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The Fifteen Meems of Surat al-Fatihah

The Benefits of Surat al-Fatihah Series, Vol 2

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

11 August 2012 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

Suhbah after Fajr

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.

Inshaa-Allah after Zhuhr prayer we will make a suhbah to continue what we are doing now of Surat al-Fatihah. Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad.

As we said in the previous session, Surat al-Fatihah has a lot of secrets in it that Allah (swt) mentioned to Prophet (s), and the Prophet (s) mentioned, “Whoever reads Surat al-Fatihah once, it is as if he has read the different Holy Books, az-Zaboor, at-Tawraat, al-Injeel, al-Qur’an (Psalms, Old Testament, New Testament and the Qur'an)!”

It is said that one of the names of Surat al-Fatihah is al-Maahiyya, “the One that Erases.” Erases what? It erases everything that is bad, it erases all your sins, all bad characters, all power of your ego and all that is related to Shaytan, even if you don’t feel it being erased! That is because it has fifteen “meems” in it. Surat al-Fatihah consists of 125 letters and every letter has a meaning. So every one of these fifteen “meems” has a meaning that is an ocean of knowledge, of which you cannot count the beginning or end because it relates to the Divine Presence! Surat al-Fatihah is Allah’s (swt) Divine Words, so there is no beginning or end to the reward and benefit you get from it!

So here we will make a little aside, entre parentheses (between parentheses); it begins with Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Some scholars say Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem is part of Surat al-Fatihah, and others say it is not. Whether a part of it or not, Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem is a Divine Word that contains Ismullahi ’l-`Azham, Allah’s Greatest Name. Not one wali or nabi (s) knew that Name, except the Prophet (s) and until now, no one knows what that Name is.

Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Allah (swt) to teach him Ismullahi ’l-`Azham, Allah’s Greatest Name, and Allah said “no” because Sayyidina Musa (a) wanted to know that Name in order to give the order, kun fayakoon, “‘Be!’ and it will be.” That Name includes khalq in it, the ability to create, just as the first verse revealed to the Prophet (s):

قْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ

Iqraa bismi Rabbika ’Lladhee khalaq.

Read! In the Name of your Lord Who created. (Surat al-`Alaq, 96:1-2)

Therefore, Ismullahi ’l-`Azham is the Name that is able to create, so when we write “Bismillahi,” the “alif” is gone: it has to be “b-ismi-Llah,” as no one can carry the alif, so Allah hides it. That letter represents Him and it is always al-`izza lillah and kibriyya, arrogance and pride, which are for Him Alone. So since no one carry that it is taken away, and only “bismi” is left.

So why did the “ba” take that responsibility? Because it is always in sajda to “alif,” which is standing and “ba” is laying down. “Ba” did not agree when they put the dot (nukta) above it; all other Arabic letters accepted the dot to be above because they are proud, but “ba” didn’t accept because it irepresents humility and, therefore, the Prophet (s). You see it carries everything in its form, and the center of it is that dot under it! Allah gave the Prophet (s) the honor to be the “ba.” So when you say “Bismillah,” it means, “By the Greatest Name of Allah,” so it went into the secret of that Name that no one knows except the Prophet (s), because he is the “ba.” We will discuss this further, but here I wanted to explain that the “Basmala” carries a lot of heavy knowledge in it and the secret of creation is in it (Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem), because it contains Ismullahi ’l-`Azham.

Allah gave to the Prophet (s) `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Aakhireen, Knowledge of the First and Lasts, which is why they say about the awaa’il as-soowar, the beginning of every surah has the Greatest Name in it, and the Basmala has the Ismullahi ’l-`Azham. AndGrandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, acquired this knowledge when he was in seclusion for one year and they gave him a bowl of lentils daily, which he never ate it; he only drank water and tea. In Rashadiyya, now named Gunekoy, he did five years’ seclusion and every day he only ate a piece of bread half the size of your hand, and seven olives. He emerged slim, like a stick.

He taught the head of Muslim scholars in the Middle East, my uncle, Shaykh `Abdullah (not Shaykh Mukhtar, he surrendered) who had seven questions to pose to Grandshaykh (q) as a test. However, Grandshaykh didn’t give him a chance to ask them, he just gave a three-hour suhbah; I was there and recorded it. My uncle, Shaykh `Abdullah, is a walking encyclopedia so he cannot bow to anyone, and he wanted to test Grandshaykh (q). Once I visited my uncle when he was correcting the Arabic of a huge book, and I asked him what it was. He said, “I don’t know, but they sent it to me to correct the Arabic.”

I said, “What is that?”

He said, “It is the Bible!”

So one of the my uncle’s questions was, “What is the Greatest Name of Allah?”

Without him asking the question, Grandshaykh (q) opened the subject of Ismullahi ’l-`Azham and said, “In this time Allah has opened for the Prophet (s) to open something from it to awliyaullah.”

My uncle was astonished! When he entered he had shaken Grandshaykh's hand, but when he left he kissed it and later said to us, “If I were to write about what the Shaykh said, I could make a book from every word!” I cannot mention what Grandshaykh (q) said about Ismullahi ’l-`Azham because it carries a lot.

The “ba” in Bismillah represents the beginning of creation, so it carries the creation that will be created, and “meem” represents what will appear in the creation, in Muhammad (s) and represents the Prophet (s). Surat al-Fatihah has fifteen “meems.” So now we return to the discussion of Surat al-Fatihah, and this knowledge was revealed Grandshaykh (q) from the secret of the meems from Muhiyyideen ibn `Arabi (q).

السابعة من أسمائها الماحية لأن فيها خمسة عشر ميما بالبسملة فإذا قرأها العبد خرجت الممات كالطيور فتتعلق بالعرش فيثقل على الحملة فيقولون ربنا ما هذا الثقل فيقول هذا ثواب سورة قرأها عبدي فتقول الممات ربنا زدنا فيقول عشرين فيقولون ربنا زدنا فيزيدهم مائة وعشرين سيئة لكل ميم فتكون الجملة ألفا وثمانمائة سيئة تمحى لقارئها في الصلوات الخمس في كل يوم وليلة ثلاثون ألفا وستمائة سيئة

Fa idhaa qaraa al-`abd kharajat al-meemaat ka ’t-tuyoor.

If you recite that, the “meems” will manifest as birds of different shape and come out.

(Talkhees al-Ma`arif by Muhammad `Arif)

Awliyaullah say that no one can carry the appearance of the Prophet (s), so the first to appear is symbolized by a green bird that they can see, and then from the green bird it opens.

From the secret of the meems from Muhiyydeen ibn `Arabi (q), Grandshaykh (q) said in the Basmala from the Fatihah and from the fifteen meems that Jibreel (a) said, “Yaa Rabbee, show me Your Mulk!”

Allah (swt) said, “When you descend with the Revelation you use two wings,” and it is known from many ahadith that in fact, Jibreel (a) has 600 wings. So He said, “Open all your wings!”

When Maseeh al-Dajjal comes, and we are now in the Last Days during which he will arrive, he will conquer the whole world except Mecca, Madinah and Sham. When he arrives in Sham, Allah (swt) will order Jibreel (a) to put his wing from Mt. Qasyoun along the road to Douma through the valley, and the Anti-Christ will reach there and think he has reached the end of dunya! Allah will stretch Sham to contain all Muslims, whoever believes in tawheed, the muwwahidoon. When Mahdi (a) comes he will recite, “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” and the war will stop, and each believer will find himself moved to Sham in one second by angels with “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.” That is the time of khawaariq. There’s no need to book a ticket, one or three months before, because it is the time of miracles, and all computers and electronics will fail. So be happy, as the heavenly computers will take over!

Each “meem” corresponds to a secret of the Prophet (s), of the knowledge that manifests itself as a green bird, so when Jibreel (a) said, “O my Lord! Show me Your Mulk!” and Allah said, “Open your 600 wings and go with your full speed from this place!” Because the universes and heavens are created, Jibreel (a) began to move with full speed. Grandshaykh (q) said he flew 70,000 heavenly years and he got tired, stopped and said, “Yaa Rabbee! Is it finished?”

Then Allah (swt) replied, “Yaa Jibreel! You have not yet moved across one corner, you are still in oneof the corners!”

Jibreel (a) could see in front of him, with his powerful vision he can see the whole universe and even above it in one look, and he looked with all his power and was able to see an ocean of very small, white crystal dust grains and in the middle of that ocean of crystals he saw a green tree on top of which there was a green bird. That bird descended every second, picked up one crystal, ascended to the top of the tree and swallowed it.

Jibreel (a) asked, “Yaa Rabbee! Who is that bird?”

Allah (swt) replied, “Each grain of crystal is one universe, and each universe is like a grain of dust compared to the Greatness that I gave to the Prophet (s). Every grain is a whole creation with all that is in it, and Muhammad is the Messenger for all of them! All the other Prophets’ job is finished; they were for this Adam, and he is the Messenger for all these creations.”

That is how small the universe is compared to the Greatness of the Prophet (s)! In our eyes the universe is huge, but in the Prophet’s (s) Vision the universes are like grains. Five years ago they said there are 6,000 galaxies, now they say there are millions of galaxies, and who knows how many stars; they say there are 80 billion stars in our galaxy, but it might be 80 trillion. They cannot see them, we cannot see them, but they know there are billions of galaxies. Don’t say this is based on imagination, no! If you think like that, know that Allah (swt) is Greater, He has more than that! Whatever you make of t`azheem an-Nabi, the Greatness of the Prophet (s), still the Prophet (s) is above that, and whatever you say is the number of galaxies, you may say it is millions, still Allah (swt) creates more than that, in the trillions! Whatever you think, Allah (swt) is giving more!

The fifteen meems fly like birds, and go directly under `Arsh ar-Rahman, where every mu’min who sleeps on wudu after reciting three Ikhlaas, Falaq, Naas and Surat al-Fatihah, his soul will be making sajda under `Arsh ar-Rahaman. The meems will be there, hanging onto al-`Arsh. There were eight angels created to carry the Throne by Allah’s Order:

وَالْمَلَكُ عَلَى أَرْجَائِهَا وَيَحْمِلُ عَرْشَ رَبِّكَ فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ ثَمَانِيَةٌ

Wa yahmil `Arsh Rabbika fawqahum yawma’idhin thamaaniyya

And the angels will be on its sides, and eight will, that Day, bear the Throne of thy Lord above them.

(Surat al-Haqqah, 69:17)

He created them because all the angels of Paradise were unable to carry it; then these eight angels became proud that they, rather than all other angels, were able to carry the Throne, when that pride entered their hearts, Allah made the Throne heavier than before so they could not carry it, and they were going to fall and then the `Arsh ar-Rahman was carrying them! So He said, “Who carries whom?” No one can carry the `Arsh ar-Rahman! Allah carries by, Kun faya koon.

Every mu’min makes sajda under the `Arsh at night when he sleeps. We continue from what Muhyideen ibn al-`Arabi wrote:

And the meems come running to `Arsha ar-Rahman and hold onto It. Then the eight angels say, Rabbanaa maa haadha thiqqah? “What is that thiqqah, heaviness, we never felt It heavy like that before?” Allah (swt) replies, Fayaqooloo t`aalaa, “Haadha thawwaabu suratun qara’a `abdee.” “This is the reward of the reading of one surah,” which is Surat al-Fatihah, “by My Servant!” Then the meems will speak, and each meem has a secret. They speak because they represent the knowledge the Prophet (s) is giving: Fataqool al-meemaat, “Rabbanaa maa jazaa’u man qara’naa?” The meems will say, “O our Lord, what is the reward for those who read us?” Fayaqooloo Allahu ta`alaa, “Intalliq kullu meemin tamhu `ashra sayyi’aat,”

Allah said, “Go, and every meem will erase ten sins.” Fayaqooloon, “Rabbanaa zidnaa!”

Then they say, “O our Lord! Increase for us!” Fayazeedahum il al-mi’a wa l-`ishreen, thumma yazdaadoonaa fayazeedahum `ishreena `ishreen, fatakoonu ’l-jumlatu dhaalika alfa wa thamaani mi’a sayyi’a tumhaa li-qaari’haa, fi’s-salawaat il-khams fee kulli yawmi wa layla, thalaathoon alf wa sita mi’at saiyyat. And Allah increases it so each may erase 120 sins, then He increases until the total is 1800 sins are erased for every recitation of Surat al-Fatihah, as it is recited in the five prayers: twice in Fajr, four times in Zhuhr, four times in `Asr, three times in Maghrib, and four times in `Isha, which is seventeen times...(checking back in the book) so it will be in total 30,600 hasanah, each of which is bigger than this universe with all that is in it! (Quoted from Talkhees al-Ma`arif by Muhammad `Arif)

About the reward of reading Surat al-Fatihah, Sayyidina Muhyideen ibn `Arabi (q) said that Anas ibn Malik (r) said the Prophet (s) told him:

I give an oath by Allah (swt) that Jibreel (a) told me, “Mikaa`il (a) told me that the one who blows the Trumpet, Israfeel, told me that Allah (swt) told him, ‘By My Greatness and My Tajalli of Majesty and My Generosity, whoever reads one time ‘Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem’ connected with Fatihat al-Kitaab in one breath, you witness that I have forgiven him! I will accept his good deeds and give him all the rewards and will take away all his sins. I will not punish his tongue with fire, and I will save him from the punishment of the grave and punishment of Hellfire, and on Judgment Day I will save him from the Greatest Fear, and he will come to Me as he is from Ummat an-Nabi (s), and he will come to Me before all other ummahs, and Ummat an-Nabi (s) will enter Paradise first.’”

(Quoted from Talkhees al-Ma`arif by Muhammad `Arif)

And that is why Grandshaykh (q) and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) say to read Fatihah in one breath, and that is how Allah will treat someone who recites Surat al-Fatihah once!

Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani (q), a famous wali, said, “As for Surat al-Fatihah, the Prophet (s) related to me in a vision that each time you read it there is one khatm of the Holy Qur'an.”

And it is said that Surat al-Fatihah equals one-third of the Holy Qur'an, so reading three Surat al-Fatihah is like reading the entire Holy Qur'an. Three “Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad” is like reading the entire Holy Qur'an.

Like Sayyidina Ismail al-Bukhari (r) who, before adding a hadith to the Sahih, would have to see the Prophet (s) in dream, Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani (q) said, “Whoever reads Surat al-Fatihah once, it is as if in one recitation you read all the tasbeeh of all that Allah (swt) created from beginning to end!”

Look how much the awliyaullah gave us of food ready to eat, because we have a lot of sins, and look at how much fadaa’il we are getting without our knowledge! People don’t know, but all this is written for us, whoever does these things, whether we know or not! And I quote:

Ahmad al-Tijani (q) asked the Prophet (s), Fahal yahsal fee hadhal thawwab? “Is that really what happened, that you will be as if you have made the tasbeeh of all creation? Prophet (s) replied, fa qaala Rasoolullah (s), akthar min dhaalik! “No, this is yet nothing! It is more than that. What you are describing to me of your vision is small compared to what Allah (swt) will give.” (There are 125 letters of Surat al-Fatihah.) He said, Wa yahsal litaliya fee kulli marratin bi `adadi huroofiya wa l-huroofi ‘l-Qur’an bi kulli harfin sab`aa kushoor! “For every letter of the Fatihah you will get seven palaces, which are seven Heavens because each palace is a Heaven.” (Quoted from Talkhees al-Ma`arif by Muhammad `Arif)

Not only that, but Surat al-Fatihah is as-saba` al-mathaanee, wal-qur’an al-`azheem, so it is separate from Holy Qur'an, which has about 321,075 letters, and for every letter they will get a piece of Paradise, Rawdatan min riyaad al-Jannah, for one recitation!

So let’s recite it now:

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَالرَّحْمـنِ الرَّحِيم مَـالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّين ِإِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِين اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيم صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنعَمتَ عَلَيهِمْ غَيرِ المَغضُوبِ عَلَيهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّينَ َ ُ ِ

A`oodhu billah mina 'sh-shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbi ’l-`alameen. Ar-rahmani ‘r-raheem. Maaliki yaawmi ’d-deen. Iyyaka na`abudu wa iyyaka nasta`een. Ihdina ’s-siraat al-mustaqeem. Siraat alladheena an`amta `alayhim. Ghayri ‘l-maghdoobi `alayhim wa laa daaleen. Ameen. SadaqAllahu ’l-`Azheem.

Now you got all the benefits mentioned! In the footnotes of this book, the author says they used a computer to count the number of letters in the Holy Qur’an from a CD of Qur'an al-Kareem. The computer was able to precisely count the exact number of letters in the Holy Quran: 330,733. If you multiply what we said by the seven palaces of Paradise and the pieces of Paradise that Allah will give you for each letter, the quarters of heavens the computer counted, it is a number you cannot read: 4,786,063,900 (four billion, 786 million, 63 thousand, nine hundred)! (Quoted from Talkhees al-Ma`arif by Muhammad `Arif, page 169). You cannot count; who is going to count?

Allah (swt) said:

لَقَدْ أَحْصَاهُمْ وَعَدَّهُمْ عَدًّا

Laqad ahsaahum wa `addahum 'addaan.

He does take an account of them (all) and has numbered them (all) exactly. (Surah Maryam, 19:94)

And each one is coming to Him on the Day of Judgment and each reward that is coming to you is presented by Allah (swt). You counted four billion, 786 million, 63 thousand, nine hundred! Each one will intercede for who is granted that reward, so be happy that you are from Ummat an-Nabi (s), as Allah gave a lot to Ummat an-Nabi (s)!

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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