The Tough Guy

This is the story of a local tough guy. It has come earlier too in the Sitting(Majlis). The toughy was going to Delhi. En route there was a small town. There an old Maulvi and his wife had shop. The bamboo used buy him to erect a shade for the shop touched the car of the toughy. This was not acceptable to the toughy. He beat up the old man. "When my hands were tired I used my legs", he told the people later on. "I beat him up so much that blood came out of his mouth," he confided with others. Or may be boasted. Then after some time a little point-like boil appeared on his thigh. It never got cured-it took his life. Best physicians were consulted. And the best Tombs were visited-including a local Elder. Latter turned his face away from the toughy-not so tough any more. Toughy also visited the old Maulvi-to beg his pardon. Maulvi became silent. Original weight of the toughy was 84 kg. When he died his weight was 11 kg.

And the justice sometimes starts in this world itself.

Message from Amna

Amna Hasan reviewed Thus Spake Hazrat Shaikh on blogged. She rated us 9 on the scale from 1 to 10. What more could we ask for? Here is the review:

Amazing blog! Please change the background pink image because it doesn't suit the theme of your blog. You could keep the Watermark layout and style but the background image and color could be changed by the template designer! The rest is ABSOLUTELY GOLDEN! Mashallah!

After playing with the lay out and design (and after initial fancy looks) we settled for the most conservative look. Unfortunately the background happened to be pink. Even when more template options from blogger became available it was realized that the present design is the most professional. Even then your suggestion has been noted and Insha Allah these things will be taken into account in next round of changes in the design.

Punishment at the Time of Death

Sometimes even near and dear ones of people committing sins get caught in punishment. After the Sitting (Majlis) today a regular member reported that the wife of a professional died. Her husband is a bearded fellow but his habits are distasteful. At the time of death face of this lady was distorted. Distortion must have been significant for no woman got courage to give bath to this lady. Finally wife of the person who reported the incident gave bath to the deceased woman. And since then she is engrossed in asking for Forgiveness (Astaghfaar). Hazrat Shaikh (DB) said that though we are not supposed to report such things normally but sometimes it is necessary for the sake of admonition.

Intention for Miswak

While doing Miswak make the intention that you are doing it to please Allah (SWT) and irritate Satan the Cursed. Cleaning the teeth from residual food too is a Sunnah.

(Sitting (majlis) on Monday, August 15, 2011)

Some Couplets

Meri zaban-o-qalam se kisi ka dil na dukhe
Kisi ko shikwa na ho zer-e-aasmaaN mujh se
(Let none be hurt by my tongue or pen
Let none under the sky be pained by me)

Kisi ki bebasi par muskura kar dekhne wale
Tujhe taqdeer is manzil pe le aaye to kya hoga
(Looking smilingly at someone's helplessness
What if fate brings you to the same state?)

Ye roz ka hunsna tujhe barbaad na kar de
Tanhai ke lamhoN mein kabhi ro bhi liya kar
(Beware! Lest this laughing of yours lead you to destruction
In the moments of solitude, shed some tears sometimes)

A Thanwi Rule

From An-Noor:

Hazrat Thanwi’s principle is that to go after those matters that are ghayr ikhtiyaari, those matters in which a person has no control over, is pointless. Realize you have no control over it and you can’t do anything about it and you’re going to put yourself in a state of frustration for no reason.

State of Soul

When the soul (rooh) will be healthy then it will be inclined to do good deeds.

(Sitting (majlis) on Saturday, January 1, 2011)

An Invitation to Burn Out

Intellectualism is an invitation to burn out.
If it is too fantastic to believe then check for yourself.

The Epidemic Narcissism

Ujb (vanity) or self-praise is a dangerous spiritual disease.
A person who has fallen into it can not come out.
To come out one first of all has to realize that one is in a hole.
If you are in a hole you can not think of praising your self.
If you praise your self then you'll never think that you are in hole.
If you do not acknowledge that you are in a whole then you'll never think of coming out of it.
And there is the rub.
A vain person is in a deep trouble.
And this is true even if he says that he is alright.
Even if he says that I am OK.
Everything is alright. (Sub kuchh theek thaak hai.)
Unless a person decides to have a ruthless look at his situation it is difficult to come out of vanity.
Or may be Allah (SWT) will pull him by his forelocks.
He (SWT) is Oft-Forgiving and Most Merciful.

A modern cause of vanity is this obsession with one's own intellect, facility to reason and any level, not necessarily high, of expertize in logical thinking.

This deviation catches on rather early. The adolescent (baligh) age itself-the age when a boy discovers that he is a man (or a girl discovers that she is a woman).

The young man takes up the task of reconstructing Islam.

Another factor is the modern education. After getting engineering, medical, management or even liberal arts degree people start thinking that they are all ready and fit to redefine Islam.

All overwhelmed by their own intelligence.

Hadhrat Ali (RA) said that if it was a matter of intellect then we would rub on the sole of the socks rather than on the top.

To conclude the one point programme for such people will be to ask whether they have submitted their intellect to Shariah or not.

How To Deceive Your-Self

"God loves me the way I am".
Beware! This is a deception.
Till you enter Jannah you can not absolutely be sure of your outcome.
The Traditions about Judgment Day are very scary.
People of Allah tell us to be alert about our actions every moment.
Allah (SWT) likes it when you do a good deed.
And when you do a bad deed, when you commit a sin then He (SWT) does not like it.
So how can we be so sure that Allah (SWT) loves us the way we are when we are drowning in the ocean of sins?
Surely anyone of us chanting the statement quoted above must be deceiving himself alone.

And may Allah (SWT) protect us from the deceptions of our Baser Self as well as Satan the cursed.

Miracle As a Double Edged Sword

Immaculate birth of Hazrat Isa (AS) is the beginning of a series of miracles in his life extremely rich in them.
Breaking of Moon is a mighty miracle of beloved Prophet (PBUH).
Yet miracle is a thing that people of Allah are scared of.
In Mysticism (tasawwuf) it is constantly reminded that miracles are not the goal of this method.
Miracles are accepted as truth but not an object.

Here is a very instructive example in Urdu.
Khwaja Bayazeed Bustami (RA) was going some where and encountered a river on his way. On his approach the water bifurcated and made a way through which he could pass. Khwaja Sahab (RA) shouted that this is a test from Allah (SWT)-a trap. He supplicated that o Allah (SWT) this slave will go back or adopt another path but he is very scared of your test.

This is Khwaja Bayazeed Bustami (RA) supplicating.

People seeking, preaching and boasting of miracles do not really know what they are playing with.
Alas we took heed of the admonitions.

Self-Correction Is Difficult

Yes, there.
Self-correction (islah) is difficult.
It is enormous struggle.
And we are talking of the cases where you are seeking self-correction with the help of an accomplished (kamil)  Shaikh.
That is the case for which the statements like The road to water hole is extremely difficult (Bahut kathin hai dagar panghat ki) have been made.
Without the help of an accomplished Shaikh one can not just imagine the process of self-correction.

A part of the difficulty is that mostly one gets to hear difficult statements from his (or her) guide.
Give up that. Now the that in the question is the thing which you did not want to give up. That is why you went to the Shaikh that day. You had a strong desire for promotion and you wanted the roadblocks to be removed. In all probability you'll be asked by your Shaikh whether you really need that promotion or you have started running after the world. And so on.