Untitled - Abdurrahim Reyhan Erzincani

313 Pages·2011·1.16 MB·English

Sufi Suhba’s 1
2 From the Rose To the Nightingales

FROM THE ROSE TO THE NIGHTINGALES
SUFI SUHBA’S

Printed and Bound
AR Tasarım
1st Printing:
2011-Ankara, Turkey
Translated from Turkish
2011
Homepage
www.erzincani.com
ISBN
978-9944-0746-2-9
Sufi Suhba’s 1

FOREWORD
This work is a result of discourses delivered by Our Master
Abdurrahim Reyhan (Erzincanî) (the Sultan of hearts) in the
gatherings of his followers, disciples. Meticulous care has been
given to be faithful to the original form of these discourses while
putting them into written form.

These discourses have been selected from a wide collection of
discourses delivered at different times and in various places.
“Discourses on Sufism from the Rose to the Nightingales”
(Gülden Bülbüllere Tasavvuf Sohbetleri-41) has been supplied
with footnotes in order to appeal to every reader and provide
easy reading. May Allah compensate for our shortcomings. We
ask for your prayers in that regard.

Mehmet Ali Demirci
On behalf of everyone whose efforts made this work possible
July 2011

1 Gülden Bülbüllere Tasavvuf Sohbetleri-4, Ankara 2008, ISBN 978-9944-0746-0-5
2 From the Rose To the Nightingales

CONTENTS

Suhba “1”
“Come, whoever you are, come again!”...................................................3
Suhba “2”
“My love has become the Burâk for me”................................................47
Suhba “3”
“They don’t say “grief won’t come,........................................................69
Suhba “4”
“All you posses in this path...................................................................103
Suhba “5”
“Not Every Tariqa has this ritual.........................................................159
List of the nomenclature or phrases written in
footnotes in the text...............................................................................201
Sufi Suhba’s 3

Sufi “Suhba”s1

A Sufi Master’s (Sheikh's)
Abdürrahim Reyhan Conversations

Suhba “1”
“Come, whoever you are, come again!”
The graces2 bestowed to us by Allah are enormous. For the
sake of his Beloved Prophet Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW =
PBUH), Allah made Himself known to us through his awliya
who are inheritors3 of the prophets. Our precious and exalted
greats say:
Can there be any other grace bigger than this!
So let’s appreciate the value of this grace and hope that Allah
increases it. What happens if Allah increases and augments our
grace? He amplifies, amplifies, amplifies his grace and finally He
shows his jamaal (beauty) to us. Because the jamaal of Allah (jamaalullah
= beauty of Allah) is haqq (the truth, the reality) the servant’s seeing the jamaal of
Allah is also haqq. There was a madhhab denying the seeing of
jamaalullah which, at the end, became batil and disappeared. In

1 The words written in italic letters such as this one (suhba) are explained alphabetically at
the end of the text
2 Boons, blessings, favors, benefactions
3 Successors, substitutes
4 From the Rose To the Nightingales
this respect, Cenâb-ı Haqq says through the mouth of his Prophet Hadhrat Muhammad
(SAW) “We were a hidden4 treasure and we created the men so that
we become apparent” and He says in the Quran (51/56) “I have
not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve
Me”. Allah created us as Muslims. If we live in accordance with
our beliefs, Cenâb-ı Haqq promises us to show his jamaal. What
are our beliefs? … If we live in accordance with the sharia and
tariqa, we reach Haqiqa. Our reality is our spirit. Our spirit came
from Allah and it reaches Allah. In an “al-Kalaam al-Kebaar” in Salih
Baba Divanı, it is said:
When (now that/inasmuch as) the Himma(t) of the lover of Allah (The
assistance of awliya of Allah) is with us, (our supporter)
That is, “if the Himma(t) of awliya is our assistant” or “if
awliya (all of whom are exalted) help us” …
When (now that/inasmuch as) the Himma(t) of the friends of Allah is
with us
When the Shah (Sheikh, leader, head, king) Naqshbandi is ser-Hünkar
(head of all spiritual leaders, friends of Allah, sultans, kings, sovereigns, rulers, shahs)
When Seyyid Tâhâ and Sıbgatullah5 are in the golden chain of
“spiritual masters (murshids) of this Sufi path”
Our journey (spiritual travel) will take us up to “gâbe gavseyn” (to the
presence of Allah)

4 Unseen, unknown, secret
5 Two of the sheiks taking part in the silsilah (the golden chain of sheiks of Naqshbandiyyah)
Sufi Suhba’s 5

“Gâbe gavseyn” is the station given by Cenâb-ı Haqq to His
Beloved Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW). It is mentioned in Quran
(53/9). In this verse, Cenâb-ı Haqq (Allah, God) says: “My Beloved!
You approached me so close that you were at a distance of two
eyebrows (two bow-lengths) or (even) nearer”. Of course, a man
(human being) can’t reach to the station of our Prophet Hadhrat
Muhammad (SAW) (his closeness to Allah) no matter how much he ascends
(gets closer to Allah). But it is said that he can climb up there, that is, he
can go up to that station. Will he be a prophet, if he can climb
up there? No! He won’t be a prophet. But he becomes “inheritor
of prophet”. The phrase “inheritor of prophet” means substitute
(deputy) of our Prophet Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW).
These (the spirits of the sheikhs) are pure spirits6 who reached “Cem-ül
Cem” (Allah; Oneness or Unity of Being of Allah; Unification with Allah)
They came from “Cem” (Allah) back to the “Farq”,(created world;
creatures) Sheikh is the deputy of (substitute for) Muhammad Mustapha
When does this happen? … They are “pure spirits”, that is, the
spirits of the friends of Allah are “pure spirits”7. “These pure
spirits” signifies that they all reached “the station of pure spirit”.
And “reaching the station of pure spirit” means that they became
estranged to or grew away from everything other than Allah and
that they ceded everything other than Allah and that they
disposed of everything. They now consist of “A Friend and a

6 These spirits are purified from accidental and defective human features and become as pure
as they had been before they were breathed in men (in human shaped bodies).
7 Considering from the point of view of ordinary people (or of a human being not being the
friend of Allah), they are “pure spirits”. However, when considered from the point of view
of Oneness of Allah “Their spirits are in fact “One and the Same Pure Spirit”, that is, they
(their psychal bodies) are mirrors to the “Spirit (attributes) of Allah”.
6 From the Rose To the Nightingales
pelt8”. “The Friend” is Allah and “the pelt” is their bodies. They
made The Friend sit upon the pelt. What becomes the man who
managed to take (to exalt) his spirit to its real station? He becomes the
inheritor of the prophets. Salih Baba says in his diwan (collection of his
poems) called “Salih Baba Divanı”:
These are pure spirits who reached “Cem-ül Cem” (reaching Oneness
or Unity of Being of Allah; Unification with Allah)
They came from “Cem” (Allah) back to the “Farq”, (created world;
creatures) Sheikh is the deputy of (substitute for) Muhammad Mustapha
Sâlik, (traveler in the Path to Allah) first of all, becomes “fanâ fish-sheikh”,
that is, he annihilates his existence (being/entity) in the existence
of his Sheikh.
But those who don’t join in tariqa (the spiritual path to Allah) can’t
obtain or reach to these graces. They can only be one of those
who managed to abandon this world (his worldly-desires). That is, he can
save his spirit only from this world; he quits this world’s life (his
worldly desires) and becomes only one of the desirers of the life to
come. He can be qualified as a dweller of Jannah (Paradise). He of
course obtains Jannah or the life to come (hereafter). “The
resurrection (revival) after the death…” Isn’t “believing in hereafter
(the life to come)” one of the prerequisites of “Faith”? But this world is
batil (unreal, false). Men can abandon the world. They can be
among those who earned the eternal world (hereafter, jannah). But, it is
said that, for man, there are stations of “abandoning the world”,
“abandoning the hereafter” and “abandoning the false and deceptive feeling

8 Hide, skin
Sufi Suhba’s 7

of abandoning the world and the hereafter”. Men can abandon the world.
They can also be among those who earned the eternal world. But
they can’t abandon the hereafter by themselves and they can’t abandon
the feeling of abandoning or having abandoned the world and the hereafter.
As for those who became “fanâ fish-Sheikh”, that is,
annihilated their existences (beings/ entities) in the existence of their
sheikhs, they abandoned this world, they abandoned the
hereafter, and they also abandoned the false and deceptive feeling of having
abandoned the world and the hereafter. Of course, this is something very
difficult to be understood. This can only be known by the ones
who experience this abandonment.
Therefore, what happens to a man joining in a tariqa? He
becomes “fanâ fish-Sheikh”, that is, he annihilates his existence in
the existence of his sheikh. Then, he becomes “fanâ fir-Rasoul”,
that is, he annihilates his existence in the existence of the Prophet
Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW). Finally he becomes “fanâ fillah”, that
is, he annihilates his existence in the Existence of Allah. When he
becomes fanâ fillah, he also becomes Cem-ül Cem (One and the Same with
Allah). Then, they abandon all of these levels or stations including
fanâ fillah and come back to Farq (back among the creatures). That is, they
first reach Haqq, (Allah) then return among the creatures. However,
this time, when they return among the creatures, they never
cease their relations with Haqq (Allah). They have relations with
both the Haqq who is the Creator and the creatures at the same time.
Manifest sides (bodies, outer dimensions, appearances) of the friends of Allah are
with the creatures and the folk. Aren’t they? Friends of Allah have
also manifest bodies fashioned out of substance. Apparently they