"The first hadith I heard from my teacher" - Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya'qubi

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah! Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah!

Tonight (16th December 2009/28th Zul Hijjah 1430) I heard the first hadith from my teacher! He is Shaykh Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin Ismail al-Ya'qubi al-Hassani who gave ijazah to everyone present at the majlis at Ba'Alawi KL. "This is my gift to you. It is a special hadith known as hadith of rahmah or hadith of waliya. There are 34 people between me and Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. It is one which many on the chain (sanad) had learned it for the first time; one which they would say: It's the first hadith I heard from my teacher."

And the same goes for me. Alhamdulillah! However, I will only post the hadith the next time InshaAllah. I am overjoyed to have met Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya'qubi, so pardon me.

The first time I saw Habib Yusuf al-Bakhour al-Hassani, I fell for him. The first time I saw Habib Kazim as-Saqqaf, I fell for him. The first time I saw Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, I fell for him. And tonight, the first time I saw Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya'qubi al-Hassani, I fell for him. Subhanallah, such nur and love they emit!

At the outset of his tausiyah (lecture), Shaykh Muhammad said: "I am happy to be here. I am happy to meet seekers of knowledge, people who are on the journey to Allah, people of Allah. I've been meeting many people since I got here (KL/Malaysia) but I was not entirely happy. Some of the things people do for the sake of Allah, Alhamdulillah but there are people who do things for fame, propaganda, and some people have an agenda. May Allah forgive us all. May Allah accept it as ibadah. But I am happy that my trip ends here with you. Shaykh al-Akbar Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi said in his Futuhat al-Makkiyah where he quoted Tayfur Abu Yazid al-Bistami: "Whenever you meet a man who loves the awliya and believes in the miracles of awliya, ask him to make du'a for you.' So I am asking you to make du'a for me as I'm going back to Damascus tonight. Please make du'a for me, my family and children. InshaAllah. It is also said that if you love the ahlil bayt, you are verily one of them. Please help us by following the sunnah of Rasulullah s.a.w, that's all we ask of you."

Shaykh Muhammad also said that he felt the presence of the spirits of awliya. He named several of them and then went on with the tausiyah. "Oh brother, our journey is not about this world. We are not here to stay forever. This is a foreign piece of land. We are foreigners here. We are captives. Our original home is al-Jannah!"

"A Sufi poet says: 'Your homeland is not here, it is where wine is halal, no intoxication in it, your Beloved one is talking to you there.' The best pleasure is on Fridays when they see Allah when they are in the presence of Allah. Such are real homes. This whole universe is but a servant."

"Our souls are created from light. They are transparent. Ruh and angels have no density. Food, drinks, and marriage belongs to the earth. If you have more of these, you will be more attached to the earth and more detached from the heavens. Our souls feed on zikr, Qur'an recitation, reflection, contemplation and witnessing Allah. These are pleasures for the soul. But many people are veiled from knowing that we are made of two things. The soul is in our hearts. Death is the only separation between the body and the soul. The soul would still be able to hear, travel and learn until the day of Qiyamah."

"So we need to work on the other side. The people of Allah, they tell us what to do in order to strengthen our soul. The awliya eat very little. They don't feel hungry."

"There is a hadith about Dajjal (anti-Christ). He is half blind and kaf-fa-ro (kafir) will be written on his forehead. The believers would recognize that. During the end of time, there will be a mountain of bread but no one would be allowed to eat unless he/she submits to Dajjal. So Saydatina Aishah r.a. she is an intelligent woman, she asked the Prophet, "what would the believers eat then?" To which the Prophet said, 'Their food is tasbih (Subhanallah)."

"Nowadays, people like to go on a diet. If you asked me, I'd say the best diet is zikr Allah. But it would be better if you do your zikr under the guidance of a murshid. You will not feel hungry and it will burn all your fat."

"Things like this you cannot see with your eyes but they work. Like when you change your clothes. What is the veil between you and the eyes of jinn? You say a'uzubillahiminash shaitanirrajim and it will form like a physical veil for you. The jinn won't be able to see you. In fact, every time you say a zikr Allah, He creates an angel out of your words who will guard them until the end of time. These words will be around you for barakah. Know that righteous believers are better than common angels and the Prophet is certainly better than the top angels such as Jibril."

"So if you are fearful of anything recite surah al-Quraish 3 times. Allah will grant you security. Repeat the part where it says wa a mana hum min qauf to get salam (security) from Allah. And if you are hungry, repeat falyaqbudu robbaha zal baitil lazi ato amahum min juu'in and rub your stomach.

"Oh brother, Allah does not need your worship. There is a hadith qudsi on this. But He says 'Wama kholaktal jinna wal insa illa liyak budun' that we are created to worship Him. Nevertheless, a more accurate translation for liyak budun is actually 'to know Me'. We are created for makrifah, for knowing Him. He wants to honor us with His knowledge. Whereas ibadah is the means to know Allah. This term is considered majaz mursal, like a metaphor, it's using the instrument to reach the goal and it adds beauty to the text."

"Let me ask you, do we have to pray fajr tomorrow? The answer is no because fajr is not here yet. It will become obligatory when fajr is tomorrow. You see Allah does not enforce prayer upon us until the time comes and yet Allah guarantees our rizq for the rest of our life. Still, we are so concerned about our provision, about something which is guaranteed for us and we neglect what is required of us. Your rizq is in the heavens but you must not wait for it. You must go out to seek it and seeking your rizq is not a burden, it's a joy."

"The position of a Sufi, the high ranking awliya like Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani for example, they only go or do something when they are directed by Allah. They don't make their own decision. Awliya have no choice of their own because they choose what Allah chooses for them so they are like feathers in the air, moving about with the wind."

"You thank Allah when Allah decreed something that is according to your wish. You wanted something so you prayed for it and when Allah fulfills your wish, you thank Him. But the awliya they thank Allah that Allah makes them do what He wants."

"Allah gives us furqan which is light so we know which direction to go. Furqan is like a distinguishing light telling us which is right, which is wrong. When you make istikharah, go towards the direction where you feel your chest is open. Shaykh al-Akbar Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi says 'observe the first thought' that comes to your mind. But be sure your mind is neutral and not inclined to any particular choice. The first thought is from Ar Rahman."

"Imam al-Kisa'i, a lughah expert, a man of distinction, was asked when he was on deathbed. 'What was your ibadah?' - as in what was his main favorite ibadah in addition to the fard and standard nawafil that a righteous man would do. He said 'I make myself a guard of my heart. Every time anything other than Allah comes into my heart, I knock it out.' Your heart is a fortress which you must guard."

"The awliya loves the Prophet very much. In their hearts is only Allah and Rasulullah. Sayyidina Abu Bakar r.a. wanted to kill his son because the boy (Abdul Rahman) was a disobedient son; he was fighting against the Muslims at some point. After a battle where the father and the son had fought against each other, Abdul Rahman said to his father 'O father I had a clear shot of you during the battle but I didn't kill you (because you are my father).' Upon hearing that Sayyidina Abu Bakar said, 'O son if I had a clear shot of you, I would have killed you for the sake of Rasulullah for I love him more than I love you!"

"So that is the kind of love the awliya have in their hearts. They, the awliya also observe their breath making sure it is one of taat or worship. With every breath, there is a new bounty from Allah. Bounties are not only when you graduate, get married or get a child but bounties abound with each breath."

"I was blessed to have been brought up by my father who was a wali. My uncles, my grandfathers, my grandfather's uncles, most of them are awliya. When I was a child we lived during a time when there was no electricity so we used plenty of candles. As a boy, I was often asked to put out the candles. What do you do when you want to extinguish the fire? I blew them like the sound "uurhh...uurrh..." but my father forbade me from doing that because it sounded like the word which Allah forbids. Allah forbids us from saying "uurh" to our parents. When our parents ask us to do something we don't want to do, we tend to make that sound, we do it but we do it grumpily. So 'what should I do then?', I asked my father. He said 'you should blow out each candle saying Ya Latifff...' and therewith your breath will have extinguished the fire while you do zikr."

"O brothers and sisters,

with your permission,

I am leaving for the airport now.

I am going back to Damascus

but I leave my heart with you!"

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See what I mean? How not to fall for Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya'qubi? Allahu Allah, may Allah keep him safe during his journey home. May Allah shower him and his loved ones with His endless grandest bounties. Al-Ya'qubi -- one soul of Damascus whose spirit is a beautiful fragrant musk!

p/s May I be forgiven for any errors and omissions. May Allah bless the generous and wonderful host - Ben & Ina of KL Ba'Alawi for making it all possible. Jazakallahukhair! Picture credit goes to Brother Shamsul.
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The first hadith I heard from my teacher:

“The Merciful - Blessed and Most High - is merciful to those who show mercy, show mercy to those on earth, and the One in Heaven will show Mercy to you.”