The Status of the Gatherings of Dhikr
Hadhrat Shaykh Asif Hussain Farooqui
Daamat Barakaatuhum
O Allah, give us the tawfeeq to remember You and send Darood upon Your beloved Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam till the moment that we die. O Allah, grant us the company of Your pious servants, and the gatherings of Your Dhikr. O Allah, grant us the opportunities to travel for the sake of Your Deen and Your dhikr. O Allah, accept our prayers, accept our sitting here today and the dhikr that we have done.
My friends, you may well have felt how blessed the dhikr of Allah is,for the name of Allah is no small matter. Tell me, what can be more blessed and be more effectual than the name of Allah?
Our problem today is that we have strayed. In reality, the cure for every problem and sorrow that exists in the world can be found in Allah's name and His dhikr. But what can we do? Shaytaan and our love for this Dunya have taken us very far from the name of Allah. All Praise is for Allah who gave us the tawfeeq today to sit in His dhikr.Please pray for the whole Muslim Ummah that they too may attain this and be inclined towards and have love for Allah's name and His dhikr.
My friends, the heart that is busy in Allah's dhikr becomes a very precious thing indeed. And because it is such a great thing, Allah subhana wa ta'ala through His Mercy has made it very easy for us, by stating that we can remember Him and mention His name in any manner that we like. In this way, we can attain these blessings without a struggle.
Look how blessed this gathering is!The fact that you have travelled from far and near for this purpose reminds me of a Hadeeth of Allah's Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. When you set off from your homes to attend this gathering of Allah's dhikr, whether it was from London or another place, Allah subhana wa ta'ala appointed Angels as companions for your journey.
The fact that Allah subhana wa ta'ala chooses people as His guests do His dhikr is no minor matter. If you look at any worldly gathering, you will see that the hosts of the gathering will send out personal invitation cards, and in many cases where the host is rich and possibly famous a person can only enter the gathering if they present their invitations at the door. So just imagine how great it is that the King of all kings has invited us to sit here in His gathering. Indeed we should rejoice and be extremely grateful that from all the people in the world, Allah has chosen us for this purpose. For truly, no one has the power to do this of his own accord.It is Allah that guides us to His House and then gives us permission to enter it.
If someone enters your house without your permission, what is the first thing that you would do? You would call the police, and you might beat him and possibly interrogate him, saying, "What are you doing in my house? Are you a burglar or what?" So can you enter someone's house without permission? Absolutely not. In the same way, a person cannot enter Allah's House without His permission.And the way in which Allah grants permission is that He gives permission to the soul, by putting a desire in a person's heart, which in turn gives him an inclination to go and attend the gathering of Allah's dhikr. So the next time you feel this, be aware that Allah has just selected you and sent you an invitation to attend His gathering.
We cannot imagine how great a status Allah is giving us. When Allah was selecting us as His guests, the angels in the heavens were getting restless to the extent that they too begged to attend this gathering, in order to have the opportunity to see these guests of Allah subhana wa ta'ala. And not the angels that beg to attend are chosen.
Do not consider this to be a made-up story, for what I am saying is in accordance with Ahadeeth, and if there is a scholar here amongst us he will verify this. Allah subhana wa ta'ala loves His creation so much that He selects a special group of angels, whose duty is to attend the gatherings of Allah's dhikr, and to search out those people chosen by Allah from the millions of human beings around the world. Furthermore, they are instructed by Allah to go with the utmost respect. We can't imagine how fortunate we are that an assembly of angels is present here in Manchester in this gathering of Allah's dhikr! This is how Allah loves those people who have Iman upon Allah and His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
These angels are instructed in the Heavens that they are to descend upon the gathering of dhikr which they must attend with respect. They listen to what is said and the dhikr that is recited, and as soon as the gathering ends, they respectfully leave and return to the heavens. All Praise is for Allah who has given us angels as companions who join us for the whole duration, watching us and listening to what is said. And like us, they too are here as guests in Allah's House.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala gives a spiritual fragrance to a person when he does the dhikr of Allah. In fact, my friends, there are two things that happen when a person does the dhikr of Allah, and both of them are spiritual. Firstly you become a light and secondly a source of spiritual fragrance. As far as the people of the world are concerned, they neither see any light in you nor do they smell anything different. But it does exist and can only be experienced by heavenly souls and angels. And all this comes because you mentioned the name of Allah. It is the blessing of Allah's name. For the name of Allah to fall upon someone's heart is no minor thing and should never be considered to be so.