BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Commemorating Miladi Urs of Sultanul Evliya Sheykh Mawlana Nazim Adil el-Hakkani (KS) and Hijri Urs of SahibulSaif Sheykh Abdul Kerim Effendi el-Kibrisi el-Rabbani Hz
BismillahirRahmanirRahim. What can we say in a night like this, in a bless night like this, five years ago, Allah in His wisdom decided to call one of His most beloved one to His presence. And, he has left us to continue what he has started.
What did he start? We may say he started a Dergah, we may say he started a Masjid, we may say he started this village, this community. But all of that, although it is not easy to do that, all of that still is just buildings and land. He has left us something more precious than that. He has left us with faith. Faith. We all know how our faith was before we met our Sheykh. And just looking at a friend of Allah, just looking, your faith increases. At least for me it did. Just to sit in his presence, your faith increases, and you are reminded of Allah. He didn’t have to say anything yet, he didn’t have to do anything, you are just sitting. It is as if he has the secret of your faith, my faith, in his hand. And he is holding it. And if you are looking for that faith, you find him and he will give. And it is that faith that is sustaining us and keeping us now. It is not this building, it is not even this community. If you have everything but you don’t have that faith, it’s empty. One day you are going to get bored, like some people they did because there was not enough faith.
Faith is believing and trusting sincerely, things you understand and things that you don’t understand. It is giving your trust, it is being patient and it is sitting and trying to understand. The one who judges, he can never have faith. And we see in that as well, during Sheykh Effendi’s time and after. The one who sits and judges the community or the Dergah or the way, the faith is not going to stay. If they have faith, it’s not going to stay. Doubt is going to enter. Negativity is going to enter. Then pretty soon, everything that he has taught us to have, intelligence, to think and to understand, to know what is logical and to find the proof for that, it’s gone. Modesty, that comes with the faith is gone. There’s no more modesty, there’s no more edep. Oh, that time, you will sit and you will judge and you will slander. We will continue.
Some years have passed, and every day we are wishing for Sheykh Effendi to return. This is not what I say, this is what Sheykh Maulana is saying. We are waiting for the SahibulZaman to come. We are in the end of the end of days. We are preparing ourselves for that big war that is going to happen between hakk and batil. And our time spend here is understanding what is hakk, to put it in our heart and to live it. Hakk will have enemies. Hakk will always have batil to have enemies. Hakk will always be slandered. Sheytan will not leave Hakk alone. Our responsibility as his murid is to make our connection to him stronger. When there is no submission, when there is not intelligence, there is no modesty and there is no faith, you can have this buildings, you can have the land, you can have the form, you can have the zikr, you can have everything, but it’s empty. It’s empty. Because the most important thing is that one who is giving us that faith. We have already broken the connection.
I question myself every day. We must question ourselves ever day. This doesn’t belong to us. This doesn’t belong to me. It doesn’t belong to you. He has left us with that faith and with that faith, everything else that is connected to continue. That is our work. You sit with him long enough you understand that he does not train murid to have any ambition or any desire, not for dunya, not for Ahiret. Whatever that is given to you and to me, it is a responsibility and it is an order. Doesn’t matter what people say.
I was speaking earlier today, when you inherit the way, you are not just inheriting buildings or land, you are not just inheriting the Jamaat. If you are inheriting the way, if you are following in the footsteps, as Holy Prophet (asws) is saying, when the man says, ‘I love you Ya Rasulullah,’ and he says, ‘prepare yourself for hardship.’ If you are inheriting that way, if you are walking in that footsteps, you will also inherit some of that hardship. We are not asking for it. We cannot carry what he carried. And I was just thinking the hardship that Sheykh Effendi carried, or the fitnah that he had to endure. Same things with all Saints. Same things with the Holy Prophet (asws), he’s still being slandered fourteen hundred years later. Never stopping. So don’t think it’s going to stop for us. He’s always saying, dogs they may bark but the caravan must continue. And we continue. With or without me it will continue. With or without you it will continue. We are not irreplaceable. At the same time, if you are here, if you are occupying a space here, it is an honor and it is a responsibility.
Our forehead is clear. What we are doing is open. And what Sheykh Effendi did and what he had to go through and experience, we are experiencing these days. After five years. Who knows what’s going to happen in seven years, if Allah gives us life. Who knows what’s going to happen in eleven years, if Allah gives us life. We are walking in his footsteps, we are going to inherit some of that experience that he had to go through. But that experience is going to make your faith to become stronger. Don’t let go. Don’t let go. Hold on strongly to our Sheykh. Hold on strongly to each other. Hold on strongly when they wind they are coming to knock you side to side. Hold on strongly when maybe it is necessary for you to be knocked from wall to wall. Hold on strongly. Because we are not doing this for our benefit.
How much thanks we can give to our Lord Allah SWT for making us to be in this way? We cannot thank Him enough and we cannot thank our Prophet (asws) enough. We must run to do good things. Stay away from the wrong things. And all the confusion and all the fitnah, alhamdulillah, it is happening to us in this Holy Months where even the mushriks in the Jahilliyah time they stop themselves from fighting, alhamdulillah we are getting attacks. But we are not saying one word. We are just being patient because this way has an owner. It’s not me, it’s not you. It is our Sheykh. The owner is going to protect it. Just like when the elephants came to Mecca, Abraha came with all the elephants to destroy Mecca, to destroy Ka’aba. And who? Grandfather, Hazreti Abdul Mutalib, he did not raise an army, he did not try to fight. He told the people to go and find protection, he went straight to that general Abraha and he said what? ‘give me back my camels that you took.’ He (Abraha) said, ‘you are the ruler of this city, you are not asking for this city? You are asking for your camels?’ He said, ‘yes. Because the camels belong to me. The city belongs to Allah. Allah is going to protect.’ And those elephants of Abraha, Allah did not send another elephant or team of elephants to destroy. He send birds, ababil. Namrud, he is a big zalim, the enemy of Hz Ibrahim (as), which in today’s world there are a lot of enemies of Hz Ibrahim but they are Muslims. They look like they are the best scholars. You see we become worse than Namrud. With that zalim Namrud who was so powerful that he was ruling this whole world, Allah brought him down with one mosquito. One mosquito destroyed him, mosquitoes destroyed his whole army. Allah did not send another army, Allah did not even send angels down, do you understand? And with Firaun, Allah destroyed him with one cane, with one stick. There are a lot of Firauns and Namruds in these days. And Allah’s punishment, it is sure, it is certain.
We must pull ourselves back from any confusion. Watch our manners in this month, few days before the Bera’at. Keep ourselves clean and patient. There is the owner of this way. Maybe they are going to send something. Maybe they are not going to send something. It’s not our business. Our business is what is our responsibility and we are protecting that and we are continuing. Who knows what Allah is going to send. Oh, today’s Firaun, Allah send virus that you cannot even see or hear, that is destroying mankind. We are fearing from the azab of Allah. We fear Allah. May Allah forgive us. And may Allah send more help to the ones who are standing for Hakk Insya’Allah and may Allah make us to become strong to bring down the batil.
May Allah forgive us, bless our Grandsheykh and our Sheykh Insya’Allah ar-Rahman. Because we only know our Grandsheykh through our Sheykh. We do not know our Grandsheykh through any other way. We are only in this way because of our Sheykh who connects us to Grandsheykh. We are following him. We are not following Shyekh Maulana directly. Sheykh Maulana is Sultan. Those who are following him directly, they are his wazirs. Our Sheykh is his Khalifah, following him. We, we are just following his Khalifah and we are continuing Insya’Allah. Anybody who likes, they are welcome. Anybody who is not liking, gule gule (farewell). We are not here to make fitnah or to fight with anyone. As Sheykh Effendi was, just quietly doing his things while the whole world was attacking him. Alhamdulillah, we are seeing, step by step it’s coming true for us to.
We want to continue our way. We want everyone to be united under Hakk. We want everyone to be united under this way, Naksibendi way, and our unity with the Naksibendi way, it is through our Sheykh, SahibulSaif Sheykh Abdul Kerim el-Kibrisi el-Rabbani to Sheykh Maulana. We have no problems with anyone who is following in this way. We have no problems with anyone, and respect those ones who are succeeding him and representing him, and we have our own job. We must be busy with that. Those who are busy with fitnah, they don’t have work to do that’s why they are very busy with that. May Allah always keep us busy with the work of Allah Insya’Allah. May Allah forgive me and bless you. Al-fatiha. Amin. SelamAleykum warahmatullahi wabaraktu.
Sheykh Lokman Efendi Hz
Khalifah of SahibulSaif Shaykh Abdulkerim el Kibrisi (qs),
OSMANLI DERGAHI- New York
10 Shaban 1438
May 6, 2017
Sahibul-Saif Sheykh Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi 