MSH.25 MAR 2010.PREPOST.ENG

You Must Know that Prophet (s) Is in You!
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
25 March 2010       Jersey City, New Jersey
Private Home

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

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 fee haadha 'l-masjid.

Ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)

Alhamdulillah that Allah (swt) blessed us with many favors. Madad yaa Sayyidee, yaa Sultan al-Awliya. Dastoor, yaa Sayyidee Mawlana Shaykh Nazim. As-salaatu wa 's-salaam `alayk yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Shafee`i 'l-Mudhnibeen! Here we are in a humble gathering of people coming together to know each other, as Allah (swt) mentioned in Holy Qur'an:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

Yaa ayyuhan-naasu inna khalaqnaakum min dhakarin wa untha wa ja`alnakum shu`ooban wa qabaaila li-ta`arafoo inna akramakum `inda-Llahi 'atqaakum, inna-Llaha `aleemun khabeer.
O Mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has taqwa. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (49:13)

 "We made you nations and tribes to know each other." So it is Allah's order to come and be with each other, and know each other. And knowing is not by reading. You can read as much as you like, but to know is something else, and knowing by reading is something else, and knowing through company is something else. In reading you might not get the taste of what you are reading; you might pass through it, but in reality, in a real company, you can feel the sufferings or the happiness of each other.

I was skimming yesterday into a book called, Ahlu 'l-Bayt an-Nubuwwah, The Family of the Prophet, and I was reading. You will feel the sadness when I was reading, in one of the chapters about when the Prophet (s) left dunya, died, and how his daughter, Sayyidah Fatimat az-Zahra (a) was taking care of him. And from her love to her father as a father and as the Seal of Messengers (s), it was not a normal behavior or a normal relationship; it is a very high level of feelings to Rasoolullah (s), for Prophet, to him as a father. And when she was crying, the Prophet (s) told her, "Approach towards me. Give me your ear." And he whispered in her ear something that made her happy and at the same time sad. So this kind of feelings in reading is going to be on the surface, but for the one who is living that experience it is not normal, it is going to be a different kind of love and pain, and no one can feel that except the one in such a situation.

You might see someone coming to you as someone to pray for, and they are having a very bad time and then they go, but they have the experience of the bad time; you are only praying for them and you don't feel what they feel. But the wali will not get his wilayah, sainthood, from his shaykh and from Prophet (s) until he feels what they feel; the wali feels their sadness and their happiness. So in wilayah, it is a completely different way of living with the person who has the problem. The wali has to live the experience of that person or else what is the benefit of people coming to him, to pray only? Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. To pray only? No. It is to live that experience.

The example of that is when the Prophet (s) came to dunya, and as soon as he was delivered, his head went to sajdah as (an older) child. Like Sayyidina `Isa (a) when his mother delivered him, he spoke with her:

وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَرْيَمَ إِذِ انتَبَذَتْ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا مَكَانًا شَرْقِيًّا فَاتَّخَذَتْ مِن دُونِهِمْ حِجَابًا فَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهَا رُوحَنَا فَتَمَثَّلَ لَهَا بَشَرًا سَوِيًّا  قَالَتْ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِالرَّحْمَن مِنكَ إِن كُنتَ تَقِيًّا قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَامًا زَكِيًّا قَالَتْ أَنَّى يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا قَالَ كَذَلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ وَلِنَجْعَلَهُ آيَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَرَحْمَةً مِّنَّا وَكَانَ أَمْرًا مّ َقْضِيًّا فَأَجَاءهَا الْمَخَاضُ إِلَى جِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ قَالَتْ يَا لَيْتَنِي مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَذَا وَكُنتُ نَسْيًا مَّنسِيًّا فَنَادَاهَا مِن تَحْتِهَا أَلَّا تَحْزَنِي قَدْ جَعَلَ رَبُّكِ تَحْتَكِ سَرِيًّا

wadhkur fi 'l-kitaabi Maryam idh antabadhat min ahlihaa makaanan sharqiyya, fattakhadhat min doonihim hijaaban fa arsalna ilayha roohanaa fatamaththala lahaa basharan sawiyyaa, qaalat innee a`oodhu bi 'r-Rahmaani minka in kunta taqiyya, qaala innamaa ana Rasoola Rabbiki li-ahaba laki ghulaaman zakiyya, qaalat anna yakoonu lee ghulaamun wa lam yamsasnee basharun wa lam aku baghiyya, qaala kadhaalika qaala Rabbuki huwa `alayya hayyinun wa li-naj`alahu aayatan li 'n-naasi wa rahmatan minna, fa hamalathu fantabadhat bihi makaanan qasiyya fa-ajaaha al-makhaadu ila jidh`in-nakhlati qaalat yalaytanee mittu qabla haadha wa kuntu nasiyyan mansiyya, fanaadaahaa min tahtihaa allaa tahzanee qad j`ala Rabbuki tahtaki sariyya. (19:16-23)

That is a story of Sayyidah Maryam (a) when she left her family, left her niche by Allah's revelation to her heart, and she went east. There appeared for her Sayyidina Jibreel (a) giving her good tidings that she is going to carry a child without (knowing) a man. And she was wondering, "How can I have a child? It is impossible. it is against all kinds of dunya laws." qaala kadhalikee qaala Rabbuki, it is as Allah (swt) made it, finished! She is living the story at one time with love and at the same time with pain. What is she going to tell her people? And then Allah (swt) made Sayyidina `Isa at that moment to say, "Don't worry."When she came by the date tree, and she put her back on the tree and she was by herself, delivering her child.

As soon as the child appeared the dry date tree became green. With prophets, Allah (swt) made dunya green. What do you think with Sayyidi 'r-Rasool al-Kiraam, Sayyidina Muhammad (s)? Not only where he touched the heavens with his feet the universe was confirmed; in his Isra` and Mi`raj, wherever he passed became green! "Green" means receiving knowledges. Why Sayyidina Khidr (a) is called "Khidr," because he is known as the "Green Prophet." Allah (swt) described him, `abdan min `ibadin alamnaahu min ladunna `ilma. He became the Green Prophet as he is carrying heavenly knowledge.

So now she is in pain and joy. What to tell her people? Some will not believe her and some will make her and her son gods in addition to Allah (swt).

وَإِذْ قَالَ اللّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ أَأَنتَ قُلتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَ إِلَـهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ إِن كُنتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلاَّمُ الْغُيُوبِ

wa idh qaala-Llahu yaa`Isa bin Maryama 'a anta qulta li 'n-nasi 'ttakhidhoonee wa ummee ilaahayni min dooni-Llahi qaala subhaanaka ma yakoonu lee an aqoola maa laysa lee bihaqqin in kuntu qultuhoo faqad `alimtuh. t`alamu maa fee nafsee wa laa `aalamu maa fee nafsika innaka anta `allaamu 'l-ghuyoob.

And behold! Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah.?" He will say: "Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden. (5:116)

Allah (swt) asked, "O `Isa! Did you tell the people to take you as god, you and your mother?" He said, "Yaa Allah! If I said it, You know it and You are the One Who knows the Unseen."

So she is in that suffering. You didn't live that experience. So that means our relationship with each other is fake; we didn't live each other's love or happiness or suffering. And tariqah kullaha adaab, "Tariqah is full of discipline," to teach you to feel the experience of your brother. (There is) annihilation in your shaykh, annihilation in Prophet (s), annihilation in the Divine Presence, annihilation in your brothers and sisters. Maqam al-Fana is (a station of) no will for you except their wills and to annihilate in complete feeling of others. Grandshaykh (q) used to say that if two people really have that relationship, annihilation (heavenly relationship), if one is wounded in his finger, the other will have blood come out of his finger. And this has been described too many ways in the way awliya mentioned it, and even IbnTaymiyya, as Mawlana likes so much to say, "O Salafi `ulama," mentioned this in his book, Majma` Fatawa al-Kubra. If they have an answer, let them come up and he has 37 volumes, each one-thousand pages. And one of them is `Ilm as-Sulook, Knowledge of Seeking the Way and `Ilm at-Tasawwuf, The Science of Knowing the Self. I went one day to a mosque to see this fatawa and I saw all of them were there except these two volumes! And this is from Ibn Taymiyya, their shaykh; he mentioned so much about Maqam al-Fana, to be annihilated in your brothers and sisters and in people.

So we go back. To read is one thing and to live the experience is another. So when living that experience, she was happy to bear Sayyidina `Isa, and sad, what to tell her family. Then nadaha min tahtiha, he called her from underneath her, "Don't be sad! Allah made under you a treasure. I am that treasure of the ummah." That is for Sayyidina `Isa; what about for Sayyidina Muhammad (s)? Fa aatat qawmiha tahmiluh. "She came to her people carrying him." She didn't say anything. He was a baby and he spoke, qaala innee `abdAllah. "I am a servant," finished! That means the most important thing in our life is to be a servant; not to be egoistic, not to be stubborn, not to be seeing yourself as, "I am carpenter, plumber, doctor, I am an engineer, I am a lawyer." They are so proud. "I am CEO of the company, I am president, I am king." No, this is Shaytan's titles that he gave to you. Allah's title for you is not "lawyer." Be the best lawyer who cares. If we see in the street a lawyer and a cleaner, we don't know which is the lawyer and which is the cleaner as both are the same, walking. So the difference is to be `abd, servant.

Sayyidina `Isa (a) said, "I am Allah's servant. Allah (swt) gave me the Book and He made me a prophet and He advised me to pray. Be happy, O my mother! Allah (swt) made me `abd all for your barakah, and He gave me the Book and made me prophet, and made me blessed wherever I go, and not only advised me but ordered me to pray and to fast as long as I am living."

So when he said that, do you think he said it like we read a text? He made his mother to reach the reality of servanthood with him! He made his mother able to understand the Injeel (New Testament). He made his mother to know the reality of his prophecy, and the reality of fasting and praying! He raised her immediately, not keeping her down and he is up! That is not from the tradition of Arabs or Muslims. The tradition is to take by the hand to bring him up to where you sit. Today there is no more respect to the elderly. They come to sit and don't see any place as the young people are filling all the seats, so they sit on the floor and young people don't even stand up to give them a place! So he made her to feel the reality of that experience, of this kind of annihilation, to feel what he is feeling.

So when Prophet (s) was leaving dunya ... today when someone's mother or father, brother, sister, cousin or uncle is leaving dunya, what do you do? You cry or not? Those with soft hearts will cry, but those without soft hearts will cry as everyone is sad, but they don't show tears. (Mawlana looks at someone present.) Your mother was sick a little bit and you were calling and asking for hundreds of prayers! So what do you think that Prophet (s) said to Sayyidah Fatimah (a) in her ear? She is sad; her father is leaving dunya and he is the Seal of Messengers (s) leaving dunya! That is not easy, that is very difficult! He (s) said to her, "Bring me your ear," and he was on the bed sweating from sickness, supposed to be in one of his wives' houses but he asked them to move him to Sayyidah Ayesha's (r) house, to be there, as he knows he will die and be buried there.

So Sayyidah Fatimah (a) was taking care of her father and sitting, crying, and he said in her ear, "Why are you crying, O Fatimah?"
She answered, "Why I am not going to cry? You are my father and my Beloved One, and you are the Seal of Messengers!"
Prophet (s) said, "I am going to ar-Rafeeq al-`ala, don't cry."
She tried her best not to bring the tears down, but she we was not able. She was crying and crying. Now I am narrating the story, but you are not really living the experience; the experience is not easy.
Prophet (s) told her, Fatimah, don't cry, you are going to be with me soon."
At that time she was sad and happy: sad to leave Sayyidina Hasan (r) and Sayyidina Husayn (r) and they are young. And she knows they are going to be killed and she knows her husband is going to be killed (martyred). So from one side she is sad that she is going to leave her family, and from one side she is happy that she is going to be with her father.

O Believers! I am not saying this to make you sad, but I am bringing this to say reality is something and imitation is the opposite of reality, illusion, falsehood. Reality is that awliyaullah are carrying the suffering of their students. If they cannot carry that, they will not get their trust, their amaanat from Prophet (s).

As soon as Prophet (s) came from the womb of his mother, he went into sajdah, saying, "Ummati, Ummati!" He didn't say, "I am Allah's servant." He knows he is `abdAllah. His first word was worry for his ummah. Look at the difference between Sayyidina `Isa (s) and the Prophet (s)! Sayyidina `Isa wants to give an excuse for his mother (to comfort her) and to say his job and that he is not to be worshipped. Prophet (s) said, "Ummati, Ummati!" Do you think when he said, "Ummati, Ummati!" that it was like reading book or that he experienced it? No, don't think it is too much!

إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ

innaa a`ataynaka 'l-kawthar.
We have given you abundance without limits. (108:1)

When Prophet said, "Ummatee, Ummatee!" at that moment in his appearance in dunya, everyone was living that moment and anyone who is going to be created after that moment, whoever is his ummah, up to the Day of Judgment, he knew them one-by-one. وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاء كُلَّهَا  wa `allama Adam al-`asma kullahaa, "He taught Adam all the names." Will Allah (swt) not teach Sayyidina Muhammad (s) all his ummah? Of course He gave him the names, and their passwords and codes to change anything he likes! Today you go on the computer and if you know the password, you do what you like. So Allah (swt) gave Prophet (s) the password and told Him, "Do with your ummah what you like." Prophet (s) said, "Send them to Paradise!" At that moment he lived all their lives, from that moment to the Day of Judgment. That is why Allah (swt) said:

وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ

w`alamoo anna feekum Rasoolullah,
You must know that Prophet is in you.

So Prophet (s) knew everything and he raised them immediately to a level that no one knows except Allah (swt) and Prophet (s). (Mawlana stands.) If you mention his name a hundred times, we will stand a hundred times! (Mawlana sits.) Awliyaullah inherit that secret from Prophet (s) and they live their followers' experiences and give them solutions to come out, and that is why you have to accept the outcome. A wali cannot be wali if he thinks only about himself; he must think about everyone. And as much as he is high in levels of knowledge, he can reach too many in one moment.

O Muslims! Don't be cheated by charlatans. There are a lot of muzayyaf, fake shaykhs today filling the Earth and they are deceiving and cheating people. Open your eyes in order that you will not be deceived and cheated. Our shaykh, with all his high levels that I know from being with him fifty years, every day he comes at nine o'clock at night Cyprus time and he says, "I am nothing. I am nothing. I am an ant." An ant spoke to all ants:

وَحُشِرَ لِسُلَيْمَانَ جُنُودُهُ مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ وَالطَّيْرِ فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَوْا عَلَى وَادِي النَّمْلِ قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّمْلُ ادْخُلُوا مَسَاكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَانُ وَجُنُودُهُ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ

qaalat namlatan. wa hushira li Sulaymaana junooduho min al-jinni wa 'l-insi wa 't-tayri fahum yuz`aoon, hattaa idhaa ataw `alaa wadi 'n-namli qaalat namlatun yaa ayyuha 'n-namlu 'dkhuloo masaakinakum laa yahtimannakum Sulaymaanu wa junooduhoo wa hum la yash`uroon.
And before Solomon were marshalled his hosts,- of Jinns and men and birds, and they were all kept in order and ranks.  At length, when they came to a (lowly) valley of ants, one of the ants said: "O ye ants, get into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you (under foot) without knowing it. (27:17-18)

 Allah (swt) made them under the order of Sayyidina Sulayman (s) everything in al-jaw, air, on the Earth, and under the Earth. Like you have today airplanes, Allah (swt) gave him power over all birds flying. tayran abaabeel, like when Abraha came to destroy the Kaa`ba and Allah (swt) sent birds from the Red Sea throwing stones on the unbelievers that killed them.

And to Sayyidina Sulayman, Allah (swt) gave an infinite number of birds all flying over like planes with missiles, and jinn and humans, and they were passing over the Valley of Ants. What ants have a valley? A small ditch is a valley for them, and they live in millions and one ant spoke to millions. Did they use a satellite, a microphone, computers? One ant said to all the ants, qaala yaa namlatun idkholooo masakinakum, "Enter into safety before Sulayman and his troops crush you!" Where is safety? Safinatun-najaat is Muhammadun Rasoolullah. To enter safety, enter the reality of the one who can save you in dunya and akhirah: he is the Prophet, the Seal of Messengers (s).

Qaalat namlatun. Everyone is able to hear without a server. A server can carry how many emails? Millions; all of them pass through that server. The whole world today has to pass through a huge server and that is how they trace everyone and that is how they are reaching us. And through this camera and computer they can hear us, and hear us say, "So know that Prophet is in you!" That means that ant was in that server, in that heavenly connection to Prophet (s), in order that all ants can hear at the same time. They were able to hear, all of them, millions, from one ant. Mawlana Shaykh says, "I am an ant," but you have to know, to understand the meaning. The meaning is, "Yes, to myself I am an ant, but when I am plugged with the power of Prophet (s), I am not an ant. I can reach all of you at the same time."

As the Prophet is always asking, "Ummati, Ummati!" Allah (swt) gave him whatever he wants. "We gave you kawthar, abundance." "Ask and you will be given," according to the hadith in Bukhari. So that connection, min al-qalbi `ila al-qalib sabeela, from heart-to-heart there is a way, as in from computer to computer you have to pass through a server. It means from heart-to-heart you have to pass through Prophet (s); there is no other way, don't bother yourself!

Spirituality is an ocean; when they open, they open, and when they close, they close. Now they opened and now they are closing!

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

(Khatm al-Khawajagan begins.)