Gems Of Ramadan ✔

DAY 12 - A FINGER WORTH MORE THAN 1000 SOLDIERS

Al-Haafidh Abdul-Ghani al-Maqdisi was an Imaam of Hadith and he was known to the laymen and the 'Ulamaa. He related to everyone and everyone liked him. A man who had a soft heart and eyes that were always crying from the fear of Allah, and a man who spoke the truth. People like this 'Aalim get envied because there are governments that pour and pump millions to promote certain characters so those characters can promote their agenda with unlimited resources that they have, yet you find a true 'Aalim who may not even have the provision of one day gain the love and attention of masses. Sometimes it may not be masses, but they are more effective than the masses their opponents have.

One day and precisely on the twenty fourth day of Dhul-Hijjah 594 AH in a Halaqah in Damascus he was teaching, two men approached him to harm him. He was teaching a class of 'Aqeedah. Al-Khateeb Dhiyaa' ad-Deen and al-Qaadhi Ibn az-Zukki went and informed the leader that this man is deviant, so the leader invited them and let them have a debate and our scholar here won the debate. That angered those two Ash'aris more so they went to the ruler again and kept instigating and instigating until the leader got fed up and he said Abdul-Ghani al-Maqdisi leave my country. He left and on his way leaving he made Du'aa on those two Ash'aris. Al-Qaadhi Ibn az-Zukki was a judge and within days he went from being a judge to being an insane man who would have crazy outbursts in the streets and died days after (and so did his partner).

Wallahi many stories one can go on, but let me tell you this personal one that comes to my mind a lot. When I was a teenager, my father was giving a Khutab in a local Masjid here and a Masjid he helped found when he was a youth (when he first came to this country). In the 1980s, Khomeini was so popular and he was like the Messiah that was going to liberate the Muslim world, return Falasteen and do everything. It was rare to enter a house of people from the Sunnah who did not have his picture, may Allah curse his soul. At that time my father invited a Shaykh named Ihsaan Ilaahi Dhaheer from Pakistan. He was a reviver in exposing Shi'ah and he was possibly killed by them soon after that (approximately a year after he visited us). After Ihsaan Ilaahi Dhaheer left to Pakistan, he was attacked by the Shi'ah because they are a majority in the area. They spoke ill about him and then in the Masjid a man who attributes himself to the Sunnah said derogatory words about Aishah. So my father hit the pulpit and explained, and for a fact I know it was the first time anyone exposed the belief of the Shi'ah on a pulpit in the United States of America. May Allah grant my father a long life full of deeds. He deemed it necessary because it was very normal back then to see someone tell you I was Sunni and now I am Shi'ah.

After the Khutbah of my father, the president of the society deemed what my father did in talking about the Shi'ah as Fitnah. He banned my father from a Masjid my father established and he was among the people my father brought into the Masjid. He went on to cause more harm and one day when he did some certain type of harm to us, I heard my father say may Allah blind his eyes. And by the way because of that Khutbah, until today my father is not permitted to give Khutbah in that Masjid and he was a founder of that Masjid when it was built. The days went on, the months on, the years went on and we lost touch with that man. Everyone goes on his own way and we forgot about him. Fifteen years later Wallahil-'Adheem I was in a cemetery burying the mother of one of my students, I was on a higher area speaking over the grave and there was the crowd of people there, and from a distance a blind man comes and he approaches with a young boy leading him. When I saw him as I was speaking, it distracted me and I was lost for words. After the burial I immediately headed to this man, I said Salaamu 'Alaykum and he said 'Alaykumus-Salaam. I said are you so and so? He said yes, who are you? I said I am Shaykh Musa's son and he said oh. He possibly forgot what he did and after a superficial talk he left and I left.

I went to my father and I said do you know who I saw? I told my father and he said Alhamdulillah, he was actually happy that I met that man. I said to my father, you are not surprised he is blind? He said no, why should I be? I said you made Du'aa on him one day. He said when so I reminded him of the details and he said Wallahi you are right, he remembered when he harmed us and he did this and that. Of course after that my father has forgiven him and forgiven every Muslim who did way more than that to us, but the point is the arrows reach Allah. Had I not met him at the cemetery I would have thought oh he did what he did, we made Du'aa and that is it, but the arrows of Du'aa float in the sky for the command of Allah to say now is the right time. It is not up to you when the time is, it is up to Allah.

Do you think what is going on in the world today (from the east to the west and from the north to the south) is by chance? Wallahi all it takes is the Du'aa of one, one finger to Allah at the right moment and with the sincere heart will decimate nations.
Ash-Shaafi'ee said:
أتهزأ بالدعـاء وتزدريـه ، وما تدري بما صنع الدعاء
سهام الليل لا تخطي ، ولكن لها أمد وللأمـد انقضـاء

You mock Du'aa and you spurn it, you do not know what Du'aa has done. The arrows of the night do not miss, rather they have a destiny and they will reach it.

Before I conclude I must mention this, I cannot go without mentioning this one. In the second volume of Sifat As-Safwah (صفة الصفوة) and the sixth volume of Seera A'laam An-Nubulaa' (سير أعلام النبلاء), Qutaybah Ibn Muslim al-Baahili went in an army to Khurasaan to fight the Turks. He gets shocked, the army opposing him is ten times more than his army. It is a horrific scene, so he shouted where is Muhammad Ibn Waasi', where is Muhammad Ibn Waasi'? The soldiers went out to seek what their general is asking for, they wanted to go and find this man. They found him and he was leaning on a spear raising his finger, looking at his finger and at the sky. Qutaybah said now it is time to move on. Now it is time to move on, that is all he needed to know. When he knew the status of him, that is all he needed to know. He said the finger of Muhammad Ibn Waasi' is more beloved to me than one thousand wielding swords in the hands of one thousand strong soldiers. That little finger is stronger than a thousand soldiers. It may be a finger made of blood, veins and bones, but when it connects in Du'aa with Allah it is dangerous. After the victory, the general went to his soldier and he asked him what were you doing when you were raising your finger? He said I was connecting the path. He sure was connecting the path, not a worldly path but the path between them and Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala.

Now is the season of Du'aa. Whatever is on your mind (personal or for the Ummah), do it now, and you have a duty on you to not forget your Muslim brothers who are oppressed and hurt in your Du'aa.
لا تسألنَّ بني آدم حاجـــة
Do not ask the sons of Adam anything.
وسل الذي أبوابه لا تحـــجب
And ask the One who does not close His door. I close my door, Allah does not close His door.
الله يغضب إن تركت سؤاله
Allah gets mad if you do not ask Him.
وبني آدم حين يُسأل يغضب
And the sons of Adam when asked get mad. Like me, you ask me and I am going to get mad but Allah is different.

And for Allah is the highest description.
(Surat an-Nahl: 60)

Please share this with your family and friends. :)

Jazak Allah khair.