زندگانی میں کیا شادمانی ملی   

What great enjoyment we had experienced in our lives

This refers to the deep enjoyment of the heart. The condition of many people is such that they desire to die due to the difficulties of life. How many are even committing suicide. In one poem Hadrat says,

گھبڑا کر سب کہتے ہے مر جائینگے

مر کر  بھی چین نہ پایا تو اب بتا کہاں جاینگے

Everyone becomes frustrated and says, “We will die”

If you die but do not attain comfort then where will you go?

A person may be able to escape the Dunya by dying but if a person is in difficulty after death then where will a person escape? This is the condition of the vast majority of people. The agents of Shaytaan have made such a tremendous effort on mankind that people are unable to even reflect over these things. People are absolutely busy either with their businesses or in fulfilling their lust and desires, etc. As for those that enjoyed this life, can we then imagine what the next world will be?

Allah c has blessed us with a golden opportunity to acquire that happiness of life by blessing us with the blessed month of Ramdaan. Together, we have been blessed with the company of the Sheikh.

صحبت شیخ سے زندگانی ملی

By the company of the Sheikh I got life

One type of life is the life of a person that is in a coma in hospital. He is living but unable to eat, drink, or relieve himself, etc. He is living on drips or the life support machine. This is not called life but the doctor cannot issue a death certificate as well. Similarly, many of us are living but this cannot be called life. The actual life is the life of enjoyment.

A person that lives with the Sheikh gets that life. Allah c explains in the Quraan,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ

O you who have Imaan! Respond (quickly) to Allaah and His Rasool when they call you towards that (the injunctions of the Deen) which will give you life (an eternal life of happiness in the Aakhirah).

Hadrat explains by an example that a person has a flock of 200 – 300 sheep. However, there is a single slaughterer that has been employed to slaughter all these sheep. The life of all the sheep together cannot equal the life of one slaughterer. If the Muslim have true life then they will over run the world immediately, but we are being ruled as we do not have life.

زندگانی میں کیا شادمانی ملی

What great enjoyment we had experienced in our lives

This is acquired by the company of the Sheikh. Coupled with that we have the month of Ramdaan in which we recite Quraan, wake up for Tahajjud, perform Taraweeh, etc. Each ingredient from amongst these is such that it is sufficient to give us the enjoyment of life.

نگاہ  ء  عارف کے فیضان ہے سالکوں

This is the blessings of the gaze of an Aarif, O saaliks (those treading the path of Tasawwuf)

عشق کی کیفیت بے زبانی ملی

The quality of extreme love that is experienced cannot be expressed

A person doesn’t only experience the intense love of Allah c but he also gets the quality of it. He is able to feel the intense love. A shrewd businessman had a client that used to purchase sugar from him. He then found that this client is purchasing sugar elsewhere so he invited him for tea. He put sugar into the tea but when the guest arrived for tea he asked him how many tea spoons of sugar he would like to add to his tea. The guest said that he would like two tea spoons of sugar. The tea was extremely sweet so he expressed to the guest how sweet was the tea, who immediately responded by saying that this is real sugar not what you had purchased.

One type of sugar is such that it is not really sweet and one is extremely sweet sugar. The quality of extreme love is experienced by a person whereby he is unable to express it.

راہ تقوی میں رنج فانی ملا

In the path of Taqwa one experiences temporary sorrow

The path of Taqwa is actually to give up sins which is quite difficult as the Nafs of a person enjoys sins. The Nafs is from the Dunya and loves all worldly things. One will feel sorrow and difficulty in giving up these sins but it is temporary.

پر خوشی روح کو جاودانی ملی

The happiness of the Rooh is eternal

The worldly life is temporary and the life of the hereafter is eternal. A person sacrificed by not looking at the woman that is so attractive, or he gave up flirting with her, etc. In return Allah c blesses a person with eternal happiness. This is a simple mathematical calculation. You give up something that is temporary but in return you get something that is eternal. This is the object of Tasawwuf.

Hadrat Thanvi r said,

طبعیت پر عقل کو غالب رکہو

Your desires should be controlled and harnessed with your brains.

Think! Is this good for me or is it bad for me? You may feel like looking at a woman, going out, eating something, but you should use your brains at such a time. If Mufti Saheb has got a heart problem and delicious food is brought in front of him, he should use his brains and should not eat even though he desires to eat as it is not good for his heart.

اورعقل پرشریعت کو غالب رکہو

And Shariat (Quraan and Hadith) should control your brains. Don’t make your brains your god.

The Tabiyyat of a person is what we call Nafs. Nafs is simply,

مرغوبات طبعیہ غیر شرعیہ

Natural desires that are against Shariat

Men naturally have desire for women and more for those women that are not his wife. This is natural desire but it is against Shariah therefore one should control it with his brains. The brains should then be controlled with the Quraan and the commands of Rasulullah g.

ان کا نسبت کا ہے فیض اے دوستوں

This is the blessings of their attaching oneself with them

دل کی ہر وقت جو نگہبانی ملی

That one will always be conscious of his heart

One will always be particular of his intentions. He may say that I am making a phone call to enquire regarding a certain item. However, he should check his heart whether this is really his intention, or is he calling to chat to a women and listen to her voice. One tries to justify many things outwardly but he only knows his actual intention. Hadrat explains Paas-Anfaas which according to the Sufiya means that when a person breathes in then he says “Allah” and on breathing out he says “Hoo”, so on every breath one is making Zikr. Hadrat r explains that in the Urdu language ‘Paas” means that one should look after, and “Anfaas” means to breathe, so a person should look after every breath by not indulging in Haraam, Makrooh and the displeasure of Allah c. If a person makes Paas-Anfaas but he is looking at other women as well or watching TV, then how will that benefit a person?

Looking at the television and taking the name of Allah c is the worst form of Jadu, as a person is mixing the name of Allah c with filth. Many of us wonder why we are involved in so many problems. The simple reason is that we have the television at home and on the television there is filth being displayed and directly above the TV or in the same room we have the Asmaa-ul-Husnaa or the frame of Aayatul Kursi hanging.

سب کو ملی نسبت شیخ کی فیض سے

All were connected to Allah c by the blessings of the Sheikh

The Nisbat of Rasulullah g was via Jibraeel n. He was sent by Allah c who instructed him to recite. Rasulullah g replied, “I am unable to recite.” Then Jibraeel n embraced Rasulullah g and transferred everything into Rasulullah g. This was the Suhbat. Thereafter Rasulullah g became a Qaari that recited the entire Quraan, knew the seven and ten Qiraats and the subjects of the entire Quraan. This is the effect of Suhbat. Hadrat Abu Bakr h had the Suhbat of Rasulullah g, whilst in madinah, on travel out of Madinah, and at all times.

بد گمانوں کو بس بد گمانی ملی

Those that entertain evil thoughts got evil thoughts

The critics only got criticism in their share. There was a person that used to listen to Bayaans and list the mistakes of the speaker or any possible errors. He had criticised Haji Bhai Padia r as well, to which Haji Saheb said, “What can we do if this was in his Taqdeer?”

اہل عقبی کو دونوں جہاں مل گیا

People of the hereafter acquired both the worlds

The world ran after those whose Niyyat was the hereafter. So they received Dunya and Aakhirat.

اہل دنیا کو دنیا ء فانی ملی

The people of Dunya only acquired the world that will perish

Allah c grants Dunya to whomsoever He wishes and in what quantity He desires, but if a person desires Aakhirat then it is guaranteed and such a person will receive Dunya as well. If a person chases another and catches him then he will catch the shadow as well, but the one that runs after a shadow gets nothing. The Quraan Sharif states,

وان دار الاخرة لهى الحيوان

Verily the house of the hereafter is eternal

If a person gets the hereafter then he will automatically get the Dunya.

نفس کو جس نے اپنے مٹایا

اسے راہ حق میں اسکو بڑی کامرانی ملی

The one who had annihilated his Nafs,

he has become successful in the path of Sulook

Taqwa is to annihilate the Nafs and that is why we come to Majlis, spend time in the Suhbat of the Sheikh, etc. Taqwa is to place one step on the Nafs and the other step is in Jannat. The Buzurgs have said, “There are two steps to Jannat. The first is to trample the Nafs and the other step is in Jannat.”

ہے مبارک جو ان پڑ فضا ہو گئی

Blessed is that person who has given his life for Allah c

Inne salaati wanusooki

The Salaah, sacrifice, living, dying is for Allah c.

زندگانی تو بس آنی جانی ملی

Life is only temporary

Sometimes a person has wealth and sometimes he is a pauper. The days rotate around a person. However a person that sacrifices his life for Allah c whether in favouravble or adverse conditions, he has achieved everything.

جس کا حامل درد دل ہوگیا

That heart that has become such that it contains the love of Allah c

بندگی کی اس سے رازدانی ملی

He has attained the secrets of servitude

When a person acquires the secret code or pin of another then he becomes pleased. Imagine the person that finds the secret of life, if he realises why Allah c has created him then he will easily acquire the love of Allah c.

One person said, “I make Dua that Allah c fulfils the need of every person and fulfils every desire of every person so that they will realise that this world is not the object of life.” We laugh at the example that is given about the person that lost his gold coin in his shack but looked for it on the street as he did not have light in the shack. We are exactly the same as that person as we looking for enjoyment in places where enjoyment does not even exist.  

This is similar to that person that has cancer yet he is laughing at a person that has a cold and is coughing. He tells him that you are coughing like a sick fowl.

فیض مرشد کا اختر یہ احسان ہے

These are the blessings of the favours of the Sheikh

Hadrat Thanvi r has explained that the real guide is Allah alone. Allah c says in the Quraan,

اللّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّوُرِ

Allaah is the Protecting Friend of those who have Imaan, bringing them from the multitude of darkness (kufr, Shirk, falsehood) into the light (Islaam, the truth). As for those who commit kufr, their friends are the Shayaateen, who bring them out of the light (of Imaan if they ever enter it) and (take them back) into the multitude of darkness (kufr, Shirk).

In this verse the word “Dhuloomaat” is in plural and the word “Noor” is singular. The reason for this is that there are various types of sins that a person commits. There is only one path of Hidaayat and truth. In another verse Allah c says,

وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَى بِآيَاتِنَا أَنْ أَخْرِجْ قَوْمَكَ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ

Indeed we sent Moosa u with Our Aayaat We instructed him saying, “Remove your people (the Bani Israa’eel) from the multitude of darkness, take them into the light (Imaan)

The Ulema have written that the work of taking one out of darkness to light is the work of Allah c. However, the Sheikh has been given a large share as he is the outward means. This was the work of the Ambiyaa n and the Ulema are the inheritors of the Ambiyaa.

کے اہل دل کی طرح زندگانی ملی

That we got life like the lovers of Allah

A person wears a Kurta, topi, beard as the lovers of Allah do. He is like them but he hasn’t reached their position. When a non Alim is with a group of Ulema then people address him with the title of Maulana as well. You not a Sufi but you like a Sufi. The kindness of Allah c is so great that one adopts the external form and Allah c accepts a person.  

The angels report to Allah c that a certain person had come to the Majlis of Zikr  due to some financial or marital problem, or to deliver a message. Allah c says, “This is such a nation that those seated with them will not be deprived.” If someone looks at them with love, makes Musafaha with them then I will do their work as well.

A person has hired five labourers to work for him. Another person distracts the labourers by talking to them. When the day ends and the employer pays the employees this person also stands in the queue for a salary. No person will pay him in fact the employer will feel like kicking him, but Allah c is so kind that He will give such a person a salary as well. We cannot imagine the mercy of Allah c. All the kind people of the world do not have an iota of the mercy of Allah c. Can we then imagine the mercy of Allah c in the hereafter? Allah c has reserved 99 portions of mercy for the hereafter and only one portion is shared by mankind. This is only for us to understand, else the mercy of Allah c is unlimited.

The love of Allah c is more than all the mothers of the world including Jinn, humans, animals, etc. There is a famous saying, “Interfere with the lioness but not with the cub. You will not be spared if you interfere with the cub.

There was a Buzurg that was walking on a rainy day when the roads were muddy. A person was once walking with his newlywed wife, some mud had splashed onto her gown. The husband slapped the passer by even though it was not his fault. He didn’t retaliate. We are taught to take a little revenge else Allah c will take revenge and the revenge of Allah c is really severe. Shortly thereafter the oppressor fell down dead. The people accused the oppressed of being the cause of his death. He said, “I didnt do anything.” They asked, “How did he die?” He replied, “He took revenge for his beloved and Allah c took revenge for his beloved.”

Another pious person went to fetch water with his servant. They met a woman that spoke ill of the Buzurg so the pious person told the Khaadim to slap her. He was surprised as the Buzurg never takes revenge, so he didnt slap her. Shortly thereafter she died. The people asked the Buzurg the reason for her death so he said, “When we don’t take revenge then Allah c takes revenge.” Sometimes when the Buzurg takes revenge then we think to ourselves, “What kind of a Buzurg is this?” He is actually taking some revenge to protect him from the big trouble which we don’t understand. May Allah Ta’ala grant us the understanding! Ameen.