`Isha Suhbah at Simply Islam
(Final Event of Far East Tour, Winter 2011)
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`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.
There is a saying, “You must not make the busy one busier.” It has many meanings, one of which is important to us: “Don’t make the attention of the one busy remembering Allah (swt) go somewhere else; don’t bother him.” Similarly, it also applies to people who are busy with their families and trying to provide for them: don't make them busier. So I hope we are not keeping you busy and giving you a lecture until midnight!
Prophet (s) said:
Kalimataan habeebataan ila ‘r-Rahman khafeefataan `ala ’l-lisaan thaqeelataan fi ‘l-meezaan, subhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi ‘l-`Azheem astaghfirullah. “There are two words (sentences) that are very light on the tongue, but very heavy on the Scale.” They are better than all academic lectures given from the beginning to the end which, all compiled, are not worthy of these two words of Allah (swt): subhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi ‘l-`Azheem astaghfirullah.
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani r-rajeem. Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem. Madad yaa Sayyidee. Prophet (s) said these two sentences are far better than what any lecturer around the world can say in their speeches. They are very light on the tongue and very heavy on the Scale on the Day of Judgment. If you add up all your deeds, even all the deeds of Bani Adam from beginning to end, to recite “SubhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi ‘l-`Azheem astaghfirullah” is still heavier on the Scale. So what do you want better in this dunya? Allah (swt) gave these two sentences for us to be happy, just as we also say, Rabbana atina fi 'd-dunya hasanatan, “O our Lord! Give us goodness in this life.” (2:201) Allah (swt) gave you that goodness, so take it! If you want to be successful, say these two sentences.
Prophet (s) also said, “If you say these four words, you will be saved and enter Paradise,” and the four words are in the Qur’an: SubhaanAllah, alhamdulillah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, and Allahu Akbar. These four words will make humans feel they are doing something, although they are not worthy to be doing something, but Allah (swt) is making it easy for us. That's why a man came to Prophet (s) and said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! It is too difficult to keep all these rules of Islam; give me something easy.” He (s) said, “Keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah,” meaning loud dhikr, not silent, because for silent dhikr you don’t use your tongue. In Naqshbandi Tariqah, “Dhikr al-Khafi” means you keep your tongue on your palate, not moving your tongue, but making (silent) dhikr in your heart. But in this hadith it says, “Make your tongue wet with dhikrullah.” How to keep it wet? You keep it moving and it makes a sound, that is “Dhikr al-Jahri.”
Allah (swt) gave Ummat an-Nabi (s) things to do that are for the Prophet (s), and that is to say, “Alam nashrah laka sadrak,” as Allah (swt) said to Prophet (s) in Surat ash-Sharh, “Why are you sad, yaa Muhammad?” It means, “O People, why are you sad?”Allah (swt) is saying to the Prophet (s), “I don't like to see you sad, so I have expanded your chest to make you happy; I'm giving you something to make you and your whole ummah very happy!” It means, “Am I not giving you that expansion of the chest to be happy?” Be happy! Don't think too much, because thinking too much makes you sad. People who think too much about a problem become depressed, and they either blow up from anger or go into a corner so no one can talk to them. No! Enjoy Allah's mercy, not at a disco, but in His mercy.
Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
قُلْ بِفَضْلِ اللّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِ فَبِذَلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُواْ هُوَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ
Qul bifadlillahi wa bi-rahmatihi fa-bidhaalika fa ‘l-yafrahoo huwa khayrum mimmaa yajma`oon.
Say, "In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy, in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate." (Yunus, 10:58)
He is saying, “You must be happy in Allah’s favor and mercy!” Awliyaa and `ulama say that rahmah is Muhammad (s). So whenever you have a sad moment in your life, recite seven times Surat Alam Nashrah (Surat ash-Sharh) on water and drink it every day; that depression will go away and you will be healed from that sadness. One tear of a Muslim for Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s), and if you zoom in and go deeper, it means specifically the tear of a mu'min, is more valuable than the whole dunya, because Allah doesn't like to see His servant who loves Him and His Prophet (s) to be sad.
Sayyidina Ibraheem (a) was thrown in the fire by Nimrod and he didn't become sad. Sayyidina Jibreel (a) asked him, “Do you need help?” and Sayyidina Ibraheem said, “I don't need your help. The One Who sent me here knows what is happening.” So Allah made the fire “bardan wa salaaman,” cool and safe for Ibraheem, not bone-chilling cold or unbearable, as Allah (swt) doesn't like the heart of His believer, His lover, who is praying, fasting, giving sadaqa and reciting dhikr, to be sad during his life.
Look at how mush sadness was in Prophet’s life, how much he was tortured and the Sahaabah (r) were tortured in front of him (s) and he could not do anything! Is it true that he couldn’t? No, he could have done something, but Allah (swt) is teaching us through the Prophet (s) to be patient. The Prophet (s) was tested with everything, but he was patient as he was given from the Divine Attributes of “ar-Ra`uf,” The Most Kind, and “ar-Raheem,” the Most Merciful:
لَقَدْ جَاءكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Laqad jaa-akum rasoolun min anfusikum `azeezun `alayhi maa `anittum hareesun `alaykum bil-mu’mineena ra’ufun raheem.
Indeed, there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. He grieves for your suffering and is anxious about you. To the believers he is most kind and merciful. (at-Tawbah, 9:128)
He received more, but in this ayah alone there are two. So be happy! This life isn't worth it if it makes you sad. Shaytan plays with people to make them sad and unhappy and to make all those around them unhappy. All of you must take a psychology course and then come to tariqah (laughter) to learn about Nafs al-Bashariyyah, the Nature of the Self, which is not easy. Allah (swt) sent Sayyidina Musa (a) to Sayyidina Khidr (a) to teach him about what Allah ordered him to do; it was for Sayyidina Musa to look and learn. So what did he do?
فَانطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا رَكِبَا فِي السَّفِينَةِ خَرَقَهَا قَالَ أَخَرَقْتَهَا لِتُغْرِقَ أَهْلَهَا لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا إِمْرًا
Fantalaqa hatta idha rakiba fi ’s-safinati kharaqahaa. Qaala akharaqtahaa li tughriqa ahlahaa. Laqad ji’ta shayan imraa.
So the two set out until, when they were in the ship, he made a hole in it. (Moses) said, "Have you made a hole to drown the folk therein? Verily you have done a dreadful thing!" (Surat al-Kahf, 18:71)
They went into the boat. Today on any boat they give you a lifejacket (to prevent drowning). Was Sayyidina Khidr going to make Sayyidina Musa go without a lifejacket? He put a hole in the boat to sink it, because there was an evil king in the area:
أَمَّا السَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَاكِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ فِي الْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدتُّ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا وَكَانَ وَرَاءهُم مَّلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا
Ammaa as-safeenatu fakaanat limasaakeena ya`maloona fi ’l-bahri fa-aradtu an a`eebahaa wa kaana waraahum malikun yakhudhu kulla safeenatin ghasba.
(Khidr said), “As for the boat, it belonged to certain men in dire want. They plied on the water. I wished to render it unserviceable, for there was after them a certain (evil) king who seized on every boat by force.” (al-Kahf, 18:79)
The king took every arriving vessel by force to the other shore. Who was that tyrant king? Nine poor people owned the boat and made their living from fishing and ferrying people. So Sayyidina Khidr (a) put a hole in it to sink it so the tyrant would say, "Who cares for that? Let me look for a bigger boat with no hole in it." The wisdom in this is that the ship is the Nafs al-Bashariyya, the Nature of the Self, as described in the Holy Qur’an and in some tafseers, but this is from Mawlana Shaykh’s teaching. The vessel represents the ego; it means, “O mu’min! You have to put a hole in your ship to sink your ego to drown it, because there is a tyrant waiting; Shaytan! If you don’t put a hole in it he will get you, and then you will be lost!” May Allah protect us!
Shaytan wants to make you sad to get to you at the end, so he builds you up on sadness: you drink, overeat and over sleep, all in sadness! But when this happens, remember that Shaytan is after you and run away!
So this boat/vessel became Safinat an-Najaat, as when you put a hole in the ship it becomes “the Ship of Salvation.” So put a hole in your ego; don’t listen to what your ego is saying. This dunya isn’t worth anything. They called me a few weeks ago when two young mureeds had an accident and died suddenly. So what is this dunya worth if you have been harmed or wounded? It’s not worth it! So when Khidr (a) put a hole in that ship, it became the Ship of Salvation; had he not done that, it would have been “the Ship of Misery,” taking you to Shaytan, who makes you sad and depressed and you take different medications to remove that depression, and might start hallucinating and hearing things, and Shaytan enters you and you completely lose your mind!
After that, Khidr (a) killed a boy and Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “What you are doing, killing a sinless boy?” Khidr said, “I'm killing him now because when he grows up he will be a tyrant and make his parents lose their imaan.” This means, “Don't let your ego grow with depression and sadness!” When Shaytan blows in you with that dirty smell, then your ego will start to harm everyone, because with their long nails, Shaytan’s children scratch Bani Adam and put their poison in humans.
Although Sayyidina Musa is “Uloo 'l-`Aazam,” one of the Five Distinguished Prophets (a), he was learning from Khidr (a), "Don’t let that evil child grow within you." When he puts a hole and doesn’t let the ego grow, then there is a wall with a treasure waiting for you, because Allah (swt) then orders him to build a wall that has a treasure under it. This means, “Your treasure is waiting for you; we are going to build a wall to hide and protect your treasure so no one else takes it.” It means, “Make a hole in your ego and kill the child of Shaytan growing within you, then you will get the treasure!”
There are treasures in the Holy Qur’an, as mentioned previously, the four sacred words, “SubhaanAllah,” “Alhamdulillah, “laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and “Allahu Akbar.” You can recite them in any order you like as the Prophet (s) said that you can move words as you like; you can begin with any of them. Whichever way you read it, it’s from the Holy Qur’an and it is safety from Hellfire. So it is not worth it to divide from one another, or to be sad or depressed. Allah (swt) sent His Prophet (s) as a rahmah, and he is “Khaatam al-Anbiya,” the Last of Prophets, there is no other prophet after Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! Allah (swt) kept the Sahaabah (r) to teach the ummah either through spiritual or physical means, through internal or external knowledges that lead to reality. The Sahaabah (r) also taught at-Tabi`een (r), the followers (next generation after the Sahaabah). So this relationship goes from one wali to another, which Allah (swt) describes in the Holy Qur’an:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
alaa inna awliyaullahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.
Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Yunus, 10:62)
So don't be sad; sadness is dangerous. Be happy! Allah (swt) gave to awliyaullah to make their followers happy, not for them to sit in corners, or to lock themselves in rooms or in their bathrooms. “Come out! Who is in the bathroom?” Shaytan! They lock themselves in bathrooms and smoke a cigarette. You are not allowed to eat in the bathroom, so how can you smoke a cigarette, which is considered to be dirty food? Dirty mixes with dirty and they both become the same.
So use your connection with awliyaullah when you are sad; immediately think, “I'm not going to listen to what Shaytan is saying, and I’m not going to that tyrant waiting for me on the other side of the shore, and I’m not going to let that child of Shaytan grow within me!” To get out of your sadness make wudu, pray two raka`ats, and remember Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s), then read Surat al-Sharh (94:1-8) and Allah (swt) will expand your chest from the expansion of the Prophet’s (s) chest!
So Allah (swt) blessed the ummah with the holy relics of the Prophet (s), the biggest of which is his sacred presence, that he is haadir and naadir, “present” and “seeing.” And the greatest relic is going to his house in Madinatu ‘l-Munawwara, praying two rak`ats, visiting Rawdat ash-Shareef, and going to Mecca, as all of these take away that sadness. Many of Prophet’s relics have been left for us: his clothes, turban, his holy hair, his teeth, his sword, his jubbah, and the flag. When Imam Mahdi (a) comes, he will get all these amanaat from Topkapi Palace. And there are lots of sacred relics around the world to give happiness to people.
That is why the awliyaullah and previous `ulama always opened the relics of the Prophet (s) with salawaat on special nights, such as on 27 Ramadan, the beginning of Ramadan, `Eid ul-Fitr, `Eid ul-Adha, Mawlid an-Nabee, `Ashura, 14 Muharram, 15 Sha`baan, 17 Ramadan (to commemorate Ashaab al-Badr), as these dates are important. So you must try to visit all the relics around the world. Some people go to Mecca and Madinah in these precious days, but if you cannot, Allah (swt) provided relics around the world so you can be blessed from their noor.
These sacred relics cannot be opened whenever we like as, for respect, they must be opened on the designated days. I never saw Mawlana Shaykh open them except on these important days. Alhamdulillah, Allah (swt) provided this place with the sacred relics, make sure to visit them on precious days, not as a toy, to open and close everyday, but it must be on perfect days.
So for that reason, don't be sad! Remember Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s) and the awliyaullah, (q) so your heart will return to happiness! That seed of faith grows within the heart when you water it with dhikrullah. As Prophet (s) said, “Keep your tongue running in Allah’s remembrance.” May Allah (swt) always keep us remembering Him and the Prophet (s), and the awliyaullah, and also remembering each other, to be more and more united and together.
Today I was visiting the mufti, who is a very nice man who is trying to do his best. May the ummah be happy with him as he has a good sense of humor and is always laughing and smiling.
Inshaa-Allah we will see you next time, and inshaa-Allah double the people in attendance, because just as Mawlana Shaykh said, you are growing quickly. The first time he came to Singapore was in 1986; I don't think anyone here was present. We used stayed in a small apartment of a relative of the Minister of Brunei. Alhamdulillah with the barakah of Mawlana Shaykh and your hard work, and those present here, the numbers of people attending your gatherings are doubling.
In Indonesia hundreds of thousands gather, according to the population. I never really saw in any city, not even in Sham, qasidas at Mawlid an-Nabee (s) like in Indonesia where they celebrate in every city and every masjid! That is uncommon and perfect.
May Allah forgive us, bless us, and ziyarat maqboola. May Allah (swt) forgive us.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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