To Return Our Trust

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is from a swuhbah by Habib ‘Umar ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hafizh (q.s.) from the Mawlid at Darul Mustafa on the night of 28^th Sha’ban 1432, the 28^th July 2011. 

When someone turns themselves in full obedience to Allah (s.w.t.), realising he has turned himself to the One Who Created the heavens and the earth, Allah (s.w.t.) then Makes His Creation subservient to him.  Even the angels of the highest gatherings compete to be with such a person and to pray behind him.  This is the reward of those that respond to His Call and make their only desire calling to Him and serving Him. 

سُوۡرَةُ الاٴنعَام

إِنِّى وَجَّهۡتُ وَجۡهِىَ لِلَّذِى فَطَرَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ حَنِيفً۬ا‌ۖ وَمَآ أَنَا۟ مِنَ ٱلۡمُشۡرِكِينَ (٧٩) 

“For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, toward Him Who Created the Heavens and the Earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah.” (Surah al-An’am:79) 

To us was Sent the one that Allah (s.w.t.) Chose out of all His Creation, Muhammad (s.a.w.), the son of Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-Muththalib (r.a.).  By Him, our faces were ennobled through prostration.  We ask that just as these faces were ennobled through prostration that these hearts likewise be ennobled, a prostration from which they do not arise.  When our heart prostrates to Him, we know how to use what we have been Given to attain that to which He has Called us.  Then we will have returned everything with which we have been Entrusted to its Rightful Owner.  Allah (s.w.t.) Commands us to render back our trusts to those to whom they are due. 

سُوۡرَةُ النِّسَاء

۞ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأۡمُرُكُمۡ أَن تُؤَدُّواْ ٱلۡأَمَـٰنَـٰتِ إِلَىٰٓ أَهۡلِهَا ... (٥٨) 

Allah does Command you to render back your trusts to those to whom they are due ... (Surah an-Nisa’:58) 

Everything we have been given is a trust, so use it to obey Allah (s.w.t.), spread good and give life to the sunnah.  Our hearing is a trust.  Who does it belong to?  Who gave it to us?  Which factory produced it?  We must use our hearing to listen intently to His Qur’an, especially in Ramadhan.  How much do we recite in the day and night?  How much did we recite last Ramadhan?  How much do we wish to recite?  We must arrange our time, so we increase even if only gradually, so that we ascend and be amongst those whose fear drove them to travel by night so that they reached their destination, as in the hadits, “The one who fears travels by night and the one who travels by night reaches his destination.  Allah’s (s.w.t.) Merchandise is truly precious – it is Paradise.” 

We can see before us, in the material world, people expending all their efforts for that which amounts to nothing.  Had these efforts been expended for the sake of Allah (s.w.t.) attempting to purchase His Merchandise, the results would be amazing.  But the one who is imprisoned in the physical realm remains asleep until the veil is Lifted, at which point it is of no benefit.  Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib (k.w.) spoke the truth when he said, and he had direct understanding of these concepts, “People are asleep, and then they die they wake up.”  Whoever causes his lower self to die by purifying it and making it subservient to the Order of Allah (s.w.t.) has awoken.  If someone only wakes up when their spirit leaves their body, their awakening is of no benefit. 

سُوۡرَةُ الاٴنعَام

أَوَمَن كَانَ مَيۡتً۬ا فَأَحۡيَيۡنَـٰهُ وَجَعَلۡنَا لَهُ ۥ نُورً۬ا يَمۡشِى بِهِۦ فِى ٱلنَّاسِ كَمَن مَّثَلُهُ ۥ فِى ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ لَيۡسَ بِخَارِجٍ۬ مِّنۡہَا‌ۚ ... (١٢٢) 

Can he who was dead to whom We Gave life, and a Light whereby he can walk amongst men, be like him who is in the depths of darkness, from which he can never come out? … (Surah al-An’am:122) 

It is one message, one voice, which all the prophets from Adam (a.s.) onwards spoke with.  They all said that all good is in our submission to the Order of Allah (s.w.t.) and not being deluded by ephemeral worldly things.  They all said this, by the Order of Allah (s.w.t.).  All those that rejected this message lost everything.  Will the disbelievers in our time be any different?  No, there is only one outcome: this is the pattern which Allah (s.w.t.) has Decreed.  Success is only Granted to those who follow the Prophet (s.w.t.). 

People have been deceived by the packaging which is the adornment of this worldly life.  They thought they would find some short-term happiness in ways of living that are in contravention of Allah (s.w.t.) and His Law.  They found however that true felicity in this life before the next is in submission to the possessor of this life and the next.  We are Called as the prophets were Called before us: 

سُوۡرَةُ لقمَان

يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُواْ رَبَّكُمۡ وَٱخۡشَوۡاْ يَوۡمً۬ا لَّا يَجۡزِى وَالِدٌ عَن وَلَدِهِۦ وَلَا مَوۡلُودٌ هُوَ جَازٍ عَن وَالِدِهِۦ شَيۡـًٔا‌ۚ إِنَّ وَعۡدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقٌّ۬‌ۖ فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّڪُمُ ٱلۡحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنۡيَا وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّڪُم بِٱللَّهِ ٱلۡغَرُورُ (٣٣) 

O mankind!  Do your duty to your Lord and fear (the coming of) a Day when no father can avail aught for his son, nor a son, avail aught for his father.  Verily, the Promise of Allah is true: let not then this present life deceive you, nor let the chief deceiver deceive you about Allah. (Surah Luqman:33) 

The Promise of Allah (s.w.t.) is true, so we are callers to the truth.  Allah (s.w.t.) has Ennobled us by Allowing you to call Him.  If we were employed to promote a company or a party, we would be paid amounts which may be great in our sight, but in reality, are contemptible.  If the Lord of the Throne uses us to call to Him, however, nothing which He Gives is contemptible.  All His Gifts are magnificent. 

We say to the people, instead of being deluded, we bring light to them.  If they obey it, they will succeed and will be saved.  What they call us to will not cause us to abandon our duty.  If we respond to their call, we will be destroyed, and they will be destroyed and if they respond to our call, we will succeed, and they will succeed.  All of us on the face of the earth are aboard one ship.  This was the metaphor the Greatest Guide (s.a.w.) used.  It is enough to know that he was Sent to us and our parents and everyone in our time and those before and after us until the Day of Judgement.  His strength lies in the One Who Says: 

سُوۡرَةُ الطُّور

... فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعۡيُنِنَا‌ۖ ... (٤٨) 

… for verily you are in Our Eyes ... (Surah ath-Thur:48) 

Through this secret, we convey the call that he conveyed.  He was the one who would strive in Ramadhan more than at any other time.  Do we not want to be like him?  We must expend our efforts – we are able to do many things.  We look at the people of this earth expending their efforts in buying and selling and production and look at the things that they have achieved.  As for the one who expends his efforts in the service of this religion and this Prophet (s.a.w.), we give him good tidings.  This is what the companions did.  We look at how Shaykh Abu Sa’id ibn Abu al-Hasan Yasar al-Baswri (q.s.) described them.  He said, “Muhammad (s.a.w.) washed their hearts of attachment to this worthless life.  I met seventy of the people of Badr, and they had more abstinence towards that which is permissible than you have towards that which is prohibited.”  Why was this?  Because they drank from the cup of Muhammad (s.a.w.).  We swear by the One Who Sent him, however much they drank, it did not decrease anything from that cup.  His cup is still overflowing, and we can still drink from it, even in the year 1432 AH, from the same cup from which the companions drunk.  If the cups of Paradise do not become empty, do we think that the cup of Muhammad (s.a.w.), for whose sake Paradise was Created, will be emptied?  Allah (s.w.t.) Gave us to drink from this cup so we attach ourselves to him.  We hear calls from our lower self, from this worldly life to attach ourselves to other than him, but we say to you: attach ourselves to him!  Allah (s.w.t.) and His Messenger and all the pious people call us to do this, to shun attachments to ephemeral things. 

The spirits of those companions that Shaykh Hasan al-Baswri (q.s.) described longed to meet the Beloved (s.a.w.) every night.  If they mentioned him in a gathering, their tears would flow.  He said of them: “This worldly life was lower in their sight than the earth under your sandals.”  They knew the value of things.  That is why when they wanted their needs Answered they threw themselves on his grave.  That is why they washed his cloak and drank the water in which it was washed it, seeking healing.  We hear a lot about health and development, but we find the worst diseases emanating from the so-called developed countries.  This is so we know that behind Creation is the Creator. 

One of the early scholars said that the one who seeks this worldly life kills himself, but if his desire for it increases, he kills other people because he obstructs the path to Allah (s.w.t.).  There are so many people that have been killed before us.  If only their bodies had been killed and their hearts remained alive with the light of knowledge of Allah (s.w.t.), but their hearts have been killed.  May Allah (s.w.t.) Give life to our hearts and the hearts of the believers. 

The world continues to tell us that its Lord is Mighty and Powerful and that all good is in holding on to His Rope and connecting to the Seal of His prophets.  The opportunities in front of us are numerous.  We are to be true to Allah (s.w.t.) and represent the rest of the ummah, those who remember and those who have forgotten, those seeking Allah (s.w.t.) and those who have turned away, the ones who obey and those who disobey; represent them when we turn to Allah (s.w.t.) and abase yourselves before Him.  Allah (s.w.t.) will Show us Mercy and show them Mercy. 

Whatever our differences, we are all aboard one ship.  Whatever harm others do, we cannot allow them to pierce the hull of that ship.  If we allow them to do that, we will all perish.  As in the hadits, a group of people on board a ship wanted to split open the hull in order to drink instead of getting water from those on deck.  The Prophet (s.a.w.) said that if those above take the hands of those below and stop them from doing this, they will all be safe, but if they leave them, they will all be destroyed.  We have to stop them with all our strength. 

We have immense strength, but many of us follow our lower desires and then say, “They got the better of me.”  Did anyone impose them?  With strong resolve, we can overcome them, beginning tonight.  These things are from the allies of the Devil, and Allah (s.w.t.) Says: 

سُوۡرَةُ النِّسَاء

ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ يُقَـٰتِلُونَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُقَـٰتِلُونَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱلطَّـٰغُوتِ فَقَـٰتِلُوٓاْ أَوۡلِيَآءَ ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنِ‌ۖ إِنَّ كَيۡدَ ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا (٧٦) 

Those who believe fight in the Cause of Allah and those who reject faith fight in the cause of evil: so, fight you against the friends, of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan. (Surah an-Nisa’:76) 

If we reject the scheming of the Devil with strong resolve, we find we have the Support of the Best of Planners.  Everything we see in the world teaches us lessons and sends us messages.  It teaches us where we should stand and what we should do and intend and what should be in our hearts.  We worship Allah (s.w.t.) by showing mercy to others and by purifying our hearts.  We make the turbulence which we witness a cause of strengthening our faith and certainty. 

Ramadhan and all the goodness it contains has approached.  We ask Allah (s.w.t.) that it brings rectification of the ummah and relief to those suffering.  We welcome Ramadhan with high aspirations.  What do we intend in praying tarawih, in reciting the Qur’an, in being there for the opening takbir behind the imam at every prayer throughout Ramadhan?  What do we intend in praying dhuha’?  What do we intend in praying witr?  We make our intentions before Ramadhan enters because Allah (s.w.t.) Records our actions before we enter.  We ask for the greatest and highest portion of Ramadhan.  O Allah, do not Deprive of us of Your Good because of our evil.  Make us keys that open the doors to goodness, not means for the spread of evil.  Had You not wanted us to attain what we wish from Your Bounty, You would not have Inspired us to ask.  On the first night of Ramadhan, You Promised Your Beloved, Muhammad (s.a.w.) that You would Gaze upon his ummah so give us, our families, our neighbours and all the Muslims a great portion of that Gaze.  Amin.