Annual Address of Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi 27th Jan 1993

Respected Audience, dear friends, lovers of Qalandar Baba Auliya!

Once in a year, nature blesses us with this occasion to gather here, to learn, to acquaint oneself with and adopt the thinking approach of Qalandar Baba Auliya.

There is over one billion populations of mankind and trillions of other creatures in this world. There are worlds more than human estimation in the universe. Besides humans, jinn and angels and the variety of creatures that we see on our planet earth are found in all those worlds, too. Allah created this huge system and said, this entire system is to serve man. And, this is our observation too, that everything, every creation is serving man whether man acknowledges it or not, accepts it or not. But, whenever someone considers and thinks, what is this universe, what is this earth, moon, sun and stars are and, why this entire system of galaxies is for? One concludes, in the heart of one's heart and, receives this reply from the inner of his self that this entire cosmic system is serving man.

We know the properties of water and, we also know the services rendered by the water. Likewise, the air, the gases, the sun and the moon are also busy in serving man. Not only this but anything that is needed by man, the earth is producing it continually for the man. It is worth considering that man is the resulting outcome of not only of this world but of the entire universe. When man thinks as to what is he doing for the earth, for the moon, for the sun and the atmosphere of the outer space? He will come up with the only answer, nothing! He is doing nothing for them but all these things are serving him. And, when the internal world is studied and examined, we see heart is busy in serving us. Lungs are also busy in serving him and the brain is also busy in serving him in such a manner that he is not even aware of their services. He doesn't know why and how the heart is beating so very continually. Flow of blood, the maintenance of body temperature, thirst and drinking water to quench the thirst, excretion of waste materials from the body, feeling hungry and having something to satiate the urge, availability of resources to eat and their continuous providence. The more you will ponder the more aware you will become of the blessings of Allah that Allah is doing all this for man and man is doing nothing for the universe.

Man is not doing anything for the universe. For instance, if he cultivates land, he is not giving anything to land, he is producing things for him from it. If he is cultivating wheat, you cannot say that it is for the benefit of the land. If you plant trees and they bear fruits, no one can say that these fruits are for the use of the land. And, if there are milk producing cattle and man is causing them to reproduce, no one can say there is any benefit for the earth. When the cattle are there, their milk and meat will be used by man and their skins will be used to prepare shoes for man. Let's go on to the birds. The birds are not grown by man, they are born and grow naturally but they, too, are serving man, directly or indirectly. There is no benefit for the earth in them. Birds décor the earth and, that too, delights man.

Howsoever, you think, you will conclude that Allah has created all this for man. Not only that Allah created him but has subjugated everything for him.

(Arabic text) (Surah Jasiya: 13)

Allah says, all that is there in the heavens and the earth. We haven't seen the heavens but all that is there in the heavens and in the earth have been given to man's command and is made subjugated for him. They have been made duty bound to serve him.

Now the question is, why Allah Almighty has done this all? What's so special in man that Allah subjugated the entire universe for man and man has not been subjugated to anyone? No one can say he is subjugated to the sun, the moon or the earth but this is a proven fact that everything of this earth is subjugated for man. What's in the heavens? Angels are there, What's in the heavens? Jinn are there in the heavens. What's in the heavens? Paradise is there in the heavens. What's in the heavens? Hell is there in the heavens. What's in the heavens? Arsh (The High Throne) is there in the heavens. What's in the heavens? Kursi (The Seat of Allah) is there in the heavens. When after rising above the earth, we look at the heavens, all that is there, according to Allah's saying, has also been subjugated for man.

Why man has been blessed with this superiority? That needs deliberation, what feat man has performed to earn this superiority? On what ground Allah has blessed man with such a huge honor and has said that the entire universe is subjugated to him. The universe is serving him and cannot deny to serve him. No one has ever seen the sun denying to provide light to a particular region on earth nor has the moon has ever said, I shall only let them enjoy my light who will serve me or praise me or only a particular group of persons can enjoy the moonlight. Likewise, neither water nor air has ever denied to serve man. And, to top them all, the life flowing in man has never denied. What is the reason of this very blessing of Allah for man? What does Allah want of man for His blessing of subjugating the entire universe and forced it to be at man's service? After all, why Allah has done this all by His Mercy and Blessing for man? What does Allah want of man? If Allah wants something from man and the basis of that wanting is also in man, what is that?

If you will give it a thought, you will understand it quite easily. When someone blesses someone, it is for a purpose. And, mainly this is for the sake of friendship and closeness. If you are kind to someone and favor him and fulfill all his needs. If someone will ask you why you are so kind to him, helping him and serving him, why are you doing this all for him? You will say, I like him. I like him so I am serving him. And, when you like someone you obviously want him to be close to you. When there will be liking the desire to get closer will be eventual.

Thus, Allah wants man to be His friend and closer to Him and should be enjoying His company. But despite all these blessings man at times is ungrateful to Allah. Denies His favors, transgresses, is ignorant and behaves senselessly. Allah expects him to think that one who has subjugated the entire universe for him, wants him to be His friend. Who is He? Who is He that is blessing him with so much favors? What does He want of me? Why is He blessing me with all these favors? When you will consider like this your mind will eventually turn to Him.

First thing is that man is born here. Lives for fifty to ninety years, eats, drinks, enjoys the sun and moonlight, uses all the produce of the earth, sleeps and awakes and weds and bear children but never thinks about, how and why all this is happening? His mind seldom turns to this. This not turning of the mind to all these things is the tyranny and ignorance. Allah says, (Arabic text) (Surah Ahzab: 72) "We presented Our Trust before the heavens, the earth and the mountains, but they avoided to bear it saying we cannot shoulder such a responsibility but, man without giving it a thought opted it. Indeed, he is the tyrant ignorant." Allah called him ignorant and tyrant because trust means the ability, trust means the capability, trust means mental faculties, trust means spiritual powers and trust means power of flight; such a power of flight, when man comes to know of it, he can fly above the heavens and Arsh (The High Throne). He accepted that quality without giving it a thought. He accepted it without giving it a thought and never paid attention to it. He is the trustee of Allah and, knows it not. He is the only creation in the universe that is the trustee of Allah and is so downgraded that he is living in mud and mire. And, is not heedful of the trust given to him.

He is lost in temporary worldly life. He considers money, wealth, gold and silver, wife and kids and all that everything whereas, the base of his life is the trust that Allah has blessed him with and which has not been granted to any other creature in the universe, whether it is angels, jinns or any other creature living in other worlds of universe. In all other worlds too none other than man is the trustee of Allah.

All these blessing of Allah are granted to man so that after acquiring them he must use them and be grateful to Allah; his Creator. When he will be grateful to Allah, his mind will automatically turn to Allah. He will be curious to know, Who is the one that has created him and, blessed him with all these blessings and favors? And, what does He wants of me and, how can I be of any service to Him?

Allah doesn't eat, drink or wear clothes, nor does he need a house to live in, He doesn't need to wed, He hasn't any father nor has any children or any family. Then, what does He want? Just one thing. He wants man to befriend Him. And, in search of that friendship, Allah sent one hundred and twenty-four thousand apostles, after selecting them amongst the people and making them His friends, so that people could not say that man doesn't have the ability to befriend Allah. If man had not had the ability, one hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets of Allah had also not been there. If man hadn't had the ability, Allah would not have declared son of Adam Mohammad (PBUH) as His beloved. He could have made someone from angels or jinns. And, then blessed His beloved such an intimate closeness, which He has never granted to anyone.

Allah has blessed man with the ability to befriend Him and man can be His friend. And, on the basis of that friendship, after getting closer to Him, can behold Him, and after listening to Him, get acquainted with His temperament.

Man is not superior to other creatures because of his intellect. How much intellect can he has? It is not his intellect that makes him superior. Man's superiority is due to that ability, which when aroused, man can prostrate upon Allah's Feet, after getting out of the boundaries of the earth and the heavens. This ability has been granted to man alone.  This ability does exist in man but he has rusted it.

Allah has stated, when He created man, He made an effigy of clay that had void in it. And, He put His Light in that void. Why He put His Light in there? Because, Allah is the Light and only Light can know the Light. If man had not had this light in him, he couldn't have recognized Allah.

 Man couldn't have recognized Allah, if Allah had not put His Light in him.

(Arabic text) (Surah Hijar: 29)

There is an effigy; a void. In that Allah put out of His Soul. Soul cannot be termed anything else but Light. There is a Light in every man and this Light is there so that the Light could recognize the Light and, can get closer to it. But, what man did? He put a veil of a very small and limited thinking approach upon the void, where the Light is. Thinking approach that only has the lust and greed of the worldly things like gold and silver coins. He veiled that light. That is, the void in which Allah had filled His Lights and Noor, man willfully drew a sheet of darkness and filled it with dirt and density.

Take an example of a bowl, with one of the best perfumes in it. And, if you put stinky mud over that perfume, you cannot say there wasn't any perfume in it. The perfume is very much there but has been spoiled due to the stench over it. The bowl is there, its void is there and, the fragrance of the perfume is also there. If you want to clean the bowl, you have to take out the mud and clean it by scrubbing it. Cleansing the bowl of its dirt and stench and to restore the fragrance of its perfume is the spiritualism.

Spiritualism means the stench and stink that has covered the fragrance of the perfume in man and the bowl that has been made dirty could be cleansed, scrubbed and polished. This is the very task of a mentor. When he takes the responsibility of some friend, he starts cleaning the bowl from the very first day and, keeps on cleansing him. The disciple gets his bowl dirty again and again and, the mentor keeps on cleaning him. It means a mentor is like a bhangi whose job is to clean the dirt and remove the stench of his disciples. He keeps on doing his job and the disciple keeps on dirtying himself.

Once Qalandar Baba Auliya told me that at times mentor cleanses his disciple, removes his stench and dirt and, does so again and again and, the disciple keeps on spoiling himself. He keeps on cleaning him and, he keeps on spoiling himself. This also happens that the entire life is spent in this process and, in the last, the disciple spoils himself and the mentor leaves the world in deprivation. It clearly means that after you are inducted in a Silsila, your teacher starts your training and tells you that this world is created for you and you are not created for the world. He refuses to understand it and, the greed of worldly riches and lust and self indulgence over-powers him. This means that the greed and lust for worldly riches is nothing but filth and stench.

There was a friend of mine and a very close one. He had great respect and was very good. I asked Qalandar Baba Auliya, why is he not progressing? He has recited Drood Shareef and Ya Hayyo ya Qayyom millions of times, offers prayers seven times a day, He respects his mentor and remains standing before him with both hands folded over his naval. Why he is not progressing? He said, "He is a very good person but his heart is filled with the love of his children.”

I submitted, "Love of children is but a natural thing."

He said, "Indeed love of children is a natural thing but if the love of Allah is being suppressed and over-powered by it then this becomes a curse. And, if you consider that the kids are a blessing for me and I am supposed to nurture and train them for the sake of Allah then, the children are a blessing."

Recently a gentleman came to me and was crying that his son had taken thirty million Rupees from him. I said, he is your only son, what if he has taken that, if you would die, this would have been inheritance for him, so be patient and don't complain. He said, I have forgone with that but now he is telling me that he will deposit me in Edhi's Old Home. And, despite that, his mind didn't turn to Allah. He had come to me that his son be kind to him. This is how the worldly things go. House, business, wealth and money, wife, husband and children. If the children are loved for the sake of Allah, considering them a blessing of Allah. If the husband is loved because Allah has granted me a life partner and if the husband is loving his wife that he was alone and Allah blessed him with a partner on the path of life, who is loving and passionate.

That means if you included the one who is blessing you then, everything will turn into a blessing and if Allah is not included in enjoying His blessings then the granted things will become a curse and will ride you as a curse. And, will be a cause of tension and anxiety and, you will never be at peace because of them as you have revolted against Him, Who had blessed you with kids and other things to keep you happy.

If you have revolted against Him who had granted you a life partner. The wife is afraid of husband and husband is scared of his wife, children are afraid of their parents and parents are fearing their children but they never think that neither the wife will accompany the husband nor the husband will go with his wife in her grave. Neither the children will go along with their parents nor the parents will go with their children in their graves. This is a worldly system that has been established by Allah.

See, if the father is not there, the mother is not there or the children are not there then, how the world would have moved? Parents and kids are the décor of the world. Houses will be built, when the marriages will take place. Factories will work and businesses will be done. But we are not accepting the system, the way we should be taking it. We are considering taking care of our children as the sole purpose of our life. We are to listen to our kids and be thrashed by them and get down into the grave. And, children seldom pay a visit to the graves of their parents and never lay a few flowers upon the graves.

We haven't seen a mother dying with her children nor have we ever seen a child dying with his mother. After the demise of a child his mother says, take his body away and bury him, I can't bear. So does the children say about their mother. Don't delay, lay her to rest. Her body will start decaying and stench will be unbearable, so hurry and, bury her body. These are the facts.

As long as Allah's Light is there in the body and, you are considering this body as yours but, when this Light departs, all your relations come to an end and, you still don't acknowledge Allah. In spite of the fact, it never occurs to us that this life is the soul from Allah and, is the Light of Allah and is Allah. No one can remain alive if the soul of Allah is not operating in him i.e. if Allah is not there. In each and every one of us, soul of Allah is operating and it's the attribute of Allah that is keeping us alive. And, an attribute of Allah cannot be separated from Allah.

Allah is saying, "I created man from a void and put My Soul in it.' Now this is the statement of Allah. Let's examine it closely. Man has a skull which is basically a void. In this emptiness brain is put in there. Nose is also a void with two hollow nostrils. Throat and mouth too are hollow spaces. Tummy and torso is also a void. If you dissect the heart that too, is hollow within. Lungs are also sponge like bundle of holes, which upon blowing in enlarge so much. You might have seen lungs of goats, hanging out in meat shops. Kidneys, bladder and intestines are all hollow like tubes. Stomach is also hollow. It means, had there not been empty hollowness in man, the blood and energy couldn't have circulated in him. Had man not been a void, how could Light have filled him. When the human body is examined we see every part is hollow and empty. Look at the bones, they are hollow and have bone-marrow in them. The bones that do not have marrow in them are composed of tiny holes. Rib cage is also a big void. Eye socket is also a hollow. You cannot find any part without hollowness. The earth is also hollow. You cannot plough or sow seed, if the earth had not been hollow. Trees would have not grown in it.

Now the situation that is required to be understood is that who is running the void? Why this void is moving? It's moving because the soul is there in it. As long as the soul is there, this void keeps on moving around, speaks, cries and laughs. And, when the soul breaks away, man cannot laugh or talk and, becomes a useless thing.

This means that my moving around, sleeping, awakening and sitting here are all based upon the working of Allah's soul; Allah's Light is operating in me. My life is guaranteed by this Light. I feel hungry or thirsty only because of that Light but never pay attention to that Light. The bread has become such a need for me that I can sell even my religion for that. I can sell the world for it. I can even sell myself for it. All these blessings that have been granted to man, are granted to him and will be granted till day of judgement to man continually only so that he could become aware of his soul. When the mind would be attentive towards the soul, it would automatically turn to Allah because soul is the part of Allah.

And, if man's mind will not turn to his inner self; towards his soul, he will never be able to pay attention to Allah. Allah has stated in a Hadees e Qudsi, "I was a treasure hidden, I created creatures with love so that I be recognized and, creatures become connected with me and could get closer to me. And, be blessed with My friendship."

Present era is of great turmoil, anxiety and misery. Every house and every member of the house is suffering one or the other problem. People do get attentive towards Allah to seek the solution of their problems but they seldom become heedful of their Lord sincerely. They do recite Ayattul Kursi to get a job, to pay off the loans. Recites Ayattul Kareema to get rid of the law-suits against his son. But never recite Ayattul Kursi that Allah is introducing Him therein.

(Arabic text) (Surah Baqqara: 255)

"Allah is such a Living and self-sustaining eternal being that is giving life to His creatures and is serving them eternally. No slumber can seize Him nor He sleeps. He remains busy in serving His creatures without ever sleeping or having a nap. Nobody gives it a thought that Allah who neither sleeps nor ever has a nap is keeping His creatures alive and is providing them sustenance and if we could become attentive towards Him, this entire universe will become ours.

Reciting Ayattul Kursi for getting a job or to pay off the loan...It is the statement of the holy Prophet (PBUH) (Arabic text) "This world is filth." What this world is? It is the filth, dirt and stench... and if a person is seeking aid of Ayattul Kursi for acquiring the worldly things...what is he doing? He is trying to gather the filth and dirt by reciting Ayattul Kursi. Can such a person be ever happy? Can such a person be at peace, who is asking for filth by taking Allah's name, collecting stench by taking Allah's name? And, distancing him from Allah by taking His name. Everyone is complaining that world is a place of unrest, misery and lack of peace. The main reason of all this unrest, misery and uproar is due to giving importance to resources, is valuing resources more than Allah and, has enslaved him of resources and, is not paying attention to the creator of the resources.

If you are a friend of an emperor and, you are all praises for the table he lays for you and, are neglectful of the emperor, can that be a wise thing to do? Friendship of the king means you will automatically have the access to all the good things he has. All the courtiers of the king are duty bound to serve you because of your friendship with the king. They are bound to fulfill your needs and they are bound to comply whatever you have in mind. But if you ignore the king, his courtiers will also ignore you.

Same is the case with Allah. Allah is the greatest of all kings, when a person befriends Allah on term and conditions set by Allah, His courtiers stand up to serve you. Who are courtiers of Allah? Angels are the courtiers of Allah. You see, what you are dealing with? After distancing yourself from Allah you are depriving yourself from all those things that have been subjugated for you.

Allah says, "One who befriends me, is liberated from grief and sorrow." What this grief and sorrows are? It simply means worry and anxiety. The grief and sorrow by itself is the biggest anxiety and the cause of all our miseries.  Something will be lost, will not be available, when we will leave the world, we will perish and will be afraid of or will be grieving. That means, according to teachings of the Quran, worry means to have grief and sorrow, in misery and restless and, is facing problems. He is restless, insomniac and has high blood pressure. Have you ever seen a person with blood pressure and, is at peace and inner calm? Have you ever seen a happy person going mad? If a person is happy, at peace and living a delightful life, will he ever cry?

It means, where there is grief and fear, unrest will be there. And, unless a person befriends Allah, he will remain a prey to grief and fear because Allah has made it mandatory that only those can be free from grief and fear who will befriend Allah. Is our soul not a friend of Allah? This means, intrinsically everyone is a friend of Allah but, externally, terminating this bond of friendship, he is becoming an enemy of Allah. This friendship is not to be searched outside, you need not to undertake any journey nor have to climb upon hills, it is all within.

As long as the friend of Allah; your soul is in you, you move around and this friend of Allah detaches itself from you, all the relations including your external body comes to end. All lusts, greed, wife, kids, wealth and property, all comes to an end.

Spiritualism tells us that everyone within him enjoys this relation of friendship with Allah and externally is showing animosity towards Allah. This external body has no value. Only the internal self has the significance because the external body depends upon the internal self. If the internal self is there, the external body exists and, if the internal self is not there the external body cannot exist. You cannot say that external body is the cause of the inner self. It is against observation and experience because when the internal self detaches away nothing remains before us.

 Gist of the teachings and the thinking approach of Qalandar Baba Auliya and, the way he presented the spiritualism logically and, introduced it to mankind, can easily be summed up that everyone is a friend of Allah within. Since man has diverted himself, had become an enemy of Allah and has grown restless. If I am, what I am? I am, in actual, is an internal self and, if there is no internal self in me, I am not, I cannot speak. How very unfortunate and tragic it is and, how ungrateful it is on our part that peace is flowing in us but we never pay attention to the waves of our inner peace. When he sees, he sees outwardly and witnesses and invites only worries and restlessness.

Every human being has two sides. One, that he actually is a friend of Allah and the other, the fake side is that he is the enemy of Allah. Due to lack of knowledge, man has given preference to his external aspect and does not give importance to his real and inner self, which is his soul and upon that his entire life is based.

Muraqba has a pivotal significance in the teachings of Qalandar Baba Auliya. Muraqba means to search one's inner self after taking off his attention from his external being. Muraqba means remaining in the phenomenal world and considering it unreal and fiction, we must get attentive towards the permanent and lasting world that is in us. There is nothing outside. All that we are seeing outside is nothing, it is fiction and an illusion. If all is there in the out then, why can't we see it, when we are dead. If all exists in the out and, this eating and drinking is all then, why don't we eat or drink after dying? Does our throat finishes or our brain abolishes? Does our limbs; hands and feet wither away, rot or decay when we die? No, nothing happens of the sort. They remain there. Our eyes are there, nose is there and, if postmortem is carried out, the heart will also be found there. But, what's that, which is missing? The inner self has detached itself from the temporary and perishable external body.

Then, what's the real? The internal self or the external body? Well all that are sitting here, have you ever given it a thought that you should look for your internal self. The internal self is your soul, an attribute of Allah, is a part of Allah, is the life of Allah that is put into you. But all your attention is focused upon the gold and silver, wife and kids. What a tyranny, what an ignorance and how very silly it is that Allah is in you and you are unmindful of Him. You are least bothered to talk to him. You pray day in and night out and, say our prayers are not acceded to. What's the reason that prayers are not responded to? We are not asking anything from Allah, which is in His Personal use. We are asking things which are meant for us and are for our use. Then, why aren't we getting them? We ask for peace. What Allah has to do with restlessness? We ask for peace of mind and heart, what these have to do with Him? He is all peace and bliss.

We are drawn towards this fiction and temporary body and world considering them as real, which is wrong. Leaving the literal observations and experiences aside, it's amongst the routines of life that we see people dying. Allah has said for His servants, (Arabic text) (Surah Zariyat: 21) "I am in you then, why don't you see?"

That means when someone performs Muraqba and, descends down deeper in him, he finds Allah there and he beholds Him. This is what the Quran is telling us. People due to their own vested interests have called it similitude and, say how can Allah be in us, where there is filth and stench. Well, the filth and stench is in our external physical body and not in our inner-self. Light is there in our internal self and Allah is there in internal self of every human being. Allah says, "Where there you are one, I am the second. What does it mean? Where you are two, I am the third one. What does this mean?

Allah says, (Arabic text) (Surah Fussilat: 54) "Indeed, It is He that Doth encompass all things." Man is also a thing. Allah is saying that I am encompassing everything including man like a circle and you are also in this circle and you cannot get out this circle.

(Arabic text) (Surah Hadeed: 3) "He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Hidden and He has full knowledge of all things." Allah is saying that He is the beginning and He the ending I am your manifested and I am the inner of you. What more could have Allah said on that.

(Arabic text) (Surah Qaf: 16) "I am closer to you than your jugular vein." He is closer than our life line and still man is saying he cannot witness Allah and cannot search Him in him. Isn't that tantamount to deny the holy verses of the Quran? Does Allah's saying establish that we cannot see Him? Allah is telling us that we had heard Him in the Eternity, (Arabic Text) "Am I not your Lord."And, after listening to My Voice you had turned to Me and had seen Me and that was your eyesight that had witnessed Me and after beholding Me had acknowledged My Lordship. (Arabic Text) And the same became your articulation and utterance. How else can Allah assure us of His closeness and how else can He make us believe that man has no value if he fails to feel Allah in him. What man is hearing is the echo of Allah's Voice and when he is speaking, he has heard Allah speaking to him. If a man is sighting, he is seeing things because in eternity he has seen Allah. And, after all these things, if someone says that he cannot see Allah, where can he find Allah? About such people Allah tells us... (Arabic text) (Surah Ahzab: 72) "Indeed man is tyrant ignorant." He is tyrant for himself because of his ignorance.

In spite of knowing all this, despite that he has been told everything, he is saying, where is Allah? Allah is in me and I am worried, what a pity? King of all kings is in me, in my house and, I am begging in the streets with the beggar's bowl in my hand. I am the companion of a king and I am begging for two rupees. King is sitting in my home and has opened all his treasure for me and I am considering myself penniless poor. Isn't this a tyranny and ignorance? Isn't this a denial of His blessings? Despite understanding this all, you are insisting upon tyranny and ignorance and, crying that you are restless, have no peace and are worried.

This sighting and believing in it is merely a verbal thing. Quran is telling us that Allah is close to man, He is encompassing man, is with man. Where does He reside? This has also been told that besides Arsh, He is residing in man. We only need to look inside. And, the technical term to see within and look inside is Muraqba. Qalandar Baba Auliya has stated that Muraqba is such an activity, which if performed sincerely and, on a permanent basis, then, according to the holy statement of Allah, " I am in man", one can witness Allah and is blessed by the grace of Allah. The worldly miseries and worries come to an end and he is left only with inner peace and calm.

(Arabic text) (Surah Younas: 62)

"Indeed, Friends of Allah have no fear nor any grief." Allah says that friends of Allah have no fear in them nor do they grieve. Whereas the situation is that we desire for Paradise and do so many things for it, like praying, chanting and giving charity, doing good deeds and pious things.

Tell me one thing, who will reside in Paradise, friends of Allah or His enemies? Say it loudly!

Audience...Friends of Allah!

Yes, enemies of Allah will not get into the Paradise. Right?

Now Allah is saying that one who has fear and grief cannot be my friend. So, where do we stand? How can we go into the Paradise, when we haven't befriended Allah? Fears and grieves are gripping us all. All these acts and deed that we are after, if they fail to free us from fears and grieves, we cannot befriend Allah. Because Allah has said it very clearly that His friends don't have fears and grieves. Secondly, if someone is afraid of Allah, can he be a friend of Allah? If someone is friend of Allah, how can he be afraid of Allah. Because Allah's friends have no fears so how can they be afraid of Allah. And, if someone has the fear of losing something, can he be friend of Allah?

Mashallah, hundreds of people are sitting here. Not one of us, including myself, is free from fears and grieves. The only way to get rid of these fears and grieves is to witness and behold Allah sitting in you. Once you will feel His feet upon your head, you will know it with certainty that you are His servant and His friend. Your head is placed upon His Feet. Once you have this certitude, the fears and grieves will leave you and you'll befriend Allah. And, when you be a friend of Allah, Paradise will accept you. And, if you are not the friend of Allah, the Gatekeeper of Paradise; Rizwan will not let you get into Paradise and the Paradise will also reject you. The Hell will be waiting for you rather you will be marching towards the Hell.

Once I asked Qalandar Baba Auliya, Mercy is the habit of Allah, His way of doing things. So much so, wherever there is punishment is mentioned, Allah has reiterated of His Mercy. Then, how can so Merciful Allah can put His creatures into Hell?

On this, Qalandar Baba Auliya had said, "No, Allah will not cast anyone into the Hell."

Well then, what's that we all are mentioning the Hell and nobody is talking about Paradise, What's that? I had submitted.

"Khwaja Sahib! All that we have in us, we only mention that and only that comes out. If the Hell is burning in us, the same will be coming out. Allah does not cast anyone in Hell. It is against His Mercy that he be casting people lesser than flies and mosquitoes into the Hell," he had said.

"Then, what will happen?" I was too curious.

"People will gather on the Day of Judgment. Everyone will be worried. People will be divided into groups. For example, the people who love the holy Prophet (PBUH) will go where he will be. It is just as if you go to London. Where you will go? Obviously where someone known to you and some near and dear one will be, you will go there. That's but natural. If your daughter is there you will go to her. If some friend is there you will go to him. You will go to him with whom you have some association. So all the apostles that have come so far, their followers will gather around them. Likewise, the people with fears, worries and the friends of Satan will gather together. Yes, friends of Satan will gather together and will be crying, weeping in great misery.

Allah will ensconce upon His Throne in all His Glory and Grandeur. When He will see people crying. He will ask, What's wrong? Why so much hue and cry? What this noise is all about. All the apostles and Auliya Allah will fall in prostration and submit, O Allah they are Thy creatures, they faulted and have done wrong. They are too upset for their wrongs. Then, Allah will ask, "Haven't they been told, what's wrong and what's right and, how they could have befriended Me? Apostles will submit pleadingly that though they have wronged, you are requested to forgive them. People will cry even more and noise will be raised further. Then, Allah will say, Leave the court, get ye out of here. Then, the people of Hell will proceed to Hell and people of Paradise will head for the Paradise. Allah will not cast anyone into the Hell. They will go there by themselves." Qalandar Baba Auliya revealed this amazing fact.

Allah is great. It means, Allah will not cast anyone in the Hell despite that man has denied His favors and refused to accept His sayings and disobeyed Him.

How strange is this that a majority of people believes that Allah cannot be witnessed. How strange is this, how can He not be seen? When we already have seen Him and after witnessing Him hearing Him, have acknowledged His Lordship. When we already have seen Him then, how can we now deny to witness Him? Have we lost our eyes? What a tragic deprivation that we have believed that Allah cannot be seen, cannot be heard. Secondly, all those verses where Allah has claimed to be closer to man and mentioned His blessings, are overlooked, terming them similitude.

Anyhow, Allah is Gracious and Merciful and sent one hundred twenty-four thousand apostles and then established the chain of Auliya Allah to disseminate His message. We have association with the holder of a great position after prophets; Qalandar Baba Auliya. It is our good luck that Allah has made us to reach His beloved servant. And, that beloved of Allah hasn't hid anything from his children. He told us all that such and such thing is written there in that file and that thing is placed over there. And, even then, his children couldn't befriend Allah, that will be unfortunate. Please never fall prey to this ill-fate. Love Allah and feel His presence, the way Allah wants us to feel Him.

Once I saw Qalandar Baba Auliya in a very delightful mood., in the morning while I was serving him tea. Seeing him in that delightful mood, I sat beside and, asked, "You are very happy, may I know the reason?"

I still remember his words. And, when I recall them, I am filled with enlightenment. He used to address me by Khwaja Sahib. He said, "Khwaja Sahib, will you understand, Allah had come in the night and had hugged me and, said, "Where are you, my dear!"

Now, you see, your father is so blessed that Allah hugs him and talks to him. What our heritage is? It's our birthright that we can also embrace Allah and can talk to Him. And, for that we have to follow the mindset of our grandfather and follow his footsteps. In our Silsila we need not to quit our wife, our kids or our job or our businesses and go out into jungles. Silsila also doesn't ask its members to pray or chant various things twenty-four hours a day. Here, Qalandar Baba Auliya is saying, if a person is not fulfilling his duties concerning his parents, his spouse, his children and his friends, he is committing infidelity. He says Allah will not excuse two sins. One is usurping the rights of people. If one leaves the house and goes to a jungle and stays, there to avoid people. It is a sin equaling infidelity.

According to him, live your life fully. Do marry and have kids and train them well, look after them carefully. Have good food, wear good clothes and live in a nice house. But always mind it that who has blessed them to you. And, never think that they are your personal property. If you have this concept that these kids are not my personal property, I don't own them then, they will become a blessing for you. And, if you think that you own your kids and they will be a support in your old age, they will become a curse for you.

Likewise, do not amass wealth, don't pile up money. He disliked accumulation of money. He used to say, leaving any wealth behind is animosity with yourself. All that you spend and give in the name of Allah as charity, is yours and all that you leave behind is animosity. When parents leave property behind, the children do fight over it. It means you are leaving property at the cost of your hereafter and after your death they fight for that.

There was a friend of mine Sultan Sahib. He used to offer prayer with me in the mosque. He had four daughters and a son. When he died. They all gathered and said, settle the account first, only then we will allow the burial.  Finally, when the body was carried away, it had started decaying. And, in his life he never missed his prayer and used to reach the mosque early to have the seat behind the Imam. Thousands of such things can be quoted as example. You also have heard many things like that.

So Qalandar Baba Auliya used to say, leaving wealth behind is animosity. All that you spend for yourself or gave in charity is yours. And, if you think, what will happen to my kids after I have gone. You are not and cannot be the God. Allah will take care of them, just as he took care of you. Qalandar Baba Auliya used to dislike accumulation very much. For getting closer to Allah you have to avoid infidelity as well. And, for getting closer to Allah, you have to fulfill your duties concerning people. Thus, if you will keep on reciting and chanting day long how will you fulfill your duties?

It is only the thinking approach. And, that is, all that you have including your body, is given to you by Allah. Consider them all granted things by Allah. Love your kids because they are the toys given to you by Allah to play with and rejoice. And, train them because imparting good training to your kids will please Allah. Don't expect them to be a support in your old age. No one can support you if Allah doesn't want him to support you. This all is a deception and a fraud.

You rear up your kids. When they start talking, you feel delighted. You clothe them, you feel great when they show their dresses to you. This is what the children are for. What they have to do with your old age?  This is only a deception. We have to do all the worldly things and have to do our duties and fulfill our responsibilities and obligations. And, with all that, search Allah in us. The method of searching for Allah is to look inside because Allah is not outside. He is within. And, the act of searching Allah within is termed as Muraqba by Qalandar Baba Auliya.

I think we should end the commemoration ceremony here. The way my children worked hard day and night to decorate the stage and serve the guests of Qalandar Baba Auliya and looked after them tirelessly, I am grateful to them and am very delighted that Allah has blessed me with such obedient children. I have succeeded before Qalandar Baba Auliya. I am also thankful to you all that you came here from far away. Stay blessed and be happy. Thank you!