The Call of Ramadhaan – (Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi Rahmatullahi Alaih)

Rasulullah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:

“An Angel calls out: ‘O One who desires good, come forth; O One who desires evil, hold back. And there are slaves of Allah freed from Hellfire.”

This Hadeeth is from Tirmizi Shareef. In this Hadeeth Rasulullah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has spoken of the virtue of Ramadhaan Shareef. A Farishta (Angel) calls out: “Yaa Baaghiyal Khair…” O One who desires good, come here; O One who desires evil, stop now.

General Amnesty

The third statement, “And there are slaves of Allah freed from Hellfire,” holds two possibilities. One possibility is that it is the call of the Farishta. In other words, the Farishta is saying, “There is general amnesty and freedom ordered by Allah Ta’ala on this night. O You! Make yourself eligible for this freedom.”

Look! When there is some royal celebration then prisoners attempt to gain freedom. So, now is the month of Ramadhaan. There is universal grace from Allah Ta’ala. Prisoners are being released. You, too, have many charges against you for committing crimes related to the Aakhirah. Therefore, join those prisoners who are petitioning for their release. Make an effort to gain your freedom.

Another possibility is that the statement, “And there are slaves of Allah freed from Hellfire,” is Rasulullah’s. The import of both is the same.

Whatever I wish to say in this regard will follow, Insha-Allah. Firstly, however, understand why this Hadeeth has been selected for this bayaan.

The reason for selecting this Hadeeth is that in the previous Jumah the Hadeeth: “Fasting is a shield,” was spoken about. The summary of that bayaan is that fasting is a shield for protecting oneself from sins.

Now the need is to know what should be done after leaving sins. In this regard the following is submitted.

Phases of Perfection

There are two phases to perfection. One is cleaning and the other is shining. For example, when pots are made then they are firstly cleaned out thoroughly, and then they are polished, etc.

Or consider the example of a sick person. When a physician treats a person, he (the physician) removes all the putrid matter. Thereafter he prescribes such medication which strengthens the patient and brings vitality to his body.

Or consider the example of a home being furnished. Firstly, the home is dusted and cleaned.

A person wears beautiful garments only after having a wash and bath to remove dirt from the body.

In short, everything’s perfection is accomplished in two phases: cleaning and then shining. Generally, the cleaning phase precedes the stage of shining as the shine will be poor without the cleaning process, like polishing a pot without firstly scrubbing and removing the dirt. It is obvious the shine will be imperfect.

Sometimes due to circumstances shining is done before the cleaning. For example, a house has to be furnished and there isn’t that amount of time to clean it inside out. The procedure adopted then is to adorn it and as the time becomes available it is gradually cleaned out. This is due to exigency, otherwise the general rule is to clean out something first and then to adorn it.

The illustrious Sufiyah operate in the same manner; they firstly clean out the base character of the mureedeen (disciples) and then adorn their (the mureedeens’) character with praiseworthy qualities. This is exactly like the physicians who administer laxatives to purge the system of toxins and then they administer tonics. This was the methodology of the earlier Shuyookh (Masters of Tasawwuf).

The objective of this spiritual exercise of cleaning is to expunge base character. Spiritual exercise is this inculcation of humility, not merely eating less and sleeping less. In fact, this inculcation of humility is the minimum requirement, and it is the precondition for being loved by Allah Ta’ala. When a person thinks highly of himself, and he has no humility then he is disliked by Allah Ta’ala.

Remember that only as long as you consider yourself to be ignoble you will be close to Allah.

This vanity is a vile curse. The Sufiyah Kiraam easily treat this sickness. For instance, they observe a mureed to be given to dressing up extravagantly. This mureed is instructed to sweep and clean the Masjid. Doing this despoils one’s looks and appearance. In this way after some time his vanity is broken.

Another example is that of a mureed who is arrogant. His moral training is to serve and attend to the Musallis. Place their shoes straight; make sure there is water available for them. His arrogance goes away.

This was the protocol of the Khaanqah of former days. Now this has been discontinued. Like this people will run away. Hardly anyone will then gain benefit. People of former times had more time available, and they were strong-willed.

Even women would look for Allah Walas to get married to. There are episodes of ladies giving their daughters to Buzrugs in spite of the kings expressing their desire to get married to their daughters. One such episode is that of Shah Abdul Quddoos Saheb. His wife was the daughter of his Shaikh. People told his mother-in-law so much that, “You are getting your daughter married to a madman.” But she replied: “I prefer a madman.” Princes and noblemen sent proposals, but she never marry her daughter to them.

Now people lack such determination, and lifespans are even short. In view of these exigencies the later Shuyookh operate by jointly imparting the cleansing and adorning processes. The end is realized in this way as well.

To summarize, everything requires cleaning and shining for perfection. The previous bayaan was centred on cleaning. This bayaan centres on adorning. (To be continued, Insha-Allah)