Category Archives: J. Rights

Qutub e ‘Alam Hadhrat Gangohi ra!

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

“Essentially in every era there exist one or two such pious people that having no connection with them whatsoever, leaving aside open opposition and confrontation, leads to (Divine) displeasure and great loss of blessing. Though, no punishment results.

I consider Hadhrat Mawlana (Rashid Ahmad) Gangohi (may Allah have mercy on him), to be one of them.”

Waaz: Arza al-Haq, Khutbat e Hakim al-Ummat, volume 15, page 88

Keeping the heart occupied!

rubb-al-khali

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

“The quarters of the heart should not be left vacant.

If they are not occupied with Allah’s remembrance(dhikr) fill them with something else that is permissible (mubah).

Otherwise, seeing them vacant Satan will move into them and take hold (of the heart).”

Waaz: Arza al-Haqq, Khutbat e Hakim al-Ummat, volume 15, page95

Deadly companionship

poison_sign3

Hadhrat Mawlana Wasiullah (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

“The worst lethal thing (for a seeker) is the companionship (suhba) of an individual who is deficient (spiritually).

I define this deficient person as someone who has no grief on lacking perfection (kamal) and is not remorseful for his debilitated state (hal) of affairs.

The person who is aware of his imperfections (and is working on removing them), although not qualified completely as yet, is however, headed towards the right direction. His companionship is not harmful.”

Tohfa-tu-shuyukh, page 55

Setting Priorities

Giving initial instructions to a novice murid, sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah preserve him) wrote;

For future from now on, make special effort for the following;

1. Try your best to abstain from all sins, especially those of eyes, tongue and ears/hearing.
2. Refrain from useless (fazool) and petty (laya’ni) activities.
3. Read from Hakeemul Ummat ra’s discourses (mawaiz) or instructive utterances (malfuzat) daily as per your convenience. Even if its one page daily.

With these acts, if you have enough time, add following three tasbihats to your daily routine;
1. SubhnaAllah wa bihamdhihi subhanAllah il azeem
2. Third kalimah; SubhnaAllah walhumdulillah walaillaha il Allah o wAllaho akber
3. Salutations on the Prophet (Allah blees him and give him peace) Durood shareef

All of them 100 time each. Preferentially they should be recited after fajer or (if not possible then) after isha. Otherwise, recite them whenever you get a chance.

Islahi khutoot

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

Wahabi-ish?

In answer to one person’s question Hadhrat Hakim all-Umma Mawlana Shah Ashraf ‘Ali Thanawi(may Allah have mercy on him) replied:

I don’t know how these innovators (bid’ati) link us to the Wahhabi’s?

First of all, the one whose name they are slandering is not even Abdul Wahab. For no reason they have slandered the poor guy. The actual person is Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab who took to extremes in certain matters, but not to the extent that these people slander him for.

Moreover, our aqaa’id are not even similar to his. If they argue that some of our beliefs are similar to his, then the answer to that is: your beliefs are similar to his also. For example, ‘Muhammd ibn Abdul Wahab believes that Islam is the truth, and so do you. He believes in the prophet hood of Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) and so do you.’ So what is so bad about that?

And in so many issues (masa’il) we have major differences with him. So how can we be considered his followers? For example, he considers traveling for the visitation of Prophet’s (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him)) blessed grave to be forbidden, whereas we say that it is praise-worthy (mustahab), rather emphasized to do so. Even some of our scholars gone to the extent of having the opinion that it is essential (wajib).

How then are we Wahhabis?

If they consider us Wahhabis due to the fact that we also don’t send curses on him like they do, then it should be known that Hazrat Rabi’ah Basriah (may Allah have mercy on her) would not even like to curse Satan (shaytan). In reality, this type of cursing and absolving oneself from others is the practice of the Shia (rawaafidh), and has no basis according to Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah.

So, how is it then that we are labeled as Wahhabis?”

Malfuzat-e-Hakim al-Umma ra; 8/253
Translated by Hadhrat Mawlana Tameem Ahmadi مدظله

Adversity form Authorities

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

“The thing to do if an unpleasant events comes from the authorities in charge (for example, the government) is to inform them about your suffering in a civilized manner.

If they do not act on your complain, be patient.

Do not confront them by action, speech or writing.

Make dua that Allah remove these miseries.” 

Hayatul muslimeen, chapter 10, huqooqun nafas, page 186

That means, no violence, rallies, agitations, destroying public or private property or any other ways that are equivalent to taking the law in your own hand!

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

Outcome of tazkiyah:Excellence in speech and character

Masih al-quloob Mawlana Masihullah Khan (may Allah have mercy on him) instructed,

“The acquisition of praiseworthy moral traits with yearning and loss of blameworthy charactersitics with aversion will manifest as attainment of excellence in speech and character.

Excellence in speech (husne-kalam) is defined as using words that are polite, decent and said in a gentle tone.

And excellence in character (husne-khulq) is to have forbearance (hilm). 

So whenever something happens against your desires and upsets you, with this forbearance condone it using excellent speech (husne-kalam). As Allah says in the Qur’an,

و اذا سمعو اللغو اعرضو عنه

“Whenever you hear such useless talk, then let it pass.”

Tazkira Hadhrat Masih al-Ummat, wasiyetnama, page 119

Preferences!

Qutub al-Alam Shaykh Abdul Qudoos Gangohi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

“Sanctified is Allah!

How can an intelligent individual leave the path of the masters of this path (mashaykh), which is like being the emperor of the worlds, moreover similar to having access to the Divine Throne, and prefer this wretched world (dunya)?”

Maktoobat Qudusiya, page 346

Related:

What is Dunya?

Worldly that is not blame-worthy!

The real benefit of suhba!

Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi said in regards to Shaykh Shah Wasiullah (may Allah have mercy on them),

“Those who attended his discourses not only felt the aroma of faith, the zest of worship and awareness of Here-after but also became aware of their own short comings and their unique personal spiritual ailments.

They left these gatherings not only with spiritual satisfaction but with a desire to change their present condition, feeling burdened with the previous mistakes and remorseful on the life already wasted.

This is the real benefit and result of being in presence (suhba) of and attending the spiritual discourses of the the pious (ahl Allah), the spiritual physicians (musliheen).

Halat e Muslih al-Ummat ra, page 6

Visiting the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

O Messenger of Allah!
“Allah said, ‘And when they having been unjust to their own selves and come to you and seek Allah’s forgiveness………..

 O Messenger! I have come to you seeking forgiveness from Allah for my sins and seeking your intercession on my behalf, and supplications that I remain steady and die on your way (Sunna) and I am raised amongst your followers on the day of Judgement. Amin!

Never be negligent

The very first advice sayyidi wa sanadi Hadhrat Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah preserve him) gave to a murid while giving him permission to instruct others,

“Never be negligent of your own self’s reformation (islah) effort.”

Hedayat bara-ay mujazeen

That is, the first and foremost in importance is my own self-reformation. Do not be missed led by Shaytan and nafs that I have graduated and now my primary concern is to do reformation of others.

This is a very common mistake.

Readers of the biographies of piously elders are well aware of the fact that how deligent they were in keeping their own self on tract. At the slightests indication of a slip they would jump and make amendments.

May Allah give us the tawfiq to do this also. Amin!

Manhattan, New York