December 2009 UK Tour
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuh. Bismillah´r-Rahmaani’r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`alameen wa 's-salaatu wa 's-salaamu `ala ashrafi 'l-mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `ala aalihi wa saahbihi ajma`een.
O Muslims brothers, I have to correct one small mistake. I am not the chairman of Sufi Muslim Council. There is a chairman between you here I think, but sometimes they ask me some questions. So, as an adviser I give them ideas. That is what needed clarification.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem.
This is a blessed day. It is the second day of Muharram; in some countries it is the first, the first Islamic Hijri year, a new year. May Allah (swt) make it for you all a happy year, and a blessed year, that you will see success and all difficulties will disappear, inshaa-Allah.
I was hearing Mawlana Sahib who introduced me, and I said to myself, is that me or someone else? Because we are a reflection of our shuyukh. That is not me, it is really my shaykh, Sayyidee Shaykh Sultan ul-Awliya Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani (q), and Grandshaykh (q), Sayyidee Shaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa`iz ad-Daghestani, who are reflecting the reality of understanding of knowledge from the teaching of Sayyidu 'r-Rusul Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Stand up for the name Muhammad (s)! As-salaatu w 'as-salaamu `alayka yaa Rasoolullah. As-salaatu was-salaamu `alayka yaa Habeebullah. As-salaatu was-salaamu `alayka yaa Shafi`ee 'l-Mudhnibeen. Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, wa lillahi ‘l-hamd!
Relatively speaking, compared to those who came before us of awliyaaullah, imaams and Sahaabat un-Nabee, we are nothing; we should not even open our mouths to speak. Sahaaba (r) taught us through their behavior, adab, and discipline. They taught us respect, which we are losing these days. They taught us peace, which we are not seeing today. They taught us tranquility, which we are not seeing today, rather we are seeing disturbance. They taught us to extend our love to everyone with flowers, not with swords, guns, bombs, or explosives, but they taught us how to present ourselves to others with different kinds of flowers, showing love to everyone.
That is how the Prophet (s) extended his hand to his communities, extending his hands to everyone, where he said:
لا فرق بين عربي ولا عجمي إلا بالتقوى
laa farqa bayna `arabiyyan wa `ajamiyyan illa bi 't-taqwa.
There is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab, except through righteousness.
You may be someone who no one knows, they may think you are a normal person, but it is on the contrary. Don’t look at everyone with a disgusting view, humiliating them, they may be better than you by a thousand times! You have to teach yourselves to say, “I am nothing!” Because Allah (swt) said:
وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ
wa fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem.
Above every knower, there is a greater knower. (12:76)
Above every level, there is another one sitting on top of that level and it never ends. So it might mean that there are billions above me, as there are nearly six billion people on earth, or more. I have to say what Allah said in the Holy Qur’an:
فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
fa laa tuzakkoo anfusakum.
Therefore justify not yourselves. (53:32)
Don’t give yourself an excuse. Don’t give your ego an excuse to say, “I am better than the others.” Allah is threatening us, saying don’t, that is Shaytan playing with you at that time. Say wa fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem, above someone there is another one who is higher, and I might be the lowest. Then you will be saved, then you will be on the right way, but arrogance and pride will not take you anywhere. But love, happiness, and peacefulness will take you everywhere!
The Prophet (s) with his love that he gave to the ummah, Allah (swt) offered him an invitation to reach qaaba qawsayni aw adna, “Two bows’ length or nearer.” In Mi`raaj he reached where no one reached. So no one is above Sayyidina Muhammad (s). He is the greatest, he is the highest and Allah said to him in the Qur’an,
قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَى إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَا إِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاء رَبِّهِ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا
qul innama ana basharun mithlukum yooha ilayya.
Say (O Prophet), ‘I am but a mortal man like all of you. (18:110)
Look at how much the Prophet (s) is humbling himself, although he knows everything, although he is more than a human being. This is our belief. Why? Because today if a human being wants to go a hundred kilometers above the earth, they need a space shuttle, they need a vehicle or else they will get burned from the intensity of the heat, and you have seen many of these space shuttles and what happened to them. Sayyidina Muhammad (s) went with his body and soul and nothing happened to him. He went with the highest speed, not even the speed of light 300-thousand kilometers per second, he went with the speed of the soul. Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji`oon - to Allah we belong and truly to Him do we return. the speed with which a person passes away and immediately reaches to its place, the Prophet (s) went with such a speed that no one knows. He reached qaaba qawsayni aw adna, two bow's length or nearer, where he received what he had to receive from his Lord and came back.
O Muslims! How then do you think that you know everything, when Sayyid ur-Rasool was humbling himself sitting on a floor, not even sleeping a mattress but sleeping on straw. We are sleeping on mattresses and we don’t accept anything except the best mattresses 2000 pounds and above. And Sayyidina Muhammad, the best of humanity, was sleeping on the floor. For early lunch he was eating seven dates and one cup of milk. For dinner at Maghrib time, he was eating dry bread, vinegar, and oil. Us, we are eating and all our hands become oily from the meat and the curries, yet still we fight with our wives and say, “Oh, what have you done today?”
O Muslims! Be happy and content with what Allah has given you. Don’t look above you, you will be tired. Look below, and you will feel happiness. When you look at those who are lower than you, you will say, “Yaa Rabbee, shukran lillah.” When you look above you, looking at the sky and the stars, you will get tired.
ثُمَّ ارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ كَرَّتَيْنِ يَنقَلِبْ إِلَيْكَ الْبَصَرُ خَاسِأً وَهُوَ حَسِي
Thumma irji’i albasara karratayni yanqalib ilayka albasaru khasi-an wahuwa haseer.
Again turn thy vision a second time: (thy) vision will come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a state worn out. (67:4)
Your sight will come back to you and you will feel you are nothing with these stars in the sky.
The biggest ‘ulama of the sciences today are unable to understand this universe. Leave the universe, they are unable to understand themselves! The Prophet (s) said, man ‘arifa nafsahu faqad ‘arifa Rabbahu. “He who knows himself, knows his Lord.” We don’t know ourselves, how are we going to speak about Allah (swt)? No one can know the reality of His indescribable Essence. Only through His Beautiful Names and Attributes will you have an idea, but the one who really approached there and saw what he saw is Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!
Imam Nawawi (r), most of you know about him, wrote Riyad us-Saliheen and many other books. What did he say in his tafseer about qaaba qawsayni aw adna? It is a tafseer of Sahih Muslim that the Prophet (s) saw his Lord with the eyes of his head. And Imam Mutwali Sharawi (r) who passed away recently, he explained and elaborated too much on that. He has a book on that that the Prophet (s) saw his Lord with the eyes of his head. Many people object on this, they are mistaken, but why are they objecting? Because we are in an era that is full of ignorance. What did the Prophet (s) predicted 1400 years ago, which we are in today? I will quote this again: “Amr bil ‘Aas said, ‘I heard the Prophet (s) saying, Allah (swt) will not take knowledge from your heart and confiscate it, but He will take the souls of the ‘ulama, when death is coming, they die.’”
That means they go away with their ‘ilm, so the ‘ilm becomes less and less from the time of the Prophet, the Sahaaba, and the four imams, knowledge is coming less and less. At that time there is not much ‘ilm, everyone is trying to shift you to where he likes, Muslims are fighting with each other, some organizations are recruiting people for acts of violence because they want the chair, as if the chair is expensive. Take it, sit on it, who cares for the chair. You care for Allah (swt) and His Prophet. We are not after positions and fame. Allah (swt) said to the Prophet to say, “I am only a human being.” It means, “Yaa Muhammad, show them humbleness,” and these `ulama don’t have anything except arrogance. They want to sit on the chair and call it the chair of khilafah. Do you think that there is a khilafah today for Muslims? Where is that khilafah? The principle of khilafah is not here now, it has disappeared. Khilafah means that all Muslims countries, and all Muslims around the world have to give bay’a to one person! Can you bring all these countries together to unite, and bring all Muslims to say, “That one is khalifah.” But there are some organizations and movements around the world who are fighting to impose their voices on every Muslim.
O Muslims! We are Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama`ah. We only want that Allah and the Prophet (s) are happy with us, and to raise our children in a safe haven, with no interruption with anyone. We don’t want to have problems, we want to live peacefully. So the hadith continues, Allah will take the souls of the ‘ulama, until there are no more `alims. there are `ulama today, but you cannot say they are like the `ulama of previous times, they have less knowledge. There are some like the previous times, but they are few. So what will people do? The Prophet said, “People will begin to look for help, and they take ignorant ones.” Because today if someone has memorized a little bit of Qur’an and hadith he makes himself a big shaykh, and he becomes so huge like a balloon with air in it. You only need one needle to pop it and it is finished, he is nothing anymore.
Today we are experiencing such problems. Now everyone is going and saying, “I will do preventative acts.” You can’t do anything for yourself, how can you do something for people? You cannot stop yourself from your ego! This needs professionals, people who understand ‘ilm and have knowledge of Islam, not someone with a tie and a suit. I have nothing against the tie and suit, but it means he never studied `ilm and he comes and says, “I can do it.” How are you going to teach people and put in their minds that this is correct, and this is wrong? “They ask these ignorant leaders, they answer them with no knowledge. They deviate, and they deviate those who follow them.” The Prophet (s) predicted this 1400 years ago.
So Muslims, be careful. There are too many of these people today who are deviating the youth. They don’t care for the elderly people, they don’t care for us, they are worried from us. Alhamdulillah Allah gave us life, even though we are old, but the young ones have to carry the message. You have to be very careful with what you are doing, and who you are following. Everyone today has their eyes on Muslims, and how they are going to behave. Behave as the Prophet’s Sahaaba behaved!
I will quote you a dialogue between Sayyidina `Ali (q) and Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. You will be amazed. Look at how the Prophet taught them adab, how the elder respected the younger and how the younger respected the elder. I will not quote all of it, but only a part of it. Sayyidina Abu Hurayra (r) reported, “One day Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and Sayyidina `Ali ibn Abi Talib came to visit the Prophet (s). They found themselves at the door of the Prophet and `Ali (q) said, ‘Yaa Abu Bakr, you approach and knock on the door.’” They have adab as to who goes first; today we don’t have adab. If you are sitting on a chair and an elderly person comes, you say salaam by putting your hand up to him to shake it while still sitting in your place. Adab is to stand up and give him your chair! So Sayyidina `Ali (q) said, “I cannot put myself before you, yaa Abu Bakr, when I heard my Prophet (s) say, ‘The best one when the sun rises, and the sun sets (day and night), we never found anyone better than Abu Bakr as-Siddiq!’ How can I knock on the door? You knock on the door.”
That is adab. Do we have adab like that? We are wild, trying to jump in and fight each other, pushing each other, especially when we are in a line, there is no queue. If you go back to Middle Eastern countries, or your countries, do you see a line? You don’t see a line! Someone comes with swords here and there and goes in to the line when you have been waiting there for five hours, this is not adab.
Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq said to Sayyidina `Ali, “Yaa `Ali, wait, I will not knock at the door. You knock, yaa `Ali, because the Prophet said, ‘I gave the best of ladies to the best of men. I gave my daughter Fatima to `Ali, not to anyone else.’“ Look at the respect. Do we have that respect? If you are the son-in-law of the Prophet, he will be given respect, but what happened? They killed Sayyidina `Ali. They killed Sayyidina Hussayn. They killed Sayyidina ‘Uthman. They killed Sayyidina ‘Umar. They killed Sayyidina Hassan and Sayyidina Hussayn, they stabbed the in-laws of the Prophet. Today if you are the in-laws of the shaykh, they stab you also, especially Mawlana’s mureeds. There is no respect, some of them to Mawlana’s sons-in-law, they stab them in the back!
Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, “No, I will not go before you even though I got the best of ladies because I heard the Prophet say, ‘If anyone wants to look at Sayyidina Ibrahim (a), look at Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. So how can I go before you?” That is discipline and respect. This is the teaching of Islam. It is not Islam that two people, or two organizations fight with each other. For what? For dunya. Or do you want akhirah?
O Allah, yaa Rabbee for the sake of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), we are asking You from here to forgive us for his sake! Allahumma salli `alaa 'l-Habeebi 'l-Mustafa (a), Sayyidu 'r-Rusul, Sayyid al-Khalq, Saahibu 'l-Mi`raaj. May Allah forgive us.
So what did Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) answer? “Oh how am I going to be before you, when I heard my beloved prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s) saying, ‘Whoever wants to look at `Adam, and Yusuf and his beauty, and Musa and his prayers, and `Isa and his asceticism, and Sayyidina Muhammad and his character and his creation, let him look at Sayyidina `Ali.’"
How can we look at ourselves as if we are something? Are we something or nothing? Nothing. So how can nothing fight? You are nothing! You cannot change anything. So it is better to keep to yourself and try to call people to that understanding, so that everything will be settled down and will be safe.
Sayyidina `Ali (q) said, “How can I go before you when I heard the Prophet (s) saying, ‘When human beings on the Day of Judgment come together in front of Allah (swt), a voice will come saying, ‘Where is Sayyidina Abu Bakr? Let him enter Paradise first with all of his lovers without question!’“ Allahu akbar.
We are the Naqshbandi Order, our origin goes to Sayyidina Abu Bakr and Sayyidina `Ali. We have been honored. Our background, our chain goes to Sayyidina Abu Bakr and Sayyidina `Ali, so we are getting from two oceans.
مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ
Maraja al-bahrayni yaltaqiyaan.
He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together. (55:19)
The ocean of Sayyidina Abu Bakr (q) is taking from the Prophet and the ocean of Sayyidina `Ali (q) is taking from the Prophet. Or you can say the two oceans, the ocean of knowledge and the ocean of Shari’ah. The two oceans, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean; Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, why? Because Allah (swt) said:
بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ
Baynahuma barzakhun laa yabghiyaan.
Between them is a Barrier which they do not transgress.” (55:20)
Scientists found today that fish cannot go from one side to the other without going into quarantine for 40 days! They have to go, between any two oceans, Allah created a barzakh, like a quarantine area, a temporary place that fish go in from one side to the other side. SubhaanAllah.
O Muslims! Do you want me to continue? I can continue. Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, “I cannot go before someone about whom the Prophet (s) said, ‘You, Abu Bakr, are my eyes.’” Sayyidina Abu Bakr (q) said, “I will not go before you, yaa `Ali, because the Prophet (s) said, `Ali will come to Paradise in special vehicles from Paradise. You will hear a voice saying that ‘Yaa Muhammad, you had a good father in dunya, Sayyidina Ibrahim, and you had a good brother, Sayyidina `Ali.’“ SubhaanAllah.
Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) said, “I cannot go before you because the Prophet (s) said, ‘When the Day of Judgment comes, Sayyidina Ridwan (r) who looks after Paradise will bring the keys of Paradise, and he will bring the keys of Hellfire and he will address Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, ‘Yaa Abu Bakr, take whoever you like to Paradise, and take whoever you like to Hellfire.’“ But Sayyidina Abu Bakr (q) will not move forward because he is waiting for Sayyidina Muhammad (s). The biggest shafa`ah is from Sayyidina Muhammad (s), and he knows Sayyidina Muhammad (s) will take all of his ummah to Paradise, no one will be left behind!
O Muslims! Don’t worry. As long as you don’t do drugs, as long as you don’t drink, as long you don’t cheat, as long as you don’t deceive, if you make a sin there is a repentance. If you did drugs and you repent, Allah will accept. If you did something else, also Allah will accept and you will enter Paradise.
In the hadith of Imam Bukhari (r), the Prophet (s) said, “On the Day of Judgment, Allah will give me shafa`ah and I will go into sajdah and say, ‘Yaa Rabbee,’ and Allah will open to my heart du`as that He never opened before. I will make du`as, and du`as, and du`as.”
Prophet (s) is seeing his Lord; he is the only one who can see his Lord. Don’t think you are going to see Allah in dunya; you cannot. In Paradise yes, some believers will see as the Prophet mentioned many du`as but this must be in a different way because we cannot understand what the Prophet meant by that. The words will be different, such as in the Holy Qur’an there is Alif, lam, meem, qaf, haa, ‘ayn, saad, etc.
He will make du`as that he never made before and Allah will say, “Yaa Muhammad irfa` raasak, sa'l tuta` - raise your head, ask and you will be given.” What do you think the Prophet will ask? He will say, “Yaa Rabbee, I need them, I want my ummah.” Allah (swt) will say, “Take one third to Paradise.” But the Prophet is not yet satisfied, so he goes another time into sajdah and Allah will open to him du`as that were not opened in the first sajdah. Allah will say, “Ask and I will give you.” And the Prophet will say, “Yaa Rabbee, my ummah.” Allah will say, “Take another third.” Then the third time he will go into sajdah and ask, “Yaa Rabbee, my ummah,” and Allah will say, “Okay, take all of them to Paradise, except that one, leave him for Me to judge.” That might be the worst one. So if we say that everyone will go to Paradise by shafa`at un-Nabee (s), who is that worst one that Allah kept him; what did he do?
Allah will look at that worst one and say, “I gave My mercy to the Prophet. My mercy is bigger than the mercy of the Prophet. Go with them to Paradise, I have forgiven you.”
O Muslims! You have good tidings that you are the ummat un-Nabee (s), and the Prophet came to the whole world. That is why we say that the people who live on the earth after the Prophet (s) are all ummat un-Nabee (s), but they are of two kinds: ummat un-’ijjabah, the ummah that accepted the Prophet (s) and ummat ad-da’wah, the ummah that you can call them to Islam, they have not yet come to Islam.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
Wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan lil-`alameen.
And We did not send you (Muhammad) except as a Mercy to the worlds. (21:107)
Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is teaching us mercy, so why are we cruel in our actions, in our character? What do we have to do? We have to look at the Prophet (s), as Allah said in the Holy Qur’an:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Qul in kuntum tuhibboonAllaha fatabi’oonee yuhbibkumu Allahu wayaghfir lakum thunoobakum waAllahu ghafoorun raheem.
Say, “If you love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (3:31)
Don’t follow Shaytan. Today people are following their pleasures. You have to follow the pleasure of Allah and the pleasure of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). If you follow these two pleasures you will be saved, you and everyone else around you!
May Allah (swt) forgive us. May Allah bless us. May Allah support us.