Invest in Your Afterlife

Rabana 'atina fid dunya hasanata wa

fil akhirati hasanata
wa kina azaban nahar
Make Your Material World a Means in Which to Build
Your Heavenly World

Tip #9: Read this Dua before entering the shopping mall or market

La ilaha illallahu Wahdahu la shareeka lahu, lahul mulko wa la hul hamdo youh yee wa youmeetu
wa huwa hayyu la yamooto bi yadihil khayru wa huwa 'ala kulli shayin qadeer.

Translation: None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, alone, without partner, to Him
belongs all sovereignty and praise. He gives life and causes death, and He is living and does not
die. In His hand is all good and He is over all things, omnipotent.

This was reported in Tirmidhi and Al-Hakim

BismiAllah Al Rahman al Raheem

All Praise be to God, we are now in the month of Muharram, the first
month of the Islamic calendar, and it is a month with tremendous
secrets and tremendous realities. We have completed one year of
Gnosticism and spiritual growth. But Mawlana is always teaching us
that with every end comes a new beginning. So as we enter once again
Muharram together, we are remembering that Muharram means "no haram".
It means don't do anything forbidden or disliked in Divine Presence.
They have a saying, "start on the right foot" and we are asking, "Oh
my Lord, inspire me to step with my right foot into this new year and
inspire me to stay away from what is haram."

In this special month, it is important to remember the sacrifice that

Prophet's (s) family made on the holy day of Ashura, the 10th of
Muharram. 72 members of the family of Sayidina Muhammad (s) were
horribly slaughtered. We are not interested in the politics of what
happened, as we accept God`s will and we believe that everything has a
wisdom. However, it is important to understand the level of sacrifice
that Prophet (s) and his family made for the sake of all humanity. On
the 10th of Muharram, 61 AH (680 AD), Imam Hussein (as) went with his
family - women and children – to Karbala, and almost all of them were
killed by people who were making the call to prayer and saying `La
illaha illallah Muhammadun Rasulullah.` They were believing in God and
in Prophet (s), and yet they turned around and slaughtered 72 of
Sayidina Muhammad`s descendents; their body parts were chopped-up in
pieces, and their heads were put on spikes. They completely
annihilated their physicality’s. Because of their sacrifice, they have
been granted enormous accounts in Divine Presence. Like in this world
some people have millions of dollars in the bank, and a few people
have billions of dollars. The family of Prophet (s) have an account
like that in Divine Presence. They are Kings in Paradise and they are
interceding for all of creation. For every person who`s sins have put
their account into the red, the family of Prophet (s) are using their
huge accounts to intercede for that individual. That is Allah's gift
to them for their sacrifice. So when we look at our own lives, we
start to feel shy wondering "how can I show my face in their presence?
How can I be at their table when I have not sacrificed anything."
Although there is no way to match their level of sacrifice, we should
still feel that shyness which makes us want to improve ourselves.

Mawlana Shaykh is asking us, ``What are you doing to serve this way?``
You have been afforded an incredibly opportunity to sit in these
associations. Out of six billion people on this planet, you have been
granted access to an association that is taking directly from the
heart of Prophet (s). Think about that. It's one thing to be under the
flag of "la illaha illallah Muhammadun Rasulallah (s)" but within that
ocean you have been granted to be from the people of realities, from
the people who see Prophet (s) and have tasted the reality of the
Divine Presence. Naqshbandia is a Heavenly University, like Harvard is
to this material world, so ask yourself, "why me? Why was I granted a
seat at this university and not someone else?" It is something that
makes you to feel very shy, and fearful of letting down the faculty,
who are the Masters of the Naqshbandi Sufi Way. It`s like being given
a free ticket to Harvard or Yale. You apply and receive your
scholarships, but those scholarships come with expectations. You can't
sleep through your courses, socialize all day long, attain a C+
average and expect to continue with those grants and scholarships.
Similarly, you cannot hoard this knowledge that has been granted to
you.

Therefore, we are quoting President John F. Kennedy, "ask not what

Sayidina Muhammad (s) can do for you, but what you can do for Sayidina
Muhammad (s)."
They are offering you a tremendous investment. They are offering you
shares in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order! It is an investment in you
eternal life, not a material investment. Look at how quickly these
stocks markets fell. Trillions of dollars disappeared just like that.
People put all their hopes in that stock market, they worked their
entire lives to save for retirement and what happened? The Divine
shows us that everything you worship of money and materialism is going
to be brought down, because there can be no partners with God. But if
you invest in your afterlife, that is an investment that your soul is
going to benefit from for eternity. Invest in shares of Prophet (s).
Invest in the way of Sayidina Muhammad (s). Work to raise the flag of
Sayidina Muhammad (s) in a country that has no understanding of who he
is. We are not in Damascus where there are Saints and Prophets buried
all around us. We are living in the midst of unbridled materialism,
and young people are becoming lost to that materialism. It is a
society out of balance, and people are becoming very sick. Prophet (s)
wants to know - are you doing something to help your brothers and
sisters of Humanity, who are lost to this materialism, or are you
only interested in yourself and gaining spiritual wisdoms for your own
benefit?

For an area of the world that is so wealthy, look at how much people
are depressed. Families are disintegrating, children are being brought
up with no father, with parents on drugs and alcohol, and many of them
are being abused. There is tremendous suffering happening all around
us, and you have been granted a seat at the table of Prophet (s). What
are you going to make of that opportunity? As we enter a new year of
Gnosticism and spiritual understanding, you must look at every action
you are making and ask if it is for God or if it is for your own
desires? Ask if what you are doing would make Prophet (s) happy with
you.

Even the job that you have should be with the understanding that you
are working for Naqshbandia – not for yourself. Take what you need of
sustenance to feed and clothe your family and give what's left to
Prophet (s), so that our community can be strong. Work with the
understanding that you are making this money not just for your
material comfort, but to raise the flag of Sayidina Muhammad (s). Then
Mawlana is saying that you are making a tremendous investment with
your time and money!
But people struggle because the ego wants your money to be only for
you, not to be for the way of Sayidina Muhammad (s). We want to buy
things that satisfy the immediate desires of our ego, but which have
no lasting importance. Today, everybody is investing in the stock
market because they sell this world on investments; "Give me $200 and
I'll make you $500. Give me $500 and I'll make you $1000." All of
their time and money is invested in Material Desire's way, but we are
being asked to invest our time and money in God's way. The people
investing in the stock market are ultimately investing in nothing. He
is coming to them with attractive advertising, promising Paradise for
you on earth, but God says that Paradise is not on this earth, so that
is your first clue that something is amiss. People say that there is
not a single dollar that does not have drugs or feces on it, but still
people worship it [tainted]. All this money you carry in your pocket
has, at some point, been used for drugs. The Divine says that this
world is filthy; it is the abode of difficulties, so don't get too
attached to it. As Jesus [as] said to his disciples, "this world is
but a bridge – do you build your house on a bridge?"

Therefore Mawlana is saying, "Don’t work for this material world only.
Don`t work for Evilness, work for Prophet (s)." We are here to raise
the flag of Sayidina Muhammad (s) and bring new people to the love of
Prophet (s). It is the best investment you can make, because if you
bring just 1 person to the way of Sayidina Muhammad (s), you will be
given a rank in Paradise that you never could have achieved with just
your own spiritual practices. With the blessings of Mawlana, 1 or 2
new people are coming every week, and all of us our being dressed with
that. If you put up flyers and someone comes to the event – even if
they didn`t come because of the poster – you are going to be rewarded
in ways you cannot imagine. When you do that, you are making your work
in this world to be for the next life.

So Mawlana is asking, "Do you understand the level of this

investment?" You are investing in your afterlife. Most people keep
their material life and their afterlife separate. They believe in God,
but they still chase after this world and work and do things that have
no relevance to the hereafter, effectively wasting the time God has
allotted to them. But the Saints combine these two oceans so that this
life is entirely in preparation for their afterlife. They make it so
that all of their time and effort is devoted to this path.
It means, tell people about Sayidina Muhammad (s). Bring someone to
dhikr. It doesn't matter if they stay for 5 years or 5 minutes; these
Masters are working on the souls of people, they don't care about the
physicality. If the ego doesn't accept it doesn't matter, the soul
knows the reality of "la Illaha illAllah". Just 5 minutes in an
association and the soul is given an opportunity to reconnect with its
origin in Divine Presence. Then, on the Day of Questioning, the soul
will be asked, "Have you witnessed a Muhammadan?" And they will say,
"Yes I did." At that time, Mawlana Shaykh will appear and intercede
for them.

So as these material investments collapse, Mawlana is saying "we have

a real investment for you." Invest your time and resources to build a
community based on the love of Sayidina Muhammad (s). Buy shares in
this Sufi order and it will multiply in ways you would never imagine.
The Divine shows us that from just one seed of corn, a stock grows
with 7 ears, and each ear has 100 grains. Therefore, you get 700
grains from just 1 grain - but it has to be planted.

How do you plant that grain, by investing in this way. Bring food,
bring water, bring a smile, go and poster for our events, do your
prayers – invest your time and your money and plant that seed. Then,
once you've planted the seed you must water it. It means you must keep
attending the zikr and the associations, then that reality will begin
to open on your soul.

From that one seed, a stock with 7 ears will grow. 7 ears because it
represents the secret of 7 and the 7 openings of the Holy Face: 2
ears, 2 eyes, 2 nostrils and 1 tongue. These 7 openings represent the
major sensory functions of the physicality, and those senses also
operate in the spiritual realm. When the soul begins to open, Prophet
(s) is teaching that we will be able to hear what people cannot hear,
to see what people cannot see, to smell what people cannot smell, and
to speak the truth because we have tasted the truth. That is a return
on your investment which Saints can open for you at any time, but they
are waiting for you to perfect your character. When you invest in your
soul, it is an investment that never goes bad, and instead of building
a house on a bridge, you will have built a palace in Paradise.

Fatiha.
From the Teaching of Shaykh Hisham Al Qabbani
Sufi Meditation Center