`Asr / Ministry of Foreign Affairs
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. I would like to speak in Spanish; I would also like to speak Arabic, but there is no translator here. I could also speak in French or Turkish, but it is not as eloquent, so I will speak in English. It is a big honor to be here today at the invitation of the ambassador, Guillermo Oliveri, Secretary of Religion and External Relations for the International Commerce. We are familiar with this country, as my parents had business with Brazil and Argentina in the 1920s until the 1940s. We are from Lebanon. If I am right, the word "Argentina" comes from the word "argent," which means "money" and "silver" in French, so it is the land of "money", for this world and for the next. This country is a hospitable country and it opened the doors for many immigrants, and my parents were from them. As I told the ambassador, my father used to speak Spanish and Portuguese, but unfortunately I do not!
We are gathered here tonight, not for anything other than the love of God, to refresh our memories and understand more clearly the different messages sent to humanity through messengers, prophets, and the pious and sincere people who spent thousands of years teaching and enlightening people. We never saw a prophet or messenger, or a pious person or a sincere person, being violent or committing terrorism or any kind of radicalism. But we see they are all from our grandfather, Sayyidina Adam (a), all the way to Sayyidina Nuh (a) and Ibrahim (a), Jesus (a), and Sayyidina Muhammad (s), and all other prophets who came to guide their followers.
If we read in history in the Bible, the Torah, the Holy Qur'an, or the Psalms, we see many different books, as well as many books that came before that to deliver a universal message to worship, love, and remember your Lord. So our Lord wants to be loved, nothing else. How do we love? You approach, you don't ask someone to love you by violent action or fighting with each other, but love is to remember your lover with a red flower or with a nice gift. So we have an obligation to approach our Lord by the gifts He gave us: the prophets and messengers. The message that everyone must know is to feel that purity in your relationship with the one you love the most.
Now people speak about religion and say, "We love our Lord and His messengers."That is good, but it is not yet perfect. If you want to know if it is perfect or not, remember when your child is sick, how much you care for them, spending nights awake to make sure they are safe, how much you cried, asking your Lord to cure your child. Your whole body and spiritual soul is devoted to caring for that child; the spirit and the body are in a mixture in order to show their love. An example is, if a mother or father is in an ocean sailing in a boat and a big storm came and water began to fill the boat or vessel, the mother or father will try to carry the child to be saved and will give their lives for their child.
God sent His messengers to give their lives for the sake of humanity. He didn't send them to destroy humanity, He sent them to build bridges. That is why there are different messengers, as there are different communities and each one needs to build bridges to the other. Moses directed his community to our Lord, and Jesus directed his people towards our Lord, and Prophet Muhammad (s) also directed his people to our Lord, as did Noah and Abraham (s). They gave their lives for humanity to be saved. God said in the Holy Qur'an:
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (an-Nisa, 4:59)
You cannot obey the Prophet when you disobey the authority, as then you are disobeying the Lord. So it is a message of relationship. Our duty is to build bridges with the authorities in order to live peacefully and in tranquility in the country we are in. What did Sayyidina Muhammad (s) say?
حب الاوطان من الايمان
Hubb al-awtaan min al-imaan.
Love of your countries is from faith.
If you dislike your country, it means you dislike your faith. You cannot dislike your home or you will be homeless! Similarly, if you dislike your country you will be exiled, as you are not a good citizen. So our duty is always to build bridges. And you have to know that in our countries there are different communities and these communities work together for the benefit of all humanity. We look forward to building our communities, and many of you here represent them and work with others as diplomats for moderation and obedience to our Lord, to our Prophet (s), and to our authorities. That is why it is a heavy burden on us if we see something wrong and we keep quiet and hide our eyes. We have to stand up and speak, with good manners and in a respectful way, in a constructive debate for the benefit of everyone. This is our duty and this is the message we carry all over the world. And many of you might think that your words don't reach, but don't think that! We are looking into our system and how it works. I am not speaking about the political system, but rather the physical system.
God said in the Holy Qur'an:
الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Alladheena yadhkuroonullah qiyamaan wa qu`oodan wa `alaa junoobihim wa yattafakkaroona fee khalqi 's-samawaatee wa 'l-ard, rabbanaa maa khalaqta hadhaa baatilan subhaanaka fa qina `adhaaba 'n-naar.
Those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, (saying),"Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire." (Aali `Imraan, 3:191)
Those who remember their Lord in every moment, are like the heart that pumps blood in every moment; if the heart stops a person will die. Also if the soul stops contemplating and remembering it's Lord, the soul will die. So God wants us to remember Him. Allah (swt) said, "When you are standing you are remembering Him, when you are sitting you remember Him, when you are lying down you remember Him." Here "standing" means going to work, "sitting" means at work or with your family, and "lying down" means sleeping; you must remember your Lord in all these situations. This is the life of the spirit. If we let it down we become a bad person, aggressive, violent, mechant (cruel), and that light, spirituality and power that God is putting on our body comes down to zero.
So God is saying, "Remember Me in every moment." After you remember, you begin to contemplate on the Creation of Heavens and Earth and think, "O my Lord! What is this?" It is so unbelievable you cannot imagine it.
الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Alladheena yadhkuroonullah qiyaaman wa qu`oodan wa `alaa junoobihim wa yattafakkaroona fee khalqi 's-samawaatee wa 'l-ard, rabbanaa maa khalaqta hadhaa baatilan subhaanaka fa qina `adhaaba 'n-naar.
Those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, (saying),"Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire. (Aali `Imraan, 3:191)
O our Lord! Save us from these darknesses and bring us to Your Love! Glory to You and save us from Your Hellfire! God gave the example that we must think about the universe, about how small we are compared to the galaxies and stars. We are so small if we are only after worldly desire, but if we are after heavenly desire we are so great! Look at the Earth. I just came from sub-zero weather and a meter of snow of the ground to a climate of 43 degrees Centigrade. Who did this? And south of Argentina, the Antarctic as more snow. Who did that and is keeps it in place? God gave human beings a mind to think and a heart to love. How is this? Who made this?
A car needs petrol, fuel. All these lights need electricity, another source of fuel. What fuel is the Earth using to turn on its axis? Can anyone give an answer? The Earth is turning anti-clockwise, contrary to the way of time, which is clockwise. Who is making it do that? What kind of fuel made it run for millions of years? And cars you have to fill it might be five kilometer, or 100 or 200 kilometer you have to fill the car with petrol! Who is filling this Earth with the fuel that makes it turn? Leave the Earth. Take the Moon. Why is the Moon not turning around it's axis, but it is turning around the Earth? The Earth moves around itself, but the Moon, no, it turns around the Earth. Why? Leave the Moon. Why is the Sun still, it doesn't move? Why? How can this be? Can anyone give an answer? Even physicists cannot give an answer! So the Sun is still, the Earth is spinning the Moon is turning around the Earth and the Earth is turning around the Sun. Why? How? The Earth turns in order to create night and day and the Moon turns around the Earth to create the month. And the Earth and the Moon together turn around the Sun to create the year.
Okay, so who made this system? Is that not a genius? Today if you discover something special they give you a Nobel Prize. Allah (swt), our Lord, doesn't need a Nobel Prize but He is showing us signs to believe in Him, to accept Him and to love Him. So movement is important. And that is why all of us are in continuous movement and that movement leads to spirituality. There is nothing in this world that is not moving. How? Render everything back to it's origin. The origin of everything is the Periodic Table. Everything is made from elements and minerals and they are originally atoms and what do you find in atoms? You find the mass, the electrons and the protons, the neutrons. And what are the electrons doing? They are moving anti-clockwise around the mass. There is no way for an atom to exist without an electron moving around the mass. The atom is a combination of mass and energy. Human beings are combination of mass and energy; the soul. If we leave one the other falls down. That is why God has said, on the tongue of His Prophet (s),
ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ولكن وسعني قلب عبدي
Ma wasi`anee ardee wa laa samaa'ee wa laakin wasi`anee qalbee `abdee al-mu'min.
My Earth did not contain Me, nor My Heavens, but the heart of My believing servant contained Me.(Hadeeth Qudsee)
That is why when you go to Mecca for pilgrimage, tawaaf around the Ka`aba is anti-clockwise, as the Moon orbits anti-clockwise around the Earth, and Earth orbits anti-clockwise around the Sun. At the Ka`aba, you are turning around the House of your Lord. If you make your body move in an anti-clockwise way around the House of God, which is your heart, then you have established the relationship of the verse that I mentioned earlier, "Those who are remembering their Lord when they are standing, sitting and lying down are those who seek His love and His mercy."
O Believers! The Prophet (s) said, "The loveliest time was when God called me, 'O My servant.'"
Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Qul in kuntum tuhibboona 'Llaha f 'attabi`oonee yuhbibkumullahu wa yaghfir lakum dhunoobakum wa Allahu Ghafoorun Raheem.
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. (Ali Imraan, 3:31)
That means, "Follow me in servanthood, be always in movement, don't sit and say, 'I don't care.'" Go and try to make benefit for other people. There are homeless people, sick people. Try to do something; serve charitable organizations. Don't be aggressive against people or each other. This is what is needed from us. That is why sincere and pious people are always in meditation on their Lord, to see where they can help, then they go and help.
One time I was going to Singapore and suddenly the day I was leaving a doctor from Holland called on the phone, saying, "Our guru wants to meet with you. We will send you the tickets to visit us."
I said, "I am sorry, I am going to Singapore, from California via the Pacific."
They said, "Don't worry, we will buy your ticket and you come to Holland and go from there through the Atlantic."
I said, "Who am I going to meet?" and they said, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who is very famous among high communities and societies. So I said, "Okay, I will come."
I arrived at Amsterdam airport. There was a special plane waiting to take me from Amsterdam to his place. In that area everything was made from wood and cars ran on solar energy. I entered and we rested and in the evening they called me for the meeting. I was sitting like that and he came and a table was between us. Shaykh Nurjan was with me. All the cups they put for us were made from silver. On the other side where he was sitting with his people, all the cups were gold. He was a really respectful person who introduced seven or eight people. His followers were rectors of different universities around the world, which surprised me. An old man sat beside him and he asked him to speak. What he said is important.
He said, "O Shaykh. I am a doctor and am seeing two to four hundred patients a day. When I finished my studies in medical school in India I was twenty-five. After finishing I said to myself I would like to go for a vacation to Egypt. " I was intrigued, how can he see two to four hundred patients daily? If in America you see more than forty patients a day the insurance company will not pay you anything because not one doctor can see so many patients, so I was interested to hear what he had to say.
He continued, "I left for Egypt and visited different dargahs (khaniqahs)," where a pious shaykh lives and people come and stay free and eat for free. "I went from one center, shrine, temple or mosque, to another, where I saw long lines of women, children, and men. I wondered what that line was for, so I observed at the first shrine what they were doing." That shrine is what they built around a pious person. "I went to the first one and saw a nice old man, seventy years old. Everyone came to him, he blessed them and told them to recite something, which they did. This is what he is doing all day and some of the night. I came the next day to see what he is doing and witnessed the same thing. I went to another shrine and I see the same thing, but another shaykh. I asked the shaykh, 'What is this, can you explain to me?' He said, 'These people are sick, asking for a remedy. We give them something to recite and blow on water, and that water becomes blessed. These are the names of our Lord, from the Ninety-Nine Divine Names. After that, the people are cured."
I looked at him in astonishment. I looked at these people and knew they were sick. This man is not a doctor and he is telling them to recite, "Yaa Halim, Yaa Hafidh," and they are cured! What kind of doctor is he? Then I realized he is a spiritual, pious person, so if he asks, the Lord Almighty will answer him. Then I went to one of these and said to him, "We have lot of sick people in India, so teach me this and I will heal them. He said, "You are a sincere person, so say after me, Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. Now I can give you these secrets." I went back to India and began to see people. Since I was twenty-six years old, I have been seeing two to four hundred patients per day, and eighty percent are cured."
Now Maharishi said, "We want you to teach us how to heal the other twenty percent."
I said, "Me?"
He said, "Yes. We have navigated the whole Internet." This was in 1998 or 1997. "We found there is someone called Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, and he is very famous for that. As we can't reach him, we know you represent him and we can reach you." Then they showed statistics that they found through research in a big hospital in France. They had invited French and Dutch doctors to monitor the study and they gave patients blessed water they had recited over. After some weeks, sixty to seventy percent of them were cured, and they showed us those results. There is more that happened with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that is personal, but I am telling this story to show that piety and sincerity can work miracles!
Be pious and sincere. Love your country, your people and your Lord, then you will be successful and the world will hear your message. I met the president in one Far East country, and he is a very humble person. I love him.
He said,"Criticize me."
I said, "I might not be safe!"
He said, "Don't worry."
I said, "Don't be arrogant or proud. The One Who gave you the chair can give it to you again." And he went in front of 250,000 people, and this is the president saying in public, carried all over the country by TV stations, "Shaykh Hisham and his teacher are my teachers, and whatever advice he gives me, I follow."
Who can say that? He humbled himself so much. After the second election he won again.
O Brothers and Sisters! All messengers and all prophets came to make us humble. When we are humble we are not angry, stressed, or depressed, but become like a fish in the Ocean of Submission; we are happy! When you want to come out of the ocean, it is like fish jumping out of water. So humbleness makes everything possible.
May God forgive us and support us and throw in our hearts love to Him! I will end here by saying one more time to the ambassador, thank you and to everyone in this country. We wish to visit another time as guests meeting with each other in happiness and peacefulness. Thank you very much.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.
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