A`oodhoo billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem.
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-riyaadah, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid. Atee`oo'llah wa at`eeoo 'r-rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum.
We're discussing the Dome of Provisions that comes from under `Arsh, where in hadith he said, ana al-qassim wa ana taha wa ana yaseen and al-qassim, “Is the one who distributes the provision that Allah sends to his servants. And that is the explanation of khalifa:
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلاَئِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً
wa idh qaala rabbuka lil-malaa'ikati innee ja`ilun fi 'l-ardi khalifa
Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: “I will create a vicegerent on earth.” (2:30)
That khalifa is necessary as Allah's representative on earth. (Refer to the previous session.) And always when there is an invitation or meeting for the honor of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Allah (swt) created special angels that have a very strong power and awliyaullah say these angels, especially Imam Suyuti in his seerah, say they have huge subtle bodies and huge power and that cannot be understood. And Allah (swt) orders them to descend on those who are observing Mawlid an-Nabi (s) in dunya, to reward them for what they are doing. When you invite someone, you have to present for him what he likes. So when you invite someone to eat, you have to put best food. When you invite, you honor. So what you think when Allah (swt) is inviting you five times a day? He said, “I am inviting you, O my servant, to come to Me.” What you think Allah (swt) is going to give you, to present for you? What is the best food on earth, you try to put for those coming to visit you? So those coming to visit, to be between the hands of Allah (swt) five times, ten times--you can pray as much as you like--that is why voluntary prayers are important, as they keep you in that invitation non-stop.
Prophet (s) said, qurratu `aynee fi 's-salaat, “The coolness of my eyes is salaat.” That means, “I am satisfied when I pray.” Do you pray? You pray the five prayers. But do you do the extra? So as much as you make, as much you are invited. Then you know if you are loved so much or not; if you are invited, then you are loved so much. If Allah loves you less, then your invitation is less. So there are some people that push themselves inside an invitation in order to eat. So push yourself to be invited! Today if an important person makes an iftar, every person pushing himself or herself to eat in his presence, is it not? Especially if a politician, especially if the head of a country. What do you think if a wali is inviting you? What do you think, that is baraka? What do you think if Prophet (s) invites you?
When you observe Mawlid you are observing an invitation to Prophet (s). When you observe that, Allah will not reward you? That is why voluntary worship is important. People today are not giving it importance. The importance is, you are coming to Allah's Divine Presence. You cannot be with His Essence, no one can be. But you can be in the Divine Names and Attributes' Presence. So when you observe Mawlid you are in Prophet's (s) presence. Do you like to be there? (Yes!) That is nice, it came out from you spontaneously, like when that one went for ziyarah of Prophet's hair (points to one murid) it gave me goose bumps. And whenever there is Mawlid an-Nabi, you push and enter, they cannot deny you entry. wa man dakhalahu kana aaminan. “Whoever enters it (Haram al-Makki or Haram an-Nabi Shareef) is in safety.” (3:97) No one can tell you, “Go away!” At Allah's holy house or Prophet's holy grave, can anyone say, “No, don't come inside”?
So anyone comes to this honored invitation, what you think the Prophet (s) will be doing for him? Seeking for him and asking for him forgiveness.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ لِيُطَاعَ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
Wa ma arsalna mir rasoolin illa liyuta`a bi idhni 'Llahi wa law annahum idh dhalamoo anfusahum jaaooka fastaghfarullaha wastaghfara lahumur r-rasoolu lawajadu 'Llaha tawwaabar raheemaa.
We sent not an apostle, but to be obeyed, in accordance with the will of Allah. If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto thee and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. Surat an-Nisa (4:64)
wa law annahum idh dhalamoo anfusahum, “Come to Prophet (s).” How? Yes, Sahaba (r) can come to Prophet (s) and ask, and he asks on their behalf. But what about us? We are not like Sahaba who see and come to Prophet (s), and we are not like awliyaullah who can communicate with Prophet spiritually. What can we ordinary people do? Observe Mawlid! You are coming to him. You know you are an oppressor to yourself. You come to Prophet through many ways, by doing any sunnah or praying two rakats, pray and enter Allah's Presence through the sunnah of the Prophet (s). He said, “For anyone observing Mawlid or any sunnah, all his sins will be erased.” Why? Because shafa`atee li ahl al-kabaa'ir min ummatee, “My shafa`ah is for those who commit big sins from my nation.”
So you have to know your identity, which is la ilaha ill-Llah Muhammadun rasulullah. If you are not a believer in Allah and His Prophet, you cannot reach that identity. So honor Prophet (s) by honoring his birth as the birth of Islam and the ummah, and the vehicle that brought the Holy Qur`an. Without the Prophet we were not able to get the Holy Qur`an! Jibreel (a) came to Prophet (s) with the revelation, “We have revealed the Holy Qur`an to Muhammad (s).” So his appearance in dunya brought us Allah's ancient word, Kalaamullah al-Qadeemi, and scholars say Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama`ah say that Qur`an is not created, no beginning and no end. That is why Holy Qur`an is the living book that Allah gave to humanity. Even in Paradise there will be your book, although there it will be different; there it will be secrets of Holy Qur`an and every letter and every word will have many different meanings.
Like what I mentioned of the story of Sayyidina Shaykh Sharafuddin in Istanbul, where the priests were flying up and down in the Aya Sofia Mosque, and that was creating fitna among believers, and so what did he do? He recited the last seven verses of Surah YaSeen backwards. And yesterday someone told me they did what I mentioned in that story: first they turned their shoes upside down (to tell the priests this is batil, not haqq), and then they recited Surah YaSeen from the back and they saw the whole problem in the house has been solved. And I don't know who told me that, it was a message or email. The entire Holy Qur`an is holy book respecting Prophet (s).
So anyone with the intention to attend any event celebrating the birth of Prophet (s), as he is vehicle through which Holy Qur`an was revealed to us and by which Islam came to us, anyone who eats one bite from the food provided, or recites qasida or Holy Qur`an, will be honored and come out of that meeting as if they are newly born. So love of Sayyidina Muhammad and Ahl al-Bayt is very important. Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama`ah kept that tradition up to today, but unfortunately with this strict ideology coming today, they have been thrown out from that. They say, “Don't have honor to Ahl al-Bayt or Prophet (s).” And those still honoring from Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama`ah and that other group, you know them, that are continuing to show love to Ahl al-Bayt, Allah is supporting them.
Prophet (s) said, “Love me and love my family.” His family will not stop until the Day of Judgment.
Grandshaykh said, “The one who made Mawlid an-Nabi and the Angel of Death took his soul after a long life, if he observed Mawlid an-Nabi only one time, from half of the strong huge angels that have been given to Prophet (s) that have descended on his invitation (to Mawlid) will go with him to the grave ascending all the way to heavens, seeking Allah’s forgiveness for him, from the time of the Mawlid he attended, to his grave and to Judgment Day.”
That is why Prophet said, Iqraa YaSeen `ala mawtaakum, “Recite Surah YaSeen on your dead.” Surah YaSeen is the heart of the Qur`an. When you read it, you are honoring Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and all these angels will be with you. Half of them you take with you. As Imam al-Busayri said, “If we observe Mawlid every day it is not enough.” Do it every day, you get half of those angels. Do it one time you got those angels; do it another time you get them again and each time it is different angels, not the same ones. Do Mawlid and Allah (swt) will send half of them to your grave reciting Allah's Praise and all will be written for you. And when someone dies where do they go? Half of them go with his heirs. Not inheritance from somewhere else, outside the family, but half of these angels will be for his heirs, from his blood; that is the reward for that person celebrating the Prophet's birthday.
He said, wa laa yadkhul fi 'l-mawlidu riyaa'an. “And that is why no showing off enters in reciting salawaat on Prophet (s).” Even if you do a huge event in public every day, in the masjid or in the market, even if you do it in public, it is not considered showing off. Other things you do are considered showing off except salawaat `ala an-nabi because the connections of the salawat on Prophet (s) are so huge, they are attached to the Prophet himself, and to anything attached to Prophet there is no showing off, as Allah (swt) likes his `abd (servant) to make praise of Prophet (s). Why? Because Allah Himself and His angels are making praise on Prophet. So there is no showing off in that event. Even if you spend millions for salawaat `ala an-nabi it is not considered a waste of money and no showing off. Do as much as you can. Rich people, do as much as you can; it is not written against you, it is written for you. Even if you get benefit from it dunya-wise, it is written as blessings for you.
Allah ordered Adam (a) to marry, as Allah wants to give him happiness, so He created for him Hawwa. And when they got married in heaven what was their dowry? That is why dowry is important in Islam. Don't marry western style; give a dowry. What her dowry was? Salawaat `ala an-nabi. Adam (a) making salawat, giving to her. And that is why women, what happened to her? You must know that fact, as much as Sayyidina Adam (a) was giving of salawaat on Prophet (s) to her. Because today the dowry is gold or something that makes her more beautiful. So what was her dowry? As much as Adam (a) was making salawaat she was becoming more and more beautiful. From beauty, dressing her from Prophet's beauty. Because of that salawaat, she was becoming more and more beautiful like Sayyidina Yusuf (a), who was so beautiful; he was taking his beauty that comes from the ocean of beauty of Prophet (s) who is taking from the tajalli of the Divine Names that are dressing him from the Divine Presence.
So that is why riya, showing off, doesn't enter in making salawat on Prophet (s). So there was someone in one country, I can't say which country, but it is a very strict country, where they don't accept Mawlid, and every time I ask him, “How many salawat you did today?” He says, “Today I finished seven million and my wife did three million and my child did one million.” You have to believe it; don't say it is impossible! If Allah wants, that one will do it. That is not showing off. If he did seven million, I did twenty-seven million.
There is no showing off in salawaat because it is not something created. You understood or no? That is something very technical. Everything is created. Salawaat to Prophet (s) is not created. Why? Because Qur`an is not created and Allah in His Qur`an said, “Allah and His angels are making salawaat on Prophet.” And Allah's Words are not created. So how could something not created have showing off in it?
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Inna Allaha wa malaaikatahu yusalloona `ala an-nabiyyi ya ayyuha alladheena amanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema.
Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O you that believe! Send blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. Al-Ahzaab (33:56)
So when Adam was seeing her becoming more and more beautiful, he continued doing more and more salawat. And he asked, “Ya Rabbee, what is that beauty?” that she was more beautiful than Paradise. And Allah said, salawaat `ala an-nabi is from My Ancient Word and it is the first to appear on my beloved one.When I created the Pen the first thing it was ordered to write was la ilaha ill-Allah Muhammadur-rasulullah and at that time the Pen also wrote as-salaamu `alayka, yaa Rasoolullah” (Peace be upon you, O Prophet of Allah!). So there is no showing off in those words. So anyone making salawat will be under the dome under `Arsh.
wa min Allah at-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatiha.