24 March 2012 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Suhbah Before Zhuhr Salaat (1)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Ati`oollaaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
We ask Allah (swt) for the sake of the Prophet (s) to give our teacher, Sultan al-Awliya Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani, a healthy and long life to see Mahdi (a) and for all of us to be healthy and to be with Mawlana Shaykh and to see Mahdi (a). We ask for anyone, any mu’min, Muslim or even any non-believer to see Mahdi (a) and that the Muslim or mu’min is brought higher and higher and that the non-believer will come back to his original and complete religion, about which Allah (swt) said:
أَنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُ
Inna ad-deena `inda Allaahi al-islaam.
The religion in Allah’s view is Islam (submission to His Will). (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:19)
The Prophet (s) brought what was revealed to him. He (s) said, “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay,” and there are other similar hadiths, for example, when Prophet (s) said, “I was a Prophet when Adam was between soul and body.”
Last time we spoke about the prayers and the salawaat of Ahmad al-Badawi (r) and today we go back to that salawaat because it is good if you can memorize it and recite it. It is mentioned by awliyaullah because they get inspiration from the Prophet (s). When awliyaullah are in complete meditation through their soul and spirit, they have power to see what cannot be seen, hear what cannot be heard, as is mentioned in the Holy Hadith of the Prophet (s):
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،
Wa laa yazaala `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.”). (Hadeeth Qudsee, Bukhari)
The Islamic heritage is that after the time of the Prophet (s), through the time of the Sahaabah (r) and all the awliyaullah until today, there were so many visions through dreams. These visions or dreams are a kind of inspiration or association through spirits with the Prophet (s) and no one can deny that. Many people around the world today have these experiences, so don't say it only happened before when people were more pious and less sinful, and today they are more sinful and less pious, and still people see the Prophet (s) in dreams, is it not? I am asking this small crowd here, how many of you saw the Prophet (s) in a dream? (Show of hands.)
The Prophet (s) said:
من رآني فقد رآني حقا
Man ra'aanee fir-ru'ya fa sa-yaraanee haqqan.
Whoever saw me in a dream will see me in reality.
The Prophet (s) said, “Shaytan and jinn can come in any form, but cannot come in the form of the Prophet (s).” So when you see the Prophet (s) that is a true reality, even if you see the hair of the Prophet (s) in a dream, not even in reality. In reality many of you have seen the holy hair of the Prophet (s), and if you see just the holy hair of the Prophet (s) you have seen the Prophet (s), because Shaytan cannot come in the shape of a hair of the Prophet (s), it is impossible!
مَن رآني في المنام فسيراني في اليقظة
Man ra'aanee fi ’l-manaam fa sayaraanee fi’l-yaqazha.
Whoever saw me in a dream will see me in reality.
Imam Suyuti (r) said, “They will see him in dunya.” Everyone on the Last Day will run after the Prophet (s), but in dunya you will see him. What can prevent his appearance? For example, if you open the electrical switch the light comes on. If the Prophet (s) wants his Light to appear, can anyone stop it? They cannot.
المؤمن مرآة أخيه
Al-mu'min miraata akhee.
The mu'min is the mirror of his brother.
If a mu'min is a mirror, what about the Prophet (s)? A mirror reflects your light and when you stand in front of it you see yourself. The hadith says that if you stand in front of a mu'min, whatever behavior you see in him is you, because he is a mirror reflecting you. … If you see bad character, that is your bad character, and you see good character, then you are good. That is the hadith, “The believer is the mirror of his brother.”
So what do you think about the Prophet (s)? We cannot reach anyone except the one we are with, but the Prophet (s) can reach anyone at any time. There are 1.5 billion Muslims and if anyone makes salawaat on the Prophet (s), he is there with him. Can you mention him and he doesn't come and respond? No, he comes to you but you just don’t see him because your ego is there. We said the mu’min is a mirror, so what about the Prophet (s)? He is not a mirror, he is multiple mirrors! When you put mirrors in a certain way you see infinite mirrors and your image reflects in each one, so what about the Prophet (s)? If you call, “Yaa Sayyidee! Yaa, Rasoolullah!” will he not change us from bad to good?
Yes we are bad, we commit sins, but this doesn't prevent us from increasing our request to the Prophet (s) that we can see him. We make salawaat and we are not seeing the Prophet (s), that is for sure. No one can come to us and lie and say, "We are seeing." Is this true or not? I am speaking in general, not for certain people. Why is this? It’s not because the Prophet (s) is not there when you are making salawaat. He is there but he is a mirror, so when you are not seeing him, that is you and it means you are blind. Therefore, you have to know, "I’m a blind person," and you have to improve yourself.
People say, “We are doing all the awraad, not only 1500 ‘Allah, Allah,’ but we are doing 2500.” Some are doing even 25,000 salawat. I remember when I was in seclusion and I was doing 24,000 salawaat, which takes four hours if you are quick and if you are slow it takes eight hours. If you are blind you are blind, but that doesn't mean you are not getting a response from the Prophet (s). No, for each salawaat there is a response, but our character is earthly and his character is of Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adna as Allah (swt) said:
أدبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي
Adabanee rabbee fa’ahsana taa'deebee.
My Lord perfected my good manners and conduct.
This means not just discipline, but in Arabic it is more, meaning, “I received my discipline directly from the Perfect One, the Creator.” Or we can use the words, “He perfected my character.” Allah (swt) didn’t say that about anyone except Prophet (s), when He said, “I dressed his character from My Greatness.”
In this case, “fa-ahsana” has a deep meaning in Arabic; here it means not only “perfected,” but perfected beyond what you can imagine, according to Allah’s Greatness. In Arabic we say something is “hasan,” good, and if we say something is “ahsan” then it is more extremely good. The Prophet (s) is ahsana, above good, unlimited good.
Allah made seven Heavens and seven Earths. We are on one Earth and in one Heaven, so where are the other six earths? That ayah indicates there are creations other than this Creation and Allah mentioned them as “Earth,” so it means there are Earths other than ours upon which Creations are living. Who is their prophet? Who went to Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adna? Was it any prophet other than Sayyidina Muhammad (s)? All other prophets came on this Earth, but Allah (swt) appointed Sayyidina Muhammad (s) to reach above Paradises, above Heavens, above the `Arsh and above the Seven Earths, one of them on which we live. That means he is Prophet to all of them ...
Yaa Sayyidee! We are helpless, we are sending our salawaat and we are seeing nothing, so that indicates we are blind. How does this differ from awliyaullah? When a wali sends his salawaat, they see appearances in which the Prophet (s) appears in different ways. So many appearances have happened in Islamic history to countless awliya who were able to see the Prophet (s). Rabi`a al-`Adawiyya saw such appearances. Why am I giving an example of Rabi`a al-`Adawiyya? To say that high level is not only for men, but it is also for ladies. If ladies get it, for sure men get that if they were on this discipline and have love for the Prophet (s).
Muhammad al-Busayri (r) wrote in his al-Burdah ash-Shareef, wa mablagh al-`ilmi feehi annahu basharun wa annahu khayru khalqillah kullihimi, “The limit of knowledge concerning him is that he is a human being and that he is the best of all of Allah's creation.” He recited that qaseeda at night, but not by writing and thinking; he sat next to the Nile River and put his feet in the flowing water, and at that time one of the awliyaullah was crossing towards the Nile, going to Mecca. They slept that night by the river shore and there were 700 mureeds with him; he was taking all of them to Mecca. All 700 men needed a shower in the morning, so they went to the Nile to take a shower and found it was boiling. Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, mentioned this story, like the story of Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya.
They were not able to wash in the river, but all of them needed to pray Fajr and they could not. That wali was Sultan al-Awliya in that time from the Golden Chain. In the morning they brought water for him, so he made wudu and said , “This water is very hot.”
They said to him, “Yaa Sayyidee, we all need to take a shower but the water is boiling, so we cannot.”
He said, “Make tayammum and I will lead the prayer.”
He made wudu and they prayed, then he said, “I will lead you up the river to find the reason.” They walked up to the shore and found Muhammad al-Busayri (r) with his foot extended in the river and he was reciting. He was not reciting like when you make poetry ex tempore, but it was coming by itself from the beginning up to the point when he says, wa mablaghu ‘l-`ilmi feehi annahu basharun, “The highest of knowledge is that he is a human being,” and whatever people think, they think he is a human and awliyaullah are amazed. He kept reciting that, and he was stuck on, “Wa mablaghu ‘l-`ilmi feehi annahu basharun,” and he was unable to continue the recitation, Wa annahu khayru ‘l-khalqi kullihimi, “Verily he is the best of Allah's Creation, over all Creation.”
The Sultan al-Awliya (q) of that time was there with his mureeds and he saw al-Busayri was stuck on that verse, then that Sultan al-Awliya saw the presence of Prophet (s), who said, Wa annahu khayru ‘l-khalqi kullihimi, “Verily he is the best of Allah's Creation, over all Creation.” That was inspired from the Prophet (s) and that was an appearance seen by that wali, the Sultan al-Awliya, but not by the mureeds. He saw the appearance of the Prophet (s), who was continuing the verse, “wa annahu khayru ‘l-khalqi kullihim. “Khalq” is anything created, not just human beings. He was stuck, saying, “He is a bashar, a human being,” but the Prophet (s) continued and added, "Not only bashar, but he is better than any other Creation (among jinn, angels, nature, herbs, animals).”
That is why I mentioned the Seven Earths, which is something in `ijaazu ‘l-Qur’an. We know there are six other Earths, but we don't know what Creations are there. We know there are Creations there and Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is the prophet for them; Allah (swt) gave him that power to appear with no restriction. We know from hadith of the Prophet (s) that if someone dies as a mu’min his soul is free; it is not restricted, he can go anywhere with his soul. You cannot see, but he can see. If someone is not a mu’min or Muslim, he will have problems. Not everyone reached the level of imaan. You are Muslim and you said, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah,” but to reach the level of imaan and for your soul to be completely free, that is only for some. Awliyaullah can reach their followers, even after they die. If they can reach them, then the Prophet (s) can reach anyone!
Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya was blessed because of her patience with her husband; she was not “eating his ears (nagging)” I am speaking of a particular woman, Rabi`ah, but in general there are men who “eat the ears” of their wives and wives who “eat the ears” of their husbands. Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya’s husband would come home drunk after midnight and she would offer him food or whatever he wanted, and she never complained. Allah (swt) made rules to obey and if you follow with obedience you will reach the level where you see appearances of the Prophet (s). She was in obedience to what the Prophet (s) ordered her to do in Shari`ah and she was not complaining. Shari`ah orders, “Don’t complain,” and this is for men or women! But people complain, saying, “My father/brother /husband did this....” Everyone complains, but she did not.
He would come home after midnight and slap her one, two, three times, who knows how many times, and she would prepare the food and bring it to him. He would come to bed drunk and fall asleep, and she would stay until he was awake and then give him his food. When he was out of the house she stayed in her room praying and making salawaat on the Prophet (s). We will explain later some of the benefit of salawaat on the Prophet (s).
One day she was in her room and although it was not the time for her husband to come, he came home. This was unusual, not the normal time that he usually came. She was in her room making salawaat and istighfaar and he saw this huge light coming from there. He felt it and then she felt him and she knew he was there. She came out and closed the door, but he insisted on coming in her room.
He said, “You were speaking to someone and I want to know who it is.” The beauty of that Light coming from the door was putting him in a trance and he insisted.
She said, “No, I cannot open it for you.” He insisted, but she said, “No, I cannot do that.” He still insisted on going in, so she said, “No, just look through the keyhole.” He looked through the keyhole and fell down, dead! That was the Light of the Prophet (s); he was unable to take that, but she was able to carry those appearances.
So for awliyaullah, there are always appearances from the Prophet (s). That is why Imam Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadili (r) wrote Dalaa'il al-Khayraat, and people read part of it with love and it changes their lives. Awliyaullah are instructed, just as Muhammad al-Busayri (r) was instructed to add that verse to Burdah ash-Shareef, and they are instructed in what they need to tell their followers. They also get these appearances to receive the awraads, so don’t think the awraad is coming from nowhere. It is why they say, “Read this 92 times, etc.” These are numbers you cannot exceed or lower; you have to be accurate on their count.
Later you may want to recite more, and I give the example of when you see people today who are playing games on the computer. When they finish one stage, they go to another stage, is it not? It opens up more and more. In the same way, the awraad will open for you one stage after another stage, more and more, until you reach the stage where these appearances begin to come. There are some principles you must follow, and if we do this we will be able to see what people cannot see and hear what people cannot hear. So keep your salawaat on the Prophet (s) and keep the barakah to dress you, then Allah will give you more and more.
When awliyaullah go into seclusion, there are many ways to do it and is when you cannot do seclusion in a place where there is trouble, such as in the Middle East. Mawlana, may Allah give him long life, accepted his sickness as seclusion; he didn’t talk and he didn’t even eat. I was there when he said, “From what Allah (swt) opened and what the Prophet (s) opened, I cannot express what is coming. Huge changes are going to occur everywhere.”
We said, “Oh, Syria is ending.”
And now Mali and Africa have opened (to political conflict). After Mali, you might get another African country, then another one, then another Muslim country and another Third-World country. This will continue. This is a game, like when children play video games, they finish the first stage and then it opens the second, then the third, one after another. That is why the Prophet (s) mentioned that in the Last Days too much killing is going to happen on Earth. Who expected so much killing to go on around the Earth? This is a sign, “O human beings! Open your eyes, open your hearts, open your ears. Keep yourself connected to the Prophet (s) through your teacher, making salawaat on him. That is our safinat an-najaat, the ship of safety. Astaghfirullah.
Du`a.
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