MSH.6 NOV 2009.PREPOST.ENG

The Day of the End of the World

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

6 November 2009   Jakarta, Indonesia

 

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`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

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

 

Alhamdullahi Rabbi 'l-`alameen. As-salaatu was-salaamu `ala ashrafa 'l-mursaleen. Sayyidina wa nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `ala ashaabihi ajma`een. As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi ta`ala wa barakaatuh.

 

Allah (swt) ordered us in the Holy Qur`an to obey Him, His Prophet (s), and those who are on authority. Ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum. And today I am obeying the authority here, President `Arifeen, who invited me to speak. The title (of this event) is, “Facing the End of the World,” I don’t know how to make business and the world is ending, but we have to work until the last moment; no problem, keep working even if the end of the world is coming. It is an honor for me to be invited here. I know I don’t deserve it. I am hoping to be at the feet of Sayyidina Muhammad (s); not at his feet, but under his feet even, because it would be an honor for us to always be under the shafa`a of Sayyidina Muhammad (s).

 

You are seeing my daughter (Sajeda) stand up. She cannot help it, because anytime the name of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) comes, (Mawlana stands) she feels from inside that she has to stand up. So sometimes in my lecture I avoid mentioning the name. I say “Prophet” in order for her to not keep standing in front of people. To stand for the name of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), (Mawlana stands) Allahumma salli `alayka yaa Rasoolallah, allahumma salli `alayka yaa Habeebullah, allahumma salli `alayka yaa Shaf`ee al-mudhnibeen, and to mention his name, is respect from us because he is the Seal of Messengers, he is the perfect human being that Allah (swt) created; he is the most humble by always saying, “I am only a servant to Allah (swt).” And he is happy when Allah (swt) calls him “servant.” He has the highest title that can be given to a human being, Muhammadun Rasulallah (s). Laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah (s). (Mawlana stands.) Salloo `ala 'n-nabi. Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar kabeerah! If we stand up from the beginning of dunya to the end when the name of our Prophet (s) is being mentioned, we are not giving him his right; his right is more than that!

 

One of the sincere servants of Allah (swt) said, "If I stand praising Sayyidina Muhammad (s) from the time of Adam (a), if Allah gave me life until the Day of Judgment, it’s not enough for me to give Sayyidina Muhammad (s) his right." Don’t worry, stand one-hundred times, it is okay. On the Day of Judgment we will be not standing, we will be relaxing. Right now it is okay. We stand because we need to show the love to Sayyidina Muhammad (s). On the Day of Judgment, we will be relaxing because he will look at his lovers and pick them up saying, “Come, come, come. You loved me, you mentioned me, come sit with me.” That’s what we want; that’s what the whole issue is. May Allah (swt) keep us with the Prophet (s)!

 

There are rules for being in this basement; the rules are to run towards the two exit doors. This can give us an idea that the only way to go out of this room is through the exit, meaning the only way to go out of dunya is through death. Facing the end of the world is the end of your life. When you die, what are you taking with you? That is what’s important. Are you going through a safety door, or are you going to another door where there is fire? If there is an emergency here, such as a fire, we would have to go through a safety door to not be burned by the fire. Are we trying to go through a safety door when we leave this dunya? Or are we going to go through a fiery door?

 

Facing the end of the world has rules. As there is an end to this life, there is an end to this world also. Don’t think this world is going to live for ever. What the Prophet (s) mentioned of the Signs of the Last Days, most of them have appeared and still people do not understand. So what will we take with us? If a company is booming, it means the workers know what they are doing. Do we know what we are doing for our companies in akhirah to boom? The Prophet (s) said, "That Day will come when everyone will run from his father, brother, mother, wife, children, husband, everyone. You will say, 'Myself, myself. Yaa Rabbee, forgive me. I don’t care for them.'" Everyone will be afraid. The only one who cares is Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands.) He is the only one that will remember. He takes care of his ummah, he wants to save them all.

 

Therefore, what is important for us is how to reach morality, good manners. And how do you have good manners and show your good work? It’s not only by praying the five prayers. You have to pray the five prayers, you have to do your obligation. Do you eat daily? Yes. Why? Because your body needs food. Allah (swt) made it like that. In the same way, your soul needs prayers. Allah wants you to pray; it is food for the soul. But when you eat, you don’t eat the same food. Like today they have maybe ten or fifteen different kinds of food upstairs in the office to eat. They don’t say, “We were able to cook for you one soup, it’s enough.” No, they have different kinds of food. Also for the soul, there are different kinds of food that come with the prayers .

 

The food for the soul is not only the prayers. You pray and still you cheat, deceive, and lie. You pray and still you do all kinds of things that are not acceptable. So it is not only the prayer. Prayer is an obligation, you have to do it. Like with a building, all the accessories come with it. Likewise, the accessory for good prayers is the good manners, al-akhlaaq al-hameedah, to have a good behavior with people, with your boss, the company that you are working for. I have someone who is working for us in the organization in America, I always see him busy. He is always busy, typing and working hard. His name is Jamaluddin, he is a convert. One day I asked him, “Yaa Jamaluddin, tell me the truth;” Americans don’t lie, when you ask them, they tell the truth. “I’m seeing you all the time working and working on the computer and Internet. How many hours are you working for the organization and how many hours are you wasting on the Internet?” He said, “I am working for the organization for one hour, seven hours I am on the Internet.” He is spending seven hours of his time on the Internet, and only one hour of his time on our organization. So what is that? That is wasting the time of the organization. You cannot waste the time of your employers, because this is will incur expenses.

 

Therefore, what is the benefit of prayer, when in your heart, you are lazy? If you are not going to have good characters and good behaviors, you are going to lose. Allah (swt) is going to ask you, “Did you cheat anyone?” What are you going to say, no? How many times did we do something wrong in our life? We hope that we repent before the day of death comes, because we will be unable to answer Allah (swt) at that time.

 

O Brothers and Sisters! Sayyidina Muhammad (s) has described these issues. (Mawlana stands and sits.) That’s why when Sayyidina Jibreel (a) asked him, “What is ihsaan, yaa Rasoolallah (s)?” In other words, what are morals, the best of characters, and moral excellence? He said, “You have to worship Allah as if you are seeing Him.” Of course you are not going to see Him. And he continued, “If you are not seeing Him, He is seeing you.” So how are you going to say, Allahu akbar, and in your heart, you have something wrong or bad? This carpet is clean, we can pray on it. If this carpet was dirty, would you pray on it? No, no one would like to pray on a dirty carpet. So how are we praying when our heart is not clean?

 

People might have developed anger in their hearts. They might have developed hatred, jealousy, and lying; all kinds of bad manners and behaviors. We are going to be asked about it. Allah (swt) is not going to let it go, especially for those who are always under a responsibility. Allah said in Holy Qur`an, ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum, we have to obey Allah and Prophet (s). You cannot be a Muslim or in any other religion without obeying Allah (swt). And Muslims have to obey Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands and sits.)

 

Sayyidina Jibreel (a) asked the Prophet (s), “Yaa Rasoolullah (s), when is the Last Day?”

The Prophet (s) said, “The one who is asking knows more than the one who is being asked.”

Then Jibreel (a) said, “Tell me about the signs of the Last Days.”

And the Prophet (s) said, “To see the naked, barefooted bedouins competing in high rises.”

 

That is one of the predictions of the Prophet (s) about the Last Days. The people of the desert who have no shoes will be competing in building high rises. Go now to the different Arab countries in the Gulf and you will see these high rises in the desert, built by naked, barefooted Bedouins. What the Prophet (s) described is the reality of the people today. It’s not that we are demeaning their levels or talking bad about anyone; no, we are describing what the Prophet (s) said in his hadith. Bedouins are barefooted, they don’t have slippers, they walk barefoot on the sand. They have their homes in tents, they like that, but in reality they are building high rises.

 

The Prophet (s) predicted this as one of the signs of the Last Days. So surely we are facing the end of the world, because what the Prophet (s) mentioned as signs of the Last Days, many of them have happened. We gave just one example. Therefore, we have to be very careful about how we handle things. Our duty is to establish a relationship between our soul and our body. Now every pleasure is for our body. We only want to make our body to be happy and content; we are not trying to make our soul to be happy and content. And the only way to make our soul happy is through auditing ourselves daily. At the end of the day, take a piece of paper and write, “Today, yaa Rabbee, I did this and this and this wrong.” Don’t count your good deeds; leave the good you did for Allah (swt). You count what you did wrong. “Today I did this wrong, I did this wrong, and I did this wrong. Yaa Rabbee, forgive me for all this.” Audit yourself, don’t leave it for tomorrow or next week. No, immediately write down on a piece of paper, “I did that,” So it will become like a diary. You can go back in your life when you become old, and see all these actions that have been written. You’ll remember what you have done. Day-by-day you will begin to eliminate these bad characteristics within yourself.

 

The Prophet (s) was asked, “Do Muslims make adultery?” Meaning, do Muslim men or women sleep together in a haram way. How many Muslims today are doing that? Not only Muslims, everyone is doing that.

The Prophet (s) said, “It might be.”

“Does a mu’min steal?”

He said, “It might be.”

They might steal out of hunger, like in the time of Sayyidina `Umar (r) peope were dying from hunger. Sayyidina `Umar (r) stopped cutting hands because people were hungry.

“Do they steal?” Prophet (s) said, “Yes, they might.”

 Then they asked, “Yaa Rasoolallah (s), does a mu’min or believer lie?”

He said, “This, no way.”

 

You cannot lie! Today, we lie so much; everything we do, we have one lie behind it, even in our work. People today want to make their resume, so to be hired by a company, they lie about their academic and work history. They go to some companies and put for them an academic and work history full of lies. And then they get the job. If I want to work in `Arifeen's company, I am going to write, “I only studied Islam, but I know gas and oil.” They reply, “Oh, it’s good he knows gas and oil, take him in,” and I become a worker in his company. But I lied.

 

Lying is not good, big or small. What is the biggest lie? We are doing it and we do not even know. It is when we gave a promise to Allah (swt) on the Day of Promises. He asked us, “Am I not your Lord?” We were in His Presence. He created us as souls before coming to dunya. He said, “Am I not your Lord?” And all of us said, “Yes, You are our Lord and we are Your servants.” When we came to dunya, we said. “Oh, You are what You are, we are what we are. Everyone is free, we are what we are.” You had already accepted to be servants there. You gave your initiation, your pledge, “Yaa Rabbee, I am Your servant. I will behave as a servant for You.” But when we came to dunya, we are not behaving as a servant, we are behaving as tyrants! So that is the biggest lie; to deny what we have accepted in the Presence of Allah (swt).

 

Our duty is to keep our promise and our promise is to be a good servant of Allah (swt). That’s why He said in the Holy Qur'an, “You really love Me?”

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ

Qul in kuntum tuhibboonallah, fattabi`oonee yuhbibkumullah

Say: "If ye do love Allah, Follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins: For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (3:31)

(Mawlana stands) "If you really love Allah, follow Sayyidina Muhammad (s), Allah will love you." We cannot come to Allah without the door of Sayyidina Muhammad (s): he is the door. That’s why Allah said in the Holy Qur'an, “When they are oppressors to themselves, or they did something haram, they come to you, yaa Rasoolallah (s), and they ask for forgiveness in your presence. And you forgive them and you ask for forgiveness on their behalf, then Allah (swt) will forgive them.”

 

So our responsibility is to always remember that the Prophet (s) is the key for Allah’s Presence. There is no way that you can go without him. That’s why Allah said in the Holy Qur`an, innallah wa mala`ikatahoo yoosalloona `alan nabi, “Allah and His angels are sending salaam (prayers, praises) to Sayyidina Muhammad (s).” (Mawlana stands.) No problem, we stand up, we sit, we stand, we sit, and we stand; itis better than to stand for a president or a king! Do you want Allah’s (swt) happiness for you? Respect His beloved Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands and sits.) What can we do? Better than standing on the Day of Judgment under the burning sun. Today we go outside in the hot weather, alhamdulillah now there is air conditioning. We go outside in the field, and we feel that hot sun on our head. Sayyidina `Ibrahim (a) was in the fire and Allah ordered, “O fire, be cool and give a cool and peaceful breeze to Ibrahim.” Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) was not feeling the heat of the fire.

 

We hope that by standing, we are showing respect to the Best of Creation that Allah (swt) created, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). On the Day of Judgment we might say, “Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolallah (s), we are coming to you. We love you but we are weak servants, we did lots of things wrong, intercede for us.” The Prophet (s) said, “My shafa`a is for the biggest sinners of my ummah.”

 

Allah (swt) mentioned a servant, `abd, in the Holy Qur`an. When Sayyidina Musa (a) was giving an oath, “Yaa Rabbee, I am not coming back until I reach the merging of the two rivers,” meaning, the merging of the rivers zaahir and baatin (spirit and knowledge). “Yaa Rabbee, I will not come back until I learn that hidden, heavenly knowledge.” Allah sent him to one person, Sayyidina al-Khidr (a). And the Holy Qur'an says, “He found one of many of other servants,” Sayyidina al-Khidr (a). Allah said, “We gave him rahmah from Us and we taught him from heavenly knowledge.” He got the rahmah first. If he did not get that rahmah, there was no way he could get that knowledge. And who is the rahmah? Rahmatal li 'l-`alameen, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana stands and sits.) “We have sent you as Mercy for Humanity,” meaning Sayyidina al-Khidr (a) already knew about Sayyidina Muhammad’s (s) light. From that tajalli (manifestation), he gave him that rahmah that Allah dressed Sayyidina Muhammad with. Then Prophet (s) gave to Sayyidina al-Khidr (a) a little bit of that rahmah and because of that, Allah taught him from heavenly knowledge, or else Musa (a) would not have been able to continue with him on the trip. Sayyidina al-Khidr said to him, “You cannot follow me, you cannot be patient with me because you cannot understand what I am going to do.” And that is what happened; three incidents occurred and then Sayyidina Musa (a) left, and Sayyidina al-Khidr (a) went the other way.

 

O Muslims! The Day of Judgment is really approaching, the day of the end of the world, and Allah (swt) knows best when. He is `Alimu 'l-Ghayb, Knower of the Unseen; we don’t know the Unseen. But according to the prediction of Prophet (s), the Day of Judgment is coming. The Earth will not go on for millions of years as they are saying. We are not coming from monkeys and they say we are coming from monkeys. Allah said in Holy Qur`an:

وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاء كُلَّهَا

wa `allama Adam al-asma`ah kullaha.

And He taught Adam the nature of all things; (2:31)

They say there was a Stone Age, people were not talking then, they didn’t have a language, that everything was made of stone and the men walked like this (like a caveman). You see them in movies? They say those people were not talking, just making sounds. This is what Allah taught Adam (a) of the names, they taught him like that, with no language? Allah (swt) taught Adam (a) the knowledge of everything He created, then He said to the angels, “Tell me knowledge of the creations I created. I taught Adam the name of every creation I have created, not only human beings, but everything.” They didn’t have that knowledge. What they say about the Stone Age is not acceptable. Sayyidina Adam (a) was speaking, therefore, there was a language. How is Allah teaching him without a language that he understands?

 

So are we coming from monkeys? Why are monkeys not producing human beings anymore? We we are not seeing any monkeys giving birth to a human being? If we are coming from the monkeys, then where are apples coming from? Where are oranges and bananas coming from, from monkeys? Is there a monkey fruit? Darwin didn’t find anything except human beings coming from monkeys, so maybe he was a monkey. Allah (swt) created us from one cell, yes that’s true, one cell. He created us from this soil, this earth. He ordered Sayyidina Jibreel (a) to bring the soil from the Earth and He created Adam (a) from it, from clay.

 

O Muslims! Open your eyes! The Day of Questioning is coming. But since you are the lovers of the Prophet (s), you will be saved. (Mawlana stands and sits.) Because Sayyidina Muhammad (s) said, “My intercession is for the sinners of my ummah.” Yes, we are sinners, we can’t lie and say that we are not; only prophets are not sinners. Allah protected Sahaaba (r) and awliyaaullah. But normal people like us, we are sinners. Like a child, we walk, we fall, we walk, we fall, like a young child nine or ten months old. We are always standing and falling. But when we fall, we must repent. Don’t let your day pass without repentance.

 

I have a mureed who came crying to me one day in Michigan. I asked, “Abdul Qadir, what happened?” He said, “My father died.” His father was okay, he was healthy. I asked, “How did he die?” He said, “We were praying taraweeh in Ramadan, when he went into sajdah, he didn’t get up. He was in sajdah. We were praying and he was still in sajdah, not falling. Everyone thought that he is still in sajdah. They said, 'As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah, as-salam `alaykum wa rahmatullah,' and he was still in sajdah. They went up the second time, he was still in sajdah. They found out that he was dead.” He was young, maybe 50 years of age. He’s gone, but he died in the best way!

 

We don’t know when we will die. We have to make sure to remind ourselves to answer well. What are we going to answer? That’s why we have to ask for forgiveness in every moment, "Yaa Rabbee, forgive us!" This will save us. May Allah (swt) save us all and may Allah make all the work for your company inshaa-Allah to be prosperous and to give them the best of what they are looking for in order to help the community and to help keep their employees. May Allah (swt) forgive us, forgive what we have done in the past, and what we are going to do in the future.

 

May Allah forgive us and protect us. Thank you very much. W 'as-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.

 

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