As-salaamu `Alaykum wa Rahmatullah. May the Peace and Mercy of Allah be upon you. It is said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” For a necessity to exist, there must be a corresponding need. To be needy automatically denotes longing for that which could fulfill it. Through our individual and collective necessities (longing), this Community has been created. Therefore, our Community is the invention that was formed to address our needs. By the intensity of one’s personal need, it is necessary that a Path including a Practice and a Teacher be invented. It also has been said, “When the student is ready, the Teacher appears.” The necessity of others, who are in need, invents the response of service. Therefore, we invent an organization that attempts to serve and provide for the basic necessities. In only a few short years, our organization has grown tremendously in its complexity. As we have created an organization, it also has needs in order to exist and to be sustainable. It is very interesting to discover the inventions that we come up with in our attempt to address the organization’s necessities as well. The office has been quite busy trying to prepare everything for the Annual Meeting, from reports and budgets to new ideals and the goals that are aimed at the coming year. Every goal creates a new necessity that begs for an invention to fulfill it. As we continue to grow, I am wondering how will we realize all of the “inventions of fulfillment” for that which we have created? Lest we forget, that which has been created was made in order to fulfill us. This in itself is a far-reaching, universal principle. Oftentimes, we lose perspective and are removed from the entirety or wholeness of our process. The reason for any structure to exist is because of the perception that it is needed. We create the necessity. The new structure becomes the answer, or the invention, in order to fulfill the perceived need. Such is the case of our Community and its organization. Are we prepared to take responsibility for it? As much as the Work has shown itself to be a joyful, noble and glorious work, it is also weighty. We, as a Community, are getting quite good at reviewing the trends of our needs. This is part of what is required in order to understand the inventions we have created as well as what it takes to maintain them. Using money as a simple object lesson, let’s take a brief glimpse of what it means to literally sit in this structure, the Dargah Community Center. To maintain the utilities of this building, even though it is not used seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, requires over $700 per month. The satsang meals, not including the month of Ramadan, total approximately $750 monthly. This figure is in addition to the produce that we bring from our farm. You can only imagine what it takes to own, operate, manage and ultimately harvest that food! The total is in excess of $1,450 every month. The desire to have a Community Center, as well as to serve collective meals, multiplies certain “necessities” many times. This requires coming up with just as many inventions or methods to meet those needs. I review the reports and the progress of over twenty separate departments from the various aspects of our Community work on three continents around the world. Well . . . four if you count Japan! The question frequently arises in my mind, “Is it really necessary that we have all of these things?” Did I hear somebody say, “No!”? If that’s really the case, I am ready to shut it all down, right here and now. At anytime, I am ready to just get up and walk out the door. We’ve built a
communications network in order to supervise and maintain our projects
in more than five countries. I ask myself, at each stage, “Is this
truly necessary?” If indeed all of this is required, “What are the
inventions, the creative means, by which we will fulfill needs?”
Furthermore, if it’s truly a necessity to have all of these things
(projects and programs), this must be the way in which we have declared
our need. How do we execute the activity required to meet the needs
that we, ourselves, have expressed? In regards to the Path, Practice, Teacher and the Community, I would like for you to keep in mind that this is what you requested. You asked for it, and now, you’ve got it. You didn’t want to feel alone? Now, you’ve got company. You no longer wanted to feel isolated? Now, you’re all together . . . all the time. You were afraid of being homeless? You now have shelter . . . many shelters. You were searching for your purpose? You’ve been given meaning. You were afraid of going hungry? Here is your own farm full of food. Go through each and every aspect of our Community process, and you will find that this is what you have asked for, and so far, your trend is to ask for a lot. If we keep it up, the Community is going to need many more inventions, and bigger ones, to provide for all of the necessities we are creating. Maybe we should long for less, so we’ll have less to do to meet our needs! But . . . I know you, just as I know people, and I have a feeling you will not be longing for any less. As a matter of fact, as your longing is spiritually fueled, you will be longing for more and more. That means additional necessities will be created that have to be fulfilled. As my first Teacher said, “Within the human being there exists a limitless thirst for limitlessness.” Ultimately, we want to realize the “Everything.” It is by this longing force that we grow and expand. It is a very popular notion that everyone “longs” to love his or herself. I hear people talking about it all of the time, “I think I need to love myself more.” However, I never met a person who indeed loved their true Self without having love for others. This is where the importance of service arrives. As one expands in love, one has the “need” to increase in service. I never met a “true lover” who was satisfied with only loving his or herself. Loving creates the need, or the necessity, to love others. Without love and service for others, a person may appear to show an outer display of loving symptoms, but in reality they are narcissistic, self-centered, egotistical and insecure. Allah made us separate and in pairs, so that through diversity we might know and love each other, and in loving, we might remember and realize the Divine Unity. The Community will have recently completed the observances of Qurbaani `Eid at the end of the hajj and the commemoration of `Ashuraa on the tenth of Muharram. We have repeated offerings for reflecting on the major subjects of our Path as well as the major subjects of life. Each year during the final days of hajj that lead to `Eid ul-Adh-haa, the Sacrifice, we retell the legendary story of the Noble Prophet Ibrahim (as). As quickly as the Arabic month of Dhuul Hijjah ends, the month of Muharram begins. Muharram is the first month of the new year, and by the tenth, we are revisiting the martyrdom of Imaam Husayn (as) on the field of Karbala. Underlying the stories of both the Prophet Ibrahim (as) and Imaam Husayn (as) are topics such as faith, trust, obedience, service, sacrifice, courage and, ultimately, willingness. Both of these stories illustrate that it is through, as well as beyond, one’s personality that the future is built. The results of one’s intentions, and consequently one’s actions, bring about what comes next. Spiritual completion is awakened through the willingness of Hadrat Ibrahim (as) to be entrusted with the command to surrender. Having the entire willingness to fulfill Allah’s command, no matter how demanding it seems, is the foundational building block of our faith, our diin. Three of the world’s major religions commemorate this unparalleled event in which Ibrahim attempts to “sacrifice” his son. The Prophet Ibrahim’s psyche, behavior and exemplary character mark those qualities by which we should measure our own level of submission to God/Allah. It is through his sunnah that history has named Ibrahim (as) the “Father of the Abrahamic Traditions.” You do not get to be the father of this enormous “family” without having earned it. I am using the term father in an archetypal sense, not so much in its biological implication. It is amazing to realize that the results of enormous sacrifice, when sacrifice typically means loss, bring immeasurable gains for the building of a nation’s future. That the willingness to completely “let go” leads to attainment is counterintuitive and is contrary to how we normally think. One typically thinks that in order to get, you must have, own and control. It is hard to understand that a big loss can lead to an even bigger gain, especially if it’s the loss of falsehood in order to gain the Truth. Unending longing inside of a person is the ultimate “need,” which is the impulse to realize God/Allah. This limitless necessity is addressed by God’s ultimate request for unthinkable requirements to fulfill the enormity of such a need. Total submission is “created,” because there is no other invention sufficient to address the necessity of God’s lover. In Hadrat Ibrahim’s case, his willingness to sacrifice creates the ultimate and optimal conditions required to assist him in actually completing his surrender to the Divine Absolute. It is imperative to notice, that by the story’s end, the child was never meant to die nor was a throat ever cut, with the only exception being that of a “substitute” in the form of a ram. Divine Revelation provides yet another invention to meet the need. The whole epic is based on ultimate willingness: Hadrat Ibrahim, Hadrat Isma`iil and Hadrat Hagar, may Allah’s Peace and Blessings be upon them, are all in on this deal. Everybody must be entirely willing, and not one of these characters is exempt. As a result of this great willingness to sacrifice and surrender, look at what becomes available to their successors over the course of history . . . Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Likewise, without the willing sacrifice of Imaam Husayn (as), there is no Sufi Tariqah! The Noble Imaam, along with his gallant companions, undertakes a journey that is certain to end in a final, worldly loss. In Reality, there is no uncertainty as to the outcome of this trip, and as a result, something enormous is built – the Sufi Path. The reason that any Sufi could show their face or hold their head high is because of Imaam Husayn (as). Without his willingness to travel at such great, impossible lengths in pursuit of the ultimate confrontation for Truth, all Sufis would have to spend the rest of time eternally hiding. The meaning of Imaam Husayn’s martyrdom is that your path can, in fact, be fulfilled. Our Path is acknowledged, legitimatized, authenticated and is no longer suppressed by tyranny, falsehood and dogma, even if it means death. Imaam Husayn (as) and his companions carved the way for your service, sacrifice, spiritual effort and social movement. This is the value that one’s sacrifice and service has for others! The impetus for the emigration of Imaam Husayn (as), along with his family and companions, was to confront that which he didn't believe (the false) with what he did believe (the Truth) by being willing to face directly those things he did not believe. Thus, I have said, “For a Sufi, every day is Karbala.” Karbala is the place where the great Imaam, his family and companions were slaughtered for their beliefs. As we follow the movements of our Imaam (Leader of the Truth), we are in constant confrontation. The confrontation is the daily disparity between our thoughts, words and actions, and it is between what our heart knows to be the Truth, and the difficulties of our mind’s contradictions and distractions. Our work, service and sacrifice put us into conflict with the status quo and the dominant worldview. As with Imaam Husayn, we are also in conflict. This is a difficult world to live in; it requires struggle. I am not suggesting that our difficulties cannot be resolved in a beautiful way. However, I am simply saying that, by and large, to be functional and to rise up every day and face the world around you is a struggle. You are, in essence, marching toward the field of Karbala. This makes the struggle glorious. Through your ibaadah (worship), ‘amal (work) and himmah (striving effort), your heart is momentarily confronted by what you do and don’t truly believe and know. This struggle must be reconciled in order to be at peace and to be happy. This is in part the necessity of us being in community – to experience the support and comfort of our collective company as we struggle all together towards realizing the Truth. At the same time, we are in the midst of constructing something that perhaps we do not fully believe in, and we are just starting to have to deal with the consequences! Do you know what I don’t believe? I do not believe in this Community. I do not believe in the “manufacturing” of this Community any more than Imaam Husayn (as) believed in the vanity of the early Muslims who were lost in their power struggles while attempting to justify greed within their community. Is this a shocking statement? For Allah’s sake, and for the good of all, the construction of a community should come from a sincere effort to reconcile the conflict between that which is the Truth and that which is false. To build a community should not be for the sake of constructing or accomplishing a thing of attainment. Our Community is already fraught with the errors of the things we don’t believe in. This Community is Karbala. As echoed in the theme of a previous Annual Meeting, how can we organize without falling into the pitfalls of becoming an organization? The answer is, “You can’t,” so we find ourselves constructing the very thing from which we were seeking relief. You all have become partners and collaborators in forming that which you have resisted and have rebelled against most of your lives. Do you believe in the over-arching, super-infrastructure of organized religion? The Church? No, you rejected it a long time ago. We wanted an alternative, so we got together and “made” a substitute, but what are we erecting? A golden calf? What you previously rebelled against, you are now in the process of building. Only this time, you brought along your “New Age” spiritual arrogance, so you think that you are building it better. As
the gravity of our Community and organizational weight gets heavier and
more demanding, it requires inventing more ways to meet the everrising
need and necessity. The problems of our organization get bigger and
more complex. Here is where the story of `Aashura and Imaam Husayn
comes into play. If you understand the Reality of the struggle and what
is truly happening here, just like the great Imaam, you will have to
make the sacrifice to perform the actions nevertheless. In the process of your sacrifice, you will have fertilized the soil for something greater to grow, to be built. Among certain of the Shii`ah, the soil of Karbala is considered so “fertile with holiness” that pieces of it are made into flat cakes that a worshiper can rest their bowed head upon during the sajdah posture in salaat. The soil that I am referring to, however, is a different kind of soil. It is the ground wherein we enjoin together for what is good, and where we eschew what is evil. It is the field on which we organize the best of all for the good of all. This is the place and time for us to fulfill the intention of becoming unconditional servants. Let us be the hosts of an environment that optimizes others’ chances for fulfillment. The greatest service that you can offer is to support the conditions for others to become completely fulfilled in their purpose, and in turn this will include you. Among the Buddhists, this is the vow of the bodhisattva. Perhaps the forces of separation, fear and evil could not understand the great Imaam as he approached Karbala with such a small group. With less than eighty people that included women and children, their forces appeared as nothing. How many people are sitting in this room? Look around. Count. It wasn’t many more than what’s sitting right here – a rag-tag crew of inspired misfits, a group of loving people with their Imaam. So, what scared the mighty Ma’awiya and Yazid so horribly? Look around. How many scary people are there here? What was so terrifying back then? What was so threatening that they needed to cut off the head of our beloved Imaam and parade it around on a stick? Look around the room. Can you imagine something that alarming? Look at the people that you love, and imagine their heads being displayed at the end of a pole before jeering crowds. What was so intimidating? It certainly couldn’t have been seventy-eight people who were pitted against literally thousands in the enemy’s army. The small group of Imaam Husayn’s companions represented something much more threatening than their size. They came to serve, surrender and sacrifice the entirety of themselves for the sake of the Truth. This gave them tremendous life force, so powerful, that it terrified the Khaliifah’s regime. You are not that different from the people of Karbala. These people had to perform their actions, in spite of the circumstances, in the same way that you must act. As a result of their service, we are granted the permission, as well as the luxury, to draw reflection, contemplation, inspiration and realization from their willing sacrifice. What a gift! Before death, most people I know would like to think that they were known for being a good person, at least by their children, family and friends. This means that they would have been remembered for a life of meaning, and that they stood for something. They meant something, and their lives were actually about something significant. Could it be possible that our lives would affect another’s a thousand years from now? Is it possible that by our service and sacrifice, in the distant future, our successors will measure their sincerity and the quality of their character by our small efforts? Can you imagine that? Honor, nobility, heroism, conflict resolution, cooperative spirit and right-livelihood are the qualities of Imaam Husayn’s (as) community. Their actions are additionally noble, because they completed their tasks, work and their service, and they would make the ultimate sacrifice to do just that. We are on the verge of something here in our effort to build this Community. Like the followers of Imaam Husayn (as), we also have a feeling that the voice of Truth is being spoken among us in a way that we can understand, and that it is calling us to march forward. It has never been so clear. Certainly others would want to hear this down-to-earth, clear message and benefit from the Truth as we see it. However, the fruit or rewards for your thoughts, words and actions are not for you. We make the effort to be the most loving we can be and to do the most loving thing that we can do simply because it is right to do so. The Imaam did not march his people to get something. He marched his people for something. True love is unconditional. Be careful of secret agendas that want to possess things that should be given away. Our Imaam, upon him be Allah's peace and blessings, had nothing to personally gain by his march to Karbala. He marched for and represented something that he already “was.” If you do not have a need for something that you already have, why would you act as such? Similarly, when our beloved Master Muhammad (saws) was said to have met Allah face to face, and realized the Totality of All Things during the communion moment of the Mi`raaj, why did he return to this conditional reality and the suffering of our limited world? Was it to get something? Remember the disclaimer of the Prophets (upon them be peace), as it is voiced in the Holy Qur’an, when they all proclaimed that they were not seeking any reward for their actions in this world. Their reward would ultimately come from their Lord eternally in the hereafter. Do what is right, simply because it’s right to do it. Do not be persuaded by profit or gain, even in the form of approval. Perform the right action, because it’s the thing to do. Do not be dissuaded either by loss or disapproval. How will you know what is “right?” What is the human faculty that can discriminate between right and wrong, and give you the power to choose the good? Love. Love knows what’s right. What if nobody else understands or agrees with your decision? What if the certainty of your love should march you into the field of distress, calamity, pain and fear? Will you still do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do? Sometimes love comes with a tremendous amount of discomfort, but . . . it doesn’t matter. Love has you do the right thing regardless. Love, through service and sacrifice, continually confronts us with the questions, “Why do you do what you do? What are you really about? What do you really believe in and stand for? Will you answer the call and complete what love asks of you? Will you do your duty and perform your action in any case, even though you will not be able to materially benefit by acquisition, name or fame? Will you do what is right, beyond your personal desire for attention? Will you love for love’s sake in spite of what others say or think about you? So here we are in an unlikely place. With the great exception of the Shawnee National Forest, which is extraordinarily beautiful, Carbondale, Illinois, is a virtual desert. This is our Karbala. It is incumbent upon us to keep our awareness keen, to practice presence and to be in remembrance. We must keep our blades sharp and our vision polished. Why do we do what we do? Why are we here? What’s the right thing to do? How will we know? Are we willing to move forward without any promise of success in material terms? We build schools and serve kids. We farm the land and feed each other. We nurse each other through sickness and in health. We pray, meditate and bow in salaat. We attempt to live an exemplary model of community for the love of Allah and, therefore, the love of God’s creation. We steward the sacred environment that provides for our food, clothing, healthcare, education, shelter and security. Will we continue to be steadfast in all of these things, without interruption and without the promise of return? Moreover, with the guarantee that all of our attitudes and actions are full of errors, that we are full of mistakes, and that whatever we attempt to build will be flawed, are we still willing to serve and sacrifice unconditionally because it is still the right thing? I promise that whatever we are building will result in problems. I promise you that the journey will be difficult. “I never promised you a rose garden.” I promise, that even though you are embracing spiritual practices, whatever occurs within your mind as a defect will multiply, be magnified and become manifest into this Community . . . until such time we are all ultimately purified. Are you willing to perform your action anyway? Will you still come along on this journey? Do not be too hasty in answering the question. Don’t put yourself on the spot. Are you willing to, as our beloved Master (saws) said, “ . . . love Allah for Allah's sake and for Allah's sake alone, without promise for the reward of Paradise (Jannah), nor for fear of the Fire (Jahannam)”? Until you’ve realized the Truth with absolute certainty, you must absolutely do your best to know. Until you are completely fulfilled in knowing love, your sincere attempt to love is True Love. Until you know Truth, your effort to realize it is the Truth. Until your actions are refined and become perfect and causeless, your best effort is perfect action. Until such time that you “get everything right,” your sincerity is “what’s right.” The history behind the Day of `Aashura is a story of epic proportion. It is additionally timely because of the multiplicity of the battles that are taking place in this world today. The consequences of human error, separation, suffering and greed are as extreme today as they have ever been. These times are another episode in which the lovers of Allah, spiritualists, moralists and all aspirants, must come to terms. Massive pressures are mounting all around us and within us – spiritually, morally, socially, economically, environmentally and militarily. The burgeoning of the world’s population is depleting the Earth’s resources. What do we stand for, and therefore, how will we live accordingly? This is our jihaad. Jihaad means to struggle, to make an effort – to struggle for what is good, as well as struggle against what is bad, to struggle for what is helpful and supportive, and to struggle against what is destructive. The material riptide is very strong. It would be very easy to get pulled under. Just like a drowning person, at some point, one may doubt that they could continue to fight the current. I imagine that sometimes the swimmer wants to give up, because they don’t think they can handle it any longer. The riptide of consumerism, sense gratification, power struggle and private ownership, coupled with the undertow of constant fear, is fierce and relentless. The rules of the game and all the terms are changing. What was once unthinkable and crazy is now normal, acceptable, and even goes unnoticed. Normalcy is now regarded as “crazy” or at the very least, prudish and narrow-minded. Those who either do not agree with the status quo or cannot afford to keep up, get cast out. Mediocrity is the standard. Mindlessness is encouraged. The “also ran” is voted into office, and illiterate sports figures and out-of-control pop stars have become our heroes. There is no moral standard. People move as fish swim, and anyone can do whatever they can get away with . . . so long as they have the money. The media is full of liars, cheaters and stealers, and we rely upon them to tell us the news, the weather, the truth and what we can or cannot do. Or maybe worse yet, your mind tries to convince you that none of this matters, things aren’t that, and that you either don’t have to swim, or know how to, because somebody else will take care of it for you. Denial is all pervading. For the “people of understanding,” the Work is apparent. It is set out. The Work is for something greater than ourselves, although it certainly includes each one of us. Our efforts, our sadhana is not just about getting something. Our Work is service. This means that it is for something. I pray that the lives of our noble ancestors, and that the memory of Imaam Husayn (as) and his companions and family, do not go by in vain. Otherwise, this story only continues to repeat itself. Let us be among those that are known and are counted. Let us be the ones that stand upright and answer the call. We should be those that follow the Qur’anic edict, “We hear, and we obey.” We should be among those, in the words of Sheikh `Ibn al-Arabi, “ . . . follow love’s camel,” and love Allah for Allah's sake. Let us pray that we have the courage to stand up to our foes, both internal and external. Let us pray that we have the courage to stand by our convictions in thought, word and actions. Let us pray that we are able to take whatever action is needed, although we may not always know what will come next. Let us pray that our efforts are fortified, and that we are empowered through our worship, service, sacrifice and our noble Work. Let us be able to discern the difference between both right and wrong, and good and bad. May we awaken. May we awaken. May we awaken. |
Prompted
by the themes of `Eid ul-Adh-haa and `Aashura’, Sheikh Din challenges
the Community to answer the call to service and sacrifice. He warns us
about the pitfalls and struggles we will face along the way, and asks
the question, “Will you answer the call and complete what love asks of
you?”