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Immense Benefits of Surat al-Fatihah and Salawaat on Prophet (s) ~The Greatness of Prophet (s) Series, Vol 15 ~Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani ~14 April 2012 Lefke, Cyprus ~Suhbah after Zhuhr Salaat ~ ~ ~ ~A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani ‘r-rajim. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. ~ ~ ~?????????? ?????? ???????????? ?????????? ????????? ???????? ??????? ~Ati`oollaha wa ati`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) ~ ~We are people of peace; we respect the law and the government. Since some of us live in the West, we respect and love the West. Those who live in Europe love Europe and those living in Cyprus love Cyprus, as in a hadith the Prophet (s) said: ~?? ????? ?? ???????? ~Hubb al-watan min al-imaan. ~Love of the homeland is part of faith. ~ ~Even though we have love of those countries we live in and they give us freedom to do what we like, still we have to know that the best of holy places are Holy Mecca, Holy Madinah and Holy Sham. As Sham is where Mawlana Shaykh (q) connected himself with Grandshaykh (q) he is always talking about going to Sham. May Allah (swt) give him a long life and grant us to be with him and for him to go to Sham! ~ ~Those who read the book The Naqshbandi Sufi Way read the account of how Mawlana Shaykh initially connected with Grandshaykh `AbdAllah ad-Daghestani (q), and you know that his intention was to make mujaawara, to be a neighbor of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and to live in Madinat al-Munawarra. He traveled from Cyprus to Istanbul, where he took a Shaykh who told him, “Your trust is with Shaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani in Sham, so you must take baya` with him.” Mawlana Shaykh went towards Sham, stopped in Homs and stayed there for a year in Maydan, where the Sahaabi Khalid bin Waleed (r) is buried. Mawlana also studied Shari`ah there for one year. Then he left Homs for Sham while the war between the French and English was ongoing in Syria. There he reached the district of Hayy al-Meedan and inquired about Shaykh `AbdAllah and they showed him his door, which Mawlana Shaykh knocked on and Grandshaykh opened. ~ ~ ~Mawlana Shaykh entered with adab and said, “I was afraid to look in his eyes,” and that was due to his adab, discipline. Don't look into the eyes of the Shaykh, but look to the Shaykh with the eyes of your heart, which can see far better than the physical eyes! The example of this is from Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r). Do you know his story? Grandshaykh (q) mentioned it in this way. ~ ~ ~When the Prophet (s) was in his final illness and he used to get hot, and then cool down, and when he got hot he would sweat in his white dress, so much that if you could touch it, it would feel damp. Today if your dress is wet you will change it, but when the Sahaabah (r) asked him if he would like to change it, the Prophet (s) declined. His dress continued to get so wet from his sweat that he eventually told Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) to lead the prayer because he was feeling so hot. Also, he told Sayyidina `Ali (r) and Sayyidina `Umar (r), “When I die, take this dress of mine and give it to Uwais al-Qarani.” They wondered, who is Uwais al-Qarani, as he had never appeared in front of the Prophet (s) and none of the Sahaabah had seen him! However, al-amru fawq al-adab, “the order is above manners.” If the Shaykh orders you to do something, you do it! It is not your job to investigate, even if you do not think what he said is appropriate. ~ ~ ~After the Prophet (s) died, they took his dress south of Madinah to Yemen, as Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r) lived there. They looked for him everywhere, but no one knew of him. Then they asked a child, "Do you know Uwais al-Qarani?" ~He said, "Do you mean `AbdAllah?" ~They said, "Yes." ~The child said, "He is there with his sheep, sitting on the rock." ~ ~ ~They went towards him and although he hadn't turned his head to look at either of them approaching, he said, "O `Ali! O `Umar! Give me the amanaat from the Prophet (s) that he sent for me." That is to see with the eyes of the heart, with which he could see better than with the physical eyes. ~ ~This is a hadith of the Prophet (s) that we have repeated hundreds of times: ~??? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ?? ????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???? ~Wa laa yazaala `abdee yataqarabu ilayya bi’ n-nawaafil hatta uhibbah. Fa idhaa ahbaabtahu kuntu sama`uhulladhee yasma`u bihi wa basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, wa yadahulladhee yabtishu bihaa wa rijlahullatee yamshee bihaa. ~My servant does not cease to approach Me through voluntary worship until I will love him. When I love him, I will become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he acts, and the legs with which he walks (and other versions include, “and the tongue with which he speaks.”). (Hadith Qudsi, Bukhari) ~ ~ ~The important thing here is “nawaafil,” voluntary worship. There are awliyaullah who pray in every moment. There was one wali going for Hajj about whom Grandshaykh (q) said, “In every step that wali took he prayed two raka`ats, and it took him seven years to reach the Hajj!” Today it takes hours to reach Mecca and Madina and they still say it is too long, but that wali was moving and seeing the light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) wherever he put his forehead in sajda. “Nawaafil” does not only include prayers, but it is many things: to smile in someone’s face is from hasanaat, to visit a sick person or to do anything good is nawaafil and hasanaat, and according to the Hadith Qudsi, “I will be the ears he can hear with and the eyes he can see with,” Allah (swt) will reward you. ~ ~ ~????? ????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??? ????????? ??????? ????????? ?????? ~Wa man kaana fee hadhihi `amaa fa-huwa fi 'l-akhirati `amaa wa adalloo sabeela. ~But those who were blind in this world will be blind in the Hereafter and most astray from the path. ~(Surat al-Israa', 17:72) ~ ~ ~Do we want to continue to be blind here, or did we come here to have our eyes opened? Not everyone can get inspirations, they are few; you might get them but they may be fuzzy traces, like watching TV where the signal is not clear. But there are strong awliyaullah to whom Allah (swt) gave a strong power of inspiration. I don’t want to mention who among us here has that power, but there are people in this majlis who have inspirations. Some inspirations are perfect like the moon, some are perfect like the sun, and others are like a star, but it is an inspiration, they are strong inspirations. ~ ~Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r) said, “Give me the amanaah,” which came from his inspiration, and not only that, but he was seeing what was behind him, what in the Holy Qur'an is described as a “vision” or a “dream.” To call it a dream shows the humbleness of the one who saw that, as Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) saw “in a dream” that he had to slaughter his son. Sayyidina Muhammad (s) received revelation, but awliyaullah receive inspiration or a dream. ~ ~So Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r) said, “Give me the trust,” referring to the dress of the Prophet (s), then he stood up took it, kissed it, and put it on his head, then to his heart (chest) and said, “Qaabiltu, I accept yaa Rasoolullah!” This narration is from Grandshaykh (q) and I will not argue with people who say no, like Wahhabis, Salafis, or the Ikhwan, who don’t accept this hadith, as we know the Prophet (s) said: ~ ~ ~?? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ~Man ra'anee fi 'l-manaami faqad raanee haqqan. ~Who saw me in the dream saw me in reality. (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah) ~ ~ ~We accept this, because narrators of hadith don’t lie on the Prophet (s)! You might lie to each other, but you will never lie by saying, “I saw the Prophet (s),” never, tawbah yaa Rabbee! ~ ~And so Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r) put the dress of the Prophet (s) on his chest and said, “I am accepting.” What was he accepting? We go back to what Grandshaykh (q) said, may Allah bless his soul, he said that when the Prophet (s) was sweating it was from the sins of his ummah whom he saw passing one-by-one in front of him, and he was feeling shy and ashamed and asking forgiveness for them, and each person represented one drop of that sweat from the Prophet (s)’s holy body being absorbed into that dress. In that dress was the number of Ummat an-Nabiyy from beginning to end. And we explained previously, Sayyidina Imam al-Ghazali (q) mentioned in his book Faysal at-Tafriqa, The Boundaries of Religious Tolerance in Islam, that Ummat an-Nabiyy (s) is 400 billion. ~ ~ ~So all of his ummah passed by the Prophet (s) and each drop of sweat represented one person from his ummah until all of them had passed by, and the Prophet (s) got a promise from Allah (swt) to grant forgiveness for them and then he passed away. Then Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r) received that trust, which is the whole ummah! Prophet entrusted the ummah to Uwais al-Qarani. Haven’t you heard some people say this is the ‘Uwaisi Tariqah’? What is that? It means there is no connection between Shaykh to Shaykh, the connection goes through their heart to Uwais al-Qarani (r), who connects them spiritually. This also occurred in the Naqshbandi Golden Chain when there was a long period of time between Abu Yazid (q) and his successor, so the connection was through Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r). ~ ~ ~So awliyaullah know what we need to reach what they like us to reach. When Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) knocked on Grandshaykh’s door, Grandshaykh (q) told him, “Come inside. I was waiting for you. Tonight you will sleep and tomorrow I will tell you the answer,” and told him what he needs to know, before Mawlana Shaykh had told him his intention. And the next day Grandshaykh (q) said, “The Prophet (s) said you don’t need to stay in Madinah as a mujaawir, you are always there, and the people need you so go east and west to people,” and you see people coming from everywhere to meet Mawlana Shaykh. ~ ~Yesterday I was praying Maghrib here and got a call. I told my uncle, Shaykh Muhammad, that I needed to make these phone calls so to please continue, and I went to the other room. You (a mureed) came and I didn't know where the light was and you turned on the light. Someone from a Gulf country, a minister, called me for du`a and after I spoke to him, his secretary said, “The daughter of the Minister of Defense wants to meet with you.” A minister of a Gulf country that has everything within its grasp was asking for a du`a. ~ ~ ~He said, “Where are you?” ~I said, “'I am in Cyprus.” ~He shuddered (trembled) and said, “Let the Shaykh pray for me, and let me speak with the Shaykh." ~I went upstairs to Mawlana Shaykh and said, “This is the Minister of Defense; he and his daughter want to speak to you.” ~Mawlana was a little bit tired, but they heard him saying, “I am praying for you,” and that made them so happy to hear a voice saying, “I am praying for them,” a minister of one of greatest Arab countries, because they know the value of shuyookh. ~ ~ ~Also yesterday, Mawlana Shaykh looked down on the mureeds from his window and prayed for them, and he was so happy to see them all, he said “I am so happy to see them here!” And they were so happy that he is looking at them; with one glance from him they are so happy, they feel as though they are flying! So what do you think if the Prophet (s) looks at us? He is Sultan al-Awliya, the inheritor of Prophet (s), so what if we can see when our Shaykh is taking us to the Prophet (s)! ~ ~I was going through this book, al-Ma`arif, and will quote this page 168: ~ ~ ~??? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ???????? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ~Wa law anna fatihatu ’l-kitaab ju`ilat fee kaffat al-meezan wa ju`ila (baqiat) al-Qur'an fi’l-kaffat al-ukhraa ladallat faatihat al-kitaab `ala’l-quraan saba` marraat. ~If you read Surat al-Fatihah and that is put on one side of the Scale and you put on the other side of the Scale the whole Qur'an, the Fatihah will weigh more because the Prophet (s) said, “Surat al-Yasin is the heart of Holy Qur'an and Surat al-Fatihah is the heart of Surat al-Yasin.” ~ ~ ~I don't know how many of you know that, but Shaykh Muhammad knows how many times your father, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), likes to read Surat al-Fatihah in one breath. How many times has he asked Shaykh Abdur-Rahman al-Qari to read it in one breath? There are many ahadeeth about reading it within one breath, which is why every time we make du`a we read the Fatihah, because Allah (swt) gave the Prophet (s) saba` al-mathaaniyy, “The Seven Oft-Repeated Verses.” ~ ~ ~In Ghazwat Badr, the unbelievers appeared carrying all their tijaarat, wealth of their trade on their camels and the Sahaabah (r) looked at them with hasrat, regret, that they didn't have all that wealth. Then Allah (swt) revealed Surat al-Fatihah at that time, assuring them this surah was more valuable than all the wealth of dunya and the gate to Heaven! Allah (swt) gave us something that He didn’t give the unbelievers, and that is Surat al-Fatihah! That is why according to fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence, all imaams say that if someone prays and did not recite Surat al-Fatihah his prayer is not accepted and must be repeated, but if he prayed and read the Fatihah without reciting another surah after it, his prayer is valid. ~ ~ And he quotes a hadith from another book, Jawaahir al-Ma`ani: ~Wa ama fadlu fatihat il-kitaaba faqad warada fi ’l-hadith annaha `azhamu min al-qur’aan. ~The value of Surat al-Fatihah is greater than the Holy Qur'an. ~ ~ ~That does not mean the Holy Qur'an is less in value, but it means because Surat al-Fatihah is the heart of the Holy Qur'an, the one that when you read it, it makes the balance in the Scale heavy. ~ ~ ~???????? ?????????? ??????? ????? ??????????? ???????????? ?????????? ~Wa laqad ataynaaka sab`an min al-mathaanee wa ’l-quran al-`azheem ~And We have bestowed upon you the Seven Oft-repeated (verses) and the Grand Qur'an. ~(Surat al-Hijr, 15:87) ~ ~ ~Qaal sayyidul wujood sal Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, ama ’l-fatihah faqad dhakara an rasoolillahi sallAllahu `alayhi w sallam, anna feehaa bi kulli marratin khatmatan min al-qur’aan. ~And Prophet (s) said that anyone who reads al-Fatihah one time, it is as if he completed the whole Qur'an. ~ ~ ~And in another hadith he (s) said, “If you recite Surat al-Ikhlaas three times, it is as if you have read the whole Qur'an.” ~ ~ ~That is why Mawlana Shaykh (q) and Grandshaykh (q) always said, for example, if you are traveling and you cannot recite one juz, recite Surat al-Ikhlaas 100 times as that is like reciting Holy Qur'an 33 times. So don’t leave that from your daily awraad. Also reciting salawaat 100 times will make it is as if you read your daily Dala’il al-Khayrat. ~ ~I will be leaving, but this will summarize what we described in the past ten days and I will continue in Michigan, inshaa-Allah, and you can follow on Sufilive. ~ ~ ~SUMMARY OF SERIES MAIN POINTS TO DATE ~ ~ ~1. As long as the servant is making salawaat on the Prophet (s), the angels are ordered to make salawaat on that person, and the salawaat of the angels is different than the salawaat that people make. For every salawaat a person makes on the Prophet (s), Allah (swt) will send ten salawaat on him. You might make salawaat in the presence of the heart, haadir ul-qalb, an open heart, while your heart is in the Divine Presence, or you might make it ghafil, heedlessly, without presence of the heart, for example, sitting in front of the TV while you are making salawaat. They asked the Prophet (s) if that was acceptable and he said, “It is okay.” ~ ~2. If you worshipped Allah (swt) from the time of Sayyidina Adam’s (a) creation up to Judgment Day and then you made one salawaat, that one salawaat would weigh heavier on the Scale than all your worship because Allah (swt) sends that salawaat on you according to His Greatness, while your worship is according to your capacity. Therefore, this is one of the benefits of reciting salawaat on the Prophet (s). Another is on Judgment Day, the Prophet (s) will intercede and witness on me, you and everyone who makes salawaat on him in front of Allah (swt) for us! ~ ~3. The third benefit is from the angels making salawaat on whomever makes salawaat. How many angels are there? If we say “millions” or “billions” we are lowering the Greatness of Allah (swt) and His love for His Prophet (s), as Allah (swt) said: ~????? ??????? ??????????????? ?????????? ????? ?????????? ??? ???????? ????????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????????? ??????????: ~“Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. ~O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him.” (33:56) ~That means Allah (swt) and all His angels--those being created now, those created in the past and those still to be created--are all making salawaat. When someone makes salawaat, it will be written on heavenly tablets with pens of gold into silver notebooks, and angels will say, “O servant of Allah! Continue making salawaat on the Prophet (s) and we will continue to write!” ~ ~ 4. For whomever makes salawaat on the Prophet (s), there is bara`atun min an-nifaaq wa bara`atun min an-naar, “innocence from being a hypocrite,” and “innocence from the Fire.” This is why awliyaullah tell beginners in this tariqah to make salawaat on the Prophet (s) 300 times daily and 500 times on Monday, Thursday and Friday; and for the musta`id, the advanced, to make salawaat 1,000 times; and for mureeds to make it 2,000 to 2,500 times up to 24,000 times. Are we hypocrites or not? Don’t be shy; yes, we are! Instead of looking at our own actions, we are always looking at what other people have done and then we shout at them. We are constantly backbiting, and making salawaat will take all that bad character away. ~ ~ 5. We must know ourselves, and to know ourselves we must contemplate and audit our actions, as the Prophet (s) said: ~???? ???? ??? ?? ????? ????? ??? ~Tafakkarru sa`atin khayrun min `ibaadati saba`een sannah ~To remember Allah (swt) (contemplate or meditate) for one hour is better than one year of worship; (and in another version) is better than seventy years of worship.” ~It means you connect your heart with your Shaykh through tafakkur, rabitah or muraqabah. We are not Buddhists who change meanings; we have all these methods of connecting to the heart of the Shaykh, and from the heart of the Shaykh to the heart of the Prophet (s). Then you must audit yourself every night by asking, “Did I wrong anyone today? How do I remove it?” Either you make istighfaar or you recite Surat al-Fatihah or make salawaat on Prophet (s). If you make salawaat you have a lawyer who wants to save you from Hellfire, an intercessor! That’s why salawaat is important because you have the Holy Intercessor (s) to whom Allah (swt) gave shifa`ah to intercede for the whole ummah! So make salawaat! ~ ~ 6. If you oppressed yourself, come to the Prophet (s) and ask forgiveness in his presence, as mentioned in Holy Qur’an: ~?????? ????????? ??? ?????????? ??????????? ???????? ???????????????? ?????? ????????????? ?????? ?????????? ??????????? ?????? ????????? ????????? ~wa law annahum idh zhalamoo anfusahum jaa’ooka fastaghfaroollaha w ’astaghfara lahumur-rasoola la wajadoollaha tawaaban raheema ~If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked Allah's forgiveness and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (4:64) ~You cannot go directly to Allah (swt), you need someone who will take you by the hand to Him. For example, if you want to see Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, you need permission and to go with someone from the house who will take you upstairs. Even more than this, you must be a mahram, as his daughters might be relaxing there, and Mawlana Shaykh has made this stipulation very clear. Although I am his son-in-law, still I feel shy to go up so I tell Hajjah Naziha (Mawlana Shaykh’s daughter), “You go up and I will follow.” We cannot pass the limits of Shari`ah and tariqah is more strict! ~So when we have audited ourselves and find we did something wrong, then we need a lawyer to represent us in front of Allah (swt)! That one is Sayyidina Muhammad (s), the Perfect Heavenly Creation above everything Allah (swt) created, to whom Allah (swt) gave authority over all of it. Therefore, make salawaat on him! It will take us out from Hellfire and will bring us to bara`atun min an-naar, “safety from the fire” and bara`atun min an-nifaaq, “safety from hypocrisy.” ~ ~ ~I will end with this verse of Holy Qur'an that we always read: ~ ~ ~????? ?????? ?????? ???????????? ????????????? ???? ????????? ???????? ?????? ????????? ????? ????????????? ???????????????? ????????????? ~??????????????? ???????? ?????????? ???????? ~Wa man yuti`i Allaha wa ‘r-rasoola fa’oolaaika ma` ’Lladheena an`am Allahu `alayhim min an-nabiyyeena wa ‘s-siddiqeena wa ‘sh-shuhadaa’ wa ‘s-saaliheena wa hasuna oolaa’ika rafeeqa. ~All who obey Allah and the Prophet are in the company of those on whom is the grace of Allah, of the Prophets (who teach), the Sincere (Lovers of Truth), the Witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good). Ah, what a beautiful fellowship! (Surat an-Nisa’, 4:69) ~ ~ ~Allah (swt) says the one who makes salawaat on Prophet (s) will live with the martyrs. I will add another hadith. I see here as it is very great and this is very important: wa minhu ana yuzahimmu katifahu an-nabee sall allahu `alayhi wa sallam yawm al-qiyamah. In salaat, your shoulders touch shoulders of your neighbors to your right and your left, and on Judgment Day the shoulder of the one who makes salawaat will touch the Prophet’s (s) shoulder; they will move together back and forth, just as your shoulders rub when you pray together. ~ ~ ~How many images of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) will there be on Judgment Day, since every mu’min and every Muslim who makes salawaat on the Prophet (s) will see the Prophet (s) beside him? ~ ~ ~O People on the Internet! I leave that for you to think about: how many people will see the Prophet (s) at the same time and in the same moment, in a vast place that has no beginning and no end? It will be full of ummat an-Nabiyy (s) and the Prophet’s (s) shoulders will rub with each of them on the Day of Judgment! What kind of power has Allah (swt) granted to the Prophet (s)? ~ ~ ~May Allah (swt) grant Mawlana Shaykh (q) long life to reach the time of Mahdi (a), and grant us to be in Shaam ash-Sharif as it is the best place on earth, other than Mecca and Madinah! I heard from Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q): ~ ~ ~ ~ ~???? ??? ???? ??? ~Awwalahu shaam aakhirahu shaam. ~The beginning of it is Sham and the end of it is Sham. ~ ~ ~The Prophet (s) mentioned in more than forty ahadith about Fadaa'il ash-Shaam, “Benefits of Being in Sham,” and our brother Gibril Haddad put together a book translated into English of forty ahadith of Fadaai’l ash-Shaam and gave it to Mawlana Shaykh. The most Ahlu ’l-Bayt are buried in Sham. Recently Mawlana Shaykh told me to look for a home in the area of the maqaam of Sayyida Zaynab (r), daughter of Sayyidina `Ali (r), where he says there will be a lot of tajalli and nothing harmful, and also near the maqaam of Sayyida Ruqayya (r), daughter of Imam Hussain (r). ~ ~ ~May Allah (swt) keep us always with the Ahlu ’l-Bayt and under their feet, and as Mawlana Shaykh is from Ahlu ’l-Bayt, we ask Allah (swt) to keep us under his feet. Allahumma fashad innee qad balaghtu, “Allah (swt) is my Witness that we said what we needed to say,” about the Greatness of the Prophet (s), and we will continue, and we ask that Allah (swt) forgives us for any of our mistakes of which we were not aware, and to forgive anyone who made a mistake towards us. ~ ~ ~Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~http://www.sufilive.com/rnd.cfm?m=4242 ~© Copyright 2012 Sufilive. All rights reserved. This transcript is protected ~by international copyright law. Please attribute Sufilive when sharing it. JazakAllahu khayr.