{كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ } 2-28
Surah al-Baqarah v28
The Qur’an al-Hakeem, the merciful Qur’an, the generous Qur’an, tells us that however much Fasaad, disorder, mischief, issues and difficulties are in the world, there is only one reason for this. The reason is that you started to live in opposition to the promise and the covenant and the pact that you made, the commitment that you made to Allah. And Allah took this promise from all of the Arwah, from all the souls, before they came to the world, knowing that in this world, shaytan and the Nafs would forcefully distract us. This is because this world is a place of tests and examinations and difficult conditions and circumstances, and these will try to prevent us from attaining our objective. The real purpose and objective is to return to Allah successfully. Allah says { إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ } – ‘You won’t stay there; it is just a temporary abode. It is just a little test that I have made for you. I made the world and I created different circumstances in the world during your life through which I will test you.’ When does a test occur? When there are obstacles and barriers – that is when there is a test. So Allah says ‘I sent you to this world, but I didn’t leave you empty handed and without assistance. To overcome the obstacles and the barriers, I took this promise from you – and you made that promise.’
Now actually, if a person says ‘I didn’t make that promise. I don’t remember doing so, and therefore the promise is cancelled’, this statement is wrong. Forgetting a promise does not break it. If, for example, a person promises you that he will give you a certain sum of money in the evening, when evening comes, if he says that he forgot to bring you the money, has the promise been cancelled? Has it been annulled and voided? No. the promise is there; it was established. If somebody reminds him about his promise, say his wife or a relative, and says to him ‘Remember that you have promised to give that money this evening. You gave an undertaking’, if he is reminded like this during the day, and then he still says ‘I forgot’, is there a bigger liar or fraudster than this? He was reminded during the day, but even then he said he forgot. So it is one thing to forget without having been reminded, and another to forget even though continual reminders have been given.
In respect to the promise that we made to Allah subhana wa ta'ala, in the same way, we have all made that promise to Allah. And nobody has forgotten that promise, which is present within our Ruh, our soul. But Allah ta’ala’s Mercy is such that even then, Allah ta’ala continuously reminds us about the promise so that we don’t forget. Allah ta’ala selected special human beings, and kept on sending those Ambiya alayhim assalam, and all of the Prophets had one mission, which was to continually remind mankind that the Final Prophet would come whose name would be Ahmad. All of them came to remind us about the promise that was made, that his Shari’ah would be the final Shari’ah, and that whoever follows his way, whoever adopts his Sunnah and his lifestyle would be successful. This was a continuous message that was sent over time, through the ages. So all the Prophets came to their Ummahs and nations to remind them that the Final Prophet would come. And those Prophets even asked Allah to be included in that Ummah - the Prophets themselves requested this after hearing about the greatness and importance of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and how he is the Habeeb of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. They thought to themselves, ‘How great if we could also be in that Ummah!’ SubhanAllah, Allah ta’ala has given us what the Ambiya desired by allowing us to be in the Ummah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
So even if we forget, Allah ta’ala has repeatedly reminded us about our promise. Allah Kareem has reminded us through the Prophets of Allah, so a person cannot forget. The problem is something else – shaytan and Nafs, the base desires. Allah subhana wa ta'ala says { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ} – ‘How can you reject belief in Allah, when I prepared means for you during your life so that you could not forget your promise?’ You can see in your own personal life that this promise was made. You cannot forget – I made the system of life itself a reminder!’ Allah says { وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} – ‘Were you not dead? Were you living before? No, you were not here – you have not been alive forever. So then? You had no life!’ Then Allah says { فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡ} – ‘I gave you life.’ Allah is the one who gave life to you! Allah ta’ala is clearly telling the human beings ‘Doesn’t your intellect make you realise? Just by being born and created and given this life of yours, does this not itself testify to the fact and to the reality that you have a Creator?’ Allah ta’ala has put so many signs in this – in your being created, being born, and after that your life, and then your death. And then where does a person go? What a great proof Allah ta’ala has given in this verse, which is sufficient to clarify the matter for anyone, of any religion, who looks at this one example. Before life, there was nothing, and then life is given, and then death. Every person knows that death is a reality – how can anyone not know this? Is this not a great sign of Allah ta’ala?
And who confirms this sign? Does not the Shari’ah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam confirm this sign of Allah? How did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam confirm this? We can see that the concept of life and death is present everywhere in the world. Everyone is aware, and everyone knows that we are going to die, and they are afraid. They know that they are going to die, but the Shari’ah and the lifestyle of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam brings the reality of life and death to humankind in a way that no other religion does. From birth, through all of the phases and walks of life, the Shari’ah gives us guidance and tells us what to do. At birth, and at the time of death, and during the period in the grave – what will happen in the grave, and all of the conditions, and then coming out of the grave. Allah tells us { ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ} – ‘I will give you life again, after dying, and after the grave.’ { ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ } Allah says { أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡ} – ‘You were dead and then I gave you life.’ { ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ } There is the event of birth, then living, then dying, then coming out of the grave, then the Day of Resurrection, then the bridge of Siraat, then the Pond of Kawthar – all of these phases and decrees of Allah are facts and reality.
And clearly, the Tafsir of all of this, together with the proof, is in front of us. How can we forget that we promised to Allah that we would imitate and follow the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? How can we deny that we promised that we are in his Ummah, so we will obey him and follow him? Allah ta’ala has defined our life’s journey to us with such clarity - from even before birth! In regard to these phases of life, the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has stated ‘In my Ummah, I saw a person and the shayateen had put him into difficulty and challenge.’ We are told here that when a person is about to die and pass away, this is a difficult and challenging time. Who is telling us? The Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is telling us. His Shari’ah is telling us what happens - we don’t have this knowledge. When a person is passing away, what occurs? His situation is that shayateen attack him forcefully. Remember – this time will come to all of us. We read about these things, and this information is given because Allah ta’ala is reminding us repeatedly about our Deen and about our lives. May Allah ta’ala give us the Tawfeeq to practice.
We are not wasting time discussing this. These are very important points that we are discussing now - listen carefully to what I am saying. This is about when we die, the time of death, when the soul will be pulled out – and this can come at any time, to any of us. Various Janazahs have taken place recently, from our own families as well, and shayateen come at the time of death. We won’t see them, but who is telling us? The Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is telling us this fact, SubhanAllah. We don’t know this ourselves. Whoever believes in and remembers that promise that he made to Allah, then he will believe these words of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and if he doesn’t believe that he made this promise, then he will run away, enjoying and seeking luxuries. So devils, shayateen, will come, and they will attack him with force. In this Hadith narrated by AbdurRahman bin Samra radhiAllahu anh, which is in Tabarani and in Hakim, and it is a lengthy Hadith of which I will share just a small portion with you, Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam says ‘I saw a person from my Ummah who, at the time of death, was being put into difficulty by shayateen. He was so distressed in these final moments that he could not utter the Kalima from his mouth.’ In normal life, if we sit down and someone asks us, we can give the answer with no difficulty, but at the time of death, which is a challenging and testing time, if a person fails to answer, then that is it - end of story.
In my life, I have myself seen a person who was dying saying ‘Who are these people in front of me? Who is here? What are they doing? What are they saying to me?’ This is the Hadith! I am telling you exactly how this event played out – the shayateen put this person into difficulty, SubhanAllah. And then what is stated? These shayateen put a person through these difficulties at the time of death, but when Dhikr of Allah comes, it frees him or her from the shayateen. The Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has stated this in the Hadith. He said ‘I saw him in difficulty, and what saved him? The Dhikr of Allah came to his rescue, and the shayateen ran away.’ This is a Hadith, SubhanAllah.
The Hadith says that the biggest asset and assistance to stave off the punishments of the grave is the Dhikr of Allah. So the people of Dhikr, those who establish and imitate and follow the lifestyle of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, who have Yaqeen in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and know that this time will come, they will bring those deeds that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has prescribed into their lives. And then their lives pass in a nice, straightforward way, with no Fasaad. There is only one focal point in their lives – ‘We have come into this world, and we are going to leave it.’ And they are ready and prepared for the Hereafter, not like us, running away from the Deen. They have balance in their lives. They live for this Dunya just enough to be able to fill their stomachs a bit, and they let the time pass nicely and smoothly. But the real, genuine purpose is the Hereafter, the destination, and they keep their eyes on that, so they do such deeds as will assist them. You will see such people doing the Dhikr of Allah, because they know that they made a promise, and they know that the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells them that if they do more Dhikr, they will prevail over the shayateen at the time of death.
Everybody will die, and the Shari’ah gives us guidance about this. And after death comes the grave. Abu al-Hajjaj ath-Thamali radhiAllahu anh narrated a Hadith where the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated about when the deceased is lowered into the grave. Do we not lower people into graves ourselves? Will we not be lowered as well? My father went, my mother went, my brother went, my aunties have gone, my uncles have gone – how many people have gone? Those people who played with us, and sat with us, and discussed with us - various relatives have passed from this world in front of our eyes. My mother passed away. Where have they gone? Into the grave. And when a person goes into the grave, what happens? What the Hadith states is what happens. The promise we made to Allah comes back in front of us in the grave. Allah ta’ala says ‘Can you not see these signs in the lowering of these people into the grave? How can you forget that you are going to pass away? You haven’t forgotten actually – something else has happened.’
And when the deceased person is lowered into the grave, the grave questions him. Who is saying this? The Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam’s Shari’ah, his Hadeeth is telling us this. No science will tell you this fact, no research can tell you this, only the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So the grave speaks to the deceased, saying ‘Didn’t you know what I am and where I am, before you came to me? Didn’t you know that I am the ditch of Adhab, of punishment? See how much Adhab will start to come into this grave now, in the darkness. Now you are scared and shaking in the darkness - didn’t you know? Did you forget the promise you made to Allah?’ The grave will remind us at that time. ‘Did you forget that verse? Did you forget the guidance you received that time about the hollow ditch beneath the earth?’ SubhanAllah.
{ ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِ}
The grave says ‘Did you forget the promise you made to Allah? Did you not know that there will be Adhab and punishments and tests, and that I am home to spiders and scorpions and tarantulas and serpents? Allahu Akbar, they will come out from all four sides. Oh son of Adam, you were in ignorance and negligence, and you were proud in the world. You said ‘Oh, I don’t know, what’s this Sunnah and Shari’ah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? We have got to do something in the world, to make some money. Let death come – we will see to it then.’
{ ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِ} ‘You broke the covenant, the pact, that you made with Allah ta’ala. You knew death was going to come. You were aware that death was going to come, and you used to lower people into their graves after they died, so you must have known. You were aware of the promise that you made to Allah – you hadn’t forgotten. How can you say that you forgot? You can never use that excuse on the Day of Judgement. On top of that, you were reminded repeatedly.’ The Qur’an is reminding us repeatedly. We cannot say that we don’t know. ‘You used to walk big-headed in the world, big shoulders, big head. Didn’t you know that you were coming back to me?’ Allahu Akbar – this is stubbornness.
The person who was afraid in the world, who had fear of Allah, prepared for that death and the Hereafter. Think about the grave, brothers – prepare, plan for the grave. A pious, upright person won’t have to speak when the grave asks him. Who will speak? Allah ta’ala says that He will assign an angel for such a person, SubhanAllah. May Allah ta’ala give us all such an angel! Allah assigns an angel, and he will answer on behalf of the deceased person. ‘Speak to me’, the angel says to the grave. ‘Leave him, don’t pick on him. What is the problem?’ Who is saying this? Shari’ah is saying this, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying this, not a scientist. No X-ray can give you this information. So when you are asked the questions in the grave, the angel will say to the grave ‘Will you punish and persecute a pious man? Will you bring Adhab upon him, and give him darkness and scorpions and spiders? What can you offer a pious and upright person? He did good deeds and used to save himself from bad deeds. He prepared himself for coming to you, oh grave, so what will you do for him?’ The grave will reply ‘If it is the case that he prepared and was good and pious before coming to me, and that he was firm on his promise, then I will become a lush and lavish place, full of comforts like a green garden.’ When such a person goes into the grave, he will see a fountain of light upon his body. This will be his abode in the grave, SubhanAllah. Noor ‘ala noor – there will be light upon light in his grave. And as soon as he is lowered into his grave, his Rooh will travel to Allah and his abode will be Paradise. He will not hover here in the grave. Do you understand?
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} Allah says ‘How can you reject when you knew where you came from? You were dead { فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ} and then I gave you life. I created the world so that you could live in the world after your birth, and then { ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ } I took you again. Did not My Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam tell you all the facts about what was going to happen after your life in this world? If you had kept your promise, then what would your condition be? Would be as it is now, desperate, enduring all the severe trials of the grave?’ My brothers, the Qur’an and the Sunnah gives a clear description about the grave, a clear description.
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ} Allah says ‘How can you disbelieve in Me? You were dead, then I gave you life, then I gave you death again, then life again, then you will return to me.’ Allahu Akbar. So the Ruh of the righteous person will travel to Allah. Hadhrat Abu Hurayrah radhiAllahu anh and Hadhrat Anas radhiAllahu anh both relate that Hadhrat Umar radhiAllahu anh dispatched a group of people on an expedition, and when they returned, they told him of a colleague of theirs who had passed away on the way back. They had buried him in the ground where he died on the route back, and afterwards a person from that area told them the earth in that place had a special quality in that it would eject a person from the grave when you buried a body there. ‘To avoid this’, they said, ‘take him two miles away and bury him there. The earth does not accept the deceased here.’ So they set about digging up the body of their deceased colleague, and when they removed the plank, they found that the body wasn’t there. ‘But’, they said, ‘we found that there was a green, lush, comfortable garden in that grave, a green meadow with light beyond light as far as we could see. We saw a fountain of light!’ SubhanAllah, Allahu Akbar! He had an amazing condition in his grave. How can we say that we don’t know about this, or that we have forgotten about our promise? { ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ} Allah says ‘You broke your promise to Me. You broke your covenant.’
There was another very pious servant of Allah who passed away, and they took his deceased body to the grave. Some of the people who had dug the grave stepped down into the grave to help to lower the deceased, and they said ‘When we went into the grave, we were amazed. We said to ourselves ‘Is this a grave?’ There was a whole bed of flowers in there filling the whole grave, which was full of the intense fragrance of those flowers. The smell was there before the deceased was even lowered into the grave. And they said ‘When we came out of the grave, we took some of those flowers with us, and for seven days those flowers remained fresh and fragrant, after which they suddenly disappeared, and we couldn’t work out where they had gone.’ Allahu Akbar – tell me!
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ} Allah says ‘You were dead, I gave you life, then I took your life.’ An old grave was dug up near that of Hadhrat Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal rahmatullah alayh, and they saw a beautiful, fresh, fragrant bunch of flowers on the chest of the deceased person who was lying there. SubhanAllah. The question was posed as to why this was the case for this individual – I am telling you about the circumstances in the grave of good, righteous, upright people about which Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has spoken. So someone saw this deceased person in a dream, and said ‘A very beautiful fragrance came from your grave – why is this?’ He replied ‘This fragrance comes from the recitation of the Qur’an, and from my thirst when I was fasting. Did Allah ta’ala not promise this in the Qur’an? I used to read the Qur’an and I used to practice the Qur’an. I would read a verse so that I could implement it, not for speeches or lectures, not for ‘Ilm, not for people, and not to become a Mufassir. Whenever I recited the Qur’an, I read it so that I could practice upon it.’
Truthfully, this was the Tariqa of the pious predecessors. When they sat down to read the Qur’an, their Niyyah was one. When an order of Allah ta’ala came to them in a verse, they would stop there. If they reached { أَقِيمُواْ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ} they would stop there, and say to themselves ‘First, let me implement this Hukm, and then I will proceed with my recitation. If I read ‘Do not go near immodesty’, then I stop there, and ensure that there are no immodest actions in my life before I continue.’ This is reading the Qur’an. Today we are reading the Qur’an, and Allah ta’ala is reminding us in this verse that we made a promise to Him, and made promise to follow the Shari'ah and Sunnah, so Allah is asking ‘How then do you not follow the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? How have you abandoned him? How can this be?’ Today we are reading the Qur’an, so should we not renew our promise to Allah ta’ala, and affirm that definitely, most definitely it is correct? We shouldn’t read the Qur’an for numbers or conferences or lectures or to make money – the link with the Qur’an is not for this. The real, genuine link with the Qur’an is that when the order comes, then stop there, freeze. Implement that order straightaway. If the Qur’an says that I am a liar or that I do wrong, then I need to rectify this. Who can I speak to and give lectures to if I am a liar myself? How can I open the Tafsir of the Qur’an with Sahih al-Bukhari tucked under my arm in that case? This is not the style of Deen, my brothers. This is not the way of the Deen, to have empty, hollow ‘Ilm. The Qur’an is not for lectures and bayans and to assemble big audiences of listeners. The Qur’an came for Amal, for practice. Allahu Akbar! That is what it came for, and that is why it was sent to us.
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated clearly that these will be the conditions in the grave; we will see these scenes. Hadhrat Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh relates that a woman of Makkah would recite Allah’s name twelve thousand times every day. A great Sahabi, Hadhrat Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh, is narrating this. And people say ‘Why do you keep saying do Dhikr, do Dhikr?’ Those who invite you to Dhikr morning and evening are not mad people! They are not stupid. If they prescribe Dhikr for you, they are inviting you to a very big mission, for this Dhikr of Allah will cool your grave and deliver you to Paradise. Today, enjoy yourselves if you want, sleep as much as you like and criticise Dhikr and snigger at it; or you can implement these verses of the Qur’an and the Sunnah - it is your choice. We cannot get anything by joking and jesting.
Hadhrat Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh relates about this woman of Makkah al-Mukarramah that she would repeat her Tasbeehat of the Name of Allah twelve thousand times per day - ‘Allah, Allah, SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah.’ When she passed away – and this was in the generation of the Sahaba – they said that they took her body to the grave, and when they were about to lower the body into the grave, it descended into the grave automatically. SubhanAllah! Why? Because of her recitation, because of what Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam informed us, namely that action which would be most effective in saving a person from the Adhab of the grave. Which action was that? Of all of the Amal that we have, of all of those deeds that Allah ta’ala has given us under the name of Islam, Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has said that the best deed is that most powerful deed that will save you from the Adhab of the Qabr, that will cool you down in the grave and make it a garden of Paradise, and give you light upon light and make you float to Allah, not remaining in the grave but dwelling instead in Alam al-Barzakh in a high status.
When the souls go from here, they go to the realm of the Barzakh, an intermediary place, and Allah ta’ala has made a Jannah in Barzakh. The real Jannah comes after the Day of Reckoning, the Day of Judgement, but below that, in the intermediary place, the floating place, the Alam al-Barzakh, there is also a Paradise. Allah ta’ala holds the souls there, rehearsing their destination of the eternal Jannah, so Allah ta’ala keeps them there in Barzakh, a nice, beautiful place where they are waiting, SubhanAllah. When a pious, righteous person’s Ruh goes there, all the other pious souls come to welcome him, recognizing that he is a good person, with a link to the Mashaaikh, to a Silsila. All the Mashaaikh come to welcome him because that is like another world. It is not some fake place, it is like a Dunya. They ask him ‘How are you? How were you in the world, and what happened with you? Tell us about the gatherings of Dhikr – were they still happening or not? How is such and such a person? Did your students attend Dhikr?’ They ask, and they obtain a report through discussion.
We say ‘Oh, we haven’t forgotten’, but { ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّ} we have broken the promise. We need to rejoin the Shari’ah and the Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam – this is the promise that we made. Look at all these points that we have learned – does any religion compare to this detailed description given by the Shari’ah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? I remember an event that shows the reality of the matter, and it concerns a brother who is still with us now, in our Silsila, in our Jama’ah. He was a Christian, so how did he become a Muslim? We asked him about how it happened. The Qur’an is truth; every word of the Qur’an is truth, it is Haq. { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} Allah says ‘How can you reject this system? Is this not a Daleel from Allah, this system of life, the cycles of life, the Shari'ah and Sunnah, to be born, to die, then going into the grave, then becoming alive again? Are these things not happening in front of your eyes?’ Allah is asking us this. Does Allah ta’ala not describe everything to us?
So this brother, who was a Christian before, said that his father passed away. And this brother, who is still with us and comes to Dhikr a lot and sits in the gathering MashaAllah, said ‘When my dad passed away, I loved him a lot, so I started to worry about where he had gone.’ Allahu Akbar - I have explained what the Shari’ah says, I have told you these Hadith about the grave. So he said ‘I was worried and I wanted to find out what had become of him, and to know where he was. He had left the Dunya, so where was he now? I decided to research the information about this in my religion. So I went to a priest at church and told him that I was remembering my father so much due to my love for him, and asked him where he was now, and what would be happening to him now according to our religion. The priest started to clear his throat, but he didn’t even know about what happens in the grave, so he couldn’t say anything.’ He couldn’t answer the questions, because there is no religion that explains these things in this detail. Islam has told us everything in minute detail – we can see everything, and we know everything that is to occur. So the brother continued, and said ‘The priest couldn’t answer, so I was shocked. I thought ‘What kind of religion is this that doesn’t know the answer to these things?’ My father had died and was gone, but my religion had no information about him, and our priest could not tell me. So I was upset, and went to another priest and asked him, but I drew a blank with him also. He spluttered a bit but could not answer. So then the thought came to my heart to find out what the religion of Islam would have to say about this.’ Allahu Akbar, after being upset and depressed, alhamdulillah, he said that he got so many details when he researched in Islam, details of the sort that we have discussed today.
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} SubhanAllah. ‘You had no life, then I gave you birth, I created you, then you die and go into the grave, then you will stand again on the Day of Resurrection.’ Allah’s Nabi has given us such depth of detail that it is as though we are seeing it with our eyes so that we can contemplate what is to come. { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} ‘So now you have come back to Me, you have returned to Me as My Nabi told you. This was your foundation, your base, that eventually you would return to Me. So have you come to Me now, or not?’ SubhanAllah, Allah is the greatest! So when the brother found out what happens in the grave, he said ‘Tell me how to recite the Kalima! Ash-hadu an La ilaha illa’llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Abduhu wa Rasooluh.’ He recited the Kalima and became a Muslim, learned Dhikr and became a Sufi. SubhanAllah. He said ‘I have learned that the best action to prepare for death and the Hereafter is the Dhikr of Allah.’ SubhanAllah – this was his reaction. There is no greater success than this.
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} The Qur’an is making us wake up! We should learn something from today’s Dars, so think about one point here. This is not a speech or a lecture, rather this is Fikr, this is concern for that very dangerous place of the grave that we are going to. The grave has introduced itself to us already. It is a dark, hollow place that we are to go to, where spiders and scorpions and punishments can come. So I ask this question: what excuse will be able to make to Allah regarding the promise that we made when we were in the Alam al-Arwah, when we were souls and we promised that we would follow every aspect of the Sunnah and Shari’ah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? That fact that we have broken this promise is the biggest Fasaad and disorder of this day and age; we have fallen into mischief and evil as a result. Allah is making this point clearly again.
So we have to think. A person who has no faith, no Iman, reads the Tafseer of this promise in the Qur’an, and learns about death and the life after death, and all the details about the concept of the grave and the Hereafter, and after reading this he is amazed that there is so much detail about what is to come, and his questions are answered. And he realized that we are getting a chance here on planet earth so that we can prepare for death, so how could we be so stupid as to fall into the ditch of the Dunya? So he revived himself. But by contrast, we, who read the Qur’an day and night, and we know what the Deen and what Islam is, have no concern nor awareness. Why don’t we accept this point and the fact that is so clear, which is that we can understand the reality of the Hereafter in this world. He accepted that point even though he had no Iman! The Qur’an explains, so why are we stubborn? Why don’t these points sink into our brain cells?
We haven’t forgotten - rather we are rejecting, that is what we are doing. We are rejecting Allah’s Shari’ah and the Sunnah of Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam. There are different ways and forms of rejection. One rejection is saying ‘I don’t believe.’ That is the first category. Disbelief is the number one category. Another is to believe, but not practice – that is also rejection. We believe, but do not do Amal – this is the second type of rejection. And then, if you practice but then criticize, raising objections like ‘Why do I have to do this? Why is it like this? Why is this necessary? Why do I have to go there? How is this possible? Why was this made like this?’ This is category three, where people criticize or complain. Category number four is to oppose and to change the Deen that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam brought, to make a U-turn. You modify the Deen because your Nafs doesn’t accept it or like it or feel compatible with it. You feel it is a burden on you because it doesn’t suit your lifestyle, so you say ‘Let’s change this.’ This is the fourth category.
So if a person’s feeling and emotion do not accept the law of the Shari’ah, then that is also rejection. The Qur’an has defined all four of these categories. So we need to ask ourselves ‘Which category do I fall into?’ That is why we are reading the Qur’an. Are we of those who reject the Deen outright? Or are we in category number two, those who believe but do not do Amal? If we don’t believe, then straightaway recite the Kalimah and become a Muslim after learning these verses that we have recited today. Allah says clearly { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} – ‘Soon, very soon you will come back to Me. I will call you back to Me, don’t worry. You won’t be staying in the world for long – I will call you very soon.’ So if you are in category number one, and you don’t have Iman, then bring Iman. Or do we believe, but have no Amal, or sometimes practice and sometimes leave it, and don’t do what Allah ta’ala says we should? We don’t pray Salah correctly, fast correctly, give rights to others correctly, speak to people correctly, clean our hearts correctly, purify our souls correctly or remove the dirt from our Nafs correctly. We don’t do Amal on this. We say that we believe but don’t want to practice. If we are like this, then start to practice.
If we are in the third category, then we are practicing, but raising objections, saying ‘Where is it written? Where is the proof? I have to live in this world.’ After hearing this today, we should do Tawbah and resolve that we will live our life completely in the way that the Shari’ah has prescribed for us, for Allah’s sake. If we have gone beyond that, where we change the Deen, where we criticize the Deen, saying ‘Oh no, it’s ok, it’s fine, don’t tell me what to do. It’s my child’s wedding, and in weddings it’s no problem if there is music and singing and dancing. Islam is not that strict.’ This is opposing the Deen, taking a U-turn, modifying the Shari'ah and Sunnah. All of this comes into the realm of disbelief, and may Allah not allow that a person does this.
So if you are in any of these four categories, don’t say ‘It’s a minor thing, it’s ok.’ Wa’llahi I tell you – the Qur’an is in front of us:
{ ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِۦ وَيَقۡطَعُونَ مَآ أَمَرَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِ}
It is clear. You have broken that covenant, that pact that you made. The Fasaad in the world today is due to one thing, namely that you broke the pact you made with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. If it wasn’t for this, there would be no Fasaad, and there would be no disorder in your family. Your children are disobedient for this one reason. Your womenfolk and your children run away from home for this reason. All the losses and negatives in your homes, in your families, in society, in your communities are due to this.
{ أَن يُوصَلَ وَيُفۡسِدُونَ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡض } – Allah says ‘I gave you this so that you could mend your ties, to give you peace, to make the children the coolness of your eyes.’ Some children run here and there, they leave home with this person or that person – Allah says that there is just one reason for this. { ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِ} Allah says ‘You broke this promise – how could you break the promise? { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} Is any proof needed apart from the fact that Allah gave you life when you had none? The only proof needed is that you are openly and clearly rejecting. You say you believe in Me, but you don’t accept nor do you practice – or if you do, that practice is on the edge of disbelief.’
If you criticize a deed that you must do, even that takes you to the edge of not having Iman. For example, if you talk about something that Allah has made Haram, saying ‘Oh, singing and music is ok – it’s a wedding. They are youngsters, so if they’re dancing, it’s ok – they have desires.’ Even people with long beards become immodest and abandon Hayah when a wedding function comes. Look at what they do. Sufi Sahib runs into the wedding, dancing to the music and jumping up and down. It is shocking – look at how this person was an hour ago with his Tasbeeh. Where has it all gone? Are we treating Allah as if He was foolish, Astaghfirullah? Are we making a fool out of Allah? Allah says sternly { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ }. Look at the situation in the grave. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us about the grave, how it will grab a person and shake him – soon, very soon.
There is only one way out. The Qur’an has prescribed only one solution, just one path, and that is the path of Haq, the path of the truth. What is that path? The Sunnah of Nabi al-Kareem sallallahu alayhi wasallam - his principles, his way, his lifestyle. Establish the route that Allah ta’ala has given to all of us. We haven’t forgotten it. We are aware of it, and we can never forget it at all. Allah ta’ala says { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ} – the question doesn’t arise that you can forget. Every second of your life reminds you that you made a promise to Allah, and Allah says that the biggest proof is that in yourself, you are not satisfied with your life in the world. There is Fasaad in your home. Is there no disorder in your families? Are your children not disobeying you? Do they not rebel and run away from home? Why? Because there is no Shari'ah and Sunnah in your homes. That is proof! Having Qur’ans on the shelf at home, doing Hifdh, becoming an ‘Alim – nothing will be obtained from this. If you have ‘Ilm but you don’t do Amal on the Shari’ah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam – remember this – that ‘Ilm that you have learned, of Qur’an and of Hadith, even if one thousand verses are read and one thousand Hadiths are memorized, even if you become the biggest Muhaddith, if alongside and in parallel, you are not implementing that ‘Uloom, then what? It is compulsory to practice!
Allah will ask about Amal in the grave. Allah will say ‘I gave you knowledge of Hadith and ‘Uloom!’ If a person is pious and upright, if he has done Amal, then the angel will speak on his behalf. If that person lived all his life according to the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then the grave will be a massive meadow. Amal is what is required – practice, practice! The fragrance of the Qur’an came into that grave, remember? Why did the fragrance of Qur’an come into that person’s grave? He said ‘Because I practiced the Qur’an, that is why. I didn’t just recite it and give speeches and lectures and become an ‘Alim of the Deen, an empty hollow box.’ It is not about becoming a scholar and giving speeches and acquiring long titles, no. Learning the Qur’an is great, and there is great, great status in becoming a Muhaddith and a scholar and a Qari, but you have to have Amal on the Shari'ah and Sunnah in parallel.
To give you an example, if you buy a big, beautiful mansion, can you see everything when everyone is asleep on a dark night? If the lights are on, then there is radiation and illumination and you will get the benefit from that house. In the same way, to gain ‘Ilm and to become a Muhaddith and a scholar and so on, these are all big mansions, and if you have the light of Amal of Shari'ah and Sunnah as well, then you get the benefit. It is not a matter of the mother and father saying ‘Oh my son is this and he is that’, and the mother praising him from morning to evening.
Just remember one point – I tell you clearly now. Think – what is a sin? Today I can guarantee you, one hundred percent – and I am with you in this, we are all in the same group; we are all in the same boat – if a person does a sin after gaining ‘Ilm, what a disaster for him! And also if he takes one sin out of his life, he will become a real deputy of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam - certainly. Malice, hatred – do people try to remove these from their hearts? What a terrible thing to have malice and hatred against somebody! Don’t make big claims, rather understand the reality of what the Qur’an is teaching us. { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} Just one sin – and we say ‘It’s nothing.’ If anyone has malice inside him, he must try to eliminate it and remove it from his soul. I am just mentioning one sin here, and malice is a sin that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us about. In those nights, in the Night of Power, on the 15th of Sha’aban, in the great nights that come in the year, when Allah says ‘Come, I forgive you’, on those great nights Allah ta’ala has put a condition down that whoever has malice and envy in his heart will never be forgiven. They are not forgiven in those great nights! It doesn’t matter how many deeds he has, how much worship he has done, or how much ‘Ilm he has – if he has malice, it is all no use.
So does anybody try to do this? Does anybody go to a Sheikh, to a qualified teacher, who can teach him how to remove the sins he has inside? No Dhikr, and no Thawab, just books of Hadith under the armpit. ‘Oh, I have got ‘Ilm, so I am this and that.’ This is the era of Fasaad and mischief. We need to become clean inside, we need the ‘Ilm of the Baatin. The Qur’an demands Amal and the Hadith demands Amal. All of the Hadith collected together are about Amal. If the first Hadith you read says ‘Do this’, then practice that. Every page of the Qur’an teaches this also. We have read one verse today, just one verse. Allah says { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡ} We have repeated just this one verse today. Allah says ‘How can you live in this world today like this and then return to Allah? How will you show your face then?’
Alhamdulillah, Allah ta’ala has given us great guidance by this verse today – so, my brothers, practice this! Allah ta’ala says ‘Try your best, make effort.’ We run around doing this many Tasbeehs, reading so much Qur’an, do this many Hajj, recite so many complete Qur’ans, but we don’t think ‘Have I left this sin? What about that sin?’ Allah ta’ala is more interested in us leaving the sins! Do less worship, that is ok. Even if you just implement the Faraaidh, the Fardh Hajj, the Fardh Salah, compulsory fasting, compulsory Zakah – that is enough, and then after that give your full, utmost effort to leaving sins, to migrating from sins, because Adhab will come due to the sins. Remember this - Adhab is due to sins. If you have one sin is attached to your body, if you have lied to someone, or have sworn at someone, or have malice, hatred, backbiting, or give the evil eye to somebody – all of these are sins that will earn the fire of Hell. So where has the Qur’an gone then? Where is the knowledge? And then there is Takabbur, pride, where you want praise from people for your knowledge of Hadith and Arabic and crave titles – pride beyond pride. And if a person does not want to be put on a pedestal, with no desire to be recognized, turning down requests to speak, those are the true people. Others seek acclaim and to be called a scholar and for people to praise their speeches and level of knowledge. The true scholar says ‘I have just come for my own Nasiha.’ First look at your own life in the light of the Wa’adh, in the light of the lecture that you are giving. Look inside, at your own life.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq and the guidance so that we can understand the reality of the Qur’an.
وأخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين
1st Aug, 2020
ملفوظاتِ سیدی امام احمد الرفاعی الحُسینی الفاطمی قدس اللہ سرہ
۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
(1) قرآن ایسی نشانی ہے جس میں بہت سی نشانیاں جمع ہیں اور ربّانی آیات اس میں درج ہیں ۔ جس کسی پر اللہ جل و علا نے یہ احسان فرمایا ہو کہ وہ اس قرآن کے باطنی رُموز کو سمجھتا ہے اور ظاہری احکام شریعت کی پابندی کرتا ہے تو اُسے دوگنی برکتیں حاصل ہوتی ہیں اور جو محض اپنی رائے سے قرآن کا معنی بیان کرتا ہے تو وہ گمراہ ہو جاتا ہے اور قرآن کے طاہر و باطن دونوں سے دور ہو جاتا ہے ۔
(2) اللہ جل و علا کا ذکر تمام آسمانی آفتوں اور زمینی حوادث سے بچاؤ کے لیے ڈھال ہے ۔ اللہ تعالیٰ کا ذکر کرنے والا شخص اللہ تعالیٰ کا ہم نشین شمار ہوتا ہے اس لیے اسے چاہیے کہ اللہ رب العزت کے آداب سے غافل نہیں ہونا چاہئے تاکہ غفلت سے پاک ہو جائے اور اللہ تعالی کی ہم نشینی جو قبولیت و برکت کی چیز ہے ، اُس سے دور نہ ہو جائے ۔
(3) جس شخص کا دل پاک ہو اُس کی زبان اچھی اور اُس کا بیان بھی شیریں ہوتا ہے پھر اگر وہ اپنی زبان سے حقائق کے آشکارا ہونے کا اعتبار کرے اور اپنے دل کو پاک رکھے تو اس کی معرفت میں ترقی نصیب ہوتی ہے اور حجتِ حق اس پر ظاہر ہو جاتی ہے اور جو شخص صرف زبان کا لطف اُٹھانے پر اکتفاء کرتے ہوئے عمل اور اس کے ثمرات کو چھوڑ دیتا ہے تو اس کے ہاتھ میں صرف باتیں ہی باقی رہ جاتی ہیں ۔
(4) دین دار آدمی توبہ و استغفار کے ذریعے (غفلت اور گناہوں کی سیاہی کے) پردے اپنے سامنے سے ہٹاتا رہتا ہے جب کہ بے دین آدمی کی آنکھوں پر پَردے کے بعد پَردے ہی پڑتے رہتے ہیں ۔
۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
ماخوذ از : الحِکَمُ الرِّفَاعِیَّۃ
{كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ } 2-28
Surah al-Baqarah v28
The Qur’an al-Hakeem, the merciful Qur’an, the generous Qur’an, tells us that however much Fasaad, disorder, mischief, issues and difficulties are in the world, there is only one reason for this. The reason is that you started to live in opposition to the promise and the covenant and the pact that you made, the commitment that you made to Allah. And Allah took this promise from all of the Arwah, from all the souls, before they came to the world, knowing that in this world, shaytan and the Nafs would forcefully distract us. This is because this world is a place of tests and examinations and difficult conditions and circumstances, and these will try to prevent us from attaining our objective. The real purpose and objective is to return to Allah successfully. Allah says { إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ } – ‘You won’t stay there; it is just a temporary abode. It is just a little test that I have made for you. I made the world and I created different circumstances in the world during your life through which I will test you.’ When does a test occur? When there are obstacles and barriers – that is when there is a test. So Allah says ‘I sent you to this world, but I didn’t leave you empty handed and without assistance. To overcome the obstacles and the barriers, I took this promise from you – and you made that promise.’
Now actually, if a person says ‘I didn’t make that promise. I don’t remember doing so, and therefore the promise is cancelled’, this statement is wrong. Forgetting a promise does not break it. If, for example, a person promises you that he will give you a certain sum of money in the evening, when evening comes, if he says that he forgot to bring you the money, has the promise been cancelled? Has it been annulled and voided? No. the promise is there; it was established. If somebody reminds him about his promise, say his wife or a relative, and says to him ‘Remember that you have promised to give that money this evening. You gave an undertaking’, if he is reminded like this during the day, and then he still says ‘I forgot’, is there a bigger liar or fraudster than this? He was reminded during the day, but even then he said he forgot. So it is one thing to forget without having been reminded, and another to forget even though continual reminders have been given.
In respect to the promise that we made to Allah subhana wa ta'ala, in the same way, we have all made that promise to Allah. And nobody has forgotten that promise, which is present within our Ruh, our soul. But Allah ta’ala’s Mercy is such that even then, Allah ta’ala continuously reminds us about the promise so that we don’t forget. Allah ta’ala selected special human beings, and kept on sending those Ambiya alayhim assalam, and all of the Prophets had one mission, which was to continually remind mankind that the Final Prophet would come whose name would be Ahmad. All of them came to remind us about the promise that was made, that his Shari’ah would be the final Shari’ah, and that whoever follows his way, whoever adopts his Sunnah and his lifestyle would be successful. This was a continuous message that was sent over time, through the ages. So all the Prophets came to their Ummahs and nations to remind them that the Final Prophet would come. And those Prophets even asked Allah to be included in that Ummah - the Prophets themselves requested this after hearing about the greatness and importance of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and how he is the Habeeb of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. They thought to themselves, ‘How great if we could also be in that Ummah!’ SubhanAllah, Allah ta’ala has given us what the Ambiya desired by allowing us to be in the Ummah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
So even if we forget, Allah ta’ala has repeatedly reminded us about our promise. Allah Kareem has reminded us through the Prophets of Allah, so a person cannot forget. The problem is something else – shaytan and Nafs, the base desires. Allah subhana wa ta'ala says { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ} – ‘How can you reject belief in Allah, when I prepared means for you during your life so that you could not forget your promise?’ You can see in your own personal life that this promise was made. You cannot forget – I made the system of life itself a reminder!’ Allah says { وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} – ‘Were you not dead? Were you living before? No, you were not here – you have not been alive forever. So then? You had no life!’ Then Allah says { فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡ} – ‘I gave you life.’ Allah is the one who gave life to you! Allah ta’ala is clearly telling the human beings ‘Doesn’t your intellect make you realise? Just by being born and created and given this life of yours, does this not itself testify to the fact and to the reality that you have a Creator?’ Allah ta’ala has put so many signs in this – in your being created, being born, and after that your life, and then your death. And then where does a person go? What a great proof Allah ta’ala has given in this verse, which is sufficient to clarify the matter for anyone, of any religion, who looks at this one example. Before life, there was nothing, and then life is given, and then death. Every person knows that death is a reality – how can anyone not know this? Is this not a great sign of Allah ta’ala?
And who confirms this sign? Does not the Shari’ah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam confirm this sign of Allah? How did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam confirm this? We can see that the concept of life and death is present everywhere in the world. Everyone is aware, and everyone knows that we are going to die, and they are afraid. They know that they are going to die, but the Shari’ah and the lifestyle of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam brings the reality of life and death to humankind in a way that no other religion does. From birth, through all of the phases and walks of life, the Shari’ah gives us guidance and tells us what to do. At birth, and at the time of death, and during the period in the grave – what will happen in the grave, and all of the conditions, and then coming out of the grave. Allah tells us { ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ} – ‘I will give you life again, after dying, and after the grave.’ { ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ } Allah says { أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡ} – ‘You were dead and then I gave you life.’ { ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ } There is the event of birth, then living, then dying, then coming out of the grave, then the Day of Resurrection, then the bridge of Siraat, then the Pond of Kawthar – all of these phases and decrees of Allah are facts and reality.
And clearly, the Tafsir of all of this, together with the proof, is in front of us. How can we forget that we promised to Allah that we would imitate and follow the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? How can we deny that we promised that we are in his Ummah, so we will obey him and follow him? Allah ta’ala has defined our life’s journey to us with such clarity - from even before birth! In regard to these phases of life, the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has stated ‘In my Ummah, I saw a person and the shayateen had put him into difficulty and challenge.’ We are told here that when a person is about to die and pass away, this is a difficult and challenging time. Who is telling us? The Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is telling us. His Shari’ah is telling us what happens - we don’t have this knowledge. When a person is passing away, what occurs? His situation is that shayateen attack him forcefully. Remember – this time will come to all of us. We read about these things, and this information is given because Allah ta’ala is reminding us repeatedly about our Deen and about our lives. May Allah ta’ala give us the Tawfeeq to practice.
We are not wasting time discussing this. These are very important points that we are discussing now - listen carefully to what I am saying. This is about when we die, the time of death, when the soul will be pulled out – and this can come at any time, to any of us. Various Janazahs have taken place recently, from our own families as well, and shayateen come at the time of death. We won’t see them, but who is telling us? The Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is telling us this fact, SubhanAllah. We don’t know this ourselves. Whoever believes in and remembers that promise that he made to Allah, then he will believe these words of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and if he doesn’t believe that he made this promise, then he will run away, enjoying and seeking luxuries. So devils, shayateen, will come, and they will attack him with force. In this Hadith narrated by AbdurRahman bin Samra radhiAllahu anh, which is in Tabarani and in Hakim, and it is a lengthy Hadith of which I will share just a small portion with you, Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam says ‘I saw a person from my Ummah who, at the time of death, was being put into difficulty by shayateen. He was so distressed in these final moments that he could not utter the Kalima from his mouth.’ In normal life, if we sit down and someone asks us, we can give the answer with no difficulty, but at the time of death, which is a challenging and testing time, if a person fails to answer, then that is it - end of story.
In my life, I have myself seen a person who was dying saying ‘Who are these people in front of me? Who is here? What are they doing? What are they saying to me?’ This is the Hadith! I am telling you exactly how this event played out – the shayateen put this person into difficulty, SubhanAllah. And then what is stated? These shayateen put a person through these difficulties at the time of death, but when Dhikr of Allah comes, it frees him or her from the shayateen. The Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has stated this in the Hadith. He said ‘I saw him in difficulty, and what saved him? The Dhikr of Allah came to his rescue, and the shayateen ran away.’ This is a Hadith, SubhanAllah.
The Hadith says that the biggest asset and assistance to stave off the punishments of the grave is the Dhikr of Allah. So the people of Dhikr, those who establish and imitate and follow the lifestyle of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, who have Yaqeen in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and know that this time will come, they will bring those deeds that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has prescribed into their lives. And then their lives pass in a nice, straightforward way, with no Fasaad. There is only one focal point in their lives – ‘We have come into this world, and we are going to leave it.’ And they are ready and prepared for the Hereafter, not like us, running away from the Deen. They have balance in their lives. They live for this Dunya just enough to be able to fill their stomachs a bit, and they let the time pass nicely and smoothly. But the real, genuine purpose is the Hereafter, the destination, and they keep their eyes on that, so they do such deeds as will assist them. You will see such people doing the Dhikr of Allah, because they know that they made a promise, and they know that the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells them that if they do more Dhikr, they will prevail over the shayateen at the time of death.
Everybody will die, and the Shari’ah gives us guidance about this. And after death comes the grave. Abu al-Hajjaj ath-Thamali radhiAllahu anh narrated a Hadith where the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated about when the deceased is lowered into the grave. Do we not lower people into graves ourselves? Will we not be lowered as well? My father went, my mother went, my brother went, my aunties have gone, my uncles have gone – how many people have gone? Those people who played with us, and sat with us, and discussed with us - various relatives have passed from this world in front of our eyes. My mother passed away. Where have they gone? Into the grave. And when a person goes into the grave, what happens? What the Hadith states is what happens. The promise we made to Allah comes back in front of us in the grave. Allah ta’ala says ‘Can you not see these signs in the lowering of these people into the grave? How can you forget that you are going to pass away? You haven’t forgotten actually – something else has happened.’
And when the deceased person is lowered into the grave, the grave questions him. Who is saying this? The Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam’s Shari’ah, his Hadeeth is telling us this. No science will tell you this fact, no research can tell you this, only the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So the grave speaks to the deceased, saying ‘Didn’t you know what I am and where I am, before you came to me? Didn’t you know that I am the ditch of Adhab, of punishment? See how much Adhab will start to come into this grave now, in the darkness. Now you are scared and shaking in the darkness - didn’t you know? Did you forget the promise you made to Allah?’ The grave will remind us at that time. ‘Did you forget that verse? Did you forget the guidance you received that time about the hollow ditch beneath the earth?’ SubhanAllah.
{ ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِ}
The grave says ‘Did you forget the promise you made to Allah? Did you not know that there will be Adhab and punishments and tests, and that I am home to spiders and scorpions and tarantulas and serpents? Allahu Akbar, they will come out from all four sides. Oh son of Adam, you were in ignorance and negligence, and you were proud in the world. You said ‘Oh, I don’t know, what’s this Sunnah and Shari’ah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? We have got to do something in the world, to make some money. Let death come – we will see to it then.’
{ ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِ} ‘You broke the covenant, the pact, that you made with Allah ta’ala. You knew death was going to come. You were aware that death was going to come, and you used to lower people into their graves after they died, so you must have known. You were aware of the promise that you made to Allah – you hadn’t forgotten. How can you say that you forgot? You can never use that excuse on the Day of Judgement. On top of that, you were reminded repeatedly.’ The Qur’an is reminding us repeatedly. We cannot say that we don’t know. ‘You used to walk big-headed in the world, big shoulders, big head. Didn’t you know that you were coming back to me?’ Allahu Akbar – this is stubbornness.
The person who was afraid in the world, who had fear of Allah, prepared for that death and the Hereafter. Think about the grave, brothers – prepare, plan for the grave. A pious, upright person won’t have to speak when the grave asks him. Who will speak? Allah ta’ala says that He will assign an angel for such a person, SubhanAllah. May Allah ta’ala give us all such an angel! Allah assigns an angel, and he will answer on behalf of the deceased person. ‘Speak to me’, the angel says to the grave. ‘Leave him, don’t pick on him. What is the problem?’ Who is saying this? Shari’ah is saying this, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying this, not a scientist. No X-ray can give you this information. So when you are asked the questions in the grave, the angel will say to the grave ‘Will you punish and persecute a pious man? Will you bring Adhab upon him, and give him darkness and scorpions and spiders? What can you offer a pious and upright person? He did good deeds and used to save himself from bad deeds. He prepared himself for coming to you, oh grave, so what will you do for him?’ The grave will reply ‘If it is the case that he prepared and was good and pious before coming to me, and that he was firm on his promise, then I will become a lush and lavish place, full of comforts like a green garden.’ When such a person goes into the grave, he will see a fountain of light upon his body. This will be his abode in the grave, SubhanAllah. Noor ‘ala noor – there will be light upon light in his grave. And as soon as he is lowered into his grave, his Rooh will travel to Allah and his abode will be Paradise. He will not hover here in the grave. Do you understand?
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} Allah says ‘How can you reject when you knew where you came from? You were dead { فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ} and then I gave you life. I created the world so that you could live in the world after your birth, and then { ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ } I took you again. Did not My Habeeb sallallahu alayhi wasallam tell you all the facts about what was going to happen after your life in this world? If you had kept your promise, then what would your condition be? Would be as it is now, desperate, enduring all the severe trials of the grave?’ My brothers, the Qur’an and the Sunnah gives a clear description about the grave, a clear description.
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ} Allah says ‘How can you disbelieve in Me? You were dead, then I gave you life, then I gave you death again, then life again, then you will return to me.’ Allahu Akbar. So the Ruh of the righteous person will travel to Allah. Hadhrat Abu Hurayrah radhiAllahu anh and Hadhrat Anas radhiAllahu anh both relate that Hadhrat Umar radhiAllahu anh dispatched a group of people on an expedition, and when they returned, they told him of a colleague of theirs who had passed away on the way back. They had buried him in the ground where he died on the route back, and afterwards a person from that area told them the earth in that place had a special quality in that it would eject a person from the grave when you buried a body there. ‘To avoid this’, they said, ‘take him two miles away and bury him there. The earth does not accept the deceased here.’ So they set about digging up the body of their deceased colleague, and when they removed the plank, they found that the body wasn’t there. ‘But’, they said, ‘we found that there was a green, lush, comfortable garden in that grave, a green meadow with light beyond light as far as we could see. We saw a fountain of light!’ SubhanAllah, Allahu Akbar! He had an amazing condition in his grave. How can we say that we don’t know about this, or that we have forgotten about our promise? { ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ} Allah says ‘You broke your promise to Me. You broke your covenant.’
There was another very pious servant of Allah who passed away, and they took his deceased body to the grave. Some of the people who had dug the grave stepped down into the grave to help to lower the deceased, and they said ‘When we went into the grave, we were amazed. We said to ourselves ‘Is this a grave?’ There was a whole bed of flowers in there filling the whole grave, which was full of the intense fragrance of those flowers. The smell was there before the deceased was even lowered into the grave. And they said ‘When we came out of the grave, we took some of those flowers with us, and for seven days those flowers remained fresh and fragrant, after which they suddenly disappeared, and we couldn’t work out where they had gone.’ Allahu Akbar – tell me!
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ} Allah says ‘You were dead, I gave you life, then I took your life.’ An old grave was dug up near that of Hadhrat Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal rahmatullah alayh, and they saw a beautiful, fresh, fragrant bunch of flowers on the chest of the deceased person who was lying there. SubhanAllah. The question was posed as to why this was the case for this individual – I am telling you about the circumstances in the grave of good, righteous, upright people about which Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has spoken. So someone saw this deceased person in a dream, and said ‘A very beautiful fragrance came from your grave – why is this?’ He replied ‘This fragrance comes from the recitation of the Qur’an, and from my thirst when I was fasting. Did Allah ta’ala not promise this in the Qur’an? I used to read the Qur’an and I used to practice the Qur’an. I would read a verse so that I could implement it, not for speeches or lectures, not for ‘Ilm, not for people, and not to become a Mufassir. Whenever I recited the Qur’an, I read it so that I could practice upon it.’
Truthfully, this was the Tariqa of the pious predecessors. When they sat down to read the Qur’an, their Niyyah was one. When an order of Allah ta’ala came to them in a verse, they would stop there. If they reached { أَقِيمُواْ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ} they would stop there, and say to themselves ‘First, let me implement this Hukm, and then I will proceed with my recitation. If I read ‘Do not go near immodesty’, then I stop there, and ensure that there are no immodest actions in my life before I continue.’ This is reading the Qur’an. Today we are reading the Qur’an, and Allah ta’ala is reminding us in this verse that we made a promise to Him, and made promise to follow the Shari'ah and Sunnah, so Allah is asking ‘How then do you not follow the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? How have you abandoned him? How can this be?’ Today we are reading the Qur’an, so should we not renew our promise to Allah ta’ala, and affirm that definitely, most definitely it is correct? We shouldn’t read the Qur’an for numbers or conferences or lectures or to make money – the link with the Qur’an is not for this. The real, genuine link with the Qur’an is that when the order comes, then stop there, freeze. Implement that order straightaway. If the Qur’an says that I am a liar or that I do wrong, then I need to rectify this. Who can I speak to and give lectures to if I am a liar myself? How can I open the Tafsir of the Qur’an with Sahih al-Bukhari tucked under my arm in that case? This is not the style of Deen, my brothers. This is not the way of the Deen, to have empty, hollow ‘Ilm. The Qur’an is not for lectures and bayans and to assemble big audiences of listeners. The Qur’an came for Amal, for practice. Allahu Akbar! That is what it came for, and that is why it was sent to us.
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated clearly that these will be the conditions in the grave; we will see these scenes. Hadhrat Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh relates that a woman of Makkah would recite Allah’s name twelve thousand times every day. A great Sahabi, Hadhrat Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh, is narrating this. And people say ‘Why do you keep saying do Dhikr, do Dhikr?’ Those who invite you to Dhikr morning and evening are not mad people! They are not stupid. If they prescribe Dhikr for you, they are inviting you to a very big mission, for this Dhikr of Allah will cool your grave and deliver you to Paradise. Today, enjoy yourselves if you want, sleep as much as you like and criticise Dhikr and snigger at it; or you can implement these verses of the Qur’an and the Sunnah - it is your choice. We cannot get anything by joking and jesting.
Hadhrat Abu Darda radhiAllahu anh relates about this woman of Makkah al-Mukarramah that she would repeat her Tasbeehat of the Name of Allah twelve thousand times per day - ‘Allah, Allah, SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah.’ When she passed away – and this was in the generation of the Sahaba – they said that they took her body to the grave, and when they were about to lower the body into the grave, it descended into the grave automatically. SubhanAllah! Why? Because of her recitation, because of what Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam informed us, namely that action which would be most effective in saving a person from the Adhab of the grave. Which action was that? Of all of the Amal that we have, of all of those deeds that Allah ta’ala has given us under the name of Islam, Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has said that the best deed is that most powerful deed that will save you from the Adhab of the Qabr, that will cool you down in the grave and make it a garden of Paradise, and give you light upon light and make you float to Allah, not remaining in the grave but dwelling instead in Alam al-Barzakh in a high status.
When the souls go from here, they go to the realm of the Barzakh, an intermediary place, and Allah ta’ala has made a Jannah in Barzakh. The real Jannah comes after the Day of Reckoning, the Day of Judgement, but below that, in the intermediary place, the floating place, the Alam al-Barzakh, there is also a Paradise. Allah ta’ala holds the souls there, rehearsing their destination of the eternal Jannah, so Allah ta’ala keeps them there in Barzakh, a nice, beautiful place where they are waiting, SubhanAllah. When a pious, righteous person’s Ruh goes there, all the other pious souls come to welcome him, recognizing that he is a good person, with a link to the Mashaaikh, to a Silsila. All the Mashaaikh come to welcome him because that is like another world. It is not some fake place, it is like a Dunya. They ask him ‘How are you? How were you in the world, and what happened with you? Tell us about the gatherings of Dhikr – were they still happening or not? How is such and such a person? Did your students attend Dhikr?’ They ask, and they obtain a report through discussion.
We say ‘Oh, we haven’t forgotten’, but { ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّ} we have broken the promise. We need to rejoin the Shari’ah and the Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam – this is the promise that we made. Look at all these points that we have learned – does any religion compare to this detailed description given by the Shari’ah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? I remember an event that shows the reality of the matter, and it concerns a brother who is still with us now, in our Silsila, in our Jama’ah. He was a Christian, so how did he become a Muslim? We asked him about how it happened. The Qur’an is truth; every word of the Qur’an is truth, it is Haq. { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} Allah says ‘How can you reject this system? Is this not a Daleel from Allah, this system of life, the cycles of life, the Shari'ah and Sunnah, to be born, to die, then going into the grave, then becoming alive again? Are these things not happening in front of your eyes?’ Allah is asking us this. Does Allah ta’ala not describe everything to us?
So this brother, who was a Christian before, said that his father passed away. And this brother, who is still with us and comes to Dhikr a lot and sits in the gathering MashaAllah, said ‘When my dad passed away, I loved him a lot, so I started to worry about where he had gone.’ Allahu Akbar - I have explained what the Shari’ah says, I have told you these Hadith about the grave. So he said ‘I was worried and I wanted to find out what had become of him, and to know where he was. He had left the Dunya, so where was he now? I decided to research the information about this in my religion. So I went to a priest at church and told him that I was remembering my father so much due to my love for him, and asked him where he was now, and what would be happening to him now according to our religion. The priest started to clear his throat, but he didn’t even know about what happens in the grave, so he couldn’t say anything.’ He couldn’t answer the questions, because there is no religion that explains these things in this detail. Islam has told us everything in minute detail – we can see everything, and we know everything that is to occur. So the brother continued, and said ‘The priest couldn’t answer, so I was shocked. I thought ‘What kind of religion is this that doesn’t know the answer to these things?’ My father had died and was gone, but my religion had no information about him, and our priest could not tell me. So I was upset, and went to another priest and asked him, but I drew a blank with him also. He spluttered a bit but could not answer. So then the thought came to my heart to find out what the religion of Islam would have to say about this.’ Allahu Akbar, after being upset and depressed, alhamdulillah, he said that he got so many details when he researched in Islam, details of the sort that we have discussed today.
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} SubhanAllah. ‘You had no life, then I gave you birth, I created you, then you die and go into the grave, then you will stand again on the Day of Resurrection.’ Allah’s Nabi has given us such depth of detail that it is as though we are seeing it with our eyes so that we can contemplate what is to come. { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} ‘So now you have come back to Me, you have returned to Me as My Nabi told you. This was your foundation, your base, that eventually you would return to Me. So have you come to Me now, or not?’ SubhanAllah, Allah is the greatest! So when the brother found out what happens in the grave, he said ‘Tell me how to recite the Kalima! Ash-hadu an La ilaha illa’llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Abduhu wa Rasooluh.’ He recited the Kalima and became a Muslim, learned Dhikr and became a Sufi. SubhanAllah. He said ‘I have learned that the best action to prepare for death and the Hereafter is the Dhikr of Allah.’ SubhanAllah – this was his reaction. There is no greater success than this.
{ كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُحۡيِيكُمۡ ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} The Qur’an is making us wake up! We should learn something from today’s Dars, so think about one point here. This is not a speech or a lecture, rather this is Fikr, this is concern for that very dangerous place of the grave that we are going to. The grave has introduced itself to us already. It is a dark, hollow place that we are to go to, where spiders and scorpions and punishments can come. So I ask this question: what excuse will be able to make to Allah regarding the promise that we made when we were in the Alam al-Arwah, when we were souls and we promised that we would follow every aspect of the Sunnah and Shari’ah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam? That fact that we have broken this promise is the biggest Fasaad and disorder of this day and age; we have fallen into mischief and evil as a result. Allah is making this point clearly again.
So we have to think. A person who has no faith, no Iman, reads the Tafseer of this promise in the Qur’an, and learns about death and the life after death, and all the details about the concept of the grave and the Hereafter, and after reading this he is amazed that there is so much detail about what is to come, and his questions are answered. And he realized that we are getting a chance here on planet earth so that we can prepare for death, so how could we be so stupid as to fall into the ditch of the Dunya? So he revived himself. But by contrast, we, who read the Qur’an day and night, and we know what the Deen and what Islam is, have no concern nor awareness. Why don’t we accept this point and the fact that is so clear, which is that we can understand the reality of the Hereafter in this world. He accepted that point even though he had no Iman! The Qur’an explains, so why are we stubborn? Why don’t these points sink into our brain cells?
We haven’t forgotten - rather we are rejecting, that is what we are doing. We are rejecting Allah’s Shari’ah and the Sunnah of Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam. There are different ways and forms of rejection. One rejection is saying ‘I don’t believe.’ That is the first category. Disbelief is the number one category. Another is to believe, but not practice – that is also rejection. We believe, but do not do Amal – this is the second type of rejection. And then, if you practice but then criticize, raising objections like ‘Why do I have to do this? Why is it like this? Why is this necessary? Why do I have to go there? How is this possible? Why was this made like this?’ This is category three, where people criticize or complain. Category number four is to oppose and to change the Deen that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam brought, to make a U-turn. You modify the Deen because your Nafs doesn’t accept it or like it or feel compatible with it. You feel it is a burden on you because it doesn’t suit your lifestyle, so you say ‘Let’s change this.’ This is the fourth category.
So if a person’s feeling and emotion do not accept the law of the Shari’ah, then that is also rejection. The Qur’an has defined all four of these categories. So we need to ask ourselves ‘Which category do I fall into?’ That is why we are reading the Qur’an. Are we of those who reject the Deen outright? Or are we in category number two, those who believe but do not do Amal? If we don’t believe, then straightaway recite the Kalimah and become a Muslim after learning these verses that we have recited today. Allah says clearly { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} – ‘Soon, very soon you will come back to Me. I will call you back to Me, don’t worry. You won’t be staying in the world for long – I will call you very soon.’ So if you are in category number one, and you don’t have Iman, then bring Iman. Or do we believe, but have no Amal, or sometimes practice and sometimes leave it, and don’t do what Allah ta’ala says we should? We don’t pray Salah correctly, fast correctly, give rights to others correctly, speak to people correctly, clean our hearts correctly, purify our souls correctly or remove the dirt from our Nafs correctly. We don’t do Amal on this. We say that we believe but don’t want to practice. If we are like this, then start to practice.
If we are in the third category, then we are practicing, but raising objections, saying ‘Where is it written? Where is the proof? I have to live in this world.’ After hearing this today, we should do Tawbah and resolve that we will live our life completely in the way that the Shari’ah has prescribed for us, for Allah’s sake. If we have gone beyond that, where we change the Deen, where we criticize the Deen, saying ‘Oh no, it’s ok, it’s fine, don’t tell me what to do. It’s my child’s wedding, and in weddings it’s no problem if there is music and singing and dancing. Islam is not that strict.’ This is opposing the Deen, taking a U-turn, modifying the Shari'ah and Sunnah. All of this comes into the realm of disbelief, and may Allah not allow that a person does this.
So if you are in any of these four categories, don’t say ‘It’s a minor thing, it’s ok.’ Wa’llahi I tell you – the Qur’an is in front of us:
{ ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِۦ وَيَقۡطَعُونَ مَآ أَمَرَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِ}
It is clear. You have broken that covenant, that pact that you made. The Fasaad in the world today is due to one thing, namely that you broke the pact you made with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. If it wasn’t for this, there would be no Fasaad, and there would be no disorder in your family. Your children are disobedient for this one reason. Your womenfolk and your children run away from home for this reason. All the losses and negatives in your homes, in your families, in society, in your communities are due to this.
{ أَن يُوصَلَ وَيُفۡسِدُونَ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡض } – Allah says ‘I gave you this so that you could mend your ties, to give you peace, to make the children the coolness of your eyes.’ Some children run here and there, they leave home with this person or that person – Allah says that there is just one reason for this. { ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهۡدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِ} Allah says ‘You broke this promise – how could you break the promise? { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا} Is any proof needed apart from the fact that Allah gave you life when you had none? The only proof needed is that you are openly and clearly rejecting. You say you believe in Me, but you don’t accept nor do you practice – or if you do, that practice is on the edge of disbelief.’
If you criticize a deed that you must do, even that takes you to the edge of not having Iman. For example, if you talk about something that Allah has made Haram, saying ‘Oh, singing and music is ok – it’s a wedding. They are youngsters, so if they’re dancing, it’s ok – they have desires.’ Even people with long beards become immodest and abandon Hayah when a wedding function comes. Look at what they do. Sufi Sahib runs into the wedding, dancing to the music and jumping up and down. It is shocking – look at how this person was an hour ago with his Tasbeeh. Where has it all gone? Are we treating Allah as if He was foolish, Astaghfirullah? Are we making a fool out of Allah? Allah says sternly { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ }. Look at the situation in the grave. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us about the grave, how it will grab a person and shake him – soon, very soon.
There is only one way out. The Qur’an has prescribed only one solution, just one path, and that is the path of Haq, the path of the truth. What is that path? The Sunnah of Nabi al-Kareem sallallahu alayhi wasallam - his principles, his way, his lifestyle. Establish the route that Allah ta’ala has given to all of us. We haven’t forgotten it. We are aware of it, and we can never forget it at all. Allah ta’ala says { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ} – the question doesn’t arise that you can forget. Every second of your life reminds you that you made a promise to Allah, and Allah says that the biggest proof is that in yourself, you are not satisfied with your life in the world. There is Fasaad in your home. Is there no disorder in your families? Are your children not disobeying you? Do they not rebel and run away from home? Why? Because there is no Shari'ah and Sunnah in your homes. That is proof! Having Qur’ans on the shelf at home, doing Hifdh, becoming an ‘Alim – nothing will be obtained from this. If you have ‘Ilm but you don’t do Amal on the Shari’ah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam – remember this – that ‘Ilm that you have learned, of Qur’an and of Hadith, even if one thousand verses are read and one thousand Hadiths are memorized, even if you become the biggest Muhaddith, if alongside and in parallel, you are not implementing that ‘Uloom, then what? It is compulsory to practice!
Allah will ask about Amal in the grave. Allah will say ‘I gave you knowledge of Hadith and ‘Uloom!’ If a person is pious and upright, if he has done Amal, then the angel will speak on his behalf. If that person lived all his life according to the Shari'ah and Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, then the grave will be a massive meadow. Amal is what is required – practice, practice! The fragrance of the Qur’an came into that grave, remember? Why did the fragrance of Qur’an come into that person’s grave? He said ‘Because I practiced the Qur’an, that is why. I didn’t just recite it and give speeches and lectures and become an ‘Alim of the Deen, an empty hollow box.’ It is not about becoming a scholar and giving speeches and acquiring long titles, no. Learning the Qur’an is great, and there is great, great status in becoming a Muhaddith and a scholar and a Qari, but you have to have Amal on the Shari'ah and Sunnah in parallel.
To give you an example, if you buy a big, beautiful mansion, can you see everything when everyone is asleep on a dark night? If the lights are on, then there is radiation and illumination and you will get the benefit from that house. In the same way, to gain ‘Ilm and to become a Muhaddith and a scholar and so on, these are all big mansions, and if you have the light of Amal of Shari'ah and Sunnah as well, then you get the benefit. It is not a matter of the mother and father saying ‘Oh my son is this and he is that’, and the mother praising him from morning to evening.
Just remember one point – I tell you clearly now. Think – what is a sin? Today I can guarantee you, one hundred percent – and I am with you in this, we are all in the same group; we are all in the same boat – if a person does a sin after gaining ‘Ilm, what a disaster for him! And also if he takes one sin out of his life, he will become a real deputy of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam - certainly. Malice, hatred – do people try to remove these from their hearts? What a terrible thing to have malice and hatred against somebody! Don’t make big claims, rather understand the reality of what the Qur’an is teaching us. { ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ} Just one sin – and we say ‘It’s nothing.’ If anyone has malice inside him, he must try to eliminate it and remove it from his soul. I am just mentioning one sin here, and malice is a sin that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us about. In those nights, in the Night of Power, on the 15th of Sha’aban, in the great nights that come in the year, when Allah says ‘Come, I forgive you’, on those great nights Allah ta’ala has put a condition down that whoever has malice and envy in his heart will never be forgiven. They are not forgiven in those great nights! It doesn’t matter how many deeds he has, how much worship he has done, or how much ‘Ilm he has – if he has malice, it is all no use.
So does anybody try to do this? Does anybody go to a Sheikh, to a qualified teacher, who can teach him how to remove the sins he has inside? No Dhikr, and no Thawab, just books of Hadith under the armpit. ‘Oh, I have got ‘Ilm, so I am this and that.’ This is the era of Fasaad and mischief. We need to become clean inside, we need the ‘Ilm of the Baatin. The Qur’an demands Amal and the Hadith demands Amal. All of the Hadith collected together are about Amal. If the first Hadith you read says ‘Do this’, then practice that. Every page of the Qur’an teaches this also. We have read one verse today, just one verse. Allah says { كَيۡفَ تَكۡفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَڪُنتُمۡ أَمۡوَٲتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَـٰڪُمۡ} We have repeated just this one verse today. Allah says ‘How can you live in this world today like this and then return to Allah? How will you show your face then?’
Alhamdulillah, Allah ta’ala has given us great guidance by this verse today – so, my brothers, practice this! Allah ta’ala says ‘Try your best, make effort.’ We run around doing this many Tasbeehs, reading so much Qur’an, do this many Hajj, recite so many complete Qur’ans, but we don’t think ‘Have I left this sin? What about that sin?’ Allah ta’ala is more interested in us leaving the sins! Do less worship, that is ok. Even if you just implement the Faraaidh, the Fardh Hajj, the Fardh Salah, compulsory fasting, compulsory Zakah – that is enough, and then after that give your full, utmost effort to leaving sins, to migrating from sins, because Adhab will come due to the sins. Remember this - Adhab is due to sins. If you have one sin is attached to your body, if you have lied to someone, or have sworn at someone, or have malice, hatred, backbiting, or give the evil eye to somebody – all of these are sins that will earn the fire of Hell. So where has the Qur’an gone then? Where is the knowledge? And then there is Takabbur, pride, where you want praise from people for your knowledge of Hadith and Arabic and crave titles – pride beyond pride. And if a person does not want to be put on a pedestal, with no desire to be recognized, turning down requests to speak, those are the true people. Others seek acclaim and to be called a scholar and for people to praise their speeches and level of knowledge. The true scholar says ‘I have just come for my own Nasiha.’ First look at your own life in the light of the Wa’adh, in the light of the lecture that you are giving. Look inside, at your own life.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq and the guidance so that we can understand the reality of the Qur’an.
وأخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين