The Key to Open All Things Is Knowledge of Ismullah al-`Azham

The Benefits of Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem Series, Vol 5

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

17 August 2012    Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

Ramadan Series / 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.

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Ati`oollaha wa ati`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)

We have already explained the importance of Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem and the meaning of the letter “ba” in the word “Bismillahi.” If anyone wants to see or read what we said, go see the series on Sufilive.

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem! If you want to open a lock, you need Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. It is the key for Paradise! Everything has a key and, therefore, every Paradise must have a key. The key Allah (swt) has given to the Prophet (s) for Paradises is Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. 

In it is the Greatest Name of Allah (swt); three Names are there: “Allah,” “ar-Rahman” and “ar-Raheem.” Allah's Greatest Name is embedded in these three names, so whoever reads “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem,” the Greatest Name of Allah (swt) will be manifest directly to them and for each person it is not the same.

The Prophet (s) said that his Rawdah and his house are a piece of Paradise:

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Maa bayna qabree wa minbaree rawdatan min riyaadu’l-jannah.

Between my grave and my pulpit is rawdatan min riyaadu’l-jannah, a garden from the Gardens of Paradise. (Bukhari and Muslim)

If people can recall thirty to forty years ago, when you entered the Rawdah there was a grille on the left side. Now there are mostly shelves there to put the Qur’an, and they block the door of the Holy Grave of the Prophet (s). If you approached the Rawdah from the back, on the left side where you pray towards the qiblah, the Holy Grave of the Prophet (s) is there and there is a door next to the window called, “Baab at-Tawbah,” the Door of Repentance. We were ordered by Grandshaykh (q) to stand by that door and read the adab of the Tariqah. We used to read the awraad standing and praying by that door as close as we could get, until we could reach the threshold. It has an old-style Ottoman lock.

Every holy month the Sultan used to come, stand by the door and say, “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem,” and if he was a pious Sultan, the lock would open by itself! Then the Sultan used to enter crawling on his chest and cleaning the inside of the Holy Grave with rose essence from Isparta, Turkey, where the whole city is filled with flowers. They used to bring rose essence in big buckets or containers, and the king went by himself and cleaned it. The lock opened only for a pious king or deputy who would say, “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem,” because it has the secret of Ismullah al-`Azham, which is the key for everything! If it opens locks in Paradise, will it not open them in dunya?

The Prophet (s) said, from what Allah (swt) told him directly:

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Kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan fa ahbabtuhu an u`rafa fa khalaqtu ‘l-khalq.

I was a Hidden Treasure (and) I wanted to be known, so I created Creation. (Hadith Qudsi)

That treasure is Ismullah al-`Azham, the Greatest Name of Allah (swt), which is hidden and unknown.  Baab at-Tawbah is the balance or the proof of who is pious and who is not. Sometimes those who are not pious don't dare to go there and be humiliated if the door doesn't open, so they keep back.

Ismullah al-`Azham is in these three Beautiful Names and the awliyaullah say that the Greatest Name came in the awaa’il as-soor, the first verses of each surah of the Holy Qur'an. To give an example, when Jibreel (a) came to the Prophet (s) reciting, he said, "Kaf," and the Prophet (s) said, "`Alimtu. I knew it!" so Jibreel didn't continue. Usually when you recite Surah Maryam, you recite, “Kaf. Ha. Ya. `Ayn. Saad,” but he recited each letter separately, and each time he recited one letter the Prophet (s) said, "I knew." When the Prophet (s) said that he knew Kaf, it means whatever words begin with Kaf the Prophet (s) knows, and the meanings behind them. What is highest meaning behind the letter Kaf? It is, "Kun!" His Order “Be!” is fulfilled as soon as He wills it;  He says, "Kaf" and it happens!

Kaf is also, kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan, “I was a Hidden Treasure.” So when you say "Kaf," all the secrets of creation will come to you! Awliyaullah use that; when they say "Kaf," they take drops of of meaning from that ocean of the Prophet (s). When they want to know about creation or anyone in it, they say"Kaf!”

“Ha” is ghayban mutlaq, Huwa, The Absolute Unknown. Qul yaa Muhammad Huwa! He is the Absolute Unknown: known through His Beautiful Names and Attributes, but unknown through His Essence. Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes are some Names and some Descriptions of the Essence. Ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem belong to the Essence. Some are descriptions, like, “an-Noor” and “as-Saboor.” Attributes describe the Essence and Names name the Essence.

Allah (swt) put three of His Names, not Attributes, in “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem,” which contains Ismullah al-`Azham, so  by reading it every day, things begin to happen as you want them. If we don't see anything happening, even after we say, “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem” and make du`a, that is because it only happens if you have hudoor al-qalb, presence of the heart. To access that power requires more than just saying the words. Like we recite du`as or the Holy Qur'an daily and yet see nothing of these knowledges because they are hidden, because we don't yet have hudoor, presence!

Inna lid-du`ai adaabin wa sharaait.

From making du`a is good manners and conditions.

Ikhlaas is a condition: without it, there will be no answer in dunya, but it will be answered in Akhirah and in the grave. Allah (swt) postpones it until you are most in need of the benefit of these du`as in the and they are kept by the Prophet (s) as a trust for you; otherwise, when you commit a sin Shaytan takes that away from you. So instead, the Prophet (s) keeps them in a trust and they are given to everyone on the Day of Judgment.

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Da`oo Allaaha mukhliseena lahu 'd-deen.

They call to Allah, offering Him sincere devotion.  (Surat Luqman, 31:32)

But if you are a pious person, one who is fa da`oollaha mukhliseena lahu 'd-deen, calling on Allah and sincere in your religion, when we make du`a we memorized it because it does not come to us spontaneously, and we blend them, which is okay, but awliyaullah don't make a du`a by blending them from here and there.

For us to understand the reality of du`a, I’ll tell this story. Grandshaykh, may Allah (swt) bless his soul, went in seclusion for one year in Madinah. Usually in khalwah students are not kept with the teacher, because the student will faint from the tajalli coming on the guide. But he said, khariqan lil asbaab, contrary to the norm, an order came from the Prophet (s) for Grandshaykh (q) to bring Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) in his room to do khalwah with him.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) was allowed to go to Masjid an-Nabawi for the five daily prayers and return on one condition: that his eyes would always remain on his feet. He focused his gaze on where he walked as he was not allowed to look far. Mawlana Shaykh (q) said that Grandshaykh (q) did not sleep for one year! As we said before, when you enter these Oceans of Knowledge, if you ever feel sleepy, for forty days maintain the practice of making wudu and praying two raka`ats, and after that you will not need sleep, your body will accommodate itself. That is for awliyaullah.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) said Grandshaykh (q) made du`a for one, two or three hours and never from memory; his du`a came spontaneously like a fountain from his heart. His heart give to the mind and the mind to the tongue. He said Grandshaykh’s du`a made the whole area shake, as if the whole world trembled from his du`a! Then at the end of seclusion they heard some voices crying, the way children cry behind their father and mother. That is fa da`oollaha mukhliseena lahu 'd-deen, calling on Allah (swt) with sincerity in religion that the Prophet (s) brought.

At the end of the seclusion when they could speak, Mawlana Shaykh (q) asked, “O my Master, what are these voices?” And Grandshaykh (q) said, “These voices are Iblees wa junoodahu, they are crying because falatna min, not in their hands anymore.” Grandshaykh (q) and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) are no longer in hands of Iblees, by the sincerity they showed in one year. Iblees and his groups were crying, “O they ran away from us and we cannot catch them anymore, they are gone!”

All of this was because of sincerity. The du`as that Grandshaykh (q) used to make were not from memory, but were spontaneous. That ikhlaas took away veils. It was as if he was reading the teleprompter and seeing these letters and words of light. He read du`as that were never heard before!

So when the Prophet (s) said "Kaf," he did not need to continue any further, if he continued, it would be maa laa ya`nee, needless. He understood, and there was no need to explain any more, as precious time would be wasted. (In tasawwuf or spirituality, you cannot say or do anything that wastes time.) He told Jibreel (a) not to continue since he knew it already. How? When Jibreel (a) said "Kaf"and "Ha,"  the Prophet (s) knew. These are keywords. The Ismullah al-`Azham is between the abbreviations, which are these letters. Some surahs have the letters “Ha” and “Meem” or other abbreviated letters at their beginning.

If you are mukhlis your du`a will be answered, otherwise not. There are some awliyaullah who are sincere and their du`a is answered, but not all the time. Some people come with difficult illnesses that are removed with du`a, but sometimes not. Some people who don't have children come and you make du`a for them and the wife gets pregnant, but you make du`a for others and nothing happens. If you are sincere, then why sometimes the du`a works and sometimes it doesn't? This is to tell the wali who is praying that this is in Allah’s Hands and to be humble!

One of the qutbs, `Ubaydullah al-Ahrar (q), was passing from this life and said, “When I leave dunya, take my turban and throw it in the air. Whosever head it lands on will be my khalifah.” All his mureeds were big scholars, so they all wanted to be khalifah. When they threw the turban, it went to the shoe valet at the back of the masjid who was putting everyone’s shoes in line and polishing them, because when people come to the masjid they throw the shoes on the side, which is not adab. Some people come at the back and arrange them nicely; they are better than you! If they don't arrange the shoes, who will do it? Not the peacocks!

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Rubba ash`ath aghbara law aqsama `ala ’Llaahi la-abbarah.

There may be a disheveled, dusty person who, if he swears an oath by Allah, Allah will fulfill it.

(Muslim)

That is a real sincere one, not the one who shouts to show he is in complete dhikr, but rather he is screaming at the top of his voice, “Naray Takbeer!” without his heart being present. So the important thing is, if you want to yell and scream make your heart present in the love of Allah (swt) and the Prophet (s). At the moment when the heart is present with the Intercessor, if you have ikhlaas that presence becomes the intercessor for you and if you don't have ikhlaas it is a waste of time.

And he says, “It has been revealed that there is a Greatest Name of Allah (swt), an Ismullah al-`Azham.” This has become famous between the ummah and everyone is pleased to know about its benefits, but it has been covered and forbidden to be discussed anywhere because you cannot give diamonds to children, you give them candy! If you know the Ismullah al-`Azham, you can say, kun fayakoon, “‘Be’ and it is!”

The Qur’an mentions Sayyidina Musa (a) saying:

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Qaala rabbee arinee anzhur ilayk, qaala lan taraanee wa laakin unzhur ila ’l-jabali, fa in istaqarrra makaanuhu fa-sawfa taraanee, fa lamaa tajalla rabbuhu li 'l-jabali ja`alahoo dakkan wa kharra Moosa sa`iqan, falamma afaaqa qaala subhaanaka tubtu ilayk, wa anaa awwal al-mu’mineen.

He said, "O my Lord! Show Yourself to me, that I may look upon You." Allah said, "By no means can you see Me (directly), but look upon the mountain; if it abides in its place, then you shall see Me." When his Lord manifested His glory on the mount, He made it as dust, and Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses, he said, "Glory be to You! To You I return in repentance, and I am the first to believe." (Surat al-`Araaf, 7:143)

He said,  “Arinee anzhur ilayk.” He wanted to know the Ismullah al-`Azham in order to say“Kun fayakoon!” He knew that he couldn't see Allah (swt) in dunya. So he said, “Arinee unzhur ilayk.”

According some tafseers, to see something is also to know about it. For example, if you say, “I saw the moon,” it also means, “I knew about the moon.” Sayyidina Musa (a) knew he cannot see Allah (swt), but he was asking permission to know about Him. Allah (swt) said he cannot see Him, so He said,  “Look at the mountain. You have too much ego. Destroy that first!”

Ismullah al-`Azham is “khaarijin min `alam as-soowar,” and we are images and pictures, and the Greatest Name is outside that world of images. You have to disappear and annihilate yourself in order to know the Ismullah al-`Azham. That Name is for all realities that came out from, “I was a hidden treasure and I wanted to be known.” It means, “I made them to know Who is the Ismullah al-`Azham!” It is a unique issue from the realities that are in the World of Realities and the meanings of these realities, that came from outside the world of pictures, images and forms to the World of Knowledge of Realities. The meaning of it is al-Insaan al-Kaamil, the Perfect Human Being!

When He said, al-`Aqal al-Awwal, “the First Mind,” it means the highest in creation. Who is the highest and the first one in creation? The Prophet (s) is! He is al-Insaan al-Kaamil and the khalifah who represents Allah (swt) in creation. 

When