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The Status of Dhakireen
English Bayan, 19 mins
3rd December, 2020

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Salaam. Thank you for your time & effort for these transcripts of the bayans & also for the live coverage pop up boxes of the kalimaat of the dhikrullah/surahs to read along while the dhikr is in progress. I just want you to know how helpful it is for the hearing impaired like myself who can follow along without difficulty especially when I get distracted & lose my place. Allah be pleased with you all! Ameen!
7th Dec, 2020
The Status of the Dhakireen
His illustrious majesty, the merciful Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was asked ‘Oh Prophet of Allah sallallahu alayka wasallam, which Salah is the greatest?’ This was a great question that was put forward regarding this Salah that we pray. If a human being realizes how to fulfill Salah in this way, then it will be complete and accepted. What a big question! And obviously, the one to whom the question is being asked is such a great personality. He is that human being from whom a response never fails to come; from his court, all solutions are attained. So Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam responded to this question about which Salah was the best and the greatest, and the answer that he gave was: ‘The Dhikr of Allah!’ Look at this. What is the prime association? Salah and Dhikr of Allah.
Then a further question was asked: ‘Which fast is the best?’ Another big question, and Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam also responded by saying ‘The Dhikr of Allah!’ The next question was ‘Which struggle is the greatest?’ Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam again said ‘The Dhikr of Allah!’ So for each of these deeds mentioned in the Hadith, deeds which are weighty and important - and we can see the rewards for the Faraaidh - the response of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to each question was ‘The Dhikr of Allah!’
The pious predecessors have commented in this regard that whichever action includes Dhikr of Allah, that becomes accepted, SubhanAllah. So these actions, if they are done in parallel with Dhikr, are elevated. The status of these actions – and any other good deeds – is increased thereby. The point is that Dhikr makes the deed accepted in the Court of Allah. SubhanAllah, what a great guarantee Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has given. And if we do not mention the Name of Allah in any action, it lacks Barakah, it is devoid of Barakah. Thus all Barakaat are contained in the Name of Allah. Allah ta’ala says ‘I have kept all the Barakaat, all the blessings, in My Name.’
If we look at another Hadith in which the subject matter is similar, we find that Allah ta’ala’s rewards and blessings continually come to a person in the Dunya. Allah’s apportionment, His bestowal, His Graces and His Mercies continue to come. One person gets this reward, another person gets some other reward, someone gets this particular benefit, and people in the world are happy with their material things. The wealthy people are happy with their wealth, and those who have children are happy with their children. In other words, everyone has a desire, and if that desire is fulfilled, he thinks ‘Ah, I have got everything! There is nothing that I require after this.’ But Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam here has also told us, according to the meaning of the Hadith, that a person can be satisfied and think that he has everything to his name. We ask from Allah, and if He gives, a person becomes proud, thinking that Allah’s Karam and Mercy are upon him because he has got what he wanted. He sees this as Allah’s great favour upon him, thinking ‘Allah ta’ala has given us what we wanted, what we desired.’
So here, Nabi al-Kareem sallallahu alayhi wasallam has stated that if a person is receiving rewards from Allah, and Allah is bestowing things upon him and Allah’s Fadhl is coming, there is a bigger reward yet. Look, whatever Allah ta’ala gives, like a home or a house, is not a kingdom or vast lands; it is not status or rank. Nothing can compare to the greatest thing that Allah ta’ala can bestow, which is the Tawfeeq to do His Dhikr. That is the greatest gift that is bestowed, the highest grace, the true wealth that Allah can give to a human being. It is the greatest – nothing else can compare.
At the moment, we are alive in the Dunya – why don’t we understand the point that Dhikr of Allah is so high and elevated in the Sight of Allah? How great is the action of Allah’s Dhikr, of remembering Him! We have spare time, but how we waste that time! We waste it in talking, chatting, discussing. We sit down gossip mongering and chit-chatting. Even in the Masjid, people sit and gossip. They go to the side and make a little portion of the Masjid into something like a rest-house for people. Ok, it may be that a little room has been made on the side in order that people can rest a little, or read the Qur’an out loud, or do Dhikr a bit loudly without disturbing those in the Masjid. But the amazing and surprising thing is that when there is such a big opportunity in the House of Allah, when such great moments of the day come containing such Barakah, then people are sat there gossiping and talking. This happens all year round – Ramadhan, Eid, whatever. On big, big days and in precious moments, these people don’t care. They are sat there having a chat in the Masjid, and they think that place has been made for this, a nice quiet corner where they can talk. But this was not the reason for the Masjid being made bigger, or for there to be an extension in the corner.
We really do waste time. How far we go to waste time! The remembrance of Allah is such a great gift that Allah ta’ala has given to us, and we are detaching ourselves from this. Allah ta’ala has given us an enormous reward in the world for this, an enormous reward. Allah says ‘Whoever has attained Dhikrullah as a practice has attained everything in this world!’ Why is this? This the point that I am trying to explain to you. Even if you don’t get anything, then actually you have got everything! Even if you don’t get anything material in the world, you attain everything. Why? Because all desires are related to the heart. It is the heart that desires things, and Allah has put a quality in Dhikr that when a person does Dhikrullah, it makes him content, satisfied and happy. SubhanAllah! That person’s heart becomes Mutama’in - content and satisfied. Even if he gets nothing, he is happy, and if he gets something, he is also happy. He is not worried or shaking or distressed or yearning; he is happy with Allah’s decision. Whoever Allah gives Dhikr to attains everything, because if he gets nothing, he is still happy due to the satisfaction that Allah ta’ala has given him. He has satisfaction and contentment, and he is at peace. And when a person is at peace, he doesn’t care about anything else. If you say ‘You haven’t got this or that from the world’, he will say ‘So what? It makes no difference to me that I haven’t got it.’ If he is told ‘But look, he has all these things and you don’t have anything’, he will say ‘Look, this isn’t a problem - no worries. I’m not bothered whether or not I have these things.’
What is this? It is a Mutama’in heart! { الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُمْ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ} Allah says that this is contentment. The heart is happy about the decisions that Allah makes, and that is why it is stated that the greatest thing that Allah has bestowed is this Ni’mah. If we run after the Ni’mahs of the Dunya and don’t get them, no worries. No issues. Allah has given us the Qur’an, Allah has given us Sabr, Allah has given us patience and endurance. We try our best in the Dunya but whatever Allah ta’ala wants to give, whatever He has written that He will or will not give, that is it. Is it not better that person goes towards Allah and starts doing Dhikrullah? Then, if he doesn’t get things, it doesn’t matter to him because he has everything. When he starts doing Dhikr and his heart becomes content, he doesn’t think about whether he has or has not got this or that. He just feels ‘Oh, I have everything!’ because he has Sakeenah, he has contentment. He has no worries about poverty or issues or concerns. If he just has dry bread to eat, he says ‘That’s fine, alhamdulillah. No difference to me. I don’t need delicacies and special foods.’ This is because his heart is satisfied; it is at peace and content, SubhanAllah.
That is why Allah subhana wa ta'ala has conveyed the message of the famous Hadith that we often hear concerning the Day of Judgement. My heart feels like relating this Hadith to you. His illustrious majesty, the Rahmatul-il-alameen, the Mercy to the worlds sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the Sayyid-ul-Mursaleen, the pride of all of Creation sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us about the Day of Judgement, on the Plain of Hashr – imagine! We spoke first about Dunya - and who gets the greatest gift in the world? Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the greatest grace is upon whom? The greatest mercy is upon whom? It is upon those men and women who do Dhikr of Allah! They obtain the greatest gift from Allah in this world if their hearts become happy and content and at peace through Dhikr of Allah – and if not, then they need to work harder.
If we are doing Dhikr and our heart is not content and the desires are multiplying, then something is lacking. How do you fill that gap? Do more Dhikr – Katheer, abundant Dhikr, a higher quantity of Dhikr. It should not be that complaints are made, like ‘Oh, I do Dhikr and I still do not get what I want. I do Dhikr and I still have issues.’ That means that there is something lacking in your heart. Sometime a person is thirsty and after he drinks a full glass of water, he says ‘I am still a bit thirsty.’ What does that mean? Water is inside, for he just drank a glass of water, but he says ‘I am still thirsty’ - so then we give him another glass, and say ‘Drink that then!’ In Ramadhan especially, if he says he is still thirsty because it is hot and humid, we say ‘Ok, here is another glass.’ In the same way, when a person does Dhikr of Allah, if the heart is not content and the desires are springing up and he has stress and issues and worries, feeling that he needs this or is desperate for that despite doing Dhikr, then the lesson is that he needs to do extra Dhikr. If he sees that he has distress and worry in the heart and negative thoughts, then he needs to do more Dhikr of Allah because the bowl of his heart is big. It is not being filled with the remembrance of Allah, so the negative thoughts are not being displaced. It will be filled by doing more Dhikr. In the same way that a person’s stomach gets filled up by water, Allah has promised in the Qur’an that a Mutama’in Qalb is obtained with Dhikr of Allah. This is a guaranteed fact. The cure for the heart that is not content is Dhikrullah. Allah says that in this way, all the desires are eliminated - wasteful things are eliminated. So do Dhikr abundantly.
So there is a great reward in the world – what about the Hereafter? What is the great reward in the Hereafter? We have heard and understood about the reward in the Dunya, but the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that on the Plain of the Day of Judgement, all of Creation will be gathered. Everybody will be preoccupied and in a distressed state, and we know from Hadith what condition people will be in. Yet there, one individual will be seen who is sat on a seat of Noor! This is on the Plain of the Day of Judgement, and we all know that the Day of Judgement is the severest of days, when people will be desperately seeking protection and refuge. Among this, there will be a person sat upon a glowing Mimbar, like a stage or a pedestal made of Noor, light and pearls. And the condition of that person will be such that the similitude of his face that we have been given– and the reality will obviously be greater than this – is that it will be like the moon of Badr, the full moon. He will be glowing, shining, satisfied. Others will be upset and stressed, but he will be happy. At that time, all of the rest of the Makhluq will be in a depressed and unhappy state, those who in this world run around seeking leadership, chasing political goals, in a disheveled, anguished state, ending up in jail, being penalised and beset with problems. Look what a person does just for the sake of status in the Dunya!
In this world, the best person is the Dhakir, the one who remembers Allah, and alhamdulillah, it is the night of Jumu’ah and Allah ta’ala has sat us down for Dhikr. Such a person is content. Worldly people are running around in the world, left, right and centre, always chasing, but the Dhakir is Mutma’in, he is happy. He doesn’t need leadership, presidency, to be a prime minister or a minster; he doesn’t need any status. He is sat there, fully content that Allah has opened the door for him to earn via Dhikrullah. He says ‘That is it – that is enough for me!’ In the same way, the situation will be like this on the Day of Judgement. There will be people who are in desperate situations on the Day of Judgement, but there will also be a person who is sat on a seat of Noor and pearls, whose face will be shining like the moon on the fourteenth night. He will be Mutma’in, happy, peaceful, unaware of what is happening around him. He won’t know about the disarray and the discontent. People will be shocked, and will ask ‘Who is this person?’
Who is telling us this? The honest, truthful one, whose statements were always true. This comes from the one who didn’t speak with his tongue unless Allah gave Wahi – Allah says in the Qur’an that he never speaks from his own impulse sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So people will say ‘Who is this person sat on that Mimbar? Is he a Nabi? Is he a Prophet? Is he a Sahabi, a Companion or a high grade Wali? Who is this person? The answer will come from Allah ‘No, no – he is not a Prophet and he is not a Wali. He is not a great personality in that sense, no. He is a person who did the Dhikr of Allah!’
Allahu Akbaru kabeera, alhamdulillahi katheera, SubhanAllahi bukratan wa aseela! Allahu Akbar – this is the Dhakir who remembered Allah! ‘In the world, he did My Dhikr’, Allah says, ‘and there I made him happy and content while people were running around madly after money and wealth. And here in the Akhirah, while others are desperate, I have made him content and happy and at peace.’ { الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُمْ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ} The Qur’an says that when there was disarray in the world, he sat there calmly. ‘Allah will give me what I need, it is ok. I try, but everything is in the Hands of Allah.’ He has no distress or desperateness, and in his life everything is Jaiz and Haq according to Shari’ah. His decisions are based upon the Haq, upon truth. Jaiz, permissible, Haq, truth – he says ‘This is in the Qur’an, this is in the Hadith. I can do this, but I can’t do that. If something comes in my destiny, good, and if it doesn’t, fine – but I won’t do something that is wrong.’ Whoever takes a wrong step, then consider that his Dhikr is very low; it is low in intensity. He needs to work harder.
SubhanAllah, that is why it is stated that the Dhakir gets this reward in the world, and SubhanAllah, in the Akhirah, on the Plain of the Day of Judgement, what a seat he will attain! This is the reality, the truth. Those who do Dhikrullah in the Dunya, their faces will shine like this in the Hereafter. The people of the world cannot see it here, but the people of the heavens can see down onto the earth what the reality of his face is. Their faces are shining even here in the world, and those who dwell in the heavens can see their faces shining. They may be sat in small, simple places in the world, but just as their faces will shine like the moon on the Day of Judgement as they sit on seats of pearls and Noor, though they may be sitting in mud shacks or straw houses, while they sit and do Dhikr in the Dunya, the dwellers of the heavens can see their true condition.
These were a few words that came to my mind on this night of Jumu’ah. Allah ta’ala has given us a great Ni’mah, for which we should be so grateful. May Allah ta’ala make of those who value and appreciate His favours. We should value the Dhikr of Allah, and value the Friends of Allah from where the Dhikr of Allah is coming. We should understand the means and the source of Dhikr and show gratitude. But no, we can’t do this. Just for four pounds extra, we run around and say ‘Oh thank you sir, I am so grateful! You have assisted me!’ Then at least be grateful to the Friend of Allah, SubhanAllah. SubhanAllah, at least be grateful for Dhikrullah.
May Allah ta’ala give all of us the ability to be grateful servants. Ameen
وأخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين
6th Dec, 2020
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