Improving salah

Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmed (Allah preserve him) said,

‘A very senior pious individual instructed me that if I was seriously interested in becoming religious than I should be vigilant about improving my salah. That is, praying salah as per Sunna with contemplation that Allah is watching me. He added that if I did not do this than in spite of praying punctually I will be simultaneously doing all the undesirable worldly stuff.

Haji sahib instructed to those present to not to take this lightly. Improving salah should be our topmost priority.

Moreover, he emphasized reading the booklet ‘Namazain Sunnat kay mutabeq parhyay’ by sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) carefully and meticulously implementing each and every step as instructed. ’

11/8, MC1, KKNGH, Jeddah, 02 June 2012,  after esha

Alive or dead?

Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmed (Allah preserve him) said,

‘Alive person feels the pain of a pinprick and reacts.  Whereas a dead body will never feel or react even if a nail is driven into it.

Similarly, a faithful individual feels the undesirable effects of sinful activity. It makes him uncomfortable. If this does not happen than one should worry about the presence of faith (eman). It is the (spiritual) life/soul of an individual.’

Jeddah, 30th May 2012, bayan after maghrib

Dai’i

Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmed (Allah preserve him) said,

‘We must be compassionate in calling others to the Islamic ways.

We should address ourselves first and then the others.

Please, remember the principle that a dai’i (one who invites others) never insults, criticizes, denigrates, humiliates or mocks the audience.’

Jeddah, al-Azizia 30th May 2012, bayan after maghrib

Reminder: Allah is watching me!

Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmed (Allah preserve him) said,

‘Develop the habit of reminding yourself every now and then that Allah is watching me.  Say in an audible voice ‘Allah! Allah! Allah!’.

It is to firmly establish and cultivate this state that Allah made it essential (wajib) for us to visit His house (masjid) five times a day and practice it in salah.

We should strife to establish this in our daily life. An easy way is to set a reminder in our mobile phone that alerts us every 15 minutes that Allah is watching me.’

Jeddah, al-Azizia 30th May 2012, bayan after maghrib

Maintain wudhu

Shaikh Haji Shakeel Ahmed (Allah preserve him) said,

The trustworthy and truthful messenger of Allah Prophet Mohammed (Allah bless him and grant him peace) told us that wudhu is a weapon of a believer.

In reality it is a spiritual hidden armament against the ploys of lower self (nafs) and Satan.

We should be vigilant in maintaining it.

Unhealthy habit of chewing pan, smoking cigarettes and drinking carbonated drinks makes it difficult to maintain wudhu most of the time. We should abandon them.

Moreover, the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) himself stayed in the state of wudhu most of the time. We should emulate his blessed sunna.’

Jeddah, al-Azizia 30th May 2012, bayan after maghrib

Shrewd & peaceful

Enumerating the qualities required for a mureed Shaikh Najamuddin Kubra (Allah have mercy on him) said,

‘He must be shrewd. Traversing this path requires cleverness and dexterity. This is to deal with perils that he will face in this journey.

He must keep peace with all the creation of Allah and only battle with his own lower self (nafs).’

Mirsad al-Abad, page 169

تلك خیالات تربی بھا اطفال الطریقہ

The ‘wali-tarash‘ Shaikh Najamuddin Kubra (Allah have mercy on him) writes,

‘In front of Khawajah Imam Yusuf al-Hamdani (Allah have mercy on him) an individual mentioned with astonishment that I was in the company of Shaikh Ahmad al-Ghazali (Allah have mercy on him) eating with other brethren. All of a sudden the respected Shaikh passed away (from the physical realm). Few seconds later when he gained consciousness he said, ‘At that time I observed that the Messenger of Allah (Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace) is placing food in my mouth by his own blessed hand.’

Shaikh Khawajah Yusuf Hamdani (Allah have mercy on him) listened and replied,

تلك خیالات تربی بھا اطفال الطریقہ

These are thoughts by which the infants of this path (tariqat) are nurtured.’

Mirsad al Abad, page 193-4

Stop watering it!

In Mathnawi Mawlana Jalal uddin Rumi (Allah have mercy on him) gives an excellent example to encourage us to give up all that is sinful right now.

The sinful desires are like seeds of a humongous, foul smelling, full of thorns and fruitless tree. If one follows them and commits the sin it is like watering the seed. It germinates and grows in the middle of a path. If one continues to follow his desires the seedling gets nutrition. It becomes a sapling and eventually a tree.

The leaves, branches and roots spread.  And the tree is firmly ‘rooted’.

Being in the middle of a path it is a major obstacle.

Removing it now is not easy. It requires special equipment and expertise.

It  would have been very easy to remove the seedling.The  roots sink deep in to the ground. They engulf or entrap the things around making the removal even more difficult and messy.

Similarly, by giving into sinful desires we nurtures the lower self (nafs) and it becomes stronger each day. We may fool himself ourselves with lame excuses, like it is lesser of the two evils, or it is a norm to do these things nowadays, or it is a phase it will pass, or I will give it up after I graduate or get married or have children, etc.

We procrastinate.

With each passing day the tree of sinful desires (nafs) grows strong, whereas as the sinful individual gets older, loosing the mental sharpness, the emotional vigor and the physical strength as part of the natural aging process..

We have to be wise and not delay.  It is easier to give up sins right now.

Why recent pious?

In the “Introduction” of Malfuzat e kamalat e Ashrafiya it is stated;

‘The sayings of the recent pious predecessors are most beneficial in reformation of heart (qalb) and cleansing of the lower self (nafs). This is because of the peculiar conditions, temperaments, preferences and capabilities of these recent pious being relatively familiar to the reader.

Ma’arif al-Akabir, page 47

Beneifts of reading the sayings of the pious

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Shaikh Iqbal Quraishi (Allah preserve him) said,

‘Following benefits are derived from reading the sayings (malfuzat) of the pious;

1. Awareness of the blame worthy morals.

2. Knowledge of the deceptions of the lower self (nafs) and Shaytan.

3. Being able to recognize mistakes.

4. Riddance of lots of incorrect thoughts.

5. Clarification of many perplexities of knowledge and (execution of) actions.

6. Knowledge of the path (tareeq) and how to practically walk on it.

7. Acquiring knowledge and marifah.‘

Ma’arif al-Akabir, page 48

What to do in free time?

A seeker informed sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) about the extra time he had available daily and requested for advice on how to utilize it appropriately.

Sayyidi wa sanadi said,

‘Do two things in this time.

Firstly, perform excessive remembrance of Allah.

On request for further elaboration on what specific form of remembrance would be appropriate for him.  Sayyidi said,

‘Perform the ‘dowazdah tasbih‘. And if you already do this in morning (as the usual daily routine prescribed for seekers) then repeat it again in this spare time.’

The second thing to do is to read the biographies of the pious predecessors meticulously. High light and mark the beneficial passages for future review.

Start with the Sawanih e Qasimi of Shaikh Mawlana Qasim Nanotawi  written by Professor Mawalan Anwarul Hasan Sheirkoti (Allah have mercy on them) if you can get hold of it. It is difficult to keep focused in the one written by Mawlana Manazir Hasan Gillani (Allah have mercy on him).  Then read Tazkirat ur Raheed, Tazkirat ul Khalil,  Ashraf us sawanih and Arwah e salasa.’

Holiday Inn Salam, Jeddah, 15th May 2012, after esha

Perfection?

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

‘Torch your desires!

Burn your opinions!

Adopt absolute annihilation. And consign your affairs to Allah completely.

Try your best to please Allah.

Who are you to aspire for perfection?

I swear by Allah. If an individual is aware of his own reality than all claims of aspiring self perfection would collapse and flee from his mind.’

Waaz: al Wael wal Fazel, Khutbat e Hakim al Ummat ra, volume 15, page 204