Month of Mawlid by Hjh Rukiye Sultan

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Sohbah on 09 September 2023 by Hjh Rukiye Sultan

Bismillahi Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim
Tariqatuna as-sohba wal khayru fil jam’iyya
Madad Ya Sayyidi Ya Rasul Allah ﷺ, wa Mashayikhina Sheikh Nazim Adil Al-Haqqaniق, Sheikh Muhammad Ar-Rabbaniق

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuhu

Mubarak the month of Mawlid and the day of Mawlid, the birthday of Prophet ﷺ. Mubarak.

MashaAllah, it is a very blessed month, blessed days. Every day brings more and more reward, Alhamdulillah.

Thank you to all the people who attended here and celebrated in their houses. May Allah ﷻ bless them and reward them more and more. Alhamdulillah, Allah ﷻ has blessed us to be from the Muslims and from the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ.

Also, we are lucky and blessed that Allah ﷻ granted us a sheikh who shows us the way and teaches us the love of Prophet ﷺ. Now is a time when so many bad ideas are going around, attacking Prophet ﷺ, attacking his ﷺ noble personality. Astaghfirullah.

We must learn how to stand firm and strengthen our love for Prophet ﷺ. Alhamdulillah, our sheikhs are guiding us in this, otherwise so many people would be lost. We pray that Allah ﷻ returns many more to the right path and places in their hearts the love of Prophet ﷺ and the love of Allah ﷻ.

It is important to teach our children to read the Seerah of the Prophet ﷺ. I always repeat that. Seerah means “the Life of Prophet ﷺ”. There are many versions of it, but please read the older versions, not the new ones.

They may look nice and claim, “we corrected it, we did this and that…” but so many different ideas go in, and it becomes simple but dry, not touching the heart anymore.

Try to find the old versions for your children. And for yourself too. Read them during your dhikr gatherings, even in ladies’ gatherings.

Mothers with children should have gatherings and make it a habit to read at least one chapter or one story of Prophet ﷺ. How he ﷺ was a perfect and unique person, how his ﷺ behaviour was. How Allah ﷻ created him as Rahmatu lil-Alamin, how he ﷺ was merciful to every kind of creature.

There are many stories about animals. Prophet ﷺ would talk to them, listen to their questions, even solve their problems.

For example, one time Prophet ﷺ was going to a war (ghazwah), and one chicken came and cried in front of him ﷺ. He ﷺ was upset with the Sahaba and asked what they had done to this animal.

They said they had found its nest and taken the eggs, but Alhamdulillah, they had not cooked them yet. She had been sitting on them and came to complain. Prophet ﷺ said they made her heart burn for her babies and told them to return the eggs.

This is one of the many simple, beautiful things Prophet ﷺ did.

A camel once complained about its owner, and Prophet ﷺ told the owner that he had to take care of the animal, because the camel said, “He is not giving me water, not feeding me.”

So many nice, small stories that touch the heart. SubhanAllah.

When the Prophet ﷺ came to Madina, he ﷺ would deliver the Jumu‘ah Khutbah standing, with his back leaning against the trunk of a palm tree. Later, they made a minbar (a small pulpit with two or three steps) for him ﷺ to stand on.

While he ﷺ was giving the khutbah, they suddenly heard loud crying. It was the dry trunk of the palm tree, crying because the Prophet ﷺ had left it and moved to the steps. Then the Prophet ﷺ came to it, hugged it, and patted it gently, saying, “You are with me.”

For humans, it was even more special. SubhanAllah. Wa mā arsalnāka illā Rahmatan lil-‘Ālamīn – “We sent you ﷺ only as a Mercy for all Creation.” So it is very good to read the Seerah for children.

Mawlānā Shaykh Nāzimق and Mawlānā Shaykh Mehmetق always gave lectures and speak about the stories of the Prophet ﷺ. You can also add these stories to your gatherings. It is good for everyone.

Read the Mawlid in your language. We have it in Turkish as well. The Prophet ﷺ is happy with us when we recite Salawāt Sharīf upon him ﷺ and hold gatherings for his ﷺ sake.

There is a ḥadīth sharīf encouraging us to send abundant Salawāt upon him ﷺ, because the first thing you will be asked in the grave is whether you used to send Salawāt for him ﷺ. So we must make it a habit, at least in our gatherings.

In Damascus, in the mosque of Shaykh Muhiyuddīn Ibn al-‘Arabīق, there was a man who used to sit in front of the maqām. When asked to read Mawlid, he would read a one-page Mawlid standing there for five minutes, ending with “Sallu ‘alayhi wa sallimu taslīmā”.

So even if you have just one page of Mawlid, read it and offer it as a gift to the Prophet ﷺ in your gathering.

Mawlānā Shaykh Nāzimق used to say, “Read Mawlid, read Mawlid.” Alhamdulillah, we have made it a regular habit and read it three times in our dergah. We read it in Turkish.

If you cannot read the Mawlid, then read Qaṣīdat al-Burdah. The story of this poem is that Imām Būsīrīر had a stroke and was left unable to move. One night, he was sending Salawāt upon the Prophet ﷺ continuously, crying and begging for the Prophet’s ﷺ help.

In his dream, he saw the Prophet ﷺ come to him and cover him with his burdah (cloak), saying, “Get up, now you are okay.”

When he woke up, he could still feel the cloak on his body, and so he wrote this poem, a special qasīdah in honour of the Prophet ﷺ. SubhanAllah, there are one or two lines from it which, if recited over a sick person, will bring shifā’ bi idhnillah (healing by the permission of Allah ﷻ).

SubhanAllah, if you are not able to manage reading the Mawlid, then read the Burdah. Hajjah Anneق used to read the Burdah very often. I always intend to read it. Every time someone comes, I read a few lines with them, and that is all.

InshaAllah, innamā al-a‘māl bi n-niyyāt – actions are by intentions. So this is for today.

I wish you happiness, a long life, and that we witness many, many returns of the Prophet’s ﷺ birthday. May we continue to hold many blessed celebrations. InshaAllah, next time with Sayyidunā Mahdī (AS).

Wa min Allahi at-taufiq.

Al-Fatiha.

• Hjh Rukiye Sultan

09 September 2023/ 09 Safar 1445 AH

To learn more about the upcoming Day of Mawlid, please click here.

Google Drive to various versions of Mawlid, Seerah, Qasida & Salawat can be found here.