`Isha Suhbah [partially translated from Arabic]
[Visitors from Arab Gulf: Mawlana, there is always barakah in the kingdom. Some die outside the land, but their roohaaniyya is present there in Presence of the Prophet (s). May Allah gather us with them in dunya and Akhirah.]
[Mawlana ask a mureed.] Is your name `Ali Husayn or Husayn `Ali? [`Ali Husayn `Ali.]
My master and guide, Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q), said one day in Madinat al-Munawwarah, Sayyidina `Ali (a) was outside the mosque of the Prophet (s) and saw an old lady. He was coming out of the mosque and said, “I never saw someone old like that, not even if someone lives 150 years or 200 years, I am not able to guess her age as it is beyond my knowledge.” This despite:
أنا مدينة العلم و علي بابه
I am the City of Knowledge and `Ali is its Door (or Gate). (al-Haakim, Tirmidhi)
For the first time in his life, the Prophet (s) said, “I” in this Hadith: “I am the City of knowledge and Sayyidina `Ali (a) is its door.” So it is the door of what? Sahaabah (r) are the doors for `Ilm azh-Zhaahir, some of them have power for `Ilm al-Baatin, but Sayyidina `Ali (a) was the door for that city, and what kind of city? Ana madinatu 'l-`ilmi wa `Aliyyun baabuha, I am the City of Knowledge and `Ali is its Door (or Gate), which means the source of knowledge. Prophet said, ana madinatul-`ilm, and ana lahaa, “I am for it, I am for it.” Which city? The City of Knowledge means the center of knowledge.
Wa kullun min rasoolillaahi multamisun, gharfan min al-bahri aw rashfan min ad-diyami.
All of them partake from the Prophet of God a handful of his oceans or a sip from his continuous rains.
(Shaykh Muhammad al-Busayri, Burdat ash-Shareef)
All of them are clinging to Prophet (s), barakah comes from the Prophet (s), all of them want to take from him. Ana madinatu 'l-`ilmi wa `Aliyyun baabuha means you want to enter that Ocean of Knowledge, so you have to:
, وَأْتُواْ الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِهَا
Enter houses from their doors. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:189)
The mureed, the scholar of Hadith, the student or doctor must vow and lower himself to say, “My knowledge is nothing in front of Sayyidina `Ali (a), in front of the Sahaabah (r), in front of the knowledge of Prophet (s) and Ahl al-Bayt.” The People of the Mantle, Ahl al-`abaa, are the source of knowledge, the group that is the City of Knowledge, so we will not enter the City of Knowledge, its secrets are with them. From these secrets, Grandshaykh said Sayyidina `Ali (a) saw that old lady when he was coming out of the Haram an-Nabawi (s) and he couldn’t see completely, but she was carrying a covered basket and she was walking, moving between the allies of Madinat al-Munawwarah, and he was on the same road.
He approached her and said, “O lady, O my mother! Can I assist you in carrying this basket?”
She gazed at him intensely and said, “Are you able to do that?”
Sayyidina `Ali (a) looked at the basket; he carries the world! He said to her, “Inshaa-Allah with the barakah of my master, Rasoolullah (s).”
So she put the basket on the ground and he held it, it was very heavy and he was only able to lift it to his knees, no higher.
She looked at him and said, “Yaa `Ali, if you were to weigh the Earth and the Heavens that would be the weight of this basket. This represents the dunya,” and Sayyidina `Ali (a) only raised it to his knees.
Grandshaykh (q) told this story after his one-year khalwah in Madinat al-Munawwarah. He said the Prophet (s) sometimes found Sayyida Fatima (a) crying and he asked her, “Why are you crying, O my daughter Fatima?” She was shy to answer and he repeated the question, “Why are you crying?” Sayyida Fatima (a) said sometimes Sayyidina `Ali (a) was absent from the home during the night. The Prophet (s) said, “Yaa Fatima, don't cry. He is good and I know he does not come to sleep at the house, but he is absent due to my order.”
She said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, O my father, how is it possible?”
He (s) said, “I am sending him throughout this universe, where he is the Victorious Lion of Allah! I send him to the evil creatures nearest to Earth, and by himself he prevents them from coming to Earth because of their fighting, and for that reason he is named ‘Asadullah al-Ghalib’.”
The Prophet sent him to the universes. This is from the secrets opened to the righteous servants, Awliya and Imams. Grandshaykh (q) was a distinguished man, all doors are opened to him. Whoever opens his door enters the City of Knowledge, the City of Light, and these secrets are opened for him. Grandshaykh (q) also said that had Sayyidina `Ali (a) not stopped these creatures from coming to Earth, they would have arrived a long time ago and occupied the whole Earth. He was the barrier to them and he is still the barrier to them. Of the secrets unveiled in one of his seclusions, he said when Sayyidina `Ali (a) was passing on from this world, they asked, “Where should we bury you?” He said, “When I die, place my body on my camel and leave it to wander and I will arrive at burial place. Do not follow the camel.” So when he passed on, they put his body on the camel and left it, and it wandered out of sight and they went home. Afterwards, people came from the other direction and said they saw Sayyidina `Ali (a) riding the camel; they gave him salaam and he returned their salaam, continued on his way and they went on their way.
It is said he will return with al-Mahdi (a), so the Awliyaullah are yearning for that event (appearance of Mahdi). Whoever is connected to that waiting for Sayyidina al-Mahdi, even if he passes on and later Saahib az-Zamaan appears, he will be raised up alive with Saahib az-Zamaan! This is a gift from Allah (swt) for whoever believes in the appearance Saahib az-Zamaan, al-Mahdi. Even if he passes away, as long as he was waiting for Saahib az-Zamaan and follows the Sunnah of the Prophet (s), he will appear with Saahib az-Zamaan in the End of Times, when Barzakh and Akhirah mix with dunya. We ask Allah to make us with them! May Allah forgive us by His shafa`ah.
Sayyida Fatima (as) is the daughter of the Prophet (s). When her blessed father (s) said, “I want you to marry `Ali,” she kept quiet, she did not answer, and the Prophet (s) wanted her opinion so he asked her a second and third time, “Yaa Fatima, I want you to marry `Ali.”
She said, “I refuse the marriage, except on one condition.”
Is there any condition to the order of the Prophet (s)? It is not possible, but she is distinguished from others, she is Sayyidat an-Nisaa, Nisaa Ahl al-Jannah, Leader of the Ladies of Paradise!
So he (s) said to her, “Yaa Fatima, silence is an indication of acceptance.”
She said, “O my father, I accept only on my condition.”
Jibreel (a) came down and said to the Prophet (s), "Ask her what is her condition."
The Prophet (s) said, "Jibreel said for me to ask you, what is your condition?"
She said, “O my father, when you were created, when Allah took one handful of His Light and said to it 'Be Muhammad!' and you asked about your Ummah, and when you were born in dunya you came out in sadja and cried out, ‘My Ummah, my Ummah,’ and in Akhirah you will ask about your Ummah, so my condition is that Allah (swt) make your Ummah my dowry for my marriage to Sayyidina `Ali (a).”
The Prophet (s) did not answer until Jibreel (a) came and said, “Yaa Muhammad! Allah is giving you salaam and says He accepts the dowry of Fatima is the entire Ummah of the Prophet (s) and on the Day of Judgement she will request her dowry.”
Therefore, all the Ummah is part of the mahr of Sayyida Fatima and on Day of Judgment all of them will enter Paradise from her barakah, az-Zahra. May Allah make us with her in dunya and Akhirah, and may Allah gather us with all of Ahl al-Bayt.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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