December 2009 UK Tour
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh! Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi ‘l-`alameen, wa 's-salaatu wa 's-salaamu `ala ashrafi 'l-mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Sayyidi 'l-`alamayn al-muhtaramayn, Sayyidina Abi 'l-Qaasim Muhammad (s). Alhamdulillahi 'lladhee hadaana li 'l-Islaami wa 'l-imaani wa 'l-ihsaan, wa ar’rafana wa shar’rafana bi an nakoona min ummati 'l-habeebi 'l-`adnaan, sallallahu `alayhi wa aalihi wa as-haabihi ajmaa`een. Amma ba`d. Hadrati mufti britaniyaa Muhammad Muniri 'z-zamaan wa waladuhu Muhammad Irfaan, as-salaamu `alaykuma wa rahmatullahi ta`ala wa barakaatuh.
O Muslim brothers and sisters! Everyone likes to speak in his language because he feels its easy, but we are living in countries that we have to know their language in order to disseminate the message of Sayyidina Muhammad `alayhi afadalu 's-salaatu wa 's-salaam, or else our mission will be difficult. The Prophet (s) encouraged his Sahaaba (r) to learn the languages of other countries in order to speak easily to them and to bring to them the universal message of heaven, deenu 'l-Islam, the religion of Islam.
I am so honored to be here in this masjid in Rochdale by the order of my master whom I knew since 50 years. I was 13 years nearly when I first met him. If it was for me, I would not run from one place to another because everyone likes to be sitting in his house, especially in cold weather like this weather, with his family and his children, raising them as Muslim, giving them the best of love, compassion and emotions, and living a normal life, as we think that is the normal life. No one likes to leave his wife and his children over nearly one year continuously, never stopping, running from one place to another, from one country to another, from far west to far east, up north, down south. We are doing this believing that we will have, on the Day of Judgment or in the grave when we die, a good account that, “Yaa Rabbee! We tried our best to imitate the Sahaabatu 'n-Nabiyy (r), who left their countries and families and went far away and died far away, leaving behind them a legacy of the greatness of Islam.”
I am not imposing myself on anyone. I am not imposing the teaching that I learned from our grandshaykh, Mawlana Shaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani and Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, and also other ‘ulama like Mawlana Muhammad Munir az-Zamaan, his son and other `ulama that we saw today, Muhammad Hussayn Pirzaada. They are not imposing, but they are trying to reach as much as possible the youth; not the elderly people, as the most important are the youth, to reach to them and show them how much those who came before them suffered. And how much they tried their best to be able to build such masaajid around the world, and for what? Not benefitting anything, not benefitting for money, but to be a podium for Islam, a podium for you to come and listen. They didn’t try to get personal benefits; why people have to get benefit, leaving their families and going? Shaykh Muhammad Irfaan is just returning from a very dangerous trip; why he has to go, for what? He went on behalf of us, on behalf of you, to represent you in case anything happened he will say, “These are my people, and they have nothing to do with terrorism or any kind of violence.”
O western countries, if something happened, don’t come and ask us! We are the silent majority (but) you made us silent! We are the majority to whom you didn’t give a choice and a podium; you gave the podium to the minority, who are violent, either in their thinking without their actions or in actions without thinking! You let them recruit people because you didn’t support Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah (People of Sunnah and the Majority)! Ahlu 's-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah is being killed in front of your eyes! Their awliyaa who are buried in shrines are being cut into pieces, thrown in garbage, opening their graves, not only in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but also in Africa, Somalia, and other countries. It is your responsibility to give the mic back, as you took it from the silent majority! Give it back to the silent majority in order that we will not be silent anymore. You think we are silent and we are not! But we cannot reach people because you gave them cable stations, you gave them TV stations, you gave them grants, millions of pounds and dollars given out in places where it is not needed, instead of giving it to places where it is needed to keep a Muslim community intact from any kind of recruitment from violent people!
But, we are not blaming anyone. We will do our job faithfully, with love, and try as much as we can, but I will describe to you what is your job. You are expecting a different answer, but we are an ant being asked to move from east to west or from west to east. How an ant has power to move from Far East to Far West? It’s impossible! What they need? How you can make an ant to move from Far East to Far West, or from Far West to Far East? Put that ant on an airplane and fly, it will reach! Give us the vehicle and we will show you miracles! Give us the means and we will show miracles that you never expected. We will give you Disney heaven, they say "Disney World," which is nothing compared to Heaven. We will give you heavens on Earth, and heavens in Heaven: we will give you Islam, the classical and traditional teachings of Islam, because Islam is Heaven and Heaven is Islam!
O Muslims! I have been ordered by my shaykh, and similarly, many have been ordered from their shaykhs, to keep moving. Today I am entering in this masjid; I don’t know tomorrow where I will be. So as I said before, I am not coming to impose anything on you, I am coming here to be with you and share something. Just now I was 15 minutes late. Why was I late? I said to everyone leave the house, walk to the masjid because we were somewhere near here. I went to make new wudu and Umar said to me there is a call from Cyprus. I said I don’t want to talk with anyone from Cyprus because I am in a hurry. At that moment, an arrow came from Mawlana to my heart that, “I am sending you a message.” So I made wudu and he gave me the phone and I spoke with someone who just sent a message from Mawlana Shaykh, may Allah give him long life, and give you long life. Mawlana is sending salaams and love to all of you, and he said, “Deliver to them a message that is important for them to learn.” I was preparing something to mention in the Jumu`ah khutbah, it is in my pocket. But then I said okay, I understand what Mawlana wants, and this is what I am going to tell you tonight. We must open our eyes for everything that gives us signs that sometimes it’s abnormal to us, but if we go back in Islamic studies, we find that Prophet (s) has mentioned these matters in many, many ahadeeth, which unfortunately no one brings the subject.
I was on Ummah TV two days ago for an interview. (http://sufilive.com/Ummah_Channel_Interview_Part_1-2080.html) They asked me a question I tried to avoid, “Why Muslims are being cornered and everyone from everywhere has been attacked, and what is the solution for that?” I tried to avoid it, but he kept insisting, so I addressed part of the answer and left some. The problem is that we need strong personalities like Sayyidina ‘Umar (r). We need some ones who are not afraid of saying the truth; not chameleons, going according to the situation they are in, one foot here one day, the other foot there another day. Because they want to keep their podiums running, they don’t want to say the truth as it is, clear: Islam is perfect.
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا
Al-yawma akmaltu lakum deenakum, wa atmumtu `alaykum ni`matee wa radeetu lakumu 'l-islaama deena.
Today I perfected for you your religion and I favored you with My favors.” (5:5)
It means, “O Muslims, it is a condition that, ‘If you do not perfect your religion, My nai`maat will not reach you. Today I completed for you the whole religion like a perfect moon; finished!” After a perfect moon what we have? It is no more bigger, then we have a crescent. If we do not perfect our religion, wa ‘at-mun tum nai`matee alaykum, and I gave you what you want, and I will give you, but if you not going to perfect your religion, I’m not going to favor you, wa radeetu lakumu 'l-Islamaah deena. At that time, when I favor you with Heavenly knowledge, I consider that you (have) become a real Muslim, not before that. That’s why Allah (swt) said:
قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آمَنَّا قُل لَّمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَكِن قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَإِن تُطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَا يَلِتْكُم مِّنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Qaalati al-a`rabu aamanna qul lam tuminoo wa laakin qooloo aslamna wa alammaa yadkhuli aleemanu fee quloobikum wain tutee`oo Allaha wa rasoolahu laa yalitkum min a`malikum shayan inna Allaha ghafoorun raheem
The desert Arabs say, "We believe." Say, "Ye have no faith; but ye (only)say, 'We have submitted our wills to Allah,' For not yet has Faith entered your hearts. But if ye obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not belittle aught of your deeds: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (49:14)
“Don’t say, ‘We are mu’min.’ Say, ‘We are Muslim.’” Until imaan reaches your heart, you are not a mu’min. So we are now struggling.
Sayyidina ‘Umar stood for haqq. What is then our duty? It is to stand for haqq and say the truth. Allah said, “Don’t drink alcohol.” Why Muslims are drinking? Don’t tell me Muslims are not drinking; some Muslims are drinking. Some Muslims build mosques and give money to mosques and they sell wine, alcohol; you can see that. They don’t have stores they are selling alcohol, some Muslims, and they give money to the masaajid? And Prophet (s) said Allah will curse anyone that will drink alcohol, as well as those who sell it or who serve it. You go to restaurants, they are serving alcohol there. We are in dirt and we ask why we are smelling dirty! We are already there. That’s why awliyaaullah are backing up, they are seeing the problem.
Muslims unfortunately they are doing drugs! Don’t tell me they are not selling and using drugs! They are making easy money by cheating, and why? Allah prohibited that. القاعدة الفقهية: كل مضر يقتل It is a fiqh principle, kullu muddurrin yuqtal, “Everything harmful must be terminated.” He didn’t say everything that is harmful, use it and give it to people to use. How many from Muslims are selling drugs around the world? With my respect to the Muslims in Afghanistan, they are selling drugs from top to bottom, it is the #1 drug-producing country in the world. And they are speaking about respecting the `ulama! Where are respected `ulama? Might be they are sharing money with these people. Their government cannot stop planting drugs? They are giving fatwa that you can sell drugs to fight the kuffaar, and who gave them that fatwa? Who authorized that?
In Makkatu 'l-Mukarrama and in Madinatu 'l-Munawwara`ala saakiniha afdala 's-salaatu wa 's-salaam, they are selling beer, which they say has no alcohol! They want to go around Islamic law and they cannot. There is 1% or less than 1% alcohol in it, because intoxication will not last with that small amount of alcohol. They say if it’s less than 4% alcohol, “It’s OK, it will not last.” Who gave that fatwa? Many youngsters going without knowing, not only in this country, I am speaking about everywhere; they are eating food that is not halaشl; they don’t know and they don’t care. They go in any restaurant to eat and they don’t care. I went to Indonesia, with my respect to Indonesia and its 250-million Muslims, I know from the president all the way down. One time they asked me to go to a restaurant, and I thought it is a Muslim country and therefore every restaurant must be halal. And suddenly it came to me to ask if this is halaal food? They said, “Yes, all restaurants in Indonesia are halal.” I asked, “Are you sure?” They asked the chef where is the meat from, and he said they buy it wholesale from Australia from a non-Muslim factory, and it’s not halaal!
So how to solve this? How? With what way we can solve this? Prophet (s) predicted the signs of the Last Days. He (s) said there will be a time coming when you will see ignorance filled the Earth. Many Muslims today are ignorant of their religion. I am not speaking about people at this mosque; Mashaa-Allah, you are people that have imaan in your hearts. You also have a message, but it’s not enough. Sahaaba (r) took the message to others. Prophet (s) taught them Islam, and he sent them abroad to teach others. You have to teach others! Don’t be rude to people! Extend your hand to the non-Muslims. Prophet (s) extended his hand to the non-Muslims to teach them. In how many years was Islam perfected? Twenty-three years! You cannot say immediately to a non-Muslim to pray five prayers; they will not. If someone likes to take shahada, don’t tell him immediately, “You have to fast Ramadan,” as they will not!
After asking many other high religious scholars, a very important person went to my cousin, the mufti of Lebanon, who knows Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and different religions. He asked my cousin, “What must I do to become a Muslim? Others told me I have to take a shower, make shahada, pray five prayers daily, fast Ramadan, give zakaat, and make Hajj. I am running from going to church every Sunday, and you are giving me duties that take the whole day and night.”
When Prophet (s) came with the divine message, he first said to people, “Say la ilaaha illa-Llah, Muhammadur Rasoolullah,” not more than that. After 18 months the command for salaat came. You cannot come to them immediately with all the duties or they run away. (So this is what my cousin told him.) That one said, “Okay, if I accept that, is there anymore thing I have to do?” My cousin mentioned circumcision. That one said, “If I must do that, I am not going to become Muslim.”
Then he came to our shaykh with the same questions. Mawlana Shaykh (q) told him to recite ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. He recited and left. After some time he returned, saying he wants to do more. Mawlana Shaykh said, wa iqaamu 's-salaat. That one began to pray. After some time he returned, saying he wants to do more. Mawlana Shaykh told him, wa sawmu Ramadaan. Slowly, slowly, that one began to observe the religious duties. He asked Mawlana about circumcision, and Mawlana told him, “No, it’s not for you.” He’s 80 years old; what kind of circumcision he is going to have?! (laughter) Then after he perfected his Islam, in one year and a half he came to the shaykh and said, “My shaykh, I did the circumcision!” From his love of Islam, he did it without an order.
When faith goes in the heart, youngsters can do miracles. But you need that faith of Sayyidina ‘Umar; not by tongue—you have to show it. Why Muhammad Irfan Chisti has to go from here to there, for what benefit? For the Muslims in this country! Look at what Prophet (s) said. ‘An Abi Musa al-`Ashari (r) `an `Abdullahi ibn Mas`ood,
وأخرج أحمد والبخاري ومسلم وابن ماجة عن ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه: سمعت رسول الله يقول: " يكون بين يدي الساعة أيام فيرفع فيها العلم وينزل فيها الجهل ويكثر فيها الهرج "
Qaala rasullahi (s) ina bayna yadayyi 's-sa`ati ayyaaman yurfa` feeha al-`ilm wa yanzilu feeha 'l-jahl, wa yuktharu feeha 'l-harj.
As narrated by Imam Bukhari (r), that Prophet (s) said, “Between the signs of the last days, there will be days.” He (s) didn’t say all the days, but “between them, there will come a time,” like in this era, “yanzilu feeha 'l-jahal, “too much ignorance will come to the hearts of people,” wa yurfa` feeha al-`ilm, “and knowledge will be lifted up.”
This is what we are seeing today: ignorance coming and knowledge going. Prophet (s) continues, wa yuktharu feeha 'l-harju wa 'l-marj, “And in these days there will be too much fear and too much killing.” Is there fear in the world today or not? Everyone is afraid; you don’t know if you will be safe in any country. Yakthuru feeha 'l-harj wa 'l-marj, “Until you are not only afraid, but not one day passes without killings.” So what do we say then to the youth and to ourselves? Be ready then, the Last Days are coming, and this dunya is calling to its end:
اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ
iqtarabati 's-sa`ati wanshaqa 'l-qamar,
The Hour (of Judgment) is nigh, and the moon is cleft asunder. (Suratu'l-Qamar, 54:1)
Just now he was saying in the qaseeda that the moon split in the hand of Prophet (s).
Allah is saying from 1400 years ago in Holy Qu’ran, “Oh Muslims, O humans beings! Iqtarabati 's-sa`atu, My Judgment Day (has) approached.” And the sign of it is when Prophet (s) ordered, the moon split 1400 years ago and Allah is saying, "The Day of Judgment is approaching." Prophet (s) is predicting in the ahaadeeth, giving more evidence, that’s why killings are everywhere. The one who killed doesn’t know why he killed, and the one who was killed doesn’t know why he was killed; he is innocent, going out of his house and an explosion killed him. They say it’s halaal suicide bombing! There is not one single evidence in Islam that suicide bombings are allowed, not Muslim against Muslim, Muslims against non-Muslims or even non-Muslims against Muslims: it’s not allowed! It’s permissible to fight your enemy if you see him face-to-face. With today’s weaponry you are not seeing your enemy. In the time of Prophet (s), your enemy was in front of you, (and to fight that way) is bravery, that is real religion, that is a real fight, because there you know either you will be killed or you kill for haqq and you are facing your enemy. Now, where is your enemy? There is no enemy here; you cannot see your enemy.
Some people consider any western country, or even some Muslim countries as the enemy, and still they are living in it, eating from its khayraat. If you are not abiding by its law, if you are not happy, go back to your country! What you are doing here? If you are happy with your original country, go back there and don’t come here, because if you want to live here, you have to be faithful to your religion and that means to obey the law that is here. Are they preventing you here from making salaat? As long as they don’t prevent anyone from his religion, no one has the right to say anything against the government.
قال رسول اللّه صلى اللّه عليه وسلم: إن اللّه لا يقبض العلم انتزاعا ينتزعه من الناس ولكن يقبض العلم بقبض العلماء، حتى إذا لم يترك عالما اتخذ الناس رؤوسا جهالا فسئلوا فأفتوا بغير علم فضلوا وأضلوا
Inna Allāha la yaqbidu al-`ilma intizā`an yantazi`uhu min al-`ibād wa lākin yaqbid ul-`ilma bi qabd il-`ulamā hatta idhā lam yabqā `aliman itakhada an-nāsu ru’ūsan juhālan fa su’ilu fa aftaw bi ghayri `ilmin fa dalloo wa adallii.
As we said in the first hadith, the knowledge will be lifted up. ‘Umar ibn al-`As said, “I heard Prophet (s) say, “Allah will not take the knowledge from the heart of `ulama, but He will take the soul of the `ulama when they die.” Allah (swt) calls them back to Him, their age is finished, then, there are less and less and less and less `ulama. I will ask an `alim that studied Islam, do you see `ulama today as there were before? No way, you cannot find them. Today our `ulama are with suit and tie! Limaa yuzayyinoona bi zayyi 'l-kuffar. Why you are imitating the way of non-Muslims? You want suit and tie? Don’t be hypocrites! Either you say, “I am a Muslim and I will wear the Muslim style,” or, “I am not going to wear the non-Muslim styles.”
You have to perfect your religion. This is the Muslim way, with the flowers also. (Mawlana points to Mufti Sahib.) This is the Muslim way, most of them (here), alhamdulillah. Hataa 'ida lam yaka lee-man, the ulama will go down, go down, go down, and finally what happens? He said there will be too any muftis, there are Google muftis. He said, Prophet (s) said,
Hatta idhā lam yabqā `aliman itakhada an-nāsu ru’ūsan juhālan fa su’ilu fa aftaw bi ghayri `ilmin fa dalloo wa adalloo. "Until there (will) come a day with less `ulama, people begin to make fatwas by themselves," as they begin to take these youngsters who are behind the computers, no one knows them, believing them or accepting people who declare and claim that they are `ulama. They know little bit, and then they declare they are muftis.
And I was saying, Imam Malik had 300 teachers for Shari’ah and 600 teachers for tasawwuf, and he never accepted to make a fatwa. He was afraid to make a fatwa! He said, "You have to be responsible to Allah (swt) for a fatwa, and how am I going to make fatwa?" So what we do? We follow ignorant people who say, “I am the student, I am the representative of that shaykh, or I am khalifah of this shaykh, or I am this or I am that," and with no 'ilm they begin to fa aftaw bi ghayri `ilmin fa dalloo wa adalloo, give fatwa without knowledge; they deviate and make others to deviate with them.
O Muslims! You have to know from whom you take your religion. Listen to those whom you have faith in, and you know that they have already studied, they have already learned Islam on the way of Ahlu 's-sunnah wa 'l-jama`ah, then you follow but don’t go blindly with someone who says to you, "A jinn is coming from here (left side), a jinn is coming from here (right side), I will give you this taweezh or ruqya to carry with you and it will save you from these100 jinns that are running after you. Slaughter a big lamb, bring it to me, and I will eat it. (Mawlana makes circle with his arms, laughter from the crowd.) Oh you, bring five roosters, not chickens, buy them and come in order that I will take the jinns out of you.”
This is how today our `ulama, unfortunately, not these `ulama (points to crowd), these are jahhala, pretend that they are `ulama but they are ignorant. So how do you follow them, and how do you believe them? Jinn, there are jinn, yeah of course there are jinn, but who gave you permission to say you can take a jinn out of people, if there are situations like that? There are some `ulama that have been given permission, that have been authorized to do that. Not everyone knows. And how can you use a ta’weez that separate husbands from wives and children from mothers? This is the biggest haraam you are committing, to separate families! And to do this kind of job, you go to these people whom they throw this incense and say “sham sham sham sharookh...sham sham sham sharookh ... bakharooj..bakharooj.." (Mawlana fans his arms around.) You see that? You know them? And you call them, “We are afraid,” and the light goes up, there is someone in the room behind them, there is someone putting the light up, putting the light down, and doing all these kinds of charlatan things. These are `ulama? This is where people are taking their teachings from?
O Muslims! You are youngsters, you still have time to go and learn. Contact this man; I witness to his purity. He will guide you and direct you. Jami'atul Karam is waiting for you, go give one year of your life to study there, it’s here, nearby. Or if you have another university, I don’t know, go study, go to al-Azhar of Egypt, go study there for one year, they will take you. They take people for army service for one year, two years in some countries. Go for one year for Islamic service, for the love of Prophet (s) service. Study for one year and come back. Don’t say, "I am young," or "I am old," no, go! Everyone can go, you will have it in your account on the Day of Judgment.
The Prophet (s) is holding our `amal because he said:
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.
tu`radu `alayya `amal ummatee, wa in wajadtu khayran hamadt 'allah wa in wajadtu ghayrah astaghfarta lahum.
I observe the `amal of my ummah. If I find good I thank Allah, and if I see other than that, bad, I will ask forgiveness for them.
So Prophet (s) is haadir, naadhir, hadirun wa naadhirun, he is seeing, who ever wants to say something else; we throw it on his face! Allah gave the Prophet (s) the authority of seeing and being present. Wherever a Muslim says laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun rasoolullah, and makes salawaat on the Prophet (s), allahuma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa `ala aalihi wa saahbihi wa sallam, they are standing for the name of the Prophet (s) and we will stand.
(Mawlana stands.) As-salaatu was salaamu `alayka yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah. As-salaatu wa 's-salaamu `alayka yaa Habeebullah. As-salaatu wa 's-salaamu `alayka yaa shafi`ee 'l-mudhnibeen (Takbeer from crowd - Mawlana sits down.) Your father is sitting down, I have to sit down too because we are going to do dhikr also, it's okay.
So give one year of your life and go study; at least you come back and it will be for you, the Prophet (s) will be holding it for you, because he said, "I observe the amal of my ummah, if I find good I will give my praise to Allah (swt) and say, 'Yaa Rabbee, thank you.' If I see bad I will ask forgiveness on their behalf.”
May Allah (swt) forgive us for the sake of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
Wa lawanahum idh dhalamoo anfoosahum ja'ooka fastagfarullah w 'astaghfara-lahumu 'r-rasoola la-wajadullaha tawwaaban raheema.
If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto thee and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (Suratu' n-Nisa, 4:64)
w'alhamdu lillahi Rabbi 'l-`alameen.