This was delivered by Habīb Muhammad ‘Abdur Rahmān as-Saqqāf in Bradford on 1st December 2012.
In the Name of Allāh, Most Merciful and Compassionate
All praise to Allāh, Lord of the Worlds. And salutations and greetings upon our Master Muhammad and upon his family and companions.
I intend to study and teach, take and give a reminder, take and give benefit, take and give advantage, to encourage the holding fast to the book of Allah and the way of his messenger, and calling to guidance and directing towards good hoping for the countenance of Allah and His pleasure, proximity and reward, transcendent is He.
All praise be to Allāh for the prayers that will cause His gifts to shower upon us and by which the hearts can be prepared for His gaze so that they can turn towards His Exaltedness. We thank Him for His immense gifts that have come to us in succession because of His Beloved Mustafa. Blessings and peace be upon him and his family and those who follow them in excellence.
Allāh brought us together from morning to day until the evening. We reminded each other of things pertaining to our relationship to Allāh. We learnt certain rulings from the laws of Allāh, Glory be to Him. And the truth Glory be to Him during all of this was watching what was going on in your hearts. You have to know that there is an immense wisdom as to why these gatherings are organised. These wisdoms are also coupled with the intentions of people who are truthful to Allāh and these intentions benefit people in this world and the next. There are networks and connections that are due to that, that whoever connects to them will be connected back to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. In this gathering there are lifelines that are hanging above you. Whoever grabs on and holds onto them will be lifted by them to the higher worlds. So they are tied to a link, the lowest from it which is down here and the highest is with the Prophet of Allah ﷺ. Whoever connects to that link is like a bead on a string of prayer beads. If you move one bead, all the beads begin to revolve together. If you shake the highest bead, the bead at the bottom of the bead will also move. So all the movements that are going on here are connected by the links of the chain of movement all the way back to the Messenger of Allāh. And in the higher worlds and angelic worlds and spiritual worlds there are movements going on because of our movements. There are angels that hover over your heads here and there are rows and rows of angels all the way to the first heaven. You can’t see them because your intellects can’t cope with that. But they are here, they are present. These circles revolve from above you all the way to the heavens like a column of light, an immense column of light. All because you’re gathered for the sake of Allāh, Glory be to Him. And what we want to come out of this is that we leave these gatherings and we are among the hosts of Allāh.
We carry this faith of Allāh and we make a firm resolve to carry out our covenant with Allāh. The purpose of these gatherings isn’t that we just say that we were in itikaf (retreat) and went back home but rather it is that you take it upon yourself to carry this trust. And this trust is transferred from breast to breast. You see these phones and these other technological gadgets in your hand; do you see how you can transfer images and information from one gadget to another? It’s because all these devices are connected to the internet and because they’re all connected in this immense way they can transfer information from one to the other. Do you think these devices are greater than the spirits of Allāh’s righteous servants? The hearts of the righteous people, their hearts are connected to the network of Allāh’s people and it’s connected to the highest angelic circle but some devices are not connected. Some devices are switched off so they need to be put back on and some just need to seek a password key. To do this, let your hearts gather together with us. Don’t think the one speaking in front of you is just another human being there in front you but rather connect to an immense great lineage and an immense bloodline that connects you all the way back to the Prophet of Allāh ﷺ. This is deputisation on behalf of the master of those who call to Allāh. Were it not for his concern, were it not for his solicitude towards you, I would not be here with you. Were it not for the fire in his heart, we would never have believed. We didn’t leave our families, loved ones and companions except that we wanted his light to reach you and to pass onto you the lifelines of connecting to him so the ones that can become felicitous through you can become felicitous. So those of you, who can become qualified, become qualified to carry this trust. I see hearts among the men and the women who have began to become prepared and there are lights flickering in them and I see lights racing to reach them. They will not leave this itikaf (retreat) except their hearts have connected to this lineage and I wish it was all of us, that none of us leave here except for that they are qualified to be deputies of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ.
You have heard the words of Shaykh Haroon, we are not concerned about numbers and so and so and so and so. Our concern is for the whole community. That man who is standing there now in the bar holding his glass of beverage. We are concerned about him and we wish for him that the light of guidance reaches his heart and if our spirits were held ransom we would have given them. And also the women who are taking on jobs that are not befitting a woman and the man who is sitting their plotting for the downfall of the Muslim and who fights our faith likewise we wish for them to be guided.
We are working hard to ensure His felicity. If the cost of His felicity was for us to give our spirit, for us to sacrifice our souls, it would be nothing because to see that happen would bring joy to the Master of Creation because that brings joy to the heart of our Beloved and the joy of my beloved, Muhammad ﷺ, for me is worth this world and the next. And I would love that at that moment that the Prophet in his barzakh is shown that so and so was guided because of me. That he become joyous because of it and his joy cannot be valued in my eye and is priceless. With his joy I forget the palaces of paradise and the ladies of Paradise and I forget the rivers of honey, water and milk. And in his joy I forget the palaces of the highest place in Paradise because his love is beloved to me than any other. It is more beloved to me than this lower world to the higher world because he is the beloved of my Lord. Do you know what it means to be the beloved of the Lord? Allāh did not love anyone like He loved him nor did He bring anyone as close to His presence as He brought him. You will see wonders on the Day of Judgement when he prostrates Himself before Allāh. Allāh will say to him, “My Beloved, Muhammad raise your head. Do not prolong your prostration. Ask what you wish of me. Let those you wish enter the garden. Intercede for whom you wish. Show compassion for those you want to show compassion to. Your door is open, nothing is barred for you.” At that point, you lose your minds. At that point creation will be left in madness. Creation will see things that were not in their minds and in their ability to conceive. They’ll see great compassion. They’ll see an expansive heart which spills out with gifts. He doesn’t forget anyone from his community. He’ll remember the ones that were rebellious. He’ll remember those that fornicate. He’ll remember the murderers. He’ll remember those who were far away. And he’ll remember even those who had an atom’s weight of faith in their hearts. He’ll continue to prostrate to Allāh, one prostration after the other. And the angels will be left bewildered. And the Prophets will be bewildered. What is this heart? What is this compassion? What is this rank before the Divine Presence? And all of this and what is hidden is even greater. And what’s between him and Allāh, no-one else knows. And what people will see of his station in Paradise is nothing compared to what his Lord gives him as election. He is the Beloved of the Great Lord.
So imagine the felicity of the one who is close to him. Look at the joy of the one who enters the garden shoulder-to-shoulder with him. Look at the joy of the delegations that go to his basin to drink from his blessed hands. If all of creation were to gather together and to tell you the joy and light in the heart of the one who drinks from his hand, they would not be able to describe it because it is the palm of Muhammad ﷺ. A palm about which Allāh said, “Those who swear their oath of allegiance to you, swear their oath of allegiance to Allāh. The hand of Allāh is over their hand. Whoever puts his hand in your hand then My hand is over his hand, O Muhammad.” A palm which the garden will not be open except with this palm.
Imam Suyuti said that the Prophet said, “I will go to the garden and I will knock the rings that are the door-knockers of Paradise. They will say who? And I will say Muhammad.”
This name has a resonance that is immense. This name causes the angels of Allāh to go into ecstasy. They are joyous on the Prophet’s day. They will say we will command the door to open before you. Before your hand touches the door of Paradise it is not going to be worth turning. Before you walk into it, it’ll be barred from all of creation. When they open it and he walks in the garden will expand and the leaves of its trees will begin to clap. The sights will be more splendid and its bright-eyed maidens will become more beautiful and the mansions of Paradise, their doors will begin to open and its scent will become more intense. What of joy for Muhammad!
How will you be with him when you go there? This is an immense joy. This is an immense gift. This night we will save for that night. Are you prepared to be with Muhammad ﷺ in his company? Are you ardent about being near to him? If you’re honest in that, it’ll show in you from now. Turn yourself earnestly and follow him. Don’t let anyone come before him in works. Don’t put anything in this world before his sunnah. We want to make his faith to come to life in our hearts.
We want his character to come back to life in his community. How many Non-Muslims are stopped from entering Islam because of the bad character of Muslims? How many people if they were to see noble character they would come to Islam? We want to be sound doors through which creation can come through to Allāh’s presence. Take your souls and lay them out on the floor and discipline them. Lower yourself in front of all of Allāh’s creatures. Smile to them. Speak to them about Allāh. Be callers to Allāh.
I don’t want to see you again except that many people have been guided at your hands. I want to come again and I want to see this place full of people who have been guided at your hands. Make intense resolutions, firm resolve in your hearts right now. Make intentions right now that you’re going to be of service to the faith of Muhammad ﷺ. This is a blessed hour and maybe it won’t be repeated again because the winds of Lordly Grace are coming to us right now. Every heart that is prepared right now will feel a wind come and take it. This is an opportunity to cleanse your hearts. Be prepared. Turn your gaze towards Allāh. He’s now looking at your hearts. Now ask that He chooses you and we turn to Him, imploring to Him to take you by the hand. And our hope in Allāh is that none of you will walk out of this place except as callers. That each of you will become ranks and the hosts of Allāh. Let’s be honest. Men. Women. This is a door that’s open for you this night and you remember what I’ve said to you. A door that has been opened and I hope that Allāh lets you all go through it so in this night we can become felicitous. I see eyes that are going to become anointed with seeing the Prophet and they are being prepared by being cleansed. Be prepared by being purified so they can behold the face of Muhammad ﷺ. How felicitous are those eyes? May Allāh ennoble us and you with seeing him and let our hope and place in this gathering be to him a pleasure. Let us be sincere in serving his Sacred Law and faith. Emulate him in his call, earnestly and sincerely.
O Allāh allow us to realise! O Allāh allow us to realise! O Allāh allow us to realise! You say that You are at your slave’s opinion of You let Him think of You what he wishes. My opinion is that each one of these people will have their names inscribed in the book of Your servants and we do not know of You my Lord that you would turn back on the hope of the one who hopes in You or You turn away the prayer of the one who calls You. We ask You Allāh to let rays of light come out of this gathering tonight to this whole country so that thousands of your servants can be guided by that light so that they can come out of the circle of denial to the circle of faith and from the circle of immorality to the circle of righteousness.
O Lord let that be realised! O Lord ennoble us like that! O Lord gather me to them in the abode of ennoblement! O Lord let me see their faces in the seat of earnestness! O Lord gather me to them at the basin of your beloved, Muhammad! O Lord let us remember this gathering when we sit on the couches of paradise! O Most Generous of the Generous! O Most Compassionate of the Compassionate! I ask Allāh to bless those who are the facilitators of this gathering and whoever served this gathering and everyone presented in it. I ask You to give them blessing and total acceptance. And our brothers from Sa-adah, let them be felicitous and everyone doing good work in this country let them be felicitous, O my Lord! And everyone doing good work around the globe let them be felicitous, O Lord! O Most Noble of the Noble! O Most Merciful of the Merciful!
May Allāh make us felicitous in serving the faith of Muhammad, endless peace and blessings be upon him.
Allāhumma Āmīn
Any mistakes, errors or misinterpretations of words are from me. Please correct me when you spot any mistakes.
Taken from: http://zaranargis.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/serving-others-habib-muhammad-as-saqqaf/
