Risalah al-Mudhakarah

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

As a brief introduction, this is the translation in English for Risalah al-Mudharah. It was composed by Abdullah Alawi al-Haddad but I did not write it in according to his composition in English because he used Arabic in the letters. The letters were actually kept by my father but he did not read it himself. I found it in his keeping so I read it and now sharing it with brethren in faith... I would like to apologize for my bad English. I tried hard to maintain the nuance of the original text but it is impossible too to write it in raw translation...

Epistle of Reminder

Introduction
Fear to the God

Deeds
Pleasure and the Wrath of the God

Honor to the Devotees
The Danger of Disobedience to the God
Qualities of a Faithful Servant

My mother had actually asked me to do some translations on our religious books as a way to gain meritorious deeds but she does not even know what I am studying, haha. I made some by hand-writing because I have no printer nor scanner here. So, it is just in my notebooks. 

Abdullah Alawi al-Haddad who originally delivered this was a pious man from Tarim Valley of Hadramawt region in Southern Yemen. He was a blind man but possess a vast knowledge about the "Path". The region was prominent for Shafi'ie school of jurisprudence which is also a school followed by most of the citizen in our country. Last time, I had to follow the method from Arabia because I had some experience being driven out from the "Path" so I had to keep a very strict practice as a way to regain my faith again. And now I am giving the honor again to our ancestors who adopt this school...  

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Quran Lesson: Surat al-Fajr

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Alhamdulillahi rabbi'l'aalamin... Praises only due to the Lord of the universe that we finished our night prayers at the mosque without any problem. I rarely pray at the musalla close to our neighborhood but I walk almost everyday to the al-Najah mosque at the religious primary school if brothers and sisters are familiar with Precinct 9 in Putrajaya. Because I have time for that and I don't make friends with fellow human-beings, my father is lying sick on the bed and I am broke right now that I cannot travel far, hahaha. 

I think today the mosque is extraordinarily filled with people just like yesterday. Thankful to the God when seeing them performing the salat services together. I am glad the young imam from Kelantan is back too. I was so sad when I thought he was shifted. Though never talked with him cause there is no chance yet but I simply feel comfortable to pray there because of him.  

Introduction

In the Name of the God the Most Merciful the Most Compassionate

 

I just chanted the surat al-Fajr to fill the gap time between the Maghrib and 'Isha servcies though been reading the opening part for so many times. Yes, it is a simple surat recorded in the Glorious Quran but please never under estimate its benefit to the reciters and those who learn this simple surat. This surat was revealed in the holy city, Mecca just after the revelation of the surat al-Layl. Al-Fajr means the Day Break. It consists of 30 verses. So, how to memorize this surat easily? You can break this surat into three parts where each part consists of 10 very simple verses. Methods may vary depends on a person. I am usually using the tasbeeh or prayer beads to memorize the verses. There are specific methods that a reciter may develop but I am not going to talk in length here.

Meaning

There are four major lessons which we could find in this surat. I am going to put them together in the meaning section.

1) The Destruction of Those who Opposed Teachings of the God

By the dawn 1 And the ten nights 2 And the even and odd 3 And the night when it passes 4 Is there in that, an oath for one of perception? 5 Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the tribe of 'Aad? 6 Iram who had lofty pillars 7 The likes of whom had never been created in the land 8 And Tamud, who carved out rocks in the valley? 9 And Pharaoh who owns the stakes? 10 Whom oppressed within the lands 11 And increased therein the corruption 12 So, your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment 13 Indeed, your Lord is in observation 14

2) Wealth and Poverty is the Tests for the Servants of the God

And as for man, when his Lord tries him and is generous to him and favors him, he says, "My Lord has honored me" 15 But when He tries him and restricts his provision, he says, "My Lord has humiliated me" 16 No, but you do not honor the orphan! 17 And you do not encourage one another to feed the poor 18 And you consume inheritance, devouring it altogether! 19 And you love the wealth with intense love 20

3) The Remorse of Those who were Sunken in the Worldly Affairs

Never! When the earth has been leveled, pounded and crushed 21 And your Lord has come, and the angles rank upon rank 22 And brought within the view, that Day is Hell - that Day, man will remember, but what good for him will be the remembrance? 23 He will say, "Oh, I wish I had sent ahead some good for my life" 24 So, on that Day, none will punish as severely as His punishment 25 And none will bind as severely as His binding of the evildoers 26

4) Appreciation on Those who were Faithful

To the righteous it will be said, "O, tranquil soul!" 27 Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing to Him 28 And enter among My righteous servants 29 And enter into My paradise 30    

Lessons

Well, I can just relate this to my life. I never look far to others because I have no power to do that. Even our self is quite difficult to contemplate and to know. How can we judge people and say that we are better off than others? This surat is good for those who feel hopeless in their life. Maybe we are not fortunate as others, poor, broke, ugly, and so on. But the God Himself through the tongue of noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w assured us that these are not the humiliation for us. They are just the trials for us. If we wish to return to Him well-pleasing and peacefully, we should try our best to fulfill our Covenant with Him. 

Maybe we feel insinuated or feel sad when we suddenly compared ourselves with others. I too sometimes feel that way even I cried until some people looked at me like a crazy person because I looked awful just after that. We feel that way because they are more fortunate than us or lucky there while we are wretched miserable and hapless soul here. But, then the God says that it is also a trial as to show whether those people are going to be steady or sunken into worldly affairs. The God had earlier put forth the example to us, the 'Aad and the Tamud who were the ancient Arab nations. The Aad's archeological sites were discovered by Western archeologists in Rubb el-Khaly and the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w had also passed the area of the Tamud during the battle of Tabuk in the 9th of H as reported by Abdullah bin Umar r.a. Also the Pharaoh who killed the Egyptian sorcerers who testified the prophethood of Moses a.s thus refusing to worship the king just because he was rich and fortunate. 

So, this is some parts of the Quran... Try to memorize if brothers and sisters have some blurry image of the written surats. If brothers and sisters had already memorize them, then I am so pleased. Even more pleased if you help me to teach them around, to your children to your friends to your brothers and sisters. By memorizing the Quran, you people could also help me in the hereafter. At least please tell the God to save me :')

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin! 

Pakistani Muslim Scholar: Muhammad Tahir al-Qadri

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Introduction

Just relaxing while waiting for afternoon prayer service time. Now, we talk about sub-Indian continent ulama and this one is from Qadiri mission order lineage. It is our heritage since some of our ancestors also hailed from here. We have several mission orders here whether in the Sunnah or the Shi'a ones. I am also cooperating and having contacts with some progressive Shi'a brothers. There are also people known by this mission in movements of Tabligh and Barelwi. So don't scratch each other faces but try to understand each other.

I can't really join our Tabligh Jama'at brothers or those from Wahhabi movements or any visible organizations. I did tried to combine myself into groups or visible mission orders but I feel like an out-caste and myself is very filthy when I listened to their speeches. We have to leave behind our customs. Say, if a Hebrew professing his faith to Allah and to the prophethood of Muhammad s.a.w. Do he or she has to leave behind all of her customs and traditions inherited from past prophets and messengers of the God while those traditions are actually mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah again through Muhammad s.a.w prophethood? 

Those in our masjid who used Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Wahhab kitabs are not all from religious schools and fields though they speak Arabic. I am aware about the basis of their religious science once I listened to their speeches because sometimes it is exceeding the limit of humility. We emphasize the basis of the Creed and also Shari'at which is the Path. We don't like to condemn people especially our brothers unless if we join them and look at their approaches. That is why I keep repeating about the first things of the Path in this site because some might think this site is the site of a grave worshiper, lol. I am not worshiping any grave, idols, human-being, demon, angel and I never worship any teacher anymore once I repented. Teachers are just examples especially for morality and the quest for knowledge. They are not gods like what I saw in fanatics attacking each other because others are not in accordance to their teachers (can I say their god?) opinions.

It does not mean that I won't help them or I hate them and encourage people to hate them. It is a sin to hate brothers and sisters in faith or anyone. I will certainly help them, but they must train their public members first before performing da'awat because not all of the public being preached are of the same level of knowledge regarding the Path. They should always revise their method of da'awat and checking whether for example they are performing the compassionate mercy equally to everyone which also includes the disabled, animals, plants, environment, and etc. As Muslims, we are taught to always be in the Middle Path on everything. We don't exceed the boundaries withing two lines: angelic and demonic. Because we are human-being. This is what I understood about our Path.     

I had already changing my school of jurisprudence from Shafi'ie to Salafi (Hanbali) one in order to be in compliance with our mission order and trying to learn from the scratch. Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab or Ibnu Taimiyah and etc are just among Hanbali school of jurisprudence scholars. They are not the creators of any new schools but fanatics developed movements from them and expounding their ideas for new-founded ideologies. These scholars are no gods, prophets, or messengers of the God but human-being who happened to be scholars. Everyone will become scholars if they are diligent to memorize the Quran, learning the Sunnah, practicing them in daily life and checking the basis of Shari'at with diligent teachers who are doing researches.

Biography of Sheikh Muhammad Tahir

His father is Farid ad-Din Qadri. His ancestors belong to Sial ethnic group who speaks in three languages which are Punjabi, Sindhi, and Saraiki. They hailed from Jhang close to Sargodha in Pakistan.

Early Education

It mentions that he started his education at Catholic mission school, Sacred Heart in Jhang. He was educated in English and exposed to Christianity at an early age. He was taught with Islamic sciences from the age 12 in Medina al-Munawwara in Saudi Arabia at the Madrasah al-'Ulum al-Shari'yya. It is situated on the site of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari house. It was the first place where prophet Muhammad s.a.w was offered to stay when he first reached the city of Medina. 

It reminds me of my dad stories about himself. He was also educated in Sacred Heart of Singapore under a Catholic brother supervision once he was kicked out of the village in Kodiang, Kedah after my grandpa passed away. Three of my elder sisters also began their education in Cantonese Catholic pre-formal school in Central Kedah. Some of my paternal cousins were also educated in Catholic church in Malacca where they also had to join Christian's prayer services though they weren't Christian. I was quite fortunate to begin my education in masjid system, haha.

      

His early teachers in Islamic sciences among them were:

1. Mawlana Dhiyaauddin al-Madani who died in 1981 at the age 107. 

2. Al-Hijaz Sayyid 'Alawi ibn Abbas Maliki al-Makki who taught hadith sciences.

3. Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi Maliki al-Makki who was the foremost Sunnah authority in Mid East

4. Al-'Azam of Pakistan, Sardar Ahmad al-Qadri

He also learned from other prominent classical authorities in Islamic sciences such as from:

1. Abu Barakat Ahmad al-Qadri al-Alwari. He is one of hadith narrators of the Indian sub-continent. His dad is Didar 'Ali Shah al-Alwari who studied under Ahmad Ali Muhaddith Sharanpuri and Ahmed Raza Khan Baralwi. Sheikh Qadri studied under Abu Barakat for four years and received his ijazat in hadith and jurisprudence in 1972.

2. Abdul Rashid al-Ridwi. Sheikh Qadri completed the classical Darsi Nizami course with him from 1963 to 1970 at Jami'a Qutubiyya Ridwiyya in Jhang. Lessons were conducted from pre-dawn Tahajjud prater service at three early in the morning to eleven at night with pauses between noon and afternoon. Abdul Rashid only taught Sheikh Qadri alone without any other students. While attended an event for Sheikh Qadri, Abdul Rashid mentioned in his speech about Sheikh Qadri. He never miss his Tahajjud and optional services. He never absent to all of his lessons and never think to do that. He is a loyal student and is a qualified teacher too. He still maintains his humility wherever he is and Abdul Rashid prays for him to be successful in the order mission. 

3. Tahir 'Alauddin Qadri Gilani. This is a saint who become the spiritual guide of the Qadiriyya mission in 1996. He bestowed the ijazat and certification to Sheikh Qadri in hadith sciences. He started the Minhaj University and Minhaj al-Quran Institute.

4. Ahmad Zubaydi or Abu Hanifa Saghir of Syria. He is allegedly from the family of Imam Abu Hanifa. He reports that he personally heard Tahir Alauddin al-Gilani referred to Sheikh Tahir Qadri as the reviver of our Path. 

5. Abdul Ma'bud Jilani. This teacher studied under scholars such as Imdadullah Muhajir Makki, Ahmad Rida Khan, Qutbul Arifin Ali Sulayman ibn Mustafa an-Naqib al-Baghdadi, Abdul Rahman al-Mahd an-Naqib al-baghdadi, Shah Muhammad Sulayman Tonswi and Fazli Haq Khairabadi.

6. Fariduddin Qadri. The dad of Sheikh Qadri himself was a scholar. He studied from al-Hijaz, in Lucknow, Delhi, Hyderabad in India, Baghdad, Damascus and other places. He gained knowledge of sciences from scholars such as al-Haram al-Makka 'Alawi bin 'Abbad al-Maliki, Muhammad Abdul Shakur al-Muhajir al-Madani who had once studied in Darul Ulum of Deoband before leaving for Medina al-Munawwara. Fariduddin also studied under Abdul Hadi al-Ansari of Lucknow, Abdul Baqi Ali Muhammad al-Ansar al-Muhaddith, and many others because their name is so long, haha. Fariduddin taught Sheikh Qadri everyday from 1962-1970 and periodically from 1970-1974 about the principles of hadith, tafseer, aqeeda, tasawwuf, Arabic grammar, Arabic language styles, logic, philosophy, and Arabic literature as well as other traditional classical sciences. He gave Sheikh Qadri the Dawra al-Hadith to certify him in 1970.

7. Ahmad Sa'eed Kazmi. This guy was a famous authority of Pakistan and was known as the "Ghazali of his time." He was a close friend to Sheikh Qadri's dad. Sheikh Qadri was sent under his supervision at Jami'a Islamiyya Bahawalpur as well as in his own institution in Anwar al-'Ulum in Multan. The studies he acquired included hadith, aqeeda, the knowledge of kalam, and other classical sciences. Upon completion, he was awarded with the Sanadi Hadith in 1979.

8. Hussain ibn Ahmad Usayran. He was the last living student of the Lebanese authority, Yusuf ibn Ismail Nabhani. He gave Sheikh Qadri all of his ijazats in 2004, a year before he passed away. He gained knowledge from the topmost authority of sciences regarding hadith and jurisprudence from Middle East and North Africa.

9. Muhammad Fateh al-Kattani. This guy is a specialist of Hadith in Syria. He taught Sheikh Qadri in Damascus and gave him all his ijazats.

10. Burhan Ahmad Faruqi. He was a famous student of Zafar al-Hasan Uthmani and a student of Muhammad Sulayman Ashraf Aligarhi. He supervised Sheikh Qadri on the studies of philosophical reflection of Muhammad Iqbal and bestowed him all the certification (permission) to teach others.

Later Education

Sheikh Qadri studied law at University of Punjab in Lahore. He was graduated with an LLB in 1974 with a gold medal for academic achievements. After a period of legal practice as an advocate, he taught law in the University of Punjab from 1978-1983 and gained his PhD in Islamic Law majoring in Punishments in Islam, their Classification and Philosophy from the same university in 1986. His supervisor were Bashir Ahmad Siddiqui and Javaid Iqbal. He was appointed a professor of Law at Punjab University and taught British, US and Islamic constitutional law.

Career Life

Sheikh Qadri was appointed as a Jurist Consultant or Legal Adviser on Islamic Law for the Supreme Cpurt and the Federal Shari'ah Court of Pakistan. He worked also as a specialist adviser on Islamic curricula for the Federal Ministry of Education of Pakistan. At various times between 1983-1987, he received and declined offers for various high-level posts.       

He has delivered more than 6000 lectures on various fields such as on political-economy studies, religious philosophy, law, sufism, medical sciences, material sciences and astronomy. Numerous lectures are available in Arabic, English, and Urdu at Islamic bookshops around the world. Hurmm, I wanted to find them for my readings if I have time after this.

Sheikh Qadiri himself has awarded permission or ijazat to other leading Muslim scholars which makes them his students and linking them through his lineage mission order back to prophet Muhammad s.a.w and companions of the prophet s.a.w. It brings everyone into connection.

Closing

All of the stories we posted here are just for us to reflect upon ourselves based on real life experience. About the ulamas and scholars, example of their morality could help us to lead a noble life. This one is just for us to boost up our spirit to learn from good examples. This guy is not a god and for me. I never have a strict understanding about saints. Saints for me are my brothers and sisters whom I love so much. I am serving my beloved brothers and sisters for His pleasure as possible as I can. It is for us to struggle in pursuing our ambition. What is our ambition? To see His Glorious Appearance and to be close to Him, insha Allah :')

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!