28 July 2012 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Suhbah after Salaat azh-Zhuhr (2)
Al-amru fawqa 'l-adab, “The order is above good manners and discipline.” If he orders he is responsible.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`alaa fee haadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
We mentioned before in the last session that dhikrullah is qoot al-arwaah wa sada` as-sadr, “The food of souls and a polish for the rust of the heart.” Our hearts are so rusted that if not for Allah's Rahmah on us, we would always be falling down, but Allah's Rahmah is keeping us on the level that we are. So how does dhikrullah polish the heart? When you do dhikr Allah will mention you and His mention of you is what clears the rust on your heart!
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُواْ لِي وَلاَ تَكْفُرُونِ
Fadhkuroonee adhkurkum, washkuroo lee wa laa takfuroon.
Remember Me, I will remember you. Give thanks to Me and do not be ungrateful towards Me.
(Surat al-Baqarah, 2:152)
Allah (swt) said, “Remember Me, I will remember you.” It’s a condition, but Allah is giving us a way from His Rahmah to polish that heart, which is very simple as He said:
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee.
I sit with him who remembers me. (Suyuti, Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
“I am beside or near My Servant who remembers or even mentions me.” So remember Allah's Greatness in your life, and to remember Him with shukr you have to say, “Shukran, yaa Rabbee!”
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
La-in shakartum la-azeedanakum.
If you thank Me, I will give you more. (Surat al-Ibraheem, 14:7)
In addition to remembering you and giving you more, Allah (swt) will polish the rust of your heart.
Awliyaullah try to achieve three stations: Mahabbah, Hudoor and Fanaa, “Love, Presence, and Annihilation,” which go parallel with the levels `Ilm al-Yaqeen, `Ayn al-Yaqeen and Haqq al-Yaqeen, Knowledge of Certainty, Vision of Certainty, and Reality of Certainty. In the Station of Mahabbah, which goes along with the Station of `Ilm, you want to know more about the one you love. When your heart is full of mahabbah, you begin feeling the presence of that person you are constantly remembering. If a wife loves her husband or vice versa, either of them will not eat until the other is present, so their mahabbah brings about the others’ presence. Hearing and knowing about the person will take you from mahabbah to the hudoor, presence, which will open `Ayn al-Yaqeen, “to see.”
We love Allah (swt) and Prophet (s), and we say, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh,” but do we see or hear anything? No, which means there is no mahabbah there yet. Man ahabba shay’an akthara min dhikrih, “If you love something, you mention it a lot.” Therefore, if you love Allah (swt) you will mention Him a lot.
Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
فَإِذَا قَضَيْتُم مَّنَاسِكَكُمْ فَاذْكُرُواْ اللّهَ كَذِكْرِكُمْ آبَاءكُمْ أَوْ أَشَدَّ ذِكْرًا
Fa’idhaa qadaytum manaasikakum fadhkuroo ’Llah kadhikrikum abaa’akum aw ashadda dhikra.
So when you have accomplished your holy rites, celebrate the praises of Allah as you used to celebrate the praises of your fathers. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:200)
As a child runs to its parent shouting for attention, and we must also shout and plead to Allah (swt)! Awliyaullah are pleading in du`a, asking for the benefit of the ummah. In fact, Allah is saying to mention Him more than you mention your own parents. Every child mentions his parents but does not remember Allah (swt), which means we are still children in the Way. Yet everyone of us is trying to be better by attending such events, where the only discussion is the love of Allah (swt), Prophet (s) and awliyaullah.
So the station `Ilm al-Yaqeen, Knowledge of Certainty, comes with the station of Mahabbah, `Ayn al-Yaqeen, Vision of Certainty, comes with the station of Hudoor, and then Haqq al-Yaqeen, Reality of Certainty, comes with the station of Fanaa, Annihilation. Through love, you can hear what others cannot hear through `Ilm al-Yaqeen, then Allah (swt) will take you to the level of Hudoor, where you will have both `Ilm al-Yaqeen and `Ayn al-Yaqeen.
`Ilm al-Yaqeen is knowledge. How does one acquire knowledge? By hearing, which is required from us to learn the Holy Qur'an. You can’t learn the Holy Qur'an just by reading it yourself and expect to enter the Ocean of Knowledge and hear what others cannot. It is not possible to learn it by yourself, as you repeatedly mispronounce the words and do not know how to open and close your mouth for every letter or know the precise rules and etiquttes of recitation. Holy Qur'an cannot be learned except by talaqqee min afwaahi ‘l-quraa, to learn from the reciter, al-muqri, who has also learned from a well-experienced teacher in the chain of reciters that reaches all the way back to the Sahaabah (r). It’s that simple. You cannot come as Shaykh al-Quraa (a reciter) and say, “I have recited the Holy Qur'an,” as you may have made too many mistakes. A singer learns to sing by practicing with the composer, who teaches the correct pronunciation, pitch, and recitation of each word. Similarly, you must learn the Holy Qur'an by reciting with a teacher who learned from his teacher, going all the way back to Sahaabah (r). Al-talaqqee is to learn “mouth-to-mouth;” as you hear the recitation of the Shaykh, you also pay close attention to the movements of his mouth and tongue while he pronounces each letter, to give the right of Holy Qur’an, about which Allah (swt) says:
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ
Inna nahnu nazzalna ’dh-dhikr wa inna lahu la-haafizhoon.
Behold! It is We Ourselves Who have bestowed from on high, step by step, this reminder and behold, it is We Who shall truly guard it (from all corruption). (Surat al-Hijr, 15:9)
Allah (swt) said, “I am the One Who sent down Holy Qur'an on the Prophet (s) and inna lahu la-haafizhoon, We are preserving the recitation of Holy Qur'an,” just as Jibreel (a) recited it to the Prophet (s), with all its proper rules of pronunciation.
When we recite with our weaknesses and imperfections, immediately the angels take it and turn it into the correct recitation and present it to Allah (swt) clean, which is the meaning of “preserved,” that, “We preserved the correct pronunciation!” Angels will fix it and then preserve the recitation of anyone, and present it to Allah's Divine Presence in exactly the same way it was revealed and dress the ummah with it! So read the Holy Qur'an and don’t think you are making a mistake in recitation, because Allah (swt) will preserve and protect it by not leaving it with any mistakes, as He has angels who will fix it for you.
Subhaan-Allah! Whenever you sit down to read the Holy Qur'an, every dunya issue comes to disturb you: the telephone rings or people come with questions, you have to cut every verse to answer someone. So Allah (swt) is preserving the Holy Qur’an despite all the shortcomings of the ummah, which means He is rendering your recitation in the correct way, as if you had never been disturbed in your reading, and that is “preserved” in the widest meaning.
In addition to preserving the recitation, Allah is also preserving the secrets of the Holy Qur'an, as there are infinite secrets contained in it. Jibreel (a) said “Kaaf” and the Prophet (s) said, `Alimtu, “I knew.” What did he know? He knew all the secrets of all things, the Oceans of Knowledge, the nouns, pronouns and names that begin with the letter kaaf. Every Arabic letter has a different secret. For example, the letter “alif “ is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an 1,800 (or 2,800) times. As Grandshaykh (q) said, “Allah opens 24,000 Oceans of Knowledge to awliyaullah each time a letter is mentioned.” So when you say “alif,” 24,000 Oceans of Knowledge are multiplied by 1,800, as every alif has a different secret. Do not think it is too much, as for Allah it is not!
So what you get from `Ilm al-Yaqeen, `Ayn al-Yaqeen, and Haqq al-Yaqeen goes parallel with what you get from Mahabbah, Love of the Shaykh, the Prophet, and Allah; Hudoor, Presence of the Shaykh, the Prophet and Allah; and Fanaa, Annihilation in the Shaykh, the Prophet, and Allah. The beginners or mureeds first swim in the Ocean of Mahabbah of the Shaykh, as that is adab. That does not mean you don’t have love to Allah (swt) or the Prophet (s), but rather that builds a relationship between the beginner (muhibb) and the Shaykh, which is temporary, meaning that through your love to him, he will upgrade you to the love of the Prophet (s)! This doesn’t mean that your love to the Shaykh disappears, but rather he wants to keep guiding you in order for you to reach the Love of Prophet (s). Then, when the Prophet (s) opens for you different kinds of salawaat as he did for awliyaullah, through which they were able to see the Prophet (s), he will take you to the Real Love of Allah (swt), just as he took all 124,000 awliyaullah who are in love with Allah (swt)!
This entire process begins when the mureed shows love to his Shaykh, which is by remembering him and frequently mentioning his name. In this state, you like to see your Shaykh all the time and say salaam to him as he is with you, so it is easy to remember him. There are people who reached the level of remembering their Shaykh at every moment, not by physically sitting near him; perhaps they are thousands of miles away and yet are nearer to the Shaykh than anyone sitting beside him. It all depends on the degree of love, which can break boundaries! Loving the Shaykh will take you to loving the Prophet (s), who is not thousands of kilometers away, but as far as Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa! Even so, you can still reach him in his Ascension by saying, “Yaa Muhammad!” and he will respond out of humility, although he does not need to, but does so as he doesn’t let down those who love him.
Your Shaykh is in dunya, from east to west, but the Prophet (s) can hear, see, and reach everyone at the same time in his Ascension, saying, “Who is calling on me? O! This one, that one, and that one.” He has heavenly power! So the Shaykh will take you to love of the Prophet (s), and love of the Prophet (s) will take you to love of Allah (swt). As soon as this chain is done, you will proceed to the second level, Hudoor, Presence, where you begin to see what others cannot.
“Presence” is when you are in that majlis, association. The Shaykh takes you to be in the presence of the Prophet (s), Hudoor an-Nabi (s). The first level is Hudoor ash-Shaykh, to be present with your Shaykh, who takes you to the presence of the Prophet (s), who then takes you to Hudoor Allah, the Presence of Allah (swt). All of this is done with ana jaleesun man dhakaranee, “I am near the one who remembers Me,” and as Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur'an, “I am near the one who remembers Me.” So that nearness is the presence, which will move us a level higher, to be in Allah’s Presence, but that’s not all. When you are in the level of Hudoor, Presence, you are in mushahada, witnessing what you have not seen before.
So now you are hearing and seeing, which is the Station of Haqq al-Yaqeen, “Reality of Certainty.” What you are witnessing now is a reality, without any confusions or doubt. Sometimes you hear the news or someone informs you about a certain event. What is their proof? The proof is in what the camera recorded, so by hearing through the speakers and seeing what is on TV, you establish that is true. So when you are in the Station of Love, Allah (swt) gives you the ability to hear what others cannot, then He give you vision when you are in the Station of Presence, Hudoor, expalined in the hadith of Imam Bukhari (q):
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من عادا لي وليا فقد آذنته بالحرب
Man `adaa lee waliyyan faqad aadhantahu bi ’l-harb.
(Allah [swt] said) Whoever comes against my wali, I declare war on him.
(Hadith Qudsi; Bukhari, from Abu Hurayrah)
And you will see that the hadiths are combined here:
ولا يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به، ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها،
Wa laa yazaala `abdee yataqarabu ilayya bi’ n-nawaafil hatta uhibbah. Fa idhaa ahbaabtahu kuntu sama`uhulladhee yasma`u bihi wa basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, wa yadahulladhee yabtishu bihaa wa rijlahullatee yamshee bihaa.
My Servant does not cease to approach Me through voluntary worship until I will love him. When I love him, I will become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he acts, and the legs with which he walks (and other versions include, “and the tongue with which he speaks.”). (Hadith Qudsi, Bukhari)
That is the Station of Mahabbah, where Allah first gives you the hearing, by which you can hear what others cannot hear and learn. Then, as you go higher you feel the Hudoor, Presence, where He gives you vision, basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, “I will give you the power to see what others cannot see.” This hadith completely describes the Station of Hudoor, beginning with the mention of awliyaullah, which indicates the key to this process. Why did He first mention awliyaullah, “Whoever opposes a wali of mine, I will declare war on him,” and then, “As long as My Servant approaches me through voluntary worship, I will love him.” This means, don’t fight awliyaullah, as in the continuation of the hadith, they are the door to Mahabaat Allah, and for sure to Mahabbat an-Nabi (s)!
Then Allah (swt) says, “I will be his ears he can hear with, eyes he can see with, and his tongue he can speak with.” When you establish `Ilm al-Yaqeen, Knowledge of Certainty, `Ayn al-Yaqeen, Vision of Certainty, and then Haqq al-Yaqeen, Reality of Certainty, you become like their radio or television, broadcasting whatever they are speaking, as you are only a box, like a cable or satellite TV box that goes from one channel to the next; they tell you to take this knowledge and broadcast it.
Wa lisaanahu’llatee yatakallamu bihi, “I will be the tongue with which he speaks.” The tongue expresses, so when that wali “broadcasts” and gives out what needs to be given to his followers, if he sees Shaytan approaching, he beats him away with his hand, as mentioned in the hadith, wa yadahulladhee yabtishu bihaa, “He will become his hand with which he strikes.” What does he strike, a cow, an ox or human beings? No, he strikes Shaytan, evil-doers and bad characters. He will give you a whip to destroy the bad desires in order to follow good desires. Then Allah (swt) says, wa rijlahullatee yamshee bihaa, “I will give you power to walk in My Direction,” then at the end of the hadith, He continues:
رب اشعث اغبر لو اقسم على الله لأبره
Rubba ash`ath aghbara law aqsama `ala ’Llaahi la-abbarah.
There may be a disheveled, dusty person who, if he swears an oath by Allah, Allah will fulfill it. (Muslim)
Someone who you don’t like, but whom went through that Way, if he asks Allah (swt) for anything Allah will give! We are asking Allah (swt) to send us one such wali to ask for us and to clear us up, for the sake of Prophet (s), Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), and Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa`iz ad-Daghestani (q)!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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