Secret of Success
We are very, very grateful to Allah for His Grace, in that he has taken us all out of our negligence and laziness, and given us the ability to perform His Dhikr, that action for which Allah ta’ala gives so many rewards, gifts and glad tidings. {إِنَّكَ لَا تُخۡلِفُ ٱلۡمِيعَاد} Allah ta’ala has made these promises about His Dhikr and He tells us ‘Whatever I promise will surely occur’ – although we may have to wait just a little time. We just have to wait a little while for those things that Allah ta’ala has promised. When a person departs this world, he witnesses those promises with his own eyes; he sees the rewards that Allah ta’ala has promised for the deeds and the time he spent on them. And Allah ta’ala gives even more than what has been promised. SubhanAllah, Allah gives many times more Thawab.
This brings to mind the events that will occur when, after punishment, a Jannati will be taken out of the Fire. He had Iman, but he kept sinning when he was in the world and didn’t do Tawbah, so obviously, those sins have to be burnt off in the fire of Jahannam. He was negligent and lazy and didn’t even make a small request in the Court of Allah for his sins to be forgiven, although for just one word of sincere repentance, Allah ta’ala gives so much reward that all of a person’s sins are forgiven. The sins a person takes with him into the Hereafter due to not having asked for forgiveness will result in such punishment that a person cannot even imagine, may Allah forgive. And it takes just a little bit of time, just a little bit of breath, and then life stops, and a person goes into the next world and this world disappears. Mother, father, sisters, brothers, everyone has gone, and it all disappears.
This is how it was for this poor soul, and so he petitioned Allah’s Karam and Mercy when he was there, saying ‘Oh Allah, You are so forgiving and merciful, so please grant me at least this, that I am given some relaxation and flexibility to move away from this place in Jahannam where I find myself, perhaps to somewhere where the heat is reduced somewhat and the air is fresher.’ Now Allah ta’ala listens to the request of every person and does not reject, so He replied ‘Is that what you really want? If I grant you this, will you stick steadfastly to the limits of your request?’ The person answered ‘Yes, I will not go beyond that.’ At this, Allah ta’ala said ‘Ok, give him this chance and grant him the respite that he requests.’ And so he was brought a little further away from the intensity of the heat into relative coolness, which brought an easing of his condition in Jahannam - and even enjoyment due to the Rahmah of Allah. Now he started to realise what lay beyond, and so he came to his senses and said ‘Ya Allah, You are extremely merciful and gracious and have brought me to this point, so please just listen to one more request from me.’ Allah ta’ala said ‘What is it?’ He said ‘Just take me a little bit closer to Jannah so that I can see what the people are doing there. I have heard so much about it, and at least that way I could see the reality with my eyes.’ Allah then said ‘But you said you wouldn’t go any further than this!’
This account that I am telling you is from Hadith! Everyone should imagine that they are that person, and reflect on the Rahmah and mercy of Allah, SubhanAllah. A Mu’min should never give up; never lose hope if you have Iman. So Allah ta’ala then said ‘Ok, fine, but will you be steadfast on the limits of this request?’ And the person said ‘Absolutely, yes Allah!’ This is the nature of man, this is our own nature and Allah ta’ala is aware of that nature, and so He said ‘Ok, fine - let him go a bit closer to Jannah so that he can see.’ Now when he got close enough to see, he started to enjoy the sight and said ‘Oh, this is something else!’ And after a while, his senses opened up still further, and so he said ‘Oh Allah, You are so merciful! You have brought me this far, so could You just push me a little further forward?’ Allah ta’ala said ‘But you keep going beyond what you have promised!’ The person said ‘Oh, but I’m not asking for much – just a little bit further towards Jannah to give me a bit of hope through Your Karam and mercy and grace.’
At this, Allah ta’ala’s Rahmah became evident – I am just giving you the meaning of the Hadith here. Allah ta’ala’s Rahmah manifested itself at this point, and Allah said ‘Ok, fine. Now tell Me, what is it that you want? What are you requesting?’ So that person said ‘Oh Allah, how can I ask from You?’ Allah ta’ala then said ‘Do you remember that world that you came from?’ Now Allah ta’ala is speaking to him – look at this discussion He is having. Whenever a person feels in his heart that he wants to speak to Allah ta’ala, then Allah ta’ala gives him the answer at that very time! Remember this – even now, that situation is present. So that person then said ‘There were rich people in the Dunya that I came from! Qaroon was there and countless treasures’, but Allah replied ‘Never mind that. Tell me the names of the four biggest kings that you knew of in the world and tell me what they had.’ So he said ‘Ok, well there was one person who was the leader of a kingdom and he owned so much property’ and so on. Allah ta’ala said ‘He had all that? Ok, fine. But what shall I do with you and these requests that you keep making of Me? If I multiply by ten what those people in the world you told me about had, would you be satisfied with that?’ Allahu Akbar! The person’s state was overwhelmed, and he said ‘Oh Allah! Are you joking with me? How can I get this? Are you joking with me?’ Amazing! Allah ta’ala said ‘I am your Rabb – how can I joke with you? Don’t you know what I give in return when a person makes a request of Me?’ So Allah ta’ala gave him so much Thawab, saying ‘Take all this and go!’ And this person is at the lowest level of Jannah, while you are Dhakireen, people who do Dhikr, people who do Tawbah! What will Allah give? Tell me.
When a person loses hope and becomes weak and gives up, this is a dangerous state of affairs, very dangerous – remember this. When living in this world, a human being should be very careful to avoid this. The pious predecessors have told us - this is a big Nasiha. Never give up and never lose hope. Allah sent us to this world, and He knows everything – He is Khabeer and Baseer. The Dunya gives us many needs and there are difficulties and problems, shaytan, desires, Nafs – a person is surrounded by so many things. Is this not the case? There are difficulties, problems and worries, as well as requirements and needs at every step the human being takes. And then there is the Nafs which is his enemy, and then shaytan, the big enemy, so do we think that Allah ta’ala has left us to deal with all these issues with no assistance? Allah ta’ala has given us all these difficulties and challenges and problems, but Allah has also given the solution to these. Allah has provided the solution, SubhanAllah.
Look, can a person who is a Mu’min believe that Allah would leave him isolated? We cannot become like those who say ‘Oh, it’s too hard, there are too many things to worry about.’ But we don’t look at the solution that takes us away from destruction. Allah has given us the path to come out of the problems. And what is that path? SubhanAllah, it is the Sunnah methodology of the illustrious and majestic Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. The Sunnah methodology is such a fantastic path and such a fantastic way, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has demonstrated it to us in every way, whether by statement or by example, and he has announced that his words and practices will continue until Qiyamah. They will not stop nor fade. Look how many Ambiya came before him. The events of Hadhrat Musa alayhi salam and of Hadhrat Ya’qub alayhi salam and others are mentioned in the Qur’an, but as for our master, the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, his life has been recorded to the extent that we know how and in what circumstances he even raised a finger, or did some other specific action, or behaved in this manner and so on. Look at the examples and details that Allah ta’ala made apparent. And this was not done just for one moment in history, rather, this knowledge will persist until Qiyamah, because goodness is in this for human beings; without this, we cannot progress or succeed. If there is no solution to a problem, then we will remain stuck in it. So Allah ta’ala says ‘I have given you the solution: until Qiyamah, whenever any Mu’min has any problems, the solution is to be found there. The habits and methods of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam will never be hidden from the people.’
Now in each situation, how do we implement this solution to the problems of the world? There are two things – what we need for the world, and what we need for the Akhirah. There are two needs, and for both, Allah has given a solution. If someone says ‘I can’t leave this sin’, Allah has given a solution. A person says ‘I have tried my hardest, but I can’t leave this sin. My eyesight strays and I just can’t leave this sin - it is too hard for me. I keep doing it again and again’ – and then a person loses hope and gives up. As a result of this, he goes even further into that sin. He says ‘It is too hard for me. How can I leave this action? I can’t do this!’ – and then he gives up. This is because he hasn’t implemented the solution. He should immediately think ‘There is definitely a solution for my problem. I can leave this sin, this immoral and impure action. I can destroy Nafs and shaytan – they are not as powerful an enemy as I think they are. Allah has definitely given me a solution.’ Without doubt, Shaytan does try to spoil him and Nafs does make him go astray, but he must use the solution that Allah ta’ala has given. The solution is there – we have it. Where will we get the solution from? From the blessed Tariqa of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, from his method, from his way. Ask - what did Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam do at that time? What was the situation and what did he do?
So take this as a solid, unquestionable fact, that it is impossible that a human being cannot leave a sin or bad action, and it is impossible that if he has a need or a problem in the world, he cannot solve that problem. Impossible! If we take this stance, then our lives will become first-class lives – but we don’t look for the solution. If we don’t get a job, we become upset. This or the other is not happening, we can’t find a house, we can’t find a marriage partner – there are so many thousands of issues we might face. And in respect of the Hereafter, we think we cannot leave some sin or other, and cannot do some action like control our tongue or such like – and obviously, if a person doesn’t leave the sins, then the punishments of Jahannam await. They are present and are very severe indeed - who will be able to bear them in the grave and what follows? So let us go towards the solution! When this happens to us in our lives, when we are going through difficulties, then seek the solution. Say ‘How can I bring this situation into control? How can I overcome this issue?’
What is that solution? Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has given the practical demonstration of the solution. What is that? The solution is a combination of two things. Yes? There are two elements to the solution, and if you employ both in parallel, then alhamdulillah, you will continue to roll forward in the world and the Hereafter. You can’t just take one element – it is a combination of the two that is needed to attain the solution. This mode of transport has two wheels, and if you only use one wheel, you will stop. But if you use both wheels, then you will achieve success - both wheels must be used together. For example, if you want to leave sins, if you are stuck in a sin, then you need to use both elements of the solution in parallel to solve that problem. If you have a need and cannot fulfil it, then take both elements in parallel.
Whether it is a worldly or Akhirah issue, what are the two elements to the solution? Number one: to achieve what you are seeking – to leave a sin or acquire something – the first thing you have to do is to try! The first of the two elements is what? You have to try - you have to make effort. And how much should you try? To the extent that your capability allows. Say SubhanAllah! Say SubhanAllah! {لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفۡسًا إِلَّا وُسۡعَهَاۚ} Allah says ‘I have placed a certain capacity inside each person’ – yes? You could call this ability or capacity or capability, and each person has a maximum specific to him or her. In respect of ‘Ilm, for example, one person may have less ability while another person has more. So according to whatever capacity you have, you must make as much effort as you can. And in parallel, the second element is Ruju’ ila’llah – turn back to Allah. Turn to Allah; seek from Allah.
These two elements will solve every problem to be found in this world. You do not want a sin that you commit habitually, which you just cannot give up and has invaded your life, to take you into Jahannam do you? To rid yourself of that sin, firstly, try as hard as you can to stop that sin. And what do we need to do alongside that effort? What is the second element? Ruju’ ila’llah – turn to Allah. What is the Tariqa for this? Do Dua – make Dua to Allah, supplicate to Allah. There are so many Duas that the noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam used to make – many books of these Duas have been printed, such as Maqbul-e-Hajat and other titles. But nobody recites those Duas! People don’t make the Duas that relate to their needs, for the Prophet has left Duas for every situation. And it is not even necessary for you to make those Duas in Arabic. They can be made in English or in Urdu or in Persian or in Sanskrit or in Gujerati or in Siraiqui – Allah knows every language! Allah ta’ala is aware of every language, although the best way to ask is in the way the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did so, in his beautiful language of Arabic. But if you don’t know the Dua in Arabic, Allah says ‘Don’t worry, I can solve this problem too! If today you supplicate in Gujerati, tomorrow you will do so in Arabic because I love My Nabi!’ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam. It is not hard to learn a language, is it? It is no great feat.
So if you want to solve your problems, a combination of two actions is needed. What do you have to do? First, make effort and try hard. And action number two? Turn to Allah. At this point, I would like to share an event with you, an event that has been verified. Hadhrat Mufti Azam, Hadhrat Mufti Shafi Sahib rahmatullah alayh recorded this event in Ma’arif-ul-Qur’an. This took place in 1857 in Hindustan, in the Indian subcontinent, hence this is an account of an event from some time ago in history. At that time, those in control of the land were arresting people due to a situation of turmoil and discord. People were being hanged and there were very strict curfews to the point that nobody was allowed to leave their house. A very strict rule was imposed, and everyone was subject to the restrictions of house imprisonment – an example of how conditions change and how at times the situation can become very hard. Many people were affected by these restrictions of imprisonment and seclusion, and others were being hanged and executed or beaten and thrown into jail.
Now there was a Wali of Allah at that time, a very pious soul, and he too couldn’t leave his house. He was effectively locked away in his home. One day passed, then two, three, four, five days – a week passed, and he had not been able to leave his house. By this time, he had nothing to eat and nothing to drink. How could he survive? He realised the severity of the situation and saw that it would soon get to the point of dying through thirst or hunger, so what did he do? He found a bowl in his room and took it to the courtyard of the building. So he was trying here, because this was the only effort that was open to him. This is a true story I am telling you here – and actually this sort of thing happens every day, but it does not always become known. When he reached the courtyard, which was an open space within the building onto which his door opened, he made Dua, saying ‘Oh Allah, this is the extent of my capacity and strength in this situation. I saw this bowl and I have brought it here in front of You near my porch, and now I am making Dua to You. My task was to make an effort by putting the bowl outside, and now it is up to You to fill this bowl.’ After saying this, he lay down and closed his eyes. SubhanAllah, there was no sign of clouds in the sky at all, but a rumble was heard and clouds began forming – Allah is the Rabb and the Malik! It was not a matter of the climate gradually changing and the clouds forming slowly and the weather forecast predicting rain as clouds are blown in from a neighbouring country, increasing the air moisture and bringing rain – no, no, Allah’s answer was not like this. Allah can change the situation instantly. One Wali of Allah raised his hands and the scenario transformed suddenly.
At least make friends with Allah – become His friend! I am a sinful person, a dirty spider, you could say, but I have Yaqeen. I have certainty that although I am surrounded with sin and have no actions whatsoever to my name, however sinful I am, at least I have a Rabb! My Maula, My Lord, has created me, and the One who created me will not break His connection to His creation. This is just like the mother, who will still be your mother even if she turfs you out of the house - the connection with your mother will never break, because she reared the child in the womb and then gave birth to the child. So imagine the love Allah has, the One who created our mothers! Never think that Allah is far away; Allah is not far from us. Allah is not just at the Ka’abah – no, Allah ta’ala is attached to every Mu’min. It is us who have distanced ourselves so much from Allah. Allah says ‘You human beings are so foolish! I am so close to you – you cannot even imagine how close I am.’ Our intellect cannot comprehend how close Allah is to us. Allah says ‘What has happened? So you have committed a sin and made a mistake – so what? At least speak to Me and make a request of Me and turn to me!’ SubhanAllah.
But we give up immediately we commit a sin, and say ‘Oh no, I have committed a sin! There is nothing I can do about it – I am finished now, so leave it. That’s it, I am destined for Jahannam.’ We become so lacking in hope, and we give up to the extent that we cannot imagine that there is any point in going to Dhikr. We say ‘What’s the point? It has been two weeks that I have not gone now, and I don’t feel like going. I have committed big sins, so which face will I show to Allah when I go to do His Dhikr?’ Who are we speaking about here? Allah is always waiting, even if you are full of sins from top to toe. Even if the sins pile from the earth up to the sky, still come to your Rabb and see how Allah ta’ala will cleanse you. You can come with so much dirt and impurity, but Allah ta’ala says ‘I will clean you and make you so pure that people in the Dunya will call you a Wali of Allah! They will come to you and request you to do Duas for them. Why do you consider yourself so low?’
We give up so often and so easily, and shaytan makes us give up, telling us ‘Oh no, it’s too hard.’ Never let that suggestion come near you, I tell you this. There is no bigger negativity than this for a person, and there is no bigger coward that the person who gives up. Ok, you have committed a sin and you have broken the bounds and disobeyed Allah, but you still have the connection with Allah. You are still His creation – that connection hasn’t gone, has it? That link is still there. If a problem or a difficulty comes to you in your life, then submit to Allah – turn to Allah.
So when the clouds formed and the rain came and fell to earth, not just the bowl but also the wells filled up from that Sadaqah. Look how Allah ta’ala gave water to that Wali and his neighborhood in those severe conditions! His bowl was filled because he did two things: to the extent that he was able in the circumstances, he made as much effort as he could, and secondly, he turned to Allah, requesting and pleading with his Duas to Allah. So if we bring these points into our lives, my brothers, then no issues can remain unresolved. We can never get stuck in our lives in the situation of having given up, whatever is happening around us, and whatever conditions befall us. Where there is total loss, where those close to you have left you, where you have no job, where you have been turfed out of the house – whatever situation occurs, this is the solution.
I remember an event that happened to me. I had an experience of this sort when I was on a journey. I used to travel because the subject I was studying was geography and geology, and I went on a very long journey, taking in Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and other places besides. I had a passion for travelling and I was with a friend when this happened. This is a true story from my life. Do people share their stories from their life of this sort? Nobody does - so why am I telling you? So that our Yaqeen can strengthen, SubhanAllah. So what happened was that as we were travelling in the way that students do - we were studying at an institution in Germany – our money ran out. Our resources became used up, and one day passed, and then another – I think we were in Turkey at the time – so we started selling the belongings that we had with us in order to buy our return ticket, which we managed to do with difficulty. So we were travelling in a bus and passing through Bulgaria, I think it was, and we had nothing at all to eat since all our money had been spent on the tickets. So what could we do?
My friend was in a very bad way as we were sitting there, so I said to him ‘Why are you so upset, my friend? Allah is with us, isn’t He?’ SubhanAllah – I had at least some sense at the time. But he replied ‘Yar, we’re finished! I’m so hungry – I’m finished!’ I said, ‘Let’s ask Allah’, but he replied ‘Look, we’re sitting in a moving bus – what food can reach us here? Where can food of any sort come from now?’ This is a true story I am telling you. I said ‘Listen, I have sat in the Majalis of the Walis of Allah, so I have a bit of understanding about this. Let’s do one action – let’s ask from Allah!’ He said ‘Fine, you ask then.’ I said, ‘If food comes, won’t you want to eat it as well?’ So he said ‘Ok, how should we ask?’ I said ‘Raise your hands and say, ‘Ya Allah, we are extremely hungry, so please Allah, provide some food for us! We can’t do anything because the bus is on the road.’ Now in front of us there were some passengers, and it turned out that they had some food. They gave their child some biscuits and other nice bits and pieces, so what did the child do? It was Ajeeb – he didn’t eat it, but instead, he started throwing it onto the floor. Biscuits and cakes and other items of food arrived at our feet. I said ‘Look! Allah ta’ala has provided us with Rizq!’ And so quietly, we started to pick these things up and began to eat. Before long, our stomachs had been filled with first-class food! And on top of that, soon afterwards they actually offered us food, saying ‘Look, we are coming to a stop soon, so please come and drink tea with us.’
So, my brothers, Insan needs to try a little bit and ask from Allah. Allah will give to you even in the wilderness. If we are committing a big sin, say ‘Oh Allah, I want to leave this sin. I am trying.’ And then on top of that, raise your hands and do Dua, and see how Allah ta’ala gives. Don’t just keep sinning and running towards sin, saying ‘Oh, I can’t leave this sin, there’s no way. I can’t leave alcohol, I can’t leave cannabis, I can’t leave music.’ How can it be that we can’t stop this? I have seen people leave very big sins with my own eyes. A bit of effort and courage and determination is needed, as well as turning to Allah and making Dua.
Now, the Sufi Hadhraat, those on the path of Tasawwuf, especially get attacked by shaytan and Nafs. So when these conditions arise, don’t fear or tremble, rather take hold of the straight path that Allah ta’ala has given to you, this path that you are travelling on. Have Yaqeen and say to yourself ‘I must do my Dhikr in the morning and evening and complete my Mu’amalaat and my daily recitation, and fill in the sheets that my Sheikh has given us as a programme of improvement.’ And if we get lazy or negligent, who do we ask from? Allah! Don’t leave the path. Don’t leave the path, for Allah has warned of a severe reprimand for doing so, saying ‘I am displeased with those who leave this way. If you acknowledge that I am your Rabb, why don’t you ask Me for the solution?’
Hadhrat Arif Bi’llah rahmatullah alayh, qaddasAllahu sirrahu made great statements on this matter. He said ‘If you are committing a sin, ok. You will stand in front of Allah on the Day of Judgement and say that you were forced to do it and you couldn’t help it and it was too hard for you, so you had to commit the sins. Fine. When you say this to Allah on the Day of Judgement, Allah ta’ala will say ‘Ok, everything you say is clear – the country and the surrounding conditions made it difficult for you to leave the sins, for you to take the TV out of your house’ – and sometimes it is the wife who won’t let the husband remove the TV from the house, and sometimes it is the husband who prevents the wife from doing so. Hadhrat Arif Bi’llah rahmatullah alayh continued, saying that Allah will then say, ‘But when you were surrounded by that severe condition, did you ever turn to Me and say ‘Oh Allah, I am forced to do this, but I want to leave this sin. Help me!’ Did you ever ask Me for that solution?’ SubhanAllah. ‘Did you ever ask Me? If you had just tried to ask Me, I would have made it easy for you to shun that sin.’ Let us make our Yaqeen strong that Allah never rejects the request of Insan, even if something seems impossible. It doesn’t matter how impossible something seems to us; take courage, step forward and make Dua. Say ‘Oh Allah, I want this and only You can give it to me.’
There is a third thing to remember – this is a fantastic point, this third element. So number one is that we have to try as much as can; number two, make Dua to Allah; and the third element is to remember that it is Allah’s choice! Remember this as well. Who are you asking from? Allah, the Rabb, who is al-Hakeem. Allah is all-Wise, al-Hakeem – everything runs according to His Hikmah, His Wisdom. We have done our part by making as much effort as we can, and then we have made Dua – our part is done. The third element is to beware of thoughts such as ‘Why didn’t this happen? Why is nothing happening?’ Allah ta’ala doesn’t like this. Allah says ‘Your request has come to Me and your effort has also come to Me {سَعۡيُكُم مَّشۡكُورًا}. You will never be unsuccessful, for the Dua has come, and I never reject Duas.’ Both things reach their destination: your effort has been registered and noted, and secondly, you have made Dua, which will never be rejected. The third element needed is that if the request is not happening, if it has been delayed and has not been fulfilled or come to fruition, then what is this? It is the will and wisdom of Allah! It is the choice and Hikmat of Allah – it is His decision. So after doing actions one and two, the third thing you have to do is leave it to Allah.
What is this? This is Tawakkul. This is Tawakkul ‘ala’llah, reliance upon Allah. Actions one and two combined will bring you to the third, which is Tawakkul ‘ala’llah. ‘Oh Allah, I am happy with Your choice, with Your decision. I have done what I had to do, and what You do and when You give is up to You. Alhamdulillah, I have got Sakeenah, contentment and satisfaction in my heart’ – and Allah gives that immediately. Allah removes the trembling and the fear and the anxiety, and this part of the problem is solved. When will what has been requested come to fruition? You may well have to wait. Some say ‘Oh, I did these actions, but I am still not getting married. It is not happening, it hasn’t worked!’ But when we try to force the issue, Allah says ‘Can you not wait? Don’t you have Tawakkul?’ Then the resulting actions turn out wrong – this has a negative effect. So after doing actions one and two - first trying as much as you are able, and secondly making Dua to Allah – then do action three, which is to leave it to Allah, saying ‘Oh Allah, it is up to You now. Whenever You choose to give, I am waiting.’ Allah also gives reward for this waiting, remember this. What is this called? Tawakkul ‘ala’llah – reliance upon Allah.
So we must put this combination together and keep on asking from Allah. Many people say ‘Ya Allah, give me this; Ya Allah, give me that; Ya Allah, I want to leave these sins’ and so on. They are persistent in Dua, but they don’t do action number one; they don’t make effort, so they will never be successful. They say ‘Oh, I have made so many Duas, but it is still not coming to fruition’, but if you ask ‘Have you tried to solve this matter?’ the answer is no. For example, if someone keeps asking ‘Ya Allah, give me a son! Ya Allah, give me a son’ but he hasn’t got married yet, then how will a son come? Tell me. If you do not implement the Asbaab, the means that Allah ta’ala has given you, then what is the point of Dua? Allah can do whatever He wants, of course. Allah is not limited by or reliant upon some action, but this is a Sunnat-e-ilahi. This is Allah ta’ala’s Tariqa, His method. He has told us ‘This is how you should behave. If you do it this way, I will give it to you. Take the Tariqa that Allah likes. Our Yaqeen is not limited to ‘Oh Allah is al-Qadir, so if we just ask, He can give to us.’ We know that even if we don’t ask, Allah can still give. But this is against Adab and manners. Do not go against the method that Allah ta’ala has given.
There are people of very high status whose words are accepted, but their situation is different. We normal people are not in that situation, and we have to follow the rules. If you just do Dua on its own and do not try, then that issue will stay hanging in the balance. And on the other side of the coin, if you keep trying but do not make Dua, if you stock up the shop as best you can but fail to make Dua, there too, the issue will hang in the balance. It is no good doing one of the two but leaving the other, whether making Dua and not trying, or trying but not making Dua - no. You must do both actions in parallel. You have to supplicate to Allah and make an effort – both together. That’s it.
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that even if the lace on your shoe breaks, you should ask Allah for help with that problem. This is a small problem, isn’t it, but we should still make a request to Allah even if our shoe-lace breaks. We say ‘What’s the point of asking from Allah? We’ll just go to the cobbler and tell him to fix it.’ Look at this. What if the cobbler is out or he can’t fix it for some other reason? It looks simple but who knows? If there is a glass of water there, before picking it up, the Walis of Allah make the Niyyah and say ‘Oh Allah, make it easy for me to be able to pick up the glass of water.’ Allahu Akbar – I’m telling you the truth. They make Dua for every step that they take, saying ‘Oh Allah, I am going to make the effort and I will step forward and put out my hand, but I will only reach the glass of water if You give me the Tawfeeq and make the passage to the water easy for me.’ How many times have we seen or heard of someone who steps forward or puts his hand out to get a drink of water, but a stroke afflicts him before he gets there, so he doesn’t drink it? Isn’t this the case? Someone can be eating food and suddenly their hand gets frozen. Why? A stroke has occurred and now he can’t eat anymore. What about this situation? Doesn’t this happen?
You should have a strong connection with Allah in respect of every action, thinking ‘I am not capable at all, and unless I make a proper Dua, I will not be able to complete this task of picking up a glass of water. We think Duas are only made at the time of Salah, and even then, we let the Moulana Sahib do the Dua and don’t ask ourselves. But the real Dua is the Dua that you make yourself – remember this. Dua is something that comes from your tongue. If Moulana Sahib or Pir sahib or Hadhrat Sahib makes a Dua and the congregation join in, there is Barakah in that, of course, but your own secret desire that you ask from Allah is different. That is unique. Your desire and your connection, when you ask for things from the depths of your heart with pain and emotion – these are not the same as a collective Dua. Moulana Sahib doesn’t share your personal pain. Allah gives when there is pain, when that cry of anguish comes out with the request as you plead. Allah ta’ala looks at how much a person pleads, at how much Yaqeen a person has – his Rabb is listening to him. Say SubhanAllah!
This is what you will learn in the Khanqahs, my friends. Someone is sat in this corner crying, another person is sat in that corner crying, another is somewhere else crying. I have seen beautiful scenes in the third portion of the night. Small oil lamps were flickering, and there was a Faqeer in one corner crying, and another in that corner sitting and asking from Allah, and this person was doing Tasbeeh and that person was pleading. Everybody was immersed in their own situation and nobody was aware of what the others are doing, Allahu Akbar. This is the connection that we need to make with Allah ta’ala. The human being, the Mu’min, is not on his own. He needs assistance, but not of anyone around him in the world; rather, he has the greatest assistance from the One who gives. Allah gives immediately, SubhanAllah.
Tell me – is Allah far away, or is it we who have distanced ourselves from Allah? We are foolish - we let 24 hours go by without even asking from Allah. 24 hours! They say ‘No, no, I did make Dua after Salah’ because they chanted ‘Rabban’a-tina fi-d-Dunya Hasana wa fi-l-Akhirati Hasana’ and three or four other Duas, and that was it. Brothers, what about our private life? Don’t you have some private needs and requirements? Don’t we have a longing for something, for example? These are all true points that I am making – a human being has these needs. Say, for instance, that you have a desire for delicious, sweet Halwa, or if you want to go home and cook a nice roast chicken – such longings are there – then put your hands up and ask for it. Say ‘Allah, I am going home, so please enable me to eat nice, hot Halwa today.’ There is nothing wrong with saying this to Allah, is there? This is not a bad thing to say to Allah. If you do so, Allah ta’ala will deliver Halwa to you from some place, even from the sky! Or at least you can ask ‘Oh Allah, please save me from Jahannam!’ At least say that – that is certainly something worth asking for. But even in respect of the Dunya where you are living, say ‘Oh Allah, give me cool water - I can’t find a glass. I am trying.’ Or ‘I can’t find a pen that writes properly, so please, Ya Allah, provide me with a pen.’
We think these things are acquired by means of the money in our pocket and a trip to the shop – no! Don’t rely on the shop, nor on money, nor on your pocket. Who should you ask from directly? Your Rabb, Allah! Then pick yourself up and go and look for the pen, and you will find it in front of you, lying there. My brothers, this is the connection that we need to develop with Allah ta’ala. What is the method needed to strengthen our connection, the method that has been mentioned by the Walis of Allah? It is Dhikrullah, the remembrance of Allah! What other reason is there for us to do Dhikrullah? The more we do Dhikr, the more the connection with Allah increases and develops and strengthens.
You will start asking from Allah in respect of all your issues. You will say ‘Oh Allah, give me a wife’, ‘Oh Allah, please take away my stomach-ache’, ‘Oh Allah, I cannot pass urine properly – cure me of this.’ There are Duas for this condition and there is an Ayah for it also. Allah ta’ala has given us solutions for these little things. He knows, for the machine of the body is in His control. Sometimes a kidney will fail, or urine will not pass, or something else gets blocked, and then the Dhakir immediately turns to Allah. I swear by Allah, through the Barakah of Dhikr, even if you are in front of the consultant and he tells you that you have cancer, Wa’llahi, a human being who is a Dhakir will not be scared. First and foremost, he will say ‘Ya Allah, cure me of this disease!’ This is the reality, I promise you. He immediately submits to Allah. He sits there and calls out ‘Oh Allah, it is said that I have cancer, so please give me the cure for this. What has happened here? What is this difficulty?’
There and then, Allah ta’ala gives him contentment and tells him ‘Why are you worried? I made him declare that you had cancer, and I will cure the cancer. Do you know why I gave you cancer? Because I want to give you a high status in Jannah! What do you know about My reasons for the distress this will cause? Why have I given pain to your children? Why have they been given this sadness? SubhanAllah. Does anyone love you more than I do?’ The love of your mother and your father are nothing in comparison – Allah’s love is the greatest, SubhanAllah. ‘So when I take something away from you, what do you know about how beloved I make you through this? You don’t know how beloved you are to Me at that time. You cannot imagine how beloved you become to Me when I take something away or give you a test or a challenge or a difficulty. Don’t you think I will compensate you for that? So why have you run away? Why do you run away from Dhikr? Where have you gone?’ Allah says, ‘I have been looking for you and My angels are looking for you – where have you run away to, you monkey?’ This is our situation.
So every incident and predicament is based upon Allah’s wisdom, but don’t leave Dhikrullah. That’s it – SubhanAllah. Never leave Dhikrullah, however much Waswasah comes from shaytan. Who will we ask from? First, make effort to destroy shaytan by not listening to his words and not believing what he says. Be aware that he is pestering you and then seek refuge in Allah. Allah ta’ala has told us so many ways to do this. Say ‘A’oodhu bi’llahi mina-sh-shaytani-r-Rajim’ – ‘Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You! Oh Allah, he is pestering me! Oh Allah, save me from shaytan! Ya Allah, disconnect me from shaytan!’ Keep asking, ask more and more, and then the Decree of Allah will come and your Darajah will increase – your status will increase, SubhanAllah. This is your Ibadah when Allah puts you in this situation, and you will attain more Thawab from this than you do from attending the Masjid, SubhanAllah.
Sickness and all these things are running according to Allah’s system. Our task is to make effort while, in parallel, asking from our Rabb, and then being happy with Allah ta’ala’s decision. Say ‘Oh Allah, I am happy.’ We just do whatever we can - we leave our bowls outside, we make the Dua, and then we lie down. We don’t know where the water will come from, but we do know that we have asked from Allah and that we have tried. We don’t know what Allah will give us or where it will come from – like the Rizq we received in the bus. The biscuits just came, the food arrived. The child kept on throwing it to us, so we ate it and our stomachs filled up. SubhanAllah! And then we were very grateful to Allah ta’ala. These are the solutions that Allah ta’ala gives to human beings. Allah knows what we are, and He give us these conditions so that we can come close to Him. Allah ta’ala wants His servants to come close to Him. You heart attains these things when the knots of your heart unravel, when you sit down to do Dhikr of Allah morning and evening.
Look, a human being cannot succeed just by listening. It doesn’t matter how many lectures you listen to on Tafseer of the Qur’an or Hadith; unless you move your feet and physically set forth, you will not get to the Maqam you need. Imam al-Bukhari rahmatullah alayh put together such a great Kitab in which the whole Deen is summarised and sealed. Our pious predecessors tell us that after the Qur’an, our greatest book is Sahih al-Bukhari. What did he do that makes it so good? The first Hadith that he wrote down is from Hadhrat Umar radhiAllahu anh, who ascended the Mumbar and narrated this Hadith, whose meaning is ‘I heard the gracious Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam say that all A’maal are based upon what? Upon a person’s Niyyah, upon his intention.’ What a great selection this was from Imam al-Bukhari. Did he not have Ilham? This was Ilham, it was inspiration from Allah for Imam al-Bukhari to select this Hadith to begin the collection.
Why did he select this Hadith? The pious predecessors have had great discussions on why this Hadith was selected. There are many discussions and commentaries about why this was the first subject to be mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari. The reason is that the whole Deen is in Sahih al-Bukhari; everything that Allah ta’ala has taught us is there, with all the deeds that we are told to do, but it is stated that, whatever you do and however much you practice and study and learn, no matter how many Tafseers and explanations you read and write about the Deen, success will only be attained when your Niyyah is correct. SubhanAllah. Do you see that? The success of every action is based entirely upon what? Upon the Niyyah, upon the intention. Why? Allah says that you will get what you intended. The whole of Sahih al-Bukhari is summarised and sealed upon that. So the first thing we need to do is what? Say it out loud! Make the Niyyah, correct our intentions, straighten out our intentions. We have read the Hadith, and the essence of the whole of Sahih al-Bukhari is that if you want some benefit in the Hereafter, if you want to be successful, it will not be Sahih al-Bukhari that will give this. What will give it? It is the Niyyah that will bring this result! The Hadith is about correcting our intentions.
Every type of person will rise up. First and foremost, after the Prophets, who will rise up? The scholars. After the Prophets, the greatest Maqam is that of the Alim-e-Haq, the true scholar, isn’t it? The Ulema-e-Haq, the righteous scholars, will rise first. And Allah ta’ala will say ‘So you are a big Alim, are you?’ and he will say in response ‘Well, I have written many Tafseers of Qur’an and have done Hifdh and given explanations and so on.’ And then Allah will say to him very beautifully – this is outlined in Hadith, isn’t it? – ‘Ah yes, it is right what you say, but who was all of this for? Was it for status? For fame? For recognition from the world? To amass money? Was it to stay in a job and earn a salary? What was the reason that you did all of these things you have told me about? What was it all for?’ SubhanAllah – say SubhanAllah. This is the greatest group, who will be called forth first on the Day of Judgement. But no one will be able to challenge Allah when they stand before Him. What is Allah ta’ala telling us indirectly with this? Allah is saying ‘You have all these things – Bukhari, extensive Ilm and so on – but you did not correct your Niyyah! You did not make effort on your Niyyah. You should have sat in front of a Dervaish, in front of a Wali of Allah, and done Tazkiyyah, purification, to learn and practice Adhkar to cleanse your heart, so that your Niyyah could have been purified and made sincere.’ SubhanAllah.
The Qur’an has also spoken about the Ulema, defining them as those with Khashiah, with fear and apprehension of Allah. Where do we get this Khashiah from? Without it, we slip and we fail, don’t we? That is why Imam al-Bukhari rahmatullah alayh indicated that the first thing needed is what? To correct our intentions. This can’t just be done instantly - a whole lifetime of effort is needed. So, my brothers, let us ask Hadhrat Thanvi rahmatullah alayh how to correct our intentions. He will explain to you. He said ‘I made effort all life-long to attain the fruit of Sahih al-Bukhari.’ It is not about just reading it and repeating some Hadith and becoming big-headed – no.
And the second group to be summoned will be the martyrs, the Shuhada. Tell me, what great status a Shahid has, one who gave himself. He says ‘Oh Allah, I gave my body, and I made this and that sacrifice’ and then Allah will say ‘Who did you do this for?’ So Allah is saying indirectly ‘You did not make an effort to do Islah of your heart, to purify and cleanse your inner self. You gave no importance to having a correct intention in your heart. You never went to submit yourself in front of somebody. You never went to pick up the shoes of a teacher, of a Wali. You were so Mutakabbir – you had so much pride, that you never had the Tawfeeq to pick up the shoes of a pious person.’ SubhanAllah.
Great scholars would come to my Hadhrat Sahib rahmatullah alayh. Mufti Abdul Sattar rahmatullah alayh was one of those who came, and he was Mufti-e-Azam of Khair-ul-Madaris. He was amongst the great scholars of Pakistan. Khair-al-Madaris is a very big Madrassa, and some five thousand youngsters study there. That Madrasa was founded by Hadhrat Khair-ud-Deen sahib rahmatullah alayh, who was from amongst the Khalifas of Hadhrat Thanwi sahib, similar to Mufti Muhammad Shafi sahib and Hadhrat Muhammad Hussain sahib from Lahore who founded the Madrasa Ashrafiya. Now you may not be aware of them, for you may be more familiar with those from Randher and other places in Hindustan, but I am telling you about Pakistan. These are Madaris with great status. Khair-ul-Madaris is an extremely large Madrasa in Pakistan, and Hadhrat Khair-ud-Deen was a very great Sufi and he was a Khalifa of Hadhrat Thanvi sahib rahmatullah alayh, and it was with his Hukm that he came to Pakistan and established a Madrasa there.
So Mufti Abdul Sattar came to Hadhrat Sahib, to my Sheikh rahmatullah alayh, who was a Faqeer, a Wali of Allah, simple, and sitting in his place. And Mufti Sahib’s presence brought a Jama’ah of Ulema from the vicinity, who, when they heard he was visiting that area, came to see him. They asked him where he was going, and he said ‘You have come to see me, but I have come to do Ziyarah of somebody else. Why are you coming to see me?’ I myself saw students of Mufti Sahib arriving with pillows for him, for I was present at the time next to Hadhrat Sahib in his little Hujrah. It was dry and there was a little dirty stream outside near where Hadhrat Sahib would take his shoes off. May Allah ta’ala give Mufti Sahib a high status in Paradise, for he became a great human being. It was he who led the Janazah for Hadhrat Sahib – what a Maqam Allah ta’ala must have given him, tell me, to be able to lead the Janazah of the great Wali of Allah of his time. He was a Mufti, and it was he who led the Janazah. What else can I say about him?
So when he arrived, my Hadhrat Sahib saw that Mufti Sahib had entered, and he said to him ‘Come in Mufti Sahib and sit down.’ Everyone was aware of who he was. He said ‘Hadhrat, I have wasted a lot of time, but now I have come to learn the Name of Allah from you.’ Allahu Akbar – and then he closed his eyes and started to cry. SubhanAllah, when a person gets to this Maqam and gets that deep sincerity and pain, he reaches a high-level status. Imagine his Maqam! This is what brings a scholar towards the Maqam of the Prophets – he was a great Alim. So then he spent time coming and going with Hadhrat Sahib, and even though he was elderly and weak himself at that time, he did Mujahidaat and made effort, sitting with Hadhrat Sahib and listening to him, pressing Hadhrat Sahib’s legs and serving him. He became like dust in front of Hadhrat Sheikh, and Hadhrat Sahib gave him Ijaza in the Silsila. I remember seeing him afterwards in Madinat-ul-Munawwara, and the effect of Hadhrat Sahib had rubbed off onto him. I saw what a beautiful effect that company had had upon him and the change from what he had been previously to what he had become, because Hadhrat Mufti Sahib had touched the hand of the Wali of Allah.
This is the message from Imam al-Bukhari rahmatullah alayh: ‘Whatever else happens, what must you do? You must do Tazkiyyah, purification, reformation, improvement, Islah. Allah ta’ala has opened your hearts to Ilm and has given a high Maqam to you, but if you don’t purify and cleanse your heart and your Nafs, then you will end up in a very bad situation.’ You cannot improve your Niyyah yourself. Is it easy to correct the intention? This is the whole Deen! The essence of the whole of Sahih al-Bukhari is summarised in this Hadith about the importance of correcting one’s intentions. Tell me – am I right or am I wrong?
My friends, I have heard these things from the Walis of Allah, from the pious predecessors. And we do Dhikr of Allah so that we become closer to Allah, so that the hearts open up and big diseases are eliminated. And then, in every matter, a person relies on Dua and effort. This becomes his life, along with TawakkulAllah. He leaves it to Allah. For example, we put the mask on, and then we make Dua. We say ‘Oh Allah, this mask won’t save us, but we do so because You have told us to adopt the means to avoid this big disease that has become so widespread.’ And then we make Dua. There is no guarantee, but then we do TawakkulAllah, thinking ‘Oh Allah, I will accept every one of Your decisions. If you make me sick through this disease, I accept it and am happy. We have done our duty, and now You will give to us according to Your choice and preference.’ But if you leave either Asbaab or Dua, then Allah ta’ala cannot be happy with you, because this is Takabbur; it is pride. This is just an example that I have given here, so establish this principle of life.
My brothers, we can only be successful in this if we do Dhikrullah and make effort. Pick up a Tasbeeh, sit at the feet of a Wali of Allah, take the lessons and make an effort on your heart. And do so in order to please your Lord. And it doesn’t take a thousand years to please Allah. You can waste a a lifetime and then come at the age of seventy years - Mufti Sahib came at the age of seventy, and he departed with Khilafah, as a deputy, SubhanAllah. I also remember Moulana Muhammad Hanif, who was the Amir of the Tableeghi Jamat at that time in Dera Ghazi Khan. Somebody said to him that he ought to go and meet Hadhrat Sahib and so he decided to go to learn Dhikr. He was the Amir of that area, sent from Raiwind – Moulana Muhammad Hanif sahib rahmatullah alayh. At that time, he didn’t know how to improve the Niyyah or what Dhikr was, even though he was seventy years old. I saw him come to my Hadhrat Sheikh and he sat down and alhamdulillah, Allah ta’ala gave him Khilafah! He became a great Sufi, and he didn’t leave Tableegh. Who says that after learning Dhikr, you leave Tableegh? Astaghfirullah – who says this? What kind of philosophy is this? Of course, he still went regularly, and he did his work of Tableegh and propagation of the Deen, but he controlled his heart.
Everyone has his passion or his career and he wants to do this and that. Learning Dhikr doesn’t mean that you leave your profession and what you are doing. Dhikr is the backbone – do you understand what I am saying? There is no time for negligence and laziness because life is short. Whatever principle and pillar you are on, if you want to correct yourself, Allah will correct you. We waste a lot of time, but to obtain Allah does not take time - say SubhanAllah. It is easy to waste time – for twenty, thirty or forty years we can lose Allah; but when you want to find Allah, it doesn’t even take one night. In less than one hour, you will find Allah. As soon as a person leaves his sins and says ‘I want Allah!’, if he comes, learns Dhikr and picks up a Tasbeeh, I swear by Allah, he will attain Allah immediately.
Two or three years ago, a Jamat came and sat with us. They were people of the heart and they liked my words, so they came and said ‘Teach us Dhikr please.’ They were senior Da’ees – fifteen, twenty, forty years they had spent in the work of propagation of the Deen. And there was another brother there, an educated man, and he also said that he wanted to learn Dhikr. He didn’t know much, and he had some doubts and kept asking question after question. ‘Will I have to leave Tableegh?’ he asked. I said ‘Why should you leave Tableegh?’ He said ‘Will this make me lazy and negligent in my work of the Deen?’ I replied ‘Not at all!’ He asked whether I would tell him not to do the work of the Deen, so I said to him ‘How could I tell you not to do the work of the Deen? Why would I do that?’ He said ‘I still have my doubts’, so I said ‘Learn Dhikr, and then see.’ Today, he is a great Sufi. I won’t tell you his name, but he is a great Sufi. I am surprised at how Allah ta’ala has opened his heart, and he is doing first-class work of Tableegh; he didn’t stop. People have a big reaction against this though, because shaytan puts doubts into the heart, like this person who was worried that he would have to stop doing Tableegh and would have to leave it for Dhikr. He now says ‘SubhanAllah, what a great thing you have done for me. This is such a beautiful Tariqa.’ MashaAllah, he follows the path of Allah in such a beautiful way – it is amazing.
So generate Ikhlas and pick up the Tasbeeh. Follow the solution you have received from this path, and whatever other path or profession you have, whatever work of the Deen you are doing, then continue with that, whether it is Tableegh, education, Ilm, knowledge, Hadith, Qur’an. Who is stopping you? Carry on; continue with that and flourish. But listen to what the Sheikh tells you - do Amal upon that. Start the Amal and develop sincerity, and whatever Maqam you are on, then you will progress further from that point. If you are doing Tableegh, then you will attain a high level of giving Da’wah and propagating the Deen. If you are teaching Hadith, then the light and Noor of Hadith will come to you.
In another example I will tell you about, an Alim came from Hindustan. I will not tell you his name, but he is a Sheikh-ul-Hadith - he teaches Hadith. He came to me and said ‘I want to learn Dhikr.’ MashaAllah, we respect the Ulema, so I said ‘Not here – come to my home and will give you tea and food, and with Adab I will teach you Dhikr of Allah!’ Allahu Akbar. I said ‘You are an Alim, so I will keep your shoes on my head. Allah has given me this Ilm, so I will give it to you so that you can distribute it. You are an Alim, and I do not think that I am better than you – no, no. Even if you become my Mureed or my Khalifa, even then, I am not equivalent to your shoes because you have learned Ilm, sacred knowledge, oh scholar. You are advanced in your knowledge, and I am advanced in my knowledge, SubhanAllah - everyone has got his profession. You give me your Ilm, and I will give you my Ilm.’ SubhanAllah.
So he said ‘Please – tell me. Prescribe Dhikr for me!’ I said to him ‘I will tell you one thing. Do you teach Hadith?’ He replied ‘Yes I do, and Tarbiyyah also.’ So I said ‘Today I will give you Dhikr, and the next time you come back to me, tell me honestly what colour and effect this had on your teaching of Hadith.’ Say SubhanAllah – I am telling you points based on experience here. So I gave him some Dhikr, some prescription, and some advice, and he came again the next year with tears in his eyes. He said ‘Hadhrat Sahib, I want to meet you. When can I meet you?’ I said to him ‘Last time, we met according to your convenience. But now you are a Mureed, so now I will tell you when to come to me.’ He said ‘You are totally right, Hadhrat Sahib. The situation has changed now.’ Look how much humbleness had come into him. So, Khair, I kept on delaying and delaying, and he kept on coming after me. After three or four days I called him – this can be the solution to cure somebody. So he came and I sat him down and said ‘I had one question for you to answer – do you remember?’ He said ‘Yes! I have come to give you the answer. Hadhrat, such points come from the Hadith when I sit to teach that my students rejoice when I teach them Hadith! I am teaching the same Hadiths that I have been teaching for thirty years, but now such points and pearls come out in my lessons. I teach Tirmidhi, and my students start crying for joy. I have to stop myself, for so much Noor comes.’ I said ‘Remember what I told you to do? Do you do that?’ He replied ‘Yes. Whenever I have a lesson to teach, thirty minutes before, I do Muraqabah and do Tasawwur-e-Sheikh. I think about my Sheikh and ask Allah to bring the Faidh into my Hadith.’
This is the method of Adab, of manners. Qala Qala Rasooluallah sallallahu alayhi wasallam means you are uttering the words of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Think about it – this is not some minor Ilm. The Adab of this is extremely important, and the Wudhu for this teaching is purification, I swear by Allah. The more a person purifies and cleans his inner self before picking up the Kitabs of Hadith, the more such an individual becomes Noor ‘ala-n-Noor. The students start rejoicing and saying ‘What a teacher!’ Thousands of people become lovers through those Hadith. Is this not the case? This is because Qala Qala Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam is a very great subject. Tafseer of the Qur’an and teaching Hadith is not just about memorisation. Hadith is practical Tafseer - it is the walking Qur’an. The Qur’an is speaking when you teach Hadith. So to teach that, it is not enough to be just on the basic level. Allah ta’ala tells us how important the Niyyah is. The Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari says that the Niyyah must be corrected. Correct your intentions and make effort to correct them, and then you will be able to explain Bukhari Sharif. This effort is the same for everyone – what is that effort? Go into the company of the Sheikh; go to the Sheikh’s door and do Dhikr of Allah! That’s it. Then the doors open up, and this Tariqa is instructed by Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam. This is not some made-up solution, rather, this is the guidance and the path of Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
So where did we start? In life, we should never give up or lose hope. Whenever conditions and issues confront you in the world, whether big or small, like when you feel like eating something, drinking something, or if you want something, then what should you do first and foremost? Turn to Allah and ask, saying ‘Oh Allah, give this to me. I feel so much like having this today.’ Or if you are in the habit of meeting someone, or if you want to meet someone, say ‘Oh Allah, I feel so much like meeting this person today! Please introduce me to them’ – and then a phone call comes! This is not my piety; this is Allah ta’ala’s method, whoever you want to meet. This has happened thousands of times. I have just spoken to somebody in Pakistan after so long, and as I was departing from Salah earlier, I thought ‘Why shouldn’t I ask Allah for this? What else am I going to ask from Allah?’ You can ask about worldly things or Akhirah things, about heaven and hell. Allah will give Jannah; inshaAllah, when you are praying Salah, you will get Jannah. Automatically, the doors of Jannah open – all eight doors of Paradise are opened for us when we leave after praying Salah. So then we can ask for these things, like ‘Oh Allah, I haven’t spoken to this person for so long. Is he upset with me? It would be good if I could speak with him and converse with him.’ Make this Dua and then leave, and after a few moments, the phone call comes from Pakistan, and that person says ‘Hadhrat Sahib, I was remembering you! What’s happening?’ Try this - experience this in life!
Make friendship with Allah and increase and strengthen your friendship with Allah. The greatest Friend, the Most Merciful One, the One who gives the most, is our Khaliq – Allah! That’s it.
23rd Oct, 2021
کامیابی تو کام سے ہوگی
نہ کہ حسن کلام سے ہوگی
ذکر کے التزام سے ہوگی
ذکر کے اہتمام سے ہوگی
بہت پیارا شعر حضرت صاحب کا الله اکبر سبحان اللہ
15th Oct, 2021
Subhanallah this is a blessed month in which Many Awliya of Allah met their Lord
The Blessed Urs of Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi Mujaddid Alf Thaani Rahmatullahi Alayhi is also commencing in the coming Days
May Allah Allow us to benefit from the Sohbah of the Great Sheikh our beloved Hazrat Sahib
1st Oct, 2021
mashAllah
1st Oct, 2021
جب اپنے پیارے حضرت صاحب کو دیکھتا ہوں تو یہ شعر زبان پر آجاتے ہیں
ان کے انداز کرم ، ان پہ وہ آنا دل کا
ہائے وہ وقت ، وہ باتیں ، وہ زمانا دل کا
حسرتیں خاک ہوئیں، مٹ گئے ارماں سارے
لٹ گیا کوچہء جاناں میں خزانا دل کا
لے چلا ہے مرے پہلو سے بصد شوق کوئی
اب تو ممکن نہیں لوٹ کے آنا دل کا
ان کی محفل میں نصیر ! ان کے تبسم کی قسم
دیکھتے رہ گئے ہم ، ہاتھ سے جانا دل کا
1st Oct, 2021
Beautiful mashallah I listen every day and Thursday zikar it’s good to have knowledge
We are very, very grateful to Allah for His Grace, in that he has taken us all out of our negligence and laziness, and given us the ability to perform His Dhikr, that action for which Allah ta’ala gives so many rewards, gifts and glad tidings. {إِنَّكَ لَا تُخۡلِفُ ٱلۡمِيعَاد} Allah ta’ala has made these promises about His Dhikr and He tells us ‘Whatever I promise will surely occur’ – although we may have to wait just a little time. We just have to wait a little while for those things that Allah ta’ala has promised. When a person departs this world, he witnesses those promises with his own eyes; he sees the rewards that Allah ta’ala has promised for the deeds and the time he spent on them. And Allah ta’ala gives even more than what has been promised. SubhanAllah, Allah gives many times more Thawab.
This brings to mind the events that will occur when, after punishment, a Jannati will be taken out of the Fire. He had Iman, but he kept sinning when he was in the world and didn’t do Tawbah, so obviously, those sins have to be burnt off in the fire of Jahannam. He was negligent and lazy and didn’t even make a small request in the Court of Allah for his sins to be forgiven, although for just one word of sincere repentance, Allah ta’ala gives so much reward that all of a person’s sins are forgiven. The sins a person takes with him into the Hereafter due to not having asked for forgiveness will result in such punishment that a person cannot even imagine, may Allah forgive. And it takes just a little bit of time, just a little bit of breath, and then life stops, and a person goes into the next world and this world disappears. Mother, father, sisters, brothers, everyone has gone, and it all disappears.
This is how it was for this poor soul, and so he petitioned Allah’s Karam and Mercy when he was there, saying ‘Oh Allah, You are so forgiving and merciful, so please grant me at least this, that I am given some relaxation and flexibility to move away from this place in Jahannam where I find myself, perhaps to somewhere where the heat is reduced somewhat and the air is fresher.’ Now Allah ta’ala listens to the request of every person and does not reject, so He replied ‘Is that what you really want? If I grant you this, will you stick steadfastly to the limits of your request?’ The person answered ‘Yes, I will not go beyond that.’ At this, Allah ta’ala said ‘Ok, give him this chance and grant him the respite that he requests.’ And so he was brought a little further away from the intensity of the heat into relative coolness, which brought an easing of his condition in Jahannam - and even enjoyment due to the Rahmah of Allah. Now he started to realise what lay beyond, and so he came to his senses and said ‘Ya Allah, You are extremely merciful and gracious and have brought me to this point, so please just listen to one more request from me.’ Allah ta’ala said ‘What is it?’ He said ‘Just take me a little bit closer to Jannah so that I can see what the people are doing there. I have heard so much about it, and at least that way I could see the reality with my eyes.’ Allah then said ‘But you said you wouldn’t go any further than this!’
This account that I am telling you is from Hadith! Everyone should imagine that they are that person, and reflect on the Rahmah and mercy of Allah, SubhanAllah. A Mu’min should never give up; never lose hope if you have Iman. So Allah ta’ala then said ‘Ok, fine, but will you be steadfast on the limits of this request?’ And the person said ‘Absolutely, yes Allah!’ This is the nature of man, this is our own nature and Allah ta’ala is aware of that nature, and so He said ‘Ok, fine - let him go a bit closer to Jannah so that he can see.’ Now when he got close enough to see, he started to enjoy the sight and said ‘Oh, this is something else!’ And after a while, his senses opened up still further, and so he said ‘Oh Allah, You are so merciful! You have brought me this far, so could You just push me a little further forward?’ Allah ta’ala said ‘But you keep going beyond what you have promised!’ The person said ‘Oh, but I’m not asking for much – just a little bit further towards Jannah to give me a bit of hope through Your Karam and mercy and grace.’
At this, Allah ta’ala’s Rahmah became evident – I am just giving you the meaning of the Hadith here. Allah ta’ala’s Rahmah manifested itself at this point, and Allah said ‘Ok, fine. Now tell Me, what is it that you want? What are you requesting?’ So that person said ‘Oh Allah, how can I ask from You?’ Allah ta’ala then said ‘Do you remember that world that you came from?’ Now Allah ta’ala is speaking to him – look at this discussion He is having. Whenever a person feels in his heart that he wants to speak to Allah ta’ala, then Allah ta’ala gives him the answer at that very time! Remember this – even now, that situation is present. So that person then said ‘There were rich people in the Dunya that I came from! Qaroon was there and countless treasures’, but Allah replied ‘Never mind that. Tell me the names of the four biggest kings that you knew of in the world and tell me what they had.’ So he said ‘Ok, well there was one person who was the leader of a kingdom and he owned so much property’ and so on. Allah ta’ala said ‘He had all that? Ok, fine. But what shall I do with you and these requests that you keep making of Me? If I multiply by ten what those people in the world you told me about had, would you be satisfied with that?’ Allahu Akbar! The person’s state was overwhelmed, and he said ‘Oh Allah! Are you joking with me? How can I get this? Are you joking with me?’ Amazing! Allah ta’ala said ‘I am your Rabb – how can I joke with you? Don’t you know what I give in return when a person makes a request of Me?’ So Allah ta’ala gave him so much Thawab, saying ‘Take all this and go!’ And this person is at the lowest level of Jannah, while you are Dhakireen, people who do Dhikr, people who do Tawbah! What will Allah give? Tell me.
When a person loses hope and becomes weak and gives up, this is a dangerous state of affairs, very dangerous – remember this. When living in this world, a human being should be very careful to avoid this. The pious predecessors have told us - this is a big Nasiha. Never give up and never lose hope. Allah sent us to this world, and He knows everything – He is Khabeer and Baseer. The Dunya gives us many needs and there are difficulties and problems, shaytan, desires, Nafs – a person is surrounded by so many things. Is this not the case? There are difficulties, problems and worries, as well as requirements and needs at every step the human being takes. And then there is the Nafs which is his enemy, and then shaytan, the big enemy, so do we think that Allah ta’ala has left us to deal with all these issues with no assistance? Allah ta’ala has given us all these difficulties and challenges and problems, but Allah has also given the solution to these. Allah has provided the solution, SubhanAllah.
Look, can a person who is a Mu’min believe that Allah would leave him isolated? We cannot become like those who say ‘Oh, it’s too hard, there are too many things to worry about.’ But we don’t look at the solution that takes us away from destruction. Allah has given us the path to come out of the problems. And what is that path? SubhanAllah, it is the Sunnah methodology of the illustrious and majestic Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. The Sunnah methodology is such a fantastic path and such a fantastic way, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has demonstrated it to us in every way, whether by statement or by example, and he has announced that his words and practices will continue until Qiyamah. They will not stop nor fade. Look how many Ambiya came before him. The events of Hadhrat Musa alayhi salam and of Hadhrat Ya’qub alayhi salam and others are mentioned in the Qur’an, but as for our master, the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, his life has been recorded to the extent that we know how and in what circumstances he even raised a finger, or did some other specific action, or behaved in this manner and so on. Look at the examples and details that Allah ta’ala made apparent. And this was not done just for one moment in history, rather, this knowledge will persist until Qiyamah, because goodness is in this for human beings; without this, we cannot progress or succeed. If there is no solution to a problem, then we will remain stuck in it. So Allah ta’ala says ‘I have given you the solution: until Qiyamah, whenever any Mu’min has any problems, the solution is to be found there. The habits and methods of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam will never be hidden from the people.’
Now in each situation, how do we implement this solution to the problems of the world? There are two things – what we need for the world, and what we need for the Akhirah. There are two needs, and for both, Allah has given a solution. If someone says ‘I can’t leave this sin’, Allah has given a solution. A person says ‘I have tried my hardest, but I can’t leave this sin. My eyesight strays and I just can’t leave this sin - it is too hard for me. I keep doing it again and again’ – and then a person loses hope and gives up. As a result of this, he goes even further into that sin. He says ‘It is too hard for me. How can I leave this action? I can’t do this!’ – and then he gives up. This is because he hasn’t implemented the solution. He should immediately think ‘There is definitely a solution for my problem. I can leave this sin, this immoral and impure action. I can destroy Nafs and shaytan – they are not as powerful an enemy as I think they are. Allah has definitely given me a solution.’ Without doubt, Shaytan does try to spoil him and Nafs does make him go astray, but he must use the solution that Allah ta’ala has given. The solution is there – we have it. Where will we get the solution from? From the blessed Tariqa of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, from his method, from his way. Ask - what did Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam do at that time? What was the situation and what did he do?
So take this as a solid, unquestionable fact, that it is impossible that a human being cannot leave a sin or bad action, and it is impossible that if he has a need or a problem in the world, he cannot solve that problem. Impossible! If we take this stance, then our lives will become first-class lives – but we don’t look for the solution. If we don’t get a job, we become upset. This or the other is not happening, we can’t find a house, we can’t find a marriage partner – there are so many thousands of issues we might face. And in respect of the Hereafter, we think we cannot leave some sin or other, and cannot do some action like control our tongue or such like – and obviously, if a person doesn’t leave the sins, then the punishments of Jahannam await. They are present and are very severe indeed - who will be able to bear them in the grave and what follows? So let us go towards the solution! When this happens to us in our lives, when we are going through difficulties, then seek the solution. Say ‘How can I bring this situation into control? How can I overcome this issue?’
What is that solution? Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has given the practical demonstration of the solution. What is that? The solution is a combination of two things. Yes? There are two elements to the solution, and if you employ both in parallel, then alhamdulillah, you will continue to roll forward in the world and the Hereafter. You can’t just take one element – it is a combination of the two that is needed to attain the solution. This mode of transport has two wheels, and if you only use one wheel, you will stop. But if you use both wheels, then you will achieve success - both wheels must be used together. For example, if you want to leave sins, if you are stuck in a sin, then you need to use both elements of the solution in parallel to solve that problem. If you have a need and cannot fulfil it, then take both elements in parallel.
Whether it is a worldly or Akhirah issue, what are the two elements to the solution? Number one: to achieve what you are seeking – to leave a sin or acquire something – the first thing you have to do is to try! The first of the two elements is what? You have to try - you have to make effort. And how much should you try? To the extent that your capability allows. Say SubhanAllah! Say SubhanAllah! {لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفۡسًا إِلَّا وُسۡعَهَاۚ} Allah says ‘I have placed a certain capacity inside each person’ – yes? You could call this ability or capacity or capability, and each person has a maximum specific to him or her. In respect of ‘Ilm, for example, one person may have less ability while another person has more. So according to whatever capacity you have, you must make as much effort as you can. And in parallel, the second element is Ruju’ ila’llah – turn back to Allah. Turn to Allah; seek from Allah.
These two elements will solve every problem to be found in this world. You do not want a sin that you commit habitually, which you just cannot give up and has invaded your life, to take you into Jahannam do you? To rid yourself of that sin, firstly, try as hard as you can to stop that sin. And what do we need to do alongside that effort? What is the second element? Ruju’ ila’llah – turn to Allah. What is the Tariqa for this? Do Dua – make Dua to Allah, supplicate to Allah. There are so many Duas that the noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam used to make – many books of these Duas have been printed, such as Maqbul-e-Hajat and other titles. But nobody recites those Duas! People don’t make the Duas that relate to their needs, for the Prophet has left Duas for every situation. And it is not even necessary for you to make those Duas in Arabic. They can be made in English or in Urdu or in Persian or in Sanskrit or in Gujerati or in Siraiqui – Allah knows every language! Allah ta’ala is aware of every language, although the best way to ask is in the way the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did so, in his beautiful language of Arabic. But if you don’t know the Dua in Arabic, Allah says ‘Don’t worry, I can solve this problem too! If today you supplicate in Gujerati, tomorrow you will do so in Arabic because I love My Nabi!’ - sallallahu alayhi wasallam. It is not hard to learn a language, is it? It is no great feat.
So if you want to solve your problems, a combination of two actions is needed. What do you have to do? First, make effort and try hard. And action number two? Turn to Allah. At this point, I would like to share an event with you, an event that has been verified. Hadhrat Mufti Azam, Hadhrat Mufti Shafi Sahib rahmatullah alayh recorded this event in Ma’arif-ul-Qur’an. This took place in 1857 in Hindustan, in the Indian subcontinent, hence this is an account of an event from some time ago in history. At that time, those in control of the land were arresting people due to a situation of turmoil and discord. People were being hanged and there were very strict curfews to the point that nobody was allowed to leave their house. A very strict rule was imposed, and everyone was subject to the restrictions of house imprisonment – an example of how conditions change and how at times the situation can become very hard. Many people were affected by these restrictions of imprisonment and seclusion, and others were being hanged and executed or beaten and thrown into jail.
Now there was a Wali of Allah at that time, a very pious soul, and he too couldn’t leave his house. He was effectively locked away in his home. One day passed, then two, three, four, five days – a week passed, and he had not been able to leave his house. By this time, he had nothing to eat and nothing to drink. How could he survive? He realised the severity of the situation and saw that it would soon get to the point of dying through thirst or hunger, so what did he do? He found a bowl in his room and took it to the courtyard of the building. So he was trying here, because this was the only effort that was open to him. This is a true story I am telling you here – and actually this sort of thing happens every day, but it does not always become known. When he reached the courtyard, which was an open space within the building onto which his door opened, he made Dua, saying ‘Oh Allah, this is the extent of my capacity and strength in this situation. I saw this bowl and I have brought it here in front of You near my porch, and now I am making Dua to You. My task was to make an effort by putting the bowl outside, and now it is up to You to fill this bowl.’ After saying this, he lay down and closed his eyes. SubhanAllah, there was no sign of clouds in the sky at all, but a rumble was heard and clouds began forming – Allah is the Rabb and the Malik! It was not a matter of the climate gradually changing and the clouds forming slowly and the weather forecast predicting rain as clouds are blown in from a neighbouring country, increasing the air moisture and bringing rain – no, no, Allah’s answer was not like this. Allah can change the situation instantly. One Wali of Allah raised his hands and the scenario transformed suddenly.
At least make friends with Allah – become His friend! I am a sinful person, a dirty spider, you could say, but I have Yaqeen. I have certainty that although I am surrounded with sin and have no actions whatsoever to my name, however sinful I am, at least I have a Rabb! My Maula, My Lord, has created me, and the One who created me will not break His connection to His creation. This is just like the mother, who will still be your mother even if she turfs you out of the house - the connection with your mother will never break, because she reared the child in the womb and then gave birth to the child. So imagine the love Allah has, the One who created our mothers! Never think that Allah is far away; Allah is not far from us. Allah is not just at the Ka’abah – no, Allah ta’ala is attached to every Mu’min. It is us who have distanced ourselves so much from Allah. Allah says ‘You human beings are so foolish! I am so close to you – you cannot even imagine how close I am.’ Our intellect cannot comprehend how close Allah is to us. Allah says ‘What has happened? So you have committed a sin and made a mistake – so what? At least speak to Me and make a request of Me and turn to me!’ SubhanAllah.
But we give up immediately we commit a sin, and say ‘Oh no, I have committed a sin! There is nothing I can do about it – I am finished now, so leave it. That’s it, I am destined for Jahannam.’ We become so lacking in hope, and we give up to the extent that we cannot imagine that there is any point in going to Dhikr. We say ‘What’s the point? It has been two weeks that I have not gone now, and I don’t feel like going. I have committed big sins, so which face will I show to Allah when I go to do His Dhikr?’ Who are we speaking about here? Allah is always waiting, even if you are full of sins from top to toe. Even if the sins pile from the earth up to the sky, still come to your Rabb and see how Allah ta’ala will cleanse you. You can come with so much dirt and impurity, but Allah ta’ala says ‘I will clean you and make you so pure that people in the Dunya will call you a Wali of Allah! They will come to you and request you to do Duas for them. Why do you consider yourself so low?’
We give up so often and so easily, and shaytan makes us give up, telling us ‘Oh no, it’s too hard.’ Never let that suggestion come near you, I tell you this. There is no bigger negativity than this for a person, and there is no bigger coward that the person who gives up. Ok, you have committed a sin and you have broken the bounds and disobeyed Allah, but you still have the connection with Allah. You are still His creation – that connection hasn’t gone, has it? That link is still there. If a problem or a difficulty comes to you in your life, then submit to Allah – turn to Allah.
So when the clouds formed and the rain came and fell to earth, not just the bowl but also the wells filled up from that Sadaqah. Look how Allah ta’ala gave water to that Wali and his neighborhood in those severe conditions! His bowl was filled because he did two things: to the extent that he was able in the circumstances, he made as much effort as he could, and secondly, he turned to Allah, requesting and pleading with his Duas to Allah. So if we bring these points into our lives, my brothers, then no issues can remain unresolved. We can never get stuck in our lives in the situation of having given up, whatever is happening around us, and whatever conditions befall us. Where there is total loss, where those close to you have left you, where you have no job, where you have been turfed out of the house – whatever situation occurs, this is the solution.
I remember an event that happened to me. I had an experience of this sort when I was on a journey. I used to travel because the subject I was studying was geography and geology, and I went on a very long journey, taking in Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and other places besides. I had a passion for travelling and I was with a friend when this happened. This is a true story from my life. Do people share their stories from their life of this sort? Nobody does - so why am I telling you? So that our Yaqeen can strengthen, SubhanAllah. So what happened was that as we were travelling in the way that students do - we were studying at an institution in Germany – our money ran out. Our resources became used up, and one day passed, and then another – I think we were in Turkey at the time – so we started selling the belongings that we had with us in order to buy our return ticket, which we managed to do with difficulty. So we were travelling in a bus and passing through Bulgaria, I think it was, and we had nothing at all to eat since all our money had been spent on the tickets. So what could we do?
My friend was in a very bad way as we were sitting there, so I said to him ‘Why are you so upset, my friend? Allah is with us, isn’t He?’ SubhanAllah – I had at least some sense at the time. But he replied ‘Yar, we’re finished! I’m so hungry – I’m finished!’ I said, ‘Let’s ask Allah’, but he replied ‘Look, we’re sitting in a moving bus – what food can reach us here? Where can food of any sort come from now?’ This is a true story I am telling you. I said ‘Listen, I have sat in the Majalis of the Walis of Allah, so I have a bit of understanding about this. Let’s do one action – let’s ask from Allah!’ He said ‘Fine, you ask then.’ I said, ‘If food comes, won’t you want to eat it as well?’ So he said ‘Ok, how should we ask?’ I said ‘Raise your hands and say, ‘Ya Allah, we are extremely hungry, so please Allah, provide some food for us! We can’t do anything because the bus is on the road.’ Now in front of us there were some passengers, and it turned out that they had some food. They gave their child some biscuits and other nice bits and pieces, so what did the child do? It was Ajeeb – he didn’t eat it, but instead, he started throwing it onto the floor. Biscuits and cakes and other items of food arrived at our feet. I said ‘Look! Allah ta’ala has provided us with Rizq!’ And so quietly, we started to pick these things up and began to eat. Before long, our stomachs had been filled with first-class food! And on top of that, soon afterwards they actually offered us food, saying ‘Look, we are coming to a stop soon, so please come and drink tea with us.’
So, my brothers, Insan needs to try a little bit and ask from Allah. Allah will give to you even in the wilderness. If we are committing a big sin, say ‘Oh Allah, I want to leave this sin. I am trying.’ And then on top of that, raise your hands and do Dua, and see how Allah ta’ala gives. Don’t just keep sinning and running towards sin, saying ‘Oh, I can’t leave this sin, there’s no way. I can’t leave alcohol, I can’t leave cannabis, I can’t leave music.’ How can it be that we can’t stop this? I have seen people leave very big sins with my own eyes. A bit of effort and courage and determination is needed, as well as turning to Allah and making Dua.
Now, the Sufi Hadhraat, those on the path of Tasawwuf, especially get attacked by shaytan and Nafs. So when these conditions arise, don’t fear or tremble, rather take hold of the straight path that Allah ta’ala has given to you, this path that you are travelling on. Have Yaqeen and say to yourself ‘I must do my Dhikr in the morning and evening and complete my Mu’amalaat and my daily recitation, and fill in the sheets that my Sheikh has given us as a programme of improvement.’ And if we get lazy or negligent, who do we ask from? Allah! Don’t leave the path. Don’t leave the path, for Allah has warned of a severe reprimand for doing so, saying ‘I am displeased with those who leave this way. If you acknowledge that I am your Rabb, why don’t you ask Me for the solution?’
Hadhrat Arif Bi’llah rahmatullah alayh, qaddasAllahu sirrahu made great statements on this matter. He said ‘If you are committing a sin, ok. You will stand in front of Allah on the Day of Judgement and say that you were forced to do it and you couldn’t help it and it was too hard for you, so you had to commit the sins. Fine. When you say this to Allah on the Day of Judgement, Allah ta’ala will say ‘Ok, everything you say is clear – the country and the surrounding conditions made it difficult for you to leave the sins, for you to take the TV out of your house’ – and sometimes it is the wife who won’t let the husband remove the TV from the house, and sometimes it is the husband who prevents the wife from doing so. Hadhrat Arif Bi’llah rahmatullah alayh continued, saying that Allah will then say, ‘But when you were surrounded by that severe condition, did you ever turn to Me and say ‘Oh Allah, I am forced to do this, but I want to leave this sin. Help me!’ Did you ever ask Me for that solution?’ SubhanAllah. ‘Did you ever ask Me? If you had just tried to ask Me, I would have made it easy for you to shun that sin.’ Let us make our Yaqeen strong that Allah never rejects the request of Insan, even if something seems impossible. It doesn’t matter how impossible something seems to us; take courage, step forward and make Dua. Say ‘Oh Allah, I want this and only You can give it to me.’
There is a third thing to remember – this is a fantastic point, this third element. So number one is that we have to try as much as can; number two, make Dua to Allah; and the third element is to remember that it is Allah’s choice! Remember this as well. Who are you asking from? Allah, the Rabb, who is al-Hakeem. Allah is all-Wise, al-Hakeem – everything runs according to His Hikmah, His Wisdom. We have done our part by making as much effort as we can, and then we have made Dua – our part is done. The third element is to beware of thoughts such as ‘Why didn’t this happen? Why is nothing happening?’ Allah ta’ala doesn’t like this. Allah says ‘Your request has come to Me and your effort has also come to Me {سَعۡيُكُم مَّشۡكُورًا}. You will never be unsuccessful, for the Dua has come, and I never reject Duas.’ Both things reach their destination: your effort has been registered and noted, and secondly, you have made Dua, which will never be rejected. The third element needed is that if the request is not happening, if it has been delayed and has not been fulfilled or come to fruition, then what is this? It is the will and wisdom of Allah! It is the choice and Hikmat of Allah – it is His decision. So after doing actions one and two, the third thing you have to do is leave it to Allah.
What is this? This is Tawakkul. This is Tawakkul ‘ala’llah, reliance upon Allah. Actions one and two combined will bring you to the third, which is Tawakkul ‘ala’llah. ‘Oh Allah, I am happy with Your choice, with Your decision. I have done what I had to do, and what You do and when You give is up to You. Alhamdulillah, I have got Sakeenah, contentment and satisfaction in my heart’ – and Allah gives that immediately. Allah removes the trembling and the fear and the anxiety, and this part of the problem is solved. When will what has been requested come to fruition? You may well have to wait. Some say ‘Oh, I did these actions, but I am still not getting married. It is not happening, it hasn’t worked!’ But when we try to force the issue, Allah says ‘Can you not wait? Don’t you have Tawakkul?’ Then the resulting actions turn out wrong – this has a negative effect. So after doing actions one and two - first trying as much as you are able, and secondly making Dua to Allah – then do action three, which is to leave it to Allah, saying ‘Oh Allah, it is up to You now. Whenever You choose to give, I am waiting.’ Allah also gives reward for this waiting, remember this. What is this called? Tawakkul ‘ala’llah – reliance upon Allah.
So we must put this combination together and keep on asking from Allah. Many people say ‘Ya Allah, give me this; Ya Allah, give me that; Ya Allah, I want to leave these sins’ and so on. They are persistent in Dua, but they don’t do action number one; they don’t make effort, so they will never be successful. They say ‘Oh, I have made so many Duas, but it is still not coming to fruition’, but if you ask ‘Have you tried to solve this matter?’ the answer is no. For example, if someone keeps asking ‘Ya Allah, give me a son! Ya Allah, give me a son’ but he hasn’t got married yet, then how will a son come? Tell me. If you do not implement the Asbaab, the means that Allah ta’ala has given you, then what is the point of Dua? Allah can do whatever He wants, of course. Allah is not limited by or reliant upon some action, but this is a Sunnat-e-ilahi. This is Allah ta’ala’s Tariqa, His method. He has told us ‘This is how you should behave. If you do it this way, I will give it to you. Take the Tariqa that Allah likes. Our Yaqeen is not limited to ‘Oh Allah is al-Qadir, so if we just ask, He can give to us.’ We know that even if we don’t ask, Allah can still give. But this is against Adab and manners. Do not go against the method that Allah ta’ala has given.
There are people of very high status whose words are accepted, but their situation is different. We normal people are not in that situation, and we have to follow the rules. If you just do Dua on its own and do not try, then that issue will stay hanging in the balance. And on the other side of the coin, if you keep trying but do not make Dua, if you stock up the shop as best you can but fail to make Dua, there too, the issue will hang in the balance. It is no good doing one of the two but leaving the other, whether making Dua and not trying, or trying but not making Dua - no. You must do both actions in parallel. You have to supplicate to Allah and make an effort – both together. That’s it.
Allah’s Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that even if the lace on your shoe breaks, you should ask Allah for help with that problem. This is a small problem, isn’t it, but we should still make a request to Allah even if our shoe-lace breaks. We say ‘What’s the point of asking from Allah? We’ll just go to the cobbler and tell him to fix it.’ Look at this. What if the cobbler is out or he can’t fix it for some other reason? It looks simple but who knows? If there is a glass of water there, before picking it up, the Walis of Allah make the Niyyah and say ‘Oh Allah, make it easy for me to be able to pick up the glass of water.’ Allahu Akbar – I’m telling you the truth. They make Dua for every step that they take, saying ‘Oh Allah, I am going to make the effort and I will step forward and put out my hand, but I will only reach the glass of water if You give me the Tawfeeq and make the passage to the water easy for me.’ How many times have we seen or heard of someone who steps forward or puts his hand out to get a drink of water, but a stroke afflicts him before he gets there, so he doesn’t drink it? Isn’t this the case? Someone can be eating food and suddenly their hand gets frozen. Why? A stroke has occurred and now he can’t eat anymore. What about this situation? Doesn’t this happen?
You should have a strong connection with Allah in respect of every action, thinking ‘I am not capable at all, and unless I make a proper Dua, I will not be able to complete this task of picking up a glass of water. We think Duas are only made at the time of Salah, and even then, we let the Moulana Sahib do the Dua and don’t ask ourselves. But the real Dua is the Dua that you make yourself – remember this. Dua is something that comes from your tongue. If Moulana Sahib or Pir sahib or Hadhrat Sahib makes a Dua and the congregation join in, there is Barakah in that, of course, but your own secret desire that you ask from Allah is different. That is unique. Your desire and your connection, when you ask for things from the depths of your heart with pain and emotion – these are not the same as a collective Dua. Moulana Sahib doesn’t share your personal pain. Allah gives when there is pain, when that cry of anguish comes out with the request as you plead. Allah ta’ala looks at how much a person pleads, at how much Yaqeen a person has – his Rabb is listening to him. Say SubhanAllah!
This is what you will learn in the Khanqahs, my friends. Someone is sat in this corner crying, another person is sat in that corner crying, another is somewhere else crying. I have seen beautiful scenes in the third portion of the night. Small oil lamps were flickering, and there was a Faqeer in one corner crying, and another in that corner sitting and asking from Allah, and this person was doing Tasbeeh and that person was pleading. Everybody was immersed in their own situation and nobody was aware of what the others are doing, Allahu Akbar. This is the connection that we need to make with Allah ta’ala. The human being, the Mu’min, is not on his own. He needs assistance, but not of anyone around him in the world; rather, he has the greatest assistance from the One who gives. Allah gives immediately, SubhanAllah.
Tell me – is Allah far away, or is it we who have distanced ourselves from Allah? We are foolish - we let 24 hours go by without even asking from Allah. 24 hours! They say ‘No, no, I did make Dua after Salah’ because they chanted ‘Rabban’a-tina fi-d-Dunya Hasana wa fi-l-Akhirati Hasana’ and three or four other Duas, and that was it. Brothers, what about our private life? Don’t you have some private needs and requirements? Don’t we have a longing for something, for example? These are all true points that I am making – a human being has these needs. Say, for instance, that you have a desire for delicious, sweet Halwa, or if you want to go home and cook a nice roast chicken – such longings are there – then put your hands up and ask for it. Say ‘Allah, I am going home, so please enable me to eat nice, hot Halwa today.’ There is nothing wrong with saying this to Allah, is there? This is not a bad thing to say to Allah. If you do so, Allah ta’ala will deliver Halwa to you from some place, even from the sky! Or at least you can ask ‘Oh Allah, please save me from Jahannam!’ At least say that – that is certainly something worth asking for. But even in respect of the Dunya where you are living, say ‘Oh Allah, give me cool water - I can’t find a glass. I am trying.’ Or ‘I can’t find a pen that writes properly, so please, Ya Allah, provide me with a pen.’
We think these things are acquired by means of the money in our pocket and a trip to the shop – no! Don’t rely on the shop, nor on money, nor on your pocket. Who should you ask from directly? Your Rabb, Allah! Then pick yourself up and go and look for the pen, and you will find it in front of you, lying there. My brothers, this is the connection that we need to develop with Allah ta’ala. What is the method needed to strengthen our connection, the method that has been mentioned by the Walis of Allah? It is Dhikrullah, the remembrance of Allah! What other reason is there for us to do Dhikrullah? The more we do Dhikr, the more the connection with Allah increases and develops and strengthens.
You will start asking from Allah in respect of all your issues. You will say ‘Oh Allah, give me a wife’, ‘Oh Allah, please take away my stomach-ache’, ‘Oh Allah, I cannot pass urine properly – cure me of this.’ There are Duas for this condition and there is an Ayah for it also. Allah ta’ala has given us solutions for these little things. He knows, for the machine of the body is in His control. Sometimes a kidney will fail, or urine will not pass, or something else gets blocked, and then the Dhakir immediately turns to Allah. I swear by Allah, through the Barakah of Dhikr, even if you are in front of the consultant and he tells you that you have cancer, Wa’llahi, a human being who is a Dhakir will not be scared. First and foremost, he will say ‘Ya Allah, cure me of this disease!’ This is the reality, I promise you. He immediately submits to Allah. He sits there and calls out ‘Oh Allah, it is said that I have cancer, so please give me the cure for this. What has happened here? What is this difficulty?’
There and then, Allah ta’ala gives him contentment and tells him ‘Why are you worried? I made him declare that you had cancer, and I will cure the cancer. Do you know why I gave you cancer? Because I want to give you a high status in Jannah! What do you know about My reasons for the distress this will cause? Why have I given pain to your children? Why have they been given this sadness? SubhanAllah. Does anyone love you more than I do?’ The love of your mother and your father are nothing in comparison – Allah’s love is the greatest, SubhanAllah. ‘So when I take something away from you, what do you know about how beloved I make you through this? You don’t know how beloved you are to Me at that time. You cannot imagine how beloved you become to Me when I take something away or give you a test or a challenge or a difficulty. Don’t you think I will compensate you for that? So why have you run away? Why do you run away from Dhikr? Where have you gone?’ Allah says, ‘I have been looking for you and My angels are looking for you – where have you run away to, you monkey?’ This is our situation.
So every incident and predicament is based upon Allah’s wisdom, but don’t leave Dhikrullah. That’s it – SubhanAllah. Never leave Dhikrullah, however much Waswasah comes from shaytan. Who will we ask from? First, make effort to destroy shaytan by not listening to his words and not believing what he says. Be aware that he is pestering you and then seek refuge in Allah. Allah ta’ala has told us so many ways to do this. Say ‘A’oodhu bi’llahi mina-sh-shaytani-r-Rajim’ – ‘Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You! Oh Allah, he is pestering me! Oh Allah, save me from shaytan! Ya Allah, disconnect me from shaytan!’ Keep asking, ask more and more, and then the Decree of Allah will come and your Darajah will increase – your status will increase, SubhanAllah. This is your Ibadah when Allah puts you in this situation, and you will attain more Thawab from this than you do from attending the Masjid, SubhanAllah.
Sickness and all these things are running according to Allah’s system. Our task is to make effort while, in parallel, asking from our Rabb, and then being happy with Allah ta’ala’s decision. Say ‘Oh Allah, I am happy.’ We just do whatever we can - we leave our bowls outside, we make the Dua, and then we lie down. We don’t know where the water will come from, but we do know that we have asked from Allah and that we have tried. We don’t know what Allah will give us or where it will come from – like the Rizq we received in the bus. The biscuits just came, the food arrived. The child kept on throwing it to us, so we ate it and our stomachs filled up. SubhanAllah! And then we were very grateful to Allah ta’ala. These are the solutions that Allah ta’ala gives to human beings. Allah knows what we are, and He give us these conditions so that we can come close to Him. Allah ta’ala wants His servants to come close to Him. You heart attains these things when the knots of your heart unravel, when you sit down to do Dhikr of Allah morning and evening.
Look, a human being cannot succeed just by listening. It doesn’t matter how many lectures you listen to on Tafseer of the Qur’an or Hadith; unless you move your feet and physically set forth, you will not get to the Maqam you need. Imam al-Bukhari rahmatullah alayh put together such a great Kitab in which the whole Deen is summarised and sealed. Our pious predecessors tell us that after the Qur’an, our greatest book is Sahih al-Bukhari. What did he do that makes it so good? The first Hadith that he wrote down is from Hadhrat Umar radhiAllahu anh, who ascended the Mumbar and narrated this Hadith, whose meaning is ‘I heard the gracious Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam say that all A’maal are based upon what? Upon a person’s Niyyah, upon his intention.’ What a great selection this was from Imam al-Bukhari. Did he not have Ilham? This was Ilham, it was inspiration from Allah for Imam al-Bukhari to select this Hadith to begin the collection.
Why did he select this Hadith? The pious predecessors have had great discussions on why this Hadith was selected. There are many discussions and commentaries about why this was the first subject to be mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari. The reason is that the whole Deen is in Sahih al-Bukhari; everything that Allah ta’ala has taught us is there, with all the deeds that we are told to do, but it is stated that, whatever you do and however much you practice and study and learn, no matter how many Tafseers and explanations you read and write about the Deen, success will only be attained when your Niyyah is correct. SubhanAllah. Do you see that? The success of every action is based entirely upon what? Upon the Niyyah, upon the intention. Why? Allah says that you will get what you intended. The whole of Sahih al-Bukhari is summarised and sealed upon that. So the first thing we need to do is what? Say it out loud! Make the Niyyah, correct our intentions, straighten out our intentions. We have read the Hadith, and the essence of the whole of Sahih al-Bukhari is that if you want some benefit in the Hereafter, if you want to be successful, it will not be Sahih al-Bukhari that will give this. What will give it? It is the Niyyah that will bring this result! The Hadith is about correcting our intentions.
Every type of person will rise up. First and foremost, after the Prophets, who will rise up? The scholars. After the Prophets, the greatest Maqam is that of the Alim-e-Haq, the true scholar, isn’t it? The Ulema-e-Haq, the righteous scholars, will rise first. And Allah ta’ala will say ‘So you are a big Alim, are you?’ and he will say in response ‘Well, I have written many Tafseers of Qur’an and have done Hifdh and given explanations and so on.’ And then Allah will say to him very beautifully – this is outlined in Hadith, isn’t it? – ‘Ah yes, it is right what you say, but who was all of this for? Was it for status? For fame? For recognition from the world? To amass money? Was it to stay in a job and earn a salary? What was the reason that you did all of these things you have told me about? What was it all for?’ SubhanAllah – say SubhanAllah. This is the greatest group, who will be called forth first on the Day of Judgement. But no one will be able to challenge Allah when they stand before Him. What is Allah ta’ala telling us indirectly with this? Allah is saying ‘You have all these things – Bukhari, extensive Ilm and so on – but you did not correct your Niyyah! You did not make effort on your Niyyah. You should have sat in front of a Dervaish, in front of a Wali of Allah, and done Tazkiyyah, purification, to learn and practice Adhkar to cleanse your heart, so that your Niyyah could have been purified and made sincere.’ SubhanAllah.
The Qur’an has also spoken about the Ulema, defining them as those with Khashiah, with fear and apprehension of Allah. Where do we get this Khashiah from? Without it, we slip and we fail, don’t we? That is why Imam al-Bukhari rahmatullah alayh indicated that the first thing needed is what? To correct our intentions. This can’t just be done instantly - a whole lifetime of effort is needed. So, my brothers, let us ask Hadhrat Thanvi rahmatullah alayh how to correct our intentions. He will explain to you. He said ‘I made effort all life-long to attain the fruit of Sahih al-Bukhari.’ It is not about just reading it and repeating some Hadith and becoming big-headed – no.
And the second group to be summoned will be the martyrs, the Shuhada. Tell me, what great status a Shahid has, one who gave himself. He says ‘Oh Allah, I gave my body, and I made this and that sacrifice’ and then Allah will say ‘Who did you do this for?’ So Allah is saying indirectly ‘You did not make an effort to do Islah of your heart, to purify and cleanse your inner self. You gave no importance to having a correct intention in your heart. You never went to submit yourself in front of somebody. You never went to pick up the shoes of a teacher, of a Wali. You were so Mutakabbir – you had so much pride, that you never had the Tawfeeq to pick up the shoes of a pious person.’ SubhanAllah.
Great scholars would come to my Hadhrat Sahib rahmatullah alayh. Mufti Abdul Sattar rahmatullah alayh was one of those who came, and he was Mufti-e-Azam of Khair-ul-Madaris. He was amongst the great scholars of Pakistan. Khair-al-Madaris is a very big Madrassa, and some five thousand youngsters study there. That Madrasa was founded by Hadhrat Khair-ud-Deen sahib rahmatullah alayh, who was from amongst the Khalifas of Hadhrat Thanwi sahib, similar to Mufti Muhammad Shafi sahib and Hadhrat Muhammad Hussain sahib from Lahore who founded the Madrasa Ashrafiya. Now you may not be aware of them, for you may be more familiar with those from Randher and other places in Hindustan, but I am telling you about Pakistan. These are Madaris with great status. Khair-ul-Madaris is an extremely large Madrasa in Pakistan, and Hadhrat Khair-ud-Deen was a very great Sufi and he was a Khalifa of Hadhrat Thanvi sahib rahmatullah alayh, and it was with his Hukm that he came to Pakistan and established a Madrasa there.
So Mufti Abdul Sattar came to Hadhrat Sahib, to my Sheikh rahmatullah alayh, who was a Faqeer, a Wali of Allah, simple, and sitting in his place. And Mufti Sahib’s presence brought a Jama’ah of Ulema from the vicinity, who, when they heard he was visiting that area, came to see him. They asked him where he was going, and he said ‘You have come to see me, but I have come to do Ziyarah of somebody else. Why are you coming to see me?’ I myself saw students of Mufti Sahib arriving with pillows for him, for I was present at the time next to Hadhrat Sahib in his little Hujrah. It was dry and there was a little dirty stream outside near where Hadhrat Sahib would take his shoes off. May Allah ta’ala give Mufti Sahib a high status in Paradise, for he became a great human being. It was he who led the Janazah for Hadhrat Sahib – what a Maqam Allah ta’ala must have given him, tell me, to be able to lead the Janazah of the great Wali of Allah of his time. He was a Mufti, and it was he who led the Janazah. What else can I say about him?
So when he arrived, my Hadhrat Sahib saw that Mufti Sahib had entered, and he said to him ‘Come in Mufti Sahib and sit down.’ Everyone was aware of who he was. He said ‘Hadhrat, I have wasted a lot of time, but now I have come to learn the Name of Allah from you.’ Allahu Akbar – and then he closed his eyes and started to cry. SubhanAllah, when a person gets to this Maqam and gets that deep sincerity and pain, he reaches a high-level status. Imagine his Maqam! This is what brings a scholar towards the Maqam of the Prophets – he was a great Alim. So then he spent time coming and going with Hadhrat Sahib, and even though he was elderly and weak himself at that time, he did Mujahidaat and made effort, sitting with Hadhrat Sahib and listening to him, pressing Hadhrat Sahib’s legs and serving him. He became like dust in front of Hadhrat Sheikh, and Hadhrat Sahib gave him Ijaza in the Silsila. I remember seeing him afterwards in Madinat-ul-Munawwara, and the effect of Hadhrat Sahib had rubbed off onto him. I saw what a beautiful effect that company had had upon him and the change from what he had been previously to what he had become, because Hadhrat Mufti Sahib had touched the hand of the Wali of Allah.
This is the message from Imam al-Bukhari rahmatullah alayh: ‘Whatever else happens, what must you do? You must do Tazkiyyah, purification, reformation, improvement, Islah. Allah ta’ala has opened your hearts to Ilm and has given a high Maqam to you, but if you don’t purify and cleanse your heart and your Nafs, then you will end up in a very bad situation.’ You cannot improve your Niyyah yourself. Is it easy to correct the intention? This is the whole Deen! The essence of the whole of Sahih al-Bukhari is summarised in this Hadith about the importance of correcting one’s intentions. Tell me – am I right or am I wrong?
My friends, I have heard these things from the Walis of Allah, from the pious predecessors. And we do Dhikr of Allah so that we become closer to Allah, so that the hearts open up and big diseases are eliminated. And then, in every matter, a person relies on Dua and effort. This becomes his life, along with TawakkulAllah. He leaves it to Allah. For example, we put the mask on, and then we make Dua. We say ‘Oh Allah, this mask won’t save us, but we do so because You have told us to adopt the means to avoid this big disease that has become so widespread.’ And then we make Dua. There is no guarantee, but then we do TawakkulAllah, thinking ‘Oh Allah, I will accept every one of Your decisions. If you make me sick through this disease, I accept it and am happy. We have done our duty, and now You will give to us according to Your choice and preference.’ But if you leave either Asbaab or Dua, then Allah ta’ala cannot be happy with you, because this is Takabbur; it is pride. This is just an example that I have given here, so establish this principle of life.
My brothers, we can only be successful in this if we do Dhikrullah and make effort. Pick up a Tasbeeh, sit at the feet of a Wali of Allah, take the lessons and make an effort on your heart. And do so in order to please your Lord. And it doesn’t take a thousand years to please Allah. You can waste a a lifetime and then come at the age of seventy years - Mufti Sahib came at the age of seventy, and he departed with Khilafah, as a deputy, SubhanAllah. I also remember Moulana Muhammad Hanif, who was the Amir of the Tableeghi Jamat at that time in Dera Ghazi Khan. Somebody said to him that he ought to go and meet Hadhrat Sahib and so he decided to go to learn Dhikr. He was the Amir of that area, sent from Raiwind – Moulana Muhammad Hanif sahib rahmatullah alayh. At that time, he didn’t know how to improve the Niyyah or what Dhikr was, even though he was seventy years old. I saw him come to my Hadhrat Sheikh and he sat down and alhamdulillah, Allah ta’ala gave him Khilafah! He became a great Sufi, and he didn’t leave Tableegh. Who says that after learning Dhikr, you leave Tableegh? Astaghfirullah – who says this? What kind of philosophy is this? Of course, he still went regularly, and he did his work of Tableegh and propagation of the Deen, but he controlled his heart.
Everyone has his passion or his career and he wants to do this and that. Learning Dhikr doesn’t mean that you leave your profession and what you are doing. Dhikr is the backbone – do you understand what I am saying? There is no time for negligence and laziness because life is short. Whatever principle and pillar you are on, if you want to correct yourself, Allah will correct you. We waste a lot of time, but to obtain Allah does not take time - say SubhanAllah. It is easy to waste time – for twenty, thirty or forty years we can lose Allah; but when you want to find Allah, it doesn’t even take one night. In less than one hour, you will find Allah. As soon as a person leaves his sins and says ‘I want Allah!’, if he comes, learns Dhikr and picks up a Tasbeeh, I swear by Allah, he will attain Allah immediately.
Two or three years ago, a Jamat came and sat with us. They were people of the heart and they liked my words, so they came and said ‘Teach us Dhikr please.’ They were senior Da’ees – fifteen, twenty, forty years they had spent in the work of propagation of the Deen. And there was another brother there, an educated man, and he also said that he wanted to learn Dhikr. He didn’t know much, and he had some doubts and kept asking question after question. ‘Will I have to leave Tableegh?’ he asked. I said ‘Why should you leave Tableegh?’ He said ‘Will this make me lazy and negligent in my work of the Deen?’ I replied ‘Not at all!’ He asked whether I would tell him not to do the work of the Deen, so I said to him ‘How could I tell you not to do the work of the Deen? Why would I do that?’ He said ‘I still have my doubts’, so I said ‘Learn Dhikr, and then see.’ Today, he is a great Sufi. I won’t tell you his name, but he is a great Sufi. I am surprised at how Allah ta’ala has opened his heart, and he is doing first-class work of Tableegh; he didn’t stop. People have a big reaction against this though, because shaytan puts doubts into the heart, like this person who was worried that he would have to stop doing Tableegh and would have to leave it for Dhikr. He now says ‘SubhanAllah, what a great thing you have done for me. This is such a beautiful Tariqa.’ MashaAllah, he follows the path of Allah in such a beautiful way – it is amazing.
So generate Ikhlas and pick up the Tasbeeh. Follow the solution you have received from this path, and whatever other path or profession you have, whatever work of the Deen you are doing, then continue with that, whether it is Tableegh, education, Ilm, knowledge, Hadith, Qur’an. Who is stopping you? Carry on; continue with that and flourish. But listen to what the Sheikh tells you - do Amal upon that. Start the Amal and develop sincerity, and whatever Maqam you are on, then you will progress further from that point. If you are doing Tableegh, then you will attain a high level of giving Da’wah and propagating the Deen. If you are teaching Hadith, then the light and Noor of Hadith will come to you.
In another example I will tell you about, an Alim came from Hindustan. I will not tell you his name, but he is a Sheikh-ul-Hadith - he teaches Hadith. He came to me and said ‘I want to learn Dhikr.’ MashaAllah, we respect the Ulema, so I said ‘Not here – come to my home and will give you tea and food, and with Adab I will teach you Dhikr of Allah!’ Allahu Akbar. I said ‘You are an Alim, so I will keep your shoes on my head. Allah has given me this Ilm, so I will give it to you so that you can distribute it. You are an Alim, and I do not think that I am better than you – no, no. Even if you become my Mureed or my Khalifa, even then, I am not equivalent to your shoes because you have learned Ilm, sacred knowledge, oh scholar. You are advanced in your knowledge, and I am advanced in my knowledge, SubhanAllah - everyone has got his profession. You give me your Ilm, and I will give you my Ilm.’ SubhanAllah.
So he said ‘Please – tell me. Prescribe Dhikr for me!’ I said to him ‘I will tell you one thing. Do you teach Hadith?’ He replied ‘Yes I do, and Tarbiyyah also.’ So I said ‘Today I will give you Dhikr, and the next time you come back to me, tell me honestly what colour and effect this had on your teaching of Hadith.’ Say SubhanAllah – I am telling you points based on experience here. So I gave him some Dhikr, some prescription, and some advice, and he came again the next year with tears in his eyes. He said ‘Hadhrat Sahib, I want to meet you. When can I meet you?’ I said to him ‘Last time, we met according to your convenience. But now you are a Mureed, so now I will tell you when to come to me.’ He said ‘You are totally right, Hadhrat Sahib. The situation has changed now.’ Look how much humbleness had come into him. So, Khair, I kept on delaying and delaying, and he kept on coming after me. After three or four days I called him – this can be the solution to cure somebody. So he came and I sat him down and said ‘I had one question for you to answer – do you remember?’ He said ‘Yes! I have come to give you the answer. Hadhrat, such points come from the Hadith when I sit to teach that my students rejoice when I teach them Hadith! I am teaching the same Hadiths that I have been teaching for thirty years, but now such points and pearls come out in my lessons. I teach Tirmidhi, and my students start crying for joy. I have to stop myself, for so much Noor comes.’ I said ‘Remember what I told you to do? Do you do that?’ He replied ‘Yes. Whenever I have a lesson to teach, thirty minutes before, I do Muraqabah and do Tasawwur-e-Sheikh. I think about my Sheikh and ask Allah to bring the Faidh into my Hadith.’
This is the method of Adab, of manners. Qala Qala Rasooluallah sallallahu alayhi wasallam means you are uttering the words of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Think about it – this is not some minor Ilm. The Adab of this is extremely important, and the Wudhu for this teaching is purification, I swear by Allah. The more a person purifies and cleans his inner self before picking up the Kitabs of Hadith, the more such an individual becomes Noor ‘ala-n-Noor. The students start rejoicing and saying ‘What a teacher!’ Thousands of people become lovers through those Hadith. Is this not the case? This is because Qala Qala Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam is a very great subject. Tafseer of the Qur’an and teaching Hadith is not just about memorisation. Hadith is practical Tafseer - it is the walking Qur’an. The Qur’an is speaking when you teach Hadith. So to teach that, it is not enough to be just on the basic level. Allah ta’ala tells us how important the Niyyah is. The Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari says that the Niyyah must be corrected. Correct your intentions and make effort to correct them, and then you will be able to explain Bukhari Sharif. This effort is the same for everyone – what is that effort? Go into the company of the Sheikh; go to the Sheikh’s door and do Dhikr of Allah! That’s it. Then the doors open up, and this Tariqa is instructed by Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam. This is not some made-up solution, rather, this is the guidance and the path of Allah and His Rasool sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
So where did we start? In life, we should never give up or lose hope. Whenever conditions and issues confront you in the world, whether big or small, like when you feel like eating something, drinking something, or if you want something, then what should you do first and foremost? Turn to Allah and ask, saying ‘Oh Allah, give this to me. I feel so much like having this today.’ Or if you are in the habit of meeting someone, or if you want to meet someone, say ‘Oh Allah, I feel so much like meeting this person today! Please introduce me to them’ – and then a phone call comes! This is not my piety; this is Allah ta’ala’s method, whoever you want to meet. This has happened thousands of times. I have just spoken to somebody in Pakistan after so long, and as I was departing from Salah earlier, I thought ‘Why shouldn’t I ask Allah for this? What else am I going to ask from Allah?’ You can ask about worldly things or Akhirah things, about heaven and hell. Allah will give Jannah; inshaAllah, when you are praying Salah, you will get Jannah. Automatically, the doors of Jannah open – all eight doors of Paradise are opened for us when we leave after praying Salah. So then we can ask for these things, like ‘Oh Allah, I haven’t spoken to this person for so long. Is he upset with me? It would be good if I could speak with him and converse with him.’ Make this Dua and then leave, and after a few moments, the phone call comes from Pakistan, and that person says ‘Hadhrat Sahib, I was remembering you! What’s happening?’ Try this - experience this in life!
Make friendship with Allah and increase and strengthen your friendship with Allah. The greatest Friend, the Most Merciful One, the One who gives the most, is our Khaliq – Allah! That’s it.