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Examples of Thankfulness and Patience During Affliction

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

23 June 2011 Singapore

`Isha Event at Simply Islam

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.

Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)

(After wedding.)

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. SubhaanAllahi wa bihamdihi, subhaanAllahi al-`Azheem, astaghfirullah.

This will be a very short suhbah because tomorrow there is a lecture about turbulence in dunya and turbulence in akhirah; I don’t know what kind of turbulence the organizer has in his heart. (laughter)

Turbulence never ends. It is required in dunya because Allah (swt) wants to reward his servants more and more by sending turbulence, not to punish them but to raise their levels. Believers who accept with an open heart, Allah will raise them higher and higher, because Allah likes those who think about Him and follow and listen to Him. As He mentioned Himself by Himself, His Last Name is As-Saboor, “The Forebearing.” He is the One telling us, “I am the One Who is forebearing. I am patient with My servants as much as they like, but their rope is with Me and I pull them whenever I want.”

So Allah gives us turbulence in life to test us, may Allah protect us. The day before yesterday we drove for four hours to Semarang. We arrived and the mayor and president of the university were sitting reciting qaseedahs. As we came in and sat down, my daughter, Sajeda, was saying something that I could not understand. So I asked Rizal and he said, “Just now Muhammad Jamil passed away. He arrived to the dhikr area, came out of his car, fell down, and passed away in Majlis Salaat `ala ’n-Nabi (s)! Allah pulled the rope; to where can we run? There is no where to run. At the end He will bring you. He is giving you patience and making you happy.

There are those who are happy with dunya and those who are happy with akhirah. Allah gives people whatever they are happy with. There are approximately 300-400 people here today and all of them love akhirah. Although they have daily life--children, jobs, family, etc.--but they still came. They don’t go to movie theaters or nightclubs, they like akhirah and Allah is happy with them.

For one salawaat on Prophet (s), Allah gives you ten salawaat, and His salawaat is not like ours. So when we make salaat `ala ’n-Nabi in any way we like, Allah will return it for you ten times the way He likes! That is not like we do, making salawaat while watching television, no! Allah will order His angels to make salawaat on you until the Day of Judgment. That means Allah will open ten manifestations for you through His angels of His Beautiful Names and Attributes that are beyond your imagination.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَبْشِرُوا بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ

Inna alladheena qaaloo rabbunaa Allaahu thumma ’staqaamoo tatanazzalu `alayhimu ’l-malaa’ikatu allaa takhaafoo wa laa tahzanoo wa ’bshiroo bi’l-jannati ’Llatee kuntum tuw`adoon.

In the case of those who say, "Our Lord is Allah,” and who further stand straight and steadfast, the angels descend on them (from time to time): "Fear not!" (they suggest), "Nor grieve, but receive the Glad Tidings of the Garden (of Bliss) which you were promised! (al-Fussilat, 41:30)

Are you accepting Allah to be your Creator? Allah does not need you to accept, but He says, “Ask Me and I will give.” Don’t be quiet! Ask for seven dinars or ten dinars. There is a difference between dunya dinars and akhirah dinars. This is Allah’s order: it is not haraam or a waste. Sometimes you spend and you waste, but to marry and give a dowry is not wasting money. So Allah’s Name, As-Saboor, “The Forbearing” means, “Yaa `abd! I am giving you as much as I like.”

One day Sayyidina Musa (a) was walking through the forest. Anbiya and awliyaullah like to travel through the wilderness. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) used to travel north in Syria towards Allepo to small villages and stay there for two to three days, then go to another. Awliyaullah like that because this is their way. Now this can not be done except by plane. It used to be one area before, but now mashaa-Allah the world is huge.

So as Sayyidina Musa (a) was walking, he came upon a very high mountain with a cave. This story is from Shaykh ash-Sha`arani’s, Kitaab al-Minan. After taking permission, Sayyidina Musa looked inside. It is good adab to ask permission and not look upon people. Today we are looking to see if people are making mistakes and then we backbite them. So Musa (a) took permission through his heart to go into the cave because he heard the voice of a wali, someone of a high level, saying:

Alhamdulilahi ‘l-ladhee faddalanee `ala katheerim mimman khalaqta tafdeela.

All praise be to the One who favored me over many of those He created by a great favor.

Musa (a) heard that because anbiya know that Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is coming after them, and if Prophet (s) did not send this to their hearts they cannot deliver the message. Prophet (s) is the door, there is no other way. So this wali was in sajdah, very happily reciting that ayah. Musa (a) waited until he finished, then he was surprised at what he saw. He backed up and was completely shocked. He said to the man, “How can you recite that ayah that you are favored over so many of Allah’s servants?” He looked and did not answer. Musa (a) saw that this man has no arms and no legs, only his chest was in sajdah and he was saying, “Yaa Rabbee! thank you!”

لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ

la’in shakartum la-azeedannakum.

If you are grateful, I will grant more (favors) to you. (Ibrahim, 14:7)

This servant was making sajdah to Allah (swt) in thankfulness. He had no arms or legs, and we don’t know how he was eating as it is not mentioned. Allah will send someone to feed him. He will take care of you, but you have to open your heart to Allah (swt). He will give richness to those who love it. Allah will make dunya a servant and those who don’t like dunya will also get it. Look at how there are two opposite ends of the spectrum. It is better then to run to the other side, to hate dunya, and Allah will send dunya to you.

So Musa asked, “How are you saying this?”

He said, “Yaa Musa! I am saying this because Allah has honored me.”

“Even with no arms and legs?” asked Musa.

“Yes,” he replied, “He honored me by making me Muslim and not kaafir.”

That was the highest honor for him. Today, alhamdulillah Allah granted us all to be Muslim, but we forget to say what that man was saying and we have to make it work for us. Say “alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah” at least ten times a day! Allah said, “If you thank Me I will give you more.” So that is something small, but Allah likes those who thank Him even when faced with difficulties.

Sayyidina Musa (a) then raised his hands and said, “Yaa Rabbee! Give him Paradise.”

Allah answered, “Yaa Musa, do you want Me to give him more balaa, affliction?” At that moment, a hyena came and began to eat that man’s stomach.

Musa said, “Yaa Allah! What is this?”

Allah said, “You asked for Paradise so I gave him Paradise. I send affliction and I give Paradise for it. If you would have asked me to give him dunya, I would have given him everything! But you asked for Paradise so I gave him more affliction, as there is no way to Paradise without affliction.”

People do not understand. All his life, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) returned from seclusion and would be investigated and sent home. This would happen over and over again; we would have to go and bring him home numerous times, until one day they gave him a sentence of 110 years for calling the adhaan in Arabic! The day he was going to be sent to prison, the government signed papers permitting the adhaan to be called in Arabic, so Allah saved him!

This is the holy month of Rajab, and Allah loves those who are patient. Let us take a lesson from that man who was worshipping his Lord, thanking Him that he is a Muslim.

Muhammad Jamil came to the majlis and as soon as he entered, Malak al-Mawt, the Angel of Death, took him and he entered the presence of Prophet (s)! No matter what he did in his life, he is with the Prophet (s)! Subhaan-Allah, he was a wali unknown to dunya. When we began d`awah in Indonesia, I appointed him to do dhikr because he was carrying that secret in his heart. He was previously a colonel in the army.

So we have to be patient with each other and forgive when we have the power to punish, not when we don’t have power, but instead when we have power and we forgive, that is best, such as when Prophet (s) entered Mecca and he had the power to punish but said to the Meccans, “You are free.” And anyone who entered Abu Sufiyan’s house was granted safety. Prophet (s) could have punished Abu Sufiyan and the traitors, but he forgave.

Allah can punish everyone, but we believe that with His mercy He will forgive everyone, especially those who love His Prophet (s)! So our door to Allah is Prophet (s) and there is no other way. These qaseedahs we are reciting are the door to Prophet (s). Anyone who is familiar with the Arabic language knows what the poets wrote. Their pens were writing out of that `ishq and yearning for Allah’s (swt) and Prophet’s (s) love!

You must also forgive each other by saying, “You are free, I am not keeping anything in my heart.” This is the way of awliya. We must treat each other like that everywhere.

One time Prophet (s) was said about someone, “This one is going to Paradise.” Sayyidina `Umar (r) wanted to find out why, so he went to that person’s house and found that he doesn’t do anything extra, not even in qiyamu’l-layl. Sayyidina `Umar asked him about what Prophet (s) had said.

He replied, “First, when I go to sleep I renew my shahadah; second, if dunya comes to me in the morning and I lose it in the evening, I do not regret the loss.” How angry do we get when we lose something? “And third, when I put my head on the pillow, I forgive everyone who wronged me.” He forgave everyone at night. That is what Sayyidina `Umar (r) was delighted to discover because when Sayyidina `Umar (r) was angry with anyone, he wanted to cut their neck! Some people may be like that in order for the message to spread.

May Allah (swt) forgive us and bless your country. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore are very safe. May Allah always keep them like that. Look at what is going on in the Middle East, so much turmoil and unrest. It is nice here and in Indonesia, the softness of Muslims and non-Muslims alike can make it easy to work together and not fight. May Allah forgive us.

Was-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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