Useful Guidelines for a good Worldly life

[Rough notes of a Cii talk by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed on Feb 19, 2015]

Allah swt and Prophet (sws) have given a lot of instructions on how to live the worldly life. Still we find many Muslims lacking in this aspect. If you look at their deen, they are not just doing faraid, but also extra activities. And you will see that they are also staying away from sins. But they are still struggling in deen; and when they struggle they start slipping back into sin.

What happened?

One reason is that the person does not follow guidelines on how to live the worldly life. For example, they are not properly married, or they are not properly a son, not properly a parent or not properly doing their job. Unless we make deen the be all and end all of our lives such that every aspect of our life is completely transformed by deen, we will always be in danger of slipping.

Enter into the deen completely.

People have increasingly started to say that they feel distant from Allah swt at home. It is understandable that if in a non-Muslim majority area they feel so when on their jobs. But how did it happen that sitting at home, with their family members, they don’t feel close to Allah swt?

Your home should not feel this way. Sometimes we walk into a house and we can’t even tell if it’s a Muslim’s house or a non-Muslim’s house. Maybe there’s just one wall-hanging present. It’s not just about the home; they have it at a cultural level.

[In this aspect, there are many things that we need to change, following are some of them:]

Language:

The way you talk should be different. this is a special problem in England that the way Muslims here talk is the same as the low-class English people talk – with the same lack of mannerism. Nabi (sws) was eloquent. Though, he (sws) spoke in simple, easy to understand Arabic Language. But all the sentences are completed and have fasaha and balagha.

Allah swt’s book is the most eloquent of course because it is the Kalam of Allah swt. But very close to that is the speech of Nabi (sws). Muslims should throw out the slang. They say some words without any thought, any meaning, they just insert it in randomly.

This is what we see in the lives of the Sahaba RA that when they would travel to different places, they would also change the culture of those places.

Nabi (sws) has said: A person who imitates a nation will be raised with it.

What does imitation mean? It does not mean your accent. All accents are fine. But stay away from using slang words, especially of youngsters. The more you will control this, the less likely you are to fall into the sin of the tongue.

Furniture:

Every outward thing you do shows the innerself. If someone eloquently designs the home, they will have a certain philosophy behind it. You don’t want a house that’s coming from a totally materialistic culture. Turkish, Afghani, Arabic furniture should be there.

Sometimes we go to the houses and we are amazed at how poorly they are designed with respect to pardah. We can see that it has clearly not been acknowledged in design. The design was designed in ghaflah.

Work:

Even the type of the job we do or even how we carry ourselves should be guided by deen. It is absolutely acceptable that when many Muslims came to England from various parts of the world they took up low paying jobs like taxi driver etc. Because they needed that to settle down. But it is absolutely wrong (not legally) that their children should also take up those low paying jobs. It means Muslims should excel in education and in society.

This is not related to money. Unfortunately, people like to suggest that it is perfectly fine that the whole generations of family is taxi drivers and that they don’t advance socially. In part, we must accept that poor performance of Muslims in England is a reason why Islam is not presented in an attractive way. You need to show people that my love for Allah swt has lifted me up and has made me a better person. You should not show that I’m lazy or a drop out from school.

There are so many school drop outs. This is such a big problem. Ulema and mashaikh must train the parents to train the children. While other children are busy in studies, what do you think the drop outs are doing? 99% of them are doing sins. I’m not talking about the ones who go to darul uloom. They are even more wonderful than the university students. But the rest of the 99% are getting into sins. The amount of gangs and the amount of pre-marital relations and zina is alarming.

Muslims have to perform at the best of their abilities. You must be the best member of the society that you can be. Otherwise you have not fulfilled Allah swt’s right over you – that the deen has transformed you as a person.

Family life:

Muslims should be the best sons, daughters – best husbands and wives. But we have so many divorces and separations. And behind the scenes there are many more unreported divorces and separations. And then these people end up in all types of sins. This happens generally also, and this is even happening within practicing Muslims. Muslims are not even striving to live according to deen. They are not wanting to be guided by Allah swt in these matters. They are not looking up to the Sunnah of Nabi (sws) for these matters. This is a sin – to be neglectful of the teachings of Allah swt.

Often we talk a lot about marriage. For those who are interested, we have done a whole long series on marital bliss which is available on islamicspirituality.org

We have observed in our Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad (db) that even in aitikaf in the last 10 days of Ramadan, these types of talks are delivered such as how to become a better husband, how to manage home better. Because this is also part of our deen. In the field of education, parents must make sure children must study as hard as they can. They should perform as best as they can.

Parenting:

Muslim women are, generally speaking, better mothers than Muslim men are fathers. So we need to find a way to motivate Muslim men to become better fathers. We acknowledge that they are involved in earning and have several responsibilities. But still we see that fathers don’t spend any time with their children. And even when they do, they just play some games, which is also good. But they never get around to talking about Ahadith, and wonderful stories of deen.

So many fathers come to us wondering how to talk to their children. Because they haven’t talked to them in 10 years like this. You can’t just only tell them what is right. You have to inspire them to feel the feelings of love for Allah swt, feel the feelings of gratefulness of Allah swt, feelings of fear of Allah swt. When we tell them this, the fathers panic. Because they have never ever talked to their children about Allah swt. So it is very important that the fathers must sit with the children and talk about these things.

The children must feel that my father is the lover of Allah swt. They should feel that my father obeys Allah swt. He is alway praising and doing shukr of Allah swt.

We have a strange situation especially in South Africa that parents send their children to madrassahs and they finish their studies and come back. But inside their hearts they have worldly feelings and love for this world.

All of the above things have to be transformed according to the teachings of deen. If we don’t do this, it means deen has not yet fully entered our heart and then we are at a danger of slipping.

May Allah swt make everything in our lives around the teachings of deen.

Turning to Allah swt

(Rough notes of a talk by Hadhrat Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmad on 4th December CII Broadcast)

We need to learn how to turn to Allah when we are feeling down, when we are depressed.

Oh broken hearted person, only in the remembrance of Allah will your heart find rest!

The whole Ummah should have this feeling that remembering Allah will make our hearts content. If everyone feels depressed, they should be able to turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta’alaa. Many Muslims are depressed and lonely; they don’t turn to Allah though. Many of them bottle it up; some even harm themselves such that their blood will come out. Why would you do that? ‘Because I was sad, lonely, depressed’ but you had Allah to turn to! They didn’t know how to turn to Allah. How did they end up this way, self-inflicting themselves? Allah knows best.

Things people do when they are depressed

There are many things that people do when depressed other than turning to Allah. It is Shaytaan who makes the believers forget Allah. When does he do that? Because Shaytaan is twisted and evil, he makes much of his effort in making believers forget Allah when they need Him the most. At THAT time Shaytaan makes a believer forget Allah subhanahu wa ta’alaa. When we turn to TV and songs, most of these songs are about heartbreaks, relationships, complicated situations and dramas on TV etc. The person identifies with the character in that novel, the person on TV. You should have identified yourself with Sahabiyaat, Nabi SalAllahu Alayhi wa Sallam! We are so caught up in TV, music, novels, sports and surfing. Glued to the phone, iPod, tablet. Can any of these even come near to substituting Allah? None of these things put comfort into the heart. They play 10 movies waiting for the one which would cure their depression. It’s unending, there’s no limit to the number of sports or movies that you can watch. All Shaytaan has to do is hook a person on one of these things and they will engage in it all night, every night, night after night.

Reflecting on Sahabah ra’s example

Look at sahabah; they would do zthikr, pray Salaah all night every night. The best of us pray Tahajjud once. Imagine the lifestyle of that person who prays to Allah every night, night after night. Sahabah would pray for many hours. Imagine just taking one hour for Tahajjud, every night for years praying to Allah, making du’aa, zthikr, istighfaar, talk and reach out to Allah. A person who can learn to do this will never feel lonely or depressed. They will never turn to TV etc. All we need to do is give this one hour to Allah at Tahajjud time.

When do we find the time to spend hours on all these false sources? Could we not spend even one hour for Allah?

Leaving the Useless Activities

We must leave all this wasteful activities that we do and give the time back to Allah. The sadness will still come at the beginning but eventually it will go away. Once we try to turn to Allah eventually this sadness and depression will go away. ‘They will never feel huzn’ meaning they will never feel lonely, sad or depressed. That person on Sunnah, Shari’ah Allah gives them this state that they will never feel sorrow, grief or worry ever again. They will get tested; they will get difficulties but will never feel sad. All this can be attained by giving ONE hour a night to Allah. Much of leisure entertainment is at night, night life, night club etc. The sahabah karaam’s night life was the musala, zthikr, Salaah.

It’s all about our NIGHTS. How do we spend them?What do we do when we are alone at night?

When we are alone and it is night that’s when we should turn to Allah; this is the special time. The way mashaaikh train us is to make sure a person’s heart is trained to constantly be aware of Allah. This person has a chance. The second the heart gets broken they will befriend Allah. When we make zthikr, the heart befriends Allah. It’s human nature, when the heart is broken they turn to their friend. If we make Allah our friend we will turn to Him. Make zthikr in good times so we turn to Allah in bad times. When worry and sadness comes, because they didn’t remember Allah in the good times and didn’t make Allah their friend, they will feel depressed. This is why we need to make zthikr abundantly.

Can’t remember Allah in bad times? Solution is Zthikr Qalbi…

It’s all about the heart. The heart which has the background zthikr of Allah will always feel the feelings. Those hearts that are empty of feelings will feel wrong things. As long as a person is remembering Allah in their hearts, they will feel good feelings and good desires. To get this level of zthikr that a person constantly remembers Allah, it requires training. Need to work on it constantly, constant effort every day. Try to do more than the previous day, do more zthikr every day. Remember Allah in newer ways every day, even better than the previous day. If a person doesn’t push themselves they will slide down and do less. Overtime a person will either increase or decrease in deen. Lack of progress means a person is decreasing in deen. To constantly increase in zthikr is learnt from the mashaaikh; always pushing people to make more zthikr, going deeper in zthikr through lessons.

Imam Rabbani ra once wrote a beautiful thing, trying to explain to people the concept of fanaa. Some people when they reached fanaa, they would say they see Allah in all of creation. Imam Rabanee said how can fanaa mean that?

Fanaa means to forget all of creation entirely, that’s fanaa.

If you forget creation entirely, you forget creation was created by Allah so fanaa means to forget creation. Zthikr enables one to forget creation, to free oneself from the world. All the unlawful desires are to do with the love of dunya or creation. In fanaa, a person forgets all dunya and creation. Once you forget dunya and creation, all the worries go away. You forgot the pleasures and beauty of creation because you are in fanaa, so it is to become striped and empty other than the zthikr of Allah. If you forget all of creation, you forget your anger. When you forget the world, you forget the greed. It doesn’t make sense if someone says ‘I forget dunya but I have greed’. So when one forgets others and dunya, they won’t have any hassad because they are unaware! Similarly, when forgetting creation, a person won’t have arrogance because how could they possibly think ‘am I more talented than them?’ because they have forgotten ‘them’ and forgotten their own selves to. So, fanaa is to remember Allah in pure zthikr. Remember him absolutely and completely such that you forget everything. If a person can forget all the world and creation, they will obviously forget all the loneliness and depression! They will forget whoever made them sad. So, a person has to do the zthikr deeply. That doesn’t mean a person stops being themselves. It just means that you stop remembering the awareness of the self. That’s called being Allah’s ‘Abd.

Sahaba ra’s Tahajjud

When sahabah would rise at Tahajjud, they forgot the world and creation. This is why we should get up at Tahajjud time because it is that special time where we forget dunya and makhlooq. It is within this one hour that the person is a true ‘Abd. They forget all of creation ,they forget about their own selves, the only part of the self that remains is their connection with Allah and being an Ummati of Nabi SalAllahu Alayhi wa Sallam; emptiness of everything other than Allah.

This is a joy, happiness, and rapture.

This will obliterate the sadness and depression. This will only happen when we all practice the zthikr we have been taught. As more and more people try to become Zthakiraat, this will spread. We are living in such turmoil, there’s so much sin sometimes it isn’t possible to stamp out every single evil. We do it to whatever extent we can. If it is impossible, the second way is to spread khair. If we cannot remove the evil fully, then spread the good more and more and there is great goodness in zthikr. We have to learn and practice this zthikr so we can remove the wrong feelings and put in the good feelings. This should be our longing, our solace, our recreation; always wanting to make zthikr of Allah.

On the Peshawar School Attack

Following are rough notes covering highlights from the CII talk (18-12-2014) by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db on the recent tragedy that took place in Peshawar, Pakistan.

——

While we were here in a short stay, as many of our listeners will know, an event had happened – an event that was not just spread by the media; an event that was in itself an incredible tragedy – a tragedy in the highest magnitude in proportion. And that was the unlawful, the haram, despicable and dishonorable slaughter of innocent children in a school here in Pakistan, in the city of Peshawar.

Over 100 children were mercilessly killed by the hands of brutal murderers. The great tragedy was that this was done by the murderers in the name of Islam. And they took Allah swt’s name and they said “Allahu Akbar” while they were slaughtering the children.

So before we continue with the program tonight, we wanted for all of our listeners to remember them in their hearts and make dua. Those innocent children who were murdered, the victims, they are all Shaheed and all beloved to Allah swt now. But it is the children who survived, and the parents of the children who were killed, who especially need the duas of this Ummah. One child recently gave a report that because the killers were enchanting “Allahu Akbar” he said everytime I hear “Allahu Akbar” now I will always remember this incident.

Can you imagine what a heinous crime has been done?

This child will obviously listen to adhaan and in every adhaan obviously there will be “Allahu Akbar”. Instead of him feeling the feelings of love for Allah swt, yearning for Allah swt, wanting to go to masjid to pray salah, now every single time for the rest of his life when he hears this beautiful, special and sacred sentence “Allahu Akbar” he will be reminded of the heinous crime in which best of his friends and classmates were brutally and mercilessly slaughtered around him.

It is amazing the level that the people have descended to.

And this is not the only crime. There are so many other crimes, it is not my practice to speak about such issues on this program, but there are definitely so many other crimes. Whether it’s in Palestine, whether in Gaza, whether in Syria, whether in Iraq, whether here in Pakistan or Yemen or… many places. However, this was such a special circumstance that we felt that even on this program, which is dedicated to tazkiya, we had to make mention of it.

Especially to request all of the listeners to make special dua for all the children who survived that they may still fall in love with Allah swt. And that may Allah swt protect their hearts from every false ideology, from every false concept of revenge, from every false hatred, and may Allah swt especially select their hearts to be from His truest lovers, and from His truest beloveds. Thereby, may Allah swt show to the entire world that every evil that may happen, Allah swt is that Being who has the power to still bring forth good from it.

Just like in Taif there was an evil that took place in which the people attacked Syedna Rasool Allah (sws), but Allah swt brought forth a good from it. Very soon all of the people of Taif became believers; became strong, steadfast and staunch believers. So we ask that Allah swt once again sends His hidayah and sends His noor and sends His guidance and bring forth the good.

And Allah swt said in Quran,

إِنَّ اللَّـهَ مَعَ الصّـٰبِرينَ

Indeed, Allah is with the patient. (2:153)

That indeed Allah swt’s special companionship and intimate companionship and near and dear friendship, is with those people who undergo tragedies and who are tested and tried by Allah swt in this world, but they don’t react. They don’t react with anger. They don’t react with vengeance. They don’t react with accusations.

Instead, they have sabr. They remain steadfast. It does not mean they do nothing. It means they do nothing outside shairi’ah. They remain firm and steadfast on the guidelines of deen. They do not act with irrational anger. But they act and respond in the way Allah swt guides them to act and respond. These are known as the sabireen – the people of sabr.

It’s very important that all of us also learn this lesson.

We must all make ourselves from sabireen. Because fitnah will only increase in days to come, there is going to be more and more fitnah, more and more test, trials and tribulations; more tragedy and travesty; more warfare and bloodshed; more killing and mayhem – these are the signs of the end of coming. That end may take centuries to come. That end may take decades to come. Only Allah swt knows best.

Syedna Rasool Allah (sws) told us clearly about certain signs and those are the signs that we witness in this day and age.

Syedna Rasool Allah sws was once sitting with Sahaba (ra) and warning and precautioning them that there will come a time in which there will be great “haraj”. Sahaba karam (ra) asked, Nabi e Kareem sws what is this “haraj”? Prophet sws said the killing and killing “qatal o qatal o qitaal”, killing and killing and killing. To paraphrase the general words of Nabi sws, that there will be killing everywhere.

And literally every single day there is killing going on in this Ummah. There are different flash-points in this world. There are unknown places that maybe we don’t even know of yet. Every single day. Maybe Allahu Aalam, it might even be every single hour. I don’t know. But every single day and maybe even every single hour. That’s the amount of killing.

And then Rasool Allah sws said that one of the signs of the end of times is that the killer will kill without knowing why they are killing and the one being killed will be killed without knowing for what reason they are being killed. This is also something that we witness in so many places; in so many conflicts.

Then Nabi sws also said that there will be so much fitnah in a time like this that there will be people who will wake up in the morning with Imaan and when they pass away at night their Imaan would have left their hearts. So we need to very careful to make sure that none of us, and none of our friends, families, colleagues, classmates, teachers, students or employers ever fall in this fitnah. We should never let anyone, and never let ourselves lose our Imaan. And that’s the other meaning of Sabr.

إِنَّ اللَّـهَ مَعَ الصّـٰبِرينَ

Indeed, Allah is with the patient. (2:153)

Sabr also means to be strong, to persevere, to have fortitude and to have endurance to remain strong on your deen, even though there maybe some people of deen who do evil things. Even though there maybe all types of strange movements arising from within this Ummah. You must be firm on your deen. You must be firm on the Deen. You must be strong on the deen that the mufassireen and muhaditheen worked so hard to share, spread and transmit to us.

We must be firm on the deen that the fuqaha, the ussuleen worked so hard to explain to us. You must be firm on the deen that the Awliya Allah spread in this Ummah – that the Awliya Allah put in the heart from the hearts of the others. You must be firm and steadfast on the deen.

إِنَّ اللَّـهَ مَعَ الصّـٰبِرينَ

Indeed, Allah is with the patient. (2:153)

Then we will find that Allah swt’s special nearness will be with us. Then all the sorrow, sadness and all the grief will go away. These are the teachings of tazkiya. Yes, the teachings of tazkiya aren’t just about a person doing dhikr alone in their room. Teachings of tazkiya are about how to purify ourselves and keep ourselves pure from every fitnah, every falsehood, every evil and every terror. This is why there is a great need, and we personally feel the greatest need of the times is for this path of tazkiya.

It’s only when people purify themselves of these unlawful feelings of vengeance, anger, hatred and enmity and animosity, only then will the unlawful violence stop. As long as a person gives into their anger, vengeance, hostility and hatred, the unlawful violence will continue. And this is the great teaching of the sunnah of Nabe e Kareem (sws).

He (sws) was that person who transformed the hearts of that community which had the most vengeance, the most blood feuding – Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of jahiliyyah before they accepted Islam were notorious. They were people of blood. People of war. People of feuds. People of disputes. People of revenge and revengeful crimes. Blood-feuds. This was the number one description of the Arabs globally at that time.  Anyone who knew them said they was the most feudist and vengeful people.

Syedna Rasool Allah (sws) was sent by Allah swt with pure Qur’an and pure Nur of his (sws) heart. What did he (sws) do? Tazkiya.

Allah swt says in the Qur’an:

Wa yuzakkihim

And you (sws) will purify these people.

Syedna Rasool Allah (sws) did exactly that. He (sws) purified them of all of the anger, hostility, all of the vengeance and all of the feuding, such that they gave up all of that culture. And all of the historians, even the atheist historians of Islam, write this about that period – that the Arabs were transformed. Even if they are atheists – whatever; they don’t believe in Allah swt, but even then they accept the fact that the Arabs were transformed entirely by the deen of Islam.

This means that anyone who has true deen in them, who has true Sunnah in them, they can never be a person of revenge, blood feuding, senseless and unlawful violence. This is why we must go deep in the deen of Islam. We must go deeper in the Sunnah of Nabi e Kareem (sws). So that the hearts get purified from all of these unlawful emotions. That purification of the heart is called tazkiya.

This has now become not just an individual need, but this has become the need for the whole Ummah. Many times people think that tasawwuf is just for the individual, but they are mistaken. And they think tasawwuf cannot help people, rather it is the politics that will help the Ummah. Or it is the conferences that will help the Ummah. Or it is setting up all types of organizations that will help the Ummah.

No.

Tazkiya helps the individual and it is tazkiya that will help the Ummah. That’s also what Rasool Allah (sws) did.

Wa Yuzakkihim

That you must do tazkiya of all of them. You must do tazkiya of the whole group. You must do tazkiya of the Ummah because the power of tazkiya is collective. It will be a collective effort and it will have a collective impact. This is a great myth and a great slander against tazkiya that it is just for the individual.

What people do is that they insert every ideology, movement and favorite political party of their own as if that is the solution for the collective condition of the Ummah.

No.

Just exactly the same way that tazkiya is the solution for the individual condition of an individual believer, tazkiya is the solution, is the cure, for the collective tragedy that is facing this Ummah today. This is why Allah swt says in the Qur’an:

Yatlu ‘alayhim ayaatihi

That the first function O beloved Nabi e Kareem (sws) is that you (sws) must recite to them the verses of revelations. First and foremost is Qur’an. First and foremost is kalamUllah, kitabUllah, wahi; it is the word of Allah swt – speech of Allah swt.

And then second, and second to nothing else other than Qur’an:

Wa Yuzakkihim

Is their tazkiya; that is second. And after Qur’an it is first. It is second only to Qur’an. So this path and teachings of tazkiya is actually actively, practically purifying our hearts. This is that effort of deen that is second to nothing else except, and only second to, the revelation of Qur’an itself. Not recitation of Qu’ran by us. Tazkiya is more important than that. The revelation of Qur’an itself is the only thing that takes precedence and priority over this effort of tazkiya. That’s what Allah swt told the Prophet (sws):

Wa yuzakkihim

Then:

Yu’alimuhum al-kitaba wal-hikmah

Then you (sws) must also teach them the book and you (sws) must also teach them sunnah. So even before they get deep knowledge of Qur’an and Sunnah, first you (sws) must do their tazkiya. You (sws) must most importantly do their tazkiya. You (sws) must purify their hearts.

This is really the crisis. The crisis of this Ummah is not political. The crisis of this Ummah is not economic. The crisis of Ummah has nothing to do with non muslims. It’s our own crisis of our own hearts.

It’s our own crisis and we will find our own solution in our own deen – which is the true path of tazkiya according to the Qur’an alKareem and sunnah of Nabi e Kareem (sws).

Many people also after hearing these events – I don’t know how much the global listeners and the listeners in South Africa are aware of or effected by events – but what we have here more locally are a lot of people entering into almost a kind of depression. It’s very important to know that:

إِنَّ اللَّـهَ مَعَ الصّـٰبِرينَ

Indeed, Allah is with the patient. (2:153)

You cannot let yourself be depressed. You cannot say:

“I couldn’t sleep all night and I couldn’t even make dua. And I had to force myself to pray fajr because I was so depressed about what had happened”.

No.

Yes, you can say:

“I couldn’t sleep all night so I prayed all night. I couldn’t sleep so I prayed tahajjud all night”

That you can say. Any sleeplessness or anything that leads to inaction, remember that is just from the nafs and shaytan. But yes, any feeling of sadness and grief you had such that, that grief makes you make dua, that grief makes you make taubah, that grief makes you realize, and this is for all of our listeners, that:

“Ya Allah Ya Rabbe Kareem! How much have you given me! I have so much comfort. I have so much security. I live in so much safety, when there are so many of my fellow Muslims, Mu’mineen, Mu’minaat male and female believers who are leading lives of torment. Who are leading lives of warfare. They are afflicted in all types of ways. And Ya Allah! You have given me every comfort, every ease, every grace, every honor, every dignity, and still I’m failing to wake up for fajr, still I’m failing to lower my gaze. Still I cannot control myself on the internet. Still I waste so much time. Still I’m watching movies.”

We should make true taubah.

We should make true taubah that Allah swt has given us the aman. This aman is also an amanah. This safety and security is also a golden sacred trust from Allah swt. We have to get serious about our deen.

Not lazy in deen. Not depressed, no. We have to get serious about our deen. And we have to return our hearts to the Sunnah of Nabi e Kareem (sws). And that is one major aspect of this program. Tazkiya is how to revive the Sunnah of Syedna Rasool Allah (sws) in our hearts and in our lives. This is why Allah swt said in the Qur’an:

يـٰأَيُّهَا الَّذينَ ءامَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ وَكونوا مَعَ الصّـٰدِقينَ

O believers, do not stray from the path of God, and be with those who are truthful. (9:119)

O you who have Imaan! You must have taqwah, and you must join your being with sadiqeen. What does it mean? You must be with them. You should also look to them. This is what our mashaikh would teach that you must look to them. That’s who a Sahabi (ra) is. Sahabi is that person who saw Rasool Allah (sws). What does it mean by “see”. It does not mean just that he saw what  Syedna Rasool Allah (sws) looked like. He saw how the Prophet (sws) lived. He saw the adaab and akhlaq of Nabi e Kareem (sws). Because he saw that, because he or she observed that, they are better than us.

Same thing for Tabieen. Tabieen is anyone who observed Sahaba (ra). This is what we have to do in times like this. We must be steadfast and we must strictly observe the ulema and the Awliya – the real true Ulema and true Awliya Ullah. How do they speak, how do they respond, how do they act, when do they react; we must look and find good models for us to observe. Otherwise, we will end up just like any other ordinary person – always watching news shows and analyzing.

Our deen is not news. We are not CNN. This is no CNN Islam. Our deen is to look to Allah swt for hidayah; to make dua to Allah swt; to look at the saadiqeen and siddiqeen for hidayah.

That’s it.

We must become people of Sabr and himmah. And this is a very important teaching even for listeners who maybe blessed by Allah swt to live in places where until now there has been less violence; less fitna; less strife. Still, the fitnah is spreading. There are areas of the Muslim world which once upon a time were peaceful and now they are war-torn. So that trend can continue.

There maybe places today which are peaceful but tomorrow they maybe war-torn. There is all sort of senseless and haram violence being done by Muslims, there is senseless and haram violence being done to and upon Muslims. We are living in a tremendous age of fitnah. And the only hope for us is to revive the sunnah of Nabi e Kareem (sws).

There is nothing that can eliminate or protect us from this fitnah except for the Sunnah of Syedna Rasool Allah (sws). It was only his (sws) sunnah that was able to eliminate all fitnah from all of the Arabian Peninsula in his (sws) time. We must return to that sunnah. We must become that sunnah. We must share that sunnah. We must spread that sunnah.

Message for the Students of Ilm & Dhikr

Especially those of our listeners who are students of knowledge, or those who are students of dhikr, for the salikeen and the talaba and talibaat, students of Islamic Knowledge, and for the seekers of the path of pleasure of Allah swt: We must become more strong in our ilm, strong in our dhikr and strong in our sunnah.

We cannot take it easy anymore. We cannot take this lazy attitude anymore; that sometimes I do my dhikr, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I study my ilm, sometimes I don’t. It’s not going to cut it anymore if we are living in a time of fitnah.

Fitnah means very simply, that yes everybody stumbles and everybody falls. Fitnah means it will be harder to get back up. You see, when you stumble and fall then you have to get back up. But fitnah means it will be hard for you to get up. And the more and more fitnah there is, the harder it will be to get back up. That means it’s more important for us now to become so strong in deen that we try not to fall, try not to stumble, try not to slip. We can’t afford all those slips that we have.

How can it be that the students of Knowledge, students of dhikr miss fajr salah? How can it be that they speak lies? How can it be that they don’t control their gaze? How can it be that they don’t treat their spouse well?

It can’t happen anymore.

If the students of ilm and dhikr keep slipping, falling and keep sliding, then when the fitnah increases it will be harder for them to get up. You should think, who else is left in this Ummah who can have a chance to be serious about deen? It’s ilm and dhikr and sunnah that makes a person serious on deen.

Especially for those of you who have been listening to the program more than once, you may have heard so many things on the program. But it’s time to get busy doing it. It’s time to get busy becoming it. All the things that we have learnt from our Ulema and Mashaikh, we must start practicing it; we must start implementing it.

There was a person who asked,

 “Why do people light candles?” 

The reason people light a candle is because every bit of light switches out that much more darkness. That was the concept of lighting candles. Actually, the real light is not the candle that is lit by a worldly flame. The real light is the noor of Imaan. The real light is the noor of Qur’an. The real light is the noor of sunnah. The real light is the noor of dhikr. You have to light these lights in your heart. And this Ummah is the only one who has that light so all of us in the Ummah we must light this flame in our hearts.

It is not acceptable anymore to be too lazy to do it. Unable to do it. To say that I want to do dhikr but I can’t. I want to study ilm but I can’t. I want to pray tahajjud but I can’t. So many of our listeners know this. So many of our listeners are in this situation. You must take yourself out of this situation.

If you are listening to this program, you must listen to it with the intention to change – you must want to really do your tazkiya. You should want to practice everything that you hear. You should want to drink and drown in every single teaching of Mashaikh and Awliya Ullah. You should want to feel every single feeling of the Sunnah. You should want to feel every single feeling of Qur’an. Nothing less than such an attitude, nothing less than such an approach is going to cut it anymore. Because we are now entering the times of fitnah. In fact we are already in the times of fitnah.

It may trigger for some people. For some people Syria might trigger. For some people Peshawar might trigger. For some people Somalia might trigger. For some people something that happened in your life – but you can’t wait anymore. Every one of us has to get turned on to deen. Every one of us has to be motivated and dynamic on deen. This is the only solution.

When we bring the deen back into our hearts, and when there are enough hearts in this world that truly follow deen, that’s the only way this fitnah will be beaten back.

Even though there are one and a half million Muslims in the world, there are very few of them who are truly muttaqeen; lovers of Allah swt; deep and true followers of sunnah; passionate zakireen – we need more people like that. This effort of tazkiya creates such a person. Yes, it’s natural to feel sorrow and sadness and grief on these tragic events. But you must pull yourself out of that grief – not letting the grief make you fall into depression. Rather it must motivate you. It must have an inspiration for you. Such that you become strong and steadfast, you turn to Allah swt.

May Allah swt accept this intention. May He make each and everyone of us firm and steadfast on this path of tazkiya. May we at least eliminate the darkness in us, and then beg Allah swt to help us in this. Allah swt is the true Muzakkee. Allah swt says in the Qur’an:

وَلـٰكِنَّ اللَّـهَ يُزَكّى مَن يَشاءُ

but God makes whosoever He will grow in goodness (24:21)

We beg that Ya Allah swt! You do tazkiya of our hearts, and you put the noor of deen in our heart and then You help us eliminate the darkness of the world, you help us eliminate the sickness that is in this world.

May Allah swt accept this intention from us.

Wa aakhiru da’awana anil Hamdulillahi rabbil Aalameen

Attaining Wilayah

وَالَّذينَ جـٰهَدوا فينا لَنَهدِيَنَّهُم سُبُلَنا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَمَعَ المُحسِنينَ

“We shall guide those who strive in Our cause to the paths leading straight to Us. Surely God is with those who do good.” (Surah Al-Ankaboot 29:69)

Reality of Allazeena Jaahadu

– They are striving to become close to Allah swt.

– Just like “Al Lazeena Aamano” doesn’t mean somebody who has sometime Imaan and sometimes doesn’t have Imaan. No no. “Al Lazeena Aamano” means the person who always has Imaan.

– Just like that “Al Lazeena Jahadu” won’t be the person who sometimes strives and sometimes is lazy. Sometimes comes to masjid, sometimes falls behind, sometimes makes Zikr, Dua, Ibadah and other times, there’s nothing. That person won’t be called “Al Lazeena Jahadu”.

‘So the way to begin this journey is by doing some Mujahidda.

Types of Mujahidda

– Now that ayah was originally talking about another type of Mujahidda, which is Jihad with the body.

– But then, there is another Jihad with the mind.

What does that mean?  Mujahidda, Juhud means exertion, effort, striving. Maximum level a person can use their body to strive in exertion for the sake of Allah swt, is to be willing to offer their very life for the sake of Allah swt.

– The maximum a person can use their Ilm, their knowledge , their mind for the sake of Allah swt that is called Ijtihaad. That is for them to spent years, decades, plummeting into the deep oceans of Quran and Sunnah to understand the will, wish and hukum (command) of Allah swt. ‘

– And the maximum way a person can use their Qalb, the heart of
their Rooh for the sake of Allah swt is to make Mujahidda which is known as “Tazkiya tun Nafs”. To purify their Nafs, to strive their heart to remember Allah swt, to strive their heart to feel the feelings of Imaan, to strive to become a person of Taqwa, like we are doing the third type of mujahidda, by sitting here in the Sunnah Itikaaf, by spending as much time as we can in Nafil Itikaaf. That’s the mujahidda we are trying to do.

Kinds of Believers

Now understand, in this world there are three kinds of believers:1

1- There’s Al Lazeena Amano: those who have Iman but they don’t make this effort, they don’t. They are content that they pray and fast and pay zakat, go on Umra, go on Haj, and other wise they don’t see any concern to make any extra additional effort in their Deen. Their entire rest of their life, time, rest of their effort, rest of their hopes and dreams, aspirations is all entirely for Dunya. We can call them “minimilist“, they take a bear minimum attitude, approach, towards Deen. But Alahmdullilah they have Imaan. So, they are called “Al Lazeena Aamano”. Vast majority of believers fall in this category.

2-Then there’s another group that we just mentioned, that Allah swt mentioned in Quran, “Al Lazeena Jahadu“, that means always making Mujahidda.That means every second, every moment, every day, every month of their life they are going above and beyond the Faraiz and they feel that their entire life and this gift of life is given only and only to exert themselves, to srive, and struggle to attain the pleasure of Allah swt.And they are always like that.They are caleed “Al Lazeena Jahadu”. These are very few left in the world. Few, maybe dozens left in the world.These are the Kibaare Auliya, Kibaare Mashaykh, Kibarare Ulema, the real few great Auliya,Siddiqeen,Sadiqeen left.They are “Al Lazeena Jahadu”. Literally if you spend time with them, you will see this in their life.

I can give you two examples:

Field of Ilm: Shaykh Maulana Mufti Taqi Usmani db

one from the field of Iml, is Shaykh Maulana Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani damat barakatuhumul aaliya.

If you spend even just one day with him, even if you just spend one hour with him, you will feel; its palpable, you will feel it that this person is on a mission, this person is unshakable in that mission, this person will not fling, they will not pause, they will not take a break, there is no concept of recreation, entertainment, leisure. All the time they are striving for the sake of Allah swt. And if you spend few days with them you will feel like you have spend few months of your life, because you never spend such quality time.

2. Field of Tasawwuf: Hadhrat Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmed Naqshbandi dba

Another person like that we have seen is our own Shaykh, Hazrat Jee Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmed Naqshbandi Mujaddidi damat barakatuhumul aaliya. And this we have
witnessed over and over and over again. And so many people have witnessed this, and we have witnessed them and we have watched them witnessing and see, because many of them when they come for the first time, they experience it and they can’t understand how they are able to sleep so less, when they are in the company of their Shaykh, how they are able to do so much in just twenty four hours, and they leave saying that I spent three, four, five days spent like I spent a month. Some would even say that I spent like an entire lifetime. Every second devoted to purifying the Ummah, every second devoted to the Fikr of this Ummah, to Ibadah, teaching Dhikr, giving Bayan, giving Majalis. Even right now in Zambia at an elderly age, with different illness, giving three four bayanaat a day and meeting people, guiding people, and few of us have witnessed that occassion. There are few people left like that on earth.

They are ” Al Lazeena Jahadu”. Not just struggling for themselves but struggling for the Ummah. The one who may just be struggling for themselves, they may be many. Many unknow men and women, spending their days and nights entirely in Ibadah, whenever they are free, they are in Ibadah and Dhikr of Allah swt. But this “Al Lazeena Jahadu” is not just for one’s self, it’s oneself for the entire Ummah.

That’s why Imam Rabbani, Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi rehmatullah alaiyh, he said, those who are doing the work and establishing the Deen are infinitely superior to the Sufi who is doing Dhikr on his own.

What does it mean? he was the Shaykh of tasawwuf, but what he was mentioning was that there is a certain stage in Tasawwuf the person focuses on their own Dhikr to do their Tazkiya but when that is done, now the highest Dhikr, he writes that the highest Dhikr, is to continue the work of the Anmbiya, which is Iqamatud Deen, (Check,06:12) Deen, Tajdeede Deen, to establish the Deen, revive the Deen, spread the Deen in the hearts of the people, in the hearts of the Ummah, in the hearts of the humanity. Few people like that, who are ‘Al Lazeena Jahadu”.

Then there is a third category, and this is the category that I really wanted to talk to you about. First category is, ‘Al Lazeena Aamano’, who don’t really make an extra effort except every now and then, occassional. Second group are those who are always, constantly striving and exerting for Allah swt, are ‘Al Lazeena Jahadu’.

3- Third category are those ‘Al Lazeena Aamano’, that connect themselves to ‘Al Lazeena Jahadu’. This is called a Ra’abta. This is called a ‘Rabt’. This is called becoming Marboot. This is called doing Amal on what Allah SWT said in the Quran.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ

O you who have believed, fear Allah and be with those who are true. [Surah Tawbah: 119]
This is our first step then. We’re notالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا. We are just plainآمَنُوا الَّذِينَ so our first step on this path and journey to the Wilayah, Qurb, Love and Taqwa for Allah SWT is to make that connection; to connect our hearts to their hearts, and our paths to their paths. This is the first step.
And there are many people like that. This is why the word Rabt and being Marboot means to be interlinked and interlaced inextricably and permanently. This is the hope. This is what Allah SWT says, that when you make this link then you will be with them in Jannah

وَحَسُنَ أُولَـٰئِكَ رَفِيقًا

And excellent are those as companions. [Surah An-Nisa: 69]
These are the most noble, and the most best friends.
Obstacle to Progress: Ghaflah
It’s important that we make this link. Now making this link refers to linking to the gatherings, sohbah, but also to link to the teachings and practices. But before I explain that to you, there’s something in this world that is keeping us from progressing and it is not sin. Sin puts an absolute full stop to it. It is called Ghaflah; halal recreation, entertainment, and leisure, like sleeping and eating more than your body needs. For women, spending more time on your children then you need to. That’s why in the Quran it says that your Awlaad can potentially be a Fitnah for you.

One could say that Ya Rabb e Kareem, I’m supposed to love my children. But if you love them overly, excessively, such that it makes you Ghaafil of Allah SWT (and not disobedient)…

Same person I ask him what is the difference, he can tell me the different scent of different flowers in his rose garden. I ask him what is the difference in between Allah SWT being Ar-Rehman and Ar-Raheem? You will have no answer for me.
I ask him what’s difference in between Allah SWT being Al-Ghaffar and Al-Ghafoor, you will have no answer for me. I ask him have you tasted the difference in pleasure in Ruku when you say Subhaan-e-Rabbi-ul-Azeem and the different taste comes in Sajdah when you say Subhaan-e-Rabbi-ul-A’ala because there you said Al-Azeem, here you said Al-A’ala. Why aren’t you farming your Iman? When are you going to plan and harvest the seeds of your Iman? He has no idea about that. He can tell me all types of things, retired man.
He is living a life of pure Ghaflah and Allah SWT says in Quran:

وَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْغَافِلِينَ

”And do not be among the heedless.” [Al-A’raf, 7:205]

That don’t you dare ever let yourself be amongst the people of Ghaflah.

وَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْغَافِلِينَ

(Time Stamp: 00:12:51)

Even if you don’t know Arabic, all of you know this word.

And turn to your Rub in ragbah longing and yearning.

We have this problem. One of the reasons we can’t do the dhikr of Allah SWT, very simply, is because we talk too much. Always talking, all the time! We can’t control our talking. Even when we come with niyah of Sunnah etikaaf and we hear over and over again that don’t talk and we know that we shouldn’t talk. It’s not like we deny it, we also know that we shouldn’t talk but we can’t resist. It’s a sign it’s irresistible. Put two doctors together they start talking, put two mualanas together they start talking, put two friends together they start talking, two brother in laws together they start talking oh you’ve reached such a stage that some of you are strangers, you put two strangers together they start talking. Allahu Akbar.

Pleasure of Silence:

When will you learn the pleasure of silence? Our Mashaikh used to say in Urdu ‘chup ka maza’. There is a sweetness in being silent. Sweetness in letting your heart become uncluttered all of those thoughts and all of those words and the person who is constantly talking and constantly thinking then their heart isn’t allowed to speak. Their heart subdued. The heart also has a language. ‘Lugatul Qalb’ it’s the dhikr of Allah SWT. Our heart is unable to do it. Imagine if we stuttered in our speak people get so embarrassed. They go through a whole speak therapy to cure a small stutter, a lull in our speech.

And our Qalb is stuttering in its dhikr, stuttering in its namaz. Even it has become mute has become dumb and mute in salah and we are not worried about that. If your tongue becomes mute you know how hurriedly you would race to the speech therapist you would spent all your money on curing that. And forget mute, even if there is one letter that you have a slight lisp every time you said it, you would do everything to erase that lisp. And our qalb has much more than a lisp, much more than a lull much more than a stutter. Means our heart is unable to do dhikr of Allah SWT and this is the state of those who are aspiring to be dhakireen. They can’t do it. Because they are so stuck on ghaflah, so stuck on talking, all the time talking. So we want to stress, that those of you who are sitting in sunnah itekaaf, those of you who come to the masjid any period of time you make niyaah of nafil itekaaf whether you are local from Stanger, you are visiting from Durban, whether you come for one night, you come for three hours, you come for ten minutes, try not to talk. Try to be silent. It’ll be an effort it is a mujahidda. You’re trying to do some of this mujahidda. Some striving, it’ll be an effort. Why do you give up so quickly? Why is so irresistible to you? Try to get the sweetness of silence in these last ten days.

And those of you who are not in Sunnah, keep practicing this outside. Try to minimise your speech, even if you’re sitting at work, talk to the extent required and then be silent. When you’re at home talk to the extent required and then be silent. Practice this silence in this last 8 9 days left of Ramadan. Learn to be silent. Especially in these days. Why? Because this last ten days of Ramadan are extremely valuable. Not even ten days even ten seconds is enough to turn a person of this Ramadan. Even one second. Allah Ta’Ala can change the heart of a person in any single one lamha/moment/second/fraction of a second in these last ten days of Ramadan. That’s how precious and valuable and priceless this time is. And we are living in this time. So if you even talk three sentences with someone you didn’t need to say, you should think that I just wasted ninety seconds of this incredibly precious time of the last ten days of Ramadan. Engaging in idle conversation. As if it was any one old day of the year. I wasn’t acting and behaving like it was the last ten days. I wasn’t in that state. It’s not just true for those who are sitting in itekaaf this is true for anyone and everyone wherever you’re sitting. Whether you are in masjid, whether you are at home, the women who are listening, the men who are listening, it’s true for everyone. You have to value the moment.

Three blessed things in Deen:

You see Allah SWT has put in our deen, He Has put some blessed things. Three special things. There are some blessed places, ‘Maqaam’. There are some blessed times, ‘Zamaan’. And there are some blessed people. Al’lazeena an’amta alaihim.

ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ

Those upon whom You have bestowed favour (Surah Fatihah, 1:7)

Three special things. And anyone can encounter one of these or two of these or three of these.

Your whole demeanor would change; your whole being would change. The way you carry yourself should change.

So a person should be silent. Silent as much as possible in these ten days. It’s not the day to gist, the time to joke, and the time to have fun. Even when one person says one line I can never say directly to the person because people don’t feel it because its heavy weight on me when people come and they try to chat me up and offer one line of jesting. We didn’t come here to jest with you, we have children to jest with. Why should I travel thousands of miles to come and sit and hear you gest with me for one or two lines. We would say in Urdu ‘hum apke sath yaari laganey k liey nahi aye hain humhare pass barey yaaron hain.’ We haven’t come to be friendly and chatty with you and you haven’t come here to be friendly and chatty with each other. We have come here to become friends with Allah SWT. Leave this talking, leave this chatting, and leave this conversation. You must become silent.

Second, whether in Sunnah itekaaf, or nafil itekaaf or purely local, you have to leave the screen for the rest of these 8 9 days. Yes those who are doing some khidmat, some task, broadcasting, streaming, preparing bayan you may see one of us, using the phone screen or the laptop screen but everyone else try to disconnect yourself from the screen.

The screen is like a vacuum of ghaflah.

You know people used to say that they have studied in the west about the TV that TV numbs the persons mind. Literally neuroscientists and neurologists have studied this that the more a person looks at the screen their mind becomes numb. A person slows down. It means ghaflah has an effect on a person.

And now there’s a screen in everybody’s pocket. I can’t say directly at any one of you but you don’t how I feel when I see anyone of you looking at your screen sometimes on the stairs, sometimes in this hall, sometimes in the Wudhu area. Why are you looking at it? Unless of those one or two people who are broadcasting bayan or messaging people about bayan! give it up in these 8 9 days.

Vast majority of people use their screen for ghaflah.

Vast majority of people use this for Ghaflah , and there’s a lot of us who end up using that screen for sin . “You should flee from this screen”, “you should have allergy”, “you should have allergic reaction to the screen”. This screen has spiritual cancer, “it’s the screen spreading spiritual disease all over the world”, “it’s the screen full of germs and bacteria”. You should be so careful when you use this screen-so careful when you use it. “You are so hooked! Hooked all the times”,“Always want wireless, always want Wi-Fi, always want to be connected”, “my friend you came to be disconnected from duniya , you came to be connected to Allah swt, disconnect, Literally! Literally we have to disconnect from the screen”. In this Sunnah Aitekaf or if you are in Nafli Aitekaf or you set foot in the masjid even for few minutes “I want you to view talking on the screen as a crime”, “I want you to view it as a sin”.
Am not giving fatwa, I am telling how I want you to feel about it! I want you to view it as a crime and a sin to talk or be on the screen unless absolutely necessary and even only do that to the extent necessary.

Fuquha have a saying [25:13 25:15
“Az-zaroratu yata-qaddaru-bi-qadri- zarorah”: that which is necessary that is only be necessary as long as it be necessary. They were very precise.

Try, you will see, believe me! you will see this, then you sit in Zikr, then you see what happens then you make niyah “I am going to pray two rakah with full concentration” then you see what happen. “You have to unhook yourself from this world to get hooked up to Allah SWT”, “You have to disconnect yourself and unravel yourself , and disentangle yourself from all these things to get entranced in the Salah , to get enchanted with Allah SWT in Salah”.
So, we have to remove this ghaflah, “you have to remove this talking”, “you have to remove this conversation”. Then I would say- even if you have to talk- here in the masjid –then talk in a whisper!

Following the Adaab of  Sunnah Aitekaaf

If you must talk, talk in whisper. Almost as if you’re ashamed to talk. So even the things that I accept, sometimes you have to say something to someone, talk in whisper. Say it in their ear. Say it in the softest voice that you can. Use the fewest words that you can. These were what I was telling you; remember the first day, that adaab (manners) of I’tikaf.

One is the ihkam (instructions), the other are the adaab (manners).

Ihkam (instructions) are the laws and rules strictly speaking.

And the adaab (manners) is the best and most noble, most blessed way we can exist.

So try to follow these adaab (manners), and then see if your Zikr takes off. Then see what happens when you pray salat (supplication) or recite Quran. We’re not following the adaab (manners). Don’t waste these few days. Don’t be happy-go-lucky in the masjid (mosque). You’re not here to be happy-go-lucky. No, be serious. Have a mission. Attach your heart to Allah SWT. Try that, Ya Allah SWT! Okay maybe for few days I can copy, I can do naqal of the “Al’lazina Jahadu”. I also want to try. Okay I couldn’t be “Al’lazina Jahadu”, though my whole life was spent striving for you. But maybe few nights, okay fine, few days, okay fine, at least few hours of those 24 hours, I also was “Al’lazina Jahadu”.

So, on the Day of Judgment when Allah SWT asks that where are those people who strove for me? Then you can say: “Ya Allah SWT! I also spent few hours in one Ramadan striving for you.”

Yes, you’ll see in the accounts today if there’s a person who is a million dollar account holder, and a 1 dollar account holder, it doesn’t matter how much money they have when they come up with the list of account holders. Even a person, who has a 1 dollar deposit, is in that list of account holders. So put yourself in the list of the account holders of Tahajjud, you prayed few rakats. Put yourself in the list of the account holders of Zikr, make some Zikr of Allah SWT. Put yourself in the account holders of “Al’lazina Jahadu”, make some striving, struggling, exerting for Allah SWT. You’ve to be serious. Take it seriously.
Our Mashaiq, they used to have such discipline. Because I’tikaf is basically what we call khanqah zawiya, that means we are training.

The Silence Rule, Thana Bhawwan 

Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Rahimahuallah), in his khanqah, in Thana Bhawan, he had a rule that no one can talk at all, a single word. No one can even utter a single word from Isha to Fajr . Not one word.

So once, Mufti Muhammad Shafi (Rahimahuallah), father of Mufti Taqi Usmani , and Allama Yusuf Binori (Rahimahuallah), they had recently graduated. So they went, they said okay we should spend some time with Shaykh to learn the Zikr of Allah SWT, to improve ourselves. So they had been given a room together. Now because they were fresh graduates, they were Ulama and they got a chance to be with each other, so, at night, after isha, they start talking about deen (religion) about the ilm (knowledge) of deen, about knowledge. So the khadim (servant) of the khanqah he came to the door and he told them that look, the rule is that you must be absolutely quiet and you cannot talk. And then he left. They have narrated this story themselves. So they said that, oh, he thinks we are ordinary people, but actually we are Ulama and we are not just talking, we are talking about deen (religion) and he doesn’t understand, and they kept talking. He came back and he said: “Listen, I am telling you once last time, you have to be absolutely quiet. Either you’re doing Zikr of Allah SWT or doing ibadah (worship).” And I will explain to you in English now, this is what we call bamahwra angrazi tarjuma (Colloquial English translation). I will explain to you in English what he said to them in Urdu. He said, equivalent in English would be: “If I hear even a single peep out of either one of the two of you, I am going to roll up your bed, put it on your head and kick you out of the khanqah and Shaykh Ashral Ali Thanwi (Rahimahuallah) has instructed me to do this.”
They were trained. Mashaiq were training. They were not even doing ghaflah (ignorance), but look even the Ulama have to disconnect themselves from their fanciful knowledge in order to get the Zikr of Allah SWT.

Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani rah’s training of Ullema

Theres one malfoozat of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Rahimahuallah), in jalal he said that, O Ulama! ya ma’asharu ulama! O gathering Ulama! Who has come to, Shaykh said: “who has come to me, you should leave all your ilm (knowledge) at the door.” He was in Baghdad. You know what level of Ulama there were at his time, and yes, they used to go to him. He said: “Leave all your ilm (knowledge) at the door. Come to me naked.” He means stripped of your ilm (knowledge) stripped of your thoughts, stripped of everything, so that, I can put the noor (glow) of the Zikr of Allah SWT in your heart. Now just think if the Ulama have to turn off their ilm (knowledge) in order to get this focus in their Zikr, then ordinary people like me and you, you don’t think we are going to have to turn off our duniya (world) to get the focus in Zikr? Turn off the random conversations to get the focus in Zikr? Yes, it’s about this focus, the silence is linked to the focus in the Zikr, the concentration in the Zikr. So we have to be silent.

We have to be silent to get the focus in our Dhikr

There was another Murid of Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanvi (R.A.), a poet, by the name of Khwaja Aziz-ul-Hasan Majzoob (R.A.) and the same thing happened to him. Now the Shaykh told him that from Fajr to Ishaa you have to be quiet. But it was difficult for him since he was a poet and this was his normal practice that every time anything would happen he would express it in a few couplets of poetry. So, all the time he would be reciting poetry. And other people would also chat up to him, expecting a line or two of poetry from him. So, while he was spending time in the Masjid, he made a sign board and he hung it around his neck, and the sign said “Khamosh” (Silence).

And all the time he would put the sign up and make the Dhikr of Allah SWT, and walk around the Masjid and Khaaniqah with that sign on, as a reminder to himself and to others. This is called being “Wallazeena Jaahadoo”. They made effort, took steps and kept striving for that sake. They had a mission. They wanted to turn off the Dunya and Makhlooq so they could connect to Allah SWT.

These were three great people. And how did they get this greatness? They got it through their silence, contemplation, Fikr and Tafakkur for the sake of Allah SWT.

 

The default state of the Qalb is Dhikr

So the less we talk, the more we will be able to benefit from the time that we spend in the Masjid, and specifically, we will be able to benefit more from the Dhikr of Allah SWT. Because, when the tongue and the mind become quiet, then automatically the heart starts doing the Dhikr of Allah SWT. Then it won’t be a separate Mujaahida to connect to Allah SWT. The default state of the Qalb is Dhikr.

We have to disconnect from the world to connect. The default state of the Qalb is Zikr. We have suppressed its natural state of Zikr by having so much ghaflah, so much heedlessness, so much forgetfulness, so much mindlessness because of all the fowls and all the words we say. So we can just turn these things off then the Qalb will naturally, automatically be unlocked and unleased to do the Zikr of Allah Swt.

And that is what Allah Swt wanted.

وَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْغَافِلِينَ –>کانوا ذاکرین

Instantly you will, automatically you will next become from those who remember AllahSwt.

Shaykh Baqi Billah rah’s Silence

Shaykh Baqi (R.A) who Allah Swt blessed him that he was the Shaykh of Iman Rabbani (R.A); the shaykh of shaykh Sirhindi (R.A) who I mentioned to you last night. One of the greatest Awliyah ullah ever. Infact some of the ulema they have this discussion that who was the greatest Wali of Allah Swt ever; shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (R.A) or Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi (R.A) 

His own shaykh, his name was shaykh Baqi Billah (R.A). He used to remain silent even with people. He does not used to give bayan and naseeha like that. If somebody would ask, he would reply, otherwise he would remain silent. So one day one of his students, murideen asked shaykh can you say something to us, so he said something. What did he say? Those who will not be able to benefit from my silence, they will never be able to benefit from my words.
This is Sunnah. It comes in hadith that Nabi Kareem (saw) was once sitting and sahaba were sitting with him. And Nabi Kareem(saw) was silent and sahaba were silent and they were sitting so motionless and such focused that some scortation that even birds were coming and perching on their shoulders. That’s how still they were as still as streets on a non-windy day. What was going on at that time? And then it happened many times. If you look at the hadith, Nabi Kareem (saw) was a nabi for 23 years. If you add up all the hadith that represents maybe one year of speech, maybe 2 years of speech. What if you added all up what was going on for all of the rest of the time? Silence. Just sitting. Just being sitting in the Zikr of Allah Swt. That was all going on. We have to learn this silence. This silence is also Sunnah.
Silence is also a Sunnah of Nabi Kareem (sws). What was he doing in Ghaar-e-Hira? Silence. Being silent and the barakah of that silence was all mind was shut off. All the thoughts were shut off. All the words were shut off. Then after shutting all of that off then the heart became pure enough to get the Wahi of Allah Swt. Although Allah Swt could have sent Wahi anywhere. Angel Jibrael (A.S) could have come to the prophet (saw) in his home. Angel Jibrael (A.S) could have come to prophet (saw) anytime. Allah Swt selected that time as a sign to us that when you have Khalwa-some period of seclusion, not monasticism. In the early religions they used to make their lives like this. Deen of Islam told you that’s wrong.

لا رھبانیۃ فی الاسلام

Nabi Kareem (saw) said don’t be a monk, don’t be a nun. You can’t do it for your entire life. You only have to do for periods, for moments, for couple hours of the day, maybe ten day Sunnah i’tekaf. Maybe sometime like that partial aspect of your life not even majority.

A portion, a minority part of your life has to be spent in this khalwa, this ittekaf, this silence, this seclusion, this retreat so that you can unlock, unfetter yourself here and unlock your heart to connect to Allah Swt.

So the more silent we are, the more we will get from the noor of Zikr. And you all have to be specifically careful in this masjid because as soon as you leave those glass doors, the feeling goes down little bit. When you walked on the stairs, you don’t have that feeling. The Ahkaam are there, you are still in masjid but don’t feel the adaab. Because that feeding hall has different design and different carpet. Then the khidmat jamaat but they have to do that. Their talking to one another about how to serve you enters into a conversation. It’s not their fault. They are talking because they have to serve you. But you immediately exit this hall of silence and you enter the hall conversation taking place. That’s your mujahida. You have to make this effort. You have to be as silent in the basement as silent in the feeding hall as you are silent here. This is your mujahida. Be silent. Now when you get the silence, you will get the focus on the Zikr of Allah Swt.

What is this focus? Allah Swt said in quran “Wazkur isma rabbik wa tabattal ilaihi tabteela”. This tabattul and tabteel means focus. This means concentration. In the Arabic language its rich, later they call it Mahw, fana, Istighraq means to erase yourself entirely in the Zikr of Allah Swt that you erased your own self, your own being, your own memories.
So the only thing that is left is the pure Zikr of Allah Swt; Mahw. Then Fana, then you become completely absorbed in that Zikr after erasing everything else. Then Istighraq then you drown deeper and deeper and submerge yourself deeper and deeper in the Zikr of Allah Swt. These are the three things that take place in tabattul. “Wazkur isma rabbik wa tabattal ilai hi tabteela”.
Especially for those who are salikeen, zakireen you should take advantage of this time in i’tekaf to make more silent Zikr of the heart. You should make some tilawat, some itighfar, some durud sharif but the main effort you should make because this is the barkah of this environment of ittekaf, the barakah of Khalwa, the barakah of seclusion, the barkah of the retreat, the barkah of the silence. You should take advantage of these blessed last ten days and this environment of silence to unlock the Qalb-e-Zikr of our heart.

For those of you, who are new, understand this in detail. This Zikr that our mashaikh teach is Zikr-e-Qalbi; Muraqaba.

What does it mean? To remember Allah Swt humbly, silently, secretly in our spiritual heart. No Zikr of the tongue, no Zikr out loud, no movement of the head nothing. No movement, motionless.

No props, no crutches nothing, pure unfettered Zikr of Allah SWT from the Qalb, from the spiritual heart. Then, how do I make my heart make Zikr? I know how to make my tongue Zikr. I start (check)(Time Stamp: 00:40:12) making it move and I make it pronounce certain words.

How do I make my Qalb, the spiritual heart make Zikr? Maybe I should explain that to you first.

Just like your physical body has a heart, your rooh also has a heart. That’s called by Allah Ta’la in Qur’an, ‘Qalb’. Just like your whole rooh is inside your whole body, the heart of the rooh is inside the heart of the body. So, your Qalb is over here on the left side of your chest. You are going to make Neeyah that my Qalb, the heart of my rooh, my spiritual heart, left side of my chest is making Zikr of Allah Ta’la.

How do you make it remember Allah Ta’la?  You just have to make Neeyah

So easy. You will just make intention. You will just sit and make Neeyah that my Qalb is remembering Allah SWT and me, I am making myself entirely unaware of the world and everything that it contains; unaware of myself, my thoughts, my memory everything that I contain. The only thing I am aware of is the Zikr of ‘ALLAH ALLAH ALLAH’ coming from my spiritual heart. The only thing I am aware of is the Zikr of Allah SWT’s name coming from my heart. And this requires practice, this requires exercise. You’ll see the qa’ari, he tells the child, he doesn’t explain to him, the small young child the technical difference between ‘Ka’af’ and ‘Quaf’. He just says, “Go practice it.” He just says it to him, “Ka’af Quof, go in the corner and keep doing it, keep doing it, mashaq, keep doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it.” Just like that, you have to sit in Muraqabah longer and longer and longer. Those Salikeen sitting in Suunah I’tikaf should try to sit 3 hours in Muraqabah in every 24 hours.

…to be cont’d iA.

Signs of the Awliyah

[Following are some highlights (Not word-by-word) from the first Majlis delivered by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db on 21st Ramadan 2014 – listen to the audio]

 إِنْ أَوْلِيَاؤُهُ إِلَّا الْمُتَّقُونَ  

“Nay! Indeed the Awliyah of Allah SWT are none other than the people of Taqwa.”  [Surah Al-Anfal, 8:34]

There’s one branch of Deen that is called Tazkiya, also called Tasawwuf, also called Sulook, also called Ihsaan. So what we want to do is to spend these gatherings at night to understand what this is. Because some people have misconceptions about it, some people have misunderstandings about it. And many people, even who have the right understanding, and right conception, they still don’t eagerly try to pursue this path. So first thing we want to do is:  Who are the Awliyah?  Then, what is Nisbat? Then how is a person trained to get the Nisbat of the Awliyah?

Who are the Awliyaullah?

This word, Awliyah it comes in Qur’an. Just like the word Ullema comes in Qur’an – the word Awliya comes in Qur’an. So, the existence of Ullema and Awliya is guaranteed by Qur’an. Understand that it is our necessary aqeeda and belief that everything that Allah swt has Mentioned in Qur’an by way of hidaya for the Ummah – those verses will always have a living embodiment. It is necessary that all the way until the end of time, they will be some mo’mineen who are called “Ullama” and there will be some mo’mineen who are called “Awliyah”

who the Ullema are, that, many of you would already understand. Topic for tonight is who are the awliyah.

Understanding Awliyahullah – In the light of Qur’an

 1. Allah swt Alone has the right to express who His Awliyah are

And, Allah swt expresses that right in Quran, He Says:

إِنْ أَوْلِيَاؤُهُ إِلَّا الْمُتَّقُونَ

(8:34)

Nay! Indeed the awliyah of Allah swt are none other than the people of Taqwa

الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ

(10:63)

Those who have iman and those who are always in the state of Taqwa

Means: Muttaqoon are the ones, for whom, taqwa is their life. Taqwa is their reality; Taqwa is their attribute. Understand with an example:

Halat-e-Sabr and Maqaam-e-Sabr(State vs Station of Sabr)

E.g. Sometimes me and you have Sabr, and sometimes we don’t. So, for that person who sometimes has Sabr and sometimes doesn’t, that’s called a haal. – “Al-Halat-us-Sabar” that at a particular moment they had Sabr; that moment they were in halat-e-Sabr but sometimes they didn’t have Sabr. means they reacted; they got angry; they had a backlash; they got upset; they got worked up. So, most of us – sometimes Sabr; sometimes not Sabr. that person will not be called “Sabiroon”

Then theres another thing called Maqaam, Maqaam means that now the person has reached the maqaam of Sabr; the station of Sabr. Means that Sabr has become their Sifat, their attribute. Means every single time there is an occasion, an opportunity to have Sabr, they have Sabr. That person is called Sabireen.

So, just like that – Muttaqeen – unlike me and you who sometimes have taqwa and sometimes don’t. Sometimes, Alhamdulillah out of the Karam, Fazl and Reham of Allah swt, we stay away from sins – we do lower the gaze. But, other times we don’t have that taqwa. Its not all the time. Sometimes we slip; sometimes we fall into sin; sometimes we skip a prayer; sometimes we misdirect gaze – so, sometimes taqwa; sometimes not taqwa. So, those times that we have taqwa – thats halat of taqwa, thats not maqam.

Muttaqeen and muttaqoon are those people who always have taqwa. its just the very structure of the Arabic language. Seegha-e-Sift. and Sift-e-ghayr munfaq. It is just the very nature of the Arabic language; Muttaqoon means those people who are permanently established on Taqwa. Now, when a person gets that, well that is the greatest thing in Allah Ta’ala’s regard. Allah swt Said in Qur’an,

إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّـهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ

Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you (49:13)

that Indeed the most honored; the most beloved; the most precious of you for Allah swt are the أَتْقَ, the ones who have the most taqwa – so these people who have  taqwa become the most honored; most beloved; most precious so Allah swt used the word Awliyah for them.

Now, what is Awliyah? It is the plural of the word “Wali” and actually this is one of the words Allah swt has Used for Himself, He is Al-Wali. Allah swt Says in Qur’an

اللَّـهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

Allah swt is the Wali of those who believe (2:257)

Now, imagine Allah swt is Using the word Wali to explain how much He Loves those who believe; how much He Befriends those who believe; how Attached He is to those who believe! And then, those mu’minoon who are the real muttaqoon – Allah swt Used the same word wali that He Used for Himself to Express His love for the believers – like another place Allah swt Says

وَاللَّـهُ وَلِيُّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(3:68)

Allah swt has Used the same word to express these people that now they have become My wali – I was their Wali in the beginning when they were just “allazeena aamanu”, but now they worked on themselves so much so that they became muttaqoon – mow they are My wali! Now imagine its two-way – Allah swt is their Wali and they are His wali. It means Allah swt is their Lover and they are His beloved; they are Allah swt’s lovers and Allah swt is their Beloved. So, this is a relationship which is called Wilayah.

A wali is a person who has this thing called Wilayah.

What is Wilayah?  It is a special loving and beloved relation with Allah swt. How did that happen?

إِلَّا الْمُتَّقُونَ

because of their taqwa; because of their complete obedience to Allah swt; because of them getting the feelings of Qur’an and Sunnah into their heart.

2. Allah swt’s Reward for the Awliyah

Then, Another verse Allah swt Mentions about them in Qur’an:

أَلَا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاءَ اللَّـهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

” Unquestionably, [for] the allies of Allah there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.” (10:62)

Now, after mentioning their definition that they are the people of Taqwa – Allah swt Mentions what do they get as part of this special friendship with Allah swt. Allah swt Says in Qur’an:

لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ

there is no fear upon them

Interpretation of the verse:

This has been interpreted by Ullema to mean many things:

1. There is no fear from Shaitan i.e. Allah swt Protects them from Shaitan. This is the Fazl of Allah swt – thats why they are called Mehfooz – protected from Shaitan.

2. They are protected from the fire of Jahannam – means that Allah swt is so Happy with their effort to become muttaqoon, Allah swt Decides that I’m going to Keep them as muttaqoon

You see one is our own effort to have taqwa, and one is for Allah swt to Accept our effort and Allah swt Himself Decide they will remain on Taqwa all the way until they pass away. That means Allah swt will now Preserve them:

يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ

(2:257)

thats what He Promised for the believers; that He will take them from darknesses into the light – spiritual darkness into spiritual light. And, those who made the effort to do that then Allah swt Protects them  لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ

Then,

وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

Interpretation of the verse:

this means that their Nafs will never make them grieve anymore; their Nafs will never make them sorrowful anymore; their Nafs will never trick them into falling into sin anymore – they will have what is called,  النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ in Qur’an that their Nafs is mut’main on Deen. Mutma’in in English means that their Nafs is completely happy, content, satisfied with Deen.

Example:

1. Fasting in Ramadan: me and you are experiencing right now in Ramadan when Allah swt Told us to fast – so we fasted and we are mutma’in: we never think to ourselves “Oh, I’m going to secretly drink water” “Oh I’m going to secretly eat something.”

why? because we are completely happy, content with that command of Allah swt of fasting. So, as regarding the command of fasting, me and you have Nafse mutmainnah

2. Pork: None of us has eaten pork and nor have any of us ever desired it. or ever dreamed of it of been tempted of it, right? I’ve never received an email saying, “Dear Shaykh, I’m tempted to eat pork; I have attraction towards Pork; I see internet sites with pictures of Pork…I’m addicted to Pork! No, I’ve never received an email like that! Because people have Nafs-e-mutmainnah when it comes to that Hukm – they are content completely – 100% satisfied with this commandment of Allah swt

Now, just like me and you are like that about not eating Pork, these people(awliyah) are like that about every single thing Allah swt Says.

سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا

“We hear and we obey.”(2:285)

– we hear we learn we understand and we obey! whatever Allah swt Says, we are completely happy and pleased; content doing it.

وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

3. Another Feature of the Awliyahullah: Living reminders of Allah swt! 

Ibn-e-Kathir rah in his Tafsir, who is one of the greatest Mufassiroon of this Ummah has narrated a Hadith that when Nabi-e-kareem mentioned this verse

أَلَا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاءَ اللَّـهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

so, one Sahaba when he heard this

لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

he asked, O RasoolAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم, who are these people? He was thirsty, he wanted to be like that himself, so

:قال رجل 

یا رسول اللہ! من اولياہ اللہ؟

A person from the Sahaba asked, ‘O Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم! who are these awliyahullah?’

:قال

Rasoolullah صلى الله عليه وسلم responded,

الذين اذا رؤوا ذکر اللہ

they are those people that when you gaze upon them  you are reminded of Allah; you remember Allah swt -so, thats another feature. Nabi-e-Karim صلى الله عليه وسلم knew another definition of them i.e. muttaqoon – but the Sahaba knew that also because they also know the Qur’an. So, the Sahabi knew this verse and he knew that verse but he wanted more clarification; more explanation. So, Nabi karimصلى الله عليه وسلم explained to him in this extra detail

الذين اذا رؤوا ذکر اللہ

that those when you look upon them; gaze upon them – when you’re with them – you’re reminded of Allah swt, you remember Allah. They are the living reminders of Allah swt; they are من شعائر اللہ

شعائر اللہ 

means the signs, the representations of Allah swt’s Majesty and Mercy one earth – like Baitullah, رجال اللہ they are known as the people of Allah swt.

 

4. Another attribute: Zakireen

Then, another attribute of them is that they are also called in Qur’an as Zakireen – thats a word in Qur’an

For e.g. Allah swt Says in Qur’an

وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّـهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ

“…and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so.”(33:35)

Women should also know that this attribute of remembering Allah swt abundantly is not just for the men,

وَالذَّاكِرِينَ

the men believers who remember Allah swt abundantly

and,

وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ

the women believers who remember Allah swt abundantly

Concept of Gender Equality in Islam

So, actually the women should know that “A women can be as big a wali in Deen as a man can – this is the real equality of gender”

– we don’t judge equality of gender that oh, let the women be construction workers like you let the women be; let the women expose herself to public enmity and hostility like you let the men be! we don’t believe in that

Real equality is eternal equality

A women in our Deen can be as big a wali of Allah swt as a man can; a woman can have as much taqwa as a man can; a woman can be as big an aalima as a man can be an aalim and the real equality is a woman has equal access to Jannat-ul-firdaus as a man does! what greater equality can there be? thats an eternal equality! A spiritual equality – a heart equality! that’s the real equality of gender

Other major religions don’t have that. The three largest religions in terms of adherence are Islam, Hinduism and Christianity

In Christianity, women cannot be the spiritual equal of men. The classical orthodox Christianity or in Catholicism – women cannot be pope, women cannot be archbishop even in eastern orthodox. Why? because women is spiritually inferior

then, on top of that- if a man wants to be like this he cant be married to a women because women are viewed as spiritually impure. If you want to become archbishops, monk, cardinal, pope etc – you have to be celibate you can’t get married because woman is impure.

So, what worth is that equality that you let your women be construction workers and security guards but spiritually you view them as inferior to you – what type of equality is that?

The next biggest religion is Hinduism, same thing – a woman cannot become a guru; a yogi – only a man can. Same story- if a man wants to become a yogi or guru, you can’t marry a woman because she’s considered spiritually impure.

look at the benefit of hidaya Allah swt’s Given us – there’s nothing in any of us: anyone of us could’ve been from the other large percentage of people who are maybe christian or hindu. Just Nafs-e-iman; the fact of being Muslim itself is such an incredible limitless blessing that has been Given to us by Allah swt!

So, Deen-e-Islam is teaching real equality – a women can be as big a wali of Allah swt; as big from the muttaqeen; as big from the Zakireen; as big from Sabireen – every word that comes in Qur’an!

So, another word in Qur’an used for Awliyah: Zakireen. But,

how much do they remember Allah swt?

وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّـهَ كَثِيرًا

they remember Allah swt a lot! At another place, Allah swt Explains in the Qur’an-e-Karim:

الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّـهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمْ

“Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides ..”(3:191)

that they remember Allah swt so much – they remember Allah swt when they are standing;when they are sitting; when they are lying down – what does it mean, all the time! Because physically, you can only be in one of three postures! Every second of your life  – you will either be standing or sitting or lying down: means they always remember Allah swt.

then, Allah swt Exlains in another way in Qur’an. A person could say, maybe Allah swt is talking about Salah..no, Allah swt Says they remember Allah swt literally all the time:

رِجَالٌ لَّا تُلْهِيهِمْ تِجَارَةٌ وَلَا بَيْعٌ عَن ذِكْرِ اللَّـهِ

“[Are] men whom neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah …”(24:37)

They are such people that even when they are in the fikr of worldly activity, even when they are in pursuit of material gain ‘Tijaratun’ and ‘Bay’un’, they are doing business, trade and commerce even then, even all of their engagement, involvement in worldly activity cannot distract them from the Zikr of Allah SWT one drop, one iota.

Can you imagine that? Imagine that person who when buying, selling, trading is doing Zikr, can you imagine what the Salah of such a person must be? How much Zikr they must do when they are actually in the Masjid and in Ibadah if Allah SWT is testifying to them that they are making completely perfect Zikr even when they are engaged in buying and selling?

So if anybody thought that, okay, I am a shopkeeper, I work in a factory, I am a labour, I have a co-operate job where is the verse in Qur’an for me? That’s the verse in Qur’an for you. Yes ‘La Tulheem Tijara’, that’s your goal. And it’s a Kinaya, it means anything. It can be medicine, can be labour, can be business, can be profession, can be teaching, anything. Nothing can distract that person from the dhikr of Allah SWT.

 

 5. Another word for Awliyah in Qur’an: Siddiqeen and Sadiqeen

Another way Allah Ta’Ala uses in Quran is Siddiqeen and Sadiqeen. Most famously Allah Ta’Ala says in Quran,

 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ 

O you who believe! Be careful of (your duty to) Allah and be with the true ones. (Surah Toubah, 119:9) 

That Oh you who have Emaan, means that each and every single one of you who have accepted Eman,

اتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ 

you must have taqwa, taqwa means to fear Allah Ta’Ala as He deserves to be feared, to love Allah Ta’Ala as He deserves to be loved, to be aware and conscious of Allah Ta’Ala as it is His right over us that we should always be aware and remembering Him.

And how will we get this blessing? 

وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ 

That we have to join our very hearts and our very beings with the sadiqeens. Many of you must have heard the verse

كُن فَيَكُونُ 

Be, so it is. (Surah Yaseen, 36:82) 

Allah Ta’Ala wants to create something he just says kun, faya koon, be and it comes into existence. So ‘kunu maas’sadiqeen’ means interlace and interlined inextricably your very being with the being of the saadiqeen.

That’s how intense it has to be. It’s not just enough to have a loose relationship, no ‘kunu mas’sadiqeen’. So the word Allah Ta’Ala uses for them in Quran is siddiqeen and sadiqeen.

Then these people were so beloved to Allah SWT that you should know that all sahabah were Awliyah, but some of the sahabah had a special aspect to their Wilayah.

EXAMPLE: Ashabus Suffa

One example of this is Ashabus Suffa, these were those companions of Nabi Kareem Sallahu Alaihi wassalam that they left everything. Left all earning, and they left all working. Why? They were many other sahabahs around them that were working and earning. Khulafa rashidoon themselves, Sayyidina Usman Ghani Radi’Allahu Anh remained a trader throughout the life of the Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam. That’s also permissible, no problem. But this is also permissiable, this is also a way! This is a proof that it is actually also permissible in deen that if a person wants they can leave all earning and all working for the sake of acquiring the Deen of Allah SWT.  So some sahabah made that decision. So they are called Ashabus Suffa because they used to camp out on a bench on a raised flatform right in front of Nabi Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam house. This will also show you their love. They could have said that its okay we pick a tent out in masjid e nabvi, separate institution darul uloom, no! there are going to leave everything else in the world, we can only leave it for the walls of the Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam, for being the neighbours of the Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam. That’s whats leaving everything in the world, so they are called Ashabus Suffa.

How beloved these people are to Allah SWT?

Now listen in Quran how beloved they are to Allah SWT, that in this verse of Quran surah kahaf verse 28 Allah SWT tells the Prophet Sallahu Alaihi wassalam about these Sahabah who were Ashabus Suffa. What does Allah SWT says,  

وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ 

And withhold yourself with those who call on their Lord Morning and evening desiring His goodwill. (Surah Kahaf, 18:28) 

Oh Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam, you Nabi e kareem Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam you should keep yourself steadfast along with those people, those people mean Ashabus Suffa Sahabah,

يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِالْغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِيِّ 

Call on their Lord Morning and evening. (Surah Kahaf, 18:28) 

Those who are making dua to their beloved Rub, to their Rub Allah SWT in the morning and evening. What are they doing?

يُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَهُ 

Desiring His goodwill (Surah Kahaf, 18:28) 

They are seeking the pleasure of Allah Ta’Ala, they want Allah Ta’Ala’s expression of pleasure to descend upon them. That’s why they are doing it. So they are such great Awliyah Ullah the ashabus suffa that Allah Ta’Alah is telling the Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam that you should spend time with them. Can you imagine? And Allah Ta’Ala saying it in Quran. Because there are many times that Allah Ta’Ala told the Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam which aren’t in Quran right? Some them we’ve seen in hadith, some of them we will never know. But here Allah Ta’ala publicly in His pre eternal and timeless Quran so everyone can see how special these people are, who are turning in dua and yearning and longing for their Rub. So then also for Sunnah Ite’kaaf we can make that niyyah also, that Rubb e kareem I want to spend ten days and nights like the ashabus suffa. I’m also camping out here like they used to camp out in Masjid e Nabvi, I also want to be yearning for the expression of your pleasure, and I also want to be making dua to you, seeking you morning and evening, I also want to be amongst those people .. al’lazeena yadoona rubbahum’ I want to be like that.

Then Allah Ta’Ala continues and says in another incredible thing to the Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam,

وَلَا تَعْدُ عَيْنَاكَ عَنْهُمْ 

 And let not your eyes pass from them(Surah Kahaf, 18:28) 

That Oh you Nabi e kareem sallahu alaihi wassalam don’t you even lower your gaze from them. Gaze at them. These are my beloved Awliyah. Gaze at them. Stare at them. Look at them.

So this is another example in Quran that how much Allah Ta’Ala loves His lovers. You see that Allah SWT is the greatest lover, if you love Allah SWT, Allah Ta’Ala will love you back in a way that’s phenomenal way. So these Sahabah started loving Allah SWT, so Allah Ta’Ala loved them back in such an incredible way. So now we showed you few verses from Quran.

Understanding Awliyah: In the light of Hadith

Now I want to show you a few verses from Hadith. And I’ve deliberately, although for this audience it won’t be necessary strictly but I wanted to you see because there are some people who try to spread some misconceptions and confusions. So we have made for you this talk just from Quran and from hadith from Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim ONLY. Not that in any way hadith is confined in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim. Hadith are to be taken from all muhaditheen. We take hadith from muhaditheen. Like we take taseer from mufassiroon. But sometimes you’ll need a person that sometimes they have a misconception that they will only accept hadith from Bukhari and Muslim. And some people they then like to say that you don’t need people. They try to tell this that you don’t need to follow any one in Islam, you just need books. You need your translation of Quran and you need your translation of Bukhari and you need your translation of Muslim and you are good to go. You don’t need people. Here I want to show you that the very same Quran e Kareem, the very same Sahih Bukhari and the very same sahih muslim are telling you that you need people. Are telling you to go to people. How can somebody say that in deen then they don’t need people, when in surah Fatihah we make dua to Allah SWT,

 اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ 

Keep us on the right path. The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. (Surah Fatihah, 1:6,7) 

Allah Ta’Ala Grant me Hidayah to the straight path, the path of people whom you have blessed. How can somebody tell me that you don’t to follow anyone, you don’t need to be a student of anyone, you don’t need to learn from anyone.‘You don’t need to follow any one’. When every Rakah, every Salah, every prayer, every day of my life I am begging Allah SWT to grant me guidance to the blessed people, how can somebody try to convince me that I don’t need people and I just need books and texts?

1. Those People Whose Supplications are Never Rejected

What Nabi-e-Kareem SWS said in this Hadith from the Sahih Bukhari:

قال رسولاللہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم

انّ من عبادللہ من لو اقسم اللہ لابرّہ

That indeed there are some people:

• Min Ibad Illah: From the servants, slaves and worshippers of Allah SWT
• Man Lao Aqsama: That if this person took a Qasam, they took an oath taking Allah SWT’s name, so they said something like “I swear by Allah SWT, X Y Z.” This person is so beloved to Allah SWT
• La Abar’a Ho: means Allah SWT will necessarily make sure that the person’s word is fulfilled because Allah SWT loves that person so much that whatever that person says if that person takes Allah SWT’s name and says it Allah SWT will fulfill their word, Allah SWT will fulfill their oath.

It’s a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari, there are people like that. Just like I told you about Qur’an, same thing here, that there will be always people like that in the Ummah. So that’s why we want to look for them. We want to sit with them, we want to learn from them. How they got so close to Allah SWT? How they love Allah SWT so much? How they become beloved to Allah SWT so much? We want them to train us also and that’s why we want their Dua’s.

So, some people say, “Oh, you know you wanted your Shaykh to make Dua for you, why do you do shirk, why don’t you make Dua to Allah SWT yourself?” Answer is no, Shirk is not what you think  it is according to your intellect. Shirk is only what the Qur’an and Sunnah say it is, and the Qur’an and Sunnah teach that we should make Duas for ourselves and we should also go to people like this and ask them to make Dua for us because Prophet SWS has told us in Sahih Bukhari, that these people are so special that if they take Allah SWT’s name, whatever they say, Allah SWT will fulfill it. I can’t even explain to you how strong this Arabic word is la abarahu, those who know Arabic understand it so clear, crystal clear. Allah SWT will necessarily, definitely, definitively, undoubtedly fulfill and honor each and every word they say, as even a promise, an oath, if they take Allah SWT’s name. They are so beloved to Allah SWT. And when Imam Bukhari narrated this Hadith this is his Tafakur in Kitab-u-l Jihad. Why? Because he was teaching that actual victory is done through Dua’s. That there are such people when they raise their hands to Allah SWT and make Dua for their protection, make Dua for their help and aid, make Dua for their victory, make Dua for that victory, because they’re so beloved to Allah SWT, Allah SWT answers their Dua’s, Allah SWT changes the maps on earth. This was a time that believers were like this. Me and you have failed even associating with such people, let alone that any one of us could try to become such a person.

2. Then now look at a Hadith in Sahih Muslim, this is one of the most beautiful Hadith for me personally that I have ever in my life I have ever read or heard. I want you to listen to it very carefully. This is a strange Hadith.

(Hadith in Sahih Muslim)

قال رسولاللہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم

ان االلہ اذا احبّ عبدًا، دعا جبرائیل

When Allah SWT Loves, Falls in love, Loves one of his servants and slaves, He Calls Jibra’el, angel Jibra’el to him.

فقال

and Allah SWT says to angel Jibrael AS:

انّی احبّ فلاناً

That O Jibra’el! I Allah SWT loves so and so. (He declares his love! Sahi Muslim! Who is going to tell me that there are no such people who are beloved to Allah SWT? Just read Bukhari and Muslim. I read Muslim. Muslim told me that there are people who are beloved to Allah SWT. There are people who are so beloved to Allah SWT, Allah SWT calls Jibra’el AS and says to Jibra’el AS that:
Inni Uhibu Falanan 
That look, I Allah SWT, indeed, verily, undoubtedly, I Allah SWT, I love this person.)

فاحبّہ

You Jibra’el AS, you love this person. Allah SWT tells Jibra’el AS that you now also you fall in love with this person.

قال

then Prophet SWS continues:

فاحبّہ جبرائیل

So now Jibra’el AS starts loving this person. Then what does Jibra’el AS do?

ثم ینادی فی السماء

Then a call is proclaimed out in the heavens and firmaments and skies, where the angels, you can think like in the angelic realms and what does Jibra’el AS say?

فیقول 

Jibra’el AS announces to all the angels

انّ اللہ یحبّ فلاناً

That indeed Allah SWT loves such a person.

فاحبّوہ

That O all of you angels! I Jibra’el, imam of the angels, I am telling you that,

Fa ahiboohu
All of you should love this person.
It’s a hadith in Sahi Muslim. This person is mehboob-allah ,mehboob-e- Jibra’el ,mehboob-e-malaika

فیحبّہ اہل السماء

Now all of the inhabitants of the heavenly realms, means all of the angels now love this person.

then,

قال

then Prophet SWS continued:

ثمّ یوضع لہ القبول فی الارض

Then Allah SWT has placed for this person acceptance on earth.

Means they’re Mehboob-ul- llah and they are Maqbool in Makhlooq -means they become accepted and beloved to all creation. Fil arz means all of creation. So sama and arz, these two words are in this Hadith. They become beloved to all the inhabitants, all the angels of the heavenly realms and they are accepted and beloved to all of the inhabitants on earth.

You see what?

Allah SWT knows how to love. If you love Allah SWT, Allah SWT loves you back like this!  Allah SWT is the true lover. He is the greatest lover. He loves the way only Allah SWT can love.

Everything He does,

کما یلیق شأنہ

He does as befits His majesty, as befits His grace.

So when He loves someone He loves him in a manner that is befitting to Him, which is such complete, absolute, utter, deep, everlasting, eternal, abadi  love.

Then there is another part of this Hadith which is also there.

و اذا ابغض عبداً 

When Allah SWT dislikes, detests a person, same story, He calls  Jibra’el AS and He tells to Jibra’el AS:

انّی ابغض فلاناً

That indeed, I dislike,detest this person and tells  Jibra’el AS, you detest this person. Then same thing,  Jibra’el AS, he starts detesting this person and then he calls out to all of the angels, that O angels!

انّ اللہ یبغض فلاناً

That indeed Allah SWT detests this person, O all angels! Each and every one of you should detest this person. And then Allah SWT places dislike and detest for him in the hearts of all people.
So means who Allah SWT loves angels love, who Allah SWT loves creation love. So this Hadith is a testimony that there are people in this Ummah, there will always be people in this Ummah, other word for them in Qur’an is called  Awliyah, Sideqeen, Sadiqeen, that they are beloved to Allah SWT, beloved to angels and beloved to all of creation. So you should never be deceived by anybody who tries to suggest that people like this don’t exist.

3. The Ahl-e-Zikr and Their Gatherings

Now another Hadith in the Sahih Bukari, also in the Sahih of Muslim, This is a long Hadith so I will just do the summary for you in English Syedina Abu Hurairah RA reports that Prophet SWS said that:
Allah SWT has teams of angels and what has He made them do? To search the paths and roads on earth and what are they doing? They are seeking those who remember Allah SWT

یلتمسون اھل الذکر

they are searching out to find Ahl-e-Zikr .

This is also word used in Hadith; it’s also in Qur’an:

فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

“So ask the people of the message if you do not know”
[Surah Nahl, 16:43]

Another term is Ihl-e-zikr.

So Allah SWT has teams of angels searching for them and when any one angels finds any of these people doing Zikr of Allah SWT, then he calls out to all of the other angels that look we found what we are looking for. So then all of the other angels come and then they surround those people making Zikr, such that the wings between the space between them and the lowest sky of Saba Samawat is fully covered. That many angels surround the Ahl-e-zikr , That all of the wings of the angels from the ground on earth, all the way up to what you call if you want the atmosphere, that is one definition of the lowest Sama . Other definition of lowest Sama which is actually more scientific is the entire end of the universe.

Understanding the Hadith:

Where the Known Universe ends, the angelic realm starts: Understand that the angelic realm begins where the non-human universe ends, so the first Sama is actually the canopy of non-physical universe. And then when you transcend that, that’s the angelic realm.

Can you imagine then?

– If you asked an astronomer and asked a physicist that how many wings, how many angels that would be, he would tell you that’s trillions of trillions of light years that to the best of our knowledge is to the farthest ends of the universe. That’s the first Sama; now we know that more through science!

–  Earlier they thought that the first Sama was just the sky. No, because after the sky is still creation. The solar system is still creation. Milky Way galaxy is still creation. All the galaxies are still creation. All the universe is still creation. It’s beyond that, that lies the skies and the angelic realms.

– Now can you imagine that how many angels, how many angels sent by Allah SWT to seek the ahl-e-zikr ,to find their gatherings? Sahi Muslim.

– And then to cover them and surround them then Allah SWT asks these angels that what these slaves of mine servants of mine saying? So the angels respond that Ya Allah! They are doing your tasbeeh, takbir,tehmil, tehlil, means they’re making Zikr of you. They’re saying SubhanAllah, they are saying Alhumdulillah, and they are saying Allahu-Akbar. They are saying tamjeed, they are saying, proclaiming you majesty.

– So Allah SWT asked the angels although Allah SWT knows everything. He is just having this conversation with angels. Obviously He knows. He doesn’t need the angels to tell Him anything. So Allah SWT asks angels have they seen me. Have these people , these Ahl-e-Zikr ever seen Allah SWT, So angels will say no Allah SWT, they have not seen you. Allah SWT will ask angels how do you think it would be, How do you think they will act if they were to see me? How do you think they would act, so angels respond to this Ya Allah if they were able to see you they would be even more earnest even more dedicated even more eager in the Zikr than they were doing in their worshipping, in their Zikr. Allah SWT will say what are they making Dua to me? What are they asking me? What they are begging of me. Angels will say Ya Allah SWT they are begging for your Jannah. Allah SWT will ask the angels have they seen my Jannah? They will say no our Rab they have not seen your Jannah. Then Allah SWT will ask them that how they would be if they were to see Jannah? So the Angels say Ya Allah SWT if they were to have seen Jannah they will be even more and more intensely eager for it even more yearning for it. Then the angels say Ya Allah SWT they are also begging you another thing. They are begging Your protection. So Allah SWT Says what are they asking My protection from? So angels reply Ya Rab they are asking Your protection from the fire  of Jahannum so Allah SWT asks, have they seen the fire of Jahannum? The angels say no. Allah SWT asks what would it be like if they had seen the fire of Jahannum? Angels say if they were to see, they would be even more begging You for protection from it. So then Allah SWT sSays to the angels about who, about these Ahl-e-Zikr (Sahih Muslim) about these people, special people-Ahl-e-Zikr. Then Allah SWT after this whole conversation says oh my angels I Call you all angels to witness that I, Allah SWT hereby Pardon and Forgive all of these Ahl-e-zikr. I Grant them what they ask that is Jannah and I Give them protection from which they wanted protection for and I have protected them from Jahannum.
This is Hadith of Nabi Kareem SWS. Then, now the beautiful part. I told you this is in both Bukhari and Muslim. I am actually reading to you now the Arabic version in Sahih Bukhari. I have to do this in Arabic for you, the last part, because this is so beautiful so then what happens

Nabi Kareem SWS says

قال
یقول ملکٌ من الملائکہ

That one of the angels, very clever one, one of the angels of all of these angels says to Allah SWT that

فیھم فلانٌ

That Ya Allah SWT from this whole gathering of Ahl-e-Zikr there is also so and so person, such and such person and what is said about this person?

لیس منھم

he is actually not from the Zakireen. He is not from the Ahl-e-zikr. He is not one of them.

انما جاَءَ لِحاجۃٍ

Actually he did not come to do Zikr and love you and praise you and remember you. He came because he has some worldly need and he thought that okay these are pious people ,maybe If I sit and join their company and make Zikr of Allah SWT, my worldly need will be fulfilled

So he came why?  “Innamma ja’a lay hajjatin” he came due to some worldly need.

Qaal, Allah SWT responds to this angel:

ھم الجُلُساءُ لا یشق بھم جلیسھم

Don’t worry these are such people that anybody jalees; it’s from sitting; anybody who even sits with them will never be deprived of the mercy that I send upon them. He is also forgiven. He is also granted jannah, he also gets protection from Jahannum even though he wasn’t even one of them.
– This is Hadith in Sahih Bukhari. And you want to listen to people who say no there is no need to go to these gatherings. Why do you think there is Barakah in these gatherings brother? This is Shirk. You are wrong. You should just make Dua to Allah SWT directly. My Nabi Kareem SWS told me that there are such gatherings. My Nabi kareem SWS told me indisputable Sahih Hadith and Sahih Bukhari that there is Barakah in such gatherings. My Nabi Kareem SWS told me even if I go for a worldly intention to such a gathering of such people I’ll get the mercy and forgiveness and get Jannah and the protection from Jahannum. So don’t listen to people who have their man made ideologies.

– Listen to the real Sunnah of Nabi Kareem SWS. These Hadith have been kept from the people so that they don’t know, they don’t realize and they think that Awliyah is some myth and Ahl-e-Zikr is some fairy tale and there is no such gathering and no blessing in these gatherings and these things don’t exist.

– You should know, You should learn and you should spread this.

– Don’t think you are protected by these false ideologies. They are fast and croaching and creeping all over the world because people are trying to understand their Deen through their mind as opposed to understanding it from their heart. They are trying to understand Hadith based on their own mind instead of understanding Hadith according to great, classical Muhadithin. Then people will go astray.
— If I try to understand the text book of medical science from my own mind and not on what the professor of medicine say, and not what the doctor say but just from my own mind to it, I will make mistakes and then if I insist that no I am intelligent, I am educated I know English, people would say fine you are intelligent , educated and English but you are making mistakes because you are not a doctor, you are not a professor of medicine, you are not a scientist. It’s not just about the English. I know English I can’t understand engineering text books, or medical sciences text books. It’s not just the language. So knowing Arabic is not enough. You have to know the knowledge of Muhadithin to understand Hadith. It’s just not enough to know the Arabic language. So this was another beautiful Hadith.

– Now look at that that gives us hope when we come to gatherings like this. We make every one of us have the view of the rest of us the Muttafiqeen that they are Ahl-e-Zikr. They have come here with sincere intention. They have come here searching for Allah SWT. They have come here to love Allah SWT. They are doing Tasbeeh. They are doing tehmeed. They are making Dua to Allah SWT, making Dua for Jannah, asking protection from Jahannum. And even if one of us came with some worldly intention, even Allah SWT, is telling to Nabi Kareem SWT in this Hadith that that person is la yashkaha. That person can never be deprived.

 
This is why we want to come to gatherings. This is incredible. Now imagine if this is what happens to the person with a worldly intention, he gets Jannah and protected from Jahannum but what will happen if somebody could manage to come with the real intention that I know I also came because I wanted to do some worship .I also wanted to do Dua. I also wanted to do Zikr. I also wanted to do Taubah. I also wanted to be forgiven by Allah SWT. Then can you imagine what would happen for such a person.
There is indeed this category of people known as the Awliyah of Allah SWT.
There is another Hadith in Sahih Bukhari narrated by Syedina Abu Huraira RA and he says Qala Rasul Allah SWS, he says

42:51:00] “Innallaha azawajjala qaal”,
Nabi Kareem SWS says that Allah SWT says, this is called Hadith-e-qudsi , that Allah SWT said
“Man Ada li walliya”
that whomsoever shows enmity to my Wali, whomsoever becomes an enemy to my Wali, despairs them, insults them, backbites them, tries to slander them that they are Mushrik or they are on Biddah. Anybody who tries to slander the true Awliyah of Allah SWT
“Waqad azantuhu biharb”
Allah SWT announces that I proclaim and announce that I, Allah declare war on such a person.
I told you when Allah SWT loves; He is the truest lover, deepest lover, He says that anybody who wants to have enmity towards my beloveds I, Allah SWT will declare war on them. So we should be careful and not listen to backbiting and not listen to that slander and not harbor any resentment, ill will, doubt, suspicion against the true Awliya Allah who are Mut’taqoon and whose life is inside the Shariah and Sunnah
We are not talking about fake Shaykhs and charlatans who do things outside Shariah and Sunnah,we are talking about the Awliyah-e-haq; the real Awliyah Ullah whose life is within Shariah and Sunnah.
Allah SWT says that my servant draws near to me with the most beloved thing is what I made Fard upon them etc.
This is Hadith in Sahih Muslim also fascinating Hadith.

The Man Who Killed 99 People

Sayyidina RasulAllah SWS said that there was once upon a time a person in an earlier community, now listen to this carefully, he killed 99 people. He killed, murder, serial killer, mass murderer. He killed 99 people and then all of a sudden, he felt like he wanted to make Tawbah to Allah SWT.

So he started asking around, “that how can I get myself forgiven?” First he went to a Raahib, a monk of that time and he asked him that how can I get forgiven and he told him from what, he had killed 99 people, When the monk heard this, he said what you have killed 99 people, yes, that there is no way you can be forgiven , Nabi Karim SWS is telling this Hadith , I told you this is in Sahih Muslim, so when he told, the monk told him that there is no way you can be forgiven, so the person, he killed the monk also, he killed the monk, now he has killed how many people, hundred people. Now heeps looking though, at the same time,
The way I read this part is that he had a craze for Tawbah. The 100th act wasn’t actually murder. He was in a state of temporary insanity, I would call it. He had such a craze for Tawbah , craze to be forgiven that he could not take the shock that my Tawbah won’t be forgiven that he ended up killing that person in that craze so the ninety nine were murdered, this one I feel was an active craze. He keeps going looking for people then he meets an Aalim, and when he meets an alim and again This is Sahih Muslim. It tells you the value of Ulema; Nabi e Kareem SWS is teaching us these old stories, why. It’s Sunnah; it’s guidance to us that we need to learn these things from the Ulema. So the person goes to an Alim and he says the same thing that I have killed the 100 people When he goes to the Alim, he asks the same thing, that is there any way, any scope for my Taubah to be accepted. Alim says “Yes! Na’am!”

He says “Na’am! wa man lahu bainahu wabainat-tauba?”

That yes, what is it that is preventing you, coming between you and your Tauba? So that’s a good answer!

He says: Okay, so tell me what to do?

So what does this Alim tell him?

“Intaliq!”

That you have to leave this land where we are right now, and you have to journey ila ardin kaza wa kaza to such and such place.

The Prophet SWS did not name that place. He said that the Alim told that killer that you have to go to such and such a town. Why? Why go to such and such a town? People will tell you you can do Tauba at home, you can do Tauba on your own. Listen to the hadith– Sahih Muslim! Nabi Kareem SWS is giving us guidance, that sometimes to make Tauba you have to make a move! So he said go to such and such a town, why?

Fa inna biha unaasan, ya’budoonallah

Because there they are some people–Unaas–literally Arabic! There are some people: Ya’boodunallah. And they make a lot of Ibaadat of Allah SWT

Fa’budullaha ma’ahum
You go and you make Ibaadat to Allah SWT with them and your Tauba will be accepted.

This is not some old story–it applies to us! This is why the Prophet SWS is telling us this! Allah SWT revealed this incident of the past to the Prophet SWS to tell us, his Ummah, that a way to make Tauba is to go to the people who are worshiping Allah SWT and to make Ibaadat to Allah SWT with them, and then your Tauba will be accepted– Sahih Muslim.

This is why we come to gatherings. This is why we travel the world. This is why we seek out these Mashaikh. This is why we try to spend few days doing worship to Allah SWT along with the people who are doing worship to Allah SWT. Exactly what is in this Hadith is exactly the intention we can make for the Sunnah I’tekaf. And even those who come partially– part-time in Nafil I’tekaf, exactly they can make this intention So this is established to you from Qur’an ul Kareem, from the Sahih of Bukhari, from the Sahih of Muslim that there are people who are blessed and beloved to Allah SWT and simply being with those people and simply worshipping Allah SWT along with when those people worship Allah SWT can be enough to forgive a person from one hundred murders. I don’t even think me and you have done any sin like that that we have brought to I’tekaf
This is the mercy and forgiveness and blessing, Allah SWT is teaching through the prophet SWS in this Hadith about how much blessing there is in the gathering of the people of Zikar and the people of worship so this was the first thing now that I wanted to make clear this night established in our Deen and then the next nights we will talk about how to join we this Ahle Zikar, how to join with those people of worhsip, how to join with those of Mut’taqeens, Sadiqeen, Awliyah Ullah, how one learns from them, how one benefits them, how do they teach ,what are their methods so we can understand the whole system and how it works, but the very least we should have this longing and should have this yearning and it should be part of our Duaas in the night of the twenty first and every night of the last ten days and every night of our lives that:

Ya Allah Alluma allhiqna bihim

That Allah SWT join us with these Ahle Zikar, join us with these people who do worship of you, join us with these who are so beloved to you that they are your Wali, join us with these people that when they take any statement and they take your name, you fulfill their statements, join us with these people that even if we come from a worldly intention ,even then we will not be deprived, All of these things just few, there is much more than I told you, less for tonight, much more than I bring tonight, but our part of our Dua’s must be because we have to get complete guidance, we have to be guided by every verse in Qur’an and every authentic Hadith of Nabi SWS and we have to make Dua for that in these last ten days to be connected to those people, to be guided by those people, to become lovers of those people, to become beloved of those people, like Nabi Kareem SWS taught us to make Dua on other Sahih hadith that

Allahuma inni assaluka minka hubbaka wa hubba man yuhibbuka

Ya Allah SWT I ask that you grant me love for you and love for those who love you,

we need to love the lovers of Allah SWT in order to love Allah SWT

May Allah SWT put that love for him in our heart, May He out love for His lovers in our heart, May He put love for His beloveds in our heart, May He join us and connect us with these people in the true and authentic way as established form the Qur’an and true Sunnah .

Treasuring the Noor of Allah swt

[Following is a transcription(not word-by-word) of the talk delivered by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db 29th August, 2014 – listen to the audio]

فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ

“…indeed I am near.” [2:186]

Allah (swt), in Quran, gave us a tremendous gift. He announced to us:

فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ

“…indeed I am near.” [2:186]

That I’m intimately near to you

Allah (swt) didn’t have to do this. He is our Khaliq, our Malik – He could’ve said I created you, I Put you on Earth, I Sent you Quran, I Sent you Nabi-e-Karim saw – now, you have hidaya, now I’ll Deal with you on the Day of Judgment. That also would’ve been adl; that would’ve also been fair. But, Allah (swt) said, no – Yes, I have done all that but you are not alone. Allah (swt) said in the Quran:

وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ

and He is with you wherever you are [57:4]

You are always in the company of Allah and Allah (swt) is always your Companion.

Now, if you have ever travelled in this world you will see that one thing is to make a journey alone and one thing is to have a companion – you will see it’s a world of a difference. So, can you imagine Allah (swt) who has given us the gift of His ma’eeyat that He is our Companion in this world. That He is our Companion in Hayat-ud-Dunya – His ma’eeyat; His Qurb; His Aqrabeeyat –

نَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ

“We are most near…”  (50:16)

that means He is most near to you

I’m your Companion; I’m near to you; I’m near-most to you! So, we were supposed to make it two-ways that Ya Allah! Okay, I also feel all the time that I’m in Your company. I also make myself feel Qareeb to You, Your Hukm; Your Command; Your Will; Your Wish; Your Ridaa; Your Pleasure – You said You are aqrab to me – well, I will be aqrab to Deen; I will be aqrab to Sunnah; I will be aqrab to Your Raza! So actually, all of Deen is to make this one-way love Allah (swt) has for us – to make it two-way!

To become the true, loyal, loving, obedient servant and slave and obedient lover of Allah (swt) – that Allah (swt) Who already loves us. Many people, they think that becoming the mehboob of Allah (swt) is the end the intehaa of Deen – being the Mehboob of Allah (swt) is the beginning of Deen. Allah (swt) Says in Quran:

يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ

يُحِبُّهُمْ -Allah (swt) Loves them,

وَيُحِبُّونَهُ they love Allah

 

Allah (swt) could’ve Said yuhibboonahu wa yuhibbuhum that they love Allah and Allah loves them but no, when it comes to work – you do work first:

وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

And those who strive for Us – We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good. [Surah Ankaboot: 69]

You will strive in our path; We will Send hidaya to you.

 

فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ

Remember Me, I will remember you. [2:152]

You will make zikr of Me, Allah (swt) Says I will Make Zikr of you.

 

رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً

“…well-pleased and pleasing [to Him].” [89:28]

 You will be pleased with me then Allah will be Pleased with you.

 

But, when it came to love Allah (swt) Changed the order in Qur’an. Here when He Wanted to Mention His love He said,

يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ

…a people He will love and who will love Him … [5:54]

 

Allah (swt) Loves them first and they love Allah (swt) second.

Means just by – and it’s so simple to understand – do you think we would have this Iman if we were not mehboob of Allah (swt)? Is it not, this itself, the greatest act of love that Allah (swt) Gave us iman! What did me and you do to earn this iman? We were not mustahiq of this iman – just Gracing us – this is called tawfeeq; His Fazl; Karam; Inaya  – and Allah (swt) Said exactly that in Quran:

Allah (swt) is the Wali of those who believe – now, you will see in so many places in Quran, Allah (swt) Says:

 

الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ

those who believe and do righteous deeds [2:25]

 Magar jab Allah (swt) apni dosti ka tazkara; apni muhabbat ka tazkara fermana chahein to amal ka shart chor dia. When Allah (swt) Wanted to Mention His Love, He didn’t Make that the condition that to have iman and do good deeds –a’amaal-us-Salih-Allah (swt) becomes their Friend, No!

 

اللَّـهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

Allah is the ally of those who believe [2:257]

 Allah is the Wali of those who have iman – in fact immediately after that Allah (swt) Made it clear that they are not doing amal-us-Saalihaat, they are doing zulumaat

يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ

He brings them out from darknesses into the light. [2:257]

 Allah (swt) Takes them out! They are in darkness but they have iman – they are in sin, but they have iman; they are in depression, but they have iman they are lazy but they have iman, they are astray but they have iman!

• اللَّـهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

Allah (swt) is their Wali

• يُخْرِجُهُم

Allah (swt) will Take them out

• مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ

Plural; from so many darknesses into

•  إِلَى النُّورِ

The Noor of His hidaya; the noor of Taqwa; the noor of His Muhabbah; the noor of His Qubooliyyah

• Just on الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ! –  what incredible fazl it is that we have this iman.

 

Allah (swt)’s Hidayat

Allah (swt) Said in Quran:

وَمَن يُؤْمِن بِاللَّـهِ يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُ

“And whoever believes in Allah – He will guide his heart.” [64:11]

 

That whoever has iman in Allah, Allah (swt) Himself, directly, personally Sends hidaya on to their Qalb – Direct!

Al-Hadi: Allah (swt) is Always Sending hidaya. You and me don’t realize this; we don’t really understand Qur’an – it literally means every single second that you have iman, even if you have one faint drop of iman! Allah (swt) is Always Sending His hidya on our heart! All the time! 24 hours – all the time. Just like today they have the signals. Right now in this room, signals are on all the time; so many radio channels and signals are present in the air; the waves are there all the time so it’s easy to understand. Allah (swt) sends the waves of His Hidayah on the spiritual heart of a person. Here also, Allah (swt) didn’t make any other condition, Allah (swt) didn’t say: “Mann Yu’min Billahi Wa Amala Amalan Sualihan”. No. He said:

 

وَمَن يُؤْمِن بِاللَّـهِ يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُ

“And whoever believes in Allah – He will guide his heart.” [64:11]

 

Just they had Imaan, That’s it. Allah (swt) sends Hidayah on their hearts. This is also a type of Zikr. You should just walk around all the time, trying to remember this. Remind your heart about Allah (swt), remind your heart that Allah (swt) is sending Hidayah in my heart. Put the receiver on; and the transmitter is always on. Keep it on! Feel this Hidayah, it is coming all the time.

 

وَكَانَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَحِيمًا

“And ever is He, to the believers, Merciful.” [33:43]

 

Allah (swt)’s mercy is coming all the time, Allah (swt)’s Fazal, Karam is coming all the time on every single heart. Literally, you can imagine that people have those red laser-lights and they have targeted laser-light like heat seeking. Just like that, imagine that on every Qalb of every person in this Masjid right now, a light is coming. That is exactly what’s happening. Every single one of us gets this Noor of Hidayah all the time.

Now can you imagine, after all of that, still a person says: I don’t feel qareeb to Allah SWT. I feel baeed, I feel distant from Allah SWT.

 

They have a saying in English that: “If ever you feel distant from another party, in any relationship, there’s only one of two possibilities: either that party pulled back from you or you pulled back from them.”

 

Allah (swt) said:

فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ

 “…indeed I am near.” [2:186]

 

He made it clear. Oh My believers, I will never pull back from you. So it means that if we ever feel distant from Allah (swt), it’s because we pulled back from Him. Either we pull back through sin, or we pull back through Ghaflah. Allah (swt) tries to send us Hidayah:

 

وَذَرُوا ظَاهِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَبَاطِنَهُ

“And leave what is apparent of sin and what is concealed thereof.” [6:120]

 

Leave all the sins that you do. Outward sin, inward sin, stop doing sin, stop desiring sin, stop wanting sin, stop being tempted by sin, stop being attracted to sin:

“وَذَرُوا ظَاهِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَبَاطِنَهُ”

Then Allah SWT also told us to stay away from Ghaflah.

 

وَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْغَافِلِينَ

“And do not be among the heedless.” [7:205]

 

Don’t you dare ever let yourself become amongst those people who forget Allah (swt), who neglect Allah (swt), who even spend one second of their lives empty of Zikr:“وَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْغَافِلِينَ”.

 

What is Ghaflah?

This is Hidayah. Allah (swt) is trying to guide us away from these two major things: our sins and our Ghaflah. And most us we keep slipping in sin and almost all of us slip in Ghaflah. Ghaflah doesn’t mean Haraam, Ghaflah means Halaal. Halaal recreation, Halaal entertainment, Halaal leisure, Halaal pleasure but which has no connection to Allah (swt) at all. This is also in Qur’an, “laghw”. Allah SWT talks in the Qur’an about which believers are successful:

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ

“Certainly will the believers have succeeded.” [23:1]

Which believers are successful?

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ

“And they who turn away from ill speech.” [23:3]

 That they turn away from this. They have no time for these things.

 

Purpose of Life: Pleasing Allah (SWT)

Again:

“Baamaqsad, Baamaqsood”

 

If they live a purposeful life, keeping in mind that their goal is to please Allah SWT, they will get that goal. They will become pleasing to Allah (swt). Yes, that’s what Allah SWT has said, that’s what you get:

رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً

                       “…well-pleased and pleasing [to Him].” [89:28]

 

The whole purpose of life is to get this pleasure

Allah (swt) says in Qur’an:

وَرِضْوَانٌ مِّنَ اللَّـهِ أَكْبَرُ

(9:72) 

“…but approval from Allah is greater.” [9:72]

That getting this pleasure from Allah (swt) is the single greatest thing in Jannah. The greatest thing in Jannah. It means, U’lama wrote, that even greater than seeing Allah (swt), even greater than Ro’yat-e-Baari-(swt), the joy the person in Jannah will have when Allah (swt) tells them, I am pleased with you, and I will be pleased with you forever. The joy they get in their hearts when they learn that Allah (swt) is pleased with them,

وَرِضْوَانٌ مِّنَ اللَّـهِ أَكْبَرُ

is even greater than the joy they get in their hearts when they get to see Allah (swt)’s beauty.

That’s how happy they will be. This is why Sahaba Karaam RA were so great. Allah (swt) gave them this joy in this world:

رَّضِيَ اللَّـهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ

(5:119)

 

For them also the order was changed. For Nafs-e-Mutmainnah:

• Raaziyatan, first you please Allah SWT
• Marziyyah, Allah SWT is pleased with you.

But for Sahaba-e-Karaam RA:

• RazaiAllahu Ahum, Allah SWT is pleased with them first
• Wa Razuu Anh, and they are also pleased with Allah SWT.

All these things I am mentioning to you, becoming pleasing to Allah (swt), feeling Qareeb to Allah (swt), remembering the Maiyyat, companionship of Allah SWT, all of these things are missing in our lives. That’s why you feel distant, that’s why we feel baeed from Allah SWT.

One Urdu poet used to say:

 “Allah se doori kaisi, 

Allah se ghaflat kaisi”

How can you live a life like that, that you are distant from Allah SWT? How can you pray a Salah like that, that you don’t feel the Qurb of Allah (swt)? Allah SWT says in the Qur’an, make sajdah and you will get Qurb. You make sajdah and you get Qurb, very simple. One step! All you have to do to get Qurb is one step: you make sajdah.

You and me make dozens of sajdahs, dozens. Dozens of sajdahs, and we say we don’t feel the Qurb of Allah SWT. So it means something is wrong somewhere. This has to get fixed. It’s not going to fix itself on its own. It’s been going on for years. Allah SWT sent Ramadan to fix us, how did Ramadan fix us? Ramadan made us feel that Qurb by making us feel two feelings:

First Feeling We Got in Ramadan: Love for Allah (swt)

In Ramadan a person starts loving Allah (swt). Although technically, Allah (swt) was making us do something difficult. In the UK, you fast for 18 hours and stay away from food and drink. It was difficult. But strangely, you started loving Allah (swt) more. You were happy to do it. This is called love. Love means you are happy to please and obey your Beloved. This is what Shaytaan didn’t have.

 

Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanvi (RA) wrote that Iblees was an Aabid, Aalim and Aarif but he wasn’t an Aashiq. He didn’t love Allah (swt) so he didn’t love pleasing Allah (swt). He thought, “Should I make Sajda or not?” A lover doesn’t think that.

 

We did this in Ramadan. None of us thought, “Should I fast or not?” “Am I healthy or not?” We didn’t think.

 

سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا

…We hear and we obey… [Surah Al Baqara: 285]

 

We had this Sift of the Sahaba e Karaam (RA) during Ramadan. We too heard and obeyed! We didn’t think at all. We said, “Allah (swt), you want us to fast. I will fast.” So actually, this was love.

The Arabs say,

المحب لمن احب مطيع 

 The lover obeys his beloved.

 

Second Aspect of Love:
You can never betray your beloved.

You cannot even imagine betraying your beloved. The same thing happened to us. During Ramadan this summer, at Zuhr time, when you made Wudhu, there was water in your mouth. You could have swallowed a small amount and no one would have ever known! But you weren’t even tempted. It didn’t even cross the wildest range of your imagination that I should take a sip. Why? Because you were a lover of Allah (swt). This is called love; even though you had the opportunities to sin, you didn’t. Even though it was right in your grasp and no one would have ever known, you were not tempted even slightly.

 

The Same Principle After Ramadan

What does this mean then? You have a 24-hours access to sin. You can do it secretly and no one will come to know. You can talk to and look at non-Mehrams and sin, but you have to be the same way you were during Ramadan. “I am not interested, or tempted.” You live in a society in which you can misdirect your gaze anytime you want, but you have to be the way you were in Ramadan. You cannot be interested because you are the lover of Allah (swt). The same way we got Qurb towards Allah (swt) in Ramadan is the same way we will feel close now. It wasn’t the fasting. It was the love for Allah (swt). It was the love behind the fasting. Ramadan is the month in which we get the feeling of love by fasting. Afterwards, you’re supposed to keep the feeling without the fasting. Our problem is that we leave the feeling the second we leave the fasting. That was wrong.

 

The fasting was just a Sabab and Zaryaa.

 

لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

…so that you may become righteous. [Surah Al Baqarah: 183]

Allah (swt) didn’t say, “so that you become hungry.” He said it’s so that you get Taqwa, Qurb and Love for Allah (swt).

Second Feeling We Got in Ramadan: Dhikr

Every second we were fasting, we were aware of our fast. Whether you were working, driving or sitting in an intense meeting, if you were asked if you were fasting, you would say yes. You would say I am aware that I am fasting in every second that goes by. In other words, I am aware that I am fasting for Allah (swt). Therefore, you’re in a state of Dhikr.

 Love + Dhikr = Qurb

Love for Allah (swt) and DhikrUllah grant a person Qurb of Allah (swt). They make a person feel close to Allah (swt).

But. It’s not always going to be Ramadan. So if a person slips and goes back into sin and ghaflat, there’s a process in our Deen called Tazkiya. This refers to:

• Purifying our heart from sin
• Occupying our heart in Dhikr
• Staying away from Ghaflat
• Feeingl love for Allah (swt)
• Making Dhikr of Allah (swt)
• Getting that feeling of Qurb back in your life.

Getting this Qurb, being the Muqarrab and beloved of Allah (swt) is the true dream of the believer.

Sunnah Model of Tazkiya

Mashaa’ikh teach Tazkiya, as did Nabi e Kareem (sws). Allah (swt) told him:

 يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ

…Reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom [Surah Ale Imran: 164]

Even though he was around the Sahaba e Karaam (RA), it wasn’t enough to recite the Aayaat. The Prophet (sws) was told to imprint this Quran on their heart, and purify them from Ghaflah, and train them. This is the Sunnah model of Tazkiyya, and has been continuing down. It is the second work of Nabuwwah. The first was Tilawah. Second was Tazkiyya. Third was Taleem. Fourth was Hikmat. This work of Tazkiyya is part of our Deen. It is part of the prescription of the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet (sws). If we find ourselves in sin and Ghaflah, we need to learn and practice this Tazkiyya. We should sit with and listen to Mashaaikh and their bayans, and read their books, to get the Love for Allah (swt) and the Prophet (sws) in our hearts. Then we ask them to teach us and guide us in Dhikr and then help us feel that Dhikr.

 Our Deen (like all relationships) is about feelings

One thing is to make the Dhikr with your tongue and one thing is to make it with your heart. Our deen is about feelings. Look in ever relationship you want to have a heart felt relationship how would you like to have a heartless relationship; that your son is heartless with you, your spouse is heartless with you, your friend is heartless with you, your neighbor is heartless with you. This is not a relationship.  Relationship is heartfelt, that there would be feelings, so the most important relationship is the Abd-Rab relationship. Our relationship with Allah (swt) is one that has to become a heartfelt relationship. So the Mashaa’ikh of Tazkiya teach us how to bring the heart back into deen. They teach us how to get the feelings of Deen. So there are the words of Deen: ‘alfaaz’. There are the meanings of Deen, that’s Ilm and then there are feelings of Deen, that’s called Tazkiya. Like Allah (swt) said in Quran,

الرَّحْمَـٰنُ فَاسْأَلْ بِهِ خَبِيرًا

…so ask about Him one well informed. [Surah Furqan: 59]

Ar Rehman! He teaches us His name that He is Ar Rehman. We know the meaning of Rehman that Allah swt is All Merciful, but if you want to know in your heart how should that make me feel, that Allah (swt) is Ar Rehman, فَاسْأَلْ!  You must go and ask someone. you can’t read and research this on your own. Allah (swt) gives command, خَبِيرًا  بِهِ فَاسْأَلْ that there are some people who are ‘khabeer’, who are deeply aware and informed, who know it very well, they know what it means that Allah (swt) is Ar Rehman. So you have to find them, you have to sit with them, you have to ask them, and you have to present your hearts, talk to them that I pray salah but I don’t feel it. I can’t control my gaze, I don’t remember Allah swt at work, I can’t control my tongue, I have a problem with anger.

Just like you have any physical illness you go to the doctor and tell him yourself that these are my symptoms, these are my pains, these are my problems, these are my difficulties and the doctors job is to give you prescription to work with you, to give you curing program, just like that the teachers of Tazkiya are like the spiritual doctors of the Ummah. When you go to them and tell them the difficulty you are having, it’s their duty to help and guide you. To get this Taqwa, to get the Qurb of Allah (swt) back, all of that is called Tazkiya.

May Allah swt accept us for every branch of Deen, for every reality of Deen. May He put the true feelings of true Mu’mineen in our heart. May He soften our heart and fill our heart with the love for Him and take out all the unlawful love of non-Mehram, unlawful love for Dunya, unlawful love for our self and put in our heart love for Allah (swt), love for Quran, love for Deen e Islam, love for the Prophet (sws), and fill our heart with Dhikr and take us out of ghaflah. May Allah swt accept us for this path of Tazkiya.

Noor-e-Nisbat by fighting Ghaflah!

Our Mashaikh of Tazkiya have a term ‘Noor-e-Nisbat’.

Nisbat means connection and attachment to Allah. Nisbat means to have such a strong attachment and connection that the lower party is elevated by the higher party. It means that the adna party is raised higher by the ala party.

What you’re attached to makes a big difference. This is why Allah Swt attaches things to Himself. He sent Quran as a book and attached it to Himself as Kitaabullah. He sent Nabi SAW and attached him to Himself as Rasool-Allah. This means Allah Swt wants us to attach ourselves to Him.

What types of Nisbat Allah Swt wants to give us:

That is Jannah. Since Allah Swt will live forever, He wants us to live with Him forever. This is the Nisbat Allah Swt wants to give us. This is what is ‘ya khafi-ul-lutfi adrikni bi lutfikal khafi.’ This is the meaning of Allah Swt’s name Al-Latif which means unfathomable. He wants to give us unfathomable Nisbah, an eternal Nisbah with Him.

The person who tries to get that Nisbah in this world, Allah Swt will enable him to get that Nisbah in the next world. That is why Allah Swt sent down the Quran, Nabi SAW etc. So this is the maqsad of Tariqah; that the Salika becomes ‘Raziatam marziya’ that I become such that Allah Swt is pleased with me.

So deen is not that you pray five times a day. You have to make your aspirations, your dreams, your words and thoughts such that they become close to Allah Swt. They become as close to Allah Swt as possible. We cannot become one with Allah Swt but we need to become as close while maintaining that distance. This is called Wassal.

Allah Swt says in Quran that they are such people that Allah Swt has drawn them closer to Himself.

And when Allah Swt draws someone close to Him, He draws them closer to Him perfectly. This is what the Sahaba had. They tried to draw themselves as close to Allah Swt as they could and then Allah Swt drew them closer to Him. This is either through zuhad or mujahida  etc.

In the beginning, we make you do tauba, fear and love Allah Swt and love the Nabi Swt and after a woman has done that we want to proceed to the next goal. First goal is to leave sin and to live a life according to Shariah. That may be ongoing but if you have made efforts and are still making them and you know what’s wrong, you should make another goal which is to make yourself pleasing to Allah Swt.

Those who love Allah Swt, they love Allah Swt madly. They love Allah Swt more than anything in the world. And there are two obstacles in this.

1. 1.       Sin
2. 2.       Ghaflah

Ghaflah means to forget Allah Swt. Allah Swt says in Quran:

Don’t you dare forget Allah Swt for even a second.

As critically important it is to stay and leave sin, it is the same for ghaflah. Whenever we forget Allah Swt, we will forget that we have to please Allah Swt. Whenever we are ghafil of Allah Swt we are in danger of sinning.

If you look around yourself, everything is such that you forget Allah Swt. This is the beauty of zikr, that it makes you remember Allah Swt. The malls and roads are designed such that you stay trapped in this world and forget Allah Swt. Every single thing in the dunya that you can imagine is for this sole purpose. You know which is the nicest doughnut and the nicest soap dispenser; you will find beauty and attraction in the most trivial part of your life. Every single beauty of this world is to make you forget the beauty of Allah Swt.

Allah Swt says in Quran:

O Insan, what has made you forget your kind Rab?

When you get the candies of this world you forget Allah Swt. First the dunya tries to make you ghafil of Allah Swt and then it makes you forget that you even have ghaflah.

Ghaflat is progressive. It is evasive. Allah Swt wants us to remove ghaflah from our hearts. We cannot remove the ghaflah from today’s society. So we have to remove ghaflah from our heart. This is what Shaytan does. He makes us forget the remembrance of Allah Swt by making us enter into ghaflat.

So don’t think that I’ll leave my sin first and then I’ll attack ghaflah. No. You have to stay away from ghaflah.

Mafhoom of Hadis:

The beauty of excellence of the imaan and deen of a person is such that they leave (tark) those things that don’t concern them.

Hence, the whole concept of Tazkiya is to make people leave ghaflah by making them remember Allah Swt. The second step is to do qasad. Qasad means to have determination. That is to become resilient on doing zikr. One is like zikr is good; I think it’s nice, sign me up. This is the first step. The second step which is qasad is that I am going to chase zikr. You have to broaden the horizon of your zikr.

I am a zikr seeker. I am a zikr chaser. I am a zikr lover.

This is what we want you to do. We want you to take the second step.

The problem with you is that you are willing to do only that amount of zikr which is within your reach. You are willing to do only as much of zikr as it falls into your lap. That’s not qasad.

3 things you have to do if you want to be successful in deen

1. 1.       Want it BADLY
2. 2.       Work for it. HARD.
3. 3.       Pray for it.
4. 4.       Over and over and over and over again.

Eg: If there is a woman who has a family member and the family member is sick. If you ask her to do some specific zikr, she will do it. She will do it over and over again and she will come to you asking for more.

So you have to do it more. You have to do it with a different approach. Not with I have to do it 15 mins a day. You should do it with the approach that I have to do this to get closer to Allah Swt, to become a beloved of Allah Swt. You have to make a conscious, deliberate, long term effort. This is what is qasad.

This is why you have to do Zikr-e-qalbi since it is the zikr you can do 24/7. And it takes effort. It is possible to do zikr with your tongue and forget Allah Swt in your heart but it is not possible to do zikr in your heart and not remember Allah Swt.

This is why zikr-e-qalbi is a direct attack on ghaflah.

I want every moment of my life to be interlaced with the remembrance of Allah Swt. I want to remember Allah Swt with my every single breath. 100 % doing zikr of Allah Swt. This is zikr-e-qalbi.

There are two ways to do zikr-e-qalbi:

1. 1.       Muraqabah

Whenever you get free moments, you must remember Allah Swt to fight ghaflah. You must do muraqabah whenever it’s possible. Even if you are free for 2-3 mins, now you might think that it won’t do anything but you underestimate it. Even if you do it 2-3 mins for a few days, you will feel a difference.

1. 2.       Waquf-e-qalbi

This is remembering Allah Swt while multi tasking. So you must remember Allah Swt before and after when doing some time and this way that task will inshAllah be counted as zikr.

You have to do effort. You have to spend years of effort. You have to spend years and years scrubbing so that your heart can shine with the remembrance of Allah Swt. And with these things, you should remain in wuzu, follow Sunnah and keep making effort of remembering Allah Swt by fighting Ghaflah.

Another thing you need besides this is to feel the love for Allah Swt.

You need love for Allah Swt.

There is no relationship in this world where you will know that if the other person will be happy with me or not. The easiest love in this world is that of Allah Swt. And that is the Quran, Sunnah, and Shariah.  You have to follow them to become a beloved of Allah Swt. Allah Swt has done this to make it easier for us to reach His love.

And you can ask your heart whether this thing you are doing is pleasing to Allah Swt or not?

Another important thing is that a woman should fill her heart with the love of Allah Swt.

And you should love Allah Swt more than anything in the world. If you are a mother, you can wake up a hundred times for your children in the middle of the night. So that’s what you should do for Allah Swt. You should be able to wake up and do anything for Allah Swt.

Allah Swt used the words ‘kasrat for zikr and shidat for love’ that we should do zikr-e-kaseer and we should have intensity of love.

This is what you need to do. You don’t have to change your environment. You don’t have to change your husband. That is not something you can do. You have to change the environment of your heart. You do what you can do and Allah Swt will do the rest for you.

As for leaving sin, you must make the niyyah. The sin of loving the world, the sin of laziness, the sin of sacrificing for the world more than you do for Allah Swt etc. And you have to make this niyyah everyday. If you mess up at work, you still make niyyah everyday to fix that mess. You don’t give up.

You should make a list whether literally or in your mind. Make a list of all the sins you do and all the things Allah Swt loves. And one by one knock the sin list and check the things that Allah Swt does. You make lists for you dunya. So you should do this for your deen. Make a plan for your deen and tazkiyah. Look at that paper everyday and renew your niyyah and inshAllah Allah Swt will give it to you.

Those of you who have been with us for more than two years, we want you to be stronger. So,

1.   Zikr-e-Kaseer

2.   Leave sin

3.   Fight Ghaflah

We want you to do these three things. May Allah Swt curb us of ghaflah and make us of the muqariboon.

Ameen.

How does someone know he has reached Wilayat

Q: How does someone know he has reached Wilayat?

A(Mafhoom): Well, theres no clear moment in which a person will be able to discern that they have reached Wilayat. And many times, i think, Wilayat is something that overcomes a person without them being conscious of it. Certainly a salik should not be certainly not be seeking out that moment of discovery of Wilayat. Because we are not seeking Wilayat, we are seeking Allah swt. 

Many of the Mashaikh have written that one of the sign of Wilayat is that our ife is increasing in its correspondence with the Shariah and Sunnah, such that we ourselves are liking the things that Allah swt Likes and we ourselves are disliking the things that Allah swt Dislikes – that is a sign that our heart is moving closer and closer to Wilayat.

 

(Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db – CII Tazkiya Talk, 26-03-2009)

7 Steps to do in Sha’ban to Maximize benefit of Ramadan

[Following are rough notes of talk delivered by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed on CII on 28th June’2012. It gives a list of 7 practical and spiritual things to do in Sha’ban to prepare ourselves for a life-changing Ramadan]

Ramadan is the best opportunity to make it easier for us to leave sin, to mend our ways, to patch up with our lord. And the easiest way to make it easy in Ramadan is to work hard in Sha’ban. If you want BEST Ramadan, make this Sha’ban better than your last Ramadan. If you do that, then inshaAllah this Ramadan will be a life changing experience for you, it will take you to a point of no-return. Leave sins such that we never slip in it again, get attached to Allah (swt) and Nabi (sws) such that nothing can detach us. So we must work in Sha’ban.

Previously, we didn’t prepare in Sha’ban. So initial 10days of Ramdan were spent in getting used to fasting physically, next 10 days were spent in getting used to fasting spiritually, and in the last 10 days when we were finally getting some effects, Ramadan ended and we lost all the effect of Ramadan within the first few days of Shawwal. So Ramadan had an effect but no after effect. This year we will make it different. Begin the process in Sha’ban.

Westernized Muslims are deluded by two words: ‘balance’ and ‘moderation’. Because of this we miss out on the depth and intensity that Allah (swt) has put in deen. There is so much potential in deen but we lose out on it because of laziness. If a person is hard-working, can work consistently and put in effort (for dunya) then it is such a shame that when it comes to deen they don’t aspire, they don’t dream, they don’t work-hard, don’t put in effort.

 Take another example: If a person is physically very fit, and off-field they show great athletic capability but when he gets on-field he walks around lazily. Similar is our case. Off-field (dunya) we show our effort, hard-work and potential but when it comes to the real field in our life (which is deen) we have a lazy attitude and come up with words like ‘balance’ and ‘moderation’ to euphemize it.

If you have intention in Sha’ban, and renew it every day, that this Ramadan, I’ll change. This Ramdan I want everything about my life to become according to deen. That’s how strong an intention is needed, because Ramdan is a very strong and intense program. You’ll only be able to benefit fully if you bring an equally intense intention. Like if a person enrolls in a world class university program designed for extreme in-depth study, and says that no I just want to learn a little bit about business or economics then they’ll tell him that look, you wont be able to benefit fully from this program unless you have an intention of really getting into the depth of each subject.

This Ramadan is the month of intense Mercy of Allah (swt). Intense Mercy in two ways: one is that Allah’s mercy is so strong that it is enough to wipe away all of our sins. Allah (swt) makes available to us any and every single aspect of deen in this month, be it tahajjud, sabr, etc. Second way is that in this month, Allah sends down intense mercy, karam, fazal and faiz down to us: shukr, taqwa, haya etc, all are available in Ramadan. Its like a world class chef has displayed every single award-winning cuisine of the world in a buffet but a person walks in the hall and says no I just want to have some crackers and a glass of water. So you see, we are not getting enough nourishment from Ramadan. And going with the analogy, Sha’ban is the month to whet our appetites, to realize how hungry, starved we are, how spiritually malnourished we are. If we make this realization in sha’ban, then insha Allah we can come out of Ramadan fully nourished.

We should think that I am sick of being on and off in my deen, sick of having surges and dips. So many salikeen(seekers of the pleasure of Allah swt) have this problem. They have surges, for days and sometimes for months, they do everything right, their ibadat, adab is right, they are staying away from sins and then all of a sudden they crash and lose everything. Miss fajr, isha, don’t want to make dua, lose interest in salah, don’t want to do tilawat, tasbeeh, zikr. They may languor in that state for days and for some for months. And then, if they Allah (swt) wants to Guide them, He sends them some difficulty to jolt them out and they come out in shock at themselves. How did I let that happen? How could I fall in such sins? It’s something to think about, we are able to go consistently to work 9-5 for many months without taking off, we are able to study all year round, we have consistency when it comes to dunya, but when it comes to deen we are unable to get even a matching level of consistency.

We don’t want to waver, lapse, slip, be consistent in Sha’ban so that in Ramadan, we can become a wali. Remember, we are not here in Ramadan to fast, to stay away from food,drink and lawful relations from fajr to maghrib. We are here to change our entire life.

So this month is about making intention. Don’t under-estimate it. Niyat is a very powerful thing. So in our tips for Sha’ban,

 1. The first one is that we should make continuous niyat.

Now for the more practical tips to do in Sha’ban.

 2. Clear out all things in Sha’ban.

Free yourself up by Ramadan. Ideally we must have finished everything by Rajab, so that we would have had all Sha’ban free as well. But even if now we start, we should sort out our tasks into two categories. Those that need immediate attention should be taken care of now, so that you are not stuck doing them in Ramadan. And those tasks that can be delayed, delay them till after Ramdan (to Shawwal). So put things in Sha’ban or Shawwal. And don’t feel bad that I am going to be so busy in Shawwal.

Let me tell you this (we are going to explain this more when to return to this program after Ramadan), but briefly, if you have a very very busy Shawwal then you have a greater chance of retaining your Ramdan. But if you give yourself two-weeks off and relax then you’ll lose Ramadan very quickly. So, you want to be free in Ramadan as much as possible. For those stuck in 9-5 corporate jobs, should also try to keep their weekends as much free as possible, try to spend time in ai’tikaf as much as possible. And if they can, they should delay tasks till Shawwal.

By clearing things out by Sha’ban, I also mean emotionally. If you have any emotional issue going on in life, relationships with parents, friends or any other person, you should sort out any and all emotional issues now. Have those conversations now so that your spirituality is not hampered by emotional sadness, emotional stress and you are completely focused and ready in Ramadan. Take care of all your huquq-ul-ibad in Sha’ban (ideally it should have been done in Rajab), so that Ramadan is free for Huquq-ul-Allah.

 3. Muhasabah.

We should bring ourselves to task, should run an antivirus on ourselves to check which files in us are infected in us. What sins do we have? Like Hazrat Ji says:

Apnay mann k darichay ko kholiyay, apni asal taswir ko dekhiyay.

With a fine comb, and devastatingly critical eye, analyze ourselves. Try to read your book of deeds. The chapter of sins, the chapter of ghaflat of failure, volumes of shahwat, volumes of hasad, kibr, ujb, we should scrutinize ourselves. And we should keep doing it this whole month so that you get a feeling “ I need to fix myself”. So that in Ramadan, you do fix yourself.

 4. Do nafl fasts in this month.

It comes in a sahih hadith that other than Ramadan, there is no other month in which Nabi (sws) used to fast more than Sha’ban. And ulema have written many wisdoms behind this act of fasting, as to why Nabi (sws) used to fast so much in Sha’ban. Some are :

1. To get back in the groove of fasting physically

2. Also to get back in spiritual groove of fasting.

You wake up for suhoor, you pray tahajjud, and make dua for your Ramadan.-> This is the best way to prepare for Ramadan, to pray in Tahajjud in Sha’ban before that Fajr after which you will have a fast.

3. When you fast, you remember your previous Ramadan.

You remember the duas you made, those duas which you may have forgotten during the whole year, those duas that you didn’t become a sabab of fulfilling them by not working on them.

4. Really, we cannot over-state the benefit of fasting in this month. You should make niyat of nafl or Qada and fast as much in this month as possible.

Monday and thursday are sunnah, also 13-15th of this month are also sunnah to fast. Plus there is the fast of 15th of sha’ban that we will touch upon more next week.

5. It shows Allah (swt) that we are committed to change, to improve.

For many of us, who didn’t come from a practicing muslim family, who didn’t really pray or fast regularly before. So they have a whole list of qada namaz and fasts. Thousands of prayers, and only Allah knows if we will be able to do all of them during our life. But as for Qada fasts, if you sit down and write them out, you’ll see that its actually do-able.

So atleast while fasting in Sha’ban, we can do some Qada fasts, and make dua to Allah (swt) that OAllah! I want to atleast repay this debt I owe you of Qada fasts of Ramadan. That will show Allah (swt) that we are committed to fulfill his commands.

 

Start some of the sacrifices and hard-work now. Hard-work to come on deen, to leave sins. We want to show Allah (swt) that we can do hard-work outside of Ramadan. Don’t wait for Shawwal to show it. Show it now. Do Mujahida.

 

For Salikeen: Show a surge in zikr in Sha’ban.

Or it could be a surge in mujahida of mukhalifat-e-nafs -to control anger, pride, jealousy, lowering gaze. Start this mujahida now.

One way scholars have explained this that: We have three months Rajab, Sha’ban and Ramadan. So if our Rajab is the month of Mujahida and Sha’ban is the month of muraqaba then Ramadan can be the month of Mushahida. Our goal is to reach ihsan.

First level of ihsan is that we do ibadat of Allah (swt) being aware that Allah (swt) is looking at you. This is called muraqaba.

Then the second level of Ihsan is that you do ibadah being aware you are looking at Allah (swt), this is called Mushahada. And to get this Ihsan, we need to do Mujahida.

Another way scholars have also explained this is for Ramadan itself, that the first 10days are mujahida, second 10days are muraqaba and then third 10 days are mushahida. Although we have passed Rajab, we can work on it now. Allah (swt) has made this a process. First we must do mujahida, after we take the first step, do the mujahida,then Allah (swt) sends His fazal. So we want to start our mujahida earlier, so that we can get the fazal earlier.

So, begin our mujahida now. Don’t wait for Ramadan to change. Like I said, try to make this Sha’ban better than your previous Ramadan. Obviously there are going to be some differences. We aren’t going to be fasting this whole month (its actually makrooh to do so) and we cant be praying tarawih either as they are only allowed in Ramadan. But we can engage in nafl fasts and nafl salah e.g Salatut tasbeeh every night to make it more like Ramadan.

 6. The time-table of ibadah that you want, start doing it in Sha’ban. 

Start gradually (increase it to your ideal level). Give yourself a target and make lots of dua to reach it during Ramadan. This year, get on an early start in Ramadan. Closer and closer we get to Ramadan, the more we feel increase in the barakat of Sha’ban and by 15th of sha’ban Allah (swt) has put all the barakat of Ramadan on the horizon and when the first of Ramadan comes, all the fuyuzat are already there.

Lastly, I want to mention a hadith on remembering Allah (Swt) so that we realize the importance of zikr-ul-Allah. You have heard many talks on this and we have previously mentioned many ayahs on this like:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا اللَّـهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيرًا

(33:41)

But now I want to mention some ahadith.

 7. Last and final thing: Try to be zakir in Sha’ban, so that you can be Mazkoor in Ramadan. 

If you do fazkuruni today, Allah (swt) will do azkurkum in Ramadan. Even if last Ramadan you were lucky to touch zikr-e-katheer, think that this time, I don’t want a min level of zikr-e-katheer. I want days, months, years, a whole life of zikr-e-katheer not just moments of it. Even if we just get traces of kathrat in this month, then we can spend the whole of Ramadan in Zikr.

One way to get zikr-e-katheer is to sit in gathering s of zikr.

Hadith: No group of people sits remembering Allah (swt) except that they are encompassed by angels and enshrouded by mercy of Allah (swt) and sakina (tranquility) descends upon them and they keep remembering Allah (swt) in this and Allah (swt) remembers them fi mann ‘indahu (to those who are near and dear to Him).

This can be another tafsir of fazkuruni azkurkum: If we sit with people of zikr, we can also get azkurkum. Note that some say by zikr here means salah, but it can’t be salah because it says they sit in zikr. In salah, that’s the least important posture. It can be represented by qiyam, ruku or sajda, but sitting is not identified with salah. So sitting means, sitting doing zikr of Allah (swt). We need to find such people and attach ourselves to them who sit and do zikr of Allah (swt).

Another hadith in Sahih muslim narrated by Abu Hurairah:

Hadith: Those who are mufradoon (those who have adopted solitude) they have surpassed everyone. Sahabah asked that who are these mufradoon. Nabi (sws) replied they are :az-zakireen Allaha katheeran wazzakirat.

This hadith mentions individual, solitary zikr. So we want to sit in solitary zikr and gatherings of zikr. If we do this in sha’ban and Ramadan, then Allah (swt) will give us zikr for the rest of the months as well. May Allah (Swt) guide us to the best of Ramadan.

Wa-akhiru da’wana an alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen

 

Night of 15th Sha’ban & it’s importance

Allah Talah , due to his infinite grace and mercy, presented to His bondsmen some special occasions wherein they have a golden opportunity of earning the mercy and forgiveness of Allah.

Some explicit examples of these special occasions are the nights of Ramadan and Laylatul Qadr. In the same mold is the fifteenth night of Sha’baan. 

Several Ahaadith extol the tremendous merit of this occasion. Amongst them is the fact that countless people are forgiven by Allah during this blessed night. It is due to this reason that this night is called “The night of Bara’at” (i.e. the night wherein judgment of being free from Jahannam and punishment is passed).

SOME AHADITH CONCERNING SHAB-E-BARA’AT

1. It is reported from Hazrat Mau’dh Ibn-e-Jabal (R.A.) that Rasulullah (S.A.W.)said: “On the fifteenth night of Sha’ban Allah bestows his special attention on His entire creation. He then pardons His entire creation except an idolater and one who harbours enmity.’ 

2.  It is narrated from Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr (R.A.) that RasulAllah (S.A.W.) said “Allah looks with special attention towards His creation on the fifteenth night of Sha’baan and forgives all his servants except two categories of people; the person who harbours enmity and a murderer.” 

And countless other such narrations are found. However while some of the narrations regarding Laylatul Bara’ah are weak and may lead one into the error of totally disregarding this wondrous night, we have to see what the understanding of Muhaditheen was regarding these narrations & save ourselves from adopting an attitude that might lead us into missing out on this night’s Barakah.

VIEW OF MUHADITHEEN REGARDING SHAB-E-BARA’AT

“An overview of the various narrations regarding this night lends credence to the acceptability of the virtue of this night. The Reason being that although these narrations are weak, they are numerous and narrated by a number of Sahabah.

Some are such that not much criticism has been leveled at their Sanad (chain of narrators). Ibnu-Hibbaan has included some of these narrations in his ‘Sahih” and Hafiz Mundhiri has remarked regarding the Sanad of some that ‘LA BA’SA BIHI’ (it is acceptable).

Therefore, according to the principal of the Muhadditheen, the excellence of the night of Bara’at is proven from a conjunction of all narrations.  This is the general consensus of the Muhadditheen and Fuqaha and this is correct. 

Even Ibn-e-Taymiyyah, accepts the virtue of the night of Bara’at.  He says: ‘So many Ahaadith and reports exist regarding the excellence of the fifteenth night of Sha’ban that one is compelled to accept that this night does possess some virtue.’ Some of the pious predecessors used to specially devote this night for Salah” -Muhaddith Shaykh Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Azam

VIRTUE OF THIS NIGHT AS ESTABLISHED BY MUHADITHEEN

“The virtue of this night that is established from these Ahaadith is that from the very beginning of the night Allah turns with special mercy and attention towards the creation and forgives those who repent and seek forgiveness. Every Muslim should therefore value this night. Turn towards Allah with sincere regret and shame over sins committed and make a promise never to return to sin again and seek forgiveness from Allah. Seek forgiveness for oneself and the rest of the Muslims, living and deceased. Have the firm hope and resolution in the heart that Allah will surely show mercy and forgiveness.” – Muhaddith Shaykh Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Azam

UNFORTUNATE PEOPLE WHO ARE DEPRIVED ON THIS NIGHT

It is understood from the Ahaadith that even on this night, some servants of Allah are deprived of His forgiveness. They are as follows:

1. Idolaters

2. Those who harbour enmity against others

3. Consumers of alcohol

4. Those who disobey their parents

5. Those who wear their trousers, kurtas, lungis, etc. below their ankles;

6. Those who commit adultery and murderers

7. And those who sever family ties.

We can thus gauge the severity of these sins and the need to perpetually abstain from them as they are so grave that even on an occasion when Allah’s mercy comes to the fore, they still pose an obstacle to our forgiveness.

Every Muslim should consider carefully and if he is involved in any of these sins, he should sincerely repent and seek forgiveness for his sin lest he be deprived of this night.

THE SPECIAL VIRTUE OF THE NIGHT OF BARA’AT

The special virtues of the night of Bara’at are:

1. Contrary to other nights wherein the last third of the night has special blessings and Allah descends to the lowest Heaven during this section of the night, on the night of Bara’at the special rain of the mercy and forgiveness of Allah begins to shower down right from the beginning of the night and continues right up till dawn.

2. The sins of countless of people are pardoned. The numbers of pronouncements seeking out those who want forgiveness far supersede those which occur on other nights.

THE FAST OF THE 15TH OF SHA’BAAN

Whereas the fast of 15th of Sha’ban is not Sunnah, however it was a Sunnah of Nabi SAW to fast a lot in the month of Sha’baan. And if we have uptil now been deprived of this Sunnah, 15th of Sha’baan can be a good chance for us; a night of Ibadah followed up by a day of fasting will inshAllah benefit us spiritually.

Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed, regarding the fast of 15th of Sha’ban states:

“Muhadiseen have viewed the reports about the 15th of Shaban to be transmitted by a chain that is known as ‘hasan’. Ibn-e-Tamiyah himself mentions the amal or the practice of all the great and pious generations of Muslims, that they would make special worship on this night and that they would fast on the day of the 15th of Sha’ban. So, I would encourage generally that the Prophet saw used to increase his fasts in the month of Sha’ban and if someone hasn’t started as yet, starting from the 15th would be a wonderful way to start. Otherwise, it was a year round sunnah of the Prophet saw, that he saw used to fast on the 13th, 14th and 15th of any month.”

The shaykh also states:

“For us, who live extremely busy lives that are distracted from the remembrance of Allah swt, we may need something to snap us into this reality that the month of Ramadan is indeed coming soonand I think for that reason, if nothing else, marking the night before the 15th of Sha’ban with extra ibadat and spending the day of the 15th of Shaban in a state of fasting is even more important and critical for us modernity afflicted Muslims, because we don’t have that Sunnah temperament that we are present and preparing for the month of Ramadan, which for us still seems like a distant future event.

The thing that is critical for many of us that we should spend the night of the 15th of Shaban with as much ibadat as we can and that day in a state of fasting to snap us out of worldly distractions and back into heightened remembrance and awareness of Allah swt and to really make us feel the imminent coming of the month of Ramadan like the Prophet saw felt the imminent coming of the month of Ramadan.”

WHAT IBADAH TO DO IN THIS NIGHT?

A person can do any sort of Ibadah on this night. No nawafil or special Salah of Laylatul Bara’ah are sunnah. One should try to do all sorts of Ibadah; darood, astaghfar, nawafil, zikr, dua etc.

Also no special amal is associated with this night, according to Sunnah.

MAKE SPECIAL DUA ON THIS NIGHT REGARDING SPIRITUAL RIZQ

Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed states:

“There are some Ahadith that mention that the night of 15th Sha’ban is a night in which Allah swt decides the Rizq of the creation for the upcoming year again these ahadith are hasan  in their chain of narration, they are reliably sound but not of utmost soundness. So, it’s not a necessary part of the Deen of Islam that a person believe in this but again we have to look and make our response the way that the muhadiseen and ullema was and it is that the vast overwhelming 95% of all of the mufasireen, muhadiseen, fuqaha, usooleen, auliya-e-kamileen took this to heart and they would make extra prayers and dua to Allah swt to make them a good Rizq in the following year.”

CONCEPT OF RIZQ

Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed:  “We need to understand that the concept of Rizq is much more than just monetary wealth and our sustenance, it includes first and foremost our spiritual rizq: that how much ‘amal we are going to do next year, how much ikhlaas it is going to have, how much qubooliat it will have i.e. how much will be accepted by Allah swt, how much tahajjud we are going to do, how much fajr we are going to do, how much isha we are going to do or how much jama’at we are going to do, how much dhikr we are going to do, how much tillawat, istighfar, durood salawaat, khidmat etc that we are going to do.

And when we think of it like that, it’s very interesting that in the deen of Islam, Allah swt has linked this annual planning to the month of Ramadan, it almost seems that the 15th of Shaban is the initial decision by Allah swt about about how much to bestow upon us the following year but then Allah swt gave us the rest of Sha’ban and all of Ramadan to earn more and more.

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**The above mentioned text has either been taken from “15th of Sha’ban in the Light of Quran & Hadith” by the great Muhaddith Shaykh Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Azam. Or from the audio by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed.

The full text can be read at:

http://attahawi.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/15th-night-shabaan.pdf

And the audio at:

http://www.islamicspirituality.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Laylatul-Baraah-And-Spending-Shaban.mp3