Company of the pious

Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mufti Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve & protect him) said,

Companionship is a great thing.

It comes in a Prophetic saying (Hadith) the gist of which is that sitting with a pious person is like sitting in the company of one who sells (the fragrance) Musk. One will smell the good fragrance just by sitting with him, even if one does not apply any perfume. And sitting in a bad company is like sitting with a blacksmith from whom either a spark will fly onto your clothes and burn them or at least you will have to smell the repugnant smell.

The effect of the companionship of pious elders could be seen in my respected father. As Shaikh Sa’di RA has said:

گِلے خوش بوئے در حمّام روزے

رسید از دستِ مخدومے بہ دستم

بدو گفتم کہ مشکی یا عبیری

کہ از بوئے دل آویزِ تو مستم

بگفتا من گِلے ناچیز بُودم

و لیکن مدّتے با گُل نشستم

جمالِ ہمنشیں در من اثَر کرد

وگرنہ من ہمہ خاکم کہ ہستم

One day, in the (communal) bath,

I received a fragrant piece of mud (used as a form of soap/abrasive) from a benevolent friend

I asked it “Are you Musk or Ambergris?”

“As I’m mesmerized by your alluring fragrance”

It said “I’m a worthless piece of mud”

“But, I’ve spent a long time in the company of (fragrant) flowers”

“The beauty of the companion affects”

“Otherwise my existence is just mud”

Ramadan 1439 malfuzaat collated by Br KaiserNizamani #12

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