12 June 2014 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Tariqatuna as-suhba wa ‘l-khayru fi ’l-jami`ah. [Du`a.] Salaam `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh..
What Happens in This Holy Night?
What is Laylat al-Bara'ah, Nisfu Sha`baan? Allah does not create something with no reason; there is a reason for Laylat al-Qadr, Laylat al-Mawlid, Laylat al-’Israa, Laylat al-`Eidayn, and also this night Allah made for a reason. Sayyidatina `Ayesha (r) said that the Prophet (s) was praying and then asked her, “Do you know what this night is?” She said, “What is it?” He (s) said, “This is the night that those who are to be born are recorded and this is the night when those are to die are recorded and this is the night when deeds are taken up.”
يا عائشة أتدري أي ليلة هذه؟ قلت : الله ورسوله أعلم ، قال : هذه ليلة النصف من شعبان إن الله -عز وجل- يطلع على عباده في ليلة النصف من شعبان فيغفر للمستغفرين ويرحم المسترحمين ويؤخر أهل الحقد كما هم
يطلع الله إلى جميع خلقه ليلة النصف من شعبان فيغفر لجميع خلقه إلا لمشرك أو مشاحن
The Prophet (s) said, “O Ayesha, do you know what this night it?” She said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “This is the night of mid-Sha`baan; truly Allah beholds His servants in the night of mid-Sha`baan and he forgives those who seek forgiveness and grants mercy to those who seek mercy, except for the polytheist or one who hates.” (Tirmidhi)
Allah Looks Upon Creation with Forgiveness, Except Two Types
Allah (swt) will look upon Creation on this night and He will forgive on this night who is not a mushrik nor mushaahin, someone with hatred in his heart. Allah will look at Creation, al-Khalq, not just Muslims, but Believers and non-Believers, and He will forgive whomever He wants, but out of His Mercy He is telling us not to be out of these two groups!
We hope Allah will forgive us this night, we are gathered here to be forgiven. Tonight we pray a specific prayer and make a specific supplication. It is the time when Allah will look upon us and Creation and He will forgive, but as the Prophet (s) said, “O my nation! Don't be one of these two groups because if you are not one of these two groups Allah will forgive you.” If you are a mushrik, who associates partners with Allah, He will not forgive you; the other is the one who harbors malice or hatred in his heart. These are both very hard groups to get out of.
We are human beings, so there will be hatred in our heart towards somebody no matter how much we try, unless Allah (swt) has mercy on us and takes that hatred away. If you hate anyone you must find out what you did for them and what they did for you:
أَلَا تُحِبُّونَ أَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّـهُ لَكُمْ
Do you not love for Allah to forgive you? (Surat al-Nur, 24:22)
Allah Forgives Us and Wants Us to Forgive Others
So we have to forgive whoever hurt us. You have to come to terms with whatever made you hate that person, because Allah is saying, “Don't you love that Allah forgives you?” Then:
إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاء
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:48)
Letting Go of Hatred
Allah will gaze upon His Creation and will forgive whoever He wants tonight. “O you who Believe! Don't you want Allah to forgive you?” So tonight we must go back home, go in your room and find out what happened, why we have hatred in our heart, then try to let go of whatever that person did to us so Allah will let go of whatever bad actions we did towards Him.
The second one is partnership. If we get rid of the hatred in our heart, we are halfway through but we are not forgiven yet. Allah forgives, but the Prophet (s) is telling us get out of these two groups at all times.
Shirk Blocks Allah’s Forgiveness
First we talked about the one with malice in his heart. Second is the one who has partners to Allah, shirk. Partnership is twofold: Seen, the one you see making partners to Allah, such as praying to a statue; we know this. There is the hidden one, ash-shirk al-khafee, the hidden shirk. We don't worship stones or images like the idol-worshippers, alhamdulillah we are away from that, so we must pray to Allah to take those who do that away from it.
All prophets came with one message: worship One God. Sayyidina Nuh (a), Sayyidina `Isa (a), Sayyidina Musa (a) all said, “Don't worship any except God.”
Loving Things and People As If They Are Allah
However, we Muslims may not know we make partnership with God on several fronts, but Tariqah and Shari`ah show us:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللَّـهِ أَندَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّـهِ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِّلَّـهِ
Among people are those who take objects of worship as equal to Allah; they love them like love of Allah. Yet those who believe are stronger in love for Allah. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:165)
Wa min an-naas man yatakhidh min doonillahi andaadan, from among Mankind. This verse is talking about how Allah looks at all Creation on this night and they ascribe partners to Him; andaad means “equivalent” or “of the same stature.” Allah says, “O people! Among you some are taking equals that you love, things, ideas besides Me and you are sharing your love of Me with them!” You love them as if you are loving Allah (swt). See how much Allah is stressing love: “Don't you love that Allah forgives you?” and also:
يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللّهِ
yuhiboonahum ka-hubbillah
They love them as they should love Allah. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:165)
Allah, Our Creator, Wants Our Love
Allah is asking for love from us, His Creation! Allah is not asking for our prayers; yes we have to pray, but our prayer does not benefit Him and it might be accepted or not, it might be thrown in our face:
فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ يُرَاءُونَ
Woe to those who pray: those who are neglectful of their prayer and those who show off.
(Surat al-Ma`oon, 107:6)
Alladheena hum yusalloon, They are praying to show off; they might be praying to show off their beautiful recitation. You might think my sajda is too long, you might have riya in your heart, so Allah (swt) might say, “Don't tell Me you pray.” Let us never think our prayer is worthwhile in Allah's Divine Presence! When you pray--and we have these thought in our prayers, about our relationships or fantasizing about other stuff--we are standing before Allah (swt) and it is shameful to be in that situation. it is better to be under Earth than to be fantasizing about what we love at that moment! There are countless examples. You are standing before Allah (swt) thinking of your wife, your kebab, your Ferrari, your money, your yacht or wave-runner or... millions of thoughts, and Allah is looking at you, saying, “Where is My servant? Is he thinking of Me or of something he made equal to Me in his love?”
What do you fancy? That is the equal to Allah (swt) in love. If you love something you want it, you desire it, you fancy it, so that becomes, “They love them like they love Allah.”
Why Does Allah Want Us to Love Him?
Allah is asking for our love! Love to whom, to Him? Why, He doesn't need anything, so why does Allah want us to love Him, what is the benefit to Him? Astaghfirullah al-`Azheem, whatever we do can’t benefit Him! He is asking us to love Him so we can follow His Lover, His Beloved, Sayyidina Muhammad (s), whom Allah created from His Light. “Love Me and don't love anyone else!”
Allah is saying, Alladheena aamanoo ashaddu hubban lillah, “Those who believe love Allah much, much more.” Why? Because they want their Prophet (s): we want Muhammad (s), so Allah (swt) is saying, In kuntum tuhiboonallah:
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)
Love of Prophet Muhammad Brings Light and Beauty
If you love Allah, that love is going to lead you to Muhammad (s): he is the goal, the prize, because when we reach Muhammad, what happens? Yuhbibkumullah, then we get the love of Allah. If we love Allah then we reach the Prophet (s), then we reach the love of Allah. What is the Prophet (s)? Allah knows best, but we are told that He is the Love of Allah (swt), as Allah created us because He loved him. He (swt) said, law laaka law laaka, “If not for you, O Muhammad!”
Allah (swt) is making ghazal, praising His Beloved! Can you imagine that love? If you say to your mom, father, brother or son, “If not for you, I would not come a thousand miles from California to Michigan”, it means, “I am drawn to you. If it weren't for you... if it weren't for you!” When Allah (swt) is ‘coming’, we say these things to understand but really Allah (swt) doesn't ‘come’, nor does He ‘rise’ nor ‘go down’ as He is munazzal.So when you are drawn to the one you love, you channel your love to them. Allah is saying, “If it weren't for you, O Muhammad”, which means Allah (swt) is drawn: He is channeling His Attributes, His Names, His Power to the Prophet (s).
So to find Allah (swt) you have to come the opposite way, to the Prophet (s). If we imagine the Prophet (s) as a door, wall or gate, and Allah (swt) is saying, “If it weren't for you”, and you are trying to go to that gate, then can you imagine what is behind that gate? It is Allah's manifestations, glory and power! So to find Allah's glory, you have to go through Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and through him that light and beauty of Allah (swt) comes to you. In that station or level, when you look at Sayyidina Muhammad (s), you are looking into Allah's oceans: you look at Muhammad (s), into the lights of Allah (swt)!
وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَّاضِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ
On that Day faces will be glowing with happiness, contemplating their Lord. (Surat al-Qiyamah, 75:20)
When We Love Allah, We Find Sayyidina Muhammad
Asta`eedh billah,
وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَّاضِرَةٌ إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ
wujoohan yawmaydhin naadira ila rabbihaa naazhira,
Some faces, that Day, will beam (in brightness and beauty); Looking towards their Lord; (Surat al-Qiyamah, 75:22-23)
“On that day there will be faces glowing (and) to its Lord it is looking.” So when Allah (swt) is saying, “Don't take partners to Me as equals,” there are so many things we can take. The love Allah wants from Mankind has to be 100%, that is the way and there is no other way to find Allah (swt) than to follow Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! If you love Allah then you must follow Sayyidina Muhammad (s), but if you don't love Allah there is no order to follow the Prophet (s). Don't love other than Allah! “Don't take equals with Me, don't love somebody as much as you love Me!” When we love Allah (swt) we find Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and when we find him, we find Allah. Whatever Allah gives power, oceans and light to the Prophet (s).
This is the month of the Prophet (s) and tonight is Nisfu Sha`baan, and we are here because we want to follow Sayyidina Muhammad (s) in worshipping Allah in and seeking His forgiveness in this night. We ask Allah to forgive us, and we ask that Allah doesn't put any love in our heart but love for Him as any other love is for physical pleasure. You won’t love something physically if you don't get pleasure from it: if you love food you eat it and if you don't love it you don't eat it, ask the kids! Every physical thing you think of and love you get pleasure from it. Allah's love is not physical. We ask Allah to give us that love in our heart through Sayyidina Muhammad (s), as he has that love and he will plant that love in our hearts:
مُّحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّـهِ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ ۖتَرَاهُمْ رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّـهِ وَرِضْوَانًا ۖ سِيمَاهُمْ فِي وُجُوهِهِم مِّنْ أَثَرِ السُّجُودِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ ۚ وَمَثَلُهُمْ فِي الْإِنجِيلِ كَزَرْعٍ أَخْرَجَ شَطْأَهُ فَآزَرَهُ فَاسْتَغْلَظَ فَاسْتَوَىٰ عَلَىٰ سُوقِهِ يُعْجِبُ الزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغِيظَ بِهِمُ الْكُفَّارَ ۗ وَعَدَ اللَّـهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِنْهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Those who believe with him are firm on those who disbelieve and merciful to each other. You see them bowing and prostrating seeking Allah’s bounty and acceptance. Their marks are on their faces from the effect of prostration. This is their parable in the Torah and their parable in the Gospel: Like a seed that brings forth its shoot, and then strengthens it so it grows strong and stands on its stem, giving delight to the farmers and through them confounding the disbelievers. Allah promised those among them who believe and do good works forgiveness and a great reward.
(Surat al-Fath, 48:29)
Allah (swt) is saying “Muhammadu ’r-rasoolullah”, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and all who are with him, that is their example. We are talking about the Sayyidina Muhammad's love that Allah will put in our hearts. We follow Sayyidina Muhammad (s) so he will put that love in our hearts and then we will love Allah (swt). Ashudaau `alaa ’l-kuffaar... this is their example in the Torah (Old Testament) and in the Bible (New Testament). They are tough on the unbelievers, not tough to harm them, but tough to argue with them to guide them to the Straight Path. They are not tough-hearted, they cry and cry. They are higher than angels, but they fight wrong ideas, so tough in that way but very merciful among themselves, and this is their example in the Torah and in the Injeel, that they are like a plant.
Throw the Seed on Earth, Allah Will Care for It
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) says you have to throw a seed on Earth, then you don't do anything else, then Allah will send mercy, rain water. Allah sends His mercy and that person will begin to come up, and so the example of the Companions (r) and those who are like them is the seed. Who plants that seed? Allah (swt) plants it and His Prophet (s) is al-Shafi`ee, The Intercessor for the Ummah and when that seed begins to grow, akhraja shattaa, fastawaa fastaghladh, “When it comes out, it is curved then becomes straight.”
Landscapers help make it grow straight. We are like that, going right and left, but we are growing up, then istiqaama, straighten and stand up. So love of Allah is thrown in our heart by our love of the Prophet (s) because we are following him, so we are his imitators: we pray and fast according to his Sunnah, so our iman is taqleedi, imitative and inshaa'Allah one day it will become real, like the iman of Prophet (s), Haqeeqi. It is real and he sees Allah’s manifestations. The Prophet (s) performs the true worship and we are imitating him.
From whom did we learn to pray, fast and recite Holy Qur'an? The Prophet (s)! So by following him (s) we align ourselves with him, and he is receiving from Allah (swt) so we also receive! The prophets give to their nations, so when he receives he gives to his nation and that mercy finds its way to us! So what happens then when we deviate from the Prophet (s)? We receive nothing: we are veiled from the Divine Presence. So we follow the Prophet (s) to become straight, to be on the Straight Path with him (s).
We ask one thing more tonight, we ask for love of the Prophet (s). O Our Lord! We ask for his love.
O our Lord! We are asking in the presence of the Holy Hair of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) on this night, Nisfu Sha`baan, that you throw love of him in our hearts! We are asking for Your love alone so we can love the Prophet (s) and the shaykhs and grand shaykhs.
[Khatm al-Khwajagan.]
Following the ways of our grand shaykhs, on this holy night we recite Surah Yaseen three times with these intentions: the first time, for long life in imaan and Islam; second, for our and Ummati Muhammad’s protection from difficulties and problems; third, for expansion of our ordained provision, to be independent of human beings and to be dependent solely on Allah (swt).
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati ‘l-habeeb bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
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