The Golden Chain

Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani ar-Rabbani (may God sanctify his innermost being), the fortieth Shaykh in the Naqshbandi Golden Chain said the following:-

There is only One Sultan:-
“Humbleness is the most lovely characteristic for weak servants – say, ‘O our Lord, we are weak ones. You are Most High, Most Powerful, our Lord’. But people with their diplomas and certificates think that they have become ‘something’. They are only learning ignorance, nothing else.
Our egos never want to be humble ones, always asking to be ‘sultan’. It is so remote for our egos to be ‘sultan’ – impossible.
There is only one ‘Sultan’, and He has Absolute Sultanate, authority, from pre-eternity to post eternity, and there is no one else in existence to claim that he or she is ‘sultan’. Divine Sultanate, Eternal Sultanate, is only for the Lord of the Heavens, the Lord of mankind, our God. And we are His servants.”
From the Qur’an (22:73-74):-
“You people, here is an illustration, so listen carefully: those you call on beside God could not, even if they combined all their forces, create a fly, and if a fly took something away from them, they would not be able to retrieve it. How feeble are the petitioners and how feeble are those they petition!
They have no grasp of God’s true measure: God is truly most Strong and Mighty.”

Perfection of Character:-
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim explains why the Naqshbandi Saints say, “Our Way begins where the others leave off” – a phrase quite often quoted but is rarely explained.
He says, “the Station of Excellence, Maqam al-Fana, is one of the primary stations on the Path of the Sufi towards the State of Perfection, Maqam al-Ihsan. This station in fact, is the first target of the seeker as he moves on the way of spiritual wayfaring, and while not the ultimate final destination, its attainment is considered the first foothold into the Gardens of Sainthood – for one who reaches this has become of the Elect. It is for this reason that many identified this station as the final goal and declared that one who attained it had in fact achieved ultimate felicity, complete nothingness. Whereas in reality, this station, while of immense magnitude, is still a way-station on the ascent towards the Divine. For this reason the Naqshbandi Saints said, “Our Way begins where others leave off.”

Completeness:-
“We ask to be no-one and nothing,
For as long as we are someone,
we are not complete.”