29 September 2011 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Suhbah After Khatm
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.
Dastoor yaa Sayyidee, madad.
إنما الأعمال بالنيات، وإنما لكل امرىء ما نوى، فمن كانت هجرته إلى دنيا يصيبها، أو إلى امرأة ينكحها، فهجرته إلى ما هاجر إليه» رواه البخاري
Innamaa ’l-aa`maalu bi ’n-niyyaat wa innamaa li-kulli’mrin maa nawaa faman kaanat hijratuhu ila dunyaa yuseebuhaa aw ila ’mraatin yankihuhaa fa-hijratuhu ila maa haajara ilayh.
The Prophet (s) said, “Actions are only by intention, and every man shall only have what he intended. Thus he whose migration was for Allah and His Messenger, his migration was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his hijra was for that for which he made migration." (Bukhari and Muslim)
If your intention is Allah, that means your intention is straightforward, that means your intention is a just intention full of justice, that means your intention is for Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s) and that you accept what you believe in, and you know we must obey Allah (swt) our Creator, and His messengers from Sayyidina Adam (a) to Sayyidina Muhammad (s).
Otherwise your intention or action is for faaniyya, temporary dunya, a world that is going to disintegrate, to disappear by many ways. Some might ask, how will this world disappear? Just as you disappear, Allah can also make it disappear, like the many stars that have disappeared and you are still seeing their light. Physicists say the stars are gone, but their light is reaching us now as it moves at the speed of light, 300,000 km per second. So a star that is two billion light years away, by the time it’s light reached here, the star disappeared from there. So if your intention is for a world of desires and pleasures only, then you are not thinking of a world of goodness or happiness and enjoyment in the way of our Creator, the way that you can easily adopt.
لاَ يُكَلِّفُ اللّهُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ وُسْعَهَا
laa yukallifullahu nafsan illa wusa`aha.
Allah does not put a burden on anyone more than he can bear. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:286)
We might say, “I can carry this much, yaa Rabbee, not more.” What can you do? But to say, “I am not interested,” as if someone is giving you a plate of food and you are salivating but you say, “No, I am not interested,” you should not say no. Our Creator is offering us heavenly food, so take as much as you can! Like someone offering you a jar of honey; some might eat the whole jar, some might eat one, two or three spoons and it is enough. Allah gave this world to us and so don't be greedy.
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Rabbana aatinaa fi 'd-dunya hasanatan wa fi ’l-akhirati hasanatan wa qina `adhaab an-naar.
O our Lord! Give us goodness in this life and goodness in the Next Life, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:201)
That means take honey, but can you take a whole jar! Take from this world what you can take, and take from the other world what you can take but don't be greedy. Accept what comes to you and be content with what Allah gave to you. Don't say, “I want more!”
If you want more and to give it in the way of goodness, helping then it is okay. Today people die and they have lot of wealth, instead of their relatives inheriting it, they bequeath their wealth to different animal shelters, while there are different orphanages, shelters of needy children. We don't say don't help pets, but as you help the pets also help the orphanage, the foster homes, as they are in need.
We are orphans, living in the foster home of our egos. If we don't connect ourselves with our heavenly source, it means we are orphans and losers, as we have to connect ourselves there.
Like you plant a tree in soil and the weather is not suitable for that tree, so it doesn't grow. Allah gave fertile, suitable soil to each human being that doesn't fit anyone else; this soil fits you, that soil fits me. You can’t sit here and I can’t sit there or the plant becomes dry. How many times you planted trees and then they die, because the soil is full of minerals not good for it. Date trees like hot weather and other trees like cold weather or some don't grow in cold weather.
God is The Absolute Just One, Who does not give you more than what you can take or carry.
Everyone has space, a niche, in which he can sit and meditate:
تفكر ساعة خير من عبادة سبعين سنة
tafakarru sa`atan khayrun min `ibaadati saba`een sannah.
To remember Allah (contemplate or meditate) for one hour is better than seventy years of worship.
In that place where you meditate, at that moment it becomes a blessed place in a blessed moment, as was the case of the Virgin Mary (r). Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) found food there and asked, “Where is that from?”
She said, “God is sending it to me,” and he knew that was a blessed place and so he prayed there to get a child. He was 99 years old and Allah blessed him with a son, Yahya, John.
Allah (swt) is “al-Qadirun al-Muqtadirun,” the All-Powerful! You don't know when Allah will send that mercy on you to pull you to that heavenly life. Still you are living and at same time, without taking the soul from your body, as He knows you can carry both, He gives you heavenly life. That is why you find people are in vacuum, as they feel something else is necessary to complete them. The body is a vacuum, an empty form, but the spirit will make it full, a combination of mass and energy, like an atom. So some people find they are in need to fill that vacuum.
Every moment has its unique specialty and taste. That is why we are ordered to pray five prayers, because every prayer has a taste, a different manifestation. One prayer might be a manifestation from the First Heaven and the second prayer might be a manifestation from the Second Heaven, the third prayer might be a manifestation from the Third Heaven, and so forth. Fajr prayer has a certain taste because its manifestation is different at night, and Dhuhr, `Asr and Maghrib prayers have a different taste. You will not be praying here. As the Prophet (s) said, “The best time for me between Allah’s Hands is when I am in prayer.” When you say, “Allahu Akbar,” you are there, not on this prayer carpet! It is a heavenly, angelic place and you are worshipping near everything heavenly and you feel that taste. When they take that veil from your eyes, you can see everything
Sayyidina 'Isa (a) said, "One of you is going to betray me." He saw; he didn’t want to say who but he knew his destiny and that Judas will betray him, and Judas did. The Prophet’s relatives, Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab, also betrayed him. Prophets see what is good for their nation, and they teach their nation, and they see what is bad, hoping it will disappear. They try their utmost all their lives, (sacrificing for their people to bring what is best for them)!
So you must be in the right moment and right place, because at that moment the right presence, a heavenly presence will come. Everyone can say, “I want to be with my friend, Taher.” If we are a hundred people here and we all say that, all of us surrender him. But you cannot all be in the first circle closest to him; it is not physically possible, but you might be in second or third circle. When you are in the hundredth circle, you don't see him anymore as you are very far. You cannot be always close physically. How many people can be close, touching him? Four, five, six? He is so slim he will disappear!
So you cannot say, “I want to be touching him in the first circle.” Why? Because this is the world of forms. But if you say, “I want to be with you all the time in the World of Spirits,” even one million spirits can be in the same moment feeling each other! But we are veiled and that is why it is not to be with the form, as in this world it cannot be. Ten people cannot be surrounding each other in the same reach or nearness to each other; some of them will be not around but their souls will be together.
For example, everyone of us says, "O our Lord! Make us to be resurrected with our Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s)," is it not? People of other beliefs may say, “Make us to be resurrected with Jesus,” or, “with Moses,” and that is okay. We say, “Make us to be resurrected with the Prophet (s) and with Jesus and Moses (a), with every prophet.” How many will there be on Day of Resurrection? Today six billion people are living, and how many are deceased or born daily? Millions are coming to life and millions are passing away; it is balanced. Muslims want to be with the Prophet (s), but they cannot all be physically with him at the same time. However, in the manifestation of heavenly life, in `Akhirah, we can all be in the presence of the Prophet (s) and he will be with all of you!
ما من مسلم يصلي علي ألا رد الله علي روحي فأرد عليه السلام
Maa in muslimin yusalli `alayya illa rad-Allaha `alayy roohee fa-arudd `alayhi as-salaam.
Abu Hurayrah (r) reported: The Messenger of Allah (s) said, “Whenever someone greets me (with salawaat), Allah returns the soul to my body (in the grave) and I return his greeting.”
(Abu Dawud)
How many people send prayers or salaams on the Prophet (s) in every moment? Millions, and he replies to all of them, and not by holding hands! This is not a circus; when we speak of heavenly areas or heavenly time, it is not necessary to be very physically near that person to be with him. A hundred people cannot be with someone (close enough to touch them) at the same time, it is impossible. We are not after people, we are after heavenly manifestations. It is enough to be in that area; at that time you will receive the same manifestation that everyone is receiving from Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s).
For example, two-four million hujjaj are on the plain of `Arafat at the same time, and the heavenly manifestation reaches them equally, it doesn’t differentiate. You are present in that place and you get the barakah, whether you are a sinner or a wali. The Prophet (s) said, “Whoever goes for Hajj and stands on `Arafat without any mistake or fighting to be this and to be that, surrendering to Allah and his Prophet, will return to his home with no sin on him, like a newborn baby.”
So you can be at any place in `Arafat, in the center or at the perimeter, and it is the same, as if you are in the center with those who manifest themselves spiritually. You are not seeking a person, but rather a heavenly manifestation.
Grandshaykh (q) told the story of Rabi`ah al-Adawiyya (r), who was on Hajj with millions of pilgrims going to `Arafat, and due to the monthly sickness she could not pray. She cried about that, while today they all go with the monthly sickness or not; who is checking? She heard a voice from Heavens, “Yaa Rabi`ah! This year was not going to be a blessed year for those on `Arafat, but because you are there, I am giving a heavenly manifestation because of your presence.”
It was not due to being near her that they got the blessings, it was due to them being there. That is a barakah place and the most important thing is whether or not there is a heavenly invitation for us to go (be present there). As no one can go without receiving a heavenly invitation, if it is not written for you to go this year, you will not make the intention. But because there is a heavenly invitation we did everything we need to do from our side, and now if we go or we don't go, we get the blessings here in this area, because we did everything with the intention of going. innamaa al-`amaal bin-niyyat. Our intention is to go to Hajj. We prepared ourselves, we prepared our horse, we paid our tickets and prepared our caravan. Now if for certain reasons you don't go, it will be written as if you went, because innamaa al-`amaal bin-niyyat, your intention is to migrate to Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s).
So the message to those who are going to Hajj is, don't say (to me), “I want to be near you and with you.” Everyone is free. It is my pleasure and honor to go there by Mawlana's permission and the permission of those who give visas. If you go you get the barakah of those who are going. You can only do tawaaf in small groups and it is impossible to go in one big group as there are two million people making tawaaf and a big group cannot turn (and stay together). So only ten people can do tawaaf together around baytullah. It is the same in Madinat al-Munawwarah when visiting Rawdat ash-Shareefah.
Don't put in your mind, “I came because I want to be with you (Shaykh Hisham).” No, you must thank Allah (swt) that He made you ready to go this year and He brought you, as there is certain heavenly manifestation for the best of hujjaj (pilgrims) that we will be part of that great place! So we only ask Allah (swt) to forgive us and grant us to visit His House and His Prophet (s), and that is our only intention. May Allah make it true and make it through bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
As we said, every prayer has a taste. There are five prayers, all with a different taste. Also, each Hajj has a different taste, so this Hajj has its own taste. I did many different pilgrimages and umrah from the 1960s to 1990 when I came to the U.S., and each Hajj has a different taste. Be happy that this year you are going and will get that taste. Inshaa-Allah, Allah will give us the taste that He gave to the Sahaabah (r) when they went with the Prophet (s) on Hijjat al-Wada`.
May Allah give us a long, happy, healthy life and may we go healthy and return healthy, and with heavenly wealth.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.