Labels: Biography, Hazrat Owais Qarni (RA)
Somebody commented, “Hazrat Ja’far, you put on very costly dress.” He said, “Mark my underwear.” The man thrust his hand below his gown and was shocked to find that the undergarments on the body were made of coarse sack cloth, and by that touch the skin of his hand was scratched all their skin of his hand was scratched all over. He said, “What do these two classes of dress signify?” Hazrat Ja’far replied, “ the outer garment is for the world (to hide my devotion and avoid publicity) and the inner one is for my Lord’s pleasure (Who honors our poverty and cherishes our renunciation).”
Somebody questioned, “Who is to be preferred, Tawangar-e-Shakiri (a rich man who offers gratitude to the Lord for His gifts to him) or Faaqir-e-Sabir (a derviesh lodged in contentment)?” Hazrat Ja’far replied, “The poor derviesh who is lodged in contentment is superior, because the rich is ever pondering over his riches whilst the derviesh is ever engaged in contemplation of the Lord. The Lord Himself praises the repentant converts and holds them superior to pious worshippers. Real remembrance (Zikar) defies all thoughts of world.”
Sayings of Hazrat Ja’far
i. On the Day of Judgment you will not be asked about your wealth or honor, or you ancestry and acquisitions, but for the spiritual practices undergone and the worship you have performed.
ii. God is not met until we are extremely distressed for Him, and seek Him just as a drowning man calls for help.
iii. It is sin to be vain about your worship.
iv. He is a favorite with God and His dear servant who repents every time he sins.
v. The secret was revealed to me when I became mad in love of God.
Hazrat Maalik said, “Since God has called me His friend I shall sacrifice my all for His sake, and spend my life in following His commandments.”
Hazrat Maalik said, “I went to see a man in the throes of death. I asked him to repeat the name of the Lord. He refused and went on repeating the numbers ten, eleven. I asked, “What does your refusal mean?” He replied, “When I try to pronounce the name of the Lord, I notice a great fire rushing towards me.” Thus he passed away. When I asked the people about him they told me that he used to extort much interest and employed and incorrect scale in his transactions, always giving less amount of goods by under-weighing with a view to profit by dishonesty.”
The daughter of Hazrat Maalik asked him why he did not sleep. He said, “I fear God, and do not know when His grace may fall on me, and finding me asleep go away, besides, I am that unfortunate one who eats the gifts of God and obeys the devil. I tell you if someone at the door of the mosque would call aloud who was the most ignoble being in the world, I would appear before him in answer.”
Sayings of Hazrat Maalik ibn Dinaar:
i. “When I knew the mean nature of the world, I became careless of its opinions about me and my acts.”
ii. “Do not associate with one whose association will not help you after death.”
iii. The Qur’an says, “You remember Me and I shall remember you.”
iv. The Qur’an says, “I shall answer your call and accept your prayers.”
Labels: HAZRAT MAALIK IBN DINAAR ra
A very interesting incident records the conversion of Hazrat Hasan. Before turning a Sufi, he was a jeweler. One day he proceeded to Rum (in Asia Minor) on business, and put up with the minister of the Sultan. The minister told him, “You well have to wait for some days as we are present accompanying the Sultan on an important private errand. If you so desire, you may accompany us.” Hazrat Hasan went in company of the Sultan, the minister, and others. They entered a vast wideness. In the middle of it, they saw a magnificent tent fixed up, which was guarded by army officers. The officers entered the tent and then came out. Then they circumambulated it and went away. Some very old respectable citizens who, like the officers, entered the tent, uttered some words, came out, circumambulated the tent and then went away followed them. Then came some medical experts who did likewise. Then came two hundred extremely beautiful young maidens, who entered the tent and acted as the previous ones had done. Lastly came the Sultan accompanied by his ministers, he too entered the tent, uttered some words, then circumambulated the tent and went away. Surprised at the incident Hazrat Hasan inquired of the minister what all that meant. The minister replied, “A very beautiful and brave son of Sultan died and his corpse is interred in a tomb on which stands that tent. Every year all of us visit it, and perform the ceremonies like the ones you saw today. First, the members of the army approach the tomb and addressing the Price say, “If by our arms, we could save thee from the God of Death, we would have sacrificed our life for the fulfillment of that aim, but we are helpless.” Then come the learned citizens who say, “If our knowledge and experience could save thee we should have surely averted thy death, but before Death we are helpless.” Then come the medical men, who say, “If our medicines could save thee, we would have left no stone unturned to save thee from the clutches of Death, but we were powerless before it.” Then come the beautiful maidens who say, “If our beauty and accomplishments could save you, we would have sacrificed our all to save you but we were powerless before Death.” Then enters the Sultan is turn accompanied by the ministers and says, “My son! We tried our best with our army, doctors, and other means to save thee, but no charge was possible in Divine dispensation. We bid you good-buy now and shall visit you nest year at this time.” This incident made such and indelible mark on the mind of Hazrat Hasan that he decided to pass the rest of his life in prayers and worship to face that inevitable end. He returned to Basra, gave up his business, took to solitude, and vowed never to smile in his whole life. Moreover, for seventy years he passed every moment in prayers. The cause that made Hazrat Hasan most famous was that in his life he felt only one necessity---God. In his anxiety to meet God, he took concern of nothing besides Him.
When Hazrat Ra’bia Basri would not come to attend the sermons of Hazrat Hasan, he would deliver no discourse that day. People in the audience asked him why he did that. He replied, “The syrup that is held by the vessels mean for the elephants cannot be contained in the vessels meant for the ants.” He was asked, “What is Islam, and who is a Muslim?” He replied, “Islam is in the books and Muslim is in the tomb.” Hazrat Hasan said that four incidents gave him the greatest lessons of life:
One: - Once I pulled off the garments of and eunuch in mere fun. He said, “Kindly return them to me, for nobody knows my real state.” Immediately the thought crossed my mind: What shall be our condition when on the Day of Judgment, we shall be made naked and all our sins lay bare?
Two: - A drunkard was struggling in mire. I told him to beware lest he should sink in it. He replied, “Hasan, if I fall I alone shall suffer. However, you take care of yourself. For if you fall, all your congregation will stand condemned.”
Three: - A child was one day carrying a lighted lamp. I asked him wherefrom he had brought the light. The child extinguished the light and said, “Tell me, where is the light gone?”
Four: - A beautiful young woman was running one day along the street with her head uncovered, and was complaining about her husband in harsh terms. I told her to cover her head and face. She said, “The love of my husband has made me lose my senses so much that I am not conscious of my body and of my surroundings. If you had not told me that my head and face were uncovered, I would have never known it. I would have walked like that in the street. However, it is a matter of surprise, O Hasan, that you pretend to be a lover of God, and yet are conscious of everything that crosses your way and retain your senses. What is this love of God like in you?”
Sayings of Hazrat Hassan Basri:
i. Depart not from your religious practice out of fear of the antagonists who condemn you. They condemned even the Lord.
ii. The end of the world and the beginning of the life to come is in the tomb.
iii. Evil company degenerates the seeker.
iv. Accumulating wealth is worse than drinking wine that is prohibited by the scriptures.
v. He who takes to solitude finds safety in it. Moreover, he who disowns allegiance to his carnal soul is set free.
vi. He is wise who digs out the foundation of the world and builds instead the castle of otherworldliness (eternity) on it.
vii. He, who gives up his spiritual practices to play the philanthropy in the world, trying to mould its evil ways, is ruined.
viii. The Lord humiliates whosoever loves silver and gold and he who considers himself the leader of the c9mmunity is misled and belittled.
ix. The Lord in the Qur’an says, “I shall forgive thee all thy transgressions if ye shall cast thy glances on none besides Me.”
x. It was asked, “How are you?” Hazrat Hasan replied, “I am like a person in the midst of the sea whose boat is shattered and he is floating in the waters.”
Labels: Biography, HAZRAT HASSAN BASRI ra
Hazrat Raabia Basri’s parents were so poor that, there was no oil in the house to light a lamp, not a cloth even to wrap her with.
She was the fourth child in the family. Here mother requested her husband to borrow some oil from a neighbor. But he had resolved in his life never to ask for anything from anyone except the Creator; so he pretended to go to the neighbor’s door and so gently knocked at it that he might no be heard and answered, and therefor returned home empty-handed. He told his wife that the neighbor did not open the door, so he came disappointed. In the nigh the Prophet (S.A.W.W) appeared to him in a dream and told him, “Your newly-born daughter is a favorite of the Lord, and shall lead many Muslims to the Path of Deliverance. You should approach the Ameer of Basra and present him with a letter in which should be written this message, ‘You offer Darood to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.W) one hundred times every night and four hundred times every Thursday night. However, since you failed to observe the rule last Thursday, as a penalty you must pay the bearer four hundred dinaars’.” Hazrat Raabia Basri’s father got up and went straight to the Ameer, with ears of joy rolling down his cheeks. The Ameer was delighted on receiving the message and knowing that he was in the eyes of the Prophet (S.A.W.W), he distributed in gratitude one thousand dinaars to the poor and paid with joy four hundred to Hazrat Raabia Basri’s father and requested him to come to him whenever he needed anything as he will benefit very much by the visit of such a soul dear to the Lord.”
After the death of her father, a famine overtook Basra and she parted from her sisters. Once she was accompanying a caravan that fell into the hands of robbers. The chief of the robbers took Hazrat Raabia Basri in custody as an article of loot, and taking her to the market as a slave. The new master of Hazrat Raabia Basri used to take hard services from her.
One day she was going on an errand. Whilst passing a street a vagabond pursued her. She ran to save herself from him, and in so doing, her foot slipped and she fell down and broke her arm. She thereupon prayed to the Lord, “I am a poor orphan and a slave. Now my hand too is broken. However, I do not mind these things if Thou be pleased with me. But make it manifest to me that You are pleased with me.” The Divine Voice in reply said, “Never mind all these sufferings. On the Day of Judgment your shall be accorded a status that shall be the envy of the angelseven.” Then she returned to her master’s service. After this incident, it became the daily practice with her to pass the whole night in prayers, after she had finished her household jobs. She used to pass many a day observing Fast.
Incidentally, once the master of the house woke up in the middle of the night, and was attracted by the pathetic voice in which Hazrat Raabia Basri was praying to her Lord. She was entreating in these terms: “Lord! You know well that my keen desire to carry out Your commandments and to serve Thee with all my hear, O light of my eyes. If I were free, I would pass the whole day and night in prayers. But what should I do when You have made me a slave of a human being?” he say that a Divine candle hung in the air without support in her room and the whole cell was flooded with light. At once he felt that it was sacrilegious to keep such a great saint in service, and instead decided to serve her himself. In them morning he called her and told her his decision that thenceforward he would serve her and she should dwell there as the mistress of the house and if she insisted on leaving the house he was willing to release her from bondage. She told him that she wanted to leave the house to carry into her worship in solitude. This, the master granted and she left the house.
Once Hazrat Raabia Basri proceeded on the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. She carried her luggage on an old donkey. It fell dead on the way. Her companions volunteered to carry her luggage. But she refused observing that she had set forth for the Hajj (pilgrimage) not under their shelter but under the Lord’s. She was left alone and the caravan passed on to the next stage. Then Hazrat Raabia Basri prayed to the Lord, “O Master of the worlds! I am a desolate, meek and poor woman. You first invited me to Thy House, Ka’ba, and now killed my donkey leaving me alone in the wilderness.” At once, the donkey revived. She put her luggage on it and proceeded on the pilgrimage. When she neared Ka’ba, she sat in prayers and said, “I am but a handful of dust and the Holy Ka’ba is a strong House. My object is that Ye meet me direct without any mediation (bew?sta).” The Divine Voice replied, “Raabia, should I turn the world topsy-turvy for thy sake so that the blood of all the creatures be recorded in thy name in the scroll of destiny? Dost thou not know that Moses sought to see Us? We cast a ray of our Effulgence merely and he passed into ecstasy, while the Mount Sinai was turned into a heap of black ash.”
Next time when Hazrat Raabia Basri proceeded on a pilgrimage to Ka’ba, and was passing through the wilderness, she observed that Ka’ba, the House of God, was coming to welcome her. Seeing it she said, “What shall I do with the House; I want to meet the Master of the House––the Lord. Dost not the Lord say that he who advances a step towards Him, He goes out to meet him ten steps? I can not be pleased with seeing the Ka’ba; I seek vision.
At this time, Hazrat Ibraaheem Adham was also on his way to Ka’ba and it was his practice to offer Nam?z (prayers) at every step on his way. On his arrival he found that the Ka’ba had disappeared. He was very much disappointed. The Divine Voice thereupon told him, “The Ka’ba is gone to welcome Hazrat Raabia Basri.” When the Ka’ba returned and Hazrat Raabia Basri arrived leaning on her staff sue to old age, Hazrat Ibraaheem approached her and said, “Raabia, why do you by your queer acts create hue and cry in the world?” Hazrat Raabia Basri replied, “I do noting of the sort; rather it is you who, to gain publicity, thus reach Ka’ba in fourteen years.” Hazrat Ibraaheem admitted that he did offer prayers at every step of his journey, she said, “You covered the way by saying Nam?z whilst I have covered the way through meekness and humility.”
Next year Hazrat Raabia Basri, again, started on a visit to the Ka’ba, and prayed to the Lord, “Grant me Thy vision.” And saying this she started on the journey by rolling dust all the way. The Voice of God thereupon said, “Raabia, beware: if We shall appear before thee in full effulgence, you shall be turned to ashes.” Hazrat Raabia Basri said, “I have not the courage to withstand the splendor and majesty of Thy face. Grant me Fuqr (asceticism) that is dear to Thee.” The Divine Voice replied, “You are not fit for it. That honor is reserved for men (males) who have died to their self (annihilated their ego and desires) their in lifetime for My sake and between whom and Me there is left a distance no more than that of a hair’s breadth. We bring such persons first very close to Us and then cast them away at a distance, when they strive to attain to Us. Raabia, between thee and Us there are still seventy veils. Not until they are removed and thou enter with a true heart in Our quest, it is futile for thee to ask the status of Fuqr from Us.”
Then the Divine Voice was again heard asking asceticism to look up in front of her. She looked. Lo! The whole scene was changed. She found herself witnessing an extraordinary sight. She saw held aloft in the air a surging ocean filled with blood, rolling with great speed. The Divine Voice said, “Raabia, this is the blood that has flowed from the eyes of Our lovers in the pangs of separation from Us. And, in spited of all the trials and afflictions to which they have been subjected, they have not budged an inch from the Path nor have they craved for anything from Us. In the very first step that they took in the path, they transcended all the desires and ambitions of this world and the next, and so secluded themselves from the world that none knew about them. Such was their distasted for publicity in the world.” Thereupon Hazrat Raabia Basri remarked, “Lord! Let me then stay at the Ka’ba.” This was refused to her. She then was permitted to return to Basra where she passed the rest of her life in solitude and prayers.
One day, Hazrat Raabia Basri was sitting in her cottage ready to partake of her meals when a derviesh arrived. Hazrat Raabia Basri, with a view to entertain him, placed the two loaves, which she had prepared for her meals before him. The derviesh was surprised, as there was nothing for Hazrat Raabia Basri to eat. Shortly he noticed that a lady came carrying some loaves in a dish, and offered them to Hazrat Raabia Basri saying that her mistress had sent them to her. Hazrat Raabia Basri asked the number of loaves she had brought. She replied, “Eighteen.” Hazrat Raabia Basri did not accept them and asked her to take them back to her mistress. She went away and returned after a time. Hazrat Raabia Basri accepted them when she was told that they were twenty. The derviesh asked the reason of Hazrat Raabia Basri’s first refusing and then accepting. She said, “The Lord has said in the Qur’an that he who offers in His name a gift, He recompenses him tenfold. So I accepted the gift only when the words of the Scripture were fulfilled.”
One day Hazrat Raabia Basri was preparing her loaves. She remembered that there was no vegetable with her. Immediately some onions fell from the roof. She kicked them aside, with the remark, “Satan! Away with thy trick. Does my Lord keep an onion shop?” Hazrat Raabia Basri said, “I have never asked for anything from anybody but from God and accepted nothing from anybody abut from Him.”
One day Hazrat Basri saw Hazrat Raabia Basri surrounded y wild beasts, which were casting affectionate glances at her. But Hazrat Hasan Basri approached her, they all ran away. He asked, “Why did they ran away?” In reply asked Hazrat Raabia Basri, “What have you eaten today?” He replied, “Meat” Hazrat Raabia Basri said, ”Since you eat their meat, so they ran away, I take only dray loaf.”
One day when Hazrat Raabia Basri went to see Hazrat Hasan Basri, he was bitterly weeping in separation of the Lord. So great was the amount of tears that they were flowing down the gutter of his house. Seeing that sight, Hazrat Raabia Basri rebuked Hazrat Hasan Basri thus, “Withhold this display of feelings that thy interior may become full with His love and thy heart be drowned in it, and you may not be able to discover its whereabouts.”
Somebody asked Hazrat Raabia Basri’s hand in marriage. She replied, “He alone is entitled to marry who owns himself and has an existence which is his own. But I am neither the master of my body not of my life. They are the properties of my Lord. Ask Him for my hand (in marriage).
Hazrat Hasan Basri asked Hazrat Raabia Basri how she could attain to tht spiritual greatness. She replied, “I forgot all existence (became non-existent) in His remembrances.”
Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W.W) appeared to Hazrat Raabia Basri in a dream and questioned her if she remembered him as a friend. She replied, “Who does not recognize you as such? But what should I do? The love of the Lord has so filled the pores of my body that no room is lift therein of loving you or hating Satan.”
People asked Hazrat Raabia Basri, “Do you see the Lord Whom you worship?” She replied, “If I do not see Him, I would not worship.”
Labels: Biography, HAZRAT RAABIA BASRI ra
Labels: Islamic Videos, Quran Recitation
Labels: HOLY QURAN, Quran Recitation
Labels: Islamic Manners, Islamic Videos, SULOOK
