Hamzah Wald Maqbul – 21 Ramadn 1442 Late Night Majlis Mawln Rm from Balkh to Konya New Orleans
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Alhamdulillah
by Allah's father, we've made it to this
Mubarak 21st night
of Ramadan. It is the first night of
the
of the last 10 days.
These are nights,
more so than all the other nights of
Ramadan. Although even in all the other nights,
these are nights in which
Allah
gives the decree commuting people's sentences in the
hellfire.
Allah make us from those whose necks are
freed from ever having to suffer the oppression
of the fire.
Allah
make us from those who are free from
ever having to suffer the torment of the
fire. Allah make us free from anyone whoever
has to be,
heard or broken by the fire. Amin.
The messenger of Allah
as is widely reported in Hadith,
when it came to these last 10 nights,
he would become very serious about his deen.
The time for joking is over. Obviously, he
he was always serious about his deen, but
he would become even more serious.
And he would
tighten his belt, so to speak.
And he
would, wake his family up and encourage them
also to
strive and to exert themselves in the worship
of Allah
And when he was asked because
is one of these nights when he's asked
by Sayida
If,
if I should happen to think it's
and I have a chance to ask something,
what should I ask?
He said, ask Allah
You can repeat with me.
Oh Allah,
You're the one who forgives completely,
and you love that people should forgive each
other completely.
So forgive me completely.
Allah gives such a aafiyah
and aafu,
such a complete
forgiveness to all of us and to all
of the people of the Ummah Sayid Muhammad
So tonight
what a beautiful night to start
with,
biographical
note and description,
with regards to
Milana Jalaluddin Rumi.
A footnote that he,
gives is that,
his
biographical
material mostly is taken
from, Khali,
Talam al Hussein of Gorakhpur.
His,
which
he received the manuscripts of,
courtesy of,
his son.
And so we began
under the subheading of Rumi and his ancestors.
Muhammad was his name.
Jalaluddin
was his surname,
meaning his,
I'm sorry.
But he is I don't think it's a
proper use of the word surname, but in
in the
Muslim system, a person has a islam, which
is their name, and then they have a
which is a title, and then they have
a or
that
Honorific, it's oftentimes
translated as, but it's
the or.
Muhammad was his name. Jalaluddin
was his,
it was his title,
and,
he's commonly known as, Molana Yirum or Rumi,
meaning our master from,
the lands of Rome.
He belong to the lineage of Abu Bakr
Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu the first Khalifa on
his father's side and that that of Ali
radiAllahu anhu the 4th Khalifa on his mother's
side.
Rumi's ancestors belong to Balkh, a city of
Khorasan,
which is in modern day Afghanistan. Balkh, city
of Khorasan where he is stated to have
been born.
His forefathers were reputed for their learning
and virtue while his grandmother,
Malekai Jahan, was the daughter of the king
of Khorasan,
the Khorasan Shah.
His father, Mohammed Bahad Din Walad, was perhaps
born
in 543
Hijri.
While still an adolescent, Bahad Din Walad became,
so extremely learned
that difficult problems pertaining to the law and
religion were referred to him for solution.
This erudition had earned him the honorific title
of Sultan Al Ullama, the king of the
scholars.
He used to hold his assemblies like the
courts of monarchs. His discourses ran from morning
till midday,
for all and sundry, and after midday prayers
for the selected few,
to whom he expounded the mysteries of the
true content of knowledge and faith. On Fridays
and Mondays, he delivered public sermons.
He had an imposing countenance and always appeared
to be engrossed in his thoughts.
Early education. Jalaluddin Rumi was born on the
6th of Rabi,
of, the 6 100 and 4th year of
Hijra.
Entrusted him, meaning his father entrusted him to
the care of one of his disciples, Sayed
Burhanuddin,
for early education who taught him 4 or
5 years in the beginning and then guided
him again after the death of
and the secrets of the mystic path.
Migration from.
The popularity of
and the great number of his disciples and
followers made certain scholars jealous of him.
In his lectures, he used to declaim publicly
against the Greek philosophers and their rationalist followers.
The same, you know,
for those who didn't hear yesterday, we talked
about,
philosophy meant something very particular. It was kind
of
a pagan worldview, pagan cosmology,
that was oftentimes,
taught with
with
with Aristotelian
logic
that the, ardent,
followers of Aristotelian logic sometimes kind of, lapped
up
with the use of logic, but wasn't really
part of it.
I said that,
a certain number of scholars were jealous of
him and his lectures used to declaim publicly
against,
Greek philosophers and the rationalist followers who had,
he said,
thrown the scriptures over their backs and could
not, therefore,
hope for the blessings of God. These scholars
could not, however, harm him as the
was himself a devotee of.
1 once the king who had come to
pay a visit to the Sheikh remarked, what
a big crowd has gathered here. 1 of
the scholars present at the moment readily added,
yes. And if something is not done to
check his popularity,
it might become difficult for the king to
rule over them. Khorasan Shah took the remark
to his heart and asked the scholar as
to what should be done in the matter.
The courtiers see seizing the opportunity
to malign the sheikh advised the king to
send the keys of the treasury and also
the citadel to
with the message that since he already
reigned over the hearts of the people, it
would be better that he had the keys
as well.
When this message was conveyed to Baha'u Dinwala,
he replied, convey my respects to the king
and tell him that I am
a a recluse having nothing to do with
the treasure treasures in arms.
I would willingly leave the country so the
king may rule over it without any misgivings
on this score. I would leave the town
on Friday after delivering the last sermon.
The inhabitants of Balkh were so much agitated
at the news of Baha'u'din's departure that the
Khorasan shah had to come along with his
wazir to dissuade him from his intended migration.
Baha'u'din Walad, however, did not accede to the
request made, by the king who ultimately proposed
that in order to avoid any tumult or
agitation amongst the masses, Baha'u'din
might have to leave the city without letting
the people know of it. Baha'u'din agreed to
the suggestion.
He delivered his, last sermon on Friday and
quitted Balcha,
on the succeeding Saturday. In his public discourse,
he warned the king that the Tatar hordes
would invade his kingdom soon after his departure.
The people everywhere on his way hearing of
his arrival,
flock to meet him and bring him, into
their cities with honor. Thus he passed through
Baghdad, Mecca Mukarama,
Damascus and reached,
Malatia, a a city,
on upper Euphrates,
where he remained for 4 years engaged in
preaching and teaching.
From there, Baha'u Din Walad went on to
Akshar,
a city. I'm assuming it's in Anatolia.
Yeah. And from there to
Lorenda,
in in the footnote, it says also a
city in Asia Minor,
which was a dependency of Konya.
And so
this is really interesting. There's a there's a
number of footnotes. The first footnote,
with regards to
to the comment of this jealous scholar,
telling,
the the to
tell
that, you know, that he
he may as well have the keys to
the treasury in the Citadel.
The footnote is a number of historians have
attributed this conversation
with the king to Imam Fakhruddin Razi.
Khadi Talam mus Hussain however holds it to
be a mistake on the part of chroniclers
for Bahauddin Walad left Balkh in 609 or
610
while Fakhruddin Razi died in Herat at 606,
Hijri,
where he'd been residing before he died.
Another biographer of Jaladin Rumi Badiuzaman,
Faroozanfar,
whose book, entitled,
the life of Maulana Jaladin Mohammed,
has been published recently in Iran, also subscribes
to the above mentioned view of the Qadi.
Talam al Hussain, who had, expressed
the view that this man might have been,
Sayed Bahadir Razi, who was, a courtier of
the Khorasan Shah,
who had been mentioned in the,
meaning the the the jealous caller.
And then in the second footnote,
the warning
that the Tatar hordes, the Mongol hordes would
invade
after he left.
Badi al Zaman,
Farazanfar,
has expressed the view that it is possible
that the real cause of Baha'u'din Walad's migration
was, in fact, the impending danger
of Tatar invasion, the Tatar invasion of Khorasan
and Iran since many other oleman notable persons
were then leaving these countries,
for other places of safety as well.
But, you know, that's something that happened. It's
known to happen that he left the city,
and then, afterward,
the entire, Khwarazmian
empire imploded.
And, you know, I think it's
I don't think it's an I don't think
it's a coincidence that that, one one one
thing followed the other in Allah knows best.
Arrival in Konya.
Alauddin Kaqobad,
the then sultan of Rum,
sent for and requested to
come to his capital where he arrived in,
626
after Hijra. I don't know if this is
the same
who built,
the Jamir Masjid of Konya, which is named
after him or not.
But, you know, the Seljuk kings,
Seljuk Sultans
ruled
this area
and
he you know the
person is very well known. The Sultan himself
went to receive Baha'u'din and became his disciple
along with his chiefs. In Konya, Baha'u'din resided
in a local college and died there
after 2 years in 6 28 Hijri.
Rumi accompanied
accompanied his father throughout the latter's journey from
Balkh,
and he was 22 years of age when
he arrived in Konya.
Impressed by Baha'u'llin's profound knowledge in erudition,
the Sultan's teacher,
Sheikh Badruddin Gohartas
founded a college named the Madrasay Khoda Vandigar
for him and endowed it richly
for its maintenance.
And this is
he quotes Aflaki for this
biographical note.
Sultan Alauddin Karqubad
had a
great, regard for Baha'u Din Walad. And when
the sultan had erected the fort of Konya,
he invited Baha'u Din Walad to mount the
terrace roof of the fort,
vents to survey the walls and towers.
After his inspection, Baha'u'din
remarked to the Sultan,
against the floods and enemy horses, you have
raised a goodly defense.
But what protection have you built against those
unseen arrows and the size and moans of
the oppressed which passed through a 1,000 walls
and battlements and sweep
the whole, sweep whole worlds into destruction.
Go and erect a citadel of justice and
equity,
for that alone can ensure,
the peace of the world.
Again,
the quote is attributed to
a
biographical note by Aflaki.
After the death of was
reign erased to occupy the seat of his
father by the Sultan of Konya
on the advice of, the scholars and disciples
of the departed teacher.
Rumi, thus started teaching in the college and
preaching to the people in place of his
father.
Later, Sayid Burhanuddin,
the tutor during his childhood who had migrated
to Tiramisu,
came back to Konya.
Rumi received instruction in the mystic law, in
the mystic tradition from the who,
lived in Konya for 9 years and then
died there in 6 37 Hijri.
Travel for further education.
In 630,
Rumi went forth to Syria for further education.
He arrived in Halab,
where Sultan,
Malik Azar of, Vahir had
established on the advice of Qadi Baha'udin Ibn
Shaddad,
several colleges,
in 59 591
Hijri, which made Halab also a reputed,
place of learning like Damascus, which it remained
until it was desolated, in the Syrian civil
war by the Iranians and Russians and the
Syrian regime Allah
save our people from the yoke of oppression
of of the Valimin
and and twisted people, Amin.
In Halab Rumi stayed in the madrasa,
Halawiya,
and, received education from Kamaluddin Ibnu Adim.
Although Rumi was,
although Rumi was receiving education at halal,
difficult juristic questions were referred to him for
a solution.
Reports that Rumi, not only furnished a solution
for all such problems, but also gave reasons
which were not to be found in in
existing books.
Rumi went to Damascus from Halab
and dwelt in the Madrasah,
Mahdasya,
you know, the
they moved to Damascus,
when, unseated by from their ancestral lands in
Palestine,
by the,
by the crusaders.
And they, you know, their coming was like
a revival of
many sciences in particular the
and the study of hadith.
That
Rumi went to Damascus from Halab and dwelt
in the mother of some of the in
Damascus reports of Salar. Rumi used to confer
with Sheikh Mohid Mohiduddin, Ibn Arabi, and Sheikh
Saduddeen Hamawi,
Sheikh Othman Rumi, Sheikh Ohaduddin,
Kirmani, and sheikh Sadruddin Kunawi.
In 634
or 635,
Rumi
returned to Konya and
resumed the profession of teaching. He continued to
do so till the death of his mentor,
Sayid Burhanuddin,
in 637.
Soon thereafter, Sheikh Muhiduddin Ibn 'Arabi died in
Damascus in 6/38,
and a number of scholars and mystics moved
on from Damascus
to seek the company of Rumi and Konya.
Sheikh Sadruddin and a large number of other
scholars whose hearts and homes had been destroyed
by the Mongols were too seeking refuge in
Konya,
which had thus attracted quite a large number
of celebrated scholars and doctors of faith reputed
for their learning and piety.
Rumi still busy in teaching at the madrasa
where he is reported to have
had more than 400,
students under his tutelage,
was
head and shoulders above all the other scholars
present.
The other pursuits of Rumi beside teaching or
preaching in meetings held for the purpose
and given giving a juristic opinion on questions
referred to him.
15 dinars were fixed to him, as it
is reported as a remuneration for this public
service.
He was also so particular in this regard
that he had instructed his attendants to inform
him immediately
on the receipt of questions eliciting juristic opinions,
even if he were in a devotional seclusion
or trance, and to take dictation
for sending reply. So basically he was he
was a mufti,
and he was the Mufti of Konya. He
was a Hanafi Mufti of Konya.
And this is something that I think a
lot of people in America are surprised
to know because they somehow believe he's a
heterodox figure. And really unfortunately many clueless Muslims
also thinks that he's some sort of heterox
heterodox figure
which is
couldn't be further from the truth.
Rumi turns to mysticism.
Here, this word mystic and mysticism
talks about
spirituality, the soul of it's not I mean,
the word itself sounds kinda like hokey in
English, but,
it's a translation for for for spiritual things.
Rumi spent his days, in this manner until
642
when an incident completely transformed his life and
turned him from
to Mulana Irrum.
This was his meeting with, Shams Tabriz,
and his devotion and adoration of the latter.
Molana himself said, the lord of Rum, did
not become a learned sage until he had
become a slave of Shams Tabres.
Shamsi Tabriz.
Mohammed bin Ali bin Malik Dad,
was his name, but he was cons he
was commonly known as Shams Tabriz.
Shams from the city of Tabriz in in
Iran.
His ancestry is shrouded in mystery, and the
place to which he belonged also is not
known with certainty.
Of the many charges leveled against him, one
was that he, belonged to an unknown descent.
He's of unknown descent. It was said of
him,
who is he?
And what is his what what what was
his father? Does anyone know does anyone know
where he comes from?
He's reported to have been gifted with a
keen intellect and a fervor of love, since
his very childhood.
It has been related,
in
that while still young, he often remains so
immersed in love with the
prophet
that he would not feel
the pangs of hunger for 30 or 40
days.
And people, like, find this type of stuff
really hard to believe, but there are a
lot of people who really love the prophet
a
lot.
And, if you just, like, kinda hang out
in America at the mall or whatever, you
may not, like, ever see those people or
no. But,
there are, like, literally people that their love
of
has an effect on their disposition.
I personally have never seen somebody who,
the effect is such that it, you know,
causes them not to want to eat for
30 or 40 days. But I understand what
it means to see people who love Rasool
Allah so much that it affects their disposition.
And it's not something unfortunately common in this
part of the world.
After he had mastered the exoteric sciences, he
became a disciple of the sheikh Abu Bakr,
the basket
maker. Some chroniclers report that he had taken
Sheikh Zainuddin
Sanjasi as his spiritual mentor,
while the names of certain other mystics have
been mentioned in other reports.
Maybe he received a grounding in the mystic
lore from all of these, at some time
or another.
Not contend with the esoteric teachings of the
path he, had had from his, tutors
that there's a mystic teaching, but there's a
formal mystic teaching, and then there's
a,
an esoteric mystic mystic teaching. So not
content with the formal mystic teaching in the
path.
He had from his tutor, Shams Tabriz, took
to extensive travels in various lands in search
of the best spiritual teacher, and thus gained
the nickname of Barinda,
meaning the the the bird.
In his travels, he took care to conceal
his own spiritual attainments.
Pretending to be a wealthy merchant, he wore
a black felt
and always bolted the doors of his room
in the inn with a costly lock, although,
there was nothing inside except for a tattered
mat. He traveled in this way to Tabres,
Baghdad,
Jordan, Rome,
Pesaria, and Damascus.
He used to weave strings,
with which trousers are fastened,
which is what the Izarband.
Those of you who wore the Pakistani salwar,
it's basically
a waistband that you put inside of your
sirwal.
It's not as complicated as a belt, but
it's
something similar.
He used to weave these waistbands,
and this was enough to meet his frugal
expenses, the money he got from selling them,
which is not again, you're not gonna make
a lot of money by that. He lived
for 1 year in Damascus where he did
not take more than a cup of soup
in a week. He often if I didn't
see only
eat once a week,
I wouldn't have thought this was possible.
He often prayed to God for a companion
with whom he could share the mysteries of
divine love.
The meeting of Shams Tabriz and Rumi.
The spiritual mentor of Shamsa Tabriz it is
related asked him to proceed to Rum,
meaning, Asia Minor Anatolia,
and illuminate a brokenhearted soul yearning for divine
love. He accordingly reached Konya on the 26th
of Jamad al Aqid in 642, Hijri,
and engaged a lodging
at an inn. One day, he saw Rumi
coming by riding on a mule in the
midst of a crowd of students and disciples
accompanying him on foot.
Shams Tabriz stepped forward and asked Rumi, what
is the object of learning in prayer?
It is to know, replied Rumi, the sharia
and its tenants.
No rejoin Shams Tabriz. The object, is to
attain what is knowable.
Thereafter, he recited this couplet of Hakim Sanai,
who was also a very famous, Sufi poet
of the Persian language.
He therefore, he thereafter, he recited this couplet
of Hakim Sanai.
Compared to that knowledge, ignorance is better, which
allows yourself to remain as it were.
Rumi was lost in amazement.
He had taken to heart the remark of.
Rumi,
now took Shamsdabris
home with him. They remained close together, reports
Aflaki, for 40 days where nobody could enter.
Sipa Salar,
another biographer of Rumi, writes that both remained
in the holy communion for 6 months in
a room where none dared to enter except
for Sheikh Saladin.
The company of Shams Tabres opened a new
vista,
of the hidden realm,
to the view of Rumi who now felt
a trenchant urge to grasp the mysteries of
earth and heaven,
through spiritual illumination.
Rumi says in a couplet,
Shams Tabriz was it who led me to
the path of reality
for the faith I have is simply his
bounty.
Rumi had so long been a profound scholar
and a successful teacher.
Disciples and students, many of them scholars and
mystics, always gathered around him in large numbers
to drink at the fountain of learning.
But now he himself became a pupil of
Shams Tabriz.
Sultan Walad, the son of Rumi,
says the sheikh himself turned a probationer.
He began to learn,
his lessons afresh, anew,
sitting at the feet of his mentor.
Although perfect,
he was in aesthetic lore, he had begun
taking lessons once more. Rumi also acknowledged it
in these lines. A mendicant I was, and
you made me a libertine,
a source of tamalt
intoxicated with wine.
Revered I was as a doctor of religion,
and you have turned me into a sport
for children.
The result was that Rumi abandoned teaching as
well as sermonizing. He says, like mercury
had I ledgers of mine,
upon which I devoted much time.
Lo, no sooner did I glance at the
forehead of the cup bearer so intoxicated I
began became that I broke my pen.
So, obviously,
this is like a really big scandal that
the Grand Mufti of Konya,
who people would flock to to answer questions.
We used to answer the questions, the big
Muftis of Damascus
while a student,
and the person for whom the the Seljuk
Sultan himself fixed, like,
grant professorship
and Madrasa for him to teach,
for him to now spend all of his
time
with this kind of unknown
like
figure, from the east,
who doesn't even seem to be all that
learned in the in the in the formal
sciences. It was a scandal. It was a
scandal scandal in the town. The students were
wondering what the * is going on. The
other are probably wondering what was going on.
And, it's just a complete something that really
nobody could come to terms with. But at
the same time, you could see how somebody
like that, you know, who's a genius, who's
a very
learned person and who was
a person who was just giving, giving, giving
all the time, how that person could be
very lonely and how they were looking for
meaning. And, you know, the spark of of
of and sincerity and enlightenment, if you saw
him saw it in in in,
in in Shams Tabriz.
The thrill of being able to learn something
and get something new that you haven't had
before
must have been overwhelming.
And so the,
the metaphor of intoxication and of wine would
be very appropriate for somebody who's looking for
something so long
and just giving, giving, giving from himself to
others and others. Everybody is taking from him,
and they loved him.
But they would take from him, and nobody
had anything that could,
fulfill him,
himself.
That when he at long last, after so
long found something like that again, that it
must have thrilled him. So, at this point,
inshallah, I think it's a good place to
stop.
Allah give us all to,
ourselves,
work hard, exert ourselves to learn everything we
can know through normal means.
And it's really my belief that the person
who does that, Allah,
whoever exerts their themselves
to better themselves and to to better their
increase their knowledge and increase their taqwa and
and and purify their heart and to do
all the good stuff they're supposed to do.
Whoever expands themselves completely in order to do
those things, as much as possible through normal
means. Once they meet the end of their
their abilities,
then Allah will continue to,
to to to give them increase
through, supernatural
and abnormal means. Allah give all of the
stuff.