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Islam is Taste!

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

26 March 2010 Jersey City, New Jersey

Jumu`ah Khutbah at Jersey City Mosque

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.

I am very honored to come to this mosque every time. May Allah (swt) bless you, bless those who are praying in this masjid, and bless the neighborhood. I know it is a little bit late. I would like to mention that Allah (swt) has given Ahlu’l-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah what He did not give to others. He gave them something that is precious, and we are not fully appreciating it, because whatever we appreciate, we need to appreciate more and thank Allah (swt) more. He gave us something so precious for Him to Ahlu’l-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah, to make them know they are the preferred people from Ummat un-Nabi, `alayhi salaatu was-salaam. He gave them what He was happy with.

Muhammad al-Busayri (q), one of the biggest poets in Islamic history, as well as a big wali, wrote a verse of poetry in his Burdah:

Huwa al-Habeebu al-ladhi turja shafa`atuhu, li-kulli hawlin min al-ahwali muqtahimi. Huwa al-Habeeb!

He is the loved one, he is the beloved one, he is the one!

al-Busayri didn't say "too many," but he is the only habeeb of Allah (swt)!! Allah (swt) granted Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah the love for Sayyidina Muhammad (s) which not every group has. That love is a holy love because it is coming from Allah (swt). Look at Sayyidina Ibraheem (a). You say, Ibraheem khaleelu 'r-rahmaan, "`Ibraheem is the friend of Allah (swt)." You cannot say, "Allahu khaleelu Ibraheem," but you can say, "Ibraheem is Khaleelullah." But for Sayyidina Muhammad (s), you can say Allah habeebu Muhammad and Muhammad Habeebullah. You can say Musa Kaleemullah, but you cannot say, Allahu kaleemu Musa. It doesn't work in Arabic, it doesn't stand out, but what stands out is the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). You can say, Muhammad Habeebullah and you can say, Allah Habeebu Muhammad. (Muhammad is the Beloved of Allah, and Allah is the Beloved of Muhammad.)

So Allah (swt) chose you, Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah, wherever they are around this globe, to have that love in their hearts for Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and for his family. As you love Prophet (s) you also have to love his family, especially the five that he put under his abaya: Sayyidatina Khadijat al-Kubra (a), Sayyidina `Ali, Sayyidina al-Hassan and al-Hussain (r), and Sayyidatina Fatimah az-Zahra (a).

I was explaining yesterday about the real love, not the love that we have for Prophet (s), but the love of Ahlu ’l-Bayt to Prophet (s), it is different, they feel that love. Why do awliyaullah become awliyaa? Because their hearts are full of love for Prophet (s) and in every moment of their lives they feel that experience. Our problem is that we don't feel that experience but we say it by tongue. And we say a lot of na`at shareef in whatever language, Arabic, English, or French, but really the poet who wrote that na`at feels the love more than we feel it when we read it or hear it.

O Muslims! A Bedouin asked the Prophet (s) about the signs of the Last Day, and he said to him, "O Bedouin, you are asking me something that has a long way to travel. What have you prepared for it?" We, as Muslims, unfortunately, don't think about the Day of Judgment. That is why our lives are falling in the traps of dunya! We come to Jumu`ah and alhamdulilah that is Allah's grace, we pray our five prayers, alhamdulillah that is Allah's grace and blessing, but all this is not making us think about the Last Day and how we are going to respond when Allah (swt) questions us. We are not thinking about when we are going to die. We might die in a moment, we might die in ten years, we might die later, but we don't know when we will die.

So that is the difference between us and the love that existed in the hearts of those pious people like that Bedouin. Out of his love he wants to know where he is going to be on the Day of Judgment; is he going to be with Prophet or is he going to be away from Prophet (s), so that he can prepare himself in dunya. Are we preparing ourselves? That is the question. We might say, "Yeah, we are coming to the masjid, we are preparing ourselves." No, that is not enough; it needs more dedication to Allah (swt) and His beloved one (s). That Bedouin didn't drive a car like us today, didn't have a house like us today, didn't have water in the house like us today, could not take a shower like us today, could not take ablution so quickly like us today, and he didn't have a computer like us today. Allah (swt) gave us everything and we are not thanking Him, and we are not asking to know what is going to save us! We only think about what we are going to do tomorrow, that is the problem. So that `Arabi Bedouin was feeling the love to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and he asked, "When is the Day of Judgment? I want to know if I will be under punishment or mercy." And Prophet (s) didn't answer because he was on the minbar.

The Bedouin asked a second and third time, and then Jibreel (a) came to Prophet (s) and said, "Yaa Muhammad (s), answer."

He said, "Yaa `Arabi, it is a long travel; what have you prepared for it?"

He didn't say, "I prepared salaat, zaakat, Hajj or sawm." He answered, "Yaa Rasoolullah, I have nothing except your love!"

That love was in his heart in every moment and was making him not to eat, sleep, drink, only making salawaat and praying to Allah (swt) to be with a lover of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Today if you are in love with someone, you keep thinking about them. Now it is easy, before you had to send a letter, but now you can send an "sms" (text message). Did you sms Prophet (s)? Did you sms Allah (swt), a heavenly sms, a heavenly text or heavenly email? They are waiting for your email! Are you sending an email saying, "Yaa Rabbee! I need Your help, I need Your support, I need Your love! Yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Habeebullah, yaa Muhammad (s)! I need your love, I need you to look at me!!" Are we sending such messages? No! We must not lie. It means we are not yet living that experience, we are not tasting the reality of love, we are only tasting the love of a father to a child, or a mother to a father. Today too many of our children are ruining their lives when they go to colleges and universities and make boyfriends and girlfriends, sending messages to each other and seeing each other.

O Muslims! Islam is not a religion of books only. Books are filling the cabinets, but Islam is a religion of taste also. If we don't taste Islam, it means we are lacking so much and we have to improve. Ibn Abbas (r), the biggest commentator of the Holy Qur'an, mentioned that Sayyidina `Ali (q) has been mentioned in more than 300 verses of the Holy Qur'an! Why? Because of his love to Prophet (s)! So what do you think about Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (q)? Huwa awwalu' l-khulafah wa taaj ul-`ulama wa sahri Nabbiyi 'l-Mustafa! He was the first believer of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), he is the Crown of Knowledge and he is the father-in-law of Prophet (s). What about Sayyidina `Umar (q) of whom Prophet (s) said, "If there would be a prophet after me, it would be `Umar." What about Sayyidina `Uthman, Dhun-Noorayn, "of the two lights," who was married to two daughters of the Prophet (s); when one died, he married another one. That is why he is the one with two lights. What about Sayyidina `Ali (q), whom Prophet described in a holy hadith saying:

أنا مدينة العلم وعلي بابها

Ana madinatu 'l-`ilmi wa `aliyyun baabuha.

I am the City of Knowledge and `Ali is its gate.

Their love and Islam was of taste! They tasted that sweetness like you are tasting honey. Islam cannot be compared with honey, which you taste now and later the taste goes, you cannot keep taking spoon after spoon. You cannot stop the sweetness of Holy Qur'an and the holy hadith of Islam! It continues higher and higher and the sweetness becomes more, that you will become addicted to that love! Today people are addicted to different drugs, alcohol and all kinds of things, but they are not addicted to Islam, to the love of Prophet (s), and the love Allah (swt)! It is good to make yourself addicted to Allah and Prophet! It is good to make yourself addicted to Holy Qur'an, holy hadith and to Islam, then you will know that Allah (swt) gave you a big honor and a big favor.

I came back from Ghana two weeks ago. Last year my shaykh gave me a picture of someone, saying, "Find this person. I received this picture from a shaykh and I want you to find him." I didn't know why he was asking me to do this. I sent a picture with someone who was looking everywhere for six months because Ghana is big, but he didn't find him. We told Mawlana and he said, "No, you go and find him!" I didn't know where to go in Ghana. I was at the airport going from Ivory Coast to Ghana and then I saw that person in front of me! I was so surprised that instead of me looking for him, he was looking for me! We met at the immigration area; he was the man in the picture.

I went to his mosque and he introduced me to his orphanage school. We were walking from the mosque to the school via a very narrow alley. In the middle of the alley are open sewers, without pipes, so you can see the sewage and waste that comes from the houses. We walked for five minutes and reached a yard. You would not put your animals in that yard! It is like a warehouse, it has a thin roof full of holes and the classes are so small. They have Grades 1-10, and what are they teaching? From 8 am to12 pm they teach everything about Islam, from memorizing Holy Qur'an from age five or six, and ending up with full Islamic knowledge, Shari'ah. The boys and girls are separate. Yet you would not put your animals in this place, it is so poor! But the children were happy and they are studying Islam. We are in this country where Allah gave us everything, but are we thinking to be like these students who are giving their lives to Allah's religion, or are we giving our lives to dunya?

Allah (swt) said, Rabbana atina fi ‘d-dunya hasanatan wa fi’l-akhiraati wa hasanatan, “My Lord, give me a good reward in dunya and give me a good reward in akhirah.”

O Muslims! Don't lose your love to akhirah. As you love dunya, as you love your work and your family, love Akhirah, because you will be in the presence of Prophet (s)!

Aqoolu qawlee haadha wa astaghfirullahi 'l-adheem lee wa lakum wa li-saa'iri 'l-mustaghfireen fa yaa fawzan li 'l- mustaghfireen, astaghfirullah.

(End of holy khutbah).

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