Quotes: Rumi & Freud? (and more)

Category: SOUND

You heard me right. And yes, this does belong under the SOUND category. I realize how controversial Freud is, the sheer damage he has wrought cannot be denied (See: Ali Shariati on his influence on the 20th century).

But whenever I find myself defending Freud (more often these days), it's by distinguishing Freud the man from Freud the pseudo-philosopher-psychologist. What it seems to amount to is that Freud was a brilliant man with a bit of an elitist streak, a superiority complex. We know well what he thought of the masses around him, his work in psychology speaks for itself. He thought of them as animals, ruled by the sex drive (honestly, can we blame him for his conclusions? we should be blaming him for what he did in response to them). But did he ever apply his psychology to himself? It doesn't seem to be the case (not too often, anyway). He reserved some quite different, quite traditional explanations for himself and the other "intelligent", "enlightened" people around him (or who preceded him).

So I'm going to post a bunch of quotes I had dug up sometime last year from both, but with this label attached to the post. I apologize in advance, because I had originally sought to follow up each Freud quote with a corresponding saying of Maulana Rumi (ra), but I just don't have the time at the moment to undertake that kind of search and effort. =\ This also means I had to leave out his controversial quotes that would make more sense with an explanation (because I can't write them). Other random quotes follow at the end (uncited in italics).

Without further ado:

Freud:

"Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism."
-Sigmund Freud

"A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world."
-Sigmund Freud

"America is the most grandiose experiment the world has seen, but, I am afraid, it is not going to be a success."
-Sigmund Freud

"Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me."
-Sigmund Freud

"One is very crazy when in love."
-Sigmund Freud

"We are never so defensless against suffering as when we love."
-Sigmund Freud

"He does not believe that does not live according to his belief."
-Sigmund Freud

"What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult."
-Sigmund Freud

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."
-Sigmund Freud

"I have found little that is "good" about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all. That is something that you cannot say aloud, or perhaps even think."
-Sigmund Freud

"Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine."
-Sigmund Freud

"It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct."
-Sigmund Freud

"The goal of all life is death."
-Sigmund Freud

"The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is "What does a woman want?""
-Sigmund Freud

"We must reckon with the possibility that something in the nature of the sexual instinct itself is unfavorable to the realization of complete satisfaction."
-Sigmund Freud

"A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror."
-Sigmund Freud

"A certain degree of neurosis is of inestimable value as a drive, especially to a psychologist."
-Sigmund Freud

"Every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. His ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent."
-Sigmund Freud

"Neurotics complain of their illness, but they make the most of it, and when it comes to talking it away from them they will defend it like a lioness her young."
-Sigmund Freud


Maulana Rumi (ra):

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you.

but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.

...

Totally conscious, and apropos of nothing, you come to see me.
Is someone here? I ask.
The Moon. The full moon is inside your house.

My friends and I go running out into the street.
I'm in here, comes a voice from the house, but we aren't listening.
We're looking up at the sky.

Lo, I am with you always means when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you
There's no need to go outside.

Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.

A white flower grows in the quietness.
Let your tongue become that flower.

Re: "All loves are a bridge to Divine Love, but those who have not had a taste of it do not know!":

God has given us a dark wine so potent that,
drinking it, we leave the two worlds.

God has put into the form of hashish a power
to deliver the taster from self-consciousness.

God has made sleep so
that it erases every thought

God made Majnun love Layla so much that
just her dog would cause confusion in him.

There are thousands of wines
that can take over our minds.

Don't think all ecstasies
are the same!

Jesus was lost in the love of God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.

Drink from the presence of saints,
not from those other jars.

Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight.

Be a connoisseur,
and taste with caution.

Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,

the ones unadulterated with fear,
or some urgency about "what's needed."

Drink the wine that moves you
as a camel moves when it's been untied,
and is just ambling about.

...

A True Man stares at his old shoes
and sheepskin jacket. Every day he goes up
to his attic to look at his work-shoes and worn-out coat.
This is his wisdom, to remember the original clay
and not get drunk with ego and arrogance.

To visit those shoes and jacket
is praise

...

Do you think I know what I am doing?
That for one breath or half-breath I belong to myself?
As much as a pen knows what it's writing,
or the ball can guess where it's going next.

...

i don't need
a companion who is
nasty sad and sour

the one who is
like a grave
dark depressing and bitter

a sweetheart is a mirror
a friend a delicious cake
it isn't worth spending
an hour with anyone else

a companion who is
in love only with the self
has five distinct characters

stone hearted
unsure of every step

lazy and disinterested
keeping a poisonous face

the more this companion waits around
the more bitter everything will get
just like a vinegar
getting more sour with time

enough is said about
sour and bitter faces
a heart filled with desire for

sweetness and tender souls
must not waste itself with unsavory matters

...

Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky,
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon
comes out now.

...

I've said before that every craftsman
searches for what's not there
to practice his craft.

A builder looks for the rotten hole
where the roof caved in. A water carrier
picks the empty pot. A carpenter
stops at the house with no door.

Workers rush toward some hint
of emptiness, which they then
start to fill. Their hope, though,
is for emptiness, so don't think
you must avoid it. It contains
what you need!

Dear soul, if you were not friends
with the vast nothing inside,
why would you always be casting your net
into it, and waiting so patiently?

This invisible ocean has given you such abundance,
but still you call it "death,"
that which provides you sustenance and work.

...

Know that your body nurtures the spirit,
helps it grow, and then gives it wrong advice.

The body becomes, eventually, like a vest
of chainmail in peaceful years,
too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

But the body's desires, in another way, are like
an unpredictable associate, whom you must be
patient with. and that companion is helpful,
because patience expands your capacity
to love and feel peace.

The patience of a rose close to a thorn
keeps it fragrant. It's patience that gives milk
to the male camel still nursing in its third year,
and patience is what the prophets show to us.

The beauty of careful sewing on a shirt
is the patience it contains.

Friendship and loyalty have patience
as the strength of their connections.

Feeling lonely and ignoble indicates
that you haven't been patient.

Be with those who mix with God
as honey blends with milk, and say,

"Anything that comes and goes,
rises and sets,
is not what I love."

Live in the one who created the prophets,
else you'll be like a caravan fire left
to flare itself out alone beside the road.

...

There is a way between voice and presence
where information flows.

In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes.

...

Who gets up early to discover the moment light begins?
Who finds us here circling, bewildered, like atoms?
Who comes to a spring thirsty
and sees the moon reflected in it?
Who, like Jacob blind with grief and age,
smells the shirt of his lost son
and can see again?
Who lets a bucket down and brings up
a flowing prophet? Or like Moses goes for fire
and finds what burns inside the sunrise?

Jesus slips into a house to escape enemies,
and opens a door to the other world.
Solomon cuts open a fish, and there's a gold ring.
Omar storms in to kill the prophet
and leaves with blessings.
Chase a deer and end up everywhere!
An oyster opens his mouth to swallow one drop
Now there's a pearl.
A vagrant wanders empty ruins,
Suddenly he's wealthy.

But don't be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you.

Start walking toward Shams. Your legs will get heavy
and tired. Then there comes a moment
of feeling the wings you've grown,
lifting.

...

That intellectual warp and woof keeps you wrapped
in blindness. And four other characteristics
keep you from loving. The Qur'an calls them
four birds. Say Bismillah, "In the name of God,"
and chop the heads of the mischief-birds.

The rooster of lust, the peacock of wanting
to be famous, the crow of ownership, and the duck
of urgency, kill them and revive them
in another form, changed and harmless.

...

The cloud weeps, and then the garden sprouts.
The baby cries, and the mother's milk flows.
The nurse of creating has said, Let them cry a lot

This rain-weeping and sun-burning twine together
to make us grow. Keep your intelligence white-hot
and your grief glistening, so your life will stay fresh.
Cry easily like a little child.

Let body needs dwindle and soul decisions increase.
Diminish what you give your physical self.
Your spiritual eye will begin to open.

When the body empties and stays empty,
God fills it with musk and mother-of-pearl.
That way a man gives his dung and gets purity.

Listen to the prophets, not to some adolescent boy.
The foundation and the walls of the spiritual life
are made of self-denials and disciplines.

Stay with friends who support you in these.
Talk with them about sacred texts,
and how you're doing, and how they're doing,
and keep your practices together.

...

Little by little, wean yourself.
This is the gist of what I have to say.

From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood,
move to an infant drinking milk,
to a child on solid food,
to a searcher of wisdom,
to a hunter of more invisible game.

Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo.
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes,
and orchards in bloom.

At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."

You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer.

There is no "other world"
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating.

...

This is how it is when your animal energies,
the nafs, dominate your soul:

You have a piece of fine linen
that you're going to make into a coat
to give to a friend, but someone else uses it
to make a pair of pants. The linen
has no choice in the matter.
It must submit. Or, it's like
someone breaks into your house
and goes to the garden and plants thornbushes.
An ugly humiliation falls over the place.

Or, you've seen a nomad's dog
lying at the tent entrance, with his head
on the threshold and his eyes closed.

Children pull his tail and touch his face,
but he doesn't move. He loves the children's
attention and stays humble within it.

But if a stranger walks by, he'll spring up
ferociously. Now, what if that dog's owner
were not able to control it?

A poor dervish might appear: the dog storms out.
The dervish says, "I take refuge with God
when the dog of arrogance attacks,"
and the owner has to say, "So do I!
I'm helpless against this creature
even in my own house!

Just as you can't come close,
I can't get out!"

This is how animal energy becomes monstrous
and ruins your life's freshness and beauty.

Think of taking this dog out to hunt!
You'd be the quarry.

...

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently swep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

...

Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself
chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
and fall in.

I should be suspicious
of what I want.

...

It's the habit of yours to walk slowly.
You hold grudge for years.
With such heaviness, how can you be modest?
With such detachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?

Be wide as the air to learn a secret.
Right now your're equal portions clay
and water, thick mud.

Abraham learned how the sun and the moon and the stars all set.
He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God

You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave
till it gets to shore.
You need more help than you know.
You're trying to live your life in open scaffolding.
Say Bismillah, In the name of God,
as the priest does with a knife when he offers an animal.

Bismillah your old self
to find your real name.

...

What God said to the rose and caused it to bloom in hearty laughter,
He said to my heart and made it a hundred times prettier.

...


Other Assorted Quotes:

A group of men once visited Rabia al-Basri to test her to see if she would make an unguarded comment. “All the virtues have been scattered upon the heads of men,” they said. “The crown of prophethood has been placed on the heads of men. The belt of nobility has been fastened around the waists of men. No women has ever been a prophet.”

“All that is true,” she replied. “But egotism, worshiping one’s self, and “I am your Lord, the Most High” have never sprung from a woman’s breast. All these things have been the specialty of men.”

-Tazkirah Al-Awliyaa’

"Through you I have found the stars I've been seeking."

"And He placed the stars for you, so that you might be guided by them in the dark shadows of the earth and of the sea..."
-Qur'an

"Your life lies before you like a path of snow, be careful how you tread it because every step will show."
-Lowri Williams.

“This text requires a single name, not two,”
He answered them, “Majnun alone will do.
If someone delves within a lover’s heart,
He’ll find the loved one in its deepest part.”
“But why,” they asked him, “from among the two,
It’s Layli who’s been cut away, not you?”
“It’s wrong,” he said, “for her to be the cover
That hides within itself this ardent lover.
I am the veil for what should be internal
I am the outer shell; she is the kernel.”

"These two friends are one, eternal companions. He is Majnun, the king of the world in right action. And she is Layla, the moon among idols in compassion. In the world, like unpierced rubies they treasured their fidelity affectionately, but found no rest and could not attain their heart's desire. Here they suffer grief no more. So it will be until eternity. Whoever endures suffering and forebears in that world will be joyous and exalted in this world."

"Whoever would find a place in that world must tread on the lusts of this world. This world is dust and is perishable. That world is pure and eternal. . . . Commit yourself to love's sanctuary and at once find freedom from your ego. Fly in love as an arrow towards its target. Love loosens the knots of being, love is liberation from the vortex of egotism. In love, every cup of sorrow which bites into the soul gives it new life. Many a draft bitter as poison has become in love delicious. . . . However agonizing the experience, if it is for love it is well."

"For how long then do you want to deceive yourself? For how long will you refuse to see yourself as you are and as you will be? Each grain of sand takes its own length and breadth as the measure of the world; yet, beside a mountain range it is as nothing. You yourself are the grain of sand; you are your own prisoner. Break your cage, break free from yourself, free from humanity; learn that what you thought was real is not so in reality. Follow Nizami: burn but your own treasure, like a candle -- then the world, your sovereign, will become your slave."

-The Story of Layla and Majnun by Nizami, trans. and ed. by Dr. Rudolf Gelpke

Then said Almitra, “Speak to us of Love.”
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them.
And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, I am in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

-Khalil Gibran

"Available language forces us to speak in terms of knowledge, but sometimes this knowledge is in excess of speech."

"A witty saying proves nothing."
-Voltaire

"All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God."
-Voltaire

"Love is lightning. Poetry is the thunder."

"Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly today, Were to change by tomorrow, and fleet in my arms, Like fairy-gifts fading away, Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will, And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would entwine itself verdantly still. It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known, To which time will but make thee more dear; No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close, As the sunflower turns on her god, when he sets, The same look which she turned when he rose."
-Thomas Moore

"Knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity."
-Al-Ghazali (ra)

"Physical love is attraction, and it is an addiction. Psychological love is projection, and it is a disorder. Spiritual love is reflection, and it is Truth."

"There is only one thread of all cotton.
The warp, the woof, the quill of the weaver's shuttle,
The shuttle, the texture of cloths, the cotton shoes and hanks of yarn,
All are known by their respective names,
And they all belong to their respective places
But there is only one thread of yarn."
-Bulleh Shah

"Very clearly, life appears as a mirror holding the great secret of the universe and its reality."

"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."
-The White Queen, Through the Looking-Glass

"When it's dark enough men see stars."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Hitch your wagon to a star."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death."
-E.B. Browning

"Islam is, amongst mankind, what Love is, amongst thoughts ... A believer that turns to Allah momentarily is akin to a stray thought of the Beloved that enters the heart ... And if the Iman is true, then the believer is unwielding, just as a heart harbors nothing but thoughts of the beloved when the Love is true."

"To be an angel, one need not have wings.
In giving love there is an equal grace.
Nor need one seek the aura in the face,
As love unveils the beauty of all things."
-Nicholas Gordon

"To love is not to look at one another, But to look together in the same direction."
-Antoine de Saint (Exupery)

"People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty."

"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
-Stephen Jay Gould

"You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last."
-Caesar Marcus Aurelius

"Righteousness is good morality, and wrongdoing is that which wavers in your soul and which you dislike people finding out about."
-Prophet Muhammad (saw)

The Companions (ra) said, 'O Prophet (saw)! since God hath appointed our place, may we confide in this and abandon our religious and moral duty?' He said, 'No, because the happy will do good works, and those who are of the miserable will do bad works.'

"Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems."
-Descartes

"Appetitus Rationi Pareat" [Translation: 'Let your desires be ruled by reason']
-Cicero

"Think of the totality of all Being, and what a mite of it is yours; think of all Time, and the brief fleeting instant of it that is allotted to yourself; think of Destiny, and how puny a part of it you are."
-Caesar Marcus Aurelius

"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."
-Aristotle

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly; and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue, and reasonable nature."
-Caesar Marcus Aurelius

"First, decide who you would be. Then, do what you must do."
-Epictetus

"Nothing outside the will can hinder or harm the will; it can only harm itself. If then we accept this, and, when things go amiss, are inclined to blame ourselves, remembering that judgment alone can disturb our peace and constancy, I swear to you by all the gods that we have made progress."
-Epictetus

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."
-Epictetus

"Get rid of the judgement ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself."
-Caesar Marcus Aurelius

"If you are distressed by any external thing, it is not this thing which disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now."
-Caesar Marcus Aurelius

"Everywhere and at all times it is in your power to accept reverently your present condition, to behave justly to those about you, and to exert your skill to control your thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them without being well examined."
-Caesar Marcus Aurelius

"If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you were bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking heroic truth in every word which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no man able to prevent this."
-Caesar Marcus Aurelius

"The soul should know whither it is going and whence it came, what is good for it and what is evil, what it seeks and what it avoids, and what is that Reason which distinguishes between the desirable and the undesirable, and thereby tames the madness of our desires and calms the violence of our fears."
-Seneca

"Virtue is nothing else than right reason."
-Seneca

In explanation of the Hadith, "I was made to love three things in your world: women, scent, and the coolness of my eye in the prayer.":

"Scent is the food of the soul, and the soul is the riding beast of the faculties of man."
-Prophet Muhammad (saw) (An-Nasa'i)

"Man sees a part of himself in woman, and he is thus humbled. He wants to take her back into himself but in witnessing her independent soul and rebellious spirit, he is enabled to step out of himself and comes to see Allah immaterially and his own existence, soul, and spirit ... Men are humbled by women. Women are humbled by life. A woman is not meant to be humbled by a man, she was already born humble."

"When man witnesses Allah in women, his witnessing is in the passive; when he witnesses Him in himself, regarding the appearance of woman from Him, he witnesses Him in the active. When he witnesses Him from himself without the presence of any form from him, his witnessing is in the passive directly from Allah without any intermediary. So his witnessing of Allah in the woman is the most complete and perfect because he witnesses Allah inasmuch as He is both active and passive. Regarding himself, He is passive in particular. For this reason, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, loved women because of the perfection of the witnessing of Allah in them since one does not ever witness Allah free of matter. Allah by His essence in independent of the worlds. So from this aspect, the business is impossible, yet witnessing only occurs in matter. The witnessing of Allah in women is the greatest and most perfect witnessing. The greatest union is marriage.
...
From man, He derived a person in his form called "woman". She appeared in his form, and he yearned for her with the longing of that thing has for itself, and she yearned for him with the longing of that thing has for its home.
...
Whoever loves women in this measure, loves with divine love. Whoever loves women with respect to natural appetite or gratification (physical or psychological), deprives himself of the knowledge behind it."

-Ibn Arabi (ra) [commentary & translation]

Ali Shariati's "Expectations from the Muslim Woman"

Category: WEAK

Here's a rare political/philosophical addition. Dr. Ali Shariati is an interesting figure. An Iranian sociologist inclined to Socialism yet also prominent in the field of contemporary Islamic political theory. He drew inspiration from the last major political thinker of the Sunni world, Allama Iqbal and the famous Sufi poet, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (the former also being heavily inspired by the latter).

Here is the Wikipedia article on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Shariati

There are two things to take into account.

1) He was inclined to Socialist views. Wikipedia: "Shariati's worldview was shaped by the Marxism and Third Worldism he encountered as a student in Paris - ideas that class war and revolution would bring about a just and classless society. He sought to translate these ideas into cultural symbols of Shiism that Iranians could relate to."

2) He was Shi'ite. However, his forays into historical politics are usually kept seperate from his modern political views even within a work, he just uses Ahl-ul-Bayt as role models. As such, one can take his preoccupation with the Prophet (saw)'s family and easily include most of the Sahaba with mentions of Hazrat Ali (ra), Fatima (ra), and their family to further reinforce his original ideas even better.

These two points while also being weaknesses, wind up serving as strengths. The political orientation that Socialism gave him let loose his amazing mind on Western capitalism/civilization in awe-inspiringly, potently meaningful words that still hold a transcending sort of spiritual grace. To call these reflections of his sociological imagination simply "enlightening" would be an understatement. Keeping that in mind, I have pasted relevant excerpts from his lecture, Expectations from the Muslim Woman here, carefully excising any Shi'ite-Sunni political conflicts (which weighed down most of the latter half of the work). I have grayed the paragraphs which I felt were leaning too much towards either socialism or Shi'ite beliefs. I made the font slightly larger to distinguish where the good stuff starts.

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Prior to beginning my lecture, I would like to propose some practical suggestions. Just speaking about women's rights, women's personality and Islam's view of women is very different from realising the actual value which Islam gives to human beings, and to women in particular. Most often, we are satisfied by pointing out that Islam gives great value to science or establishes progressive rights for women. Unfortunately we never actually use or benefit from this value or these rights. We could benefit from these if we were to act according to the understanding which we could acquire of them.

A great many people are acquainted with Islamic views of society, social relations, women's rights, children's rights and family rights, but these same people then actually follow non-Islamic, ancient cultural traditions and do not dare to base their lives upon Islamic values. That is, they do not practice what they preach. Thus we always remain at the stage of talking. We must complete Islamic views and intellectual discussions with practical solutions. We must find a way whereby we reach these values and rights in practice. After proposing my views, the question should be asked as to how we can actually put them into practice. Throughout history, the problem of women's rights and their role has always been considered to be an intellectual problem. Thus, various religious, philosophical and social systems have reached varying views in this respect.

Unfortunately the crisis of the problem of women's liberation which began in the West and has been strengthened by the ruling superpowers in the 20th century has influenced all human societies, even closed traditional and religious societies. There are only a few cultural, traditional and even religious societies which have been able to properly stand against this flood. Such societies have frequently been confronted by a particular kind of modernism, which they have adopted under the guise of the liberation of women, either by rejecting old traditions or by undertaking reckless struggles. None of them have succeeded in standing against this attack. In such societies the newly-educated class, the pseudo-intellectuals, who are in the majority, strongly and vigorously welcome this crisis. They themselves even act as one of the forces that strengthen this corrupting and destructive transformation.

In traditional religious societies, including Islamic communities, neither group could stand against the attack of the modern view of the liberation of women as announced by the West. The pseudo-intellectual and modern class of Islamic and non-Islamic societies in the East considered a modern style of dress to be the symbol of modern civilization, progress and awareness. The old, traditional group passed through and confronted this crisis with non-scientific and illogical tactics due to their lack of experience. It is a general law that when there is a fire resulting from a spill of oil, if someone tries to hurriedly and unskilfully put the fire out, it only spreads more rapidly and more vigorously! Thus such unskilled struggles against the West have frequently been carried on in a manner that has created complex and differing reactions inside such societies. In this way they have paved the way for acceptance of Western ideas and innovations. There are very few societies who have been able to stand against, to adequately resist, and to show an effective reaction to the modern West by consciously selecting their own manner and type of lifestyle.

...

Then suddenly the phenomenon of sexual liberation appeared. Women realized that under the banner of sexual liberation, all of the inhuman limits, restrictions, and bonds which restrained them could be destroyed. Women welcomed this change wholeheartedly to the extent that sexual liberation entered the arena of science! What is normally designated as the scientific understanding of religion is not a pure scientific and scholastic understanding. It is rather a bourgeois cognition. After the Middle Ages, Science, which had been in the service of religion and the Church, was made to serve the contempory ruling bourgeois system. If nowadays Science appears to oppose religion and moral values, it is not really Science that opposes these, but it is the ruling bourgeoisie which does so, just as in the Middle Ages, it was feudalism which defended aristocratic social-moral traditions in the name of religion. It was Christianity which was, in fact, defending feudalism, and now it is Science which, in fact, defends the bourgeoisie. It is intellectuals - those who believe that economic and materialistic social foundations are the basis of all social transformations - who will more easily accept my argument and logic. Up to the appearance of Freud (who was one of the agents of the bourgeoisie), it was through the liberal bourgeois spirit that scientific sexualism was manifested. It must be taken into consideration that the bourgeoisie is always an inferior class. Although feudalism was an inhuman system, it nevertheless relied on an aristocratic elite and their moral values, even though these moral values led to a decline. The bourgeois mentality denies all of the elevated, exalted human values, and believes in nothing except money.

Therefore, a scholar or scientist who lives, thinks and studies during the bourgeois age, measures collective cultural and spiritual values (the sacrifices of mankind, the martyrdoms, struggles, literature, art etc.), with only the scale of naked economy, with production and consumption and with nothing else. One who studies psychology or anthropology, looking at all the dimensions and manifestations of the mystic spirit of human beings, that which religion believes to be the spirit of God and the manifestation of metaphysical virtues, sees only unsatisfied sexual appetites. Belief, culture, mental illnesses all are related to the struggle to release an imprisoned and condemned sexual complex. The bourgeois social scientist looks at all of the delicate human sensations and feelings (even a mother caressing her child, or the worship of the beloved by the lover, and all other issues) in relation to sex. Freud, a modern bourgeois, armed himself against all moral and human values, against all elevated and exalted manifestations of the human soul, and called it "realism". Freud's realism was not that of the bourgeoisie, but rather that of the scientist, scholar, philosopher, psychologist, and anthropologist who serve the bourgeois class, for all of these bring the human being down to the level of a sexual and economic animal! Thus, the bourgeoisie, by alienating all values and virtues, made only one religion, one school, one temple and one messenger for all the miserable men of this age; a religion for which all must be sacrificed. This messenger was named Freud. His religion was sex. His temple was Freudianism, and the first to be sacrificed on the threshold of this temple was woman and her human values.

We who live in the East always speak about Western colonization, but I would like to explain that this does not mean that Western colonization only colonizes or exploits the East. It is a world-wide power representing a class of people that exploit and colonize both the East and the West. If I had the opportunity, I would explain that this power has alienated the European masses even more than the Eastern masses. The European has been overtaken by colonialism's legacy of unemployment and misery and will continue to be in the future. They will continue to be victims of anti-colonialism. This ruling colonial power influences Eastern people in many ways, such as placing emphasis upon unimportant, sensational and emotional matters; spreading rumors, discrimination, and hypocrisy; and sowing discord and pessimism, to keep Easterners occupied with mundane and unimportant issues. By these means Easterners are kept in a state whereby they are unaware of what Western colonization is doing to them, unaware of their fate and destiny. These conspiracies then cause young Europeans, likewise, to become alienated and destructive, and commit more deception and crime. All of these actions are taken in the name of the colonization of Eastern countries without the Easterners realizing it...

For example, we all know about the widespread international police network and the extensive intelligence services which observe even the minutest movement anywhere in the world. And yet there are tons and tons of narcotics which are freely transferred from the East to the West. They are distributed and sold by huge international organizations and transferred through their factories, planes, ports, ships and offices. Why is it that the international police cannot prevent the distribution of narcotics among the younger generation in Europe and the U.S.A.? Why? Because the ruling powers prevent the young generation from understanding what is going on in Europe and the U.S.A. The ruling powers prevent them from caring about who rules the destiny and fate of humanity. These are the same ruling powers which colonize both West and East; only their methods and relationships differ. At any rate, in both East and West, human beings are victims of this inhuman world-wide power.

One of the most important tools that has been created by this ruling power from the intellectual, social, economic and moral point of view, is Freudian sexualism. This has become the communal social spirit of our age and has become the substitute for all values, virtues and liberties. It is not accidental that Freud's view of sexuality came to prominence after the Second World War and became the fundamental basis and foundation of art. Most motion pictures are based on only two elements; violence and sexuality. Both of these are legacies of the war. Motion pictures are one of the most important examples of the relationship of art to Western capitalism because film production is the only art which cannot exist and develop without the aid of capital. Thus it differs from the arts of painting, literature, poetry and music. A poor painter, writer, poet or musician can create the greatest work of art, but a film producer must have capital of millions of dollars to create a saleable film. Thus, this art is unconsciously supporting capitalism. The pseudo-intellectuals and pseudo-scholars of the third and fourth worlds suppose that Freudism is really the science of the present age. Modern scholars research and record Freud's works in a special way. It is interesting to note that in underdeveloped countries, under the guise of intellectuality and modern scientific psychology, scholars and scientists serve these universal powers free of charge. In the name of Science, they freely propagate inhuman ideas among the intellectuals and the younger generation. How miserable are these thinkers and intellectuals who serve the capitalistic ruling powers! They really believe that they are serving humanity, freedom, liberty and science!

Thus, in order for the superpowers of bourgeois scientism to dominate, both the East and the West must be sacrificed. They must become the victims of narcotics as well as Freudianism. From Scientism's point of view, every young person who is still human and who still shows sympathy and sensibility towards the destiny of his or her nation and other nations, must be caused to change his or her mind, must be made indifferent to his or her destiny and the destiny of others. In order to accomplish this, any means is permissible and advisable, whether it takes the form of science, art, sports, literature, history, tradition, or religion. It does not make any difference. One must be amused by any form. One must be removed from the scene so that one takes notice of nothing. The best way is scientific and mental stupifaction and the strongest factor, particularly among the younger generation, is sex! Why sex? Because it can be logically explained. It is new. It can easily and freely be accepted. It is the most important factor that can attract the young generation, who, in turn, are the most important victims of Freudianism. Thus all of their intellectual, human, artistic, social, political and financial investments must strengthen this School of thought. It is not strange to see how rapidly it progresses and develops.

It must be noted that there is another group who co-operates, albeit unconsciously, in a most effective way with this world-wide power, to achieve the aim of attracting the younger generation, particularly women, to Freudianism and to sex. This group unskilfully fights Freud's innovations by relying on old, strict, illogical and inhuman traditions to create restrictions and produce psychological complexes in the young generation, particularly women. You may want to know how they co-operate in this inauspicious endeavor.

They co-operate by pushing the young generation towards pessimism. While Freudianism invites woman out of the house, this old group tries to hold her inside by creating bonds, obligations, and restrictions, and by depriving her of all her human and religious rights, thus unconsciously preparing the way for Freudianism. It is in this way that they co-operate with Freud. Statistics show that the insidious invitation of Freudianism has been most successful in traditional societies and countries where women have been most deprived. Thus we cannot fight and confront this universal illness and danger only by relying on ancient traditions, customs, restrictions, bonds, etc. which deny rights to women. There is only one solution; to give human and Islamic rights back to women. Yes! This is the only way! If the human and Islamic rights of woman are given back to her, you have armed her with the weapon whereby she can personally resist and confront Freudianism. But if you deprive her of her rights, you insure that this satanic invitation will ensnare her. You have pushed her towards it.

The essential and important problem, which we have confused, is the distinction between culture and religion. Culture and religion have mixed with each other throughout history. They make up the collection of ideas, tastes, behavior, feelings, customs and legal relationships which are sacred and honored in a society. For example, in Islamic societies, Islamic rights, values, precepts and laws relating to the economy, the family, the community and even the social system have been mixed with local and tribal traditions formed over the centuries. These are certainly not related to Islam. They are only ancient tribal and local traditions and customs supported and protected by society. Thus an intellectual wishing to be released from such ancient, local, tribal traditions, must fight a combination of religion and custom in order to be free of both. Thus, both groups who defend religion and those who do not, must defend the mixture of ancient customs. Those who fight against traditions also confront the living and uplifting values of Islam. None of these groups, neither the progressive modern intellectuals nor the old traditional religious group, can distinguish between religion and culture. Why should they be separate and distinct from each other? Because we Muslims believe Islamic rights and laws are derived from the essence of humanity and the essence of nature, and are made by the Will of the Creator of the laws of nature. The laws of nature are stable and never grow old. Thus laws which are based on the general dignity of creation never grow old. On the contrary, social traditions based on production and consumption (in cultural systems where they are not fixed laws) have to change.

Religion, a living, permanent phenomenon which could be effective in the present age, can no longer play an effective role in the social life of a community, a society or a generation, because Religion has been captured by ancient, declining, ossified, deviated traditions, and thus can no longer effectively confront the danger of the superpowers. An aware intellectual is a historian, traditionalist, Islamologist, chronologist and sociologist whose most important cultural mission and responsibility is to distinguish Islam as a living faith, removed from the old traditional moulds which are not Islam but rather tribal customs, and to put the true Islamic ideas and faith into new moulds which match the necessities of the present age. The everlasting, living, moving, progressive Islamic contents must be protected, and put into new moulds which meet the challenges of each age. Based on my own experience, I have to say that even the most progressive, intellectual, rebellious and revolutionary thinker, when confronted by pure Islamic values and virtues, (once these values have been separated from inherited, tribal, ancient, ignorant customs), will be attracted to them and submit easily to them.

The visage of Fatima; the visage of the woman who existed, who spoke, who lived, who played a role in the mosque, in society, in the home training her children, in her family's social struggles and in Islam; a woman whose role should be made clear in all its dimensions to the present generation (not only to Muslims, but to any human being, man or woman, who has human feelings, who believes in human values, and who is faithful to real freedom) should be accepted as the best and most effective role to be imitated by the present generation. I myself have experienced this. I have seen so-called religious histories which lack religious feelings, which have no idea about religion, which even deny and oppose religion. When a proper picture of the Prophet's family, all of whom showed humility and submission, emerges, we feel that they are really living personalities. When I say that Islam is living, I mean it is a collection of living thoughts and ideas. It is alive because of its living social laws and rights. It is alive because exemplary, living personalities have been trained by it.

When the beautiful image of Hossein is presented, no human society, no matter what form of production it may have, no matter what social system it may use, no matter at what cultural stage it may be, can deny his unique and exceptional personality. No one can deny he is an eternal human symbol who should be followed, admired and praised. All accept him.

...

Such people are living. They are symbols of Islam. To be alive means to be effective, to show the right way, to guide humanity in whatever stage it may be, in whatever land it may live, and to whatever race it may belong.

But, unfortunately, customs and religion have been mixed together. This mixture of customs (which are changeable, and vary from one social, tribal, and local system to another, and which are related to and produced by economic and social relationships), and Islamic values (which are unchangeable, eternal and related to inspiration, revelation and the prophetic mission) is defended in the name of religion. The intellectual, seeing the deprivations and abuse of women on one hand and the semblance of social freedom, class advantages and sexual liberty on the other hand, becomes confused. When the religious group in a community (who are acquainted with religion and believe it), are unable to distinguish between the religion and the local, tribal, cultural customs, how can we expect young, modern intellectuals (who are willing to fight against ancient customs) to make a distinction between religion and customs? If the distinguished scholars of Islam, who are acquainted with Islamic truths, do not perform this task, then what organization, what power, will do so?

The Prophet of Islam, who was such an elevated personality and one before whom history is humbled, when he entered his home was kind, lenient and gentle. When his wives quarrelled with him, he left his home and made a place for himself in the storage area without showing any harsh reaction against them. This behaviour of the Prophet of Islam must be considered as an Islamic example, in contrast to the behaviour of a supposedly religious, but in reality an abusive, man. Such un-Islamic, abusive behaviour was based on an ethnic, cultural tradition. Therefore, distinctions should be drawn between ethnic, cultural customs and Islamic religious instructions. The Prophet's behaviour was so humane that it amazes us....

In the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, there was a porch used for social affairs. Each corner of it was devoted to a different social purpose. In one corner was the tent of Ruqiya who, at the Prophet's command, had established a tent inside the Prophet's mosque, Islam's place of prayer, to hospitalize, care for, and nurse the war-wounded. Sad ibn Maaz (the Islamic chief officer who was wounded in the Battle of Khandaq by a spear) was hospitalized there. This tradition of looking after the sick and nursing them, continued for many centuries afterwards in Islam. I personally read about this in Ibn Yamin's book in which he praised Aladdin, the governor of Sabzevar, and mentioned that Aladdin built a hospital in a very large paradise-like garden in a village near Sabzevar. Describing the hospital, Ibn Yamin says that there were beautiful girls, like angels, who looked after the patients and nursed them.

When there was such a hospital, with such staff, in a remote village near Sabzevar in the 7th and 8th Islamic centuries, there must certainly have been more important and well-equipped hospitals in larger cities like Rey, Tus, Balkh, Bukhara and Baghdad. But we see that our ethnically-oriented intellectuals announce that a European or American woman serving in the First World War established Nursing in the world. They deny and denigrate the nurses who worked in the early phase of Islam, because it is a religious tradition. Therefore, you can see how facts may be confused, how rights are abolished, how great talents are sacrificed in the name of religious traditions, and how many great religious values and Islamic virtues are forgotten in the name of intellectualism and opposition to traditional religious beliefs!

Thus the responsibility of those who understand both present society and Islam (and who live in the present century) is very heavy. They must bear the burden of many centuries of emotions, ideas and faith. It is not an easy task to travel such a long distance and discover the truth which exists beyond it.

As I mentioned, one of the most important factors that enables Islamic communities to stand against and resist the insidious invitation of pseudo-scientific Freudianism and its dreadful use of sexuality is the presence of exemplary religious models in a humane culture. In the same way that Western world-wide colonialization stupefies the minds of its own youth through narcotics, Western colonialism designs and promotes Freudianism and sexual liberty for Eastern countries. Western colonialism exports sexual liberty to the Eastern countries in exchange for their raw materials. In return for the oil, diamonds, gold, rubber, etc. which the West takes from the East, it gives them sexual liberty. When a young man or woman is introduced to sexual liberty, he or she will become pre-occupied with it and will not think about other things, such as the problems of freedom. And when such young people have matured, they will be so involved with installment payments, sexual obsessions, etc. that they will never come to look at or think about other problems! The most important weapon of Islamic youth against this insidious invitation from the West is the possession of symbols leading the mind to genuine spiritual experiences. The spiritual symbols made available to the present generation, which is unwilling to be enslaved either by hollow, conservative, anti-human, anti-Islamic ethnic traditions or by the stupefying culture of indecent Western modernism, are the best weapons against the West's attack.

The woman of the Third World must be one who selects, who makes a choice. She is the woman who neither accepts the inherited mould nor the imported novelty. She recognizes both of them. She knows and is aware of both of them. The one which is imposed upon her, in the name of tradition which she inherits, is not related to Islam at all but is related to the ethnic customs of the period of paternalism and even slavery. And the one which is imported from the West is not science, not humanity, not freedom and not liberty. It is not based on sanctity and respect for women at all. Rather it is based on the low tricks of the bourgeoisie, stupefying consumerism and mindless self-indulgence. She wants to select, to choose, but what role-model should she choose? She wants neither the model of the traditional, strict woman, nor the model of the modern degraded woman. She wants the face of a Muslim woman. Fortunately both the material and history are available to construct this third figure. And even more authentic than history, more logical than scientific arguments are the objectively exemplary personalities who are symbols from our Islamic history....

...

Thus it is sufficient for any intellectual woman to read a book about Fatima (or about other distinguished Islamic women like Khadija or Zeinab), to know these figures and compare them with figures who are introduced in the name of modernism. When the Prophet migrated to Madinah, Fatima bore the difficulties of the period of migration. Even in marrying Ali, she showed social commitment. Any women comparing Fatima with women who are introduced through modern magazines will recognize significant differences and reach the proper and inevitable conclusions. Therefore the most important duty of the aware, responsible, writers and preachers is to introduce these figures clearly, enthusiastically, responsibly and accurately, to the present generation, thus holding up the most efficient, responsible, humane role-models, to defend against and resist the West's attack.

...

Thus when a woman, a thinking and responsible, committed woman, sees such heroics from a woman who belonged to Fatima's family, she understands where she must look, how she must be. She realizes that a woman of any epoch and any century can emulate this model. These are the values that will not change or grow old, nor do they depend upon the customs of the social, cultural or economic systems. These are stable and permanent values which will be destroyed only when there is no longer any humanity in existence.

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At this point, I'd recommend reading the previously posted Stories of Sahabi Women.

Obeying the Prophet (saw), Moar Quotes

Category: SOUND

On obeying the Holy Prophet (saw):

"And it behoves not a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should exercise their own choice in the matter concerning them. And whoso disobeys Allah and His Messenger, surely, strays away in manifest error."
-Qur'an (33:36)

"Whomever obeys the Messenger has surely obeyed Allah."
-Qur'an (4:80)

"Whomever disobeys Allah and his Messenger, and steps beyond the limits, Allah will cause him to enter the fire, in it shall he abide, and he shall have an abasing chastisement."
-Qur'an (4:14)

"Whomever obeys Allah and his messenger; Allah will admitehim in the gardens beneath which rivers flow; and whomever turns away, Allah will chastise him with a painful chastisement."
-Qur'an (48:7)

"If only we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger!"
-Qur'an (33:66)

"O you who believe! Do not step ahead of Allah and his Messenger. Surely Allah is Hearing, all knowing."
-Qur'an (49:1)

"If anyone contends with the Messenger even after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men of Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell,- what an evil refuge!"
-Qur'an (4:115)

"But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until they make you (O’ Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept them with full submission."
-Qur'an (4:65)

Sufyaan Ath-Thawree (ra), said: "The excellence of knowledge is due only to the fact that it causes a person to fear and obey Allaah, otherwise it is just like anything else." [Related by ibn Rajab]

"In the West, they say that love is a madness that ends with marriage. But in Islam, we say that love is a madness that only begins with marriage."
-Shaykh Ahmad Talal

Abu Sa’id and Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with them both) narrate that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Whoever has a child, he should give him a good name and teach him how to read and write. And when he matures, he should marry him off. When he matures and the father does not marry him off, then if the boy commits a sin, the sin will be on the father.” (Shu’ab al-Iman of al-Bayhaqi)

Umar ibn al-Khattab and Anas ibn Malik (Allah be pleased with them both) narrate that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “It is written in the Tawrah that: Who’s daughter reaches the age of twelve years and he fails to marry her off, then if she commits a sin, the sin will be on the father.” (ibid. Also see: Mishkat al-Masabih, 2/939, no. 3139)

"I will mislead them, and I will create in them false desires (false hopes); I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and to deface the (fair) nature created by Allah."
-Shaitan, from Qur'an (4:119)

“Know that Sufism is compliance with Allah’s command and avoidance of His prohibitions, externally and internally, with regard to what pleases Him, not what pleases you.”
-Qutb al-Maktum Sayyid Abu Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tijani

Ibne Abba(ra) narrates: Rasulullah (saw), on seeing the Ka'ba said (with over whelming joy and fondness): La ilaha illallah (O Ka'bah!) how Atyab (superlative degree of being pure and clean) you are, and how Atyab is your fragrance, and how great is your honour! (But) the honour of a Mu'min (believer) is far exceeding yours. Indeed, Allah (sw) has made you respectable; like wise the wealth, the blood, and the honour of a Mu'min has been made respectable. And (because of this respect, Allah has) forbidden to suspect (a Mu'min without reason) of wrongdoing. [Tabarani and Majma-uz-Zawaid]

The Prophet (saw) said, "Whoever has (the following) four characters will be a hypocrite, and whoever has one of the following four characteristics will have one characteristic of hypocrisy until he gives it up. These are: (1 ) Whenever he talks, he tells a lie; (2) whenever he makes a promise, he breaks it; (3) whenever he makes a covenant he proves treacherous; (4) and whenever he quarrels, he behaves impudently in an evil insulting manner."


Some famous Sufis/scholars of the subcontinent:

Regarding Dr. Abdul Hai Arifi (ra) (shaykh to Mufti Taqi Usmani):

"Shaykh Dr Abdul-Hai (RA)'s wife wrote about her husband that during their 55 years of marital life he NEVER asked her for anything including a cup of tea. She (RA) said, "In extreme cases when he was too tired and wanted tea he would say, "Are you in the mood for some tea?" She continues that in the beginning she never understood this, so many times she'd just reply "No not really, I'm OK" and he would just drop the subject."

Regarding Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (ra):

After I had written Tafsir Bayan al-Qur'an (his unique Urdu exegesis of the Noble Qur'an) an Englishman met me very eagerly. He asked, “How much money did you get for this work?” I informed him that I had obtained nothing. Expressing surprise, he said “Then what benefit did you get?” I replied, “Here in this world my Muslim brethren benefit from this work and in the hereafter is the pleasure of the true Lord.

Hakim al-Ummah Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi was the most prolific author of his time. Some one thousand or so works are attributed to him but he did not use any of his books as a means of income.

There are countless incidents from the life of Hakim al-Ummah which illustrate his strict adherence to the law of countries/authorities, even if they be non-Islamic countries. One of our teachers in the Jami'ah Dar al-'Ulum (Karachi) once related an incident from the life of Hakim al-Ummah to illustrate this. A khalifah-e-mujaz (and not 'majaz' as many tend to say!) of Hakim al-Ummah once came to Thana Bhavan to visit him. He had travelled by train from another part of India to get to the khanqa in Thana Bhavan. When he met Hakim al-Ummah, the latter, when asking the former of how he was etc, asked him how old his son who was accompanying him was. The khalifah replied that he was x number of years old. Hakim al-Ummah then asked him whether he had bought him an adult's ticket for the train journey. He replied in the negative justifying it (as many people would) by saying that though the boy was not eligible to travel on a child's fare due to his age, he appeared to be a child. Upon hearing this Hakim al-Ummah exclaimed "Inna lillahi wa inna ..." and stripped the khalifah of his khilafah or ijazah in suluk (tasawwuf).

There is another incident regarding Hakim al-Ummah when he once went to a train station in order to board a train, his luggage turned out to be beyond the allowable weight limit. The station master, knowing very well who Hakim al-Ummah was, assured him that it did not really matter as he (the station master) was giving him permission to take the overweight luggage on board the train. Hakim al-Ummah refused to do so asking him that though he was helping him on this journey, would he (the station master) help him (Hakim al-Ummah) in the ultimate journey - the journey of the hereafter?

These incidents are illustrations of sublime taqwa in a modern context - when you know that no one except Allah knows that you are committing a wrong and it is easy for you to justify that wrong. May Allah ta'ala bless us with such taqwa and sincerity and honesty. Àmin

Regarding Shah Waliullah (ra):

“The final will of this humble servant of Allah is that always hold tightly to the Qura’an and Sunnath in your beliefs and acts. Regularly evaluate yourself against them. Read them regularly and if you can’t, then find someone who can and listen to at least a couple of pages everyday.”

"Once on a full moon night the Prophet (SAAS) asked Fatima (RA) whether she had noticed how beautiful the full moon on that night was; In reply she said that she had considered it against haya to look at the moon as there would have been hundreds of gazes of non mahrams on the moon that night!"
-From SunniForum (unverified by me)

"If two people are walking on the road and one of them is carrying a huge bundle of money in his pocket while the other has nothing , it is obvious that the one carrying money is going to walk extremely cautiously , avoid going into crowds etc, will go on checking his pockets and would like to pass unnoticed till he reaches his destination safely. On the other hand the man having nothing to lose walks in a carefree manner, going wherever he wants, not bothering about who pushes or nudges him etc. etc. Same is the case with our imaan. Since we as muslims possess this wealth so our gait and decisions are not carefree like those who do not have this wealth. We at all times make our decisions such that our imaan does not fall into danger."
-From a sister on SunniForum

"If one feels alone and isolated from friends, family or co-workers, let him reflect on the loneliness of Yusuf in the ditch.

If one feels the heat of tests, trials and challenges, let him reflect on the fire that engulfed our father Ibrahim (as)

If a believer feels sad and overcome by the anxiety of sins let him reflect on the story of those who Allah forgave at the end of Surah Taubah."
-From SunniForum

"When Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala ordered the Pen to write, it asked, "What shall I write?" and Allah said, "Write LA ILAHA ILLALLAH." The Pen wrote "LA ILAHA ILLALLAH" for seventy-thousand of Allah's years and then it stopped. One of Allah's days is equal to one thousand of our years. Then Allah ordered it to write again, and the Pen asked, "What shall I write?" Allah answered, "Write Muhammad-un RASUL-ALLAH." And the Pen said, "O Allah, who is this Muhammad that You have put Your name next to his name?" Allah said, "You must know that if it were not for Muhammad I would not have created anything in Creation." So the Pen wrote Muhammadun RASUL - ALLAH for another seventy-thousand years."
-From a blog (unverified by me)

"It is vain for eloquent atheists to talk of the great truths that will be revealed once we see free thought reign. We have seen it end. It has no more questions to ask; it has questioned itself. You cannot call up any wilder vision than a city in which men ask themselves if they have any selves. You cannot fancy a more skeptical world than that in which men doubt if there is a world…Free thought has exhausted its own freedom. It is weary of its own success. If any eager freethinker now hails philosophical freedom as the dawn, he is only like the man in Mark Twain who came out wrapped in blankets to see the sun rise and was just in time to see it set…We have no more questions to ask. We have looked for questions in the darkest corners and on the wildest peaks. We have found all the questions that can be found. It is time we gave up looking for questions and began looking for answers. "(1990 Image edition, p. 37)
-G.K. Chesterton

Ten Ways To Increase Love of Allah

Category: SOUND

By Imam ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
Taken from Madarij as-Saalikeen, Vol. 3, pp. 17-18

Imam Abu Abdullah, Shamsuddin Muhammad, ibn Abu Bakr, ibn Ayyub, ibn Sa`d, ibn Hurayz, al-Jawziyyah, al-Hanbali mentioned ten causes that result in Allah's love for His slave and the slave's love for his Lord. [These ten are:]

First, reciting the Qur’aan while pondering over its meanings and what is meant by it.

Second, getting closer to Allah by performing voluntary deeds after completing obligatory deeds. This is as is stated in a Hadeeth Qudsi: "My slave continues getting closer to Me by performing voluntary deeds until I love him." [Saheeh al-Bukhari]

Third, continual remembrance of Allah under all circumstances, with one's tongue, heart and actions. The extent of one's love of Allah is determined by this.

Fourth, giving precedence to what He loves over what you love when you are overtaken by your desires.

Fifth, the heart being avid of Allah's Names, and Attributes and the heart roaming in that garden of knowledge.

Sixth, observing Allah's kindness, goodness and bounties, both hidden and open.

Seventh, and this is the most wonderful, the heart being soft, subdued and meek before Allah.

Eighth, being alone with Allah during the time when the Lord descends during the last portion of the night while reading His Book and ending that by asking for forgiveness and repenting.

Ninth, sitting with the beloved and sincere, benefiting from the most fruitful of their speech. And not to speak unless speaking is more beneficial and you know that it will improve your state and be beneficial to others.

Tenth, remaining away from every cause that comes between the heart and Allah.

These ten causes take the lovers to the station of true love and bring them to their Beloved.

Random Anecdotes (Hadiths, Quotes, Stories)

Category: SOUND

“Has the time not come for the believers that their hearts become tender for the remembrance of Allah and for the Truth which has been revealed?”
-A quote of a verse from the Qur'an that is heard often in various forms in stories from and about old saints and pious Muslims at the time of the reawakening of a person's Iman.

"Say : The truth is from your Rabb [Lord]. Therefore, whoever wishes should accept Iman [faith] and whoever wishes should commit kufr [disbelieve]."
-Qur'an, Surah al-Kahf

"Do not be misled by a person's prayers and fasting look to his sincerity and Wisdom."
-Hazrat Amir-ul-Mumineen Umar Ibn Khattab (ra)

"The doors of success have been closed upon the creation because of six things: Their busying themselves with the blessings of Allaah instead of thanking Allaah for them, their desire for knowledge while they abandon actions, the hastiness to sin and delaying repentance, the deception of having righteous companions and not taking them as examples, the turning away of the dunya from them while they chase it, and the approach of the afterlife towards them while they turn away from it."
-Shaqeeq Ibn Ibrahim

"The understanding of Islam in the courtroom is also clouded by the crisis of authority in the religion itself. For centuries, the Koran was rarely translated out of Arabic, giving authority to those—usually religious scholars, or ulama—with command of the language. In the past half century or so, the Koran has been more widely translated—or “interpreted,” since Muslims don’t believe it can be literally translated—and that has opened its interpretation to the layperson. The Internet, meanwhile, allows anyone to disseminate texts, opinions, and fatwas—and gain a following. And clerical authority has waned as places like Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the heart of Islamic learning, have put themselves in the service of secular state interests."
-TheAtlantic.com

"The debates within Islam also concern who has the right or authority to do the interpreting. Men like bin Laden—who lacks religious credentials—now issue or order up a fatwa. Extremists proclaim their right to interpret Islamic texts. And clerics no longer have the authority to repudiate such interpretations."
-TheAtlantic.com

“A falcon came to me, but I did not catch it. Thereafter, I spent 40 years trying to catch a falcon, but in vain.”
-Shaykh Abi Muhammad Hariri (ra)

“Riches does not mean having a great amount of property; real wealth is self-contentment.”
-Prophet Muhammad (saw) (Bukhari)

“Sometimes one may utter a word without thinking whether it is right or wrong and because of that he may slip down in the Fire as far away as the East is from the West.”
Hadith No. 837, Narrated by Hazrat Abu Huraira (ra) Sahih Bukhari Book 81, Chapter 23

Hadrat Saad bin Abi Waqas [radhiallaahu anhu] said, "O Rasulullah [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] make dua that Allah Ta'ala, makes me of those whose prayers will be answered." Rasulullah [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] replied: "O Saad keep your food pure and halaal and you will become of those whose prayers are answered. I swear by Him, in whose hand Muhammed[sallallaahu alayhi wasallam]'s life lies, that when a man casts one morsel of Haraam food into his stomach, The righteous deeds of his shall not be accepted for forty days."

Hadhrat Sufyaan Thauri (rahmatullahi alayh) said:
“I heard from Hadhrat Ja`far Saadiq (rahmatullahi alayh) that safety has almost disappeared so much so that searching for it has become obscure. If there is safety in anything, it is in anonymity. If it is not in anonymity then it is in solitude, but this is not equal to anonymity. If it is not in solitude then it is in silence, but this is not equal to solitude. If it is not in silence, then it is in the discourses of the pious people of bygone times. A fortunate man is he who finds solitude in his heart.”

During the Battle of Bait Lihya, the Muslim Commander Zarrar(ra) was captured by the Byzantine forces. Word was sent to Khalid Bin Walid (ra) for further help.

Leaving the command of Damacus to Abu Ubaida (ra), Khalid (ra) set off to Bait Lihya with his mobile contingent of 4000 horsemen. As Khalid (ra) approached the battle-field, he saw a muslim rider with a masked face gallop off towards the Byzantine front. This warrior would kill a number of the enemy soldiers, and then withdraw. He would after some time pounce on the enemy again and kill everyone who came his way. He was striking fear in the ranks of the enemy soldiers.

Khalid (ra) was struck by the bravery of this warrior, and asked him to identify himself. The Warrior however, dashed to the front again. As he returned from the attack after killing a number of the enemy, Khalid (ra) wanted the warrior to halt and identify himself. The Warrior signaled to Khalid (ra) with his hands not to ask him his identity.

Khalid (ra) shouted "I ask In the name of Allah, oh courageous one who are you?" From behind the mask on the warriors face a female voice was heard " I am Khaula , sister of Zarrar (ra). I have come to liberate my brother from the clutches of the enemy, by Allah I shall not rest until he is freed." Saying this she plunged straight in to the ranks of the enemy again.

The Muslims gained a substantial victory and Zarrar (ra) was liberated, and Khaula (ra) was highly praised for her bravery, by Khalid Bin Walid (ra).

The above is from "Life of Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA)" by Prof Masud ul Hasan.

A muslim traveler arrived at the court of a Pious King, he informed the king as to how his people were being oppressed by a tyrant, he begged the King for assistance. The King being deeply moved, ordered a battalion to be sent, The Commander put in charge was the Kings oldest son the Prince.

A few weeks later news arrived that the Muslims had been defeated, and that the Prince who was in charge of the forces, had actually abandoned his own troops and was killed fleeing from battle.

The King was deeply grieved,and felt humiliated, not only were the troops defeated but his son had committed a grave sin by fleeing from the battle,and therefore dying an accursed death. He went and informed the Queen as to what had happened. The Queen replied " Do not be grieved, for the news you heard is untrue. The King said "The entire Kingdom is talking about it,and I have received news from the front line confirming you're sons cowardly demise, woman you seem to be blinded by Motherly love." Saying this the King angrily marched away.

However a few days later a messenger arrived confirming the Queens belief, the Prince with his forces had defeated the enemy. The earlier news had been enemy propaganda.

The King being very overjoyed and surprised, asked the Queen how she had been so certain that the earlier news had been false. She said " Oh my beloved, it was not motherly love that caused me to deny that story. When our son was a child, before I used to breast feed him I would do Wudu ,and as he was suckling I would recite the Darood Ibrahimi. I had firm conviction that a child who had drank milk, that had the sacred names of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), and his father Ibrahim(Alaihi Salaam) recited with it. Could not betray his deen."

Paradise indeed does lie at the feet of such pious mothers, and such is the power of Darood.

The above was transcribed from an Urdu lecture by Maulana Masud.

There was once a pious old maid servant, who worked for the King. One day she was cleaning the Royal bedroom, feeling extremely tired, she looked at the Kings bed, covered in silken, sheets, and pillows stuffed with feathers. She thought to herself I wonder what it feels like to, sleep in such a luxurious bed. She decided that she would take a short nap, after all who was going to see her, The King and his courtiers were away on a hunting trip.

The bed was so comfortable that she fell a sleep straight away. Lo and behold five minutes later the King returned, entering his chambers, he was extremely angry, to find the old maid servant asleep in his bed. She apologised profusely, "Your Majesty I am sorry, I had only laid to rest for five minutes." The King was in no mood to listen he said "old Woman for sleeping five minutes in the bed of the King, and transgressing the boundaries, the punishment is fifty lashes, how dare you behave so impudently."

The poor old Woman was strung up in chains, the King ordered one of his officers to carry out the punishment. As she was being lashed, she burst out in laughter, the King getting angrier told his officer to strike her even harder, but the more she was struck the greater her laughter.

The King and his courtiers were perplexed by the Old maid servants behavior .
He said " Old woman you're being punished yet you laugh uncontrollably, truly you are insane." The old woman replied, "you're Majesty the reason I am laughing is that a thought came in to my head as I was being struck. For being neglectful, and becoming enamored with the charms of the Duniya, and sleeping in the bed of the King, for just five minutes my punishment is fifty lashes. You have spent you're entire life in neglect, and transgression, what will be the punishment , for your impudence when you stand before the King of Kings on the day of reckoning. She further said, " truly the one who has fallen in love with the charms of such a disloyal maiden as the Duniya is the one who is insane." Upon hearing this the king was struck with fear and started trembling profusely.

...

A saint commented:

“A man cannot save himself from the snares of the nafs by his own efforts. He is saved by the aid of Allah Ta`ala, from the evil of the nafs.”

Seek comfort from Allah. Do not attempt to seek comfort without Allah. Whoever derives comfort from Allah, has been saved. Whoever sought comfort by abandoning Allah, was destroyed.

The heart derives rest in the Thikr of Allah. Searching for rest besides Allah is a sign of perpetual ghaflat (obliviousness).

Sheikh Abu Abdullah Muhammad Bin Ali Tirmizi Hakeem (rahmatullah alayh) said: “The Thikr of Allah moistens the heart and cultivates tenderness in it. When the heart is bereft of Thikrullah, the heat of the nafs overtakes it; the fire of lust reaches it; the heart becomes barren and hard, and all the limbs refrain from obedience to Allah Ta`ala.”

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Fadhl (rahmatullah alayhi)said: “Lamentable is the condition of the person who goes through numerous difficulties and hardships travelling through the wilderness to reach his family at his home, but he does not cut asunder his nafsaani desires to reach the heart in which the signs of his Friend (Allah Ta`ala) are manifest.”

Sheikh Abu Turaab Bakshi (rahmatullah alayh) said: “Whoever turns away from Allah Ta`ala after being engrossed with Him (with His Remembrance), he will immediately become involved in the Wrath of Allah Ta`ala.”

...

A man asked a buzrug to teach him something which will benefit him. The buzrug said: “Flee from people and dissociate from them. You will then meet Allah Ta`ala. Your union with Him will then be perfect.”

The man asked for more naseehat. The buzrug said: “Take hold of Sidq (truth) and taqwa (piety); abandon ujub (vanity) and riyaa (show); be dominant over the nafs and its desires. You will then reach your goal.”

"May Allah Ta`ala bestow on us the wealth of fikr (reflection) and the affection of ibrat (i.e. to take lesson). May He bestow success to us in the love of khalwat (solitude) and keep us ever alert against ghaflat (indifference, obliviousness)."

A former Majusi (Fire-worshipper) narrated the following story to a Buzrug.

“I had purchased a slave girl. I paid a huge sum for her on account of her intelligence , beauty and piety. She devoted herself to the worship of our god (the fire). I was enamored and in love with her.

One day a man of your religion (i.e. a Muslim) came to our home and recited something from your Scripture (Qur`aan). When the slave girl heard the recitation, she shrieked loudly. Her loud shriek instilled fear in us. She lapsed into a state of bewilderment. She would not answer when we spoke to her. She abandoned us and our god. She abstained from our food. During the night she would face the Qiblah and pray like you.

I sternly prohibited her, but she ignored all my warnings. The glitter of her beauty faded and her entire condition underwent a complete change. No longer did we derive any benefit from her, nor did we succeed in bringing any change in her.

One day when I came home, I saw the slave girl sitting on a chair and lecturing on the thikr and unity of Allah, and warning my family against fire-worship. She was praising Jannat. I was shocked to see her reviling our religion. I consulted with a friend who advised me to give a bag with some money to her for safe-keeping. I should then remove the bag from her custody without her knowledge. When she will obviously be unable to produce the bag on demand, I will then have a valid reason for beating her. He advised me to give her a thorough beating.

I followed the advice of my friend. When she had become engrossed in Salaat as had become her practice, I surreptitiously removed the bag. She was completely unaware. I then appeared and demanded the bag. She quickly went to the place where she had put the bag and brought it to me. I was dumb-founded. I could not believe it as I, myself, had taken away the bag. I now realized the truth of her religion. I had no doubt that the Deity she worshipped was indeed Almighty. We all- my friend, my family and I- embraced Islam.

We set the slave girl free in fulfillment of her desire. She spent her days in concealment absorbed in the love and worship of Allah Ta`ala.”

Good lesson:

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ahnaaf (rahmatullah alayh) relates that Isa Bin Yunus Misri (rahmatullah alayh) said to him:

“In a certain place you will find an old man and a young man. Both are perfect in their contemplation of Allah (i.e. muraqabah). If you just cast a glance on them, it will benefit you throughout your life. Do meet them.”

I journeyed to the wilderness where the two Buzrugs were. I was hungry and thirsty and I had nothing to protect me against the intense heat. I found them both sitting, facing the Qiblah, absorbed in contemplation. I greeted them and spoke, but they did not respond. I persisted and begged them to say something.

The old man said: ‘O son of Ahnaaf! How little intelligence have you! You are free of encumbrances, hence you came to disturb us.’

He then lowered his head and became absorbed in contemplation. I, however, remained in front of them. We performed Zuhr and Asr. My hunger and thirst disappeared. I said to the young Buzrug: ‘Give me some naseehat which will benefit me.’ He said: ‘We are in a calamity. Our tongues lack the ability for naseehat.’

I stayed 3 nights and 3 days by them. None of us ate anything during this time. On the third day as I resolved to speak to them, the young man said: ‘Be in the association of a man who reminds you of Allah when you look at him and you gain admonition (naseehat) from his actions, not from his speech.’ When I again looked both had instantaneously disappeared from my sight.”

...

After a pious lady had died, her friend saw her in a dream. She saw the deceased lady seated on a throne. Below the throne was a utensil of Noor (celestial light) which was covered. She asked her deceased friend about the covered utensil. The deceased replied:

“In it is the gift of my husband, which he sent for me last night.”

The next day the woman related her dream to the deceased’s husband. He said: “I had recited the Qur`aan Shareef and bestowed the thawaab of it to her.”

Even a dog is better than some of our rulers today:

Once a dog found a dead animal on the outskirts of the town. He returned to the town and brought 20 dogs with him. All the dogs devoured the dead animal while the leader sat one side looking on. When they all had eaten and left, there remained only some bones. The leader came and ate whatever had remained.

...

Once Hadhrat Saalik Mirri (rahmatullahi alayh) was passing through a qabrustan on a Friday night. He sat down by a grave and fell asleep. He dreamt that the Ahl-e-Quboor were emerging from their graves. Soon they gathered and sat in a circle talking amongst themselves. A youth in dirty clothes and with a sad countenance was sitting aloof.

Suddenly a group of Angels descended carrying trays of Noor. They distributed these to all those who were seated in the circle. Each one returned to his/her grave with his/her tray. Only the youth received nothing. He was shattered with grief. As he was about to enter his grave, Hadhrat Saalih exclaimed: “O servant of Allah! Why are you sad? What is happening here?”

The youth said: “The trays contain the gifts of Sadaqah , Dua, Tilaawat, etc. which the living have sent for their dead relatives and friends. Every Jumuah these gifts reach the dead. But, I have a mother who has remarried. She is engrossed in the world and has completely forgotten me, hence there is no gift for me.”

Hadhrat Saalih enquired about the whereabouts of his mother. The youth informed him in the dream of his mother’s exact address. In the morning Hadhrat Saalih hastened to the address. From behind a screen he explained the plight of the youth to his mother. She broke down crying confessing her error. She resolved never to forget her son again. She gave Hadhrat Saalih 1000 dirhams requesting him to distribute it as Sadaqah so that the thawaab is transmitted to her son.

The next Friday Hadhrat Saalih again passed through the same qabrustan. He set next to a grave and fell asleep. In a dream the same scene was re-enacted. However this time he saw the youth dressed in beautiful garments. He too had received his mother’s gifts. He approached Hadhrat Saalih and said: “O Saalih! May Allah Ta`ala reward you wonderfully. The gifts have reached me.”

Hadhrat Saalih: “Do you (the Ahl-e-Quboor) recognise Jumuah?”

The youth: “Yes. Even the birds know Jumuah. When Jumuah arrives they sing: ‘As salaam, As salaam O Day of Jumuah!’

O Saalih! May Allah Ta`ala repeatedly bestow the Barkat of Jumuah to us.”

Moar Quotes

Category: SOUND

"A great many people proceed towards evils on account of receipt of blessings, many people are ruined by praise, and many a man is deceived by Allah's protection (in concealing vices)."
-Ibn Mas'ud (ra)

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (ra) narrated that the Holy Prophet (saw) said: "Do a lot of remembrance of Allah until they say, 'He is mad.'" (Ahmad) (Abu Ya'la) (Ibn Hibban)

It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.

"O writer! An Angel watches over all you write. Make your writing meaningful for it will eventually return to you and you will be questioned about what you wrote."
-Hazrat Ali ibn Abu Talib (ra)

"There is no excuse for anyone going astray thinking that he is upon guidance. Nor for abandoning guidance thinking it to be misguidance, since the affairs have been made clear, the proof established and the excuse cut off."
-Hazrat 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra) (Ibn Battah "al-lbaantul-Kubraa" #162)

"The Jamaa'ah is what accords to the truth, even if you are alone."
-Hazrat 'Abdullaah ibn Mas'ood (ra) (Sharh Usool I'tiqaad Ahlis-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah - al-Laalikaaee)

---

Assorted random and uncited quotes:

Allah disapproves of the following six: 1) wanton eyes; 2) a lying tongue; 3) hands that hurt the innocent; 4) hearts that hatch evil plans; 5) feet that hasten towards sin; 6) the witness who gives false testimony

He who holds his tongue is wise.

The pious plants a fruit tree and dreads that it may bear thorns instead; the hypocrite sows the seeds of thorns and hopes that these will grow into sweet dates.

Avoid absolutely the mischievous women; Beware of even those that are good-natured.

The heart is enlightened that holds no love for things of the world; Darkened is the heart that holds no love for the people of the world.

Silence is a prayer withour labor; awe without domination; a castle without battlements; victory without weapons; rest for the guardian angels; a fortress for the pious; a characteristic of the meek; the rulers use it to overawe their subjects; a treasurehouse of wisdom; and it is the only answer to the queries of the ignorant.

Quite often delay in marriage leads to fornication and the burden of curse falls upon the parents.

The foundation that will not meet destruction is justice; bitterness the end of which is sweet, is patience; sweetness the end of which is bitterness is lust; illness that is incurable is a curse.

Headache is never cured by wearing a crown.

The elders are pleased by obedience, the equals by politeness, the youngsters with affection and sympathy, and the envious are pleased when the others are deprived of favors.

Be not so soft, as to be easily squeezed; not so dry as to be easily broken.

Water extinguishes fire, but the umbrella protects one from the sun.

A beautiful and virtuous woman is the perfect handiwork of God Almighty; she is the true light and glory of the angels; she is a miracle in the world and a rare thing on earth.

The modern generation may fly in the air; may communicate wirelessly; may benefit from nuclear power; but is devoid of the art of bringing up children on right lines.

Peace: It is another name for diplomacy between wars.

Ever since man took on the shape of a woman, she has been chasing after him.

Pride is the enemy of knowledge; anger is the enemy of wisdom; greed is the enemy of patience.

Four virtues rank above all: forgiveness while in anger; piety in seclusion; munificence in poverty; humility in spite of possessing power.

Eight things never rest content: 1) Eye from seeing; 2) Earth from rain water; 3) Woman from man; 4) The scholar from knowledge; 5) The petitioner from begging; 6) The greedy from hoarding wealth; 7) The river from holding water; 8) Fire without wood.

A maxim of Hazrat Fatima (ra): Two virtues distinguish a woman: 1) She should not permit herself to be seen by a stranger; 2) She should avoid seeing a stranger.

Look for four qualities in a woman: 1) Goodness of heart; 2) modest appearance; 3) sweet tongue; 4) busy hands.

Your salvation lies in keeping away from the company of women, even though you do not indulge in fornication; To stand on the path which serves as a passage for women is a sin too.

In this world poetry is but a lament; music is but a melancholy strain; light nothing else but an elusive hope.

He who compromises with the world becomes its prisoner.

Welcome death like a labourer when he is released from work.

To guard your faith while going through the world is like protecting a full glass of water from spilling even a single drop while crossing through a carnival; You have no opportunity to look around.

The sufi (pious) is one who sees a unique phenomenon in the voices of the animals, in every lament and song, in the twittering of the sparrows; in the scent of flowers; in the wavering of green plants, in the brilliance of gems, in the glare of the sun, in the colour of trees, in the glass... and in the rock. In harmony of the string and drum, in the hard core of the stone, in prosperity and misfortune, in the softness of the soil, in the heat of the fire, in the flow of the river, in the stars of the sky, in the rising hill, in the desert and the green pasture and in the spring and autumn the reflections of an unseen Reality.

The days of eloquence have gone by and those who were capable of using a sweet tongue have passed away. This is the age of licence, not of propriety. This is an ambiguous age; an age of conflict and an age in which things belonging to others are wrongfully expropriated.

We have dead souls but living passions and desires.

Action without sincerity is like knowledge without practice.

Faith laid on a weak foundation is never firm. But a structure on sound foundation can always be repaired when decayed.

Revival of Islam, beginning with South Asia

Category: SOUND

Many scholars and saintly people, such as the four Sunni Imams, the founders of the Sufi orders, and numerous political and military leaders throughout history are responsible for preserving, codifying, and passing on the Deen that is Islam. Though these people ought to be respected and revered, make no mistake about it. This was the Hand of God directly at work, these were the forms His aid took to preserve and sanctify Islam for us. If it had not been so, in all likelihood the religion would have evaporated within three to four generations after the Holy Prophet (saw).

But who did they pass on the Deen to? There's quite a gap of time, the Islamic Dark Ages which we still find ourselves in, between ourselves and these people. No doubt the responsibility rested on the Ulema, but the sincere image of Ulema harkening back to the first generations was on the verge of extinction soon after the European powers began their Colonial period of expansion.

An excerpt from Islamic Revival in British India; Deoband, 1860-1900 by Barbara Daly Metcalf:

In older schools, like the famous Farangi Mahall in Lucknow, family members taught students in their own homes or in a corner of a mosque. There was no central library, no course required of each student, no series of examinations. A student would seek out a teacher and receive a certificate, a sanad, listing the books he had read, then move on to another teacher or return home. The ulama in such a setting depended primarily on revenue from their endowments and on the largesse of princes whose courts they graced and for whom they trained government servants. Such ulama were part of the larger structure of a Muslim state.

One can easily imagine how such a structure would fare in the world of the 1800s and beyond. In other parts of the Muslim world, particularly the Arab and African regions, Islam was preserved as best it could be culturally. In the Ottoman Empire, it was preserved by the vestiges of state institutions built on the above culture of scholarship. In South Asia, any defenses Islam had against being turned into a plaything, a piece of paper about to be shredded a million which ways, were eroded.

The remaining Muslim scholars of the time were, needless to say, worried.

Let's start with the famous Sufi saint and Islamic scholar, Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (1703-1762). Burhanuddin Qasmi writes:

Shah Waliullah had seen the decline of Mughal rule in India and observed similar degeneration in other countries of Asia and Africa. The last revered and powerful ruler of the Mughal dynasty, Aurangzeb, had already passed away in 1707 and the East India Company had assumed power to rule over a part of eastern India, defeating Sirajud Dawla at Palasi in 1757. Ultimately, Shah Waliullah came to the conclusion that monarchist and imperialist tendencies were the main cause for worsening state affairs. He formulated certain principles, necessary for the revival of human values. In his book "Hujjatullahil Baligha", he laid down these principles, i.e, "labour is the real source of wealth" and "only those who put in the physical and mental labour for the sake of betterment of the society, deserve to possess wealth." People, he believed, are equal and the position of the ruler of a State is no more than that of a common citizen in matter of justice and freedom. Things like right to freedom, security and property, is essential for all, irrespective of religion, race, or colour.

This happened before the French and American Revolutions.

In 1803, after the British crown and the East India Company conquered Delhi, Shah Abdul-Aziz Dehlavi, the son of Shah Waliullah and also a Sufi, issued a fatawa, the first edict of its kind against British rule, stating, "Our country has been enslaved. To struggle for independence and put an end to the slavery is our duty."

Maulana Sayyid Ahmad (1786-1831) listened and along with Maulana Muhammad Ismail, founded Tariq-i-Muhammadi and allied with Maharaja Jaswant Rao and Nawab Amir Ali Khan in the first armed rebellion. He later left Amir Ali Khan when he found out the latter was planning on giving in to the British. He continued struggled to preach uprising to the masses. He met with other rebels and in 1827, a provisional Government of Free India was set up with Sayyid Ahmad as its head.

The movement was crushed at the battle of Balakot and Sayyid Ahmad and Muhammad Ismail martyred at the hands of the Sikhs of Punjab who had allied themselves (or more accurately, become subservient to) the British.

In 1857, another major declaration of Jihad was issued. This fatawa carried the signatures of 34 Ulema, including Maulana Qasim Nanotvi (1833-1879), Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and Hafiz Zamin who fought under the leadership of their Shaykh, Haji Imdadullah.

The Mutiny of 1857 as it came to be called, failed. It had been massive in scope. Out of 200,000 people martyred during the revolt, over 51,200 were Ulema. Not religious people, or religious-leaning people, or Muslims, but actual Islamic scholars. Edward Timus admitted that in Delhi alone 500 Ulema were hanged.

Tomson, a British Army general who fought in the 1857 Mutiny, wrote in his memoir: "If to fight for one's country, plan and mastermind wars against occupying mighty powers are patriotism, then undoubtedly Molvis were the royal patriots to their country and their succeeding generations will remember them as heroes."

The Ulema realized they needed a new plan in addition to armed struggle. A plan that would also refill their depleted ranks, because at this rate, they'd all be slaughtered before India was ever freed.

They then began to think about the problem of saving the community and action from the onslaught of atheism and Christianity that had come in the wake of the British rule in the sub-continent. They did so in order to prevent the so called ‘modern’ culture and civilisation from distorting their religious beliefs, conduct, actions and ways of thought.

Hazrat Maulana Qasim Nanotvi (Rahmatullahi Alayhi) and his colleagues together with their spiritual guide Haji Imdadullah unanimously decided that a chain of religious educational institutions should at once be started. It was also decided that the first institution of this kind should be started in the township of Deoband rather than in any big city. It was in accordance with these decisions that the foundation of Darul Uloom Deoband was laid on the 15 th of Muharram 1283 AH ( 21 st May 1866).

At that time it was simply called the ‘Islamic-Arabic Madrasa’ and soon came to be known throughout the world as ‘Ummul-Madaris’ (the mother of Madrasas). The founding of this madrasah led to the establishment of another at Saharanpur. Very soon, a whole chain of Madrasahs came to be founded which included Manz-ul-Uloom at Galauthi, Madrasah-e-Shahi at Murzdebad. One at Thana Bhavan, one at Mau and various others. All these institutions were in some way or other directly related to Darul Uloom Deoband.

In view if the difficult and trying circumstances threatening the very existence of the Islamic faith at that time, it was quite natural that the courses of study at Darul Uloom Deoband be kept very strictly within the confines of religious and theological study.

The Qur’an and Sunnah, Jurisprudence and Islamic Scholasticism were to be the corner-stone of the Syllabus, and other branches of learning such as grammar, literature, logic, philosophy and Mathematics were included only in so far as they helped in the study of the core subjects.

One important consideration was the fact that the learning of many languages and sciences would have a distracting effect on the students. Maulana Qasim Nanotvi said that this was so the student would devote himself to the modern sciences after he has perfected himself in the traditional ones. He clearly stated that the students of Darul Uloom should do well to go on to university or college to receive instruction in Modern Sciences after receiving religious education at Darul Uloom.

Indeed, no need to reinvent the wheel. People who claim 'Molvis' are backwards and opposed to learning and progress need only look to this example where they not only endorsed 'worldly' sciences, but endorsed even the Western institutions of them which were hitherto the leaders of the academic world. If Molvis truly were 'fundamentalist', they would have started adding courses for the physical sciences and other fields/arts directly into the curriculum of their schools, after all, the most senior Muslims of history were pioneers in these fields right along with fields of religious scholarship. The 'Molvis' just choose to keep their own personal lives devoted to preserving only the religious aspect because it is under particular assault.

Another excerpt from Islamic Revival in British India; Deoband, 1860-1900 by Barbara Daly Metcalf:

In choosing Deoband, however, the founders did not cite these considerations or the amenities of the town as motives. Rather, to them, the decision had had divine sanction. Both Shaikh Ahmad Sarhindi in the seventeenth century and Sayyid Ahmad in the early nineteenth were said to have commented that an “odor of learning,” bu-yi ‘ilm, came from the very ground of the town. Maulana Rafi’u’d-Din dreamed of seeing the Ka’bah located in Deoband’s garden; of Hazrat ‘Ali founding a school whose pupils he later recognized as Deoband’s; and of the Prophet himself giving milk to students there. Such dreams not only endowed the location of the school with sanctity, but gave the founders a self-fulfilling confidence in their mission. It was said that all received simultaneous inspiration actually to found the school there.

The madrasah began modestly in the old Chattah Masjid under a spreading pomegranate tree that still stands. The first teacher and the first pupil, in a coincidence deemed auspicious, were both named Mahmud: Mulla Mahmud, the teacher, and Mahmud Hasan, the pupil, who was later to become the school’s most famous teacher. Despite the timeless atmosphere surrounding this cherished vignette of its inauguration, the school from its inception was unlike earlier madrasahs. Its founders, emulating the British bureaucratic style for educational institutions, in fact eschewed the informal pattern of education that the scene under the pomegranate conjures up. The school was conceived of as a distinct institution, not relegated to a wing of a mosque or home and dependent on the parent institution. As soon as possible, it acquired classrooms and a central library. It was run by a professional staff, and its students were admitted for a fixed course of study and required to take examinations for which prizes were awarded at a yearly convocation. Gradually an informal system of affiliated colleges emerged. Many of the colleges were ultimately staffed by the school’s own graduates, and their students were examined by visiting Deobandis. Financially, the school was wholly dependent on public contributions, mostly in the form of annual pledges, not on fixed holdings of waqf or pious endowments contributed by noble patrons. The school was, in fact, so unusual that the annual printed report, itself an innovation, made continuing efforts to explain the organization of the novel system.

The influence of Dar ul-Uloom, Deoband outshone all other institutions of Islamic learning, even the famed Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, which had a headstart of several centuries and relied on government support (and thus, suffered from political influence as well at times). It outshone the rest in the manner that the sun blots out all the other stars when it rises. A bit about it's reach today:

The graduates of Deoband can be seen giving instructions in the excellence of morals and conduct from the mimbars of mosques throughout the world. We can have some idea of the extent of the services rendered by Darul Uloom Deoband from the fact that the number of its Scholars who completed the syllabus exceeds 34,000 including almost 2,000 in the year 2005 alone. That is excluding graduates of the Qari and Mufti classes which mass up to an amazing 106,000.

From across the world for example, Afghanistan, Russia , China, Australia, America, United Kingdom, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iraq and many more.

The vast majority of Islamic schools, mosques, and institutions in the West, especially in the UK, are Deobandi-affiliated. Hundreds of thousands of scholars the world over are directly taught or affiliated with the Deobandi schools. Dar ul-Uloom, Deoband itself has given way to the network that arose in Pakistan, naturally due to the latter being an Islamic Republic. Dar ul-Uloom, Karachi retains the largest following and there are hundreds if not thousands of affiliated madrassahs and institutions scattered all over every corner of Pakistan. Karachi today is probably the center for Sunni Islamic scholarship in the world, especially for Hanafis. The (sadly, only religious) equivalent of Baghdad or Damascus during the heyday of Islamic civilization over a thousand years ago.

The Tablighi Jamaat was born out of the Deobandi movement through Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandalvi and has a following of some millions of people worldwide on every continent. It is the true resurrector of the Sufic spiritual arts.

After reflecting on all this, can one truly say that considering the state of Islam, Muslims, and their lands today, that any of it would have survived at all without that institution in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, India that started it all?

Back to the topic. With Islam in South Asia now safely anchored to the Dar ul-Uloom, the Ulema returned to their duties of trying to free India from the British. This culminated in the founding of 'Jamiat-Ulema-i-Hind' in 1919. The JUH continued the efforts of the Ulema, in close concert with the Indian National Congress. It was the JUH, in fact, which called for Self-Rule in India in 1917, before Congress or the still-obscure-at-the-time Muslim League. They also moved to the call for a fully independent and free India in 1924, a full five years before the Indian National Congress. Even the 'Quit India' movement was signed by the JUH five days before the Indian National Congress. At the time, the JUH synchronized it's efforts with the Congress party, foregoing armed struggle in favor of a new jihad. One of non-violent struggle, civil disobedience and non-cooperation. The JUH for a while represented all Muslims in the struggle for independence.

The Telegraph India:

The red-brick seminary nurtured the Jamait Ulema-i-Hind that facilitated Gandhiji’s political engagement with the Khilafat movement and emerged as a counter to the “modern and liberal” Aligarh Muslim University, which was perceived as more congenial to the interests of the British, rightly or wrongly.

The Dar-ul Uloom was the “nationalist” counterpoint to the more expansive vision of the AMU. Over time, the Jamait became an arm of the Congress, though after Gandhi and Maulana Azad, Indira Gandhi was the only Congress leader to visit the seminary — as chief guest for the centenary celebrations in 1980.

The Khilafat Movement was the demand by South Asian Muslims for the British to safeguard the Caliphate of the defeated Ottoman Empire. To this point the Muslim League remained distant and uninterested because it simply didn't care for actual religious things. Simple and general, but it's true. Most of its members were affluent, Western-educated and oriented. It wouldn't gain prominence until Jinnah took over and led it, though with increased popularity, the fact that the Muslim League was run by non-Ulema showed in how undisciplined it reacted to politics, and the same went for the Congress party. They fought bitterly and eventually Hindus and Muslims polarized into two camps behind these groups, and this was the biggest boon for the Muslim League. The British only happily exacerbated the situation. The JUH was stuck helplessly between the two sides, calling for Indian unity. It eventually even disassociated itself from the demand for an independent Pakistan and resigned itself to a purely Indian Muslim institution as the Ulema who could were sent to the Muslim League to help guide and lead those Muslims, led by Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani who was the Shaykh-ul-Tafsir at Dar ul-Uloom.

Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani influenced Jinnah a great deal but could not convince him to turn Pakistan into literally a Deobandi state, a Hanafi Islamic State. Though Jinnah, who is rumored (by Shi'ites) to have been from a partly Shi'ite family, was personally influenced a great deal and became a 'kattar' Sunni. He had Maulana Shabbir Usmani raise Pakistan's flag on independence day as well as left instructions in his will for his janazah (funeral prayer) to be read by him as well.

The vision for Pakistan itself lent itself to the Ulema's urgings and came at the behest of Allama Iqbal who himself was earlier inspired spiritually and religiously by Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri, who was the Shaykh-ul-Hadith at the Dar ul-Uloom, and later presided over the JUH as one of its presidents. Dr. Muhammd Iqbal had to the point been no more than a sensual poet, only flirting with Islamic ideas, in fact, even becoming associated with a Qadiyani students movement at one point. He repented at the hands of Maulana Kashmiri and even declared that the past 500 years of Islamic history could not produce another such as him. Like Jinnah, he too became an ardent Sunni, later reviving the long neglected arts of poetry and philosophy, eventually becoming the last truly major Islamic philosopher and Sufi poet in Islamic history to date.

The Ulema who went to guide the creation of Pakistan eventually formed the Pakistani equivalent to the JUH, the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). The scholars of Deoband aided the government post-independence and all the Grand Muftis (Mufti-e-Azams) of Pakistan were from among them. These included Mufti Muhammad Shafi who founded Dar ul-Uloom, Karachi and Mufti Mahmud, one of the Ulema opposed to Pakistan at first, who later led the JUI to success in elections, and against the socialist Zulfiqar Bhutto at that, an unrivaled feat.

The tradition of armed struggle and jihad did not die with independence, as the newly created Muslim nation of Pakistan often found itself at odds with, and drawn into conflict with, the mostly Hindu nation of India. Mufti Muhammad Shafi and the other senior Ulema did a great deal to advise the armed forces and government of Pakistan along Islamic lines of waging jihad.

In fact, the tradition of armed struggle against an oppressive occupying superpower reappeared with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Muslims of Afghanistan rebelled, refusing a fate similar to the other Soviet republics of Central Asia, and under the leadership of the Ulema graduating from the vast network of Deobandi madrassahs scattered across Afghanistan and especially in Pakistan, waged jihad once again. Mufti Mahmud co-signed the original fatawa from the Pakistani Ulema declaring an open jihad against the USSR to free Afghanistan. History is witness to the remarkable feat of the mujahideen in Afghanistan.

Regarding Deoband, an agency of the Indian government said in a study:

"One of the main objects of the Dar ul-Uloom was to provide the Indian Muslims with direct access to the original sources of Islamic learning, produce learned men with missionary zeal to work among the Muslim masses to create a truly religious awakening towards classical Islam, ridding the prevalent one in India of innovation and unorthodox practices, observances and beliefs that have crept into it and to impart instruction in classical religion.

The Dar ul-Uloom has achieved this aim to a great extent, having been undoubtedly the greatest source of orthodox Islam in India, fighting, on the one hand, religious innovation (bid'at) and, on the other, cultural and religious apostasy under Western or local influences. It has succeeded in instilling in its alumni the spirit of classical Islamic ideology, which has been its motto. As a matter of fact, Deoband has established itself as a school of religious thought, a large number of religious Madrasahs were founded on its line throughout the country by those who graduated from it, thus bringing classical religious instruction to large sections of the Muslim masses. Some of these schools and colleges have in their own right become reknowned centres of learning..."

In response to which the incredulous reaction of one Indian journalist, Arun Shourie, was: "That praise for re-establishing orthodoxy in Islam, for purging it of 'bid'at', a condemnatory word for heretical 'innovation', for purging it of 'religious apostasy' which the study says had crept into it 'under Western or local influences', that approbation is from a publication of our secular government!" Surprising? After all, some Ulema associated with the JUH such as Maulana Azad later went on to hold senior positions in the first Indian government. Their contributions can never be masked from history, no matter how much hindu nationalists and others may try.