Category Archives: T. Tarbiyet

Contains principle and guidelines on training and disciplining of the morals (ikhlaq) of murid

Bayan and majlis

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Shaikh Mohammad Kaleem (Allah preserve him) a
senior khalifa of Arif billah Dr Abdul Hayy Arifi (Allah have mercy on him) said,

‘I do not give lectures (bayan).

I just talk extempore (to the seekers who gather to benefit). Whatever is felt to be important or is asked is discussed.

I feel that these types of discussions (majalis) are more beneficial than the lectures.’

Shaikh Mohammad Kaleem sahib db’s residence. Darul Uloom Karachi, Sunday, noon, 16th December 2012

This distinction has to be appreciated and applied, especially by the non-scholar and young shuyukh.

Way to islah

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Hakim al-Ummah Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) instructed,

‘Pray two rakah salah with intention of making repentance and then supplicate as follows;

O Allah! I am Your obstinate disobedient servant.

I want to become obedient but nothing happens with my desires. However, everything is possible only with You.

I want to reform myself but I lack the determination to do so. Only You can reform me.

O Allah! I am extremely inapt, severely corrupt and very sinful. I am failing. Please, help me!

I have a weak determination to resist temptations of sinful activities. Please, give me the power to do so.

I do not have anything for salvation. Please, provide me with the means of salvation from Your hidden treasures.’

For ten or twelve minutes  make repentance arduously. Then say;

‘O Allah! Kindly forgive all the sins that I have committed till now. Though I do not say that I will not commit them again. I am aware that I will do them again. However, I will ask for forgiveness again.’

In this manner daily ask for forgiveness, acknowledge your weakness, supplicate for betterment (islah) and verbally recount your ineptness, corruption and evilness. In short, debase yourself explicitly in front of Allah daily for ten minutes.

O brothers! Neither take the medicine nor abstain from the harmful, only use small quantity of this elixir daily prior to sleep.

In few days you will observe that from Divine sources your determination will become strong without facing humility and hardships. Overall, things will happen from Divine which you can not even imagine now.’

Waaz: Milat e Ibrahim, Volume 31, page 390, quoted from Majalis e Hazrat Eshrat ra, page 13-4

 

Islahi relationship

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Shaikh Mawlana Abdul Hafiz khalifa of Shah Abdul Ghani Phulpuri (Allah have mercy on them) said,

‘Many people develop an islahi (self betterment & improvement) relationship (with a Shaikh). However, few of them fulfill its rights.

The right of this relationship is to consult the Shaikh in every issue and follow his recommendations. There are very few individuals that follow the recommendations (thoroughly). One has to stay away from self opinion (khud-raiy) and self conceit (khud-beini). Otherwise, instead of proximity and pleasure (of Allah) one is distanced (further away) from Him.

This is a very clear but subtle path.

Only the individual who follows the recommendations thoroughly will progress on this path.’

Malfuzaat e Hafiziya, (pdf online) page 50-1

 

Instruction and own islah

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The reviver of Islam Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (Allah have mercy on him) wrote to one of his deputies (khalifa),

‘Be concerned about your own affairs (that is, your relationship with Allah), so that you leaves this world safely (with eman).

In the hereafter certificate of authorization (ijazet-nama) or (increased number of) disciples will be of no help.

Indeed! While managing your own affairs if anyone comes (asking for guidance explicitly) with sincere yearning then instruct him about the path. However, do not make the instruction about the path (tariqat) your main goal and management of your own affairs subservient to this. Doing so will be an affliction and loss for you.’

Maktoob 228, quoted via Tofah-tush-Shuyuk, page 48

Signs of love of Allah

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

‘The signs of genuine (perfect/kamil) love of Allah are,

1. Facilitation of obedience of Allah

2. Excessive remembrance of Allah

In absence of either of these two signs, the claim of loving Allah is a pretension.’

Waaz Sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Taqi Usmani (Allah preseve him)

Being attentive of Allah 2

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Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmad (Allah preserve him) said,

‘Try to keep your attention towards the recitation of the dhikr you are doing. That is, focusing on what is being recited and contemplating its meanings. At the same time being aware that my Allah is watching me and listening to my recital. I am in front of Him. Keep reminding yourself about these things continuously throughout the day.

This is a lesson for all of us.
We have to repeat it and be reminded about it.

Thanks to your visit we revised it today.’

Medinah al Munawwarah, 3 Muharram 1434/17 November 2012

Controlling sight and tongue

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Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmad (Allah preserve him) said,

‘Be totally silent. Develop this habit (of keeping the heart attentive towards Allah), especially here in illuminated Medinah. Remain mute, deaf and blind here. Keep your sight focused to ground. Do not look at anything except for the essential, like way towards the door of blessed mosque.

The sight and speech should not be used without an active intention. If this control is achieved one is bestowed with many blessings from Allah. Our sight and speech are irresponsibly out of control. The sight wanders here and there without any restrictions.

Be vigilant about safeguarding the sight especially in the blessed city of Medinah. This is the least that should be done here. By the evening time there should not be a single image of non-mehram in our mind. This can only be achieved if one actively lowers his gaze. If accidentally something inappropriate is seen then turn to Allah immediately, asking for protection and removal of its bad effects.’

Madinah e munawarrah, 3rd Muharram 1434/17th November 2012, after asr

Serve parents

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Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmad (Allah preserve him) said,

‘I instruct the youth that associated with me for their islah to take special care of their parents. That is, (in addition to be being polite and obedient) they must provide extra care and service to their parent. Like massaging the parents’ legs and feet ( a common practice to sooth tired limbs in subcontinent).

Everyone is eager to massage Shaikh’s feet while they neglect providing this service to their parents. This is absurd. The Shaikh has several people to provide this service whereas your parent’s only have you or few other individuals to do this.

I repeatedly tell them that in hierarchy of Shariah rulings the rights of parents come before those of the Shaikh.

This also reassures the parents about their son’s Shaikh. (That is, they do not feel threatened of being replaced by the Shaikh.)’

Hilton Makkah al mukaramah, 1st Muharram 1434/15th November 2012, after esha.

Islamic dress

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Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmad (Allah preserve him) had just returned from the blessed Masjid al-Haraam after performing tawaf e wida. He greeted us with a radiant smiling face. Walking independently he appeared handsome in the black kurta and showed no signs (mashaAllah) of any illness at all.

The humility, love and kindness overflowed as the audience benefited spiritually from his words.

Haji sahib said,

‘I observed that the young men who approached me for islah started wearing the simple white  kurta and khanqahi topi. They were trying to copy their Shaikh.

I questioned them about this change. Who had instructed them to do so?

Moreover, I inquired about the opinion of their wives and other household members regarding this change.

They answered that we are labeled as bhaiya (slang for resident of UP) and mawlavi.

I took them personally to a tailor and asked him to make kurta for them in styles and colors (even mix and match) in trend these days for their age group.

Personally I always preferred to wear white clothes in accordance with the Sunna. However, to reinforce the message for young men and show them practically that it is permissible, now I also wear colored kurta.

In fact, few people in Bombay joke about Haji Shakeel’s dashing kurta(s).’

Hilton Makkah al mukaramah, 1st Muharram 1434/15th November 2012, after esha.

Clarification: Bayah vs suhba

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Shaikh Mufti Muhammad Shuaibullah Khan (Allah preserve him)  said,

‘It must be very clear to all of us that bayah is not synonymous with keeping pious company (suhba) of a Shaikh.

Lot of people are under the false assumption that they are both the same. They make bayah and become content. They do not  make effort to improve their spiritual condition.

The knowledge and motivation for this effort to improve is derived from the pious company of the Shaikh. One has to ask for guidance and supplications from the Shaikh whenever faced with hardships or laziness in these spiritual efforts.

Moreover, it must be understood that the pious company of the Shaikh must be with the active intention of improving one’s spiritual condition. Without such intention mere pious company is not optimally beneficial in itself. ‘

Our main battle front!

‘These days the main battle front for our nafs is in dealings with spouse.

The closer the relationship more are the chances of blameworthy morals to be manifested in behavior and attitude.

One has to take extra-precautions to avoid this from happening.

As rule one has to suspect him/herself to be the culprit, lacking proper adab and try the best to behave.

We should never ever try to do islah of our spouse!

This is the job of their Shaikh.

We have to focus on our own islah all the time.

 

What is islah & how is it done?

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As understood from the teachings of Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanavi (Allah have mercy on him) under Shaikh Mufti Taqi Usmani’s (Allah preserve him) guidance ,

Islah is the betterment or reformation or change of heart (dil badalna) in such a way that the commands of Shariah are followed both in external and internal acts of worship to the best of one’s ability. This is essentially accompanied with acknowledgment of one’s severe short comings in trying to do so.

The real islah is that of the actions of the heart (amal e batini) first and then the outwardly actions that are produced physically are rectified. It is usually not the other way around. This is as mention in the blessed Prophetic saying (hadith of qalb).

The initiating foundation stone of islah is a flash of Divine attraction (jazab) that is bestowed on the selected individual. Its outwardly reason maybe reading something touching, attending a pious individual or place, dua of parents, shaikh etc. In reality it is a kind gift (fadhal o karam) of Allah alone. Everyone of us has to beg for this fadhal e adheem ardently in his/her dua. If the individual is really blessed then he/she will try to safeguard the effects of this Divine attraction by reforming his/her (dhari o batini) actions. If he/she is careless then this will fade away and even might not return ever. Allah save us from this deprivation. Amin!

Tasawwuf provides a frame work for developing this islah. The components of Tasawwuf, like one-to-one mentor-ship, discipline, regular routine, wird, pious gathering and recommended readings all act as catalyst in this growth of islah. However, the real things needed to do the chemical reaction of islah are the firm determination and sincere effort of the salik him/herself.

Catalyst alone can not do the reaction.

Bayah is not essential for islah. It is highly discouraged to be hasty in selecting a Shaikh.

The special nights of Ramadan, Eid, the blessed days of Zil-Hajj, etc.  are ideal for asking for this fadhal e adheem of Allah.

Darul Uloom, Karachi

Hajj advice

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An individual proceeding for Hajj requested for special instructions in this regards.

Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mawlana Mohammed Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him & facilitate for us benefiting from him) said,

‘Be vigilant in effectively utilizing your time (in virtuous deeds) during these blessed days.’

7th Zil Hajj 1433, Jeddah-Mina