Abu Hafsat

As-Salaam alaikum, Allahu Tabaraka Wa Ta'ala says:- "EVERY SOUL SHALL HAVE A TASTE OF DEATH" (3:185) But you/we have forgotten the day of your death and drank the goblet of some form of Satanic oblivion. You prefer to fulfill the rights of people ignoring the rights of your Lord. Keep in mind that Allah says : "WHOEVER IS BLIND (to the vision of Allah) HERE WILL REMAIN BLIND IN THE HEREAFTER AS WELL" (17:72) We should not disobey the Creator to obey creation...

As-Salaam alaikum, The solitary state of the obedient servant of Allah who thinks nothing but his Lord, transforms the servant's body in the state of humility. This is why in the Sallat (Islamic prayer), there is an action called Sujud, or prostration. Sayyadi Ibn Arabi, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote : "Dust and the earth are the roots of man's configuration, and this verifies his servant-hood and loneliness"(cited in Chittick, 1989, 317/Futuhat Makkiyyah) While preforming prayers, one Sujud to the earth, and recites, 'Subhana rabbi al-a' la wa bihamdihi' (Glory to Allah, the Exalted). With this action, man's body physically extends the geometry between the low (human) and the exalt (God)... where there is gratitude by the bower, and Compassion by the Giver. In Sujud, the more one humiliates and improvishes the solitary body, the nearer one is to Allah. According to Ibn Arabi, the lowly position of the Sujud is is a noble one when he wrote : "There is no state more noble than the state of prostration, since it is the state of attainment of the knowledge of the roots".

As-Salaam alaikum, He who seeks Allah Ta'ala must endeavor and be ready to wear the crown of sincerity on his/her head, band of Divine Presence on your waist and mount the horse of slave hood. Holding the reins of that horse, you will make that horse run in the field of love and reach the station of Transcendent Unity. Allah says: Proclaim! "He is Allah, who is the One" (112:1) Oh friend, A Seeker of Allah should nourish his inward with the water of Oneness and enlighten his soul with the Divine Light. The seeker of Allah should think of his existence as a system and should stay with Allah in all conditions like speech, action, movements, eating, drinking, sleeping or walking as Allah says : "WHEREVER YOU ARE, HE IS WITH YOU AND ALLAH MONITORS BEST WHAT YOU DO" (57:4) The seeker of Allah should keep himself engaged in the invocation of Allah perpetually, rather to the extent that he annihilates himself as Allah orders: "O BELIEVERS! KEEP REMEMBERING ALLAH ABUNDANTLY, AND GLORIFY HIM MORNING AND EVENING" (33:41/42).

Amidst the fiercest persecution and abuse that Muslims faced in the earliest Makkan period, the Noble Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, would stand, without wavering, to convey to his followers Allah's promise of Islam spreading all over the world. Tamim ad-Dari, may Allah be pleased with him, reports that the Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, said : "This matter will certainly reach every placed touched by the night and day. Allah will not leave a house of mud or (even) fur except that Allah will cause this religion to enter it, by which the honorable will be honored and the disgraceful will be disgraced. Allah will honor the hourable with Islam and He will disgrace the disgraceful with unbelief. "(Sunan Ahmad, No. 16,998, 23,865 and al-Haythami said these narrators are those of Sahih Bukhari, al-Hakim 8,326). The fact that this Prophetic prediction was made at a time when Muslims were a powerless handful, and Islam was expected to be buried in its cradle, is indeed miraculous... to predict that Islam would not just survive, but grow to strive globally, was at that point inconceivable. For us today, witnessing a quarter of the planet's population subscribing to Islam makes it clear that this was no presumption but another prophecy inspired by the Divine...

In his Ihya Ulum-din, Imam Ghazali, may Allah be Merciful to him, said that Bayhaqi related on the authority of Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, that on coming back from one of his military campaigns, the Noble Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam said to his companions :- "You have come forth in the best way of coming forth, you have come from the smaller Jihad to the greater Jihad." They said : "And what is the greater Jihad?" He replied : "The (mujahadat) striving of Allah's servants against their idle desires".

As-Salaam alaikum, A flood of Allah's unlimited forgiveness is contained in this Noble verse/ayat which reads : "Our Lord, let not our hearts go astray after You have guided us, and give us mercy from You". (3:8) The Du'a in this ayat is saying : "O Allah, keep our hearts far from confusion and straying, make us firm on the carpet of service with the stipulation of Sunnah-Nabiy, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam. " And give us mercy from You"- give us what you give, O Lord, as Your bounty and mercy, not as the recompense for our works or the compensation for our acts of obedience. Our acts of obedience are not worthy for the Presence of Your Majesty, so the only thing to do is to efface them and ignore them.

"The person who reaches the spiritual station of Islam (outward submission) never tires from performing good actions, while the person who reaches the spiritual station of Imaan (inner surrender) no longer sees his actions, and the person who reaches the spiritual station of Ihsan (beauty of soul) no longer sees himself "--Sheikh Ibn Ajiba

As-Salaam alaikum, The Salaat or Salaah... the 5 daily prayers is the second of the known 5 pillars upon which Islam is built. Prayer (Salaah) is the place for the slave (abd) to confide (munajah) in his Lord, by reciting His words and praising Him. It is the element of cordiality where he totally and completely faces and directs himself towards the Lord. As much as you approach Allah Ta'ala during the prayer(s), He approaches you. This results, if performed to perfection, in expanding the fields of secrets, or expanding the hearts by the shining of lights so that they delight in the arrival of knowledge. Observing the prayer with full attention results in one being submissive to his Lord... The Lord Almighty says in His guarded Book "So woe to them who pray, those who are heedless of their prayers" (107:4-5). He knew your weakness, so He decreased their numbers by decreasing the initial 50 to only 5, and He knew your need for His Grace and generosity, so He increased their rewards, and made them 5 to actually perform but 50 in reward. So magnify and praise Him for what He graced, and thank Him for what He bestowed and granted.

As-Salaam alaikum, We must try to know Allah, our Lord and Creator, before we try to worship Him. Our youth, and in fact, all of us, must strive to be in one of 3 categories of people :- (1) An aleem - a person with knowledge or (2) One who seeks knowledge (a student) or (3) One who listens. Do not be one who has no knowledge, and neither studies nor listens. By all means, go attend majlis ilm. Worship and do good deeds once you have attained knowledge of Allah Ta'ala. And when you do your Ibadah, be sure to perform it with Ikhlas (sincetity). Any act of worship that is devoid of sincerity is akin to a body without ruh (spirit). It becomes worthless, as Allah will not accept it or reward it. Sheikh ibn Ata'illah as-Sankandari said : "Your amal has ruh only when there is Ikhlas in it". The Prophet, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, in a Hadith-Qudsi reported that Allah says Sincerity is one secret of His secrets. Allah keeps the secret of Ikhlas in the hearts of His chosen Servants.

As-Salaam alaikum, According to the Holy Qur'an, the divine power to create by language manifests through the Command KUN (Be!). Allah Ta'ala says : "Our Command to a thing when We will it, is to say to it Kun and it is" (16:40) Several verses attest to this mode of creation :(2:117, 3:47, 3:59, 6:73).. A Prophet may also be endowed, with Allah's permission, with the miraculous power to bestow life as seen in Qur'anic reports concerning Ibrahim and Isa (alaihim us-Salaat Was-Salaam) : both were able, the one calling out (2:260) and the other through breathing (3:49, 5:110), to bring dead and inanimate birds into life. ABD al-Wahab Sha'arani, a 16th century Egyptian Sufi master, in his hagiographical Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, ascribes to al-Rufa'i a citation of a divine tradition (Hadith-Qudsi) in which Allah says: 'O sons of Adam, obey Me and I shall obey you, observe Me and I shall observe you, and I shall make you say to a thing' Be'! and it will be".. even with this privilege Allah gives to some of His Servants, it is still approached with the reservation demanded of good manners towards Allah. The courteous among the Ahlullah, who may have the power to dispose, or some other supernatural ability to operate upon something, do so by means of their religious deed, not by means of KUN. They do this largely by means of BISMILLAHI RAHMANI RAHEEM (In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate). For such men full of Adaab (courtesy), and respect to the Divine Court, with regard to bringing something into existence, the formula of BASMALA is like KUN for Allah, by its means certain men bring forth what they will into existence, says Ibn Arabi in his Futuhat Makkiyyah.

As-Salaam alaikum, The Noble Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, said : "When Allah desires good for someone, He gives him understanding of the Deen" (Bukhari and Muslim) He also said : "Allah makes the way to the Garden (Jannah) easy for whoever treads a path in search of knowledge" (Muslim). Travelling on the path of/to knowledge refers both to walking along an actual pathway, such as going on foot to assemblies of the Ulama or following a metaphysical road, like studying and/or memorizing. Knowledge is a short path to Allah.. Whoever travels the road of knowledge reaches Allah and Jannah by the shortest route. Knowledge also clears the way out of darkness, ignorance, doubt and skepticism. That is why Allah called His Book, "Light".

As-Salaam alaikum, Says Allah Ta'ala in verse/ayat 27 of chapter 30 of the Holy Qur'an : "AND HE IS THE ONE WHO BEGINS CREATION AND THEN RENEWS IT." (30:27) Allah Ta'ala is the One who begins creation either from dust or from pure non existence. He is the one who originated the creation without a primordial pattern. He thus originated it and then brought it into existence after it had been nothing. The words "... and then renews it", means as Imam Mujahid said: "That He originates creation then causes it to perish and then He will revive it for the Resurrection".

As-Salaam alaikum, Just take a moment and consider it, the earth cannot contain 'LA ILAHA ILLALLAH'.. Everything in creation disappears in it. So, say it, recite it! All secrets that Allah Ta'ala created will enter it and all the Divine Attributes are in it, and that is why Allah likes us to say this Beautiful Kalima. He says nothing can contain 'LA ILAHA ILLALLAH' because it comes from Noorullah, and Noor-an-Nabi comes from Noorullah, that is why you follow the Noor. The Prophet's Light is from Allah's Light, so the Noor follows the Noor as it cannot be separated, and it will to its origin..

As-Salaam alaikum, In the Hadith, the Noble Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, said : "Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately. Always adopt a middle, moderate, regular course, whereby you will reach your target". (Bukhari, hadith No. 470) Following the path of moderation and balance in everything make us to want for our brothers what we want for ourselves... thereby choosing truth over selfish want and desire.

As-Salaam alaikum, Says Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, in ayat 99 of chapter 15 of the Holy Qur'an : "AND SERVE YOUR LORD TILL THE INEVITABLE (death) COMES INTO YOU" (Hijr-15:99) Therefore our commitment to submit to Allah Ta'ala should not be a fad, a temporary emotional reaction, we should not waver despite all the highs and lows of life. The goal is to reach the end our life in a state of total submission to our Creator.

As-Salaam alaikum, "No vision (eyes) can grasp Him, but He sees (grasps) all eyes: He is above all comprehension". (6:103) In other words, no sight can reach Him (Allah Ta'ala), while He is in all that sees. Ibn Arabi here observes that "No eyes can see Him, so no one can perceive Him. He is the only existence, and if no one can see Him, then there is no one besides Him. If there were other existences besides Allah, they should have been able to see Him. So the meaning of " the eyes cannot see Him.." is that there is no existence other than His. The eyes cannot see Him because the eyes are created.." Source 'Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom', by Ibn Arabi (Fons Vitae, 1997).

As-Salaam alaikum, Abu Darda'i, may Allah be pleased with him, related that the Prophet, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, said :- "Allah did not reveal to me to make trade of (with) Allah's Words or to collect (amass) wealth, but He revealed to me, 'But celebrate the Praises of your Lord and be of those who prostrate themselves in adoration" (Surah Hijr, 15:98) see Ibn Majah and ad-Daylami. Since it was not revealed to the Prophet, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, to accumulate money/wealth this indicates that it is not necessary for the whole Ummah to accumulate money over money, beyond one's needs. But we are all charged to "Praise Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and be from the people who make Sajda".

As-Salaam alaikum, Says the Noble Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, "ITBA-S-SAYIAAT AL-HASANAH TAMHOOHA.. Follow bad deed (you may have done) with a good deed, as it (will) erase it". (Tirmidhi) When you commit a sin, immediately follow it with 'astaghfirullah' : that will erase the sin. Don't say, 'I have too many sins'. No, do not complain or it will be as if you are contradicting the verse of the Holy Qur'an : "Remember your Lord (Allah) when you forge" (18:24) So, whenever you commit a sin, something bad, follow it with goodness and it will erase it. Many Regards.

As-Salaam alaikum, "AND WHEREVER AND IN WHATEVER CONDITION YOU ARE, ALLAH IS WITH YOU" (57:4) This ayat/verse of the Holy Qur'an makes us realize that Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, our Creator, is always with us and He is observing what we are doing and is aware of what is in our heart. As this realization gains strength, you find that one's capacity for obedience and adherence to the Shari'a enhances correpindingly, and one obeys with complete sincerity and devotion. Then all fear, of other than Allah, is expelled and all hopes in ghair-Allah (any one other than Allah) are severed.

...Muhammad Rasulullah, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam.... ''Muhammad Basharun, Wa laysa Ka'l-Bashari, Bal Huwa Yaaqootatun Wa Naasu Ka'l-hajari''... meaning ''Muhammad is a man, but not like other men! He is a gem, and human beings are stones'' (Imam al-Busayri in his Burdat ash-Shareefah) ALLAHUMMA SALLI ALA SAYYADINA MUHAMMAD AN-NABIY UMMIY, WA ALA AHLIHI, WA ASHABIHI AJMAEEN.

As-Salaam alaikum, "Maraja'l-Bahrayn yaltaqiyan, baynahuma barzakh-ul la yabghiyaan.. He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together: Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress''. (Rahman, 55: 19-20) Here, Allah Ta'ala sends 2 seas/bodies of water to crash together [ one salty and the other wholesome and sweet ], but between them is a barzakh they do not breach. This is one of the many favours of Allah...sea water is a sanitating agent, while fresh water is sweet and palatable to drink. And allegorically, the 2 seas here are traditionally understood to be this world ( dunya) and the other world (akhirah). We enter into the other world through the barzakh at death and during the dream. We might try to be conscious and aware during the dream, or as we approach sleep, until we are actually dreaming, or we wake up hours later back into consciousness. The idea of ''the limit''....''barzakh'' in the ayat takes us into the question of consciousness, and the fact that the other world is not far away. The 2 worlds are separated by the thinnest of membranes, a bounded null surface.

As-Salaam alaikum, 1.The older we get, the weaker our hands because Allah is educating us to let go of the love of the world (Surat Hud-11:15/16). 2. The older we get, the blurrier our eyes become because Allah is brightening the eyes of the heart to see the Hereafter (Surat Isra-17:72) 3. The older we get, the more sensitive we feel because Allah is teaching us that the relationship between the heart and the creatures is always empty, but the heart that is attached to Allah never disappoints (Surat Luqman - 31:22) 4. The older we get, the whiter our hair.. because Allah is reminding us of the white shroud (Surat Al Imran - 3:185)..

As-Salaam alaikum, The 'Ulama tell us that there are 3 types/kinds of heart, namely : (1) The purified inward-- qalb-e-saleem. (2) The inward returned to Allah - - qalb-e-muneeb and (3) The inward engrossed in observation of Allah - - qalb-e-shaheed. The purified inward has nothing but Allah. The inward returned to Allah is attentive only towards Allah, turning away from everyone. The inward engrossed in observation of Allah witnesses only Allah and His nature in everything. Allah Ta'ala says: "And (also) do not follow him whose inward We have made neglectful of Our invocation and who follows but the urge of his (inner self) and his case has exceeded all bounds" (18:28) The man of inward never looks towards anything but Allah.

As-Salaam alaikum, The Prophet of mankind, the peace of our heart and mind, the most generous and kind, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, has stated : "Whoever recites Salaat upon me 100 times, Allah Azzah Wa Jallah, inscribes between his 2 eyes that he is free from hypocrisy and the fire of Hell, and on the Day of Judgement He will keep him with the martyrs" (majma-uz-Zawaid, pg. 253, vol. 10, Hadith 17,298)

As-Salaam alaikum, According to Sheikh Najm al-Din al-Kubra, may Allah be Merciful to him, "Whoever wishes to follow the path of the Hereafter must adhere to 8 conditions : (1) Persistent ritual purity in as much as possible. (2) Constant fasting. (3) Uninterrupted silence. (4) Assiduous seclusion (5) Abiding recollection of 'there is no god but God (La ilaha illallah)' (6) Enduring submission to God and abandoning any resistence to God Most High. (7) Repelling of thoughts that obstruct following the path of the world to come and (8) Bonding of one's heart with the Sheikh in solving spiritual problems and interpreting visionary experiences that may occur. " See the SHEIKH's work titled " A Treatise On Spiritual Retreat (Risala fi'l-Khalwa) ", by Najm al-Din al-Kubra for further reading. Best Wishes.