ASHRAFIYA

In the earlier part of his life Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) used to teach at the Islamic seminary (darul uloom) in Kanpur.
One day students entered the class to find him sitting there obliviously very sad. The signs of melancholy and sorrow were clearly evident on his face. The [...]

 
Baba Najam Ahsan (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
“Love increases, eventually to a stage that its sensation annihilates and it is assimilated into the entity of beloved. (That is, our feelings & emotions (hal) undergo metamorphosis and the state (maqam) of keeping the beloved really happy emerges.)
I provide a few simple examples to make [...]

Sayyidi wa sanadi Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah preserve him) was performing Umrah.
At each and every step he supplicated at length with utmost serenity, humility and servitude.
In the prayers after the tawaf (wajib ut-tawaf) his ruku and sujood were longer than usual. During sai’i he recited the supplications from Munajat e Mabool. However, at stops [...]

 
Arif billah Shaykh Dr. Abdul Hayy Arifi (may Allah ahve mercy on him) said,
“Once I inquired a pious person that these days we do not see saints similar to those who performed extra-ordinary feats (karama) anymore.
He replied that saints who had this blessing had always been very few in each era. Most likely you have [...]

A murid requested sayyidi wa sanadi Hadhrat Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah preserve him) to consider a programme for the ‘itekaf (seclusion) in the last 10 days of Ramadhan. He elaborated that it will be of utmost benifit for the murideen. They will be in the company of their Shaykh and pious fellow seekers, able to better utilize [...]

 
An individual told sayyid wa sanadi Shaykh Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah preserve him) that the most striking thing he felt after reading the biographies of Hakim al-Umma,  Mufti Mohammad Shafi and Dr. Adbul Hayy Arifi (may Allah have mercy on them) was their utmost humility (tawadhu) and self-annihilation or effacement (abdiyet, fana).
Hadhrat agreed with the this intelligent observation [...]

 
Prior to lecturing at a conference, the great Shaykh al-Hadith MawlanaMuhammad Zakariyah (may Allah ahve mercy on him) was performing ablution (wudhu) when he heard the conference co-ordinator praising him as part of the introduction.The respected Shaykh began to shed tears and said,
My dear ones let me at least die first.
If I die without Iman then what [...]

Love is the flame which, when it blazes,
consumes everything other than the Beloved.
The lover weilds the sword of Nothingness
in order to dispatch all but God:
consider what remains after Nothing.
There remains but God: all rest is gone.
Praise to you, O mighty Love, destroyer of all other “gods.”
Rumi، رح
Mathnawi V, 588-590

حاضری کا خوف

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Buzaydi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
“The humilty of the gnostics (‘arif) keeps increasing until they bring themselves to the level of dogs, and they don’t care. As for him who elevates himself above dogs in terms of physicality, such a person is truly haughty.”
The Adab of Perfect Seeker, page [...]

The three imperative characteristics the Shuyukh of Ashrafiya spiritual path (tareeq) try to cultivate in their disciples (murid) are,
1. Absolute following of the Shariah in all situations and under all circumstances
2. Always trying to rectify the lower-self (islah e nafs)
3. A profound conviction that this worldly life is transient and the real and permanent destination is the here-after.
Malfozat e ‘asr e hazera, page [...]

 
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Buzaydi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
“There are three signs that indicate that a person is of those who are annihilated  in the Divine Entity (fani fil-Allah).
First, there is complete shunning of this world. inwardly and outwardly.
Second, there is quietude in humiliation by choice.
Third, there is withstanding of all people’s [...]

Shaykh Dhu-Nun al-Misri (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
“Three things are among the marks of sincerity (ikhlas):
that people’s praises and condemnation be equal to one,
that one is oblivious of one’s works while doing them, and
that one forgets about the reward that one gets for one’s work on Judgement day.”
al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, via The adab of [...]

Shaykh Abu Yazid (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked,
‘When does an individual acquire true humility?’
He replied, “When being aware of the mischief and bad traits of it he realizes that his lower-self (nafs) does not have any rights at all. And he does not consider anyone else inferior to himself.”
 Awarif al-Ma’arif, page 296
An essential [...]