Mawlana Shaykh Nazim's Sohba
After Tarawih and Dinner

First Night of Ramadan 1418
Monday, December 29, 1997
Damascus, Syria

Translated from Arabic

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim

We have reached the month of Ramadan. It was established in the land of the Hijaz,then the Mufti announced that they would follow the Hijaz, and so tomorrow is the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan. May it be a great blessing for you, may it be a great honor for you, may it be a great bounty for you, and ­ no doubt ­ Ramadan karim.

Allah Almighty has caused us to live in the end of [Time] and has honored us in our standing for prayer and fasting in the month of Ramadan; the obligation of fasting, and the Sunnah of Tarawih. O servants of Allah! O servants of Allah!

We have reached the first night {of Ramadan} and ­ masha'Allah! ­ we have had [what amounts to] our first pre-dawn meal with our host, although I had asked him beforehand to please make the dinner moderate for us; however ­ subhan Allah! ­ munificence is a trait of the Arabs. He would not have it any other way except to serve us as much as can be served. So it became a pre-dawn meal. Then he brought us desserts.

May Allah grant us the great benefit of standing for prayer in the nights of Ramadan, and fasting its days. Now came this association (sohba ) ­ it is not a lesson (dars)! So the people are not obliged to attend it. However, whoever wishes, let him remember Allah awhile; whoever wishes, let him follow the paths of safety; and let Allah's servants divert themselves also.

The Noble Qur'an is not a story-book. It is the book of Allah which contains everything which the children of Adam need ­ from the beginning of the [earth's] turning to its last revolution, in every time and place. There you will find all that they ask about and ask for, concerning this world and the next.

It is impossible to describe Allah's ancient speech. As we said also, it is not a story-book, although it is full of stories.

Allah Almi;ghty has mentioned the story of our master Musa ­ upon him be peace ­ with our master Shu'ayb ­ upon him be peace. Musa had fled from Egypt to Madyan and then followed whatever followed until he arrived at the home of Shu'ayb. The latter wished, of course according to Allah's order, to give one of his two daughters in marriage to Musa (as).

He said to him: "O Musa, you may serve me either for the duration of eight years or, if you accept, then ten. I only require eight of you and no more; however, if you complete ten it is better. You are free to choose between eight, which suffice us, or ten, which would please me more."¹

When the duration was completed, at the completion of ­ [someone said: "Ten years."] ­ Don't say "ten." It was not mentioned that they were ten years.²

The Prophet ­ blessings and peace be upon him ­ was asked whether Musa (as) had completed the ten years or not. Will one of the Determined Ones remain at eight and not fulfill more complete a term? If he does not complete it, then how will he be among the Determined Ones? But he is a Messenger, a Prophet among the Determined Ones (Ulil `Adham), therefore there is no doubt that he completed the ten years.

Now we address our Arab brethren in particular. We must say that our new Arab brethren ­ in the beginning of this matter until the 1940's the people in all the mosques prayed twenty rak'at. Now, they reduced and reduced until they left only eight. They pray eight rak'ats, then they run away. [Here Shaykh Adnan commented: "Mawlana, that is because they bring them all those serials on television ­ "]

Do you understand or not, O our Arab brethren? Do not exit the mosque after praying eight rak'at, do not run away! It is the right of the Prophet that you should pray twenty rak'at. Pray the more perfect prayer. Complete it till tenty rak'at. If you were able to pray until dawn it would still be little for your Sublime Lord. Why do you diminish it, what is the reason, when you have been created only for worship?³

Why do they run away? You might say: "They pray at home." But group prayer is twenty-seven times higher in merit than individual prayer.

That is what you all, Arab-speaking people, know full well. You can also see that there is no-one except the Arabs who diminish the Tarawih prayer and bring its number down to eight rak'at. For what reason? Would it be too much for your Lord if you prostrated twenty rak'at? But there is no thinking there. Their minds are gone. There is no change nor might except with Allah Almighty.

It would have sufficed if our host had served only three dishes. If he had only served wheat stuffing (farika) and rice and nothing else for the guests, it would have been enough. This is what meets the criteria of their minds. But the presentation of something speaks of the one who presents it. This man would not hear of serving us only three types of food. He had to serve every type that he could.

You might say: "The Prophet (s) did pray eight rak'at." You who say this! The Community of the Prophet for 1,400 years has prayed twenty rak'at. Do not abandon it. Shame on you. If you pray twenty will you have prayed too much? Stand! Ask victory from Allah! They are misers in their prostrations and their worship (bukhala' al-sajda wa al-'ibada ). O Allah, help us!

This story which was mentioned in the Noble Qur'an is about one of the Determined Ones. He completed ten. He did not leave it at eight. He acted in the most perfect manner.

[The sources of the Law are] The Book, the Sunnah, the judgment of the jurists, and the consensus of the Community (kitab - sunnah - qiyas al-fuqaha' - ijma al-umma). These are four sets of evidences against them. Those [naysayers] have strayed. They will never learn. They are a misguided faction (firqa dalla ) who deny the judgment of the scholars and the Consensus. Since long ago, the Community has agreed upon twenty rak'at.

Why then do you run away from the mosques, when the Prophet said: "You must follow the greater mass or larger group?" ('alaykum bi al-sawad al-a'zam ). What will they do? Will they pray 20 rakats or 8? Those [who pray 8] contravene the Prophet's order when he said to stick with the sawad al-a'zam. The Prophet (s) also said: "Whoever shoots at us is not one of us." The meaning of "shoot" here is not only with arrows, but also means: "Those who contravene our order, he is not one of our Community." And from Allah comes all success. Al-Fatiha.

Footnotes

¹Surah 28. Al-Qasas, 27.Pickthall:
he said: Lo! I fain would marry thee to one of these two daughters of mine on condition that thou hirest theyself to me for (the term of) eight pilgrimages. Then if thou completest it will be of thine own accord, for I would not make it hard for thee. Allah willing, thou wilt find me of the righteous.

Yusuf Ali:
He said: I intend to wed one of these my daughters to thee, on condition that thou serve me for eight years; but if thou complete ten years, it will be (grace) from thee. But I intend not to place thee under a difficulty: thou wilt find me, indeed, if God wills one of the righteous.

²[28, 29] Pickthall. Then, when Moses had fulfilled the term...

[28, 29] Yusuf Ali: Now when Moses had fulfilled the term...

³[51, 56]Pickthall - I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.

[51, 56]Y. Ali ­ I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me.

² Ulu al-'azm, "The stout of heart among the messengers" [Pickthall] or "apostles of inflexible purpose" [Yusuf Ali].

³ The Companion Rabi'a said to the Prophet (s): "I ask to be near you in Paradise." The Prophet replied: "Then help me against yourself by prostrating a lot." Narrated by Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, Abu Dawud, and Ahmad from Rabi'a ibn Ka'b al-Aslami.

⁴ Hadith of the Prophet (s) narrated from Ibn 'Umar by Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Ahmad.

⁵ Ibn Hibban narrated in his Sahih from Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah that the Prophet (s) prayed eight rak'at in group prayer followed by witr. Tabarani in his Kabir and Awsat, Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf, and 'Abd ibn Humayd in his Musnad (#653) narrated from Ibn 'Abbas that the Prophet (s) prayed twenty rak'at in group prayer followed by witr. See Nasb al-Raya (1:293) and Majma' al-Zawa'id (3:172).

⁶ In the time of 'Umar [r]: Imam 'Abd al-Razzaq narrated in his Musannaf (4:260) from al-Sa'ib ibn Yazid that he said: "They used to stand in prayer for twenty rak'at in the time of 'Umar." Imam Malik also narrated in his Muwatta' (1:15) from Yazid ibn Ruman that he said: "People used to stand for prayer in Ramadan for twenty-three rak'at in the time of 'Umar." That is: with witr. Similar narrations are found in Bayhaqi's Sunan (2:496), Ibn Qudama in his Mughni (2:167), Samhudi in Tarikh al-Madina (2:731), and the epistle of Shaykh Isma'il al-Ansari entitletd Tashih Hadith Salat al-Tarawih 'Ishrina Rak'at (The Authentication of the Hadith Stating That the Tarawih Prayer is Twenty Rak'at ) in which he refused the claims of Albani that it was weak. In the time of 'Ali [r]: Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami and others said: "'Ali summoned the Qur'an-reciters (qurra' ) and ordered one of them to lead the people for twenty rak'at, after which 'Ali used to lead them in the witr." Narrated by Bayhaqi in the Sunan (2:496), Ibn Abi Shayba in the Musannaf (1:108), Ibn Qudama in the Mughni (2:167), and al-Muttaqi al-Hindi in Kanz al-'Ummal (#23474). In Musnad Zayd (2:423): "'Ali ordered the one who lead the people in prayer during Ramadan to lead them in twenty rak'at of prayer, in which he gave salam every two rak'at, and rested awhile every four."

⁷ There are three authentic hadiths to this effect: (1) "Allah's hand is over the group, follow the largest mass, for verily whoever dissents from them departs to Hell," Narrated from Abu Umama by Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf as well as Tabarani with a sound chain, (2) "My Community shall never agree upon misguidance; therefore, if you see divergences, you must follow the greater mass or larger group." Narrated by al-Hakim from Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn 'Umar, and al-Lalika'i in al-Sunna. (3) Abu Umama's narration from the Prophet (s): "This Community will separate into 73 sects, all of them are in the fire except one which will enter Paradise." We said: "Describe it for us." The Prophet (s) said: "The sawad al-a'zam." Haythami said in Majma' al-zawa'id: Tabarani narrated it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Awsat, and its narrators are trustworthy (thiqat).

⁸ The sawad al-a'zam is a massive gathering of people as established by the following hadith in Tirmidhi (hasan sahih ): Ibn 'Abbas narrated: "When the Prophet was taken up to heaven, he passed by Prophets followed by their nations and he passed by Prophets followed by their groups and he passed by Prophets followed by no one until he saw a tremendous throng of people (sawad 'azim) so he said: "Who are these?" and the answer was: "These are Musa and his nation, but raise your head and look up," whereupon the Prophet said: "(I raised my head and saw] a tremendous throng (sawad 'azim) that had blocked up the entire firmament from this side and that!" And it was said: "These are your Nation." ... Ibn al-Athir said in al-Nihaya fi Gharib al-Hadith in explanation of the words al-sawad al-a'zam : "It means the whole of the people and thier majority (jumlat al-nas wa mu'zamuhum), who are all together in obeying the Sultan and treading the straight path." Al-Asfahani in his Mufradat Alfaz al-Qur'an defined the sawad al-a'zam as the large congregation of people (al-jama'a al-kathira). Nawawi alluded to this meaning in Tahdhib al-Asma' wa al-Lughat (3:160b).