22 December 2012 Burton, Michigan
`Isha Suhbah at As-Siddiq Mosque
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
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.
Dastoor yaa Sayyidee, madad.
This is a continuation of this morning’s lecture, so if you didn’t attend you might not understand and I can't repeat what was said before, but I can summarize it in two sentences:
وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاء وَرَحْمَةٌ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Wa nunazzilu mina al-qur’ani ma huwa shifaa’un wa rahmatun li ’l-mu’mineen.
And We sent down in the Qur’an such things that have healing and mercy for the believers.
(Surat al-’Israa, 17:82)
This a general statement for human beings and we explained this morning that whoever will recite certain verses will for sure be cured of illness, and they also use something called ruqya, taweez or azimah, whatever you call it, something that you hang.
In summary from the hadith of the Prophet (s), a group of Sahaabah (r) traveled to a village and they were tired. They sought the leader of the village to host them, but he refused. They left, then suddenly the leader was bit by (something poisonous), a centipede, scorpion, tarantula or snake, so he was poisoned and fainted. Village residents tried to cure the leader and could not, so they came to the Sahaabah (r) and said, “Do you have anyone who has power or knows how to treat someone bitten by a poisonous animal?”
One of them said, “Yes, we can.”
The villagers said, “Then come with us.”
The Sahaabah (s) said, “No, because you did not host us so you must give us compensation. ”
The village residents agreed to give a herd of sheep in compensation; they don't say here how many, but maybe it was 20-25 sheep. So that man came and began to recite Surat al-Fatihah, “Alhamdullahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen. Ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Maaliki Yawm ad-Deen... (to the end). Ameen.” When he finished he spat on the leaders’ wound, about which we know the Prophet (s) said in a hadith:
ريق المؤمن شفاء
Reeq al-mu'min shifaa’.
The saliva of a Believer is a cure.
Today when you say the word ‘saliva’ everyone recoils, but the Prophet (s) said, “The saliva of a mu’min, a Believer,” not only Muslim, but one who reached the Level of Sainthood. It means when you eat from what that one gives you, or from his leftovers, or drink from his cup, it is shifaa’. In the time of the Prophet (s) there weren’t a hundred cups, there was only one cup and all shared it. Today people drink from their own cup and don't share, although the Prophet (r) said the saliva of a Believer is a cure.
That one was a Sahaabi, so his saliva is pure and a cure, as it had no sins. As soon as saliva entered the village leader’s mouth he was cured and stood up as if nothing had happened to him! So on their way back home they were discussing how to divide the herd they received and could not come to an agreement, so they left the matter to the Prophet (s). And this is a very important matter about ruqya, that in Islam ruqya is accepted and not what they say today, that it is bid`a or shirk. (When they arrived home and the group of Sahaabah reported this to Prophet (s), he demonstrated his acceptance of using ruqya in Islam by telling them, “Is there a share (of what you were compensated) for me?”
The compiler of this book was staying in Mecca and got sick. We explained in the last session who can recite ruqya; not everyone can do that because not everyone has clean breath going out and coming in. The breath coming in must be with “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and must go out with “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah.” That breath must not ever backbite anyone or speak a false rumor or have sinned, so that Allah will accept his ruqya.
That author is a big `alim and he was in Mecca and got very sick. He could not find any doctor, tabeeb, someone who heals by Allah's Power. So he said, “I began to heal myself by myself, and what was the healing of myself by myself? It was reciting Surat al-Fatihah on my sickness. wa laa ajid tabeeban wa laa dawa'an fa kuntu udawiyy nafsee bi qira'at al-fatihah, as the Prophet (s) said, “al-fatihah lima quriyyat lah;” Surat al-Fatihah is whatever you read it for: sickness, problems, an opening, and anything you want to do, Allah will accept and it will become easy. And reading Surat al-Fatihah for shifaa’ is very highly recommended by Prophet (s). And he began to see a change, ta'theera `ajeeba, and said, “I feel myself being healed from reading Surat al-Fatihah. I used to have intense pain.” We know today that intense pain may be cancer, who knows? He began to recite Surat al-Fatihah and saw something astonishing: the pain disappeared! He continues, “Whoever was sick in Mecca when I was there, I was curing them by reciting Surat al-Fatihah.”
So there are certain cures for certain diseases and you cannot make a soup. Allah (swt) gave awliyaullah, shuyukh or scholars from Prophetic Medicine, in which different verses of Holy Qur’an are recited to cure different illnesses. The verse that remedies depends on the sickness, and they will teach you and it will purify you and you will be able to cure your disease.
So the author of the book is testifying, and I chose it because it will be witness for those who are going to deny it and say this is shirk, those who follow the Salafi school of thought. This man who wrote the book, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, is a big scholar and a student of Ibn Taymiyya, and he is accepting (the validity of using) ruqya. Today they don't accept ruqya, they say it is “shirk” but Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya mentioned it in his book in the hadith of the animal that bit this man, and agreed on the verses of Holy Qur’an that not everyone can do that state because it is specialized to those whose hearts Allah has opened to it, the awliyaullah, who differ from normal mu’mins or normal Muslims.
They say that everyone is a wali, and (we say) the wali is the one who is specialized and can give the ayah to be used for cure, and not only that: he emphasized that we have to be very careful on this matter, hiya allatee tushfaa bihaa wa yulqaa bihaa. He first mentioned “adhkaar” and then “aayaat;” he differentiated between recitation of dhikrullah and verses of Holy Qur'an, so that means he accepted there are people who can use dhikrullah, mentioning Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes, in a way that can heal people from their sicknesses. And we know Allah’s 99 Beautiful Names and Attributes, and He has Names that others don’t know, which awliyaullah can use to heal and use Holy Qur'an to heal. And he mentioned also that the wali can make du`a to heal and so through these three methods: dhikrullah, ruqya/aayaat and du`a as they can have full benefit and will heal completely.
We have mentioned that there are two kinds of illness, physical and spiritual, and the physical is easier than the spiritual. The physical can be cured and you are healed, but with spiritual illness you might die and still not be cured. What are these spiritual illnesses? They are illnesses of the self, seventeen different illnesses which include anger, hatred, malice and others that we have mentioned in the book titled The Sufi Science of Self-Realization.
And it is mentioned in `Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal's (r) book, Al-Zuhd, that in the time of the Bani Israel they were afflicted (with an illness) and they ran out into the desert as it was too much for them and they went out of the villages. Then Allah revealed to their prophet and said to them, “You are moving out of the village to the desert and still your bodies are dirty so you are carrying the dirtiness with you, and you are raising your hands to Allah, asking Him to take that illness away from you although your hands are full of the blood of people and your homes are full from forbidden wealth. Now when His Anger is so strong on you, you ask Him for forgiveness? You are not going to get it!”
And that means you must not try to heal someone if you know you are a sinful person, not clean; you must go to a clean person and ask them to make du`a. Do you think yourself to be a clean person or not? Can any of us raise our hands asking Allah or Prophet (s) (for our du`as) and say we are clean? None of us can, so how then are you going to be cured of your sickness? Look at Allah’s Mercy! Despite all that, Allah still sends a cure. What do we do when we get sick? We say, “O Allah! Take away that sickness and cure me.” We do that in any religion. You are a chaplain (a mureed), don’t they do that? So when in a problem, everyone seeks Allah’s forgiveness and cure, so our focus is how to cure our bodies and get shifaa’ and it is said that is the best way to cure yourself if you want to go on the route of not going to doctors. There are medical doctors today who will treat you. If you want to go the route of using Holy Qur'an and the Holy Hadith of the Prophet (s), for sure you will be cured, and that is through du`a that the Prophet (s) has taught his Sahaabah (r) and through du`a from Holy Qur'an, as Allah (swt) said:
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ
Wa qaala rabbukumu ’d`oonee astajib lakum
But Your Lord said, “Call on Me, I will answer you.” (Surat al-Ghaafir, 40:60)
“Whatever you ask I will accept, but ask (Me)!” And when you ask and didn’t get, don’t say, “I didn’t get,” because you have to keep asking; Allah is testing you. Prophet (s) said, “For every sickness there is a cure except one, which is death.”
What is the enemy of du`a? Why do you make du`a? Because you want to take away the affliction. So affliction is the enemy of the du`a, it is trying to stop the du`a. So that is why the Prophet (s) said from Sayyidina `Ali (r) as mentioned by al-Hakim in his Sahih:
الدعا سلاح المومن
Ad-du`a silaah al-mu'min.
Du`a is the sword/weapon of the believer.
There are three different levels of du`a that are facing three different levels of affliction. Du`a is the weapon of the believer, the way you kill the enemy:
1) ad-du`a silaah al-mu'min, the du`a is the weapon of the believer.
2) ad-du`a`imad ad-deen, like salaat, du`a is the pillar of religion.
3) ad-du`a nooru ’s-samawaati wa 'l-ard, and it is the Light of Heavens and Earth as mentioned by Prophet (s).
So du`a can take away everything and it can give you Noor of Heavens and Earth! It can be used as a weapon against Shaytan for what he does against your soul, and it will remove the bad desires and be a weapon against your sickness and a pillar for your religion!
Al-balaa'u thalaatha maqaamaat, he mentioned three levels of du`a that are facing three different levels of affliction:
1) One is the du`a that is stronger than the affliction and it will remove the affliction. That is why you need a guide, a shaykh that gives you strong du`a that will throw the affliction away.
2) The du`a that you didn’t seek advice of a shaykh or wali to tell you which du`a you have to use against the balaa doesn't have power to take away the affliction, and therefore, the affliction will get stronger and take over.
3) The du`a and the affliction are equal in power and there will be a struggle. As long as you continue with your du`a, the affliction will be struggling and not cause you to fall down and as you increase in du`a that affliction will begin to decrease and disappear.
`Abdullah ibn `Sayyidina `Umar (r) narrated that the Prophet (s) said:
عن ابن عمر رضي الله عنهما قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم : " الدعاء ينفع مما نزل ، ومما لم ينزل ، فعليكم عباد الله بالدعاء "
al-du`a yanfa` limaa nazal wa mimmaa nazal, fa `alaykum bi ’d-du`a.
The du`a will prevent the affliction from wherever already came down and also the affliction that might come later. Al-Mustadrak `alaa as-Sahihayn
We will continue this inshaa-Allah and mention the best du`as and the time for these invocations. And Allah (swt) mentioned in Holy Qur'an:
يَمْحُو اللّهُ مَا يَشَاء وَيُثْبِتُ وَعِندَهُ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ
Yamhullaahu ma yashaa'u wa yuthbit wa `indahu umm al-kitaab.
Allah will erase or confirm whatever He likes and with Him is the Mother of Books.
(Surat ar-Ra`d, 13:39)
Allah erases and confirms whatever He wants and the only thing that can erase what is written for you is the du`a. If, for example, it is written that you will go out of this door and fall and break your leg, that du`a will prevent it. So if you are aware of this and you begin everything you do with du`a--when you stand for prayer, upon entering a mosque, upon leaving your house, or when you wake up or sleep, or begin to speak with someone, etc.--and you begin by reciting “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem” or al-Fatihah or du`a, then with the barakah of the du`a Allah will erase the balaa, difficulty, that was written for you that you are not seeing. May Allah open our eyes and our minds so we will always be on the right way!
And it is mentioned in a hadith from Abu Hurayrah (r) that the Prophet (s) said:
قَالَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ : قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : " مَنْ لَا يَسْأَلِ اللَّهَ يَغْضَبْ عَلَيْهِ
Man laa yas’alillaha yaghdab `alayh.
Who does not ask Allah, Allah will be angry with.
(Bukhari’s Adab al-Mufrad, Musnad Ahmad and Ibn Majah)
Sometimes something happens to you and you begin to curse; no one thinks to make du`a instead of cursing. What is the benefit of cursing? I hear this from people or on TV, when people get something they don’t like what do they say? They say something that begins with 's'. What is the benefit? That is on the tongue of everyone. I am sorry to say that this is someone who doesn’t have adab in front of Allah or when he faces a problem he says “shit” instead of saying, yaa Rabbee `afwak wa ridaak, “O Allah, forgive me!” What is the benefit of bad words? It’s not going to benefit them, but Shaytan puts them on the tongues of people and the first complaint they use against Allah is coming as the word “shit”! So we have to be very careful.
In that hadith, Allah said, “Whoever doesn’t ask from Him, Allah will get angry (ghadab Allah) with him.” And you know “ghadab Allah” is very strong and the Prophet (s) said, “Be careful from your father’s anger, as it will immediately affect your life.” If your father says, “May Allah be angry with you!” that is a very heavy warning from the Prophet (s) to the children, so make sure you don’t get that word out from your father’s mouth! The mother is still softer (she will never be that angry), but the anger of the father is not accepted.
If that is for the anger of the father, so then what about the anger of the father’s Creator? That is why whoever does not ask Allah, Allah will be angry with him. So when you face difficulty why don’t you say, “alhamdulillah” and “shukran lillah” as that will immediately open forgiveness, and be thankful it was not worse instead of saying the 's' word! When someone hit your car, what do you say? The same or worse, and what do you need to say?
الخير فيما وقع
Al-khayru feemaa waqa`a,
The best is in what happened.
Because it might have been a big accident in which you died, but instead Allah made it a smaller accident that involved paying some money to fix your car and saved you from injury or death! That is why we should always be asking Allah through du`a and that is the importance of du`a: it brings healing and takes affliction from you!
Sayyida `Ayesha (r) related that the Prophet (s) said:
إن الله يحب الملحين فى الدعاء
Inna ’Llaha yuhibbu ’l-muliheen fi ‘d-du`a.
Truly Allah likes the one who keeps insisting (pestering) with the du`a.
Allah (swt) will like that so keep asking, “Yaa Rabb, yaa Rabb (help me)!” Allah likes that and keep bugging (pestering)! “Insisting” is not the right word; Prophet (s) said “al-muliheen” is the one who overdoes it, so bug Paradise, bug the angels! “Allah, yaa Allah, yaa Allah, yaa Allah!” then Allah will say, “Yaa `Abdee, O My servant!” So Sayyida `Ayesha (r) said the Prophet (s) said that Allah likes the one who is always bugging, insisting, overdoing in asking Him. Therefore, O Muslims, O believers, O mu’min! Keep bugging, keep asking and keep praying and making du`as and you will be cured from many physical and spiritual sicknesses that you know or don't even perceive.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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