Did We Not Expand for You, O Muhammad, Your Chest?
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
1 October 2009 Montreal, Canada
After Salat al-`Isha (includes suhbah after hadrah)
A`udhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismi`lLahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu ’l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu ’l-khalwah, nawaytu ’l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyada, nawaytu 's-suluk, lillahi ta`ala fi haadha 'l-masjid.
Ati` Allah wa at`i ar-Rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
Before we begin, we will do dhikr as this is the night of Jumu`ah and the night of blessings. Ashadu al-la ilaha ill-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasuluh. As-salamu ‘alaykum: kalimataan khafeefataan `ala-l lisaan thaqilataan fi 'l-meezaan. SubhanAllah wa bihamdih. After suhbah, we will do a little bit of hadrah.
As-suhbatu liman saahaba saahib; as-suhbatu liman saahaba saahiban! How to translate that? Association; what can we say about it? We know that Sayyidina Shah Naqshband said, 12,000 times in some notes, and we heard from Grandshaykh up to 24,000 times, Tariqatuna-s Subhah, “Our way is association.” To sit together, the companionship, to be companions with each other. If there is no companionship, it means people cannot be together on the same heart, and that chain of association is incomplete. Like beads of the tasbih, if the thread is broken, all the beads fall apart, as there is nothing to connect them. What connects them is this (shows top of tasbih), which is ash-shahid, the one witnessing. These are all the beads, but the one on top, the big one, is witnessing on everyone. If no one is on top, all these beads are falling apart. If you don’t have that one on top and no thread connecting them, then all of them cannot benefit. They need someone to benefit them.
Who was the one who benefitted humanity? Sayyidina Muhammad! Who was the one to accompany him? If you accompany, you become saahib as-saahib. The one who can make you a companion is the one you have to stick with. That is why Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (q) was the closest companion to Prophet (s). Idh yaquulu lisaahibih laa tahzan innAllah ma’anaa! Prophet (s) is saying to his companion (as written in Holy Qur’an), “Allah is with us. Don’t be sad!” It means, “Don’t be sad, Ya Abu Bakr, because Allah raised me; Allah made me Muhammadun Rasulullah! You cannot say la ilaha illAllah without Muhammadur Rasulullah! I am that saahib to that Divine Presence.”
Allah is the Creator. No one can be with Him. There is no ithnayniyya, no two. You cannot be with Him, you cannot be in Him, and you are an `abd, servant. You can be under the manifestation of his Beautiful Names and Attributes, but you cannot be with Him, with the Real Essence. It is impossible! You have to know your limits. So Allah gave that reality of whoever saw the Prophet (s) with his eyes, becomes saahib. That is why if any child saw Prophet (s), even only one time, he became saahib! That comes from Mawlana Shaykh to us!
You can be around Mawlana Shaykh all your life and not be a saahib. You came for a benefit and for certain things in your mind. That is not sahib. That is someone who wants to take dunya advantage from the shaykh, intihazi, opportunist. The shaykh will give you, like the story of Grandshaykh Sharafuddin who was gathered with his followers. Awliyaullah , when giving an advice with students or companions, don’t like to lower the spiritual level of the gathering. He was sitting with his very advanced senior mureeds. Today, if you say there are senior mureeds, you are mistaken; there are fragile mureeds. Since they are all fragile, Mawlana Shaykh makes them all senior or else they will be sad. What Allah gives, He gives. He can make everyone senior, coming to Prophet (s).
So, in the time of Sayyidina Shaykh Sharafuddin, as he was giving lecture it came to his heart that an opportunist is coming. He can read hearts. He did not open the door yet. That opportunist is coming and Shaykh Sharafuddin knows he is going to disturb the meeting. So he said to the one nearest to him, “Run to house and get the jubbah that was gifted to me by the Ottoman Emperor, Sultan Abdul Hamid, decorated with golden and silver thread, embroidered from top to bottom.” You cannot give it a value today! He said, “Bring that to me.” Today if we had such a jubbah, we will put it under seven earths to hide it! Is it correct?
He said, “Go and get it quickly!”
He said, “Sayyidee, is there any king coming?”
“No, bring it quickly.”
And he brought (it), and as soon as that man entered Shaykh Sharafuddin stood up and said, “O, I have been waiting 40 years to give that gift to you.”
He was what? Opportunist! You need translation? He gave it to him, but with the message, “Go away with your dunya, we don’t want dunya here. All the mureeds looked at that one, thinking, “O, that one is above us all. He is so high. He got the jubbah of Shaykh Sharafuddin.” That is not simple. When Shaykh gives a jubbah, it means dressing him with khilafah. That is what people understand, but that is not reality. In reality, he can dress you with thousands of jubbahs and it doesn’t mean anything.
So, all the senior mureeds thought this one was more senior than them. So, he didn’t want to make them feel like, “O, why shaykh gave it to him?” So, he threw in their hearts that this one is higher than all, but really he wanted to send him away.
Similarly, Prophet (s) said, “Ya Abu Bakr (q), why are you sad? Didn’t we enlighten your heart? الم نشرح لك صدرك - Alam nashrah laka sadrak? (Suratu ‘l-Inshirah) When Allah says, “Didn’t we enlighten your heart?” He didn’t say “heart,” He said “chest.”
“Didn’t We enlighten your chest? How much? How much?” SubhanAllah! وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَى - Wa la sawfa yu`teeka Rabbuka fa-tardaa. Allah said to him, “I am going to give to you, Ya Muhammad, until you say, “yes!”, until you are pleased”.
When He says, أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ - alam nashrah laka sadrak, it means he opened your chest to no limits! This whole universe will be like an atom inside your chest! You are mu’alam, nashrah laka sadrak. “Didn’t We enlighten?” That means, “We open your chest until you say, ‘Yes, I am having enough!’” And until today, Prophet (s) is not saying, “Yes!” How you will say “stop” to the Most Generous One?! وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ wa wada’naa ‘anka wizrak. “Still, We are giving you more, and We removed from you your burden.” Wizrak means the things that burden you, the sins. Does the Prophet (s) have sins? The Prophet (s) has no sins, so how does Allah say to him in Holy Qur'an, “We took away from you your sins?” Prophet (s) has sins, not from himself, but sins he carries for the ummah.
Allah is saying, “I am taking the sins of your ummah from your shoulders.” And what Prophet did? He says, “My ummah! My ummah!” He is taking the sins of the ummah and putting on himself. And Grandshaykh said that the Prophet (s) without any hesitation and without any doubts, on the Day of Judgment in the Divine Presence of Allah, will say, “Ya Rabbee, I will,” and not “I won’t.” “I am taking the whole sins of my ummah on my shoulders, and I want You to send them to Paradise because they are clean. You judge me instead.”
And at that moment, Allah doesn’t show Prophet (s) what He is going to do with him, “You do with me what You want.” And that is the meaning of wa wada`naa `anka wizrak, “and relieve you of the burden.” (Surata' l-Inshirah 92:2) It means, “We took away the burden of your ummah.”
You think Prophet (s) was with his people? He has never been away from the Divine Presence one second! He never was. Grandshaykh said, “Ninety-nine percent,” meaning only one. He didn’t say percent, but he said only one reality of Prophet (s) appeared on Earth. The other realities will not appear until the Day of Judgment. And what Allah has granted to him of khususiyya (Allah’s special favor) no one knows, not even an angel that is so near, malakan muqarraban; no angel knows the realities Allah will give to Prophet (s) on Day of Judgment.
الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ - Alladhee anqada dhahrak. What broke back of the Prophet (s) except this ummah? How he is going to present his ummah to Allah (swt) with all their sins? Is there anything else? Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his Soul, explained that on the Night of Ascension, when Prophet (s) was going nearer and nearer and nearer, until there is no more nearer to the near, Allah said, “Ya Muhammad, who are you?” Finished, there is no more existence! He said, “Ya Rabbee, Anta!” He is not seeing except Allah. And Allah (swt) said, “I am giving you an ummah; look at them.” Prophet (s) looked at the ummah and was so happy. He saw them with full purity, souls in the Divine Presence and in the Day of Promises, so clean! Allah asked, “Are you happy with this?” Not only Ummah as-Sabiqa, Adam wa man duunahu (the previous ummahs of Adam [a] and others), but Allah gave him whole Creation! He is la ilaha ill-Llah, Muhammadun Rasulullah. His name must have a chair; there must be someone sitting! La ilaha illAllah, Muhammadun Rasulullah. Take away ill-a, and you have “Allah Muhammad.”
Allah (swt) said, “Take it. Are you happy?” He was happy! They were clean and pure in the ocean of Jamaal, Beauty.
Allah then said, “So, Ya Muhammad, I am giving them in trust to you, but I want them back.”
“Ya Rabbee! You give me, I take!”
Wa lasawfa yu`teeka Rabbuka fa tarda. Prophet (s) was happy and he took them clean. As soon as he took them, Allah (swt) threw on them all kinds of darkness that they will do of sins in dunya: angels, jinn, humans, animals and everything.
Prophet (s) said, “Ya Rabbee, that is too much! How I can clean them? Give me helpers.”
Allah said, “You said, ‘Give to me.’”
Inna a`radna 'l-amaanah `ala-s samawati wa 'l-ardi wa 'l-jibaali. “We offered the trust to heavens.” “Heavens” means angels, huge or not, according to its power and does not include Earth, but includes human beings, as in the ayah, “Yes, we take, and take more.”
No one accepted, except Sayyidina Muhammad, because no one can return the trust clean. Allah told him, “As I gave to you clean, you return it to me clean.” Allah wants to show suhbah. So from that time we are in suhbat an-Nabi (s), al-arwaahu juunoodan mujannada, “Souls are like soldiers in full readiness.” That is subhat an-Nabi, with Prophet (s). Their atoms, from that time, and we don’t know when that time was because that reality is a secret of suhbah in dunya.
We know Sahaba are only who were with the Prophet (s) in dunya. But in `ilm al-haqaa’iq, knowledge of realities, there are some lucky ones who are always in the company of Prophet (s). Allah gave Awliyaullah as helpers to Sayyidina Muhammad (s). That is why they are with their followers from that time, preparing and cleaning and presenting them to Prophet (s).
That is why when Bayazid al-Bistami (q) was asking, “Ya Rabbee open Your door for me,” Allah answered, “Yaa Bayazid, you want My door to be opened?”
That’s different and a higher level from Sayyidina Ahmad al-Badawi (r), a higher level.
“You want My door? There is one condition.”
If everyone of us felt he has that condition, we will be ready to open the door to be taken to the Divine Presence! He was waiting to take the key.
Allah said, “Ya Bayazid! Laazam an takoona mazbalatan li `ibaadee - You have to be a dump for My servants.”
This means, not for Muslims only. It means, “Where you throw your garbage every day and trucks take to waste management, you have to be that truck that carries the waste of My servants. Go dump it where it needs to be dumped, and present them clean to Me. If you do that, hen you can take the keys to come to My door.”
How you can do that? We cannot carry the garbage of ourselves! I feel shy to say this, but Mawlana was explaining one time that in such associations there are people who doubt everything. "There are," he said, "in one association with Shaykh Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani," - in Merv in Central Asia, where their suhbah is not like here, with 200 or 300 participants. They have 20,000 or 30,000! There are countries like that today. You cannot understand it! Last trip I went to Indonesia, there were at least 250,000 in one gathering! All of them they are listening carefully; I was speaking Arabic and they are translating. Gatherings used to always be like that, but today they are very rare and you can find only in some countries.
So, "Shaykh Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani was giving suhbah and speaking about how Allah gave awliyaullah a power no one can understand and they don’t like to show it, to show off, because in Naqshbandi Tariqah you have no right to show miracles. No way! In indirect ways (as if it came from something else) you can, but not in a direct way (which draws attention to you)."
So, we were speaking of Islam’s greatness and heavenly knowledge that no one is able to write in a book. In past times many scholars learned from awliyaullah . But today when they study Shari`ah in universities, that heavenly knowledge of tariqah is not even considered, and such “scholars” become jaaf, very hardcore and dry, with no sweetness in their talks!
So, one person, his name was `Ali, was saying, “What the shaykh is talking about? He goes every day to the restroom and wants to make himself a wali. When they wanted to make Sayyidina `Isa (a) a god, Allah (swt) said, kaanaa ya'kulaani 't-ta`am (they two were eating food), 'He was eating food, he and his mother.' And that scholar, what is he speaking about? He is bringing all these high knowledges and he needs to use a bathroom!?”
"That is what he said in his heart, and that immediately rang in the heart of Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq. He didn’t say anything, but the next day he came for Fajr and there are thousands of scholars listening, and Salat al-Ishraaq came. They prayed and then he said, 'Ya `Ali, ishraaq came. Today you help me make wudu. Go fill the container of water and bring it to me.' But `Ali said to himself, 'I have to take water for him to make wudu?' He had to go far to jungle behind something, and Grandshaykh said it was like a hill and behind it, like slope. So, he took water and came with the water and the shaykh went with `Ali, made wudu, prayed Ishraaq, and everyone left. `Ali said, 'O! Now is my opportunity, to see what he did. How is he big wali bringing messages from heaven and he goes to the bathroom!'"
Grandshaykh said, "That was the surprise. And as soon as he went to the top of the slope, there was beautiful fragrance of perfume where the shaykh had been. He went down and found three very small pieces like that of mouse, very black, and they were three droppings with a fragrance better than musk. He took them and kept them in box until he died, and his whole house was fragranced with that beautiful smell."
Awliyaullah are not toys. We are toys, but they are real. We, with our `amal, are toys.
The suhbah teaches you all kinds of sweetness and realities that you can never learn from scholars. `Ali was in that meeting and the doubt which came to him was cleared, and later he became khalifah of the shaykh from among khulafah, as the shaykh can have thousands. And he spread tariqah everywhere. Those who have doubts, let them come! Mawlana’s association in the presence of Prophet (s), in suhbah of Prophet (s), will eliminate and polish hearts of the people attending.
And now with my respect to all mureeds of Mawlana Shaykh and with due respect I am, if they allow me, going to mention a small complaint. When you are in suhbah of the shaykh, whatever tajalliyah, blessings or divine manifestations that come on him will be reflected to those sitting around him! Even if they didn’t do anything, he will take them to the presence of Prophet (s)! This is the lowest he does for those sitting with him, who faced difficulties, and traveled to sit with him and listen, so they must get the reality of seeing and listening. He takes you to `ayn al-yaqeen, the Eye of Certainty! And that benefit extends beyond those sitting in the room with him. All those watching on the Internet, he will take to the presence of Prophet (s)! Mawlana Shaykh will open the secret of every letter he speaks in his association to those sitting in that association and to those who are watching the live broadcast!
And my complaint is that you cannot be in his presence all the time, especially these days, so he is coming in your presence through the Internet. You will get that same benefit watching him on the Internet and he, for sure, will take you to the presence of Prophet (s)! And that is my complaint: do your best and go and listen. You never know, he might stop it. You don’t know, you may lose his company. On the Day of Judgment Allah will ask, “Did you accompany My trustworthy one?” You then can answer, “Yes, O my Lord, I did.”
People go to see world leaders giving speeches in the United Nations, and they don’t listen to the Sultan al-Awliya giving a speech to the whole universe! That is our `aqeeda (belief) that Allah gave to awliyaullah from the Station of Servanthood, Maqam al-`Uboodiyyah. What about the Station of ‘Abdiyya, when Allah bestows the title `abd, His servant. What about the station of “We taught him from Our heavenly knowledge?” We didn’t hear it yet, that is still in the heart of awliyaullah! Don’t lose that opportunity. Tune in daily and listen to Mawlana Shaykh live on sufilive.com! Listen when Mawlana is speaking, wherever you are, at home or at work. Open for two minutes and at least you will get the benefit of suhbah an-Nabi! Later when you watch the recording, you don’t get that higher benefit, but you still get the benefit and blessing of the association.
May Allah bless us and forgive us.
Bihurmati’ l-Fatiha.
Suhbah after Hadrah:
We are sweating! One drop of this sweat can extinguish Hellfire, because that sweat is from praising Prophet (s), and Allah (swt) has a high appreciation of that. SubhanAllah! Sweat from praising Prophet (s)---there is no comparison! Our biggest sweating will be on the Day of Judgment, what Prophet (s) described as “the brain will be boiling” and with that, Allah keeps us alive. (He swt said) Kun fa yakun, “Be! and it comes into existence.” (Surah YaSin). So our sweat tonight is a drop in the ocean of sweat, and enough to extinguish Hellfire! Although on Judgment Day those drops will not be able to extinguish Hellfire, what do you think will happen from our love of Prophet (s)?
Sayyidina Yusuf (a) sent his shirt to Sayyidina Ya’qub (a), his blind father, and as soon as he put it on his face, he regained his eyesight. The sweat in the shirt can bring you back to life! You can see, but you need that sweat, and not everyone can have that sweat. From the sweat of a human being, you can improve your sight. From his pure sweat, Sayyidina Yusuf (a) brought back the sight of Sayyidina Ya’qub (a). May Allah (swt) dress us with that! That is why in Egypt they were thinking about that ayah and they analyzed the sweat of 100 people. They found one common element in human sweat that makes your eyesight become stronger and stronger, and they are developing a patent on that discovery. Sweat will give you kashf (unveiling; that prepares the heart to receive higher knowledge and divine manifestations). And as that brought sight to it, sweat will bring you Maqam al-Mushadah (the Station of Hearing and Seeing Realities).
May Allah bless you!
