Chapter 1: Peace
You will come to know that what you undergo or suffer (karmam) is of your own choosing, and what you yourself have sought. That which you have sought you inevitably have to bear. And it is also inevitable that if we shall not realise and understand this sequence of inevitability, it is we who will have to bear the consequence of our own ignorance.
Thus, Anger (being hostile) is a quality which to some, is like a religion. How can we kill it? It can only be killed by a sharpened intellect (koorvaputhi). Anger is like an elephant, - heavy, burdensome, which obliterates everything on its path, and cannot be killed easily. A very sharp intellect is the only weapon with which you can kill it. In folklore, it is said that if you are able to kill it, you are likened to a 'dev muni' (a petty god in tamil folklore). To us, it means that one could realise the Truth (Haqq) which is Allah.
Further we have arrogance, which is the "I" in me, and everything else that is associated with the "I". It is also said in Tamil folklore, that so long as the pride and arrogance remains as the "I" in me, they will slaughter me. That "I" consciousness will unerringly drag my mind down to abysmal depths of degradation. Like a mote in your eye which affects your vision, it blocks the power of the mind.
Whilst the arrogance of the "I" infects the mind, and whilst the greed of "mine" envelops the mind, then you are under the fatal stranglehold. Then your eyes are dazzled by the visions portrayed, and you succumb to that stranglehold. So the constant intention and inward prayer should be - "Oh Allah, the Almighty Power, let the arrogance that is "I", and the greed that is called "mine" be cast asunder, that I shall see Thee in all thy Majesty". That is the priceless effulgent Thing.
That is why we always say, annihilate the "I", because that is the cause of your disease of misery, (thoonbam). Your pride, your arrogance, your greed, your lust, your attachments, all have the "I", your base ego being the generator. The idea of "I" and "mine" permeates your entire being and taints your every thought and action, your conduct and behaviour. Therefore, if and when you come to possess the knowledge to cross this abyss of the "I" and "mine" then that knowledge you must have before you can pursue your religion, whatever it may be.
We often go thinking and inquiring and talking without any end in sight and we dissipate our limited time. But we do not focus our attention on that which Allah has set forth for us, - Peace and its attainment. That is the only Peace worthwhile in our life, or to live for. We don’t seem to have reached that state. We don’t seem to have rendered our duty to Allah, because that is the only Peace which we will ever have.
So let us speak about God in whom we attain that Peace.
Allah, the Almighty and the One, who is the Owner of all Praise, the receiver of all the Praise, the Owner and Source of Life, the author of Awwal, Dunya and Akhira (the Past, the Present and the Future), all Praise to Allah alone, none but He, Ameen.
I send Allah's Salaams and Salavat to you. I pray that Allah, who is that One Mercy (Raheem) will enlighten your hearts with His Grace (Rahumath), - the hearts of us all in full measure. May His Beneficence and His Mercy flow into our Qualb (Heart).
You are aware of the Rasool's unwavering, unshakeable, conviction of Him, which was implanted in his Qualb, by his own search, his inquiry, his determination and his Will, upon which he rendered obeisance to that One Power. He strengthened that worship with his Certitude (Iman), which he gained from within. It is the force of this Mercy, and His Perfection. It is this Certitude (Iman), which was nourishment which nourished the Rasool.
Such must be our Certitude (Iman) too, so that we too may be nourished by His compassion, His Mercy and His Perfection, so that we shall reach that state which a human must reach.
Therefore my beloved children, my brothers, my sisters, - you who are so precious to my heart, you whose life is within my life, so precious. I greet you all with my loving salaams, As Salaamu Alaikum.
Yes, my beloved children, we are together, we have come together, at this moment, this hour, this day, this minute, which is of particular significance (in our cycle of life).
You see, every component, every sign, every section, everything which an insan (man) is made of is infinitely unique to that insan (man) and so very distinct to that insan (man) alone. But you see each other as ordinary human beings in the vast concourse of humans. In this vast concourse, you can see those who are Christians, those who are Islam, those who are Hindu, those who are Judaic, those who are Buddhist and so on. But in all this, you cannot identify the religion as believed by one another - whether Christian, or Islam, or Hindu or any other, - that is the religion which is inside insan (man). Outwardly yes, inwardly, no. You can never see what is inside, - the values, the concepts, the perceptions, the ideas, the attitudes. I cannot see any such difference inside you.
If however you wish to summon someone, you call him by his distinctive name. Outwardly, you can easily identify someone. A Christian, for instance might wear a cross around him; a person in Islam might wear a cap; a Hindu might have some markings on his forehead, or wear a cloth in a particular way; a Buddhist might wear a yellow robe or some thread on his wrist, or some clothing in a particular way. So in this way, we associate these outward markings of persons with a Christian, or a Jew or Islam or Hindu or Buddhist. We also come to associate the sounds made by such persons in this manner, to these categories of religion. So that the form (surat) of the person also reveals some signs of identification to humans around. Each have a system of values which too can be seen from the labels we attach to the man (insan). But a dead corpse, stripped for the funeral, has no such identifiable label. In this sense, one is man (insan) as long as there is life. And then prayers are recited and incantations made for the dead corpse.
The Rasool (Salallahu wa alaihi wasallam) did not pray for the dead corpse, the remains that had to be buried. He accepted only God who was worthy of worship and no man or his dead corpse need to be prayed for. And the Rasool directed his prayers to Him alone, none but Him. Because He alone is the fount of limitless Grace. The Rasool did not distinguish the poor and the rich, because he accepted the Oneness of God and the oneness of mankind.
Where the Rasool kept the "Word" which Allah gave him, is for us to reflect upon. Or was this "Word" dispersed in the air around him? These we must ponder.
From before the age of Prophet Abraham (AS), the Ka'aba had come into existence. In that period it was the abode of the idols of all shapes and sizes. The Ka'aba at that time was the sanctuary of the idols. There were thirty two important idols and three hundred and sixty large idols which were placed inside the Ka'aba. These became god and were worshipped. And to appease and sustain these idols, there were so many kinds of sacrificial slaughter and killings, - sometimes of human beings, bulls, cows, camels, goats, animals, birds and beasts. The Rasool was sent on his prophetic mission to destroy the hordes of idols emplaced in the Ka'aba and their worship and rituals, and then to purify and hallow it for all time, and Wakfed the Ka'aba himself, and provided the proofs and the signs for the sole purpose of worshipping the One Unseen Power, Allah, the Almighty, and he established that He, Allah is One, Alone, Incomparable, the Almighty Power.
How much he strived to achieve this, how painstakingly he accomplished this task, with what power of will and determination, conviction and strength he achieved this, we have to think and reflect on. And what agony and suffering were inflicted on him, and how steadfastly he endured them all.
All these however can be observed, seen and recorded, yet that one Almighty Allah cannot be seen. All things created by Him can be seen, but He, the author, remains unseen.
My precious children, we on our part have to reflect carefully. To every place to which we turn our sight, our vision, we see dissension and turmoil, the separatism and differences, fragmenting the human family. But Allah, the One, does not "see" these and use them neither to punish nor reward. And so must be our Certitude (Iman), to resist such discrimination. In our Qualb (heart), we must feel and strenghten that Certitude (Iman), because Allah looks only into the Qualb, and not anywhere else. What is there in the Qualb, what majestic Grace there is in it, (daulat), what strength of conviction and belief there is in it, what state it is in, - it is these stations or states which are Allah's concerns in you and are always in His "sight". It is these which are called Allah's Rahmath for the Qualb.
Therefore Allah does not have any concern for the titles and the labels you carry, the dissensions, the vile speeches, the backbiting, the infighting, the hypocrisy, no Allah does not "see" these things, nor is he concerned with them. Accordingly, what you see in a person, Allah does not "see", and that which Allah "sees", you do not see. It is the Praise, which emanates from this place, the Qualb, which is received by Him, and which is of benefit to us, so that we can proceed further, we must hurry along and run steadfastly in this way, like riding a bicycle or a horse, forward and fast.