Message for the Day of Ashoorah
Take the example of a poor person who is distressed and impoverished; he is not in a good place or a good condition. He is sitting, sad and upset, when suddenly the phone rings. He takes the call and hears some news. The caller says ‘Congratulations!’ so he asks ‘What for?’ The voice says ‘You know when you were homeless and in difficulty, you applied for a government grant of a house, a detached house? Well, your application has been accepted, so you just need to come tomorrow and sign the papers and then the house is yours.’ What would the Hal of such a person be at this time? Tell me. He would be very happy indeed. So then imagine that shortly after this, he gets another phone call, and the caller asks him to confirm that he is such and such a person, so he says ‘Yes, that’s me.’ The caller then says ‘Do you remember that you entered a competition for which the first prize was a new Mercedes? Well your name has come out as the winner, so please come and collect the car as soon as you can.’ So now he has a car as well! Such things do happen, and they are not a matter of chance – this is Allah’s Karam, His Grace.
Such things occur because Allah gives openly and without limit – he is Karim, and He gives with His Bounty and Grace. Not everyone gets such things, but unexpected gifts such as these do happen to people in life. So now this person has a Mercedes car and a house. ‘What joy!’ he thinks. ‘This is excellent!’ Then a friend gets in touch and says ‘I have got a bit of profit for you from our business. I have not got long to live, so I have kept it aside for you because I remember that you invested in the early days. So now I want to give you the value of your share, which is approximately £100,000.’ So now cash has come to him as well! Imagine how he would feel now – he has acquired a detached house, a Mercedes and one hundred thousand pounds. How happy would he be? He would be mad with joy! But then the very next day, that poor individual leaves home joyfully, and an accident takes place which takes his life. So the house is lost and the car is lost – everything is lost.
Happiness is temporary, my friends. All such things are temporary; the most expensive watch, or car, or house, or the most expensive item of clothing, these are all lost in a second when the heart gives a last shake, and then stops. Imagine his happiness before – we get happy just listening to his good fortune! Look at that - our hearts open up. We would say ‘Wow – congratulations!’ to that person, but then before one day has passed, his life ends. These events happen in the world, so this type of happiness is nothing. What kind of happiness is this? We run around all life-long in search of this kind of happiness, but as soon as a person’s eyes close, he cannot see his house or his business or his wife or his children; all that surrounds him is the dark night of the grave – and that night is a very dark night. Throughout our lives, we are being told that the punishment of the grave is more severe than we can imagine; there is no one there to help in the grave; there is no one to turn to. Only one thing will be of assistance, and that is A’maal, and especially Salah – that is, if you did not leave Salah, and if you ran to Salah in order to drop into Sujood, and if you could not sleep at night for sake of Salah, and from top to bottom, you were wrapped in your Salah. Just as Allah surrounds us, Allah ta’ala has given us a timeframe five times every day, saying ‘Prostrate to Me five times a day, oh My servants.’
Will that Salah not be useful? But we are negligent and lazy, saying ‘Oh I read sometimes, and sometimes my heart feels like it and I come running to Jama’ah, but sometimes I don’t feel like it.’ We have no sadness when we miss Jama’ah; there is no regret and no hair standing on end in shock. We should regard each Salah in Jama’ah as being so great. In the grave, we will say ‘Take all the wealth we accumulated, our shops and houses and money, for I have no need of them, and please give me one Salah so that I can succeed here.’ I swear by Allah, it is not about a whole lifetime of Salah; rather, Allah ta’ala will say ‘Just show Me one Salah that is pleasing to Me, and I will forgive all the issues of your life and will open the doors of Paradise for you. Give Me just one Salah.’
Is this not the case? What a great statement – so why are we mad? Why have our brains lost the plot? Allah has given us this one order to implement from morning to evening – just one order. Don’t relegate this order, and don’t even think about delaying; rather, even if you are sick or upset or down, you should develop so much determination that you always think ‘I can come.’ Don’t leave Salah in Jama’ah. Do you leave Salah for the sake of your Rizq, your wealth, or your property? People say ‘Oh, I go once a day’ – but do they not realise that their home and their family and their wife and their children – all of this has gone if we leave Salah? It is not a matter of choice for us, so don’t come to Salah when you feel like it, wearing white clothes and swaying left and right as you pray, and then when time is short, you just sitting at home and don’t care. We must go in the morning, in the evening, in the day, in the night, whether we are here or there. How big a loss is accruing to that human being who spends his whole life ignoring this.
In the grave, on the Day of Resurrection, on the Plain of Gathering, on the Bridge of Sirat – what will give us success in all these places? Salah, Salah, Salah! That’s it. You just need that one certificate in your hand. ‘Here is my certificate.’ ‘What certificate is this?’ ‘It is my Salah’ ‘Fine – go.’ The grave will be illuminated by this certificate of Salah – say SubhanAllah. That is the only thing that will help. Why does this not come into our ‘Aql? All we know is ‘I want this house, I want this car, I want this business.’ Every day, each second of our time is taking us towards our grave, yet these desires are increasing. Our body leaves us, and our face starts to change as our age increases, but we forget these things and keep thinking about the Dunya, looking for shares in this business, seeking profit from here, seeking success in that business. What a big destruction awaits us – think about it - yet we say to ourselves ‘I am a wise person – no one is brainier than me, or has as fine an intellect. No one thinks things through better than me.’
It is from Allah’s Karam and Grace that we have this fantastic opportunity to hear this message on this great day – think about it. Today is such a great day, and we are being given such a great opportunity. If we make a promise today, saying ‘Today is the Day of Ashoorah, and the night of Jumu’ah is coming in; this is a great day in the month that You love, in which there are so many rewards on offer.’ There is still time before this great day finishes. What a great example we are given on this day, because at this time, the neck of Hadhrat Hussain radhiAllahu anh was cut, but he would not leave prostration. He didn’t leave prostration. He held firm to the final message that his blessed grandfather sallallahu alayhi wasallam gave to him. What message did his grandfather give him? Salah, Salah, Salah – that was the message that the grandson of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam was passing on. Yes? He was not in a situation of calmness and serenity; there was no eating or drinking for him, and there are no words that could describe the severity of the situation that he faced, but he asked for permission to do one thing, and that was prostration. He prostrated, showing the message that ‘We, the Ahl-e-Bait, have demonstrated this to you.’ This was the example he gave and the example that his family gave, namely ‘This is the message that my grandfather gave. In the final moments before he departed from the world, his message was Salah, Salah, Salah.’ His grandson said ‘I demonstrated that message to the end.’
We are not those who just talk, no – rather, we are those who do Amal, who practice. After hearing the message today, don’t turn back. We need to make this promise before departing from this Masjid today: ‘Oh Allah, please give me the Tawfeeq and the energy, because my heart has accepted today that Salah is the greatest action of my life, and that the biggest loss and regret in the world and Hereafter, in the grave and on the Day of Resurrection, will be those Salahs that I did not pray in Jama’ah.’ If not, at that time we will say ‘I had the Tawfeeq, I had food in my stomach and I had energy and health, and meanwhile the world was dying and people had Corona and other diseases, and You gave me health and power, oh Allah, but I was so extremely ungrateful that I did not come to pray Your Salah.’
Is there any excuse in the Hereafter for not praying Salah? Tell me. Think – is there? We feel ashamed even now as we hear this, thinking ‘Allah ta’ala, my Rabb, gives me everything from morning to evening, so why did I leave Salah? Did my breath leave me? Did my body leave me? Why did Allah seat me here? Why does Allah still give me food? Why has He given me the Tawfeeq to do Amal? Why does Allah not suddenly give me a disease or a fever?’ There are many people passing away, young people included. Just yesterday, or two days ago, you shook someone’s hand, and now, today, he is not here – but Allah has given us another chance. What great favours of Allah are upon us! Yes? And despite all these favours of Allah, we ignore this Hukm, this command that Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam emphasised to us.
The Ahl-e-Bait demonstrated that the neck can be cut, children can be lost, and thirst and parched tongues be endured. SubhanAllah, Allah is saying that all sorts of tests and challenges will come. You are living a life of examination, but in reality, the tests will not be difficult for you. Rather, Allah is saying that if a person lives his life according to Allah’s Hukm, then He will elevate that person after every test. Thirst, hunger, sadness, distress, difficulty, challenges – if you have all of these in your life, then understand that Allah has given you all this to elevate your status. There is no other example needed, and Hadhrat Hussain radhiAllahu anh offered no excuse at that time. Did he have ease or comfort at that time? He had not one atom’s weight of ease, and yet he never left the Hukm of Rabb-il-Alameen, Allah. SubhanAllah – this is how he attained his rank and status.
This is what the Qur’an tells us. Allah says ‘When I test you with sickness or upset or distress, with lack of Rizq and earnings so that you are in poverty, Allah will give to you – don’t worry! Just do one action; just fulfil one Hukm that I have given to you. What is that Hukm? As-Salah!’ Never leave Salah; run towards Salah. But look at our children – they leave Salah. Our house folk leave Salah, the wife leaves Salah, the daughter leaves Salah, and we accept this, while we cannot accept that they do not go out to work. We say ‘It is unthinkable that my son or my daughter does not go out to work, that they sit at home not doing anything.’ We won’t allow this, and if you stay at home for two days, your wife will not accept it and will say ‘Go – you have to earn in order to pay the bills.’ But nobody says ‘Why are you leaving Allah’s Salah? Are you eating and drinking and sleeping and snoring, and yet not going to Fajr Salah in the morning? Oh shameless person, do you not have any Haya? Are you not ashamed that you are living a life full of your own desires, while you eat from Allah? You beg from Allah, and yet you stand in front of Him, challenging Him! Who are you? How dare you? You cannot compete with even one germ that Allah sends to the earth, an invisible germ called Coronavirus; you are standing now, but Allah can make you lie down whenever He wants.’
We are still standing and living a life of normality, so how can we even imagine leaving Salah? Do we reject Allah’s order of Salah? Are we leaving prostration? Tell me. Can there be any bigger destruction than this for a human being? In the home, there should be no other cause for argument; there should be no dispute other than this one: ‘Why did you not pray Salah? I don’t like this.’ Ask your wife ‘Why don’t you pray Salah?’ Say ‘Oh my son and my daughter, I have no enmity with you, and nothing against you; my only enmity concerns your leaving Salah. Why don’t you pray Salah? You are bringing Adhab here – the whole village will be destroyed; our house will be destroyed.’ A human being cannot imagine the displeasure of Allah that is incurred by leaving Salah, but {وَلَنَبۡلُوَنَّكُم} – Allah ta’ala does not give punishment straight away. He is Karim, He is Merciful. He gives a chance, because maybe after today that person will change. Maybe he will change after hearing today’s Bayan; after today’s Ta’leem, maybe he will learn, and his life will change for the better.
But we come and sit and hear Ta’leem, and yet our life does not change. Why does it not change, my friends? What a great Majlis is this at which we are seated today – this is a great gathering! I said to you before that you would get a house and car, but now I am telling you about those things which Allah alone gives; these are treasures that only Allah will give. Tell me. Allah is putting news of the reward into our ears now, so are we rejoicing or not? We are in the month of Muharram, SubhanAllah - the sacred month of Hurmah; this is a great month, a fantastic month, full of virtues. If you keep one fast in Muharram, you get the reward of thirty days of fasting, and the rewards are compensation for the sins of years upon end. This is the reward for keeping fasts in this month of Muharram, and we have that in our account, if Allah ta’ala gives it to us. Furthermore, in the month of Muharram, Allah ta’ala gives us that day about which Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam announced that of all the days, the greatest is the Day of Ashoorah – and we also have that day in our account – say SubhanAllah! Yes?
So it is just like that example of the man who got the house and the car and rejoiced in the Dunya – so let’s see how much we rejoice over the rewards of Allah. We are in the month of Muharram, and this is the Day of Ashoorah – SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala has given us two things, and also, amongst all the Salahs, Allah ta’ala mentions in the Qur’an about the Salat-ul-Wusta and enjoins us to take hold of it. Which Salah? Salat-ul-Wusta, which is Salat-ul-Asr. Say SubhanAllah – Allah has given us that as well! Allah has pushed us here and dragged us here. You didn’t come to Jama’ah in the morning, and you didn’t come to Salat-ul-Dhuhr, but which Salah has Allah ta’ala given to us? Salat-ul-Wusta – Asr Salah. We have won the lottery today – we have won a house and a Mercedes. Do you understand the example I gave at the beginning now? Are you comparing it with our situation? The focus of a friend of Allah will be towards Akhirah, and he will say ‘Alhamdulillah,’ and he will be swaying with delight and rejoicing, saying ‘I have acquired all of this reward today – I have the sacred month of Muharram, and in addition the sacred Day of Ashoorah, and on top of that, Allah ta’ala has given us Salat-ul Asr as well.’ Allah ta’ala has bestowed us with the time after Asr, which is such a great time to have been given.
And as well as that, we are not sat here to eat food, are we? Are you sat here for food? No. Have you come for a Walimah? No. Is there a queue outside? No. We are sat here in that place which is beloved in the heavens and the earth, which Allah ta’ala likes most of all – and what is that? Allah’s house. There is no place better than this – this is the shelter that Allah ta’ala provides. We cannot imagine that there would be punishment here; this is the place that is most preferred and loved by Allah. When a person arrives at the Masjid, he should remember that only those whom Allah loves can arrive. So what is this? A Mercedes? A house? A lottery winner is overjoyed when he gets his house, but we don’t appreciate what we have here. We think we have come here by our own volition, but you cannot come yourself. Many people pray Salah, but the poor souls don’t come to the House of Allah, even though this is the best place. They sat down, they made Adhan, and they prayed, but they didn’t come here. This is the Fadhl and the Grace of Allah that He has given us this opportunity to be seated in the Masjid. This is a third reward.
What about the fourth reward? Listen to the fourth reward – Allah has not just seated us here empty-handed, Allahu Akbar. We have not been sent with nothing, so what has Allah announced? What did Moulana Sahib announce would be happening at this time? The Dhikr of Allah! Think about this. I will tell you one Hadith from the many Hadith on this topic. What Amal has Allah given to us after the Salat-ul-Wusta? One Sahabi came and posed an Ajeeb and unique question. The Sahaba’s questions were unique beyond unique; through those questions, they changed their lives. It was not a lengthy question - he said ‘Ya Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, I have a request that has come into my mind, so please advise me.’ I am explaining to you here the meaning of what was said in this Hadith. So Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘Yes – present your request.’ Hear what he said - the brains of the Sahaba functioned in an Ajeeb way. Listen to this Hadith now. He said ‘As far as Allah is concerned, what is the action that is the greatest and will give the highest rank on the Day of Qiyamah? Which Ibadah is most preferable so that I can do it?’ What was the desire of the Sahaba-e-Rasool, those people with whom none can compare on this earth until the Day of Judgement? Never mind comparing with them, no one can compare to the dust of the feet of the Sahaba. No one can get close to them, whether a Ghawth or a Qutb.
So this was what he desired to know, and who was replying? Imam-ul-Ambiya sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the head of the Prophets, and when words would emanate from his blessed tongue, that would be that – it would become permanent and fixed. No one can doubt and no one can question. Successful are those people of ‘Aql and judgement, those whose intellects are conscious and awake – their lives and the lives of their families and offspring can be made by following this guidance. Such a great reward is coming, greater than you can imagine. I am not saying this; this Hadith is contained in Jami’ah Usool Hadith - read it. Yes? Wallahi, while I was speaking, this Hadith came into my head; it was not deliberately selected before I came. Allah ta’ala gives Mercedes and cars, and I swayed when it came in front of me, so I said ‘Let me share this with my friends and colleagues when I go.’ Yes? This Hadith is for this Majlis today, for this discussion, for the people of intellect and wisdom. The Sahabi asked Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam to tell him the most preferred action in the Sight of Allah – so look at the A’maal that we perform. Is there anything lacking in the deeds that we do? We do so many deeds, but what is the best?
So the Sahabi asked ‘In the Sight of Allah, which is the greatest deed?’ And in addition, his thoughts turned to the Day of Judgement, and he asked ‘Which action confers the highest rank?’ In other words, who would attain the highest Darajaat. He said ‘Ya Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, tell me who will attain the highest rank on the Day of Judgement?’ The thinking of the Sahabi was going there, and Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam smiled at this unique question from the Sahabi. Now listen to the answer: Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam replied to this question with two words. He said ‘Oh my Sahabi, ask again.’ So he repeated ‘What is the greatest deed in the Sight of Allah that confers the highest rank on the Day of Judgement? Tell me that Ibadah so that I can start doing that action.’ Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam replied ‘Dhikr of Allah.’ So you will never leave empty-handed from a gathering of Dhikr of Allah; you will never lose out or be devoid of benefit. It is that deed which is most preferred and will give the highest rank on the Day of Judgement. What is it? Dhikr of Allah!
What reward comes with this? The reward of the Hereafter. The rewards of the world – the detached house, the Mercedes car – they give happiness, so how happy should we be about what we can acquire here? Who is giving this reward? Allah ta’ala is giving this reward to His servants. Dogs and cats and people without faith will get the rewards of the Dunya – Allah gives to everyone, so what sort of achievement is that? But to whom does Allah give this reward? He only gives this to His beloved servants. Whoever gets this Amal of DhikrAllah should consider that he is the best and most beloved servant of Allah. He is deserved of being given sweet dishes to congratulate him, for though he may not have a new house, he is doing that Amal about which Allah ta’ala has made this announcement; he is doing Dhikr at this moment in time. Tell me. He has that Amal in the sacred month of Muharram, on the greatest Day of Ashoorah, in the Masjid - which is the greatest place – and he is doing the greatest and best Amal. Who is getting that reward? Me and you are getting this – Muharram, Ashoorah, Masjid, Dhikrullah.
Now think for a moment. Is there anyone greater and more fortunate than us at this moment in time? I say that right now, at this moment in time, there is no one on earth into whose treasure chest Allah has put so much A’maal. So are we not forgiven? Is Allah not happy with us? Are we not the beloved servants of Allah? Tell me. So, my brothers, value these things. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us this so easily. Recite the Qur’an, and do Dhikr as well; pray a lot of Salah, but do Dhikr as well; do Hajj, but do Dhikr as well; keep the fasts of Ramadhan, but do Dhikr as well; do Da’wah and propagate the Deen, but do Dhikr as well alongside that. Never leave Dhikr, whatever you do.
When you eat Biryani, you have to drink water; when you eat Parantha, you have to drink water as well; if I want to eat roast, I will need water as well. With every dish, it is necessary to drink water as well, isn’t it? Tell me. Is there any feast or meal that you go to where water is not served as well? If there is not, you will think ‘What sort of a Da’wah is this? There is no Pepsi here.’ I don’t drink fizzy drinks, so what are the names of the brands these days? I just drink normal water, so I only know about water. But there are always bottles there, and if not, people are upset and say ‘First put the bottles on the stage.’ Then they think about the food, but they look at the drink first. So there is no feast or invitation at which there is no water or drink, and Allah ta’ala is saying ‘There is no Ibadah of mine that you perform without Dhikr alongside it.’ If not, how can I give Da’wah in the world? If I give Tableegh and give Da’wah and my Hadith is Da’wah and my Bayan is Da’wah, if everything I do is Da’wah and my food mat is full of dishes of Ibadah, if I do not have water, how can I give that feast to the people? It is essential that, in every Da’wah, the drink that Allah has provided is served there – and what is that drink? It is Dhikrullah – that is the drink. It must be there – say SubhanAllah.
So there are two things; I am a person with ‘Aql, alhamdulillah – Allah ta’ala has given me ‘Aql. We are not going to leave these two things, my friends. If we say ‘I can’t pray Tahajjud Salah – I don’t have that much energy,’ then at least take the shortcut by performing the most important action in the world and the Akhirah. Remember this – this is not the deed of a normal person. Allah ta’ala has given the promise of high-level Jannah for this action, and has promised to give it in such a way that on the Day of Qiyamah, while people are stuck in the Hisab, they will catch sight of people with faces shining more brightly than the moon on the fourteenth night, sitting on Mimbars of Noor, rejoicing! The people of the world will see them and say ‘Who are these people? Who are these people?’ Allah will say ‘Did I not promise you in Masjid Zakariyya? Did you not hear the words of that Dervaish? Did he not announce on the Day of Ashoorah, while you were all sat there keeping a fast? Did he not announce this to you? I enabled him to do this. This is the reward of Ashoorah that I wanted to give to you!’ What reward was that? It was the reward which gave them that elevated status of being sat on Mimbars of Noor, free from the Book of Accounts. People will say ‘What did they do? They are not Nabis, and they are not Walis, so who are these people, oh Allah?’ Allah will reply ‘They are those who listened to the announcement and took two actions. They heeded the two announcements about the importance of Salah and Dhikrullah – Salah in Jama’ah, and Dhikrullah.’
These are the two things that I grab hold of, my brothers - that’s it. I hold fast to these two things – do you stick to these two things also, or do you just come here to listen? Make Niyyah in your heart - ‘I will try my best to pray Salah in Jama’ah.’ Make that promise.
{ وَلَنَبۡلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىۡءٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡخَوۡفِ وَٱلۡجُوعِ } What is Allah ta’ala saying here? Hunger, thirst, business and the issues of the Dunya must never stop me from praying Salah in Jama’ah. I will not leave Salah. I swear by Allah that whoever makes this Niyyah, and is not scared and thinking ‘Oh, my job – what will happen? How can I fit this into my life?’ I tell you from experience that if you make this bargain, this deal with Allah, I swear by Allah, Allah will not stop anything of yours in the Dunya as long as you do not leave Salah in Jama’ah. None of your Salahs in Jama’ah will cause you loss, but Shaytan makes you scared and whispers ‘Why have you made this promise? How will you do this tomorrow? There is no space in your job for this.’ Are you big or is shaytan big? Tell me. Is shaytan big or is Allah ar-Rahman the greatest? Tell me. Make that promise in your heart and try your best to run and hasten to Salah in Jama’ah.
And another thing – look at this one thing. You will develop this feeling within you, a feeling that we don’t currently have within us. When you want to leave Salah, if you pray when you want and leave it when you want, and if you think ‘Oh, I prayed at home; I prayed over there’ – no, no, no. If you miss one Salah in Jama’ah, you should regret it so much that you will cry. You should be so upset at missing it that it will seem as if the whole day has gone to waste due to not praying Fajr Salah in Jama’ah. When this feeling and emotion is developed, then Allah announces ‘I know your excuse – you couldn’t go and you regret it deeply, so I will give you even more Thawab than you would have got if you had attended that prayer in Jama’ah!’ Say SubhanAllah – that will be your compensation. What else do you need?
Allah is announcing today that we need to do two actions: don’t leave Salah in Jama’ah, and when you see a Majlis of Dhikr, go there and sit quietly. This is not the gathering of a human being; this is not Pir Sahib’s gathering or Hadhrat Sahib’s gathering. This is an ocean that is flowing, so go to that ocean and immerse yourself – that’s it. We have no connection with who did it, nor do we need to know who Pir Sahib is, or who Hadhrat Sahib is – no. If Dhikrullah is happening, that’s it – as soon as you see that it is being distributed, go. If you see money being distributed, you will just be thinking ‘Money, money, money’ – you won’t worry about who is handing it out or where it is coming from, or which bank has supplied it, or what notes or denomination are being given out; you will just let the money come into your hands. After you have got it, you may ask ‘Who gave out that money?’ – but only after it has come into your possession. This is the system. First, worry about what you wish to obtain, that thing for which you are greedy, so when you hear there is a Majlis of Dhikrullah, then go, sit down quietly, and whatever Kalimah is being recited, you recite it as well. Just keep repeating, and don’t worry about who is taking and giving, and who is there or not there. Just think – ‘A Majlis has been established for me, so why should I miss this Majlis? Allah wants to give to me in this gathering.’
Will we struggle and make effort on these two things we have heard about in this gathering, my brothers? That’s it – grab hold of this; make the Niyyah that you will never leave Salah and you will never leave Dhikrullah. May Allah ta’ala also give me the Tawfeeq to implement what we have heard so that I can do Amal on this. Make a true effort, and push someone if you see that they are lazy on what you have heard today on the Day of Ashoorah. Say ‘Why are you lazy? Get up and pray Salah!’ Push him, encourage him and drive him – don’t be ashamed of giving this Da’wah and inviting him to Salah. Never be ashamed of giving Da’wah for these two things – you will be elevated by inviting people to Salah. Ask ‘Why don’t you pray Salah?’ and if someone is upset, let him be upset. Make an announcement in your house that they should get ready for Salah with every ounce of energy and power that you have. Say ‘How dare you sit here at the time of Salah? Why don’t you pray Salah?’ – push them and drag them and hasten towards Salah. Allah ta’ala will make everybody regular in prayer through broken hearts, so develop this pain in your hearts for others, and then Allah ta’ala will give you all the Tawfeeq. The people in your household will start praying Salah and your children will start praying Salah, and Allah ta’ala will bring blessings and light into the lives of those people.
And the second action – Dhikrullah. Wherever you go, if there is a Majlis of Dhikrullah, immediately go there. And now you can partake at home as well – Allah has spread this over a vast area, so that now it can flow into your homes every morning and evening. And this Dhikr flows not just every morning and evening, but at every moment. Wherever you get a chance, close your eyes and do Qalbi Dhikr, which is the greatest way. Qalbi Dhikr is such a great Dhikr – compared to the Dhikr of the tongue, the Dhikr of the heart confers a very high Maqam. On the Day of Judgement, when the deeds are set out, an envelope will be given, and when all the deeds have been numbered, Allah ta’ala will say to the angels ‘Have you written down everything?’ They will say ‘Yes, we wrote down everything.’ Allah will say ‘No, there is something missing.’ This comes in Hadith. They will say ‘Oh Allah, we have shared everything with You – You gave us the energy and the power, and we did our duty.’ Then Allah ta’ala will say ‘No – there is one good deed that you have not shared, a deed which will give him success.’ Say SubhanAllah! ‘You have not shared this one deed that will give him success, and I am going to weigh all his good deeds now. I am going to weigh his manners and deeds on the Mizaan, and when the deeds are put on the scale, I will give the Thawab accordingly. But there is one good deed for which there is no record in the Book of Accounts – I have kept that secret to Myself, so it has not reached that Book.’ Why? { فَٱذۡكُرُونِىٓ أَذۡكُرۡكُمۡ } – SubhanAllah. Allah says in the Qur’an ‘As soon as he does this good deed, it reaches directly to me and not to the angels.’ The angels will say ‘Oh Allah, what good deed is that?’ Allah will say ‘It is that good deed of My servant remembering Me in his heart.’
Do you know how to remember Allah ta’ala in your heart? What do I teach? Tell me. Do I teach how to cut up meat? Do I teach you how to chop up meat or how to make sweets? Am I teaching this? How many years has it been since I came to Bolton? Twenty years? Twenty-five years? MashaAllah, I have been teaching this here for twenty-five years, so come forward and learn the Dhikr of Allah. Yes? Those who have come forward and learned it are rejoicing in their hearts. Alhamdilillah, they are working and doing other actions – someone works here, someone is in the police, someone is a doctor, someone is an engineer, someone is a chemist, but all of their hearts are alive, alhamdulillah. So will Allah ta’ala not ask ‘Where did that Dervaish that I sent live? He left the Masjid – he left his own Khanqahs, and he came to your town and sat for twenty years. Did you keep on leaving the Masjid and turfing him out of the Masjid, and giving him restrictions? I sent him – he left everything. He had a very nice house, he had very nice shops, he had a Madrasah that ran in the Khanqah with 150 children studying there.’ Every year people would go there from here – those teachers are sat here. They would go to our Madrasah from here to teach; the respected Ulema would go to my Khanqah to teach, but when Allah gave the announcement, I left everything in one night. I had no house, no wealth, nothing – I used to be searching for a house here. People would ask ‘Who is this man? What does he want a house for?’ I had nothing to my name, but Allah ta’ala said ‘Go to that town and revive the hearts of the people.’
SubhanAllah – will Allah ta’ala not ask you tomorrow? ‘He went to this Masjid and that Masjid and the other Masjid, so did you not benefit from him? Did you revive your hearts and bring them to life?’ When you make your hearts alive and sit doing Dhikr with a live heart, then seven layers of the earth beneath you come to life – Mufassireen have written this – and that Dhikr will penetrate the hearts of seven generations to come; your children will receive the Dhikr. That is what would happen when a Nabi would come and make the announcement. Hadhrat Yunus alayhi salam called people for nine hundred and fifty years, but people didn’t come. Today we see that there is a drought in our communities, yet when someone arrives in the world, those people reject his message and complain! Only with great difficulty do some people come. Twenty-five years I have been struggling, and just these few people are sat here for Dhikrullah. Is this not sad, my friends? Yet what a great deed this is, which is made clear by that one Hadith that I have shared with you – and there are volumes of Hadiths about this action of Dhikrullah.
Does Dhikr stop you from reciting Qur’an? Does Dhikr stop you from fasting in Ramadhan? Does Dhikr stop you from Tableegh and Ta’leem? Allah has told you to do this, so how can it stop you from doing those actions? Rather, it increases the strength of those actions, so why do you become fearful? When you are free from those actions, then when the ocean is flowing, dive into it. The ocean will continue to flow. When the river is flowing, then dive into it; when you are thirsty, drink. When you recite Qur’an, then you have to do Dhikr – sit there for a while. Say SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala says ‘I give this to those who value and appreciate it. There will be an accounting between Me and you.’
How do I know how long I will live here in Bolton? I keep my luggage packed at every moment, and when Allah’s Hukm comes, I will depart again. This is my fifth Hijrah, my fifth migration – I keep on doing migrations in my life. I will keep on doing this as long as Allah ta’ala keeps me here, and then I will gather my belongings and go off again; I will disappear again. So will you learn Dhikr? Learn the Dhikr of the heart. Who stops this, saying ‘Oh, I have to do other things’? Do what you want but make your heart alive with Dhikrullah. And it is not just for your heart – I have got the cure for your whole body, alhamdulillah. That Noor will spread – if you have the determination, then your whole body will be filled with Noor. This does not restrict you in any of your life’s activities – say SubhanAllah.
So this is the message of Ashoorah that I have presented in your service today, alhamdulillah. May Allah ta’ala give me the Tawfeeq and give you the Tawfeeq as well. We have learnt about four or five rewards already, so what is the final reward? It is Dhikrullah! Come – let us immerse ourselves in Dhikrullah; and we remember Allah so that Allah will remember us.
Recite Durood Sharif.
Take the example of a poor person who is distressed and impoverished; he is not in a good place or a good condition. He is sitting, sad and upset, when suddenly the phone rings. He takes the call and hears some news. The caller says ‘Congratulations!’ so he asks ‘What for?’ The voice says ‘You know when you were homeless and in difficulty, you applied for a government grant of a house, a detached house? Well, your application has been accepted, so you just need to come tomorrow and sign the papers and then the house is yours.’ What would the Hal of such a person be at this time? Tell me. He would be very happy indeed. So then imagine that shortly after this, he gets another phone call, and the caller asks him to confirm that he is such and such a person, so he says ‘Yes, that’s me.’ The caller then says ‘Do you remember that you entered a competition for which the first prize was a new Mercedes? Well your name has come out as the winner, so please come and collect the car as soon as you can.’ So now he has a car as well! Such things do happen, and they are not a matter of chance – this is Allah’s Karam, His Grace.
Such things occur because Allah gives openly and without limit – he is Karim, and He gives with His Bounty and Grace. Not everyone gets such things, but unexpected gifts such as these do happen to people in life. So now this person has a Mercedes car and a house. ‘What joy!’ he thinks. ‘This is excellent!’ Then a friend gets in touch and says ‘I have got a bit of profit for you from our business. I have not got long to live, so I have kept it aside for you because I remember that you invested in the early days. So now I want to give you the value of your share, which is approximately £100,000.’ So now cash has come to him as well! Imagine how he would feel now – he has acquired a detached house, a Mercedes and one hundred thousand pounds. How happy would he be? He would be mad with joy! But then the very next day, that poor individual leaves home joyfully, and an accident takes place which takes his life. So the house is lost and the car is lost – everything is lost.
Happiness is temporary, my friends. All such things are temporary; the most expensive watch, or car, or house, or the most expensive item of clothing, these are all lost in a second when the heart gives a last shake, and then stops. Imagine his happiness before – we get happy just listening to his good fortune! Look at that - our hearts open up. We would say ‘Wow – congratulations!’ to that person, but then before one day has passed, his life ends. These events happen in the world, so this type of happiness is nothing. What kind of happiness is this? We run around all life-long in search of this kind of happiness, but as soon as a person’s eyes close, he cannot see his house or his business or his wife or his children; all that surrounds him is the dark night of the grave – and that night is a very dark night. Throughout our lives, we are being told that the punishment of the grave is more severe than we can imagine; there is no one there to help in the grave; there is no one to turn to. Only one thing will be of assistance, and that is A’maal, and especially Salah – that is, if you did not leave Salah, and if you ran to Salah in order to drop into Sujood, and if you could not sleep at night for sake of Salah, and from top to bottom, you were wrapped in your Salah. Just as Allah surrounds us, Allah ta’ala has given us a timeframe five times every day, saying ‘Prostrate to Me five times a day, oh My servants.’
Will that Salah not be useful? But we are negligent and lazy, saying ‘Oh I read sometimes, and sometimes my heart feels like it and I come running to Jama’ah, but sometimes I don’t feel like it.’ We have no sadness when we miss Jama’ah; there is no regret and no hair standing on end in shock. We should regard each Salah in Jama’ah as being so great. In the grave, we will say ‘Take all the wealth we accumulated, our shops and houses and money, for I have no need of them, and please give me one Salah so that I can succeed here.’ I swear by Allah, it is not about a whole lifetime of Salah; rather, Allah ta’ala will say ‘Just show Me one Salah that is pleasing to Me, and I will forgive all the issues of your life and will open the doors of Paradise for you. Give Me just one Salah.’
Is this not the case? What a great statement – so why are we mad? Why have our brains lost the plot? Allah has given us this one order to implement from morning to evening – just one order. Don’t relegate this order, and don’t even think about delaying; rather, even if you are sick or upset or down, you should develop so much determination that you always think ‘I can come.’ Don’t leave Salah in Jama’ah. Do you leave Salah for the sake of your Rizq, your wealth, or your property? People say ‘Oh, I go once a day’ – but do they not realise that their home and their family and their wife and their children – all of this has gone if we leave Salah? It is not a matter of choice for us, so don’t come to Salah when you feel like it, wearing white clothes and swaying left and right as you pray, and then when time is short, you just sitting at home and don’t care. We must go in the morning, in the evening, in the day, in the night, whether we are here or there. How big a loss is accruing to that human being who spends his whole life ignoring this.
In the grave, on the Day of Resurrection, on the Plain of Gathering, on the Bridge of Sirat – what will give us success in all these places? Salah, Salah, Salah! That’s it. You just need that one certificate in your hand. ‘Here is my certificate.’ ‘What certificate is this?’ ‘It is my Salah’ ‘Fine – go.’ The grave will be illuminated by this certificate of Salah – say SubhanAllah. That is the only thing that will help. Why does this not come into our ‘Aql? All we know is ‘I want this house, I want this car, I want this business.’ Every day, each second of our time is taking us towards our grave, yet these desires are increasing. Our body leaves us, and our face starts to change as our age increases, but we forget these things and keep thinking about the Dunya, looking for shares in this business, seeking profit from here, seeking success in that business. What a big destruction awaits us – think about it - yet we say to ourselves ‘I am a wise person – no one is brainier than me, or has as fine an intellect. No one thinks things through better than me.’
It is from Allah’s Karam and Grace that we have this fantastic opportunity to hear this message on this great day – think about it. Today is such a great day, and we are being given such a great opportunity. If we make a promise today, saying ‘Today is the Day of Ashoorah, and the night of Jumu’ah is coming in; this is a great day in the month that You love, in which there are so many rewards on offer.’ There is still time before this great day finishes. What a great example we are given on this day, because at this time, the neck of Hadhrat Hussain radhiAllahu anh was cut, but he would not leave prostration. He didn’t leave prostration. He held firm to the final message that his blessed grandfather sallallahu alayhi wasallam gave to him. What message did his grandfather give him? Salah, Salah, Salah – that was the message that the grandson of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam was passing on. Yes? He was not in a situation of calmness and serenity; there was no eating or drinking for him, and there are no words that could describe the severity of the situation that he faced, but he asked for permission to do one thing, and that was prostration. He prostrated, showing the message that ‘We, the Ahl-e-Bait, have demonstrated this to you.’ This was the example he gave and the example that his family gave, namely ‘This is the message that my grandfather gave. In the final moments before he departed from the world, his message was Salah, Salah, Salah.’ His grandson said ‘I demonstrated that message to the end.’
We are not those who just talk, no – rather, we are those who do Amal, who practice. After hearing the message today, don’t turn back. We need to make this promise before departing from this Masjid today: ‘Oh Allah, please give me the Tawfeeq and the energy, because my heart has accepted today that Salah is the greatest action of my life, and that the biggest loss and regret in the world and Hereafter, in the grave and on the Day of Resurrection, will be those Salahs that I did not pray in Jama’ah.’ If not, at that time we will say ‘I had the Tawfeeq, I had food in my stomach and I had energy and health, and meanwhile the world was dying and people had Corona and other diseases, and You gave me health and power, oh Allah, but I was so extremely ungrateful that I did not come to pray Your Salah.’
Is there any excuse in the Hereafter for not praying Salah? Tell me. Think – is there? We feel ashamed even now as we hear this, thinking ‘Allah ta’ala, my Rabb, gives me everything from morning to evening, so why did I leave Salah? Did my breath leave me? Did my body leave me? Why did Allah seat me here? Why does Allah still give me food? Why has He given me the Tawfeeq to do Amal? Why does Allah not suddenly give me a disease or a fever?’ There are many people passing away, young people included. Just yesterday, or two days ago, you shook someone’s hand, and now, today, he is not here – but Allah has given us another chance. What great favours of Allah are upon us! Yes? And despite all these favours of Allah, we ignore this Hukm, this command that Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam emphasised to us.
The Ahl-e-Bait demonstrated that the neck can be cut, children can be lost, and thirst and parched tongues be endured. SubhanAllah, Allah is saying that all sorts of tests and challenges will come. You are living a life of examination, but in reality, the tests will not be difficult for you. Rather, Allah is saying that if a person lives his life according to Allah’s Hukm, then He will elevate that person after every test. Thirst, hunger, sadness, distress, difficulty, challenges – if you have all of these in your life, then understand that Allah has given you all this to elevate your status. There is no other example needed, and Hadhrat Hussain radhiAllahu anh offered no excuse at that time. Did he have ease or comfort at that time? He had not one atom’s weight of ease, and yet he never left the Hukm of Rabb-il-Alameen, Allah. SubhanAllah – this is how he attained his rank and status.
This is what the Qur’an tells us. Allah says ‘When I test you with sickness or upset or distress, with lack of Rizq and earnings so that you are in poverty, Allah will give to you – don’t worry! Just do one action; just fulfil one Hukm that I have given to you. What is that Hukm? As-Salah!’ Never leave Salah; run towards Salah. But look at our children – they leave Salah. Our house folk leave Salah, the wife leaves Salah, the daughter leaves Salah, and we accept this, while we cannot accept that they do not go out to work. We say ‘It is unthinkable that my son or my daughter does not go out to work, that they sit at home not doing anything.’ We won’t allow this, and if you stay at home for two days, your wife will not accept it and will say ‘Go – you have to earn in order to pay the bills.’ But nobody says ‘Why are you leaving Allah’s Salah? Are you eating and drinking and sleeping and snoring, and yet not going to Fajr Salah in the morning? Oh shameless person, do you not have any Haya? Are you not ashamed that you are living a life full of your own desires, while you eat from Allah? You beg from Allah, and yet you stand in front of Him, challenging Him! Who are you? How dare you? You cannot compete with even one germ that Allah sends to the earth, an invisible germ called Coronavirus; you are standing now, but Allah can make you lie down whenever He wants.’
We are still standing and living a life of normality, so how can we even imagine leaving Salah? Do we reject Allah’s order of Salah? Are we leaving prostration? Tell me. Can there be any bigger destruction than this for a human being? In the home, there should be no other cause for argument; there should be no dispute other than this one: ‘Why did you not pray Salah? I don’t like this.’ Ask your wife ‘Why don’t you pray Salah?’ Say ‘Oh my son and my daughter, I have no enmity with you, and nothing against you; my only enmity concerns your leaving Salah. Why don’t you pray Salah? You are bringing Adhab here – the whole village will be destroyed; our house will be destroyed.’ A human being cannot imagine the displeasure of Allah that is incurred by leaving Salah, but {وَلَنَبۡلُوَنَّكُم} – Allah ta’ala does not give punishment straight away. He is Karim, He is Merciful. He gives a chance, because maybe after today that person will change. Maybe he will change after hearing today’s Bayan; after today’s Ta’leem, maybe he will learn, and his life will change for the better.
But we come and sit and hear Ta’leem, and yet our life does not change. Why does it not change, my friends? What a great Majlis is this at which we are seated today – this is a great gathering! I said to you before that you would get a house and car, but now I am telling you about those things which Allah alone gives; these are treasures that only Allah will give. Tell me. Allah is putting news of the reward into our ears now, so are we rejoicing or not? We are in the month of Muharram, SubhanAllah - the sacred month of Hurmah; this is a great month, a fantastic month, full of virtues. If you keep one fast in Muharram, you get the reward of thirty days of fasting, and the rewards are compensation for the sins of years upon end. This is the reward for keeping fasts in this month of Muharram, and we have that in our account, if Allah ta’ala gives it to us. Furthermore, in the month of Muharram, Allah ta’ala gives us that day about which Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam announced that of all the days, the greatest is the Day of Ashoorah – and we also have that day in our account – say SubhanAllah! Yes?
So it is just like that example of the man who got the house and the car and rejoiced in the Dunya – so let’s see how much we rejoice over the rewards of Allah. We are in the month of Muharram, and this is the Day of Ashoorah – SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala has given us two things, and also, amongst all the Salahs, Allah ta’ala mentions in the Qur’an about the Salat-ul-Wusta and enjoins us to take hold of it. Which Salah? Salat-ul-Wusta, which is Salat-ul-Asr. Say SubhanAllah – Allah has given us that as well! Allah has pushed us here and dragged us here. You didn’t come to Jama’ah in the morning, and you didn’t come to Salat-ul-Dhuhr, but which Salah has Allah ta’ala given to us? Salat-ul-Wusta – Asr Salah. We have won the lottery today – we have won a house and a Mercedes. Do you understand the example I gave at the beginning now? Are you comparing it with our situation? The focus of a friend of Allah will be towards Akhirah, and he will say ‘Alhamdulillah,’ and he will be swaying with delight and rejoicing, saying ‘I have acquired all of this reward today – I have the sacred month of Muharram, and in addition the sacred Day of Ashoorah, and on top of that, Allah ta’ala has given us Salat-ul Asr as well.’ Allah ta’ala has bestowed us with the time after Asr, which is such a great time to have been given.
And as well as that, we are not sat here to eat food, are we? Are you sat here for food? No. Have you come for a Walimah? No. Is there a queue outside? No. We are sat here in that place which is beloved in the heavens and the earth, which Allah ta’ala likes most of all – and what is that? Allah’s house. There is no place better than this – this is the shelter that Allah ta’ala provides. We cannot imagine that there would be punishment here; this is the place that is most preferred and loved by Allah. When a person arrives at the Masjid, he should remember that only those whom Allah loves can arrive. So what is this? A Mercedes? A house? A lottery winner is overjoyed when he gets his house, but we don’t appreciate what we have here. We think we have come here by our own volition, but you cannot come yourself. Many people pray Salah, but the poor souls don’t come to the House of Allah, even though this is the best place. They sat down, they made Adhan, and they prayed, but they didn’t come here. This is the Fadhl and the Grace of Allah that He has given us this opportunity to be seated in the Masjid. This is a third reward.
What about the fourth reward? Listen to the fourth reward – Allah has not just seated us here empty-handed, Allahu Akbar. We have not been sent with nothing, so what has Allah announced? What did Moulana Sahib announce would be happening at this time? The Dhikr of Allah! Think about this. I will tell you one Hadith from the many Hadith on this topic. What Amal has Allah given to us after the Salat-ul-Wusta? One Sahabi came and posed an Ajeeb and unique question. The Sahaba’s questions were unique beyond unique; through those questions, they changed their lives. It was not a lengthy question - he said ‘Ya Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, I have a request that has come into my mind, so please advise me.’ I am explaining to you here the meaning of what was said in this Hadith. So Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘Yes – present your request.’ Hear what he said - the brains of the Sahaba functioned in an Ajeeb way. Listen to this Hadith now. He said ‘As far as Allah is concerned, what is the action that is the greatest and will give the highest rank on the Day of Qiyamah? Which Ibadah is most preferable so that I can do it?’ What was the desire of the Sahaba-e-Rasool, those people with whom none can compare on this earth until the Day of Judgement? Never mind comparing with them, no one can compare to the dust of the feet of the Sahaba. No one can get close to them, whether a Ghawth or a Qutb.
So this was what he desired to know, and who was replying? Imam-ul-Ambiya sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the head of the Prophets, and when words would emanate from his blessed tongue, that would be that – it would become permanent and fixed. No one can doubt and no one can question. Successful are those people of ‘Aql and judgement, those whose intellects are conscious and awake – their lives and the lives of their families and offspring can be made by following this guidance. Such a great reward is coming, greater than you can imagine. I am not saying this; this Hadith is contained in Jami’ah Usool Hadith - read it. Yes? Wallahi, while I was speaking, this Hadith came into my head; it was not deliberately selected before I came. Allah ta’ala gives Mercedes and cars, and I swayed when it came in front of me, so I said ‘Let me share this with my friends and colleagues when I go.’ Yes? This Hadith is for this Majlis today, for this discussion, for the people of intellect and wisdom. The Sahabi asked Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam to tell him the most preferred action in the Sight of Allah – so look at the A’maal that we perform. Is there anything lacking in the deeds that we do? We do so many deeds, but what is the best?
So the Sahabi asked ‘In the Sight of Allah, which is the greatest deed?’ And in addition, his thoughts turned to the Day of Judgement, and he asked ‘Which action confers the highest rank?’ In other words, who would attain the highest Darajaat. He said ‘Ya Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, tell me who will attain the highest rank on the Day of Judgement?’ The thinking of the Sahabi was going there, and Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam smiled at this unique question from the Sahabi. Now listen to the answer: Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam replied to this question with two words. He said ‘Oh my Sahabi, ask again.’ So he repeated ‘What is the greatest deed in the Sight of Allah that confers the highest rank on the Day of Judgement? Tell me that Ibadah so that I can start doing that action.’ Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam replied ‘Dhikr of Allah.’ So you will never leave empty-handed from a gathering of Dhikr of Allah; you will never lose out or be devoid of benefit. It is that deed which is most preferred and will give the highest rank on the Day of Judgement. What is it? Dhikr of Allah!
What reward comes with this? The reward of the Hereafter. The rewards of the world – the detached house, the Mercedes car – they give happiness, so how happy should we be about what we can acquire here? Who is giving this reward? Allah ta’ala is giving this reward to His servants. Dogs and cats and people without faith will get the rewards of the Dunya – Allah gives to everyone, so what sort of achievement is that? But to whom does Allah give this reward? He only gives this to His beloved servants. Whoever gets this Amal of DhikrAllah should consider that he is the best and most beloved servant of Allah. He is deserved of being given sweet dishes to congratulate him, for though he may not have a new house, he is doing that Amal about which Allah ta’ala has made this announcement; he is doing Dhikr at this moment in time. Tell me. He has that Amal in the sacred month of Muharram, on the greatest Day of Ashoorah, in the Masjid - which is the greatest place – and he is doing the greatest and best Amal. Who is getting that reward? Me and you are getting this – Muharram, Ashoorah, Masjid, Dhikrullah.
Now think for a moment. Is there anyone greater and more fortunate than us at this moment in time? I say that right now, at this moment in time, there is no one on earth into whose treasure chest Allah has put so much A’maal. So are we not forgiven? Is Allah not happy with us? Are we not the beloved servants of Allah? Tell me. So, my brothers, value these things. Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us this so easily. Recite the Qur’an, and do Dhikr as well; pray a lot of Salah, but do Dhikr as well; do Hajj, but do Dhikr as well; keep the fasts of Ramadhan, but do Dhikr as well; do Da’wah and propagate the Deen, but do Dhikr as well alongside that. Never leave Dhikr, whatever you do.
When you eat Biryani, you have to drink water; when you eat Parantha, you have to drink water as well; if I want to eat roast, I will need water as well. With every dish, it is necessary to drink water as well, isn’t it? Tell me. Is there any feast or meal that you go to where water is not served as well? If there is not, you will think ‘What sort of a Da’wah is this? There is no Pepsi here.’ I don’t drink fizzy drinks, so what are the names of the brands these days? I just drink normal water, so I only know about water. But there are always bottles there, and if not, people are upset and say ‘First put the bottles on the stage.’ Then they think about the food, but they look at the drink first. So there is no feast or invitation at which there is no water or drink, and Allah ta’ala is saying ‘There is no Ibadah of mine that you perform without Dhikr alongside it.’ If not, how can I give Da’wah in the world? If I give Tableegh and give Da’wah and my Hadith is Da’wah and my Bayan is Da’wah, if everything I do is Da’wah and my food mat is full of dishes of Ibadah, if I do not have water, how can I give that feast to the people? It is essential that, in every Da’wah, the drink that Allah has provided is served there – and what is that drink? It is Dhikrullah – that is the drink. It must be there – say SubhanAllah.
So there are two things; I am a person with ‘Aql, alhamdulillah – Allah ta’ala has given me ‘Aql. We are not going to leave these two things, my friends. If we say ‘I can’t pray Tahajjud Salah – I don’t have that much energy,’ then at least take the shortcut by performing the most important action in the world and the Akhirah. Remember this – this is not the deed of a normal person. Allah ta’ala has given the promise of high-level Jannah for this action, and has promised to give it in such a way that on the Day of Qiyamah, while people are stuck in the Hisab, they will catch sight of people with faces shining more brightly than the moon on the fourteenth night, sitting on Mimbars of Noor, rejoicing! The people of the world will see them and say ‘Who are these people? Who are these people?’ Allah will say ‘Did I not promise you in Masjid Zakariyya? Did you not hear the words of that Dervaish? Did he not announce on the Day of Ashoorah, while you were all sat there keeping a fast? Did he not announce this to you? I enabled him to do this. This is the reward of Ashoorah that I wanted to give to you!’ What reward was that? It was the reward which gave them that elevated status of being sat on Mimbars of Noor, free from the Book of Accounts. People will say ‘What did they do? They are not Nabis, and they are not Walis, so who are these people, oh Allah?’ Allah will reply ‘They are those who listened to the announcement and took two actions. They heeded the two announcements about the importance of Salah and Dhikrullah – Salah in Jama’ah, and Dhikrullah.’
These are the two things that I grab hold of, my brothers - that’s it. I hold fast to these two things – do you stick to these two things also, or do you just come here to listen? Make Niyyah in your heart - ‘I will try my best to pray Salah in Jama’ah.’ Make that promise.
{ وَلَنَبۡلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىۡءٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡخَوۡفِ وَٱلۡجُوعِ } What is Allah ta’ala saying here? Hunger, thirst, business and the issues of the Dunya must never stop me from praying Salah in Jama’ah. I will not leave Salah. I swear by Allah that whoever makes this Niyyah, and is not scared and thinking ‘Oh, my job – what will happen? How can I fit this into my life?’ I tell you from experience that if you make this bargain, this deal with Allah, I swear by Allah, Allah will not stop anything of yours in the Dunya as long as you do not leave Salah in Jama’ah. None of your Salahs in Jama’ah will cause you loss, but Shaytan makes you scared and whispers ‘Why have you made this promise? How will you do this tomorrow? There is no space in your job for this.’ Are you big or is shaytan big? Tell me. Is shaytan big or is Allah ar-Rahman the greatest? Tell me. Make that promise in your heart and try your best to run and hasten to Salah in Jama’ah.
And another thing – look at this one thing. You will develop this feeling within you, a feeling that we don’t currently have within us. When you want to leave Salah, if you pray when you want and leave it when you want, and if you think ‘Oh, I prayed at home; I prayed over there’ – no, no, no. If you miss one Salah in Jama’ah, you should regret it so much that you will cry. You should be so upset at missing it that it will seem as if the whole day has gone to waste due to not praying Fajr Salah in Jama’ah. When this feeling and emotion is developed, then Allah announces ‘I know your excuse – you couldn’t go and you regret it deeply, so I will give you even more Thawab than you would have got if you had attended that prayer in Jama’ah!’ Say SubhanAllah – that will be your compensation. What else do you need?
Allah is announcing today that we need to do two actions: don’t leave Salah in Jama’ah, and when you see a Majlis of Dhikr, go there and sit quietly. This is not the gathering of a human being; this is not Pir Sahib’s gathering or Hadhrat Sahib’s gathering. This is an ocean that is flowing, so go to that ocean and immerse yourself – that’s it. We have no connection with who did it, nor do we need to know who Pir Sahib is, or who Hadhrat Sahib is – no. If Dhikrullah is happening, that’s it – as soon as you see that it is being distributed, go. If you see money being distributed, you will just be thinking ‘Money, money, money’ – you won’t worry about who is handing it out or where it is coming from, or which bank has supplied it, or what notes or denomination are being given out; you will just let the money come into your hands. After you have got it, you may ask ‘Who gave out that money?’ – but only after it has come into your possession. This is the system. First, worry about what you wish to obtain, that thing for which you are greedy, so when you hear there is a Majlis of Dhikrullah, then go, sit down quietly, and whatever Kalimah is being recited, you recite it as well. Just keep repeating, and don’t worry about who is taking and giving, and who is there or not there. Just think – ‘A Majlis has been established for me, so why should I miss this Majlis? Allah wants to give to me in this gathering.’
Will we struggle and make effort on these two things we have heard about in this gathering, my brothers? That’s it – grab hold of this; make the Niyyah that you will never leave Salah and you will never leave Dhikrullah. May Allah ta’ala also give me the Tawfeeq to implement what we have heard so that I can do Amal on this. Make a true effort, and push someone if you see that they are lazy on what you have heard today on the Day of Ashoorah. Say ‘Why are you lazy? Get up and pray Salah!’ Push him, encourage him and drive him – don’t be ashamed of giving this Da’wah and inviting him to Salah. Never be ashamed of giving Da’wah for these two things – you will be elevated by inviting people to Salah. Ask ‘Why don’t you pray Salah?’ and if someone is upset, let him be upset. Make an announcement in your house that they should get ready for Salah with every ounce of energy and power that you have. Say ‘How dare you sit here at the time of Salah? Why don’t you pray Salah?’ – push them and drag them and hasten towards Salah. Allah ta’ala will make everybody regular in prayer through broken hearts, so develop this pain in your hearts for others, and then Allah ta’ala will give you all the Tawfeeq. The people in your household will start praying Salah and your children will start praying Salah, and Allah ta’ala will bring blessings and light into the lives of those people.
And the second action – Dhikrullah. Wherever you go, if there is a Majlis of Dhikrullah, immediately go there. And now you can partake at home as well – Allah has spread this over a vast area, so that now it can flow into your homes every morning and evening. And this Dhikr flows not just every morning and evening, but at every moment. Wherever you get a chance, close your eyes and do Qalbi Dhikr, which is the greatest way. Qalbi Dhikr is such a great Dhikr – compared to the Dhikr of the tongue, the Dhikr of the heart confers a very high Maqam. On the Day of Judgement, when the deeds are set out, an envelope will be given, and when all the deeds have been numbered, Allah ta’ala will say to the angels ‘Have you written down everything?’ They will say ‘Yes, we wrote down everything.’ Allah will say ‘No, there is something missing.’ This comes in Hadith. They will say ‘Oh Allah, we have shared everything with You – You gave us the energy and the power, and we did our duty.’ Then Allah ta’ala will say ‘No – there is one good deed that you have not shared, a deed which will give him success.’ Say SubhanAllah! ‘You have not shared this one deed that will give him success, and I am going to weigh all his good deeds now. I am going to weigh his manners and deeds on the Mizaan, and when the deeds are put on the scale, I will give the Thawab accordingly. But there is one good deed for which there is no record in the Book of Accounts – I have kept that secret to Myself, so it has not reached that Book.’ Why? { فَٱذۡكُرُونِىٓ أَذۡكُرۡكُمۡ } – SubhanAllah. Allah says in the Qur’an ‘As soon as he does this good deed, it reaches directly to me and not to the angels.’ The angels will say ‘Oh Allah, what good deed is that?’ Allah will say ‘It is that good deed of My servant remembering Me in his heart.’
Do you know how to remember Allah ta’ala in your heart? What do I teach? Tell me. Do I teach how to cut up meat? Do I teach you how to chop up meat or how to make sweets? Am I teaching this? How many years has it been since I came to Bolton? Twenty years? Twenty-five years? MashaAllah, I have been teaching this here for twenty-five years, so come forward and learn the Dhikr of Allah. Yes? Those who have come forward and learned it are rejoicing in their hearts. Alhamdilillah, they are working and doing other actions – someone works here, someone is in the police, someone is a doctor, someone is an engineer, someone is a chemist, but all of their hearts are alive, alhamdulillah. So will Allah ta’ala not ask ‘Where did that Dervaish that I sent live? He left the Masjid – he left his own Khanqahs, and he came to your town and sat for twenty years. Did you keep on leaving the Masjid and turfing him out of the Masjid, and giving him restrictions? I sent him – he left everything. He had a very nice house, he had very nice shops, he had a Madrasah that ran in the Khanqah with 150 children studying there.’ Every year people would go there from here – those teachers are sat here. They would go to our Madrasah from here to teach; the respected Ulema would go to my Khanqah to teach, but when Allah gave the announcement, I left everything in one night. I had no house, no wealth, nothing – I used to be searching for a house here. People would ask ‘Who is this man? What does he want a house for?’ I had nothing to my name, but Allah ta’ala said ‘Go to that town and revive the hearts of the people.’
SubhanAllah – will Allah ta’ala not ask you tomorrow? ‘He went to this Masjid and that Masjid and the other Masjid, so did you not benefit from him? Did you revive your hearts and bring them to life?’ When you make your hearts alive and sit doing Dhikr with a live heart, then seven layers of the earth beneath you come to life – Mufassireen have written this – and that Dhikr will penetrate the hearts of seven generations to come; your children will receive the Dhikr. That is what would happen when a Nabi would come and make the announcement. Hadhrat Yunus alayhi salam called people for nine hundred and fifty years, but people didn’t come. Today we see that there is a drought in our communities, yet when someone arrives in the world, those people reject his message and complain! Only with great difficulty do some people come. Twenty-five years I have been struggling, and just these few people are sat here for Dhikrullah. Is this not sad, my friends? Yet what a great deed this is, which is made clear by that one Hadith that I have shared with you – and there are volumes of Hadiths about this action of Dhikrullah.
Does Dhikr stop you from reciting Qur’an? Does Dhikr stop you from fasting in Ramadhan? Does Dhikr stop you from Tableegh and Ta’leem? Allah has told you to do this, so how can it stop you from doing those actions? Rather, it increases the strength of those actions, so why do you become fearful? When you are free from those actions, then when the ocean is flowing, dive into it. The ocean will continue to flow. When the river is flowing, then dive into it; when you are thirsty, drink. When you recite Qur’an, then you have to do Dhikr – sit there for a while. Say SubhanAllah. Allah ta’ala says ‘I give this to those who value and appreciate it. There will be an accounting between Me and you.’
How do I know how long I will live here in Bolton? I keep my luggage packed at every moment, and when Allah’s Hukm comes, I will depart again. This is my fifth Hijrah, my fifth migration – I keep on doing migrations in my life. I will keep on doing this as long as Allah ta’ala keeps me here, and then I will gather my belongings and go off again; I will disappear again. So will you learn Dhikr? Learn the Dhikr of the heart. Who stops this, saying ‘Oh, I have to do other things’? Do what you want but make your heart alive with Dhikrullah. And it is not just for your heart – I have got the cure for your whole body, alhamdulillah. That Noor will spread – if you have the determination, then your whole body will be filled with Noor. This does not restrict you in any of your life’s activities – say SubhanAllah.
So this is the message of Ashoorah that I have presented in your service today, alhamdulillah. May Allah ta’ala give me the Tawfeeq and give you the Tawfeeq as well. We have learnt about four or five rewards already, so what is the final reward? It is Dhikrullah! Come – let us immerse ourselves in Dhikrullah; and we remember Allah so that Allah will remember us.
Recite Durood Sharif.