Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaykh Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) encourages us to read the biographies of our elders (akabir).

One of the benefits of doing this is to get the motivation (hal) for our own reformation (islah).

Following incident has a great lesson for all of us.

‘Shaykh Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi (Allah have mercy on him) [d.1999] was very particular about performing salâh with congregation from a young age together with waking up for the night salâh (tahajjud), reciting the Qur’ân and daily remembrance of Allâh . This continued during his old age and time of weakness as well.

On one occasion (in the forties) he went on foot from Nadwatul ‘Ulamâ’ to his house in Lucknow with this in mind that he will perform the ‘ishâ salâh at the musjid near his house. When he reached there, the salâh was already over. So he went to another musjid and found that the people had completed their salâh there as well. He was most disturbed by this until someone informed him that a third musjid has the ‘ishâ congregation a bit later. He reached this musjid and joined the congregation. He experienced unexplainable joy at this.’

Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi: Al Alimul Murrabi Wa Daiyutul Hakeem