Respect for Sacred Knowledge

There is an irrefutable link between Sheikhul Hadeeth's رحمة الله عليه utmost respect for the words of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم and his renowned achievements in the science of Hadeeth. Our teachers will often tell us that the more respect one has for knowledge, the more Allah will open up its noor on the seeker of knowledge. Below is an oft-quoted example of such respect.

The two of us had two golden rules during our Daura year, namely that not a single hadeeth with its chain of narrators should be left out without being read. Secondly, never to recite any hadeeth without wudoo. Whenever any one of us had to leave the class to perform wudoo, as we had to attend lessons for five to six hours on end, he would touch the other to inform him of the need for wudoo and quickly leave the class. The seated one of us would then quickly raise some problem for father [who was teaching] to answer. This happened very seldom, perhaps once or twice in a month or two. At that time, our health was quite good. In those days I had the habit of performing Esha with wudoo performed for Zuhr. This carried on for many years. But now and then the need did arise for wudoo in between.

My father understood from the very first time it happened when he saw one of the two friends suddenly getting up, leaving the room to return in haste rolling down his sleeves. From this he understood and was quite pleased.

Once Hasan Ahmad touched me to inform me of his need for wudoo and quickly got up. I immediately asked: "Hazrat, in Fat'hul Qadeer is written....". I said this without having thought and did not even know what Fat'hul Qadeer wrote. But on hearing my mention of Fat'hul Qadeer, my father burst out laughing. Placing a marker in the kitab, he closed it and said: "Let me tell you a story until Hasan Ahmad comes back. Why should I start a fight with you over what Fat'hul Qadeer says?"

Respecting our Teachers

The hadeeth kitabs which were taught in the madressa by other teachers were always accompanied by long lectures. Whenever I saw these lectures being held, my mouth used to water to attend. I sought my father's permission to be allowed to listen to these lessons held by someone else, but he always refused permission most emphatically and every time he used to say:

"You are unmannered. You only repsect me because of the shoes with which I beat you and you honour Hazrat [ie. Hazrat Khalid Mahmood Saharanpuri رحمة الله عليه] by heart."

This is reference to a specific incident to which he referred to on many occasions saying: "You do not even go on to the roof of Hazrat's house (out of respect for him) but you are prepared to climb on my head."

The story is this: My father's room was the western-most room of the library, which is now included into the library. The outside area of it was empty (as already mentioned in connection with the reading of Sharah Tahzeeb). When one wished to come along the stairs to my father's room, one had to walk over the roof of Hazrat's room. To come to his room instead of crossing over Hazrat's roof I climbed over the wall alongside his roof. Actually this was done for show because I am not even in possession of good manners upto this day. This is the reason why my fahter said: "You are unmannered. If you should act unmannerly to a falsafa or mantiq teacher, that knowledge will leave you and it will be a calamity for me. But if you should act unmannerly to any hadeeth teacher, this will be completely unbearable and unacceptable to me because you will then be deprived of the blessings of hadeeth."

In this he was right. I have not been able to show due respect to my Ustads and in spite of my ill-manners, my Ustads have treated me with great love, sympathy and goodwill. May Allah grant them all high ranks. Except for Hazrat Saheb, all the rest of my teachers treated me as an equal as if I was their contemporary or class-mate.

A most pertinent talk on this topic can also be found on the Sacredlearning website [see links] titled 'Debt to our Teachers'.

"My Father..." (2)

Another of his specialities was that he would not allow me to be taught Hadith and Fiqh by anyone other than himself and Hazrat Saharanpuri. Repeatedly he used to tell me that I am rude and if I was ill-mannered towards my Ustad, that knowledge would be lost to me. If any other subjects were lost to me, the loss would not be so grave.

While writing about Hazrat Madani I mentioned that I have never seen anyone crying aloud so much in the latter part of the night as Maulana Madani and my father. My father used to read the Quran a lot. Whenever he was free from work, he would start reciting from memory, during the latter part of the night. He used to recite loudly and with much weeping. He was also very strict that I should not have any free time or that any of my time go wasted. Through the barakat of these things, these same aspects have become standing habits of mine.

My father was also very particular about drawing up time-tables for his special students and for me. Every year, he used to tell me: "Draw up your time-table and show it to me." He also had a habit of giving money for distributing sweetmeats at the completion of every kitab and also took great care that I was not allowed to spend the money as I wished.

Because he was a very accomplished Aalim, Fiqh, Hadith and Adab (Arabic Literature) were to him such basic subjects like the Qaida Baghdadi. Up to now, this humble one has not been able to emulate him in anything.

Often he used to tell me: "There was a certain Maulana, who was an Allama like me. He had a son who was a no-good like you. When he was on his death-bed, he called his son and said: "You no-good! You have not done a thing! All my students and mureeds will come to you and ask: Sahebzada Saheb, why is this so and what is the reason for that? Then you must just say: 'The Ulama differ upon it.' If you say that, you will be saved from exposing your ignorance."

This statement of his made a great impression on me. When I started teaching Hadith in 1340, time and again I had to say those very same words: "The Imams have a difference of opinion on this. This Imam says this and that Imam says that."

I spoke about this in 'Al-Etidaal'. During the time when I was teaching Mishkat I once enumerated the number of differences of opinion concerning salaah consisting of four raka'ahs. I found more than two hundred differences of opinion. From that time onwards, I had no problem with the differences among the Ulama. It became a very easy thing for me to grasp. Therefore whenever I became aware of the differences of opinion among the Ulama, and saw people giving it a lot of importance, it caused me no distress. I always said: "Bhai, there will always be differences of opinion. Follow the view of whomsoever you find yourself having faith in his person. There is no need for debates, fights and arguments."

to be continued inshaa allah

"My Father, Hazrat Maulana Yahya Saheb"

It was never my intention to write a biography of any of these Elders. All I wanted to do was quote some examples of how their relationship with me constituted their favours upon me, for which it is my duty to speak about Allah's ni'mats on me. The incidents mentioned are examples of those favours.

My father was a very intelligent and perceptive person from his young days. Some of his qualities have been mentioned in Tazkira-e-Khaleel. I have heard him say many times as he reported on the authority of his mother, my grandmother, that when he was born, his mother had no milk to feed him and subsequently a midwife fed him, but if she would not have a bath and apply scents daily, he would not drink milk from her. At the time of his being taken off breast-feeding at the age of two, he was already a Hafiz of three quarter para. He completed Hifz at the age of seven years. (I mentioned this in the section where I dealt with my early education.)...

...Many people who saw how he treated me were under the impression that I was not his child but my mother's child from a previous marriage. This was not so, because my mother was for the first time in her life married to my father. He, however, had been previously married to my aunt, who was my mother's elder sister who had passed away soon after marriage.

My father used to tell me that after the death of my aunt, he had prayed to get married to my mother because he had seen the beauty and good character of her sister. After much effort, he succeeded. Thereafter, it was only natural that he should love me. But in my case, his love for me was hidden by the stern upbringing he gave me. That was in conformity with the Hadith:

"Never does a father give his son anything better than good character." (Mishkat)

"That a man shall teach his child good manners will be better for him than to give one saa' (three and a half sier) in charity." (Mishkat, Tirmidhi)

Because of these Hadith, my father believed that his love for me was to teach me proper behaviour, good manners and good character. No doubt at that time I was very dissatisfied as one would naturally expect from a child. But now, I only make lots of dua for him for his favours, because it was because of his harshness and stern attitude that I am now a human being. Had it not been this way, I wonder where I would have landed, despised and disgraced.

to be continued inshaa allah

Even the Pious are human...

We often view the Auliyah as those who are so detached from the real world that they are almost not human. The beauty of 'Aap Beti' is that it makes you realise how human those closest to Allah are in reality. I like this next extract as it particularly demonstrates what I mean and gives sinners like us hope to reform with the help of Allah (subhaanahu wata'aala).

I was born at 11o' clock on the evening of 11 Ramadaan 1315 Hijri after Taraweeh...

Up to the age of two and a half years I stayed in Kandhla. I have heard that as a child at that time I was so naughty that my main enjoyment at play was to break and tear things. My grandmother used to give me many pots, buckets and small clay pots, which were made by potter-girls in those days and sold as toys for small children.

The house in which I was born had a high balcony which I still remember quite well. I used to sit on the balcony and throw those cups and pots down from on top. And on seeing them being smashed, I became very happy. And when they did not break into pieces, then I would climb down, pick them up, carry them up again only to throw them down once more.

I heard that whenever my mother scolded me over this, my late grandmother became angry, saying: "If during my lifetime and in my presence you scold my grandchildren, then you must look out for me. If he gets happy when these pots and cups are broken, then it is my desire that he should be happy."

At the age of two and a half years I visited Gangoh and because of my father and the love they had for him, everyone of Hazrat Gangohi's attendents and followers were fondling me and caressing me. I can still remember wuite vividly how Maulana Sayed Ahmad, the elder brother of Sheikhul Islam Sayed Hussain Madani used to carry me on his shoulders for the whole day. I used to sit on the back of his neck with legs hanging over the shoulders for the whole days while he continued to do his work. Only at salaah time did he take me off.

to be continued inshaa Allah...

'Childish Pranks'!

Subhaanallah, even our 'Awliyaah have a sense of humour! 'Hazrat Gangohi' is none other than Hazrat Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi (rahmatullahi 'alayh), whose piety is beyond the scope of mere words. His daughter, at this time quite old, is mentioned in the story below:

...I also remember another story involving Hazrat Madani. I have already mentioned that during the lifetime of Sahebzadi (the daughter of Hazrat Gangohi), Hazrat Madani, my late uncle and I used to visit Gangoh quite often. Maulana Madani would go there on many occasions and quite a few times I accompanied him. Because my uncle was faw away, in spite of his desire to be there, he could only go there very rarely, but his wish was that when Hazrat Maulana and I went, we should inform him. If Maulana Madani arrived suddenly, then there was nothing that could be done. But when it was written in my diary that such a journey was planned, I informed my uncle before hand.

Once the three of us went to Gangoh. No one knew of our coming. As we arrived, Sahebzadi and Chacha Yakoob were extremely happy to see us, as if Eid had arrived. Moreover all three of us were together! Soon curry was prepared. She had a special gift of cooking something very delicious, very quickly. If there was only us, we ate in the ladies' section of the house and if there were many others with us, we ate in the men's section. This time we ate in the ladies' section. She sent various foods with Chacha Yakoob to place before us and then he went inside to fetch the roti. Hazrat Madani said, "While he is gone to bring the rote, let us finish the curry." We did just that. That was in the time of my youth.

When he brought the roties, the curry plates were already cleaned out. He went inside and told his mother, "Amma-ji, they have eaten the curry without the roties."

Then he went back inside and brought more curry. When he came with the curry, the roties were finished. This time, Sahebzadi herself came into the door and said, "They call you three Hazrats, but it seems to me as if you're childhood days have not yet passed."

Maulana Madani said, "Haji Yakoob is playing the fool with us. When he brings roti there is no curry, and when he brings curry, there is no roti. Is he feeding us or playing the fool with us?"

I said, "Whether they call us Hazrat or anything else, we will still remain your children and under you."

Then she said, "These childish pranks have really made me very happy."

With Maulana Madani, such incidents happened quite often from time to time.

Spending in the way of Allah

Maulana Yahya (rahmatullahi 'alayh), as Sheikhul Hadeeth's (rahmatullahi 'alayh) father, was his main source of Tarbiyah (upbringing according to the Sunnah). He was entirely devoted, as we shall see, in his efforts to mould his character into one that would serve the Deen as he did.

My father took special care that I should never have any money on me. For me to borrow or accept any money from another was completely out of the question, but even to accept any food or drink from another was impossible. If it did so happen, deep investigations would take place if ever there was any doubt involved (as will be seen in a following story).

However he always had a habit of giving me some money but together with this was his desire that money should not remain in my possesstion. Thus whenever he intended to give me something, he first informed my mother thereof. Thereupon my mother (may Allah bless her with high rank in paradise) who loved me intensely, would impress upon me the great reward in giving to others, as well as great benefits thereof in the hereafter together with the non-beneficial nature of spending it on wordly things. Then she would say to me: "If you have any money, then give it away. You will be rewarded."

Thus I learnt to give, mostly because of my mother's love and also to an extent for the sake of reward. In this manner the picture of that hadeeth was before my eyes at that early age without having studied hadeeth:

"Whoever is called to account, is surely punished."

I looked upon giving away whatever money I had as being a deed of righteousness. The effect of it was that even up to this day I have not got the habit of keeping money on me. Allah has been kind indeed by granting me such friends who are at all times prepared to see to my needs, and send the bill to me after a couple of days.