Travel Light to Reach Faster!!!

A journey is always a beautiful experience as it enjoins that we are going to discover some new things, meet new people, renew old associations and reach a new destination. The whole thought is so exciting and exhilarating that it enthralls the whole existence in the process.

It is always advisable to travel light in order to encounter lesser obstacles in reaching the desired destination. Less baggage means less hassle and also that much less worry. If such travel advisory is applicable to the  multiple journeys we undertake during our lifetime in this mortal world then will it not be highly recommended or absolutely must for our journey which takes us to Union with Allah? This is one journey which is on going as well as continuous. Sadly we forget that we are perpetually traveling every minute and every second. Our every action and word is altering the course of our journey - either they take us faster, through a shortcut, to Allah or make us wander aimlessly in a labyrinth.

Our perpetual journey started with our birth and will continue even after our death. Only difference will be that some will reach the desired destination and some will get derailed and fall in a deep pit where they will burn till eternity.

Boarding card for this journey was taken even before we were born and  is only valid for our flight to the city of Death . Once the Death Station is passed the onward journey is totally dependent on what we have carried with us. The customs and checking starts at the Death Station. Immigration is very strict and our credentials are thoroughly checked. Nothing escapes sharper-than-laser scans as everything is pre-recorded during our journey. Every movement and every utterance is religiously noted and entered. So meticulously organized is this whole process that there is no room for any error. A well-oiled process which is highly impressive and awe-inducing.

The baggage are the associations which we form during our life - our parents, our siblings, our friends, our well-wishers, our enemies, our relatives, our society, our various acquaintances, our teachers, our religious and spiritual guides, our children and even our pets, if any. We need to understand that whichever of these associations are helpful and necessary we should keep them; we should know whom to give more importance; we should be aware of what should be our attitude towards them and also how we allow ourselves to be perceived by them.

Imagine we are at an airport or at a railway station. Our capacity to carry easily is only one suitcase or one handbag but we are carrying more than that. What will happen? We will stumble, halter, maybe fall or knock ourselves over.

Thus we are able to travel faster, without getting tired and inviting unwanted aches and pains, if we carry only what is absolutely necessary. To the contrary,if we carry 4-5 pieces of luggage then we will be in deep discomfort and will be dragging ourselves. We probably may fall down sometimes or stumble at the least. Instead of enjoying the journey we will be cursing, fuming and fretting under our breath. We will shout if anyone pushes us by mistake. We will abuse and create a scene.

Just ponder at our life's journey. How many unwanted baggage are we carrying? Are all of them necessary? The more baggage we carry the more excess baggage charges we end up paying. Is it wise?

So my dear friends, travel light as it allows us to reach our destination faster and in a manner befitting the only journey we are supposed to plan well. Let us discard the unnecessary baggage. Why burden our mind and body unnecessarily. Let us only carry the baggage called Zikrullah and see where we reach. Let us follow the Faraiz-e-Shariath and the Faraiz-e-Vilayath scrupulously and we will see many beautiful sceneries on our way, each inviting, attractive and mesmerizing.

Here it may be right to remember what Mahdi Maoud AS has said about our eventual stepping into afterlife: "Banda ye haath sey deta hai aur Allah woh haath sey leta hai".

True import of that powerful statement lies in the fact that those who follow, in letter and spirit, the life of Afzal-ul-Anbia, the last Prophet of Allah, Prophet Mohammed SAWS and Khaleefatullah Syed Mohammed Jaunpuri Imamuna Mahdi Maoud AS will not have to give any account and Allah will accept them with open arms. The more money and other baggages we carry, the longer it will take for auditing of our accounts.

According to a Hadith of Prophet Mohammed SAWS Prophet Suleiman AS will have to wait for 500 years to enter Paradise as he needs to present account of his massive wealth bestowed by Allah SWT.

A Faqeer, a Tarik-ud-Duniya who follows the dictum of Imamuna AS that "Momin Zaqeera Na Kunad" i.e. he does not hoard anything and is totally dependent on Allah SWT, will have nothing to show or get audited off. His immigration will be faster and he will be allowed to enter absolutely fast.

Let us stop and think for a minute. Those who achieve Deedar (Vision) of Allah SWT would have reached their destination even before the "supposed" destination has arrived. How? Will it not be right to say that, that  is in fact "the" destination? Answer is simple and enlightening.

May Allah allow all of us to live and die a death befitting a Momin. Ameen Summameen. Ya Rabb ul Aalameen.

Khudahafiz O Nasir

It's the Preparation That Counts for a Proper Salat

As Salam Alaikum!

Continuing on the topic of how best to make our Ibadat KHALIS (pure) for Allah SWT,  through this article I would like to briefly present how preparation is the most important aspect. 

In our day to day life, we always try to be at our best behavior but we are more particular when we have to meet someone really important. We try and prepare ourselves as best as possible. We try to ensure that we are thorough with our answers and are aware of whom we are meeting. We remind ourselves again and again that we need to be careful with how we are going to behave, how we are going to perform and how and what we are going to say. We know that our small mistake can be really questioned and carry the potential of spoiling our chances of recognition or reward or whatever we are expecting. Similar is the case when we are going to face any interview. This is how we behave when we have to present ourselves in front of a mortal boss, dignitary, potential employer or some VVIP. 

Now observe, ponder and reflect how we behave when we go before Allah SWT - He Who is the Supreme Power, the Sustainer, Giver, Benevolent and Merciful. We, at least most of us, are very casual in our attitude, action, behavior and our presentation of our own self. We go before Him 5 times a day {according to Prophet Mohammed SAWS Salat is the Momin's Mairaj (Mairaj is the blessed night when our beloved Prophet SAWS was able to meet Allah and see Him i.e. he had His Deedar)} and we are not at the best of our behavior or presentation or preparation. 

Proper prayer of a Momin is that prayer where he is able to see Allah SWT and if that is not possible then at least he has to be aware that Allah is watching him. Here again the kind of Salat which will give us the sweetness, satisfaction and is counted as our vehicle for redemption is only possible once we have done Tark e Duniya the way Prophet Mohammed SAWS and Imam Mahdi Maoud AS has shown us through their own personal example and taught us to do. But we, even before we do Tark e Duniya, can try and perform Salat in the best possible way. And that is to prepare properly whenever we are going to perform our Salat. How?

As discussed in my previous article we need to avoid overcrowding our mind with issues which have no bearing on us and to do that we need to ensure that we avoid spending our time in frivolous, useless and silly activities. Practice the following method and you will feel the difference in your concentration levels during Salat and will taste the unique taste which only comes when we feel satisfied with our Salat. That experience is ethereal and addictive. The method is (are):

If possible, 30 minutes before you are supposed to pray start getting into the prayer mode and mood. Do proper ablution (wudu), wear proper clothes, and keep on doing Zikrullah (one can even recite the Holy Quran). Try to reach the mosque at least 10-15 minutes in advance if you are not doing the ablution in the mosque. The best is to do Zikrullah. So when call for prayer is given you will be standing before Allah for Salat in the state of mind which is already conditioned with the remembrance of Allah and that frame of mind is best. This way when we go before Allah SWT we are prepared to do so. We will  only then truly appreciate the value of every chance we get to present ourselves before Him. And whence our heart is so conditioned and our mind is attuned to Allah SWT we will taste the beauty of Allah's benevolence, mercy and vision. Therefore, preparation does matter. And is the key to proper Salat. 

May Allah make all of us live a life of a Momin and make us all die a life of a Momin. Ameen Summameen Ya Rabb ul Aalameen.

Khudahafiz O Nasir

The Way to Live.

As Salam Alaikum!

The simpler we live the easier it is to reach the spiritual heights which ensures our life is lived the way it is desired by Allah SWT. Ourbeloved Prophet Mohammed SAWS used to live a life which was devoid of any frills and ostentation and his conduct was above reproach or vile comments or which had the potential of creating trouble for others or that of hurting others. In this regard there are some beautiful lines penned by a Allah loving person about 70-80 years ago. His name was Peer O Murshid Hzt. Syed Abdul Kareem Noor RH, great grandfather of Peer O Murshid Syed Ejaz Miyan Sahab, resident of Kachiguda, Hyderabad. 

Aye dil tu chahta hai bhali zindagi agar

Shikwa kisi ka sun na shikayat kisi ki kar

Achcha agar tu hai to buron ko bura na jaan

Tujhko agar bura kahe to tu hargiz bura na maan

Rahey apni kartabon ki nadamat mein raat din

Kho umar ghair e haq ki chahat mein na raat din

Badley buraiyon key burai sey tu na ley

Pesh aa mudaraton sey dua nek usko dey

Mudarat means and comes from the common term we use "Khatir O Mudarat" i. e. how we entertain and welcome those we love and whoever comes to meet us. 

Now if we try to live a life the way it is expressed above then we will have lesser enemies, lesser issues to trouble our mind, higher satisfaction level and greater chance to perform our prayers with a highly focused mind. 

May Allah make all of us live a life of a Momin and make us all die a life of a Momin. Ameen Summameen Ya Rabb ul Aalameen.

 

Khudahafiz O Nasir.

What Disturbs Ibadat!!!

As Salam Alaikum!!!

All of us desire and intend to do prayers with utmost concentration but find it difficult to really concentrate and do full justice to our prayers or Ibadat. There are many factors which create nuisance in our mind and always have the potential to harm our Ibadat. And so it becomes imperative on us to avoid all those things which have such nuisance value. Because we cannot get the proper concentration unless and until we do Tark e Duniya and do it the way it is meant to be done.

Getting back to the point of discussion or the topic of my article - what are the factors which have the potential of disturbing our Ibadat. Today I will try and discuss only one aspect and which I feel is pretty common and is the one of the factors with most disturbing value. Plus it has the potential to create Fitna, if spread and appears as a rumour,  which again is a highly reprehensible act in the eyes of Allah SWT. 

Many of us are very interested in knowing things which does not have any bearing on our own self - whether good or bad. Suppose there is a conversation among two persons or among a group which is absolutely private in nature but many of us would still want to know what has transpired there? We are interested in knowing the salary of others, about what a person is doing, about what kind of relationship a husband and wife are having or discussing about someone else when it has no bearing on our worldly or spiritual life. 

We forget that if a private affair is private then there is absolutely no point in making it public. How can one - who is not present when a particular conversation has taken place or is unaware of what transpired between 2 persons - understand the true import of the whole conversation. and therefore, how can he or she be in a position to do justice to the whole thing. Neither he/she can add any positive to it or reduce if there is negativity in it. 

And everyone is aware that all of us have many issues which disturb our concentration in remembering Allah (either during Zikr or Salat) so it really does not make any sense that we try to get involved or spending useful time in find out what happened even though that particular incident has no bearing (good or bad) on us. If  we have nothing to gain or lose from a particular information then it is better not to be curious (intentionally or unintentionally) to find out and add more disturbing factors to our already overburdened mind and further disturb our Ibadat. 

Ibadat requires ultimate concentration. It is already difficult to attain that level  and bring the kind of Khushu and Khuzu that is enjoined upon us by Allah without doing Tark-e-Duniya. So why unnecessary add up issues which have the  potential of disturbing our mind and consequently our Ibadat. Ibadat is supreme to everything else. So we should always try to minimize our involvement in the worldly affairs in order to make it easier to do our prayers that much more peacefully and beautifully. 

The best preparation for the life after Tark e Duniya is to practice Uzlat uz Khalq in our Kasabi life. We should try and minimize, as much as possible, our involvement in worldly affairs and keep it to bare minimum and to the point where it is absolutely necessary. That way we will be able to practice the kind of lifestyle which Allah SWT loves and appreciates.  We should avoid Kaifiyat-e-Izterab, Confusion, and develop Qana'at Pasandi, Taqwa, Abstinence and Shukr  in each and every action plus in every situation we come across and not question Allah SWT why He did this or cry about our fate. We should try to have total faith in Allah SWT.

May Allah make all of us live a life of a Momin and make us all die a life of a Momin. 

Ameen Summameen Ya Rabb ul Aalameen.

Khudahafiz O Nasir.