13th Ramadhan 1431 Hijri

Bismillah.

Astaghfirullah al-Azim, Astaghfirullah al-Azim, Astaghfirullah al-Azim. Let me remind everyone that all the postings, advice, warnings and lessons are not from me to you. They are addressed first and foremost to myself and my sons InshaAllah. I pray that none of them has made me appear as though I am holier than thou. I seek refuge in Allah from fitnah. Just to clarify, I do not have a son of my own but my guru said, anyone who benefits from our good counsel is verily our son. 

Someone was asking about seclusion and this is what I remembered as a reminder for all. That one Naqshbandi grand-shaykh taught us the importance to practise seclusion in the crowd. To keep the heart connected to Allah when we are out in public. Seclusion is more inward than outward though the latter is equally significant to discipline the inner.

Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani defined seclusion as such: "Your seclusion (khalwa) is not genuine because seclusion means being detached as far as your heart is concerned from all things. Your inner (bathin) becomes so detached that it is stripped naked, left with neither this world nor the hereafter and with nothing whatsoever apart from the Lord of Truth. This is the highroad of our predecessors, the Prophets (anbiya), the Messengers (mursalun), the saints (awliya) and the righteous (salihun)."

So we are supposed to seclude the heart from everything save Allah [and Rasul]. We all know it's easier said than done. I remember Baba Aziz keeps harping on this salient point, that the heart has a steep price tag to it, so beware what you keep there. Shaykh Yusuf Bakhour Hassani too said: "You thought millions of dollars are worth a lot but the truth is your heart's worth is far greater than any amount of money because that is where Allah resides. Therefore, you should reserve it for Him."

Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani said:

"When your heart is truly sound, you will always be in a state of absence and sleep in relation to creatures but of wakefulness with the Creator, for it will not be distracted from its privacy even when you are in a public situation. Thus you will never lose the intimations (mawarid) of the Lord of Truth and His wise advice (hikam) will reach you through the innermost being (sirr)."

May by the barakah of all the mashaikh whose names we mention frequently, Allah makes us attain this state, that we keep Him close in our hearts always and thereby remain guided with hikmah. Ameen Allahumma ameen.

p/s Sister R, thanks, for your question has inspired this sharing. A lesson I needed so that I should not get offended if people spoke ill of me, hurt me etc. Shaykh an-Ninowy said, if you take offense when people mistreat you, that shows that your heart is with people and that's wrong. Your heart should always be with Allah to the point that you do not care what other people have to say about you. Wallahu a'lam.
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullah. Love you too!