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How Can We Complete Our Iman?
English Bayan, 43 mins
12th August, 2021

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How Can We Complete our Iman?
The gracious Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated “أَكْمَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِيمَانًا أَحْسَنُهُمْ خُلُقًا”. The Prophet of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us here who possesses the greatest or most complete Iman. Allah ta’ala has given Iman to all of us, alhamdulillah, and it is a great treasure, a great Ni’mah – and we do not have any greater treasure or Ni’mah than this; nothing we have is greater than Iman. The reality is that we didn’t have to make any effort for this or to strive for it. Allah ta’ala gave us Iman very easily, in the womb of our mothers and from the lap of our mothers - we were born in homes and households of those who possessed Iman. This is from the grace of Allah that one way or another, He bestows Insan with Ni’mahs - with so many Ni’mahs. The question is, how much does a person appreciate those Ni’mahs? If the Ni’mahs are valued, then Allah ta’ala continually increases and multiplies them – and it is obvious also that there will be nothing for a person who is ungrateful. It is only if the importance of a thing is understood that you value and appreciate it.
So now, Allah ta’ala has given us Iman, and its value will be apparent in the next world, for the Hereafter is the real world and the real life. We are living in this world, and our love for the Dunya has put a veil on reality, but in the Hereafter, the thing that will be most useful is Iman. Even the lowest grade of Iman, an atom’s weight of Iman, if a person has faith equivalent to a particle of dust, then Allah ta’ala has put so much power and so great an effect in that Iman, that an individual with Iman will not go into Hellfire; he will come out of that test due to that dust particle or atom’s weight of Iman.
So Allah ta’ala has given us such a great Ni’mah, and throughout the whole Qur’an, you find glad tidings for those with faith. Allah ta’ala addresses people with {يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ} – ‘Oh you who have faith’ and Allah is saying ‘When you come to Me with Iman, you will be given a high grade in Jannah’ - and Allah has explained the beauty of Jannah and the more than one hundred stages of Paradise. All of these things can be attained by a human being on the basis of what? Of Iman, on the level of Iman.
So what is the situation? Allah ta’ala has given us this news via His gracious Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and this message is permanent and has been established and delivered to people. Allah ta’ala has arranged matters in such a way that nobody has to lose out. Whoever comes, until Qiyamah, the message will reach that person. As we can see, 1400 years have passed, and yet the message has come fresh to us today, right now. You have faith, but now what? You need to attain the conclusion and the destination that Allah ta’ala has created for you, which is the Akhirah. We must strive to raise and improve our Iman, because Iman has levels. People will rise up in the Hereafter in different ways. One person’s Iman will be as weak and fragile as the moon on the first night, and another’s will be like the second night’s moon, and another’s like the third night, and some people will have Iman as bright and strong and intense as the moon on the fourteenth night. How did they attain that intensity? The difference will be that they took seriously the message that came to them telling them that they should strengthen their Iman.
If a person has Iman, that Iman should be pushed up through the levels in order to attain the highest reward in Paradise, that abode which lasts forever and is permanent. Allah ta’ala has given us this platform in this life so that we can work hard and strive for this. That is what this Dunya is for. The life that Allah ta’ala has given to us in this world has been given for this very reason, namely that we make ourselves capable and take ourselves to that level and attain the rewards that Allah ta’ala has mentioned in the Qur’an, and which Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has mentioned also. So from morning to evening, day after day, our effort and striving and our objective is this, to obtain the Maqamaat and grades in Paradise that Allah ta’ala is holding out for us. That is our objective, and it is attained by means of Iman.
So we need to work hard throughout our lives to elevate and improve our Iman to reach that high level, but the taste and effect of this world that we are living in keeps covering up our objective; layers of other objectives get placed on top of it, and thus the world becomes our objective, even though it has no relationship with us. If this Dunya was beneficial and useful for us, the something from here would accompany us to the Hereafter, wouldn’t it? At least something would go with us, but actually nothing, not even a particle, goes with us. It all stays here, and will melt away, disappear and evaporate. You see that when a child comes, you put toys in front of him and he will play with this toy, then that toy, with a car, and then with a truck and he will play and play, and then when it is time for him to sleep, he leaves quickly; and then the toys can be seen left scattered around. He leaves the car about which he was claiming ‘This is my car’ and all the other items that he had claimed were his - now he has disappeared. The life of a human being is the same; when he passes away, all of his items are left scattered around, and people say ‘Oh, here are his clothes, and this was his Tasbeeh, and this was his prayer mat, and these were his glasses, and this was his stuff,’ but not one atom’s weight goes to the Hereafter with that person. He is just like the kid who played for a little while and then disappeared, that kid who loved his toys so much that he wouldn’t even let you touch them, but when he felt sleepy, he disappeared, leaving all of his beautiful items.
That is our life, my friends. Allah ta’ala has given us such a great life and such great opportunities, so don’t spend your whole life on temporary things; pay attention. Pay attention, otherwise it is a big deception for us. And our age constantly increases; we are not getting younger, so where are we going? Obviously, there is a destination – we are travellers, so we must have a destination. The destination is the grave – where else are we going to go? The reality is that Allah ta’ala has given us this Dunya, my brothers, and we need to work hard in order to attain the items that Allah ta’ala is offering to us in the Hereafter. In this Hadith, Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has said the same thing; the same message has been given. So whose Iman is the greatest? Who has the most complete Iman? What does this mean? It means that you now have to increase your Iman to this level and make it Kamil, complete. You need to round that Iman, to increase it, to polish it and strengthen it, in order to be like the people whose Iman is so great that their faces will be shining like the moon on the fourteenth night. This message is coming to us so that we do this action and attain this. Don’t run after the Dunya, but rather, pay attention to this point. Always pay attention; pay attention to what we have done with our A’maal and our Iman. Ask yourself ‘How strong has my Iman become?’
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us the Tariqah, the methodology, SubhanAllah. He has told us how we can make our faith Kamil and complete. Look, if something is weak, you don’t leave it, do you? You strengthen it. If your car breaks down, you will try to get it repaired; if your house is crumbling, you will try to fix it and spruce it up; if your shoes are breaking, you try to have them repaired; if your shirt is torn, you will try to mend it – you won’t throw it away. So if our Iman is weak in this Dunya in which we live – and it is very weak – that does not mean that you disregard that Iman. No, rather we need to increase the strength of that Iman, to make it strong; we need to make an effort on our Iman, not leave it and shun it. We don’t do that in the Dunya, so how can we do this in respect of our Hereafter? Okay, we can accept that we have weak Iman, but now that we have heard the Tariqah being prescribed for us by Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and least we should use this to strengthen it and make it well-rooted.
So who are those people whose Iman is said to be Kamil? They have implemented an action – and what is that action which has resulted in their Iman being Kamil? Of whom can we say that he has Kamil Iman? Who are those people, and what is their sign? What have they done? Our mind goes in just one direction in respect of who those people are. We say ‘They are the people who do a lot of Ibadaat. They pray voluntary Salah, Nawafil, and they give Sadaqah, charity. They pray Salah.’ We say this, don’t we? We see people who do a lot of actions, who pray a lot and perform Hajj and Umrah – and alhamdulillah, these are good things. We think that they are those who recite Qur’an a lot and who do many external worships, which are the things that we see most of all, so then we think ‘MashaAllah, he has a high rank and status and is a pious person.’ This is our standard way of measuring, isn’t it? But this is a deception that Allah’s Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam is banishing from our minds. External worship is good, of course, but abundant external worship is not the way to measure completeness of Iman; if a person does a lot of external worship, this is not a proof. A person may stay awake at night and keep fasts and do this and that, but that does not prove that he has Kamil Iman – this is what Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us here.
“أَكْمَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِيمَانًا أَحْسَنُهُمْ خُلُقًا” – Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that complete Iman belongs to that person whose Akhlaq is good. It is a matter of good Akhlaq, not abundant external worship. No, the attribution of Kamil Iman in the Hereafter will be for that person whose Akhlaq is measured to be good. Look how our Nafs and our desires have deceived us into having an incorrect basis of measuring Iman – we don’t even think about Akhlaq or value it. We don’t see Akhlaq as being anything, nor do we understand its relationship to Deen; but now we see how important it is, and how fantastic and powerful it is as a means of making Iman strong. So the message of this Hadith is that if you want to have high-grade and strong Iman in the Hereafter, and if you want your death to come while you are in a state of high-grade Iman – “أَكْمَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ” – then don’t trust and depend on people saying that you are pious and good – no. Rather, pay attention to the measurement gauge and the prescription that Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam have given, and assess how good and robust your Akhlaq is.
If we look at how good and robust our Akhlaq is, then we will realise who has Kamil Iman and what level of Iman a person has; and we will realise what level of Iman a person has when he departs this world. Just some days ago, a person passed away who was present, and sometimes Allah ta’ala shows people an example through someone’s death, an example for the people of the Dunya which gives them a message. This incident happened just a week ago, or perhaps two, so it is a fresh incident, and it happened to a person who I know and who was very close to me. So this person’s nephew was present at the time, and he said ‘I saw a strange event with my uncle before he died. He was extremely ill in his room at the hospital, and suddenly I saw something.’
Look – the same news is coming here that we are getting from the Hadith that we have read and are studying here. I am telling you a true incident here. We are sat here enjoying ourselves, but tomorrow, our turn will come and so we have to ask ‘When our time comes, what condition will we die in?’ Think – will we be in darkness? Will we be thieves and fraudsters with no Akhlaq? Will we be of those who don’t pray Salah properly? Will we get the feeling that at least we tried and worked hard to achieve Kamil Iman? We should at least move in that direction. So what will the death of a person like that be like? Nobody knew him or how good and pious he was - he did external Ibadah, of course, and people praised him for that. However, there are thousands of deaths of people who do external worship, but it is not about external worship. The principle and rule that Allah has stipulated is the principle that we need to adopt in our lives – and that principle is Akhlaq. But we cover up that principle and wipe it away.
So his nephew said ‘I felt the room suddenly change, as if people were coming in and it was busy. I was amazed and surprised at this feeling because I couldn’t see anyone coming into the room.’ He couldn’t see anyone, but he felt as if a rush of people had entered. This comes in Hadith, doesn’t it, that the Mala’ika come when a person is about to pass away. Undoubtedly, they do come. So he said ‘I felt as if it was difficult for me to sit in the room because it seemed like people were sitting close to me – and I also a heard something like a doorbell ring.’ At this point, the person who was about to die, who was very ill, opened his eyes and his condition changed. He said ‘Who are these people who have come? Have these people come to meet me?’ The nephew replied ‘No, uncle – there is nobody here.’ So the uncle said ‘What is wrong with you? I can see clearly that these people have come, and MashaAllah, they have illuminated faces and white clothes.’
Now one thing I understand about this is that at the time of death, a person transfers to the next world. He leaves this world and goes to the next world, and when he is departing from this world at the time of his death, then this world becomes weird; and when someone is speaking, he can’t hear. Now sometimes, through the Glory of Allah ta’ala – InnAllaha ‘ala Kulli Shayyin Qadir - Allah ta’ala shows human beings what happens at the death of a good person. So what happens is that the person who is dying is physically present in this world, but he also becomes connected to the next world, to the Hereafter. He looks towards the Hereafter, and he can see everything there, but he can also see and hear people speaking in this world. He hears the angels speaking, and they hear him as well – he partakes in both spheres in this unique and Ajeeb condition when Allah subhana wa ta'ala is calling a person towards his death. He was in that condition, and he was physically present in this world as he was talking to his nephew, whilst also seeing the Hereafter he was heading towards. Say SubhanAllah.
May Allah ta’ala give us all such a death with Kamil Iman – it is with this concern that we are sat here my brothers; Why else would Allah ta’ala seat us here? If we understand these few words, then alhamdulillah, the direction of life will change. So try and make effort to change the direction of life through these Majalis. I am so extremely happy when a person starts to try to change himself via these Majalis. SubhanAllah, Allah’s good news comes to that person, namely ‘You have adopted that Tariqah towards which I pushed and dragged you when I sent you to that Majlis. You have accepted My Message, oh human being, so now I am with you, and I will save you in the Hereafter.’ SubhanAllah – Allah subhana wa ta'ala is announcing this, but some people have hard hearts, so they just get up and leave without giving any attention to this. However, if a person goes to such a Majlis in this day and age, and then he improves himself and changes his life, then SubhanAllah, he is included in those who are beloved to Allah. That person says ‘Amanna wa sadaqna – I have heard, I have accepted, and the truth has come into my heart.’ Such people are thirsty in their hearts, and they just need water to quench that thirst, and then that is it, alhamdulillah. Mubarak to those people – congratulations.
In these days of drought, where can you hear the words of Qur’an in a way that have an impact on people? Where can Hadiths be heard in a way that impacts people? We think everything is temporary and look at one Majlis over there on one day, and another somewhere else on another day, and we think ‘Okay, today I’ll sit down and listen to what this person is going to say’ The Niyyah is just to listen, and so we hear about this or that incident or this or that story, but nobody comes with this Niyyah, thinking ‘If only a current would pass through my heart so that my life becomes reformed and improved.’ It is a very, very great Ni’mah of Allah if we acquire Allah’s Rahmah, instead of coming as animals and departing as animals. May I give everything for Allah’s Rahmah! Look how Allah takes a person away from Jahannam and delivers him to Paradise due to his accepting – Mubarak and congratulations to those people. Rather, my heart feels that I should put their shoes on my head for they are such beloved and pure people; Allah ta’ala has given them glory in their change. These are the stages of Darajaat, but we don’t partake of these Darajaat. When we go to a Majlis, if somebody improves and changes, then everybody should meet that person and shake his hand and ask him to make Dua, because he is a beloved servant of Allah. For us, though, he is nothing.
I have been talking about external Ibadah, and we just focus on that, thinking ‘That person is pious, he is this, he is that,’ but these are all just vague outlines that we see. All of our deeds should be weighed against the Qur’an and the Hadith. Where has our Salah gone? Where have our worship and Zakah and our Sadaqah gone? Why have they disappeared? Because the Hadith has made clear that if Akhlaq is not good, then you are less than nothing; you won’t get anything in the Hereafter. One person that you treated badly will pick up all your deeds and take them away; that person you swore at or who you oppressed or who you pestered will take all of your Salah and disappear, and you will have nothing left in your Book of Deeds, nothing in your account. Who wants to improve their Akhlaq today? Tell me.
So Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the sign of Kamil Iman, of complete Iman is not that you are doing a lot of Ibadah and physical worship. No, if you want to see Kamil Iman, observe that individual who has good conduct, manners and character. What type of character? What sort of Akhlaq should a person have? Allahu Akbar – if someone’s Akhlaq is good and high and strong, he will never leave his fellow Muslim brother when he is in isolation or in pain or in difficulty. He will never deceive him or lie to him or oppress him. This is a Sahih narration in Tirmidhi, so a person who has these qualities, alhamdulillah, has attained a high rank of Iman. Where have these words gone? Tell me. Why do we say ‘Oh, he’s pious because he practices and worships’? This is good; do worship, but take that Ibadah to the level of acceptance.
For example, if you pray Salah and subsequently depart, then have you not read the Hadith? Some Salahs that are prayed are thrown back into that person’s face; they are crumpled up and thrown back in his face. So what is the message that is being given here? That we should establish Salah and complete our Salah by taking it to the level of acceptance. Don’t make your Salah such that it is thrown back in your face; rather, increase the quality and condition of your Salah to the heights of acceptance. Take your Salah to the level at which Allah accepts it – make effort on this. Allah is saying ‘Take your Iman that you have been given to a high level’, because through that high level of Iman, Allah ta’ala will accept you and give you the Darajaat and the rewards. When will you attain this? When your Akhlaq is corrected. Do you understand what I am saying? Have you seen this?
But nobody works hard on Akhlaq. A person should never leave a fellow Muslim brother alone during his difficulty. If somebody is fighting or swearing at him or dishonouring him or speaking rudely to him, then immediately come and ask ‘Why are you dishonouring this person? Tell me what the reason is - what’s the issue?’ Don’t think ‘Oh, leave him – this is nothing to do with me’ and mind your own business. It is not the Tariqah of Islam to leave such issues and just mind your own business; that is not the game. Rather, we should think ‘He is my Muslim brother and is in distress, so I can’t leave him alone and run off.’ Your condition should be such that you never lie to a Muslim brother or give any loss to him or oppress him in any way, such as by breaking promises. Don’t just think ‘Oh, I have Salahs to my name and I have got Hajj and Umrah to my name.’ Will all these things go with us? If we are lying and consuming people’s wealth and pushing them around, then how will this be useful to us in the Hereafter? Tell me.
That is why Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us to work hard on this point. This is the purpose of this Majlis and for none other. What is it for? For us to realise that we need to improve ourselves and correct ourselves and do those actions which will take us close to Allah. And what is the greatest rank? Who is the best human being? The best human being is the one who does what? This comes in the same Hadith. Who is the best human being? The person who benefits people the most; he benefits people, not like us, who say ‘Take from that person and this person.’ If something is being distributed, for example, we will go first and say ‘Give to me first; let me be the first to be given.’ This is not the Tariqah of Islam that you take first. You might wear nice Libas and a big Imamah and a nice tunic and tell people about the Qur’an, but what you need to look at is how you behave when food comes in front of you. Do you feel ‘I want my food now; I want the pieces of meat; I want the leg meat.’ When you are invited to a feast, if these feelings are there, then consider that you need to improve yourself. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us to make our Deen stronger if this is the case, and that our level of Iman is weak. Such a person is sitting with very weak Iman.
If you have weak Iman, don’t ignore or shun this fact, but rather elevate it through hard work. It is the same if you find that your house is crumbling – you correct it; if your car is breaking down, you repair it. So if you feel such a lack within you, if are getting angry or not giving people their rights, or not looking after your children properly and giving them what they need, then that means that you are sick. You are ill and have a very poor level of Iman, and death in such a condition would be very bad. This brings me back to the point I was discussing about that person who saw those people coming into his room. Look at his death! He was successful, was he not? Even though he may have been in pain and been ill for some years, alhamdulillah, all of that vanished within a second, and he succeeded and went to a high rank of Jannah.
His illness was just a temporary thing, so if you happen to be experiencing a difficulty in the world, in this journey of life to attain Allah’s nearness, then that is nothing. If we are attaining Allah’s Qurb and on the way, we experience difficulties and have to work hard and have to bear burdens, then that is fine. Accept it all and look beyond at what you will be getting in Jannah. Realise what you are getting for going to Fajr Salah and for doing Dhikr in the morning, so be sure to arrive there! Look at the result of your efforts. What a great result you are getting for that action; what a great reward you are getting for that action. As I have stated, if there was a sale in the morning, we would arrive there early – why? Because after going through the difficulty of arriving early, you will be able to get the best bargain in the sale; that’s why you will ensure to get there early - that is the methodology of the Dunya, isn’t it? If you want to get something in the world, then you are prepared to go through difficulty to get it. If a nice house goes up for sale cheaply, everyone will rush to get there in order to put down a deposit – why? Because the result is worth it – the house can be acquired.
In the same way, if we understood the result of the A’maal that Allah ta’ala gives us, the people would come in the morning and pray Fajr Salah and do Dhikr until Ishraq. What will we get through this? Allah ta’ala has announced ‘I will give you this and that and the other,’ so those who are greedy for the Hereafter will run, thinking ‘There is only a little bit of physical hardship – no problem – but I will get a lot of rewards through this. SubhanAllah – look how much I am getting! But if I don’t go, look how much I will lose!’ So the most foolish person is the one who leaves such beneficial things just to give pleasure to his Nafs for a few moments. He doesn’t practice, and he decides to reject those Hadiths and those Ayahs of the Qur’an in which Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us to come because we will get such rewards and treasures if we do. Shaytan says ‘No, no – this is not necessary,’ but is there anything more necessary than coming for an hour or two and thereby attaining Jannah? Is that not necessary and essential? What could be more necessary than this?
But we say ‘Oh, it is not Fardh,’ and we do not want to do anything beyond Fardh. Allah has said ‘I draw near to My servant by means of Nawafil.’ When a person prays Nafl Salah or Nafl Ibadah, Allah is saying ‘I get close to him, so close that I become his hands and his eyes.’ How do you attain this? Allah gives His Qurb through Nawafil – through voluntary, extra actions – but we say ‘Oh, this is not necessary.’ What is necessary then? Tell me. Bad Akhlaq? Bad manners? From top to bottom, we have a pious appearance, but inside there is anger and lying and backbiting and Takabbur, pride, haughtiness and big-headedness. Yes? All of this is inside.
So brothers, while he was passing away, that man said ‘No – I can see people coming into the room. Can’t you see them?’ The nephew said ‘I can’t see anyone, my dear uncle’ and he was a little bit upset at what his uncle was saying, but he could hardly move himself. Suddenly, his uncle said ‘Help me to make Wudhu’ – and this emphasises for us what a very great action Wudhu is, SubhanAllah. That is why it is stated in Hadith that you should be in Wudhu before going to sleep at night, because it is like preparing for death. At least do the minimum and take advantage of the easy option. There is an easy option even in Wudhu, so a human being should at least make this a habit. The complete Wudhu is the best way, but we should at least make it a habit that we keep a piece of stone or brick by the bed so that we can make Tayammum before going to sleep. You can at least do this before going to sleep, can’t you? Get hold of a nice little piece of brick or stone and wash it and place it next to your bed. Just before you go to sleep, wipe your hands on it and then wipe your face. Then wipe that piece of brick or stone again and wipe over your hands and arms. Alhamdulillah – Wudhu has been done. You have not done the proper, complete Wudhu, but MashaAllah, the pious predecessors have given ways and means for weak people like us.
Alhamdulillah, this is enough for weak people like us who think ‘This is a cold climate and I can’t face doing full Wudhu.’ At least you can do this before sleeping, and Allah in His Mercy will say ‘At least he tried.’ Say SubhanAllah. So after today, everybody should keep a brick or stone near the bed and do Tayammum or full Wudhu before they go to sleep. Will you do this, brothers? Yes, because we are sat here for Amal, not for storytelling and folk tales. Make Niyyah to practice on everything that I tell you, SubhanAllah. You make this Niyyah, don’t you? Yes? Whether you do it or not, at least make Niyyah to practice the message that has come to us today. We should think ‘We have come to this gathering for this, so let’s do this action.’ Does everyone make this intention? Say inshaAllah. Go to bed with Wudhu, or at least do Tayammum. Put a brick near your pillow by your bed, and when the angels come, they will see this.
This man who passed away did this himself; he had this habit throughout his life of going to sleep with Wudhu. He lived his life in Makkah and Madinah, and he was in the habit of always being in Wudhu; he always wanted to be in Wudhu and would refresh his Wudhu time and again. He used to do Wudhu regularly, so he said ‘Let me do Wudhu – assist me to make Wudhu.’ How many people pass away having done this action? Only those who have made effort in the Dunya are able to do this, those who, when they go to a Majlis and hear a message, say ‘We will do this from today.’ This is called making effort. You make intention and then you leave it to Allah: ‘Oh Allah, I make Niyyah and now it is for You to make me do this.’ La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah – yes? We recite this verse La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah – so why do we say it? ‘Oh Allah, I cannot be saved from any sin – I do not have the power or the ability. If start the effort, You can give me the power that will save me from sin.’ That is the meaning of La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah. ‘Oh Allah, I can’t do good deeds. I can’t come to Salah. I make the Niyyah and You can give me the power and energy so that I can go to Salah.’ This is called Niyyah, but we don’t even make this Niyyah.
This is the meaning of La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah. This is such a great Kalimah, and we make a Wird of this recitation - but never mind the Wird, understand the Kalimaat! There is a translation next to every Kalimah – do you know the translations? Yes? Memorise them. La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah. ‘Oh Allah, I cannot do this action myself. How can I do it? How did I come to Dhikr? How did I get up from my bed? How did I reach this Majlis? I have been coming for fifty years, so there must be so many thousands of rewards, but how am I doing this action?’ Immediately La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah should come to mind. ‘Oh Allah, I didn’t not have the power or the ability. I made the Niyyah, and You gave me the ability. You lifted me up like a bird and seated me here.’ SubhanAllah – this was because we had the Niyyah. If we don’t have the Niyyah, then we cannot do these actions all life-long. If you are lazy and negligent, you remain trapped in that state. If today you make the Niyyah for an action, I swear that Allah is the One who will bring you. Make Niyyah – that is our duty, and it is Allah who is the One who will deliver us here. That is why La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah is stated– by saying this, you have accepted that you can only make intention.
So make intention now to come to Fajr Salah in the morning, and after praying Fajr to do Dhikr, and then after Dhikr to pray Ishraq, and then to go home. You will attain so many rewards through this, so turn your heart towards this and ask Allah ‘Oh, Allah, I feel like coming, so please fulfil my heart’s desire.’ If a person does this, Wallahi, Allah ta’ala will deliver that person physically to that gathering and will give that person this result. Say ‘Oh Allah, I know I do this action which is very sinful, and I can’t leave this sin. I am not strong enough to leave my sins, but from my heart I promise not to do it, so Allah, please detach me from this sin. I have this deficiency within.’ Then say La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah – ‘Oh Allah, You are the One who gives the power and the ability and the strength.’ Allahu Akbar – what a beautiful Kalimah is La Hawla wa La Quwwata illa bi’llah. In this way, you will not miss out on any good deed, and if you want to leave your sins, you will not be weak if you do Amal on this Kalimah. Say ‘Oh Allah, I leave it to You.’
So this man made Wudhu, and a second point comes out of this. What was the first point? If we want to have Kamil Iman, what do we need to work hard on? Say it out loud – upon what? Upon Akhlaq, good conduct; upon manners and character. Do you understand? So that is one point. If someone says ‘What about Ibadah?’ - of course, we have to do Ibadah anyway, but Kamil Iman is not about physical Ibadah. You do not get Kamil Iman by praying a lot of Salah; you don’t get Kamil Iman by doing a lot of recitation; you don’t get Kamil Iman by keeping a lot of fasts. The Tariqah that Allah ta’ala has set out for attaining Kamil Iman is what? It is to elevate and improve your Akhlaq. This brings Kamil Iman, and then your Ibadaat will benefit you. Yes? Do you understand what I am saying? Kamil Iman is not based on abundant Ibadah; first improve your Akhlaq. That is point number one. Secondly, what do we need to do before we sleep? Everyone needs to keep a brick or a stone next to the bed, so that when it is time for death, you also have that brick next to you in hospital so that you can wipe your hands over it.
So that man said ‘Let me do Wudhu; enable me to do Wudhu!’ The nephew said ‘My dear uncle, you cannot even stand up, so how can I help you make Wudhu?’ The uncle said ‘But look – so many people have come!’ After that, he could not say anything or do anything, but look at what happened next – this relates to the Hereafter. Listen to this. He was half in that realm, and he had the vision of the Hereafter and could see that Malak-ul-Mawt and the angels had come with his Kafn. He could see that now and Arabic came onto his tongue. He started to speak in Arabic, Allahu Akbar, saying ‘Tafadhul – Hina.’ He began to call them ‘Come, come, oh Sheikh – sit here, sit here. Get up, my nephew and give them space. Can’t you see that guests have come - seat them.’ In other words, he was treating them nicely as if they were important guests who had come to see him. He could tell which among them were more important than the others, and he spoke to them in Arabic, addressing them and inviting them as if he was a natural Arabic speaker.
Allahu Akbar – this is recent; this is an account from today. Why? Because the messages we get from Hadith are true, my brothers. Mawt will come like this. May Allah forgive, but those who are sinful people will see horrible faces; they will see shaytani, ugly faces at the time of death. Why? Because they disregarded the Sunnahs of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam and laughed at them. The biggest punishment is given to those who mock and jest with the Sunnah in the world – remember this. There is a severe punishment for that person who mocked the Sunnah of Nabi-al-Karim sallallahu alayhi wasallam and joked about it. These things are happening in this era, in this day and age. It is common today – people openly and flagrantly say such things. Allahu Akbar – a person should shake when he hears such words. About whom are they speaking? About the Sunnah of Nabi-al-Karim sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the Sunnah of the gracious Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam! If we give no rank nor status to the Sunnah in this world, imagine the death of such a person. Think about it – what are we doing, and where are we going?
This is a weakness, but if we are weak, then don’t say wrong things on top of that, like ‘Oh look at him – who does he think he is?’ This is joking about the Amal that the person is doing; this is mocking the Sunnah and laughing at it. They grin behind his back; they show their teeth – and this is common today. If a sister wears a Niqab and observes Purdah today, then there is destruction and difficulty for her in the family, and yet we praise those sisters who are immodest and commit sins, and we do the same for boys. This is a weird situation that we are in today – but will death not come?
Sometimes a person’s death is shown as an example, and that person started speaking at that time, but not his own language; rather, he spoke in the language of the heavens which everyone will speak after death. This is proven in Hadith – it is clear. Yes? He sat there, speaking to his guests in Arabic, telling one person to sit here, another to sit there, asking why had such and such come. Which angels must have been there to meet him at that time – alhamdulillah. They had come to take his Ruh after he had spoken with them. So then he closed his eyes, and suddenly gave a little bit of a shake or a jolt, and his face turned towards the Ka’abah, SubhanAllah. Allahu Akbar. Do we not want a death like this? If so, what do we need? Kamil Iman. And how will we attain Kamil Iman? Which action will confer Kamil Iman? Having the best Akhlaq!
Imam al-Ghazali rahmatullah alayh, the great Imam al-Ghazali – and just think about what a great Imam he was. He has such a great status in Fiqh and in Tasawwuf and in jurisprudence and was a very high-grade human being - and death came to him as well; everyone is going to die. And he had many Mureeds and students who were very attached to their Sheikh, and sometimes, to give them Sabr after such a person passes away, Allah ta’ala makes a student do Ziyarah of his Sheikh after his death. So one of the students saw his Sheikh, Imam al-Ghazali rahmatullah alayh, and he asked him ‘Oh Hadhrat, what happened to you after your death?’ Obviously, a person wants to know, so he asked ‘What happened to you, and what Darajaats have you been raised to?’ At this, he smiled and said ‘I was presented to Allah subhana wa ta'ala, who said ‘Go – I have forgiven you.’ Allahu Akbar – SubhanAllah. And then he said ‘Listen carefully: don’t look at my deeds and think it was because I was this or that, or because I wrote Kitabs and did this or that action. I was shown nothing here in respect of those things – there was no Hisab for that in the Hereafter. Allah ta’ala called me Himself and said ‘I have forgiven you, but not due to those deeds that you thought were giving you the means to success. Remember one incident – I will remind you about it. Do you remember that once, while you were writing a Kitab about a Hadith, and you were writing with a pen’ – and in those days they would write with reed pens – ‘and you dipped your pen into the ink, and then you were about to write when you saw a small fly sitting on your pen?’ He said ‘Yes, Allah, I remember that fly who sat there.’
We will be reminded of these events like watching movies from our lives; we will be shown the clips. So Allah said ‘Why did you not move that fly that was sitting there?’ Imam al-Ghazali said, ‘Ya Allah, I did not remove it because it was your Makkhluq, it was Your creation.’ This is Akhlaq, this is good conduct, to have love for Allah’s Makhluq. While you are going somewhere, if it is raining and you have an umbrella, if you have good Akhlaq, you will say ‘That man is weak, so never mind me; I will get wet, but I will give him my umbrella so that he can go on his way.’ SubhanAllah – this is the point. All of his Ibadaat end at that time; Allah says that the Ibadah ends at that time and this Ibadah of Akhlaq is the first to be examined. So what action did he do for the sake of My creation? “خَيْرُ النَّاسِ أَنْفَعُهُمْ لِلنَّاسِ” – The best of mankind are those who benefit My Creation – he is the best.’
So what happened to Imam al-Ghazali rahmatullah alayh? Allah ta’ala said to him ‘Remember that fly which was sitting there? He was sucking on the ink because he was thirsty, so what came into your heart?’ Imam al-Ghazali rahmatullah alayh replied ‘Oh Allah, I felt in my heart that this was a small creation of Allah that seemed to be thirsty. I decided to let it drink until it had filled its stomach and wait until it had departed before resuming what I was writing.’ Allah ta’ala then said ‘This the action of yours that I like most – you quenched the thirst of a small creature from My Creation, so today I will quench your thirst in Paradise from the water in the Pool of Kawthar.’ Say SubhanAllah!
My brothers, this is what Tazkiyyah is all about. All the various forms of Dhikr are not the objective; the Pir-Mureed relationship means that we need to learn these principles from him. We need to learn the Wazaif from him, and then we must work hard. He will give you lessons and tell you what to do and what the principles are. Sometimes the Sheikh may be strict, and sometimes he may be soft, but our job and duty is to follow his Tariqah and think ‘What are we going to learn from the Sheikh so that our Akhlaq can become Akhlaq-e-Husna?’ My Sheikh used to say ‘There is no set method to get Wilayah; rather, one action is needed; there is one principle.’ This was a beautiful Nasiha. He said ‘When the gross manners of a human being become praiseworthy manners, then that person immediately attains the rank of a Wali.’ We say that it is about this many Tasbeehs or reading this many chapters or praying Tahajjud and Nawafil and doing pious actions – absolutely not at all. The real thing that we need to attain is improvement in our Akhlaq; we need to look after our Akhlaq.
So brothers, there are two lessons today: number one, to attain Allah’s nearness, make your Iman Kamil – and what do we need to do to get Kamil Iman? We need to elevate our Akhlaq, so keep on weighing and measuring your Akhlaq and ask yourself ‘How much do I love Allah’s Makhluq? How much Jadhbah do I have to give things up for the sake of the Makhluq?’ Keep on weighing and analysing yourself about this. And secondly, remember what I said about what to do when you go to sleep. And now there is a third point today to learn about – but what is the time now? Oh – Salah time is close, very close. What time is Salah? It is close, so we will conclude now and do Dhikr.
Recite Durood Sharif.
18th Aug, 2021
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