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The Power of Obey Allah, Obey the Prophet and Those in Authority

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

5 December 2009 Burton, Michigan

Suhbah followed by Hadrah

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)

Grandshaykh, may Allah (swt) bless his soul, said that in this verse there are very important matters that we need to look at and understand. We say, “Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority.” In that verse of Holy Qur’an, Allah (swt) will give us the happiness of this life and aakhirah. Awliyaaullah say that when you read that verse, one time or two times or a 100 times a day, every time you read it you will get the benefit of happiness in dunya and in akhirah. That is from the du’a found in the Holy Qur’an:

رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

Rabbana aatina fi 'd-dunya hasanatan wa fi 'l-aakhiraati hasanatan wa qina `adhaaban-naar.

Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the chastisement of the fire. (2:201)

The secret of that verse cannot be described. What we can describe is that it gives sa`adah fi 'd-daarayn, happiness in both worlds. It will give us the happiness as asked in that du`a. “O Allah, give us a favor in dunya and in akhirah.” It means, allow us to be happy in dunya and akhirah. `ulama and many people have said that verse means, “O Allah give us something to be happy with in dunya and akhirah.”

So what is the best thing a human being can be happy with in dunya and aakhirah? Dr. Hisham? (“To be with the Prophet (s) is the best favor.”) Allahu akbar. Yes, you learned the lesson well, doctor. So the best hasanat to be given in dunya from Allah (swt) as a favor is to be with Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands.) He is our happiness in dunya and in akhira, he is the hasanat and he is the favor that Allah (swt) will give to those who mention and recite that aayat, “O Allah! Give us good in dunya and aakhirah.” What is the best goodness in dunya and akhirah? It is to be with the Prophet (s). There is nothing else. The Sahaaba (r) became Sahaaba by being with the Prophet (s). He said to them:

اشتقت لاحبابي . فقال اصحابه رضي الله عنهم : نحن يا رسول الله ؟ , قال لا انتم اصحابي أما احبابي فأناس من أُمتي يأتون في اخر الزمان يحبونني ولم يروني

wa afdalu’ n-naas b`ada as-sahaaba ahbaabih. Qaala ashtaqat li-ahbaabee. faqaal as-sahaaba nahnu yaa rasoolullah? Qaala laa antum ashaabee, ammaa ahbaabee fa-unaasin min ummatee yaatoona fee aakhir az-zamaan yuhiboonanee wa lam yarawnee.

The best of people after the Companions are his lovers. He said, "I am yearning for my lovers." The Companions said, "are we not your lovers?" He said, “No, you are my Companions but my lovers are those who come in the Last Days; they loved me although they never saw me.”

O Ummat an-Nabi (s)! You must be happy that Allah (swt) honored you by creating you from Ummat an-Nabee, and to be followers of Sayyid ar-Rasul, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands and recites salawat.) Anyone who develops in himself or herself love for Allah (swt) and love of the Prophet (s) by obeying them, will never need anyone. Allah (swt) will make springs and fountains of knowledge and wisdom come out of their heart. Why do awliyaaullah have this knowledge and wisdom? Because they turned themselves towards love of Allah (swt) and love of His Prophet (s). (Mawlana stands.) He said, “Whenever you say within yourself ati`ullaha wa ati`u ‘r-Rasoola wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum, you can take your beads and do that as dhikr, ‘Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem, Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo ‘r-Rasoola wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum (repeating),” you remind every organ, every cell, every bone, every muscle, every nerve, every vein, your heart, and your mind to obey Allah, and obey Sayyidina Muhammad (s) (Mawlana stands.) in order that we attain His endless mercy!

When we keep reciting Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo ‘r-Rasoola wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum, as Allah (swt) created Creation and kept sending messengers; He sent Nuh (a) with a message, Sayyidina `Ibrahim (a) with a message, Sayyidina Musa (a) with a message, Sayyidina `Isa (a) with a message and sent Sayyidina Muhammad (s) with a message, He sent all these holy books with a message, so anyone who recites Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo ‘r-Rasoola wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum will appear on the Judgment Day and Allah (swt) will order the angels, as we upload to computers, to upload to your heart the secrets and the literary meanings with all interpretations of all books that prophets came with! These will all be uploaded to your hearts.

You will appear on the Day of Judgment in front of everyone carrying the secrets of all these books. Allah (swt) will manifest the secret of His books when you say, ati`oollaha, “Obey Allah” because Allah (swt) sent these holy books with the Prophet (s) for every nation to obey Allah (swt), nothing else. When you recite this verse, every time new knowledge from the secrets of these holy books will be uploaded to your heart. Whenever you need to download information, you can pull it out. That is why Allah (swt) filled the hearts of awliyaaullah with all these knowledges, which cannot be expressed or explained. That is why when you read their books or hear them speak, you are amazed. That is why people say, “O what are they saying? We never heard this before.” Some people will like it and some might not because it is beyond their mind and limits of understanding; they have square heads. Those with no square heads understand that these are awliyaaullah and know what they are saying.

What does it mean to obey Allah (swt)? It means to submit to what He asked us to do and the first thing is to accept that you are a servant to your Lord and to keep the promise you made to Him before this life, to obey Him in this life!

Today people are so much into the pleasure of this world, and they have no more limitations, they are so liberal. To them it doesn’t mean anything, it is normal. They don’t feel they are doing something wrong. They go to events and they are drinking. They don’t think that drinking is haraam. They see others drinking, so they drink. They see people mixing, so the boys and girls mix. They don’t see any problem with it. They go to beaches and see men and women swimming naked, but this is not accepted. It is not even allowed in the teachings, in the shari`ah of Sayyidina `Isa (a), Sayyidina Musa (a), and Sayyidina `Ibrahim (a)! and certainly it is not allowed in the teachings of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! (Mawlana stands.) In the teachings of all the prophets it is not allowed.

We think we are not doing anything, and that’s why we are lost. I see the children running around and saying, “We are watching the TV show ‘Lost’.” We are lost, in this big jungle. We don’t know where we are heading. We are lost in this big forest full of wild animals. We don’t know where we are going. Why? Because we are not obeying Allah (swt). Do you think that if you obey Allah (swt) you will be under the feet. Muslims today are under the feet (throughout the world). Why? Because they are not on the right side. If they were on the right side, they would not be under the feet; they would be above everyone.

So he said whenever we say with a good heart, “Yaa Rabbee, I am surrendering to You, submitting to You and obeying You,” Allah (swt) will say, “O My servant, I am making all the knowledges that are coming out from the heart of the Prophet (s) to be reflected to your heart.” And he said all realities are being manifested to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and from the Prophet (s) they are coming down to heart of the awliyaaullah, it will reach to the heart of that wali. Why? Because he obeyed. More than that, he said that all the secrets of all holy books that Allah (swt) has sent will be given to that wali so that he can speak. He is even able to reach up to Sayyidina Adam (a), to know what is happening there, and even before Sayyidina Adam (a) when we were souls in the Divine Presence and Allah (swt) asked, “Am I not your Lord?” and we said, “Yes.” All that knowledge will reach to the heart of that wali, but he will not keep it to himself. He is waiting for his servant to become ripe. That means to become a real servant to Allah (swt), to understand that they have to be a real servant, then he will pour that into their hearts.

Grandshaykh (q) said that is coming from the secret of that verse, Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo ‘r-Rasoola wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum. When you say ati`ullaha you enter into these realities. When you say ati`u ‘r-Rasoola whatever Allah (swt) dressed on Prophet (s) of knowledges and beauty and different kinds of attributes manifested on him, Prophet (s) will reflect these to awliyaaullah in order to be like a rainbow between their students and followers; for the followers to benefit from them. When you say, wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum, if you obey those in authority, you will save yourself and Allah (swt) will inspire your heart with what you have to do to be respected and to be like a spotlight in dark nights, guiding people towards their destinies. He (q) said that is a small description of the meaning of ati`ullaha wa ati`u ‘r-Rasoola wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum. Understood or not yet?

Grandshaykh (q) said, “When someone surrenders to his Lord and accepts His prophets—from Adam (a) to Nuh (a), Ibrahim (a), Musa (a) to `Isa (a), to Sayyidina Muhammad (s)—Allah (swt) will give him all the ranks of those who dedicated their lives and gave them ranks.” Let’s say 100, 1000, 100,000, however many came before you, Allah (swt) will give to you on the number of their ranks. The first one gets one, the second one gets two, the third gets three, and it accumulates. When it comes to you, you will be given all these ranks from Allah (swt) which He gave to Prophet (s), and Prophet (s) will give to the heart of that wali. He said, “If you keep 40 days of full submission to Allah (swt), with sincerity and piety, Allah (swt) will put under your control:

وَسَخَّرَ لَكُم مَّا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا مِّنْهُ

wa sakhkhara lakum maa fi 's-samaawaati wa maa fi 'l-ardi jamee`an minh.

And He has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the heavens and on Earth.” (45:13)

As a believer, Allah (swt) will put under your control whatever is in this world, the heavens, and the universe as Allah (swt) said in that holy verse of the Holy Qur’an. These secrets need a heart that has surrendered to Allah (swt) in order that these jewels can be stored there and for these knowledges to be appreciated.

When we say wa ati`oo ‘r-Rasoola, awliyaaullah count, not like normal `ulama who count 400,000 ahadeeth of the Prophet (s) like Imam Ahmad who said, “I memorized 300,000 ahadith in order to give fatwa,” that is in order to give a fatwa for someone. Today children on the Internet give fatwa by knowing two or five or a hundred ahadeeth. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal refused to give a fatwa before memorizing 300,000 ahadeeth. Imam Malik refused to give a fatwa completely. They were worried about the responsibility of it. Today no one is concerned about responsibility.

Grandshaykh (q) said, “Awliyaaullah do not count 400,000 ahadeeth, they count 800,000 ahadeeth. They get these additional ahadeeth through dreams or visions, or ahadeeth written in the time of Prophet (s).” Of course some of them are strong and some of them were this or that. But they count 800,000 ahadeeth from the Prophet (s). He said, “If we take one hadith out of 800,000 and you memorize and implement that one hadith, it will draw the attention of the Prophet (s) towards you. He will look at you with a look of pity because you were not able to memorize but one hadith, and if you understand it fully and observe it accordingly, don’t think the Prophet (s) will not reach you with an eye of pity or sympathy, to inspire in your heart different kinds of knowledges that enable you to understand the other ahadeeth from that one hadith you memorized.”

That is why we keep repeating that hadith of the Prophet (s) with wisdom. Grandshaykh (q) used to keep repeating that hadith with a wisdom and Mawlana Shaykh (q) repeats it with wisdom, so that is why we repeat the hadith with a wisdom.

جاء في الحديث القدسي قول المولى سبحانه وتعالى : " مازال عبدي يتقرب إلىّ بالنوافل حتى أحبه ، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به ، وبصره الذي يبصر به ، ويده التى يبطش بها ، ورجله التى يبطش بها ... " رواه البخاري.

Ma zaala `abdee yataqaraba ilayya bin-nawaafil hatta uhibah. Fa idha ahbabtahu kuntu sama'ulladhee yasma`u bihi wa basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, wa yadahulladhee yubtishu bihi wa rijlahulladhee yabtishu bih.

"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 leg with which he acts.”

Only by memorizing and believing the hadith and trying to implement it Allah (swt) orders Prophet (s) to throw in your heart all kinds of inspirations. Allah (swt) will love you. According to the hadith when Allah (swt) loves you, He will give you ears he hasn’t given to anyone. It means, “I will be his ears he can hear with, I will be his eyes he can see with, I will be his tongue he can speak with, I will be his hand he can sense with, I will be his leg he can move with.” That means you will be doing what makes Allah (swt) to be happy with you, if you follow one hadith of the Prophet (s).

So we explained what it means to obey Allah (swt) and we explained what it means to obey the Prophet (s). Of course there are many people who have never memorized a hadith, but if they know one it will guide them. That hadith will pull them towards Siraat ul-Mustaqeem. So what more or better do you want? Allah (swt) said to Prophet (s) in the holy hadith, “Yaa Muhammad (s)! Mention this to them: as long as My servant approaches Me through voluntary worship, I will love him.” It means as much as we can do of voluntary worship it is accepted by Allah (swt). He loves that and He loves you. “When I love him, I will give him what an eye never imagined to see, what an ear never imagined to hear, I will give him beyond that; beyond their visions, beyond their imagination, beyond their hearings.”

Today people sing and they say, “O this one has the most beautiful voice.” Correct? That will be the worst voice! That one who is the best singer in dunya or the one who sings the best, is like the difference between a shack and a palace. If Allah (swt) will give you the music or praising of angels, because He said, “I will give him ears to hear with what the never heard before. I will be his ears that he hears with. He will never have heard better than that.” You see them crowding around the singer and shaking hands and are happy with it, “Aaaaah, aaaah” they are making signs like crazy. How do they do it? One million, there is not one million but 100,000 or 200,000 going to these big stadiums listening like crazy ones with long hair and jumping likes apes, like monkeys, jumping, going, coming down as if they are doing something. Allah (swt) said, “I will make your ears to hear what you never expected to hear.” It means you will be hearing the music of angels. Not 100,000 or 200,000 but millions of them you will be hearing and everyone one of them is different from the other, and not one voice will overlap the other.

Allah (swt) will make you to see what your eyes cannot see. He will give you visions. Look at how many visions have awliyaaullah written in books. He bought me ten books by Muhyideen ibn Arabi. If you open the book you will be amazed. From where is all this knowledge? Allah (swt) gives, when He wants to give He gives, but you have to obey, ati`oollaha wa ati`oo ‘r-Rasoola, obey Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). (Mawlana stands.) He will give you from his heart to your heart. So memorizing one hadith from 800,000 ahadeeth enables you to be under the intercession of Prophet (s) on the Day of Judgment. You will be under shafa`atu 'n-Nabi (s) and he will fill your heart with all kinds of knowledge that came from Prophet to Sahaaba and from Sahaaba to awliyaaullah. You will be given that if you are on the Sirat al-Mustaqeem, the right path.

May Allah (swt) keep us on the right way and for us not to deviate because if someone deviates:

من شذ شذ في النار ابدا

faman shadha shadha fi 'n-naari abadan, “Who deviates and keeps deviating will be thrown into a place from where he cannot be taken out.”

As Prophet (s) said, those who deviate will be thrown in Hellfire to be cleaned. If there is plague, even clothes cannot be cleaned, they must be burned. If you go to the dentist he has a box with two or three tools; when he is done he throws the whole box back to be sterilized. That means you have to be sterilized. If you do something wrong and keep doing it, then you fall in the fire.

They don’t throw you in fire as you are from Ummat an-Nabee (s), the nation of Prophet (s), but they sterilize you, they put you in a heavenly machine. Therefore, you might be questioned by Allah (swt) and you will sweat and sweat and sweat on the Judgment Day and the sun comes down over the head of people, when Allah (swt) is calling you on the Day of Judgment, and He is sterilizing you. What did they once do for meat in the old days when there was no stove or fridge? They salted it in the sun and it cured (dried) to prevent it from spoiling. So under the sun, Allah (swt) will sterilize and dry you to keep you saved from Hellfire, those who are from Ummat an-Nabee, or by shafa`at-un-Nabi they are all forgiven.

We are asking Allah (swt) to forgive us for sake of His Prophet (s) and to be under his intercession and to reach the best and highest level possible!

Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq, bi hurmati ‘l-habeeb, bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.

HADRAH

During hadrah, Mawlana Shaykh Hisham said:

When he (`Ali Elsayed) read Tala` al-Badru `Alayna, and he read it very well; it was uplifting, we received a message from Mawlana (q) that he was pleased, so to repeat it. That is why he repeated it. We felt at that time the presence of Sayyid ar-Rasool and they were pleased with it, so I am asking `Ali to repeat it one more time for that honor to Prophet (s)!

(More recitation and hadrah.)

Always when you have a battery for a long time, you need to charge it from time to time. So this charges our battery. May Allah (swt) keep our batteries charged. Inshaa-Allah we will see you after the 10th of January; we are going for one month. Pray for me!

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