Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem, assalamu alaikum.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said “Actions are according to intentions, and everyone will get what was intended. Whoever migrates with an intention for Allah and His messenger, the migration will be for the sake of Allah and his Messenger. And whoever migrates for worldly gain or to marry a woman, then his migration will be for the sake of whatever he migrated for.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

Fana fi Allah is translated into English as annihilation of the nafs, because when you rid yourself of your nafs, something at the center of your conscious awareness, you move closer to Allah and at some point on this Journey your awareness of Allah becomes greater than your awareness of your own self, because of this some people experience ecstasy at the awareness of Allah in their life.

The stronger of the Awliyah and prophets though, don’t experience this because Allah has balanced knowledge and fanna in their nafs beforehand in preparation for this, so their inner sight knows how to define what they are experiencing, hence seeing Allah or His hand never overwhelms the person, these people are marked with the greatest sabr Allah bestows upon His creatures.

The great wali of Allah Abu Yazid al-Bistami approached the Divine Presence and “knocked on the gate”. He was asked, “Who is there?” “I have come, Oh my Lord”, replied Abu Yazid. He was told: “There isn’t any place here for two. Leave your ego behind and come”. When Abu Yazid once again approached the Divine Presence and was asked who it was, he said: “You, oh Lord” (I no longer see me).

This is a poetic expression of what I have explained, Allah says regarding this in the Quran “And I am closer to man than his jugular vein” Fana fi Llah occurs to people who witness the reality of this verse.

Because Allah placed His maqam on the Arsh and that is where “HE” (HU) is known from by the universe the verse is actually saying the Arsh sub atomically is closer to man than his physical body, because the Arsh is the deepest subatomic depth in the universe but that distance is inside the Atom and is miniscule in comparison to distance in our world, so what is inside the atom is closer to you than your own body.

Abu Yazid (as) said about His path: I became like an iron master for twelve years. I put my nafs and ego in the stove of discipline, and prepared it with the fire of striving, molded it on the platform of remorse, hammered it with regret until my nafs became my mirror (in my control). I was my own mirror for five years. Until one day when I thought I was the greatest among great learned. As soon as this thought came to my mind, I packed up and went to Khorasan. I stayed in a shelter and promised myself that I would not leave this place unless I received a message from Allah. On the fourth day I saw a camel rider coming towards me. A thought passed my mind that I could stop that camel right there. The rider looked at me and said: Do not make me to destroy Bastam and Bayazid altogether. I lost my senses. When my senses came back to me I asked him: Where are you coming from? he said: From the side where your promise is kept. Then he said: Bayazid, keep and protect your heart; then he left…It is said after this incident whatever passed through Bayazid ’s mind would appear in front of him (he could see ghayb).

Imam Tustari said “the nafs (self) has seven celestial veils (hujub samawiyyah) and seven earthly veils (hujub ardiyyah), whenever man buries his nafs (self) in earth upon earth (ardan ardan), (lowers his esteem and ego), his heart (qalb) is raised up heaven upon Heaven (sama’an sama’an). And when he (completely) buries the nafs (ego) under the ground (tahta at tara), the heart reaches the throne” (Arsh).

This is the inner path, the path Allah placed me upon through the trials I experienced in this world, when I reached the end it became part of my character to do something, whenever I did something to say according to your intention Ya Allah, I would remove myself entirely from the act and bring the light of Allah perfectly into this world, when my nafs settled upon this Rasul Allah (saws) and Sayidianh Ibrahim (saws) came and said to me this is the first time in the history of the world this has appeared, that Allah gave someone His intention to say and act by it.

Allah gives according to people’s actions and I received this because of the extent to which I experienced annihilation of the nafs in this world. The more you travel to Allah the more you approach His heart, Rasul Allah (saws) was Allah’s beloved, the first to open Allah’s heart for humanity and that is where His intention is.
When you remove yourself from existence (this is a figure of speech) you open your heart to the subatomic forces of the universe moving things from the background, these forces Allah calls His hand in the universe;

“Among His signs are [the fact] that the sky and earth HOLD FIRM at His command” (30:25)

“And the sky was built by Us with might; and indeed, We are the expanders (of it).” (51:47)

When nothing is between you and Allah you come to see Allah and the closer you are the more He shows and gives to you, after completing my path this is what I was given, “According to your intention Ya Allah”.

This is something I am teaching you, when you want to do good for the sake of Allah, say, According to your intention Ya Allah and remove yourself from the act, this is the greatest intention you can have when doing anything.

Shaykh Rami Al Rifai.

Allah’s Beloved

Bismillahi rahmani raheem, assalamu alaikum

“Allah gives according to people’s actions and I received this because of the extent to which I experienced annihilation of the nafs in this world. The more you travel to Allah the more you approach His heart, Rasul Allah (saws) was Allah’s beloved, the first to open Allah’s heart for humanity and that is where His intention is.”

Rasul Allah (saws) was Allah’s beloved, entirely devoted to Allah, because of this He (saws) said to Abu Bakr (saws) He (saws) can only take Him (as) as a friend and can not bring Him (as) closer, this was not the case from others in the Ummah who would come after, if they are the Prophets (saws) beloved they are Allah’s beloved as well.

The Messenger of Allah [sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam] said: “Some people will come on the Day of Judgement and their Iman will be outstanding, it’s light will shine from their chests and from their right hands.

So it will be said to them, ‘Glad tidings for you today, Assalamu ‘alaikum and Goodness for you, Enter into it (Jannah) forever!’

So the Angels and the Prophets will be jealous of the Love of Allah for them.”

So the Sahabah asked, “Who are they, Ya Rasoolullah?”

He [sallahu ‘alayhi wasalam] replied, “They are not from us and they are not from you. You are my companions but they are my beloved. They will come after you and will find the Book (the Qur’an) made redundant by the people, and a Sunnah which has been killed by them. So they will grab hold of the Book and the Sunnah and revive them.

So they read them and teach them (the Qur’an and the Sunnah) to the people and they will experience in that path a punishment more severe and more ugly than what you (O Sahabah) have experienced.

Indeed the Imaan of one of them is equivalent to the Imaan of forty of you.

The Shaheed of one of them is equivalent to forty of your Shuhadaa’. Because you found a helper towards the truth (in the Prophet) and they will find no helper towards the truth….Then he [sallahu ‘alayhi wasalam] said, “O Allah, give them the Nussrah and make them my close friends in Jannah.”

Musnad al-Imam Ahmad, chain no. 77, Hadeeth no. 17561.

Shaykh Rami Al Rifai.