Respecting Knowledge

In this excerpt, Sheikhul Hadeeth (rahmatullahi 'alayh) recalls the favours of another elder, Hazrat Shah Yaseen Naginwi (rahmatullahi 'alayh).

He is one of the most prominent Khalifahs of Hazrat Gangohi Saheb and I already mentioned about him in the introduction of Fazaa'il Durood (The virtues of Durood). Hazrat always attended Madressa Mazahirul Uloom's Annual Jalsa and stayed at my place for a week - upto ten days. From his outward appearance, saintliness was quite evident and he was very kind. He was fond of attending my classes and used to be so attentive as to be the very personification of the description in the Hadith:

"As if birds were sitting on their heads."

He used to sit with his eyes downcast, that I would envy his attentiveness and respect.

At my insistence, he used to sit near me. He showed me numerous favours but there is one of his Karaamat that I can recall and it is for this that I have written his name down.

One of my bad habits was this, that whenever I went to class, I carried a paan tin with me. In place of the normal spittoon I had a clay lota which was always kept in the Darul Hadith. During class, I used to eat paan. Once Hazrat Shah Yaseen Saheb told me: "I am not prohibiting the eating of paan, but please do not eat paan during class."

From that day onwards, for about forty years, I have never eaten paan during class. I was always particular about teaching Hadith while being in a state of wudhoo and cannot remember ever having taught without wudhoo. But since this request of Hazrat Shah Saheb, I have always made a special point of rinsing my mouth before going out to teach. I have always had the regret that he said that he was not prohibiting the eating of paan. If only he had said that, then I would have been saved from this calamity of paan eating.