O son, we have come to the 10th day of Ramadhan, Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah. We have been listening to excellent counsel from the highly venerated Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. We have in fact been listening to the tausiyah (lectures) he had given in the month of Ramadhan, 885 years ago (in 545 A.H). Coincidentally the extract below was given on the 10th day of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah.
_________________________________________"O young man! Two steps and you have arrived: One step away from this world and one step away from your lower self (nafs) and one step away from creatures. Leave this outer (zahir) and you will reach the inner (batin), initially then finally. You must be ready to make a start, while the completion of the process depends on Allah. From you the beginning and from Allah is the conclusion. Take the shovel and the palm-leaf basket and sit at the entrance to the place of work, so that when you are called you will be close to the Employer. Do not sit on your mattress, under your blanket and behind locked doors, then expect to find work and employment. Keep your heart close to remembrance (dhikir) and remind it of the Day of Resurrection. Reflect on those crumbling tombs. Reflect on how the Lord of Truth will assemble all creatures and resurrect them in His presence. If you persist in this reflection, your heart will lose its hardness and be purified of its murky confusion. If the building rests on a good foundation it will be firm and stable, but if it has no foundation its collapse will come quickly. If you construct your state (hal) on the rules (ahkam) of the outer law (hukm zahir), no creature will be able to demolish it, but if you do not construct it on this basis, no state will be firmly established for you, you will not attain to any station (maqam), and the hearts of the champions of truth (siddiqun) will always despise you and prefer not to see you."
Note: Extracts from lectures given by Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani in Ramadhan 545 A.H. Reference: The Sublime Revelation (Al-fath ar-Rabbani) Translated from the Arabic by Muhtar Holland.
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