MSH.15 AUG 2010.Vol2.POST.ENG

Hierarchy of Saints Series, Vol 2
Knowledge of Taste and Knowledge of Papers
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
15 August 2010     Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Fajr    Ramadan 2010 Series

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.

 

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-'uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala al-`azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.

Man dhaaqa zhafar, wa man lam yudhiq khasir? Who tastes will succeed, will win, and who does not taste will lose, and between succeeding and losing there is no description and no resemblance. The one who succeeds will know the purity and the taste of that food. The one who is not tasking is like a patient who has lost taste in his mouth. Whatever you give him of the best food or grass, it is the same. If you give grass to the one who has the ability to taste, he will not take it, he will say, "No, give me the best of what you have. I am looking at your generosity, give me from the best." The other one is sick, a patient, so whatever you give him he will take, because he just wants to fill his stomach as he has no taste. It is like feeding someone by a stomach tube to keep him alive. But the one you are feeding through the mouth is far better, because he has the sense of taste and he will appreciate what Allah gave him.

 

Awliyaullah are the ones who have taste. For those who are not reaching that level, it is very difficult to explain it to them because they don't feel it. It only becomes like `Ilm al-Awraaq, Knowledge of Papers, with no more knowledge of taste. And not everyone can reach `Ilm al-Adhwaaq, Knowledge of Taste, because there is a problem within us that we are not able to overcome: we allow our ego ride us. However, awliyaullah are able to ride their egos. Allah said in Holy Qur'an:

         وَأَعِدُّواْ لَهُم مَّا اسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن قُوَّةٍ وَمِن رِّبَاطِ الْخَيْلِ تُرْهِبُونَ بِهِ عَدْوَّ اللّهِ وَعَدُوَّكُمْ                                    

Wa a`aida lahum mastata`tum min quwwah turhiboona bihi `adoowuallah wa `adoowakum.
, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies. (8:60)

 

Electricity has power that if you touch, you can faint or maybe die. Power is a strong support that Allah is sending to us. When Allah is saying, "Prepare for them power," that means power to make your enemy faint or be killed. When Allah orders something, it means he is giving support for that and the support is there. Awliyaaullah take that support, not accepting their own power, but to take from Allah's Ocean of Power, Bahr al-Qudrah. When they take from there, they are supported against their Shaytan who keeps running after everyone. Prophet (s) said, "I am the only one on earth that aslaamtu Shaytan, I made my Shaytan surrender to me."

 

Who is the biggest enemy to Prophet (s)? It is the one who refused to make sajdah. When Allah ordered angels to make sajdah to Adam (a); he refused due to seeing that light of Muhammad (s) in Adam's forehead. Out of jealousy he refused, claiming, "Why he has to take Maqaam al-Mahmoud and not me?" and so Allah cursed him. Prophet (s) said, "I made my Shaytan surrender." That means, "I made Iblees surrender to me." It means, "O Iblees! You have to know I am Muhammad; Allah gave me Maqaam al-Mahmoud, and He sent me as a mercy to humanity! As much you run after people of my ummah, they are mine and you will not succeed because the ummah is for me! Whatever you make them do, I am taking them to Paradise." For sure Prophet (s) will not allow that anyone will go without shafa`ah. Prophet (s) said:

 شفعتي لاهل الكبائر من امتي

Shafa`tee li ahl al-kabaa'ir min ummatee.

My shafa`ah is for the big sinners. (Tirmidhi)

 

This means the small sinners are already included, because all of us do sin. Although Allah gave Prophet shafa`ah and he will take the ummah with him to Paradise, we must still struggle to make our Shaytan surrender, we must not leave it loose. Don't leave your horse loose. You cannot hold the horse, you have to keep the reins in your hands. Allah (swt) said:

Wa a`idda lahum masta`taum min quwwah. Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power. (It means:) "Whatever you can prepare, whatever you are able to, do it!" That means Allah will not burden you with more than you can carry. Allah is "al-Ghafoor" and "Arhamu 'r-raahimeen." Whatever you can do, struggle against Shaytan! People are not your enemy. Today they say, "This country is an enemy to us." They want to make enmity:

فَمَنْ عَفَا وَأَصْلَحَ فَأَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ

 faman `afaa wa aslaha fa ajruhu `ala Allah.

Why make enemies? "I make a rocket, you make a rocket. I make an atomic bomb, you make an atomic bomb." For what? This is arrogance, to say, "I am stronger than you. I want you to be under my feet." In this way they are creating enmity.

Allah (swt) is telling you your enemy is Shaytan, no one else. So if you want to succeed, prepare whatever power you can for that struggle. It is like struggling to start a car in winter. You want to run it, but on cold days it doesn't start. You try and try, and then after a while, it starts. You keep trying until the battery finishes. Allah is saying to keep struggling until your battery is finished; then you have surrendered to Allah (swt). Don't lose hope! Allah said, min ribat al-khayl, "prepare reins." He didn't say, "Prepare horses only." You need a horse to fight your enemy, which means you need a vehicle.

 

O Muslims! You have to know that every word in the Holy Qur'an has a meaning. not the meaning that comes to your mind, but thousands of meanings. He told you to prepare your power and then prepare your vehicles, horses. You must prepare your reins. How do you control that horse? You need a vehicle that will take you wherever you are going and which is under a command. In a car you have brake, whether it is a stick shift or automatic. You have everything on an airplane to make sure you are running it well. You cannot run a car without a steering wheel. Allah is saying that you have to prepare horses, but you have to be ready with reins.

And the example of that is, one of the awliyaullah, Sayyidina Abayazid al-Bistami (q), who reached a highest level in his time. He was able to hear heavenly voices coming. He was in the Ka`aba holding the round chain that opens the door to the Ka`aba, saying, "Yaa Rabbee! Give me permission, only five minutes to catch Iblees. I will catch him and chain him so that he cannot run after ummat an-nabi." One wali has that power, so what do you think of other awliya? Allah gave them power as they prepared themselves.
A voice came to his heart, "Yaa Bayazid, why are you asking? Do you think I cannot stop Iblees? Without a second or a moment, with no time, if My Will comes to stop it, immediately he is melted! He will disappear from this uinverse. Yaa Bayazid! Look up above you at the multazam, at the door of Ka`aba."
He looked up and fainted. Allah left him in that state, and after a while he came back to normal, and began to crawl around the Ka`aba saying, "Yaa Rabbee `afwak wa ridaak, Your forgiveness and Your mercy! I made a mistake to interfere in Your Will. I am asking forgiveness."

 

Allah (swt) said, "Yaa Bayazid! What you saw is My manifestation of My Mercy descending on My House."

 طَهِّرَا بَيْتِيَ لِلطَّائِفِينَ وَالْعَاكِفِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ السُّجُودِ

Taahhir baytee li 't-taa'ifeen wa 'l-`akifeen wal wa 'r-ruka`i 's-sujood.

That they should sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or use it as a retreat, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer). (2:125)

 

"I am sending that mercy on my House. Yaa Bayazid, if you catch Iblees that means no one is going to struggle, and I give My Mercy to those who are struggling. If there is no Shaytan, it is as if people are living in Paradise, then all are on the same level. But I let them to struggle to manifest on them My Mercy. And when My Mercy is manifested, those who receive more are more near, those who receive less are farther away."

 

That is why awliyaullah are able to prepare that power, that possibility of, "prepare your power". Sometimes you see on a remote control or in cars, or anywhere else, a button labeled "power". If you don't press that button, nothing works, although you continue to play with the remote. Press the power button and all the other buttons will work, even thousands of buttons. Look at a space shuttle, how many thousands of buttons it has? But they need one button in the beginning. If you open that one button, then everything opens to you and then you can taste everything. There is a button with 10 watts or 20 watts, or 30, 240, 360, 1,000 volts, 10 megavolts, or 100 megavolts. It depends on how stong your button is. Allah (swt) said, "O Bayazid! However much I am sending and people are taking by struggling against their egos and purifying themselves, they are going to receive that rahmah!"

 

Why Allah sent Ummat an-Nabee or all of humanity to circumambulate His House? Why do we have to go there to circumambulate, are we going to circumambulate the walls? What is inside? Some people go inside, and they find it just like the outside. The inside is not visible, it is like an X-ray, not visible to your eyes but visible to the eyes of the machine. Are the eyes of a machine better than your eyes? No. So why can't our eyes see, and the eyes of the machine can? Because the button for our eyes is not pressed. You press the button on the machine to give it power. Awliyaaullah have pressed that button already. That is why they are explaining about those five different types of awliya and the many different groups. But all of them come under a leader, as all prophets come under the Seal of Messengers, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). All awliya come under the ghawth, who inherits from the heart of Prophet (s). His button is huge, and under him are the five qutbs, and under them are five groups of awliyaullah. We mentioned the five qutbs: Qutb, Qutb al-Bilaad, Qutb al-Mutasarrif, Qutb al-Irshaad, and Qutb al-Aqtaab. And under each there are five groups and under them, there might be up to 70,000 awliya. Under each qutb there is a head of each group; head of Budalaa, head of Nujabaa, head of Nuqabaa, head of Awtaad, and head of Akhyaar. And under each of them come 70,000 awliyaa that are spread out, and all have power buttons. Some have more, some have less. They have prepared themselves, they have that power.

But without a vehicle you cannot move; their guides as their vehicle. That is why it is very important to have a vehicle. You need to have quwwah, wa a`idda lahum, and He added on that wa min ribaati 'l-khayl, "from reins of horses." That means you need a vehicle with reins that takes you to safety. Turhiboon bihi `adoowullah wa `adoowakum, "(You will) strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies." Who is Allah's enemy? Allah's enemy is Iblees. And who are human beings' enemies? They are devils and evil shaytans, and Iblees. How do you terrorize them? By not listening to them; then they become upset with you and come more heavy on you. That is what happened with Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q).

 

One time he was visiting Madinah al-Munawarra, the maqaam of Prophet (s), and it was raining heavily. He saw someone holding a lot of reins and passing them to people who were also there to visit. He was putting a rein on every one's mouth. Abu Yazid (q) looked at him with a normal look; he is a man, giving them reins like we put on horses. Then he looked with heavenly power and saw that is Iblees. There is a place in everyone's heart where he can enter. Thumma aamanoo, thumma kafaroo. One time we are in belief, one time we are in unbelief; one leg here, one leg there. We hope we are always on the good side and for when we are on the bad side, we hope Allah forgives us.

 

Abu Yazid (q) said, "Do you have reins for me?"
Iblis replied, "O Bayazid! For all of these I have reins, but you I will ride without reins!"
For that one moment of heedlessness, it came. Awliyaullah are not ma`soom (innocent) like prophets. One moment made him fall. He said, "I don't need reins to ride you, these are easy."
And Abu Yazid (q) cursed him saying, "O you mal`oon!"

For the next few days it was raining constantly. You know the Earth there doesn't swallow rain water for the benefit of people, to make streams to run. Madinah was flooded, water was coming up to the necks of people. I saw that one time in Mecca. Entire Mecca was flooded and in the Ka`aba water reached to your neck. This was when we were doing tawaaf with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) in 1979. We did the first tawaaf, then the second, the third, and at the beginning of the fourth tawaaf Shaykh Nazim (q) stopped. He raised his hands and said, "O Allah! We are coming all the way here. Send us Your mercy, send us the rain." And he made a du`a that I had never heard before, a very strong one. When he finished his du`a we began the fourth tawaaf. As soon as we passed Hajar al-Aswad, clouds came from everywhere, formed a thunderstorm, and it began to rain. There was no possibility for the rain water to drain. The Ka`aba was filling up, the Haram filled with water up to our necks. I experienced that.

 

So when the water filled up in Madinah, Abu Yazid (q) saw an old man in trouble, and he asked that one, O! May I help you?"
He said, "I have to cross from here to there."
So Abu Yazid (q) said, "Okay, I will carry you," and he climbed on Abu Yazid's back.
When they reached the other side and Abu Yazid helped him to dry ground, that one turned smiling and said, "You see Abu Yazid! I told you I will ride you without reins!"

From one moment of heedlessness he had to pay that big invoice, that big price. Allah (swt) gave awliyaullah that power to prepare their strength in order to defeat Shaytan for the benefit of the ummah. That is what we were describing yesterday, the Budalaa, the first of these awliya after qutbs. There are too many powers, spiritual and physical, that we explained some yesterday. This is an abbreviation between two brackets, only to understand that we are explaining, reading, or teaching from papers, but Mawlana wants us to taste what he wants to say. It is very hard to understand how these awliya work. So now between the brackets there is an insert to show you that there are such men to whom Allah gave authority for the benefit of all humanity.

May Allah (swt) forgive us and bless us. We will continue next time, insha-Allah.

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