Mawlid an-Nabi Event at Bengali Mosque
(Suhbah in progress.)
No one can understand the Holy Qur’an. Most of the students here, those who are memorizing tahfeezhu ‘l-Qur’an, here or in any country around the world, to understand the meaning behind the verses, letters or words of the Holy Qur’an, cannot understand, it’s impossible! That’s why whenever people explain about an ayah, it’s not even a drop in the ocean of the reality of Holy Qur’an.
Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an, and we are using it a lot:
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabiyy, yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him with a worthy salutation. (Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:56)
“Allah and His Angels are doing salawaat on the Prophet (s) .” We can explain this later, but He said yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema. If you look at this verse of Holy Qur’an, you see inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloon, “Allah and His Angels send praise” and yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema, where He added wa sallimoo tasleema, “(Praise him) with a worthy salutation!” He didn’t only say, “Yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi,” but He said, “Wa sallimoo tasleema!”
So there is a big difference here: Allah and His Angels are making salawaat, but we cannot understand these salawaat coming from our side, only angels can understand as Allah (swt) has opened for them the secret of these salawaat. But for us He emphasized more on salaams, sallimu tasleem, because when you say, “As-salaamu `alayka, yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah!” that salaam on Prophet (s) means, “I am present at any moment.” Wa sallimoo tasleema, give salaams double time! Wa sallimoo tasleema, make salaams, and that salaam has to be very concrete, up to the bottom, which means speak to him directly, say salaams to him directly! Your salaam must be the best, because we cannot go beyond the salaam on Prophet (s) , as salaat is to Allah and His Angels and salaam is to humanity, to Prophet (s) !
Allah mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabiyy, “Allah and His Angels are making salawaat on Prophet (s) .” We don’t understand in what seegha, form, they are making salawaat, but in the second part of the verse He ordered us to imitate them: yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi, which means imitate and say, “Yaa Rabbee! You know better.” Allahu munazzah, Allahu ‘t-taahir yusalliya `ala ‘t-taahir, Allah (swt), The Sanctified, is praising that one who will dress him with sanctity.
Salawaat is imitating Allah (swt) and His Angels, but salaam is completely different and it is for us. Our salaah is imitating Allah’s salawaat on Prophet (s) and that’s why Allah (swt) said, “One salawaat from you in following My Way, ittiba`u ‘l-`amr, you deserve from Me ten salawaat!” So He put salawaat with salawaat, but never He put salaam with salaam. You can also see this in “at-tahiyyaatu lillaahi wa ‘s-salawaatu wa ‘t-tayyibaat.” So salawaat is always for Allah (swt), but in this verse Allah is asking us, “I am making salawaat, and My Angels and you imitate Me!” But in real life you have to always send salaam in the form of presence, fee sooratu ‘l-haadir: “As-salaamu `alayka ayyuha ‘n-nabee!” So the Prophet (s) is present in every moment and as we call on him, he is hearing and seeing. Look how much Allah (swt) loves the Prophet (s)!
One day the Prophet (s) ordered a Jewish man, who was living in Madinah, to make a ring for him and he ordered him to write on it, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah.” The Jewish man brought the ring to the Prophet (s) and the Prophet (s) looked at it and saw that it was written, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” He wanted to ask the Jewish man, “Why did you put ‘Muhammadun Rasoolullah’? Who put ‘Muhammadun Rasoolullah’ on the ring?” because out of love, out of tawheed, the Prophet (s) wants only “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah.” At that moment Jibreel (a) came and said, “Yaa Muhammad (s)! Allah has sent me to tell you, ‘When you put “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” that shows your love to My Name! It is the Name that I like and it is the Name that you love, yaa Muhammad! So I added “Muhammadur rasoolullah” on it, because you showed love to Me with my Best Names and I am showing My Love to you with your best name!’”
So the Prophet (s) is not someone that we can speak about. Sahaabah (r) were unable to understand the reality of Prophet (s) because it is beyond the mind, and Sahaabah (r) are higher than everyone and they were not able to understand the Prophet (s).
There was a Jewish man who was reading the Tawraat, Zaboor, and he saw the name of Prophet (s) was mentioned in it four times, so he took the page where the name of Prophet (s) was written and he scraped off the name of Prophet (s). The next day he was reading the Zaboor and Allah (swt) made him to see the name of Prophet (s) eight times. He took the scraper and scraped away another time the eight names and then went to sleep, but he was not able to sleep, thinking, “What is going to appear tomorrow in the Zaboor, more names?” The next day he opened the Zaboor and was reading and he saw the name of Prophet (s) twelve times! Immediately he closed the Zaboor. He was in Sham, Damascus, because most Jewish people in that time were living in Jerusalem, which is under Sham. Now today it is called Bilaad ash-Shaam and contains Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, all this area. So he decided to go to Madinah to see Prophet (s).
Twelve times he heard the name of Prophet (s)! How many times do we hear the name of Prophet (s) in a day? Hundreds of times! Twelve times and he decided to go to Madinah and for us hundreds of times, but still we are sitting where we are sitting, not going to Madinah, all of us! We are muqassireen, not showing our love to Prophet (s). I’m sorry to say, only in conferences (they say), “Seerah, seerah, seerah.” No, it is not seerah, it is Mawlid an-Nabi (s), the birth of Heavens and Earth, the birth of Islam! So he went to Madinah and saw Sayyidina `Ali (r).
He said, “I would like to visit Prophet (s).”
Sayyidina `Ali (r) said, “Prophet died, left dunya.”
He said, “Yaa `Ali! I came from Sham to Madinah to see Prophet (s) and you said that Prophet (s) died. Can I see his jubba, cloak?”
He was begging Sayyidina `Ali (r) to get him the cloak of Prophet (s). Sayyidina `Ali (r) brought for him the jubba and the Jewish man took the jubba and smelled it. What he smelled, Allah knows. He said to Sayyidina `Ali (r), “I want to go to his grave (s) now!” Sayyidina `Ali took the Jewish man to the Holy Grave of Prophet (s), where he stood and took Shahadah and said, “Yaa Rabbee! If you accepted my Islam, take my soul now as I want to die, I want the last moment of my life to be with Prophet (s)!”
Look at the love in the heart of a Jewish person who saw the name of Prophet (s) four times, eight times, twelve times. How many times do we see the name of Prophet (s) in the Holy Qur’an and in the qasaaid, na`ats and we mention the name of Prophet and always we have to ask, “Yaa Rabbee! Keep us with Prophet (s) in dunya and Akhirah.”
If there is no light here, can you see? If no light, you cannot see, is it not? If there is light, you can see. Put the lights off and you don’t see anything, put the lights on and you can see everything. They say “Big Bang.” Do you know the Big Bang? Everything was in darkness before, no one could see anything. Allah (swt) created the Light of Prophet (s). Huwa ‘n-nooru yahdi ‘l-haaireena, “He is the Light that guides the people who are lost,” or haaireena, the “bewildered,” those who are unable....
I want to explain it more. For example, if you come from the door and there is no light, we say, nahdaar kayf, “How to walk?” which means we cannot find our way, we are confused where the door is. If you wake up at night and you are sleeping in a hotel and you want to go to the bathroom without light, because already you have the idea that in your home the bathroom is this way, but here the bathroom is that way, so you go and hit the wall. We hit the wall. All of us now are hitting the wall, we are not really finding our way. When we are falling into the trap of Shaytan, one day thumma aamanoo, one day thumma kafaroo, when we are falling into the trap of Shaytan and doing sins, we are hitting the wall. In order not to hit the wall, you need the light, and the Light is who? Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!
That's why Allah (swt) first created the Light in order no one hits the wall and fall into sins. Allah (swt) gave you the light first; before He created Creation, He created the Light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) first. So He gave you the guidance, He gave you the right way, He gave something: a Creation with Full Light that is shining over everyone like the sun shining on our Earth, on our solar system. The Prophet’s Light is shining, so we have no right to fall into the trap of Shaytan with the Light that Allah (swt) gave to us. Everything dark needs noor to see, which means anything that your mind, your body, your soul needs in order to be enlightened, needs the Light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). This light is limited, but the Light of Prophet (s) is not. It means whatever you have of power to get Light from Prophet (s) it is still going to be in limits; you can’t get everything, you can get some of the Light of Prophet (s). This whole dunya, not only dunya but all Creation, is under the Light of Prophet (s), but some parts of the Lights you see and some parts you don’t see.
أنا مدينة العلم و علي بابه
Anaa madinatu 'l-`ilmi wa `Aliyyun baabuha.
I am the City of Knowledge and `Ali is its Door (or Gate). (al-Haakim, Tirmidhi)
This means it is impossible for Sayyidina `Ali (r) to know everything that is in the city. He is at the door and he knows what comes out from the door, but that is it, not all the Light. All the Light is only for Prophet (s), but with limited range Sayyidina `Ali can see the Light. Our eyes have limitation; if we want to look through our eyes, they have limitation of Light, to see part of the Light, but if you look through the heart there is no limitation.
ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ولكن وسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن
Maa wasi`anee ardee wa laa samaa'ee wa laakin wasi`anee qalbi `abdee al-mu'min.
Neither My Heavens nor My Earth contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.
(Hadith Qudsi, Al-Ihya of Imam al-Ghazali)
So anything we relate to the heart, we relate to Prophet (s). The Light expands. If you are looking through these two eyes, there is a limitation in seeing what you need to see. (Mawlana holds a paper.) Let’s say this is light. You can see it? What is this? You see it’s paper and it’s white. Do you see what is here or here or here? (No.) Because light is not limited, but our eyes are limited. There is continuation of the light this way (direction), there is continuation of the light this way, there is continuation of the light this way and there is continuation of the light this way, but our eyes cannot see except through limitation, because now these different, small particles coming from outer space can show you that you are looking at a white paper, but there is something here, there is the continuation of that light that you cannot see.
It’s physics. You can see only between two numbers: 0.04 microns and 0.18 microns. Between these two wavelengths you can see light through these eyes, but there is light here that only the bees can see, the ultraviolet light. You cannot see the ultraviolet light, but bees can see ultraviolet light.
So Prophet (s) is huwa ‘n-noor, he is the Light that can contain everything as the Light can contain everything, so the Prophet’s Light that Allah (swt) created first can contain everything!
اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ مِصْبَاحٌ
Allaahu nooru 's-samaawaati wa 'l-ardi mathala noorihi kamishkaatin feehaa misbaah.
Allah is the Light of the Heavens and Earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp. (Surat an-Noor, 24:35)
Allah (swt) described the Light of Prophet as “in a lamp that is shining” and “a planet like a pearl that shines continuously.” So Prophet’s Light never has limitations, but what we see through these eyes has limitations. So the importance is what human beings can see, only seven colors, between 0.04 and 0.18 microns; that’s where your limitation is.
This here is the border of 0.04 microns and here 0.18 microns. Within this you can see, outside of this you cannot see. Bees can see the ultraviolet light, but awliyaullah can also see the ultraviolet light, and that’s why they can see at any moment, because for them there is Light, they can see the Light that is extended from here that we cannot see. So what awliyaullah can see is where the bees can see, and it’s very well established in the Holy Qur’an and in physics that bees can, with the light that Allah (gave them), with the power that they can see, they can go 400 km, because they will be inspired that there is a flower there or there is sugar there or there is sweet there. “Go there and make it honey!” So they fly and they follow that smell that comes or the ultraviolet light that comes, and they are able to see as we are seeing in our life, they can see with the power of their light. So awliyaullah carry the secret of bees and they are able to see what people cannot see and hear what people cannot hear, as Prophet (s) said.
That's why the Prophet (s) is haadiru ‘l-naazhir, he is Light and the Light never dies. Light is there, it is energy. So Prophet is always omnipresent, seeing and hearing and interceding. So as the Light is continuously living, Prophet (s) is continuously living, because he is huwa ‘l-habeeb alladhee turjaa shafa`atahu, he is the Habeeb, he is the Lover that Allah (swt) created him in order that he will intercede for human beings. Huwa ‘l-habeeb alladhee turjaa shafa`atahu, huwa ‘n-nooru yahdi ‘l-haaireena, he is the Light, the Lover who can guide the whole of universe into the presence of Allah (swt)!
May Allah forgive us. May Allah bless us.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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