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WELCOME TO |
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MADRASA AL-HIDAYA |
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MUSLIM SCHOOL OF RIGHT GUIDANCE |
Bismillāh ar-Rahmān ar-Rahīm
MANBA‘ AL-IMDĀD: A FOUNTAIN OF HELP
A Compendium of the talks of:
AL-HABĪB AHMAD MASH-HŪR BIN TĀHĀ AL-HADDĀD
Rady Allāhu ‘Anhu
Compiled by his grandson:
As-Sayyid Muhammad bin Mustafā Bū Numay
Rahmatullāhi ‘alayh
In the words of my master, my grandfather, may Allah spread his benefit, when he talked about exertion. He said, may Allah be pleased with him.
The man exerts for his personal benefit, for his religion, for his worldly life, and for his Hereafter. And his base (lower) self does not desire anything except its passions, so it exerts for that. So, in this case, whoever began to battle his lower self, it is the greater battle. As it has been narrated in the Hadith (Saying) from the Prophet, may Allah bless him, “We have returned from the smaller battle to the bigger battle”, and it is the battle against the lower self. This is because the nature of the lower self is to command to evil, as Allah the Exalted says (in the Holy Qur’an):
Indeed, (man’s lower) self commands (him) towards evil. (12:53)
So it needs remedy and exertion. So from here we realize that exertion against the lower self requires lowliness and to follow the Commands of Allah, the Glorified and the Exalted. And for this, Allah said:
And (as for) those who strive in Our Cause, We surely guide them in Our Paths, and indeed, Allah is with the virtuous. (29:69)
And (as for) those who strive in Our Cause,
that is for Us (Allah), and for Our Approval and to gain reward from Us,
We surely guide them in Our Paths,
that is, the Path of guidance, and the Path of thankfulness, and the Path of gnosis, and the Path of knowledge, and the Path of excellence,
and indeed, Allah is with the virtuous.
And who is the virtuous (Muhsin)?
The Muhsin is the one:
who worships Allah as if he sees Him, but if he cannot see Him, (he knows that) indeed He (Allah) sees him.So if man is forever with Allah, Allah is with him.
And in a Hadith (Saying) from the Prophet, may Allah bless him, that indeed Allah, the Glorified and the Exalted, says (in a Hadith Qudsi):
And I sit with whoever remembers Me (does my Dhikr / Zikr).
It means when you do Allah’s Dhikr, He sits with you. O you with a head blackened with sin. O you lacking in good manners with Allah. Allah in His Majesty and in His Greatness, sits with you. Who will you become? But with His Mercy for us and His love for us, He is Kind to us to the extent that when we do His Dhikr, it is as if He is sitting with us. It is enough nobility for you that Allah sits with you. You come back to yourself and there is none like you, not a human, nor a jinn, no one either near or far.
And in another narration (Hadith Qudsi):
And I am with My servant when he remembers Me, and moves his lips (in remembrance). So, if he remembers Me by himself, I remember him by Myself, and if he remembers Me in a gathering, I remember him in a gathering better than that.
And all that is attributed to exertion. So man has to battle his lower self. As the poet said:
Beware of your base lower self, you are not safe from its dangers
As the base self is more evil than seventy devils.My master continued, may Allah be please with him.
The Majestic Word (of Dhikr) is the Word that is light on the tongue but its effect in strengthening Faith is very great. So man has to recite Laa ilaaha Illallah (none is to be worshipped but Allah) 360 times every day, and if he increases it to 1000 times or 1200 times, that is even better. And he will have fulfilled all the requirements. No one should weaken in this Dhikr, or as he said (in his own words).