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“The Shaykh Knows You”

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

17 October 2009

Kuala Lampur, Malaysia

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`ullah wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)

Dastoor, madad yaa Sultaan al-Awliya, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani.

Dastppr, madad yaa Sultaan al-Awliya, Mawlana Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani.

We are asking support from our shaykh, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, may Allah give him long life. It is not simple, or easy to address people with what they need. Sultan al-Awliya is the highest rank in spirituality because he is always taking from the heart of the Prophet (s) and giving. And because Allah (swt) made Sayyidina Muhammad (s) the Seal of the Messengers and he is rahmatan lil-`alameen, a mercy unto the worlds, from that mercy awliyaullah want to give and they want to request from the Prophet (s) some of that mercy in order to grant it (to people) even without ‘ijtihad, effort from ourselves. They don’t look at that because they don’t look at us like adults, they look at us as children who need help and guidance. We need guidance. We are like children in the eyes of awliya, so out of their mercy they want to help as much as they can in order to build up their followers by passing to them that mercy that is coming from the Prophet (s) regardless of effort on our part or not. This is the biggest role of awliyaullah.

The role of `ulama (scholars) is to tell you to be careful - the book says this. When you buy an appliance, it comes with a manual. If you follow this, this will move, etc but awliyaullah know that you are not able to follow the manual, so they prepare it for you and put you on different levels without any effort from your side. They have already read the manual and they give it to you ready-made.

Everyone has a manual, but don’t think we are all the same. So if we all have manuals, how many manuals do you think the Sultan is going to read? Doctor? Many! He has to read endless manuals and he has to know about them. For example, our manual is one but awliyaullah have to prepare you without your effort to read the manual. They read it on your behalf and they read everyone’s manual. That power is coming from the Prophet (s) to them. One of the meanings of: وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ - "wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatan li-`alameen -We have sent you not but as a mercy unto the worlds." (21:107) is that Allah (swt) has given the Prophet (s) the manual of everyone! Do you find two people are alike? Even twins have differences in their behaviors and their characters. You cannot find two of the same. It means that there is no way to have one manual.

Like doctors, and we have many doctors here. Where is the other one? Ah, he disappeared. (Laughter) Doctors study medicine and they have one manual for everything but when they go to practice (residency) it changes. Although there is a manual, the understanding is different now because it is practical, you are experiencing. You cannot find similarities between patients, one has this problem and the other has another problem. If that is the case in medicine, what do you think about awliyaullah who have to study everyone’s behaviors, what they thinking, their intentions, and inspirations that come to their hearts? They are reading millions and millions of different blue prints kike a doctor reading an EKG. All EKGs are the same, is it not? No. If you are okay, they show the same pattern. If you have a problem, then the pattern changes and then they are stuck as to how they are going to fix one, two, three, four patients and everyday he comes home tired saying, “I saw 20 patients.”

What do you think about a wali who is seeing hundreds of thousands of patients daily? It’s not so simple. You may say, “How can he see hundreds of thousands of patients when there are only 20 or so mureeds around him?” No, don’t look at who is around, look at who you are not seeing because awliyaullah have mureeds who they can reach by telepathy, through dreams, or moving through space by overlapping the time and space to reach them. There are hundreds of thousands or millions of mureeds that a shaykh has but only if they are really shaykhs, not only shaykhs by name. That’s where it is the most difficult to carry and to speak is not so simple because everyone has a different mind. Someone’s mind may not even be here – he may be thinking about his school, his university, or what he has to do in Penang. (Laughter) So it’s not simple. Everyone has a different heart and perspective and the shaykh has to address everyone at the same time and they have to be happy. That is difficult!

If they don’t plug you into their pipeline, you cannot say one word. Like now he (cameraman) is trying to plug himself to the Internet to broadcast live, so what does he need? He needs the password, and I don’t know what else he is working with but he is trying to connect to the main live stream in order to reach everyone. If awliyaullah don’t connect you with their pipeline, you cannot say one word because then your screen is not just fuzzy but it is black. There is nothing there.

So this is an introduction of how much they are working behind the scene. What we are not seeing is far more than what we are able to see. They have to work on your hearts in order for everyone to be happy with what he is getting. According to the Holy Qur’an, Allah (swt) said,

أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَكَانُواْ يَتَّقُونَ لَهُمُ الْبُشْرَى فِي الْحَياةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الآخِرَةِ لاَ تَبْدِيلَ لِكَلِمَاتِ اللّهِ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ

Alaa inna awliyaa Allahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon. Alladheena aamanoo wa kaanu yattaqoon. Lahumu 'l-bushraa fi 'l-hayaati 'd-dunya wa fi 'l-aakhirati laa tabdeela li-kalimaatillaahi dhaalika huwa 'l-fawzu 'l-`azheem.

Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. Those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil; for them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter. No change can there be in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity. (10:62-64)

(My) saints have nothing to fear and they must not be sad. It means that if you don’t get something and you need to get it, you feel afraid or worried that you might not be able to get that thing, which is very important for you so you become said. Allah said, no, “My saints have nothing to fear,” which means, “Don’t worry about My support, I am supporting you. I will support them, I will give them what they like. They must not be sad, they must be happy because I am plugging them to the main pipeline and because they have done everything for Me, I will honor them.”

What is the highest and biggest honor that you can think about? It is one issue. Why you are coming here? It is for one issue, not two. Allah said, “I will give them the highest honor.” Fawzan `azheemah, the greatest reward, the great victory, or the greatest achievement. When you do a good achievement to the country, what do they give you? A reward, but when they give you a reward, they have to go through many committees to give it to you and they may not even want to give it to but they are forced so they give you a title. What can you do with a title? What is the meaning? It’s a dunya title. You need a heavenly title and a title that comes from the Heavens is a real title. So Allah is saying to awliyaullah, “They are going to get the highest title, fawzan `azheemah, the greatest title for their achievements, I am giving it to them.”

So what is it based on? It’s based on one issue that they tried to run for it and get it. It’s their love to Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). Why are you coming here? To eat, no, everyone can eat in his house and say alhamdulillah shukran lillah. We are coming here to express our love to Allah (swt), to His Prophet Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and to our guide who is guiding us to that way. Those who come, they will be rewarded. Those who don’t come, they are mahrumoon, deprived, not given. Why are you not coming? It is Saturday. It’s good they are not coming because the place is already full. (Laughter) So if they come, it will become too hot and the tent will become filled, no need. Whom Allah likes, He sends. Those who have a good excuse, they are okay but those who do not have an excuse, they are deprived because Mawlana said, “Every moment has its own manifestation from Heavens.” It means that this moment that we are speaking of has its own blessings that come with it to dress those who are remembering their Lord through an association – remembering Allah, remembering His Prophet and remembering those who are on authority.

The moment that comes after has its own taste, different from the one before. The third moment has a different taste, etc. When these heavenly manifestations of Allah (swt) beautiful Names and Attributes are descending if you aren’t under that dome of these beautiful Names and Attributes at the right moment, you are deprived. It is like when someone who puts his head outside when it is raining, if he doesn’t put his head outside no rahmah, mercy comes on his head.

So these manifestations are like showers of rain that are coming every moment, non-stop on earth on human beings. If you are ready, you get it. If you are in a disco or you are making excuses for not appearing or not interested, no problem! Those who are interested will get it.

So Allah (swt) will give His awliya the greatest achievement or reward because of their love for Allah, His Prophet (s) and to their guides, and alhamdulillah our guide, as we believe, is the sultan of saints, Sultan al-Awliya of this time. So, we will be under that pipeline because we are all plugged in, there is no difference and the shaykh must not differentiate between this one and that one. All of them are on the same level. That’s why the Prophet (s) in the hadith said,

وعن ابي هريرة رضي الله عنه قال‏:‏ قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏"‏ان لله تعالى ملائكة يطوفون في الطرق يلنمسون اهل الذكر، فاذا وجدوا قومًا يذكرون الله عز وجل، تنادوا‏:‏ هلموا الى حاجتكم، فيحفونهم باجنحتهم الى السماء الدنيا، فيسالهم ربهم - وهو اعلم‏:‏ ما يقول عبادي‏؟‏ قال‏:‏ يقولون‏:‏ يسبحونك، ويكبرونك، ويحمدونك، ويمجدونك، فيقول‏:‏ هل راوني‏؟‏ فيقولون‏:‏ لا لا والله ما راوك، فيقول‏:‏ كيف لو راوني‏؟‏‏!‏ قال‏:‏ يقولون‏:‏ لو راوك كانوا اشد لك عبادة، واشد لك تمجيدًا، واكثر لك تسبيحًا فيقول‏:‏ فماذا يسالون‏؟‏ قال‏:‏ يقولون‏:‏ يسالونك الجنة‏.‏ قال‏:‏ يقول‏:‏ وهل راوها‏؟‏ قال‏:‏ يقولون‏:‏ لا والله يا رب ما راوها‏.‏ قال‏:‏ يقول‏:‏ فكيف لو راوها‏؟‏‏!‏ قال‏:‏ يقولون‏:‏ لو انهم راوها كانوا اشد عليها حرصًا، واشد لها طلبًا، واعظم فيها رغبة‏.‏ قال‏:‏ فمم يتعوذون‏؟‏ قال يقولون‏:‏ يتعوذون من النار، قال‏:‏ فيقول‏:‏ وهل راوها‏؟‏ قال‏:‏ يقولون‏:‏ ولا والله ما راوها‏.‏ فيقول‏:‏ كيف لو راوها‏؟‏‏!‏ قال‏:‏ يقولون‏:‏ لو راوها كانوا اشد فرارًا، واشد لها مخافة‏.‏ قال‏:‏ يقول‏:‏ فاشهدكم اني قد غفرت لهم، قال‏:‏ يقول ملك من الملائكة‏:‏ فيهم فلان ليس منهم، انما جاء لحاجة، قال‏:‏ هم الجلساء لا يشقى بهم جليسهم‏"‏ ‏(‏‏(‏متفق عليه‏)‏‏

inna lillaahi malaaikata yatufoona fi 't-turooqaat yaltimsoona ahl adh-dhikr...

"Allah has special kinds of angels that are roaming in the streets." The Prophet (s) mentioned the word turuqaat. The plural of tariqah is turuqaat. So it means that they look at those people who are of tariqah orders, spiritual orders. The people that are related to one spiritual father. "and when they find them, they sit with them." When they sit with them, they plug them all and that rahmah will come.

So you do not want to be deprived from that rahmah for any kind of excuse. Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said you are excused on three occasions for not attending the association of dhikr:

1) If you have an important guest that is coming from outside, you must not make an excuse to see him/her to take care of them or invite them into your home and offer what you need to offer.

2) If you are travelling.

3) If you are sick.

Other than these three excuses, you have no right to be absent in order not to be deprived from these secrets.

Awliyaullah don’t come to explain to you the manual, you can go and read it. Rather, they fix for you the machine itself and make it ready for you. You know sometimes I tell them that I do not know how to open the computer and I want to watch Mawlana’s live broadcast. I cannot open all these pages. They say we can make it so that when you press a button you can open it automatically without going through all of these channels.

So awliyaullah they do it for you like that. They have it ready for you, the only thing you need to do is press a button. What is that button? It is to appear in the associations of dhikrullah, like this one. We are not coming here to eat, but if they offer food we don’t say no. (Laughter). We are coming to plug ourselves with the original…

You won’t believe it but I have some people in America who come on the weekends because on the weekends there are hundreds of people that come but there is a certain group that I am amazed with. It is not like here that they come from the surrounding area 20-30 minutes, one hour, no, some of them they come four or five hours drive, attend the dhikr and then go back. Forget about this, there is another group that cross borders from Canada to America driving 12 hours. They leave on Friday evening after work and reach Saturday morning, 12 hours, they attend the dhikr on Saturday and leave on Sunday. They come every week. Correct? (Imam Sahib says, “Correct!”) وَشَهِدَ شَاهِدٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِهَا - Wa shahidah shahidun min aahliha - And one of her household saw (this) and bore witness, (12:26) (Laughter) Correct? You saw my daughter?

They come 12 hours driving. Who is pulling them? The one who is pulling them is pulling us. It is that main engine that is pulling the train and all of the wagons. We are not the train or the engine but we are wagons. We are connected to the main engine. The engine is our shaykh, may Allah give him long life. If you don’t connect with one of these wagons, you are deprived but there are many wagons. You know there are first class wagons, business class, economy class, then the cheap animal class, diesel, oil, gasoline asphalt wagons, Allah! (Laughter) Whatever you want to choose, you choose. You will still reach even if you all become asphalt. (Laughter) You are still with the main engine and it is pulling you but you are deprived from being treated in the first class wagon with all kinds of beautiful heavenly food like these sessions. So it depends on how strong the engine is because it can pull thousands of wagons behind it, but it also depends on which wagon you go in is important also.

All of us, thousands of wagons, are going to reach the destination but you may be at the end of the cue, not at the beginning. The ones at the beginning are the luckiest ones. So choose which wagon you want to jump. You cannot jump on dunya titles; you have to jump on the wagons of heavenly titles to be able to reach your real destination.

So awliyaullah, may Allah give us from their blessings, they look at everyone the same and they don’t look at what that person is wearing. Like I am wearing this today and everyone is saying, “Ohh it’s nice,” or it’s this and that. This is for our physical eyes and you have to wear like this for spiritual eyes. That dress that you like, you have to have a dress when you come to such meetings that awliyaullah like because that is what Prophet (s) likes and what Allah (swt) likes.

So for them the physical appearance is not important, what is important are the hearts. Is your heart full of hate or not? That is what is important to them. If your heart has no hate, wherever you are they are happy with you. Is your heart full of backbiting? If your heart is not full of backbiting they are happy with you. Is your heart full of bad rumors to spread around? If you don’t have that they are happy with you. It means that whatever bad characteristics you carry, it deprives you from the first class wagon because you don’t attend and you don’t come. Awliyaullah know what is going on in the hearts. That’s why the Prophet (s) said, and we repeat it because it is important: رب اشعث اغبر لو اقسم على الله لأبره - "rubba ash`ath aghbar law aqsama `ala Allahi la-abarrah - there might be someone with unruly hair, covered with dust, but if he were to swear an oath by Allah, Allah would accept it."

A greasy haired, dusty person comes through the desert going and passing through the city and he didn’t take a shower. You look at him and he is too much he has long hair, is homeless and dirty but you don’t know their heart. Even though he is like that, Allah looks to his heart. If he says, “yaa Rabb!” Allah will say, “Yes My servant!” He will give him whatever he wants, not looking at the outside. Your outside might be whatever. He is homeless. Are you homeless doctor? Are you homeless? Anyone homeless? All of us we are homeless! We didn’t reach our safety homes. If we get innocence from hellfire we get a certification that we are free from hellfire and then we have Heaven as a home. Do we have that? So are we homeless or not? Yes. So if we are homeless why are we arrogant and proud of ourselves for what? You know that you are homeless; you know you don’t have safety and you know you will not get to Paradise, so why don’t we try to correct our behavior?

That is why the Holy Prophet (s) encouraged the Sahaba to reach maqam al-ihsaan, the level of moral excellence. It is the third level in religion, first there is Islam, Imaan and Ihsaan; this is the core of Islam. If you are doing your five prayers but you still have bad characteristics, what is the benefit? Shaytan will quickly cheat you and take everything you have of good.

So our duty is to find our home and our home is under the dome and the dome is under the Throne and who is under the throne? We will explain this next time. It leaves suspense for next time. (Laughter)

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq.

Fatihah.

May Allah (swt) forgive us. May Allah (swt) connect us to that dome. Who is that dome? It is called Qubat ul Arzaq, the Dome of Provisions and what did the Prophet say in the hadith? He said, “Ana 'l-Qaasim. I am the one that divides provisions to everyone. I am the one who can reach everyone with their spiritual and physical food.” This is the Dome of Provision that Allah (swt) gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) to have the full authority from under the Throne and down. That is what we can explain but Allah gave the Prophet (s) also above that, we don’t know and it is too much to go into. So the Qubat ul Arzaq is the Dome of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). He is that dome, which has all kinds of secrets. وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ - "wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatan li-`alameen -We have sent you not but as a mercy unto the worlds." (21:107) It means, “We gave that dome, ya Muhammad, that you are that to everyone.”

Look at yourself; do you have a dome? Are you sure? Look in the mirror. What do you see in the mirror? If you take your head out and you look in the mirror, can you see? No. It means when you have your head you can see. When you don’t have your head, you cannot see. Your body is the structure of your dome and your dome is your head. The dome is the highest thing possible in yourself or it is the highest structure so it is the dome of your system or body. If the head is cut, there is no life but if your hand is cut you still have life. If your leg is cut you still have life. If your chest is cut you still have life but if your neck is cut you have no life. If you go to the masajid, what do you see on top of them? A dome. It is the symbol that, without our noticing, they are guiding and directing us to the Prophet (s). The highest structure of the masjid is the dome. The highest structure of the human being is his head. The highest structure of this universe is the Dome of Sayyidina Muhammad (s).

May Allah (swt) keep us under that dome and bless us always under the Dome of the Prophet (s), and as Allah mentioned in the holy hadith revealed to the Prophet (s): Awliyaaee tahta qibaabee laa y`alamahum ghayree. “My saints are under My Domes, no one knows them except Me.” The word dome was mentioned, qubbah.

We are asking Allah (swt) to keep us under these domes because they are the way for Sayyidina Muhammad (s); they are the direction that these guides can take us to the presence of the Prophet (s).

May Allah forgive us and may Allah bless us.

Bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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