Go to media page

Benefits of Visiting Holy Places

Shaykh Nour Kabbani

22 August 2015 London, Ontario, Canada

Zhuhr Suhbah (2)

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah bless him, and Mawlana Shaykh Hisham’s majalis are gatherings of happiness, because mercy comes with them. There are angels accompanying us to the right and left, in front of us and behind us to protect us by the permission of Allah (swt) and when the Saint is moving, more guardian angels are moving with them and enter a place with them. It is the same with a wicked person, he enters with all the devils that accompany him! When someone enters and you feel happy and content around them, it means they are coming with angels, so take them as a friend. If you meet someone or around someone and you feel pressure and heaviness, it means punishment and cursing is coming on that person, so don’t take them as a friend, leave them alone! If you have to be with them for dunya, do your work and leave. Befriend those that have these angels coming with them. Alhamdulillah we are blessed with our shaykhs that when we enter their majlis we feel happiness, we feel light, we feel much easier in their presence or in the place that they visited. We cannot be with them physically all the time but the places that they visited and prayed in are holy and they are called maqaams.

For example, in the Middle East there are a lot of maqaams of Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) and Prophet Yunus (a), where they stopped and prayed. Also Imam Hussayn (a) there is maqaam in Egypt, Iraq, and Syria, and when we go to these places we feel ourselves in their presence, because angels are there and lights and mercy coming from that spot. It is mentioned in Holy Qur'an that we should visit the places of the Holy Ones. We all know the story of Sayyida Maryam, the Virgin Mary (a):

وَكَانَتِ امْرَأَتِي عَاقِرًا فَهَبْ لِي مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّا يَرِثُنِي وَيَرِثُ مِنْ آلِ يَعْقُوبَ ۖ وَاجْعَلْهُ رَبِّ رَضِيًّا

My wife is barren: so give me an heir as from Yourself, one that will represent me, and represent the posterity of Jacob; and make him, O my Lord, one with whom You are well-pleased! (Surat Maryam, 19:5-6)

Sayyidina Zakariyya (q) didn’t have a son and Allah told him, “That’s easy for me.” He make the du`a to Allah where Virgin Mary (a) worshipped.

كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا الْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقاً قَالَ يَا مَرْيَمُ أَنَّى لَكِ هَـذَا قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ اللّهِ إنَّ اللّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَاء بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ

Every time that he entered her chamber to see her, he found her supplied with sustenance. He said: "O Mary! Whence (comes) this to you?" She said: "From Allah. for Allah Provides sustenance to whom He pleases without measure." (Surat Aali Imraan, 3:37)

It says that Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) entered the mihrab, the worshipping area of the Virgin Mary (r) and found Allah (swt) had sent her provisions, food and fruits appeared for her and she didn’t have to go to the market to get food and water. When that Saddiqa, a lady Saint, worshipped, and this is an example for the girls, Allah gave her food, she didn’t have to cook or work or do anything else, because Allah was so happy with her that He put everything there so she could continue her worship uninterrupted!

Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) saw her provisions and asked. “From where is this? When did you go out? What money do you have? Who took you?”

She said, “It’s from Allah,” which means He can send anything He wants at any time. You might worship and find in front of you a thousand golden coins, or two sheep, male and female and they go out and make more and next year you may have a hundred sheep. Why not? Allah gives! In this life the important thing is to worship Allah (swt). This is an example from the Holy Qur'an about the Virgin Mary (r), peace be upon her and upon her son `Isa (s) and upon the Prophet (s). It’s important not to say “I have to work to get food for my family and myself.” The Qur'an is talking to us, but our imaan is so small, so weak! Allah (swt) said:

وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللَّهِ حَدِيثًا

Who is more truthful in speech? (Surat an-Nisaa, 4:87)

“The Virgin Mary was worshipping Me and I sent her food.” Who is more truthful than Allah? She didn’t go out to work or do anything other than worship her Lord. Allah says, “I will send your food in the same way I sent for the Virgin Mary (a).” Saints aren’t concerned about their daily bread because it is going to come.

Sayyidina `Isa (s) said, “Look at the birds: they go out in the morning hungry and come back full.” We don’t need to worry about that, but our imaan is the problem! Allah tells the truth, Prophet (s) tells the truth, and the Saints believe them one-hundred percent; we may believe them five, ten or fifteen percent, we have some faith, but we have to increase it to that level. Sayyida Maryam (r) and Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) prayed in that place.

هُنَالِكَ دَعَا زَكَرِيَّا رَبَّهُ

In that place Zakariyya supplicated his Lord (Surat Aali Imraan, 3:38)

Our shaykhs keep mentioning this, and always new meanings come. In that place, in that position, wherever that prayer area was, Prophet Zakariyya (a) made his du`a to Allah (swt), in the place of the Holy One. When we know the place of a wali, wherever it is, we make du`a. When we went to Montreal we were in the place that Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) made du`a, Notre Dame; Mawlana stood in that church and made dhikr and du`a there, so it his maqaam and you have to find that spot. We need to find a place where a Saint prayed and make our du`a there, which is one-hundred percent compliant with Qur’an; this is not outside of Qur'an.

Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) went to the same spot where Sayyida Maryam (a) had prayed and he asked Allah and his dua was accepted, so to seek out places Saints went to, and wherever they reside is also good. That’s why it’s good to go to Michigan; when we are connected in this way we encourage everyone to visit our shaykh because that is where he worships and if you ask for something there it will be granted. Some ask, “Why do you go to this shaykh or that person? Why do you visit?” When people become ignorant by not accepting Saints, the Holy Ones, they don’t know what we are taught. I am not saying that they are 100% ignorant, but at least they are ignorant of knowledge of the Saints, so they oppose it. When we make du`a in the very spot where they pray, our du`a is accepted like Allah accepted the prayer of Sayyidina Zakariyya (a).

Our teachers say previously, for hundreds of years when people entered a village they asked, “Is there someone whose hand I can kiss and whose food I can eat, whose door is open to everyone?” The door of a Holy One, the Saint is open and they travelled just to see someone like that. Now we want to travel on a cruise, a vacatio, but the best vacation is to seek the place where a Holy One is, just as Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) took baraka from Sayyida Mariam’s area; his dua was accepted and Allah gave him a son. Anyone who wants his prayer to be accepted, go to where the Shaykh is or where he stayed or prayed, or invite him to your home one day, and if he comes you can pray in your house forever and it becomes a place everyone can come to.

The Shaykh’s door is always open because they have guardian angels who move with them. I heard from our Shaykhs that 70,000 jinn move with them wherever they go, because a Saint is for both humans and jinn. Prophet (s) came for humans and jinn, as mentioned in Holy Qur'an. If we don’t seek company of a Saint we can’t have this knowledge. The kings of jinn are Muslims and move with our Shuyookh. In Holy Qur'an there is a whole chapter about jinn, read it and see what they are like, what they do. It is said there, near to the half of the chapter:

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا الْمُسْلِمُونَ وَمِنَّا الْقَاسِطُونَ

From us are Muslims and from us are disobedient ones (Surat al-Jinn, 72:14)

The Muslim jinn protect the Shaykh and his followers from whatever bad jinn are around. That is why it is recommended that someone with that kind of problem should come to a shaykh. If you go to a psychiatrist they will numb you with pills and medicines and you won’t be able to wake up, you sleep all the time. True shaykhs walk with jinn and angels, we walk behind them, and if you are very advanced in Tariqah you you will start to hear the stones, birds and trees saluting them! It is mentioned in many Serat an-Nabi (s), his blessed biography, that before the Revelation came the mountains greeted Prophet (s), “Salaam `akaykum, yaa Rasoolullah!” and he turned around but no one was there. Also, when Prophet (s) put rocks in his hand they made tasbeeh, which Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) heard. If we are on that level we will hear not only rocks, Prophet (s) minbar wept for him and animals came to Prophet (s); the camel that had something stuck in it’s foot and cried to Prophet (s). So if we look carefully at inanimate objects, created beings that don’t move, they are still, but they have life, such as rocks, mountains, sand, pebbles and plants all saluted Prophet (s); a palm tree cried when they built his minbar. Animals, humans, Muslim jinn, shayaateen and angels are Creations that recognize the Saints.

It is mentioned in Hadith and traditional knowledge that Shaytan came to Prophet (s), but avoided Sayyidina `Umar (r) who could see Shaytan. The Saints see them and we have heard about Sayyidina al-Bayazid al-Bistami’s encounter with Shaytan. When we reach their level we will be able to see who moves with the true Saints.

Everywhere Prophet (s) went, every Creation stood up and greeted him. When we enter the presence of a Holy One and make dua, it is accepted. If we continue on the same path they took, we may start hearing what we can’t hear now. Inshaa-Allah we can do that and reach higher and higher, to where they are reaching. [Du`a.]

http://sufilive.com/Benefits-of-Visiting-Holy-Places--6024.html

© Copyright 2019 by Sufilive. All rights reserved. This transcript is protected

by international copyright law. Please attribute Sufilive when sharing it. JazakAllahu khayr.

UA-984942-2