Sunday, October 30, 2016

Habib Umar bin Hafiz's Tausiyah in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia - 27 and 28 October 2016

Bismillah.

Alfu Alfu Alhamdulillah!
By far, the opportunity to be at Habib Umar's majalis twice on Thursday and Friday, was the best Divine gift for this faqir this year.

Praise is due to Allah, indeed, as said Habib Umar bin Hafiz at the outset of his tausiyah at Masjid Hussain in Seremban 2, Negeri Sembilan (1 hour drive south of KL).

Below are my short sketchy notes of Habib Umar's tausiyah as translated by none other than Habib Ali Zaenal Abidin bin Hamid.

"Glory be to Allah who gathered all of you here, you who hope for the pouring of His Mercy, you who hope for His Gifts. Make your heart present before Allah, hope for His gaze upon you. Allah offers 360 Divine Gaze in a day, should you be fortunate to receive one gaze from Him, you shall never fail ever. We are on the eve of Friday, this is a good time to avail ourselves for the Divine Gaze. The ummah before us were not aware of this opportunity."

"We are told to make as much salawat as possible on Fridays. Prophet Muhammad said in a hadith: Friday is the best of days for you so make much salawat for me. Your salawat will reach me, no matter where you are." 

"O you who hope for Allah's Divine gaze, send salutations to the Prophet. If you make salawat for the Prophet, it's impossible that you will not receive His Gaze. You are here engulfed with plenty of salawat. Salawat is your link and connection to the Prophet. The fruit of salawat as narrated in ahadith by Imam Tirmidhi and several other narrators is that those who are nearest to the Prophet on the Day of Resurrection are those who make the most salawat to him salallah alaihi wasalam. Do you know how wonderful that is? Do you know how great that gift is?"

"There are other hadith about Allah making 10 salawat to reciprocate one salawat we make. This is a good provision for the believers whether he/she does it in a group or alone, whether he/she does it in private or in public. When a group gathers to make zikir and salawat for the Prophet, they will not disperse thereafter with a loss."    

"Those who recite Surah Al Kahf on Thursday evening/eve of Friday or on a Friday will receive Allah's light up until Baitul Atiq and the light will last until the following Friday. Whoever recites Surah Ad Dukhan on the eve of Friday will receive Allah's pardon on that night." 

"Whoever makes salawat 80 times after Asar prayer, Allah will forgive his/her sins which had been committed in 80 years. Whoever cleanse himself or take a bath to attend Friday prayers, listen to the khutbah and did not bother his fellow brothers during the prayers, will be granted the pardon by Allah until the next Friday and add three days to that." 

"Did you hear those virtues? O you ummah of the Prophet, did you not listen to those great rewards that were mentioned?"

"The angels were not amazed upon seeing the ummah of the Prophets before Rasulullah being saved from the torments of the Fire. They said Alhamdulillah but they were not amazed. However, they are amazed to see ummah of Prophet Muhammad who is not saved from Hell. How can they not be saved, they are ummah of Rasulullah?"

***      
Habib Umar bin Hafiz ended his tausiyah with heartfelt and lengthy duá as the crowd chanted with deep emotions: Ya Allah Hu Ya Allah, Ya Allah Hu Ya Allah, Ya Allah Hu Ya Allah...

Habib Umar bin Hafiz standing on the right.
To his left is Habib Ali Zaenal Abidin bin Hamid who acted as translator.



On Friday morning (28 October 2016) Habib Umar bin Hafiz read a couple of hadith at Masjid At Taqwa in Paroi, Negeri Sembilan. Habib Ali Zaenal Abidin once again acted as his translator. It was my first time visiting this impressive three-story mosque. It felt really good driving there early in the morning seeing so many cars heading towards the same direction and when we arrived, we saw hundreds of cars already parked outside the mosque's compound. It was a heart-soothing sight to behold, to see people congregating first thing in the morning.

Habib Umar bin Hafiz and Habib Ali Zaenal Abidin bin Hamid
at Masjid At Taqwa, Paroi, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia  

Habib Umar bin Hafiz led the Subuh prayers
and elucidated two hadith thereafter
Key points from Habib Umar bin Hafiz's tazkirah delivered at Masjid At Taqwa:
  • Praise be to Allah for gathering us at this good place on a good day - Friday, as we rushed to enliven the mosque to perform obligatory prayer, hence following the sunnah of Rasulullah salallah alaihi wasalam.
  • There's a hadith of Rasulullah about Allah promising a banquet in Heaven for those who come to the mosque in the morning. There's another hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah about the virtues of those who attend the Subuh prayers in congregation at a mosque, their journey as they leave home is akin to jihad.
  • The five daily prayers are important especially Subuh and Isha. Those who miss these two prayers may be considered as munafiq - those who outwardly manifest Islam but are inwardly kufur. These people are considered munafiq in their certainty and action. These people have weak iman and they tend to lie in their speech. Allah will brand those who repeatedly lie in their speech, as liars.
  • One who is honest in his/her speech will be honest in his/her actions. Those who are honest in their actions, they have great resolve, love, and sincerity in their hearts. These good attributes could win them a great station known as siddiqin.
  • Siddiqin is the highest maqam/level as far as sainthood is concerned and the highest category of siddiqin is called siddiqin kubra. The sahabah (companions of the Prophet), the Muhajirin, the Ansar, Saidina Abu Bakar and Saidatina Siti Aishah are among those who fall in this category. Saidatina Aishah was also known as Siddiqah binti Siddiq.
  • The siddiqin is mentioned in the Quran among those who shall receive Allah's blessings i.e. the anbiya, siddiqin, syuhada and solehin
  • Habib Umar prayed so that the congregations and anyone who love these elite people would be gathered with them.
  • There is much benefit from listening to the stories of siddiqin. We should make an effort to tell their stories.
  • Those who do not care about the stories of anbiya/siddiqin and those who are tricked by the stories of people who are distant from Allah instead, they should muhasabah. Those who are heedless would normally be attracted to stories of those who are heedless like them - stories and photos of people who do not cover their aurah which do not bring any benefits. Their hearts will become hardened/rustic.
  • We should change our heart to make it incline towards stories of the anbiya and siddiqin. We should narrate their stories in our homes. Among the prophets who were considered as siddiqin are: Nabi Ibrahim, Nabi Idris and Nabi Yusuf. One of the fundamentals for a believer is to have faith in Allah and Rasul. 
  • Allah gives a special honor for those who could attain a good level of faith - people who are truthful in their speech, actions and attributes. Allah will protect and help those who have taqwa
  • Allah mention in the Quran about the awliya who neither fear nor grief; those who have iman and taqwa. Allah conveys to the awliya His glad tidings about the rewards He will grant them in the Heavens. Pray so that Allah would grant us similar bounties as He has promised them.
  • Habib Umar then talked about the virtues of those who pray Subuh and Isha in a congregation at the mosque. Those who truly understand the benefits of doing so would crawl to the mosque. There is a story about one ill/old person who couldn't walk so he asked his family to carry him. His family refused at first. He pleaded, saying: 'Did you not hear the azan calling us to solah and falah (success)? Upon hearing the old man's plea, one of his family members carried him to the mosque. The man passed away during prostration in the second rakaah. He died at the point when he was nearest to Allah during sujud. O Allah, bestow upon us this great honor.
  • Habib Umar went on to elucidate the meanings of another hadith about the seven wrongful destructive acts i.e. shirik
  • There is a hadith about the shayatin giving up on trying to make people worship them so that they focus on creating rifts between people. 
  • There is also a hadith in which Prophet Muhammad said he's not worried about his ummah committing shirik. He's more worried that his ummah are being lured by the worldly desires thus compete with the previous generation in amassing wealth and end up being destroyed by it just like them.
  • We must know the difference between shirik and tawassul. Making tawassul with the solehin hoping for bounties/help from Allah is not shirik. Look for wasilah (the means). Those who mix up shirik with tawasul are ignorant.
  • Habib Umar then narrated the story of Prophet Yaakub's eyes being healed when Prophet Yusuf's shirt was thrown to his face. Prophet Yusuf could have asked Allah directly for Allah to cure Yaakub's blindness. Allah is certainly capable of curing Yaakub's eyesight without any intermediaries e.g a cloth/shirt. Buy why did Allah only grant cure to Yaakub when a shirt made contact with his face/eyes? Indeed, true knowledge reside with the Prophets and their followers.
  • Prophet Muhammad kissed the Hajarul Aswad (Black Stone) - is that tabarruk or is that a disgrace for a Prophet like him to do so? His lips and his forehead which reached the Sidratul Muntaha still seek tabarruk from Hajarul Aswad, now what about my forehead and yours?
  • The barakah of Hajarul Aswad is only as big as an atom (minute) compared to that of Prophet Muhammad. Similarly, Maqam Ibrahim. Allah commands us to make it a place for solah. Prophet Muhammad too, performed solah at Maqam Ibrahim
  • Prophet Muhammad used to have ZamZam water delivered to Madinah so he could use it and make duá to heal the sick. Do you think you know better than Prophet Muhammad? 
  • Are you going to say those who consult the doctors, who take medication, who undergo a surgery have fallen into shirik? Allah creates all these as wasilah (medium).
  • May Allah purify us from the small/hidden shirik (shirik khafi) as He has purified us from the big/apparent shirik (shirik jali).
  • Habib Umar then talked about sihir as the biggest sin. That those who seek help from syaitan through witchcraft/black magic will be convened with them - those who are kufur. Allah will not accept their solah for 40 days. 
Habib Umar concluded his tazkirah with duá so that Allah protect us from having munafiq attributes, that Allah protects us from shirik, that Allah would gather us with the siddiqin.

***
Allahu a'lam.
May I be forgiven for any mistakes/errors/omissions. I posted this because the shuyukh had asked those present at the majalis to convey the lessons to those who were absent.

[I hereby tawasul with a solehin like Habib Umar and his forefathers, that those who cast sihir on me in the past, present and future, will in return suffer from the ill effects which they and their accomplice have intended. I leave it to Allah Al Muntaqim for He is Most Fair in His reckoning and retribution. Pray through the blessings of the solehin that Allah will cure me, pardon me and elevate my status, as a result of the tests. Ameen.]
                   

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