The waʿz mubarak began with the melodic voice and erudite words of al-Dai al-Ajal Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA. He stated that the honour of being loved by Allah and His beloved Awliya is unsurpassed. In the Quran, the Almighty declares:
Say, O’ Prophet, “If you sincerely love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you…’
On the day of Khaybar, Rasul Allah SAW laid the foundation for love by saying, ‘Tomorrow, I shall give the standard to a man who loves Allah and His Rasul and in turn is loved by Allah and His Rasul.’ On that day, Amirul Mumineen AS defeated Marhab in battle, lifted the door of Khaybar with his finger and brought victory to Muslimeen all with the barakat of love. Likewise, in every day and age, there is a Maula who ‘loves Allah and His Rasul and is in turn loved by Allah and His Rasul’ and through loving him, Mumineen reap the blessings of Allah and His Rasul’s love and through his obedience attain everlasting honour and wealth. This muhabbat (love) is the khair (good) upon which Mumineen are always dependent. Musa Nabi AS beseeched the Almighty:
My Lord, I am always in need of the good that you bestow upon me
In a hadith qudsi (divine saying), Allah Taʿala states: ‘O Son of Adam, obey me and I shall make you alive like unto me that you may never die, respected to the extent that you will never know disgrace and wealthy to the extent that you will know no poverty’.
Syedna Burhanuddin RA elucidated the power of love and obedience in bringing about immense wealth by relating the following narrative. A man once came to Rasul Allah SAW and said to him that he was a man of little means, responsible for a family and in need of assistance. Rasul Allah SAW beckoned Maulatuna Umme Salama RA to see if there was anything in the house that could be given to the man. She returned empty handed and said that there was nothing to be found in the house. Rasul Allah SAW told the man that he had nothing at that moment and asked him to return later, for if Allah was to make anything available to Rasul Allah SAW, he would undoubtedly give it to the man. Determined, the man said, ‘My wife had sent me to you with the conviction that I shall return with something. How can it be that I leave empty-handed and disappointed from the house of nubuwwa?’ He was certain that whoever came to this house would return graced with Allah’s benevolence. Rasul Allah SAW once again asked Maulatuna Umme Salama RA to check if there was anything in the house. She returned having found nothing but the pit of a date. Rasul Allah SAW gave him the date pit asking him to accept it for there was nothing else in the house he could give him. The man accepted it and took the pit home to his wife and children. Upon seeing the date pit, his wife broke down in tears. Her husband pacified her saying that the pit was given to us by the hands of Rasul Allah SAW, undoubtedly it would serve as a source of barakat. As he was overcome by hunger, the man took the pit and put it in his mouth. He found that honey flowed from the pit until he was sated. His wife was astounded by what she had just witnessed, and she too took the pit in her mouth and was satiated by the milk and honey that flowed from it. And so was their child. The man and his wife wrapped the pit in a cloth before retiring for the night. The next day they found that the seed had transformed into a radiant red ruby. In a state of elation, they took the ruby to be valued and found that it was worth 70,000 dirhams.
There are many who belittle the position of Rasul Allah SAW and consider him as being impoverished. Allah rebukes them:
O Man! It is you who stand in need of Allah
Indeed, Allah has heard the words of those who said, “Allah is poor; we are rich!”
Rasul Allah SAW declared, ‘I am the leader of all the Children of Adam, yet I do not boast’. He also asserted, “al-faqr fakhrī”, i.e. ‘Want is my pride’, insinuating that he has no need for the people of this world and that he takes pride in his dependency and need of the Almighty. This want is not a material one, his want is – in fact – only towards divine revelation.
Leaders are those that are free of want, they are not fed, but are the ones that feed others. Maulana Ali AS lived a frugal life while cultivating thousands of acres of farmland. When he took his serf with him to the market he bought two shirts and gave first choice to the serf, for he could not by his own means buy whatever he wished to.
Syedna Burhanuddin RA then stated, ‘The wealth of love is such that poverty can never prevail.’ Abd al-Wahib narrates that he once went to the Kaaba and found two young girls praising Amirul Mumineen AS. He asked them whether they knew Amirul Mumineen AS. ‘How can we not know him,’ one of them replied, ‘he is the slayer of our father, our uncles and the men from our tribe.’
One of the young girls continued:
He had come to our house one day and addressed our mother, ‘O mother of orphans, how are you?’ I had lost my sight due to illness at that time and Amirul Mumineen AS passed his blessed hand over my ailing eyes and my eyesight returned more potent than it was before, to the extent that I can now see a runaway camel in the dark of night.
Hearing this, Abd al-Wahib took two dinars from his purse and gave them to the girl. She refused to accept them rebuking him for thinking the devotees of Amirul Mumineen AS to be destitute. She then stated in verse form; ‘No sooner does the love of Ali reside in the heart of a young man but he receives one blessing after another.’ She went on to proudly inform Abd al-Wahib, that we are looked after and well taken care of by Amirul Mumineen’s AS son and successor, Imam Hasan AS’.
Syedna Taher Saifuddin RA explained that despite being people of the faith we beseech Allah in each rakʿat we pray to guide us towards Sirat Mustaqeem, so that at the time of our departure from this world we are steadfast upon the true path. It is possible for one to deviate from the path after having set foot upon it.
He then narrated how Allah has graced him with one blessing after another: the birth of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA, pilgrimages to Makkah, Madina, Karbala, and the respect and veneration for him in the hearts of Muslims. He recalled how the people of Surat had beseeched him to grace them with the auspicious occasion of Syedna Burhanuddin’s RA meethaq. Syedna Taher Saifuddin RA mentioned that it had been quite some time since his last visit to Surat, however, he stipulated that if they reaffirm their adherence to the tenets of faith and endeavour for the betterment of both the spiritual and temporal realms, he will honour them with his presence and this important event. He added that one of the blessings was the inception of reciting the Majalis of Syedna Muʾayyad al-Shirazi RA every Thursday, and delivering a wʿaz mubarak every Sunday, with 12 sermons taking place over three months. Syedna Taher Saifuddin RA then proceeded to counsel his soul to maintain Allah’s taqwa and to persevere in the khidmat of Imam al-Zaman. He then added, ‘The counsel I offer to my soul is the same one I give to Bhai Burhanuddin’. He then counselled all his children and the hudud of Dawat to spend each and every breath in khidmat, adding that one essential element of khidmat is the upliftment of Mumineen. He then addressed all men, women and children to ready themselves for the khidmat of Dawat, a notion that encompasses all activities.
Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS narrated that when Maulatuna Zainab AS heard Imam Husain AS, while asking Joon to sharpen his sword, reciting certain fatalistic verses, she exclaimed, ‘Is it separation you talk of?’ Unable to bear the pain of the calamities that lay ahead, she fainted. Where would Imam Husain AS find the water to revive his dear sister? His tears dropping upon her face, sufficed. Maulatuna Zainab AS received the barakat of Imam Husain’s AS tears, which affirmed her lofty status, and by which she acquired the courage and fortitude to witness Imam Husain’s AS shahadat and face the woeful trials ahead.
Maulatuna Zainab AS looked on from afar. As Imam Husain AS sat against the date palm he was first approached by Khawli, who quickly ran away saying he had seen Rasul Allah SAW standing there beside him in anguish, his head bereft of a covering, and his hair ladened with soil. The wretched Shimr then advanced, boasting that he had especially kept a blunt dagger for this dreadful act. When he had struck Imam Husain AS down and drawn his sword vainly across his hulqum mubarak, Imam Husain AS appealed to Shimr to not slay him while his sister looked on from the hillock where she stood in the distance. Yet Shimr was cruel and merciless, defying Imam’s plea. Imam Husain AS bade his final sajda as Maulatuna Zainab AS continued to watch on until the final horrendous act. Even then she sent her handmaiden, Fizza out to the battle plains there to confirm that the shahadat had truly taken place.
May Allah Taʿala grant Syedna al-Dai al-Ajal TUS a long life in pristine health until the Day of Qiyamat.
www.jameasaifiyah.edu
