Oh, Dear Friend

When lust (all those desires which feed your ego) calls you, or people or things which are the pimps of lust, friends to have “fun” with, games, alcohol, etc., call upon you, then turn your back to them, leave them. Do not let your spirit fall prisoner into their hands. Allah warns you about it:

“…and follow not lust, lest it lead you astray from the path of Allah...”

                                            38/26

Do not enter in the dark places around you and in you, where the light of Allah does not enter. Do not frequent the inhabitants of darkness, those who have dark hearts--

“So woe to the ones with dark hearts who forget Allah”

                                            39/22

Wake up from the sleep that your deceiving ego dulled you into--

“Let not this world’s life deceive you, nor let your personal devil (your ego) deceive you about Allah”

                                            31/33

Lend your ears to His Voice calling you:

“Do you think man is created without a purpose (to do what he wills)?”

                                            75/36

“Hearken to your Lord before there comes from Allah the day which there is no averting (death)...”

                                            42/47

“Has not the time yet come for you that your heart should be beautified (purified) with the remembrance of Allah…?”

                                       57/16

Do you think you can receive without wishing? Do you think you can learn without asking? Do you think you can just sit and wait and your ignorance and your need will just evaporate? You are wrong. Ask! Ask for the thing that you need most. Ask about the news of the ones who have reached peace and salvation and felicity. Isn’t this what you want? Ask! so that you know who they are and how they are and how they reached there--

“They are those whom neither goods nor commerce diverts from remembrance of Allah and keeping up prayer and paying of the poor‑rate ‑ and they fear a day which their hearts and eyes may turn about (away from their religion)”

                                            24/37

But if you just sit heedless and wait, you are at the mercy of your ego, which has no mercy. And what you imagine you are doing is--

“As a mirage in a desert, which the thirsty man deems to be water, until, when he comes to it, he finds it naught…”

Remember your goal. You are traveling in another space toward a divine goal. When you wish for that place, this world will have no meaning. That place is the Kaa’ba of all goals. Turn yourself away from here and toward there. Walk toward there with the feet of your divine intelligence, which is hidden in you. Find that intelligence and proceed with it. Only to reach there, you must pass through the desert of loneliness where there is nothing to distract you. When you have to--

“...devote yourself to Him with complete devotion”

                                            73/8

In that voyage, take your provisions. The food and water that you need is to leave everything behind.

“Say Allah then leave them...”

                                            6/92

In that voyage you do not drive your carriage, you leave it in His hands...

“And (you) entrust (your) affairs to Allah”

                                            40/44

This is not the kind of trip to take by oneself. If you do, you may be lost. Although each person will reach his place which is not the same as the others’, you must be together on the road. You need a friend, you need a trustworthy friend, for Allah says:

“And be with the faithful”

                                            9/119

Keep on the path; be light, don’t drag with you the goods of this world, for the goods of this world belong to this world. They are its decorations. When this world is left behind, they must stay with it. It stays there; it dies and disappears. If you fool yourself and think that it is yours, all that will be left for you is the yearning for it and the accounting of it, of something that never belonged to you.

“These which we made in this world we made as its ornaments”

This includes what you think of as your property, your family and your children.

“And know that your wealth and your children are a temptation”

                                       8/28

So you see, even that which is dearest to you in this world

may cause you to deviate from your path. Keep to the security

of leaving the world behind and hold on to the guidance of

Allah.

Beg Him to guide you well; pray to Him; He knows that you are totally helpless like everyone else. There is only One who can help you.

“…who answers the distressed one when he calls upon Him…” 27/62

You are one of those who are distressed, so you must call upon Him. You call upon Him with this prayer...

“Guide us on the right path”

                                            1/5

…and keep on going.

If you do these, you cannot fail to come close to Him and He will give you the good news of His divine gift.

“Now surely those who are close to Allah have no fear nor do they grieve”

                                       10/62

and He will give you this salutation. He will say...

“Peace, a word from a merciful Lord”

                                       36/58

and He will take you by the hand and you will no longer be helpless and you will be the victor over your ego.

“Help from Allah and a victory near at hand”

                                            61/13

Then you will be at ease, sitting on the throne, understanding the meaning of all this. Although you will be comfortable and sitting on your throne of understanding, your voyage will continue, for you are bound for

     “Gardens of bliss”

                                            56/12

where you are invited. You will be there. When one is invited

by Him, how can one not be led there? All the ones who went there

“They all returned with favors from Allah and His grace”

                                            3/173

and;

“No evil ever touched them and they followed only the pleasure of Allah.”

                                            3/174

Don’t you wish to be one of them? You certainly do. Then do what you are told.

Do what you are told. You are a servant; a servant must serve, and a servant with a generous Lord is recognized by his master. And what rewards the servant who serves selflessly, completely and lovingly will receive! And the greatest reward is when He takes you with Him. But will you know when you are with Him? For He has neither form nor shape that you can see. Perchance you know that you are in His presence by His perfume. Work hard with all your efforts that you may smell the perfumes of the flowers of the high plains, the meeting place.

Your head would whirl, drunk with the wine of love, to the chants of inspiration, singing—

“Surely this is a reward for you and your striving is recompensed”

                                            4/164

and the friendly voice will tell you the story of Moses (a.s.) when

“To Moses Allah addressed His Word speaking to him”

                                            4/164

when Moses said,

“My Lord, show me Yourself so that I may look upon You. He said, ‘you cannot see Me, but look at the mountain. If it remains firm in its place then you will see Me.’ So when his Lord manifested His glory to the mountain, He made it crumble and Moses fell down in a swoon”

                                            7/143

     You, too, will swoon from what the eyes of the heart will see, this in the world of union, where you will see what Moses saw, you will truly know the one and true believer in you amongst the thousand yous and you will say:

“Glory be to Thee. I turn to Thee and I am the first of the believers.”

                                            71/43

“That day (your) face will be bright looking to (your) Lord

                                            75/22

That day you will feel more helpless than you have ever felt, the sweet helplessness of being the one who looks. But what about the Unseen one who is looked upon? When you are in awe like this, the One looked at will say in the language of being...

“No eye can grasp Him, but He becomes the eye (who looks upon Him)”

                                            6/103

and you will be comforted in your helplessness.

May Allah render you and us servants who are humble in their helplessness and who give themselves freely back to the hand of their Creator.

Amin bi hurmeti sayyidil mursalin Ta Ha we Ya Sin.

(Taken from Mektubati Geylani)

August 29, 1987