18 August 2011 Fenton Zawiya, MI
After Salat al-Fajr
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-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, nawaytu 'l-'uzlah, nawytu as-siyaam lillahi ta'ala fee hadha'l-masjid.
Nawayna as-siyaam, “siyaam” means to stop eating and drinking and anything that might harm another person. That is why we say:
ati`oollah wa ati`oor-rasula wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
“Obey Allah (swt), obey the Prophet (s) and obey those who are on authority.” (an-Nisa, 4:59)
One day a man came to Aba Yazid al-Bistami (q) in his association, where everyone present sat listening. That man looked right and left, and he observed everyone’s adab, that they were looking at their teacher, Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q). Adab is not to look at who is coming or going; you have no right to look at the door, who entered or who departed! Unfortunately, when someone comes it draws the attention of everyone in the assembly to look at who is coming and going, which brings down the level of the suhbat. Your business is with your teacher! Your eyes, your ears and your whole focus must be on the shaykh; why you are looking at people coming and going? You have no right!
That visitor observed all of them looking down, and he looked at Aba Yazid al-Bistami (q) and said, “Yaa Aba Yazid! I need a clean place to pray.” Then there was no carpet like we have today; the floor was made of either sand or rocks. So he looked for a clean place, because you cannot pray somewhere which is dirty. If you do that, first you feel ill at ease, and second, you feel disgust. Even today you put a prayer rug over a clean carpet to make sure everything is clean. So what do you think Aba Yazid (q) said to him? It is a simple bullet point today.
Throw Anger and Pride from Your Heart
He said, "O my brother! The importance is not to have a clean area to pray in, because if the floor is dirty you can easily clean it. You have to know before you ask for a clean place to pray, first your heart and then pray. If your heart is not clean then kabbir `ala nafsik, pray the funeral prayer on yourself because you did not yet reach the standard of real men, but you are still at the lower level of men.
“The most destructive character that destroys and makes the heart dirty is anger, ghadab, and riya, to show off. The one who shows off has the worst of character, like anger in a human being. The best people who know the meaning and reality of a “show-off” are the sincere people.”
The visitor said, "Yaa Sayyidee! How do sincere people know about showing off?”
He said,"Yaa waladee! Sincere people passed through that experience, too. All of us were in that experience of showing off, but sincere people are the ones whom Allah saved by passing them through that stage and bringing them to safety on the other side. Riya is an obstacle to people and one of the arrows of Shaytan. Awliyaullah spend hours and hours struggling to eliminate those arrows that Shaytan shoots at them. You cannot reach sincerity if you have one atom of showing off.”
Today, if a professor or teacher or a lecturer is asked to write something he will try to “juice himself up;” he exerts all kinds of power on his mind in order to come with a lecture full of showing off, to show they know something. That is why Allah (swt) said:
qaala Allah `azza wa jall ya ‘bnu Adam; in futuka futta kull shay.
O son of Adam! If you missed the point of reaching Me, you missed everything!
It means, “If you do not achieve ma`arifatullah, the reality of understanding Me, you miss everything and I will throw you out!”
`An Abi Musa al-`Ashari fee Kanz al-`Ummal: Qaala an-nabiyy qaal Allah kullukum daal. This is a Hadeeth Qudsi of the Prophet (s). Awliyaullah’s words are like silver, but the Prophet’s (s) words are like diamonds that become gold and between diamonds and silver there is a big difference.
Prophet (s) said that Allah (swt) said, “You are all daal, misguided and deviated, except those whom I guide, and whom I guide, if he was weak I will give him power. They accept they are weak without Me, so I dress them with power to reach the hearts of listeners.” (Abi Musa al-`Ashari in Kanz al-`Ummal)
Such associations are under the name of our masters wherein we may find where we stand (in spiritual levels), and this hadith explains that: kullukum, “all of you” are lost except whom I guide, and whom I guide, if he was da`eef, ‘weak,’ I will give him power.” That power is not to use against people, but to use against Shaytan to save people. Those are awliyaullah. “They accept that they are weak without Me, so I dress them with power to reach the hearts of listeners.” Whoever is deviated will be poor, but, “If they come to My Way, I will make him rich. Ask Me; I will give you.”
So those who are poor in Allah’s Way, ask Allah (swt) and He will give. If you are not yet reaching a higher and higher level, and not cleaning yourself from the dirtiness of the ego, ask Allah, Who said, “If you are poor, I will give you ghina, wealth in sincerity and piety.”
If those who came before you, and those who are in your time, and those coming after you, and all your jinn and all your human beings and those who are living, and those who are dead creatures, and everything alive and everything dry come together and add up all their powers, and if they all were the best of Creation and they added all their powers of themselves, it is not going to increase the weight of My Kingdom by the wing of a mosquito and if all of them come together and commit sins it will not decrease My Kingdom the wing of a mosquito. I am Unique, I am One, and the one who understands that I am the One Who can forgive his sin, I will not stop forgiving that person, even if he has sins bigger than this universe. (Abi Musa al-`Ashari in Kanz al-`Ummal)
It means if all ins and all jinn combined their power, they will not be able to add to Allah's Kingdom the weight of a mosquito; they cannot “create” it. If you worship day and night for your entire life, it doesn’t increase Allah's Kingdom the wing of a mosquito, and if you sin day and night all your life, it is not going to decrease Allah's Kingdom the wing of mosquito.
I heard this from Grandshaykh (q) as I was looking for an explanation for this hadeeth of the Prophet (s): “If all humanity left worshipping, it would not decrease anything in Allah’s Kingdom, and if all of them were worshipping, it doesn’t increase His Kingdom.” Since Allah is not affected by anything, nothing is increased or decreased. So Grandshaykh (q) said, “Allah will forgive His servants because He is above being affected by them.” As He is above everything, He does not look at badness or goodness, so He forgives everything with the intercession of the Prophet (s) and sends everyone to Paradise!
To Break the Heart of a Believer is a Great Sin
This is another story that I heard from Grandshaykh (q), and it is mentioned in a hadith of the Prophet (s):
Anyone who harmed a believer, it is a sin that cannot be compared with any other sin. It is even greater than going to the Ka`aba and demolishing it, and demolishing Bayt al-Ma’moor fifteen times. Breaking the heart of a believer is greater than demolishing the House of Allah. (Sunan Abu Majah )
When you do that you are demolishing the heart of the believer, which, according to a hadith, “The heart of a believer is the House of the Lord.” Therefore, that is greater than destroying the walls of the Ka`aba, as mentioned in that hadith, isma` waylak, “Listen! Woe to you! Lightning is going to strike now; woe to you!”
It means, beware! This is a warning to the one who is hurting believers; that is to Allah (swt) greater than hurting the Ka`aba, as there are weak people who, when you break them, there is no way to restore their hearts, but they renovated the Ka`aba many times. How can you restore your heart when someone is repeatedly attacking you? That cannot happen until that person comes and you forgive him. If not, there is no way to build your heart up from being harmed. Don’t hate each other, curse each other, shout at each other, backbite each other, and don’t throw bad rumors at each other!
“O Man! Woe to you! You are going to die soon. They will take you out of your home. Before you walked on your legs, but then they will pull you, like dragging a wagon, not letting you to say anything, and they might step on you! And they will take you to the grave and say you were one of the worst ones. But if you were good, they will not want to take you from your home. They will not drag you, but you will find angels carrying you.”
If you want love of Allah and the Prophet (s) then prepare yourself as it is not easy! You have to prepare yourself from any kind of attack. That is why anyone who is working in the Way of Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s) will find all kinds of difficulties. That is why you see Ahl as-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama'ah are attacked and they cannot organize themselves, because they are in the Way of Allah (swt) and in the Way of the Prophet (s). Anyone in the way of Shaytan can have a big organization, grant money and big buildings, and people run after them. Today there is this big group whose name we won’t mention, but people see their work and say, “They are organized.” Yes, Shaytan is not after them because he is with them!
The Bedouin asked the Prophet (s), “When is Judgment Day?” the Prophet (s) said, "What are you preparing for that?" He said, "Your love." Prophet (s) said, “That is enough.”
A man came to the Prophet (s) and said:
innee uhibuka fillah....
One man came to the Prophet (s) and said, "I love you for Allah's sake." Prophet (s) said, “Prepare yourself a garment that from today will carry all kinds of afflictions, and to prepare yourself for poverty.”
Love of Allah (swt) and the Prophet (s) isn’t cheap, it has a heavy price and is full of obstacles in dunya.
It means, anyone in the Way of Allah (swt) and the Prophet (s), prepare yourself from both sides: from afflictions and from poverty. Find bulletproof clothes from attacks of Shaytan and from poverty, as poverty is not easy. You see most pious people are with nothing. When Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) heard this hadith, he gave all he had to the Prophet (s) except one jubbah, which he wore and used as his blanket and it became full of holes.
When you pass these tests of poverty, Allah (swt) will dress you from His Beautiful Name, “al-Ghani, The Absolute Rich.” yaa Ghani aghnina bi-halaalika `an haraamika. aghnina bika wa bi ’l-mustafa `alayhi ’s-salaat wa ’s-salaam!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.