Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse
A Guide to Light the Way So, here Sheikh Abd Al Qadir Al Jailani (qsa) is talking about the benefit and value of having someone who is knowledgeable, who has experience and training, and who is competent to guide others on the path to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. He speaks, advises, teaches, based on true knowledge. This is better than someone who has none of these. This should be obvious to everyone. The first one will guide people to be closer to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He while the second type will lead people to be closer to Satan, may Allah protect us from this fate. When we are talking about Sheikh Abd al Qadir, his knowledge is not like somebody who knows nothing and doesn't want to teach. If this were so, not a single one of us would believe his teachings. From the beginning, when we listen to his words we know that he is special and his is on the true path to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. But when we are speaking about the one who thinks he is knowledgeable, who has read a few books and maybe he was discussing these with a few of his friends, or his clients, and they liked his words because it was a new subject for them. This leads this person to believe that he has a gift and knowledge and he opens some place or space for him to give his lectures. And this is the worst type of pretender.
ه على( ما في قلبه وهو ألد الخصام+اس من يعجبك قوله في الحياة الدنيا ويشهد الل+ومن الن [٢:٢٠٤] There is the type of man whose speech about this world's life May dazzle thee, and he calls Allah to witness about what is in his heart; yet is he the most contentious of enemies. Surat Al Baqarah Ayat 203 This is to our point. Among the people there are those whose speech everyone really likes. And they think he is good and he is a good person. And when he gives a lecture or a talk, he swears by Allah that he is speaking the truth. But Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He has said that he is the worst enemy to Allah and to the people of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. The one who thinks he is knowledgeable. Then if he comes to be considered knowledgeable, as an 'alim', then he starts teaching people then without even the smallest doubt, his ego will be stoked and will raise up. And this ego will lead to arrogance. This is the first sickness of Iblis. There is a difference between a person who has a sickness caused by a virus, and a virus itself being the sickness. Imagine if you can a 'sick virus'. Allah protect us from such disease. This is like a cancer – rotten and/or spoiled cells in the body. The cells themselves will affect the whole body. And such a person has the same effect. And the people will be misguided. That is why we pray every day, many times, to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, to 'show us the straight way. The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray. Al Fatiha 6, 7. It is not the same if you simply read a book. The essence is when you study a book and you understand Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 1 of 8
Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse the meaning contained therein. And the aims behind it. And how to teach others about it. For that, especially with 'ilm ud din' the Islamic science of knowledge, you need something very important. Sincerity to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. If not, there will be a big problem. And if you realize just now the reading from the book, Saved would be any among you who had with him [or her] one atom of sincerity, one atom of devotion, one atom of patience and gratitude. Even with this small amount you are going to be content – happy. So do not expect that we will have kilograms of taqwa and hidaya – reverential respect and heavenly guidance. The problem here starts with your heart. Sayiddinah Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace has spoken about this. If there is any among you have committed a sin, there will be a small black dot left on his heart. And as you commit more sins, more dots are left on your heart. It becomes like rust. And rust, if you leave it, it will start to spread like a sickness. And this sickness will develop – like cancer if you leave it at stage 1 it will progress until stage 4 – perhaps terminal. This is true with any sickness. It starts small and grows and if you don't treat it, it becomes major. And at times, in there body, there is a fever. And this fever indicates there is something wrong. And then you will go and check with your doctor. And the doctor will examine and confirm the fever – high temperature – so he will have to check further to determine what the problem is. So your faith is the same. When your feelings do not increase, you listen to advice, your humbleness in your prayer, becomes, day by day, less and less. Then your relationship with Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, has become degraded. You are no longer behaving like Allah's servant. But, our only reason for being created is to be His servant and to worship Him, Almighty and Glorious is He.
اك نستعين+اك نعبد وإي+إي [١:٥] Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek. What is our purpose for being in this world if not for that. Because we can eat, drink and sleep but animals do that also. Allahyarham Sheikh Abdul Karim, the Mufti of Iraq and my mentor, if he sees somebody in this shape – careless, doesn't know anything, and so drifting, he would call him 'animal, son of the human' (haiwan ibn insan). He is only an animal but his father was human. In the same way, Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, has referred to such people in the Holy Qur'an that 'they are like cattle'. Not like the lion, no, like the sheep, cow, camel. So, if he is totally lacking in taqwa and iman, in reverence and faith for Allah, what is the meaning of being a human then? That is why Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, created Hell. For these types of people who don't know anything, Glorious is Allah. Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 2 of 8
Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse But sometimes when we try to clear out this rust, this blemishing of the heart, through repentance and remembrance of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, we say “We try you know to do this... Ramadhan and fasting.. prayers.. but still we fall back to our old ways”. You know why? The illness, the virus, has reduced but it is not eliminated. It has not been cleared completely from your heart. It is hiding for a while but you have not removed it. You know how to know yourself in a practical way? Make a schedule – a list of your activities for 30 days. Keep track of the sins of your time, for example. Lying. Cheating. Insulting. Back-biting. The sins of the eyes and the hands – but we are talking about the tongue. Sayiddinah Ali, may Allah be well pleased with him, said: “You have two eyes, two ears, and one tongue.” Meaning listen more, see more and talk less. Now-a-days even with one mouth we have a big problem. If we have two mouths, two tongues, our sins would be non-stop. Maybe one for day and one for the night time. Even while we are sleeping. They say that, during the time of Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, there were two ladies. They sent someone to him asking his permission to break their fast during the day of fasting. They cannot take it anymore. They are starving. The odour that came out from their body was like putrified meat. Foul. And Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said “They fast from halal food and they break their fast with haram food.” With back-biting. They would talk about their fellow Muslims in uncomplimentary ways finding fault with them. So, they are fasting from food. But that kind of a fast, I can keep a person from food by force for 24 hours or more. But does that mean he is fasting. Is that worship – if I am forcing him. And there are people who never eat but it is for reducing weight, not fasting for the sake of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. So you need to fast for the right reason. To make your organs to become quite, and calm. So you won't use them for unnecessary things. So if you make a list of your actions – a retrospective schedule of sorts – and keep track of the days, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and continuing for a month, and each day you try for 24 hours to keep your tongue fasting from the haram – back-biting, lying, cheating, and so on. And monitor your progress. So day 1 – OK – none of the above alhamdhu'lillah. Day 2. Day 3. Day 4 – oops you slip and fall back. Then you have start over from the beginning – start the 30 days over again. Then you will know yourself. Can you stand the abstinence from the sins of your tongue for one month? If you are successful – you abstain from such sins for one month, you will notice changes in yourself. Then the next will be your ear. Then your eyes. Then your hands. If you succeed in this – you will be happy. So all of these things if you can succeed, then the human in the correct way becomes truly the servant of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. He will achieve the sincerity in everything that he does. But for the ignorant, there is a problem For those that are not learned. People read books but they don't know the meaning. I will give you and example. The Holy Qur'an. There are people who can translate the Qur'an but they cannot interpret the Qur'an. This one is the English translation. I have gone through a few. Taking one word for example – 'ma'ed'. 'may'ed' means what? It means corpse – the dead body. But this is a special construct in Arabic to arrive at this word. And then there is 'mayed' without the special construct. These are two different things. But when such people translate this they say 'death' for both meaning the corpse – no life. But in fact these two words cannot be the same, they are different. Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 3 of 8
Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse 'May'ed' is the one who's faith, iman, is dead but he is alive. He continues to breath. But the one who is 'mayed' – is the one who has died – the life and the spirit have left the body and the body is a corpse. So there are people that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, is saying they are dead while they are still alive. This is in the Qur'an describing certain types of people. It is not just anyone who can translate the Qur'an. Here we have to go to the grammar of the Arabic language to get to the true meaning. The Qur'an is so beautiful. Everyday we discover something new that makes us really happy and proud that we are Muslim. So if we are one of those who are alive we can guide the people, or are we among the sick? And the sick? How is he going to be able to cure the people when he himself is sick. One time I was walking and someone was selling stones for rings – not the gem stones like saphire or ruby, no, these were other more plain stones. He was selling the stones on the street. So I asked him about a particular stone - “This stone, how much?” and he said “This stone is for rizq. The one who has this will be very rich.” So I asked him “Why are you selling it then? You should keep if for yourself.” Because if you buy this and go back to the same area the next day, you won't see him there. People who cheat – subhannallah there are different types of cheating. There is one story – a true story of a man who was very poor, he didn't have money. And he came to his wife wondering what to do to live. So she came up with a very evil idea. She took some yellow coloured building bricks and crushed them into the consistency of sand. And those days there flying pests, mosquitoes, flies and other things and people were very bothered by these. So she packed the powder from the bricks into small bags and she told him to go and sell these and tell the customers that this would protect them from all of these flying pests – whatever and where ever. And she told him to never sell it in the same area twice – one day in one part of the city and the next in a place far away. Never twice in the same area. Those days people did not have the insecticides – the convenient sprays for killing flies and others – so this was something they may need. So he did that. One day here, the next day somewhere else. But one day, someone caught him. He said: “Look. I bought this from you but it is not working. You are cheating.” He said: “No. No. How did you use it.” He answered: “I just spead it around the house.”. He said: “No. This one is not like this. You have to catch the mosquitoe and beat it with the bag.”. Remember, this is a true story. People will resort to such evil schemes. Such people, those who are fraudulent, even if you catch them in the act, he will not admit to being a rascal, or worse a scoundrel. He will swear that he is an honest man and you simply misunderstood what he was telling you. He will swear by Allah to this. And that is why Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, has said he is your worst enemy. If you want to be a believer in Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, and we all say that we want to be believers, it means you must respect your relation with Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. The path to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, is not simply by saying you want to believe. There are rules. You have to be patient. You must endure during times of difficulty and not despair, not give up. You can not procrastinate – postpone your ibadat and simply say 'Tonight I will pray tahajud, insha'Allah'. You must realize that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, does not punish His servants on the spot when they transgress His laws. If He were to do that, everyone would be a sincere believer and always devout in their devotions. If you are only obedient when you are certain you are being watched – what is the meaning of that. It is like in the office. Generally office staff can be relaxed but if they install CCTV, everyone starts working very hard. The effect for you in your life if you start to set a good example in your ways, if you are committed to change, is that you will become a positive example for others by your actions. Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 4 of 8
Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse I will give you and example. Someone send me a short video clip that serves as an example. A blind man was sitting somewhere in the road and put a donation cup in front him with the sign “Please help me. I am blind.” So, every ten, or fifteen minutes, someone would come by and drop a coin into the collection cup. Then one lady came by and noticed him and his sign. So, she took the written sign, turned it over, and wrote somethings else on the board and put it back by the cup. Almost immediately things changed. People starting dropping money into the cup continuously until is was flowing over. And he was wondering, “What is happening”. Of course he couldn't see what the lady had done nor was he really aware she had done anything. But it was 'raining money'. When she came by again, he recognized the sound of her walk and he asked her what she had written that caused such a change. She said “I have written here: It's a beautiful day but unfortunately I cannot see it.” By a simply change in the wording the whole impact changed. And this is the impact of a learned scholar – and their impact on people through their words. The scholar must be aware of the impact of his words and be prepared to adapt to his students needs and styles. Just as a father has to change his style when he is dealing with his children as compared to dealing with salesmen or staff at work. The wise saying is “Search for the easiest way to reach the hearts of people with knowledge.” As Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, has instructed Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, to reach out to the people with wisdom. He, Allah bless him and grant him peace, was instructed to rise up and teach, but to use the wisdom given him by Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. But to be able to lead people to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, you have to be wise. If you are not wise, don't trouble yourself. You will have a group of people following you but not a whole nation. As in the case of Sheikh Abd al Qadir Al Jailani, his following is great. Millions and millions of people continue reading his books and learning from his stored wisdom. If we use the wisdom and knowledge (hekmat) to lead in the path of Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace. We need to know how to talk. How to explain. There is a story of one housewife who was having a problem with her mother-in-law. Fight fight fight. Everyday. There are so many houses like this. Finally it reach a state where she started to search for someone to help her to get rid of her mother-in-law. So some people told her of a magician and they praised him for his effectiveness in handling such problems. “On the spot!” They said. So, she went to this person and begged him for help complaining how bad her mother-in-law was and how impossible to live with and so on and so on. So he said: Ok. I can do that. I will give you some poison. It is special poison. I works within one month. Every day you have to put a drop in her breakfast, lunch and dinner. But, my request to you is that you be nice to her for this period so that when the time comes and she passes away nobody will suspect you and they won't find their way back to me. This is how I work. She agreed. Although I cannot stand her because she is like fire to me. He said OK but you be like water to her. So this wife became very soft and agreeable to her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law would criticize she would apologize. But she started putting into her food at each meal the drops of poison. Everyday. One week. Two weeks. Three weeks. In that time they became so close to each other. It came that the problem started to be with the husband now. The two women started to turn their frustration on the husband/son. They became so close that they developed a love for each other. Then one day she remembered what she was doing with the poison and she went to the magician and begged Please Please I love her too much. I don't want her to die. But the poison! He said: What can I do now. She is going to die soon. She begged: No please! She can't. Take me instead. Let her live. I will sacrifice my life for hers. So he said: In fact this drop is only water. It is not poison. The magic came from you. Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 5 of 8
Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse If you are wise, when you change your attitude, the other side will also change theirs. Sayiddinah Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said 'al kalimah taiba sadeqah'. Someone came to Rasulullah Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said 'Ya Rasulullah, I am poor and I cannot give charity.' And Rasulullah responded: 'You talk nicely to people and you can consider this to be charity.'. And Sayiddinah Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said the good deed will cancel out the bad deed. So they asked him what is considered to be a good deed and he said that even you just walk and smile at your brother it is considered to be a good deed. And you will be rewarded for it. That is why Sayiddinah Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, always had a nice smile on his face. And when he wanted to talk with someone sitting next to him, he wouldn't just turn slightly and give his salaams. No. He would turn his whole body, in order to respect the person that he wished to speak with. No matter who it was. And when he shook hands with someone, he would not be the one to release the handshake first. This shows such warmth in the greeting. And he was the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace. Such etiquette. Such social grace. Such an excellent example for all of us to follow. Sheikh Abd al-Qadir said: “If you love someone like this, you must get close to them. For the goodness of this world. For the good sake of your heart. Al Islam – belief – is not simply to be with your murshid. “Let me sit at your house. I will repent. I am a believer and devout. I love Rasulullah, Allah bless and grant him peace. I among the doers of good deeds. No need for me to pray. No need to make any extra effort. No need to fast sunnah, no need for sunnah prayers, no need to read the Qur'an.” I will give you an example: How many of us finished a full reading of the Qur'an this month? Sayiddinah Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that the most beloved thing was the Qur'an. Why? Because it is the word of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. If you have an opportunity to be with a worldly VIP. You may talk with them somewhere for a short time and they ask if you wish to come to the palace for a visit. You almost grovel at his feet for such an opportunity. Or if he is planning a business trip overseas and asks if you want to follow him? Or anything for material gain in this world. But. How about Al Qur'an Al Kareem with you all the time? There is no need for a special place or time. Any place, any time you can read a short segment, verse, chapter, of the Qur'an. And Sayiddinah Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, told us: “If you say Alim Lam Mim. That is 30 blessed credits to you from Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. And each time you repeat this - “Alif Lam Mim” - simply repeating it with nothing else – each time is an additional 30 blessed credits. These are the angels writing in your book of life. And how about if you read one page of the Qur'an. I want you to do something. Read one page of the Qur'an. Then count then number of words on the page. It may be difficult but try. And then multiply the result by ten. How much goodness you have accumulated just by reading that one page. And that is only the start. You know what is going to happen? This is not simply a zero sum exercise. Because as you read the Qur'an not only are you accruing blessed credits to your account but you are also erasing the black marks – the sins - from that same account. It is a double blessing. When you start reciting Al Qur'an, you become engage with that Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 6 of 8
Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse time and activity; 10 minutes: 15 minutes: half hour: with Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. So you are going to use this time for blessings rather than if you were not engaged in this good work and spent the time on useless activities or worse on disobedience to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. And this is only for reading Al Qur'an. In the example and advice of Rasulullah (hadith) Allah bless him and grant him peace, there are many examples and admonishments from Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, on actions we can take that are very specific for each circumstance. This is the benefit of the Hadith – of his instructions concerning the blessings to had for different blessed actions and zikr. And still, we... we are hoping only. Sitting in the house and talking of the good deeds rather than performing them. This can be compared to someone who walks by a garden each day and watches a tree in the center of the garden as it grows and begins to bear fruit. But walks by only. Then, when the fruit ripens and the owner comes to harvest the fruit you ask him for all of it and he will reply “Why. You have done nothing to earn this. Why should I give it to you?” So they take the fruit and leave and you are left with nothing. Everyday you are just watching. It is different if you plant the fruit and work on it to nurture it to bear fruit. Ibadat – good deeds – are the same. The one who sits and talks and wishes about performing good deeds but sits only without any action to perform such deeds, will be like the one who watches the fruit tree bear fruit without participating in the work. At the end of the day, the one who moves himself to pray the sunnah, to fast the sunnah, to help to poor, the traveller, the weak, this is the one who receives the blessings and benefits. So this is how our life is running. Time. And Sheikh Abd al-Qadir has said: Saved would be any among you who had with him [or her] one atom of sincerity, one atom of devotion, one atom of patience and gratitude. If you have one atom of ikhlas you can consider yourself prosperous. Why does he say this? Because most of what we are doing is just hope and wishing without action. Consider if you will, Zuraikah and Sayiddinah Nabi Yusof, Allah's peace be with him. First she attempted to seduce Nabi Yusof. But when she became a believer, he married her. And Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, arranged it that she became youthful and beautiful again. And when the time come for them as man and wife, it was halal – permitted – rather than haram – forbidden – as in the first attempt. Then when he wanted to come to her she said “First I want to do my worship and prayers.” Nabi Yusof, peace be upon him, said: “What is this. Before you couldn't keep away from me and now you want to delay?” And she answered: “That was before I learned love for Allah. Now I love Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. I have to make up for the time I have wasted before this.” We love Allah. And we know the way to reach Him, Almighty and Glorious is He. It is no secret. We have prayer, sunnah, fasting, zikr, good deeds, charity. All of these things we know. And yet we are not trying too hard to do these things. The companions, may Allah be well pleased with them all, whatever they heard in the way of advice from Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, the applied it immediately and consistently. And Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said “Whoever says Asalaamu'alaikum to his brother will received ten blessed credits, and adding wa rahmatullah gets an additional ten and wa barakatuh, another ten.” So one companion heard this and it struck a chord in his heart, he embraced it immediately. So whenever he encountered a brother and he said 'Asalaamu'alaikum' then he would look Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 7 of 8
Sheikh Abd al-Qadir Al Jailani – Al Fath Ar Rabbani - 34th Discourse to his right and say “Brother – write for me 30.”. He was speaking to the Angel of Goodness who was writing in his book of life. He wanted to be sure the Angel didn't miss out on this. Even such things as this, the companions, may Allah be well pleased with them all, were very concerned with them. Not only the great but the small things as well. Sayiddinah Rasulullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said “Shall I lead you to things that, if you do them, you will learn to love each other. If you are diligent in your practice.” They asked what. He replied: “Always greet your brother with Asalaamu'alaikum.” Always. Consistently. And it is not only Salaam. Follow up with genuine sincere concern for their health and well being. Sometimes we are worried when people come to us it is to ask us for something. But maybe it is a duty for us and we are going to miss the opportunity. When someone comes to the house asking for the father to go to the masjid the father tells his son to tell the person he is not in the house. So the son goes and says “My father said to tell you he is not home.”. So, ilm, hekmat, ikhlas, - knowledge, wisdom, and sincerity – these three things. These are what are needed in order for us to reach to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. When you leave this majlis, after you return home, you must consider these three things. You have to change. Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, won't change the situation until the people change themselves. In the future if you have any problem, a shortage, anything, there is something wrong. You change, repent, pray, then you will find that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He will help.
Closing Dua May Allah bless us all with barakah in this world and the world hereafter. For our protection, may Allah guide us and guide our hearts to speak with knowledge, and further to put our knowledge into practice, and to practice the advice of our rightly guided teachers, insha'Allah. We pray to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He to help us to learn more about Islam and to practice it and not to learn as an academic exercise only. Because we know that we are going to benefit in this world and in the next. Be thankful to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, with our intention to attend this class today to gain this knowledge from Sheikh Abd al-Qadir al Jailani (qsa). And to make out intention to learn from this scholar so that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He will guide us in this world and the next. Because by following His chosen religion He will be with us insha'Allah. May Allah guide us always to all the good deeds that are going to lead us to the good of this life and lead us to the good life in the next insha'Allah.
Masjid Baitul Aman 2 March 2012
Page 8 of 8