Guidance is From Allah
- Michael Folk
- Aug 13
- 25 min read
08/05/2025 - “Guidance is from Allah”
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Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem. What can I say?All praise and thanks be to Allah – The Lord of the Worlds – The Most Gracious(!), The Most Merciful(!)
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Wow at this knowledge (some of these videos herein are just fantastic). If only one could truly learn and internalize this knowledge, what great benefit would that be for a believer!?!?
----------Start of the blog - 08/05/2025 -
Alright I did have a slight issue at the first of this video but it’s okay, I understand where he is coming from with that and just wait...and this is correct and it corrects me and what I put forth earlier in a comment I made with someone on a/the YouTube comment…
May Allah Subhannah Wa Ta’Ala bless it (it is correct and actually what I believe, I just didn’t know how to word it or didn’t like do the work of “that work”, so to speak, al hamdu lillah, it’s important to get good – get right (with). This is Allah Subhannah Wa Ta’Ala were talking (and dealing) about.):
Scattered Thoughts 8/4/205, Creedal Corrections https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUDjHG3nFv8&t
Masjid Muhammad of Atlantic City, Inc. • 428 views Scattered Thoughts 8/4/205, Creedal Corrections
Didn’t watch: Scattered Readings (Lesson 1, Ahl Al-Sunnah: The Ash'aris) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVFEbFLa6q4&t
Masjid Muhammad of Atlantic City, Inc. • 440 views Scattered Readings (Lesson 1, Ahl Al-Sunnah: The Ash'aris)
Just looking at….searching for something…this is obviously relevant to the above and also in itself super good information (the below two videos) :
Al-Razi's Foundations of The Sacred: The Importance of Correct Interpretation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyIVnhnZt4w
Suhaib Webb • 728 views A brief series reading through Imam al-Razi's Asās al-Taqdīs. This text presents the role of interpretation of sacred texts, it's limits and purpose as held by the majority of sunni theologians…
Al-Razi's Foundations of The Sacred (Lesson Two): Interpretation & The Qur'an https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsCHhK8uEEk
Suhaib Webb • 534 views Imam al-Razi provides eight examples that demand or allow for sound tawil.
- - Watched twice (also some of, the latter part of the “Creedal Corrections” video as well), again later in the day. This is so good. Is like fresh spring mountain water in a parched and damaged (by man) landscape. This is (the knowledge) that people need (and probably crave for, though before, they might not have even known what they were always missing):
Surah Al Baqara - Belief in the Ghaib (Unseen) | Verse 1 to 5 |Tafsir Al Razi| Sulayman Van Ael https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClGvXeSlyAU
Karima Foundation • 7.6K views Al-Tafsir al-Kabir: This is the work of Imam Fakhr al-din al-Razi (died 606 Hijrah). Its real name is Mafatih al-Ghayb, but is popularly known as Tafsir Kabir'. He is an imam of the theology...
I didn’t or only watched a bit of these…
From Protest to Power: The New Bangladesh with Dilly Hussain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEtKe1y98ss&t=64s
The Thinking Muslim
•
37K views
Help us expand our Muslim media project here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membership Donate to our charity partner Baitulmaal here: http://btml.us/thinkingmuslim One year after mass…
A Message To The Armies In The Muslim Land https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcYCTf9yxDY&t=695s
Global Message
•
14K views
This is not a speech of flattery — it is a warning. While our brothers and sisters in Gaza are slaughtered, starved, and bombed — the so-called “Muslim armies” sit in silence, guarding…
Just as I'm writing this, from a Facebook post:
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Did I share this? Unsure…:
Savage Minds
Disappearing Acts
Israel and the Drug War in Syria
Vijay Prashad Jul 25, 2025
Tensions increased in southern Syria as Israeli warplanes bombed the Ministry of Defense in Damascus, areas around the presidential palace, and villages in Suweida on 16 July 2025, killing at least two hundred and fifty Syrians in these air strikes. The transitional authorities in Syria, led by the former al-Qaeda chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, condemned the attacks, which Israel justified as necessary to halt fighting between Syrian forces, the hastily organised Quwwat al-Badu (or Bedouin Forces), and the Druze Harakat Rijal al-Karama (Men of Dignity).
In December 2024, the Men of Dignity, the Sheikh al-Karama Forces and the Liwa al-Jabal (Mountain Brigade) joined forces in the Suweida area to create the Ghurfat ‘Amaliyyat al-Janub (Southern Operations) group to defend the region from the incursions of the Israelis and the new Syrian government. However, the group split earlier this year,which faded its ability to hold off the incursion of the Israelis beyond their earlier occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights, occupied since 1967. Since then, Israel has expanded its control of the Golan Heights toward the Suweida area and has been blamed by local forces for interference in local disputes to justify further military encroachment.
Since 2012, the central authority of the Syrian state has been weakened, stretching from the edge of the Golan Heights, through the city of Daraa, and to the villages of Suweida, forming a belt along the Southern edge of Syria and along the Jordanian border. Syrian military forces remained in this zone, but their legitimacy was at a historical low, causing several military forces to emerge in this vacuum. In 2013, the Druze community in the area, led by Sheikh Wahid al-Bal’ous, formed the Harakat Rijal al-Karama (Men of Dignity), while an alliance of various fighters led by Murhij Hussein al-Jarmani (aka Abu Ghaith) formed the Liwa al-Jabal (Mountain Brigade) the following year. These groups were set up to defend the Druze community from attacks by the al-Qaeda group Jabhat al-Nusra (Victory Front) that had begun to move South from the Qalamoun Mountains and seemed to be getting assistance from Israeli intelligence and military forces. The decline in the role of the Syrian military in this area led to the increased political and security role of both the Men of Dignity and the Mountain Brigade, who fought off the al-Qaeda forces, the later ISIS attacks, and attacks by the Israelis.
The fentanyl network in southern Syria
In 2012, when I first encountered the Syrian military along the road by the Qalamoun mountains, it was already clear that their morale oscillated between extreme confidence and exhaustion due to the pyrrhic nature of the war. Without US or Israeli air support, the various rebel armies—the most enthusiastic being the al-Qaeda forces—would not have been able to prevail; this assured the Syrian Arab Army that they could hold them off. However, each time the Syrian army advanced, it would have to do so by enormous shelling and violence that hit civilian targets, reduced its sense of moral superiority, and destroyed the basis for the Syrian economy. A collapsed economy and a slowly withering state apparatus deteriorated the morale of the Syrian army. By 2013, all sides in the conflict kept up their fighting spirits not by politics or ideology but by the influx of vast amounts of amphetamine, known in Syria by their brand names, Captagon and Tramadol, or otherwise, as the fighters called it, the ‘white pills of death”.
Near the Jordanian border in the Suweida area, I was where the large-scale production of these pills began. Ex-military men who ran these farms had gone into business with international drug syndicates. A decade ago, there were rumors circulated about Brigadier General Wafiq Nasser playing a role in establishing the drug production and distribution network through a series of small villages in the Suweida region. Nasser worked with Abu Yassin Ahmad Jaafar and Jamil al-Balaas to build the farm system from the villages of Busra al-Sham to al-Qurayya—roughly twenty kilometres from Jordan. These men, alongside Marei al-Ramthan and Raji Falhout used the collapsed Syrian state system to their advantage, built ties with Jordanian and Lebanese officials through bribery, and began to dominate the trade in amphetamine drug production and sales throughout the region (including into Israel, largely for recreational use).
Tensions grew between the self-defense units (mainly the Druze’s Men of Dignity) and the drug gangs, as the former tried to stop the latter from selling amphetamines to people in the area itself. In 2015, a car bomb in Suweida killed Wahid al-Bal’ous, the leader of the Men of Dignity. Rumors circulated that he was killed by the Syrian government, and then by al-Qaeda (after the arrest of a man named Wafi Abu Trabi). But under the surface, it was clear that al-Bal’ous was a victim of the drug war. Three years after this assassination, the Men of Dignity captured Abu Yassin Ahmad Jaafar, who told them—on camera—that he was involved in the assassination of al-Bal’ous and that he was one of the main drug kingpins of the area. He was later killed by Men of Dignity.
In Jaafar’s video confession, he mentioned that Marei al-Ramthan had organized a group of Bedouin youth to smuggle the drugs across the border into Jordan. Al-Ramthan, who was a herder before he got into the drug business in 2006, was able to absorb the much larger production that began after 2012, and he became the biggest transporter of drugs in the Levant. Jordan’s courts had condemned him to prison several times, but he was never arrested.
The drug war
The slow collapse of the Syrian state led to the rise of local authorities as independent masters of the drug trade. In 2018, Major General Kifah al-Mulhim took over from Nasser. At first, Al-Mulhim’s appointment raised hopes that the drug networks would be put under pressure. A series of events then unfolded. In 2021, the state arrested Raji Falhout, but hours later released him. Then, in July 2022, the state officials alongside the Men of Dignity raided Falhout’s farm and found a Captagon laboratory. Later that year, in December, the government arrested al-Ramthan but then released him. That same year, the Syrian army, along with paramilitary Liwa al-Jabal (the Mountain Brigade), fought the Falhout armed groups near the Jordanian border and eliminated several of them. From January to March 2024, the Jordanian air force struck many of these Captagon farms in the countryside of Suweida. These strikes killed civilians, which led the Men of Dignity movement to ask Jordan to stop them. The Syrian military was silent in public. Either al-Mulhim was part of the vast drug network that went from Suweida to Damascus and elsewhere, or he did not have the authority to carry out a proper clean-up in the region. Toward the last days of the Assad government, al-Mulhim was recalled to Baghdad as the director of the Syrian National Security Bureau. The United States had placed personal sanctions on al-Mulhim because of his role in the Syrian state. After the fall of Assad, these personal sanctions were removed.
The fall of Assad’s government in December 2024 came because of several reasons; the Israeli war on Lebanon (which weakened Hezbollah), the air strikes on Syrian military positions, and a coordinated blitzkrieg of the former al-Qaeda forces from the northern city of Idlib to Damascus. Israel, taking advantage of the situation, pushed out of the illegally occupied Golan Heights into the region near Suweida. The Israelis argued that this was a new security barrier not only for Israel, but for the Druze minority community. But this was merely an excuse. Taking advantage of the fights over the drug farms in July 2025, the Israelis struck several targets, including the government buildings in Damascus, but not the drug farms, once more saying that it did so to protect the Druze. But several Druze leaders, including Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna, said that they did not need Israeli protection and that Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians invalidated their claim to humanitarianism. In actuality, the Israeli strikes sought to put pressure on the former al-Qaeda chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, now transitional president of Syria (who had US sanctions against himself, which were officially lifted on 30 June 2025). Al-Sharaa has not yet done what Israel expects Syria to do, which is to recognise Israel. He has expelled leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas, and he has arrested Islamic Jihad leaders, but that is not enough. Israel will continue to use any excuse to pummel Syria to get its way. It is neither drugs nor the Druze that worries Israel; it is that al-Sharaa has not surrendered Syria’s pro-Palestinian history at the feet of the Israeli regime.
“
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- Allah knows best. What craziness. More details and knowledge emerge. I believe it is only a “publicity stunt” that al-Sharaa “has not recognized Israel publically”, but actually, basically and pretty much has, has made peace treaties basically with Israel and given his word at the least, and possibly signed off on official documents, that he will not attack Israel and of course he would arrest “jihadis” while actually working with and promoting real jihadis of that variety that he himself use to be a part of (Al Nusra – Al Qaeda) and that have committed crimes under his watch/his government. Why else or who would allow themselves to be “raped” militarily speaking, by another nation-state (Israel obviously), and just continue to “bow down” to them and say we are your friends” while the nation-state that you supposedly captured and “liberated” is, as I said, getting “raped” of it’s military and its ability to defend itself, or do anything at all, to the person, the entity, the oppressor, who is “raping” you? – I’m no rocket scientist obviously but this isn’t rocket science. Now of course there would be some who would say, Jolani is playing the long game and all that, but that is naive to think Israel and their ally (or allies – of the NATO aligned nation-states) is ever going to allow Syria to become a threat in the region, it’s just another puppet State regime; that is the only (type of) regimes that are allowed to come to power and to exist in the region around Israel. period. That is the truth. If you are somewhat of a threat or anything close to it, than ‘they’ open multidimensional (or multi-layered) and/or multi-front wars against such. This is the way it is and the way it has been for decades now. It’s not rocket science.
Suppose you had the Mexican government and military striking and killing U.S. “civilians” (they get called “citizens in this instance because of course, they are richer and belong to a first-world country (nation-state technically, I am an “American” (U.S. citizen) and talk like an American, for better or worse)) in Texas, New Mexico and California - and Al-Sharra, has he and does he even do anything!, anything at all?! Such as taking a complaint to the International Criminal Court of Justice, the U.N. or the like of it. A nation-state is obliged, obligated, to protect it’s citizens and has rights to protect it’s “supposed sovereignty” and territorial integrity. And then also suppose you have the Mexican military also as well, hitting, striking, U.S. military arms production sites, and military sites and striking upon U.S. military assets – what country (government technically) would allow this? And allowing a foreign government to conduct strikes upon your nation-states Capital city? Hell!...Those are acts of war. Declarations of (open) war – period. But when such crimes happen to happen upon poor people, on “lesser or undeveloped” countries etc. it’s no big deal? Or It’s normal. It’s alright. All fine and good. No – hell no ! it’s not alright, its disgusting, crimes against humanity, and the perps will face Allah Subhanna Wa Ta’Ala on the Day of Judgement.
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- - - Another article:
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The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly found no proof that Iran is building nuclear weapons. Yet that has proven irrelevant. The West’s invocation of snapback is not based on law in any ethical sense. It is a ritual of dominance law, not as principle, but as performance.
The Ritual of Betrayal: From Baghdad to Tripoli
This performance is not new. The Global South has watched it unfold, again and again.
Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was subjected to one of the most destructive invasions of the 21st century, justified by weapons of mass destruction that never existed. Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya dismantled its nuclear program, normalized ties with the West, and was later bombed into chaos by NATO. Neither case was an accident. Both were outcomes of a logic that treats international cooperation as disposable once strategic utility expires.
Iran now faces the same script: comply, be sanctioned; resist, be isolated. No path to trust exists because the architecture of “trust” is designed to collapse when it no longer serves the West.
The lesson for the rest of us is chilling: no amount of legal cooperation protects you from becoming disposable.
Snapback is not a technicality. It is a mechanism of memory, a reminder of how international law has functioned for the past five decades. Snapback’s function is not to constrain power, but to dignify it. It lends moral texture to military coercion. It gives ritual shape to regime change.
And worst of all, it preserves the illusion of justice while emptying it of substance all while accusing the Global South of incoherence and authoritarianism, even as the West traffics in its own institutional contradictions.
The Global South’s Moment of Reckoning
This is why the snapback mechanism matters far beyond Iran. It is a mirror for every postcolonial state that once hoped international law might serve as a neutral safeguard. What snapback demonstrates is that the very concept of neutrality is dead (and perhaps it always was).
In Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and West Asia, many states now see the rules-based international order as fundamentally untrustworthy. Agreements can be reversed unilaterally. Cooperation, no matter how extensive, does not guarantee protection. Disarmament does not bring peace. Alignment does not produce safety.
This is not a paranoid reading. It is the reading history demands. The cases of Gaddafi and Hussein are not distant memories; They are not distant memories; they are warnings written in blood.Even Ukraine, once promised NATO protection, was left to face Russia alone. The West delivered weapons, but not security while it still insists on calling this “solidarity.” What matters is not whether these countries complied with the rules, but whether they served Western interests at the right time.
The snapback is not a one-off. It is a template. A model of how global legal architecture can be activated by a few to discipline the many without deliberation, without oversight, and without consequence.
For the Global South, this is the moment to decide: do we still believe in this system? Or are we simply trapped inside it?
After Legitimacy: What Comes Next?
What follows the collapse of belief in international legitimacy is not necessarily chaos. It can also be the beginning of a post-hegemonic political consciousness.
This new orientation is not about switching alliances or choosing another empire. It is about no longer building national futures on the assumption that the existing international system is reformable or reliable. It is about reclaiming sovereignty as a political rather than legal category.
This means creating regional alliances based on shared histories of exploitation, not abstract commitments to "the international community." It means treating law as a site of contestation, not deference. And most importantly, it means trusting memory over promises.
Because if there is one thing the Global South has earned, it is memory. Memory of betrayal. Memory of sanctions regimes that crushed civilians. Memory of coups and wars dressed up as liberation. Memory of the gap between words like “accountability” and the drone strikes that follow them.
The snapback mechanism, in this context, is only the latest betrayal. It tells us that international legitimacy was never about law it was about compliance. That treaties can be tools of entrapment. That multilateralism is a story Western powers tell the world when they want to be obeyed, and then discard when they want to act alone.
Conclusion: From Spectacle to Clarity
What the West calls “snapback” is, in truth, a snap, a break in the symbolic grammar of international law. It reveals that what we call “order” has been a performance all along:
Law without principle
Justice without universality
Treaties without trust
For Iran, snapback may trigger new sanctions. But for the Global South, it triggers something far deeper: the realization that belief in the existing world order is not only naïve it is dangerous.
We do not yet know what comes after this disillusionment. But we do know this: if the South does not build something new, it will be rebuilt by those who broke the old.
The snapback is not a return to sanctions.
It is the end of pretending.
“
--- Taken from: https://savageminds.substack.com/p/snapback-and-the-end-of-legitimacy – Was just reading.
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this moment lands quite differently. It does not read as a technical dispute over treaty obligations. It reads as confirmation. A confirmation that international law is no longer a shared framework, but instead a theater of selective enforcement where legal tools are used not to uphold justice, but to manage disobedience.
The snapback mechanism, embedded in UN Security Council Resolution 2231, allows any JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) signatory to unilaterally reinstate multilateral sanctions without a new vote, should they judge Iran to be noncompliant. No consensus is required. No updated evidence is necessary. One state’s interpretation becomes the basis for global punishment.
“
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FB pictures…:
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From the book “the golden chain of naqshbandii order
Tayfur Abu Yazid al-Bistami:
“
His Death
When Bayazid died, he was over seventy years old. Before he died, someone
asked him his age. He said: “I am four years old. For seventy years I was
veiled. I got rid of my veils only four years ago.” The 39th Sheikh of the
Golden Chain, Sultan al-Awliya Sheikh `Abdullah Daghestani, referred to this
saying in his encounter with Khidr , who told him, as he was pointing to the graves of some great scholars in a Muslim cemetery: “This one is three years old; that one, seven; that one, twelve.”
“
Woah...
--------08/06/2025
YouTube:
This is so great:
“The Veil & Sealed Hearts | Surah Al Baqara | Verse 6 to 7 |Tafsir Al Razi| Sulayman Van Ael”
Karima Foundation • 2.6K views #tafsir #tafseer #transformation #covid Al-Tafsir al-Kabir: This is the work of Imam Fakhr al-din al-Razi (died 606 Hijrah). Its real name is Mafatih al-Ghayb, but is popularly known as Tafsir…
I’ve already known and heard most of this already by now of course but its good info:
How the world can free itself from US financial colonialism: Economist Michael Hudson explains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgBUbbTF5Sg
Geopolitical Economy Report 154K views Economist Michael Hudson describes how the Western powers designed the international financial, legal, and political system in a way that benefits North American corporations at the expense…
Why Letting Go Is the Only Way to Stay Sane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAKG_LFOT1E
The Functional Melancholic • 68K views Drawing from philosophy, psychology, stoicism, spirituality, and reflections on the human condition, this episode explores impermanence, grief, meaning, and why our obsession with permanence...
Pics from phone:
What the Disappearance of Insects Means for Humanity and the Earth with Oliver Milman | TGS 189
Nate Hagens • 26K views (Conversation recorded June 25th, 2025) Insects, bugs, creepy-crawlies – these small animals are often considered a nuisance (or worse) by humanity, bringing up an ongoing desire to kill...
Didn’t watch all but I’m sure its good:
Ep 4: Patience When Those Closest to You Betray You | Maqamat Series | Qari Bakeer, Nouman Ali Khan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyG8xgNGH8Q&t=264s
Nouman Ali Khan - Official – Bayyinah 12K views In the fourth episode of The Quran for Hearts & Minds: The Power of Maqamat, Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan and Qari Ibraheem Bakeer explore one of the most moving moments in Surah Yusuf (12:16–18).…
Sharing:
https://sufipathoflove.com/spiritual-gems-the-mystical-quran-commentary-ascribed-to-ja-far-al-sadiq/
From the naqsbandii golden chain book: - Fear Allah regarding such pious saints and knowers of Allah Glorious and Most Exalted – just some good advice. Fear Allah much.
From here (or so) to here – no this is not right but I share it anyway:
Jafar as-Sadiq R.A. : [...]
From His Sayings
“The Nun [letter “n”] at the beginning of Surat 68 represents the light of Pre-
eternity, out of which Allah created all creations, and which is Muhammad .
That is why He said in the same surat [verse 4]: ‘Truly Thou art of a sublime
nature’ – that is: you were privileged with that light from pre-eternity.”
“Allah Almighty and Exalted told the lower world, “Serve the one who serves
Me and tire the one who serves you.”
“Prayer is the pillar of every pious person; Pilgrimage is the Jihad of every
weak one; the Zakat of the body is fasting; and the one who asks for Allah’s
grants without performing good deeds is like one trying to shoot an arrow
without a bow.”
“Open the door of provision by giving donation; fence in your money with the
payment of zakat; the best is he who wastes not; planning is the foundation of
your life, and to act prudently is the basis of intellect.”
“Whoever makes his parents sad has denied their rights on him.”
“The jurists are the trustees of the Prophet ... If you find the jurists sticking
to the company of the Sultans, say to them, ‘This is forbidden,’ as the jurist
cannot express his honest opinion under the pressure of the Sultan’s
proximity.”
“No food is better than God-fear and there is nothing better than silence; no
enemy is more powerful than ignorance; no illness is greater than lying.”
“If you see something you don’t like in your brother try to find from one to
seventy excuses for him. If you can’t find an excuse, say, ‘There might be an
excuse but I don’t know it.’”
“If you hear a word from a Muslim which is offensive, try to find a good
meaning for it. If you don’t find a good meaning for it, say to yourself, ‘I do not
understand what he said,’ in order to keep harmony between Muslims.”
His Passing
Jafar as-Sadiq ق passed away in 148 AH/765 CE. He was buried in Jannat al-
Baqi, in the same graveyard as that of his father, Muhammad al-Baqir ق, his
grandfather, Zain al-Abidin ق, and the uncle of his grandfather, Hasan ibn
Ali . He passed the secret of the Golden Chain to his successor,
Grandshaykh Tayfur Abu Yazid al-Bistami, more commonly known as Bayazid
al-Bistami R.A..
[…]
to
Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani R.A. : [...]
Ubaidullah al-Ahrar (q) said, “The most important mission for the seeker in this
Order is to safeguard his breath, and he who cannot safeguard his breath, it
would be said of him, ‘he lost himself.’”
Shah Naqshband (q) said, “This Order is built on breath. So it is a must for
everyone to safeguard his breath in the time of his inhalation and exhalation
and further, to safeguard his breath in the interval between the inhalation and
exhalation.”
Shaikh Abul Janab Najmuddin al-Kubra said in his book, Fawatih al-Jamal,
“Dhikr is flowing in the body of every single living creatures by the necessity of
their breath — even without will — as a sign of obedience, which is part of
their creation. Through their breathing, the sound of the letter “Ha” of the
Divine Name Allah is made with every exhalation and inhalation and it is a
sign of the Unseen Essence serving to emphasize the Uniqueness of God.
Therefore it is necessary to be present with that breathing, in order to realize
the Essence of the Creator.”
The name ‘Allah’ which encompasses the ninety-nine Names and Attributes
consists of four letters, Alif, Lam, Lam and the same Hah (ALLAH). The
people of Sufism say that the absolute unseen Essence of Allah Exalted and
Almighty is expressed by the last letter vowelized by the Alif, “Ha.” It
represents the Absolutely Unseen “He-ness” of the Exalted God (Ghayb al-
Huwiyya al-Mutlaqa lillah ‘azza wa jall). The first Lam is for the sake of
identification (tacrif) and the secondLam is for the sake of emphasis
(mubalagha).
Safeguarding your breath from heedlessness will lead you to complete
Presence, and complete Presence will lead you to complete Vision, and
complete Vision will lead you to complete Manifestation of Allah’s Ninety-Nine
Names and Attributes. Allah leads you to the Manifestation of His Ninety-Nine
Names and Attributes and all His other Attributes, because it is said, “Allah’s
Attributes are as numerous as the breaths of human beings.”
It must be known by everyone that securing the breath from heedlessness is
difficult for seekers. Therefore they must safeguard it by seeking
forgiveness (istighfar) because seeking forgiveness will purify it and sanctify it
and prepare the seeker for the Real Manifestation of Allah everywhere.
2. Watch Your Step (“Nazar bar qadam“)
It means that the seeker while walking must keep his eyes on his feet.
Wherever he is about to place his feet, his eyes must be there. He is not
allowed to send cast his glance here or there, to look right or left or in front of
him, because unnecessary sights will veil the heart. Most veils on the heart
are created by the pictures which are transmitted from your eyes to your mind
during your daily living. These may disturb your heart with turbulence because
of the different kinds of desire which have been imprinted on your mind. These
images are like veils on the heart. They block the Light of the Divine
Presence. This is why Sufi saints don’t allow their followers, who have purified
their hearts through constant Dhikr, to look at other than their feet. Their
hearts are like mirrors, reflecting and receiving every image easily. This might
distract them and bring impurities to their hearts. So the seeker is ordered to
lower his gaze in order not to be assailed by the arrows of devils.
Lowering the gaze is also a sign of humility; proud and arrogant people never
look at their feet. It is also an indication that one is following the footsteps of
the Prophet , who when he walked never used to look right or left, but used
to look only at his feet, moving steadfastly towards his destination. It is also
the sign of a high state when the seeker looks nowhere except towards his
Lord. Like one who intends to reach a destination quickly, so too the seeker of
Allah’s Divine Presence is moving quickly, not looking to his right or his left,
not looking at the desires of this world, but looking only for the Divine
Presence.
Imam ar-Rabbani Ahmad al-Faruqi (q) said in the 295th letter of his Maktubat:
The gaze precedes the step and the step follows the gaze. The
Ascension to the high state is first by the Vision, followed by the
Step. When the Step reaches the level of the Ascension of the Gaze,
then the Gaze will be lifted up to another state, to which the Step
follows in its turn. Then the Gaze will be lifted even higher and the
Step will follow in its turn. And so on until the Gaze reaches a state
of Perfection to which it will pull the Step. We say, ‘When the Step
follows the Gaze, the murid has reached the state of Readiness in
approaching the Footsteps of the Prophet, peace be upon him. So
the Footsteps of the Prophet are considered the Origin of all
steps.
Shah Naqshband (q) said, “If we look at the mistakes of our friends, we will be
left friendless, because no one is perfect.”
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Tablet pictures of hadith qudsi:
I wrote this portion later:
I love this for myself:
“
Of Sufism Bayazid said: “It it to give up rest and to accept suffering.”
Of the obligation to follow a guide, he said: “Who does not have a sheikh, his
sheikh is Satan.”
Of seeking God he said, “Hunger is a rain cloud. If a servant becomes hungry,
Allah will shower his heart with wisdom.”
Of his intercession he said, “If Allah will give me permission to intercede for all
the people of my time I will not be proud, because I am only interceding for a
piece of clay,” and “If Allah gave me permission for intercession, first I would
intercede for those who harmed me and those who denied me.”
To a young man who wanted a piece of his old cloak for baraka (blessing),
Bayazid said: “Should you take all Bayazid’s skin and wear it a
s yours, it
would avail you nothing unless you followed his example.”
They said to him, “The key for Paradise is ‘La ilaha ill-Allah‘ (witnessing that
there is no god except Allah).” He said, “It is true, but a key is for opening a
lock; and the key of such witnessing can only operate under the following
conditions:
1) a tongue which doesn’t lie nor backbite;
2) a heart without betrayal;
3) a stomach without h aram or doubtful provision;
4) deeds without desire or innovation.”
He said, “The ego or self always looks at the world and the ruh (spirit) always
looks at the next life and ma`rifat (spiritual knowledge) always looks at Allah
Almighty and Exalted. He whose self defeats him is from those who are
destroyed, and he whose spirit is victorious over his self, he is of the pious,
and he whose spiritual knowledge overcomes his self, he is of the God-
conscious.”
Ad-Dailami said, “One time I asked `Abdur Rahman bin Yahya about the state
of trust in Allah (tawakkul). He said, “If you put your hand in the mouth of a
lion, don’t be afraid of other than Allah.” I went in my heart to visit and ask
Bayazid about this matter. I knocked and I heard from inside, “Wasn’t what
`Abdur Rahman said to you enough? You came only to ask, and not with the
intention of visiting me.” I understood and I came again another time one year
later, knocking at his door. This time he answered, “Welcome my son, this time
you came to me as a visitor and not as a questioner.”
They asked him “When does a man become a man?” He said, “When he
knows the mistakes of his self and he busies himself in correcting them.”
-------------------------
Later in the day -
Didn’t watch:
Fallacies of Western Psychology || NBF 474 || Dr Shadee Elmasry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_H-LuyG0BU&t
Safina Society • 8.9K views Explore more at https://www.safinasociety.org Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/safinasociety Learn Islam online at Arkview: https://www.arkview.org Listen to Nothin' But Facts…
- - The River of Kawthar - Habib Hussein al-Saqaf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrZhH3SNTAY
Al-Maqasid • 721 views The River of Kawthar, granted to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ by his Lord, flows whiter than milk, sweeter than honey, and more fragrant than musk. On the Day of Judgment, the believers will…
Thursday 08/07/2025 -----
Another one of those ‘if one could memorize and internalize this knowledge (and have a deep or decently good understanding of it)’ if only, if only…:
Not 1971, It Was 1604: The Birth of Fiat Currency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdZpyeLuVI4
Miles Harris
•
7.8K views
What if one of the most important shifts in the history of money began not with Nixon, central banks, or digital currencies, but in a courtroom in Ireland over four centuries ago? In 1604,…
Skipping a video I believe I’ve already watched: The Ghost of Dopamine Past | Frankly 103 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7BDevtXOCg
Nate Hagens • 14K views (Recorded July 28th, 2025) In this week’s Frankly, Nate reflects on a moment of unexpected insight during a morning bike ride, which catalyzed a larger meditation on the modern human predicament…
Nope, interested a bit but didn’t watch, not really going to be of any serious benefit to me I don’t think but I don’t know…: The Islamic Dilemma with Daniel Haqiqatjou https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-dkhWIDCx4&t
Blogging Theology 53K views Reviewing Daniel's recent debate with David Wood.
Did watch (is only ~12 minutes long): The Architecture of Control: Digital ID, ESG and the New Financial Rules
Miles Harris • 9.6K views Digital identity is becoming a prerequisite for participation across sectors including finance, healthcare, government services, and commerce. The European Union’s eIDAS 2.0 framework, India’s…
Catch the end of this, is very good: Osmanli Dergahi Live Broadcast (ENGLISH) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0ZQkE4NE0g
OSMANLI DERGAH • 408 views
Watched some, is good: The Hadrami Introduction. Lesson 38. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpeX4JQ-SEw&t
Masjid Muhammad of Atlantic City, Inc. • 196 views The Hadrami Introduction. Lesson 38. The Hadrami Introduction with Shaykh Yahya Al-Baltimoori. Every Thursday at 7:30pm ET. Bookstore: http://www.mmacbooks.com Website: http://wwww.mmacinc.org…
Thursday Shorts
The Most Eaten Crop In Africa 🇿🇦 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OHQ8kEocrW0
3.1M views
😅 David Wood Says Bible Does Not Confirm Itself https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fUcRx14QwLY
51K views
Now this is good: No Excuses, Make the Quran Your Priority! | Abu Bakr Zoud https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yeUAo2adGIQ
17K views
------------Friday
Yep, yep, this seems more correct in my honest and decently educated opinion, it’s certainly confirmed by now, in 2025...obviously, the situation is dire:
James Hansen: Global Climate Sensitivity is 4.5C for 2x CO2 with 99% Certainty: IPCC 3.0C is WRONG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z0rxj7c7CM
Paul Beckwith • 22K views James Hansen: Global Climate Sensitivity is 4.5C for 2x CO2 with 99% Certainty: IPCC 3.0C is WRONG The UN body known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) bases Earth Climate…
Again: The Veil & Sealed Hearts | Surah Al Baqara | Verse 6 to 7 |Tafsir Al Razi| Sulayman Van Ael https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA5EVMSux_o
Karima Foundation • 2.6K views #tafsir #tafseer #transformation #covid Al-Tafsir al-Kabir: This is the work of Imam Fakhr al-din al-Razi (died 606 Hijrah). Its real name is Mafatih al-Ghayb, but is popularly known as Tafsir…
This is great, may Allah bless, Allah rewards what’s good (and what’s true):
How To Read The Quran Correctly | Abu Bakr Zoud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQAMXWz5KdQ
Abu Bakr Zoud 29K views In this lecture, we discuss the Quran’s vital role in the life of every believer, especially in today’s world filled with distractions and confusion. This lecture explores 16 unique etiquettes…
6 ½ minute video, its pretty good: Noam Chomsky – Consumerism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg50wCe-Z7U
Chomsky's Philosophy • 163K views Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSAvWqSCe8c
I watched but I was tired, fell asleep, didn’t really catch it, may Allah bless it, they do good work, great great khutbahs usually: Dhikr vs. Doubt: How to Approach Faith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RZGirP7yyc
The Usuli Institute • 845 views What to do about doubt in faith? What kind of doubt is healthy and what kind of doubt stems from more fundamental problems, and how to address them? These questions and more are answered in…
----------Saturday 8/9/2025
Short:
The DARK TRUTH About Infatuation 🖤 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lxaW0dmaJrE
Safina Society
•
23K views
Explore more at https://www.safinasociety.org Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/safinasociety Learn Islam online at Arkview: https://www.arkview.org Listen to Nothin' But Facts...
This is great, much much correct information from what I can tell, very well done, very knowledeable. I was actually just listening to this as I worked on the computer but it is really great, al hamdu lillah, may Allah bless it:
Jannatul Firdous is Out Goal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwVD5ln0uCQ
United Muslim Masjid • 761 views Lecture & Discussion with Dr. Tahir Wyatt
---
Janna Al-Firdous is Our Goal. That should be everyone’s goal. That’s a hadith of the Prophet Sallahu Alayhi Wasallam. Allah Subhannah Wa Ta’Ala says you will be tested just as the previous peoples were tested.
I hope this post does people some very much good and may Allah bless and guide, - you and me, and may Allah save us from the torment of the hellfire and the torment of the grave and be pleased with us.
-------As I wrote, but not yet finished this blog post:
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