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Love is the Bridge between Dunya and Akhirah

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

27 September 2016 Jakarta, Indonesia

National Meeting of Naqshbandiyya Nazimiyya Leaders

Minister of Social Affairs Auditorium

[Portions translated from Arabic]

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleen Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Yaa atbaa` Muhammad, antum ahbaab an-nabi, al-mureedeen ahbaab an-nabi, al-jamee` ahbaab an-nabi fi hadha al-qaa`ah.

In this hall, everyone is a lover of Prophet (s) and we do not have anyone to love except him (s) and Allah (swt). From His love to us and to Prophet (s), inshaa-Allah we will be in dunya and Akhirah with them! We are so honored and I am thanking every one of you for attending tonight, a holy night, the first night of Muharram.

`Unwaan as-suhbah al-mahabbah. The title of the lecture tonight is “Love,” which is the Door to Allah and the Door to Prophet (s). [Is it the love of Prophet (s)?] Of course, it is Nooru ’n-Nabi. I read on the poster, “Love is the Bridge to Everything,” and I say love is the bridge between dunya and Akhirah. Who loves his Creator, Allah (swt), Allah will love them; who loves the Prophet (s), Prophet (s) will love them; who loves the Sahaabah (r), the Sahaabah (r) will love them; who loves `Ulama, `Ulama will love them; who loves Awliya, Awliya will love them; who loves the Ummah of Prophet (s) for the sake of Prophet (s), Allah and His Prophet (s) will love them.

It is written there, “We must be united!” We must be united and we read the verse of Qur’an:

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ

Hold fast to Allah's rope and do not separate. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:103)

Allah said wa`tasimoo, and al-`isma to be ma`soom, infallible; Prophet (s) and all prophets are ma`soomeen, we are not, we sin, but prophets don’t sin and there is wisdom behind their actions. Allah is calling us and you like to respond to Him, yes? Then He is opening His Door to you. Why? Because He said, Wa`tasimoo, “If you come to Me, I will make you sinless, I will forgive your sins and give you protection, but on one condition: you have to hold tight to the rope of Allah!” wa`tasimoo bi habli ‘Llah, “That you run for `isma, to be infallible,” but we cannot! We are still struggling, but only prophets are ma`soomeen; however, Allah said, “Try to become less sinful by holding the rope of Allah,” which here means Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! We only find peace, sincerity and unity when all human beings come to Muhammad (s), because he is the rope from the Divine Presence and other than that, there is no way to see Prophet (s) or Allah on the Day of Judgement.

Allah sent His Habeeb to the Ummah. Allah (swt) made His Prophet (s) al-Mahboob, The One to Be Loved. All love is based on him, Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is love and if there is no love, no Prophet (s), there is no dunya. Allah created everything for Noor-i-Muhammad (s) and this is why He ordered us to love him. That’s why Allah (swt) revealed the verse, “Follow Muhammad and Allah will love you.”

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قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat Aali-'Imraan, 3:31)

“If you really claim you love Me, show Me! You cannot show it to Me by yourself, you have to come through Muhammad (s).” You cannot follow if you don’t love. Mashaa-Allah everyone here are lovers of Prophet (s). May Allah forgive us and bless us all. We are like the Bedouin from the desert who came to Prophet (s); we have no zaad, provision. We have no provision that we have saved in dunya to go to Allah (swt). That Bedouin knew he had no provisions and he came to Prophet when he (s) was giving Jumu`ah.

يَا نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ ، مَتَى السَّاعَةُ ؟ قَالَ : وَمَاذَا أَعْدَدْتَ لَهَا ؟ قَالَ : لا وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ ، مَا أَعْدَدْتُ لَهَا مِنْ كَثِيرِ صَلاةٍ وَلا صِيَامٍ ، إِلا أَنِّي أُحِبُّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ، قَالَ : فَأَنْتَ مَعَ مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ

A Bedouin came to the Prophet and asked, “When is the Hour?” He (s) said, “What have you prepared for it?” The Bedouin said, “By The One in Whose Hand is my soul, I have not prepared a lot of prayer or a lot of fasting for it, but truly I love Allah and His Messenger!” He (s) said, “You will be with who you love.” (Bukhari, Muslim)

Someone standing by the door, asking, “Yaa Rasoolullah, when is the Day of Judgement?” Prophet (s) did not answer because he was giving naseehah, and again the Bedouin asked, “Yaa Rasoolullah, when is the Day of Judgement?” He asked three times and then Jibreel (a) came and told Prophet, “Allah is saying to answer him.” So all of us are asking and like the Bedouin, we do not know anything. Why was the Bedouin asking? Like all of us, he was worried about how to face Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgement.

What do we depend on; is there anything to depend on? Yes, the answer is coming from Prophet (s). “What have you prepared? It is a long way to go.” Fourteen hundred years have passed since then and the Signs of the Last Days are now appearing.

Prophet (s) asked what he has prepared for the Signs of the Last Days and the Day of Resurrection. “What are you depending on?” What are we preparing? We are preparing something that is very important for us, all the mashayikh and habaa’ib that are here.

He said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, what I am preparing? I am not coming to you because I am praying and fasting a lot; that is something else, that is an obligation, I must show Allah (swt) my worshipness. I am not coming to you with my prayers and fasting, I am coming to you with something in my heart.”

[Translated from Arabic] O Muhammad! O Messenger of Allah! O Intercessor of the Sinful! O Beloved of the Most Merciful! O Intimate Friend of the Most Merciful! O our Beloved! O Messenger of Allah! Our preparation is your love. O Messenger of Allah! From here we supplicate you and call you in Madinat al-Munawwara. We supplicate you and call you. You are present with us and watching us, and you are with us in every time and place and every istighfaar, just as Allah (swt) said:

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا

If they had only, when they were unjust (oppressor) to themselves, come to you and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nisaa, 4:64)

So we come with our love to you, O Messenger of Allah! We seek forgiveness from Allah, so may He forgive us with your honor and the honor of your love, as the Bedouin said, “My preparation (for Akhirah) is your love, O Messenger of Allah!”

We are coming to Allah with love. Our preparation is love. Our provision and what we depend on, not on too much praying and fasting, but we depending on our love to you Muhammad (s)!

Make salawaat on the Prophet! O Allah, send peace and blessings on the Messenger of Allah! O Mercy of the Worlds, O Intercessor of the sinful, O First Creation of Allah and Light of His Creation, O Messenger of Allah!

Loving him is obligatory on every Muslim and Muslimah, on every mu’min and mu’minah, and on all servants of Allah (swt): they must love the Prophet (s)! If they don’t love the Prophet (s) they are outside of Islam. Our loving the Prophet (s) is what will save us.

How does it save you? It is what Prophet (s) told the Bedouin, that people will be resurrected on the Day of Judgement with the one they love. You love me, you will be with me. You love Muhammad, you will be with Muhammad (s).

يحشر المرء مع من أحب

Each person will be resurrected with the one he loves. (Tabarani)

When Prophet (s) said this, the Sahaabah (r) were very happy, jumping and saying, “Ana uhibbuka yaa Rasoolullah, wa anta mahboobee yaa Rasoolullah!” So be happy! Ask for the station of Mahabbat an-Nabi. How can we ask for that? Awliyaullah did not reach the Divine Presence except through Mahabbat an-Nabi: they are Ahbaab an-Nabi.

Allah wants His servants to love the Prophet (s) because it is the way of safety; the evidence and example is what he said to the Sahaabah (r):

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: إذا مررتم برياض الجنة فارتع. قالو وما رياض الجنة؟ قال "حلق الذكر"

Ibn `Umar reported that the Prophet (s) said: "When you pass by the Gardens of Paradise, avail yourselves of them." The Companions asked: "What are the Gardens of Paradise, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "The circles of dhikr.” (Tirmidhi)

‘Passing by the Gardens of Paradise’ has two meanings here: in dunya, the Sahaabah (r) were able to see their places in Jannah because of their love for Prophet (s). We only say, “We love you, yaa Muhammad,” but the Sahaabah (r) devoted their lives to him, they gave everything for the sake of Prophet (s), so Allah turned their dunya into Akhirah. When they sensed they did something incorrect, they ran to Prophet (s) to be purified. He was among them, he prepared them and raised them. We cannot be like them, but we follow them as they are our guides. Any Sahaabah (r) you follow will lead you to reach to safety.

أصحابي كالنجوم بأيهم اقتديتم اهتديتم

My Companions are like stars (on a dark night); whichever of them you follow, you will be guided.

(`Abd ibn Humayd, ad-Daraqutnee, ibn `Adiyy, ibn `Abd al-Barr, with unsound chains but the meaning is sound.)

We are not Sahaabah (r), they are, because they were with Prophet (s) and he raised their love to the highest level, which is why they reached their Paradise in dunya, but we cannot do that.

Love is very important in Islam: you cannot be Muslim without love to Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). If someone comes to the shaykh and out of love asks, “My wife is pregnant, pray for us,” or, “Pray for my children,” they are showing love to their family and that is good, but we are not showing enough love to Prophet (s). If you do that you will become a Wali, a Habaa’ib, who are not just descendants of Prophet (s), but include those who love Prophet (s), like Sayyidina Salman (r): although he was not from the Family (by blood or marriage), Prophet (s) said, “Salman is from us, Ahl al-Bayt.”

سلمان منا أهل البيت .

Salman is Us, from the Family (of the Prophet). (Al-Hakim, Tabarani)

With his immense love for Prophet (s), all his life Sayyidina Salman (r) searched for him. So if you want Prophet to make you from his Family, love him and when you sleep and wake up say, “I love you, yaa Muhammad!” This is why Prophet (s) said, “When you pass by the Gardens of Paradise on Earth, sit in them.” There are Gardens of Paradise on Earth and Sayyidina Muhammad (s) loves his Ummah so he is not depending on our love or deeds to benefit us. Our mahabbah to him is zero, actually minus infinity! We have to be plus, we have to show our love for the Prophet (s), who loves us directly and wants the shortcut for us, which is clear in this Hadith!

رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ دَعَا عَشِيَّةَ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ لأُمَّتِهِ بِالْمَغْفِرَةِ وَالرَّحْمَةِ ، فَأَكْثَرَ الدُّعَاءَ ، فَأَوْحَى اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ : إِنِّي قَدْ فَعَلْتُ ، إِلا ظُلْمَ بَعْضِهِمْ لِبَعْضٍ ، وَأَمَّا ذُنُوبُهُمْ فِيمَا بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهُمْ فَقَدْ غَفَرْتُهَا ، فَقَالَ : يَا رَبِّ إِنَّكَ قَادِرٌ عَلَى أَنْ تُثِيبَ هَذَا الْمَظْلُومَ خَيْرًا مِنْ مَظْلَمَتِهِ ، وَتَغْفِرَ لِهَذَا الظَّالِمِ ، فَلَمْ يُجِبْهُ تِلْكَ الْعَشِيَّةَ فَلَمَّا كَانَ غَدَاةَ الْمُزْدَلِفَةِ أَعَادَ الدُّعَاءَ ، فَأَجَابَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى : إِنِّي قَدْ غَفَرْتُ لَهُمْ " ، قَالَ : فَتَبَسَّمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، فَقَالَ لَهُ بَعْضُ أَصْحَابِهِ : يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ، تَبَسَّمْتَ فِي سَاعَةٍ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَتَبَسَّمُ فِيهَا ، قَالَ : " تَبَسَّمْتُ مِنْ عَدُوِّ اللَّهِ إِبْلِيسَ ، إِنَّهُ لَمَّا عَلِمَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى قَدِ اسْتَجَابَ لِي فِي أُمَّتِي أَهْوَى يَدْعُو بِالْوَيْلِ وَالثُّبُورِ ، وَيَحْثُو عَلَى رَأْسِهِ التُّرَابَ

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ supplicated for forgiveness and mercy for his Ummah on the night before `Arafah. Then Allah ﷻ revealed to him, “I have forgiven them except their oppression of each other. As for their sins between Me and them, I have forgiven them.” He said, “O my Lord, truly You are able to reward the oppressed one more than what he suffered of oppression and to forgive the oppressor.” He ﷻ did not respond that night. The following day at Muzdalifa he repeated the supplication and Allah ﷻ responded to him, “I have forgiven them.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ laughed and some of his Companions asked him, “O Messenger of Allah, you are laughing at a time you did not used to laugh?” He said, “I am laughing at the enemy of Allah, Iblees. When he heard that Allah had answered me, he fell down wailing and started throwing dirt on his head.” (Ibn Majah, Ahmad, Bayhaqi)

Prophet (s) makes du`a, it is accepted, then it is finished. He made du`a on Laylat al-`Arafah, “Yaa Rabbee, I want my Ummah. Forgive them, don't look at their sins!” Allah replied, “You want them, yaa Muhammad? I forgive them.” We were not even born yet, at that time only the Sahaabah (r) were living, but Prophet (s) was asking for them and us. “I want my Ummah! You promised me, wa la sawfa yu`teeka rabbuka fa tardaa, ‘I will give you until you are satisfied,’ and I want all of them.”

وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ

Your Lord will grant you so that you are satisfied. (Surat ad-Duha, 93:5)

When you are driving with a baby, you put her in a safety chair because you love her and want her to be safe. If you don't put her in a safety chair the police will ticket you and in some countries they might take your baby, saying, “You don't love your baby, but we love your baby.” Our safety is through Sayyidina Muhammad (s): he looks at us and he sees minus, but he wants to balance us and says,“Yaa Rabbee! I am not going to ask them to be better; I delivered the Message to them, but You are The Forgiver and if You forgive them I will be happy. You said, wa la sawfa yu`teeka rabbuka fa tardaa, ‘I will give you until you are satisfied,’ and I want all of them. So I am asking on Laylat al-`Arafah, yaa Rabb, forgive them, even the zhaalim.”

When Allah said, “I forgive all of them except the zhaalim,” that is us, we are zhaalim! Allah will forgive those who are not zhaalim, but wants to show His love to Sayyidina Muhammad (s). We have to know we are zhaalimun li nafsihi wa zhaalimun li ghayrihi, zhaalim to ourselves by sinning and zhaalim to others by backbiting.

Prophet (s) becomes sad because he wants all the Ummah, zhaalim or not, he wants everyone! Allah says, “No, I have to judge the zhaalim.” So that night Prophet (s) was sad; Abu Bakr and `Umar (r) watched him and his face was sad. They didn't sleep on Laylat al-`Arafah, and after Fajr Prophet (s) was laughing and smiling because he (s) was happy: something had happened.

They asked Prophet (s), “Yesterday we saw you sad and today we see you happy, why?”

Prophet (s) said, “I saw Iblees crying, cursing himself and throwing dirt on himself, because when I again asked, ‘Yaa Rabb what about the zhaalim?’ Allah said, ‘Because of you, yaa Muhammad, I am forgiving him!’”

The zhaalim is part of Iblees’ army and Allah cursed him, so we don’t want to be zhaalim and then Allah curses us. We want Allah to forgives us for the sake of Prophet (s). That is why Prophet (s) wants safety for the Ummah. He said in the Hadith, “When you pass by Gardens of Heavens, sit in them,” which means there are Gardens of Heaven on Earth and the best one is the Rawdah of Prophet (s):

ما بين قبري و منبري روضة من رياض الجنة

Between my grave and my pulpit is a garden from the Gardens of Paradise. (Bukhari and Muslim)

Every Muslim who goes to Madinah tries to pray two raka`ats there, but those who cannot travel there can go to a Garden of Paradise where they are and get be rewarded. So find these Gardens of Heavens that Prophet (s) told the Sahaabah (r) about, which aren’t just for them but for the whole Ummah!

Today, where can we find these Riyaad al-Jannah, Gardens of Paradise? Here is one! Why? Because when the Sahaabah (r) asked Prophet (s), he said, “You find them in hilaq adh-dhikr, circles of dhikr, they are a piece of Paradise,” which means Allah will dress all those who are here and watching on the Internet with blessings and rewards as if they are in Paradise!

Why do hilaq adh-dhikr become Rawdah min Riyaad al-Jannah? In the end of that long Hadith, a group of people sit and make dhikr of Allah and peace and love descend on them and and Allah says, “I sit with the one who remembers Me.”

أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي

[Allah said to the Prophet], I sit with him who remembers Me. (Hadith Qudsi. Ahmad, Bayhaqi)

Are we remembering Allah here or not? [Yes!] Are we praising Prophet (s) here or not? [Yes!] So that means Allah is sitting with us, supporting us, and giving us what no one else can get. Is it correct? [Yes!] Are you happy? [Yes!]

By praising Prophet (s), you will achieve love of Prophet (s) and love of Allah (swt), but Awliyaullah have a higher love. An example is Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q), one of the greatest scholars and a Wali of Allah, who even those who don't like Sufism respect his Sufi work. One of the biggest scholars, Ibn Taymiyya, acknowledged Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q). Although Ibn Taymiyya was controversial, he accepted Tasawwuf, and even acknowledged al-Junayd al-Baghdadi (q), Sirr as-Saqati (q), Rabi`a al-`Adawiyya (q) in his book Majmu` Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya al-Kubra.

Abu Yazpd (q) was so in love with Prophet (s), which in his heart made him go further and further towards the Divine Presence. He said, “Yaa Rabb, open Your door for me! Open Your door for me!” and struggled so much for Allah to open the door of M`arifat al-Haqaa’iq, until his heart received inspiration from an angel, “Do you want Me to open My Door to your heart? If you want Me--if you want Allah and His Prophet (s)--there is only one door. Itruk nafsaka wa ta`al, leave yourself and come. There is no two here, there is only One.”

Leave yourself completely, ghayyib nafsaka, completely kill your desire. You cannot be a Wali with desires. Your hate must be balanced: you must love everyone, even if they make mistakes. “Leave your ego and come to Me, your Creator. I will open My door to you through Sayyidina Muhammad (s).”

To reach the station of Divine Love is not easy: you must drop dunya from your eyes and your heart and devote them exclusively for Akhirah. But as long as we struggle, Prophet (s) and Allah are happy.

Salloo `alaa an-Nabi (s)! Allahumma salli wa sallim `alaa an-Nabi! Nujaddid `ijaazaatina wa baya`atana li ‘l-jamee` ma` an-Nabi wa ‘l-Awliya wa ‘s-Saaliheen.

Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

[Shaykh Hisham gives baya`.]

[The jama`ah reads Sayyid ad-Du`a.]

Someone asked me before I came here, “Why you don't shake hands with everyone?” as out of love, he wants me to touch everyone's hand. I respect his generous offer, but that would be too difficult. Allah gave us an example in everything in Shari`ah, which He gave to Prophet (s) to teach his Ummah. When you go to Mecca al-Mukarramah and make tawaaf and see it is crowded, what is the adab? You begin Tawaaf al-Qudoom from Baabu 's-Salaam, and the Sahaabah (r) reached the Ka`bah easily by saying, “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar!” then they touched Hajar al-Aswad three times and began tawaaf, and in every tawaaf they touch the Hajar al-Aswad and continued.

My first Hajj was in 1967 and was not as crowded like today, but still was very crowded at Hajar al-Aswad. Sometimes with adab you could reach it, not by pushing, shouting, slapping and hitting as they do today; from far away you said, “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar!” and kissed it. Alhamdulillah, I lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for 23 years and during the week we went for `Umrah at midnight when there were only 20-30 people. Every week we made tawaaf, sa`ee and returned to Jeddah. Similarly, in Madinatu ‘l-Munawwarah we were able to reach the Muwaajaha ash-Shareefa and even touch the grille, not like today as there are too many people. Even in Rawdat ash-Shareefa we sat and prayed very easily, but these days it is open mashaa-Allah and millions of people go there.

So what is the adab? Like here tonight, if you cannot reach, don't show toughness and roughness by pushing, but from far away say, “Bismillah wa ‘Llahu Akhbar,” and like in Madinah, send greetings to Prophet (s), “As-salaatu wa ‘s-salaamu `alayk, yaa Rasoolullah,” like when reciting qasidas. When we say, “Yaa Muhammad!” and “Yaa Allah!” does it reach or not? Now there are so many people here that it is very difficult to reach everyone, so we raise our hands and there will be a reflection from hand to hand, because Allah is Great and Prophet (s) is the first Noor created, and it will reach all the Ummah; his Noor will reflect on each of us. We are not different from any others, we are not claiming anything, but that Light will reach by us saying:

As-salaatu wa ‘s-salaamu `alayk, yaa Sayyidi, yaa Rasoolullah!

As-salaatu wa ‘s-salaamu `alayk, yaa Habeebullah!

As-salaatu wa ‘s-salaamu `alayk, yaa Awwala Khalqillah!

As-salaatu wa ‘s-salaam ‘alayk, yaa Khaatama Rusulillah!

Wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa Ashrafi 'l-Mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa `aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Subhaana rabbika Rabbi ‘l-`izzati `amma yasifoon wa ‘s-salaamu `ala ‘l-mursaleen wa ‘l-hamdulillahi Rabbi ‘l-`Aalameen!

So from far away we may all say salaam and without any security, can you please open a way for me to pass without any pushing?

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