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This is from the notes of Grandshaykh ‘Abd Allah al-Daghestani (ق). It was not meant to be public, but now, by the permission of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (ق), it’s being opened. Those who want to take it, let them take it. Those who don’t, we are not interested in their opinions.
Grandshaykh said: When Shah Naqshband (ق) was 31 years old, on the 7th of Muharram of that year, he went out for siyāḥah, for wandering. Now, what is siyāḥah? When we say siyāḥah, we understand it to mean travel, going from one place to another. But their siyāḥah is not like our travel. When they go for siyāḥah, they go into Wonderland, a land full of wonders.
Where is that land of wonders? Is it on earth? In the heavens? In the universe? Their travel is not like our travel.
He went out on the 7th of Muharram and returned on the 14th, his birthday. He wandered for seven days, but his wandering was not like ours. In those seven days, he was moving with a speed you cannot imagine. Not like a rocket. Not like a plane. Greater. Grandshaykh said, “That event happened in 1326,” meaning he was mentioning it 104 years later. So when it happened, it must have been even earlier. Allah gave him Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami's (ق) power, the power of spiritual ascension, that allowed Bayazid to reach the station of Shah Naqshband.
But Shah Naqshband (ق) was moving faster than Bayazid (ق), because he was inheriting directly from Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ. He was carrying the speed of the Prophet ﷺ, the speed of the Mi‘rāj. The speed by which Sayyidina Jibrīl (ع) carried the Prophet on the Burāq. A speed that can’t be described.
The Prophet ﷺ went to the Divine Presence and came back, and his bed was still warm. But Shah Naqshband (ق) took seven days. Why? Because he did not leave one planet in this entire universe without visiting it. Don't think we are alone. There are creations on those planets that we don’t know about.
He said: In those seven days and nights, I visited every planet Allah created, and on each I received 7,000 knowledges about who lived there, when it was formed, and for what reason Allah created those beings. And Allah dressed him with that knowledge.
On the night of his birthday, the 14th of Muharram, he returned, and that night was a gift to him from Prophet ﷺ and from Allah ﷻ.
It was the night when Prophet ﷺ said: “He will fill all four Paradises by himself.”
That reward was given to him as a gift on his birthday. When that came to him, Shah Naqshband (ق) was sweating in shyness in the presence of Prophet ﷺ. He asked permission:
“Yā Rasūlullah, allow me to dress all my followers in what You are dressing me with. Let none of them be left behind. Even if someone sat five minutes with us, let them be included. Even those who claim to be Naqshbandi shaykhs, real or not, because they carry the name of Naqshbandi in their mouth, let them be present.”
On that night, all his followers began appearing before him—shaykhs and students. The real shaykhs were the first to be called. The fake shaykhs were called too, like regular people.
At that moment, as he was dressing his followers, Sayyidina Khidr (ع) appeared, because he is Naqshbandi.
He said:
“Ya Shah Naqshband, I have a question. Why are you lowering yourself to the level of these students when you are from the highest level in the Divine, the Honorable Presence of the Prophet ﷺ, where you are receiving fifteen Lights that Allah is manifesting on him, and he is manifesting on you? Why come down to these levels?”
Even awliya’ tease each other sometimes. Shah Naqshband looked at him and replied: “Ya Khidr, I will tell you why…”
And we leave that for next time.
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