Fajr Suhbah at Private Residence
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.
Kaleemataan khafeefataan `ala al-lisaan thaqeelataan fi ’l-meezaan subhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi subhaanAllahi 'l-`Azheem.
Allah (swt) wants us to praise Him and He created us for one reason by saying, “All of you, when you remember Me, make sajda.” This indicates that worship is for Allah (swt): He is the Creator and we are His servants. Laa nakhruj min hayiz al-`ibaadah, we cannot raise ourselves more than to be a servant.” Leave the prophets, they are messengers and they know; we have to learn what they are teaching us. All prophets came to say one thing: “Allah (swt) is the Creator and we His servants.”
What does “Creator” mean? It means that there is nothing in this universe except that all of Creation is in full and complete sajda to Allah (swt) at any moment. The prayer that makes you...what makes you make sajda?
بني الْإِسْلَامُ عَلَى خَمْسٍ: شَهَادَةِ أَنْ لَا إلَهَ إلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ، وَإِقَامِ الصَّلَاةِ، وَإِيتَاءِ الزَّكَاةِ، وَحَج الْبَيْتِ، وَصَوْمِ رَمَضَانَ
Islam has been built on five [pillars]: testifying that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; establishing the Salaah (prayer); paying the Zakaat (obligatory charity); performing the Hajj (pilgrimage) to the House; and, fasting in Ramadan.
(Bukhari and Muslim)
Sajda is for Allah Alone and Your Forehead is for His Respect
In these Five Pillars you are doing sajda to Allah (swt). To say Kalimat at-Tawheed, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah” means you are forced to bow your head down on the floor to make sajda and say, “Yaa Rabbee! There is no one except You. You are The Creator and I am Your servant.” Secondly, in the prayers, when we are praying we have to make sajda or else the prayer is not accepted. First with Shahadah, “ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh”, and the meaning of it is sajda.
You don’t do sajda to anyone and that’s why you have to be very careful. There are some traditions in the Sub-continent and the Far East where they go to the feet of the shaykh and they touch them or some of them go further and that is not Islamically accepted. Be careful, sajda is for Allah (swt). This forehead here does not belong to you. Even Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, called me one time and said, “Yaa waladee, O my son! When you kiss my hand....” because in the Middle East when you kiss the hand of your father, your mother, your scholar or whomever, you kiss and you put [your hand] on your forehead. It might be also in Morocco that, like in Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. He said, “The forehead is for Allah (swt).” You put it down when you are confessing to Him, “Yaa Rabbee! You are my Creator and I am Your servant,” and you put your forehead on the ground (make sajda), then you are not allowed to put it somewhere else. Through cultural traditions we are breaking that rule for which we have to be very careful. Grandshaykh (q) was not even allowing us to kiss his hand and put it on our foreheads. He said, “No, this forehead does not belong to you.”
You Must Pray the Five Prayers on Time
The five prayers are an indication of servanthood. No one can say, “I don’t pray. I’m out of prayer.” There are some liberal groups today that have gone so far, saying, “We love spirituality but we don’t like Shari`ah.” That is not accepted, Shari`ah is first and then spirituality, without Shari`ah there is no spirituality. You put your forehead on the ground five times a day in your prayers. You can pray more than five prayers voluntarily, Sunnah and you put your forehead on the ground (make sajda), but at least in every prayer you put your forehead on the ground.
We were just praying Salaat al-`Asr and astaghfirullah, something came to my heart from Mawlana Shaykh, may Allah bless his soul, the ayah:
إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَّوْقُوتًا
Truly prayer has been enjoined upon the Believers at fixed times. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:103)
“Inna” is confirming what Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an, the ayah, Inna ‘s-salaata kaanat `ala al-mu’mineena, Prayers are for believers, kitaaban mawqootan, established at confirmed times.
Allah is confirming that the prayer you are praying, kaanat, was from a long time ago on everyone, especially on mu’min. Kitaaban mawqoota, an obligation on it’s time: we are under that obligation to pray the five prayers on their time. If it goes out of its time it is not accepted. Kitaaban mawqoota, it’s timely: the prayer has to be conducted in its allotted time and outside of that you lose the prayer.
Teach Your Children and Require Them to Pray
I am saying this especially for young ones. You have to train your children, girls or boys, adults or teenagers, shaykhs, elderly people, everyone must know that he has to pray on time. Don’t be easy-going with your children if they are not praying, don’t give them what they want if they are not praying. We have to be firm! Allah (swt) is confirming the prayer is the indication of `ibaadah, worship, stating, “Allah is the Creator and we are His servants.”
Today the adults are not praying and they come and say, “We have this problem or that problem.” Did you ask yourself if you broke an Islamic rule today? Ask yourself in the evening when you come back home, did you break any of Allah’s rules? Ask and you will find that everyone is breaking rules and say, “Why do I have this problem?” Check what you are doing!
It is very important to train our children from childhood to pray with us in order that when they grow up, they know that they will not leave a prayer. I’m not praising myself, but since I was 4 years of age I don’t remember that at any moment I broke the rules of prayer. We only say this to share with people in order to encourage them not to break the rules of salaat. At university, I took a break before afternoon classes, went home, prayed and came back to school. Sometimes if I had no time at home and had to rush to university, I went back after the class finished, prayed Dhuha and went back to attend the second session.
We must have `azheema, the determination to make our children pray with us so they will be raised making salaat. Today parents don’t care for this, they only care about business and money, and then you lose your prayers.
How the Blind Man Got His Vision Restored
In the time of the Prophet (s), look how much prayer was very valuable to that person: a blind man came to the Prophet (s) and said, “Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah! Pray for me that Allah gives me my sight back.” He wanted to see. Medically it is impossible, you cannot see, even if millions of doctors come to bring him his sight back, they cannot. He came to the Prophet (s) and he said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! I want to see. I live by myself. If I lose my total vision, I don’t want to lose a praying a prayer behind you. No one helps me come to the masjid to pray behind you. I want Allah to give me back my sight.”
Are we asking Allah (swt) to give us the visions of our hearts? Do you think there are no eyes in the heart? There are! The Prophet often told the Sahaabah (r), “Be careful what you are doing behind me as I can see you from the back of my head.”
The blind man said, “I want to see, yaa Rasoolullah.” Prophet (s) said, a-tasbir, “Can you be patient?” He said, “No!” Look at the conversation between the Prophet and one of his Ummah. This must make us very happy that the Prophet is asking him, “Can you be patient?” What did he say? He said, “No.” The Prophet didn’t get upset but he wanted to help, so all of these Ahadeeth teach us how Sahaabah used to react with the Prophet (s), which was in a very informal, familiar way.
He said, “Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah! I cannot wait.” What did the Prophet say? He said, “Go the the wudu area, take wudu and come to me and say this du`a: Allahumma inni as-aluka wa atawajjahu ilayka bi Nabiyyika Muhammad Nabi ar-Rahmah. Yaa Muhammad! Inni at-tawajahu bika, yaa Rabbee, fee haajati hadhihi li tukda li. Allahumma shafi`hu bi jaahi! Allahumma shafa`hu fi bi jaahihi `indak!”
Entire Hadith
عن عثمان بن حنيف أن رجلا ضرير البصر أتى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال ادع الله أن يعافيني قال إن شئت دعوت وإن شئت صبرت فهو خير لك قال فادعه قال فأمره أن يتوضأ فيحسن وضوءه ويدعو بهذا الدعاء اللهم إني أسألك وأتوجه إليك بنبيك محمد نبي الرحمة إني توجهت بك إلى ربي في حاجتي هذه لتقضى لي اللهم فشفعه في
It is narrated from `Uthman ibn Hunayf, that a blind man came to the Prophet (s) and said, "I've been afflicted in my eyesight, so please pray to Allah for me." The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Go make ablution (wudu), perform two rak`ats of prayer, and then say: "Oh Allah, I ask You and turn to You through my Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of Mercy; O Muhammad , I seek your intercession with my Lord for my need, that it may be fulfilled. O Allah, grant him intercession for me." (Ibn Majah, Tabarani)
[O Allah! I ask You for the sake of Your beloved Prophet Muhammad (s), the Prophet of Mercy.]
Nabi ar-Rahmah, yaa Muhammad!
[O Muhammad (s)! I am turning your Lord, Allah, through you for this particular need of mine to be granted, to be satisfied. O Allah! Grant me intercession of Your beloved, grant me in Your Presence his intercession.]
The Prophet (s) is teaching him what to say and there he put something very precious and very important for us. He said, Allahumma inni asa’luka wa atawajjahu ilayka bi Nabiyyika Muhammad Nabi ar-Rahmah, “O Allah! I am seeking, coming to You through the Intercession of Your Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s).” He didn’t stop, he continued, “Yaa Muhammad!” He called on the Prophet (s), which is not shirk: this is the Prophet teaching the blind man to call on him so he can reach the Divine Presence! Waa’too ‘l-buyoota min abwaabiha. Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
وَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِهَا
Approach houses from their doors. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:189)
Proof that Calling on Prophet (s) for Support is not Shirk
“Come to homes through their doors,” so the door of Allah (swt) is Sayyidina Muhammad (s). The blind man called on the Prophet (s), “Yaa Muhammad!” Innee atawajjahu bika, yaa Rabbee! “I’m directing my face to you for my Lord, I’m coming to Allah (swt) through you!” Fee haajati hadhihi li tuqdaa lee, “For this difficulty of mine (my vision) to be cured!” He went, made wudu, came to the Prophet, made du`a and Allah restored his eyesight! [Allahu Akbar!] Put this in your mind: calling on the Prophet is accepted.
The other point in that Hadith is if they come to you and say, “Okay, this was in the time of the Prophet (s), but now Prophet left dunya, so we cannot call on him.” To this we say, “No, we can, because the continuation of that Hadith is: there was a Sahaabi who had a problem in the time of Sayyidina `Uthmaan (r) and no one could solve it for him except Sayyidina `Uthmaan (r). One time, after many times, he went to Sayyidina `Uthmaan for him to solve the problem. He never looked at him, standing by the door to take permission to come in and Sayyidina `Uthmaan was not giving permission, so he went back very sad and saw his neighbor, `Uthmaan ibn Hanif (r), who asked, “Why are you sad?” He said, “I have a problem and Sayyidina `Uthmaan is not solving it for me.” He said, “Come, make wudu and I will teach you what I heard from the Prophet (s).” He asked, “What did you hear from the Prophet?” He said, “I heard the Hadith of the blind man.”
He taught him du`a in the Hadith: Allahumma innee asa’luka wa atawajjahu ilayka bi Nabiyyika Muhammad Nabi ar-Rahmah. Yaa Muhammad! Innee at-tawajjahu bika, yaa Rabbee, fee haajati hadhihi li tuqdaa lee. Allahumma shafi`hu feeya bi jaahi! Allahumma shafi`hu feeya bi jaahihi `indak!
He said, “If you recite that, inshaa-Allah, you will solve your problem.” The man was happy and left, but thought, “I went to Sayyidina `Uthmaan many times and he never looked at me, but since `Uthmaan ibn Hanif said this du`a that he heard from the Prophet, I will do it.” He read the du`a and went to Sayyidina `Uthmaan’s majlis, association, and stood by the door. Sayyidina `Uthmaan looked at him and he said, “Come. What is your problem?” He said, “My problem is this, this, this, this,” and he said, “I am solving it completely,” and he solved his problem.
The man was very happy and he went home. After a while `Uthmaan ibn Hanif saw him and he asked, “What happened with you? You never came back. Did Sayyidina `Uthmaan solve your problem?” He said, “SubhaanAllah! He solved my problem because it might be that you spoke to him.” He said, “W’Allahi, I didn’t speak with him. It’s the du`a you read that the Prophet taught to the blind man, which made you to be accepted in `Uthmaan’s mind and he solved your problem!”
________________
We Must not Be Facilitators of Our Children Going to Hellfire!
We have to be careful with our children as we are all blind from these realities. We are not looking at what our children are doing, praying or not praying, going to college, to school, with whom they speak, with whom they don’t speak. You have to be very careful. We must not throw them in Hell and say, “I cannot save you.” No, you will be responsible on the Day of Judgment! That’s why Allah confirmed for us:
إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَّوْقُوتًا
Truly prayer has been enjoined upon the Believers at fixed times. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:103)
Prayers are on fixed times, so if you don’t pray on time as a mu’min, as a Muslim, you lost your prayer. Now, when you pray it again in the evening, qada, which has its own conditions and principles, but the prayer has to be done on its time. If not, you cannot enter Paradise without praying all your prayers that you lost in dunya on the cover of Hellfire as mentioned by the Prophet (s), that you will stand on the cover of Hellfire, and your feet will burn, your forehead will burn, your hands will burn when you go down, your knees will burn. Here, if you had a little bit of a burn on your finger, you wouldn’t sleep all night, so what’s going to happen there? Think about it! What will happen on the Day of Judgment?
That’s why we have to learn that Hadith and recite it every day, because the continuation of the Hadith is, “We are coming to you, yaa Rasoolullah!” Fee haajati hadhihi li tuqdaa lee, “We are coming to you for that matter to be resolved.” Allahumma shafi`hu feeya bi jaahihi `indak. May Allah make Prophet intercede for us in order to take away all our problems!
I’m speaking not only to the children, I’m speaking to myself and to you: be careful for your prayers and don’t give rough excuses. You can pray sitting if you cannot pray standing. You can praying sitting or you can pray laying down. Even if you are sick, it is mentioned that when you are sick and cannot come out of bed, you can pray with your head or with your eyes, but don’t leave the time of the prayer saying, “I am sick, I cannot pray.” Many people say that, but on top of Hellfire you are not going to say, “I am sick, I cannot pray”, you are going to pray by force!
May Allah (swt) forgive us and bless us with all His blessings that comes to the Prophet (s), it might be that a drop will come on us from that ocean that will be our safety to Paradise! May Allah (swt) grant us some from the grants that He gave to Prophet (s) of His Rahmah, of His Mercy.
وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ
My Mercy has encompassed everything. (Surat al-A`raaf, 7:156)
“My Rahmah has encompassed everything.” Are we within that Rahmah or not? It encompasses everything, we are part of everything, so for sure Ahlu ‘l-Islam, Ahlu ‘l-Imaan will reach that Rahmah because we are under that encompassing, wa Rahmati wasi`at kulla shay, “My Mercy has encompassed everything.” May Allah (swt) encompass us with all the Rahmah that He gave to Prophet (s) because we are weak servants!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
http://sufilive.com/Do-Not-Neglect-Your-Prayers-5968.html
© Copyright 2015 Sufilive. All rights reserved. This transcript is protected
by international copyright law. Please attribute Sufilive when sharing it. JazakAllahu khayr.