Islamic Spirituality The Forgotten Path

Islamic Spirituality - The Forgotten Path

 

A lecture delivered by Maulana Imran Nazar Hosein

at the Maulana Abd al-Aleem  Siddiqui Masjid, Singapore

Transcribed by Irshad Soofi

 Downloaded from: www.imranhosein.org

 Intro

Allah ﷻ tells us in the Holy Qur'aan in the 29th Sura, al-Ankabuut (The Spider): in Verse69:

And those who strive in Our path, We will certainly guide them to Our Paths: for verily Allah ﷻ is with the righteous

We begin in Allah ﷻ’s Blessed Name, we praise Him, we glorify Him and we beseech Him this night for His guidance, blessings and protection as we attempt to address the subject, Islamic Spirituality, the Forgotten Path. We pray for peace and blessings for all His Noble Messengers and in particular, on the last of them all the Blessed Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Our subject tonight is Spirituality and our subject tomorrow night; Insha Allah will be Dajjal, The False Messiah. Yet we begin tonight with Dajjal to show the link between tonight’s talk and tomorrow night.  The Prophet ﷺ said¹, Every prophet of Allah ﷻ has warned his people about Dajjal but I am going to tell you something about him which none has said before me. Dajjal sees with his left eye. He is blind in the right eye. It looks like a bulging grape. But your Lord is not one- eyed. Between Dajjal’s eyes on his forehead is written ‘kafir’ – kaaf; fa; ra. Every Mu’min (every believer whose heart Islam has entered and so becoming imaan) will be able to read - recognize kafir. [Whether that Mu’min is khatib i.e. he can read or write or ghair katib i.e. he cannot read or write]². This is by far the most important hadith on Dajjal, since this information was saved until the very last. No more prophets after Muhammad  ﷺ. What is the implication? If the mu’min can read it means that Abu Lahab can’t read. Abu Lahab has eyes, so how come he cannot read but Hazrath Ali Radiyallahu anhu, can read? Is Ali Radiyallahu anhu reading with these (physical) eyes? Do we have any other eyes besides these eyes?

Note: 1 Al Jaami` Al Saheeh. Version 1.07 - By Imam Al Bukhari Volume 4: 290.2: Narrated Ibn `Umar:

2 “This is because Allaah ﷻ causes people to understand something when looking at it, as He wills and when He wills. So the believer will see this with his insight, even if he is illiterate, and the kaafir will not be able to see it, even if he is literate. By the same token, the believer will see with his insight evidence that the kaafir will not see. Allaah ﷻ will enable the believer to understand without him being literate, because at that time, extraordinary things will be happening.” (Fath al-Baari by Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqallaani, 13/100)

The United Nations says and Governments around the world say, No! We have no other eyes, besides these (physical) eyes. We have no other ears, besides these (physical) ears.  We have no other means of acquiring knowledge  other  than through the senses; through observation and through the rational faculties. But, the Holy Qur’aan says, yes!  In addition to these eyes we have  internal eyes. In addition to these ears we have internal ears. In addition to our external faculties for acquiring knowledge, we can also acquire knowledge internally. E.g. in Sura Hajj [Sura 22, Verse 46], Allah ﷻ addresses a people who are like Uncle Sam, are internally dead. He ﷻ says,

Will they not travel through the earth?

So that perhaps, perchance, (by traveling through the earth)

their dead hearts might come alive

They have PhD’s from Harvard but their hearts are dead. Multi-millionaire, with a dozen Mercedes Benz, but the heart is dead. Travel through the earth and see the signs of Allah ﷻ on the earth. Perchance by seeing the signs of Allah ﷻ, your dead heart might come alive. When the dead heart comes alive, then the heart can understand what the intellect and reason could not understand.

When the heart comes alive, it can hear

what otherwise could not be heard.

Truly, its not these eyes which are blind

What is blind is the heart, which is inside the chest.

So the heart can see. In addition to this (physical) eye, we also have this (internal) eye. Now it is possible for us to understand the hadith.

Source:  Islamic Spirituality - TheForgotten Path

 to be continued  . . . .