26 February 2015 Gaithersburg, Maryland
You like to mention this story? (Mawlana speaks to someone in the audience) This story is nice for you.
Shaykh Tariq: I always find myself in this position with Shaykh Hisham, subhaanAllah. I was just saying, Shaykh offered me a cushion, and I said that, “No, the wall reminds of the pillars in Al-Azhar when we used to sit in the lesson,” and it reminded me of the story when I first went to study and my wife was with me and Zaid, my son, was a baby in a car seat and there are all of these tourists that come into the mosque and there was an old English lady who came and the minute she came into the mosque she told the tour guide, “There is something very strange about this place.”
And he said, “You know, it’s Azhar, it’s old…”
So she said, “No, no, there’s something other-worldy that’s strange.”
And we were in our lesson, in our room in our lesson with the shaykh and she found her way to the room where we were and she went up to the shaykh who was sitting on the chair, and she went up to him and said, “There is something strange about this place.”
So he said, “This is Al-Azhar, this is a centre of divine learning for centuries,” and she said, “I want what’s in this place!” So he said, “Okay! Just say ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasoolullah” and she took her Shahadah and then she left. Just like that, just by walking into the mosque. When the `ulama are mentioned, Allah’s Mercy descends.
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: There is always, for the Azhar Sharif there is always Sayyideena Husayn (r), the head of Sayyideena Husayn (r), and there are the relics of Prophet (s), so always Rahmatullah is descending, so anyone entering from one door it is like washing machine, all his sins will go and he will exit the other door clean. Like Masjid an-Nabawi: you enter, you go, and in-between it cleans you. Meccat al- Mukarrama, the same; Qudsu Shareef, the same; Shaam, where Sayyideena `Isa (a) will descend in Minaarat al-Baydaa is also the same. May Allah (swt) show us the reality of these places, to make ziyara there and to pass by them without seeing the reality of the place that is being honored because oSayyidee f the inhabitants in it, the presence of Prophet (s). That’s why any salawaat on Prophet (s) will attract the presence of Prophet (s), you will be under that tajalli, manifestation.
So I don’t know what to say. Here we are in a time where knowledge has been lifted up. Hearts of awliya are drained, because the connections are not working, too much ignorance. `Ulama are struggling, but alhamdulillah still the religion is in khayr, good tidings. May Allah (swt) dress us with the dress:
إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُُ
The religion in Allah’s view is Islam (submission to His Will). (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:19)
To dress us with that verse. We begin with dhikrullah for a short time then they asked for one lecture, it is not a lecture it’s a suhbah companionship, to sit and entertain people by speaking. Everything today is entertainment. [Khatm al-Khwajagan.]
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Kalimataani khafeefatani `ala ’l-lisaan thaqeelataan fi ’l-meezaani, Subhaan-Allah wa bi-hamdihi subhanallahi ’l-`azheem, Istaghfirullah.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi ta`ala wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi ‘l-`Alameen wa ‘s-salaat wa ‘s-salaam `alaa ashraf al-mursaleen Sayyideena Muhammad (s) wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. [Du`a.]
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O brothers and sisters, mu’mins here and wherever they are. Two words that Prophet (s) said in his Hadith that you say relieve you completely from Hellfire: kaleemataani khafeefataani `ala ‘l-lisaan, they are so light on the tongue, but they are very heavy in the Scale. We want our Scale to be heavy with hasanaat and to be light--not necessary to be light--but we want no sayyi’aat, sins! Allahu Kareem wa min karamih. Two words, anyone can say them, they are very easy, thaqeelataani fi-l-Meezaan, “very heavy on the Scale” in the Day of Judgement, and anyone who comes with a heavy Scale of hasanaat for sure enters Paradise with intercession of the Prophet (s)! What are these two words? Subhaanallahi wa bihamdihi subhaan-Allahi ‘l-`azheem.
We are making tasbeeh of “subhaanAllah”, when we see something extraordinary what do we say? SubhaanAllah! That means what you are going to be given from the treasures of SubhaanAllah no one knows, Allah only and His Prophet (s) know. So when you get from that treasure, what do you say? Subhaanallahi wa bihamdihi, through His Hamd, through His praising Himself by Himself to Himself!
No one can praise how Allah praises Himself: Subhaanallahi wa bihamdihi subhaan-Allahi ‘l-`azheem. When you see that Allah is opening for you from His Endless Treasures, He is the `Azheem He is the Greatest and when looking at your `amal He will look at your good `amal, Allah doesn’t look at something not nice. The bad `amal is something not nice, it has a bad smell, Allah only looks at good. He doesn’t like His `abd to be dressed with dirtiness. Yutahhiruhu wa yunazzifuhu bi shafa`ati ‘n-nabi (s) wa yudkhiluhu ‘l-jannati bi ghayri hisaab. Allah (swt) `ataana bi ghayri `adad nahnu nureed a na`ud, he gave us with no counts, but we with our weakness want to count. When you count:
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَه ُُ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَ
Whosoever has done an atom's weight of good shall see it, and whosoever has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it. (Surat al-Zalzalah, 99:7-8)
So when you count, you will fall into the Hadith of the Prophet (s) when he said to Sayyideena `Ayesha (r):
من حوسب عذب
(Yaa `Ayesha!) Who will be judged will be punished for sure. (Bukhari)
Laa mafarr, there is nowhere to run! If Allah (swt) takes you for judgement for sure you are punished. Yaa Rabbi laa taj`alnaa minhum! He recited the surah:
إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَاوَأَخْرَجَتِ الْأَرْضُ أَثْقَالَهَا وَقَالَ الْإِنسَانُ مَا لَهَايَوْمَئِذٍ تُحَدِّثُ أَخْبَارَهَا بِأَنَّ رَبَّكَ أَوْحَى لَهَا
When the Earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion and the Earth throws up her burdens (from within) and man cries (distressed), "What is the matter with her?" on that Day will she declare her tidings, for your Lord will have given her revelation. (Surat az-Zalzalah, 99:1-4)
When the big earthquake happens, everything that has been buried in the Earth will come out. Don’t think only human beings or other creatures, but every `amal we did will come out, it will bring everything. Everything hidden will be coming up. That’s why this big zalzala will affect at the end of the surah: wa akhrajati ’l-ardu athqaalahaa.
أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ
Have We not expanded for you your breast? And We removed from you your burden that weighed so heavily on your back. (Surat ash-Sharh, 94:1-3)
That big load that was very heavy on the Prophet’s (s) back is going to be a load on every ummah on every person when Allah (swt) will bring out everything everyone will come out with his load. If Prophet (s) will not be given shafa`a everyone will go to Hellfire. Allah gave shafa`a to Prophet (s) to send everyone to Paradise, that’s why He says, “And man cries (distressed), ‘What is the matter with her?’ on that Day will she declare her tidings, for your Lord will have given her revelation.”
“Why? Why are You doing this?” Allah ordered: an tuhaddithu akhbarahaa, this to tell its story so every human being within the Earth, inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi raaji`oon, is going to speak to Him about what he did in dunya: bi anna rabbaka awhaa lahaa. Allah (swt) revealed to the Earth to say, there is a scale, Meezaan, to weigh everything, so Allah gave us a way out, bi anna rabbaka awhaa lahaa. That’s if you are being judged, anyone who does one atom of bad will see bad, anyone who does one atom of good will see good, that’s if you are being judged, because Prophet (s) said to Sayyideena `Ayesha (r), “Ask Allah not to judge you!” And that’s for `Ayesha (r), zawjatu ’n-nabi (s) wa ahabbu azwaajih, he said that to her, so what about us? We are on the level of Sayyida `Ayesha (r)? Do we have a certificate? A ticket to Paradise? We are stubborn, arrogant, proud, angry people, dressed in all bad characteristics and with all that Allah is saying, “if you say these two words you will enter Paradise.”
Subhaanallahi wa bi-hamdihi subhaan-Allahi ‘l-`azheem. We said it yaa Rabbee, yaa Allah, we said it yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah (s): fa minkum al-ijaabaa, from You is to accept, that’s why always you have to be worried if they accept or not, and do accordingly. This universe is going, it’s not going to stay, but, “Whosoever has done an atom's weight of good shall see it....”
Our `amal is going to stay and we are going to see what Allah (swt) is going to judge us with, but if you are in business or daily work you always lean your back, you are arrogant, because of your degree or high position, you lean yourself on someone who is a boss, you cannot lean yourself on a janitor, apologies to janitors or plumbers, you find a banker that you can lean yourself on. So you have to chose whether you lean yourself on something weak or something strong. Something strong is what you want:
بشرى لنا معشر الاسلام انا لنا من العناية ركنا غير منهدم
Happy news for us, O People of Islam! We have a strong and unyielding support from the Divine Favor.
(Shaykh Muhammad al-Busayri, Burdat ash-Shareef)
Good tidings for us people of Islam, we have someone to lean on and our shaykh read it, instead of saying bushraa lanaa ma`shar al-islaami he said bushra lana ma`shar al-insaani inna lanaa min al-inaayati ghayr munhadimi. All human beings lean on the support of Prophet (s) that’s why Muhammad al-Busayri mentioned the reality is that you cannot lean on someone weak! You go with him to Hellfire! You need to lean on someone strong like you do in dunya, you are leaning in every `amal you are doing because, “Whosoever has done an atom's weight of good shall see it, and whosoever has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it.”
Every `amal you are doing you see good because you are leaning, but you have to remember to lean on your Prophet (s)! If you are not leaning on him? Then what are you leaning on? Are you are going to lean on someone who makes sayyiaat, commits sins? Tanzalik ma`hu ila ‘l-haawiya, you will slide with him to Hellfire, to the Valley. No, you need someone that has power to hold you and not to let you slide down!
So the human being is weak in his nature, is arrogant in his desires, in his nafs, his self: he is arrogant in his self and weak in his nature. Self, what is it going to benefit? His nature what is it going to benefit? We are, this world that we are in, Earth, they are saying is a small village now because of the social media, but it has a lot of wires, it is a complicated technology that might be the first one who invented it doesn’t know how it works now. They say it is a global village now, they didn’t even call it ‘city’, it is a global village that in it is everything. The system of creation of a human being is so complicated that it is a global village, global city, global capital, global state, is a system that Allah (swt) offered to you. That qariya, that village is not so easy, in a village you need a muharrik, an engine. Allah gave us engines to run, what we need to run. He gave us the heart which is an engine with five secret levels inside it: Qalb, the qalb, the heart, don’t look at it as piece of meat, or raw material. Everyone will say, “Oh in my heart, my sweetheart, my special heart...!” Sweetness is for Allah, He gave you a heart and gave you a soul: without the soul the heart will not work, without the heart the soul will not work. Without the mind still the body works, the soul will work and the heart will work even if you are in coma. So Allah (swt) gave us a village and Allah mentioned it in Holy Qur’an:
وَاضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلاً أَصْحَابَ الْقَرْيَةِ إِذْ جَاءهَا الْمُرْسَلُونَ
Set forth to them by way of a parable the (story of) the Companions of the City. Behold! There came apostles to it. (Surah Yasin, 36:13)
“Give them an example, tell them, wadrib lahum, daraba give them mathalan, give them an example ashaab al-qariyat the people of the village,” who are the people of the village? Not as they say when they read the ayah, it’s correct the literal meaning, but here Allah is saying, “Give them an example!” for the owners of the village, who is the owner of our village? It is our heart and our soul:
إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ اثْنَيْنِ فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ فَقَالُوا إِنَّا إِلَيْكُم مُّرْسَلُونَ
When We sent to them two messengers, they rejected them: But We strengthened them with a third: they said, "Truly, we have been sent on a mission to you." (Surat Yasin, 36:14)
“We have sent them two messengers,” the heart and the soul. “We sent these two messengers, they denied them,” they wanted Iblis and his power, they denied them.
Fa`azzaznaa bi thaalithin “We increased them by one more,” which is the mind, the balance, because the mind can balance. The heart can balance the soul, the mind is a balance.
وَوَضَعَ الْمِيزَانَ أَلَّا تَطْغَوْا فِي الْمِيزَانِ وَأَقِيمُوا الْوَزْنَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا تُخْسِرُوا الْمِيزَانَ
And He has set up the Balance, that you may not transgress (due) balance, but observe the measure with equity and do not fall short of it. (Surat ar-Rahmaan, 55:7-9)
“We put the Scale,” allaa tatghaw fi ’l-Meezaan, “don’t cheat in the Scale,” you cannot because it’s a scale which measures where you are deviating and where you are okay, on the right side. Allah sent the third one in the body that control what is good and not good, so the Meezaan is between the soul and the heart. On one side is the heart and on one side is the soul, and the third messenger came, fa`azzaznaa bi thaalithin. We increased and we supported them against all kind of badness that Iblis will throw in their heart with a messenger that knows which is good and which is bad:
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
He inspired the self of its good and its bad. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:8)
Fa`azzaznaa bi thaalithin fa qaaloo innaa ilaykum mursaloon, “We are messengers to you, but they are not accepting them.” So what did they do? They stoned them, they didn’t accept the heart and the soul and the Scale. They ran after them to throw stones at them, Iblees is running after us throwing stones. Allah (swt), in every verse of Holy Qur’an there is a meaning. Sayyideena Ya`qoob (a), because He made the Scale, yameel ilaa makaan aakhar, made the Scale to tilt to another place He gave him punishment: 37 years he didn’t see Sayyideena Yusuf (a), because he didn’t measure rightly between the heart and the soul, because the heart was trying to take over the soul and the scale. What’s that? Allah doesn’t like that so Allah gave him a hard time; He made Yusuf’s (a) brothers throw him in the well. There is wisdom for him to be put in the well, for Sayyideena Ya`qoob (a) to learn, he is a prophet he is Nabi Mursal, Allah for him, He is the Creator, He can do what He wants with any prophet. So He gave him a test, He took away the beloved one, the one that he loved the most, He took him from his hands through his brothers, who are also prophets, they are prophets, they are ma`soomeen his brothers, through that `isma, Kun Fayakoon, He made them ma`soomeen or He order them to do something it’s up to Him. They put him in the well in order for him to be away from his father, for the father to learn real love and where it should be. Because his heart was leaning to Yusuf (a), Allah doesn’t want anyone in the heart of Ya`qoob (a) except Him, doesn’t like shareek Allah (swt). He doesn’t accept shareek. How can you put two there: “Me and Yusuf (a), either Me or Yusuf (a). If you put Yusuf (a), it’s up to you, but you are My prophet I want your heart to be for Me.”
InnAllaha ghayoor, Allah doesn’t like anyone to share anything with Him. He is the Creator, everyone else is the servant. Sayyideena Muhammad (s) is the servant to Allah but Allah gave him everything. So the scale of Sayyideena Ya`qoob was leaning towards Sayyideena Yusuf (a), Allah gave him 37 years to be away from his father, until his father became blind, he could not see his son anymore, he lost hope and his heart went completely to Allah, faqad al-amal. When he lost hope to see his son and managed to know that there is no way except his love has to be for Allah, Allah sent the shirt of Sayyideena Yusuf (a) to be thrown on the face of Sayyideena Ya`qoob, fa ‘rtadda baseera, he became back able to see.
So it is a very difficult village that Allah has given us. If anything is wrong the whole village will be feeling there is a crisis, as today you see crisis everywhere because no one anymore is looking inside, everyone is looking outside. If everyone were to look inside at what he is doing, what he is doing at work, what he is doing at home, what he is doing in social life, is he on haqq or on baatil? Is he following:
وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا
Leave what Prophet (s) forbade and take what he ordered. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:7)
“Whatever Prophet (s) gave to you follow”, or no? May Allah (swt) clean our village by giving strength to our heart and to our soul and to give strength to our mind which knows what is good for us and what is bad and can balance the system. So the three messengers that are mentioned in Surah Yasin are the heart, the soul and the mind. If these three are strong the whole body will be strong. And Prophet (s) mentioned:
الا ان في القلب لمضغة اذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله واذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله الا وهي القلب
Verily, in the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is sound the entire body is sound, but if it is corrupted, the entire body is corrupted. Verily, it is the heart! (Bukhari, Muslim)
“There is in the body a piece of flesh,” it is mentioned the heart. The heart is the engine; it has five levels; the awliyaullah go only three levels, they cannot go five. The fourth is for Prophet (s), the fifth is only for Allah, what is there no one knows. Awliyaullah know the only up to the third level. The first level is dunya, Qalb. The five levels are: Dunya, Sirr, Sirr as-Sirr, Khafa, Akhfa. Four is Prophet (s) then to Allah (swt). May Allah (swt) correct us and bless us through these three messengers that He sent to the heart and to the soul and to the mind, the body will be perfect.
Bi hurmati ‘l-Habeeb bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
May Allah forgive you and us. Shaykh Tariq, you want to say something? I finished, you say something.
Shaykh Tariq: You said everything!...Subhaan-Allah I am literally lost for words. That was very heavy. The only thing that comes to mind is that this Hadith of the two light statements, this is the last Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari and the first Hadith is:
إنما الأعمال بالنيات
Verily, actions are by intentions. (Bukhari and Muslim)
So this Hadith completes the book that we say is the most correct book after the Mushaf and even though people usually know the first and the last, Surat al-Fatihah and Surat an-Nas, but if you ask these people who masquerade as Muslims and destroy museums and burn books and things like that, “What is the first and last Hadith in Bukhari?” they don’t even know who Bukhari is. So this is important that we know our own literature.
Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an:
يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٌ وَلَا بَنُونَ إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ
The day when none will benefit you, neither children or money, except one coming to Allah with clean heart. (26:88-89)
“In the Final Hour the only thing that will avail us is the one who has come to Allah with a fine heart.” And Sayyidee was talking about what we call al-Lataa’if al-Khamsa, The Five Subtle Things: the heart and the secret and the secret of the secret...and these, this science, this psychology is what Allah has given us through Tasawwuf, that we learn from our mashaykh how to correct our inner actions so that our heart is sound when you come to Allah (swt), because Imam al-Bukhari begins the Hadith collection with “All actions are based on intention.”
And Sayyidee was saying this last Hadith, these light statements, I mean how easy it is to say “Subhaanallahi wa bihamdihi subhaan-Allahi ‘l-`azheem”, but on the Scale of Allah (swt) it’s heavy. So a man comes to Allah (swt) on Yawm al-Qiyamah and there is not one sin except he did it, so Allah is showing him his sins, he is not of the lucky ones who Sayyidee said are freed by means of the shafa`a of the Prophet (s), he is being taken to account, he is being audited, so He puts on the bad deeds, puts on the bad deeds… there is a mountain of bad deeds, and the man has given up all hope, but Allah (swt) says, “There is one thing good that you did.”
And the man says, “One good thing, and this is a mountain of bad sins?”
“Wait, wait,” and Allah puts this piece of paper on the Scale of the good deeds and it topples over towards the good deeds. And the man cannot believe it and says, “What is this?”
And Allah shows him, “One day you said from the depths of your heart Laa ilaaha illa-Llah.”
So we don’t know, we don’t know these things that we’re doing, this dhikr we’re going, the prayer we’re doing, the durood that we’re doing, the prayers that we’re doing on the Prophet (s), the cosmic weight that this has for us. There’s a weak Hadith:
ليس يتحسر أهل الجنة إلا على ساعة مرت بهم لم يذكروا الله فيها
lan yatahassaroo ahli ‘l-jannati illa `ala ‘s-saa`ah marrat bihim lam yadhkuru ‘Llaha feehaa.
The Prophet (s) said, “The people of Paradise will not regret anything except for a moment in this world that they did not mention Allah (swt)” (al-Bayhaqi, at-Tabarani)
Why? Because we will see inshaa-Allah together in Yawm al-Qiyamah, in Paradise, we will see the state of the Prophet (s) and the effect of all of this devotion and prayer and fasting and struggling in this world to purify ourselves, we will see it on Yawm al-Qiyamah, but you have to delay that gratification. We teach our children delayed gratification, because this is for the other world, and the other world is more real than this world. Imam `Ali (r) said: “People are asleep and when they die they wake up.” Because when we die we will really see the reality of all of these things, we will understand what has been happening. Why we have this chaos in this global village as Sayyidee was telling us, we don’t understand it, maybe Sayyidee understands it but it’s like I said, I am just the cheerleader, I’m just trying to add to the message, but we will understand that there will be no more veils. We will see Allah (swt) bi `ayni ‘l-haqq, we will see Him in Paradise without any veils. But now we are veiled, except for the few of us whom Allah has blessed to polish that inner mirror:
عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، أَنَّهُ كَانَ يَقُولُ : " إِنَّ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ صِقَالَةً ، وَإِنَّ صِقَالَةَ الْقُلُوبِ ذِكْرُ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ ، " .
li-kulli shay’in saqaalah wa saqaalati ‘l-qalbi dhikrullah.
The Prophet (s) said, “Everything has a polish and the polish of the hearts is the remembrance of Allah,” because when we polish our hearts we reflect this Name, when you say Yaa Wadood, yaa Wadood, the Loving One, you start to reflect that Name of Allah (swt) and every Name has a wave, like a transistor radio, when you mention that Name often enough, obviously with the permission of the shaykh, you start to reflect this Name, if you say, Yaa Lateef, yaa Lateef enough, you start to become a manifestation of the Gentleness of Allah (swt), and one of the goals, as I was taught by my teachers of the Tareeq, one of the goals of your journey is to find the Name that activates you, and the shaykh teaches you this. And we polish ourselves with these Names.
And Allah has infinite Names, not just 99, this is just the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (r), but Allah has Infinite Names because Allah is Allah (swt), but He has Names of Beauty and Names of Majesty and He has Names of Kamal, of Completeness, and for us is to adorn ourselves with the Names of Beauty, this is why Allah begins the Qur’an with bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem, two Names of Beauty. He doesn’t say Bismillah al-Muntaqim ar-Raheem or Bismillah ar-Rahmaan al-Jabbar, He doesn’t take a Name from here and from there, Allah is teaching us that He is the Merciful and the Compassionate and that His Mercy outweighs His Wrath and that His love for us outweighs anything else and it is for us as humanity to adorn ourselves with these Attributes of Mercy, these Attributes of Beauty, this is how we polish the heart, how we can inshaa-Allah find the balance between the heart and the soul. W ’ِِAllahu ta`ala `alam.
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
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