Afflictions are a Favor of Allah (swt) Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani ar-Rabbani Tuesday, February 26, 2008 | Oakland , CA US Oakland Zawiya Allahuma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala ali muhammadin wa sallam A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ir-rajeem Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem Nawaytu'l-arba` een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-Rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum We continue from the previous session that every moment Allah swt is sending His favors on us. In every moment Allah swt is sending His mercy on us. Why? And how can we know that? How can we know that Allah is honoring us with His favors? Allah honoring us with continuous favors He just came in; it is a favor. We were waiting for him to begin. We were just being, you didnt miss anything. So how do we know that these favors are coming on us is that Allah did not stop us from breathing. When someone stops breathing what does that mean? He is dead. That is a big honor and a big favor that Allah swt is sending that air that we are able to inhale and exhale. If that stops then we are finished. What stops first; the inhale or the exhale? [inhale] Exhale because when it goes out it stops and doesnt come in. So the first sign is when the breath will go out but the new one doesnt come in. So that is ni`mat from Allah swt on us that He is blessing us with it. So how much it is very small [amount of] air that goes in and when it goes in you take the oxygen and you leave the rest. How does the body knows this is the oxygen and the rest is not oxygen? Today if they want to determine the air and check it, it is a big process to determine where is the oxygen, the helium, the hydrogen and all the different gases. SubhanAllah, Allah gave us the ability to know what is right for us and what is bad for us. If the body knows what is good for you and the oxygen is good for you and the oxygen goes to the heart to take the blood to the brain and to the whole body do you think then we dont know what is good and what is evil? If our body knows which gas is good for us, the oxygen and not the rest, does not Allah know to give to us [awareness of] what is evil and what is not evil. Why then do we follow evil? If we know and our body knows and our soul knows why then we dont stop ourselves form falling in the trap of Shaytan? That is why as we said previously - you werent here - that Allah swt likes His servant to always be asking as a student is asking from a teacher. Grandshaykh said, dont make yourself a scholar, but make yourself a student. There is no scholar. Every scholar is a student to the scholar who is above him, in every field. In every field there are the scholars and they are students to the scholars that are above them but the ego doesnt let you to do that. The ego is what makes us fall into the problem of everything. Allah, Grandshaykh said, may Allah bless his soul, that difficulties, afflictions, Allah changed them when we receive them as afflictions, they are difficulties that we are in but in reality they become ni`mat later. And this is a big it has a big meaning that we have to understand, how an affliction becomes a ni`mat. How an affliction becomes a favor. How a difficulty becomes a favor. How a sickness becomes a favor, a ni`mat. People when they have a sickness what do they say? They dont say it is a nimat, favor. They say it is a difficulty and a problem and they are seeking a way to get out of it. So any affliction or difficulty that comes on us Grandshaykh said, it is a nimat. What does he mean? He means that because it is an affliction, since you got that affliction and it came on you, because of that Allah will clean you of your sins and change them to rewards. ÅöáøóÇ ãóä ÊóÇÈó æóÂãóäó æóÚóãöáó ÚóãóáðÇ ÕóÇáöÍðÇ ÝóÃõæúáóÆößó íõÈóÏøöáõ Çááøóåõ ÓóíøöÆóÇÊöåöãú ÍóÓóäóÇÊò æóßóÇäó Çááøóåõ ÛóÝõæÑðÇ ÑøóÍöíãðÇ Excepted, however, shall be they who repent and attain to faith and do righteous deeds: for it is they whose [erstwhile] bad deeds God will transform into good ones - seeing that God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace. [25:70] Because you were patient on that affliction or difficulty Allah will change those sins to hasanaat. So how many of Ummat an-Nabi doesnt have difficulty. Do you have difficulties? Sometimes. Of course. You have difficulties? All of us do. So Allah cleans you with it. Look the.. you now Khan, Ikramullah Khan, the one with the beard there, with clothes well-ironed. You see he is very handsome, very well-ironed. All of us we sit at the mirror every day or we I dont shout, but might be you shout. How many times you shout at your wife, how many times you say, You didnt iron my clothes! You shout? You shout also? You also. He is more patient than you. You are French. So you shout at her, Why didnt you iron my clothes? In order that when you go out people respect you and consider you good-looking. But before they were ironed where were they? Why do we have to iron them? Why were they wrinkled? I am asking them on the Internet. Why they were wrinkled? Because they were washed. Why were they dirty? Because we made them dirty. So when you make your self, your ego dirty, too much dirty then you need a washing machine now. What is that washing machine. That washing machine when you put it in, what happens? The washing machine begins to squeeze them and squeeze them. Then what? They come out of the washing machine very wrinkled. We are dirty. To clean ourselves they send us to the washing machine. The washing machine will squeeze us. Completely squeeze us and squeeze us and bring us out. It brings you out wrinkled but you come out clean. Allah swt sends on you affliction and in the end you come out clean. Allah loves us. Why? Because He made us from the nation of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Allah loves all the prophets but he loves Sayyidina Muhammad (s) more than all the others. He created us from his light and he created everything for his sake. So He didnt make us from the nation of any other prophet and that means He loves us more than any other nation. They asked me a question on Noor TV: why do we the Muslim community today have problems? We are dirty, they are washing us. We are always losing today because we are more dirty and more dirty and more dirty. Allah wants us to be clean. The Prophet Muhammad (s) is clean. He will not send us to be with him (s) dirty. So He cleans us by squeezing us and then at the end we need to be ironed. Ironing means to repent. When we are ironed we come to have a nicer body because of the afflictions that afflict us. So affliction is a nimat. People dont look at it from that point of view but awliyaullah look at it from that point of view. The Prophet (s) said, what? He said, I am the person most among the Prophets and among human beings that has been abused the most. And he is seal of the messengers. Look Sayyidina Musa (as) lost 40 years in the desert. Allah told him I will give you victory over Pharaoh and for 40 years he was lost. And for 40 years Pharaoh was crushing the Bani Israel and Sayyidina Musa (as) was lost. Sayyidina `Isa (as) they were rushing to kill him. Sayyidina Muhammad (s) they were trying to torture and abuse him and tried to kill him. Sayyidina Ibrahim (as) was tortured and thrown in the fire. Sayyidina Nuh (as), they were stoning and harming and abusing him when he was building the ark. So are we better than the Prophets? Allah sends afflictions to clean us. So dont say when afflictions come that is not nimat. Say O Allah you sent it and you can take it away, and I am repenting. Allah sent it in order for us to repent in order that we will be in good position in front of Allah swt on the Day of Judgment. And he said that when we do a sin we are doing it with when we fall into a mistake, a sin, a desire of the ego, we do it with full energy. When the time of prayer comes we do it full of laziness. How many people dont pray? And Allah says you have to pray five prayers. When prayers come we are lazy, especially Fajr prayer. When Fajr prayer comes we are sleeping. Young people say, O shaykh I cannot wake up for Fajr. What do I have to do? What do you have to do? Beat yourself up. He said, I cannot wake up for Fajr. Put an alarm clock. Tell your wife to wake you up, because she prays and you dont pray. No, I am joking. So put an alarm clock. They say, We put the alarm clock but then we turn this side or that side we put it off. So as soon as it begins to ring they put it off, is it not? Why is it good to have a masjid on every street and every corner? Because you cannot put the masjid off. When the muezzin beings to make adhan you cannot stop him. His voice reaches all over. Today Shaytan is telling people, Dont live near a mosque. In Muslim countries they put a microphone. In the past they have minarets, 1 or 2 or 4 minarets and they go up, and they call adhan from there. Today they put speakers but for Fajr prayers they lower the speaker [volume]. They dont call the adhan on speakers. It is a law now in many countries. Why? Because they dont want to wake people up at Fajr time. So they say, I put the alarm off. I said, Ok put the alarm far from the bed and it will keep ringing. So you are worried for the children not to wake up, especially the young ones and then you are up. Finished. So the problem is that. And that is what he says, Grandshaykh, and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah give him long life, that when prayer time comes we are lazy. For doing something haram we are so energetic. That is how our ego is tricking us. And then what will happen? We are under difficulties. That is why we are asking, Ya Rabbee, we are sinful servants. Sinful human beings. We are asking You to help us to take away that bad desire that is within ourselves and You are the one who can take it for the sake of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and for sake of awliyaullah take away that bad character that we have and fill us with more worship love and more love to good `amal. Else we are falling in the trap of Shaytan. We dont have enough power, power comes from you ya Allah. Nothing comes from us. He was addressing one of the most famous scholars in Islam who doesnt have a beard. You know there are some scholars in Egypt and in Arab countries that are very big `ulama. Even grand muftis in Muslim countries but they might not have a beard. He said, if you leave your beard to grow, Allah will open to you the level of sainthood. Because he is an `alim, he is ready. His ego doesnt let him to grow his beard. Because if he wants to take his turban and his hat and he has no beard and he has long hair, nice hair, he can easily go to any disco, is it not Abu Shuayb? But when he has a long beard and a cap on his head can he go to a disco? He cannot. So Islamic image when you dress it, it saves you. That is why the Prophet said, al-amaimu tijaan al-`arab, the turbans are the crowns of the Arabs, turbans are the crowns of the Muslims. They have a lot of them in Afghanistan . But make sure they dont have turbans and long hair. So they can take the turban off and with out it the long hair and a little bit of beard it is easy to go anywhere, no one knows he is an `alim. And those who dont have a beard and dont have a turban, what did you do with Sunnah of the Prophet? You killed it. Whoever revived my Sunnah when there is everywhere corruption, Allah will reward him like the reward of 70 martyrs. Sahaba were dying for one martyr. The Prophet (s) is saying that when there is corruption in the Ummah anyone who revives my sunnah Allah will reward him [as] 70 martyrs. Why are we not doing it? Look at this one, masha-Allah he is French, but he has a hat and a beard. Look at this one, American, a convert, he has a beard and a hat on his head. Look at that one, he looks Pakistani but he is not . He shaved his beard. He is going to grow it now. I like him; that is why I pick on him. So the appearance is also important. Like a clock. If the clock is working from inside, if the battery is working, what is the benefit? You dont see the time. If our appearance does not look likea Muslim appearance like the Prophet (s) and his sahabas appearance it doesnt look like he is Muslim. It is like we lost the needles of the clock. And these needles are the Islamic appearance. Keep Islamic appearance at least when we are praying. People are praying today without an Islamic appearance. It is ok as long as they know that and as long as they try to be a loyal servant to Allah swt. what can we do The time is very difficult to observe that and to do what is needed to be done. But know that Allah sends these difficulties because we are away from our Islamic behavior and that reminds us and cleans us and brings us back clean in the presence of Allah swt. So he told that scholar that if you grow your beard then you will become a saint. That means that when you have support you will kill the Shaytan within you. When you become different than others, people look at you, you feel that you dont belong there. You find yourself strange in a corrupted community. Still he is doing it wearing his beard. Allah will give such people support. And we are asking Allah swt to give us support. And he asked, What is humbleness. Ma huwa at-tawada`. What is different between humbleness and selfishness. What is the difference between humbleness and arrogance? What is the difference between humbleness and pride? He said, there is a huge difference. You have been grafted, just as you grafted a wild tree to give a sweet fruit, how you graft it, humbleness is when you are grafted by the Prophet (s) , who is the highest level of humbleness that Allah gave to him. It means you are inheriting from the Prophet. Selfishness, arrogance and pride you are inheriting from Iblees. He is the most arrogant and most proud and most selfish. Allah described him when he said, ÞóÇáó ÃóäóÇ ÎóíúÑñ ãøöäúåõ ÎóáóÞúÊóäöí ãöä äøóÇÑò æóÎóáóÞúÊóåõ ãöä Øöíäò Answered [Iblis]: I am better than he: Thou hast created me out of fire, whereas him Thou hast created out of clay. [38:76] and Allah threw him out. And the Prophet (s) was most humble. How we know that? He was invited to qaaba qawsayni aw adna two bows length or nearer. No other prophet was invited there. So humbleness takes you high, very much and pride takes you very low. We are asking Allah to fill us with humbleness and to be very near to the Prophet (s) and to take away from our hearts arrogance, pride and selfishness and to keep us away from Satan. By this way we will be able to destroy the house of Satan that he builds in our hearts and we will be able to build happiness peace and satisfaction within our hearts and building ourselves up to be better servants to Allah swt. May Allah support us and bless us and Bi-hurmatil habib, bi-hurmatil Fatiha. Wa min Allah at-tawfeeq wasalam, arief hamdani www.ariefdani.multiply.com www.mevlanasufi.blogspot.com
Taken from www.sufilive. com Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
