Fath ar-Rabbani – 33rd Discourse
This discourse is very rich in meaning. IN this discourse there are four key points to learn. Each is very meaningful.
Number one: to see Allah (swt) through the eyes of your heart. Through your feelings and through your love for Him. Through your ‘istiqamah‘. Whenever you work hard and walk on the straight path, that means you have seen Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) through your heart. Because you believe He is watching you. And He is monitoring you all the time. And the meaning of ‘He is watching you.’ is different from person to person. Sayiddinah Ali (ra) once was asked: ‘Have you seen Allah (swt)?’ he replied: ‘ I would never worship a God who I have never seen.’. But the meaning is what? He has seen Him through his eyes or the eyes of his heart.
Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) wants us to be the special ummah. When you read Al Qur’an, Surat Al Baqarah:
ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ [٢:٢]
From this there is no doubt that Al Qur’an is guidance for Al Muttaqeen – the God-fearing. Not Al Mu’minin – the believers but Al Muttaqeen – the God-fearing.
Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has said: “Ya ayuhaladinna amanu itaqwa’Allah”. The highest level – at taqwa. And when Rasulullah (Allah bless him and give him peace) was asked about at-taqwa he said: “At-taqwa haa mina, at-taqwa haa mina, at-taqwa haa mina!” (At-taqwa is hear) And he pointed at his heart.
I can act as a believer: when you see me I am praying; when you are talking to me I say I am fasting; when you call me I say I am reading Al Qur’an. That is appearances (zahir). But Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) is not watching our external appearance. He needs our hearts. Our pure hearts.
And Rasulullah (All bless him and give him peace) has said:
There is a lump of flesh in the body which, if it is pure, the whole body is pure but if it is corrupted the whole body is corrupted. This piece of flesh is the heart.
But Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) wants us to purify our heart because this is how we are going to see Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He).
Consider this example:
You invite someone to your house. Depending upon who it is, you will prepare your house in different ways. If he is a friend you make basic preparations. If it is your boss, a bit more elaborate. If it is a Government Minister, even more elaborate. Or the Prime Minister, or the King.. the degree of preparations depends upon the person you invite. The quality and quantity of food, the setting, other arrangements. You are going to make the place of reception special.
So. How about the place where you are going to receive Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, which is your heart.
Al Imam Al Ghazali (ra), in one of his books, said:
When you wish to go out to meet people or they invite you to go, you will take great pains in your dressing to wear your best clothes all properly cleaned and pressed. Because you want them to see you in your best light. But you are never concerned about your heart which is how you will meet Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He).
So when your heart is away from Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, it means you cannot see anything. Sayiddinah Ali (ra) has said: I won’t worship a God I cannot see. He was totally dependent upon, and had feelings (love) only for Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He).
Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, said:
Yu hibbuhum wa yuhibbum
We taste this love for Allah and experience it when we have something to ask of Him, Almighty and Glorious is He. But not all of the time. When Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, asks us to do something to show our love for Him, we are lazy but when we want something we are not. Consider this well.
The blessed and wise have said that whoever experiences this nearness to Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) in this life, whoever has ‘seen’ Allah through the eyes of his heart, will most surely see Allah with eyes of his head in the afterlife.
When Rasulullah (saw) was asked: “Ya Rasulullah, are we going to see Allah?” He replied:
Do you see the moon in the middle of the month? Have you seen the sun in the middle of the day? Like this you are going to see Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He
And when ahlu jennah are gathered after Judgment one Hadith Qudsi relates:
Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, will ask the ahlu jennah: “Are you happy? Are you please, ya ahlu jennah?” And they will reply: “Ya Allah, How could we not be happy and pleased when You have granted us a place in your heaven. And you have lead us across the dangerous crossing (siratul mustaqeem) and all the suffering. How could we not be happy?!” And He (Almighty and Glorious is He) will say: “I am going to give you more than that!” And they will say: “Ya Allah! What more could there be?” The He (Almighty and Glorious is He) will lift the veil, the curtain, between Him and them! And they will be able to see Him in all of His magnificent glory. And in that moment they will forget all of the rest of heaven in their rapture in His presence.
Insha’Allah we pray that Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) will allow us a place among the blessed on that day.
If you experience this love of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) here while you are alive, you will surely see Him in the afterlife. But if you waste this opportunity, if you miss this chance, if you are heedless, if you depend on materialistic world more than the Creator of this world, Almighty and Glorious is He, if you cling to you life more than you seek the Creator of this life, if your reliance upon Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has any weakness, the Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) will not come to your mind. You will be preoccupied with something else. When you are sick, or in need, you appeal to Allah Almighty and Glorious is He but when everything is smooth, you forget Him (Almighty and Glorious is He). When He provides you wealth you forget to help others.
And worse than that. For your small problems you complain about Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) to his creatures. But this person we depend upon is a creature like us. Allah has created him. He is a slave of Allah. And we place our dependence on him rather than upon Allah Almighty and Glorious is He.
There is a reason for everything that Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) does. For each hardship there is a reason. For each blessing there is a reason. Allah Almighty and Glorious is He has said that everything has been created for a reason.
When you are heedless you are never concerned about being a good servant to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He. And yet in every prayer you recite
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ [١:٥]
When you say this, which means ‘You do we worship and upon You do we depend’, but do you mean it? He is your master and you are His servant. You have to be obedient. You must understand that whatever he has said is the truth and you must obey that. What He has said in the Holy Qur’an about the unseen that we mentioned earlier – who are they?
الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ [٢:٣]
Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer and spend out of what We have provided for them.
So, we are the ummah who believe in the unseen. And that is higher than believing in something that you can see. When you believe in the Unseen: belive He is there; believe there is a Heaven; believe in Hell; this is belief in the Unseen.
That was the difficulty in the mission of Rasulullah (saw) when he cam to Makka, to Allah’s house, our Qibla, the first house to have been built in the world and by His instruction. Inside it and all around it there were 360 statues. When Rasulullah (saw) came he had to clear all of these things and get them to believe in the Unseen.
How did he accomplish this? He has cleaned all of these things from their hearts first until they found nothing inside their hearts except Allah Almighty and Glorious is He.
There is something that is considered to be the greatest punishment of mankind in this world and that is Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) allows you to be heedless. There are those who are heedless but Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) opens the door of remembrance to them allows them to come back to Him. But the time comes, and may Allah (Almighty and Glorious is he) protect us from this, he will first seal their hearts and their eyes. Everything. They will not hear and they will not see. They will be lost. He will make this world their god and they will become slaves of the world. May Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) protect us from such heedlessness.
In the Qur’an He has said:
وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَأَنسَاهُمْ أَنفُسَهُمْ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ [٥٩:١٩]
And be ye not like those who forgot Allah; and He made them forget their own souls! Such are the rebellious transgressors!
He will cause them to forget two things: he will forget Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) and he will forget himself. They will do anything for personal pleasure with concern for the decree of Allah Almighty and Glorious is He. He will be like to one who abuses drugs and forgets everything. He is never concerned about halal and haram.
Allah Almighty and Glorious is He has decreed halal and haram for the goodness of humanity. Nobody will say that liquor is halal. Even though the non-Muslim will say it is permitted but will immediately put restrictions on its’ use. Nobody below the age of 18 years. Don’t drink too much. Don’t drink and drive. It is not good for you. And this is worldwide. At the end of the day everybody knows what is halal and haram.
So the one who has forgot himself, and Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), his loss cannot be recovered. Allah Almighty and Glorious is He has said there is a sickness in their hearts and only Allah can heal this sickness for them. But Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) will open the door of heedlessness for them and that open door allows Shaitan to enter very easily. This is the meaning of ‘wiswas’.
Sayiddinah Abdullah inb Abbas (ra) said
By Allah, for me to pray two raka’a is better than this world and everything that is in it.
My friends, when you think in this way, what do you think the reward will be? Nobody knows. Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) is the one who is going to provide the reward.
Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has said:
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلَالَةَ بِالْهُدَىٰ فَمَا رَبِحَت تِّجَارَتُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا مُهْتَدِينَ [٢:١٦]
These are they who have bartered Guidance for error: But their traffic is profitless, and they have lost true direction,
These people have lost. And they have lost something very important. Because Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) is so close to mankind. He has said “I am closer to humanity than the jugular vein in his neck.”. But He will him to forget this also. He is with him everywhere (Almighty and Glorious is He). He knows everything. And He will allow him to fter that. He will for that Allah Almighty and Glorious is He is watching his every action. He will not be concerned about his heart and will forget the Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) is always close. He will forget where he is going. And when will he finally remember? The last minute before he leaves this life, that minute he will know. Subhanallah! Allah Almighty and Glorious is He is not going to wait until the afterlife to remind him. He is going to show him in this life before he leaves but there will be no opportunity for repentance for him. When he is in the final rigours of death, Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) will show him in that minute the truth. And he will say: “Ya Allah give me a chance to return one day to make amends.”. But what can you do in one day. You have had many chances to amend but you were heedless.
