When people see the blessings of
my tabligh work, they think that
the work is spreading. They need
to know that The work itself is one
thing and the blessing another.
Understand that the blessings became
visible from the birth of our
Prophet a, but the work started
long after... I speak honestly when
I say that the actual work has not
yet begun. When the actual work
starts, the believers will return to
the glorious era 700 years ago.
However, if the real work does not
start but remains at its present stage, then people will regard
this as just another movement and workers will eventually
drop out. Thereafter, those fitna which would have come in
years will appear in months. Therefore, it is necessary to understand
this matter well.
M. Ilyas Kandhelawi
Discourses of M. Ilyas, pg. 30
It is stated in the hadith that the world is a prison for the
believer and a paradise for the disbeliever. The meaning of
this hadith is that we have not been sent into this world to
follow our base desires by which we make this world into a
paradise, but to oppose our nafs and to obey the commandments
of Allah by which this world becomes a prison for the
believer. If we shall also follow our base desires like the disbelievers
and make this world a paradise for us then we will
be looters of the disbeliever’s paradise. In this manner, the
help of Allah will not be with the looter but with those from
whom they have looted. Reflect well upon this.
M. Ilyas Kandhelawi
Discourses of M. Ilyas, pg. 30
The basic principle of our work is that one acquire true
yaqeen (conviction) in the words of Allah and His Prophet
a and to appreciate and understand the value of the deen.
Without this yaqeen, sharing the sacred knowledge with
those who do not have yaqeen will be foolishness. Once, a
student of a famous shaykh was told by him that the most
valuable thing is the knowledge of deen, and that one mas’ala
(ruling) is worth more than a thousand and even millions of
rupees. One day, this student’s shoe had to be repaired. He
went to the cobbler and when the student was asked to pay
for the labor, he said, “I will teach you one mas’ala.” The cobbler
thought he was joking but seeing that he was serious, he
chased and shooed him away from
his shop. The student returned to
the shaykh and said, “you said that
one mas’ala of deen is better than
thousands and millions of rupees
but the cobbler was not willing to
repair my shoe for a mas’ala. The
shaykh gave the student a diamond
and told him to go to the
vegetable market and enquire its
value. He first went to the fruit
vendor and asked, “How much will
you buy this stone for?” He replied,
“It is of no use to me; it doesn’t
even weigh an ounce so that I could at least use it as a weight
on my scale. However, if you are willing, I can buy it for five
berries; my children will play with it.” After this, he went to
another vendor who also told him he had no use for it. He
then returned to his shaykh and told him that only one fruit
vendor in the market was willing to give him five berries for
it, but that too after much deliberation on his part.
The shaykh then told him to go to the jewelry market and
enquire its value from them, but to not give it to anyone.
He then went to a jeweler and showed him the diamond.
The jeweler looked at his appearance and at first took him
for a thief until he came to know that he was a student of
the shaykh. He then said, “Only the king can afford this.
We cannot purchase this diamond.” He then returned and
informed the shaykh of what the jeweler said. The shaykh
said, “The fruit vendor did not know the value of the diamond
and was not prepared to give a cent for it. Similarly,
the cobbler did not know the value of one mas’ala of deen.
The fault was within you. You regarded the people who
lacked appreciation of the value of deen for those who know
its value.”
M. Ilyas Kandhelawi
Discourses of M. Ilyas, pg. 79-80
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