Sohbet 05-19-2007

Suhbat

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

19 May 2007

Philadelphia, Sufi Symposium


I would like to thank Dr. Kianfar and Dr. Angha for putting this conference perhaps twice a year and all the work they do.

I am speaking about enlightenment, service …I will quote a famous Sufi Moroccan teacher. He said that knowledge is of two kinds, knowledge of papers and knowledge of tastes. Knowledge of papers are those scholars or those people who write but don’t taste what they write. Only writing something that comes to them thru their selves but they don’t every try to taste that knowledge.

And ilm al-adhwaaq to taste something, like you laugh or cry from happiness or joy, so that feeling is most important.

إِذْ رَأَى نَارًا فَقَالَ لِأَهْلِهِ امْكُثُوا إِنِّي آنَسْتُ نَارًا لَّعَلِّي آتِيكُم مِّنْهَا بِقَبَسٍ أَوْ أَجِدُ عَلَى النَّارِ هُدًى فَلَمَّا أَتَاهَا نُودِي يَا مُوسَى إِنِّي أَنَا رَبُّكَ فَاخْلَعْ نَعْلَيْكَ إِنَّكَ بِالْوَادِ الْمُقَدَّسِ طُوًى

Idh raa naran faqala li-ahlihi umkuthoo innee anastu naran la`llee ateekum minha bi-qabasin aw ajidu `ala an-naari huda. Falamma ataahaa noodiya ya moosa, Innee ana rabbuka faikhla` na`layka innaka bil-waadi’l-muqaddasi tuwan

Behold, he saw a fire: So he said to his family, "Tarry ye; I perceive a fire; perhaps I can bring you some burning brand therefrom, or find some guidance at the fire." But when he came close to it, a voice called out: "O Moses! Verily, I am thy Sustainer! Take off, then, thy sandals! Behold, thou art in the sacred valley of Tuwa. 20:10-20:12


In Holy Qur'an when Moses said to his family that “I saw a fire and I want to go to get for you a piece of that fire in order to warm you up. And when he approached that fire he heard a voice, because he was Kaleemullah, Allah directly speaks to him. ‘Ya Musa! You are in the holy sacred valley of Tuwa. Take out your shoes; don’t come to My Presence with your shoes.’”



What are the shoes? Muhyideen ibn Arabi, one of the most famous enlightened scholars in the Muslim and Sufi traditions he said that and he is explaining, “at that time the shoes are made of the skin of donkeys, they usually used it because the skin is so strong. And donkeys in philosophical understanding refers to ignorance. So it means ‘Ya Musa (as)! When you come to Me, don’t come with ignorance,’ as Sayyidina Musa (as) used to ask many questions. So it means ‘don’t come ignorant.’”

وَلَمَّا جَاء مُوسَى لِمِيقَاتِنَا وَكَلَّمَهُ رَبُّهُ قَالَ رَبِّ أَرِنِي أَنظُرْ إِلَيْكَ قَالَ لَن تَرَانِي وَلَـكِنِ انظُرْ إِلَى الْجَبَلِ فَإِنِ اسْتَقَرَّ مَكَانَهُ فَسَوْفَ تَرَانِي فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّى رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا وَخَرَّ موسَى صَعِقًا فَلَمَّا أَفَاقَ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

Wa lamma jaa moosa li-meeqatina wa kallamahu rabbuhu qaala rabbi arinee andhur ilayka qaala lan taraanee wa laakin unthur ila al-jabali fa’ini istaqarra makanahu fasawfa taraanee falamma tajalla rabbuhu lil-jabali ja`alahu dakkan wa kharra moosa sa`iqan falamma afaaqa qaala subhaanaka tubtu ilayka wa ana awwalu ’l-mumineen.

When Moses came to the place appointed by Us, and his Lord addressed him, He said: "O my Lord! show (Thyself) to me, that I may look upon thee." Allah said: "By no means canst thou see Me (direct); But look upon the mount; if it abide in its place, then shalt thou see Me." When his Lord manifested His glory on the Mount, He made it as dust. And Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: "Glory be to Thee! to Thee I turn in repentance, and I am the first to believe." 7:143


And when he asked to see Allah, Allah said “You cannot see Me but look at the mountain.” When Allah manifested to the mountain then the mountain shattered and Sayyidina Musa (as) fainted. Then when he raised up he said, “Ya Rabbee, tubtu ilayk. O my Lord, forgive me.”



And ibn Abbas, one of most scholarly commentator of the Qur'an and cousin of the Prophet, he said when Sayyidina Musa (as) fainted he saw 313 prophets standing and making prayers and the rest 124,000 were making sajda. He understood that was the Divine Presence. So Allah illuminated heart of Sayyidina Musa (as) by tasting; what does he taste? All day I can explain to you this cup of water but if you are thirsty what is the benefit?



That is why ibn Ajiba said “you have to taste what you are saying and be part of it.” You cannot just read books as a Sufi, not as others, you cannot describe what is in the book of Sayyidina Jalaluddin Rumi, or Sirr as-Saqati or Bayazid al-Bistami or whatever scholar you like if you are not quenching your thirst with these knowledge. That is very important. And that is why Sufism, no one can understand it. That is why you can explain to people and few understand it in this time which is very dark time.



Like this conference it is an oasis in a desert. Wherever there are Sufi people in every country who are trying to bring light. It is a big subject. Half an hour is not enough but when one minute is left you tell me.



So I will give example of how to illuminate the heart. We are here in the presence of the maqaam of Bawa Muhaiyideen. How was he living and how are we living? He was living a simple life, very simple. That is what led him to that experience of enlightenment. Not the experience of fancy cars and fancy bank accounts and …fancy homes.



Yes, we are proud to be following these teachers but we are still children in their eyes. We are still in the what is it called, wrappers? No diapers. You ask a child “do you have a diaper?” He says, “No.” So the teacher is like that.



One day a lady came to Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani and she saw him sitting with his students and with each student is a big chicken and she saw he had the biggest rooster. She said to herself, "O this is very nice. I am a poor lady. I will send my son to stay there and he will get chicken and [every day] he will send me half.”



So she sent her son and all of them sitting with turban and beard and each having a rooster or a chicken. So after two weeks she went to visit her son, because he was not coming to bring her half the chicken. She saw all these people sitting with turbans and chickens. And she didn’t see her son. She asked Sayyidina Abdul Qadir, “Where is my son?” Sayyidina Abdul Qadir sent a man and took her to the basement. There her son was sitting in a little room and with a piece of dry bread and salt



She was upset and came up and said, “O I didn’t send my child to eat dry bread and salt, I sent him to eat chicken.”

So the Prophet, his food was often dry bread and oil and water.



So illumination of the heart is not so easy. That is why Allah mentioned it in the Holy Qur'an. So the light is like the example of a lamp of glass and there is a light in it - a light that doesn’t need fuel, it lights by itself. So it is describing that lamp as the physical heart and that light is the light of the Divine Presence that He reveals on the heart of His servants when they become able to understand.



Allah manifests His light on everyone and manifests His … on everyone. But you have to see it. I see someone putting a binoculars and you need that in order to see far. When you can see that you can understand the illumination of the heart.



How many times is the heart mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, the place where knowledge comes from; the light comes from? Because the heart is the physical location where the gem is in it, the gem of ma`rifah. Not the brain. The intelligence in the brain is a small part, only the size of a lentil. that computer has been chip planted there and for everyone Allah gave that person a chip. In more than 120 different places in the Qur'an Allah mentioned the heart. Then you become the light; you become the hope. That beacon is evidence to the ship, guiding it and telling it the shore is nearby. Like the north pole star which guides people to what they need.



So the guide becomes the guide to what he needs.



As Dr. Ali mentioned today, “ma wasi`anee sama’ee wa laa ardee wa laakin wasi`annee qalbi `abdee al-mu’min - Neither My heavens nor My earth contained Me, but the heart of believers contained Me.” The message of all religions was to contain that knowledge.

And it is mentioned by the Prophet, “qalb al-mu’min Bayt ar-rabb – the heart of the believer is the House of the Lord.”

The heart of believer becomes illuminated by the knowledge. So the shaykh become the hope to guide his or her students. Hope for what? Hope to be of service to someone.



Allah described himself thru His Beautiful Names and Attributes - 99 Names. In order to give hope.

Allah wants us to be servants and what is that? Service is from servanthood. And Allah honored us. How did He honor us? What kind of honoring do we have? That is the illumination if we can recall what happened before. That is honoring to be honored by that.

How can we be believers and how can we manifest His Will?



You presence here shows you are a believer. A believer is to reach the state of level of Ihsan. He divided religion into three: Islam, Imaan, Ihsan, the level of perfection. Allah said in the Qur'an:

قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آمَنَّا قُل لَّمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَكِن قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَإِن تُطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَا يَلِتْكُم مِّنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Qaalati ala`rabu amanna qul lam tuminoo wa laakin qooloo aslamna wa lamma yadkhuli ’leemanu fee quloobikum wain tutee`oo Allaha wa rasoolahu laa yalitkum min a`malikum shayan inna Allaha ghafoorun raheem

The desert Arabs say, "We believe." Say, "Ye have no faith; but ye (only)say, 'We have submitted our wills to Allah,' For not yet has Faith entered your hearts. But if ye obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not belittle aught of your deeds: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." 49:14


“Don’t say you are a believer say you are a Muslims. That’s because imaan didn’t enter your heart.” If you can understand the way that Allah honored human beings. We have to see how much faith has been put in your heart.



The Prophet mentioned that “yulid al-insaanu ala al-fitra - He created humans on innocence.” From what did God create Adam (as) and Eve? He ordered Jibreel (as) to pick up a handful of earth (soil) from earth and take it to Paradise. And there it has been ascended and there the Prophet said, "kuntu nabiyyin wa Adamu bayna’l-maa’I w’at-teen - I was a prophet before Adam (as) was between water and clay." That rahmatan was already there observing the different stages that Adam’s creation takes place.



So everyone ascended with Adam (as) as Adam (as) and Eve are the mother and father.



But we lost that knowledge; that knowledge is there. We lost that knowledge. We are in the shell; there is in the heart the fu'ad, and in Qur'an it is mentioned 15 times. That is the inside part that has to be purified. That has to be taken out of the shell that is covering it, but we darkened it.

When you put kerosene lamp and put too much kerosene then the lamp becomes dark, then we need to wash it. Everyone is a believer. Because the Prophet said that every person is born on innocence. That is the rahmat that Allah gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s), when he said


وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَوْ يُطِيعُكُمْ فِي كَثِيرٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْرِ لَعَنِتُّمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْإِيمَانَ وَزَيَّنَهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَكَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكُفْرَ وَالْفُسُوقَ وَالْعِصْيَانَ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الرَّاشِدُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَنِعْمَةً وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

Wa `alamoo anna feekum rasoola Allahi law yutee`ukum fee katheerin mina al-amri la`anittum wa laakinna Allaha habbaba ilaykumu’l-eemana wa zayyanahu fee quloobikum wa karraha ilaykumu alkufra wa’l-fusooqa wa’l-`isyana ulaika humu ar-raashidoon; Fadlan mina Allahi wa ni`matan w’Allahu `aleemun Hakeem.



And know that among you is Allah's Messenger; were he, in many matters, to follow your (wishes), ye would certainly fall into misfortune. But Allah has endeared the Faith to you, and has made it beautiful in your hearts, and He has made hateful to you Unbelief, wickedness, and rebellion; such indeed are those who walk in righteousness; through God’s bounty and favour; and God is all-knowing, truly wise. 49:7-49:8


`alamoo anna feekum Rasulullah. In Arabic, not as they explain it today. They say it must be known that Muhammad (s) is among you. That is what they are translating today. That is feekum. It means in you, not among you. That is the light that is in you. The mercy is breathing, the sight is mercy, you eat you breathe you are healthy all of that is coming from that mercy. And who is that mercy? Sayyidina Muhammad and his Ahl al-Bayt. So the believer must believe that the prophet and his family must be respected. That is no doubt, there is no doubt. In Sufism you must hear the shaykh and listen and obey. They don’t like that in the west. That is the believers. When the Prophet said to the Sahaaba anything they said, "na’m Ya Rasulullah." Sayyidina Abu Bakr said, "na`m Ya Rasulullah." Sayyidina Umar was asking a question but Abu Bakr was never asking a question. I think lady Sonia wants to answer the question.




One time the Sahaba were praying salat at-taraweeh, eating the iftar and then coming to pray. Sayyidina Jibreel came and said the angels cannot approach to take the prayers up after it finished. Why? Because they were eating garlic and onions.



If that is something that prevents angels from coming what do you think of the smell of cigarettes and marijuana. Today they say because cigarettes have nicotine it is harmful but marijuana is ok.



How many of us come running from work they don’t clean and don’t take shower.

Awliyaullah take shower before every prayer so they come very clean in the presence of Allah.



So he said to Jibreel (as) why the angels are not coming. He said, "they ate garlic and onions." Although the prophet recommended them for treatment of illness.

So the Prophet said, "those who ate garlic an onions go home." Who will go home they are behind the prophet, their love is too great, they are so attached to the prophet. and the prophet said, go home and the same rewards we get you will get, but pray at theme. But they didn’t move. Then he said, Ya Umar. "All Sahaaba must stand in a row and you will smell all of them. Anyone who has garlic and onions, out." When Sayyidina Umar came into the picture they ran away, because he was strong, tough.



So I want to say that although onions and garlic have a strong smell the Prophet recommended to use them for difficult illnesses. That is why Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah give him long life, treats asthma patients with onions, treat heart patient with onion, treats kidney failure with onion. So I say be careful of all herbal medicine. No we go to prophetic medicine. Herbal medicine we don’t know the side effects. Chinese medicine has side effects. The prophetic medicine has no side effect. Al-fatihatu lima quriyyat lahu. It works for everything. You have to believe in it not to read like a parrot and don’t believing. You have to believe in the effect of that Fatiha on that patient that patient must be cured.



So what everyone needs to do and everyone needs to do, raise your hand before you eat and say Ya Rabbee this is the food you have provide me and be thankful for it, that food will be shifa, it will never be poison, it will be cure.



Allah said if you are thankful to me I will give you more. As much as you say shukran lillahi, shukran Ya Rabbee. In our awraad we have to say 100 times shukran lillahi that is part of it.



People are coming and saying we have problem. Are you remembering Allah when you are in easy life? You only remember when you are in difficult problem. When you are in daily life and enjoying and going out with family ad picnic and beaches, are you remembering to say thanks to Allah 100 times shukran lillahi. And Allah said, la'in shakartum la-azeedanakum - if you thankful to Me I will give you more. What he will give us more provisions, longer life, health, wealth? You don’t need to jog to get longer life. They jog to stretch their lives. why are they running in their lives? Not to get heart attack you run on streets. Do hadrah as we did just now; then you have no problem.

فَإِذَا جَاء أَجَلُهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ سَاعَةً وَلاَ يَسْتَقْدِمُونَ

Fa idha jaa ajaluhum la yastakhiroona sa`atan wala yastaqdimoona

When their Term expires, they would not be able to delay (the punishment) for a single hour, just as they would not be able to anticipate it (for a single hour). 16:61


Not one second left more or less. What is written for you is the beginning of life and end of life that is not in your hand. What is in your hands is in between. You cannot say “I will be on that day and you cannot say that soul will reach the body in my mother at such date.”

And the death time no one knows it. in between is your will. But point of origin and point of departure are known. Today they have navigation system. They put for you, one second you put the address and one lady comes, I don’t know why, and you hear a lady say “One moment sir, I am calculating for you the time and map.” And then in a little bit it says “start now.” And it commands you also, “do that now.” If you don’t do it she gets angry. Sometime you go different direction she says, no! no! no! go back and make U-turn. If this lady with navigation is guiding on this small planet who is going to navigate your soul to your mothers’ womb.



How does that soul knows the way to the mothers womb. Don’t think that is not great. It must follow a certain way. It is said that at-turuq ill-Allah `azza wa jall ala `addad anfaasi 'l-khala'iq. These souls are coming and they don’t go to someone else. They don’t make mistake. That soul must go to her mother that to its mother, that to his other. No accident there, and they call police and insurance. They go directly and reach directly. As son as they reach the destination they wait there. They are waiting the order when they go back. They don’t like to be here, they like to be in God’s Presence,. As in the Day of Promises when all souls were in God’s Presence, they said, “yes.” After Allah said, “am I not your Lord?” Will they like to leave their souls to be in a worse presence.



So they go and navigate by heavenly angelic sources and know which womb of a mother they are going to go. And then it goes tat moment of arrival is unknown. And then waiting to go. And that is why that person goes in coma, they say take away the machines. That one saw what is there, and he doesn’t want to come back. You are torturing him when you put all this tough equipment because that doctor wants to make money. They are being called to go back and they don’t want to come back. So the point of arrival and point of departure are not up to us today they have points of interest on the navigation system she is telling me there are casinos, discos, movie theatres, gas stations, restaurants, these are points of interest. So between the arrival date and departure date are points of interest. Which you want, the one under Allah Beautiful Names and Attributes ar-Rahman or the one under ash-shaytan. You want to go with Satan or you want to go with Satan? There are many points of interest. There points of interest that Allah sent His messengers those points and there are points that Satan is showing us for desire. So navigate yourself thru that.



Some people choose. So one day believe, next day bad. We are weak servants. One day we are good and one day we are not good. That is the problem. So we need a navigator we have navigation systems but we need the one who punches the codes there. Not everyone knows the codes. There are certain guides that know the codes that will give you if you want prophetic way that is the way. If you want to go to the Devil’s way, go this way. Good people will guide you to good. People who are polluted with negativity, I cannot say that people are bad, but those polluted with negative energy will give you negative energy and negative ideas. That is our problem and that is why we are yearning for the day of departure.



The Prophet didn’t care for this life, and all other prophets were yearning to go back for the day of departure. Only Sayyidina Nuh (as), wants more, he wants 950 years and it might be if Allah will give him more 1000 years he will say “yes.”



That is a teaching for us. He had a big message. What is that ship he built? Is it a ship of wood or a ship of heavenly wood? That is a question, what kind of ship that prophet Sayyidina Nuh (as) built? Allah mentioned it in Surat Yasin, al-fulki’l-mash-hoon.