Shaykhul Islam Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve & protect him) said
“Turn to Allah and ask Him for all your needs, whether big or small.”
@ibn_shabbir
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Tazkiyah is an obligation
Acting upon one’s individual obligation include purifying one’s limbs from sins, and one’s heart from destroying traits such as arrogance, envy, ostentation, enmity, hatred and the like… Knowing the cure for ugly traits of character and then struggling to rid oneself from them is an individual obligation; it is not permissible for one to busy oneself with jurisprudence, disputes or law until one has finished this task.
The Guidance for the Intelligent
Useful knowledge
‘Useful knowledge it is that which,
Increases your fear of Allah,
Decreases your interest in the worldly,
Increases your avidness for the hereafter,
Makes you aware of the faults in your character and your actions so you can correct them, and
Alerts you to the deceptions and plots of Satan.’
The Guidance for the Intelligent
Repentance
It has been said that repentance is remorse for what has passed and clinging to what is pure.
Some say that repentance is moving away from what Allah
has forbidden toward what Allah has commanded.
It has been said that repentance is devotion to the True Reality and shunning created things, and that repentance is sincerity, seeking refuge, and striving persistently with hope.
It has been said that repentance is feeling shame when one makes a mistake, and that repentance is sorrow for what has passed.
Some say that repentance is the return to Allah the Exalted in every instant, thought, and glance, and that repentance is shame that restrains one from sin, and constant tears of remorse.
It has been said that repentance is removing the garment of estrangement and donning the garment of fidelity.
Some say that repentance is the return from blameworthy attributes to praiseworthy attributes, which can only be brought about by seclusion, by holding one’s tongue from useless talk, and by eating lawful food.
It has been said that repentance is a fire in the heart that flares up, and a rift that never mends.
The principles of Tasawwuf, page 17
Repentance
When asked about repentance al-Ḥusayn al-Maghāzilī said, “Are you asking me about turning to God in repentance or turning to Him in deference?”
The questioner replied, “what is turning to Him in repentance?” and he said, “That you fear His power over you.”
The questioner asked, “Then what is turn-
ing to Him in deference?” and he said, “That you are ashamed before God the Exalted because of His nearness to you.”
This second turning is higher than the first since renouncing sin out of fear of retribution is merely seeking good fortune and only done for one’s self. However, renouncing sin out of shame before one’s exalted Lord to glorify His lordship, is higher and nobler since turning in shame proves true the servitude by which one exalts Him.
The Principles of Tasawwuf, p 13
Slip of penitent
Yaḥyā ibn Muʿādh al-Rāzī (Allah have mercy on him) said,
“One slip for a penitent after his repentance is more odious than seventy before it.”
Principles of Tasawwuf, p 34
Allah’s love
The blessed companion Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, related that the Prophet, Allah bless and cherish him, said,
“Allah mighty and glorious said, ‘I am with My servant when he thinks of Me, and I am with him whenever he recollects Me.’
By Allah, He is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than any of you who is pleased to find his stray animal in the desert.
Allah said, ‘One who draws near Me by a hand span, I draw near him by an arm’s length, and one who draws near Me by an arm’s length, I draw near him by the span of open arms, and if he walks toward Me, I run to him!’”
Sahih Muslim
Time : used or wasted
It is related that on the Day of Judgments each of a man’s nights and days will appear to him in the form of twenty four compartments, representing his hours for each day. An hour which he spent in obedience to Allah will be filled with light, one in which he spent in sin will be filled with darkness, while one in which he did neither will be found empty.
His agony will be tremendous when he finds a compartment empty; had he done an act of obedience to Allah, it would have been filled with light. If he finds a receptacle dark he will be filled with such regret and agony that if were able to die he would do so, but in the hereafter there is no death.
So choose for your soul, as long as you remain in this land of choice and free will, that which will benefit it and raise its rank, because after death, the affair will no longer be in your hands. And hasten and do not procrastinate, for procrastination is evil and human life is ever subject to numerous harms and distractions.’
Guidance for the intelligent
Remembering Death
Remembrance of death is encouraged for its numerous benefits;
it inculcates short ambitions,
abstinence in the world,
contentment with a little of it,
avidness for the hereafter and
preparation for it through good actions.
Rasulullah said “Remember much the destroyer of pleasures.”
Guidance for the intelligent
Tea & sulook
The following is a paraphrase of what the reviver of Sunna (Muhiyyus Sunnah), Maulana Shah Abrarul Haqq of Hardoi (Allah have mercy on him ) said.
‘Every day when I drink tea it brings to mind the similitude of the process of traversing the spiritual path (sulook).
Water and tea leaves individually have their own properties. However, they have to be mixed together under certain special circumstances to make them tea.
First water is to be brought to rolling boil. Then tea leaves are added. They are thoroughly mixed and left to sit alone. This brings out the colors and flavors. Then only tea is ready to be consumed.
Skipping any of the steps of this process will not provide the delicious end results.
In this scenario the similitude of the seeker is like water that wants to become tea. The tea leaves are the company and guidance of the Shaikh. Whereas the process of boiling is the spiritual struggle (mujahidda).
Remember that merely mixing the water with tea leaves is not enough. The water has to be brought to boil. It has to be mixed and left alone for a while. Only then it is able to extract the color and flavor from tea leaves.
Similarly in order to benefit from the company and guidance of the Shaikh the seeker has to do mujahidda. That is abandoning all the sinful and doing the necessary and even extra acts of worship. Only then this association will be beneficial.’
Khanqah e Ashrafiya, Gulshan Iqbal Karachi, 1980s
Memoirs: Updated
English translation
Memoirs: Autobiography of sayyidi wa sanadi MuftiTaqiUsmani (Allah protect and preserve him)
by
Brother Kaiser Nizamani sahib
Plead guilty!
Proprietor of Nauratan Jewellers-Karachi, Malik sahib narrated that once I visited Arif-billah Dr Abdul Hayy Arifi (Allah have mercy on them). I was in hurry, time was running short. I requested for a brief nasiha (advise).
Hazrat ‘Arifi told me to always remember the fact that, in the judicial system of this world if you plead guilty you are held responsible and punished. Sometimes you are fined or even jailed.
Whereas, in the court of Allah if you plead guilty, accepting your shortcomings and sins and repent sincerely you are forgiven and set free of the humiliation of any punishment. Moreover you are rewarded in most instances for returning back to Allah.
Malik sahib passed away in the blessed city of Makkah immediately after performing Hajj last year (2017/1438). Allah have mercy on him. Ameen!
Treatment for arrogance
Makhdoom Zayn ud Deen Chishti Malabari (Allah have mercy on him) said regarding the treatment of arrogance that
(One should contemplate that) throughout his existence he has been subjugated to terrifying diseases and dangers and various bodily challenges; he gets hungry and thirsty, falls sick and eventually dies-all against his wishes.
He desires to know something but does not, he wishes to remember something but cannot, he wishes to forget something but cannot, he delights in food that harms him, and hates medicine which restore his health.
At no moment in the night or day is he safe from being stripped of his hearing, sight, knowledge, or ability; his limbs may be paralyzed, his intellect destroyed, and his very life dissipated.
He is a mere slave with no power over himself or others. And this is the middle of his affair.
As for his end, he returns to his original state, a lifeless object; then he is placed in the dirt and becomes a filthy carcass just as he began as a filthy drop of sperm; his body decays and is eaten by worms, and becomes dirt, which is cultivated and built over.
And if only this were the end! How fine would his state be if he remained dirt! But he is brought back to life to bear the severity of the Day of Judgment and its horrors; then he will enter the fire unless his Lord has mercy on him.
(In spite of all these how foolish it will be to act arrogantly).
The guidance for the intelligent on the path of the saints
Ramadan 1439
مراقبہ اتحاد/Muraqaba of Union
Hakim al Umma Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) instructed a spiritual seeker to perform muraqaba e etihad. That is, to contemplate that Shaikh and I have become one.
This seeker wrote a letter and made reference to it. (It was read out in the gathering of seekers)
On a question (by one of the attendees) regarding this Hakim al Umma replied,
‘In issues related to the spiritual training I do not bind myself to didactic text. I instruct (seekers) whatever (appropriate to their state) comes to mind. Observing his (this seeker’s) congeniality (with myself) I instructed him this muraqaba.’
Husn al Aziz, volume 1, page 35-6