`Asr / Private Residence
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
Kalimataan khafeefataan `ala al-lisaan thaqeelataan fi ’l-meezan subhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi subhaanAllahi 'l-`Azheem istaghfirullah.
As I said before, after we prayed Salaat al-Haajah, when I was in sajdah, Mawlana inspired me because when I went into sajdah, I made a small du`a and I smelled a nice fragrance of flowers. When you smell something nice you want to keep near it, you don’t want to be away from it. Is it correct? That’s why they say, “Go and take a shower.” Showering is sunnah, not for you to smell nice; they don’t care if you smell nice or not, but they want people not to run away from you because of the smell that comes from your sweat.
Similarly, you always want to have a nice smell so that when you are praying, angels don’t run away from you when they are ascending with your prayers to the Divine Presence. Every prayer ascends to the Divine Presence with angels, so if we smell bad they don’t approach. A nice smell is good, and as long as you smell nice or the place where you are smells nice, you don’t want to go out from it. Also in spiritual, tariqah life, you need to smell nice so that you will always be in the presence of awliyaaullah. Why do awliyaaullah differ from us? Because the smell that comes out of their dhikr is so important and lovely to angels that they want to be around that.
Prophet (s) mentioned in a hadith:
ما جلس قوم يذكرون الله ، إلا حفتهم الملائكة ، وغشيتهم الرحمة ، ونزلت عليهم السكينة ، وذكرهم الله فيمن عنده
maa jalasa qawman yadhkuroona Allah illa hafathum al-malaaikata wa ghashiyyatahumu ’r-rahma wa nazalat `alayhim as-sakeenata wa dhakarahumullahu feeman `indah
If a group of people are sitting doing dhikr, the smell of that dhikrullah will attract angels,” because the hadith says, “As long as they sit for dhikr, angels encompass them.” But why do they encompass them? Because of the beauty of the smell that emits from them.
Now choose: do you want a nice smell so angels come to be with you, or do you want a smell that is not good, that makes angels run away and Shaytan replaces them? Of course, when it is a meeting that is not angelic it is a shaytanic meeting. So it is a choice: do you want this or do you want that? Do you want a shaytanic meeting or a rahmaani meeting? A rahmaani meeting attracts angels to you, then Allah orders them to make dhikr until the Day of Judgment and that it be written for you.
If it is a shaytanic meeting, Allah will order angels not to write any of the sins you are doing until 24 hours pass, because you might repent during that time. See how big the mercy of Allah is? However, if you don’t repent within the 24 hours, you are wasting your time with a dirty smell which everyone will run away from.
So all of us are emitting a spray of smell that comes from our bodies that goes into the air, and whoever has the “power of smell” can smell it. That’s why in tasawwuf they say, “Don’t sit near the shaykh when you are not clean.” Here, what is the meaning of “clean”? It means when you do not have wudu, a shower, or when you have bad thoughts, as you will be affected because you are emitting this bad smell and he will not be happy with that and you will not see any benefit from that meeting.
Always when you are sitting with your shaykh, or praying or doing dhikrullah, make sure you try as much as possible to stop the gossips coming to your heart and do not think too much about dunya as Allah wants us to think about the creation of this world.
Al-ladhina yadhkuroon Allaha qiyaaman wa qu`oodaan wa `ala junoobihim wa yatafakkaroona fi khalqi ‘s-samawati wa ‘l-ard. Rabbana ma khalaqta hadha baatilan subhaanaka faqina `adhaab an-Nar.
Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) Creation in the Heavens and the Earth, (with the thought), "Our Lord! Not for naught have You created (all) this! Glory to You! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.” (Ali-`Imran, 3:191)
Those who remember the creation of Earth and Heaven are winning, as Prophet (s) said:
تفكر ساعة خير من عبادة سبعين سنة
Tafakkur sa`atin khayrun min `ibaadati saba`een sannah.
Contemplation for one hour is better than 70 years of supererogatory worship. (Nuzhat al-Majalis)
To think and reflect on yourself, your family and children, on your life and your akhirah for one hour is rewarded more than worship of seventy years. That is an authentic hadith.
So keep the good smell, which means keep good inspirations that come to your heart, and don’t follow the bad gossips that come from Shaytan. What is the benefit of running after Shaytan? We are going to leave dunya and we will be responsible.
Just now when I was in sajdah and smelling that nice smell, I wanted to remain in sajdah longer because it was nice. So imagine then, what will be the smell you will be in when you are praying, because our prayer is in bayna yadayhi ar-Rahmaan, “Between the hands of Allah (swt).” When we say, “Allahu Akbar,” we are there, whether we see or not. So either you can be there (with a good smell) or it will not open for you if you are dirty. So when we say, “Allahu Akbar,” make sure that you are completely clean. That’s why according to the Imam Shafi`i school of thought they take a long time before saying “Allahu Akbar,” because they want to remain longer between the hands of Allah or in the Divine Presence, in a very right way with no distracting thoughts.
When you enter and say, “Allahu Akbar,” you want all your body, all your thoughts, heart, and mind, completely focusing on the Divine Presence! You can see that in the school of Imam Shafi`i and there are many here in Malaysia that are the same. In the Abu Hanifa school of thought they don’t bother too much, which is okay because they want to make things easy for you, but Imam Shafi`i insists that you have to be very careful when you are entering the prayer.
انما الاعمال بالنيات وانما لكل امرء ما نوا
Innama al-`amaalu bi ’n-niyyaat wa inama li-kulli 'mrin maa nawaa.
Every action is by intention and truly to every man is what he intended. (Bukhari and Muslim)
It is easy, according to your intention. So what do you think then when a wali is in sajdah and the perfume of that sajdah comes, the perfume from the Divine Presence; do you think he will come out from sajdah? No, he remains in sajdah! That’s why in Tahajjud, during Salaat un-Najjat, they like to prolong it. We used to make that prayer in jama`ah here, but we began to hear snoring from behind. (Laughter) People were sleeping in sajdah, which is good also because then there is no gossip coming on their hearts at that time as they are sleeping. It is good that they don’t fall over! (Laughter) Do you know why don’t they fall? Because there is someone on the left side and the right side holding them. (Laughter) We say, “Allahu Akbar,” and stand up and they are still snoring in the sajdah. Hikmah, it is all for wisdom, because they are in that Presence and they don’t want them to be out of that Presence.
Where I live in America there is a masjid and one of the mureeds came and told me they were praying Taraweeh in Ramadan and when they went into sajdah, `Abdul Qadir’s father never got up. The imaam got up, and in the second raka`at, the father didn’t get up. They left him, said “salaam,” and the father was still in sajdah. They looked and he was dead, he passed away during Taraweeh in sajdah and went directly to the Divine Presence, nothing else!
The sajdah of awliyaullah is in the Divine Presence, so they want to prolong it as much as they can because of that nice smell that is coming. Depending on the level of the wali, it can be a smell, it can also be talking, speaking, getting an answer, or seeing. So that came, and Mawlana said immediately to me,”Put that nice smell of perfumes of that prayer and the perfume of good people here around Abdul Jalil, because it will keep the barakah of that du`a,” inshaa-Allah as a safety for him and for everyone else. We ask Allah (swt) to always keep us in safety! You don’t know, but when awliyaaullah do something small, Allah gives something big.
Mawlana Shaykh always tells this story. There was a king who always went to hunt in the desert. One day they went hunting and the guide in the desert lost the way and he didn’t know the way to come back. So the king and his soldiers -- and he was the king of many Arab countries at that time -- didn’t know how to go. Night fell, and they slept in the desert but they didn’t have anything. The next day they didn’t find anything; they became very thirsty but didn’t find any water. Finally, far away in the desert they found a small tent and asked each other, “Is this a tent or a mirage?” They said, “No, it is a tent.” So they sent one person to check and he found a tent with an old lady sitting there making dhikrullah. There was nothing in the empty desert, so how was one lady sitting there?
The king went with people and they said, “Can you offer us some water?” They saw a big barrel made of clay filled with water. The clay makes the water very fresh and you feel it in your mouth, like when we used to go for `umrah or Hajj in the 1960s, not like today; then we got water on donkeys carrying it to where we were living, as there was nothing.
In any case, she said, “What will he give me if I give him water?”
In this dunya, if you take you also have to give. If you don’t give then don’t ask, as you are not eligible for anything. Only with people who are generous can you can take without giving.
So she said, “What will he give me?”
The king said, “I will give you money.”
She said, “I don’t need your money, I’m in the desert. I don’t want it. I want the most precious thing you have. Give me that and I will give you water.”
He said, “Okay, the most precious thing I have is my horse.”
She said, “What am I going to do with a horse? I am not in need of it.”
He said, “You can come and go with it.”
She said, “You go with it, use it and get out of this misery, this problem.”
He looked at her as a king and found himself as nothing in front of that lady.
Then she said, “Look, you are a king in your kingdom, but here in the tent I am the queen and you must listen to what I say as you have no kingdom here, this is my kingdom!”
He was shaking, because no one can say something like that to a king. He began to think that this lady is something different.
She said, “Look, this water that you are looking at, I know you will give all your life to get it or else you are going to be dead in this desert, so what is your kingdom going to benefit you?”
So he said, “Okay, what do you want from me?“
“I want all of your kingdom and don’t leave anything out! Give me everything and I will save you from death.”
What is his answer going to be? Even a child will know the answer!
He said, “Give me the water and I will give you all my kingdom!”
She replied, “Swear to Allah that you will give me your entire kingdom for that water.”
He said, “I promise you in front of Allah (swt) that I give you my entire kingdom, for I am not a king, so give me that water so I can live!”
Allah gave life to human beings as an amaanat, trust, which is very precious, so you have to save it. Don’t give excuses to your self; follow the system and keep that amaanat that Allah gave to you intact.
She said, “Are you accepting to give me everything?”
He said, “Yes.”
She said, “Okay, this is a cup of water to save your life.”
He took the water and said, “Alhamdulillahi Rabbi ‘l-`Alameen.”
She said, “Your king sold his kingdom for one cup of water!”
“Your dunya isn’t worth the wing of a mosquito,” as Prophet (s) said. Your health, your trust that Allah gave you, is what you need to keep intact. So what do you have to do? Prophet (s) said, and I am repeating it a hundred times, everyone must hear it:
الصدقة ترد البلا و تزيد العمر
As-sadaqata tarud al-balaa wa tazeedu ’l-`umr.
Charity extends life and removes afflictions.
Sadaqah on your behalf, when you give in Allah’s Way, Allah stretches your life and cures you from sickness. Give sadaqah fee sabeelillah, for Allah’s Sake, don’t let your hand tremble (in doubt), but give what you can.
This house is empty; there is no furniture here but still we can use it, so don’t think it is gone. Allah made you to take out the furniture, as an example, to make all these good people come to have lunch, to take burdens from you and honor this house. So give in Allah’s Way for your health. You spend millions on doctors and hospitals, but you don’t spend sadaqah on your health.
Prophet (s) is as-Sadiq al-Amin, “the Truthful and Trustworthy One.”
وَالنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَى مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَى وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَى
Wan najmi idha hawaa ma dalla saahibukum wa maa ghawaa. Wa man yantiqu `ani 'l-hawaa in huwa illa wahyun yoohaa.
By the star when it goes down, your companion is neither astray nor being misled. Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him. (Surat an-Najm, 53:1-4)
He (s) said, “Give, and Allah will give you more and give you health.” May Allah (swt) give health and cure to the owner of this house, to their friends, to Shaykh Abdul Jalil and his wife, to my wife and to me, and to everyone, and give Mawlana Shaykh long life, and all of you long life in the way of Allah (swt) and in the love of Prophet (s)!
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
Allahuma innee ballaght, Allahuma fashhad. “O Allah! Bear witness, I have conveyed the message.” I conveyed the message. If you want to hear, if you want to accept, it is up to you. If you don’t want to accept, don’t come later and say, “O! I have this and that problem.” Whatever is needed has been given, and it is now your responsibility to execute the advice.
May Allah forgive us.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.