan the Conqueror,

hereby declare the whole world that,

The Bosnian Franciscans granted with this sultanate firman are under my protection. And I command that:

No one shall disturb or give harm to these people and their churches! They shall live in peace in my state. These people who have become emigrants, shall have security and liberty. They may return to their monasteries which are located in the borders of my state.

No one from my empire notable, viziers, clerks or my maids will break their honour or give any harm to them!

No one shall insult, put in danger or attack these lives, properties, and churches of these people!

Also, what and those these people have brought from their own countries have the same rights…

By declaring this firman, I swear on my sword by the holy name of Allah who has created the ground and sky, Allah’s prophet Mohammed, and 124.000 former prophets that; no one from my citizens will react or behave the opposite of this firman!”

The original edict is still kept in the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica. It is one of the oldest documents on religious freedoms. Mehmed II’s oath was entered into force in the Ottoman Empire on May 28, 1463. In 1971, the United Nations published a translation of the document in all the official U.N. languages. -wikipedia

From “Sketches of Turkey in 1831 and 1832″ By James Ellsworth De Kay, describing the five pillars to his Christian contemporaries of the 1800’s.

Alms. The Turkish proverb, ” All that you give you
will carry with you,” beautifully expresses their belief in
lhe importance and efficacy of alms. The giving of alms
is frequently impressed as one of the highest duties of the
believer ; and we are told that at one time the practice was
carried to such an extent as to produce a decree from the
ulemah that not more than a fifth should be given to the
poor. At present we are informed that it is upon an
average about two and a half per cent. In no country in
the world are beggars treated with more kindness and consideration
than in Turkey, or their wants more speedily
relieved. Poverty, in fact, appears to be a passport under
which a beggar will not only thrust himself into the
highest public offices, but even into the council chamber of
the divan, with the certainty of having his wants relieved.

From Charles White’s Travelogue, “Three Years in Constantinople, or Domestic Manners of the Turks in 1844″

As regards the Turks, it may be affirmed that there
exists no city in Europe where fewer beggars are to be
found than in Constantinople. In no country either is
charity more extensive or more constant. This virtue
forms one of the five fundamental articles of Moslem
faith, and is enforced with rigorous exactitude, not only by
canonical law, but by social regulations.* Charity is, in
fact, a matter of strict religious duty, and is regarded
by all classes as the surest means of securing good fortune
in this world, and of contributing to salvation in
the next.

Versus Today:

The child slaves of Saudi Arabia
On the wealthy streets of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, thousands of young child-beggars, under the auspices of ruthless gangmasters, are simply trying to survive