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صبر کی حقیقت
Urdu Bayan, 66 mins
28th October, 2021

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The Reality of Sabr
​There is a very common statement in our society, and it is used by everyone, whether an Alim, a non-Alim, a child, an elder, a woman, an old person or a young person. You might say that this has become embedded unconsciously and absorbed within us, and hence we utter this very common Kalimah. Alhamdulillah, those who have Iman, those upon whom are Allah’s blessings, have the benefit of a very big mercy because this Kalimah is very great. It is so great, and if we did not have this Kalimah with us, it would be very difficult to spend time in this world. This Kalimah gives assistance to a person – it helps him. What could this sentence be that is so common today? Tell me. Everyone mentions it, and when do they mention it? When a difficulty overtakes a person, at a time of sorrow or tragedy or death, you will see him recite this Kalimah when he is feeling low at that time. If you see somebody to whom a tragedy has occurred, you will notice that he recites this Kalimah. No matter what the problem, say if a severe illness has struck, then this statement will be recited. So tell me - what is that statement? ‘Be patient – have Sabr.’
Is this not a very common statement? Does it not come upon people’s lips? In so many situations, whether an occasion of sorrow or of hardship, illness, death and so on, or some extreme situation where a person finds himself without any assistance, then this Kalimah comes out: ‘Have Sabr – be patient and everything will be fine.’ But when that person is saying that, the reality is that he doesn’t know what he is saying. This is an Ajeeb subject that has come into my mind that I am presenting in your service, a very unique way of thinking about this. You, MashaAllah, are people of understanding, but I am trying to understand what this point is. This is how my words are – I use normal examples.
So the person who says this for reassurance doesn’t understand what he is saying; he just says it. This Kalimah has been embedded into us, and he is making a very big statement, but he doesn’t understand what he is saying. There is a great reward for this, and he is talking about the Rahmah of Allah, but he doesn’t understand or realise what he has said by saying ‘Just have Sabr and be patient. All you can do now is be patient.’ And the person listening also doesn’t know the importance of what has been said to him. He replies ‘Yes, yes – I will have Sabr; I will persevere.’ When he is told to be patient, he says ‘Yes, I will have Sabr.’ What a great thing this is indeed, because this is a great Kalimah.
Regarding Sabr, let us first look at the reward for a little while. When Allah ta’ala says He will do something, He does it. Yes? When He says, He does. Regarding this Sabr, Allah ta’ala is saying ‘He has said it, but he doesn’t know what that Sabr he is mentioning really is.’ The person who is saying it doesn’t realise what a great cure that he is giving to that person, and neither does the one who is hearing it. Allah ta’ala has stated that there is a cure for every issue – Allah ta’ala has stated this, hasn’t He? And this is such a cure that all of the problems of the world are cured by this statement of Sabr. All the difficulties that are present in the world can be solved through this – that is how great a cure it is. So what is the reward? Someone is saying to him ‘Be patient, have Sabr – persevere’ and there is a great reward attached.
One reward, and this comes from Hadith, is that, in the Hereafter, Allah ta’ala will forgo the punishments of those who were patient and endured, the punishments that were destined for them for lying or backbiting or this or that action – and I am speaking about people of Iman here. We commit so many big sins, and we commit these sins from morning until evening, and punishments are due for them to be delivered in the fire of Jahannam. But to reduce that punishment, Allah ta’ala gives a person a difficulty in this world. Allah ta’ala makes him occupied in an issue, but he doesn’t know, and he is being told ‘Have Sabr – be patient’ – SubhanAllah. If he has a difficulty or a problem and he is advised to be patient and to have Sabr, what is the reward? The reward is so big that when a person gets to the Hereafter, he will realize that due to his having been patient, Allah ta’ala eliminates various punishments that had been destined and written for him. So brothers, if we look at it in this way, is this difficulty a good thing or a bad thing? Tell me. Behind it is very good news!
What is the second reward? There is a reward in this world, and we don’t need to go to the Hereafter for this. Due to demonstrating Sabr during hardship, the sins of those people, sins which may be stacked up in mountains, sins like showing off, pride, Kibr - may Allah forgive, for people are drowned in sins and do not even know what sins they have committed, whether anger, fighting, quarrelling, using the tongue in the wrong way, and the world is full of this as Allah has made the world like this - but alongside this, Allah ta’ala has placed things which will compensate, MashaAllah. Allah ta’ala has given us everything, and its reward and consequence in the Hereafter is very great. Allah has not made anything without benefit. We think that difficulties are for nothing and that the problems of the world are for nothing, but what does Allah ta’ala do if you have sins as high as mountains? He makes a person occupied in some difficulty – a headache or a flu or a fever or a sickness or a business failure or he has an argument or a fight or a quarrel – there are thousands of such examples. Do they not come in our lives? Yes, to all who are sat here; nobody is safe from this.
So why do we get so scared due to problems? On the other side of the coin, what does Allah ta’ala say? ‘I am giving you these difficulties for a reason, which is that you will be able to demonstrate Sabr’ – say SubhanAllah. Very few people demonstrate Sabr, but if a person has Sabr in the world when he experiences a problem in the world, then when he goes to the Hereafter, he will see that his sins have been forgiven due to these problems that he had in the world – SubhanAllah. He will say ‘I had a small problem in the world, and because I persevered through it, Allah has forgiven one of my sins.’ Allah ta’ala will say ‘This is from My Rahmah, from My Mercy!’ But you are upset with Allah in the world and think ‘Oh Allah, why am I having problems? It seems to be only me who is getting these issues and problems – why not other people? Why did my children die? Why have I got these problems?’ We complain as soon as the problems come. Allah ta’ala is saying ‘The bigger the sin, the more problems and sorrows I give you in the world. This is so that I can cancel out the punishment of those sins. I want to wipe away your sins whilst you are in the world, before death, if you can demonstrate Sabr.’ So this is the first point – you get reward for Sabr, and also your sins are forgiven.
In another Hadith about Sabr, we learn more about the unique reward that Allah ta’ala gives for patience. What is that? It is that in the Hereafter, due to the sickness or issue or difficulty, Allah subhana wa ta'ala will give that person good deeds. He will get good deeds to his name in the Hereafter above and beyond those that he did himself. What type of good deeds will they be? Listen to this Hadith about those who have Sabr, SubhanAllah. Those who have headaches and migraines, people whose businesses are not flourishing, people who get into arguments and fights in the world, and who lose houses, and in whose families there are quarrels and disputes, let them listen to this point. Allah is saying ‘I am asking those people: why do you consider yourselves low in rank? I am giving you the chance to demonstrate Sabr in the face of these problems and hurdles that I give to you.’
Do you understand what I am saying? Am I explaining nicely, in a way that is easy for you to understand? Allah is saying ‘If you demonstrate Sabr due to the problems you experience in the world, how many rewards will I give to you in the Hereafter?’ Listen to this: there is a scale on which Allah will weigh your good deeds, is there not? Well, when the people of Sabr arrive, it will be said ‘Quickly, put the whole Scale to one side; put the Scales away’ The angels will be shocked and will say ‘Oh Allah ta’ala, why do You want to hide the Scales away?’ Allah will say ‘Don’t you know who is coming? These are the people to whom I gave an opportunity in the world, and they took advantage of that opportunity!’ Say SubhanAllah. ‘What opportunity did I give them? I gave them problems at that time – sicknesses and the like – and when this happened, they performed an action which I wanted them to perform. I gave them that sickness so that they could demonstrate Sabr at that time when they were in the world. These are the Sabireen, the patient people.’ The angels will say ‘So what are we going to do with them?’ Allah will say ‘Put the Scales away and let them go into Paradise without Hisab – there will be no weighing of the deeds on the Scales for them!’
My brothers, do you all want this? Do you? Yes. We are all immersed and drowned in our sins, so if we want to enter Paradise without any accounting, with no Hisab, then just do one action. What should we do? Don’t forget the problems or try to get rid of them, no - say SubhanAllah. If Allah ta’ala gives you problems, we should still ask for ‘Afiya, for goodness and well-being – always ask for goodness and well-being – but if problems come, they are a big Rahmah of Allah for you. This is why the pious predecessors would explain that when problems came to them, they would say ‘Alhamdulillah.’ That would be the first thing they would say, and then they would explain ‘You do not know it, but this problem is a great Rahmah and a Mercy from Allah ta’ala for me. Why? Because through this, I will go into Paradise without Hisab.’ SubhanAllah, what a great point we learn here.
If, for example, somebody has a very high fever, a very extreme sickness, is this a normal event? A person’s temperature gets very high, so you take a thermometer and see that the fever is very elevated, and Allah ta’ala is saying ‘Is this a minor problem? No, so exercise Sabr. If you do so, then I will wipe away all of your sins as easily as dry leaves falling off the branches in autumn – I will take all of the sins out of your account.’ When he comes out of the sickness, it is as if he has just been born from his mother’s womb. If he doesn’t make it and he passes away, he becomes a Shaheed; and if he comes through it, he emerges pure and clean. So now do you not feel it would be good to get sick sometimes, so that you can have this opportunity? As we hear this, we feel ‘Wow, I want to get sick!’ But, of course, this is Allah’s choice, for He is the Malik; it is up to the Malik, and we just need to follow the Sunnah.
So there is great Thawab, and great ranks and status are given due to difficulties. Hence the Mu’min should be ready at every moment to react to whatever his Rabb gives him – say SubhanAllah. There is another Hadith regarding hardships, when Allah gives difficulty or a challenge or a tragedy or a calamity in your life – for these things happen. There are many sorrows and tragedies in life; difficulties come, hardships come, and problems can come at any moment. Imagine you are making a journey, for example, and there is a long queue at check-in at the airport and you are getting anxious, and when you get to the front, they give your luggage back to you! It turns out that the plane is full, and your luggage is too heavy – this happens sometimes - and you have to go back home again from the airport. This has happened several times to us. You are going to the airport and a child falls sick on the way, due to which you have to return home. Everyone gets angry and says to the child ‘Why did you have to eat that and get sick?’ but Allah is saying ‘No, you foolish person – exercise Sabr. Have patience, and success will come to you due to this problem.’ Say SubhanAllah.
Do you understand what I am saying? Am I explaining correctly? The class is progressing then, alhamdulillah. We should have a class once a week on Tasawwuf, on purification, on Tazkiyah, shouldn’t we? In this way, you will come to see what great Thawab a person gets when he exercises Sabr. So what does Allah ta’ala do? Allah is saying ‘This servant of Mine is a bit out of control – he is like a monkey. He is always talking rubbish and committing sins, but nevertheless, I love this person.’ Say SubhanAllah! Allah says ‘At the end of the day, he is My servant, even if he talks rubbish when engaging in useless talk, so I have planned a Maqam for him in advance, and I want to get him to that level.’ Say SubhanAllah! ‘I want to get this sinful person to this level, but he doesn’t want to do Amal and he doesn’t want to practice, and he doesn’t want to stop talking rubbish and he doesn’t want to stop committing sins, so what will I do? I will give him a severe difficulty’ – SubhanAllah. It will only be temporary, for these are worldly problems, and how many days will we remain in this world? When a difficulty comes, you don’t even realise how quickly it goes. One day you have a fever, and the next day you feel young again and are walking around eating takeaways and fast food. That is how it is, isn’t it? If you have Corona today, then tomorrow, Corona will go and you will jump up and down, saying ‘It is as if I never had Corona – where is it now?’ Then they buy tickets to here and there and start wandering around, because Corona has gone away, and nothing is a problem.
What is the compensation Allah gives for a difficulty? Allah ta’ala says that it is a high-class Maqam. Allah gives you a high level, and as soon as you die, you will get that Maqam because Allah wants you to get to that level. This comes from having Sabr in your difficulties. If you are patient and persevere through them, then you will have salvation in the Hereafter; you will be saved from Jahannam and will have no punishment because your worldly sins will be forgiven. That was the first point, wasn’t it, that worldly sins will be forgiven? And there will be no Hisab, no accounting before going into Paradise, and there they will find reward for a mass of good deeds – say SubhanAllah. Their status in the Hereafter will be very high – due to what? This will come to that human being who demonstrates Sabr.
So if you say ‘Yes, yes – I will be patient’ when people say, as they commonly do ‘Just be patient – have Sabr’, let me explain to you today what Sabr means, so that we can understand how we should do Sabr. This is not a fable, this is a very big solution, but we are wasting those opportunities. We are wasting these opportunities. Allah ta’ala has given us these chances for Rahmah, for mercy, but we don’t even know how to do Sabr. We don’t realise what patience is. {إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِين} – Allah says {إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ}. Allah says ‘When you have a difficulty and you exercise patience, I am there alongside you.’ I remember an incident that I would like to share with you.
This verse has come to my mind, so what is Sabr? You tell me. What is the definition of Sabr, my brothers? What is Sabr? Allah says {ٱسۡتَعِينُواْ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ‌ۚ} – ‘Seek help through Sabr.’ Sabr is a very high Maqam, for tragedies and calamities and problems will come to us in this world, and they can wipe you out if you are not patient and do not have Sabr. Allah is saying ‘I am giving you the wings of Sabr, and you need to use those wings so that you can rise up into the air.’ This is what happens if you do the right thing and exercise patience. So listen to the definition of Sabr, my brothers, because we need to practice Sabr.
We need to learn what Sabr is so that we can get these rewards every day. You don’t get them for nothing, not from just saying ‘Yes, I will have Sabr because there is a reward.’ No, you need to understand and to actually exercise Sabr, to implement Sabr. If I say ‘Pray Salah’, you will not get the Thawab until you actually perform the prayer, will you? If I say ‘Keep a fast’, you will not get the Thawab until you actually keep the fast. Whatever you are told to do, it is only when you do Amal upon it that the reward comes. You get Thawab for practical action – or do you get reward just for listening? Allah ta’ala is giving the same lesson here.
Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said “اللهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ” – he asked protection from Allah concerning ‘Ilm, protection from shaytan, from tragedy and from Jahannam. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us this Kalimah, so what are we seeking refuge from here? From ‘Ilm. Which ‘Ilm are we seeking protection from? Consider how great ‘Ilm is, but Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam is saying ‘Oh Allah, I seek refuge from that ‘Ilm which does not give me benefit.’ Allah gives us ‘Ilm – we are learning ‘Ilm, aren’t we? This is knowledge that we are sharing today. ‘Ilm is being given to us right now, so if we do not do Amal on it, then we are not seeking refuge, and that knowledge becomes a very dangerous thing. The more ‘Ilm you have, the more danger you will be in. Everyone has the desire to learn Bukhari and to specialise in Hadith and to go to Al-Azhar University and acquire technical knowledge – alhamdulillah, this is a beautiful, tremendous Niyyah and desire to have. This knowledge can confer a very high rank and there is no greater achievement than being given the passion to acquire ‘Ilm. But refuge should be requested here alongside. Make this Dua - ‘May this ‘Ilm not become dangerous for me.’
Am I right or am I wrong? Tell me. I am sharing a Hadith with you here, so how can it be wrong? “لَا يَنْفَعُ” – ‘Oh Allah, I do not want knowledge that does not give me benefit, because that would constitute a big threat for me, a big danger.’ What a responsibility rests on those who have studied Bukhari Sharif, tell me. The very first Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that everything will be according to the intention, so it is essential for everyone who studies Bukhari Sharif to do Amal on this Hadith in order that he gets benefit for himself, not for other people. Why are you studying? Is it to give benefit to other people? No. I asked a young man ‘What do you want to do?’ and he said ‘I want to become an Alim so then I can go to the Masjid and give speeches and Bayans and Khutbahs for Jumu’ah.’ I said ‘My son, this is not the right reason to learn ‘Ilm. You should make the intention to learn ‘Ilm in order to bring it into your life and improve yourself.’ I asked where he was acquiring his ‘Ilm, and he said ‘At Dar-ul-Uloom.’ I said ‘MashaAllah – have you learned ‘Ilm from there?’ ‘I have’, he replied. Then I told him ‘Well now you need to go to a Khanqah in order to learn Amal on that knowledge.’
You acquire the ‘Ilm in Dar-ul-Uloom, and then you are enabled to practice upon it in the Khanqah. You open books in Dar-ul-Uloom, but in the Khanqah, the books are closed and you are brought towards Amal, towards practice. It is Sunnah to learn the ‘Ilm, but it is Fardh to do Amal on it. When the Qur’an was given to Rasoolulah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, he was not told that it was for reading and just for reciting to people. This is not what Allah ta’ala told him. SubhanAllah, rather, Allah ta’ala told him ‘I have given you this Qur’an and I have made you an example for those people. { لَّقَدۡ كَانَ لَكُمۡ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ} I have made you an example, so you need to implement every single verse of the Qur’an that is revealed so that the people can understand the explanation.’
That is why I emphasise the Sunnah – remember this. The whole Deen is Sunnah, SubhanAllah. If Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam had not demonstrated Qur’an to us, could you pray Salah today? Could you do Wudhu? Could you do Hajj? No. Allah ta’ala revealed the Qur’an to a great Nabi, Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and he himself was the physical exemplar of the Qur’an; he was the Tafseer of the Qur’an. When the verse commanding to pray Salah was revealed, the chest of Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam expanded, and immediately, he practically demonstrated how to obey this command, saying ‘This is the time for Dhuhr, and for Asr and this prayer and that prayer.’ SubhanAllah, Allah ta’ala explained the Qur’an physically by means of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. That is why I am saying, my brothers, that both to learn ‘Ilm and to go to the Khanqah is Sunnah, for the meaning of Sunnah is that the practice of the Deen comes into your life. Anyway, this point was made by way of an aside.
“لَا يَنْفَعُ” means that that we take refuge from knowledge which does not confer any benefit, so if we learn ‘Ilm, we must practice upon it. Don’t worry about other people and think ‘I will go and rectify them and explain to them through giving Da’wah and speeches’ – no. Shaytan twists the presentation of everything, including Tasawwuf. If you ask ‘Why have you come here?’ some will say ‘I have come to learn Dhikr so that I can become a Sheikh and a teacher and sit on a couch. People will come and I will tell them how to do Dhikr – this is what I want to do.’ This is not the objective. If this great shaytan, this great idol, goes inside a person, it destroys him. The pious predecessors say that if someone has this desire inside him in respect of Tasawwuf, then he will never attain that in his life; he will not get it. We have come here to do our own rectification, our own Islah, to clean ourselves and purify ourselves. We haven’t come here thinking ‘I want to come here and study Dhikr, and when I have learned it, I will go and teach other people and hold big gatherings so that people say what a great person I am and will remark on the great Faidh and the blessings that are flowing.’ Astaghfirullah, these are the thoughts of a very big Nafs, a very big egotistic desire planted by shaytan.
This is a class of Tasawwuf, so I am sharing this with you. People who have these desires and passions will be destroyed when they stand before Allah – their efforts will have been completely wasted. It is not the objective and destination that you become a Sheikh and a teacher and hold gatherings. Nobody can run a class, and nobody can host a gathering, and nobody can host Dhikr, but 99% of those who come are just like those who go to Dar-ul-Ulooms, those who think ‘I want to graduate so that I can get a post at a Masjid and give Bayans and Taqreers and add my opinions to the disputes and the quarrels of the community.’ It is the same in the Khanqahs today – everyone who is learning Dhikr is waiting and hoping to being given Ijaza quickly, so that he can go somewhere and host gatherings of Dhikr in the same way as his Sheikh and become popular. My friends, anyone can hold a gathering - an announcer, a person who blows a trumpet or summons people with a musical instrument, will succeed in gathering people to come and listen to him.
So these passions and desires are shayateen – they are shaytani desires, so reject them. Recite ‘La Hawla wa la Quwwata illa bi’llah’ and ask for protection. “لَا يَنْفَعُ” – Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said ‘Ya Allah, I seek Your protection from that knowledge which does not benefit me, protection in case I should study Bukhari and not do Amal upon it.’ How does Sahih al-Bukhari start? With a Hadeeth about Tazkiyah. It starts with purification, and it finishes with a Hadeeth about Dhikrullah. Everyone who has studied Bukhari Sahrif, is not the final Hadith about Dhikr? Kalimatani Habibatani – they know this.
In other words, Imam al-Bukhari had knowledge on the one hand, but he knew that through it all, the objective was to get close to Allah. He was a great personality. These pious predecessors were great people, for they understood the Deen and summarised it for us. Imam al-Bukhari was close to Allah, so he knew what the Deen was – he was not just an ordinary human being. Hence, when his pen wrote, it was when permission to do so came from above. What can you say about a person who always did Ghusl before he sat down to write the Hadiths he recorded? Tell me. How many Hadiths did he memorise? Can a normal person do this? He memorised hundreds of thousands of Hadiths – can a normal human being do this? No. His actions demonstrated that the collection he compiled was so valuable that an impure person should not dare to even write the Hadiths. If that is the case, then how pure should be the one who reads those Hadiths? And this does not just mean external purity; it is not just purification with Wudhu that is needed, but you also have to be pure within. You needed internal purity. Think about this point.
Don’t make the Deen a game. We have made the Deen a game, such that Khanqahs and Dar-ul-Ulooms are a game. We have made big institutes and Allah has given us the titles of Alims and has given us status, and after you have attended a gathering of Dhikr, Allah ta’ala give you the status of being among the Dhakireen. This is a big status, and we are sat in such a gathering now. I am not talking about myself here – I am excluding myself from this. We are sat at the gathering of a great Wali of Allah, so great that the angels come to the gathering and give him Rahmah. We are doing his Ziyarah here, for we visit him by coming here – and I am speaking about my Sheikh, my teacher. Is this a minor rank? SubhanAllah. How did the Sahaba-e-Kiram become Sahaba? Each Companion became a Companion by doing Ziyarah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, by keeping his company, by seeing him in the flesh. So is it a minor rank that you attain by sitting in the company of a Wali of Allah, by doing his Ziyarah for a few seconds? It is a very big rank that Allah gives. I have realised this today. I am realising today what the Ziyarah of Hadhrat Sahib was, what was gained simply by seeing my teacher – today I have realised the value of this.
If a person has true eyesight, when he sees something, he should know the reality of what he is seeing. However, the person whose eyesight is a waste and is weak cannot see anything. He sees Dunya in the Dar-ul-Uloom, he sees Dunya outside, he sees Dunya in the Khanqah, he sees Dunya in the gatherings of Dhikr, thinking of Khilafa and of becoming a leader and sitting on the Mimbar, giving speeches and delivering Dars. No, my brothers – is it Deen to have these desires? That is why our Deen has fallen behind today. Don’t take what I am saying badly, my brothers. This is a class, so I have to deliver the truth and be honest with everybody. Yes? It is compulsory to look at the reality of the situation, because we have to understand why we have drowned today.
What is meant by drowned here? The Masjids have not drowned – they are being built up higher and higher, with more storeys and floors added all the time; the Qur’an has not been reduced, for there are so many Kitabs printed, with different colours and lay-outs; and Dars and Bayans and conferences and seminars are held every day – you see them everywhere you go, so this hasn’t reduced either. So in what way have we drowned? What has finished today for the Muslims? Tell me. What has ended? Akhlaq-e-Husn – there is no excellent conduct and manners. We have become fraudsters, and the desire for Dunya that is inside us affects everything. ‘I want to become a Sheikh’ - what a big Dunyawi desire, Astaghfirullah! Look at these big desires we have: ‘Oh, I want to become a person who gives Bayans and speeches so that people sway back and forth as they listen to me. They will enjoy themselves and I will cover this topic today and go on to that topic tomorrow and this subject the day after.’ What is this all about? We need to look into ourselves internally and look after ourselves first.
So what was I saying? SubhanAllah, where did I start from and where had I got to? Yes - I was discussing the Hadith about Sabr. So patience is a practical action; you have to do Amal to have Sabr. Hence it is not enough to agree when someone says ‘Be patient’ – you actually have to be patient. So how does a person have Sabr? SubhanAllah - now we can learn this so that we can put this point into practice. This is where I started, isn’t it? I made the other points thereafter to help clear the ground, and they were beneficial. My Islah has been done as well, MashaAllah, and you have also understood. When you hear good things, then do Tawbah and ask Allah for forgiveness and admit ‘Oh Allah, I have this defect within me, so please eliminate this shortcoming so that I can improve.’ That is when you become a human being. On the other hand, if you hide the fact that you have this defect when you hear it described, then remember this – you have to fulfil the Haq of the Hadith. You have to say ‘I have heard this point which Allah ta’ala has delivered to me, and I will not do this again.’ And Allah ta’ala is so Karim that He will forgive the previous sins as well, and will give Sabr and Thawab due to that.
So coming back to Sabr – what is Sabr, my brothers? Number one – I will share with you the first thought that comes to mind. Let me define what it means for a human being to have difficulties and worries and problems, as I would like to share with you this point that has come into my mind. I feel it as a debt on my head, so I have to deliver it to you. So what is a problem? Why does a problem worry us? Do you want to become sick? Does anyone want his business to go downhill? Does anyone want to suffer a cut on his leg? Does anyone want a tragedy to befall them in life? Does anyone want to lose his house? Does anyone want his child to die? Does anyone want to get Coronavirus? Does anyone want these things? Are they choices that we would make for ourselves? Whose choices are they then? Is it my choice? Can I say ‘No, I don’t want this and that problem. I don’t want my business to flop, and I don’t want an accident, and I don’t want my leg to get cut or to get sick. These are the choices I make!’ No, SubhanAllah – what do we have to do? We have to do what Allah chooses, what He prefers. Do you understand what I am saying? So we follow our desires and whims, but when something happens against our desire, then we become upset. This is the real worry.
This is the real worry, that I want my business to flourish, and when it doesn’t, I get upset and say ‘Oh, I’m gone – my business has died. What shall I do?’ Or if I like being healthy but I become sick, I say ‘Oh, I was healthy and I wanted to stay like that - what has happened? I have become sick, and now this and that has happened.’ Why am I upset? Because things have gone against my desire. But Allah ta’ala says ‘Only what I desire will comes to pass – who are you, oh human being?’ If I leave home dressed in nice clothes and then it starts to rain, my mood changes because I didn’t want to walk in the rain; I wanted to walk to the Masjid in sunshine and warmth – who wants to take an umbrella or to put on a coat? I come out of my house in a good mood, and suddenly heavy rain starts to fall – tell me, is it my desire or Allah’s desire that will unfold at this point? Say SubhanAllah – it is Allah’s desire; it is Allah’s preference that counts. So now you will understand easily what Sabr is; you will understand straight away.
Whatever is happening in the world, whose choice is it? It is Allah’s choice, but what do I want? I want my desire to unfold all the time. If I want something, then I think that it should happen like that. Many times, you hear things like ‘Oh, I went to the park in good weather, and it suddenly started raining and I had to hide from the rain. Why did it have to rain?’ That person dislikes the rain at that time, SubhanAllah. Who are you to stop the rain and to criticise the rain? Only the One who sends the rain can stop it! People say ‘Oh, I have got a daughter and I didn’t get a son’, or ‘I wanted a daughter, but I got a son’, or they want children, yet they are not getting any - but who are we to criticise? Allah is saying ‘Do things run according to your desire? No, it is My choice.’ If things don’t go according to our wishes, there is a clash and we become upset and start talking rubbish and nonsense and doing bad actions and becoming depressed because things are not happening in the way that I wanted. ‘I wanted to become this, but I didn’t achieve it; I wanted this status in the world, but I can’t get to this status.’ When sicknesses start, people say ‘Oh, he got this and I didn’t get it’, and then the matter goes down further branches of thinking and take a person towards Shirk. And what did this all stem from? That something did not happen according to my wishes. That is the first problem.
So what is Sabr? SubhanAllah – what is it about Sabr that we need to learn? If any tragedy befalls a person, they say ‘Do Sabr’; if you fall ill – ‘Do Sabr’; if someone dies – ‘Do Sabr.’ So what Sabr should we do? The Sabr that we should do is this, that whenever any tragedy or problem comes, immediately make this Niyyah: ‘Oh Allah ta’ala, I had a desire and a wish, but this has happened according to Your desire and preference, and what You desire is the Haqq. Whatever You decree and desire is best; what You decide is for the best – it is the Truth. I haven’t got married yet – fine; no problem.’ If a person hasn’t got children, he should say ‘Fine – that is no problem, Ya Allah. This is Your choice, and You are the greatest because You are Haqq, and Your decisions are based upon Hikmah and Wisdom. You are the Creator. If I had had a child, he could have been a drug addict or a useless person, and then how would I have coped?’ There are events in the Qur’an that show this. Just say ‘Ya Allah, I assign all of my affairs to You. I am Mutawaffiq - I agree, and I am happy with Your choice, oh Allah.’ SubhanAllah.
This is the great point to understand. Just say ‘I am pleased with Your choice and preference. You did right, oh Allah. You have taken the life of my loved one, and there is sorrow, for I am a human being, but I am happy with Your choice, oh Allah. It is You who decided the best way, for if not this, what would have happened to me tomorrow? I don’t know.’ You divorce a woman because she is not giving you children, or because sons are not being born. People are divorcing their wives, saying ‘Why aren’t you giving birth to any children?’ Imagine! Are you God? Are you the Creator? No. Have Sabr – be patient. Do you understand patience now? Whenever a tragedy or difficulty or sorrow or problem comes, the human being immediately falls into worry and distress, thinking ‘I didn’t want this.’ Yes, you didn’t want this outcome, but it is Allah’s choice, so say ‘You have given me what You wanted, so I accept it. Oh Allah, what You give is better than my understanding.’ Say SubhanAllah. This is the attitude: ‘I am happy, oh Allah – I am happy with Your decision, with Your Hikmah in this matter.’ Is this not Sabr?
When this Sabr comes into your life practically, Allah’s Rahmah will say ‘Fine – he has exercised Sabr for he is happy and gracious with My decision.’ Whatever loss such a person gets in the world, he says ‘I don’t care – I am happy, oh Allah.’ And when he shows that he is happy, then Allah says ‘Go and give him those rewards that I have promised to those who have Sabr.’ What a great Maqam you have attained, for I have already explained the four things that you will get straightaway. This is for a person who gets a migraine or gets stuck in a quarrel or a fight or a dispute - whatever difficulty you may get in this world, for these things are very difficult when they strike. Sometimes even small things seem very bad to you - for instance if a friend of yours swears at you. If that happens, what should you do? You should demonstrate Sabr at that time, and think ‘Oh Allah, this is Your decision. This person swore at me, and I should be angry, but You enabled him to say this. You allowed this, for not even a leaf can fall without Your permission. I have been sacked today, oh Allah, and this is Your choice. I am happy with this because otherwise I don’t know what would have happened.’ This is Sabr – and what does Allah say He gives for this? How many rewards does Allah give? Allah will give great rewards if you do Sabr and accept that it is not your choice. Whose choice is it? Allah’s choice. This is step number one.
And then, one hundred percent - { ٱسۡتَعِينُواْ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ‌}. Once you have brought Sabr, then what you must do immediately thereafter is perform two Rakahs of Nafl, with the intention that shaytan does not put Waswasah into your ears or your heart. ‘I do not want shaytan to inject me with Waswasah and make me say something from my mouth that goes against Allah’s Shari’ah. Shaytan might trap me and surround me, oh Allah, so protect me.’ As soon as you have demonstrated Sabr, then pray two Rakahs of Salah, thinking ‘Oh Allah, I am happy with Your Decree, so may You also become happy with me.’ This is step number two. ‘Oh Allah, may You also become happy with me.’ SubhanAllah.
And the third step is at the top of the pile of ways to demonstrate Sabr; it is the most important and significant way to demonstrate Sabr. So what is step number three? Ruju’ ila’llah - and this is called Dhikrullah. I am not saying this, rather I am remembering a statement of Hadhrat Thanvi Sahib rahmatullah alayh which I heard in the gathering of my Sheikh rahmatullah alayh. My Sheikh referenced Hadhrat Thanvi Sahib rahmatullah alayh because my Sheikh was an Ashiq of Hadhrat Thanvi Sahib rahmatullah alayh. He said ‘I would like to share with you one of Hadhrat Thanvi Sahib’s statements. He said that the greatest way to demonstrate Sabr, without which Sabr is not complete, is Dhikrullah, the remembrance of Allah, and that is why Allah ta’ala said to do Dhikran Katheera, abundant Dhikr, because abundant difficulties will come in the course of our lives.’
So many problems will come in our lives – we cannot stay alive and avoid the many, many problems that will come. Some may become mad, experience mental health issues, depression, or some may be weak in the Deen and then thoughts of ‘Why is this not happening to me’ or ‘Why is this happening to me’ will come. There will be deaths, items will be lost or stolen, and you will think ‘Oh Allah, I pray Salah and read Qur’an, but I am lost!’ Why? Because we do not know how to implement Sabr, SubhanAllah. We don’t know how, but Sabr is such an important action.
I would like to share an incident with you, SubhanAllah, that highlights what a human being attains through Sabr. There was a Majlis held, and there were some women gathered also – this is a true event. So at that gathering, there was one woman in attendance who was very happy. She was very happy, fresh-faced and smiling, an elderly woman among the other women who were present. This is an old event – it happened in days gone by. The other women said to themselves, ‘We are all sat with our pain and our sorrows, but this woman, MashaAllah, seems very satisfied and content. What Amal must she do to reach this state? Let us ask her what she does to make her look so content and happy and pleased. What action does she do?’
So they turned to her and said ‘We want to enquire, due to your seeming so satisfied and content and happy, MashaAllah, how your life came to be so full of happiness. Tell us some stories and share with us your secrets, for it looks like everything in your home life must be good and fine.’ She said ‘Oh yes – would you really like to hear my story?’ They said ‘Yes, yes, we would like to hear your story – please tell us why you are so happy.’ So she said ‘My house was indeed a very happy place – there was a lot of happiness in my household. I had two sons, two daughters, a husband, a house. I had a nice home and servants’ – this was in the days when people had servants. ‘We had everything’ she said, ‘We had a lot of happiness. Well, one day something happened. My husband said “Today, I feel like some meat”, so we took one of our goats that we kept on the farmland that we had and prepared to slaughter it.’
She continued: ‘While my husband was slaughtering the goat, someone told him that his servants had run away. He asked why and they said “We don’t know, but we have just seen them running away.” So he left the goat there and then, and left the knife there as well, and he ran after the servants to see what was going on. He caught up with the servants and grabbed them, and what did they do? They attacked and murdered him. My husband was murdered and then the servants ran off.’ She went on ‘I was there waiting and waiting, and when no one came back, I went to look for my husband. Eventually I reached the scene and found that my husband had died, and I lost consciousness at that point.’ She told them how she felt when she discovered that her husband had been killed, and said ‘When I came to, I started crying and crying so much at the loss of my husband, and after a while, I set off back towards our home.’
What she described next is something that can happen, for I have seen something like this occur in my own home. She said ‘When I reached home, I found the following scene. My two young children had been watching the goat being slaughtered by their father, and while they were alone, one of them said “Come, let’s play - I will pretend to slaughter you.” So one son took the other son, and he laid him down on the ground.’ As I said, something like this happened in our house – I witnessed it myself. So she said ‘One child put the other onto the ground, picked up the knife, and drew it across his brother’s throat - and killed him. When the surviving brother saw all the blood, in his shock and fear, he ran off towards the nearby forest.’ So when she returned home, she found that one of her sons had been slaughtered, on top of her husband dying. She said ‘I then ran to look for my other son, and when I got to the forest, I found that a pack of wolves had found him and had devoured him.’
These are the tragedies of the world, my friends. So the husband had gone from this previously very happy household, as well as both sons. She fell unconscious again, and then somebody went to the nearby house of her daughter, who was married, to tell her what had happened. When she found out that her father and two brothers had died, she had a heart attack and passed away as well. Now when the mother regained consciousness, she saw that the unattended fire inside the house had set light to the building, and her last little daughter, who had been left alone in the house, had perished in the fire. So the woman explained that apart from her, everyone in the household died in this sequence of events. She said ‘I had nobody left, I had nowhere to stay and nothing I could do. I had only one path left in front of me – {ٱسۡتَعِينُواْ بِٱلصَّبۡر}.’ SubhanAllah. She said ‘I practiced Sabr, and through this action of Sabr, I attained the state in which you see me now.’
This is the Barakah of Sabr, for Allah promises this. Allah has made promises to those who demonstrate Sabr. When a person demonstrates Sabr in the face of a problem or difficulty, that problem becomes as light as a piece of paper, and the person forgets it; he no longer feels its effect. At the time that the difficulty afflicts him, he thinks that it is a big difficulty, but when he practices Sabr, Allah ta’ala prepares a beautiful path for that person.
Shall I tell you an incident about a Sahabi regarding this point so that it becomes clearer for you? Do you understand what I am saying up to now? Do you understand all the points in the lesson? Say it loudly – SubhanAllah. The class is progressing in the right way then. Imran ibn Hussain radhiAllahu anh was a very famous and great Companion. Yes? He was a Companion, and their status was such that even if all the Qutbs and Ghawths of the world were to combine, they could not reach the dust on the feet of the Sahaba. Why? What deed did they do? Salah? Fasting? Hajj? Zakah? Reciting Qur’an? There were no written and printed copies of the Qur’an at that time. So what was it that gave them such a great rank that all of the Ghawths of the world together, rubbing their foreheads in the dust in front of the Ka’abah, would not reach the rank of the dust on the slipper on the foot of a Sahabi? Why? What Ibadah did the Sahaba do? They did Ziyarah of the blessed face of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, so they were Ashiqs. They were not like the Ashiqs of today who say ‘Labaik labaik Allahumma labaik’ – they didn’t play that game. The Sahaba were true lovers of the Deen. They were declared to be such Ashiqs that Allah says that until Qiyamah, no-one can compete with the Sahaba - whatever Ibadah anyone cares to do. Read as many Qur’ans as you want, read whatever you want to read, work as hard as you like - you cannot match them. Why? Because they saw the blessed face of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, hence no-one can compete with them.
Nobody can compare with someone who saw Rasooullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, neither can anyone compete with a person who saw a Sahabi. I might be Jahil, but if you ask the scholars, they will explain this to you. Imam Abu Hanifa rahmatullah alayh is the Imam-ul-A’dtham – why? Yes? This is the proof for this fact that amongst all the Ulema, Imam Abu Hanifa rahmatullah alayh is foremost – and we are Hanafi, so say Alhamdulillah. He is the Afdhal, the greatest Imam – why? Because he alone among them did the Ziyarah of a Sahabi – so how could anyone compete with him? Yes? He did this Ziyarah and hence was a Tabi’i, who are those who did Ziyarah of the Sahaba. And who did the Sahaba do the Ziyarah of? Of Imam-ul-Ambiya Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. This is a line, a dynasty of Ziyarah, of seeing those blessed faces; Ziyarah is a unique Ibadah. Do you understand my point? It is about seeing the faces, the Ibadah of looking at someone’s face - this is an Ajeeb Ibadah, SubhanAllah. The Thawab for Ziyarah is Ajeeb, and you should have the passion for this. You should have this desire to travel in pain and hardship and make long journeys to do Ziyarah of a Wali of Allah.
This is what I am explaining to you, so develop this desire, my brothers. This is indeed a great desire, but this desire is finished in the Dunya, and that is why we are wretched. In days gone by, we had this desire, and people would travel for thousands of miles for this. The Sheikh would ask ‘Why have you come here? Do you have some issue?’ The reply would be ‘Yes, a very important issue – I have come to do your Ziyarah’ – SubhanAllah. ‘Now that I have done your Ziyarah, I will go back now’ – SubhanAllah. ‘I have no need for anything other than this.’ He didn’t ask for Khilafah or a cushion or a seat or a title because he knew that doing the Ziyarah, by seeing the teacher, he was doing the greatest action, and that he would attain everything through that Ziyarah, because the face of the Sheikh would testify on his behalf on the day of Judgement, alhamdulillah.
We don’t have the desire for this, and we don’t have Yaqeen on this - we don’t understand this. In fact, we laugh about these things, saying ‘What a joke!’ When they see someone picking up the Sheikh’s slippers, they laugh at him and say ‘Oh look at that crazy person wasting his time picking up the slippers of his Sheikh.’ This is because we haven’t got the passion anymore. Instead, we have fake actions to our name; ‘Ilm, studying, writing – these are all fake. Dunya, Dunya is our desire, and we think about promotion and money and recognition. We have no desire for the truth, otherwise the Muslims would not be wretched today.
People make such a lot of noise today, saying ‘I am an Ashiq of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam’, but a person cannot imagine today what it means to become an Ashiq. Look at what people do today so that people accept him as an Ashiq of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam; look at what actions he does, what statements he makes and what fake actions he performs so that people accept him as a true lover. And then people say ‘Yes, yes – he is a good person; he’s an Ashiq, a lover.’ We do such actions to become an Ashiq and we do such actions to become a Wali of Allah. Tawbah, Tawbah – it is unimaginable what people do so that they are accepted as a Wali of Allah and are given the title.
In between the main lesson, we sometimes give some lessons on Tasawwuf and discuss such points, but now I come back to the Sahabi, that beautiful and great Sahabi – listen to what a link he had to Allah ta’ala. Allah ta’ala gave him a sickness so that for a few days, he had a pain in his back. It continued for three or four days, and these things come on suddenly. A person is not expecting that this or that is going to happen to him. Allah gives surprises to His pious servants in the form of sudden problems, so that He can give rewards to those who have Sabr – and Sabr is displayed by those who have gone to a Wali of Allah and have learned Sabr. Have you learned Sabr today or not? Tell me. Those who have learned Sabr today should say SubhanAllah. Now you will understand what to do when you have a problem. Before this, you didn’t even know what to do – you were Jahil beyond Jahil. “لَا يَنْفَعُ” – there is no benefit in ‘Ilm if you don’t even know what Sabr is or how to practice it. You just stand there frowning and complaining, and when asks why you have come, you say ‘Oh I have come because I have got all these problems – what should I do?’ The answer is that you should have done Sabr in the world. If you didn’t know what Sabr is, you should have gone to a Wali of Allah, because then you would have learned what Sabr is. Allah will say ‘Did I give you those difficulties for nothing?’
Everything has to be learned - realise that it is all about Amal, about practice. Islam is practical, so you have to step forward, to move your legs. Learn the external ‘Ilm and then learn the practical ‘Ilm of Tasawwuf – and learn all this for what? For the Akhirah, not for people in the world. In the Akhirah, you won’t be asked ‘Did you become an Alim in the world? Were you a scholar?’ No, first you will be questioned about your knowledge and asked ‘Why did you not do Amal on what you knew? Oh Jahil person, you were backward and illiterate because you did not do Amal on your knowledge. You didn’t do Amal on one Hadith, even though you were giving Wa’az and speeches to people.’
So that Sahabi was afflicted with this illness, and it stretched into one year and then two years, and it continued until he had been lying down in bed for thirty-two years! He couldn’t even turn onto his side – for how long? For thirty-two years. It is not an easy thing to persevere for so long – he couldn’t even turn! Imagine his state and the pain and the hardship he went through. Only one who experiences such pain could know, but when people used to meet that Sahabi, he was so fresh and alert – just like that woman whose example I gave. I will explain both these examples to you. The Sahabi was so fresh and alert that the other Companions were amazed. They would say ‘Oh Imran, what is going on here? You seem to be in such a good state.’ Someone asked him once ‘Look at your situation, Imran? You are so fresh and happy and alert – more than the rest of us. Why is that?’ He said ‘If you want to know, I will explain to you what is behind this. What happens is that when night falls, Allah’s angels start coming to me. SubhanAllah, they come, and they do Musafaha with me, and then they leave. I receive such a beautiful message at that time, and it makes me so happy that until morning, I forget that I have any difficulties.’
And Allah ta’ala says to do Dhikr in the night and also the morning - so keep on learning here. The person who does Dhikr is never upset or down or depressed. { وَسَبِّحُوهُ بُكۡرَةً۬ وَأَصِيلاً} – that is why Allah ta’ala says this in the Qur’an. So the Sahabi said ‘In the morning, the morning angels come, and the new shift of angels come to me and they too shake hands with me. They have been visiting me for thirty-two years, and in all that time, I have never met the same angel twice.’ This is because the angels are all desperate to meet such people – the Maqam of a person who has Sabr is so high that there is a clamour in the heavens about him. ‘This person is demonstrating Sabr’, they say. So he said ‘When they come and do Musafaha with me and then leave, time passes so quickly that I do not even realise it.’
So who did he see? The angels! And what did that woman do? She was not able to see the angels herself, but the angels definitely came to her as well, morning and evening, which is what made her fresh and content. And if a person exercises Sabr today, he also will not see the angels, but the person of Sabr will have that feeling that will enable him to persevere through the difficulty without any problem. If you implement Sabr today, you won’t see it, but the angels will definitely come. As for the Sahabi, he saw the angels himself.
Come, let us ask a Nabi of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam what he says? What experience and feeling would he have? One great Prophet of Allah was Hadhrat Ayyub alayhi salam, and when you hear the name of Hadhrat Ayyub, what do you think of? Of Sabr. Whenever you hear his name, you hear about difficulty and Sabr as well. Someone once asked him ‘Oh Hadhrat Ayyub, you practice a very high level of Sabr, and afterwards you seem fine. You don’t cry or shriek out or scream; rather, you pick up the maggots that fall off you and put them back onto your body, telling them that hey must not miss out on their food!’ How long did this go on for? SubhanAllah, not for just one or two years, but for so many years he practiced this Sabr, saying ‘Oh Allah, is it Your choice that runs, or my choice? It is Your choice.’ And then he did Ruju’ ila’llah – he was always immersed in the Dhikr of Allah, so he attained the Maqam of Sabr.
So if we also implement the third action, what will happenen to us? SubhanAllah. If we also do this today, we won’t see the angels. The Sahabi did see them, so we know that they are there - they are present, even today. But what happened to Allah’s Nabi alayhi salam when he did Sabr? When he was asked ‘Oh Nabi of Allah, why are you so happy and content and not worried about anything despite your sickness?’ He said ‘Shall I explain this to you?’ They said ‘Yes, please tell us.’ He said ‘Listen – as soon as night falls, Allah subhana wa ta'ala visits me and asks after me! Allah knows best about His Nabi, but He asks about me. He asks how I am, and that gives me such intoxication that I forget my sickness. Who could remember they are sick at that time? If it were not for this, how could I have remained sick like this for so many years? Were it not for this, I could not even persevere through one difficulty, not even a boil or a blister.’ So he endured all those skin and flesh problems and the maggots and so on because he had this beautiful experience of communicating with his Lord. He said ‘That communication is so great that I don’t even realise that the night has passed, and then when morning comes, Allah ta’ala enquires after me again, and says “Oh My beloved Ayyub, how are you? What is your Hal?’ These were the words that Allah would say – SubhanAllah.
Do you understand what I am saying? Am I explaining it to you clearly? Do you really understand? So what we learn is that the Nabi of Allah had such a Maqam due to Sabr that Allah communicated with him, and the Sahabi’s Maqam was so high that the angels came down to greet him, and for the Ummatis who are patient, their Maqam is such that they cannot see these two blessings of Allah and His angels, but nevertheless you feel like these things are happening to you. You will feel this Maqam when you get to the high level of Sabr.
So, my brothers, you have learned how to do Sabr, alhamdulillah, so now don’t be scared of difficulties or sorrows. Don’t lose your mind or go crazy, and don’t talk rubbish by criticising or complaining. Be careful about two things whenever a problem comes into your life – note down these two things. Throughout your life, ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala for ‘Afiya, for well-being; don’t ask for difficulty - remember this. The biggest Dua is for ‘Afiya – Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said this. Allah is saying ‘Keep on asking Me for goodness and well-being. Your job is to ask Me for ‘Afiya, and it is up to Me what I give you, so whatever I give you, accept it and embrace it.’ That’s it – this is Sabr. We must not ask for bad things or difficulty, no, we ask for ‘Afiya, saying ‘Oh Allah, don’t give me any sickness – give me good things and goodness.’
Another point occurs to me here. We ask Allah for goodness because goodness is so beloved to us – say SubhanAllah. The Ashiqs will have understood what I am saying – the point has just come to my mind. Whatever you ask from Allah, you do so because you hold that thing to be dear and beloved – and ‘Afiya is beloved to you. You ask Allah ‘Oh Allah, give me health and not sickness. Oh Allah, don’t give me sorrow – I want good things.’ These things are beloved to us, and Allah ta’ala asks us to request Him for those things that we love. Allah is saying ‘Let us do a transaction between us: you give Me your beloved thing, and you can take something beloved from Me’ – SubhanAllah. Make this bargain with Allah in the form of a transaction, and Allah says ‘I will give you the thing you want, that which will make you happy, and I am happy with your pleasure.’
This is the point that I have just understood now, and this is the reason that Allah ta’ala has asked us to ask for ‘Afiya, for well-being. We should do so thinking ‘Oh Allah, maybe I don’t have this thing that I am asking for, so please take it. Now that I have given this to you already, I am not worried.’ Do you understand what I am saying? Yes – whatever you hold dear and beloved, when you assign it to Allah and say ‘Oh Allah, I have given this thing to you’, then Allah will say ‘You have given Me your most beloved thing, so come, I will give you what is dear to Me.’ And then Allah will give that person the best of things and the greatest of rewards.
Do this if you get sick today with cancer, for I have seen people with severe cancer, and I told them this solution and they did Amal upon it – and today I am revealing this to you as well. Despite their sickness with cancer, I saw that they were so happy and contented with life, even in their business as well. So what is the point behind this? We have to go back to Allah, so while we are going to Allah, then we are being patient with what Allah has given to us and will get these four things, namely that we won’t get any punishments and will not have sins left in our account, and we will get so many rewards as well, and while people are stood there drowning in their sweat on the Day of Judgement, not able to face the reckoning of that Day, in Allah’s Court the Qutbs and the Ghawths will be there as Allah will say ‘Step back – here come the people of Sabr. Let them go into Paradise without any reckoning!’ How happy such a person’s life will be, and it will not matter if problems or difficulties come tomorrow or the next day, because he is living his life as a traveller and so he has no worries about the world. He thinks ‘I have got the stamp and seal of approval because I have got Sabr and patience. I am doing Sabr.’
Learn this principle of life, oh Sufis! Listen to this principle of life, for Allah ta’ala gives difficulties and problems in life – they will keep on descending. And I remember another point: Allah’s Ni’mahs are infinite, so many more than the number of the problems. Allah’s Ni’mahs are innumerable, and we should remember that we are immersed and surrounded in Allah’s Ni’mahs. We are surrounded by Allah’s Ni’mahs, and if we are also surrounded by problems and difficulties, this is the life of the world. Keep both things balanced in front of you.
If you make these three things a part of your life, inshaAllah this Dunya will become a Jannah for you. Number one: be grateful for the infinite Ni’mahs that Allah ta’ala gives. Think ‘Oh Allah, I am grateful for my eyes and my mouth and my lips and my body. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, You have given me my body and I am healthy and I have got working organs and food today. I woke up today, and I came to Salah today, alhamdulillah, and I did this today, alhamdulillah.’ Say alhamdulillah in every second and on every step – it is compulsory, Fardh, to do Shukr for every second of the day. But we hide all those Ni’mahs and highlight other problems – ‘Oh Allah, I have got a headache; oh Allah, I have got a heart ache; oh Allah, I have all these problems.’ Oh servant of Allah, what about all the Ni’mahs that Allah ta’ala has given to you today? Why are you forgetting those? Be grateful for them first. Do Hamd upon Hamd - praise Allah and do Shukr upon Shukr.
So firstly, do Shukr for Allah’s infinite Ni’mahs, and secondly, when difficulties come, face those issues and do Sabr upon Sabr – be patient. Be grateful for the Ni’mahs, for this carries one reward, and then do Sabr, for the reward for this is something else again, SubhanAllah. Sabr has its own reward. One reward is for doing Shukr for the Ni’mahs, and then do Sabr in respect of the problems and sorrows and difficulties, for this will bring its own reward. And thirdly, SubhanAllah, keep doing the Dhikr of Allah; keep on doing Dhikr of Allah.
These are three principles of life, and if you stick to them, your Rabb will never be unhappy with you – never. You will become Ajeeb, unique Muslims. But Nafs and shaytan are big forces. You have accepted these principles, but Nafs and shaytan trap you; they have a lot of energy and power because Allah has enabled them. You have got the Jadhbah and passion to do right, but they will trick you and trap you; they will make you fall down, and they will drag you and push you back from inside. So give yourself protection from Nafs and shaytan; we need protection from Nafs and shaytan. The ‘Ilm that you have learned today needs protection – and what is that protection? It is the company of the Awliya’llah, the friends of Allah. They are like a castle; if you sit in the company of a Wali of Allah, then you are protected in his company. So spend a lot of time with the Wali of Allah. And who is a Wali of Allah? The definition is very easy: when you are surrounded by problems and difficulties and go and you sit in the company of a Wali of Allah, you start to get satisfaction and Sakeenah. When this happens, then realise that you have reached the headquarters. You don’t need to ask anyone who a Wali of Allah is. If you are feeling upset and sorrowful and you think ‘Oh, let me sit down with this person - he is a good person’, then if you get peace of heart there and you feel the benefits coming to you, then consider that Allah has sent you to the right company. Say to yourself ‘Forget shaytan, I will just keep sitting here.’
There was an event that I remember concerning a person who had an MA degree in English, and he had studied this and that in academia; he had a very high status in the Dunya – he was a professor named Salam-ud-Deen. He was in a bad state at one time, and as soon as Hadhrat Sahib’s Khanqah would open - the second Khanqah where Hadhrat’s home was - he would be stood there and would be first to go inside and sit down in the morning. He had been in a bad state, and he once told us his story which I will not share with you, but it left him very down and sorrowful; everything had gone and his situation in the Dunya was very bad. He would say to me ‘Hadhrat, the thing is that you see me coming here now, but I didn’t know anything about Hadhrat Sheikh before. I was about to commit suicide and had nobody to turn to, when I suddenly saw this door open while I was passing by in that bad state. I asked ‘Who is the man who people come to here?’ Someone said ‘He is a Wali of Allah’, so I thought ‘Let me go and see who this Wali of Allah is.’ I came in and sat down, and as soon as I sat down, I was suddenly filled with a feeling of coolness and peace. From that day until today, I have spent ten years in Hadhrat Sahib’s Sohbat, and I have felt totally cool and content and I am living a nice life.’ SubhanAllah.
So brothers, these are the doors, and if you see a door that opens onto the company of a good person, where you feel happy and content and satisfied, and where you feel you are getting benefit, then this is the best way to save yourself from shaytan and Nafs. This is the best cure. And if that person lives far away from you, then do Tasawwur of that person in your heart; even imagining him in your heart will be a solution for you.
May Allah ta’ala give us all the Tawfeeq to practice on what we have discussed today. Ameen.
Recite Durood Sharif.

9th Dec, 2021
SubhanAllah! A very special bayan like always!

I turn to this bayan and listen Huzoor's blessed pearls to increase my imaan in difficult times, when feeling down.
Always feel content by the end of it! Alhamdulilah.
2nd Dec, 2021
Very good dars.
30th Oct, 2021
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