محبوب حسين الأزهرى
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Muharram 2011
The month of Dhul-Hijja is departing from us and ushering in a new year. Muslims all over the world will be welcoming the month of Muharram and remembering the plight of those who laid their lives down on the plane of Karbala. InshaAllah to comemorate that we will be psoting articles on various aspects of Muhaarram to share with everyone.
Jazakallah
Ramadhan Message 2011
Ramadhan is undoubtedly a very important date in the Muslim calendar and is a great gift from Allah to the believers. It is a month full of Allah’s blessings and mercy, a month where the devil is locked up and people are presented with the opportunity to prove themselves to Allah. All year long we give in to our inner most desires and are constantly feeding our bodies and our egos, not taking into consideration the extreme damage we are doing to our body and soul. Ramadhan is an opportunity from Allah to reflect on what we have been doing the whole year, assess ourselves and to make changes that will bring us into line with what Allah wants from us.
Too often we forget that we have not been sent to this world to get caught up in its attractions and distractions, but to worship Allah and prepare for a better hereafter. Ramadhan gives us time to reflect on what we have, to appreciate Allah’s blessings he has showered us with and to lessen the grip of the devil and our ego.
May Allah give us the ability to benefit from this month in the best possible manner and may Allah forgive those souls who have left us in the past year, who were amongst us last Ramadhan but are not here today, most importantly my father Al-Haaj Mahmood Hussain, who tragically passed away in a car accident in January earlier this year. May Allah elevate his status and forgive his sins and grant him space under his shade. Ameen.
Ramadhan Mubarak 2011
Ramadhan Mubarak to all, may Allah give us all the oppertunity to benefit fully from this month of Allah.
Surah al-Kafiroon
Name
This Surah is known as al-Kafiroon. It consists of 6 verses and one ruku, 26 words and 94 letters.
Revelation
This surah was revealed in Makkah and the blessed Prophet peace be upon him recited it in public. Falsehood is very devious and to test the truth it constantly changes its appearance in order to try and deceive it. It does not hesitate in employing any means necessary to achieve its goal. Sometimes it creates a very flexible attitude in its point of view and its sole intention is to ensure that the truth does not remain as it is. Undoubtedly falsehood is falsehood no matter what. By adding another entity to it, its nature does not change and it still remains falsehood. Even if you mix something pure to it, the pure entity becomes contaminated, but the falsehood still remains as it was. It is aware that the truth is only the truth as long as it does not mix with falsehood.
When the Mercy for the entire universe began preaching the message of Tawheed (monotheism), the disbelievers did not deem it worthy of attention, but when more fortunate souls began to become Muslim and there was a social change, they took notice. They thought to themselves that they had unlimited resources and that they could afford to pay whatever price they needed to buy out this preacher of the Truth. Thus they began the bidding through Hazrat Abu Talib. A group from the Quraish visited Hazrat Abu Talib and said to him “The views that your nephew is expressing about our gods are completely unacceptable to us. You are the leader of our people and we have utmost respect for you in our hearts. For this reason we have listened to his views until now and have remained silent, but we have reached the limit of our patience. Ask your nephew if he desires wealth we are prepared to pile gold and silver at his feet. If he desires to become our leader we are prepared to unanimously accept him as our supreme leader. If he desires marriage to a particular woman he only needs to indicate and we will happily arrange that for him.”
Insincere/ambitious people who use religion and faith as a ladder in their personal gains usually have one of these motives on their agendas. When the blessed Prophet peace be upon him heard their requests he replied that they had not recognised him. “If they were to place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left I would still not let this affect the propagation of the oneness of my Lord the slightest.”
When they were unsuccessful in this deal, they decided to employ a different tactic/approach. Walid ibn Mughira, ‘As ibn Wail, Aswad ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Umayyah ibn Khalaf, the leaders of Makkah gathered together one day and approached the blessed Prophet peace be upon him and said to him, “Your propagation of your religion is causing conflict and division in our community, and this is not good for the future. If this divide between you and us continues to grow then there will come a day when the strength of our unity will die and our enemies will overwhelm and defeat us. We are very concerned about this. Come let us agree upon such a solution that will allow you to remain upon your cause and keep the unity of our people intact.”
For this they presented the solution: “For one year we will unite and worship your God and the next year you will join with us and worship our deities.” Upon hearing this the blessed Prophet peace be upon him replied “May Allah protect me from associating anyone with Him.”
At that moment was this surah revealed which completely put to an end all their hopes and disheartened them from ever attempting to deceive and alter the truth in any way. Subsequently the blessed Prophet peace be upon him went to the Haram Shareef, where the pillars of Kufr and Shirk were assembled. He openly recited this surah to them so that in future they would not attempt such brazen acts.
Exegesis of Surah al-Kafiroon
Allah’s name I begin with the Most Compassionate, the Most Kind.
(1) Say: O disbelievers!
(2) I worship not that which you all worship;
(3) Nor do you all worship that which I worship.
(4) And I shall not worship that which you all worship.
(5) Nor will you all worship That which I worship.
(6) Unto you is your religion, and unto me is my religion.
(1) Despite the fact that the people were deeply involved with Kufr and Shirk, they didn’t consider themselves as kafir and disliked being referred to as kafir. The blessed Prophet peace be upon him is being ordered to address them as kafir, as if he is proclaiming: “I have no fear of you. I have no respect for you in my heart and neither will I use any word out of hypocrisy that will indicate such a thing. According to me you are kafir and I will address you with this word. By using the word ‘kafiroon’ I have also made it clear that there is no personal argument between you and me. The enmity between you and me is not even based upon any worldly interest. The only reason I have distanced myself from you is because you have embraced Kufr. If you abandon Kufr and accept Iman, our enmity will transform into brotherhood and love. I will embrace you and we will gather and unite under the flag of Tawheed.”
(2) The translation of these verses is clear; apparently it looks like there is repetition, but this is not the case. The first two verses deal with the future and the last two verses deal with past. It has been openly and explicitly announced that: “In the past I have never worshipped your false gods and neither should you hold your hopes high that I ever will do that in the future. You desire that I worship your gods for one year and in return you will worship my God, but listen carefully! A year is a very long time; I am not prepared to worship your false gods for even the briefest moment. If my head bows it will only be to my Creator who is alone and has no partners. If my forehead is in prostration it will only be for my Creator who is the creator and Master of everything in this universe; He has created me and has bestowed upon me the rank of Prophethood. I cannot contemplate for a moment that I will accept anyone else as my God. Zamakhshari states “‘I will not worship’ refers to worship in the future because the word ‘La’ only appears upon a verb of the future tense in order to negate it.”
In addition to this explanation, several others exist which offer explanation for verse four, in that it is used in emphasis because the second verse is a verbal sentence which indicates renewal and finiteness whereas the fourth is a nominal sentence and indicates stability and strength. Thus the second verse is supported by the first. The third verse is emphasised by the fifth verse because the words are identical, and in the Arabic language this type of emphasis is commonly used in Nazm and Nathr. This has been presented in the couplet
“The crow of separation, whilst giving the news of the night’s departure at dawn spoke, how long, how long, how long will he keep protesting at the separation of the night?”
The aim of this emphasis and repetition is so that the kuffaar are always in despair over the fact that the Muslims will never accept kufr for even the briefest moment. In addition it has been said about them that they will never become Muslims.
(3) Al-Kafiroon refers to a handful of those wretched individuals who were never going to accept Islam, for this reason they were addressed and it was said:“the Hayy and Qayyoom that I worship, you will never worship Him.You are so deeply engrossed in Kufr that you have extinguished the flames of reason and rationality. You have incapacitated the power of comprehension and understanding.”
(4) Zamakhshari claims that this is connected to the past in the sense that “Until today I have not worshipped any false deity, in front of whom you scrape your foreheads and rub your noses. Before proclamation of Prophethood I was free from the stains of Kufr and Shirk, and now that I have made the proclamation and my Lord has filled my heart with the light of Prophethood and enlightened me so that no sign of doubt remains. If you are yet optimistic of my Kufr then the world has not seen greater fools than you.”
(5) “In the past you have never worshipped this true God of whose worship I have had the honour.” It can be claimed that the word ‘Ma’ is used for non-intellectual and lifeless things and thus instead of ‘ma a’bodo’ it ought to have been ‘man a’bodo’. In response, a number of explanations can be given. For instance, in the first two verses the word ‘ma’ comes in the meaning of ‘allazi’ and in the second two verses it comes in the infinitive meaning, i.e. the manner in which you worship, I do not worship in that manner, and similarly the manner in which I worship, you do not worship. Another answer given is that the word ‘ma’ does not indicate a being but an attribute as if one was saying “I will not worship falsehood and you will not worship the truth.”
(6) “I am not a believer in the unification of truth and falsehood. In addition I do not believe in the mixture of truth and falsehood. I do not require such a unity that is based upon reconciliation with falsehood. You may by all means remain steadfast upon your kufr and not patch this kufr with Tawheed as there is no connection between the two. Similarly I will not be drawn into your deception and disturb Tawheed otherwise Tawheed will not remain Tawheed anymore. I was sent to spread the light of truth, therefore if I accept your request the truth will become falsehood. You may remain in your state and I will remain steadfast upon the truth. The battle between truth and falsehood will end with natural consequences. You will see that apart from a few unfortunate individuals the entire Arabian Peninsula will accept Islam.
لااله الا انت سبحانك انى كنت من الظالمين
وصلى الله تعالى على حبيبه و صفيه محمد
وعلى آله واصحابه و بارك و سلم
Love Of The Prophet And Following His Example
by GF Haddad ©
[ extended with chapter 7. Additional Proofs, OKN ]
2. Allah Said: Invoke Blessings on the Prophet
3. Allah Said: Rejoice in the Prophet
4. The Obligation to Know Sira and Imitate Its Central Character
5. Who was our Beloved Prophet
?6. The Danger of Opposing His Command
7. Additional Proofs
7. (1) Concerning Respect and Love For The Prophet
7. (2) Even Love of the Companions Is a Sign of Belief
7. (3) To increase our Love for Allah and his Messenger
7. (4) The above is elucidated by the following hadiths
Allah asks the Prophet to remind his Nation that it is essential for those who claim to love God, to love His Prophet :
"Say to them: If you love God, follow (and love and honor) me, and God will love you" (3:31). [see also (2)]
This obligation to love the Prophet means to obey him, to remember him, to follow his example, and to be proud of him as Allah is proud of him, since Allah has boasted about him in His Holy Book by saying:
"Truly you are of a magnificient character" (al-Qalam 4).
. Love of the Prophet is what differentiates the believers in the perfection of their imaan. In an authentic hadith related in Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet said:
"None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves his children, his parents, and all people." In another hadith in Bukhari he said: "None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves himself."
Perfection of faith is dependent on love of the Prophet because Allah and His angels are constantly raising his honor, as is meant in the verse:
"Allah and His angels are praying on the Prophet" (33:56).
The Divine order that immediately follows in the verse:
"O believers, pray on him,"
makes it clear that the quality of being a believer is dependent on and manifested by praying on the Prophet.
O Allah! Send peace and blessings on the Prophet, his family, and his companions. see also (3) .
We are encouraged to pray on the Prophet and to praise him, which is an obligation on us through Allah's order in the verse:
"Allah and His angels are praying on (and praising) the Prophet ;
O believers! pray on (and praise) him and send him utmost greetings" (al-Ahzab 56). see also (1)
To express happiness for the Prophet coming to us is an obligation given by Allah through Qur'an, as Allah said in Qur'an:
"Of the favor and mercy of Allah let them rejoice" Sura Yunus (10) 58
This order came because joy makes the heart grateful for the mercy of Allah. And What greater mercy did Allah give than the Prophet himself , of whom Allah says,
"We did not send you except as a mercy to human beings" (Al-Anbiya' 107).
Because the Prophet was sent as a mercy to all mankind, it is incumbent not only upon Muslims, but upon all human beings to rejoice in his person. Unfortunately, today too, there are some people who reject Allah's order to rejoice in His Prophet .
We are asked to know about our Prophet , about his life, about his miracles, about his birth, about his manners, about his faith, about his signs (ayat wa dala'il), about his seclusions, about his worship, and is not this knowledge an obligation for every Muslim? What is better than acquiring knowledge of his life? This will make Allah happy with us because then we will be able to know the Prophet better, and be readier to take him as an example for ourselves, to correct ourselves, and to imitate him and thus gain salvation in this life and in the next.
?The Prophet Allah, Rasulullah was neither tall nor was he short (he was of medium stature). In complexion, he was neither very white like lime, nor very dark, nor brown which results in darkness (he was illuminant, more luminous than even the full moon on the 14th night). The hair of Rasulullah was neither very straight nor very curly (but slightly wavy). When he attained the age of forty, Allah Most High granted him nubuwwah (prophethood). He lived for ten years in Makkah (see commentary) and in Madinah for ten years. He passed away at the age of sixty years. At that time there were not more than twenty white hair on his mubaarak head and beard" Anas (r) reported it.
Commentary at jamiat.org.za
Opposing his command and changing his sunna is misguidance and innovation. It is threatened by Allah with utter privation and punishment. Allah says:
"Whoever splits from the Messenger after the guidance is clear to him and follows other than the path of the believers, We shall entrust him to what he has turned to and expose him unto Hell - an evil retreat!" Sura Women (4) 115
The Prophet said: "Anyone who dislikes my sunna is not of me."
(Bukhari and Muslim)
The Community [of Muslim Scholars] is unanimous concerning the obligation to magnify and exalt the Prophet , his Family, and his Companions. It was the practice of the Pious Predecessors and the Imams of the past that whenever the Prophet was mentioned in their presence they were seized by reverence, humbleness, stillness, and dignity.
Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (this is Ja'far al-Sadiq) would turn pale whenever he heard the Prophet mentioned. Imam Malik would not mention a hadith except in a state of ritual purity. 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr al-Siddiq would turn red and stammer whenever he heard the Prophet mentioned .
As for 'Amir ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awamm al-Asadi (one of the early sufis), he would weep until his eyes had no tears left in them. When a hadith was mentioned in their presence they would lower their voices. Malik said: "His sacredness (hurmat) in death is as his inviolability in life."
The Mathematician Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn al-Khatib, also known as Ibn Qunfudh al-Qusantini al-Maliki (d. 810 H) in his book "Wasilat al-islam bi al-nabi 'alayhi al-salat wa al-salam" (The Means to Islam Through the Prophet ; Beirut: Dar al-gharb al-islami, 1404/1984 p. 145-146.) 
Another hadith which shows that even love of the companions of the Prophet , such as Abu Hurayra is a sign of belief, according to the exact wording of the Prophet that Allah make Abu Hurayra beloved to the believers.
Abu Hurayra gave the following account of his mother's conversion:
I came to the Prophet weeping one day and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have been inviting my mother to Islam and she has been refusing. Today I asked her again, and she said something about you which I hated to hear. Ask Allah to guide Abu Hurayra's mother!" Whereupon the Prophet said: "O Allah! Guide Abu Hurayra's mother."
Then I returned home cheered up by the Prophet's supplication. When I arrived at the door of the house I found it closed. Hearing my footsteps, my mother said: "Abu Hurayra, do not come in yet." I could hear the sound of water. She washed herself and wore her robe (dir') and headcover (khim_r) then she opened the door and said: "Abu Hurayra! I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's servant and messenger!"
I returned at once to the Prophet , weeping for joy, and said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, good news! Allah has answered your request and guided my mother!" He glorified and praised Allah, thanking Him and saying good things. I said: "O Messenger of Allah! Ask Allah that He make me and my mother beloved to his believing servants and that He make them beloved to us."
The Prophet said: "O Allah! Make Your little servant here - meaning Abu Hurayra - and his mother beloved to Your believing servants, and make the believers beloved to the two of them." Not one believer is brought into existence who hears about me without seeing me except he loves me.
Narrated by Muslim and Ahmad. Also Ibn Hajar in al-Isaba (7:435, 7:512) and others.
This hadith is similar to another sound hadith of the Prophet addressing the Commander of the Believers 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (r):
"None loves you except a believer, and none hates you except a hypocrite." Narrated by Muslim, al-Nasa'i, and Ahmad
A man asked the Prophet about the Hour (i.e. Day of Judgment) saying, "When will the Hour be?" The Prophet said, "What have you prepared for it?" The man said, "Nothing, except that I love Allah and His Apostle. " The Prophet said, "You will be with those whom you love." We had never been so glad as we were on hearing that saying of the Prophet (i.e., "You will be with those whom you love.") Therefore, I love the Prophet , Abu Bakr and 'Umar, and I hope that I will be with them because of my love for them though my deeds are not similar to theirs. Anas narrated it. Comment (4)
"Among those of my Community who love me most intensely are certain people who will come after me and who would give away their family and property in exchange for seeing me." Muslim narrated it in his Sahih, book of "Paradise and its bliss and people."
A man came to the Prophet and said: "Messenger of Allah, I love you more than my family and my possessions. I remember you and I cannot wait until I can come and look at you. I remember that I will die and you will die and I know that when you enter the Garden, you will be raised up high with the Prophets. When I enter it, I will not see you." Allah then revealed:
"Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, they are with those whom He has favored: the Prophets (peace be upon them all), the True Saints, the Martyrs, and the Righteous. Ah! What an excellent company." (4:69)
The Prophet called the man and recited the verse to him.
Tabarani and Ibn Mardawayh narrated it from A'isha and Ibn 'Abbas, and Qadi 'Iyad cited it in al-Shifa' as well as Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir (1:310) and al-Baghawi in his.
It is further elucidated by the hadith of 'Umar ...
... whereby a man was punished by the Prophet because of wine-drinking. One day when he was brought to him and he gave orders and had him beaten, one of those present said: "O Allah, curse him. How often he is brought!" The Prophet said: "Do not curse him. I swear by Allah that I know he loves Allah and His Messenger ." (Al-Bukhari)
Pir Maulana Mukthar Ahmad Zia (RA): A Sufi of the third millennium
Those who share with this scribe the love for Sufi literature and history are used to think that these holy persons belong to the past and they have become extremely rare in present days. This is also due to the fact that a real Sufi does not roam around the world saying “hey, look at me! I am a Sufi!” Usually those who behave like this they are not even worth of pronouncing the name Sufi. The word Sufi has unknown origins and would be beyond the scope of this essay to investigate about the origins of this word.
The French-born René Guénon reverted Muslim as Abd ul Waheed Yahya (RA) in his book “Perspective of Islamic Esoterism and Taoism” explains that in virtue of the sacred science of numbers and letters applicable to Arabic, as sacred language, the world Sufi has numerical value equivalent to Al-Hikma al-ilahiya, which means literally Divine Wisdom, and consequently the Sufi is the one positioned in the Divine Wisdom. The same author remarks that as a consequence of the numerical equivalence of the words Sufi and Al-Hikma al-ilahiya the Sufi is therefore al-‘arif-bi-Llah, the one who knows by Allah’s Almighty Knowledge and not the one who knows Allah Almighty (which is a relatively quite inferior condition in the spiritual hierarchy). This is possible because the title of Sufi must be given only to those elected and selected personalities who realize the injunction of the Holy Prophet (SAWS) who (SAWS) said: “O you who believe, die before to die!” meaning to severe all the psychological links with this manifestation and kill their nafs. Sufi are the living testimonial of the terminal goal of the spiritual path known as path of Haqiqah, path of Truth, complimentary to the path common to every Muslim, known as path of Shariah, both being respectively the interior (Haqiqah) and exterior (Shariah) aspect of the same reality: Islam.
It is extremely important to never forget that there is no Haqiqah without Shariah and there is no progress in tasawwuf without knowledge of Shariah. In his poetic composition Qassidah Ghaussia (The Great Poem) his holiness Hadzrat Pir-e- Dastaghir Abd-ul Qadir Jilani (RA) writes: “I acquired esoteric and exoteric knowledge till I became a Polar-Star. This attainment is entirely due to the Divine Grace and Benevolence” and this synthesizes the activity of a disciple advancing towards the final target of becoming a Sufi. The spiritual properties of this Qassidah Ghaussia and the Darood Qibrit Ahmar Sharif (the Red Sulfur Noble Salutations to the Holy Prophet (SAWS)) are beyond human comprehension to the extent that they can be recited in their secret only by authorized advanced disciples of the Qadiryya and Chishty Orders respectively.
It is quite obvious that these extremely special personalities, the Sufi, are quite rare, especially in these days when this manifestation is approaching the day of Qyyamat, doomsday, the end of this manifestation. In fact the cosmic laws explain that Allah’s manifestation begins with a pure order which is known as golden age in the western culture, when consequently those who hold the status of Sufi are majority. The golden age, in base of divinely established cosmic laws, gradually turns into the iron-age, through two intermediary phases. The present age (actually we leave in the last phase of this iron-age) holds the worst living conditions. It may seem a paradox because never than before than this age humans have been capable of paramount discoveries in all fields of sciences, including a substantial increase of life expectancy in most of the advanced countries.
But what is an expected increase of few years in comparison to the age typical of the humans living at the times of prophet Matusalem or Methuselah (AS), who lived 969 years, during the golden-age? What is the use of fast traveling and having every time information at hand when most of the time anguish, solitude, depression dominate great part of humanity in these days? Most of the time, in the attempt to escape this type of psychological sicknesses, humans trap themselves in a spiral of “evasions” like sex, drugs, alcohol and gambling which extension in present days is quite close to that of Sodoma and Gomorra mentioned both in the Holy and Glorious Qur’an and the Old Testament of the Bible. Per contrast among humans who have entered the path of self-destruction there are still men who thread the path of self-liberation practicing a selfless life and among them there are few who have realized this path in full.
I had the fortune to meet some real Sufi and consider myself as lucky as the poet who met in his dream an angel writing the names of the friends of Allah and did not find his name among them but on the contrary he prayed and hoped that his name could be inserted among the friends of the friends of Allah Almighty. Pir Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA) of Halla-Sharif, district Mandi Bahauddin was indeed one of the Sufi I met and I am so sure about it not because he (RA) partaken with me his secret but from the signs I witnessed with other brothers of tasawwuf (Pir-bhai) because he (RA) always concealed his knowledge and his super-voluntary religious practices keeping his secret rigorously hidden to everyone. We met each other almost 14 years ago at the beginning of February 1994 and immediately I remain struck by his fascinating personality: a handsome beautiful man humbly traveling on a 125cc Yamaha motorcycle of undefined age who was so humble to allow one of his beloved brothers of tasawwuf to tease him in front of others at any extent.
During those moments he (RA) would have joined his hands like in prayer, silent but smiling showing his white and perfect teeth and bent his head in sign of submission. Few months later he (RA) became my host in the religious school (Dar-ul-Uloom Muhammadia Ghaussia, DMG) directed by him in Chack Shazad, a little town inside the Federal Capital territory of Islamabad. I, freshly converted from Catholicism to Islam, spent almost one year in DMG learning the basics of Islam and Muslim life along with the recitation in Arabic of the Holy and Glorious Qur’an. My admiration and love for him (RA) were growing in parallel to the admiration and love for our common Sufi Master, his holiness Justice of Supreme Court Pir Muhammad Karam Shah Al-Azhari, known as Zia ul Ummat (RA). Casually and from someone else I came to known that the man who was lifting me to Islamabad with his old Yamaha 125 cc was a Pir, Persian name of spiritual master, and this made me feeling ashamed in thinking that he (RA) personally was bringing food for me and calling me in the middle of the night when my anxious and old father unfamiliar with time differences was phoning from Italy lagging four hours behind Pakistan.
Pir Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA) would have covered the 300 meters from his humble quarter to my room bringing the telephone to me, summer or winter. But sooner his humble and low profile behavior started to contrast with what the language of the heart was telling me about him and what the dreams were telling to my Chinese brother of Tasawwuf Pir Zuaharat-ud-Din and me. Both of us had clear examples of his capability to read minds and, above all, to know in real time whenever a thing was done or said to one of our two by our common Pir Sahab (RA) in Bhera Sharif. Extraordinary and uncommon behaviors (karamat or miracles) which are not searched by those personalities but are a consequence of their high spiritual rank are typical of Sufi.
One day I had a problem. A man known to me to conduct a non-Islamic life invited me for dinner at his residence, remembering the famous episode when his holiness Hadzrat Umar Farooq bin Kattab (RA) discovering that his host was living on bribery rushed out of that house and vomited voluntarily the food given by that man, because an impure man gives impure food. I asked Pir Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA) what to do telling him “I rather decline the invitation.” He answered me in a very gentle but firm manner: Rather you go and pray for him and his family to return to Islam.” It was a lesson to me: the force of love is superior to anything else but this does not means that the second caliph of Islam was wrong, simply the times and the conditions were very different. It is indeed a general duty of a man of the path of Haqiqah and a quality of a Sufi to behave accordingly to the conditions required by the times and not stubbornly always in the same way as it is the tendency of those who deny the path of Haqiqah and follow exclusively that of Shariah.
Pir Maulana Mukthar Ahmad Zia (RA) born in December 1957 and at the age of 12 met for the first time his Sufi master, his holiness Hadzrat Pir Karam Shah Al-Azhari (RA) in Bhera Sharif, not too far from his native village of Halla in district Mandi Bahauddin in West Punjab, Pakistan. He studied in the Dar Uloom Muhammadia Ghoussia in Bhera Sharif and was companion to the eldest son of his master, the present sajjada nasheen (custodian) of Pir Aamir ul Salikin (RA) Darbar Sharif, his holiness Hadzrat Pir Amin ul Hasanat Shah Sahab. He (RA) was initiated in the Chishty noble order of tasawwuf during the course of his studies, which he (RA) completed in 1976. He was bestowed full khilafat in 1985, thus having official authority to order and supervise disciples in the Chishty order. His love for his spiritual master was so intense that he soon became so close to him to the extent that his face and even his voice remained remarkably very similar to that of his master until his passing away.
To give an example of his intense love for his spiritual master is enough to narrate the following incident. His holiness Hadzrat Zia ul Ummat (RA) was used to travel by train in the period 1957 - 1976 and later. The train from Bhera would have stopped also in Halla, the young Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA) organized a tea shop right at the train stop giving strict order to the tea shop keeper to prepare tea and biscuit whenever in the train there would have been his holiness Zia ul Ummat (RA) and serve him with full protocol. The care and attention given by Pir Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA) to his master and each member of his family was such that his holiness Hadzrat Zia ul Ummat, RA, and his sons prefer spending their stay in Islamabad at the DMG in Chack Shazad despite two of the daughters of Justice Pir Muhammad Karam Shah (RA) live in Islamabad.
When Allah Almighty blessed me with the mantel of full khilafat bestowed upon me by his holiness Hadzrat Pir Amin ul Hasanat Shah Sahab I was again sent to Pir Mukhtar Ahmad Zia for instruction and during this period my admiration and love for him increased further. As a western-born I always realized my limitations in moving in the spiritual world (almost like an elephant in a fine glass shop) respect majority of my Pakistani brothers threading the same spiritual path and kept him (RA) as model and example because he (RA) was one, effaced with our common spiritual masters, past (RA) and present. Few weeks later to my khilafat it happened that his holiness Hadzrat Pir Amin ul Hasanat Shah Sahab visited Islamabad and as usual spent his stay in his room in the Dar ul Uloom Muhammadia Ghoussia (DMG) in Chack Shazad. I went to see Pir Sahab in his room in early morning, when he was alone.
We both started to chat when all the sudden his holiness Hadzrat Pir Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA) entered the room. Pir Sahab suspended his speech with me, looked at Pir Maulana Mukhtar Zia (RA) intensely and then looking at me but pointing at him Pir Sahab said to me in English: “he (i.e. Pir Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA)) is a living example of fana-e-sheikh!” For those who are not familiar with tasawwuf terminology it should be explained that at Sufi level, when the nafs has been killed, and beyond it there are
three different stages of self-effacement (fana), which is fana-esheikh, fana-e-rasool (SAWS) and fana-e- bi-Llah. The Arabic terms can be respectively translated into effacement of the self in the spiritual essence of the spiritual master personality (not individuality. Personality or self is perennial, on the contrary individuality, related to the physical and psychical sphere, is perishable), effacement of the self in the spiritual essence of the Holy Prophet (SAWS) and
finally effacement of the self in Allah Almighty, which corresponds to the Hindu “Supreme Identity” explained in the Veda. These concepts are very easy to be expressed but very difficult to be understood and extremely difficult to be achieved also because they belong to Allah Almighty gifts reserved for His selected creatures and his holiness Hadzrat Pir Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA) who left this terrestrial abode during the last ten days of 2006 Ramadzan was indeed a Sufi holding a very high station.
I was in Madina Munawwarah when the shocking news of his passing away reached me. At the news something clicked in me, I remembered his voice when I phoned him before my departure, there was no time to meet and his voice sounded to me strange but captured by the many things one has to fulfil before departing when the visa is received in the same day of the flight booking I did not pay too much attention to the strange tone of his voice. His voice sounded me so strange that I could not define it, but when the news of his departure from this world arrived to me I realized that that was a tone of sadness. Immediately I realized that “he (RA) knew that he was to leave this abode before time and my return” and he, perhaps, was sad to do not see me for the last time.
At my return to Islamabad I discovered from his family members that more than a month before his passing away he (RA) started to receive clear dreams informing him that his terrestrial journey was at end so much that he gradually started to give to those around him signals of what was going to happen. But those around him did not realize the immanence of his destiny. Quite astonishingly his adopted and beloved daughter passed away a day before him and he went to lead her jinnaza prayer (funeral prayer) and when she was inside her grave he made a dua (prayer) saying “We will meet soon, my daughter”. Few minutes later when he was sitting in his car he started developing some problems and requested his sons to bring him to the hospital. He was rushed to the hospital remaining silent but with a smiling face. He kept the same smile while passing away. This passing away smiling is a clear sign that Allah Almighty preserved him from the pains of death, a condition that Allah Almighty reserves to His friends, the Sufi.
A Sufi does not need to declare his spiritual status because somehow the world around him perceives it so much that from one side people who will interact with him will naturally regard him as a Sufi, on the other side signs of Allah’s Almighty Love for him will be so clear to those who have eyes to see them that he will not need to say to them “I am a Sufi”, rather he will try to conceal it and preserve his condition as a well kept secret between Allah Almighty and him. And this indeed was the remarkable position of his holiness Hadzrat Pir Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Zia (RA), a Sufi among us, a Sufi of the third millennium.
Pir Dr. Eng. Muhammad Muddassir Gualini (Jilani)
Urs Report 2011
Assalamo Alaikum
Alhamdulillah once again the Urs was a success with a great turnout and a multitude of speakers, each paying glowing tributes to Shaykh Muhammad Karam Shah Al-Azhari (RA). The programme started promptly after Dhur prayer and speakers from all over participated in paying their respects to the great Shaykh, teacher, reviver and servant of Islam. Most notable speeches were those of Mufti Iqbal Chishti, Mufti Khan Muhammad Qadri and Shaykh Sayyid Hashmi Mian, who all praised the Shaykh with their words of wisdom and dispelled any doubts in any persons minds as to who the great Shaykh was and in the eyes of people of authority and position, who held a position amongst the elite, Justice Pir Muhammad Karam Shah Al-Azhari (RA) was far from an average individual. He was someone, who according to Mufti Iqbal Chishti, gave the title 'Pir' value and recognition, in a time when the name had lost its worth and importance.
Shaykhuna Pirzada Imdad Hussain reminded the people of the Girls School Project and asked them to donate generously, to which people opened their hearts. It was truly an inspiring event and people left with their souls and spirits replenished and recharged. May Allah raise the rank of Zia ul-Ummat (RA) and through his grace and that of the beloved Prophet peace be upon him grant us success in this life and the hereafter. Finally congratulations are in order for Al-Haj Muhammad Akram sahib from Norway and Allama Najib ur Rahman also from Norway on receiving their Khilafah from Shaykhuna Pirzada Imdad Hussain, may Allah shower his blessings upon them.
Wasalaam wa Rahmatullah.
13th Annual 'Urs Conference of Justice Shaykh Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari (d. 1419 AH)
| 13th Annual ‘Urs Conference of Justice Shaykh Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari |  |
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13th Annual 'Urs Conference of Justice Shaykh
GUEST SPEAKERS INCLUDE
Many other Imams and scholars predominantly from the UK but also from Europe and Asia will be attending the ‘Urs Conference. Jamia Al-Karam Eaton Hall Retford Nottinghamshire DN22 0PR [Click here for map] NEAREST TRANSPORT LINKS Railway Station: Retford Railway Station (1.5 miles) Motorway: M1 Junction 30/31 (15 miles) Food will be provided. Event open to all brothers and sisters. Separate prayer facilities and seating arrangement will be provided including live video broadcast to sisters hall. For further information please contact: +44 (0) 1777 706 441 | +44 (0) 7958 950 490 |
13th Annual Urs Conference of Justice Shaykh Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari (RA)
