Jamia al-Karam Boarding School
December 2009 UK Tour
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`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.
Ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi ta`ala wa barakaatuh.
I would like to thank Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Iftar Hussayn for allowing me to stand up here, although I am not worthy of it. I am worthy of sitting among the shoes at the door, this is my place. Now women are sitting there, so they are showing good humbleness. If men were sitting there, it would be better because the ladies come first and then the men come second. But it’s not the way in Islam, because Allah honored ladies. Allah always wants them to hide their beauty in order to give it to their husbands, to the community and to the children.
I would like to say that, with a great honor I am reading there, huwa 'l-habeebulladhee turjaa shafa`tahu, li kulli hawlin mina 'l-ahwaali muqtahimi. It means, no one can take you except Sayyidina Muhammad (s), he is the one, Huwa 'l-habeeb. He is the lover of Allah that will take you to Allah (swt)! We have to put this in our hearts. And learn from examples, such as the one Shaykh Irfan Chisti just mentioned, that we are the West. We came to the West, and we are the west. Immediately an inspiration jumped in my heart. This is a big wisdom, I never thought about it. How are we the west? We are not the west, but he said we are. Why? This is a very notable point, I never thought about it in my life except now.
When Prophet (s), alfu salaatu wa 's-salaam, established his state in Madinah, he sent his Sahaaba (r) out; he didn’t keep them in Madinah, although they were so thirsty and hungry to always be with Prophet (s). But he said, "Go out; east, west, south, and north." And then what happened? They were first a minority, and became a majority. That was the wisdom why Prophet (s) did not want to stay in Madinah: he wanted Islam to flourish. He sent them out, as we have come out here. I visited one of his Sahaaba (r), Sayyidina Ibn `Abbas (r), who is buried in Samarkand in Central Asia, near the border of China. He brought all of Central Asia to Islam and he didn’t know one word of the language or the people there! What he spread is important, as he made a change.
Your presence, your duty, especially youth, is to make a change. Men and women, our duty is to make a change and show the beauty of Islam. And the beauty of Islam is not in explaining some ahadeeth only and doing the prayers. The beauty of Islam is Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! There is nothing else as a beauty in Islam other than Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! Everything else comes as dresses that Allah (swt) dressed him with. Allah revealed the Holy Quran to him because he was the Beauty, he was the Lover, Huwa 'l-habeeb. Habeeb (beloved) can get everything, but khaleel (friend) cannot get everything. You can say, “Muhammad is Habeebullah,” and you can say, “Allah Habeeb Muhammad.” You can say, “`Ibraheem Khaleelullah,” but you cannot say, “Allah Khaleel Ibraheem.” But because Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is Allah’s Habeeb, you can say, “Muhammad Habeebullah,” and you can say, “Allah habeebu Muhammad.”
So the beauty of Islam is the heart of Islam. Surah YaSeen is the heart of Holy Qur'an and YaSeen is Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Fatihah is the heart of Suratu ‘l-YaSeen. So Muslims, especially you, I’m not speaking about others, with this accomplished scholar Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussayn Pirzada, and with his shaykh, they built all these places for Ahlu 's-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah, so give them the honor of hoping to be like them in the future. They want you to be like them, although I am not. It is very difficult to be like them, but this is what they are looking for, and if you find that in yourself, try to stand up and spread the message and beauty of Islam, and the beauty of Islam is leadership! The love within you will create the leadership to stand up and teach and guide the ummah towards the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! If you are not going to be the leader, who is going to listen to you? Islam will give you leadership. Ahlu 's-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah will give you leadership.
Why are they killing Ahlu 's-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah everywhere? Where ever they have power. Look what’s happening in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, they took over everything. Who is running Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani’s (q) masjid and tomb today? The Wahabis! It’s not Ahlu 's-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah or the Qadri Movement anymore. The Wahabis and Salafis are running the masjid! If they were able, they would take the tomb out from the top.
O Youth! We are old and we cannot give too much, but you can. I will tell you one thing before I leave, keep this in your mind. Prophet (s) asked his Sahaaba (r) who were sitting with him like we are sitting now with the shaykh, “Who is the bankrupted one? Who is the poor one?” If I ask you this same question, you would say, “The one that has no wealth, no money.” Prophet (s) said, “No. That’s not true. Bankrupt is the one who has no `amal.” Do you have `amal? Do we have `amal? We don’t know. Prophet (s) is speaking to Muslims, he is speaking to his companions (r), asking them, “Who is the bankrupted one?” They said, “The one who has no money.” He said, “No, the one who has no `amal.” All of them are Sahaaba (r), so why does he have to say, “The one who has no `amal,” all of them have `amal, they fast and pray. They said, “Yaa Rasoolullah (s), even if you fast and pray?” He said, “Even if you fast and pray.” What does this mean? It means someone who prays five times daily and who might even be the imaam of the masjid, if he backbites his brothers or sisters, Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgment will take his hasanaat (good deeds) and give them to the one who he backbited and he will end up with nothing!
O Muslims! Try to not backbite each other, try to unite! You are Ahlu 's-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah, you are united. This big monster outside is going to beat us and although we are the majority, we are becoming the minority. We don’t have a voice—it’s you that will give a voice. Go and study in different specialties. Don’t focus on just one specialty. Study in different fields, scholarships, and faculties in order that you can help each other with different sciences and Islamic studies. Islamic studies require too much, they have too many different courses. Specialize in different fields, don’t specialize all in the same one. Don’t all of you choose to be lawyers; also become doctors, professionals, engineers, leaders and businessmen, in order to unite and keep reaching each other. If you don’t do it now, there will come a day when you will be lost.
Allah (swt) is preserving the deen. Don’t worry about Islam! We have to worry about Muslims, how far they will deviate? Try to be loyal to the shaykh who is running this school and opening his heart to all of you and giving his time to make sure that you are spending your time well.
May Allah (swt) forgive us and bless us. May Allah bless Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussayn Pirzada and may Allah bless you.
Was-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi ta`ala wa barakaatuh.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.