In the early morning of Friday, 1st Shawal 545 A.H, Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (q.s) was reported to have said:
You acquire so much knowledge but do not put it into practice! Close the record book (diwan) of learning ('ilm) and spread out the record book of practice ('amal) with sincerity (ikhlas), otherwise you will have no success. While you are merely acquiring knowledge, you show an impudent attitude toward the Lord of Truth by your actions. You have cast off the cloak of modesty from your eyes and have treated Him as the most insignificant of those who are watching you. You accept in accordance with your passions (hawa), reject according to your passions and are motivated by your passions, so you will surely be destroyed by your passions. You should feel a sense of shame before Allah under all circumstances and must act in accordance with His law (hukm). If you practise the outer aspect (zahir) of the law, that practice will bring you closer to the knowledge ('ilm) of Allah.
O Allah, rouse us from the slumber of the heedless. Amin.
When you commit sins, afflictions come and fall upon you, but if you repent, seek forgiveness of your Lord and turn to Him for help, they will fall around you. You are bound to experience some tribulation, so you must ask Allah to let it be accompanied by patience and compliance so that what is between you and Him may be unimpaired. The scratch marks will then be on the external form (qalab) not the heart (qalb), on the outer (zahir) and not the inner (batin), on property and not on religion (din). The trial will thus prove to be a blessing (ni'ma) and not a curse (niqma).
O hypocrite (munafiq), you have been satisfied to let your obedience to Allah and His Messenger be nominal and not meaningful. Such is your falsehood both outwardly and inwardly, so you are surely to be despised in both this world and the hereafter. The disobedient sinner is despicable within himself, and the liar is despicable within himself. O learned one, do not dirty your knowledge in the presence of the sons of this world. Do not trade something noble for something worthy of contempt. The noble thing is knowledge and the contemptible thing is the stuff of this world that they hold in their hands. Creatures are unable to give you that which has not been assigned to your lot. It is only your allotted share (qism) that passes through their hands, so if you are patient your share will come to you by way of their hands, and you will keep your dignity.
Woe unto you! Those who must be sustained do not provide sustenance. Those who must receive do not give. Devote yourself to the obedient service of Allah and stop plying with requests for He does not need you to inform Him and make Him aware of what is in your best interests. As Allah has said in one of His utterances: "If someone is too busy remembering Me to ask me for anything, to him I shall give the very best of what I give to those who ask."
As for remembrance (dhikr) by the tongue without the heart, there is no honor or dignity for you in that. Remembrance means remembrance by the heart and the innermost being (sirr) and only then remembrance by the tongue. When the servant's remembrance of the Lord of Truth is as it should be, the Lord of Truth will remember him, as He has said: "So remember Me, and I will remember you. Be thankful to Me and be not ungrateful toward Me. (Quran 2:152)
You must remember Him so that He will remember you. Remember Him until remembrance relieves you of your heavy loads, leaving you free from any burden of sin so that you become obedience with no disobedience, for then He will remember you among those whom He remembers. You must therefore be preoccupied with Him to the exclusion of His creatures and be too busy remembering Him to ask Him for anything. He must become your whole objective so that you are distracted from all your other goals. When He has become your whole aim and purpose, He will put the keys to the treasure houses of sovereignty into the hand of your heart.
When someone loves Allah, that person can love no one but Him. He removes from your heart the love of all that is apart from Him. When the love of the Lord of Truth takes control of a servant's heart, the love of all others departs from his heart. Have you no mind with which to consider and understand? Have you never been in the presence of someone at the moment of death? Your turn will come and the Angel of Death will knock on the door of your life. He will snatch that life away and part you from your family and your loved ones. You must try not to be taken while you are reluctant to meet Allah. You must forward your goods to the hereafter and wait for death, for in the presence of Allah you will see something better than anything you have seen in this lower world.
"Our Lord, give us in this world good and good in the hereafter, and guard us against the torment of the fire!" (Quran 2:201)
Source: The Sublime Revelation. Al-Fath ar-Rabbani. Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. Translated from the Arabic by Muhtar Holland. Publisher credit: Al-Baz Publishing.
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