MSH.14 JUL 2010.POST.ENG

Obey Allah, Obey Prophet, and Obey Your Shaykh

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

14 July 2010    London, UK

al-Madina Mosque

 

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.

  
Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillahi nasta`eenuhu wa nastaghfiruhu wa nastahdeehi bihi wa na`oodhubillahi min shuroori anfusina wa sayiaati `amaalina. Man yahdillahu fa la mudilla lah wa man yudlill fa laa haadiya lah.

Wa nas-hadu an laa ilaaha  illa-Llah wahdahu la shareeka lah wa laa matheela lahu fee `ulloo'i shaanihi wa `azheemi Sultanih, wa nashhadu anna Sayyidina wa Sanadana wa Mawlana Muhammadan `abduhu wa Habeebuhu wa Rasooluh, arsalahu min arjaahi 'l-`arabi meezaanan wa afsahahaa bayaanan fa awdaha tareeqata wa nasaha khaleeqata, salallahu ta`ala `alayhi wa `alaa aalihi wa ashaabihi wa azwaajihi wa awlaadihi wa dhurriyatihi wa khulafaaihi 'l-mahdiyeena mim ba`adih wa wuzaraa'ihi 'l-`amileena fee `ahdih khusoosan minhum `ala a'immati khulafaa'i Rasoolillahi `ala at-tahqeeq umaraa'i 'l-mumineen hadaraati Abi Bakrin wa `Umar wa `Uthmaana wa `Ali dhawi 'l-qadri 'l-jaliyy wa `ala baqiyati 's-sahaabati wa 't-tabi'een ridwaanallahi ta`ala `alayhim ajma`een.
 
Yaa ayyuhal mu`minoon al-haadiroon `itaqullah wa ati`ooh inna Allah ma` al-ladheen attaqaw wa` l-ladheena hum muhsinoon.

O Muslims, believers! Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:

وَقُلْ جَاء الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا

Wa qul jaa al-haq 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)

Allah (swt) is ordering to the Holy Prophet (s), Qul! "Say."

When you are given a general order, heavenly support comes. If soldier is given a general order, there is no support. There might be a support with navy, with airplanes, etc., but it is dunya support. Allah's (swt) order in holy Qur'an to the Holy Prophet (s) is Wa qul, "Say to them"  ja'a al-Haqq, Haqq is coming. It is past tense; Haqq is already there. And zahaq al-baatil, falsehood has been gone. Nobody can try to change that, it is impossible. That is why you should not think that you have been lowered or you are not given support. When Allah (swt) orders something, heavenly support comes with it. When Sayyidina `Umar (r) said, "Yaa Rasoolullah (s), are we on haqq or on baatil?" He said "We are on haqq." That is what Sayyidina `Umar (r) wanted to hear. He then went up and called the adhaan.

 

If we are on haqq. Why are people afraid of the lions in the jungle? We fear them because we think they are stronger, but if we believe what Allah (swt) says, support will come. You will not fear anyone, even the lions become like lambs. Awliyaaullah are not afraid of anything. One wali ordered his mureed  and he said, "Yaa waladee, go up on the mountain, I will come to see you late in the evening. Go and do your awraad there and wait, I am coming." Maybe the normal awraad is doing dhikr or reading Qur'an or hadith, etc. So that mureed went up to the mountain and prayed Dhuhr, the shaykh didn't come. He prayed Asr, the shaykh didn't come. He prayed Maghrib, the shaykh didn't come. Maghrib time came, what he has to do now? He has to go down. But he didn't because his shaykh said, "I will come to you and then we will go down." So he waited, the shaykh didn't come. The time for Fajr arrived, the shaykh still didn't come. Then the next day passed and then the third, the shaykh didn't come. He began to eat the berries, fruits, etc. from the trees. This way, one month passed and his shaykh did not come. He is not using his mind.

 

The problem with us is that we use this too much (points to head), the intelligence. There is no intelligence besides Allah's (swt) Divinely, heavenly powers. You have to surrender. Tasawwuf is submission. If the shaykh says, "Do this" you Should do that, don't question. In the entire Holy Qur'an, you will not see Prophet (s) asking even one question. He never asked. Even for the incident of Sayyida `Ayesha (r), where everyone was waiting for a clearance to find out what happened. And munaafiqoon were throwing all kinds of nonsense, but the Prophet (s) didn't ask. Why? He was waiting for wahee, revelation. He knows about his wife's purity. He could have said, "Yaa Rabbee, can you send Jibreel (a) to me?" Or he could have asked for an answer. What about Sayyidina Musa (a) when he said, "Yaa Rabbee, when are you going to kill Pharoah for me?" Allah said, "Fajr is near, so wait"  أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ alaysa 's-subhu bi-qareeb. In the Holy Qur'an, Sayyidina Musa (a) asked so many questions. But Sayyidina Muhammad (s) asked none until the revelation came to clear Sayyida Ayesha (r).

 

So if the shaykh says something, don't say, "The shaykh is not correct to follow him blindly." No, he is correct. Were Sahabah (r) following blindly? Did they ask a question? Whenever the Prophet (s) called them they followed.  Awliya are inheritors of Prophet (s). Every wali is not on the same level. Every wali is like a diamond, as someone with a crown full of diamonds. If one diamond is missing, the crown has a problem. All awliya are diamonds on the crown of Prophet (s). You cannot say, "This wali is that." No, each diamond is special. It could be five carats, ten carats, it could be an emerald, or a sapphire, but all are respected.

 

As the story relates, the mureed said to himself that the shaykh is coming. Fall came, and there was no more food. The leaves began to fall and he began to eat the trees for food. After three months of tests, Allah sent him a deer and it would come whenever the mureed would do his dhikr. The deer would sit and listen. When he would finish, he would bring the deer near and drink milk from it; and that was his food. SubhaanAllah! Don't say, "How do we believe that?" If we are wali, we believe it. Try to be from those people who have been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an as:

مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ فَمِنْهُم مَّن قَضَى نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَنتَظِرُ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا

rijaalun sadaqoo ma `ahadullah `alayh, fa minhum man qadaa nahbahu wa minhum man yantazhir wa maa badaloo tabdeela.
Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. of them some have completed their vow (to the extreme), and some (still) wait: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least. (33:23)

Men who kept the covenant, whatever they have promised Allah (swt), they kept it.

They are the ones Allah (swt) chose to be His awliya. They never changed, we did. We came to dunya with all its miseries and worldly desires. So of course, we are now going to be veiled. Drop these wild desires and the veil will go, surrender.

 

So that mureed surrendered. He didn't say, "My shaykh forgot me." If you say, "My shaykh forgot me or doesn't know," you have no benefit from the shaykh. Even if he is a wali, you will not get the barakah from him. Soon, more deer came and while doing dhikr, the mureed began to hear voices of  mu`min jinn making dhikr. Then all of the wild and domestic animals in the forest on the mountain, began to come and listen to his dhikr. The mureed was happy. But then two years had gone by. And then three, and four, and five; the mureed longed to see his shaykh. Shaytan came and said to him, "Go down, go down." He was struggling but he did not go down. He knew that he should not go down because his shaykh said, "I am coming. Wait for me." So it is finished, as the Prophet (s) said, al-mu`min idha wa`da wafa, "When a believer promises, he fulfills it."

So he did not go down, he fulfilled his promise. Seven years passed, and the maximum seclusion is seven years. He did his seclusion. Where are we doing our seclusion today? We are doing it between the legs of the television. We sit there watching and do dhikr. They didn't have television, but they had a heavenly television. They were seeing heavenly pleasures but we are seeing dunya pleasures. There is a great difference between them. Heavenly pleasures are endless. Here men and women take pleasure from each other and after five minutes, it is finished. There, it is endless. He was taking pleasure from dhikrullah with all those animals.

 

Then after seven years, the roohaaniyyat an-nabi, "The spirituality of Prophet (s) appeared." I am explaining to those who understand Sufism, that is why I am bringing this subject. And sent `Ubaydullah al-Ahrar (q), from Samarqand and said, "Your mureed is ready to get his trust." If he hadn't left him these seven years, his mureed would never have reached this level. So in every action of the shaykh there is hikma, wisdom. If the shaykh says, "Go to the beach," you go. If he says, "Go to the mountain," you go. What he tells you to do, you do. Don't say, "Oh, what am I going to do?" Don't use your mind. If you use your mind, you are finished. When we use our mind, we run into many problems. But when we submit to Allah (swt), there will be no problem.

 

So Sayydina `Ubaydullah al-Ahrar (q) left the city and headed towards the mountain. He reached there by night. Before entering the area where his mureed was, he saw the mureed waiting. He said, "What are you doing? You are still here?" He didn't tell him that the Prophet (s) ordered him to give his trust. "What are you doing there? Are you crazy? I told you to wait, but why didn't you come down after one or two days? Why didn't you come?" He said, "Yaa Sayyidee, if I came down you would never be here by the order of Prophet (s)." The mureed knew the information and was waiting for his shaykh. He knew his shaykh is coming. And as soon as the shaykh came, all the animals came around. These animals, wild and domestic, represent the characteristics of the ego. The ego is wild and sometimes it is domestic. Some egos are like lions, wild, and some egos are like camels, patient, some are like snakes, poisonous, others are like lambs, domestic. All of these good and bad characteristics combine together in the personality of a human being. They came out of that mureed by believing in his shaykh's order and waiting for him. They transformed into wild and domestic animals and were working together as a group.

 

So our egos and self is a combination of good and evil, it is a struggle between good and evil. Evil wants you to be a wild animal and good wants you to be a domestic animal. Because we are human beings. Al-insaanu haywaanun naatiq, "A human being is a talking animal." Animals have ears, so do we. They have a nose, and so do we. But Allah (swt) honored human beings, wa laqad karamna bani Adam, by the honor of the one whose name He raised with His Name, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). The shaykh was then ordered to give the mureed his amanah, trust. But when awliyaaullah give you your amanah, it is not like giving a reward, or a watch, a car, a book, or eyeglasses. When they give you amanah, they open secrets in your heart first. There are six secrets, realities in the heart of a human being. That is why Prophet (s) said, "Humans are born on innocence." They have that innocence in their hearts. The reality of the Divinely promise from the day of alastu bi-rabbikum (Am I not your Lord?). We said, balaa, "Yes." Allah (swt) gave us the honor to be there standing in His presence and He asked, "Am I not your Lord?" And we said, "Yes." For all humanity, Muslim and non-Muslim. The Prophet (s) continued that, for non-Muslim, their parents raise them on a different religion, Christianity, Judaism, or any other. Usually all humans are born on innocence.

 

The shaykh looked at him and said, "Sit on your knees," so they sat on their knees facing each other. At that moment, 124,000 pigeons came, except one. They all were white and they made a circle around the shaykh and the mureed. Don't say, "Where is this story from?" Or else, you will have doubts in your mind. Awliyaaullah have many miracles, karama. Mujiza are for anbiya. If these 124,000 pigeons would appear in their reality, the mureed would immediately faint and die. He won't be able to carry it. Therefore, they appear as pigeons, something the mureed can relate to. They were in reality, 124,000 prophets, minus one. And no wali takes his trust, amaanah without the presence of all prophets being there. So they came as green pigeons and all were fluttering their wings. They were happy with the presence of Sayyid al Bashar, Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Immediately, their spirituality appeared. Not one wali can take his trust without the permission of Prophet (s). The shaykh then put his shahadah finger on his knees and began to move it up and down in direction of the heart of his mureed.

And as he was moving, he opened the six realities, places of haqeeqat in the heart of the mureed: Haqeeqat al-Jazbah, Haqeeqat al-Fayd, Haqeeqat at-Tawajjuh, Haqeeqat at-Tawassul, Haqeeqat al-Irshad, and Haqeeqat at-Tayy. These are the six realities that are embedded in every heart, child, adult or old, man and woman. It is not from outside it is inside you. Like these days, it is embedded in computers, you can pull these realities any time you want. But you need to clean your heart. In Haqeeqat al-Jazbah, the Reality of Attraction, you don't need to do anything. If you move among people, they will be attracted to you. That is a simple characteristic of a wali. Wherever he moves, people are attracted, like the queen bee, bees run to the queen. If there is no queen, then no honey. They will sting you. If there is a queen, they will give you honey. You need to have a queen in your life, and here, that means a guide, murshid.

 

Sayyidina Bayazid (q) said, "If someone has no shaykh, Shaytan is his shaykh." Because Shaytan whispers in that person's ears. And then they can go in a wrong direction. Then there is Haqeeqat al-Fayd, fayd is manifestations. Like we say in Urdu faiz, that is the manifestations that come constantly from heavens on human beings. You will feel that manifestation when you are in the presence of that wali. You feel relaxed. And then Haqeeqata 't-tawwajjuh, is like concentrating and sending your laser power to any where around the world, to any person's heart and he will feel that power. For awliyaaullah, it is not necessarily to reach their mureeds physically, but they can reach anywhere in the world spiritually or through dreams.

 

These six realities are in the heart of every person. That is why a guide is important, because he has been given a promise by the Prophet (s) that not one mureed will die before reaching these realities. Allah (swt) will give him power and you will see that. When Sayyidina Omar (r) left dunya, the two angels came to ask him questions. The son of Sayyidina `Umar (r) and Sayyidina `Ali (r) were at the grave, they were talking with each other. The son of Sayyidina `Ali said, "My father was this." The son of Sayyidina `Umar (r) was saying the same and they were arguing. This happens even with awliya but don't interfere, don't burn your finger. Like the children of Sayyidina Yaqoob (a), they were twelve. Prophets are ma`soom. One was arguing, "My father is better," but the other said, "My father is better." Both were quarreling. Sayyidina `Ali was passing and he asked, "Why are you fighting? now two angels are questioning Sayyidina `Umar (r), Khalifat ar-Rasoolullah (s)." It is related that one angel came and asked, "Who is your rabb, Lord? Who is your Prophet?" `Umar (r) replied, "I can't hear" and the angels came nearer. He said, "I would like to ask you a question." He is a Khalifat Rasoolullah (s). Their tongues cannot freeze during most difficult moments. That is why we ask Yaa Sayyidee yaa Rasoolallah, yaa Rahmatan li 'l-`alameen anta shafi`una. If not for Prophet (s), Allah knows where we are going to be. May Allah (swt) save us from hell fire.

`Umar (r) said, "I have a question for you, from where are you coming, and how far?" They said, "We came from the seventh Paradise." He said, "I came from my home ten minutes ago and you came from far away. Are you not ashamed? I didn't forget anything about who my Creator is and you forgot who created you? you should question yourself!" Then he hit his head hard to the angel. "How can I forget and I just came a few minutes ago from my home and you are coming after millions and millions of years?"

Allah (swt) gave Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani (q) a promise to the Prophet (s), that he will say, "Yaa Abdul Qadir! Not one soul of a mureed will be taken without your permission." People say Ghawth but the reality of it is in this story. One of his mureeds died and the Angel of Death came to take his soul. As soon as he took his soul, Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani (q) was present and was holding him. He said, ”O Angel of Death, where are you taking him without my permission? If I didn't have that promise from the Prophet (s) that I have authority over my mureeds, I would not ask because this is hukmullah. The order is above respect. I have respect for Allah's (swt) wish, but I have been ordered that I will not give any one of my mureeds without my permission. The angel of death was back and forth, "Should I take him, or not take him." Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani (q) pulled him and went. Now Sayyidina Azra`eel (a) was standing in a place where he cannot go forward or backward. He then heard a voice that said, “ Yaa Azra`eel go back, I gave that promise to him." That mureed lived for 37 more years. That is why in Laylatu`l Nisf Sha`baan, the Night of Bara`ah, there Allah (swt) confirms what he likes and he raises what he likes. He has the hukm in his hand.

 

So when awliyaaullah give, they give you with a support." Show obedience to Allah, to the Prophet (s), to your shaykh, you will get support. With all this support, saints were able to convert the Subcontinent, South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa to Islam. All these Sahaabah (r) were going as messengers in order to spread the teaching of Islam. And they did not understand the language. I was visiting Uzbekistan, in Samarqand, we went to visit the grave of the cousin of Prophet (s), Quthum ibn `Abbas (r) in the mountains, the Ottomans have made it very nice there. It was very far from Madinah and Mecca, it is by China. How did he turn people towards Islam without knowing the language? Not one, but hundreds of thousands! Not by money, or books, or television. But by the noor, light that Allah (swt) gave them in their hearts and in their eyes. People look at them and are attracted and they lead them to Islam. Prophet (s) said, "My Sahaabah (r) are like stars, if you follow any one of them, you will be guided."

 
Who are we following today? They call themselves "Salafi." Who gave you that name? Salaf us-Salih are known, we know them by their names (Mawlana is talking about Salaf as-Saalih). The actual salafa were from the first three centuries of Islam. You are not Salaf as-Saalih; you are khalafi, you divided the ummah! You are killing the Sufis, the Sunni scholars in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in Kashmir, in Africa, in Somalia and in Iraq. They are not letting Ahlu’s-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah to stand up, they are killing them everywhere. They destroyed 592 mosques and shrines as well as tombs of awliya and Ahlu’s-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah in Somalia in one year. What can we do? We are waiting al-faraj, for heavenly opening. Without heavenly opening, nothing can be done. Prophet (s) indicated the signs of the Last Days. There would be too much blind killing. "The one who has been killed, doesn't know why he was killed. And the one who killed doesn't know why he killed." These suicide bombers say they are against the west. They are liars, it was only a conspiracy. They are against Ahlu’s-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah.Who blew up Ajmeer Shareef? Ahlu’s-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah?

 

O Muslims, open your eyes. What is needed for us the Prophet (s) has mentioned in the hadith and we have to be careful. Listen to the Prophet (s), not anyone else. Don't listen to muhajiroon, hizbu tahreer or Wahhabi, Salafi etc. Holy Prophet (s) said, "There is coming a time when confusions are going to be like big chunks of dark night," a time of fitna. He said, "The one who is sitting is better than the one who is standing, the one who is just standing will be better than one who is walking." If you are standing by your window, and something is happening outside, don't go looking to see what happened. Don't listen, it is fitna. Stay at home. It means don’t go towards the fitna, don’t move. Don't listen to your high schools, listen to your parents and your Ahlu’s-Sunnah wa’l-Jama`ah mosques.

 

If you think Shaytan won't have any effect on you, you are wrong. Shaytan even caused problem for Adam (a). Who is better, you or Adam (a)? He is the father of all humanity and he is a prophet. Shaytan whispered in his ear to eat the fruit on the tree. He is much better than us. Don't show yourself on the Internet. If you are on Facebook, you are making haraam and zina. Get off Facebook, it is a conspiracy against Islam. You don’t know the trail of who makes friends with you, it might be naked men and women. Don't go shopping for husbands and wives on the Internet. Many people have their pictures and their biographies there now, falling into more and more shaytanic traps. If you use your computer for Islam, for Shari`ah, or for knowledge, it is okay. But to be on this Facebook is not ok. You should be careful. We have to leave this world one day and be in front of Allah (swt). We are worried, whether we are going to leave this dunya with punishment or with reward? We don’t know, no one knows. So all of you say together,

 

Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh. Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh. Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh! 

 

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