Zhuhr Suhbah
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.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
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 rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. Those who are watching, you [on the Internet], everyone and those who are here, people in general, lahumu’ zh-zhaahir, “for them is only what they can see,” what they are seeing now and what they will see tomorrow. That’s why we have to be fair in judging people, that’s why judging is only for Allah (swt), because we don’t know how to be a fair judge. That’s why Prophet (s) said, “If a judge gave a good judgement, he will be rewarded twice with whatever Allah wants to reward him, and if a judge gave a wrong judgment….” Because he cannot see the heart, he listens to that one and listens to the other one and then he asks some questions and they give answers and now where his judgment going to be? Might be it hits the target and it’s a good judgment or it’s going to be a wrong judgment, as Prophet (s) said:
إِذَا حَكَمَ الْحَاكِمُ فَاجْتَهَدَ فَأَصَابَ فَلَهُ أَجْرَانِ وَإِذَا حَكَمَ فَأَخْطَأَ فَلَهُ أَجْرٌ وَاحِدٌ
When the judge passes a judgment in which he strived and was correct, then he receives two rewards and when he judges and is mistaken, then he receives one reward. (Tirmidhi)
“A judge who has good intentions and judges people according to Shari’ah and according to his belief and according to his seeing, Allah will reward him twice if he made a good judgment and if he made a bad judgment still he will be rewarded one time. So we must not let people judge us. That’s why we have to be careful:
Itaqoo mawaqi`u ’sh-shubuhaat.
Avoid places of suspicion.
Be careful, be aware of places of doubts. As I mentioned the example before for anyone in general, that you must not try to do something and make people to give a judgment on what you have done wrong, as it might be they will have a bad thought about what people are doing. An example is, once I was with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah give him long life in London, coming back from Peckham Mosque to his residence, and as soon as you come out of the masjid one street in front you you have to go to the main street as this is like an alley to the masjid and you have to go to the main street, and on the main street in the curve there are too many bars, too many pubs with liquor they sell there and so on. One day we finished Tarawih and going through that street I was very thirsty, so I opened a bottle of water to drink and Mawlana shouted, “Don’t drink!” Itaqoo mawaaq`iu ’sh-shubuhaat, “Be careful of places of doubts, be careful of places that people might misinterpret what you are doing.” He said, “You know that street is a street of winery, bars, pubs, liquor stores and you are going and drinking from that bottled water, but they are not going to see that it is bottled water, they are going to see someone with a beard, a turban and white beard passing through the street and they are going to think that you are drinking wine and they will say, ‘Look! Muslims are drinking!’”
Look, to that extent he said, “Don’t do that, don’t drink, because they may think something, they may judge you according to what they saw.” They don’t judge you and say, “Oh, that might be water,” because they don’t know anything about Muslims and Tarawih and Ramadan, so don’t do that. And we must not, especially with the Internet today, one thing you say it goes everywhere.
And our Prophet (s), an-Nabi al-Ummiyy, Allah (swt) described him as “the messenger that did not read and write,” but Allah gave him from `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Aakhireen. What Allah gave him from `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Aakhireen, that’s something different, but in his dunya time he did not write. That’s why when the first ayah came to Prophet (s) was “Iqraa!” Allah say in Holy Qur’an, an-Nabi al-Ummiyy, “the Prophet (s) that doesn’t read and write.” How the first ayah of Holy Qur’an comes, “Read!”
There is a secret there and we must not pass through verses like (they are only) a story. For that reason, mufassiroon, those who explain the Holy Qur’an, what they understood, they mentioned about this special ayah: when Prophet (s) said to Jibreel (a), maa anaa bi qaaree, it has many meanings and you cannot stop on one meaning, because Allah says, an-Nabi al-Ummi and here He says, “Read!” If he doesn’t know how to read, how he is Nabi al-Ummiyy? But he is an-Nabi al-Ummiyy, Allah is showing miracles, “He is the Prophet (s), the Messenger that did not read and write and he brought for you a book that no human being can do.” Not only human beings, but no one can even put one letter together with another letter like the Holy Qur’an, because every letter has secrets. Every letter of Holy Qur’an, even if it is repeated in all ayah of Holy Qur’an, from the alphabet, the same letter in a different word has different Oceans of Knowledges from every letter!
And how the Qur’an is revealed to Prophet? As a whole, one time! It is so, and as time passed, also another time, because Allah says:
إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ
Inna anzalnaahu fee laylatu ’l-qadr.
We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power. (Surat al-Qadr, 97:1)
“We have revealed the Holy Qur’an in Laylat al Qadr” on Prophet (s) and then and also:
وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْآنَ تَرْتِيلًا
Wa rattili ’l-qur’aana tarteela.
And recite the Qur'an in slow, measured rhythmic tones. (Surah Muzzamil, 73:4)
“Mention the Qur’an as you are going through your life and the different incidents that happen that you have to mention them one by one separately.” So Prophet (s), we don’t want to go into this because it is very deep, but because mufassiroon, those who explained these ayah put that with the hadith of Prophet (s) when he said to Jibreel (a), “maa anaa bi qaaree.” It has many meanings here, but mufassiroon said, and some they say something else and some something else as it has a lot of meanings, but some say maa anaa bi qaaree, “I am not a reader,” and not one single (mufassiroon), no one, everyone knows of Arabs of that time, that whatever they can put of poetry or al-Adab al-`Arabi, Arabic literature, no one can put a word like Allah’s Words, that it’s impossible because this is Allah’s Ancient Words, the Holy Qur’an, and this is human being’s words. And (they know) Prophet (s) didn’t read. I don’t like to say he was “illiterate,” that is not a nice word, (he was) “unlettered” and I can say, which I think is more better, (that he) “did not read and did not write,” and yet he brought a Holy Qur’an in which is everything!
وَلاَ رَطْبٍ وَلاَ يَابِسٍ إِلاَّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ
Wa laa ratbin wa laa yabisin illa fee kitabin mubeen.
Nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is (inscribed) in a record clear (to those who can read). (Surat al-An`am, 6:59)
“Living and non-living, moist or dry, wet or dry is in Holy Qur’an.” Everything inside it and when everything is inside, for sure Prophet (s) knows everything because Allah revealed that Holy Qur’an on him and he knows what he needs to know of what Allah opened to him. It is not like what we read, it is what he reads, the way he reads; what he reads is different from what we read. When Jibreel (a) brought the ayat, did he read it? He read it to Prophet (s). We don’t like to give such examples, but we have to give an example for people to understand. A waterfall like Niagara Falls, how big is it? Subhaan-Allah, I heard that it is pouring 50 million gallons a minute or a second, 50 million gallons of water gushing from the American side or the Canadian side and the water goes from the top and as soon as it reaches down, you can observe it from above. We were there for an event, for a conference in Toronto and we passed there. You see the water coming, running to its destiny, like someone when Allah is calling him and the Angel of Death (a) comes and calls that person whose soul he is going to take, he will be running towards his destiny, as has been described by awliyaullah and `ulama. That person is running, he doesn’t hear anyone anymore from dunya, he doesn’t care, he is following his destiny, where Sayyidina `Azra`eel is showing him Malak al-mawt and he is following, running, running, running until reaches there! If anyone calls him from dunya, “Wait! This is me! This is…stay!” We hear a lot of that, of people dying and they tell them, “No, no, don’t die! Make it up, make it to reach the hospital!” He is running (to it) if that is going to be his death, he is running.
So that water is running, it doesn’t listen to anyone, it listens only to the Creator. And what happens when it comes down, did you look down? We looked down to where it goes and if you look down it is still; it is moving a little bit. What happened? It was running from hundreds of kilometers to reach the destiny when it falls and when it falls it goes down very normal until it reaches maybe be one kilometer or two and there is a hole. The whole water goes there and you don’t see anymore, it is not rising even! The water is going in, millions of gallons that might flood a city. If water like that goes into Toronto, what would happen? Would that only be a flood? It would take everyone!
Look at Allah’s Greatness, showing us, “Look, it is running without flooding!” If Allah would stop the running down, it would grow and flood everything and kill everyone; Toronto would be under water. So what do you think about Oceans of Knowledges that Allah opened to Prophet (s)? Yes, he said, ma anaa bi qaaree, “I am not a reader.” “I am not a reader,” that’s correct, he doesn’t read, because his heart reads, his heart reads, his heart understands, his heart knows everything! He wants to...Allah didn’t just give him in one moment everything, Allah is giving him continuously! That’s why Prophet’s (s) Greatness cannot be compared with anything created! That greatness, that’s where he said, “What Allah created first is my Light.” That Light can shine in the whole Creation and give light; it is not shining only here and not there, no! It is shining on the whole Creation which we don’t know, we don’t see, and still he is an-Nabi al-Ummiyy, “The Messenger That Did Not Read and Write.”
But the knowledge that comes to his heart, no one can understand. Awliya say, Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said from his shaykh, from his shaykh, from his shaykh, all the way from Sayyidina `Ali (a), from Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r), from Sayyidina `Umar (r), from Sayyidina `Uthman (r), from ahadeeth, everything goes back to say that all knowledge is like a drop in the knowledge of Prophet (s).
Imagine 50 million gallons comes in a second or every minute, or a second, a minute, like that, coming from many sides. If you look from where it comes you can see more than two or three kilometers of an edge and all pouring down and if you look down it doesn’t rise; the water is there and going and not moving with the speed it is going from up, and then it goes one or two kilometers, which you can see it only by helicopter. And in 1993 or ‘91 I took Mawlana to Niagara Falls by helicopter and we went above and we saw it goes like two kilometers and then disappears, no more water. Where is it going? It must fill the whole Earth! It might be that it’s so heavy that it keeps the Earth in its place, we don’t know. Allah knows best, but Allah’s Qudrah, Power, is keeping Earth in its place, keeping the Sun in its place, keeping all different planets in their places. Allah knows best, Allah is the Creator.
So what Prophet (s) said, “mufassiroon,” said it means maa anaa bi qaaree, “I am not a reader or a writer,” but some others said, “Yes, that’s correct, but might be Jibreel (a) is asking him, “Read!” and Prophet (s) is asking, “What do you want me to express from my heart? Do I tell them this or this?” he (a) said, “No, read in the Name of the Creator!”
اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ
Iqraa bismi rabbik alladhee khalaq.
Read in the Name of your Lord, Who created. (Surat al-`Alaq, 96:1)
“In the Name of the Creator Who created,” means, “Read of what Allah has made you to know of `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Aakhireen.” Give them, if there is no capacity or a container to contain these knowledges, Prophet (s) will not give it and Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) was with him day and night and in migration, when he migrated to Medina he was with him all the time, and he only heard 25 ahadeeth? From Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) we don’t have more than 23 to 30 hadith, that’s it. But he didn’t want to express, might be from...many different opinions on that, maybe humility, maybe he didn’t want to make himself something as he was very humble, we don’t know, but he didn’t mention more than that amount of ahadeeth from all his life with Prophet (s).
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رضي الله عنه قَالَ : " حَفِظْتُ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وِعَاءَيْنِ : فَأَمَّا أَحَدُهُمَا فَبَثَثْتُهُ ، وَأَمَّا الْآخَرُ فَلَوْ بَثَثْتُهُ قُطِعَ هَذَا الْبُلْعُومُ "
So from Abu Hurayrah (r) we can have some taste from what he said, quoted from our Prophet (s), “I have memorized two kinds of knowledge from Prophet (s), hafiztu min rasoolillahi (s) wi`a `ayn…I have learned from Prophet (s) or I memorized or I pulled from his heart two ‘containers’: wi`a `ayn, two ‘containers’ of knowledge.” He didn’t say two “kinds” of knowledges. Why he has to put “container” there? He could have said, hafiztu min rasoolillahi (s) `ilmaan, but he didn’t say that, he said, hafizhtu min rasoolillahi (s) wi`a `ayn, “I learned from Prophet (s) two “containers,” because containers never finish, a container always carries lots of information. `Ilm might be one or two, or three knowledges, but he said “containers,” “I memorized two containers, I learned from Prophet (s) two containers full of knowledge.” fa-ammaa ahadahuma bahathtahu li ‘l-khalq, “One of them I have spread it, distributed it to Creation, to human beings in general,” which means that container, that knowledge of Shari`ah of ahadeeth an-Nabi (s) is going among the ummah. Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah (r) mentioned more than 3,000 hadith. “Wa amma ’l-aakhar, the other one, fa law bathathtahu la quti`a minnee hadha ’l-bal`oom, if I would distribute it, they would cut my neck,” means that one has not been distributed, it was kept.
Now `ulama they say--there are `ulama and there are awliya--and `ulama say he kept the horror that is going to happen in the Signs of the Last Days, he didn’t want to open that, `Alaamat-is-Sa`ah, what is going to happen of the Signs of the Last Days. Some say he kept it because people will not understand it, they will say, “Oh no! It is not what you said, it is not what you mentioned, it might be this, it might be that.” And that’s why they object on spiritual knowledges, but Imam Malik (r) said, man tafaqaha wa tasawwafa faqad tahaqqaq “Whoever tafaqaha, studied fiqh, Shari`ah, everything, and at the same time raised himself up to reach Maqaam al-Ihsaan, that one is with two wings, he reached Reality.”
So, all this I am bringing up to say that we must not sit and without...feeling yourself going into a trance or a state in a spiritual realm, and people from different types of knowledge and backgrounds listening and creating a doubt in that as that’s not nice. It is better, itaqoo mawaqi`u ’sh-shubuhaat,
“to be careful in shady or grey areas.”
So I remember, Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, Grandshaykh used to say, “When you want to speak, open a book, my notes or whatever, and read one line and explain as in this way it is not a grey area, it is something that `ulama, awliya are accepting.” Because if someone judges you, even if it is wrong still he gets a reward, because you have a book in front of you, so now if you read from the book or not, or you take one line or you take one word, it is enough to show that, “I am reading, I am taking and explaining from what is written,” so now expanding on it is allowed. But to enter in a situation where you say things that you don’t know what you said at the end, that might create a grey area.
I used to see Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah give him long life, in the masjid of Grandshaykh, not the one that you know, the same place, the old one before renovation, we used to sit in a circle and in the middle there was a round table and there were lemons and sugar cubes, they use them in Afghanistan and all these Arab countries, and Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim have this tradition from Central Asia, they break the sugar into four parts and put it on the lemon and it sucks the juice, and they take the tea, they have the big samovar and put glasses of tea, 10, 11, 13, 14, and they take the sugar that has been broken and put in their mouth and drink tea. And Mawlana Shaykh Nazim had a book, a small, yellow notebook and he opened it and read from Grandshaykh’s notes, line-by-line, explaining. Every day might be one line, every suhbah might be one line and he expanded on it as it’s loaded too much and he explained.
Why did Mawlana Shaykh Nazim use a notebook? It is a sign of humility that he is not saying, “I am getting this directly,” like people today, especially...yes, Mawlana gives people permission to make dhikr, of course, but he doesn’t give permission to make irshad; it is only for certain people. But in any case, wherever they bring the name of Mawlana it is very good as people will know, alhamdulillah. They are representatives, they make dhikr, they sit together, they drink tea, they drink coffee, they explain, it is good and I am not complaining about that, but for Mawlana to put that (notebook) in front of him is a sign of humility.
We are trying to imitate and follow their footsteps and may Allah forgive us if we make a mistake. And this is a requirement for people to say, to feel that they know nothing, to feel they don’t know how to write and how to read. The greatest that Allah created is Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and what he said? “I am not a reader, I am not a writer.” When Jibreel (a) said, “Read!” he (s) could have said, “I will read,” but he said, “I am not a reader, I am an-Nabi al-Ummiyy, I am not a reader, I am an unlettered Prophet (s),” because he cannot accept any word or any book or anything except Holy Qur’an; he cannot accept human words compared to Holy Qur’an! “No way, I’m illiterate!”
Now we can use that word: “I’m illiterate from all these books, I am an Unlettered Prophet, not a reader, not a writer,” which means, “Whatever I bring is a Heavenly Message, a Heavenly Qur’an.” Qur’an is not created; in Islamic belief the Qur’an is not created, you are reading Allah’s Words. And imagine when you are reading Allah’s Words, how much Allah is happy with one person who reads, “Alif. Laam. Meem.” He is happy with that! Three letters that He gave to Jibreel (a) to descend on Prophet (s). Whatever you read from Holy Qur’an, Allah is happy. Any other books you can read, but Prophet (s) didn’t want as he wants to say, “I am Nabi al-Ummiyy, and the Holy Qur’an is the book with no comparison to any other book. I am not reading anything else, I am not writing anything, I am an-Nabi al-Ummiyy, that cannot read, that cannot write. I receive Heavenly Messages. This is my life, finished.”
When Allah (swt) revealed to him (s):
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِيوَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا
Al-yawma akmaltu lakum deenukum wa atmamtu alaykum ni`matee wa radeetu lakumu ’l-islaamu deena.
This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. (Surat al-Maa’idah, 5:3)
“Today I have completed for you your religion, wa atmamtu `alaykum ni`amatee, and I favored you with My Favors, I completed that,” Prophet (s) lived eighty days after that. Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) was crying, he knew.
Wa radeetu lakumu’l-islaamu deena, “I accepted, I was pleased that Islam is your religion,” because:
إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُُ
Inna ad-deena `inda Allaahi al-islaam.
The religion in Allah’s view is Islam (submission to His Will). (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:19)
So He gave that reality and He said, Al-yawma akmaltu lakum deenukum, “Today I have complete the Message, your religion.” Allah began it with, “Iqraa!” and ended it with, “Today I have completed your religion.” The Sahaabah (r) were very happy, but Abu Bakr (r) was crying because he knew the reality: Prophet (s) was leaving. Finished, the Message completed! It is not like us, when you retire and go enjoy on the beaches or you go here and there (saying), “I am retired!” No, when the awliyaullah retire their life is finished and when Prophet (s) completed the Message that Allah revealed to him, his life (here in dunya) finished.
Who was upset? Who was sad? Sayyidina Abu Bakrin as-Siddiq (r), as he knew. Then Prophet (s) began to get sick and who was the most upset? Who? The one that was most upset and could not feel happy in life in front of what was coming, that one was Fatimat az-Zahra (a), his daughter, the beloved one. Although she was not the youngest one, Prophet (s) loved her and she loved her father. Even when he came home at night, sometimes she ran from her house to his house to see him and she made sure that his food was there, she made sure that everything was nice, she made sure to speak with him to get his ridaa, pleasure from him, to first make him content and then she went to sleep.
She was crying and Prophet (s) called her and he said, “Yaa Fatimah! Why are you crying?”
And she said, “O my father! I feel you are leaving us.” And he said to her something in her ear and she began to smile and laugh.
حَدَّثَهُ أَنَّ عَائِشَةَ حَدَّثَتْهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم دَعَا فَاطِمَةَ ابْنَتَهُ فَسَارَّهَا فَبَكَتْ ثُمَّ سَارَّهَا فَضَحِكَتْ فَقَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ فَقُلْتُ لِفَاطِمَةَ مَا هَذَا الَّذِي سَارَّكِ بِهِ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَبَكَيْتِ ثُمَّ سَارَّكِ فَضَحِكْتِ قَالَتْ سَارَّنِي فَأَخْبَرَنِي بِمَوْتِهِ فَبَكَيْتُ ثُمَّ سَارَّنِي فَأَخْبَرَنِي أَنِّي أَوَّلُ مَنْ يَتْبَعُهُ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ فَضَحِكْتُ
`Ayesha (r) reported that Allah's Messenger (s) called his daughter Fatimah (during his last illness). He said. to her something secretly and she wept. He again said to her something secretly and she laughed. `Ayesha (r) further reported that she said to Fatimah (r), “What is that which Allah's Messenger (s) said to you secretly and you wept and then he said to you something secretly and you laughed?” Thereupon she said, “He informed me secretly of his death and so I wept. He then again informed me secretly that I would be the first amongst the members of his Family (r) to follow him and so I laughed.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
Sayyida `Ayesha (r) didn’t know this and when Prophet (s) left dunya, she asked her again. “I tried to make you laugh and I couldn’t. What did he say to you to make you laugh?”
Sayyida Fatimah (r) said, “I gave a promise not to tell anyone, but now after Prophet (s) left I can tell you. He told me that, ‘You are the first one to follow me to Paradise.’”
And she was the first one from the Family (r); after Prophet (s) died Sayyida Fatimah az-Zahra died. May Allah (swt) keep us in the circle of Prophet (s) and his Sahaabah (r) and his awliya (q) and keep us in the circle of awliyaullah, dunya and Akhirah.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
We wanted to speak about the advice of Ibrahim Ibn Adham but they changed the subject; it was changed, so we’ll see if in the evening they mention about Ibrahim Ibn Adham’s advice.
Al-Fatihah.
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