Shaykh Hisham Kabbani's sohbet

Bismillah.

"Whenever you speak, refer to your notes. If you do not do that, you would end up speaking from yourself, from "I" and you would fall into the error of your ego speaking. If you refer to some notes, you would be quoting other people and not yourself. I have some 300 notebooks of Grand Shaykh Abdullah Faiz Daghestani which I carry with me and refer to when I give sohbet," Shaykh Hisham Kabbani spoke to the followers of Naqshbandi Tariqa at Kuala Lumpur Zawiyah on Thursday night.

Before leading the weekly zikr, he talked about the importance of shari'at. "Shari'at is the constitution. It is number one. Then comes tariqa. Shari'at teaches you what you must do, the rules to follow. Tariqa teaches you the branches; it teaches you how to purify your hearts. If you follow these two properly, you will come to reach makrifatullah."

Shaykh Hisham then stressed the virtues of doing zikr. "When you do zikr, it generates heat because there's so much energy being created from zikr so that the inside is hot while the outside is cold like a condensation of water. The energy from your zikr will make shaytan steer clear from you and the recitations will act like rockets killing shaytan."

Shaykh Hisham began his sohbet on Friday night pointing at a glass in front of him. "Was that glass empty? Have you just fill it?"

"You can only fill water in an empty cup. If you come here with all of your self and ego, then there's nothing much to be filled. Heavenly knowledge cannot be poured over egoistic knowledge. It cannot be given to someone who is self-proclaiming, to a person with an ego that has been mixed with dunya. That person will get attracted to desires of shaytan and he/she will end up being the enemies of Allah."

"Why did you think Iblis refused to prostrate (sujud) to Adam? He had forgotten that it was an order from Allah. Instead, he became overly concerned about the object of prostration i.e. Adam, forgetting that it was Allah who had ordered him. Iblis questioned Allah why he had to sujud to Adam. Iblis was egoistic and Jannah does not accept such sins, so he was thrown out. We are incapacitated without Allah's support. We'll be lost."

Allah is like saying to us, 'Come to me with incapacity. Come to me thanking me. Understand that I am your Creator. Come with complete submission.' The only person who submits himself completely to Allah is none other than Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. No questions asked. Prophet Noah was one Prophet who did not question God's orders too. He was instructed to build a ship on a hill but he did not question the rationale of it. Still, Prophet Noah tried to defend his family member but Allah threatened him for wanting to do that.

Prophet Muhammad's position in relation to Allah is par excellence. Shaykh Hisham said, "Allah always addresses the Prophet as 'Ya Habib'. The supreme title 'Allah Habibur Muhammad' is solely for the Prophet. You know the meaning of huwa? Huwa is the absolute unknown like Qul huwAllah hu ahad. Ahad is unknown. In comparison, wahid refers to many manifestations (known). Ahad refers to 'uniqueness'. Allah refers to the Prophet as 'Huwal Habib'. That in itself shows that the Prophet is a unique lover to Allah. His intercession is requested by all - li kulli - the whole creation. The Prophet can intercede for everyone and all.

Wallahu 'alam.
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Disclaimer:

The above is a summary of my sketchy notes of Shaykh Hisham's sohbet in Kuala Lumpur on 6 & 7 May 2010. May I be forgiven for any mistakes in transmission. Visit sufilive.com for recordings of all of Shaykh Hisham's sohbet.