4 June 2017 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Zhuhr Suhbah
Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.Alhamdulillahi 'lladhee hadaana li 'l-islaam wa maa kunnaa li-nahtadiya law laa an hadaana 'Llah. Alhamdulillahi nashkuruhu wa nasta’eenuhu wa nastahdeeh wa na’oodhu billahi min shuroori anfusina wa sayyi’aati a’amaalina.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
Prophet (s) said, Afshoo 's-salaam, “Spread salaam, say, ‘As salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh’.”” Afshoo 's-salaam means to make relationships with each other by saying “As-salaamu `alaykum,” which is peace from Allah (swt) on you.
يا أيها الناس، أفشوا السلام، وأطعموا الطعام، وصلوا بالليل والناس نيام، تدخلوا الجنة بسلام
Spread (greet with) the salaam, give food, and pray at night while people are asleep, then you will enter Paradise peacefully. (Tirmidhi)
Afshoo 's-salaam is to remind you that wherever you go, there is someone you might see on the street who is a Muslim, a mu’min, someone whom Allah might guide, so keep good relationships with everyone. Unfortunately, people are fighting with each other over who will sit on the chair. That’s why we see problems around the world from politicians, but we are not concerned with politicians, we are concerned with individuals, the grassroots, in order that they will love us and we love them. The message of Islam is for everyone, it is not restricted as Prophet (s) came to spread the Message of Islam for all humanity, and inshaa-Allah, we are those who fulfill:
وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا
Leave what Prophet forbade and take what he ordered. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:7)
Whatever Prophet (s) gave you, take it into consideration, and he (s) said, “Afshoo 's-salaam,” which is to say ‘salaamu `alaykum’ as much as you can to those you meet--in public, in houses, in halls, in masajid--to extend a bridge and build a relationship.
Grandshaykh (q) said that when Prophet (s) sat, the Sahaabah (r) went around him again and again, saying, “As-salaamu alaykum, yaa Rasoolullah!” because when he replies, “Wa `alaykum salaam” it is the greatest honor! Prophet (s) said, Afshu salaam wa `at`eenoo ta`aam, spread salaam wherever you can, and give food because when you spread something nice you get sweetness, and the best sweetness is to feed people as they like to eat. “And wake up to offer `ibaadah when people are sleeping and you will enter Paradise with peace and happiness.”
So the greatest thing the shaykh looks for in his mureed is to say, “Afshoo 's-salaam.” The shaykh’s eyes are always zooming like a camera lens to find his followers in good shape, and if they are not in good shape--as we previously said in the story of Jalaluddin Rumi (q) about polishing the wall of your heart--if he finds areas of your heart that are not polished, he will polish them until you reach a level that the mirror can reflect everything on it.
When they built the Hubble Telescope, one of the managers told me that if you wanted to use an ordinary lens, it would have had to be the size from California to New York, but they polished and polished until it became very strong and just a few feet wide. Awliyaullah polish their mureeds’ hearts by looking at them at least three times in every 24 hours, which means they are polishing our hearts three times a day. The benefit of their polishing is the screen will become less and less fuzzy, and you will begin to faintly see different shapes appearing in front of you. The stronger the lens, you will be able to see what an eye cannot see and what an ear cannot hear; Allah gives that to His servant who is always following the footsteps of Prophet (s).
This teaches us that it is our duty to polish ourselves by avoiding obstacles and sins. The job of Awliya is to sit among people and make you think they are like you, but actually their heart is going everywhere around the mureeds and they see which one has something missing from his polishing and immediately he polishes that defect. Don’t think the shaykh is sitting and not helping: our shuyukh are helping us and they give us bay`a in order to transmit that power to us and to keep us under their protection. So as much as you are able to focus to a higher level of lens, you need a tool and that tool is that?
إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا اطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Behold! In the creation of Heaven and Earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding, those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, (saying), "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose! Glory to You! Grant us salvation from the torment of the Fire.” (Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:190-191)
“Those who are remembering Allah when they are awake, standing, sitting and lying down.” The tool of polishing the self is when you always remember Allah and His Prophet (s), as Prophet (s) said to the Bedouin:
عن عبد الله بن بسر رضي الله عنه أن رجلا قال: يا رسول الله إن شرائع الإسلام قد كثرت علي فأخبرني بشيء أتشبث به؟ قال لا يزال لسانك رطبا من ذكر الله" الترمذي.
A man came to the Prophet (s) and said, "O Rasoolullah! The rules of Islam became heavy on me, so give me news of something which I can maintain." Prophet (s) said, "Make your tongue wet with dhikrullah." (Tirmidhi)
“Keep your tongue wet with dhikrullah.” When we do that, the polishing works by itself, it is automatic, like the highest level of a watch that works by itself 24 hours a day until the battery is finished. There are different levels of polishing. Awliya polish their followers for them to be in a better position to see what cannot be seen and hear what cannot be heard, and by making dhikrullah we will achieve that. Also, there are many forms of dhikrullah.
الطرق الى الله على عدد أنفاس الخلائق
The paths to Allah are as many as the breaths of Creation.
“The ways to Allah (swt) are on the number of the breath of human beings,” which means in every breath out and every breath in there is a way for you to remember to make dhikrullah. When you make dhikrullah, angels will rub you with their wings touching you; that’s why sometimes people tremble with ecstasy from the touch of angels passing around them.
So he said awliyaullah sit and observe how much you are progressing by seeing how much these ‘awaalim, these other planets, when you look into the universe, how much they reflect in our hearts. Whatever creation Allah created we can look and zoom it in and see what Allah (swt) has prepared for his servants:
ولا يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به، ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها
My servant does not cease to approach Me through voluntary worship until I will love him. When I love him, I will become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he acts, and the legs with which he walks (and other versions include, “and the tongue with which he speaks.”). (Hadith Qudsi, Bukhari)
“As long as My servant approaches Me through voluntary worship I will love him,” so when we gain Allah’s Love we gain everything, when we lose the love of dunya… Allah said:
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
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)
Balance between dunya and Akhirah, when you balance you are successful, that’s why balance is important in everyone. If you don’t balance you fall. Allah gave you two feet to balance yourself when you are walking and on top of that He gave you two hands to help you if your feet become unbalanced. So balance yourself between Akhirah and dunya. It means, Rabbana `ateena fi ‘d-dunya hasanatan wa fi ‘l-akhirati hasana, give us goodness in dunya and goodness in Akhirah and inshaa-Allah, Allah (swt) will never leave us behind.
When the mureed is struggling to balance himself in order to polish his heart, his lens, how he knows he is balancing and polishing is by how much reflection comes to his heart from other planets and he can zoom them together to make a sharp light, to focus and send the light further down. Awliya want to see that their followers are zooming the light so sharp in order to reach anywhere and see what is happening there. You think their hearts are with the mureeds, but in reality, their hearts are with Allah and His Prophet (s).
How much the servant polishes himself he will see those planets are reflecting their secrets that Allah gave to them, they are reflected on the hearts of those people who polish their hearts. So let us polish our hearts with dhikrullah and things will be changed for us. There are many people around the world that are busy with dhikrullah and subhaan-Allah every day I see young people, adult people, elderly people holding their beads and making dhikrullah. It is the polisher. When you say “Laa ilaaha il-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah,” you have polished yourself from shirk, from Shaytan, this is the biggest ni`amah that Allah gave to us, to say “Laa ilaaha il-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah.” So I am seeing young and old doing their daily dhikrullah and their wazaa`if and Allah and Prophet (s) will be happy with them.
Even if we repeat what we say, so one day we said “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” and the next day we can say it again, every day there is a different power in it than the day before. So when we say “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” today, one door opens for you and you enter, then tomorrow another door opens, when you say it three times three doors open, and even though it is the same word you open a different door. As you begin to open all these doors, you finally find that you are waiting in the Divine Presence for Allah to dress you from His mercy, which encompasses everything that Allah wants you to polish. When you polish this and this, from His Rahmah, Allah will open for you what you never expected before. When Prophet (s) went into Isra` and Mi`raaj and reached the Divine Presence, Allah opened for him `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa’l-Akhireena, the Knowledges of Before and After, then he knew what happened before him and what was going to happen in front of him. `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa’l-Akhireena, Knowledges of Before and After, are azalee abaadee...Pre-eternal/Post-eternal…which means you can be half an hour before or a hundred years before or a million years before: as much as you go back you can know, and everything came before him azalee and abaadee, continuously, and without change.
He (s) was able to know whatever happened, and whatever Allah created in these universes that Allah wanted him to know he was able to know. And Prophet (s) is the prophet for all Creation and from his Light Allah created Creation, so he was able to see everything that Allah created before him and after him, meaning his physical body in dunya. When Allah (swt) wanted to create Prophet (s), He created his Light first:
رواه عبد الرزاق بسنده عن جابر بن عبد الله بلفظ قال قلت: يا رسول الله، بأبي أنت وأمي، أخبرني عن أول شيء خلقه الله قبل الأشياء. قال: يا جابر، إن الله تعالى خلق قبل الأشياء نور نبيك من نوره،...
When Jaabir (r) asked, “Let my father and mother be sacrificed for you, oh Prophet of Allah! What is the first thing that Allah (swt) created?” the Prophet (s) said, “The first thing that Allah (swt) created is the Light of your Prophet from His Light, O Jaabir.” (Musannaf `Abdu ’r-Razzaq)
Allah created the Light of Muhammad (s) before everything, so he knew, he accompanied every type of Creation, because everything came from within his Light. May Allah rejuvenate our hearts within us and polish them as they should be: by ourselves, we do what we can do and the rest is done by them and the most important is what is done by them.
If we sit here for five minutes making dhikrullah, they will be sitting making everlasting dhikrullah and will dress you with it. Awliya are not sitting for nothing; they don’t waste their time because their hearts are connected with the Divine Presence. You think they are sitting with you, but in reality they are not sitting with you, they are sitting with everyone doing dhikr. Connection is the most important. When a wali gives you bay’a, he connects you with the one before him and everyone in the chain all the way back to Prophet (s).
What we know of these ‘awaalim, knowledges and planets around us, the knowledge of this universe, really is nothing. Go to Google Maps and look at the galaxy and the millions of stars. SubhanAllah. Who created them, so far away? This is what we can see, but what about what we cannot see? How were these skies built without a pillar or any visible support? Kun fa-yakoon. You cannot understand it. If Allah gives the power of kun fa-yakoon to someone he can understand, and Prophet (s) is the only one who was given it. The knowledge of kun ya-yakoon no one can know. What Prophet (s) gives to us is what ‘ulama are taking and learning.
Even today they are finding in the Holy Qur’an and Holy Hadith so many miracles Allah created. Jalaluddin Rumi used to say to take care of the polishing of your hearts so that Allah sends Anwaar al-Haqq, and at that time you will see what people cannot see. People want to know about the universe, and there is no way to know except through the polishing of the heart, then you will know. That is what separates awliya from general ‘ulama. A normal ‘aalim is only polishing his books and papers, memorizing, but awliya give you a taste of what you are polishing.
The Knowledge of Paper and the Knowledge of Taste are completely different. If an ‘aalim and a wali read the same page of Holy Qur’an, they will understand it differently; there is one main meaning, but they will have different interpretations. A wali gives you to taste its sweetness, whereas an ‘aalim will give you whatever is written, so there is a big difference.
May Allah give us from His Endless Knowledge and dress us with the knowledge of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), just as Sayyidina Musa (a) ran to Sayyidina Khidr (a) to learn more.
فَوَجَدَا عَبْدًا مِّنْ عِبَادِنَا آتَيْنَاهُ رَحْمَةً مِنْ عِندِنَا وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا عِلْمًا
So they found one of Our Servants on whom We had bestowed Mercy from Ourselves and whom We had taught knowledge from Our Own Presence. (Surat al-Kahf, 18:65)
What did Allah give him? He found someone, a normal ‘abd, but min ‘ibaadina, “from Our ‘abd who We have dressed from Our mercy.” As soon as Allah dresses His servant from His mercy, they will rise up. Why did Jalaluddin Rumi rise up when he whirled? Gravity could no longer pull him down. The mureeds rise with the power of the shaykh, so they rose up with him. It is like an airplane: it takes off and carries everyone inside. When the shaykh is sitting with his mureeds he is taking off, and all of them fly with him to these knowledges.
We want to fly with our shaykh and with our shuyookh and be part of that. We hope our hearts will open to receive this. Sometimes you have a flash and you open it, but you cannot see because there is dirtiness on the lens and it becomes fuzzy. So what do they do? They rub it, polish it to see better. All of us have dirt on the glass, so what is needed from us is to clean it so it can be as it should be.
May Allah (swt) clean our hearts. This is a short suhbah, but it is important to know that the shaykh is always with you, that he loves you and everyone, and wants everyone to be on his level or higher. There is a famous story of one mureed of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain who was struggling to reach his Trust until he saw what was written on the Preserved Tablets: his shaykh was to have a bad ending. He cried and went into sajda, saying, “Yaa Rabbee, forgive my shaykh, take him out of Hellfire and send him to Paradise.” The next day he saw the name was changed and was without judgement and written to go to Paradise. He was so happy and ran to the shaykh to tell him. The shaykh said, “No, put me back where I was or I will break you in half. I have seen this for twenty-seven years and didn’t complain. If Allah wants to put me here or there, I am happy.”
Inshaa-Allah we are all happy with what comes and will relax and keep doing our dhikr and awraad and inshaa-Allah the best comes for you and us in dunya and Akhira. Whatever you want to happen to you of goodness, it is best to recite the ayah:
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
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)
May Allah (swt) forgive all of us. May Allah support us and everyone for the best of what we love. The prayers of our shuyookh are always with us. Although we repeat the same prayers they prayed, every time we say a prayer keep saying it in the same way, don’t say, “I have to change to a better awraad.” No, all awraad are good and will take you to the Divine Presence, but keep doing it. More gates will open and inshaa-Allah all gates will open for you and everyone.
Allah loves you, Prophet (s) loves you, awliya love you, all the mureeds love each other. May Allah keep us on the right direction and right way.
Bi hurmati ‘l-habeeb, bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
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