27 December 2014 Malang, East Java, Indonesia
Translated from Arabic
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi ta`alaa wa barakaatuh. For the occasion of the Mawlid al-Nabawi al-Shareef I have written these short words, inshaa-Allah we will read them and Shaykh Habeeb Nawfal will translate.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. 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.
Alhamdulillah to He Who did not take a governor or minister in governing His dominion, and did not take an aid or consultant in determining His rule. May He be highly glorified and exalted above what they say. Alhamdulillah to He Who guided us to Islam and to His Beloved, al-Mustafa (s). Alhamdulillah to He Who enlightened the world with His power and brought forth the rivers with His wisdom. SubhanAllah to He Who created everything and apportioned it. Alhamdulillah to He Who revealed the Proof to His servant so that it may be a warning to the worlds, and promised the pious gardens as a recompense and final abode for them. SubhanAllah to He Who has no abased friend, truly He is Great! Alhamdulillah to He Who is unified in His greatness, mighty and holy in His beauty. It is He Who is the Creator of everything. The keys to time are in His Hand. May the Lord of the Worlds be blessed. We testify that there is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner, He has no peer in His high status and great power.
We testify that our master and guide Muhammad is His servant and beloved and messenger. He sent him as a Mercy to the Worlds. Truly Rasoolullah (s) commanded us to love Allah and to love each other, and he commanded us to be humble before Allah, because arrogance is from the characteristics of Iblees, and humility is from the characteristics of the Beloved, al-Mustafa (s). From the characteristics of the Beloved, al-Mustafa (s), the Prophet (s) said in a hadith of Haaritha ibn Wahb (r):
عِيَّ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ أَلَا أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِأَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ كُلُّ ضَعِيفٍ مُتَضَعِّفٍ لَوْ أَقْسَمَ عَلَى اللَّهِ لَأَبَرَّهُ أَلَا أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِأَهْلِ النَّارِ كُلُّ عُتُلٍّ جَوَّاظٍ مُسْتَكْبِرٍ
Shall I not describe the people of Jannah? Every weak person and every feeble one, if they swear by God, He will free them [from the fire]. And shall I not describe the people of the fire? Every far, hard-hearted, and angry person. (Tirmidhi)
Through these impressive words and images, the Prophet creates a strong impact on the ego of the rebellious person, to make them subservient to the Truth, to warn them to accept their fitrah and not hide or forget it. This will take them to Paradise. If the ego is arrogant they will enter the Fire because of it. As a result, the Prophet used to be humble and self-abasing, modest and worship his Lord and supplicate to Him saying:
أعوذ بك منك يا مقلب القلوب ثبت قلبي على دينك
I seek refuge in You from Yourself, O Turner of hearts make my heart firm in Your religion.
Allah (swt) says in order to show the greatness and honour of His Prophet, “O Muhammad, O Ummah of the Prophet, O entirety of Creation, regarding the right of the Prophet (s) I say:
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِي
Verily you, (O Muhammad) are of the most exalted character. (Surat al-Qalam, 68:4)
And this is the Noble Mawlid an-Nabawi, Allah (swt) said, “You are of the most exalted character”. What is the meaning of the ‘exalted character’? Allah (swt) emphasises and reiterates that the Prophet’s (s) characters are great. What is this great secret that Allah placed in the heart of His Prophet (s)?
O Believers! Look at the greatness of Allah (swt)! The Prophet (s) said:
نعوذ بالله من منافق عليم اللسان جهول القلب
The thing I fear most for my nation is a hypocrite who is eloquent in speech but is ignorant in his heart.
In other words, be careful, there are many `ulama with knowledge on the tongue but who have ignorance in their hearts, so be vigilant regarding from whom you take your religion. The Prophet (s) taught the Sahaabah (r) in order for them to teach the Ummah. In order to learn, we will return to the noble verse, “You are of the most exalted character.” This noble heart of the Prophet is a brilliant jewel. It is not like the hearts of people, because the Prophet’s (s) heart was purified by Jibreel, so it became a jewel, brilliant.
For this reason his heart was mentioned in the Qur'an 97 times. There are 120 verses on the qalb, and 15 verses on the fu’aad, and 141 on the sadr. Look at the greatness of the Qur'an and how it speaks about the heart. So what do you think about the heart of the Prophet al-Mustafa (s). The heart is mentioned hundreds of times in the Qur'an. How did this brilliant jewel come into his noble heart?
Allah said, “You are of the most exalted character.” His character is the Qur'an. “O Muhammad! You are the Guardian of this Light, and the Knower of the heart’s secrets that have been made hidden from the entire Ummah except you!” So Allah taught him the Realities of the heart and the Realities of the Qur'an that the heart carries. For this reason:
لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ وَتِلْكَ
Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, verily you would have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:21)
But Allah revealed this Qur'an to the heart of the Prophet (s), and he was not affected by it in such a way. The Qur'an is Allah’s Uncreated Words, and the creation of Muhammad is from the very first moment when Allah began Creation, when He put the Prophetic Light in every one of His Creations, and this is why Allah (swt) said:
وإعلموا أن فيكم رسول الله
And know Allah's Messenger is in you. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:7)
In other words, “the Light of the Prophet (s) [is in you]”. The Prophet (s) is the Nabi al-Ummiyy (s). And the Holy Qur'an is not created, it is Kalaamullah, the Words of Allah, and it is the greatest thing in the worlds because it is Uncreated Word of Allah! And Allah put that in the heart of the Prophet (s), not by the Pen, but by means of the Divine Secret, so the secret of the Prophet (s) came from Allah's Light, the Divine Light, as in the hadith of Jabir (r).
عن جابر بن عبد الله بلفظ قال قلت: يا رسول الله، بأبي أنت وأمي، أخبرني عن أول شيء خلقه الله قبل الأشياء. قال: يا جابر، إن الله تعالى خلق قبل الأشياء نور نبيك من نوره،...
When Jaabir (r) asked, “Let my father and mother be sacrificed for you, oh Prophet of Allah! What is the first thing that Allah (swt) created?” the Prophet (s) said, “The first thing that Allah (swt) created is the Light of your Prophet from His Light, O Jaabir.” (Musannaf `Abdu ’r-Razzaq)
So the Prophet (s) never held a pen in his life, and he did not write, despite the fact that his character is the Qur'an. He wrote these secrets on the hearts of `ibaad, the hearts of the Sahaabah (r) in particular. The noble awliyaullah are taking from the great Sahaabah (r) secrets from the Holy Qur'an, as many awliyaullah mentioned the secrets of the Holy Qur'an as did the Sahaabah (r). And they did not hold any pen in their life out of a particular reason, and this reason is to give honor to the Prophet (s). And Allah did not want these awliyaullah to hold a pen in their hands in their dunya life so that in Akhirah they will hold the pen of power in their hands, the pen by which we enter paradise or fire. This is the Muhammadan pen that Allah (swt) gave to His beloved, al-Mustafa (s). He made him unlettered on the surface, but gave him `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Akhireen on the inside. For this reason the heart is mentioned 97 times in the Qur'an.
اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ
Read in the Name of your Lord who created! He created man from a blood clot. Read! And your Lord is The Most Bountiful, The One Who taught Man by the Pen, taught Man what we did not know.
(Surat al-`Alaq, 96:1-5)
This Muhammadan Pen is what taught the `ulama, and taught the akwaan, the existences, by Allah’s order and power and will. He (s) is the teacher of all Creations! He (s) is with all Creation because His Light was the first to be created. For this reason, Allah ordered the angels to make salawaat on the Prophet in order to honor him and honor his character, to ennoble him and make his status high.
We are at the threshold of the Prophet (s)! O Mercy of the Worlds! We are at your threshold, yaa Rasoolallah! This is your noble mawlid, open this knowledge for us, yaa sayyidi yaa Rasoolullah, from the ladunni knowledge that nobody except the Lord of `ibaad knows. Give us from what Allah has opened on your heart without looking at our actions yaa sayyidi yaa Rasoolullah.
We are weak servants. We don’t possess anything for ourselves. Yaa rabbee yaa Allah You are the powerful, the capable. Yaa rabbanaa yaa Allah, give us openings from heaven, yaa Allah, yaa Kareem. For that reason Allah taught him because he is the Divine Pen who will write on Day of Judgment who goes to Fire and who goes to Paradise. He is the Beloved whom Allah created from His own Light that cannot be described or limited and no one can know about his greatness. We ask Allah to forgive our sins and make things easy for us! It is glad tidings for us, as the Prophet (s) said:
إذا مررتم برياض الجنة فارتع. قالو وما رياض الجنة؟ قال "حلق الذكر
“When you pass by the Gardens of Paradise, avail yourselves of them." The Companions asked: "What are the Gardens of Paradise, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "The circles of dhikr.” (Tirmidhi)
This is one of the Gardens of Paradise because it is a garden for dhikr. And they asked the Prophet (s), “What are the Gardens of Paradise?” he said, “The circles of dhikr.” And this is one of the great circles of dhikr. It will be written for you on the Day of Judgment. This is a paradise. The manifestations appearing on it now are the manifestations of paradise as the Prophet (s) promised. So you are sitting here may Allah write us among those who make dhikr and let us to enter Paradise without account.
The Greatest, The Most Tremendous, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! I finish with this Hadith Qudsi:
من الخالق؟ الخالق هو الله عز وجل. من العبد؟ العبد هو النبي صلى الله علي وسلم
Who is the Creator? Allah is the Creator. Who is the servant? The servant is Muhammad (s)! He is the one on whom the title ‘`abd’ is used. He has Knowledge of Certainty, Vision of Certainty and the Reality of Certainty. He has knowledge of tawheed from its beginnings until its ends. He is the `abd.
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى
Glory be to He Who transported His servant by night from the Inviolable House of Worship (at Mecca) to the Remote House of Worship (at Jerusalem) (Surat al-Israa’, 17:1)
The Prophet (s) says in Hadith Qudsi, and it is glad tidings for all of us, that the one who remembers Allah (swt) in any place or time, Allah says about them:
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
I sit with him who remembers Me. (Hadith Qudsiyy. Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
“I am with The One Who remembers Me.” If we take the metaphor in its literal meaning, “Allah is sitting with the servant as he makes dhikr”, the meaning is, “When the servant makes dhikr, Allah sends His Power and Light on that servant,” as in the Hadith:
عبدي اطعني أجعلك ربانيا تقول لشيئ كن فيكون
My slave! Obey me and I will make you rabbaani, when you say to something ‘be’ and it will be!”
Hadith Qudsi
O servants of God! Be from those who make dhikr, Allah (swt) will be with you and your dunya will become a paradise from the Gardens of Paradise!
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq.
SubhaanAllah you always see the miracles of awliyaullah. This is a circle, a circle of dhikr. As is said, “In the mention of the Saaliheen, pious people, mercy descends,” and this gathering began with remembrance of awliya, and Allah sent mercy, which is in the form of rain. Rain is falling and normally if we had no support, this group would have dispersed and then because of the dhikr--and we did not stop the dhikr and the people did not disperse--then Allah caused the rain to stop falling as that is a dunya rain, but the dhikr is a heavenly rain. This is glad tidings for all of us.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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