Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi
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Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim
hamdulillah hamdulillah Muhammad who want to start you know who
want to stop you who are not going to be who you want to actually
want are also bIllahi min Shruti and fusina. Amin see earthy I'm
learning me you had the low Philomel the littler one when
you're little who further heard the one a shadow Allah Allah Allah
Allah who the WHO la sharika when a shadow Anessa you then our
Molana Mohamed Abu Rasulullah sallallahu Tada either you either
early he was so happy about Rocco or seldom at the Sleeman Kathira
on Eli Yomi. Dean another
My dear respected or Allama, my dear respected brothers, sisters
if there are sisters here, not sure listeners.
My talk today is not to be considered the full speech in any
manner
that I'm going to leave for the more learned scholars that will be
gracing Ole Miss midst insha Allah. My prayer is that they will
be able to do justice to this vast subject and this personality.
I'm here to just provide some reflections on this great man, a
mountain mountain of knowledge and Gnosis Malefor physician and sage
of the Ummah, reformer of the masses, Jeremy or Sharia, what 31,
who held together both the sacred law and the spiritual path that
has value of his time, more than any time we. And these things are
not said just rhetorically, there is a tradition when we're
describing or defining someone when we're introducing someone we
put all of these titles on. But really every single one of these
titles is very apt for this person. And none of this is being
said with any kind of
with any kind of biased in any way. It's purely it's not done any
out of emotion. It is the truth insha Allah.
I'll explain later, while I confirm on him the title of his
early of his time. But first, I'm here just to speak about three
particular distinguishing characteristics of Monash very
timely. I'll be here just to speak about three characteristics. I'm
I'm
very honored to speak about this. And I would request that you
listen to this carefully.
Number one, one thing about modern autonomy what made him so great if
you were to spend his life the first thing that comes to mind is
his acute and refined understanding of the human self
the psychological recognition.
Because the practice of self reformation in the soul of or
Sufism pertains to both the external conditions and the
interior conditions of the human being. Sufi masters traditionally
have always paid attention to the role of human psychology, in the
moral and religious disciplining of the individual. Within the
history of Sufism, in South Asia, which in which India also comes
sustained attention to the human psyche is evident in the flower it
will further Nura Modine Alia Rahima, hula, the Matoba of Sheikh
Ahmed Hassan Hindi Rahima hula, the label cathedra and the female
Ilahi of sha Allah the hill away, and also in the tarbiyah to Salic
the malfa to the aphorisms and the Hotbird the lectures of Hakimullah
MCMA national Balaton where you will see this distinguished this
distinguishing character within these books just like you started
in the earlier Sufis that'd be too slick to take that we have to
select. In particular, it's a three volume collection of
correspondences between mana Tommy and his Marines or spiritual
students. In these letters. Students narrated to him accounts
of their spiritual maladies and personal struggles, but also
mystical experiences and spiritual achievements. In his replies, he
advised them on methods to cope with their stress, anxiety and
melancholia that
this was the case only when he perceived these experience to be
overstated. In genuine cases of progression, he advised on how to
maintain or advance further from that state. In other words, he was
a true spiritual master, who could diagnose the barriers of the
spiritual path very well. These letters stand witness to the
unconditional trust the students placed in him, disposing of their
selves to him as medical patients hand over their bodies to
physicians. Just like you feel so,
so confident
to put yourself in the hands of a doctor, these people felt
confident in giving them their souls their hearts, to nurture to
Hakima number one luxury autonomy.
If his clear and succinct replies disciplined his disciples, they
will also resplendent with affection and care. In this way he
came across to his students
as their fellow traveler and not their managerial overseer, he
often used the terms of theory of voluntary and the theory theory or
involuntary in his replies to their letters, if evil thoughts
away with desires and undesirable dispositions, was there a theory
then the disciple should put his mind at ease and not worry about
any representation for one is not accountable for involuntary hotrod
involuntary thoughts that come into mind. However, if one chases
after such blameworthy thoughts, then there is culpability since
the person uses his own will and volition to advance an accidental
thought, into a conscious objective pursuit. In this way, he
comforted many of His disciples who would lose courage when they
were met with egoistic whisperings. his mastery of the
craft of guiding his disciples earned him the title Hakeem and
OMA, the spiritual physician of the masses.
Because of his recognition of psychological complexity and
variation, he guided his students according to their spiritual needs
and temporary mental differences. For example, when it came to Mufti
Mohammed Hassan of Amritsar, which is in Punjab, Marana THON, we
asked him to repeat the final year of Darcy Nizami of the decennial
army curriculum, the Dora to Hades, the year in which the six
canonized collections of Hadith are read. Now, just to diverge
there a bit. If you look at the great amount of the time who have
left an indelible mark today that you can recognize if I put some of
these names in front of you, you will be able to recognize them,
you will find that some of the greatest of those names were
attached to Maulana Tonry for example, Mona Shapira, Hammock
with money. The commentator of the Quran as we know him, we're
talking about Chef abdelmadjid Daria buddy, another commentator
of the Quran, who went through some ideological problems and then
Hamdulillah he met mana Tonry mana Fatima Mohammed Jalandoni, another
translator of the Quran. Again, these are all people who've left
Mark behind who have left a mark behind. Then you've got Monona
Idris candle we another professor of the Quran, a historian. I mean,
these were people who had mastery of many different sciences. Then
you have modern the use of binnorie Rahmatullah howdy. Again,
another famous person, the founder of the great binnorie town, Medusa
and SubhanAllah. You can imagine the tradition that he's left
behind modern NumbersUSA Hansa that's another one. It's one of
the recent ones in fact, and one of the most recent is modern
operable. HOXA of hardware Rahmatullah here they are they him
as a Marine. He was one of the last of the whole of of modern
national autonomy. Each one is in itself, just a very specifically
nurtured pearl on their own SubhanAllah. So that was the case
with Mufti Mohammed Hassan of Amritsar. He made him do the Dota
two Hadith again. Yet on the other hand, monotone very monotone, we
had recognized Mufti Mohammed Hassan's devotion and willingness
to protect himself and therefore he did not hesitate to advise a
Mufti to repeat the same year, the last year of the academy program
again, however, when dealing with the great Muslim historian say it
Salima nadwi Say sorry, mana Dewey, who was who Syrah is very
famous, which he co wrote with Shibley Normani, who was actually
his teacher as well. Mala tun we with him demonstrated a different
type great forbearance, patience and humility.
So that's what I'm gonna do. We had a very, very close mentoring
relationship with the poet Muhammad Akbar, and had also been
trained by Allama Shibley Normani. Someone with whom all the time we
expressed his disagreement. More than con we understood that for
sage Solomon nadwi, to turn to the solf and to one on Bhutan, we his
expression of interest in becoming a disciple of one Mattancherry
were acts of great courage and humility. Thus, while NuTonomy
reciprocated this humility and coupled it with tactful advices
that created a bond we'd say it's funny Am I not we such that it led
my sales team on not going to declare more than a ton we as the
Jamia al Majid DD,
Jeremy on which had been coming from a historian with that
background. Subhanallah Rahim Rahim Allah, the composite of the
revivals widget that is the reviver
one time we also understood the importance of audience awareness.
Now what we've been speaking about so far is his understanding of
individuals, especially individuals of some status. That
was not all his lecture.
As we're well attended, he used to he could go on for five, seven
hours, two hours was average. As I heard yesterday, monotone, we also
understood the importance of audience awareness, even a cursory
look at his writings, which number in the hundreds about 900 or so
revealed that he was a gifted writer in Urdu, Arabic and
Persian. We just for the rhythm, if you just get a copy of the
Bible, I didn't know Adam, it's a struggle to read through that
book, such very topics that are that you could say, summaries of
really complex ideas that he summarizes in few lines using all
the sciences that he has, he has access to, and you'd have to draw
from many different sciences and disciplines to be able to even
understand it.
So when he spoke to a general audience, though, he employed
simple phrases, everyday examples and popular idioms to convey his
message. Something which I may not be doing today, unfortunately,
more than a ton, we would take his audience members to higher levels
of abstraction as the lecture progress only after they had
understood his conceptual framework. Very good. I mean, if
you read any of his Autobots, you will see how he keeps it focused,
but his knowledge just pours out. Number two, that was the first
point, his understanding of the human self number two is his
penchant for discipline organization, meticulousness. How
does a man who lives a standard age at least to a standard age and
average age do so much work and so much accomplishment and deal with
so many people? One is that you lock yourself away in a room and
just write that's not what he did. He was there available. He spoke
to people he corresponded with people. How does somebody do that?
Clearly, there's a concept of Baraka, but then we need to show
something from our own self. And here it says pension for done
Bremen 13 organization meticulousness discipline, mana
for more on autonomy, much anxiety could be avoided if people were
meticulous in living in living organized lives, he really pushed
for that. In his practice of everyday life monitor we saw
interpersonal engagements, material objects, and devotional
and devotional practices as means to cultivate self restraint. He
embodied unmatched self discipline when it came to arranging his own
material possessions and organizing his living space as
part of the larger objects objective of perfecting the social
sphere of life. In this regard, he taught that everything that needs
to be done, regardless of how mundane an activity and simple an
activity and may be, must be done with due care and deliberation, to
ensure that it is done in the best manner possible, as best manner
possible that can bring maximum convenience to oneself, and
everyone also affected by it.
While it's thoughtful about the other person as well, most
importantly, he taught this puncture lessness, which
essentially means strict attentive attention to detail, very strict
attention to detail, to be an integral part of the deal he
considered to be this to be an integral part of the deen and
practiced it.
For which divine reward can be sought. He said, You can be
rewarded for it. People visiting his Kanaka not only listen to the
words of a pious and learned saint, but also witness how the
symbiosis of ailment Amman, how the amalgamation, the coming
together of Elm and Amman can transform an individual's body and
his immediate surroundings. Everything was so organized and
you had to adhere to that organization. Otherwise, you'd be
booted out.
More than a time we kept a strict schedule to manage his time a
quality upon which the following anecdote sheds light it sheds
light. Imagine this, shameful him Maulana Muhammad Hassan
Rahmatullah he it was his teacher. He was his stuff.
Dawn of Dilbert when he had studied the Schakel Hindu once
visited monatomic internal power. The letter was elated. Manasa
Britannia was very happy, very elated at this opportunity to
enjoy the company of his teacher. However, when it came time to
conduct his daily research and writing at a time slotted for
writing only, just like as a Shakespeare carrier that as well
Rahmatullah Yachty he respectfully asked his Schakel hint if he could
be excused
to spend some time in his scriptorium in his right in his
study in his writing place, impressed now the start didn't
say, you know, impressed with his meticulous devotion to shake will
hint the answer that you must attend to your daily routine.
You must go and attend to your daily routine. These qualities of
mana Tommy proved useful for many purposes.
Many things came out of this number one, prolific production
and sheer industry in writing
900 or so books and not just literally silence, not just the
simple hot buttons no
some
serious work, serious training of his disciples that was also an
engaging in his own devotional rituals. He was
benefiting the people that came to him personally. He was benefiting
the Ummah at large and continues to. And he was also not forgetting
himself, which is a challenge for people who are very active,
they're so busy with others, they forget themselves.
These are the three things that he was able to achieve. Number two,
he was also able to attend to many different tasks because he dips
discipline himself to make time for each of them. He had time for
every he had two wives as well. He had time for everything.
And number three, the third thing you get out of this is peace of
mind and personal convenience.
Imam Hassan, these words come to mind here.
I mentioned he's the result of his time. Imam Ghazali Rahmatullah
Allah His words come to mind here Imam Hassan, he says in order to
hidayah your time should not be without any structure, such that
you occupy yourself arbitrarily arbitrarily with whatever comes
along.
You're just waiting for your friends to call you. You just
sitting on your
when you call it Facebook and Twitter, that's what you're doing
right now. Rather, you must take account of yourself in order your
worship during the day and the night assigning to each period of
time and activity that must not be neglected nor replaced by another
activity. By this ordering of time, the baraka and blessing of
time will show itself you want Baraka in time this is the way to
do it. The person who leaves himself without a plan as animals
do, not knowing what he is to do at any given moment, will spend
most of his time fruitlessly Your time is your life and your life is
your capital. Buy it you make your trade and buy it you will reach
the eternal bounties in the proximity of Allah subhanaw taala
every single breath of yours is a priceless jewel because it is
irreplaceable. Once it is gone, there is no return for it. So do
not be like fools who reject rejoice each day, as their wealth
increases, while their lives decrease. What good is there in
wealth that increases while one's lifespan decreases
moral autonomy sense of discipline also comes across in his writing,
very academic style. Never been to university. But even from a modern
perspective, you can appreciate his work. His writing is timeless
essentially. He first defines his terms when I use this word
istilah. I mean this by it, because a word could be used in
many different meanings. So he defines what I mean by this word,
cuts out arguments,
then sets out a general argument and then presents evidence to
persuade his readers. Most of the time we despised conversational
meanderings, which means just talking aimlessly, just going on
about something and muddled concepts. In his lectures. He
often spoken a few Quranic verses, if not only just a single verse
and prefer not to overtax the minds of his listeners, by jumping
from one idea to another. He preferred clarity of expression
logical argumentation, that his audience could relate to and fully
appreciate, and a balanced appeal to human emotions. During the
first 10 days of the month of Muharram, an example when the Shia
are doing that Asiya.
He would organize lectures on the virtuous lives of a burqa Omar
Osman Ali Hassan Hussein of the Allahu Anhu. Much Marine, he spoke
about these posts, but it says it's in such an effective way that
even some of the shear will abandon data Zia and come and
listen to his lectures.
Very productive way instead of condemning, he's using a
productive way to bring them in monatomic lectures and writings
deal with real problems and concrete are real people and
concrete problems. He is not writing hypothetically, he is
writing about what his experience has been with people, and he
eschewed disembodied guidelines. His text stemmed out of social and
personal, often practical contexts. He was not just a mere
preacher, rather, like Imam Ghazali monatomic spoke in ways
that addressed his audience members epistemological
understanding of the world so that they could see apparently and
clearly Allah's greatness and the prophets of Allah has some
significance in their most mundane activities. Mufti Taqi with money
in his talk yesterday, he brought about a number of these things of
what Pinery in the soul Wolf and Sufism is all about, and inshallah
I leave that to move the turkey with money.
This is quite different from other preachers who sometimes speak for
hours on the virtues of this or that or who only narrate long
stories from the Quran for strengthening the faith of the
listeners more than a ton. We delivered his lectures with a
highly systematic approach in which he explained to his
audience, why he is speaking to them in the first place, what he
wants to convey to them and how this is
relevant for their everyday lives. When they are already tuned, then
if that's the case, then they are already tuned to the divine.
However, if they profess the greatness of Allah but cannot see
the applicability of Allah's commandment in their everyday
lives, then they are negligent of the Divine. In this matter,
everything mama can, we said was an invitation into a lived world.
In essence, he transformed the perception of the dean in the
public mind from that of sour grapes, to one that permeates the
most mundane of activities that in everything you do, from your
eating to whatever you do, you can be rewarded for it and it's Diem
thus bringing about the realisation that Dean is
intrinsically relevant to every individual for every act that you
do.
And the third point, before I conclude, the third distinctive
quality and characteristic is is emphasis on the, the unison, of
discursive knowledge and embodied knowledge, knowledge that spoken
and knowledge that is actually practiced.
We speak a lot, but do we practice it? In many ways more than a ton
we advanced our understanding of the traditional definition of
knowledge according to which knowledge is the acquisition of
the form image of a thing in the intellect for their own Amma
Alenko who who sudo su Adi che if they as imam,
Imam GA and he has defined for more than a tan widow such a
definition of Elvis obvious. Mala Tommy wrote, if n was mere
informational expertise, then it could become possible with
disobedience as well.
Even with unbelief, he pushed for notions of knowledge that
transcend discursive words human beings can just retrieve from the
memory or articulate by means of concepts. If n was mere
information. On the time we argued, then there are Christians
in Beirut and Germany.
Maybe a lot of the orientalist as well, who writes in the Arabic
language, and are also imbued with strong memory and sharp minds. l
however, encompasses much more than symbols and sounds and ideas
contained cognitively through repetition and conceptualization.
One time we said the reality of L is the reality of light and noon
regarding which Allah subhanaw taala says in the Quran, indeed
light and a clear book has come to you from Allah. While words are
signifiers and concepts the signified make up the form and
just function of its essence is metaphysical and ontological,
which means there's a reality to it that needs to be lived, for a
person to be obedient to Allah subhanaw taala. After stating
things in the abstract and categorical formulations monatomic
often provided illustrative examples, he cites an incident
memory memorialized about the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam many of us must have heard it. During one of the
prophesy Lawson's journeys. He decided to take rest under the
shade of a tree, as he was resting an adversary took hold of his
sword woke him up and threatened him by asking him who can save you
from me. When you have now come in at the prophets of Allah and
remain calm in this condition, and replied, Allah will save me Allah.
The adversary trembled and submitted to the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam at seeing the latest courage and lack
of apprehension. Monitoring uses this example, to explain how the
ideal embodiment of oil reaches beyond words and concepts. This is
an otherwise this is otherwise even the devil knows words very
well. That's what he said.
If in Montana, Tommy's hands elmen Amel both became existential life
projects, styles of embodied existence and material come
metaphysical realities. A wider survey of his multiple thought his
aphorisms can illustrate modern Ataris unique understanding of the
Unison of element harmony. Here it suffices to say that, in its
essence illness necessitates and this is why his multiple thoughts
and my wife are resplendent, I would suggest we all get copies of
them and read them. Unfortunately, the bulk of them have not been
translated into English, if even a few of them. That's something I'll
speak about later.
This is why he's been forgotten. mawatha resplendent with an
incredible amount of transformative power. His
teachings have continuously transformed spoken subject, spoken
subjects into practicing persons, as was the case with with his
qualified including sensory mandatory
in a public lecture,
delivered in Delhi on 15th April 19 22/17 of Sherborn 1340 Hijiri,
which was later published as that of Lehman annual, the greatness of
knowledge, monotone we shared with his audience nuggets of advice
that presuppose presupposed such a transformative understanding of
knowledge. What are these pieces of advice pertaining to the desire
for fame and fortune?
people use their knowledge or they have expertise for fame.
epistemic philia which means love of knowledge, excessive love of
knowledge just driven by desire for fame, or good monetary
devalues the intrinsic goodness of knowledge, while fame and fortune
can be material assets when it comes to other things, such as
ownership of land. In the case of knowledge, fame and fortune are
functions of one's imagination, more than autonomy for more than
autonomy even the recognition that others bestow upon one because of
knowledge, driven by the desire for fame, it's going to be
temporary and illusory. He argued that because the desire for fame
becomes the chief driving force of such knowledge acquisition, one
psychic complex had precluded the attainment of moral perfection.
Because the desire for fame stood between discursive knowledge and
embodied knowledge, one will have temporary fame for knowing words,
but after people who have given one recognition will also expect
certain certain behavioral protocols and way of conduct to
follow these words. They look at the arguments say, Well, what's
your weight, where's his Amman, because the desire for fame
precludes the moral formation that could produce embodied results,
people will start to see that this person only talks the talk, but
cannot walk the walk. They will then receive the recognition and
the person desirous of fame will end up imagining himself to be
famous, while in reality he is despised.
Conclusion
people who study has been forgotten Boy, I've witnessed how
his words enact practical actions in their daily life. Thus, in this
special way, monatomic exemplifies not only the transmission of oil,
but also the transmission of Amman. In fact for his for him
ailment Amel constitute a single ontological reality that the pious
predecessors, the self saw the hem of the Muslims had perceived and
practice so effortlessly.
In many ways, the legacy of Imam Hassan Rahim hula and monotype
Rahmatullah here they are not dissimilar. That's why I said is
the result of his time. The reason I provide here, the internal
struggle that gave the world of his early of the year, the Kimia,
the Mischka and the Budaya is also found in the early life of Bonn
and autonomy.
However, to a much lesser extent, as evident with some of his early
correspondences with hazard mon Rashid, I'm not gonna go here with
Allah here today, and then subsequent retraction of those
views as an example, however, once conviction had been achieved, just
like because
it shone through every aspect of their lives. The exemplary aalim
Sufi amalgam that personified both figures perhaps holds the key to
the similarity of their legacies. Like a man who has already in the
latter part of his life, Montana, Tommy also settled at the hunter
in Tana Bowen, as opposed to a large madrasa. Him and his dad he
settled back in his hometown of Tulsa and did not go back to the
Nova Mia college and transformed into a center of excellence Matan,
we transformed into a center Center of Excellence, and in the
esoteric and the esoteric, the bottom end of our disciplines, the
soul has been broadly characterized as having four
normative dimensions, the intellectual discipline, the soul,
novelty, spiritual practice, that the soul family literary
tradition, the writings and social institution, the way its practice,
model autonomy, integrally participated in all four of these
dimensions. Unlike some of the other Sufis, they weren't able to
practice or they weren't able to involve themselves in all of them.
Perhaps even more so. Amantha. monotonic then even remembers
early in some of these in some of the four why democracy is
considered the Majid of the fifth century hugely. monatomic has been
considered the majority of his century, Imam Ghazali brought us
off to the masses and can be credited for popularizing it. The
most salient aspect of Montana tundra is the Jeep reform and
revival of the soul wolf lies in his total conviction to recapture
and redefine its essential spirit that had become so severely sullen
and confused by by centuries of confusion. He made it he made the
self more accessible to one and all by elucidating it as a strip
perseverance on the Sharia, that is Pong we intersect with the
initiation charter that was given to all the new initiates in his
hand, is quite telling in this regard. This particular initial
initial charter is called the happy couple Teresa, which is part
of this translation of Sufi study of Hadith that Torah has mashallah
so ably had translated Sheikh Yusuf de la palabra Lorenzo has
translated it and that is what that was one of the impetus for
this program for this program. I'd like to end with saying that it's
really unfortunate that despite the people of the subcontinent,
knowing monotone we so well. The Arabs don't know about him as
much, despite the fact that they know about many others.
And the English speaking world doesn't have any good able
professional translations it's something that I would encourage
everybody to think about and contribute to in any way that you
can about a philosophy conjures up cinematic