Shaykh Afeefuddin al-Jailani on lovers of the Prophet

Bismillah.

Shaykh Afeefuddin al-Jailani began his tausiyah by praising Allah for having gathered at the majlis, hearts and souls who are connected with the Prophet salallah alaihi wasalam. And prayed so that, with the barakah from the majlis, Allah would lift whatever calamities the Syrians are facing this moment. Shaykh Afeefuddin was speaking at Ba'alawi KL in conjunction with a Mawlidur Rasul event on 3rd of March 2013. 

He said:

"Apart from Prophet Muhammad, there is not a single creation or a person created by Allah whose name is mentioned in the heart of so many people and who occupies a special place in the hearts of people. The Prophet's name is mentioned 58 times in the Qasidah al-Muhammadiah which was recited a while ago. And imagine if we were to multiply that figure with the number of audience presence here tonight. That is a sign of his nobility. And indeed Allah Himself said He would ennoble the Prophet's name. His name resides at a lofty position beside Allah and his name remains in the heart of his lovers."

"Consider the number of kitab which has been authored about him; the amount of charity given for his sake, the number of groupings established to honor him and the number of people who have died out of longing for him salallah alaihi wasalam. We live in a time where the munkar is commonplace yet there are plenty of hearts that are in love and are longing for Rasulullah salallah alaihi wasalam." 

"I heard about this narrative from Habib Zain bin Ibrahim bin Semait, about Habib Hamid bin Umar. It was related that the habib during a visitation to the Prophet's maqam had stood outside the sacred compound feeling unsure if he should step in. He was reluctant to go in, given his shortcomings and he was feeling remorse about his weaknesses. Then appeared one man who works at the mosque, came looking for him. The man told Habib Hamid he had fallen asleep near the Prophet's maqam and Rasulullah appeared in his dream saying: "Habib Hamid is standing at the door, please go and invite him in and ask him to greet me. I so wish to answer his salam."

[MashaAllah!]

"There is another true story about one Iraqi mu'aleem who's very keen on writing poetry in praise of Rasulullah. He's not well off and could not afford umrah or hajj. One day a man offered to sponsor a trip to Madinah and Makkah, to which the mu'aleem gladly accepted. Overjoyed at the opportunity, he spent the travelling days singing and reciting qasidah. Every time they stopped for a break, the Iraqi mu'aleem would urge his mates to hurry up and get on with the journey. But his joyous mood disappeared when they were about half-day away from reaching Madinah. The man then related his dream about the Prophet saying to him: 'O fulan bin fulan, just as you have expressed your love and longing for me in your poetry and qasidah, I too miss you and long to meet you. But if I were to do that, if I were to get up from my grave that would mean qiyamah (the end of time). Therefore, you must die, in order for you to see me.' The man eventually passed away!"

Shaykh Afeefuddin said, that goes to show that the Prophet had been longing to see the man even before he had such a feeling. The Prophet was someone one who missed his ummat a great deal. Even in times like these with vice abound, he is missing us and waiting to see us, as narrated in a hadith where the Prophet expressed this in front of his sahabah, telling them about his lovers - those who have not met him in person, yet have faith in him.

Shaykh Afeefuddin ended his tausiyah with a lengthy and heartfelt prayer for our brothers and sisters in Syria, and that the attendees would leave the majlis bringing its barakah to their families and friends.

__________________

Allahu a'lam. May I be forgiven for errors and omissions. Credit goes to the interpreter whose name I didn't catch.

An event by:

Shaykh al-Habib Yusuf Muhyiddin Bakhour al-Hassani at Ba'alawi KL - March 2013

"Love is primordial. Love was already in existence 
prior to the manifestation of love of the creations."

- Habib Yusuf Bakhour al-Hassani

Bismillah.

Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah to be among the fortunate attendees at Ba'alawi KL on the 3rd of March 2013, to listen to Shaykh al-Habib Yusuf Muhyiddin Bakhour al-Hassani. Also present were Shaykh Afeefuddin al-Jailani who shared some amazing true stories about the lovers of Rasulullah [pbuh] and Shaykh Fahmi Zamzam al-Maliki who kindly awarded the audience with ijazah for Qasidah Burdah with sanad muttasil (continuous chain) to its author Imam Busiri. Alhamdulillah.

Al-Habib Yusuf said [as interpreted by one ustaz whose name I didn't catch]:

At this moment we gather here to express joy for our beloved Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam. No matter how great we offer praise to Rasulullah and recite qasidah, no amount of praising could fulfill our obligation to praise the Prophet. This effort of ours is minuscule in the eyes of the Prophet. Allah said to Rasulullah: "You are a mercy (rahmat) and guidance (hidayah)..." What does it mean by mercy? It means pure love which is not tainted with anything. And when we love something/someone, anything that we do in relation to it, is considered a good deed.

   

Therefore, when we perform ibadah wholeheartedly for the sake of Allah, and sincerely at that, we will get a heavenly reward anyway. We are asked to worship Allah out of love for Him, and not for the love of  rewards. When we worship Allah out of love, He will reward even if we did not ask for it. Allah sends Prophet Muhammad on the grounds of love without us having to ask for it. Because of him salallah alaihi wasalam, the entire universe is completely blessed, not partially. 

Listen O lovers. Know you who are patient with His decree: who can tell me about that love? Consider it. That primordial love [Allah's love for the Prophet] was already in existence even before the love of creations came into being. Love has existed before everything else. There was a time when ar-ruh (the spirits) were bathed in such love without any fear. Love will not exist in a person lest the person is overwhelmed by it. Love is when you surrender yourself to the person you love.  

Rejoice at the mercy of Allah for it is better than anything which you could accumulate. Those who are veiled should pray so that Allah brings him/her out of heedlessness. O you, lovers of Rasulullah, the beloved of Allah: do not engage in debate with those who are veiled. They are veiled due to their own fault/heedlessness.

We are in a happy gathering, making salawat, but there are people who are gathered under grave circumstances. Our brothers in Syria, let's pray so that Allah would save them from calamities, that they would be protected from cruelty. I want to relay an important message. I do not wish to hide it anymore. We the ulama and da'ie, we do not meddle with politics but I must say something about the situation in Syria so that I will not be held accountable for not telling it. The situation in Syria has nothing to do with politics. People have been murdered for their love of ahlul bayt. They have cursed the sahabah and make a mockery of Saidatina A'ishah openly. Do you think by doing that, they have only hurt A'ishah and not her husband - Prophet Muhammad? 

Remember when Abu Bakar came to know about the fitnah made against A'ishah? He went to see the Prophet and asked him to divorce her. But the Prophet refused and when he confronted A'ishah on the matter, asking her to defend herself, A'ishah said: "I will not defend myself. I will wait for defence from Allah." And indeed, an 'ayah came to defend her. A'ishah was a knowledgeable person. She had been trained by the Prophet himself. It has been over 1400 years since this episode took place, now who actually learned from this lesson? Who among us heed this lesson?

I have a question for you. Does khilafah (caliphate) pertain to usuluddin (matters of the religion) or is it for worldly matters? Bear in mind the Prophet's saying: "You know better of the worldly matters." 

The world now is looking at the Muslims. How can we contribute to civilization when we are in argument about what happened 1400 years ago? Women and children are being killed in Syria. Hundreds of thousands of innocent lives have been lost and millions more have fled the country. Verily, people in Syria are in need of our du'a. It is our duty to make du'a for their well being. We have learned and benefited from many ulama from Syria and Syria used to flourish with majlis salawat. But now we need to offer prayers for them so that Allah in His mercy would remove their afflictions. [Ameen.]

________________

Allahu a'lam. May I be forgiven for any errors and omissions. Will share notes on Shaykh Afeefudin's lecture separately in sha Allah.

    

The majlis was graciously hosted by:

The basics of life | Pretty basic

Bismillah.

I noticed and learned something about doctors from my recent meetings with one GP, one consultant neurologist, one dentist, another GP, and a doctor friend who is doing housemanship at a local government hospital - all within 10 days. That's like one doctor every two days - pretty intense. [Thank God, I broke up with one consultant surgeon or life would have become too sterile and clinical...heh...heh]

Anyway, doctors - we truly admire their dedication, commitment and patience, don't we? If we were to rank their good attributes, patience would come first. Imagine the sacrifices they have had to make, the many years of study and after all the hardships at uni, they have to face even greater challenges in handling hundreds of patients weekly. They work around the clock and oftentimes their patients can be pretty dumb about the basics of good health (that's me). If I were them I would have been mad when patients need to be reminded about simple things. I mean, common, they have had to study medicine like crazy but all the patients need to be told are pretty basic like: "Please don't forget to brush your gum too. Hold your toothbrush at 45 degree angle." Oh my, at my age I still need such a reminder and the dentist actually spoke so calmly and patiently! Imagine she might have to repeat the same advice to each of her patient day in day out!

Some basic advice we often hear from our doctors: please find time to exercise, please drink lots of water, please get enough rest and please watch your diet. God bless them!

But generally speaking, we tend to complicate life when life or religion for that matter actually involves simple basic things like cleanliness, good characters, simplicity and so on.

So one simple advice I shall give to myself and all of you out there: stick to the basics. Basic things are all we need, though we often take them for granted.

I'll be volunteering for my alma mater at an Education Fair in KL. I have been thinking hard about what I should tell prospective students. Then I realized what I learned in uni was pretty basic. I learned only two things: to have an eye for detail and to keep checking/correcting my work.

Why not, the next time you visit your doctors, surprise them by asking what were the two most basic things they learned in medical school. They might say: perseverance and patience.

Have a healthy weekend y'all!

Ustaz Don Daniyal gave a tausiyah at Majlis Ta'lim Darul Murtadza last Friday night. He related a story about an Arab Bedouin who gatecrashed one of the Prophet's majlis. He brought a dhob (monitor lizard) with him and confessed to the Prophet that he [pbuh] was the only person whom he hated the most and that if his dhob were to accept Islam, he would too. And so by the miracles exhibited by the Prophet, the dhob did miraculously speak up and proclaim shahadah. Upon accepting Islam, the Arab Bedouin asked what he should do as a Muslim. The Prophet said: 'Your Islam may not be acceptable unless you pray, and your prayers will not be acceptable unless you recite the Qur'an.' The Prophet in his wisdom then taught the Arab Bedouin Surah al-Ikhlas.

Ustaz Don said, we would have been tempted to teach a new convert plenty of things, like teaching a lengthy surah e.g. Al-Baqarah, this and that, but the Prophet kept it simple. We also have the tendency to tell people don't do this, don't do that, focusing on the restrictions [nahi munkar] but we often forget to encourage and invite people to do good.

Allahu a'lam. That much I could share from the majlis at Masjid Mu'az bin Jabal yesterday evening.

Fragrant 'bakhour' in the air | Mawlid at Ba'alawi KL on 3rd March 2013

Bismillah.

I think I know why some people are envious about people adoring the habaib. Yes, let them be, because we really do adore the habaib and we just can't help it, sorry. And we all have our own favorites, don't we?

Of all the habaib (plural for habib), one of them is most special to me, primarily because he was the first habib I got to know, the first habib I had encountered, the first habib whose voice I heard and the only habib I had spoken to. 

Early this morning, news came that he'll be in town and will be attending a majlis at Ba'alawi KL this Sunday and the heart immediately bloomed like pretty Sakura. Oh, if he who envies knew, he would be more envious. Need I justify my adoration and admiration? No. Because my heart is mine.

He is the honorable Shaykh Yusuf Muhyiddin Bakhour al-Hassani.

He will grace a Mawlidur Rasul event together with Habib Ali Zaenal Abidin al-Hamid, Shaykh Afeefuddin al-Jailani, Shaykh Fahmi Zamzam al-Maliki and Shaykh Abdul Aziz as-Shafie.

MashaAllah such beautiful string of pearls!
A heavenly gathering not to be missed in sha Allah.

Date: 3 March 2013 (Sunday)
Time: 6 pm

Venue:
Ba'alawi KL
No. 9 Jalan UP2A
Taman Prima Ukay
Saujana Melawati
Kemensah, KL

An event by:

Tiada yang berlebihan di hatiku

Bismillah.

Dunia ini luas
namun tidak dapat menampung DiaNya
hati ini zahirnya
sebesar jantung manusia cuma
namun boleh saja dihuni Dia
sebesar dan sehebat hakikat keesaanNya

Jika yang Maha Besar pun mampu ditampung
maka tidak benar takrifan berlebihan
bagi sebuah hati yang mempercayai
sementelah kasih sifatnya melimpah ruah
tanpa batasan, tiada sekatan
pabila kasih memuncak adanya
begitu jua rasa takzim, hormat, seraya memuliakan

Dari kemuncak wujud DiaNya
pastilah menurut kekasihNya - baginda
berikutan pula cucunda sekelian - habaibnya
semuanya pembawa risalah agama
dan panji Nabi termulia

Seribu tahun lebih sudah berlalu
tiada seraut wajah untuk mata menatap
tiada bunyi suara untuk telinga mendengar
tiada tangan mulia untuk disambut salam
Baginda berzaman-zaman berselisihan

Kita ini umat akhir zaman
gelaran bukan calang-calang cabaran
ke mana lagi mahu dicari
bekas-bekas ajaran, pancaran sunnah Nabi
kalau tidak pada zuriatnya sendiri?

Intai padi antara masak
esok jangan layu-layuan
Intai Nabi tiada nampak
yang tinggal hanya pewaris seruan

Kalau benar ada cinta di hati
pada Ya Rabbi, juga Nabi
Jika benar ada kasih di hati
pada habaib dan pencinta Ilahi
Biarlah sedemikian
tidak mungkin ianya berlebihan

yang batin tiada kan bersempadan
seluas-luas alam, dalam lagi lautan kalbu
di situ duduknya Tuhan
justeru, apa jua kata seteru
ketahuilah: tiada yang berlebihan di hatiku!
___________________________

- Nukilan seorang daripada berjuta yang menyayangi habaib atas dasar menyayangi Nabi Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam.

Time flies | Full moon amidst blue skies

Bismillah.

Subhanallah that's full moon for ربيع الآخر (Rabiu'l Akhir) 1434H or Rabi'ul Thani. It's the fourth month in the Islamic calendar. It literally means the second month of spring.

Time flies. It sure does. I remember taking a photo of the full moon in Rabi'ul Awal in Penang. Feels like it was only a fortnight ago. But here it is again, another full moon captured somewhere in the sky.

"Do they not look at the sky above them? How We have built and adorned it, and there are no flaws in it."

- Qur'an, Surah Qaf : 6

unhealthYPTA | work work work

Bismillah.

Airports are one of my favorite places on earth. There's a liberating air about it. It symbolizes power and freedom to simply leave a piece of land behind to go stand on another tract, with God's Will and someone has to pay for it of course. Money aside, flying too, is liberating, it is. 

But today I learned, being an unhealthY Person Travelling Alone is no fun at all. Notice the acronym YPTA - Young Person Travelling Alone? I think an unhealthy person travelling alone deserves the same kind of privilege a YPTA gets. The worst part is when your cough and bad sore throat hinder you from chatting with that interesting looking person who crosses your path. Interestingly enough this person who sat next to me on the plane, queued behind me at the immigration; was behind me at the taxi queue; arrived at the same hotel just after me and queued to check-in right behind me - this strange Mr. Follower, to whom I didn't say a word because I could hardly speak.  

But [another but] I shouldn't complain because the outstanding organization I work for, rewards us well. Alhamdulillah. You may remember an earlier posting about free iPhone 5. Yes. Soon we'll be getting a brand new laptop, each one of us. There are thousands of us. And we are showered with monetary rewards too because it's our 25th anniversary and also because we have done well Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah 100x. So if you were to be a part of such an organization, even if you need to travel when you are woozy, you must press on. 

But this uhealthYPTA gets cranky when the hotel makes her count if there're enough towels in the bathroom! Gosh, like we don't have enough work to do.

Wish you all a productive week ahead - work, work, work.

I remembered Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi during a lecture in KL a couple of years back, said: 

"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."

: )