Answer to Letter (1)

My beloved friend, Assalamu Alaykum.

Who is so fortunate as to recieve such a blessed present. Because of your love, you have not been very clever as was the demand of your love. Your reason should have told you that you should not have informed me what it was. When I expressed liking for it, [only] then should you have told me what it was. Now, I am worried that if I do not use it, it will be tantamount to turning away from the Sunnah. How will one accept it, that after eating it, you find yourself not liking it. Both these things will boil down to bad manners. Now I am putting this aside until such a time that you get me out of this difficulty.

Ashraf Ali.

Letter to Hazrat Ashraf Ali Thanwy

To Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwy
Assalamu Alaykum.

I hereby wish to present a little gift. In the Hadith, there is mention of a certain thing called talbeena, which Mullah Ali Qari says is made up of milk, honey and flour and I have added a little saffron for flavour and taste. Once, some time ago, I prepared it and it turned out to be very delicious and I got the feeling that perhaps Hazrat will also like it. Only Allah knows how it has turned out this time, but I have again mixed the same ingredients.

In Bukhari it is reported from Hazrat Aisha Radhiallahu Anha who says: "I have heard Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam say: "Verily talbeena cures the heart of the sick one and takes away his sorrows."" According to Bukhari, she ordered that talbeena be taken and that it is a beneficial medicine. Hafiz Ibn Hajar says in 'Fath', it is reported by Ahmed and Ibn Majah that Aisha Radhiallahu Anha reported: "Make use of talbeena, the beneficial medicine." And Nisai adds: "I swear by Him in whose hands is the life of Muhammad [sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam] that talbeena cleans the stomach in the same way as any of you uses water to wash dust from his face."

According to the Hadith it appears that it is prepared in a thin form, but I thought Hazrat will prefer it in a thick form so as to eat it like firny. For this reason, I have made it a thick mixture. I have also written its contents down for Hakeem Khaleel Ahmed Saheb and asked him about it, so as to ascertain that it will not be harmful to Hazrat's diet.

Zakariyya Kandhalwy.

Interest in Life

Hazrat Maulana Jamiat Ali, the father of Hazrat Nazim Saheb, Maulana Abdul Lateef, was a teacher at Bhawalpur. Once he was checking something, thus looking into a kitab for about an hour. A wood-carver was sitting near him. After about an hour and a half, the wood carver said: "Moulvy-ji, you have been staring at this book for all this time. What have you found? Look at me. In all this time I have already cut so many pieces of wood."

Maulana burst out laughing: "We, each of one of us, have our own taste and interest. I can also ask you what you have done in this time. Tell me, what is your interest in life?"

He replied, "Maulana Saheb, now you are talking. I would like to lie down upon a comfortable charpai with a nice pillow under my head and a 'huqqa' (pipe) nearby, while the voices of people working in the fields float to my ears."

This story has always been an enjoyable one for me. It gives one an indication of the types of interest and longings different people have. I have also seen some people whose greatest desire is to remain in solitude in meditation, while from all around them, voices of people making Zikr reaches them. I have also seen some people whose health depends upon the hearing of the voices of Zikr; this acts like an injection of strength into their bodies, and in the absence thereof, illness overtakes them.