Memories (Episode 27)

Meeting with Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz

Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz (may Allah’s mercy be upon him) was the Dean of the Islamic University of Madinah Munawwarah in those days. Our respected father had met him in previous visits as well, and that time he had himself come to meet our respected father. When our respected father left after his meeting with Shaikh Abdul Malik, Shaikh Bin Baz’s house was nearby, so he went to visit. Since he was blind, he did not recognize our respected father at first. Later, when our respected father presented his thabat “Al-Izdiyād as-Sanī” he was startled and said: “We had not recognized you. Now please stay a while longer.” Then their conversations began. When our respected father mentioned his letter of appeal he said: “Please do send a summary of it to King Faisial (who was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom at the time).” Later he took our respected father to the sacred Haram in his own car and after the prayer brought him to the Maktaba tul-Haram (Library of the Sacred Mosque) as well, and also invited our respected father to lunch the next day after Jum’a (Friday prayer), which our respected father accepted. Accordingly, the next day after Jum’a we went to his house together with our respected father. Our respected father has noted this meeting in his recollections in the following words:

“After Jum’a, we went to the house of Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz as we had promised. Meetings with him are always very simple and scholarly. When we reached, he was personally teaching a son of his. When the lesson ended, he began listening to my booklet “Al-Izdiyād as-Sanī” from his secretary, and would seek clarification from me every here and there. At the end he said: “Please give me ijazah (authorization) of your isnaads (chain of authorizations) as well.” I excused myself saying: “You are a senior scholar yourself. I do not find myself of such a stature.” However, when he insisted to give it in writing, I promised the same. When Muhammad Rafi and Muhammad Taqi requested him for ijazah (authorization) in Hadith, he said: “When you bring my ijazah I will give you yours.” Thereafter food came. With utmost simplicity, everyone present gathered on the same tablecloth and ate together, even his chauffeur. It was a rather pleasant gathering and an enjoyable feast. When we sought permission to leave after lunch, he asked us to stay on for tea. We left after tea. He sent his car to drop us till Surrati Hotel.”

Later, after reaching Madinah Munawwarah, our respected father gave him ijazah (authorization) in Hadith, together with a letter of authorization. He stated his isnad (chain of authorization) up to the authors of the Sihah Sittah and Imam Malik (may Allah’s mercy be upon them all) at the start of this letter, and at its end he wrote:

“ولمّا رزقني الله تعالى زيارة المدينة المنورة في محرم سنة ١٣٨٤ وزرت الشيخ العلامة عبد العزيز ابن باز، نائب رئيس الجامعة بها، سألني مع ما هو فيه من مقام رفيع في العلم والفضل أن أجيز له رواية الحديث بجميع ما يجوز لي روايته، فأجزته با الأسانيد المذكورة رجاء حصول بركته أطال الله بقاءه في نشر العلم والإقتفاء بسنن المصطفي صلّي الله عليه وسلّم في صحّة وعافية.”

A photo of this letter of authorization of our respected father (may Allah’s mercy be upon him) has also been published in some of the biographies of Hadhrat Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz (may Allah’s mercy be upon him). Under “Silsilatu mu’allifaat wa rasaa’il samaahat ash-Shaykh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz Rahimahullah” number 52, two of his students Abdul Aziz Bin Ibrahim Bin Qasim and Muhammad Ziyad Bin Umar at-Taklah have published a collection with the following words:

مجموع فيه ترجمة سماحة الشيخ عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز رحمه الله تعالي (١٣٣٠ – ١٤٢٠) وترجمة العلامة المحدث عبد الحقّ بن عبد الواحد الهاشميّ (١٣٠٢ – ١٣٩٢)، وتحقيق “الثبت الوجيز” وهو إجازة العلامة الهاشميّ لسماحة الشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز مع ملحق إجازته للشيخين حماد بن محمد الأنصاريّ، وإسماعيل بن محمد الأنصاريّ، وإجازة الشيخ المفتي محمد شفيع العثمانيّ لسماحة الشّيخ رحم الله الجميع.

This book has been published by “Daar Asaalah al-Haadir” at the expenses of Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Sulayman al-Muqrin and a brief biography of our respected father, together with references to myself and my elder brother (may his shade be extended), has also been mentioned therein.

He gave ijazah (authorization) to us two brothers as well. At the wish of Shaikh Bin Baz (may Allah’s mercy be upon him), our respected father wrote a second letter to Emir Faisal and sent it to him via registered mail. This letter was written in Arabic language and is being published in the makateeb (collection of letters) of our respected father(may Allah’s mercy be upon him). I am reproducing its Urdu translation here, which has been done by dear respected Maulana Shakir Jakhura Sahib.

Letter to King Faisal

﷽

With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful

To His Highness Prime Minister Faisal (may Allah protect him)

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakaatuhu

I praise Allah the Exalted who has made your Highness the trustee of the everlasting trust of Islam and Muslims, and has made your honourable self the custodian of the Haramain Shareefain.

Your Highness! The trials and tribulations and the humility afflicting Islam and Muslims, and (as a result thereof) the agony and anxiety of self-respecting Muslims cannot be concealed from individuals like you.

We and our Mashaikh (scholars and elders) in Pakistan have been ruminating for a long time over the causes of this extremely dangerous sickness plaguing the Muslims, which has afflicted their bodies as well souls. And the deeper we delved into it, the stronger our conviction became that:

Since the advent of Islam, the Christians have not let go of any opportunity to harm Muslims and to obliterate them from the face of the earth. But Allah the Exalted assisted His Deen and defeated the enemy forces all by Himself, and humiliated them. When they returned failed and fruitless from their Crusade Wars and their missionary activities, they joined their heads together and came to the conclusion that the secret to the Muslims’ success lies in two things:

Their unity, as they are like a single body such that when one body part is hurt the entire body experiences fever and sleeplessness.

Firm knowledge of the teachings of their book (the Noble Quran) and their Messenger ﷺ.

They therefore exerted their efforts on breaking Muslim unity and fragmenting their strength. And to this end, stirred up nationalistic sentiments and breathed soul into those idols of patriotism which the Noble Messenger ﷺ had himself trampled beneath his feet.

From then on, the sacred communal relationship of Islamic brotherhood again weakened, and the fraternities binding together the Muslims of the East and the West were loosened. The result of this was that the swords of Muslims were drawn against their own brothers and they began chopping each others’ heads, due to which the monolithic rock of Islam fragmented into pebbles.

Secondly, they also conspired to divert the thinking of Muslims away from the highway of the Quran and Sunnah. To this end, they promoted a new system of education among Muslims and incorporated such elements into it which would corrupt their thinking towards degradation of Shariah, disbelief, apostasy and Ibahiyyah (licentiousness), and to steer their lives towards the highway of shamelessness and misconduct. Muslims acquired those sciences in the present times in view of achieving financial relief, and also to achieve expertise in those fields in keeping with the needs of the time. However, they could not discern the slow-release poison which the foreigners had masqueraded under the guise of this new system of education, until the Muslims became utterly alien to the Quran and Sunnah and to their own glorious history. And merely the word “Muslim”, utterly bereft of its true reality and soul, was left for graduates of such educational institutes. (This is because) in every walk of their lives, they have adopted such inappropriate ways of others which the pure temperament of our Deen does not accept by any means.

While highlighting all this, we do not mean to deny the need for these modern sciences, because it is our conviction that not only acquiring these sciences, rather inculcating expertise in them is indispensible for any country that wishes to live with peace and security in today’s times. Rather our sole aim is to not fall for their conspiracy in the process of acquiring these sciences, which can be achieved by avoiding their immodesty, delinquency and mockery of religion, and at the same time we wish for Muslims to continue holding firmly to the teachings of their Book and the Sunnah with utmost acumen and sagacity.

Having said that, it is an immensely lamentable matter that the condition of our youth is the opposite; they took all the evils from those people and embraced immodesty and music, did away with purdah, adopted corrupt beliefs regarding Allah and His Messengerﷺ, and turned away from the Book and Sunnah. However, as for the sciences and arts which were supposed to be acquired, they did not attain even enough of them as could suffice the needs of their own country and society. Despite this, they are blissfully under the delusion that they have attained success, and that the secret to their success is those very useless things that they acquired. However, it can be seen with the naked eyes that those things did not benefit them in the least, except for granting them debilitation and humiliation in their political and social objectives.

This is the chronic ailment of Muslim nations, which first began in Egypt and has now spread all over the world, to the extent that it has now even reached upon the doorstep of the Haramain Shareefain. The following is the aftermath of this:

The sound of music can be heard from every vehicle, coffee shop and restaurant here, and Muslims generally appear engrossed in it.

The existence of books containing vulgar pictures and romance stories which are available in most of the bookstore in Makkah Mukarramah and Madinah Munawarrah, and which are leading the youth towards immodesty, and which are normally imported from Europe or some other Western country. And this (calamity) is what is leading the Muslim youth towards the path of perversion and dissociating them from the path of Islam and its ways the most. If this deluge continues unabated, we apprehend all those (social) ailments from seeping into the sacred lands which have jolted the social fabric of Europe as well as every country which follows in its footsteps in propagating immodesty.

This is to such an extent that even their own intellectual leaders are grieved by this, but they do not find any way out from this calamity.

Similarly, existence of figures, which are labeled as toys but are in fact large idols, and are rampant in most of the markets of Makkah, Mina and Madinah. And along with other souvenirs from these holy lands, people bring these idols as well back to their home countries. This is despite the fact that the making and use of these is prohibited according to the mutawatir Ahadith as well as Ijma’ (consensus).

Abandoning the simple and elegant way of life of Arabs and swiftly melting away in the face of the propaganda to adopt the mannerisms of other nations in all walks of life, including manners of eating and clothing (and adopting those ways as a result).

All these things are wrongs in their own right, but at the same time they also indicate how deeply (the people here) are affected by Western thought. And they also reveal that they are internally slaves to people of other nations, and are deprived of the love for Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.

Therefore, your Excellency! May Allah bestow righteousness upon you, and through you to all the Muslims. According to our knowledge, there is no country on the face of the earth besides your sacred country which has laid its foundations upon compliance to the Quran and Sunnah, and which has made it their trusted support in their governance and politics. And it is your country only from where gushed forth springs of goodness, and wherein Muslims find peace and honour, and they consider it to be their center and headquarter. We praise Allah the Exalted that the effects of Western thought and heresy have not yet reached their pinnacle, rather they have just started. It is therefore hoped from your Excellency that you stop this deluge before it reaches its tipping point, and that you step forward to cleanse this sacred country from this great calamity, just as your honourable predecessors stepped forward to eradicate shirk (polytheism) and bid’aat (religious innovations) and they purged this country from those evils. Allah Ta’ala continues helping His slave as long as His slave continues helping his brother. And when he is busy helping Allah’s Shariah and the center of Islam, what to say (of the help he will receive)?

We believe liberation from these evils is only in the following:

Holding firmly to the Noble Quran (in the following ways) as is its right:

Through its recitation: such that no child, boy or girl, remains who is unable to recite the Noble Quran according to the rules of Tajweed and with the accompanying etiquettes.

Through learning it: that no student remains in any educational institution who does not possess the necessary knowledge pertaining to the tafsir (exegesis) of the entire Quran, the Sunnah and Hadith.

And through practicing upon it: i.e. to call towards the preachers of Deen. Similarly, amr bil ma’roof (commanding the good) should be carried out by its department. Furthermore, this should be done through the rulings issued by the Department of Justice (that they should be issued according to the Quran and Sunnah).

The preachers of the True Deen should be spread out throughout the country.

The circle of influence of the Department of Amr Bil Ma’roof (Commanding the Truth) should be widened.

(It is clear that) we cannot do without learning modern sciences and arts and giving practical training of these to students, but this training should be conducted in such a manner that students grasp the spirit and core of these sciences and arts, but at the same time they should not become influenced by the Kufr (disbelief) and Ilhaad (heresy) of those who teach it. And this cannot be achieved by us sending our youth to non-Muslim countries. Because their young minds are quick to take in the corrupt beliefs and evil actions they see there. Islamic countries have seen this again and again, that most students waste their time in play and enjoyment, and therefore find very limited time for the hard work needed for their studies, which ends up being insufficient to inculcate expertise in those sciences.

We are therefore of the opinion that safety and benefit lies in us creating such institutes of arts and sciences in our own countries, and inviting the relevant experts to teach therein at salaries befitting their stature. At the same time, it is necessary that we only invite such experts who are engrossed in their area of expertise and are not involved in preaching their religion.

Though this matter requires continuous efforts and struggle, InshaAllah it is not difficult for such determined and unwavering individuals as your honourable self. We seek help from Allah the Exalted alone, and upon Him alone we rely. As a result of these steps, such individuals will be produced from these institutes who will possess a distinguished knowledge of those sciences, and at the same time will be untainted from the impurities of corrupt beliefs and immodest actions. InshaAllah these individuals will benefit the Kingdom much more in building it and in strengthening its pillars.

A ban on musical instruments, theatres and vulgar newspapers and magazines, which are constantly leading our youth towards immodesty and shamelessness. This is similar to what the government has previously done — may Allah Ta’ala reward them for this — by banning the books of the people of bid’ah (religious innovations).

No lady should be permitted to enter the Haramain without donning a burqah and hijab, similar to the government of Iraq not allowing any lady to visit Karbala and Najaf without donning a burqah. On the contrary, we see here in the Haram of Allah that some ladies walk around in such clothes as if they are not wearing any clothes at all, and they parade around flaunting their beauty and adornment. La Hawla Wa La Quwwata Illa Billah.

Your Highness! These are the wishes that Muslims of the East and the West dream about, and there is no hope of their fulfillment from anyone other than your Highness. We ask Allah the Exalted to make these dreams a reality through your endeavours. And InshaAllah you will attain a great reward for this. We ask Allah to make you a key for goodness and a lock for shutting the doors of evil. And we pray that you remain in ease and comfort at all times.

Wassalam,

With the deepest respect,

Lowly Muhammad Shafi’

Mufti of Pakistan

President, Darul Uloom Karachi

This letter reached Emir Faisal, and his reply reached the address of the late Shakir Sikandar Sahib in Makkah Mukarramah at a time when we were in Madinah Munawwarah. Hadhrat Maulana Sehban Mahmood Sahib was in Makkah Mukarramah at the time, and he sent a letter by hand in which he informed our respected father that the reply letter (probably by Muallim Shakir Sikandar Sahib) has been dispatched to Madinah Munawwarah. However, we did not receive that letter during our stay in Madinah Munawwarah. When we reached Jeddah, Hadhrat Maulana Noor Ahmad Sahib (may Allah’s mercy be upon him) went to Emir Faisal’s office to obtain a copy of the letter. Suddenly vehicles of the Foreign Minister arrived. To make way for him, the driver reversed a military vehicle and parked it close to the wall while Maulana was standing there; he was thus squeezed between the vehicle and the wall. By the time the vehicle was removed after his screams, he had sustained considerable injuries. He had to stay in a hospital for treatment, through the intermediary of the Pakistani Embassy, for several days. With the grace and mercy of Allah Ta’ala his bone had not fractured, so he recovered after treatment of a few days. Nonetheless, as a result of this accident all our attention remained preoccupied with this matter and our time of departure approached. We therefore could not receive a copy of Emir Faisal’s reply.

Further Meetings

We had several other notable meetings during our stay in Makkah Mukarramah. Shaikh Rasheed Farsi was a knowledge-loving elder of Makkah Mukarramah. He organized a lunch gathering in Madrasa Sawlatiya in honour of the scholars of Pakistan and India, in which Hadhrat Shaykhul Hadith Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Sahib, Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Sahib the Ameer of the Tablighi Jamat, and the rector of Madrasa Sawlatiya Maulana Muhammad Saleem Sahib were also in attendance. Our respected father has noted in his recollections:

“After food Hadhrat Shaykhul Hadith sought counsel, saying: “Today Maulvi Muhammad Sa’eed Sahib, the Ameer of the Tablighi Jamat in Makkah Mukarramah, took the second volume of Hayat us-Sahaba to Mufti Akbar Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Sahib. He said in a complaining tone that Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Sahib has been here for so long but still has not intended any meeting with us. Maulana Sa’eed Sahib presented some excuse of him not feeling well and his busy schedule, but now the matter which requires advice is whether it is appropriate to meet him now or not.” Maulana Saleem Sahib opined that it is not suitable to meet now. It would have been appropriate if it had been done earlier. But Shaykhul Hadith and this lowly one opined that we should meet them. It would have been better if this was done earlier, but there is nothing wrong even now. It was thus decided to visit him after Asr, and that this lowly one should also go together with Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Sahib. Maulana Sa’eed Sahib brought Maulana Yusuf Sahib to our residence at Surrati Hotel, where both of them arrived at 10am. Maulvi Noor Ahmad Sahib and I joined them. When we reached the house of Mufti Akbar Sahib, his brother Abdul Malik Ibn Ibrahim was also present. I introduced Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Sahib and the Tablighi Jamat to them, after which Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Sahib outlined his effort of Dawat (propagation of Deen) and its methodology in more detail. Mufti Akbar and Abdul Malik Sahib were quite pleased and continued supplicating for it. We left shortly before Maghrib and arrived at the Haram Shareef.”

In Madinah Munawwarah

We were blessed to present ourselves in Madinah Munawwarah in the company of our respected father on the 4^th of Muharram 1384H. Here as well, besides visiting the Haram Shareef, our respected father continued having meetings with scholars as well as officials. Accordingly, the teacher of Principles of Tafsir in Madinah University, Shaikh Saleem Bin Saalim Bin Sarhaan Shurraab, who is a citizen of Palestine, came to our place of residence to meet our respected father. Our respected father noted the meeting with him in these words:

“Had detailed discussions with them that I observe the focus of the common scholars here to be on furoo’i (secondary) matters and Ijtihadi (interpretative) differences, but they are not paying any attention to those wrongs which are agreed-upon by all to be wrong, rather not even to the tsunami of Kufr (disbelief) and Ilhaad (heresy) which has enveloped this country from all sides, and has even entered the Haramain. It is fine to side with one opinion in Ijtihadi (interpretative) matters, but the other opinion cannot be called baatil (falsehood) or munkar (condemnable) which must be effaced. And nakeer (condemnation) of something which is not munkar (condemnable) is itself munkar (condemnable). It is my opinion that what these people are exhausting all their energies upon, while considering it to be scholarly Jihaad and a service to Deen, is included in the list of mafroogh ‘anha (indisputable) issues and which fall under nakeer (condemnation) of that which is not munkar (condemnable). As for matters regarding which they are responsible and questionable in front of Allah and His creation, they are least concerned about them. There is a market selling figures and statues imported from Europe in front of Masjid Nabawi. Just above it is the office of the Department of Amr Bil Ma’roof (Commanding the Good), but they do not see this as munkar (condemnable). Instead they are engrossed in considering the differed upon Ijtihadi (interpretative) issues of the Mujtahid Imams and the actions of their Muqallids (followers) as munkar (condemnable), and in trying to put an end to them.

What is beyond belief is that ladies with bared calves walk around in Masjid Nabawi without the least hesitation. Is this not a cause of hurt to Rasulullah ﷺ? But the scholars here, the extent to which they consider it condemnable to stand in front of a grave and therefore depute police for this, or for women to enter Baqee’ and therefore use police to prevent it, they are unmindful that police is more worthy to be used to prevent those wrongs which are unanimously considered wrong by all, and to protect the sacred Haram from them. No lady should be allowed to enter the Haram without complete Burqah. However, these people have no time to spare from the disputes of Hanafi and Shafi’; how could they turn their attention to those matters? Shaikh Saleem MashaAllah is Saleem (courteous) indeed; he concurred with all that I said enthusiastically and promised to make efforts accordingly. Shaikh Abdul Kareem Madani also joined this same gathering. It continued until Maghrib.”

Our respected father made a note of his meeting on the day of Ashura with another influential teacher of Madinah University, Shaikh Atiyyah, as follows:

“Today Qari Abbas Sahib invited to lunch at Ribaat Bukhari. After lunch after Zuhr, rested at Istafa Manzil. Stayed in the sacred Haram from Asr till Isha. Here Shaikh Atiyyah, teacher and academic coordinator at Madinah University, came to visit me near Suffah at Hasiyaat[1]. The observation that the scholars here often exert all their energies in furoo’i (secondary) matters and neglect basic principles and important matters, mention of this came up in the conversation with him as well, and a detailed discussion of the objectionable things occurring in the Haramain was also made. Shaikh Atiyyah is Shaikhul Jami’ah and a confidant of Shaikh Bin Baz, and also the coordinator of examinations and academics. MashaAllah he is a very good scholar, possessing expertise in all sciences and arts, and is also concerned about matters of importance in Islam. He concurred enthusiastically and said that it would InshaAllah be very beneficial if such discussions are held regularly. He also read the letters this lowly one wrote to Mufti Akbar and Emir Faisal and expressed his approval and liking for them and also that the matters mentioned therein were essential. When mention came up of Ahkam Ul Quran, authored by this lowly one in Arabic language and a few parts of which were with me at the time in the form of individual booklets, he expressed his desire to see them. In accordance with this wish, those booklets were sent to him in the morning. When he mentioned them to Shaikhul Jami’ah, he also said that if the Mufti of Pakistan gives permission, we will arrange for its publication here. I already had it in mind that these Arabic booklets would not be as useful for Pakistan as for here. I therefore promised to send them after review.”

A classmate of our respected father, Maulana Mughees ud-Deen Sahib Bijnori, came to meet him. They discussed various matters. Also, Shaikh Atiyyah invited for breakfast where Maulana Nazim Nadvi Sahib was also invited. That same day after Isha prayer we came to know that the senior-most teacher of Madinah University and the teacher of Tafsir, Shaikh Muhammad Ameen Shanqeetee (author of Adwaa Ul Quran), came to visit our respected father at his residence. This is the same scholar whose Tafisir (commentary of the Noble Quran) “Adwaa Ul Quran” has now been published and has become much approved and liked in scholarly circles. At that time only the first volume had been published. He presented the same to our respected father and discussed the topic of Tafsir bit-Tafsir (exegesis of the Quran with the Quran) for a long time. When mention came up of the letters our respected father had sent to Mufti Akbar and Emir Faisal, he firmly backed them and thereafter the conversation continued for long regarding how the emphasis on furoo’i (secondary) disagreements had made many scholars of the time heedless to the important matters of Islam. The said scholar also mentioned some of his efforts in this direction, that when Emir Faisal visited the University, the same issues were voiced to him with regards to the topic of Tafsir of the Quran.

Another teacher of the University, Shaikh Abdul Qadir Sahib, came to our respected father in the sacred Haram after Maghrib. They had met the previous year. He was the one who had arranged for our respected father’s meeting with Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Salih (may Allah’s mercy be upon him), the Imam of Masjid Nabawi and Head of Judges, the previous year. Maulana Noor Ahmad Sahib went to the Imam of the Haram Shaikh Abdul Aziz Salih and read to him the letters sent to Mufti Akbar and Emir Faisal. Several other scholars and eminent personalities were in attendance in that gathering. All of them not only agreed with the proposals but also expressed their necessity.

We were to depart from Madinah Munawwarah on the 15^th of Muharram after Asr. Shaikh Atiyyah arrived immediately after Asr and brought with him the booklets of our respected father which are part of Ahkamul Quran and said: “I have read four of them completely. I found them very beneficial.” He also gave some suggestions at some places.

Just before leaving, when we had packed our beddings and belongings, suddenly Shaikhul Jamiyah Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz also came to our room for farewell meeting. Ustadh Atiyyah was with him. We did not have anything for him to sit on, not even a mat. We immediately opened a packed bedding and sat the Shaikh on it. We were deeply affected by his simplicity and care for travelers. And the words he uttered after sitting are also worth remembering. He said: “This world, in its entirety, is a place of nuzool (settling for a while) and irtihaal (setting off again).” Thereafter he made many supplications for us and then sought permission to leave. We were also concerned about leaving immediately. After bidding him farewell we went to the Haram Sharif for farewell Salam (greetings). Our taxi was ready when we returned after a short while. Our respected father recited the following couplet at the time of departure:

تَلَفَّتُّ نحو الحيّ حتي وجدتني

وجعت من الإصغاء ليتا وأخدعا

“I kept turning my head behind to see my tribe, until the veins of my neck began aching.”

We stayed in Jeddah after returning from Madinah Munawwarah. It was during this stay that the incident of Hadhrat Maulana Noor Ahmad Sahib being admitted to hospital took place, which I have mentioned above. When we were reassured about his condition, our respected father and we two brothers departed for Umrah, stayed there for two nights and thereafter returned to Jeddah. By that time Hadhrat Maulana Noor Ahmad Sahib had, Alhamdulillah, recovered enough to be able to travel. We therefore returned from this blessed journey of Hajj on 20^th Muharram 1384H. Besides fulfilling the obligation of Hajj, Allah Ta’ala bestowed innumerable other benefits in the company of our respected father (may his secret be sanctified).

With the grace and mercy of Allah the Exalted, we saw some results of the efforts of our respected father with our own eyes. For example, it was a common sight at the time to hear music from shops as soon as one exited the sacred Haram, and one could also see figures of animate beings available for sale. Alhamdulillah these painful sights are no longer seen now. Similarly, some Western-influenced ladies could be seen walking around with their calves bared. Our respected father had made a special mention of these things in his letters. Therefore it is likely that the Department of Amr Bil Ma’roof (Commanding the Good) took notice of these matters and undertook practical measures regarding them. A temporary wane was also felt with regards to the issue of emphasizing upon furoo’i (secondary) matters beyond necessity. After bringing these matters up to the noble scholars of Saudi Arabia, our respected father’s booklet “Wahdat-e-Ummat” was translated into Arabic by Maulana Suhaib Sahib. At this lowly one’s suggestion it was titled “A Khilaafun Am Shiqaaq?”, and was later widely distributed there. Regrettably, later some extremist individuals did not let these efforts to bear more fruit, and as of now there is more effort needed on this front.

[1] The current expansion of Masjid Nabawi had not taken place at that time, and a courtyard containing pebbles was located below Suffah. These are referred to as “Hasiyaat” here.

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