I imagine sometimes an individual appearing for judgment in the Divine Court. The angels in charge praise all his different forms of ibadat, and then, at the end, they inform him that he was a person that was unfair and unjust when it came to certain relationships. Do we think that there are any of our actions that are not going to be recorded and that we will not be reminded of them on the Day of Judgment, and that it will not have a negative effect on the eventual Divine Decision with regard to us? We must think hard about this. A large part of the teachings of Islam covers our relationships. This involves our relationship with Allah Almighty, with His Messenger (ﷺ), the inheritors of the Prophets (a.s.) and all the multifarious relationships that many of us fall short in, because we favour people and distort the truth

Sometimes one comes across a statement in the Qur’an or elsewhere, an explanation of which does not satisfy one. There is a statement in the Qur’an, for example: وَ اعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِيْنُ Worship Allah until you gain certainty (xv: 99). Many of the scholars have explained this certainty as being death. I was never very happy with this explanation, because the word yaqin involves an understanding of one’s belief system. In fact, yaqin has to do with the strengths of one’s beliefs, and I could not understand why scholars would consider the word yaqin here to mean death; whatever the case might be. I think we should look at this verse in another way, because it doesn’t matter what the level of worship of one is or whether one worships at all, one will still experience death, one way or the other. The verse, and here I plead

I have, over the years, examined people’s behaviour in the presence of the pious. At times I was very pleased with the extent of the adab of some people but I was also very displeased with a lack of adab shown by murids towards the shaykh or to other very pious people. One of the things that we have learnt is not to ask your Shaykh for anything or to question him on any matter. If there is anything that he wishes to tell one, he will do so. But we all have to be very careful about the kind of instructions he gives us. We found, in many cases, people misinterpreting these instructions to satisfy their personal desires or wants. This misinterpretation leads to all kinds of difficulties that people put themselves through. In my own personal case, I do not know whether I have ever asked Mawlana anything

In one of the many Holy Traditions, Allah Almighty uses the word “dome” to describe His Protection of the very special pious people on this earth. He says in this Tradition that nobody knows them and they are under His dome. Of course, we can only assume that Allah Almighty’s use of the word ‘dome” has to do with His Protection and Security for those that he has granted unique stations. In part of this letter, I want to use the word “dome” in another way to indicate the protection that we have come to find in the Sufi Orders. In a certain way, these Orders are all also under a dome, but it is a socio-religious dome under which we can all find protections. On many occasions I have asked myself: In this world with its disorder, social dislocation, religious deviation, and so many other things, where do I

I do not know why, but perhaps it is what we call “blue Monday”, I thought a lot this morning [2012] about the divisions in the Muslim community throughout the world. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) predicted this when he said that the Ummah will be divided in seventy-three sects of which only one will go to Paradise. The one he defined as that group that would follow him and his Companions. Today the only group that adheres very strictly to his Sunnah and the Sunnah of his Companions (r.a.) is the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah. Why do we believe this? Surely, each group has a right to declare itself as being the one most favoured by Allah the Almighty. Why is it that we are so sure that the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah is the only truly authentic mainstream of Islam? I have always said that if one wants

Allah Almighty says in the Qur’an: وَ لَقَدْ كَرَمْنَا بَنِى آدَمَ We have honoured the chidren of Adam (xvii: 70). I will come back to this verse later. During the week [2012] one of the murids mentioned to me that he is afraid to feel good about the mosque built in Du Noon and all the activities associated with that building. He was afraid of his ego. I asked the question: “Why can’t we feel good about what our Lord has granted us?” Allah Almighty speaks about this in the Qur’an: وَ أَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ But as for the bounty of your Lord, proclaim it (xciii: 11). It is quite true that sometimes we worry that if we should mention some of the graces or blessings that our Lord has given us, then it would appear as if we are blowing our own trumpets. But that is not what

In some parts of Africa, especially in Mali, Libya and Egypt, the graves of some of the very righteous people in the continent’s history, are being regularly desecrated. In some cases the remains are removed and thrown on dumps. The people who do this say that they are acting on behalf of Islam, and that they are destroying all remnants of shirk. They call: “Allahu Akbar” and other litanies when they do this. In Afghanistan, during this week, a young woman accused of adultery, was shot to the cheers and laughter of a large number of Muslim males. There are no accounts of the arrest and trial of this young lady and also no mention is made of the man that she was involved with. The news of the desecration of graves in Mali and of the shooting of this young lady, have spread throughout the world. One asks the

On many occasions when we have looked at all that we’ve achieved, or rather, at all that we have been made to achieve, we stand in deep gratitude to our Lord. You see, it is always very easy to talk of blessings and graces or whatever the case might be, but to define those graces or blessings, is generally very difficult. There are occasions when these blessings come into an area of space and of time as we know it, and then it takes certain forms some of which are definable. We ask Allah Almighty at certain times for blessings. When our Lord answers our prayers, the blessings come in different ways; some which we can understand and define, and others we do not have the faintest idea what they are about. Our organisation has been in existence for little over ten years [as at 2012], and at the beginning

In my study of many senior Awliya’ in the different Muslim communities throughout the world, and especially of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim in Cyprus, I have been amazed by the extent to which these people have continued to make major contributions to Islam in their senior years. Their ages, and in many cases, their disabilities, have in no way retarded these contributions. In fact, one gets the impression that there was an urgency in the latter parts of their lives to perform certain tasks as “helpers” in the Cause of Allah Almighty. Even in the case of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim when he was ill and hardly able to move, he was still teaching as much as he could. Today, I stand in awe at how people like him have used their lives for the benefit of Islam. It is strange that many of us, still engrossed in the affairs of this

Sometimes we respond to situations because we are compelled to do so. The compulsion comes from family members or other individuals who push one into performing certain tasks. A few years ago, somebody told me that he had to take his father by his hair to take him on Hajj. I suppose one can call this Hajj by compulsion but it was definitely not Hajj by commitment. In our organisation, we have an assortment of individuals; some of them have levels of commitment that one does not find easily in others, and so it does not matter what the task, they are always ready to perform or to help. These people are the exceptions. Many of us respond to these tasks, because of a variety of factors either in our homes or in our community. Years of religious practice have helped considerably not only to purify our hearts, but also