22 July 2012 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Suhbah after Zhuhr
Allahumma salli ‘alaa Sayyidina Muhammad hatta yarda Sayyidina Muhammad (s).
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani '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
Ati`oollaha wa ati`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)
Alhamdulillah we are in the month named “Ramadan,” from the Arabic word “ramada,” which means yarmud adh-dhunoob, “The one who takes away from you sins or something you are not happy with.” Therefore, Allah (swt) called it “the Month of Maghfirah,”as the Prophet (s) said:
شهر رمضان أوله رحمة وأوسطه مغفرة وآخـــره عـــتق من النــــار
Shahru Ramadan awwalahu rahmat wa awsatahu maghfira wa akhirahu `itqun min an-naar.
The first (ten days) of the month of Ramadan is mercy, the second (ten days) is forgiveness and the last (ten days) is salvation from the Fire. (Bayhaqi)
Alhamdulillah, this year is 1433 Hijri, and we have been given life by Allah (swt) to see this Ramadan. The first ten days are, as the Prophet (s) said, awwalahu rahmat, which means that for the one who is fasting, in every moment Allah (swt) is descending on him from the manifestations of His Beautiful Names and Attributes, specifically from the Divine Name ar-Rahman, “the All-Merciful.” If we say “All-Merciful” and He is sending us His Rahmat, Divine Mercy, what does that mean? To be “All-Merciful” means Allah (swt) does not see anything bad from you and that everything is perfect, for He is ar-Rahman. He does not allow any sin or any opportunity for Shaytan in the month of Ramadan, especially in the first ten days, because His Mercy is descending on you!
That is why the Prophet (s) said that in Ramadan, Shaytan is chained and even if he runs after you to make you commit a sin, that sin is immediately waived by the Rahmat, which will not let any sin be written; it will immediately be washed out like a washing machine washes clothes! So the first ten days of Ramadan is Rahmatullah, Allah's Mercy on His servants, and we are being prepared in our souls and our hearts without knowing what is going on.
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Allah (swt) said:
ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ولكن وسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن
Maa wasi`anee ardee wa laa samaa'ee wa laakin wasi`anee qalbi `abdee al-mu'min.
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)
Does this “heart” refer to the heart in the body? Why not the shoulder or hand, which are also parts of the body? For example, the heart of Romaine lettuce, which we say is very sweet, is inside, its core. The main focus point of something is normally the heart. The heart of this cell phone is the chip inside that, if you take it away, the telephone is nothing because all the information goes to this chip. The “heart of the book” means the summary, the most important part of the book, is it not? Everything has a heart, and our heart (in our chests) is meant for us to understand. Our body consists of cells and every cell has a heart. Also, the human kidney has at least one million holes to filter waste, but there is still a focal point of the kidney, which is its heart.
The heart of both the ummah and Holy Qur'an is Yaseen. All of creation is in Holy Qur'an, and whatever is dry or wet is in the Clear Book.
وَلاَ رَطْبٍ وَلاَ يَابِسٍ إِلاَّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ
Wa laa ratbin laa yaabisin illa fee kitaabin mubeen,
(There is not) anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is (inscribed) in a Clear Book.
(Surat al-An`am, 6:59)
Allah (swt) said: kun fa kaana al-kawn. And every one of us are mentioned in Holy Qur'an:
لَقَدْ أَحْصَاهُمْ وَعَدَّهُمْ عَدًّا
Laqad ahsaahum wa `addahum 'addaan.
He takes an account of them (all) and has numbered them (all) exactly.
(Surah Maryam, 19:94)
“Sum them up, add them together.” Everyone has been numbered, `addahum wa `ahsaahum. This is Holy Qur'an and everything is in it, and every creation came from this ayah to be counted. Allah (swt) is saying, “Count him, him, and him, count everyone.” They come from Allah’s (swt) counting and He made their number known before He created them. They are in His Ancient Words, Kalamullah al-Qadeem, without a beginning. Holy Qur'an is not created, but we are created. That ayah as part of Holy Qur'an is not created, and it described that Allah knows one-by-one whatever He created, which includes whatever they are thinking, every breath they take, and their infrastructure, their blueprint or DNA. He (swt) created DNA!
Further, all the information that Allah (swt) wants you to receive will go to your heart. Where is that? For example, your email goes through your server, and it is not possible for it to go to the recipient without that server. In the same way, everything you think goes through the one that is in front of you; it has to go to the Prophet (s) and then from him to the Divine Presence. Just as your computer has an IP address that goes through the server, you have a heart in the presence of the Prophet (s)!
That reality is always there and it goes through the heart of the Prophet (s) because every heart is contained in the heart of the Prophet (s), and every heart within every ummah from--Sayyidina Adam (a) up until Judgment Day--has a place in the heart of the Prophet (s)! That is why Allah (swt) said:
وإعلموا أن فيكم رسول الله
W `alamoo anna feekum rasoolullaah.
And know Allah's Messenger is in you. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:7)
Not “he is in you,” but Allah is giving you a connection from you to him, as the email has a server. So you are always in presence of the Prophet (s) but it is veiled, although your heart is there, which is why:
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
Wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatan li 'l-`alameen.
(O Muhammad!) We have sent you not except as a Mercy for all the Worlds.
(Surat al-Anbiya, 21:107
That means the Prophet (s) is the connection from creation to the Divine Presence and our realities! When Allah (swt) created us on the Day of Promises, “alastu birabbikum qaaloo bala,” as Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) said, we never came out of that reality and the one who is a reflector of the Divine Presence is the Prophet (s). He also said that Muhiydeen ibn `Arabi (q) stated in his book Futihat al-Makkiyyah that when Allah (swt) wants to look at Himself by Himself, He looks at the mirror of the Prophet (s) because it reflects back His Treasures, the creation!
كنت كنزا مخفياً فأحببت أن أعرف فخلقت الخلق
Kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan fa ahbabtuhu an u`rafa fa khalaqtu ‘l-khalq.
I was a Hidden Treasure (and) I wanted to be known, so I created Creation. (Hadith Qudsi)
Allah (swt) wants to see His Greatness and so He created Muhammad (s), who is “The Opener of What Is Hidden,” al-fatih lima ughliq. Allah’s Essence is hidden; even the Prophet (s) cannot know it, even though awliya say something about that. What is seen by the Prophet (s) is Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes
On the Day of Judgment, when Allah will order Sayyidina Israfeel (a) to blow in the trumpet and all will die, the last one left is Sayyidina Azra`eel (a), whom Allah (swt) will order, “O Azra`eel! You took the souls of everyone, now take your own soul by your own hand!” and Sayyidina Azra`eel will then say, “Had I known how painful is the taking of the soul, I would have been more merciful to the believers!”
It means Allah (swt) had hidden that from Azra`eel so he did not know. Also, taking the soul of a mu’min is so easy, “like taking a hair from ghee.” So to take his own soul, he then knew its discomfort and said, “If I knew its pain, I would have been merciful to ummat an-Nabi (s)!” And then there is no one there, and Allah (swt) says to Himself, “liman al-mulk al-yawm,” and he answers Himself by Himself, “Lillaah al-Waahid al-Qahaar.” Why did He (swt) add “al-Waahid”?
When you are doing dhikr by Ahad, that is Maqaam al-Ahadiyya, the Station of Uniqueness, which is higher than Maqaam at-Tawheed. “Wahdaniyya” describes Allah's Oneness by His Creation: we are appearances of His Oneness. We are not sharing or uniting; you see everyone different from the other as they are not the same, which is Maqaam al-Wahdaniyya, the station where everything indicates the Oneness of the Creator. Maqaam al-Ahadiyya indicates Allah (swt) and “Allah” is the Name that encompasses all the Beautiful Names and Attributes.
If you take away the alif of “Allah,” then it is “lillah,” everything is for Allah. Take away lam then it becomes “lahu,” which means “belonging to Him; there is nothing, Yaa Rabb, except what is to You.” Then take away the lam and it is “Huwa,” the Absolute Unknown Essence. So the alif describes Allah as always standing, then lam and lam (Allah) represents Mulk (this world) and Malakoot (the next world) and then ha (Allah) represents the Hidden Treasure that knows Himself by Himself.
And He created Prophet (s) for us, and He created the Prophet (s) for Himself. He looks at Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes and says, “Subhaanee maa `azhama shaanee!” And that is not like our saying, “SubhaanAllah,” that is Allah Himself saying by Himself, “Praise be to Me, subhaanee maa `azhama shaanee, how magnificent I am!” Who can say that, except Pharoah? Those who are arrogant, who don’t accept any advice! Our ego says that. No one can (legitimately) say that, not even a Prophet! Only Allah is saying by Himself to Himself, “Subhaanee maa `azham shaanee.”
When awliyaullah hear that Voice, they faint! They killed Mansour al-Hallaj (q) because he said, “Subhaanee maa `azham shaanee!” and you cannot describe yourself with how Allah (swt) described himself! Bayazid al-Bistami (q) went to the Ka`bah and holding the ring of Ka`bah by Bab al-Multazam and said, "O my Lord! You gave me power to hold Iblees, so he would not to run after Your Servants. Give me permission to chain him here in Ka`bah." Do you think Iblees is not at the Ka`bah? All his army are there in Hajj time!
Sayyidina Bayazid (a) said, “Give me the authority to chain him here, and everyone can see him here and never will he be able to run after any mu’min or Muslim!”
He heard a Voice saying, “Yaa Bayazid! Look up.”
Then he fainted, and when he awoke he heard Heavenly Voice calling. That is only a drop of the Ocean of Allah's Mercy!
The Heavenly Voice of an angel said, “And to whom is Allah going to give that rahmat? As much as people follow Iblees and then repent, Allah (swt) forgives them and gives them more. So don’t ask this another time.”
Then Allah (swt) showed him from His `Azhama, and Bayazid al-Bistami surrendered completely.
What about the Prophet (s)? From His Mercy, Allah is dressing him from His `Azhama. Al-`Azheem in not tyrant, rather He is Merciful and gives without taking any account. Allah (swt) is dressing Prophet (s) from that `azhama, that mercy, so with that everyone has a place in heart of the Prophet (s), which is Yaseen, the heart of Holy Qur'an. And we are mentioned in Holy Qur'an:
لَقَدْ أَحْصَاهُمْ وَعَدَّهُمْ عَدًّا
Laqad ahsaahum wa `addahum `adda.
He takes an account of them (all) and has numbered them (all) exactly. (Surah Maryam, 19:94)
So we all go back to our origins where, in the Day of Promises, Allah counted them and then He asked them, "Who are you and Who am I?" and they said, “You are our Lord and we are Your helpless Servants!” And that is why:
وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ
Wa rahmatee wasi`at kulla shay.
My Mercy has encompassed everything. (Surat al-A`raaf, 7:156)
“My Mercy is contained and extended to all things!” So “wasi`at” can be a small container, but for Allah there are no limits, so as Allah is putting there, then extending. Like when you go to the ocean you see there is a horizon, and as you travel further there is another horizon, so it extends futher and you never reach its end as it is globe (there is no edge). Similarly, the Prophet (s) has no limits: Allah dressed him with rahmat of which there is no beginning and no end! The first ten days of Ramadan is rahmat of the Prophet (s), and Allah (swt) is dressing us with His Rahmat in these ten days.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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