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Open Your Hearts to Allah’s Near Ones

Shaykh Nour Kabbani

20 August 2015 London, Ontario

Maghrib Suhbah at a Private Residence

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Welcome to everyone. May Allah (swt) relieve all difficulties of people attending this gathering. Inshaa-Allah He will give all of us health: all of us who are waiting for shifa`ah from any type of difficulty, physical or spiritual, may Allah take it away. If there is any difficulty, magic, envy or jealousy, hasad, and anything that may be on us, inshaa-Allah Allah takes it away. If anyone is waiting for marriage, may Allah bless them and send them the right husband and the right wife. If there is difficulty in marriage, may Allah not separate them and keep them together inshaa-Allah. May Allah bless us with children who grow up loving the way of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and his Holy Family (a) and his Holy Companions (r).

Shaykh Mansoor opened his home and accepted all of us, and Allah gave us hearts and whomever you opened your heart to will come in, so pay attention to whom you open your heart. Who do you invite inside your heart? If the wrong person comes inside the heart, you might not be able to get rid of them. If a wrong thing comes in the heart, it might be very difficult for the heart to carry and that person might not find a cure or salvation. Allah (swt) teaches us in Holy Qur’an to whom we should open our hearts:

قُل لَّا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِلَّا الْمَوَدَّةَ فِي الْقُرْبَى

Say (O Muhammad), "I do not ask you for a reward except the love of my family." (Surat ash-Shura, 42:23)

Allah (swt) said to Prophet (s), “Tell them to open their hearts to My near ones, don't ask any reward except, ‘To love those near to me.’” The Sahaabah (r) asked who it is and he said, “Sayyidina `Ali, Sayyida Fatima, Sayyidina Hasan and Sayyidina Husayn (`alayhimu ‘s-salam).” So the way to Nabi (s) is to open your hearts, to love all of them and the other ones. When Prophet (s) said, “Those near to me,” it means not only the four we mentioned, but there are other Companions and his spiritual children who are close to him, as Allah (swt) says:

إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

All Believers are but brothers; hence, make peace between your two brothers and remain conscious of Allah so that you might be graced with His mercy. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:10)

The Believers are brothers, which means brotherhood is beyond flesh. If Allah says ...that means there are brothers and sisters who are not blood, we are not related here, but Allah says, “They are brothers,” which means we are spiritually connected. It is the same with spiritual children: they are the family, aali Muhammad and Inheritors of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). So when Allah (swt) is saying, “Tell your Nation to love those near to you,” also there are signs to find those who are spiritually near Sayyidina Muhammad, not only the blood relatives. You have to open your heart to love them, because when you allow them to enter your heart, that love will open your heart to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and then to Allah (swt)!

So just as Mansoor Sahib unlocked and opened his doors to us and accepted us to come in, we are now in his home and we can sit anywhere and do anything we want--eat, sleep, drink--as he allowed us to come in, just like it is our home.

Also, if we allow Shaytan to enter our heart, he will use it however he wants. When we allow magicians or jinns, because we go to their associations and we love what they do, we are allowing them to use our heart however they want! When you allow those who are near to Prophet (s) to enter your heart, they will take you to Prophet (s). When we do dhikr, we are mentioning Allah's Names and names of the holy ones and saints, so we are allowing their love to enter our hearts. That is why we do dhikr, which means “to remember”. If you don't love someone you don't care about them, but when we remember, when people sit in dhikr they begin to love Allah and it enters their home, which is their body, their heart and their mind. Then that love grows, they become loving toward Allah (swt) and Allah starts to love them, and that love is what saves us at the end of the day.

Prophet (s) told his Companions (r), “None of us will enter Paradise with our effort, our work.” They said, “Not even you Rasoolullah?” He said, “Not even me.”

فَإِنَّهُ لَنْ يُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ أَحَدًا عَمَلُهُ ‏ ‏.‏ قَالُوا وَلاَ أَنْتَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ‏ وَلاَ أَنَا إِلاَّ أَنْ يَتَغَمَّدَنِيَ اللَّهُ مِنْهُ بِرَحْمَةٍ

The Prophet (s) said: "None of you will enter Paradise by his deeds alone." They asked, "Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "Not even me, unless Allah covers me with His Grace and Mercy."

(Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim).

We will only enter Paradise if Allah (swt) gives us mercy, and His mercy is love: when you are merciful to human beings you love them. So for that mercy to come, you have to develop love by mentioning dhikr, Holy Qur’an, qaseedas, nasheed and qawwali.

THE SIX LOVES IN OUR HEARTS

In our hearts there are six other loves:

زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاء وَالْبَنِينَ وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ وَالْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَالأَنْعَامِ وَالْحَرْثِ ذَلِكَ مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَاللّهُ عِندَهُ حُسْنُ الْمَآبِ

Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire - of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allah has with Him the best return. (Surat `Aali-Imraan)

These desires are six:

1) Men’s love for women and women’s love for men (spouses) baneen;

2) Love of children;

3) Love of money, gold, wealth;

4) Love of beautiful horses, our rides, Porsches, Ferraris;

5) Love of property, land, we love big mansions;

6) Love of cattle, which also means wealth as in the past they possessed a lot of cattle.

These six are in the heart and everyone can examine if they love these six things, because Allah put them there. When we make dhikr, love of Allah increases and other desires decrease. When love of Allah enters the heart, then you can give some of your property in charity as you are no longer attached to that desire. When someone says, “Give to the mosque,” because your love to Allah is strong, you can give sadaqa, but when you don't make dhikrullah you keep your money in safe boxes, banks or invested in stocks, and the next day when the stock value plunges, you say, “What can I do?!” You didn't give it to the mosque, but with dhikr the love of God increases and you start giving more from your wealth and property.

If you lose a child (they die), astaghfirullah, that is a heavy affliction and you expect a reward from Allah and you are patient. The suffering of that horrific loss will become less with dhikr in your heart, because your love of Allah increases. Similarly, if you have sickness in your body and you are distraught, the more you love Allah (swt) the suffering becomes less; the pain may be there but you are happy, submitting.

These are all benefits of dhikr. When we sit together and remember our Lord, we actually help ourselves accept His will and focus on what is more valuable, which is the pleasure of Allah (swt). When we are patient, Allah is pleased with us and if we are not patient, we might not get His pleasure. Also, when you sit in dhikr you become more able to face strong challenges with patience, because you anticipate a reward from Allah (swt). May Allah keep us on the Right Way and keep our dhikr strong so that we can build that love to Him and to Prophet (s) and his Holy Family and Companions and to our teachers!

O our Lord! We ask you to keep us strong on the path of Nabiyeen, Siddiqeen and Saaliheen. Give each one of us health. Each one has something in their heart and we ask that You look upon us with Your mercy, with love, for the sake of the one You love! Yaa Rabbee for sake of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), clean us from every sin we committed and from every bad thing we have done to your Creation. O our Lord! We repent and ask for Your forgiveness and say, “Astagfirullahi ‘l-`azheem wa atooboo ilayh.” Clean us and shower us with Your blessings and give us long life so we may continue to worship You and spread Your deen and spread love among our fellow humans. Accept our prayers for the honor and the sake of Your Beloved One, Sayyidina Muhammad (s).

Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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