"In the Will of Allah no one has a say..."

There is another letter from Ala Hazrat on the occasion of my father's death:

"From Abdul Raheem to brother Moulvy Zakariyya Saheb."
Assalamu Alaykum Warahmatullah.

A telegram was brought to me from Bahut addressed to Shah Saheb and reached me at 20 minutes after eleven, at the hands of Haji Ghulam Muhammad Saheb. From it I came to know of the sudden demise of Maulana Yahya Saheb. It is such a shock and brought me much sorrow, which I am unable to describe in words.

In the Will of Allah no one has a say. He is the Master who does as He pleases in what is His. Kindly inform us quickly about his illness. We are all struck with grief and I would have come there immediately but because of my condition I am unable to do so. What else is there that one can write at this moment?


Abdul Raheem from Raipur.
Saturday 11.20am"

Death Of Maulana Yusuf (rah): Part 3

During that day there was such a lot of activity that there was hardly any time for talking. On the second day, Maulana Inamul Hasan said to me: "It was through your advice that the body was brought here. During the argument over Hazrat Raipuri's janaza, as to where he should be buried, Maulana Yusuf Saheb always used to tell me on various occasions: Do not remove my corpse to any place. If I should die on the train, then take me off at the next station and bury me there. Do not even move me to the place where I had purchased a ticket."

I said to him: "My dear man, when the deceased had given you this 'wasiyat' why did you not act upon it? Why did you not carry it out?"

Maulana Inamul Hasan replied: "The situation was so fraught with excitement and riot and the possibility was such that a tremendous disturbance could be caused. But when your name was mentioned all became quiet. The people of Lahore were adamant that Maulana should be buried in the graveyard of Maulana Ahmad Ali. The tableeghi brothers wanted him buried in Raiwind. And the Mewatis and Indian brothers insisted that he should be brought back to Delhi, because they felt if that was not done, we would have a riot here in Delhi. When your name was mentioned, all three parties remained silent. Hafiz Siddeeq said that they would never be able to act contrary to your order."

I said: "But then, the least you should have done was to inform me of Maulana Yusuf's 'wasiyat' by phone. I did not know of that. Had I known, I would never have called for the janaza to be brought here."

In these seventy four years of mine, I have seen a lot, heard a lot. A long story can still be told with lots of warning and lessons.

It set me thinking deeply about the wonders created by Allah.

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.

Fear Playing the Shame Game

In this respect I remember something very important and I always warn my friends about it. In the Hadith we are warned against shaming a person for a sin committed and if one does that, he never dies until he himself becomes involved in that same sin. I have from experience found this to be very true and have warned my friends never to disgrace or shame people for sins committed by them. This is a very grave matter. It is a completely different aspect to warn them against such deeds or to advise against it or to preach to them to discard such acts.

I thought of this Hadith at this stage because of the following: In my childhood I noticed Hazrat had no teeth and that Hazrat used to take tobacco with this 'paan', which after four or five minutes he took out of his mouth to put into a spittoon. I used to think that if he takes it out again as he put it in, then what was the reason for putting it into his mouth in the first place. He has no need to eat paan! Since he did not have the habit of chewing paan, I thought this was foolish. But I pay the price myself. My teeth are gone and I am still addicted to paan-eating. Now I have to cut the paan into small thin pieces before eating it and I blame myself for the habit.

Even the Pious are human...(2): 'Bayt Bazi'

After all, we were all kids at one point...Except the difference is Sheikhul Hadeeth's self described 'foolishness' is linked to his love for Allah, not love for the dunya.

I was not allowed to go anywhere without the company of my father or uncle. My only game was to play 'bayt bazi'. Whenever my companions, Mazhar, Mahfooz and myself found my father out of the way we started playing.

Once the foolishness got hold of me and we started playing 'bayt bazi' with the verses of the Qur'an. One would recite a verse and the other would have to recite a verse starting with the letter with which the last one ended. My two friends were not hafiz's and I was only a hafiz in name. So I do not know how they were supposed to quote verses. After three times of playing this game, it stopped abruptly. The funny paty of it all was that whenever we played the game, that day was one on which for some valid reason I received a hiding. The experience made me repent for this foolishness.

The Wrestling Hafiz

The following story clearly demonstrates the value of repentence, and that the past is, or at least should be, forgotten once one has sincerely repented to Allah (subhaanahu wata'aalaa).

I had heard that previously Hafiz Saheb had been a wrestler. He had come to my grandfather asking for a ta'weez in order to overcome a certain opponent. It is said that grandfather really liked him, asked who he was, where he came from etc. It then became known that he was a wrestler who also had memorised the Quraan. Grandfather listened to his Quranic recitation, made him repent from wrestling and accepted his bay'at. He then offered him a salary of 2 rupees per month to teach the children. He placed him in the Neelgar Masjid to teach the children of the village. After my grandfather went away, the 'nobility' of the village considered it insulting that their children should be taught by the Neelgar people. They took their children out. When grandfather returned and heard the whole story, he was very angry and he built a madressa for Hafiz Saheb opposite the Juma Masjid in an old broken down mosque. After the death of my grandfather, he also had a close relationship with my father's eldest brother.

My late uncle (Maulana Ilyas) was also a student of his. I have seen on many occasions that whenever uncle visited Kandhla he treated Hafiz Saheb with great respect, even kissing his hand.

Hafiz Saheb had read the word for word translation of the Quraan from Hazrat Maulana Hakeem Siddeq Saheb, the Khalifa of Hazrat Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. It is well known that for forty years, except for once, he never missed the salaah with the jamaat from the takbeer-oolaa [first takbeer]. He died in 1347 Hijri at the age of 90 years. The number of those that became Hafiz at hid hand were near to 400. He is buried in an orchard belonging to him on the road to Kerana.

Death of Sheikhul Hind (rah)

Then I saw the funeral of Hazrat Sheikhul Hind. Look at Allah's ways. I have only had a few chances of being present in Hazrat Sheikhul Hind's presence and yet I was privileged to have joined in his funeral preparations, kafan and burial. Then there is my great benefactor, Sheikhul Islam Maulana Madani who had been Hazrat's companion everywhere, on travel, at home, in Malta's jail and never left him. Maulana Madani leaves his side for one day and could not be present at his funeral and burial! What a lesson!

A debate had been organised in Amroha between the Sunnis and the Shias. Posters had been put up everywhere and newspapers had already given it a lot of prominence. From Luckhnow, Maulana Abdul Shakoor came and from Saharanpur, my Hazrat. Both were well known for their debating skills on this topic. When the Shias knew of the arrival of these two stalwarts, they tried their utmost to avoid the debate, hoping that it would be put off on request by the Sunnis. Hence they sent a person to Dehli to call Maulana Muhammad Ali Jowar who for 24 hours gave lectures in various gatherings against the holding of the debate, stressing the need for mutual understanding and co-operation.

This was the first time in my life that I had seen Maulana Muhammad Ali Jowar. I do not remember seeing him again thereafter. I told him: "For a long time I have been longing to see you."

I hoped that even though he did not know me, he would give me a minute or two of his time. But he was very angry at what Maulana Abdul Shakoor and I had organised. Hence in an angry tone he said: "Call off this thing and we shall meet."

For a whole day the argument continued about the debate. On the second day, 14th Rabbi-ul Awwal 1339 Hijri, my Hazrat sent me a note to Hazrat Sheikhul Hind in which it was written: The situation over here is like this...For the Sunnis it is on no account advisable to postpone the debate or to put it off. Please send me an urgent note saying that the debate must go on and not be postponed.

With this short note I left Amroha for Dehli and when I reached the station, I met a few people who greeted me. I asked them for the reason for their coming to the station and they replied, "Hazrat Sheikul Islam is coming by train enroute to Calcutta. We have come to meet him here at Amroha station."

I had no pencil nor paper with me. I picked up a piece of paper from the station and a piece of coal and wrote a note to my Hazrat: Maulana Madani is arriving enroute to Calcutta. Make him get off there [in Amroha].

I gave this note to those people to give to Hazra Maulana Khaleel and I left for Dehli. Hazrat sent a man to the station requesting Maulana Madani to get off the train. Although Maulana Madani had a ticket for Calcutta, and his luggage was with him, he immediately alighted at Amroha. The manner in which I have seen Maulana Madani answering the requests of Elders, I have not seen in anyone else. No matter how much it was against his own opinions, he always bent his head in front of their orders. In those lectures, he advised both parties that this was not a time for inflaming the emotions of people and for polarisation. At this time it is of utmost necessitty even to have reconcillation and mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, instead of getting involved in arguments and fights.

I reached Hazrat Sheihul Hind's residence in Dehli near Maghrib time. At that time, Hazrat Sheikhul Hind was seriously ill, so ill that there was no time to present the note to him. He passed away the next morning. Telephone calls were made to all places.

Telegrams addressed to Maulana Madani were sent to various stations around Calcutta, to places where according to the opinion of people, the train must have reached. I told them to send a telegram to Amroha aswell. All of them looked upon me as being a fool for this suggestion. They thought I wanted to send a telegram to Hazrat Saharanpuri using Maulana Madani as an excuse. They wanted to know what connection there was between Maulana Madani and Amroha. I said, "Send a telegram in case he may be there."

Maulana Mufti Kifaayatullah, the president of the Jamiatul Ulema (may Allah grant him very high rank), although I was in opposition to his politics, was very kind to me. He used to treat my views and suggestions with a lot of respect and dignity. In many religious and political questions he used ot quote my views with repect although they differed from his: "Some sincere scholars of this opinion. I believe..." Such kind words were even used in his pamphlets. There are many occasions when he quoted my views respectfully although they opposed his views.

On this occasion, seeing my insistence on a telegram to Amroha and the other people's refusal, he said, "When this man repeatedly asked for a telegram to Amroha aswell, what objection have you got against one more telegram?"

The telegram was sent. I think it was not sent 'urgent' because the senders were against it. The telegram arrived the next day. Hazrat Madani arrived at Sheikhul Hind's house the morning of the third day.

The time of his arrival will always remain indelibly imprinted in my mind. He stepped forward in complete silence, his feet hardly lifting from the ground. He came forward as if at every step he was going to fall down. One or two people came forward to shake his hand. Everyone stood quietly in their places. He went to sit down on the step infront of Sheikhul Hind's house, silent. A few of those who were in the house came to sit down with him.

I stood there thinking of Allah's ways. The man who had been the companion of Sheikhul Hind at all times, even on travel and in exile, has come to his grave one day after his burial. And, the man who had never had the opportunity of being present has the opportunity of accompanying the deceased from Dehli right up to the burial.

"Lord, how wonderful the exhibition of Your Qudrah."

The salatul janaaza for Sheikhul Hind was performed in Dehli by my uncle, Maulana Muhammad Ilyas. Hazrat's own brother, Maulana Muhammad Hussain did not join in the funeral prayers so that the salaah may be performed again with him as the 'wali'. He performed the janaza salaah after arrival in Deoband.