Suhbah After `Isha at Private Residence
Shaykh Senad:
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem, alhamdulillahi Rabbi ‘l `Alameen, wa’ s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een. Rabbee ‘shrah lee sadree wa yasssir lee amree wahlul `uqdatan min lisaanee yafqahoo qawlee, sadaqAllahu ‘l-`Azheem. As-salaamu `alaykum.
There is a saying among Muslims, a well-known one in Arabic, al-amru fawq al-adab, and it means that you know that someone who knows less should not talk in front of someone who knows more. But when someone who knows more orders the one who knows less, then he has to speak because the order is above adab or part of adab, and that is to follow the order of one who is in authority. So because of that rule I am accepting to say a few words, because Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Effendi said to do that in order to prepare you. But I don’t know how to prepare you! I know one story that probably you know, too. When one big, well-known `alim a long time ago somewhere in a mosque tried to speak and he could not, and each time before that he would speak fluently and inspiration would come and he would just keep speaking, but at that particular time he could not. And then he realized why he could not talk: among his attendees was Khidr (a), and because Khidr (a) knew more than him he could not talk. And so that rule applies to me and I cannot talk in front of someone who knows more, so I would stop at this point!
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham:
Salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillahi rabbi ‘l-`alameen wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `ala ashrafi ’l-mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin, wa `alaa aalihi wa saahbihi ajma`een. Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee ja`alanaa min ummati ‘l-Habeebi ‘l-Mustafa, `alayhi afdalu ’s- salaatu wa ’s-salaam. Wa an sharaafanaa bi an-nakoona min ummatihi wa an-nakoona min ikhwaanihi wa min ahbaabihi ’Lladheena aamanoo bihi wa lam yarawhu. Narjoo Allah `azza wa jall an naraahu fi ’d-dunya wa ’l-akhirah.
O Brothers and Sisters! This evening is 17 Rabi` al-Akhir and before that was the month of the Prophet (s), Rabi` al-Awwal, which we can say is “the month of Islam,” because the Prophet (s) is Islam. Inna ad-deen `indallaahi al-Islam, which means Prophet (s) is the one whom Allah (swt) sent as messenger and the Seal of Prophets!
I don’t claim to know anything as I am like a normal, ordinary person that Allah (swt) created and we are all equal. I like to know my limits, and before we begin I am asking for all of us to be at the feet of the Prophet (s) in dunya and Akhirah. Allah (swt) honored the Sahaabah (r) to be Companions of the Prophet (s) and no one can reach that level. Allah (swt) has also guided the scholars, the imaams that came after the Sahaabah, who showed the ummah their religion, and no one can be like them. And then slowly, slowly, we are reaching these days where we have fewer and fewer scholars of real knowledge that the Prophet (s) showed his Companions, and they heard the Holy Qur'an from the Prophet (s). Do we hear recitation of Holy Qur’an today with the same voice? No, today we are hearing the Holy Qur'an from reciters of Holy Qur'an. But is the Prophet (s) a reciter?
There are many reciters, and please allow me to use this example, who are not Arabs and still they memorized the Holy Qur'an, but they don’t understand what it says because they cannot speak Arabic fluently, they can only read it. Is their recitation and reading the same as an Arab reciter? They recite the same, but the non-Arab who did not study Arabic does not understand what he is reciting and the does understand. But if someone studied Arabic, he could understand when he recites from the Holy Qur'an.
It means there is difference in understanding and that even if you recite one ayah, one person will understand it different from another person, and some might not understand at all. So when the four guided imaams of Islam--Imam Abu Hanifa an-Num`an (r), Imam Shafi`ee (r), Imam Ahmad (r) and Imam Malik (r)--heard the Holy Qur'an and explained it, is it the same as normal people's understanding? So what the Sahaabah (r) understood of the Prophet (s)’s recitation of Holy Qur'an, that even the four imaams who heard the recitation of the Holy Qur'an and even they met some Sahaabah (r), were not able to understand the Holy Qur'an as the Sahaabah (r) did! When these imaams recited the Holy Qur'an, they understood it differently from our understanding today, and there is a difference of 1400 years between us and the Prophet (s).
Did anyone hear when Sayyidina Jibreel (a) recitation when he came to the Prophet (s) and when he was studying and reviewing the Holy Qur'an with the Prophet (s)? Do you think what Jibreel recited to the Prophet (s) is the same as a normal reciter's recitation of Holy Qur'an? That is why `ilm, knowledge differs from one person to another and why `ilm isn’t just studying the Holy Qur'an, hadith and tafseer! `Ilm is received by diving into the holy verses and taking from the knowledge that opened to those who are interested in the different meanings of different ayaat!
Today they make circles in the masaajid and they read Holy Qur'an, and there is one big reciter who reads at the beginning and they read a half-page or one page. Alhamdulillah that is very good, but can they understand like the Sahaabah understood the Holy Qur'an? Can they understand as the Prophet (s) said, “I was given the Knowledge of the Firsts and Lasts,” without diving in the ocean of the Prophet (s)?
Just now he mentioned a story of Khidr (a) and I will add to it. There was a shaykh who was not like shaykhs today who are only like parrots, reading and repeating what they memorized. In previous times there were big scholars who understood the tafseer of different verses of the Holy Qur'an. Once there was a shaykh of such a caliber sitting in the masjid, whose students were in front of him and he read Surat al-Fatihah and gave an explanation, Saying, “This explanation is for everyone.” And then he read Surat al-Fatihah and said, “This explanation is for `ulama, scholars.” Then he read another time Surat al-Fatihah and made an explanation and `ulama didn't understand what he was saying, because he was diving into that Ocean of Knowledge, and he said, “The only one who can understand is the man hiding behind that pillar.” They looked and saw an old man to whom no one gave respect, and he is one of those mentioned in the Holy Qur'an:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Alaa inna awliyaaullaahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.
Behold! Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Surat al-Yunus, 10:62)
Allah (swt) has saints that have sincerity and that one was one of them who could understand what the shaykh was saying. And I will give an example from the Sunnah of the prophets (a), which is as-siyaaha, to travel. The Prophet (s) often urged the Sahaabah to travel east and west in order to reach the maximum number of people around the world to spread Islam. And so Sayyidina Musa (a) was traveling, making siyaaha, and he reached a huge valley. He was not thinking about his food, because when you are going on a journey for Allah (swt) you must not take anything from mata ad-dunya, “material of this world.” Today we take all kinds of foods, snacks, debit cards, credit cards, and ID cards for the police if they stop to check you! Sayyidina Musa (a) did not think to take anything with him because they surrender (to Allah) and they begin their journey. He saw a mountain, and as he approached it he saw a cave and he heard voices coming from inside it that he could not understand, and he was afraid. How can Sayyidina Musa (as), a prophet, be afraid? He was teaching us, like when he was afraid from Fira`wn he said:
وَاجْعَل لِّي وَزِيرًا مِّنْ أَهْلِي هَارُونَ أَخِي
Ija`l lee wazeerin min ahlee, haarooona akhee.
Give me a wazir of my family, Haroon, my brother. (TaHa, 20:29-30)
He asked Allah (swt) to send one of his family with him because he felt fear in his heart when Fira`wn brought all the magicians who threw their sticks which became snakes. And Allah (swt) told him, “Don’t be afraid, haqq will be up and baatil will come down.” There is no way that the Prophet (s) will allow a person of this ummat to go to Hellfire; by shafa`ah of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) all will go to Paradise, (because we are on haqq).
So Sayyidina Musa (as) was afraid but that voice was attracting him and as he was approaching he was hearing someone reciting something. He wanted to know what was he reciting, he approached and saw a man in sajda and he was reciting:
الحمد لله اللذي َفَضَّلنْيْ عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَق تَفْضِيلاً
Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee fadalanee `ala katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdeela.
All praise be to The One that honored me over many of whom He honored.
(Du`a based on Surat al-Isra, 17:70)
You are honored because you came for praising the Prophet (s); there is no other reason we came here. If the owner of the house gives us food, alhamdulillah, but we are coming only to see each other for the love of the Prophet (s).
So he was reciting, “Praise be to Allah that He has raised me, honored me and gave me something that I am so happy to have, which many did not get, and He preferred me above others!” He was crying; tears were coming from his eyes like a river. Do you see the difference? Someone in the cave reciting that ayah, “Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee fadalanee `ala katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdeela,” has understood a different meaning than someone who is just reciting this from the Holy Qur’an, although they are the same words.
That man Sayyidina Musa (a) saw was reciting that verse of the Holy Qur'an that would be revealed much later to the Prophet (s). Subhaan-Allah, how did he know it? He knew it because when Allah (swt) revealed and taught the Holy Qur'an to the Prophet (s), in-turn the Prophet (s) taught it to all the prophets before they came to dunya.
الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ
Ar-Rahman. `Allam al-Quran. Khalaq al-insaan.
Ar-Rahman, Allah (swt) taught the Holy Qur'an, then created Creation.
(Surat ar-Rahman, 55:1-3)
To whom did He teach the Qur’an? To the one (s) who said:
كنت نبيا وآدم بين الروح والجسد , كنت نبيًا وآدم بين الماء والطين
Kuntu nabiyyan wa Adamu bayna ’r-roohi wa ’l-jasad, aw, kuntu nabiyyan wa Adama bayna al-maa’i wa ’t-teen.
I was a prophet before Sayyidina Adam (a) was between between soul and body (or in another narration, ‘between water and clay’).”
And to whom was he a prophet? He was prophet on someone because they must be prophets, and he saw them and told them what he wanted to tell, although we don’t know what.
So Sayyidina Musa heard that one, it might have been a test for him, and the man was saying, “Allah has preferred me over many,” and he was crying and crying because in his eyes this dunya (had no value), as Allah (swt) says:
لو كانت الدنيا تعدل عند الله جناح بعوضة ما سقى كافراً منها شربة ماء
Law kaanati 'd-dunya t`adila `indAllaahi janaaha ba`oodatan maa saqaa kaafirun minhaa shurbatu ma’a.
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.
If someone stands at that door and says, “All of you are going to die and you can't do anything to change it, you are going!” may Allah (swt) protect us! How many people build imaginary palaces to satisfy their eyes and yet they die of a heart attack? Dunya is leaving us and we are leaving dunya.
Sayyidina Musa (a) approached that man when he was in sajda, because ibaadah is sajda. If you want to be called “`abd” you must be in sajda. Allah (swt) wanted to teach the angels that `ibaadah is sajda and He ordered them to make sajda to Sayyidina Adam (a) because of the Light of the Prophet (s) in his forehead. That is sajda of ihtiraam, respect, whereas sajda of worship is only for Allah (swt).
When that man felt Sayyidina Musa’s presence behind him, he moved from sajda and lay on his back. Sayyidina Musa saw that he had no arms, no legs and he was in sajda, saying, Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee fadalanee `ala katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdeela, “All praise be to The One that honored me over many of whom He honored.” Look at the Greatness of Allah (swt); when He wants to love His servant, how much He gives him! That man did not think, “I have no arms or legs,” but Sayyidina Musa (a) thought, “How can this one eat and drink?” At that moment a deer appeared and suckled the man with its milk! Allah (swt) sent him food.
Bewildered, Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “O my brother what is going on? You have no arms or legs and you are thanking Allah (swt) for preferring you over everyone else. How can that be?”
He said, “Yaa Musa! Allah (swt) gave me something that He didn’t honor many others with and I am so grateful for that. If I pray day and night I cannot give Allah (swt) the right He has given me.” With no legs and no arms still he was thanking Allah (swt).
Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “What has Allah (swt) given you?”
He said, “Allah made me Muslim and that is enough, that He preferred me over many!”
Allah (swt) made us and many others Muslim, and although He gave us health and wealth, arms and legs, still we are not happy and we complain. That one with no arms or legs is still thanking Allah (swt) and not complaining.
O Muslims! Be happy that you are Muslim as that is what Allah wants from us! After the man said that, Sayyidina Musa (a) raised his hands and said, “Yaa Rabbee! Give him Paradise.” What would you want more than a prophet praying for you to be given Paradise? And as soon as he had said that seven hyenas came and ate that man, and he was saying, “Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee fadalanee `ala katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdeela,” reciting that ayah until he died.
Sayyidina Musa (a) said, "Yaa Rabbee! What is this? I asked You to give him Paradise and You sent hyenas to eat him?"
Allah (swt) said, “O Musa! I take My saints to My Highest Paradise after I give them difficulties and tests. I sent him the last test, hyenas to eat him, and he submitted.”
O Muslims! Everyone reads with a different understanding; what I read is different from what he reads and what he reads is different from what the others read, but that doesn't mean one is higher or lower. No, still we are all equal, as Allah (swt) said:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ
إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
Yaa ayyuha ’n-naasu innaa khalaqnaakum min dhakarin wa unthaa wa ja`alnaakum shu`ooban wa qabaaila li-ta`arafoo inna akramakum `inda Allaahi atqaakum inna Allaaha `aleemun khabeer.
O Mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has taqwa. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (al-Hujuraat, 49:13)
So whether you have written a book or not is not important, because `ilm is not what you write in a book; rather, it is whatever different inspirations the Prophet (s) gives that people need to hear. Don't think we are alone here! Allah (swt) is with us. Huwa ma`kum ayna maa kuntum, “He is with you wherever you are,” and He is with us now. How can we say Allah (swt) doesn't love us? He is with us and He loves us!
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ
Wa laqad khalaqna ’l-insana wa na`alamu ma tuwaswisu bihi nafsuhu wa nahnu aqrabu ilayhi min habli ‘l-wareed
Indeed, We created the human. We know the whisperings of his soul and are closer to him than the jugular vein. (Surat al-Qaf, 50:16)
So how do we claim that Allah (swt) is far from us? No, Allah (swt) with His Tajalli and His Greatness, Allah's Hand with His Power, and all the different characteristics of His Beautiful Names and Attributes is with the jama`at! So how can we say He is far away? Allah (swt) has honored Mawlana Shaykh Senad, and Allah (swt) honored His Prophet (s) when He said in the Holy Qur'an:
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 was sallimoo tasleema.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him. (Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:56)
What kind of salawaat? Is it like the salawaat that we do or is it different? How many forms of salawaat do we know; a hundred, a thousand, five-thousand? That is few in respect to Allah's Greatness. When Allah (swt) says, Inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabiyy,” no one can understand its greatness because Allah (swt) is “al-`Azheem, above Every Imaginable Greatness”, from His Infinite Names!
About the verse, inna-Llaaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabiyy, “Allah ordered His angels,” Imam Abdul Wahhab ash-Sha`raani (r) said in his book, “Allah (swt) didn’t specify how many angels, so it means ‘all His angels,’ which expresses past, present and future, i.e., every angel that Allah (swt) is continously creating, and when Allah creates it is with His `azhaamah, that nothing can be compared to His Greatness!”
It means Allah (swt) is creating angels every moment and they are ordered to make salawaat. And it is not from His Greatness that each time the angel recites salawaat on the Prophet (s), it must be a different salawaat. That means the second time the angel makes salawaat on the Prophet (s) will be different from what he made before and different from every other angel, and he will never repeat the same salawaat. `Azhaamat an-Nabi, the Greatness of Prophet (s) comes from `Azhaamatillah, the Greatness of Allah (swt)!
So awliyaullah want us to dive in these Oceans of Knowledges, but to do that you have to look back in history and find books that contain the knowledge that shows us how to enter in those oceans, that first you have to kill your ego, the self. What did Allah (swt) ask Sayyidina Musa’s people to do to forgive them when he came down from the mountain and saw them worshipping the cow? He ordered them, faqtuloo anfusakum, “Kill your self (ego).” It means you cannot be given any haqaa’iq, spiritual knowledges and realities, if you don't kill your ego!
That is why at the end of the hadith about Islam, Imaan and Ihsaan, the Prophet (s) replied to Jibreel, “The State of Ihsaan is to discipline your self.” How do we discipline our self without diving in these Oceans of Knowledge? One example to show us how little we know is this Earth, which has been rotating on its axle for millions of years, but what fuel does it need and Who is making it turn? Go drive your car without gas; you will be stuck in the middle of road, and yet the Earth has orbited for millions of years and never complained, “I am tired of rotating with these ignorant people.” Only Allah (swt) says to it, “Rotate!”
If you can answer how it is turning on its axle then you may be considered an `alim, and no one knows the answer, just as no one knows why the Sun is constant in its place or how the Earth orbits the Sun fully in one year. Now they make theories about these things, but what about the facts?
I read in the seerah of the Prophet (s) that once at zhuhr time Sayyidina Bilal stood to give adhaan and the Prophet (s) said, “Don’t call adhaan yet, it is not the time,” and one second later he said, “Call adhaan now.” The Sahaabah (r) were surprised and the Prophet (s) said, “Between when I said, ‘don’t call adhaan’ and ‘call adhaan,’ the Sun moved 500 million years and came to its place!”
Our Sun is the image of the real Sun in the Fourth Heaven, and the Ka`bah we see is the reflection of the real Ka`bah of the Bayt al-Maamoor in the Fourth Heaven! Your reality is also in the Divine Presence and your image on Earth its reflection! So to dive into what is in the hearts of awliyaullah, we have to get rid of our ego.
I would like to repeat what we read yesterday from Abdul-Wahhab ash-Shara`ani (r), who explained, suwarin min amraad an-nafs, wa kaana yaqoolu an-nafs idhaa ja`at ka ’t-tifl ad-da`eef, “When you get hungry, your nafs becomes grouchy and is moved to eat.” wa idhaa shaba`at hiya ka al-asad al-muhtaree, “And when you are full, you are like a ferocious lion.” Wa idhaa ghadabat fa hiya ka ’l-mulook al-jabaabira, “And when you get angry, you become like tyrant kings,” meaning that you cannot see anyone else is important, you see they are nothing. Wa idhaa ashtahad shayin fa hiya ka ’n-nimr, “And when you desire anything, you are like a lion.” wa idhaa ammanat fa hiya ka ’n-nimr, “(that) when it feels safe, it becomes like a tiger.” wa idha `aasat fa hiya ka ‘sh-shayateen, “And when it sins, it becomes like devils.”
These are the bad characteristics of the ego. If you really want to learn the reality of knowledge, seek those whom Allah (swt) has described in the Holy Qur’an:
وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ
Fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem.
Above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Yusuf, 12:76)
Try to make your ego submit to Allah (swt), like that man who recited in the cave, Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee fadalanee `ala katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdeela, “All praise be to The One that honored me over many of whom He honored.” Recite that ayah as much as you can, thanking Allah (swt) that He made us Muslim. Try to get rid of your ego.
Imam ash-Sha`raani (r) also says, kaana yaqool min `azham al-akhlaaq al-mureed an yatahamal min adhaa an-naas, “The greatest level of good character of the seeker is to carry the bad character of people (harm and hatred).”
Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur'an:
وَجَزَاء سَيِّئَةٍ سَيِّئَةٌ مِّثْلُهَا فَمَنْ عَفَا وَأَصْلَحَ فَأَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ
Wa jazaa sayyiatin sayyiatun mithluhaa faman `afaa wa aslaha fa ajruhu `ala ’Llahi innahu laa yuhibbu ‘zh-zhalimeen.
The recompense of a sin is a sin like it, but whosoever forgives and seeks to reform, his wage will be with Allah. Surely, He does not love the harm-doers. (Surat ash-Shura, 42:40)
May Allah (swt) grant us to forgive others and to make up with each other.
Wa min Allah at-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
http://www.sufilive.com/rnd.cfm?m=4183
© Copyright 2012 Sufilive. This transcript is protected by international copyright law.
Please attribute Sufilive when sharing it. JazakAllahu khayr.