–
اللهم بارك لنا في رجب وشعبان وبلغنا رمضان
آمین
–
Category Archives: Z. Mustahebbat
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
Proximity of Allah
‘Arif-billah Dr Abdul Hayy ‘Arifi (Allah Have mercy on him) said,
‘People wrongly assume that by observance of excessive worship, like supererogatory salah, excessive remembrance or recitation of Holy Quran, they will gain pleasure and proximity of Allah.
In our everyday life the pleasure and proximity of Allah is obtained by being patient and responding with humility and good character when unexpected comes from those who are dear and near.
The real examination is when the curt comments and the sarcastic attitude of friends and family break your heart or make your blood boil.
Being patient, controlling one’s anger and responding with humility and good character will make you move closer to pleasure of Allah.
Only an individual who is cognizant that he/she will be accountable before Allah for his/her actions can do this.
This is taqwa.’
Audio:Mp3 CD # 2
Goal of remembrance:Ehsan
Qutub e ‘Alam Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘The end result of all forms of remembrances (adhkar), spiritual exercises (ashgal) and meditations (muraqabat) is awareness of being in the presence of Allah all the time.’
Aap beeti via Zaad us Salikeen, page 803
It is essential to appreciate that this is not the creation of an abstract idle thought but an actual experience that brings a change in the behavior and actions of the individual.
That is, ehsan as mentioned in Hadith e Jibraeel (Allah’s peace be upon him)
اصول فقہ
Hakim al Umma Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘In regards to the issue of mawlid there is a delicate discussion that need not be mentioned to lay public (for it is difficult for them to comprehend it). It is that, people do it (mawlid) considering it to be an act of worship (ibadah). For it (mawlid) to be so (an act of worship) requires documentation (from Sunna, Fiqh). This documentation has not yet been established. Those who advice against it do so based on this.
The lay people do not understand this and subsequently conclude that these people stop them from remembering the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).
(To elucidate further) Hakim al Umma gave the example that suppose if someone was to recite ‘Mohammed’ ‘Mohammed’ (Allah bless him and give him peace). Then it has to be investigated that is this (recitation) considered to be a act of worship or not? (If he considers it to be an act of worship) Then there is no proof of it.
Mazeed al-Majeed, page 13
This delicate point is indeed seldom appreciated, even by scholars.
The crux of all discussion to proof the validity of celebrating mawlid is on historic incidents. That is, such and such major Shaikh, grand Mufti or erudite scholar did it. These only establish the cultural events observed at that time.
Signs of special relationship with Allah
Shaikh Dhunun al Misri (Allah have mercy on him) said,
Three things are sign of having a (special & close) relationship with Allah. They are;
1.Turning to Him all the matters
2. Asking everything from Him
3. Trying to get close to Him all the time.
Urdu translation of al Kaukab al duriyu fi manaqib Dhunun al Misri, by Ibn al Arabi (Allah have mercy on them), page 79
Practice makes perfect?
Then why do we see otherwise in ourselves?
That is, in spite of performing religious actions ( e.g. salah, tilawat, dhikr, etc) for so many years the same mistakes are repeated, the outward beauty and inward concentration does not increase. Perfection remains a mirage.
Shah Wasiullah Allahabadi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘An action has to be done properly to be beneficial in this world and in hereafter.’
Majmua’ talefat e Mulih al-Ummat ra, volume 2, Sa’adet e haqiqi, page 323,
Foremost , what is going to be practiced must be established properly. The method must be correct.
It is futile to expect perfection when the thing initiated is done incorrectly and then repeated similarly manifolds. The obvious result of this mistake would be perfection in repeating the the mistake itself.
It for this reason our shuyukh stress on learning the basic religious (fiqhi) text (Bashishti Zewar/Thamar) thoroughly upfront on the path of sulook.
Arif billah Dr Abdul Hayy Arifi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘Read the book: Uswa e Rasool e Akram (sallalaho aleh e wasalam). It is a manual for your daily life.’
Sayyidi wa sanadi Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) reinforces this in his instruction to the spiritual seekers.
The ease & comfort in religious works
Hakim al-Umma Mawlana Shah Ashraf Ali Thanawi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘Even in religious endeavors (daily actions/commandments/prohibitions. etc.) people seek ease and comfort.
(No doubt) Ease and comfort is achieved in these issues (eventually) but after accomplishment of these endeavors. People seek it early on.
It can be understood by this example;
A sick person complains about his imperfect health, aversion and difficulty in swallowing the medicine. (Whereas in reality) the perfect health will not be achieved until the illness is eradicated. And the illness will not be eradicated without the medicine.
God only knows why their intellect has been corrupted in religious issues.’
Mazeed al Majeed, page 42
حضرت تھانوی قدس سرہ کا انداز تربیت اور تقوی کا حصول
سیدی و سندی حضرت مولانا مفتی محمد تقی عثمانی صاحب مدظلھم العالی
وعظ
حضرت تھانوی قدس سرہ کا انداز تربیت اور تقوی کا حصول
Supplicate for true yearning
Shaikh Mawlana Qamar uz Zaman Allahabadi (Allah preserve him) said,
‘Special supplications (dua) should be made for the development of true desire (talub).
In particular the (following) supplication prescribed by the Naqshbandi saints. Allah will surely develop true yearning.
O Allah!
You are my goal and I seek Your pleasure!
(Therefore) Bless me with Your love and marifa.’
Amin!
al Ifadhat al Ahsaniya, page 146-7
How to start good actions?
_
Arif-billah Dr Abdul Hayy Arifi (Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘Whenever you get a thought of a good action immediately supplicate (dua) to Allah for facilitation in doing it. By doing so a good action is already initiated.
Then be thankful on making this dua. This is a second good action.
Furthermore, as it has been promised (in Holy Quran) this thankfulness will, inshaAallah, lead to increase in good actions.’
Sawanih wa talemaat Hazrat Arifi ra, page 469
Missing the daily wird
Spiritual seekers often complain these days about missing the daily tasbihat and recitations instructed to them. They want an easy solution.
Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani ( Allah preserve him) has repeatedly reminded us that there is no magical potion or incantation or amulet that the Shaikh can prescribe for this. One has to use his determination and do it.
Moreover, laxity in performance of daily wird is a sign of taking it lightly. An individual does not miss something that he considers to be important.
The daily wird provides the soul nutrition required for performance of good actions and staying away from all that is corrupting. Hence, the spiritual progress is dependent on it.
Missing it is spiritually detrimental.
The daily recitation prescribed these days (especially in Ashrafiya tariqa) are minimal. They are adjusted to each and every individual’s capacity, enthusiasm and time availability.
The following narrations shows the demeanor of the pious elders in this regards.
Shaikh Fazal ur Rehman Ganjmuradabadi writes about the daily wird of his Shaikh Shah Mohammad Afaq (Allah have mercy on them),
‘Every day he used to recite salutations (durood) on the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) 10,000 times, tahleel (kalimah e taiyaba) 50,000 time and read ten juz of Holy Quran. The recitation of these ten juz was completed in an interval of time that appeared to an unaware observer to be suitable for a single juz’s recitation. Moreover, with all the five fardh salah he used to offer salah at-tasbih.’ Tazkirah, page 198
In recent past repetition of ism e dhat (Allah!) 24,000 times a day was a normal routine for most of the spiritual seekers.
If we can not be consistent with the minimum wird prescribed, then how can we expect for spiritual progress?
Silence
The blessed Companion Jabir bin Samrah (Allah be pleased with him) narrated that,
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to remain silent most of the time.
It means that talking less was a prominent feature of his character. If something important and beneficial was needed only then he would speak otherwise he remained silent.
It is reported in Shahih al-Bukhari, al-Muslim and other books of Hadith: ‘Whoever believes in in Allah and the Here-after he should either speak good or remain quite.’
Our master the leader of the believers Abu Bakr Siddiq ( Allah be pleased with him) said,
‘I wish I was (partially) inarticulate and only had the power of speech to make remembrance of Allah.’
Mazahir al-Haq, sharh Mishkat, volume 5, page 352
Be merciful!
Sayyidi wa sanadi Hadhrat Mawlana Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) was approached by two scholars who requested for permission to narrate the Prophetic sayings (sanad e hadith). Both were graduates of Nadwat ul Ulama, Lucknow. They had brought the canonical books of the blessed Prophetic sayings (Hadith) with them and wanted to recite the initial hadith from all of them and then get the permission.
Hadhrat sayyid wa sandi told them that it is better to start with hadith musalsal bil awaliya. He narrated it to them through his Shuyukh, particularly Shaikh Hasan Mashat al-Maliki, al-Makki and Shaikh Yaseen Fadani (Allah have mercy on them):
The Prophet (Allah bless and give him peace) said, “The merciful are shown mercy by the All-Merciful, تبارك و تعالى. Be merciful to those on earth and the Lord of the Heavens will be merciful to you.”
Then they read the first hadith from each of the Hadith text. Sayyidi corrected their reading for any mispronunciations. When they read from Musnad e Ahmad he clarified that he has ijaza of it by permission and not via studying it with a Shaykh (darsan).
Afterwards they requested for some advice.
Sayyidi wa sanadi pointed out to them that traditionally the first lesson a student of Islamic sciences gets from his teacher is this Prophetic saying, musalsal bil awaliya.
Why is it like this?
The authors’ of the books of hadith have initiated their works by various different Prophetic sayings, as you read earlier in this session.
Imam Bukhari (Allah have mercy on him) considering the utmost importance of sincerity started with rectifying the ‘intention’: “The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for.
Imam Muslim (Allah have mercy on him) started with the basic believes: One day we were sitting in the company of Allah’s Apostle (peace be upon him) when there appeared before us a man dressed in pure white clothes, his hair extraordinarily black. There were no signs of travel on him. None amongst us recognized him. At last he sat with the Apostle (peace be upon him) He knelt before him placed his palms on his thighs and said: Muhammad, inform me about al-Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Al-Islam implies that you testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and you establish prayer, pay Zakat, observe the fast of Ramadan, and perform pilgrimage to the (House) if you are solvent enough (to bear the expense of) the journey. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: It amazed us that he would put the question and then he would himself verify the truth. He (the inquirer) said: Inform me about Iman (faith). He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Apostles, in the Day of Judgment, and you affirm your faith in the Divine Decree about good and evil. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (the inquirer) again said: Inform me about al-Ihsan (performance of good deeds). He (the Holy Prophet) said: That you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, for though you don’t see Him, He, verily, sees you. He (the enquirer) again said: Inform me about the hour (of the Doom). He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: One who is asked knows no more than the one who is inquiring (about it). He (the inquirer) said: Tell me some of its indications. He (the Holy Prophet) said: That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress and master, that you will find barefooted, destitute goat-herds vying with one another in the construction of magnificent buildings. He (the narrator, Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: Then he (the inquirer) went on his way but I stayed with him (the Holy Prophet) for a long while. He then, said to me: Umar, do you know who this inquirer was? I replied: Allah and His Apostle knows best. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: He was Gabriel (the angel). He came to you in order to instruct you in matters of religion.
Whereas the authors of Sunan (Allah have mercy on them started with cleanliness and purity (tahara).
Imam Malik (Allah have mercy on him) thinking that the rulings of tahara will only be applied when the time of salah arrives started Muwatta with the timimgs of the prayers: Don’t you know that the angel Jibril came down and prayed and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed.’ Then he prayed again, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed. Then he prayed again, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed. Then he prayed again, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed. Then he prayed again, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed. Then Jibril said, ‘This is what you have been ordered to do.
The reason to select this specific hadith is, most likely, to remind us that Allah’s attribute of mercy predominates and surpasses His attribute of wrath. The Holy Quran starts with ‘With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful’[1:1]. Then comes,’Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds [1:2] the All-Merciful, the Very Merciful[1:3].
The message that is being conveyed here to the novice student of Deen is that the characteristic of mercy should predominate in your character. This should be the moto of your life. Be merciful to all the humans on the face of the Earth, including the Muslims and the Non-Muslims. However, the modes and manifestation of this mercy may differ for each of them.
We should be merciful even to Non-Muslims. This means that we should have a burning desire in our heart that Allah guides them to truth. And they receive salvation, enter Paradise and are saved from Hell-fire. We should invite them to Islam with love and compassion.
We restrict this mercy to Muslims alone. However, in reality it should be on Non-Muslims to. The hatred is not for any Non-Muslim individual but for his devious beliefs (kufr & shirk). As person we should have compassion for him like we have for a person afflicted with a disease.
Hence, the reason why our pious predecessor teachers selected this hadith for the very first lesson was to sow the seed of mercy in an aspirants heart. To make him realize its importance so that he becomes a manifestation of this mercy for the whole mankind. Following our Master the ‘Mercy to the universe’ (rehmatul-il-‘alameen) Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and grant him peace) he brings the creation closer to Allah.
May Allah make us understand this fully and facilitate acting according to it. Amin!’
Qari Rafiq’s residence, Jeddah, al-Safa distt. 14th January 2012, after maghrib
___________________________________________________________________________________
| Main Entry: |
mercy [mur-see]
|
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | kindness, compassion |
| Synonyms: | benevolence, benignancy, blessing, boon, charity, clemency, commiseration, favor, forbearance, forgiveness, generosity, gentleness, godsend, goodwill, grace, humanity, kindliness, lenience, leniency, lenity, lifesaver, luck, mildness, pity, quarter, relief, ruth, softheartedness, sympathy, tenderness, tolerance |
| Antonyms: | cruelty, intolerance, meanness, uncompassion |
Value time
Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) said,
‘These days most of us are preoccupied by the past events or future apprehensions. In doing so we neglect the present.’
An individual inquired,
‘In our era due to technological advances every day chores are done relatively quickly. Hence we have extra time available to us. This usually results in preoccupation with useless involvements including those you mention. How can we utilize time more effectively?’
Sayyidi wa sanadi replied,
‘I repeatedly tell the people the same and ask them what are they doing with the time they save by using these new technologies.
An individual has to develop the importance of value of time.
Once this importance is developed then it will be impossible for him to waste a single second. Moreover, Allah will give barakah in his time and he will be able to do more work effectively in the same amount of time.’
Makkah Towers, 3rd January 2012, After esha