Suhbah at International Cultural Center (ICC)
Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad.
What is the best thing to decorate your house with? [Salawaat. Allahu Akbar.] Zayyinoo buyootakum, Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem wa zayyinoo buyootakum bi ’s-salaat `ala ‘n-Nabi (s). This is the best decoration. On the Day of Judgement you will be awarded medallions because you spent time making dhikr and salawaat in dunya. We are meeting here to stress this point: do not be lazy about making salawaat and dhikrullah as they move your two legs towards Paradise!
يوشك أن يأتي على الناس زمان لا يبقى من الإسلام إلا اسمه ولا يبقى من القرآن إلا رسمه ، مساجدهم عامرة وهي خراب من الهدى ، علماؤهم شر من تحت أديم السماء ، من عندهم تخرج الفتنة ، وفيهم تعود
There will come a time upon a people when nothing remains from Islam except its name, nothing from the Qur’an except the form of its letters, mosques will be built but are empty of guidance, their scholars will be the worst people beneath the sky, and chaos will emerge from them and return to them. (Bayhaqi)
“Nothing will be left from Islam except its name,” but by salawaat and dhikrullah, Islam is alive in your heart. Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
[Break to pray Salaat al-Maghrib.]
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta`ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. 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. Rabbana taqabbal minna wa`fu `anna w ’aghfirlana wa ‘rhamna bi jaahi Habeebika ‘l-Mustafa, yaa Rabbee, yaa Allah. Allahumma thabbitna `ala ‘l-imaan, allahumma thabbitna `ala ‘l-ihsaan, allahumma thabbitna `indaka bi jaahi Habeebik al-Mustafa `alayhi afdalu ‘s-salaati wa ‘s-salaam.
Human beings are always mutahayyir, confused: they don’t know what to do, and when they find a way out another obstacle comes. So you have to keep breaking these obstacles until you end up in Bahr al-Amaan, the Ocean of Safety. Allah (swt) gave us many ayaat in the Holy Qur’an to secure ourselves and our children from this dunya in which there is nothing except falsehood. If not, you would exist forever. Allah made it exist for some time, but not forever, only Ahl al-Jinaan will live forever in Paradises, Ummat an-Nabi (s) will forever be in Paradises. Allah makes the Earth disappear one time:
اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ
The Hour (of Judgment) is nigh and the moon is cleft asunder.
(Surat al-Qamar, 54:1)
The Day of Judgement is coming sooner and sooner. When the moon split in the time of Prophet (s), that was enough for all the Sahaabah (r) to accept. How many moons are we seeing? Every day Allah sends another ayah, sign, through the sky, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, constellations, stars, and many, many others. Allah (swt) wants to show His Qudrah to human beings, “I am al-Qaadir, al-Muqtadir, The Powerful One, not you.” That’s why one of the biggest signs is the Sun. A small war in the Middle East is killing thousands of people, but thousands and millions of atomic reactions are happening on the Sun and nothing is happening to dunya as Allah (swt) gave safety to the Sun and to the other planets.
وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ
Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law). (Surat Yasin, 36:40)
Wa kullun fi falakin yasbahoon, everything you see has its orbit, and in them what did Allah create? We have to educate ourselves, teach our egos that we have to be careful how we spend our money in dunya, that temporary life, to secure Paradise.
This is a story I read today: Sayyidina `Umar Ibn `Abd al-`Azeez (r), Ameer al-Mu’mineen, was Caliph for the whole Ummah and a big `alim. Many things that came to us were through him. He built lots of places to study and preserved manuscripts and relics of Prophet (s). One time he was busy and something happened, then his daughter came to him in front of many scholars. Because he loved `ilm and knowledge so much, he often recommended to spend money to assist people to study. She entered and began to cry. We take care of our children, is it not? We think about how to secure their lives after us. The One Who secured your life will secure theirs. We don’t pay attention, every person thinks they will secure the life of their children after them, me, you, shuyookh, scholars, everyone, no one is out of that. It is okay, but we must make sure to spend it in the right way and your children must do the same.
So she entered. She was very young. It was `Eid.
Sayyidina `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Azeez (r) asked her, “Why are you crying?” She was crying very hard and he was not happy to see that as he raised her the best way.
She said, “All my friends and all the other children dress in new clothes on `Eid. I am the daughter of Ameer al-Mu’mineen, you are my father, and I am wearing old clothes full of patches!”
For them, `Eid was the time to buy new clothes. Today people are in the malls daily, buying whatever they can, needed or not. Men and women spend their time in malls. She was crying because she didn’t have one piece of new clothing for `Eid. How many clothes do our children have for `Eid?
When Sayyidina `Umar al-Farooq (r) became Ameer al-Mu’mineen, he sat in the corner crying. His wife said, “Why are you crying? Today you are the head of Muslims.” Actually, in Islam there are not too many caliphs. Some were honest and some were not.
Sayyidina `Umar (r) was very honest. He wept and said to her, “Yes, I am Ameer al-Mu’mineen today, but tomorrow I might go to Jahannam and Allah might punish me.”
“Why?” she asked.
He said, “If someone is hungry in the desert or jungle and doesn’t have enough to eat, then I am responsible for them on the Day of Judgement in front of Allah, and for everyone under my rule. So do you want me not to cry?”
He was not happy, but today they run for the chair (power), spending millions everywhere to get it and keep it! Sayyidina `Umar al-Farooq (r) carried sacks of wheat on his shoulders to people's homes. He offered it to one old lady and she said, “You are better than Sayyidina `Umar (r), you should replace him!” as he kept his identity secret. That is how humble he was. Today we see people hungry and some people help, but the majority don’t care. Some people make food and distribute. It is good, but it has to be done on a bigger scale.
She said, “All of the children are wearing new clothes except the daughter of Ameer al-Mu’mineen. Their fathers are not Ameer al-Mu’mineen, my father is and doesn’t have clothes for me for `Eid.”
Today we have closets full of clothes. Look how sincere the Sahaabah (r) were, they distributed everything to poor people, which is better? Sayyidina `Umar bin `Abd al-`Azeez (r) was so sad for her situation and thought, where must he go, to his pocket, the safe box or the bank? As Ameer al-Mu’mineen everything was in his hand, so could he not do that? He didn’t do that, he didn’t touch any money and he didn’t have any. He went to the Bayt al-Maal and asked for an advance on his salary to help his daughter.Can you imagine? Ameer al-Mu’mineen, who is responsible for all Muslims, went to the treasury!
He asked, “Do you accept my request?”
The treasurer said, “I will give to you, but why?” Sayyidina `Umar (r) told the story about his daughter, the the treasurer said, “I will give to you on one condition. I’ll give you as much as you want, but can you guarantee me that next month you will be alive? This is the Muslims’ money, not mine.”
Sayyidina `Umar bin `Abd al-`Azeez (r) left him. His children asked him, “O our father! What did you do? Do you have the money to buy clothes for us?”
He said, “Can you be patient? If you are patient and don’t touch the money, then we will all go to Paradise. Do you prefer that or do you prefer that your father be judged on the Day of Judgement? If I die suddenly, who will pay it back?”
We wish we owned these three things: the treasurer, Sayyidina `Umar bin `Abd al-`Azeez (r) and abnaa `Umar (r) because the treasurer was very honest, Sayyidina `Umar Ibn `Abd al-`Azeez (r) was sincere, and his children were also sincere. This is a small story of how the Ameer al-Mu’mineen was like. May Allah (swt) guide us as he guided them! We request Allah (swt) not put us on the cliff that a small blow will make us to fall into Hellfire! Is there more you want?
In another story, when Al-Mansur was nominated as Caliph, he asked someone, “Give me an advice to follow in my life.”
The man said, “Do you want me to tell you a story I saw or a story I heard?”
Al-Mansur said, “Tell me what you have seen.”
He said, “Yaa Ameer al-Mu’mineen, Sayyidina `Umar Ibn `Abd al-`Azeez (r) left eleven children and only eighteen dinars behind him. The shroud was bought with five dinars, so that left thirteen dinars. With four dinars they bought him a grave and the remaining eleven dinars were distributed to the children. On the other hand, Hisham Ibn `Abd al-Malik, also Ameer al-Mu’mineen, had eleven children and for every child he had one-million dinars. It was strange for me to see a child of `Umar Ibn `Abd al-`Azeez (r) give a hundred horses as charity as he only had one dinar from his father, but was able to make money because he was sincere. On the other hand, I saw the one who gave one-million dinars to every child, but his son ended up a beggar on the streets. The one that had nothing was able to make money because of the barakah of his father, but the other who had one-million from his father was not able to do anything and became a beggar in the streets.”
May Allah (swt) make it easy for us.
When he was on his deathbed, the people asked `Umar `Abd al-`Azeez (r), “What did you leave for them?”
He said, “I left them Taqwa: if they are sincere and saaliheen, Allah will take care of them.”
May Allah give us barakah, take away all our problems and save us from Hellfire! Inshaa-Allah any difficulty that we are facing, for the barakah of Prophet (s), will be taken away. We have to put these stories in our mind and understand that no one can go to Paradise without Allah’s mercy, and His mercy means to make salawaat an-Nabi (s).
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
(O Muhammad!) We have sent you not except as a Mercy for all the Worlds. (Surat al-Anbiyaa, 21:107)
The mercy is within Prophet (s), make salawaat on him.
Bi hurmati ‘l-habeeb bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
http://sufilive.com/Decorate-Your-Home-with-the-Salat-on-Prophet-pbuh--6253.html
© Copyright 2016 Sufilive. All rights reserved. This transcript is protected
by international copyright law. Please attribute Sufilive when sharing it. JazakAllahu khayr.