"Glorify Him with your heart." - Shaykh Afeefuddin Al-Gaylani

Bismillah.

"O people, we say subhanallahal azeem, subhana rabbiyal a'la, but our hearts do not say so." - said Shaykh Afeefuddin at a majlis in conjunction with the haul of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Gaylani last night.

He emphasized the need to realize our position as Abdullah, as a servant of Allah. This would come about if we truly glorify Him in our hearts as professed by the tongue.

"The anbiya had always preferred their position as abdullah though they were honored with two positions namely prophethood and sainthood. To them, the latter was greater as it was a relationship with Allah. Now when we say in our rukuk and sujud, subhanallahal azeem, subhana robbiyal a'la, how much do we humble ourselves to Allah? We humble ourselves for the sake of friendship and visit our friends, but how do we show humility towards Allah?"

Shaykh Hassan al-Basri used to accompany 60 sahabah and all of them were afraid of hypocrisy (nifaq). They were ahlul Badar, ahlul Uhud, ahlul hadith, they were among the honorable companions yet were concerned about the state of their iman. Sayyidina Umar r.a. would run after Hudhaifah bin Yaman, the keeper of hypocrites' names, curious and fearful if he was on the list. But surely he wasn't.

Shaykh Afeefuddin said: Allah is watching your heart, Allah wants your heart, so have tawaduk.  The inheritors of the Prophet, the ulama are man or rajul who are true to their covenant with Allah. The term rajul includes women too. By all means, become a real abdullah. Say what is in your heart and follow the Qur'an.

The Shaykh reminded the audience at KL Ba'alawi on the importance of knowledge.

"Two things are of great value, knowledge and makrifatullah. And makrifatullah is the best of knowledge. Fakrur Razi a sahabi of tafsir - Tafsir Ar Razi, was one whose physical and spirit merged in him. He was known for taqwa. Allah said He would teach anyone who has taqwa. Fakrur Razi was also known for his excellent akhlak. He displayed the attributes of the Prophet s.a.w., he was merciful and kind."

Speaking on As-Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Gaylani, Shaykh Afeefuddin, the 18th descendant of Al-Gaylani said, Ghawth al-Azam was extraordinary the fact that his father was a Hassani and his mother was from Hussain. He was Shaykhul Islam. Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Gaylani was a yatim, after his father had passed away, he lived with his mother and was looked after by his grandfather. He entered Baghdad at the age of 18 when Hujjatul Islam Imam Al-Ghazali had just left the 'Center of Knowledge'. While it's easy to teach, it's not as easy to be teaching the aleem. Baghdad was a city with a high concentration of scholars and Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Gaylani was Shaykhul mashaikh or the 'shaykh of the shaykh'. Al-Gaylani was reported to have taught up to 13 subjects in a day. The ulama were very impressed with him. They said, "It's not surprising for us that he could reply queries and gave fatwa but we're surprised at how fast he could give a reply."

Shaykh Afeefuddin then narrated the often-quoted story about Al-Gaylani's truthfulness when he was robbed. The robbers eventually became his mureed. He was ahlul qulub, whose words of advice originated from the heart and found their places in the heart. According to Imam Nawawi, Al-Gaylani's majlis drew a very large crowd of up to about 70,000 people. 

Al-Gaylani was one who displayed three traits par excellence - akhlak, tasawwuf and suluk. Many people are mistaken on the meaning of suluk thinking that it is only confined to the number of days people would spend in solitude. Suluk is actually the path (sirat) that takes one to Allah in a proper way. Al-Gaylani was one blessed with mukashafatul qulub. When he was on the brink of sakaratul maut, his son Abdul Jaffar asked: "O father do you feel any pain?" To which he replied, "All of me is in pain except my heart because I'm going to meet Allah whom I love."

Below are some of the beautiful du'a of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Gaylani quoted by Shaykh Afeefuddin:

"O Lord, enter the house of our heart without the slightest hesitation because there is nothing in it whatsoever apart from the pain of separation from you."

 "People who missed the opportunity are many, but there is no one whom the opportunity missed."

"The best means of taking revenge on man is not to resemble that man."

"Are you not fond of life, if you are not, you must not waste your time because life is a garment of time."

O people, ask to be humble, and do not raise your hands except to Allah, ask Him to grant protection from syaitan both seen and unseen. May Allah bless our deeds with ikhlas.

Concluding his tausiyah, Shaykh Afeefuddin reminded the jemaah to be istiqamah in performing solat sunat tawbah before going to bed so that should Allah wants to punish a place, He might withdraw in consideration of ahlul tahajjud and ahlul masajid. And when there is a heavy rain or strong wind, it was sunnah of the Prophet s.a.w to kneel down asking Allah for forgiveness because it might be a wind of punishment. 

O Allah if we have done good, bless us with barakah, if not, forgive us.

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