Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
28 July 2013 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Fajr Suhbah
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`alaa fee haadha 'l-masjid.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. As-salaamu waajibun, to give salaam is mustahaab, is liked from the Prophet (s) and from Allah (swt), and it is also a sunnah of the Prophet (s). And salaam is to say to anyone...even when the ignorant people come to you, give them salaam and don’t dispute, give peace to everyone:
وَعِبَادُ الرَّحْمَنِ الَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ هَوْنًا وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ الْجَاهِلُونَ قَالُوا سَلَامًا
Wa `ibaadu 'r-rahmaan alladheena yamshoona `ala ‘l-ardi hawnan wa idhaa khaatabahumu 'l-jaahiloona qaaloo salaamaa.
The (true) servants of The Most Merciful are those who walk humbly on the Earth and who, when the ignorant people behave insolently towards them, say, "Peace be unto you."
(Surat al-Furqaan, 25:63)
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh! Salaams to all the viewers and those who are watching us at that moment here and to those who are here. We continue in this session about dhikrullah. Dhikrullah is the way we can save ourselves. It is said in al-Musnad in a marfu` hadith:
أَكْثِرُوا ذِكْرَ اللَّهِ حَتَّى يَقُولُوا مَجْنُونٌ
Akthiroo dhikrullahi hattaa yaqooloo majnoon.
Remember Allah (swt) so much that people start saying,“He has gone mad.” (Ahmad, Musnad)
Keep doing more and more dhikr until people say that you are a crazy one, because Allah will be happy and people will be thinking you are doing too much dhikrullah and, “O! You are a lazy person, you don't pay attention to dunya,” but Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) was doing excessive dhikrullah and still he was a big businessman, very rich. Sayyidina `Umar (r) was very rich--didn’t he do dhikrullah? They did dhikrullah. Sayyidina `Uthman (r) and Sayyidina `Ali (r) and all the Sahaabah (r), many of them were very rich and they did dhikrullah.
So from the many hadith we have mentioned about dhikrullah and we explained them in details, now we see what are the benefits of dhikrullah. There are too many benefits that a person can benefit from remembering Allah (swt):
1. First Benefit:
أنه يطرد الشيطان و يقمعه ويكسره
Annahu yatrud ash-shaytaan, “He will chase away Shaytan from your heart,” and this is the goal of Islam. Allah made it a test to see who will chase Shaytan away and who will listen to Shaytan. So first of all the benefit of dhikrullah is to get rid of Shaytan from your heart. The heart cannot contain anyone except Allah’s Light; Allah’s Light will be contained, and not fully contained by the heart of adh-dhaakir, Allah (swt) sends His Light to the heart of the one who remembers Allah (swt). So His Light is there and Shaytan cannot come; you will prevent Shaytan from entering as it will burn him. So the benefit is to throw away Shaytan. You broke him and suppressed him; he will be broken and cannot raise his head, because you are in a situation where your heart is dedicated to Allah alone.
They say Sayyidina Ya`qub (a) lost his son Sayyidina Yusuf (a) for many many years. Why? Because Allah (swt) wants to tell him...because he used to love his son so much as if his son is his life and he was crying and crying about losing his son until he became blind. Allah left him blind to teach him a lesson. Allah can teach His prophets and test them to see how much they will be patient. He was believing that his son is still alive, but he cannot…. He’s a prophet, prophets cannot know? They know, but Allah sometimes veils them; if He wants to make a test He veils them from seeing, except the Prophet Muhammad (s). So Sayyidina Ya`qub (a) was blind and he was crying continuously for his son and saying, “Yaa Rabbee, my son!” and according to some narrations he kept looking for his son for 37 years. Finally when he became blind he realized that his heart cannot contain two. He heard an angelic voice from Heavens through Jibreel (a), “Yaa Ya`qub! Your heart does not belong to you, it belongs to Allah and whatever belongs to Allah cannot have anyone else inside.” This is a sign to tell us that you cannot have two in your heart, you cannot have Shaytan there. When Sayyidina Ya`qub (a) realized his mistake Allah gave him back his son.
Sayyidina Ibraheem (a) was also in love with Sayyidina Isma`eel (a) and Allah wanted to test him, “Go and slaughter Isma`eel (a)! Go give him to Me as a sacrifice,” because he was so in love with Sayyidina Isma`eel (a) that his heart was going to shift. Awliyaullah say, “Love your shaykh, you love that wali, don’t love two,” because a windmill can get water to irrigate land, but it cannot irrigate two gardens, only one. So it is one. So the heart when it does dhikr can irrigate one place not two, one heart not two, as if you are irrigating two. So He said to him, “Go and slaughter your son, sacrifice your son for Me,” to teach him a lesson that, “No one can control your heart except Me,” and when Allah owns the heart, the heart is shining with dhikrullah.
What are angels doing in Paradise, are they sitting still? No, they are doing dhikrullah in different ways: some ways we know and some no one knows, and they are doing some in the way the Prophet (s) informed us and some ways are hidden. And Allah is continuously creating more and more angels, non-stop. You cannot say that Allah created and stopped, you cannot! He is al-Khaaliq, one of His Beautiful Names, The Creator. So He is creating more angels and more angels and more dhikrullah in different ways, in different ways, in different ways. In Paradise, why is there no Shaytan there? Because there is dhikrullah there.
Allah (swt) said:
وَأَشْرَقَتِ الْأَرْضُ بِنُورِ رَبِّهَا
Wa ashraqati ‘l-ardu bi noori rabbihaa.
And the Earth will shine with the Light of its Lord. (Surat az-Zumar, 39:69)
“When Allah shone His Beauty on Earth He shone many beauties on Heavens,” and shining His beauty in Heavens comes from the dhikr that the angels are doing. That is why Shaytan cannot be there. When Allah kicked Iblees out of Paradise he came back and entered in the form of a snake, that’s why anyone who has the character of Iblees is like a snake, as the character of a snake is to bite you. Be careful! If they bite us we lose. So dhikrullah has many benefits and the first is to chase Shaytan away, to break him and suppress him.
2. Second Benefit:
أنه يرضى الرحمن عز وجل
Annahu yurdi ‘r-rahmaan `azza wa jall.
It makes Allah happy with you.
It makes Allah satisfied with the dhaakir, with the one making dhikr. Allah likes from His `abd to mention Him. What does the hadith say?
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
Anaa jaleesu man dhakaranee.
I sit with him who remembers me. (Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
“I am with the one who remembers Me.” Allah likes that, He likes us to remember Him, He likes His servant to show love to Him, to show they are dependent on Him, to show they are in need for Him, to show that nothing can be done without Him, to show that their lives are in His Hand, to show that the only one who takes difficulties from them is Him, to show that we are in need for Him in dunya and we are in need for Him in Akhirah, there is no other way. Allah will be happy, annahu yurdi ‘r-rahmaan. What is better benefit than this benefit?
Everyone can say that they like to make his shaykh happy, coming to the shaykh and giving gifts, is it not? You don’t come empty-handed, you give gifts, and even any gift: expensive gift or reasonable gift or cheap gift, but you give a gift, you come with a gift. To Allah (swt) how can you come with nothing? You must come with a precious gift and He is saying, “The precious gift is to remember Me, to mention My Names, My Beautiful Names and Attributes that I will dress you with it.”
You don’t come to your family empty-handed. The children run to the door to see what you have, what you are bringing with you today. Chocolates? Allah has chocolates? He has rivers in Paradise of everything, rivers that are mentioned in the Holy Qur'an and rivers we don’t know: rivers of honey, rivers of milk, rivers of wine, rivers of everything, as in Akhirah it is allowed. He is preparing for the Muslims, for the mu’mins. You are happy? Smiling? Allah made wine in Akhirah!
فِيهَا أَنْهَارٌ مِّن مَّاء غَيْرِ آسِنٍ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِن لَّبَنٍ لَّمْ يَتَغَيَّرْ طَعْمُهُ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِّنْ خَمْرٍ لَّذَّةٍ لِّلشَّارِبِينَ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِّنْ عَسَلٍ مُّصَفًّى وَلَهُمْ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ
Feehaa anhaarun min maa’in ghayri aasinin wa anhaarun min labanin lam yataghayyar ta`muhu wa anhaarun min khamrin ladhdhatin li ’sh-shaaribeena wa anhaarun min `asalin musaffaa wa lahum feehaa min kulli ‘th-thamaraati wa maghfiratun min rabbihim.
In it are rivers of water incorruptible, rivers of milk of which the taste never changes, rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink, and rivers of honey pure and clear, in which they will have from all (kinds of) fruits and forgiveness from their Lord. (Surat Muhammad, 47:15)
He counted just now in the ayah of Holy Qur'an rivers of milk, rivers of honey, rivers of wine, ladhdhatin li ’sh-shaaribeen, non-intoxicating. Allah gave you these kinds of rivers which in dunya are haraam, as Allah wants to check if you listen or not. “If you listen I give you in Akhirah, you can taste.” Why is He giving? Because He wants you to be happy, because you are innocent. He gives you milk, and milk is sign of innocence. Muslims, mu’mins are innocent in their belief, they don’t make shirk to Allah (swt), they mention Him: Allahu ‘l-ladhee laa ilaaha illaa Huwa, there is no one except Him, ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem, 99 Names. We come with a little bit and He gives from His Oceans that never end and all of that by dhikrullah, and we have mentioned many different types of dhikrullah. So, annahu yurdi ‘r-rahmaan `azza wa jall, and Allah will be happy with you when you make dhikr.
3. Third Benefit:
أنه يزيل الهم والغم عن القلب
Annahu yazeelu ‘l-hamm wa ‘l-ghamm `ani ‘l-qalb.
When you are upset or sad or angry, because most people get angry and get sad and worried, and everyone has a difficulty, everyone wants his children to be successful, everyone wants to be good in dunya, but never do they come and ask to be good in Akhirah. We don’t ask, we only ask for dunya, we forget to ask Allah for Akhirah. So, dhikrullah takes away al-hamm and al-ghamm, sadness and worry; it takes it away from you, erasing it from the heart and making the heart happy and satisfied from dhikrullah.
So it is easy: as you go to work, also there is work to do well in dunya, to give you rizq, to give you success, to give you a good position, and to have a job, you have to do dhikrullah, you have to remember Allah, because He will do it for you. You cannot take your difficulties, you cannot say, “I applied for a job to seven universities and I got accepted by one.” Who made that university to accept you? Allah! You didn’t do it by yourself, don’t think yourself you are something. Allah gave you that. Allah gave you fame, Allah gave you high position. So do dhikrullah as much as you can.
4. Fourth Benefit:
أنه يجلب للقلب الفرح والسرور والبسط
Annahu yujliba li ‘l-qalbi farah wa ‘s-suroor wa ‘l-basat.
It brings to the heart happiness and joy.
Ee need a dictionary here: “Farah” is happiness and “suroor” is happiness (joy).
5. Fifth benefit:
أنه يقوي القلب والبدن
Annahu yuqawwi ‘l-qalb wa ‘l-badan.
It will give strength to the heart and to the body.
Every cell that you have is doing hidden dhikr, but we cannot hear. How?
وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدَهِ وَلَـكِن لاَّ تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ
Wa in min shay’in illaa yusabbihoo bi hamdihi wa laakin laa tafqahoona tasbeehahum.
There is not a thing but celebrates His Praises, and yet you don’t understand how they declare His Glory! (Surat al-’Israa, 17:44)
“Everything in this universe and in Heavens and from what Allah created is doing dhikrullah.” Tasbeeh is what? Dhikr. O those people who say, “Don’t do dhikr in jama`ah,” or “Don’t do in a loud voice, or silently,” Allah is saying in the Holy Qur’an, “Everything,” wa in min shay’in, “Everything in this universe, in Heavens, in everything that Allah created they are doing dhikrullah.” Wa in min shay’in illaa yusabbihoo bihamdihi, “Everything is glorifying and praising Him.” And what is that? It is dhikr, dhikrullah.
6. Sixth Benefit:
أنه ينور الوجه والقلب
Annahu yunawwir al-wajhi wa ‘l-qalb.
It will illuminate the face and the heart.
You will become like a spotlight. It is like a hive of bees and the queen is there: with the queen everyone gets honey, with dhikrullah you get honey, as it makes your face enlightened, illuminated, shining with no need for light to shine on your face. Allah sends you Light from His Endless Light so you shine, and it is not necessary that you see light coming out, but you will be attracted. That light that is hidden in your face can attract your heart to that person and that’s why he becomes a trap to attract people to that heart of the wali, because He makes his face shine like a spotlight. What do you see when you have spotlight? You see too many flies, running, running, butterflies and all these kind of beautiful butterflies with different colors, big ones and small ones. They like the light because they get energy from the light, their life comes from the light. So Allah will make you a butterfly shining with different colors, like a rainbow of colors and people will immediately be attracted when they see you, when you do dhikrullah.
I am not counting myself among them, I am using always...people ask me, “Why are you using books?” because I like to use books that are not from Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, they are from Salafi books, in order to say to them, “You write it in your books, but you deny it when you speak to people.” And this book is from Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, the student of Ibn Taymiyya. (...)
So Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah, of course they accept all these things--dhikrullah, intercession, mawlid, all the love to Allah and to His Prophet (s)--but Salafis are very literal, claiming, “No this, no that, it’s bida`, it’s shirk!” Yet this is from your own origin, from your own books! This is from Al-Waabil as-Sayyid min al-Kalam at-Tayyib by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. It is their book, not from our book. We take some from their book, not from our book, so they cannot deny it. They might say, “O! Our teacher made a mistake.”
7. Seventh Benefit:
أنه يجلب الرزق
Annahu yajlib ar-rizq.
It will attract rizq.
People ask for rizq, provision. You do dhikrullah you get rizq: annahu yajlib ar-rizq, “It will attract provision.” That is why awliyaullah give you daily awraad and in it is all dhikrullah. Don’t say, “I didn’t hear this and didn’t hear that,” you cannot hear everything; not even all the Sahaabah (r) heard the same thing from the Prophet (s). What this Sahaabi (r) heard is different from what that Sahaabi (r) heard. The Prophet (s) used to speak to groups, people coming and people going and he was speaking, so some of the Sahaabah (r) didn’t hear that hadith or this hadith, but they don’t deny it and they do what the Prophet (s) has said. So it brings rizq for you. When you say, “Yaa Razzaq!” is that not dhikr? Yes it is, and when you say it excessively what is the problem with that? Yaa Razzaq! Yaa Razzaq! Yaa Fattah! Yaa Fattah iftahlanaa khayra ‘l-baab, “O The Opener! Open for us the best of doors!” What’s wrong with that? It brings rizq for you.
8. Eighth Benefit:
أنه يكسو الذاكر المهابة والحلاوة والنضرة
Annahu yaksu ‘dh-dhaakira ‘l-mahaabata wa ‘l-halaawata wa ‘n-nadrah.
It will dress the one making dhikr with beauty, with sweetness and with delicious taste.
Look at the mirror and say, as the Prophet (s) used to say, “Alhamdulillah alladhee ahsana khuluqee kamaa ahsana khalqee, Praise be to Allah, Who has perfected my body, perfected my behavior, my manners as He perfected my body,” thanking Allah (swt) that He gave you this body, this face. Smile! (Shukr, yaa Rabbee!) Yes. Shukran yaa Allah, alhamdulillah. Allah will be happy, He will dress you with mahaaba, majestic power. He will dress you with that and when people look at you they will say, “O! Mashaa-Allah, this person carries something special,” and add on it halaawa, “sweetness,” so you become a sweet person and they like to eat you! (Laughter.) Because you are dhaakirAllah, you are making dhikr, people will love you and care for you and come to you to get from you a smile, and it will be enough and they will be happy with that.
9. Ninth Benefit:
أنه يورثه المحبة التي هي روح الإسلام ﻭﻗﻄﺐ ﺭﺣﻰ ﺍﻟﺪﻳﻦ ﻭﻣﺪﺍﺭﺍﻟﺴﻌﺎﺩﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﻨﺠﺎﺓ ﻭﻗﺪﺟﻌﻞﷲ ﻟﻜﻞ ﺷﻲﺀ ﺳﺒﺒﺎ ﻭﺟﻌﻞ ﺳﺒﺐ المحبة ﺩﻭﺍﻡ ﺍﻟﺬﻛﺮﻓﻤﻦ ﺃﺭﺍﺩﺃﻥ ﻳﻨﺎﻝ ﳏﺒﺔ ﺍﷲﻋﺰﻭ ﺟﻞ ﻓﻠﻴﻠﻬﺞ ﺑﺬﻛﺮﻩ ﻓﺈﻧﻪ ﺍﻟﺪﺭﺱﻭالمذﺍﻛﺮﺓ ﻛﻤﺎ ﺃﻧﻪ ﺑﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻢ ﺎﻟﺬﻛﺮﺑﺎﺏﺍ محبة ﻭﺷﺎﺭﻋﻬﺎ ﺍﻷﻋﻈﻢ ﻭﺻﺮﺍﻃﻬﺎ ﺍﻷ ﻗﻮﻡ
Wa annahu yuwarrathahu ‘l-mahabbah allatee hiya roohi ‘l-islaam...
He will give you love, He will build the love, spirit of Islam, in you.
There are people who have no love in their heart, they have tyranny in their heart, hate, jealousy, malice. They don’t like people to be better than them as they want to be the best and everyone else zero. When you make dhikr, Allah will give you mahabbah, love. What do you you think, love of Whom? Love of Allah (swt) and love of the Prophet (s)!
He ordered all His Creation to love Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and He will give you that power to love, because we are rude. It is very difficult to love except ourselves, and Allah wants us to love Him and love His Prophet (s) and to love Islam. The rooh al-Islam, the spirit of Islam is love, there is nothing else. So the dhaakir, Allah will give him the spirit of Islam not only to be a Muslim, but He will give him the secret of Islam, which means He will give him merit, give him that love as a gift so that Islam will flourish in him.
Wa qutbuhu raaha ‘d-deen, Allah will give you a grinder to grind everything that you dislike and take it away from you and give you what is fruitful for you in your life.
Wa qad ja`ala ‘Llaahu li kulli shay’in sababaa wa ja`ala sababa ‘l-mahabbata dawaam adh-dhikr, Allah made cause and effect for everything in this life: you do this you get this, and love cannot be but by dhikrullah. So do dhikrullah and you will get love: love to Allah and love to the Prophet (s).
So as we mentioned yesterday, do dhikr: SubhaanAllah wa ‘l-hamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w ‘Allahu Akbar, and in another narration it says to add, wa laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billahi 'l-`Aliyyu 'l-`Azheem. SubhaanAllahi wa bihamdihi, astaghfirullah al-`azheem wa atoobu ilayh, tawbatan `abdan zhaaliman li nafsihi, laa yamliku li nafsihi hayaatan wa laa mawtan wa laa nushoora, “repentance of a servant who is an oppressor to himself, who doesn’t hold the power of life for himself, nor death, nor of resurrection.”
Subhaan-Allah! Beautiful, eloquent words behind each other that you cannot translate. They have the Holy Qur’an...they say it is a “translation,” but we must not fall into this mistake as you cannot translate Allah’s Words with created words. Words are created, but the Arabic words of the Holy Qur’an are not created as it is Allah’s Ancient Words, and any other languages are created. So you cannot translate the Holy Qur'an which is Uncreated Words with created words, but they came with another word, “commentaries.” It means that no one really knows the meanings of Allah’s Holy Words as you cannot translate it. Even in Arabic language these words carry secrets. When you read Holy Qur'an it is dhikrullah. When you read Holy Qur'an, every letter you read from every word has infinite knowledge and you cannot limit it. It is oceans of knowledge into which Allah has put ta`weel of Holy Qur'an:
وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلاَّ اللّهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ رَبِّنَا
Wa maa ya`lamu ta’weelahu illa-Llah wa ‘r-raasikhoona fi ’l-`ilmi yaqooloona aamannaa bihi kullun min `inda rabbinaa.
No one knows the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an except Allah (swt). And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say, “We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord.”
(Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:7)
No one knows its interpretation except Allah! He is the Creator and raasikhoona fi ‘l-`ilmi, “Those who are firmly established in religion say, ‘aamannaa bihi kullun min `inda rabbinaa, everything is from Allah.’” So Allah gives them from time to time in their hearts and inspiration with a commentary, a ta’weel, a commentary that they didn’t know before. It comes like secrets, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly.
May Allah (swt) inherit (bequeath) us with dhikrullah, yuwaarithunaa, dress us with what an eye never saw, what a heart never imagined, what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no heart has understood or thought about!
مَا لاَ عَيْنٌ رَأَتْ، وَلاَ أُذُنٌ سَمِعَتْ، وَلاَ خَطَرَ عَلَى قَلْبِ بَشَرٍ
Ma laa `aynun ra'aat, wa laa udhunun sami`at wa laa khatar `ala qalbi bashar.
No eye has seen and no ear heard and never imagined (by mind), nor has it occurred to the human heart. (Sahih Muslim)
Inshaa-Allah we will continue next time, and there are so many benefits; there are 60 mentioned here, but there are thousands and thousands of benefits from dhikrullah. Do dhikrullah and you will be saved, you will be lucky, and for those who do not do dhikrullah may Allah guide them to do dhikrullah. And also may Allah guide us, because we are heedless!
فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
Fa laa tuzakkoo anfusakum.
Don’t praise yourself. (Surat an-Najm, 53:32)
Don’t praise yourselves. We say, “We are heedless, yaa Rabbee! Don’t judge us according to our heedlessness, judge us according to Your Rahmah.”
Bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
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