A Tree for Every Letter

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him), again, relates from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): yā ayyuhā al-nās — O human beings, the Prophet said, whoever says lā ilāha illallāh in astonishment at something. When a person sees something really surprising, he says lā ilāha illallāh. What is normally said instead? Oh my gosh — wow — oh my God, as the youth of today say. No: lā ilāha illallāh. In astonishment, when something really happens that has never been seen before — the computer beginning to dance, for example — a person says lā ilāha illallāh. When it is said this way, in astonishment, in amazement, what happens? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: whoever says lā ilāha illallāh in astonishment at something, Allah (swt) creates from each letter of this saying a tree, with as many leaves as the days of this world, each leaf asking forgiveness for that person and praising Allah (swt) on his behalf until the Day of Judgment.

Examples from this worldly life are distasteful, but they can be related to. There is a little tablet. A man of a hundred kilos takes a tablet of one milligram into his mouth, and in less than twenty minutes he is in a different world. What happened? This little, tiny pink tablet — LSD, ecstasy, ice, whatever nonsense it is — this tiny little thing finds its way in somewhere, and he begins to see things; reality warps; he is in a different world. A little tablet. And certain words — lā ilāha illallāh: could these things happen? If the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) said it, then by Allah it will happen, and it does happen. All a person has to do is believe, and practise, and understand the significance and importance of the action he is doing. It has been related also by the mashāyikh that this phrase, lā ilāha illallāh, has on the side of Iblīs — Shayṭān, upon whom be the curse — the effect that a saw would have on the side of a human being. Each time it is said, Shayṭān cries out that he is being killed again. It is known from the sound hadith what Shayṭān does when the adhān is called and ashhadu an lā ilāha illallāh is heard: according to the hadith, he runs. He runs away from the adhān, closing his ears, and — the hadith itself says it — passing wind as he runs. He is running away from the adhān; he does not want to hear it; and as soon as the adhān finishes he comes back, because if he stays he is bombarded, he is battered. So each time a person makes dhikr, can Shayṭān come near him? Not with presence of heart. If a person is making dhikr and falling asleep, for no reason — he is not tired or anything of the kind — that means he is not really saying the dhikr; his dhikr is on his tongue alone: lā ilāha illallāh, lā ilāha illallāh, lā ilāha illallāh. He is playing with the tablet on his tongue without taking it. It has to be taken in — taken in, into the heart. Then see what happens.