Bismillah.
O son, alas Shaaban is leaving us. Woe unto me, I have not fully optimized this blessed month though I know not if I might see it again next year.
Shakyh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani during the last days of Shaaban some 885 years ago spilled these pearls of wisdom...
"Ask of Him in accordance with His power (qudra). Ask of Him with regard to Power, not with regard to Wisdom (hikma). Ask of Him in terms of His knowledge ('ilm) not in terms of your knowledge. Ask of Him with your hearts and your innermost beings (asrar) not with the babbling of the tongue. Ask of Him beyond the scope of your knowledge and your power. Stand in His presence in a state of bankruptcy (iflas) in relation to all things. Do not try to outmaneuver Him. Do not try to outdo Him. Do not try to outwit Him. Do not make fools of yourselves by rejecting His management (tadbir) in favor of your own management. Anyone who does not put his knowledge into practice is an ignorant fool, even if he has memorized it perfectly and knows it inside out. The acquisition of knowledge without practice will throw you back on creatures, while putting your knowledge into practice will restore you to the Lord of Truth. It will make you abstain from this world and let you perceive with your inner (bathin). It will shift your focus away from the improvement of the outer (zahir) and inspire you (yulhimuka) with the improvement of the inner, and at this stage the Lord of Truth will befriend you, because you will now be worthy of Him. As Allah s.w.t has said: "And He befriends the righteous." (Quran 7:196). He befriends them outwardly and inwardly (zawahirahum wabawatinahum). He trains them outwardly with the hand of His wisdom, and inwardly with the hand of His knowledge ('ilm) so they fear none but Him and pin their hopes on none but Him. They take only from Him and give only in His cause. They become estranged from all others, enjoy His intimate companionship and feel at home with Him."
"There is nothing to be said until your affirmation of Divine Unity (tawhid) stands erect and steady in the presence of the Lord of Truth, until you hatch from the egg of your existence (wujud), sit in the lap of grace, come under the wing of His intimate friendship (uns), peck the love of sincerity (ikhlas) and drink the water of direct experience (mushahada). Then you will remain in this state until you become a rooster (dik). At this point you will become a guardian for the hens, loving them with selfless devotion, and a muezzin (mu'adzin) who arouses people from sleep by night and by day, alerting them to the obedient service of their Lord."
"O ignorant one, put down the catalogue (daftar) and come, sit over here in front of me. Knowledge is obtained from the mouths of the men (of the Lord), not from the archives (dafatir). It is obtained from the spiritual state (hal), not from the teaching (maqal). It is obtained from those who are extinct (fanun) to themselves and to creatures, surviving (baqun) in the Lord of Truth. The central point is your becoming extinct (fana) to you and to them, then your existence (wujud) in Him. You must die to everything other than Him, then come alive through Him for His sake. Keep company with the servants of the Lord of Truth, who never leave His door. Their job is to carry out His commandments, observe His prohibitions and comply with His decree (qadar). They move about in harmony with His will (irada) for them and His action (fi'l) on them. They have no quarrel with Him where they are concerned, and none where others are concerned. They do not oppose Him in anything, be it little or much, be it high or low."
"O Allah, make us alive in You
and make us dead
to everything other than You!"
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