24 Ramadan 1427/16 October 2006
A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ir-rajeem
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaadah, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid
Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-Rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum
I
n every story of Prophet e with Sahaaba there are jewels and these jewels need to be extracted to know what is right and what is wrong.
And he [Grandshaykh] said, “Is there more to be done from the disbelief of the unbelievers?” There is nothing more great than the disbelief of unbelievers. As we read the verse of Qur’an before,
إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاء وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَى إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
Inna Allaha laa yaghfiru an yushraka bihi wa yaghfiru ma doona dhaalika liman yasha’u wa man yushrik billahi faqad iftara ithman `adheeman.
Allah I forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth anything else, to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah I is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed. [4:48]
Allah I does not forgive anyone that associates anyone with Him and whoever associates with Allah I has deviated very far from the main line, as-siraat al-mustaqeem.
And he is asking, “Is there anyone more than shirk of the kaafir?” He said, “Yes there is. The one who sees himself as something.”
This is teaching adab. It means be very careful, that Iblees said, “I am better than him.” Iblees still believes in Allah I and never said that there is no creator, he was making sajda to Allah I in every hand span of creation. But when he saw himself, he was ordered by Allah I to make sajda and refused.
So there is one worse than kaafir; that is the one who sees himself. For example, I am a qaari, reciting Qur’an in a very nice voice. You can be a reciter and memorize Qur’an and don’t see yourself as better than others. Those who see themselves as better than others in what they are doing never repent because they don’t see that as a mistake. So he said, “The kaafir may repent one day and change his mind and become Muslim and convert, but the one who sees himself never understands that he must repent. So he dies and he sees himself and he will not repent.”
And I have that story of when I was driving Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? from Damascus to Beirut and that was in September at the time they have the [Christian] Eid as-Saleeb, the Festival of the Cross and you see all these crosses hanging in the street. So we were passing from the Christian district to the Muslim district and I said, “Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah that Allah I created us Muslim.” Mawlana said “Stop the car. I am getting out.” I asked, “What happened?” Mawlana said, “What you said, Allah I did not like. You are seeing yourself better than them. You must not see yourself as better than them, you are Muslim and they are kaafir. What if Allah I created you kaafir? You must see that Allah I created everyone with something they are happy with. So keep that with you and say, ‘O Allah I guide them.’ Not to see yourself as better than them. It might be the unbeliever one day will repent and Allah I will forgive him, as the Prophet e said, ‘al-Islam yajib ma qablaha.’ But the one who sees himself in every `amal he does he does not realize he must repent.”
And he says this story, Grandshaykh, may Allah I bless his soul: One day they entered, they were hearing a very nice voice of someone reading Qur’an inside the Ka`bah. Awliyaullah have a lot of stories, either they learn thru spirituality heart to heart or they learn it thru seerat an-Nabi, [the life story of the Prophet e]. There are many awliyaullah who receive confirmation of hadith of the Prophet e thru their meditation and visions, they ask the Prophet e.
One day there was a voice coming from Ka`bah of someone reciting Qur’an and he said, “min halaawat sawtihi, Sayyidina Ali y qad yadoob. Sayyidina Ali y was nearly about to melt from the sweetness of the voice of that person reciting Qur’an.”
On the other hand we see in hadith of the Prophet e when Abu Musa al-Ash`ari y was reciting the Qur’an in a very beautiful voice and he didn’t know the Prophet e is behind him and he turned his back and found the Prophet e was happy with his reciting and he said, “W'Allahi Ya Rasulullah e, if I knew you were listening I would have recited in a more beautiful voice.” That is not seeing himself but in order to make the Prophet e happy. Taghani bil Qur’an-recite the Qur’an in a beautiful melodious voice; give it the best of its sweetness. Taghani here does not mean to sing, but to recite in beautiful voice.
“From the sweetness of his voice, Sayyidina Ali y was about to melt. The Prophet e said to him, “Go and cut him in half.” Sayyidina Ali y hesitated, not due to hesitation to the order of Sayyidina Muhammad e, not due to hesitation, but because the Qur’an was near that man and if he cuts him he would cause blood to flow on the Qur’an and make it unclean—so he hesitated. And the whole of the Ka`bah,… if he cut him by order of the Prophet e, Sayyidina Ali y is able to cut the stone even.
Sayyidina Ali y out of respect, when he sees an old man or old woman, out of respect he does not do like us. What do we do? We go around them. Out of respect he goes [stays] behind them and doesn’t pass them.
One day Sayyidina Ali y saw an old woman carrying a basket with something in it. And he didn’t pass her. He felt a pity for that old woman and said, “O lady, please let me carry that basket.” She put it on the floor and said, “Yes, please help me.” He picked it up and it was so heavy he could not raise it up to his knees. He was surprised at how that old lady was carrying that basket that is so heavy. He went to Prophet e and asked him about that. He said, “Ya Ali y, Allah I ordered the whole dunya to be in that basket and sent that to earth to show that you are the Asadullah al-ghaalib.” That is weight of the whole dunya. That is what Allah I has granted to you to carry whole dunya up to your knees, he has that power. So think what if Sayyidina Ali y will cut that one, he will cut him from one side to the other. He was worried that the blood and intestines of that man will be thrown on the Ka`bah. He said, “Ya Ali y, be careful! Iblees hesitated one moment to make sajda and Allah I threw him out. Don’t hesitate! Cut him!”
So Sayyidina Ali y was trembling and he took his sword and cut him into two. Immediately. Not one drop of blood came out which Sayyidina Ali y was thinking would dirty the Ka`bah from inside. The upper half of the person turned into a dog and ran out of Ka`bah and from the other side the other half turned into a monkey and ran from the other side.
Allah I is showing the personality of that person was barking from one side and monkey from one side. Barking means always complaining and always backbiting people and the other side monkey means always running after bad desires and selfish desires, because monkey always run after sex, running after low desires. So the two characters of that person, he said that, “Anyone who sees himself is of that kind. Half of his personality is a dog and half is a monkey.” Then he said, “Ya Ali y go to your home.”
And then Grandshaykh wondering to himself, “ya`rifoon qira’at al-Qur’an, min ayn?” Their recitation if they see themselves, not like Sayyidina Abu Musa al-Ash`ari y, they recite and they don’t see themselves. There are qaaris in Arab countries and before they recite Qur’an, I know that and you don’t know that, there is one country, not the one you think about, they go and drink because they want to be high so that when they recite they give the nicest and sweetest voice to Qur’an in order that they [the audience] give them more money. So every time they are invited to recite they go and drink in order to recite in the best voice.
You want to recite Qur’an, that is ok but don’t see yourself. That is like the character which is one side dog and one side a monkey.
He said that, “No one heard Allah’s I recitation of Qur’an.” Even the Prophet e he heard from Jibreel u. He heard it in a different way, and the Sahaaba heard the Prophet e and the Tabi`een heard the Sahaaba and the whole Ummah heard not the Tabi`een, they heard the reciters' recitation. So in reality no one knows has heard the reality of Qur’an except Sayyidina Muhammad e.
He said that, “On the Day of Resurrection when Allah I is sending the believers to Paradise, He will be seen without any veil.” Allah I will be seen in Paradise as the hadith of Prophet e mentioned. And he said that, “Allah I will manifest himself to the believers and He will manifest himself under ismAllah al-`Adham I—Allah’s I Greatest Name.” That Name, with it anyone can say to something “be” and it will be. Then in Paradise, Allah I will manifest under that Greatest Name and under that manifestation He [Himself] will recite from Surat al-An`am.
He said that whatever we are hearing in dunya it is under manifestation of ismAllah ar-Rahman I, the Merciful. But in akhira, we will hear the recitation real under the manifestation of the Greatest Name, the recitation of Surat al-An`am.
That is enough for all time. With 3-4 lines Grandshaykh is showing us that bad characteristics will take us to bad endings. And worst of all is to see the self. Self is the most destructive thing in world. That made Iblees to disobey. The Prophet e said, “Don’t leave me Ya Allah I, to myself for the blink of an eye.” If the Prophet e is saying this for himself we have to be very careful.