Laylat al-Raghayb
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah, nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta`ala fee hadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
Sometimes awliyaullah feel with people, with their followers and mureeds, to help them and every wali has his way to explain and interpret Ahadith of the Prophet (s), depending on the behavior of the followers and on how much they can carry, because not all can carry, everyone cannot carry more than he can on his shoulders. So for that reason, awliyaullah, according to their level of nearness to the Prophet (s) and from the Prophet (s) to Allah (swt) near the Divine Knowledge, Allah inspired them to say things to their followers to make them attain a high level of Ascension, because our life is either in ascension or descension. That is the way that it has to be: either you are ascending or going lower, descending, so to prevent you from going lower they explain the way they can interpret ayat al-Qur’an, because these verses are living forever.
They will not be...always they are illuminated with Allah's Noor, because Holy Qur'an is not makhlooq, created, al-Qur’an is Allah's Holy Ancient Words that awliyaullah learn from and give their followers an awraad and Allah (swt) will take that mureed as long as he is walking in the Siraat al-Mustaqeem, doing the best for his religion, at some point inayaatullah, Allah’s Care will reach the `abd and take him to his destiny. We are asking as it is Rajab, and we will mention the story of the man who was asking Allah's forgiveness in Rajab and Allah (swt) forgave him.
We are asking Allah (swt) for the sake of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and for the love of Awliyaullah to forgive us for our mistakes and sins, and laa taja`al ad-dunya akbara hammina, not to make dunya our greatest worry, but our Akhira our greatest worry. Dunya is death. Can anyone keep his soul in his body? No way! That means all of you are dead. Innaka mayyitun wa innahum la mayyitoon. You are dying and so is everyone else. So Allah is saying in Holy Qur'an to the Prophet (s):
إِنَّكَ مَيِّتٌ وَإِنَّهُم مَّيِّتُونَ
You are going to taste death, and they are going to taste death. (39:30)
“You are going to die and they are going to die,” so no one (should) raise his head and dress the dress of Iblees to whisper in the ear of Sayyidina Adam (a). Allah said, as the Prophet (s) said in Hadith Sahih:
قال أبو الدرداء وذكر بعضهم قال عبدالله بن جراد يارسول الله هل يزني المؤمن قال قد يكون ذلك قال هل يسرق المؤمن قال قد يكون ذلك قال هل يكذب المؤمن قال لا ثم أتبعها نبي الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : { إنما يفتري الكذب الذين لا يؤمنون بآيات الله } النحل : 105
One time the Sahaabah (r) asked the Prophet (s), “Yaa Rasoolullah! Does the mu’min steal or rob?" The Prophet (s) replied, "Perhaps." They asked, "Does the mu’min make zinaa (adultery)?" The Prophet (s) replied, "Perhaps." They asked, "Does the mu’min steal?" The Prophet (s) replied, “Perhaps.” Then they asked him, "Does the mu’min lie?" To this the Prophet (s) replied, "This, no!" Then the Prophet (s) followed it by (reciting), “Only they invent falsehood who believe not Allah's Revelations, and (only) they are the liars.” [Surat al-Nahl, 16:105] (Kanzu ’l-`Ummal, 8994)
Look at how the Prophet (s) wants us to understand how to ask for forgiveness. Then they asked, hal al-mu’min yakdhib, “Does a mu’min lie?” He said, “No, fa amma hadhihi fa laa.” If you drink, steal or do adultery, it is between you and Allah (swt). Allah might forgive you, but in lying there will be a third person, someone who will be hurt from someone else lying and backbiting, and giving bad rumors that are lies. So the Prophet (s) said, “No way for that, a mu’min cannot lie or backbite,” because if you backbite you are lying and making fitna, but if you steal or commit adultery, Allah might forgive you:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)
However, when you lie and create fitna by spreading wrong rumors and another person is affected, Allah will not forgive you until that person forgives you. How do Awliyaullah know this weakness about the ego? They went through that struggle with their ego or else how did they become Awliya?
ادْعُوهُمْ لِآبَائِهِمْ هُوَ أَقْسَطُ عِندَ اللَّهِ
Call them to their fathers, that is more just with Allah. (al-Ahzaab, 33:5)
Everyone has a father and Allah said in Holy Qur’an, “Call them to their parents, their fathers.” So everyone has one father, you cannot have two fathers; the father might have brothers, then you will have many uncles and if you love your father you also love his brothers, your uncles. So in Tariqah, spirituality, among Awliyaullah there is one father and there are the uncles. You love your father, but you cannot say, “Throw the uncles into Jahannam!” If your father is a Wali, there are other Awliyaullah, so just as you respect your uncles out of respect to your father, you have to respect the other Awliyaullah. If we respect our father we must respect his brother. In Tariqah we are all brothers and we are all under one father and that father has brothers. That is why it is said there are 124,000 Wali. You have to respect them all as each group of people is attached to one Wali and inshaa-Allah he guides them to the way of Allah, Siraat al-Mustaqeem.
In Rajab, many Awliyaullah have put different awraad to be done. This is the first night of Rajab, and the Prophet (s) said:
رجب شهر الله، وشعبان شهري، ورمضان شهر أمتي
Rajab is Allah's month, Sha`baan is my month and Ramadan is the month of my Ummah.
(Abul-Fath ibn Abi Fawaris in his `Amalee from al-Hasan)
Allah does not need a month, but this is the month where He opened the tajalli that prepared Prophet (s) to reach Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa, the month of Israa’ wa ‘l-Miraaj when the doors of Allah's Rahmah are opened and He wants us to be saved. We will mention the story of that man who was saved by the du`a he recited In the time of the Prophet (s), as Grandshaykh (q) mentioned, there are different narrations, but in one of them there was a person who had a daughter who served him as her mother had died, and he was a highway robber. He went into remotes places where he knew pilgrims and caravans were moving and attack them. He stole from them and did all kinds of wrongdoing. Everyone was annoyed by him and everyone in the city or village knew him by name and did not like him because he was a big thief and he might also kill. One day he died and the villagers knew he was a robber and thief and had done many wrong things, so they threw his body in an empty well that had been dug a long time ago but no longer had any water. Grandshaykh (q) said Allah was not happy to see His servant thrown in a well without being properly washed and Salaat al-Janaza being prayed over him. Sayyidina Jibreel (a) came to the Prophet (s) and said, “Yaa Muhammad, today one of Allah’s Awliyaullah died and He is asking you to wash him, dress him, pray on him and bury him by yourself.”
The Prophet (s) was surprised and thought, “What kind of Wali died today?” From his humbleness as the best and perfect person Allah created, the Prophet (s) went by himself, pulled him out of the well, washed him, dressed him, prayed on him and carried him with the Sahaabah (r) to Jannat al-Baqi`. Grandshaykh (q) said, and I quote, “The Prophet (s) was walking on his toes and Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) said, ‘I see that you are walking like that.’ The Prophet (s) said, ‘Yes, I am also stunned by Allah's Mercy.’ When it descends it finishes every `adhaab, it extinguishes the fire and a cool breeze comes, as it happened to Sayyidina Ibrahim (a).” That Mercy covered all the sins of that person! The Prophet (s) said, “Yaa Aba Bakr, I am not finding a spot to put my feet on the ground due to the presence of so many angels!” They buried him and Prophet (s) did not speak with anyone. The Sahaabah were stunned, they did not know what to say when they saw all that mercy coming down, as Allah (swt) says:
وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ
My Mercy encompasses everything. (Al-A`raaf, 7:156)
When inaayatullah, Allah’s Care comes it washes away everything impure like an ocean. The Sahaabah (r) asked Prophet (s), “What is the reality of this, the wisdom?” The Prophet (s) said, “I am amazed like you are.” He ordered someone to bring that man’s daughter and he asked, “O my daughter, your father died, but what did he do in his life?” She said, “I know he did something that was not good, he was always out to rob people and attack them. Afterwards he came home every day, but there was one thing he used to do every year when Rajab came, he locked himself in a room and said, ‘This is the month of Allah, I heard from the Prophet (s), “Rajabun Shahrullah,” so I fear Allah (swt) and will lock myself in this room and read that du`a.’ He had a paper and on which there was a du`a that he read for the whole month. At the end of the month, he went back to his work and continue the same thing.”
The Prophet (s) asked, “Where is that du`a?” She said, “In a box in the house.” She gave the du`a that he used to recite to the Prophet (s). Allah forgave him for the barakah of that du`a. So we will recite that du`a after dhikrullah and inshaa-Allah it will take us just as if we read it for 45 days, because in khalwah you read it every day and after every prayer and:
إنما الأعمال بالنيات
Verily actions are by intentions.
So our intention is to make khalwah, yes, but some people might not be able to do it for various reasons, but Allah is Merciful. He multiplies all hasanaat by 10 up to 700. So one day of khalwah multiplied by 10 up to 700 inshaa-Allah becomes like a full seclusion. We are Naqshbandi through the chain from Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) up to Sayyidina Khalid al-Baghdadi and from him to the Prophet (s). Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) said, whenever we sit to do dhikr or prayer even for five minutes, we should say, “Nawaytu l-arba`een,” which means “we intend to do seclusion for forty days” and, therefore, inshaa-Allah Allah makes that five minutes stretch as if we are doing that prayer or dhikr for 40 days even in that one time by that intention and the rest, “Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah, nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta`ala fee hadha 'l-masjid,” all these different entities of worshiping will be dressed on us for the barakah of that intention and inshaa-Allah we recite that du`a after dhikr and ziyara of the holy Hair of the Prophet (s).
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati ‘l-habeeb bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
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