after Fajr and Tahajjud
Nawaytu’l-arba`een nawatu’l-`itikaaf nawaytu’l-khalwah, nawaytu’r-riyaada, nawaytu’s-salook lillahi ta`ala al-`adheem fee hadha’l masjid
Ati`Allaha wa ati` ar-rasoola wa uli’l-amir minkum
In the previous session we were discussing the issue of smoking. Grandshaykh said that Abu Ahmad as-Sughuri, Allah gave him the power of qutbaniyya, these are five qutbs. Qutb, qutb al-bilad, qutb al-irshad, qutb al-mutassarif, qutb al-aqtaab.
These are five awliya, pillars that Allah gave power over everything inheriting from the Prophet (s). So he said,"Shaykh Abu Ahmad as-Sughuri (one of the Shaykhs of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order), he was qutb for 40 years and he carried that responsibility."
We are not explaining here the level of qutb or what it means, but in short it depends on what type of qutb, there are five qutbs, depends on what kind of qutb he is. Then everything under that comes into his responsibility.
Like the qutb al-irshad for example, is the wali that through him, the rest of awliya receive guidance and from them to their students. That is irshad.
Qutb al-mutassarif means the one who is under his hands is what everyone does on this world he is monitoring and he is monitoring whatever is going on, even from awliyaullah and from awliyaullah to their students.
This is summary of what these qutb do and we can explain in future more detail.
And he was qutb for 40 years and the worst of what we can imagine what can happen in this world because people don’t know what is behind everything, they think everything is ok. He said the worst of everything is the plant of smoke, cigarettes, tobacco. It carries the dirtiness of Iblees and his devils. So it is blended with the dirtiness of Iblees and his devils so that the people who are smoking as if smoking the dirtiness and the bad behaviors of Iblees and his devils. And he said, Shaykh Abu Ahmad as-Sughuri said, “O my children! You have to thank Allah that he provided us ni`mah azaliyya, pre-eternal and abadiyya, post-eternal that this favor that Allah gave us from pre-to post eternal that you Naqshbandi students, and you never lam tata`awadu `ala ad-dhukhan - that you never became addicted to smoking.”
It might be some people they smoke and then they quit as they realize the danger of it. So those who became addicted to smoking have to quit else they are under that curse that Allah cursed Iblees, and whoever smokes is receiving part of that curse. For example they are receiving some kind of bad behavior such as backbiting or lying. Iblees was inspiring to Adam to do wrong.
It is tough to say what I have to say, but I must say it. Grandshaykh said that, “whoever is smoking and does not quit, his prayers are rejected, baatila. He is smoking the smell of Iblees and the angels come to approach to take the `amal of the prayers up to Paradise and so they cannot approach due to the stinky smell of that person who is smoking so that is what makes his prayers not to be accepted. Not only his prayer is not accepted and all his actions of worship are not accepted and he has to repeat his prayers over hellfire.”
Allah knows how it is, but for example, there is a floor of iron over the fire then you must pray on that hot iron and repeat all your prayers on that floor which is over hellfire. It is going to burn all their foreheads, their hands and their feet, all this will be burning. That is why it is better those who didn’t pray when they were young, when they pray, they make up the prayers they missed and with every prayer they pray one prayer. By this means you can save yourself, even if you didn’t finish before you died, at least everything is by intention. You will be saved from having to pray in hellfire.
But those who pray with tobacco, they will have to pray their prayers IN hellfire and you will have to be burned completely and be reduced like the tobacco to ashes. They are going to feel the burning when they are going to not quit that cigarettes.
Allah has to send them to hellfire to make them ashes and hen recreate him another time and then send him to
He said, "O my children. Don’t try to make your children accustomed to smoking. If you have a boy or daughter, make sure that he or she is not smoking else you are going to be responsible.”
He said, "when a child becomes 15 years of age his blood begins to boil - his blood is boiling inside for doing anything that is not good.” “So these children,” he said, "don’t give them any kind of leadership. Don’t give them to control your work or control you or control their mothers. Teach them respect. Teach them how to behave else you will not be able to control them - they will run away.”
He said, “we run, we run, we run, we get tired all our lives to make sure our children will live a decent life.” He said, "It is not worth it. Don’t do that. Because when they grow up the only thing they are thinking is ‘when will my father and mother die in order that I will take responsibility of their wealth and their money.’ All their minds is to get rid of you in order they will inherit from you.”
And this is… some children have that in their minds: “When will my father or mother die? I will inherit the house and inherit their car and inherit their bank account. They know nothing, they are awkward; they are retarded people they are from the Stone Age. My father and mother don’t know anything. I will take my opinion by myself. I want to be independent.”
You don’t find that? Especially when they become 16, all their minds is how they are going in the dorm and be to be independent in college or in the university. They don’t want to stay with their parents. This is their mind - to live their own life. They prepare them to think like that. They want to run from the family. They don’t know that with the family is baraka. They don’t know that there they are safe from Shaytan and they are safe. In dorms you don’t know what they are doing in these rooms with roommates. Drinking and smoking marijuana. Everyone wants to live his life as if no obligations; he wants to live a wild life.
That is why you see the
You see in free countries that people studying up to 60 years of age. Ask them: “What are you studying?” “I am studying my PhD.” For what.
Yes, I like to study also, and get something.
So he said, “For Allah’s sake don’t be very soft and don’t be under control of Shaytan but be strong and facing Shaytan and discipline your children then you will save them from falling into this smoking problem and misbehaviour.”
Like many people are misbehaving today. If you have a secret don’t tell it to anyone because then you are not sure when they expose you.
Allah Allah! Then he speaks. I will skip that and later we can discuss later, about the origin of that plant dukhan.
He said that “Everything comes from ananiyya - selfishness - and jealousy. It is not acceptable to say to the murshid ‘no’ - la yajuz an yaqul lil-murshid ‘la’. There is no permission to say to the murshid ‘no’. If you say, ‘no’, then you are disobeying what Allah has ordered you to obey of those on authority: Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum… When you disobey the murshid, the murshid feels bad in the presence of the Prophet (s) as if “look your students are not listening and obeying.”
“Similarly your children must not say to you ‘no’. They must accept whatever you say.”
I am skipping…
He said, “sayyid al-qawmi khaadimuhum - the leader of the people is the one who serves them. The one who serves the servants of Allah is the one considered the highest in level. Out of love he is serving everyone; giving a good face to everyone; feeding everyone, never getting upset with anyone.”
So that person who people are running after him, and he treats the students very well, that is the master of that group. And he said “that awliyaullah follow the footsteps of sahabat an-nabi, as the Prophet said, “Sahabatee kan-nujoom – my Comp;anions aer like the stars, whichever one of them you follow you will be guided.”
That is an authentic hadith, not as they say. I was watching that Iqra Channel, and one of the big Saudi scholars was quoting that hadith, “My Sahaba like stars, and whichever one you follow you will be guided on the way.”
So awliya inherit that light. Whichever you follow you will be guided. Every wali has secrets that they inherit from Sahaba and from Prophet (s). The will guide their students in what they need to be guided. They are asyaad al-qawm. They are the leaders and masters that lead you to eternal life and show you the way of Prophet (s).
Sayyidina Musa is a prophet and he asked Sayyidina Khidr if he can accompany him. And Mawlana says here that Sayyidina Khidr is a waliullah, not like Sayyidina Musa . And Sayyidina Khidr said to Sayyidina Musa , “you cannot accompany me; it is difficult.” He said, "by Allah’s permission I would like to follow you and accompany you.”
And you know the story of Sayyidina Khidr and Sayyidina Musa . How he tried to open a hole and sink the ship and how he killed child and how he built the wall and Sayyidina Musa was not able to take that. He was not understanding the wisdom behind it. What Allah gave Sayyidina Khidr, He did not give to Sayyidina Musa and what Allah gave to Sayyidina Musa He did not give to Sayyidina Khidr and what Allah gave to one wali He did not give to another. That is why we have to be very careful to balance awliya. Don’t compare awliyaullah. Don’t try to say, "this one is better and this one is less or this one is higher and this one is less.” That will disturb the balance. Our duty is to listen and follow and Allah knows best.
There was a very big scholar in Madinat al-Munawarra and his name was Diya Effendi. The people of Makkah and Madina used to visit him and respect him. When Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was in seclusion, Diya Effendi came to visit Grandshaykh and Grandshaykh said to him, “why didn’t Allah give to Sayyidina Musa what he gave to Sayyidina Khidr of knowledge?”
And that respected `alim of Makkah and Madina said, “I don’t know.”
Whenever someone speaks, listen. That is what Grandshaykh said. Whenever someone opens his mouth to speak, listen and you will get wisdom.
He said, "I was listening to the answer of Diya Effendi and it didn’t make sense to me that that scholar didn’t know. I said, ‘Ya Diya Effendi! You are reading hadith and people respect you because of your knowledge. How can you no have understanding of why Sayyidina Khidr had knowledge that Sayyidina Musa didn’t have and why Sayyidina Musa had what Sayyidina Khidr didn’t have?’”
“‘Ya Diya Effendi. How many hadith has the Prophet (s) said? Hundreds of thousands. All of them go under what? Under one hadith, all of them go and the one who has been given wisdom will understand that. Those who have been given that understanding and wisdom will understand that and will understand the reason why Sayyidina Musa had different knowledge than Sayyidina Khidr.’”
“‘Ya Diya Effendi! If Allah swt gave to Sayyidina Musa what he gave to Sayyidina Khidr, then never would Sayyidina Musa have objected and then Sayyidina Khidr would never have given answer. Sayyidina Musa was the only Prophet (s) in Qur’an who was always asking questions when he didn’t understand things in dunya. If Sayyidina Musa did not ask any questions no one would have understood anything. Because of these questions we learned what we did from the Holy Qur’an. That is why Allah swt did not give Sayyidina Musa the knowledge behind everything in order for him to keep asking questions and in order for Allah to keep giving answers. All these oceans of knowledge in Holy Qur’an, Allah gave because of Sayyidina Musa asking questions. For that reason he was not given that kind of knowledge and he would have kept quiet and no one would have known anything.’”
Sayyidina Muhammad never opened his mouth asking questions because he was shy from his Lord. He gave him that perfection, adabanee rabbee wa ahsana ta`deebee – My Lord trained me and disciplined me and perfected my manners.” He perfected his manners and character. He didn’t give to Sayyidina Musa . So he left him without that and so he is asking questions. That is why people are asking questions today. If you want to follow the adab and way of Prophet (s) Muhammad you will keep quiet. What comes, comes.
Allah swt gave the containers in heart of Sayyidina Muhammad’s Ummah - containers that catch wisdom. Only by obedience these veils will be opened and then you will not need to ask questions. We are asking questions because we are in darkness and we are not trying to take these veils away.
Through wisdom and through hadith the Prophet (s) is explaining the Holy Qur’an. No one can enter the oceans of knowledge in Qur’an from prophets except Sayyidina Muhammad (s).
And look at Prophet’s humbleness. He says, “Allahuma la taqilnee ila nafsee tarfata `aynin wa `aqal min dhaalik – O Allah don’t leave me to my ego for the blink of an eye or even less than that.” Sayyidina Muhammad said, "don’t leave me to myself for the blink of an eye.” And we are all left to ourselves. That is why problems come and why difficulties come. May Allah prevent us from falling into these sins and mistakes.
So for those who are smoking, make intention to quit, and for those who missed prayers make intention to make up the prayers you missed, by accompanying the obligatory prayers.
And those who missed fasting, because they were wild, let them count the days they missed of Ramadan. Let me tell the hard and the easy. The ones who intentionally missed fasting, they should fast 60 days in a row. And if they cannot fast then feed 60 people in a row. If they cannot then Allah will forgive them.
One Sahabi came and said, "Ya Rasulullah! I cannot fast 60 days in a row.” And the Prophet (s) said, “ok, then feed 60 persons.” He said, “I cannot; I am poor.” Then he said, “Take this money and go, and Allah will forgive you.”
So how many is that? If you miss one day it is 60 days. So 30 days missed means 1800 days of fasting for each Ramadan. So that is difficult to do. Especially in the west. So try to make intention to feed people at least for those who are poor [and missed fasts intentionally].
30x60 = 1800 meals multiplied by how many days – you must feed the people. If we go with every day equal to 60 it means you must pay $7000 per month.
Try to cover this with $300 in one month.
We don’t want to fast Ramadan in hellfire, we want to be cleaned of our mistakes in dunya first.
Let us say today I didn’t fast today for an excuse. You can fast it later.
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِيَ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِّنَ الْهُدَى وَالْفُرْقَانِ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ يُرِيدُ اللّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلاَ يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُواْ الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُواْ اللّهَ عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
Shahru ramadana allathee unzila feehil-quranu hudan lin-naasi wa bayyinaatin minal-huda wal-furqani fa man shahida minkum ’ush-shahra fa ’l-yasumhu wa man kaana mareedan aw `ala safarin fa`iddatun min ayyaamin ukhra. yureedu Allahu bikumu al-yusra wa laa yureedu bikumu al-`usra wa li-tukmiloo al-`iddata wa li-tukabbiroollaha `ala ma hadaakum wa la`allakum tashkuroona.
Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (Should be made up) by days later. Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put to difficulties. (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful. 2:185
If you do it intentionally that you break your fast by any means then that is going to be 60 days consecutive or feed 60 people in one day.
Now you did the whole Ramadan; you didn’t fast, that is 60x30 which is 1800 days. Now you didn’t know; you were in ignorance. You didn’t know how to pray or how to fast even, that is the responsibility of the parents, so at least in order not to be asked, say, "we were mentally sick.” If we are mentally sick, when you are mentally sick, handicapped, you have no more responsibility. So say, "we were mentally sick” and so no responsibility. So when we “wake up” we realize we were mentally sick. Those who don’t have anything take from someone and run away.
Like the one who came to the Prophet (s), he said, “Ya Rasulullah I broke my fast.” “Then fast 60 days.” “I cannot.” “Then feed 60 poor ones.” “I don’t have any money, I cannot do that.” “Then take these dates which are enough for 60 people and feed the people.” He said, “Ya Rasulullah I am poorer than anyone here.” “So take the dates and go.”
He knows, he is rahmatan lil-`aalameen, he said, “take the dates.”
If you fast nafl, then you must fast with the niyyah of making up what was missed.
I skipped around four pages. Insha-Allah we go through these four pages in private sessions.
[What if we miss fasting due to work, for example driving far?]
That is excused. For example travel 85 km is considered a traveler. In the old days it is considered 55 miles.
[If I was falling asleep at the wheel?]
Due to half an hour or 1 hour? This is sickness. Is it not?
[If you get sick you have to make 60 days?]
If you are sick you are sick, you can break any moment.
But if you are fasting nafl and made intention to fast and broke the fast after Dhuhr then that fast must be made up.
But in Ramadan if you break the fast for an excuse then fast another day.