Seek out the Gardens of Jannah -and the Gardeners

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem..
As-salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,

I recently spoke to someone who is extremely important in my life (understatement) who mentioned that they'd visited my blog, and I've decided to post little more often. I'd stopped posting... for various reasons... but insha'Allah I intend to start up a bit now. I've stopped allowing comments on my posts because I think allowing them could be, well, unsafe.

I've been reflecting more and more on that hadith wherein Rasul Allah salAllahu 'alayhi wasallam said that if you happen upon a garden of Jannah you should graze in it. Upon saying this he was asked, "what are the gardens of Jannah?" to which he replied salAllahu 'alayhi wasallam, "gatherings of remembrance." If you think about this hadith in conjunction with the one in which Rasul Allah salAllahu 'alayhi wasallam said, "this world is a prison for the believers," life makes sense.

If there's one bit of advice you ever take from this blog and hold onto I'd want it to be the following: Grab hold of righteous people wherever you find them and hold on to them like gold. The benefit of emersing yourself in the company of the lovers of Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala, of those who yearn to be with Him and have progressed on the Path to Him cannot be captured in words. The benefit can only be felt in the heart and then seen on the limbs, in an increase in adherence to the shari'ah and the sunnah of the beloved of Allah salAllahu 'alayhi wasallam. The effect such company has takes place in more than one way... firstly you receive the spiritual blessing of being with them, you get to be with the angels that stay with them, you receive attention from them by their simply knowing you are there and then further you receive their du'as... also their heart, whether you realize it or not, has a beautiful and cleansing effect on your heart by simply being in the company of those most beloved to Allah, even if they're upstairs and you're downstairs (which is usually the case for sisters.) If you're fortunate enough you can even spend time in their physical company, mostly for brothers, and observe them... just watch how they do things, how they sit, how they stand, how they smile when they talk to you... these men... who have embodied the sunnah and the shari'ah entirely... who have purified themselves with dhikr and the company of their own masha'ikh... subhaanAllah.

So if you ever hear about a scholar coming to your community, or a neighbouring community, or even a neighbouring state or province, get in you car and drive over there. Dead hearts come to life, tears of sorrow turn to tears of unspeakable joy, false love inches closer to True Love, a gaze flithied by sights of this world gets redirected to the Heavens and to Reality... and if you find yourself falling in love with these people, with the awliyaa of Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala, don't stop yourself. Just fall in love. Insha'Allah it will take you closer to True Love.

That's the key, actually... someone once told me that if you feel you're loving things of this dunya which you know won't benefit you and may actually harm you to love them, then you should redirect that love to Rasul Allah salAllahu 'alayhi wasallam, because he is the bridge between worldly love and Divine Love. He lived in this world and was/is human... therefore the part of you that inclines to wordly love can comprehend loving him, and is willing to do so... and at the same time, whether you realize it or not, that love is bringing you nearer to Divine Love, because you are loving Allah's beloved, and because he salAllahu 'alayhi wasallam was sent to us so we could fall in love with him, and in turn with Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala wa 'azza wa jal. For those of us, like me, who have very limited knowledge of the seerah of RasulAllah salAllahu 'alayhi wasallam (the story of his life) it can be hard to bhatay-bhatay start loving him (though in reality it shouldn't be.... if we reflect upon even one quality of his that we know of it would be sufficient to love him entirely.) So for people like me we have 'ulema and awliyaa... we have masha'ikh who are the heirs of the prophets, as stated in a hadith. Their duty, like their pious predecessors, is to reconnect our hearts with our True Beloved, Who we have left and forgotten, Who waits patiently for His ungrateful servants to return to Him, to throw themselves before Him and beg Him to accept us... little do we know that He'd accepted us before we even thought to beg. SubhaanAllah...

So emerse yourself in their company... seek them out and keep them close... hold onto them like gold, for they are truly far more valuable than gold... they contain a wealth of spiritual gold which they impart wherever they go. Grab hold of them... grab hold the fabric that they give out and say the words, repent for your sins, cry out to Allah... He has already heard your call.

Was-salaam ma'al ikraam..