One Friday evening on the 19th of Shawwāl 545 AH, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī said:
It is narrated that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘Allāh does not punish His beloved but he does sometimes test him.’
The believer is secure knowing that Allāh will not test him with a thing unless there is a benefit – in this world or the hereafter – and so he is pleased with the test, patiently accepting it and not bearing ill feelings towards his Lord. His Lord distracts him from the test.
O you who are occupied with the world! Stop talking about spiritual stations for you speak with your tongues and not your hearts. You turn away from Allāh, from His Speech, from His Prophets and their true followers—those who are their representatives and trustees. You are disputing destiny and omnipotence!
You have sufficed yourself with gifts from creation rather than the gifts of the Lord and His Bounties. Nothing you say will be heard by Allāh and His pious servants until you repent, are sincere in your repentance and are firm on it. You must accept destiny and the Divine Decree—in that which is for you and against you; in honour and disgrace; in wealth and poverty; in health and sickness; and in what you love and what you hate.
O people! Follow so you may be followed. Serve so you may be served. Follow the judgments and decrees, and serve them so that they may come to follow you and serve you. Humble yourself to them so they humble themselves to you. Have you not heard [what the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:] ‘As you do, so shall be done unto you; as you are, so shall your leaders be.’
Your actions are your workers. The Lord, Most High, does not oppress His servants. He recompensates a little with a lot. The correct, He does not call false. The truthful, He does not call a liar.
O young man! If you serve, you will be served. If you are determined, you shall receive determination. Serve the Lord and do not neglect him by serving these leaders who cannot harm you or benefit you. What can they give you? Can they give you that which was not ordained for you? Or can they allocate you that which your Lord did not allocate for you? Nothing comes from them at all. If you believe that their giving truly comes from them, you have disbelieved!
Do you not know there is no giver, no withholder, no one who harms, no one who benefits, no one who brings forwards and no one who delays except Allāh! If you say, ‘I already know this’ then I shall say to you—you know this and yet you put others above Him?
Shame on you! How can you spoil your hereafter with this world? How can you ruin your worship of the Lord by following your lower self, your desires, the devil and the creation? How can you waste your piety by complaining to other than Him? Don’t you know that Allāh is the protector of the Pious and their Succour? He safeguards them, He teaches them, He makes them aware of Himself. He leads them away from calamities, He looks into their hearts and He provides for them where they could not even imagine!
Allāh has said in some of His books: ‘Be modest in front of me as you would be modest in front of your pious neighbour.’
The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘If a person locks his doors, closes his curtains, and hides from the people then commits sins; Allāh will say, ‘O son of Ādam, you treat me like the least significant from all those who watch you?’
Al-Jīlānī, Muḥyuddīn ʿAbd al-Qādir. Al-Fatḥ al-Rabbānī wa’l-Fayḍ al-Raḥmānī
It is narrated that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘Allāh does not punish His beloved but he does sometimes test him.’
The believer is secure knowing that Allāh will not test him with a thing unless there is a benefit – in this world or the hereafter – and so he is pleased with the test, patiently accepting it and not bearing ill feelings towards his Lord. His Lord distracts him from the test.
O you who are occupied with the world! Stop talking about spiritual stations for you speak with your tongues and not your hearts. You turn away from Allāh, from His Speech, from His Prophets and their true followers—those who are their representatives and trustees. You are disputing destiny and omnipotence!
You have sufficed yourself with gifts from creation rather than the gifts of the Lord and His Bounties. Nothing you say will be heard by Allāh and His pious servants until you repent, are sincere in your repentance and are firm on it. You must accept destiny and the Divine Decree—in that which is for you and against you; in honour and disgrace; in wealth and poverty; in health and sickness; and in what you love and what you hate.
O people! Follow so you may be followed. Serve so you may be served. Follow the judgments and decrees, and serve them so that they may come to follow you and serve you. Humble yourself to them so they humble themselves to you. Have you not heard [what the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:] ‘As you do, so shall be done unto you; as you are, so shall your leaders be.’
Your actions are your workers. The Lord, Most High, does not oppress His servants. He recompensates a little with a lot. The correct, He does not call false. The truthful, He does not call a liar.
O young man! If you serve, you will be served. If you are determined, you shall receive determination. Serve the Lord and do not neglect him by serving these leaders who cannot harm you or benefit you. What can they give you? Can they give you that which was not ordained for you? Or can they allocate you that which your Lord did not allocate for you? Nothing comes from them at all. If you believe that their giving truly comes from them, you have disbelieved!
Do you not know there is no giver, no withholder, no one who harms, no one who benefits, no one who brings forwards and no one who delays except Allāh! If you say, ‘I already know this’ then I shall say to you—you know this and yet you put others above Him?
Shame on you! How can you spoil your hereafter with this world? How can you ruin your worship of the Lord by following your lower self, your desires, the devil and the creation? How can you waste your piety by complaining to other than Him? Don’t you know that Allāh is the protector of the Pious and their Succour? He safeguards them, He teaches them, He makes them aware of Himself. He leads them away from calamities, He looks into their hearts and He provides for them where they could not even imagine!
Allāh has said in some of His books: ‘Be modest in front of me as you would be modest in front of your pious neighbour.’
The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘If a person locks his doors, closes his curtains, and hides from the people then commits sins; Allāh will say, ‘O son of Ādam, you treat me like the least significant from all those who watch you?’
Al-Jīlānī, Muḥyuddīn ʿAbd al-Qādir. Al-Fatḥ al-Rabbānī wa’l-Fayḍ al-Raḥmānī
