8 April 2012 Lefke, Cyprus
Suhbah after Zhuhr
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadan nabiyyi ’l-ummiy wa `alaa aalihi wa Saahbihi wa sallam. Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah, nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.
We are speaking about the Greatness of Prophet (s). I recently heard Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) say that he wants to open a school in Famagusta to teach the Greatness of Prophet (s), with the intention that students not only memorize Holy Qur’an and hadith, but also to make people aware of the Greatness of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), because too many today are not giving importance to that subject. Throughout history you find how much scholars and common people of previous times respected Prophet (s). You see whenever Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) mentions the name of Prophet (s), he puts his hand over his chest to invoke peacefulness or tranquility in his heart, or he stands up to give t`azheemu ‘n-Nabiyy, grandeur to Prophet (s).
There have been many scholars among Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, by whom I mean the people who accept tasawwuf, and most of them accept tasawwuf up to today. The right name for them is “Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah,” and now other groups use that name although they consider Prophet (s) to be only a man who came and is now gone! Without mentioning their names, we know their names already and they pretend they are Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, but the authentic Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah are those who love Prophet (s) more than their parents, themselves and their children!
I said today I would mention some of these stories and ahadith of Prophet (s) from the book Manahij as-Sa`adaat, The Ways of Happiness.
Akthiroo min as-salaati `alayya yawmu ‘l-jumu`ati wa laylatu ‘l-jumu`ah.
Try to be excessive in prayers on me on the day and night of Friday.
(Imam Shaafi`i in his Musnad; Ibn Habbaan; Ibn Majah; Abu Dawood)
It means do as much salawaat as possible and don’t sit around being lazy! Why must we do it? We can recite salawaat ten times, a hundred times, and some people a thousand times, but why so many? Why do you have to do one-million times, two-million times? The square-headed people, whose names we don’t want to mention, say if you do too much salawaat, you are committing shirk! We ask, did Allah (swt) make shirk when He ordered His angels to make salawaat on the Prophet (s)? Allah (swt) said:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabiyy, yaa ayyuha’ Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi was sallimoo tasleema.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him. (Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:56)
The word “yusalloona” is not past tense or present tense, it is the future tense. Which comes first? Past tense, fa`l al-maadiyy, and then present tense, fa`l al-haadir, then future tense, fa`l al-mustaqbal. Why does past come first, then present, then future? Because the past was the future, then became present, then became past. I “am opening” a book is present tense; I “opened” the book is past tense; I “will open” the book is future tense. But in religion there is no past, present or future, everything is in the present, as the present moment is what matters. So what is Allah saying? “Allah and His angels are praising and praying on the Prophet,” in the future tense, which means they are continuously making salawaat on the Prophet (s).
A question comes here: did Allah (swt) say to the angels, “inna Allah salla `alaa an-Nabi mi’at marrah,” pray on the Prophet (s) a hundred times, or did He order His angels to pray a hundred times on the Prophet (s)? No, He and His angels are continuously praising the Prophet (s), and then it is an order for all humanity, “Yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena amanoo salloo `alayh.” “Salloo” is fa`l amr, an imperative verb (command): “O Believers! Praise the Prophet!” It is an order on every Muslim to praise the Prophet (s) continuously, non-stop. So when you stop, you are falling into forgetfulness of this ayah in which Allah (swt) ordered you to continuously recite salawaat on the Prophet (s). This is what distinguishes awliyaullah from normal people, as they are always praising the Prophet (s) because they are executing this ayah, Yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo 'alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema, and they cannot stop because they have to do it.
That is like when Allah (swt) ordered the angels to make sajda to Sayyidina Adam (a):
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلاَئِكَةِ اسْجُدُواْ لآدَمَ فَسَجَدُواْ إِلاَّ إِبْلِيسَ
Wa idh qulnaa li ’l-malaa’ikatu ’sjudoo li aadama fa sajadoo illa iblees.
And when We told the angels, "Prostrate yourselves before Adam!" they all prostrated themselves, except Iblees. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:34)
Allah (swt) said all of them made sajda except Iblees. How many angels are there? In every moment Allah is creating angels and He is “al-Khaaliq,” The Creator. You cannot say He created the angels and stopped. He (swt) said, “Allah and His angels are praising the Prophet.” (33:56) How many angels are praising the Prophet (s)? With respect to Allah's Greatness and Grandeur, you cannot count and or know how many angels there are; they are an infinite number! Allah (swt) is creating angels every moment--not a million, a billion, a quadrillion, no! Allah is creating infinite angels in every moment. His Name is “al-Khaaliq,” so if you say khalq stopped, you commit the sin of kufr, because Allah (swt) creates continuously! Therefore, when He ordered the angels to make sajda to Sayyidina Adam (a), how many angels were there at that moment, then more were created and appeared, but how? They appeared already in sajda! They didn't come standing, because they are under that khitaab, address, when Allah (swt) ordered them to make the sajda of ihtiraam, respect, not the sajda of `ibaadah, worship, as worship is exclusively for Allah (swt).
Sayyidina Yusuf (s) came to his father, Sayyidina Yaqoob (a) and said:
إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ رَأَيْتُهُمْ لِي سَاجِدِينَ
Innee raa'itu ihda `ashar kawkaban wa ’sh-shamsa wa ’l-qamra raaytahum lee saajideen.
I saw eleven planets and the sun and moon making sajda to me. (Surat Yusuf, 12:5)
Such examples are to teach all of us. Sayyidina Yaqoob (a) said, “Don't tell this to your brothers.” Why not; they are all Prophets of Bani Israel, so how could they be jealous, because all Prophets are ma`soomoon, infallible (without sin), although they threw Yusuf in the well. Another lesson for us is when Allah (swt) ordered His angels to make sajda to Sayyidina Adam (a).
Once I asked an `alim who is also a mufti, “Is there any verse in Holy Qur'an that ordered the angels to raise their head from their sajda to Sayyidina Adam (a)?” After you complete sajda you raise your head, but there is no mention of this in Holy Qur’an, because they are still in sajda to the Prophet (s)! That `alim said, “I didn't think of it like that because I am a scholar of Shari`ah, not tasawwuf.” However, this is not from tasawwuf. In Holy Qur'an, Allah (swt) did not order His angels to raise their heads! Also, He (swt) did not order them to make only one or two prostrations. If someone ordered you to make sajda, naturally you would wait to be told to raise your head, is it not?
That is why the Prophet (s) said in the hadith, “Try to be excessive in salawaat on me on the day and night of Jumu`ah,” because Jumu`ah is the day Allah (swt) created Sayyidina Adam (a), and the day he met with Sayyida Hawwa (Eve) (a), and the day Adam was sent to Earth, and the day Allah saved Sayyidina Nuh (a) from the flood, and the day Allah saved Sayyidina Ibraheem (s) from the fire of Nimrod, and the day Allah saved Bani Israel from Pharaoh, and it is the day when Allah saved Sayyidina `Isa (a) from his people that came to kill him. Also, Allah (swt) gave Jumu`ah as a holy day to Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! Jumu`ah is a precious day that contains all these benefits! On Jumu`ah, Allah (swt) sent you from Heaven to Earth and will send you from Earth to Heaven. It is the day to be saved by the Boat of Heaven and from Shaytan, and the day to be saved from Fire. Sayyidina `Isa (a) was raised to Paradise on Jumu`ah, the day the Prophet (s) liked most. The Day of Resurrection will be on a Jumu`ah. So every Jumu`ah, make as much praise on the Prophet (s) as you can, as he (s) said in a hadith:
Anyone who praises me on the day and night of Jumu`ah, I will be a witness for him on the Day of Judgment and I will intercede for him. (Jami` as-Sagheer)
We are ordered to send salawaat on the Prophet (s)! From his mercy, he didn’t order us to make a million salawaat; he said to increase it, to recite more salawaat than normal on Jumu`ah. So if you recite a hundred salawaat daily, on Jumu`ah recite two-hundred salawaat; if you normally recite two-hundred salawaat, increase it to four-hundred on Jumu`ah. That is why in the awraad assigned by Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), on Jumu`ah beginners increase their daily recitation of salawaat from one-hundred to five-hundred.
It is mentioned that whoever recites salawaat on the Prophet (s) a hundred times will be forgiven the sins of 80 years! Now it is coming out; the easement is granted and they are giving you a way out of the daily responsibility to recite salawaat two-hundred, five-hundred or a thousand times! Now, if today is Jumu`ah and you recite one-hundred salawaat on Prophet (s), eighty years of sins will be erased, then next week again recite one-hundred salawaat and another eighty years of sins will be erased! This is how in previous times people encouraged their followers to do salawaat on the Prophet (s), but today, although many people do it, but the ummah is sleeping and most of us are not remembering this important sunnah.
This is an account of a woman who came to a big wali, Hasan al-Basri (r), whose lineage is connected to Sayyidina `Ali (r) through Sayyidina Ja`far as-Saadiq (r). The title “Naqshbandi Golden Chain” is from the combined lineage of Sayyidina `Ali (r) and Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) that came together in their descendant, Sayyidina Ja`far as-Saadiq. So this tariqah is coming from two sides. The Shi`a call themselves “Ja`fari” as they take from Sayyidina Ja`far. Sayyidina Qassim (r), the grandson of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r), gave to Sayyidina Ja`far, who also took from Hasan al-Basri, who is taking from Sayyidina `Ali (r), where the Prophet (s) said:
أنا مدينة العلم و علي بابه
Anaa madinatu 'l-`ilmi wa `Aliyyun baabuha.
I am the City of Knowledge and `Ali is it's door. (al-Haakim, Tirmidhi)
It is also related, what some say is hadith and some say it is not a hadith, that the Prophet (s) said:
Ma sabb-Allahu fee sadree sababatahu fee sadra abi bakr as-siddiq.
Whatever Allah has poured in my heart, I poured in the heart of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.
So in Sayyidina Ja`far as-Saadiq (r) we are getting the two connections, from Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) and from Sayyidina `Ali (r), and that is why it is called the “Golden Chain”. I now quote from the book Manahij as-Sa`adaat, page 5, by al-Hafizh as-Sakhaawi, a very famous scholar in classical, traditional Islam:
A woman came to Hasan al-Basri and said, “One of my daughters died and I very much want to see her in a dream.” (There are books of recitation and numerous awliyaullah wrote what one must recite to see the Prophet (s) in the dream, which we will not discuss now.) He told her, “Pray Salaat al-`Isha; then pray four raka`ats and in every raka`at read Surat al-Fatihah and Surat at-Takaathur. Then go to sleep directly and sleep completely; you will see her in your dream.” She returned and said, “I did that and saw her in my dream. She was in punishment and torture!” (It might be the daughter did something wrong in her life.) She was dressed in a dress of qitraan, burning hot tar, and her arms and legs were bound with chains of fire!”
What kind of extreme punishment is that? Look how we are backbiting and cursing each other! Everyone must be busy auditing himself; make an account of yourself, don't punch this one and that one. Also, don't take words of others out of context; for example, when I recently said, “In 2003, when Mawlana Shaykh retired from traveling...” some accused me of having said, “In 2003, when Mawlana Shaykh ‘retired’...” without completing the statement (and by that they made fitna among mureeds). Don't they remember that Allah (swt) said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
Yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo in ja’akum faasiqun bi naba'in fa-tabayyinoo an tuseeboo qawman bi-jahaalatin fatusbihoo `alaa maa fa`ltum naadimeen.
O you who believe! If a corrupt person comes to you with something wrong, ascertain the truth unless you harm people unwittingly and afterwards become full of repentance for what you have done. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:6)
I praised Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) and made a point about when he retired from traveling, as the Prophet (s) told Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) after his khalwat in Madinat al-Munawwara, “You don't need to go after people now; I will send the mukhlis, the best people will come to you.” After that people from all over the world came to Grandshaykh (a) and then to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q). The evidence is that you cannot find two people here from the same country; turn to camera to show who are here.
حياتي خير لكم تحدثون ويحدث لكم ، فإذا أنا مت كانت وفاتي خيرا لكم ، تعرض علي أعمالكم فان رأيت خيرا حمدت الله تعالى وإن رأيت شرا استغفرت لكم
Hayaatee khayrun lakum tuhadithoona wa yuhdatha lakum fa idhaa anaa mitt kaana wafaatee khayran lakum. Tu`radu `alayya `amalakum fa in ra’aitu khayran hamadt 'allah ta`ala wa in ra’itu sharran astaghfarta lakum.
My life is good for you as you will relate from me and it will be related to you, and when I die my passing will be better for you. (Meaning, “My death is better for you than my life, because then I can pray for you.”) I observe your deeds. If I find good I thank Allah, and if I see bad, I ask forgiveness for you. (al-Bazzaar in his Musnad)
So how can a wali “retire”? How can they mention such a thing on Jumu`ah? Was it said or not? They took one word, as if someone said, “laa ilaaha,” but did not say, “illa-Llah,” which is kufr; you cannot say “laa ilaaha” without saying “illa-Llah”. Say now, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah!”
Today and until the last day of his life at 150 years inshaa-Allah, may Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani give suhbah! ... So how is he retired? The one who repeated that lie was supposed to check it first; that is his mistake. But the one who whispered it in his ear out of context committed the sin of nameema, to spread a false rumor, to say what is not true but make it seem correct, which is worse than gheebat, to backbite!
Continuing the narration:
Hasan al-Basri replied (to the distressed mother), “Give sadaqa on her behalf and inshaa-Allah, Allah (swt) will forgive her.”
The way he said it indicated, “Give sadaqa for her and I will distribute it.” This is an important point. When a Shaykh distributes sadaqa, it is not like when a normal person does so, as written in Holy Qur'an that if you do something wrong, go to the Prophet (s):
هِ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
Wa law annahum idh zhalamoo anfusahum ja’ooka f ’astaghfaroollaaha w ’astaghfara lahumu ‘r-rasoolu la-wajadoo ’Llaaha tawwaaba ‘r-raheema.
If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:64)
If you make a mistake, you have to go to the Prophet (s) or to his inheritors to remedy that situation. Like that lady asked, “What should I do?” and Hasan al-Basri said, “Give sadaqa.” We know the Sahaabah came to the Prophet (s) and asked forgiveness in his presence, but Allah (swt) put another condition, that on your behalf the Prophet (s) will also ask Allah (swt) for His Forgiveness!
That lady made sadaqa, and then Hasan al-Basri said, “May Allah forgive her.” That night, Hasan al-Basri slept and he found himself in one of the Paradises where he saw a bed on which a very beautiful lady sat, and on her head was a crown of light. [This is an account from Hasan al-Basri (r), not from you or me throwing some words around with no origin, or (invented) words from the sky!] He looked at her and was stunned. She said (casually), “Yaa Hasan! Do you know me?” He did not use his spiritual power from the Prophet (s) to get that information. She said, “I am the daughter of that woman whom you ordered to pray on the Prophet (s) in order to see me in the dream!” Sayyidina Hasan (r) said, “But your mother came to me and told me she saw you in a different way than this, so what happened? You were in punishment and just ten hours later, in my dream I am seeing you in Paradise!” Sayyidina Hasan al-Basri (r) came 100 years after the Prophet (s) and through this account he wanted to teach his followers.) She said, “Yes, my mother spoke the truth.” He asked, “How did you reach this level?” She said, “We were 70,000 people in this kind of punishment and I was one among them, it is true. Then a pious man like you, one wali, rajulun min as-saaliheen, passed by our graves in the cemetery and recited praise on the Prophet (s) one time, and we all heard him. And he asked Allah (swt) and the Prophet (s), ‘Grant the reward of this to the bodies in these graves.’ Then Allah (swt) accepted his du`a and released all of us from that punishment!”
That is an account of the power of one recitation of salawaat `ala an-Nabi (s)! Say now, “Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad wa `alaa aali Sayyidina Muhammad!” With that we are now free from Hellfire. That is why salawaat is important and why scholars of Islam teach that when you pass by a cemetery, recite one-hundred times “Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad (Surat al-Ikhlaas),” and one-hundred times salawaat `ala an-Nabi (s).
We will continue later.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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