To Get Heavenly Helium, Throw Away Your Ego
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
26 March 2010 | Jersey City, New Jersey
Private Home after Maghrib
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
26 March 2010 | Jersey City, New Jersey
Private Home after Maghrib
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Madad yaa Rasoolullah, madad yaa Sayyidee, yaa Sultan al-Awliya. (Mawlana stands.) Alfu salaat was-salaam `alayk yaa Rasoolullah! Yaa Shafi`ee al-Mudhnibeen alfus-salaat was-salaam `alayk ya Sayyidina Muhammad! Madad yaa Sayyidu 'r-Rasool, madad yaa Sayyid Sultanu 'l-Awliya.
People in this life are so happy the moment someone important says, "I like to receive you on that date." We try to be dressed well and to smell well, taking a shower, putting perfumes, not normal perfumes but designer perfumes, especially when we want to go for an important person. When you go for prayer you put this cheap perfume and after one minute it becomes a stinky smell, a mosquito (spray) smell. But you try to get the best designer perfume to spray yourself because you are going to meet that important person. He might be important and might be he is even stinky, but still you are happy to shower yourself with perfumes even if that one does not have that nice smell, but has a name, a label, a title. You are running after that title; that title attracts us. What do you think about someone who has a title spiritually and has a holy, physical body? What you do? How you prepare yourself?
O Muslims! O Mu'mins! We are all here on the same level; we cannot say this one is better than this one. We are, all of us, on the same level; Allah (swt) is looking at us as equal and the Prophet (s) is looking at us as equal. Prophet (s) said:
الناس سواسية كأسنان المشط
an-naasu sawaasiyatan ka asnan al-masht. People are equal like the teeth of the comb are equal.
So how we have to prepare ourselves to be in presence of the one to who from Adam (a) to `Isa (a) are running to him on Judgment Day asking for his intercession?
وَمُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولٍ يَأْتِي مِن بَعْدِي اسْمُهُ أَحْمَدُ فَلَمَّا جَاءهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ قَالُوا هَذَا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ
Wa mubashshiran bi rasoolin yaatee min ba`dihi ismuhu ahmad fa-lammaa jaahum bi 'l-bayyinaati qaloo haadha sihrun mubeen and giving Glad Tidings of an Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad." But when he came to them with Clear Signs, they said, "this is evident sorcery!" (61:6)
Sayyidina `Isa (a) is giving good tidings to the whole universe, saying "After me there is coming someone named 'Ahmad' in Heaven and 'Muhammad' on Earth,and he is blessed in dunya and akhirah."
Sayyidina `Isa (a) is preparing the people and himself for the coming of a prophet after him named "Ahmad" (Mawlana stands and sits), and how was he preparing? He was asking, and Allah (swt) accepted, yaa Rabbee ij`alnee min ummati l-Mustafa, "O my Lord! Make me from the nation of Mustafa!" He was ready to give up his prophecy to be from ummat an-Nabi (s). So what do you think? You are from ummat an-Nabi already! Sayyidina `Isa (a) was asking, "Yaa Rabbee, make me from his nation!" because he knows
افضل الامة اخر الامة اخير الامة
afdal al-ummat akhir al-ummah akhyar al-ummah."The preferred of the Community, is the last of the Community, the best of the community."
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ
kuntum khayra ummatin ukhrijat li'n-naasYe are the best of peoples, sent to mankind, (3:110)
Don't be shy of being Muslim, don't be shy of wearing hijab, don't be shy of wearing turbans and caps!
But honour belongs to Allah and His Messenger, and to the Believers (63:8)
Allah (swt) is giving that respect and honor to you for free. Sayyidina `Isa was trying to petition to be from ummat an-Nabi (s) and Allah (swt) accepted, saying, "I am making you as you wish! I am sending you back to be one of his ummah!"
We, without asking, have been honored by Allah (swt) and still we are arrogant, still we are seeing ourselves as something and we are stubborn! Everyone is happy with his brain, his mind, that small flesh. Without it you are worth nothing. Any defect in it and you are in a coma. We have doctors here. You are finished, is that right, Doctor? (Yes.) So you are finished. This whole body is dependent on two things: the heart and the brain. Don't be stubborn with your brain. If Allah (swt) wants, yaslib, he extracts everything in your brain in a split second and leaves you not knowing how to read one letter! There are many examples of this, but we arr not going to open those now.
Look at the story of Sayyidina Musa (a) and Sayyidina Khidr (a). Allah made one of five great prophets, ulul-a`dham, to be in need of a another prophet, Sayyidina Khidr, to see what kind of different knowledge he has.
and of you there are some who are sent back to a feeble age, so that they know nothing after having known (much): for Allah is All-Knowing, All-Powerful . (60:70)
Allah brought you to dunya with no knowledge and has the power to take you with no knowledge at any time He likes. (what about) the sickness, Alzheimer's disease? Allahu akbar.
What Allah (swt) did with Nimrood when he threw Sayyidina `Ibrahim (a) in the Fire? He was proud of his knowledge; "Nimrood" in Arabic means "stubborn and arrogant." He believes only in himself and not in anyone else. He put Sayyidina `Ibrahim in the Fire. Nevermind, Allah will always protect His prophet! But what happened to Nimrood? What is the value of dunya? Inna ad-dunya la tazina `indallahi janaah ba`odah. Can anyone give an answer to Allah (swt) that what is the value of this world? Allah gave the answer to the Prophet (s): this dunya doesn't have the value of a wing of a mosquito. The mosquito has four wings, abdomen, head, legs, stomach, does the mosquito have a stomach? How Allah gave eyes also? Allahu akbar.
Forget a mosquito, look at an ant: they have eyes, ears, they can hear and they can speak, they have a stomach and they can eat. Can you create one? In Suraat an-Naml, "The Ant," it says, qaalat namlatun, one ant spoke to all ants. How that ant was able to speak, and in Arabic also, because Qur'an has specified that ant said to all ants, "Run for safety before Sulayman comes!" qaalat namlatun Yaa ayyuhan-namlatun idkhuloos masaakinakum. One ant (spoke) and all ants were listening, not like today, everyone wants to speak. You go to school and everyone wants to speak, teachers and students. Everyone wants to show he knows better than the other. They don't keep quiet because the ego is big. One ant was speaking and all were quiet, not speaking.
Prophet (s) said, "If you are three, put one as amir to take the decision." How many we have today to take decision? Everyone is amir today, no one accepts to be lower than amir! That is a sickness. The ants don't have that sickness; they accept one ant to speak and with the language of Qur'an! And how they are able to hear, there were no microphones. When that ant spoke, millions of ants heard it. How? Tell me, you are a scientist, can you give me a definition of how? Bring the biggest scientist now in this world, Darwin. Let him say from his grave how that ant was speaking and all ants were listening to him. We are mu'min and Qur'an says all ants were hearing him; we believe in that. What kind heavenly equipment that ant was using? You don't know what he was using? You need a connection. Now I am speaking here and they are hearing it around the world; I am using this computer to connect to the Internet. Doesn't Allah (swt) have a heavenly Internet to give to someone when it is needed? Can Allah (swt) not make an ant to speak and all ants to hear? Yes, He can. Why then we cannot hear? Sahaaba (r) were hearing from Prophet (s); of all 124,000 Sahaabi, when the Prophet spoke, everyone can hear. When he gives khutbah on Friday, imagine 124,000 sitting and all can hear at the same time! What bigger miracle, mu`jizat, you want than this?
Imam Muhammad Isma`il Bukhari (r) collected the most authentic, correct ahadith of Prophet. I visited the mosque where he was teaching and it cannot hold more than 5000 people, and when he spoke at least 25,000 people are there listening, sitting in the courtyard of the masjid, and everyone can hear. and no mic, speaking 700 years ago. How they were hearing it? It means the Prophet (s) gives to them and they give to the ummah, but we are deaf. So don't be stubborn with your mind; Allah can take it at any moment! Be humble, be normal. Don't look at yourself as being better than others.
17
So how, when we have been granted honor to be from ummat an-nabi, how do we come to him? Many people go for `Umrah and Hajj; what they do there? Many
(stay the same); as they went, they came back. There are principles of visiting Mecca and Madinatu 'l-Munawwarah. Don't think that Kaa`ba and Haraman Nabawi are empty from awliyaullah and spiritual beings there. Those sacred places must be respected, and that is why it is always more advisable to perform the ziyarat an-nabi after the `Umrah or after the Hajj, as you clean yourself there and come to Prophet (s) clean. It is recommended first to perform Hajj, then if you are doing Umrah, to make ziyarah then. It is not just taking a shower and going to the masjid; there are principles of visiting the Prophet (s) and how you need to be clean to visit baytullah. Today people fight outside and go inside! Cleanliness is to polish the Self to take away the ego. When you take away the ego you become light, but when ego is there you are heavy and the gravity pulls you down.
(Mawlana asks someone present.) Professor, why do these balloons go up? (They have helium in them.) There is gas in them, which makes them lighter and gravity cannot pull them down, as that gas it is pushing them up. If they were empty, they would come down. So what we need is something that pulls us up against gravity, not for gravity to pull us down. No, we want to fly, so what do we need? Heavenly helium. You have it, and you have it. Allah (swt) gave to everyone heavenly helium; He gave to them a soul, ruh.
Say: "The soul, (O Muhammad), is from the affair of your Lord, but what you have been given of knowledge very little (O men)." (17:85)
That qaleela is less than even a little bit. That means not even as much as the wing of a mosquito!" Since the whole dunya doesn't weigh the wing of a mosquito to Allah (swt), and if you compare the wing to the whole body and the rest of wings, that is insignificant.
As Allah (swt) is saying, Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! (Mawlana stands and sits.) Don't be tired of standing for Prophet (s)!! If you visit an important person he doesn't offer you a chair even! What you have been given of knowledge and what you understand of the heavenly soul given to Man is so little, and scientists are trying to understand that but they cannot. wa kulla shay'in indahu bil-miqdar. You know the eye doctor uses an "eyedropper," like they use to give medicine to children. What has been given to you is like a drop from the dropper, but Prophet (s) has the whole ocean. (Mawlana stands.) La ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah! (Mawlana sits.) That knowledge coming to Prophet is non-stopping. Prophet left dunya and is on the other side in akhirah, and he is still receiving. "Tell them what they have been given is but a little bit." And if it is a little bit with all these books, that means if it is too much, this whole dunya will be full of books.
Who is Darwin to tell us what is that heavenly order through the soul? Say to them, the ruh is from the order of Allah (swt) from His Light that created all Creation! Darwin touched on that? Never! He touched on something else; because he was blind he was not seeing the reality, and they made him a big hero till today. What they are teaching in universities, they really want to tell you don't be religious, that there is no god. Haasha (impossible)! (Mawlana stands.) La ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah!!! (Mawlana sits). They don't want you to accept religion as then you have heavenly discipline. They want you to be monkeys in the street, jumping on each other! That is 21st century teaching, that you are animals, go back to animality. Why do you want to be religious? Enjoy, you are living a very short life of 80 or 90 years and after that passing away. Enjoy life!
What is there to enjoy? You enjoy 80-90 years and you are in punishment all your Eternal Life? You don't believe, don't believe. If it is true, you are in a problem. The chance (probability) is 50/50, no? He looked at that professor, that `alim, and asked, "Is there a day when we will be equal?" He thought and said, "Yes." What is that day? The day of death, when we are all equal as we are all going to the grave; there was no cremation at that time. But now they came with another crazy idea, as it is cheap, now they are making money from deceased people when before it was free. Now they are selling one grave in Beverly Hills for $200,000 near actors and actresses graves. You want to be with them? Three-feet by six-feet graves are sold now for $200,000 or $300,000. They are going to say you are beside Marilyn Monroe, and who else? Clark Gable, Michael Jackson. The price depends on which actor or actress that grave is near, next to them or farther down the line. They are really very expensive!
So where is Darwin to come and tell us? And they want us all to live like monkeys! The Prophet (s) predicted:
The Hour will not come until there are men and women in the streets having sexual relations with each other like donkeys do.
"They will sleep with each other like donkeys, and the best one among them at that time are mu'mins who say, "O! I wish to be with her behind the wall!" Even that time is coming. We have problem with all they are bringing to us on the Internet and TV; all of us are falling into that sin, and if Allah (swt) doesn't forgive us we are lost! So where is Darwin clever, to explain to us where rooh came? No, he is clever to explain from where we all came from monkeys! Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an that He created the first one from one soul, and created his wife from that one soul. So that means from one cell, from the first one to be created.
Don't be shy of being Muslim, don't be shy of wearing hijab, don't be shy of wearing turbans and caps!
وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
wa lillahi 'l-`izzatu wa li-rasoolihi wa li 'l-mumineen.But honour belongs to Allah and His Messenger, and to the Believers (63:8)
Allah (swt) is giving that respect and honor to you for free. Sayyidina `Isa was trying to petition to be from ummat an-Nabi (s) and Allah (swt) accepted, saying, "I am making you as you wish! I am sending you back to be one of his ummah!"
We, without asking, have been honored by Allah (swt) and still we are arrogant, still we are seeing ourselves as something and we are stubborn! Everyone is happy with his brain, his mind, that small flesh. Without it you are worth nothing. Any defect in it and you are in a coma. We have doctors here. You are finished, is that right, Doctor? (Yes.) So you are finished. This whole body is dependent on two things: the heart and the brain. Don't be stubborn with your brain. If Allah (swt) wants, yaslib, he extracts everything in your brain in a split second and leaves you not knowing how to read one letter! There are many examples of this, but we arr not going to open those now.
Look at the story of Sayyidina Musa (a) and Sayyidina Khidr (a). Allah made one of five great prophets, ulul-a`dham, to be in need of a another prophet, Sayyidina Khidr, to see what kind of different knowledge he has.
وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَى أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْ لاَ يَعْلَمَ بَعْدَ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا
Wa minkum man yaruddu ila ardhal al-`umari likay la ya`lamoo ba`d `ilmin shayin inn Allah `ala kullis shayin qadeer. and of you there are some who are sent back to a feeble age, so that they know nothing after having known (much): for Allah is All-Knowing, All-Powerful . (60:70)
Allah brought you to dunya with no knowledge and has the power to take you with no knowledge at any time He likes. (what about) the sickness, Alzheimer's disease? Allahu akbar.
What Allah (swt) did with Nimrood when he threw Sayyidina `Ibrahim (a) in the Fire? He was proud of his knowledge; "Nimrood" in Arabic means "stubborn and arrogant." He believes only in himself and not in anyone else. He put Sayyidina `Ibrahim in the Fire. Nevermind, Allah will always protect His prophet! But what happened to Nimrood? What is the value of dunya? Inna ad-dunya la tazina `indallahi janaah ba`odah. Can anyone give an answer to Allah (swt) that what is the value of this world? Allah gave the answer to the Prophet (s): this dunya doesn't have the value of a wing of a mosquito. The mosquito has four wings, abdomen, head, legs, stomach, does the mosquito have a stomach? How Allah gave eyes also? Allahu akbar.
Forget a mosquito, look at an ant: they have eyes, ears, they can hear and they can speak, they have a stomach and they can eat. Can you create one? In Suraat an-Naml, "The Ant," it says, qaalat namlatun, one ant spoke to all ants. How that ant was able to speak, and in Arabic also, because Qur'an has specified that ant said to all ants, "Run for safety before Sulayman comes!" qaalat namlatun Yaa ayyuhan-namlatun idkhuloos masaakinakum. One ant (spoke) and all ants were listening, not like today, everyone wants to speak. You go to school and everyone wants to speak, teachers and students. Everyone wants to show he knows better than the other. They don't keep quiet because the ego is big. One ant was speaking and all were quiet, not speaking.
Prophet (s) said, "If you are three, put one as amir to take the decision." How many we have today to take decision? Everyone is amir today, no one accepts to be lower than amir! That is a sickness. The ants don't have that sickness; they accept one ant to speak and with the language of Qur'an! And how they are able to hear, there were no microphones. When that ant spoke, millions of ants heard it. How? Tell me, you are a scientist, can you give me a definition of how? Bring the biggest scientist now in this world, Darwin. Let him say from his grave how that ant was speaking and all ants were listening to him. We are mu'min and Qur'an says all ants were hearing him; we believe in that. What kind heavenly equipment that ant was using? You don't know what he was using? You need a connection. Now I am speaking here and they are hearing it around the world; I am using this computer to connect to the Internet. Doesn't Allah (swt) have a heavenly Internet to give to someone when it is needed? Can Allah (swt) not make an ant to speak and all ants to hear? Yes, He can. Why then we cannot hear? Sahaaba (r) were hearing from Prophet (s); of all 124,000 Sahaabi, when the Prophet spoke, everyone can hear. When he gives khutbah on Friday, imagine 124,000 sitting and all can hear at the same time! What bigger miracle, mu`jizat, you want than this?
Imam Muhammad Isma`il Bukhari (r) collected the most authentic, correct ahadith of Prophet. I visited the mosque where he was teaching and it cannot hold more than 5000 people, and when he spoke at least 25,000 people are there listening, sitting in the courtyard of the masjid, and everyone can hear. and no mic, speaking 700 years ago. How they were hearing it? It means the Prophet (s) gives to them and they give to the ummah, but we are deaf. So don't be stubborn with your mind; Allah can take it at any moment! Be humble, be normal. Don't look at yourself as being better than others.
17
So how, when we have been granted honor to be from ummat an-nabi, how do we come to him? Many people go for `Umrah and Hajj; what they do there? Many
(stay the same); as they went, they came back. There are principles of visiting Mecca and Madinatu 'l-Munawwarah. Don't think that Kaa`ba and Haraman Nabawi are empty from awliyaullah and spiritual beings there. Those sacred places must be respected, and that is why it is always more advisable to perform the ziyarat an-nabi after the `Umrah or after the Hajj, as you clean yourself there and come to Prophet (s) clean. It is recommended first to perform Hajj, then if you are doing Umrah, to make ziyarah then. It is not just taking a shower and going to the masjid; there are principles of visiting the Prophet (s) and how you need to be clean to visit baytullah. Today people fight outside and go inside! Cleanliness is to polish the Self to take away the ego. When you take away the ego you become light, but when ego is there you are heavy and the gravity pulls you down.
(Mawlana asks someone present.) Professor, why do these balloons go up? (They have helium in them.) There is gas in them, which makes them lighter and gravity cannot pull them down, as that gas it is pushing them up. If they were empty, they would come down. So what we need is something that pulls us up against gravity, not for gravity to pull us down. No, we want to fly, so what do we need? Heavenly helium. You have it, and you have it. Allah (swt) gave to everyone heavenly helium; He gave to them a soul, ruh.
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّن الْعِلْمِ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً قَلِيلاً
wa yasa'loonak `ani'r-rooh quli 'r-roohu min amri rabbee wa maa uteetum min al-`ilmi illa qaleelan.Say: "The soul, (O Muhammad), is from the affair of your Lord, but what you have been given of knowledge very little (O men)." (17:85)
That qaleela is less than even a little bit. That means not even as much as the wing of a mosquito!" Since the whole dunya doesn't weigh the wing of a mosquito to Allah (swt), and if you compare the wing to the whole body and the rest of wings, that is insignificant.
As Allah (swt) is saying, Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! (Mawlana stands and sits.) Don't be tired of standing for Prophet (s)!! If you visit an important person he doesn't offer you a chair even! What you have been given of knowledge and what you understand of the heavenly soul given to Man is so little, and scientists are trying to understand that but they cannot. wa kulla shay'in indahu bil-miqdar. You know the eye doctor uses an "eyedropper," like they use to give medicine to children. What has been given to you is like a drop from the dropper, but Prophet (s) has the whole ocean. (Mawlana stands.) La ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah! (Mawlana sits.) That knowledge coming to Prophet is non-stopping. Prophet left dunya and is on the other side in akhirah, and he is still receiving. "Tell them what they have been given is but a little bit." And if it is a little bit with all these books, that means if it is too much, this whole dunya will be full of books.
Who is Darwin to tell us what is that heavenly order through the soul? Say to them, the ruh is from the order of Allah (swt) from His Light that created all Creation! Darwin touched on that? Never! He touched on something else; because he was blind he was not seeing the reality, and they made him a big hero till today. What they are teaching in universities, they really want to tell you don't be religious, that there is no god. Haasha (impossible)! (Mawlana stands.) La ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah!!! (Mawlana sits). They don't want you to accept religion as then you have heavenly discipline. They want you to be monkeys in the street, jumping on each other! That is 21st century teaching, that you are animals, go back to animality. Why do you want to be religious? Enjoy, you are living a very short life of 80 or 90 years and after that passing away. Enjoy life!
What is there to enjoy? You enjoy 80-90 years and you are in punishment all your Eternal Life? You don't believe, don't believe. If it is true, you are in a problem. The chance (probability) is 50/50, no? He looked at that professor, that `alim, and asked, "Is there a day when we will be equal?" He thought and said, "Yes." What is that day? The day of death, when we are all equal as we are all going to the grave; there was no cremation at that time. But now they came with another crazy idea, as it is cheap, now they are making money from deceased people when before it was free. Now they are selling one grave in Beverly Hills for $200,000 near actors and actresses graves. You want to be with them? Three-feet by six-feet graves are sold now for $200,000 or $300,000. They are going to say you are beside Marilyn Monroe, and who else? Clark Gable, Michael Jackson. The price depends on which actor or actress that grave is near, next to them or farther down the line. They are really very expensive!
So where is Darwin to come and tell us? And they want us all to live like monkeys! The Prophet (s) predicted:
لا تقوم الساعة حتى يتسافد في الطريق تسافد الحمير
laa taqoom as-sa`at hatta yatasaafad fit-tareeq tasaafadu 'l-hameer.The Hour will not come until there are men and women in the streets having sexual relations with each other like donkeys do.
"They will sleep with each other like donkeys, and the best one among them at that time are mu'mins who say, "O! I wish to be with her behind the wall!" Even that time is coming. We have problem with all they are bringing to us on the Internet and TV; all of us are falling into that sin, and if Allah (swt) doesn't forgive us we are lost! So where is Darwin clever, to explain to us where rooh came? No, he is clever to explain from where we all came from monkeys! Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an that He created the first one from one soul, and created his wife from that one soul. So that means from one cell, from the first one to be created.
Allah said in Holy Qur'an:
"We taught Adam all the names." Do we believe in Holy Qur'an or in Darwin? If we believe in Qur'an then we know He taught Sayyidina Adam (s) all the names of all Creation, and he is not deaf and dumb like they show on TV, the Stone Age people speaking like monkeys, "uh, uhhu, uh" and making stone knives or hammers. And how they walk? (Mawlana tells someone,) yalla, walk like that! How Allah (swt) taught Adam (a)? He taught him by Arabic language, as many scholars say, He sent a special angel to teach Sayyidina Adam. That means we had language even before we came to Earth. We were not mammals or fish, and came from those animals. I don't know which fish I am from! (laughter) But I know which fish he is from, (Mawlana points to a mureed), the one that keeps eating people: not a shark, but the very aggressive one, the piranha! It doesn't stop, it is always hungry, eating all fish in the ocean. You know that fish?
So heavenly helium makes you light. To get heavenly helium you have to throw away your ego, and if you don't throw away your ego you are in a problem. The most difficult issue on human beings is the ego. Sayyidina Adam (was faced with that problem), because his ego pushed him to live eternally, and Iblees said to him, "If you want to live forever, eat from that tree."
If you really want to be light and be in presence of Prophet (s), you have to clean and perfect yourself from desires of the ego. There are good desires, no problem; and there are bad ones - cut them down, then polish yourself, and Allah (swt) will polish you and give you the Divine Presence and the presence of Prophet (s). Or else we are losers!
Such meetings as this one are associations of love. You don't discriminate, saying,"This is Muslim," or, "This is not Muslim;" no problem. Come and sit and listen. Because when these blessings are coming, the manifestations of the Beautiful Names and Attributes of Allah, ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. When that reaches it will heal and take away all kinds of illness from us. Prophet (s) said:
"Those who sit and make dhikrullah, He (swt) will bless them and surround them with angels, and send tranquility on them and cover them with mercy and remember them with those who are in His Presence."
So this kind of meeting is blessed with the Presence of Allah (swt) and the presence of Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands and sits.)
In the time of Sayyidina Nuh (a), Allah (swt) gave love to the people who believed in him. And in the time of Sayyidina Ibrahim (a), Allah gave love to his people, and when Sayyidina Musa (a) came, Allah (swt) gave his people to love him and love Allah. And when Sayyidina `Isa (a) came, Allah (swt) gave love to that group at that time. When Sayyidina Muhammad (s) came, he also gave the people love. So choose the kind of love you want. Aamantu billahi wa kutubihi wa rusulihi. "I believe in Allah and His angels and His books and His prophets." You take which you like, choose. If you like Sayyidina Musa, follow him. If you like Sayyidina `Isa, you go with him. If you want Prophet (s), you go with him (follow). It is up to you which one you like to go with.
If you open a tap (water faucet) and put a pot under it and that tap is dripping drop-after-drop, what will happen? It will fill up and overflow, is it not? So what is better? If you believe in all prophets and from every prophet you are getting a drop, coming to the Seal of Messengers, Sayyidina Muhammad (s), your pot will be full and overflow from all of them. You can choose one and follow, and your pot will be full with one only. Or do you like a rainbow of love? You can have different colors, like generals who wear medals on their chest on Independence Day parades; they have all different colored medallions. Do you like a black one or a white one? No, a colored one is better. That is why Muslims have to accept all prophets who came before Prophet Muhammad (s) and you have a medallion for each: Adam medallion, Nuh medallion, Musa medallion, `Isa medallion, Sayyidina Muhammad medallion. How many you have now, and going to Allah's Divine Presence on the Day of Judgment.
Going back to the story of Sayyidina `Ali (q) and the unbelievers, who asked him, "Is there day when we are equal?"
He answered, "Yes, on the day of death. There is 50/50 chance, is it not? You are in the grave and I am in the grave. If there is another life, I am 100% correct (in my belief) and I am saved. I will have everlasting pleasure, and you will have everlasting punishment."
Correct? (Yes, sir!) The unbeliever is the head of forty tribes, so he would have spoken using discipline; everything has to be discipline in this life. Today we lost discipline and protocols, no adab and no respect.
"So if there is another life," Sayyidina `Ali said, "I am saved. I will have everlasting pleasure and you will have everlasting punishment. If there is nothing, we are equal. I lost 70 years of my life and didn't have pleasure, but also you lost it now."
It is as if all of life is the present moment, and your pleasures are gone; you can count them but can you taste them anymore? There is nice food coming up and you are thinking about it now, but after you eat and fill your stomach you cannot take more, that pleasure is gone. So if you ate rice alone and filled your stomach or ate ten different foods and filled the stomach, the taste is gone.
So Sayyidina `Ali (q) said to him, "We are equal now. So if I find what my god promised me I am safe, and if there is no god, as you are saying, then we are equal."
And that person said, Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger."
So we now renew our shahadah, we say altogether, ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. This is the heavenly helium to repeat it morning and evening, noon and afternoon, sunrise and sunset, awake and asleep, asleep and awake, eating and drinking, in every moment you have to remember your Prophet (s), where Allah said:
Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. (33:56)
Allahuma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa `ala aali Sayyidina Muhammad!
That is our support! That shahadah will pull you from gravity and towards lightness and climbing in any direction that Allah wants you to move. He brought Prophet on Buraaq (a), passing through the whole universe to Heaven. How was that? Prophet didn't go in a space shuttle pressurized to the atmosphere or to make an environment that you can live in! No, he was riding it and going with his body. Who believes, believes, and who doesn't believe, who cares??! We believe! Those who don't believe, it is up to them and those who believe it is up to them, as the probability, as Sayyidina `Ali said, is 50/50. We go on this side, the side of winners; why we have to be on side of losers? Whatever chance comes, we are winning, not losing!
I will tell you a story from 1994. I was living in California, not here, and we had a place ten times bigger than this and full of people coming for dhikr and meditation and lectures, Muslims and non-Muslims mixed. We welcomes everyone, we tell them to pray; they had the option to sit and watch us, or join us. One day a person came who looks very old in our eyes, because everyone sees himself younger and others are old; that is how brain works. So I looked at that person thinking him old and me young, but might be he is younger than me in power. There people 80 or 90 years old that feel stronger than someone 25 years of age; age has no value, but what you do has value. So in any case, that person came and sat on a chair doing dhikr. I asked his name and he said a non-Muslim name. They told me he is 95 years of age. He was happy; he said, "I feel so great," and left. The next week he came and made dhikr with us and left. The third week he came and said,"I like that. I want to be like you." I said, "What?" He said, "I know you are Muslim. I want to be Muslim." So he said, ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh. What happens to anyone who gives shahadah? As Prophet (s) said, "All his sins will be washed out as if he is newly born."
If you look at him before that and want to judge him, what will you judge? If you say he is kaafir, actually you are kaafir, as you don't know aqibat al-amr, what is the end of his affair. The only One Who knows all unknowns is Allah, `alaamu 'l-ghuyoob, and the only One Who can give judgment. If you saw him before his shahadah and you said he is non-Muslim, that means you made mistake; you didn't see two weeks later what is going to happen. That old man took shahadah, then the next week he didn't come, second week after that he didn't come, and the third week after that he didn't come. I sent someone to find out what happened; they said after he took shahadah he died two days later! What is your judgment on him? There is no sin on him and he went to Paradise, as he has been washed! Thursday he took shahadah and on Sunday he died! So we don't know (about anyone).
Leave judgment of people, because your ego will make people kaafir and you the best. Men and women, don't try to be a teacher, try to be student. Put this in your mind! Be taalib (student), not mentor. Say, "Yaa Rabbee, I want to learn." Then learn from people, don't argue. Sayyidina `Ali (q) said zip your mouth; what causes you to go into problems is your mouth. (Mawlana addresses a mureed.) Can you, O professor? No, in the university you must speak, but other than that, at home don't speak too much. Allah (swt) gave you mashaa-Allah a very good wife and very good children, so every night when you come home jump and dance!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
That will be enough now, I think. What is the time, nine o'clock? So now we will pray `Isha and then have the pleasure of the food, with everyone counting the bites they will eat tonight, as with our hosts Dr. Qaysar and Dr. Tasneem you eat non-stopping as it is so delicious!
(Adhaan)
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاء كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلاَئِكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاء هَـؤُلاء إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
wa `allama Adam al-asmaa kullahathumma `aradahum `ala'l-malaaika faqaalanbioonee bi-asmaai haa-oolaa'i in kuntum saadiqeen.And He taught Adam the nature of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and said: "Tell me the nature of these if ye are right." (2:31)
"We taught Adam all the names." Do we believe in Holy Qur'an or in Darwin? If we believe in Qur'an then we know He taught Sayyidina Adam (s) all the names of all Creation, and he is not deaf and dumb like they show on TV, the Stone Age people speaking like monkeys, "uh, uhhu, uh" and making stone knives or hammers. And how they walk? (Mawlana tells someone,) yalla, walk like that! How Allah (swt) taught Adam (a)? He taught him by Arabic language, as many scholars say, He sent a special angel to teach Sayyidina Adam. That means we had language even before we came to Earth. We were not mammals or fish, and came from those animals. I don't know which fish I am from! (laughter) But I know which fish he is from, (Mawlana points to a mureed), the one that keeps eating people: not a shark, but the very aggressive one, the piranha! It doesn't stop, it is always hungry, eating all fish in the ocean. You know that fish?
So heavenly helium makes you light. To get heavenly helium you have to throw away your ego, and if you don't throw away your ego you are in a problem. The most difficult issue on human beings is the ego. Sayyidina Adam (was faced with that problem), because his ego pushed him to live eternally, and Iblees said to him, "If you want to live forever, eat from that tree."
If you really want to be light and be in presence of Prophet (s), you have to clean and perfect yourself from desires of the ego. There are good desires, no problem; and there are bad ones - cut them down, then polish yourself, and Allah (swt) will polish you and give you the Divine Presence and the presence of Prophet (s). Or else we are losers!
Such meetings as this one are associations of love. You don't discriminate, saying,"This is Muslim," or, "This is not Muslim;" no problem. Come and sit and listen. Because when these blessings are coming, the manifestations of the Beautiful Names and Attributes of Allah, ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. When that reaches it will heal and take away all kinds of illness from us. Prophet (s) said:
شهدا على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال : ما جلس قوم يذكرون الله إلا حفت بهم الملائكة ، وتنزلت عليهم السكينة، وغشيتهم الرحمة ، وذكرهم الله فيمن عنده
maa jalasa qawman yadhkurooona Allah illa hafat bihim u'l-malaaikat wa nazalat `alayhimu's-sakeenah wa ghashiyattahumu'r-rahman wa dhakarahumullahu feeman `indah."Those who sit and make dhikrullah, He (swt) will bless them and surround them with angels, and send tranquility on them and cover them with mercy and remember them with those who are in His Presence."
So this kind of meeting is blessed with the Presence of Allah (swt) and the presence of Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands and sits.)
In the time of Sayyidina Nuh (a), Allah (swt) gave love to the people who believed in him. And in the time of Sayyidina Ibrahim (a), Allah gave love to his people, and when Sayyidina Musa (a) came, Allah (swt) gave his people to love him and love Allah. And when Sayyidina `Isa (a) came, Allah (swt) gave love to that group at that time. When Sayyidina Muhammad (s) came, he also gave the people love. So choose the kind of love you want. Aamantu billahi wa kutubihi wa rusulihi. "I believe in Allah and His angels and His books and His prophets." You take which you like, choose. If you like Sayyidina Musa, follow him. If you like Sayyidina `Isa, you go with him. If you want Prophet (s), you go with him (follow). It is up to you which one you like to go with.
If you open a tap (water faucet) and put a pot under it and that tap is dripping drop-after-drop, what will happen? It will fill up and overflow, is it not? So what is better? If you believe in all prophets and from every prophet you are getting a drop, coming to the Seal of Messengers, Sayyidina Muhammad (s), your pot will be full and overflow from all of them. You can choose one and follow, and your pot will be full with one only. Or do you like a rainbow of love? You can have different colors, like generals who wear medals on their chest on Independence Day parades; they have all different colored medallions. Do you like a black one or a white one? No, a colored one is better. That is why Muslims have to accept all prophets who came before Prophet Muhammad (s) and you have a medallion for each: Adam medallion, Nuh medallion, Musa medallion, `Isa medallion, Sayyidina Muhammad medallion. How many you have now, and going to Allah's Divine Presence on the Day of Judgment.
Going back to the story of Sayyidina `Ali (q) and the unbelievers, who asked him, "Is there day when we are equal?"
He answered, "Yes, on the day of death. There is 50/50 chance, is it not? You are in the grave and I am in the grave. If there is another life, I am 100% correct (in my belief) and I am saved. I will have everlasting pleasure, and you will have everlasting punishment."
Correct? (Yes, sir!) The unbeliever is the head of forty tribes, so he would have spoken using discipline; everything has to be discipline in this life. Today we lost discipline and protocols, no adab and no respect.
"So if there is another life," Sayyidina `Ali said, "I am saved. I will have everlasting pleasure and you will have everlasting punishment. If there is nothing, we are equal. I lost 70 years of my life and didn't have pleasure, but also you lost it now."
It is as if all of life is the present moment, and your pleasures are gone; you can count them but can you taste them anymore? There is nice food coming up and you are thinking about it now, but after you eat and fill your stomach you cannot take more, that pleasure is gone. So if you ate rice alone and filled your stomach or ate ten different foods and filled the stomach, the taste is gone.
So Sayyidina `Ali (q) said to him, "We are equal now. So if I find what my god promised me I am safe, and if there is no god, as you are saying, then we are equal."
And that person said, Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger."
So we now renew our shahadah, we say altogether, ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah. This is the heavenly helium to repeat it morning and evening, noon and afternoon, sunrise and sunset, awake and asleep, asleep and awake, eating and drinking, in every moment you have to remember your Prophet (s), where Allah said:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
inna Allah wa mala`ikatahu yusallooon `ala an-nabi. yaa ayyuhalladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema.Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. (33:56)
Allahuma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa `ala aali Sayyidina Muhammad!
That is our support! That shahadah will pull you from gravity and towards lightness and climbing in any direction that Allah wants you to move. He brought Prophet on Buraaq (a), passing through the whole universe to Heaven. How was that? Prophet didn't go in a space shuttle pressurized to the atmosphere or to make an environment that you can live in! No, he was riding it and going with his body. Who believes, believes, and who doesn't believe, who cares??! We believe! Those who don't believe, it is up to them and those who believe it is up to them, as the probability, as Sayyidina `Ali said, is 50/50. We go on this side, the side of winners; why we have to be on side of losers? Whatever chance comes, we are winning, not losing!
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ
subhaan alladhee asra bi `bdihi laylan min al-masjid al-haraam ila al-masjid al-aqsa li nuriyi min ayaatina.
Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far Distant Place of Worship the neighborhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer. (17:1)
Allah is saying, "Praise be to Myself!" He is praising himself by himself. As no one is able to praise the Lord as He deserves. He is praising from himself to himself and by himself. He is saying, "Praise be to Me that made it possible." That is beyond the mind that someone can do that. It is beyond the physics and chemistry, no physics, not even quantum physics can explain how this happened. The body cannot resist the change of pressure and it is very cold . What kind of body Allah gave to Prophet (s) that is a question. That is as al-Busayri (r) said:
Muhammadun basharun
wa laysa ka 'l-bashri
huwa yaqootatun '
wa naasu ka 'l-hajari,
Muhammad is a man,
but not like other men;
Muhammad is a gem
and human beings are stones."
You kick stone, but gems you can bite even. You grab them as soon as you can; if there are five or six people you might fight with (over gems), shoot them and get it! Shoot your ego! Kill your ego in yourself and you will get presence of Prophet (s)! He is the gem, the diamond, and everything else has no value. Love of Prophet (s) is what saves you!
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
wa ma arsalnaaka illa rahmatan lil-alameen.
Verily, We have sent you not but as mercy to human beings. (21:107)
So if you attach yourself to that mercy you are saved, and Allah (swt) gives that mercy to those who are asking for it, and about those who are not I cannot say anything. It is not our job to judge people. Our job is to say, "Yaa Rabbee, we want to go to Paradise! Make all people go to Paradise!"
As the Salafi `ulama say... Sorry to bring them against us, but what can we do? (Phone rings.) That is a sign from Salafi `ulama! (laughter) They say, "You don't follow us, you are not Muslim. Either you believe as we believe or you are out of Islam!" Don’t pay attention; their speeches are worthless, no value. If Allah wants to send everyone to Paradise can they stop Him? So we say that judgment is for Allah (swt), not for them. Prophet (s) said
من كفر مسلماُ فقد كفر
man kaffara Muslim faqad kaffar.
"Who said about a Muslim that he is kaafir (unbeliever) is kaafir."
You cannot say about anyone, "You are kaafir," as Allah knows best.
I will tell you a story from 1994. I was living in California, not here, and we had a place ten times bigger than this and full of people coming for dhikr and meditation and lectures, Muslims and non-Muslims mixed. We welcomes everyone, we tell them to pray; they had the option to sit and watch us, or join us. One day a person came who looks very old in our eyes, because everyone sees himself younger and others are old; that is how brain works. So I looked at that person thinking him old and me young, but might be he is younger than me in power. There people 80 or 90 years old that feel stronger than someone 25 years of age; age has no value, but what you do has value. So in any case, that person came and sat on a chair doing dhikr. I asked his name and he said a non-Muslim name. They told me he is 95 years of age. He was happy; he said, "I feel so great," and left. The next week he came and made dhikr with us and left. The third week he came and said,"I like that. I want to be like you." I said, "What?" He said, "I know you are Muslim. I want to be Muslim." So he said, ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh. What happens to anyone who gives shahadah? As Prophet (s) said, "All his sins will be washed out as if he is newly born."
If you look at him before that and want to judge him, what will you judge? If you say he is kaafir, actually you are kaafir, as you don't know aqibat al-amr, what is the end of his affair. The only One Who knows all unknowns is Allah, `alaamu 'l-ghuyoob, and the only One Who can give judgment. If you saw him before his shahadah and you said he is non-Muslim, that means you made mistake; you didn't see two weeks later what is going to happen. That old man took shahadah, then the next week he didn't come, second week after that he didn't come, and the third week after that he didn't come. I sent someone to find out what happened; they said after he took shahadah he died two days later! What is your judgment on him? There is no sin on him and he went to Paradise, as he has been washed! Thursday he took shahadah and on Sunday he died! So we don't know (about anyone).
Leave judgment of people, because your ego will make people kaafir and you the best. Men and women, don't try to be a teacher, try to be student. Put this in your mind! Be taalib (student), not mentor. Say, "Yaa Rabbee, I want to learn." Then learn from people, don't argue. Sayyidina `Ali (q) said zip your mouth; what causes you to go into problems is your mouth. (Mawlana addresses a mureed.) Can you, O professor? No, in the university you must speak, but other than that, at home don't speak too much. Allah (swt) gave you mashaa-Allah a very good wife and very good children, so every night when you come home jump and dance!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
That will be enough now, I think. What is the time, nine o'clock? So now we will pray `Isha and then have the pleasure of the food, with everyone counting the bites they will eat tonight, as with our hosts Dr. Qaysar and Dr. Tasneem you eat non-stopping as it is so delicious!
(Adhaan)
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