A senior disciple wrote,
Frequently a state raptures me on hearing the blessed name of Prophet (Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him) or listening to his narrations. Tears flow for a while and it appear that as if the Prophet (Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him) is sitting in front of me. This happens both in public and in solitude. On these occasions an unintentional desire to stand arises. However, two thoughts come to mind preventing me to do so. Firstly, in public I fear that people will call me an impostor and it will be damaging for the beliefs (‘aqaid). Secondly, the internal state is as described whereas apparently there is nothing visible. I remain perplexed in this situation. Afterwards I feel a sort of disassociation in remembrance (dhikr) and this makes me anxious. What should I do? Stand up or not?
Hakim al-Umma Shaykh Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (may Allah have mercy on him) replied,
‘This is a blessed state.
If you can not withstand it, then stand up. However, do not disclose to others why are you standing. This way it would not be detrimental to beliefs (aqaid). If someone insists a lot to know the reason tell him I was feeling anxious. Period.’
Tarbiyet us Salik, volume 2 page 730
Assalaamu Alaikum wa rehmatullah
I hope you are well with the rahma of Allah SWT.
Brother, I have a query with regards to your post today.
I live here in sweden in a city with around 130 Pakistani students. We were recently invited to a gathering for isale sawab on death of one pakistani student’s relative(quran khwani). I went there along with a couple of friends A & B (A= mureed of Hakim Akhtar Sb, B=tableeghi jamaat). Upon reaching there we found out that our hosts were on barelwi belief. Now after quran khwani ended, all of a sudden our hosts started for ‘salaam’ and commanded all of us (30 students) to stand up along with them !
Everyone except A (Hakim Akhtar sb’s mureed) stood up, while I left the room briefly (posing I had an urgent call) to avoid the scene without disrespecting their belief/seeming weird.
After the gathering finished, it seemed our hosts did not like A’s insistence on sitting. Later, B and others from tableeghi jamaat expressed that friend A should have stood along, since one cannot give dawah and would never rectify himself towards haq, until we keep criticizing others in this manner!
I personally thought both A and B were correct in their own way.
Tableeghi Jamaat’s belief here, was strikingly different however. Would u like to comment here?
Im sorry if this question is regarding an ‘ikhtilaafi’ issue !
Remember me in ur duas,
The reply:
Bismillah
Respected brother sahib,
wa alaykum as salam
JazakAllah!
It was good to hear from you.
I pray and hope that you are doing well, inshaAllah.
A scenario similar to what you are describing happened once with Hakim al-Umma ra. In one of the jalsa he was attending people started to recite salam and all stood. Hakim al-Umma ra remained seated, while some of his senior murids and students stood up. He later commented that it depends on your strength of conviction and niyyah. That is, it depends on the niyyah why are you standing or why are you remaining seated? Some consider that it will be impolite and stand not to offend others. They do not share the belief of Prophet’s visit. It is fine. Some like Hakim al-Umma remain seated because their sight is not on what others will thing but on doing what is the command of Shariah to gain the pleasure of Allah.
So in summary A and B were both correct. But B’s comment and rationalization that A should have stood up is nonsense. It is against the very basic principles of dawah. Dawah is not given by compromising on principles.
Doing ijtemai esal-sawab as is the norm these days is highly discouraged by our akabir. It is more of a ritual then a sincere activity. At some places it becomes a bidat.
It is best to go in advance and do the ta’ziat with the niyyah of Sunna. If they invite you to these gathering it is best to excuse yourself mentioning some essential commitments. However, ensure the brother that you will make esal sawab and dua for the deceased. And do so.
In ikhtelafi issues it is best to follow Hakim al-Umma ra’s saying,
“doosray kay aqida ko cshero nahi aur apna aqiday ko cshoro nahi”
(Do not meddle with others’ belief and at the same time do not leave your own beliefs.)
I hope I was clear.
Please, do try to make dua for me.
muhtaj
‘abd