This was delivered by Ustadh Amir Nawaz in Liverpool on the night of the 12^th Rabi’ al-Awwal 1439.

 

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

All praise to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. And salutations and greetings upon our Master Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

I intend to study and teach, take and give a reminder, take and give benefit, take and give advantage, to encourage the holding fast to the book of Allah and the way of his messenger, and calling to guidance and directing towards good hoping for the countenance of Allah and His pleasure, proximity and reward, transcendent is He.

 

Alhamdulilah. All praise is to Allah (Exalted is He) who gave us the tawfiq for gathering in such a gathering tonight. He made for us the mawlid (the birth) of the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) for this year to coincide with the Friday night. Light upon light for the believer.  The Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) mentioned: Increase your prayers upon me on every Friday for verily your salutations reach me directly with the angel.  One of the wisdoms in gathering and sending prayers upon the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) on the night of Friday is that the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) knows your voice, hears your voice, recognises your voice in the dunya before the akhira, recognises your voice on the Day of Judgement when you hope to be gathered with him (prayers and peace be upon him).

What a night it is? The night which the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) was born. We can only look and reflect because the greatest miracle was the Quran but the greatest miracle to the believer is him and everything that he came with (prayers and peace be upon him). So, we ponder and we read the blessed birth of the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) to get a taste of that love for him.

Imam Yusuf al-Nabahani mentions in his book, ‘Hujjatun lil-Alameen’, about the great miracles of the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) and mentions the birth of the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) and how miraculous a birth it was. When we look, he mentions a hadith (Prophetic Tradition) from Ibn Abbas that when the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) was conceived in the womb of Our Mother Aminah (may Allah be pleased with her) in the month of Rajab, Allah orders Ridhwan (the gatekeeper of Paradise) to proclaim to the angels in the heavens that guidance has now been placed on earth residing in the womb of Our Mother Aminah. On a night like this when she was giving birth, they mention the great miracles that occurred that night, speaking about how the animals of Mecca would not sleep that night. And, how the wild animals of the west would move to the wild animals of the east to inform them of the coming of the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him). They tell us how the warm water fish and cold water fish would change and mix to inform each other of the coming of the Messenger (prayers and peace be upon him). Our teachers inform us about that night and only on that night when the planets aligned is on the birth of the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him). A momentous night! A great night! The entire creation is waiting for the birth of the Messenger (prayers and peace be upon him) and there is Our Mother Aminah (may Allah be pleased with her) who is waiting for the birth of the Messenger (prayers and peace be upon him). A group of women enter into where she is about to give birth. Our Mother Aminah says, “Who are you?” She says, “I am Asiyah, the woman of Firawn.” Our Mother Aminah asks, “Who is she?” She says, “I am Maryam, the daughter of Imran.” Who are these women? These are women who have come from Paradise to deliver the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him); on a momentous night like this night when he was born.

The entire cosmos was waiting and we hear when the Messenger of Allah (prayers and peace be upon him) is born, he is born completely clean, circumcised, finger raised to heavens proclaiming tawhid (oneness of God). The last mandate to be placed on earth is with him (prayers and peace be upon him). We see from the Salat al-Tajiyya of Shaykh Abu Bakr bin Salim that we have an understanding of who he is and how his birth was (prayers and peace be upon him).

“His name has been raised and placed in the heavens and written by the Pen and placed in the Preserved Tablet” – Shaykh Abu Bakr bin Salim

What are all these events? This is Allah (Exalted is He) celebrating the birth of His beloved (prayers and peace be upon him).

He (prayers and peace be upon him) is even a mercy sent to the disbelievers on the day of his birth. Abu Lahab is cast into the hell-fire as mentioned in the Qur’an but he releases Thuwaybah (the small reward) and what a small reward she is for him as mentioned in the Sahih Hadith. Every Monday Abu Lahab’s punishment is lessened due to his happiness which caused him to release Thuwaybah because the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) was born.

One of the teachers of Damascus, Shaykh Nasr ud-Deen, mentions in his poem:
This disbeliever is cast into hell-fire but it comes to us in a narration that every Monday his punishment is lessened due to his happiness at the birth of Ahmad.
So, what is your opinion about a slave who in his entire life is happy with Ahmad and dies on Islam itself?

What is your opinion about that type of slave? All we do as our dear teachers mention is share in that love affair between Allah and His Beloved (prayers and peace be upon him). That is all we are doing by gathering here. None of our praises, none of our odes and none of our prayers upon him are anything in comparison to the prayer of Allah (Exalted is He) upon His Beloved (prayers and peace be upon him).

Imam Sakhawi in his book mentions the hadith (Prophetic Tradition): “The coolness of my eyes was placed in the prayer.” Some of the ulema (scholars) mention this as the five daily prayers. Imam Sakhawi says there are other opinions of the ulema (scholars) such as God’s salat (prayer) upon the Prophet; that is where the coolness of the eyes of the Messenger of God are (prayers and peace be upon him). That is where the coolness of the eyes of the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) are when the angels send prayers upon him. Likewise, God-willing, our prayers upon him.

We leave with a final tradition of the Messenger (prayers and peace be upon him) as no doubt this night and this month are for us to connect to the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him). No doubt, we take heed from the salaf (righteous predecessors) that went before us. We take heed from their advice. You do not need a daleel (proof) for love. Zayd ibn Harith; we look at him when he is in the custodianship of the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) and he is known as Zayd ibn Muhammad which he later has to change due to lineage. The ulema (scholars) mentioned he is honoured because he is called Zayd ibn Muhammad but God (Exalted is He) honours him by only mentioning him from the Companions (May Allah be pleased with them) in the Qur’an. We look at him as a young boy when he is in the custodianship of the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) and his paternal father and uncle come. They request him from the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) and say they will pay any demanded ransom. The Messenger of God says, “Call the boy. Let the boy choose. If he chooses you, he can go free. If he chooses me, he stays with me.” Zayd ibn Harith comes and the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him) explains to him that this is his blood father and these are his blood fathers that have come for him. He (prayers and peace be upon him) gave him a choice of going with them or staying with him. In the hadith it mentions, Zayd ibn Harith is looking at his paternal father and looking at the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him). Then, he looks at his paternal father and then looks at the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him). Then, he looks to his paternal father and then looks at the Messenger of God (prayers and peace be upon him). He says, “How can I choose anyone after you?”
How can we choose anyone after him (prayers and peace be upon him)? How dare we choose anyone after him (prayers and peace be upon him) as our example?

Allah says in the Qur’an: Verily, in the Messenger of God, you have the most perfect of examples… [33:21]

Allah does not say qudwa but uses uswa: uswa is an example you cannot see but follow. Qudwa is an example that you see in front of you and Jazak Allah Khayr, we have them in front of us.

 

Any mistakes, errors or misinterpretations of words are from me. Please correct me when you spot any mistakes.