Suhbah at As-Siddiq Mosque
As-salaam `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Alhamdulillahi rabbi ‘l-`alameen wa ’s-salaat wa ’s-salaam `alaa Sayyid al-Mursaleen. Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee sharafana an naku min ummati Muhammad. We are praising Allah (swt) that he made us from ummat an-Nabi, and this nation, like any other nation, has always struggled between good and evil. Since time of Sayyidina Adam (a), when Qabeel killed Habeel, and then later Sayyidina Nuh (a) ran away from evil people in his boat, and later Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) was thrown in the fire, and Sayyidina Musa and Sayyidina `Isa (a) the same, and the tribe of Prophet (s) hurt him. It is as the Prophet (s) said:
لا راحة في الدين
Laa raahata fi ’d-deen.
There is no rest in religion.
As you call people to Allah and His Prophet and try to rehabilitate them, it is a struggle. (...) May Allah (swt) give all of us to be with Mahdi (a).
Since soon I will present a paper in a conference in Turkey coming soon, I will take from it a hadith of the Prophet (s) that applies to this meeting.
The khalifah of the Prophet (s), Sayyidina Umar (r), said that the Prophet said, “Certainly there are from Allah's servants people who are not prophets and not martyrs.” Prophets are the highest level in Islam, then the Sahaabah (r), then the martyrs. yaghbitahum al-anbiya wa’sh-shuhada. “They (prophets and martyrs) are so overwhelmed by these people whom they can see, because of their level in Allah's Divine Presence they get messages from their eyes.” That means they have a very high status. When mentioning this, the Sahaabah (r) said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! Can you tell us who are these people?” And he said, qawmun tahaaboo fee rawhillah, “They come together like you people, loving each for Allah's sake and nothing else.”
They are those who see their brothers and say, “We are loving each other for Allah's sake and His Prophet,” without any familial relationship; they are not related by blood but are related by soul, as the Prophet (s) said, “The souls are gathered troops in the Presence of Allah (swt), that knew each other and came together like military battalions, and those who don’t like each other, who are not familiar, they separate.”
Alhamdulillah, this is integration, coming together for Allah and His Prophet (s), driving five hours to reach here; that is something. As the Prophet (s) said, “Who goes to the masjid, for every step he walks Allah takes away ten sayyi`aat and gives ten hasanaat.” If you take ten steps, you get 100 hasanaat and get rid of 100 sayyi`aat. If it is 100 steps, you get 1000 and get rid of 1000. If it is 100 miles, so that is 1.5 km. 1500 meters and every meter is 3 feet so it is like around 5000 per kilometer multiplied by ten hasanaat. If it is 450 km to Chicago, multiply 450 by 5000, then that is 2 million hasanaat! I am not pulling this from my pocket; it is a hadith! That is why some people used to go the long way in order to increase the sayyi`aat removed and hasanaat given.
They asked, “Who are those people?” Prophet (s) said, “They are the people who only gather together for Allah's and the Prophet’s (s) love, and there is no blood relationship or business between them.” The Prophet (s) is giving an oath, which is not like us giving an oath. “W’Allahi, by Allah, their faces are shining with nur and they are completely in guidance.”
Alhamdulillah, you (Shaykh Abdur Rasheed) guided them, you brought them. That is a big investment for Akhirah.
لأن يهدى الله بك رجلا واحدا خير لك من الدنيا وما فيها
la’in yahdeellahu bika rajulun wahidan khayrun laka min ad-dunya wa maa feehaa.
If Allah guides one person through you, that is better than the whole dunya and what is in it.
This is your investment, not one, not 24, but under 24,000 they will bring. As each one must be a diplomat for Islam. You aren't calling them to Islam to sit on their haunches, but it is their duty to go and work hard and they will have nothing to fear. People will be most afraid on Judgment Day, fearful that they will not get safety from Allah (swt), and they don’t get sad when people get sad. People might get punished by Allah (swt) or He may forgive them, it is up to Allah. And then he read the ayah:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
`Alaa inna awliyaullahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.
Behold! Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. (al-Yunus,10:62)
These are the people he brought to this ummah. They are African and they were the first to support the Prophet (s). When the Quraysh were abusing the Companions (r) of the Prophet (s), he sent them to the king of Abyssinia, in Africa. What did the king do? He said, “There is no difference between our religion and theirs!” He had them stay there in safety with him. It is said that he died as a Muslim. He sponsored them as refugees.
Africa was the first place the Prophet (s) sent his people for refuge, not to Persia or Yemen.
Africa is to the west of Saudi Arabia, so Prophet (s) didn't send them to the east. He didn't send them to Pakistan, India, China, or Indonesia. Telling us to go west signifies that Islam is coming up and will be booming in the west. Where are all of them are coming from now? From the west. Allah (swt) made them His diplomats in the west to represent Islam.
There is a story about Sayyidina Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (q), who was a famous scholar. He said that in the beginning he used to deny pious people, like today they deny awliyaullah. Saints are hidden; no one knows them except Allah. He said, “At the beginning of my life I denied all awliyaullah and the people of visions. I did not accept anyone who said, ‘I saw this, I saw that.’” He was a big scholar but mushakkik, doubting, even Allah (swt)! He didn't have perfect faith. He remained doubtful until he managed to find one such person and accompanied him.
You have to accompany someone to really know them. That is why the Sahaabah (r) were Sahaabah, because they accompanied the Prophet (s). If you don't accompany someone, you wont know how he sleeps, eats, and lives in his house. Sayyidina Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (q) said that he accompanied his shaykh, Yusuf an-Nassaaj (q), who kept polishing him, cutting his ego down, and giving him tests. Now, if someone says, “I love [that person,] then they see something they don't like from them, if your loive is real you must not change, you must still love them. So Sayyidina Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (q) said that his shaykh was giving him a hard time, humiliating and cursing him in front of people; however, he remained polite and didn't change until the inspirations began to flow from the shaykh's heart to his.
Similarly, there is a story from one big shaykh in the Golden Chain, Sayyidina Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q). One of his mureeds, who was the biggest Islamic scholar at that time, came to the shaykh and said, “I want to become your mureed. What must I do?” he was a big scholar. He was Shaykh ul-Islam of that area, so he knew Shari`ah and Fiqh.
The shaykh said, “I have too many students here, but I need someone to cut wood in the forest so we can be warm. Take this rope, axe and donkey, and go to mountains by this route.”
He said, “Okay,” but he was not happy as he was a scholar.
This is tariqah, how they polish their mureeds. and prepare some of them to become leaders, just as Mawlana polishes you! So he went with the rope and axe, and as everyone knew him, they said, “O! Shaykh al-Islam has become crazy, carrying a rope and axe on a donkey, going to cut wood. Is this Islam?”
In the evening he came to his shaykh and said, “O my shaykh! I cannot do that as so many people are mocking me!”
The shaykh said, “That is good as I want people to mock you!”
But that scholar said, “Can I change the route and use the back road?”
To this the shaykh replied, “Since you complained about my order, you can either be my student or stop and go away. Since you complained, go to city now, but not to cut wood; instead, go to the public bathrooms, (in those days they used to clean with stones if there was no water), where your duty is to collect the stones that they use, take them to the ocean and clean them!”
With that order the student knew he can no longer complain, that his shaykh is a wali and he cannot ever oppose him. So he did his task and began to receive inspirations to his heart. When someone begins to polish his heart very hard, he begins to receive revelations.
He said, “I saw Allah (swt) in my dream.” Look how high he went high by his shaykh polishing him! When you polish something very hard it shines. That is how they do it; they keep giving you a hard time until you say, “I am fed up and will run away!” He said, “ I saw Allah (swt) in my dream and He said to me, ‘Yaa Aba Hamid! Leave everything from dunya, shawaaghila, distractions; follow and be a companion to the people whom I keep under My gaze, for it is not upon everyone, only on awliyaullah. Find them and be with them, for they are the ones who sold dunya and Akhirah as they don’t want either, they only want one thing: My love!”
Because he doubted at the beginning, he said, “O Allah! Give me power to throw away the doubts about them and give me belief.” Then in the dream Allah (swt) said, “Verily, I did that by kun fayakoon, ‘“Be!” and it is.’ The difference between you and them is that you are running after dunya. Leave it voluntarily (by submitting to Allah’s will) before you leave it by force (in death).” To leave dunya voluntarily means say, “Yaa Rabbee! I don't want dunya, I want You!” One day you are going to leave dunya by force, so it is better to leave dunya by choice.
Allah (swt) also said, “O Abu Hamid! I have already manifested lights upon you from My Holy Divine Presence.”
Abu Hamid said, “I woke up and ran happily to my shaykh and told him my dream.” He smiled at me and said, “These are our ways in the beginning, but if you were to accompany me, I would put not put kohl on your eyes, but on your heart’s eyes (I would beautify your heart).” In that state it is as if one receives heavenly makeup from Allah Himself!
(...)
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
(...)
Finally, I would like to end with a hadith of the Prophet (s):
يحشر المرء مع من أحب
yuhshar al-maruw ma` man ahab.
Each person will be resurrected with the one he loves.
All these people love you (Abdur Rasheed), you love Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Mawlana loves the Prophet (s), so it is like a chain. Therefore, their love for you is love for the shaykh and for the Prophet (s). Those who are in that chain will be resurrected together.
May Allah (swt) make us love the Prophet (s) as much as possible. Once the Prophet (s) was giving a khutbah and a Bedouin came to the door of the mosque and said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! When is the Day of Judgment?” Prophet (s) replied, “What have you prepared for it?” It is a long journey, and when you travel you must take food and money, so he asked what had that man prepared of prayers, fasting and salawaat, what had he done for Allah (swt) that will save him on this journey. The man said, mahabatak, yaa Rasoolullah, “Love for you, O Prophet (s)!”The Prophet (s) replied, “O Bedouin! It is enough.”
Love is enough to guide the servant and to bring them to be with the Prophet (s) on Judgment Day. May Allah make us to be with the Prophet (s) on Judgment Day without account, because we are weak and helpless servants.
When you have flour, beans or chick peas, etc., there are small black insects (weevils) that go inside the flour and disturb it. Although the flour is still good, the weevils multiply and it is difficult to cook it, so you must put the infested flour in the sun and after a couple of hours the insects disperse and the wheat comes back to normal. There was a weevil (among us) and it was a test, coming over the premium white wheat that glistens. Shaytan didn't want it to be shining, so he sent a weevil that went inside and spread its darkness over that bright bag of flour to make it bad.
I’m sorry to say this, but there was one weevil that went in and began to make fitna and ran away after he spread the fitna. However, when such thing happen, if you are made of gold you remain gold; if platinum, then you remain platinum. No one can change gold, platinum or diamonds to copper. Our relationship was the highest, the diamond, no one can change it. So when this weevil disappeared, the white wheat came back to normal. That is the time that Allah (swt) inspired Shaykh Abdur Rasheed to come and restore his relationship. He attempted to make up between us and, alhamdulillah, we and everyone are happy. You are all welcome!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.