Discussion on the miracles of the awliya (close friends of Allah) and their distinction from the deception of sorcerers and charlatans.

The Shaykh : But as for the miracles of the awliya (close friends of Allah), for whom is the miracle? Glory be to Allah, there is great misguidance in the Muslim society, and its cause goes back to two things: the first, which is the root, is ignorance of Islam, and the second is the exploitation of this ignorance by some people of desires, who, in the name of miracles, have introduced insults to Islam and Muslims. Miracles are not denied, but for whom is the miracle? Allah the Exalted said: Who are they?
I also mention a story from what happened to me. I was in a village about 60 kilometers from Damascus called Dayr 'Atiyyah. We were staying up late in a gathering in a room that was perhaps a quarter of this size, and the room was on the main road. When we heard knocking on the window instead of the door, the owner of the house went out to see who was knocking on the window, not the door. We were surprised when we heard him greet the visitor with "Welcome, Abu So-and-so." We wanted to see who this noble guest was. And I was surprised to see a man who does not pray, and in Ramadan he sits by the corner of the mosque outside and smokes, with his eyes bulging and yellow, which I thought was due to his excessive consumption of narcotics. In the custom of the Syrians there, he is considered a leper.

The questioner : Continue.

The Shaykh : Continue, a leper, he does not pray, when the prayer is established he does not pray, in Ramadan he smokes, and so on. And when he entered, just as I was surprised by him, he was surprised by me, because my shop was by the mosque and I used to see him and he used to see me. So when the wicked one sat down, there was a short distance between me and him. He began to pretend that he was "seized by a state" as they say; he started bowing and prostrating, as if he were absent-minded, and he was saying words that, as linguists say, were incomplete phrases, answering with words like "egg, tomato, drink," with no complete speech. The point is, I understood that the owner of the house believed this man was a wali (close friend of Allah) from among the awliya. At that time, I improvised the following speech, the gist of which I began with the previous verse. Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said: And I spoke, as Allah wills, about faith and righteous deeds. Whoever is a believer and does righteous deeds, that is the proof of faith, and the proof of faith is not what is called miracles. These miracles may be from the extraordinary events, and the scholars divide extraordinary events into three categories: miracles, miracles of the awliya, and lures. As it came in the authentic reports about the Dajjal that he says to the sky, "Rain," and it rains, and to the earth, "Sprout your vegetation," and it sprouts, and to the ruin, "Bring out your treasures," and they come out, and people walk behind him. I believe that these misguided Sufis, if the Dajjal were sent among them, they and the Jews would be the same among his followers, because they see from him things that do not occur to the minds of these Sufis. In summary, I spoke at length about faith and righteous deeds, and I said that there is no consideration for any extraordinary event we see today from anyone, absolutely, because this may be a miracle or it may be a lure. And the owner of the house began to tell us what follows. He said, "By Allah, Professor, we used to believe as you say, but we had a shaykh namedThe Shaykh : 'Abd al-Qadir who went to al-Azhar and stayed for twenty years in the Noble al-Azhar. At that time, the al-Azhari was considered sacred. He stayed there for twenty years, then he came to the village, i.e., Dayr 'Atiyyah, and began to give lessons and hold lectures. He said to us, this owner of the house says, he said to us, "Beware, if you see a man who looks like a leper, do not disapprove of him, for our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, hides His secret in the weakest of His creation." Very silly talk. And the stone that does not please you hits you, so be quiet, what are you disapproving of? And he told them the following story, and here is the lesson, O Muslims. He said, this al-Azhari was teaching the people of the town. He said, "There was, in the old days, a noble, pious scholar who would enjoin good and forbid evil. He would walk through the markets, and whenever he saw something wrong, he would forbid it. When he stopped at a grocer selling hashish, he rebuked him and forbade him. He had barely finished his speech when a man stripped him of his mind, and he became like a beast. The students who were with him were stunned and took hold of his hand until they went to the house, wondering what had happened to this noble, pious scholar. They began to ask around until they were directed to a man who saysThe Shaykh : 'Abd al-Qadir, the shaykh of the town, says to the people of the town, "Direct us to the one with two wings, the one who combined the knowledge of the apparent and the knowledge of the hidden." So when they told him the story of the scholar, he said, "This was given to him by the grocer whom he forbade from selling hashish. This grocer is a wali from the great awliya, and therefore you must takeThe Shaykh : him to him and appease him so that his heart is pleasedThe Shaykh : with the scholar, and this is his cure. And indeed, he says to them,The Shaykh : 'Abd al-Qadir, they tookThe Shaykh : the scholar, I call him the hashish-selling wali, meaning the seller of hashish. They took him to him and appeased him. And you know that this man was a noble, pious scholar and did not want this. They kept at it until the hashish-selling wali was pleased with the scholar, and he was like someone who was sleeping and indeed woke up. His companions told him that the story was such and such, and if you, by any means, spoke a kind word to this wali, so the scholar did it, as if he was apologizing to the hashish-selling wali. The point is, what did the intoxicated wali say? He said, "You, O Shaykh, think that I am really selling narcotic hashish. I sell hashish that is ineffective for intoxication; the hashish addict does not take from it except that he is cured." With these delusions, they have misled the Muslims and made them believe in superstitions. So this man who was before me, and I know him well, he has a wali. Glory be to Allah, meaning they have completely reversed the facts. If our Lord says the awliya of Allah, who are they? Those who believed and were mindful of Allah. I saw them as a miracle, I did not see them as a miracle, this is not important. May Allah have mercy on some of the righteous people, truly, like al-Junayd, who used to say, "These miracles among the true awliya are like the breaking of menstruation for them," meaning they have no value, no weight at all. The weight is in righteous deeds after faith. So we ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to guide us to the straight path. Do you have anything else? It is now eleven thirty.

The questioner : One question.

The Shaykh : Yes, please.