Sermon's Title: The Miracles of the Allies of Allah
Themes of the Sermon:
1- The Confirmation of the Reality of Miracles (Karāmāt)
2- Who is the Ally (Walī)
3- Who is Granted Miracles?
4- The Moderation of the People of the Sunnah in Confirming Miracles
5- The Greatest Miracle is Remaining Steadfast
All praise is due to Allah, Who has honored His allies with His grace and mercy, and humiliated His enemies with His justice and might. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without any partner, and I bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah send abundant peace and blessings upon him.
To proceed: Fear Allah, O servants of Allah, with true mindfulness and piety, and remain conscious of Him in both your private and public lives.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
“O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims [in submission to Him].” [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 102].
Servants of Allah:
Have you ever heard of rain directed by Allah for one specific person? Our Prophet ﷺ tells us that:
While a man was in a barren land, he heard a voice in a cloud saying, “Water the garden of so-and-so.” The cloud then drifted away and poured out all its water. The man followed the water and found a person standing in his garden, directing the water with his shovel. He asked him, “O servant of Allah, what is your name?” The gardener replied, “So-and-so”—giving the exact name the man had heard in the cloud. The gardener then asked, “O servant of Allah, why do you ask my name?” He replied, “I heard a voice in the cloud from which this water came, saying, ‘Water the garden of so-and-so,’ using your name. What is it that you do with it?” The gardener said, “Since you have asked, I wait to see what the garden produces; then I give one-third of it in charity, my family and I eat one-third, and I reinvest the remaining third back into the garden.” (Narrated by Muslim)
What you have just heard is a glimpse of the immediate reward from the Most Generous—an honor with which Allah blesses His mindful servants and His close allies. These are the karāmāt (miracles) of the awliyāʾ (the allies or close servants of Allah).
A miracle (karāmah) is something unusual. In fact, it is an extraordinary event that breaks the natural laws known to people and goes against the usual cause-and-effect relationships they are accustomed to. Allah, the Exalted, bestows it upon a righteous, pious servant to support them, assist them in doing good, firm them upon the truth, or grant victory to the religion.
The foundation of these miracles is firmly established in the Qur’ān, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the scholars of the Muslim community (ummah).
In the Book of Allah, we find the honor that Allah bestowed upon Maryam, the truthful and pure virgin. Her sustenance would come to her in her prayer sanctuary without any effort from her or anyone else. Even Zakariyyā—peace be upon him—who was her guardian, would find good provisions with her whenever he entered her sanctuary. Allah, the Glorified, says:
وَكَفَّلَهَا زَكَرِيَّا كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا الْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِنْدَهَا رِزْقًا قَالَ يَا مَرْيَمُ أَنَّى لَكِ هَذَا قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
“And Zakariyyā was put in charge of her. Every time Zakariyyā entered her prayer sanctuary, he found provision with her. He said, ‘O Maryam, from where is this coming to you?’ She said, ‘It is from Allah. Indeed, Allah provides for whom He wills without account.” [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 37].
Then there are the Companions of the Cave (Aṣḥāb al-Kahf)—young men who believed in their Lord, distanced themselves from the polytheism of their people, and chose a remote cave. Allah turned that cave into a mercy for them. As an honor from Him, He caused them to sleep for three hundred and nine years, and then raised them back to life just as they were, completely unharmed. Allah even shielded them from the direct rays of the sun and cast an aura of awe over them, as an honor from Him to His allies.
Consider also the knowledgeable, righteous man who was a companion of Sulaymān—peace be upon him. Allah honored him by enabling him to bring the throne of Bilqīs (the Queen of Sheba) before Sulaymān could even blink. Allah, the Glorified, says:
قَالَ يَا أَيُّهَا الْمَلَأُ أَيُّكُمْ يَأْتِينِي بِعَرْشِهَا قَبْلَ أَنْ يَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ * قَالَ عِفْرِيتٌ مِنَ الْجِنِّ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَقُومَ مِنْ مَقَامِكَ وَإِنِّي عَلَيْهِ لَقَوِيٌّ أَمِينٌ * قَالَ الَّذِي عِنْدَهُ عِلْمٌ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَرْتَدَّ إِلَيْكَ طَرْفُكَ
“[Sulaymān] said, ‘O assembly [of jinn], which of you will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?’ A powerful one from among the jinn said, ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your place, and indeed, I am for this task powerful and trustworthy.’ Said one who had knowledge from the Scripture, ‘I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you.” [Sūrat an-Naml: 38-40].
As for the authentic Sunnah, accounts have reached us through widespread narration (tawātur) confirming many miracles granted to the righteous of past nations, as well as to the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ.
In the story of the People of the Ditch (Aṣḥāb al-Ukhdūd), there is a great lesson and a miracle. Allah saved the young boy from certain death twice without any physical means, and the tyrannical king was unable to kill him until he performed exactly what the boy instructed him to do. It was then that all the people believed.
Similarly, in the story of Jurayj the worshipper, Allah made an infant speak to clear his name from a false slander.
We also see this in the story of the three men who sought shelter from the night in a cave, only for a massive boulder to roll down and block the entrance. Allah honored them with salvation and moved the boulder for them because of the righteous deeds they had done sincerely in the past. All of these accounts are firmly established in the authentic collections (al-Ṣaḥīḥ).
As for the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ—who are the foremost of all the awliyāʾ after the Prophets—the honors Allah bestowed upon them are too many to count.
Take Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him): he took some poor Muslims to feed them at his house when there was very little food available. Allah blessed the food so immensely that every time they took a morsel from it, the food multiplied from underneath until it grew to several times its original size. His story is recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.
And take al-Fārūq ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him): he dispatched an army detachment and placed a commander over them named Sāriyah. After some time, while ʿUmar was standing on the pulpit (minbar) delivering a sermon, he suddenly shouted out: “O Sāriyah, the mountain! O Sāriyah, the mountain!”
When the army returned, Sāriyah said: “O Leader of the Believers! We met our enemy and they were defeating us, when suddenly a caller shouted out, “O Sāriyah, the mountain! O Sāriyah, the mountain!” So we backed ourselves against the mountain, and Allah defeated them!” (Narrated by al-Bayhaqī).
And take Khubayb ibn ʿAdī (may Allah be pleased with him): when the idolaters captured him and imprisoned him before execution, while he was bound in chains, Allah provided him with food without any physical cause. The woman in whose house he was imprisoned even said: “By Allah, I have never seen a prisoner better than Khubayb. By Allah, I found him one day eating from a bunch of grapes in his hand while he was chained in irons, and there was no fruit in Makkah at that time.” She used to say: “It was surely a provision that Allah granted to Khubayb.” (Narrated by al-Bukhārī).
Servants of Allah:
Two extreme opposites have emerged regarding the miracles of the allies of Allah. In the past, innovators like the Jahmiyyah and the Muʿtazilah denied them entirely, and in contemporary times, their followers among those with distorted intellects continue to deny them. On the other end, superstitious and misguided people among the ignorant tomb-worshippers and cultists went to extremes. They began treating satanic states, magical sorcery, and practices forbidden by Islamic law as miracles and honorable spiritual ranks.
First: Who is the ally (walī) for whom and through whom Allah performs a miracle? Is it that heretic who abandons Islamic law claiming he has reached the rank of absolute certainty (yaqīn)? Or is it that person whose religion consists of exaggerating the status of the righteous and circumambulating the shrines of the deceased?
Allah, the Exalted, spared us the trouble of searching for an answer when He said:
أَلَا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاءَ اللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ * الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ * لَهُمُ الْبُشْرَى فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ
“Unquestionably, [for] the allies of Allah there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. Those who believed and were fearing Allah. For them are good tidings in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. No change is there in the words of Allah. That is what is the great attainment.” [Sūrat Yūnus: 62-64].
The ally of Allah is the pious believer who singles out Allah in worship, who is upright and far removed from polytheism (shirk), who upholds the boundaries of Allah, does righteous deeds, and avoids forbidden matters. He excels in performing the obligatory acts and performs whatever voluntary deeds he can. Along with all this, he is loving toward Allah, deeply conscious, and fearful of Him. He is not amazed by his own deeds; rather, he hides them from the eyes of people, placing his hope in Allah and fearing his own sins.
Have you not heard the words of Allah, the Exalted, in the Divine Hadith (Ḥadīth Qudsī): “Whoever shows enmity to an ally of Mine, I have declared war upon him. My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than the religious duties I have obligated upon him. And My servant continues to draw near to Me with voluntary deeds until I love him. When I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge with Me, I will surely grant him refuge.” (Narrated by al-Bukhārī).
The miracles of the allies of Allah are only granted to the followers of the Prophets, because in reality, they are from the proofs of prophecy. These miracles only happened for them because of their belief in Allah, their verification of His Messengers, and their adherence to His law.
The ally of Allah is someone who loves the Qur’ān and lives by it—through recitation, understanding, and application. The ally of Allah is certainly not someone who replaces the Book of Allah with drums and dancing; that is nothing but the impurity of the devils.
The ally of Allah is pure and wholesome. He does not use his religion for financial gain, and he eats nothing but pure food. He is clean and well-purified; he does not live in waste and filth, for he knows that his Lord loves those who constantly repent and loves those who purify themselves.
The miracles of the allies of Allah do not manifest through forbidden acts. There is no miracle for someone who claims to expose the hidden sins of people. There is no miracle for someone who consumes filthy things and places snakes and vipers on his head. There is no miracle for someone who isolates himself with Muslim women or commits immoralities; these are the allies of Satan, not the allies of the Most Merciful (al-Raḥmān).
Satan has allies for whom he might perform things that people's minds find strange, in order to misguide them from the straight path. For this reason, the People of the Sunnah established that an extraordinary event or the appearance of wondrous things might happen to a heretic as a way of letting him drift further into misguidance, while it happens to a truthful believer as an honor and a blessing. The distinction between the two is fundamentally based on following the Book and the Sunnah and remaining firm upon them.
Furthermore, the occurrence of a miracle for a righteous servant is not an invitation to exaggerate his status or raise him above his proper rank. The most noble of all stations is the station of servitude to Allah.
If the leader of the Prophets, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—whom Allah supported with magnificent signs—said about himself: “Do not praise me excessively as the Christians praised the son of Maryam. Indeed, I am only His servant, so say: The servant of Allah and His Messenger.” (Narrated by al-Bukhārī),
then how can it be permissible for anyone else to be pleased with people exaggerating his status, or to invite them to do so?!
May Allah bless me and you through the magnificent Qur’ān, and may He benefit you and me with the signs and wise reminders it contains. I seek forgiveness from Allah for myself and for you, so seek His forgiveness; indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
The Second Sermon:
All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and those who follow him. To proceed:
Servants of Allah:
Allah, the Exalted, says:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَبْشِرُوا بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي كُنْتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ * نَحْنُ أَوْلِيَاؤُكُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَا تَشْتَهِي أَنْفُسُكُمْ وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَا تَدَّعُونَ * نُزُلًا مِنْ غَفُورٍ رَحِيمٍ
“Indeed, those who have said, ‘Our Lord is Allah,’ and then remained steadfast—the angels will descend upon them, [saying], ‘Do not fear and do not grieve but receive the good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised. We were your allies in the worldly life and [are so] in the Hereafter. And you will have therein whatever your souls desire, and you will have therein whatever you request [or wish for]—as accommodation from a Forgiving, Merciful [Lord].” [Sūrat Fuṣṣilat: 30-32].
Indeed, the greatest miracle is remaining steadfast (luzūm al-istiqāmah). An extraordinary event that breaks natural laws is not a condition for being an ally of the Most Merciful. Rather, a miracle is purely from His grace, which He directs to His servant according to His wisdom—as a blessing, a favor, a trial, or a test. This is just as Allah, the Exalted, said concerning Sulaymān (peace be upon him):
فَلَمَّا رَآهُ مُسْتَقِرًّا عِنْدَهُ قَالَ هَذَا مِنْ فَضْلِ رَبِّي لِيَبْلُوَنِي أَأَشْكُرُ أَمْ أَكْفُرُ
“And when he saw it placed before him, he said, ‘This is from the favor of my Lord to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful.” [Sūrat an-Naml: 40].
The believer receives guardianship and support from Allah in proportion to his faith and mindfulness of Him. Allah aids him, guides him, firms him upon the truth, and makes him content. Therefore, let your main concern be to live doing that which pleases Him.
O Allah, rectify the affairs of the Muslim community, and return us to You in a beautiful manner.
O Allah, assist us and do not assist others against us; grant us victory and do not grant victory over us; plan for us and do not plan against us; and grant us victory over those who oppress us.
O Allah, grant us safety in our homelands, rectify our leaders and those in authority over us, and place our leadership under those who fear You, are mindful of You, and follow Your pleasure.
Our Lord, give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.
