Suhbah at Private Residence
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah, nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta`ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-makaan.
I was not planning to speak, but mashaa-Allah, many people are already here, and something important to speak about is to show how much Allah has favored us. They sent me a video clip in which a boy is eight years old and girl is ten years old, where they throw garbage, picking out small pieces (crumbs) of bread, collecting them, and someone asks them, “Why you are collecting them?” They said, “Because we don’t have food, this is our food: we collect the garbage from garbage containers,” and whatever falls from the garbage containers on the floor they pick it up, take to their parents and they eat them. This is now in Syria.
It is said, wa bi ‘sh-shukri tadoom an-ni`am, by thanking Allah (swt) and praising Him, Allah will give us continuity of ni`amatullah, His favors. Allah doesn’t prevent anyone from getting his ni`mah. Ni`mah can be in different ways: for some people it is to be healthy, for others it is to be intelligent, for some it is to have a house, for others it is to have food. So ni`amah in general: wa bi ‘sh-shukri tadoom an-ni`am. By thanking Him, ni`mah comes. When you begin to see that ni`mah is decreasing, you cannot find it, remember that means you are not thanking Allah (swt)!
Allah has sent us to this country where we have everything, no one can complain, “I don’t have.” That boy and girl, they say some nights they cannot sleep because of hunger, they are hungry and not one of us sleeps hungry except those who are dieting. What did Allah say in Qur’an?
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
If you thank Me, I will give you more. (Surah Ibrahim, 14:7)
So Islam is based on thanking Allah (swt) that He created us and to be created means you have been mentioned in Allah’s Divine Presence (swt)! No way a person can be on Earth without being in the Day of Promises, where the souls were like a battalion:
الارواح جنود مجندة
Souls are conscripted soldiers. (Bukhari’s Adab al-Mufrad)
From the time when Allah created our souls in the Divine Presence, it is an honor for us that Allah (swt) created us, but we came here and ignored that Reality. You are here because of Whom? Your appearance is by Allah (swt), that is the biggest ni`mah! That is why Prophet (s) said, “The best time that I love is when Allah called me ‘`abdee, My servant’.”
In this time there are too many difficulties as people are not appreciating what Allah gave them: they want to take the others’ jobs and declare that they are ‘going to fix the issue’. No one can fix the issue! Allah (swt) is The One that can fix all issues, not some fanatics or violent people or people with radical beliefs. They are jeopardizing the life of two billion Muslims because of some misunderstanding! Only if they have a mind to think that Allah (swt) created everyone...how can you kill someone Allah created? That is like pointing your weapon toward Allah (swt)! Who rejected Allah’s Order? When Allah ordered Iblees to make sajda for Adam (a), he refused, saying, “I am better than him! You created me from fire, You created him from mud.” Today Shaytan is playing with people. They speak about hadaarah, civilization. Fifty years ago there was no such killing like today. People are not appreciating that Allah gave them ni`mah to live on Earth to know about Him, as Prophet (s) said that Allah (swt) said:
كنت كنزا مخفياً فأحببت أن أعرف فخلقت الخلق
I was a Hidden Treasure (and) I wanted to be known, so I created Creation. (Hadith Qudsi)
So Allah wants us to know Him: His Mercy, His Love, His Creation. They said to you don’t kill animals, not even a worm or a fly, as it is Allah's Creation, so how are you killing a man, woman or children? How are you speaking about others in a way that is not nice? Such people are not from shaakireen, those who are thank Allah (swt) for what He gave them!
يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱجۡتَنِبُواْ كَثِيرً۬ا مِّنَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعۡضَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِثۡمٌ۬ۖ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُواْ وَلَا يَغۡتَب بَّعۡضُكُم بَعۡضًاۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُڪُمۡ أَن يَأۡڪُلَ لَحۡمَ أَخِيهِ مَيۡتً۬ا فَكَرِهۡتُمُوهُ
O you who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible) for suspicion in some cases is a sin, and spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? No, you would abhor it! (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:12)
O Believers! Allah said in Holy Qur’an, “Avoid too much doubt about others”, because you don’t know their reality or what is true. Allah wants you to check everything before you take a decision.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
O you who believe! If a corrupt person comes to you with something wrong, ascertain the truth unless you harm people unwittingly and afterwards become full of repentance for what you have done.
(Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:6)
O Believers! If someone comes to you with a bad report of something, don’t take it immediately as correct; go check it, go to the person involved or mentioned and ask them, “Did you say this or not? Did you do this or not?” Don’t take the decision by yourself only based on rumors as Allah doesn’t like that. Allah loves His servant who has good manners and tries to veil others’ mistakes. All this Tariqah is based on ihtiraam, respect, and Islam is the head of respect.
________________
The Prophet (s) mentioned:
انما بعثت لاتمم مكارم الاخلاق
I have been sent to perfect the best of conduct (your behavior and character). (Bazzaar)
“I have been sent to perfect everything in a human beings,” which means there are problems in human beings, one of which he said is:
ستكون فتن كقطع الليل المظلم
There will be afflictions like patches of a dark night. (Ahmad)
There is going to be fitan like big chunks of dark nights, so huge, like looking at the sky in the evening when it is black with no stars, huge darkness, like that there is going to be fitan, confusions. What did he say you need to do? Sit, don’t interfere unless you know you can make a change, but if you see you cannot make a change, don’t make fitna!
الفتنة نائمة لعن الله من أيقظها
Al-fitnatu naa'imatan la`anallaha man ayqazhahaa .
Fitna is dormant and Allah cursed the one who awoke it. (ar-Rifa`ee in his Amalee)
Prophet said, “Fitna is dormant and Allah will curse who brings it up.” Even if you have a misunderstanding between two brothers, don’t let them bring fitna between them as Allah will curse that person. If you have problem with your family or you have a problem with neighbors, people or at work, that is Shaytan bringing a confusion to you to disrupt your heart, to make you upset, sad and to not know what to do. No, leave him or her to Allah (swt) as He will take your revenge! What did He say?
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدَافِعُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ خَوَّانٍ كَفُورٍ
Verily Allah will defend those who believe. Indeed, Allah does not like everyone treacherous and ungrateful. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:38)
Allah will defend those Believers, so do you want people to take your revenge or do you want the reward from Allah? Allah will take revenge from those claim something wrong against you, so leave it!
من حسن إسلام المرء ترك ما لا يعنيه
From the perfection of one’s Islam is to leave matters that don't concern him. (Tirmidhi)
From the best of `amal that makes your Islam strong is to leave that which doesn’t concern you. Don’t go from one to another complaining. Allah (swt) said:
لاَّ يُحِبُّ اللّهُ الْجَهْرَ بِالسُّوَءِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ إِلاَّ مَن ظُلِمَ وَكَانَ اللّهُ سَمِيعًا عَلِيمًا
Allah loves not that evil should be voiced in public except where injustice has been done, for Allah is All-Hearing and All-Knowing. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:148)
Allah doesn’t like anyone to speak ill of another person about what happened. If a person harmed you, keep it between you and Allah (swt). Prophet (s) came to teach perfection and good manners, which is what do our best to follow, but today they want to make an issue for people of Tasawwuf and according to their narrow understanding they find many “unaccepted” Islamic points.
[Digital Adhaan plays.] May Allah (swt) forgive us, may Allah bless us and for the sake of that adhaan of Maghrib, may Allah forgive all our sins that passed and protect us from falling into sins that come all around the world, especially now when too many people get jealous of each other, saying, “Why this one has this, that one has that, why this man has this, that woman has that and not us?” It was written for you if you are getting i and if it is not written for you, you cannot get it even if you do your best!
Islam is tasleem, submission, surrendering to Allah’s Will. Allah knows everything, so why are you bothering? Bi-yadihi ‘l-maqaadeer, maqaadeer al-umoor bi yadihi, “In His Hand are all the decrees He made for human beings: everything that happens is in His Hand with His knowledge.” So why are you using your mind to create fitna? No, use your mind to cover it.
It is contagious to bring up the fitna as it might go everywhere, even one wrong word goes everywhere. I was reading and had my hand on my daughter’s head and reciting for her when she was younger. Some people took pictures and posted it on the Internet. They said, “Look, the shaykh has his hand on a woman’s head,” and they made fitna from it. So we have to be very careful about this, and we have to avoid from our side also places of fitna.
I was with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) in England many years ago, mid-1990’s, and we prayed Tarawih in Mawlana’s mosque. We were going home--the driver, Mawlana (q) and me, Mawlana was in the front and I was in the back seat--and we passed a street that was the only way to go through, and I was thirsty, so took a bottle of water and drank.
Mawlana shouted, “Don’t drink!”
I said, “Okay Mawlana,” and I stopped.
He said, daaru makaan al-shubuhaat, “Try to avoid places of doubt,” meaning, “Any Muslim passing by might think you are drinking alcohol because they don’t know you are drinking water in a bottle!” Even to that extent awliyaullah are very meticulous in avoiding anything that puts you in doubt. So Islam makes sure you don’t doubt other people and their intentions.
انما الاعمال بالنيات
Truly actions are only according to their intentions. (Bukhari, Muslim)
Every `amal is according to niyyah: if the intention is good or bad. If the boss of a company has good intention about the employees, they must not speak badly about their boss. Allah put someone ameer on you:
ان كنتم ثلاثة في سفر فأمروا أحدكم
If you are three people on a journey, appoint one of you as a leader. (Tabarani)
If you are three put one ameer on you, this is a Hadith. Allah knows who can run this or that and give good ideas! May Allah forgive us, and keep us always under the love of Allah (swt) and love of Prophet (s) and love of pious, sincere people, awliyaullah, because awliyaullah are always thankful. Allah described them in Qur’an:
بَلْ أَحْيَاء عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ
No, they live, finding their sustenance provided in the Presence of their Lord. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:169)
“They are alive in the Presence of their Lord provided.” What is the meaning of “provided”? That’s the question to think about it until tomorrow, what is “provided”? What does Allah want to explain, that they are alive in the Presence of their Lord yurzaqoon, provided? What are they provided with? We will discuss it, inshaa-Allah. Wa-min Allah at-tawfeeq, because the boss came.
[Maghrib Salaat.]
We are not measuring with a digital balance, we are measuring with an old-style balance, with stones. We live in a time where nothing can be balanced. You put their opinion and your opinion and you use your mind to determine which is right, which is wrong? Whatever good you want to balance will not be balanced in the eyes of non-Muslims and it is very difficult for them to accept. You see the rally now in Arizona [free speech issue about the ‘right’ to draw cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (s)]? Their actions brought these people and you don’t know what they will do. A long time ago when I used to stand up against Wahhabi `Aqeeda, the Muslim Ahl al-Sunnah used to say, “There’s no need to discuss this, let’s keep unity.” So we called our conference the “International Islamic Unity Conference”; however in the Unity Conference we did not achieve unity, it became worse. So the Wahhabis went their way, and Ahl al-Sunnah kept quiet because they did not want to split the community, but they [Wahhabis] split the community, they changed it. So to balance is to stand for Haqq!
وَقُلْ جَاء الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا
Say (O Muhammad), "Haqq (Truth) has come and baatil (falsehood) has perished.” (Surat al-Israa’, 17:81)
If we stand for Haqq as Muslims, whether for Muslims or against Muslims, Allah is always with Haqq. Why are we under the feet of kuffaar? If we are on Haqq Allah must raise us, but that is not the case, which means there is something we are doing wrong. I’ll tell you what is wrong, it is simple. There is no respect for Prophet (s), not for his teachings nor his personality! They consider him to be a normal person. Look at the Christians. The Prophet (s) did not say he is ilaah, he is happy to be `Abd Allah, but in terms of respect, look how much Christians respect Jesus (a), look how much the Jews respect Moses (a). Now look at Muslims, do we have respect? Some yes, some no. We will have unity if you bring them to respect.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ
إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
O Mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has taqwa. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Surat al-Hujuraat, 49:13)
We created you from male and female and we made you nations and tribes to know each other. That is unity: to know each other, not to fight each other! The best honor, those who have been honored by Allah, are those Pious Ones as Allah will give them `ilm, knowledge that is like what He gave to awliyaullah. Now there are some scholars trying their best.
When Prophet (s) came from Hajjat al-Widaa’, the ayah came “shave your head or cut it short”, so Prophet (s) asked the Sahaabah (r) to shave because it is stronger than to cut. They didn’t do it and he was not happy.
Umm Salamah (r) said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, can I say something? All of them love you, so first you shave, then they will follow.”
He (s) shaved first then all of them shaved. Today we are missing the presence of Prophet (s) among us through his name and behaviors. If we go back to not only the Message but to manners, Maqaam al-Ihsaan, showing our respect and good manners, everyone will run after us. Now there are no good manners, they curse each other, and you cannot find two on the same way. How to balance? It is very difficult. May Allah forgive us. If our intention was correct, and Allah knows the intention, the one whose intention is Allah and His Prophet, Allah will not put that one down, Allah will make all the non-Muslims accept!
Allah will guide whom He likes, this is the issue: we are not acting in the real way, acting upon what we saw from Prophet (s). Prophet (s) used to sleep on a mattress made of straw. Sayyidna `Umar (r) slept under the sun and he is Ameer al-Mu’mineen. There are no such people like that today. Ummat al-Nabi (s) must stand up to bring back the good intentions and be just, because the Ummah follows the shepherd, which today is the `ulama and if they are not interpreting the right way the whole Ummah will be lost!
That’s why I like the groups that say, “Before we bring religion to other people, let us fix our belief.” It’s nice, let us fix ourselves in private! What is the benefit of fixing others when our house is broken? We are not fixing ourselves or our beliefs! That’s why we shake and we don’t know where to go, where to stand, one foot here, one foot there. May Allah forgive us and give us to have a mind to think about how to solve our problems. Now Muslim countries are giving money to non-Muslims to fix Islam for them, do you believe that? Islam is at the hands of scholars, but not Muslim and they want to fix Muslim’s problems! Where are our scholars? There are very strong scholars around the world, in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Morocco, Middle East, Saudi Arabia...why are you asking non-Muslims to fix our beliefs and change fatwas for you?
http://sufilive.com/The-Problem-with-Muslims-Today--5878.html
© Copyright 2015 Sufilive. All rights reserved. This transcript is protected
by international copyright law. Please attribute Sufilive when sharing it. JazakAllahu khayr.