Our Means Of Nearness To God 1/8

'A'udhu bil-Lahi, min al-Shaytan, al-rajim. Bismi-Llah, Al-Rahmani, Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi al-‘Alamin, wa as-salatu wa as-salam 'ala Sayyidina, wa Nabiyyina, wa Tabibi nufusina, wa Habibi qulubina, Abi 'l-Qasimi Muhammad, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam. La siyama baqiyat Allahu ruhi wa arwahu al-'alamin, li maqdamihi al-fidaa'. My respected brothers and sisters in Islam, Assalamu alaykum jami'an, wa-Rahmatul-Lahi, wa barakatuh.

The first Tuesday of the month of Sha'ban in this year, Christian calendar, the year 2020, that you would remember it better. We are observing the month of Sha'ban as preparation for the Holy Month of Ramadan in a very unique situation, a situation that the whole world, not in one particular nation, a particular country or individual, collectively, humanity is facing a great challenge. I call it a challenge, and inshaAllah I want to mention tonight that this challenge is an opportunity, and you can enjoy this opportunity as a platform for your perfection or a platform to jump down.

I remember many years ago, one of my colleagues, classmates back then, he informed the late Ayatollah Bahjat that a student of the Hawzah, due to severe poverty, he committed a suicide. The late Ayatollah Bahjat, rahmatu Llahi 'alayhi, he said that was a platform for his perfection. So two people stay at the platform. One jumps down and kills himself before the train. Another one is using that opportunity to embark on the train, plane or anything and descend or get to a destination.

By the way, what I am trying to say inshaAllah tonight is that situations as such are definitely opportunities, but it depends on our ideology, how we perceive it and how we deal with it.

And this is definitely, again, one of the situations that you can see the distinct differences between believers and disbelievers. For the believers, no matter what, absolutely, there is nothing more challenging than losing the life. Even as I will give you examples of our noble role models, even the loss of life, so far as you are on the right track, means nothing other than good and beauty.

So when the Qur'an says: "Ala bi Dhikri Allah tatma'inna al-qulub" (13:28), "lo and behold that with remembrance of God, you are confidently in peace of mind and confidently you enjoy your life and you are comfortable". That is not only when everything is going smoothly in life, whether it is going smoothly or supposedly not, whether you are facing a challenge or supposedly not, a believer who is always God-conscious enjoys their life, and they are very positive and very optimistic about life.

In contrast to that, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala shows us, the very first characteristics of disbelievers, those who don't believe in life beyond this material life, Qur'an says: "wa al-mushrikina wa al-mushrikat" (48:6), 'these believers, whether males or females', the first character is this, "adh-dhanina bi 'Llah, dhanna as-saw" (48:6), 'they are the ones who are very negative in their approach, in their ideology'. Oh, this is the time of madness. God is cruel. Why all of this is happening? I lost my job. I lost my dear. I lost my mother. Why God is doing this to me? Where is God when it hurts? Complaint after complaint. Qur'an says: "alayhim da'iratu as-saw"(48:6),"they are encompassed and engulfed in all this pessimism".

In their own thoughts, in fact, in their own thoughts, and they suffer. And naturally, this lifestyle is very depressive. Whereas the other side of it, a believer, no matter what, no matter how harsh the situation may sound in the eyes of others. I give you some example, and you please compare it with your situation and you see that how comfortably you and I are enjoying our life.

The role models, the noble infallible role models that the Almighty God in the Qur'an or in the lifestyle of our Ma'soomin we read are for a reason: for you and I to apply them to our day-to-day life. Imagine this situation. Now, there is a recommendation, global recommendation these days that the best, safest place for you is to stay at home, with your family. Enjoy the company of your family, your children that unfortunately, usually we are so much caught in the rat race of Dunya, hardly you have time to see your children.

Now the Almighty God has forced you, provided that opportunity, to spend more time with your family. Comfort zone of your home. Al-hamdulillah, inshaAllah things are provided. You have a shelter above you, the company of your family, your dear, you enjoy them. And yet people complain.

Now imagine this, that if you were imprisoned for a sin that you have never committed. And not that you are house arrested, you would be in a dungeon that you have no idea about the sunlight, nor about the moon and the stars of the night. In other words, you do not see the day, you do not see the night deep under the ground. All right? For how long? Indefinite. And who are you, the most innocent, infallible person existing at your lifetime. I am talking about Imam Musa Al-Kadhim, 'alayhi as-salam, salamu Allahi 'alayhi.

Now, anyone in less than that situation would be depressed. People in much less than that with no faith commit suicide, okay? Or at least they become suicidal. Imam Musa al-Kadhim 'alayhi as-salam, on the contrary, in his supplication, in the dungeon, in that situation, the Imam says: "Allahumma, innaka ta'lam, annani kuntu, as'aluka an tufarriqani li 'ibadatik. Allahumma wa qad fa'alta. Fa laka al-Hamd"- 'O Allah, I can never thank You good enough. You know that for long I have been begging You, I have been asking You to provide an opportunity for me to be isolated, for what? To be me and You alone. So that I have no distraction, no world distraction at all, so that I can spend more intimate time with You in worshiping You. God, now You have provided that! In the dungeon, deep under the ground. No disturbance. No one is disturbing me. "Fa laka al-Hamd". "I am so grateful to you.'

Can you see that? Do you see this positive thinking? Do you see how a believer enjoys their life, even deep under the ground, the most innocent person?

When we read the story of Prophet Yusuf again, imagine the most innocent person of his time. And he is given the option of either living a royal luxury life in the palace of the King, but sinful, filthy and sinful life, or being imprisoned for a sin that you even avoided it. Prophet Yusuf, this is the difference, this is the lifestyle of a believer. "Rabbi al-sijnu ahabbu ilayy mimma yad'unani 'ilayhi" (12:33). "Oh my Lord, I would rather be imprisoned. I would rather be imprisoned but not having a filthy, dirty lifestyle, sinful lifestyle." This is the power of positive thinking that a believer, by connecting themselves to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala enjoys.

There is a part in Ziyarat 'Ashura. At the end of Ziyarat 'Ashura, this heavenly Ziyarat that I refer to it as the article of the Shi'a faith, Ziyarat Ashura ends with sajdah [prostration] as you know. This sajdah, brothers and sisters, is sajdatu ash-Shukr, is a sajdah of gratitude and being grateful to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. You know that the first person that we know of that that has uttered Ziyarat Ashura, that recorded for us, is Imam Al- Baqir 'alayhi as-salam. Imam Baqir, in the tragedy of Karbala, was four years old. He had lost his grandfather, Imam Husayn 'alayhi as-salam, his uncles, his nephews, all right? Allahu Akbar. Imagine again this situation.

Let us for a second, even hypothetically speaking, putting ourselves in the shoes, as we say, of Imam Al-Baqir 'alayhi as-salam, a four-year-old boy that had witnessed, eye witnessed, that tragic event of Karbala on the day of Ashura. Having lost the most noble people of the family of the Prophet, that they were slaughtered brutally. Yet for the rest of his life, because when the Imam says that if you can read this Ziyarah every day, that means the Imam has been practicing it himself every day. At the end of this Ziyarat 'Ashura, Imam prostrates the prostration of gratitude, thanksgiving prostration, and Then the Imam says, "Allahumma, Laka Al-Hamd, hamda ash-Shakirina Lak".

To be honest with you, anytime I get an opportunity to read Ziyarat Ashura, when I come to this part of the sajdah of Ziyarat Ashura, I will be extra, inshaAllah, honest with you. I am contemplating, am I really saying this for myself? Often I make intention that I just repeat the word of a Ma'soom [infallible] because that is the word of ma'soom. I think this is way beyond my intellect to comprehend it. How can I really... Putting yourself in that situation? It is very difficult for my intellect to perceive it, that you have lost all your dears and yet you prostrate to God as a means of thanksgiving.

Say "Ya Allah, Allahumma, Laka Al-Hamd, hamda ash-Shakirin" imagine all the people around the world, past, present, and the future, how they want to be grateful to God. I want all that for me. For what? ' ala musa'bihim'- 'for the calamity that befell on them.' "Allahumma Laka Al-Hamd. Hamda ash shakirin 'ala musa'bihim, al-Hamduli Llahi 'ala adheemi raziyyati". Allahu Akbar!

That is why I told you that the wording are so profound, beyond our intellect. Oh Allah, "al-Hamduli Llahi 'ala adheemi raziyyati- "the greater the calamity, the more grateful I am." Allahu Akbar! Now you know that why, Sayyida Zainab, after the tragedy of Karbala, she eye-witnessed the tragedy of Karbala on the day of 'Ashura, post-'Ashura, the evening, the hard deep evening of 'Ashura, then being taken as captives of war all the way through and when in Sham or in Kufa, according to different narrations, she was asked, How did you perceive the scene? Imagine the hardship you are going sometimes in your life, and then they tell you, How would you perceive it? "Oh, why God is cruel? Why God did this to me? Why? Why? Why? Why?" Coming with all the complaints out of our ignorance. But a true believer, like Sayyida Zaynab, she turned and answers," ma ra'aitu illa Jameela".

Unfortunately, usually there is a common mistake here. Translators, they did not get to the word of Sayyida Zaynab. It is usually this phrase translated as "I saw but a beauty." She did not say, "ma ra'aytu illa' Jamalan"-"I saw only a beauty." No, she says, I saw only God. But she wants to tell us, She saw only Benevolent God. She only saw the beautiful God. She says; because Jameel means beautiful. Jamaal means beauty. She did not say "maa ra'aytu illa' Jamalan", "I saw only a beauty." No. She says, she is a Muwahhiddah, she is a monotheist. She sees "only God.", and because God is good and the source of all goodness, God is beautiful, and the source of all beauty, instead of saying, "ma ra'aytu illa Allahu al-ladhi Huwa al-Jameel, she is eloquent. She says, "ma ra'aytu illa Jameela- "I only saw the Beautiful, the Beautiful with capital B, I only saw God with, yes, in His divine attribute of beauty, within all the hardship."

Brothers and sisters, in Surat Al-Kahf, chapter 18 of the Qur'an, there is a story that I always tell my clients, those who have some family issues, financial issues, or hardship in their life. I always remind them that as a believer, remember that you are also the Moses of your story, and your intellect, your knowledge of religion is supposed to be your mentor. As Moses had a mentor named as Khidhr, your Khidhr is your knowledge. Your Khidhr is your faith, true faith in God that comes to your aid and to your rescue at this difficult time. All right, what does it mean?

It means when you don't know, when you cannot uncover the secrets of things that are happening to you, rest assured, sit back comfortably and say that, I know that the steering is in the hand of the Most Benevolent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, omni..., what do you call it? Omnibenevolent God, All-wise God. I cannot comprehend it, but I know that things are happening for a good reason. You think positive, positive things will happen to you.

It's not Sheik Mansour's word. I'm quoting from the Almighty, all-Knowing God. The Almighty God says: 'A'udhu bi’l-Lahi, min ash-Shaytan, ar-rajim. "Kutiba 'alaykum al-qitalu wa huwa kurhun lakum" (2:216). The Almighty God says that combat, fighting, one meaning of it is fighting in the battlefield, that you understand. But yes, another meaning of it is that fighting an invisible virus for example.

"Kutiba 'alaykum al-qitalu wa huwa kurhun lakum" (2:216). You don't like it. Why this is happening? "Wa ‘asaa an takrahoo shaiyan wa huwa khayrun lakum. Wa ‘asaa an tuhibbo shayan, wa huwa sharrun lakum. Wa Allahu ya’lamu wa antum la ta’lamoon" (2:216). The Almighty God says, Is this the first time that you didn't like things, you disliked things, but there were good in it. With time, you discover some of the goodness in it. And is this the first time that you love something and time proved you wrong?" Things that you pray for it and time proved you are wrong. Why? The wisdom, the reason for that is the following, because "Wa Allahu ya’lamu wa antum la ta’lamoon" (2:216). Because God knows, you and I don't know. You and I don't know. Let's admit it that we don't know. Leave it to the hand of, as it is in the hand of the Almighty and all-knowing God.

The question is that, why is this all happening? Why all of a sudden we have a global [pandemic] Some people, they try to say, Is it a sign of the coming of Imam az-Zaman? Is it the sign of the end of the world? Is it because of our sins? All of the above. But again, I want to bring it back to you, as our Qur'an says, when they ask the Almighty God why this is happening? Instead of the Almighty God telling them why this is happening, God tells us what you and I are supposed to do. What you need to ask is not why this is happening. What you and I we need to ask God is that, God, what is my duty? What are you expecting from me?

One of the 'urafa [gnostics] is saying that when you see hurdles in your life, hardship in your life, imagine like someone metaphorically is tapping on your shoulder. You turn and say that, yes, God, what do you want from me? What is expected from me? What is my duty here? 'A'udhu bi’l-Lahi, min ash-Shaytan, ar-rajim. "Wa balawnaahum bil hasanati was sayyi'aat la’allahum yarji’oon" (7:168). The Almighty God says that, "I test you, I kept testing you with all the ease in your life, all the comfort in your life. Unfortunately, that made you more into a sleep. That is why I have to wake you up sometimes through hardship, things that you dislike, so that that they "la’allahum yarji’oon", may understand that it is about the time to make a U-turn."

Al-hamdulillah, some people are taking advantage of it. In the last few days, few weeks, especially if you as things get more severe, By the grace of God, more God consciousness comes to the surface. Brothers, sisters are asking me about their duty. I have that many years of lapsed salat, lapsed fasting, how can make them up? Very good, very positive. That is what is expected to do. That is what we are expected to do. To better our relation with Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Use this issue of global fighting coronavirus as a platform for your nearness to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

There is an assignment I usually give to my students. See Hawza students are familiar with this assignment. I will tell them, go and ask five random people, Muslim, non-Muslim, males, females, you choose, doesn't matter who, and tell them, put this question to them and tell them, please think about it. The question is the following. You can also seriously think about it. The question is the following. "Imagine that your GP tells you that, look, you are diagnosed with a fatal disease that there is no cure for it, and you have got one month to live. How are you going to spend the last month of your life? The assignment is to ask them, believers or disbelievers, because this is for everybody.

Even if you deny the existence of God, you cannot deny the existence of this. Yeah. So it's for all of us, young, old, male, females, believers, disbelievers. So the question is that, imagine that this is one month I have, how am I going to spend the last month of my life? Your honest answer to that question determines whether you are heedless or heedful, whether you are on the right track or not. If truly, and I tell you that. Normally the answers that comes to me are of these two kinds.

Religious people, God-conscious people, they usually their answer contains examples that makes them, they want to do things that makes them more religious, more practicing Muslims by going to Hajj, Ziyarat, making up for my lapsed salat, fasting and the like. Things that their religious conscience is telling them, you have to do it, that they have been slacking about it. Non-religious people, usually they say that I would spend more time with my family. Subhana Allah. God has provided that opportunity to you. In that exercise, in that assignment, we assume that you have got one month.

Hey, the reality is that when the angel of death comes, usually doesn't give you notice of vacancy. Nobody knows when, where, and how.

So always take it like this. So this coronavirus is to wake up the world. If the world doesn't wake up, you and I individually are expected to be among the first to wake up to ourselves. Am I truly on the right track? Am I doing what I'm supposed to do if it was really the last month of my life? If we live this type of lifestyle, inshaAllah, we would be having taken advantage of the opportunity.

Being the Tuesday evening, the night of connection with Imam az-Zaman. You know that we don't differentiate between the Ma'sumeen. As we don't differentiate as for answers between the prophets, we don't differentiate between the Ma'sumeen. However, we are instructed by the Ma'sumeen 'alahimu as-salam themselves that at the moment of our present time, Our present Imam is our direct means between us and the Almighty God. You want the relief of this current situation, we have no choice but pleading to Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, using the means that he has He has provided to us, and He has authenticated for us, and at our present time, that is Sahib al 'Asr wa az-Zaman.

There is one Du'a known as Du'al Faraj. We have two Du'al Faraj. One Allahumma kun li waliyyik..., another one when you are more desperate, in a situation of desperation, perhaps like now, and God knows how more severe it is going to be.

There are different, a slight difference of the versions for it. I am taking it from the original source for you, from the Book of Misbah Al-Kaf'ami. Kaf'ami, one of our very eminent scholars and the mystics and the Ura'fah of Ahl as-suluk of the Ninth Century from Jabal 'Aamil, rahmatu Allahi alayh, in his Book Al-Misbah, he says that this is the supplication that Sahib Al 'asr wa az-Zaman told someone who was imprisoned innocently. One of the followers of Ahl Al-Bayt 'alayhum as-salam, innocently was imprisoned, and Imam az-Zaman goes to him and is teaching him this Du'a and tells him that you read this Du'a with the presence of heart, understanding the meaning, of course, the Almighty God, inshaAllah will give you the relief.

With that, inshaAllah I want to conclude. InshaAllah I have provided a translation. They can put the translation, inshaAllah on the screen for you so that you can follow the meaning.

Allahumma 'adhuma al-bala', wa bariha al-khafa', wa 'nkashafa' al-ghita', wa 'nqata'a ar-raja', wa dhaqati 'l-ardhu, wa muni'ati' as-sama', wa anta al-musta'anu, wa ilayka al-mushtaka, wa 'alayka al-mu'awwalu fi 'sh-shiddati wa ar-rakha'. Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa 'aali Muhammad. Uli'l-amr', alladhina, fa radhta 'alayna ta'atahum. Wa 'arraftana bi dhalika manzilatahum fa farrij 'anna bi haqqihim farajan 'aajilan qareeban kalamhi al-basar, aw huwa aqrab.

Everybody. Ya Muhammadu ya 'Aliy, ya 'Aliyyu, ya Muhammad. Ikfiyaani fa innakuma kafiyai wa 'n-surani fa innakuma nasiran. Ya mawlana, ya Sahib az-Zaman. Ya Mawlana, ya Sahib az-Zaman. Al-aman! Al-aman! Al-aman! Al-ghawth! Al-ghawth! Al-ghawth! Adrikni! Adrikni! Adrikni! As-Sa'ata! as-Sa'ata! as-Sa'ah! Al-'ajala! Al-'ajala! Al-'ajal. Ya Arham ar-Rahimin. Bi Muhammadin wa aalihi at-tahirin. Salawat. Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad.

[O my Lord, the calamity has aggravated, the absence prolonged. The curtain (of concealing our sins) has been lifted; hope has been curtailed. The Earth is constrained (spacious though it is); and sky has been denied. and You are the One from whom help is sought and to whom complaints are made. And in You (alone) we trust in the times of difficulty and ease. O Allah! send blessings upon Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad. The possessors of authority whose obedience You have enjoined upon us, and by that made us aware of their position. Then make open for us, by their truth, an immediate opening, immediate as a wink or sooner. O Muhammad! O 'Ali, O 'Ali! O Muhammad! Suffice me both of you as both of you are sufficient. Help me- the two of you- for you are my helpers. O my Master, O Master of the Time! Protection! protection! protection! Help! help! help! Rescue me! Rescue me! Rescue me! This moment! This moment! this moment! Hasten, hasten, hasten! O the most Merciful; for the sake of Muhammad and his pure progeny. Salawaat. O Allah! send blessings upon Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad].