Fenton Zawiya, Michigan USA
SubhanAllah, idhaa zulzilat al-ardu zilzaalaha and what is inside is going to be outside.
In Indonesia, they were searching for petrol, and they went 300 meters down and they hit a place that is boiling mud, and for two years now it is pouring out mud, filling villages. In two years it didn’t stop. $500,000 per day.
So when Allah said, wa akhrajatil-ardu athqaalahaa, mud rising up and taking all the villages and rising up.
There was a man in Japan when we went there with Mawlana Shaykh, he has a business card. It says laa ilaha illa-Allah Muhammadan Rasulullah and it says, “read this you enter Paradise” he said that is my job. Anyone reads this they get.
So make a coupon for your restaurant: give a 10 percent discount to anyone who has it. Tell them to read it, then give the discount.
A`udhu billah min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf,
nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada
Nawaytu's-salook,
nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid
It means if the heart is consistent in Dhikrullah and nothing else is deviating or taking him out of that, but your heart always alert, of Dhikrullah, abwab ul-ma`rifah, doors of ma`rifah begins to open to you and these Six Realities, as we described in the previous session will be opened within your. To be consistent in Allah’s love and in Sayyidina Muhammad (s)’s love. So people might say, “What is the definition of love?” Because their mind doesn’t take except Western culture. What is love? Love, is very simple. To love anything for Akhira for the sake of Allah and his Prophet (s) and to hate anything that is for dunya for the sake of Allah and his Prophet (s). It means if you love your child you have to love for Allah’s’ sake. If you love your wife, it has to be for Allah’s sake. If you love anything that you have it has to be for Allah’s sake, it has to be in the way of Allah.
So if the heart is always in that straightforward path then Allah opens all these six realities to your heart.
So all the time we are explaining but what we need is to practice. Like physicians. Without 3 years training they cannot see a patient even. If we don’t practice what we are learning? Then I think it is a waste of time.
But alhamdulillah we can see that people are practicing but it is on minimal basis. They are practicing that--they are crossing oceans that open for them from love of dunya, they come to listen and to learn, driving hours and hours, for what? For a real cause. If there is no love to Allah and love to Prophet (s) and love to our shaykh in their heart why they have to come and drive all these miles to…
This shows we are on the right path. We have to keep on it then Allah will open to your ma`rifah. When ma`rifah is opened `ilm comes.
فَوَجَدَا عَبْدًا مِّنْ عِبَادِنَا آتَيْنَاهُ رَحْمَةً مِنْ عِندِنَا وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا عِلْمًا
Fa wajada `abdan min `ibaadina aataynahu rahmatan min `indina wa `alamnahu min ladunna `ilma - So they found one of Our servants, on whom We had bestowed Mercy from Ourselves and whom We had taught knowledge from Our own Presence. [18:65]
Why He taught him from His heavenly knowledge? Because he found the fountain of youth. Why he taught Sayyidina Khidr? Because he was searching forward and looking for that fountain . Do we have a fountain for ourselves. Yes we have a fountain. But are we learning from that fountain . From time to time, not always.
We have fountains, Allah almighty will make your heart a fountain. Qalb al-mumin bayt ar-rabb the heart of the believer is the House of the Lord. The House of Allah is not going to be empty it is going to be full.
So Dhikrullah as the Prophet (s) said, “keep your tongue wet with Dhikrullah. Ija`l lisanak ratban bi Dhikrullah”. So Dhikrullah is the one that takes you to the real fountain. That will be throwing knowledge into your heart.
Ma`rifah in Arabic is to know about something. Ilm is higher. Ma`rifah is higher. When you know something you begin to explore it and then Allah will send you `ilm.
Look many people in their basements here they have… [adhan starts] Allahu Akbar. Many people in their basements have alarm systems that if there is a flood it will tell you there is a flood. Or if there is a fire it ill tell you there is a fire, alarm comes up immediately, fire, fire, fire. Flood, flood, flood. We have to put an alarm on our hearts. That when in any moment we are not on the right way it says, alarm, alarm, alarm take care, shaytan is there. What is that alarm? It is Dhikrullah. When we have Dhikr on our tongue immediately that alarm will come. Any kind of intruders come, then immediately your heart on Dhikrullah will remind you. Then you open the door or not is up to you. You open the door to intruder or not.
Don’t try to give an excuse, “O I did this or that and I didn’t know.” Everyone knows according to his mind what is good and what is not. Don’t say “I didn’t know.” You know, fa alhamaha fujooraha “He inspired [the nafs] of what is evil.” Say “I did it, may Allah forgive me!”
So ma`rifah is higher - it takes you higher. Be sincere and Allah will teach you. What you want better than that? Do you want anyone to teach you? If Allah is saying “Be sincere, and then I will teach you,” you must be very happy you will find that kind of teacher.
When you put an ad in the newspaper and you want a PhD and you choose the best, do you not.
So Allah is saying “I will teach you. But you must be sincere.”
These are bullet points, we have to clear them in our minds.
Allah (swt) is the teacher. When Allah sent Sayyidina Khidr, to show Sayyidina Musa some experiences that he was doing them then Sayyidina Musa could not be patient innaka lan tastati` ma`ya sabra.
That is a prophet. But really in the time of Sayyidina Muhammad’s (s) Ummah, we are ummmatan marhooma - Allah blessed it with mercy. He said, "I will be your teacher. Be sincere and I will teach you.”
What will He teach? He will teach what no one can teach. He is not going to sit like that and teach you. La tadrikahu al-absaar, there is on way that vision can see Him. But Allah will inspire you, send inspirations to your heart and make it like a fountain; you will be able to talk and talk and talk and people listen and take hikmah from you.
Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, he never opened a book. He didn’t study. But from day one, when his mother gave birth to him, the eyes of his heart were open. He didn’t need anyone to teach him, he was taking from Sayyidina Muhammad (s). That you be surprised in his life, people around him coming to listen to his speeches, scholars. In his associations, 100 scholars, 50 scholars, 70 scholars, they come to listen to him.
These are scholars are scholars of Shariah and scholars of Islamic studies. They found the answer to their question in his lectures when he is speaking to them. One of them is my uncle; he was head of all scholars in that region.
One time we took him to Grandshaykh after many many trials [attempts]. He refused, because he is scholar. He said, “I know more than everyone, why do I have to go to him?” That is arrogance. So as a scholar and they used to call him `allama, which is a real title meaning that “he knows a lot in every knowledge.” Everything you ask him he knows.
I was in Lebanon two years ago and I met with one of the highest priests, Mitron Khidr, he is very famous. He knew my uncle, and when I mentioned his name he said, “I will tell you a story.” There was the wife of the Prime Minister and all this elite community and I told him a story about my uncle that happened with me.
Do you like to hear the story?
I was young and it was the final exam in history and I was in high school. The last day, it was history exam. It was so difficult, so many books. I went to my uncle and he said, “What is going on?” I said, “I have this test final, and many books.” So he said, “Let me do istikhara and see what kinds of questions they are coming with.”
There are thousands of [possible] questions, not just one. He opened a book, he has a book, not a sihr book, magic. It is a book that is one of the most famous books in Islamic libraries. He has a very old copy, a manuscript. He said, " I will do istikhaara and tell you. I was thinking what is this?”
He opened it. He doesn’t know what kind of history I am going to tomorrow to be tested and he told me - after he opened and read the book, - he told me, “You are going to get on your exam a question on Sulayman al-Qanuni [the Magnificent] who is an emperor in the Ottoman dynasty and they are going to ask you about his life.”
I believed in my uncle so I went and studied that very well and we went to the class and I told one friend, the other told the other, and the rumor went into the whole class. So it reached the teacher. And it was on the exam, fifteen pages, on Sulayman al-Qanuni. So they thought I stole the question from where they keep them in files. He asked me and I said “no! this is my story.”
He was a PhD student doing his thesis. I said, no my uncle said to me. I didn’t know that you put Sulayman al-Qanuni. So then he said, “Ok, I am going to write the questions on small papers tie them and wrap them and put them in a jar. Everyone pick them and answer.”
So he made one after one, about 200 of them. He had 60-70 students and so he made many extra papers. Then it came my turn and I picked it out. It was a question about Sulayman al-Qanuni.
He has no choice [to let me take the test]. So I took A+. After the exam, he told me, “wait after class.” I waited and he came to me and said, “ I am a PhD student and I have my exams coming up. Can your uncle give me the answers?”
So he went to my uncle with me. And my uncle was very expert in the Arabic language and he likes this. So he did istikhaara. And he gave three answers and they were the answers he needed to pass his exam.
So [after I finished relating this] that Mitron (Bishop) told me one story about my uncle.
And one time I went and we were discussing a word in Arabic that no one came across it. It is a very deep linguistic word. How they use it in the time before the Prophet (s) between different tribes. So I was giving him answer, he was giving him an answer. And I knew his answer is right and my answer might be halfway right. So then finally he got upset with me. He said, “Look, no more argument!” My uncle has a library like this mosque here and all the walls have books. And he sits on the floor in that room, never on the couch and with tea in front of him.
He said, “Archbishop, go I cannot stand up. Go and count 25 bookcases, and go to 25th bookcase, and there are like 6, 7 layers of books and pick the fifth one and line page 552 and line 27 you will see what I am telling you. The archbishop went and found it.
So that came out of the blue. How he remembered that book and which book case and which layer and which page and which line.
So he went took book and found that page, that line. It was as he said.
We were speaking about `ilm. You don’t need a teacher. Allah gives you something he didn’t give others. That is why hadith of the Prophet (s) “My servant or slave does not cease to approach me through voluntary worship or good manners, until I shall love him. And when I love him, I will be, at that time, the ears that he can hear with, the eyes that he can see with, the hand that he can feel with, the feet that he can walk with. If he asks Me, I give to him; seeks refuge in Me, I protect him.[1]
So we pushed him pushed him to go see Grandshaykh. And he finally agreed. We were driving 3 hours from Beirut to Damascus. He was unhappy to go for a drive, he never leaves his cushion, always he is there on the floor, with his books and with his tea.
At the age of 5 years he memorized the entire Holy Qur'an in Egypt. At the age of 7 years he sits in a truck tire and it goes down the hill and they come and ask him for fatawa. He said, “I used to be [sitting/rolling] in the tire.”
So he went with us, he didn’t say anything but he was mumbling. Until we reached, and we didn’t tell him there is slope you have to climb, and he was mumbling the whole way. And Grandshaykh was waiting at the door although we didn’t tell him we are coming and bringing my uncle. And we were five people. He hugged him and said “come in.” And then Grandshaykh opened a suhbat and spoke for 3 hours. My uncle when he came with us, he was mumbling. When we were driving he was mumbling. Walking he was mumbling. But when Grandshaykh began speaking he stopped, he was stunned. When Grandshaykh finished he went and kissed Mawlana’s hand. A scholar like that, came hugging and went kissing the shaykh’s hand - that means a lot.
Then Grandshaykh offered food. And he said, “you cannot go.” He ate and then when we were leaving he kissed Grandshaykh’s hands and feet. For scholar to kiss the feet is big, they say it is bida`. And for my uncle to kiss the feet is [more] huge.
So he said on the way back to Beirut, “I read all these thousands of books.” And his heart is like a photocopy machine, whatever he reads, he memorizes.
He said, “There are seven question that Muslim scholars of the past could not answer them. I put these questions in my mind that I will ask him and corner him in order to show him I know more than him.”
And when I came he began to talk and he didn’t give me a chance to ask. And he brought the answer to all these seven questions in his speech and gave the answers to those questions as if it was nothing to him.” He said, “On every word in his presentation to me I could write a book. I never someone like him.”
When Allah wants to give `ilm, ma`rifah, He gives. It doesn’t come by study. You get something but it is limited. But though you must study, as the first order in Qur’an is “Iqra!” And the Prophet (s) said, “Seek knowledge even in China.” That has two meanings. Go for knowledge wherever you can find it. And another meaning is: go for knowledge and keep going; even if it is so far, don’t get tired. Seek Allah’s love, seek the Prophet’s love. Seek awliyaullah’s love. Don’t say “it is too much. I cannot take it. Too much problems. Too much difficulties.”
Of course there are difficulties. You are living in a life full of difficulties.
Sayyidina `Isa was not in difficulties? Sayyidina Musa was not in difficulties. Sayyidina Muhammad (s) was not in difficulties? Yes he said, “I am the prophet who was most tortured by his people.”
Yes there are obstacles, and they are for the sake of reward. Why is Allah punishing Sayyidina Muhammad (s) by difficulties or Allah is raising him up? So awliyaullah, Allah gives them and Allah teaches them. Keep your heart with Dhikrullah, what will you get first? Knowledge about something. when you know the knowledge it will lead you to understand the greatness of your creator then we come to third level, the maqam at-tawheed. The real understanding of oneness. Then when you say la ilaha illa-Allah it is insha-Allah accepted but we ask Allah to change from imitational to real.
When awliyaullah say la ilaha illa-Allah they are in that Divine Presence; they are pointing to that. Witnessing That there is no seal of messengers except Sayyidina Muhammad (s). You think when you say it with sincere heart, that Allah will not pour in our hear, Sayyidina Muhammad (s) will not pour in our heart; shuyookh will not pour in our hearts knowledge.
At that time we will understand the meaning of sincerity: Surat al-Ikhlas. That means you are sincere to your lord who is one, he doesn’t need anyone and he is independent and he didn’t give birth nor was he given birth and then you understand maqam at-tawheed. Then you know you are dependent on Allah (swt). That is maqam at-tawwakul, to be dependent. “Tawakaltu `ala-Allah - You support me, ya Allah! I am rendering everything to You!”
So it takes you from maqam al-`ilm to maqam al-ma`rifah to maqam at-tawheed and then to maqam at-tawakkul and then to the fifth one, maqam `iraad `amman siwa - to leave everything except Allah. To turn your face from everyone except Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s).
May Allah (swt) guide us and direct us.
That is why he said dawam al-Dhikri sababan li dawam al-khayr fee ad-dunya wal-akhira.
So that is what the Prophet (s) gave to the Sahabi when he said, “kathurat `alayya shari`a al-islam – the rules of Islam became too much on me, give me something that I can do…”
The Prophet (s) said, "Keep your tongue wet with remembrance of Allah.”
Dhikrullah is what saves us and that bring us to Dhikr an-Nabi (s).
Wa min Allah at-tawfeeq, bi hurmatil habib al-fatiha.
All this rain is from that hurricane. What are they going to do when that zilzala (earthquake) comes? Allah can send anything, anytime. We ask Allah to protect us.
https://sufilive.com/Finding-the-fountain-of-youth-Benefits-of-keeping-your-tongue-wet-with-dhikrullah-1234.html
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