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Deeds of Our Seven Limbs and Organs, Part 1

Ramadan Series 2014, Volume 26

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

24 July 2014 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

Fajr Suhbah

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, nawayna 's-siyaam, lillahi ta`ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.

As-Salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi ta`ala wa barakaatuh. Through this series, from the beginning of Ramadan until today we are explaining the originality of Tasawwuf and how it came. To summarize the last session regarding the importance of `Ilm to Tasawwuf and the importance of Tasawwuf to `Ilm, you cannot have Tasawwuf without knowledge, `Uloom ash-Shari`ah. Unfortunately, today too many think Tasawwuf is one thing and Shari`ah is something else, but in reality, the shuyookh of all the major Sufi Orders were the greatest scholars of Shari`ah who practiced Tasawwuf, and you can study their teachings.

We are Like Suckled Children that Must Accept Adult Training

Today we explained Tasawwuf from internal and external levels, azh-zhaahir wa ‘l-baatin. The exterior or apparent level, at-Tasawwuf azh-Zhaahiri, is what you can see, whereas the interior level, at-Tasawwuf al-Baatini, is what that you cannot see. What you can see is dangerous, but what is hidden, the internal, is more dangerous.

In Tasawwuf, It is said the ego, desire, the self, is always like a child. If you allow it, it always wants to breastfeed, it doesn’t stop, but there comes a time when you have to ween that child in order that he becomes a mature adult. When the child is one, two or two-and-a-half years old, some people stop breast feeding within forty days. Similarly, you have to stop breast-feeding your ego or you will never get rid of your childish bad characters.

In Psychology, as I said before, they say to count the good things you are doing,but counting the good things makes you more proud of yourself, then the ego plays with you. You can never become proud of yourself; rather, you must humiliate yourself by knowing you are following the bad desires of the ego. Instead of counting the good things you do, you must try to count the bad ones and try to eliminate them one by one. When you have difficulty, come and ask the Shaykh to pray for you, then you will be okay inshaa-Allah. Sometimes they come and ask him, “Pray for my bad characters to go,” and he can pray a hundred times but if you don’t want to cooperate your character is not going to change.

The Prophet (s) spent 23 years with Sahaabah (r) to perfect them, not only praying for them. That’s why he said:

وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّـهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ

Strive in Allah’s Way with all of the striving that is due to Him. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:78)

“Try to struggle in Allah’s Way, the best way.” In Arabic we say that is mujaahadat an-nafs, “the struggle against the ego”. This is what you need to do: first, define the struggle against the ego; then, know your enemies in order to defend yourself from their attacks. If you don't know your enemies you will stay just as you are with your bad characters that you think are good.

Mujaahadah, the Struggle

فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ

Don’t praise yourself. (Surat an-Najm, 53:32)

Don’t think that you are the best. All of us, especially young ones, think we are the best. If you cry, “Oh! I’m crying, I’m reading Qur’an, I’m reading Hadith, I love Prophet (s)!” and you do against that in your actions, then what is the benefit of you crying? You have to fight back, fight the ego. So mujaahada is defined as “struggle against the self”, struggle against your main enemy; mujaahadat al-`adoow azh-zhaahir, “to fight the outer bad character.” You can see your enemy so you have to fight it, which is the bad characters within you in three different categories:

1) Mujaahadat al-`adoow. To make yourself prepared to fight the enemy that comes against you.

2) Mujaahadat ash-Shaytan. To fight Satan, devils when they whisper in your ears, “Do this, do that.” You have to come against that.

3) Mujaahadat an-nafs. To make jihad, to struggle against your ego

So first is to struggle against any physical enemy you can see, like bad manners, and everyone knows the bad manners in him.

انْفِرُواْ خِفَافًا وَثِقَالاً وَجَاهِدُواْ بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

Go forth (whether equipped) lightly or heavily, and strive and struggle with your goods and your persons in the Cause of Allah’s Way. That is best for you, if you only knew. (Surat at-Tawbah, 9:41)

“Fight! Try to get the best, become educated through your wealth, bi amwaalikum wa anfusikum fee sabeelillah, try to give in the Way of Allah (swt) whatever you can and struggle against your ego. Don't ever think that by reading books of akhlaaq or Tasawwuf is going to teach you or change you from fighting your ego. These books are never going to help you in anything. You have to help yourself by eliminating the bad manners from yourself and they are many!

I mentioned the story of Grandshaykh (q) and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) in seclusion in Madinatu 'l-Munawwarah, when Grandshaykh (q) said to Mawlana Shaykh (q), “I want you in this seclusion that we are doing now for nine months to count all your bad characters.” It was a continuous seclusion where he could not go out of the room except for the five daily prayers in the Haram an-Nabawi, to make ziyaarah and go back to where they were doing the khalwah.

And Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was thinking, may Allah bless his soul, “I will count, but how many can I count, 10, 20, 30, 40 perhaps.” And he said, “The last day when I finished the seclusion I had been writing every day what comes to my mind through inspirations whatever kind of bad characters there are, because I was contemplating that by order of Grandshaykh (q), and I counted 187 bad manners.”

So it means he had to fight 187 bad manners, not one, two, three, ten or fifteen, but that is 187, which means even if you continue all your life to struggle, still there are more bad characters! So what do you have to do? Whatever your desire, the nafs asks you, say, “No!” Don't go along with what your ego is telling you.

The First Order for Jihad was in Mecca and was Jihad against the Self

And Allah said in Holy Qur'an:

وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

And those who strive in Our (Way), We will certainly guide them to our Paths for verily, Allah is with those who do right. (Surat al-Ankabut, 29:69)

Here Allah (swt) is saying, “Those who make jihad for Us, We are going to support them.” `Ulama read this ayah and they found out, because Holy Qur'an is revealed in two locations, in Mecca and Madinah, Jibreel (a) brought the first part when Prophet (s) was in Mecca and then the second part when Prophet (s) was in Madinah. This ayah was revealed in Mecca when there was no permission to fight the enemy that came against them, only permission to submit to Allah’s Will, which means here that “jihad” does not mean “jihad of war,” it means “jihad of the self.” As you have to be strong to fight the enemy in war, in the same way you have to be strong fighting the desires within you. So you have that ayah revealed in Mecca and the ayat ordering to fight the enemy was revealed in Madinat ul-Munawarra.

“It is said that anna jihad al-kaafireen qad shuri`a fee madinat al-munawarrah, the order to physically fight the unbelievers who fought the Prophet (s) was given in Madinah.” So the first ayah was given in Mecca where there was no order yet to fight the enemy, which means you have to fight the enemy within you, Jihad an-Nafs.

And the Prophet (s) said when they were returning from a battle:

رجعنا من الجهاد الاصغر الى الجهاد الاكبر

We came back from the smaller jihad to the greater one." They asked, "What is that, O Rasoolullah?" He said, "The battle of the ego." We returned from the smaller jihad to the greater jihad. (al-Bayhaqi)

Prophet (s) said the greater jihad is to struggle against your self and the Sahaabah (r) were surprised! For them war was the biggest jihad, they were giving their blood for the Prophet (s) and for Allah, so Prophet (s) said, “No, no, we came from the small jihad to the great jihad.” And they said, “What is the great jihad, yaa Rasoolullah?” He (s) said, “Jihad an-nafs, the struggle against your self.” If we don't struggle against our self, Shaytan will grab us.

The Prophet (s) said:

الْمُجَاهِدُ مَنْ جَاهَدَ نَفْسَهُ

The Mujaahid is one who strives against his own soul. (Narrated Fadalah bin `Ubaid, Tirmidhi)

“The mujaahid is the one who fights himself for Allah’s Love.” He fights his ego, he fights his bad characters, his bad manners for Allah's Love. That is why to purify the self from the ‘mud’ of the ego we have to know that to struggle against our self is an obligation, just as you pray and fast and make Hajj, you must consider it as an obligation. Today no one takes into consideration the fight against the ego, all of us! That’s why people fight with each other because everyone wants to sit on the chair, they don’t want to give the chair to someone else. And it is said that al-mujaahada an-nafs, the struggle against your ego, is `ibaadah, worship, because you are trying to follow the order of Allah (swt) to chase your Shaytan away from you and you cannot achieve that without knowledge, without `ilm. That is why knowledge of Shari`ah is important, because it will guide you on the highway, but there are too many exits that you see wild animals coming to attack you, try to finish them. And these animals are Shaytan trying to whispering in your ear.

Since we are mentioning wild animals, you sometimes see the circuses moving from one place to another. What kind of animals do they play with? Lions. How did they make the lion, which is a wild animal and can eat anyone, to be a domestic animal? How did they do that? That means there is a way that if you follow it will make the wild animal within us to be a domestic animal that does not harm us any more, but it helps us to attack others. Elephants are trained to fight and are used in armies, but Lions they use them in entertainment to show people that they can make them domestic. Why can we not train the wild animal within ourself to be domestic? This is the thing we are not paying attention to.

Mujaahadat an-Nafs, the Struggle against the Ego is Part of Tasawwuf

In Tasawwuf, in the mujaahadat an-nafs, the struggle against the ego, they say that the problem is in their psychology which makes up their nature, that angry nature! An angry person can become very rude or very this or that and we have a bad issue within us, and the most dangerous one is that we always look outside, we never look inward. What is this one doing and what is that one doing? And we begin to backbite the others, speaking on their defects and we forget that we are not looking inward. If you look inward you will see defects bigger than their defects. So we have to see that they are attacking us; wild animals are coming to us and attacking us, but we look at the neighbor and say, “O my neighbor, wild animals are coming to your garden to eat everything!” So they backbite the other gardener and they forget to look at their own personal one, then they turn around and see everything is gone. So take care of your enemies!

If you are someone only picking on the bad characters of other people you have to say to this man, “You are dumb, you are ignorant.” So what you have to say? We have to say to ourselves: we are dumb and ignorant. Why are you looking at that brother who is backbiting? Leave him alone! If you go to a perfumerie you come out with all kinds of nice smell. So go there! Why go to the blacksmith where he is trying to put the fire on? You will get some fire on you and you will burn yourself; for sure you will get some sparks coming on you, burning you. So don’t go where there is danger, go where there is a nice smell!

ولا تر العيب الا فيك معتقدا عيبا

بدا بينا لكنه استتر

لا تر عيب غيرك ما دام فيك عيب

Do not see faults except in yourself, believing that a clear fault has appeared, but it has been hidden.

Don't look at the defects of your brother as long as there is a defect in your heart.

“Only see your own defects, and to believe in it, without doubt, the defect within you, look at yourself, you have a bad character hidden within yourself, that you know by yourself, not anyone else, but it is hidden from other people, but within you you know that you are doing something wrong. So struggle against the enemies attacking you.”

As we said: struggle against the enemy, struggle against Shaytan and struggle against the ego. He put the ego on a level with Shaytan. In ourselves there is this big Shaytan as the Prophet (s) said:

عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَتَاهُ جِبْرِيلُ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَهُوَ يَلْعَبُ مَعَ الْغِلْمَانِ فَأَخَذَهُ فَصَرَعَهُ فَشَقَّ عَنْ قَلْبِهِ فَاسْتَخْرَجَ الْقَلْبَ فَاسْتَخْرَجَ مِنْهُ عَلَقَةً فَقَالَ هَذَا حَظُّ الشَّيْطَانِ مِنْكَ ‏.‏ ثُمَّ غَسَلَهُ فِي طَسْتٍ مِنْ ذَهَبٍ بِمَاءِ زَمْزَمَ ثُمَّ لأَمَهُ ثُمَّ أَعَادَهُ فِي مَكَانِهِ وَجَاءَ الْغِلْمَانُ يَسْعَوْنَ إِلَى أُمِّهِ - يَعْنِي ظِئْرَهُ - فَقَالُوا إِنَّ مُحَمَّدًا قَدْ قُتِلَ ‏.‏ فَاسْتَقْبَلُوهُ وَهُوَ مُنْتَقَعُ اللَّوْنِ ‏.‏ قَالَ أَنَسٌ وَقَدْ كُنْتُ أَرَى أَثَرَ ذَلِكَ الْمِخْيَطِ فِي صَدْرِهِ ‏.‏

Anas b. Malik reported that Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah (s) while he was playing with his playmates. He took hold of him and lay him prostrate on the ground and tore open his breast and took out the heart from it and then extracted a blood-clot out of it and said:

That was the part of Satan in you. And then he washed it with the water of Zamzam in a golden basin and then it was joined together and restored to it place. The boys came running to his mother, i. e. his nurse, and said: Verily Muhammad has been murdered. They all rushed toward him (and found him all right) His color was changed, Anas said. I myself saw the marks of needle on his breast.

We have a Shaytan with us, where the Prophet (s) said there is one clot in the heart that is open which Shaytan can go in and out. There is this one clot in the heart that is open where the Shaytan can enter and go out. So if you don't close that hole by good `amal, sewing, sewing, slowly, slowly you are sewing that opening until Shaytan cannot enter and the Prophet (s) said, “I am the only one that has chased Shaytan from my heart.”:

كان شيطاني كافراً فأعانني الله عليه حتى أسلم

My Shaytan was an unbeliever, but Allah assisted me until he accepted Islam.

As Jibreel (a) came and took out the heart of the Prophet (s), he washed it and took that Shaytan out. That’s for Prophet (s) only. For us we have to struggle. Remember (that incident)? Subhaan-Allah, doctors today are so happy that they can make open-heart surgery, but 1400 years ago Jibreel (a) made open-heart surgery for Prophet (s). And he not only took the heart of Prophet (s) in his hand, but as he was washing the heart with the living water of Paradise, he was perfecting his (s) character:

أدبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي

My Lord perfected my good manners and conduct. (Ibn `Asakir)

He took everything out. That is the Messenger, that is the Lover to Allah (swt).

The Seven Limbs that Corrupt Us

For Mujaahada struggle, first of all they say you have to struggle against the seven parts, jawaarih of the body, the limbs. For every limb there are bad defects that go with it. The seven are: 1) Tongue (al-lisaan); 2) Ears (al-udhunaan); 3) Eyes; 4) Hands; 5) Legs; 6) Stomach; 7) Private parts. These seven limbs will drop you in complete disaster and drop you in a well that no one can pick you up! Don't say, “My teacher will pick me up,” rather say, “Astaghfirullah and I have to be better person, ukhayyib `amal shaykhee, not to disappoint my shaykh.” Not “Oh my shaykh will pick me up, I don’t want to do anything.” No, that’s not adab, that’s against adab. So when you find yourself falling into the well with these seven limbs, you must try to fix them.

The Tongue

First of them is the tongue. What kind of troubles does it get you into? Too many! First of them the cream of the bad manners and then: gheeba, backbiting; nameema, spreading false rumors; spying. So what did Sayyidina `Ali (r) say? “Zip your mouth.” As-sukooot, “Silence, it is better.” Why you want to speak? Open your mouth and say only: Laa ilaaha illa-Llah say.

Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah, `alayha nahyaa wa `alayhaa namoot wa `alayhaa nalq-Allah.

There is no God except Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah, upon it we are made alive, upon it we die, and upon it we shall meet Allah, by His will.

“On Laa ilaaha illa-Llah we live, on Laa ilaaha illa-Llah we die and on Laa ilaaha illa-Llah we come to the Day of Judgement.” May Allah keep that Tawheed in our hearts. (VIDEO CUTS) The tongue gives you all kinds of problems. One of the most dangerous aspects of the tongue is to lie. They asked the Prophet (s):

قال أبو الدرداء وذكر بعضهم قال عبدالله بن جراد يارسول الله هل يزني المؤمن قال قد يكون ذلك قال هل يسرق المؤمن قال قد يكون ذلك قال هل يكذب المؤمن قال لا ثم أتبعها نبي الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : { إنما يفتري الكذب الذين لا يؤمنون بآيات الله }

One time the Sahaabah (r) asked the Prophet (s), “Yaa Rasoolullah! Does the mu’min steal or rob?" The Prophet (s) replied, "Perhaps." They asked, "Does the mu’min make zina (adultery)?" The Prophet (s) replied, "Perhaps." They asked, "Does the mu’min steal?" The Prophet (s) replied, “Perhaps.” Then they asked him, "Does the mu’min lie?" To this the Prophet (s) replied, "This, no!" Then the Prophet (s) followed it by (reciting), “Only they invent falsehood who believe not Allah's revelations, and (only) they are the liars.” [Surat al-Nahl, 16:105] (Kanzu ’l-`Ummal)

“Does the mu`min steal?”

The Prophet (s) said, “It might be, rubbamaa.”

And they asked, “Hal al-mu`min yaznee? Does the mu’min make adultery?”

And he said, “It might be.” Someone might do that, they might fall in the trap of Shaytan and do that and they are from kabaa'ir. We are not going to explain how if you make real tawbah Allah will forgive. We hope inshaa-Allah that Allah forgives us all.

And they asked, “Hal al-mu’min yakdhib? Will a mu`min lie?”

And the Prophet (s) said, “Qaala ammaa haadhihi fa-laa, as for this, no.”

You cannot lie or then you breach the covenant of: laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah; you might lie to yourself and go on a way that you will become an unbeliever. So a mu`min cannot lie. Who is the big liar in ourselves? What is the instrument, the limb, that makes you lie? The tongue. So be careful from your tongue. Nothing puts people to bad end more than the tongue. That’s why “keep it zipped”, don’t talk. Some people fight with their wife at home by keeping quiet and the wife will get upset and say “Why don't you speak?” You have to have social life so speak, but speak with adab, in discipline.

The Ears

Now the second limb, which are the ‘sins of the ears’, by listening, and listening to what? There is someone making gheeba, they are listening and then spread that gheeba, or nameema to someone else, By that you are spreading corruption between communities, by hearing something and spreading it out. So you also use the tongue: you hear something and then use the tongue to speak what is heard. Also to listen to things that are impolite. Today too many songs that people listen to, in their car or in their home, or in any clinic or any place you go to today, you hear songs full of sex. Is it not? [Yes!] And today more than that, they do all kinds of (we don't want to mention that), all kinds of things that influence the ears to follow bad desires to take in your body. How to take it out? When you plant a seed after a while it becomes a tree. And might be that tree is wild, and when it has grown it is difficult to take out as it has become rooted in the heart. How do you want to take that tree of ma`siyya of sins out, that is living within your heart and has become a big tree, how do you take the roots out? Go (and look outside), there are some broken trees that we cannot take the roots out; even with big bulldozers we cannot take the roots out!

The Eyes

Third is the eyes. So we began with the mouth, then the ears, then the eyes. They give you what you need to hear and then Shaytan shows you what you want to see and we don't need to explain what you can see, they are too many things. To look at people that they are not mahram to you, and there are plenty on the streets and in the supermarkets, men or women! And they are becoming more expert in making it short and short and shorter. So Shaytan is throwing the seed within you. Then after that, the hands.

The Hands

Look at the Holy Hadith of the Prophet (s), where He says:

عن ‏ ‏أبي هريرة ‏ ‏قال ‏‏قال رسول الله ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏إن الله قال ‏ ‏من عادى لي وليا فقد ‏ ‏آذنته ‏ ‏بالحرب وما تقرب إلي عبدي بشيء أحب إلي مما افترضت عليه وما يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها وإن سألني لأعطينه ولئن استعاذني لأعيذنه وما ترددت عن شيء أنا فاعله ترددي عن نفس المؤمن يكره الموت وأنا أكره مساءته ‏

ولا يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره

الذي يبصر به، ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها،

My servant does not cease to approach Me through voluntary worship until I will love him. When I love him, I will become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he acts, and the legs with which he walks (and other versions include, “and the tongue with which he speaks.”). (Hadith Qudsi, Bukhari)

“As long as My servant approaches Me through voluntary worship, I will be his ears that he can hear with, I will be his eyes that he can see with, I will be his tongue that he can speak with, I will be his hands that he can touch with and his feet that he can walk with.” He put the limbs in order, in the good way. Here we are explaining how to struggle against them, and what is the cause of your problems. When you go to a psychiatrist or doctor to fix you, he want to know the cause of the problem and not just to give you temporary alleviation, but he wants to eliminate the problem.

From the ‘sin of the hands’ is to harm other people. He said: wa min ma`aasiy al-yadayn eedhaa’ al-muslimeen wa qatlihim. “From the sins of the hands is to harm the people, Muslim, and kill them.” Look at (world events) today, and this was written how many years ago? And today Muslims are killing Muslims for no reason; everyone is fighting for his own desires or they take their lands by force, or take their wealth by force, that is through your hands. You have a machine gun, how is he going to defend himself? So hands are dangerous.

The Feet (Legs)

Wa min ma`aasiy ar-rijlayn, “And from the ‘sins of the feet’ is to walk to places where there is a lot of munkar, forbiddens.” When you go to places where there are a lot of problems you are burning yourself. Munkar here is anything that you know is bad, especially in fitnah. Don't walk to the fitnah!

الفتنة نائمة لعن الله من أيقظها

Al-fitnatu naa'imatan la`anallaha man ayqazhahaa.

fitnah is dormant and Allah cursed the one who awoke it. (ar-Rifa`ee in his Amalee)

Fitnah is dormant and Allah will curse whoever brings it out.

The Prophet (s) said:

إِنَّ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيكُمْ فِتَنًا كَقِطَعِ اللَّيْلِ الْمُظْلِمِ يُصْبِحُ الرَّجُلُ فِيهَا مُؤْمِنًا وَيُمْسِي كَافِرًا وَيُمْسِي مُؤْمِنًا وَيُصْبِحُ كَافِرًا الْقَاعِدُ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْقَائِمِ وَالْقَائِمُ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْمَاشِي وَالْمَاشِي فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ السَّاعِي ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالُوا فَمَا تَأْمُرُنَا قَالَ ‏"‏ كُونُوا أَحْلاَسَ بُيُوتِكُمْ ‏"‏

Before the Hour comes, there will be a tribulation like patches of dark night. A man will get up a believer and go to sleep a kafir, or will go to sleep a believer and get up a kafir. The one who sits will be better than one who stands and one who walks will be better than one who runs. Break your bows, cut their strings and strike your swords against stones. If someone comes to kill any of you, then be like the better of the two sons of Adam. (Narrated Abu Musa al-Ash`aree, Abu Dawud.)

“In the Last Days there will be too much fitnah like too many chunks of dark nights coming down on Earth.” Do we not see that today? He said, “Stay at home, don’t go out. The one sitting at home is better than the one standing at home.” Look at the difference between sitting and standing. If you are standing you might look outside and Shaytan will push you to go out, but when sitting you cannot see outside.

The Stomach

Wa min ma`aasiy al-batan, and from the ‘sins of the stomach’ the Prophet (s) is saying, “Don't eat until you are hungry and when you eat, eat a little bit.” Now when we go to eat we eat like elephants, all of us; we eat without limits. And he said, al-ma`idatu bayt ad-daa’, “The stomach is the house of sicknesses.” If you want to be energetic don't eat too much. Grandshaykh (q) used to say: you have to divide your stomach into three parts, one third for water, one third for food and one third empty. Then you will live a good life with no sickness, except for the time you have to leave dunya, that is something else. So the sin of the stomach is to eat amwaal al-yataama, “To eat the inheritance of the orphans, to eat the inheritance of your brother, your sister, the inheritance of those who are written as inheritors of the father or the mother.” If you eat their inheritance you are not someone who can be followed, who can give advice, when you don't give the inheritance its right. And Islam, Holy Qur'an and the Prophet (s) prohibited someone not to give the inheritance to his brother or sister.

One man came to the Prophet (s) and said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, my wife asked me to come to you and say to you something.” He said “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah,” and then he said, “I had a servant and I went to give to my son, and my wife said I should not do that until Prophet (s) approves it, so I am coming to you to approve it.”

And the Prophet (s) asked, “Do you have other children?”

He said, “Yes.”

Then he asked “Did you give to the other children the same to each of them?”

He said, “No.”

So the Prophet (s) said, “Then you have to go back and take what you gave. You must give equally to all of them.”

So as a father or mother or uncle you cannot give to your son or your daughter that you don’t give the others; you have make equal for all of them. And today they are eating each other, they don’t care, they don’t pay attention that there are ahadeeth like that. So from the sin of the stomach is aklu l-maal al-haraam, “to eat the unlawful wealth.” To eat unlawful wealth is one of the biggest sins of the stomach. Also to eat pork, to drink and too many Muslims today eat non-halal food. They say, “Never mind.” We can understand, there are too many fatwah on that that it is allowed by saying Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem on that and eat. But if you are more pious you keep to the halal food if it is available. If it is not available that is something else. But there are Muslims that eat pork which is completely prohibited, and drinking alcohol which is completely forbidden, you cannot. I know there are Muslims who drink and they say, “Prayer is prayer and drinking has nothing to do with it.” To this ignorance the Shari`ah mind begins to make prayer equal to drinking.

The Private Parts

And from ‘sins of the private parts’ you know them. Why everyone knows that and the rest they don’t know? It is strange. You have to know the sins of ears, eyes, and hands and feet and stomach and the private part sins.

So now you know the causes (of sinning through limbs and organs) and don't say, “I don't know the cause.” It is these seven limbs that are putting us in problems. I will tell you a story and we end with that.

Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q), the Drought and One Pious Man

In the time of Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q), who was one of the biggest scholars and even Ibn Taymiyya, sorry to Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah to mention him, but that is to show that even the strictest sect accepted Tasawwuf and Sufi saints, such as al-Junayd, Sirr as-Saqati, al-Baghdadi, Sulayman ad-Daraani and Rabi`a al-`Adawiyya (q).

So Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) was making seclusion in a dry well, all the way down, by himself. His helper would come and sends him food and he did not come out except to make wudu. He would eat there and drink there and makes `ibaadah there. That year there was a heavy drought, no food, no crops, no wheat. Nothing. So what to do? “Oh! Let us find Abu Yazid to make du`a for us.” So they came to him at the well and said, “We have problem. Please make du`a for us.”

He said, “What is the problem?”

They said, “There is no more food in the city. It’s maja`a, hunger. People are going to kill each other.” He said, “Leave me alone, I am happy here struggling against myself and doing my dhikrullah. Don’t interrupt me.” So they left, but they came back asking him, “Please, please.”

He said, “Okay, I will make du`a on one condition. You must find someone with no sin to say ameen when I make du`a.” How can they find? They went around and who doesn’t have a sin? Everyone has sins. Finally one man came and said, “I will do it,” for the sake of the hunger, the children, women, men.

And they bought that man to Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) who asked him, “Do you have a sin?” He said, “If you ask me, I am full of sins. In my knowledge everyone has sins, but I feel that I didn’t do anything that is a sin,” so first he admits to show humility, “but once I had a sin that I consider a sin.”

Sayyidina Bayazid said, “What is that sin?”

And he answered, “One day I was going to Jumu`ah prayer and on the way as I was going, always I look where I put my feet. And I passed by a garden of a house where they were drying their laundry on a wire. And one of my eyes, I don't know how, the right one, looked at this laundry and between the laundry were clothes of a woman. I did not continue to Jumu`ah but I went back home, took a skewer, heated it and punched my eye, asking Allah’s forgiveness.”

And Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) said, “You are the right one, I will make du`a and you say ameen.” So Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) made du`a and the man said, “Ameen” and it rained. And that is mentioned in the history of Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q).

So what can we do or say about ourselves? [Killing the bad manners.] InshaaAllah to kill the bad manners, the bad characters that Prophet (s) said, “I have been sent to perfect your religion.” May Allah perfect our religion for the sake of Prophet (s) and for the sake of this month, Ramadan, Laylat ul-Qadr and the `Eid, inshaa-Allah, for the sake of all awliya, for the sake of all anbiya.

Awliya and anbiya subhaanAllah, they are going to intercede by permission of Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). May Allah forgive us.

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

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