Sufism and Tasawwuf - Naqshbandi Sufi Way

Humility Cannot Be Learned from the Internet

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

22 June 2012 Los Angeles, California

Suhbah at the International Institute of Tolerance

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Alhamdulillah that Allah (swt) gave us life to see this holy month of Sha`baan. It’s an honor for me to be here today by the invitation of Imam Ashraf, whom I have known from a long time ago, and how he has done his best for the community and inshaa-Allah he will continue doing that. I would like to say one thing, which I was not told to say, and that is to donate generously to keep this Daaru ‘l-Arqam running. Daaru ‘l-Arqam was the first place the Prophet (s) used to teach his Sahaabah (r), who were yet few in number, and today in this place I feel like we are in Daaru ‘l-Arqam; only a few people are coming, but they are of the best quality of Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah! There might be other places for Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, but here I feel peace.

Islam is based on humbleness and the Prophet (s) was the most humble one. In a hadith, the Prophet (s) said to his Sahaabah (r):

?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???? ???: ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ????: ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?????, ???? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ???????

Alaa ukhbirukum bi ahli ’l-jannah? Kullu da`eefin mutada`afin. Law aqsama `ala Allahi la-abarrahu. Alaa ukhbirukum bi ahli ‘n-naar? Kullu `utullin jawaazhun mustakbir.

Shall I inform you about the People of Paradise? (They will be) every weak and oppressed person. Were he to swear by Allah, Allah would fulfill his oath. Shall I inform you about the People of Hellfire? (They will be) every violent and arrogant person.

(Narrated by Haritha bin Wahb. Bukhari, Muslim)

Today this is a jannah, a Paradise on earth! Here we are seeing a simple wall-to-wall carpet, not a Persian carpet, although one day inshaa-Allah it will be a Persian carpet, but this is to say that Ahlu ‘l-Jannah, the People of Paradise, are humble as they like to be in a place where they are honored by Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s)! When you love someone, sometimes that one will honor you, which is a sign of love to Prophet (s) and to Allah (swt), Who honored us with a place where people are humble and coming, then there are other places where you see the rich do not want to mix with the poor. In Islam you can be rich and have a big house, that is not a problem, but what counts is the masjid to be the most humble.

Humbleness is what Prophet (s) told his Sahaabah (r) about, saying, “Do you want me to tell you about the People of Paradise?” Everyone wants to know about the People of Paradise in order to do what they are doing and not to have a high ego. The Prophet (s) raised his Sahaabah (r) on humbleness, which is known as Tazkiyyatu ‘n-nafs, the Purification of the Self.

Tasawwuf is the core of Islam, nothing else; it is the discipline that teaches how to improve ourselves in order to reach moral excellence and to increase the good in the hearts of people. Learning how to pray and fast is fiqh, which is something people can now easily go on the Internet and learn about; however, you cannot learn how to be humble on the Internet. For example, you may take a course in Chemistry and learn the several type of formulas and their applications, but if you don’t experience it yourself by adding the correct measurement in the formulas, you will not truly understand the reaction that’s taking place. So tasawwuf gives you an understanding of the things that are taking place and how you are going to improve yourself, like in a residency; you can’t practice medicine without completing your residency, which is the experience.

So the Prophet (s) wanted to show his Sahaabah (r) and all of us how to become from Ahlu ‘l-Jannah, the People of Paradise. He asked them, “Do you want me to tell you about the People of Paradise?” Do you want to hear that hadith, yes or no? This is not yet Jumu`ah, so you can speak as it’s a lecture, but during the khutbah you can neither speak, laugh or joke, because if you laugh you have to renew your wudu as when you are in prayer.

Prophet (s) said, kullu da`eefin mutada`af, “The People of Paradise is every humble person who humiliates himself for the benefit of others.” The People of Paradise are not arrogant and stubborn-minded, nor those who think themselves to be the leaders in Islam. If they want to be leaders they have to follow the way of the Prophet (s), which is the way of humbleness, to humble and humiliate themselves. Not only that, but the Prophet (s) said, mutada`af, “increasing in humbleness,” to be like soil.

How have scholars or students of awliyaullah in the past defined a wali? A wali is like earth; if you step on him he doesn’t say anything, he simply accepts. How many awliyaullah have they stepped on and killed because Ahlu ‘zh-zhaahir, the People of Outer Knowledge didn’t understand the hearts of such saints! They spread false accusations and tried to boycott them and killed them in the end. So the Prophet (s) wants his Sahaabah (r) to understand that this is not the case and that they must be humble, because as much as you humble yourself, you will be raised in Paradise. The importance of good leadership is humbleness. Although Allah (swt) gave the Prophet (s) the highest level, he was the most humble and we are ordered to follow his footsteps!

???? ??? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????????? ???????????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ??????????? ???????? ??????? ????????

Qul in kuntum tuhibboona 'Llaaha fattabi`oonee yuhbibkumullaahu wa yaghfir lakum dhunoobakum w 'Allaahu Ghafooru 'r-Raheem.

Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:31)

Allah (swt) ordered His Prophet (s), “Say to them, O Muhammad, ‘If you love Allah, follow me! Allah will love you.’” How many follow the Prophet (s) in humbleness? They might follow in prayers or fasting, but this takes them only to a certain level. If you want to increase your level, show humbleness to everyone and don’t say, “I’m the leader,” say, “I’m nothing!” We are all the same with eyes, noses, ears, heads, and hearts, so you must not see yourself (as being different or better).

In an authentic hadith, the Prophet (s) said:

?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?????

Rubba ash`ath aghbara law aqsama `ala Allaahi la-abbarah.

There may be a disheveled, dusty person who, if he swears an oath by Allah, Allah will fulfill it.

(Bukhari, Muslim)

Perhaps there is someone like this among us here who you might think is a disgusting-looking person with filthy clothes, coming from the door to pray, and you say to him, “Your clothes are full of grease, you are going to ruin our carpets!” You might look at that greasy-haired man and say, “Who is this?” but to Allah (swt) he is better than everyone! If he says, “Yaa Rabb!” Allah will say, “Yaa `Abdee, O My Servant!” If he asks anything, Allah will give him. Today people don’t look at that. Rather, they say whoever wears a tie, a vest, or who has a handkerchief in his pocket is higher, and, “O! An important person came.” That is not an important person, that is the worst person!

We come back to the hadith where the Prophet (s) said, “Do you want me to tell you about the People of Hellfire?” Now be careful as he said, kullu `utullin jawaazhun mustakbir, “The People of Hellfire are those who are ignorant,” not without knowledge, as you can easily buy a book and read, but ignorant in the relationship between you and Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). Ahlu ‘l-Jannah are not like that; if they ask Allah for anything Allah will give, but Ahlu ‘n-Naar are arrogant and proud of themselves! Such people are not important to Allah (swt) because they are mutakabbir, arrogant, thinking themselves to be the best. To Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s), they are the People of Hellfire.

How many today think they are important, while to Allah (swt) a poor person might be more important than anyone else!

I will read a hadith by Bukhari and Muslim, which many people might not have heard before. It is good to mention this hadith here as it is a message for you, me and everyone around the world:

??? ??? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ????:? ?? ??? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ?????:? ?"??? ???? ?? ???????"? ?????:? ??? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?? ??? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?? ???? ?.? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ????? ?? ?? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?????:? ?"? ?? ???? ?? ???????"? ?????:? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?? ?? ???? ??????.? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?????:? “??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??? ????"? ?(??(????? ?????)??)?

A man passed by the Prophet (s), so he asked a man who was sitting near him, "What is your opinion about this man?" That man replied: "He is one of the noblest men. By Allah he is certainly a proper person for (a girl) being given in marriage if he seeks to marry, and his recommendation is fit to be accepted if he recommends." The Messenger of Allah (swt) remained silent. Then another man passed. The Messenger of Allah (swt) enquired, "What is your opinion about this man?" He replied: "O Messenger of Allah, he is one of the poor Muslims. He is not a proper person (for a girl) to be given in marriage to, and his recommendation would not be accepted if he makes one; if he speaks, he is not to be listened to." The Messenger of Allah (swt) said, "He is better than the former by earthfuls!" (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

The Prophet (s) was sitting with one of his Companions (r) on the street by the mosque or by his house when a man passed by. The Prophet (s) looked at that person and asked the one sitting beside him, “What do you think of this man who passed by?” He was a high, elite person in the community to whom everyone ran; an aristocrat.

He replied, “Yaa Rasoolullah! This man is from the highest community. If he asks anyone to give his daughter in marriage to him, everyone will run to him and accept without question. If you ask him to intercede for you, to speak with leaders or anyone on your behalf or to do work for you, no one will put his recommendation down. When he says something, it happens.”

The Prophet (s) did not say a word. After that another man passed, and the Prophet (s) said, “Okay, now what do you think about the second one?” And he said, “Yaa Rasoolullah!”

(Someone passes around a collection box for the masjid.) Give generously! This masjid needs your help and your support. You are giving your money to buy your house in Paradise, which is very cheap, because in dunya you cannot buy a house or even a shack for $20, $30, or $100, but you can buy a house in Paradise for that price!

So going back, the Prophet (s) asked the one sitting next to him, “What do you think about this second one?” He said, “Yaa Rasoolullah! This is a man from the poorest of the Muslim community, he has nothing. If he seeks to find a girl for himself, no one will give him.”

I am saying this because this is our culture, Pakistanis, Indians, Lebanese, Arabs, Egyptians, South Africams and Muslims everywhere! “If you have money, come in, we will give you our girls. You’re not rich? Put him in the dustbin, no need for him!” They ask you, “What work do you do?” and if you say, “I don’t work,” or, “I work at the flea market,” they will tell you, “Go away, don’t come here!”

But Prophet (s) said, “This man is from the poorest community and if he recommends someone to another, no one will listen to him, as to them he is garbage. If he says anything, no one will listen to him!” I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t like to be introduced (before giving a speech), because if you introduce someone who is going to give an advice, a lecture or a khutbah, the ego will step in and you feel like a peacock from within, thinking, “I did this, I did that.” If people want to listen they can; if they don’t, I will be the one to pray with them and listen to any speaker. Unfortunately, today we are see written in front of names, “Mufti,” “Sahib,” “Dr.” “PhD,” “Mawlana.” What is the benefit? Nothing, it only brings up the ego.

So if that second man who passed in front of the Prophet (s) says anything, no one will listen to him. Look at what the Prophet said, O my friend, and this speech is for us when the Prophet (s) is saying, “If the whole earth is filled with the first one, who is rich and sits at the head of every table and thinks he is good, to Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s) this poor man is better than all of them!” Here is a lesson to us: don’t be arrogant. Don’t say, “I know,” as Allah (swt) said:

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Fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem.

Above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Yusuf, 12:76)

The Prophet (s) is saying that this poor person is better than all those whom you praise! And in another hadith the Prophet (s) said, “On the Day of Judgement the men who come to be judged are rajul as-sameen (with a fat, big body, or full of richness or things no one can have; he is big with what he has) and al-azheem, great (he is known in the community, everyone runs to him to say, "You have a good center, masjid, school and you are teaching what you are doing;" he is proud of what he did) but his value is not that of a wing of a mosquito.”

It is not me who is saying this, it’s Rasoolullah (s); it’s a hadith muttafakin `alayh, which means it is narrated by Bukhari and Muslim. Today if you say, “Narrated by Ibn Habban, Abu Dawood, or this or that,” they say, “No, give us Bukhari and Muslim!” It’s not only them; there are eight different muhadditheen! How can you ignore them all and say, “I only accept Bukhari and Muslim.” Islamically that is not accepted as you have to accept them all.

So on the Day of Judgment those heavy ones will have many dunya medallions; they made masaajid and schools for their own benefit and said, “You love the Prophet? Go out!” or, “You are on the fringe of loving Prophet (s), so we might accept you.” Everyone must say, “We love the Prophet (s)!” and no one can say, “I don’t love the Prophet (s).” That one will come in front of Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgment thinking his value weighs a lot, but the Prophet (s) says that his value is not even the weight of the wing of a mosquito!

O Muslims! Run away from being an imaam, because on the Day of Judgment the imaams are going to carry everyone on their shoulders. That is why I don’t like to be imaam; I only speak if I have to. But it will be barakah if you have hundreds and thousands of imaams like Imam Ashraf, because they have love of Prophet (s) in their hearts! You go to other masaajid and see the imaams going on the mimbar to give khutbah wearing jeans, or with tie and suit. If you want to be a khateeb, at least come dressed Islamically!

As mentioned before in the hadith by Muslim, there might be someone whom they push out of the door, do they not do that? We have to be careful. Someone whom we don’t like because his face does not look nice might come through the door and we may say to him, "Next time don’t come to my store, my business, or my school!” Doesn’t this happen?” The Prophet (s) said, “Don’t do that because he might be one from many, that if he asks Allah (swt) for anything, Allah (swt) will give him; to Allah (swt) that person is accepted!”

This was a warning to make us aware and to be careful. Now to make it easy, I will end with this hadith by giving happiness to everyone. The Prophet (s) said:

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Ghaniyyun shaakir khayrun min `abdan faqeer.

The rich thankful one is better than the poor worshipper.

If a rich, thankful man or woman, someone to whom Allah (swt) gave wealth, who spends in the way of Allah (swt), is better than the poor who sit in the corner of the masjid day and night in worship, because the poor one cannot not help anyone, but the rich one can. This is for those who are rich and helping, because that poor worshipper is lazy and doesn’t want work. The other one is working, so Allah (swt) is giving him, after which he gives in the Way of Allah (swt) to make this possible here. All of this here did not come from nowhere, without money, it came from investment in the Way of Allah (swt) from rich ones who donated.

In the other interpretation of the hadith, the one who is rich in knowledge, humbleness, generosity and moral excellence is better in value than that one who is poor, looking and asking only for dunya. The one who is looking for Akhirah is rich, whereas the one who is looking for dunya is poor. May Allah (swt) make us rich in dunya and Akhirah, because Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:

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Rabbanaa atinaa fi'd-dunya hasanatan wa fi ’l-akhirati hasanatan wa qinaa `adhab an-naar.

O our Lord! Give us goodness in this life and goodness in the Next Life, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:201)

Make our dunya akhirah and our akhirah akhirah, meaning, “O Allah! Don’t make us love dunya too much because we will lose, but rather make us love akhirah!” To show that you love akhirah you must do good and have good `amal. If your `amal are not good, that’s a sign that you are not a good Muslim, or that you didn’t reach perfection. You are a Muslim or mu’min, but you didn’t yet reach perfection, and perfection is needed!

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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