Suhbah after Salaat al-Maghrib
Doctor: I'll try to raise my voice.
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: Think of being in a demonstration against the government!
Doctor: We were in Hawaii but there is no mosque and no group of Muslims. There is hardly a place to gather to say prayers, to thank Allah for creating a beautiful place like Hawaii. Every place is beautiful but we have to put it in our hearts about the Creator Who put that beauty and that Allah is the only One we can raise our hands to say shukr and hamd. It is an honor and pride be born Muslims and to follow teachings of the Qur'an as much as our capacity is, and to be able to propagate our message, especially in places where there is blend and mix of other religions. It leaves you totally confused, there is no focus, and no center of thought process.
Like now, we think of Allah when we are talking to each other, but in remote areas of the civilization there is a lack of faith, no center, and no concentration. That is what we found in Hawaii, and we ask and pray to Allah to establish a mosque there to help people who are totally lost and totally wandering in the dark and gone on tangents and don't have the capacity to focus on the noor of Allah, to come back to true guidance of Allah.
And I pray that in one of your prayers you will pray to Allah to establish mosque on every island of Hawaii, in each of its five islands. And I am sorry to say there is no mosque in Maui, and no mosque in Kauai. The only mosque is in Honolulu. If you go there it as if your soul evaporates into space, no gravity to pull it back. I ask each of you to pray that Allah will put a mosque on each of the five islands and there not be worshipers of idols and drinks and people who are just there not doing a thing, no meaning to life, and they are enjoying. I think we have to be grateful to Allah that He guided us to the right path. We will be grateful if we spend the rest of lives in prayer, seclusion and devotion to Allah.
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: Continue.
Doctor: Since Mawlana has said to continue, I take the opportunity to praise Allah as "al-`Aleem al-Hakeem," the One Who gave us the capacity to follow the true teachings of the Qur'an, and I say this with special reference to the fact that knowledge is all around us and we just have to be able to observe it and to bring it into our parts; to go into the bigger majlis of prophets and angels, to be with those who have been guided and come with teachings of the Qur'an to the true noor.
And I say with confidence that with the forces that are influencing in a place that if they don't have the way to receive the Noor of Allah, what do you do with people like that? You tell them read the Qur'an and the door will open for them. And you can see the thrill in their faces but it simply doesn't last if people don't bring the Qur'an to their hearts, and don't bring the message of Allah in hearts, but they forget if they go back to the wilderness. So I press on them to focus on `ilm and part of the Lawh al-Mahfouz, Preserved Tablet, that has been revealed in the Qur'an. If we read it with full shahadah and full niyyat, the Light of the Qur'an will come into our hearts and guide us to Kawthar, which is the noor Prophet (s) has promised us when we enter Paradise. When we say shahadah, "There is no god but Allah," He will guide us to His noor, to the presence of the Prophet (s), and to the presence of this beautiful majlis gathered together here, and to be pleased in the rest of our lives!
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham:
Allahuma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad hatta yardaa Sayyidina Muhammad!
Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Allah Allah
Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Kareem Allah
Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Allah Allah, `Azeez Allah
Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Subhaan Allah
Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Sultan Allah
Allah (swt) is the Sultan! He is Independent! He is the Creator, and we are His servants! No one can say, "I am independent;" we are all dependent on Him, you cannot do anything, you are helpless!
O Human Beings! Don't think that you are something without Allah (swt). You are nothing! Can you keep your soul in your body? If you can keep your soul in your body then you are something. Since you cannot keep your soul in your body, it means you are not even existing. What you are seeing of your existence is not an existence, it is a cycle of life that is ending. Allah is the Only One that Exists, from Before and After, from pre-Eternal to post-Eternal, from No Beginning to No End! We have a beginning and an end. If you are clever and you know everything, as many people think, they now began to freeze the body of human beings in order that one day technology will come and put your soul back in your body. Tell them, don't try to do that and waste time and money.
When Allah (swt) takes back His amaanaat, that trust that He gave you to take care of, at that moment no one can say, "I am not coming!" When Allah calls you, you come running, and one call is enough! "Come, O My servant!" What do you do? Those who were good in this life, who did their best for humanity, when Allah our Lord calls them, they run! They hear the sweetness. That sweetness doesn't come except one time, but those pious people are hearing the sweetness of those angelic speeches all their lives.
Today people read the Holy Qur'an or they read any holy book; what are they reading? They are reading but they never heard the original. The original was revealed to Sayyidina Musa (as), or to Sayyidina Adam the first, or to Sayyidina Nuh or to Sayyidina `Ibrahim or to Sayyidina Musa or to Sayyidina `Isa or to Sayyidina Muhammad (s). We never heard that. What sweet voice did they hear?
Some singer sings today and they say, "Oh, what a beautiful voice," Academy Award. Today you see every teenager with something in his ears like a buffalo, as they tag a buffalo, they tag them and cows and sheep. Also, we see youngsters who have earrings. Here also, on their cheeks. Why not put it on your eyes also? Put it on your eyes, it is better. They are putting that to hear dunya, this world's voices, music. What do you think about heavenly music? Did we try to hear it?
I am surprised; I am not finding anymore CD's or DVD's of the beautiful voices of Holy Qur'an reciters. Nowadays they are all reciting through their noses. Where are these beautiful voices we used to hear when we were young? It has disappeared. In Pakistan, in India, in Bangladesh, in Turkey, in Saudi, in Egypt, and in Morocco there were beautiful voices and people were happy to hear them. They could not control themselves from the beauty of the recitation of the Holy Qur'an. For example, everyone knows about Shaykh `Abdul-Basit Abdus-Samad. Did you ever hear him in a live session, before an audience of thousands of people, and you can hear their amazement? Go and put that in your car and listen to that beauty.
One Sahaabi (r) was reciting to another in a very melodious way, and Prophet (s) passed behind him and that Sahaabi didn't see him, and Prophet was happy with that voice. He stood behind him listening, and the other Sahaabah stood up in very disciplinary way, and the Sahaabi said, "O my Prophet! You are here? W'Allahi if I knew you were here, I would have made it a more and more beautiful voice." He would have zoomed in, habartahu.
Yes, today they recite in tarteel and that is okay, but in the time of Prophet (s) they were reciting in a melodious way. From whom did they hear it? From the Prophet (s)! If he did not do it they would not do it. So Sahaabah heard the recitation of Prophet, and the tabi`een and Ahlu’l-Bayt heard the recitation of their ancestors. I am speaking physically, not spiritually. And ten after four imams, the people and scholars are hearing and hearing and that recitation is getting less and less. So what we hear now is maybe the minimum of its beauty. As you go far, the light goes down. As you go far from the time of the Prophet, that beauty/light goes down. That is why Prophet said, "The best century is mine, then the one after, then the one after," i.e. the first three centuries.
So today we are reciting in the lowest manner we can, not like the recitation of the companions in front of the Prophet (s). If that is the beauty of the Qur'an, what about what Prophet was hearing?
وَاقْصِدْ فِي مَشْيِكَ وَاغْضُضْ مِن صَوْتِكَ إِنَّ أَنكَرَ الْأَصْوَاتِ لَصَوْتُ الْحَمِيرِ
Waqsid fee mashyika w'aghdud min sawtika inna ankara al-aswaati la-sawtu 'l-hameer
And be moderate in thy pace, and lower thy voice; for the harshest of sounds without doubt is the braying of the ass. (31:19)
May Allah not give us the voice of donkeys. So, keep the voice sweet, Muslims and non-Muslims! All of us are equal in the eyes of Allah, it depends on piety and sincerity. People are equal like the teeth of a comb. You cannot say, "I am better than him." In what? Who gave you a certificate that you are better than him? Can you give it to yourself? No1 Why are we giving ourselves a medallion, saying "This is me, read it." It is like today, they put on a badge when they go to work. We also have a spiritual badge. Angels can see that badge, and what type of person we are. If you are good, Allah is Ahkam al-Hakimeen. You cannot be good according to your own judgment. Whose judgment is better, ours or Allah's? Allah's judgment is better.
That's why we have to say, "Yaa Rabbee! Forgive us. Don't look at what we are doing, we are weak, we cannot do anything. We are doing this and we don't know if our prayers are accepted. We fast, but we don't know if our fasting is accepted or not." So, we are nothing. We don't deserve anything. We only deserve as Sayyidina `Umar (r) said, "If tomorrow is not better than today then it is better to be in the grave." If we are not perfecting ourselves, we are losers.
So no one can say, "I heard the sweetness the Prophet heard," not even one Sahaabi, unless the Prophet wants to open it to someone privately, it is in his hands. Allah gave that authority to Prophet (s) and one can ask the Prophet, "What are you doing?" He is the Seal of Messengers, the representative of humanity, khalifatullah fi 'l-ard. That khalifah, innee ja`ilun fi 'l-ardi khalifah, that is the Prophet, from beginning to end! No one other prophet can say that.
فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَى هَـؤُلاء شَهِيدًا
Fa-kayfa idhaa ji'na min kulli ummatin bi-shaheedin wa ji'na bika `alaa haa'ulaa'i shaheedah.
How then if We brought from each people a witness, and We brought thee as a witness against these people! (4:41)
Allah is going to bring a witness on every nation, and Allah wants to bring that Prophet to be witness on that nation. And Allah will bring Sayyidina Muhammad (s) to be a witness on all these prophets and to make certain what all these prophets say is correct. That is what Allah gave to Prophet. Technology or no technology, it is nothing. Can we go to Mi`raj, no. Can you go for `Isra and Mi`raj? Can we keep our soul? No, we cannot, but Allah sent Sayyidina Jibreel (a) to Prophet to ask him, to have ikhtiyaar, "The choice is yours, do you want to come to Me or do you want to stay? It is up to you." Allah gave him the choice. What did Prophet say? "I prefer to go to You, yaa Rabbee." But he had the choice to stay or go and that means he had existence. That hadeeth indicates that he is the only one to have existence. "Do you wish to go or do you wish to come? If you wish you may keep your soul inside."
O Muslims! O Believers! O non-Muslims! Be sweet; that is what Allah likes!
فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ اللّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمْ وَلَوْ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لاَنفَضُّواْ مِنْ حَوْلِكَ فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِي الأَمْرِ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللّهِ إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
Fabimaa rahmatin mina Allahi linta lahum wa law kunta fazhan ghaleezh al-qalbi la-anfadoo min hawlik. Fa`fuw `anhum wa astaghfir lahum wa shaawwirhum fi 'l-amr. Fa idhaa `azamta fa tawakkal `ala Allah. Inna Allaha yuhibba 'l-mutawakileen.
And by the Mercy of Allah you dealt with them gently. And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you; so pass over (their faults)
and ask (Allah's) Forgiveness for them, and consult them in the affairs. Then when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah, certainly, Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him). (3:159)
Why are people running away from Islam and Muslims? This is an example Allah is giving through His Prophet. He is teaching us that, "If you were harsh and rude to people, they would run from you." Wa astaghfir lahum wa shaawwirahum fi 'l-amr. "They are simple, heedless people. You are the Seal of Messengers. I gave you the whole knowledge, `uloom al-awwaleen wa 'l-akhireen. Forgive them all. Forgive humanity." Allah is giving authority to ask forgiveness for humanity. Everyone who is living or non-living is under that khitaab that Muhammad is rahmatan lil-`alameen. "You are My khaleefah, forgive them, not only forgive them but wastaghfir lahum, make istighfaar on their behalf."
Prophet was doing istighfar not once, but kept doing istighfar. That means the Prophet is in continuous istighfaar for his ummah and shaawirhum fi 'l-amr, "After you forgive them and I accept and after you ask forgiveness on their behalf and I accept then you can consult with them, they are clean at this time. Now they can make the right decision, as they are clean. There is no Shaytan on them. Now they can give a decision."
They say today, "We are doing shura." What shura are you doing? We are already falling in the traps of Shaytan and he is playing with us happily. What kind of shura is there when we have all kinds of weakness and self-esteem, giving respect to the self, then what kind of shura will you give? No, shura must be made when your heart is very pure.
Fa idhaa `azamta fa tawakkal `ala Allah.
Then when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah. (3:159)
And what is the decision? To fight Shaytan. We have to purify the ummah by asking, "Yaa Allah! Send heavenly support to Your servants to be pure, to be asking Your happiness with us!" That is what we need. Everyone can ask and raise his hands and ask on behalf of the ummah. Those pious, sincere ones, there is no difference between Arab and non-Arab except through righteousness. Anyone who is righteous his prayer is accepted. Go take a shower, make wudu and sit facing the Ka`abah and pray and ask forgiveness for the ummah. The Prophet is asking forgiveness for His ummah up to Judgment Day and beyond! The Prophet is concerned for his ummah!
When Mikaa'eel (a) and Jibra`eel (a) and Israafeel bring him from the grave on Judgment Day, he will ask them, "What about my ummah?" He is worried about his ummah. At that time he comes before Allah and makes sajdah there. Everyone is trembling there, all prophets and their nations, and in that scene Prophet goes into sajdah. That is in Bukhari's Adab al-Mufrad. There is a very strong meaning in that hadith.
Prophet (s) goes into sajdah three times and in the first sajdah the Prophet says, "Allah will open to my heart what was never opened to my heart before." Count how many du`a there are today. There are small books. There might be 200, 300, 1000, 10,000, no more, but Prophet said, "Allah will reveal to my heart what was never opened to my heart before." What language then? It might be Arabic but it might be like letters: kaf, ha, yaa, `ayn, saad, or letters we never heard before in Arabic that Allah will reveal to Prophet, so that the Arabic language is extended. It is 28 letters but the words are extended. No one knows what kind of words, what kind of verbs, what kind of nouns and pronouns because Prophet said, "Allah will open to my heart du`as that have never been opened to my heart before. And I am asking, He is sending and I am asking, and He is sending until Allah will say 'sa'l tu`ta, ask and you will be given. Raise your head!'" Will he ask for himself? No, for the ummah! That is why we have to follow the Prophet (s).
Allah said:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Qul in kuntum tuhiboon Allah fatabi`oone yuhbibukum Allah.
Say, "If you love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you." (3:31)
He will say, "Yaa Rabbee! Give my ummatee." Did we ask how he knows us? When a prophet comes, all people who are living become his nation, whether they accept or not. So when Prophet came after `Isa (a), those who were in that time are his nation. "Yaa Rabbee! My nation, I want them, give them to me." That is what he says, and Allah says, "Yaa Muhammad! I am granting one third of them. Take them with no account, bi ghayri hisaab." He says, "I am accepting yaa Rabbee," and with no question He send them to Paradise, no evaluation of what they have done and no judgment, "Go!" And he goes into sajdah another time and, "Allah opened to my heart what was never opened to my heart before even in the first sajdah, and I begin to make du`a for a period of time that was never mentioned." That hadeeth left it open, it might be one second or one moment, and there is no time at that time. So Allah responds the same, "Sa'l tu`ta, ask you will be granted. Raise your head." And He says, "Take the second third without asking or accounting." May Allah (swt) make us from them, from those who are with Prophet (s).
وَمَن يُطِعِ اللّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللّهُ عَلَيْهِم مِّنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاء وَالصَّالِحِينَ وَحَسُنَ أُولَـئِكَ رَفِيقًا
Waman yuti`illaha wa rasoola fa oolaa'ika ma` Lladheena ana`ma Allahu `alayhim mina 'n-nabiyyeen wa 's-siddiqeen wa 'sh-shuhaadahi 's-saaliheen wa hasoona ulaaika rafeeqah.
All who obey God and the Messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of God, of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the righteous (who do good). Ah! what a beautiful fellowship! (4:69)
And then he makes sajdah a third time and Allah will open to his heart what was never opened to before. And Allah will say, "Raise your head and ask, I will respond." And he will say, "My ummah, my ummah," and Allah gives all except one person, the worst one. Look at us today, how bad we are to each other around the world, the worst one of them, and that is the last one of ummat an-Nabi. And Allah will tell that one, the last one, "This is what you have done," showing him and saying, "But I have given that mercy to the heart of My Prophet. For sure I have oceans of mercy, I am the Creator and My Prophet is not better than Me. Go to Paradise with My mercy."
O Listeners! O Attenders! O Viewers! Sweetness is what is needed in Islam. Muslims must be sweet because their Prophet is sweet, the Holy Qur'an is sweet, Shari`ah is sweet, tariqah is sweet, haqiqah is sweet, azeemat ash-Shari`ah is sweet, and ma`rifah is sweet, so be sweet, not only by tongue but by action! When someone eats too much chili they give him sweets; without that he cannot leave the table. That gives a different taste. You cannot understand sweetness unless your tongue is sour. Now our tongues are sour with sins. So when Jibra`eel (a) took Prophet on `Isra, he offered him three drinks and he choose milk. Why? Because it is pure. So, drink pure, live pure, act pure, and be pure. There is one piece of meat, one clot; if that flesh is good the whole body is good and if it is not good the whole body will die. When the heart is not pumping blood the person dies even though his brain is working, but if someone is in a coma and his heart is working he will not die.
We have to ask doctors a question, as there are too many doctors here. How many miles per hour is the blood moving in the body, in the veins and arteries? What is that speed? That is for junior doctors. They say it is going 30-40 mph. That is what doctors told me in Malaysia. They measure the movement of the blood, especially the dialysis doctors. One of the dialysis patients told me to feel the vein on his arm and you feel the vibration of the blood going through veins at a very high speed. Imagine who is giving that to us and what kind of fuel is making that move? What kind of fuel? Diesel, kerosene, atomic reactor? What keeps it running? It comes from the womb of the mother running inside and it cannot be expressed how strong that energy is. Who is giving that?
O People! Allah is Great and Allah's mercy is great. And we are asking, "Yaa Rabbee! With Your oceans of mercy, bless us!" And we are asking, "Yaa Rabbee! We are asking, requesting humbly for the sake of Your Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and his Sahaabah, and for the sake of Your friends:
مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ فَمِنْهُم مَّن قَضَى نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَنتَظِرُ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا
Mina 'l-mumineena rijaalun sadaqoo maa ahadullah `alayyh fa minhum man qadaa nahbahu wa minhum man yantazhiru wa maa baddaloo tabdeela
Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. of them some have completed their vow (to the extreme), and some (still) wait: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least: (al-Ahzaab, 33:23)
Those sincere believers, we are asking for the sake of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) to forgive us and judge us not according to our actions, but according to Your mercy and the mercy of Your Prophet!"
What is the advice we take from this lesson today? Be sweet. When you eat a chili, quickly eat sweets, dessert; that means when we commit a sin, immediately ask forgiveness! Say, "Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah!" May Allah forgive us. Aqoolu qawlee haadha wa astaghfirullahi 'l-`azheem lee wa lakum wa li-saa'iri 'l-mustaghfireen fa yaa fawzan li 'l- mustaghfireen, astaghfirullah!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.