USMANI DISCOURSES. English translation of talks by Mufti Taqi Usmani DB.

The Noble Qur’an says;

“…and do not backbite one another. Does one of you like that he eats the flesh of his dead brother? You would abhor it…” (49:12)

Once a Sahabi (companion) asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ, “O Prophet of Allah! If I am doing Gheebat about someone but what I am saying is true, is it still a sin?” The Holy Prophet ﷺ replied, “If what you are saying bad about a person is true and you are telling the truth, then it is Gheebat. But if what you are saying about him is not true and you are telling a lie, then you are also committing the sin of Bohtaan in addition to Gheebat.”

In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has told us a remedy that can only come from a Messenger of Allah. If we follow this advice it would lead to peace and harmony in our society and abolition of all conflicts. That remedy is 

احب لا خیک ما تحب لنفسک

واکرہ لغیرک ما یکرہ لنفسک

It means that “like for your brother what you like for yourself, and dislike for your brother what you dislike for yourself.”

The Holy Companions used to say, “O Allah, if You had not granted us Taufeeq (motivation) we wouldn’t have received guidance, we would neither have been inclined to give Sadaqah, nor to pray Salah. Whatever good deeds we perform is because of the Taufeeq You have given us, therefore, we thank You for this Taufeeq, and seek forgiveness for our mistakes.” 

I heard the following saying of Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) from my Shaykh that if a person says the following words after performing a good deed,

“Alhamdulillah (all praise be to Allah), Astaghfirullah (I seek forgiveness from Allah),”

the Satan says that this person has broken my back. It is because by saying Alhamdulillah the person expresses his gratefulness to Allah Ta’ala for granting him the motivation to perform that good deed thus protecting himself from Takabbur, and by saying Astaghfirullah he does not focus too much on his mistakes under the influence of undue Tawazu’.

In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that the person who says that everyone else has lost the right path, is the one who has lost the right path himself. 

Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;

“It is permissible that you get angry with someone who commits a sin, but never think of them as being inferior to you. And if you are ever tasked with correcting someone’s behaviour, never think you are better than them. It is possible that they are like the prince and you are just the prince’s tutor. If the king orders the tutor to discipline the prince, it does not mean that the tutor has become superior to the prince.” (Infas-e-Essa)

“Those who are traversing the path of Tazkiyah (purification of inner-self) get afflicted by two types of spiritual illnesses. The first is Kibr (grandiosity, arrogance), and the second is excessive Tawazu’ (humility). Kibr is that if a person starts reciting some Tasbeehat, they start believing that they have become a great saint, if they start praying Salah they start looking down upon those who do not pray Salah. The treatment of this Kibr is to remind oneself that Kibr is one of the greatest sins and many a pious people lost their way because they had developed Kibr. Satan, who at one time was famous for his worship of Allah Ta’ala, was condemned for all eternity purely because of his Kibr.

(Unduly) Excessive Tawazu’ is that a person starts denigrating himself to the extent that he starts rubbishing his prayers, for example, people start saying things like they pray Salah but there is no Khushu’ (humbleness of heart) in it, they do Dhikr (remembrance) but do not get any spiritual benefit out of it, so their acts of worship are useless (Ma’az Allah). The treatment of this unduly excessive Tawazu’ is to say to Allah Ta’ala that ‘O Allah! I am extremely grateful to you that you have given me the motivation to pray Salah and do Dhikr. Otherwise, it was not my station to worship You without You allowing me to do so.”

Hadhrat Thanavi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;

Allah Ta’ala and the Holy Prophet ﷺ do not want delaying good deeds, rather they want people hurrying to perform good deeds. For example, it has been said in the Holy Qur’an; “…Strive, then, to excel each other in good deeds…” (2:148) and “…and hasten towards good deeds…” (3:114). Similarly, when it says in the Hadith that ‘thawab’ (reward for good deeds) are multiplied in Ramadan, it implies that when we are in Ramadan, we should hasten to perform good deeds before it finishes. Do not delay it thinking you will perform these good deeds after Ramadan. It is because the reward for performing the same good deeds is much higher if performed in Ramadan. However, it does not mean that we should postpone performing good deeds waiting for Ramadan. For example, if the Zakat year finishes on 28 Sha’ban, then not paying Zakat during Sha’ban and to keep waiting till Ramadan in the hope of getting greater reward is not correct.

Tehdees-e-Naimah (acknowledging Allah Ta’ala’s blessings upon oneself) is such an important act of worship that Allah Ta’ala has commanded the Holy Prophet ﷺ in the Holy Qur’an to perform it;

“And about the bounty of your Lord, do talk.” (93:11)

In obedience of this divine command the Holy Prophet ﷺ recounted Allah Ta’ala’s blessings upon himself on many occasions. On one occasion he said;

“I am the leader of the sons of Adam. But I do not take pride in it.”

In obedience to Allah Ta’ala’s command he acknowledged that Allah Ta’ala had made him the leader, the master, of all the progeny of Hadhrat Adam (peace be upon him). However, he was also mindful that this Tehdees-e-Naimah should not enter into the realm of Takabbur, so he immediately added that I am not proud of it, I do not boast about it. This is worth learning that even the Holy Prophet ﷺ was so careful that any of his words may not cross the line of Takabbur even in appearance.

On the day of conquest of Makkah, the Holy Prophet ﷺ was entering that city as a conqueror the residents of which had forced him to leave his city of birth, had plotted to kill him, had thrown filth over him, had thrown stones at him. Had it been anyone else entering that city as a conqueror in those circumstances, he would have been holding his head high with arrogance, his neck would have been stiff, and he would have been shouting “there is no one like me”. But the Holy Prophet ﷺ entered Makkah in a fashion that his head was bowed to the extent that his chin was touching his chest, tears were running from his eyes, and he was reciting the following verses of the Holy Qur’an;

“Surely, We have granted you an open victory, so that Allah may forgive you of your previous and subsequent faults, and may complete His favour upon you, and may guide you to a straight path,” (48:1-2)

This is true Tehdees-e-Naimah because by reciting the verses “انّا فتحنا لک فتحا مبینا” the Holy Prophet ﷺ is reminding himself that this conquest has been granted by Allah Ta’ala and that it is Allah’s blessing upon the Muslims. And this reminding oneself of blessings of Allah Ta’ala upon oneself leads a person to developing humility and gratefulness, and to orientating oneself even more towards Allah Ta’ala. These are signs that this is Tehdees-e-Naimah.

Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;

“Another treatment of Takabbur is to keep reminding oneself of Allah Ta’ala’s greatness, especially at those times when there is a risk of Takabbur. What is even better is to set a time aside every day to reflect on Allah Ta’ala’s greatness.”

What is also worth reminding oneself of is the reply a wise elder gave to a Mutakabbir person. He said to the wise elder, “Do you not know who I am?” The wise elder replied, “I know very well who you are. Your beginning was a drop of dirty water. Your end will be a foul-smelling carcass. You will reach a situation when even your loved ones will not be willing to keep you at home. Rather they will throw you in a ditch because if they keep you at home, your foul odour will pervade through the whole house. And in between this beginning and end, you are carrying kilos of sewage within your body at any given time.”

In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said;

“That person will not enter paradise whose neighbour is not safe from being hurt by him.”

In another Hadith the Holy Prophet ﷺ said;

“Keep the space in front of your home clean.”

TREATING ONE’S NON-MUSLIM NEIGHBOURS WELL

Hazrat Mujahid (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him), who was a special pupil of Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Umar (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with him), narrates that once he was sitting with him. His servant was taking the skin off a slaughtered goat. Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Umar RAA said to him, “When you have taken the skin off, first send the meat to our Jewish neighbour.” A person who was sitting beside them exclaimed, “Sending meat to a Jew! May Allah show you the right path.” 

Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Umar RAA replied, “I have heard the Holy Prophet ﷺ emphasize about treating one’s neighbours well so much that we started thinking that neighbours will be given a share in inheritance.”

Part 4 of the talk “THREE SIGNS OF BEING FORTUNATE” By Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB.  

It is a matter of having a great character that a person is mindful all the time that he does not hurt anyone with his words. 

In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said;  

“A true Muslim is one whose tongue (words) and hands (actions) other Muslims are safe from.”   

This Hadith forms the core of all rules of Ma’ashrat (ways of living with other people).  

Hazrat Aisha (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with her) has narrated that one night it was her turn for the Holy Prophet ﷺ to spend the night in her home. Hazrat Aisha RAA wanted to prepare some special food for him out of her exceptional love for him. But how to cook special food as she spent in the way of Allah Ta’ala whatever came to her house? She cooked a roti from whatever flour was in the house. When the Holy Prophet ﷺ came, it was very cold. He said to Hazrat Aisha RAA that he was feeling cold. She arranged a warm bed for him. He lied down in it and fell asleep. Hazrat Aisha RAA was waiting for him to wake up so that she could serve him the roti she had cooked with such love.   In the meanwhile, the neighbour’s goat came to their house and took the roti that Hazrat Aisha (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with her) had cooked with such love and affection. Hazrat Aisha RAA was watching the goat take the roti, but because the Holy Prophet ﷺ was sleeping, she did not stop the goat from taking the roti even when it took the roti out of her home. She felt very sad. As soon as the Holy Prophet ﷺ woke up she ran towards the door to see if she could find that goat.  When the Holy Prophet ﷺ saw her distressed, he asked what the matter was. Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) told him the whole story that she had made that roti for him with such love and affection, and the goat had run away with it. That was why she was very sad. The Holy Prophet ﷺ said, “bring if any part of the roti is left. But do not hurt your neighbour because of that goat, and do not say anything harsh to them that your goat ate my roti.   

It is worth noting that the first thing the Holy Prophet ﷺ said was not to say anything hurtful to the neighbour, because it was not their fault that the goat ate the roti. And even if it was, maintaining relations with one’s neighbours is much more important that one roti.   These days we can’t even imagine the value of that roti that Hazrat Aisha (may Allah Ta’ala be pleased with her) had cooked. We live in such affluence that if we lose one roti, it doesn’t make any difference to us. But if we think back of those days, Hazrat Aisha RAA had only a little bit of barley with which she could barely make one roti, and the goat takes away even that roti. In spite of that, the Holy Prophet ﷺ advised her with emphasis not to say anything harsh to the neighbour.

Part 4 of the talk “THREE SIGNS OF BEING FORTUNATE” By Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB.

There is a Hadith which carries a grave warning. The Holy Prophet ﷺ said;

“The thing which will make people fall face down in Jahannam (Hell) the most, is a person’s tongue.”