Suhbah at Islamic Cultural Center (ICC)
(Suhbah begins on video @ 10:00)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`alaa fee haadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Atee`oollaha wa atee`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
Any place you make into a masjid for Allah (swt), it is accepted.
وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ
Wa inna ‘l-masaajida lillah.
The mosques are for Allah. (Surat al-Jinn, 72:18)
Allah (swt) owns the masjid, we don’t own it, it is His place. Any place in which you mention His Name, it becomes a masjid that witnesses for you in Akhirah and that area it becomes like a holy place in Akhirah, witnessing that you have mentioned Allah’s Name, and it asks on your behalf that you have forgiveness from Allah (swt)!
Don't say, “How can that place speak?” Everything Allah created speaks! Did you hear about what the ant was saying to Sayyidina Sulayman (a)? Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur’an that when Sayyidina Sulayman (a) was going to Yemen with his army to turn Bilqees, Sheba, to Islam as the religion of that time, there was an ant. When you pass by one ant, you know there must be a web or household of ants who can live together by the millions. Sometimes you go into the desert and you see bushes full of them. How did the ants come to the desert, do we ask ourselves this? There is nothing living there; the sun is burning everything and you find houses for ants. Who brought them there? What are they eating and drinking there? What are they drinking there? How is Allah sending their rizq? How can they understand each other? If you put twenty people together, they cannot understand each other and after awhile they begin to fight. Yet we see millions of ants living, eating and drinking together! How? If you find an ant and carry it up, can you see that it has a stomach? It has a stomach, which means it needs to eat.
There are both big ants and small ants, some of them very small. You can see an ant moving this way and that, then it stops and finds food there, which it picks up and brings back to its home. Who directed her to that food? Who is directing us? It’s the same: Allah (swt) directed the ant and is directing us. Can ants hear? Allah (swt) says in Holy Qur’an:
قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّمْلُ ادْخُلُوا مَسَاكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَانُ وَجُنُودُهُ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
Qaalat namlatun yaa ayyuha 'n-namlu 'dkhuloo masaakinakum laa yahtimannakum Sulaymaanu wa junooduhoo wa hum la yash`uroon.
One of the ants said, "O ants! Enter your homes unless Sulayman and his armies unknowingly trample you. (Surat an-Naml, 27:18)
“An ant said,” what did the ant say? This means the ant was speaking. Qaalat namlatun, “An ant said.” When Sayyidina Sulayman (a) was coming it said, ayyuha 'n-namlu, one ant was speaking to all the ants at the same time. Allah mentioned it in Holy Qur’an. He didn’t say, qaala namlu, in plural, but said, qaalat namlatun, "One ant spoke." This means one leader, one ameer, one king, not a theocracy; theocracy means there are different rulers fighting. One ameer! One ant giving an example to Sayyidina Sulayman (a). “One ant and under it there are millions of people under you, and not only that, I gave you millions of jinn and animals under you!” The birds were flying over him, the jinn were working for him and bringing him treasures, but Allah sent this to humble him and to show him, “I didn’t give to anyone else what I gave you from the treasures of dunya.” And Sayyidina Sulayman (a) heard that ant, since Allah taught him the language of animals.
وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدَهِ
Wa in min shay'in illa yusabbihu bihamdih.
And there is not a thing but celebrates His praise! (Surat al-'Israa, 17:44)
Everything Allah (swt) created is praising Him and is saying something, everything Allah created is praising Him and making tasbeeh for Allah (swt). This means that ant was praising Allah and that all the ants are praising Allah (swt). You, without knowing it, are praising Allah (swt) as it is impossible that something Allah created in its purity could not be praising Him! Everything is praising Him, but we don’t know it; every cell of the body is praising Allah (swt). He said, wa in min shay'in illa yusabbihu bihamdih, “Verily, everything Allah created, every smallest atom,” including the cells in your body or there are smaller than that; there are doctors here and they know what is smaller or bigger. What is the smallest in the body, the cell? [There is smaller than that.] There are viruses.
Allah (swt) says that everything is praising Him, but wa laakin tafkahoona tasbeehahum, “You don't know what they are saying.” (17:44) Your ego and your bad desires are trying to break you away, to keep you from hearing the tasbeeh that your body is doing. Now, by using ultrasound and stethoscopes, they can hear the heart beating, making a sound. What is that sound doctor? The heartbeat says, “Hu, Hu, Hu, Hu, Hu.” Is that correct? [Yes.]
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Qul Huw Allahu Ahad.
Say, "He is Allah, the Unique One!” (Surat al-Ikhlaas, 112:1)
Qul hu, qul huw Allahu Ahad, “He is The One that cannot be seen or known,” but He can be known through what He created and this is so you can understand there is a Creator. So, imagine there is one ant speaking to millions of ants and all of them are listening and hearing her at the same time! Do they have ears? They must have ears or sensors that Allah gave to them. What did that ant say? Qaalat namlatun yaa ayyuha 'n-namlu, “All ants!” She spoke to all the ants at the same time and she didn’t need a microphone to speak to them. Here we need a microphone and in a big stadium they must have a microphone or else no one can hear anything. How could the ants hear her? What kind of knowledge did Allah give ants? We say, “Modernity, technology, civilization,” but ants also had, according to their creation and their situation, millions of years before we created (the microphone), the ability to speak to each other without a microphone. Even now, they are speaking without the microphone. What kind of technology did Allah give them?
Imam Muhammad Isma`eel al-Bukhari (r), the one who compiled the hadiths of Prophet (s), had a school and masjid in Bukhara in Central Asia, what is known today as Uzbekistan. That masjid could take 5,000 people and the school 3,000 so the maximum was 8,000. Every day after `Asr, he gave a lecture on the hadiths that he was collecting. He sat at the front of the masjid near the mihraab and everyone else sat with him there, 5,000 in the masjid, and if the school and courtyard were full there were maximum 8,000 people. It is said, and it was acknowledged, that Imam Bukhari (r) used to sit with 25,000 people. No one knows how that masjid and school could accommodate 25,000 people after `Asr, since they could only contain 8,000. And when he spoke, those 25,000 people could hear Imam Bukhari (r) as though he were sitting right next to each one of them! He had no microphone but his voice could reach everywhere because Allah gave him a specialty.
There are some servants of Allah (swt) who are called ‘Friends of Allah’:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Alaa inna awliyaaullaahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.
Behold! Verily on the Friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Surah Yunus, 10:62)
Allah’s saints, His friends, who are sincere and pious people, have nothing to fear because Allah is supporting them. We are speaking now with a microphone and look at how many machines and computers there are. At that time, when one sincere `alim spoke he could shake the dunya and even today you can still find these people. If one ant could shake Sayyidina Sulayman (a), what do you think about an `alim? Can he shake people or not? Yes, he can. Can he attract people or not? Yes, he can. Then, what do you think about a wali?
I was visiting the `ulama in India, those who had passed away, and their shrines attract many thousands of people who come from the Far East and the Far West to visit them. Are these`ulama dead or living? They are living! If not, how can they attract these people? They attract them, they bring them through their hearts! They speak with them by what they now call telepathy, communicating from a distance. They inspire people’s hearts, “Come, visit us.” The ones who are actually dead are the `ulama that no one comes to visit. Is there any example? I asked some Saudis, “Who visits the grave of Muhammad Ibn `Abdul-Wahhab?” No one! And look, in the Middle East, the Far East, South East Asia and every country around the world, there are awliya being visited by people around the clock. If the awliya are like that, what do you think about prophets? It’s beyond our minds, finish, stop here! But we can say one more thing. What about Prophet, the Seal of Messengers (s)? He contained everyone and his appearance wrapped all the religions in Islam:
إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُُ
Inna ad-deena `inda Allaahi al-islaam.
The religion in Allah’s view is Islam (submission to His Will). (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:19)
All the Abrahamic religions and all religions are in Islam. You are not a Muslim if you don’t accept Sayyidina `Isa (a) and Sayyidina Musa (a).
So, one ant shook Sayyidina Sulayman (a). Qaalat namlatun, “That ant said,” yaa ayyuha 'n-namlu, it was giving an order, 'dkhuloo masaakinakum, “Run away! Run into your homes,” laa yahtimannakum Sulaymaanu wa junooduhu, “before Sulayman and his army step on you and kill you!” What did the ants do? They moved!
سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ
Sami`naa wa ata`naa ghufraanaka rabbanaa wa ilayk al-maseer.
We hear and we obey. (We seek) Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return (of all, so forgive us). (Surat al-Baqara, 2:285)
Sami`naa wa ata`naa, they listened to their amir. We listen to the message of Islam and the one Allah (swt) chose, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). His religion is as clear as the sun; it doesn't need any one to speculate or explain. Allah gave us a prophet, the Seal of Messengers (s), who is carrying his ummah on his shoulders.
That ant said, “Run!” Run where? “To your homes!” This means that Allah (swt) is telling us, “O Muslim, O human being! For safety, run to your home!”
فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ
Fa firroo il-Allah.
Flee to Allah!
Run to Allah! Fa firru ilallah “Run to Allah (swt) for safety.” In Surat al-Kahf in Holy Qur’an, Allah (swt) is saying:
فَأْوُوا إِلَى الْكَهْفِ يَنشُرْ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُم مِّن رَّحمته ويُهَيِّئْ لَكُم مِّنْ أَمْرِكُم مِّرْفَقًا
Betake yourselves to the Cave. Your Lord will shower His mercies on you and dispose of your affair towards comfort and ease. (Surat al-Kahf, 18:16)
Fa’woo ilaa ‘l-kahfi, “Run to the cave!” This means that everyone has to run somewhere, that every one of us has somewhere to which we can run and that safety is different for each person. When Allah said to Ashaab al-Kahf, fa firroo il-Allah, “Run to Allah,” what will happen? If you run to Allah (swt). yanshur lakum rabbukum min rahmatihi wa yuhayyi lakum min amrikum mirfaqah “He will dress you from His Mercy,” and He will arrange a way for you to move in it. (18:16) Today there are thousands of ways and it’s okay. It is not hadith, but it is said:
الطرق الى الله تعالى على عدد انفاس الخلائق
At-turuq il-Allahi ta`ala `alaa `adad anfaasi’l-khalaa’iq.
The ways to Allah are as numerous as the breaths of human beings.
This means every human being has a way, that there are as many ways as the numbers of breaths of human beings. It means there are a lot of ways and if you follow, you will reach. How many universities are there in America? Do you know? Is it 7,000, 10,000 or 15,000 ? All of them can make you a doctor or an engineer and Allah made that many so you could choose which one you like, according to your ability. Allah wants you to choose what you like and what you can carry.
اَ يُكَلِّفُ اللّهُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ وُسْعَهَا لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ
On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:286)
Allah doesn’t burden you with more than you can take. Some people say, “Oh, I can’t study to be a doctor here, they didn’t take me. I will study in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic.” Have you heard that? Then they come back and work here, but in Santo Domingo it might be easier or less work or it might cost less money. So, it is meant for everyone to go according to their capability and capacity as Allah (swt) directs them.
Also, in madhaaib, Allah gave us the Four Greatest Imams to explain Shari’at an-Nabi (s). This was the consensus of `ulama around the world in the 400th year of Hijri, when they agreed on four madhaaib because they didn't want too many. One of the big scholars in Egypt counted and there are 472 different madhahabs in Islam today, but all of them are taking from Prophet (s).
وكلّ من رسول الله ملتمسا غرفا من البحر أو رشفا من الدّمي
Wa kullun min rasoolillaahi multamisun, gharfan min al-bahri aw rashfan min ad-diyami.
All of them partake from the Prophet of God a handful of his oceans or a sip from his continuous rains. (Shaykh Muhammad al-Busayri, Burdat ash-Shareef)
Therefore, our way to Prophet (s) is so clear. What is that way? It is very simple: our way to Prophet (s) is to end in Allah's love! This means everything is built on love and to end in Allah’s love, Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur’an:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)
If you really love Allah, follow Muhammad (s) and Allah will love you! Finished, it is very clear. If you say, “I love Allah (swt),” alhamdulillah, that is very good, so then follow Muhammad (s). If we follow Prophet (s), and we must follow him, then we must learn akhlaaq, good manners, from him. Never in his life did Prophet (s) say, “La, no.” How many times do we say “no” to each other? So we are not following those good manners. He never said, “La,” and he never caused anyone to be upset with him. How many times do we upset people?
آيَةُ الْمُنَافِقِ ثَلاثٌ : إِذَا حَدَّثَ كَذَبَ , وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفَ , وَإِذَا اؤْتُمِنَ خَانَ
The signs of a hypocrite are three: when he speaks he lies, and when he makes a promise he breaks it, and when he is charged with a trust, he deceives. (Bukhari)
المؤمن إذا وعد وفى
A believer keeps his promise. (Abu Daud, Darqutni, al-Hakim)
A mu’min cannot say no and will always fulfill his promise. That’s why Prophet (s) said to Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah (r):
أوصى النبي صلى اللّه عليه وسلم أبا هريرة بوصية عظيمة فقال: { يا أبا هريرة! عليك بحسن الخلق }. قال أبو هريرة رضي اللّه عنه: وما حسن الخلق يا رسول اللّه؟قال: { تصل مَنْ قطعك، وتعفو عمن ظلمك، وتُعطي من حرمك}
The Prophet (s) advised Abu Hurayrah: O Aba Hurayrah! You must have good manners. Connect with the one who cut you off; forgive the one who oppressed you and give to the one who prevented you from reaching your desires. (al-Bayhaqi)
He said, “You must have good manners, characteristics.” Abu Hurayrah (r) said, “What are the good characteristics?” Prophet (s) said, “To connect with the one who disconnected from you.” For example, if there is a problem between us, you might come to me, saying, “I want to make up.” This means you should make up with everyone, and first of all to make up with yourself. Are you happy with yourself? I don’t believe so, because the soul is not happy with what the desires of the ego are doing: the soul wants to be with the Creator and to be a real servant to Allah (swt), but the ego doesn't allow this. There is a struggle within everyone and if we don’t ask for that struggle to go, it will keep building up and building up. Take things easy and make people happy with you. Run to Allah (swt)! No one will give you anything except Allah and no one will benefit you except Allah (swt), through the shafa’ah of Prophet (s). We are not people who like to say, “Oh, this one is wrong, this one is bad, this one is outside the realm of Islam or on the fringe,” or find names (to call them). No, we say, “May Allah guide everyone. When He guides everyone, for sure He is guiding me.” When He guides everyone, we say, “Yaa, Rabbee! Let everyone enter Paradise,” because when they enter Paradise, we enter Paradise!
Our Grandshaykh, may Allah (swt) bless his soul, always told us that in du`a we should ask Allah (swt) to take everyone to Paradise. That shows how much sincerity you have toward the human race, toward human beings, your brothers and sisters, and how much you care for them, because you are asking Allah (swt) to take them to Paradise and through this way you also enter with them. Look how much humility there is in that, and what nice, subtle words. But today, one Muslim makes another Muslim kafir. Why do you make him kafir, because he doesn’t follow your ideology? What is your ideology, blowing yourselves up on the streets? Is that the ideology you are carrying, is that what Islam says? The first to be brought for judgment on the Day of Judgment is the one who calls himself a shaheed, martyr, as Prophet (s) said in his famous hadith narrated by Muslim:
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ النَّاسِ يُقْضَى يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عَلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ اسْتُشْهِدَ، فَأُتِيَ بِهِ فَعَرَّفَهُ نِعَمَهُ فَعَرَفَهَا، قَالَ: فَمَا عَمِلْتَ فِيهَا؟ قَالَ قَاتَلْتُ فِيكَ حَتَّى اسْتُشْهِدْتُ، قَالَ: كَذَبْتَ، وَلَكِنَّكَ قَاتَلْتَ لِأَنْ يُقَالَ: جَرِيءٌ، فَقَدْ قِيلَ، ثُمَّ أُمِرَ بِهِ فَسُحِبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ حَتَّى أُلْقِيَ فِي النَّارِ
The first of people against whom judgment will be pronounced on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who died a martyr. He will be brought and Allah will make known to him His favors and he will recognize them. The Almighty will say, “And what did you do about them?” He will say, “I fought for you until I died a martyr.” He will say, “You have lied, you did but fight that it might be said (of you), ‘He is courageous,’ and so it was said.” Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hellfire. (Hadith Qudsi, narrated by Abu Hurayrah, Muslim)
Allah (swt) will ask him, “What have you done for Me? These are My Favors for a martyr, so if you consider yourself a martyr, what have you done to receive My Favors, Jannat al-Firdous?”
He said, “Yaa Rabbee! I fought for you until I was killed.”
He said, “No, you’re lying. You did it for your ego because you were so arrogant and you wanted everyone to know about your name. That’s why you wanted to fight until you were killed. You weren’t doing it for Me, but you were doing it for yourself. O My angels! Take him to Hellfire for punishment!”
We have to be sincere as Islam teaches us sincerity. Prophet (s) said:
انما بعثت لاتمم مكارم الاخلاق
I have been sent to perfect the best of conduct (your behavior and character). (Bazzaar)
He said, “I have been sent to purify, to complete, the good manners in everyone.” So let us pray to Allah (swt) that He will bring us together around the world to save those on Earth from miseries, fighting and bloodshed.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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