Zhuhr Suhbah (1)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
Kalimataan khafeefataan `alaa ’l-lisaan thaqeelataan fi ’l-meezaan habeebataan li ’r-rahmaan: SubhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi ’l-`Azheem. Istaghfirullah. There are two words that are very easy to say, yet very heavy on the Scale, most beloved to The Merciful, “SubhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi ’l-`Azheem.” I seek refuge in Allah.
Giving Full Attention to the Shaykh and Taking Notes Increases Knowledge
When you want to give suhbat, the power is based on those who are listening: if they aren’t paying attention the source is cut, because those transmitting the knowledge we take see there is no interest. It needs a camera (witness); if there is no expert on the camera it will not send anything, even if it is there a hundred years. So if you have someone speaking but no one listening, there is no benefit. In Grandshaykh’s time we sat on our knees, not holding beads, but rather taking notes in order to memorize the shaykh’s message, and by writing it surely it will stay in the mind, maybe not all of it, although there are some who will remember it, but they are rare. So we took notes as often as possible.
Grandshaykh (q) used to say, “Who is more important, the student or the murshid?” He said to him students are more important than the murshid, and for sure there is meaning behind it; he used irony, to say something that means something else. Grandshaykh said to him the student is more important than the murshid, because if there was no student there is no murshid, so to whom the shaykh will speak? The shaykh needs the student for his heart to open to the Prophet (s) to give him what is there, and the student needs the murshid to teach him what is right and wrong, so both sides are in need of each other. This is a very high way that Grandshaykh expressed humbleness.
Grandshaykh (q) said that Allah (swt) sends angels to reciters of dhikrullah or reading Holy Qur'an, and He will (spiritually) sit with them, listen to them, and give them whatever they need to take. He also said Awliyaullah target their mureeds and push them to sit and listen, and the benefit is that the angels will be mentioning them in Allah’s Presence! So if you are sitting this way or that way (properly or improperly, without adab), it is important because what you receive depends on how much you value what the shaykh is saying.
This is a teaching for us: as much as we concentrate on the suhbat, Allah will raise our spiritual level. For this reason, Awliyaullah want to hold their followers’ attention as much as possible, because some people want to leave and the shaykh will try to attract them and keep them present. Unfortunately, all of us want to finish and go home, but what is in the home? Nothing important. In a masjid, there is nothing to do but read Holy Qur'an and Dalaa`il al-Khayrat, make dhikrullah and do your awraad, but we are in the house watching TV, listening to this one and that one, more involved in dunya than if we were at the masjid. In a masjid, you get hasanaat and in the house you waste time and often there is difficulty with your family. The masjid is where no one bothers you and not only that, you will be rewarded.
Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, taught us how to sit with mashaykh: to never raise your eyes to the shaykh, always look down to demonstrate, “You Sayyidi, are high above everyone and we are low; you have good `amal and we have bad `amal.” In this way the shaykh is able to connect you with the line of Awliyaullah that reaches Prophet (s). I looked down because I was taking notes, so it was easy. But those who don't have a notebook--who don't concentrate well and their mind goes left and right so they raise their heads--when you look down and the shaykh is speaking he sends you energy, but when you look around, then from your bad `amal Shaytan takes you down, but when you are writing notes Shaytan cannot attack you. Grandshaykh (s) was like a fountain of knowledge, speaking non-stop, I was able transcribe Grandshaykh’s suhbat even if it was very complicated, when he spoke above our knowledge and comprehension. Today most people sit in the suhbat and don't touch a pen or notebook, a few do. Today it is very important to have recordings of Grandshaykh’s and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s (q) suhbat to benefit us. Those are available, but require someone to listen to them. If you don't listen you will forget it, and when you take notes it will stay in your mind.
The Reward of Salawaat
Allahumma salli Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammad wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Salawaat on the Prophet (s) will never disappear! Everything disappears except when we read salawaat on the Prophet (s), including in our prayers, for which Allah will reward you, but still you are not giving the right of that salawaat, which is a very high level because it is recited by angels:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him with a worthy salutation.
(Surat al-'Ahzaab, 33:56)
That is the highest level of dhikr you can do, because angels are ordered to recite that salawaat. When you speak about Islamic issues you will be rewarded, and when you listen to someone to try to solve their problem you will be rewarded, but nothing can compare to rewards for reciting salawaat of the Prophet (s)! Grandshaykh Sharafuddin, may Allah bless his soul, sat at the Mawajaha of the Prophet (s) preoccupied with salawaat. He preferred it to dhikrullah or anything else, and he ordered his mureeds to recite salawaat on the Prophet (s) in their daily awraad more than anything else. Once he told Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, “Yaa `AbdAllah Effendi, if someone recites salawaat on the Prophet (s) from the time of Sayyidina Adam (a) to Judgment Day, no one knows what Allah rewards him! However, Awliyaullah say that if someone recites this special salawaat just once in his life, Allah (swt) will grant him all the rewards that no one can comprehend! It is:
`Alaa ashrafi ‘l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat.
`Alaa afdali ‘l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat.
`Alaa akmali’ l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat.
If you accumulate all the salawaat taught by mashayikh and written in books, this salawaat is heavier. When I saw it in a book, part of which is a salawaat of Sayyidina `Ali (r), I thought it is important to spread to people everywhere and tell them if they recite it once, they will get benefits that no one saw before. Why? Because, inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabiyy, Allah and His angels are making salawaat on the Prophet (s). What more do you want than the secret of this salawaat--half of which Sayyidina `Ali (r) mentioned and the other half that was mentioned later[1]--because it is salawaat `ala ‘n-Nabi (s), about which Allah (swt) said, “I and My angels are making salawaat on the Prophet (s), so what higher mention is there than this? I am making salawaat and order you to make it: yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi.”
Sometimes when you are doing dhikrullah, at a certain moment it becomes heavy; you try to continue, but you feel the beads not moving or that you want to stop, except when reciting salawaat `ala ‘n-Nabi (s). Try it and check. There, Allah and His angels are making salawaat and so it is lighter on the heart than awraad and dhikrullah. Therefore, when you have a problem make wudu, pray two rak`ats, make salawaat on the Prophet (s). Don't do anything else; if you want to read Holy Qur'an it is okay, but make salawaat and you will feel relaxed, and make du`a as it is acceptable to ask Allah for sake of the Prophet (s) and Allah will give.
O viewers! To make salawaat on the Prophet (s) is fard and wajib, an obligation, because Allah is doing it and angels in their way send mercy on the Prophet (s)! You are here and in kuntum tuhiboon Allah fatabi`oonee yuhbibkumullaah, by sending salawaat on the Prophet (s) you will be following more. What Allah loves most? Is it not the Prophet (s)? So if you are calling on Allah for the sake of the Prophet (s), what will happen? Allah will love you, and when Allah loves you the angels stamp you, they certify you are on the track of barakah. You might fall from the track, the train might derail, but when you make salawaat you are using a big engine that can pull any of the wagons (train cars). With salawaat, anyone can jump in the wagons and move with the train. So be a good jumper and you will go where they go, where the Prophet (s) is going! In kuntum tuhiboon Allah fattabi`oonee an-Nabi (s), “If you really love Allah, follow Prophet (s),” ya`ani, jump on the wagon! It is moving to Allah, so why we are refusing it? We must not refuse it! May Allah (swt) us keep us on the right track that all Awliyaullah follow. Follow the engine, then if we derail, with salawaat all sins disappear.
May Allah take all our sins and keep us with Prophet (s) and Awliyaullah in dunya and Akhirah, with Grandshaykh `AbdAllah, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) and with each other, inshaa-Allah.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah. Taqabbal-Allah!
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[1] [Salawaatu 'Llaahi Ta`ala wa malaa’ikatihi wa anbiyaaihi wa rusulihi wa jami`ee khalqihi `alaa Muhammadin wa `alaa aali Muhammad `alayhi wa `alayhimu ‘s-salaam wa rahmatullaahi Ta`ala wa barakaatuh.]