Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
28 March 2010 Piscataway, New Jersey
Prophet Mohammad Day, World Peace Conference, Rutgers University
As-salaam alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. W 'alhamdulillahil-ladhee ja`alana min ummati habeebina Muhammada 'l-Mustafa `amma ba`ad. Alhamdullahi Rabbi 'l-`alameen, wa 's-salaat wa 's-salaam `ala Sayyidina Muhammad. alfu alfu salaat alfu alfu salaam `alayka yaa Sayyid al-Mursaleen, alfu alfu salaat was-salaam `alayku yaa jadd al-Hasani wal-Husayn, alfu alfu salaat was-salaam `alayku yaa Abu'l-Batool.
I am very honored to be here today in front of you and especially these speakers and these organizers. I want to tell you I feel shy when we want to speak about love of Sayyidina Muhammad. Salloo `ala Muhammad! However much we speak, when we speak about someone who has been described by Imam Busayri:
Muhammadun basharun
wa laysa kal-bashari
huwa yaqootatan
wa 'n-naasu ka 'l-hajari.
Muhammad is a man,
but not like other men;
he is a jewel
and men are like stones.
I am speaking from within the faith and, as such, I love my Prophet and I love his family as they are my family and they are the family of every mu'min and Muslim. Without them there is no life! Life comes through their love. That is our belief and the belief of many people here. When Allah created, and this is in hadith of Jabir, when he asked the Prophet (s), "What has Allah created first, yaa Muhammad?" and he replied, awaal maa khalaq Allahu noora nabiyyika yaa jaabir. "The first that Allah created is the Light of Muhammad."
How we can speak about the one that Allah created first as a Light from His Light?
Qabadtu qabdatan min nooree wa qulta lahaa koonee Muhammad.
"I took a handful of My Light and said, 'Be, Muhammad!'"
And He told the Pen to write and it asked, "What am I going to write, O my Lord?"
He said, "Write laa ilaha illa-Llah," and according to many seerah and many traditions that came to us, the Pen wrote for who knows how many heavenly years
and stopped.
Then Allah told it, "Write!" and it asked, "What to write?"
He said, "Write, 'Muhammadun Rasoolullah.'"
Before writing, the Pen said, "Who is that one whom You put Your name with his Name?"
And Allah replied, Ta'adab, yaa qalam, "Keep respect, O Pen!! If not for Muhammad, I would not have created anything of Creation!"
And that love came directly from the Creator to His beloved one, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). So our love to him is insignificant as it doesn't give the right to Sayyidina Muhammad as the only one giving the true right to Muhammad is the Creator of Muhammad (s)!
O People! In every religion people love their prophets, and we are here explaining the importance of love of Prophet in Muslim behavior and Muslim life. It is said that when Adam (a) ate from the tree, he went into sajdah as he knew he committed a sin, and he was crying as he committed a sin. And it must be 40 heavenly years.
وَإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
wa inna yawman `inda rabbika ka alfi sannatin mimma ta`udoon.
Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. (22:47)
So let us jump to the Day of Judgment. It is related in Adab al-Mufrad, a hadith about the Day of Judgment when everyone is shaking and shivering, and Allah manifests His Attribute to judge people and at that time there is no way to run away. Where to run? In the time of Sayyidina `Ali, karamallahu wajha, one time unbelievers came to him; unbelievers from the desert. They had no respect as they had no belief.
And they said, "Yaa `Ali, we don't believe there is a god." I don't know if they are relatives to Darwin or not, saying, "there is no god."
And Sayyidina `Ali, karam-allahu wajha wa `alayhi 's-salaam, after answering many of their questions, said to the head of unbelievers, "Is there coming a day when you and I will be the same?"
The head of unbelievers was thinking and he was intelligent. He said, "Yes, there is a day when you and me will be the same."
What is that day? Is it the day of birth? No. Is it a day in life? No. It is the day of death. When someone dies, now they are dead. There is a probability 50/50; both of them are dead.
Sayyidina `Ali said, "If there is a life after life, then I win, and if not, then I lose only 50 or 70 years (in struggling)."
Do you remember any of your life's pleasure now that it is gone? The moment you are living is the moment you have to consider.
So he said, "The chance is 50/50: if there is no god we are equal, and if we there is a god then I succeed and I have someone that will be for me, I have intercession of the one I love, Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!"
I am Sunni but I have that love. My mother is descended from Sayyidina al-Hasan and my father is a descendant of Sayyidina al-Husayn, and we feel obliged to cry for their suffering. As described by the two speakers before, how much the Prophet (s) and his Companions (r) suffered to bring this religion to us on a golden plate! It is narrated in the book, Adab al-Mufrad of Imam Bukhari (r), that on Day of Judgment when people are shivering from fear of that day, Adam and all his children will come to the Prophet (s), as he said:
عن ابى سعيد الخدرى ادم فمن دونه تحت لوائى يوم القيامة ولا فخر
Adam wa man doonahu tahta liwaaihi yawma 'l-qiyaamah wa laa fakhr...
Adam (and who is below Adam) will be under my flag, under my shafa`ah on the Day of Judgment, and I say it without pride.
And the Prophet (s) said, انا لها, "I will be for it (shafa`a)." So Prophet, with all the love he has for humanity, goes into sajda and says, "Allah opens to my heart dua’s and prayers and rituals that He never opened before." And in any school of thought you find thousands of du`as put together in Arabic and other languages. And if Prophet (s) says he is inspired with du`as never heard before, is the Arabic language going to change? Or is it going to be putting together different letters? Like the first letters in some surahs like alif, lam, meem, and kaf, ha, `ayn, seen, saad, and Allah (swt) will open to him the meaning that are in these letters. And then after being in sajda, Allah will say to him, s'al tu`ta, "Raise your head and ask!" Prophet (s) doesn't need to defend himself.
O Muslims! Shame on me and shame on us that we came to a time that, as has been mentioned, we have to defend our religion! No, we don't have to defend our religion! Our religion is a heavenly religion led by a heavenly messenger that left behind him the Holy Qur'an and his family!! That is enough for defending and protecting! Don't worry, haqq is coming!
qad jaa al-haqq wa zahaq al-baatil inna 'l-baatila kaana zahooqa.
And say: "Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish." (17:81)
yakhruj waladun min awladee, yamla al-ardu adlan wa qistan kama muliya dhulman wa jooran.
Truth has come and falsehood has perished, and a son of my sons will come who will fill the Earth with truth and justice as it was filled with falsehood and oppression.
And we cannot say that Holy Qur'an is words that exist in time: it is Allah (swt's) holy Ancient Words that have no beginning and no end. (...) ummatee ummattee, Prophet (s) will ask, "My nation, my nation." Allahumma salli wa sallim `ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa sharraf wa karram wa `azham. He says, "I will not enter Paradise before my nation."
It is our duty to love Prophet in our life, because Allah (swt) ordered in Holy Qur'an; not to think about loving him every two hours, but all the time, inna Allah wa mala`ikatahu yusalloona `ala an-nabi. It is an order to praise Muhammad (s) and love him in every moment in our life!! "Allah and His angels," he didn't say sallu `ala an-nabi nor salla `ala an-nabi, but "continuously" in present tense, yusallooon `ala an-nabi, it means show him your love if you want to follow the order of Allah! It is an order, if you love Prophet, you enter Paradise. If you love Prophet, it means you love Allah!
And he says, "I won't enter without my ummah," and Allah says, "Take one-third of them to Paradise with no account.!" And then Prophet (s) says he will go into sajda again and makes du`a inspired to his heart. Then Allah (swt) says, "Take the half of those who remain. And then he goes into sajda the third time and asks on behalf of his nation, and Allah (swt) says, "Take all of them, all but one." And who is that one? That must be the worst one. And Allah looks at that one and says, "I put that love of my servant in the heart of my servant, Muhammad, and with the mercy that I sent every one to Paradise, I will send that one to Paradise."
So Muslims, non-Muslims, we must keep love, as that is Allah's heavenly situation to His servants. When you are young you love your parents; when you are older your children will love you. This life is built on love, and if love is lost then there will be turbulence as we see today. This life is built on love. And Allah (swt) said, "If you really love Allah, yaa Muhammad, say to them, 'love Muhammad and Allah will love you.'" That speaker from England just now was showing love of Muhammad (s), and I hope to meet him there also, and we hope to show this love to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) by following his ways.
O People! Religious people and non-religious people, Allah (swt) said in Qur’an:
لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ وَتِلْكَ الْأَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
law anzalna hadha al-Qur’an ala jabalin la-raaytahu khashi`an mutasaddi`an min khashyatillahi wa tilka 'l-amthaalu nadribuha li 'n-naasi la`allahum yatafakkaroon.
Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, verily, thou would have seen it humble itself and crumble for fear of AllahA Such are the similitudes which We propound to men, that they may reflect. (59:21)
If we revealed that Qur’an on a mountain, that mountain would have shattered into pieces from fear and love. That is what Qur’an carries from secrets. That is why Prophet (s) said:
انا مدينة العلم و علي بابها
Anaa madeenatu'l-`ilmi wa `aliyyun baabuhaa.
"I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its door."
That means there is irfaan there that we cannot understand except through interpretations. Now today, all they are looking into is how to show Holy Qur’an is harsh. No, this is the system they are working through, but no one can harm one letter of Holy Qur’an. Allah (swt) said, "If we revealed that Qur’an on a mountain, it would shatter." What do you think then of that mountain Allah revealed the Qur’an to? If a dunya mountain will shatter, it means the Earth will shatter; but the heart of Sayyidina Muhammad did not shatter!! That heart that is carrying the meaning of Holy Qur’an and no one can reach these secrets except a few of his Sahaba (r) and his Ahlu ‘l-Bayt (r)!! Today they left that behind and people are only interested in how to pray, fast, make ablution, ghusl and to enter with th right or left foot.
They left behind the practices of Maqam al-Ihsan, the Station of Moral Excellence! When you say Allahu akbar and enter your prayer, know Allah is seeing you. And I will read that to our expert in Arabic, in a different way and he might understand. One of these ascetics, zuhada, mutasawifeen, said it this way:
قال: فأخبرني عن الإحسان، قال: أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه، فإن لم تكن تراه فإنه يراك
Qaala fa akhbirnee `ani 'l-ihsaan. Qaal: an ta`bud Allah ka-annaka taraah wa in lam takun taraah fa innahu yaraah.
And he (Jibreel) asked what is Ihsaan? He said, "It is to worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, for if you are not seeing Him, surely He is seeing you."
And he read another way. fa in lam takun, stop, taraah. "If you demolish your ego within yourself completely, then you will see." There is a mountain between us and seeing the Prophet (s). His family all gave their lives for Prophet (s) and the Sahaba all killed their egos. And that Maqam al-Ihsan or irfaan is a very important aspect in Islam and we aren’t touching on that! That is the only way to reach the real love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!
O Muslims! I will tell you one thing: in the time of Ottomans that ruled the Muslim world for 700 years, when the sultan was sitting with his ministers and cabinets and the Prophet's name was mentioned, they all stood up, even if mentioned 100 times! Our hearts must stand, as our outside standing is not what is sought. If our child is sick and with fever we are up all night checking them. Our hearts, are they up all night with desire to remember Prophet? The heart has been mentioned ninety-seven times in Holy Qur’an in different verses, and in a holy (revealed) hadith in which Allah (swt) said to Prophet:
My servant does not cease to approach Me through voluntary worship until I will love him. When I love him, I will become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he acts, and the tongue with which he speaks, and the foot with which he walks in My Way.
How to become like that? What is mentioned in that holy hadith? It is mentioned as nawaafil (voluntary), not the five prayers, not the obligations. To follow the Prophet's sunnah of additional worship. When you do that, Allah will love you. Then you can do anything you like. That is because:
qalb al-mumin baytu ‘r-rabb.
The heart of the believer is the House of the Lord.
And before I end, I will say this. Don’t say it is not important, but to build up youth to be on a more moderate line of Islam and to understand they have to do their best as this dunya is not going on forever. As Muslims and other believers say that this dunya is not going to last forever, and as the Prophet (s) mentioned:
قال رسول اللّه صلى اللّه عليه وسلم: إن اللّه لا يقبض العلم انتزاعا ينتزعه من الناس ولكن يقبض العلم بقبض العلماء، ...
"In the Last Days knowledge will be lifted up." And they said, “Will Qur’an be lifted up?”
He said, “No, but those who understand the Qur’an well will be removed.”
So we see that those imaams that came from Shi`a Twelver perspective or from Sunni imaams died.
“And then at that time, someone from my family will come who will fill Earth with justice when it is filled with ignorance.” yakthur al-jahl.
And when the Jibreel (a) asked, Prophet (s) said, “The one who is asked doesn’t know more than the one who asks.” That is out of humbleness. Of course he has knowledge of first and lasts.
And when asked about its signs, `allimnee bi `alamaata, “When you see the barefooted ignorant Bedouins competing in building high rises,” that is not from me, that is hadith of Prophet. That is in first chapter of Bukhari, the people of the desert:
وأن ترى الحفاة العراة العالة رعاء الشاء يتطاولون في البنيان
wa an taraa al-huffaat al-`arraat al-`aalat ru`aa ash-shaa' yatataawaloon fi 'l-bunyaan.
You will see the barefoot, naked, destitute bedouin shepherds competing in constructing tall buildings.
You go to the deserts, you see these people don't wear even sandals, and yet they are competing now to build the highest buildings. Whatever they say is it far, but in fact:
اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ
iqtarabat as-sa`at w 'anshaq al-qamr.
The Hour approached and the moon split. (54:1)
There is nothing left, O Muslims, but to love our brothers and sisters and our mothers and leave egoism and stubbornness. When egoism goes, love and peace can come.
Q&A Session
Question: What is moderation in Islam?
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: Moderation in Islam is to keep to yourself, don't bother others. We are a moderate ummah. We don't go to both extremes. We are not so liberal and we are not so extreme. Think and then follow. When you think with your ego you are going to fall down. Try as much as possible that what you love to yourself you love to your brothers.
Question: How can we achieve Shi`a/Sunni unity?
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: We are one tree, that which we take from the trunk who is the Prophet, and the branches and fruits are on all sides we can take from everyone.
Question: Does the aspect of infallibility of the Prophet take away from his genius and smartness as administrator and governor of a country?
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: No for sure not, the `isma that the Prophet carried, as every other prophet carried, does not take the power of a governor but will give more power to govern and do things and the infallibility of Prophet did not come when he became messenger, but was with him since his birth. And as Shaykh Ammar said, I forgot but it was something important. that heaven...
Question: When you mentioned the name of the Prophet many people stood up. What is significance of that? And you touched on forgiveness, please explain what it is and how to forgive someone from your heart?
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: we stand out of respect for president or king. So of course we stand for respect of our Prophet. Regarding forgiveness: it is to have power; when you have power over someone to forgive is very difficult. Take the example of Sayyidina al-Husayn, when he was at Karbala and he asked water for `Ali al-asghar, who was 7 months of age, and the army of Yazeed refused and his son died. And he asked for his family many things and they refused. And Sayyidina al-Husayn said to the followers of Yazeed, "On the Day of Judgment how will you feel when you face my grandfather? Will he forgive you or not?" So forgiveness is when you have power to punish, but you do not. That is the highest level.
Question: Is the beard mandatory or traditional for Muslims and what length is recommended?
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: I will answer the question. I was one day in Ka`aba sitting, and watching the Ka`aba is `ibaadah. And one of amr bi 'l-ma`roof wa 'n-nahy `ani 'l-munkar was coming to me (those who command the good and forbid the evil. Mutawa`een) (laughter) and he is looking at me and saying, "Yaa Shaykh! You are an example for everyone here. Why you are having a long beard? Islamically it is one qabdah, hand-length. so why you have it long?"
I didn't answer. He went but he was very angry. He saw me the next day and he said “I want to ask you why you have long beard?"
I said,
أحفوا الشوارب وأعفوا اللحى
The Prophet said, huff ash-shawaarib wa `afuw `anil-laha.
Trim the moustache and leave the beard.
The Prophet's beard had the natural character that it reached one hand's-length and it broke off by itself, and since it is left to us, as my wife likes it long, I don't mind. But you, you are not ashamed to ask me when you are shaved?”
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