27 May 2017 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Zhuhr Suhbah
Allahumma salli `alaa Muhammad. Alhamdulillah, this is the first day of Ramadan, May 27, 2017. We used to count days, now we are counting years. Imagine, Allah (swt) saved all His Prophets and some of His Awliya by ordering the Earth not to eat their flesh. Their graves are from the Gardens of Jannah and no Muslim can deny that either a grave is a piece of Paradise or it is a piece of Hellfire.
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : إِنَّمَا القَبْرُ رَوْضَةٌ مِنْ رِيَاضِ الجَنَّةِ أَوْ حُفْرَةٌ مِنْ حُفَرِ النَّارِ
In the grave is either a garden from the Gardens of Paradise or it is a ditch from the pits of Hellfire. (Sunan at-Tirmidhi)
You have to think about no matter how much you have, how much you achieve and how much you run after your desires, you are going to face Allah (swt) before the Day of Resurrection: we have to face Him when the two angels come in our grave and ask us what we have done, that is the first step. What are we going to say? “Yaa Rabbee, we ran after our desires and needs.” No, we must put Allah first, Prophet second, Awliyaullah third, `Ulama al-Ummah fourth and the people fifth.
This Ramadan, abwaab al-Rahmah are open! This is the time of mercy that all Awliyaullah have been waiting for: abwaab min rahmah, abwaab min-maghfirah, abwaab al-`itkun min an-naar. No one can object that! The first ten days of Ramadan is mercy and when Allah dresses you with the mercy He dressed on His Prophet(s) when he became Rahmatan lil-`Alameen, He also dressed the Ummah. Because of too much fasad, corruption, killing and bloodshed, this Ramadan Allah (swt) is sending so much rahmah to balance what we are doing that He does not like and on the other side, He is erasing our sins and giving hasanaat in such meetings where we remembering Him.
They might say, “How do you know Allah is opening His mercy in this month?” Allah is opening His mercy in every moment! That is not discovering gunpowder, it’s there, everyone knows! We are not waiting for Him, but He is waiting for us. Look at the difference: we don't wait for Allah (swt) to come to us through His Beautiful Names and Attributes, we don't go to Him; that is the difference. If we go to Him by reciting “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” it is enough to enter Paradise!
So the first ten days is rahmah and who is rahmah? The title ‘Rahmatan li ’l-`Alameen’ means Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is the rahmah and that Allah will dress you with what He dressed the Prophet (s), who will request of Him, “Yaa Rabb, that `abd is doing from Sirat al-Mustaqeem, so dress him from Your mercy.” Then Allah will dress him from His mercy by making him a friend to Prophet (s), saahib an-Nabi (s). There are ashaab, companions, in dunya, the Sahaabah (r), and there are ashaab of Akhirah. We are hoping to be saahib an-Nabi fi ‘l-Akhirah: to be with Prophet (s) is what we are running after in order to accomplish something for ourselves, for our children and for our community.
No one can give what the Prophet (s) is giving to the Ummah: even if all Awliyaullah combine their power, what they give is only a drop of what the Prophet (s) is giving.
So the first ten days is mercy. Come and sit, drop the load of dunya, come by yourself as to be by ourselves is to be with the Prophet (s), with Allah (swt) and with Heavens, not with dunya. You cannot come with your load of dunya to Allah (swt), so drop that load, whatever part of dunya you are attracted to. Everyone has an ambition to have something from this dunya, even a wali and `alim. Everyone asks to have from dunya, but how do Awliya become Awliyaullah? They struggle with their desire for dunya as Shaytan comes to everyone, but as Allah (swt) said:
وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
And those who struggle in Our (Way), We will certainly guide them to Our Paths for, verily, Allah is with those who do right.
(Surat al-`Ankabut, 29:69)
We aren’t saying don't do anything in dunya, but keep a balance with one foot in dunya and one in Akhirah. Allah says, “Those who struggled in Our Ways,” and this Sufi Way goes along with Shari`atullah, the Message Allah gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s). This Tariqah is taking you to something you never dreamed of. Even in dreams you cannot see what they are taking you to: treasures of knowledge, and the treasures of “Those who struggle in My Way,” like you are struggling to come here to sit and listen. “Those who struggle in My Way, I will guide them.” That guidance is in every drop of your blood and every molecule, every cell of your body will be guided to what is best. Allah knows best, we don't know. Here is the affirmation: “For sure la-nahdiyannahum subulana, I will guide them to what I like.”
اذا احب الله عبدا جعل له واعظا من قلبه
If Allah loves a servant He will make for him a guide from his heart. (Daylami)
If Allah loves a servant who is struggling in His Way, He will give him a guide in his heart to guide him through his work, his business, and his life and will make sure that he will be happy at the end of his struggle. Awliyaullah don’t know when support is coming, they are asking for Allah to open it, then suddenly Inayatullah, His Care, or reeh as-sibaa, the heavenly morning breeze will come. Those who want Allah (swt) to give them something should be awake at that time and the morning breeze, that Inayatullah will come to you. When you smell that heavenly breeze it will touch your entire body, and whatever is spiritually or physically malfunctioning will be remedied. When we pass away and go into the grave, there they will welcome you and turn it into a Garden of Paradise, but that is on the other side. If you do not believe that, you would not come here! This is from Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama`ah.
Allah says, “We will guide them,” so then what are you expecting, not to be guided? Everyone who wished something and is struggling in the Way of Allah and keeps persisting in his du`a, Allah will offer him what he wants on a golden plate, so don't worry. Try your best to move in Allah's Way and you will see surprises. Allah (swt) is not closing His Doors to anyone; no, He is opening, and the best of struggling in His Way is against your ego, against any `addaad, opposites or something that opposes you from continuing your way, blocking you. Whatever you are doing you are blocked, but if you keep persisting and asking in your du`a, Allah will not only open for you in dunya, He will also reward you in Akhirah, and your treasures will be waiting for you there, as Allah says:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ مَا أُرِيدُ مِنْهُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ وَمَا أُرِيدُ أَن يُطْعِمُونِ
I have only created jinn and men so they may worship Me. No sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require they should feed Me.
(Surat adh-Dhariyat, 51:56-57)
Allah says, “I created ins and jinn to worship nothing else. I provide for them, they cannot provide for themselves if I sign it,” which means if Allah certified that person is real, “I will open for him what is in Heavens and Earth.” That doesn’t mean that those who make du`a but don’t get anything and see their problems remain did not accomplish anything. No, no, you are constantly rewarded: as long as you believe you must be an example among your people and your communities, Allah (swt) will open for you to be happy in dunya and Akhirah. Also to those who are around you, your children, your communities, if they continue to struggle, and remain patient, and persistent in their du`as, because of you Allah gives to everyone what they like by tahhamul al-addaad, to carry the difficulties, which is something you don't like, but you have to. These days you can use a laser and break that obstacle. Similarly, there is a heavenly machine that can open that blockage you face in your struggle to reach Allah: by reciting Kalimat at-Tawheed, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah.” That is our ticket to Paradise, to make our graves Paradise, and to make our dunya Paradise.
When Allah loves His `abd, either a man or woman, they will face all kinds of obstacles because Allah wants to raise them up and put them with the Prophet (s). Sayyidina Muhammad (s) was the person most abused by his own tribe, but he didn’t stop, he said, “If they put the Sun in my left hand and Moon in my right hand, I will not give that up.” They tried to kill him and Allah saved him. They were never able to touch him except in one battle, the Battle of Uhud, when they hit ruba`yaat an-Nabi (s) and broke his four front teeth.
Grandshaykh 'Abdullah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q) said when they broke the Prophet’s teeth and he bled, at that time Allah sent Jibreel (a) and told him, “If one drop of his blood falls on the Earth, there will be no more vegetation on Earth, everything will turn to desert.”
Jibreel (a) said, “Then I used all six-hundred of my wings that I never used before to catch Prophet’s blood and his four teeth.”
Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q) said if Jibreel had not, the world would have been a desert, with nothing growing on it ever. Allah will guide those who struggle in His Way, He will save them and protect them and although they find difficulties they are protected for their Akhirah, which is good for us, because if they want to judge us by our deeds in Akhirah we will be lost. O viewers, O Muslims, O People of the Naqshband or any Tariqah! Put on your forehead (resolve yourself) to walk in the Way of Allah (swt), to achieve benefit on behalf of the Ummah and to benefit yourself. Allah (swt) shows everyone a way, and everyone in dunya has different ways, not the same way. To quote a Sufi saying, “The ways to Allah are as numerous as the breaths of human beings.” The number of breaths multiplied by the number of human beings are the ways to Allah.
Subhaan-Allah, Allah wants to give us examples. Look at the navigation system: you are in a car and it says, “Don't go this way, the usual way, go another way,” because the system sees a traffic jam, so it takes you another route. Doesn’t Allah guide us like a GPS, finding ways to save us from difficulties? Of course, Allah has angels who are guiding His servants through different routes to come to the target. If you need a job or anticipate or hope for something, don't think Allah is not guiding you through His angels. You are a good person struggling in His Way, so Allah will open that way for you; it might open right, then left, depending on how they maneuver you to the point.
So when Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) asked Allah (swt) to open the door of Heavens, Allah sent him ilham, “Why are you asking?
Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) said, “I am asking out of love, I love you.” Every one of us says, “Yaa Rabb, I love you, forgive me,” but to forgive, what did Allah say to Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q)? “Leave your self and come to Me, don’t come with your ego.”
Because of his love for Sayyidina Yusuf (a), Sayyidina Ya`qoob (a) forgot love of Allah, so Allah made him wait thirty-seven years for Sayyidina Yusuf’s return. When he was in jail and interpreted dreams of the two prisoners, Sayyidina Yusuf (a) told one of them, “Remember in the presence of your king that I am still here.” Thirty-seven years later, Allah finally reunited him with his father, Sayyidina Ya`qoob (a).
If you persist and try your best in the Way of Allah (swt), as we said at the beginning, Allah will open as He did for His Prophet (s), but he was abused. When he went to Ta’if, the citizens sent children to throw stones at his feet and legs, which bled. Prophet (s) did not say anything, he did not object, he knew Allah was sending that as everything is in Allah’s Hands. So let us surrender ourselves, so that whatever Allah gives us we take and what He delays, we cannot say He does not give because He always gives, He is al-Kareem, The Generous One. He gives all the time, but some you can take now and some will take in the Hereafter. May Allah (swt) turn our dunya into `ilm and knowledge, love and happiness, and grant us to be with the Prophet (s) and the Awliya in Akhirah:
مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِم مِّنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ ۚ وَحَسُنَ أُولَٰئِكَ رَفِيقًا
With those whom Allah has blessed among the Prophets, the Siddiqin, the Martyrs, and the Pious Ones. What wonderful companions they are!
(Surat al-Nisa, 4:69)
Allah has already forgiven everyone from Ummat an-Nabi (s) before He sent them to dunya; we are Ummat an-Maghfoorah.
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ
You were the best of Nations evolved for Mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in Allah.
(Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:110)
“Kuntum” is the past tense, “you were.” That is the best Ummah sent to human beings, which means this Ummah accompanied all Umam. Why did Allah send Ummat an-Nabi at the end of humanity? Allah also sent them to guide everyone before, as Prophet’s Noor was with every previous prophet. His Ummah is holding onto the Prophet (s) from his hand, from his jubbah, to be with him, and of course the Prophet (s) will not leave his Ummah behind; they ascended with him in Laylat al-Israa’ wa 'l-Mi`raaj.
May Allah (swt) forgive us and my advice to you and to me is to persist in what we are facing, and inshaa-Allah Allah will open a door for us to be happy.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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