Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
29 July 2013 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Fajr Suhbah
A’oodhu billah mina 'sh-shaytani 'r-rajeem.
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
As-salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.
O Muslims! Brothers and sisters, wherever you are, may Allah bless you in this morning. As we said before, dhikrullah is the most important aspect of Islam or principle of Islam because every `amal we do is dhikrullah. Like we pray, it is dhikrullah; tawheed, saying, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah,” is dhikrullah; zakaat is dhikrullah; sadaqa is dhikrullah. When you give them zakaat or sadaqa, charity, it makes people thank Allah and so you get the reward of what they are saying and what they are saying is more valuable than what you gave, but giving is the cause for them to say to you, “Shukran, yaa Allah!” because they are in need and your charity came to them and they are very happy.
And we have experience in this issue, when you distribute to areas where there are wars, disasters, or epidemics in Africa, you give these provisions to them, food in boxes, and they praise Allah and pray for the person who gave them, so you get a reward and they get a reward and it is dhikrullah. Hajj is dhikrullah. So every `amal that is good `amal, if the `amal is for Allah (swt) it is considered dhikrullah, and every `amal that is an obligation on us is considered dhikrullah.
Imam Ahmad (r) mentioned in his Musnad that Prophet (s) said:
إِنَّ مِمَّا تَذْكُرُونَ مِنْ جَلاَلِ اللَّهِ التَّسْبِيحَ وَالتَّهْلِيلَ وَالتَّحْمِيدَ يَنْعَطِفْنَ حَوْلَ الْعَرْشِ لَهُنَّ دَوِيٌّ كَدَوِيِّ النَّحْلِ تُذَكِّرُ بِصَاحِبِهَا أَمَا يُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ - أَوْ لاَ يَزَالَ لَهُ - مَنْ يُذَكِّرُ بِهِ
Inna mimma tadhkuroona min jalaalillaahi ‘t-tasbeeha wa ‘t-tahleela wa ‘t-tahmeeda yan`atifna hawl al-`arshi lahunna dawiyyu ka-dawiyyu ‘n-nahli tudhakkaru bi saahibihaa amaa yuhibbu ahadukum an yakoona lahu aw laa yazaala lahu man yudhakkaru bih.
The Messenger of Allah (s) said, "What you mention of Allah’s Glory, of tasbeeh (subhaanAllah), tahleel (Allahu Akbar) and tahmeed (alhamdulillah), revolve around the Throne buzzing like bees, remembering the reciter. Wouldn't any one of you like to have or continue to have something that remembers him (in the Presence of Allah)? (Sunan Ibn Majah)
“Whatever you are remembering of Allah (swt), whatever you are saying, praising Allah by tahmeed, takbeer, tamed, tahleel, whatever you choose,”--and there are too many ways of adhkaar, awraad, too many ways of remembrance that Prophet (s) has mentioned, and we have mentioned many of them before, this might be the last session on dhikrullah, so whatever we mentioned of tasbeeh, tahmeed, takbeer, tahleel, tamjeed, tawheed, `azhamatullah `azza wa jalla, as Prophet (s) said all of them come together, they are alive. They are alive! When you mention Allah’s Words they are alive. Our words are dead, but Allah’s Words from Holy Qur'an and Holy Hadith are alive. So they come together, yan`atifna, and they arrange themselves into something like bees in the hive, how they come together and they come together all of them hawl al-`arsh, around the Throne, al-`Arsh.
وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاو ;َاتِ وَالأَرْضَ
Wasi`a kursiyyuhu ‘s-samaawaati wa ‘l-ard.
His Throne extends over the Heavens and the Earth. (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:255)
The Throne is different from Kursiyy, `Arsh is different. “Kursiyy” in Arabic is the Chair that you cannot describe, except Allah described it in Holy Qur’an as wasi`a kursiyyuhu ‘s-samaawaati wa ‘l-ard, “His Chair contained Heavens and Earth,” the whole universe is contained in the Chair, the Chair is bigger than that, so imagine then His Throne, what do you think about the Throne, His `Arsh? How big is it? The Chair takes into it everything created, but it does not take Allah into it, everything Allah created is contained in the Chair, so what do you think about the Throne? Allah (swt) overpowered the Throne, Allah istawa `ala al-`arsh:
الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى
Ar-Rahman `ala 'l-`arsh istawaa.
The Most Gracious is firmly established on the Throne (of authority). (Surat TaHa, 20:5)
Allah “overtook” the Throne; the Throne cannot overtake Allah and Allah sits on it, like someone sitting on a throne! If you explain it like that, you went out of Islam, because Allah cannot be contained, not by the Throne, not by the Chair! Allah took over the Throne, bestowed on the Throne, istawaa `ala ‘l-`arsh, bestowed...this is from tawheed, that Allah did not “take over” the Throne, not sitting nor standing, but the `Arsh was already contained by this bestowing of Allah (swt). So the tasbeeh, tamjeed, tahmeed, tahleel, this dhikr will be circumambulating the Throne and they all come together, yan`atifna hawl al-`arsh, connect together and lahunna dawiyyu ka-dawiyyu ‘n-nahl, and they have a sound like bees, an-nahl, like the sound of bees at the hive and you are afraid to approach them, you are worried to approach them as they might sting you quickly, so you cannot approach them. So these tasabeeh, nothing can approach them as they circumambulate the Throne and the angels can hear their lahunna dawiyyu, buzzing and humming, their sound like buzzing and humming of bees. They are making their tasbeeh there and they will rise up by angels when you are reciting and they let them free around the Throne.
Lahunna dawiyyu ka-dawiyyu ‘n-nahli tudhakkaru bi saahibihaa. What are they busy with? When you are busy here on Earth with your tamjeed, tasbeeh, takbeer, tahleel, tamjeed, then they are busy reciting that and at the same time they are mentioning through their circumambulation of the Throne the name of the individual who has made that tasbeeh on Earth. And, alaa yuhibbu ahadukum an yakoona lahu aw laa yazaala lahu man yudhakkaru bih, “Do you not like to recite and be mentioned in the Presence in Heavens, and being your words…” because they are live words circumambulating the Throne. And in another hadith, in another athar, in another saying:
وقد جاء اثر معناه أن العبد المطيع الذاكر لله تعالى إذا أصابته شدة أو سأل الله تعالى حاجة قالت الملائكة يا رب صوت معروف من عبد معروف والغافل المعرض عن الله عز وجل إذا دعاه وسأله قالت الملائكة يارب صوت منكر من عبد منكر
al-`abd al-mut`iy adh-dhaakir lillaahi ta`ala, idhaa asaabathu shidattan aw sallAllahu ta`ala bi haajatin, qaalati’l-malaa’ikata Rabbee sawtun ma`roof min `abdin ma`roof….
If the devout, obedient servant who is always remembering Allah is suddenly in difficulty and asks Allah help in his need the angels say: O Lord! The well-known voice of a well-known servant.’”
For example, he became ill and suddenly needs an operation, that is a difficulty, or who was wealthy and suddenly got bankrupted, that is a difficulty, or a family member suddenly died, or anything that is a difficulty, and he is one of the ones who remembers Allah (swt), who is doing dhikrullah so much, so you cannot say, “O! We do dhikrullah so why are we in difficulty?” No, Allah sent difficulty to raise you up!
The Prophet (s), with his endless superiority over all human beings, Allah gave him difficulties in his life. Who is the Best of Creation? Who is the one whose name you mention and you go to Paradise? When you mention “Muhammad” (s), that word alone, when you mention Muhammad the Prophet, and many people’s names are Muhammad, they enter Paradise without account.
Prophet (s) said:
أفضل الأسماء ما عبد وما حمد
Afdalu ’l-asmaa maa `ubbid wa maa hummid.
The best names are the ones which indicate servanthood or praise of Allah.
The best of names are maa `ubbid wa maa hummidd, those which begin with “`abd,” and those that praise Allah, and also Muhammad.” You go to Paradise with no account (if you have those names). So when you change your names, change to “`Abd ar-Rahman” or any of the Beautiful Names and Attributes, and also “Muhammad.”
So when you make dhikrullah and you encounter a problem, don’t you ask Allah, “Yaa Rabbee! Take that difficulty away,” and your tongue is pure because you are always busy with dhikrullah and with what we said: SubhaanAllah w ’alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w ’Allahu Akbar wa laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billahi 'l-`Aliyyu 'l-`Azheem. Now what happened? When you say any tasbeeh that Prophet (s) has mentioned to us, every `amal is being raised to the Divine Presence by the angels! The angels take your du`a to the Heavens because you are a dhaakir, someone who is always remembering his Creator.
How much lovely is it when your son calls you and runs to you? So how much lovely is it when the `abd runs to his Lord? Does Allah like that or not? Yes! And run to Him by thanking Him and praising Him. How much will Allah dress him with different Manifestations of Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes? Allah is generous, not like us, not like His servants. Allah will give with no account. Take! If He gives you from His Treasures, His Treasures never end. He is the Creator of Treasures. If He gives you one treasure, what is the problem? If He gives you ten treasures, if He keeps giving you to infinity, is there any problem? Does He have a shortage of rewards? No, no! Look at what Greatness Allah gave us through his Prophet (s), the Best of Creation!
So the angels will raise your pure `amal since your tongue is pure, because it is busy in dhikrullah. Because if you don’t do dhikrullah your tongue will go somewhere else, maybe it gets busy in gheeba and nameema, in backbiting and spreading false rumors and accusations, speaking on this one, on that one, and your tongue goes so much stretched! Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, used to say that the tongue of human beings can be stretched all the way to backbite Sayyidina Adam (a), not just enough to backbite those around him, but he will go to the deceased ones too, all the way to Sayyidina `Adam (a)! So if your tongue is not busy with dhikrullah, then it is going to be busy with everything that Allah doesn’t like.
Allah likes tamjeed, tahleel, takbeer, tasbeeh and Allah likes salawaat of the Prophet (s) and Allah likes any poetry on love of the Prophet (s), because Prophet (s) did approve poetry in a decent language, but Allah does not like gheeba and nameema. Gheeba is to speak behind the back of your brother and nameema to create a story that is not true and then they spread it like a sickness, it’s a virus between people. They used to say viruses are between human beings, but now they say there are viruses between computers. What is that virus? And it is contagious. That computer has a virus in it? Allahu Akbar. So don’t let your tongue to have a virus.
So keep your tasbeeh and angels will raise your du`a to relieve your difficulty. And they say, Yaa Rabbee sawtun ma`roof, “Yaa Rabbee! This voice is known here in the Divine Presence and we are familiar with that voice.” `Ajeeb. How did they knew that voice? Min `abdin ma`roof, “from a servant that is known to us.” As that servant is making dhikrullah a lot and angels are always raising that dhikrullah to the Throne and it is circumambulating the Throne like bees around their hive, because where do these words belong? Tasbeeh of subhaan-Allah, alhamdulillah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, Allahu Akbar, salawaat on Prophet (s), were do they have to go, where is the best place for them, where do they belong? They belong to Allah (swt)! So they go to the `Arsh and the angels say, “We know them, we heard this sound, we know this person,” and they can identify everyone person-by-person by his dhikrullah!
Look how important it is to do dhikrullah, and some people come to you and say it is “bid`a, kufr, shirk, you make too much salawaat on the Prophet (s) and that is shirk, haraam!” They say that, although this is from their books that I am speaking. We use their books as it is evidence against what they are saying.
So they say, “Yaa Rabbee! This sound is known to us and this servant is known to us,” and they raise his `amal and offer it to Allah (swt) and for sure Allah will relieve that servant of his problem. And the one who is ghaafil and is heedless of these benefits and turns away from Allah (swt), and only when he is in difficulty then he calls on Allah (swt) and he asks Allah (swt), the angels say, “Yaa Rabbee sawtun munkar, “Yaa Rabbee! That is an unknown voice.” It is, inna ankara ‘l-aswaati la-sawtu 'l-hameer, “a disliked sound.”
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
وَلَا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَمْشِ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍوَاقْصِدْ فِي مَشْيِكَ وَاغْضُضْ مِن صَوْتِكَ إِنَّ أَنكَرَ الْأَصْوَاتِ لَصَوْتُ الْحَمِيرِ
Wa laa tusa`ir khaddaka li ‘n-naasi wa laa tamshi fi ‘l-ardi marahan inna ‘Llaha laa yuhibbu kulla mukhtaalin fakhoor. Waqsid fee mashyika wa’ghdud min sawtika inna ankara ‘l-aswaati la-sawtu 'l-hameer.
And swell not your cheek at men (from pride), nor walk in insolence through the Earth, for Allah loves not any arrogant boaster, and be moderate in your pace and lower your voice, for verily the harshest of sounds without doubt is the braying of the donkey. (Surat Luqmaan, 31:18-19)
“Don’t walk with arrogance and pride. You are not going to penetrate through Earth to Heavens whatever you are doing, and remember the worst of voices is that of donkeys.” It means you are a donkey, and a donkey does not know anything except, “Hee haa!” That’s it, is there anything else? So that `abd all his life doesn’t remember Allah (swt); only when difficulty comes, then he remembers Allah. Tayyib, why are you not doing your obligations and remembering Allah (swt) in your daily life, but only when you have a difficulty? And so angels say (his supplication is), “A strange and disliked voice from a strange and disliked servant; he is not familiar to us, he is not humming and buzzing with us around the Throne, circumambulating the Throne, praising You, O Our Lord.”
It is said in hadith marfu`an, a hadith from Mu`adh (r) in marfu` hadith, meaning many people mentioned it from the Prophet (s):
مَا عَمِلَ ابْنُ آدَمَ عَمَلاً أَنْجَى لَهُ مِنْ عَذَابِ اَللَّهِ مِنْ ذِكْرِ اَللَّهِ
Maa `amala ibnu Adama `amala anjaa lahu min `adhaabi ‘Llaahi min dhikru ‘Llaah.
A man does nothing to rescue himself from Allah’s punishment better than remembering Allah.
(Related by Ibn Abi Shaybah and at-Tabarani with a good chain of narrators)
The best that a servant of Allah can do of `amal, “the best” means Prophet (s) put it on the highest level, “There is no deed better for a servant to do when it is accepted that takes you away from Allah’s Punishment, than dhikrullah.” When you make dhikrullah, it is the best `amal you can do in your life as mentioned in Tabarani, Malik, Tirmidhi, `an Mu`adh marfu`an, which means a strong hadith as too many narrators mentioned it.
Dhikrullah is a cause that makes angels request that you will be manifested with Allah’s Sakeenah, His Tranquillity, to feel that peace in your heart when you do dhikrullah. That is why it is recommended through many shuyookh that when you do awraad to cover yourself with a white sheet, and to wear white clothes and a white `amaamah, turban, or white hat, and ladies wear a white scarf, wearing white and covering yourself with a white sheet, and doing dhikrullah. Then that dhikr will immediately absorb through your clothes leaving a heavenly smell! Awliyaullah, sometimes you are sitting and you smell a nice smell. That happens. Does that happen to anyone here? Raise your hands. That is the smell of a waliullah passing or an angel passing or a pious mu’min jinn passing. His clothes already absorbed that heavenly smell by his making too much dhikrullah, and his body and his clothes have absorbed that heavenly smell. White is the best to absorb these smells and to attract angels. That is one of highest of ways of dhikrullah.
So the Prophet (s) said, “Dhikrullah is the cause to bring sakeenah, tranquility down into your heart, and mercy, ar-Rahmah. That mercy will come over you and hufoofu ‘l-malaa`ikah, the circumambulation of angels around you,” or they touch you and you feel goose bumps, ra`sha or a shiver which has pleasure in it, ecstasy, by itself. That is a touch of an angel; it touched you while passing by you. This is hufoofu ‘l-malaa`ikah, when they come and touch you or rub you and then they go. That happens by dhikrullah as the Prophet (s) mentioned. So dhikrullah has too many benefits and I will summarize some without explaining:
SOME BENEFITS OF DHIKRULLAH
1) Yoorithuhu ‘l-mahabbah, it will bequeath to him love, give him Heavenly Love as an inheritance. That is `irth, to inherit from father or mother or someone. Heavens will inherit (bequeath) the Real Love into your heart when you do a lot of dhikr, then you get Allah’s Love:
ما يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها وإن سألني لأعطينه ولئن استعاذني لأعيذنه وما ترددت عن شيء أنا فاعله ترددي عن نفس المؤمن يكره الموت وأنا أكره مساءته ولا يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به، ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها،
Maa yazaalu `abdee yataqarabu ilayya bi’ n-nawaafil hatta uhibbah. Fa idhaa ahbaabtahu kuntu sama`uhulladhee yasma`u bihi wa basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, wa yadahulladhee yabtishu bihaa wa rijlahullatee yamshee bihaa.
My servant does not cease to approach Me through voluntary worship until I will love him. When I love him, I will become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he acts, and the legs with which he walks (and other versions include, “and the tongue with which he speaks.”). (Hadith Qudsi, Bukhari)
“My servant keeps approaching Me through voluntary worship until I love him,” so that is yoorith mahabbatullah, which means you will be blessed with Allah’s Love by showing him love, by approaching Him, and that is through voluntary worship and one of which is dhikrullah, and it is the Spirit of Islam.
2) Yoorithuhu ‘l-muraqabah, it will bequeath you with meditations, contemplation, muraqabah, tafakkur, by thinking, by thought. You will be inheriting all this. The power of muraqabah, because many people say, “We do muraqabah and we cannot connect to the Prophet (s) or to Ka`bah or to Haram an-Nabawi or with mashaykh,” and that is because of not doing enough dhikrullah. Do more dhikrullah in the way I described, when you sit under a white sheet, wearing white and doing dhikr of “laa ilaaha illa-Llah” or “Allah” and you will be dressed by muraqabah, it will open up.
3) Yoorithuhu ‘l-`inaabah, it will bequeath him with repentance to Allah, to come back to Allah (swt).
4) Yoorithuhu ‘l-qurba minhu, you will inherit the qurba, to be near Allah, to be approaching more and more.
5) Yoorithuhu fat-ha ‘l-abwaab, it will inherit (bequeath) to him all Doors to Paradise to open for him.
6) Yoorithuhu ‘l-haybah, He will dress you in the Beautiful Majestic Names.
7) Yoorithuhu hayaat al-qalb, it will bequeath you and dress you with a heart that is alive, the life of the heart, not to be dead heart.
8) Yoorithuhu lisaanu ‘l-faseeh, it will bequeath you to speak eloquently and to speak only religion and to speak the best for people and not cursing and shouting and lying and spreading what Allah doesn’t like.
9) Yoorithuhu qootu ‘l-quloob, It will bequeath you the food of the hearts.
10) Yoorithuhu qootu ‘r-rooh, it will bequeath him the food of the spirit.
And finally:
11) Yoorithuhu jalaa al-qalb, He will inherit the polishing of the heart. Of all he inherits, the final is polishing the heart, and all of these are treasures cannot be compared to dunya matters as these are all heavenly matters. They are living and you don’t know what you will get from doing that. So at the end they clear his heart from all kinds of rust that he has accumulated and darkness that he has veiled his heart with, and he extinguished the Light that Allah gave into his heart when he was born, because everyone is born on innocence so that Light is there and you don’t want that Light to be extinguished. So whatever you inherit is going to give you a way to polish your heart from the rust that went into it.
لأن أقول: سبحان الله، والحمد لله، ولا إله إلا الله، والله أكبر، أحب إلي مما طلعت عليه الشمس” ((رواه مسلم)).
Lain aqooloo subhaanAllah w‘alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w’Allahu Akbar, ahabbu ilayya mimma tala`at `alayhi ‘sh-shams.
It is mentioned in Sahih Muslim that Abu Hurayrah (r) related from the Prophet (s):The uttering of the words “SubhaanAllah w‘alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w’Allahu Akbar” is dearer to me than anything over which the sun rises. (Muslim)
“That to say, ‘SubhaanAllah w‘alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w’Allahu Akbar!’ is more dear to my heart and so lovely to me, more than any time in my day or in my life or whatever the sun shines on.” When the Sun comes with all its light and shines on it, all this is nothing compared to saying once, “SubhaanAllah w‘alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w’Allahu Akbar.”
It is enough, we will continue next time. Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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