Q&A Session at Private Residence
Q: How do we make ourselves surrender in whatever test we go through?
A: As in a gym, lift weights and then your muscles will become bigger, then you can defeat any test that comes in front of you. However, gyms differ; there is a gym for dunya and a gym for akhirah.
Go and be with the gym of akhirah. That is what makes you stronger and makes you more powerful to defeat any test that comes to you. Today they do martial arts; I don't know the names of these martial arts, but some cover their eyes and there are five or six people around them and they can defeat them, can they not? Is that Japanese or Chinese? (Kung Fu.)
In order to defeat your enemy you need to go and study any kind of martial arts, and they are teaching what you think about the enemy, are you are not seeing? Shaytan: you don't need a spiritual gym in order to defeat that enemy, but our minds think only about human enemies, not devil enemies. So he Prophet (s) said:
تفكر ساعة خير من عبادة سبعين سنة
tafakkarru sa`atan khayrun min `ibaadati saba`een sannah.
To remember Allah (swt) for one hour (contemplate or meditate) is better than seventy years of worship.
To contemplate about Allah (swt) and about the greatness that Allah gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and to His sincere servants, and to audit yourself and ask for istighfaar and forgiveness for your sins that day is the gym you need to defeat the enemy that comes through different tests.
Unfortunately, today people understand only the five pillars from Islam, no more: Shahadah, Salaat, Fasting, Zakaat and Hajj. There is more, there is the State of Imaan, and if we don't look at the hadith of Sayyidina `Umar (r) and what other elements of religion the Prophet (s) brought, we are losing. Our strong imaan and our ihsaan, moral excellence, take us to Paradise. If imaan and ihsaan are not strong, then the enemy can defeat you easily, and just doing the five pillars is not enough. Many people say, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh.” It is heritage; they pray because their parents force them to pray and the same for sadaqa and Hajj. Hajj is a picnic for them; go for a picnic and come back! But imaan, to have faith in Allah (swt), to have belief, that is what is important!
One of the believers in the time of Sayyidina Musa (a) said, "O Musa! When you go to Tur Sina, ask for imaan for me from Allah. I don't have imaan."
Sayyidina Musa (a) said, "How do you not have imaan when you believe I am a prophet of Allah?"
He said, "I believe in you and I believe in Allah, but my imaan is not strong. I need to feel it and believe in myself."
Sayyidina Musa (a) went there and prayed, “Yaa Rabbee! My neighbor is asking for imaan, and he insisted that You send it to his heart as he finds it weak.”
Allah (swt) said, "O Moses! I am sending him one atom, a dharrah (the smallest measure) of imaan.”
Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “What is one atom when You are Generous!”
Allah (swt) said, "It is enough for him."
Sayyidina Musa (a) returned from Tur Sina and went to the house of his neighbor, happy to tell him that Allah sent him one atom of imaan. He saw his neighbor lying down (in a trance) and kept calling his name, but there was no movement, as if he was dead.
Then Allah spoke, “O Musa! What I sent to him is the smallest amount you can imagine on My Scale. If you cut him into pieces and grind him, he is still not going to wake up, and all his body will say, ‘Allah, Allah, Allah.’”
So imaan is not easy! You have the first pillar, the structure: Islam is the founded on the Six Pillars of Imaan, and to fix the interior and the roof is the level of Ihsaan. So if we don't have imaan, our building, we didn't complete the walls; only we have the floor, on which you can only stand. You can’t sleep on it as there might be rain or sunlight that burns you, so you need imaan.
These gatherings of qasa’id teach you love of the Prophet (s) and build your imaan, which is why Allah said in Holy Qur'an:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Inna-Llaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabi, yaa ayyuhal-ladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi was sallimoo tasleemaa.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him. (al-Ahzaab, 33:56)
Send salawaat, pray on the Prophet (s), and then your imaan will increase! At that time your spiritual muscle will increase in strength and with your spiritual power you will see the Unseen. In this way you can become a very strong, powerful person that cannot be defeated, because Shaytan defeats you through cracks in your imaan. If he destroys your imaan, he destroys your structure! If your imaan is not strong, slowly your structure breaks down and you might miss salaat, or not pay charity or fast, or not make Hajj. If your structure is strong you cannot be broken down, so Shaytan attacks your faith.
Once the Prophet (s) said to the Sahaabah (r), “I will give my jubbah to whoever can pray without distraction.” Everyone wants that jubbah, which is barakah of the Prophet (s) for whole city! So they all takbeered, said “Allahu Akbar,” and prayed. The Prophet (s) said to them, “Your prayer is gone, your prayer is gone (you are distracted by something outside the prayer);” all except Sayyidina `Ali (r) prayed without any distraction. When his prayer ended, he said, “Salaam `alaykum wa rahmatullah,” and, athough the Prophet (s) is ‘Madinatu ‘l-`Ilmi’ and Sayyidina `Ali (r) is its door, he asked, “Which jubbah is the Prophet (s) going to give me?” This is Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani’s (q) story.
Those who carry the amaanat of the Prophet (s) are holding a trust and if they don’t preserve it, they will be asked on Judgment Day. No one can take a relic of the Prophet (s) without his order!
I am very happy that someone here got the hair of the Prophet (s), for if he was not trustworthy one he will never get it. Since his imaan is still not strong, he is one day this way and one day that way, if he can control his imaan he can move mountains by the barakah of that sacred hair of the Prophet (s) that we will visit tomorrow, inshaa-Allah. From the beginning I gave him importance because they saw him as trustworthy and they gave him that trust. But now he has to be more trustworthy, pray more nafl, fast more often and build himself as much as possible, and get married as soon as possible.
Faith gives you strength; it comes from Allah (swt) to the Prophet (s), who injects you in order that you become strong to pass these tests. So don't ask, “I have this problem and this difficulty,” as every wali has difficulties and problems, and people speak about him both in a good way and in a bad way because he is not above the criticism.of people. The more they criticize him, it means that wali is higher and higher. Shaytan always attacks the one you believe in, to make your imaan less.
The Prophet (s) was attacked relentlessly by his uncles, Abu Lahab and Abu Jahl, who claimed he was the biggest magician, and they knew he wasn’t, but takabbur and tajabbur, pride and arrogance made them do that. Anyone who thinks he is better, Allah (swt) will bring him down!
And also, Allah (swt) said, “Give your wives their rights and take your rights.”
وَلَهُنَّ مِثْلُ الَّذِي عَلَيْهِنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
wa lahunna mithlu ’Lladhee `alayhinna bi ‘l-ma`roof.
And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:228)
It means live with them in the nicest way, but today we see husbands and wives are always fighting and for no reason. Arguing for a valid reason is understandable, but they have problems without any reason because Shaytan tries to destroy their faith to destroy the house. So don't say, “This is a test,” because you have not yet seen a real test! Look in the Arab countries, where people are killed every day; their throats are cut, their bodies taken away, because they are protesting against each other from both sides. Alhamdulillah you are safe, so you should be happy!
Don't go against your government as it is providing you a peaceful society, while other governments are not. You haven’t seen any tests yet! There are children who don't have food to eat, and we all know the story in time of Sayyidina `Umar (r), how he disguised himself at night and saw a lady cooking, although she didn’t have any food for her children! He asked her, “What are you cooking?” She said, “I am putting stones in boiling water in order for the children to think there is food to eat.” Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
Q: You said that between the space of a breath there are one thousand spiritual transformations.
A: I was speaking of the waves of electromagnetic radiation. When you reach the waves of digital transmission then you can receive thousands of waves. When you have analog you get five channels. With the acuteness of electromagnetic waves you get two-thousand or three-thousand channels and every channel doesn't impact the other. When your love of Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s) becomes very straight, Allah will send knowledge as He sent to Sayyidina Khidr (a).
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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