Suhbah before Maghrib at As-Siddiq Mosque
Do you want suhbat or dhikr? (Both.) We are going to do dhikr and suhbah until midnight, but Maghrib is in half-an-hour, so better to do dhikr.
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Dastoor, yaa Sayyidee.
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`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
(Begins Khatm.)
It is our honor to have here honorable men and women to celebrate the birthday of Prophet (s). We are not coming for any dunya work, we are coming for celebrating the birth of Prophet (s). I am not giving a speech. We will read the Mawlid in brief from some of the aspects of Prophet's life and then Az-Zahrah Girls group will sing some qaseedas for you in Arabic, and then there will be food, I hope, and if you want to go (eat) now you can, but you will find the doors closed! (laughter) And I welcome all these doctors from Saginaw and Flint and from Chicago. I wanted to make it on the real night of Mawlid, which is next week, but I will not be here. And on that night we like to open the holy hair of the Prophet (s), and we ask Allah (swt) to make this night as if it is the correct night. Every night is the celebration of the light of Islam (s) and every night is the night of celebrating that Islam came and Allah (swt) sent that heavenly dress on him (s) and ordered all angels to follow him when he comes in his time.
And Allah ordered the angels to make sajdah to Sayyidina Adam (a) and we have to be very careful in understanding meaning of sajdah: it is sajdah of `ihtiraam, not sajdah of worship. And when Allah (swt) sent that appearance on Sayyidina Adam (a), angels saw the appearance of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), the Nooru 'l-ilaahi, (Divine Light) dressing him and being dressed on Sayyidina Adam.
(Everyone please open the way so ladies can see. The ladies always complain, "We are in the back," but they are in the front, because when we go to eat they are first to go out! [laughter])
When Allah (swt) says to make sajdah, there is no discussion. Prophet (s) said, "I was a prophet when Adam was between clay and water." So the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is what angels have seen. We are asking, "Yaa Rabbee, show us what you showed your angels!"
Sayyidina Uwais al-Qarani (r) asked Sayyidina `Umar (r) and Sayyidina `Ali (r), "Did you see the Prophet in your life?" Sayyidina Uwais never met with Prophet (s) in his life. When he wanted to go, his mother said, "Don't go, you will leave me alone," so he obeyed and did not go. And Sayyidina Uwais asked Sayyidina `Umar, "Did you see Prophet?", and Sayyidina `Umar said, "Of course, I was with him every day!" And he gave his shama'il, description. Sayyidina Uwais said, "Everyone saw Prophet (s) like that, even non-believers." And he asked Sayyidina`Ali (r), who said, "Yes, I saw him one time. When we were fighting the unbelievers and I was with Prophet and my eye was infected and the unbeliever, a very big fighter was trying to call me to fight him and Prophet was not letting me go.(And that man said to Sayyidina`Ali (r) some insults that I cannot repeat here.) So Prophet (s) said, 'Come yaa `Ali,' and he applied his holy saliva to my eye and it became clear, better than before. Yaa Uwais, when Prophet (s) was putting his saliva on my eye he said, 'Look at me,' and I saw the Prophet (s) appearing everywhere in the universe because his holy finger and his holy saliva had touched my eye."
That was like a code to Sayyidina `Ali (r), to see the reality of Prophet (s). That is why Prophet said, "I am the city of knowledge and `Ali is its door." That does not mean that Sayyidina `Umar (r) and Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) are not also. The Prophet (s) said, "If the whole faith of all the ummah was put in one side of the Scale and the faith of Abu Bakr on the other, Sayyidina Abu Bakr's would be more." And he said of Sayyidina `Umar (r), "If there were to be a prophet after me, it would be `Umar." And Sayyidina `Uthman ibn `Affaan (r) was so generous, and why he has that title, Dhu 'n-Nurayn, "Possessor of the Two Lights"? Because Prophet (s) gave two of his beloved daughters to marry him, and said, "If we had a third we would have married her to you."
Sayyidina Uwais was able to see the Prophet (s) though he never met him in his life. Don't ask how, don't have doubt. One simple example: if someone sees someone in a dream, if he says, "I saw the Prophet (s) in a dream," can you say "no"? That is an inner style of life, from where someone may see in a dream and another can see without sleeping, at the Maqaam al-Mushahaadah. That is when you say ash-hadu, you are witnessing what you are saying. So when Sayyidina Abu Bakr or Sayyidina Bilal said ash-hadu, they actually witnessed what they were saying, not like us. So the `ulama call it, "Maqaam al-Mushahaadah," the Station of Witnessing, seeing what others don't see.
That is related to the Hadith Qudsee of the Prophet (s), In which Allah (swt) told him, "As much as My servant approaches Me with voluntary worship, I love him, and when I love him I will be the eyes he can see with, the ears he can hear with, the hands he senses with, the feet he steps with..." And that means you can do things above normal people's levels.
You cannot say, "My teacher is highest!" Everyone thinks his teacher is the highest, but Allah (swt) said:
وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ
wa fawqa kulli dhil `ilmin `aleem, "Above knower is another knower." (12:76)
(Similarly,) above every lawyer there is a better lawyer. Above every doctor there is better doctor. Above every `alim there is better `alim. The knowledge of Holy Qur'an is always increasing, going up.
May Allah (swt) forgive us and bless us in this event and those who are attending this event. I am very shy from all of you; I am sitting here and you are there. But what can we do? Someone has to read. I am fit to go to the shoes area. If anyone likes, this book (of traditional Mawlid recitation) is available in the bookstore; if you like you pay, and if you don't, you may take and run with it! (laughter) You cannot hide `ilm from people. It is the duty of an `alim to share his knowledge. So sometimes you find a book (of knowledge you did not know), not an `alim, then take the book and go,... and then return it! He (the bookseller) is worried that they will take the books from our store. Don't worry, they will give a donation.
(End of suhbah)