Sitting with scholars

Take benefit of sitting with the scholars

The person who is the beloved of the awliyā is close to Allāh ta’ala.

Hazrat Mawlāna Maseehullāh Khān (رحمة الله عليه)

Clean Heart

Abu Idrīs al-Khawlāni رحمه الله said:

❝A clean heart in dirty clothes is better than a dirty heart in clean clothes!❞

4 Levels of Purity

“Purity has 4 levels:
1) Purifying the external body from impurities
2) Purifying the limbs from the disobedience of Allah
3) Purifying the heart from bad habits and character
4) Purifying the soul from everything besides Allah.’

Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi
Ahkam al-Islam, pg 21

Conquering Oneself

I have never struggled to rectify something that is more difficult to overcome than my soul;
sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose.

Sufyān al-Thawrī 

Dhikrullah

Dhikrullah – Shaykh Ahmad Ali (December 2020)

Company of Auliya Allah

The ‘Suhbat’ or company of the Auliya Allah (Friends of Allah Ta’ala) is such that even if they remain silent in their Majaalis, those who are present and who had come with sincerity, will leave with Noor in their hearts. 

It is via this Noor that a person makes sincere Taubah, and it is this Noor which is instrumental in creating the keen desire of change in the person’s life.

Fragrant roses in a room do not give any speech. Their fragrance imbues throughout the room, enters the nostrils and creates pleasure in the heart. The conditions for benefiting are :

The roses must be real and fragrant; not artificial.

The people in the room must have their noses open and sinuses unclogged.

In a similar manner, the person must be a genuine Wali of Allah Ta’ala and not a fraud, and the people sitting in his company must have love and respect for him and must sit with an open and unprejudiced heart, willing to receive. People sitting in the talks of a Wali, harbouring malice against that Wali, will derive no benefit whatsoever.

What would be a person’s reaction, when instead of these virtues, he or she finds arrogance, pride, malice, greed, jealousy, etc.? 

(Hazrat Mawlana Yunus Patel rah)

Continuous Professional Development

Recently a colleague was mentioning that each year he had to make a declaration to his professional body, that he has undertaken through the year CPD (Continuous Professional Development) activity to fulfill a requirement in order to enhance and maintain a certain skills and knowledge level. It is widely believed that these skills and knowledge kept up to date would equip a person to carry out their duties and responsibilities well.

Why am I even mentioning the above?

Well it got me thinking that for our careers, personal development and worldly objectives we make sure we do enough CPD periodically. However we pay little attention, if any, to our personal development when it comes to the deen.

For those fortunate enough, to have even had a Madrassah education, have we even looked at our books or notes since the day we left? Every day we depend on some of the basic aspects of the deen, performing Wudu, praying salaah, ensuring we are pure but do we review these every so often to make sure we are doing it correctly? Do we sit in the circles of learning in the Masajid when lectures and talks are given?

May Allah grant us the ability to continually develop islamically and spiritually, and give it the priority in our life that it deserves, ameen.

Inculcating Love for Allah

Ibn-ul-Qayyim mentioned ten ways through which love for
Allah could be inculcated. They are:

  1. Recitation of the Qur’aan.
  2. Engagement in nawaafil (optional acts of ‘ibaadah) after
    performance of the faraa’id (compulsory acts of ‘ibaadah).
  3. Constant dhikr (remembrance) of Allah.
  4. Giving preference to His likes and desires over one’s own.
  5. Pondering over His names and attributes.
  6. Pondering over His benevolence and favours.
  7. Crying to Him with total humility.
  8. Sitting in solitude in order to speak to Him, read His speech
    (the Qur’aan) and express one’s servitude to Him. This
    should be done at night when Allah descends to the skies
    and it should be terminated with taubah (repentance) and
    istighfaar (seeking of forgiveness).
  9. Sitting in the company of true lovers of Allah.
  10. Abstention from anything that could be a barrier between one’s heart and Allah.

Ibn-ul-Qayyim, Madaarij-us-Saalikeen Pg. 732. https://moulanakarolia.wordpress.com

Shariat and Tareeqat

Shariat is knowledge. Tareeqat is acting upon that knowledge.

Tareeqat actually means practising on the masaa’iI of the Shariat.

Maulana Maseehullah Khan ra

Dirty Hearts

“Isn’t it Amazing?
We keep our faces shining; which people look at
But our hearts dirty; which Allah looks at.
Rahmaaka ya Rabb!!”

Shaykh Abdul Raheem

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