'None can praise the Prophet enough, save Allah.' - Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fadhil Al-Jilani

Shaykh Dr Muhammad seated (on the left) facing the audience

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah, Allah has answered our prayers tonight. Alhamdulillah He has let us sit in majlis mawlid and majlis ilm again. This time with one special guest of honor from Turkey, As-Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fadhil Al-Jilani Al-Hassani Al-Hussaini. Also present were honorable personalities like Habib Ali Zainal Abidin, Shaykh Fahmi Zamzam Al-Maliki, and Shaykh Abdul Aziz Shafie.

After a beautiful mawlid recitation and nasyid by the Ba'alawi jemaah, Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fadhil gave a meaningful tausiyah on Habibullah Muhammad Al-Mustofa admitting that none can praise the Prophet enough, save Allah. He spoke in Arabic while Habib Ali Zainal Abidin acted as interpreter. 

Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fadhil began his tausiyah by saying salam to the mashaikh present and the audience. He said: "In conjunction with Mawlidur Rasul, we speak of the greatness of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. but I am not able to say much about his great personality. Allah Himself praises the Prophet so how can a man praise him any better?

Allah has praised and mentioned His Beloved Prophet Muhammad in all the kitab granted to the anbiya. When Allah made Nabi Adam a.s. leave the heavens, he descended on a mountain in Sri Lanka. That was when he realized his mistakes in falling for the tricks of shaytan. He was regretful and thus prostrated (sujud) to Allah for a long time. The moment he lifted his head from his long sujud he saw the kalimah La ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasulullah. Amazed, he asked the Lord whose name it was, written right next to His. Allah said: "Nabi Muhammad is a man of your kin and he is My Beloved." Each prophet has his own time but Prophet Muhammad is one who stays relevant all the time. Upon hearing the reply from Allah, Nabi Adam then said: "I shall tawassul on Nabi Muhammad so that You would pardon  my sins and accept my tawba!" 

May Allah accept our repentance on account of the honors of Prophet Muhammad, said Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fadhil.

Now we shall talk about Nabi Nuh. When Allah commanded Prophet Nuh to construct an ark (a large boat) in Kufah (a place in the desert), Nuh went about building the boat anyway despite having to face public ridicule and humiliation. Upon completing the divine task given to him, Nuh had inscribed on the front part of the boat (the bow) several names i.e. Allah,  Nabi Muhammad, Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Hassan, and Hussain. When his people saw those names, they asked Nuh (they addressed him as 'Nah' according to their language). So Prophet Nuh explained to them about the names saying, "It's Allah; Muhammad the Prophet; the Ansars who helped him; Hassan and Hussain are his grandsons."

Take note that the names Hassan and Hussain written at the end of the list of names actually symbolized the role of a boat's captain who usually sits at the back of the boat (the stern). In other words, the descendants of the Prophet s.a.w from Hassan and Hussain would serve as guides for the religion. It is a sign that they are the ones entrusted to propagate Islam. As such, it was sunnah of Prophet Nuh to have their names written on his boat.

The third prophet to whom Allah had talked about Prophet Muhammad was Nabi Musa. In Kitab Tawrat for Musa, Allah mentioned the birth place of Prophet Muhammad. It was, as stated in the kitab, a place called Bakhura (referring to Makkah). The Prophet's name as recorded in Kitab Tawrat was Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Abdul Mutalib; that he is born in Bakhura and would later emigrate to a place where there is plenty of date palm trees and the water there being delightfully delicious (referring to Madinah). In addition to describing the Prophet's attributes, the Tawrah also described the attributes of the sahabah, Abu Bakar, Umar, Usman and Ali. 

With regards to Sayyidina Umar, the Tawrah referred to him as An Nasr or the helper who would help free Baitul Maqdis from the Christians and that he would enter Ursharin (Al-Quds) riding a horse and leave Ursharin riding a mule/donkey.

In Kitab Injil, Allah narrated the stories of His Beloved Prophet Muhammad to Prophet Isa. I have seen the Injil written in Suryani language when I visited Paris and Italy. It was shown to me by a priest and it's written therein the Prophet's name as Ahmad who is born in Makkah and his grave would be in Yathrib (Madinah) - a place blessed with plenty of dates and water. It was also stated in the kitab how people would continuously visit his grave right until the Day of Qiyamah.

The Prophet's stories abound in the Qur'an too. Praises for Nabi Muhammad are mentioned in many surah, for example wama arsalna ka illah rahmatan lil alamin. "We have not sent you (Muhammad) except as a mercy to the universe." Evidence aplenty in the Qur'an how Allah sing praises and uplift his ranking.

It has become our practice to make salawat in the month of Rabi'ul Awal 1000 times a day as a gift for Rasulullah s.a.w. The salawat is as stated in the Qur'an: Allahumma salli wa salim ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ali Sayyidina Muhammad.

We would also recite 1000 times of salawat on Fridays of the other months. On other days in all other months we make it a point to recite 100 times salawat as a present for him.

This (the practices) may be traced in the Qur'an but we shall not elaborate it here. We should be grateful that we are his ummat. We are accustomed to organizing an annual mawlid event. If Allah Himself praises Muhammad, now what about us? Allah even orders the angels to make salawat for him. In fact, every day should be an eid as we glorify the one Allah loves and praises."

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Wallahu a'lam.

Note:

Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fadhil informed the audience of his new book, a collection of 16 mawlid recitations attributed to notable ulama such as Al-Jilani, Al-Ghazali and ulama from Hussain family.

At the end of the majlis, Shaykh Fahmi Zamzam Al Maliki gave ijazah for Kitab Bekal Akhirat/'Provisions for the Hereafter'. The kitab comprises of several wirid and tariqa practices including talqin zikir of Tariqa Idrisiah which he had obtained from his guru Almarhum Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi Al-Maliki. Upon concluding his classes, Al Maliki would customarily grant ijazah on zikir - La ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasullulah fi kulli lamhatin wa nafasin 'ada dama wasi'a hu 'ilmullah. Likewise, Shaykh Fahmi following in the footsteps of his guru, granted the ijazah to all present at the majlis last night.

The mawlid was held in conjunction with a nikah ceremony for Hajjah Azmah's son. May Allah bless her kind family who has been instrumental in organizing majlis 'ilm involving honorable scholars and habaib from around the world. Alhamdulillah wa shukru lillah.