Public Benefit by Kalim's Sayings - 29

(31) A big benefit of relationship with the People of Allah and regular letter writing to them is that if they are familiar with the conditions of their associates then they will keep supplicating from heart for their corrections. People of Allah get up in the night and supplicate very humbly in front of Allah, "O! Allah reform this disciple of mine help him". Remember it very clearly that the supplication of Shaikh is the alchemy in the path of Allah and these supplications are obtained as a result of proper relationship with the Shaikh and a constant concern for self correction.  Get connected with Allah and get engaged in the concern of your reformation.

An Early Flight

Hazrat Shaikh Hakim Muhammed Kalimullah Sahab Damatbarkatuhum's flight was scheduled to arrive at 4.00PM today on December 15, 2010AC at Lucknow. At 3.40PM we got the news that the flight has already arrived and Hazrat Shaikh (DB) has already boarded the bus from the plane to reach the terminal of the airport.

And All Praise is for Lord Most High.

Beating Around The Bush

There have been several posts on Thus Spake Hazrat Shaikh about Signs of Allah. Mostly from the perspective of modern attitudes. Why should one beat around the bush and not discuss the Qur'anic perspective directly? Firstly, problem of getting to that needs courage. Secondly that thing is better done by Scholars. See, for example, the take by Ibn-e-Kathir.

Religion and Science

 There are sometimes situations in life when there is a difficulty if you do some thing and there is difficulty when you do not do it. Indulging in philosophy is one of them. Even if it is philosophy of science. It remains true even if you are talking on the topic of religion and science. Make your decision before you read the following post further. It is merely the table of content of a famous book by a famous caliph of Hazrat Thanwi (RA).

 Religion and Science (Mazhab Aur Science)

A discussion on mutual relationship and influence of scholasticism and science from a fresh angle and  establishment of  of Qur’anic facts in the light of philosophy and modern science. 

Maulana Abdul Bari Nadwi
Academy Research and Publications, Lucknow
Formerly professor of Modern Philsophy Usmania University, Hyderabad

1. Preface Material (Brief introduction of author, preface, forward by Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi , (1970 AC), forward by author, forward by Doctor Mohammed Raziuddin Siddiqui (1970 AC) (Vice Chancellor, Peshawar University))2. Position of Man (or self recognition)
2(a). Awareness of Unseen
2(b) Types of Unseen
2(c) Depth of Hear only Unseen
2(d) Punishment of Fergetting  God-Forgetting Self
3. Visible Falsehood or Riddle of Matter and Materialism
3(a) Reverse Logic
3(b) Forward logic
4. Science and Philosophy
Summary of the Discussion
5.Sciecne and Religion
5(a) Some Additional and Further Puzzles of Matter
6. Character of Intellectual Creation and Relation of Intellect and Creation
7. Index (Prepared by Ghayasuddin Nadwi)

(Typesetting : Hallmark hand composing by Zahir Ahmed Kakorvi)


It is nearly impossible that a philosophic perspective of science will be in consonance with the perspective held by scientists. If these two are the same thing then why do you need any philosophical perspective?
But lots of opaqueness has been caused in the past by philosophical activities and the air must be cleared. That is the task taken up by Hazrat Maulana Abdul Bari Nadwi (RA) in this book. Just to give a flavour of the type of things that occupy the pages of this book here  is a partial list of the words occuring in the Latin script in the original Urdu book. Alpha and procima (centaury), Andromeda,  billions (of galaxies), body and mind, beta, cosmological creation,  constellation, Cygnus, curved coordinates, counter example, deterministic, disembodied, man the unknown electron, Eddington, emptiness, electric changes,epistemological, extragalactic, expansion,  four dimensional vector, finite, forms, geodesic, higher animal, hypothesis.

The prototype of Science is Physics. Physics is all about empirical reality of inanimate world. Previous statement itself will create two major philosophical problems with the modern practitioners of Physics. In that community empirical knowledge is the sum total of knowledge and reality. To think beyond that is a travesty of truth. Ergo, Physics is the reality, not the empirical reality. Secondly the majority of Science community will insist that there is no additional scientific thing to learn when you pass from inanimate world to animate world. Hence specification of inanimate world in connection is an over specification.

And thus, in the beginning itself we end up in two fissures that can not be patched up. What could be the way out? Look for common grounds of agreement while, at the same time, holding our respective positions. That is what we shall adopt for the time being.

Coming back to Physics connection. So if you want to talk about science then we should begin with Physics. The freshest of it. That is what is happening in the present book as can be seen from the terminology presented above.

But what is the use of talking Physics from the perspective of a non-practitioner? You, anyway, will not reach the real point.

There is a point. You may not reach the real Physical perspective but you do have chance to approach the public perspective of Physics in particular and Science in general. Indeed that is the matter that has to be addressed. To bring public perspective of Science in general and Physics in particular is as much a western concern as it is ours. Indeed it is much more of a western concern than a Muslim or Islamic concern. The unfortunate reason is the fact that in the field of Science Muslims at present are not the equal term participants, let alone the matters of leadership. This is a different problem and we shall not amplify about that here.

One doable thing can be to take up issues with public perspective of science if it is not in consonance with the teachings of Islam, the Islamic perspective. This is the burden of the present book. The book is an old one and established one and does not need our recommendation. But if we want to participate in the task of explaining Science to Muslims, masses or elite, and Islam to the world then it is a significant milestone that can be taken as a point of departure.

To give another perspective here is the Back Matter of the book.

When the spell of the worshipers of materialism and atheism that was established by the materialists
and atheists on the basis of Science broke then for those who pondered over the reality of world new lines opened up-even if on the basis of the dictum: could not be firm on atheism so resigned to faith. And it became impossible not to accept the existence of universal mind. Hazrat Maulana Abdul Bari Nadawi have described this in enough detail in his book (Religion and science). For those people who have been,overwhelmed by the recent extra ordinary progress of science and technology, suffering from weakening of faith, for them it has made available a means  to achieve firm belief and a wherewithal for deliverance in the hereafter. There is no doubt in this that it is an  important and appreciable accomplishment of Hazrat Maulana.

(From the forward by Doctor Mohammed Raziuddin Siddiqui)

List of Grave Sins

Avoid Sins

(This is an addendum to the booklet Public Benefit by Kalim's Sayings  compiled by Maulana Abdul Qawi Sahab)

Out of the benefits of Muhi-us-Sunnah Hazrat Maulana Shah Abrabr-ul-Haq Sahab (RA). Compiler: Maulana Abdul Qawi Sahab Mudazillahu (Manager Idarah Ashraf-ul- Uloom, Hyderabad)

    There is a dictation of Allah Most High: Wazroo zahiral ismi wa batinahu. Avoid open and hidden sins. Holy Prophet (PBUH) said to Hazrat Ayesha (RA): O Ayesha avoid even small sins because on the Day of Judgement you will be asked about them too. Further more honourable Prophet (SAW) has declared avoidance of sins as the biggest worship in one of the traditions.
    Hazrat Abdullah Ibn-e-Abbas (RA) said that I do not consider any good deed equal to avoidance of sins and peace. Maulana Rumi (RA) said that every sin is like rust on the mirror called heart which darkens the world of heart. Hazrat Muhi-us-Sunnah (RA) used to say that sin is like arsenic, that is, poison. And poison is poison-whether it is small or big. Similarly sin is dangerous in any case, whether it is small or big. Hazrat Maulana Hakim Muhammed Akhtar Sahab (DB) says that the joy of Baser Self that a person gets in sins that is just like the pleasure a person having skin disease gets in scratching -when he stops scratching them resulting swelling and the pain too is of the same caliber. Similarly there is some temporary joy and fun in committing a sin but when its punishment will be inflicted upon them (the sinners) its reality will be unraveled. Hazrat Maulana Hakim-ul-Ummat Thanwi (RA) has this written in front of his seat as an admonition the following couplet:

In the mood to sin when you have committed it then nothing remains
This joy is of very short duration, after that it is nothing at all.

(Haz-e-gunah mein jab gunah tu kar chuka phir kuch nahin,
Ek zara si der ka hai yeh maza phir kuch nahin.)

May Allah Almighty save us from all small and big sins by His Mercy. Aameen. In the following some such sins are being listed that are called Major (Grave) Sins (gunah-e-kabirah). These are not forgiven with out repentance:

(1) To share some one with Allah Most High
(2) To kill some body without proper cause
(3) To indulge in magic
(4) To skip prayer
(5) To skip Charity (Zakaat)
(6) To skip fasting in Ramadhan without reason.
(7) To skip Haj in spite of ability
(8) To disobey parents
(9) To misbehave with relatives
(10) To indulge in indecent act
(11) To fulfill physical requirement in unnatural manner
(12) To receive, to give and to use interest
 (13) To use the property of an orphan by force
(14) Atrocity by ruler on the ruled
(15) To attribute falsehood towards Allah (ST) and His Prophet (PBUH)
(16) To runaway from doctrinal struggle
(17) To have pride.
(18) To bear false witness
(19) To drink, to offer and to do business of alcohol
(20) To gamble
(21) To accuse a decent woman of indecency
(22) Misappropriation of the war booty
(23) To steal
(24) To commit robbery
(25) To commit atrocity
(26) False swearing
(27) To use forbidden (haraam) wealth
(28) To commit suicide
(29) To tell a lie
(30) To give wrong judgment
(31) To receive bribery and to give bribe (except in urgency and in later case only)
(32) Man adopting feminine demeanor and women adopting masculine demeanor
(33) Indifference to wife?s fornication
(34) Not to avoid the splattering of urine
(35) To show off
(36) To receive religious knowledge for worldly gain, to hide religious knowledge
(37) To misappropriate trust
(38) To show favour
(39) To deny fate
(40) To search for short comings of other people
(41) To disclose secret talks
(42) To curse people
(43) To visit fortune tellers
(44) To disobey husband
(45) To quarrel
(46) To reduce weighing and measurement
(47) To become fearless to God's Wrath
(48) To skip congregational Prayer without reason
(49) To skip Friday congregational Prayer
(50) To do injustice in will.
(51) To cheat
(52) To spy upon Muslims
(53) To make drawings of living beings
(54) To insult Companions (RA)
(55) To shave off beard and to grow mustache
(56) Not to distribute inheritance
(57) To forget Holy Quran after reading it
(58) To use the wealth that has been transferred
(59) To have evil guesses
(60) To squander
(61) To do backbiting
(62) To swear in the name of others than Allah Most High
(63) To taunt or call some one with bad name
(64) To insult somebody or to laugh with derison
(65) Not to talk with a Muslim for more than three days due to some worldly affair
(66) Begging by a healthy person
(67) To adopt the dress and appearance of non-Muslims
(68) To call a Muslim non-believer without inquiry
(69) To pay less in buying and selling after the settlement of rate
(70) To meet or sit in solitude with non-close person (namehram)
(71) To watch dance and to listen to songs and music
(72) Not to have mercy upon younger people and not to respect elders
(73) To break a promise.
(One of the other printed sheets from Majlis-e-Dawat-ul-Haq, Hardoi has only 71 of them.)

Public Benefit by Kalim's Sayings - 28

(30) Most important thing are Remembrance and Pondering. Both students and scholars must engage in it. Remembrance is a great blessing, this produces lights in the heart (enlightenment of heart). The way even a small amount of light gives at least some benefit similarly even a small amount of remembrance of Allah gives gives benefits. Even if you do not have opportunity then make small amount of Remembrance with regularity and permanence. Similarly Recitation of Holy Qur'an must be regularly established. It should not be the case that sometimes ten Parts of the Holy Qur'an are recited and if it is forgotten then there is no Recitation for weeks. An easy way to do this is that finish your routine first in the morning and do not postpone it. You never know what tasks might appear later on in the day-it will not be certain that there will be any free time till evening. Thus cover your routine in the first shot. After that if you get more opportunity in the day time then do some more remembrance and hoard the treasure (for here after). But ensure that routine is not deferred and that there is no laxity in routine.

Public Benefit by Kalim's Sayings - 27

(29) Adopt purity of intent in every deed, avoid comparison, comparison leads to loss of purity. Keep good relations with each person working for religion. Make the Pleasure of Allah your objective, apart from that nothing else must be aimed for. It is sufficient if Allah is pleased. Hazrat-o-Aala (RA) use to say to the teachers that if you do not work according to the rules and properly then the Seminary will be closed down. Seminary (madarsa) is not the object, proper work is the object. Even before his final moments when some complains were heard about some teachers then he said that if you do not work properly then I shall close down the Seminary. I will take few students and teach them myself. The work must be done properly even if it is rather small.

Errant Child

Go back to childhood. Think of the day when parents went out leaving you alone at home. The only demand on you, implicit or explicit, was to behave yourself. Then switch over to the after noon time just before parents arrival. And suppose, as is more probable, you had not behaved yourself. What will be your state of mind at that time?

Alright there you have the parable for the present situation. Hazrat Shaikh (DB) is scheduled, Lord Most High willing, to arrive on 15 December, 2010AC in Hardoi. And Qari Amir Hasan Sahab (DB) too. Aligarh's turn will come five days later.

Signs of Allah : Reader's Digest

Where will you a get a sign of Lord Most High in a magazine born and issued from the heartland of materialism, that is, the United States of America? Can we really find such things in a periodical whose perception of Islam is anything but positive and where Muslims aren't the heroes that shine? Can you trust the editors who routinely fail to recognize whether a Swedish joke will fall flat in the Persian Gulf or a hilarious Japanese incident will be a damp squib in India, to discern Signs of Allah Most High?

Answer :  Read the matter that describes the origin of the Reader's Digest. The founder is recovering from wounds and :

Reading dozens of magazines, he was impressed by the fact that certain articles had far more enduring appeal than others and that the impact of most articles could be improved by vigorously condensing them, focusing on essentials. He wanted to condense the best of previously published material of enduring appeal into a pocket-sized, non-fiction magazine that would inform, enlighten and entertain. 

That is the philosophy of RD. Now who gives enduring appeal to anything? Only Lord Most High. To recognize Signs of Lord Most High you need a believer-not the editors of a well established magazine. All the courage, perseverance or ingenuity that goes into making a story worthy of RD is a sign of Creator-as is everything else that exists. Hazrat Shaikh (DB) says that we should read newspapers to get admonition for these are full of admonitions. In the present case we should keep in mind the injunction that God created man in best of the molds and whenever a human being shines then it is a revelation of that-a Sign of Lord Most High.

A doubt may come to mind at this juncture. Seeing the fact that by choice the stories under consideration are, as a rule, brimming with, in general, above average levels of praiseworthy traits, even if we try to measure them by standards of Islam, then it should follow that the readers of such stories should be making a beeline for Islam. Both at the time of their original publication as well as after condensation. This obviously is not happening. In other words a Sign of Allah should inspire towards Allah Most High. Why is it not happening?

Guidance becomes common after the group that is calling people to Lord has worked for some time with appreciable amount of sacrifices. "When comes the Help of Allah and the victory and the people are entering the religion of Allah in hoards then...."

What happens in other times? In those times too people enter the religion of Allah but not in hoards. And only they enter who so desire. Guidance is given to those who aspire for it. It is a mighty blessing of Lord Most High. Don't we know the examples of those who read the Holy Qur'an in Arabic but did not reach Allah? Can RD be a better guarantee?

The other thing that can not not be ignored in the context is our duty. You need a believer to spot a Sign of Allah and you need a believer to communicate it to those who have not recognized it yet. That is the way of Allah. That is the method of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). And after cessation of prophet hood that responsibility rests on our weak shoulders. This world is a place where things happen by use of proper means.  The need is to spot a Sign of Allah ourselves and then to communicate it to those who read these stories because they appeal to them.

And why do these stories appeal to people? Because Verily in the Remembrance of Lord is the solace of hearts. These remind them, the people, their Lord. Even if they are not explicitly aware of them. To fill this gap between feeling of God and its proper realization is our Personal Duty (farz-e-ain). Communication of religion preferable to Lord Most High to those who are ignorant of it is a Personal Duty. It comes under the head that those who are present should take it to those who are absent. The Prophetic (PBUH) injunction is rather clear in this matter. The Qur'anic injunction that there should be group among you who calls the people to Lord is for the internal calling of the believers to acts of obedience. That is a Social Duty (farz-e-Kafaya).

Conquering the Unseen

Futooh Al Ghaib
(From Urdu translation of the famous and basic book of mysticism)
Hazrat Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani  May Allah Most High Sanctify His Inner Self

 (Only the Titles of the Admonitions)

1. Things Necessary for Completion of Faith
2. Inducing Good Deeds
3. Trials and Troubles
4. Real Death and the State of Annihilation
5. This World Isn't Worth Attention
6. What is Annihilation from Created Things
7. Give a Place in Heart to None Other Than Allah
8. How to Achieve Closeness With Allah?
9. Premonition and  Observation
10. States of Heart
11. What are Desires?  
12. Punishment for Turning Away
13. Keep Accepting Ordinances of Allah
14. Compete Not with Friends of Allah
15. State of Fear and Hope
16. Destination of God Reliance
17. Reaching Allah with the Help of an Instructor
18. It is Forbidden to Complain
19. Do not Break Promises
20. Get not Involved in Doubts and Uncertainties
21. Dialogue with Satan
22. Tribulations of a Believer, Proportional to Belief
23. Be Thankful on Destiny
24. Leave Not the Doorsteps of Allah
25. Tree of Faith
26. Keep Your Condition Private
27. Well Being and Trouble are Two Fruits of the Same Tree
28. States and Condition of a Seeker  
29. Poverty Pushes Towards  Infidelity
30. Seek not Excuses in Matters of Action
31. Adopt Hatred and Love for Allah Only
32. Share Love of  Allah with None
33. There are Four Categories of People
34. Never be Unhappy with Allah Most High
35. Adopt Detachment and Independence
36. Religion is the Principal and This World is its Benefit
37. Jealousy is a Serious Problem
38. Truthfulness and Admonition
39. Hypocrisy and Consonance
40. The Method for Entering the Spiritual Company
41. State of Affluence and Independence
42. There are Two States of Baser Self
43. It is Objectionable to Ask Others Except Allah
44. Why Are the Supplications of Gnostics Not Accepted?
45. Troubles Through Blessings
46. Excellence of Remembrance Exercises by a Divine Tradition
47. How to Achieve Closeness with Allah ?
48. What Actions Suit a Believer?
49. Sleep is a Big Trouble.
50. What is the Method to be Close to Allah?
51. What is Detachment?
52. Troubles of Faithful
53. Be  Happy with Divine Desire
54. How to Reach Allah?
55. Give up Pleasures
56. Station of Annihilation
57. Be Agreeable to Divine Wish
58. Turn Away Your Attention from Every Directions
59. Be Thankful for Blessings, Patient on Trials
60. The Beginning and the End
61. Adopt Requisite Wait for Everything.
62. Love and Beloved
63. What is Gnosis
64. The Death without Life
65. To be Angry with Lord for Delay in Acceptance of  Supplication
66. Etiquette of Supplication
67. Keep Struggling with Baser Self
68. Allah’s is a New Grandeur Everyday
69. Ask for Forgiveness
70. Thanks and Acceptance of Mistake
71. Seeker and Sought
72. There are Five Types of People of Allah
73. Those People of Allah Who are Aware of Other People's Faults.
74. Evidence of Unity from Intellect
75. Sources and Origins of Mysticism
76. Second Will
77. Annihilation from Creatures
78. Characteristics of People of Determination
79. Will of Hazrat for Children
80. Guess not Others on Me.

Endnote: A doubt may arise in mind regarding the benefits of a mere list of topics. The reality first: it is extremely beneficial. A big problem in life in general and Seeking in particular is familiarizing our self with any environment. Acting upon the demands of the environment comes second. That too is difficult but process of familiarization makes it easy to a very large extent.