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Be Thankful or You Will Lose Favors

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

20 May 2011 Lefke, Cyprus

Jumu`ah Khutbah

One time Sayyidina Musa (a) passed by a cave and saw a man making sajda and saying, “Ahamdulillah alladhee fadalanee `ala katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdeela.” Sayyidina Musa (a) looked at him and waited for that man to raise his head from sajda and he was surprised when he saw he had no arms and no legs and was in his cave making sajda, saying, “O Allah! Thank You, and You preferred me over many of those whom You created by great favor.”

When Sayydidina Musa asked how he could make such a du`a in his condition, he said, “Yaa `AbdAllah! Allah made me better than everyone for one reason, and that is what is important. He made me better than everyone because he created me Muslim!” That ni`mat of Islam, He favored that only for Muslims and we forget even Islam and imaan in our hearts. And Sayyidina Musa (a) looked at Heavens and said, “O Lord! Give him Paradise!” and Allah revealed to Sayyidina Musa (a), “O Musa! It is as if you are saying to Me give him more balaa.”

(…) and the Prophet (s) said to him, "When you enter your home, give greetings if there is someone present or not, and then give salaam and recite, ‘qul Huwa Allahu Ahad’ three times.”

A man came to the Prophet (s) and complained that he is very poor and doesn't have something to live on. The Prophet (s) said, "When you enter your home, say ‘salaam `alaykum,’ whether there are people there or not, and then send salaam to me, and then recite three times ‘qul Huwa Allahu Ahad.’” And the man did as the Prophet (s) said and he was able to fulfill needs of the neighbors all around him.

man qaala laa ilaaha illa-Llah rajaha meezaanah wa man salla `alaya kuntu lahu shafi`an yawm al-qiyaama.

(Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r) related, the Prophet (s) said in his Farewell Khutbah,) “Who says istighfaar, Allah will forgive him, and who said ‘laa ilaha illa-Llah’ even one time in his life, his balance will be heavier (on the right side of the Scale) on Judgment Day, and who sends salaam on me, then I will be his intercessor on Judgment Day.”

And we relate now a hadith on how balaa (tests, trials, difficulties) come on prophets and awliyaullah.

One day Sayyidina Musa (a) passed by a man in sajda in a cave, and he was reciting, "Praise be to Allah, Who raised me far up and favored me more than anyone else." Sayyidina Musa (a) looked at that man and found that when he came out of sajda he prayed sitting, not standing, and he did not have arms, legs or feet. Sayyidina Musa (a) said to him after he finished his prayer, "O servant of Allah! What has Allah given you more than anyone else? You have no legs and no arms, less than anyone else." He said, “O Sayyidina Musa! Allah favored me because he created me Muslim and not kafir!”

Look at the honor of Islam, that someone with no hands or legs glorifies Allah that He made him Muslim, and yet we are shy to say we are Muslim!

(Continuing) Sayyidina Musa (a) raised his hands to the Heavens and said, "O Allah! Give him Paradise." And Allah (swt) responded (as Sayyidina Musa is “Kaleemullah”), “Yaa Musa! It is as if you have asked balaa for him!" And then a hyena came and began to eat from his stomach. Allah (swt) said, "O Musa! You asked Paradise for him, and Paradise is like that. Therefore, I sent a hyena to him to eat him completely!"

Jannah is always in `ibaadah. That is very rare, to find someone, a wali like that, who is always absorbed in `ibaadah.

Another hadith:

One day the Prophet (s) entered the home of Sayyida Ayesha (r) and he found a piece of bread in a crack in the wall with too much dust on it, so he took it out, cleaned it, put it on his eye, and said to Ayesha (r), "Keep Allah's favor as who doesn't keep Allah's favors will lose them."

One time Allah (swt) sent one of His angels to one of His awliyaullah and he was in sajda, and the angel said, "Ask anything, I will forgive all the people of your time; if you ask Me to forgive them, I will forgive them." And that wali said, "By Your honor and glory, I never worshipped Him except through Him, and I never asked anything from Him, even if He were to put me in chains in Hellfire, and if He did that, I would never ask Him to take me out, as I surrender to Him.” And He said to the angels, “Is there anyone among you that can say something like that? They said, “w’Allahi there is no way we could carry that!” Allah (swt), glorifying Himself through Himself, said, “That one cannot be patient except through Me; give him patience.”

And may Allah (swt) make us always on the threshold of awliyaullah, salloo `alayh, give salaat on the Prophet (s)! Whenever his name is mentioned, salloo `alayh, send salaat on the Prophet (s), salloo `alayh!

[Du`a]

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