Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
15 July 2015 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Fajr Suhbah (1)
Commentary from Al-Fathu ‘r-Rabbani wa ‘l-Fayd ar-Rahmaanee, The Lordly Openings and the Manifestations of Mercy, by Ghawth al-Azam Shaykh `Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (qs).
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. 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.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah, nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, nawayna 's-siyaam, lillahi ta`ala fee hadha 'l-masjid.
Here is a story that shows us how much we need to achieve and struggle in order to reach our destination. Everyone has a direction that Allah gave him and he cannot move [divert] from that destination. Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
وَلِكُلٍّ وِجْهَةٌ هُوَ مُوَلِّيهَا ۖ فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ
To each is a goal to which Allah turns him; then strive together (as in a race). (Surat al-Baqara, 2:148)
Everyone has a direction in which to run and compete for goodness, so we must know where to direct our face; Allah (swt) wants us to direct our face towards as-Siraat al-Mustaqeem. One day, a person like us came to Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) and knocked at his door, and Sayyidina Bayazid opened for him. He entered and looked right, left, and front searching for something. It was not his house, it was the house of Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q), so the direction is for Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q), but that person was looking for a place.
Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) said, “What do you need? You are looking right and left.”
He said, “Oh, I am sorry, I think I bothered you from your dhikr.”
He said, “No, but what do you need? Perhaps I can help you.”
The man said, “I need a clean place for my prayer.”
He said, “You need a place? Okay, I will tell you.”
He said, “Where? There is no place in this room, everything is over each other.”
Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) said, “No, clean your heart and you will find you can pray wherever you are. When you clean your heart you find your direction; your direction is your heart. When you clean it, then you are not lying to Allah.”
The Sahaabah (r) asked the Prophet (s):
هل المؤمن يسرق؟ قال ربما. هل المؤمن يزني؟ قال ربما. هل المؤمن يكذب؟ قال لا.
Does the Believer steal? “Maybe,” he said. Does the Believer commit adultery? “Maybe,” he said.
Does the Believer lie? “No,” he said. (Ghazali, Ihya Ulum ad-Din)
Prophet (s) said, “It cannot be, a Believer cannot lie,” Allah knows a munaafiq is lying, what we said many times:
اية المنافق ثلاث اذا حدث كذب واذا وعد اخلف واذا اتمن خان
(The Prophet (s) said,) “The signs of the munaafiq, hypocrite, are three: if he speaks he lies; if he promises he breaks it; and, if you entrust him with something he betrays you.” (Bukhari)
When he talks he lies, and avoids saying the truth, so don’t lie, Allah doesn’t like someone to lie! When the Prophet (s) says, ‘ a mu’min does not lie’ it means he does not lie on his `uhood, his promises made on the Day of Promises as Allah (swt) gave him something to accept and he accepted, but when we come to dunya we are lying on everything.
That’s why Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q), whose book al-Fath ar-Rabbani we are quoting, said, kun`aaqilan, “Have a mind,” keep your mind open, otherwise, if your mind is not open and your heart is not clean you are lying to Allah, and laa takdhib, “don’t lie.”
Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) and Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) are telling us, “We tried this way!” Of course we are in a struggle with our self, our ego: one day it lies to us, but it is a struggle. If you struggle and save yourself from this lie you will clean your heart, or else your self is going to be as before, but most important is, the human heart is the House of Allah (swt):
ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ولكن وسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن
Neither My Heavens nor My Earth contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.
(Hadith Qudsi, Al-Ihya of Imam al-Ghazali)
“Neither My Heavens nor My Earth contained Me, but heart of Believer contains Me: My love, My light and, therefore, it contains everything!” Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) said, “Don’t lie,” but it is recorded that you are lying. He said, “Don’t say you are afraid of Allah when in reality you are afraid of someone else, not Allah (swt).” If you fear Allah, then you follow what Sayyidina `Ali (r) said:
راس الحكمة مخافة الله
The head of wisdom is fear of Allah.
If we are not fearing then we do everything as we like, but Allah (swt) gave us a way out when He said:
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
[O Muhammad!] Say, "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins, for He is The Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
(Surat az-Zumar, 39:53)
“Yaa Rasoolullah, tell them ‘Don’t despair of Allah's Mercy! Allah will forgive all the sins, but repent.’” He knows you are lying, so He gave us a way out to repent and be clean because always it is like that and we are going from one struggle to another.
Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) said, “Don’t say you are afraid of Allah, because you are lying.”
Prophet (s) said a mu’min might fall into adultery, but not lie: Allah does not accept you to lie to Him, when you accepted on the Day of Promises and then came to Earth and lied [broke your promise], Allah doesn’t like that. Does a mu’min steal? Yes, might be, and now everyone is stealing from the other; to compete in matters of religion is okay, but don’t say you are afraid of Allah when actually you are afraid of someone else. Don’t be afraid of a jinn, a human being or an angel, animals that talk (human beings) and the animals that don’t talk. Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) put us under the classification of haywaanun naatiq, speaking animal. Laa takhaaf min `adhaab ad-dunya, don’t fear the torment of this world, and not fear of the punishment of Akhirah! Wa inamaa takhaaf, one issue you have to fear is the Mu`adhdbhib, The One Who Punishes! Don’t fear the punishment, fear The Punisher, Allah (swt), because if He wants to punish you, you will not find happiness!
Sayyidina Muhammad (s), astaghfirullah al-`azheem, we mention his blessed name out of real love to the Prophet (s), but in our hearts, our self and our soul is something else, so we are lying to the Prophet (s) also! When we mention his blessed name, we must to say sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, to clean our mention of him! One day Sayyidina Muhammad, allahumma salli 'ala Sayyidina Muhammad, was sitting with Sayyida `Ayesha, who asked a question and the Prophet (s) said:
من حوسب عذب
Who will be judged will be punished for sure. (Bukhari)
Whoever is questioned on Judgment Day is for sure going to be punished, as for sure he did something Allah is not happy with: the one who will be judged will be punished. Who will give him `adhaab? Allah, al-Mu`adhdhib. The Punisher, so be careful from lying!
Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) said, Al-`aaqil laa yakhaafu yawmun fillah, the one with a mind will not fear to face any struggle and for the love of Allah (swt) he will do whatever he needs to face Allah (swt). That is the one who has a clean mind and a clean heart: he is asamm, dumb and mute, not hearing, not speaking except Allah's Words.
Fifty years ago there was a very well-known lady in Egypt, whom anything you asked she answered with a verse of Holy Qur'an, she spoke nothing of the dunya life, she always recited an ayah that fit what she was asked. Someone with that level of `aaqil, who has a clean mind and heart, who doesn’t speak anything except Allah’s Words, doesn’t do something except what makes Allah happy with him or her, benefits the Ummah. Compared to that one, all human beings are sick and the sick one goes to a doctor or hospital to be treated, where they know how to treat you. The `aaqil, the one with a mind, knows everyone is sick, so he has to find the real spiritual medicine or what is suitable to recite in order to struggle to get what he wants. Allah (swt) will direct that person to his destiny, as we said previously: “To each is a goal to which Allah turns him; then strive together (as in a race).” (2:148)
This applies to scholars from whose teachings you benefit, not the scholar that wants to show off his `ilm, as that is arrogance. Iblees was `aalim, but he destroyed himself! He was the head of angels, and Allah cursed him because he was arrogant and said, “ How am I going to make sajda to Adam?” Allah ordered him, “Make sajda!” so make sajda. Allah gave us 500 orders to follow, but we are not following them, we are only following our egos, our selves. Don’t let your religion break or you will need to go someone who has `aaqil, a mind, and his heart is clean like `Ulama al-Umma, the real 'ulama of Shari`ah and Tariqah, who know Tazkiyyat an-Nafs.
فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
Don’t praise yourself. (Surat an-Najm, 53:32)
Don’t praise yourself, but purify yourself through any way: `ilm through books, but the best is through taste, so you have to be on the threshold of a scholar who is `aalimun `aamil, the `aalim who does what he learned, not like us. Anzal ad-daa’, huwa alladhee anzal ad-dawaa’ wa huwa ‘lladhee `araf bi l-maslaha min ghayrihi. Allah is The One Who brought the sickness and for every sickness He brought the cure. Also:
أنزل الداء الذي أنزل الدواء
The one who brought sickness also brought the cure. (Muwatta of Malik)
Allah gave a cure for every spiritual sickness; That is why we are in constant struggle in our hearts. When we sleep we think too much and when we wake up we think too much, “This one did that to me, that one did that to me.” Forget as much as possible, that makes Allah happy! Grandshaykh said if you mention an incident that happened two hours before, it is backbiting and it will take you away from Allah's Divine Presence!
It is mentioned by Abu Moosa al-Ash`ari, that the Prophet (s) said that Allah (swt) said:
يا عبادي ! كلكم ضال إلا من هديته ، وضعيف إلا من قويته ، وفقير إلا من أغنيته فاسألوني أعطكم ، فلو أن أولكم وآخركم وجنكم وإنسكم وحيكم وميتكم ورطبكم ويابسكم اجتمعوا على قلب أنقى عبد من عبادي ما زاد في ملكي جناح بعوضة ، ولو أن أولكم وآخركم وحيكم وميتكم ورطبكم ويابسكم اجتمعوا على قلب أفجر عبد هو لي ما نقصوا من ملكي جناح بعوضة ، ذلك أني واحد ، عذابي كلام ورحمتي كلام ، فمن أيقن بقدرتي على المغفرة لم يتعاظم في نفسي أن أغفر له ذنوبه وإن كبرت
O My servants! All of you are misguided except whom I have guided, weak except whom I have strengthened, and poor except whom I have enriched, so ask from Me and I will give you. Even if the first of you, the last of you, the jinn among you and the humans, the living and the dead among you, and that which is wet and that which is dry among you all gathered together on the purest heart from among My servants, it would not increase My Dominion by [so much as] the wing of a mosquito. Even if the first of you, the last of you, the jinn among you and the humans, the living and the dead among you, and that which is wet and that which is dry among you all gathered together on the heart of the most corrupted servant of Mine, they would not decrease My Dominion even the wing of a mosquito. That is because I am One. My punishment is My Words, and My Mercy is My Words. Whoever is aware of My Power of Forgiveness, it is not difficult for Me to forgive him his sins even if they are big.
(Al-Hindi in Kanz al-`Ummal)
Yaa ibna Adam in fattuka faataka kullu shay’, “O son of Adam! If I let you down, you lost everything.” We hope that Allah (swt) will give us from His Endless Mercy!
A man came to the Prophet (s) and said, “I love you for the sake of Allah”, which is different from another the Hadith of the Bedouin, when he asked about the Day of Judgment and the Prophet (s) asked what he prepared for it, and he said, “My love of you and my love of Allah (swt),” and the Prophet (s) said:
يحشر المرء مع من أحب
Each person will be resurrected with the one he loves. (Tabarani)
For the benefit of the Ummah, it depends on the time and place and what the Prophet (s) wants us to get from that. In this Hadith a man said, “I love you,” and the Prophet (s) did not answer, “You will be with me,” rather, he said:
فاتخذ للبلاء جلبابا
Take a cloak for (protection from) affliction.
He said to him, “Open yourself to afflictions now, because you are in love with me and in love with Allah, so for sure many afflictions will come on you; take the poverty as a robe.”
اخشوشنوا فان النعم لا تدوم
Be prepared for difficulties because ease does not last forever. (Ibn Abi Shaybah in his Musannaf)
It means to live a harsh manner as the favors will not last forever; one day they might be taken away for certain reasons, so live hard life even you have money, houses, cars, a plane, a yacht, because when afflictions come everything goes. Many times we gave the example of Aristotle Onassis, who was the richest person in the world. He married John Kennedy’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. He had one son for whom he amassed all his wealth, then his son died in a plane crash, then he died, so who had all that wealth after that?
Don’t claim anything as affliction will come, it might be taken away. Take poverty as a cloak, then if you face a rough time you are trained. When you are poor you are humble, thinking everyone is better than you, so try to teach yourself to be humble, then Allah will raise you. You don’t want people to raise you as that is nothing, you want Allah to raise you! Presidents, mayors, kings, they take nothing with them unless they were good: they take Hellfire with them, but if they were good then Allah will forgive.
To ‘take afflictions as a cloak’ means when someone hurts you, curses you, backbites you, prepare yourself for that day and keep quiet. That is why Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, alzim as-sukoot, “Keep silence”: listen, observe, then act.
May Allah (swt) guide us and move us in the right direction.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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