Hadhrat Shaykh Asif Hussain Farooqui
Divine Mercy from Darood
Alhamdulillah, due to the blessing that comes from our recitingdarood (salutations upon Rasoolullah ) we have been given the will toperform Allah's dhikr. Allah's personal manifestation descends uponMustafa and on that place where Mustafa is present. The Divinemanifestations accompany Rasoolullah : Rasoolullah is in Madinah anddue to his presence Madinah is above all other places, Madinah isnothing without Allah's Messenger . When Rasoolullah was in Quba, Qubawas best, but when he left Quba for another place, then that placebecomes the best. Thus it becomes clear that superiority is not due tothe residence, but to the resident.
All the manifestations come onto Rasoolullah and then he distributesthem... And what is it that he is giving? It is Allah's mercy.
We know that the Divine manifestations are for the person of NabiKareem . We also know from Hadith that Allah sends 10 mercies towhoever sends darood once on Nabi Kareem . There is another Hadith thatsays Allah sends 70 mercies in return, and there is yet another Hadithwhere Allah Himself declares that He sends 100 mercies to whoever sendsone darood on Allah's Habeeb. All these Hadith are well authenticatedand have been correctly explained. So the question arises, why is itthat in one place the number 10 is mentioned, in another it is 70 andin another 100? (Bear in mind what was said at the beginning, that wehave been granted the will to perform Allah's dhikr by the blessings ofdarood. I am giving not a prepared speech.) We know that all the DivineManifestations descend upon the person of Mustafa , and that he thendistributes them. Allah is the giver and Nabi Kareem is thedistributor. All the manifestations come onto Rasoolullah and then hedistributes them. To some he gives 10, to others he gives 70 and toothers he gives 100. And what is it that he is giving? It is Allah'smercy. Allah says to Rasoolullah that He has sent His mercy down and itis up to Rasoolullah to give 10 or 70 or 100 as he pleases. However,Rasoolullah also says that he does not really give, rather those wholove him take from him. Whoever loves him is never bereft.
People get good deeds according to their degree of love forRasoolullah . Furthermore, Allah says that the biggest gift in creationis that 'I engage someone in My dhikr' - and this gift is alsodistributed by Rasoolullah . I was not wrong when I said that we havebeen granted dhikr by virtue of darood, because it is all the gift ofRasoolullah . I have recited darood and I have performed dhikr, as youhave as well. Allah's dhikr is tremendous beyond imagining and we havebeen granted the will to do it through the blessings of Rasoolullah .
My friends, this discussion is about a wonderful secret, but it isonly for those who really want to follow the way of guidance, not forthose who listen with one ear and forget with the other. Rasoolullah'swords are very dear. Rasoolullah has told us each and every thing thatwill take us close to Paradise. He has also explained to us each andevery thing that will take us away from Hell. Now it is up to youwhether you accept or not - he has told us such dear things that atevery instant we can get closer to Paradise.
If we look at creation we see that time has two parts, day andnight. In both the day and the night one thing is required, and that isworship. Apart from that, the day and night are divided up so that theday is for work and the night is for rest. This is well known, but thetrue lovers say to Allah, "We have been given the night for rest, butit is up to us whether or not we rest. Do You know if we get rest inour beds or in remembering You?" The lovers see people in one of threegroups, the heedless, the near and the dear.
The Heedless, The Near and The Dear
The heedless are those who have no care for worshipping at night andthey have no care for getting up and worshipping in the morning. MayAllah give us the will to stay away from the heedless. During the daythey work, then at night they might chat or watch television or a film,then if it is time to sleep, they go to bed. They have been called theheedless and some very severe warnings have been given about them.Hadhrat Abdullah bin Masud narrates a Hadith that
When a heedless person wakes up, Allah puts a shaytaan on him and every morning that shaytaan urinates in his ear.
The effect of the shaytaan urinating in his ear is that he spendsthe whole day ignorant and unaware, and during the day he is also besetwith difficulties and worries. All of this because he was careless inthe morning, and so a shaytaan urinated in his ear. I am explainingthese Hadith for your service, they are saheeh Hadith, and may Allahsave us from being among the heedless.
What is the second group? They are the near and they have awonderful habit. They pray 'Esha salaah and after 'Esha salaat theydon't talk to anyone, and they set their alarms with the aim of wakingin the last part of the night to remember their Lord. So they wake andmake wudhu and then according to their capacity they recite Qur'aan orengage in dhikr Allah and so become included in the near.
With regard to the dear, the Qur'aan tells us something astonishingabout them. After 'Esha they certainly go to bed, but from 'Esha tillFajr, while they are in their beds, with each turn they start up,saying "Allah, Allah". Allah's name does not let them rest. They arethe dear and this is their way of spending the night.
We have discussed the night and the three ways the three types ofpeople spend it; now for the day. Daytime is the very dangerous timefrom sunrise to sunset. From sunrise onwards people's bad works start,lying, backbiting, dishonesty, deceit and so on. In the night even themost sinful person is safe, because he simply lies down and sleeps. Butduring the day it is very hard to escape from sin. From morning tillevening this sin or that sin is committed. Sometimes the eyes sin,sometimes some other part of the body sins - good deeds are few, whilesins are many.
The Cure
Now let me turn to Hadith. SubhanAllah, may our lives be sacrificedfor the mercy to the worlds . The Hadith say that these are humanweaknesses - you have to live and work in this world and your statusbefore Allah will rise and fall. It is impossible to avoid sin, you arebound to commit sins, some big ones and some lesser ones. But do notworry, Rasoolallah's words are very dear. If Rasoolullah tells you thecure, won't you take that cure? If you want to save yourself while youlive in this dunya you can commit sins! Rasoolullah doesn't prevent youfrom committing sins - SubhanAllah how can we understand the ways ofRasoolullah ? He has told us that we cannot abstain from, and that wewill keep committing, sins, but he has also told us something veryspecial. Let us look closely at the Hadith. Rasoolullah says that:
If you do the dhikr of Allah in the first part of the day, that isthe morning, and you do dhikr of Allah in the last part of the day,that is in the evening, and so have remembered Allah at the beginningand at the end of the day, then Allah says to His angels, "My angels!My servant has remembered me in the morning and in the evening. Nowyour ability to record the sins he has committed between these twoparts of the day is taken away from you - those sins cannot berecorded."
My friends, see how valuable the dhikr of Allah is?
The scholars of Hadith have reflected upon this Hadith and some havesaid that this Hadith means that only the minor sins are forgiven butthe major sins are not forgiven. Other scholars of Hadith have saidthat the major sins are forgiven and the term 'sins' in the Hadithmeans both major and minor sins. It occurred to me that when Allah says'sins', which He has forgiven, Allah is so generous and forgiving thatfor Him minor sins are not minor and major sins are not major and whenHe decides to forgive, He forgives them all. Due to the blessing of thedhikr, which the person has done morning and evening, Allah in Hisgrace and mercy forgives all sins, both great and small.
You may ask on what authority I have given my opinion. In reply Iwill say that I have presented Hadith in support of whatever I havesaid. Now let me present a Hadith in your service which is reported byHadhrat Anas. He says that the angels we have on our left and right,recording all our deeds (despite us thinking the Qiyamat and Judgementare far away), present a report of them to Allah every day! Don't thinkwe are free to do as we please. Allah is given the record of our deedsevery morning and evening. Allah takes that record and if He seesAllah's dhikr in the morning and the evening, then He says "My angels!Because this person has remembered Me in the morning and in theevening, I make you a witness and I proclaim that I have forgivenwhatever sins he has committed in between." This includes minor sinsand major sins.
Allah's mercy is wonderful - if He decides to forgive then He may chosenot just to forgive, but to turn a sinner into a great saint.
Now let me present something else in your service. Allah's mercy iswonderful - if He decides to forgive then He may chose not just toforgive, but to turn a sinner into a great saint. I would like tell youof an event from the life of Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Mubarak. Allah'smercy can, at any time, take someone from the lowest state to the veryhighest state and that person cannot even think how it happened.Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Mubarak was an ordinary man. Once he fell in lovewith a girl. Overcome with love for this woman, he wandered the streetssinging. One night he stood waiting for this girl; it was a coldwinters night, yet he spent the entire night waiting for his beloved.But the girl didn't come out, and while he was waiting he heard theAdhaan for Fajr. As he was listening to the Adhaan a little thoughtentered his heart. He thought to himself "Abdullah, you have done astrange thing, just for the sake of a woman you stood here all night,if instead you had spent the night in worship, then Allah would havebeen pleased with you." Allah is so generous that as soon as thisthought entered his heart, Allah Himself came forward, accepted hisrepentance and gave him a very special rank amongst the Friends ofAllah. Let me tell you about his rank. On one occasion, he was asleepunder a tree and his mother was looking for him. She found him with asnake next to him. The snake was holding a flower stem in its mouth andthe snake was using the flower to fan flies away from his face.
My friends, we must always hope for Allah's mercy and forgiveness.Allah tells us that His mercy encompasses everything. If today you aresinful and you are doing bad things, then try to repent. Today you maybe a thief; tomorrow you could be a saint. May Allah grant me and youthe will to, at the very least, remember Him morning and evening. Inthis way Allah promises, through the blessed tongue of His Habeeb ,that He will, insha'Allah, forgive the many, many sins we commit inbetween.
