Zhuhr Suhbah at Manor House
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
May Allah (swt) keep us together in both dunya and Akhirah.
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-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`alaa fee haadha 'l-masjid. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyideena wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
We are doing this by Mawlana Shaykh Nazim's support inshaa-Allah and we believe that without their support we are nothing, that you cannot even be an ant, but with their support you can be a lion! Without their support you are nothing and you have to tell yourself this in order to understand what Allah (swt) said:
فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
Fa laa tuzakoo anfusakum.
Don’t praise yourself. (Surat an-Najm, 53:32)
You always have to tell yourself you are wrong. You are supported if awliyaullah have petitioned for you in the presence of Prophet (s), then you are something. If you are not petitioned you are nothing, and whatever you speak there is no light in it. What is important is that when you speak the light comes out and affects the people who are present, not that you have memorized or read something. When they support you they send you energy, like electricity when you plug into a socket. And they don’t open from their side, from the main source, so you don’t have electricity even if you have the wiring in place. No lamp will have the light; you will have nothing and there will only be darkness. With their support, if you say, “Aah,” or if you cough it has a meaning, and if you sit without saying anything, people will benefit from the light that comes from the shuyookh to you and then to everyone.
One time I heard from Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, say, “What is the benefit of a wali? The wali always has to thank Allah that He sent him mureeds. If He didn’t send him mureeds, what is the benefit of a wali? It is because of his mureeds and his students that Allah gives him the power to speak, so if the students are not there, what is the benefit of the wali? It’s better for him to stay in seclusion.”
There are awliya who are khalwati, which means they are always in seclusion and they only see very few people. There are some awliya who are khalwati jalwati, which means half the time they are by themselves and half the time they see people. Then there are some awliya who are always jalwati, always with people everywhere. And these three types are all supported by Allah (swt) and Prophet (s): khalwati or khalwati jalwati or jalwati. All of us benefit from them and without them there is no benefit. Why are people coming? Not for the building, because they see hundreds of buildings. They come for the sake of Allah, His Prophet (s) and for His awliya.
Who is the imam of the tariqah to which we belong, under whose name is it? [Sayyideena Shah Naqshband.] (...) So the one whose name it is under and who made it very famous, and of course the tariqah has been under many names, but the one that made it very famous was Sayyideena Shah Naqshband (q). It was called Siddiqiyya, Tayfurriyya, Naqshbandiyya, also Mujaddidiyya, then Khalidiyya, then Daghestaniyya, and now Haqqaniyya. But the main name by which it is called is after Sayyideena Bahauddin Naqshband (q). He was very famous in `Ilm az-Zhaahir and `Ilm al-Baatin. There were thousands of students, but there might be only one or two mureeds because they never gave baya` until the student finished Shari`ah courses. If they didn't finish Shari`ah courses they didn’t give them baya`, because then there was a dangerous issue: people with no knowledge of Shari`ah but only knowledge of tariqah might transgress the limits and then you have a problem.
I stayed for many, many years in the presence of Grandshaykh (q) and I didn’t see him give baya` to anyone. We begged him to give us baya`, which came later, but not at the beginning. I remember when I was thirteen years old, I asked him for baya` and he said, “Make sallah `alan-Nabi.” That was the baya`! The awliyaullah never gave baya` because the mureeds or students are up and down in their understanding of tariqah. Tariqah has to comply completely with Shari`ah, and if it doesn’t, you are on the red line in danger. It’s like a red traffic light: don’t move, stop!
“Do you have Shari`ah?”
“No.”
“Go! You cannot move from here. Confiscate his car, give him a ticket and send him to study!”
Now, with my respect to you, I feel bad that we do not focus on Shari`ah. People are calling others to tariqah, but in the wrong way; someone will come and take Shahadah, but still his actions are wrong. You are showing him very nice food in the pot, but there is no plate to give it to him, so what’s the benefit? You need the plate! Like you have a building, but you don’t have an imam, what to do? So many, with my respect to everyone, and don’t take this personally, we all have turbans, but what is the benefit of the turban if we have no knowledge of Shari`ah? But still there is a benefit because, as Prophet (s) said:
من احيا سنتي عند فساد أمتي فله أجر مائة شهيد
There are people who continue to revive my sunnah. For each sunnah they revive, Allah will give them the reward of seventy martyrs (“one-hundred martyrs,” in different riwaya).
“Whoever revives my sunnah in the days that sunnah is being put down, Allah will reward him with one-hundred shaheed.” That is hadith of Prophet (s), and you will get that reward. But if you have Shari`ah, for example, if you go to Hajj or Madinah, nd you have a turban, people might run to you and ask you questions, not only for du`a but also a question about Hajj. What will you answer? They might say, “Why do you have this turban and you don’t know anything? Take it off!” You could even be attacked by other people. I was on Hajj a long time ago and was approached by someone from the d`awah people, those who do amr bi ’l-ma`roof wan-nahiyy `ani ‘l-munkar, those who go around to everyone. I was sitting facing the Ka`aba reading Qur’an when someone came and shook me, saying, “Yaa shaykh!” I looked at him and saw that he was from their group, wearing the white robe and everything. He said, “You are not following the sunnah.”
I said, “Okay, alhamdulillah, so what is your advice to me?”
He said, “How can you have your beard so long? It’s too long! It’s against the sunnah because the sunnah is one hand’s length.”
I looked at him and said, “SubhaanAllah, do you want me to answer?”
He said, “Yes!” because he wanted to debate.
I said, “Prophet (s) said:
أَحْفُوا الشَّوَارِبَ وَأَعْفُوا اللِّحَى
Trim the mustache and leave the beard to grow. (Narrated by Ibn `Umar, Tirmidhi)
“Trim or shave the moustache and leave the beard.” Prophet (s) didn’t say, “One qabdah.” It was his (s) beard that was one qabdah, one handful, but he never used a knife or scissors to cut it. By itself it would break after one qabdah and the Sahaabah (r) would collect the hairs. It was barakah for Sahaabah (r) that the beard of Prophet (s) would break. He didn't say in the hadith how long the beard should be, but his beard was one hand length. I then asked him, “Is this correct?”
He said, “Yes, it is correct.”
I said, “But I am surprised that you are asking me to have my beard a qabdah when you are shaved, you have no beard! How can you come and tell me about the hadith and want to discuss this and you have no beard? You go!”
He left, he ran away. For that sunnah, yes, you will get the reward of one-hundred shaheeds, so keep it. If you wear the sunnah ring on your hand you get the rewards of one-hundred shaheeds; for using the miswak you get the reward of another hundred; for wearing the turban also one-hundred, and for wearing the loose clothes another hundred. So count, how many shaheed rewards you are granted every day for dressing according to the sunnah of Prophet (s)?
Sayyideena Shah Naqshband (q) was a big scholar, an `alim, who knew `Ilm ash-Shari`ah and he also had knowledge of tariqah. “One day,” he said, “I was in the house and I could smell a very beautiful smell coming into the house through the door or window.” He didn’t say if it was coming through the door or window, but just that it was coming into the house, a very beautiful smell. Sometimes if you smell something nice, it means a wali or an angel is passing by you, so be sure you are in a good position, not shouting and angry, nor scolding someone or cheating or deceiving anyone. He said, “I smelled that beautiful smell and I was attracted to it, so I followed it; its end was drawing me to follow that queue of nice breeze that was coming. I followed it all along the alleys of Bukhara, until I reached the door of the masjid and I saw the shaykh, as-Sayyid Amir Kulaal (q), sitting with all his followers. The smell came from that masjid that he was in and it was drawing me. I stood by the door.”
The adab of tariqah or Shari`ah is that you have to knock at the door, and if there is no door it means we must ask permission to enter. “I asked the people at the door for permission to enter.” It was not like it is today when you ask the people at the door for permission to enter and they act like they are the king. They make themselves king or president or minister, because they are at the door and they can let you go in or not. Look, their egos are so big!
He said, “So I asked, and I was looking at Sayyideena Amir Kulaal (q) and he said, ‘Throw him out of here! He has nothing to do with us!’”
That was Sayyideena Shah Naqshband (q) being thrown out of the masjid! The shaykh said, “He has no chance with us! Throw him out!” So he went out. What can you do? Can you tell someone here to get out? He would say, “You get out first, then I’ll go.”
He left and then there was a war coming from within himself and his ego was telling him, “Why did the shaykh throw you out? You are better than him, you know more! You have knowledge of Shari`ah and tariqah and you have many students. You don’t need him, leave him!”
His other side said, “No, don't leave him. He is the shaykh of tariqah, he is famous and everyone knows him.”
His ego said, “Who cares whether he is famous or not? I am here!”
There was a struggle between good and bad within himself. He said to himself, “I came to him because of that beautiful smell, so there must be a wisdom there. I am not leaving.”
He went to the far entrance and put his head in sajda to Allah (swt) at the threshold of the masjid. It was night and snow began to fall.
He said, “I didn’t have except a thin coat.”
You know in Central Asia the temperature can drop suddenly to -20 or -30 degrees, and the cold goes into your bones. He was feeling so cold.
He said, “I didn’t raise my head, I stayed in sajda until Fajr. The snow covered my head but I stayed in sajda, asking forgiveness from Allah. I was asking, ‘Why did the shaykh throw me out? I must have done something wrong.’”
He didn’t, it was a test. Today, can the shaykh give us such tests? We would run away!
He said, “Fajr time came and I felt someone enter the masjid from the far end. My head was under snow and that person was able to go to the masjid without passing by me. He put his foot on my head and pressed it down as hard as he could. I began to feel pain in my forehead, but I didn’t raise my head and he kept pushing and pressing until he bruised me. I didn’t say anything, then I heard him say, ‘Yaa walidi, oh my son! Are you here?’
I said, “Yaa Sayyidee, of course I am here. Where do I have to go? I have to be at your door!”
The shaykh said, “Come with me.”
He took him to his house and quickly prepared him for Fajr prayer. They prayed Fajr, then he dressed him with all kinds of knowledge that he was carrying. He became Dhul Janahayn, with the two wings of Shari`ah and tariqah; now the plane will take off. With no wings the plane doesn’t take off, with one wing it doesn’t take off, but with two wings he was able to take Ascension.
So our responsibility is too much in order that we can behave well and learn from our shuyookh. I will briefly tell another story, inshaa-Allah.
There was a shaykh, but there is no mention of his name through our connections. Sometimes they don't mention the name and you don't ask. He said that shaykh had a mureed who was very knowledgeable and after 27 years of being a mureed, one day he came to his shaykh and said, “Yaa, Sayyidee, I have a question. May I ask?”
There are no questions in tariqah; if you question, you fail. Today they tell you in the universities, “Criticize and question the teacher and humiliate the professor!” When people are younger they tell them to analyze and criticize Shakespeare; everything is built on criticism.
The shaykh said, “Yes,” and he gave him permission to ask the question.
He said, “Yaa Sayyidee, I have seen many people come to you who enter as normal people and go out as awliya. I have been in your service for 27 years, doing everything that you want, and I never became a wali. I have never seen things that others can’t see; they see more than I do.”
His shaykh said, “Yaa waladee, I will give you the answer, but first you must do this task I am giving you. First, go to the city and buy a big basket and fill it with walnuts. Then go to the entrance to the masjid, take off your shoes, put the basket of walnuts right there and sit. Anyone who enters the masjid, give him your shoes to hit you on the head once, and then give him one walnut. If he hits you twice give him two walnuts, and do this with anyone who is coming or going. When you finish giving away all your walnuts, come to me.”
He said, “Sayyidee, are you speaking to me? You want me to give people my shoes to hit me over the head so I can give them walnuts? I will never do it!”
His shaykh said, “You will never see tariqah.”
He left after 27 years of being in service to his shaykh! At that moment he might have been able to get his amaanah, his trust, but he lost it. You don't know when you can get your amaanah from the shaykh and this means you always have to be in a good position. Allahumma salli `alayka yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Rahmatan li ‘l-`Alameen, yaa Shafi`a ‘l-Mudhnibeen!
Allah said in Holy Qu'ran:
قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّي يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَاء مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَقْدِرُ لَهُ وَمَا أَنفَقْتُم مِّن شَيْءٍ فَهُوَ يُخْلِفُهُ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ
Say, “Behold! My Sustainer grants abundant sustenance or gives it in scant measure to whomever He wills of His servants and whatever it be that you spend on others, He [always] replaces it for He is the Best of Providers.” (Surat Sabaa, 34:39)
Is there anyone here who can say this is not correct? You cannot, because it is Holy Qur’an. Allah (swt) says, wa maa anfaqtum min shay’in fahuwa yukhlifuh, whatever you give in Allah’s Way, He will give it back, He will replace it. So don’t think you will lose something, because if you give one sadaqa, Allah (swt) will give you ten or up to 700 or whatever He likes.
وَأَطِيعُوا وَأَنفِقُوا خَيْرًا لِّأَنفُسِكُمْ
And spend in charity for the good of your own selves. (Surat Taghabun, 64:16)
Allah (swt) says that whatever you give in Allah’s Way it is for you, not for Him; He doesn’t get anything from you, but He will reward you.
In another ayah, Allah (swt) says:
وَمَا تُنفِقُواْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لاَ تُظْلَمُونَ
Whatever good you give (in My Way) will be rendered back to you and you shall not be dealt with unjustly. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:272)
If you give one pound, Allah knows that you gave one pound, and if you give one penny Allah knows it’s a penny; if you give one million, Allah knows it is one million. There are rich people who give one million and it is as if they are giving one dollar and there are poor people who give one dollar and it is as if they are giving one million because they don't have money. Allah knows how much you can or cannot give. Rich people can give and people who are not rich who cannot give, but yet they give! Which is better, the rich or the poor? The poor one who gives! Although he might have nothing, he still gives. And the rich one who is full of money might give like the poor, or even less.
On the Day of Judgment, Allah (swt) will first call three people and under these three everything else will follow: the shaheed, the rich man, the scholar, `alim. We won’t go through the hadith because it is long, but we will take one part of it, which is the rich one. Allah will call him and show him, “You are a mu’min and Muslim, and these are My Favors with which I honored you. You get these according to what you gave. These are My rewards, but I am asking you what have you done for Me to deserve them? What have you done?”
The rich one says, “Yaa Rabbee, I helped everyone: I helped the Muslim ummah and I helped those who are not Muslim,” and there are too many of them today. “I built schools and hospitals, established charities overseas, and I gave to poor people. I did everything for You!”
Allah will say, “No, you didn’t do that for Me, you are a liar! You did that for fame! You wanted people to say, “Mr. or Mrs. X gave so much,” so that they would put up a big banner and the whole community would applaud you. They could then give you a trophy with the name al-Muhsin, al-Kabeer, the big, generous man who has given such-and-such amount of money. This is what you were after, and you were not giving for Me. You were after your name, not My Name! I was the One Who gave to you, and you wanted people to think that you gave? O My angels, throw him in Hellfire!”
To our eyes, that one was the biggest muhsin, the biggest donor. They cannot refuse that hadith, because sometimes they tell you, “Oh, it is not Bukhari or Muslim and we don’t know.” That is Muslim! O people, give in Allah's Way.
It is mentioned by al-Jaleel ibn `AbdAllah (r), one of the Sahaabah (r), who said, “We were with Prophet (s) in the middle of the day and there came a group of people almost naked (not really naked, but whose clothes were torn and ripped), and it had nimaar, some kind of design on it.” Mutakalidee suyoof, “They had their swords,” `aamatuhum mim mudar, “and most of them were from Mudar,” from that tribe. Fata ma` ar an-Nabi (s), “The Prophet's (s) face changed completely, he was not happy and when he looked at them, his face completely changed color.” The Sahaabah (r) looked at him and were surprised, wondering what was going on. When Prophet’s (s) face changes it is not like my face or your face changes, or anyone else’s. It means that there was something, it might be that a heavenly thunder or Hellfire might come and take everyone. His face changed out of unhappiness, because he saw how much they were in need of clothes and food, that they didn’t have anything. Look at his rahmah!
Today they say, “We are collecting for religious purposes.” Yes, alhamdulillah, they collect charity for people who are dying here and there, but how much goes there? There might be 50% administration fees and then they send the rest. Prophet (s) knew what was going to happen in the future and he wants us to be saved, those people who are dying in many countries. Prophet's (s) face changed and he entered his house and then came out. He called Sayyidina Bilaal (r) and he said, ‘Call the adhaan,’ although it was before the time. Sayyidina Bilaal called the adhaan and Prophet (s) prayed and then he spoke to the people:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالاً كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاء وَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءلُونَ بِهِ وَالأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا
O Mankind! Fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And remain conscious of God, in whose name you demand [your rights] from one another, and of these ties of kinship. Verily, God is ever watchful over you! (Surat an-Nisa, 4:1)
‘Yaa ayyuha ‘n-naasu ittaqoo rabbakumu, “O people, fear Allah,” al-ladhee khalaqakum min nafsin waahid, “He created you from one soul.” It means that you are all brothers and sisters and no one can be better than the others in Allah's Eyes, not that, “This one is rich,” and “this one is poor.” So the rich must give to the poor and don't only give pennies! What do you lose if you give £10 instead of one penny? Do you want to say that you don’t have £10 or £100 pounds or £1,000 pounds? It’s a lie. Most people have it, but some don’t.
When Prophet (s) read that ayah, one person came and gave many dinars, as well as his clothes, and two kilos of wheat and dates.
Prophet (s) said:
ولو بشق تمرة
(Give in charity), be it half a date. (Muslim)
“Even for one date you will be rewarded. Give!” And you began to see everyone rushing to give in the way of Allah (swt), until no one was able to cross in front of Prophet (s) because that place was full of food and clothes. Prophet (s) was very happy, then I saw the face of Prophet (s) shining like a plate made of gold,” like when the light comes on it it shines, His face was shining like a golden plate. And he said:
من سن في الإسلام سنة حسنة فله أجرها، وأجر من عمل بها من بعده من غير أن يقنص من أجورهم شيء، ومن سن في الإسلام سنة سيئة كان عليه وزرها ووزر من عمل بها من بعده من غير أن ينقص من أوزارهم شيء
Whosoever introduces a good practice in Islam, there is for him its reward and the reward of those who act upon it after him without anything being diminished from their rewards. And whosoever introduces an evil practice in Islam, will shoulder its sin and the sins of all those who will act upon it, without diminishing in any way their burden. (Narrated Jareer ibn 'Abdullah, Muslim).
“Whoever innovates something good in the way of Islam and then other people also do it, they will get the benefit of it until the Day of Judgment, as well as the benefit and reward of everyone who has followed it.” This means that if you innovate, and let them say Mawlid is innovation, but it is a good innovation according to Prophet (s) in their hadith, which is narrated by Muslim. If you do something good, bid`a hasanah, and people do it, until the Day of Judgment it will be written for you and written for them and it will accumulate for you, because you did it and whoever does it, you will get their benefits added to your benefit!
O people! Today we are trying to raise as much as we can, so try your best. We never asked, but try to do your best to give in Allah’s Way, to continue the work here and to finish our Muslim loan, which alhamdulillah, a very good one gave us as a Muslim loan in order that we can continue to do the same as the other masaajid. Inshaa-Allah this will be a masjid and inshaa-Allah in the future there will be classes on Tasawwuf, as we are planning, because no one is teaching Tasawwuf today. We want to show that Tasawwuf is the core of Maqaam al-Ihsaan, of Shari`ah, as taught by many Muslim scholars who are Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah. So donate as much as you can. It will also be open online from overseas for anyone who is watching.
Before I came here, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim told me, “Go to my room and take what you want. It’s for you, so do whatever you want with it.” So I went, it was good, and I took what I could. The people who give the most, I will share with them. I can give these things because I can go and get more inshaa-Allah. So anyone who wants from Mawlana's belongings, show generosity tonight and we will go from the top items and down until they are finished. I have perhaps ten or fifteen items, so until we move down and I will leave it to you, and for whatever you give, Allah (swt) will reward you. [This one] inshaa-Allah will try to raise these funds and I can help if he needs my help and if he doesn’t need my help, I will sit on the side. I can step in if he gives me permission inshaa-Allah.
May Allah forgive you and may Allah bless you. As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
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