Sufism and Tasawwuf - Naqshbandi Sufi Way

The Wisdom Behind the Night Journey

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

20 April, 2013 Lefke, Cyprus

Suhbah after Zhuhr

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`alaa fee haadha 'l-masjid.

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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-Nisa, 4:59)

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

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

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

I am not on authority, the one who is on authority is the one who can carry the responsibilities, the consequences and the difficulties. It is the one who is an ocean, in which the water remains clean no matter what you put in it. If you want to pray and the ocean is in front of you, do you search for tap water or use the ocean? When you immediately take water from the ocean without searching right or left as you would for the river or tap water. As much as you throw dirtiness in the ocean, the ocean cleans it, as Allah made it not to become dirty. Allah (swt) said:

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Verily, when He intends a thing, His Command is, "Be!" and it is (comes into being)!

(Surah Yaseen, 36:82)

Any other place such as a pond, gets dirty and is a small area of water that is not clean, but the ocean is always a place where you give what you cannot carry. What can you carry? Can you carry yourself or your sins? If you want to carry your sins you will never see one person standing up! It is impossible, as sins are very heavy in the Balance on the Day of Judgment. If that is heavier in the Scale and makes it go down, how will it not make your shoulders go down? So we need an ocean, because we cannot carry our difficulties and sins, and that ocean is like that ocean (Mawlana points to a mureed.) He can carry the crown, but you cannot carry yourself. So what do you need? If you could carry yourself, then Allah would not order you to make ablution to pray. You need to make ablution before you pray. As we said yesterday, making ablution is not like a mother saying to a child, “Wash your face, your hands and your feet.” It is not only “washing,” but washing with heavenly Light.

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Al-wudu `alaa ‘l-wudu noorun `alaa noor.

That is why Prophet (s) said: Ablution over ablution is light upon light. (Imam Ghazali)

It is that Light and Ocean that can burn and wash anything, but you need to go to the ocean as it will not come to you by itself. We go to the ocean, make wudu and then pray. Nothing can fall into the ocean and make it dirty, as it is always pure. Whether the waves are coming to the shore roaring or calm, the ocean is always clean and the waves are always coming and going. We should take this as a sign that “I am responding and coming to your invitation to carry your sins, to clean you and then going back.” That is why they dump everything in the ocean. So who is the ocean? The heavenly ocean who can carry the whole universe, the one whose name, body and spirit has been raised up.

Allah (swt) said (Qari `Abdur-Rahman recites):

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Glory be to He Who transported His servant by night from the Inviolable House of Worship (at Mecca) to the Remote House of Worship (at Jerusalem), the environs of which We had blessed so that We might show him some of Our Signs, for verily He Alone is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (Surat al-'Israa, 17:1)

Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! After such recitation, accept us yaa Rasoolullah! What is the wisdom of the Israa’ wa 'l-Mi`raaj? There must be something hidden that we do not know. There must be a situation for which the Prophet (s) has to be invited for an ascension and for an Israa` in order for him to carry a big responsibility. Allah is saying:

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O you who believe! Fear Allah, and (always) say a word directed to the Right: that He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins: He that obeys Allah and His Messenger, has already attained the highest achievement. We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the mountains, but they refused to undertake it, being afraid, but Man undertook it. Lo! He has proved a tyrant and a fool. (With the result) that Allah has to punish the hypocrites, men and women, and the unbelievers, men and women, and Allah turns in mercy to the believers, men and women: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:70-73)

Allah (swt) offered the amaanah to Earth and Heavens to carry and they said, “No yaa Rabbee, we cannot, we cannot!” but human beings due to their ignorance said, “We will carry it!” How can we carry a Trust when Allah is going to ask us, “Where is the Trust? I want it clean as I gave you!” If you give a trust to someone in dunya, he or she has to give it back clean, in exactly the same way you gave it. So how then on the Day of Judgment are we going to give it back to Allah (swt) when it is not clean? Allah (swt) will be unhappy! He will be what He wants to be, we do not know.

So what is behind this Israa’ and Mi`raaj? There must be something that Allah invited His `Abd, whom He has described with the Station of Worship, `Uboodiya. He has invited him to an ascension, to a place that is not in dunya nor in Heaven, to a place that is beyond the beyond as you cannot even say where. He was invited to a place that is not even a place, to a Presence whose responsibility can be carried only by him. Allah invited him to carry the ummah because the Prophet (s) is caring for the ummah. He is Rahmatan li ’l-`Alameen, as Allah said:

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Wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatan li 'l-`alameen.

(O Muhammad!) We have sent you not except as a Mercy for all the Worlds.

(Surat al-Anbiya, 21:107)

What does it mean by “Celebrate his Mercy?” That is the responsibility and power to carry the ummah on Laylat al-Israa’ wa 'l-Mi`raaj to dress the Prophet (s) with intercession, with the power to intercede for all human beings on yawm al-qiyamah, as they were not able to carry the Trust they were given. This is something that cannot be explained! The surah in the Holy Qur’an is called “Surat al-Israa’” not “Surat al-Mi`raaj,” for which there must be a reason; although the Mi`raaj is more important, the name of the surah is “Surat al-Israa.” The Israa’ is in the limits of dunya but the Mi`raaj is to Heavens and outside this world. The person who made the documentary for the “Celebrate Mercy” website is here, which has thousands and thousands of viewers.

So Allah (swt) wants to dress His Prophet (s) in order that he can carry the responsibility that his ummah is not able to carry, because He is going to ask, “Give Me back My Trust.” He wants to give Prophet (s) the power of Intercession so that he may be like a lawyer saying on the Day of Judgment, “Yaa Rabbee forgive them!” Allah wants someone who can ask and He may respond to by saying, “Ghafarta lahum.” Who can carry that other than the Prophet (s)? So when we say “Surat al-Israa,” it means to move within the limits of dunya. Therefore, “‘Israa” is something known but “Mi`raaj” is a secret. That is why the Prophet (s) was first usra bihi, taken from Masjid al-Haram, the Sacred Mosque, to Masjid al-Aqsa, the Farthest Mosque. This was to give those unbelievers evidences, “Look, you are from dunya so I am giving you evidences from dunya that I was taken from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa.”

We do not know about the Mi`raaj or how he was raised. Was he pulled by a balloon or was he in a rocket? No! Allah said, “Be and it will be!” He was coming with the Buraaq. Why did Allah send the Buraaq? Out of ta`zheem an-Nabi! Allah is saying, “Do not come to Me, yaa Muhammad, by moving in Ascension, but come with respect. I am sending you one the best of vehicles, created from the time when there was no time!”

Israa’ is bound by time from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa, but ascension is without time. Prophet (s) may have been moving in Ascension in space for millions of years and it may have been like one hour on Earth. That is because the bed was still warm when he returned and we cannot say he went with his soul only, that is for children. No! Allah (swt) took him up with his body, his spirit and his soul. When Allah decided to take Prophet (s), He honored him and sent for him a buraaq, which is the best of vehicles and an angel who is beyond any description. That angel was coming with salawaat, as is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an:

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Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him with a worthy salutation. (Surat al-'Ahzaab, 33:56)

The Buraaq was coming with that nobility and in processions, joining him in his ascension going up, if we can say that, gradually visiting and knowing everything. When you visit someone important they dress you with their cultural and national dress. When a president comes to a university to give a lecture, they dress him as a professor or Ph.D. in order to honor him. How do you think they dressed the Prophet (s) when he went to visit His Lord? Did they dress him with the dress of dunya? How did He dress the one whose name is next to His, Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah!

“Subhaan-alladhee asraa,” here Allah is praising Himself by Himself to Himself, as it is an extraordinary visit; one that is against the laws of physics, universes and Heavens for an `abd to go to the Divine Presence and reach Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa. What did He give in each Heaven? Why did he stop in each Heaven? In order to be honored! The angels continuously dressed him and every level of Heaven has a different dress, from the First to the Seventh. He has been given dresses to carry his ummah. We are ummatan marhooma, an ummah with a gifted Mercy where by remembering Allah (swt) and making tawheed, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah,” Allah will take our sins away by shafa`at an-Nabi (s) and that is what He wants. That is the way for honoring His Prophet (s) to intercede for us on the Day of Judgment and Allah will accept, as is mentioned in many ahadeeth of Bukhari and Muslim.

So Prophet (s) is the Rahmah for everyone, a Rahmah that we should celebrate. Who was celebrating Rahmah? When Sayyidina Musa (a) used to speak to Allah (swt), he would talk in a way that he was familiar with and out of love, as he is Kaleemullah, but Allah wants to show him, “There is someone higher and closer to Me than you.” Allah said in the Holy Qur’an:

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Wa lammaa jaa’a Moosa li-meeqaatinaa wa kallamahu rabbuhu qaala rabbee arinee anzhur ilayk, qaala lan taraanee wa laakin unzhur ila ’l-jabali, fa in istaqarrra makaanuhu fa-sawfa taraanee, fa lamaa tajalla rabbuhu li 'l-jabali ja`alahu dakkan wa khara Moosa saa'iqan, falamma aafaaqa qaala subhaanaka tubtu ilayk, wa anaa awwal al-mumineen.

When Musa came to the place appointed by Us, and his Lord addressed him, He said: "O my Lord! show Yourself to me, that I may look upon you." Allah said: "By no means can you see Me (direct); But look upon the mountain; if it abide in its place, then you shall see Me." When his Lord manifested His Glory on the mountain, He made it as dust. And Musa fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: "Glory be to You! To You I turn in repentance, and I am the first to believe." (Surat al-A`raf, 7:143)

Mashaa-Allah, he is calling Allah from Earth! Huwa khaatab rabbahu min al-ard, “Calling on Him from Earth asking Him.” He spoke with his Lord and on the mountain, not even on the peak and said,

“O Allah let me see You!”

Allah said, “No, that Station is not for you, but for Muhammad (s), haadhaa maqaam laysa lakum yaa Musa, bal huwa li Muhammad!”

Musa (a) said, “Let me see You!”

“No you cannot,” Allah said, “but to make you feel happy, you may look upon the mountain and if the mountain stays as itself, then you will see Me.”

When Allah sent His tajalli to the mountain, it was crushed and Musa (a) fainted. He said, “O Allah forgive me, I am the first of believers, anaa awwalu ‘l-mu’mineen.” Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) said, “I am the first of Muslims,” and Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “I am the first of believers in Muhammad (s).” That means Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) came with Islam and then it gradually went to imaan with Sayyidina Musa (a) and ended with Sayyidina Muhammad (s) with imaan and Islam. So Allah (swt) said to him, “You cannot see Me, as that is not for you.” Imam Nawawi (r) said in his tafseer of Sahih Muslim that Sayyidina Muhammad (s) in his Ascension was able to see His Lord with the eyes of his head. He was able to see what His Lord wants of the Divine Presence. Sayyidina Musa (a) could not go that far and said, “Yaa Rabbee I believe, I cannot go further as this is not for me.”

O People! ‘Israa is in the level of dunya, Allah took His Prophet (s) in that level so that he may show unbelievers, “I was able to move from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa.” After the ‘Israa is the Mi`raaj, urooj an-Nabi. It means to go in ascension step-by-step, Ma`arij. O Muslims, we must ask ourselves: is there just one Mi`raaj for the Prophet (s)? Allah’s Greatness is more than just one, as He gives more than that! To show His limitless Generosity, there are Ma`arij, many Mi`raaj whose limits are known to no one except Allah! The Prophet (s) is in ascension in every moment, there is a Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa higher than the previous level and that ascension never ends! The first Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa was at the capacity the heart could take, with the Dresses that they dressed the Prophet (s) all the way to Paradise, from one Level to another. Then he went to the first limits of Qaaba Qawsayni aw Adnaa, was dressed from the Divine Presence and went into another and another!

O Muslims, believers, I am very shy to speak about the love of Prophet (s) and the understanding of Israa’ wa 'l-Mi`raaj, as it is impossible to describe except in the way that the mind can understand, but the hearts of mu’mineen are so big that they can carry more of that Light. Allah (swt) said:

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Kuntum khayra ummatin ukhrijat li’n-naas taamuroona bi’l-ma`roofi wa tanhawna `ani’l-munkari wa tu’minoona billaah.

You are the best of people evolved for Mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:110)

All of you have that Light. May Allah forgive us and bless us.

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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