Category Archives: S. Sunna

Shyness and humility

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A seeker wrote, ‘Is it fine not to do the acts of notoriety due to shyness (hiya)? Especially, if a senior orders, like wearing a cloak (bisht) on Eid. My father and aunt force me to do so and become upset (if I do not). Whereas, for me due to shyness this is burdensome. I can not raise my eyes (if I do this).

Hakim al Umma Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (Allah have mercy on him) relied,
‘Leave them when there is constriction in the heart (qalb).
If seniors order then excuse yourself politely.
If they insist then act as they say. It will be a spiritual struggle (mujahida).

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Seeker continued, ‘Should the wearing of a turban, especially on Jumma and Eid be abandoned due to shyness? Now I do find the courage to give preference to shyness and abandon a Sunna.

Hakim al Umma (Allah have mercy on him) replied,
‘This is not a a intended (maqsuda) Sunna.
When on the other hand is Sunna of humility (tawadhu). Some of its (humility’s) components are obligatory (wajib). Therefore, the quality of being intended (maqsudiyet) is more in humility then in wearing a turban.’

Tarbiyet us Salik, volume 3, page 103

Taqwa leads to increasing love of spouse

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A seeker wrote, ‘Please, inform me whatever is most beneficial for myself. For a while now,  my love for my wife has increased much. Is this something detrimental for me (in my path (sulook)?

Hakim al Umma Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (Allah have mercy on him) replied,

‘This is in exact accordance to the Prophet’s way (Sunna) (Allah bless him and give him peace).

May Allah bestow the blessed fruits of this on you two.

The increased awareness of accountability to Allah (taqwa) leads to increasing love of one’s wife.’

Tarbiyet us Salik, volume 1, page 552

Pledge of allegiance

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Sayyedina Walid bin Abbad bin Samat (Allah be pleased with him) said,

‘I pledged allegiance to the Prophet of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), swearing:

To pay attention to whatever he said; and to carry out whatever he commanded, whether it be difficult or easy, bearing grief or bringing comfort.

If somebody says something that should be contradicted , I will not contest against him.

In all circumstances I shall speak the truth and I will not be afraid of anyone who blames me for something.’

A Mine of Meaning, page 182

Summum bonum

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Shaikh Ma’ruf al Karkhi (Allah have mercy on him) said,

‘When Allah decides the highest good for an individual the door to performance of virtuous deeds are opened and the doors for argumentation are shut closed for him.’

Manaqib wa Ahwal Shaikh Ma’ruf Karkhi rehmatullah aleh, Ibne Jawzi Ra, page 111

The objective

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A seeker wrote: These days due to the illness of my wife, being busy with taking care of her and because of the the disruption of the household affairs most of the (routine virtuous) actions (wird) are missed. Only prayers (salah) is done. In this situation a thought troubles me that why did this happen to me and my routine works have been disrupted? This is adding to my distress.

Hakim al Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) replied,
‘There is no reason to be distressed.
The real objective is the reward (thawab). Allah bestows this sometimes via (voluntary virtuous) actions and on other occasions through hardships and sufferings. (Thus) the objective is achieved in both the situations.’

Tarbiyet us Salik, volume 3, page 57

Celebrate

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Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) instructed,

‘Keep the book ‘Uswa e Rasool e Akram sallaho alehey wasalam‘ that contains the Sunnah practices, in front of yourself (that is, read it meticulously).

Study each and every Sunnah and in cooperate it into your daily life.

After doing so, in-sha-Allah, you will notice the radiance (nur) of these Sunnah actions.

Then your every day and moment will be an occasion celebrating the life of Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).

May Allah facilitate the following of Sunnah for me and all of you. Amin!’

Seeratun Nabi sallaho alehey wasalam aur hamari zindagi, al Balagh 3/1435, page 19

The rights of Prophethood

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Qadhi Mohammad Zahid al Hussaini (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘There are six rights from the rights of Prophethood that are so lofty, superior and essential that without their acknowledgement faith in Prophethood can not be ascertained.’

Below is a summary of them,
1. The Prophethood is eternal
2. The perfections and ranks of Prophethood are bestowed by Allah
3. All of the sayings and states of our Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) portray the faculty of Prophethood
4. Our Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the leader (Imam) of all the Prophets
5. The (appropriate) etiquettes and (extreme) reverence of our Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) should be from the depths of one’s heart
6. The love of our Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) must be more than we love our own life, wealth and everything else.

Rehmat e kaiynat sallaho alehey wasalam, pages 356 – 373

Regarding the initial takbeer of salah

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Sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) mentioned the difference of opinions amongst the scholars (fuqaha) regarding the Prophetic sayings (hadith) that to what extent the hands must be raised while starting the salah. He continued,

‘However, all of them agree that the palms should be facing the qibla direction.

Many knowledgeable individuals and students (of religious institutes) falter in this practice.’

Inam ul Bari, volume 3, page 469. Sahih al Bukhari, bab 85, Hadith 738

The differences

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An individual reported how differently the takbirat in salah are done and how lax religious leaders are regarding keeping a full beard here.

Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mufti Taqi Usmani (Allah bless him with a long, healthy and productive pur-‘afiyet life, Amin!) replied,

‘These are differences in etiquette (aadaab).
There should be no prohibition (nakeer) on the issues that are differed upon by the Imams (mujtahideen).

An individual inquired that these days in our communities (Pakistan-India) first thing by which we judge an individual’s religious persuasion is their appearance (beard, dress, etc.). Is this correct?

Sayyidi wa sanadi strongly disapproved of it. He said,
‘All things must be kept at their level (fiqh hierarchy).
It is grossly incorrect to judge others. Some issues (that Hanafis consider wajib) are not even makruh e tahrimi according to other Imams.’

Haram sharif, mataf behind Rukun-e-Yamani, Makkah al mukkaramah. After esha, 24th November 2013

Utilize time effectively

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time-managementA group of seekers requested for some advice.

Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah bless him with a long, healthy and productive life, Amin!) said,

‘Firstly, try to utilize the time effectively.

Each and every moment must be spent in actions that lead to Allah’s pleasure. These  include in addition to the acts of worships, the mutual dealings (muamlaat), social etiquette (adaab ul ma’asheret), fulfilling the rights of one’s own self (nafs), the rights of the children, spouses and parents. etc.

Not a single moment of a believer’s life should be in anything that displeases Allah.

In fact a believer can make all his activities a form of worship, like eating and drinking. That is by performing it with the pure intention and correct method as per the commandments of Allah.

Therefore, it must be ensured that the time is not wasted at all. One should be involved in any of the good actions as mentioned above.’

Attending Fiqh Academy session, Riyadh, KSA after Friday prayers

Sparing time for islah

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In the booklet ‘Manual for those seeking islah‘, sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah grant him a long, healthy and productive life with ‘afiyet, Amin!) wrote,

‘For the above mentioned tasks one will have to spare at least an hour daily, though it may be in multiple sittings. If one feels mentally ready for them and can ensure that insha Allah I will do them then only request should be made to this lowly writer for service (of guidance in islah). Otherwise, please excuse me.’ Page 4

It is common practice nowadays that individuals attend the spiritual discourses of a Shaikh and read his books or those recommended by him.They improve somewhat in their outwardly actions and following of Sunna. They consider themselves seekers (talibeen e islah) and pride themselves to be associated with a particular Shaikh.

However, they rarely ask the Shaikh individualized spiritual advice for betterment of their morals and remembrance of Allah. Even if they do this than it is mostly random, disorganized and poorly abided with. Similarly those who are associated with a Shaikh for years are content with the initial tasbihats for remembrance of Allah. They do not yearn for more. As a result they do not progress spiritually. That is, they lack good moral characteristics, persist with the blame worthy ones and do not achieve the state of perpetual remembrance of Allah.

As instructed above one has to take islah seriously and spare time for it. The above mentioned hour is for a beginner, a novice. So what about the intermediate and advanced salik?

Sunna prior to Fajr salah

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fajr2In the discussion about offering the two rakah Sunna salah prior to Fajr once iqamah has been called, sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) said,

‘The authentic saying of Imam Abu Hanifa (Allah have mercy on him) and dhahir al rewaya is also that with two criteria being fulfilled it is permissible to offer this salah. Firstly, it is expected that one complete rakah (of the fardh salat al fajr) will be attainable. Secondly, that they must be offered out side the mosque.

Imam Mohammad (Allah have mercy on him) said that even if not one complete rakah only the last sitting (qaida al akhira) is expected to be attainable than also it is permissible to offer these Sunna .

Imam Mohammad (Allah have mercy on him) added further to the first criteria but not to the second one (that is to offer it outside the mosque).

Imam Tahawi (Allah have mercy on him) added to the second criteria. He said offering them outside mosque it is permissible, however, inside the mosque is also permissible provided it is far away from the rows of the congregational salah and in an isolated spot.

From all this discussion it is clear that the prevalent practice of offering this salah immediately behind the congregation or few rows away is not permissible according to any of the madhahib.

The predominant (viewpoint) is to follow the original way (madhab) of Imam Abu Hanifa (Allah have mercy on him). The Hanafi researches have given preference to this.  However, Allama Shami (Ibne Abideen) keeping in consideration the feeble Muslims has given fatwa according to Imam Tahawi (Allah have mercy on them).

Whereas, our Hanafi researchers, that include respected (Shaikh Anwar) Shah (Kashmiri, Allah have mercy on him) do not agree. They stick to the original madhab of Imam Abu Hanifa (Allah have mercy on him). That is, one rakat is expected to be attainable and it is offered outside the mosque.

Another issue to be acknowledged is that the permissibility Imam Tahawi (Allah have mercy on him) gave for offering this salah in mosque was during an era when loud speaker were nonexistent and there was no clash between the recitation of the Imam and one offering his salah in an isolated corner. Nowadays when the recitation in (congregational) salah is being relayed on the loud speaker I have doubts about the permissibility of offering this (Sunna) salah in mosque. This is because there is clash of recitation in this situations. It is, therefore, best to offer it outside the mosque.’

Im’anul Bari, volume 3, page 416-7

The ‘elite’ Sufis

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The second result of introduction of aristocratic class in Tasawwuf was to consider the non-goals to be the objectives (of the path) and absolute negligence of the goals. As a result, ‘the perfected sates’ (kamalat) that were the secondary offsprings of successful achievement of the objective were considered to be the goals themself. Spiritual pleasures and states, material unveiling, powers to do supernatural feats and perform miracles, spiritual ecstasy, true dreams, etc. became the sole objective of a spiritual seeker. They were considered to the salient features of piety (taqwa) and being a pious individual (buzurg).

In order to achieve these ‘perfected states’ means and methods that are not prescribed by Sunna were adopted. In doing so instructions were taken from (non-Muslim) ascetics and philosophers. As a result a complex potpourri of Indian customs and Greek philosophy was born. It was named the Islamic Tasawwuf.

The objective of this was to be an individual with spiritual powers and be able to perform super natural feats.

The purpose of having these superhuman powers could not be anything else other than to establish one’s superiority over other fellow men in order to influence and control their hearts (& minds).

How can the real Islamic Tasawwuf (as has been explained earlier), that teaches deliverance from the trap of lower self (nafs), establishing the vision of Truth (shuhood e Haqq) [ihsan], annihilation (fana) from the creation and being existent (baqa) with the Truth be compared to this pseudo Islamic Tasawwuf?’

Quran aur Tasawwuf, page 23-4

IDSA 2013, San Francisco, CA

Deliberation on punished nations

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Scholar Ibne Kathir (Allah have mercy on him) narrated that on the occasion of the battle of Tabuk, when the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) passed Hijr (Madain e Saleh), the Companions drew water from the well of Thamud and began kneading the flour dough to make bread.

When the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) came to know of this, he gave the order to throw the water away, empty the pots and to discard the dough. He said, “This is the village on which the punishment of Allah descended. Do not alight here nor use the things of this place. Go further and alight, otherwise you will also be afflicted by a calamity.”

 “When the Prophet (sa) passed by Hijr, he warned his companions: ‘Do not enter the dwelling-places of those who wronged themselves except with tears in your eyes lest you are afflicted by the same affliction.’ Thereupon he covered up his head and hastened the pace of his mount until he had crossed the valley.’”

 

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Some stray random thoughts on seeing these ruins,

The rich aristocrat with sophisticated skills and tools had carved these tombs

They sought eternal glory, but in vain.

All has perished, Nothing remains.

None knows of their name or fame.

Take heed O Nafs!

Do not be lazy and negligent

Plan and do what is required of you

Remember the fate of these who fooled themselves.

Glory to be Allah alone!

He is as He was.

Annihilates your desires for His pleasure alone.

Remember that from them we only know of His slave, Saleh alone

Peace  and salutations from Allah be upon him and his followers. Amin!

Madain e Saleh, 28th September 2013