Noah's Forty Jugs

Extract from Sheikh Nazim's discourse on 'Love is the Water of Life'

Everyone knows the story of Noah, peace be upon him. He is one of the five greatest prophets of God. He called on his people day and night for years, asking them to leave their evildoing, to repent and return to love of God and His worship and to abstain from wrong. His people rejected him repeatedly and scoffed at him. As much as he preached they rejected his teachings.
However he was patient and continued to preach to them. They never let up in their mockery of him. So it continued for years and years, and Noah was persistent and patient. He did not tire of calling his people to truth and goodness, and they in turn did not tire of scoffing at him. This continued for decades, a century, two centuries, and Noah was patient and persistent. Three centuries, four, five...

After nine centuries of non-stop preaching accompanied by endless mockery and rejection, Noah reached his limit. Finally he asked God to punish his people and to send a flood upon them and not leave a single one of them alive. As he was a prophet of God, God was obliged to answer his prayer. We know what came to pass.

Once some time after having been saved from the flood, the Lord addressed Noah saying, "O my servant, I am asking you to go and with your utmost care make for Me forty clay jugs." As he was an obedient servant and a great prophet, Noah immediately went about complying with this order. He gathered the finest clay he could find and spent days and nights laboring with love to create 40 beautiful clay jugs.

After so much effort, the Lord then addressed Noah again saying: "O my servant, now that you have made these forty jugs, go outside and take each one and throw it down upon the rocks." Noah, an obedient servant, had no choice but to obey. He took the jugs which he had spent so much effort in making, and one-by-one smashed them against the rocks.

Then the Lord addressed Noah, saying: "Oh Noah, you made forty clay jugs, and it was odious to you to break them. Do you think that it was a pleasure for Me to kill all of My servants, even though they were unbelievers?"

Then Noah began to cry and wail. So proverbial was his wailing that "Nuh" came to mean "wail" in Arabic.

Extracts from Shaykh Nazim's Discourse

Our Grandsheikh described how a Derwish may be acceptable as a servant to Allah Almighty. “He must have one character from each of three animals,” he said.

”From the donkey, he must be able to carry burdens with patience and without objection. Unless he can do this he will be unsuccessful, because without patience one cannot carry the responsibilities of life.

From the dog, he must learn faithfulness to his master. If the master tells the dog to stay somewhere until he returns, that dog will stay, even until death. If the owner beats it and chases it away, the dog will still return, with its tail wagging, when its master calls.

Finally, when a man looks at a pig, he must know that his nafs is dirtier and filthier than a pig. The dirt of pigs is external, it comes from eating dirty things. But the nafs is dirty inside. Its dirt comes from fighting with its Lord. A perfect man must have such a character that he will accept whatever dirt is thrown on him, whether by words or by actions, knowing that his nafs is dirtier.”

These three characteristics give a man rest and satisfaction in his heart. Only in this way can he reach happiness in this life. These are the characteristics of Prophets and Saints...

The Training : Riyada

Bismillahi ir-Rahman nir Rahim

Gems from Imam Malik:

1) Say the truth : If don't know, say I don't know.
2) Do not eat too much.
3) Be the most silent one in a group.

These will make u train the ego, to ride it.

The Jihad against the nafs

The Prophet (s) said: "The fighter against unbelief is he who fights against his ego in
obeying God"...

Sufyan al-Thawri said: "I never dealt with anything stronger against me than
my own ego; it was one time with me, and one time against me"...

Yahya ibn Mu`adh al-Razi
said: "Fight against your ego with the four swords of training: eat little, sleep little, speak
little, and be patient when people harm you... Then the ego will walk the paths of obedience,
like a fleeing horseman in the field of battle."

Personal comment:
eat little - ok
sleep little - not so ok
speak little - ok
be patient when people harm you - eeerrrrrr sure..

Verdict : A long way to go..

Have faith in our Lord..

In life, there is no guarantee among creations.
But those who have faith in their Lord and Creator,
Do not despair
For every closed door,
He will open ten more!