Computing my way through Life!

Taken from Malfoozat Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas [rh] by Maulana Muhammad Manzoor Nu’mani [rh].

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He said – the quran and the hadith have proclaimed with emphasis that the religion is easy [yusr], which means, that it is thoroughly easy to follow. Thus those things that have a higher degree of importance in religion will also have a higher degree of ease, accordingly. Now, correction of intentions [tasheeh an neeyah] and purification of intentions [ikhlaas lillah] being extremely important, rather being the soul of all actions and pillars of the religion, are also easy. And since this purification of purpose for Allah [ikhlaas lillah] is the gist of all sulook and tareeq, it follows that sulook is also something very easy. But it should be remembered that things become easy by following its methodology [usool] and ways [tareeqah]. If the wrong methodology is adopted, even the easiest of tasks become hard. The mistake that people make is that they consider the part of following the methodology in itself as difficult and they shy away from it; even though (they do not realize that), even the simplest of tasks in this world can not be completed without following its methodology and its correct way. Ships, boats, trains, motor cars, all run by their methodologies. Even a pot of food and bread are prepared by following their respective methods.

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He said – The special purpose of tareeqat is that the commands of Allah [ahkaam wa awaamir] become beloved to the heart and the prohibitions of Allah [nawaahi] become despised to the heart (this means that such a state develops in oneself so that fulfilling the commands of Allah gives one taste and pleasure and going near the prohibitions of Allah creates agony and dislike). This is thus the purpose of tareeqat. Whatever else exists such as special litanies or actions [adhkaar wa ashghaal] or specific kinds of exercises, so these are just means of obtaining the purpose even though many people consider these means to be the real tareeq even though few of these actions actually fall under bidaah.

Anyways, since these things fall under the grade of means rather than the goal, it is important to cast a second look at them under changing situations and needs; but those things that are part of the shariah, it would be incumbent to act on them in every age.

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He said – The status of faraidh is very high compared to the status of nawafil. In fact it should be understood that the purpose of nawafil is to complete whatever has been left from the faraidh due to neglect. Thus faraidh are real and nawafil are for the faraidh and are secondary [furooi], but the state of some people is such that they are neglectful of faraidh but when it comes to busying themselves in nawafil they are much more persistent. For example, all of you know that inviting people towards good [dawat ilal khair], ordering the good [amr bil maaroof] and negating the evil [nahi an almunkar] (meaning all the branches of tabligh) are from the important faraidh, but how many are there who fulfill these faraidh? However, there is no shortage of people who exert themselves and make themselves consistent in voluntary litanies [adhkaar nafaliyya].