Seeking Knowledge

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa Raḥmatullāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu Billāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. Bismillāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi Rasūlillāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad. Ṭarīqatunā aṣ-Suḥbah wa l-Khayru fi l-Jam‘iyyah.

AlhamduliLlah. Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says in ḥadīth, when people are gathering for knowledge of Allāh ﷻ, Allāh ﷻ blesses them, showers them with His ﷻ mercy, He ﷻ pleases them and He ﷻ mentions them in heavens.

For this, we are happy with this meeting. It is only for the sake of Allāh ﷻ. We gathering are here to learn something, to get blessing from Allāh ﷻ. Allāh ﷻ is not rejecting anybody coming to His ﷻ door. We are under the nazar (gaze) of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla, Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam and Awliyā’uLlah. They are all happy with this majlis; majlis of mentioning Allāh ﷻ, mentioning His ﷻ name and asking from Him ﷻ all good things.

To be Talib ‘Ilim (Seekers of Knowledge) is a big thing for mu’mins, for believers. Because the order of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla is each one must learn. So Allāh ﷻ gave some people mind, they learn a little bit. Some of them more, some of them even more. So as much as the capacity of each one is, he must look for the knowledge of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla.

‘Ilim, knowledge is important in Islām because the first order to Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam was: read, ‘iqra. They were making madrasah from the beginning of the time in which Islām spread, especially in Basrah and Baghdad, and other cities also but these are the famous ones. They have love for knowledge. Allāh ﷻ gave them, subhan’Allāh, these people to have love, extraordinary love to learn, to help people. Because it was the earlier days of Islam, and they must control everything that Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam said to teach us. They were very interested to be Talib ‘Ilim, a student for ‘Ilim.

There were madrasahs. Each madrasah – the student coming from very far or near places or anywhere, there was a place for the student to stay in this madrasah. And then one year, two years, until seven years maybe, a student was

going to this madrasah which is a school, and he becomes an ‘alim after this. They were teaching new children. And from them, Islām was growing, in all knowledge; not only religious knowledge, also medical, like science, like everything they were teaching in this school.

As we were saying, subhan’Allah Allāh ﷻ has a ḥikmah, wisdom for everything. Because in these days, you cannot find people like people of those days: very hard working, studying, learning, understanding, not only reading and writing.

One of them is Tirmidhī, Sayyidina. He is a big muḥaddith. Muḥaddith means who collects ḥadīth from Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam and makes it like a book for Muslims to learn from this ḥadīth. Tirmidhī was in Central Asia, in one city. He was a shepherd there and he had a love to learn from Prophet’s ﷺ religion. He was a boy, maybe 10 years old or 11 or 12; something like this. He had two friends also. All of them love to learn. They came together once and said, “We must go.” They spoke, spoke, and after that they said, “We must go to learn. To leave here and leave everything, we must go to the madrasah to learn.” And they were preparing everything to go out from the city. When he came to his house, he prepared and was going, his mother asked him, “Where are you going?” “I am going to the madrasah with my friends to learn religion, to learn knowledge.” She said, “I am ill. There’s nobody to look after me except you. How will you leave me and go?” She said so to her son, Imam Tirmidhī. He was a boy, maybe 12 years old or 13. She said to him, “Where are you going?” He said, “I am going to study in another city.” She said, “How will you leave me here? I am ill, I am sick. There’s nobody to look after me except you. How will you leave me and go?” He said, “Okay, I’m not going. I will look after you.” And his friends, two friends, went to learn. So he was sad and was crying in a secret place so that nobody sees him crying because he couldn’t go with them. When he was crying like this, one good-shaped man came to him; a little bit older. He said, “Why are you crying?” He said, “I want to go but my mother, I couldn’t leave her. She is ill. So for her sake, I will leave studying. And I’m waiting here with the sheep.” This old man told him, “Okay, I know something I can teach you. If you like, I come every day for three hours. I teach you, 3-4 hours, as much as you can learn. If you like, I can do this.” He was happy. He said, “Okay, I will learn from you.” So every day, he was learning from him. After three years, he finished. He said, “When I finished, I knew the teacher was Khidr ʿalayhi s-salām.”

Because of respecting his mother and loving knowledge, he became one of the biggest ‘ālims in the Islamic world. His book, ḥadīth book has been read all

these years; reading from more than a thousand years and they will be read until Qiyamah. Billions of people have knowledge from him. He was also, of course, following taṣawwuf, which is the heart of Islām. With his knowledge, he knows he must follow so he was following. […]

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 28 October 2024/ 25 Rabih Al-Akhir 1446 Zawiyah Masjid Raya Pondok Indah – Jakarta, Indonesia