THE BREATH OF THE BELOVED

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

(أَلَآ إِنَّ أَوۡلِيَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ يَحۡزَنُونَ)

“Indeed, the friends of Allah shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.”
[Yūnus: 62]

Indeed, it is a verse that evolves within us as mureedeen journeying through
the path of love and remembrance.

There comes a point in life where a series of events begin to reshape a person from within.
And because of those changes, one may enter a state of uncertainty, restlessness,
and the loss of inner stillness.

The journey towards the straight path
slowly turns into wandering.

The soul begins to play
what I once called
“the numbers game”
searching for a way to feel whole again,
as though life itself
must begin all over.

As one begins settling for passing satisfactions,
the soul slowly weakens beneath the weight of forgetfulness.

And the more we chase these momentary comforts,
the more we begin to realize
that life itself is constantly changing.
I know I did…

In such moments, I return back to the simplest teachings of my Beloved Murshid Kareem (RA)

The teachings that were passed to him by his Beloved Murshid.

There is a plant known as the bamboo tree.

From this bamboo, the flute is formed.

A wind instrument which, as Murshid Kareem once described,
becomes a voice for the soul’s longing to reunite with its Creator.

Every bamboo grows differently.
Each carries its own shape,
its own measure,
its own stories.

And even if two flutes are carved in the exact same way,
their melodies will still differ slightly from one another.

Yet despite their differences,
they serve the same purpose.

My dear souls,
we are that tree,
and we are that flute.

For just as we all came from Adam (AS),
we too carry different measures,
different stories,
and different ways of perceiving life.

And by the grace of God
we all share the same destination:

Returning to Allah ﷻ.

And the most beautiful part of this journey
is the One who shapes the flute
and breathes life into its melody.

That is none other than the spiritual guide—Beloved Murshid Kareem.

A true musician understands his instrument.
He knows where to soften it,
where to hollow it,
where to place his fingers,
and how to draw from it the melody it was always meant to carry.

And as true Awliya of Allah,
connected through the beautiful Prophetic lineage of divine light and love,
they nurture within the sālik the hidden potential Allah ﷻ has already placed there.

The Murshid does not create the light within the seeker.
Rather,
he helps remove the layers
that prevented the heart from witnessing
what was always present.

As the Spiritual Mentor breathes within the flute,
the voice of remembrance begins to emerge,
and the Divine light and Attributes of Allah ﷻ slowly but surely illuminate the inner being.

The question now becomes:

Why do we allow such hits to take place within our journey?

Why must the soul go through the process of being hollowed and slowly formed into a flute?

One owes it to oneself to discover the reason.

Because the journey of remembrance
can be difficult,
yet deeply rewarding.

For the human being carries both:

the possibility
of falling lower than the ego,

and the possibility
of rising beyond angels.

For the hollowing of the flute
is not meant to destroy the bamboo,
but to awaken the melody hidden within it.

Thus, your reason must become deeply anchored (رَاسِخ) within your heart,
so that when the hits arrive,
they do not shake your direction,
but instead deepen your surrender.

For without anchoring oneself in the remembrance of Allah ﷻ,
the storms of life can easily cause the traveler to lose sight
of why he began the journey in the first place.

Therefore, I question once more:

What is your why?

And why place your trust in the hand of the Beloved?

Perhaps because amidst everything that is constantly changing,
the human being endlessly longs for what is everlasting.
For stillness.
For peace.
For something that does not perish.

And so, the heart returns to the Divine Words:

أَلَاۤ إِنَّ أَوۡلِيَاۤءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَیۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ یَحۡزَنُونَ

“Indeed, the friends of Allah shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.”

ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ یَتَّقُونَ

“For those who believe and are conscious of God,”

لَهُمُ ٱلۡبُشۡرَىٰ فِی ٱلۡحَیَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡیَا وَفِی ٱلۡـَٔاخِرَةِۚ لَا تَبۡدِیلَ لِكَلِمَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلۡفَوۡزُ ٱلۡعَظِیمُ

“For them there is glad tidings in this worldly life and in the Hereafter. There is no changing the Words of Allah. That is truly the supreme triumph.”

Dear loving souls,

With everything in life constantly changing, from love, relationships, health, careers, and even the identities we once thought would remain forever.

Everything in this life carries an expiration.

Jibreel (AS) once said to Rasool Allah ﷺ:

أَحْبِبْ مَنْ شِئْتَ فَإِنَّكَ مُفَارِقُهُ

“Love whoever you wish, for surely you and the other shall part.”

And as one grows older,
the weight of these words begins to unfold differently within the heart.

Therefore, do it for the One thing that does not change.

The One Reality that remains with you regardless of which realm you pass through.

And no matter how deeply the hits of life may wound the flute,
know deep within yourself
that the truest victory has always been Allah ﷻ.

And I sincerely say this from the depths of my soul,
that realization alone was what carried me through my darkest nights,
gazing at the infinite sky,
knowing somewhere within the quiet whisper:

فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ
“Indeed, I am near.”

[Al-Baqarah: 186]

Allah knows what you are going through.
Yet through every hit,
every hollowing,
and every moment of uncertainty,
He wishes to unveil to you the beauty of His Mercy (رَحْمَة).

And the more we surrender to these beautiful transformations,
we slowly enter the station described in the Hadith Qudsi:

“When I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely give him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely grant him refuge.”

And somewhere within this path,
the embracing of such hits begins to take place,
because the soul simply knows.

I recall a moment while praising my Beloved Murshid Kareem (RA),
when with such humility and gentleness,
he softly replied with a loving smile:
“I am nothing but a flute through which the presence of my Murshid breathes.”

What a sacred form of love and devotion that is.

And perhaps this is what every sālik is truly seeking through
the unseen journey of remembrance and truth.

For within this path,
one encounters fears,
uncertainties,
and the weight of inner storms.

And in such darkness,
a Mentor becomes among the greatest of blessings:

One who allows the traveler to hold his hand,
and walks with him through the infinite paths of divinity,
to show him the way to Allah ﷻ.

For what we, as sālikeen, are truly striving for
is to walk in the footsteps of the Awliya of Allah (the Friends of God).

Because they are the ones who most closely walked in the footsteps of Rasool Allah ﷺ.

And the footsteps of Rasool Allah ﷺ
are the path that leads Home.

It leads to peace.
It leads to truth.
It leads to you.

And ultimately…

It leads to Allah.