Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
26 July 2013 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Fajr Suhbah
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
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-Nisaa, 4:59)
Inshaa-Allah we continue about dhikrullah and the benefit of dhikrullah. From the most things that punish the heart is for the heart to get rusted and rusted from the effect of Shaytan on the heart. Like how copper rusts, also the heart rusts and it will be layer over layer over layer of darkness. It is very difficult to do `ibaadah pure to Allah (swt) when the heart is completely dominated by veils of darkness, one veil over the other veil that Shaytan puts on the heart when he is going in and going out. Every moment that he sees us heedless, he enters and throws in our heart some gossips and dirts which are not correct, to make us listen to him and not to Allah (swt), and all this comes from heedlessness, when you are heedless of remembering Allah (swt). When you are in ghaflah, heedlessness, it is easy for Shaytan to enter.
So Allah mentioned in Holy Qur'an a verse that is warning you, and all of us, to be careful. Allah said to the Prophet (s):
وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِالْغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِيِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَهُ وَلَا تَعْدُ عَيْنَاكَ عَنْهُمْ تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَلَا تُطِعْ مَنْ أَغْفَلْنَا قَلْبَهُ عَن ذِكْرِنَا وَاتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ وَكَانَ أَمْرُهُ فُرُطًا
Wa ’sbir nafsaka ma` alladheena yad`oona rabbahum bi ’l-ghadaati wa 'l-`ashiyya yureedoona wajhahu wa laa ta`du `aynaaka `anhum tureedu zeenata ‘l-hayati ‘d-dunya wa laa tuti` man aghfalnaa qalbahu `an dhikrinaa wa ’ttaba`a hawaahu wa kaana amruhu furutaa.
And keep yourself patient (by being) with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His Countenance. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever (in) neglect. (Surat al-Kahf, 18:28)
“O Muhammad (s), don’t obey...” means to us mainly. The Prophet (s) is getting the Revelation, but Allah is giving the examples for us to understand through Prophet (s). “Don’t obey those heedless ones because they are worth nothing.” People who are heedless are so immersed in all kinds of fitna and confusion, and the Prophet (s) said:
الفتنه نائمه لعن الله من ايقضها
Al-fitnatu naa'imatan la`anallaha man ayqadahaa .
Fitna is dormant and Allah cursed the one who awoke it.
Through heedlessness you wake up the fitna, because in that moment you forget Allah (swt) and instead you remember Shaytan, Satan, and are listening to what he whispers to you. So that heedlessness is the major...it is like putting a seed and watering it, and later it becomes a tree. So heedlessness is like a seed planted in the heart; every time he comes and waters it and it begins to grow and grow and takes over all the heart with all its branches.
That is why the Prophet (s) said:
انما بعثت لاتمم مكارم الاخلاق
Innamaa bu`ithtu li utammimu makaarim al-akhlaaq.
I have been sent to perfect the best of conduct (your behavior and character). (Bazzaar)
“I have been sent to complete and perfect the character of human beings,” because when we fix the character we reach the level of chasing Shaytan away from our heart, because at that time we know what is correct and what is not correct and we are keeping Allah (swt) in the heart. So heedlessness, ghaflah, and bad desires, the combination of the two, yatmisaan noor al-qalb, will extinguish and compress the light of the heart. Finished! That heart is “dead” before it dies, that heart is completely gone. That’s why you become so involved in dunya and don’t remember anything from Akhirah. That is why you see many people don’t pray, and as the Prophet (s) mentioned and we mentioned in the Chapter of Salaah, that salaat is the pillar of the religion:
الصلاةُ عمودُ الدين
As-salaatu `imaadu ‘d-deen,
Prayer is the pillar of the religion. (Bayhaqi)
And what is between heedlessness, kufr, unbelief, and imaan, faith, is to drop the prayers:
بَيْنَ الْكُفْرِ وَالإِيمَانِ تَرْكُ الصَّلاَةِ
Maa bayna ‘l-kufri wa 'l-imaan tarku ’s-salaat.
What is between disbelief and belief is the leaving of prayers. (Tirmidhi)
So when the heart becomes dark by not letting Allah (swt) send inspirations to your heart, as you let Shaytan send whispers, you become heedless and you follow your bad desires, and your heart becomes darkened and darkened, until the heart is completely under the control of Shaytan.
So Allah (swt) is saying, wa laa tuti` man aghfalnaa qalbahu, “Don’t obey those whose hearts have become heedless.” From what do they become heedless? `An dhikrinaa, “from Our remembrance,” because He mentioned dhikr there. So if anyone is heedless of dhikrullah, don’t obey that person, don’t listen to that person, run away from that person who follows his desires. So the Holy Qur'an is saying “aghfalnaa” and “hawaa,” where ghaflah is heedlessness and hawaa is bad desires. So those who have bad desires and ghaflah, heedlessness in their hearts, you cannot listen to them and you cannot obey them. Today, unfortunately we are lost because there are too many different parties or groups that people are lost between them, but to bring you back is to remember Allah (swt). Allah doesn’t want anything from us except to remember Him! He (swt) said:
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee.
I sit with him who remembers me. (Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
“I am sitting,” means, “I am with the one who remembers Me.” When we remember Him, He is with us and when we don’t remember, He is away from us. Who is with us when we don’t remember, when we are heedless? Shaytan. So you have a mind to choose: do you choose to be with Allah (swt), with Prophet (s), awliya and `ulama, or you want to be with Shaytan? It’s in your hands, it’s freedom of religion. Which do you want? You want Islam, you want imaan? Okay, then you are saved. You want something else? We don’t know, but it’s in Allah’s Hands, Allah (swt) will judge people.
So He said, wa laa tuti` man aghfalnaa qalbahu `an dhikrinaa, “Don’t obey those who are heedless from dhikrullah,” wattaba`a hawaahu, “and follows his desires,” wa kaana amruhu furutaa, “his matters, his business is going to lose, he is going to be losing.” Laa tuti`, “Don’t listen to him, don’t obey him; he will never take your hand and succeed!”
So always when you look at someone who has a shaykh or guide, you look, or if you don’t have a guide and you are looking for a guide to teach you, because you are not coming from the womb of the mother knowledgeable. They study and go to university, it takes at least twenty-five years to become a master, and to become a professor add ten years, or an assistant professor add three or four years. To study and become an intellectual in your major and to know what to teach takes from you twenty-five years of your life. They always say, “University takes one-third of your life from you.” Today studying in schools up to university is one-third of your life. If this is for dunya knowledge, what about for Akhirah knowledge? If for dunya we have how many professors every semester? Count! After high school, how many professors for O Level or A Level, how many semesters in university? Every time two or three semesters a year, and every time you take three or four courses and every course is three credits. Four courses means four professors every semester, two semesters, ten professors, approximately with summer. For one year you put ten professors. For dunya you put ten professors, but for Eternal Life, for Akhirah, to have someone to guide us to remember Allah (swt) they don’t accept even one! They say, “Don’t follow shuyookh, don’t follow awliyaullah! Who are these awliyaullah? Where is this awliya?”
Allah (swt) mentioned in the Holy Qur’an:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَكَانُواْ يَتَّقُونَ
Alaa inna awliyaaullaahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon. Alladheena aamanoo wa kaanoo yattaqoon.
Behold! Verily on the Friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve; they who have attained faith and have always been conscious of Him. (Surah Yunus, 10:62-63)
He (swt) put a condition that awliya will not have to fear anything or be sad in anything: alladheenaa aamanoo, “Those who believed! Even if you are a mu’min or you are a wali, you have to have good belief.” Laa khawfun `alayhim, “For those awliyaullah, there is nothing to make them fear.” Alladheena aamanoo wa kaanoo yattaqoon, “Those who believed and they have taqwaa.” Those who believed, the believer is the one who remembers his Creator. What is a believer? The definition, a small definition of a believer, is one who says, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah,” one who remembers Allah (swt) is the Creator and we are His servants.
Ibn Qayyim states:
أن الله سبحانه وتعالى ﻧﻬى عن طاعة من جمع هذه الصفات
Inna ‘Llaaha Subhaanahu wa Ta`ala nahaa `an taa`ati man jam`a haadhihi as-sifaat
Surely, Allah has forbidden to follow one with the following attributes: israaf, wastefulness and heedlessness.
So you have to look: if he is heedless and follows his desires and did not make dhikr, kaana amruhu furutaa, means his matters or his way is all in daya`, faded or lost, completely lost! You are not going in the right direction anymore, you exited from Siraatu ‘l-Mustaqeem, so you have to come quickly back. How to come back? By dhikrullah!
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَسِيرُ فِي طَرِيقِ مَكَّةَ فَمَرَّ عَلَى جَبَلٍ يُقَالُ لَهُ جُمْدَانُ فَقَالَ " سِيرُوا هَذَا جُمْدَانُ سَبَقَ الْمُفَرِّدُونَ " . قَالُوا وَمَا الْمُفَرِّدُونَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ " الذَّاكِرُونَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتُ " .
`An Abi Hurayrah qaal: kaana Rasoolullah (s) yaseeru fee tareeqi Mecca, fa marra `alaa jabalin yuqaalu lahu jumadaan. fa qaala seeroo haadhaa jumadaan sabaqa ‘l-mufarradoon. qaaloo wa maa al-mufarradoona yaa Rasoolullah. qaala adh-dhaakiroona ‘Llaaha katheeran wa ‘dh-dhaakiraat.
Abu Hurayrah (r) reported that Allah's Messenger (s) was travelling along the path leading to Mecca that he happened to pass by a mountain called Jumdan. He said (to his Companions), “Move on, it is Jumdan, it has overtaken the Mufarridoon.” They said, “O Allah's Messenger! Who are Mufarridoon?” He said, “They are those males and females who remember Allah much.”
(Related by Abu Hurayrah in Sahih Muslim)
Kaana Rasoolullah (s) yaseeru fee tareeqi Mecca, “The Prophet (s) was walking on his journey on the way to Mecca,” fa marra `alaa jabalin yuqaalu lahu jumadaan, “and he passed by a mountain called ‘al-Jumadaan’ (or ‘Jamadaan’). Fa qaala seeroo haadhaa jumadaan sabaqa ‘l-mufarradoon, “Quickly move! This mountain has overpassed the Mufarridoon.”
They said, “Who are the Mufarridoon, yaa Rasoolullah?”
He said, adh-dhaakiroona ‘Llaaha katheeran wa ‘dh-dhaakiraat, “Those who do dhikr, men and women.”
Who are the Mufarridoon and how did the mountain overpass them, was it walking? They were walking, the mountain is firm in its place. How was it able to overcome everyone, although they were walking quickly?
He (s) said to the Sahaabah (r), seeroo, “Move quickly, that mountain has overpassed all of you!”
They said, “How?”
He said, “By dhikrullah.”
O People! It means the mountain is doing dhikr! If the mountain is doing dhikr, then what about us? If the mountain is doing dhikr, is it not out of wisdom to do more dhikrullah than the mountain? Dhikrullah, that mountain has overcome everyone because he is doing dhikr more than anyone, by Prophet (s) mentioning the ayah, “adh-dhaakiroona ‘Llaaha katheeran.” He said “katheeran,” the Mufarridoon are those who remember Allah (swt) too much. It means that mountain is remembering Allah (swt) more than ‘too much’ as it overtook the Mufarridoon, those who make dhikr; he overcame and won over them. So Allah (swt) mentioned that in the Holy Qur’an, “Those who remember Allah (swt) excessively, non-stop.”
وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ
Wa ‘dh-dhaakireena ‘Llaaha katheeran wa ’dh-dhaakiraat.
And for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise. (Surat al-Ahzab, 33:35)
ما من قوم يقومون من مجلس لا يذكرون الله تعالى فيه، إلا قاموا عن مثل جيفة حمار، وكان لهم حسرة"
Maa min qawmin yaqoomoona min majlisun laa yadhkuroona ‘Llaaha ta`ala feehi illaa qaamoo `an mithli jeefatu himaar wa kaana lahum hasrah.
Abu Hurayrah (r) narrated that the Prophet (s) said: Those people who leave a gathering in which they have not remembered Allah, will conclude it as if it has foul odor similar to that of a rotten carcass of a donkey, and it will be a cause of grief to them. (Abu Dawood)
Any group of people sitting together and they leave without dhikrullah, it is as if they have left like a dead donkey, a donkey which died and now has a bad smell. Any group of people sitting together and they are not making dhikrullah or remembering Allah (swt) through the Holy Qur'an, hadith and dhikr of Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes, they are like a donkey’s carcass with its bad smell, jeefatu himaar. Wa kaana `alayhim hasrah, “and they are going to be too sorry on the Day of Judgment that they didn’t sit in an association and do dhikrullah.”
وذكر عن معاذ بن جبل يرفعه أيضا : ليس يتحسر أهل الجنة إلا على ساعة مرت بهم لم يذكروا الله عز وجل فيها
Wa dhukkira `an Mu`adh ibn Jabal yarfa`ahu aydan: laysa yatahassaru ahli ‘l-jannati illaa `alaa saa`atin marrat bihim lam yadhkurullah `azza wa jalla.
From Mu`adh ibn Jabal, who related (marfu`an): “Those who will be saved on the Day of Judgment and go to Paradise, their only regret will be one hour they did not spend in dunya making dhikrullah.”
That means they were doing dhikrullah twenty-three hours, and one hour they did not do that. Although they will be in Heaven, they will be so sorry that they did not do dhikrullah for that one hour that they lost it from their life. Today what do we do? We are twenty-three hours in dunya and might be one hour of dhikrullah in our life! They are Ahlu ‘l-Jannah, the People of Paradise, means the people who are saved, they were doing twenty-three hours dhikrullah and for one hour that they didn’t do dhikr they will get very sorry. What about those who are doing dhikr only one hour and twenty-three hours of their day they were not doing dhikrullah?
O People! Dhikrullah is very important for us to do. Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad (s) hattaa yardaa Sayyidina Muhammad (s).
Jaabir (r) said, qaal sami`tu Rasoolullah (s) yaqool afdalu ‘dh-dhikr, “I heard the Prophet (s) saying, ‘What is the best of dhikrullah?” What do you want to recite? We can recite anything, but the Prophet (s) is telling, “What is the best of dhikr?” teaching his Sahaabah (r) how to approach Allah (swt) and Allah will be happy with their dhikr. So he said:
افضل الذكل لا اله الاّ الله
Afdalu 'dh-dhikri laa ilaaha illa-Llah.
The best remembrance of Allah is to say,“There is no god but Allah.” (Tirmidhi)
Laa ilaaha illa-Llah. So say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah.” Raise your voice: Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah! He didn’t say how many times. He said it is the best of dhikr, and say it even one time.
من قال لا اله الا الله دخل الجنة
Man qaala laa ilaaha illa-Llah dakhal al-Jannah.
Whoever says ‘Laa ilaaha illa-Llah’ enters Paradise.
“Whoever says, Laa ilaaha illa-Llah enters Paradise.” He didn’t say how many times and all Muslims around the world say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” or else what is the meaning of Muslim? If you ask a person, “What is your religion,” and he says, “I am Muslim,” what does that mean? It means “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” whether he said it or not. When he says, “I am a Muslim,” it means he is saying, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” You cannot be a Muslim by praying and fasting without saying, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” no; you say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” and if you are not fasting or praying you are still a Muslim. If you fast and pray, because you are with a group of Muslims and you do like them, but you are not yet a Muslim until you say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” So the best of dhikrullah that saves you from Hellfire is “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah.”
كلمتان خفيفتان على اللسان، ثقيلتان في الميزان، حبيبتان إلى الرحمن: سبحان الله وبحمده، سبحان الله العظيم
Kalimataan khafeefataan `alaa al-lisaan thaqeelataan fil-meezaan habeebataan ila ‘r-rahmaan: subhaanallah wa bi-hamdihi, subhanallah al-`azheem.
Abu Hurayrah (r) said that Sayyidina Muhammad (s) said: There are two statements that are light on the tongue, heavy in the Scales and are beloved to the Merciful: SubhaanAllahi wa bi-hamdihi, SubhaanAllahi ‘l-Azheem (Glory be to Allah and His is the praise, (and) Allah, the Greatest is free from imperfection). (Bukhari and Muslim)
The Prophet (s) said to the Sahaabah (r), “I am going to teach you two words very light on the tongue, that you can say easily, but are very heavy in the scale,” kalimataan khafeefataan `alaa al-lisaan thaqeelataan fil-meezaan, where “thaqeel” means “heavy; they are very heavy.” Habeebataan ila ‘r-rahmaan, “Allah loves these two words: SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi, SubhaanAllahi ‘l-Azheem.” Say, “SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi, SubhaanAllahi ‘l-Azheem,” as Allah loves the one who says these two words! So we have to say these two words.
So we say “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” daily as much as you like. Some awliya say it one-hundred times to one-thousand times, or if you want to say it one-million times, what’s the problem? And to make Allah (swt) love you, say these two words that are very heavy in the scale as Allah loves them and loves the one who says them, because when you mention something He loves you will be loved. When you say something that is habeebataan ila ‘r-Rahmaan, very dear to Allah (swt), you become very dear to Allah (swt). What are these? SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi, SubhaanAllahi ‘l-Azheem. Say it!
وعن أبي موسى رضي الله عنه قال: قال لي رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: "ألا أدلك على كنز من كنوز الجنة ؟"
فقلت: بلى يا رسول الله قال: "لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله" (متفق عليه).
Wa `an Abi Moosa Ash`ari (r) qaal: qaala lee Rasoolullahi (s) alaa adulluka `alaa kanzin min kunoozi ‘l-jannah. fa qultu balaa yaa Rasoolullah. qalaa laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billah.
Abu Moosa al-Ash`aree (r) related from the Prophet (s): The Messenger of Allah (s) said to me, “Shall I not guide you to a treasure from the treasures of Paradise?" I said, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah!" Thereupon he (s) said, "(Recite) 'Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billah (There is no change of a condition nor power except by Allah)." (Bukhari and Muslim)
“Do you like me to tell you, yaa Abu Moosa al-`Ash`aree (r),” he was the one that recited Holy Qur'an very beautifully. One time he was reciting with a very strong, beautiful voice, tajweed, not tarteel, tajweed of Qur’an, meaning, yataghanna fi ‘l-Qur’an, melodious recitation, and the Prophet (s) was behind him. He was not seeing the Prophet (s), who was behind him listening and was very happy from this melodious way of recitation. He finished, looked and saw the Prophet (s) and said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! I didn’t know you were there. If I knew you were listening, I would have made it more melodious for you to be happy.” So that Sahaabi (r), the Prophet (s) was telling him, “Do you want me to tell you about a treasure from the treasures of Paradise?”
Allah (swt) is giving us treasures, we have to...if someone were to tell you that there is a treasure in this land, too many like that in countries around the world, they come to you and tell you there is a treasure in your house, treasure hunters, so you hunt the treasure. You might find or you might not find it, but if you want to find then there are codes, a password, if there is really a treasure. People dig and dig and don’t find anything if they don’t have the password. If you have the password, you will find it.
So the Prophet (s) was asking Abu Moosa al-Asha`ree (r), “Do you want me to give you a treasure from heavenly treasures?” What is he going to say? “Balaa, yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah, yes of course! This is what I am waiting for!” And this what we are all waiting for, to get one of these heavenly treasures, which means heavenly knowledge, ma`rifah, that Allah gives you in dunya and raises you in Akhirah.
What is the treasure? To raise you to be with the Prophet (s), this is the highest treasure and Prophet (s) will be in the Divine Presence, Qaaba Qawsayni aw `Adnaa, so he takes you with him to Qaaba Qawsayni aw `Adnaa in Akhirah. “Do you want that?” for Abu Moosa al-Ash`ari (r) and of course for all of us. This is what we are expecting, why not? We are saying, “Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah! Take our hands, we are children; even if we reach 100 years age and die, we are still children and we need you to take us by the hands.”
So he said, “Yes, yaa Rasoolullah.” The Prophet (s) said, “To recite, you have to say, ‘Laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billah,’ there is no power or no way except with Allah.”
So now what do we have?
1. Afdalu ‘dh-dhikr: Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah
2. Kalimataan khafeefataan `alaa al-lisaan: SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi, SubhaanAllahi‘l-Azheem.
3. And now Laa hawla wa laa quwatta illah billahi ‘l-`Aliyyu ‘l-`Azheem, if you want to end it like that.
This is another hadith that from Bukhari and Muslim:
"من قال لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك وله الحمد، وهو على كل شيء قدير، عشر مرات، كان كمن أعتق أربعة أنفس من ولد إسماعيل" ((متفق عليه)).
Man qaala laa ilaaha illa-Llahu wahdahu laa shareeka lah, lahu ‘l-mulku wa lahu ‘l-hamdu wa Huwa `alaa kulli shay’in Qadeer `ashara marraat kaana kaman a`ataqa arba`ta anfusin min waladi
Ismaa`eel.
Abu Ayyoob al-Ansari (r) said that the Prophet (s) said: He who utters ten times, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llahu wahdahu laa shareeka lah, lahu ‘l-mulku wa lahu ‘l-hamdu wa Huwa `alaa kulli shay’in Qadeer (There is no true god except Allah; He is One and He has no partner with Him. His is the sovereignty and His is the praise, and He is Omnipotent),” he will have a reward equal to that for freeing four slaves from the progeny of Prophet Isma`eel. (Bukhari and Muslim)
“Whoever says, ‘Laa ilaaha illa-Llahu wahdahu laa shareeka lah, lahu ‘l-mulku wa lahu ‘l-hamdu wa Huwa `alaa kulli shay’in Qadeer,’ `ashara marraat, ten times...” There are numbers now, increasing now, before no numbers, now there are numbers. There are many ahadeeth that mention numbers, so they cannot say there are no numbers on how many times you recite, because one of their sayings is, “You don’t count numbers.” This hadith is muttafaqun `alayhi, accepted by Bukhari and Muslim, and it has numbers. Why do you reject numbers? I don’t understand why they reject, they say, “Don’t do 100 times, don’t do 3,000, or 1,100, don’t do 330.” They are numbers; the Prophet (s) mentioned numbers, so we follow the numbers. So he said, “Say one time, ‘Laa ilaaha illa-Llahu wahdahu laa shareeka lah, lahu ‘l-mulku wa lahu ‘l-hamdu wa Huwa `alaa kulli shay’in Qadeer,’ ten times.”
What benefit will you get? The one that was before you get one of the treasures of Paradise, the one that was before that, he said, “The best of dhikr is ‘laa ilaaha illa-Llah.” So this one, what will you get? Kaana kaman a`ataqa arba`ta anfusin min waladi Ismaa`eel, “It is as if that person has freed four people, slaves, from the Children of Isma`eel.” Sayyidina Isma`eel (a) is the grand, grand, grand, grandfather to Sayyidina Muhammad (s). If from that line four people had been kidnapped or taken into slavery, or might not be they became slaves, but they were taken to be tortured by the ignorant people for being Muslim, it is as if you have freed four of them. How difficult it is to free someone innocent from the death penalty, not because he did something, but only because he says, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah.” They were torturing them in the beginning of Islam, in the beginning of the Message. How many people have Abu Lahab and Abu Jahl, uncles of the Prophet (s), tortured of the believers? So it will be as if you have freed four!
If you free one, the Prophet (s) said in a hadith, in the meaning we can apply that hadith on this to give understanding:
فوالله لأن يهدي الله بك رجلا واحدا خير من حمر النعم
Fa w‘Allahi la-in yahdillaahu bika rajulan waahidan khayrun laka min humri ’n-na`m.
By Allah, for Allah to guide one man by you is better for you than (possessing a whole lot of) red camels. (Bukhari and Muslim)
“If Allah (swt) will guide one person through you, if you guide one person to Islam it is better for you than the wealth of this dunya,” which means it is as if you are freeing him by bringing him from kufr to imaan, so you are converting him back to his normal destiny which Allah has written for him to be a revert, to be a Muslim. So you’re bringing him from kufr, means you are freeing him from kufr and bringing him to Islam, and this is better than the wealth of all this dunya. So it is as if you guided four of them, or as if you freed four of them.
These are some benefits that we are sharing from the hadith of the Prophet (s) on dhikrullah, and inshaa-Allah we will continue more in the next session. Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
So:
1. The first one, afdalu ‘dh-dhikri: Laa ilaaha illa-Llah.
2. Second one, two words that are light on the tongue, heavy on the Scale: SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi, SubhaanAllahi ‘l-`Azheem. All of us recite it! (SubhaanAllah wa bi-hamdihi, SubhaanAllahi ‘l-`Azheem.)
3. Third one, the Prophet (s) is telling Abu Moosa al-Ash`aree (r) about a treasure from Allah’s treasures, from the treasures of Paradise, to say, “Laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billah.”
4. Fourth one, he (s) is telling Abu Ayyub al-Ansaari (r) that it is as if you freed four (slaves) from the Children of Isma`eel (a) by saying this ten times: Laa ilaaha illa-Llahu wahdahu laa shareeka lah, lahu ‘l-mulku wa lahu ‘l-hamdu wa Huwa `alaa kulli shay’in Qadeer.
So recite them, don’t forget them! This is from the sayings of Prophet (s) and all of them are strong ahadeeth that we have to inshaa-Allah do as much as we can. We cannot say we are going to do, but we say, “May Allah give us power to do and may Allah give us love to Prophet (s) and to awliyaullah to do.”
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh!
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