Maghrib Suhbah at Faizan-e-Madina Mosque (2)
Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
SubhaanAllah, this masjid is full of light. No matter how many people come, there is always more space. Allah creates more and more Paradises and raises Ummat an-Nabi (s) higher and higher; they will be in one Paradise and the next day they find they are in another Paradise and it never ends. If we have love to the Prophet (s) we have to be happy, because that is the love that can take us to safety.
I will tell you a story from Sayyidina Muhiyyidin ibn `Arabi (q), one of the greatest scholars in Islam and one of the big awliyaullah. His wilayah spread East and West and his books Futoohaat al-Makiyya are taught in every generation. In the chapter describing the love of the Prophet (s), and we hope that we have one percent of that, he said:
When Allah’s (swt) Will is to bring the Prophet (s) to Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa, for sure He sent Jibreel (a), but Allah was able at any moment to say ‘Kun fayakoon, My Prophet be here,’ and he will be there, immediately as Allah wants.
But why did He take him from Mecca to Masjid al-Aqsa? As some scholars, especially awliyaullah, say that on Laylat al-Isra wal-Mi`raaj, He took him from Mecca to Madina ‘l-Munawarrah, and then to Masjid al-Aqsa. This was in the limit of dunya, not in the limit of Ascension. He was going like an airplane today goes up ten kilometers in the atmosphere, that is in dunya, but still when he passed that he was still in dunya. First Allah took him to Masjid al-Aqsa, which is in hadd ad-dunya and is called Surat al-Israa, which is related to dunya and is not called Surat al-Mi`raaj,” as everything related to dunya is “Israa.”
يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَن تَنفُذُوا مِنْ أَقْطَارِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ فَانفُذُوا لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلْطَانٍ
Yaa ma`ashar al-jinni wa’l-insi in in istata`tum an tanfudhoo min aqtaari’s-samaawaati w ’al-ardi fa’nfudhoo laa tanfudhoona illa bi-sultaan.
O you assembly of jinns and men! If you can pass beyond the zones of the Heavens and the Earth, pass! Not without authority shall you be able to pass! (Surat ar-Rahmaan, 55:33)
“O human beings and jinn! If you were able to penetrate from this universe, this dunya and this samaawaat, do it.” Allah gave you the power, in istata`atum an tanfudoo, “Go ahead, but you need a sultan,” you need some power. “Sultan” has many meanings; it may mean “khalifah”, it also means “the love of the Prophet (s),” because he is the one who penetrated; no one else penetrated except angels. Don’t think it is jinn, because they are in the limits of dunya, but the Prophet (s) went, so if you want then follow him. Prophet (s) is saying, “Follow me if you love Allah, I will take you to Mi`raaj.” Allah will not say to His Habeeb “no.” Whatever His Habeeb says, Allah says, “Yes, yaa Muhammad.” He took him to Mi`raaj, `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Akhireen. Mi`raaj is an ascension of knowledge of going higher and higher in `Uloom al-Awwaleen wa ‘l-Akhireen; that is why it is not called “Mi`raaj,” because it relates only to Akhirah...
Allah (swt) sent Sayyidina Jibreel (a) to get the Buraaq in order to honor the Prophet (s). Jibreel (a) was ordered to look for a Buraaq, an angel for the Prophet (s). So Jibreel (a) said, “I went inside and as I was looking. I wondered which one to take, as I thought there would be one.” But Allah (swt) showed Sayyidina Jibreel (a), also his `ajaz amaam hadrat al-haqq, his helplessness in front of Allah (swt). He even shows angels miracles to tell them, “O you are servants, you are My servants.” So he began looking for one Buraaq and immediately saw oceans of Buraaqs! When Allah ordered angels to make salawaat on the Prophet (s), He made oceans of angels to do salawaat on the Prophet (s).
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabiyy, yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him him with a worthy salutation. (Surat al-'Ahzaab, 33:56)
Which angels are mentioned here? “Allah and His angels,” it means all of them, not only some angels that were created for a certain time, but all angels, and no one knows when Allah began to create angels; until now and in the past He was creating. It is “past” for us, but not to Allah. He is creating up to the present and into the future, He is creating until no end! If He stops creating it is `ajz, weakness, in the Divine Presence, hashaa astaghfirullah. So Creation is continuous, non-stop, as he is al-Khaaliq, “The Creator.” That means Allah is creating angels in every moment and Allah knows the number making salawaat on the Prophet (s).
And what kind of salawaat, is it like we do? Every angel has his own salawaat. Imagine: trillions and trillions of angels Allah is creating in one second or in a fraction of a second, an infinite number of angels are created in a moment, in no time. Is there time in Heavens? In no time there are infinite number of angels created and all of them are under the order to make salawaat on the Prophet (s), and each of them has a different form of salawaat than the other, different seeghah. Allahu Akbar, how the Prophet (s) is huge! How the Prophet (s) is being dressed by Allah with all His Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes! He is the one that can move through the universe and nothing happened to him. A little bit, a plane disappeared (Flight MH370) and they are searching dunya up and down. What do you think about the one who went through all this universe? They found in this universe of eighty-billion stars and six-thousand galaxies, and every galaxy with more than 100 billion stars. The Prophet (s) penetrated through all of them, of course, because he was going to the First Heaven, which is not in hadd ad-dunya.
All these galaxies we partially see, are only in our universe, he passed through them. With what speed did he go? The speed of light is 100,000 km per second. The distance from the Earth to the Moon is 188,000 miles and in one second that light comes from the Moon to the Earth. With what speed did Prophet (s) go? If he went at the speed of light, it would have taken him billions of years to penetrate the universe. And did he go alone or did he take his family and his ummah with him? Not for one moment did the Prophet (s) leave his ummah behind, always saying, “Ummatee, ummatee.”
So he was invited and he went, and Sayyidina Jibreel (a) was looking at these Buraaqs. He thought, “How to choose one?” as there were infinite numbers of them. In one second he reached the Prophet (s); in a moment he was there, but he reached Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa and said, “I cannot continue. Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah, you go alone as no one else is accepted.” But we are in his noor because we are created from the noor of the Prophet (s). Are we there? Inshaa-Allah! Sayyidina Jibreel (a) was looking for which one he has to pick, and he saw one of them continuously crying. He approached him and the Buraaq was looking down and crying.
He said, “Yaa Buraaq, why are you crying?”
Immediately he knows, “Yaa Jibreel, leave me alone.”
“No, why are you crying? I want to know.”
If Sayyidina Jibreel (a) asks any angel they must respond, but that Buraaq was too overwhelmed and crying. We respond immediately when we make mistakes.
That Buraaq said, “When Allah created us,” and we do not know when as there is no time in Paradise. Physicists found that time is imaginary, an imaginary dimension and most students know that there is no time. So scientists decided to divide the second and find how we can divide the second into fractions. When they began to fraction the second, they found it goes up to 10-22, that is a point with 22 zeros then a one. At that point, time disappears and everything is energy and those who studied that know what is the meaning of energy, Bahr al-Qudrah, The Ocean of Power. No time begins and no time ends.
The Noor an-Nabi (s), as mentioned in Ibn Asakir’s hadith and by many muhadditheen, was put in Bahr al-Qudrah, and when something turns it generates energy you can use for light and for air condition, as it is energy. So in Bahr al-Qudrah the Noor an-Nabi (s), yudawwir fee bahr al-qudrah bi sira`at laa yuhsaa, “It was turning in the Ocean of Power with a speed that cannot be described. From that Light, Creation was created.”
And before we lose the point, that Buraaq was created from Allah knows when, from no-time, maybe billions of times, zillions of years ago, we don't know, it might be in pre-Eternal.
That Buraaq said, “When Allah created us, Allah mentioned that one of us will be the one on whose back the Beloved will be riding. I have been crying from that time as I do not want to lose that chance. My tasbeeh has been written as Muhammad Rasoolullah and I was created to fulfill that position.”
Where is our love and where is their love? Sayyidina Muhiyyidin ibn 'Arabi (q) continued in his book, that Jibreel (a) said, “You are the one. Come with me,” and in one moment they were at the door of the Prophet (s). Do they need a door? No, there is no language, not English or Arabic that can describe it, our language is limited.
Jibreel (a) said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! Allah is inviting you, Allah is inviting His Beloved, the Prophet (s).”
What a greatness, what a greatness for Ummat an-Nabi (s)! We must be happy, you must be happy to say, “Allahumma salli `alayka yaa Rasoolullah, allahumma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad (s) wa `alaa aalihi tib al-qulooobi wa dawaaihi wa `afiyyatil-abdaani wa shifaaihaa.”
So the love of Prophet (s) is the cure of all our ailments. As the Prophet (s) was ascending, the Buraaq felt like he was falling and then the Prophet (s) held him. So who is holding who now? The Buraaq is carrying the Prophet (s) or the Prophet (s) is carrying Buraaq? That is still Israa, not M`iraaj. As the Prophet (s) was holding him, he could have gone directly to Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa, but he went to the First Heaven. Why? Doesn’t Jibreel (a) know that Allah invited him? Why did he take him to First Paradise, Second Paradise, Third Paradise and to all the rest? To salute him, for angels to know the qeemat an-Nabi (s), the value of the Prophet (s). The Paradises were decorated, there were processions and each Paradise has a different processions of angels, they are not the same, unlike us with the same copy. Each Paradise is decorated with something different. I forgot it, but Buraaq is reminding me.
“When he saw the Buraaq, the Buraaq was crying. And from every tear the Buraaq was crying, it is a pearl, and from each one Allah makes a palace for one of the Ummat an-Nabi (s) until all of Ummat an-Nabi (s) is finished.”
Man at-taariq, this is how we learned when we were young, “Who is knocking?”
“It is Jibreel?”
“Who is with you?
“Sayyidina Muhammad (s).”
“Has he been invited?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, you may enter.” That is how it is in seerah. “Of course he has been invited.”
“So enter.”
There, the honor that he received no one knows, and he went up to the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh (Paradise) and then no one knows how much more he went and Allah cannot be limited in Heavens. He created Heavens, He cannot be in something He created. He is Greater! Allahu Akbar, there are no limits! Although He will be seen in Paradise, but what will be seen? We don’t want to go there now.
So the Prophet (s) was raised until he reached a space that cannot move, Jibreel (a) could not continue, and Allah invited the Prophet (s) until he reached Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa, “Two Bows’ Length.” It means this is one bow and this is second bow, if we can explain like that. But is it that? He said, aw adnaa, “And less,” meaning nearer and nearer. So if we consider this much, when Allah said Qaaba Qawsayni he was able to reach “Two Bows’ and less;” and less here means more nearer. How much more nearer? If it is Two Bows’ Length you are so near. So what is nearer? It means the Prophet (s) disappeared. Allah sent his Siffat an-Noor, this is secret of Ism, an-Noor. Allah dressed the Prophet (s), and he became what? He became noor and noor can go anywhere; you cannot block the Light. This is to show `Azhamat an-Nabi (s). With all this that Allah gave to the Prophet (s) of greatness, what did he say? It is in the Holy Qur'an:
قُل لَّا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِلَّا الْمَوَدَّةَ فِي الْقُرْبَى
Qul laa as'alukum `alayhi ajran illa al-mawaddata fi 'l-qurbah.
Say (O Muhammad), "I do not ask you for a reward except the love of my family."
(Surat ash-Shura, 42:23)
He said, “Say to them that don’t understand laa as'alukum `alayhi ajran, ‘I dont ask anything of you but I want one thing from you: to love my family and to take care of my family,’” that is what will save us.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنِّي قَدْ تَرَكْتُ فِيكُمْ مَا إِنْ أَخَذْتُمْ بِهِ لَنْ تَضِلُّوا كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَعِتْرَتِي أَهْلَ بَيْتِي
O people! Indeed, I have left among you that which, if you hold fast to it, you shall not go astray: the Book of Allah and my Family, the People of my House. (Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah, Tirmidhi)
He made them near each other, Holy Qur'an and His Family! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar, `ala kulli man tagha wa tajabbar, Allahu Akbar on every tyrant and on everyone who creates problems! Love of the Prophet (s) is your safety and ticket to Paradise! Don’t drop from your life to recite at least 500 times darood on the Prophet (s). If you cannot at least 100 times, and if you cannot at least ten times. Allah loves His Prophet (s) and says if you pray on him one time He pray on you ten times, ten what? What is the meaning of salawaat? What kind of rewards, ajar are in these salawaat? What kind of Paradises these salawaat carry? O Muslims and O believers, keep love of the Prophet (s) in your heart, you will be saved. Allah said, it is easy:
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee.
I sit with him who remembers Me. (Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
If you want to translate literally, I don’t like to do that, but some people like to translate literally, it is, “I am sitting with the one who remembers Me.” Allah is saying, “I am sitting and am the Companion of the one who mentioned Me,” but for us, jalees here is ‘with,’ “I am with that one who remembered Me with My Mercy and Rahmah.”
They say, “Don’t do excessive salawaat on the Prophet (s), it is shirk.” Why does Allah make excessive salawaat on the Prophet (s) by ordering the angels to make salawaat on the Prophet (s)? Give me an answer. Allah ordered all His angels to make salawaat, so is that excessive salawaat? Show me one order in Holy Qur'an that says, “don’t do salawaat on the Prophet (s)” or “do only a little bit.”
So since the Prophet (s) was given that title, anyone who does salawaat on him will enter Paradise. Allah will give him back that reward. May Allah bless us, and forgive us, and make this masjid bigger and bigger.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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