Category Archives: Q. Akabir

Whom to love and accompany?

mawlaya_salli

Khawajah Mohammad Ma’soom Mujaddidi (Allah have mercy on him) said,

‘Believe it with certainty that the love (muhabba) and company (suhba) of a person who possesses millions of virtues and miracles (karamat) but is slack in following the Sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) are lethal poisons.

Whereas, the love and company of an individual who holds no virtues or miracles at all but is steadfast in following the Sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) are indispensable elixirs.

Tazkirah Muslih al-Umma ra, page 205

Time to serve!

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An individual reported sudden passing away of her mother. She expressed her sorrow on the inability to provide any service to her during her life, especially that done during the old age and terminal illlness.

Shaykh al-mashaikh Nawab Eshrat Ali Khan Qaiser (Allah preserve him) consoled her and instructed,

‘The time to serve her has just started, indeed.’

That is, by making supplications (dua) and esal e thawab (i.e. forwarding the reward of good action to the deceased) .

Reported by daughter of Mrs. Sawlat S (Allah have mercy on her).

The Goal

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Grand-Shaykh Haji ‘Abd al-Rahim Wilayati Shahid (1246 H)  instructed his khalifa Mianji Nur Muhmmad Jhinjhanawi (1259 H) (may Allah have mercy on them),

‘The main purpose and goal is for one to remain steadfast on the Shari‘a — both outwardly and inwardly — at all times, and abstain from all manners of shirk and bida’. ‘

more…………….

Tahajjud prayers

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Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaykh Mohammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah preserve him) instructed a seeker who complained of missing the tahajjud salah,

‘Pray four units (rakah) of optional (nafl) prayers (salah) between the sunna and witr of esha with the intention of tahajjud. If you are able to wake up in the last part of the night pray tahajjud again.’

On another occasion he instructed,

‘Special effort should be made to wake up for tahajjud in the last part of the night.  It will be completely fine to make up for the lost sleep after fajr prayers. However, until this habit is established make a routine of offering four units of nafl salah between the sunna and witr of esha.’

Islahi khutoot

Saliks involved in completing their missed (qaza) prayers should also act accordingly. However, they should keep nafil to the minimum (2 rakah) and focus more on their qaza at this time also.

The thing to take from The Sheikh

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Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaykh Moulana Mohammad Taqi Usmani  (Allah preserve him & allow us to benefit from him abundantly. Ameen) said:

“The thing to acquire from the Sheikh is the fanayiat (self-annihilation).

People consider taking wird, azkar, ashagals and litanies etc. from him, all of which can be acquired from books. The essential thing to take from him is this fanayiat. That is total effacement of self suggestions, opinions, planning, expectations and complete submission to the commands of Shariah.

This is acquired ONLY by accompanying the Sheikh for considerable duration of time.
His suhba is essential:
To observe him practicing Shariah in different settings.
To learn from his attitude & behavior. Where is he firm and when lenient.
To correct yourself by his upright way of practice and implementing Shariah.
To happily bear his chastisement, in hope for self-reformation.
To be ready for his trials and testing, in order to check your sincerity.
To submit to all of his instructions wholeheartedly.
To do each and every major action in your life with his consultation and approval. And,
Finally, to copy, imitate and absorb his all esoteric & exoteric states enthusiastically.

And if this suhba is not readily available then it is essential to correspond with him via letters, mail, phone etc. to acquire this. (As explained in earlier posts.)

Also, important and perhaps most beneficial for this is the detail and extensive study of the malfoozat (suhba talks/utterances) of Hakim al-Umma Hazrat Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanvi quddus sirrahu. Reading them regularly will allow you to absorb the style/disposition of Hakim al-Umma, who had absolute fanayiat!

Equally significant is the study of the biography of our pious elders. Books like: Ashraf us sawanih (Hakeemul Ummat ra’s biography), Tazkirat ur Rasheed (Moulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi ra’s bio), Tazkiratul Khalil (Moulana Khalil Ahmed ra’s bio), etc..

If all of these are done sincerely and seriously, inshaAllah, gradually this fanayiat will eventually develop and grow to the optimum level required.”

Helsinki, ECCMID, 2009

The art of giving a gift

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Hakeem Mohammad Mustafa Bijnori, a senior khalifa of Hakeem al-Umma (Allah have mercy on them) said;

Giving a gift being a Sunna is an act of worship  (ibadah). And the soul of worship is sincerity(ikhlas: doing solely for Allah’s pleasure). Therefore, one who is giving the gift should try his best to preserve this sincerity.

The best way to do so is to contemplate presenting this gift to Allah, considering the person to whom it is being handed to as a carrier or an agent.  By doing so automatically all the requisite conditions and etiquettes required for giving a gift will be fulfilled.  Moreover, one will never even think of boasting doing a favor. His condition will be as per the following verse

منت منہ کہ خدمت سلطان ہمی کنی
منت شناس از و کہ بخدمت بداشتت

(Do not take pride in serving the King! Be content that He has tolerated your services!)

Ma’moolat e Ashrafi,  page 56

Be intelligent!

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Shaykh Shah Wasiullah (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

Imam Abdur-Rehman Ali al-Jauzi (may Allah have mercy on him) has stated in his book ‘Kital al-azkiya’ that,

From all the bounties of Allah bestowed on human beings the most phenomenal is the intellect. This is because it is the instrument of acquiring the  knowledge of Allah (ma’arifa). It helps in the organizing the demands of religion and this world.  It enables one to focus on the eventual outcome. It leads to understanding of complicated things. It drives one to go for the the beneficial things and accumulate them.’

Mawlana Shah Ahlullah, brother of Shah Waliullah (may Allah have mercy on them) stated this in his booklet “Chahar bab’,

‘Intelligence, prudence and far-sightedness are innate qualities but they grow and improve with increase in experience, company of the wise individuals, reading of books of knowledge and listening to tales of wisdom and general advice. Therefore, one must try constantly to improve his mental capabilities.

Furthermore, physical and mental struggle must be done to establish one’s self as intelligent and not being  in the category of stupids.

Intellect is a unique entity. It must be utilized appropriately and not wasted.’

I remind you, that we do not utilize it appropriately and hence we destroy the benefits of both this world and the here-after. As though, we have kept our mental abilities on hold. This in particular I find in the religious individuals. They are totally handicapped in this regards.

Tazkira e musleh al-Umma, page 134

دعا

tazkiraemusleh

یاالہی!

دور کر دل سے نفاق و کبر و طغیان و غرور

کر عطا عشق و وفا صدق و صفا اخلاص و نور

شہ وصی اللہ رح شیخ با صفا کے واسطے

آمین!

Mawlana Hanif Jaunpuri db

 mashaikh

Mawlana Mufti Mohammad Hanif Jaunpuri (may Allah preserve him) a khalifa of Shaykh Wasiullah (may Allah have mercy on him) is almost hundred years old.  He has been teaching for the past 63 years. Presently he is the Shaykh al-Hadith at Baitul Uloom, Sara-i-Mir, UP, India.

He is, mashaAllah, very active, alert and mentally sharp even at this age.

He was in Jeddah yesterday. In an informal talk  he informed us about himself. In my own words I will post some excerpts from it. May Allah make it beneficial for us. Amin!

‘I worked as a porter initially. I had attended school till fourth grade only. Then I became a famous ‘amil.People used to call me ‘Hanif Shah’. It was in 1942 or 43 that I recognized the importance of Tasawwuf and wrote a letter to Hakim Al-Umma Shaykh Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah Have mercy on him) asking for guidance. It was the period of Hakim al-Umma’s terminal illness. In response Hakim al-Umma excused himself from being able to do so but provided a list of 25 khulafa to select from based on one’s congeniality (munasbet).

I consulted with sincere friends and selected Shaykh Wasiullah (may Allah have mercy on him) as a Shaykh. I moved to his khanqah. In spare time I tended to the goats kept at his home. There I had a desire to formally study Islam. And in four and a half years I completed the basic curriculum.  It was  in the blessed month of Ramadhan at the tahajjud time that Shaykh Shah Wasiullah initiated the dars of Sahih al-Bukhari for us. We were 20 or 25 students. Thereafter, for the subsequent 11 years I attended this dars for my own benefit.

Once Shaykh Wasiullah for some tarbiyyah reason banished me from the khanqah. Shaykh had a jalali demeanor of tarbiyyah. We were apprehensive approaching him. It took me two years to gather courage and visit him again. During this period I moved to Banares. There I studied homeopathic medicine and established a clinic. It was on the eve of eid al-fitr that I decided to return to Shaykh. Travelling hundreds of miles by train I reached Gopaganj (a small town near the village of Shaykh) early morning on the eid day. There were festivities all around. People were celebrating eid. Each and everyone of them knew me from before. But no one even greeted me. They were all aware that I had been banished by the Shaykh. I greeted them and asked them to mediate for me and inform the Shaykh of my arrival. No one agreed. They said that they did not want to spoil their eid by upsetting the Shaykh. Eventually, I mustered the courage to go by myself.

My feet were trembling and the heart was racing amok as I climbed the stairs leading to the Shaykh’s room. On seeing me Shaykh said, ‘Oh! you have returned eventually.’ I dropped on his feet and started crying. Shaykh consoled me. He instructed others to make me comfortable at khanqah. He had siwayian(sweets made especially on eid) from his home brought for me and moreover presented me 30 rupees as eidee (eid gift). Thereafter he instructed me to stay at the khanqah as long as he was alive. (Mawlana was emotionally overwhelmed at narating this). ‘

Jeddah, Qari Rafique sahib’s residence, after ‘esha, 10th April 2009

Be very careful of the saintly ones

Shaykh al-Hadith Mawlana Zakiriyya Kandehlawi mohajir Madani (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

اللهم انا نعوذبك من عذابك و غضب رسولك و غضب اوليائك

‘O Allah we seek refuge in You from your anger and from the anger of your Rasul and your saintly servants.’

This is something concerning which I have written many times.

Be very careful of the saintly ones.

May Allah protect us from their anger and displeasure.

Aap beeti

Reading Dalail al Khayrat

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

“People request permission (ijaza) for reciting ‘Dalail al Khayrat’ from the piously elders (shuyukh). There is faulty intention in doing so. They beleive that reciting it without permission will be without any blessings (baraka). Most likely, the system of acquiring permission was initially developed to make sure that the wordings of the text were correctly transmitted. While giving the permission the Shaykh used to listen to the recitation and made any corrections needed.

In fact, the text that is worthy of being recited from the pulpit what has it to do with this intimate secrecy (of considering it essential to acquire an individual permission for its recitation).

If someone ask’s me regarding the recitation of ‘Dalail al Khayrat’, I tell him to (recite, but) leave the recitation of the statements that say, The Prophet said (قال النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم). This is because few of the Prophetic sayings (hadith) in it are fabricated (موضوع). Apart from this, its subject matter is completely accurate.”

Majmua e malfuzat: al-Kalam al-Hasan, 106

Errors to Avoid in Dua!

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Hakim al-Umma Shaykh Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote in the preface of the book Munajat-e-maqbool,

“In case of dua (supplication) few errors are taking place. That are;

1. To supplicate (dua) only when faced by an adversity.

2. And on these occasions instead of using the supplications told to us by Allah and holy Prophet (Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him), we go for new and innovative litanies (wazaaif).

3. To supplicate without true yearning, devotion and concentration.

4. To lack the conviction and aspiration that the supplication will be accepted for sure.

5. To make haste and expect immediate response.

If there is delay in its acceptance to be disheartened and abandon making dua.”

Munajat-e-maqbool, page 3-4

Kissimmee, FL

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