‘One of the signs of a rejected salik is that the importance and vigilance he manifests for the wird given to him by his Shaykh is hundred times more than what he displays for the performance of daily obligatory prayers (fardh salah).‘
Tazkirah e Musleh al-Ummat, page 68
Allah save us all!
Shaykh Mansoor Ali Khan (may Allah preserve him) said,
‘For a salik there is no stationary state on this path (tariq).
He is always on the move.
He either progresses by being consistent with the good works or God-forbid regresses by being negligent and lazy.’
Sunday majlis, 12 April 2009, Jeddah
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
لب لعل و خط سبز و رخ زیبا داری
حسن یوسف دم عیسی ید بیضا داری
شیوہ و شکل و شمائل حرکات و سکنات
آنچہ خوباں ہمہ دارند تو تنہا داری
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
Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘Useful knowledge is that which,
makes you grow in the fear of Allah,
increases you in awareness of your defects,
deepens your knowledge of worship of your Lord Most High,
decreases your desire for this world and increases your desire for the life to come, and
opens your eyes to the defects of your actions so that you can guard against them.’
The esteemed scholar Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘If you are tested by acts of disobedience towards Allah, then hasten to repent, ask for His forgiveness and express your regret. Weep for your errors for you do not know how many of them you have.’
Al-Wasiyyah, page 40
An individual enthusiastically informed Arif-billah Dr. Abdul Hayy Arifi (may Allah have mercy on him) that by Allah’s grace he had attained the station of Ihsan. That is, worshipping Allah as though you see Him and if that is not possible then as though He sees you.
Shaykh Arifi (qaddas sirrahu) congratulated and encouraged him. And then inquired that if this ihsan was attained only in prayers (salah) or it was also present at other times, like dealing with house hold members, especially wife.
The individual looked in bewilderment at Shaykh and informed that he thought this ihsan was only meant to be limited to prayers and ritual worship.
Shaykh Arifi explained to the audience in detail that this is a common mistake. We tend to limit deen to formal acts of worship (Ibadaat). Our all other activities seem to be independent of the fact that each and every moment of our life we are as much a slave of Allah as in prayers and other worship.
The genuine ihsan is perpetual. The slave is aware that he is being watched and he will be accountable for whatever he does. Hence, he has utmost respect and does not do any thing inappropriate. Remember this is an intentional and a voluntary act of thinking.
As per instruction of Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaykh Mawlana Muhammad Taqi Usmani sahib (Allah SWT preserve him & allow us to benefit from him abundantly. Ameen) setting aside an allocated time every day to think repeatedly that: ‘I am in front Allah SWT & He is watching me’, is essential for achieving it. It becomes a habit in second nature only by doing it repeatedly. Practice makes perfect. Gradually it becomes almost like an instinctive performance, like breathing or drinking.
Wa ma taufiqi ilabillahi!
Hakim al-Umma Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘Actions that diminish sufferings and hardships include:
– Recalling your transgressions (sin)
– Reminding yourself of the reward/compensation on hardships
– Reflecting that in hardship there is test of faith(’eman). That is, it analyzes if there is faith present or not.
– Remembering, it causes a state of overwhelming slave-hood (abdiyat). The dirt of self-assertion, arrogance and pride is cleansed. The reality of one’s being is revealed and the person realizes not to make any boastful claims.
– Bringing to mind that it causes one to perceive the supremacy and grandeur of Allah’s actions and one’s own feebleness.
Hence, hardships result in increasing slave hood(abdiyat).
And the abdiyat is a very distinguished state (maqam).”
Ma’asir Hakeemul Ummat, page 390-1
North Myrtle Beach, SC
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
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
Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaykh Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (may Allah preserve him) said:
Two things are always to be done actively in every endeavor.
Firstly take the initiative and start working and secondly beseech Allah for its successful completion.
These two things are to be done for all things during your whole life and inshaAllah, you will succeed.
My Shaykh (Arifbillah Dr. Abdul Hayy Arifi ra) used to tell us, “Talk to Allah”.
Tell Him, “O Allah! I was involved in all these bad deeds, now I have taken the step to reform. Some of the sins I gave up but giving up the rest of them is becoming difficult for me due to the overpowering by my lower-self (nafs), shaytan, environment and my circumstances.
You alone can remove these overwhelming factors. It is not within my capability to do so. O Allah! Please, remove these crushing obstacles or else do not reprimand me in hereafter regarding them.”
Talk to Allah like this. Then you will find out how things work up for the best and how you are saved from the sins by Allah.
(Help comes after initiating the action: Islahi Khutbat 139-141/volume 11)
Kissimmee, FL
Orlando, FL
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