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The Lion and the Donkey

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

20 February 2010 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

Suhbah before Salaat adh-Dhuhr

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`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.

Ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)

First of all, I am not claiming to speak that I know something, but I am taking from the notes of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and from those teachings that Allah (swt) made easy and made available for me and for everyone. Most important, as we said in the previous session, is not only to read books, like doctors who spend three to four years reading books and memorizing, but at the end of those studies to get training. Lawyers go for training after finishing law school, and all kinds of professions need training. If you are a plumber and someone is helping you, he is a laborer, not a professional, but later he will become a plumber. You need a trainer; without training you cannot learn anything. Without a direct physical and spiritual connection with a trainer, the one learning cannot learn if there is no connection. You can see a lot of these on TV, “talk shows” on Islamic issues or whatever it is; it is good, it is nice, but if you don't have a direct connection with them to train you during daily life, you cannot learn.

Prophet (s) said in his hadith, law anna al-mu'min `ala raasi jabalan la-qayadullahu lahu`alim (aw kamaa qaal). If a believer (someone asking for Allah [swt]) is living secluded on top of a mountain or in the jungle with no one around him--and Prophet (s) is as-Saadiq al-Masdooq, (The Truthful, The Believed); he doesn't speak but the truth--he said that Allah (swt) will put for him an `alim, assign that guide to teach him even if he is on top of a mountain. And in another hadith, if there is no one to train him, then Allah (swt) will make from his heart a wa'iz, a guide to advise him through spiritual inspirations. So Allah (swt) will not leave anyone without a guide.

Look at the greatness of the hadith of Prophet (s), law anna al-mu'min `ala raasi jabalan la-qayadullahu lahu`alim. If a mu'min is at the summit of a mountain, meaning someone who is asking to learn, Allah (swt) will send someone to teach him; it means Allah will not leave anyone without guide! And Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) said that awliyaullah are ordered that they must appear to that person on top of a mountain, to give him guidance throughout 24 hours. They are under obligation to go to someone in a jungle, forest or on a mountain; there must be a wali to teach them.

These powers are granted to our shuyukh, that if they are not mingling among people, people will lose their energy and finally they will become completely like someone who is dying. Awliyaullah are where no one is seeing them, mingling around people wherever they find them around the globe. In 24 hours if a person didn't see a wali, though he doesn't know him, he might see someone on the street, in a boat, on a plane, he must see a wali to give him power or else he will be completely down (depleted)! And this corresponds to the hadith of Prophet (s), that if someone is on top of mountain then Allah (swt) will send someone to guide him or Allah will send him inspiration through his heart, a wa'iz.

Many people say, “I had inspiration from my shaykh.” These inspirations are always coming so that the mureed or student, or believer, Muslim, or even non-Muslim, receives these messages in order to do act on it throughout their lives. You must know these good inspirations that come to you and that you give to people don't belong to you. Don't claim them for yourself, or then you will be like Iblees: he is proud and claiming everything as from himself, because he said, “I am better than Adam. You created me from fire and him from clay!” That is a sickness in all communities and in everyone. Always people say, “I am better than the other.” No one can bow his head to the other. You cannot find a person to say, “Yes, sir”. Where do you find people who say, “Yes, sir”? In the military. Why? Because of discipline. Undisciplined people think, “Who cares what he says? I know better.” When you feel that tendency in yourself, how are you going to accept guidance from others?

We are here 10, 50, 60, 100 people, or 10,000 people, whatever, but even two people cannot accept from each other. Do you accept from your father's teaching? (I am trying.) You are trying. Do you accept from your father to say, “Yes, sir?” (No, sir.) Do you accept to say to Mawlana, “Yes, sir?” (Yes.) No one accepts to say, “Yes, sir,” except those who have been disciplined. Do they accept in the military to say, “No, sir?” No, then you will be punished. Why is their punishment accepted, but awliyas' punishment is not accepted? They say, “You didn't say, 'Yes, sir;' go to prison.” What happens? You become trained to say, “Yes, sir” because you cannot say “no” to punishment.

If a wali will say, “You are punished,” students run away and don't come back. That is why today the awliya are so soft with students, as they know they are taken over not with goodwill, but with bad desires, so bad desires are overcoming good desires. A wife cannot say to her husband, “Yes, sir;” always they say, “No, sir!” And a husband cannot say to wife, “Yes, sira,” with an 'a' at the end. They cannot say, “Yes, sir,” “No sir” because of an ego problem. What is the problem if you say to your wife, “yes,” and your wife says to you, “yes?” What is the problem? Make your life easier. Why do you want to have a complicated life? The Prophet (s), the Beloved One, the Chosen One, the Perfect One, never said, “no” to anyone, because when you say “no” people run away. So say “yes,” it is easy.

They say, “You are lion,” then say “yes.” If they say to you, “You are a donkey,” say “yes,” as both are animals! Why do you like a lion? Because it is wild like the ego. Why are we happy with a person to say, “You are lion,” but not happy if they say, “You are a donkey?” A lion is wild, and ego is wild. So we like to be called lion as it is wild. The ego will accept, but the donkey is not wild. You can approach him, but be careful as he can kick you if you go over the limit. But in any case he is domestic, he is not wild. Can you ride a lion? No, but you can ride a donkey. Make your ego a donkey and you can ride on it.

That is `ilm. That is what we need, discipline. You pray, you pray, many `ulama come in the mosque or on TV and teach you, but we need discipline, we need respect, we need good character; that is what awliya emphasize. So what we learned today is, don't make your ego wild like a lion as you cannot ride it, but make it domestic like a donkey. You can ride a donkey but not a lion; it will kill you. Those awliya are riding their egos. Even on top of a mountain Allah (swt) will send someone one who is riding his ego to teach you. If you ride your ego, you travel east and west.

A lion eats raw meat. Can you eat raw meat? Two Sahaabah (r) came to Prophet (s) and said to him in early morning, “We have a stomach ache,” and they were in so much in pain. He said, “Why, did you eat raw meat in the morning?” They said, “We are poor, we cannot find meat to eat.” He said, “No, you ate meat. Vomit.” And they put their fingers in their mouths and vomited pieces of raw meat. A lion eats raw meat, means they eat flesh of those around them; it means don't eat raw meat. It means all bad characteristics come from the 'lionic' ego? That lionic characteristic makes you eat raw meat, and you will never say to anyone, “Yes, sir.” When you say to everyone, “Yes, sir,” you will become a wali. Try to achieve that.. Say, “Yes, sir” for 40 days and see what changes come in your heart.

The donkey doesn't eat meat, it eats grass, from what the Earth gives. Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an, “We made the Earth pure.” You can pray anywhere on the ground, you don't need to put a carpet. So whatever the Earth gives is clean, there is purity in it. That is why Prophet (s) said eating too much meat makes the heart hard, it makes you rude. In the time of Prophet (s) they ate meat maybe once every ten days. They ate mostly vinegar, oil, bread, and salt. Today what do they eat? Now they eat steak, which is all red and blood is coming from it and they say, “We don't eat raw meat;” they call it “rare.” I thought rare is rear, from the backside. (laughter) R-a-r-e. They want it rare, bloody. You are a bloody person and they eat it and don't care if it is halaal or haraam, if it is slaughtered according to the Islamic way or not. They go to restaurants and eat meat that has blood coming out. When you speak about kebabs, their mouths water (with saliva). When you speak about raw meat, their the saliva is not coming!

Priests and imams and shaykhs were speaking on TV about jinn and its theory and reality. They brought a person who said, “I am possessed and when possessed I speak in a woman's voice and I eat raw meat.” He was possessed and his voice changed completely, like that time in Montreal in 1993, when they brought a lady who was possessed. You were not there. She doesn't speak Arabic, she knows only her language Djibouti or Somali, and when I came to see her, her language changed to Arabic and from the voice of a woman to a man. Everyone was scared, and ran away. And that scary jinn was threatening me, saying, “I am going to kill you!” And without support you cannot do anything, but with Mawlana Shaykh's support we were able to remove that.

So that possessed man said, “I want raw meat.” He ate 45 pounds of raw meat on TV! When Prophet said, “You ate raw meat,” it means your ego was controlling you; that is why they were backbiting their brothers. So to have wild character is dangerous. To have domestic character like a sheep, chicken, or donkey is alright. They are eating from the soil and they are always in tasbeeh. Whatever you are eating comes to your heart. They say, “eat vegetables,” and we are meat eaters. And vegetables come from soil, which is pure. When you touch the saliva of a dog what you have to do? You must wash six times with water wash and the seventh time with sand or dirt, as it cleans it.

Why when you bury someone, their body will be eaten by soil (decompose); it is cleaning process. May Allah (swt) protect us from being eaten. Awliyaullah are not eaten. Prophet (s) said, Allah prohibited the earth to eat the flesh of prophets. So Sahaaba, awliya, prophets, no way that earth eats their bodies, and that is why when they open awliyas' graves in the Middle East and elsewhere, they find the body is intact, untouched. So be pure. When awliyaullah order students for seclusion they send to the mountains, where no one is there, the cave is high, and you are always in loneliness from people and closer to awliyaullah, Prophet (s) and to the Divine Presence.

When you discipline yourself to say, “Yes, sir,” your ego will fight you. Then if you keep pushing it, pushing it, pushing it, you will be able to ride your ego. That is why awliyaullah like to fight their ego. What is benefit of speaking of high knowledge if one is only able to accept the ego's knowledge? Prophet (s) said, “The thing I fear most for my ummah is a hypocrite with knowledge on the tongue, `alim al-ihsaan. He speaks eloquently and deviates the people. How many are like that up to today? They bring them from east to west, and they know how to write and debate, but they are not raised under the hand of a wali; they are raised under non-Muslim universities, so how can they learn? Some people go to Islamic universities in the Middle East, but then want PhD's from non-Muslim universities. What is the benefit? No benefit.

Always be in the back row, don't be in the front row. If you are a chorus, where you are? In the back row; you cannot be in front row to say, “I am the singer.” No, you are not. Singers whose voices are beautiful and nice will entertain people. Awliyaullah have sweet tongues; that is what keeps people in front and returning. If you have a little sweetness in your tongue it is chorus, not a front row. May Allah (swt) make our tongues sweet and our bad desires and leave good desires, to make our wild egos into domestic egos.

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

(End of suhbah.)

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