Faraz Rabbani – The Rawha #115 Virtues of Prophet Muhammads Ummah Sufficiency in Islamic Guidance Action and Spirit
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You're listening to the Roha, daily guidance for
seekers with Sheikh Rasra Benny.
In our Roha sessions,
in which we look at some of the
guidance of the prophet
and some advice for
seekers of Islamic knowledge,
We have reached hadith number 12
of Sheikh Yousaf and Nabihaani's
set of 40 hadith
on the virtues of the beloved messenger of
Allah
And the the look at these virtues is
meant
to stir within us
a renewed
attachment
to the prophet
and greater
love and reverence
for the messenger
So
hadith number 12, which is related by sayna
Anas and
Anas
in
and
who
called.
Allah most high
revealed to Sayidina Musa
that he said
to Sayidna Musa, inform Bani Israel that whoever
comes
to face me
having rejected
Ahmed,
I shall enter
into hellfire.
And Sayyidina Musa said, oh lord, and who
is Ahmed?
Allah most high responded,
I did not create any creation
more honored
by me or more honorable to me
than
him.
Said I inscribed
his name with my name
on the throne
before I created
the heavens and the earth.
And
paradise
is cannot be entered
or is
prohibited
for all creation until
he enters it,
him and his community.
So Sayid Nabuza asked,
Who is his community?
Right? Who is
his community?
And
Allah
responded,
the
most praising ones.
They praise
when ascending
and when descending
and in all states
they
tie
their
belts.
They they tighten their belts.
And they purify
their limbs.
They are
given to fasting
by day
and are devotees
by night
I accept from them
a little,
you know, the little
works.
And I enter them in paradise
for the testification
that there is no God but God.
So this is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's description
of the ummah of the messenger
And
the first characteristic of the ummah is they're
the hamadoon,
the
most praising.
Right? The most praising.
Hamad
is from
is the is Faaal.
Right? And Faaal
is
the one who intensively
engages in the meaning of the root and
hamd is to praise.
And
there
the those who most praise
Allah.
Right.
And of course, this is one of the
characteristics of the prayer.
One of the characteristics of the prayer. We
the Fatiha
the Fatiha is Surat Al Hamd.
It is of the most eloquent ways to
praise Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and we pray
throughout the day.
Not just with the Fatiha, but also
we affirm in it.
Allah hears those who praise
him.
Oh oh lord of ours, yours
is all praise.
And elsewhere
in the prayer afterwards
we make the
you know, containing the praise we say
33 times. If you consider
the number of times the believer just in
the 5 prayers
and after it says
it's a large number.
But
this of course the intisab,
the ascription to the ummah of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, there's a general description
that anyone
who follows him
will be praising Allah much more than anyone
who isn't.
Just by virtue of performing the 5 prayers.
But
the
but there's also
a recognition of those who are truly following
him, they are the most praising and the
that's why
the divine response said
They praise
in their ascents and in their descents.
Right? And
so, you know, when they're out and about
they go up a hill they say, Alhamdulillah,
they come down
they say Alhamdulillah,
like meaning in all
their worldly affairs. And this
relates
to outward affairs
and it can also be in all their
states
whether
elated
or straightened.
They praise
Allah. And in all their states,
they praise
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Right? The prophet
expressed it. The believer
may be facing death yet they are content
in praising
They tighten their
their
their belts meaning
that they strive.
Right? They strive.
They purify
their limbs.
They that's the gift of
outwardly
and they purify their limbs
from
sins
and taqwa,
the majority of taqwa, the the
your taqwa of Allah, mindfulness of Allah is
manifest
upon the limbs,
the outward limbs and the greatest limb which
is the heart.
They are
frequent in fasting by
day.
Right?
One adopts the sunnah fasting, striving to fast
3 days of every month.
The special
days of the year such as
the
day of Arafa
that is coming
in a month's time,
the
or Nis Sha'aban,
other such days,
the 10th of Muharram.
And then the special occasions such as fasting
during the 10 the first 9 days of
Dhul Hijjah.
And then the other sunnah fast of fasting
Mondays Thursdays,
fasting
the
mid days of each lunar month, etcetera.
Is
plural
of
of Rahib.
And the Rahib is
right. The Rahib
is referred to
a
monk. Right?
To to was a term used to describe
monks
but
they're devotees.
They are fully devoted to to Allah.
Okay?
This and some of the Salaf taking from
this, you know, they they describe this harbor
that.
They were warriors by day
and monk devotees
by night.
Right? Devotees by night, how following the sunnah
of night prayer?
Stand the night in worship, but a little.
I accept from them
even a little
good deeds, right, because of the great
rank and virtue and honor of the Ummah
of the messenger
Right? And I enter them paradise, the condition
for paradise is
to die upon.
Right? The state
the the state the witness that there's no
god but Allah.
So say the Musa said,
So say, the Musa said, make make me
the prophet of that because
he's already a prophet and you seek the
highest of matters.
So that's that's such an honored ummah,
then make me the prophet of that ummah.
Allah most high responded,
its prophet is from it.
So say the Musa said, make so make
me
from the community of that prophet.
You
have come before
and he has come after.
Said, but I will gather
between him and between you in the abode
of majesty.
And this is related by Abu Naim
in his,
in his works, Abu Naim al Sfahani.
So this is telling us a little about
the
preeminence of the prophet
and also the great rank of his Ummah.
There are many many hadiths about that, which
is why it is a bidah.
It is an innovation
to make blanket negative
statements
about
the Muslims and the state of the Muslims.
And the prophet
said,
And whoever says
that the people are ruined,
they are the most ruined of them.
And there's another narration.
Whoever says the people are ruined,
he has they have ruined him. They have
ruined
the ummah,
the people. Why? Because the the believer is
someone who is praying for the good is
concerned for the good and praying for it.
Right?
So there's this Indian scholar, someone asked how
about the possibility of praying for against one's
enemy if oppressed.
Said if you're oppressed,
don't forget to pray
to get out of your oppression
first.
If you get out of your oppression, the
oppression oppressor no longer really matters.
And that's the first thing.
K? Because so if there's there's oppression, you
pray against the oppressor. There's wrongdoing, you pray
against the wrongdoer, but you're still stuck in
exactly the same spot.
Except there's no oppression, but you're still stuck
there.
Right? So,
the next hadith
And
So sayyidina Jabi relates that that Omar
that say sayyidina Omar came to the prophet
with
some
writing
that he obtained
from
some of the people of the book.
And he and he read it
to him.
And he read it to him.
Sayyidina Umar read it to the prophet
So he was
and then prophet
was upset.
Let
us
So the prophet
said, I have come
to you
with it, meaning with guidance,
that is
clear
and pure.
Right?
Don't ask them about anything,
lest
they tell you what is true
and you reject it. Or they tell you
what is false and you accept it.
I have come to you with it, meaning
with guidance.
And
Dorelama explained
that we do not seek. It is prohibited
to
approach
the previous revelations
seeking
guidance,
seeking religious guidance. Why? 1, because they've been
corrupted.
Those
the previous
revelations have been corrupted.
So it's not
a reliable decisive source of guidance,
particularly in matters of belief, but also in
matters of practice. And number 2, it's been
abrogated.
And number 3,
the Quran and the sunnah are a sufficiency
for the believer.
So joining between
such hadiths
and the hadiths
saying,
relate from and
there's no harm. But then he said,
do not
believe them and do
not reject them.
That
here,
these hadith
I have come to you with it, meaning
with guidance.
Right? That we take our guidance from the
Quran.
And then the other had hadith he said,
relate from Bani Israel.
Right? That you're not taking guidance from them,
but you say, according to
the biblical tradition,
such and such. So you relate the things
that do not go against the guidance
that they tell you like, you want to
tell the story of Sayidna Musa, you find
in the biblical tradition what the castle looked
like. That's not guidance.
That's
details. Or there's the name
of the children of 1 of the prophets.
So for example, the children of Sayidna Yaqub,
Are they are their names mentioned in the
Quran? No?
Actually, Al Khadib's name is not mentioned, although
that that's mentioned in Hadith.
So those kinds of details, you relate them,
but without believing in them. So we don't
take guidance from them.
We don't
accept what they affirm as
as guidance
in terms of
the truths that we embrace
in faith
or
the acts that we engage in
in practice.
But the condition
for
delving into the biblical
into the biblical tradition and by extension, any
other
books of
books related to to to faith and beliefs
is that one must be well rooted in
one's own guidance first. What are you reading
doing reading the,
you know, something about the essential teachings of
of Buddha
when
you don't know the essential teachings of Muhammad
That that's
that's not
correct.
Here of we also see that it is
a
mode of teaching. There's other examples
that
a teacher
may rebuke a student publicly.
In order to teach
others
in order to teach others.
Right?
Of course, within the bounds
of the adab of the deen and the
limits of the deen
and the entailed by the deen.
Right?
And in here, the prophet
did not put him down. He was upset
by what he did, and he corrected him.
But he corrected him in a positive manner.
But this is still
you know, public rebuke
is
is hard.
Right?
And,
of course, say, the Omar was at a
level of
bearing that even though the default is
that someone be corrected privately.
And there's
so this
this hadith highlights
the purity and preservation of the guidance that
the prophet has come with. Right? That's unique.
That is unique.
There's
even things that are much more recent.
Much more recent, there's
differences between
editions. People are not sure what is the
final version of different modern plays
that are just within the last 50, 60
years.
And they'll say this is the
director's cut. This is the playwright's
final version. And they and they differ even
though it performed
in in that playwright's
lifetime.
Shakespeare's
works, there's a lot of discussion on the
different versions. Many great poets there. And these
are just within the last few centuries.
And we'll see more of the
virtues
of the prophet
and his ummah.
We also see the guidance with respect to
taking off other religious
traditions.
We'll we'll look briefly at some of Imam
Ghazali's
advice
to seekers of knowledge
in from his work, Uh-huhal Walad.
So Imam Ghazali
says about
the necessity
of basing one's religious
knowledge and action
on following.
Right? On following of the prophet
and in the prophetic way.
So he says,
dear child,
It is incumbent
upon you
that your words and your actions
be in accordance with divine guidance, the
Because knowledge
and action
without
following
divine guidance
is misguidance.
And this is connected to what he talked
about before about
to know what is what is what what
it means to obey
and obey and obeying Allah and his messenger
entails
following.
But we see also here an important part
that
for a student of of Islamic knowledge and
every believer at some level needs to be
a student of Islamic knowledge because our but
because obedience
to the divine command requires knowledge of the
divine command.
And doing what Allah has made praiseworthy requires
knowledge of what is praiseworthy.
With
so every
every every believer needs
to be a seeker of knowledge at some
level
and anyone who's a concerned believer
needs to actively seek
sufficient knowledge to be able not only to
do what's
obligatory for them, but also what
is recommended.
And that's why the prophet said,
whomever Allah wishes well for, he grants
deep understanding of religion, the hadith related by
Bukhari and Muslim.
But for a student of knowledge,
they need
to seek knowledge of the Islamic Sciences,
but they also need
to acquire what we can call
knowledge of the devotional
sciences.
The devotional sciences meaning knowledge of the Quran
and of the Sunnah.
Because one studies the Islamic sciences, these are
this is what is understood
and required to know of the Quran and
the Sunnah
as guidance.
But without being connected to the devotional sciences,
the Quran and the Sunnah and the tools
for understanding the Quran and this and the
Sunnah
and
of connecting with them,
one's knowledge will be disconnected
from the command of Allah and his messenger.
Just as if you only read the Quran
and the sunnah without the Islamic sciences, you
will misunderstand,
misinterpret,
and be misguided.
But also while seeking Islamic knowledge, one needs
to have a daily point of connection with
the Quran
by reading it. One should be striving
to
correct one's rest one's recitation of the Quran.
And one needs to be striving to
have some point of understanding
the Quran
and its meanings.
Likewise,
with Hadith,
one should have a daily point of connection
with Hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam,
and his guidance.
Because with without that
then
the knowledge will not
benefit. And of course one needs to be
careful that the knowledge one takes
is knowledge
that enables one
to follow.
Right?
It is not just
theory and philosophy.
And he says
And it is incumbent upon you that you
not be deluded
by the ecstatic statements
and
absurd affirmations
of some
Sufis.
K. And
here,
the al is a referential
as he'll make clear.
Right? And because he'll define what is true
spirituality.
Right? The the the al here is
referential
of some
Sufis, of some of the people of the
spiritual path.
Ecstatic utterances,
some were genuine,
some in the intensity of their state with
Allah they would they may have uttered some
things that were not
sound by the standards of the sacred law
and these are they're not to be followed
in those and they're not these statements are
not to be accepted.
Right?
And likewise,
the the the shocking actions because
the He says because
the
the traveling
of the spiritual path
is is only through
spiritual striving.
Meaning, that the spiritual path is not about
eloquent poetry
and ecstatic utterances and so and
so and so said this and so and
so said this amazing thing. Wow.
That is not the spiritual path.
Rather it is only by
by spiritual striving as is the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam said
The the
one who strives is the one who strives
against their own lower self for the sake
of Allah. And cutting off
the
the desires of one's lower self, those desires
towards the prohibited.
And killing its caprice,
which is its wayward inclinations.
By the sword
of spiritual
discipline, right,
of spiritual training
literally or or spiritual discipline.
And what needs to have
then this is the third aspect of of
what a secret of knowledge needs in their
seeking of beneficial knowledge. They need
to seek
Islamic knowledge, but they also need to seek
devotional knowledge
of the Quran and the Sunnah and they
need to be
take off
they need to engage in spiritual refinement
so that they rid themselves of their blameworthy
qualities.
And then he closes this
with a warning. He says,
He says know well that the unrestrained
tongue
and the sealed heart
that is filled
with heedlessness
and desires
are are a sign
of
shakawah,
of being
of the people
of eternal loss.
Right?
And the unrestrained
tongue. Why? Because it's clear from the Quran
and the Sunnah
that a condition
for being on the straight path
is to
control
one's
speech.
Oh you who believe
be mindful of Allah
Speak only words that are
upright,
that are purposeful,
that are positive.
Then Allah will rectify for you your deeds.
And and he will forgive for you your
sins.
And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger
has indeed
succeeded with a tremendous success. What is the
only action of obedience that is mentioned
in this verse? It is to speak words
that are
upright,
purposeful,
and positive.
And
we know from the hadith of Sayyidina Muad
that our people dragged to *
by anything but the harvest of their tongues.
And the sealed heart,
the closed heart, and that's the heart that
is closed
that has not been turned towards Allah
That is not being
polished because the heart is like a mirror,
but it requires polishing.
And if it's not polished,
it will cloud and rust
and corrode.
And why is it closed? Because it has
been filled
with heedlessness.
And desires
are a sign of perdition.
We know the hadith that
truly in the body is a morsel of
flesh.
Either
If
it's rectified, the entire body is rectified.
And
if it's corrupted, the entire body is corrupted.
Right?
And truly
truly it is the heart.
He says,
Until you don't
kill
your lower self
with
true
striving
true striving.
Right?
And those who strive for our sake,
we shall surely guide
to the pathways
to us.
Right? If you unless
Until
you you don't
kill your lower self
with true and sincere striving,
you will you will not bring your heart
to life
with the lights of knowing Allah.
With the light of true
conscious
faith. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
grant us that.
Muhammad
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