Annual Address of Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi 27th Jan 1991 [part 2]

          Assalam o Alykum!

You just heard Saeeda Khatoon Azeemi on the topic of Peace. She told us that peace is Paradise. In other words, if the paradise is mentioned with reference to our life, it cannot be anything else but peace and tranquility. Other side of the Paradise is the Hell. Human life has two sides. If the Hell is taken into consideration, it cannot be anything else but restlessness and anxiety. That means man is passing through two states of peace and restlessness, tranquility and anxiety and delight and grief.

It has never happened that after one's birth one has lived a life of restlessness till his death and had not experienced any delight and this has also never happened that throughout one's life, he hadn't experienced any worry or anxiety. Thus, throughout our life from our birth until our death, life is the name of delight and sorrow. And, upon analyzing life, every one of us would conclude that one is happy at one time and is worried at another. At one time he is very upset and at another he is again happy.

That means delight and sorrow are twins, they move side by side. When these two are analyzed and, we try to figure out, what they actually are? An odd thing is noticed. One strange thing that is a pleasure and delight for me is the cause of anxiety and sorrow for another person. And the thing that is a cause of anxiety and sorrow for me is the cause of delight and pleasure for others.

This also is noticed, at one moment, one is happy and the next moment one is unhappy, at one moment, one is sad and the next moment he is happy. The entire life is lived in two states. Whether it is delight or sorrow or one is living in comfort or difficulties, we must see, what's their source?

One thing is clear that from one's birth till death, one lives through these two states of happiness and sadness. I had read a great couplet when I was young.

(Urdu text)

"Every delight is a pause to prepare for sorrow. Every peace is respite for upcoming test and anxiety."

This is life. Life is the name of the alternating states. One is anxious and then he is happy. Before our birth anxiety of the mother cannot be imagined but after the birth of the baby, the delight of a mother also cannot be imagined. Thus, it is settled that life is the name of two alternating states of delight and sorrow.

Saeeda Khatoon Azeemi says that delight is the Paradise, which means the hell is sorrow and anxiety. This means man is living in two halves. Half in Hell and half in Paradise. There are two states only. There is no third state. One is delight or peace and the other is sorrow or anxiety. Thus, it is established that life is passing in two states. One of them is sorrow and the other one is delight. Now from where these two states of delight and sorrow are coming. What's their source and from where do they emerge?

We are left with no option but to accept that no one has ever seen the delight or sorrow. No one can say, this is delight and that is sorrow. No one can tell this is delight or happiness. We take delight as smiling or laughing. But if we insist to see the delight on TV. A laughing face can be shown on the TV but the delight by itself cannot be shown. Likewise, if you ask to see the sorrow or what does anxiety looks like? You may see a weeping, crying or a worried face and say this is the sorrow or anxiety. What's the condition? It is said, look at the face and you will know of his condition. You may see his expressions of delight or sorrow, but you cannot see delight or sorrow. You may conclude from the expressions that one is sad or happy, but you cannot see the delight or sorrow.

Delight and sorrow come from the Unseen and are expressed in fiction. Some people are great actors. No matter how broken they are from inside, they keep smiling. When you look at their face, you will say, he is very happy, very content but he is very upset and worried within. This means the feelings of delight and sorrow both can be concealed.

You see in the movies. The actors play their roles of sadness as if someone has died and, if someone has really died, they still act as if nothing has happened and, they act as if they are very happy. This means man can express his feeling artificially. So, what is delight and sorrow?

We must search what causes depression and results in old age and bad health? One even loses one's eyesight and suffers from high or low blood pressure. Despite all these the sorrow or delight remains unseen. What is this unseen?

We can simply say, sorrow or delight is the name of a state, which we cannot see. Means that the eyes cannot see them. Inability to see a thing by the eyes means that it belongs to the unseen realm. Thus, the Hell and the Paradise both belong to the unseen. Man is so close to the Unseen. And man is forced to remain closer to Unseen and travel in the Unseen. He cannot get rid of it. And, if the delight and sorrow are not the Unseen then they must be seen through a microscope, telescope or by any other means but these cannot be seen. The way we cannot see the Hell by our eyes likewise, we cannot see sorrow or worry. And, the way we cannot see delight or happiness, we cannot see the Paradise.

This clearly means that man's life is based upon two sides. One of them is the Hell and the other one is the Paradise. Both these sides cannot be seen by the physical eyes. They do affect our life, but they cannot be seen in our manifested life. What does it conclude?

This means, man's real life, whether it is the life of delight and happiness or that of sorrow and sadness, is nothing but Unseen. If it is contrary to this, tell me. Are you following me what I am submitting to you? Real base of man's life; whether it is of delight or sorrow, cannot be seen. We cannot see the delight or sorrow, we cannot see the angels, Jin, or skies. Similarly, we also cannot see Hell or Paradise. Therefore, the real base or the source of our life is nothing but the unseen. And, if a person is not familiar with the unseen; his real self, he will not know, what the life is in actual effect? What are the two sides of life? What's the sorrow and what's the delight? He is not more than a lost wayfarer.

As you heard me saying that it is necessary for man to become acquainted with the Unseen. People say man cannot go into the Unseen, cannot see the Unseen and I am submitting that it is necessary for man to witness the unseen, he cannot exist without the unseen. His very being is based upon the unseen. And, if you will analyze it further and, to elaborate on it, let me ask you, where were we when we were not born in this world? Where were we? Obviously, we were in the Unseen. It means our real life originates where we were prior to our birth.

 Ok. Now we are born. After our birth we were hardly two feet tall, then turned to be a man of five/six feet. Where did that two feet man go? Obviously, there can't be any other answer but, that it went into the unseen. After spending this life, we died. There is life after death. According to the Quran, the Scriptures and all the Prophets of Allah, there is life after death. So, where you were when you were not born? In the Unseen! And, where did you go, when you died? In the Unseen!

Then, what's the man except Unseen? People say, knowledge about the unseen wasn't given even to the prophets of Allah then, how can a common man know of it? When man is nothing except unseen, his base is the unseen and, no matter how you may calculate, man is nothing but the unseen.

See, you sleep. People do sleep. We all sleep. Our body remains lying here and the person within us gets out and reaches London, America, Lahore, or Karachi. And, when one wakes up, the man in us returns in a split of a second. What will you call him? This man that visited America and came back what you would say about him.

To comprehend this all. There was a time when there was nothing except Allah. We believe that there was nothing except Allah. Allah said, "Kun" Be!

And it all started happening. What happened? The universe came into being. From where did the universe come into being? It came from the Mind of Allah. This means the universe already existed in the mind of Allah. And, in the last, it will be in the same state as it was before "Kun." i.e. everything will annihilate and only Allah will remain, or to say, the way the universe emerged from the Mind of Allah, it will return to Allah's Mind.

Our birth here was possible when we became manifested from the realm of the souls. We can be young only when our childhood becomes past. We cannot grow old if our youth is not buried in the past. And, when the old age is buried, we transfer into another realm or the hereafter.

Give it a thought, what's man except the unseen? Mashallah so many able people are sitting here. If anyone has any objection, please tell me. I won't mind. Without questioning you won't be able to understand a thing properly. In the light of all my submissions to you, tell me, are you anything else except the unseen?

That means, when Allah uttered 'Kun', you were there in the Mind of Allah. Who can be greater than Allah? When Allah uttered 'Kun', you came into the Realm of Souls. Realm of Souls is nothing but the Unseen. Then, you were transferred here from the Realm of Souls, which means you were transferred here from the Unseen. And, after your death, you start stepping up the stairs to reach the state that was there prior to your manifestation.

This is a brief analysis of man. Because, we are short of time, therefore, I curtailed it to prove that man is nothing but the Unseen. The base and foundation of man is also unseen. Then, what is the Unseen? We all know that unseen is the name of realm that is like our manifested world. The world that cannot be seen by our material eyes, is known as the world of Unseen. Skies, Paradise, the angels, Arsh, The Divine Preserved Tablet (Loh-e-Mehfooz) and Allah Almighty are all there in the Unseen realm.

So, where did this Unseen started. It is simple. I want to explain Saeeda's speech. So, what is this unseen? It is established by virtue of the holy Quran that the entire universe including man came into being, when Allah uttered 'Kun!' When universe was formed, all things including man, came into being. This formation was not visible to the material eyes, that is, it wasn't a material form. Then Allah addressed the entire universe and asked them, (Arabic text) (Am I not your Lord?) Look at Me, I am thy Lord.

Qalandar Baba Auliya translated it beautifully. (Arabic text) I am thy Lord. When Allah said, I am thy Lord, and the souls heard His voice. And as is the principle when someone calls, you ought to be attentive. Thus, when Allah called, I am thy Lord, we; you and me, heard His Voice and became attentive towards the voice. And, when we became attentive, it is not that we didn't see anything, we did see. Had we not seen anything we would have not replied. So, when we saw, we spontaneously responded, "Indeed, Thou are our Lord. We acknowledge You to be our Lord."

This means, your soul has heard the Voice of Allah; your soul has witnessed the unseen and after witnessing Him has acknowledged the Lordship of Allah. And you descended further down and down, and you are covered with so many veils that you cannot see Him, cannot hear Him any longer. Not hearing the voice of Allah and not witnessing Him is nothing but materialism. But you cannot deny that your soul has seen Allah, has heard Allah's Voice, and has acknowledged His Lordship. You have forgotten that reality, which is being veiled by the materialism. You are only mindful of the veils of matter and say we cannot behold Allah. How can we not witness Allah? You can behold Allah after searching and finding that soul in you, which has witnessed and acknowledged Allah's Lordship. You can behold Allah and hear the Voice of Allah after acquainting yourself with that soul. You cannot see Allah, will remain away from Unseen unless you are not acquainted with your soul.

Now, this thing is quite noteworthy that Allah is such a being who has no worry nor suffers from any anxiety. It is only Allah who is free from any worry or anxiety or urges of any sort. Thus, when your soul accepted and acknowledged Allah, it means you accepted that He is the only one who has no urges or needs rather He fulfills the urges and needs of the entire world.

When you will become acquainted of your soul, you will come to know of your status that we were there in the Mind of Allah. When, Allah desired, He created us by uttering 'Kun' and then gradually we were made to descend, step by step. And, in the process we gathered so many veils over us that the sight, which had witnessed Allah became obliterated and stopped functioning.

Allah has stated, (Arabic text) (Surah Baqara: 7)

A seal is put upon their hearts and ears and their eyes are covered with dark veils, who are drawn away from their souls and forget their real life. This materialism is the dark veil over our eyes.

It has been clear in your minds. The second thing is materialism in which you are spending your life under the flimsy veils that are weaker than cobwebs of a spider. Everyone who was born here, eventually died and all that he made here has been left behind. Those who got acquainted with their souls, they also made their houses, ate bread, and wore clothes but their relationship with Allah remained firmly established.

All that I submitted before you can be summarized that Man's life is spent in two states of anxiety or worry and delight. But, from where these two states are coming is related to with the soul. Because, when the soul breaks away it's relation with the body, man neither feels sad nor delighted. Have you ever seen a dead person laughing? Or, when the Hindus burn their dead in a pyre, has anyone ever seen a dead crying or protesting? Why? Because the thing that was there to feel delight and sadness has broken away it's relation with the body.

When a person is acquainted with his soul, he becomes acquainted with Allah. And, when a person is acquainted with Allah, he is blessed with those Attributes of Allah about which Allah has said in the holy Quran, (Arabic text) (Surah Younas: 62)

"Friends of Allah have no fear nor do they grieve."

Now, the question is, when a person is liberated from the fear and grief, he will also be abolished from delight and happiness because when the grief will be there, the delight will also be there. And, when there will be delight, the grief is bound to be there. If there will be sweetness, the bitterness will also be there and if the bitterness will be there, the sweetness will also be there. If there will be darkness, there will be the daylight too.

This is the law. There is nothing that doesn't have its pair. Everything is recognized by its other side. If you will abolish one side, the other will also abolish. Let's take the example of the day and the night. If the night is eliminated, can the day be mentioned? Can the night be mentioned if the day is not there. Thus, everything is based upon two sides. If there is grief in you, it's pair; the delight is also there in you. And, if the delight is there in you, the grief will also be there in you. But, once you get to know your soul, you will be liberated from both grief and delight. And, once you are liberated from both, you will be in a state whence nothing will bother you and your mind will remain absorbed in Allah.

(Arabic text) (Surah Younas: 62)        

"Friends of Allah have no fear nor any grief." This means if the friends of Allah do not have any fear nor any grief, they also have no delight. They are in a state of ecstasy in which they remain in contact with Allah: their Lord.

Hazrat Khwaja Moeenuddin Chishti Ajmeri says, (Persian text) My Friends comes with my breaths. Each breath that I inhale He comes and comes again and again, or to say, my sight keeps on gazing Allah. When someone starts beholding Allah, that is, he is acquainted with his soul that has witnessed Allah and acknowledged His Lordship. All the miseries, grieves, illnesses and anxieties are abolished in him, and he remains in a state of blissful ecstasy. And, he gets into the state about which the Quran say, (Arabic text) ( Surah Aly Imran: 7)

Those of My friends who are acquainted with their souls and have come to know of the grief and delight, and they have also had the realization that their real self belongs to the Realm of the Souls. And, they had witnessed Allah, individually and collectively, and after hearing His Voice, they had responded to Him, too.

(Arabic text) (Surah Aly Imran: 7)

They are in a position where, no matter what they are through with, they say, we observe and say with certainty that we are observing Allah, and everything is from Allah. And, when everything is from Allah, there is nothing except good and has virtue in it.

Learning Spiritualism is necessary because if a person does not learn Spirituality, he will remain unhappy because of his escape from his acknowledgement of the Lordship of his Lord. He is unhappy because he is not familiar with his soul; the soul that has witnessed Allah, has heard His Voice, and has acknowledged His Lordship.

This physical body is a covering veil. And you will not be able to behold Allah unless you are not acquainted with your soul. Now, the question is, what's the need to behold Allah? How will we benefit if we witness Allah? The main benefit of beholding Allah is that you are acquainted with your soul. And second, when you are acquainted with Allah, He will also know you.

When Hazrat Umar (R.A) got to Hazrat Owais Qarni (R.A) with the robe of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and asked him to bless him with a word of advice.

Owais Qarni (R.A) asked him, 'Umar! Do you know Allah?'

Umar (R.A) replied, "Alhamdulillah. I know Allah."

Owais Qarni (R.A) asked another question, "Does Allah also know you?"

Umar (R.A) promptly replied, "Yes! Allah also knows me."

"Then you need no piece of advice from me." Owais Qarni (R.A) responded.

This means that Umar (R.A) had reached that state whence his soul had acknowledged Lordship of Allah in response to Allah's inquiry, "Am I not thy Lord?"

Acquaintance with our souls is necessary because without that we won't be able to get to Paradise. What to say of the Paradise, don't know, whether the Hell would accept us or not and, don't know, where we will be wandering, if we will not be knowing our souls. Because Hell is also unseen. We are nothing without our soul.

We feel hungry, we eat food. The question is, from where do we receive a thought about hunger or thirst? Yes, from where the thought of feeling hungry comes. Obviously, from the unseen. From where do we receive the thought of thirst? From the unseen. You cannot eat or drink without resolving to see the unseen.

You say, you cannot be familiar with the unseen. All these sciences that you learn, from where have these worldly sciences been inspired? From where does all these inventions and discoveries of the science come? From where did the thought of inventing TV come? From the unseen! You started following the thought and TV came into being. Had you left this thought, you would have been deprived of TV.

So, if you want to be happy and be at peace here and in the hereafter, you must have the cognition of your soul. Cognition of the soul is not at all difficult. This physical body is nothing. It’s merely a covering veil. It is a skeleton, a cage for the soul. Soul is the reality. As long as soul keeps this cage moving, it keeps on moving and, when the soul breaks away from this cage, all gets disintegrated, worms eat it away, ants stick to it and man cannot remove them and, they eat away all his flesh and he cannot even sigh. And, if the soul is there in him, even a mosquito bite disturbs him, and he curses the mosquitoes.

Just give it a thought. A man is dead and big ants pile over him and eat away all his flesh and, he does not even sigh. And, if the soul is there in him, even the bite of a small brown ant makes him take off all his clothes. The soul is real and so close to you and, if you will not know it, be ready to face the fate. And, we all know, what happens to the body in the grave.

If you want peace in this life and if you want to behold Allah, befriend Him, and want Him to accede to your submissions, it is necessary for you to cognize your soul remaining in this life. If you want to spend this life like cats and dogs, that's up to you. Don't cognize your soul. Die as the cats and dogs die. Eat and drink, the way cats and dogs do. They have cubs and kittens and you, too, have babies. What's the difference? A mouse also feels hungry and eats and nurtures its babies, too.

Think! What's the difference between a mouse, a dog, and a man? The only difference is, they cannot be familiar with their souls, but man can get familiar with his soul. And, the person who fails to cognize his soul, remains deprived both here and in the hereafter. And is ashamed of facing his Lord because he had accepted His lordship before coming into this world and after coming here, he revolted against Him. There his soul had been saying, yes, indeed You are our Lord, I have witnessed You and have heard Your Voice. And, after coming here, you are saying, you can't be acquainted with your soul. Spiritualism is declaring that this is a lie. It's a betrayal and the punishment of the betrayal is for both here and in the hereafter.

Once I was reciting Surah Zilzal and Qalandar Baba Auliya was explaining it to me. When I reached the verse. (Arabic text) (Surah Zilzal: 7-8)

Your acts even if they are good equal to a small speck, they will be rewarded and if there will be an evil equal to a speck that will be punished.

Qalandar Baba Auliya asked me, did you understand what Allah is saying? Then, he told me, Allah is saying, if you have done some good even equaling to a speck, you will enjoy its results here and if you have done something wrong like a speck, you will face the consequences. He had said, 'Khwaja Sahib, it's the law of the Divine Preserved Tablet (Loh-e-Mehfoz) man cannot quit this world unless he hasn't seen the results of his deeds. Your register of deeds and acts will not be completed unless you haven't accepted the results of your acts. Therefore, when a person advances towards the cognition of his soul, he is blessed with the cognition.

Holy Prophet (PBUH) has stated this thing in these words. (Arabic text)

"Die before you actually die."

Do you think, Allah forbid, Holy Prophet (PBUH) is telling us to commit suicide by having poison. No. He is asking us to know the life after death before dying. See before dying where you will end up and, be acquainted with the life after death. And those who get to know their life after death while remaining in this life, they know with certainty that life of this world is mere fiction and temporary phase of life. All the good things that Allah has blessed us with are to be used fully. Eat and drink and wear good clothes but don't get involved in them.

If a person is acquainted with his soul, he fulfills all his needs without getting involved in them. When one does not get involved in the worldly things, he gets rest, and his mind gets away from the temporary fictional things. Then, reality transpires upon him, and he sets on the path of reality. And then, one day he succeeds in knowing the reality and gets acquainted with his soul.

Thank you!