As-salaatu was-salaam `alayka, Yaa Rasoolullah. As-salaatu was-salaam `alayka, yaa Shafi`ee 'l-Mudhnibeen.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-Rajim. 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`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
Alhamdulillah, it is a full masjid. If you look behind you see the men filling the ranks and so many ladies like yesterday. This is the barakah and love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), as-salaatu wa salaam `alayka Yaa Rasoolullah! As-salaatu wa salaam’alayka Yaa Habeebullah! As-salaatu wa salaam `alayka Yaa Shafi`ee 'l-Mudhnibeen! Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar kabeera wa 'l-hamdulilahi katheera wa subhaanallahi wa bi-hamdihi bukratan wa aseela!
Qala an-Nabiyy, Idkhaalu ’s-suroori ila qalbi ’l-‘abd mina ’l-imaan, "Prophet (s) said, 'To bring happiness to the heart of a servant is from faith.'” To make people happy is from faith. Faith is to smile, not to be serious like me always, but to smile. A smile is sadaqah, charity. If you smile in the face of your brother it is as if you are giving a donation, because if you give money to a poor person he will smile. If you give him food he will smile, so if you smile in his face he will smile. It is a sadaqah and something you are giving to make someone happy. Allah wants everyone happy.
(Mawlana stands.) Stand for the honor of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! Allahumma salli `ala an-Nabiyy! Salloo `alayh! Salloo `alayh! Salloo `alayh! (Mawlana sits.) I was speaking yesterday about the importance of mentioning the name of the Prophet (s) because if we stand from the beginning of Creation of dunya until the end, the Day of Judgment, making salawaat on the Prophet (s), it will not give him his rights. From Adam (a) until the end, Allah ordered every human being to make salawaat on the Prophet (s).
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Inn-Allaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Yaa ayyuha 'l-adheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimu tasleema.
Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O you that believe! Send blessings on him and salute him with all respect. (33:56)
Allah (swt) said, yaa ayyuha 'l-adheena aamanu, "You mu’min, Believer," you understand! Muslims still have to make more progress to understand the rights of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), and how much we have to respect Sayyidina Muhammad (s) in every moment of our lives! (Mawlana stands.) Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Salloo `alayh! Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Salloo `alayh! Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Salloo `alayh! (Mawlana sits.) It means if we don’t remember to make salawaat on the Prophet in every moment, Allah (swt) will ask, “Why did you not send salawaat on Prophet? I said, 'O My servant, do salawaat on the Prophet. I didn’t say do one or five salawaat a day, I said, "Me and My angels are continuously making salawaat," sending salutations, sending praising, why are you not sending? Why are you not doing it?'” You are going to be asked! So as much as you can, say salawaat on the Prophet (s) daily, even non-stop for 24 hours; it is acceptable!
So the Prophet (s) loves his Ummah when they are not serious, when they are friendly, when they are showing happiness and love to each other. Make people light. People come with their problems and if you don’t make them feel happy, what is the benefit of a lecture or suhbah? Scholars come today as if there is a lion in the masjid. They are serious and afraid to say one word or to make one simple joke. They are so worried! They don’t need to be worried; then people will run away from them. You have to idkhaalu ’s-suroori ila qalbi ’l-‘abd mina ’l-imaan, bring happiness to the heart of a person; that is from faith. Then they will listen to you. Give water, they are happy. Give candies, they are happy and now they listen, they open their ears now.
The Prophet (s), as many of the seerah say, and Grandshaykh (may Allah bless his soul) used to repeat that story, that the Prophet (s) used to be with his family and with his Sahaba, and he was entertaining them. He was not someone that you could not speak to. He spoke with the child, with the adult, the wife, and he spoke to the people in a very eloquent, soft, and subtle way to make people feel happy. Why are people coming here, for me? No, they are coming for Allah and Sayyidina Muhammad (s). We are coming for Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! (Mawlana stands.) Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Allahumma salli `ala an-Nabiyy! Salloo `alayh! Allahumma salli `alayh! Salloo `alayh! (Mawlana sits.)
We are coming for Allah, for the Prophet and for Islam! Are we coming for anything else? No, nothing. We are showing our love, respect and gratitude to them and we are asking forgiveness. That is why we are coming. Are you coming for business? No business. Yes, we are making business, we are making business with Heaven! We ask humbly, “Yaa Rabbee! We are coming to You; grant us Your forgiveness. Yaa Sayyidi, yaa Rasoolullah, we are coming for your love; reward us and honor us with your love!” There is a trade: Allah will not leave you going without anything. Allah is "al-Kareem", The Generous. He is not like us.
If you visit someone and you are a billionaire or trillionaire, what can you give him as a present? Say anything! A car? A trillionaire can get you the best car. A house? He will get you the best house. A resort? He will give you an island! What more do you want: horses, cows, sheep, goats, camels, or safaris? He can give you all of those. What more do you want? If you are blind, what is the benefit of all that if you can’t see? If you are blind, deaf, or mute, what is the benefit of all of this? Allah is giving you health in dunya. No one can give you health, or life. Allah gave you life! It is more precious than this whole dunya. If you ask the poorest one, “Do you want money in the bank, or health?” he will answer, “I want health.” If you ask a rich person, “I will give you all the money in the bank, but you have to be sick the rest of your life,” what will he say? “I don’t want it.”
The restaurant has an all-you-can-eat buffet. No one can stop you. If you can eat all of it, welcome, but then you can only eat one plate and no more. It means be content with what Allah (swt) gave you. We are coming here to be content with what Allah is giving us and He is not like the man with a trillion dollars; Allah (swt) will give you more than a resort! Allah is al-Kareem! His generosity cannot be described like a human being’s generosity. A human being’s generosity is dunya generosity, but Allah’s generosity cannot be counted. He is giving you heavens and paradises. That is why we are coming here.
Look at those who are outside now, they are dancing and going to discos and Allah knows what they are doing outside this masjid. That’s what they want; they are happy with what they have. We are happy here with what we have, correct? (Yes!) Allah will give him Paradise as He described in the Holy Qur’an and more by maa laa `aynun raa'at wa laa udhunun sami`at wa laa khatar `ala qalbi bashar. Allah will give you what an eye never saw. How much do you see in this life of fantasy and imagination? They show you all kinds of technology to show you the highest level of pleasure. Spit on their pleasures! Allah will give you such pleasures that you take pleasure from it in every moment in Heaven.
When Allah (swt) gives, it is with no limits, it is continuous! You can take pleasure continuously and one pleasure will not overlap the other pleasure. Like here, look, what do you see above the heads of the men and women? Nothing, it is empty. But in Heaven not one single place is empty. Wherever you are, above you, under you, on your right and left, in front of you and behind you, there is pleasure you can take and they cannot overlap each other. In every moment you are taking pleasure from all of them simultaneously, and they are all different.
So let us go back and say that the Prophet (s) was very loving and entertaining to his Sahaba and his family. One time, as narrated through the seerah (biography), the Prophet (s) was relaxing and lying down with his Sahaba around him, talking. This is to show how much humbleness the Prophet (s) was showing his Sahaba by sitting with them, reciting poetry, reciting Qur’an, or reciting ahadith, and the Prophet was making them happy, making them smile or laugh.
Then suddenly there was a knock at the door and someone said there is a group of people who are not believers coming to see the Prophet (s). The Prophet was lying down and eating grapes, sitting with the Sahaba in an informal way, and the Sahaba were eating as well. As soon as there were people at the door, the Prophet (s) immediately combed his hair and his beard, and sat in a very formal way on the floor, and he took the grape bunches and began to eat from the top. The visitors saw Prophet (s) eating from the top of the bunch of grapes. At that moment, all the Sahaba were sitting on their knees in a formal way. But with the Sahaba, he was making them smile, making them happy, giving them sweets to make them happy. The unbelievers looked at the Prophet picking these grapes from the area where they are not ripe and very sour. They didn’t address Prophet (s) as, “Yaa Rasulullah,” they didn’t say, “Yaa Nabiyyullah,” but they said, “Yaa Muhammad,” because they were not believers, so they called Prophet (s) by his name.
Allahumma salli `ala Muhammad! Allahumma salli `ala an-Nabiyy! Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar wa 'l-` izzatu lillah wa li Rasoolihi wa li 'l-mu’mineen!
“Yaa Muhammad, how do you say that you are a prophet when there is a simple issue you are not noticing?” The Sahaba wanted to kill them because they could accept these words. Their love to the Prophet (s) is beyond our imagination, but he kept them calm. He said, “What you mean to ask is, why am I eating the unripe grapes when everyone knows to eat the sweet grapes first and leave the unripe, sour grapes so as to not upset your stomach.” If you put food now for anyone here, everyone will try to get the best and leave the worst. Everyone wants to eat the most suitable for him, the sweet piece, and leave the rest for the others; who cares The Prophet (s) said, “Our guests are first, and we are last. You are our guests. I am eating the unripe ones to leave you the ripe ones, to give you the sweet and we take the sour. We take the responsibility, we carry the suffering, but we give our guest the best that we can. We give them the best food, shelter, knowledge, Paradise and we give them everything, because they are Allah’s guests and you are Allah’s guests whom He is sending to me.” At that moment, they said, ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh.
One time he was invited to dinner and that Sahabi was so happy that Rasulullah (s) was coming to his house; he did his best to make the best food for the Prophet (s). The day came and the Prophet (s) arrived with Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) and his Sahaba. As soon as the Prophet (s) put his feet inside the house, out of love and respect that man said, “Yaa Rasulullah, the food I prepared for you is not up to your standard. Your right is to have better than that.” Immediately Prophet pulled his legs out and said, “I cannot eat from that food.” He said to his Sahaba, “Go and eat, but I am not eating.” The man was crying, “Yaa Rasulullah!” Prophet (s) said, “I cannot eat anymore. What you said was so heavy on my heart because I see all these angels coming on that food, coming down and going up, more angels coming for the barakah of that food. And what you said is not appropriate, as if the food Allah gives to human beings it is not good enough for me. It is enough for me, but I cannot eat it now. You will get the barakah and reward; let the Sahaba eat.” Then he left with Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (q).
As they were passing through the alleys of Madinah, one lady saw the Prophet (s) and she ran to Prophet (s) and asked, “Yaa Rasoolullah, I am a poor lady and my husband cannot walk or see well, and my wish is that my husband will see you and be with you. I cannot bring him to see you, so since you are passing here, come eat with us.”
Don’t be picky with food. It means whatever you find you eat. For example, some people don’t have anything at home but tomatoes. So, eat tomatoes with rice, no problem! Don’t say, “I want this and this and this” like people do in Ramadan and after two days they throw away all the food. How many poor people are living on the top of mountains or in jungles with nothing to eat except they rice inside banana leaves? And they are happy, making their salawaat, prayers, fasting and everything, only eating rice in leaves, and we are not happy with anything! We want this and this and this!
So the Prophet (s) entered that lady’s house and she said, “Yaa Rasulullah, this is our food; come and eat.” What was the food? It was water, dry bread and salt. The dry bread was from barley with lots of pebbles in it because at that time they didn’t have anything to clean it. So the Prophet (s) was taking the dry bread, putting it in water until it becomes softer, salted it and ate. He said to Sayyidina Abu Bakr, “Eat as much as you can as this is blessed food. I said in my hadith to fill the stomach one-third with food, one-third with water, and keep one-third for air, but this time eat as much as you can.”
Grandshaykh (may Allah bless his soul) was gave the best food, but sometimes he gave bread, salt, and water, and so many times Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ate bread, salt, vinegar and water.
That poor lady did not say as the other said, “For your respect I have to give higher,” but she said, “Yaa Rasulullah, this is the best food I have.”
The Prophet’s (s) food in the morning was one cup of hot water with one spoon of honey. At noon, brunch time, he ate seven dates with one cup of milk. In the evening, he ate barley bread dipped in vinegar or olive oil. That was Prophet’s food most of the time with his family. Compare that to today and what they were eating, and you can see the difference.
O Muslims, men, mashaykh, scholars, imaams, ladies, and mu’mins! Be simple; don’t be complicated. You are going to eat it and that’s it; the taste is only from the beginning to the end of the tongue, that is where the taste is. All food has the same taste from the throat down. The only thing is that this mouth makes all the problems: talking too much, cursing, complaining, and it doesn’t like anything. “I like this and I don’t like that.” Be careful; be simple people. Eat whatever you find in front of you and if you don’t find anything, eat bread. Eat and go: Allah will be happy with you. The Prophet (s) was happy to eat the salt and water that the lady offered and that man was happy because the Prophet (s) visited their home.
Do you want the Prophet (s) to be happy with you? (Yes!) Make salawaat on the Prophet. Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Allahumma salli `ala 'n-Nabiyy! Allahumma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad! Yaa Rasoolullah! Yaa Habeebullah! Yaa Shafi`ee 'l-Mudhnibeen! Yaa Khayri Khalqillah! Allahumma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad hatta yarda’ Sayyidina Muhammad!
When you are in the army they teach you to raise your voice, to show that all your body is speaking together at the same time. When you call on Allah (swt) and His Prophet, don’t be like "blah, blah, blah, blah." Many people are like that, with no with himmah, zeal. (In a loud voice Mawlana says), “Yaa Rasulullah! Yaa Habeebullah! Yaa Rabba 'l-`izzati wa 'l-`azhaamati wa 'l-jabaroot!”
When Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was in his khalwah, seclusion, but not talking, only looking, and he was completely shaking! When he used to visit the Prophet (s) on Hajj or `Umrah and I used to go with him, and he was in front of the Prophet (s) maqaam, shaking in his du`a. Today how do we make du`a? Like weak servants. Yaa Rabbee, we are weak servants. The Prophet (s) said we have to smile in the face of believers to make them happy. Yaa Rabbee, we are coming to You smiling. What can we do? It makes us happy because we cannot do anything, we are nothing.”
Don’t ever open your mouth to say, “I am a scholar.” Like these professors, doctors, MBA, MSc, BA, Master’s degree, WC (water closet; bathroom), whatever—we will take it! Put all these certificates in the WC and when you go inside look at them on the wall. (Laughter) These are in WC because they are for dunya. In akhirah there is no WC; there is Paradise.
So don’t say about yourself that you are something or you are a shaykh. We see so many who call themselves khalifahs, mashaykh, or amirs. Who gave you that title? Did Allah give you that title? You made yourself amir and you want people to follow you. You occupied the country and then you made yourself the amir or king. You want Allah to call you “amir”? Do you want Allah to call you “king”, as He said:
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الْمَلإِ مِن بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مِن بَعْدِ مُوسَى إِذْ قَالُواْ لِنَبِيٍّ لَّهُمُ ابْعَثْ لَنَا مَلِكًا نُّقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ قَالَ هَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِن كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ أَلاَّ تُقَاتِلُواْ قَالُواْ وَمَا لَنَا أَلاَّ نُقَاتِلَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَقَدْ أُخْرِجْنَا مِن دِيَارِنَا وَأَبْنَآئِنَا فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ تَوَلَّوْاْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً مِّنْهُمْ وَاللّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِي
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Alam tara 'ila al-malaa'i min Banee Israa'eela min ba`di Moosa idh qaaloo li Nabiyyin lahum ab`ath lana malikaan nuqatil fee sabeelillahi. qaala hal `asaytum in kutiba `alaykumu al-qitaalu allaa tuqaatiloo. qaaloo wa maa lana alaa nuqaatila fee sabeelillahi wa qad ukhrijna min diyaarina wa abnaa'ina fa-lamma kutiba `alayhimu
'l-qitaalu tawallaw illa qaleelaan minhum w 'Allahu `aleemun bizh-zhaalimeen.
Have you not turned your vision to the chiefs of the Children of Isra`eel after (the time of) Moses? They said to a prophet among them, "Appoint for us a king that we may fight in the cause of God." He said, "Is it not possible, if you were commanded to fight, that you will not fight?" They said, "How could we refuse to fight in the cause of God, seeing that we were turned out of our homes and our families?" But when they were commanded to fight they turned back, except a small band among them. But God has full knowledge of those who do wrong. (2:246)
Bani Isra`eel asked their prophet for Allah to send them a king to follow, so Allah sent Taroot. Other than Sayyidina Dawood (a), who was a prophet but he was young (an adolescent), so Taroot was the king. Taroot said, “Yaa Rabbee, send us the relics of Sayyidina Musa (s) for them to believe us.” So Allah gave him that kingship. You want kingship from Allah, not from people; people cannot do anything for you! O Muslims! Don’t call yourselves anything. Let Allah (swt) call you, because you are a mu’min and you are a good worshipper.
May Allah forgive us and may Allah bless us. Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Faatihah.