What is Tassawuf?

What is Tassawuf?

Hazrat Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan (RA) — Shaikh Silsila Naqshbandia Owaisiah

Translated Speech of His Eminence Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan Shaikh Silsilah Naqshbandiah Owaisiah The Message of Incessant Endeavour in Practical Life Langar Makhdoom 14 October 1987 We belong to a Sufi Order; therefore, most of our speeches and writings deal with the subject of Allah’s Zikr. It is but natural that a person likes to converse about his most favourite pursuit. It should not be misconceived that we elude the challenges of practical life or persuade others to do so. On the other hand, by Allah’s Grace, this exalted Order has presented pure Tasawwuf during the present time. The masses had already confused the meanings of Tasawwuf and it was believed that Sufis are those miserable failures in the world, who escape reality and pass their time as recluses in dark corners of oratories or mosques and that, they are incapable of self-sustenance and cannot courageously face the rigors of practical life. But this concept is not correct. The real Tasawwuf was taught by the Holy Prophet-saw himself to his students, the Companions. According to the Quran, Companions were the exemplary Muslims. Their faith is quoted as the standard: And if they believe in the like of that which you believe, then are they rightly guided. But if they turn away, then are they in schism. (2: 137). It implies that everyone else is in the wrong and ill fated. It is of course, difficult to assess the level of one’s honesty, because the inner feelings of a person are not necessarily displayed on his countenance. But Allah bears witness to the piety and honesty of the Companions: Those are they whose hearts Allah has proven unto righteousness, (49: 3) and: Those are they who are in truth believers. (8: 4). Taking them as the standard of virtue and the criteria of right and wrong, the Gracious Lord has divided the Ummah in three groups. The first two are the Emigrants and the Helpers amongst the Companions, and third is the group of those who follow them in earnest: Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him. (9: 100). There is no concept of Islam outside these three groups. As stated earlier, Companions are the exemplary Muslims with Allah and the Holy Prophet-saw, they are the foundation of religion as a whole. If you study their lives, the common factor (that is strikingly manifest in all of them) is their super human capacity to work. In today’s nuclear age, it is possible for a single person to destroy millions by just pushing a button, yet during their time, in hand to hand fighting; the major battle-winning factor was numerical superiority. It is indeed incredible that the nomads of the Arabian Desert acquired the strength, ability, capacity, courage, discipline and everything else to subdue mighty empires of the world in a quarter century, as well as, exalt the Name of Allah and replace a system of tyranny and oppression with a system ensuring peace, justice and equality for all. On the other hand, we live in a Muslim country; people living around us are Muslims since generations. Our claim is same as that of the Companions; we also claim a relationship with the Holy Prophet-saw. We are proud of our knowledge, wisdom, eloquence and literature. But what is our achievement? We are so weak that we cannot reform even those who have already taken Shahadah. But if we look at the illustrious lives of the Companions, we see that, without any material resources, they challenged and defeated the Roman and the Persian empires. The latter was the first to be set up after Prophet Noah’s-as Flood. From its inception to the time of Companions, its rule changed hands within the same dynasty either by vertical or by horizontal inheritance, yet they were fire worshippers. Allah be Glorified! If fire is kept burning continuously for one thousand years, day and night, an insect known as ‘Salmandar’ is born in that fire. Nowhere else, except in the Persian fire oratory, was that insect ever found. Not even a volcano has ever remained continuously active for that long a period. It is indeed very difficult to conquer countries. Those who are associated with this profession know what it really means to annex an inch of enemy territory or to capture an enemy post. A more arduous task is to convince people to abandon their customs and traditions which, coming through the centuries, acquire the status of inviolable religious rituals; this is the most difficult proposition. History bears witness that people preferred to be put to sword but did not renounce their religion. The Hindus and Sikhs lived here along with us before partition. They had to part with their wealth and property and even abandon their motherland. They endured all this but did not renounce their religion, though their mythology is obviously baseless. The Companions had a strange influence; even after fourteen centuries, Islam has not been expelled from the land to which they introduced it. Practically, that country may have been divided into many smaller states, it may have witnessed numerous revolutions, it may have been even ruled by the infidels -but the voice of Islam could never be subdued in it. In today’s world, the all-out effort by the Russians to eliminate the religion in general and Islam in particular is unprecedented in history. One cannot imagine the atrocities committed by this red devil against humanity and particularly the Muslims. When Russia annexed Samarqand and Bukhara, the educated families were separated. The young daughters of the religious scholars were driven to the labour camps. The scholars were forced to dig trenches, seated therein and then shot in their body joints. Un-slaked lime was sprinkled over their wounds to decompose their flesh and they were left to die in those ditches, a slow and torturous death. Their young daughters were put to hard labour during the day including the construction of roads and were raped by the red soldiers in their camps at nights. Those people who await a red revolution should better learn a lesson from the history of Samarqand and Bukhara. Due to flagrant oppression and persecution, the mosques were vacated and converted into clubs. Despite all this, Russia has not been able to efface the footprints of the Companions and even today the people pray, prostrate and recite the Quran in that land. History is a witness that without any material resources, when the horse was the fastest means of travel, the Arabs carried the revolutionary Islamic message from one corner of the globe to the other. What was the force behind them? Were there any new dwellers of the Arabian Desert? No, they had lived there for centuries. That land had previously seen many powerful and courageous Arabs; the earth ultimately swallowed them along with their achievements, nobody remembers them today. But the Companions derived their strength from the message brought by Muhammad-saws the Messenger of Allah. He infused such courage, power, spirit and blessings in them that they changed the course of history. The call of Azan resounding in a vast portion of the world is an echo of their sincere efforts, while the Muslims of today are incapable of even retaining this heritage. The Companions were the first Sufis; their faith, conduct, sincerity and sacrifices are exemplary. The ever-living examples of perfect Tasawwuf are they who received the beneficence directly from the Holy Prophet-saw. So, what should be the effect or result of our Zikr congregations, spiritual attention (Tawajjuh) and beneficence? It should accord extra zeal and increased work capacity; it must correct the priorities and direction of one’s life. Tasawwuf never means that one should escape the challenges of practical life and retreat to seclusion, not at all — this concept is alien to Islam!! This had been the practice of old Indian tribes, especially those inhabiting Himalayan valleys and the Eastern countries. Some of their men went into seclusion, achieved paranormal strength through occult practices and thus acquired a holy status. Islam outrightly rejects this way of life. The exemplary person in the Muslim Ummah was Abu Bakr Siddiq-rau, a man of unparalleled excellence. The evidence of his superiority is contained in the Quran and the Hadith; the Holy Prophet-saw said that the sun has never seen a man of his calibre after the Prophets. He was the first politician to administer the Islamic state after the Prophet-saw, the first general who courageously braved all forces of falsity, the first compiler of the Islamic constitution, the first ruler who dared to face the mighty empires of Rome and Persia and the first Sufi whose heart was so warm that all human hearts put together cannot equal it; it is recorded that his breath smelt of roasted flesh. Every moment of his life reflected Allah’s Zikr, but in his practical life he was incredibly strong. The passing away of the holy Prophet-saw was an enormous tragedy that rocked even a person with ‘nerves of steel’ like ‘Umar Faruq-rau. Yet this was the singular courage of Abu Bakr-rau, in that he was able to pull together and console the entire Ummah at that heartbreaking moment. The nascent Muslim state was faced with multifarious problems. Some tribes had refused to pay Zakat, some impostors claimed Prophethood, all the while, the army of Caesar was knocking at the doors. Considering the gravity of the situation, many renowned Companions recommended to him to attend to these problems one by one. His historic reply was: “By Allah who controls Abu Bakr’s life, I shall recover even that rope from the deniers of Zakat which they used to give with the animals during the Prophet’s time. If someone refuses, I will fight him. I will also fight against the false claimants of Prophethood and shall simultaneously dispatch forces to fight Caesar’s army”. While I live, no one dare add or subtract an iota from what the Holy Prophet-saw left with us.” — h e was a person who had tasted real love. His beloved was …