Sincerity

A certain saintly man says: "I went for Hajj and while making Tawaaf I saw a certain man making dua so earnestly, crying out so loudly, that the other people who were making Tawaaf became quite distressed, but his heart was not turned to Allah at all. Then at Mina I saw a man selling a thousand dinars worth of material but throughout the sale, his heart was not for one moment negligent of Allah."

This is how it is with us. All our Salaahs, Duas and Ibaadat are mere rituals without any Inner reality. With wailing crying, we utter words like parrots and we do not even know what we are saying. With Allah sincerity is of the utmost importance. Noise and shouting is of no sequence.

(Page 565)

Flattery and Humility

A very short extract, but it just struck me how those connected with Allah responded to flattery with, not pride, but humility!

One such story was told about the 'Babul Istihaadhah'. Once on my visit to Deoband, Hazrat Madani said to me: "You have in Kitabul-Haj of Owjaz written a very nice thing, which pleased me very much. Many of Imam Bukhari's objections have been removed through your commentary."

At that moment Hazrat was walking towards his class to go and teach. I bent my head and was so moved that I could not even ask to which part of my writing he was referring to, which caused Imam Bukhari's objections to end. On many occasions I have wanted to ask him, but because of my shyness I could not.

True Gifts

We have seen in the UK, with Heathrow being shrouded in fog and consequently, many Hajji's failing to make the journey, no one will perform a deed that they had the strongest intention to do without the Will of Allah. Below Sheikhul Hadeeth relates a similar story, where he had prepared to do Hajj with Hazrat Raipuri, but then had been unable to go. He also mentions the 'gifts' he received from Hazrat Raipuri's Hajj journey...

I had decided to perform 'Haj-e-badal' on behalf of my deceased daughter Shakira and had borrowed the money and handed it to Hazrat. May Allah reward Maulana well. He not only performed her Haj but I heard that thereafter until the time he left for Egypt, he also performed many Umrah on her behalf.
But to this day, I regret not being with Hazrat on this Haj.

On his return he said to me: "Throughout this journey, I have been thinking about what I can take back for you that would please you. I thought about a mishlah, musalla and certain other things, but then I thought to myself that you would definitely express great happiness at my presenting it to you, but it would not truly please your heart. I wanted something that would truly please you. After pondering over this for a long time and giving it great thought, I wore an Ihraam from Masjid-un-Nabawwi on your behalf."

I said: "Hazrat, you tell me, could there have been any greater favour? An Umrah and ontop of that performed by you...and that too from Masjid-un-Nabawwi! Inshaa allah, that is more than enough for me."

Due to the barakat of Hazrat's favours, sincerity and love, I have received news of people having performed hundreds of Umrahs on my behalf. Lately together with Umrahs, news of Haj-e-Badal on my behalf has also reached me. In some years, I have been informed of upto ten or twelve Haj-e-Badal having been performed.