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-masjid,
nawayna ‘s-siyaam `ani ’l-kalaam lakum wa laysa lee!
I was not going to give a speech today; I asked Taher to speak but I felt I lost adab. I looked and saw all these people coming and thought, if I leave they are going to be upset, and an inspiration came from my shaykh, Sayyidee Shaykh Muhammad Nazim `Adil an-Naqshbandi (q) that even if anyone sits I should sit with them, because Allah's Hand is with the jama`ah, with the group:
يد الله مع الجماعة
Allah’s Hand is over the congregation. (Tirmidhi)
Even they don't talk, their sitting attracts Allah's mercy! How much all week we are running after dunya, but alhamdulillah, to sit once a week and remember Allah is enough to repent of all sins we have done during the week.
Today Holding onto Our Religion is not Easy
It is not easy in this situation that we are in to hold tight to our religion and the Prophet (s) said that a mu'min who is holding his religion:
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : يأتي على الناس زمان القابض على دينه كالقابض على الجمر
The one holding his religion firmly in his hand is like someone holding a burning coal. (Tirmidhi)
The one holding onto his religion is like someone holding fire, a burning coal. This is good tidings for us, insha’Allah it means we are holding well. If you hold your religion by praying your prayers and fasting and you pay your Zakaat and you say your Shahaadah every day and once in lifetime if you are able you make Hajj, before to pray was easy but now eyes are looking at you and now to speak on religion they say, “What are you speaking about?” [condemning what you say]. So now it is not easy; however, that fire you are holding will not burn you as Allah will turn it to Noor al-Imaan! It is said:
Alladhee yamsik ad-deen lahu sihaam...
When you hold your religion, for sure bad arrows will hit you.
People speak badly about you, spread lies about you, and you become worried even if you pray or don't pray. All these difficulties come as soon as you say, "I want to hold on to my religion.”
The Real Meaning of ‘Hoor al-`Ayn’
Anyone who wants to eat honey is going to be stung, so if you want to eat honey then welcome to the sting! Everyone will give you honey to eat, especially at breakfast time, but that honey, how much they [Awliyaullah] suffered to bring it to you? How many stings they suffered to bring that honey to you, but still they will bring it to you!
Allah is not like human beings, Allah created human beings! Yes His `abd will be stung by Shaytan, but if He repents Allah will give him honey, sweetness, the sweetness of Paradise. It is not like what they tell you, that Hoor al-`Ayn are waiting for you in Paradise. Awliyaullah view Hoor al-`Ayn as Allah (swt) will open to you from His Noor, from His Beautiful Names and Attributes. Hoor al-`Ayn is nothing in front of that; you will get pleasure from what Allah opens to you millions of times more than from Hoor al-`Ayn!
The Prophet (s) encouraged the Sahaabah (r) by telling them about Hoor al-`Ayn, but they knew it was more than that.It is said that if one Hoor al-`Ayn will show one tip of their fingernail to dunya everyone on Earth will faint, but Awliyaullah say you don't need that, you need the Light of Allah (swt)! So if you want the honey and the Noor you must face so many obstacles and overcome them.
We Perfect Our Adab through Salaat
The Prophet (s) said:
أدبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي
My Lord perfected my good manners and conduct. (Ibn `Asakir)
“Allah perfected my characters, Allah perfected me.” How much Allah perfected Prophet (s)? If the whole world with all `ulama, all awliya, all prophets’ knowledge of what Allah perfected in Sayyidina Muhammad (s), they don’t know that! What Allah granted the Ummat an-Nabi (s) despite them not doing anything, Allah granted them so many favors in Akhirah! Like what? Like the `abd, Allah's servant, will carry little difficulty in doing his prayers, and for sure many people don't pray, for sure many people pray, and for sure many people are lazy, kasaalah, to pray when the time of prayer comes. They've been pushed, they drag their feet to pray, and ni their prayers they are not in themselves [their minds wander, they are distracted]; when the imam says, “Allahu Akbar” they make ruk`oo, sajda, etc. behind him without saying anything [go through the motions].
The best is to pray with exact adab, but too many don't remember what they pray, how many raka`ts, etc., but they make sajda, which is only for Allah (swt). They make the sajda struggling against their ego, which says to them, “Why do you want to pray? Allah is Ghafoorun Raheem, He will forgive you anyway!” Many people say that. Yes, you say Shahaadah and Allah will admit you to Paradise, but you will be punished! Those who did not pray will say their prayers on Naari Jahannam: every prayer they missed they will pray on the surface of Jahannam where their foreheads, feet, hands are going to be burned!
But even saying the prayers you missed in dunya, Allah (swt) said: “Yaa Muhammad! law aadhantu laka an tunzhir bi kull ma`rifat wa ’n-noor ataytuka maa ootiyya li 'l-musalli, laa taqdir an ta`rifahu, O Muhammad (s)! Had I given you permission, even with all the light and knowledge that I have given you, what I give to the one who prays even you will not be able to know it!”
That is even for someone who did not have hudoor, presence, in his prayers, because that sajda is for Allah; for that reason sajda to anyone but Allah is not accepted.
Special Powers in Our Salaat
Prophet (s) said, “Allah has perfected me: my adab, my discipline,” and with that perfection the Prophet (s) came with the Message. If you want to know if you really have adab or not, see if you are making salaat. To show adab to Allah (swt) is to make sajda to Him, so sajda carries all the principles of Islam. In sajda you are saying Shahaadah and in at-Tahiyyaat you are greeting Allah (swt), Who perfects you and dresses you with complete Noor in order to make salawaat on the Prophet (s)! That is why salaat begins with at-tahiyyatu lillah wa ‘s-salawaatu wa ‘t-tayyibaat: that greeting will raise you up and Allah will raise you to see the Prophet (s), witnessing with your eyes! Of course we are not seeing, but many Awliyaullah do see and throughout Islamic history there were many people who were able to see the Prophet (s) in visions, not with their eyes but in feelings, dreams and visions.
How do some complain or argue about our ability to speak with the Prophet (s)? In at-Tahiyyaat [of the sincere `ibaadee] it is as if they are present with the Prophet (s), when they say, “As-salaamu `alayk”. Allah (swt) made it a direct greeting in the salaat: As-salaamu `alayk, “I am greeting you, O Prophet of Allah!” How are they objecting and complaining in the Far East, saying the Prophet (s) is not present, how do they know?
وَمَن كَانَ فِي هَـذِهِ أَعْمَى فَهُوَ فِي الآخِرَةِ أَعْمَى وَأَضَلُّ سَبِيلاً
But those who were blind in this world, will be blind in the Hereafter, and most stray from the Path.
(Surat al-Isra, 17:72)
They will be blind both in this life and the Next Life. For sure, there is no way anyone knows what kind of benefit and reward that Allah (swt) will give His servant who prays and makes sajda to Him! In at-Tahiyyaat you begin with praising Allah (swt), which takes you to another level, to give salaam to the Prophet (s), then you give salaam to yourself and Awliyaullah. Then what happens? They prepare you to witness, so now if you are not yet witnessing, whatever you did of praising Allah and giving salaam on the Prophet (s), on yourself, on the pious servants, then you bear witness, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger of Allah.”
But still we are not witnessing as we need preparation to have real witnessing. Then we say, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh”, and immediately make salawaat on the Prophet (s). For this, no ones knows the fadaa'il, rewards Allah (swt) will give of these oceans! Allah has made the heart a place to send His Noor: the heart of the Believer is the House of Allah (swt)!
قلب الموءمن بيت الرب
The heart of the Believer is the House of the Lord.
His Noor sits there and needs someone to bring it out to make it shine; that is why Awliyaullah are on every tongue, people speak about them everywhere. Do they speak about us? We are zero.
وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ
And We raised up your remembrance. (Surat al-Sharh, 94:4)
Wa rafa`na laka dhikrak, “We have raised you, yaa Muhammad, for everyone to mention your name, to be on every tongue because you are on the best of character!
إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ
To you have We granted the Fount (of Abundance). (Surat al-Kawthar, 108:1)
Inna `ataynaaka ‘l-kawthar, “We have given you a lot because of your adab with Me, Allah.” Because of that with Prophet's Intercession, Allah grants the Ummah to be free of sins on Judgment Day! That Noor has been placed in the heart of the Believer in five levels: Qalb, Sirr, Sirr as-Sirr, Akhfa, Khafa. We will speak more about them later.
How to Know Your Level of Adab
Be of good adab, don't be of bad manners as they are not going to take you anywhere except to kill you. Do you want to know if you have bad manners or not? See if you speak rudely, act rude, if your presence is rude, all of which is bad adab. We ask Allah to take this from us. When you fight with someone, know that your ego is making you fight.
Allah said to Sayyidina Adam (a), “Don’t eat from that tree. I am giving you whole Paradise, and what is in Paradise no one knows, but don't eat from that tree.” Shaytan came and said, “Eat from that tree, then you will be eternal," and he ate; actually the ego that was in him from his dhurriyah was what made him to eat:
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاء كُلَّهَا
And He taught Adam the names of all things. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:31)
Wa `allama aadam al-asmaa kullahaa, as atoms we were all inside Sayyidina Adam (a), the sperm and egg, that he knows all of us. By us, our egos [our bad manners], pushing him he ate from that tree, not from himself! See how we are now, here. Check yourself, do you have good or bad manners? Some people are in between. Very good manners are for Awliyaullah.
وَلاَ تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ أَمْوَاتًا بَلْ أَحْيَاء عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ
But do not think of those that have been slain in God's cause as dead. Nay, they are alive! With their Sustainer have they their sustenance. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:169)
ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ولكن وسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن
Neither My Heavens nor My Earth contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.
(Hadith Qudsi, Al-Ihya of Imam al-Ghazali)
All 124,000 prophets came to teach their followers adab; even the smallest things they taught, such as, if there is food on the table or the floor, you must not extend your hand to eat what is far away, eat from what is near you, kull mimma yaleeq. If there is a plate far away from you, tell your ego, “I am not touching it.” Now we are in a time when we not only we eat from far but we fill our plate like a mountain and then throw away half of it, especially the children! Parents are teaching their children, “Take as much as you like and throw away the rest, don’t worry.” Today what we throw of food is enough to stop hunger in the whole world! O Ummat an-Nabi (s)!
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ
You were the best of Nations evolved for Mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in Allah. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:110)
You were the best of nations sent forth to Mankind! We don't know how to eat, but we are speaking about radicalism, terrorism and politics. Even you don't know how to eat with manners and you want to speak about things so far: killing, taking houses, taking women and selling them! In countries where they took [kidnapped] women and children, they have rooms where they them! Is this adab? Allah (swt) said about the Prophet (s):
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِي
You are of the most exalted character. (Surat al-Qalam, 68:4)
The Prophet (s) said:
أدبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي
My Lord perfected my good manners and conduct. (Ibn `Asakir)
Is this what the Prophet (s) taught you [extremists]? Be careful!
فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ
Run to Allah (from all that is false and evil)! (Surat adh-Dhaariyaat, 51:50)
Tooboo illa-Llah, run to Allah (swt) as He will forgive those who run to Him. May Allah make us always to be with the Prophet (s) and in every move we make, may Allah be with us.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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