24 August 2011 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Suhbah after Fajr
Allahumma salli ‘alaa Sayyidina Muhammad (s), hatta yarda Sayyidina Muhammad (s).
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani '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.
Now, for nearly one month, 26 days, we have been with this series of suhbahs. Insha-Allah, we are giving from what Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh (q) inspired us and taught us all, and we are taking lessons from many different awliyaullah who have left this dunya.
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُواْ لِي وَلاَ تَكْفُرُونِ
Fadhkuroonee adhkurkum, washkuroolee wa laa takfuroon.
Remember Me, I will remember you. Give thanks to Me and do not be ungrateful towards Me. (al-Baqarah, 2:152)
If we didn't learn the meanings of this verse during all these days then we have a learning problem, because everything we are speaking about goes into this verse, “Remember Me or recite My Name on your tongue or in your heart, and I will also mention your name and praise you in My Presence.”
The whole religion is based on remembering Allah (swt): to know that there is a One Creator Who creates, and the others have to worship Him and make sajda. We must know that there is the Creator and everyone else serves Him. That is Islam. What else is there but to say, “ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh.” Allah (swt) is happy with someone who says this and who makes salawaat on the Prophet (s), as He ordered directly:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
inna-Llaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabi, yaa ayyuhal-ladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi was sallimoo tasleemaa.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him. (al-'Ahzaab, 33:56)
“Make salawaat on My Beloved whom I sent as a messenger for all Creation!”
When Allah (swt) says, “Fadhkuroonee,” how are you going to remember Him, by only saying, “Allah, Allah,” or, “laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” or by actions? When they say in the movies, "Action!" then actors go into action and the crew pays attention and the camera records what the actors do. In every moment we need to be in action as Allah's heavenly camera is recording what we do; the angels are there waiting and every moment of our lives is recorded. Allah (swt) is saying, "O My servant! The camera is there, so if you remember Me through your actions, I will mention you in My Presence."
Fadhkuroonee adhkurkum, “Remember Me, I will mention you.” The meaning of fadhkuroonee is to mention Allah (swt) in your action or in your heart, and then Allah will mention you in His Divine Presence. When He mentions you, it is raising you to be in His Way. So what must you do? Thank Him, as the remainder of the ayah is, washkuroolee, “Thank Me!” It is so easy! Mention Him, say, “Yaa Allah!” Will He keep one sin on you after that? When Allah (swt) is mentioning you, the angels will not dare to write any bad `amal on your behalf! It is so simple. When you want to sleep, say, “Yaa Rabbee, You are my Lord and Anta hasbee, You are the One on Whom I depend.”
وَذَا النُّونِ إِذ ذَّهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَن لَّن نَّقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَى فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ أَن لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
Watha n-nooni ith-thahaba mughaadiban fazhanna al-la n-naqdira `alayhi fanaada fee zh-zhulumaati al-laa ilaaha illa Anta subhaanak! Innee kuntu mina ‘zh-zhalimeen!
And (remember) him of the great fish, when he went off in wrath, thinking that We had no power over him! But then he remembered in the deep darkness (of his distress), "There is no god save You, Exalted and Glorified! I am of the oppressors!" (al-Anbiya, 21:87)
Sayyidina Yunus (a) was in the whale, where Allah (swt) kept him in seclusion, saying, laa ilaaha illa Anta subhaanak! Innee kuntu mina ‘zh-zhalimeen! That was his spiritual food in the cage of the whale’s stomach. “You are the Only One, and I was an oppressor to myself, zhaalim, because I didn’t have patience with Your servants.” So when you say, “laa ilaaha illa Anta subhaanak! Innee kuntu mina ‘zh-zhalimeen!” you bear witness that Allah (swt) is your Lord and Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is His Prophet, ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh.
At the moment when Allah (swt) mentions you, whatever the angel wrote of your sins during the day he will quickly erase, as how can the angel keep it when Allah (swt) remembered you? When you say, “ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh,” that is repenting. So thank Allah (swt), because he has honored us to remember Him by saying, “laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and to mention His Name!
Does anyone want to advise us? Don’t think if you give advice you are higher, as you might be lower. The shepherd might fall, but the sheep and goats don’t fall; they are climbing, but the shepherd might fall. Be sheep, don’t be a shepherd. What can we do? I will listen, but no one wants to advise; they don’t want to sit and speak.
Now we are at the 27th day of Ramadan, and every day there has been at least one suhbah, sometimes two or three, but what is the benefit? It is these verses:
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُواْ لِي وَلاَ تَكْفُرُونِ
Fadhkuroonee adhkurkum, w ’ashkuroo lee wa laa takfuroon.
Remember Me, I will remember you. Give thanks to Me and do not be ungrateful towards Me. (al-Baqarah, 2:152)
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُم
ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (an-Nisa, 4:59)
All Islam is contained in these two verses! Allah (swt) is saying, “I am giving it to you so simply to digest it: don’t be arrogant, and Thank Me!” “W ’ashkuroo lee, and thank Me, wa laa takfuroon, and don’t be ungrateful to Me.” It means, “See that everything good is from Me and everything bad is from you and that everything good I inspired you to do. Don’t follow Shaytan; don’t deny Me your thanks.”
Today people thank each other and if anyone does you a favor, you thank him. Allah (swt) gave you life and that is enough to say, “Shukran, yaa Rabbee!” Allah (swt) said,“Wa laa takfuroon, don't deny Me your thanks, don’t be ungrateful to Me.” So what do you need to do? Fadhkuroonee adhkurkum. Busy yourself with that remembrance, not with backbiting and dunya. Allah (swt) gave us dunya, yes, and He wants us to say:
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Rabbana atina fi'd-dunya hasanatan wa fi ’l-akhirati hasanatan wa qinaa `adhab an-naar.
O our Lord! Give us goodness in this life and goodness in the Next Life, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:201)
Allah (swt) doesn’t stop giving you good in this life and then it is finished, but He continues to give you good. It means, “I make dunya a paradise for you by worshipping Me, and I make in Akhirah a paradise when I mention you.”
That one verse, “Rabbana atina fi 'd-dunya hasanatan” equals, fadhkuroonee, “Mention Me,” and the other half, “wa fee ‘l-akhirati hasanat” is equal to, adhkurkum, “and I will mention you.” These are two different issues. Rabbana atinaa fi 'd-dunya hasanat, “Give us good in this life,” equals, fadhkuroonee, “Mention Me.” And then there is what you get in akhirah, wa fi ‘l-akhirati hasanat, “and good in the Next Life,” which is the same as, adhkurkum, “I will mention you.”
Look at the humbleness! When Allah (swt) says, “When you do good, I will give you good.” He is not saying, "You must do good and what I do is not your business." He says, “You do good, I give you good.” Then what will happen? “You remember Me, then after that thank Me, washkuroolee. I gave you the capacity to remember Me. I gave dunya as a paradise for you and I gave akhirah as a paradise for you.”
So don’t think about and give too much attention to gossip that is going around. The Sahaabah (r) asked the Prophet (s), “Does a mu’min steal?” He said, “It might be.” Then they asked, “Does a mu’min commit adultery?” He said, “It might be.” Then they asked, “Does a mu’min lie?” He said, “There is no way a believer will lie.”
He (s) explained that a believer might steal if he is hungry, or might commit adultery for some reason; these are kabaa'ir, major sins, that Allah (swt) may forgive with shafa` of the Prophet (s). But a believer can never lie; it means, “Don’t lie on Allah's Greatness to show that you did something good, don’t break the Promise you gave on the Day of Promises by saying, “I don’t have to pray five prayers.” You are lying because there you said, “I will pray, I will fast, and I will give charity.” Here you are not doing it! There, you said you would go for Hajj, but here you are not doing it. There, you said you would not backbite, but here you are doing it.
To be in goodness, do dhikrullah and don’t be in jama`at as-soow, bad company. Today children are keeping bad company on the Internet, where now all kinds of badness are displayed worse than on TV! Your children are learning to sing group karaoke online by making conference calls and joining others on a page, where they sing sexual songs to each other! I am surprised that a child of six years knows how to open the computer! There are words we don’t even know how to pronounce or their meanings, and adults are singing along with them. Parents ask, “What are you doing?” and the children say, “We are studying. My teacher assigned research on an issue to present to the class, so I am Googling some porno movies to make the class excited.” They teach sex education and they give our young children birth control, ruining them in the schools!
Leave that bad company and keep company with Allah (swt)! Bring your children to mosques or to meetings where there is only dhikrullah. At least if you raise them in this way, they will learn in the future that this is the right way so you have to do this. When you are in jama`at and it is said, “washkuroolee,” it is plural for human beings and singular for Him. “Thank Me,” is plural, which means, “Thank Me, all of you.” And for Himself, Allah (swt) said, “I am remembering you (singular).” He is opening for you to know about, “My Oneness.” When you make dhikr in jama`at that is something else. “I will mention you,” means, “I am The One Who can mention you, and no one else can give you Akhirah except Me (wa fi ‘l-akhirati hasanat).”
If we go deeper it will be too much and we will faint! May Allah (swt) give our Grandshaykh (q) higher and higher levels and give Mawlana Shaykh Nazim longer life to give us these inspirations! You cannot get these knowledges except from a main source. These are understandings that many past scholars did not touch on, such as, fadhkuroonee adhkurkum and rabbanaa atinaa fi ’d-dunya hasanatan. You cannot find this by studying tasawwuf in books; it comes only from this current source.
You are surprised, I am surprised, we are surprised, and the jinn who are present are surprised. You have to be approved for awliyaullah to speak ibara `an, and to receive transmissions from them. You want to sit and begin to speak and then they begin to send. But if the radio is not open the information that is coming from there will stay in the station; it will come later.
May Allah (swt) keep us in their presence and without looking at our sins. We are saying, “Yaa Rabbee! Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh. amantu billahi wa malaa’ikatihi wa kutubihi wa rusooli. kullu laka `abdun wa ahaqq ma yaqool al-abd … fadhkuroonee adhkurkum. laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah. … washkuroolee, shukran lak yaa Rabbee! annaka ja`altana muslimeen, mu’mineen, fariheen, mustabshireen, la khawfan `alayhim wa la hum yahzanoon. taqabbal Allah!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.