Malfoozat of elders

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

A person who does not possess a sound temperament and whose understanding is deficient finds irrelevant facts appealing to his logic, but is unable to grasp and comprehend the correct arguments. I was once explaining, to an educated person the reason for rearing dogs being impermissible. I said to him, “The greatest reason is that Allah Ta’ala and His Rasul (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) have prohibited it.” However, he was unhappy with this explanation. I thus gave him a second explanation saying, “A dog has one quality which is so bad that it wipes out all its good qualities. This quality is that it will never assist its own kind. Do you not see how enraged it becomes on seeing another dog?” When he heard this explanation, he became very happy, whereas this is merely a logical explanation and is not the actual reason for the prohibition. The actual reason for the prohibition is that Shari’at has prohibited keeping dogs. However, this reason did not appeal to him as much as the second point did. (Malfoozaat Husnul Azeez pg.208)

Hazrat Moulana Muhammad Ilyaas (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

In Islam, we are commanded to neither hoard wealth nor mise with it. Rather, we should spend it in halaal avenues. While spending wealth, one should be mindful of not transgressing the limits of Shariah by spending the wealth in impermissible or incorrect avenues. One should ensure that he spends the wealth in the correct avenue, in accordance to the manner Allah Ta’ala has commanded, and remaining within the prescribed limits of Shariah. (Malfoozaat Hazrat Moulana Muhammad Ilyaas (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) pg.18)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

A person once wrote a letter to me wherein he requested that I guide him in reforming his condition. In reply, I advised him to read twenty of my discourses and endeavour to practice upon my teachings. I further advised him to write to me after carrying this out so that he may inform me of his condition and whether he finds any change in his life. After reading twenty of my discourses, he wrote to me saying, “I do not find any improvement and change in my life.” I replied to him saying, “You either read the discourses without the intention of reforming yourself, or either the discourses which you read did not contain any advice pertaining to your self-reformation, or perhaps there are no deficiencies within you which require reformation.” After reading my reply, he admitted that although he read through the discourses, he did not do so with the intention of reforming himself. I therefore wrote to him saying, “This is the reason for you not finding any change and improvement in your life. Now I ask you to read these discourses again with the intention of Islaah (seeking self-reformation).” Alhamdulillah, after reading the discourses again with the correct intention, he wrote back informing me that he has derived immense benefit from the discourses and that he finds substantial change and improvement in his life. (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 8/318)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

It is not in keeping with hayaa and modesty for women to write their names in their articles as is prevalent nowadays. Yes, there will be no harm in revealing their names after their demise. Men have a natural inclination towards women; therefore extreme caution should be exercised in these matters. Despite the Azwaaj-e-Mutahharaat being the mothers of the believers and despite nikah with them being perpetually haraam, they were commanded with the following injunction in the Qur’an-e-Majeed:

فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ ﴿الأحزاب: 32﴾

Do not speak in soft, alluring tones, lest the one in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire.

Nowadays, women are carrying out works that are totally against the dictates of shame and modesty. I came across some poetry composed by a woman where she praises the features of her shaikh and expresses her desire to meet him. This is how shameless people have become! (Malfoozaat Husnul Azeez pg.482)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

Nowadays, salvation lies in keeping to oneself and associating less with people. (In this way, one will be able to concentrate on one’s self reformation and be safeguarded from the wrongs of association and company.) I came across the statement of a pious person in a certain kitaab wherein he says that when remaining in seclusion, one should not make the intention that he is doing so in order to be saved from the harms of people. Rather, he should think to himself, “I am like a snake or scorpion that can harm people and therefore I should not associate with them in order to protect them from my harm.” How cautious indeed were our predecessors and seniors in ensuring that they did not fall into self admiration and other similar sins! (Malfoozaat Husnul Azeez pg.116)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

When Allah Ta’ala decides that any work take place then He creates the means for its fulfilment. The completion of that work is not dependant on any person. Rather, Allah Ta’ala, out of His infinite power, will use whichever person He so wishes for its completion. Therefore, one should place his trust and reliance upon Allah Ta’ala alone. (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 4/152)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

Nowadays, people expect the condition of the Muslims to improve through merely delivering lectures and bayaans. Although lectures and bayaans are beneficial, merely delivering lectures and bayaans will not be sufficient in bringing about a change unless effort is made towards physically implementing the laws and injunctions of Deen and practising upon them. However, very little attention is paid towards this aspect. People confine their effort to bayaans and its beautiful presentation. (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 3/145)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

A person once wrote a letter to me wherein he requested that I guide him in reforming his condition. In reply, I advised him to read twenty of my discourses and endeavour to practice upon my teachings. I further advised him to write to me after carrying this out so that he may inform me of his condition and whether he finds any change in his life. After reading twenty of my discourses, he wrote to me saying, “I do not find any improvement and change in my life.” I replied to him saying, “You either read the discourses without the intention of reforming yourself, or either the discourses which you read did not contain any advice pertaining to your self-reformation, or perhaps there are no deficiencies within you which require reformation.” After reading my reply, he admitted that although he read through the discourses, he did not do so with the intention of reforming himself. I therefore wrote to him saying, “This is the reason for you not finding any change and improvement in your life. Now I ask you to read these discourses again with the intention of Islaah (seeking self-reformation).” Alhamdulillah, after reading the discourses again with the correct intention, he wrote back informing me that he has derived immense benefit from the discourses and that he finds substantial change and improvement in his life. (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 8/318)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

A true Sheikh and spiritual guide is one who comes down to the level of people and deals with them according to their position when guiding them. He does not deal with people in the manner where he expects them to come up to his level. An example to illustrate this point is that of a person who feeds meat to a suckling child. Can there be any outcome besides that of destroying the child? The suckling child will have to be suckled with milk before it reaches the point where it will be able to be fed meat. (Malfoozaat Husnul Azeez pg.66)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

In today’s times, the statement, “This mouth is unworthy of making du‘aa” is commonly heard from people. A person once came to me and expressed the same feeling, saying that he was unworthy of making du‘aa. In reply, I asked him, “Do you perform Salaah? Do you recite the Kalimah?” When he replied that he does perform Salaah and recite the Kalimah, I said, “When you are worthy enough to perform Salaah, to fast and to recite the Kalimah, then why are you unworthy of making du‘aa?” This feeling, that you are unworthy of making du‘aa, is in actual fact created by Shaitaan in his effort to mislead you. He wishes to deprive you of the barakah of turning to Allah Ta‘ala in du‘aa. Similarly, your nafs does not wish to exert itself in any work. Therefore, whenever it is told to do any good work, it looks for some excuse or the other to avoid doing that good work. (Malfoozaat Husnul Azeez pg.128)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

It is compulsory upon one to fulfil the commandments of Shariah, regardless of whether one feels motivated or not. It is really unfortunate that one only fulfils the commands of Shariah when one feels motivated. Is one the servant of one’s feelings or the servant of Allah? (Being the servant of Allah demands that one fulfils the command of the Creator regardless of whether one feels motivated or not. This is the sign of one being the true servant of Allah and not the servant of one’s feelings.) (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 7/239)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

A Sufi from Ilaahabad, who would often listen to samaa‘ (nazams and naats), once enquired from me regarding its status. I replied, “I will not engage you in an academic discussion. Rather, I will simply ask you a question which you can answer through your own personal observation. Tell me, what is the essence of the path of Tasawwuf?” The person replied, “The essence of the path of Tasawwuf is Mujaahadah (i.e. opposing the desires of the nafs).” I then said to him, “The second question I now wish to ask you is whether or not your nafs feels inclined to listening to samaa‘ (nazams and naats).” The man replied, “Yes, my nafs does feel inclined.” I thereafter concluded asking, “So tell me, are you the people making mujaahadah or are we? Are we the true Sufis or are you people the true Sufis? Despite our hearts desiring to listen to samaa‘, we do not do so, whereas, despite your hearts desiring to listen to samaa’, you do so.” The man then submitted saying, “Only today have I really understood this mas’alah.” Saying this, he began to make tawbah and repented to Allah Ta’ala in front of me.

Hazrat Moulana Thaanwi (rahimahullah) further mentioned in relation to samaa‘: One of my friends had begun performing Tahajjud Salaah, reciting the Qur’aan and performing other virtuous deeds. However, he soon thereafter went to a certain place in the capacity of a government official. The place he went to would often hold programs of samaa‘ (nazams and naats), and on account of his prominent position, he would also be invited to attend. He would accept the invitation and attend the program. He himself thereafter said, “I noticed this to be the effect of samaa‘, that I would previously be motivated to perform Salaah, recite the Qur’aan and engage in ibaadaat. However, after I began listening to samaa‘, the motivation and enjoyment towards these virtuous deeds no longer remained. I thus understood samaa‘ to be harmful to my Deen.” (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 14/159)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

It is generally witnessed that many of those who do not subscribe to the following of any mazhab harbour ill thoughts and negative opinions regarding those who follow an Imaam. This quality of thinking good of oneself and harbouring ill thoughts regarding others is a root cause of all evils and wrongs. Thereafter, this evil quality within such a person progresses to the point where it causes him to run down those who follow a mazhab and criticize them. Even if such a person is not guilty of these wrongs, then too treading upon such a path (i.e. remaining unrestricted and uncommitted to the following of one mazhab) is an extremely dangerous path to tread on in one’s Deen. (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 8/274)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

Kufr is the root cause of all contemptible traits and evil qualities. On the other hand, Islam is the root cause of all praiseworthy qualities and good actions. When kufr is the source of all evil and Islam is the source of all good, it is extremely strange that at times unity is seen among the disbelievers while disunity is found among the Believers. One should realise that Islam is the basis of unity and kufr is the basis of disunity, and the apparent imbalance in the condition of unity among the kuffaar and disunity among the believers is on account of some external factor or personal motives. (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 7/194)

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned:

If insaan possesses the qualities of expressing servitude, obedience and submission before the command of Allah Ta’ala, then he is worthy of being called a human being. If he does not possess these sublime qualities within him, but rather follows the dictates of his temptations and desires, he will be no different to an animal, rather he will be worse than an animal. As Allah Ta’ala Himself has mentioned regarding the kuffaar in the Qur’an:

أُولـٰئِكَ كَالأَنعـٰمِ بَل هُم أَضَلُّ

They are like animals. Rather, worse in being astray.

In this regard the poet says:



If insaan is worthy of being called a human by virtue of his outer form and appearance, then there would be no difference between Abu Bakr and Abu Jahl.

A complete and perfect human is one who is a personification of servitude, obedience and submission before the command of Allah Ta’ala. At every moment he fulfils the commands of Allah Ta’ala and he regards his being able to obey and fulfil the commands of Allah Ta’ala as the grace of Allah Ta’ala upon him. He does not attribute any good to himself at any time. (Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 4/171)

Hadhrat Moulana Maseehullah Khan Sahib (Rahmatullahi Alaih) mentions:

“During Hadhrat Moulana Thanwi’s (Rahmatullahi Alaih) final illness, he suffered from severe bouts of diarrhoea and extreme weakness and thus had to remain in bed. Once, at night Hadhrat had the urge to relieve himself whilst the rest of the household was asleep. Hadhrat could not tolerate affecting the comfort of others, though they would have never minded being disturbed out of their great love and affection for Hadhrat, especially during his sickness. However, Hadhrat exercised great caution so as not to disturb any person. Hence with great difficulty and hardship he proceeded to the toilet by himself. When returning from the toilet, the weakness he was experiencing increased. Hadhrat barely took a few steps and fell in the courtyard of the house due to dizziness. After regaining consciousness he walked back to his bed and lay down. By now, Hadhrat was feeling extremely weak. He then suddenly realised that when he fell, the toilet jug had fallen in the courtyard and was still lying there. If anyone else needed to visit the toilet later during the night they will not find the jug in its normal place, thus inconveniencing them. This thought left him restless forcing him out of his bed. Notwithstanding his illness and weakness he went back to the courtyard, found the jug in the darkness, and returned it to its place.” (Fadhl-ul-Baari, p. 97)

All this was done in adherence to the mubaarak Sunnah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam). Nabi (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said:

المسلم من سلم المسلمون من لسانه و يده (و في رواية من سلم الناس)

A perfect Muslim is he who does not inconvenience any person through his tongue or his hand.

Hadhrat Qaari Siddeeq Ahmad Baandwi (RahmatullahiAlaih) once mentioned regarding his shaikh Hadhrat Moulana As`adullah Sahib (Rahmatullahi Alaih):

Moulana As`adullah (Rahmatullahi Alaih) seldom travelled, fearing he would miss his Salaah with jamaat and his takbeer-e-ula. Once he had to go to Deoband to visit Hadhrat Qaari Muhammad Tayyib Sahib (Rahmatullahi Alaih). Prior to the journey he drew up an itinerary for the journey. He first found out the times for the trains. Those trains wherein there was a possibility of missing out Salaah with jamaat were then avoided. It was his habit to travel only on those trains wherein he would not miss his Salaah with jamaat.

Thus we travelled to Deoband in this manner. After meeting with Hadhrat Qaari Muhammad Tayyib Sahib rahmatullahi alaih we quickly returned. On our return he was also very careful that no Salaah was missed with takbeer-e-ula.” (Hayaat-e-Siddeeq – English, p. 105)

Hadhrat Moulana Aashiq Ilaahi (Rahmatullahi Alaihi) mentions:

“Once Hadhrat Moulana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi (Rahmatullahi Alaihi) was present for the jalsah in Deoband. There were large crowds of people surrounding Hadhrat Gangohi (Rahmatullahi Alaihi) wishing to shake his hands and meet him. It was at that time that the jamaat for Asr salaah commenced. The Imaam leading the Asr salaah was Hadhrat Moulana Muhammad Ya’qoob (Rahmatullahi Alaih).

Due to the large crowds, Hadhrat Gangohi (Rahmatullahi Alaihi) was unable to reach the Musjid in time and get the takbeer tahreemah. Instead, he only managed to join the salaah once the Qiraat had commenced. After completing the salaah, Hadhrat Gangohi (Rahmatullahi Alaihi) with a deep sense of grief and sorrow exclaimed: “After twenty two years, today I have missed my Takbeer Oola.” (Jawaahir Paare 238/1-Tazkiratur Rasheed)

Qari Ameer Hasan Sahib (Rahmatullahi Alaih) once mentioned:

“It was the habit of Hadhrat Moulana Qasim Nanotwi (Rahmatullahi Alaih) that he would make preparations for Salaah one hour in advance. Similarly, when Shah Wasiyyullah (Rahmatullahi Alaih) used to travel to any place, he would not find out what time is jamaat, rather he would enquire about the time of azaan.” (Kalimaat-e-Sidq wa Adl, p. 66)