The Eden of Heart (A Sermon)

 Mufti Azam Mufti Rasheed Ahmad Sahib

 

The Hearts of a Muslim is not less than a Garden.             From a few months I have developed a routine to go out for recreation; daily in the morning and Thursday evenings. From that time I had an ambiguity because I always used to tell a few of my incidents. Since I have made a new routine nowadays, this is absolutely against the sense of the verse I used to recite and against my previous routine. The meaning of verse is:"It's a woe if due to lust and desire you recreate yourself. You yourself are not less than a floret; just open the door to your and you will find an eden inside." It means that if you have a desire to go out for rejoicing then it is a pity, why? Because:ALLAH TAALA has made you a floret. You are yourself a floret. It is enough if you pay attention towards your heart. Just open door to your heart and observe that there are Eden's, showers of ALLAH'S mercy, splendours and blessings, gifts of Heaven, reflection of ALLAH TAALA's beauty and omnipotence. Think of these things, contemplate about these gifts. ALLAH TAALA has placed the largest Eden in our hearts. By ignoring it and going out to rejoice, isn't it a pity, an affliction?"As if I live in the paradise all day and night: so colorful is the garden of my heart."If you have love for ALLAH TAALA in your heart, keep it recollecting and concentrate over these matters. These things won't give you time to go out for amusement. For the Rectification of Desires there is a Unique Invocation (DUA).There is a unique prayer in a HADITH. I always tell that when ever I teach you any prayer even then I tell it with the intention of praying. You people also should intend to invoke. YA ALLAH Do make our state according to this invocation. The invocation is as follows:What a unique invocation, memorize it. If it is difficult to remember the actual words then conceive the sense, invoke this daily, now listen to the meaning: "YA ALLAH! Change the doubts and the dangers, the imaginations and the aim of heart into your fear and eulogy. I imagine about Your fear and awe and about You. YA ALLAH! Build my courage for my actual object which is the deeds and conditions that are in accord with Your consent. Alas just bind me only with this thought, make this invocation my heart's state."When HAZRAT YAQOOB, (AS) was departing from this world, in his last moments, what were his thoughts? What was he thinking about? Listen:"Where you witness when death appeared before Jacob? Be hold, he said to his sons what will you worship after me?"Nowadays if someone loses hope about his life and symptoms of death appear then what are his testaments? Give so much money to so and so, take so much money from so and so, take care of my wife and children. All he thinks is, what will happen to his wife, children and money. HAZRAT YAQOOB (AS) after gathering his children, says: "what will you worship after me?"Concentrate, think a little, it's time to depart, it's a crucial moment. Even then there is only one thought circling his mind and that also not for himself but his children. What will happen to their religion? When something is deep-rooted down into the core of your heart, you always recall it during your life and at the time of your death. At every moment your mind switch over to it. May ALLAH TAALA also make our state and condition like this. When does the Heart of a person becomes a Real Heart.Since after Zuhr (afternoon) it is raining continuously. Looking at this sight, only one thought has swarmed my heart."YA ALLAH ! Make the teachings of QURAN-E-MAJEED Rabi's (monsoon) rain for our hearts."As the Rabi's rain turns the bare and sterile land into a fertile one and it becomes green and vegetated, similarly the QURAN-E-KAREEM turns the dead hearts into a living one and fills it up with Allah’s passion and revelation. Who can think about ALLAH'S mercy? By rainfalls He makes reservoirs of water inside the ground. Whenever we need water we dig a well and obtain it according to our needs. This is all rainwater. Experience shows that the water inside the earth dries up when there is a storage of rainfall""And We sent down water from the sky according to (due) measure, and we cause it to soak in the soil."If this natural restoration of water wasn't there then how difficult it would have been to store water in tanks, tubs and in different containers. First, from where could we obtain such reservoirs to store water? Suppose if somehow we could do so even then it wasn't possible for us to preserve it. It would have become stale within a few days. Secondly to preserve water we had to use chemicals due to which its taste would have changed and also harmed our health."And We sent the fecundating winds, then cause the rain to decent from the sky, there which providing you with water (in abundance) though you are not the guardians of its stores. Instead of putting people in hardship, ALLAH TAALA install natural freezers inside the earth. Neither there is any danger of getting vapid nor there is any wastage. No mater, when ever and as much you need you can obtain from ALLAH'S treasure. It's clean, clear, cold, sweet, and tasteful. HAZRAT ROOMI, Said:My LORD! What a mercy of Your's, and blessing of Your's. The earth does not have legs by which she could travel towards the sea or the river and could ask for water. Human beings and animals both have legs and birds have wings, they all fulfill their urge but the earth is helpless, how could she move. So ALLAH TAALA ordered the darks clouds to shower rains by which she could extinguish her thirst, not only her's but others also." How does the mercy of ALLAH TAALA attends the feeble and the helpless!. It all started over that when does a heart become a real one? When ALLAH'S passion settle itself in the core then the person doesn't get time from his thought. The attraction of his heart dose not end. He is busy rejoicing with it and he becomes independent and free from all the worldly amusements."Spiritual personalities forsake worldly attractions; walls of the gardens doesn't need artificial decoration." Empty walls need artificial decoration, real ones are already decorated. Hearts of those filled with ALLAH'S passion do not need amusement, why isn't that these people rejoice within their heart's paradise? ALHAMDULLAH, from my childhood ALLAH TAALA has blessed me that I never had a desire to recreate. I don't know whether I had anything extraordinary but I never had a desire to go out for amusements and recreations. When a person wants to correct himself ALLAH TAALA Help him.When I was studying in DARAL-ULOOM DEOBAND, once then HAZRAT MADNI, was going to an assembly in Lahore. Many students from darul uloom were ready to go with him. I was also among them. I bought a ticket and reached the station, while seated on the platform, few thoughts clustered my mind: Why I am going to Lahore? What gain I had in traveling there? After thinking I conclude two points: 1-To recreate and look around Lahore, as till that time I had not seen it. The answer to this was that I can just visit Lahore while sitting here wasn't any need to go. There must be markets, double rows of shops with bulbs lightened up, with people busy shopping and other things must be there. All the cities of the world are the same. There isn't much difference. Then what was I going to do, I just looked Lahore. 2-To listen to the sermon of HAZRAT MADNI. I concluded that over here, I am always with HAZRAT, how many sermons I have heard? To what extent have I practiced his preaching? While staying back, if I practice over his preaching then there wasn't any need left to go. So I returned. How far is Dehli from Deoband? Many students used to go to Dehli but I never even thought to visit. If ever I went out of Deoband, I went to Thana Bhawan. Usually on foot, I attended HAZRAT HAKEEM-UL-UMMAH's (Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi) assembly and return to Deoband. Never paid attention to anything else. Once while traveling in a train, I fell asleep near the station of Deoband, woke up to find that I had come near Dehli. Now I thought that when unintentionally I had come here, so why not see it. There in Dehli, in Tibbiya college I had a friend. I thought that I should visit him first. When a person wants to correct then ALLAH also help him. From nowhere ALLAH'S help reached. As I lacked liking for amusement and unintentionally due to sleep I reached Dehli. Now look at the assistance of ALLAH TAALA, when I reached the station and stepped down, I met a "TABLIGI BROTHER," he asked me: "From where did you come? What is the purpose of your visit?" I told him the whole story. He said "What will you do in Tibbya college, come with me." I said "Okay, it is all right." The whole day we wandered busy in his personal work. When it was evening, he said: "Now we'll go to BASTINIZAMUDDIN." I said "SUBHAN ALLAH, what else do I need, let's go. "We spent the night with HAZRAT MAULANA MOHAMMED ILYAS. The next morning I boarded back to Deoband. This is how I have passed my life that even after reaching Dehli I didn’t see it. just in accord with the verse:" It's woe, if due to-lust and desire you rejoice yourself, you yourself are not less than a floret, just open the door of your heart and you will find an Eden inside." Many things of need are already present in Human Body.Now at the sixty second station of my life many things have changed. It's the sixty second year in progress and sitting in squatting position is one of the changes. I hate sitting like this, looking someone in such a position, I feel very bad. I never sit with legs folded. While sitting with younger, I might have but in the companions and elders I never sit in squatting position. The changes of the sixty seconds year have also shown this. While sitting, my legs start paining, my right post gets swollen. Before RAMZAN, I started to prop against a pillow and sometimes used to have a support with the rostrum. Afterwards a thought flashed into mind. When HAZRAT IBRAHEEM BIN ADHAM left the kingdom, he took with himself just three things of his need: A bowl for eating and drinking, both to be done in one. Today's up to date people use three, four plates for eating a meal, then a separate glass for water and a separate cup for tea.The second thing, a pillow for sleeping and the third was a rope and a bucket to get water from the well for performing ablution and other things. These were the things he took with himself while leaving. On his way he saw a person lying down and instead of having a pillow he had placed his arm under his head. HAZRAT IBRAHEEM thought that ALLAH TAALA has already given a pillow in human body, what need to take an external one. He dropped the pillow as it was of no use. As the moved forward he saw another person drinking water with his hands. Again HAZRAT IBRAHEEM thought that ALLAH TAALA has also given a bowl in human body so what need to take an external one. He dropped that bowl also. As the time is running out, so I won't tell about what happened with the rope and the bucket. In short he did the same with the rope and the bucket. I recalled this event because I never needed to prop but at the sixty second station of my life has compelled me to do so. I hated having a pillow on my seat and until now I had never used the one. Here in DARUL-IFTA, there are two small pillows, those were also made a few day's back for visiting venerable scholars. This year I started to use them. As I used them for a few days, a thought flashed my mind. I recalled HAZRAT IBRAHEEM's incident I thought that my body may already have a pillow, let's have a trial. I placed my right foot over my left thigh, ALHAMDULILLAH, it worked. There was no longer any need left to prop. In short, I passed my life in such a manner that I felt grief even to think about recreating and traveling. Even after reaching Dehli I did not see it, and after buying a ticket for Lahore I returned back.

To Be Concluded