Category Archives: A. Reality of Tasawwuf
Beware of negligence
Masih al-quloob Mawlana Masihullah Khan (Allah have mercy on him) said,
Stay among people, but remain aloof.
Your body should be among creation, but your heart with the Creator. This will ensure that negligence does not overtake you. Beware of such negligence lest you conform with people in a way which entails opposition to Allah and His displeasure.
The Path to Perfection, page 130
بدعت
Perfection
Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘Perfection (kamal) is that an individual can successfully overcome a state (hal) without the state causing any change in him.
Great insight (baseerah) is needed to recognize such an individual. His condition is similar to that of the novice aspirant. Common people can not differentiate between them.
To recognize a spiritual-graduate (muntahi) is not an easy thing. It is for this reason that people recognized those who were still traversing the path(mutawassit) but failed to recognized the perfect awilya and Prophets.’
Waaz e Meerut, Khutbat e Hakim al-Ummat, volume 8, page 394
Benefits of pious company!
Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadawi wrote the following regarding his first Shaykh Mawlana Ahmad Ali Lahori (Allah have mercy on them),
‘Being in Mawlana’s company created, in the least, a yearning to seek Allah, the sweetness of [uttering] Allah’s name, a love for the people of Allah, recognition of my own deficiency and the need for my rectification and perfection. And for us laypeople this is the greatest fortune and bounty.
Source: Pearls of the Elders
The Reality of Jihad
Hakeem ul Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) tells an anecdote in one of his discourses:
A sufi aspirant busy with his islah (reformation) was overwhelmed with a thought of abandoning his spiritual struggle and to enlist in the Muslim Army engaged in Jihad. Being sincere he consulted his Shaykh before embarking on this holy journey.
Sheikh admonished him saying that this was the conspiracy of his nafs (lower self) to escape.
The nafs was tired of the daily jihad (struggle). That is, struggle of withholding it self from all the haram (forbidden) activities and engaging in extra (nafil) worship. For example, avoiding lustful glances, backbiting, anger, self-pride etc. and being humble, patient, pious, etc.. Tired of this daily struggle it wanted to escape by dying fighting in Jihad.
This might be the reason of calling the daily struggle of self-reformation (islah) Jihad e Akbar (The greater struggle) as compared to the holy war, Jihad e Asghar (The lesser struggle) in one of the Prophetic narrations (dha’eef).
At this point it is most appropriate to clear any misconception about Jihad in our days.
Sayyidi wa sanadi Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani sahib (Allah preserve him) explains:
“Jihad is, no doubt one of the intuitions enshrined by Islam. But it does not mean a war to compel people to accept Islam, as the Holy Quran has declared that there is no compulsion in religion. Nor does it mean to occupy lands and extend territory of a Muslim state without a just cause.
Jihad is in fact means a well disciplined struggle against aggression and oppression. The struggle of jihad may be with or without arms. Armed struggle is allowed only when peaceful means have totally failed.
Apart from a just and rightful cause it is necessary that it is carried out under a competent Amir or leader in strict compliance with dictates of Shariah.
This armed struggle can never target innocent persons.
It is always a legitimate struggle against an oppressor or a tyrant and his warriors.
It has, therefore, nothing to do with terrorist activities which target innocent people and have been termed by the Quran as ‘Fasad fil-ard’ (spreading disorder in the land).”
Source:Usmani M T, Albalagh International: Vol 16 No. 8/September 2005 “Islamic vision on interfaith cooperation for peace”
Company of awliya
Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaykh Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) said,
‘Once a person asked Hakim al-Umma (Allah have mercy on him), that the famous verse;
Yak zamana suhbat ba awliya
Behter az sed sala ta’et e bay-riya
(Momentary companionship of Friends of Allah is better than hundred years of sincere worship) seems to be an exaggeration. How can this be possible?
Hakim al-Umma replied,
‘It was no exaggeration at all. Moreover, the message was still not completely conveyed. If the poet had said;
Yak zamana suhbat ba awliya
behter az sed lekh sala ta’et e bay-riya
(Momentary company of Friends of Allah is better than million years of sincere worship), it would not have been an exaggeration.”
This is because in the company of pious/awliya you get more than the sincerity. You get the ta’uluq ma’Allah/love of Allah swt. This is the master key for all the further good actions.’
The love & company of awliya
Shaykh Abu Taleb Makki (Allah have mercy on him) reported this in Quwwat al-Quloob,
A seeker approached a Gnostic of Allah (‘arif billah) and said,
‘ I am heedless of Allah’s remembrance, usually procrastinating good deeds and extremely lazy. Please, advice me on how can I overcome these things.
The Gnostic replied,
‘O brother!
If it is possible for you to love the friends of Allah (awliya) and keep their close company then immediately do so.
Perhaps they will keep you in their heart. And remember every day seventy times Allah’s special mercy is focused on these hearts. Maybe someday because of the love you have for them this mercy of Allah will be focused on you to. This will indeed take care of all your problems of this world and here-after.’
Ahl-e-sulook par achi buri Sohbet kay asaraat, page10
Cognizant sinner
Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) said something smilar to the following in one of his discourses,
The minimum benefits of maintaining regular correspondence with a Shaykh ( in form of islahi-ta’luq) is that it makes an individual a cognizant sinner (baydar gunahgar).
That is, if God-forbid he commits a sin he will be aware of this mistake. He will have remorse. This will evetually lead him to turn to Allah in form of repentance and supplication for forgiveness, protection and improvement.
Knowledge derived from kashaf
Hadhrat Hakim al-Ummah Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah sanctify his secret) said,
“Since I now consider the knowledge derived from kashf unworthy of notice, I forbid people from discussing this with me, either orally or by way of writing. Although there was a time when I was engrossed in this knowledge, [so much so that] I would remain absorbed in this night and day, I now consider it (the knowledge derived from kashf) to be an impediment in reaching the goal.”
Bawadir al-Nawadir, page 589.
This is a salient feature of tarbiyet in the Ashrafiya path.
(Translation & editing by Shaykh Mawlana Ismaeel Nakhuda db.)
علوم مکاشفہ
حضرت حکیم الامت مولانا اشرف علی تھانوی قدس اللہ سرہ نے فرمایا
چونکہ علوم مکاشفہ میرے نزدیک اب بالکل ناقابل التفات ہیں۔
اس لئے میں ممانعت کرتا ہوں کہ کوئی صاحب اس کے متعلق مجھ سے تقریرا” یا تحریرا” مکالمہ نہ کریں
گو مجھ پر ایک زمانہ ایسا بھی گذرا کہ ان علوم سے بہت شغف تھا شب و روز انھیں میں منہمک رہتا تھا
مگر اب تو ان کو مخل مقصود سمجھتا ہوں۔
بوادر النوادر، صفحہ 589
تصوف میں مسلک اشرفیہ کا یہ ایک رہنما بنیادی اصول ہے۔
Knowledge and pious company
Hakim al-Umma Shaykh Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘Ilm (knowledge) without suhba (company of the pious) is not beneficial.
The islah (reformation) of a person with suhba and‘ ilm is easier compared to the person with ‘ilm but without suhba.
All the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were not scholars. Whatever they achieved they achieved through suhba. The people of Allah (Ahl Allah) have always taken care with regard to suhba. They concentrated more on suhba than ‘ilm.’
The fear of becoming pious
Hakim al=Umma Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
If someone fears that if he becomes pious (muttaqi), he will lose out on the worldly pleasures, then I say; “Make the intention that I do not want to become pious. However, for the sake of Allah spend some time in the company of the ‘ulama and the masha’ikh and understand the din. The result of this will be that you will not experience any difficulty in becoming pious. On your own accord you will build up the interest to practice (on the din) and you will experience such joy and pleasure in practicing on the din that you will forget about all the worldly pleasures.”
Advices of Hakim al-Umma: Part Six
Hagerstown, MD
An Essential Principle
Hakim ul Umma Shaykh Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) said:
“My (that is, the Shaykh’s) primary responsibility is to cultivate the desired moral characteristics in a murid (i.e. thankfulness, patience, love of Allah SWT and His messenger, humility, khushoo, fear, etc.) and not the rectification of his (outwards) actions (a’mal).
This is so because, once these moral characteristics are successfully developed the outward actions are rectified automatically.”
Aspirant/Salik needs to understand and assimilate this principle very clearly upfront.
Maasir e Hakeemul Ummat ra 163
Bridgeport, WV
Tasawwuf summarized
Mawlana Wasiullah Allah have mercy on him) said;
“Three things are the sum up of Tasawwuf;
1. Shunning the heedlessness (ghaflah),
2. Getting rid of blame worthy moral traits (razail/muhlekat e nafs). (For example: anger, arrogance, envy, hatred, etc)
3. Being on alert of the various in coming thoughts/ideas (that may be either useless or leading to transgression).”
Halaat e Muslehul Ummat 379
Bridgeport, WV