International Islamic Center (ICC)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
كلمتان خفيفتان على اللسان ثقيلتان فى الميزان حبيبتان إلى الرحمن سبحان الله و بحمده سبحان الله العظيم
There are two words that are very easy to say, yet very heavy on the Scale, most beloved to The Merciful, “SubhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi ’l-`Azheem.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
How easy it is for us to spend our time saying, “SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi subhaanAllahi ’l-Azheem, Glory to The One Who is The Greatest, no comparison, He is The Absolute Existence,” we have no existence, we are leaving dunya, and Allah (swt) will say:
لِّمَنِ الْمُلْكُ الْيَوْمَ ۖ لِلَّـهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْقَهَّارِ
To whom is the Kingdom this Day? To Allah, The Unique, The Irresistible. (Surat Ghafir, 40:16)
Once Israfeel (a) has blown in the trumpet, Allah (swt) will manifest His Attributes on Earth and say to Himself, "To whom is the Kingdom today, the one who perishes or Me, The One who doesn't perish?" Allah (swt) likes those who glorify Him, and respect and honor Prophet (s) and his Family. That is what Allah wants from us, He doesn't need our prayers or fasting, He only wants us to declare. Of course we must do our obligations, but He doesn't need them, we need them for ourselves: prayer, fasting and Hajj are for our safety, to find it in Akhirah. Why are we reading these du`as? Awliya prepared everything ready for the Ummah to read and get the benefit. For example, what does this mean: "If I depend on anyone other than You, yaa Rabbee, in difficult days and times, and I didn't know that I didn't depend on you, forgive me." Allah (swt) likes us to depend on him in difficult days. That's why he said:
ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ
Call on Me, I will answer you. (Surah Ghafir, 40:60)
He will respond after you persist in your du`a. He might delay it or grant it immediately, or leave it for some time: He likes His servant to keep asking, Allah (swt) wants His servant to ask. For those who keep asking and don't depend on anyone other than Allah, He will open doors for them and make it easy. It may come in an indirect way, it doesn't come directly. Grandshaykh (q) said, “Keep asking.” When Awliya keep asking, it is their ticket to present you in front of Prophet (s), who presents you in the Divine Presence. How much Allah likes His servant to glorify Him, spending our time to glorify and thank Him!
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
If you thank Me, I will give you more. (Surah Ibrahim, 14:7)
For you it might be big, but it is easy for Him. Allah (swt) will give to you. Those who don't remember and glorify, Allah (swt) will leave them. We have to take examples from every action people are doing, and try to clear ourselves to learn. There is an idiom in the Middle East: min man t`allamt al-adab, qaal min qaleel al-adab, “They asked the person with perfect adab how he learned it and he said, ‘From the one who has bad adab, who jumps to spread false rumors. Whenever I saw someone saying something bad, I learned to avoid it and to respect everyone.’” Observe people when they do things in front of you, avoid what is bad and do what is good, then Allah will dress you the dress of taqwa.
If we say, “SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi” instead of spending time backbiting, is there a comparison? No! One tongue is praising Allah, one tongue is backbiting. For what? For a pleasure within themselves to backbite. Allah (swt) is Ghafoorun Raheem, yes, when you do something you are obliged to do according to Shari`ah, or you sinned by doing it, you ask for forgiveness and He will forgive, but if you harm your brother or sister, backbite them, on the Day of Judgement you are going to be muflis, bankrupt, you will have nothing according to the Hadith:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ أَتَدْرُونَ مَا الْمُفْلِسُ قَالُوا الْمُفْلِسُ فِينَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَنْ لَا دِرْهَمَ لَهُ وَلَا مَتَاعَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ الْمُفْلِسُ مِنْ أُمَّتِي مَنْ يَأْتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ بِصَلَاتِهِ وَصِيَامِهِ وَزَكَاتِهِ وَيَأْتِي قَدْ شَتَمَ هَذَا وَقَذَفَ هَذَا وَأَكَلَ مَالَ هَذَا وَسَفَكَ دَمَ هَذَا وَضَرَبَ هَذَا فَيَقْعُدُ فَيَقْتَصُّ هَذَا مِنْ حَسَنَاتِهِ وَهَذَا مِنْ حَسَنَاتِهِ فَإِنْ فَنِيَتْ حَسَنَاتُهُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُقْتَصَّ مَا عَلَيْهِ مِنْ الْخَطَايَا أُخِذَ مِنْ خَطَايَاهُمْ فَطُرِحَ عَلَيْهِ ثُمَّ طُرِحَ فِي النَّارِ . رواه مسلم والترمذ
The Prophet (s) said: Do you know who the muflis (bankrupt one) is? The muflis from my Ummah is one who comes on the Day of Judgment having performed prayer, fasting and giving zakaat. However, along with all of this, he abused this person and slandered that person, ate the wealth of this person and unlawfully spilled the blood of that person. These people will take from his good deeds. If, however, his good deeds become exhausted, then their sins will be put upon him and he will be thrown into the Fire. (Tirmidhi)
They said, “The one that has no wealth is the muflis.” Prophet (s) said, “No, the muflis is the one who has no `amal (good actions).” They said, “Even if he prays and fasts?” Prophet (s) replied, “Even if he prays and fasts. On the Day of Judgement he will stand in front of Allah (swt) with no `amal because of his backbiting.” When you backbite you have to ask forgiveness from the one you backbited. Today, what are people keeping their tongues busy with? Backbiting! They don't remember to say, “SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi,” and if we say that we enter Paradise! “There are two words that are very easy to say, yet very heavy on the Scale, most beloved to The Merciful.”
Do you want your Scale to be heavy to enter Paradise, or do you want it light with no `amal in it? Go and backbite as much as you like, and you will have no `amal! The one who spreads false rumors, Allah (swt) will not look at him on the Day of Judgement even if he fasts and prays, because Allah will ask the one who was oppressed, “Do you forgive your brother?” and he will say, "No I will not, I want my rights,” then Allah will say, “Take their hasanaat (from the one who oppressed you).”
Check yourself, audit yourself; everyone is afraid to do that but we will be audited in the grave. The angels will come and what will you say to them while you are sitting in your grave with your legs crossed, smoking? “Wait a minute, I backbited and I spread false rumors and made people fight.” What will they do with you?
Sayyida Nafisah at-Tahirah (r), the granddaughter of Prophet (s), well known in Egypt, was afraid of the day that will come on every person, the day of death, and what she will answer. She made a grave in her house, where she is buried, and every day after Fajr prayer she entered the grave to read Qur’an until sunrise, because when she will be buried there the noor of the Holy Qur’an will come on her. With this belief, Imam al-Shafi’i (r) visited her every day with his disciples and she taught him,“Spend your life in this way, this is what will count for you in Akhirah, not dunya.”
الدني جيفة و طلابها كلابها
The world is a carcass and those who seek it out are dogs.
Dunya is a carcass and those who run after it are dogs, animals, they want to snatch the meat, they are eating the raw flesh of your brothers and sisters.
وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ
And spy not on each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? No, you would abhor it. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:12)
Allah (swt) is saying in the Holy Qur’an, "Stop it!” and they say, “No, we don't stop, we are here.” Okay, we see you in the grave first, what are you going to see? Grandshaykh (q) said, “If one of Hoor al-Ayn from Heavens showed her finger to dunya everyone would faint from its nice scent and if Allah allows us to open the grave of a backbiter, the smell that comes from their dead body will make all people in dunya faint.” The first one makes people faint from the nice scent, and from the other everyone will die from his bad smell.
Prophet (s) said:
أَلَا أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِأَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ؟ كُلُّ ضَعِيفٍ مُتَضَعِّفٍ لَوْ أَقْسَمَ عَلَى اللهِ لَأَبَرَّهُ. أَلَا أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِأَهْلِ النَّارِ؟ كُلُّ عُتُلَ متكبر جَوَّاظٍ
Shall I inform you about the people of Paradise? (They will be) every weak and oppressed person. When he swears by Allah, he fulfills his oath. Shall I inform you about the people of Hellfire? (They will be) every arrogant person who claims to be knowledgeable. (Bukhari and Muslim)
Of course people want to know, what did he say? He said, “Kullu da`eefin mutada`if, everyone who humbled himself to the point that he doesn't exist,” he has no ego, no pride, he sits, listens, learns adab from people, avoids bad people. Ahlu ‘l-Jannah are the people who are completely annihilated in the love of Prophet (s) and his family (a) and Awliya, “But every proud person who doesn't understand anything and claims he knows something is from the people of Hellfire, kullu mutakabbirin jawwaazh.”
Why do people backbite today? Because from jealousy they claim they know more than others, then those who repeat it fall in the same ocean from repeating the backbiting and spreading false rumors. Allah (swt) will take revenge for the oppressed one as He doesn't like anyone to expose anything unless he has been oppressed. Today, avoid oppressing others; if you are upset about something keep it to yourself, don't oppress the others by backbiting.
This is the month of Rajab. When Prophet (s) went on Mi`raaj, he was on a level where he was able to hear Sareer al-Aqlaam, the Scratching of the Pen on the Paper. With technology, you can hear the magnetic waves that the Pen is scratching. Prophet (s) was able to hear the Pen writing. He didn't say one pen, he said, ‘aqlaam,’ an infinite number of pens in that place where angels are writing what is good and bad. With Prophet’s (s) du`a for his Ummah, Allah (swt) forgave their sins. Prophet (s) was able to understand what every pen was writing, which means at the same time he was listening and hearing all the pens and the different writings, he could understand the good and bad of what they were writing. That happened in Mi`raaj. What Allah (swt) opened for him, the mind of Awliya cannot express: to hear every pen by itself separately at the same time, not overlapping each other. What kind of power Allah (swt) gave him! Be happy that Allah (swt) made us from Ummat an-Nabi (s) and don't backbite! It's like a retired man and lady over a hundred years of age sitting at home backbiting:
He says, “How are you darling, what is our neighbor doing today?”
She answers, “Yes darling, our neighbor is cursing or petting his dog.”
This is what they do when they retire, they have no work to do, they sit at home and backbite. Be careful from that age, the Age of Backbiting. Grandshaykh (q) prohibited us to mention something that happened only two hours ago, so even if it's true and you heard it well don't mention it, don't bring it back!
People today like fitna and like to create confusion, for what? Hasad. Be happy with what Allah gave to you. If you are really Muslim, don't look at what people have, don't look up, look under you, look at homeless people, Allah (swt) didn't make you homeless: look at what Allah gave to you and not to them, that's what you need to do, not to look at them with disgust.
What is the issue, you don't like it? Leave it and say ‘laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billah,’ don't put your finger there and burn it for nothing. May Allah forgive us, especially in this month of Rajab, we forgive everyone that hurt us or not.
du`a of Grandshaykh (q): “Yaa Rabb al-`izzati wa ’l-jabaroot, in this month I am walking toward the Ocean of Wahdaaniyyah, let me go through, Maqaam al-Fanaa Feek, the Level of Annihilation in Your Love, I don't want to love anyone but You, until I reach the Unique Level, the level behind Prophet (s). In this month in which I am coming to You as a guest, I want to do something not for the reward, like Rabia al-Adawiyyah said, ‘I worship You because I love You, I don't want anything in return.’"
Grandshaykh (q) said in the du`a, “Yaa Rabbee, we have the intention to do something, not to be rewarded, we want to do it for You. I am confessing, I spent my life in bad ways, I confirm my 'amal is not accepted, but yaa Rabbee I am coming to You, forgive me and dress me. I want to renew my Shahadah and become a new Muslim in every moment of my life. If I didn't do it in the past, I want to keep saying the Shahadah all my life. To You is my life, my death, everything yaa Rabbee. All of that I have done in dunya I present it to You through Prophet (s), to forgive me and clean me. Don't ask me, because I cannot answer, I am helpless. Yaa Rabbee if you have two doors, one for mu'min and one for those who commit sins, I know I have to go through the second door, telling myself I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. Whatever I promised on the Day of Promises, I am accepting and planning to do it until I die, if I am not able, my niyyah is there, keep us on Siraat al-Mustaqeem.”
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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