Folio from Quran, 750-800 AD (2nd century AH) (Syria?)

Black, red and green ink on vellum

33.3 x 400 mm (leaf)

267 x 320 mm (text block)

 

A QUR'AN FOLIO, NORTH AFRICA OR THE NEAR EAST, LATE 8TH CENTURY

Qur'an manuscript leaf on vellum, with 16ll. of elegant black kufic with pronounced circular letters, diacritics indicated with black lines, vocalization of red and occasional green dots, verse endings marked with groups of three diagonal lines.

 

Roundel 10-verse marker on obverse, line 8

Alif 5-verse marker on reverse, line 8

 

According to a friend, the entire leaf is from Surah al-Ma'ida: The Table Spread With Food and starts with the last part of Verse 101 and runs through the first part of verse 106. Verses 101-105 address faith, with Allah (the Beneficent and Merciful) demanding believers give up their other faiths they've held onto out of tradition, but also forgiving them for having done so, out of ignorance. Verse 103 alludes to some of those traditions, which are similar to the Hindu practice of letting cows loose to wander freely. Verse 106 addresses appointing two good and pious men as executors of one's dying will.

 

Condition: Well... Top and bottom halves are completely separated horizontally and there's a vertical crease in the middle, suggesting the leaf was folded into quarters. Numerous other signs of wear. Text on both sides is complete but barely legible on obverse (pages are turned left to right). Tear and repairs (obverse) affect all of line 9 and the 10-verse marker, and some of lines 7 and 9. Remnants on obverse of tape used to hold top and bottom together at one time. The only mitigating factors are that descriptions of other leaves suggest similar horizontal tears, and even a leaf missing its last three lines was considered desirable, though it came from a famous collection.

 

Provenance: Acquired in 2018 from an Amsterdam antiques dealer retiring and selling off his eclectic stock (viz. paintings, prints, glass, nautical antiques, etc.). I had known him several years. When I asked him where he'd gotten this manuscript, he couldn't recall, but he had had it in storage since the 1980s.

 

As about 90 leaves appear extant, out of a conjectured 500-600 in the total text, my leaf has at least a 1 in 6 or 7 chance of following or preceding a known page.

Similar leaves I have found online:

 

Two at LACMA - "Abbasid Caliphate, late 8th century"

(M.73.5.508) - collections.lacma.org/node/240038

(M.2002.1.383) - collections.lacma.org/node/204570 (white and green alif every 5 verses, roundel every 10)

 

One at Brooklyn Museum - Abbasid / 8th-9th century (same white and green alif every 5 verses, roundel every 10, as LACMA)

(1995.186 ) www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/154555

 

One at Bonhams - Sale 25 April 2017, 11:00 BST - late 8th century - early 9th century AD (Syria?)

www.bonhams.com/auctions/24197/lot/3/?category=list - (Roundel, no alif)

 

One at the Ashmolean Museum - late 8th century - early 9th century AD - Roundel, no alif

jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/8/per_page/25/offse...

 

Three individual leaves and an incredible bonanza of 76 leaves, at Christies:

 

Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, 2019 (76 leaves)

 

A SUBSTANTIAL GROUP OF LARGE KUFIC QUR’AN LEAVES

LATE UMAYYAD OR EARLY ABBASID, PROBABLY DAMASCUS OR JERUSALEM, MID-8TH CENTURY

 

www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6229646

 

The Saeed Motamed Collection - Part I, London, South Kensington, 22 April 2013

Lot 38 - A LARGE KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO - NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, LATE 8TH CENTURY (Roundel, no alif)

www.christies.com/lotfinder/books-manuscripts/a-large-kuf...

 

Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, London, 5 October 2010

Lot 53 - A KUFIC QUR'AN FOLIO - NEAR EAST OR NORTH AFRICA, END OF THE 8TH CENTURY (Roundel, no alif)

www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-kufic-quran-folio-near-...

 

Indian & Islamic Works of Art, London, South Kensington, 26 October 2007

Lot 257 - A QUR'AN FOLIO, NORTH AFRICA OR THE NEAR EAST, LATE 8TH CENTURY (Dire condition, missing top line and most of bottom line; roundel, no alif)

www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-quran-folio-north-afric...

  

Two lots (1 & 5) at Sothebys London, in 2019: THE SHAKERINE COLLECTION: Calligraphy in Qur’ans and other Manuscripts, 23 October 2019:

 

www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/the-shakerine-collec...

 

All of these match this item in the Khalili Collection, in page size, text size, style, number of lines, and ornamentation:

 

Francois Deroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qurans in the 8th to 10th Centuries - The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London 1992, pp. 120-123, no. 66.

Whoever recites Surah Waqi'ah every night will never face destitution. (Mishkat-ul-Masabih, pp.409, vol.1, Hadis 2181)

 

Khuwajah Kalimullah Sahib رحمتہ اللہ تعالی علیہ advised that this should be recited after Maghrib for repaying of debt and distancing poverty. (Jannati Zaiwar, p.597)

 

www.dawateislami.net

‏بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ‎

Translated from the Arabic, the exegesis of 55 Verses from the Tafseer e Jilani by the Saint of Saints, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra),

the Master of all Spiritual Masters.

 

The Night of Ascension

 

From Al Yawaqeet Wal Jawahir by Imam Abdul Wahab Shuhrani (ra);

 

The Journey of Ascension from Sidrat ul Muntaha to the meeting with Allah is the climax of the travels that night. From this point on a new state comes about. Before him was a Realm of Nur, Divine Light, which were revealed everywhere. The manifestations of Allah’s Attributes and Essence had made alight the Realm of the Unseen. The guest of the Throne, the Mercy of the Universe (peace be upon him), Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) was made to enter this Realm alone.

 

First, one by one, he was made to pass through each of the veils of Allah’s Names and with each passing, he was soaked in the essence of each Name. In a state of wakefulness, as he absorbed the quality of each name, Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) felt slightly dazed as one might expect to feel in a moment of aloneness.

 

As soon as this state came upon his blessed heart, he heard a voice;

 

قف یا محمد ان ربک یصلی

 

“Stop O Muhammad (peace be upon you)! Indeed, your Lord will approach you (to welcome you).”

 

The Journey of Ascension up to this moment was a journey of love and honour. From this point onwards began the the journey of union. This is where the guest of the Throne reached Qaba Qausayn;

‏

1. and 2.

 

ثُمَّ دَنَا فَتَدَلَّىٰ ‎

 

Then he approached and He came down.

 

‏فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَىٰ ‎

 

Until He was at a distance of two bow-lengths away or nearer.

Surah An-Najm, Verse 8-9

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Summa dana: Then he, Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him), went nearer to His Lord…

 

Fatadalla: And He, Allah, came towards him with an inseparable attachment through love, the type of attachment being like an embrace, such that…

 

Fakana: it became, that nearness …

 

Qaba Qausayn: like the distance between two bows, which were the bows of Al Wujoob, The One who is since forever and Al Imkaan, the one who exists because of Him, both preserving the dignity of being The Worshipped and the worshipper.

 

Au adna: Or even less than that (distance of two bows) because the Nasoot, all things that have to do with the world, of Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) became fana, dissolved, in the Lahoot, the Realm of Nur, Divine Light. And after that whatever happened to the person of Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) is whatever happened, or however close he came, he came (no one knows).

 

Qari Sahib: Note two things; First the verse plays out the Hadith Qudsi, “When a person walks towards me, I run towards them.” Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) approached, Allah came nearer. Two and most magnificent of all, the words in the Quran are not the same for to show that approach towards each other. For the Prophet (peace be upon him), it is dana – coming close. For Allah it is tadallah, which Ghaus Pak (ra) is translating as ta’allaqa – an inseparable attachment through love.

 

Hence it was revealed;

 

3.

 

‏فَأَوْحَىٰٓ إِلَىٰ عَبْدِهِۦ مَآ أَوْحَىٰ ‎

 

So He (Allah) revealed to His Servant what He revealed.

Surah An-Najm, Verse 10

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Fa auha: So He, Allah Glory is to Him, revealed and inspired directly upon the heart…

 

Ila abdi hi: of His Servant, as The One who is closer to His Beloved that his own nafs, self.

 

Ma auha: what He revealed from Divine Recognition and Realities and unveilings and witnessing, poured upon him from His Own Self, Glory is to Him. All of which was pure from the methods of (hearing and seeing) for a human being in the world. So he (peace be upon him) saw what he saw and Allah Subhan Ta’ala unveiled what He unveiled.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

Al Yawaqeet Wal Jawahir: The point of that demands attention here is the distance is not specified exactly to two bows but in fact, the ambiguities around distance and nearness were all dissolved and made to disappear by the word adna, or less. The only distinction that remained was that one was Allah, there is no deity except Him, and the other was His Beloved Servant, Huzoor Pak (peace be upon him). One was the Creator, Khaliq and the other the created, makhlooq.

 

It is to be noted that the conversation then between Love and His Beloved (saw) in those moments of aloneness were not revealed to anyone. No one knows anything about anything of the words exchanged between them then. Except that which Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) himself shared that when he met his Lord of the Universe, His Lord said to him, “

 

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ،

 

Peace, the Mercy of Allah and His Blessings be on you, O Prophet (peace be upon you).

 

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلَى عِبَادِ اللَّهِ الصَّالِحِينَ

 

Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said,

“Peace be upon us and the Righteous Servants of Allah.”

 

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Sahib (ra) speaks to the meeting at the Night of Ascension in his most famed na’at Kithay Mehr Ali Kithey Teri Sana;

 

بے رنگ دسے اس مورت تھیں

وچ وحدت پھٹیاں جد گھڑیاں

 

The One without form and colour appeared in his (the Prophet’s (peace be upon him)) being,

when in their union, they became united.

 

دسے صورت راہ بے صورت دا

توبہ راہ کی عین حقیقت دا

 

This being (of Nabi Kareem) guides the Way towards the One-ness of Allah.

No, in fact, he guides towards His True Reality.

 

پر کم نہیں بے سوجھت دا

کوئی ورلیاں موتی لے تریاں

 

But this is not comprehensible for those without inner eyes,

so only the fewest amongst the few imbue such meaning.

  

4. Amongst countless bestowings, the only Favour

 

لَقَدْ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًۭا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ

يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَتِهِۦ

وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ

وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَبَ

وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ

وَإِن كَانُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ لَفِى ضَلَلٍۢ مُّبِينٍ ‎

 

Indeed, Allah has bestowed a favour upon the believers, when he raised in their midst an apostle from among themselves,

to convery His Messages unto them,

and to cause them to grow in purity,

and to impart unto them the Divine Writ as well as wisdom,

where as before that they were, indeed, most obviously, lost in error.

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 164

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Laqad Mannallahu: By the Name of Allah, He bestowed a great Favour…

 

Ala al Mo’mineen: upon the ones who are sincere…

 

Id ba’atha fi-him: when he raised him, the Prophet (peace be upon him)), from amongst them for their guidance…

 

Rasool an: as a Messenger to be their Murshid, guide, who was brought up…

 

Min Anfusihim: in them to guide them with different types of guidance.

 

Yatlu alihim: First of all, he recites to them (the Quran) and makes them listen…

 

Ayati hi: to Allah’s Verses, which indicate towards the One-ness of His Essence.

 

Wa Yuzzakihim: Secondly, he purifies them from the evils whisperings of Satan and those desires that lead one astray from the Path of Allah’s One-ness.

 

Wa Yuallimuhim: And thirdly, he teaches them…

 

Al Kitab: the Book, which explains and clarifies to them the means to cleanse the overt, the zahir, as well as everything which is related to the apparent world.

 

Wa: Then fourthly he teaches them…

 

Al hikmat; the wisdom that purifies their inner being, the batin, from the inclination towards anything other than Allah, (both people and things), and which connects them to Sidrat al Muntaha, the Lote Tree, near which is Jannat ul Mawa, Heaven.

 

Wa in Kanu Min Qablu: And they were before the unveiling of these four stations…

 

Lafi Dalalin Mubeen: in clear waywardness and severe humiliation.

 

At the end then Ghaus Pak (ra) prays: “Ya Allah! By Your Bounty, save us from the sleep of those who are heedless.

Ameen!

 

Forgiveness and Mercy

 

5.

 

‏خُذِ ٱلْعَفْوَ وَأْمُرْ بِٱلْعُرْفِ وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ ٱلْجَهِلِينَ ‎

 

Keep to forgiveness (O Beloved (peace be upon you) and enjoin the good,

and turn away from the ignorant.

Surah Al Araaf, Verse 199

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

And when their state is such and their insistence upon this purpose (of denial and being wayward);

 

Khud il afwa: Choose always (and make your habit), O Messenger who completes the Message (peace be upon you), the path of forgiveness and softness. And turn away from anger (of the type of being upset with someone when you can exercise ability to do something about it) and becoming hard, because this is in line with the affection of the status of Prophet-hood.

 

Wa’mur bil urf: And enjoin them with good deeds, calling them to the Way of Allah, with wisdom and softness of words, that nation in which you see the possibility of being guided, with the light of Prophet-hood and Closeness (with Allah).

 

Wa aa’rid ana jahileen: And avoid the ignorant, who are stubborn. And if they argue with you, argue with the in the best way. Indeed your Lord knows well which of them is astray from His Path and He knows well also who is guided among them.

 

The First Hadith taught to Would-be Scholars:

 

الرَّاحِمُونَ يَرْحَمُهُمُ الرَّحْمَنُ،

‏‏‏‏‏‏ارْحَمُوا أَهْلَ الْأَرْضِ يَرْحَمْكُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ

 

‏‏‏‏The Prophet صلی ‌اللہ ‌علیہ ‌وسلم said:

Allah, The Compassionate One has mercy on those who are merciful.

Show mercy to those who are on the earth, He Who is in the Heaven will show mercy to you.

 

Man is a creature of haste

 

6.

 

‏خُلِقَ ٱلْإِنسَنُ مِنْ عَجَلٍۢ ۚ

 

Man is a creature of haste.

Surah Al Anbiya, Verse 37

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Khuliqal Insaan: Man was created, amongst all living creatures,…

 

Min ajl: as the one who craves the most haste in goodness and badness as if he was made from impulsiveness.

 

7.

  

‏وَيَدْعُ ٱلْإِنسَنُ بِٱلشَّرِّ دُعَآءَهُۥ بِٱلْخَيْرِ ۖ وَكَانَ ٱلْإِنسَنُ عَجُولًۭا ‎

 

And human beings pray for things that are wrong (as often) as they pray for things that are good. And human beings are ever hasty.

Surah Al Isra’a, Verse 17

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa: And overall, amongst the behaviour that is disliked, worldly and ugly…

 

Yad ul insaana: Man prays, being hasty (in his inner and outer being)…

 

Bi sharre: for that which is not good for him, so comes along, with that (prayer), that which he does not know about its evilness and its harmful consequences.

 

Dua’ahu bilkhair: (while he is) liking that which he is asking for as if it is good for him, due to his hastiness.

 

Wa kanal insaano: In Man’s nature is created haste (for himself) and he demands haste from others about that which he is inclined towards, even though it is detrimental for him.

  

The Marriage Equation

 

8.

 

وَمِنْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦٓ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً ۚ

إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

 

And among His Signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates so that you may find tranquility in them.

And He placed between you love and mercy.

Indeed, in that surely are Messages for a people who reflect.

Surah Ar-Rum, Verse 21

 

And it was necessary to go deep into the meaning of a word for an institution that most in the world now regarded as “failed.”

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa min ayati-hi: And one of the Signs that show His Majestic Authority (is)…

 

An khalaqa: that He gives to you in your control…

 

lakum man anfusikum: from your species and like you…

azwajaa: spouses, so that you do more than them in affection and inclination and give them regard to create the love. In fact, Allah has given you control over your spouses…

 

li-taskunu ilayha: so that they are your home and your refuge and you love them completely and you increase your offspring.

 

Wa: And like this is another wisdom…

 

ja’ala bainakum: He placed between you…

 

muwadda-tan: which is special and pure, love, that which arises only and only because of Allah’s Secrets, in a manner that cannot be comprehended what that love is and what its state is, why it exists and how it came about.

 

Wa: And His Perfect Wisdom which created from the zygote a child and it comes from the love.

 

Rahma-tan: A child like you who will keep your name and faith alive.

 

8. Commentary on the same verse by Hazrat Muhyuddin Ibn e Arabi (ra) for all people.

 

وَمِنْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦٓ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً ۚ

إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

 

And among His Signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates so that you may find tranquility in them.

And He placed between you love and mercy.

Indeed, in that surely are Messages for a people who reflect.

Surah Ar-Rum, Verse 21

 

Wa min ayati-hi: From Allah’s Actions and His Attributes, which cause to join towards His Essence by recognizing and traveling the paths of spirituality…

 

An khalaqa lakum min anfusikum azwajaa: He created for the souls, the arwah, the nafs, the self, as their spouses…

 

Li-taskunu ilayha: so that the soul is inclined towards the nafs with muwaddat, (a special and pure love, that which rises only and only because of Allah’s Secrets, in a manner that cannot be comprehended what that love is and what its state is, why it exists and how it came about), and the soul takes effect from it and effects the nafs in turn.

 

Wa ja’ala bainakum muwadda-tan wa rahma-tan: And between them is unconditional love and tenderness so that the nafs loves the light of the ruh, the soul, and its effect upon it with acceptance, embracing its influence. Which makes the nafs remains calm from anger and become purified.

 

Then Allah sends His Mercy upon the nafs in the shape of the qalb, the Seat of Recognition of Allah, according to capability and capacity resulting from obedience. The nafs becomes guided by the blessing of this merciful qalb, learning its etiquettes and becoming joyous.

 

In turn, the soul loves the nafs by leaving its effect in it and shines its light upon it. Then Allah gives it the blessing of the qalb, soft and affectionate. The soul gains exalted ranks by the blessing of this qalb, because of which the soul gains perfection.

 

Inna fi dalika al la-Ayaat: In all of this are the Divine Attributes and Perfection

 

Li qaumi yatafakkaroon: for those who reflect, in their selves and in their souls and upon that which is their intrinsic nature, (the nafs), and that which is sent down upon them, (the ruh).

It was the part of the verse with the word muwaddat in it that was most captivating. Both the nafs and the ruh, the base self and the soul, communicated and understood each other though the qalb. So without the knowing, the recognition of God, the two would always remain alienated. Anger would eventually turn into rage. Calm would transform into ever increasing restlessness;

 

Wa ja’ala bainakum muwadda-tan wa rahma-tan: And between them is unconditional love and tenderness so that the nafs loves the light of the ruh and its effect upon it with acceptance, embracing its influence. Which makes the nafs remains calm from anger and become purified.

 

Then Allah sends His Mercy upon the nafs in the shape of the qalb, according to capability and capacity resulting from obedience. The nafs becomes guided by the blessing of this merciful qalb, learning its etiquettes and becoming joyous.

 

In turn, the soul loves the nafs by leaving its effect in it and shines its light upon it. Then Allah gives it the blessing of the qalb, soft and affectionate. The soul gains exalted ranks by the blessing of this qalb, because of which the soul gains perfection.

 

Subhan Allah! 

 

Iblis throws down the gauntlet

 

9.

 

قَالَ رَبِّ بِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِى لَأُزَيِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

 

Iblis said, "My Lord!

Because You misled me, surely, I will make evil seem goodly to them in the earth and I will mislead them all.

Surah Al-Hijr, Verse 39

 

I studied the verse with my teacher;

 

“Let’s go back a little,” said Qari Sahib.

 

The context of the verse is that Iblis said the line above after he was given the leeway to do what he wants by God. Which he asked for.

 

‏قَالَ رَبِّ فَأَنظِرْنِىٓ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ ‎

 

He said, "O my Lord! Then give me respite till the Day they are raised."

Surah Al-Hijr, Verse 36

 

Thus he is granted time to do what he wants. Now let’s look at what Ghaus Pak (ra) says about the exegesis of verse 39 where he vows revenge by misleading and making evil seem good;

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Qala: Iblis said, taking an oath to exaggerate his point…

 

Rabbi bima Aghwaytani: I swear upon the Truthfulness of your Authority, which has been the way through which You have mislead me and made me wayward, and made me fall from those high exalted ranks I possessed, and made me exit from between my beloved ones and my brothers (the angels)…

 

La uzzayanna lahum: I will beautify their deeds which are illegitimate and make them appear as good all their negative actions.

 

Fil Ard: and I will make them deluded so they will pursue all kinds of wrongful deeds and all types of crimes and those sins that their nature is inclined towards naturally.

 

Li Ughwayannahum: and I will mislead them, all of them collectively, so that none of them will be safe from me, anyone who has nafs Ammara.

 

Basically everyone!

 

Hazrat Najmuddin Kubra (ra) in the Tafseer e Jilani:

 

“You had made the behaviour of your nafs overpower the attributes of your qalb, which is the Seat of Recognition of Allah. This is because your good deeds were only for display and to claim good repute. Your purpose in following in the footsteps of the nafs was to receive things from this world that you thought would benefit you and showing truthful regard for your Lord was not your intention.

 

Still, he delivered you from painful punishment (for such acts) so that you would only desire to seek the Pleasure of Allah and occupy yourself only with His worship (by being mindful of Him at all times). If you were thus granted, due to His Mercy, advances in your spiritual ranks, don’t become stuck in them. Instead, move forward and continue to seek union with the Status and Stations of Allah’s Essence until you achieve success in reaching them.”

 

Ghaus Pak (ra) in Al Fath Ar Rabbani:

 

“What I say to you, listen to it through the ears of your qalb, the Station of Recognition of Allah in the heart, and remember it and bring it into practice. I want you to speak to me through the tongue of your qalb and be sincere in your deeds, such that you reach a point that I look at your state and say to you, ‘Well done!’”

 

“Remember! Makhlooq, creation, is the veil over your nafs, ego.

And your ego is the veil over your qalb that prevents you from recognizing your Lord.

And your qalb is the veil over your batin, the inner being.

So as long as you remain stuck with people, you will not be able to see your nafs.”

 

10. Iblis as attached as an associate

 

وَمَن يَعْشُ عَن ذِكْرِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ نُقَيِّضْ لَهُۥ شَيْطَـٰنًا فَهُوَ لَهُۥ قَرِينٌ

 

And whoever turns a blind eye to the Reminder of the Most Compassionate,

We place at the disposal of each one from the party of Iblis as their close associate,

Surah Az-Zukruf, Verse 36

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa mayya’shu: and the one who turns away physically as well as from the heart…

 

An dikr Ar Rahman: from the Quran, which explains for this person the way to imaan, faith and irfaan, Recognition of Allah, due to excessive lustful desires and attractions for the senses which are worldly…

 

Nuqayyad lahu: We give control and power over him to…

 

Shaytan an: Iblis and his party, who misguides him, and seduces him and whispers doubts into his heart, and destroys him.

 

Fa huwa: Shaitaan then becomes…

 

Lahu Qareen: attached to him forever, beautifying for him that which is sinful and that which is wrong and makes him deluded into believing those things until he makes him enter into the fire which cuts and deprives him from Allah’s Mercy.

 

11. Following in the Footsteps of Satan

 

‏ يَٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ خُطُوَتِ ٱلشَّيْطَنِ ۚ

وَمَن يَتَّبِعْ خُطُوَتِ ٱلشَّيْطَنِ فَإِنَّهُۥ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ ۚ

وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُۥ مَا زَكَىٰ مِنكُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ أَبَدًۭا وَلَكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُزَكِّى مَن يَشَآءُ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌۭ

 

O you who believe!

Do not follow in the footsteps of Shaitaan,

and whoever follows in the footsteps of the Shaitaan then indeed, he commands the immorality and wrongdoing.

And if it were not for the Grace of Allah upon you and His Mercy, not one of you would have been pure,

but Allah purifies whom He wills.

And Allah is The Hearer of all things, The Knower of all things.

Surah An-Nur, Verse 21

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Ya ayyohalladina amino: O ye who believed in in the One-ness of the Maker and His Attributes and in Prophethood and all the Messengers and in the Shari’a which is for everyone and beneficial for all in terms of creating moderation in manners and rituals among Mankind, the reason behind you having faith, imaan, is that you go against your nafs, the base self, and your desires, both of which are from the force of Satan, the one who misleads and the one who takes away from the Path of Truth.

 

La tattibi’u khutowaat e Shaitan: Don’t walk in the footsteps of Satan and don’t follow his lead in the distribution of vulgarity and your love of sins.

 

Wa manyattabi: And who so ever amongst you, O believers, follows…

 

Khutuwaat e Shaitan: in the footsteps of Satan, the one who leads astray and entraps, he becomes astray and trapped.

 

Fa innahu: So indeed he, Satan…

 

Ya’mur: commands the one who follows him and considers him his leader…

 

Bil Fahsha: to be lewd and immoral in ways that go against nature and the laws of the faith…

 

Wal munkir: and to become a refuser of modesty and the Quran and the hadith.

 

Wa lau la fadullahi alaikum: And were it not for the Bounty of Allah upon you, who is the Protector for the correction of your states…

 

Wa Rahmatu hu: And His Mercy, which is in abundance and encompasses all His Servants…

 

Ma zaka: there would be no one saved or purified or made sincere…

 

Minkum ahadun: from amongst any of you from following in the footsteps of Satan…

 

Abadan: ever, for as long as you live, because following him has been placed in your nature (just as goodness has been placed in it), and following him appears beautified for you and readily accepted by your nafs…

 

Wa lakinn Allah: But Allah Ta’ala, the One who manages the affairs of His Servants…

 

Yuzzaki: inserts sincerity and purifies them from the traps of Satan and his evil promptings…

 

Mayysha: whom so ever He wills, by virtue of His Wisdom and His Control by which He forms the human being…

 

Wallahu: and He is fully Aware of what is in the overt and what in in the hidden…

 

Sami’un: He the Hearer of the words (of everyone)…

 

Aleemun: and the Knower of all backgrounds and all intentions.

 

The Hadith:

 

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

مَا مِنْكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا وَقَدْ وُكِّلَ بِهِ قَرِينُهُ مِنْ الْجِنِّ

قَالُوا وَإِيَّاكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ

قَالَ وَإِيَّايَ إِلَّا أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَعَانَنِي عَلَيْهِ فَأَسْلَمَ فَلَا يَأْمُرُنِي إِلَّا بِخَيْرٍ

 

The Prophet of God (peace be upon him) said, “There is no one amongst you except that next to him is an associate from the Jinn (who propels him towards sin.)

 

The Companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah! Even with you?”

 

He replied, “And even with me except that Allah helped me against him and he surrendered so (now) he doesn’t say order me towards anything except goodness.

 

Sheikh Nurjan, one of the most important living Masters of the Naqshbandi Silsila:

 

“The Auliya Allah – the Friends of God – and their disciples receiving training from them teaching this, ‘Live a life because someone wants to know if they are Mukhlis, sincere. Are they just Muslim and they accepted religion, any religion because whether you are Jews or Christians or Muslims, these are all titles, are you one who submits your will to the Will of The Almighty? For then you become Muslim, the one who submits their will to the Will of the Divine.

 

Then you come to the next maqam, station, which is to be a Mo’min, a believer. And Allah says, ‘Don’t say you believe, just say you accepted.’”

 

Iblis spares no one:

 

Imam Raazi (ra) was a Persian polymath, Islamic scholar and a pioneer of inductive logic. He wrote various works in the fields of medicine, chemistry, physics, astronomy, cosmology, literature, theology, ontology, philosophy, history and jurisprudence.

 

He was one of the earliest proponents and skeptics that came up with the concept of Multiverse, and compared it with the astronomical teachings of Quran. A rejector of the geocentric model and the Aristotelian notions of a single universe revolving around a single world, Al-Raazi argued about the existence of the outer space beyond the known world.

 

“When he was on his deathbed, Iblis came to the Imam (ra) to give his last best effort to make break his faith, take it away from him.

 

With this in mind, Iblis asked him a question, “You spent your entire life in seeing the Signs of Allah and loving Him. Did you ever recognize God?”

 

The Imam (ra) replied, “Without doubt Allah is One.”

 

Iblis said, “Where is your proof for it?”

 

Imam Fakhar al Din al Raazi (ra) gave him a daleel (an argument as evidence). Iblis, once the Ustad of the Angels, dismissed the argument. The Imam (ra) presented a second case. He defeated that as well. The conversation continued until the Imam (ra) had given 360 arguments and Iblis had dispelled all of them. The Imam (ra) became gravely perplexed and started to lose hope.

 

Imam Fakhar al Din al Raazi (ra) was the disciple of Hazrat Najmuddin Kubra (ra), one of the most favoured disciples of Ghaus Pak (ra). Hazrat Najmuddin Kubra (ra) could see the whole incident unfolding before him from afar.

 

He was performing ablution and during it, he called out to his disciple, “Why don’t you just say, ‘I have brought faith upon God without any argument.’”

  

Who is the one saved from Iblis

 

12. The ones who rely solely on Allah

 

إِنَّهُۥ لَيْسَ لَهُۥ سُلْطَـٰنٌ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ

 

Indeed, there is for him (Iblis) no authority over those who have believed and rely upon their Lord.

Surah An-Nahl, Verse 99

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Inna hu laysa hu sultan an: Indeed he, Iblis, has no ability to capture and overcome…

 

A’la lladina a’mino: the ones who believe in the One-ness of Allah and have certainty in the truthfulness of Allah’s Books and His Messengers and the Day promised and that which will be given in reward that Day.

 

Wa; And along with this

 

Al’a Rabbi-him: they rely on their Lord and no one else from the sources and means of day to day life and…

 

Yatawakkaluna: they surrender and they entrust all their matters to Him for sure.

 

And also:

 

13. Iblis admits his helplessness before the Sincere

 

‏إِلَّا عِبَادَكَ مِنْهُمُ ٱلْمُخْلَصِينَ ‎

Except the sincere among your worshippers.

Surah Al-Hijr, Verse 40

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Al Mukhliseen: The Sincere are the ones who have saved their necks from the noose of the nafs e Ammara (the lowest self of three). They are the ones who are content and steadfast, standing firmly on the Station of seeking the Pleasure of Allah and surrendering.”

 

Tauba - Repentance

 

14. Except he who repents

 

‏إِلَّا مَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًۭا صَلِحًۭا فَأُو۟لَٓئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ ٱللَّهُ سَيِّـَٔاتِهِمْ حَسَنَتٍۢ ۗ

وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا

 

Except he who repents and believes and does deeds righteous,

then for those will replace Allah their evil deeds with good ones.

And is Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Surah Al-Furqan: Verse 70

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Illa man taba: The one who repents over his wrongful deeds made by wrong decisions, and return to Allah regretful for them these deeds which rendered him in a state of loss and harmfulness. When he returns to Allah ashamed, in fear of His Punishment, declaring his nafs to be the liar, making it feel ashamed, sighing and feeling sad about that which has passed in his life...

 

Wa: and along with all this…

 

Aamana: he believes in Allah’s One-ness and strengthens his repentance by renewing his faith, imaan, enjoining it with sincerity, and keeping other believers safe from committing sins against the faith, (so overall; He renews his faith, believing, sighing regretfully, for the times when he was committing sins and not being a Mo’min)...

 

Wa: (again) with repentance and renewing of his imaan…

 

Amila amilan salihan: he does good deeds, based on sincerity in that faith and that repentance, knowing of its certainty and recognition of those good deeds.

 

Fa ulaika: So these are the fortunate ones who repent and return and are accepted by Allah. Only these are the ones who…

 

Yubadilullahu: Allah, Al Hakeem, The Wise One, Al Muslihu, The Reformer, changes the states of His Servants, after He gives them the ability for sincere repentance and a truthful return…

 

Sayyatihim: (He changes) their bad deeds committed before their tauba, repentance, into…

 

Hasanatin: good deeds afterwards. This is such that Allah, by His Bounty, erases their sins which have been written on their records before their repentance (before Him), and in exchange he writes for those sins, good deeds.

 

Wa Kana Allahu: And Allah is The One Well Informed of the secrets of His Servant and of his sincerity.

 

Ghafoor-an: He is The Forgiver, the One who lets go their sins no matter how major they are after they have come with sincere repentance.

 

Rahim-an: He accepts with His Mercy their tauba and forgives them their sins.

 

It took us two classes to translate the verse and I saw myself in only the first three words; illa man tab - except he who repents.

 

15. The one who repents is extended forgiveness

 

‏فَمَن تَابَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ظُلْمِهِۦ وَأَصْلَحَ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِ ۗ

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌ

 

But whoever repented from after his wrongdoing and reforms, then indeed,

Allah will turn in forgiveness to him. Indeed, Allah (is) Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Surah Al Maidah, Verse 39

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Faman ta’aba: So the one who repents and returns towards Allah sincere (in heart), in fear (of reckoning)…

 

Min ba’ada dulmihi: after he transgressed boundaries set by Him …

 

Wa aslaha: and reformed themselves with repentance (by returning towards Allah with sincerity) for the corruption that they have brought upon their own nafs (self) by disobeying Allah’s Orders.

 

Fa innallaha: Indeed, Allah is Al Musleh, The Reformer of all states of His Servant.

 

Yatubu alaihi: And Allah also turns towards Him and accepts his tauba, repentance, after giving him the ability for that repentance.

 

Innallaha: Without doubt, Allah is the One who is Al Muyassir, the One who gives ease in all matter for His Servants…

 

Ghafur an: He is the Forgiver of all their sins.

 

16. Repent and reform

 

‏إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ تَابُوا۟ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌ ‎

 

Except those who repent from after that, and reform[ed] themselves.

Then indeed, Allah (is) Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 3

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Illaladina taabu: Except for the ones who were repentant amongst them in this life.

 

Min ba’ada dalika: then after this, they who had turned away from the faith and become astray…

 

Waslahu: then reformed their state with repentance and sincerity of the heart, seeking forgiveness, expressing regret upon that which they did…

 

Fa Innallaha: Indeed, Allah is Al Muwwafiq, the One who gives the ability for the tauba,

 

Ghafur-an: concealing their crimes…

 

Rahim-an: Affectionate, letting go of their mistakes.

  

17. From Darkness into Light

 

‏ٱللَّهُ وَلِىُّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِ ۖ

 

Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believed.

He brings them out from the darkness towards the light.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 257

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Allahu: The One who is the Gatherer of All Attributes and All Names…

 

Walliulladina Aamino: He is the Friend of those who bring faith upon Him. He raises them, according to His Qualities and all that He encompasses (which is everything)…

 

Yukhrijjuhum min adulumaat: and brings them out of the darkness, which is the darkness of their nature and darkness of their doubts (of possibilities) and all other darkness…

 

Ilan Noor: towards the Light, crystal clear, His Pure One-ness, free of dust and all other associations.

 

18. The strategy of Satan is weak

 

إِنَّ كَيْدَ ٱلشَّيْطَنِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا

 

Indeed, the strategy of the Shaitaan is weak.

Surah An-Nisa’, Verse 76

 

Inna kayda Ash Shaitan: Indeed the plotting of Shaitan, as compared to the planning of Allah and His Response to his cunningness…

 

Kana daeefan: is insignificant and without influence.

  

The Delusion of the World

 

الدنيا ظل زائل

The world is a shadow, disappearing.

Maula e Kayinaat, Hazrat Ali (ratu)

 

19. It is all that it is

 

وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا مَتَعُ ٱلْغُرُورِ

But is not the life of the world anything except the enjoyment of delusion.

Surah Al-Hadeed, Verse 20

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Mal Hayatud duniya illa: In the eyes of those who are ahraar, free before their Lord, who are detached and not bound by their desire or will or need or anything else, who have reached the rank of ae’tabar, certainty and istibsaar, witnessing by the eye…

 

Illa Mata ul ghurror: according to these ahraar, the life in the world is an illusion that deludes and is false like a mirage. And the one who is caught in that deception and starts indulging in whatever is in the world, then indeed, he become deserving of destruction and ruin. And is rendered deprived of the Peace in Allah’s Closeness and the Tranquility of His Presence.

 

20. Wealth and children are trials

 

‏إِنَّمَآ أَمْوَلُكُمْ وَأَوْلَدُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌۭ ۚ

وَٱللَّهُ عِندَهُۥٓ أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌۭ ‎

 

Verily, your wealth and your children are a trial, and Allah - with Him is a reward great.

Surah At-Taghabun, Verse 15

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Innama amawalkum wa auladakum fitna: Without doubt, your wealth and your children are a trial great and an intense test for you. So it is incumbent upon you to not show-off because of them. For they are both a web of Satan’s party and ropes by which they (appear to) entangle you because the party of Satan and their ropes, (both of these), want to stop you from Allah’s Path by beautifying your wealth and children for you and making them beloved for your hearts so you become occupied by them both, so you are withdrawn from the company of the Mukhliseen, the sincere.

 

Wa Allahu inda hu ajrun azeem: Allah has the greatest reward for those who are sincere, who keep away from focusing on anything other than Him at all.

 

21. All is an adornment

 

إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ زِينَةً لَّهَا لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا

 

(Truly we have made all that is on Earth as an adornment for it)

that We may try them, as to which of them is best in their deed.

Surah Al-Kahf, Verse 7

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Inna ja’alne ma ala alardi: Without doubt We created upon this Earth three basic things; animals and humans, vegetation, and buried treasures. And Ee created whatever else comes from this Earth; different tastes and different lusts, which are physical or fantasy.

 

Zeenatal laha: These are adornments for it that make it (the world) beautiful and attractive…

 

Ayyuhum ahsan amlan: to see which of them (Mankind) has the best deeds and these deeds are the ones which are completed with true guidance and reflection by detachment from the world. And the absence of focus towards it and staying away from its enjoyment which is an illusion. And staying away from the distraction it creates and its lusts which bring with them all kinds of pain and difficulties and desires. It is these wishes which in turn cause different sins and crimes.

 

It is then imperative that in this world then one lives in a single room and wears a single outfit and eats simply, for everything else is just debris which is transient, which inherits sinfulness and trials.

 

22. Listen, obey, spend

 

‏فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا ٱسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَٱسْمَعُوا۟ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ وَأَنفِقُوا۟ خَيْرًۭا لِأَنفُسِكُمْ ۗ

وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِۦ فَأُو۟لَٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ ‎

 

So be mindful of Allah as much as you can and listen (to Him) and obey and spend,

it is better for your selves.

And whoever is saved from their own greed, those are the successful ones.

Surah At-Taghabun, Verse 16

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Fattaqu Allah ma astata’tum: So be conscious of Allah as much as you can and make Him your Protector for yourselves from the delusions Satan inserts and the trials that come due to him…

 

Wasma’u: and listen carefully the Words of Allah with the ears of surrender and acceptance…

 

Wa ati’u: and obey His Commands and stay away from what He forbids and don’t become disobedient from His Orders at all.

 

Wanfiqu: and spend from that which Allah has given you. Allah has made you His Vice-regent so obey His Order (to be obedient) and to seek His Pleasure and do all that He Commands, especially sacrifice and spending…

 

Khairallakum: is best for you, in this world and will be a treasure for you in the next life. And the greatest benefit of this spending is that it will save your nafs, self, from the dishonor and humiliation of miserliness.

 

Wa mayyuqa shu’ha nafsihi: And the one who was saved from stinginess of the nafs by giving and spending…

 

Fa ulaika: these are the ones who are fortunate and the ones who personify the attributes of large heartedness and generosity…

 

Hum ul muflihoon: and they are the ones who are rendered successful by Allah with great rewards and the highest ranks.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

23. The ones who spread vulgarity

 

‏إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَ أَن تَشِيعَ ٱلْفَحِشَةُ فِى ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۭ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْءَاخِرَةِ ۚ

 

Indeed, those who like that immorality should spread among those who believe, will have a punishment painful in the world and the Hereafter.

Surah An-Nur, Verse 19

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Then said Allah as a warning to all peoples;

 

Inna: Indeed the mufsideen, the ones who spread harm and those who transgress His Boundaries…

 

Alladina Yuhibbuna: they are the ones who love, from the wickedness of their inner beings (the batin)…

 

An Tasheeh’: and they exhibit and spread…

 

Al Fashiha: vulgarity that is considered ugly by the reflecting mind as well as the Sharia’ (Islamic Law)…

 

Filladina Amano: amongst those who have belief i.e. amongst the Mo’mineen.

 

Lahum: For them is the punishment for the publishing and distributing (of such material)…

 

Azabun Aleem: which is painful and scary…

 

Fi Duniya: in the world physically

 

Wal akhira: and in the Hereafter with flames of fire.

 

24. Man is a Transgressor

 

‏كَلَّآ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَنَ لَيَطْغَىٰٓ ‎

‏أَن رَّءَاهُ ٱسْتَغْنَىٰٓ ‎

 

Indeed, Man surely transgresses all bounds,

whenever he sees himself to be self-sufficient.

Surah Al-Alaq, Verse 6-7

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

And so Allah says admonishingly;

 

Kalla inna al insaana: Surely Man, who has been born from the lowest of the matter (smelly earth, sperm) and then given the highest ranks which reach the zenith of dignity and praise…

 

Layatgha: he transgresses all the limits set by Allah and assumes arrogance before Him, forgetting the original lowly materials of his creation.

 

Ar ra’ahu: For he thinks he is all in all, assuming that on his own…

 

Astaghna: he is self-sufficient and becomes careless about Allah and thinks that he needs nothing from Him. He becomes prideful with His Servants, and walks on this Earth arrogantly because of the debris which he has collected from this world and its transient attractions.

  

The End of Al-Araaf – from the Tafseer e Jilani

 

In those days, I was reading Surah Al-Araaf from the Tafseer e Jilani. Ghaus Pak (ra) starts and ends each Surah with an address. The first, the beginning, is for the ones Chosen by Allah, the extraordinary. The end is for the rest of us, the ordinary. When I reached it and read what Ghaus Pak (ra) said to me, the reader, I was struck by how it was always all about Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him);

 

“O one who turns their direction towards the Qibla of Ahmed (peace be upon him) and who intends to reach the destination of the One-ness of Allah through Muhammad (peace be upon him)! It is imperative for you to…

 

May Allah give you guidance towards the the Straight Path and enjoins you to the Station of Tauheed.

 

…turn your attention towards the states of your qalb, the seat of recognition of God, and remember what is in it from your Lord’s as gifts, through investigation and quest for these treasures, whilst avoiding that which places you in doubt from the dust of obscurity of others, so that you reach the standard of receiving admonition and trust.

 

That you do it in a way that the evil prompting of the plotter, Satan, does not come into your heart. Nor the betrayals of the world with their deceit and unfaithfulness. None of this will be achieved by you except with remembrance through Allah’s Book which has advice and information and history. So obey the commands it orders and forbids and reflect on its overt secrets and the unveiling of its wisdom and its hidden secrets.

 

It is incumbent upon you that if you want to receive true guidance from the Book, you have to enjoin yourself with the ahadith of Rasool Allah (peace be upon him). Because the ahadith are meant to explain it, reveal the secrets and signs in it, and make clear that which is ambiguous in it. The ahadith will give you the security you need to have true belief and secure you from slipping and turning away from guidance. It is the ahadith that which take you, according to your capacity, to the path of One-ness.”

 

25. The Guiding Friend

 

مَن يَهْدِ ٱللَّهُ فَهُوَ ٱلْمُهْتَدِ ۖ

وَمَن يُضْلِلْ فَلَن تَجِدَ لَهُۥ وَلِيًّا مُّرْشِدًا

 

Whoever guides Allah and he is the guided one,

and whoever He lets go astray then never you will find for him a protector,

or a guiding friend.

Surah Al-Kahf, Verse 17

 

I studied the verse form the tafseer of Ghaus Pak (ra) to see what he meant by “guiding friend.”

 

Waliyan: A friend, who helps him in his affairs by interceding for him, so that the friend can save him from the waywardness that is naturally present (in all people in the nafs). And he delivers him from the punitive consequences of what the nafs will bring upon him.

 

Murshid an: The friend is the one who shows him (the way of the Sharia’) and guides him (through the path of spirituality) towards the Straight Path.

 

Imam Maalik (ra) said;

 

من تفقه ولم يتصوف فقد تفسق

ومن تصوف ولم يتفقه فقد تزندق

ومن جمع بينهما فقد تحقق

The one who follows Fiqh, Islamic Jurisprudence, but does

not purify the heart,

so indeed he becomes a fasiq, defiantly disobedient.

 

The one who purifies the heart and ignores the laws of Jurisprudence,

he becomes a zindeeq, of the disbelievers.

 

And the one who gathers them both, indeed he attains

certainty and arrives at the truth.

 

As someone who tends to pay little attention to the Sharia, I was amazed; I could become a zindeeq, a heretic!

 

26. Those who are Mindful – the Muttaqi – are reminded

 

‏إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَوْا۟ إِذَا مَسَّهُمْ طَٓئِفٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلشَّيْطَنِ تَذَكَّرُوا۟ فَإِذَا هُم مُّبْصِرُونَ

 

Indeed, those who are mindful and conscious of Allah, when touches them an evil thought from the Shaitaan,

they remember Allah and then they are those who begin to see things clearly.

Surah Al-Araaf, Verse 201

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Then said Allah reminding His Beloved (peace be upon him);

 

Innalladina ittaqau: Those who are conscious and mindful of Me amongst My Servants, they are in a routine such that…

 

Ida massahum: whenever touches them and tries to overcome them…

 

Taifun: the sender from Satan who awaits and encircles their hearts…

 

Min Ash-Shaitan tadakkaru: they remind themselves of what they been commanded to do and what is forbidden for them from Allah…

 

Fa idahum: so in the same moment, due to the remembrance of what has been commanded and that which is forbidden…

 

Mubsiroon: they become able to differentiate the placement of the sins and therefore become careful of them and come into the Refuge of Allah from those things that put them into false illusions about Him.

 

27. When anger is stirred

 

وَإِمَّا يَنزَغَنَّكَ مِنَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ نَزْغٌ فَٱسْتَعِذْ بِٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ

 

If an evil suggestion come to you from Satan stirring you (to blind anger),

then seek refuge with Allah. Surely He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

Surah Al-A’raf, Verse 200

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa Imma Yanazaghannaka: So if reaches you whispers which then disappear, thus placing you in a state of disruption…

 

Min Shaitaan: it is from Shaitaan, who influences you physically through the organs which cause anger and stokes the ego in a way that is only ignorant creating a false sense of dignity…

 

Nazghun: causing doubts and delusions that persuade you to become angry and take you out of the state that you have been ordered to stay in, which is tolerance and softness of behaviour.

 

Fasta’iz billah: So come into the Refuge of Allah from these entrapments and return to Him from these doubts and this plotting. He is with His Glory Enough to protect you from his evil and treachery.

 

Inna hu: Indeed, Allah is Pure from everything that is negative…

 

Sami’un: and is the Acceptor of your prayers,

 

Aleem: and the Fulfiller of your needs.

 

Said Maula e Kayinaat, Hazrat Ali (ratu);

 

إِذَا قَدَرْتَ عَلَى عَدُوِّكَ

فَاجْعَلِ الْعَفْوَ عَنْهُ شُكْراً لِلْقُدْرَةِ عَلَيْهِ

 

Whenever you gain power over your adversary,

keep practicing forgiveness,

out of gratitude (to God), for the control you gained over them .

 

28. The Wickedness and Goodness in Us

 

‏وَنَفْسٍۢ وَمَا سَوَّىٰهَا ‎

 

Consider the human spirit and who perfected it.

Surah Ash Shams, Verse 7

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa nafsin: Allah takes an oath upon the spirit that receives nourishment from His Names and Attributes, which is revealed in all forms which are named (by Him). The spirit comes into the organs (in these bodies), both higher (the angels) and lower (Mankind) so that everything can gain benefit from the remembrance of their origin and their true purpose of existence.

 

Wa ma sawaaha: And He takes an oath on Himself who made this spirit, meaning He made it moderate and created it as a compound fitted with the influences of the higher (heavenly) and the lower (earthly) elements.

 

29-31: To succeed or fail

 

فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا

‏قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا ‎

‏وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّىٰهَا ‎

 

And He inspired it (to distinguish) its wickedness and its righteousness.

Indeed, he succeeds who purifies it,

And indeed, he fails who buries it (in darkness).

Surah Ash Shams, Verse 8-10

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Fa alhamaha fujuraha wa taqwaha: So He inspired it (the nafs) to both, wickedness and mindfulness, according to that which is placed in it from the forces of heavens as well as of the Earth. Then He burdened it according to what it can bear so that the one who is truthful can be differentiated from the one who is false, and the astray from the guided, and the denier of Truth from the believer, completing the wisdom, which is rooted in certainty, which reaches the Essence of Allah and which reflects the Dominance of His Power.

 

Qad aflaha man zakkaha: Indeed he was successful and prosperous due to the success He prospered by receiving from Allah the highest ranks…

 

Man zakkaha: the one who cleansed his nafs from the vileness of the world and from the possibilities of the demands of its desires and its lusts.

 

Wa qad khaba: And he was in a loss and ruined himself…

 

Man dassaha: the one who prevented the nafs from reaching its higher level (from Ammara, corrupt to Mutma’inna, content) and made it wayward. He did this by persuading it to be disobedient and sinful, which was done due to the demands of its base nature, its lustful desires and the wickedness of the world. This persuasion is what makes it deserving of different kinds of losses and deprivation and humiliation.

 

Maqam al Ummiya – The Station of being an Ummi

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

“Amongst the 124,000 Prophets and 313 Messengers, the maqam, station, of being Ummi is specific to only the Last Messenger (peace be upon him). Never before has the word been used previously for any Prophet or Messenger.

 

The Meaning of Ummi: The word Ummi is derived from the word umm which means origin or source or root. So Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) is Ummi because he is the origin of everything. For example, Mecca is called Umm ul Qura because it is the origin and first of the cities. The Quran is called Umm ul Kitab because it is the base and source of all the books.”

 

32. Those who deny the Afterlife

 

‏إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱلْءَاخِرَةِ زَيَّنَّا لَهُمْ أَعْمَلَهُمْ فَهُمْ يَعْمَهُونَ ‎

 

As for those who will not believe in the life to come – behold, We made their own doings appear goodly have unto them, and so they stumble blindly to and fro.

Surah An-Naml, Verse 4

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Then said Allah according to His Sunnah everlasting in His Book:

 

Innaladeena la yu’minoon: Those who do not affirm and testify that…

 

Bil akhirati: there is an Afterlife, out of pride and out of stubbornness…

 

Zayyana: We make good…

 

Lahum a’malahum: the ugly, the evil and the worldly acts for them and we give them time for a while, such that they become deserving of the worst punishment and the worst end.

 

Fahum: So these people because of Us giving them this time, they are intoxicated in their addictions and their waywardness…

 

Ya’mahoona: wandering in a state of bewilderment, proud, showing off of their luxurious lives and their blessings.

 

33. The Guided and the Astray

 

‏أَفَمَن زُيِّنَ لَهُۥ سُوٓءُ عَمَلِهِۦ فَرَءَاهُ حَسَنًۭاۖ

فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَآءُ وَيَهْدِى مَن يَشَآءُۖ

فَلَا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَتٍۚ

 

Is, then, he to whom the evil of how own doings so alluring that he regards it as good?

For verily, Allah lets him go astray who wills to go astray, just as he guides him that wills to be guided.

Hence, O Allah’s Habeeb (peace be upon you), don’t let your sorrow over them destroy you.

Surah Fatir, Verse 8

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

A faman zuyyana lahu soo’u amalihi faraahu hasanan: Does the human being think that Shaitaan, Satan, has made his sinful deeds for him attractive, when in fact they are entirely wrong. This happens because of his false beliefs and wicked thoughts, so how can he be like the one who is in fact good in his matters and his faith? Can it be that the two become equal and deserving of the same reward? Never ever!

 

Fa Innallaha: The One who possess all Honour (Al-Mutazziz), who has Supreme Authority and Majesty, who controls all He wants…

 

Yudillu: He makes (some) wayward from the Path of Tauheed, according to His Wrath and according to His Majesty…

 

Mayya sha’: those of His Creation who are disobedient, sinking them in waywardness and making them lost…

 

Wa yahdi maayya sha’: and He guides and gives guidance (to others), for indeed, this is what is asked for as help by them first of all. This (Decision) is a function only and only of Allah’s Will and His Choice. Nothing is allowed to interrupt that or become involved in it in any way whatsoever.

 

Fa la tadhab nafsuka: So don’t exhaust yourself, O Beloved (peace be upon him), and don’t be a cause of your own extreme anguish and torment…

 

Alaihim: over the ones who are astray, though you love for them guidance and wish it for them…

 

Hasaraat: feeling sad for them and sorry for them, pining over this wish of yours for them again and again feeling that sorrow for them, layering grief upon grief because of their waywardness and refusal to accept guidance.

 

Then in repeating the meaning again Ghaus Pak (ra) says for emphasis:

 

“For that person who thinks his sin is goodness and thinks the deed is good for his nafs and believes it to be correct, all the time being unaware that it is in fact falsehood. This is the reason he has turned from the Right Path, thus totally distancing himself from guidance.

 

And you, O Beloved Messenger (peace be upon him) who completes The Message, will you torture yourself over them in sorrow wondering all the whole; “Why don’t they accept guidance and why don’t they bring faith?” Indeed, Allah makes astray those He wishes to make astray and guides those He wishes to guide. So don’t feel badly for them.”

 

34. Allah has full knowledge

 

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ

 

Indeed, Allah has full knowledge of what they do.

Surah Fatir, Verse 8

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

In Allaha: No doubt, Allah is The One is watching all states…

Aleemun bima yasnaoon: And He knows everything that they do. He will give them the result of their evil and wrongful deeds, so don’t belabor yourself for them over that which they are missing in instruction and guidance.

 

35. The Reward of Amil Saleh – Good deeds

 

‏مَنْ عَمِلَ صَلِحًۭا مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌۭ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُۥ حَيَوٰةًۭ طَيِّبَةًۭ ۖ

وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ ‎

 

Whoever does righteous deeds whether male or female while he is a believer, then surely We will give him life, a good life,

and We will pay them their reward to the best of what they used to do.

Surah An-Nahl, Verse 97

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Man amila: The one amongst you who does deeds…

 

Salihan: the deeds that We accept and that make you accepted by Us…

 

Min zakiran: by the men amongst you…

 

Au unthawa: or the females, in the state that they are…

 

Huwa: during the performance of the deed…

 

Mo’min: (if they are) believers in the One-ness of Allah, testifying to His Books sent upon them and His Messengers, obedient to all that which The Last Messenger (peace be upon him) brings, wanting increase in their ranks from Ilm ul Yaqeen, Knowledge of the Truth, to Ayn ul Yaqeen, Witnessing of the Truth, towards Haq ul yaqeen the Truth of the Truth…

 

Falanuh ya yanna hu: We, Allah, surely give them life after the death of their worldly needs and lusts and when they withdraw and become detached from their animalistic instincts by their will and choice,

 

Hayatan tayyaba: We give them a pure life with actual purity which is eternal, without the stain of death (for it is everlasting) and loss, which is devoid of the ill of expiry and finality, which is cleansed of all grudges and ills (of the heart) which are connected to the overt life (in the world).

 

Wa lanajzeeyannahum ajrahum: and We will give them the reward of their deeds and their patience which they exercised against fulfilling the demands of their base self in their overt life…

 

Bi ahsana ma kanu yamuloon: with the best and most abundant of rewards for their deeds which they performed when they traveled towards Us, wanting of the union with Our Pure One-ness.

 

36. Each soul earns its doing

 

‏لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا ٱكْتَسَبَتْ ۗ

 

Allah does not burden Allah any soul with more than its capacity to bear.

For it is every good that it earned, and against is every evil it what it has incurred.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 286

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

La Yukallifullaha: The Allah who guides towards Him does not place any burden…

 

Nafsan illa Wusaha: upon any soul more than it can bear i.e. except that which it can bear, according to its capacity and strength and capability, which He set in His Ever-Present Knowledge for this purpose. So this makes clear…

 

Laha Ma Kasabat: that the soul will only be rewarded for its virtues and good deeds according to the capability of its nature.

 

Wa Aliyha Maktasabat: and it will be held accountable for that which it earns from its wrongful deeds, due to following the powers of the nafs, self, as much as follows it because it is the abode of all degeneration.

 

37. Allah is the Protector

 

وَٱللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ ۗ

 

And Allah will protect you from the people.

Surah Al Maidah – Verse 67

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wallahu: The One who safeguards every state of yours (O Beloved (peace be upon you))…

 

Ya’simuka: and protects you…

 

Min: from the harm of…

 

An-naas: people and that which they plot to kill you and hurt you. And Allah will defend you against the injuries they want to inflict upon you with His Power and His Majesty.

 

38. So be patient, O Beloved (peace be upon you), for you are in Our Eyes

 

وَٱصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا ۖ

 

So be patient with your Lord’s Judgement for you are, indeed, in Our Eyes.

Surah At-Tur, Verse 48

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wasbir: O Messenger who completes The Message (peace be upon him)!

 

Li Hukmi Rabbika: By the Order of your Lord, be patient with these people who are malevolent. Since He gave them time till the Day of Judgement and you will be amongst them, He gave you the strength to be steadfast on the different forms of vexation from the pain and difficulties they create in you. So don’t become hasty in inciting His Anger towards them so that He may destroy them and don’t fear their plotting and betrayal towards you.

 

Fa innaka: For indeed...

 

Bi A’yunina: You are in Our Special Safeguarding and Our Surrounding and Our Fortress. We are Enough for you and your grief and difficulty that comes because of others’ malice, We are Enough for you. And don’t pay any heed to them and don’t care about their wickedness and their deceit. And don’t move away from Us because of them and their enmity towards you.

 

39. What is a spouse for Ghaus Pak (ra)?

 

قُلْ أَؤُنَبِّئُكُم بِخَيْرٍ مِّن ذَٰلِكُمْ ۚ

لِلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَوْا۟ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّـٰتٌ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا وَأَزْوَٰجٌ مُّطَهَّرَةٌ وَرِضْوَٰنٌ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ

وَٱللَّهُ بَصِيرٌۢ بِٱلْعِبَادِ

 

Say, O Prophet (peace be upon you), “Shall I inform you of what is better than all of this?

(‘This” being he enjoyment of ˹worldly˺ desires—women, children,1 treasures of gold and silver, fine horses, cattle, and fertile land.)

Those mindful ˹of Allah˺ will have Gardens with their Lord under which rivers flow, to stay there forever, and pure spouses, along with Allah’s pleasure.”

And Allah is All-Seeing of ˹His˺ servants,

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 15

 

As a single person I looked up the word azwaaj specifically. I knew Ghaus Pak’s (ra) tafseer of the word would have something for me as well.

 

Wa azwaaj: Deeds and states

 

Verses 40-55 continued on flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/51684479886/in/dateposted-...

 

Continued from Part I of The Upside of Humiliation: www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52272860962/in/datepos...

 

From a lecture on his person: “The grief of the event, his witnessing of it, never left him for a single second his entire life. Not for an instant. So let’s look at grief for a moment. What is it? It is an emotional and psychological experience that we undergo after some loss. It applies to all kinds of losses. But then there is a term bereavement. Which is a specific type of grief. It is what you undergo when you lose a loved one.

 

We will still use the word grief for the purpose of this lecture. Grief is an individualized process. You cannot generalize it. Everybody’s reaction and endurance of it is unique. There can be no time limit set for how long it should be felt. The stages defined by psychology in the West are denial, anger, bargaining (with God), depression, and finally acceptance.

 

There are two kinds of grief, acute and prolonged. Acute is a shock, the pain is sharp but transient. The Sufis call it a meaning making tone. When you start making sense of things. Prolonged grief is an emotional crisis, almost like a paralysis.

It’s a numbness, a social withdrawal, total pain. It causes dysfunctionality. Grief has four components; separation distress, traumatic distress, guilt and remorse and social withdrawal.

 

But Hazrat Zain ul Abideen’s (as), the unmatched social reformer of his time, a political reformer, his reaction and way of dealing with pain, for him the answer lay in three verses in the Quran. For what someone might face as a test once in a while over a lifetime, he underwent it all in nine days.

 

‏وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّبِرِينَ ‎

 

And surely We will test you with something of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good news to the patient ones.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 155

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa lunabluwannakum: And We test them, Allah takes an oath on Himself, We will test you and we will place you in a trial, testing your steadfastness and your reach in Allah’s Tauheed, His One-ness…

 

Bi shayin: just a little, which will tell of most of it (your steadfastness) and the duality (of your reach in Tauheed)…

 

Min al khauf: from something of fear that comes from things that you hate that are external for e.g. fire, drowning, an enemy etc…

 

Wal joou’: and from something that comes from the things that you despise that are internal like greed and (excessive) hopes and miserliness and such…

 

Wa naqsim minal amwaal: and a little bit of loss of possessions which make your hearts incline towards them naturally…

 

Wal anfus: and a little bit of loss of something that belongs to your self which make you feel strength and pride because of them, from your children and your siblings and your relatives and your clan…

 

Was samaraat: and something of fruits, which are dependent on possessions and children, which grant honour and your showing off of your domination upon the enemy.

 

Wa bashirr: And give them glad tidings, O Akmal Ar Rasool, The Messenger who perfects The Messengers (peace be upon him and his family)…

 

As Saabireen: the patient ones among the ones who are certain in Tauheed and they…

 

‏ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَآ أَصَبَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌۭ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّآ إِلَيْهِ رَجِعُونَ ‎

 

Those who, when strikes them a misfortune, they say, "Indeed, we belong to Allah and indeed we towards Him will return."

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 156

 

Alladina ida asabathum museebatun qalu: are the ones who when affliction touches them, they say with collective union in their tongue…

 

Inna: Indeed, We are a shadow…

 

Lillah: of Allah Al Wahid, The One One, Al Ahad, The One and Only, Al Mutajjali, The One who reveals and unveils with His Perfect Names and His Exalted Attributes in this world…

 

Wa inna: and indeed we are, after our returning in the Afterworld…

 

Ilayhi: towards Him and not towards anyone other than Him from the shadows (of association)…

 

Raji’oon: the ones returning, the ones who make the returning of the shadow towards The One who created the shadows.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

‏أُو۟لَٓئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَتٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌۭ ۖ وَأُو۟لَٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُهْتَدُونَ ‎

 

Those are the ones, on them are blessings from their Lord and Mercy.

And those are the guided ones.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 157

 

Ulaika: They are the ones, happy, steadfast in the place of Tauheed, who are cleansed from the imprisonment of time and space, being and not being.

 

Alaihim: Upon them, not upon other than them from the people of ranks, is…

 

Salawaat: His Inclination and His Focus, which rise from the Ocean of His Essence, flowing from the streams of Attributes and Names towards the Cosmos of Appearance to grow Divine Recognition and Truth which make one reach towards the Giver of the Eternal Blessings and towards an enjoyment that lasts forever, pouring upon them forever…

 

Mir Rabbihim: from their Lord who brought them to the Place of Honour…

 

Wa rahmatun: and Mercy which covers them, and no one other than them, in abundance.

 

Wa ulaika: And they are the Al Wasiloon, the one who reach..

Hum ul muhtadoon: as the guided ones towards the True Origin and the True Abode.

 

I was left speechless.

 

There was an incident in the lecture about Imam Zain ul Abideen’s (as) blessed person which created a reflection. As if I could see the verses through his being. At one point the Imam (as) was imprisoned by his arch enemy Marwan. Zuhri, the Supreme Justice of the court of the time went to see him. Seeing his condition, shackled in chains, hardly any food and water, he fell on his feet and crying, expressed how something like this could happen to one of the sons of the one who brought the faith to this world.

 

Imam Zain ul Abideen (as) only said this: “It is enough for make me feel proud that in Karbala my father was beheaded and left without a burial, without even clothes, his body trampled by horses. It is enough to make me feel proud that my aunt and my sisters were made to sit bareback on camels for a thousand miles without a veil, when no one even set eyes on their shadow before and I was dragged behind them in markets through cities.”

 

It was the word he used in Arabic, fakhar, that I knew. It exists in Urdu but I still had to look it up to make sure I was translating it right: something that makes you proud!

 

And I thought about what Allah Subhanahu had said to Hazrat Bayazid Bastami (ra) when the means to gain what he had been told: his ilm, knowledge, his taqwa, restraint, piety and mindfulness, and his sakhawat, generosity had not granted him his heart’s only desire, Nearness, closeness, qurb!

 

“Bayazid, Come to me by way of that which I am not,” Allah Subhanahu had said.

 

“But what is it that you are possibly not?” The saint had asked, baffled.

 

He received the answer, “Humility and humiliation.”

 

Everything the Imam (as) was describing sounded like nothing but the purest and deepest humiliation a human being could possibly experience. Yet he was proud of it. I wondered, just like the martyr sees Allah in his final moment of life in this world, hence his title shaheed, the witness, was the Imam (as) and his blessed family seeing Allah Al Baseer, The Seeing One, throughout the time of their pain? Like their father, Imam Ali (as) who never prayed a sala’t where he didn’t see his Lord?

 

Perhaps that was why even in those 10 days of Karbala, never did any person of the household of Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family) miss a single raka’t of the 1,000 they prayed every single night. When I, if I haven’t eaten properly the night before, find myself tired and making excuses to shorten my dawn prayers, which are hardly of length to begin with.

 

Imam Zain ul Abideen (as) said to Zuhri, “You believe me to be helpless?”

 

He looked down and Zuhri narrates, ‘I looked at the Imam’s (as) hands and the shackles were broken and he said to me, Put them back on again.’

 

Zuhri said I placed the chains around his wrist and asked,

 

“What was that Ya Imam (as)?”

 

He replied, “This is surrender to the Pleasure of your Lord God. We only do that which is His Pleasure and nothing else.”

 

Was it any wonder they were the ones Chosen Ones whose capacity was deeper than oceans?

 

يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ ۗ

 

He chooses for His Mercy whom He wills.

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 74

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Yakhtassu bi rahmatihi: He chooses for His Mercy, a Mercy Expansive, All Encompassing, a Mercy which is a collection of Excellence and Perfection…

 

Mayya sha’u: whom He wills from His Chosen Worshippers, honoring them with His Bounty from Himself, according to their capacity, whose (that Mercy’s) depth cannot be known and its boundary cannot be estimated.

 

I realized then that my humiliation, it could never make me feel fakhar. It was a courtesy of my nafs. I chose it every time. Almost always, it misguided me by making me believe I was softer and kinder than others, hiding from me all the while that it was just proud. It thought in secret for me to only discover later, I was imagining I was better than the other. Like Iblis!

 

I ticked all the boxes of transgressors; wicked, disobedient, hypocritical, angry, ruled by my tabyat, impatient. The only thing I had going for me was that I always felt deep regret. I instantly apologized. I yearned to be forgiven so repentance poured forth from me.

 

The lecture on Muharram continued: “Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family) said that in the first instance of the difficulty, patience must be exercised. Not hours or days later. Not thinking one needed time to “process.” In the first instant. Meaning what? That the family of the Prophet (peace be upon him and them) understand that every relationship is through and from Allah alone. It is never yours to lose. Nothing is yours. It all belongs to only Him.”

 

When I had first started feeling confused about the coldness of the behaviour of someone who seemed to be walking on air days ago around me, it was Qari Sahib who happened to say something in a class that made my heart calm.

 

“Before you rely on someone,” he was quoting Ghaus Pak (ra), “Kissi pe bharosa karne se pehle uss se dosti karo. (Before you rely on someone, make sure they are your friend!) And how do you know anyone for sure? Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family) says through three things; either live next to them as their neighbor so you know how their days and nights are timed, travel with them so their character is revealed or engage in business with them to see their morals.”

 

The verse from my last video appeared before my eyes: it was always easy to rely on God. He had already said He was my Friend. And His Beloved (peace be upon him and his family).

And Imam Ali (as) for whom specifically, the verse descended.

 

‏إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَهُمْ رَكِعُونَ ‎

 

Your only Friend is Allah and His Messenger, and those who believe,

and those who establish prayer and give zakat and they are those who bow down in prayer.

Surah Al Maida’, Verse 55

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Inna walliyyukum Allah: Indeed, Allah is your Friend, The One who is in charge of your matters as related to all kinds of ordinary love…

 

Wa Rasooluhu: and so is His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family), who is His Vice-regent second to Him, also in charge…

 

Walladina aamino: and those who brought faith in Allah with a special love (extraordinary) because of their following the Prophet (peace be upon him) and they…

 

Alladina yuqeemoona: are the one who are forever…

As salat: in prayer that brings one close to Allah’s Essence…

 

And yu’toona az zakata: and they give charity which cleanses their batin, inner being, from focus on anything other than Allah…

 

Wa: in the state of…

 

Hum rak’ioon: bowing in their prayer.

 

Huzoor Ghaus Pak (ra) says the verse is revealed for Maula Ali (may Allah gives honour to his countenance), when a beggar asked him (for alms) while he was in ruku’, bowing in prayer, and he loosened his ring so that it dropped (for him to take).

No wonder all my friendships fizzled into thin air one by one. How else was I going to learn that Innama, only three were my friends!

 

At first when I started to apply the rule of Wahjurhum hajran jameela, my nafs only brought me further humiliation in every encounter. The rule had been given. The key word was “avoid” and then it appeared again, “with gracious avoidance.” My nafs decide to ignore exactly that word. It would say to me on random days, “Well if we’re having a lunch and inviting four people, can’t we invite a fifth?”

 

It would sound reasonable enough so I would. Then would come the slap of humiliation from the other end. On another day it would say, “If we’re going to the same place an hour away, might as well driver together.” I would agree and a harder slap would come. “We’re in the area,” it would suggest, “let’s stop by and say hi.” And the humiliation would further intensify.

 

Until I understood why only because of the kindness of my guide who guides all guides!

 

In those days, one night I would read Al Fath Ar Rabbani and in it Ghaus Pak (ra) would say: Knowledge without the application of deed will only take you back to creation again and again.

 

Basically towards humiliation instead of towards dignity.

I realized what I was doing or rather was made to realize it because I was constantly reiterating the verse of avoidance in the lectures with the kids. I would circle back to it all the time. But I was tweaking the rule. Hence, the rest of its application was rendering it void. It wasn’t even that it was without result. It was having the exact opposite effect. Instead of bringing me into safety, my nafs was forcing me into harm.

 

So I reminded myself:

 

Wahjurjum: leave them and turn your attention away from them…

 

Hajran jameela: with beautiful avoidance, smiling, cheerfully,

without inclining towards their false delerium (confusion and reduced awareness)

and without consideration for them or looking after them

and without speaking to them

and with tawakkul, reliance upon Allah and entrust the matter of avenging them to Him. For indeed, He is Enough for you regarding their supply of misdeeds and ridicule.

 

It took me two weeks to apply the rule correctly. For 14 days I burned in the hell of my own creation. But each time I brought the blame upon myself because of another verse that lives with me every single day of my life to the point that I memorized it to utter in the prostrations of my namaz:

 

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآءُوكَ فَٱسْتَغْفَرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ

وَٱسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا

 

And if they, when they wronged themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah,

and the Messenger (peace be upon him) asked forgiveness for them,

surely, they would have found Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Surah An-Nisa’, Verse 64

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa lau annahum: And if they, without doubt, due to the intensity of their ghaflat, forgetfulness and hypocrisy…

 

Id zalamu anfusahum: that which befalls you of affliction, (which is) harmful, not submitting to you (O Beloved)…

 

Jaa’uka: they must come to you as the ones who repent, the one who are apologetic because of that which happened from them…

 

Fastaghfarullah: then they ask for forgiveness from Allah (being) sincere and regretful…

 

Wastaghfara lahum Ar Rasoolu: and The Messenger (peace be upon him) also asks for forgiveness for them through intercession and praying before Allah, asking for the acceptance (of the person by Him) after they have come as the ones who are apologetic…

 

Lawajadullaha: surely, they will find Allah (to be) and they will testify to Him being the One who grants Bounty and Mercy…

 

Tawwaban: (and find Allah to be) The One who accepts their repentance…

 

Raheeman: The One who is Merciful to them and grants them ability to do this (go the The Messenger (peace be upon him).

I was ghafil, forgetful, (of the rule). I was a hypocrite. I had lied to my nafs so I trained it to lie to me. Except now when it spoke I believed it and those lies only harmed me. I believed them just like once it believed me.

 

Sigh!

 

I had quoted the above verse on forgiveness countless times. But this time different words were hitting me like arrows as I read it in repetition:

 

My affliction came upon me from my own self because I didn’t submit, not to Allah Subhanahu, but His Beloved (peace be upon him and his family).

 

When I appeared before him then, tired, sad, needing release from what I had done which had imprisoned me, I needed to be

1.apologetic

2.regretful

3.repentant

4.sincere

5.then again feeling regret

6.then again being apologetic

 

A common friend had asked me when I finally started refusing invites, “Will you not ever meet again?”

 

“No,” I said, “We might. But I’m not thinking about it.”

 

I knew I would never take any steps to initiate contact. My friend became silent. She asked if I needed an apology for a shift to happen, hinting that it seemed unlikely. I smiled.

 

“I’ve had this experience many times before,” I said, “I hold no grudge. You will only find me smiling and cheerful,” I laughed, feeling again that pang of gratitude that I did not have to act cold. My heart still liked them. I did not need to distress it with a false sense of dignity.

 

Pir Naseeruddin Naseer (ra) says the person who does something wrong and does not apologize or express regret, their heart is sealed. Since it is the exercise of a choice, the person, perhaps unconsciously, becomes defiant. Disobedient. The Quran defines such a person as a fajir and Maula e Kayinaat (as) said to his son just before his passing;

 

و ایاک و مصادقۃ الفاجر فانہ یبیعک بالتاقۃ

 

And avoid the Fajir, the one who is defiant about his disobedience and insistent upon it,

for, without doubt, he will sell you for nothing.

 

The elusive “sell me for nothing” line was now crystal clear. Anyone entirely governed by their tabyat, acquired nature, was in a constant state of fear or sadness. Whereas the Friends of God never felt either because they controlled their tabyat while we were controlled by ours.

 

أَلَآ إِنَّ أَوْلِيَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

 

Verily, the Friends of Allah, there will be no fear upon them and not they will grieve.

Surah Yunus, Verse 62

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Ala Inna auliya Allah e: Al Munkhalaeena, the ones who are detached from the demands of being human in total, Al Munsalekheena, the one who are far from the requirements of desires of their selves in totality...

 

La khauf-un alayhim wa la hum yahzanoon: there is no fear upon them nor do they feel grief because fear and sadness, they only come from the effects of the tabyat, (the secondary nature that is acquired from outside), and the pursuit of that which fulfills it.

 

Not to mention the layer of forgetfulness, likely the top layer of the tabyat. My being existent or non-existent for them, it was the same.

 

And suddenly I was free! Not from one relationship or two but all that held no sincerity towards me. Smiling and cheerful!

 

And of all things I was the one in a place, courtesy of the hadith of my Nabi, who is Rauf and Rahim (peace be upon him and his family), where I might be rendered love from my Lord for executing a command perfectly.

 

إنَّ اللهَ تعالى يُحِبُّ إذا عمِلَ أحدُكمْ عملًا أنْ يُتقِنَهُ

 

Indeed, Allah The Exalted One loves when one of you does a deed exactly as it should be done.

 

The hadith brought home the point of the verse that when every single person was in the same boat of khusr – loss. The only possibility of separation from that state, any distinction, was a deed, salih, good.

 

‏وَٱلْعَصْرِ

إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ

‏ ‎ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ

‏

(Allah takes an oath) upon time,

that the human being is surely in a state of loss,

except those who believe and do righteous deeds…

Surah Al-Asr, Verses 1-3

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wal Asr: Then Allah Suban Ta’ala takes an oath upon time and the ages, the meaning of which is about the Eternal Essence of Allah, from the beginning till the end, Timeless and Everlasting.

 

Innal Insaana: Indeed, the human being, created such to have a natural propensity towards the nature of ma’rifa, the Recognition of God and imaan, faith according to his share of the Lahoot, the Realm of the Divine, where there is no time and space…

 

Lafe khusr: is in a state of loss, immense and humiliating failure, as a result of their busyness in that which is useless due to the requirements (and needs) of his physical being, as related to his share of the world of Nasoot, the life in this world.

 

Illa: Except the Muqinoon, those who possess inner certainty…

 

Alladina Aamino: about the One-ness of Allah Subhan Ta’ala and are conscious, through their steadfastness, in their behaviour continuously in His Kingdom and about His Authority.

 

Wa: And with this faith and certainty…

 

Amilos Sualihaat: they do good deeds which points towards their ikhas, sincerity and their yaqeen, absolute conviction, and niyyat, intention.

 

“When someone makes a particular action beautiful, Allah falls in love with that person,” a friend who is a scholar told me. “But the problem lies in us humans defining beauty itself. As long as my fitrat, the core being of a human being as created by Allah remains saleem, pure, then I will have a proper consciousness of beauty. I will call a beautiful thing beautiful and an ugly thing ugly.

 

But if my nature gets corrupted, then things become the opposite. If my tabyat, which is acquired by my habits and environment, overpowers the fitrat, ugly things become beautiful for me and beautiful things become ugly. What is beautiful loses its worth. That is the problem with the corruption of the soul. That is why one of the meanings of Islam is keeping the fitrat safe. That is why in the Hereafter Allah says what will save you is your qalb, your heart within the heart which recognizes Him, if it is saleem.”

 

I looked up the verse he quoted:

 

‏إِذْ جَآءَ رَبَّهُۥ بِقَلْبٍۢ سَلِيمٍ ‎

 

Remember when he came to his Lord with a pure heart.

Surah As Saffat, Verse 84

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Remember, O Messenger who completes the Messengers (peace be upon you and your family), the time when…

Id ja’a Rabbuhu biqalbin saleem: when he, the Prophet Ibrahim (as), came to his Lord with a heart perfect, intact from all of the inclinations false and opinions untrue.

In another lecture I came upon the most interesting definition of freedom from within my faith, of being free as a human being.

 

“What is freedom?” the scholar asked his audience. “The first question one has to ask is freedom for what and freedom from what. If you cannot answer these questions, you don’t understand what freedom is.

 

Freedom is defined as removing the obstacles from my path of prosperity and evolving. But removing others from my path of freedom is easy. The problem arises when I am the block in my own path of freedom. That is the challenge. What if I am the hurdle in my spiritual or socio-economic or moral progress.

 

The Quran addresses both social freedom and individual freedom through the context of sending Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family).”

 

The he quoted the verse:

 

لَقَدْ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًۭا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ

يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَتِهِۦ

وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ

وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَبَ

وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ

وَإِن كَانُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ لَفِى ضَلَلٍۢ مُّبِينٍ ‎

 

Indeed, Allah has bestowed a favour upon the believers, when he raised in their midst an apostle from among themselves,

to convey His Messages unto them,

and to cause them to grow in purity,

and to impart unto them the Divine Writ as well as wisdom,

where as before that they were, indeed, most obviously, lost in error.

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 164

 

I had translated its tafseer so I went back to it.

 

Laqad Mannallahu: By the Name of Allah, He bestowed a great Favour…

 

Ala al Mo’mineen: upon the ones who are sincere…

 

Id ba’atha fi-him: when he raised him, the Prophet (peace be upon him)), from amongst them for their guidance…

 

Rasool an: as a Messenger to be their Murshid, guide, who was brought up…

 

Min Anfusihim: in them to guide them with different types of guidance.

 

Yatlu alihim: First of all, he recites to them (the Quran) and makes them listen…

 

Ayati hi: to Allah’s Verses, which indicate towards the One-ness of His Essence.

 

Wa Yuzzakihim: Secondly, he purifies them from the evils whisperings of Satan and those desires that lead one astray from the Path of Allah’s One-ness.

 

Wa Yuallimuhim: And thirdly, he teaches them…

 

Al Kitab: the Book, which explains and clarifies to them the means to cleanse the overt, the zahir, as well as everything which is related to the apparent world.

 

Wa: Then fourthly he teaches them…

 

Al hikmat; the wisdom that purifies their inner being, the batin, from the inclination towards anything other than Allah, (both people and things), and which connects them to Sidrat al Muntaha, the Lote Tree, near which is Jannat ul Mawa, Heaven.

 

Wa in Kanu Min Qablu: And they were before the unveiling of these four stations…

 

Lafi Dalalin Mubeen: in clear waywardness and severe humiliation.

 

At the end then Ghaus Pak (ra) prays: “Ya Allah! By Your Bounty, save us from the sleep of those who are heedless.

I re-read each word carefully. Through the perfect being of Ajmal Ar Rusul alone, the most beautiful Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) because he is the noor who brings, reveals, unveils and clarifies it, the Book cleanses the overt. Through the wisdom he alone teaches, the inner is purified.

 

But before both he does the tazkiya, the purification of thought.

 

As Qari Sahib says, “For purity to enter, the vessel must be pure!”

 

I counted the number of times the verb hada’, to guide, appeared in the verse. Only through his guidance, seeking it, staying in it, came the safety from the whisperings of Satan and one’s own desires, unending and dictated by the nafs.

In another verse, I saw an additional meaning of what malice in the breast is: selfishness, duality.

 

I was noticing how Mankind was entirely blanketed in self-centeredness courtesy of the addiction to technology. For the first consequence of any addiction, be it sick love, eating, watching tv or holding a phone 24/7, is selfishness. The second cause of wickedness of the heart, was duality. Which Ghaus Pak (ra) defined as hopes and expectations associated with others.

 

وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِى صُدُورِهِم مِّنْ غِلٍّ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمُ ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ ۖ

وَقَالُوا۟ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى هَدَىٰنَا لِهَـٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِنَهْتَدِىَ لَوْلَآ أَنْ هَدَىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ ۖ

 

And We will remove whatever is in their breasts of malice.

Flows from underneath them the rivers.

And they will say, "All the praise (is) for Allah, the One Who guided us to this, and we were not to receive guidance if not (had) guided us Allah. Certainly, came Messengers of our Lord with the truth."

Surah Al-Araaf, Verse 43

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa: After they have entered the Heaven of Tauheed, One-ness…

 

Naza’na ma fi sudoorihim min ghill-in: after We erased from their breasts, duality and selfishness

 

Tajri min tahtihal anhaar: (the Heaven) under which flow rivers of Ma’rifat, Knowledge of God and Haqaiq, Realities of the Essence of God, sprouting from the Ocean of the His One-ness.

 

Wa: After their unveiling due the dissolving of their identity and they triumph in the Everlasting Existence of Allah…

 

Qaalu: they said, with the capability of their tongues as inspired by Allah, that they may become steadfast on gratitude…

 

Alhamdo: praise and admiration that rises from tasleem o raza, surrender and acceptance…

 

Lillah alladi hada-na li hada: for The One who made us reach the status of contentedness and the Place of the Honour of meeting Him…

 

Wa ma kunna li nahtadiya: Which we would not have reached if we had stayed in the company of our desires and the darkness of our selves…

 

Lau la an hada-na: were it not for his Lutf, Kindness and Endless Generosity and Vast Mercy.

 

I memorized the second verse instantly to utter in my prostrations.

 

The lecture continued: “The Rasool (peace be upon him and his family) has been sent to cleanse your overt and inner beings. So in fact he has been sent to free you from your own self that shackles you.”

 

I went back to my notes from my lecture for the kids and looked up the list of what emanates from my self to remember exactly the definition of those “shackles:”

 

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِۦ نَفْسُهُۥ ۖ

 

And certainly We created man and We know what his self whispers to him.

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa: And We…

 

Na’alamu: We know him from that point…

 

Ma tuwaswisu: (as to) what whispers and makes up a rambling story…

 

Bihi nafsohu: from his own self and sways his heart (from that point) until now from

1.those kinds of delusions and false imaginings

2.and those things that descend upon him as animalistic desires

3.and those thoughts that are imprisoned by the chains of rituals

4.and shackles of inherent habits that are inherited

5.as a result of useless ponderings which are mixed with unthinking paranoia.

 

I began to look up the verses the scholar had quoted to emphasize that there was only one original source of tazkiya, purification. There was only one human being that Allah Subhanahu had chosen, appointed, named in all His Other Books and announced that he in turn, determined and then commanded, solely, what was intrinsically beneficial and what caused harm for the self.

 

The lecture continued: “Ma’roof is that which my fitrat knows and recognizes as good and munkir is that which my iftrat knows is sinful and wrong. So the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) does not command anything that the fitrat dislikes and only commands that which it already knows as good.

 

For the Quran repeatedly uses the words “transgression of boundaries” in the context of the injustice we do to our own selves. Not the injustice we perpetrate on others. Not the injustice others impose on us. The focus is always brought to one’s own nafs al Ammara. Similarly he only forbids that which the fitrat already knows is harmful for it. Nothing else! There is no conflict in his instruction and order for the soul.”

 

Then he quoted the verse which I translated with Qari Sahib:

 

ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ ٱلرَّسُولَ ٱلنَّبِىَّ ٱلْأُمِّىَّ

ٱلَّذِى يَجِدُونَهُۥ مَكْتُوبًا عِندَهُمْ فِى ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ وَٱلْإِنجِيلِ يَأْمُرُهُم بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ

وَيَنْهَىٰهُمْ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ ٱلطَّيِّبَـٰتِ

وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْخَبَـٰٓئِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَٱلْأَغْلَـٰلَ ٱلَّتِى كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ

فَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِهِۦ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ وَٱتَّبَعُوا۟ ٱلنُّورَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ مَعَهُۥٓ ۙ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ

 

Those who follow the Messenger, the Ummiyy Prophet (peace be upon him) whom they find written with them in the Torah and the Injīl ,

and who bids them what is fair and forbids what is unfair,

and makes lawful for them good things,

and makes unlawful for them impure things,

and relieves them of their burden, and of the shackles that were upon them.

So, those who believe in him and support him, and help him and follow the light sent down with him, - those are the ones who are successful.

Surah Al Ara-af, Verse 157

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wahum: And they are…

 

Alladina yatti’buna As Rasool: the ones who follow the Messenger (peace be upon him), the one who was sent with the Essence of One-ness (Al Mursil bi Tauheed)…

 

An Nabiyya: the Prophet, Al Mutammim li mukarim il akhlaq, the one who was sent to complete the nobleness of manners (upon Allah’s Akhlaq, His Attributes)…

 

Al Ummiya: the one who is Al Muttahaqiq, the one who was made inevitable, Al Makhsoos, the one who was made uniquely special with Ilm il Luduni, the Divine Knowledge, which was taught to him from his Lord without acquisition (from other means), without effort, without any formal training from any teacher, and he is…

 

Alladi yajidoonahu: who they find in all of the books of the faiths…

 

Maktooban: written about in those books, about his being sent and his religion and his name and his appearance and all of his attributes…

 

Ayndahum fi Torat wal Ineel: in the Torat and in the Injeel, Bible, that when he will announce his Prophet-hood…

 

Ya’monohum bil ma’roof and yanhahum ayn al munkir ya

yahillu lahum tayyebaat: who bids them what is fair and forbids what is unfair, and makes lawful for them the good things, which they forbid upon their own selves…

 

Wa yuharrimu alaihum al khabais: and makes unlawful for them impure things, which they made lawful for themselves…

Wa aidan: And also…

 

Yada’u anhum israhum: relieves them of their loads i.e. the burdens which they carry by leaving the world and detaching from it, which was more than their strength to bear, just like they cut their bodily parts by which they sinned and just like they cut the cloth they wore if it became soiled and other than this…

 

Wa; he also made them free…

 

Al aghlaal: of their shackles i.e. the painful difficulties…

 

Allati kanat alaihim falladina aamino bihi: which came upon them. So those who believed in him, (the Messenger peace be upon him), when he was sent and gave his invitation (towards the One-ness of Allah)…

 

Wa azzaruhu: and they honoured him in the way that he was deserving of honour and glorification…

 

Wa nasaruhu: and they helped him, supporting him in his religion…

 

Wstaba’u an Noor: and they followed The Light, which is the Quran…

 

Alladi unzila ma’hu: which is sent with him from Allah to help him and to testify…

 

Ulaika: these are the ones who are the fortunate and radiant and accepted by Allah. They are the Al Muwwafiqoon, the ones given the ability to follow him.

 

Humul muflihoon: It is they who are the successful ones i.e. Al Muqassaroon, the ones who are confined by Him in success and triumph with victory.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

It was exactly what the scholar said. There was no conflict in what he ordered and what was intrinsically a source of ease. The hurdle was indeed one’s own self every single time that pulled on in the opposite direction of what was naturally good for it. In the form of hesitation, reluctance, delay, refusal, denial!

 

The lecture continued: “Imam Ali (as) says it most beautifully in the exact opposite manner of the mantra of the West which is ‘We are all born free.’ Because Islam gives one the right of social and individual freedom like nothing else for it is a freedom given by God Himself.

 

لا تكُن عبدا لغيرك، وقد خلقك الله حُرًا

 

Don’t be a slave to any other because indeed, Allah Subhanahu, has created you free.

 

Those who themselves are as individuals enslaved by their nafs, they are the ones who try to enslave others as well. Only the likes those who are free, like Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family), free others. Like Hazrat Bilal (ratu), Hazrat Anas (ratu), you, me. If I am free from my nafs I want everybody to be free. And if I am enslaved by it, I want everybody to be enslaved by it as well. And then become enslaved to me.”

 

I realized that once I decided I would adhere to a rule, my nafs surrendered itself never because of my own “determination.” I had written once before, because I learnt it from Maulana Rum (ra), that the nafs holds the aql prisoner. Reflection, consideration, they’re all impossibilities because the nafs does not bow to that which it imprisons. On top of it the ghaflat, perpetual state of forgetfulness, allows for a permanence of the dire state.

 

Masnavi Shareef: “Your nafs has made itself your lord and master. The one who slaughters it is your aql, the power to reflect. But it becomes hostage to the ego and prays for blessings from the Divine without struggling for them. But the price of receiving that blessing without trial is the killing of the ego, for it is the root of all wrongdoing. And that is impossible without a guide.”

 

رزق جانی کے بری با سعی و جست

جز با عدل شیخ کو داؤد تست

 

How can you ever gain blessings from your own struggles and endeavours?

Without the assistance of the Spiritual Master who intervenes for you like Hazrat Dawood (as)?

 

نفس چوں با شیخ بیندگام تو

از بن دندان شود او رام تو

 

When your nafs, your ego, sees you in the footsteps of your guide, it will have no choice but to become obedient to you.

 

عقل گایے غالب آید در شکار

بر سگ نفست کہ باشد شیخ یار

 

The aql, your powers to reflect, will only conquer the enemy, your ego, in this battle

when you are accompanied by your Sheikh.

 

My nafs allowed me to follow the rule of the verse of avoidance only because of the attention of someone upon me. A Master, A Master of Masters. A Master of the Universe!

 

As I wrote the piece and translated from the Arabic word by word the exegesis of the verses, I started honing in on Allah’s Names and Attributes to deepen my understanding of them. So that when my heart uttered them in my namaz, my qalb felt something. That Station of Ma’rifat, Recognition of The Divine, if not saw, then at least heard something. If not from the Realm of the Unseen, then from my own tongue.

 

And I remembered that the Prophet who perfected the Message (peace be upon him and his family) saying:

 

لا یستقیم ایمان احدکم حتی یستقیم قلبہ

و لا یستقیم قلبہ حتی یستقیم لسانہ

و لا یستقیم لسانہ حتی تستقیم اعمالہ

 

“None of you can persevere in your imaan, faith, till his qalb, the Seat of Recognition of Allah, becomes steadfast.

And his qalb cannot be unfaltering until his tongue becomes correct.

And his tongue cannot be correct until his deeds become unwavering.”

 

Ghaus Pak (ra) says; “Anything that I have been bestowed in my life as a blessing only came to me by way of the Ahl e Bait – the blessed household of Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family).”

 

This comes from someone who is in fact one of the most extraordinary members of that household himself. The one who is the unquestioned conduit of spirituality for the Universe till the end of its existence. After Damascus I knew with certainty that the same held true for me. Everything I was ever bestowed in my entire life only came to me by way of the Ahl e Bait (as).

 

My heart was flooded by that love in the city called Paradise by Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him and his family) himself. The first time, the second, every single time. Upon each return I felt like I entered a womb, the only word to describe my feelings. I was loved and cared in a way I had never experienced in my life. Hence if that life were to hit reset, if I was also allowed one thing that wasn’t a part of the first one, I would request that I be born in Damascus and live there forever.

 

Iqbal said, and I have quoted him umpteenth times in my pieces, that heaven and hell are here in this world. Ghaus Pak (ra) says the same. His definition of hell is unforgettable: deprivation, humiliation, doubt, desires, endless hopes. All due to the nafs causing paranoia and delusions.

 

Fi naari jahannuma (Surah Tauba, Verse 109): in the fires of Hell i.e. a deep valley, very wide, full of the fire of deprivation and humiliation.

 

And doubt!

 

لَهُم مِّن جَهَنَّمَ مِهَادٌ وَمِن فَوْقِهِمْ غَوَاشٍ ۚ

وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

 

For them Hell (is) their resting place and their covering as well. And thus We recompense the wrongdoers.

Surah Al-Araaf, Ayaat 41

 

Lahum min jahannama: Hell is the torture of imkaan, possibility which is doubt.

 

Mihaad: They will burn in these fires of their false desires…

 

Wa min fauqihim ghiwash: covered with the fires of their power and wealth and claims of being great and possessing abundance.

 

Wa ka daalika najzi ad-dualimeen: The zalimeen are the ones who transgress the boundaries of Allah due to their nafs which are drowning in the addiction of their senses, their paranoia and their delusion.

 

In a lecture on a day, Qari Sahib quoted the iconic line in the Quran about the faith that all Muslims know; La ikrahu fi-deen.

“There is no compulsion in embracing Islam and none in practicing it. Pray, don’t pray. Give zaka’t, don’t give it. Forgive or hold a grudge. Lie or tell a truth. It is all up to you. Be clear on the influence of your own nafs upon your own self.”

 

We studied the tafseer of the verse by Ghaus Pak (ra). I wanted to understand what it meant. And of course I was rewarded for the effort. For when translations called Taghut, “false deities and gods,” Ghaus Pak (ra) called the nafs al Ammara, bringing the matter from the “other” back upon one’s own self.

 

‏لَآ إِكْرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ ۖ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ ٱلرُّشْدُ مِنَ ٱلْغَىِّ ۚ

فَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِٱلطَّغُوتِ وَيُؤْمِنۢ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدِ ٱسْتَمْسَكَ بِٱلْعُرْوَةِ ٱلْوُثْقَىٰ لَا ٱنفِصَامَ لَهَا ۗ

وَٱللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ‎

 

There is no compulsion in the religion. Surely has become distinct the right (path) from the wrong. Then whoever rejects false deities and believes in Allah, then surely he grasped the handhold - firm, which will not break for him.

And Allah (is) All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 256

 

Tafseer Jilani

 

La ikraha: There is no force and there is no threat and there is no compulsion...

 

Fi deen: in compliance in the religion of Islam and being obedient of it, after the appearance of the ultimate truth because…

 

Qad tabayyana: indeed, it becomes clear and indeed, it is made distinct…

 

Ar rushd: the right path and guidance…

 

Min al gayye: from allurement and misguidedness.

 

Fa man yakfur bit taaghute: So anyone who denies the truth by believing in false idols, which is the nafs al Ammara which misguides from the Path of Truth…

 

Ya yu’min billah: and brings faith in Allah Al Hadi, The True Guide, towards the Straight Path…

 

Faqad-is-tamsaka: surely he attached himself to, and in fact, grasped and clung…

 

Bil urwatil wusqa: to the strong rope which is the Rope of Allah Subhanahu, hanging from the Permanence of His Essence to the Everlasting-ness of His Names and Attributes…

 

Lan fisama: It (the rope) will not break and it will not disconnect…

 

Laha: from itself ever.

 

Wallahu: And Allah Al Hadi, The Guide, is for all…

 

Samee’un: The All Hearing with His Essence the words of everyone…

 

Aleem-un: All Knowing of everything and the interests of all which have been placed inside them.

 

“So reflect,” says Ghaus Pak (ra), “O you are perishing, where do you place yourself in this?”

 

The marker of distortion and disruption in faith was the nafs. And the savior: connection of Allah Subhanahu’s Names and Attributes woven inside the rope that brought attachment to Him.

 

While I wrote the piece, my reflections were all concentrations upon the namaz. I began to write down each line in it to understand the sequence of the meaning.

 

The beginning is a seeking of refuge in Allah Subhanahu:

Audobillah e min as Shaitan ar rajeem – I seek refuge from Satan the accursed.

 

Then comes Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Rahim – the first invocation of Allah’s Names.

 

It was followed by the Surah Al Fateha, the preface of the Quran. In it the first three lines of the Surah were praise of Allah Subhanahu. The first line also being the expression of gratitude:

 

Alhamdolillah e Rabbil Aalmeen – All praise is for Allah, the Lord of all the Universe.

 

The second and third verses both invoked His Names, the same ones:

 

Ar Rahman Ar Rahim – The Entirely Merciful, The Especially Merciful.

 

Then Maalik e Youm iddin – The King of the Day of Judgement.

After came the submission; We only worship you and We only ask You for help.

 

And finally the prayer, which was for guidance!

 

But in that ask was a secret. The Sirat e Mustaqeem for which guidance was sought, that Straight Path, the verse reveals, was the one walked upon by those someones who were blessed by Him – siraat alladaina an’amta alayhim.

 

From the verb, I learnt a new Name of Allah: Naeem.

I heard a scholar say once: “Allah Subhanahu did not come to Earth and walk that path Himself. He sent others to show it and those who followed them and those after who followed them until in a meadow of grass, footsteps became outlined. A path leads to the Path.”

 

The greatest conflict within the faith today exists because people refuse to follow anyone else. But they don’t know, their aql imprisoned by their nafs will never surrender to anything except precisely when they follow another.

 

As my attention upon the words in the namaz intensified, I began to wonder that was actually being said by me in the part called the Tashahhud.

 

Part III Continued on: www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52274085984/in/datepos...

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If somebody has an ache in half head, recite Surah Ikhlas once (with Salat-Alan-Nabi صلی اللہ علیہ والہ وسلم once before and after it) and make Dam [i.e. blow on him]. If necessary, repeat the Dam in this way 3 times, 7 times or 11 times. ان شاء اللہ عزوجل, The ache will be relieved before the Dam is repeated 11 times. (Blessings of بسم اللہ, pp. 63)

 

www.dawateislami.net

The Fourteenth Day – Abwa

 

عن طلق بن علي قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ:

لَوْ أَدْرَكْتُ وَالِدَيَّ أَوْ أَحَدَهُمَا وَأَنَا فِي صَلاةِ الْعِشَاءِ،

الْكِتَابِ يُنَادِينِي: يَا مُحَمَّدُ؛ لأَجْبُتُه لَبَّيْكَ ِ وَقَدْ قَرَأْتُ فِيهَا بِفَاتِحَة

 

The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said:

“If I were conscious of both my parents or one of them and I am in the prayer of Isha’

while I was reading (the Surah) Fateha of the Book and (one of them) call me saying,

‘Ya Muhammad!’

I answer the call (breaking the prayer), “I am present.”

 

It was on the journey from Mecca to Medina when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was six that his mother, Hazrat Bibi Amina (ratu), began to feel unwell. When she no longer had the strength to walk she lay down on the ground. They were near the village of Abwa. The Prophet (peace be upon him) and her were alone except for a servant, Umme Ayman, who was accompanying them.

 

When Hazrat Bibi Amina (ratu) understood that she would not survive she called her son gently towards her and said the following words to him:

 

If what I have seen in my dreams is true, then you will be sent as a Prophet by God to inform the sons of Adam of what is lawful and unlawful, and upon this, you will possess majesty and many gifts. You will be sent to complete the submission and religion of our forefather, Ibrahim (as). God is going to protect and withhold you and nations from idols and idol worshipping.

 

Every living being will die and everything new will wear out. Everyone who becomes old will disappear. Everything is fleeting, everything will leave. Yes, I am going to die as well. However, my name will remain forever because I have given birth to an immaculately pure child and am leaving a memorable and auspicious person behind me.

 

Moments later she passed away. Umme Ayman and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) buried her, all the while his tears streaming endlessly down his face. Thus the little boy, who had hardly spent any time with his mother and who had never seen his father, became an orphan. From that moment on, Umme Ayman became the second mother of The Messenger (peace be upon him).

 

Once the Prophet (peace be upon him) heard one of the Companions call out to someone insultingly, “You who is the son of a black woman!”

 

In an impassioned tone the Prophet (peace be upon him) uttered the words, “No son of a fair woman holds any superiority over the one who is the son of a black woman, except due to piety. Without doubt, Muhammad is the son of a woman who was fair of skin and his upbringing was by his mother who was dark. So he is, at the same time, the son of both of them.”

 

On the last day in Mecca, I woke up early again and went to do a last tawaf before I left the city. It was extremely emotional walking around the Ka‘ba thinking about leaving it. In each round, my steps lost their pace more and more till I came down to what might have been a crawl. There were not many people so at one point I went right up to it and buried my face in the Black Cloth. I cried and took in deep breaths of a fragrance I would miss till I smelt it again. As I moved away to give my space to another, I saw a young girl writing with her fingers on the cloth. Like a message one writes in sand or in the air.

 

In her last touch I remembered a couplet Pir Sahib (ra) recited so beautifully, it was etched in my memory:

 

اس پردے میں پوشیدہ لیلائے دو عالم ہے

بے وجہ نہیں بیدم کعبے کی سیاہ پوشی

 

Veiled in this Veil is the Love of both the worlds,

It is not without purpose, O Bedum, that the Ka‘ba is draped in a black cloth.

 

After I checked out of the hotel I met my driver who had brought a friend to accompany him for the day. I told them that I wanted to go to Medina by way of Abwa to pay my respects to Hazrat Bibi Amina (ratu). The most important, intense and defining relationship of my life has been with my mother. My heart wanted to go here as much as it had wanted to go to Medina and Mecca.

 

I had been told that it was going to be a different route from the one that people generally take back to Medina from Mecca. I had also been warned that her blessed grave was on its own, not in a graveyard and therefore not easy to find. I wasn’t deterred by that. One of the drivers initially tried to convince me that she was buried in the graveyard near the haram, Jannat ul Maala, but I told him it was in Abwa. Neither of them knew how to get there so they started making some calls and got directions.

 

A couple of hours later we took an exit from the highway and turned towards where the village was going to be. There was no large collection of houses anywhere. There were no shops or restaurants. We needed directions as to where the grave was exactly but there was no one to ask. I told the driver to stop at someone’s house.

 

One of them kept saying that the clerics (muta’ali) of the area were very strict. In Saudi Arabia in general but specifically in Abwa. They did not like outsiders coming into the village to seek the grave because the Saudi clergy doesn’t believe in going to graves. Or some of them don’t and some of them do but in Abwa the unspoken rule was that if someone was caught giving directions to pilgrims, they would be punished for it. I don’t know what that meant for citizens but for the immigrants the punishment was plain: their Iqama (residency) would be revoked by being torn to shreds or confiscated there and then.

 

Needless to say both drivers seemed nervous. I was calm. When we stopped outside a random house I went and knocked on the door. I thought it might help if I asked as a woman. There was no reply so I tried another house. Again there was no reply. Next we stopped at a gas station. The attendant seemed to be African. We asked him about the grave. He looked fidgety and said he didn’t know where it was.

 

“Let’s move on,” I said. “We need to ask a local.”

 

A mile or so down the road, we saw a jeep coming our way on an otherwise deserted road. I told the driver to flag them down to ask them. There were two young men in it. They were Saudi and looked like they lived in the area. When the driver asked them about the location of the grave, they smiled mischievously. When the driver asked them again, they pointed at a small hill and muttered something about the grave being over it on the other side.

 

I asked the driver to take me to the bottom of it and park the car. Neither man seemed interested in coming with me so I told them to wait for me. It was about noon, the sun was sky high and hot. I climbed up the short hill and walked forward as much as I could but I didn’t see anything that looked like a grave. When I came back both drivers looked like they were ready to give up.

 

“No way,” I said with a confidence unshakeable. “Let’s keep going. We will find someone who will tell us.”

 

Next we came across a young man working in a brick kiln. The whole area had a look of desertion to it. There were no people anywhere. We pulled up the car to where he was and I rolled down my window to hear what the man’s reply would be.

 

“I cannot tell you,” he said at first. “I don’t know where it is.”

 

When I urged him again to guide us just a little, he looked at me closely then shrugged. The best he said he was willing to do was to draw us a map on the dirt road. I was grateful for even that. We all got out of the car so we could understand what he was saying. The map was very basic but it was something. I told the driver to find the first road he had drawn. When we got to it and went a mile down, there was nothing. The drivers again suggested gently that we give up and I ignored them with silence.

 

A little way ahead I saw a building surrounded by four walls and an older African man standing outside it. “Let’s ask him,” I said. “I will ask him.”

 

By the time we reached the house the man had gone inside the compound. The gate was open so we drove in. The space was empty and large with what looked like small housing quarters on the side. It too was a brick kiln. The gentleman was now sitting in a chair outside what might have been his rooms. We parked the car and I got out again. I spoke to him in Arabic.

 

“Sir, we are looking for the grave of the mother of Rasool Allah (peace be upon him),” I said. “We have been looking for a long time but nobody tells us where it is.” The desperation in my voice was palpable. He just shook his head indicating that he too was not going to help us. Just then I heard Urdu being spoken inside. A man in his 40s came out.

 

“Aap Pakistan se hain?” he asked. I wanted to hug him.

 

“Ji,” I said almost wailing. “Hum itni se der se Bibi Amna (ratu) ki qabr mubarak dhuund rahin hain aur koi bhi humain nahin batata.”

 

He smiled. Then he told us again what we already knew. The clerics were crazy and everyone was scared of losing their ability to live and work in the country if they were found giving directions.

 

“I will tell you though,” he said, undeterred by the consequences. “No, I will take you as far as I can. From there you will climb a small hill. The grave is at the top of the hill and is marked by a black spot where gasoline has been thrown. Your driver can bring me back and then go and wait for you there.”

 

“Sure,” I said, thanking him profusely over and over.

 

We drove into what was wilderness on a dirt road and then parked on a side. He pointed at the hill and told me to go up it. I got out of the car and told the driver that I would call him when I was done. He too wanted to wait in the house. The last thing he wanted was for his Iqama to be ripped before his eyes.

 

I went up the hill quickly reciting the Darood Shareef. I started crying as I climbed, the relief pouring out of my eyes that I had been able to make it. It was true. I was not going to leave Abwa without going to this grave but three hours into the find, I had finally asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) to intercede. And he had. I was there!

 

The top of the hill was flat. There was no one around for miles it seemed. It was quiet and calm. There was no mound of the grave. Apparently it had been flattened. A large part of the area was doused in fuel. I sat nearby and read the Fateha, then prayed two nafal on the dry, rocky ground. I cried and remembered my mother and thought of the last time that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had been there.

 

Ibn e Saad narrates that when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was on his way for the Umra Al Hudaybia, he stopped at Abwa.

 

He said, “Verily Allah has granted me the permission to visit my mother’s grave.”

 

Upon reaching the grave he tidied it, then sat down and began to cry. The Companions upon seeing him also started to weep and asked, “Why do you cry, Ya Rasool Allah (peace be upon him)?”

 

He answered, “I remembered my mother’s affection and love so I cried.”

 

I think I cried harder there then I have ever cried at my own mother’s grave. When I visit it in our village where she is buried, more often than not I hardly cry at all. Usually I sprinkle rose petals over it and then just sit there and talk to her as if she is alive. Not that I can recall one thing I’ve said to her in all the years she has been gone. Then I just walk around the courtyard listlessly, pray for all the dead of our family and leave.

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) remembered every single moment and every single place in Medina where he spent time with his mother and happily shared those memories with his Companions. For years after my mother passed, I couldn’t bring myself to think about her much less bring her up in conversation. Sometimes I think when I buried her I buried my heart alongside her too. But since my life continued, eventually I had to dig it back out.

 

The hadith about him being in prayer and breaking it to answer “I am present” to her call of his name was my most favourite. It created a connection between my Prophet (peace be upon him) and I, a Nisbat (attachment) based solely on that love that we shared for our mothers. That was the reason I had to come. I loved my mother deeply just like the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) loved his mother deeply. I couldn’t leave the country and not pay my respects to her.

 

Once I finished praying I called the driver. On the way down the hill I picked up two rocks. One for myself and one for my niece and put them carefully in my pocket. We went back to the house. I wanted to give some money to the Pakistani, who happened to be from Multan, for helping us but he wouldn’t take a cent. Instead he gave us tea and biscuits and set us off.

The drive back to Medina from this side was gorgeous. The sun was setting, the light was striking. We passed the mountains of Badr and the driver showed me an alternate road on the side.

 

“If you take this route, you drive through the mountains and you can see where the battle happened.”

 

Badr was the first battle of Islam fought on the 17th of Ramadan and was won by the Muslims who were 313 in number against the army of over 1,000 Kuffar from Mecca. They had two horses versus 300, 70 camels against 700. The Muslims took turns, two to three, to a camel. Each time it came the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) turn to disembark and walk, the others sharing the camel with him insisted he take their turns. Each time he refused. Everybody would have their rightful turn. I knew that must have been why the Caliph Umar (ratu) did not take his slave’s turn when he insisted upon it as they entered Jerusalem.

 

It was the battle before which the Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed all night for victory over the Infidels and got this answer from His Lord God:

 

إِذْ تَسْتَغِيثُونَ رَبَّكُمْ فَاسْتَجَابَ لَكُمْ أَنِّي مُمِدُّكُم بِأَلْفٍ مِّنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ مُرْدِفِينَ

 

Lo! You were praying to your Sustainer for aid, whereupon He thus responded to you, "I shall, verily, aid you with a thousand angels following one upon another!"

 

And indeed Truth prevailed!

 

Unsurprisingly, war was unpleasant for the Messenger of God (peace be upon him). But it was prescribed upon him by God and Allah acknowledged this reluctance in the Quran:

 

كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ

 

Fighting is ordained for you, even though it be hateful to you.

Was it any wonder that even the battles were many, with him as the commander the casualties were kept to a minimum unimaginable in any military conflict.

 

During the 23 years in which this revolution under the Prophet (peace be upon him) was completed, 80 military expeditions took place. Fewer than 20 expeditions actually involved any fighting. 259 Muslims and 759 non-Muslims died in these battles – a total of 1018 dead.

 

I wanted to ask the driver why we weren’t taking that road then but I think the four hours we had spent in Abwa had drained him. That drive clearly would have been longer but I could tell the scenery would also have been picturesque like little else.

 

“Next time!” I thought to myself. I always like to leave something not done so I have something to look forward to when I come back. I had been to Hazrat Bibi Amna’s (ratu) grave and said a very loving salam to her. The day was already made.

 

As I sat in the car taking in the receding light I thought about the grief of death. I had lost a mother and a sister at 26. Rasool Pak (peace be upon him) had lost his parents as well as his adoring grandfather by the age of 10. In his 40s, due to living under extremely harsh conditions imposed on his family and his followers by the Infidels, his guardian and doting uncle had passed away followed by his beloved wife, both of whom he had cared for deeply. His pain was so deep the year was given a title, Aam al Huzn, the Year of Grief. In his life he lost three infant sons and three daughters, and many Companions dear to him in war, including his adoring uncle, Hazrat Hamza (ratu).

 

He always acknowledged the losses, recorded his remembrance of his departed loved ones with sadness and tears. The recorded hadith when his son Ibrahim died is this:

 

عَنْ أَنَسٍ قَالَ: دَخَلْنَا مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَلَى أَبِي سَيْفٍ الْقَيْنِ وَكَانَ ظِئْرًا لِإِبْرَاهِيمَ

فَأَخَذَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فَقَبَّلَهُ وَشَمَّهُ ثُمَّ دَخَلْنَا عَلَيْهِ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ

وَإِبْرَاهِيمُ يَجُودُ بِنَفْسِهِ فَجَعَلَتْ عَيْنَا رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَذْرِفَانِ.

فَقَالَ لَهُ عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ عَوْفٍ: وَأَنْتَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ؟

فَقَالَ: يَا ابْنَ عَوْفٍ إِنَّهَا رَحْمَةٌ ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَهَا بِأُخْرَى

فَقَالَ: إِنَّ الْعَيْنَ تَدْمَعُ وَالْقَلْبَ يَحْزَنُ وَلَا نَقُولُ إِلَّا مَا يُرْضِي رَبَّنَا وَإِنَّا بِفِرَاقِك يَا إِبْرَاهِيم لَمَحْزُونُونَ

 

As narrated by Hazrat Anas Bin Malik (ratu):

We entered with the Prophet of God (peace be upon him) the house of Abi Saif whose wife had breastfed (his son), Ibrahim, the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) son. He took him to Ibrahim and the Prophet of God (peace be upon him) kissed him and smelt him. Then we went to him and Ibrahim was taking his last breaths and the eyes of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were flowing with tears.

 

Harzat Abdur Rahman (ratu) said to him, “You (are crying), Ya Rasool Allah (peace be upon you)?

 

He said, "O Ibn e Auf, This is mercy” and he started crying again.

 

Then he said, “Verily the eyes send their tears and the heart is saddened, but we do not say anything except that which pleases our Lord. Indeed, O Ibrahim, we are bereaved by your departure from us."

 

I wondered where I learned to suppress my sadness. Certainly not from my family. How had I come up with the tired old strategy of blocking pain as a means to “protect” myself instead of processing it? Only to find, of course, that it would blow up in my face time and again, wreaking havoc in my life, within and without. I wished I had known more about the Prophet (peace be upon him) sooner in life and it made me sigh deeply as I was reminded of the difference the path a life takes with or without a guide.

 

Rasool Allah (peace be upon him) shed tears and exercised patience. He surrendered to God’s Will absolutely and trusted that whatever He chose for him, whatever happened in his life was best. The deaths of loved ones didn’t harden his heart like they hardened mine, even if it was mostly towards my own self. He didn’t become indifferent to pain as I pretended to be. His heart only became softer.

 

This was the softness that caused everything inanimate in the Universe to be in prostration to him in constancy, that left humans in a state of wonder, whether they converted or not. And God, why would God then not continually gaze upon this Creation of His that manifested all of His Beauty in the most delicate manner.

 

وَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا

 

So be patient, for (the) Command (of) your Lord, for indeed, you (are) in Our Eyes.

 

@the.softest.heart

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx-51G3fQig&feature=youtu.be

50. “The standing at night to worship” series

 

‏وَمِنَ ٱلَّيْلِ فَتَهَجَّدْ بِهِۦ نَافِلَةًۭ لَّكَ

 

And rise from your sleep and pray during the part of the night and extra voluntary prayer,

it may be well that your Lord will raise you (to) a station praiseworthy.

Surah Al Isra’, Verse 79

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa: And if you want even more closeness (to Allah) and blessings, then awaken your heart and body, in the last part…

 

Min al layli: of the night and leave sleep out of desire for the Pleasure of Allah…

 

Fatahajjad bihi: and pray the Prayer of Tahajjud, prolonging your recitation in it so it becomes…

 

Nafilatan: extra…

 

Laka: than the dutied prayers for you. It will increase your Closeness and your honour (before your Lord).

 

128. “The standing at night to worship” series

 

‏وَمِنَ ٱلَّيْلِ فَٱسْجُدْ لَهُۥ وَسَبِّحْهُ لَيْلًۭا طَوِيلًا ‎ ‎

 

And during the night bow down to Him and exalt His Limitless Glory long into the night.

Surah Al-Insaan, Verse 26

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa min al-layl: And in the night, which was only created for khilwa, seclusion with Allah Subhanahu, and an everlasting muraqaba, attendance with him…

 

Fasjud lahu: so prostrate before Him and focus on His Essence a focus, khaalisan, sincere, mixed with full khudu’, intense compliance (of the heart) and khushu’, submission to Him and complete self-abasement and humility…

 

Wa sabbih-hu: and glorify His Essence as pure of all flaws of all that which is not worthy of His Majesty…

 

Laylan: during the night, praising him…

 

Taweelan: for a long while, free of all commitments of your routine, emptying the heart of scattered hopes. This is the way of the Ashab il Kamal, the Extraordinary of Allah and the way of the Ashab il Wajd, the ones who have found Him and live in an ecstatic trance.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

129. “The standing at night to worship” series

 

‏كَانُوا۟ قَلِيلًۭا مِّنَ ٱلَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ ‎

‏وَبِٱلْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ ‎

 

They used to sleep but a little of the night

and in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness,

Surah Ad-Dhariyaat, Verse 17-18

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Kanu: They (the Muhsineen) used to...

 

Qaleelan min al-layl ma yahja’oun: rest a little from the hours of the night so that they do not come across tiredness that prevents continuity of obedience.

 

Wa: This is so despite a little sleep and lot of their waking up at night and their humility…

 

Bil asaahri: at the time of early dawn, which has been prepared for focus and asking for forgiveness,…

 

Hum yastaghfiroon: they ask for (that) forgiveness all the time as if they consider themselves qaasiratun, fulfilling only a little of the Rights of Allah’s Worship as opposed to what it should be. So that is why they are abundant in anaba, repentance and istighfaar, asking for forgiveness.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

130. “The standing at night to worship” series

 

‏وَمِنَ ٱلَّيْلِ فَسَبِّحْهُ وَإِدْبَرَ ٱلنُّجُومِ ‎

 

And extol His Glory at night and at the time the stars retreat.

Surah At-Toor, Verse 49

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa min al layli: And in parts of the night when you seek rest in it with sleep…

 

Fa sabbih hu: speak His glory so that you are (counted as the ones) in remembrance of your Lord (during the time) of your rest and (during the time) you are in ghaflat, unaware of your senses, so that your remembrance of Him at that time is willed from you in your seclusion and is guidance for it and specific teaching for that seclusion.

 

Wa: And praise Him also…

 

Idbaran najoom: at the time of the fading of the stars and the appearance of the light of the sun. So indeed, these two timings (of the night and the fading of the stars) are the times of the heart being free of its different occupations and impeding busyness from the focus upon Him.

 

May Allah make us of those whose burdens are light and whose wishes are few by His Special Favour and His Special Bounty.

 

Ameen summa ameen summa ameen!

 

131. “The standing at night to worship” series

 

‏أَمَّنْ هُوَ قَنِتٌ ءَانَآءَ ٱلَّيْلِ سَاجِدًۭا وَقَآئِمًۭا يَحْذَرُ ٱلْءَاخِرَةَ وَيَرْجُوا۟ رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِۦ ۗ

 

Is one who is devoutly obedient – during the hours of the night, prostrating and standing, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the Mercy of his Lord (the same as the denies the Truth)?

 

Surah Az Zumar, Verse 9

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Then said Allah Subhanahu:

 

Aman huwa qanitun: Amazed is the Mushrik, worshipper of false idols, who thinks for Us others as associates and partners because of Our Warning to him with fire and its punishment, so he thinks that the one who is standing on the performance of worship, continuing in it…

 

Aana al layl: during the night and the two sides of the day (dawn and dusk)…

 

Saajidan: in prostration, humble, placing his forehead upon the earth that is lacking in pride because of being in awe of Our Majesty…

 

Wa qaaiman: and standing on his feet for a long period, honouring Our Command, along with this…

 

Yahzarul akhirata: he (also) takes precautions for the Afterlife i.e. the Punishment which is true in it according to Our Jalal, Awe and Sukhtina, Displeasure…

 

Wa yarju rahmata Rabbihi: hoping for the Mercy of his Lord according to His Lutf, Kindness and Jalal, Majesty and Jamal, Beauty, can he be like the ones who deny Allah, who are unaware of His Glory, Al Muttakhadeena, the ones who make for him Allah Subhanahu partners unjustly and with slander even though Allah Subhanahu is above this and pure of it.

 

132. “The standing at night to worship” series

 

‏ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ تَقُومُ أَدْنَىٰ مِن ثُلُثَىِ ٱلَّيْلِ وَنِصْفَهُۥ وَثُلُثَهُۥ

وَطَآئِفَةٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلَّذِينَ مَعَكَ ۚ

 

Indeed, your Lord knows that you stand a little less than two-thirds of the night, and half of it and a third of it and so do a group of those who are with you.

Surah Al Muzzammil, Verse 20

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

And after this command that Allah Subhanahu gave to His Habeeb (peace be upon him) of standing at night which has been mentioned before (Verses 1-3) and Allah persuaded him upon this and invited him towards it with emphasis and confirming its doing so much so that Allah Subhanahu gave reasons for it with His Knowledge to him (peace be upon him) for any of the parts of the night, so He said:

 

Inna Rabbaka: Indeed your Lord, O Messenger who perfects Messenger-hood (peace be upon him)…

 

Yalamu: He knows by His Knowledge Ever-Present…

 

Annaka taqumu: indeed your standing for Tahajjud…

 

Adna: a little or less than…

 

Min sulasa yil layli: two thirds of the night and more or even greater than half of it sometimes…

 

Wa: and sometimes less than…

 

Nusfihi: half of it…

 

Sulasahu: or more than a third of it and more than a fourth of it and this is the least of your routines and the peak of it is: that which is less than two-thirds of the night because this is the time of being the closest to the total time of standing which is dutied upon you first of all.

 

Then the second order was to make it half and the third to make it one-third.

 

Wa taifatun: And Subhanahu, He knows the standing at night of a group…

 

Min: from the Mo’mineen…

 

Alladina: that stands…

 

Ma’aka: with you and are in synch with you in your Tahajjud and in your standing.

 

Subhan Allah!

Surah Al-Qadr

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Power. (1) Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is! (2) The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. (3) The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees. (4) (The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn. (5)

হে লোকসকল! যদি তোমরা পুনরুত্থানের ব্যাপারে সন্দিগ্ধ হও, তবে (ভেবে দেখ-) আমি তোমাদেরকে মৃত্তিকা থেকে সৃষ্টি করেছি। এরপর বীর্য থেকে, এরপর জমাট রক্ত থেকে, এরপর পূর্ণাকৃতিবিশিষ্ট ও অপূর্ণাকৃতিবিশিষ্ট মাংসপিন্ড থেকে, তোমাদের কাছে ব্যক্ত করার জন্যে। আর আমি এক নির্দিষ্ট কালের জন্যে মাতৃগর্ভে যা ইচ্ছা রেখে দেই, এরপর আমি তোমাদেরকে শিশু অবস্থায় বের করি; তারপর যাতে তোমরা যৌবনে পদার্পণ কর। তোমাদের মধ্যে কেউ কেউ মৃত্যুমুখে পতিত হয় এবং তোমাদের মধ্যে কাউকে নিষ্কর্মা বয়স পর্যন্ত পৌছানো হয়, যাতে সে জানার পর জ্ঞাত বিষয় সম্পর্কে সজ্ঞান থাকে না। তুমি ভূমিকে পতিত দেখতে পাও, অতঃপর আমি যখন তাতে বৃষ্টি বর্ষণ করি, তখন তা সতেজ ও স্ফীত হয়ে যায় এবং সর্বপ্রকার সুদৃশ্য উদ্ভিদ উৎপন্ন করে।

  

06

এগুলো এ কারণে যে, আল্লাহ সত্য এবং তিনি মৃতকে জীবিত করেন এবং তিনি সবকিছুর উপর ক্ষমতাবান।

 

Continued from:

www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52649553016/in/datepos...

 

They feel no Fear or Grief

 

“The one who was loved by Allah from the beginning, He makes them pure in the world from that which might distract him even for a single moment from His Being.

So indeed, the true lover does not abandon his beloved in any situation that might harm him.”

Ghaus Pak (ra)

 

أَلَآ إِنَّ أَوْلِيَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

 

Verily, the Friends of Allah, there will be no fear upon them and not they will grieve.

Surah Yunus, Verse 62

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Ala Inna auliya Allah e: Verily, the Friends of Allah, the Al Munkhala’eena, the ones who are detached from the demands of being human in total, Al Munsalekheena, the one who are far from the requirements of desires of their selves in totality...

 

La khauf-un alayhim wa la hum yahzanoon: there is no fear upon them nor do they feel grief because fear and sadness, they only come from the effects of the tabyat, (the secondary nature that is acquired from outside), and the pursuit of that which fulfills it.

 

Fear is an escapable feeling for a human being. Sadness is another. The Quran mentions both emotions together and repeatedly. More in its absence than its presence. As in His Friends do not feel either. I pride myself on not being scared by much in the world. Back in the day, my anger propelled that assumed arrogance to its heights. But anger cannot be exhibited in front of everyone.

 

There were times my relationship with my father was so badly ruptured that we didn’t see each other for months. That usually happened at the heel of an unpleasant incident. When I did have to see him again after that hiatus, I would feel fear. It would be so intense that I would not be able to stop crying for days before.

 

I was never alone in that interim. I remember on one occasion in particular that my friend Asma was with me. She would comfort me all day, tell me it would be fine, that she wouldn’t leave me alone with him. But it wouldn’t matter. That wouldn’t stem my tears because I would be scared of what would happen. It’s not like I thought it would be loud or violent. It was just the unknown of how he would react and would I be able to bear it.

 

My mother was dead. My sister had passed. I was the eldest. Moving from being the middle child till 26 and onwards to the eldest was the worst. It was strange that fact. With my sister alive, even though her father was different from mine, I wasn’t the eldest in my family because both husbands had been absent. But for him, in his eyes, in some form I must have been the eldest. I was his first child. Playing out both roles exactly like they are stereotyped was a drama and a half.

 

Woe upon me! How I wish I had known him then. My Prophet (salutations and greetings upon the one called Ar Rauf, the most kind and affectionate by His Lord Allah Ar Rauf) that I belonged to, the reason behind the Creation of everything, who worried for me, who felt my pain, who prayed for my suffering, of any kind, to end.

 

An Nahl, Verse 125: “Then pointed Allah Subhanahu towards the perfecting of honouring His Beloved (peace be upon and his family) and the majesty of his rank and the discipline of his etiquette and completing his wisdom and Messengerhood and making for everyone his kindness and his mercy as the gathering of kindness for all and sufficient for all Creation because he is sent in totality as mercy, Rahma, and he is the seal of the Prophethood and Messengerhood and the completer of the matter of religion and its perfection because the reason behind making the religion and the descent of the Books of Revelation and sending the Messengers, it is only to manifest his rank and his station, which is the inviting to the Essence of Tauheed, Tauheed Az Zaati.”

 

No one cared for me more than he did or even the way he did. If I had only known him then, he would have said to me too like he said to his best friend when he once felt fear, “Allah is with us.”

 

For me it was one of the most extraordinary incidents related in the Quran. Of course it was in At Tauba!

 

إِلَّا تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدۡ نَصَرَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِذۡ أَخۡرَجَهُ ٱلَّذِینَ كَفَرُوا۟ ثَانِیَ ٱثۡنَیۡنِ إِذۡ هُمَا فِی ٱلۡغَارِ إِذۡ یَقُولُ لِصَـٰحِبِهِۦ لَا تَحۡزَنۡ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَنَاۖ

فَأَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ سَكِینَتَهُۥ عَلَیۡهِ وَأَیَّدَهُۥ بِجُنُودࣲ لَّمۡ تَرَوۡهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ ٱلَّذِینَ كَفَرُوا۟ ٱلسُّفۡلَىٰۗ وَكَلِمَةُ ٱللَّهِ هِیَ ٱلۡعُلۡیَاۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَزِیزٌ حَكِیمٌ

 

If you didn’t help him, certainly, Allah helped him when drove him out those who disbelieved, the second (of) the two, when they both (were) in the cave, when he said to his companion,

"Do not grieve, indeed, Allah (is) with us."

Then sent down Allah His Tranquility upon him, and supported him with forces which you did not see, and made (the) word (of) those who disbelieved the lowest, while (the) Word (of) Allah it (is) the highest.

 

And Allah (is) All-Mighty, All-Wise.

 

Surah At Tauba, Verse 40

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Illa tansuruhu: If you didn’t help him i.e. his Prophet, (Nabi Kareem (peace and salutations upon him and his family by his Lord who loves him)), the one who was helped from Him…

 

Faqad nasarahullahu: then certainly help came from Allah, Ar Raqeeb, The Only One who watches over him. Remember the Help of Allah, O Beloved (peace and salutations upon him and his family by his Lord who loves him), at that time…

 

Id akhrajahu alladina kafaru: when he was driven out by those who denied the truth i.e. the people of Mecca from Mecca whilst he was…

 

Thani Ithnayn: the second of the two i.e. there was no one with him except one man and he was Hazrat Abu Bakr (ratu) so they went towards the mountain and entered the cave and the enemy, they followed the tracks of their traces and reached that cave…

 

Id huma: when they were, hiding…

 

Fil ghar: in the cave so his companion, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (ratu) became distraught from being found out by the enemy, remember…

 

Id yaqoolu: when he was saying (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by His Exalted Lord) in that situation…

 

Li sahibi-hi la tahzan: to his companion, “Do not grieve on their knowing (about us) and do not despair of Allah’s Help and His Guardianship.

 

Inallaha: Indeed, Allah Ar Raqeeb, The One who is the Watcher, upon us, present (as a Companion)…

 

Ma’ana: is with us, He is Sufficient for us in help from their harm…

 

Fa anzala Allahu: so He desended, Allah Subhanahu, just as he spoke his words, Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon you and your family by His Own Self)…

 

Sakeenatahu: His Serenity i.e. His Contentment and His Calmness…

 

Alayhi: upon him i.e. his companion…

 

Wa ayyadahu bi junood-in: and strengthened him with such armies i.e. the angels, safeguarding and fortressing (them), as guards for him…

 

Lam taroha: you cannot see with your eyes, such is that army.

Wa ja’ala: and He made, Subhanahu, by His Help and His strengthening, for Nabi Pak (salutations and greetings upon him and his family eternally)…

 

Kalimata alladeena kafaru: the word of the one who disbelieves i.e. that which they claimed and argued with him, the word they wanted to make their tradition…

 

As sufla: the lowest i.e. the lowermost in descent. It is not important and it is not paid attention to at all.

 

Wa kalimatullah: And the Word of Allah i.e. the Word of His Tauheed, One-ness, which He made appear through His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by the angels and their Creator)…

 

Hiya al-uliya: this is the uppermost, most exalted because Al Haqq is Exalted and no one else is exalted over Him...

 

Wallahu: And Allah is Al Qadir, The Dominant, Al Muqtadir, The Only One with Authority, upon whatsoever He wills…

 

Aziz-un: The One with all Power, Ghalib, The Only One who prevails in the helping of His Friends upon their enemies…

Hakeem-un: The Most Wise in all His Actions and His Planning.

 

But I didn’t know it then. That if one believed Allah was with them at all times, all fear and all sadness was dispelled!

 

At the random opening of pages in the shrines, sometimes I had come across the same page again and again. Sometimes the same Surahs. Never did I come across Yaseen, except once. On that day as I read what my heart knew in words alone, I chose the verses from the famous story of the village where three Prophets were sent, only to be mocked and rejected by its residents.

 

One man in the village who had brought faith speaks to the others. His name was Habeeb. I translated a few verses of his call to the others and this verse in particular sparked my interest. What did it mean for the ordinary to be told to enter Heaven? What did it mean to be forgiven? Not promised it but in fact be forgiven? What did it mean to be made of the honored?

 

قِیلَ ٱدۡخُلِ ٱلۡجَنَّةَۖ قَالَ یَـٰلَیۡتَ قَوۡمِی یَعۡلَمُونَ

بِمَا غَفَرَ لِی رَبِّی وَجَعَلَنِی مِنَ ٱلۡمُكۡرَمِینَ

 

It was said, "Enter Paradise." He said, "I wish my people knew.

Of how has forgiven me my Lord and placed me among the honored ones."

Surah Yaseen, Verse 26-27

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

So when they heard from Habeeb his advice and his admonition, they decided to kill him and destroy him so they trampled him by feet to the extent that his intestines came out from his back and he was in that state, that the unveiling of His Lord increased.

 

And Allah took possession of him, The King of One-ness and the special Favour of Allah drew him towards Him and the Sanctity of His Generosity surrounded him, such that…

 

Qeela: it was said by Him from Al Haqq: Leave your nature and shed your egoistic self…

 

Udkhulil Jannah: Enter Paradise i.e. the Atmosphere of One-ness which has not in it hardship or illness and no pain and tiredness and leave it and shed it and enter instantly union. After that union towards what he became united with…

 

Qala: Habeeb said, hoping and feeling sad for them after he received the breezes of Divine Union…

 

Ya’layta qaumi ya’maloon: alas, I wish my people knew...

 

Bima ghafara-li: of how He has forgiven me and revealed upon me and pulled me towards Him after that He hid from me by my egoistic self and erased from me my nature…

 

Wa ja’alani minal mukrameen: and He made me of the honoured ones. The Mukrameen, honoured ones, of the Al Amineen, the ones in peace, Al Fa’izeen, the ones successful, Al Mustabshireen, the ones who are receiver of glad tidings which are, and Ghaus Pak (ra) pointed to the verse:

 

لَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَیۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ یَحۡزَنُونَ

There will be no fear upon then and not they will grieve.

Surah Yunus, Verse 62

 

Something of the extraordinary existed for the ordinary!

 

I had seen multiple instances of the appearance of the verse of no grief and no sadness with other verses. I was intrigued by the possibility. For the Friends of God it was easy. No aspect of their tabyat, secondary nature acquired in this world, ever prevailed over their fitrat, the original nature bestowed by Subhanahu. What about the rest of us whose tabyat ruled?

What appeared sequentially in the next verse (10/63) after La khaufan alayhim… for the Auliya was indeed a revelation. The secret was held in taqwa!

 

ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ یَتَّقُونَ

 

Those who believe and are conscious (of Allah),

Surah Yunus, Verse 63

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

And after that they detached from its fulfillment and freedom from its demands and they annihilated themselves in Allah’s Essence and they became what they became thereafter. There was nothing remaining in them which was the generator of (the feelings of) fear and unhappiness and peace and tranquility. That person then is not characterized by the example of these opposites and they are…

 

Alladina aamano: the ones who attained to faith in the beginning of their spiritual journey i.e. they were steadfast in the place of the Knowledge of Certainty.

 

Wa: And after they established their abode and were steadfast upon it…

 

Kanu yattaqoon: they were mindful of Allah and safeguarded themselves from the control of Power of Allah’s Attributes which create awe (Jalali) due to their occupation with the attraction of their desires and they were conscious of their bonds with the selection (of their choices).

 

There it was again. Allah’s Jalal, being fearful of Him. The “occupation with the attraction of desires and the selection of those choices.” Choices which most often never even took on any form of reality and almost always just remained fire and poison of possibilities!

 

It was up to the nafs to pick its path.

 

فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا

‏قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا ‎

‏وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّىٰها ‎

 

And He inspired it (to distinguish) its wickedness and its righteousness.

Indeed, he succeeds who purifies it,

And indeed, he fails who buries it (in darkness).

Surah Ash Shams, Verse 8-10

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Fa alhamaha fujuraha wa taqwaha: So He inspired it (the nafs) to both, wickedness and mindfulness, according to that which is placed in it from the forces of heavens as well as of the Earth.

 

Then He burdened it according to what it can bear so that

1.the one who is truthful can be differentiated from the one who is false and

2.the astray from the guided and

3.the denier of Truth from the believer, completing the wisdom, which is rooted in certainty, which reaches the Essence of Allah and which reflects the Dominance of His Power.

 

Qad aflaha man zakkaha: Indeed he was successful and prosperous due to the success He prospered from by receiving from Allah the highest ranks…

 

Man zakkaha: the one who cleansed his nafs from the vileness of the world and from the possibilities of the demands of its desires and its lusts.

 

Wa qad khaba: And he was in a loss and ruined himself…

 

Man dassaha: the one who prevented the nafs from reaching its higher level (from Ammara, corrupt to Mutma’inna, content) and made it wayward. He did this by persuading it to be disobedient and sinful, which was done due to the demands of its base nature, its lustful desires and the wickedness of the world. This persuasion is what makes it deserving of different kinds of losses and deprivation and humiliation.

 

Again possibilities! Again losses, deprivation, humiliation!

 

Subhanahu had defined Paradise for Habeeb as “the Atmosphere of One-ness which has not in it hardship or illness and no pain and tiredness” if he left his egoistic self and shed it. Then union was instant. Then there was no pain and sadness.

 

In my egoistic nafs, the root of pain and sadness was for two reasons. Lack of reliance and lack of gratitude. For every time I wasn’t grateful for a blessing, it was taken from me.

  

The Layering of Generosity

 

خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَلِهِمْ صَدَقَةًۭ تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِم بِهَا وَصَلِّ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ

إِنَّ صَلَوٰتَكَ سَكَنٌۭ لَّهُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ

 

Take from their wealth a sadqa, charity, purifying them and cause them increase in it and bless them.

Indeed, your prayers are a comfort for them.

And Allah is The Hearer of All, The Knower of Everything.

Surah Tauba, Verse 103

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Khud: Accept, O Messenger who completes Messenger-hood (peace be upon you)…

 

Min amwalihim: from their possessions of those who are Al Mudnibeen, sinners and Al Tai’been, the repenters and Al Nadimeen the ones who are regretful, of that which has happened from them because of their going against you, when they asked for your permission that you leave this matter…

 

Sadqatan tuttahirruhum: (Accept) sadqa, the alms above what is obligated, so you purify them from the filth of their nature that they are crazy about, which is love of possessions and the greed of gathering them and increasing them…

 

Wa tuzzakihim biha: by which you cleanse their batin, inner beings, from distractions that hinder them from the taste of spirituality…

 

Wa salle alaihim: and pray for them and ask for their maghfirat, forgiveness for their sins, and pray for them the prayer of all goodness.

 

Inna salaataka: Indeed your prayer and your caring for their states…

 

Sakana al lahum: brings inner peace for their hearts and dignity and calmness and the means of their being steadfast and firmly footed in the Realm of Allah’s Tauheed, His One-ness and Imaan, faith.

 

Wallahu: And Allah, Al Muraqib, The One who watches over them in all their states is…

 

Samee-un: All Hearing of their sincerity and their secret conversations with him…

 

Aleem-un: All Knowing of their intentions and their needs.

After the story of Habeeb in Surah Yaseen, I came across the verse of “no fear no grief” in another instance. It was for the ordinary. It was a promise for the generous!

 

The requisites were two; they were sincere in their certainty that the wealth was never theirs to begin with and their manner, the akhlaq, of the spending. It could not ever hurt the feelings of the recipient.

 

‏ٱلَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَلَهُمْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ثُمَّ لَا يُتْبِعُونَ مَآ أَنفَقُوا۟ مَنًّۭا وَلَآ أَذًۭى ۙ لَّهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ

وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ‎

 

Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah then they don’t follow what they spend with reminders of generosity and not hurt (the recipient) - for them their reward (is) with their Lord, and (there will be) no fear on them and not they will grieve.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 263

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

And give them glad tidings, O Akmal Ar Rusul, O Messenger who completes the Messengers (peace be upon you and your family)

 

Alladina yunfiqoona amwaalahum fi Sabeel illah: to those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah Subhanahu, Mu’taqaydeena, believing that they have been, indeed, given the Vice-regency of Allah in wealth, (knowing) they are not actually the possessors of it…

 

Summa la yutmi’oona maa anfaqu manna-oun wa la adan: then don’t follow up the spending with reminders of their kindness and not hurting them (the recipients) because it is their faith that they are Allah’s Khalifas and His Successors…

Lahum ajrun aynda Rabbihim: for them is a reward with their Lord, The One who chose them as a Vice-regent, of which no one from His Creation comprehends how much exactly that (reward) will be and of what type.

 

Wa: After that they spent in the way mentioned (above)…

 

La khaufan alayhim: there will be no fear upon them of accountability or the punishment of the Hereafter…

 

Wa la hum yahzanoon: and nor will they grieve of the missing of the reward. Indeed, for them with their Lord is that reward such that no eye has seen and no ear has heard and no heart of a human being has any inkling of it.

 

This verse in Al Baqarah was the reason it was believed that the generous would be forgiven anything and everything in the Afterlife. “There was fear of accountability upon them” on that Day.

 

If done right, again dictated by manner, Allah Subhanahu, Al Mughni, would consider it a loan. Again it was for a sadqa, after the giving of obligatory Zakat.

 

وَأَقْرِضُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًۭا ۚ‎

 

An lend Allah a good loan

Surah Al Muzzammil, Verse 20

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa: And after the giving of Zakat, charity which is obligated…

 

Aqridu Allaha: give Allah a loan, who is Al Qadir, All Powerful, Al Muqtadir, The Omnipotent, upon the giving of different kinds of blessings and favours because He counts the additional charity and different types of giving like the construction of mosques and inns for travelers and apart from this, whatever is related to that which benefits the Muslims which is only related to spending of wealth…

 

Qardan hasana: a good loan, without mixing in it reminders of your generosity or causing them pain (while giving it or after) and telling others about it and showing off and feeling proud and such kinds of wishes.

 

Becoming generous, though, seemed to be the greatest challenge for the nafs. I had seen people give up alcohol even though there were long phases in their life that they were dependent on it. I saw them give up zina, adultery, even though it had become second nature. I saw them give up all overt sins and never return to them.

 

But they could not make themselves generous!

 

The word kufr, appeared in the Quran as much, if not more, in the context of the ungrateful. The one who was the denier of The Bestower of the blessings. Even though gratitude was most easily expressed in generosity. Everything else required time and effort, scarce commodities for even loved ones.

It had nothing to do with wealth. That’s why the poor were the most generous. They gave of what they needed. Anything I ever gave, no matter what it was, never impacted my life. What I did, how I did it. It made no different to my life style. I cut back on things late in life. But only after I got tired of them because I had my fill.

 

The one who gave of what they needed for themselves, they, however, were in a category of the people for whom verses were revealed; the Ahl e Beit being the most honoured of them all!

 

وَیُطۡعِمُونَ ٱلطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ مِسۡكِینࣰا وَیَتِیمࣰا وَأَسِیرًا

إِنَّمَا نُطۡعِمُكُمۡ لِوَجۡهِ ٱللَّهِ لَا نُرِیدُ مِنكُمۡ جَزَاۤءࣰ وَلَا شُكُورًا

 

And they feed the food in spite of their desire for it, to the needy, and the orphan and the captive,

(saying in their hearts)

"We only feed you for the sake (of) Allah. We desire no reward from you and no thanks.”

Surah Al Insan, Verse 8-9

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa: And by the extreme drowning of their deep occupation with the seeing of His Honourable Essence…

 

Yuti’moona at’ta’ama: they give their own food i.e. the rizq, sustenance, superficial and spiritual, which is being given from Subhanahu for strength and to sustain, and in heartily welcoming and honouring…

 

Ala hubbihi: in deep love of Allah, desiring His Pleasure…

 

Miskeena: to the poor, he lives in poverty which has distressed from to asking for help and for a need…

 

Wa yateeman: and the orphan for whom has come weakness and it has made him obliged towards insufficiency…

 

Wa aseeran: and the prisoner, whose being brought down to his knees has made him submissive and disgraced and has made him needful of being taken care of and mercy upon him.

Ghaus Pak’s (ra) definitions of the there in need, the miskeen, the yateem, the aseer were spell-binding. Each expression was the epitome of sensitivity and softness.

 

The incident as narrated by Hazrat Ibn e Abbas (ratu) from the Tasfeer e Jilani:

 

Indeed, Imam Hassan (as) and Hussain (as) (Allah’s Prayers and Salutations upon their grandfather and their parents and them) became sick from an terrible sickness so Rasool Allah (peace and salutations upon him by His Lord) came to call upon them with his companions.

 

So they said, “Ya Abal Hassan (as)! If you keep a mannat, (a promise to Subhanahu that if so and so happens, I will do so and so) for the health of your children,” hence Imam Ali and Bibi Fatima (salutations and prayers upon them and Nabi Kareem and their sons) made the promise, as well as Fidda, the servant of Bibi Fatima (as) to fast for three days if they become well. Then they became healthy and they fasted and they had nothing with them so Imam Ali (as) took a loan from Shamoon Al Khaibri of three cups of barley.

 

Hazrat Bibi Fatima (as) kneaded the barley and made bread, five as per the count of their family, so they took them in their hands so they could break the fast. Then came to the door a maskeen, a poor person, so they gave him the bread and preferred him over themselves and spent the night tasting nothing except water and they remained in a state of fasting.

 

So this continued and came upon them a yateem, an orphan, so they preferred him as they did (before) and they fasted again and did the third day what they did before. So came an aseer, a prisoner, so they gave him (the bread) and spent the night without food.

 

Then descended Gibrael (as) with this verse and he said, “This is from Allah for your Ahl e Bait, (members of your household), Ya Nabi Allah, O Prophet of God (salutations and greetings upon you from Him constantly). Then they hid this amongst themselves and they prayed after they performed such a virtuous act, desiring Allah’s Pleasure and being steadfast upon His Religion and His obedience and in loving to meet him. Thus descended (the verse) about them according to what they intended:

 

Innama nut’imukum: We did not give you to eat, O Al Muhtaajoon, those in need, except…

 

Li wajhillah: for the love of Allah Al Kareem, The Most Generous, desiring His Pleasure because…

 

La nureedu minkum jaza’an: we don’t want a reward from you for this exchange …

 

Wa la shakooran: and no thanks. We are not concerned with either doing a favour or receiving gratitude.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

It made me happy to read the verse just as it made me cry. My mother used to give to the poor what she needed. I used to resent it as a child. As a grown up I see how it was the most extraordinary of blessings to witness it. Her sigh of regret when someone on the road asked her for alms and she had no change. That sigh that I would learn later could be exchanged for “the best of life!” She would raise her hand to her head, like Jinnah Sahib, lowering it to express her heart-felt apology. And I would just stare at her…

 

Just as the Quran emphatically dispels the delusion of Man that in wealth lies honour and in poverty humiliation. For one reason; the insatiable love for money!

 

كَلَّاۖ

بَل لَّا تُكۡرِمُونَ ٱلۡیَتِیمَ

وَلَا تَحَـٰۤضُّونَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ ٱلۡمِسۡكِینِ

وَتَأۡكُلُونَ ٱلتُّرَاثَ أَكۡلࣰا لَّمࣰّا

وَتُحِبُّونَ ٱلۡمَالَ حُبࣰّا جَمࣰّا

 

Nay! But you do not honor the orphan.

And you don’t feel the urge to feed the poor.

And you consume heritances (of others) with devouring greed.

And you love wealth with boundless love.

Surah Al Fajr, Verse 17-20

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Then said Subhanahu:

 

Kalla: Nay, denying what Man thinks about this belief of his that honour is in ease and abundance and humiliation is in lack of something and poverty…

 

Bal: instead, honour is with spending and with feeding the poor of Allah, desiring His Pleasure, and you, who consider yourselves rich…

 

La tukrimoona al yateem: you do not honour the orphan and you do not look for him to feed him and to clothe him.

 

Wa la tahaa’addoona: And you do not inspire each other i.e. you do not urge others…

 

Ala ta’amil miskeen: upon feeding the needy and doing it continuously.

 

Wa: And you, those who consider yourselves rich…

 

Ta’kaloona at turaath: you devour the inheritance i.e. especially the inheritance of orphans…

 

Akalan lamma: with devouring greed i.e. eating it upon the way of gathering your share and their share such that you take and become the caretaker of their wealth so that you can become the guardians of their wealth and you promote that to gain more of them and you eat from it and from their accounts forever.

 

Wa: And this is because you all…

 

Tuhibboona al maala hubban: love money with boundless love, a lot, with a greed intense and a hope extreme and you do not feed the needy and the destitute, fearful that it (your wealth) will decrease.

 

Peace of mind was only a consequence of gratitude. The first line of the Quran is a testament to that. A secret is unveiled. The only other guarantor of it was humility. Even harder and entirely elusive! If I ever wanted to know the state of a person’s heart, I could see it within a day of being around them. Sometimes just on the phone through their voice.

 

For as soon as one is unhappy, the first thing to go is generosity.

 

The day he declared his enemity towards Mankind, Shaitaan promised Subhanahu one thing that he knew would render him victor. The ordinary would never reach a state of la khaufun alayhim wa la yahzanoon, they feel no fear and upon them is no grief, because they would never be generous. Hence they would forever be sad.

 

وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَكِرِينَ ‎

And You will not find most of them grateful - Surah Al Araaf, Verse 17

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

La tajidu: You will not find, Ya Muizzu, O You who is The Bestower of Honour to everybody else in in humiliation and The One directing the astray to the Right Path…

 

Aksarahim Shakireen: most of them to be grateful when they will return towards, (they will be not be) the grateful ones, spending from what You bestowed them of blessings on what You commanded them not to do.

 

Except the few; the Mukhliseen!

 

Ghaus Pak (ra) had defined to the tee the layering behind that ingratitude. It was not about not spending on those who needed assistance. It was spending on that which was commanded against.

 

For those Mubazzirreen, the wasteful, were whom the Quran called the “brothers of Shaitaan.”

 

إِنَّ ٱلۡمُبَذِّرِینَ كَانُوۤا۟ إِخۡوَنَ ٱلشَّیَـٰطِینِۖ

وَكَانَ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنُ لِرَبِّهِۦ كَفُورࣰا

 

Indeed, the squanderers are brothers of the devils.

And Shaitaan is to his Lord ungrateful.

Surah Al Isra, Verse 27

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Then said Subhanahu:

 

Innal mubazzireena: Indeed, the spendthrifts, the ones who spend of their wealth to show off and to like being spoken of by others or tell them personally…

 

Kanu ikhwana ash shayateen: they are the brothers of the Shaitaan i.e. they are similar to them and followers of them in the spending of possessions bestowed by Allah towards on the things which it should not have been spent and on those undeserving of spending it on and instead, they spend it on what has been forbidden and that which is disliked by the Shaiteen which are alluring them and placing them in delusions.

 

Wa kana ash Shaitaan: And Shaitaan is the one who misleads and the wayward one…

 

Li rabbihi kafoora: for His Lord ungrateful of Allah’s Blessings and he misleads his followers also.

 

Ghaus Pak (ra) would sometimes add the verse of la khaufan alayhim below his tafseer of other verses. It was how he indicated for me that the category could be entered. Another time I found it below for the faithful who were in that constant striving to reform themselves. They were rendered the state so desperately sought of the Saliheen.

 

The only category of believers that Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his family) sends salam, salutations of peace upon, in the sala’t.

 

Perhaps that is why the deeds that cause self-correction are “branches and necessities of faith.”

 

وَٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ لَنُدۡخِلَنَّهُمۡ فِی ٱلصَّـٰلِحِینَ

 

And those who believe and do righteous deeds We will surely admit them among the righteous.

Surah Al Ankaboot, Verse 9

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Walladina aamano: And those who attained to faith from them in the Abode of Testing, (this world), while they are sincere…

 

Wa amilo salihaat: and they do good deeds to complete their faith and to perfect it because doing good deeds are imaan, faith’s, necessities and its branches…

 

Lanudkhilannahum: surely We enter them when the will return towards Us…

 

Fi: in the group of the fortunate ones…

 

As Saliheen: Al Maqboleen, the accepted ones, Al Amineen, the ones who are given peace, Al Mustabshireen, the ones who received glad tidings.

 

Then the verse appeared below:

 

لَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَیۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ یَحۡزَنُونَ

 

There will be no fear upon then and not they will grieve.

Surah Yunus, Verse 62

 

It made sense why Shaitaan had pledged we would not be grateful. Not that we would not be worshipping and fasting and running off to pilgrimages several times a year. He could intrude and corrupt all of that. Most of the time worship was imbued in distraction, in entire disconnect with the heart anyway.

 

On top of that ugliness of manner, unawareness around behaviour, carelessness in approach was making all that “worship” only harden hearts. All one had to do to reverse that sadness was to be generous. Not even like the blessed Imam (as) and his beloved family who gave what they needed.

 

But perhaps gratitude and generosity were also difficult because deeds were inherently governed by akhlaq, manner, morality, behaviour. Goodness ultimately was a function of character.

  

Akhlaq and Imam Ghazali

 

وَعَنْهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ يَقُولُ:

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الشِّقَاقِ وَالنِّفَاقِ وَسُوءِ الْأَخْلَاقِ

 

Said the Messenger of Allah (salutations and greetings upon him by his Lord),

O my Lord,

I seek refuge from You from hypocricy and the worst of manners.

 

Again it was through Ahmed Javaid Sahib that I heard another reason I ended up in the belly of the whale again and again. I was drawn to the title, “An advice,” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O2y9YgJ16E&t=2964s)

 

It unveiled to me the greatest reason for a human being’s stuckness, regression and failure on a spiritual journey.

 

In a nut-shell he said that all humans are a composite of weaknesses and shortcomings. They could be intellectual or otherwise but that was ok. We tried to address them, we acknowledged them, we were sincere in wanting them to disappear from us. Often we were also successful in weakening them but getting rid of them entirely was unlikely.

 

The lack of success, the failure of the effort, was not necessarily a bad thing. The reason that leeway was allowed was that such weaknesses did not influence one’s relationship with God to the extent that they could create intense despair and hopelessness in regard to Him. Or that they would create a doubt for us in our worship and our level of faith, whatever it is. They posed a problem but to a lesser degree.

 

Then came the kicker!

 

“There is one weakness though, one shortcoming, that can challenge the entire idea and expression of bandagi, being a Servant of Allah, of worship, that can make it entirely meaningless and can prove that it is nothing but false.”

 

Obviously he had me holding my breath.

 

“And that weakness is of akhlaq, behaviour, character, morality. The person who does not, in a state of urgency, keep an eye on the shortcomings of their manners and character, that person should, at the very least, take themselves out of the delusion that they are a Servant of God. This element is what requires supreme focus.”

 

Yikes, I thought. What was he saying? If a person’s behaviour was ugly, they were not even in the category of being a worshipper?

 

“One should have acute awareness of their akhlaqi, behavioural, shortcomings and be vigilant that if they cannot be erased, then they must at least not come in to deed. Because the misfortunate one, the who allows the nafs, who grants their ego those opportunities, thinking nothing of them, to play out those shortcomings in deeds, is, at all times in reality, willing and ready to abandon their relationship with God.”

 

It was in fact much worse than not being a worshipper. It meant that every time my behaviour was insensitive to another, I was in a disconnected state with Subhanahu. But it was the warning that there was a willingness on my part to be in that state which disturbed me the most.

 

“If such shortcomings remain unnoticed or unchecked, then even the Name, Allah, becomes burdensome to hear. Then the sala’t, obligatory prayer, will become a source of increasing wickedness not checking it. Recitation will cause a growing of wrongdoing instead of curbing it.”

 

The lines floored me. It was me, that person who was praying and reading the Quran and “refusing to be guided.” That was why the verses of Shaitaan were appearing in every opening of the Book in Damascus. The shortcomings of akhlaq were many; stubborn-ness was foremost. Beauty was appearing ugly and ugliness was looking beautiful to my nafs.

 

“A person with a weak intellect can be close to Allah. A person who is not able to discern between beauty and ugliness can become His Friend. But a person whose manners are ugly, who is uninterested in being aware of their effect on others, will only face the consequence of being harshly rejected by Him.

 

Playing roles, wearing masks, carrying on a façade for a long period of time creates pressure on the nafs. That is what creates hopelessness and depression. That is what creates paranoia. As soon as the balance of the nafs is disturbed, please be alerted that you are in some sort of akhlaqi disease of in your character. Treat it and everything will be fine.”

 

Being truthful in your relationship with Allah is a channel of joy and peace of mind that is unfathomable. Whatever else my circumstance, if my heart is soaked in love for Him, nothing else is of consequence in terms of my happiness. I will never feel depression, whatever else my shortcomings, because I am bathing in the Fountain of Contentment.”

 

I loved that he gave the solution as he described the dilemma. If the emotional state was unhappy, angry, jittery, held in it fear and sadness, the root was behavioral. Identify that root, he was saying and you would be in the clear.

 

In another lecture of his that I decided to hear, only because I knew nothing about Imam Ghazali, expanded on why akhlaq was the essential element for a human being’s spiritual evolution. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiXVMVqNRBM)

 

“At only 22 Imam Ghazali (ra) was appointed the Dean of the most important educational institute of its era, the Madrassa e Nizamiyya in Baghdad. This was a tremendous feat for a young man that age because it was a time when 200 plus scholars deservedly held the title of Imam before their names.

Upon his joining Imam Ghazli (ra) realized something which forms the foundation of the Sunnat e Anbiya, the practice of the Prophets i.e. to not be satisfied with a given situation. Only the inheritors of Nabi Pak (as) have this attribute in commonality.

 

At the height of his worldly achievement, the young Imam realized that the reality of the faith has been left outside of the study of the religion. Therefore the teaching of the religion had become false. So he left the Madrassa and went to the blessed grave of Syedna Ibrahim (as). There he pledged that he would not use the faith for any worldly reason ever. After that he went to a village and taught children the Quran.

 

Two years later, at the age of 24, he returned again to Baghdad with this principal goal: ‘My shaoor, my state of consciousness, should be not of the intellect and the mind, but of my presence and being.’

 

Why?

 

‘Because,’ he said, ‘the fulfillment of the rights of Allah cannot ever be through the mind but only by way of excellence of one’s akhlaq, behaviour, morality, character.’

 

Javaid Sahib then expounded on the Imam’s thought exactly, emphasizing emphatically that the concept was so alien for the time that he, Javaid Sahib, couldn’t stop wondering how it might have been received in that day by anyone expressing it, much less a 24 year old kid:

 

‘This is what the Imam declared: That because I had come to know that - Haqaiq ki banawat aqli nahi hai, akhlaqi hai – the construction of truth is not intellectual, it is behavioral, therefore I have made it compulsory upon myself that I will take my consciousness of the truth out of the prison of the mind and I will make it the jewel of my being.

 

Of my behavioural being. I will evaluate, reform and correct the essence of my being with this consciousness of the truth.’

He then became the first person to introduce the Khanqahi nizam in education thereby bringing the teachings of the Sufis into the mainstream. Within a span of two years he transformed and elevated the standards of education in that Madrassa to a point where all the needs of a religious education came to be met; the akhlaqi needs, of morality, the knowledge based needs, the spiritual needs.

 

The most extraordinary thing he introduced was that the condition for graduating from the institute was made to be on the basis of the character, the akhlaq, of the student and not their intellect.

 

So even if a child received 100 out of a 100 in all the examinations, they could not progress to the next class. Neither could they graduate based on their numerical performance. It would be a result of their occupation with their morality and behaviour.”

 

That meant someone like me would have to go back to Kindergarten!

 

I came across an incident of the teaching of that character in that Madrassa by chance. The Persian poet Sa'di who studied there recalls clearly his days:

 

“A fellow-student at Nizamiah displayed malevolence towards me, and I informed my tutor, saying: 'Whenever I give more proper answers than he, the envious fellow, becomes offended.’

 

The professor replied: ‘The envy of thy friend is not agreeable to thee, but I know not who told thee that back-biting was commendable. If he seek perdition through the path of envy, thou wilt join him by the path of slander.’”

 

Subhan Allah!

 

At any age, the student was directed back to his own self. Regardless of who was doing what. The child was being trained to focus on their own thought and what those “possibilities” held in them. They were being taught to reflect on their reaction and understand its connection with character. It was beyond amazing!

 

Javaid Sahib then ended: “To summarize the Imam’s (ra) outlook, a sentence was uttered by the young Dean which became inscribed outside the Madrassa, the translation of which is this.”

 

‘Amr ke ilm ko tarjeeh nahin di jaye gi aamir ke zauq par…knowledge of deed will not be given precedence over the gracefulness of manners and behaviour of the doer’

meaning: possession of knowledge of the Shari’a, Islamic Jurisprudence, would not be given preference and importance over one’s presence before The One who was the Owner and the Creator of those laws.

 

Hence the student who would deserve to graduate from Nizamiyya would only be the one who is in huzoor e Haqq i.e. at all times conscious of his own presence before his Lord God. The single evidence of that presence would be in the student’s akhlaq, character. It would not be subject to his thought and states.”

 

For myself who studied in all kinds of schools the idea was astonishing. Imam Ghazali (ra) was astonishing! Only at Oberlin did I witness an emphasis on the ethics of the student.

 

The examination system was on what was called “the honour code.” Professors left the class during the tests, sitting in their offices to take questions. Take home exams, open book or closed, the student was trusted to not cheat. That was pretty incredible.

 

While writing this I looked it up:

 

“At Oberlin, the Honor Code provides the foundation for the intellectual freedom that is encouraged and shared by all members of the academic community and embodies the belief that true academic freedom and discourse can only exist within a framework of honesty, integrity, and responsibility.”

 

Princeton is the only Ivy League with an honour code.

 

Javaid Sahib suggested that reading his autobiography al-Munqidh min al-dalal, (The Deliverer from Waywardness), was a must-read for anyone on the path of purifying the nafs. (ghazali.org/books/md/gz101.htm)

 

Was it any wonder that Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon his perfection and that of his family) said about himself: I was sent to perfect excellence of manners.

The Quran attests to the same in the most ma’roof, well known, verse:

 

‏وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍۢ ‎

 

And truly you possess the most outstanding manners.

Surah Al Qalm, Verse 4

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Wa Innaka: Indeed you, O beloved (peace be upon you), who are the personification of the most perfected adoption of Allah’s Akhlaq, Etiquette and Attributes, and proved to be the most truthful and steadfast in fulfilling your friendship with Allah and in being the most exemplary Vice-regent,…

 

La’ala khuliqin azeem: possess the most excellent of manners. No one’s akhlaq, behavior, is better than yours because you have gathered and brought together the etiquettes of all the ones before and all the ones after, in line with the ranks you were granted, which are the most exalted (of anyone in existence).

 

Just like the words of The Beloved and his family (salutations and greetings upon them by their Lord who raised them with His Lutf, Affection and Karam, Mercy) perfected supplication and made it the jewel of the act of worship, it was the emulation of their behaviour that purified akhlaq, character.

 

Ghaus Pak (ra) described the steps that were required in the striving.

 

Al Fath Ar Rabbani: “The purification of ‘asraar,’ (the plural of sirr, that which is nourished by the Bounty of Allah), come from the absence of thoughts (which are doubts and paranoia).

 

The purification of the souls, arwah, comes from shedding thoughtlessness.

 

The purification of the quloob, (the station in the heart which is the Seat of Recognition of Allah), comes from giving up desires that are forbidden.

 

The purification of the aqool, the power to reflect, lies in the disappearance of ignorance.

 

The purification of the nafoos, the base self, is to abstain from ingratitude and the denial of truth.

 

And the purification of the physical self comes from the avoidance of sins.”

 

I had only come as far as becoming aware and regretful. That regret caused seeking of knowledge to emulate those blessed. There was the path of walking on rocks and thorns, one hand clasping the ego, the other whatever worldly object could be grabbed, slow and painful. Or there was the path of those who felt no fear or grief.

 

I noticed how purification as defined by my Master was all about what not to do; shedding, giving up, disappearance, abstinence, avoidance.

 

Continued on: www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52649555276/in/datepos...

 

Mystery and Surah

Continued from:

www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52650032173/in/datepos...

 

Patience is Beautiful

 

وَلَمَّا بَرَزُوا۟ لِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِۦ قَالُوا۟

رَبَّنَاۤ أَفۡرِغۡ عَلَیۡنَا صَبۡرࣰا وَثَبِّتۡ أَقۡدَامَنَا وَٱنصُرۡنَا عَلَى ٱلۡقَوۡمِ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرِینَ

 

And when they went forth to (face) Jalut and his troops they said,

 

“Our Lord! Pour on us patience and make firm our steps and help us against the people (who are) disbelieving.”

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 250

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa lamma barazu: And when they went forth to face him and came in front of them…

 

Li jalouta wa junudi-hi: Jalut and his army and came near them…

 

Qalu: they said, as the ones focusing towards their Lord, the ones beseeching Him, asking for His Help…

 

Rabba afrigh: O Our Lord, pour, with Your Favour…

 

Alayna sabr-an: and shower upon us patience so we are patient when descend upon us trials from You…

 

Wa sabbit aqdaamana: and make firm our footing in that affliction, seeking Your Raza, Pleasure, upon what You have decreed as fate…

 

Wansurna: and help us in being abiding in Your Command and its fulfillment…

 

Al-al qaum il kafireen: against the people who disbelieve and are ungrateful, who deny Your Favour and Your Blessings. Indeed, You are Aziz ul Hakeem!

 

It was in a class on Surah Yusuf that the verse on patience first appeared. The word associated with it was Jameelun. It is meant to be beautiful:

 

فَصَبۡرࣱ جَمِیلࣱۖ

وَٱللَّهُ ٱلۡمُسۡتَعَانُ عَلَىٰ مَا تَصِفُونَ

 

O patience (is) beautiful. And Allah (is) the One sought for help against what you describe.

Surah Yusuf, Verse 18

 

My cousin Sanya raised a point.

 

“I have never ever experienced patience as beautiful Qari Sahib. It is bitter and it is difficult. It is agonizing.”

 

Then she turned towards us, the others in the class and went down the line.

 

“Who here has experienced sabr as beautiful or practiced it beautifully? Have you?” she asked us, calling us by our names individually as if tallying the score.

 

The nays had it. Maybe one person answered in the affirmative. I was just silent. I was just wondering when I even practiced patience at all?

 

I looked up the verse in my class with Qari Sahib the next day.

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Fa sabrun jameel-un: So be patient beautifully, most beautiful (in your patience), over what you face as a trial.

 

Wallahu al Musta’anu ala: And I only seek help from Allah Al

 

Musta’aan, The One who gives help, against…

 

Ala Ma tasifoon: what you narrate with your tongues, O Al Musrifoona, O Transgressors from His Boundaries, because there is no power to bear what you say without the help of Allah and His Power.

 

I stared at the new Name of Allah Subhanahu that appeared.

 

Al Must’aan. The Only One who gives help. And when? In the verse it said, when they say, who are ignoring of all limits, knowingly or unknowingly, when what they say is hurtful, “because there is no power to bear what you say without the help of Allah and His Power.”

 

A few days later at the shrine, I came across the exact same words sabr-an jameel-an. This time it was in the context of the one who was the perfect manifestation of the Divine Attribute, Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his manner of being patient by his Lord). In the tafseer, Ghaus Pak (ra) described exactly what that patience entailed.

 

فَٱصۡبِرۡ صَبۡرࣰا جَمِیلًا

 

So be patient with gracious patience.

Surah Al Ma’arij, Verse 5

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

And after the revealing of the matter for you:

 

Fasbir: Be patient, O Akmal Ar Rusul, O Messenger who completes Messenger-hood (salutations and greetings upon you and your family by As Saboor Himself), upon the different kinds of pain from your enemies and their mockery…

 

Sabran jameel-an: with a patience beautiful, without the mix of unease and distress and dissatisfaction and displeasure and a haste for revenge, expecting to punish them due to their disrespecting you. For indeed, the one who is your enemy, soon will reach them a punishment promised.

 

Despite having quoted a hadith endlessly, for the first time in my life it made sense to me why patience was one of the two pillars upon which the religion stood. Why exercising it beautifully only meant one thing; a surrender to what was destined to happen. That surrender is what made it only a boon.

 

Just like the blessing was a trial, surrender made the trial a blessing!

 

And most remarkably, why the word used by Nabi Kareem (Subhanahu sends salutations and greetings upon as As Saboor) for the person who would be successful in the endeavor was “amazing!”

 

Ajban!

 

عن صهيب قال رسولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم:

عَجَبًا لأمرِ المؤمنِ إِنَّ أمْرَه كُلَّهُ لهُ خَيرٌ

وليسَ ذلكَ لأحَدٍ إلا للمُؤْمنِ

إِنْ أصَابتهُ سَرَّاءُ شَكَرَ فكانتْ خَيرًا لهُ

وإنْ أصَابتهُ ضَرَّاءُ صَبرَ فكانتْ خَيرًا لهُ

 

Said the Prophet of God (salutations and greetings be upon him and his family),

“Amazing is the state of the Believer (Mo’min).

In all his matters is goodness and this is for no one except the Believer.

If happiness reaches him, he expresses gratitude so that is good for him.

And if comes to him adversity, he is patient so that is good for him.”

 

I looked up Allah Subhanahu’s Name – As Saboor: “The One who is most patient and enduring. He does not act hastily but rather waits until the proper time. He does not punish the disobedient and those who didn’t believe in Him. He allows time for them to repent or an opportunity to take the right path.”

 

And what did it mean for me?

 

From the root, suad, be, ra which has the following classical Arabic connotations: to be patience, to be enduring, to endure trial or affliction with good manner, to be contented in trial or affliction without show of complaint, to make no distinction between comfort and affliction, to bear calmly, to persevere cheerfully, to be steadfast, constant, to restrain.

 

The first time the opportunity presented itself for me to exercise that patience and to do so beautifully was whilst writing this piece in Karachi. In a house that I had visited for 35 years and therefore considered my own. A young staff member, who had been working there for a couple of years and was clearly in full possession of Shaitaan, had lost control of his tongue and therefore his tone.

 

The first time I noticed it I didn’t get a chance to react because the owner of the house, my friend, was in the room. She didn’t react so neither did I. The second time though I had asked him for something and he was giving me monosyllabic answers in a voice that reaching the absolute pinnacle of rudeness.

 

In my surprise I said to him on the phone, as we were on the home intercom, “Please control your tone and watch the manner in which you speak to me.”

 

Instead of saying what I expected, which was either denial or that I had misunderstood etc., he turned around and repeated his words with an even more adamant voice.

 

On the verse of losing my temper, I started to say, “Come upstairs…” when my friend’s therapist, who was also in the room, grabbed the phone from me saying, “Don’t! It’s not worth it.”

 

I went to my room in more bewilderment than rage and started thinking about how best to blast him to hell and back. But then a lecture I had heard recently kept coming to my head which kept negating my fury against the young man.

 

I had begun listening to an elderly gentleman called Ahmed Javaid Sahib. He spoke only in Urdu and it was the most refined and therefore difficult Urdu I had ever heard in my life. I had been introduced to him by my mother’s friend Ahad a few years ago.

 

I had tried to hear his talks then but felt I couldn’t comprehend anything so abandoned it. The other deterrent at the time was also that Ahmed Javaid Sahib’s lectures had extremely complicated titles. He was heavy into philosophy and they would start with words like epistemology of this and that. I avoided those completely.

 

His other favourite topic was poetry. He could spend an hour and a half dissecting a single couplet of Ghalib or Maulana Rum (ra). I didn’t hear those either. My vocabulary, tragically minimal in Urdu, prevented it. He was clearly brilliant though so I kept listening.

 

His sentences would be long. We had that in common but it wasn’t working in my favour. When I decided I wanted a few lines for this piece, translating them with Qari Sahib would take ages. It made me realize Urdu wasn’t like Arabic. In Arabic thoughts were expressed such that the words would sequentially describe the thought. In Urdu it was the reverse. The last part of the thought would appear first so going word by word didn’t work. In any case, I began.

 

Once he said about Nabi Kareem that it was not possible for the ordinary to know the realities of the person of the one who was second to Allah Subhanahu in the Universe (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by Al Wudood and His Angels). However, certain characteristics were identified as steadfastly placed in the core of his exalted nature:

 

1.Haya – modesty

2.Sakha – generosity

3.Murrawwat - affection

 

And this was the one that had floored me. The description of the virtue was given in this manner:

 

“Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by Ar Raheem, uniquely Merciful for him) refrained at all times from embarrassing anyone. Such that even if he was upset with someone, he only expressed it as a signal. He never criticized anyone by name in front of others, always generalizing the admonition. ‘Why are people doing such and such things?’ he would say and the ones doing it would realize it was them. But he never took names…”

 

4.Tawadda’a – humility

 

Murrawwat!

 

In Karachi because of the incident, I noticed how I was different in my nature. 10 years ago I would have yelled at my friend, blasted the kid, packed my bags and left for Lahore. Instead I slept on it.

 

The verse returned to me and I saw what lay ahead. The possibility of patience being sweet instead of bitter!

 

فَصَبۡرࣱ جَمِیلࣱۖ

وَٱللَّهُ ٱلۡمُسۡتَعَانُ عَلَىٰ مَا تَصِفُونَ

 

O patience (is) beautiful. And Allah (is) the One sought for help against what you describe.

Surah Yusuf, Verse 18

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Fa sabrun jameel-un: So be patient beautifully, most beautiful (in your patience), over what you face as a trial.

 

Wallahu al Musta’anu ala: And I only seek help from Allah Al Musta’aan, The One who gives help, in…

Ala Ma tasifoon: what you narrate with your tongues, O Al Musrifoona, O transgressors from His Boundaries, because there is no power to bear what you say without the help of Allah and His Power.

 

What did I really want anyway, I asked myself. For a poor person to get fired? No. For him to be publicly reprimanded. Perhaps yes. But then was that murrawwat? Definitely not. All I was feeling was a false sense of dignity. Undeniably courtesy of Shaitaan. It was his preferred modus operandi.

 

So I let it go. I surrendered the matter, telling myself that I guess the worst case scenario was that I might not come back to the house.

 

One thing I did, at the advice of an elder in Lahore, was to avoid the person. So as not to put myself in a situation where he might be rude again because it was clearly no longer in his control. I knew what was going on in his head. He was taking care of the person who was most important person in the house. Who was also unwell. Even though he wasn’t doing anything that any other person couldn’t have done easily, Satan had whispered to him what he whispers to everyone who has an “important” job in a house.

 

“You are indispensable, indisposable. Do what you want. No one can do anything to you!”

 

There was a verse in the Quran that attested to it.

 

وَإِذۡ زَیَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنُ أَعۡمَـٰلَهُمۡ وَقَالَ لَا غَالِبَ لَكُمُ ٱلۡیَوۡمَ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَإِنِّی جَارࣱ لَّكُمۡۖ

 

And when made attractive to them the Shaitaan their deeds and he said, "No (one) (can) overcome you today from the people and indeed, I am a neighbor for you.

 

Surah Al Anfal, Verse 48

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa: And overall what help comes against you all (O Believers) and aid comes against you all (i.e. to harm you), that is only the deception of Shaitaan with vain hopes and his allurement towards your enemies (the opponents i.e. the deniers of truth), (supposedly) to help you by that misleading becoming a curse for them. Remember (O Mo’mineen)…

 

Id zayyana: when it was made beautiful and appealing…

 

Lahum Ash Shaitaan amaalahum: for them (the deniers of truth) their deeds by Shaitaan i.e. their enemity with you and their warfare with you.

 

Wa qala: And he said, Shaitaan, in fighting you, inspiring their mind with seduction in their state of fear and discouragement through his way of waswasa, paranoia, until they imagined that, certainly, nobody could prevail over them at all, with confidence in the excess of their numbers and their preparation…

 

La ghaliba lakum al youm min an naas: (he whispered), “No one can prevail upon you today from the people and for you all is the controlling and the victory…

 

Wa inni jaarullakum: and indeed, I am certainly your protector, the giver of refuge for you.”

 

It was literally that. His whole aura was so distorted it couldn’t have been anything else. So I let it go. Two days later I noticed a change. He started doing my work without my asking for it so I started thanking him. He started greeting me every time he saw me so I returned his greeting. And just like that, without reaction on my part, everything normalized.

Thus the Quran promises, that indeed, Allah Subhanahu is with the one who are the Sabireen who seek His Help through prayer.

 

یَـٰۤأَیُّهَا ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱسۡتَعِینُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِۚ

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِینَ

 

O you who believed! Seek help through patience and the prayer.

Indeed, Allah (is) with the patient ones.

Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 153

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Then indeed, He, at the time when Allah Subhanahu placed extreme emphasis on admonition and instruction and called out to them in hope that they would become aware, even though their original nature is based upon the Essence of Tauheed, One-ness so He said:

 

Ya ayyahalladina aamano: O ye who attained to faith with the Essence of Tauheed…

 

Ista’eenu: seek help, the true reality of which and its unveiling…

 

Bis sabr: is with patience upon that which came to you from the repulsive mishaps of your nafs, selves…

 

Wa sala’t: and prayer i.e. the inclination towards the focus upon His Essence with all of your organs and parts.

 

Innallaha: Indeed Allah is Al Mu’abbir, The One who is expressed as being the Only One who is…

 

Ma’a as Sabireen: with the ones who practice patience, Al Mutahammileena, the ones who bear the burdens of their trials until they are delivered from them.

 

Then Ghaus Pak (ra) prays: “O Lord! Make us of them by Your Fazl, Bounty and your Karam, Generosity!”

 

That was the thing about the prayers of the Chosen. They were always about asking Subhanahu to just make us the way He wanted us to be. Without the striving, without the toiling. Like Kun Fayakun. Be and so it was!

 

Kun lana kama kunta lahum – Make us how You made them!

  

What is a Dua – The Secret of the Supplication

 

وَقُل رَّبِّ أَدْخِلْنِى مُدْخَلَ صِدْقٍۢ

وَأَخْرِجْنِى مُخْرَجَ صِدْقٍۢ

وَٱجْعَل لِّى مِن لَّدُنكَ سُلْطَـٰنًۭا نَّصِيرًۭا

 

And say (in your prayer O Beloved), “O my Sustainer!

Cause me to enter (in whatever I do) in a manner, true and sincere,

and cause me to leave it in a manner true and sincere.

And grant me of from Your Presence, a sustaining support.

Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 80

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

O one who is on the path of Allah, O worshipper, and after that you reached towards it, (the station of Maqam e Mahmood), there will not be remaining for you a (higher) rank of completion and guidance but instead you are now completed and are the guided one.

 

When revelations come to you and permission is granted to you by Subhanahu, you will become a perfect Murshid, guide, for the people with shortcomings, incomplete, interceding for them by the Permission of Allah, for their deliverance from the compulsions of imkaan, possibilities, that lead one to the pitfalls of fire and you will make even them reach the atmosphere of heavens with the ability granted by Allah to you and to them.

 

Wa: And after your reaching from your striving and your struggling and the different times of waking up at night and your praying during the nights by the ability granted by Allah and the ease He gave you so that you reached the stations exalted and the ranks high …

 

Qul: say, beseechingly, to your Lord, seeking refuge from Him, focusing towards him as the desirer of the highest standard of capability and being firmly placed in the station which you have reached by His granted ability and His Help…

 

Rabbi: O my Lord who raises me by different types of Lutf, Kindnesses and Karam, Mercy…

 

Adkhilni: Make me enter by Your Fazl, Bounty and Jood, Generosity…

 

Modkhala sidq-in: the entrance of truth and the destination of being settled and it is the Place of Tauheed, One-ness, free of all kinds of additions and excesses and make me be in it forever without fluctuation and without staining…

 

Wa akhrij-ni: and make me exit the demands of my selfishness and my identity for the atmosphere of dissolution which connects to the honour of ever-lastingness and meeting (The Divine)…

 

Mukhraja sidq-in: the exit of truth without hesitation and shaking…

 

Waj’al-i: and assign for me in the moment of my ego quarreling with me, overcoming me with wrongdoing…

 

Mil ladunka sultan-an: from Your Authority i.e. proven in a way that nothing can overrule it, clearly revealed, witnessed in totality, so it becomes…

 

Naseera: a helper who helps me against my enemies and frees me from their grip in the moment that they attack me.

 

The reality of the supplication also came to me via one of Ahmed Javaid Sahib’s lectures. I had clicked upon a talk by him on the Imam Zain ul Abideen (as), the blessed son of Imam Hussain (as) and the sole male survivor of Karbala. He had spent the rest of his life, until her passing, with his aunt, Hazrat Bibi Zainab (as). My relationship with her formed the essence of my entire spiritual and worldly existence.

 

Unknowingly after my first visit to Damascus in 2010 and in totality since the second in 2022!

 

In the lecture, Javaid Sahib spoke at length about the blessed Imam’s (as) supplications and because of that he defined what it, a dua, is. It was something that I had never paid much attention to at all mostly because I didn’t ask for things in my prayers. I had memorized certain ones from the Quran that Allah Subhanahu had taught His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him and his family and the words they are taught to speak by their Lord).

 

I connected with the words here and there but not with much emphasis. I just picked a few, learnt them and it became a habit to recite them at some point once a day. I didn’t know until now that even those inattentive utterances had been having an impact. That every single word of the Quran and every sentence of Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon his speech and that of his blessed family) holds in it a ta’seer, an effect.

 

Just recently the dua that had come my way from Ghaus Pak (ra) had transformed my life. Even that was putting it mildly. Hence I was acutely interested in understanding more about what it really was.

 

Javaid Sahib said that the supplication was the core of worship and there was nothing more powerful than it. The ask, when one’s need, was in synchronicity in its words with those most beloved to Allah Subhanahu, fulfilled the demands of worship like no other act would or could. More so it raised the possibility of its being answered and there was nothing more extraordinary.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

“Dua, (and the supplications of those especially loved and favoured by Allah Subhanahu especially the Ahle Beit), offered in a daily routine, is what opens the door towards the path which leads to the essence of the way of worship of Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by The Only One who answers prayers).

 

Imam Zain ul Abedin’s (as) prayers are the saplings for nisbat, association, with the duas Nabi Pak’s (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by Allah Al Wudood), with his invocations before His Lord, who raised him like He raised no other.”

 

Then he defined what a dua is:

 

“What is a dua? Dua is the jauhar e bandagi, the jewel of the act of worship, that is felt in its entirety and expressed in totality.

 

The jauhar e bandagi, the jewel of worship, its essence is felt in perfection in the asking for help and it is expressed in perfection as worship by the tongue in words. So both elements required are present and fulfilled (in the Surah Fatiha which is also recited in the beginning of each rak’at of the five prayers):

 

إِیَّاكَ نَعۡبُدُ وَإِیَّاكَ نَسۡتَعِینُ

 

You Alone we worship and You Alone we ask for help.

Surah Fatiha, Verse 5

 

(Iyyaka na’budu and Iyyaka nasta-een)

 

The essence of that act of worship, the way that it is felt when it is uttered, this feeling and its expression on that level does not exist in in any other routine of zikr azkaar, ways of remembering Allah and tasbeehat, His Praise.

 

So if we learn how to make the dua correctly i.e.

1.we begin to learn the reason that the dua is needed by us

2.and then express that need with the utmost humility

3.and with the certainty of Subhanahu’s Mercy before His Presence,

4.if we express it beautifully,

 

then we have been successfully able to internalize the act of worship from its foundation to its perfection.

 

That is how important a dua is. There is nothing else in the Universe that is equal to the dua, the supplication, in terms of encompassing within it in totality the jauhar e bandagi, the jewel of the act of worship. Through it one receives the ma’rifat, the recognition of its haqeeqat. Through the dua one recognizes the reality of worship. It is what opens the way which creates a nisbat, connection, of one’s appearance directly before The Divine.

 

Otherwise all other forms of worship, other than the dua, have the element of the intellect and the mind prevailing upon them (nisbat e zehni). While in the dua is the nisbat e wujoodi, the connection of the essence of the being.”

 

“One’s appearance directly before The Divine!” It was Javaid Sahib again who had told me what there were different chariots that Allah Subhanahu had created Himself to allow closeness with Him. One was shukr, gratitude. One was sabr, patience. Another was ilm, the pursuit of knowledge. There was charity etc. But the chariot that was the fastest, that brought a person, anyone, before their Lord, instantly, was tauba. Repentance! Ikhlas, sincerity, was the pre-requisite for all the chariots to move at all.

 

It made me wonder: was repentance then just a kind of supplication? It was! Because when a person admitted fault and wept over it, recognized the transgression with deep remorse, it was in fact a supplication. Because the repentance, inherently and intrinsically, held within its expression the ask of forgiveness.

 

On my way to Damascus in November, I had come across a dua of Syeda Bibi Fatima Az Zahra (as). I had been perusing a book on the bedside table of my friend’s house in Karachi. It was a book of supplications. Then I didn’t know anything about the power prayer held in it. The page had opened to a dua that was hers. I came across anything related to her person so rarely I had just stared at it. Then I took a picture of the page and memorized the words.

 

اللهم إني أسألك بوجهك الكريم واسمك العظيم ، أن تصلّي على محمدٍ وآل محمد ،

وأن تغفر لي ذنبي العظيم

 

O my Lord! Indeed I ask you for the sake of Your Most Merciful Essence and Your Exalted Name to send your salutations and greetings and praise upon Muhammad (saw) and his blessed family (as)

and to forgive me my greatest sin.

 

That was before my debacle. Every time I would recite the words, I thought two things. Why was there a plea for Subhanahu to send blessings upon Nabi Pak (salutations and greetings upon him) and the Ahl e Beit when He was already doing it continuously? And what was the danb-i adeem, my gravest sin?

 

I asked Qari Sahib the first.

 

He said, “This is because they know that Subhanahu is The Only One who fulfills the right of the sending of those salutations upon His Beloved and their family because He is the Only One who knows His Beloved’s reality and by extention theirs. Many scholars including Abu Muhammad Marjani says in his tafseer that the benefit of sending the salutation only returns upon one’s own self. Thus it becomes as if you are praying for your self. That is why it is considered the afdal prayer, the best one.”

 

Subhan Allah!

 

My gravest sin changed every single day to something new. But I had just discovered the one that had existed in continuum, coating all the other layerings; shirrk. Those hopes I had of others that melted into the fire of possibilities in my head, poisoning my heart with expectations, was what had always been my greatest sin. I was so deeply sorry about it that weeping over it from now till the day I died couldn’t express that regret.

 

But Allah is Al Barro, Kind, so He would let me forget that sin, even that gravest one of all!

 

إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْبَرُّ ٱلرَّحِيمُ

 

He, He, is the Most Kind, the Most Merciful.

Surah At Tur, Verse 28

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Indeed, Allah Subhanahu…

 

Huwal Barro: He is Al Mohsin, Kind, Al Makhsoos, The Only Benefactor, Al Munhasir, The Only One who exclusively possesses this quality of Ehsaan, Kindness and Inaam, bestowing blessings…

 

Ar Rahim: The Most Abundantly Merciful and giving of bounty to the Saileen, the ones who ask, the Mo’mineen, the believers, the Al Mustahiqqeen, the ones deserving, so Allah responds and answers, by His Kindness, our asks of Him. And He fulfills our hopes according to His Immense Generosity and Mercy.

 

I started thinking about the two kinds of forgetting. There was a forgetting that Allah Subhanahu Himself created for a human being. Then there was the forgetting that Shaitaan made a person do. What was the difference between them?

 

One thing was certain. When Subhanahu allowed a person to forget a wrong, it only created more mindfulness. Taqwa became raised out of the gratitude that the sin became forgotten. Forgotten by the mind, the heart and erased in the recording of deeds that held consequence in both places; the world and the Hereafter. Its result was tranquility because the expression of gratitude became intensified. Charity increased. Sensitivity and thoughtfulness for others heightened.

 

Shaitaan’s forgetfulness was ghaflat. It was neglectfulness and unawareness. Its consequence was of veils thick and curtains heavy. Over the heart as well as the ears and the eyes. It accentuated restlessness. It worsened behaviour because it was layered upon an attitude of persistent stubborn-ness and arrogance.

 

Since time immemorial, Shaitaan was in a constant, never-ending race against himself in trying to emulate what was ordained by Subhanahu for the Children of Adam with a singular goal; to see how he could warp Divine Structures and Commands sent for Mankind.

 

A verse in the Quran that said that about him. Whatever Allah made he would alter and corrupt and never stop doing it.

 

وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمۡ وَلَأُمَنِّیَنَّهُمۡ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمۡ فَلَیُبَتِّكُنَّ ءَاذَانَ ٱلۡأَنۡعَـٰمِ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمۡ فَلَیُغَیِّرُنَّ خَلۡقَ ٱللَّهِۚ

 

And I will surely mislead them and surely arouse desires in them, and surely I will order them so they will surely cut off (the) ears (of) the cattle

and surely I will order them so they will surely change (the) Creation (of) Allah."

Surah An Nisa, Verse 119

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wala udillannahum: And I will surely mislead them with different kinds of deceit and whisperings of paranoia from the Path of Your Tauheed, One-ness…

 

Wala ummanniyannahum: and arouse false aspirations in them which relate to their livelihood in the abode of deception (the world), amongst them being greed and never ending hopes and all kinds of wishes of the nafs, the base self, and what is attractive for it…

 

Wala umarannahum: and I will command them with the changing of that which You have generated and (command them to) find faults in what You created and the breaking down of what You have invented…

 

Fala yubattikunna: so surely they will cut off and definitely tear…

 

A’adanal anaam: the ears of cattle and the nose of the horses (for their gods) and other such deeds which they will do with Your Creation without the permission (necessary) of Jurisprudence…

 

Wala aamorannahum falayughayyarunna khalqallah-i: and I will order them to change the Creation of Allah with my control over them and my consoling and sympathy with them until they change what was created upon the demands of the Wisdom of Divine Commands, which is made to arise upon the nature set by Allah and (as a result of my order) they will deviate from the path of balance and stability.

 

Endless examples came to my mind. The one that was appearing again and again on Drudge the week I wrote this was about living endlessly. The obsession of the billionaire was to never die. They were pouring a portion of their wealth into start-ups to make that happen. That had started years ago. I had written about it years ago.

 

Now even the ordinary had started believing it might happen. And rightly enough were terrified by the possibility (futurism.com/elderly-billionaires-immortal-compounding-we...).

 

Yet that same evil, conniving, hypocrite that Shaitaan was, when push came to shove and he saw defeat in front of him in the moment that it was about to appear, he turned and ran the other way. The betrayal was expected but even then the manner of it was unbelievable. As he ran abandoning his followers, he even declared loudly and clearly his separation from them:

 

Unlike them, he feared Allah!

 

إِنِّیۤ أَخَافُ ٱللَّهَۚ

 

Indeed, I [I] fear Allah.

Surah Al Anfal, Verse 48

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Inni akhaafullah: Indeed I am fearful of Allah, of His Qahr Wrath and His Ghadab, Anger.

 

I can’t help but wonder if asking for that forgiveness of my most serious sin invoking the exact words of the person who Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his family who are purified by Subhanahu Himself) said was a part of him, what pleased her pleased him, that she would enter Paradise first, his beloved daughter, brought everything to unfold as it did.

 

When I was translating Ahmed Javaid Sahib’s lecture into English Qari Sahib remarked:

 

“In other forms of worship, no one knows whether one is fasting or reading the Darood or giving charity or not. But in making the dua, the hands being held up towards one’s Lord, that simple act itself creates a connection of the physical being with Allah.”

 

Javaid Sahib’s lecture continued: “No wonder Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his beloved family which reverberate in the Universe) said:

 

عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ

الدُّعَاءُ مُخُّ الْعِبَادَةِ

 

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Prophet, (peace and blessings be upon him and his family who witnessed their Lord in each prayer) said,

“Supplication is the essence of worship.”

 

Subhan Allah!

 

“Dua is the only reason for the state of what is born in the heart of worship and what is needed as the fundamental strength for the cause of perfection in the expression of worship. In the whole life cycle of worship, dua is the deed which creates the greatest ability to cause self-contentment for the nafs.

 

No person can, with all of their qalb, their heart within the heart, with complete intention, with the totality of the nafs and everything in words, learn anything through worship unless he creates a connection with Nabi Pak’s (saw) supplications emotionally, needfully, and his words.

 

It is imperative that one makes the level of that connection with him so strong that the need mentioned in his prayer is also their need. The needs have to be the same.”

 

Even the “Ameen” was necessary. I had read once that Shaitaan tried hard to prevent a worshipper from say the word. The one inserted at the end of Surah Fatiha in each ruk’u. For Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his blessed family) said that the angels also said it.

 

عن أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏أَنّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، ‏‏‏‏‏‏قَالَ:

‏‏‏‏ إِذَا أَمَّنَ الْإِمَامُ فَأَمِّنُوا،

‏‏‏‏‏‏فَإِنَّهُ مَنْ وَافَقَ تَأْمِينُهُ تَأْمِينَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ

 

As narrated by Hazrat Abu Huraira (ratu) that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said,

“When the Imam says ‘Ameen’ say ‘Ameen’. Verily it is that the one whose ‘Ameen’ is in resonance with that of the angels, he will be forgiven that which had preceded in his sins.”

 

If the one in harmony with an angel was forgiven preceding sins, what lay in store for the one in synchronicity with those beloved to Allah!

 

The notion brought another prayer to my mind. It was also a prayer I had come across by chance. In the words of the blessed Imam Ali (as).

 

It was a long prayer. There were parts of it that struck my heart. One of those that I then memorized was this:

 

وَافْتَحِ اللّـهُمَّ لَنا مَصاريعَ الصَّباحِ بِمَفاتيحِ الرَّحْمَةِ وَالْفَلاحِ

 

O my Lord!

 

Open for us the doors of the morning with the keys of Mercy and Success.

 

My friend Amir had told me some time last year that he never used to pray the two ra’kat of Sunnah in the dawn prayer, Fajr. Until, that is, he read that those two raka’t were considered the most important.

 

I looked up the hadith related by Hazrat Bibi Aisha (ratu) who said that the concentration with which Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his blessed family) prayed the two Sunnah of Fajr exceeded that of all his other prayers:

 

وعنها عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال‏:‏

‏ "‏ركعتا الفجر خير من الدنيا وما فيها‏"‏

‏ وفي رواية لهما لأحب إلي من الدنيا جميعًا‏.‏

 

Hazrat Aishah (ratu) reported:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The two Rak'ah before the dawn (Fajr) prayer are better than this world and all it contains."

 

Another narration goes: "The two Rak'ah before the dawn (Fajr) prayer are dearer to me than the whole world."

 

I had been praying the Fajr prayer for a while but my concentration upon the two Sunnah because of the hadith began to exceed all my other prayers. In that prayer then, in my sajda, I would recite Bibi’s (as) prayer for forgiveness of my greatest sin and the Imam’s (as) prayer for Rahma and Falah as well. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

 

I would be alone. It would be quiet. The doors of the morning would literally be about to open. I wanted them to open for me with the Mercy of the Divine, good fortune and prosperity. I knew those keys were His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him and his family who are the reason all goodness is gifted to this world by their Lord). They were the keys to everything!

 

As I uttered each word with the entire focus of my heart, it would make the beginning of each day extraordinary!

  

They feel no Fear or Grief

 

“The one who was loved by Allah from the beginning, He makes them pure in the world from that which might distract him even for a single moment from His Being.

So indeed, the true lover does not abandon his beloved in any situation that might harm him.”

Ghaus Pak (ra)

 

أَلَآ إِنَّ أَوْلِيَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

Verily, the Friends of Allah, there will be no fear upon them and not they will grieve.

Surah Yunus, Verse 62

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Ala Inna auliya Allah e: Verily, the Friends of Allah, the Al Munkhala’eena, the ones who are detached from the demands of being human in total, Al Munsalekheena, the one who are far from the requirements of desires of their selves in totality...

 

La khauf-un alayhim wa la hum yahzanoon: there is no fear upon them nor do they feel grief because fear and sadness, they only come from the effects of the tabyat, (the secondary nature that is acquired from outside), and the pursuit of that which fulfills it.

 

Fear is an escapable feeling for a human being. Sadness is another. The Quran mentions both emotions together and repeatedly. More in its absence than its presence. As in His Friends do not feel either. I pride myself on not being scared by much in the world. Back in the day, my anger propelled that assumed arrogance to its heights. But anger cannot be exhibited in front of everyone.

 

There were times my relationship with my father was so badly ruptured that we didn’t see each other for months. That usually happened at the heel of an unpleasant incident. When I did have to see him again after that hiatus, I would feel fear. It would be so intense that I would not be able to stop crying for days before.

 

I was never alone in that interim. I remember on one occasion in particular that my friend Asma was with me. She would comfort me all day, tell me it would be fine, that she wouldn’t leave me alone with him. But it wouldn’t matter. That wouldn’t stem my tears because I would be scared of what would happen. It’s not like I thought it would be loud or violent. It was just the unknown of how he would react and would I be able to bear it.

 

My mother was dead. My sister had passed. I was the eldest. Moving from being the middle child till 26 and onwards to the eldest was the worst. It was strange that fact. With my sister alive, even though her father was different from mine, I wasn’t the eldest in my family because both husbands had been absent. But for him, in his eyes, in some form I must have been the eldest. I was his first child. Playing out both roles exactly like they are stereotyped was a drama and a half.

 

Woe upon me! How I wish I had known him then. My Prophet (salutations and greetings upon the one called Ar Rauf, the most kind and affectionate by His Lord Allah Ar Rauf) that I belonged to, the reason behind the Creation of everything, who worried for me, who felt my pain, who prayed for my suffering, of any kind, to end.

 

An Nahl, Verse 125: “Then pointed Allah Subhanahu towards the perfecting of honouring His Beloved (peace be upon and his family) and the majesty of his rank and the discipline of his etiquette and completing his wisdom and Messengerhood and making for everyone his kindness and his mercy as the gathering of kindness for all and sufficient for all Creation because he is sent in totality as mercy, Rahma, and he is the seal of the Prophethood and Messengerhood and the completer of the matter of religion and its perfection because the reason behind making the religion and the descent of the Books of Revelation and sending the Messengers, it is only to manifest his rank and his station, which is the inviting to the Essence of Tauheed, Tauheed Az Zaati.”

 

No one cared for me more than he did or even the way he did. If I had only known him then, he would have said to me too like he said to his best friend when he once felt fear, “Allah is with us.”

 

For me it was one of the most extraordinary incidents related in the Quran. Of course it was in At Tauba!

 

إِلَّا تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدۡ نَصَرَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِذۡ أَخۡرَجَهُ ٱلَّذِینَ كَفَرُوا۟ ثَانِیَ ٱثۡنَیۡنِ إِذۡ هُمَا فِی ٱلۡغَارِ إِذۡ یَقُولُ لِصَـٰحِبِهِۦ لَا تَحۡزَنۡ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَنَاۖ

فَأَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ سَكِینَتَهُۥ عَلَیۡهِ وَأَیَّدَهُۥ بِجُنُودࣲ لَّمۡ تَرَوۡهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ ٱلَّذِینَ كَفَرُوا۟ ٱلسُّفۡلَىٰۗ وَكَلِمَةُ ٱللَّهِ هِیَ ٱلۡعُلۡیَاۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَزِیزٌ حَكِیمٌ

 

If you didn’t help him, certainly, Allah helped him when drove him out those who disbelieved, the second (of) the two, when they both (were) in the cave, when he said to his companion,

"Do not grieve, indeed, Allah (is) with us."

Then sent down Allah His Tranquility upon him, and supported him with forces which you did not see, and made (the) word (of) those who disbelieved the lowest, while (the) Word (of) Allah it (is) the highest.

 

And Allah (is) All-Mighty, All-Wise.

 

Surah At Tauba, Verse 40

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Illa tansuruhu: If you didn’t help him i.e. his Prophet, (Nabi Kareem (peace and salutations upon him and his family by his Lord who loves him)), the one who was helped from Him…

 

Faqad nasarahullahu: then certainly help came from Allah, Ar Raqeeb, The Only One who watches over him. Remember the Help of Allah, O Beloved (peace and salutations upon him and his family by his Lord who loves him), at that time…

 

Id akhrajahu alladina kafaru: when he was driven out by those who denied the truth i.e. the people of Mecca from Mecca whilst he was…

 

Thani Ithnayn: the second of the two i.e. there was no one with him except one man and he was Hazrat Abu Bakr (ratu) so they went towards the mountain and entered the cave and the enemy, they followed the tracks of their traces and reached that cave…

 

Id huma: when they were, hiding…

 

Fil ghar: in the cave so his companion, Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (ratu) became distraught from being found out by the enemy, remember…

 

Id yaqoolu: when he was saying (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by His Exalted Lord) in that situation…

Li sahibi-hi la tahzan: to his companion, “Do not grieve on their knowing (about us) and do not despair of Allah’s Help and His Guardianship.

 

Inallaha: Indeed, Allah Ar Raqeeb, The One who is the Watcher, upon us, present (as a Companion)…

 

Ma’ana: is with us, He is Sufficient for us in help from their harm…

 

Fa anzala Allahu: so He desended, Allah Subhanahu, just as he spoke his words, Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon you and your family by His Own Self)…

 

Sakeenatahu: His Serenity i.e. His Contentment and His Calmness…

 

Alayhi: upon him i.e. his companion…

 

Wa ayyadahu bi junood-in: and strengthened him with such armies i.e. the angels, safeguarding and fortressing (them), as guards for him…

 

Lam taroha: you cannot see with your eyes, such is that army.

 

Wa ja’ala: and He made, Subhanahu, by His Help and His strengthening, for Nabi Pak (salutations and greetings upon him and his family eternally)…

 

Kalimata alladeena kafaru: the word of the one who disbelieves i.e. that which they claimed and argued with him, the word they wanted to make their tradition…

 

As sufla: the lowest i.e. the lowermost in descent. It is not important and it is not paid attention to at all.

 

Wa kalimatullah: And the Word of Allah i.e. the Word of His Tauheed, One-ness, which He made appear through His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by the angels and their Creator)…

 

Hiya al-uliya: this is the uppermost, most exalted because Al Haqq is Exalted and no one else is exalted over Him...

 

Wallahu: And Allah is Al Qadir, The Dominant, Al Muqtadir, The Only One with Authority, upon whatsoever He wills…

Aziz-un: The One with all Power, Ghalib, The Only One who prevails in the helping of His Friends upon their enemies…

Hakeem-un: The Most Wise in all His Actions and His Planning.

 

But I didn’t know it then. That if one believed Allah was with them at all times, all fear and all sadness was dispelled!

At the random opening of pages in the shrines, sometimes I had come across the same page again and again. Sometimes the same Surahs. Never did I come across Yaseen, except once. On that day as I read what my heart knew in words alone, I chose the verses from the famous story of the village where three Prophets were sent, only to be mocked and rejected by its residents.

 

One man in the village who had brought faith speaks to the others. His name was Habeeb. I translated a few verses of his call to the others and this verse in particular sparked my interest. What did it mean for the ordinary to be told to enter Heaven? What did it mean to be forgiven? Not promised it but in fact be forgiven? What did it mean to be made of the honored?

 

قِیلَ ٱدۡخُلِ ٱلۡجَنَّةَۖ قَالَ یَـٰلَیۡتَ قَوۡمِی یَعۡلَمُونَ

بِمَا غَفَرَ لِی رَبِّی وَجَعَلَنِی مِنَ ٱلۡمُكۡرَمِینَ

 

It was said, "Enter Paradise." He said, "I wish my people knew.

Of how has forgiven me my Lord and placed me among the honored ones."

Surah Yaseen, Verse 26-27

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

So when they heard from Habeeb his advice and his admonition, they decided to kill him and destroy him so they trampled him by feet to the extent that his intestines came out from his back and he was in that state, that the unveiling of His Lord increased.

 

And Allah took possession of him, The King of One-ness and the special Favour of Allah drew him towards Him and the Sanctity of His Generosity surrounded him, such that…

 

Qeela: it was said by Him from Al Haqq: Leave your nature and shed your egoistic self…

 

Udkhulil Jannah: Enter Paradise i.e. the Atmosphere of One-ness which has not in it hardship or illness and no pain and tiredness and leave it and shed it and enter instantly union. After that union towards what he became united with…

 

Qala: Habeeb said, hoping and feeling sad for them after he received the breezes of Divine Union…

 

Ya’layta qaumi ya’maloon: alas, I wish my people knew...

 

Bima ghafara-li: of how He has forgiven me and revealed upon me and pulled me towards Him after that He hid from me by my egoistic self and erased from me my nature…

 

Wa ja’alani minal mukrameen: and He made me of the honoured ones. The Mukrameen, honoured ones, of the Al Amineen, the ones in peace, Al Fa’izeen, the ones successful, Al Mustabshireen, the ones who are receiver of glad tidings which are, and Ghaus Pak (ra) pointed to the verse:

 

لَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَیۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ یَحۡزَنُونَ

 

There will be no fear upon then and not they will grieve.

Surah Yunus, Verse 62

 

Something of the extraordinary existed for the ordinary!

I had seen multiple instances of the appearance of the verse of no grief and no sadness with other verses. I was intrigued by the possibility. For the Friends of God it was easy. No aspect of their tabyat, secondary nature acquired in this world, ever prevailed over their fitrat, the original nature bestowed by Subhanahu. What about the rest of us whose tabyat ruled?

What appeared sequentially in the next verse (10/63) after La khaufan alayhim… for the Auliya was indeed a revelation. The secret was held in taqwa!

 

ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ یَتَّقُونَ

 

Those who believe and are conscious (of Allah),

Surah Yunus, Verse 63

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

And after that they detached from its fulfillment and freedom from its demands and they annihilated themselves in Allah’s Essence and they became what they became thereafter. There was nothing remaining in them which was the generator of (the feelings of) fear and unhappiness and peace and tranquility. That person then is not characterized by the example of these opposites and they are…

 

Alladina aamano: the ones who attained to faith in the beginning of their spiritual journey i.e. they were steadfast in the place of the Knowledge of Certainty.

 

Wa: And after they established their abode and were steadfast upon it…

 

Kanu yattaqoon: they were mindful of Allah and safeguarded themselves from the control of Power of Allah’s Attributes which create awe (Jalali) due to their occupation with the attraction of their desires and they were conscious of their bonds with the selection (of their choices).

 

There it was again. Allah’s Jalal, being fearful of Him. The “occupation with the attraction of desires and the selection of those choices.” Choices which most often never even took on any form of reality and almost always just remained fire and poison of possibilities!

 

It was up to the nafs to pick its path.

 

فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا

‏قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا ‎

‏وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّىٰها ‎

 

And He inspired it (to distinguish) its wickedness and its righteousness.

Indeed, he succeeds who purifies it,

And indeed, he fails who buries it (in darkness).

Surah Ash Shams, Verse 8-10

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

Fa alhamaha fujuraha wa taqwaha: So He inspired it (the nafs) to both, wickedness and mindfulness, according to that which is placed in it from the forces of heavens as well as of the Earth.

 

Then He burdened it according to what it can bear so that

1.the one who is truthful can be differentiated from the one who is false and

2.the astray from the guided and

3.the denier of Truth from the believer, completing the wisdom, which is rooted in certainty, which reaches the Essence of Allah and which reflects the Dominance of His Power.

 

Qad aflaha man zakkaha: Indeed he was successful and prosperous due to the success He prospered from by receiving from Allah the highest ranks…

 

Man zakkaha: the one who cleansed his nafs from the vileness of the world and from the possibilities of the demands of its desires and its lusts.

 

Wa qad khaba: And he was in a loss and ruined himself…

 

Man dassaha: the one who prevented the nafs from reaching its higher level (from Ammara, corrupt to Mutma’inna, content) and made it wayward. He did this by persuading it to be disobedient and sinful, which was done due to the demands of its base nature, its lustful desires and the wickedness of the world. This persuasion is what makes it deserving of different kinds of losses and deprivation and humiliation.

 

Again possibilities! Again losses, deprivation, humiliation!

 

Subhanahu had defined Paradise for Habeeb as “the Atmosphere of One-ness which has not in it hardship or illness and no pain and tiredness” if he left his egoistic self and shed it. Then union was instant. Then there was no pain and sadness.

 

In my egoistic nafs, the root of pain and sadness was for two reasons. Lack of reliance and lack of gratitude. For every time I wasn’t grateful for a blessing, it was taken from me.

 

Continued on: www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52649553016/in/datepos...

 

Perintah Belajar Sejarah dalam Surat Al-Fatihah

 

Surat al-Fatihah merupakan surah pembuka dan juga surat awal didalam al-Qur'an. sebagai orang islam kita selalu mengulangi ayat ini didalam setiap rakaat sembahyang kita. cuba kita renung sejenak, pernahkah kita memahami maksud surah ini, apa cerita disebalik surah ini. itu

 

Bermula dari doa seorang muslim setiap harinya:

"Tunjukilah kami jalan yang lurus." (QS. al-Fatihah [1] : 6)

 

apakah yang dikatakan tunjukanlah kami jalan yang lurus, jalan yang lurus ialah:

 

"(yaitu) Jalan orang-orang yang telah Engkau beri nikmat kepada mereka; bukan (jalan) mereka yang dimurkai dan bukan (pula jalan) mereka yang sesat."

 

Ada tiga kelompok yang disebutkan dalam ayat terakhir ini;

 

1. Kelompok yang telah diberi nikmat oleh Allah

2. Kelompok yang dimurkai Allah

3. Kelompok yang sesat

  

Ketiga kelompok ini adalah generasi yang telah berlalu. Generasi di masa lalu yang telah mendapatkan satu dari ketiga hal tersebut.

 

Kelompok pertama, generasi yang merasakan nikmat Allah.

Imam Ibnu Katsir dalam tafsirnya (Tafsir Ibnu Katsir 1/140, al-Maktabah al-Syamilah) menjelaskan bahwa kelompok ini dijelaskan dengan lebih mendalam dalam Surat an-Nisa: 69-70,

 

"Dan barang siapa yang mentaati Allah dan Rasul(Nya), mereka itu akan bersama-sama dengan orang-orang yang dianugerahi nikmat oleh Allah, iaitu: Nabi-nabi, para shiddiiqiin, orang-orang yang mati syahid, dan orang-orang soleh. Dan mereka itulah teman yang sebaik-baiknya. (QS. an-Nisa [4] : 69-70)

 

"Yang demikian itu adalah kurnia dari Allah, dan Allah cukup mengetahui."

 

Ada kata penghubung yang sama antara ayat ini dengan ayat dalam al-Fatihah di atas iaitu mereka yang telah dianugerahi nikmat. Sehingga Imam Ibnu Katsir menafsirkan ayat dalam al-Fatihah tersebut dengan ayat ini.

 

Mereka adalah: Para nabi, para shiddiqin, para syuhada' dan para shalihin. Kesemua yang hadir dalam dalam doa kita, adalah mereka yang telah meninggal.

 

Ini adalah perintah tersirat pertama agar kita rajin melihat sejarah hidup mereka dan meneladani mereka. Agar kita mengetahui nikmat seperti apakah yang mereka rasakan sepanjang hidup. Agar kemudian kita dapat mengikuti jalan lurus yang pernah mereka tempuh sekaligus bisa merasakan nikmat yang telah mereka merasakan.

 

Perjalanan hidup mereka tercatat rapi dalam sejarah. Ukiran sejarah abadi mengenang, agar menjadi pelajaran bagi setiap pembacanya.

 

Kelompok kedua, mereka yang dimurkai Allah.

Imam Ibnu Katsir (Tafsir Ibnu Katsir 1/141, al-Maktabah al-Syamilah) kembali menjelaskan bahwa mereka yang mendapat nikmat adalah mereka yang berhasil menggabungkan antara ilmu dan amal. Adapun kelompok yang dimurkai adalah kelompok yang mempunyai ilmu tetapi kehilangan amal. Sehingga mereka dimurkai.

 

Kelompok ini diwakili oleh Yahudi. Sejarah memang mencatat bahawa mereka yang menentang Nabi Muhammad SAW sekalipun mereka yakin bahawa Muhammad SAW adalah Nabi yang dijanjikan dalam kitab suci mereka akan hadir di akhir zaman.

 

"Demi Allah, sungguh telah jelas bagi kalian semua bahwa dia adalah Rasul yang di utus dan dialah yang sesungguhnya yang kalian jumpai dalam kitab kalian...." kalimat ini bukanlah kalimat seorang shahabat yang sedang berdakwah di hadapan Yahudi tetapi ini adalah pernyataan Ka'ab bin Asad, pemimpin Yahudi Bani Quraidzah. Dia sedang membuka ruang dialog dengan masyarakatnya yang dikepung oleh 3.000 pasukan muslimin, untuk menentukan keputusan yang akan mereka ambil.

 

Maka benar, bahwa Yahudi telah memiliki ilmu yang matang, tetapi mereka tidak mahu mengikuti kebenaran tersebut. Inilah yang disebut oleh Surat al-Fatihah sebagai masyarakat yang dimurkai. Para ulama menjelaskan bahwa tidaklah kaum Bani Israil itu diberi nama Yahudi dalam al-Qur'an kecuali setelah menjadi masyarakat yang rosak.

 

Rangkaian doa kita setiap hari ini menyiratkan pentingnya belajar sejarah. Untuk bisa mengetahui dengan lebih mendalam bangsa dimurkai tersebut, bagaimana mereka, seperti apa kederhakaan mereka, ilmu apa saja yang mereka ketahui dan mereka tidak beramal dengannya.

Kelompok ketiga, mereka yang sesat.

 

Para ulama tafsir menjelaskan bahawa bahagian dari penafsirannya adalah masyarakat Nasrani. Masyarakat ini disebut sesat karena mereka memang tidak mempunyai ilmu. seperti orang yang hendak berjalan menuju suatu tempat tetapi tidak mempunyai maklumat tentang tempat yang hendak dituju. Pasti dia akan tersesat jalan.

 

Kelompok ketiga ini kehilangan ilmu walaupun mereka masih beramal.

Masyarakat ini mengikuti para pemimpin agamanya tanpa ilmu. mereka menghalalkan dan mengharamkan sesuatu.

 

Sebagaimana yang jelas tercantum dalam ayat:

 

"Mereka menjadikan orang-orang alimnya dan rahib-rahib mereka sebagai tuhan selain Allah dan (juga mereka mempertuhankan) Al Masih putera Maryam, padahal mereka hanya disuruh menyembah Tuhan yang Esa, tidak ada Tuhan (yang berhak disembah) selain Dia. Maha suci Allah dari apa yang mereka persekutukan." (QS. at-Taubah [9] : 31)

 

Kisah' Adi bin Hatim berikut ini menjelaskan dan menguatkan ayat di atas,

 

Dari 'Adi bin Hatim radhiallahu anhu berkata: Aku mendatangi Nabi rasulullah walaihi wasallam dan di leherku ada salib terbuat dari emas, aku kemudian mendengar beliau membaca ayat: Mereka menjadikan orang-orang alimnya dan rahib-rahib mereka sebagai tuhan selain Allah.

 

Aku menyatakan: Ya Rasulullah sebenarnya mereka tidak menyembah rahib-rahib itu.Nabi menjawab: Benar. Tetapi para rahib itu menghalalkan untuk mereka apa yang diharamkan Allah dan mengharamkan apa yang dihalalkan Allah, maka itulah peribadatan kepada para rahib itu. (HR. Tirmidzi dan Baihaqi, dihasankan oleh Syekh al-Albani)

 

Bagaimanakah mereka masyarakat nasrani menjalani kehidupan beragama mereka? Bagaimanakah mereka menjadikan pemimpin agama mereka menjadi perwakilan tuhan dalam erti kata lain boleh membuat syariat sendiri? Di manakah kesesatan mereka dan apa kesanya bagi umat Islam dan peradaban dunia?

 

Semuanya dicatat oleh sejarah.

 

Inilah doa yang selama ini kita mohonkan dalam jumlah yang paling sering dalam keseharian kita.

 

Al-Fatihah yang merupakan surat pertama. Bahkan surat pertama yang biasanya dihafal terlebih dahulu oleh masyarakat ini. Surat utama yang paling sering kita baca. Surat yang mengandung doa yang paling sering kita panjatkan.

 

Siratan perintah untuk belajar sejarah sangat kuat terlihat. Maka sangat penting kita memperhatikan kandungan surat yang paling akrab dengan kita ini.

 

Agar terbukti dengan baik dan benar doa kita;

 

"Tunjukilah kami jalan yang lurus. (yaitu) Jalan orang-orang yang telah Engkau beri nikmat kepada mereka; bukan (jalan) mereka yang dimurkai dan bukan (pula jalan) mereka yang sesat." (QS. al-Fatihah [1] : 6-7)

Quran: 102, verses 1-8. Surah At-Takathur, ayat 1-8.

 

Word-by-word followed by verse-by-verse of the complete Holy Quran.

 

Share, download and distribute freely.

 

Suitable for smartphones, mobile devices, TVs and widescreens.

 

For non-smart TVs, computers and other devices with no Internet connection, simply download the videos onto a USB memory stick etc to watch/listen them on your chosen device/s offline.

 

Enjoy.

 

Finally, may Allah make the Quran easy to learn, easy to remember, easy to understand and easy to memorise (ponder) for all of us. Ameen.

 

And Ease My Task For Me ~Surah TAHA | Verse 26

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Surah al-Fatiha is the most recited chapter by majority of the Muslims around the world.

 

Brighten your home with these calligraphed verses in the classical cursive Diwani script, developed

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Then depart from the place whence all the people depart and ask Allah for His Forgiveness. Truly, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Merciful. (Surah Al-Baqrah 199, Juz:2, Hizb:25)

surah al-baqrah 199

  

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Muhammad (sura)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  

9th century North African folio of ayah 9-15Surat Muhammad (Arabic: سورة محمد Muḥammad) is the 47th sura of the Qur'an with 38 ayat.

 

The surah orders believers to obey Muhammad and not to reject any part of what he has revealed, as well as to "smite" and "subdue" the "unbelievers" in battle.[Qur'an 47:4]. This is often used against Muslims to describe their religion as violent, but it cannot be taken out of context; the verse refers to the Battle of Badr, where the Meccans were gathering an army to atack Medina. This verse simply commanded the Muslims to defend themselves from this threat, and is not applicable in modern times. However, although Islam maintains peace and orders its followers to treat all peoples with the due respect reserved for God's creations, this surah explicitly states in verse 7, "Oh you who believe! If you make God victorious, then He will make you victorious and make your foothold firm." The mandate is quite clear: the believer must strive to do good works in God's name alone for that is his/her purpose on this Earth, in turn God will provide everything for the believer to ensure that his/her good works continue. These "good works" must be actions that are commanded by God, namely being charitable and generous; seeking justice and equality; and being in a state of continual repentance and mindfulness of the Creator. These "good works" will not be accepted if they are innovations—basically actions otherwise not prescribed in the Qur'an and Sunnah.

    

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

  

(as for) those who disbelieve and turn away from allah's way, he shall render their works ineffective (1)

الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَضَلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿1﴾

  

and (as for) those who believe and do good, and believe in what has been revealed to muhammad, and it is the very truth from their lord, he will remove their evil from them and improve their condition (2)

وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَآمَنُوا بِمَا نُزِّلَ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَهُوَ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ كَفَّرَ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَأَصْلَحَ بَالَهُمْ ﴿2﴾

  

that is because those who disbelieve follow falsehood, and have given them their dowries, taking (them) in marriage, not fornicating nor taking them for paramours in secret; and whoever denies faith, his work indeed is of no account, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers (3)

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا اتَّبَعُوا الْبَاطِلَ وَأَنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّبَعُوا الْحَقَّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ كَذَلِكَ يَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ أَمْثَالَهُمْ ﴿3﴾

  

so when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners, and afterwards either set them free as a favor or let them ransom (themselves) until the war terminates. that (shall be so); and if allah had pleased he would certainly have exacted what is due from them, but that he may try some of you by means of others; and (as for) those who are slain in the way of allah, he will by no means allow their deeds to perish (4)

فَإِذا لَقِيتُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَضَرْبَ الرِّقَابِ حَتَّى إِذَا أَثْخَنتُمُوهُمْ فَشُدُّوا الْوَثَاقَ فَإِمَّا مَنًّا بَعْدُ وَإِمَّا فِدَاء حَتَّى تَضَعَ الْحَرْبُ أَوْزَارَهَا ذَلِكَ وَلَوْ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ لَانتَصَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَلَكِن لِّيَبْلُوَ بَعْضَكُم بِبَعْضٍ وَالَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَلَن يُضِلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿4﴾

  

he will guide them and improve their condition (5)

سَيَهْدِيهِمْ وَيُصْلِحُ بَالَهُمْ ﴿5﴾

  

and cause them to enter the garden which he has made known to them (6)

وَيُدْخِلُهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ عَرَّفَهَا لَهُمْ ﴿6﴾

  

o you who believe ! if you help (the cause of) allah, he will help you and make firm your feet (7)

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن تَنصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ ﴿7﴾

  

and (as for) those who disbelieve, for them is destruction and he has made their deeds ineffective (8)

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَتَعْسًا لَّهُمْ وَأَضَلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿8﴾

  

that is because they hated what allah revealed, so he rendered their deeds null (9)

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَرِهُوا مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأَحْبَطَ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ﴿9﴾

  

have they not then journeyed in the land and seen how was the end of those before them: allah brought down destruction upon them, and the unbelievers shall have the like of it (10)

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ دَمَّرَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ أَمْثَالُهَا ﴿10﴾

 

سورة محمد (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

   

إعلان الحرب على الجاحدين، وتطمين المؤمنين

 

أحكام القتال والأسرى والشهداء

 

تخويف الله المشركين من عاقبة الكفر

 

جزاء المؤمنين المتقين والكافرين الظالمين

 

بيان حال المنافقين والمهتدين

 

ردة فعل المنافقين والمؤمنين عند نزول آيات الجهاد

 

حال المنافقين بعد ردتهم، وعند قبض أرواحهم والتذكير بحكمة الجهاد

 

حال الصادين عن سبيل الله، والأمر بطاعته عز وجل

 

تأكيد الحث على الجهاد بالتزهيد في الدنيا

   

بَين يَدَي السُّورَة

   

* سورة محمد من السور المدنية، وهي تُعْنى بالأحكام التشريعية، شأن سائر السور المدنية، وقد تناولت السورة أحكام القتال، والأسرى، والغنائم، وأحوال المنافقين، ولكنَّ المحور الذي تدور عليه السورة هو موضوع "الجهاد في سبيل الله"؟

     

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Their Prophet said unto them: Lo! Allah hath raised up Saul to be a king for you. They said: How can he have kingdom over us when we are more deserving of the kingdom than he is, since he hath not been given wealth enough? He said: Lo! Allah hath chosen him above you, and hath increased him...

 

factorypk.com/2016/02/surah-al-baqrah-verse-no-247/

The Quran was just beaming its glory

 

Verse of Light (Surah An-Nur 24: 35)

 

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! God doth guide whom He will to His Light: God doth set forth Parables for men: and God doth know all things.

Quran Chapter 1 - Quran Translation of Surah Al-Fatiha (The Opening)

 

1 In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

2 All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists).

3 The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

4 The Only Owner (and the Only Ruling Judge) of the Day of Recompense (i.e. the Day of Resurrection)

5 You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).

6 Guide us to the Straight Way

7 The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace , not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians).

 

The Ashra of Forgiveness

 

Preface

 

The first Ashra, ten days, of Ramadan is Rahma. That Mercy of Ar Rahman, Ar Rahim, overwhelms every other manifestation of His Essence, says the Quran:

 

وَرَحْمَتِى وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَىْءٍۢ ۚ

 

My Mercy encompasses everything.

Surah Al Araaf, Verse 156

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa rahmati wasi’at kulli shayan: My Mercy encompasses every single thing from the Al Muta’een, the obedient ones and the Al A’sieen, the sinners and others from amongst them.

 

Hence it is poured like rain upon everyone, the obedient, the sinners, alike!

 

The second Ashra is Maghfira. Until yesterday, I had nothing to write about it. In the piece I wrote on the blessed Imam’s (as) duas just a few days ago, I ended on the third Ashra, Nija’t, deliverance from hell, skipping the second entirely.

 

Then I was reminded, it is the bridge connecting the two. If missed, the deliverance cannot be reached!

 

These are two elements of forgiveness. The equation, I have come to understand, in spirituality linking Man to The Divine is set like this:

 

1.It has to be asked for. In the principle of Sufism where relationships with humans mirror one’s relationship with God, the one able to ask it of Subhanahu is the one who can ask it of another human being. Or in the deeper sense of how the Quran explains it, the one granted ability to ask it of Allah is the one granted ability to ask it of another person.

 

2.Forgiveness has to be given. The one who will be granted it by Khair ul Ghaifreen, The Best of Forgivers, has to grant it to others first.

 

The First Hadith taught to Would-be Scholars is the marker of that reality:

 

الرَّاحِمُونَ يَرْحَمُهُمُ الرَّحْمَنُ،

‏‏‏‏‏‏ارْحَمُوا أَهْلَ الْأَرْضِ يَرْحَمْكُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ

‏

The Prophet صلی ‌اللہ ‌علیہ ‌وسلم said:

Allah, The Compassionate One has mercy on those who are merciful.

Show mercy to those who are on the Earth, He Who is in the Heaven will show mercy to you.

 

On that note let a story begin!

 

On the dawn of the 12th fast in that Ashra of Forgiveness I sent a message out to a few chosen ones of my own. I was reading the prayer on “Confessing and Seeking Repentance” by the blessed Imam (as) and I knew they would be up. I wanted them to read it too.

 

One of them, a gentleman who is 76, who was my mother’s friend and then became mine, sent me a message back.

 

This is what he said:

 

“Since the second Ashra of forgiveness has begun so to start it I must ask for forgiveness. If at any point of our few meetings, if I said or behaved in any manner which made you feel hurt or upset, please do forgive me as I had no intention of doing so. So I ask forgiveness from Allah since He knows all so please forgive me.”

 

I re-read the note. He had asked for my forgiveness three times in five lines. His personality was so the opposite of the gesture, I couldn’t go back to sleep again. I wrote him something sweet back. Then I looked out the window at the trees blowing in the wind in light which was only yet shades of gray and thought, Am I supposed to ask forgiveness of others?

 

I intend to do the Hajj this year, may Subhanahu grant me the ability to do that. I know I have to do this exercise then. Qari Sahib had made me do it with those who were beastly to me when I went for my first Umra. Was I supposed to do it again?

Now?

 

I left my bed and went downstairs to write. I thought of the people I was estranged from. There were three in particular my heart went to where I had suddenly, without warning, cut off ties. I had just had enough. It was a reaction to the way they were behaving with me but nevertheless, it was harsh and it was unkind.

 

Yet not one of them had objected. I hadn’t received a single call or note asking about what I had done, why had I done it. Could we talk about it and try to reverse it. Not one person we knew in common intervened that the fact had transpired. Nothing. So, I figured when the shock would lapse, they would resume their life like before, forgetting I was ever a part of it.

 

I went to the park per my routine. For the first time I didn’t read a single word at the shrine. I just sat there dazed. Was I going to have to ask forgiveness of those whose behaviour has basically been at worst, a brutal indifference to my happiness and at best, a mindless one of it?

 

I went for my walk up and down hills, retracing my steps exactly from the previous day. That was how I was. A cycle of repetition! Then I couldn’t wonder any longer. I called Qari Sahib and told him everything. Starting with the message I had received response to my sending him “His Prayer for Confessing and Seeking Repentance” at dawn.

 

“I never see him. We don’t speak. Why is asking for my forgiveness?” I asked.

 

“Sometimes,” he said, “We do things not in qaul, words and fael, actions, but in our thoughts. Perhaps he is in a phase where he seeks clarity in all three. This is residue for him. He just doesn’t want to carry it.”

 

My agitation didn’t subside. I could see what was looming ahead and it was making my heart sink. My nafs spoke first, “I thought we had been ordered to stay clear of them.”

 

The sympathy if I imagined it as such was fake. I already knew, at that fork I felt like I was approaching where I had to choose something between what would please Subhanahu or displease Him, it was going to say, let’s take that left of Displeasure. We’ve been there before! It also cycles of repetition.

 

I had just quoted the words in “a thing of beauty” without context. Now it wasn’t so much a coincidence that they appeared in the His Prayer when yearning for forgiveness.

www.duas.org/mobile/sahifasajjadia-dua9-yearning-forgiven...

 

وَإذَا هَمَمْنَا بِهَمَّيْنِ يُرْضِيكَ أَحَدُهُمَا عَنَّا

wa id'aa hamam-naa biham-may-ni yur-z''eeka ah'aduhumaa annaa

7.When we set out after two concerns, one of which makes You pleased with us

 

وَيُسْخِطُكَ الآخَرُ عَلَيْنَا ،

wayuskhit'ukal-aaakharu a'lay-naa

8.and the other of which displeases You,

 

فَمِلْ بِنَا إلَى مَا يُرْضِيْكَ عَنَّا ،

famil binaaa ilaa maa yur-z''eeka a'n-naa

9.incline us toward that which makes You pleased

 

وَأَوْهِنْ قُوَّتَنَا عَمَّا يُسْخِطُكَ عَلَيْنَا ،

wa aw-hin qoo-watanaa a'm-maa yus-khit'uka a'lay-naa

10.and weaken our strength in that which displeases You!

 

وَلاَ تُخَلِّ فِي ذلِكَ بَيْنَ نُفُوسِنَا وَاخْتِيَارِهَا

wa laa tukhal-li fee d'alika bay-na nufoosinaa wa akh-teeaarihaa

11.Leave not our nafs, selves, alone to choose in that,

 

فَإنَّهَا مُخْتَارَةٌ لِلْبَاطِلِ إلاَّ مَا وَفَّقْتَ أَمَّارَةٌ بالسُّوءِ إلاّ مَا رَحِمْتَ

fa in-nahaa mukh-taaratul-lil-baat'ili il-laa maa waf-faq-t am-maaratum-bis-sooo il-laa maa rah'im-t

12.for they choose falsehood except inasmuch as You givest success, and they command to evil except inasmuch as You hast mercy!

 

My heart was so enwrapped in fear it entirely, I ignored my nafs totally.

 

It was true. I had cut off the connection because I was ordered to do so. However, I know the way I did it was wrong. It was too sudden. But I had been right also. Their pride had prevented them from reaching out to me so I didn’t feel so bad about it. We were all better off without a relationship that was feeling only difficult.

 

Plus enduring a state of pain for them was second nature. It was part of their pride. Our interactions were taking a toll on me while they seemed entirely unaffected. That is why I had cut things off without an explanation. Whenever I had tried to speak about the issue previously, it had been met with irritation. I was done.

 

I went home and prepared for my class, all the time distracted. The class ended. I didn’t bring it up again. After Duhr, I called the first person.

 

It was a video call. I explained the situation. She had visited me a couple of weeks ago. The trip started off amazingly. She had adopted a baby girl who was one. I had never seen a child like her so I was besotted.

 

Within a week, our interaction though had become a nightmare. I couldn’t take the stress and stopped sleeping at night. We went to my village. I thought the change of scene would make things better. Then the child became sick and she returned to Lahore. Except this time, I asked if she would stay at a club instead of my home.

 

The act was horrendous I realize. At the time I felt like I had no choice. We saw each other when I returned though. Hung out. It was fine. We have known each other for 20 some years. Been through worse.

 

At first she kept smiling.

 

“Yes, I definitely want to hear this. Go ahead,” she gestured.

I smiled back. I deserved it.

 

I said the words, looking up at her, then lowering my eyes.

 

She listened intently.

 

Then she said, “I forgive you.”

 

I beamed.

 

“Thank you,” I said. We moved on to talking about other things.

 

Check! I thought.

 

I prayed and then called the second person. There was no answer. I left a message. I never heard back.

 

Then I moved on to person number three. This was the newer friendship. We didn’t know each for long but I had thought of it as a happiness when it appeared.

 

She didn’t pick but called me soon after. The conversation started off well. She seemed happy to hear from me. Surprised but happy. I started to explain why I was calling. The Uncle, the Ashra, my seeking forgiveness. I had gone only so far when she lost it.

 

Then there was lot of yelling for a long time. I was a little taken aback but I let it go on to hear the words. But it all things that had nothing to do with us. Wild generalizations that were mostly projections as far as I was concerned. I let her finish and then I let her have it. Sadly on my part as well, everything I yelled out had nothing to do with why I was calling or even our relationship. It was just anger.

 

To cut that part short and describe it in a single sentence; it was a disaster.

 

There was only one thing that was good about it. Only through a miracle, at some point she accidently acknowledged how upset she was at how I had ended the interaction. At that point, I said, “And this is the reason I am calling. Because I know it was unkind and I am sorry about that.”

 

It didn’t matter. The ugliness had been too much to recover. We both hung up. I did not receive the forgiveness I had sought.

 

A day before I had been so excited about sharing the meaning of taqwa to the world through the heart of the blessed Imam (as) that I hadn’t paid attention to it the way I needed to. I was just taken with the enumeration of the manner and qualities one needed to possess it.

 

In preparing for the lecture though I had read them over and over. I had written them on a board. I went back to them. And I I began to see how in the sequence was what a person required to be if they wanted to seek forgiveness or offer it:

 

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَّآلِهِ

allahumma sal-li a'la muhammadiw-wa a-lih

O Allah, bless Muhammad and his Household,

 

وَحَلِّنِي بِحِلْيَةِ الصَّاِلحِينَ

wa hal-lini bihil-yatis-salihin

adorn me with the adornment of the Saliheen, the ones who reform themselves,

 

وَأَلْبِسْنِي زِينَةَ المُتَّقِينَ فِي

wa al-bis-ni zinatal-mut-taqina fi

And clothe me in the ornaments of the Muttaqeen through:

 

بَسْطِ الْعَدْلِ

bas-til-a'd-l

spreading justice,

 

وَكَظْمِ الْغَيْظِ

wa kazmil-ghayz

restraining rage,

 

وَإِطْفَاءِ النَّائِرَةِ

wa it-fa-in-na-irah

quenching the flame of hate,

 

وَضَمِّ أَهْلِ الْفُرْقَةِ

wa zammi ah-lil-fur-qah

bringing together the people of separation,

 

وَإِصْلاَحِ ذَاتِ الْبَيْنِ

wa is-lahi dhatil-bayn

correcting discord,

 

وَإِفْشِاءِ الْعَارِفَةِ

wa if-shia-il-a'arifah

spreading about good behavior,

 

وَسَتْرِ الْعَائِبَةِ

wa sat-ril-a'a-ibah

covering faults,

 

وَلِينِ الْعَرِيكَةِ

wa linil-a'rikah

mildness of temper,

 

وَخَفْضِ الْجَنَاحِ

wa khaf-zil-janah

lowering the wing,

 

وَحُسْنِ السِّيرَةِ

wa hus-nis-sirah

beauty of conduct,

 

وَسُكُونِ الرِّيحِ

wa sukunir-rih

gravity of bearing,

 

وَطِيبِ الْمُخَالَفَةِ

wa tibil-mukhalafah

courteousness in conflict,

 

وَالسَّبْقِ إِلَى الْفَضِيلَةِ

was-sib-qi ilal-fazilah

precedence in reaching excellence,

 

وَإِيثَارِ التَّفَضُّلِ

wa itharit-tafaz-zul

preferring/choosing to behave graciously,

 

وَتَرْكِ التَّعْيِيرِ

wa tar-kit-ta'-yir

refraining from condemnation,

 

وَالإِفْضَاِل عَلَى غَيْرِ الْمُسْتَحِقِّ

wal-if-zali a'la ghayril-mus-tahiq-q

bestowing bounty on the undeserving,

 

وَالْقَوْلِ بِالْحَقِّ وَإِنْ عَزَّ

wal-qaw-li bil-haq-qi wa in a'z-z

speaking the truth, though it be painful,

 

وَاسْتِقْلاَلِ الْخَيْرِ وَإِن كَثُرَ مِن قَوْلِي وَفِعْلِي

was-tiq-lalil-khayri wa in kathura min qaw-li wa fia'-li

making little of the good in my words and deeds, though it be much,

 

وَاسْتِكْثَارِ الْشَّرِ وَإِن قلَّ مِن قَوْلِي وَفِعْلِي

was-tik-tharish-shari wa in ql-la min qaw-li wa fia'-li

 

I was batting a big fat zero on that too. Out of 19!

 

I spent the next 24 hours asking for forgiveness for the both of us.

 

In her rage as she accused me of not know anything about anything, she said something that occurred to me later. I also had to forgive myself. Had I done that?

 

I went back to read the honoured Imam’s (as) prayer on confessing again. That forgiveness I needed for myself, was it in his Dua? I noticed how it didn’t mention another person from start to end. The “confession” was of my state alone; I was of the “lowly”, the “surrendered”, the “destitute”, the “pitiful.”

 

In the asking of the forgiveness through him, I was in fact also forgiving myself!

 

فَهَلْ يَنْفَعُنِي يَا إلهِي إقْرَارِي عِنْدَكَ بِسُوءِ مَا اكْتَسَبْتُ؟

fahal yanfau'nee yaaa ilaaheee iq-raaree i'ndaka bisooo-i mak-tasab-tu ?

6- Will it profit me, my God, to admit to Thee the evil of what I have earned?

 

وَهَلْ يُنْجِيْنِي مِنْكَ اعْتِرَافِي لَكَ بِقَبِيْحِ مَا ارْتَكَبْتُ؟

wahal yunjeenee minka aa'-tiraafee laka biqabeehee mar-takab-tu?

Will it save me from Thee to confess the ugliness of what I have done?

 

Because Subhanahu would open the door of repentance Himself:

 

سُبْحَانَكَ! لاَ أَيْأَسُ مِنْكَ وَقَدْ فَتَحْتَ لِيَ بَابَ التَّوْبَةِ إلَيْكَ،

sub-h'aanaka laaa ay-asu minka waqad fatah'-ta lee baabat-taw-bati ilay-k

Glory be to Thee! I do not despair of Thee, for Thou hast opened the door of repentance toward Thyself.

 

So He would make me say the words my nafs would never allow. Of how I had wronged myself.

 

بَلْ أَقُولُ مَقَالَ الْعَبْدِ الذَّلِيلِ الظَّالِمِ لِنَفْسِهِ

bal aqoolu maqaalal-a'b-did'-d'aleeli az'-z'aalimi linaf-sih

Rather, I say, the words of a lowly servant, having wronged himself

 

All day and night I prayed for her as I did for myself. After my namaz, after the Duas. I wanted us to be forgiven together for that brief moment we shared only to separate again and walk our different paths, wherever they lead. For I had caused that moment for her, just like she had caused it for me.

 

My focus was singular. I wanted deliverance from hell that was promised in 4 days.

 

مَا سَلَكَكُمْ فِى سَقَرَ ٤٢

What led you into Hell?

 

قَالُوا۟ لَمْ نَكُ مِنَ ٱلْمُصَلِّينَ ٤٣

They will say, “We were of those who did not pray.”

 

وَلَمْ نَكُ نُطْعِمُ ٱلْمِسْكِينَ ٤٤

And we did not feed the poor.

 

وَكُنَّا نَخُوضُ مَعَ ٱلْخَآئِضِينَ ٤٥

And we indulged in vain discussion along with others who did the same.

 

Surah Al Mudathir, Verse 42-45

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

And they were asked:

 

Anal Mujrimeen: the wicked ones, (by the ones in Paradise who were) in a state of bewilderment and in disbelief…

 

Ma salakakum: what led you and made you enter…

 

Fi saqara: the Hell of possibilities and the fire of exclusion and abandonment?

 

It was an absence of love. From Subhanahu and human beings both!

 

قُلِ ٱللَّهُمَّ مَـٰلِكَ ٱلۡمُلۡكِ تُؤۡتِی ٱلۡمُلۡكَ مَن تَشَاۤءُ وَتَنزِعُ ٱلۡمُلۡكَ مِمَّن تَشَاۤءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَاۤءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَاۤءُۖ بِیَدِكَ ٱلۡخَیۡرُۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَیۡءࣲ قَدِی

 

Say "O Allah! Owner (of) the Dominion,

You give the dominion (to) whom You will and You take away the dominion from whom You will,

and You honor whom You will, and You humiliate whom You will.

In Your hand (is all) goodness.

Indeed, You (are) All Powerful upon every thing.

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 26

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Qul: Say, Ayyha Al Muttahaqqiq, the one made steadfast upon the Maqam Ash-shahood Az-zaati, the Station of the Witnessing of My Essence, Al Mukhashif bi Wahdat il Haqq, the one who unveils the One-ness of Allah Al Haqq, invoke and pray, uttering by a tongue of your rank, inclusive and consisting of all the ranks…

 

Allahuma: Dear Lord…

 

Malik il Mulk: O Al Mutasarrif, The Only One who governs , Al Mustaqil, The Only One Permanent in the appearance of Your Essence…

 

Tu’ti: grant and give and unveil by Your Lutf, Affection…

 

Al Mulk-a: the kingdom i.e. Tauheed e Zaati, the Essence of Your One-ness…

 

Man Tasha’a: to whom you will from the chosen ones for the Manifestation of Your Attributes and Names…

 

Wa tanz’iu: and withold and prevent and conceal due to Your Qahr, Wrath…

 

Al Mulka: the Essence of Your One-ness…

 

Mimman tasha’u: from whom you want from the ordinary, (thus) completing the requisites of the Attributes of Your Jamal, Beauty and Your Jalal, Awe.

Wa tu’izzu man tasha’a: And You bestow honor upon whom You will by union with the realm of Fana’, dissolution in You…

 

Wa tudillu man tasha’a: and You humiliate whom you want (by placing them) behind the veil of the canopy of Your Jalal, Majesty (thus never reaching Him).

 

And overall:

 

Bi yadika: in Your Hand and Your Power and Your Control and Your Will and Your Desire…

 

Al Khair: is All Goodness i.e. everything in presence and everything in appearance in different forms and places.

 

Innaka: Indeed You and Only Your Essence…

 

Ala kulli shay’an: is upon every thing in appearance from Your Presence…

 

Qadeer: are All Powerful, (a Power) which has no end whatsoever.

 

The one thing I was realizing all of this Ramadan was that if I stare at my nafs all day and can’t change anything about it, why would someone else who doesn’t even see it as an enemy. Who thinks indulging it is their path. Who sits gagged and bound and thinks life is good.

 

I also came to realize why wealth is as much a blessing as a curse. It’s not the effect it has on one as much as the possession of it has on those around. Beauty is a burden, I have heard often. But beauty comes with a trauma sooner or later. That is from the nisbat of the beautiful one with the Prophet Yusuf (as).

 

But money. It’s sheer effect on others who stare at the one with envy and admiration for the possession of it boomerangs back with such vile intensity, it becomes a nightmare. For the bowing of others causes one to become Pharonic!

 

Hence the verses in the Quran when Subhanahu says, you thought it was good for you but it wasn’t!

 

Happy when it was bestowed…

 

فَأَمَّا ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنُ إِذَا مَا ٱبۡتَلَىٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَأَكۡرَمَهُۥ وَنَعَّمَهُۥ فَیَقُولُ رَبِّیۤ أَكۡرَمَنِ

 

And as for Man, when does try him his Lord and is generous to him and favors him, he says, "My Lord has honored me."

Surah Al Fajr, Verse 15

 

Tafseer e Jilani

Fa ammal insaanu: But as for the state of Man, Al Muzabzib, swaying between ehsan, goodness and kufran, ingratitude…

 

Ida mabtalaahu: when He places him in a trial, to test him and try him out…

 

Rabbuhu: His Lord, with richness and ease…

 

Fa akramahu: and honours him with rank and prosperity…

 

Wa na’amahu: and bestows him blessings in the form of wealth and children…

 

Fa yaqoolu: so he says, in gratitude because he receives some of the blessings, responding to the Generosity of Allah….

 

Rabbi akramani: my Lord honoured me and bestowed His Favour upon me by what he gave me from wealth and goodness.

 

… and feeling humiliated when it was restricted!

 

وَأَمَّاۤ إِذَا مَا ٱبۡتَلَىٰهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَیۡهِ رِزۡقَهُۥ فَیَقُولُ رَبِّیۤ أَهَـٰنَنِ

 

But when does He try him and restricts for him his provision, then he says, "My Lord (has) humiliated me."

Surah Al Fajr, Verse 16

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa amma mabtalaahu: But when He tries him with affliction (of pain and discomfort), His Lord, with poverty and hardship after ease…

 

Fa qadra alayhi rizqahu: and limits his means of sustenance and reduces it and gives him only what is sufficient for him and what fulfills his need and what is his daily sustenance, (bihaysu) such that it does not increase beyond what he needs for his basic living…

 

Fa yaqoolu: so he says, complaining to Him with complaints before Subhanahu…

 

Rabbi ahaanani: my Lord degraded me and humiliated me so much so that He did not give me what He gave so and so even though faqr, a state of being without, is better than wealth because poverty, if it is joined with tasleem, surrender and raza, contentment, it will take its doer towards Jannat al Ma’awa and towards a kingdom that will never perish.

 

And riches, if they are not joined with gratitude and spending and going the extra mile, it will take its doer to the depths of fire and valleys of blazing flames.

 

For it only created greed!

 

وَتُحِبُّونَ ٱلۡمَالَ حُبࣰّا جَمࣰّا

 

And you love wealth with boundless love.

Surah Al Fajr, Verse 17-20

 

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Then said Subhanahu:

 

Wa: And this is because you all…

 

Tuhibboona al maala hubban: love money with boundless love, a lot, with a greed intense and a hope extreme and you do not feed the needy and the destitute, fearful that it (your wealth) will decrease.

 

Tangibles or intangibles, giving and withholding was explained to me from two angles. One, only Subhanahu decides it;

 

فَأَفْتَتِنَ بِحَمْدِ مَنْ أَعْطَانِي،

fa-af-tatina biham-di man a'-tani

And Then I would be tried by praising him who gave to me

 

وَأُبْتَلي بِذَمِّ مَن مَّنَعَنِي

wa ub-tala bidhammi mam-mana'ni

afflicted with blaming him who held back from me,

 

وَأَنتَ مِن دُونِهِمْ وَلِيُّ الإِعْطَاءِ وَالْمَنْعِ

wa anta min dunihim wali-yul-ia'-ta-i wal-man-i'

While You— not they— art patron of giving and holding back

 

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَّآلِهِ

allahumma sal-li a'la muhammadiw-wa a-lih

O Allah, bless Muhammad and his Household

 

So if one friend forgave me with a smile and another didn’t, she couldn’t. She was denied that ability.

 

Because that ability and capacity and capability is granted. That granting it seems from the exegesis of the verses that I have studied through Ghaus Pak (ra) comes from a person’s israar, insistence, that what they are doing is right.

 

Thus I remembered the verse, forgive them but stay away from them:

 

‏خُذِ ٱلْعَفْوَ وَأْمُرْ بِٱلْعُرْفِ وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ ٱلْجَهِلِينَ ‎

 

Keep to forgiveness (O Beloved (peace be upon you) and enjoin the good,

and turn away from the ignorant.

Surah Al Araaf, Verse 199

 

Tafseer e Jilani:

 

And when their state is such and their insistence upon this purpose (of denial and being wayward);

 

Khud il afwa: Choose always (and make your habit), O Messenger who completes the Message (peace be upon you), the path of forgiveness and softness. And turn away from anger (of the type of being upset with someone when you can exercise ability to do something about it) and becoming hard, because this is in line with the affection of the status of Prophet-hood.

 

Wa’mur bil urf: And enjoin them with good deeds, calling them to the Way of Allah, with wisdom and softness of words, that nation in which you see the possibility of being guided, with the light of Prophet-hood and Closeness (with Allah).

 

Wa aa’rid ana jahileen: And avoid the ignorant who are stubborn. And if they argue with you, argue with them in the best way. Indeed your Lord knows well which of them is astray from His Path and He knows well also who is guided among them.

 

For it is the persistence that is the biggest barrier.

 

أللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّد وَآلِهِ

al-laahum-ma s'al-li a'laa muh'am-madiw-wa aaalih

1.O God, bless Muhammad and his Household,

 

وَصَيِّرْنَـا إلَى مَحْبُوبِكَ مِنَ التَّوْبَةِ

wa s'ay-yir-naaa ilaa mah'-boobika minat-taw-bati

2.make us go to the repentance that You lovest

 

وَأَزِلْنَا عَنْ مَكْرُوهِكَ مِنَ الإصْرَارِ.

wa azil-naa a'm-mak-roohika minal-is'-raar

3.and make us leave the persistence that You hatest!

 

In the end I had said one thing to my once friend.

“I was a goodness for you,” I said honestly without being boastful about it. “Like I thought you were a goodness for me. If you don’t believe that was the case, then there was never going to be a resumption after the rupture anyway.”

 

One’s own forgiveness lies not just in forgiving another which is what I previously thought. It lies in the seeking of it as well. They were both equally important. Perhaps that is why maghfira is the bridge that leads to the way out of hell.

Ramadan is the time for me to receive the harvest of those seeds I had given to Ghaus Pak (ra) in Rajab. I couldn’t even remember what those seeds were anymore. What were they? I kept asking myself drawing blanks.

 

I guess it doesn’t matter. What I will sow is what I earned for difficulty that came upon me from my self.

 

وَمَآ أَصَـٰبَكُم مِّن مُّصِيبَةٍۢ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُوا۟ عَن كَثِيرٍۢ ٣٠

 

And whatever befalls you of (the) misfortune, (is because) of what have earned your hands. But He pardons [from] much.

 

Surah Shoora, Verse 30

  

Tafseer e Jilani

 

Wa: And know Ayyoha al adlaal al haalika, O ones who are shadows that are vanishing in themselves…

 

Ma asaabakum mim museebat-in: that which befalls you of misfortune, harmful, painful…

 

Fabima kasabat aydeekum: so it is because it is the outcome of your own hands i.e. because of your perpetrating disobedience and sinful deeds…

 

Wa: and while (He knows it)…

 

Ya’fu: He forgives, Subhanahu…

 

An katheer: most of it. He does not punish you because of those sins with misfortune, showing you kindness and giving you ease.

 

But still He would forgive me, my Rabb!

 

That was what the Imam (as) invoked again and again and again in his prayers; those promises of forgiveness invoking His Exalted Names and Attributes in endless expression; Ya Arham Ar Rahimeen, The Most Merciful of Merciful, Al Lateef, The Most Gentle, Al Afuw, The Most Forgiving, At Tawwab, The Only Acceptor of Repentance,

 

يَدْعُوكَ بِيَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ وَيَا أَرْحَمَ مَنِ انْتَابَهُ الْمُسْتَرْحِمُونَ،

yad-u'wka beeaaa ar-h'amar-raah'imeen wa yaaa ar-h'ama mani antaabahul-mus-tar-h'imoon

He supplicates Thee: O Most Merciful of the merciful!O Most Merciful of those toward whom seekers of mercy keep on turning

 

وَيَا أَعْطَفَ مَنْ أَطَافَ بِهِ الْمُسْتَغْفِرُونَ ،

wa yaaa aa'-t'afa man at'aafa bihil-mus-tagh-firoon

O Tenderest of those around whom run seekers of forgiveness!

 

وَيَا مَنْ عَفْوُهُ أكْثَرُ مِنْ نِقْمَتِهِ،

wa yaa man a'f-wuhooo ak-tharu min-naqimatih

O He whose pardon is greater than His vengeance!

 

وَيَا مَنْ رِضَاهُ أَوْفَرُ مِنْ سَخَطِهِ،

wa yaa mar-riz''aahooo aw-faru min sakhat'ih

O He whose good pleasure is more abundant than His anger

 

وَيَا مَنْ تَحَمَّدَ إلَى خَلْقِهِ بِحُسْنِ التَّجاوُزِ ،

wa yaa man tah'am-mada ilaa khal-qihee bih'us-nit-tajaawuz

O He who seeks His creatures' praise with excellent forbearance!

 

وَيَا مَنْ عَوَّدَ عِبادَهُ قَبُولَ الإنَابَةِ ،

wa yaa man a'w-wada i'baadahoo qaboolal-inaabah

O He who has accustomed His servants to the acceptance of their repeated turning!

 

وَيَا مَنِ اسْتَصْلَحَ فَاسِدَهُمْ بِالتَّوْبَةِ

wa yaa mani as-tas'-lah'a faasidahum bit-taw-bah

O He who seeks to heal their corruption through repentance!

 

وَيَا مَنْ رَضِيَ مِنْ فِعْلِهِمْ بِالْيَسيرِ،

wa yaa mar-raz''eea min fia'-lihim bil-yaseer

O He who is pleased with the easy of their acts!

 

وَيَا مَنْ كَافى قَلِيْلَهُمْ بِالْكَثِيرِ،

wa yaa man kaafaa qaleelahum bil-katheer

O He who recompenses with the much their little!

 

وَيَا مَنْ ضَمِنَ لَهُمْ إجَابَةَ الدُّعاءِ،

wa yaa man z''amina lahum ijaabatad-dua'aa-i

O He who has made himself accountable to them to respond to supplication!

 

وَيَا مَنْ وَعَدَهُمْ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ بِتَفَضُّلِهِ حُسْنَ الْجَزاءِ،

wa yaa maw-waa'dahum a'laa naf-sihee bitafaz''-z''ulihee h'us-nal-jazaaa-i

O He who pledged Himself by His gratuitous bounty to give them excellent repayment!

 

For the Imam (as) evokes His Love by beseeching that he is not the worst of them all.

 

مَا أَنَا بِأَعْصَى مَنْ عَصَاكَ فَغَفَرْتَ لَهُ،

maaa ana bia'-s'aa man a's'aaka faghafar-ta lah

I am not the most disobedient of those who have disobeyed Thee

 

وَمَا أَنَا بِأَلْوَمِ مَنِ اعْتَذَرَ إلَيْكَ فَقَبِلْتَ مِنْهُ،

wa maaa ana bil-wami mani aa'-tad'ara ilay-ka faqabil-ta min-h

and whom Thou hast forgiven, nor am I the most blameworthy to offer excuses which Thou hast accepted,

 

وَمَا أَنَا بِأَظْلَمِ مَنْ تَابَ إلَيْكَ فَعُدْتَ عَلَيْهِ ،

wa maaa ana biz'-lami man taaba ilay-ka fau't-ta a'lay-h

nor am I the most wrongdoing of those who have repented to Thee, and to whom Thou hast returned

 

Just one who wants to return, pulling back from that insistence.

 

أَتُوبُ إلَيْكَ فِي مَقَامِي هَذَا تَوْبَةَ نَادِم عَلَى مَا فَرَطَ مِنْهُ

atoobu ilay-ka fee maqaamee had'aa taw-bata naadimin a'laa maa farat'a min-h

I repent to Thee in this my station, the repentance of one remorseful over what preceded from him

 

مُشْفِق مِمَّا اجْتَمَعَ عَلَيْهِ خَالِصِ الْحَيَاءِ مِمَّا وَقَعَ فِيْهِ ،

mush-fiqim-mim-maj-tamaa' a'lay-h khaalis'il-h'ayaaa-i mim-maa waqaa' feeh

hastily, apprehensive of what has gathered around him, pure in shame for that into which he has fallen,

 

عَالِم بِأَنَّ الْعَفْوَ عَنِ الذَّنْبِ الْعَظِيمِ لاَ يَتَعـاظَمُكَ،

a'alimin bian-nal-a'f-wa a'nid'-d'ambil-a'z'eemi laa yataa'az'amuk

knowing that pardoning great sins is nothing great for Thee.

 

وَأَنَّ التَّجَـاوُزَ عَنِ الإثْمِ الْجَلِيْلِ لا يَسْتَصْعِبُكَ ،

wa an-nat-tajaawuza a'nil-ith-mil-jaleeli laa yas-tas'-i'buk

overlooking enormous misdeeds is not difficult for thee

 

وَأَنَّ احْتِمَالَ الْجنَايَاتِ الْفَـاحِشَةِ لا يَتَكَأَّدُكَ،

wa an-na ah'-timaalal-jinaayaatil-faah'ishati laa yatakaa-aduk

putting up with indecent crimes does not trouble Thee,

 

وَأَنَّ أَحَبَّ عِبَادِكَ إلَيْكَ مَنْ تَرَكَ الاسْتِكْبَارَ عَلَيْكَ،

wa an-na ah'ab-ba i'baadika ilay-ka man tarakalis-tik-baara a'lay-k

and the most beloved of Thy servants to Thee is he who refrains from arrogance before thee

 

وَجَانَبَ الإِصْرَارَ، وَلَزِمَ الاسْتِغْفَارَ.

wa jaanabal-is'-raar wa lazimalis-tigh-faar

pulls aside from persistence, and holds fast to praying forgiveness!

 

It is no coincidence that two of the most important births of the Universe lie in these 10 days; the exalted Imam Hussain (as) today at sunset and the kindness of my life, Bibi Zainab (as) on Saturday at sunset. If there were moments when the Earths and the skies and the seven heavens have celebrated joy, without doubt these have been two of them.

 

My recent debacle in seeking someone's forgiveness just reconfirmed the inability of my nafs to change, to flare up and explode in anger. But it also showed me when I prayed the dua of the blessed Imam (ra) for the person exactly as I prayed it for myself, that whether there can be resumption after a rupture or not, on some plane of the Universe, we remain aligned. There is a happiness in that for me just as much as there is a peace. I just hope the other person can also sense that somehow.

 

One might then ask, if the nafs cannot change, and the capacity and capability is pre-assigned by Allah in His Infinite Knowledge as a function of one’s own insistence and persistence to only be stubborn and selfish, what’s the point?

 

The answer then is the dua. For it is the jewel of being His Banda, Servant, and when the words ring in the echo of the Imam’s (as), they carry within them not just his sound but also his emotion.

 

That emotion is being expressed by the blood of the exalted Imam Hussain (as). After what he endured at Karbala and then following it is harrowing in ways infinite and indescribable. The Imam (as) is the reason the faith survived. He is the reason I can call myself a Muslim today.

 

Otherwise if the Christians could abandon their faith because of the scandals of sexual abuse by their clergy, why wouldn't the Muslims reject theirs when the spiritual leaders would be the likes of Yazeed. The way the Imam Zain ul Abedin (as) addressed his Lord is with a love that is endlessly deep and intensely vulnerable. He cannot be denied and therefore, for the one who invokes his words, absolutely anything can happen.

 

Lines that did not exist in fate can appear and words in the tablets of decree ordained erased. Destinies can change and fires of hell finally be extinguished. Talk about a long time coming!

 

In 12 years of walking a path I have learnt that charity creates gratitude. Given the rule that peace of mind is only and only a consequence of gratitude, in the greatest of fortunes it became a practice per the command of my Spiritual Master.

 

Sadqa, attests the Quran, is also the only possibility of giving a loan to Subhanahu, qardan hasana. It is the means to receive the prayer of The Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him and his family as many as there are footsteps on the Earth from the beginning of time till the end of it).

 

In this Ashra, through the seeking of forgiveness, when I realized that I was given capacity another was denied, that gratitude emerged again. In an entirely different way that was deeply emotional and almost overwhelming. For it caused an outpouring of softness that was completely new for an other who was the "enemy."

 

Because of Maghfira, the bridge that connects the Mercy of the Divine with His Ni'jat.

 

In five days, that bridge will disappear. Of course its promise remains for anyone at anytime as is Subhanahu's Will but today it is promised. So even if the forgiveness cannot be sought of another because the ego cannot fathom it, even that's fine. But to not ask it of Khair ul Ghaifreen, The Best of Forgivers, why would anyone want to miss that moment.

 

Biografi Al-Khiḍr (kanan) dan Dzu al- Qarnayn (yang selalu dihubungkan

dengan Alexander the Great), takjub dengan penglihatannya terhadap

seekor ikan air asin yang kembali hidup ketika ditaruh ke dalam Air

Kehidupan. Khidir Al-Khiḍr (Arab: رضخلا

, Khaḍr, Khaḍer, al-Khaḍir) adalah seorang nabi misterius yang

dituturkan oleh Allah dalam Al-Qur'an dalam Surah Al-Kahfi ayat 65-82.

Selain kisah tentang

nabi Khidir yang mengajarkan

tentang ilmu dan kebijaksanaan

kepada Nabi Musa asal usul dan kisah lainnya tentang Nabi Khidir

tidak banyak disebutkan. Dalam bukunya yang berjudul

“Mystical Dimensions of Islam”, oleh penulis Annemarie Schimmel,

Khidr dianggap sebagai salah

satu nabi dari empat nabi dalam

kisah Islam dikenal sebagai

‘ Sosok yang tetap Hidup’ atau ‘ Abadi’ . Tiga lainnya adalah

Idris,Ilyas,isa. [1] Khidr abadi karena ia dianggap telah meminum air

kehidupan. Ada beberapa

pendapat yang menyatakan

bahwa Khidr adalah masih sama

dengan seseorang yang bernama Elia.[2] Ia juga diidentifikasikan

sebagai St. George.[3] Diantara pendapat awal para cendikiawan

Barat, Rodwell menyatakan

bahwa “Karakter Khidr dibentuk dari Yitro.”[4] Dalam kisah literatur

Islam, satu orang bisa bermacam-macam

sebutan nama dan julukan yang

telah disandang oleh Khidir.

Beberapa orang mengatakan

Khidir adalah gelarnya; yang

lainnya menganggapnya sebagai nama julukan.[5] Khidir telah disamakan

dengan St. George,

dikenal sebagai “Elia versi Muslim” dan juga dihubungkan dengan

Pengembara abadi.[6] Para cendikiawan telah

menganggapnya dan

mengkarakterkan sosoknya

sebagai orang suci, nabi,

pembimbing nabi yang misterius

dan lain lain. Etimologi Al-Khiḍr secara harfiah berarti 'Seseorang yang Hijau'

melambangkan kesegaran jiwa,

warna hijau melambangkan

kesegaran akan pengetahuan

“berlarut langsung dari sumber kehidupan.” Dalam situs Encyclopædia

Britannica, dikatakan bahwa Khidir memiliki

telah diberikan sebuah nama,

yang paling terkenal adalah Balyā bin Malkān.Menurut Syaikh Imam M.

Ma’ rifatullah al-Arsy, Segitiga Bermuda merupakan tempat titik

terujung di dunia ini. Ditengah

kawasan itu terdapat sebuah

telaga yang airnya dapat

membuat siapa saja yg

meminumnya menjadi panjang

umur, ditempat itu pula Khidr bertahta sebagai penjaga

sumber air kehidupan tersebut. [7] Teguran Allah kepada Musa Kisah

Musa dan Khiḍr dituturkan oleh Al-Qur'an dalam Surah Al- Kahf ayat

65-82. Menurut Ibnu Abbas, Ubay bin Ka'ab menceritakan bahawa beliau

mendengar nabi Muhammad bersabda: “Sesungguhnya pada suatu hari, Musa berdiri di

khalayak Bani Israil lalu beliau

ditanya, “Siapakah orang yang paling berilmu?” Jawab Nabi Musa, “Aku”

Lalu Allah menegur Nabi Musa dengan firman-Nya,

“Sesungguhnya di sisi-Ku ada seorang hamba yang berada di

pertemuan dua lautan dan dia

lebih berilmu daripada kamu.” Lantas Musa pun bertanya,

“Wahai Tuhanku, dimanakah aku dapat menemuinya?” Allah pun berfirman,

“Bawalah bersama- sama kamu seekor ikan di dalam sangkar dan sekiranya

ikan

tersebut hilang, di situlah kamu

akan bertemu dengan hamba-Ku

itu.” Sesungguhnya teguran Allah itu mencetuskan keinginan yang

kuat dalam diri Nabi Musa untuk menemui hamba yang shalih itu.

Di samping itu, Nabi Musa juga

ingin sekali mempelajari ilmu dari

Hamba Allah tersebut. Musa kemudiannya menunaikan

perintah Allah itu dengan

membawa ikan di dalam wadah

dan berangkat bersama-sama

pembantunya yang juga

merupakan murid dan pembantunya, Yusya bin Nun. Mereka berdua akhirnya sampai

di sebuah batu dan memutuskan untuk beristirahat sejenak

karena telah menempuh

perjalanan cukup jauh. Ikan yang

mereka bawa di dalam wadah itu

tiba-tiba meronta-ronta dan

selanjutnya terjatuh ke dalam air. Allah SWT membuatkan aliran

air untuk memudahkan ikan

sampai ke laut. Yusya` tertegun

memperhatikan kebesaran Allah

menghidupkan semula ikan yang

telah mati itu. Selepas menyaksikan peristiwa

yang sungguh menakjubkan dan

luar biasa itu, Yusya' tertidur

dan ketika terjaga, beliau lupa

untuk menceritakannya kepada

Musa Mereka kemudiannya meneruskan lagi perjalanan siang

dan malamnya dan pada

keesokan paginya, “ Nabi Musa berkata kepada

Yusya` “Bawalah ke mari makanan kita, sesungguhnya

kita telah merasa letih karena

perjalanan kita ini.” (Surah Al- Kahfi : 62) ” Ibn `Abbas berkata,

“Nabi Musa sebenarnya tidak merasa letih

sehingga baginda melewati

tempat yang diperintahkan oleh

Allah supaya menemui hamba-Nya

yang lebih berilmu itu.” Yusya’ berkata kepada Nabi Musa, “ “Tahukah

guru bahwa ketika kita mencari tempat berlindung

di batu tadi, sesungguhnya aku

lupa (menceritakan tentang)

ikan itu dan tidak lain yang

membuat aku lupa untuk

menceritakannya kecuali syaitan dan ikan itu kembali masuk

kedalam laut itu dengan cara yang amat aneh.” (Surah Al- Kahfi : 63) ”

Musa segera teringat sesuatu,

bahwa mereka sebenarnya

sudah menemukan tempat

pertemuan dengan hamba Allah yang sedang dicarinya tersebut.

Kini, kedua-dua mereka berbalik

arah untuk kembali ke tempat

tersebut yaitu di batu yang

menjadi tempat persinggahan

mereka sebelumnya, tempat bertemunya dua buah lautan. “ Musa berkata,

“Itulah tempat yang kita cari.” Lalu keduanya kembali, mengikuti jejak

mereka

semula. (Surah Al-Kahfi : 64) ” Terdapat banyak pendapat

tentang tempat pertemuan Musa

dengan Khidir. Ada yang

mengatakan bahawa tempat

tersebut adalah pertemuan Laut Romawi dengan Parsia yaitu tempat

bertemunya Laut Merah dengan Samudra Hindia. Pendapat yang lain

mengatakan

bahwa lautan tersebut terletak

di tempat pertemuan antara

Laut Roma dengan Lautan Atlantik. Di samping itu, ada juga yang

mengatakan bahwa lautan

tersebut terletak di sebuah

tempat yang bernama Ras

Muhammad yaitu antara Teluk

Suez dengan Teluk Aqabah di Laut Merah. Persyaratan belajar Setibanya

mereka di tempat

yang dituju, mereka melihat

seorang hamba Allah yang

berjubah putih bersih. Nabi Musa

pun mengucapkan salam

kepadanya. Khidir menjawab salamnya dan bertanya, “Dari mana datangnya

kesejahteraan

di bumi yang tidak mempunyai kesejahteraan? Siapakah kamu” Jawab Musa,

“Aku adalah Musa.” Khidir bertanya lagi, “Musa dari Bani Isra’ il?”

Nabi Musa menjawab, “Ya. Aku datang menemui tuan supaya tuan

dapat mengajarkan sebagian ilmu

dan kebijaksanaan yang telah

diajarkan kepada tuan.” Khidir menegaskan,

“Sesungguhnya kamu sekali-kali tidak akan sanggup bersabar

bersama-samaku.” (Surah Al- Kahfi : 67) “Wahai Musa, sesungguhnya ilmu

yang kumiliki

ini ialah sebahagian daripada ilmu

karunia dari Allah yang diajarkan

kepadaku tetapi tidak diajarkan

kepadamu wahai Musa. Kamu

juga memiliki ilmu yang diajarkan kepadamu yang tidak

kuketahuinya.” “ Nabi Musa berkata, “Insya Allah tuan akan mendapati diriku

sebagai seorang yang sabar dan

aku tidak akan menentang tuan

dalam sesuatu urusan

pun.” (Surah Al-Kahfi : 69) ” “ Dia (Khidir) selanjutnya

mengingatkan, “Jika kamu mengikutiku, maka janganlah

kamu menanyakan kepadaku

tentang sesuatu pun sehingga

aku sendiri menerangkannya

kepadamu.” (Surah Al-Kahfi : 70) ” Perjalanan Khidr dan Musa

Demikianlah seterusnya Musa

mengikuti Khidir dan terjadilah

beberapa peristiwa yang menguji

diri Musa yang telah berjanji

bahawa baginda tidak akan

bertanya sebab sesuatu tindakan diambil oleh Nabi Khidir.

Setiap tindakan Nabi Khidir a.s.

itu dianggap aneh dan membuat

Nabi Musa terperanjat. Kejadian yang pertama adalah

saat Nabi Khidir menghancurkan perahu yang ditumpangi mereka bersama.

Nabi Musa tidak kuasa

untuk menahan hatinya untuk

bertanya kepada Nabi Khidir. Nabi

Khidir memperingatkan janji Nabi

Musa, dan akhirnya Nabi Musa

meminta maaf karena kalancangannya mengingkari

janjinya untuk tidak bertanya

terhadap setiap tindakan Nabi

Khidir. Selanjutnya setelah mereka

sampai di suatu daratan, Nabi

Khidir membunuh seorang anak

yang sedang bermain dengan

kawan-kawannnya. Peristiwa

pembunuhan yang dilakukan oleh Nabi Khidir tersebut membuat

Nabi Musa tak kuasa untuk

menanyakan hal tersebut

kepada Nabi Khidir. Nabi Khidir

kembali mengingatkan janji Nabi

Musa, dan beliau diberi kesempatan terakhir untuk tidak

bertanya-tanya terhadap segala

sesuatu yang dilakukan oleh Nabi

Khidir, jika masih bertanya lagi

maka Nabi Musa harus rela untuk

tidak mengikuti perjalanan bersama Nabi Khidir. Selanjutnya mereka melanjutkan

perjalanan hingga sampai disuatu

wilayah perumahan. Mereka

kelelahan dan hendak meminta

bantuan kepada penduduk

sekitar. Namun sikap penduduk sekitar tidak bersahabat dan

tidak mau menerima kehadiran

mereka, hal ini membuat Nabi

Musa merasa kesal terhadap

penduduk itu. Setelah

dikecewakan oleh penduduk, Nabi Khidir malah menyuruh Nabi Musa

untuk bersama-samanya

memperbaiki tembok suatu

rumah yang rusak di daerah

tersebut. Nabi Musa tidak kuasa

kembali untuk bertanya terhadap sikap Nabi Khidir ini

yang membantu memperbaiki

tembok rumah setelah penduduk

menzalimi mereka. Akhirnya Nabi

Khidir menegaskan pada Nabi

Musa bahwa beliau tidak dapat menerima Nabi Musa untuk

menjadi muridnya dan Nabi Musa tidak diperkenankan untuk terus

melanjutkan perjalannya

bersama dengan Nabi Khidir. Selanjutnya Nabi Khidir

menjelaskan mengapa beliau

melakukan hal-hal yang membuat

Nabi Musa bertanya. Kejadian

pertama adalah Nabi Khidir

menghancurkan perahu yang mereka tumpangi karena perahu

itu dimiliki oleh seorang yang

miskin dan di daerah itu

tinggallah seorang raja yang

suka merampas perahu miliki

rakyatnya. Kejadian yang kedua, Nabi Khidir

menjelaskan bahwa beliau

membunuh seorang anak karena

kedua orang tuanya adalah

pasangan yang beriman dan jika

anak ini menjadi dewasa dapat mendorong bapak dan ibunya

menjadi orang yang sesat dan

kufur. Kematian anak ini

digantikan dengan anak yang

shalih dan lebih mengasihi kedua

bapak-ibunya hingga ke anak cucunya. Kejadian yang ketiga (terakhir),

Nabi Khidir menjelaskan bahwa

rumah yang dinding diperbaiki itu

adalah milik dua orang kakak

beradik yatim yang tinggal di kota tersebut. Didalam rumah

tersebut tersimpan harta benda

yang ditujukan untuk mereka

berdua. Ayah kedua kakak

beradik ini telah meninggal dunia

dan merupakan seorang yang shalih. Jika tembok rumah

tersebut runtuh, maka bisa

dipastikan bahwa harta yang

tersimpan tersebut akan

ditemukan oleh orang-orang di

kota itu yang sebagian besar masih menyembah berhala, sedangkan kedua

kakak beradik

tersebut masih cukup kecil untuk

dapat mengelola peninggalan

harta ayahnya. Dipercaya

tempat tersebut berada di

negeri Antakya, Turki. Akhirnya Nabi Musa as. sadar

hikmah dari setiap perbuatan

yang telah dikerjakan Nabi Khidir.

Akhirya mengerti pula Nabi Musa

dan merasa amat bersyukur

karena telah dipertemukan oleh Allah dengan seorang hamba

Allah yang shalih yang dapat

mengajarkan kepadanya ilmu

yang tidak dapat dituntut atau

dipelajari yaitu ilmu ladunni. Ilmu

ini diberikan oleh Allah SWT kepada siapa saja yang

dikehendaki-Nya. Nabi Khidir yang

bertindak sebagai seorang guru banyak memberikan nasihat dan

menyampaikan ilmu seperti yang diminta oleh Nabi Musa dan Nabi

Musa menerima nasihat tersebut

dengan penuh rasa gembira. Saat mereka didalam perahu

yang ditumpangi, datanglah

seekor burung lalu hinggap di ujung perahu itu. Burung itu

meneguk air dengan paruhnya,

lalu Nabi Khidir berkata, “Ilmuku dan ilmumu tidak berbanding

dengan ilmu Allah, Ilmu Allah tidak

akan pernah berkurang seperti

air laut ini karena diteguk sedikit

airnya oleh burung ini.” Sebelum berpisah, Khidir

berpesan kepada Musa: “Jadilah kamu seorang yang tersenyum

dan bukannya orang yang

tertawa. Teruskanlah berdakwah

dan janganlah berjalan tanpa

tujuan. Janganlah pula apabila

kamu melakukan kekhilafan, berputus asa dengan kekhilafan

yang telah dilakukan itu.

Menangislah disebabkan

kekhilafan yang kamu lakukan,

wahai Ibnu `Imran.” Hikmah kisah Khidir Dari kisah Khidir ini kita dapat

mengambil pelajaran penting.

Diantaranya adalah Ilmu

merupakan karunia Allah SWT,

tidak ada seorang manusia pun

yang boleh mengklaim bahwa dirinya lebih berilmu dibanding

yang lainnya. Hal ini dikarenakan

ada ilmu yang merupakan

anugrah dari Allah SWT yang

diberikan kepada seseorang

tanpa harus mempelajarinya (Ilmu Ladunni, yaitu ilmu yang

dikhususkan bagi hamba-hamba

Allah yang shalih dan terpilih) Hikmah yang kedua adalah kita

perlu bersabar dan tidak

terburu-buru untuk

mendapatkan kebijaksanaan dari

setiap peristiwa yang dialami.

Hikmah ketiga adalah setiap murid harus memelihara adab

dengan gurunya. Setiap murid

harus bersedia mendengar

penjelasan seorang guru dari

awal hingga akhir sebelum

nantinya dapat bertindak diluar perintah dari guru. Kisah Nabi

Khidir ini juga menunjukan bahwa Islam memberikan kedudukan yang

sangat istimewa kepada

guru.

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Beberapa faedah didalam Surah Al Fatihah. Berkata Syaikhul Islam Abul Abbas Ibnu Taymiyah رحمه الله. "Betapa banyak orang-orang yang menggabungkan antara Riya dan 'Ujub. Riya : Syirik kepada Allah dengan Makhluq. 'Ujub : Syirik kepada Allah dengan diri sendiri. (Kedua) Ini keadaannya orang-orang yang sombong. Dan orang yang Riya' tidak merealisasikan firman Allah : { إياك نعبد } { Hanya kepadaMu kami menyembah } dan orang yang 'Ujub tidak merealisasikan firman Allah : { وإياك نستعين } { dan hanya kepadaMu kami meminta pertolongan } Maka barangsiapa yang merealisasikan firman Allah { إياك نعبد } Maka dia telah keluar (selamat) dari sifat Riya'. dan barangsiapa yang merealisasikan firman Allah : { و إيك نستعين } Maka dia telah keluar (selamat) dari sifat 'Ujub. Majmu' Fatawa 10/277 cutt.us/9LWs6 SALAM #tawadhu #ujub #riya #sombong #adab #akhlak #ikhlas #islam #salafy #ahlussunnah #salafi #faedah #tauhid #quotes via Instagram ift.tt/1S8pWHA