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No One Will Miss Salaah After This Bayan
English Bayan, 47 mins
11th May, 2021

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​No One Will Miss Salah after this Bayan
​Allah subhana wa ta'ala has delivered us to this stage of Ramadhan with His Fadhl and grace and blessings, and out of His tremendous Karam, we have been given one extra fast as well. Really, the point is that Allah’s Ni’mahs on us human beings are so extensive, and the biggest of all those Ni’mahs is what? The biggest Ni’mah from Allah ta’ala is when He gives us a Hukm to do something. This is a great Ni’mah! When the King of kings, the Owner and the Controller of the Universe tells me to prostrate, SubhanAllah, I should think ‘Look at this – Allah is asking me to do this even though He has all the great angels and the rest of creation who are ready to worship Him.’ The trees and the stones are ready to prostrate to Him, and the birds in the skies will prostrate to Him, so why is Allah telling me and you to do this? From all of creation, Allah ta’ala is asking us dirty and impure human beings to prostrate to Him – SubhanAllah. Think about this.
This is the biggest Ni’mah of Allah ta’ala – this unique and Ajeeb point came into my heart. We think other things are the blessings and treasures and Ni’mahs of Allah, but the real Ni’mah is that we have been given the order to do something. If someone with a high status in the world asks for a glass of water, those around him run to fulfil his command – why? Because they think ‘Look at who is asking for the glass of water – he is a great person, so I am fortunate to be able to bring him water to drink.’ So how fortunate are we that Allah subhana wa ta'ala says ‘Keep a fast for Me’ – SubhanAllah. If Allah ta’ala asks us to recite just a little bit of Qur’an for Him, does He not have anyone else to recite the Qur’an to Him from His Makhluq? Can He not hear the Qur’an by any other means? Tell me. So any Hukm that a human being gets to do an Amal is a very great treasure – it is a gift. If we were not given these commands, then what would we do? Never mind human beings, Allah could tell the stones and rocks and to prostrate to Him, and if He did so, they would rush to prostrate. Do we not realise this?
So listen to this point and understand it. Regarding any order of Allah, if we feel that it is a burden and is too hard and therefore reject it, then we will get nothing, just as someone who rejects the commands of a powerful person in the world gets nothing - neither favour, nor affection, nor love, nor special treatment nor closeness to him. Think about it - this will be what results from not doing what a powerful person asks you to do. The response to such requests is a gauge of the sincerity of a person – this is another point that has come to me. If you say that you are close to a person and sincerely love them, the test of this comes when that person gives you a duty or a task that is a burden on your condition and which gives you difficulty and shakes you out of your comfort zone. If you don’t fulfil the task, then this shows that there is no sincerity and that you do not think the relationship has any benefit to you. Your feelings and reaction to being asked will demonstrate this automatically. Why? Because in such a relationship – with Allah or with anyone in the world – if you want to get something from them, you have to give something first. This is the principle, SubhanAllah. We want Allah ta’ala to give us this and that and the other – we always have things that we are asking from Allah – so how can there be a challenge in our hearts to the requests that He makes of us? How can it be that we neglect them or step back or put up barriers to fulfilling those requests? If the human being will not give anything, then what will Allah ta’ala give? Tell me. If that is the case, is it realistic to be hopeful of getting anything from Allah, or that He will provide for you, or that you can acquire His mercy in this way?
So one thing we have understood is that if Allah - or anyone in a worldly setting who has a higher status than us - asks us to do something and our hearts challenge that and react against it, then immediately it should be clear that something is lacking and that we do not have love for that person. The criterion for love is explained in the story of Shiri and Farad, when Shiri said to Farad ‘Do you love me?’ He said ‘Yes,’ and then she said ‘Okay – can you see that big mountain in front of us? Bring a river of milk out of it for me then.’ Because his love was real, he went to the mountain straightaway and started pulling boulders off the mountain in order to extract milk from it. Say SubhanAllah. What was driving him on? Why did he not give up? Because he had proper love and passion and emotion inside him – say SubhanAllah. This is a simple example. So how can it be that Rabb-e-Karim, our Maula and our Master, tells us to do an action and we do not fulfil it? Allah says ‘Do this action,’ and we reply ‘Oh no, I’m not going to do that,’ and then we make negative comments about that action. Do people not do this in the Dunya today?
So my brothers, whatever task Allah ta’ala gives, the duties that Allah ta’ala has explained are very beloved to Him, SubhanAllah, so a person should devote all his energy to that, thinking ‘Allah ta’ala loves this and is telling me to do it.’ A person should give his all for that. Allah says in the Qur’an {قُلۡ إِن كُنتُمۡ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى} – is this a very difficult task that Allah ta’ala has instructed us to do here? Tell me. But today, how many people are obeying the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and following his Sunnah? Tell me. Who gave this order? Allah! And what did He say? He said that this action is very beloved to Him, and after doing this action, He announces He will give Faidh and Karam and love and blessings to that person. He names those who do this, saying ‘Today, I will make a gathering of the angels and will mention you in that gathering and declare your name.’ So should we be lazy? No – look at this point.
So why do we turn away from Allah and consider that His orders are a burden and are too difficult? How is it that we say ‘This is too hard – I cannot do this at all’? There is a reason for this – the enemy is behind this. Is that not the case? We have two wretched enemies, our Nafs and shaytan, and the Nafs, the base desires, is so wretched that it plays with the human being – the Nafs is even more dangerous to the human being than shaytan. It is the Nafs that stops us doing these actions – it is the Nafs that prevents us from taking the Faidh from our Sheikh. I have told you how the Faidh comes from this connection, but the Nafs stops its flow by putting us off; it takes us away from the orders and instructions of the Sheikh, in which case how can we hope for the Faidh to come to us? It is also Nafs and shaytan that take us away from Allah ta’ala.
Due to the fact that this is a gathering of Tasawwuf, a Naqshbandi gathering, I relate everything to Tasawwuf so that we can be improved and refined and do Tarbiyyah as we go along. In a common gathering, I would not need to make these references. Why do I mention the Faidh of the Sheikh? Because we are in great need of this – a Mureed cannot get to the end point if he does not attain these qualities, so listen to what I am saying, otherwise, all the time and effort someone makes will be wasted. That is why I present these points that come into my mind to be of benefit to you along the way. Apart from this, there is nothing special about this gathering. So understand that these points are presented as Tarbiyyah, and be grateful to Allah, admitting that we are weak in many respects and that we need to correct ourselves by means of these points. What good discussion and points are shared here.
So Nafs and shaytan prevent a person from implementing the orders that Allah ta’ala gives us, and they also prevent a person from carrying out the orders that come from the Sheikh. How do they contaminate those instructions? How do they create confusion in a person’s mind? They say ‘It’s okay, and it’s a good thing to do, but it is too difficult for you – you won’t be able to do it. What is the benefit? You can run after these actions and try, but you won’t be able to do it. It is too hard for you, so leave these actions for now – you can always come back to them later. We can have another think about it after a few days.’ Allah ta’ala says ‘Come to me in the morning for Fajr. Wake up and pray.’ Allah ta’ala has given us the time period and the method and the instruction, and has said ‘This is what I want from you in the morning at the time of Fajr’ – SubhanAllah. ‘Oh you, son of such and such, oh you, daughter of such and such – do this!’ This message is coming from Allah – ‘Wake up in the morning at Fajr time because I have a duty for you.’ This is from Allah, who gives us our food and bread and sustenance, so if He is giving us Sajdah as well, what is the big deal? He is saying ‘I have a duty for you – wake up in the morning at the time of Fajr, at 4 or 5 in the morning, come to this Masjid and make two Sajdahs’ – SubhanAllah.
Is this a favour from Allah, or a difficulty for us? Is this an honour? Yes, Allah ta’ala has honoured us with this – there is no other word for it. What a great honour Allah ta’ala has given us, what respect and dignity has been bestowed with this request. Don’t think of this as a general message to everyone, rather consider that Allah has sent you a personal message: ‘Get ready at 4.30am and come to this Masjid and do just two Sajdahs to Me. That is all I want from you.’ Say SubhanAllah! Allah says ‘Just do two Sajdahs for Me.’ So if my Maula has said this to us, how could we even go to sleep at night? If someone with a high worldly status asked us to deliver something to him at that time, would you go to sleep that night? You would feel ‘Oh, he has asked for this favour – I must be sure to do as he asks.’ The Ashiq, the one who loves the orders of Allah, wakes up at Tahajjud time in order to be ready in advance, thinking ‘Allah ta’ala has given me a big duty and request – the Owner and Controller of the entire Universe has given me this instruction, so I cannot imagine what reward Allah ta’ala will give me for this. Allah will give me so much for doing what He has asked me to do. What rewards may the Master of the Universe bestow upon me?’ So then he runs to the Masjid, not listening to anyone, without hesitation, as quickly as he can. He doesn’t know inside himself what message he is running towards – say SubhanAllah. He is running in response to the message that Allah gave, saying ‘Come and make two prostrations to Me,’ and he gets such Sukoon and contentment from fulfilling the task that Allah ta’ala has given him. He doesn’t really appreciate these points that I am describing, but this is the real story. The Hukm comes to us, and we make our way to that place where that order can be fulfilled.
So if Allah ta’ala says ‘I feel like those people in Bolton should keep a fast for thirty days in Ramadhan’ and this message that I am describing in this way reaches us, we shouldn’t consider it as a duty or an obligation. If you think of it as a duty or an obligation, then you cannot win. Rather, you should consider Allah ta’ala’s orders to be a favour on you - a gift. This is a very important point that I am sharing with you, and if you think like this, you will never miss a Salah in your life. No one who understands this point could discard Salah, nor could they say that they don’t want to do it or that they don’t feel like it when the order to perform the Faraaidh comes. I am telling you the solution to this today. When the time for Fardh Salah comes, leave everything and don’t think ‘This is Fardh and the Ummah was given this’ – leave all these dramas. Just think ‘This is about me and my Rabb. Me and My Owner have a connection and a relationship – I am His servant, and I do whatever He tells me to do because I am His slave. When time for Fardh comes, Allah has ordered me personally to go – not you, me. I have no connection with you. This is about me, and I am so happy that Allah ta’ala has told me to get up now, to make Wudhu and leave everything else to come.’ Allah is saying ‘Come to Me and make four or five Sajdahs to Me.’ SubhanAllah.
With this attitude, you will be rejoicing as you go, so change the Nafsi, negative thought processes that make you feel as if Allah has given you a burden with His Hukm, and that you have to do it, otherwise you will be punished and will go into Jahannam. Forget this way of thinking and say ‘My Rabb has given me this order – my Creator has selected me to do this action for Him.’ You will never leave Salah after that. Why? Because it is shaytan and Nafs who are telling you that the orders of Allah are too hard for you to do. Allah ta’ala has given us Hukm in the Qur’an, saying ‘Oh people of Iman, fasting has been made Fardh upon you’ – Allah has said this, hasn’t He? And it has been made Fardh for you just as it was made Fardh for the previous Ummahs, and the objective for this was that Allah ta’ala wants to save us from the fire of Jahannam. Allah says {لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ} – that this has been prescribed so that we can become His beloved servants. The meaning is that Allah is saying ‘This will make you love Me, and I will love you’ – SubhanAllah. What a great reward Allah ta’ala is giving here! Is this a burden? Tell me. This is a message to the Ashiq that a reward is being promised for staying hungry for thirty days; Allah is saying ‘The reward will be that, after the thirty days, I will purify you and you will become My beloved.’
If you have Yaqeen, then Allah ta’ala has explained throughout the Qur’an the definition of being one of the Muttaqeen, and what He has prepared for them in Jannah. Allah ta’ala is making us a Muttaqi in these thirty days – that is what He has said, isn’t it? We have been told to stay hungry for thirty days and to leave this and that, and, on top of that, Allah ta’ala has reduced our sleep at night, and has told us to increase Salah and pray twenty Rakahs extra. So in the morning, stay hungry, and in the evening, increase Salah – and this is where the Nafs comes in. It says ‘Oh, this is very hard – who can do this?’ Today, me and you have this Nafsi attitude – I tell you this. Otherwise, we would think of these thirty days of fasting as a great order. Allah ta’ala didn’t give these thirty days to any Ummah – they may have had just a few days or even a few moments as their fast. If Allah loves a person more and considers that he is on a higher level, then Allah ta’ala gives more tests to that person – so we are a beloved people. Do not complain to Allah, therefore, for being a beloved Ummah. A Muslim does not complain – whatever situation he is in, he should consider that he is the beloved of Allah and be grateful to Allah. Never say ‘Oh, I’m finished because this has gone and that has gone.’ No, rather, consider that Allah’s favour is on you, and remember that whoever Alah ta’ala loves more, He gives more to that person and tests that person more.
So Allah ta’ala has presented His desire here – it is not an order. There is a reward that goes with it, so Allah ta’ala is saying that He would like us to do this; He wants us to do this. But the Nafs turns it on its head and says ‘Oh, these fasts are such that if you don’t keep them, you will go to the hellfire.’ Look, there are two ways to go – either you practice through fear of being beaten by the stick on your back, or due to hope for reward and affection. The Nafs focuses on a weak point and says ‘Oh this is too hard – I can’t do this.’ But Allah tells us of a big reward and solution in the next verse – and you can see this clearly. There is a unique statement in the next verse {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} – SubhanAllah. These thirty days and nights of big Mujahidah are described by Allah as {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} – Allah is saying ‘There’s no problem - it’s just a while, just a little while’ – SubhanAllah. It is just for a few days. Yes? In reality, weak people like me are able to stand firm during the month due to this verse. Look at the concept that Allah ta’ala is presenting here - Allah is opposing the reaction of the Nafs after giving such a big order. And what is the training that Ramadhan is giving to us? That Allah will enable us to continue with this practice for all the days of the year.
This is such a great method of training and development. You know when soldiers train, they are being prepared for important events and expeditions, and even if they don’t have to take part in any big actions, they are prepared in advance. So Allah ta’ala has given us these Mujahidaats and has made us work hard, so that when any of Allah’s orders come in our lives, they should seem small and not present us with any difficulty or pain. We remain hungry for thirty days, so if we happen to go hungry for a week due to some effort we have to make, then we will cope because we are used to this after these thirty days. Say SubhanAllah. In life, difficult challenges will come, ups and downs will come – these tests and trials are part of life – but a person who practices these thirty days will be ready when they come. He will say ‘Oh Allah – I am ready because I have done this sort of thing before; I have practiced making an effort like this.’ He will be used to it due to Ramadhan – say SubhanAllah.
Look at Allah’s great favours on us in preparing us for these times that do come in life - there could be a week when you can’t eat due to illness or some other severe hardship; thousands of examples like this can arise. If you look around the world, you can see that poverty can come, and also drought and scarcity, and Ramadhan helps at that time; the Mujahidah done in Ramadhan will help at that time. The Mu’min doesn’t cry because he has already trained for thirty days, so he says ‘I can cope with this for a week – the time will soon pass and the test will soon pass.’ Just as we prepare dates and water for Iftar, when the test comes in life, a person approaches it as if it were Ramadhan and waits for Allah ta’ala to lay out the food mat and allow him to break the restrictions. Allah will bring improvement to the situation, so he has no worries and says ‘I have no worries about hunger and poverty – just as dates and water came to break the fasts of Ramadhan, Allah ta’ala will send food from Jannah to me.’ A person doesn’t get scared when the tests come – he waits for Allah’s help. So why did Allah ta’ala say {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ}? Allah ta’ala is giving encouragement by saying that there are just a few days – ‘This is nothing, oh My creation. The month will pass and you won’t even realise that thirty days have gone by.’ What does this mean? In reality, Alah ta’ala has introduced a thought process into our minds so that we can develop this resilience, and think ‘Okay, this is no big deal.’
So when the time comes to perform Ibadaat which seem severe and difficult, and when feelings of laziness and negligence come, and when we think ‘Oh no, this is too hard - how can I do this?’, Allah ta’ala has given us a Tariqa and a means of snapping out of this. We have been given the means to overcome these feelings of laziness – Allah ta’ala has taught us a very beautiful method here. If I feel hardship when it comes to getting up for Fajr, or if we feel that we can’t get to the Masjid for Dhuhr, we should think back to the efforts we made in Ramadhan and remember that this is nothing. We did thirty days as if it was nothing, so what difficulty is this in comparison? It has become easy for us to keep a fast now, SubhanAllah. Never think of having to get up for Fajr or the other Salahs as a hardship that has been imposed every day throughout your whole life and look over the timetable for the coming days despairingly – this is the biggest destruction for us. This attitude will not let us become a proper Namazi. This way of thinking and looking ahead is not the way of the lover; a person who has love does not think like this.
If we start thinking ‘Oh, I have to pray today and then tomorrow and then the day after that as well – this is too hard. And then I will have to pray again after that – I will always be praying Salah, so who can do that?’ Nafs deceives you in this way, saying ‘Oh, I will have to leave my job if I do this, and I can’t follow my career path and work pattern’ – what is the result of this way of thinking? That person will not go to Salah – he won’t go. By contrast, what is the lesson of Ramadhan? We didn’t think of Ramadhan as being thirty days, rather we approached each fast as a discreet, isolated day, knowing that it is {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ}, that it does not last too long and does not extend into the distant future. Take it one day at a time – approach your Fajr and Dhuhr prayers in the same way. Look at Fajr just for today – don’t think about tomorrow. Think ‘Allah ta’ala has given me life in this moment that I am in right now, and I have been given the order to pray Salah today’ – say SubhanAllah. Look at the moment you are in right now. Take the message to be ‘Today Allah ta’ala has ordered me to come and pray Fajr in the Masjid,’ and then go to the Masjid for prayer. This is the order for today – it is not tomorrow’s order. Think ‘Allah has ordered me to pray this one Salah, so come on – get up. Why not go and pray Salah?’ That’s it! If you think like this, then for your whole life, you will just see that one Salah in front of you – nothing else. Similarly, Allah ta’ala is saying that all these fasts should be taken one by one –we don’t know whether we will get a chance for another one, so why do we count them? SubhanAllah.
Now, how do we strengthen this way of thinking – this is a real point here. There are no two meanings, and to think otherwise is deception; it is just the tricks of the brain. Today, right now, I am sat here, and it makes complete sense for me to say that this is my final Dhikr. But we think ahead and burden ourselves with thoughts of all the things we think that we are going to have do. If a person comes to Fajr and then becomes ill thereafter, will he come to Fajr the next day? No – he won’t come. Some people who attended the gathering of Dhikr yesterday are not here today because they have fallen ill – did they know yesterday that they would not be here today? We delude ourselves when we think too far ahead and we make a lie of the truth. Allah’s Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated about this in a beautiful way, saying ‘When you do any action related to the Hukm of Allah, whether Salah, fasting, Hajj, Zakah, Sadaqah, Dhikr, Qur’an, don’t think that you will have a chance to do it again. No - treat any such Ibadah as if it were your final Ibadah, your last Ibadah.’
What is Allah subhana wa ta'ala explaining? We want to treat every action we do as if it is permanent, but if we don’t attain Yaqeen about the temporary nature of our lives, we will never be a Namazi, and we will never be steadfast and regular on any Amal. After every Amal, make this Dua: ‘Oh Allah, this was my final Salah – I don’t know whether I will be able to come to prostrate to You again, or whether I will be able to come to the Masjid again after this. Through Your Karam and grace, You have allowed me to pray Salah.’ A person who thinks like this does Dua and Astaghfar, seeking forgiveness for his sins because he feels that this may be his final action – and the final actions are the most valuable actions. We consider that the final actions are those at the time of death, but how do you know when your death will come? You don’t even know when you are going to have to go into hospital or when illness will strike. This is why Allah ta’ala has not made the time of our death apparent – in this way, every action that a Muslim does can be regarded as his last in the court of Allah. Do you understand what I am saying, or is it hard for you to grasp my point? If you have understood, say SubhanAllah. So whenever a human being feels laziness, he should say to himself ‘You madman, this is my last Salah. This Dhuhr Salah is the final Salah in my life, so how can I leave it? I don’t know if I will get another Dhuhr in my destiny – no, I cannot leave it.’
We regularly hear people say this after Ramadhan - ‘I don’t know if Ramadhan is going to come again.’ This is the same point relating to {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} – Allah ta’ala has said this, has He not? People say ‘Ramadhan has gone – I wonder if we will get Ramadhan in our destiny again,’ and Allah has explained that the days are very few - {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} – and so we don’t know if they are going to come again. So what should you do? Allah is telling us to stay awake because we don’t know whether Ramadhan will come again, and this is what makes us do these great actions in Ramadhan. Do people do this or not? Yes – and this is due to this factor of {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ}. Alhamdulillah, this one sentence in the Qur’an has made a person so regular, thinking ‘I don’t know whether Ramadhan will come again in my life, so let me read some Qur’an today.’
We have been given an extra fast, haven’t we? Say alhamdulillah! I remember an event concerning my Hadhrat Sahib rahmatullah alayh, which I may have shared with you before, but it relates to this. We were on Umrah in this same final phase of Ramadhan, and it was very hot – you know how severe the heat of Makkah can be, and the fasts in Makkah are something else as well – say SubhanAllah. You can bear all these things, but more difficult is when the Sheikh makes you work hard and do Mujahidah. Spending time with the Sheikh is very difficult, my friends. Those who have spent time with their Sheikh know what I am talking about – the times of the schedule can change, the routines can change, and he can give you a task that seems impossible. This happened to me once, when Hadhrat Sahib gave me a task that was so difficult that it made me lie down at the back and think ‘How can I do this task?’ The duty that Hadhrat Sahib gave me was to go and find someone who had got lost. This was during Hajj time, so imagine the scene. I had been doing Khidmah of Hadhrat Sahib and I was charged with going to find a member of the party who had become separated. I was not the sort of person who rejects the request of the Sheikh – the Ashiqs are like Farad and are ready to extract milk from a mountain! I thought ‘If Farad was ready to do that, should I not listen to my Sheikh’s order? Otherwise, what is the point of me being in Makkah sitting behind my teacher?’
This is what happens in such situations – when you get a task, you have to fulfil it. Hadhrat Sahib said ‘Go and look for this child – quickly.’ The whole Jamat were sitting there, so I said ‘Okay’ and I got up. But the crowds were so thick that I was thinking ‘I could get lost in this myself – how am I going to find this person?’ But my Sheikh had ordered me to do this, so I started walking. Say SubhanAllah - this was an Ajeeb event! So I started walking here and there and after a while I began to feel tired. I came to a pillar with rolled-up carpets around the base, and I was hungry and thirsty, so I thought ‘Let me stop for a bit and rest here.’ I am just showing you how great sincerity is, and how you should never lose hope when it comes to the orders of Allah, or the orders of your Sheikh. Never lose determination in these circumstances, because your efforts in both of these will take you towards the Deen. If your Sheikh asks you for a favour or to do something, consider that he is calling you towards Allah through this. It is not a thief who is asking for your assistance – be sure that in every action and instruction of the Sheikh, there is a Deeni benefit for you. It all relates to the Deen, even if it is a personal request that he is making. If he asks you to feed him sweet foods, don’t think that he is getting the sweets, rather think that he is feeding you the sweets by means of this request. Say SubhanAllah. This is the thinking and the Aqeedah that you should have in the teacher. Don’t think ‘Why didn’t he ask that student? Why did he tell me to do this? There should be absolutely no questioning of the Sheikh’s requests.
So I walked and walked, looking all around as I went – look how the help comes. So I lay down, thinking ‘I will rest for a little while and then I will get up and look again – I don’t know where, but I will look.’ This was Hadhrat Sahib’s grandson that I had been told to look for as well – say SubhanAllah. Naturally, the grandfather has a lot of love for his grandson. So I sat there, leaning on the carpets, and I could have thought ‘What has this got to do with Deen – what about my Salah?’ – but it is shaytan and Nafs that make a person think like that. They try to divert and distract a person from good deeds. Is Tarbiyyah happening, my brothers? Yes. Great destinations and heights can be attained in the Naqshbandi Silsila – you would be shocked and amazed at the rewards that Allah ta’ala gives to the Naqshbandis. Pass through these Mujahidaat, and that is when you will get success – don’t ever become a person who runs away from these tests. Become a person who attains; I didn’t run away. Allah says {إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَواْ وَّٱلَّذِينَ هُم مُّحۡسِنُونَ} – Allah is saying ‘Don’t be scared – I am with you. I will solve your problems, so don’t run away. Be a man!’
So I lay there and closed my eyes for a little while, and when I got up again, I saw the child standing there right in front of me – SubhanAllah! At first, I thought it was a dream, so I rubbed my eyes and looked again – there he was. Straightaway I went to him and embraced him, saying ‘Where have you been? I have been searching for you all over the House of Allah!’ He replied ‘I have been right here all along, playing in the Haram Sharif’ – you see children doing this. He was wearing a small lungi at the time – he may even be listening now, MashaAllah. I said to him ‘Hadhrat Sahib is asking after you – he is very upset. Did you not tell him where you were going?’ He said ‘No, I didn’t,’ so I said to him ‘Let’s go’ and took his hand. What a great action and outcome – this is what happens when your Sheikh gives you a task. So I led him to Hadhrat Sahib and said ‘Look - I found him.’ Hadhrat Sahib was so happy, Allahu Akbar, that he stood up and took the child to the Haram. Imagine the rewards for making your Sheikh so happy – this is the point to understand from this event I have shared with you.
To go back to the other event I was telling you about, it was hard – it was Ramadhan in the heat of Makkah, and we had been travelling as well as fasting, so all the Mureeds were in a state of exhaustion. Obviously, performing Umrah in Ramadhan is very busy indeed, similar to Hajj time, so people were lying here and there resting. Then the announcement came that the moon had not been sighted so it was to be a thirty-day Ramadhan – just like today. Alhamdulillah, we are grateful to Allah – this is good. Some of us were probably thinking that it would have been good if it had been Eid tomorrow, but now we think ‘Okay, alhamdulillah - we will pass one more day.’ So there are many Mujahidaat when you are with your Sheikh, and we were now looking to another Tarawih - we were not thinking about Sehri yet. So the announcement was made, and Hadhrat Sahib was sitting there in Muraqabah while the rest of us were extremely tired and exhausted due to the extreme heat. So the night passed, and after Fajr, we sat in Dhikr in the morning in the same place where Hadhrat Sahib always sat. Allah ta’ala gives such great Maqams to the Walis of Allah, but for the rest of us, you could say that all our oil had been squeezed out at this point. We had started our last fast, and for Sehri, there had been no delicacies, just dates and water and whatever was to hand. People were sitting here and there, and I was sat next to Hadhrat Sahib rejoicing that I was at the Baitullah with my Hadhrat Sahib.
After a little while, Hadhrat Sahib turned just a little bit – and when Hadhrat Sahib would turn, you knew that it was time for action, that something was about to happen, SubhanAllah. So Hadhrat Sahib turned, and I leaned forward and said ‘Yes, Sheikh? I am here – what can I do for you?’ Hadhrat Sahib said ‘Farooqui Sahib, Allah ta’ala has bestowed huge Karam and grace upon us.’ I said ‘Gee, Hadhrat – very much so.’ And then he said ‘Babu, Allah ta’ala has given us such a great favour in this extra day of Ramadhan.’ Do you understand what I am saying? He sighed and said ‘What a great favour of Allah that we have been given one more day in Makkah and another day of Ramadhan.’ Allah ta’ala had promised us {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} to give us encouragement and drive, and we had been given this great Mujahidah at that time. So Hadhrat Sahib said ‘Well, shouldn’t we do one thing then?’ I said ‘What should we do Hadhrat Sahib?’ He replied ‘Let’s get up and do another Umrah. Let us go and perform Umrah!’ I thought ‘Gosh – can we do Umrah at this time?’ Imagine the scene! But this is like what we have been saying before – {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} – this is just one Umrah, so why be afraid? Hadhrat Sahib’s statement was so fantastic, and I can hear it in my mind until today. I remembered this story when someone came to me today to tell me that we had one extra fast, saying ‘It is only one more day, so it is no great hardship.’
So then Hadhrat Sahib said ‘Let’s do Umrah – what do we know about life? This could be our final Umrah’ – SubhanAllah. What a great statement! He was saying ‘Don’t think that you will come here in Ramadhan again – rather, think about what Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam told us, namely, to think of every action as if it is your final action.’ Yes? Who could be more honest and sincere? I swear by Allah – ask those people who have departed about their final prostration, about the last days of their final Ramadhan, about the last time they came to the Masjid before they departed. Every person has a final action, a final prostration, a final Salah, and me and you do not know when our final Salah will be. Say SubhanAllah. Whether you normally pray at home or outside, if you consider that it is your last Salah, you will think ‘I have to go to the Masjid.’ If you make this your practice, I swear by Allah, there is a beautiful enjoyment in that Ibadah. I saw a person dying like this in Masjid Zakariyyah with my own eyes. People reacted in different ways at the time, but I thought ‘Yes – oh servant of Allah, this was your final visit to the Masjid.’ And it was – this was written for him. People were looking at him, but they were not thinking about that lesson from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam when he said to consider every action as your final action.
When we leave the Masjid today, we will leave with the certainty that we are going to come back here again and that we will sit here again and do Sajdah again, but this is the thinking of the most foolish person in the world! Listen – this is the commentary of this Hadith. By contrast, the most brainy and intellectual person is he who is ready for Allah’s call at every second and in every moment. He is aware that death could come at any time, and that Faqir is never afraid of death. With this concept, could anyone live his life without Salah? Tell me. Do Amal on this from today. When you are going to the Masjid and also when you are leaving the Masjid, think ‘After today, will I get this opportunity again?’ As Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, we should think that maybe this will be our final opportunity. When you leave a place, think ‘Will I be able to come back to you again?’ When you close the Qur’an after reading, don’t think ‘Soon I’ll be back to read some more’ – this is a big mistake. SubhanAllah – address the Qur’an and say ‘Forgive me – will I be able to open you and read from you again?’ Nafs and shaytan will tell you ‘No, no – you will be able to recite again,’ but reject those thoughts. This is where the fight against Naf and shaytan comes in – on the one hand, there is the statement in the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and on the other side is the call of shaytan and Nafs. Say SubhanAllah.
Has this been a good subject today? Yes? Isn’t it good that we got an extra day’s fast? This is the point. And that was Hadhrat Sahib’s final Umrah – that was the final Umrah that I performed with Hadhrat Sahib in my life. Imagine the taste of that Umrah for all the Faqirs who were there. Everyone’s Niyyah changed at that time, and we were all doing Umrah with the Niyyah that this was the final Umrah we would get to do with Hadhrat Sahib. SubhanAllah – this thought should accompany all the orders of Allah, and you should think that this Dhikr is the final Dhikr you will do with your Sheikh. Nafs and shaytan deceive us into thinking ‘Go – you will be back again.’ With this deceit, they spoil our Salah, and they make us lazy, and they make us ready to leave as soon as we come in. We should say Shukr and alhamdulillah when we come in, and think ‘Oh Allah, I had no reason to hope that I would be able to come again. You have kept me alive for this action so that I can do another prostration to You. Oh Allah, you didn’t keep me alive so that I can run my shop again and earn wealth and capital – no. I realise now that You have given me life between Asr and Maghrib, and the reason that You gave me life is because You wanted me to come to Your home again and to prostrate to You in Your home.’ {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} – I read this, and this brought this whole subject into my mind. The whole of Ramadhan could have gone, but it is {أَيَّامً۬ا مَّعۡدُودَٲتٍ۬‌ۚ} – just a few days. So is this what you are scared of? Do you think that this will come again? These days that are going will not come back again – think of this as the final chance. How Ramadhan passes for those who think like this.
So, my brothers, may Allah ta’ala give to all of us, and may He make us of those who fulfil His Orders. Remember back to the great introduction to this topic, a beautiful introduction, which is that we should be so proud that from of all of creation, Allah ta’ala has given us the order to do this task, and then think ‘Maybe this is the final chance – if it doesn’t come again, what will I do?’ With this attitude, you will complete your tasks in a beautiful way. When me and you are lying on our beds and thinking that it is hard to get up for Fajr, immediately bring this concept to mind and think ‘Maybe this is the final Fajr of my life that Allah ta’ala is calling me to. If I think I am fine and should not worry, then this is my Nafs that is deceiving me.’ Allah ta’ala has explained that this is Nafs and shaytan speaking, so say ‘I am not listening to you now – Allah has ordered me to come to the Masjid.’ This is the fight, the tussle between the order of Allah, who is saying ‘I am calling you to come now,’ and Nafs and shaytan, who say ‘Don’t worry – start from tomorrow or the day after.’ When this happens, you have to think ‘Is this my final Salah?’ If Nafs says ‘No,’ then think: is Allah honest and truthful or is your Nafs truthful? Is Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam truthful, or are you truthful? Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘No – there is no guarantee as to when death will come, so consider it as your final prayer. Which man or woman would leave Salah after that? The only woman who would leave it would be a woman with no Iman. So will this phrase ‘I can’t do it – it is too hard for me’ come onto your lips again? The question doesn’t even arise.
May Allah ta’ala give me and all of you the Tawfeeq to do this. Ameen
9th Jun, 2021
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