Sufi Secret of Secrets | Abdul Qadir Jilani | Chapter 1

Added: 2026-05-03

[00:00:06]This is the first in a series. The book is called the Sir al-Asrar.

[00:00:13]The secret of secrets.

[00:00:18]>> [music] >> It was written in Baghdad 900 years ago by Abdul Qadir al-Jilani.

[00:00:28]One of the most powerful Sufi masters who ever lived, called in his own lifetime [music] the sultan of the friends of God.

[00:00:39]It has been translated [music] and brought forward for you fresh.

[00:00:46]Jilani had a relationship with Khidr.

[00:00:51]The hidden guide who appears in the Quran walking alongside Moses.

[00:00:57]The one who comes [music] when there is nowhere else to turn.

[00:01:02]There is something the Sufi tradition does not advertise.

[00:01:06]For centuries, seekers without a living teacher have turned [music] to Jilani and found him present, speaking, correcting, walking with them.

[00:01:20]Few know this is possible.

[00:01:26]Dear friend, your heart [music] is a polished mirror.

[00:01:32]You must wipe it clean of the dust that has gathered upon it.

[00:01:38]Because it is destined [music] to reflect the light of the divine secrets, the asrar.

[00:01:46]When the light of the one who is nur al-samawati wal-ard, the light of the heavens and the earth, begins to shine upon the regions of your heart, the lamp of the heart will be lit.

[00:02:03]The lamp of the heart sits within a glass, and the glass is as a brightly shining [music] star.

[00:02:14]Then, within that heart, the lightning shaft of divine discovery [music] strikes.

[00:02:23]The shaft comes from the thundercloud of meaning that is neither of the east nor of the west. [music] Lit from a blessed olive tree, so pure, so transparent, that it [music] sheds light though fire has not touched it.

[00:02:41]Then the lamp of wisdom, hikma, is lit by itself.

[00:02:48]How can it remain unlit when the light of the divine secrets shines upon it?

[00:02:56]If even the light of the asrar falls on that heart, the night sky [music] of secrets is lit with thousands of stars, and by the stars you find your way.

[00:03:08]It is not the stars that guide us.

[00:03:11]It is the light behind the stars.

[00:03:16]If only this lamp is kindled in your inner self, the rest will come.

[00:03:22]Some all at once, >> [music] >> some a little at a time.

[00:03:26]You will know some of it already.

[00:03:28]>> [music] >> Some I will tell you here.

[00:03:32]Read. Listen.

[00:03:34]Try to understand.

[00:03:39]The dark sky of unconsciousness will be lit by the divine presence and by the peace and beauty of the full moon rising from the horizon, shedding light upon light. [music] Nurum ala nur.

[00:03:56]Ever rising, passing through its appointed stages [music] until it shines in glory in the center of the sky, dispersing the darkness of heedlessness.

[00:04:10]By the night [music] when it is still, by the glorious morning light, your night of unconsciousness will see the brightness of the day.

[00:04:21]Then you will breathe in the perfume of dhikr, remembrance.

[00:04:27]You will turn in tawba, repentance, in the early hours of the morning for the life you spent in sleep.

[00:04:39]You will hear the songs of the morning nightingales and hear them say, "They were in [music] the habit of sleeping but little by night, and in the hours of early dawn they were found praying for forgiveness." [music] Allah guides to the light whomever Allah wills.

[00:05:01]Then you will see from the horizon of divine reason >> [music] >> the sun of inner knowledge, ma'rifa, rising.

[00:05:11]It is your private sun.

[00:05:14]You are the one whom the real has guided.

[00:05:18]And you will understand the secret.

[00:05:20]It is not given to the sun [music] to catch up with the moon, nor can the night outstrip [music] the day.

[00:05:30]Each swims along in its appointed orbit.

[00:05:34]The knot will be untied.

[00:05:37]The veils, the hujub, will lift.

[00:05:41]The shells will shatter, revealing the fine beneath the coarse.

[00:05:49]The truth, al-haqiqa, will uncover her face.

[00:05:54]All this will begin when the mirror of your heart is cleansed.

[00:05:59]The light of the asrar will fall upon it.

[00:06:03]If you are willing, if you ask for the one from the one with the one.

[00:06:20]All praise belongs to al-haqq, the real, who is gracious [music] and merciful, in whose essence all knowledge is gathered, and from whose existence the cause of every existence [music] flows.

[00:06:37]The most valuable thing a human being can carry is hikma, wisdom.

[00:06:44]Only with wisdom can we know the one.

[00:06:47]Only with wisdom can we follow those who have been sent to [music] guide us.

[00:06:54]The wise are the pure servants whom Allah has chosen to receive the divine messages.

[00:07:01]They are the ones who stand closest, who carry what they have received, who speak to those who can hear.

[00:07:11]It is said the holders of wisdom are the heirs of the prophets.

[00:07:16]The inhabitants of the heavens [music] love them.

[00:07:19]The fishes in the seas praise them until the last day.

[00:07:25]It is said those of God's servants who truly know are those who fear.

[00:07:36]Some of my students asked me to prepare a book that would be enough for them.

[00:07:42]In answer to their wish and their need, I have prepared this short [music] one.

[00:07:49]May it heal them and you.

[00:07:54]I have called it Sir al-Asrar fi ma yahtaju ilayhi al-abrar, the secret of secrets of which the righteous are in need.

[00:08:05]In these pages I divulge what is real within the path.

[00:08:09]Everyone needs this.

[00:08:12]Listen to what I am telling you.

[00:08:19]>> [music] >> The first thing Allah created from the light of the divine manifestation [music] itself was the primordial soul, >> [music] >> the first light.

[00:08:37]In a hadith qudsi, a saying preserved from the real, the one speaks.

[00:08:45]"I created the primordial soul from the light of my own manifestation. [music] The first light is called by many names.

[00:08:56]It is called nur, light, because it was purified of the darkness hidden beneath the attribute of the divine might, jalal.

[00:09:11]It is called aql al-kull, the total intellect, because it saw and understood everything.

[00:09:22]It is called al-qalam, the pen, because it spread wisdom and poured knowledge into the realm of letters.

[00:09:32]The first light is the essence of all beings.

[00:09:37]It is the [music] beginning.

[00:09:39]It is the reality of the universe.

[00:09:43]From the first light Allah created all souls in the realm of first creation in the best of forms.

[00:09:54]The first light is the name of all humanity in Alam al-Arwah, the realm of souls.

[00:10:02]It is the source. [music] It is the home of each and everything.

[00:10:11]4,000 years after the creation of the first light, Allah created the heavenly throne, al-Arsh, from the eye of that light.

[00:10:23]From the throne, Allah created the rest of creation.

[00:10:30]Then the [music] souls were sent to descend.

[00:10:36]We made him descend [music] to the lowest of the low.

[00:10:45]The souls were sent from where they were created, from Alam al-Lahut, the ultimate realm where the divine essence manifests, the realm of unity of absolute being, down through the realm of the divine names, through the realm of causal intelligence and the total soul.

[00:11:09]In that realm, Allah clothed the souls in robes of light, and they were called the sultan souls.

[00:11:19]Clothed in light, they descended further to the realm of the angels.

[00:11:25]There Allah dressed them in [music] brilliant robes, and they became spiritual souls.

[00:11:33]Then they descended [music] again into the world of matter, of water and fire, earth and ether, and became human souls.

[00:11:45]And from that world, Allah created the bodies of flesh.

[00:11:50]From it, we created you, and into it, we [music] shall return you, and from it, raise you a second time.

[00:12:01]Then Allah commanded the souls [music] to enter into their bodies, and by the divine will, they entered.

[00:12:11]When I have completed him and breathed into him of my own soul, fall down before him.

[00:12:21]A time came when these souls began to bind themselves to the flesh.

[00:12:27]They forgot their source. They forgot their covenant, al-Mithaq.

[00:12:33]They forgot that when Allah created them in the realm of souls, the one had asked them, Alastu bi Rabbikum?

[00:12:42]Am I not your Lord?

[00:12:45]And they had answered, Bala, indeed.

[00:12:50]They forgot their promise.

[00:12:52]They forgot where they came from.

[00:12:55]They forgot the way home.

[00:13:03]But Allah is merciful, the source of help and security for everything Allah makes.

[00:13:14]Seeing what had happened, the one had mercy.

[00:13:18]The one sent books.

[00:13:20]The one sent messengers. The one [music] sent teachers to remind the souls of where they came from.

[00:13:30]And we sent Moses with our messages, saying, Bring forth the people from darkness into light, [music] and remind them of the days of God, meaning, remind the souls of the days when they were in union with the one.

[00:13:52]Many teachers have [music] come into this world.

[00:13:55]They did their work. They passed away.

[00:13:59]And those who remembered, those who turned, those who [music] wanted to return, they have always been fewer than few.

[00:14:10]With every generation, the number thins.

[00:14:17]Then there came the one whose work was to wake the sleeping heart itself, Muhammad, al-Khatam, >> [music] >> the last of the messengers, the beloved, the mercy to all the worlds.

[00:14:31]The first light wearing the face of a man.

[00:14:35]He was sent into a world gone quiet, to open the eyes of the hearts of the heedless, to wake the souls from the sleep of ghaflah, unconsciousness, and to bring them back to the eternal beauty, to the cause, to the essence of the real.

[00:14:53]Say, this is my way.

[00:14:56]I call to Allah with the certainty of insight, I and those who follow me.

[00:15:03]The insight he spoke of, basirah, comes from the eye of the soul.

[00:15:08]This eye opens in the heart's heart of those who are close to Allah, who are awliya, the friends of the real.

[00:15:20]All the knowledge in the material world will not give you this sight.

[00:15:24]What is needed is a knowledge that overflows from the divine consciousness itself.

[00:15:30]Whom we had taught knowledge from our divine presence.

[00:15:34]This is ilm ladunni, knowledge from the divine presence.

[00:15:43]What you need is to find those whose eyes are open.

[00:15:47]Let them inspire you.

[00:15:52]A teacher who pours this knowledge into you must be someone close to the real, someone who can see into the ultimate realm.

[00:16:10]Children of Adam, brothers and sisters, wake up.

[00:16:18]Repent, tawbah, for through tawbah, you will be asking the one for hikmah.

[00:16:27]Make the effort. Strive.

[00:16:29]>> [music] >> Hasten to the forgiveness of your Lord, and to a garden as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who love and fear, who give in ease and in hardship, who restrain their anger, who pardon others.

[00:16:48]Enter the path, the tariqa.

[00:16:51]Join the caravan that is moving toward home.

[00:16:55]Soon the road will become impossible, and no traveling companion will be left.

[00:17:04]We did not come to this base world to rest.

[00:17:10]We were not sent here to eat, drink, [music] and defecate.

[00:17:16]The beloved is pained seeing what you have become.

[00:17:23]He knew what would come when he said, My pain is for my beloved people who will come in later times. [music] That was the opening of the Sirr al-Asrar, the secret of secrets.

[00:17:41]In the next chapter, [music] Gilani opens the geography of your own soul.

[00:17:48]The two selves living in one body.

[00:17:51]The three homes a soul can reach.

[00:17:55]The hidden friends of the real walking among ordinary people.

[00:18:00]And the one who has brought himself to nothing.

[00:18:05]After that, the metaphysics deepens, some of the deepest the tradition holds, and it only goes deeper from there.

[00:18:16]Subscribe so the next chapter finds you.

[00:18:18][music] Read it. Listen.

[00:18:21]Watch the series unfold as if Gilani came to help you directly.