Isqat and knowing oneself - by Shaykh Said Afandi al-Chirkawi
Speech by Honorable Shaykh Said Afandi al-Chirkawi at Majlis Ulama in Chirkey village Juma Mosque, Buinakski dirstrict, Dagestan, 2005
Dear brothers in faith, let me say a couple of words about Kuramuhammad Haji’s speech before I forget what I wanted to remark. People consider shaking Ustaz’s hand something very special. We all understand that it is almost impossible to shake hands with everyone present here. But if I leave without even shaking hands of people who stand near to me, would this be right? Try to walk in my shoes! Line up and when I leave, I will shake hands with everyone who I find next to me. You should not reproach anyone for something unimportant like this. And I am a human being, you know, I would never refuse to shake a hand.
Besides, I would like to mention about iskat[1]. It can be performed in different ways and people usually have questions about it. I was doing iskat before too and want to elaborate on this matter.
Imam Abu Hanifa once had a vision of our Prophet (PBUH) and asked him:
- “Oh Messenger of Allah, people in your Ummah gave up praying and fasting, they forgot your religion and they are completely lost. What to do?”
And the Prophet (PBUH) said: “Do iskat for them.” This is where iskat comes from.
If a person has a great number of qadha prayers and fasts and does not have enough property to compensate them, what should he do then? The Quran is the only answer, the priceless speech of Allah. Quran is given to multiply their reward, however, money also is actually enough.
And now, dear brothers in faith, let me give you two examples. Ali Haji told Ramadan Buti’s story in his sermon. There was an alcoholic amongst Ramadan Buti’s fellow citizens. This person was a heavy drinker; no one had ever seen him sober. But then he changed radically. He gave up drinking, repented his sins and started visiting mosque and praying, i.e. became practicing Muslim.
Ramadan Buti asked him: - “My brother, you were in such a terrible state, what helped you to get rid of your weakness? What is the reason of this sudden change?”
He answered: - “Sometimes I used to hear azan being very drunk. This made me feel ashamed of myself before Allah. And I used to run into my house and hide myself in the most distant room feeling bitterly ashamed”.
This means he has faith in his heart, but his flesh (nafs) was so strong and he could not overcome his passions.
The second story was told by Muhammad-Wakil. There was an alim who while dying said that: “Communists were right, there is no Allah. Because if there was, He would not have made me so sick.” He said that and then he died. He was a theologian whom people approached for advice, a scholar who used to answer people’s questions. Look at how different these two persons are! Refuting Tariqa leads to deaths like this.
Think about it – those who refute Tariqa, also observe fast and perform prayers and call themselves Muslims, but this refuting leads them to a miserable end. Imagine that I was a religious scholar and my friend was ignorant of religion (jahil). While I was his friend, I did not edify him, nor would I call him to do the good, and then we would die and the Judgment Day would come. He would be questioned, and standing before Allah this person would say:
-“He was my friend and he did not teach me, he never told me anything on this matter.”
So that there will be something we can say to defend ourselves in such situations, we must edify those around us, no matter he is brother, son, friend, or relative. We cannot deceive or force anyone to act in a particular way, but we have no right to leave them on their own. Otherwise we will be reproached for this on the Day of Judgment.
There are always some people who refute Tariqa. For example, communities always opposed the prophets. There was no prophet whom people did not oppose. People reproached the Messengers of God in being like ordinary people, eating and drinking and trading like them, saying - can anyone like this be a prophet? And nowadays people reproach an Ustaz the same way, saying - he did not have karamats or he could not fly, can anyone like this be an Ustaz? They act like an Ustaz was not a human.
It is said that to find out that someone is wali was more difficult than to realize the existence of Allah. A thinking person would see the signs of Allah’s existence; person can discover the Creator when seeing the sun, the moon and the sky. But is there a way to find out something special about an ordinary person who just like others eats and drinks just like we do? Allah must put people to the right path; people must have deep religious faith to be able to do this. Only people edified by Allah can tell a wali from ordinary people. That is why I tell you not to reject ustazes, not to argue with them. Share your knowledge and edify your relatives and friends. May Allah help us all!
Kuramuhammad has told us about Ihya today. The things he described I have actually seen with my own eyes. When I was young, just a few people were learning `ilm, and they were highly respected. I guess, something similar has also happened to me.
After I finished reading some serious books like I’anat al-Talibin, Fath al-Mu’in, Jalalain, I realized I should switch to something more complicated and read Mahalli or Jam` al-Jawami’. These thoughts brought me to the Ustaz. I wanted to ask his advice and said:
- “I have already read Jalalain, what should I read now?” I could hardly finish the sentence when he said I must read Ihya:
- “You are not a kind of person who would be a muezzin or Imam in a mosque. Read Ihya!”
I took his advice and understood – if I had not read Ihya, I would have been lost, believe me. After I had completed Fath al-Mu’in, I already considered myself an alim. That was something I truly thought of myself. Ihya made me realize I was right at the bottom of the universe. I could no more be proud of myself. What else does anyone need from Ihya? Getting to know your nafs is the main goal, because this also means you get to know Allah better.
Let me quote the words of Kuramuhammad, who said that a person discovers his soul and nafs through Ihya. This book teaches us how to know ourselves.
Imam Ghazali used to say that if all the ulama gathered one day together, they would find nothing better than Tariqa. He also said that all the wise men in the world could never find anything concerning Tariqa which could be improved, made better than it already is. Think about these words. That is the truth. And we must not pay attention to what people say.
One should keep trying to get to know Allah better to become a real person. Otherwise he will be nothing but al-Haiwan al-Natiq (talking animal). This is what the books say. To become more than just a talking animal, to become a real person one needs to get to know these four things:
First of all, you should get to know your nafs. What is nafs, what does it lead to and how can anyone deal with it. This is the most important to know.
Second of all, you should get to know Allah, your duties to Allah and ways of worship.
Third of all, you should get to know the world. Hadith says that drunkenness is the root cause of all the ills. And beginning of intoxication comes from love of worldly things. For example, it may all start with a bottle of wine a person brings to some official to fix his problems. It turns out that love of worldly things led us to drink. That is why we must learn the essence of this world.
Fourth of all, we must get to know Akhirat, i.e. the next life, its essence and inevitability. What we get there is what we do here, in all respects. A living person who understood all these things becomes a true man.
Getting up at night for a prayer, sunnah fasting, performing Hajj and almsgiving (sadaqa) is not easy. What to do for a man to whom all these is difficult? If he wants to get the reward of a person who prays at nights, let him simply stay away from sins at daytime. If he does not sin at daytime and sleeps peacefully at night, he will get the same reward. If someone wants to get the rewards of alims, let him think a lot about the attributes of Allah, His creatures and His Majesty. These reflections can raise his rank to an alim’s. If a person wants to get a reward similar to a reward for extra fasting, then he must hold his tongue and stay away from idle talks and he will benefit from that.
There are many more of these ways in which God has given us relief, they have been mentioned here by others. The Almighty granted us so many things, but we do not know how to use them. That is why we must seek knowledge, if we do not, then we will not find it. There are a lot of newspapers and books nowadays, so there is no shortage of information. May Allah grant us strength to do the good and to stay away from evil!
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[1] - Iskat is a ritual performed after a Muslim’s death, if the deceased had qadha prayers, fasts or promises to be kept (in accordance with Abu Hanifa's madhab).
