May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless thee with
the honour of making progress in the true way of the Sharî’at! The end of the
world has drawn near. Darknesses of disbelief and wrongdoing have covered
everywhere. All people are caught in the storms caused by these darknesses. We
have been looking for a hero to recover one Sunnat and to eliminate bid’ats.
The right way cannot be found without the lights of our Prophet’s Sunnats. There cannot be salvation without adapting
ourselves to the Messenger of Allah. Making progress in a path of Tasawwuf and
thus attaining love of Allâhu ta’âlâ requires
following the Habîb (Darling, Beloved one) of Allâhu
ta’âlâ. The thirty-first âyat-i-kerîma of
Âl-i-’Imrân sûra, which purports, “If you loveAllâhu ta’âlâ
adapt yourselves to me! Allâhu ta’âlâ loves
those who follow me,” is a witness
confirming our statements. A person’s attaining happiness depends on his
adapting himself to the chief of all religious and worldly leaders in all his
habits and worships and, in short, whatsoever he may be doing. As we so often
witness in worldly affairs, one always feels a strong affection for those who
resemble one’s darling. One likes the people liked by one’s darling and hates
the darling’s enemies. All the perfections and high ranks to be attained
physically and spiritually are dependent upon loving the Messenger of Allah.
This is the only criterion to assess the degree of a person’s maturity. By the
same token, the most valuable deed and worship is to love the Awliyâ, the
people loved by Allâhu ta’âlâ, and to hate His
enemies. For this is the greatest sign of love. The feeling of sympathy for the
friend’s friends and antipathy for his enemies occurs spontaneously. A lover is
like a mad person in this respect. It was said: “Unless
a person is said to be insane, his îmân will not be perfect.” A person who is not so cannot have had a share from love. In this
respect, the saying, “There cannot be closeness (to one of two
opposites) unless one is far (from the other).” Some ignorant people say in
this connection that a person who loves hadrat Alî ought to hate the greater
ones of the Ashâb-i-kirâm. This allegation is quite wrong. For, what a lover
should hate is the darling’s enemies, not the darling’s friends. Allâhu ta’âlâ says about the As-hâb-i-kirâm, as is
purported in the twenty-ninth âyat of the Fat-h sûra: “They
are very merciful towards one another.” He
informs that they are merciful to one another. This âyat-i-kerîma
shows clearly that the As-hâb-i-kirâm had very tender and continuous mercy on
one another and informs that such things as animosity, grudge, envy and
hostility, which are quite incompatible with love, never existed among them. A hadîth-i-sherîf states, “The
most merciful person among my Ummat is Abû Bekr.” Could it ever be supposed that the most merciful member of this
Ummat had fostered hatred and enmity towards this Ummat?
Allâhu ta’âlâ said to Mûsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’: “Hast
thou ever performed a good deed for Mine sake?” He replied, “Yâ Rabbî! I have performed namâz,
fasted, given the (alms called) zakât, and made dhikr of Thine Name for Thine
sake.” Upon this Allâhu ta’âlâ
declared, “Thine
namâz is burhân for thee [it is
a token to show that you are a Believer]. Fasting is a curtain [protecting you from Hell fire]. Zakât
is a zil (shadow). Dhikr
is a nûr (light, halo). What
hast thou done for Me?” When
hadrat Mûsâ asked, “Yâ Rabbî! What is the good deed to be done for Thee,” the
divine answer came: “Hast thou loved those whom I love? Hast thou
become hostile to Mine enemies?” Upon this, Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ realized that the deed Allâhu ta’âlâ loved best was Hubb-i-fi’llâh and bughd-i-fi’llâh (Love for the
sake of Allah and enmity for the sake of Allah).
If any Walî appears to you or helps you (when you are
in a difficult position), you should ascribe this to your own Murshid. You
should focus your tawajjuh on one source (Murshid).
It is sunnat to attend an invitation. However, there are
stipulations for this. For instance, the dinner party should not be intended
for ostentation or fame; the food offered should be halâl; there should not be
any lahw [musical instruments] or lu’b [dances, women]; the feast should be
open to the public. If these conditions are observed in a dinner party, one
should attend it with the intention of performing a deed which is sunnat and
not in order, for instance, to satiate one’s hunger or for other purposes.
Sufyân-i-Sawrî[1] states, “If a person invites (others) to a dinner without making
niyyat (intention), one sin will be recorded (in his book of deeds). If a
person attends an invitation for dinner without making niyyat, two sins will be
recorded for him.” It is not sunnat to attend an invitation one of whose
conditions has not been fulfilled.
You write that your darling son has passed away. “Innâ lillâh wa innâ ilaihi râji’ûn.” May Haqq ta’âlâ bless you with great rewads in return (for your bereavement)! May He equip you with patience and bless you with complete acquiescence in the Qadâ-i-ilâhî (destiny preordained by Allâhu ta’âlâ)! The real loss would be to deprive oneself of the thawâb (which Allâhu ta’âlâ gives Believers for patience). It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf, “The qadâ befalling a Believer is (an) amazing (event). When something good befalls him he makes hamdand thanks. When a disaster befalls he makes hamd and shows patience. A Believer is given thawâb for everything, even for offering a piece of food to his wife’s mouth.”
---------------------------------
[1] Sufyân-i-Sawrî passed away in Baghdâd in 161 [A.D. 778].