Death Of Maulana Yusuf (rah): Part 2

As I went out of the house towards the madressa, the crowd was very dense. In a crying voice I said to them: "I have to go and sit down to recite something which is very necessary. You people can sit down here in the masjd. Sit here, sit in the madressa and have a nice conversation! When are you to get such free time again?"

They heard and they understood my meaning and dispersed. I went to sit down in the masjid, but even the voices of those talking outside reached me. About half an hour after Asr, Talha came along and informed me of another telephone call. They said there was a big argument over where Maulana Yusuf was to be buried. Hafiz Siddeeq, the Indian brothers and the Mewatis were adamant that Hazrat-ji's body should be brought to Delhi for burial. On the other hand, the local brothers (in Lahore) wanted him to buried there. The final verdict was left to me to decide. I did not have any idea as to how his corpse and coffin were to reach Delhi. At the time of the death of Maulana Raipuri in Pakistan, I had been made to believe that there was no way of bringing the corpse to Raipur. And yet Hazrat had expressed his desire to be buried in Raipur, and had taken a promise to that effect from his attendents, especially from his nephew, Maulana Abdul Jaleel. He had said, in front of all, that his burial in Raipur should not be prevented.

Later when I asked those attendents and mureeds why Hazrat's request was not carried out, and why he was buried in Pakistan, they told me that there was no way of bringing the body back.

In very clear terms, and with much conviction they wrote back to me that for the following reasons it would not be possible:

a) It would be necessary to acquire the permission of the relevant authorities (of both India and Pakistan);
b) It would require the permission of doctors and health authorities;
c) It would be necessary before transporting the body, to inject a special chemical substance into the brain, the shoulders, the two sides of the neck, the breast and thighs, after making the necessary openings.
d) In spite of all these precautions it will not be possible for the body to reach Raipur without giving off a smell.

At that time I considered all these reports to be true. I knew that among Hazrat's attendents there were numerous men of influence, counsellers, officers and doctors who would know the situation. Moreover, they all knew of Hazrat's desire of where he wanted to be buried. And yet his janaza could not be transported! I had no idea of its being possible and in the case of Maulana Yusuf, too, I had no idea that it could be done.

I thereupon sent a message to Hafiz Sideeq, against my own opinion, that: "If there is any possibility of the corpse being brought to Nizamuddin, then by all means that will be preferable, otherwise bury him in the madressa at Raiwind."

Great indeed was my surprise when at eight o'clock that evening, a third telephone call came through informing us that the funeral bier was ready to be transported to Delhi by air. It would leave Lahore at 11 pm and arrive in Delhi at 1am. At that time, I stopped thinking about Maulana Yusuf and was immersed in pondering over Maulana Raipuri's affair, that in spite of his intense desire, in spite of his attendents' love and devotion, they still failed to do the same thing for him.

As promised, I went home after Esha and found Haroon and Babu Ayaz having arrived by car. In Nizamuddin they had only received scanty news of the death with no further details at Asr time.

I asked Haroon: "What are you doing here? The corpse will be arriving in Delhi soon."

But I understood this was Allah's way of sending a car for me to go to Delhi, otherwise there would have been no way in which I could have reached Delhi. I asked Haroon to have something to eat, but he said he had already eaten after Jumua. I told them to first perform Esha salaah and in the meantime tea will be ready. They performed Esha hastily and tea was quickly prepared. We left Saharanpur at 11 o'clock and reached Nizamuddin at 3 am. The road was quite empty and we enjoyed the roar of the car's engine as we sped along. At three places we dound he booms over railway lines closed. At the first one at Rurky, they closed it off well in advance of the train's crossing. We begged the attendant to let us cross as the train was still a long way off but to no avail, with the result that we had to wait almost half an hour.

When we arrived in Delhi, we came to know that the arrival of the corpse had also been delayed somewhat and that it arrived at home in Nizamuddin a little before us. The rest of the details have already been published in booklets and in newspapers. But what I must state is that in spite of the persistant request for people not to come for taziat, a special plea was made by the Markaz people and myself for people to come, that my previous principle in this regard went overboard. But this calling of people for taziat was even more effective and beneficial than my previous principle, because thousands came along daily and they were made into jamaats and sent out in the path of Allah for the esaale sawaab of Maulana Yusuf Saheb.