My dear friends, by Allah's grace and generosity we have gathered here,after tarawih prayer, to remember Allah. Your intention and myintention is to remember Allah, this is our objective and Allah willreward us for it. He will not reward us for speeches and sermons. Wegain by doing, not by listening to speeches; it is only our deeds thatwill benefit us in the grave and on the Day of Judgement.
Imagine going shopping, looking respectable and smart. You walk intoMarks and Spencers and choose lots of nice things. You are obviously aman of the world, people greet you and show you respect. However, whenyou get to the counter, then neither your suit nor your looks will doyou any good. At the counter the salesperson will only be interested inmoney. If you have money, then you can keep the goods; but if you haveno money, then you must put the goods back.
My friends, it is the same in the Akhirah, for there if you have deedsthen you can go to Paradise, otherwise you will be sent away. Everyperson should always be concerned to accumulate good deeds. When youenter here and say 'As-Salaam Alaikum', then a good deed is added toyour account. Allah sent Nabi Kareemsallallahu alayhi wa sallam to showus how to collect good deeds. Don't we learn from Hadith that NabiKareemsallallahu alayhi wa sallam came to tell us how to earn thewealth of the Akhirah? Not one moment of our lives should be wasted.His desire is that when we go on to the Akhirah we have so much wealththere that we can't even imagine. Allah's Nabisallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us so many little things, which collected together formmountains. For example, suppose you go outside the mosque and you seethat your brother's shoes are upside down. If you bend to pick them upand straighten them, then it is immediately recorded for you that youwere kind to someone. But in this world it is very hard to loweryourself. Nevertheless, if one of us is working in a factory, then foranother ten pounds we will gladly clean the floor on our hands andknees. There is an attitude to life, and a way of thinking, that ifanyone starts to live life this way, then he is successful. That is allthere is to it.
Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi
You have all heard of Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi; an amazingperson created by Allah. He was a master of both Shariah and Tariqah; alamp of the Deen and a fountain of knowledge. One part of the ummah,follows his fiqh, namely the Shafi'is. He was one of Allah's chosenpeople, and Allah gave him an enormous amount of knowledge. At the ageof 13 he proclaimed in the Baitullah that he was able to answer anyquestion; in the presence of scholars such as Imam Hanbal and ImamMalik. Today's 13 year olds don't even know how to drink or sleep, theyhave to be molly coddled by their parents.
I want to talk a little about his status because some words of his cometo mind. I have read and experienced that if you read the words of afriend of Allah, then light enters your heart and your iman gainsstrength. So when the words of some friend of Allah comes to mind, Ireflect on them carefully. I may have read the words of some saint ahundred times and it is certainly true that light enters the heart bylistening and reflecting on their words.
It may be that you are depressed or worried and you can't see what todo; this does happen - even though someone may pray salaah and so on,they may still get depressed. If you are depressed then read the wordsof some friend of Allah or listen to a cassette; in just a few momentsyour state will change. This is my experience. Allah has put a light intheir words, in their company, in seeing them and in sitting with them.Allah has created them so that His creation may benefit from them andAllah sends such people so that His creation can gather around them andbenefit. These remarkable people give enormous spiritual benefit toAllah's creation. Their anger is in fact love, their punishment islove, and in everything of theirs Allah grants guidance.
Imam Shafi'i was such a great saint, and he once said that at a youngage he was granted the privilege of seeing Rasulullahsallallahu alayhiwa sallam in a dream. In the dream Rasulullahsallallahu alayhi wasallam said to him, "Young man, who are you?"
The young Imam Shafi'i was shocked at this, but he replied, "Rasulullahsallallahu alayhi wa sallam , I am your ummati."
"Come closer," said Rasulullahsallallahu alayhi wa sallam . So ImamShafi'i rahmatullah alayhi went close to him and he put some of hisblessed saliva into Imam Shafi'i's rahmatullah alayhi mouth. As soon asthis happened Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi felt his entire bodyoverflow with light and wisdom. A little while later, in the dream,Hazrat Ali radiallahu anhu came and put his ring onto Imam Shafi'i'sright hand, and this ring was the seal of sainthood. This was hisstature; he faced many difficult trials and Allah made him succeed inthese trials.
Harun Ar-Rashid was a great and good king; he had a wife named Zubayda,who was also a pious woman, and many events are narrated about her. Ithappened that the couple had a disagreement in some matter and Zubaydasaid to her husband that he was going to Hell. The king was very angryat this.
"If I am going to Hell, then I divorce you," he said. People should becareful what they say when they are angry. They may say things whenthey are angry and then afterwards they find themselves in distress.Sometimes people declare a divorce when they are angry and afterwardsthey do things which are against the Shariah. Some people even take thewoman back and live with her for the rest of their lives, even thoughthe divorce is complete, so they commit fornication for the rest oftheir life. The point is to not make the mistake in the first place, tokeep control of your temper and to use your intelligence.
Returning to Harun Ar-Rashid, he had said that if he was going to Hell,then she was divorced. A few days later he came to his senses andstarted to think about his wife. He was very concerned about what hehad said and done. He was himself an alim, but he gathered the greatulama to give a fatwa on whether or not he was divorced. If he wasdestined for Heaven, then there was no divorce and the couple could bere-united. Alternatively, if he was destined for Hell, then the divorceheld. But who was to make the decision of whether he was destined forHeaven or Hell? All the gathered ulama said that the decision was inAllah's hands; only Allah chose whether someone went to Heaven or Hell.
Imam Shafi'i was only a young man but he was also present while thisdifficult problem was being discussed. "I will answer this question,"he said.
"Tell us then how this problem is to be solved," said the king, seated on the throne.
"First tell me one thing, are you in need or am I?" asked Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi.
"Well it is me who is in need," replied the king.
"Then get off the throne and let me sit on it." Imam Shafi'irahmatullah alayhi said this because his role was that of a teacher,and Adab (etiquette) is paramount. Adab teaches us that if you are inthe presence of your shaykh, then you should not even make dua! Adab isan amazing thing and it has a tremendous rank. Worshipping all nightwill not get you what can be gained by doing Adab of a friend of Allah.You must be very careful about Adab. The king realised that he was inneed so he got down from the throne. Imam Shafi'i sat on the thronewhilst the king sat on the ground.
"Great king, answer one question and I will solve your problem," saidImam Shafi'i. "Has there ever been a moment in your life when you werefully able to commit a sin, but you did not because of the fear ofAllah?" The king started to think.
"You must answer truthfully!" Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi added.
"I will answer under oath, but what does this question have to do with my problem?" asked the king.
"Answer my question and I will solve your problem," Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi simply replied.
"Well I do recall one occasion, where I was fully able to commit a sin,but the fear of Allah overcame me and I abandoned the sin," said theking.
"Then you are not divorced because you are going to Heaven," said ImamShafi'i. "In the Quraan there is an ayah which says that if any personis capable of sinning, but leaves it for Allah's sake, then that personwill go to Heaven."
He was such a great saint that I will recount a few more of his words,before moving onto the heart of the matter. When Allah grants His mercyto someone, then He grants them the Quraan and wisdom. In fact Allahcan make clay as bright as the sun, and no one but He can choose to dothis. Dhalika fadlullahi yutihi man yashaa (Allah grants His grace towhoever He chooses). Some people remain wringing their hands, whilstthe chosen one becomes like the sun and the moon.
When Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi became close to Harun ar-Rashid,people began to complain. They were unhappy that he was given theprivilege of leading the prayer. The people complained that he wasn'teven a Hafiz or an Alim. Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi was veryembarrassed by all this, and he wondered what would happen in Ramadanwhen he would be put forward to lead the prayer. When the month ofRamadan came, he spent the first day learning the first portion of theQuraan, which he recited that evening in tarawih. Similarly, on eachday he would learn a portion of the Quraan and recite it that eveningin tarawih. Without anyone realising he had become a Hafiz by the endof the month.
The Advice of Imam Shafi'i rahmatullah alayhi
Think how great must be the words of such an elevated saint. He oncegave a piece of advice, which I want to discuss now, though you mayhave heard it before. His advice was that we have to leave this worldand Shaitan wants us to be attached to this world. Right up until aperson sees the angel of death he will keep saying, "Get a doctor. Giveme an injection, give me some medicine." Ask a doctor whether anypatient has ever wanted to die. Until the last breath, a patient willexpect medical attention, and as long as he is conscious he will hopeto be saved. Everyone holds life dear, though the truth of the matteris that this life is nothing and we must certainly leave it.
Imam Shafi'i said, "Don't compete to gain the wealth of this world ifyou are going to compete, then compete to gain the wealth of theAkhirah. The wealth of this world stays in this world, but worship willbecome your companion in the grave."
Even if you earn one million pounds, it is all a part of this world, noone has taken it into the grave. This is very precious advice, and ifanyone takes these words to heart, then his whole life will change. Hewill never abandon any work of the Akhirah, irrespective of how muchthe dunya opposes him.
Here I can see 30 to 35 people seated for itikaf. In the morning (atSehri time) knocking sounds can be heard and I can see people arebringing food from their homes; sometimes their children have come withthem. I wonder how long they have been working to get things ready.They bring this food and drink to the people in itikaf. Believe me, Icame close to tears thinking of them. We are proudly sitting herethinking that we are in itikaf for Allah's sake and we are doingibadah, but it is a Hadeeth of Nabi Kareemsallallahu alayhi wa sallam ,that sometimes those who serve are better rewarded than those whomerely worship. We can't be sure which deed Allah will accept more. Onething we must keep in mind is that this world and everything in it istemporary. All the kingdoms of this world cannot compare with sittingin a gathering of dhikr and mentioning Allah's dear name just once!
We must understand what to value, for Allah's Nabisallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us to value every single breath on this life. This life isvery short, and we should bring each breath to life with Allah's dhikr.Then all these breaths and this entire life will appear in the grave aswealth. The only thing that accompanies anyone into the Akhirah is hisor her worship.
Now let us think what we compete for; "He has a nice car, I want abigger car than his. He has a nice house, I want a bigger house thanhis." In fact the truth is, as Nabi Kareemsallallahu alayhi wa sallamsays, if someone earns enough money for their needs, then that isplenty. We don't really need most of the wealth we earn. Also we getmost of our haram earnings in order to compete with other people. Itis, for example, true that we have enough clothes and we do not need tobuy new clothes. If we wear our clothes with the intention of notbuying new ones, then Allah will put so much blessing in them that wewill not need to spend money.
We only spend money because we want to compete. "He has a red shirt, Ialso want a red shirt. He has a nice watch, I also want one." Our wisepredecessors tell us that if someone has the illness of competing fordunya, then he will never gain the maarifat (knowledge) of Allah.Competing for the wealth of the dunya has nothing to do with need. Ifyou have a house with only two rooms and you have several children,then you may justifiably want to move on the basis of need. If you buya house purely out of need with no thought for competing with any otherperson, then Allah will call it worship. However, you may have acomfortable house but you decide, for no good reason, that you want tomove to a better house, in a better neighbourhood. If you do this, thenwhile you are busy trying to get to a better neighbourhood Allah willtake you to your real neighbourhood and you will have nothing.
Remember this, those people who who aspire to be great in this life endup acheiving nothing in this life, and they lose in the next life aswell. I do not proclaim it, rather it is the Hadeeth of NabiKareemsallallahu alayhi wa sallam , which the words of Imam Shafi'irahmatullah alayhi have confirmed to be authentic. Remember what a bigdeception it is to chase the wealth of this world. Earn according toyour needs in this life. If you have a jumper then why try to get moneyfor another? Alhmadulillah you may have four or five sets of clothes,so why compete? If anyone follows this advice, then he will be a verywealthy person in this dunya. He will not care about cars or houses,instead his desires will grow in another direction, which is that hisdesire for worship will grow. He will think, 'So-and-so prays tahajjud,why don't I? He recites the Quraan, why don't I recite the Quraan? Theybring food for the people in itikaf, why don't I do the same?' This iscompetition for the wealth of the next life and Allah likes this sortof rivalry and argument very much. He sends His angels to resolve suchdisputes. But if you argue and compete for the wealth of this life,then Shaitan is putting kufr into your hearts and he leads you on tofight each other. Brothers get separated from each other and childrenget separated from parents, all merely for the sake of money.
Come, let us all make an effort! I have told you all this because it isthe month of Ramadan, and we are being cleansed and our nafs is beingpurified. The root of all bad traits is to gather wealth simply tocompete with other people. We should be happy to say that we are thepoorest of people. We should be happy to say that we have no need for agreat income. If what you get by the grace of Allah is sufficient, andyou are happy with that, then you can be sure that the entire dunyawill salute you and everyone will respect you. A person only degradeshimself when he looks at someone else's wealth with envy, then he fallsto asking people and he sinks to flattering the rich. This sort ofperson will rise to honour a rich person and he will not even look at apoor person. In reality, he is of course only debasing himself. Whoeverhas any self-respect will never sink to such a level.
My friends we have prayed and done many types of worship, but have welooked into ourselves to take out the root of all evils? Has our lovefor the dunya reduced at all in the month of Ramadan? If it has reducedby even one inch, then we can assume that, by the grace of Allah, wehave been successful. If, provided you are capable, you do not let anydeed pass by for which Nabi Kareemsallallahu alayhi wa sallam hasascribed a reward, then you will have reached a stage so precious thatit will illuminate your grave. So what if we are poor in this world, inthe Akhirah we will be the richest.
The Advice of Hazrat Ali Murtaza rahmatullah alayhi
I have learnt all this from the company of my own shaykh, the mostrevered saint Hazrat Ali Murtaza, may Allah fill his grave with light.Were it not for him, what would I know of the Akhirah? An event from mytime with him comes to mind. On one occasion I was sitting with him(sitting with him used to leave big marks on me because of the biginsects that used to crawl under the reed mats), when the new localjudge came for a visit. He had just been appointed to the district andhe had obviously heard that there was a great friend of Allah here. Infact Hazrat Ali Murtaza rahmatullah alayhi used to tell the localnotables not to visit him. He would tell them that he was a poor manand that their visit was an inconvenience, because other people wouldassume that he had some relationship with the notables and they wouldpester him to get influence over the notables.
You all know what foolish snobbery people have in Pakistan; this judgewas typical, he was accompanied by two servants. When they entered, thejudge sat on the floor and Hazrat Ali Murtaza rahmatullah alayhi had nocushion to give him (I was also there enjoying the spectacle). InPakistan a district judge is quite an important person, so before hesat down he had a good look around hoping to find a suitable place tosit; but in the end he had to sit on the floor. All the while HazratSahib was busy in his muraqabah (silent dhikr). The judge's servantsalso needed to sit down, and they also had a look around but in the endthey had to sit on the floor, next to the judge. And for the judge thisequality was quite unpalatable.
Hazrat Ali Murtaza rahmatullah alayhi was a great saint, and Allahoften granted him kashf (divine inspiration). After a few moments heopened his eyes and they said salaam to him. He returned their salaamand asked to be introduced to his visitors. Hazrat Sahib was told thatthis was the new local judge and that he had come to meet Hazrat Sahib.At this Hazrat Sahib chose to offer some advice. I was there so I alsoheard the advice Hazrat Sahib gave, and advice from the friends ofAllah is very great. While I can recount what he said you must be awarethat his speech was extraordinary, and as he gave his advice everyonewas quivering and crying.
Hazrat Sahib said, "I am very pleased that you have come here and I amvery pleased to have met you. I am a poor man, so I have not been ableto serve you, however, I can give you some advice.
"The advice I give is to ask you to think what honour you have in thisworld. You are so respected that when you came here, your servants camebehind you. Then after you had sat down, they looked around trying todecide whether or not to sit down. It is clear that you have a lot ofhonour and respect."
"Now after a person has died he is raised as the same person he waswhen he died. So you will be the same judge that is sitting here, withthe same eyes and ears, nothing will be different. Moreover, theseservants will also be raised just the same. Now let me ask you, as youhave so much honour here, would it not be unfortunate if, due to theirdeeds, in the Akhirah these servants were in front and you were taggingbehind? In my heart I desire that just as you have honour and respecthere, you will be similarly honoured in the Akhirah. Do good deeds anddo Allah's dhikr."
The judge dissolved into tears on that very spot, and he claspedHazrat's rahmatullah alayhi hand and it was clear that he was deeplymoved. If anyone has honour before Allah, then it is due to their deedsand it has nothing to do with their wealth. You may earn a millionpounds but before Allah, it will mean nothing. However, if Allah grantssomeone honour, then he will be respected in this world as well. Ifsomeone submits to Allah, kills his nafs and sacrifices himself forAllah's name, then Allah makes all of creation obedient to him. Peoplewill love that person so much, that they may prefer him to their ownchildren. There is delight in serving such a person and since such aperson is connected to Allah, being connected to him means beingconnected to Allah. This great status is not reserved for some specialperson only; if today you repent and decide that you will followcompletely the way of life prescribed in the Quraan, and do everythingfor the love of Allah, then within a week the people in your house willlove you.
The one who quarrels most with a man is his wife. You may become agreat saint, but your wife will not accept you. "I know him, he is athief," she will say. She will not listen to you. I often say that thebiggest proof of Nabi Kareem'ssallallahu alayhi wa sallam prophethoodwas that the first person to accept him was Hazrat Khadijah radiallahuanha. Though a woman will not listen to her husband she was the firstto witness that he was a prophet. My friends if you become obedient toAllah, then the first person to serve you will be your wife and fromthere your respect will start.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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