Alhamdulillahi Rabbi'l-`Alameen, wa’s-salaatu wa’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Alhamdulillahi’ Lladhee hadana li’ l-Islam wa maa kunna li-nahtadee law laa an hadana’Allah, wa’l-hamdulillahi…
Sallu alaa an-Nabi, sallu alaa Muhammad, sallu alaa Sayyidi’l Bashar! Allahumma salli alayka yaa Sayyidi, yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Rahmatan lil alameen.
Alfu alfu salaatu wa salaamu `alayka, yaa Habeebullah! Alfu alfu salaatu wa’s-salaamu `alayka, yaa Nabiyullah, yaa man arsalallahu, yaa Rahmatan li’l-`Alameen!
Al-yawm al-ahad in Shahr ar-Rajab al-murajjab. Today is a Sunday in the month of Rajab. Prophet (s) said, Rajabun shahrullah, “Rajab is the month of Allah (swt).”
When Allah says, “That is My month,” it means every rahmah and barakah is found in it. Rajab is a sacred month in which more rahmah comes and the doors of Paradise are open. In Rajab, Allah gave humanity The Best, The Perfect and The Excellent One, Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! Who has more rahmah than Prophet (s)? Allah gave him the best, the excellent and the most astonishing rahmah and dressed him in Rajab. He was conceived by his father and mother in the month of Rajab. That is why it is the month of Islam, as Imam Busayri (r) said in al-Burdah ash-Shareefah[1], “Muhammad is a man, but not like other men; Muhammad is a gem and human beings are stones.”
Prophet (s) is a human being, but he is not like us: we have no power, Prophet (s) has all the power. Allah gave him everything he needs. He didn’t give everything to everyone, except to Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!
One of his (s) holy names is An-Nabi ar-Rahmah al-Mughdad, “The Mercy Gifted to Creation,” because were it not for Sayyidina Muhammad (s) there would be no Creation! Allah (swt) would not have created anyone, as He created everything for his sake, and aataun-nabi (s) bi barakah hadhi ‘s-shahr, by the barakah of this month, He gave Prophet (s) the highest best gift, Laylat al-Israa wa ‘l- Mi`raaj, a level no one else can reach: anyone who tries to transgress his limits will be burned. That is why Jibreel (a) said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, I cannot continue with you further on the way to the Divine Presence, my limit is here, I cannot transgress my limit.” Prophet (s) had no limit, so he moved forward and reached the Divine Presence.
What is special for us to know about Prophet (s) is Allah invited him to His Presence out of respect and honor for him and for Ummat an-Nabi (s). He gave that honor no one can reach except Prophet (s), and `Ulama al-Ummah say he took his Ummah with him to the Divine Presence. Everywhere, always, whatever Allah gives him, he gives to the Ummah, he does not leave anything for himself alone! He said, “If you really love Allah, follow Muhammad and Allah loves you.”
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)
So wherever he goes we are with him, he never left his Ummah behind because the order is, “O Muslims! If you really love Allah (swt),” and, therefore, Allah is asking in the Holy Qur’an for all of us to follow Muhammad (s). When you follow someone you hold on to his jubbah, robe. He (s) holds the hand of his Ummah: wherever he comes or goes, he takes his Ummah with him!
Also, this association tonight is highly recommended because it is blessed with mahabbatullah, mahabbat an-nabiyy `alaa hadhireen. What Allah gave to Prophet (s), he gave to the Ummah to follow the way of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Then you will immediately reach the Ocean of Love of Allah (swt), and when Allah loves you, you are safe in dunya and Akhirah. Allah (swt) did not hide anything from His Prophet (s), He gave him `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Akhireen, Knowledges of Before and After. So anyone who sends any salawaat on Prophet (s), he looks at them: he knows their name, what they are doing and everything about them, because Allah (swt) gave him the power to intercede on their behalf.
When the Bedouin came to Prophet (s) to ask him about the Signs of the Last Days, he asked, “Mata sa`aa, yaa Rasoolullah? When is the Day of Judgement?” It means, when will everyone die and be judged on the Day of Resurrection? But for everyone who dies, there is also judgement in the grave, so are we afraid about that, or happy? Prophet (s) advised his wife, Sayyida `Ayesha (r), for us to learn:
من حوسب عذب
(Yaa `Ayesha!) Who will be judged will be punished for sure. (Bukhari)
“Always ask Allah swt not to judge you,” because if He judges you, for sure everyone has made a mistake in our life, so we have to say, Yaa Rabbee! Yaa tuhaasibna `ala maa fa`alna nastaghfiruka wa natoobu `ilayk,” by this way we save ourselves. We must ask, “Yaa Rabbee! Don’t judge us according to our `amal, judge us according to Your Mercy, put us in Your Rahmah.”
So that judgement in the grave, everyone of us is worried about how the Angel of Death will come: with punishment, `adhaab, or with rahmah? Do we know? We do not. So are we not caring? We have to care that one Day we will be asked by and must respond to the Angel of Death, that’s why we have to seek ‘ittiba` an-Nabi (s), to follow the Prophet’s footsteps, his Sunnah, as that will make us reach Rahmatullah. If we have that, we will be saved in the grave.
That is why, although he was afraid, the Bedouin asked, “Yaa Rasoolullah, when is the Day of Judgement? I want to know the date so I may save myself by doing my best in dunya to be accepted by Allah (swt) in Akhirah.”
Prophet (s) didn’t answer, because that is something not for everyone to know, only for Prophet (s).
The Bedouin insisted, so Prophet (s) asked, “What are you going to offer, what have you prepared for yourself to meet that Day of Judgement?”
The Bedouin looked at himself and said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! I am preparing only one thing for Allah to save me and for you to intercede for me: my love for you, mahabbatak.” The Prophet (s) was very happy with what he said, the Hadith that Allah (swt) loves the one who loves His Prophet:
يحشر المرء مع من أحب
Each person will be resurrected with the one he loves. (Tabarani)
“People will be resurrected with whom they love, you are going to be with me in Paradise, if you love me that is enough for me, you will be with me.” So love Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! That mahabbah we have to keep, loving Allah (swt) and loving His Prophet (s). Allah made a condition: “Do you want to love Me? I will open for you the Door of Love, but follow Muhammad (s).” [3:31]
That’s why Sayyidina Muhammad Busayri (r) said, “Huwa ‘l-habeeb, there is no other habeeb,” no one can reach that level. Huwa ‘l-habeeb, “He is the only Habeeb.” Allah called him ‘Habeebullah’, He didn’t call any other prophets habeeb, only Prophet (s). And because he is Habeebullah, He took him for Isra and Mi`raaj.
Imam Nawawi (r) explained the one Hadith of Mi`raaj that when Prophet (s) approached in the Divine Presence he saw Allah with the eyes of his forehead, which means he went physically by body and soul into Mi`raaj, not as some say, that only his soul went. No, he went soul and body, complete.
Always make your heart clean and prepare it for receiving more and more of Allah’s blessings in this month. Allah (swt) said:
Rajab is Allah's month, Sha`baan is my month and Ramadan is the month of my Ummah.
(Abul-Fath ibn Abi Fawaris in his `Amalee from al-Hasan)
He emphasized Rajab is the month of Allah, which means anyone in this month who is able to move a little bit from dunya and remember Akhirah more, Allah will change his life and make him happy all his life until the Day of Judgement. Allah (swt) arhamu warhamoo raahimeen, this month and then Sha`aban is coming, the month of Prophet (s), and then after that is Ramadan, the month of the Ummah. Inshaa-Allah yuqeenoo al haqqi wa’l-haqq. Narjullah an yuballighuna Ramadan, inshaa-Allah we will see Ramadan.
You must be happy, because you are in this country, in Southeast Asia and equatorial areas you fast twelve hours; there are countries where people are fasting twenty hours, but Allah is rewarding you and them. Allah (swt) Huw al-mu`atee, He gives to whom He wants. He gave you twelve hours, alhamdulillah it never changes. Every day you want to fast if it is (only) twelve hours, but in other countries it is really very hard for them fasting up to twenty hours, four hours not fasting, but still Allah is giving you as He is giving them.
Haasiboo anfusikum...anta haasib, “Audit yourself or be judged,” and this is the month of Rahmah, so ask Allah’s forgiveness and inshaa-Allah all your sins will go. And I assure you in this evening and any evening that you make dhikr like that and recite Mawlid an-Nabi (s), all your sins are cleaned! Narjullah azza wa jal yaghfira an dhunoobanaa. May Allah forgive us and clean us from all our sins, whatever they are!
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq wa ‘s-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.
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[1] Translation, “The Poem of the Mantle,” famous throughout the Muslim world.