A list of questions regarding how Hazrat Hakeemul Ummat Maulana Thanvi spent Ramadaan was sent to Kwaja Azizul Hasan Saheb. After receiving his reply, it was the request of some friends as well as my own desire to answer those same questions with reference to the Ramadan habits of Hazrat Saharanpuri. Hence, first of all, I shall write down those questions and then explain how Hazrat Saharanpuri, Moulana Khaleel Ahmad spent Ramadan.
LETTER ADDRESSED TO KHWAJA AZlZUL HASAN SAHEB.
Dearest Khwaja Saheb, (May Allah increase your worthy efforts). Assalamo Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah.
On hearing that you have been residing in Thana Bhavan for some time, I was greatly pleased. May Allah grant you many degrees of spiritual progress. The reason for writing this letters is to trouble you about something special, and after much thought I have decided to ask you a favour. At this time there is perhaps no one who has a more intimate relationship with Hazrat Moulana (Thanvi) than you. Hence it will be quite easy for you. It is my desire to find out what are the general habits and practices of Hazrat Moulana during Ramadan.
I would have liked to ask Hazrat himself but feel too much respect for him to ask. And if I should wish to reside in his company in order lo observe his habits myself, one or two days will not suffice. Therefore I have decided to make you the means for gaining this information. I hope that you will not mind my laying this burden upon your head. For the sake of ease, I have drafted the questions myself:
1. What is Hazrat’s manner of ascertaining the time of “iftar”? Does he rely on the times indicated on the calendar or does he observe the light of the sun, moon etc?
2. If he does rely on the calendar times, how many minutes does he wait as a precautionary measure or does he not take any such precautions?
3. Does he have any special preference for iftar or does he merely partake whatever is placed before him to eat?
4. How much time is allowed to elapse between breaking the fast and performing Maghrib salaah?
5. Does he break his fast at home or in the Madressa?
6. Does he break his fast in the presence of those present or alone?
7. Does Hazrat generally break his fast with dates, zam-zam or anything else?
8. Is there any change in the quantity or quality of the nafl prayers after Maghrib? If so, what difference?
9. What does he habitually recite in Salatul Owabeen? Kindly explain his usual habits as well as his practice in Ramadan.
10. What is his fixed habit regarding meals‘! In other words what are his mealtimes? Is there any difference in the amount he eats in Ramadaan as compared with non-Ramadan times‘?
11. With regard to Taraweeh salaah, I know that this year due to illness, Hazrat listens to the Quran being recited (by someone else) in the Madressa. But generally, what is his established practice? Does he himself lead the taraweeh prayers, reciting the Quran, or does he always listen to it? How much daily?
12. Is there a fixed time for finishing the completion of the Quran on the 27th or 29th night or on any other specific night?
13. Does Hazrat spend sometime with his attendants and followers after taraweeh salaah or not? Does he proceed homewards immediately or does so only after some time‘? If he does delay a while, how does he spend this time?
14. On returning home, does he immediately go to sleep or has he any other fixed habit? If he does go to sleep, then, from what time until what time?
15. What is his general practice in Tahajjud salaah? In other words, how much does he recite and from what time till what time?
16. What is his habit at ‘sehri’ time? At what time does he take sehri and how much time before dawn does he finish?
17. Does he have the fixed habit of drinking milk or eating anything specific for sehri? Does his roti have to be freshly baked or does he eat that which was prepared the night before?
18. Does he perform his Fajr salaah at the time of the onset of the greyness of dawn (‘isfaar’) or some time before that?
19. Is there any special time for sleeping during the day or not? If he does sleep, is it in the morning or the afternoon?
20. What is his habit regarding the ‘tilawat’ of the Quran during the day? In other words, does he have a fixed amount to be recited daily in Ramadan or not?
21. Does he have the habit of reciting for anyone to listen and correct (daur) or not?
22. When he does recite, does he do so by heart or from the Quran?
23. Does Hazrat always perform I’tikaaf? Does he ever perform I’tikaaf for more than the last ten days of Ramadan?
24. Is there any marked difference between the practices of Hazrat during the last ten days and the rest of Ramadan?
Apart from what is contained in these questions, if you could write down any other special habits of Hazrat, pertaining to Ramadan, it will be greatly appreciated. And should you be able to write in some detail and also find out the habits of Hazrat Hajee Saheb, how wonderful it will be!
At this moment the only person who will know the details of Hajee Imdadullah Saheb’s Ramadan, is Hazrat Thanvi.
I know that to entrust you with this task is placing a burden upon yourself, but bear in mind that the actions and practices of the shaikhs are beacons of light and guidance for the novices. Insha Allah many will derive benefit there-from.
Yours truly,
Mohammad ZAKARIYYA.
THE ANSWER FROM KHWAJA AZIZUL HASAN
Dear Respected Moulana Zakarya,
Your letter filled me with great joy. Because I was myself not fully acquainted with some aspects of Hazrat’s general habits in Ramadan, I was forced to present your letter to Hazrat himself.
On reading it, he said: “Write back to him saying that if he wants to know, he should ask me directly.” I write this merely to inform you. It is because I am presently in I’tikaaf that I write this in pencil. Kindly forgive me for this.
Yours truly,
AZIZUL HASAN.
There is no date to this letter. After further research, Hazrat Thanwi’s Ramadan practices have become known to me, which will be noted down later. As already said, after quoting this letter, some friends felt that in answer to those same questions, I should note down the practices of Hazrat Saharanpuri, even though this has already been described in concise form in “FAZAA-IL RAMADAN” as well as in “TAZKIRA-E-KHALEEL”.
I was most fortunate indeed to have spent Ramadan with Hazrat Moulana Khaleel Ahrnad from the year 1328 H to 1345, except for the year 1344 Hijri when Hazrat was in Mecca, while I was in Saharanpur.
Even at the time when I was writing “VIRTUES OF RAMADAN” I tried to acquire through friends the information of how Hazrat Thanvi spent his Ramadan. I consider it my ill fortune that I could never spend Ramadan in Hazrat Thanwi’s company.
During Hazrat Thanwi's lifetime I wrote a letter to brother Khwaja Azizul Hasan Saheb, which is quoted in AAP BETI as well as in this booklet, where I discussed the Ramadan of Hazrat Saharanpuri. And even now while I write this, I have asked various persons, who had spent some part of Ramadan or all of it in Hazrat’s company, but to date I have not been fortunate enough to obtain this information. However in “MA’MOOLAAT ASHRAFIA ” this article appeared:
“During Ramadan Hazrat himself used to recite the Quran in taraweeh. Without any good reason as an excuse he never left it. He used to recite l-1/4 paras per night up to the first half of Ramadan and then one para per night, finishing a khatam on the 27th night.
The beauty of Hazrat’s recitation could he fully appreciated by listening to him. He recited with 'tarteel’, which is normally found in the recitation of the ordinary salaahs. If for some reason or other he did recite fast, it was still done with full consideration for the correctness of the pronunciation of ‘huroof’ in the same manner as if he was reciting slowly. As far as his consideration for ‘waqafs’ and tuning were concerned, this was definitely such as most readers do not have. His memory was good and it was only very seldom that he ever became confused by ‘mutashaabihaat’.
His relationship with the Quran was such that one got the impression as if he was reciting with the Quran open in front of him. If ever, he was asked where such-and-such a verse was, he would immediately reply correctly.
While in Kanpur, so many people came for taraweeh behind him that those who came to perform Maghrib and only returned to the mosque after having gone home to eat something could not find place inside the mosque. So great was the crowd that there was difficulty in performing the sajdah-e-tilawat. Because of not knowing what was going on, there was danger that the salaah of some musallis became spoiled. For this reason he once acted upon the mas’alah, that if shortly after reciting the sajdah, one goes into ruku, then the sajdah-e-tilawat would be considered to have been performed together with the sujood of the salaah. In any case in spite of Hazrat’s comfortable style of recitation, his salaah was not unduly longer than the salaah of others.
During Ramadan Hazrat generally performed iftar in the Madressa together with his guests. Azaan used to be called at the first correct moment of Maghrib. Iftar was then performed without haste and after rinsing the mouth and washing the hands, the salaah was performed without any rush. So much time was allowed to pass between azaan and the salaah that if anyone wished to perform his wudoo comfortably, he would still not miss the first takbeer. The people living in the vicinity of the mosque could perform their iftar at home and still come to the mosque to join the salaah at the first takbeer.
After having performed Maghrib salaah together with the ‘wazeefas’ according to his normal practice, he ate his evening meal. Then near the time for Esha he would rise. Taraweeh was performed at a comfortable pace. In the rest periods in between every four raka-’ahs (‘tarweehas’) he recited the sunnat zikr. The length of the ruku and the sujood in taraweeh was of the same length as during the other salaahs. During tahajjud Hazrat sometimes recited audibly and sometimes softly.
If during I’tikaaf he was performing tahajjud prayers and some persons happened to join him, he did not prohibit them. On the other hand he never made special arrangements with special announcements of Tahajjud being performed with jama’at. In fact, once I saw that when he woke up late for Tahajjud, he recited the stipulated amount in two raka-ahs and then said: "Go and eat your sehri, and if thereafter there is still time left, complete your Tahajjud."
After Tahajjud, he normally rested until Fajr. After Fajr, the normal activities of the day began. He sometimes performed I’tikaaf, sometimes for the full ten days and sometimes for three days. While in I’tikaaf his writing activities continued as before. For example, the book 'Qasdus Sabeel' was written within eight days in I’tikaaf, another book-'AI Futooh Feema Yata 'Allaqu Bir Rooh' was also written during those days together with 'Qasdus Sabeel'.
Once I (Hakeem Muhammad Mustafa) visited Thana Bhavan on the 28th of Ramadan. I reckoned that the khatam would have been finished by then, as that was the general practice in most Mosques that it finished on the evening of the 27th. There appeared to be no special changes in the Mosque from what is normal. Hazrat started reciting from 'Wadduhaa" in Taraweeh which gave me the impression that Khatam was to be on that night as he always started from there on the khatam night. When he recited 'Bismillah.' at the beginning of 'Iqra' I knew for certain that it was to be khatam and so it was, then after the khatam, dua was made and in the dua there was no extra dua longer than normal. In the Mosque was one lamp burning, the same as burnt daily, no other. Most definitely were there more people, not more lights or sweetmeats. A certain person sought permission to distribute sweetmeats, but Hazrat refused saying: "Not today, but if you so wish, you may do so tomorrow." On this night, Hazrat recited the first part of Surah Baqarah until muflihoon at the end of his khatam.
Ma'moolaat Ashrafiyya
In 'Husnul Aziz' Vol. 1, regarding the sayings of the saints in Ramadan 1334 Hijri, Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) himself writes, while switching his political discussion to one of preaching:
"During that time, the month of Ramadan with all its innumerable blessings dawned upon us. This is a time when usually one's relationship and meetings with others are limited to a minimum. But for me this was especially the case and as a result of ill health, the Juma lectures for the whole month had been entrusted to someone else.
For Taraweeh Salaah too, someone else has been appointed. And unlike in the past, no teaching of any new class has been started. Even in zikr and teachings a postponement has been declared, which was also the case last year. Hence, this Ramadan has been one without any contacts and meetings. Therefore, for the sake of implementing this resolution, this month has been most suitable. Thus, in the name of Allah I exchange the ways of political involvement towards ways of preaching, seeking help from Allah in this endeavour..."
Thereafter Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) writes thus:
"At iftar time you should eat very little so that at sehri time you will be able to eat with a sound appetite... If I eat any extra things like mangoes, etc., I do so after Taraweeh so that I do not feel any heaviness and difficulty in Taraweeh. After all, during Ramadan some extra delicacies are definitely put in front of you. Someone will bring mangoes, another will bring some other fruit and even at home some extra things are prepared. Even the hadith says:
"It is the month wherein the rizq of a believer is greatly increased... "
For me there are no extra Ibadat in Ramadan. Otherwise there will be confusion in my time schedule. In these times all other Ibadat are of less significance in the face of Fasting and Taraweeh. It is as a result of my own lack of courage and resourcefulness that I say this by way of excuse that all other Ibadat are faded in the face of Taraweeh and Fasting, as if the full blessings of Ramadan are still obtainable by me through these two. Having listened to the Quran recited from Qari Saheb, I proceed home to lead the ladies of the household for four rakaats, reciting the Quran to them. Thereafter, I lie down for a while till twelve o'clock. Then I wake up at half past two for sehri, where after, normally I do not sleep until Fajr time."
Hazrat always had great difficulty in falling asleep. Sometimes it did happen that he fell asleep at that time and sometimes not. He always used to complain about this, but even if he did not fall asleep he went to lie down for about two hours. He himself says:
"In this way I call it sleep but if I should really speak the truth, I may take the courage and say that I am awake the whole night apart from two hours while I sit and read a bit. But perhaps the reason for not having that courage is this that my nafs will not be able to boast that I have stayed awake the whole night."
When someone asked him whether the fact that extra Ibadat is being performed in Ramadan, is not contrary to the generally accepted view that one should be constant (in the same) ibadat, while being punctual therein, he replied:
"Should one increase his normal actions in Ibadat in Ramadan, it will not be contrary to the order of constancy (but with regularity), because in the first place, the intention is not made to be constant in that (increased form). The hadith teaches us that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam himself increased his devotions during Ramadan."
ANFAAS EESA
In one place, Moulvi Hakeem Muhammad Yusuf Binnory (Rahmatullah Alayh) writes:
"During this year 1337 Hijri, I stayed in Thana Bhavan and in Ramadan from the first night to the last, I joined the Taraweeh jama’at. Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) was a man who followed the Sunnat in every aspect; I would like to sketch the Taraweeh behind him so that those who may read this will be able to follow the Sunnat.
At Hazrat's place the azaan for Esha was called one hour and forty minutes after the setting of the sun. The jama’at commenced a quarter of an hour later. No long qiraa’t was recited during the Fard Salaam. Often it was "Watteeni" or "Alam tara kayfa" that was recited. In the Taraweeh the qiraa’t was quite longer, but every letter was correctly pronounced with full consideration for 'izhaar' and 'ikhfa' etc. Initially, he recited one and a quarter paras per night and thereafter lessened the amount, finishing on the 27th night. For all the prayers of Esha, Taraweeh and Witr a period of one and a half hours elapsed or something less than that. During every resting period (tarweeha) after every four raka-ahs he recited Salawaat twenty five times in a soft audible voice. I once asked him about this zikr in the tarweehas and he replied:
"There is no fixed form of zikr in the tarweehas from the side of the Shariah. I recite Salawaat on Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam because in my opinion that is good and I recited it twenty five times so that if someone has to depart to do some necessary thing, like drinking water, he will be able to rejoin the Salaah before we restart."
After Taraweeh Hazrat made dua and then performed Witr. In the case of a Sajdah-e-tilawat Hazrat sometimes performed sujood and sometimes ruku. At the time of reciting Surah 'Iqra' he recited 'Bismillah' loudly and 'Qul huwallahu ahad' was recited only once. A person asked him about not reciting 'Qul huwallahu ahad' thrice and he replied: "The practice of reciting 'Qul huwallahu ahad' thrice is considered by some Ulema to be bid’ at and according to other it is permissible. Hence it is wrong to consider it to be 'mustahab'. Furthermore, the practice and custom of reciting it thrice has become a mere meaningless custom. A further discussion on this takes places somewhere else. In the hadith, we have a saying that Surah 'Qul huwallahu ahad' is equal to one third of the Quran and it does not say that it must be recited three times. Hazrat Shah Mohammad Is-haq Saheb has a fine answer for this. He says: "The hadith says that reciting 'Qul huwallahu ahad' gives one the reward of a third of the Quran. Reciting it three times gives us the reward of three thirds. But this does not mean that one will receive the reward for the whole Quran. It is just like someone reciting ten paras three times over. It is clearly understood that this recitation of the same ten paras three times over cannot be said to give the reward for the whole Quran."
After Taraweeh Hazrat usually left for home in accordance with his fixed habit.
There was never any increase in the number of lights or lamps in the Mosque neither were there any sweetmeats. After the khatam, Taraweeh for the last couple of nights was started first from 'Waaduha’ till the end, then from 'Alam tara kayfa', and on the last night from 'Amma yata saa-aloon’ till about the middle of the last para."
Thanks and praise be to Allah! In these we managed to acquire the knowledge of many habits of Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) during Ramadan. Allow me to write down one more incident, which too has already been mentioned in 'AAP BETI'.
The relationship between my father and Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) was one of informality and close friendship between contemporaries. My father could from time to time relate interesting incidents concerning Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh). Once during Ramadan he was the guest of Hazrat, and while he was there, he asked him: "At what time do you make iftar?" Hazrat replied, "After the stipulated time for iftar, I wait about three or four minutes till my heart is certain that the time is indeed in."
At that time special consideration was given for my father, who would look at his watch, and then check the skies time and again. Then, when he was certain of the time, he began eating together with his following saying: "You may continue to wait till your heart is certain."
In the meantime Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) and his attendants continued to wait and after a few minutes Hazrat said: "It seems that for as long as you are here, my heart will not be certain (and I will follow your view)."
After Taraweeh Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) asked: "What is your habit regarding the eating of sehri?"
My father answered: "I finished sehri so late that on finishing, I wonder whether my fast for the day is correct or not." (This is mere exaggeration because he normally finished eating sehri three or four minutes before Fajr).
Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) answered: "It is my habit to finish about one hour before Fajr."
Then my father said: "Well in that case you may eat at your own time and I will eat sehri at my time. It is not in me to fast for a day and a half."
Hazrat Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) answered: "That will not do. If we are to eat we shall eat together. We will do this: One day you can carry the burden by eating at my time and the next day I will eat at your specified time."
The compromise was finally reached that sehri started about three quarters of and hour before Fajr, taking about fifteen to twenty minutes over the meal so that they finished about half and hour before Fajr.
AAP BETI No 4.
When I had written so far, the nazim of our Madressa Maulana al-Haaj Muhammad Asadullah Sahib sent me a note saying: "Regarding the question which you had sent to Khwaja Saheb, here are the answers as far as my knowledge goes.
No.6. Hazrat used to perform iftar together with the guests present.
No.8. As far as I can remember there was no change in his nafl Salaat as far as number and the kind thereof was concerned, after Maghrib.
No.9. He performed some rakaats and then did the rest while sitting down once asked him why he does so, sitting down, and he replied: "So that I do not get filled with pride and vanity and so that I do not let the fans continue to be waved."
Then I asked: "Why are the fan not waved in Salaam?" He replied: “I do not like it during Ibadat."
No.18. As regards the performing of Fajr at the onset of the greyness (isfaa there was no difference in Ramadan and out of it.)
No.21. In my knowledge Hazrat never made daur before performing Taraweeh Salaat.
No.22 According to my knowledge Hazrat most of the time made tilawat frat the Quran. He knew the Quran very well by heart. I have only seen two persons who knew the Quran to such an extent. One was Hazrat Maulana Thanvi (Rahmatullah Alayh) and the other was Qari Abdul Haq Saheb.
Once Hazrat said: “My special customs and habits in Ramadan are the same for other times. According to some people there are special habits at he time of iftar. For example, they will break the fast with dates and zam-zam. As for my habit at iftar time, I eat whatever is at hand, whether it be dates, zam-zam or hot water or guavas.”
IFAADAAT YOMIYA
Having written so far, I received two letters from Moulana Zuhoorul-Hasan Saheb of Thana Bhavan to whom I had written previously requesting to be informed of Hazrat’s Ramadan habits. He also sent a message asking that his observations be added to the description of the customary habits of the elders. In the first letter dated 16th Jamad Thani he stated that because of the fact that I had written to him care of his son Moulvi Najmul-Hasan, who is a student at Mazahirul-Uloom, he is also replying care of his son:
“Dearly beloved Najmul Hasan,
The letter sent care of yourself by Hazrat Shaikhul Hadith had been received. You know that I only come home for a few hours at 10 or 11 o’clock in the morning and have to return before Asr. Therefore I am deprived of meeting Hazrat Shaikhul Hadith because the time when I am able to meet him is not his time for meeting people. Anyway I will try one of these days to remain for the night.
My memory is quite weak so that I am unable to report something word for word. What I am to relate here refers to Ramadaan 1349 H. I remember the letter sent to Khwaajah Saheb. At that time Hazrat referred to it in quite a few ‘malfoozaat’ in various ways. The uttering of his, which I wish to relate and which I remember quite vividly is this: He said:
“The customary habits which we are commanded to follow and implement in our lives, are those of the prophets. The habits of any ‘Ummati’ is not obligatory to follow. In fact the practice of noting them down and gathering them can from certain points of view be detrimental. Therefore to he on the search for them is not advisable. In gathering them and noting them down, there is one great potential evil. One of two things may happen. The deeds of the reader may be more or less than that of the Shaikh. If his deeds are more than that of the Sheikh, he may be discouraged from increasing his acts of righteousness. He may reason that if the acts of this Sheikh are so few - fewer than mine - why should we break and burden ourselves to do so much? And if the reader’s acts are less than that of the Shaikh, it is possible that his courage will leave him (and he may not try to emulate the Shaikh).”
Hazrat also once said:
“What is so wonderful about what I do? My acts in and out of Ramadan are both the same. All my time is taken up by work and for this reason I do not find any extra time to do anything extra. I remain busy in and out of Ramadan with the same works.”
In future if anything else should come to mind or any other uttering of Hazrat be remembered, I will also inform you.
Wassalaam.”
Thereafter I received another letter from Moulana Zuhoorul-Hasan in connection with this subject. He wrote. “Once on discussing the non-advisability of noting down the habits of the elders, Moulana said:
“Because of the shortcomings in their understanding the general public look at the acts of the saintly ones, their staying awake by night, their zikr, tilawat as well as the amounts and then they make these amounts of good works the criterion for judging the saintliness of the Elders. And thereby they place the Elders in ranks according to the quantity of the righteous deeds mentioned. When they see many such acts, they judge the doers thereof as being men of higher rank than those in whom they see less. And as a result of thus passing judgement on the Elders, they make themselves guilty of degrading the saintly ones. These so-called judges are completely ignorant of true inner qualities of deeds and ignore their great services to deen. They overlook the fact that these people are so busy with the fard ‘kifaaya’ of reforming the lives of people that they do not find the necessary time for increased zikr, tilawat and nightly spiritual vigils. And through their own established criteria they wrongly degrade such elevated persons from their lofty ranks with the results that these critics do themselves the disfavour by destroying their chances of success in the hereafter.”
Once Hazrat Thanvi also said:
“To remain in tilawat and zikr after Fajr until ‘Ishraq’ and then to perform the salaah of ‘Ishraq’ brings the reward of one Haj and 'Umrah’. It is however possible that the reward for some acts may be even more. My feeling is that to take a walk at that time with the niyyat of preparing yourself with bodily strength for jihad according to the verse:
‘And Prepare for them what you can of Strength...’ is an act of greater reward.
Thus it was Hazrat’s customary habit to take a walk of about two miles daily after Fajr salaah. During this time he also recited about one manzil of the Quran as well as one manzil from ‘MUNAAJAATE MAQBOOL.’ Then he performed Salatul Ishraq. Because of the fact that this tilawat was done with deep understanding and pondering, he found the answers to many questions put to him for fatwas and answers on ‘tasawwuf’. Many questions were thus solved, which during the walk he noted down with a pencil on paper. On arrival at home these were properly written down.
Outwardly this appeared to be a walk unconnected with zikrullah, wirds and wazeefas. But it was in fact an ‘ilmi’ and ‘islahi’ service, so much more higher than any ordinary recitation of ‘wazeefas.
On the way from the ‘khanqah’ to his house he had the habit of exchanging pleasant talk with children, talking to them in their language, and drawing conclusions from their answers. Arriving at home, he executed the rights due to household members by talking to them in friendly and relaxing terms. Should any ladies be around as guests, he listened to them and gave ‘islahi’ advice by way of replies. It would have appeared that his whole life was one attached to worldly affairs, while in fact; it was an act of reforming. This is why his acts were so much higher than mere recitations of ‘wirds’ and wazeefas.
If the general public were unaware of the depth and reality of Hazrat’s deeds, then it is their lack of understanding. If you intend to print the details of the customary acts of the Elders for the reasons mentioned by you, you should also mention these few statements by Maulana Thanvi. Then the possibility of those defects becoming a reality will be eradicated and minimized, while the other side of the picture will appear before them. Otherwise, you have the right to decide as you wish.
Wassalaam. ZUHOORUL HASAN. 18th Jamadul Thani.
Now we have had the customary habits of Maulana Thanvi as described in ‘MAAMOOLAAT-E-ASHRAFIYYA’ and ‘HUSNUL AZIZ’ etc. The fact that Maulana was at all times engrossed in activities uncovering and spreading knowledge as pointed out by Maulana Zuhoorul Hasan Saheb is very important indeed. Who can doubt that to be busy with such activities is so much more rewarding than the recitation of ‘wazeefas’? Perhaps I have already mentioned how Hazrat Saharanpuri, while compiling BAZAL MAJHOOD even remained busy with this work while in I’tikaaf with his books for research being brought into the mosque. The reason for mentioning the various activities of various Elders during Ramadan is this that people of various tastes and appetites may find guidance from the acts of those Elders with whom they have a likeness and taste.
The beauty and perfection of a bouquet of flowers lies in the fact that it is made up of various types of flowers. Should the bouquet consist of only one type of flowers, it can never be considered a bouquet of perfection. I have also written in my previous book - ‘FADAA-IL-RAMADAN’ that in the case of my late spiritual guide and mentor, Maulana Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri, there was no great difference between his activities during Ramadan and out of Ramadan. I also wrote:
“The customary habits of the Elders are not mentioned that one may just read about them casually or that some remark of admiration or appreciation be made, but that out of one’s own heart, courage be taken to follow their footsteps, and that to the best of one’s ability one should try to emulate and imitate them, thereby to surpass others.”
My own opinion about my Elders is not that I have great faith in them alone but rather this that while Rasulullah (SAW) is the complete embodiment of perfect human qualities, these Elders in their words and deeds were the very personification of the verse of poetry “You are indeed the wings of the various perfect qualities of the Rasool (SAW).”
I have already also stated that I look upon my Elders as the sun and the full moons of hidayat in the same way as I wrote in ‘Khawan Khaleel’ regarding Moulana Hakeemul Ummat:
“These are the ones, whose sleep is more virtuous than worship,
Their righteousness is the pride of Muslims.
It is fitting to their rank that they are heirs to the Prophet
And theirs is the responsibility of custodians of Islam.
Of this world they are, yet disconnected therefrom,
Like a swimmer in the ocean, whose clothes remain dry.
When in solitude they sit, they feel the joy of pleasant Company.
When the scholars join their company,
In respect they remain silent.”
I have also written about my Elders in these terms:
“These indeed are my fathers!
Can the earth ever bring forth the like of them?
When you shall bring together all of us?
O Counter of all creation!
O Lord, what wonderful types you have created!
That each one, instead of their hands being kissed,
Indeed their feet are worthy of kisses!
The second part of this verse was added by our Madressa’s Nazim,
Maulana As-adullah Sahib and l liked it very much. I say again: Like
the flower, contained in a bouquet, each one has its own beauty and
splendour, but the bouquet will only reach perfection when all the
various colours, fragrances and forms are blended.
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