HADHRAT SHAH MUHAMMAD ISHAQ (RA)

 Hadhrat Shah Muhammad Ishaq was Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz's grandson (daughter's son) and a distinguished pupil. In the presence of Shah Abdul Aziz he taught Hadith to the students for twenty years. In 1239-1823, Shah Abdul Aziz, entrusting Madrasah Rahimia before his death to Shah Muhammad Ishaq, appointed him as his succe­ssor. Till 1257/1841 he rendered the service of disseminating and propaga­ting the science of Hadith. Almost the whole of India benefited from his educational graces. He translated the Mishkatul Masabeeh into Urdu, which, at his instance, was transformed into a commentary by his well-guided pupil, Maulana Qutubuddin Khan, and is known as Maza­hir-e Haq, Mi'at Masa'iI and Rasa'il-e Arba'een are also his noteworthy works. Emigrating from India in 1257/1841 to Mecca, he settled down there and died after a few years.

    It is stated in Tarjuma Tazkira Ulema-e Hind: "It is particularly notable that during the freedom fight of 1857 most of the pupils of Shah Muhammad Ishaq Dehelwi took part as Ulema in this movement, the most noteworthy amongst them being Mufti Inayat Ahmed Kakorwi (Sadar Amin, Bareilly), Maulana Abdul Jalil Ko'ili (Aligarhi), Mufti Sadaruddin Azurda, Shah Abu Saeed Mujaddidi (father of Shah Abdul Ghani Mujaddidi) and the pupils of their pupils, i.e." the Ulema of Deoband, e.g., Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, Maulana Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi, Maulana Muhammad Mazhar Nanautawi, Maulana Muhammad Munir Nanautawi etc.

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HADHRAT SHAH ABDUL AZIZ (RA)

Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz (ra) (1159/1746--1239/1823) was the most erudite and glorious divine of his time. The dissemination of the sciences of the Quran and the Hadith that took place in his time of course, thro­ugh him has had no precedent in the annals of Islamic India. There is no nook and corner in India where Shah Abdul Aziz disciples may not be found. The statement of a non-Indian scholar has already been quoted above that during his travels in India he did not meet any scholar of Hadith who was not a disciple of Shah Sahib. Maulana Ubaydullah Sindhi is of the view that if ten persons benefited from the great quali­ties of Shah Waliullah, from Shah Abdul Aziz's qualities must have benefited at least ten thousand persons.

    In short Hadhrat Shah Abdul Aziz (ra) brought the foundation Hadhrat Shah Waliullah had laid for the re­naissance of the religious sciences to consummation. He established such a standard of knowledge whereby the religious sciences came to attain a special honor and dignity. Shah AbduI Aziz, after the death at his august father, served the cause of the religious sciences in Delhi for a long period of sixty years. Besides teaching, he wrote several books amongst which his Tafsir-e Fathul Aziz, a commentary on the Quran, Bustanul Muhaddithin, on the history of the classes of traditionists and their compilations, and the Tuhfa Ithna Ashriya on the reality of Shiaism; are really very famous. The last-named book is such an opus magnum of Shah Sahib that there exists no example thereof on this topic in the entire Islamic literature.

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The Condition of an Angry Person

Allamah Aloosi (RA) quotes a hadith in Ruhul Ma'ani: "Save yourself from anger, because it is a flame of fire which burns the heart of the son of Adam." Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam has explained through two proofs that the matter and substance of anger is made from fire. One is: "Do you not see that the veins of the angry one's throat swell up' and the other is that the eyes get red. The eyes show that there is a fire in the heart. The eyes are like glasses through which one can see the fire inside the heart. So anger is definitely fire. In anger, people do such actions which cannot be practised otherwise. People have even sworn at Allah and the shariat in anger, and became kafirs! May Allah save us.

In anger, one fights one's parents, is harsh to one's wife and oppresses her, causing her deep sighs and lamentations. In anger, the wife becomes insolent towards the husband, a son fights with his father, a student fights with his teacher, a disciple fights with his spiritual guide, an ummati fights with a Nabi and the bondsman fights with Allah! Through this dangerous illness, one is deprived of his venerable elders' kindness. One who respects his elders will be rewarded by their kindness. May Allah bless us with taufiq to fully submit to our elders, and to tolerate whatever they tell us. I too request you for duas.

There are many incidents that took place where, because of anger, homes have broken up. Just recently, an eighty year old man, came to meet me at a certain place and told me that his son-in-law had divorced his daughter. She had eight sons and the ninth child was on the way. Imagine! If someone makes such a mistake in his young days, one will say that he has done it due to immaturity, but this has been done in old age! This person regularly goes out for Tabligh also. Here! Now he is suffering and getting attacks, because his little children have been separated from him. In the state of anger one does not realise one's own unworthiness. He now regrets his foolish act of chasing his wife away forever, the result being that his children will always curse him and think of their father as a tyrant who divorced their mother in her old age. The entire family has now been separated, but what can be done now, for it is no use crying over spilt milk. Friends! Anger is very dangerous, therefore do not hesitate to remedy it. Now read on and see the petty matter over which this person divorced his wife: That day, their young son was ill and did not go to work. The father beat him, saying that he was telling a lie, whereas one is not justified to suspect or think ill of another without a valid proof. The mother then intervened, by telling the father to stop hitting the son. A mother naturally loves her children more than the father, because she is the one who carries them in her womb for nine months, then delivers them with so much pain, then breast-feeds them with her blood which is changed into milk. Thus, being a mother, she pitied her son and said to her husband: "Do not beat him so mercilessly (like a butcher)." Upon this interference from his wife, the husband flared up with anger and shouted: "Why must you interfere when I am fixing him up," because of this I give you talaq! talaq! talaq! It was as if he had fired 3 bullets at his wife, all in one shot, as a result of which two homes were destroyed, and now they are suffering from heart attacks!

A great lesson is to be learnt from this unfortunate incident. One who does not endeavour to reform himself, finally destroys himself as well as those connected to him. A person can never hope for betterment without the process of reformation.

Dr Abdul Hay (RA), relates an incident about a certain young man, who once entered the musjid, crying bitterly while making dua. Doctor Saheb became much affected by the sight of the young man and took him to be a wali Allah (friend of Allah). At that very instant, an old man with poor eyesight and feeble, shaky legs, walked out of the musjid. Due to old age, his legs were weak and uncontrollable as a result of which he accidentally bumped into the young man. The young man, whose appearance resembled that of a great saint, suddenly jumped up and fumed: "O you unworthy blind fool, can you not see where you walk? You are so old, yet you hurt me!" His hands are spread out in supplication before Allah, while his tongue is engaged in harshly swearing the poor old man! Doctor Saheb, who had witnessed the entire scene, was shocked at the young man's attitude. He said: "I thought him to be a great wali, but he turned out to be shaitan's grandfather." Therefore, reformation of the 'self' is of utmost importance, for one's success.

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FULFILMENT OF PROMISES

Allah says: "And fulfill (every) covenant. Verily! The covenant will be questioned about." (17:34)

The Noble Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) is reported to have said:

“Three are the signs of a hypocrite: When he speaks, he lies. When he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is trusted, he betrays his trust.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

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