Suhbat: Whose stamp do you have?
By: Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani
12-10-2004 -- Jakarta Zawiya, after tahajjud
and salaat al-Fajr
Audhu billahi min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem
Bismillahi ’r-rahmani ’r-raheem
Ati`Allaha wa ati` ar-rasula wa uli ’l-amri minkum
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet and obey those in authority. [4:59]
Allah swt created creation for a hikmah, for a wisdom. Allah will never
create anything without a wisdom. There must be a wisdom out of everything.
Allah swt does not resemble his creation. No one knows His Essence. No one
can understand the Creator: No one knows except through what the Prophet
described for us of Allah’s beautiful names and attributes.
Sayyidina Ibrahim when he was thinking about the creation of this universe,
he was saying, “There must be someone that created creation. I am not that
person.” He knew he was `abd a servant. He knew he cannot do anything, he
cannot create anything. So there must be someone who created this creation.
Sayyidina Ibrahim looked at what his father and his tribe were worshipping
and he saw a bunch of stones that they make with pictures and they say these
are gods that created us and he knew that was false. So what did he do. He
went and cut off their heads.
This is a cup, is it not. And if you look at it from bottom it is stamped
“made in China.” So we know who made this. So Sayyidina Ibrahim, “Who made
me? Whom was that stamp that stamped me as this form, this personality? Who
was behind it? Are these gods that are stones or is there someone else?
You understand? [yessir] not you, you understand nothing. Is he translating
well? Are you sure?
Sometimes the cup is stamped “China.” Some are stamped “Taiwan.” Some are
stamped “Thailand.” We say that is cheap. But is something is stamped “USA,”
oh, that is good. If it is stamped “England,” that is the best. If it is
stamped Middle East countries, that is the worst.
So it depends on the stamp, what do you call it: the label? There are
products that are labeled, trademark. We think that they are the best. There
are more than that, fashion designers, the sell their signatures. They say
this is made by Cartier, Oh. Then they go to flea market and buy something
marked Cartier, but it is made in China. They take it for one dollar. So it
is the name [that matters].
So everything its importance comes because of its maker, its manufacturer.
So if it is made by a good manufacturer we are very happy to wear it and you
now show the people. You know they have the label on the back of the neck,
but some people, take it out and wear it on the front. To show they are
wearing Cartier, or Christian D’ior or Hermes they take it out and put
opposite side to show who made it. You become famous because of who made
that fabric or who made that cup.
Today there are very big companies that are using poor countries to
manufacture and they put their names and everything becomes expensive.
So Sayyidina Ibrahim was thinking, “Who do I belong to? Who is my
manufacturer?” He looked at the stars in the evening and he said, these
stars are my manufacturers. He saw them shining in the nigh in which there
is no light except these stars. He said these stars must have manufactured
me.[and today we see Hollywood making many movies showing that people were
not created on earth but were manufactured in space by intelligent creatures
and programmed to be ready for their return]
He looked and morning came and stars disappeared. He said “how can that be.
I thought these were great, that they were huger than me, and therefore I
thought they were my manufacturer, my creator." Then that night he saw the
moon. He said "that must be my creator." So as things come bigger and
bigger, greater, they become more great.
So every time human beings like to connect themselves to the greatest thing.
So Ibrahim wanted to connect himself to the greatest power, so that by
knowing himself he would know his Creator.
As long as you are connected with someone famous, you become famous. That is
the criteria that people have in their minds. To whom he is connected he is
famous: “I am connected to this president I am famous. I am connected to
this embassy I am famous. I am connected to this shaykh I am famous.” It
depends on your connection. If you are connected to someone important you
become important. This is human nature in this dunya.
I will not be long, but to say that Sayyidina Ibrahim then looked at the
moon, and he saw it bigger, and said, "I am better with this one." Then he
saw it went. Then he saw the sun coming, that is bigger and has more power.
That is my Creator. Then the sun went down behind the horizon. Then he was
thinking again. Then he said, “I am directing my face towards the one who
created the stars, to the one who created the moon, to the one who created
the sun, to the one who created creation. To the one who created me …” and
he was proud of that stamp that Allah stamped on His creation.
Then Allah made him a prophet, because of his sincerity, because of his
belief. Allah chose him as His friend, Khalil ar-Rahman.
We, are so small. Just now we were saying istaghfirullah al-`adheem min
kulli dhanbin `adheem. Just now asking forgiveness from Allah who is
al-`Adheem. There is no description of Allah’s `adhama, His Greatness. You
cannot describe the greatness of that word `adhama. It means, “Ya Rabbee I
am so small that I am nothing and you are the greatest, there is no way to
describe your greatness. Forgive me from the sin that I see myself as
great.”
When we say that our sin is great compared to Allah’s Greatness, then Allah
will erase that sin and waive that sin. That is why it is highly recommended
in Fajr time to recite astaghfirullah al-`adheem min kulli dhambin `adheem.
Compared to His greatness your sin is nothing. Allah swt, we must be happy
that we are Allah’s servant, we are his creation, he created us, we relate
ourselves to Him. Allahuma anta rabbuna wa ana `abduk, O our Lord we are
your servants. We are relating ourselves to him. we have to be happy that he
created us, because by him creating us we became famous, we are related to
him. we have to be very happy because our brand name or the label on our
neck is `abd. He did not only make us `abd, but he made us also to send our
favors on us, as he said in Quran kuntum khayr ummatan ukhrijat lin-naas -
you are the best of nations sent forth to mankind. I made you from the Ummah
of Muhammad (s) you must be proud that you are connected to Muhammad (s).
So when we are from Ummatan-Nabi and we are `abd to Allah swt, we must be
very happy and in sincerity and piety to our Lord, thanking him that He
created us and made us from the nation of the Prophet Muhammad (s). We must
always praise Him, if we praise Him from day to night from beginning of the
dunya to its end it is not enough.
May Allah swt forgive us and accept us to be from the Nation of the Prophet
(s), Ummat an-Nabi and to give us shafa` and to always keep us under the
guidance of our Shaykh Sayyidina Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani.
Bi hurmati 'l-Fatiha.