Insincere taubah
Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani said, explaining one hadith:
Maulana Jaami says:
subah barkaf, taubah barlab dill pur az zauq-e-gunah
masiyat ra khandamay aayat ze istighfar-e-maa
(You) hold tasbeeh in one hand reciting taubah, while (your) heart is filled with love of sins! Even (your) sins laugh at such kind of istighfar !
Bayan: Gunahon ka anjam, rizq se mehroomi !
Our passing lifetime
Mufti Taqi Usmani stresses on self islah, such that we carefully think how we can improve ourselves with every passing day – since a hadith says: “manistawa yawmaaho, fahuwa maghmoom” – (meaning that whoever finds two of his days equal (in virtues) is in loss ! )
He further relates that this age passes very quickly in our daily business – and relates how Hadhrat Abdul Hai RA, would relate this in one of his couplet :
Mein dekhta hi reh gaya narange-e-subh-o-shaam
Umar-e-fasana-saaz guzarti chali gayi
Repentance
Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani refers to this ayah while explaining the commitment to not repeat sins. The ayat translates to:
”-and those who, when they happen to commit a shameful act or wrong themselves, remember Allah, then, seek forgiveness for their sins -and who is there to forgive sins except Allah?-and do not persist in what they have done, knowingly.” (3:!35)
Hadhrat explains that once after firm taubah (Taubah tun Nusooh) if one slips again and performs the repented sin, one must hasten to do Taubah with full sincerity and humbleness again, and intend to never commit it in future. (So that he may not be counted among those who became persistent in their sins out of heedlessness, (as mentioned in above ayah,) afterall who is there to forgive sins except Allah SWT!)
Shukr
Mufti Taqi Usmani DB, stresses that one should imagine the countless bounties being showered by Allah SWT all the time: to be thankful unto him, as a routine!
He then quotes this dua recited upon seeing someone in trial or tribulation;
الْحَمْـدُ للهِ الّذي عافاني مِمّا ابْتَـلاكَ بِهِ، وَفَضَّلَـني عَلى كَثيـرٍ مِمَّنْ خَلَـقَ تَفضيلا
(Alhamdu lillahil-lathee AAafanee mimmab-talaka bih, wafaddalanee AAala katheerin mimman khalaqa tafdeela.)
Meaning: ‘All praise is for Allah Who saved me from that which He tested you with and Who most certainly favoured me over much of His creation.’
He further relates that one of his teachers once told him to recite this dua, not only upon seeing the afflicted person in a physical problem, but also, when someone is unfortunately committing an act of gunah. In this way, instead of thinking our own self of being superior (more pious) than another, we ‘thank’ Allah, that he did not put us in that state of trial (that act of gunah).
Taubah-2 (A means for elevation of status!)
Sometimes the true repentence (taubah), from even a major sin, becomes an eternal blessing, and a means for elevation of ‘darajaat’ ! Sayyidi Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Usmani Db relates an incident in one of his bayans, recently:
Once a pregnant woman from a nearby tribe came to Prophet SAW to offer herself for punishment (hadd) for zina (stoning). She was asked to appear only at a time, when her unborn child has been delivered and grown up to extent that he wont need her for feeding. She reappeared after some months, with her child in her lap, holding a piece of bread in his tiny little hand. (The childs love did not stop the woman from seeking punishment of ‘Rajm’, yet after doing sincere Taubah). She dies in this way eventually with the Rajm punishment meant for this gunah.
At the time of janaza, Umar ibn Al Khattab asks the Prophet SAW about leading the Janaza prayer of the woman dieing with such a gunah. RasulAllah SAW replied,
“No doubt she commited this gunah, but the ‘Taubah’ she did was such, that if the people of medina get blessed with only 10% of it, all of them will get maghfirah !”
Allahu Akbar, sometimes a sincere taubah is so magnanimous in the eyes of Allah SWT !!!
(source: Bayan on 15 nov, 2009, posted on deeneislam.com.)
Note:: Hadith words are not exact, but meanings; Errors, if any, in Shaikh Taqi Usmani Sahibs wordings are on me solely; Please consult the original bayan, in that case)
Taubah – 1 (Repentance)
Taubah, from all past sins is indeed obligatory on all humans; According to hadith, even the most superior of us all Sayyidul Ambiyaa, Sayyidana Muhammad SAW would himself do taubah 100 times everday, although he (SAW) was the best of mankind. (Ulama say that the number ’100′ here indicates ‘numerous’, (perhaps way more than 100)
Shaykh Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (hafizah ullah ta’ala) in one weekly bayan points out the essentials of Taubah. He says for taubah to be ‘kamil’ (complete), three things are essential:
1. ‘Nidamat’ (Embarassment) on the performed gunah(s).
2. Leave that gunah(s) immediately.
3. Have firm determination to never commit that act (of gunah) again in future
Also, make a full chart of All Huqooq of Allah(Prayer, Fast, Zakah, Hajj) and start performing the ‘Qadha’ (make up the missing ones); and make up, all kind of ‘Huqooq of fellow humans (seek forgiveness from all humans one interacts with, pay all debts etc.)
After this step if one falls again, make haste to do istighfar and do sincere taubah again, and stay away from all gunah(s), as much as possible.
Necessity of fighting temptations
Bayan: The Necessity of Fighting Temptations (Post-1)
Narrated Abu Hurairah RA a hadith which means that,
hell is covered by the nafsani khwaahishat (wishes) and jannah, is covered by those which man considers difficult to do in this world
i.e this duniya is place of examination for man. so using ones ‘aqal’ one must try to pass this exam. On the other hand, if hell and heaven were shown clearly, then there would have been no exam.
If wishes are followed such that they are followed regardless of watching out if they are jaaiz or not, then this is a straight path leading towards hell.
In this way a human earns the hellfire (esp. nowadays), by spending money instead of arranging for stuff leading to jannah. This is a cover indeed, as explained.
Ya Ayyuhallazeena aamanu qu anfusakum wa ahleekum naara ! 66:6 Means: O you who believe, save yourselves and your families from a fire, the fuel of which are human beings ..
“Jo Aadmi aik dafa himmat karle, ke shahawat ke raste se apne aap ko bacha le, aur bazaahir pur mushaqat raste pe chal paray to inshallah wo jannat main jaye ga!”
“Ye aadat jo parr gayi hai, ke jo khwahish jo dil main janam le wo zarur puri ho, aur na ho toa insaan ghamgeen ho raha, pareshan ho raha hai, iss aadat ko khatam karo, kyunke ye jahannam ki taraf le janay wali aadat hai ye jannat mein le janay wala rasta nahin”
Anas RA narrates from RasulAllah SAW which means:
jab insan marr jata hai, aur qabristan le jaya jata, to teen cheezen murde ke sath jati hain, aik uske ghar walay (aziz rishtaydar), dusra uska koi maal (charpai janaza wagera), aur teesra uska amal, inmain do toa qabar ke baad wapas aa jati hain, aur teesra yaani amal wo agay jani wali hay. (saath janay waali cheez uska amal hai)
and a hadith says:…. ke murda janaazay se jaanay walon ki qadmon ki aahat sunta hai..
like some poet said:
shukria aye qabar tak puhanchaney walo shukria
ab akele hi chalen jayen ge is manzil se ham
kuch saath hai toa amal hai .. toa tawajju karo ke kuch samaan aage chala jaye.. wo bethe bethe nahin jaye ga.. kuch ta’at se, kuch akhirat ke zakheeray karne se .. na ke maal ke jama karne ki koshish se. yahan nafsani khwahishaat ki fikar ke bajaye.. kuch fikar karo ke kuch amal haat main le ke allah ke samne jao, ke jo jannat jo makruhaat (bazaahir mushkil kaamoan) main chupai gai ho wo hasil ho sake
Suppressing the Nafs – Part 2
Bayan - Battling the nafs (Continued)
Baabun fil mujahad (mujahada)
‘mujahada‘.. means to try…to strive.. jihad originates from this word – to strive to improve his nafs is mujahada.
Al mujahida man jaahada nafsa … ‘the real mujahid is one who does jihad with his nafs’.
So anyone doing islah has to do mujahada.. (nafs ki mukhalfat karna).. like sipping the bitter one ! … by supressing the nafs.
Nafs is that strength that brings man towards the ‘dil chaha’. If its left and obeyed.. then man remains not a man but becomes an animal. These desires make him follow them, but even if they are followed all life, yet Nafs would not get its eternal satisfaction.. and ‘sukoon’ can never be attained …its a rule ! .. Once the nafs fulfills one desire, it immediately moves towards the other desire. e.g The West made the private life of humans without hindrances. But if you ask someone,,.. did you attain all the pleasure in this world u wanted?… No! everybody wants more pleasure. In western culture if a man & woman want to have intercourse then theres no hinderance in their way, so much that RasulAllah’s (Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam) statement… “that a time would come that the pious of all would be those, who would ask to commit intercourse somewhere out of the way” has been seen… that time has almost reached. Even that all doors to such acts are open, yet the rape offences are the highest in america. Why? Because they had the fun of intercourse with mutual consent… desire fulfilled…so the next desire is to rape and quench that thirst too !!
So ‘nafsani khwahishat’ need to be controlled; dont follow them.. and confine them to shariah’s limits.. they ll tease you in the beginning. will be hard to reject.
“nafs kamzor ke upper sher hai.. aur jo aik martaba iraada kar ke datt gya..ke nahin karun ga.. to ye dheela par jata hai.. aur takleef din ba din kam hoti rehti hai..!”
Allama busairi says in qaseeda burda.. ye nafs insaaan ka chotay se bache ki tara hai. maan ka doodh peeta hai.. and cant leave the milk coz its difficult.. but if left like that… he ll become young with this habit,.. so if you obey him due to his pain at that time… although the child cries to obtain it, yet every parent has to take this step… since if he wont change the habit today he ll never come to normal food, roti ..
so dont sit idle because there will never be sukoon. Sukooon never lies in gunah and masiyat. Allah gives sukuun to that qalb in which there is zikr and there is no nafarmani.
walazeena jaahadu feena lanahdeeyannahum subulana. (Quran) so datt jain haalanke aaray chal jaen, like its said :
“aarzuain khun hon ya hasraten pamal hoan
ab to iss dil ko banana hai tere qabil mujhe “ – hazrat Aarfi RA
so it will be very painful in the beginning, but later this pain feels nice and easy.
az muhabbat talkh ha shirin shawad ! – Maulana Rum
so when a man does the painful out of his muhabbah, then the pains in that way also become easy. and that pain will become nice inshallah !
Dr. sb said once: the khorak(meal) of nafs is lazzat, but has no specific shape. So if you dose it with Allah’s ita’at and the
main se gharz nashaat hai kis roosiya ko
aik bu na bekhudi mujhe din raat chahiye
(means- I only want lazzat, which came from sharab, if i were hooked to Allah’s ita’at, i would have taken nasha in it)
And in hadith its promised, that if man controls himself from sin, Allah SWT will bless with the halawat of iman, which will have a lot of sweetness in it !
Hakeemul Ummah Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi says,
“wo zara si baat jo hassil hai tasawwuf ka, jab dil main kisi taa’at ko karne se susti peda ho, us susti ka muqabla kar ke uss taa’at ko karay, aur jab kisi gunah se bachne se susti se peda to….
tu bacha bacha ke na rakh isse ye aaina hai woh aaina
ke shikasta ho toh aziz tar hai nigahe aainaye saaz main
Ask Allah for himmat and hosla, talk to Allah, ask for himmat if u will do muwakhza from me.
The Ijazah for correspondence !
Alhamdulillah, by the grace of the almighty, I was able to contact Shaykh Muhmammad Taqi Usmani today, on November 20, 2008 at 8.48AM. After Salaam he answered that he is Muhammad Taqi. I presented him my situation, and he replied to read his Islaahi Khutbaat, as there is a lot of distance. My only islahi question from him was regarding if somebody is scared from Tawbah, because ones afraid he might commit sins again? “, to which he replied that ‘Dekho bai, agar iss baat ka dar laga rahe ke phir gunah honge (in future) to ye taubah ke manafi nahin hai!”.
He seemed to be very busy and also told me about the bulk of letters he receives. I told him, that i wrote a long letter earlier too. He told me to write ‘to the point’ letter (mukhtasir), stating the ‘current halaat’ !
(I also mentioned that in 28 yrs, from the time i found myself sensible, I read his khutbaat, and listens to them and benefit from them almost daily !)
Foremost, he gave me the permission to write to him, Alhamdulillah, despite the bulk of seekers he (hafizahullah Ta’ala) answers daily. I felt my voice almost shivering, as i talked to a person i almost thought about daily for the last 4-5 yrs. Allahumma lakal hamdo wa lakashukr !
What will this call entail, I pray Allah to change my heart, which seems hard as a stone and make me able to crush my nafs, which has so far made the desire to tread the path so hard (Aameen)!
Purpose of Islahi Majalis !
Bayan: Majlis ka ta’aruf wa maqsad
Date : Nov 2, 2008
Dua of RasulAllah Sallalaho Alaihe Wasallam :
“Allahummaj’al yawmana khairan min amsina wa ghadana khairan min yawmina”
Means: Make my today better than yesterday, and make my tommorrow better than my today
Such that each day we tread towards Allah path.
And its said “Manistawa yawmaaho fahuwa maghmoom“
means: whoevers two days become equal (i.e no gain today than yesterday) is in deception and in loss.
So no two days should be equal for a seeker. None of us are faultless, but one should develop a consious fikar of islah.
In Quran Allah promises: “Allazeena jaahadu feena lanah’deeyannahum subulanaa“
Means: And those who strive in our way, We will certainly take them to our paths (29:69)
Purpose of (islahi) majlis is this that when slaves of allah gather for talab-e-islah, and talb-e-haq
then Allah’s sunnat is this that He SWT blesses with special mercy and those seekers who have great talab compared to others, then their ‘inikaas’ (reflection) is upon those with less talab too.
“Toa inn ke saath bethne wala bhi na murad nahin hota, ke majme main kon kiss ikhlas aur sachai ke sath aaya ho aur wo talab ki barkat Allah dusron ko bhi inayat farma dein“
So such majalis are actually a muzakra and mufti sahib says his own nafs is first addressed in such bayans.
But one must be wary of his islah, this is foremost.
Quran says:
Ya Ayyuhallazeena Aamanu Alaikum Anfusakum. Laa yadharrukum man dhalla izaahtadaitum
Urdu meaning: Aye iman walo apni khabar lo …agar tum hidayat per aa jao to jo log gumrahi ke rastay per hain wo tumhain nuksan nahin pohanchain ge (so her aik ka amal uske sath hai. aur tum uske jawabdeh
na hogay, gumrahi walay tumhain nuksan na pohanchain ga agar tum khud sahi ho)
So one should concentrate on the islah of his own nafs. Instead of pondering on the world around us, first look at whats going wrong in myself, do I pray correctly, do i fulfil my faraidh,wajibaat, how do i treat others, what does my tongue utters? Critizing others, which is easy, is a habit of utter foolishness.
Just like looking at illnesses of others while they themselves have running cancer
so Quran says: “Alaikum Anfusakum“
