The Chishti Nizami Habibi Soofie

Sufi Order

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Kwa Zulu Natal

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Love the Source of Grace

Allah Y asks His Belovede to tell us, in the Holy Qur'aan in the 3^rd Sura, al-i-Imraan: Verse31:

Some Muslims hesitate to declare the Holy Prophet Muhammad e as the greatest of all the Prophets because the Holy Qur’aan says in the 2^nd Sura, al-Baqara in verse 285:

But the Holy Qur’aan says in the 2^nd Sura, al-Baqara in verse 253:

If we do not concentrate on the first verse in disregard of the other, then it becomes clear that the Holy Qur’aan is making a distinction between the nature of the prophets and their stature. The first verse is telling us that in their function as Messenger there is no distinction between the various prophets and our Holy Prophet Muhammad e for they were all sent by the same true God, they were all serving one and the same plan of God and they were all human beings and part of a single brotherhood of righteous servants of God. The second verse is telling us that in stature or rank some prophets were superior to others.

Let the Muslims therefore have not the slightest hesitation in declaring the Prophet Muhammad to be the greatest of all prophets and thus the noblest of men and the crown and pride of the whole of God's creation.

Some Muslims try to diminish love and admiration for the Holy Prophet Muhammad e in other Muslims and in themselves on the basis that “too much" expression of love and admiration for the Holy Prophet Muhammad e can lead to his deification and therefore to shirk.

One is attached to the moon by the moonlight and to the sun by the sunbeams. The moonlight cannot be separated from the moon and neither can the sunbeams be separated from the sun. What are Muslims being taught? They have lost the source of blessing and they feel that they can be blessed by Allah Y.  The source of grace as established by Allah Y is only the Holy Prophet Muhammad e. Association with the Holy Prophet Muhammad e is association with Allah Y. The closer your bond with him the closer you are to Allah Y. When Allah Y  wanted Hazrath Umar for Islam he took him to the Court of the Holy Prophet Muhammad e  . One look of grace changed his aggressive stance into one of Faith (imaan) and extreme love for Rasulullah e. He approached the Beloved of Allah e with the intent to kill (khooni) but the Holy Prophet e opened the gates of blessing  presented him to Allah Y  as his companion (Sahaabi).

The Holy Prophet e is asked by AllahY to proclaim, ‘if you want to bring the love of AllahY close to you then get close to me.’ In effect, Allah Y is asking His Beloved to proclaim that I am the source of loving Allah Y and being loved by Allah Y. Let me present an example for your understanding. E.g. stand in front of a mirror, look at your reflection and then call your reflection. It should obey your order for it is your reflection. Try to entice it, threaten it or shout at it to come to you. All these methods will not work.  The only method to get close to the reflection is to approach the mirror and get close to it. You take one step and you will find the reflection taking a step. You walk slowly it will walk slowly. You go running it will come running. If one embraces the mirror the reflection will embrace one. If you cannot call your own reflection then how will you summon AllahY? So, it was difficult to attain Allah’sY love. AllahY is generous (karam) to us he kept The Mirror That Reflects AllahY (aina-e-haqnuma) beneath the Green Dome of Madinah, the Illuminated. If you want to see The Radiations of AllahY (tajalliat)[1] then this is ‘The Mirror’ (aina-e-haqnuma). As you approach this mirror the love of AllahY will approach you. You take one step and you will find the Love of AllahY taking a step towards you. You walk slowly the love of AllahY will walk slowly towards you. You go running it will come running to you. If you stand in the shade of the Green Dome of Madinah then know that you have come into the embrace of the love of AllahY. So the ‘Person Of The Holy Prophete’ (zaat e Mustafa) has been made the ‘Main Center’ (markaz) and every aspirant who desires Allah’sY love is being asked to journey towards him, keep his eye on him and the beauty is that following (itteba) is impossible if one does not keep ones gaze fixed on the Holy Prophet e. ‘The Holy Prophet e’ has been made the ‘ Main Center ’ (markaz) of interaction with Allah Y.

AllahY loves us and orders us to love the Holy Prophet Muhammad e  and AllahY above all else. So, love for the Holy Prophet e is in reality, love for AllahY.

 Therefore the Holy Prophet e has stated:

Love for the Holy Prophet e is in reality, love for AllahY. Obedience to the Holy Prophet e is in reality obedience to AllahY. Allegiance to the Holy Prophet e is in reality, allegiance to AllahY. The calling of the Holy Prophet e is the calling of AllahY.  The remembrance of the Holy Prophet e is in actuality the remembrance of AllahY. To see the Holy Prophet e is to see AllahY.

Become Possessors Of Love (ahle ishq), as long as you don’t possess love for the Holy Prophet e you possess naught.

Listen to a hadith of the Holy Prophet e:

In a similar Hadith that is not in the collection of Bukhari, but in other collections wherein the word wa nafsihi is included gives the added meaning that:

In the light of these Qur’aanic verses and Ahadith a poet Hafeez Jalanderi has presented these two verses of poetry:

The prayers (salaah), fasting and apparent virtuous deeds are all worthless if one does not possess perfect love for the Holy Prophet e in ones heart. Ponder! The Holy Prophet e instructs mankind to love him, whether they are kings, ministers, judges, doctors, lawyers or laymen or else they don’t fulfill the condition of attaining true belief. In a sense he is saying that in this universe, he is the unique creation that possesses all the different styles and types of beauty (husn-o-jamaal). No other has this unique status. The Holy Prophet e is externally and internally beautiful. He has every aspect of beauty in excess. Those that don’t love him, from their actions concede that they love no aspect of beauty and have no taste or awe (zauq)

No other followers of the Holy Prophet e can reach the status of His Companions (Sahaaba). How did they achieve this excellence in status that no non-companion can surpass? If one answers that due to their knowledge (ilm) then I can name great scholars (ulama) that surpassed the Sahaaba in intellectual pursuit, e.g. Imam e Aazam (Imam Abu Hanifa t), Imam Shafei t, Imam Maalik t. If one says that the Sahaaba attained their status due to Religious Striving (riyaazat o mujaheda) then I can name great non-Sahaaba that surpassed the Sahaaba in Religious Striving (riyaazat o mujaheda). E.g. research how Ghaws al-Azam (Shaykh Abd Al-Qaadir Jilaani t) and Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti t strove in the path of Allah Y Y. So, how did they achieve this excellence in status that no non-companion can surpass? The answer is that they were close to the Holy Prophete and entertained excessive love for him in their hearts. The ones that are close possess a unique status. To further clarify what I am saying I present an example. Light a candle here and you stand there against the wall and notice your shadow, thrown due to the light of the candle, will be equal your body size. Slowly walk towards the candle and you will see your shadow grow, as you get closer to the light. If you step away from the light your shadow will get smaller. If you come very close then the entire room will have your shadow. So the Sahaaba were blessed to have physical connection (nisbah) with the Holy Prophet Muhammad e means of contact with Allah Y. Therefore  Allah Y  says,

'A Jewish boy would serve the Holy Prophet Muhammad e , according to commentators of this  hadith[2] he used to keep wudhu water for the Holy Prophet e   and carryhis blessed shoes. The boy fell sick, so the Holy Prophet Muhammad e noticing his absence summoned the Sahaaba and they went to visit him.  They found his father sitting by his head, and the Messenger of Allah e said to him: 'proclaim that there is no true god worthy of being worshipped except Allah Y  alone' and I will intercede on your behalf on account of it on the Day of Resurrection.' The boy looked at his father, and the father said: 'Obey Abul-Qasim!' so the boy uttered: 'There is no true god worthy of being worshipped except Allah Y  alone, and Muhammad  is the last Messenger.' The Messenger of Allah e said: All praise is due to Allah, Who saved him from the Fire of Hell.' I say that the barakah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad e’s blessed sandal (nalain Shareef) that was held close to his heart many times had prepared his heart to embrace the faith. The greatest amongst the Friends of Allah t (aulia) and Imaam’s (aimma) cannot come near the status of this boy, this young sahaaba.

So the conclusion is if you are lovers of AllahY then make itteba of the Holy Prophet e. Let me tell you about the incident of two saintly persons in passing. The Holy Qur'aan command obedience of the Holy Prophet e but these two prominent personalities refused to obey the commands of the Holy Prophet e .One of them is Hazrath Abu Bakr Siddique t and the other Hazrath Ali Murtaza t.

v   Hazrath Ali Murtaza: t It was the occasion of the drafting of the Treaty Of Hudaibiya and Hazrath Ali t wrote Muhammad, Messenger of Allah e. Suhail ibn Amr objected saying we refuse to accept Muhammad e as Messenger of God, so you should write, Muhammade the son of Abdullah. The Holy Prophet e instructed Hazrath Alit to erase the words ‘Messenger of Allah’ (Rasulullah) from the document. Hazrath Ali t refused, saying we did not come here to erase the name of the Messenger of Allah e but to uphold it. So the Holy Prophet e picked up the paper and himself erased the words Messenger of Allah and himself wrote Son of Abdullah[3]. This was the first act recorded in Seerah that the Holy Prophet e wrote, so that in future we may refute those who say he could not write.

v   Hazrath Abu Bakr Siddique t: The Holy Prophet e went to some region to teach the Muslims (islaah), it was the time of prayer, ‘the call to prayer’ (azaan) and ‘summon to commence’ (iqaamah) was pronounced and Hazrath Abu Bakr Siddique t went forward and led the prayer. Whilst salaah was in progress, the Holy Prophet e arrived. As the Holy Prophet e arrived ‘those engaged in prayer’ (musallees) clapped their hands to attract the attention of Hazrath Abu Bakr Siddiquet who began dragging his feet backwards to join the musallees. The Holy Prophet e asked him to remain in his position as Imam but he refused. The Holy Prophet e took the position of Imam and completed the prayer.

After the prayer the Holy Prophet e asked Abu Bakr Siddiquet, ‘Why did you not continue as Imam when I summoned you to?’ Abu Bakr Siddique t e replied, ‘It does not befit the son of Abu Qahaafa to stand ahead of the Holy Prophete.’[4] O Abu Bakr Siddiquet! O Ali Murtazat! Is it not mentioned in the Holy Qur'aan that you should obey the Holy Prophet e! Did you not see what happened to Iblis? They reply, ‘Iblis refused being arrogant ant wanting to be greater than the messenger. Our refusal was based on reverence wanting to remain slaves of the Messenger. His refusal made him rejected (mardood) whilst our refusal has made us beloved (mahboob). Do you see even refusal based on love is blessed? One more point that comes to mind is that when the Holy Prophete came to join the salaah did his thought not occur in the minds of the musallees? They clapped? If any Scholar comes to you whilst praying and you clap will your salaah be valid? Think! That was the age that the thought of the Holy Prophete whilst praying fragranced the prayer so how could it not be valid. Remember also that incident when the Holy Prophet eis prostrate (sajda) and the infant Imam Hassan and Hussain tclimb onto his back. The Holy Prophete prolonged his prostration. At this point we ask as to why did the Holy Prophete go into prostration and why is he prolonging the prostration? The answer being that he prostrated for the sake of AllahY and prolonged the prostration for Imam Hussaint. So did not the thought of Imam Hussaint and love for him occur to the Holy Prophete whilst he was in prayer? Was his prayer valid or not? If the prayer of the grandfather is not invalidated when he thinks of his grandson then how can the prayer of a follower not be accepted when he thinks of his Prophet e? 

Regarding the Qur’aanic proclamation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad e in the 18^th Sura, al-Kahf, verse 110:

Which is wrongly translated as:

‘I am a man like you’

And should be translated as

‘I am human as you are human (NOT like you)’

I can challenge you that no messenger ever told his followers that he was like him or her. They never said it to their followers but to the disbelievers. Also, no believer ever told their Prophet that they are equal to him. In Tafsir ibn Kathir it is stated that this statement was addressed to the unbelievers (kaafirs). When Allah Y said, kul,  He said, ‘O My Belovede! Tell these unbelievers (kaafirs).’ I am not going into details due to divergence from the main theme. No believer was told ‘I am human like you.’ So those who say that the Holy Prophete told us, then you should now the condition of his belief. The Holy Prophet e was asked to tell this to those out of the fold and had not yet understood the Prophets status. Here there is a beautiful point also, since AllahY asked the Holy Prophete to proclaim, ‘I am human being’ and did not want to even utter this being the Creator. Think! What did those within the fold say about the Holy Prophet e?

Hazrath Abu Bakr Siddique t said, ‘My eyes have never seen anyone as beautiful as you.’ Hazrath Abu Hurraira t said, ‘the sun is envious of your brilliance.’ Hazrath Ali t said, "There has not been seen anyone as handsome before or after". Hazrath Hassan bin Thabit t said, AllahY has preserved you from every defect; [Khuliqta mubarra am min kulle aibin] AllahY has created you as if your creation was directed by you [Ka annaqa tadkuliqtaka ma ta shaau]. [O Messenger of Allahe!] My eyes have not seen anyone as beautiful as you [Wa ahsana min kalamtara qattu ainie] How could it when, none like you has been born [Wa ajmala min kalamtali din nisau]. Hazrath Jibraeel u said, ‘I have gone to every corner of the universe, in all my time and in the entire universe I have seen none like you.’ Ponder upon what has been said by those who saw the Holy Prophet e and think how foolish these statements of these latter day fools are.

Therefore I say differentiate and distinguish yourselves. I often go to different venues to lecture and am told I would be met at the airport as soon as I land. When I arrive at my destination I found no known person had met me. With the use of a mobile phone I usually contct the person deputed to meet me but had never met me before. He explains to me that me my host had explained to him how to identify me by my way of dress. I had not worn my kurta and usual hat, thus why the person did not recognize me. My host had explained to him my recognition features. Friends, in the grave you will be asked to recognize the Beloved Holy Prophet e therefore build your recognition of him from here.  I realized that my ceremonial dress , style of hat and turban and carrying a shawl in my hand is neither compulsory (farz) nor near compulsory (waajib) but I have made it my recognition feature and when I abondened it I had to endure distress. So understand the masla.  The functions of Meelad, Ur's, Fateha, Khatam visiting mazaars or the food of kitchra, halwa etc is neither compulsory (farz) nor near compulsory (waajib) but has become the identification of the Sunni Muslims of this age so I have to profess my identification so that I am not wrongfully identified.

Love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad e  is a measure of one's imaan (faith and inner conviction) and our imaan is completed and perfected only when our love for the Prophet exceeds our love for everything else in this world, including our own lives. The Holy Qur’aan says in the 33^rd Sura, al-Ahzaab in verse 6:

This defines a believer who believes the Holy Prophet Muhammad e is the cause of his creation, hence closer than his self and emotionally one whom he holds closer to himself in his heart, the seat of love.

The best of believers, the sahaba ,did show such love for the Prophet, especially the noblest of them. Hazrath Ali, speaking on behalf of all the community of sahaba in Madinah, is reported to have said:

There are two dimensions to loving the Holy Prophet e:

1.    Muhabbat or loving the Holy Prophet e

2.    Ahabbiat or loving the Holy Prophet e above all else.

To love the Holy Prophet e is Faith (Iman) but to love him above everything else is the ‘perfection of faith’ (kamal--e-iman).

[Love of the Holy Prophet e is not measured by following his teachings. Although to follow his teachings is a requisite for one that loves him. Iman does not allow an iota of kufr or doubt regarding his person in ones heart despite the length of ones beard, size of ones kurta and turban. To love him most is perfection of Iman. ]

So Faith (Iman) is loving the Holy Prophet e but I fear that people might start whispering that there is a verse in the Holy Qur’aan that says in the 2^nd Sura, al-Baqarah: Verse 165

On the basis of this Verse one may say that love for Allah is Iman whilst I am saying to love the Holy Prophet e is Faith (Iman).

There are two answers to this:

1.    ACCUSATORY ANSWER (Ilzami Jawaab)

Why do people want to separate the love of Allah and his Beloved e? The love, respect and obedience of the Holy Prophet e is the love, respect and obedience of Allah and the love, respect and obedience of Allah is the love, respect and obedience of Holy Prophet e The remembrance of Rasulallah e is the remembrance of Allah.

[The Holy Qur'aan says in 4 ^Th. Sura, al-Nisaa: Verse 150]

Some propagators of the ‘Unity of Allah’ (Tauhid) want to turn ‘unity’ into ‘duplicity’. Some people suffer from double vision. I give you a parable to explain what influence this condition [the Wahabbi belief system] has had on the Ummat:

          A teacher asked his student who suffered from double vision to go to the next room and bring him his mirror. The student went into the room and returned enquiring as to which mirror the teacher wanted since, due to his condition, he saw two mirrors. The teacher seized the opportunity to teach his student a lesson. He gave his student a stone and asked him to break one mirror and bring the other. The student threw the stone on one mirror and he saw that both broke. He worriedly reported this to the teacher who said, 'O immature student, you have double-vision, the mirror is one and you viewed it as two' 

          O Immature Community of Holy Prophet e, the mirror of love for the Holy Prophet e and the mirror of love for Allah is one. If you view it as two and try to break one, the other will automatically break. O you who look towards the Green Dome of Madinah cock-eyed. Those who fear the remembrance of Rasulallah e as ‘associating partners with Allah (shirk) and verbally throw stones at the Green Dome (gumbade khazra) of Madinah the Illuminated, remember, on the day of Judgment (Qiyaamah) you will ask, 'how did the Covering of the Kaaba burn when we were stoning the Green Dome (gumbade khazra) of Madinah?' What gives you the permission to separate one into two?

          2. LEGALISTICALLY VERIFIED ANSWER (Tehkiki jawaab)

The verse in the 2^nd Sura  al-Baqarah: Verse 165 is clear that 'those who already possess Iman'.

And what is the condition of  that 'those who already possess Iman.

The Holy Qur’aan says   , their condition is such that they 'are overflowing with love for Allah. The question arises as to how did they acquire Iman? Iman is acquired by an all-absorbing love for the Holy Prophet e .The love for Rasulullah  e gives them Iman and the result of Iman is Allah Y’s love. Love for the Holy Prophet e is the 'root' and the love of Allah Y is the 'fruit'. The root has to be present in order to bear fruit. This is the legal status of Allah Y’s love.

Let Us Look At The Lives Of The Companions Of The Holy Prophet (Sahabah):

HAZRATH ABU BAKR SIDDIQUE t

When Abu Bakr Siddique t was asked by the Holy Prophet e to express what three things he loved most, he said:

1.    Al-Juloosu inda- ‘I love most of all to sit in your blessed company daily’.

2.    Wan nazru illay- ‘I love that I get to see your beautiful face daily.’

3.    Wan infaaku maalu illay- ‘I love that I spend all my wealth on you.’

This means the love of Abu Bakr t is to sit in the company of Holy Prophet e, look at his beautiful face and spend everything he has on the Holy Prophet e.

[In another version of this Hadith it is said that he said,' I love that my daughter Ayesha is married to you and she serves you daily].

From this one can see that the axis of Abu Bakr Siddique's love is the Holy Prophet e Allah loves this so much that He kept Abu Bakr so close, that he lies buried next to Rasulallah e. The Dome of the blessed grave of Rasulallah (Gumbade Rasul) is also the Dome of the blessed grave of Abu Bakr Siddique (Gumbade  Siddique). Abu Bakr Siddique t has given this lesson from his blessed life that Faith (Iman) is to love the Holy Prophet e.

HAZRATH UTHMAN GANI t

A man approached the Holy Prophet Muhammad e  for assistance so that he may be able to get his daughter married. Rasulullah e sent him to Uthman t. When he arrived at Hazrath Uthman's door he found him scolding his servant for putting extra salt in the food. He quickly left and went back to the Holy Prophet Muhammad e  , thinking that if the servant was being scolded for using extra salt, what would such a man give him. Holy Prophet Muhammad e   sent him back to Uthman. This time he found Uthman scolding the servant for making the wick of the lamp too thick and hence oil was being wasted. Again the man left and went back to the Holy Prophet Muhammad e. Rasulullah e sent him back and he found Uthman resting and relaxed. Quickly he told Uthman that Rasul e had sent him and he stated his need. Uthman t stood up and told him to take whatever he needed from the house. The man was surprised since he thought that Uthman was miserly because of what he had witnessed earlier. Hazrath Uthman asked him why he had not stated his case in the earlier two visits. He explained the situation to Uthman and Hazrath Uthman explained to him that everything he owns including his life is the property of Rasul e, hence he could not tolerate waste of the masters property. Since the master had sent him, he has put everything at his disposal.

Any disobedience with regard to Allah Y , Rasulullah e’s intercession will save us, but any disobedience with regard to Rasulullah e there is no forgiveness.

 As narrated by Ibn Ishaq the husband, brother and father of a woman belonging to Bani Dinar tribe were martyred in the Battle of Uhud. When she received the news of the martyrdom of her dear ones, she enquired about the Holy Prophet and was told that he was quite well and was not exposed to any danger. She, however, said: "I must go and see the Holy Prophet myself". When she saw him and knew that he was safe, she said: "Now that I have seen you alive and in good health every other calamity that may have befallen us is of no consequence".

 Irshad Soofi Siddiqui

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