Don’t be cruel

Destoor ya Sayyidi madad

A’uzubillah himinsh shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillahir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

Live with Mercy

We are spiritually sick people, so our Shaykh is constantly sending us medication, and these Suhbahs are medicine to cure our souls and to put our feet on the Siraat. Alhamdulillah. Allah teaches us to begin everything with Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, ‘In The Name of Allah, The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful.’ There’s a hadith where Rasulullah (saw) said, “Any action that begins without Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, is cut off from the Mercy of Allah?,” that means, it is cut off from the Help and Blessings of Allah.?So we are asked to begin everything with Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim and you have heard many times Maulana has talked about the secrets of Basmalah, it was the first of all written words by the Pen, and it was written for 700 years, it contains many, many secrets. The whole of creation was created with Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim and we are asked to begin every action with Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. So if we look at it, there is no surprise that our Ramadhan begins with mercy in the beginning:

Allahummarhamna Yaa Arhamar Rahimin

– it is from Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Allah is starting our Ramadhan with Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. When Allah had created the universe and the whole of the creation, Allah said, “Bear witness that I have forbidden evil upon Myself and I have forbidden evil (cruelty/oppression) amongst the creation.”? And so Allah is saying to us: “O My creation, remember that I created you in My Mercy, so you must begin your whole life and everything that you do, with mercy, and you must have mercy upon yourselves.”?

Today if you look around the whole of this world, there is chaos, there is war, there is murder, there is unrest, there are so many areas of conflict and pain in this world today because this mercy has been lost. And therefore, the beginning of real faith in your life, the beginning of the journey of becoming Allah’s servant begins by being merciful to yourselves. Allah is saying to you: “O My creation, have mercy, have pity upon yourself. Pity yourself because you are not here without reason or purpose. You will come back to Me, you will have to go through a reckoning of everything that you have done.”?

Spiritual Cleanliness

So let us look at a very simple example. If you are walking on the street and you are thirsty, you won’t just drink water from the nearby drain or toilet. That is common sense, you won’t do something like that. Similarly, if you find a dead cat on the street, you obviously won’t eat it. You’ll say, “This is a carcass, I don’t want it.” Or “This is drain water, I don’t want it.”? Look at how we are merciful to ourselves, how we pity ourselves. We know that if we drink something contaminated, we’ll be in the toilet, we’ll be in great pain, we’ll be suffering, we’ll fall ill. If you have been attending Maulana’s Suhbahs, Maulana has been talking a lot about the toilet in the past days. Why? There is a secret in even something as simple as the toilet. It is to show you: “O people, whatever you produce there (in the toilet), is what you have drunk and eaten. Not what other people have drunk and eaten. What you eat, and what you drink, you will produce there.”? You are being taught, that you are responsible for your own actions. Whatever you eat will never go out through somebody else. And whatever they eat, will never go out through you. When you are in there (in the toilet), in that private little cubicle of yours, whatever comes out, no matter how it smells, how it looks – everything is your own doing. What you ate, what you drank, is what you produced. So in life, what you eat and what you drink is very important. You won’t go to the drain, like I said and take one cup of water and drink it. But Maulana is saying: “O people, have you no pity upon yourselves? You are taking spiritual food and drink that is dirty. You are drinking drain water spiritually. You are taking the water from the dirty areas, the sewerage, and you are drinking it.”? Every deed that you do, whether it’s good or bad, is a source of spiritual food for your soul.

Spiritual Darkness – Sin

Rasulullah (saw) gave us a very beautiful example, I think we’ve all read this hadith before. In some narrations, this hadith mention two women, in other narrations, it mentions two men, who were fasting and then they had severe stomach pain. Rasulullah (saw) asked them to vomit out the meat that was in their stomachs… they said, “Ya Rasulallah, we never ate any meat,”? yet they vomited out so much meat. I think you’ve all heard the story before, right?

Rasulullah said: “You ate the meat of your brother by backbiting about him.”? Allah said in the Qur’an, “Are you going to eat the meat of your dead brother?”? That means, Rasulullah (saw) is teaching all of us, deeds of any sort, good or bad, is a spiritual food. Backbiting is a form of spiritually dirty food that you are eating. Lying is spiritually dirty food that you are eating. Speaking ill of somebody is also spiritually dirty food, looking at people with jealousy is also spiritually dirty food, having hatred to people is also spiritually dirty food – all of which you are taking into yourself. Every sinful act is a spiritually dirty food, that you are consuming. And just as you are so careful never to drink contaminted or dirty water from the drain or from the toilet, we must have pity upon ourselves, our spiritual selves, by not taking spiritually dirty food into ourselves (by committing sins), because although you don’t see all this dirt in this dunya, the spiritual food that you are taking, you will see only when you enter your grave. That grave is a tiny cubicle, it is your little toilet, in which you are going to unload everything that you have eaten of spiritual food (whether good or bad), for the whole of the 50, 60 years that you have been alive – you’re going to unload that whole lot there. And you’re going to remain with it till Judgement Day! You can’t even stay in your own toilet for one day, even though it’s a nice toilet. What more if you are asked to stay there for 5 years, you would die! But you are going to stay in that grave, for 50 years, 100 years, perhaps longer, with the stench of your own spiritual production. What you have taken in this life, you’re going to produce it there and see it there. So you must have pity upon yourself.

Stop oppressing yourself

Our Shaykh is teaching us: O people, Allah is Most Merciful upon you, Allah is merciful to His creation but so many humans do not have mercy upon themselves, they are cruel (zalim/oppressors) to themselves. Look what happened when Nabi Adam (as) ate of that forbidden fruit. When he ate that fruit, he made zalim (cruelty), for the opposite of mercy is oppression (cruelty). He cried unto his Lord, “Rabbana zalamna anfusana… Ya Allah, I have done evil, I have wronged myself.”? Look at the example of Sayyidina Yunus (as), he recited. “LaailahaillaAnta Subhanaka innikuntu minaz zalimin,” he repented after he wronged himself. Every sin is an act of oppression upon yourselves, so do not keep oppressing yourselves!

Oh people, the first part of Ramadhan comes to you as a blessing, as a mercy from Allah. Allah is teaching us to be merciful among ourselves, to have pity for one other. You can study so many things, you can boast so much knowledge, but if you are still loading yourselves spiritually with evil deeds, you will regret so much when you return to Allah. If you had breakfast, you go to the toilet maybe 3 hours later, right? Imagine if you didn’t go to the toilet for 60 years, 70 years, can you imagine how much filth is being contained in your soul, all that sewage, that evil – backbiting, lying, stabbing your friends in the back, saying something cutting to somebody, sarcasm, plotting, having evil thoughts, anger, jealousy, the list is endless, 800 evil deeds – and we are doing and doing and doing and we are swimming, Maulana says, swimming in the Sewage Channels. When Maulana speaks about humans being in the Sewage channels, he’s not joking, he’s revealing the truth: “O people, I’m seeing what you are not seeing.”?

You take your deeds to your graves

You are simply bathing with fragrant soap and putting on perfume to make your body smell good, but how come when the mayat (dead body) is there, it smells so bad? Because when that Soul comes out, it’s carrying the 60 years of sewage / dirtiness. What you ‘eat’ spiritually, is what your Soul takes with it to the grave, it is what you ‘produce’ to be with you in the grave. The worst thing is that when you are sitting in that grave with all that dirtiness around yourselves, you’ll feel regret in your heart. You’ll say: “Oh Allah, I did this to myself, no one sent these things here. What is here is what I did to myself.”? And the regret is useless. The regret just brings you more pain and suffering, for eternity.

The secret of the three parts of Ramadhan

As you know, we’re all asked to seek His Mercy in the first ten days of Ramadhan by reading ‘Allahummarhamna Ya ArhamarRahimin.’

In the middle ten days, we ask for the Forgiveness of Allah, ‘Allahummaghfirli dzunubi Ya ArhamarRahimin,’ and in the last 10 days, Allah bestows freedom from the fire of Hell.

Hence there are three parts of Ramadhan. These three parts are a great Mercy from Allah because we are all standing in Sewage Channels of filth, we are covered in dirtiness, there is filth in our eyes, our ears, our mouths and other organs, because we are doing sins. We have created so many sins, we are now immersed in sins, immersed in dirtiness. So how do you save such a sinful person, drowning in najasa (filth/dirtiness)?

The first part of Ramadhan

The first step, is to come out of that Sewage Channel! Leave that ocean of sin – we must stop our sinful acts immediately. Fasting is actually a shield, Rasulullah says, a shield against sin. Fasting means that you must fast your eyes – don’t look at people with jealousy and envy. Fast your ears – don’t listen to backbiting. Fast your mouth – don’t backbite, don’t lie. Fast your mind – don’t think about dunya and don’t have evil thoughts towards people. Fast your hands – don’t take what is not your right. Fast your feet – don’t go to places that are not blessed by Allah. Fast your stomach – don’t overeat, don’t eat what is haram. Fast your heart – from loving something other than Allah. Fasting means throwing away the dirtiness, throwing away the evil, throwing away sinful ways, walking away from that Ocean of evil that you are standing in. Fasting means to leave that Sewage channel behind.

In the first 10 days of Ramadhan, by practising the real fasting, you are leaving that Ocean of sewage, you are coming out of that filth. That’s the first step. That is why the first ten days are a Mercy from Allah, Allah pulls you out of that Ocean of dirtiness if you are truly fasting. But now, although you are out of that Ocean, you are still covered in filth. Would you invite such a person (covered in filth) into your house? Can such a dirty one enter His presence? Obviously not.

The second part of Ramadhan

So one must begin washing himself, cleansing himself, purifying himself of the filth. Say : Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Laailahailla anta subhanaka inni kuntu minaz zalimin, Rabbana zalamna anfusana wa in lam taghfirlana watarhamna lanakunanna minalkhaasirin, Allahumma anta rabbi laailahailla anta khalaqtani… say istighfar, Oh Allah, Allah, Allah, Oh Merciful One, Oh Kind One, Oh Forgiving One, forgive my sins, cleanse me! Repent, regret and be remorseful! Ask Allah to clean and clean and clean you, of everything that you have done in the past, clean everything from your soul, erase all the dirtiness from you. That is why the middle ten days of Ramadhan are for seeking forgiveness.

The third part of Ramadhan

Now that you are out of that Sewage channels of filth, and you have begun cleansing yourselves, you are now on your way to becoming a clean person. So what is the third stage? Don’t go back into that dirty Sewage Channels, ever again! Stay where you are, remain where you are, remain istiqamah (constant / consistent) in the good deeds that you are doing, remain on the Siraat. If you do so, it means that you will never fall off the Siraat, it means that you are free from the fire of Hell. That is why the last ten days of Ramadhan brings freedom from the fire of Hell. So Ramadhan is a great blessing from Allah. It helps us get out of all the filth that we have been doing for so many years. Practise the real fasting, be merciful to yourself. Don’t be zalim (cruel) to yourself because Allah forbids cruelty/oppression. Pity yourself, take yourself out of that Ocean of sin (by sincere and genuine fasting), seek His Forgiveness day and night and then remain on this straight path till the end of your life. Those are the three parts of Ramadhan.

Don’t go back to that Ocean of Sin ever again.

Don’t return to your sinful ways after Ramadhan. Say to yourself: “No, don’t go back in, I’ve come out. I’ve worked so hard to come out of that filth, I’ve cleansed myself by the blessing of Ramadhan, by the blessings of Allah, now I don’t want to go back there again. Ya Allah, help me remain in this good place.”? That’s why Allah said in the Qur’an, “Blessed are those who clean/purify themselves.”?

So cleanse your whole self in this Ramadhan because the doors of forgiveness are wide open, Allah’s Mercy is very, very wide. He’s giving you the strength not to look at evil, He is giving you the strength not to backbite, He is giving you the strength not to lie. So take that help, that madad that’s coming from Allah through your shaykh and leave everything that is sinful. Because the weight/magnitude of what you are doing, you’ll never realize it until you go back to Allah. Rasulullah (saw) said in a hadith, “If you could only see what is happening in the grave, the flesh on your body would fall off in fear.”? So don’t wait until we are there in the grave and when we see all the filth that surrounds us, only then do we feel the regret and only then do we start to pity ourselves. At that moment, it’s too late. Your pity/mercy for yourself must begin NOW!

Danger of the Tongue

Let me just share one last, very short story about, what Imam Ghazali taught about the danger of the tongue. We will just take one example, because we cannot go through all the different sins in a single session. If you know, in the olden days, it was very hard to perform hajj. People would actually have to take a ship for 6 months, sometimes they walk for 2 years with their camels. It was a very difficult endeavour, unlike today, people get into an aeroplane, and 8 hours later, they’re in Jeddah already. In the olden days, you will say goodbye to your grandfather and not see him for 6 months, 1 year, 2 years – some will go by land, others will go by ship.

In the time of Imam Ghazali, a lady performed hajj twice. Imagine the effort she had put in to do so. Each time she performed the hajj, she bought a small decorative plate, and so she placed both plates in her cupboard. One day, Imam Ghazali was visiting this woman and he looked at the cupboard, and he said, “MasyaAllah, those are very nice plates.”? And the lady said, “Oh, that first first plate was from my first hajj, and that second one was from my second hajj.”? Imam Ghazali said: “When she said that, with the intention of showing off to me that she has performed hajj twice, the whole of the rewards of her hajj went up in smoke, everything was gone.”?

Pity yourself

So oh people, have pity on yourselves. Be careful of what you say and do. You can destroy all that you have worked for, with just one cruel word. And you can hurl yourself into the deepest pit of hell, with just one unacceptable deed. So look after yourself and be careful, never be heedless of what you are saying and doing, do not be oppressors to yourselves. Remember, the Mercy of Allah is very close to you, but if you don’t have pity on yourselves and those around you, there’s nothing that you will receive from that Mercy. So pity yourself, have mercy upon yourself, and that is the beginning of all goodness. You must start with yourself. Have pity and mercy upon yourselves. Be good people, and prepare for that day which you will see all that you have done spiritually and ask Allah that He cleanses you of everything that you will not like to see in your grave. Let your grave be, like what Rasulullah (saw) said, let it be one of the gardens of paradise (Ameen), not one of the pits of hell (Na’uzubillahi minzalik).

So let us make do’a tonight, on this very blessed night, in this very blessed gathering.

“Ya Allah, we ask from You on this blessed night, by Your Kindness and by Your Mercy Oh Allah, to accept us, we are filthy, dirty ones, Ya Allah. We admit our sins and our dirtiness. We are constantly falling back into that Ocean of sin Oh Allah. Help us Ya Allah, for we are the ummat of Nabi Muhammad (saw), we are the ummat of the akhirul zaman, the weakest of the weak, Ya Allah. So help us Ya Allah, cleanse us, give us strength in Your Mercy, and by Your Mercy Ya Allah, put us among those who are permanently in Your Protection, who are forever blessed by You, Ya Allah. And bestow upon us the help and forgiveness and guidance to stay away from evil, Ya Allah. Help us Ya Allah, we come to you as weak ones, as sinful ones, not as ones who are full of good deeds Ya Allah. Allahuakbar. We have nothing to present to you Ya Allah, except our sins. So we seek from you Ya Allah, in this merciful and blessed month Ya Allah, forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, Ya Allah Ya Arhamar Rahimin. Allahumma rabbana aatina fiddunya hasanah wa fil aakhirati hasanatan waqina ‘azabannar. Ya Arhamar Rahimin. Allahummarhamna Ya Arhamar Rahimin. Allahummarhamna Ya Arhamar Rahimin. Allahummarhamna Ya Arhamar Rahimin. Wa Anta Khairur Rahimin. Wa Anta Khairur Rahimin. Wa Anta Khairur Rahimin. Wasallahu ‘ala sayyidina Muhammadin wa’ala alihi wasahbihi ajma’in. Subhana Rabbika Rabbilizzati ‘amma yasifun wassalamun ‘alalmursalin walhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alamin.”?

Al-Fatihah.

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