International Cultural Center (ICC)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Madad yaa Rabbee yaa Allah. Madad yaa Sayyidee yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Rahmatan li ’l-`Alameen. 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.
Nahnu qasamna, Allah said in the Holy Qur’an, “We are the One that provided everyone what We want them to take.” No one can take what someone else has unless it is Allah's will: outside His Will, nothing happens, makaroo wa makaru ’Llah, “They plan and Allah plans.”
وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللّهُ وَاللّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ
They plot and plan, and Allah also plans, but the best of planners is Allah. (Surat al-Anfaal, 8:3)
They plan thinking they can push their ways in, but Allah is The Best Planner, there is no planner above Him. That's why we must not object to any decisions that come! Allah (swt), aqaam al-`ibaad fee maa araad wa lahu ’l-muraad fee maa yureed. These are not our words, it is the words of big Awliya, aqaam al-`ibaad fee maa araad, “He establishes His servants according to His Will.” He doesn’t say, “This is a Believer, this is an unbeliever,” all of them are under His will, if He wants to make unbelievers Believers, kun fayakoon! Alhamdulillah that He made us Muslim! Aqaam al-`ibaad fee maa araad wa lahu ’l-muraad fee maa yureed, “Whatever He wants will happen and it will happen according to His Decree.” No one can change anything!
It's like you are in a boat or plane, there is a beginning for the plane to take off and an end for the plane to land, and no one can change the direction, but inside the plane you can go in any direction, you can sit, sleep, have food, speak, do what you want. This world is a huge plane with all its pleasures and whatever treasures it has, and people are running their affairs and some people have this or that problem, and about all of that:
لو كانت الدنيا تعدل عند الله جناح بعوضة ما سقى كافراً منها شربة ماء
If the value of this dunya weighed the wing of a mosquito, Allah would never give a cup of water for the unbelievers to drink. (Tirmidhi)
I was watching yesterday on the TV from Egypt, but I was in a rush; Shaykh Ahmad Sa`ad here can correct me. Egyptian scientists are clever because they bring examples from the Holy Qur’an and show how majestic and holy the Qur’an is. Scientists found that the head of the (small) mosquito which you cannot see, even you try to clap and smash it with both hands and it escapes in every direction, has a hundred eyes. Dr. Tasneem is an eye doctor, her patients have two eyes while a mosquito has a hundred eyes! I didn't continue watching the rest of the program about the stomach, the digestive system and eating, but it's amazing. A hundred eyes and you cannot see the mosquito, Allahu Akbar! Can they create a mosquito? They cannot! So we are doing what in this dunya? Eating pretzels? Eating pretzels with tasbeeh, yes.
Adh-dhaakireena ’Llaha wa ‘adh-dhaakiraat. If there is nothing in this association there is dhikrullah and as we said before, Prophet (s) said:
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: إذا مررتم برياض الجنة فارتعوا. قالو وما رياض الجنة؟ قال "حلق الذكر"
Ibn `Umar reported that the Prophet (s) said, "When you pass by the Gardens of Paradise, avail yourselves of them." The Companions asked, "What are the Gardens of Paradise, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied, "The circles of dhikr.” (Tirmidhi)
Grandshaykh (q), may Allah bless his soul, used to say when he didn't have anyone to speak to--because he was a fountain of knowledge he kept going--even if a young boy came he would give him a lecture. He said, “When I was in seclusion for five years by myself,” he was eighteen years of age, he entered seclusion for five years. What he saw there we won't mention now, but he had seven olives a day and a piece of bread the size of the palm of a hand, that's it. What was Prophet (s) eating? Most of his food was dates, of course, and bread, vinegar and oil in which he dipped bread when there was no other food. He didn't ask (for more), and we are eating all kinds of things and we ask for more. So this is hilaq adh-dhikr, mentioned in the Hadith Qudsi of Prophet (s), in which Allah (swt) said to him:
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
[Allah said to the Prophet], I sit with him who remembers Me. (Hadith Qudsi. Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
So Grandshaykh (q), may Allah bless his soul-- in seclusion you have awraad to do, dhikrullah, anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee--it means he always felt that love to reach The One he was remembering, Allah (swt). He said, “Sometimes it comes to me to talk to my turban, I want to talk.” When fuyoodaat, manifestations, come to their hearts they want to give them out. There was no one with him to give it to, so he put his turban on his knee and spoke to it, because when they are in that haal, state, like when Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q) cried and said, “Yaa Rabbee, open Your door for me,” kayf al-wusool ilayk, yaa Allah, “How to get to You?” and He said, jaa’a al-haatif ar-rabbani, qaal utruk nafsaka wa ta`al.” “Leave your self and come, if you want Me don't come with your self or your knowledge, come with the `ilm I gave you.” That is the important `ilm.
So when Awliya are in seclusion they feel that ability of the manifestation, and when it comes it opens horizons of knowledge for them. The heart is like a container and when it is full it overflows, so they want to empty it in order to fill it more, they want to give it out. Even if they don't speak, that manifestation comes on you because when you are sitting in their majaalis, it is like whenever Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) entered Sayyida Maryam's (a) niche and he found sustenance.
كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا الْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقًا ۖ قَالَ يَا مَرْيَمُ أَنَّىٰ لَكِ هَٰذَا ۖ قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
Whenever Zakariyya entered her niche, he found provision with her. He said, “O Maryam, from where do you have this?” She said, “It is from Allah.” Truly Allah provides whomever He wills with no account. (Surat Ali Imraan, 3:37)
What kind of sustenance, only food? Who was there, what company did she have? Company that provided her with Divine Knowledge. Wajada `indaha rizqa qaala yaa Maryamu annaa laki hadha qaalat huwa min `indillah. What comes from Allah? Potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers? [Food.] Yes, that comes, but the interpretation of that verse is, “knowledge comes.” What did Sayyidina Zakariyya do? He turned back and made a du`a in her room. Why there, when he can make du`a from anywhere? He intended to make du`a at an enlightened place so that he might become enlightened. So that's why when they say to you, “That shaykh’s maqaam is here, make du`a,” you are not making du`a to the shaykh, you are making du`a to Allah (swt). There is barakah and light in that Wali’s place. The example of Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) is not shirk: he went there and Allah gave him good tidings of his son Yahya (a).
Originally, ‘Yahya’ meant hayaat, hayaatun rabbaaniyyah. Sayyidina Zakariyya’s wife was Yasaarah, they took the Yaa from her name and she became Sarah, and with the Yaa, Allah gave life and rejuvenated her womb with Sayyidina Yahya (a). When Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) asked Jibreel (a), “How am I going to have a child? I am very old now.” Kadhaalik qaala rabbuk, Jibreel (a) said, “What is going to happen will happen.” He took a dry branch, showed it to Sayyidina Zakariyya (a) and said, “As Allah rejuvenates this branch,” and two green leaves came, as mentioned in Tafseer Ruh al-Bayaan: “As the leaves come, you will get a child.”
It was Allah's will, no one can stop it. Awliya have that when they are in seclusion or when a manifestation comes to them. Today everyone is teaching Ihya `Uloom ad-Deen; from where did Imam Ghazali receive it? He doubted everything, even his existence, then Allah opened knowledge for him! He used to pray behind his brother Ahmad and one day he was praying and when he saw his brother he didn't pray with him, he left, and his brother sent a message, “Why did you leave?” and he said, “Because you lost your wudu.” He said he didn't. He lost his wudu because he was thinking about a fatwa he had to give concerning blood. How did he know that his brother was thinking about the fatwa concerning ladies' periods? As soon as that came to his mind, he left the prayer. How did he know what was in the heart of his brother?
So Allah aqaam al-`ibaad fee maa araad, He puts everyone in their place, you cannot take the place of someone else. Surrender to Allah's Will. This is a time you sleep on something and next day you wake up on something else. There will be a lot of changes. Awliyaullah and `ulama are beginning to speak about the Signs of the Last Days. We are not going to frighten people, but it is for us to open our minds and perfect ourselves and build ourselves up. As long as we run away from cheating, deceiving, backbiting and making conspiracies against our brothers and sisters, if you avoid all that then Allah is Ghafoorun-Raheem. You don't take anything with you. Even if you are of high rank in the community, one day you will die and leave everything. Where does the soul go?
إنَّا لله و إنَّا إليه راجعون
To Allah we belong and unto Him we return. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:156)
We are going back, to where? To Allah's Mercy, yes. We have to go somewhere. If you are good in dunya then Allah forgives you for the sake of Muhammad (s) and you will be saved, you will go to the highest level. If we don't get that we are losers.
Today people are waiting for some information about their businesses or work, and they think only for their dunya, not Akhirah. You have to trade for Akhirah, also. We are losers! That's why Sayyidina Muhammad (s) said to Sayyida `Ayesha:
من حوسب عذب
(Yaa `Ayesha!) Who will be judged will be punished for sure. (Bukhari)
That's why he said, “Ask Allah not to judge you.” We are asking, yaa Rabbee, bi jaahi ‘n-Nabi (s), bi jaahi man yuhibbuk wa tuhibbuh an taghfir lana dhunoobana wa israafana fee amrina wa thabbit aqdaamana wa ’nsurna `ala ‘l-qawmi ’l-kaafireen.
Heavy days are coming, it's not going to turn back to normal life as it was before. Everything is going to move around rapidly. Things might change a lot. Satakoonu fitanun ka-qita` al-layli ’l-muzhlim. There will be a lot of fitna. Avoid going to the fitna, keep to yourself and your family.
May Allah (swt) forgive us. Yaa Rabb! What we are asking is not too much, what we are asking is Your forgiveness and Your love and the love of Your Prophet: for the sake of Your Prophet, for the love of Your Prophet, forgive us! Yamhu ‘Llah maa yashaa wa yuthbit wa `indahu ummu ‘l-kitaab. Allah can erase what he likes. Yaa Rabbee! Erase all our sins for them not to appear anymore, not today, not in the grave nor on the Day of Judgement. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar!
I was just coming here and got a phone call reminding me of Akhirah, because we need reminders. Sayyidina `Umar (r) put a reminder or alarm system in his house, a person at Fajr time to tell him to remember Akhirah. That is Sayyidina `Umar; he put someone to remind him although he is Khalifat al-Mu’mineen, no rank higher than that rank.
لو كان بعدي نبي لكان عمر
If there were to be a prophet after me, it would have been `Umar. (Tirmidhi)
“If there was a prophet after me, it would be `Umar, but there is no one.” One day after many years Sayyidina `Umar told his servant, “Thank you very much, you did your best for me.”
The servant said, “Did I make a mistake, yaa `Umar?”
He said, “No, I have one white hair in my beard now and that will remind me.”
We have a lot white hairs in our beards to remind us, but we have to listen to that, not to listen to Shaytan, leaving Allah (swt). So just when they called and told me, that phone call brought me back to remember the good days with the company of that person who left dunya, my brother, Dr. Mahmood Kabbani in California. He was from the high levels of society in his time, good family background, but all of us will leave dunya. Leave it smoothly by remembering Allah's Order to do your prayers, fast, pay Zakaat, go for Hajj, to show people happiness and smile in people's' faces, not to be arrogant and proud.
On the TV, for one year you watched what was going on (in the US presidential election). Politics made all kinds of bad things appear, politicians made accusations with bad manners, but we don't interfere in Allah's will, and we tell our people not to interfere, don’t say this or that. Aqaam al-'ibaad fee maa araad, it is His wish, His will. Are you going to change anything?
No one expected it, but those who know knew ahead of time. Those who are blind didn't see, not because it is good or bad, we don't look at that, we look at Allah's will. They look and they learn things that to them are obvious, they can see what we cannot see. I was watching TV on election night a CNN news anchor said, “Do you believe in miracles? If you believe in miracles, this is a miracle.”
To Allah it is not a miracle, aqaam al-`ibaad fee maa araad.He appoints whom He likes, He takes whom He likes. What concerns us is ourselves, nothing else. Build up yourself, don't follow your desires, follow Allah’s pleasures! May Allah (swt) dump us in the Ocean of Qudrah, Power, and keep us there with Prophet (s), to be able to say to something, “Be!” and it will be. Allah arham ar-raahimeen.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq, bi hurmati ‘l-Habeeb bi hurmati ’l-Fatihah.
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