O devotees of Ghaus-e-A’zam! Our beloved
Shaykh Ghaus-e[1]A’zam (RA) would abundantly perform worship and recite
the Glorious Quran. It has been reported that he completed the Quran every night for 15 years.
(Bahjat-ul-Asraar, p. 118) He would
offer one thousand units (Rak’aah) of voluntary prayer (Nawafil). (Tafreeh
Al-Khaatir, p. 36) One night, when he intended on performing worship, his Nafs
exhibited laziness and encouraged him to sleep for a bit and then worship upon
getting up. Immediately, he stood on one leg in the exact place where this
thought came to his mind and completed the recitation of the whole Quran.
(Saanp numa jinn, p. 15) It is possible for one to wonder as to how the saints [1] managed to worship
so much. The answer to this is that the hearts of the pious are replete with
piety and devotion to Allah Almighty. These people remove the love of this
world from their hearts. Their souls remain restless and fretful without the
remembrance of Allah Almighty, which is why they remain occupied in His
remembrance every moment. This station is only attained through exerting
intense effort in worship. A thought-provoking post on social media stated
(presented with some amendment): ‘People today spend all night on social media
whilst chatting, watching videos, etc., and they do not show any signs of
fatigue. We now come to know how the saints of the past managed to worship all
night; their peace and tranquillity lied in the remembrance of their Lord. This
is the reason why they became immersed in His remembrance such that they would
not notice the night passing by. On the other hand, we are lost in the
pleasures of this world such that we do not awaken from the realm of worldly
pleasures.’ In order to awake negligent people like us, Sayyidi A’la Hadrat wrote:
Kis
bala ki may say hayn sar shaar hum
Din dhala hotay nahin hoshiyar hum
Mayn
nisar aysa Musalman kijiye
Tor dalayn nafs ka zunnar hum
Ghaus-e-A’zam’s
(RA) fear of Allah
O devotees of Ghaus-e-A’zam! It has always
been the way of the righteous people to, despite having performed many virtues
and refraining from sins, have a real sense of the fear of the Almighty. Shaykh
Abdul Qaadir Jilani (RA) also possessed
this attribute. Sayyiduna Sharaf-ud-Deen Sa’di Sheerazi (REHMATULLAH AALEH) states: ‘Sayyiduna Shaykh Abdul Qaadir
Jilani (REHMATULLAH AALEH) was
seen in the sacred precinct [Haram] of the KAABA with his head against stones
pleading before the Lord Almighty, ‘O the Generous Lord! Forgive me! And if I
am worthy of being punished, then resurrect me blind on Judgement Day so that I
am not embarrassed before the righteous people.’(Gulistan-e-Sa’di,
p. 54, Intisharat-e-‘aalamgeer Iran) Allah! Allah! Despite being the
chief of saints, what can be said of his fear of Allah. To gain a better
understanding of the degree to which he possessed the fear of Allah, read the
following couplets that he uttered on the day of Eid: ‘People are saying: ‘It
is Eid tomorrow! It is Eid tomorrow!’ Everyone is happy. However, the day I
leave this world with my Iman safe is when it will be the day of Eid for me.’
O devotees
of Ghaus-e-A’zam! What kind of devotees are we? On the one hand, our Shaykh and
spiritual guide, who despite being the chief of saints, performed so much
worship, and on the other hand, we are not able to even offer our Fard prayer; and
if we do, we miss out on offering it in congregation despite not having a valid
(Shar’i) reason. Bear in mind that A’la Hadrat (REHMATULLAH ALEH ) stated: ‘Whoever misses one Salah is worthy of
the hellfire for thousands of years.’ Also note that it is a severe sin to miss
offering Salah in congregation without a valid Shar’i reason. A devotee follows
the path of his beloved; therefore, as well as claiming to love Ghaus-e-A’zam
(REHMATULLAH ALAIEH) , we should
also be steadfast in offering our Salah, observing obligatory fasts, speaking
the truth in all circumstances and fearing Allah Almighty.
Gunahon nay
mujh ko kaheen ka na chora
Na ho jaoon
barbad ya Ghaus-e-A’zam
Mujhay nafs-e-zalim pay kar dijiye ghalib
Ho nakaam hamzad ya Ghaus-e-A’zam
Mayray qalb say hub-e-dunya ki murshid,
Ukhar jaye
bunyad ya Ghaus-e-A’zam
SHAYKH
ABDUL QAADIR JILANI’S (REHMATULLAH ALAEH) LOVE FOR THE STUDENTS OF KNOWLEDGE.
One facet of Shaykh Abdul Qaadir Jilani’s (REHMATULLAH
ALAEH) love for the students of
knowledge manifested in the form of him overlooking their weaknesses. Sayyiduna
Shaykh Ahmad Bin Mubarak (REHMATULLAH ALAEH) states: ‘A non-Arab (‘Ajami) student of
knowledge studied with Shaykh Abdul Qaadir Jilani (REHMATULLAH ALAEH) . He was
very weak in studies and would understand matters after immense difficulty.
Once, whilst he was sat studying with Shaykh Abdul Qaadir Jilani (REHMATULLAH
ALAEH), a man named Ibn-e[1]Samhal came to visit
the Shaykh. When he observed how weak that student was and Ghaus-e-A’zam’s (REHMATULLAH
ALAEH) level of patience and tolerance
in this regard, he was extremely surprised. When that student got up and left,
Ibn-e-Samhal stated: ‘I am shocked at how weak that student is and at your
level of patience.’ Shaykh Abdul Qaadir Jilani (REHMATULLAH ALAEH) replied, ‘My efforts with him are for just
less than a week, because he will pass away.’ Sayyiduna Ahmad Bin Mubarak (REHMATULLAH
ALAEH) added: ‘From that day, we began
counting the days of that student. When a week was about to pass, he passed
away on the last day.’ (Qalaaid Al-Jawahir, p. 8, summarized).
A
LESSON FOR TEACHERS
Hujjah-tul-Islam,
Imam Muhammad Bin Muhammad Bin Muhammad Ghazali (Rehmatullah Aleih) said:
‘A teacher should be compassionate towards the students and consider them to be
his own sons. The teacher’s objective should be that he will save the students
from the punishment of the Hereafter.’ (Ihya[1]ul-‘Uloom,
vol. 1, p. 191) Apart from teaching, writing, preaching and advising, Shaykh
Abdul Qaadir Jilani (Rehmatullah Aleih) was also an expert in many other fields
pertinent to knowledge. He was particularly accomplished in the field of
issuing fatwas, for even the most illustrious scholars, experts of Fiqh and
Muftis of his era would become shocked at his unparalleled fatwas. Shaykh Imam
Muwaffaq-ud-Deen Bin Qudamah (Rehmatullah Aleih) states: ‘We saw that there [in
Baghdad], Shaykh Abdul Qaadir Jilani (Rehmatullah Aleih) was from amongst those
who had been granted the kingdomof knowledge, action and writing fatwas.’
(Bahjat-ul-Asraar, p. 225) His mastery in knowledge was such that if he was
asked about extremely difficult matters, he would offer an exemplary simplified
answer. He (Rehmatullah Aleih) spent approximately 33 years in serving Islam
through teaching and issuing fatwas. During this period, when his fatwas would
be presented before the scholars of Iraq, they would become astonished. (Bahjat-ul-Asraar, p. 225, selected and summarised)