A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem.
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbi ‘l-`Alameen wa ‘s-salaatu wa ‘s-salaam `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een wa man tabi`ahu bi ihsanin illa Yawmi ‘d-deen wa `alaa saa’iri ‘l-Anbiya wa ‘l-mursaleen wa ‘l-Awliya wa `ibaadillahi ‘s-saliheen wa `alayna ma`ahum ajma`een, ya Arhamu ‘r-Rahimeen.
Laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billahi 'l-`Aliyyu 'l-`Azheem.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. `Azeez Allah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Kareem Allah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. SubhaanAllah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Sultan Allah.
Dastoor, yaa Sayyidi, yaa Sultan al-Awliya. Dastoor, yaa Sayyidi wa Mawlay. Madad, yaa RijaalAllah.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh, peace be upon you and God’s Mercy and Blessings.
Mashaa-Allah. May Allah (swt) always keep us at the door of Awliyaullah. May Allah (swt) allow us to be in their circle, to be able to take their path, the path of Rasoolullah (s).
My car was empty, the petrol. We have people from the UK here today. We have people from New York City, so petrol and gas are the same. It was empty. What do you do? I was on my way. I was trying to reach somewhere and the gas was going down until it reached empty. What do you do? You pull into a gas station. Which grade do you put in? Diesel, 87, 89, 91, 92, 93 and then there’s race fuel. You fill according to your engine.
It is the same thing with majalis ad-dhikr. From week to week you are on the road. To where? Jannah. You are trying your best to stay on the Sunnah of Rasoolullah (s), to stay on the teachings of the Holy Qur’an, to stay on the teachings of our masters, trying to be a good one as much as you can but it’s running to empty. What do you do? You charge up in the masajid. If you don’t go to the masjid, charge up at home. That is what salah is about. Or you charge up in majalis ad-dhikr, majalis of Awliyaullah. Look at all of these people coming to charge up. Why? So they can get something to help them continue on their way. Our master, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), always used to say that you have the moped, you have the 125 CC motorcycle, the bigger CC motorcycle, the cars, the trucks, the vans and then the big trailers, the semis. Each one takes a different kind of gas and each one takes more or less depending on their size.
It is the same thing, you have to come to majlis ad-dhikr, majlis al-`ilm, the association of knowledge, the association of advice, the association of remembrance. For what? To continue on your way. By the time Thursday comes in, Muslims are so into dunya that Akhirah does not come to their minds anymore. Then Jumu`ah comes and they come to the masjid for a few minutes. Some people just come for the fard. They pray two raka`ats and run away. Let them, at least they came to charge up.
Our masters have said, people have forgotten Akhirah. In the Holy Qur’an, Allah (swt) told Rasoolullah (s), asta`eedhu billah:
وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰ تَنفَعُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
But teach (thy Message) for teaching benefits the Believers. (Surat az-Zariyat, 51:55)
What do I remind them of? Remind them because remembrance will benefit the mu’mins. Allah (swt) said about the people of dunya in Surah Rum, asta`eedhubillah:
يَعْلَمُونَ ظَـٰهِرًا مِّنَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ هُمْ غَـٰفِلُونَ
They know but the outer (things) in the life of this world: but of the end of things they are heedless. (Surat ar-Rum, 30:7)
They are heedless of Akhirah, asleep. What happens if you are asleep at the wheel? You kill yourself and whoever is with you. Mashaa-Allah, there are so many guides nowadays. They are asleep at the wheel and the poor passengers are with them, depending on how many passengers they have taken. These Uber drivers drive 24 hours a day. We have NYC. Your colleague drives Uber there. He got into a crash a few months ago. He told me.
If you fall asleep at the wheel, you kill yourself and others. People are asleep from Akhirah. Mashaa-Allah, externally they know everything about dunya. Externally they know everything about dunya, ask them. From Japan all the way to Hawaii they know what’s going on. Akhirah? Most people don’t know. Muslims and non-Muslims are falling asleep from Akhirah.
When you come to majaalis adh-dhikr, they remind you of Akhirah. Our shuyookh remind us of Akhirah so when you leave here, you are fresh to start another week and then you come back to recharge. From Jumu`ah to Jumu`ah recharge. From prayer to prayer recharge. That’s what you need to do, O mu’min, otherwise you are going to fall asleep at the wheel and ruin yourself and whoever is with you and around you. Not only will you hurt yourself but you will hurt others. Wake up.
Most people wake up when it’s too late. Our teachers have said that so many people are asleep and when death comes, they say, “Oh, there is this thing too. What is this thing?” After death. Those who have forgotten about life after death, Eternal life, when they approach death and they reach death, they wake up. “Yaa Rabbee. We did not know about this,” or, “We were asleep.”
Messengers came to wake humanity up. Wake up. Don’t be too involved in this dunya. It is temporary. It is transient. It comes and goes. Make sure that you secure your Akhirah. Make sure you are aware of Akhirah and working for Akhirah. Don’t be like the heedless ones. Wake up. The ones who accept the message, wake up. They do their best. The ones who don’t accept the message, continue in what they are doing and then at the end they wake up but it’s too late at that time. There’s no return.
Awliyaullah and Anbiyaullah have come to remind us of what’s important. I heard this story from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) and I’ll share it with everybody. I always recite what our teachers have said. Asta`eedhu billah.
قَالُوا۟ سُبْحَـٰنَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَآ إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَآ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ
They said: "Glory to You, of knowledge We have none, save what You Have taught us: In truth it is You Who are perfect in knowledge and wisdom." (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:32)
Yaa Rabbee. Exalted are You. Subhaanak. There is nobody like You.
We claim that we are `aleem, knowledgeable. “I have knowledge. I am wise. I am hakim.” When you claim that you are `aleem and hakim, you are making partners with Allah (swt). You are All-Knowledgeable and All-Wise but I am also knowledgeable and wise. So many fools fall into that trap of Shaytan. They claim that they know. What do you know? You know what you read. What happens if your memory goes away?
Mashaa-Allah. When I pray Jumu`ah behind Imam Sahib, I get scared so I forget half the Qur’an. He doesn’t say anything but I feel his presence. When the memory doesn’t work, what happens? Where’s your `ilm? Gone. If you lose your mind and become paranoid and delusional and all that weird stuff that psychotics go through, what happens to your wisdom? Gone. When you say, Subhaanak, yaa Rabbee, I am not like You. Nobody is like You.” At the end even mala’ikah, angels, said that. Subhaanak, yaa Rabbee, there is nobody like You. We exalt You. We elevate You from being like us. He is Pure. He is Quddoos. Allah (swt) ‘s Name, Al-Quddoos, means The Ultimate Pure. We don’t know except what You have taught us. You are Al-`Aleem, The Knowledgeable. You are Al-Hakim, The Wise.
We start with that. Our knowledge is not our own, it’s what Allah (swt) has granted us from His Favors. Alhamdulillah, we have taken some of these stories of wisdom that our shuyookh have taught us in order to remember Akhirah. Don’t forget. In every majlis of `ilm they are reminding you of dunya. You go to take `ilm and they are teaching you how to become a congressman. They are teaching you how to protest. I’m not here for dunya. Mashaa-Allah, our imams go up on the stage. Why are you doing that? You are an imam. You are an `alim. What `ilm do you have? If you have `ilmu ‘d-dunya, you are ghafil from Akhirah. Ya lamoona dhahiran min ‘l-hayati ‘d-dunya.
They only know a little bit of the dunya life, the external dunya life but they are heedless of Akhirah. An `alim should not teach you about dunya, to run after dunya. That is not `ilm. That is ghaflah, heedlessness, unawareness of Allah (swt). Our `ulama, our shuyookh, our Awliyaullah that we have followed, teach us Akhirah.
If you go to a majlis where they teach you about dunya and how to excel in dunya and how to become a better speaker, leave them. They are not going to take you to Akhirah. They are going to keep you in dunya and in the hirs of dunya, and in the hasad of dunya and in the ghadab of dunya: the anger, the greediness, the envy and jealousy of dunya. That has no benefit.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) taught us to remember Akhirah. He told this story. Anbiya have come to remind us of the Hereafter. One time Sayyidina `Isa (a) and other Awliyaullah have narrated that it was Danial (a), but it was a Nabiullah. One Nabiullah was talking in the wilderness because it was their custom to travel to deliver the Nour that they have, the Nour of iman. That Nabiullah, `Isa (a), was travelling until he reached a mountain range. One of the mountains said, “Yaa `Isa. Come to me.” `Isa (a) followed. They are not afraid like us. We think it’s sihr, jinn, Shaytan, spirit, demon. No. Anbiyaullah have no fear.
ٱلَّذِينَ يُبَلِّغُونَ رِسَـٰلَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَيَخْشَوْنَهُۥ وَلَا يَخْشَوْنَ أَحَدًا إِلَّا ٱللَّهَ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ حَسِيبًا
(It is the practice of those) who preach the Messages of Allah, and fear Him, and fear none but Allah. And enough is Allah to call (men) to account. (Surat al-Ahzab, 33:39)
They deliver the message of their Lord and they are not afraid of anyone except their Lord. Anbiyaullah have no fear. You turn on all of the lights at home at 2 a.m. because you are afraid that somebody will come through.
He went to that mountain, trying to reach the noise. He found it was coming from a hidden cave. He entered and found a grave of pure gold. He looked with the gaze of Nabiullah and he saw the dead person. Under him he saw a mattress of gold. On his head was a crown of gold. On his neck were necklaces of gold. On his hands were rings of gold. He was full of gold. He heard a saying, “Read what’s on the tombstone.” He read that the one buried there was a king from the old times.
He said, “I am such and such. I lived 1,000 years. I married 12,000 ladies. I built up 40,000 cities. I ruled over vast lands, but I was unjust and I was an oppressor. All the wealth of these lands came to me. A famine hit us and I was hungry. I looked for someone to give me a cup of wheat in exchange for a thousand cups of pearls. I did not find anybody to give me a cup of wheat in exchange for a thousand cups of pears. I died of hunger. Remember the ones who have passed. Take a lesson from me and don’t allow dunya to cheat you as it cheated me. Nobody is going to carry my burden in the Hereafter.”
Can you live for 1,000 years? No. Can you marry 12,000 women? I don’t think you can. You can claim you’re Hercules but I don’t think so. Can you build 40,000 cities? You can’t. Can you rule over vast lands? You can’t. Can you get all the wealth coming to you? You can’t. Why are you aspiring for that? Nowadays they say, “We’re going to build cities. We’re going to do this and that. We’re going to live this long and that long.” Four years, six years, ten years, twenty years. How much do you have?
He was saying, “Don’t let dunya cheat you. The burdens I have from my bad deeds, nobody is going to carry them for me. I am going with that burden to the Hereafter.” It is said that the one who was deceived by dunya is the one that will be carrying such a heavy burden on his shoulders when he passes over Sirat, the Bridge. The heavier you are, the worse your condition is. What happens when the ship is drowning? They throw this thing off. “We don’t want to drown.”
What do you do? You throw this overboard. Get it out. If you have too much weight, you will follow. On the Sirat if you have too much weight of bad sins, bad deeds that they are doing and we are also doing some of that, not all of it, alhamdulillah. We are also sinners. There are the big sinners and the little sinners, al-kabaa’ir wa saghaa’ir. We are still sinners and nobody is going to carry that burden for you. You have to lighten your load. Get it off. That’s why he said, “Nobody will carry my burdens in the Hereafter.”
One Muslim king asked Waliyullah, “How do we come to Allah (swt)? When we arrive in His Presence, how is it going to be?” He said, “The one who was obedient to Allah (swt) when he arrives in His Presence will be like a traveller arriving into the loving arms of his family. The ones who are disobedient, it is like the fugitive that is coming to the arms of the government.”
I heard California is boiling. Everybody is afraid. They’re coming for you. The fugitive that is scared of coming to the arms of the government, that’s how you’re going to end up coming to Allah (swt). Choose. Either you come back like the one returning from a long travel back to his family with love and open arms or you will come back like the fugitive with shackles and chains.
These kinds of majalis remind you have Akhirah. Remember. Don’t be too much into the dunya. You’re not going to live for a thousand years.
وَلَتَجِدَنَّهُمْ أَحْرَصَ ٱلنَّاسِ عَلَىٰ حَيَوٰةٍ وَمِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا۟ يَوَدُّ أَحَدُهُمْ لَوْ يُعَمَّرُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِمُزَحْزِحِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلْعَذَابِ أَن يُعَمَّرَ وَٱللَّهُ بَصِيرٌۢ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ
You will indeed find them, of all people, most greedy of life,-even more than the idolaters: Each one of them wishes He could be given a life of a thousand years: But the grant of such life will not save him from (due) punishment. For Allah sees well all that they do. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:96)
Allah (swt) is telling you. These are not stories. This is for you to take in. They wish they can live for a thousand years and it is not going to move him away from punishment if he lives that long. It doesn’t matter if it’s one thousand, ten thousand or a hundred thousand years. It’s not going to take you away from that punishment if you are a disobedient one that wreaked havoc on earth, that burned on earth, that killed, murdered, maimed, trampled the rights of others on earth. What benefit are you? How are you going to come?
Take heed, O Muslim, O mu’min. Don’t go to the one who is teaching you how to excel in dunya. That is not saahibu ‘l-`ilm, a knowledgeable one. That is saahibu ‘l-ghaflah, the heedless one. Allah (swt) has said it in the Holy Qur’an. That is the man of ghaflah, not the man of `ilm. Go to the one who reminds you ofAkhirah.
Who was the biggest one to remind you of Akhirah? Rasoolullah (s). I read a Hadith today mentioned by Daylami in Musnadi ‘l-Firdaus. It was a footnote but it’s the best advice you can take. Rasoolullah (s), if the ruler knows what’s in Dhikrullah, he will leave his rulership. Also, the businessman. Mashaa-Allah, you have one now who is a ruler that became best friends with a businessman. If both of them knew what was in Dhikrullah, they would leave rulership and business altogether. He said, the reward of one tasbeeha, one “subhaanAllah, if it was divided for the people of earth, each one person would get ten times this dunya.
I thought, how can one tasbeeha, on SubhaanAllah, be ten times the dunya for each for each one on earth? Then I remembered the Hadith I heard from Mawlana Shaykh Hisham a long time ago. He said:
وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ تَمْلأُ الْمِيزَانَ
Walhamdulillahi tamlu ‘l-meezan.
I Googled it today. You have to follow up. Rasoolullah (s) is not without `ilm. He doesn’t throw things at you. There is an ocean that he has taken that from. Imam Muslim narrated that Hadith and I found it on Islam Web, the famous Wahabi site. Alhamdulillah, they said it’s sahih.
Alhamdulillahi tamla’u ‘l-meezan wa subaanAllahi wa ‘l-hamdulilahi tamla’u aw tamlaan ma fi ‘s-samaawati wa ‘l-ardh.
باب فَضْلِ الْوُضُوءِ
حَدَّثَنَا إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ مَنْصُورٍ، حَدَّثَنَا حَبَّانُ بْنُ هِلاَلٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبَانٌ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، أَنَّ زَيْدًا، حَدَّثَهُ أَنَّ أَبَا سَلاَّمٍ حَدَّثَهُ عَنْ أَبِي مَالِكٍ الأَشْعَرِيِّ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " الطُّهُورُ شَطْرُ الإِيمَانِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ تَمْلأُ الْمِيزَانَ . وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ تَمْلآنِ - أَوْ تَمْلأُ - مَا بَيْنَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَالصَّلاَةُ نُورٌ وَالصَّدَقَةُ بُرْهَانٌ وَالصَّبْرُ ضِيَاءٌ وَالْقُرْآنُ حُجَّةٌ لَكَ أَوْ عَلَيْكَ كُلُّ النَّاسِ يَغْدُو فَبَائِعٌ نَفْسَهُ فَمُعْتِقُهَا أَوْ مُوبِقُهَا " .
Abu Malik at-Ash'ari reported:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Cleanliness is half of faith and al-Hamdu Lillah (all praise and gratitude is for Allah alone) fills the scale, and Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah) and al-Hamdu Lillah fill up what is between the heavens and the earth, and prayer is a light, and charity is proof (of one's faith) and endurance is a brightness and the Holy Qur'an is a proof on your behalf or against you. All men go out early in the morning and sell themselves, thereby setting themselves free or destroying themselves. (The Book of Purification. Chapter: The virtue of wudu. Sahih Muslim 223, Book 2, Hadith 1)
SubhanAllah wa ‘l-hamdulillah will fill the Heavens and the earth. How much is between the Heavens and earth? Is it more than dunya or not? Have you ever looked at the world in the galaxy? Do you see the dunya in the galaxy? Put ten dunyas and look at the Milky Way galaxy. Will you spot dunya, the earth? Put ten billion dunyas in the Milky Way galaxy and expand to the other galaxies. Can you spot dunya? Put a hundred billion dunyas, a hundred billion earths and look at it from the perspective of the whole universe. Would you spot those hundred billion dunyas?
How many people are there on earth? Ten billion. If each one gets ten earths, that is 100 billion earths. If you put a hundred billion earths in the Milky Way galaxy or even in the andromeda and all the other galaxies, would you spot it? You wouldn’t. The Milky Way galaxy is not spotted when you are expanding the universe. I checked that a few years ago. They have discovered a vast amount of stars. The Milky Way becomes a dot. Your hundred billion earths will not be a dot in the Milky Way galaxy.
When Rasoolullah (s) said that subhaanAllah wa ‘l-hamdulillah will fill between the Heavens and earth. And for one subhaanAllah each person on earth will get ten times the size of dunya in Akhirah, you have to believe that. That’s why he said if the ruler knew what was in Dhikrullah, he would leave that. If the businessman knew what was in Dhikrullah, he would leave that. They would come to majalisu ‘d-dhikr.
Don’t forget, O mu’min, O Muslim. Your goal is higher than being on this chair or that chair. Your goal is higher than building 40,000 cities and having 10,000 women. Your goal is not that. That is for ahlu ‘d-dunya. They will leave it and go. What happens at the end? They become old. Have you ever seen a really old man, like 99 years old? Have you ever seen a picture of Prince Phillip when he was 99 years old? Have you ever seen a picture of Kissinger when he was 100 years old? He was in a wheelchair.
You try to get the dunya for yourself and what happens at the end? You have no power to take anything anymore. Don’t be like them. Be like ahlu ‘l-Akhirah, the ones who are busy with tasbeeh of subhaanAllah and alhamdulillah. We begin with Suratu ‘l-Fatihah, alhamdulilllah, and right away your meezan is full.
Awliyaullah have said that Sayyidina Dawud (a) asked Allah (swt), “Yaa Rabbee. Show me the meezan, the scale on the Day of Judgement that You will put for people.” Allah (swt) showed him one pan of the scale. It covered the east and west. He asked, “Yaa Rabbee. How can anybody fill this?”
He said, “You can fill it with half a date of sadaqah. If you give half a date of sadaqah, I will fill it for you. If you do one small deed, I can fill that meezan for you.”
When you say, Alhamdulillahi Rabbi ‘l-`Alameen, your meezan has filled up. Say, “Alhamdulillah,” for that. Alhamdulillah for Alhamdulillah. Look at the Favors and Grace of Allah (swt). Look at the Beauty and Love of Allah (swt) for us. May Allah (swt) always keep us on His Way, keep us among the dhakireen.
إِنَّ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ وَٱلْمُسْلِمَـٰتِ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ وَٱلْقَـٰنِتِينَ وَٱلْقَـٰنِتَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰدِقَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰبِرَٰتِ وَٱلْخَـٰشِعِينَ وَٱلْخَـٰشِعَـٰتِ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ وَٱلْمُتَصَدِّقَـٰتِ وَٱلصَّـٰٓئِمِينَ وَٱلصَّـٰٓئِمَـٰتِ وَٱلْحَـٰفِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَٱلْحَـٰفِظَـٰتِ وَٱلذَّٰكِرِينَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَٱلذَّٰكِرَٰتِ أَعَدَّ ٱللَّهُ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in Charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward. (Surat al-Ahzab, 33:35)
The ones who make dhikr, men and women, Allah (swt) has prepared for them forgiveness. Wa ajran `azheema, and a very grand (...) if Allah (swt) says “adheem,” “great,” how great is it? If Allah (swt) says, “I am going to give you a great reward,” you cannot even imagine. Great according to you might be up to a limit but if Allah (swt) says “great” it is different.
Be from the dhaakireen. That ayah is in Surat al-Ahzab. Read it. Allah (swt) is telling you the categories that you have to be in. try to be from them. I think there are ten groups. Try to be from each one of these groups because it is all in the five pillars of Islam. If you follow the five pillars of Islam, you will be from all these groups. inshaa-Allah, we can be like that. Ameen.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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