Zhuhr Suhbah (1)
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Atee`oollaha wa atee`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
We are in a time that is not the best time, it might be one of the worst times in history, but Allah’s Mercy is not far from us because He sent Sayyidina Muhammad (s) as mercy for humanity, as He said in Holy Qur'an:
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
(O Muhammad!) We have sent you not except as a Mercy for all the Worlds. (Surat al-Anbiyaa, 21:107)
“We sent you as mercy for humanity,” it means if He sent the Prophet (s) as a mercy it indicates the Prophet (s) has been given life through his Barzakh, through his Divine Life, through the Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa level he has been given a life that in every moment he is reaching us, the Ummah, because Allah said he is Rahmatanli ’l-`Alameen, and:
وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَـاةَ وَالَّذِينَ هُم بِآيَاتِنَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
My mercy embraces all things, therefore I shall ordain it for those who ward off (evil) and pay the poor due, and those who believe Our revelations. (Surat al-A`raaf, 7:156)
“My Mercy encompasses everything,” so it means everything has been reached by Allah’s Mercy which is Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! It means he is reaching everyone at any moment, when that person needs support the Prophet (s) is supporting him through his shafa`ah and our mashaykh say there is no higher maqaam than shafa`ah: Sayyidina Muhammad’s maqaam of shafa`ah is the highest maqaam a person can achieve, because he receives Allah's satisfaction. Shafa`ah means when Prophet (s) intercedes for someone that person will receive complete support from the Prophet (s):
All of them partake from the Prophet of God a handful of his oceans or a sip from his continuous rains.
(Shaykh Muhammad al-Busayri, Burdat ash-Shareef)
As everyone is taking from Prophet (s) whatever they can carry and with shafa`ah of Prophet (s) he is looking at and supporting each from Maqaam an-Nubuwwa, and Maqaam ar-Risala and through the maqaam of Khaatam ar-Rusul, the Last Messenger. Therefore, no one can understand what the Prophet (s) will give and that is why he said, “Sha`ban, the month we are in, is month of the Prophet (s),” it means the month of shafa`ah, as when 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)
“Sha`ban is the month of Prophet (s),” means Allah gave that month to Prophet (s) for his shafa`ah. Allah (swt) will reach His servant through levels that Prophet (s) did not reach. Allah (swt) from these levels that no one can reach but Allah, is reaching Ummat a- Nabi (s) to prepare them to be under shafa`at ar-Rasool. And Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur’an:
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nisaa, 4:64)
“When they are oppressors to themselves they come to you, yaa Muhammad,” means finished! Everyone is an oppressor to himself or herself; you cannot say, “We are not oppressors!” We are oppressing our soul, we are oppressing the light that Allah has made in our heart and Allah made us from that light of Creation, we are oppressing what Allah gave to us.
Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) prayed a prayer that he intended to be the most sincere prayer ever prayed by a servant, then when he completed the prayer Allah called to him, “Yaa zhaalim, O oppressor! You leaned on your right foot more than your left foot.” To that extent when Allah wants to judge He will judge very precisely. Allah said in Holy Qur’an and it is His Words, “Since they oppress themselves they need a way out.” What is the way out? It is shafa`ah an-Nabi (s), which is Allah’s Mercy that Allah dressed Prophet (s) with it to make Intercession for the Ummah! When Allah said, “Since they are oppressors to themselves,” and for sure we are oppressors to ourselves, “they come to you, jaa`ooka, yaa Muhammad,” Allah (swt) is saying to the Prophet (s), “Don’t close your doors, keep them open. Why? I gave you shafa`ah so they can repent.”
Why do you come to the Prophet (s)? To make istighfaar, to repent. Give them shafa`ah. So you have to begin by making istighfaar. You cannot say, “I don’t have to make istighfaar because Prophet (s) will make it on my behalf,” no you must make istighfaar in the presence of the Prophet (s) and then the Prophet (s) will make istighfaar on your behalf, and ask forgiveness for you.
La-wajadoo ’Llaaha tawwaaba ‘r-raheema, “They would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful,” at that moment that door is open and they will find Allah (swt) Tawaaban, Forgiving, Raheema, Merciful. So if you want the rahmah, mercy of the Prophet (s), make istighfaar in his presence! Don’t say, “He is not hadhir, present,” he is present at any moment or how else will those be through Holy Qur’an? Holy Qur’an are Allah’s Words are from beginning to end!
وإعلموا أن فيكم رسول الله
And know Allah's Messenger is in you. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:7)
You have to know that Prophet (s) is in you, among you and he can see you at any moment, but first you have to come to him and make istighfaar. Don’t be lazy! We are lazy when we do something wrong and don’t make istighfaar. I heard a qaree reciting that ayah and it really struck me when he recited wa law annahum... la-wajadoo ’Llaaha and he stopped there, and immediately Mawlana said one of the interpretations among Awliyaullah when they read that ayah and stop there, la-wajadoo ’Llaaha, “they find Allah.” La-wajadoo ’Llaaha means “make istighfaar in the presence of Prophet (s) and you will find Allah!” Sayyidina Aba Yazid al-Bistami (q) was running for that, to find Allah!
Tawaabu ’n-raheema, of course Allah will forgive, but you will find Him, and what do ‘you will find Him’ mean? If you reach that level you can know about Him, Ma`rifatullah. What Awliya are running after is Ma`rifatullah. Seeing Allah is impossible except in Akhirah, in Jannah, so they cannot say like Sayyidina Musa (a), “Let me see You!” But Ma`rifatullah, to know about Allah, is `Ilm al-Yaqeen, Knowledge of Certainty, of Reality, through hearing; `Ayn al-Yaqeen, through vision; Haqq al-Yaqeen, when you begin to hear and see you experience the Truth, which is Ma`rifatullah, to know about Allah. So when you are observing correctly what Allah (swt) has asked of you in Holy Qur’an, to come to ask forgiveness in the presence of the Prophet (s), that is enough to make you see the Reality of Ma`rifatullah and the only one who saw Ma`rifah in a complete way is Sayyidina Muhammad (s) in Israa’ and Mi`raaj.
Now for the Ummah, of course they follow their Prophet (s), and for them there is also Ascension according to their levels in Ma`rifatullah. Awraad is null without doing Shahaadah first and then istighfaar, otherwise you will you have no taste; therefore, the taste of awraad is to begin with Shahadah, to declare that there is no God other than Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger, and then to make istighfaar, which will take you to the presence of the Prophet (s). We are oppressors to ourselves!
“When they come to the Prophet (s) jaa’ooka f’astagfarallah, and ask forgiveness of Allah, then the Prophet (s) does his work: they ask forgiveness and the Prophet (s) makes forgiveness on their behalf and what will happen? La-wajadoo ’Llaaha. Did you read it like that before? No. There is no waqf/pause there, but the qaree stopped there, whether he understood it or not I don’t know, but zhuhooraat, new meanings came to my heart.
So if we say, “Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Rahmatan li ‘l-`Aalameen, we are coming to you asking forgiveness for our sins,” will he not hear it or see us? “I observe the `amal of my Ummah,” means “I observe everything, your deeds are shown to me!” And know Allah's Messenger is in you. (49:7) He knows everything about us better than we know ourselves. You go to doctors today to know about yourself. And must have insurance papers, hundreds of papers in order to see a doctor, and Allah is saying, “If you want to see Me, welcome! First make istighfaar in the presence of Prophet (s).” Say, “Astaghfirullah.” Today everyone,sick or not sick, is running to a doctor for a checkup. Why we don’t make a checkup for Akhirah, for the ego, the self? If you are perfect, alhamdulillah, teach us how to be perfect! Today they say, “We don't need to go to the doctor, we need to eat well, organic.” Okay, you found a way to clean yourself and know about yourself, but you are using an iPad and Whatsapp to check the organic food, so why are you checking that? If for dunya you want to check yourself and see the pros and cons, you are checking that, so why not check pros and cons of Akhirah? That is why Awliyaullah put in the Naqshbandi Order awraad, and it might be in other orders also, to say “astaghfirullah” 70 times after the Shahadah.
اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لاَ تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِن تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَن يَغْفِرَ اللّهُ لَهُمْ ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُواْ بِاللّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَاللّهُ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِي
Whether you pray [to Allah] that they be forgiven or you do not pray for them [it will all be the same, for even] if you were to pray seventy times that they be forgiven Allah will not forgive them seeing that they are bent on denying Allah and His Apostle, and Allah does not bestow His guidance upon the perversely rebellious! (Surat at-Tawbah, 9:80)
“If you make istighfaar for them or not, Allah is not going to forgive them because they disbelieved in Allah!” So Allah will not forgive them, they made kufr, shirk, partners with Allah this is not for mu’min, but for the believers is you make istighfaar Allah will forgive you. So when you say, “Yaa Rabb astaghfirullah wa atoobu ilayh,” you are repenting. What will Allah say? He will welcome you:
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, as Allah forgives all sins for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat az-Zumar, 39:53)
How to come to Him? By coming with the Prophet (s). You cannot come on your own, you need a guide and the Prophet (s) is waiting for his Ummah to repent, then he will repent on your behalf. So you want to find Allah (swt)?
فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ
Run to Allah (from all that is false and evil)! (Surat adh-Dhaariyaat, 51:50)
When He says, “La-wajadoo ’Llaaha, if they repent in front of the Prophet (s) and he will make istighfaar for them,” it means it opened a way for us to come to Prophet (s). How do they say, “You cannot go to Prophet (s)!” Allah is saying, “Go to the Prophet!” and what will you benefit from doing that? La-wajadoo ’Llaaha, then they would find Allah.” Did you read it like that before, yaa haafizh? [It’s a new opening.] Yes, it is a new opening! The Holy Qur’an is full of that, but we don’t go deep in it. It completely changes the understanding.
Ibn Mas`ood (r) narrated:
لا يَأْتِي عَلَيْكُمْ عَامٌ إِلا وَالَّذِي بَعْدَهُ شَرٌّ مِنْهُ , وَلا أَعْنِي عَامًا أَخْصَبَ مِنْ عَامٍ , وَلا أَمْطَرَ مِنْ عَامٍ , وَلَكِنْ ذَهَابُ خِيَارِكُمْ وَعُلَمَائِكُمْ , ثُمَّ يَحْدُثُ قَوْمٌ يَقِيسُونَ الأُمُورَ بِرَأْيِهِمْ , فَيُهْدَمُ الإِسْلامُ وَيُثْلَمُ
No year will come upon you except that it is worse than the one that came before it. However, I do not mean that a year will be more fertile than another or a prince better than another, but that your scholars, your good people and those of understanding, will go and a people will come who teach matters according to their opinions, then Islam will be destroyed and skinned.
(Tabarani, Sunan of Darami)
So there is a hint here about New Years, which they like to celebrate, but why are you celebrating it when Prophet (s) said, “It is going to be worse (in religion and worship) than the year before.” People will be more lost and doing more haraam and things that are not accepted! So he said laa yaatee `alaykum `aam illa wa huwa sharrun min maa qablahu. la `anee, not, not that “The crops will be worse than last year,” but we are speaking about religion, as mentioned in the Hadith of the Prophet (s):
اذا صلحت امتي فلها معيشة يوم واذا فسدت فلها نصف يوم
If the Ummah is righteous it will have the life of one day, and if it is corrupt then the life of half a day.
(Tafsir Ruh al-Bayaan)
وَإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
Verily a day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:47)
That adds to 1500 years and `alamaat as-sa`aa, Signs of the Last Days will come, so Ibn Mas`ood (r) said, “I don’t mean this year is better than the coming year for your crops or life, but you will lose sincere, pious people; they will leave dunya and we cannot be guided.” All of us need a guide and alhamdulillah Allah guided us to Mawlana Shaykh and then to Prophet (s) and from Prophet to Allah (swt). Then he said, “When sincere, pious people and `ulama go, a new group will come who will teach according to their limited personal opinion,” meaning everyone has an opinion and there will be no ijma`, consensus of opinion, which is important in religion, so people will make fatwas that benefit them and are not suitable for the Ummah, but they will try to apply it on the entire Ummah. That is what they are now doing, a group of people that came from nowhere, made a base in the Middle East, declared khilafah and made bloodshed for every Muslim!
The Hadith continues that in this way Islam will be demolished, wa yanthalim ay yansaliq, Islam will be skinned completely, it will not be Islam any more, but rather only opinions of people who issued fatwas from their limited minds, and there will be no one left but ruwaybida, the least respected, who may be respected in dunya but not in Akhirah because they are using Islam to sit on the chair and fulfill their own desires.
May Allah bless us and support us and give us the best day on this 14th Sha`baan 1437 Hijri. We will continue later.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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