Suhbah after Maghrib
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)
Allah inspired his awliya to give advice to their followers for the best. You might ask why are we meeting? Some people drive one day (to reach here), or twelve hours, eight hours, and some people drive half-an-hour. They might ask, what is the benefit? Don't ask what is the benefit, because no one can imagine the value of such meetings. Our grandshaykh said that such a meeting for dhikrullah or advice (suhbat), a good meeting is enough to extinguish 70,000 majlis soow, to take the sins through expiation of all those bad meetings, and the tajalli of that meeting will stay with that person wherever he goes for forty days! That is why it is said that when someone goes for hajj or `umrah or for ziyarat an-Nabi (s), when he returns to his home, those blessings will stay with him for forty days and any du`a he makes is accepted!
So, such associations are important because they keep our relationship open with our shuyukh. From these associations, our shaykh takes us to Grandshaykh `AbdAllah, and he takes us to Great-Grandshaykh Sharafuddin (q), and so on, all the way to the Prophet (s). And even if there will be advice or suhbah everyday, it is recommended to attend them, because every meeting is counted. Allah Almighty counts how many such meetings you have attended, one, ten, one-hundred. As many as you attend is how much you are rewarded. Today is 30 October 2010. Yesterday was 29 October 2010. Tomorrow is 31 October 2010; in this way they are counting.
As we count every day, there are also angels counting every meeting for us. As we keep records, they keep records. We are counting 2000 years back, is it not? We are even able, for example, to count back 5000 years in the Hebrew calendar. Some saints that say Sayyidina Adam (a) was with his children on Earth 7000 years back. So isn't Allah counting, and ordering His angels to count? They count every day that goes forward. What did Allah say?
كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ
kullu yawmin Huwa fee sha'an.
Every day in (new) Splendor does He (shine)! (ar-Rahman, 55:29)
It means "Every day He is in a different amr, affair, creation."
Wa qul ar-rooh min amri rabbik.
We don't say "Allah is tired," or, "He rested," or, "He put Himself in a chair, saying, 'I am tired!'" No one can express His `azhamat, Greatness!
كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ
kullu yawmin huwa fee shaan.
Every day in (new) Splendour does He (shine)! (ar-Rahman, 55:29)
It means every day He has an order and that order has been counted. That order is a new Creation, and every moment in that day He creates a new Creation!
وَإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
Wa inna yawmin `inda rabbika ka alfi sanna mimma ta`udoon.
Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. (22:47)
It means, one day for Allah (swt) is one thousand of our years. So who can count? They say Iblees made sajdah 2000 years before Adam; some say it was 70,000 years. Those are heavenly years. So that means every moment in our lives in this Creation has its own label. Like when you go to a hospital, it is so huge you don't know where to go. You see a sign marked "radiology," and when you enter there it is a huge building. Every room in that building has a different specialty and every specialty has different group of doctors, and technicians for machinery, and nurses, and it is like web of bees. That is required to run a radiology department. What do you think about your own body? How many buildings does it represent? Countless!
Of all the universities around the world devoted to biology or medicine, they study the human body and are still making new discoveries. Millions of people are studying the human body. Hundreds of universities specialize in kidney research. Thousands of universities specialize in heart diseases. So what is this body that Allah gave us? It is so small compared to an elephant, yet so complicated. And we say it is so complex that no one can truly understand how it was put together, and still we are questioning Allah (swt) and what is He saying in Holy Qur'an!
لَخَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ خَلْقِ النَّاسِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ
La-khalqu 's-samawaati wa 'l-ardi akbaru min khalqi 'n-naas wa laakina aktharahum laa ya`lamoon.
The creation of Heavens and Earth is indeed greater than the creation of Mankind, yet most of Mankind know not. (Ghafir 40:57)
Every cell in our body is like an entire, huge factory, is it not (asks cardiologist)? Allahu Abkar! They say the creation of the human being is greater than anything, but they are wrong. If scientists are unable to discover what is the whole function of the human body, Allah (swt) is saying "The creation of Heaven and Earth is greater than the creation of human beings." And still we are not opening our ears, we are still only running after our desires. We are not thinking about what Allah (swt) put us in!
O Human Beings! Such meetings have been labeled by angels for having such tremendous beauty in Allah's Presence! You shouldn't say, "Why do we have to go to dhikr?" No, it benefits you to go! Don't make them (shuyukh) feel you are doing a favor (to attend). Let them know you are not doing them a favor, that their presence here is important to you. You need to appreciate it, that the shuyukh are not in need for your presence! If you come or don't come, you are in need! Even if you don't come for a hundred years, you are in need, awliya are not in need! Some say, "I became shaykh's deputy," or, "shaykh's representative," and, "I am working for him." No! He is not in need for you or your parents! He is not in need of your service; don't say, "I am in the shaykh's service." Don't see your `amal! Iblees saw his `amal for the blink of an eye. Don't see your `amal as a favor to your shaykh! Why should he be in need of your service? He has the Prophet (s) supporting him! He has Allah (swt) supporting His Prophet (s) and Mawlana Shaykh (q), so don't think you are doing him a favor! And anything you do in your life, don't say to Allah, "I am doing a favor for You." No!
Laa tumannin. Don't make someone feel He owes you; Allah doesn't owe you anything, you owe Him! You owe Him and you know you owe Him! kullu yawmin huwa fee shaan, "Every day He is on a different order of Creation."
In your own environment there are many Creations worshipping Him that you are not aware of. There are angels always in qiyam and sajdah. There are angels ascending and descending, and angels worshipping Allah (swt) in every position.
الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Alladheena yadhkuroonullah qiyaaman wa qu`oodan wa `alaa junoobihim wa yattafakkaroona fee khalqi 's-samawaatee wa 'l-ard, rabbanaa maa khalaqta hadhaa baatilan subhaanaka fa qina `adhaaba 'n-naar.
Those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, (saying),"Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire. (Aali `Imraan, 3:191)
They are remembering Allah standing, sitting, and lying on their sides, thinking about the creation of Heavens and Earth, and they are afraid. They say, "You didn't create this without purpose. Save us from the punishment of the Fire!"
Who are these people? What do they do? They are prophet and saints, and angels. They say, "Don't send us to Hellfire!" Even though they recite continuous dhikr, they are worried to go to Hellfire. What about us?
O Muslims! It is not easy. If all of us reflect a little bit, we will go crazy, feeling that every moment we are disobeying. I was witnessing and seeing Mawlana Shaykh, may Allah give him long life, for the last two weeks. I was there and every night before we left, he made the du'a, Yaa Ghafoor! Yaa Ghafaar, ighfir lee dhunoobee! He is asking Allah (swt) to forgive us!
What are we doing? We brought a box of water or an envelope (for donation). If you give all your treasures, that is nothing for them and they are not interested! They are not bothering themselves to even ask you; if you give, you give.
Kullu yawmin huwa fee shaan, "Every day there is a new page." If you take this notebook there is a page, you can have on that page hundreds of subjects to be done on your agenda for today. Then you go one by one: 100, 200, 300, 400, 1000 items that have to be done. What do you think of Allah (swt) when He says, "Every day a new page is coming." Does that page have limits or a size? No, it is not possible to put a limit to Allah's order that He mentioned in Holy Qur'an! Every day Allah (swt) is giving new orders to Creation, and He follows that declaration with this ayah:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاء رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
Fabi'ayyi `alaa'i rabbikumaa tukadhdhibaan.
What of the favors of Allah are you lying about (do you deny)? (Ar-Rahmaan, 55:30)
Allah (swt) is asking, "Why don't you accept what I am asking you to do on that day?" In every moment, all prophets and Prophet Muhammad (s) anticipated wahi, revelation, always waiting. Not for one second he is not aware. He is aware every moment that wahi might come. He is in complete `ibadah. Awliya are inheritors of Prophet (s), and have under them those who are waiting instructions from the sultan of that time. So today, that was little bit of an introduction to say that Allah has ordered us to obey Him! All 500 obligations that Prophet (s) ordered us to do is by Allah's order, and all 800 forbiddens that Prophet ordered us to avoid is by Allah's order. All of that, to do the 500 obligations and leave the 800 forbiddens are under one word: ita`at, "obedience".
Allah (swt) said:
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
Grandshaykh (q) said, when we recite Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem, and that ayaah in an association, the secret of that ayah opens and Allah (swt) dresses those attending the association, and they will be rewarded as if they fulfilled the 500 obligations and left the 800 forbiddens! So are we doing no favor to awliya by attending this meeting; we are getting the favor from them! We have to remember constantly alhamdulillah shukran lillah, hasbunaAllah rabbunAllah. Allah's awliya are hearing and rewarding for that, and the Prophet (s) is also hearing and presenting that to Allah (swt), and awliya are hearing that and presenting us clean to Prophet (s)!
May Allah give long life and health to Mawlana Shaykh and to us, w 'alhamdulillahi rabbi 'l-`Alameen!
Fatihah.
After Hadrah:
Message from Sultan al-Awliya, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani
This is a message from awliyaullah: who likes to take it, take, and who doesn't like to take it, don't. It is your responsibility if anything happens to your children. You will carry that on your neck in front of Allah (swt) and Prophet (s)! The best protection for girls is to cover; that will save them from the life they see outside their homes. If they don't put hijab, it is easy for their feet to slip to places that Allah doesn't like and Prophet (s) doesn't like. Too many people here in the US and in UK and Europe come and say, "Pray for me and my son or daughter. My son comes home at 12 o'clock (at night), and my daughter wants to be independent. They use drugs and drink."
So open your eyes! Don't let your girls be out of house after 8:00 or 9:00 p.m., or as Mawlana said, by Maghrib, unless they have a profession. Also, don't let your kids work jobs that are cheap labor, at night; that is a trap of Shaytan's. Take care for your sons, also. If you let their rope too loose you will lose them at the end. Even if you take them one or two days a week for Islamic studies in the mosque, it will not benefit! Open your eyes to where your son and daughter are going as they cannot be reliable.
Mawlana Shaykh is warning, don't let your children out of house! We are not western people. We are living in the west, yes, but our culture is from the Far East, Middle East, or the subcontinent. Don't let them go out without covering. Don't say, "They are going to school, they can't (cover)." Yes they can! And in previous times men used to put a hat (Islamic cap) on their heads; that is sign of Islam, and now they don't put anything, so their feet are loose to go everywhere. Don't let them go everywhere. Be a role model for your children.
Fatihah.