Hamzah Wald Maqbul – 1439 Ramadn Late Night Majlis 16 MarifMasnav Fake Love 06012018
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We have reached the 16th night of Ramadan.
Now more than half of it is gone.
And,
what's left is less than what has passed.
So
let every,
let every one of us, Insha'Allah, take
heed of
the fact that this is a diminishing opportunity
at this point.
And whatever other things we have, just wrap
them up
and try to
make the best of what's left
and
know that some opportunities,
they they don't come around again and again.
A person's life is an opportunity that once
it's gone,
it will not come back again. And
the fact is that most of us are
closer to our passing from this world,
than than we actually think. And people have
frustrations with regards to this world that I
wasn't able to do this or I wasn't
able to do that. Just the fact that
every one of us has,
been able to make it thus far with
Iman
is in and of itself a great blessing
from
Allah And,
you know, even if it's just a matter
of holding on,
make dua
Allah give us the tawfiq.
And those duas are to be made in
this time. So there's still time. Don't be
from those who
say afterward, oh, Ramadan came by and it
left so quick and I didn't even notice.
Count yourself from amongst the from
continue, InshaAllah, today from reading,
the commentary on another one of the hikayat
of the Masnavi of Mullana Rumi,
and the commentary,
for the commentary entitled Ma'arifin
Masnavi
from with the hikaya of the story about
a cure for sensual love.
A certain devotee,
Moana Hakimathar,
sets up the the the verses.
There's a certain devotee resided in the company
of a saintly man for the sake of
improving and rectifying his spiritual life.
He diligently applied himself to the remembrance of
Allah Ta'ala and to the good deeds that
the sheikh prescribed for him.
However, there was one maidservant
of the sheikh,
that served his house and brought food from
them, from the sheikh's house.
By continuously looking at her as she brought
the food, his heart became filled with love
for her.
Thus, whenever she brought the food, he cast
his glance at her instead of looking at
the food.
And,
this is by the way, these things are
all too real. These are not,
you know, contrived things that the
or the
they're not like space aliens that are somehow
immune to the ahuwal and the the conditions
that a normal person goes through.
Rather, they're not only not immune,
they're probably more prone to them than than
the average person is
Because,
you know, there are people in this world
who are so hard hearted that
they can push away,
human experiences.
Experiences that every human being has,
from their heart
and not worry about them or care about
them. Imagine someone whose nerves are shot and
they're not gonna feel pain like the person
whose nervous system,
functions
normally. And so a person who is soft
hearted and a person who appreciates beauty, that
person may be even more susceptible than the
average person is,
because they're altogether too human. If you're practicing
Islam properly
and if you're,
traversing the path to Allah
properly,
you need to have your fitra intact in
order to be
a useful tool in that in that journey.
And, if your fitra is intact, then these
things happen. So you'll remember, I mean, the
the hikayat from the Ma'arif in Masnawi,
at least perhaps to listen.
For the listener, they're easier to take in
than
than perhaps the more dense material
from the Kasf al Mahjub that we read
that has the the the the sayings and
the descriptions of the of the old the
ancient mashaikh
whose words sometimes you have to repeat them
again and again to even understand what what's
going on. And, the descriptions of the that
those old and ancient mashaikh went through,
They're things that people nowadays can barely even
relate to, much less,
much less do themselves.
And so
juxtapose that with this,
with with something which is an all too
human failing that a person wants to
get their, islah, their rectification
done. And so they go to one of
the ahlulah and they,
you know, what happens is the person falls
in love inside the house of the sheikh
while, doing the zikr and while,
doing the prescribed,
you know, good deeds and course of action
that that's that's given by the sheikh and
handed down by the sheikh in order to
rectify one's own own nafs. And rather than
being something that is like something to be
surprised by,
This is real. This is how real life
works. You know, this is when Tasawwuf
leaves, storybooks and kind of Camelot type,
you know,
Camelot types of visions and fantasies and comes
into
real life that things like this, they happen.
In fact, the Kasf al Mahjub, the author
of it, he complains and laments at one
point that for several
weeks he himself suffered,
suffered
a type of spiritual
malaise
because somebody he overheard someone describing
a woman,
and he described her with such beautiful characteristics,
that that the author,
Seid Ali Hajwari, actually fell in love with
the woman just from his description from the
description that he heard. So he didn't even
see the woman, but he just heard a
description of her,
because of which, he fell in love with
her, and all he could think about was
her. And it distracted him from his
his,
spiritual exercises to the point where he said
weeks went by that it was an angst,
and I couldn't resolve this issue and and
keep moving with my with my spiritual exercises.
And it's very interesting. Nicholson actually mocks him
and makes fun of him,
for that. He'll in his translation English translation,
both in the forward and when he mentions
it, he'll he'll, kind of, like, take delight
at, you know, this great sheikh who is
describing all of these
big spiritual verities and, you know,
spiritual openings and states,
lofty and noble states. But, you know, he's,
you know, he's he himself is lovable in
the sense that he admits that even something
very simple and something very mundane
can have such a profound effect on him.
And, you know, with,
you know
you know, who knows what was in Nicholson's
heart when doing that. But all I can
say is that,
these simple things in order to rectify them
in one's own self,
that is greatness with Allah.
And the thing is that because you don't
see, like, you know, people don't make a
$100,000
for rectifying their nafs
And, you don't see it, like, written on
their forehead that once you rectify your nuffs,
you're not able to bench press £500. There's
no, like,
apparent sign of it. In fact, many of
the people who have gone through that process
either through their discipleship of the the or
through
just having a hard life and receiving tarbia
directly by Allah to Allah and a taqini
sense through their circumstances.
You just you know, they look like other
people. In fact, oftentimes they look even less
impressive than another person is. But it doesn't
matter if you're not impressive to Bank of
America or
you don't make it to the NBA or
other people aren't impressed with you. If Allah
loves you,
if you're worth something to Allah,
you know, the rest of the creation,
you know, they can they can just, you
know, get lost.
So this hikaya has to do with,
this person,
how how he
fell into this trap, which is a all
too human trap that a person could fall
into.
And, oftentimes, Allah will send these send these
calamities to a person in order for them
to have to deal with them and and
in order to get over them and become
a better person.
And they're they're not easy to deal with
when a person gets through them.
Help us all to get through them.
Help us all to get through them.
So he says that that that
he applied himself to the zikr and good
deeds that the sheikh,
prescribed for him.
However, there was a maidservant of the sheikh
who brought food to them, from the sheikh's
house. By continuously looking at her whenever she
would bring the food, his heart became filled
with love for her. Thus, whenever she brought
food, he cast his glance at her instead
of looking at the food.
And,
that's, that's also, you know, there's a little
bit about that in the last majlis that
we talked about that the food is the
nirmah of Allah
Instead of focusing on that, he looked at
what he looked at
the beautiful girl who was bringing the food.
The maidservant was also a devotee seeking for
Allah.
She was also
someone who took the instruction of the Sheikh
for her own
rectification.
By the way, you know, there's a hadith
of the prophet
That the hearts are between
the two fingers of Ar Rahman, the most
merciful, and he flips them however he he
wants to. He flips them, turns them however
he wants to. So
can put the love of a person in
someone's heart, and that love can be of
benefit. And
can put the love of someone in someone's
heart, and that love can be, that love
can be harmful,
for either the lover or the beloved or
both or neither.
And this is something that we should be
very, very careful of and we should always
ask Allah that, You Allah, give me the
love
of those that you love
and of that which you love and
those deeds that you love and,
you know, put your love, you know, like
the dua'asay and the dawd alayhi salam that
make the make your love
more beloved to me than than cold water
on hot day.
You know, person should be very careful about
their heart and and and and entrust it
with Allah and constantly ask Him not to
give the love of somebody who,
somebody who, is gonna cause problem and difficulty
because that's a very dangerous
thing. And many people have gone through that
before. And,
many of my,
email and phone and WhatsApp hours
have been, passed
in young people,
and sometimes
not so young people
having loved fallen in love with the wrong
person and having to deal with the ill
effects of that. And, you know, who knows?
Maybe I've even had to deal with that
in my life as well. And it's a
it's a very difficult it's a very difficult
ordeal to go through. 1 young man once
called me,
and he said, yeah. Yeah. Sheikh Migm Du'a
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala take this love
that I don't know what to do with
in my heart, out of my heart. I
said told them, I said, listen, man.
It's possible as a point of that it's
possible that Allah can do that. But generally
speaking, that's not what happens. You're gonna have
to go through the difficulty of this. Allah
answers the prayers of his servants in 1
of 3 ways. And, one is that you
get what you want. And the second is
that, in a calamity of equal magnitude is
warded off from you. And the third is
that,
that you'll receive the reward
equivalent of that, on the day of judgment
because you made that dua.
And I said, my experience is generally speaking,
love doesn't go away so easily.
And the mind, the can the intellect can
recognize that it's not,
that it's not,
it's not good for you.
But, you know, once you're trapped, you're trapped,
you're done. And so my experience is generally
this dua of yours keep making it because
it's a big dua, but it's probably going
to be answered in way number 2 or
3 and probably not way number one because
things just don't happen that way generally.
Can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants,
however he wants.
So be very careful. Be very careful. Guard
your heart,
and the the, you know, the inroads to
the heart, the gates to the city of
the heart are these the the the
senses
and the limbs.
The limbs of the heart are not like
physical limbs, but they include the physical limbs
like the hands, the feet, and they include
the senses as well. And they include the
stomach, and they include the private parts. So
be careful who you let in through those
things into your heart because once that person
sits in your heart, once the thief is
allowed into the treasury,
they can ransack it and mess it up
in a way that, in a in a
way that the enemy from outside of the
walls,
and gates of the city cannot cannot do.
So this is this is a a warning
for for for all of us. We we
should ask Allah fill my heart with the
love of my wife or my husband and
my parents in the Quran and the masjid
and the salat and all of these things.
Fill my heart with the love of those
things that that you love and those things
that you love for me to love, and
guard my heart from the love of those
things that are gonna harm me or hurt
me. But every now and then, Allah
is going to test a a slave
because all of us, you know, we read
these, you know, wonderful whatever Sufi, storybooks
and stories, and we're like, yeah. I wanna
be like that. I wanna also be like
that. And so Allah, you know, oftentimes will
test us. Allah protect us from his test.
And if he decides to test us, give
us the to pass them as well because
I admit I don't know about you, but
I admit from from from the get go
that I don't have what it takes to
pass without his help.
But,
you know, that that a lot, I will
test a person's claim every now and then.
So you'll be tested with, with the love
of something
that you know Allah isn't pleased with or
you know is not is not good for
you. And then Allah will see how how
you deal with it. You know, how how
do you deal with it? So the the
maidservant was also a a a a a
traveler on the path to Allah. She soon
realized that this man was casting,
glances at
her. Her enlightened heart perceived that the lustful
that the lustful glances,
were were were of that nature, and thus,
she went to complain to the sheikh.
She said, master, a certain, a certain, disciple
of yours is involved with lustful love. What
benefit will the there be for him in
your prescribed zikr and spiritual exercises?
You should first find a cure for him
for this,
metaphorical love that he has. Has. Idea being
that the only real love is the love
of Allah
and,
the love that lovers feel, between one another
only, is a is a metaphor. It's only
a a shadow of what real love is.
Mohan Hakim after continues. He says, as is
the practice of the saintly ones as far
as possible that they do not expose or
humiliate their companions nor those connected with them
so that these people do not lose heart
to their disappointment.
The sheikh as being devoted to Allah
His sights are directed at Allah's grace and
bounties.
And so,
the,
the sheikh quote some verse which then is
translated
when Allah's mercy comes pouring forth,
when Allah's mercy comes pouring forth, even the
fire worshiper of a 100 years can be
the pride of all of the saints.
Do not despise any disbeliever
for who knows when Allah's mercy may take
him. It is possible that before death, he
overtakes,
before the death overtakes him, the and the
can become Bayezid.
Bayezid here is a a reference to Bayezid
Bustami who is, one of the,
one of the most celebrated,
in the history of, of Islam.
So it is possible that before death overtakes,
even the Kafir and Mushrik can become a
Bayezid.
This can all happen within a blink of
an eye.
And so he said that the the the
Ulema and Mashaikh are not you know, when
they hear about people's problems and whatnot, they
don't give up hope rather they increase their
hope because Allah in
as much as his abilities are infinite, The
the hope of the slave in Allah should
be infinite.
Hence, the Sheikh, in spite of knowing the
secret, did not scold the openly
and refrain from exposing him. However, with the
the disciple,
he refrained from exposing him. However, within himself,
he was thinking of a way to cure
him of this lustful love.
It so happened that from
from the father of Allah,
he thought of a plan and acted on
it.
He gave the maid servant,
a laxative which caused her acute diarrhea.
And he instructed her to let the feces
that come out
accumulate in a bucket.
Due to this purgative that she had taken,
she defecated about 20 times until she became
very weak and thin.
Her face became exceedingly pale, and her eyes
and cheeks turned hollow.
Her face appeared frightful like one suffering from
cholera.
She appeared very unattractive and her beauty had
vanished. The sheikh then told her, take his
food to him today and quietly stand
there. When the disciples saw the maid servant,
instead of looking at her, now he turned
his face away and told her, put the
food down. As he uttered these words, the
sheikh entered the room and said, oh, you
fool. Why is it that today you turn
your eyes away from this girl? What is
missing from her today? That you your love
for her has vanished.
Then the sheikh, instructed the girl to bring
the container in which all of the feces
had been collected.
When she placed it before him, the sheikh
said to the disciple,
oh foolish one, apart from these feces, nothing
else was extracted from this girl.
From this, it seems
that in actual fact, you were in love
with these feces.
And now that it has gone out of
her body, your love has also gone.
And so, Moana Hakim Akhtar Saab, he,
he he quotes some of his own, poetry
on this topic, which was also translated by
Mullana Yusuf Karan.
Allah have mercy on him.
That,
Akhtar says,
what has become deficient in the body of
this made servant that you notice,
to make you turn away in disappointment.
What has departed from her body that you
now experience aversion to her? The sheikh then
showed the container which had become filled with
the girl's feces and said, look at it,
oh seeker. It is only this which has
left her body. Thus, your beloved, It is
only this which has left her body.
Thus, your beloved, in fact, was these feces.
It is over this thing that you became
a madman. And now,
though the not now that through the purgative,
she has become weak and pale, the love
that you felt was also
gone.
Uh-uh. The Sheikh, asked them to read, then
tell me if you really love this girl,
then how is it that your love has
turned to dislike and aversion?
Through the plan of the Sheikh, it soon
dawned upon the disciple that he had become
involved in,
in in only
sensual love.
He became ashamed of it and in sorrow
and lamentation, he repented to Allah to Allah
and through this
repentance and sorrow, he was eventually endowed with
true divine love.
And that he understood what the difference was
between the the figurative love and the real
love.
Molana Rumi
uh-uh
drew this advice from the story.
Oh people, today you fall in love with
a well musk scented one with curly locks
of hair.
One day, that same lock of hair will
appear worse to you than the tail of
an old donkey.
Those very eyes that cause you to be
become intoxicated
and for which you are prepared to sacrifice
your life and old age will have dirty
water dripping from them. Look at a beautiful
child who though his beauty becomes,
who who through his beauty becomes a master
among men. But look when old age overtakes
him, he becomes worthless among men.
Look how lovely and fresh the sun appears
at its time of rising, but remember its
death at the time of setting.
See how splendid the moon appears on the
14th night, but check how its sorrowful state
is when it begins to wane.
Oh, man, you are in love with good
food and fine outward form,
But see the result thereof in the toilet
afterwards.
People of this world, like the people or
people of this world, like the world are
truly unfaithful.
When it turns its face toward you, then
know that it is not the face rather
merely the back of the head.
Now that you have now that you have
come to know of the unfaithfulness
of the world and worldly people,
then establish love
uh-uh in contact with the people of Allah
with and with no other beings except for
them.
And these are wise words, and this is
a very beautiful
also expression of the of the Muslims. And
this is one thing that one of the
reasons I I I I love that that
that
that
should be taught is because through it, you
understand
because there's a lot of overlap between and
meaning having a right head and having a
right heart.
And it's from the
and this has nothing to do with sectarian
bickering. It's from the of the Muslims
or
all matters, all affairs, all actions.
The if you want to know what the
reality of them is, then look at how
they end. And this is something completely gone
from,
the analysis of worldly people.
They're not looking at the end. They want
growth, growth, growth. So someone says we're gonna
have 5% growth. We're gonna have 3% growth.
We're gonna have 7% growth. And the only
thing that grows,
unchecked,
more and more as time goes on is
cancer. And where does cancer end? It ends
with you and the cancer both in the
grave.
That beauty for which people are willing to
ignore the prayer and, get drunk and dance
the whole night and,
waste away,
their entire youth,
chasing that beauty,
download weird apps and swipe left and right,
etcetera, etcetera.
That
that that love, which is the the fleeting
and unfaithful love, it fills the heart,
to the point where the heart has no
space in it for any other love. And
when that beauty is gone,
it's not gonna help you. The only thing
that's gonna help you when you enter your
grave is
Allah And this doesn't mean that Muslims are,
somehow against beauty or averse to it or
hate it. In fact, masha'Allah, the prophet
and his companions were the most beautiful of
people.
Rasulullah
was
a beautiful
man and his Azwaj Mutaharat
were beautiful women.
They were beautiful inwardly and outwardly and the
sunnah is to join between them.
That you should have a good inward state
and a good outward state as much as
you're able
to. But,
from the teachings of deen and the faqaha
of the believer, the deep understanding of faith
of the believer is what? Is that you
have to know that that the inward and
the permanent
is the the the real thing, and the
outward and the temporary
is of second secondary importance.
And if you're ever put in a position
where you can only have one and not
the other, then we all know, what what
to choose.
So as a kind of a postscript
to the the the verses from the Masnawi,
Mullana Hakim Akhtar Saab, He he just gives
a little bit of closing commentary. He says,
a sign of being accepted by Allah is
to sit in the company of the friends
of Allah,
and become disconnected from worldly things.
When,
being inclined toward Allah, one must be, outward,
an outward and proper follower of the sunnah
and at the same time,
seek the company of the saintly ones who
also follow the sunnah of the Messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
After attaining this virtue, one should never seek
miracles
or or parlor tricks,
from the ahlulullah because such things are involuntary,
occurrences.
Such involuntary occurrences have nothing to do with
being accepted or not by Allah. Miracles are
not the sign of, being chosen by Allah
or not. Allah has not placed,
the criterion for acceptance by Him or nearness
to Him based on involuntary matters.
Regarding the, despicable and transitory nature of the
ill illusory beauty, I have written a poem,
entitled A Word of Warning Regarding Sensual Love.
And for the benefit of the readers, I
shall quote it later. May Allah accept it
and make it beneficial for all men. Maybe
inshallah in the future, Majlis, we can we
can go through that and read that as
well. Allah,
protect our loves from our hearts from the
love that will destroy us. Allah,
fill our hearts with the the loves that
are going to,
do good for us. And, whoever,
whoever we loved for his sake or whoever
loved us for our sake,
Whoever we loved for his sake or whoever
loved us for his sake. May Allah
give them all the good of this world
and the hereafter.
May Allah give them the best that they
could have asked for, better than they could
have asked for.