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
Atee`oollaha wa atee`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)
Our dear brothers and sisters, those who are here and those who are viewing us, wherever they are. Salaam from Mawlana Shaykh to everyone. He said, “I am missing to see my mureeds, I am missing them.” Everyone likes to see their children and we are his children; some are spiritual, while some are spiritual and physical. To him, all of us are dear to his heart, as tears run down his eyes when he says, “I miss them.” Meaning, he is missing to sit with everyone, to listen and to speak with them. May Allah (swt) grant him long life to see Mahdi (a). He is for sure already in a station, as we believe, that has no veils, because the station of awliyaullah has no veils. Awliyaullah can see what they want, but there are veils on us. That is why we say, may Allah (swt) increase our life with Mawlana Shaykh’s in order to see Sayyidina Mahdi (a) with his barakah inshaa-Allah and to be together with him dunya and Akhirah.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
Allah (swt) wants the best for us, He doesn’t want us to be punished. That is why He is Arhamu 'r-Rahimeen, and we don’t want to be punished as if we are punished we are going to suffer. Now in dunya, if you go near a hot stove and touch it a little bit with your finger, what will happen? You will get burned and suffer from too much pain, then you will rush to the doctor to get some kind of ointment or cream to put on your hand in order to not feel pain. But still if your body is very badly burned, as is the case in third degree burns, then it is finished and there is no cure. If you get first degree burns, you might have pain but will still survive, and the same for second degree burns. However, a third degree burn means that there is no hope. I don’t like to say this, but our situation right now is such that if we do not get Allah’s Mercy, Prophet’s (s) blessings and the barakah of our shaykh on us, we will be in the third degree. We have to know that we will be saved with their barakah! And as I have mentioned before, if we are by ourselves, it is like when the Prophet (s) said to Sayyidah `Ayesha (a), “Ask Allah not to judge you.” She is the wife of the Prophet (s). “Ask Allah not to judge you, because if Allah wants to judge one person, for sure they will be punished.” Man hoosib `udhdhib, “Who will be judged will be punished.” So, may Allah (swt) not judge us!
We are weak servants and Allah wants to defend us from the hands of Shaytan. Some people say, “Why is there Shaytan then?” If Allah wills, He can create humans to be like angels. Can anyone say no? Angels are not punished because they are infallible, they have no sins. Do you think Allah cannot create human beings so that they may not be punished? Yes He can, by us being mu’min: when we are mu’min, Allah (swt) will forgive us from punishment. He created us and let us to be in the field, saying, “Run!” It is like the TV program Survivor that Hollywood makes. What do they do with them? They let them loose in the jungle and tell them to survive and they run after them. When they are caught, they get punished.
So we have to know that Allah gave us something, a way to survive, but there is Shaytan waiting behind. He wants to run after us in order to catch us and when he does, it is like being in the mouth of the lion with his teeth right close to you! Can you pull out? You cannot with your own power, but with Allah’s (swt) Forgiveness, you can! Allah can pull us out at any moment from the teeth of Shaytan. This means that He can pull us out of dunya and make us to survive in the Hereafter forever, but we have to struggle to try to become mu’mins. Yes, you can be a Muslim, as a mu’min is a Muslim, but a Muslim is not yet a mu’min. This is something very important that we have to know, as 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
The Arabs declare, "We believe." Say (to them), "You do not; rather say, 'We submit,' because belief has not yet found its way into your hearts. If you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not reduce
a thing from your deeds. Allah is the Oft-Forgiving and the Most Merciful." (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:14)
We say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah,” as Prophet (s) said:
من قال لا اله الا الله دخل الجنة
Whoever says ‘Laa ilaaha illa-Llah’ enters Paradise.
So now we are in a paradise; the Paradise of Tawheed, of “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” We cannot see it, but it is there. So Allah is saying, “You get Paradise, but you will not be with the Prophet (s). Because you said Kalimat at-Tawheed, ‘Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah,’ you will enter Paradise, as that makes you to enter Paradise and makes you Muslim, but there are different levels to become a mu’min.”
One of the characteristics of a mu’min is that when he speaks, he doesn’t lie. Someone from the Sahaabah (r) asked the Prophet (s), and this is for us to learn:
قال أبو الدرداء وذكر بعضهم قال عبدالله بن جراد يارسول الله هل يزني المؤمن قال قد يكون ذلك قال هل يسرق المؤمن قال قد يكون ذلك قال هل يكذب المؤمن قال لا ثم أتبعها نبي الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : { إنما يفتري الكذب الذين لا يؤمنون بآيات الله } النحل : 105
Sa’alat Rasoolullahi (s) fa qultu: yaa Rasoolullah hal yaznee al-mu’min? Qaala: qad yakoonu dhalika. Qaala: hal yakdhib al-mu’min? Qaala (s): laa thumma atba`ahaa an-Nabi (s) : Innamaa yaftaree al-kadhib alladheena laa yu’minoona bi-ayaatillaah.
One time the Sahaabah (r) asked the Prophet (s), “Yaa Rasoolullah! Does the mu’min steal or rob?" The Prophet (s) replied, "Perhaps." They asked, "Does the mu’min make zina (adultery)?" The Prophet (s) replied, "Perhaps." They asked, "Does the mu’min steal?" The Prophet (s) replied, “Perhaps.” Then they asked him, "Does the mu’min lie?" To this the Prophet (s) replied, "This, no!" Then the Prophet (s) followed it by (reciting), “Only they invent falsehood who believe not Allah's revelations, and (only) they are the liars. [Surat al-Nahl, 16:105]” (Kanzu ’l-`Ummal, 8994)
“Stealing” here not only means from your wealth, but from your reputation to build his own, that is stealing. When he made you to look down and made himself to look down, that is stealing, but we are not in that discussion right now, we are discussing this hadith.
The Prophet (s) answered, “Yes, it might be.” Shaytan might come and continuously whisper in his ear, after a while, that person might go ahead and steal. Then they asked, “Does a mu’min commit adultery?” Prophet (s) answered, “Yes, it might be,” because if the mu’min makes adultery, he doesn’t affect others. He has affected only himself with the bad sin, there is no right of others in it. So the Prophet (s) said, “Yes, maybe.” Then they asked, “Does the mu’min lie?” Prophet (s) replied, “This, no! A mu’min cannot lie, if he does, then he is not a mu’min.”
So it is easy: if you want to know if a person is a mu’min, just check whether he lies or not. If someone later finds out that he does, then he is not a mu’min. He is still a Muslim, but a mu’min does not lie; no matter what comes, the mu’min must always tell the truth. If you are not aware of the truth, then verify it, check it, as Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur’an:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
O you who believe! If a corrupt person comes to you with something wrong, ascertain the truth unless you harm people unwittingly and afterwards become full of repentance for what you have done. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:6)
So the one listening must not believe what is being said by that person until they verify if it is correct or not. That is important, as Allah said, “Verify it, because that person might say something that could affect others,” but our mistake is that we are not verifying! If someone comes up to me and says, “So-and-so did this,” and without verifying I go ahead and spread false accusations about that person, Allah (swt) is telling us to verify, as you might accuse someone through your ignorance, and then you might regret it. That is why the Prophet (s) said that a mu’min does not lie, because doing so makes you to step on the rights of others as they have been accused of something they have not done.
For example, they openly accuse all of us of doing sajda to Mawlana Shaykh and now in one country they made a fatwa that Naqshbandis are doing sajda to their shaykhs, which is haraam in Shari`ah, as that is only for Allah (swt).
One time, someone came to the Prophet (s) and kissed him and began to make sajda to him, and Prophet (s) said, “No, you can’t do that! Sajda is only for Allah (swt).” So they accuse us of a lie and they must come to us and verify it by asking us, “Do you make sajda (to the shaykh)?” Has anyone here made sajda and said, “Subhaana Rabbee al-`alaa wa bi hamdihi,” three times? No, as this is for Allah alone! Those who accuse us are in countries that touch the feet of people: many people from Bangladesh put their hands on the feet of the shaykh or the respected one, and so do Hindus, but those who are accusing us of this are Wahhabis, they are trying to find a way to accuse us of making sajda (to the shaykh).
So we want our rights from them on the Day of Judgment that we did sajda for Allah (swt). When Allah ordered angels to make sajda to Sayyidina Adam (a), it was not a sajda of `ibaadah, worshipness, because that is only for Allah (swt). When angels were ordered to make sajda to Adam (a) it was to the Light in the forehead of Adam (a), which is Sayyidina Muhammad (s), because when Allah created Sayyidina Adam (a), He placed that Light in his forehead. The angels made sajdatu ‘l-ihtiraam, the sajda of respect, and it is alright as it was Allah’s Order. It was not sajdatu ‘l-`ibaadah, because that was not Allah’s Order. We are not ordered to make any sajda, but you may kiss the hands and feet of the shaykh, which is still not acceptable to them (Wahhabis), but it is alright, let them say what they want, but they did not verify it!
Allah (swt) says in the Holy Qur’an:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدَافِعُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
Inna-Llaaha yudaafi`u `ani ’Lladheena aamanoo.
Verily Allah will defend (from ill) those who believe. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:38)
We did not do it, they are accusing us! They made the mistake, we got the barakah and they are carrying our mistakes now. Allah is defending us, as He said, “I defend the believers. You don’t need to defend yourself, I am defending you!” If someone comes to us with a corrupted message, Allah will defend us, so leave it for Him and don’t try to speak with them as their minds are like rocks, they cannot understand.
So today we have to look at things like this laptop or this camera, as it is technology. Does anyone have an iPhone? Is your iPhone halaal or haraam? That is the question. It is haraam, because they are letting you bring Shaytan to your pocket. A few years ago they brought Shaytan to your house through the TV, now they are bringing Shaytan for you everywhere you go by having it in your phone and what is that Shaytan in your phone? I even see children playing on it. There all kinds of inappropriate movies and pictures, such as Instagram. So it is very simple to make your telephone halaal and not haraam. Do you want your phone to be halaal? Don’t say, “The shaykh is giving us a lecture on technology,” but the fact remains, as you must take wisdom from everything. Everyone now is carrying a phone, even a 12 or 13 year-old child is carrying his father or mother’s phone and playing with it. If the parents didn’t buy a phone for him, he will take their phone and watch all kinds of things on it and the parents will be unaware of it. And so this way, that phone is haraam.
It is like you eat meat in countries where they are not slaughtering the meat, either they are hanging the animal (after slaughter) or not doing it in the halaal way. I was talking to a very sincere and pious person who was from a country in the Far East and had come to America.
He said, “The steaks in the restaurants are very nice.”
I asked, “Is it halaal or haraam?”
He said, “What do you mean? It is steak.” So they don’t know, because they think every meat is halaal.
In any case, what do we need to do to make our phones halaal? Shaytan is after us, he comes to your ear every moment gossiping for you to open your phone and see something. We need someone to warn us from Shaytan, so use your phone to do that. Have a voice come from your phone every hour or half hour that says, “Say ‘astaghfirullah’.” Program your phone to remind you to say “astaghfirullah,” or “shukran lillah” or “alhamdulillah.” Then if you will be asked, you can say, “Yaa Rabbee, my phone is reminding me to say ‘astaghfirullah,’ so I am remembering to say it.”
there are different apps available on the phone that remind you to say “astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah,” or “alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah” or “shukran lillah, shukran lillah.” There are many more, such as “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and “Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” It will remind you every hour it rings, saying, “Say ‘astaghfirullah’.” All of the mureeds in America and Far East now programed their phones to say “astaghfirullah,” or “shukran lillah” or “alhamdulillah.” At least you will save yourself, as Allah (swt) said:
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
La-in shakartum la-azeedanakum.
If you thank Me, I will give you more. (Surah Ibraaheem, 14:7)
Allah is saying, “If you make istighfaar, I will forgive you.” So this way our phone is halaal and Allah (swt) will defend us, because we are trying our best to say the truth and not to listen to Shaytan. It might be that you are watching a movie and your phone rings and says, “Say ‘astaghfirullah’.” You will remember immediately while watching and you will say “astaghfirullah.” Don’t let that moment pass you by without making istighfaar! We as human beings never remember to say it like that. Don’t tell me, “I have beads in my hand and I am doing my awraad.” You need to do awraad every moment! Don’t say, “Allah, I am doing this for you.” No! Allah doesn’t need you, but you are doing it for yourself.
May Allah forgive us and bless us.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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