3 July 2015 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Fajr Suhbah
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta'ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Atee`oollaha wa atee`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
Alhamdulillahil-ladhee jama`ana bi hadhal'l-jam`a hadha yawmun mubarak khaasatan fee ramadan, May Allah (swt) bless us for gathering on this blessed day of Jumu`ah, especially in Ramadan. We thank Allah for always gathering us together as one person, which makes Allah (swt) happy, the Prophet (s) happy and the Pious Servants of Allah happy.
As we explained before in many lectures, we must have adab in everything. We said that Shari`ah is adab and adab is Shari`ah. By ‘adab’ we mean all the principles of Shari`ah that Allah (swt) asked His servants to do; all of that is in the meaning of adab because if you want to do something, you try to do it perfectly. In Shari`ah, we need to do all the principles perfectly: wudu, salaat, zakaat and Hajj all must comply with adab towards Allah (swt). If someone gave you a job, you have to do it perfectly, is it not? If someone wrote a contract with you, you have fulfill it completely with adab and not hide anything. So that is how awliyaullah refer to Shari`ah as adab, because it is the way to Allah (swt).
Allah said atee`oollaha, “Obey Allah”, but you cannot obey Allah only for a certain part, you have to obey completely. It means obey Allah in his Shar`a, where He said:
إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُُ
Inna ad-deena `inda Allaahi al-islaam.
Verily the religion with Allah is Islam. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:19)
We cannot leave some parts and do others, everything must comply with Shari`ah. Allah (swt) asked the Prophet (s) to send a message and to teach them Shari`atullah, Fiqh, Tafseer, Hadith, all on the highest level of adab. Allah ordered this and we must do our best to complete the order. We know we cannot reach the highest level of perfection but we are doing our best, then Allah will then order His angels to complete our actions. After “obey Allah” He (swt) said, wa atee`oo 'r-Rasool, “and obey His Rasool”, so we have to obey the Prophet (s) and the Message he came with, which is adab, because we are following in the footsteps of the Prophet (s).
Awliyaullah say that prophets did their best in their lives, but still they were not up to the level that Allah (swt) wanted, except for Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Many other prophets did what Allah ordered them to do, but they were reluctant to keep doing it and to continue giving da`wah to their nations. They sometimes asked Allah to destroy their nations because their people did not believe in Him, but the Prophet (s) asked Allah to save his nation, not to destroy them.
So they showed, “Yaa Rabbee, we were trying our best and our life is finishing. We were not able to reach the highest level , the adab of perfection.” That is why awliyaullah are following in the footsteps of the Prophet (s) and also they show `ajz, helplessness in front of Allah (swt), they don’t raise their head.
In our communities today everyone wants to fight with someone else through anger. If you don’t like something and you don’t swallow it, then you are in a problem. The Prophet (s) swallowed a lot from his tribe and from his family. As is in the story of the lady who used to throw garbage at the door of the Prophet (s). For how many years did he not complain? She was dumping her dirty things in front of the house of the Prophet (s)! When the Prophet (s) used to go to Fajr in the morning, he would remove the garbage, and he never complained for seven years. Then one day, there was no garbage and then the Prophet (s) went to visit her and to make her happy when she was dying. Who will do that? He never complained or ever said anything to anyone.
So if we do the worship of the two big crowds, `ibaadat ath-thaqalayn, Jinn and Ins, one jinn and one human beings, the two different groups of Creation; if you accumulate all their worshipness it is not yet perfect to Allah (swt), there is still something missing. That is why everyone must still show helplessness, inability, and say, “O Allah! We did our best but we could not succeed,” and they left dunya saying, “Yaa `Afoow, forgive us!”
Allah (swt) ordered angels to make salawaat on the Prophet (s).
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him with a worthy salutation. (Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:56)
Allah and His angels are praising the Prophet (s). Why did He say “yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayh,” is not Allah's and His angels’ salawaat higher than a mu’min's salawaat? Yes, but although the salawaat of Allah and His Angels who are infallible as He ordered them to make salawaat and they are higher and stronger, but He still ordered the mu’min. Why? In order to enter that tunnel of adab and respect; that is the key to Paradise for the Ummah, for the whole nation of the Prophet (s). The key to Paradise is salawaat, because Allah ordered it you cannot enter Paradise without the approval of the Prophet (s). So when you make one salawaat, Allah will give you ten salawaat and there is no comparison between our salawaat and His. For us, it is complete weakness and helplessness, we make one or two salawaat and we drop. If we want the key to Paradise, we must do salawaat.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ
إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا
We did indeed offer the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the Mountains, but they refused to undertake it, being afraid, but Man undertook it. Lo! He has proved a tyrant and a fool.
(Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:72)
Allah offered the Trust to the Heavens or skies, Earth and Mountains, and what did they say? “Yaa Rabb we cannot carry it!” They showed helplessness, as they knew they cannot do it, but human beings said, “No, we will take it.” The skies, Earth and Mountains said that they cannot take it, even inanimate objects, non-moving, non-living creatures said they cannot carry, because Allah (swt) said:
وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدَهِ
And there is not a thing but celebrates His praise! (Surat al-Israa’, 17:44)
That is why when the Prophet (s) used to pass by the mountains, he used to hear their tasbeeh, they said they cannot carry, that adab it is too high, How can we keep adab when You see us and we are making sins? No one is not making sins except for the Prophet (s). How are we going to face our Lord on the Day of Judgment, what will we say?
So from the beginning, Earth, Heavens and Mountains said they could not, so Allah did not offer to them again, but human beings said, “We have adab we can take it,” and they took it. Innahu kaana zhalooman jahoola, Allah opened, “Take the Trust.” He gave them the Trust and then He described them as “oppressor and ignorant.” Today we see that human beings are ignorant and oppressors, is it not? However, Allah's Mercy is such that He took it from them after He said they are ignorant and oppressor. He gave everyone a Trust and He asked for that Trust to be given back on the Day of Judgment. How to clean our Trust when we are oppressors to ourselves and ignorant? How to keep it clean? This is where “yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema” will clean you and save you from falling into the trap of being an oppressor and ignorant.
On the day of alastu bi rabbikum, Allah offered to Heavens and whatever is in them and to Earth and whatever is on it and in it and to Mountains and to whatever is in it or on it, and every “yes” took its share from the Day of Promises. What Allah wanted them to take, and so they took their specific Trust from Him and everyone’s Trust is different from one to the other, not everyone is the same: there are groups of creatures which are human beings, there are groups which are jinn and there are angels. Angels in Heavens are infallible, but everyone in the group individually had a Trust as well, and they took it and ran with it. That means there is a capacity for each person, and:
لاَ يُكَلِّفُ اللّهُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ وُسْعَهَا لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ
On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:286)
On that Day when souls were gathered like battalions, Allah gave everyone according to his ability to carry. If he has little ability, Allah does not give too much. So you have on Earth common people, scholarly people and normal people, You have prophets and awliya. So the capacity of a prophet is not same as the capacity of a normal person, and a normal person does not have the same capacity as a jinn. Each took what Allah gave him and said “Balaa!” So he accepted what Allah gave to him and I accepted what Allah gave to me.
That is how you see different understandings, beliefs and different ways of thinking. Shaykh Sharafuddin and Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q) and Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil (q) said that the Naqshbandi Masters, Saadatuna an-Naqshbandiyyoon--while there are other turuq and they can speak for themselves, we can speak for the Naqshbandi Order--they did their utmost preparation for receiving these Trusts. They received these Trusts and came to dunya to raise them up to their “Balaa,” what they accepted on the Day of Judgment. The saints of the Naqshbandi Order are on the Fourth Level, murtabat ar-rabi`a, Fourth Station, Situation or Level. There are three different Stations before them there are three different stations.
First Station: The First Station, which is the highest of them all, is the Station of Prophets, where no one can reach. They are ma`soomeen, no sins. infallible.
Second Station: The Second Station is the Station of the Sahaabah (r). No one can be a Sahaabi. They are the Sahaabah (r) who saw the Prophet (s) and were with the Prophet (s). After them are the Tabi`een, those who followed the footsteps, but Allah dressed the Sahaabah (r) with all kinds of heavenly dresses. So the First Station is of anbiya, then the Second Station is of Sahaabah (r).
Third Station: Then the Third Station is of a'immat, the Four Imams of the madhaahib: Abu Hanifa bin Nu`man, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi`i and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (r), and those come after; and the 12 Imams of the grandchildren of the Prophet (s). So the Imams come as the third group.
Fourth Station: The last Level or Station is for awliyaullah and the emphasis is on Saadaatuna an-Naqshbandiyoon. They don’t leave their mureeds on their levels, but raise them to their own. Sa`adaatuna an-Naqshbandiyoon took what we promised on the Day of Promises, and because we have shortcomings, they carry that responsibility of following the Prophet (s), when Allah said in Surat ash-Sharh:
أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ
Have We not expanded for you your breast? And We removed from you your burden that weighed so heavily on your back. (Surat ash-Sharh, 94:1-3)
So they take on the wizr of their mureeds, and that is in the Hadith of the Prophet (s):
قال رسول الله ص حياتي خير لكم تحدثون ويحدث لكم ومماتي خير لكم تعرض علي أعمال لكم فإن وجدت خيراً حمدت الله وما وجدت غير ذلك استغفرت لكم.
My life is a great good for you: you relate from it and narrations are related to you. And my death contains good for you as well, for I observe the `amal of my Ummah. If I find good I thank Allah, and if I see other than that, bad, I ask forgiveness for you. (al-Bazzaar in his Musnad)
The real wali is the one who does not deviate even by one hair from the adab of Shari`ah. Whatever mistakes their followers make they try to save them by raising them up. I will mention a story here, because many Wahhabis don’t accept that. One time I was 18 years of age and I had a big exam for university, but my heart was saying to go visit Grandshaykh (q). I was reluctant, but there was that urge to go and visit him.
So I told my mother and she said, “No, you cannot go. You have an exam that you have to study for.”
I said, “I go.”
She said, “No, don’t go,” and we had a quarrel and finally I went.
I drove for three hours to reach Sham, Damascus. I had to go up, as Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani’s (q) house was high up. I want to knock the door and he opened it. He was coming down from his house down for about 10-20 minutes, looked at me and said, “Go from where you came!” Some people might run away from Tariqah, because he was so firm, with a stern face. “Go back and don’t come here with this bad adab! Make your mother happy and then come.”
How did he see that? They can see their what followers are doing. Prophets gave from their power to them and Allah blessed them with that. I was sad and upset because he kicked me away, but amazed that he was able to see the conversation between me and my mother. We lived far away, about 200 km from Beirut. I went back and got home late due to being stuck in a traffic jam. I didn’t study well, but I came back and my mother said, “O you came, what happened?”
I said, “He kicked me out.”
She said, “You can go, but first show me how much you got on that exam.”
Alhamdulillah I went for that exam without being prepared, but got a 95, as if I was prepared. So you don’t know how much they carry in order to relieve us from heavy burdens. Everyone of us thinks he is `allama, a big scholar and fakhaama, the ink of Allah's Holy Words:
قُل لَّوْ كَانَ الْبَحْرُ مِدَادًا لِّكَلِمَاتِ رَبِّي لَنَفِدَ الْبَحْرُ قَبْلَ أَن تَنفَدَ كَلِمَاتُ رَبِّي وَلَوْ جِئْنَا بِمِثْلِهِ مَدَدًا
Say, "If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it for its aid."
(Surat al-Kahf, 18:109)
Allah's Words will never finish but the ink for writing it will finish, and ‘`allam al-`allaama’ is an-Nabi (s):
وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ
Above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Surah Yusuf, 12:76)
Now today each one mentions, “This one is Qutb and this one is that.” We cannot transgress the limits of the stations where Allah (swt) and the Prophet (s) put us. Tomorrow we will speak of the relationship between murshid and his mureed and how you have to believe in your shaykh, inshaa-Allah.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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