Near the time of death when he
had fallen extremely sick and was
bedridden, the month of Ramadan
came… and his heart pain always
flared up in Ramadan. He
would be in so much pain that we
thought these are his final moments.
When the whole blessed
month passed in this state, he said
one day,
“Every Muslim desires to leave
this world in the blessed month of
Ramadan, and I also felt the same
way. I wanted to ask Allah to grant me death in Ramadan
because of a hadith that says that the doors of Hellfire are
closed in the month of Ramadan, but my situation is very
different.
I always thought to make du‘a to Allah, ‘O Allah, take my soul
in Ramadan’ but couldn’t bring myself to say it. The reason
is that it came to mind that I could make the du‘a, but I also
know that my people and family will be put through hardship
in their fast. They will be grieving and also preparing
for my shrouding and burial and that will make it all the
more difficult for them to keep their fast. This is why I find it
hard to make du‘a to die in Ramadan.”
Mufti Taqi on his late father
Mufti Shafi Uthmani (1897-1976)
There was a nawab in Lucknow who owned large estates and
lands, and attendants and helpers served him and his family
who were at his disposal at all times of the day.
One day I met him and he himself told me personally complaining,
“What can I tell you about myself. I have all these
luxuries that you see, but because of my illness I cannot
touch any of this array of foods and dishes. My personal
physician has prescribed one single food to nourish myself:
to drink water that is squeezed out of a cheesecloth from
ground beef and to drink it by the spoon only. Now look,
all these foods and the variety of dishes are on the mat, and
look at this beautiful display, but what good is it to me as I
cannot even touch it.”
What is the benefit of the wealth you cannot make any use
of? What this means is that Allah has taken the baraka out
of these things, and as a result, it is absolutely devoid of any
benefit.
Another man, a laborer, works
hard… he eats spinach and roti and
whatever else which replenishes
him and gets absorbed by his
body. Now, tell me is that laborer
better or the nawab, even though
the latter is wealthier while the laborer
has nothing, but the laborer
lives in peace while the nawab has
nothing of it… this is called living a
life of baraka.
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi
Dr, Abdul Hayy Arifi khalifa of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi
often would say to encourage people to be respectful
to their wives, “I have been married now for 55 years, but
never have I changed my tone toward my wife.”
I often say that people think flying in the air and walking on
water are miracles, but the real miracle is that he spent 55
years of his life with his wife, and remember that this relationship
is a very delicate and complicated one. There are
many ups and downs and obstacles in such a relationship.
It is not possible to live with someone for so long and not be
annoyed or irritated even once. But he says, “I have never
changed my tone toward her.”
Moreover, his wife says that he never asked me to fetch him
water i.e. to run errands for him or to do this or that. She
goes on, “Whatever I did for him, I did it out of my love for
him and my own desire to serve him, but my whole life he
never asked me to do anything for him.”
Mufti Taqi Uthmani on his shaykh, Dr. Abdul Hayy Arifi
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