29 May 2017 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Fajr Suhbah
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Allahumma Anta ‘l-Haqq janibna al-baatil. Dastoor yaa Sayyidi, Qutb al-Mutassarif, madad! As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh Sultan al-Awliya, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim! As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh, Shah Mardan.
Rijaal Allah, rijaal Allah,`ayiyoona bi `awnillah wa koonoo `awn lana billah `aasaa nahda bi fadlillah. (three times)
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillah another day, yawmun jadeed, rizqun jadeed, a new day, a new provision. Alhamdulillah, what can we do? We are weak ones, we forget and we don't know anything, we are reading from our master's suhbahs, so inshaa-Allah Allah (swt) will help us understand.
The Prophet (s) taught us so many du`a’s and one is, Allahumma fawna nil ma’lamtana wa allimna maa fawna, “Benefit us from what we are learning and teach us what benefits us, wa rabbee zidnee `ilmaa, and increase our knowledge.”
We don’t know much, we are reading from Mawlana Shaykh's suhbahs again. Yesterday we talked about the verse:
وَاللّهُ يَدْعُو إِلَى دَارِ السَّلاَمِ
But Allah calls to the Abode of Peace. (Surah Yunus, 10:25)
Allah is inviting us to the Land of Peace. In the same suhbah, Mawlana said when we are invited to a president, king or sultan, or to even a mayor's mansion, people usually wear the best attire: they shower, shave, wear their nicest perfume and best outfit. If people dress up for a worldly event, why aren't they getting ready for the heavenly event when we will be in front of the Lord of the Heavens, Yawm al-`Ard, the Day of Exhibition?
We will be showcased and it will be announced, “Now comes Your Servant, so-and-so,” and They look and his attire is worthless, it has no value.
Allah (swt) will ask, “O my servant! Why are you are coming to Me this way? I gave you Light, I gave you guidance, I sent you holy books, I informed you that you will return. Why didn't you purchase the return ticket?”
Today everyone buys round trip tickets, not one-way. We are all on a round trip here on Earth. You cannot cancel your return ticket on Earth, you cannot let it expire, saying, “I’m going to stay a little while longer.” How much longer, ten years, twenty years? Get all the transplants you want. Nowadays they have any transplant you want, the only transplant they don't have is for the soul. They pump all kinds of serums through tubes into the patient, trying to keep that body alive, but when the soul is out they cannot put it back, it’s gone. Mawlana says we are on a round trip to Earth, so why don’t we take care of how we will return in front of our Lord? When there is a big gathering, everyone wears their medals, honors and decorations. Where are ours?
Awliyaullah said that Allah (swt) invited everyone for that day, w’Allahu yad`u ila Dar as-Salaam. the Sanctuary of Peace. When the king invites people to his mansion, everybody starts to get ready, but the king will send his soldiers secretly at night with the best outfits to the king's men. In the darkness of the night he sends servants to the house of so-and-so, “Put this dress on for tomorrow, this is a special one; no one has this dress.” So when people are getting dressed up, the special ones who the king loves will be dressed by the king himself. Human beings are getting dressed in their own dresses but there are some who will be dressed by The King, Allah (swt), on the Day of Judgment. As our master says, “Look to get these dresses from the King of Kings.” He will send with angels the dresses no one has to those whom He likes. Inshaa-Allah we will be dressed from the honors and the Light Rasoolullah (s) has been given, which he gave to Awliyaullah. Inshaa-Allah we get dressed by our master, our grandshaykhs and all of our shuyookh with secret, special dresses that nobody else has, so that on that Day we are decorated to the max, the fullest. Ameen yaa Rabbee.
Sayyidina Imam al-Ghazzali (q) mentioned this matter in his book and said when a person is being taken to his grave, on the way there Allah (swt) will ask the deceased forty questions, and there will be nobody between Him and His servant. Whether that resting area will be a piece of Paradise or a piece of Hellfire, and we are ask, “O our Lord! Shelter us from Hellfire!” We ask for Paradise.
The first question Allah will ask the deceased one is, “O My servant! You took care of your appearance so much when you were alive, you looked in the mirror so many times, combed your hair so many times, did you not know I was looking at your heart? You were looking at your outer appearance, but never took care of your inner appearance, the inner heart. Did you not know your heart is My home?” Our heart is the home of whom we put in it. If we put love of Allah and Prophet (s) in our heart, it contains it, but if we put something else in our heart it contains that. Allah will say, “Didn’t you know I look at your heart and that I like to see only Me in your heart? Why didn’t you look after it?”
وَطَهِّرْ بَيْتِيَ
Sanctify My House. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:26)
Allah (swt) instructs Sayyidina Ibrahim (a), “Purify My House,” which means to purify the appearance, the structure from dirtiness, idolatry, the rocks and stones people worship. But it also means to purify the heart: Allah (swt) looks at the heart and does not like to see dirtiness or statues, asnam, or anything other than Him there. So physically the Ka`bah has to be pure and spiritually the heart has to be pure; there are two meanings in this holy verse, wa tahhir baytee. “Clean the House of Allah, the Holy Ka`bah,” but it also means every servant must clean his heart, as that is the place where Allah looks.
Allah (swt) says in the Holy Qur’an that Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) said:
إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Behold, he said to his father and his people, "What do you worship?" (Surat Ash-Shu’ara 26:70)
قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ أَصْنَامًا فَنَظَلُّ لَهَا عَاكِفِينَ
They said, "We worship idols and we remain constantly in attendance of them."
(Surat Ash-Shu’ara, 26:71)
The people answered him, “We worship idols, and not only do we take them as statues, we also take care of them, go around with them, and they are so close to us.”
Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) asked, “Okay, you say you are proud to be near them, but do they hear you when you make du`a? Do you go in their presence and say, ‘I want this in my life’ and they hear you? Do they benefit you or harm you? Does it harm you if you leave that rock (idol)?”
قَالَ هَلْ يَسْمَعُونَكُمْ إِذْ تَدْعُونَ أَوْ يَنفَعُونَكُمْ أَوْ يَضُرُّونَ
He said, "Do they listen to you when you call them, or do you good or harm?
(Surat Ash-Shu’ara, 26:72-73)
قَالُوا بَلْ وَجَدْنَا آبَاءَنَا كَذَٰلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ
They said, “But we found our forefathers doing this.” (Surat Ash-Shu’ara, 26:74)
That means they understood and confessed to Sayyidina Ibrahim, “These statues we take in front of us, that we always go around and take care of, there is no harm if we leave them and no benefit if we keep them, but we found our fathers doing this.”
قَالَ أَفَرَأَيْتُم مَّا كُنتُمْ تَعْبُدُونَ أَنتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُمُ الْأَقْدَمُونَ فَإِنَّهُمْ عَدُوٌّ لِّي إِلَّا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ
He (Ibrahim) said, "Do you then see whom you have been worshipping, you and your fathers before you, for they are enemies to me, but not the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds. (Surat Ash-Shu’ara, 26:75-77)
They have taken their statues. We say we have not taken any statues, but what do you love and take care of and make sure it is always there? Instagram, Facebook, Twitter are statues in your heart, not in front of you, but you love them deeply, keep them very close, take care of them, you are proud of them and keep polishing them! But if you leave them, no harms come to you. You love them, and check them twenty times more than holy books. You can install “Ayah of the Day” and “Hadith of the Day” apps to read from them daily, but do we? No. We check Instagram twenty times a day. Love of that replaces love of Allah and Prophet (s), Holy Qur’an, Holy Hadith, the Sunnah and our deen! What to do? Mawlana Shaykh Nazim is saying that when Allah says, tahhir baytee, it means we should guard our heart and remove love of that thing from it.
Yesterday someone came to install satellite TV in my house and showed me all the channels, and immediately what I was reading was out of my heart. I began seeing all these channels: Turkish, Arabic, Polish, world economy, sports, etc. Before he arrived, I was reading Holy Qur'an and suddenly I stopped and watched TV. How can one concentrate on anything else when all this entertainment is in front of you?
You have to be watchmen of the heart, the one guarding the safety of your community’s borders. The Prophet (s) mentioned how much ajar, reward, people get for struggling against intruders of the heart. Immediately there was the Food Channel, Home Depot channel, Garden channel, and I forgot whatever I was reading. Guard the heart from attacks by dunya, by Shaytan, and anything other than Allah. Mawlana says that is the first of the forty questions: “You were so keen on your outward appearance, but did you guard your heart for Allah's and Prophet’s (s) love?” Inshaa-Allah we will guard our hearts.
Mawlana said ihtimaam an-Nabi (s) was for the hearts of the Ummah. When the heart is good, the servant is good; when the heart is corrupt, the servant is corrupt. To take care of the heart requires us to sit in the majlis of the Prophet (s) or Awliyaullah. There are no more prophets living, but Allah has given the Ummah Awliyaullah, not an imam who is not Waliullah, not a shaykh who is not Waliullah as such people contaminate their followers with their disease. Dunya will never be devoid of Awliyaullah, so all we have to do is ask for them, but ask with sidq at-talab, “O Allah! I want to sit with one of Your Friends!” and Allah (swt) will open a door. Inshaa-Allah Allah keeps us at that door and keep us in their presence.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim said we have to clean our hearts from such dirtiness, statues, and love towards something else, and he mentions here one thing we must our clean hearts from: to look at other people's faults. That is spying and tajassus, when you specifically look at someone to find their faults. We are not allowed to look at people's faults, much less to speak of them. These kind of illnesses in the heart prevent us from being with Saahib az-Zaman: to be with him you must have qalbun taahir, a pure heart. Inshaa-Allah Allah gives us power to clean our hearts from these diseases and statues.
Mawlana talks about when Saahib az-Zaman will come and how things will be different, inshaa-Allah we can discuss that tomorrow.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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