Category Archives: C. Blame worthy Morals

The bad moral characteristics that have to be removed from within ourselves

Goal:Maqamaat not Ahwal

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Hakim al-Umma Sahykh Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“Goal and objective are the maqamaat [stations: i.e. acquiring patience (saber), thankfulness (shukur), sincerity (ikhlas), etc. and getting rid of envy, arrogance, anger, etc.] and not the ahwal (temporary overwhelming emotional states).

This is because the former are voluntary (can be acquired by one’s effort) and the latter are involuntary (occur sponateously irrespective of one’s effort).”

Malfuzat

Rockville, MD/Washington DC

Lustful glances

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Hakim al-Umma Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

Nothing happens without determination.
The real treatment to prevent lustful glances is to think at that moment:

“Allah SWT is watching me now and on the Day of Judgment I will be questioned regarding this. And if Allah SWT condemns me for punishment what will happen of me?”

By recalling this repeatedly again and again one will attain success.

Therefore, make strong determination.
This is the only treatment.

Initially for few days there will be some hardship indeed, but eventually, inshaAllah, it will become a habit. And then the gratification and peace you find in it can only be imagined of.

(Basair-e-Hakeemul-e-Ummat, page 369)

Sins: Dreadful

Hakim al-Umma Shaykh Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah ahve mercy on him) said:

Committing a sin is a very wretched, ghastly and fatal thing.
It is essential to abstain from it completely.
That very moment when a slave in acting against his Lord’s command, is a very ominous and detesting. If he had the capabilities for differentiating between various feelings, he could have felt the darkening effect of sin.

Some wrong actions have the effect of causing the capability of performing good works in future to be taken away. This is a thing to be dreaded.

Another effect of sin is that the individuals under your command start disobeying your instructions.

The worst effect of committing sin is that due to the casual and careless attitude (of a sinner) a minor (saghirah) sin leads to a major (kabirah) sin and eventually to rejecting the truth (kufr).

Thus an individual should never become carefree after committing a sin. He should repent and make amendments.

Basa’ir-e-Hakeemul Ummat 532

Committing a sin thinking

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Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

Committing a sin thinking it will decrease (or eliminate) the desire for that sin (in the future) is a deception of Shaytan. Yes, the desire will be decreased temporarily but the faculty and power of committing sin will be strengthened (long term) resulting in the eradication of sin becoming beyond ones power and strength.

From: Advices of Hakim al-Umma: Part One

Recitation of Quran in salah!

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Shah Abrar ul-Haq (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

‘Some individuals follow all the rules and regulations of reading Quran in prayers (salah) that are read aloud (jahari), whereas, in prayers that are read silently they do not follow any of the regulations.

Why?

Are these regulations only for the prayers read aloud?

If the following of these regulations is due to the respect and right of the Holy Quran then in all situation they must be followed.

Hayat e Abrar ra, page 255

Beaware of Nafs

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Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Shah Ashraf Ali Thanwi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

“Always remember this tip.
Never ever provide any occasion or means for your inner-self (nafs) to misbehave.

This is a an essential thing that is being told.

This inner-self (nafs) is the enemy that has ruined the zuhud (asceticism), taqwa( God-fearing) and piety of high-ranking individuals in few moments.
Never consider it to be dead. Sometimes due to unavailability of resources it is hidden (acting dead). But it is lurking for an occasion or a means to act (and attack).”

Sawanih wa ta’lemat e Hazrat Arifi ra pg 382

Desire to sin

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Sidi wa sanadi Shaykh Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) instructed a seeker,

“The desires to commit sins are produced solely to be crushed and, hence obtain additional reward for this.

One should neither be surprised nor feel depressed on these desires.

When they arise, one should crush them and climb one step above.”

Islahi khutoot

Become blind, deaf, mute and paralyzed!

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Baba Fariduddin Masood Ganj Shakar (may Allah have mercy on him)(d. 5th Muharram 611H/1262CE) said,

“A spiritual aspirant must do the following four things,

1. Become blind from seeing anyones’ mistakes.

2. Become deaf from hearing anything useless and petty.

3. Become mute, so there is no idle talking and his speech remains pure.

4. Paralyze his legs, so that he does not walk towards anything that is impermissible.

Only if these qualities are found in an individual then he is eligible to be called an aspirant otherwise he is a liar and a boastful charlatan. ”

Baba Farid ra ka roznamcha, page 11-12

Sin or Rebellion?

Baba Najam Ahsan khalifa of HakeemulUmmat (may Allah have mercy on them) said;

“The definition of a sin is that; if one commits it he feels remorseful and questions himself, ‘why did I do it?’
If one does not feel any regret after performing this action then it is not a sin but it becomes a rebellion (against Allah).”

Zikr-e-Ahsan 183

Innovation

Hakim al-Umma Hadhrat Mawlana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

“An innovation (bid’ah ) is to introduce something which has no basis in Shariah (Divine law) into the religion (deen) regarding it to be (an integral) part of religion and to act upon it with the hope of reward.

Indulgence in an innovation is a major sin.”

Behishiti Zewar

Spiritually beneficial topics?

Hadhrat Mawlana Wasiullah, one of the special khulafa of Hakim Al-Umma (may Allah have mercy on them) points out,

“In our times it will not be of much benefit to speak only about the the higher spiritual states (ahwal) and exalted mystical stations (maqamat).

It will be more beneficial to elucidate on the spiritual ailments (razail) the general public and elite are afflicted with and direct them towards the treatment.”

Hayat Muslih al-Ummat ra, page 5

Thanawi sulook

Outlining the strategy of spiritual path (sulook) employed by Hadhrat Mawlana Shah Mohammad Asadullah, a khalifa of Hakim al-Umma (may Allah have mercy on them) it is mentioned,

“His emphasis was more on taqwa(piety, awareness of accountability to Allah and abstaining from all that is sinful) then involvement in recitations of litanies (wird) and excessive remembrance (dhikir).  

He used to say that taqwa is easy. This is because it is a passive thing, and it is established that abstaining from a act is easier than performing any activity.

Then he stressed on the vigilance in abiding to the Prophetic ways of doing things (Sunna)

The third thing in this hierarchy were the daily recitations of litanies and excessive remembrance (wird). “

Aks-e-Jameel, the biography of Mufti Mohammad Jameel Ahmad Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him), page 202

In general, this is the manner in which  most of our Mashaykh guide the spiritual aspirants.