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How To Erase Your Sins
Sayyid Shaykh Muhammad Al Yaqoubi (May Allah preserve him)
On
Saturday 6th July, Harrow Central Masjid & Islamic Centre.
Opening supplication and dua.
Brothers and sisters Asalaaamu’Alaykum
You have come to listen to a subject on erasing our sins and how to do this.
I am not going to do a talk on this subject because of emergent thing that has happened and I have 2
things in front of me that I would like to discuss.
The people of Homs are in urgent need of your duas, a city has been under siege for over a year now
and the army of the Syrian government has been bombarding the city for all these days and months
after another.
There is almost no building that hasn’t been hit.
Scud missiles, artillery and new type of technology and aircraft have been used with huge troops
approaching the town and they are now a few metres away from Sayyiduna Khalid ibn Walid (May
Allah be pleased with him)
You may not realise the danger the falling of Homs to this regime which is backed by Hezbollah and
Iran.
I received the fatwa after fajr, a question people asking, are we allowed to dig out the grave of
Sayyiduna Khalid ibn Walid (May Allah be pleased with him) and take his body and hide it.
Hezbollah have prepared a special squad to take. They are approximately 70-100 metres away from
the blessed shrine.
The regime is expecting Homs to fall soon to which Hezbollah are waiting to take over the masjid and
take the body of Sayyiduna Khalid ibn Walid (May Allah be pleased with him) back to Iran for
revenge.
Who was the major factor for the defeat of the Persian Empire
You wouldnt know they would do with the holy body, these sahaba are the best men after the
Prophets and Messengers of Allah.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) named him as the sword of Allah.
We urge you to make dua for Homs, the people to be victorious, angels to support them and
miracles to happen at their blessed hands.
These people who are fighting in Homs are not Wahabbies though people may think that.
Not all wahabbies are kuffar.
They are some think that when Allah sits on the throne like a human being – this is kufr.
If they say Allah is above the throne – they are not kuffar.
You need to distinguish
Like the Shias they are not kuffar like our scholars have said in the past 1400 years about the shias
being allowed to do hajj because they fall within the fold of islam.
Those who deny that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (May Allah bless his soul) is not a a companion then they
are kuffar.
Those who accuse Sayyidah Aisha (May Allah bless her soul) then they are kuffar.
But apart from this, then there is generalisation who insults the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon
him).
She was defended by Allah in the Quran
However, we dont like generalisation in this regards
We need to make alot of dua for the people of Hims
We are fighting a new battle, we need the dua of every brother, sister, believer against these people
who are fighting.
Duas is stronger than any other weapon.
If Hims falls then it is very dangerous as it is the central to the plan of the country, it may cut the
road up north and south. It will allow the regime to expand its plan to build an alawite state.
Our brothers who are fighting in Homs are Sufis, they are lovers of the Messenger of Allah (Peace be
upon him) and the lovers of the Awliya, those who go around and say that the Syrian uprising is an
uprising of extremist then it is not, it is an uprising of the Syrian people..
I am in regular contact with them all the time.
The nature of the Syrian people that they are sunnis and most of them are either hanafis or shafis.
They have the best of shrines with the blessed head of Sayyiduna Yahya (Peace be upon him) in
Damascus, Ummayad Masjid, whose shrine was frequently visited by the Sahabah.
We have Sayyiduna Zakariyah (peace be upon him) in Aleppo which was looted and burnt down by
the regime.
We have the cave of Sayyiduna Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) where he worshipped Allah.
We have also another cave of Sayyiduna Ibrahim in Damascus,
The maqam of the North – Raqqah in the east of Aleppo
Imam Nawawi
Abu Yazid Bistami, Shaykh al akbar in Damascus
We have approximately 300 shrines of the Sahabah in Syria.
Including the wives Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), the mother of the believers
Over 10,000 sahabah entered Damascus.
We have in Jadha – the shrine of Ibrahim Adham – the sultan of the aesthetics
We have many shrines of the Awliya
Some of the top in the world.
In some of the top ulema
We make dua for the Syrian people for our brothers in Homs and give you understanding of what is
going on due to the propaganda of the regime.
This is beyond your imagination of what is going.
The other piece of news I wanted to share that I received last midnight of the death and passing of
the great man of Allah – Shaykh Salim Hamami (May Allah bless his soul)
He is a man of 108 years
I thought I should give him alittle of justice of his rank in this world.
The subject of erasing your sins can be discussed any moment and I feel we need to have models in
our lives to follow
We need to see people how righteous they are and how they become close to Allah with their dua
answered and how they loved the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings upon him)
The story of this man is amazing
It is our habit in Damascus to do this as it happened in Damascus when was I teaching the book
Risala Qushariya when we heard the passing of Shaykh Ahmad Habbal, I stopped the class and made
a talk about his life
The real fiqh is the fiqh of the time
The real beauty is the beauty of the time.
We learn this from the shariah rulings.
If there is a conflict of 2 things then we take the one that can be postponed over than cant be
postponed.
There are things which have a replacement and things which dont have replacement
For example wudu, when you cant find the replacement then you go to tayyamum.
If someone is a doctor and operating on a serious surgery for long hours that cant be interrupted,
then he doesn’t have time to pray, the amount he leaves the patient is at high risk then he is
forbidden to stop the operation because prayer goes and can be replaced with Qada with no burden
of sin.
But people lives cant be replaced this is the real fiqh of the real time – prioritisation.
We learn in this in tassawuff – a sufi is the son of the time.
Your bound by your time – it means dont live in the past or history.
Tell what you are not what you were.
Tell me what you do now and not in the future – we all give promises.
We cant confirm that we will live tomorrow.
What happens has happened and what comes is part of the unseen
Your duty is now
The people who rely on the past become story tellers
Shaykh Salim who passed away was a hafiz of the Quran and great man of Allah.
He was a great lover of the Messenger of Allah and a great lover of the Ahle Bayt.
A great man of righteous, wara, and taqwa
A great man of istiqama and a great example for guidance
He was a great faqih of the soul
Fiqh of the soul which you memorise and excel in the others to become great and other is the
practice of it
Faqihul nafs which he surpassed
He is a great scholar of dream interpretation – huge authority
He was a great man of Allah and of the Shadhili Way
He passed away in Medina; his children arranged for him to leave a few weeks ago and wished to be
buried in baqi sharif.
He had immense love for the Messenger of Allah.
I have known for him many years of my life.
I am the age of 51 ½ and I have known for 45 years
He maintained prayers on the Messenger of Allah for most his life except the last 3 years or so when
he fell ill to which he stuck to the recitation of the Quran throughout the day and salwat for specific
times
His wish was to die in Medina and be buried in Baqi Sharif.
This wasn’t expecting to happen since the uprising against the regime.
He visited the Messenger of Allah in the last 2 days of his life which was the farewell visit.
One righteous lady in Shamm who saw the Messenger of Allah in a dream. I called upon Shaykh
Salim.
Baqi is now banned to be buried but they got special visit from the government for him to be buried
there.
His funeral prayer was after salatul asr in Medina Sharif.
He died after asr yesterday.
He was well known for the last remaining student of Shaykh Baddruddin Al Hassani (one of the few)
Shaykh Badruddin didn’t author many books but his student are widespread and died in 1354 (80
years ago)
People still speak about him everyday.
There is no scholar of Damascus now can say that Shaykh Badruddin didn’t do him a favour.
All of our teachers and they were his students.
They received alot of knowledge from him
My father visited him and his lectures but was too young to study under him but he finished his
studies with the elder students of his.
He lived 88 years
There was no scholar that he wasn’t his student
We have this example in our history of a few teachers.
For example the author of Al Targheeb Al Targeeb – Al Hafiz Zakiudeen Abdul Azeem Al Munziri of
Egypt.
He was a contemporary of Imam Abu Hasan Ash Shadhili
He lived so long that everyone was his students
Shaykh Zakiriyah Al Ansar - a famous scholr and sufi, fiqh, qirat, hadith etc...
He died 926 after 100 years of age – everyone was his students or students of students.
They teach at the age of 20
When I was teaching at the age of 20 – most of my students were double my age but passed away
later on.
In some of my students became great scholars
My father had this also
I studied at the age of 5, 6 or 8
I had similar things to my father
I remember when I was a young boy and my father in his 50s, he had students at the age of 70, 80,
90 or even 100 years of age.
They saw scholar at their time and never saw any scholar that matched to my father, Shaykh Ibrahim
al Yaqoubi.
They joined my father’s class after their Shaykh passed away
The likes of Shaykh tilimsani who told his students to go and study with my father after his death.
My father was 35-40 – people studied under him at the age of 60 or above and many of them passed
away before he did
It happened to me that I have some students who passé away and were much older than me and are
scholars
Shaykh Badruddin was a great man of knowledge and Allah
He made men not books
His impact in Damascus in the Middles East – people have great pride in meeting his students and
take ijazah off them
He memorised the 6 books of hadith
He hardly spoke
His students would read to him and if anything ambiguous then he would point out to the student to
pick up the book to a certain page and read upon it and he knows where the answer is in the book.
The secret of his futuh was salat al nabi (peace be upon him)
He secluded for several years and halwa and just did salawat.
If we understand to which Shaykh Salim believed that sending salawat upon the Messenger of Allah
was a source of relief for all calamities, it sufficed for food and drink.
He strongly believed in this
The people of Homs are fighting.
One of the Shaykh Saleem beautiful words that he narrated from his teachers, Shaykh Muhammad
Uthman, the war with the palms is strnger than the words of the swords.
War with the palms are stronger than the wars of the arm – meaning that open your hands and
make dua.
Dua is strnger than fighting with arms – it doesn’t mean you leave arms but it is stronger than arms,
you need the means
Allah is the cure for all things like you would take medicine but Allah gives tawfiq
Allah creates the healing
Shaykh Badruddin was amazing in his istiqama
My father told of him from his father, that for 50 years he didn’t change the way he walked from the
masjid and back
He wouldnt change the way or the road
My father did the same.
Shaykh Saleem, his major features of him being imam of the masjid that for 50 years he didn’t miss
prayer except for hajj or illness.
They are excused for illness.
Whereever he was in town, he would lead the prayer in the masjid even if he was at a gathering or
mawlid sharif.
He was something amazing with someone with so much punctuality
We compete and be happy for the dunya because Allah has answered our duas.
You want to know your potion before Allah then it doesn’t matter that you love Allah or not, what
matters that Allah loves you.
No Muslim behaves like this that they dont love Allah.
What matters Allah loves you
How do you know – look what Allah guided you to do., what are you doing?
Your works and words and tell you of Allah
Allah loves you when you are reading fajr and isha prayer in jamat every day
We know by the signs
If you pay zakat, dont backbiting, lower your gaze, and you get up for tahhajud then these are signs
of Allah from Allah
We measure our signs by the duas we make and get success in dunya like in marriage, business, gifts
etc...
We compete and we are proud of the dunya, these are tests of the dunya
If you want signs then see what you are doing.
If you haven’t missed prayer for the last 40 days then I say congratulations.
If you are man of ilm sharif then you are doing khatam of Quran then I say Mubarak to you.
If you haven’t missed any sunnahs in the last 40 days then I say Mubarak to you.
These are according to peoples ranks and levels even for the common people.
A common may miss some sunnah but he shouldn’t miss fard.
Leaving sunnah leads to leaving fard and shaitan will get at you with the sunnahs first.
When we speak about such men then we speak with great admiration and respect for these men.
The longest ibadah that takes us the longest time is hajj due to being in the state of ihram especially
if you are doing Hajj Qiran.
It may last for a month or two.
So this is the longest but the istimqa is longer – it takes a lifetime.
Istiqama – Allah says – this verse is amazing – those who indeed say Allah is sufficient then keep
upright! What shall be on them?
Angels come upon them, this is beyond imagination –
They shall have no fear or grieve, they get glad tiding of Jannah, we are their supports in this world
and the hereafter, you will have what you desired and you get everything that you asked for.
See the sequence of the Quran al Karim
Who has better thing to say that a person who calls to Allah, acts righteously and say he is a Muslim
You say this when you are really proud.
Call to Allah – you need to distinguish between the calling and working to Allah.
People who call for the way to Allah are the Awliya and Ulema are the ones who work.
The Gnostics and Awliya – call to Allah
Why – there is a huge difference – a caller to Allah – they will take you there directly and who calls
you to the way to Allah is a way which is longer to Allah.
You find alot of obstacles and trials
In Sufism you have guides who show you the way.
The guides show you the Way to Allah in the shortest root possible.
The shortest way – take right and keep straight.
You wont in google maps but in great imams like Shaykh Saleem
Guidance is important.
It is an obligation to have a Shaykh
50 years ago in Damascus – every family had a Shaykh regardless if they missed their awrad or not.
There is always a Shaykh they refer to in all matters of their life
People were well guided but until socialism came then things started to change ways of people.
Nowadays we have more thinkers than real scholars.
Calamities of this ummah – we have more fikr than fiqh - than anything else – times have changed,
Instead of Jamias we have Jamiah
To think is ok but this is an instrument but to which we use for every element and discipline but to
replace fiqh by thinking then you are destroying the foundations of the deen.
So now we have fiqh al islami applied by laypersons in our deen
Fiqh is sharaih not based on people analysis
Instead of seeking knowledge in Masjids which took place in the last 14 centuries, it is now being
replaced in Universities.
This has changed – instead of guides and ulema – we have PHD holders
Who wouldnt mind of not combining ilm and amal or being concerned with the righteousness of
their students or even their aqeeda.
A class wont pass with the correct aqeeda.
My father would spend as long as possible with a student if he had a doubt about the aqeeda of Ahle
Sunnah Wal Jammah.
He would stay for the dars or even for a dars for the student to understand
Imam Shafi repeated a fiqh issue to his student Rabi’e, 40 times until he undertstoond
They dont do this at university
If I know my student is not the correct of aqeeda of Ahle Sunnah Wal Jammah then I will not
continue to teach him or her.
My father held a few classes in his home and in the masjid. Sometime in the masjid for a few
moments.
I studied Hashiya Ibn ABideen whom he taught 2 great Shaykhs which I accompanied in the
Darwarshiyya Masjid.
It wasn’t for public, the door use to be closed after salah.
My father use to teach Makkan Revelations and Al Ibirz of ibn Dabbagh and the class was private
because it needs a certain on knowledge.
It goes little by little.
They dont teach the book of endowment if someone hasn’t studied book of purification in fiqh
It goes little by little.
In that way people grew up around the ulema by a light and barakh because of the ulema.
My father use to tell me about people when they visit him of their success in the future due to the
knowledge and rank
27 years have passed now since the death of my father and I see the truth of what my father had
said to me.
He told me about young scholars and their hearts were exposed to him in a good in them.
We judge people of what they say and not in their hearts
Allah gives the Awliya signs and indications.
Shaykh Amin Suwayd accompanied Shaykh Badruddin – he attended his classes and told us stories
Shaykh Badruddin dua was always answered and we have muttawatir narrations.
Someone ask Shaykh Badruddin towards his end of the life, someone asked in a dar, make dua for us
and he said May Allah forgive you and people when they see you that they forgive you.
This was a beautiful dua by Shaykh Badruddin
May Allah forgive you, the people who see you are forgiven and the people who you see, May Allah
forgive you all.
Throughout the life time was this dua
Shaykh Saleem was the one who attended at this dars when this happened, the rest passed away.
Shaykh Saleem was around 30 years of age, he over lived most people and ask people to forgive
them
If people saw Shaykh Saleem then that it means the dua of Shaykh Badruddin had reached you.
Imagine how many have seen Shaykh Saleem and benefited from the duas and duas of Shaykh
Badruddin.
This is one great bounty of Shaykh Saleem living in this age.
He lived 80 years after Shaykh Badridden
According to mustala hadith – if 50 years has passed after your Shaykh has passed away that means
you have the highest isnad.
When a person reached the age of 90 – he is known as an aging person
Shaykh Saleem was born in 1908
1326 AH – 108 years
His children told me – he was born before this but this is according to his ID.
So he may be older than this.
It was habit during the Ottoman time to delay the registration of new born to hide them from
military soldiers
The Ottoman time people were killed by the Russians and muslims fought jihad.
My father had an paternal uncle who died in Jihad, his name was Sayyid Hassan Al Yaqoubi.
He died in the Ottoman Empire – he was a commander and this why we hate the Russians
No one did so much harm to Sunni Islam as the Russians and Soviet Union
They were always alliance for 400 years back or more – since the establishment of the Fatimid State
– just war after war against the Ottomans much more than the Europeans etc...
The damage came more from the east than the west.
Shaykh Saleem after the death of Shaykh Badruddin he went to other scholars particularly Shaykh
Ameen Suwayd
This is one of the best scholars and he went to India
Shaykh Amin mastered 40 discplines and was a great man of Allah and Ahle Bayt
He taught in Iraq and Al Quds Sharif.
He went to India when someone said to him that arabs had lost knowledge.
So he told him that he was a student from the ulema of sham and he wanted to challenge the
scholars of India so they prepared the challenge for him.
We dont have record where this took place or the Shaykhs.
They came and raised questions to them – he answered all of them.
He put 40 questions of all disciplines – he asked for the reasoning and logic behind the question
He spent 2 hours just relating the questions
After this – they all came to kiss his hand and honoured
Shaykh Amin was highly knowledgeable and memorised the Makkan revelations.
My father told me that he inherited this from him. They spent their time in the Darwarshiyya.
After Shaykh Amin son was appointed as his heir but couldn’t study with anyone as no one was at his
calibre.
When he heard my father had been appointed as an imam of the masjid he then went to study
under him.
My father was said to be the successor of Shaykh Amin
He was in deep in knowledge.
Shaykh Saleem benefited from him alot.
Shaykh Saleem benefited from Shaykh Hashimi and Shaykh Jafar Al Kittani
Shaykh Saleem accompanied Shaykh Muhammad Uthman who initiated the majlis of Salat Ala Nabi
by Shaykh Ahmad Habbal – Have you heard of him?
There was a special session for this – Shaykh Uthman started these lessons
His 2 top students were Shaykh Saleem and Shaykh Ahmad Habbal
These were his reference and top students
Shaykh Saleem teachers – Shaykh Hasan Habanaka
He accompanied them for khidman
If you cant be a student of knowledge then be a servant to the seekers of knowledge.
One of your students or children will become a seeker of knowledge or even a scholar
Just do khidmah and you will become a scholar
What did Sayyiduna Anas do the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) – he did khidma and
became a scholar of his time, in hadith. His offspring and every generation was a scholar.
Shaykh Saleem told me about Shaykh Muhammad Uthman – he always did prayers on the
Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
Whenever he was struggling in business he did salawat
Someone getting sick then he did salawat.
To the extent that his words would stop with salawat.
It was a reality
This is how you want to love for the Messenger of Allah – be in their company who love him
Be with the people of the time
If you want istiqama then accompany the people of istiqama
If you want sabr then accompany the people of sabr
My father wouldnt use the money that he got from the ministry of religious affairs even though it
was his right.
He wouldnt like to use it for food.
This money came from the bank which is riba therefore it was suspicious
He would borrow money to buy grocery
If you get a $100 then give them this and get the change off them – exchange the notes
He would get the money and give it to the shoe shiner and exchange the money
Money came from the National Bank – some have strong or weak connection to riba
He would exchange the notes with other notes when it came from the bank
This is all in wara – this is extra, this is that time of cautioness.
You will have to be careful of what you eat and drink
I accompanied by father a dozen to reconcile people many times, sometimes we would go to
undesirable places or where there is suspicious of income derived from – to which my father told me
several times on the way to the place not to eat or drink – the effect of the haram would have on
me.
He would tell me 10 times
He just goes there for reconcile and leaves straightway
I remember a man who use to gamble and who seek to his dua from grandfather but he use to kick.
My grandfather was really tough
My father was gentle and was in the shariah
My father studied and taught but grandfather opted for wilaya and seclusion and guiding people
My father was under the immah of ilm sharif
He would advise the man to come to him and ask him to repent.
The man was about to die, he use to offer my father to give his money to poor people like his
students but he refused that he didn’t want to give people filthy money.
Once one of his sons came to my father, his father was on his deathbed, he requested that he come
and help make dua and for him to shahahdah but my father said only one condition that you dont
offer me food or drink.
You going to home a multimillionaire – they were humiliated by this request.
My father left this world like royalty and dignity
Shaykh Saleem was a great friend of my father, and the best way to honour your parents is by
honouring their friends who did good to them.
There was huge love for us.
I would like to end this talk – I purchased a villa and I borrowed the money to which I was in debt.
His son Shaykh Abdurehman Hammami is well known for his singing.
I met him a few times and visited him, we went into a room to which he came with a huge amount
of money, he said to me, this is a gift for you as long as you say to me that Saleem is one of the Ahle
Bayt, the family.
The famous hadith – Salman is one of us.
He was in total love for the ahle bayt.
I asked him for an ijazah once. We exchanged of the old shaykhs and ulema that people wouldnt
know.
He said to me you give me your ijazah then I will give you ijazah.
His love for the Ahle Bayt was immense
Shaykh Sayyid Jafar, he accompanied and told me of the whole story
This is Shaykh Saleem Hammami – has 10 children – 6 sons and 4 daughters.
This is the barakah – 165 grandchildren but married once!
Whenever I call his sons, I always ask them how many grand children that they have.
His grandchildren are grandfathers
It reminds of Sayyiduna Anas Ibn malik (May Allah be pleased with him) – he had over 100
grandchildren – they would follow him when he went to the masjid and back.
The secret is the khidmah.
Few years ago I said – if you go to see Shaykh Saleem then you will not waste your time same with
the like of Shaykh Ahmad Habbal
There is still time to see Shaykh Fatih Al Kittani
He is 96 years old –
Shaykh Shukri is one of them
Shaykh Saleem was one of the abdaals
May Allah bless his soul and compensate this ummah by the Awliyah
We Know the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah from these people, if it was left to books then we
would know how to practice from theory.
When we see these great people then we have great people to practise the sunnah
We pray that we love Allah, His Messenger (Peace and Blessings Upon him), his companions and the
Awliyah
If you cant be a seeker of knowledge then be a servant to the seeker of knowledge.
A lover is enough
You will be with the people you love
Its a great miracle that Shaykh Saleem sacrificed his life for the Messenger of Allah, peace and
blessings him.
The love he had for the Messenger of Allah (peace and be upon him), he died in Medinah and buried
in Jannatul Baqi
We have people who died in prostrating, serving the deen, while giving a dars, or reading a sentence
on jannah etc...
May Allah grant us the best of the lives of the Awliyah, that we dies on the right path and be in the
company of the good people.