28 June 2016 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Zhuhr Suhbah
As-salaam `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa Ashrafi 'l-Mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
Sayyidina `Ali karam-Allahu wajha wa radhi-Allahu Ta`ala `anhu wa ardaahu wa `alayhi s-salaam, summarized all books. He said to the Companions of Prophet (s) that we have to focus on one thing, if we focus well we don't need anything else. He said that all these books that have been written, manuscripts in that time, and any books that will be in the future after the time of Sahaabah, after time of Tabi`een, following time of Tabi` Tabi`een up to Yawm al-Qiyamah, what benefit do we get from them? In every one of them every writer put his genius, and every scholar in Islam is a genius, everyone put his pen in his hand and has written from the heart for us to understand and know. If you go in a bookstore you find millions of books written on Islam or about anything. No one can read them, they have no capacity to read them all. There are millions of books and all of them with a different title. He said, “What is the benefit of all these books, what lesson can we learn from them?” He said one thing we can get from these books is that they are explaining what Allah sent through His Messenger the Message of Islam, of Tafseer, Fiqh or Hadith, any explanation that benefits people. This is their intention, which is a good intention. With respect to their knowledge and their `ilm, this is what they are offering to the Ummah, but all these books have one point in common that if you touch on it you will be saved, it is not necessary to read all these books, if you can find it.
It is like a bee making honey, but to get the honey to eat it, you are going to be stung, you have to wait for something that is going to sting you. No problem, you try to put shields on yourself so that they cannot sting you, but what must we put as a shield in order that we can eat honey without being stung? That is the main goal of writing all these books, explaining and explaining, and warning or good tidings, basheeran wa nadheeran: to give good tidings and at the same time warn, in order to cover yourself with that shield. If you cannot find something to shield you, you will be stung. That sting might be mortal, it might be poisonous, you don’t know. If a scorpion bites you, what will happen? [You may die.] You will die, so everyone must shield himself.
And they said, “Yaa `Ali, tell us,” as Prophet (s) said:
أنا مدينة العلم و علي بابه
I am the City of Knowledge and `Ali is its Door (or Gate). (al-Haakim, Tirmidhi)
To enter this knowledge you have to come through the door, you cannot come through the window.Prophet (s) didn’t say, wa `Aliyyun naafidhatuha, “and `Ali, the window, ” he said “the door,” as that is adab, respect: come from the door, don’t come from the window like a thief. Some people want to make it easy so they jump from the window, but they don't have adab; perhaps people in the house are not covered, so how should they enter? You cannot enter directly, first you have to knock, then if there is permission:
وَلَيْسَ الْبِرُّ بِأَن تَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِن ظُهُورِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنِ اتَّقَىٰ ۗ وَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
Piety is not to enter houses from their back doors; rather piety is whoever has Allah-consciousness. Enter houses from the doors and be conscious of Allah so that you might flourish. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:189)
It means don't enter from back doors, windows or any opening, wa’too ‘l-buyoot min abwaabihaa, come from the main door. On the Day of Judgment, Allah (swt) is going to ask you which door you came through. Inshaa-Allah we come through the door of Prophet (s)! Adab, you have to shield yourself. Sayyidina `Ali (r) is the door to these knowledges, which doesn’t mean other Sahaabah (r) don’t have doors; all Sahaabah (r) have a door to Prophet (s) and all doors were closed when he (made Hijra) except the door of Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r), khawkhatu Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. We have to have show respect and enter, and to enter through that door you must have a shield to prepare you to reach the door or you will face too many obstacles.
The Sahaabah (r) said, “Yaa `Ali, tell us, we are not patient like you, give us the knowledge from the end. We will listen, we are waiting. You are Khalifata Rasoolillah (s), who said you are the door of knowledge. Give it to us directly, without going into long explanations from books or what this or that imam said, yassiroo wa laa tu`assiroo, make it easy for us, give it to us ripe to eat.”
This is what we are saying, Ummat an-Nabi (s), after the time of Prophet, Khulafaa Raashidoon, the Sahaabah (r) al-A'immat. Now people are lazy, we want it from the end more than previous scholars. “Give it to us from the end and we will try to shield ourselves if we can.”
Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, “The whole Qur’an and the whole message of Islam came on one point. If you get it you eat the honey, all doors will open for you.”
They said, “Yaa `Ali, without a long explanation, what is it? We are impatient.”
All of us are impatient, not only them. Out of love they were impatient, they wanted to eat the honey, to make Allah happy with them. “What thing would make Allah happy with us, yaa `Ali? Get to the point.”
He said, “Do you have hikmah, wisdom? If so, you can understand it and if not then inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon (you are dead.)”
What to do? Do we have wisdom? No, we don't have, so inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon because we are towards the end of the Ummah’s life; too many signs of the Last Days that Prophet (s) mentioned have now appeared.
Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, “It is two words.”
The Sahaabah (r) said, “Give it to us!”
راس الحكمة مخاة الله
Raas al-hikmata makhaafatullah.
(Sayyidina `Ali said), “The head of wisdom is fear of Allah.”
If you fear Allah (swt), you will never sin, that becomes impossible; but if you don't fear Allah, you will always fall into ma`asiyy, sinning. So do you want a shield in order to enter? You cannot enter he City of Knowledge, Madinatu `l-`Ilm, dirty That is the real `ilm, not `ilm al-`ulamaa. `Ilm al-Awliya, the Noor of Knowledge, the City of Knowledge, the House of Knowledge is like a minaret with a beacon. If you want to enter, you have to first have makhafaatullah. It means you are pure, clean. Do we have makhaafatullah? No. Although we can't say we don't have; with Allah's Mercy and Prophet's (s) blessing they will dress us with makhaafatullah, inshaa-Allah, but this is in general is to tell our egos, “O my ego, you are putting me in the hands of Shaytan and I want to be in the Hands of ar-Rahman. Have makhaafatullah! Shame on you, my ego, to go against Allah's Wish!”
We must fear Allah (swt) in two ways. What is the meaning of fear? First is to fear His Punishment and second is to fear Him distancing us, not seeing Him in Paradise. The main goal or wish of Ummat an-Nabi (s) that Allah promised them is to see Him in Paradise, and what ‘being seen’ is Allah knows best. Allah knows what He will manifest of Himself through His Beautiful Names and Attributes to His servants, we don’t know. Prophet (s) mentioned that Allah will be seen in Paradise by the mu’mineen and to become a mu’min you must fear Allah (swt).
Today if you are citizen of a country, you have to obey the laws of the country and you are careful not to make a mistake as there is punishment and often no mercy. They don’t tell you, “Okay, we will let you try another time,” there is no ‘try another time.’ But Allah is merciful and if you fall He forgives you, but you have to fear Him, not distance yourself from Him, to risk punishment, which is to be thrown out, rejected! If someone stood by the door you want to enter and said, “Hey you, come here! You are not allowed to enter here,” would you feel happy or ashamed of yourself? You would be ashamed that you cannot enter. So how are we going to be on Day of Judgement, when Allah will judge all His servants? Are we going to be ashamed or not?
Grandshaykh (q), may Allah bless his soul, said the most difficult punishment is Naar al-Hasrah, the Fire of Sorrow, which is more difficult and more effective than Hellfire. Naar al-Hasrah is to stand in front of Allah (swt) ashamed and He will still grant you His mercy, which will make you ashamed of all your sins in dunya. Still, with all of that, Allah has mercy on you because you are from Ummat an-Nabi (s). That is Naar al-Hasrah! You will think, “Why did I not do well in dunya, when I am here between Allah's Hands and Prophet is interceding for me, for us, for the Ummah, for everyone?” In that state of sorrow for what you have done, Naar al-Hasrah, Fire of Sorrow, what will you say?
Allah made all the `ilm `ulama write, which are good books, but if there is no Naar al-Hasrah, what is the point? You must feel that fire within you when you know this is haraam and still you do it, and then you ask for forgiveness, repent, and you are forgiven, the first time, second time, third time, ten times. Allah is `Ghafoor ar-Raheem, but you have to shield yourself to not keep doing it, or else you are cheating and deceiving yourself, thinking, “I am good.” What are you good at, repentance?
Alhamdulillah, when we sin, if we remember quickly to say ‘astaghfirullah,’ it is accepted immediately, Allah will change it, but on the Day of Judgement can we say istighfaar at that time? No, it is already done, finished! So all these books point to that; all Hadeeth an-Nabi they compiled, all these books up to the Day of Judgement is to tell you, “Fear Allah (swt)! Then you can enter the City of Knowledge.” How to fear Him? It is to be good to His servants, to do good works for the community, the Ummah, to your brothers and sisters, your families, children and grandchildren, to show them respect and love.
Like `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q), when he took his mureed who was supposed to do eight years of seclusion. Prophet (s) had told him in a vision, “Give it to him from the end. He is ready, he doesn’t need to go for eight years. I am witnessing on him.” Awliyaullah can take from Prophet (s) through dreams or visions, like Imam Bukhari (q), he is very famous with his Hadith. He used to compile them after making istikhara and seeing Prophet in the dream telling him, “Put this Hadith here, or under this or that chapter.” That mureed was cut from eight years khalwah down to one night by order of Prophet (s). Ikhtasir, wa kun aqsar at-turuq, “Show him the shortest way.” Sayyidina `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q) showed him the frogs and then the tree. He took him to the garden of fruits and he told him, “Take that stone and hit the branch of the tree.” The mureed hit it, ten up to twelve apples he said, came down. And the branch was broken and might have made a big injury to the tree, and with all that pain on the tree, do you think that tree cannot feel? It can feel!
وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدَهِ
And there is not a thing but celebrates His praise! (Surat al-Israa’, 17:44)
Trees, leaves, fruits, stones, pebbles, mountains, jungles, forests, deserts, Creation, Universe, everything is praising Allah (swt), in the whole Periodic Table of all these elements and minerals. Some have 300 neutrons, plus and minus, protons and electrons. Every atom, in it there is someone making dhikrullah, wa in min shay’in illa yusabbihoo bi-hamdihi. The electrons are circumambulating the mass at the speed of light inside the atom. Who is giving them that energy? Wa in min shay’in illa yusabbihoo bi-hamdihi, their tasbeeh is to circumambulate the mass of the reality of that atom Allah created, because every atom has its own specifications and realities. So the spiritual power of the atom is circumambulating its house like we circumambulate Ka`bah, and they praise Allah (swt), wa in min shay, “anything.”
Scientists break down the molecule further and further to an atom and now they discovered there is even smaller than that, “quarks.” Here “In min shay” means the smallest possible thing they understood in any century. That is dharrah, from “dharr” which means “ants” in Arabic: “the smallest ants” is how they expressed it and now we express it through atoms or quarks. Allah said in the Holy Qur’an everything, even atoms or quarks, are circumambulating its mass, praising Allah (swt).
The mureed injured that tree. “The tree was making tasbeeh, the leaves were making tasbeeh and you interrupted that tree, but before it died it gave you twelve fruits. You have to become like that tree, with makhaafatullah. When you hit it, it kept the pain in itself and gave the fruit. When you become supportive to my servants, I will give the fruits of seclusion of one night.”
That is why Sayyidina `Abdul-Khaliq (q) was ordered to reduce it from eight years to one night, because the mureed was ready: he had already built his relationship with his shaykh, built that shield of makhaafatullah, like Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q) when Allah said to him (q), “If you want to come to Me, you must be a garbage dump for My servants. Mazbalah li `ibaadih, a trash place, where they throw all their garbage on you and it will become your responsibility to carry that load from them, and whatever you have done for Me of prayers every day, I will write it for them.”
That is to show that the `abd doesn’t have anything in his hand, everything is in Allah’s Hand. When they dumped him in the trash place he was unconscious for seven days, after they had hit him with stones. Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q) was observing who was hitting him with stones; he inherited from the secret of Sayyidina `Umar (r), because when Sayyidina `Umar (r) came to Prophet (s) and said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, are we on haqq or baatil?” he said, “We are on haqq.”
Sayyidina `Umar (r) said, “Why do I have to call adhaan in hiding? I will go up on the roof of the building and call it from there.”
So they sent their children to throw stones at him. He looked at the children and threatened, “I am not going to punish you children, I am going to punish those who sent you.” That is why Allah is Merciful with us. He is not going to punish us, because we repent. He is going to punish Iblees, he is carrying the load. After Bani Adam, he is responsible for what he did. Allah kept him in Paradise for 2,000 years but because he disobeyed Him, with one glance Allah kicked him out and cursed him! How much are we not responsible for what we are doing?
Today, in this time we want everything to come easy, with no struggle, but in Tariqah you have to tajarru`u ‘l-murr, taste the bitterness. There is bitterness. To become clean you have to take the sour from the food, in order to eat fruit you must take out the bitterness, you cannot eat it sour; but in Tariqah you have to eat it sour. Prophet (s) said:
اخشوشنو فان النعمة لا تدوم
Live a rough life because favors will not last. (Ibn Abi Shaybah)
Prophet used to sleep on straw. We don't accept to sleep on a straw mattress, we want a remote control mattress and also that it gives cool air, in winter heating and in summer air conditioning, firm and how many spring is in it. We are picky, if we are picky in our dunya for our benefit, Allah is picky for Akhirah whom He will chose for Paradise. Can anyone stop His Judgment? No. He will give His Judgement and the barakah comes. When He gives His Judgement:
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
There whoever did an atom’s weight of good will see it and whoever did an atom's weight of evil will see it. (Surat az-Zalzalah, 99:7,8)
At that moment, He will call on Prophet (s), saying, “I have judged between My servants and now I am giving you Qalam al-Qudrah, the Pen of Power, to intercede for them,” and Prophet (s) will go into sajda, the highest level of `ibaadah. According to Imam Bukhari’s Adab al-Mufrad, Prophet (s) will go into sajda and Allah will open du`as He never opened before in Prophet's life or in his Ascensions, and he will ask Allah though these du`as. Then Allah will say, “Raise your head, it is enough, yaa Muhammad. Raise your head, ask me and I will give you.” Prophet (s) will say, “I want my Ummah.”
The barakah, mercy, and intercession comes, all for the benefit of humanity. What is our duty? At least to show some love to Allah (swt), not to fall into sins and ma`asiyya. If we sin we must ask Allah for forgiveness. All sins are against Allah, but it is His decision to punish them or not, and with the Intercession of Prophet (s), inshaa-Allah He will not punish us. However, when you backbite you injured someone, so Allah will not forgive you directly until you go to that person and ask his forgiveness; if he forgives you, Allah will forgive you, but if he does not forgive you, Allah will not forgive you. We have to be careful today regarding what we have to follow and by whom we are being guided.
Shaykh Sayyidina `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q) showed the mureed the easiest way and asked him, “Did you understand from the tree about it giving you twelve apples?”
He said, “Yes Sayyidee, not only the twelve apples, but you have opened to me the Oceans of Prophet (s) from `Uloomu ’l-Awwaleena wa ‘l-Akhireen: Haqiqat al-Jazbah, Haqiqat al-Fayd, Haqiqat at-Tawajjuh, Haqiqat at-Tawassul, Haqiqat at-Tayy, and Haqiqat al-Irshaad.”
Six powers opened to his heart in one night! Allahu Akbar! Imagine, with Haqiqat al-Jazbah you become like a spotlight, attracting people from everywhere. All six powers He will open to you from within your heart, as still they are hidden there. From Awliyaullah, nothing came to you yet from outside, from Prophet (s). These Six Realities are in everyone's heart. Every child is born with that power implanted in him. That’s why Prophet (s) said:
يولد الانسان على الفطرة ، فأبواه يهودانه أو ينصرانه أو يمجسانه
Man is born upon fitra (innocence), but it is his parents who make him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian.
(Bukhari, Muslim)
People are born on innocence, so clean. They were in the womb of their mother clean and completed three seclusions inside. May Allah (swt) give us the benefit of these teachings of Awliyaullah, and inshaa-Allah we will continue tomorrow. Then how many rewards Allah gave us in different months of the year with a different tajalli, with a different mercy as every month has its own mercy, so we will mention that inshaa-Allah next time.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
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