Sohbet by Shaykh Taner Ansari
12/11/98 American Canyon, CA

(Shaykh Taner pronounces the Arabic prayers which are said at the end of salat.)

Shaykh Taner: You guys have to learn what I know, plus. So that you'll progress.
(Shaykh pronounces Ayat-al-Qursi).

Using Our Time Wisely for Allah

See that's, the whole thing is this: Allah has given us time, and he will ask at the end of our life, what did we do with it? Now I sent you to Turkey to learn and you came back. You can hardly answer two years. How are you, how are we going to answer 80, 90 years of time, when Allah asks us: What did you do on earth? I sent you on earth. Well, let me tell you, it was good. All those baklavas and hamburgers and kabobs, especially you put those peppers on the skewer, grill it, grilled peppers and tomatoes and onions. They were really good. What else did you do? Well, like He said to Moses, when I was sick how come you didn't come and visit me? And Moses says, How can you be sick? How am I going to come and visit you? Did you write this story? Good, I want this in. Well, if you came to visit your neighbor when he is sick, you would have visited me. So the questions are going to be tough.

Keeping Our Focus on Allah

So we have to keep our focus on Allah and not slide. Imagine our Prophet, saws. What you saw in Turkey, or Reno, or Las Vegas is nothing. He is going through the paradises, he didn't say, oh these are so interesting, why don't I stay here for awhile and check them out. Unless Allah showed them to him: this is this, this is this. This is this, this is that, this is hell, this is paradise, this is what happens. But his eyes are always on Allah, and his heart is with Allah, he doesn't want to linger around there, just because it's paradise. He went to Allah. So Allah chose him. We're going to do the same. We have to fix our eyes on Allah and nothing else, nothing else matters. Nothing else matters. Because at the end, you and Allah, finished. Everything is going to go, everything is temporary. It's all desires of the heart, not even the heart. Not what I mean the heart. See, there's no English word: gurud, there's nothing in English to say this, you have to say "heart" again. But "Qalb" is different. Qalb is the, "fuad" is the spiritual heart, so many words for this phenomena. In English, everything is "heart". So these desires are just air, illusion. Air is ruhs, seyrani. You have to connect yourself to the truth, to the solid truth, and then follow that, and you will never get heartbroken. When you're with Allah, no problem. When you get your heart broken, then you're with you.

Frustration: Wanting Control

When you get frustrated, because you want to control, then you get frustrated. If you don't want to control anything, you don't get frustrated. Why? Because you don't really care who does what. When you know that Allah is in charge and nobody else is, then you relax. Just do what you can, if you can. Give it to Allah. Allah is like a stage manager, who's load is this? Come on in, they go in, they go out. This is our stage, right here. Is our life. Now this guy's here, and then he goes. Next week, somebody else comes. This is the stage here, my stage is here. You weren't here last week, now you are. Neither were you, but last week there were other people here. Where did they go? I don't know. Do I care? I don't mind, I don't really care. Allah sends them in, Allah sends them away. Whoever needs something, that Allah cares that they should know, then Allah sends them here or wherever he wants to send them, there.

Get Out of the Way

My job is to say what Allah lets me to say. Actually, He says what He wants to say, I just get out of the way. Get out of the way. Is this too hard? It's a very simple thing. Son, get out of the way. What does Abdul Qadir Geylani say? "Leave the created." Khalq. I asked her if khalq means people. No, man, khalq means created. Khalq. Khaliq, Allah's name is Khaliq, which means Creator. Khalq is created. "Don't mind their goodness or badness, stay away from them . Keep him away from you." He's trying to teach us the steps for surrender. Unless you do these things, you cannot surrender.

Knowing Your Job

You see something, you think, oh, this is my job, maybe I will straighten this out. Why don't I get in there and do this and show it to them? It is not your job. Until Allah says it is your job. There are basic general rules and regulations of sharia, we go along with them. Certain things are your limited responsibility, certain things are your complete responsibility, certain things are none of your business. Don't declare yourself the eminent sheriff of the world and try, don't stick your nose into everybody else's business. You just keep an eye on your business, yours.

The Enemy Within

The enemy is within. Allah has already done this. Keep your enemy closer. Do you know that? Which President said that? Roosevelt or something? Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. An American President said this. Yes, I mean the United States is founded by Sufis, you know Masons and this and that, they are all sufi origin things. Sufis have contributed to world science, knowledge, everywhere. So Allah has already designed that for you. You don't have to spend any effort. The enemy is within you. It's very close to you. So? So that you can check. For every move, you can check. So that enemy is enough for you to deal with. Forget others' enemies, first do your enemy. You overcome them, then Allah may say, okay now, can you also deal with, this is the hardest one, with your wife's enemy? So I say the biggest jihad is to fight against your nafs, and the greater one is to fight against your wife's nafs. If you can do that, then you can be a shaykh (chuckle), or wali, whatever. Allah will grant you that. Of course, if you're a female, then it is opposite. There is your husband's nafs. If you are in an extended family, it gets worse. There comes the mother-in-law. Oh my god. Now fighting against that is the top. It tops everything. Their nafs is something else. Mother-in-laws, please be easy on your kids. Give them a chance to live, give them space.

The whole thing is happening because we don't respect human rights. We have to respect human rights. What is respecting human rights is giving a space to each other to be what they want to be and to grow before we attack them ,so we don't attack them in that space. We give them that space. That is called tolerance. Unless you have tolerance, you will have no space. When you don't have space, you have no woman. No man, no nothing. Space. You won't have any friends, you won't have any kids, you won't have anything. So that's why people leave each other. There are more divorces in the country than- marriages. I don't know, dash- fill in the blank. Fill in anything you want, statistics. In your "Material World" they have statistics. 40% divorce rate, so why? Because people cannot get along with each other any more. Why? Because everybody is so selfish. They don't know how to get along, they don't know how to give.