Sohbat Sheikh Hassan
Big Dhikr, 17 October 2026, Sufi Center Kassel
This is an assembly, which is called Sohbat. Sohbat comes from being together. The Sahaba are those who were and are together, who are with the Prophet ﷺ — Ashabil-Kiram. And we are with our Sheikh, InshaAllah. We are making intention to be with our Sheikh, who promised to be present at such a meeting. Otherwise, we can’t do anything. What should we do? Nothing — with our egos. What do you want to do? Nothing. But if the Sheikh says, “I’m with you,” then we have a chance. Everyone. Everyone connects with the Sheikh. One person is talking — that doesn’t matter. But everyone is with the heart of the Sheikh, of our Murshid. And that is the principle of din. How do you say? Some say religion, some say path … the path of a person. The path of a person, his path. His path from A to Z, from birth to death. And that is why we ask for support, inshaAllah.
May they open our hearts. Ya Allah, let us be with Your friends, inshaAllah, so that they can help us. And You are the Opener. Ya Fattah. And they are the actors, so to speak, whom Allah uses to open our hearts. May Allah open our hearts, inshaAllah. Ya Allah, open our hearts so that nothing stands between us. Nothing. Nothing should stand between us. Between us and You, and between us, brothers and sisters, nothing should stand. What should stand there? What should stand there except for Shaytan — except for Nafs al-Ammara bis-Su, dunya and hawa (desires)? Anything else? No. Just that. Just that. All quarrels, all disagreements, everything that we perceive as difficult — only that stands in the way. Only we are responsible — the enemies, our enemies, the four enemies — who are all inside. Outwardly, there is no enemy. There isn’t one. That is an illusion, a complete illusion.
“I want that, and you want that too.” That is an illusion, a delusion. You don’t have it anyway. You don’t have it. Allah takes your breath away, and you go over there without anything. And think about your breath. Think that this is your last breath. And what would you do if you knew that this was your last breath? What do you do with your last breath? What? You still have one breath. What are you doing with it? You say, “La ilaha illallah. Astaghfirullah. Ya Allah, forgive me. Forgive me.”
And Allah has arranged it so that human beings take on the responsibility. No one wanted to take on the responsibility — not the mountains, not the heavens, not the earth. Nothing was big enough and strong enough to take on responsibility. Only the human being. The human being said, “I will do it.” And he is brazen. Impudent. It is in the Quran. “I will do it immediately.” Everyone else said, “It is too heavy.” What an honour. What honour does Allah ﷻ give us? What kind of honour is that? What is the secret? What secret does He instil in people, that they say, “Yes”? What must he carry? Of course, he must carry it. Look, what he must carry: illness, death, war — all kinds of diseases, all kinds of misfortune, all kinds of sorrow. He must bear it. And he bears it. And he bears it. And the believer bears it. And he knows that this is an honour for him, basically — an honour and a wisdom.
In misfortune, in illness and sorrow, and in the terrible things that happen between people on this planet, there lies wisdom. There is wisdom in the fact that he carries it, that the human being carries it. That gives him honour. That is the honour. And the better he carries it, the more honourably he bears it, the better it is for the human being. And we will experience the wisdom in the afterlife, inshaAllah. If not here, then in the afterlife. Why? What stages does a suffering human being go through? What blessings does a human being who is sick receive? What are those blessings? What kind of blessings are they? They cannot be described — they are indescribable. If we knew them, if we somehow knew about them, then everyone would say, “I want to be sick. Give me that, give it to me. I want that too, what he has or what she has.”
And we wouldn’t collect the world, gather up the world’s riches, collect money, gold and silver, and accumulate all worldly possessions — not at all — if we knew what Allah has in store for us and why He brought us here, to this Earth. May Allah grant it to us. Ya Allah, give to us. You give. Make us receptive, so that we become receptive to it. Give us understanding — the right understanding, the correct understanding, the real understanding that is beneficial.
“Protect us from knowledge that is of no benefit to us,” said the Prophet ﷺ.
“Audhu billahi min ilmin la yanfa.”
It has no benefit. “Protect me from knowledge that is of no benefit to me.” People are busy with knowledge that is of no use to them at all — not at all. A whole lifetime is spent doing that, collecting knowledge that is of no use to them — not at all. A whole life wasted.
O Allah, grant us knowledge that benefits us, that soothes our hearts. And what gives our hearts rest is the knowledge of You, O Allah. Only the remembrance of Allah can soothe the heart. Nothing else — you cannot find satisfaction. Do not complain. Complain about nothing. You cannot complain. There is no complaint. If you think of Allah, you are content. If you know that Allah is with you, you are content. Allah says, “I am with the one who thinks of Me.” Or: “If someone thinks of Me, or thinks anything about Me, then I am already there. I am there. In these thoughts — that is Me. And if someone sits down to remember Me,” says Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, “then I sit with him. Then I sit with him; then I am with him.” MashaAllah.
And if that is so — and we ask for that, Ya Allah — and we have a Murshid, a Sheikh, who leads us there and wants to lead us there, then there will be nothing between us. Absolutely nothing. Nothing but the beauty of Allah. No sorrow, no fear, no boundaries. Nothing. Only beauty, light, benevolence and trust. That is peace. There were two ladies here today who said, “We are peace missionaries.” Yes. Yes. “How do you make peace?” “Yes, we call this one and that one. We have so many associations all over the world; we are networked, and we make peace.” It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. Make peace with yourself. Make peace with Allah. Islam is peace. Allah gave Islam. You don’t need any interreligious dialogue — you don’t need it. Take Islam. Be a Muslim. Surrender, give up. Khalas, finish, give up — and you will find peace. Give up your nafs and you will find peace.
And what is that called? Islam. And who gave that? Allah, subhana wa ta’ala — the Only One. There is nothing other than Allah. Do you think there is something else besides Allah? No, there is nothing else besides Allah. You always say, “La ilaha illallah, la ilaha illallah.” Yes, yes — la ilaha illallah. Nothing else. And your Sheikh is like that; he has realised it. He has realised it. His personality is gone; it has dissolved — annihilation, fana, is what it’s called. There is nothing more. He has nothing else to do except to be with Allah — your Sheikh, your Murshid. He is only with Allah.
Therefore, when you are with him and establish rabita — and rabita is the foundation of the Naqshbandiyya Tariqat, Rabitatu Sharifa, so they say, so it is said, and so it is written — then you are with him. And that is the best thing you can do. You can’t do anything better than being with your Sheikh. If you can’t be physically with him, then you can be with him in rabita, from heart to heart. Otherwise, the best thing is to be with him physically.
A great Sheikh, a king-size saint, a wali, had passed away. And the student saw him in a dream at night and asked him:
“Now that you are on the other side, O Sheikh, tell us: What is the best action that we can do? What is the best action, the most useful and effective action we can possibly take in our lives?”
Then the Sheikh said, “Go into the presence of a saint.”
The best action for a person is to be in the presence of a waliullah, a friend of God — to be in his presence. That is the best. After that, there is nothing better. His presence automatically repairs. Repairs you, puts you in order, puts things in their place. Because things are not in their place. Things are crooked and skewed, and not everything is in its place. That’s why we stumble around, collide with each other and argue, and this and that — because things are not in their place. And his presence makes everything come into its place. Nothing at all needs to happen. Nothing at all… You simply need to be with him, do what he tells you and what is necessary, and you will get better. It requires trust. It requires trust and love.
Oh, you missionaries of peace: the principle is love, and the engine is love. It has to do with love. It’s not possible without love — without love. One can summarise it as love for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, because that is where love is. This is the reason for creation: the love for Sayyidina Muhammad, from Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ.
“For you, My Habib, I create creation. If it weren’t for you, I would create nothing at all.”
Why? Why? “I create it to increase My love, to increase your love, to increase the praise for you, to magnify the honour given to you, to increase the love.” That is the reason. There is no other reason. Why are you sitting here? Do you know why you are sitting here? Why are you working? Why do you do this and that, and that, and that? Why? How does that happen? How did this planet come into being? This creation, these 18,000 universes — why are they there? And thousands and thousands of beings? For this reason. To say, “Ya Sayyidina Muhammad! Ya Muhammad, Ya Muhammad, Ya Muhammad.” Endless honour for you, from Allah, subhana wa ta’ala.
That is the love. What do you want, peace missionary? Where do you want to go? And for us, the Prophet ﷺ is great — so great, too great — and our Sheikh is here. And the Sheikh represents him, 100 percent. 100 percent. Give your love to your Sheikh, your Murshid, 100 percent. Then you give your love. And… die within him. Be nothing. Love him in such a way that you love him a thousand times more than yourself. Then he takes you to the Prophet ﷺ, says the Sheikh. And the Prophet gives you to Allah, subhana wa ta’ala. Peace — one doesn’t have to seek it. Isn’t it? Allah already gives it to us.
May Allah help us, inshaAllah, to open our hearts with His help. And may we recognise ourselves — may we recognise ourselves in this sense. It is about recognising Allah. We are created to know Him. “I wanted to be known. I was a hidden treasure.” May we know Him. If we know Him, then we come to know ourselves. Then we know ourselves. Then we recognise ourselves. Then we bow to each other, and no one gets up first — no one. Everyone stands like that (Sheikh Hassan crosses his arms and lowers his head) and waits until the other person gets up first. Or we will embrace each other, and we will never let go of that embrace. That is Haqq. May it be so, inshaAllah.
Wa min-Allahi at-taufiq, bi hurmati al-Fatiha.