This world functions based on certain means and resources. Allah ta'ala is the owner of the world, He says 'kun' & it occurs. Allah ta'ala based on His wisdom, and according to the system has established this world and the world is based on means and resources which we utilise. We need to adopt the means and methods and then the result occurs. If Allah ta'ala wants He can give it automatically but we need to follow the system.
So from here we understand that to attain something you need to make the effort. You need to work hard and strive not just stating empty and hollow words. My beloved Hadhrat Sheikh said, 'if you make effort then the mercy will come, if you're not determined then the mercy won't come.'
Allah has instructed us to work hard so the more a person tries, then according to that Allah will give him mercy from His Qurb.
As for those who strive hard in Us (Our Cause), We will surely guide them to Our Paths. And verily, Allah is with the Muhsinun (good doers)."
(Al-'Ankabut, verse 69)
It's your duty to strive. Allah mentions سُبُلَنَا - "paths" that lead to us (Allah) but today, we are scared of trying.
Our objective is to please Allah and this can't be done by doing nothing.
Allah has created the methods that we need to implement to attain these great rewards.
"The night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months." (Al-Qadr, verse 3)
The virtues of this night are immense!
If someone worships in this night, it is equal to worshipping for 87 years.
So should we not strive to attain these blessings tonight?
Allah could've specified the night for us but this was Allahs wisdom in keeping it concealed.
To become a Muttaqi we must strive and work hard. Allah has placed an example of striving in this night whereby the specific night of laylatul Qadr is unknown to us and we are made to seek it and strive. Similarly, in Ramadan we must strive to become a Muttaqi through fasting.
Fasting is when one obeys Allah's orders and does not leave them. Allah has given us the guidance that to succeed in this night, Allah has prescribed for us a little bit of effort.
Initially Allah ta'ala informed the Prophet ﷺ regarding the specific night of QADR. But the Prophet ﷺ stated, "when I was informed about the night, I desired to go and tell the sahabah which night it was. When I came out i saw 2 men quarelling amongst each other."
Due to the wretchedness of this arguing, it was erased from Nabi ﷺ 's memory.
These disputes and differences will destroy the whole Ummah and we see this today.
There are various groups in one masjid. In the saff's (rows) of one masjid there are various splits. We stand in lines and there is no unity.
Laylatul Qadr was hidden due to arguing so if arguing occurs within the home then imagine the Ill effects and the curses that descend when there are arguments in the home.
Despite forgetting the night, Nabi ﷺ gave us a clue and told us to seek out the odd nights of the last Asharah. Nabi ﷺ also gave us a hint and said, "perhaps there's khair in me not knowing."
Whatever Nabi ﷺ says, it holds goodness. So Nabi ﷺ says there is khair in it.
This means there will be goodness in all of these odd nights split across them.
Allah will distribute His mercy across all the odd nights instead of just one!
2 things:
1) To attain something we need to work hard
2) The effects of Nabi ﷺ's word are that in every odd night, there will be blessing.
So we must strive and make effort in all of these odd nights. There are 5 odd nights so due to their blessings, Allah will give these great blessings in all the nights, hence, we will get more than 5000 months reward. If we consider this, then each night we must take benefit from.
Initially we were given 50 Salah but today we don't even pray 5 so how were we going to pray 50?
Although we pray 5 salaah today the reward is equivalent to the 50 salah that was originally prescribed for us.
Alhamdulillah the Ummah has been given many blessings and greatness due to Nabi ﷺ.
What will be accepted on this night?
We should engage in a deed which is dear and most beloved to Allah. This is when Allah will love us.
So what should we do on these blessed nights?
Hadhrat Aishah رضي الله عنها asked the Prophet ﷺ that if I were to witness the night of power, what dua shall i make to Allah?
He said,
اللهم إنك عفوٌ كريمٌ تُحب العفو فأعفُ عنّا
Allah loves it when one is covered in sins head to toe, and he is trembling due to the fear of jahannam and his sins. He is afraid of Allah's anger and the punishment of the afterlife. All he sees is the darkness of his sins. And this is the situation of every human in reality. Our thoughts are not pure nor are our limbs. Our homes are not pure, nothing about us is pure!
Our hearts have dots and scars of Allah's disobedience so we have become impure. What worship may then benefit such a heart and what light can be radiated from that heart.
So we must purify our hearts from scars of lying, haram, evil, bad thinking and greed of the world.
What light will be present in our worship if our hearts have stains of sins.
Even if you perform the greatest deeds, but you sin, light cannot come into your deeds. There is a veil of sin between you and Allah. We need to do taubah first and uplift this veil.
Just like If our clothes are stained with urine and if we don't wash that stain, we cannot pray to Allah in those soiled clothes. So if the heart contains the dots of sin, that creates a barrier between a servant and His lord. When that barrier is removed then the relationship between Allah and his servant suddenly opens up, unravels all the deeds and they become illuminated and that person starts to recieve the splendour of Allah.
Instead, we leave that veil of sin hanging and we keep running after deeds and worship. So our first duty is to seek forgiveness from Allah. Why?
(Allah says)
1) When a person comes to me for repentance, I love him to beg me for forgiveness.
2) I love forgiving.
20th May, 2020
What great pious predecessors we had who passed in history. Some had great ranks. Someone was a thief, someone was a bandit or alcoholic as soon as they did taubah and they were steadfast on their sincere taubah, they became such wali Allah that's their names are mentioned in books! We refresh our imaan through their names.
And what will make you know what the night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is?
(Al-Qadr, verse 2)
Allah says how can you imagine what this night is. Allah has given us brain power but we can't even explain the blessing because our minds are not capable of absorbing the greatness of this month.
The greatest praise of this night is that we need to seek the objective of this night.
خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ
If you do a thousand months of sujood or righteous deeds, even then, this one night will be greater than that!
Don't take the tasbih and do istighfar. Taubah is when you enlist the sins and accept that you are a criminal and sinful. This could be the last night of our lives so we should account ourselves, do our hisaab and repent and that's all we need to do tonight! Theres no restriction at all.
After repentance a person becomes a wali Allah and gets the seal of approval. Once he becomes a wali, he is steadfast and he does nurani deeds and becomes qutub abdaal. Etc.
The eyes of the heart open up and so much strength comes in their hearts that they can see everything and they have an introduction with the angels. The fear of Allah intensifies and day and night, such a person remembers Allah. The more close one is to Allah, the more He fears and engages in Allah's remembrance.
This fear is not being afraid, it's a different fear of having awareness - being aware.
The first step of the Friendship of Allah (Wilaayat) is humility, fear and awe of Allah. Such a person begins to rectify the smallest of his mistakes. If he has wronged a child he ensures to ask for forgiveness from him!
The more effort he does, the more he will be saved from sins and attain the high status. A person receives all this through repentance!
Usually on this blessed night, we want to cook, give speeches, but we avoid repenting, which is the main thing!
Allah is ghafur rahim for those who repent. If you SEEK forgiveness, then you will recieve the mercy.
We tend to say, Oh it doesn't matter, and we continue sinning and we give an excuse that , "Allah is ghafur Ar rahim."
We make Allah our witness and then we sin! What a great kufr and shirk we are committing!
With regards to repentance, Allah forgives and not just that, He is the king of the worlds whom we are going to. He doesn't give us pre-conditions to observe.
Yet, Allah is so forgiving that even the sins we committed before, he removes them too!
The effect of this night is repentance. Allah says,
"Therein descend the angels and the Ruh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] by Allah's Permission with all Decrees,"
(Al-Qadr, verse 4)
20th May, 2020
This taubah we perform will be more greater than 1000 months of forgiveness.
We may repent afterwards too, but will it compare with this night's taubah?
We have a habit of noting down our anniversaries and our birthdays but the devotee notes down the day that the friend of Allah took his hand! This is the day we should commemorate!
The students shouldn't be worried about other dates, but they should do tazkiya and analysis, how many promises they have fulfilled which they made with their shaikhs.
How much have we implemented our beloved shaykh's teachings. We should analyse if we've always obeyed our beloved shaikh's instructions.
Allah ta'ala gives order to Hadhrat jibraeel عليه السلام on this night to gather a group of Angels who are under his control. This group have the green flag in their hands. And from asr time they descend to the earth and they go to the roof of the ka'bah and they put the flag down. Tonight when the Angel's will come, Hadhrat jibraeel عليه السلام will see the ka'bah empty and the Angels will shriek out and cry, "oh Ummah you have wasted this opportunity! You've shunned Allah's favour and Allah has taken the ka'bah from you."
Tonight is a strange night of laylatul QADR. The mataaf is all empty with only a few people sitting a few metres apart.
Never in history have we seen that on the night of QADR there is no men to be seen except for a few who will be seen reciting Quran. How sad that on the night of power it will be such a strange scene.
Hadhrat Jibraeel عليه السلام will spread out his 600 wings and his wings will cover from east to west, this is a special thing which he will do.
These angels will go to every muslim household to see what they are doing.
A very long time ago, with the fadhl of Allah's mercy and my beloved Hadhrath sahib's blessings, one Ramadan I was present in masjid nabawai shareef and I was in i'tikaf, possibly. It was laylatul Qadr and in the morning a person came to me and he presented to me his vision/experience and till today in the book of my heart, his conversation has been inscribed because his experience was the whole hadith I presented to you.
I had to deliver this to the public and strengthen their certainty so they can do taubah.
He said, i witnessed that when we were finished from Taraweeh, the dunya disappeared from my sight and I became like a sphere and I saw the dunya from far. I could see the world with my eyes and I could see there was a unique assembly of Angel's descending with unique vast wings on the earth. They were going to the kabah shareef with flags. They went to the focal point of the world and struck the flags down onto the ka'bah. After doing this these Angel's seperated and they disappeared.
I then see an angel entering every believers house. They enter a house and I see that they come out and they don't go into some homes. They have something with them to inscribe. They mark an approval sign (perhaps a green sign) upon some homes and they mark a disapproval sign on other homes and this is similar to the hadith.
(Mentioned below)
When the Angels visit the homes and when they see that people are praying Salah and worshipping and especially doing dhikr, the angels go and shake the hands of those people and these people will feel the effects of this handshake and when this person does dua, this group of angels does dua with them and concludes, 'Ameen' with them.
And in those homes that have wasteful things, for example, engaging in wrong and evil, those who dont pray, those who have immodest women, he sees that the Angels don't even enter these homes but they mark a cross upon those homes and say these people are destined for Jahannam.
He then says when the morning arrived the group of Angels ascended and when it was close to fajr the Angel's were called back to the heavens. This is the hadith that mentions that Hadhrat jibraeel عليه السلام descends with the group of angels on this night.
The angels then ask Hadhrat jibraeel عليه السلام, what do you say about the Ummah of Muhammad صلي الله عليه وسلم ? And Hadhrat jibareel عليه السلام says that Allah has sent His mercy and has forgiven the Ummah, apart from a few.
These are the immodest people, the alcoholic, those who disboeby Allah, those who cut off (severe) ties and those who have malice and hatred in their hearts.
Look at the state of the world today with this virus. Can anyone time this illness? Is there any limit or time period? Can someone say when this illness will be eliminated? In certain places the outbreak ceases and in other places, it spreads.
This is a pandemic and if Allah wills, it will be removed.
It may be removed when we sinful dirty people make a sincere repentance to Allah and our homes become purified and enlightened. If this taubah is accepted, we won't even know about Corona anymore!The conditions will become worse if we don't repent!
Today we dont have madinah shareef or the ka'bah but we have laylatul Qadr and repentance.
May Allah swt grant us the taufeeq to repent tonight.
So from here we understand that to attain something you need to make the effort. You need to work hard and strive not just stating empty and hollow words. My beloved Hadhrat Sheikh said, 'if you make effort then the mercy will come, if you're not determined then the mercy won't come.'
Allah has instructed us to work hard so the more a person tries, then according to that Allah will give him mercy from His Qurb.
وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
(سورة العنكبوت، الآيه ٦٩)
As for those who strive hard in Us (Our Cause), We will surely guide them to Our Paths. And verily, Allah is with the Muhsinun (good doers)."
(Al-'Ankabut, verse 69)
It's your duty to strive. Allah mentions سُبُلَنَا - "paths" that lead to us (Allah) but today, we are scared of trying.
Our objective is to please Allah and this can't be done by doing nothing.
Allah has created the methods that we need to implement to attain these great rewards.
لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ
(سورة الـقدر، الآيه ٣)
"The night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months." (Al-Qadr, verse 3)
The virtues of this night are immense!
If someone worships in this night, it is equal to worshipping for 87 years.
So should we not strive to attain these blessings tonight?
Allah could've specified the night for us but this was Allahs wisdom in keeping it concealed.
To become a Muttaqi we must strive and work hard. Allah has placed an example of striving in this night whereby the specific night of laylatul Qadr is unknown to us and we are made to seek it and strive. Similarly, in Ramadan we must strive to become a Muttaqi through fasting.
Fasting is when one obeys Allah's orders and does not leave them. Allah has given us the guidance that to succeed in this night, Allah has prescribed for us a little bit of effort.
Initially Allah ta'ala informed the Prophet ﷺ regarding the specific night of QADR. But the Prophet ﷺ stated, "when I was informed about the night, I desired to go and tell the sahabah which night it was. When I came out i saw 2 men quarelling amongst each other."
Due to the wretchedness of this arguing, it was erased from Nabi ﷺ 's memory.
These disputes and differences will destroy the whole Ummah and we see this today.
There are various groups in one masjid. In the saff's (rows) of one masjid there are various splits. We stand in lines and there is no unity.
Laylatul Qadr was hidden due to arguing so if arguing occurs within the home then imagine the Ill effects and the curses that descend when there are arguments in the home.
Despite forgetting the night, Nabi ﷺ gave us a clue and told us to seek out the odd nights of the last Asharah. Nabi ﷺ also gave us a hint and said, "perhaps there's khair in me not knowing."
Whatever Nabi ﷺ says, it holds goodness. So Nabi ﷺ says there is khair in it.
This means there will be goodness in all of these odd nights split across them.
Allah will distribute His mercy across all the odd nights instead of just one!
2 things:
1) To attain something we need to work hard
2) The effects of Nabi ﷺ's word are that in every odd night, there will be blessing.
So we must strive and make effort in all of these odd nights. There are 5 odd nights so due to their blessings, Allah will give these great blessings in all the nights, hence, we will get more than 5000 months reward. If we consider this, then each night we must take benefit from.
Initially we were given 50 Salah but today we don't even pray 5 so how were we going to pray 50?
Although we pray 5 salaah today the reward is equivalent to the 50 salah that was originally prescribed for us.
Alhamdulillah the Ummah has been given many blessings and greatness due to Nabi ﷺ.
What will be accepted on this night?
We should engage in a deed which is dear and most beloved to Allah. This is when Allah will love us.
So what should we do on these blessed nights?
Hadhrat Aishah رضي الله عنها asked the Prophet ﷺ that if I were to witness the night of power, what dua shall i make to Allah?
He said,
اللهم إنك عفوٌ كريمٌ تُحب العفو فأعفُ عنّا
Allah loves it when one is covered in sins head to toe, and he is trembling due to the fear of jahannam and his sins. He is afraid of Allah's anger and the punishment of the afterlife. All he sees is the darkness of his sins. And this is the situation of every human in reality. Our thoughts are not pure nor are our limbs. Our homes are not pure, nothing about us is pure!
Our hearts have dots and scars of Allah's disobedience so we have become impure. What worship may then benefit such a heart and what light can be radiated from that heart.
So we must purify our hearts from scars of lying, haram, evil, bad thinking and greed of the world.
What light will be present in our worship if our hearts have stains of sins.
Even if you perform the greatest deeds, but you sin, light cannot come into your deeds. There is a veil of sin between you and Allah. We need to do taubah first and uplift this veil.
Just like If our clothes are stained with urine and if we don't wash that stain, we cannot pray to Allah in those soiled clothes. So if the heart contains the dots of sin, that creates a barrier between a servant and His lord. When that barrier is removed then the relationship between Allah and his servant suddenly opens up, unravels all the deeds and they become illuminated and that person starts to recieve the splendour of Allah.
Instead, we leave that veil of sin hanging and we keep running after deeds and worship. So our first duty is to seek forgiveness from Allah. Why?
(Allah says)
1) When a person comes to me for repentance, I love him to beg me for forgiveness.
2) I love forgiving.