Hamzah Wald Maqbul – 1439 Ramadn Late Night Majlis 24 MarifMasnav Laylat alQadr and the Sultan and the Thieves
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AI: Transcript ©
By Allah
we have reached the 24th night of
of Ramadan. Any of these nights could be
later to Qadr.
The
of the ulama are different. Some of the
ulama held that the will
be on a specific and particular day year
after year and then some of the they
held that the
is going to change
from time to time and from year to
year. And,
there are a for
almost all of these days for each of
the odd nights for the 24th,
and for a number a number of other
nights.
And
so we worship Allah,
in all of these nights hoping that we
get the and the the barakah of of
of of Leila Tulkadr.
Leila Tulkadr is,
like the Quran mentions,
better than a 1000 months, which comes up
to 70 some odd years.
And the story about Laylatul Qadr is that
the Sahaba
when Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam once told
them,
about a man from one of the ummas
that came from before
who for 70 some odd years,
continuously
went in jihad fee Sabirolillah.
That by the day he would
struggle in the path of Allah
putting his wealth and his life at risk
so that the word of Allah could be
made supreme.
And by night, he used to worship Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And, the Sahaba radiAllahu anhu, unlike us, if
we were to mention something like this at
a conference or in, you know, a masjid
run by a board and a committee, people
would say, oh, this is really extreme and
I don't know about this guy. Maybe he
shouldn't give Khutba here anymore. And you know,
brother, we need a moderation in the, you
know, we need a moderation, moderate. You know,
enlightened one.
And, l'asafash Shadid,
we do need moderation and we do need
enlightenment. But moderation is
in matters of dunya and matters of indulgence.
When it comes to the Haqq,
then a person who wishes to moderate,
that which is pure and unadulterated
goodness.
That person is only one who has no
spine or no backbone or no love for
Allah and His Rasool, salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And so,
you know, you don't say to someone, let's
have justice in moderation. Don't be fair every
day. Pick a day to be unfair. This
type of talk is a sign of a
very weak and a very collapsed,
intellect.
And so the Sahaba
who are people who are salim al fitra,
they're people of sound disposition.
Their aboriginal,
nature, their human nature,
organic human nature was unbroken. Rather, it was
very strong and powerful. When they heard this
story of a man who served the Lord
for 70 some odd years,
with the best worship by day and the
best worship by night. That he went out
in the path of Allah Ta'ala everyday by
day, and then he worshiped Allah Ta'ala every
night,
making tahajjud and
and entreating the Lord in the hours where
the rest of the creation is sleeping.
They felt
a type of curiosity
and a type of attraction
to,
to this person's
life and lifestyle.
And they wish that they could have it
as well. And so they expressed to the
messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
a type of a type of,
longing
that would it be that our lives were
long enough, we probably won't even live
to be 50 or 60,
lifespans in those days. And even in these
days, Masha'Allah,
cholesterol and clogged arteries of the Ummah.
Even in these days, people usually won't won't
live that long total,
much less, as an adult and as a
person who has some sort of spiritual awareness.
And so, they said, we would that our
lifespans,
have been written so long that we could
have been in such long service,
in
deep connection and communion with the
Lord. And, it was after that
that Allah
revealed
That indeed we sent it down in
that the Quran was sent from the from
the to
the Samat Duniya,
to, that Allah sent the the Quran.
A sacred transcript was copied from the,
preserved tablet in the highest of the heavens
and then carried by Sayyidina Jibril into this
lowest realm,
from which he would ferry its its verses
back and forth to the heart of the
messenger of Allah
over the course of 23 years. That we
sent it down on this night on this
Laylatul Qadr.
And what will explain to you or what
will make you understand what Laylatul Qadr is.
That that is
better than a 1000 months.
That the the the the the angels and
the spirits will come down
and bear witness to every good deed that
a person,
does. And
that that that that that tranquility and wholeness,
and safety will be,
will will preside over, over the creation until
the break of dawn in that night. And
so Allah chose that night which was a
night of of special,
of special,
importance
anyway
because of the,
because of the coming of the the the
transcript of the book of Allah Ta'ala
from the
the protected tablet in the highest of the
heavens
into,
into this lowest of realms.
And the amount of barakah that it brought
with it,
was a blessing that became the vehicle for
thee.
The answering of the the the prayers of
the hearts of the companions
and whom may Allah be pleased with them.
And so Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gave them
and gave us such a night in which
in that one night Allah Ta'ala would accept
from us
like he,
like he accepted from that warrior,
that warrior in the path of Allah Ta'ala
who,
struggled with his life and his property by
day in order that the word of Allah
to Allah be made supreme.
And by nights, spent his nights in communion
with the lord in his remembrance and in
prayer.
That that that we could get that from
every Leila Tulkadr and who knows how many
Leila Tulkadas,
the ummah would get.
And that a person of the Ummah may
get it every every single year. A person
prays 5 times a day at any rate,
so even the further prayer getting the reward
of praying it for a 1000 months is
a big deal. It's not a small it's
not a small matter. This is one of
the things that my sheikh told me. He
said that that make sure that you at
least try to pray Maghrib Esha and Fajr
in the masjid,
everyday if you're able to, because you don't
know. Maybe the Laylatul Qadr or some of
the Alamasih,
it actually moves around not just in the
month of Ramadan, although it's a weaker opinion,
but some of them said that it may
move around even outside of Ramadan as well.
So in case just so that you, get
that laylatulqadr
and you're praying your salat in the masjid.
And and and, you know, this is something
that that that the ummah, it's a great
blessing that Allah gave. And Allah
you
know, He does whatever he wants. And this
is a great blessing being in the ummah
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that
you see the deck is so much stacked
against us. We're the one who's we're the
ones who are going to have to face
the Dajjal.
We're gonna have to face the the Masihdajjal,
the antichrist. We're the ones who are going
to have to see all this destruction and
desolation. We're the ones who are going to
have to hold up the flag of Tawhid
until the end of time. That a time
will come where people are going to call
us names because we don't accept that a
man can marry a man or a woman
can marry a woman. They're gonna call us
names because we say there's only one God
and there's no God except for him. They're
gonna call us names because we only, insist
on eating what is clean and pure, and
we only insist on dressing in a clean
way and in a pure way and we
only insist on on on behaving,
in a pure way,
where, one day the upper hand will be
of those people who are, you know, who
are the the the ones that take the
the the the lifestyle
That that this Lut and his people, kick
them out of your city.
Get the get rid of them. Get tell
them to get lost.
They are a people who,
because they are people who like to purify
themselves and clean themselves. So you see already
the kuffar have started,
have started doing what? They've started banning the
hijab. They started banning the niqab. They started
forcing,
forcing,
the education of their
perversions of the fitra on children.
Why? The reason they're forcing it is because
they're the ones who came up with this
idea,
or at least they wanna pretend that they're
the ones who came up with this idea
of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom
of expression.
But in the face of Islam,
Islam is like the touchstone
that shows what's real and what's not, what's
fake. So there are certain people in Jahiliya,
they were brigands and robbers, but Allah saw
Allah saw
good in their hearts. So like Abu that
brigand and robber or like
that that that that brigand and that robber
became a walli of Allah became
people who reached the highest levels of sainthood.
And on the flip side, there are like
Abu Abu Jahl. Abu Jahl, his nickname before,
Islam came wasn't Abu Jahl. His nickname was
Abu Hakam because he considered himself to be
a very wise person, and he cons he
was considered to be very generous and very
intelligent. And when the prophet
came with the truth,
the, sickness that he hid inside of his
heart from the people, Allah Ta'ala caused it
to spill out and be shown in front
of all people. And so the people who
say, oh, you know, like, freedom of speech,
freedom of religion, etcetera, etcetera, those are the
ones that, those are the ones now that
are, basically
have made it open field day to even
ban,
the way Muslims dress or the way the
Muslims speak. And,
what they teach their children and force their
ideas on on the children while, you know,
championing,
you know, whatever democracy and, all of these
other things. It's democracy for people that they
agree with, and it's,
it's it's dictatorship for, those who, agree with
Islam and with the deen. And even though
this is a very frustrating political reality,
that many Muslims feel angst about, don't feel
angst about it. Allah is the one who
in whose hands, you know,
You know? It's in his hands that kingship
and power and rule and victory and all
of these things, come and go. And he's
the one who chooses things to be the
way that they are.
But it it should it should comfort the
Muslims,
comfort that is more than the comfort of
political power, that the ideas of Islam are
so strong that,
given,
free speech and given freedom of religion and
given a level playing field of of competition,
even those people who hate Islam the most
have essentially conceded that they're not going to
be able to win.
And so
we're in this time that we have to
face down all of these.
We have to face down all of these
challenges
and we may say, well,
had so many dozens of prophets
And, the people before us, they didn't have,
you know, Facebook and and smartphones and YouTube
videos and taxes and all of these other
things we have to deal with. You know,
they lived in a world that was much
simpler than ours. If they wanted to be
pious, it was easier for them to be
pious. You know, even if a person wanted
to in the old days. If, you know,
if you didn't want to,
live with people, you could go out and,
you know, make a house in the forest
or out in the desert and more or
less essentially no one would bother you.
And that that time is now over. That
age is over. And the the enmity
of the people of Ba'tal toward Din is
going to essentially just increase until the end
of time. And Allah Ta'ala will give them
the upper hand to see what their, you
know, what the extent of their the the
poison inside of their hearts is eventually.
Although it's not necessary that the Dajjalah is
going to happen tomorrow, but even if, Allah
gives, gives tofir to some part of this
ummah, to stand up for itself before that
time,
even then, eventually, everything is headed toward that.
But remember with a great challenge also comes
great help.
And the ummah of the prophet
no matter how difficult it is, no matter
how much difficulty there is, no matter how
much the deck is stacked against it, no
matter how,
how many its enemies are, no matter what
part of its,
what part of its, life cycle you happen
to be in, even if you are under
the sword of the Dajjal himself,
figuratively or literally.
This ummah is
a gift from Allah
and it that gift is superior to all
other umam. So much so to the point
that,
it said that said the Musa alayhi wasalam
was shown this,
and how how, wondrous it's going to be
and what the blessings of Allah will be
upon it.
And,
he asked Allah that can I be part
of this ummah? And Allah told him, no,
that you'll be a nabi and you'll have
your own great ummah that you will lead
and that you that will follow
you. So imagine that even if Sayid the
Musa alayhi salam who's mentioned comes in the
Quran so much,
so much more than the mention of any
other prophet.
If you wish to be part of this,
rather than to take the of Nabuah,
then imagine what the what the the fable
of Allah and the immense grace and immense
blessings on this ummah are. That the people
of this ummah,
the people of this ummah,
you know,
who has a greater blessing? The one who
actually had to put in the 70 years
of
of of struggle in order to get the
reward or the one who gets it every
year again and again and again because Allah
love love this and love the prophet of
this and love the of
this ummah. And that's Allah
He he does whatever he wants.
He is not to be asked for what
he does, why he does it, even though
the creation, all of them will be asked,
by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. All of them,
he has the right to question.
And
just like it's
bad for the Saliq and wrong for the
Saliq to,
the the the the traveler on the spiritual
path to Allah to Allah for them to
say, why me? Why did Allah give me
this difficulty or that difficulty? Just like that,
it's also wrong for the Saliq to question
why did Allah give me this gift? Rather
if the king gives you a gift, just
close your mouth and take it. If you
wanna say anything, then say thank you, say
and and show thanks to Allah
so that he can increase you, and he
can increase,
all of us in the gift that he
gave us. And so these things are are
are a blessing from Allah
We should be avid for looking for them.
And so the one of the points I
wanted to make is imagine, you know, a
person if they hit the jackpot, they're doing
all the,
all the
and recitation of the Quran and zikr of
Allah Ta'ala and and they hit.
What a great blessing it would be. We
should question ourselves.
You know, what if
we could choose any night of the year
and say, yeah, Allah, this night I wanted
to count as
would we still have something to show Allah
that's worthy of showing him or would it
still be the same, the same, you know,
concern about money, same concern about
fulfilling carnal desires, same concern about this person
said this to me, that person said the
other thing to me, the concern about the
nafs and the concern about all of these
other things. Remember that the person who says
is with you.
Which means what?
That if you're a mouse in the in
the jungle,
there are snakes,
there are elephants,
there are leopards and tigers. If you're a
mouse, you have no chance whatsoever. You should
be scared. All of us are less than
mice,
in the jungle of existence. But when the
the lion is standing behind you and says
don't fear my friend,
I'm with you,
then all of a sudden that same mouse
will, have a newfound sense of confidence and
a newfound
sense of, of of of protection,
and will be able to go about doing,
what he wishes to,
in in the day
without, without the crippling amount of fear and
without the mindset that completely hobbles
a person's confidence or or ability to even
try to do anything for its for itself
or for its own benefit.
And brothers and sisters, the idea is what?
Is that we're we're even weaker than that
mouse, but Allah Allah
sent behind us this entire Mubarak
All of these people, all of the oliya
of Allah
starting from our elders who are still alive,
Allah
give them long life and put barakah in
their mujahadat and in their struggles and in
their sacrifices and their duas and in their
prayers,
going back to their masha'if
and their before them. The oliya of Allah
People
incredible
incredible patience and incredible,
spiritual,
power and incredible,
insight, incredible intel intelligence,
incredible amounts of love that they brought with
them. You know, one person that might outweigh
another million people, with the the the
the the blessings Allah gave them inside their
minds and inside of their hearts. And all
of them go back to the fraternity of
the companions, may Allah be pleased with them.
And all of that goes back to Rasulullah
salallahu alaihi wa sallam who is the the
one that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loved and
for whose sake Allah Ta'ala created the heavens
and the earth.
Said I didn't create the heavens or the
earth except for or the sorry, the mankind
or the jinn except for to worship me.
And in as much as every Muslim has
to as a point of
of and a point of creed,
and belief,
admit that the messenger of Allah
was the perfection of the the the the
worship of Allah
He is, the locus and the focus of
of of why the,
why the mankind and the
creation
exists
because mankind exists and the creation is there
to serve,
serve mankind
and mankind is there to worship Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So look for this Laylatul Qadr.
Try at least to have one night
even if you're able to choose it for
yourself that you wouldn't be ashamed to show
this night to Allah
if all of your deeds,
count,
you know, as 70
something odd years worth of deed that you
don't have, you know, if you don't have
something in it that you're ashamed of to
have been doing for
70 something years, Allah Ta'ala forgive us for
our shortcomings, Allah Ta'ala forgive us for our
for our shortcomings,
for
for our shortcomings
because of our weakness. But even to admit
and understand and be beholden to your own
shortcomings,
this in and of itself is a great
maqam with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Even if a person is to realize that
they're the the most broken and the most,
useless and the most,
worthy of punishment from Allah Ta'ala's amongst Allah
Ta'ala's slaves.
And it's true. Just the realization itself means
that you have you have some station with
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You're not completely
disenfranchised
and out in the cold.
You're
still you have something with Allah Ta'ala.
And so, if a person has that, they
may as well go with it and and
and and build on it.
So
with that all of that being said, the
hikai I wanted to share from, the Ma'arif
al Ma'arif Masnawi,
is another story about Sultan Mahmud Ghaznawi,
the legendary,
Turkic warrior king,
of Khorasan that conquered,
that conquered
a great
swath of the, Indian subcontinent
and,
destroyed the Somnath temple and its, and its
idol,
who was who was given the, the of
Butshikan
in the in the Persian language, the idol
breaker.
That his his his rough and tough,
manly Jalali
kingship
is,
is
a kind of metaphor
and misal that is that is a standard,
in
in these, hikayat
that, Moana,
that Moana tells.
So this the hikayat is set up by
Muana Hakim after
after
taking off his royal clothes and putting on
ordinary clothes.
He chanced to come upon a group of
thieves who were consulting amongst themselves.
On seeing him, they asked, who are you?
The sultan replied, I'm one like yourselves.
They understood that to mean that he was
also a thief like themselves and allowed him
to join their company.
They then continued the conversation amongst themselves and
it was decided that each one of them
should explain what specialty or skill he possesses
so that at the time of need,
of a task,
he could be put forth and,
show,
his service through that special skill to the
group of thieves.
1 of the thieves said,
friends, I have a special gift. In my
ears, whenever a dog barks, I fully understand
what he says.
The second one said,
I have a special gift in my eyes
that whatever I see in the darkness of
night, I am able to recognize it in
the light of day.
This is what I have a special gift
in my eyes that whatever I see in
the darkness of night, I'm able to recognize
it in the light of day.
The third one said, I have this specialty
in my arms that through the strength that
lies therein, I can make a hole in
the strongest of walls in order to enter
any building.
The 4th one said, I have a special
gift in my nose that by smelling the
sand on the ground, I am able to
ascertain whether there is any treasure buried underneath
it or not. It is just like the
case of Majnoon who without being told merely
by smelling the ground,
got to know where Laila was buried.
Leila, passed away and Majnoon went to went
and found her grave through his,
ability to see her scent or smell her
scent.
The 5th one said, I have such strength
in my hands that no matter how high
a building is, I can climb along its
walls with my rope ladder and easily enter
the building in such a manner.
Thereafter, they all asked a sultan who was
hidden to them that they didn't know they
didn't know he was a sultan.
They asked him, oh, man, what special gift
do you possess that we can make use,
of it in our thieving activities?
The sultan replied, I have the speciality in
my beard that when criminals are handed over
to the executioner,
I can merely,
shake my beard, and such criminals are immediately
set free.
Meaning what? He
he he said this, this strange,
this strange ability to them,
and they didn't think much of it. But
being the king,
that was his gesture that if he shakes
his beard, the executioner would, would would not,
execute the the criminals that are given the
the the capital punishment.
On hearing this, the thieves, they they they
they
they jokingly remarked to him. They said, oh,
dear Qutub, on the day of difficulty, you'll
be our only means of salvation.
That they they said that, wow, if you
really have this magical power in your beard,
you must be some kind of saint.
So,
our our dear,
which is a a wali of high rank,
he says, on the day of difficulty, if
this thing you said that you can do
is really, truly, an ability you have, then,
you know, when we when we're up against
the wall, we're gonna need your help.
In other words, if we are arrested, then
through your blessings we will be saved. Now
we do not have to fear because the
rest of us have the special gifts that
we have, which would help us in our
thieving exploits. But none of us had the
means to grant of granting safety from punishment.
The specialty lies only with you. We now
have no near need have no fear of
punishment so we can get on with our
work.
They all went in the direction of the
palace of Sultan Mahmud with the king, in
their midst unbeknownst to them.
Along the way, a dog barked and the
one who understood the language of dogs translated,
saying that the dog said the king is
also in your midst.
Although they heard it, no one paid any
attention to this information
as greed was their uppermost,
thought in their minds.
1 of them smelled the ground and explained
that such and such place is the road
to the royal palace. There's a treasure in
this place.
The other one threw up a rope, rope
ladder against the wall. The other one made
a hole in the wall and they all,
entered to burgle to to to to to
rob the place.
Afterward, they divided the loot amongst themselves and
hastily each one of them went to hide
his share of the spoils.
The king noted each one's description and found
out where each of them resided.
He left them secretly and reentered the royal
palace.
The following day, the king related the entire
story to his courtiers.
Thereafter, he sent the police to arrest them
and to inform them of their death sentence.
When they were brought before the court with
their hands bound together, they're all trembling in
fear before the king's throne.
However, the thief that had the special gift
of recognizing anybody
during the day that he had seen in
the darkness was quite at ease. In him,
together with the signs of fear, they're also
signs of hope.
In other words, although he was struck by
awe while standing before the king,
And although the king's wrath, and revenge,
was to be feared, he also had hoped
that the king would be true to his
word,
that when in mercy he shakes his beard,
criminals will be set
free. Furthermore, he also had the hope of
setting free all of his companions
because the king will surely not turn away
from all of those who he knew and
recognized.
This person's face was changing from yellow to
red,
as,
within himself, the feelings of fear and hope
alternated.
The Sultan Mahmud,
in his kingly dignity,
passed judgment that they should all be handed
over to the executioner to be hung in
the gallows.
As the sultan himself was witness to their
crime, there was no need for any other
witnesses.
As soon as the sultan announced his judgment,
this person appealed with great humility.
Sire, with your permission, may I ask something?
The sultan permitted him to speak. He said,
oh, master, each one of us has exhibited
his special gift
which, helped in this crime. Now it is
time that the kingly speciality should be exhibited
according to the promise.
I have all the while recognized you. Remember,
you had promised that in your beard there
is a speciality that if you cause it
to move in mercy,
the criminal will be saved from punishment.
Hence, oh king, shake your beard so that
through the blessings of your grace, all of
us can be saved from the punishment of
our crimes. Our specialties have brought us to
the gallows. Now it is only your special
gift that is left which can save us
from being punished.
Now is the time for the exhibition of
your speciality.
Kindly shake your beard because of fear of
our lives,
the fear of our lives has reached up
all the way to our mouths.
Please save us with the special gift that
lies in your beard.
Sultan Mahmud smiled at the plea and became
filled with mercy and grace as he heard
their pitiful admission of guilt.
He said each of you have exhibited his
special quality,
to such an extent that it has brought
you to the brim of destruction except for
in the case of this one. He recognized
me as the Sultan.
He saw me in the darkness of the
night and recognized me as the Sultan.
Hence, for his having recognized me, I set
all of you free. I feel ashamed that
those eyes which recognize me,
not to shake my beard
and thereby exhibit my special quality.
Mawana Hakim Akhtar, says in commentary,
with regards to this Hekiah.
The first lesson contained in this story is
that while a person is committing a crime,
the true King of Kings is with him.
Allah
is with you. Just like
the Sultan joined this
band of thieves,
unbeknownst to them,
whether you and I realize it or not,
Allah Ta'ala is with us and he is
the king of kings, and he's fully aware
of all that we do.
He's with you wherever you are. When a
person commits any disobedience to Allah, he's actually
committing treachery against Allah.
Anyone who fails in his duty to Allah
or in his in the rights that are
due to men is like a thief committing
theft of Allah's treasures.
For this reason, one should always bear in
mind that the master is the witness,
seeing us at all times
and is aware of all that we do.
If we commit any disobedience or inequity, it
means that in his very presence, his treasury
is being robbed and looted.
Think for a moment who you're robbing. The
king and master tells you, I am seeing
what you do. I am with you. My
laws have been revealed to you. Today, you
are breaking that law. Today, in this world,
I will hide your fault, hoping that perhaps
you will come upon the right road. But
if you do not come to your senses,
then tomorrow on the day of judgment, on
the day of resurrection when you will be
brought before me with hands bound together, then
who will be able to save you from
my anger and revenge?
The second lesson,
from this story is that Allah will punish
sinners in the hereafter, although he may initially
overlook them in this world. We see that
at the time the thieves were eluding the
royal treasury. The sultan witnessed the entire incident.
He was with them and allowed them proceed
allowed them to proceed without being punished.
However,
in the end, he had them arrested. If
at all times,
this thought is uppermost in our minds that
Allah sees all of our deeds, then there
will surely be fear in the heart against
committing sins.
The third lesson from this story is that
on the day of, resurrection, no special quality
will be of any benefit.
All those deeds which contravene the laws of
Allah will, on the day of judgment and
on the day of resurrection, be bound around
a man's neck even though in this world
they were considered
as being special qualities.
The thieves the thieves mentioned those special gifts
and qualities as if they were qualities of
virtue that they that they possessed. But in
reality, those very qualities were the cause of
their destruction.
Each one of them exhibited their special quality
but all their qualities only caused their misfortune
to increase.
Any special quality which does not bring a
person
nearer to his creator,
and which does not connect the heart to
Allah and which is not a medium toward
the remembrance of Allah is no quality,
a virtue.
In fact, it is a curse and a
misfortune.
And you would be surprised. So many people,
they have these skills that are essentially akin
to stupid human tricks.
They have no redeeming quality in front in
front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and they're
just a distraction.
If a person is able to use those
stupid human tricks in order to make a
honest living or unable in order to do
some sort of beneficial service for the deen,
then those,
you know, those things will, inshallah, be something
more honorable, than just a stupid human trick.
But if those things are used in order
to,
open the doors to the anger of
Allah then they're they're they're accursed.
And, you know, this is one of the
things that the mashaikh and, that I read
from. They said that Islam teaches that nobody
is born with a good nature or a
bad nature. You just kinda are who you
are.
If you were born like a snake or
if you were born like a lion lion
or if you were born like a fox,
all of these tendencies that Allah gave to
a human being, these different dispositions that Allah
gave to a human being, they're neither good
or bad. You it just depends on how
you use them. If you use them for
good,
purposes in order to get closer to Allah,
then, you know, the snake that bites,
evil people,
is is is is good. And if you
use them in order to
violate the sanctity of Allah's boundaries,
then even the lion, who
terrorizes the the all the other animals in
the jungle for for no reason,
is is going to be, cursed by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So
any special quality which does not bring a
person nearer to his creation creator,
and which does not connect the heart to
Allah,
and which is not a medium toward which
the remembrance of Allah is made is no
quality of virtue. In fact, it is a
curse and misfortune.
All the powers and attributes of man which
are used in rebellion against the lord and
toward disobedience and negligence will one day cause
him to be brought before Allah as a
criminal. All those nations who have made great
progress and through scientific invention have made this
world subservient to them, but then turn away
to Allah, passing their lives in disobedience, will
realize on the day of resurrection
whether that speciality of scientific progress
had been the cause of receiving Allah's grace
or his anger.
Blessed be, to you the the subjugation of
the sun and the moon. But if there
is no light in the hearts, then there's
no light anywhere.
The the the verse is quoted. Blessed be
to you, Mubarak be for you the subjugation
of the sun and the moon. But if
there is no light in the heart, then
there is no light anywhere.
And this is not, to say that science
is evil,
which many people, you know, they unf unfairly
and ignorantly make a caricature of,
of those people who follow the path of
Deen, that they're somehow anti progress or whatever.
But the idea is what? The scientific progress
is neither good or nor evil. The scientific
progress of an enlightened heart will be the
means and the medium of
spreading light, and the scientific progress of, of
an evil heart and of a dead heart
will only,
spread death and destruction. And if you don't
believe me, go read history.
The 4th lesson from this story is that
no special quality will be of benefit except
for that which leads toward recognizing Allah.
Just like the person who having seen the
sultan recognized him, and through his special quality,
he not only saved himself but was able
to intercede on behalf of his companions.
As for his other companions, their special qualities
became a means toward earning punishment.
Only the the quote verses quoted, only the
sight of the fortunate one was of any
use who recognized the sultan during darkness and
night.
The lesson derived from
that is this world is like a place
of darkness. The darkness of this world, this
is a really beautiful,
analogy,
that that that was made through the hikaya.
The the the thief was able to
recognize in the light,
that face that he saw in the darkness.
That this world is darkness because all of
the jannah and jahannam and the angels and
shaytan and jinn, all these things are hidden
from us in this world.
But we know that they exist.
Just like if a person, for example, dropped,
dropped their phone in the dark,
just because they can't see it doesn't mean
it doesn't exist. They know it's there somewhere
even though they may have trouble finding it.
Just like that, the hereafter is going to
be a a a place that's that that
you can see everything. Everything will be clear,
clear to you. All those realities that were
real today will be real on that day
as well.
Nothing changes. No reality changes. It's just that
you can see it plainly without without having
to fumble through the darkness.
In the darkness of this world, every servant
of Allah who follows the divine laws of
the Sharia
and through its blessings recognizes Allah, and will
be provided with salvation against the punishment of
the * fire on the day of resurrection.
This recognition
this recognition will also be a means toward
intercession on behalf of other criminals
amongst the sinners
and people of faith. However, there should not
be any pride and overconfidence in this recognition.
In fact, one should alternate between fear and
hope in utmost humility
and beg for this intercession.
Then Allah will accept this intercession from whoever
he wishes
according to his mercy.
And and this is a sign of hope
that his mercy outstrips all other things.
Who is the one who, will be given
intercession,
except for through his permission. Allah make us,
from those who Allah gives permission of intercession
to and those who,
who will be,
interceded for,
by those who he gives, intercession,
the permission of intercession to by his father
and his grace, Amin.
Then Allah will accept this intercession from whoever
he wishes according to his mercy. For those
who he will not from whom he will
not accept this intercession,
he will, in perfect justice,
exhibit his overwhelming vengeance. May Allahu Ta'ala protect
us from being, the madhar and the the
the the medium of his vengeance.
Hence
fortunate indeed is the person who in this
world
created with himself the knowledge of recognizing Allah.
The 'arifin, the people who of gnosis, of
the gnosis of the Lord, who through their
spiritual efforts and exercises recognize Allah with their
souls, will tomorrow on the day of resurrection
see Allah and attain salvation.
Furthermore, their intercession on behalf of other sinners
will be accepted.
But the disbelievers and criminals will, through their
special qualities,
quote unquote, be admitted into the hellfire.
On that day, these poor starving ones with
pale faces patched in coarse clothing, who today
are being ridiculed and jeered at will feast
their eyes upon upon the face of Allah
ta'ala.
On that day,
criminals will envy them and say, would that
we had lived like them in this world
and acquired their qualities,
would that we had recognized Allah properly.
The 5th lesson
is that the story also illustrates the high
position these righteous and saintly ones have as
far as their,
humanity is concerned.
What a pity it is that nations and
people,
just like those thieves, spend their short span
of worldly lives looking upon
means of delight and comfort as special gifts
of accomplishment
and look upon material progress as being actual
progress.
Whereas, on the other hand, they have adopted
uncouth habits,
like urinating while standing and cleaning themselves with
paper after defecating rather than washing themselves.
They also consider it normal to be to
take to take a bath sitting in a
tub and allow the water, which has become
dirty through be being in contact with,
the private parts to be drawn, in their
face, in their mouth, and in their nose.
They consider these actions to be norm the
norms of society. Can such people ever be
considered to be cultured and people of progress?
What a pity
it is that the beloved cultural ways of
the Muslims should be cast aside,
and that such despicable ways of, of people
who neither know Allah or Hisr Rasool, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, should be,
adopted. And this this last paragraph is definitely
the ghayra of the the the people from
Darul Islam when being confronted with the,
savage and,
uncultured and uncivilized ways of Kufr,
when when confronted with them showing their their
disgust. Allah ta'ala
teach all of us a better way of
living
wherever we come from.
So Mawlana makes a Mawlana Hakim,
after makes a du'a in the end of
his,
his entry. He says, oh, Allah, let just
rulers be appointed to rule over us who
will introduce,
and who will, who will bring,
your sacred law and punish those who,
who neglect it.
And let,
them punish,
punish those who neglect it. Let him order
the,
closure of all places,
that distract people from Allah Ta'ala
and honor and protect those people that bring
people to his,
to his remembrance. Ameen.