Suhbah at TASC
Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Dastoor yaa Sayyidee, madad!
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاء كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلاَئِكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاء هَـؤُلاء إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ قَالُواْ سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ
And He taught Adam the nature of all things, then He placed them before the angels and said, "Tell me the nature of these if you are right." They said, "Glory to You! We have no knowledge except what You taught us! Truly it is You Who are perfect in knowledge and wisdom." (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:32)
The malaa’ika, angels, answered Allah (swt), Subhaanaka laa `ilma lanaa illa ma `allamtanaa innaka Anta ‘l-`Aleemu ‘l-Hakeem, “Glory to You! We know nothing except what you teach us and Your Knowledge and Wisdom are perfect!” The same applies for all of us: we don't know anything except through the knowledge Allah gives us and if He chooses not to teach us we won't learn and there is no way we can get that knowledge. Knowledge came through Qur’an. If there were no heavenly books, human beings would have no knowledge; how could a human being receive heavenly knowledge unless Allah sent the Holy Ones with Holy Books?
So our teacher said that we don’t know anything except what Allah teaches, which is the answer the angels gave when Allah told them, “Tell Me the names,” and they could not. They said, “O our Lord, You did not teach us that, so how can we know?” We have to understand that if Allah does not permit us to have knowledge, we cannot have it.
اللَّهُ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لاَ تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلاَ نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِهِ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلاَ يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلاَّ بِمَا شَاءَ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاو ;َاتِ وَالأَرْضَ وَلاَ يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ
Allah! There is no god but He, The Living, The Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the Heavens and on Earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permits? He knows what is (presently) before them and what will be after them, and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Throne extends over the Heavens and on Earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them, For He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory). (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:255)
In the middle of Ayat al-Kursi we read, wa laa yuheetoona bi shay'im-min `ilmihi illa bi maa shaa', “They will not encircle, encompass or achieve any of His Knowledge except by His will.” So Allah (swt) is telling us, “I will not give you except what I want you to know.” Then how do we get knowledge? Our shaykh says, "Follow the Holy Ones, follow the way of the Great Ones, the Prophets and Saints!" If you cannot reach a prophet--because Prophet Muhammad (s) was the Last Messenger and there are none after him, reach a saint! If you cannot reach a saint because they are very difficult to find, our teacher says, "Find someone whom Allah loves."
If we love a person that Allah loves, Allah will also love us. If we find an imam, scholar, teacher, hajji, an old, pious man praying in the masjid day and night, if you find someone loved by Allah, our teacher says by loving that person, him or her--it can be a female saint or worshipper like Sayyida Maryam, Sayyida `Ayesha, Sayyida Fatimah (`alayhi ‘s-salam)--someone Allah loves, He will love us back and when Allah loves us, what happens? Knowledge will flow from the heart of the one you love; they will teach us how to be loved by Allah (swt). That Holy One who achieved the love of Allah will teach us what to do, how to take heed of it in order to follow a path to gain Allah’s love! Therefore, we have to love those whom Allah loves and at the same time we have to dislike what Allah dislikes.
Our teacher said if we love a person Allah does not love, He will not love us and if we don't love a person that Allah loves, then we will not be loved Him. Therefore, we love whom Allah loves and we don’t love whom Allah does not love. By doing that, by following the guidance set up by our teacher, who is the first one to love them? Prophet Muhammad (s). Allah loves many: there are a lot of people, creatures, humans, Creations, and all angels as they have no sin, but let’s talk about humans. Allah loves a lot of people, men and women, but whom does He love most? The Prophet (s)! So by showing love to our beloved Prophet (s), Allah will love us back and by not loving whom Allah loves, we will never gain His love: that is al-hubbu fillah wa ‘l-bughdu fillah, to love for Allah and to dislike for Allah.
If Allah loves His Holy Messenger (s) and the rest of the Prophets (a) and we say, "No, we don't need to love them, we can love Allah directly!" then can they describe or imagine Allah? No, He is not contained! Our imagination cannot encompass, understand or limit The Creator! It is self-explanatory, you don't need to explain it: it’s called ‘imagination’, it’s not truth. Our teachers tell us not to imagine Allah, not to think He is this or that, because you cannot explain Him to yourself, that is wrong. Allah is Truth! To know Allah is impossible, but we can know the representation of His Love in His Creation, Nabi al-Habeeb (s). You may imagine Al-Habeeb from reading about his way of life, his features, his names, because he is created. You can relate and the more we love Prophet (s), our teacher says we get closer to Allah’s Love, al-hubbu fillah wa ‘l-bughdu fillah, you love for Allah and you dislike for Allah.
Mawlana says if we young, old, men, women put in our minds to love whom Allah loves and dislike whom Allah dislikes, our dunya and our Akhirah, our here and Hereafter, will be spend in pleasure, comforted! Our teacher says the whole reason people are in difficulty nowadays and in the past is because they have in their hearts something other than Allah (swt), what He does not like, which means they love what Allah does not love, so Allah does not love them back. Inshaa-Allah we will be amongst the loved ones. I am speaking in general, if we have something in our hearts that Allah does not like, that is the reason for us being depressed, unhappy, sad, in agony or in pain. Our teacher says to take out what you have in your heart that Allah does not like and be in happiness. The examples are plenty, where to start I don’t know, but everyone including me has multiple things we love and want to have. What happens if you cannot get what you like? You become frustrated and angry because you cannot get it, but you want it. Inwardly you are on fire and angry, and you express that anger outside to achieve what you want, a big mansion, for example. You have to work hard, so now you start to cut corners or cheat or whatever it takes to get that. You want that woman, man, jewellery, this or that and work so hard to achieve that. That's why people are in depression, because they have put in their hearts something that Allah does not like. Allah did not send us here for dunya, He didn't say, “Go collect material things.” On the contrary:
قُلْ مَتَاعُ الدَّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ
Say, “The enjoyment of this world is little.” (Surat an-Nisaa, 4:77)
There is very little pleasure in dunya, so leave that and look for your Akhirah! When we have something in our hearts other than Allah, we are in real difficulty. Our teacher says to put in your heart whom Allah wants to see and take away from your heart whom Allah does not want to see, then you can follow the Holy Ones and reach the love of our Lord. Inshaa-Allah we can do what our teacher says, just remember this: love whom Allah loves. Is your friend someone Allah loves? If not, change them for someone Allah loves, and dislike and stay away from those Allah does not like. Hubbu fillah wa bughdu fillah, love for Allah and dislike for Allah!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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