Hamzah Wald Maqbul – 25 Ramadan 1441 Late Night Majlis Shah Abd Al Qadir & Spirtual Revival Addison 05182020
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Alhamdulillah. By Allah's father, we've reached this Mubarak
25th night of Ramadan.
It is nothing except for the grace of
God that gives us days and nights like
this, that gives us months like this. If
it's,
then
may Allah
accept it from us. And if it's not,
may Allah still accept it from us. Masha'Allah.
These are nights, insha'Allah. If you have a
chance,
make
make salat in salam on the prophet
and make dua for
the betterment
of the ummah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam in this world and the hereafter.
One of the things is like, you know,
hopefully this is not like story time with
uncle Hamza
that, you know, okay,
look, I know who Ghazali is, and so
I'll sound cool with, like, all my,
you know, intellectual friends that burn expensive oud
or whatever.
This is not story time for the sake
of entertainment.
This is the,
rewire of the sil silah, of the chain
that binds us to Allah through his Messenger
through
which we receive Fuyud, through which we receive
the divine
effluence,
the divine outpouring of grace.
And
part of that outpouring of grace is definitely
something in the unseen world, which moves the
heart
and enlightens the heart and purifies it and
and and strikes away from it,
its spiritual rust,
which is a very, very unseen
and a very,
you know, maybe ethereal
type process. But some of it is
something very,
intellectual
and something very practical
for, the listener, which is what?
Look at how Ghazali turned his,
back on the world
in order to seek a higher objective and
to serve the ummah of the prophet
sallam through it and,
to come back,
instead of fleeing from the battlefield into the
luxury of the the the material world and
into prestige and position,
he, fled from the world and went back
into the battlefield after having strengthened himself
and trained for 10 years. And, he he
he went back into that midan, into that,
you know, place of combat. He jumped back
into the octagon,
even more powerful than before,
and, he said very boldly,
through his works, is there anybody who will
challenge me? And he beat them down. Every
one of them tapped out. And he's not
the only one in the, in the history
of the ummah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. So
my hope is that those who listen to
this, those few people who listen to this,
these recordings and these majalis,
even if they're only doing so because they're
bored and they have to have something to
listen to while doing the dishes or while,
you know, driving to work or whatever,
that inshallah,
that something moves inside the heart,
that makes it appealing and beautiful,
to the heart
that you Allah, would that
I also were able to strengthen myself,
would that I also was able to to
train,
and would that I was also able to
get back into that
field of battle, back into that octagon,
and
also take my share of of the burden
of the defense and the service of the
Ummah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in whatever capacity
and whatever capacity Allah has facilitated for me,
in whatever way Allah has created me because
everybody has a different jibillah. Everybody's
disposition is different.
The man who's gonna, you know, bench press
£500 is not always gonna be the guy
who,
is able to plan the finances of a
madrasa or, you know, is not gonna always
be able to be the person who gives,
a good speech. And the guy who gives
a good speech is not always the one
who's able to recite Quran beautifully
and, etcetera. So you look look into yourself
what gifts have has Allah given you. And,
you know, if something in your heart doesn't
move from listening to these then perhaps,
you know,
they're not as useful as
you may or may not think.
Allah give
all of us, this this harakah inside of
our heart,
for the better and toward him and, change
in orientation toward his nur and his light,
towards toward him,
that that that this feeling is awakened not
just when we mentioned Ghazali, but any of
these, great heroes of of Islam,
that, we wish to,
take up the the path that was chalked
out for us by the messenger of Allah,
salallahu alaihi wa sallam, in order to serve
the ummah and thereby,
claim a a a stake in Allah's love,
which inshallah will be fulfilled and made perfect
and beautiful,
in the hereafter,
and in in this world as well.
So he continues
in the end and the epilogue of his
chapter on Ghazali.
He mentions reformers after Ghazali
Despite Ghazali's successful encounter with the skepticism of
philosophers which had threatened a spiritual chaos in
Islam,
the moral and spiritual disintegration of the masses
by the end of 5th century after Hijra
had become so widespread that it required a
popular movement for the regeneration of the simplicity
and directness of faith.
So we're setting up for
something a little bit different. Because Imam Ghazali
was like
very elite intellectual,
you know,
warrior, if you want to use that, if
you wanna use that,
that metaphor.
But he said that what the millah needed
was what the millah what the ummah needed
was an illuminated and inspired mentor,
who wielded influence amongst the populace,
who could hold them spellbound and fill them
with faith and enthusiasm,
zeal, and self confidence.
The autocratic governments of the past 400 years
had definite definitely a dissolving influence on the
spiritual and moral life of the community.
And I don't wanna get too much into
politics over here because, you know, not necessarily
because we shouldn't because politics is part of
Dean as well,
but there are some people who use the
slogan of politics as part of Dean in
order to turn politics into Dean, and I'm
not I'm not down with that. You know,
whoever's king or isn't king or whoever's president
or isn't president, whatever party is in power,
you know, the the the fundamentals of the
universe don't change, and our travel toward Allah
is still the primary,
the primary goal.
So, you know,
but having made that disclaimer, having made that
caveat,
the gross mismanagement
of the of the Darul Islam,
and I'm not just talking about one government.
There are different
governments, and in general, the gross mismanagement that
they've done of
of of their governance,
and in particular, the
overbearing,
and the overbearing,
tyranny. Not letting people
do those things that they're good at. Not
letting people succeed in life for fear of
it being a threat to somebody's,
you know, entrenched monopoly that's sponsored by
some, you know, whatever colonial post colonial goon
type,
outside,
influence.
This is really rotting at at the Ummah,
and,
it's not the first time. And
give help to our people.
Give help to our people. Give help to
the person
who know, lets the people breathe and lets
them flourish.
And this is not a cry for democracy
or theocracy or monarchy or
tetrarchy or, you know, whatever. It's it's not
it's not it's not for any tetrarchy is
interesting. If you wanna read about Roman history,
you can read about the tetrarchy. What a
weird idea. At any rate, the the it's
not it's not, you know,
more general than that. It's just a cry
for somebody who can,
establish some basic safety and security in the
Muslim world. And then let people do let
people do what they're good at and what
they're made to do instead of stifling them
and stuffing them and suffocating them to death
and seeing their success as a threat.
So, the autocratic governments of the past 400
years had definitely a dissolving influence on the
spiritual and moral life of the community.
These had produced a class,
although,
which claim which although complaint claiming to profess
Islam had the aggrandizement
of self,
acquisition of material success in pursuit of wealth,
power and honor as its ultimate end. And
here honor like prestige not honor as in
like true honor with Allah.
Iranian and Hellenistic cultural influences had, on one
hand, made inroads into Muslim society while on
the other hand, paganism
of pre Islamic Jahiliya was again
reasserting itself.
The ostentatious,
conceded, and dissolute manners of the elite
grandees and retinues of,
emperors had become a model for commonality.
And God help us. God help us from
ever being, you know, in love or looking
up to such
self dissolved
and insolent goons,
such as
these that
are not in short supply nowadays and completely
fawned over and drooled over by,
the the
the ignorant masses. Allah protect us from being
those masses much as being these people.
Unmindful of the humble and poor who led
a discontented
and frustrated life. Those who had the money
to squander were busy in their own pursuits
of pleasure.
The affluent were gradually
losing all good qualities like humanity, generosity,
and benevolence while the poorer classes were incurring
the loss of qualities like patience and contentment,
confidence, and self respect.
Does it sound familiar?
Torn between a moral crisis on one hand
and social injustice on the other, the Muslim
society was threatened with disintegration.
What this critical situation demanded was an invigorating
call inviting people back to the faith, cutting
asunder the pools of worldly temptations and benefits,
reclin rekindling the desire for salvation and blessedness,
achievement of the true knowledge of Allah and
inculcating an ardent desire to submit oneself to
his commands.
It was necessary for,
it that the true meaning of tawhid, the
unity of god almighty, along with an awareness
of the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures and
inefficacy of power and riches were driven home
to the people.
The 5th century after Hijra, on the other
hand, also saw a diffusion
of arts and sciences in the,
world of Islam. We find during this time
that some of the greatest intellectual leaders brought
forth by Islam. People like Abu Ishaq al
Shirazi,
who died in 476,
Imam Khazali who died in 505 in the
real field of religious sciences, Abu Wafaa, Ibno
Aqil, and Abu Ghahl,
Al Georgiani
in jurisprudence and in literature,
Abu Zakaria Tabrizi,
who died in 502 after hijra in grammar
and lexicography,
like Badr Saman. He's like literally, he's known
as the the the the the one who
inaugurated the age.
Each one of them was a pioneer in
his own field, and every one of them
remained unrivaled for centuries to come. During such
a period of intellectual awakening, no religious mentor
could have hoped to achieve any success,
unless he himself was well versed
in, all the prevalent sciences.
It was essential that the person should be
as much acclaimed for his literary distinction and
brilliance of mind as for his moral and
spiritual excellence.
This was indeed necessary if he was not
to be brushed aside contemptuously
by the learned and elite,
classes as an illiterate fanatic.
Thus, these were the qualities demanded of a
man who could fill the hearts of the
people with faith and knowledge, cure them of
their skepticism,
and provide solace to the spiritually distressed,
and fire them with a burning desire for
moral and spiritual upliftment.
And so, say, the,
Ali,
Abul Hasan Ali,
he then makes a,
a sub,
subheading
to saints of Bardad.
If
just hearing the names doesn't fill you
with an overwhelming
faith of Nur,
then maybe,
hear
about their lives and then come back and
listen to this part again.
God almighty brought forth 2 outstanding personages during
this period who devoted their life for the
religious and spiritual revivification of the Muslims.
These were, Abdelkader al Jelani and, Abdul Rahman
ibn al Josi.
The fields of their activities were different, but
both of them deeply impressed the,
the lives,
deeply impressed upon the lives of Muslims in
their times.
It was also a blessing from Allah that
both of them had Baghdad, the metropolis of
then the Islamic world as their center and
were endowed with a long life so as
to accomplish the task,
to which they had addressed themselves.
It is also a matter of pride for
the Hanbali school of jurisprudence
that both of these luminaries belong to, that
very school, the school of Imam Ahlus Sunnah,
Ahmed bin Hambo, rahimahullah Tabarakahu Wa Ta'ala.
Chapter 8.
Abdelkader was born in, Gilan in 4/70 after
Hijra.
He was an Arab by descent,
being the 10th descendant of Saidna Al Hassan
bin Ali
alayhis salaam or alayhimus salaam
but belonged to Iran by the migration of
his ancestors.
He had come to Baghdad in 4 88
at the age of 18 years.
It was perhaps not merely fortuitous that he
arrived at at Baghdad to acquire education almost
at the same time
when another reputed teacher, Ghazali, was leaving the
city in search of the
truth. Although inclined to penance and cultivation of
religious observances from an early age, he had
addressed himself wholeheartedly
to acquire education under the most reputed teachers
of the time such as Abu Wafaa ibn
Aqil,
Mohammed ibn Hassan al Baqilani,
and Abu Zakariyah Tabrizi
Thereafter,
he turned to Tassawaf and was guided in
his tenets by his Sheikh
Abu Bakr Ahmed bin, Muslim at the Bas,
and,
and he was allowed by the later to
initiate others into
into the
Tarikah of Tasouwuf by by his, by that
mentor
and as a mentor.
Popular
enthusiasm.
After completing his education of religious sciences as
well as the training in, the Sufic disciplines,
Abdelkader
began his career as a teacher in the
seminary of,
his sheikh, Qadhi Abu Sa'id al Mahrami,
And his sermons, which were delivered in the
premises of the same institution,
there was soon such a rush of people
that extensions had to be carried out in
the building of the,
institution.
It appeared as if a whole Baghdad assembled
in his congregations.
At the same time, he claimed such an
attention,
and deference from the people attending lectures that
even the kings would have envied it. Sheikh
Muafakaddeen
ibn Qudama, the author of the Muhuni, which
is a master book of Hanbali Fiqh
in which,
the reasoning the legal reasoning of different, rulings
was explained as well as
comparison, between the Hanbali school and and that
of the other schools. The is a really
amazing book. It's an awesome book.
I, you know, for the Muftabbihi opinion of
the school, ask the masha'if of the school.
But just to just to read the book,
just to learn about fiqh in general, much
less Hanafi Humbly fiqh, it's just a really
amazing work, a very unique work.
Sheikh Muafakaddeen ibn Qudama, the author of the
Murni, records that he, had not seen a
man more revered for his piety and religious
learning than, Shabdul Qadr.
The king,
his chief, and ministers attended his sermons along
with the rank and file and used to
sit in a corner without any fanfare.
Scholars and fokaha
rubbed,
shoulders with, the students.
The enthusiastic devotion of the people in coming
to his lectures can be well imagined by
the fact that often as many as 400
inkpots were account accounted,
to record every word of the the sermon,
and they were brought in to take notes
and
and preserve what was said.
Moral excellence.
Notwithstanding the implicit reverence cherished for al Bukadir
by the people, he was always modest, humble,
and unpretentious.
He often left, work to attend to the
needs of a child or a destitute person
or a slave girl.
He never, evaded the company of the poor
even as he washed their clothes or performed
similar other personal services for them. Yet he
never stood up in the honor of any
person of the rank
and file of the elite.
If or sorry. He never stood up in
the honor of any person of rank or
of the elite.
If the, Khalifa ever paid a visit to
him, the chroniclers of his time report that
he deliberately went inside the house so he
might not have to stand up, to welcome
the king. He used to come out of
the house after the Khalifa had seated himself.
Abdelkader never paid back the courtesy
call, to any wazir or king. He never
paid back a courtesy call to them. They
would visit him, and he he he went
to no one
from the from the elite.
He went to the poor and to the
destitute.
Those who had seen Abdelkader have paid a
glowing tribute to his moral excellence and his
large heartedness,
modesty and hospitality,
generosity and goodness of his heart. One of
his contemporaries
who has had the opportunity of enjoying the
company of, Shaddu Qadr,
says that he had not seen a man
more polite, large hearted, and charitable than Sheikh
Abdul Qadr.
Despite his erudition and eminence,
he respected his elders, met the youngsters with
good grace, always saluted first, always said salaam
first,
and hailed the poor courteously with deference, but
never stood up to welcome grandees or nobles,
nor did he ever pay a visit to
any minister or governor.
Another contemporary of
Hafez Abu Abdullah,
Mohammed bin Yusuf al Barzali,
sorry, Barzali,
reports,
his prayers were readily answered.
Being extremely tenderhearted,
he would burst into tears,
if anything sorrowful or touching was meant mentioned
to him.
More often, he was to be found immersed
in meditation and recollection of Allah. He was
soft hearted, courteous, cheerful,
generous, and compassionate.
Being the off offspring of a noble family,
he was also highly reputed for his,
profound knowledge and piety. Meaning he was raised
well and, you know, he knew he knew
about the deen. He he was educated well
on top of
on top of his spiritual excellences.
And being extremely tenderhearted, he would burst into
tears.
Allah to Allah forgive us. We saw from
our masha'i when we'd anytime
was mentioned they, you know, they would cry.
They cried so much and, Allah forgive us
for being so hardhearted. They cried so much.
Allah forgive us for being hardhearted.
And these are the people of the later
times. One can only imagine how the the
ancient masha'ikh and shabdukha they were.
The testimony of Muhiuddin Abu Abdullah Mohammed bin
Hamid al Bawdadi, a jurist scholar of those
times, runs as follows.
Always, disposed to avoid things unseemly and in,
in decorous, he
only pressed for the desirable and benefiting.
He would boil with indignation if the divine
commandments were overstepped.
Right? So he wasn't just like a bunny
rabbit Sufi, you know, where, like, you're okay.
I'm okay. Yeah. Inshallah, Inshallah, Inshallah, blah, blah,
blah. He would boil with indignation if the
divine commandments were overstepped,
but remained listless to the wrongs and ill
treatments to his own person. Allah
have mercy on him.
He would never seek revenge,
sake
save for the sake of Allah
nor send back a beggar without giving him
something.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala save us. This is
Bilayn, this is the characteristic of the prophet
whose
son the sheikh was Allah
send peace and blessings and mercy on the
prophet
and upon his family.
If he had nothing to give, he would
part with the clothes that he had been
putting on.
Allah have mercy on on him. Allah give
him a great rank.
Shablu Qadr took pleasure in feeding the poor
and spending freely to meet the needs of
the destitute.
Ibn Nadjar,
reports that Shabdul Qadr often used to say,
if I were given,
treasures of the whole world, I would spend
it all on feeding the poor,
which is also one of the noble akhlaq
of the messenger of Allah, salallahu alaihi wa
sallam, who said if I was given the
mountain of Uhud and gold, I wouldn't leave
any of it without distributing it all.
Sometimes he said,
it seems that I have a hole in
my hands. I cannot keep anything with me.
If I had a 1,000 dinars, a 1,000
gold coins, I would spend every single shell
before daybreak.
This is this is interesting. The Rasul, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam himself was like this, that,
if he,
if he had if he'd been given money
or if he had more money than his
needs for the day,
he would distribute it all.
This is something I heard from Sheikh Samir,
who is
a very learned person, Sheikh Samir Nas. He
mentioned this, that the Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Salam
in our is the class of the alfia
in the seer of of Iraqi, Hafiz Zainuddin
Iraqi, that Rasool,
if he had more than what he needed,
he would go out in the streets and
he would just distribute
it. And, if he couldn't find anyone, then
he wouldn't go to his home. He would
spend the night in the masjid,
and he would distribute whatever was in excess
of the needs of the day,
in that that very
day.
He had given instructions to his servants that
as many guests as possible should be invited
for dinner.
During dinner, he always sat with the poor
and lowly, chatted with his students, or inquired
about the welfare of those,
who did not happen to be present there.
But what can I say, From our isat
is that we saw people like this? We
saw the were like this. Those people who,
if it was like a general Bayan,
you know, thousands of people will come to
listen. In America, we don't have those, like,
1,000 of 10,000 people Bayans over here. But
in the Muslim world, I've seen those those
people that that, you know, literally you
have hordes,
hordes and hordes,
of people who have taken, taken, the
tariq from them.
But inside the madrasah, they would sit with
the with the students and they would give
from their time and give from themselves,
to the students. They weren't like these kind
of elite,
you know, separate class of people that sat
only with the rich or sat only with,
themselves and, like, put on a show in
public and then, like, let their guard down
when they were alone.
Allah forgive all of us. Allah forgive all
of us. Allah give us give us stuff.
It's overwhelming. Some of these things you read
them and you've seen people who have some
glimmer of it inside of them. And if
you've ever tried to be this way yourself,
you know it's one of those kids don't
try this at home. You're just gonna you're
just gonna completely fall apart. It's a gift
from the lord. And, these people have, the
gift. And on top of it, they used
to exert their.
All we can say is may Allah have
mercy upon such people and raise them amongst
us and give us the, give us the
of honoring them if we see them.
And, you know, that's the thing with blessings
is that, you either are thankful for it,
you appreciate it through your thanks for it
while you got it,
or you learn to appreciate it by losing
it. Allah ta'ala be your protection.
His behaviour was so affectionate that everyone who
met him gained the impression that Abu Qadr,
raimahuallahu
ta'ala, had the highest regard for him. Again,
one of the noble qualities of the prophet,
alaihi wa sallam. He overlooked the faults of
others, and if he stated something on an
oath,
he readily accepted his statement. He never gave
out the secrets of others nor stated anything
before others that might put them to shame.
Reassurance to the dejected.
The analysts of his time agree that quite
a large number of miracles,
were worked by.
There are many people who,
who bore witness to,
bore witness to, Shabdul Qadr's,
Karamat, his miracles.
Sheikh Islam, Izzudine Abdi Abdus Salam and Ibn
Taymiyyah are of the view that Abdul Qadr,
was a worker of, incessant miracles, but his
miracle of miracles was filling the heart of
the
despaired and brokenhearted with faith, hope, and enthusiasm.
Allahu Akbar. He infused a breath of new
life, zeal, and self confidence
into countless persons through his powers of speech
and the spiritual power of his heart.
He was in truth a blessing for the
world of Islam for he renovated and revived
the true content of the faith and tapped
the sources of moral and spiritual strength for
a religious renaissance.
Sheikh Amr Al Qaysani reports that there was
hardly a sermon delivered by Shah Abdulkadr,
after which a number of,
the Yahud and Nasara didn't embrace Islam
in which, marauders and robbers did not repent
for their sins, and heretics and apostates did
not renounce their mistaken beliefs. Al
Jubai
relates that once
told him
that he,
wished to lead, the life of a recluse
in the wilderness, but god had willed that
people should drive benefit from him.
And it was a blessing granted unto him
that more than 500
or sorry. That more than 5,000
had
embraced 5,000,
Yahud and Nasara had embraced Islam at his
hands, and about a 100, a 1000 sinners
and criminals had repented,
for,
their misdeeds also at his hands.
We should spend some time in, in in
the remembrance of Allah
and in,
in prayer and
and. InshaAllah, this is one more thing to
make dua for
in
this night and in these nights, especially if
you catch
Say, Allah,
give us, the tawfiq that you raise
people like this, in every land of Islam.
And, you give us the tawfiq, you know,
not to be,
arrogant and,
insolent when we meet such people,
but that, when we see them, that you
give us the tofic of recognizing them. And
when we recognize them, you give us the
tolafic of taking them by the hands and
taking them by the feet and taking them
by the, by the cuff of their,
of their of their, lower garment
and never letting go.