The Secret is in the Food Part 1- Come Hungry to Spiritual Associations

From the Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani As Taught by Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmad

[From 1 –  minutes of the Video]

Audhu billahi minash Shaytanir rajeem
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the rejected one
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Allah (AJ) is our Creator and we are weak servants in need of Divine Mercy and Divine Grace. We are asking for Mawlana Shaykh’s teaching on understanding of our self and an opening within our ears that directly connects to the opening of the heart. It means we say something but we don’t really understand. It is to hear and to follow “sami’na wa ata’na” (Holy Qur’an, 2:285).

﴾سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَاِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيْرُ ﴿٢٨٥

2:285 – “…Sam’ina wa ata’na, ghufranaka Rabbana wa ilaykal masir.” (Surah Al-Baqarah)

“…We hear, and we obey: (We seek) Thy forgiveness, our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys.” (The Cow, 2:285)

You can participate and attend and keep the company but we don’t really hear and we don’t really listen. Many years may go by and we look to ourselves and say, ‘What did I gain? I gained nothing, and oh, maybe that group had no benefit for me.’ There’s no magic, because we are not magicians. It’s a way of reality that teaches a reality to a people who are interested and hungry in reaching that reality.

The Secret is in the Food

[img: table of food] If we teach that the food has all the secrets and all the blessings, then the guides teach us it’s best to come hungry. If you come hungry, oh you look at that table and you start to salivate. Your hunger, it’s an analogy. They teach us if you keep yourself hungry, by the time you show up, 7 or 8 o’clock. We are eating around 9 o’clock. You try not to eat in the afternoon, famished, hungry, come meditate on an empty stomach and contemplate. Then when it’s time to eat, you train your ego to enjoy. They teach us that in all spiritual associations, the secret is in the food because of the blessing of breaking bread with each other.

Many Egos Reject the Blessings and Knowledge

At the angelic reality, our egos are taking different knowledges and many of the egos are rejecting. ‘We hear you sir, but we are not listening.’ There were many teachings from Prophet ﷺ that they were coming into his company and saying, ‘We hear what you’re saying but we don’t listen and our hearts are locked.’

(وَقَالُوا قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ ۚ …﴿٨٨

2:88 – “Wa qaloo qulobuna ghulfun…” (Surat Al-Baqarah)                        

“And they said, “Our hearts are Locked…” (The Cow, 2:88)

‘We enjoy it, but we are not listening to you and not opening my heart.’ And because of that reality, like children, the Divine is teaching prophets and teaching the awliya, teaching the saints, that get to them and dress that reality. But it’s going to be dressed through where our egos don’t get involved. It is in the food and drink.

The ego is at the level of the mind and the mind rejects that these are different, these are foreign, these are things I’m not used to, I practice something else. So many of the realities we put a lock onto the heart and these realities don’t absorb. So as a mercy for us, they begin to teach us they’re going to dress us through a different way. They are going to dress us through our belly.

Awliya Pray and Bring Out the Quantum Reality of the Food

The guides are going to make their prayers and ask from what Sayyidina Isa, Jesus (as), was manifesting. He asked, ‘Oh my Lord, send a table from heaven to feed the first of us and the last of us.’ And a table from heaven is not a table from the material world. You can’t say, ‘Well I bought these doughnuts at Costco.’ No no, we are talking about a spiritual realm. You bring them from Costco but they make a prayer that brings out the quantum reality of the food.

Everything is in structure and everything is a form. Every form breaks down to a light and every light is an energy. If you have the secret of that energy, which are malaika, which are angels. It means if your prayer and your recitations and your du’a and your connections are accepted, you unlock everything. So with their blessings, they unlock everything we eat and drink at its angelic reality where the angels say, ‘Amen.’ That, ‘what you’re asking for, we are without ego accepting,’ because Divine Order is coming to that association, Prophetic order is coming, “Ateeullah, atee ar Rasul wa Ulul amrin minkum” (Obey Allah, Obey Prophet ﷺ, and those on Authority) that Allah (AJ) is telling them, ‘They are coming from My Obedience.’

﴾أَطِيعُواللَّه وَأَطِيعُوٱلرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ… ﴿٥٩

4:59 – “…Atiu Allaha wa atiur Rasola wa Ulil amre minkum…” (Surat An-Nisa)

“… Obey Allah, Obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you.” (The Women, 4:59)

They are people who are looking to be obedient to the Creator. They are coming to be obedient to the prophets and they are obedient to Ulul amr; open for them their realities.

So then those realities are in the food and drink. Those angelic realities at the quantum level begin to dress us. Where the ego was not allowing that dressing begins to come, begins to dress us, begins to change us. It’s like going to a doctor’s office and taking medicine. That medicine is in the food and drink.

Come Hungry and Eat From the Heavenly Table

[img: S. Isa last supper] They teach us to come hungry. Physically make yourself hungry on that day. Come with the understanding that this is not a regular association. I’m asking and I’m making the most of it as a spiritual association. It means everyone has to have their level of faith, that, ‘My Lord, I’m in need of a cleansing. I’m in need of your support. I’m in need of that table from heaven.’

When they were asking for that miracle from Sayyidina Isa, Jesus (as), the ones who were asking, they had a lot of power. They were asking and asking and then Divine was communicating back with Sayyidina Isa (as), ‘If they ask and they don’t eat, they are in big trouble,’ because that’s a miraculous reality coming. Then human nature was, they are powerful, they are arrogant. They had a system, they had a level, they thought that they knew a lot. When that table immediately began to descend, they ran away. So who ate at the table? The poor.

Awliya (Saints) Feed 3 Categories From Their Sustenance

These are the categories that Allah (AJ) says, ‘These Awliyaullah, they feed you from their sustenance,’ that you have to be meskeen, you have to be poor, you have to be yateem (orphan), and you have to be asir (captive).

﴾وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا ﴿٨

76:8 – “Wa yu ta’imonat Ta’ama ‘ala hubbihi miskeenan wa yateeman wa aseera.” (Surat Al-Insaan)

“And they feed, for His love, the needy/indigent, the orphan, and the captive.” (The Human, 76:8)

These 3 categories Awliyaullah feed from their sustenance and they love their sustenance. They are not feeding you from what they don’t like. You go to some people’s house, they look at their refrigerator, the garbage they have and say, ‘You can have this.’ Or they want to make a donation, they bring everything broken, used clothes with holes, used socks and say, ‘Here, have some socks.’ No, no, no.

When we talk about these saints, they give you from the best of what they have. They give you from all their secrets and all the realities that they struggled all their life to achieve.  Allah (AJ) is saying, ‘They give you from the best of what they have.’ They give it because of love of Allah (AJ), love of the Creator. And they don’t ask anything back from you. They’re not expecting that when you eat you’re going to write a big cheque and leave. They don’t care. You make a cheque, you don’t make a cheque, it was to the benefit of your own soul.

You always have to remember you don’t affect Awliyaullah. You don’t affect the association; we don’t affect each other. You give for your soul. You give for your salvation. You bring and you eat for your salvation, for testimony of your faith.

Awliya Don’t Seek Paradise, They Want the Holy Face – WajhaAllah

Divine begins to teach us that they do it only to see the face of God.

﴾إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّـهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا ﴿٩

76:9 – “Innama nut’imukum liWajhillahi la nureedu minkum jazaa an wa la shukora.” (Surat Al- Insaan)

“(Saying),We feed you for the sake of the Holy/Divine Face alone: We wish not from you reward or gratitude.” (The Human, 76:9)

It means the Divine begins to categorize these saints. They are not interested in paradise. If I throw them into paradise it’s like Las Vegas for them; all these big things and shows. What do they care about them? They’re not interested in these ups and downs and entertainment, and things moving and fruits coming. And they are not fearful of hellfire. If Allah (AJ) wants them to be in suffering, they will be in suffering and they speak no different.

All they are asking for is that holy face. It means that Ocean of Power, that all power emanating from that. ‘Ya Rabbi, oh my Lord, I’m asking that, just put me in that Ocean of Power and emanate from Your Magnificence and Munificence upon us.’

Do You Listen and Implement What You Hear?

It means that Mawlana begins to teach us in our associations that we have ears but do we actually hear? And when we hear, do we listen? You can hear but you don’t listen to anything. When we listen, it means we take a reality and we start to move on it. We start to implement that reality in our lives. We take an action. Everybody can hear many things but how do you hear something and act upon it? It means how do you put it as a part of your life?

Say, ‘I’m going to come and purify myself, I’m going to eat from these associations whatever they are.’ These are tables from heaven. I’m going to drink from those associations. I’m going to take their teachings and I’m going to implement those teachings fiercely in my life. Otherwise why the Divine opened a seat at that school for me?

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To listen to yourself and Guide Yourself is Dangerous

Means that everything else I do in life, I do from my ego with my decisions by myself- most dangerous.” Most dangerous- to listen to yourself, give guidance to yourself, you’re already in a dangerous place because they tell us even if, because everything like a court of law, if tomorrow the judge says, “You have to come to court. We want to talk about you.” They tell us in dunya anybody who goes to court without an attorney, a fool is his attorney. Means you are being fooled by your own devil that you’re crazy enough to go in front of the judge without representation. What you plan on saying to the judge? They know the intricacies of these laws. They don’t even let you open your mouth. Everything you say, “Objection, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Means if I’m following my path by myself for myself, it’s all my own desires.

The Divine opens for us a school, says, “Go to the school and learn how to listen to the guidance.” The hardest part of listening is when it conflicts with what I want to do. Then we know we’re right on the target, not when it comes to something bad. They’ve already determined that. If somebody tells you, “Go steal some cheese,” that’s very bad, stay away from that association. So we’re beyond that. We are in the realm of good people giving us good advice but the advice may counter with what I want to do.

I want to go to a movie. You call the shaykh, “Hi, how’s everything, good? Can you write this article for me?”

“Oh, why I got to do that now? I was planning on entertaining myself for the next few days.”

A Shaykh (Spiritual Guide) Gives us a Direction in Life

Means that the concept of having guidance is somebody in our life that constantly giving us direction. Say, “If you did this, well do better.” These are the shaykhs, Sultan al-Awliya, Maulana Shaykh Hisham. You listen to their lectures, you read their books, constantly pinpointing what we should be doing in our life on a daily basis. If we take that, we open all our blessings. If we take their advice and take those teachings opens blessings because it shows humility to the Divine Presence. That, “Oh my Lord, I’m not listening to myself. I’m trying my best to follow guidance on everything that I’m doing.” They come and ask, “Should I pray like this, should I worship like this, should I meditate like this? Should I do this at this time, should I do this at that time?”

Shaykh Teaches you Muraqabah and How to Control Your Ego

The more we surrender our will in our spiritual practices, the closer we move towards that reality, because they begin to teach us and they begin to show us the tricks of egoism. There may be times when we do things and we find it to be very enjoyable. Then Maulana Shaykh will come and teach us, “You’re doing that and your ego is playing with you, so now you’re in a very dangerous place. Stop immediately what you’re doing. Even from your spiritual practices, stop it. Do it at this time.”

But say, “But Sayyidi that’s a difficult time. I’m very tired at that time.”

He says, “Exactly. That’s the time to practise when it comes completely against your ego, not when you’re enjoying it and you’re in a state of bliss. That state of bliss is your ego fooling you.”

So they put you into a position where you’re agitated, aggravated. They will teach us that when you’re meditating, don’t meditate sitting like this. We have to do like this because we’re sitting for hours in front of people. But when you’re practising at home sit on your knees and contemplate and then take yourself to a place of pain where you start to have tremendous amount of pain in your legs radiating up into your back. They say, “Why should I be in a state of pain?”

He says, “Because the meditation when it’s too relaxing, the ego is like a sleeping drug.” It starts to spray something onto you to intoxicate you, like you’re in a drunken state, and then knock you out into your sleep. So if you want to counter that; and this is all from the guidance because they’re masters of these realities. They mastered these paths, they know these tricks that we are starting to go through.

Then they begin to teach you, “Put your salawats, put your recitations, sit on your knees at such and such time, preferably between ‘Asr.” Now ‘Asr (late afternoon) is around 3 o’clock and Maghreb (after sunset) comes at 5 o’clock. Between 3 to 5 o’clock in the evening [winter time] is spiritually very powerful time. The setting of the sun, the setting of the energy reaching towards the Oceans of Annihilation. You see all of nature begin to gather and start to sing. All the birds, they gather, the start to look at the sun and start singing recitations. They’re singing to be safe from the darkness that’s coming. In the day they’re safe. At night, every evilness comes out to eat them. So they’re praising, glorifying that, “Please our Lord protect us. Glory be to You.”

The Affect of body Pain and Suffering on the Soul

Then these shaykhs begin to teach us: that’s a very powerful time. Sit on your knees, make your recitations and start breathing. “Shaykh, I’m feeling a lot of pain,” yea it was given. You have to enter into that realm of difficulty. You put difficulty onto the body so that you can bring out the reality of the soul. Now if somebody has a physical sickness, a surgery, again, this is an exception. We’re talking about normally regular people who are slightly uncomfortable and say, “Oh these are uncomfortable.” Yeah it’s going to be uncomfortable. They’re not happy unless they put like a whole bunch of pillows everywhere and lie down and snore, “That was a very good meditation.”

They’re teaching us: if you don’t have a physical ailment and you’re not suffering from medical condition, then you put yourself in a slightly uncomfortable position. You feel the pressure in your legs, you feel a suffering in your feet. You feel a suffering in your legs and begin to realize the reality that your soul pops out from that body, that when the body’s in difficulty the soul is leaving. They begin to teach us the reality of pain and suffering.

Why does difficulty come? When difficulty comes to the body, the soul runs, like a house on fire. Most of us are so lazy we would never leave. “We’re not going,” then they start burning. Even we’re so lazy they start rolling, “You go first.” “No, no, you go first.” By that time everything burning, at the last second we are running out.

You Do Not go to Paradise with Your Body

We are so comfortable within our physicality and we’re trying to make the physicality our paradise. We are off. We are way off. This physicality is like a donkey and this donkey doesn’t belong in heaven. This donkey doesn’t belong in the Heavenly Palace. They’re trying to teach us because all of us are under the impression that, “When I’m meditating. I’m going to take my physicality into that Heavenly Palace.” There’s no donkeys allowed. So they put a big sign on the Heavenly Kingdom, on the gates: No Donkeys Allowed.

This is not the realm that we’re going with our body. Your body is for its use in this material world. Stimulate or discipline your physicality, bring down all of its wants and desires. And apply certain disciplines to yourself to bring out the power of the soul.

And they begin to teach us, but we can only reach that reality when we accept being taught. If we don’t accept being taught and we are our own teachers, then we are in a difficult place, a difficult place to get out of.

Related Articles:

• Realities of Number 1-9  [Remaining of the same suhbah (discourse) from 20 to   minutes]
• The Secret is in the Food – Part 2 – They Feed three Category: Poor, Orphan, Captive
• Secret is in the food – Part 3 – Eat from your Shaykh’s Spiritual Sustenance     
• Sunnah P.2 – Protection Against Bad Energy (Siwak, Ring, Cane, Food, Body Energy, Wudu)

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