...so he (Shaykh Gibril Haddad) reviewed that book and found some errors, corrections that needed making, he sent this to the publishers but the author didn’t like it, and he said, “These mistakes cannot be allowed through,” it was a question of Shari`ah. He is very strict in that, that is why Mawlana loves him. He wrote the famous book, that Mawlana likes Fadaa’il ash-Sham fee Akhira az-Zaman, The Excellence of Sham in the Last Days, it is available in Arabic and English, in America, he collected the hadith of Prophet (s), fifty to sixty hadith about the excellence of Sham, and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) loved it so much.
And then there are so many questions about the Noor of Prophet (s), the ummah accepts the hadith of Jaabir in Musannaf `Abdur-Razzaq, Volume 1. He is one of the most famous early scholars, and you can’t find this first volume because it is lost, but you can find reference to this hadith in other scholars’ books who have seen it in his book. It is very popular among Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, but the others don’t agree so there is always debate.
We were discussing this and he said, “I will write a book.” He compiled a 300-page book that we printed in the US, and it includes all the ahadith on the Noor of Prophet (s) and their explanations, so no one can reject it as he brought all the proofs. This cannot be done by any normal scholar! Anyone can give Jumu`ah khutbah like me, but he gave the explanation of that, the backbone hadith of Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah that we emphasise because it is our `aqeedah: First Allah (swt) created the Light of Prophet (s) and put it in Bahr al-Qudrah, where it is whirling. And from that Light He created the angels, the prophets, the awliya, the souls of people, and all Creation. It is the `aqeedah, the basis of our beliefs.
So Shaykh Gibril gathered the hadith and collected all the proofs. That is why I like to send him to travel if I cannot go myself, to represent Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) and myself. He has just returned from South Africa, at the invitation of those who deny that hadith and he was able to convince them that they were wrong!
Statistics give you a figure and prove to you if this is more likely to be “yes”, or more likely to be “no”, but you cannot play games when you analyse something important through statistics; this is what they teach. And it is one of the most difficult subjects in universities. Doctor, I ask you a question: can you use a machine that has not been under the strongest scrutiny to assess its effectivity? Must you use one that is most likely wrong, or one that is most likely right? For the patients’ sake, you must use one that is likely to be right or you will be sued! So every day when he goes to work, he has to say, “Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem ” and “Yaa Rabbee, yaa Allah! O Prophet! Help me do my work well!” He has to use the best possible machines or he will be in trouble. You differentiate between what is most likely the best, and even if it is only 51% to 49%, you must take the 51%. If you use the 49% machine you are taking more risks.
Now, do you think Allah (swt) did not give human beings logic enough for their brain to analyze statistically? Don’t you think that the intelligence of the brain gives an internal balance to differentiate between what is most likely right and most likely wrong? It must be as He is al-`Adil, The Just! He will not give you what is most likely bad, that is impossible! He will tell you, “This is most likely good and that is most likely bad, but it is your decision. I am giving you this opportunity to choose.” That’s why Allah (swt) said:
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
Fa alhamahaa fujoorahaa wa taqwaahaa.
He inspired the self of its good and its bad. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:8)
It means He gave you the statistics to know what the pros and cons are, what is positive and what is negative, then the brain adjusts itself. Allah does not need a teacher to tell a child not to throw itself in a fire as Allah gave the brain an (innate ability) to judge. Your body is immediately adjusted by the brain, you immediately have an instinctive awareness of what is around you. He gives you the opportunity to analyze what is best and the brain will tell you what is good, so you take the decision to be on the good way. So if you want to move in the right direction, the fact that you are here tells you that you are moving in the right direction. Your mind will tell you the statistics for coming here are good when Allah (swt) said, “He inspired the self to know its good and its bad.”
We didn’t say the meaning in English, what the different options of “He inspires the self to know what the individual goods things are and what all the bad ones are,” one by one, in those two words in the Holy Qur’an! Allah (swt) mentioned it and therefore it is finished! When He says a Divine Word we have to say, “Yes! Sami`na wa a`tanaa, We listen and we obey.” He stated the wrongs one-by-one in your heart and He showed you all the bad, one-by-one in your heart, and He took from you a contract that you signed, saying that you are going to follow the procedures of what is good and that you are going to drop all of the bad. You signed that in the Divine Presence on the Day of Promises, when Allah (swt) said:
أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُواْ بَلَى
Alastu bi-rabbikkum qaaloo balaa,
"Am I not your Lord (who cherishes and sustains you)?"- They said: "Yea! We do testify!"
(Surat al-`Araaf, 7:172)
The words of the Holy Qur’an are “ghayru makhlooq,” Divine Words, not created. Allah gave everything that Prophet (s) explained of Shari`ah in these two words. On the Day of Judgment you cannot say, “You didn’t tell us!” Today they embed information in technology that no one can read, encoded, encrypted information, and in these two Divine Words of the Holy Qur’an everyones’ information is embedded! From all of those who came to Earth, Allah (swt) gave each individual their own understanding in their heart of what is good and bad, and it is different from your soul to someone else’s soul. Everyone received from that divine verse, Fa alhamahaa fujoorahaa wa taqwaahaa and each person has a different meaning embedded in their hearts. Sometimes you might think to yourself, “This is a good thing,” but someone else may think something else is better. One prefers to drink cold water and the other prefers warm water. So also, what Allah put in these two words applies specifically and uniquely to each person.
That is why `ulama understand the literal meaning of the ayah and say, “You are being inspired. Allah told you what is good and bad.” awliyaa go even deeper and I ask you (Shaykh Gibril Haddad), did you read this anywhere else? (No.) No, because Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) just now opened this knowledge! I never heard before that “what is good for them and what is bad” is embedded for each person! Not only that, but each person’s DNA is (contained) in that ayah! Allah cannot be zhaalim, haashaa, impossible! Allah is The Judge and He will say, “I gave each of you what is good for you and what is bad for you.” He gave each of us what is good and bad, and it is different for each of us!
So when people go back to this verse, how can you know this? You have to lift the veil (of your understanding) with dhikrullah and salloo `alaa ‘n-Nabiyy (s). You have to be able to see, and how can you see if Allah doesn’t open your eyes? There is a hadith, and you must always support what you say with hadith or they might reject it, and they won’t accept you merely saying, “My shaykh said it.” No, you must have footnotes in the book, especially when you speak about Islam and Shari`ah, so you must be very careful.
Allah (swt) said in Hadith Qudsi:
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee.
I sit with him who remembers Me. (Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
“I sit with him who remembers Me, on whose tongue always is My Name,” which means “Laa ilaaha ila-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah,” “Allah, Allah” or any of His Ninety-nine Beautiful Names and Attributes; we can call on Him with any of them. “Anaa jaleesu,” is not to be taken literally to mean “sitting,” but rather “companionship.” Like when we recite:
بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ
Bal Yadaahu mabsutatan
Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched (Surat al-Ma’idah, 5:24)
This is not to say that He has physical hands. So “Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee” is a symbolic way to mention something so important that it says, “I am sitting with the one who remembers Me,” or, “I will be in the company of the one who remembers Me.” So think, when Allah (swt) says, “I am with the one beside Me,” if you have Him beside you, will you still be ignorant or will He open knowledge for you? There is a saying, “If you go to the perfumery you will leave smelling nice, and if you go to the blacksmith’s you will leave with burnt clothes!” So go to the perfumery to get a good smell and leave with good smell. When He says, “I am with the company of the one who remembers Me,” will you not get a beautiful smell from Him?
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah (r) in a Hadith Qudsi (Holy Narration) Allah (swt) said:
يقول الله عز وجل:أنا عند ظن عبدي بي ،وأنا معه إذا ذكرني فإن ذكرني في نفسه ذكرته في نفسي، ومن ذكرني في ملأ ذكرته في ملأ خير منه، ومن تقرب إلي شبراً تقربت منه ذراعاً، ومن تقرب مني ذراعاً تقربت منه باعاً، ومن أتاني يمشي أتيته هرولة
Anaa `inda zhanna `abdee bee wa anaa ma`ahu idhaa dhakaranee, fa in dhakaranee fee nafsihi dhakartahu fee nafsee wa man dhakaranee fee malaa’in dhakartahu fee malaa’in khayran minhu wa man taqarrab ilayya shibran taqarrabtu minhu dhiraa`an wa man taqarrab minnee dhiraa`an taqarrabtu minhu baa`an wa man ataanee yamshee aataytahu harwalah.
I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he mentions Me. If he mentions Me to himself, I mention him to Myself, and if he mentions Me in an assembly, I mention him in an assembly better than it, and if he draws near to Me a hand’s span, I draw near to him an arm’s length, and if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length, and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running! (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi and an-Nasaa’i)
When He comes to you running, what happens? This means He will dress you in whatever you ask Him! If you return from a long journey to someone very close to you and they come to meet you at the airport, will they not kiss you to express their happiness? Likewise, when Allah (swt) is running to you, do you think He will leave you empty-handed? No! He will give us from His Generosity! And what is the best to give? Taqwaa, as He inspires us to know what is good for us, and He will open that door for you. That is why awliyaa don’t drop dhikr from their associations and when doors are open, everyone is welcome.
Let us say, for example, that everyone here is very pious and inshaa-Allah Allah will let everyone go to Paradise with no account. Then someone comes to speak to someone or to get their car keys and sits for a few minutes waiting. Allah says in a Holy Hadith, “Even the one who comes to sit with them for five minutes, will be with them!” That means Allah will open ‘Anaa jaleesu’ on him too, because he came and sat in that association on which Allah is sending His Rahmah! His Rahmah excludes none; Allah does not separate His Rahmah from those who deserve and those who don’t. Whoever sits with them will receive!
So now we need to take that veil away to open the door. How do we become, ‘Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee?’ It is very difficult to remove the veil, which is why you don’t see many awliyaaullaah. There are 124,000 awliya; when one passes away another replaces him, as the seats always have to be filled. awliyaaullaah try their best to take that veil away, which is why you need a guide who will guide you through this difficult process. However, there are those to whom Allah (swt) gives by His Grant without question, whether young or old.
Mashaa-Allah, in Malaysia it is warm so people there wear shirts, but in a country with a colder climate people wear sweaters. Everyone dresses differently. Do you wear sweaters here? No, you wear cotton shirts, and in the cold weather you cannot wear cotton, you have to wear wool. So both are alright as they suit their conditions: for the equatorial, cotton, for the north, sweaters. The shaykh knows who wears the cotton and who wears the wool, and therefore, he appoints the right one who will take you to your situation, whether it is cotton, wool, a mix of both or even a coat. All are correct, but each way is different with the same goal in the end and that makes people confused about who they have to be with.
Prophet (s) gave guidance on how to follow guidance and reach the Shore of Safety through different ways. Now veils are covering us and are different for each group. Prophet (s) made it easy for each group, whether those of the cotton way, the woollen way, the sweater way, or the the coat way. Their veils are different and Prophet (s) made it easy for each and gave them awliya, about whom Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Alaa inna awliyaaullaahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.
Behold! Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Surah Yunus, 10:62)
He could have said this about `ulama, but He didn’t; rather, he said:
وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلاَّ اللّهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ رَبِّنَا
Wa maa ya`lamu taaweelahu ill ’Llah wa’r-raasikhoon fi ’l-`ilmi yaqooloon aamana bihi. kullun min `inda rabbinaa.
No one knows the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an except Allah (swt). And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:
(Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:7)
He mentioned, “There are `ulama ar-raasikoon,” the very sincere pious scholars who are humble and say, “We believe in what Prophet (s) gave!” So Allah differentiated between awliyaa and `ulama. He didn’t say, Alaa inna `ulamaa-ullaahi laa kawfan alayhim wa laa yahzanoon, “`Ulama must not feel sad or afraid,” but He said “awliyaaullaahi,” which is enough for awliyaa that Allah mentioned them in Holy Qur’an, they are happy! Their names are not mentioned, but they were embedded in that ayah, as soon as He said, “Alaa inna awliyaaullaah.” “`Alaa inna,” is two confirmations: “Alaa,” is ta’qeed (confirmation), and “inna” is also ta’qeed, emphasizing confirmation, so it is, “Yes, yes! For sure awliyaa have nothing to fear!” And as soon as Allah mentioned ‘awliyaaullaahi,’ every wali coming to dunya came under that word. They have nothing to fear or any reason to be sad, because Prophet (s) reaches them quickly as they are going to his way in this life. This is another fresh explanation opened just now by Mawlana Shaykh!
I told Gibril about a book, Talkhees al-Ma`arif by Muhammad `Aarif, who is a Naqshbandi, and he compiled all the salawaat of Prophet (s) from different awliyaa and every salawaat he gave to every wali is different from the other wali. They memorize it when they wake up after seeing Prophet (s) in a dream or vision, by dream or hearing, as Prophet (s) said of Allah (swt):
عن أبي هريرة قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إن الله قال من عادى لي وليا فقد آذنته بالحرب وما تقرب إلي عبدي بشيء أحب إلي مما افترضت عليه وما 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 وإن سألني لأعطينه ولئن استعاذني لأعيذنه وما ترددت عن شيء أنا فاعله ترددي عن نفس المؤمن يكره الموت وأنا أكره مساءته
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،
Man `ada lee waliyan aadhantahu bi ’l-harb wa maa taqarraba ilayya `abdee bi-shayyin ahabba ilayya mimmaa aftaradtu `alayhi wa maa yazaalu `abdee yataqarabu ilayya bi’ n-nawaafil hatta uhibbah. Fa idhaa ahbaabtahu kuntu sama`uhulladhee yasma`u bihi wa basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, wa yadahulladhee yabtishu bihaa wa rijlahullatee yamshee bihaa.
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)
Allah (swt) will give awliyaa that honor and make shifaa’ through their hands, and they will guide the people to Siraat al-Mustaqeem. So every wali is given something by Allah. I was telling Gibril and people in America that everything must have its source and origin; you have your parents and she has hers. Similarly, in Islam and spirituality everything has to go back to the origin. Without explaining too much about how they do things, first I say that awliyaa don’t like to throw words in the air just to satisfy their ego, as they have no ego; they try their best to drop their ego. Also, you don’t throw jewels in the hands of children. But some people like to throw candies rather than jewels, and they use words that are above the hearts and minds of the people listening to them. They use great words that humiliate their listeners because they don’t understand what is being said. This is what lecturers and professors do in order to fascinate people, but their words have origin (based in Truth).
Everything must have an origin. Alaa inna awliyaaullaahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon. The awliyaaullaah are under that one word and all awliyaa are strong to each other and to Prophet (s), and there is no fear and no sadness because that veil is taken away. We want that veil to be taken away, so we go back to the wali and ask, “How to do it?” We have to go back and ask them, we must go through a procedure until they give it to you ready to use, and it is easier that way but takes time.
So I was wondering for 45 years, where is the reference of what Grandshaykh (q) said, “If you recite this salawaat it is as if you recited without end from the beginning to the end of world,” and all of you recite it when we read, “`Alaa ashrafi ’l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin as-salawaat” until the end, in our awraad. This always came to me, what is the source for this? Since we need to convince people, and I was reading in that book and I found the origin that it was mentioned by Sayyidina `Ali (r), it is his salawaat.
Sayyidina `Ali (r) relates that Prophet (s) said, “If you recite that once in your whole life, or everyday as much as you like, or only once, it is as if all of the Creation’s salawaat from the beginning to the end of Creation, if everything continuously made salawaat, if you added all together whatever salawaat they do, one that you mentioned in this way is equal to all of that!”
What a big honor that Prophet (s) has given to the ummah and I was so surprised and happy that this came from Sayyidina `Ali (r)! So Shaykh Sharafuddin (q) took it from Sayyidina `Ali (r) and added it to our awraad along with these three sentences:
`Alaa ashrafi ‘l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat.
`Alaa afdali ‘l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat.
`Alaa akmali’ l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat.
And then the rest:
Salawaatullaahi ta`alaa wa malaa’ikatihi wa anbiyaaihi wa rusoolihi wa jami`ee khalqihi `alaa Muhammad wa `alaa aali Muhammad `alayhi wa `alayhimu ‘s-salaam wa rahmatullaahi ta`alaa wa barakatuh.
Wa radi-Allahu tabaraka wa ta`alaa `an-saadaatinaa as-haabi rasoolillaahi ajma`een. Wa `ani ‘t-taabi`eena bihim bi-ihsaanin, wa `ani ‘l-a’immati ’l-mujtahedeen al-maadeen, wa `ani ‘l-`ulamaai ’l-muttaqeen, wa `ani ‘l-awliyaai ‘s-saaliheen, wa `an mashayikhinaa fi ‘t-tareeqatin naqshibandiyyati ‘l-`aliyyah, qaddas Allaahu ta`ala arwaahahumu ’z-zakiyya, wa nawwarr Allaahu ta`alaa adrihatamu ’l-mubaaraka, wa `adallaahu ta`alaa `alaynaa min barakaatihim wa fuyoodatihim daa’iman wa ‘l-hamdulillaahi rabbi ‘l-`alameen.
If you recite it, you will be rewarded all the salawaat of all Creation endlessly from beginning to end!
There was a wali who was so much in love with Prophet (s), so what is best to read among all books on Prophet? All over the world they read every day one chapter of Dalaa`il al-Khayraat. Muhammad Talmaysani (q) had completed reading the entire Dalaa`il al-Khayraat a hundred thousand times at a late age, and he was so happy and he donated them as a gift to Prophet (s) and awliya, Sahaabah (r), and his parents, and he slept and saw Prophet (s) in a dream, saying, “Yaa Muhammad Talmaysani! You read Dalaa`il al-Khayraat 100,000 times, but if you read this it will be as if you read it 800,000 times.” This is a famous `alim, wali, and no one can lie when it comes to seeing the Prophet (s). So that salawaat, after reading it nine times you can dive deeper and deeper into that ocean. It is:
Salaat al-Faatih, The Salaat that Conquers
اللهم صل على سيدنا محمد الفاتح لما أغلق و الخاتم لما سبق ناصر الحق بالحق و الهادي إلى صراطك المستقيم و على آله حق قدره و مقداره العظيم
Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin ‘il-faatihi limaa ughliqa wa 'l-khaatimi limaa sabaqa wa 'n-naasiri 'l-haqqi bi 'l-haqqi wa 'l-haadi ilaa siraatika 'l-mustaqeema sall 'Llahu `alayhi wa `alaa aalihi wa-ashaabihi haqqa qadrihi wa miqdaarihi 'l-`azheem.
O Allah! Bless our Master Muhammad (s), who opened what was closed and who is the Seal of what went before, he who makes the Truth victorious by the Truth, the guide to Thy Straight Path, and bless his household as is the due of his immense position and grandeur.
We just recited it and it is as if you read Dalaa`il al-Khayraat 800,000 times! So what does it say at the beginning? Allahumma salli, “Yaa Rabbee make salawaat on Prophet (s)!” Al-faatihi limaa ughliq, this line generally means that anything that is veiled from you Prophet (s) will open, and you know many issues are veiled as we have a thick veil on our eyes. “Al-Faatih” means, “The Opener of what Is Hidden,” anything that is hidden and veiled to you will be opened for you to reach your amanaat, your Trust. This is why they open your heart, because you left your bad `amal behind.
We go back to how we described it at the beginning: following that which is most likely bad or following what is most likely good, that salawaat is the opener of what is locked of the most likely good. It will open for you what is hidden from you, enabling you to reach Maqaam al-Awliyaa. Prophet (s) gave it to Muhammad al-Talmaysani (q) on a gold plate ready for the ummah to recite! So if you read it once, that is 800,000 Dalaa`il al-Khayraat, or multiply by two or three, or if you read it once a week, multiply 800,000 by 52 times (for a year of reading)!
May Allah (swt) take these veils from us! It is what the ummah most needs to make them awliyaaullaah , to take the veils away from them without hardship. Without hardship Prophet (s) has given you the salawaat of Sayyidina `Ali (r) and Salawaat al-Faatih to recite everyday. If you want to increase, you may. We will talk about the other salawaats later.
Inshaa-Allah, may Allah (swt) make your life Jannah and take the bad away, and cover the bad, veiling our sins, and take the veils from our eyes for the good things, and to keep Prophet (s) with us, to keep us in with friendship Prophet (s) and in good understanding with everyone, and to keep Prophet (s) silaatu ’l-rahim! It is very important in Islam, the relatives have rights on you and family ties are very important. Prophet (s) ordered that people not to be away from each other, especially those who are related should be together. May Allah build our relations in the best manner and keep Prophet (s) with us in the best way, and bring our hearts together, and enable us to look at all from the pesrpective of the Shaykh, because he looks at everyone as equal, as Prophet (s) said:
االناس سواسيه كااسنان المشط
An-naasu sawaasiyatan ka-asnaani' l-masht.
People are equal like the teeth of a comb.
And the best one to say that is Prophet (s), and from the secret the Prophet (s) gives to every wali, they look at us from the same perspective: that Prophet (s) wants us all to be happy, healthy, to be educated, not to be ignorant. Prophet (s) sent Sahaabah to teach the people. You can’t be ignorant and say to people, “Don’t study!” Some people talk about Grandshaykh (q), who said, “Don’t study,” and yes, he did say that, but he meant, “Don’t get yourself into studying something that disturbs your mind!” He did not mean “Don’t study Islam and Shari`ah.” Everyone has to know Islam and Shari`ah. And there is nothing above what Prophet (s) said, which is munzal, all revealed to Prophet (s). He (s) never said to anyone, “Don’t learn, don’t study!” Rather, he said:
اطلب العلم و لو في الصين
Utlubi ‘l-‘ilma wa law fi ‘s-Sin.
Seek knowledge even in China. (Bayhaqi)
It means struggle to learn more, even if you have to walk to China, you must go there to learn. So anyone who says, “There is no need for study, just do dhikr every day,” no, you have to study and work. Not everyone was given the talent to speak and address people, and most people must study to be able to answer people. I have seen around the world other shaykhs’ students, not Mawlana’s, but many students of other shuyookh who have been ordered by their shaykhs to study Shari`ah, at least on Saturday and Sunday (when they are free from work or classes) to study what you cannot study alone. You cannot say, “I can study hadith on my own!” You must meet with people who have scholars and educated people among them, who have the education system that teaches this.
I am sorry to say that most of Mawlana’s mureeds are uneducated in Islamic knowledge and they don’t know basic Islamic Shari`ah, they don’t spend time studying this. They have programs in Egypt for a year or two and all those are followers of different shuyookhs. I saw hardly any of Mawlana’s mureeds going to study! Mainly it doesn’t click in their minds, I don’t know why. Okay, as long as they do their prayers and dhikr and zakaat. but if you want to be nicely decorated and dress nicely then give from your life to learn Islamic Shari`ah and hadith.
I know Ahmed Tayyib, Shaykh ul-Azhar; we have a good relationship with them, and he told me personally, “We have a special two-month post-graduate crash course and at least they can speak to people on topics about which they are ignorant.”
I asked him, “What about their finances?”
He said, “It is their responsibility to pay for it; it’s on them.”
I said, “No, it’s on you!”
He said, “Okay, there are ten free places. If they want a four-year course, I will take ten students with a full scholarship.”
But we don’t see anyone coming and saying they want to study! There is no motivation, there is no one coming! In Indonesia there is plenty of motivation, but in other countries there is no one, especially around Mawlana Shaykh. Now there are different answers for that, there are other explanations, that Mawlana is Sultan al-Awliyaa and he can address on a different level to anyone else. Okay, we accept that, but a question is, why don’t they study when people send their children to study secular sciences? For example, for their future, what about Akhirah? Does Allah want you to come to Him ignorant or educated? Why don’t we study for Akhirah? Is it better to study for dunya or Akhirah? I know everyone in this room is fine, but I am addressing others, especially to Mawlana’s mureeds. We have to learn and study, and no one is even taking notes except one person. What is your name? (Maria.) Maria, only one person! In university everyone takes notes as they give you a test. What about Akhirah, is there no test?
May Allah forgive us and may Allah bless you and everyone! Thank you for inviting us (host), you are always generous. Fatihah. Now go and eat!
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