Signs of Armageddon

Before and After Armageddon, Part 3

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

20 December 2013   Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Suhbah at Haqqani Zawiya

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani '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.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`alaa fee haadha 'l-masjid.

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Atee`oollaha wa atee`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)

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Inshaa-Allah, may Allah (swt) bless Mawlana Shaykh Nazim with his health and give him strength.

As Grandshaykh `AbdAllah, may Allah bless his soul, said that Khatm al-Khawajgan can be done every day, not only certain days. Today is Friday, the day that Allah (swt) has blessed His Prophet (s) with. Although Saturday is approaching, alhamdulillah the barakah is there. If what we always do coincides with what Allah has ordered us, then that would be the best `amal we can do, and there are a lot of things we can do, but the important thing to know is are we doing them all or are we doing them a little bit? Whatever we are doing it will be written for us; whatever we are doing will be written and accepted for us and whatever we are not doing, if it is not an obligation it will not be written for you and through it, because if it is not an obligation and you do it, that is where Allah (swt) will raise you level after level, until you will be able to be in the presence of the Prophet (s), as Prophet (s) said. We are not saying something above the roof, we are saying from what reached us from Ahadith an-Nabi and Ayaat al-Qur’an. We don’t want to go so high and then people become more confused; no, let us stay at a normal level, then if anyone hears they cannot object. But if you go above the roof there are too many objections, then if you are right or not right that is something else. If you are right and people are confused you will be blamed. If you speak from lower than the roof and from within Holy Qur'an and hadith, no one can object because it (proof) is there.

Allah (swt) said to us through Holy Prophet (s), and I will ask as a question to myself and to everyone, do you love Allah (swt)? (Yes.) Are we saying that by tongue or we say it with full confidence of what we are saying? So let me repeat another time, do we love Allah (swt)? (Yes!) Let me ask one more time, do we really love Allah (swt), yes or no? (Yes!) It (volume) is lower now. (Laughter.) Why was it lower? Because we got tired to repeat it three times: first time (the response) was low, second time was higher, the maximum, but the third time it got lower because we got tired! But with that, no problem as Allah knows who loves Him, and who loves Him sometimes very strong and sometimes depends on their faith. Some people are always remembering Allah; are we doing that? No, however, some people love Allah (swt), but:

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Laa yukallifullahu nafsan illa wus`ahaa.

On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear.(Surat al-Baqarah, 2:286)

Allah does not give you more than you can carry. Yes, you love Allah (swt), but you cannot carry too much so you manage, like people are coming here. Why? Because they love Allah (swt)! They are not coming for me or you, but coming to hear something and from that something they expect to get benefit, and to get benefit is always when we refer to the Prophet (s) and to Allah (swt) or to those who guide us, awliyaullah who show us the way. So people coming to any masjid or dargah or zawiya or any place of worship are coming to please Allah.

To please Him we must obey, sami`na wa ata`naa, “We hear and obey.” He didn’t only say, sami`na, all of us can hear; all of us can hear what the speaker is saying, but that is not what is important. What is important is what comes after. I can hear, but I don't obey and don’t do what I heard and listened and learned, so what is the benefit? You will get a little benefit, because you are with the majority, as Allah said:

Yadullahi `alaa al-jama`ah.

Allah's Hand is over the group. (Tirmidhi)

So this is a group of people and every masjid has a jama`ah. They hear the speaker, but do they act on what they heard? That is the question, that is the concern: do we accept it or not? Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:

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Sami`na wa ata`anaa.

We listen and we obey. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:46)

If we don't obey, it means we don't accept what we listened. So we have to obey, sami`na wa ata`anaa. And Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an that if we listened and obeyed, it means we love Allah (swt), because we are listening to what He is saying. So what we listen to is important and what we obey is what is important as Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:

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Wa maa aataakumu ’r-rasoolu fa-khudhoohu wa maa nahaakum `anhu fantahoo.

Leave what Prophet (s) forbade and take what he ordered. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:7)

Whatever Prophet (s) gives you, what do you do? You take it! Allah is saying in Holy Qur'an about the Prophet (s) to show how much He loves His Prophet (s), so listen to what the Prophet (s) is saying and ordering, and whatever the Prophet (s) gives to you, take. If you don't take...for example, if someone is giving you a gift and that gift is very precious, do you take it or throw it? You take it, unless you are arrogant and proud of yourself and say, "Aah! I don’t need it," but the majority will take it. Qaaloo aamanaa, people said, “We believe.”

And Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:

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The Arabs declare, "We believe." Say (to them), "You do not; rather say, 'We submit,' because belief has not yet found its way into your hearts. If you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not reduce

a thing from your deeds. Allah is the Oft-Forgiving and the Most Merciful." (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:14)

“Correct it,” they (who object) said to people like us and we said, “No problem, we can say as Sahaabah of the Prophet (s); they were addressing that to them, ‘We believe in you, yaa Muhammad (s)!’”

Allah (swt) said, laa taqooloo aamannaa, “Don’t say, ‘We are mu’min, believers,’ but rather say, ‘We are Muslims’ until imaan enters your heart, then you say, ‘aamannaa.’” When imaan enters, then love becomes like a sword of light and makes everything beautiful and makes the character of love to appear. So do you love Allah or not? Yes. When imaan enters, we don’t say yes, we cry, and we don’t cry only, we faint from the beauty of that word “Allah”! It is not something that has no meaning! Allah. How many letters? Four letters: Alif, Laam, Laam, Haa. Allah (swt). If you take the Alif out from that word, what is left? Laam, Laam, Ha. Connect them. Allah, take the Alif, “li-Llah,” it means everything is to Allah, it still has a meaning. In Arabic, “Allah” has a meaning, “li-Llah” everything belongs to Him. Take another Laam out, it becomes “la Hu,” everything to Him. Take another Laam out, it is “Ha” which is “Hu”, that is no one knows His Haawiyaahuu, identity, adh-Dhaat al-Buht, “His Self that is Hidden from everyone.”

He (swt) said:

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I was a Hidden Treasure (and) I wanted to be known, so I created Creation. (Hadith Qudsi)

Allah (swt) wanted to be known! He was a Hidden Treasure and still He is a Hidden Treasure and always will be, forever! He knows forever. Allah knows if there is time or no time, He knows better. No one knows. So we know sami`na wa ata`anaa, “listen and obey”. So what did we listen to now? If we say to ourselves we are mu’min, we have to tell our ego, “no, we are still Muslim.” Still we have to work until we become mu'min. We have to work hard, not through obligations as already you have to do that with the struggle against your ego to drop the desire down. Like Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q), one of the major awliya, said, “Yaa Rabbee!” Not like us. He is asking, as Allah (swt) said:

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Idoo`nee astajib lakum.

Call on Me, I will answer you. (Surah Ghaafir, 40:60)

He asked, “Yaa Rabbee!” After so much of being in love with Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s), and that love overtook him. He could not feel anything then, only saying, “Yaa Rabbee, I want You!” Are we doing that? I am not saying I am doing it, but all of us, are we doing it? No, but if we do it we will be like Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q). We are not doing it, we are only doing our prayers and fasting and doing a little bit of charity here and there, and coming for such events, which alhamdulillah is good, but that is not the way of awliyaullah. (...)

So Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) was overwhelmed, like when you are in love with a boy or girl, what would happen? Every moment you are thinking about her. You are  mingling every moment, especially now with iPhones. “Show you my picture, show you my picture….” It is correct, is it not? We are not saying something that is wrong. And you might send a text message, messaging her or she is messaging him. Did you make your phone to message you, to remind you to say Shahadah? Why we are using iPhones for dunya and not for Akhirah? We need halaal iPhones! What we have now is a haraam phone; to make it halaal at least put an alarm on it, make a reminder to say, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah,” or to say, “astaghfirullah.” Put an alarm every hour to say, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah,” and to say, “astaghfirullah,” not hundreds of times or you won’t do anything, only one time. We are so busy in dunya that we cannot remind ourselves so let this iPhone become halaal for dunya, and to remind you to remember to say astaghfirullah. Say, “Astaghfirullah.” (Astagfirullah.) You think any sins there? No, all gone yaa Rabbi ‘l-`Aalameen. That is the benefit of iPhones, not for texting or whatever you do on it. Turn it into halaal, make the iPhone sami`na wa ata`naa, “We listen and we obey!”

So Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q), what was he saying? He was overwhelmed, not every hour reminding your self to say “astaghfirullah,” but for him, his heart was a reminder for him for every single moment to say “Allah” and it was engraved with “Allah,” not like us. Everyone on his heart is engraved “Allah,” but we need to bring it out. To bring it out is to fill it with faith, to become a spotlight that will shine everywhere. So his heart was asking, like this one’s heart (a mureed); wherever I go he goes, he goes everywhere. What was he feeling? He is feeling that, “I cannot sleep, I cannot eat, I cannot drink,” always thinking, “Yaa Rabbee,” like people think out of love to each other, but he is focusing on Allah (swt), and finally Allah opened to him some kind of faith like Sayyidina Musa’s neighbor.

Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul--say “ameen,”--he said the neighbor of Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Sayyidina Musa (a) one time, “Yaa Musa, when you are going to Toor Sinaa, when Allah speaks with you ask Him to send to me some imaan to my heart as I don’t have it, and because I love Him I want to feel that love and I want to swim in that love. Ask Him to send me some imaan.”

Did we ask Allah to send us imaan? Sometimes. Sometimes people come to me and ask, “Please ask that I have imaan and that my children have imaan,” especially Pakistanis. They send me letters, and they write, “Ask Allah that I have imaan and that my children have imaan.” They have that tradition, which is nice, and also people from some other countries like Egypt, and Lebanese and Syrians (do that), but not like Pakistanis.

So Sayyidina Musa (a) went to Toor Sinaa and he stayed, and then he finished and he was going, and Allah said to him, “Yaa Musa, didn't your neighbor ask you something?”

Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “Yes, yaa Rabbee, I forgot,” and Allah does not forget, He knows everything, He creates the knowledge and He created everything.

Allah said, “What does he want?”

Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “He asked that You grant him some imaan to his heart.”

Allah said to Sayyidina Musa (a), “Go to him and tell him I gave him some imaan.” Isn’t that what we want? (Yes!)

He went back down and passed by his neighbor's house and the door was open. He found that man sitting on the floor cross-legged in a position of meditation, contemplation, tafakkur, muraqabah, rabita, whatever you want to call it, as there are too many different names for the same thing. You want to call it ‘contemplation,’ yes.

Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:

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Behold! In the creation of Heaven and Earth, and in the alternation of night and day there are indeed signs for men of understanding, those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and contemplating the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, (saying), "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose! Glory to You! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire.” (Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:191-192)

Prophet (s) said:

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Tafakkarru sa`atin khayrun min `ibaadati saba`een sannah.

To remember Allah (swt) (contemplate or meditate) for one hour is better than seventy years of worship.

So Sayyidina Musa (a) saw his neighbor in the position of tafakkur and he said to him, “O my neighbor, wake up! Allah (swt) has granted you imaan.” And