Be Thankful for the Favors of Allah

Be Thankful for the Favors of Allah

BismillahirRahmanirRahim 

Extract from Sohbet given by Sheykh Abdul Kerim Effendi

Allah could’ve just said, “I have created you as man and I have given you intelligence. Every mistake that you do, you get this much punishment and every good thing you do, you get this much reward. It will not change.” But He is changing. He is not changing the rewards but He is changing the punishments. So, the Most Merciful One. We must look. Then He is saying to us, “Do you think that I deserve to be worshipped? Then do.” If you go to a store, you drink one coffee and you don’t pay the bill; just one coffee, don’t pay the bill and look what happens to you. You go through so much trouble. Anything we do in this world we have to pay a price. Allah is not asking price from us. He is saying to us, “Be a thankful servant. I gave you all this. Be thankful to Me.”

If a man tells you now, “Come to my office. My office is in Washington. Everyday you are going to go back and forth from New York, just to come to my office and kiss my hand and I am going to give you a thousand dollars every day.” Which one is not going to do that? If you are saying now, “I am not going to do that”, then you don’t have too much intelligence too. You go out there killing yourself all day long for a hundred dollars and you are not going to go for a thousand just for kissing the man’s hand? So many are just going to say, “Oh, why do I have to kiss that one’s hand?” Eh, you are not kissing but in the whole world any boss says, “Do this”, you are going to do. You have to follow their orders. Don’t fool yourselves. Be sincere with yourselves. We must be sincere with ourselves. That’s what Allah is looking at.

So for instance, just for an example, (no one is doing such a thing anyway for us to think whether we should do it or not,) but if such a thing like that happens then that’s the answer. If any person here says, “No, I am not going to do it”, later he is going to go outside and say, “Where is that place? I should go before anybody else.” (Sheykh Efendi smiles). What does Allah want from us? He is saying to us, “Be thankful servants. Come and just prostrate. Go to Sejdah. And that Sejdah is  good for you also. That Sejdah is also for you, for your health. All these obligations that I am putting on you, they are for you.”

SHEYTAN IS OUR ENEMY

So, First we have to know ourselves and then we have to know our Lord. Once we know our Lord and you are still saying, “No, I won’t make Sejdah”, eh, then you are just like Sheytan. But Sheytan made Sejdah to Allah. Sheytan didn’t leave any place on earth and the paradises where he didn’t make Sejdah. Shah Naksibendi (qaddasallahu sirruh) is saying, “If I would have found one handful of earth in this world where Sheytan did not make Sejdah, I would have saved the whole nation of Muhammad (sws) in that area. But I didn’t find it. Everywhere I am looking, Sheytan made Sejdah there to Allah.” Sheytan didn’t make Sejdah to you, to Adam (alayhi salam). He has been kicked away from the Divine Presence forever. He did not make Sejdah to a man, to Adam (alayhi salam), to our grandfather. He has been kicked away from the Divine Presence. It was not because he wasn’t making Sejdah to Allah. He insisted saying, “No, I make Sejdah to You, not to that one. You just created that one.” And He has been kicked away from the Divine Presence. Then Allah is saying to us, “That Sheytan is your enemy. Be careful. He has lots of tricks. If you give one inch to him, he is going to take you over. Later you are going to fall into his traps and it is very difficult for you to come out. Then My help may not reach to you. That is your enemy. It’s not My enemy. I am the one who has created him. I can destroy him any second too. He is your enemy, running after you and you are still being disobedient to Me running after that one?” That one needs to be punished then.

Bihurmatil Fatiha.