There are many spiritual benefits that one can reap out of
the study and recitation of Quran. It depends what do you intend to do. Quran
itself will not benefit you. You should be able to obtain benefits from the
Quran. And I do not have to give you any academic reference or academic
evidence, because you can see it in the society today: people are listening to
the Quran, they are reading Quran, they are reciting Quran and they don’t seem
to obtain any benefits from the parrot-like reading. However, when you recite
the Quran with an enlightened heart, you get the benefits. The Divine Light
(Noor) which is produced as a result of the recitation of the Quran will enter
your heart. And then, in order to understand the Quran, one has to have a
Spiritual Guide. Otherwise, you will have no clue what is being recited. You
will not have any clue what is going on. You need to have a Spiritual Guide who
can tell you the secretive meaning of the Quran.
We have been listening to the Quran for the last 20 days.
You must have realised and noticed that a large portion of Quran consists of
stories from the history and also a portion of the Quran contains warnings.
Examples are given from the history, ‘When that nation did this, we did that to
them’. It doesn’t seem to tell you the road map. Having heard all the Quran,
one person stands up on his feet and says, ‘Okay God, tell me: where should I
start? I know it is you who gives guidance (Hidayah), I understand guidance is
given to heart, but how does it happen? I know it is important to have an
enlightened heart (Sharha-e-Saddar), but how do I get an enlightened heart?
What should I do? How do I bring sincerity in my Salat? How do I have the
attributes of a Momin in my character?’
These are some very important questions, but they will come
to the mind of a person who wants to become purified, who wants to obtain
guidance. A majority of people these days are not seeking God’s love. Although
they seem to say they want guidance, but it’s very rare because most of these
misguided people claim that they are already guided.
God said, ‘Whosoever
submits to God, then God guides his heart.’
وَ مَنۡ یُّؤۡمِنۡۢ بِاللّٰہِ یَہۡدِ قَلۡبَہٗ
[64:11]
But how do we see this verse in practice? For example, I say,
'Whoever will come to me, I will give him £100.' If you want to see that
happening in practice, then you should come here. When somebody comes and
demands £100, you will see that in practice. In a similar way, ‘وَ مَنۡ یُّؤۡمِنۡۢ بِاللّٰہِ یَہۡدِ قَلۡبَہٗ’,
how do we see that in practice? When somebody submits to God, obviously
according to the Quran God guides his heart. But how does God guide his heart?
What things must be done before one arrives at this point where God will guide
his heart? And what exactly does it mean? How? By reciting a Kalima? Having
recited the Kalima three times, is it now the point where God is just standing
there waiting for you to finish the Kalima, and he will instantly guide your
heart? When does it happen? When will God guide the heart? We see a lot of
Muslims today in this world, from Pakistan to Saudi
Arabia to the UAE, UK, USA, Canada and Australia;
everybody seems to do everything that can make you believe they are religious
people and good Muslims. They are fasting and observing the sacredness of the
holy month, reciting the Quran, growing a beard and many other things.
But there is one question: if they are all Momineen and
their hearts are guided, then- obviously we understand they are not holding the
rope of God fast. This is why they have diversified themselves in different
sects and denominations- If they are not holding fast to the rope of God, then
how do we assume their hearts are guided?
God said, ‘All of you, hold fast to the rope of God, and do
not make sects, do not make different denominations.’ [3:103]
This question is very important, but the irony is, no Muslim
today wants to understand how guidance is dispensed by God. They want to go on
and on, and you must let them do what they want to do. They do not want to know
they are wrong. People say there are 73 sects. I personally noticed, realised,
studied and came up with this conclusion that this is wrong. There are not 73
sects; there are as many sects as there are Muslims. Every single Muslim has
fabricated a sect in which his Nafs (Self) can easily fit in and he doesn’t
have to go out of his comfort zone. To some people, 5 times Salat is easy but Soum
(fasting) is difficult, so they stress more on Salat. They say, 'Salat is
important and there is no Soum without Salat'. But, Prophet Mohammad said, 'There
is no Salat without an enlightened heart (Qalb).'
When we talk about these things, you may have this
understanding or at least this impression that we are talking against Islam. We
are not talking against Islam. We are talking against Muslims because they do
not represent true Islam. We are the followers of Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi. We
are not against any religion, let alone Islam. We are not against any divine
celestial scripture because we strongly believe that all four books were
revealed onto the respective prophet and messengers from God. And all four
books came from the Loh-e-Mahfouz (Guarded Tablet). So nothing is wrong.
How people understand Quran and Islam today is a really low,
ordinary understanding. The Muslims today are not dumb: they are making bombs,
they are inventing new measures of mass destruction; they know how to kill
people on a larger scale. Obviously, they must be in possession of good
scientific knowledge and they have this ability to understand the formulas and
chemical equations. They are witty but their intellectual abilities and
capabilities are used to defame Islam, to harm humanity and to blaspheme the
Messengers of God, the Prophets of God and the final Messiah His Divine
Eminence Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi.
You see, the dilemma is, if you are a very intelligent
person you may think you understand everything. But that is wrong. If you are a
very learned, a very philosophical and a very discerning man, do not think you
have now gained abilities to understand everything including religious books
and the Divine Word. According to the Quran, understanding of the Divine Word
does not come from the intellect. It comes from your heart when it is
enlightened. And the understanding of the religion is gifted to your heart by
God. You can understand human beings with your mind and intellect, but in order
to understand God and God’s word, the brain doesn’t work. No good man had a
good brain. They all became crazy. If you have a good brain, stay out of this.
Because a good brain will invent something better in the religion for himself
as he might conceive.
I heard it from HDE Gohar Shahi that in the line of love you
are not supposed to use your brain. The moment you dip your brain in thoughts,
you are gone, you are history. I used to think this is the case of Ishq
(Rapturous Love) but then I realised no this is not just for love. This is not
just for Divine Love that you are not supposed to think, it’s for the entire
religion. It’s for the entire regime of God. You just don’t use your brain,
because your brain is not connected to God. It cannot be connected to God. It
is your heart which has the potential of getting connected to God. A heart is
connected to God, not a mind. We see among our children that some of the
children are really slow; the growth of their brain and mind is very slow, and they
are not very smart in school.
HDE says, ‘If your brain is not right, you better not go to
school. When your heart is not right you will never get to God. If you want to
study in school, get your brain fixed. If you want to love God, get your heart
fixed.’
If your heart is not fixed, you are in deep waters. You are
in really deep trouble. Not just for yourself, but you are jeopardising
everybody else in the religion because you are giving them different
philosophies and telling them different stories. And every day, you bring out a
new meaning of the Quran and fabricate a new school of thought into the religion.
You see in the last 10 days of Ramadan people often seclude
themselves in mosques and this temporary seclusion is known as Aitekaaf. Those
who observe Aitekaaf are Moutakifh. People do not know why they observe
Aitekaaf. The purpose of Aitekaaf is to make sure that you are always there in
the mosque, engaged in recitation of the Quran, in contemplating on your Nafs
and on commemoration with God, and you are keeping yourself vigilant all day,
all night. You are alert at all times during those 10 days so that you must not
miss Laila tul Qadar. This is the purpose of Aitekaaf.
Now, for example somebody is coming
to England from somewhere. You do not know the flight number, so you
decide that all day long you will stay there in the arrivals area at the
airport, so that you do not miss the person. But the problem is, if you are
blind, whether you stay home or you spend the day in the arrivals area at the
airport, you will never see the man. If you have eyes, you can see, obviously.
You can go the airport and stay all day long but the problem is you are blind.
Even if you go there, you will never see the person even if he is standing in
front of you. You will never know he has arrived. Either you are in the world
sleeping with your wife, playing with children, spending time with parents, or
in the mosque spending 10 days in Salat and Soum - so what? Are you going to
get Laila tul Qadar? Your heart is blind. It’s all rubbish. When your heart is
blind, you cannot see anything or hear anything. Your ears are barred from
listening to the Divine Call. You do not have the power of listening with the
help of which you can hear the words of Gabriel, the voice of the Archangels.
Your inner eye is not open to see what the normal eyes cannot see. What are you
going to get on the 21-29th of Ramadan, which could be Laila tul Qadar?
Nothing. What are you going to get out of this practice? Nothing.
اِنَّاۤ اَنۡزَلۡنٰہُ فِیۡ لَیۡلَۃِ الۡقَدۡرِ
[97:1]
That word اَنۡزَلۡنٰہُ (Anzalna
'HU') is not referring to a book, it is referring to a man. Andفِیۡ لَیۡلَۃِ الۡقَدۡرِ , what do you
know of the night of power? 'Laila' means night and 'Qadar' means power. God is
saying, 'You do not have the intuition to know what Laila tul Qadar really is.'
لَیۡلَۃُ الۡقَدۡرِ ۬ۙ خَیۡرٌ مِّنۡ اَلۡفِ
شَہۡرٍ
[97:3]
What will happen if you obtain Laila tul Qadar? To obtain
that one night is greater than 1000 months of austerities. In Arabic, شَہۡر means months. There are 12 months in
a year and to worship for 1000 months would make you 83 years and 4 months old:
an entire lifetime.
Now, God is saying that you do not have the intuition to
know what Laila tul Qadar is, but if you have obtained Laila tul Qadar, it is
greater than 1000 months of worship and austerities. This night is greater than
all other nights in your lifetime. And it was for this night that Prophet
Mohammad said to be alert and vigilant for. It is for this night that the
Prophet said to leave family, work, everything and spend 10 days in the mosque.
But Prophet Mohammad said this when he himself was present. What is left in the
mosque now that you are alert and vigilant for?
تَنَزَّلُ الۡمَلٰٓئِکَۃُ وَ الرُّوۡحُ
[97:4]
The Archangels would come down on that night at
Masjid-e-Nabvi where Prophet Mohammad was seated and greet the Prophet first.
If the Archangels are coming down, it is obvious they would go to wherever the
Prophet is. And because the Prophet would be in the mosque, the people sitting
there would obtain the blessings of Laila tul Qadar in the company of the
Prophet. Today in Pakistan, people like Tahir ul Qadri are making
arrangements for Aitekaaf as big as a city. But what good is it without the
company of the Prophet?
Similarly, Gabriel came to visit the Prophet 24,000 times.
Even if he brought one verse of the Quran with him, it would not exceed 24,000.
Why then did Gabriel come so often to see the Prophet? I asked Gabriel, 'What
is the secret behind this?' He said, 'This began after Meraaj (Night of
Ascension). After Meraaj, the shower of the Theophanies of God’s Personal Light
(Tajjjaliyat, Zaati Noor-e-Qadeem) fell upon and crossed the body of the
Prophet. And that Divine Light is our diet. Then I began to visit the Prophet
again and again.'
The mosque is still there, but Aitekaaf does not hold the
same meaning that it did at the time of the Prophet Mohammad. And now, only
those people obtain Laila tul Qadar who are connected to the Sahib-e-Qadar,
Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi. If you have the image of HDE Gohar Shahi on your heart
then every moment of your life is Laila tul Qadar. The Sahib-e-Qadar (وَ الرُّوۡحُ), the Soul that comes
on that night, which is mentioned in the Deen-e-Ilahi also, is the initial
reflection of God (Aks-e-Awal) that belongs to Imam Mehdi in the form of the
Tifle Noorie (soul/sub-spirit of God). And if you obtain one moment in His
Company (the company of Imam Mehdi), then you have obtained a lifetime of
austerities. This night is full of blessing and whosoever obtains Laila tul
Qadar, the darkness of Nifaq (hypocrisy) and Kufr (infidelity) is expelled from
their personality. This is why it is said that this night is equivalent to a
lifetime of austerities. We are the followers of that Soul, the same initial
reflection of God. The Tifle Noorie, upon seeing the reflection of which God
danced and seven other Tifle Noorie came into existence. We are the followers
of the same Soul, whose image in the space is 1150 times greater than the Sun.
If you are connected to HDE Gohar Shahi, then you have obtained Laila tul
Qadar. You have achieved the purpose of your life.
If Prophet Mohammad had advised someone to recite a
particular Surah for a particular purpose, it was for that person alone. For
example Prophet Mohammad advised his daughter, Fatima Zahra to recite
‘Alhamdullilah’ 33 times, ‘Subhaan Allah’ 33 times and ‘Allahu Akbar’ 34 times
after every prayer. But this advice was for her alone and today we see all
Muslims practising this. But what are they obtaining from this? Nothing,
because this advice from the Prophet was not for them. It was for Sultan ul
Fuqra, the enlightened and purified daughter of the Prophet. Similarly, Baba
Farid used to recite ‘Qul Hu Allahu Ahaad’ and the dirt would turn to sugar.
But that was his tongue and he was a Saint of God. There are many sacred words
and phrases that people are reciting day and night but to no avail. What should
they understand? Are these simply stories or is there any reality to them? This
is how people have become distant from the religions and from God.
I asked HDE Gohar Shahi about the advice given to certain
individuals by the Prophet Mohammad mentioned in the Prophetic Tradition. HDE
replied, ‘Those whose hearts and Nafs were purified and were Momineen, only
they benefitted from and were given these sacred words and phrases.' Today’s
Muslim is neither enlightened nor purified; therefore, when they recite these
sacred words and phrases they do not obtain any spiritual benefits. Similarly,
Aitekaaf is for those who have enlightened their inner eye and ears to be able
to see the Sahib-e-Qadar and hear the voice of Gabriel. People are in great
deception. Laila tul Qadar comes once every year. If they have obtained Laila
tul Qadar and a lifetime of austerities, why then do they fear punishment in
the grave?
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