Honesty and transparency – critical for spiritual progress

Summary & Main Points of talk by Shaykh Abdul Mueed (Hafizahullah) of Sukkur  – Pakistan on Thursday, 15 February 2018 – Masjid Muadh bin Jabal, Crosby, South Africa

1. Companionship of the pious friends of Allah is a precious bounty. The Qur’anic command to sit in the company of the pious and truthful is for our benefit.

2. It is within the nature of man to seek what is beneficial and avoid harm. We adopt this principle for our worldly benefit but not for our reformation and hereafter. Shaytan also deceives us by whispering to us that there is still a lot of time to make our Islah (reformation), we will have the opportunity and free time later in life, then we can focus on our reformation. Ideally we should embrace every opportunity – we live in an era when the pious and truthful are also very few – so opportunities that are available should be maximised.

3. Today we attend the company of the Shaykh to attain barkat ‘blessings’ – instead what we should acquire is our reformation and inner purification. The pious servants of Allah show us the way to reach Allah – The Qur’an advises, first enter into (the company of) my servants then you will enter Jannat.

4. Our meeting and sitting with the pious should not be a routine meeting – it should be with purpose and objectivity – we should ‘handover’ ourselves to the Shaykh like a dead person in the hands of the bather – seek to annihilate our inner ego and feelings of worth and highness – ego and pride prevents one from revealing the inner weaknesses and faults to the Shaykh. Confiding in the Shaykh by revealing one’s spiritual ailments and to seek remedy is incumbent for progress.

5. There is a great amount of fulfillment and pleasure in conquering Shaytan and steering clear of the lowly  Nafs (ego and passions). Submitting to the Shayk’s guidance helps one to navigate the perils of this path and steer one towards reaching Allah.The person quickly climbs up the spiritual ladder – the seeker makes giant strides in his spiritual connection with Allah – He traverses the various stations of closeness to Allah in the journey of Allah’s love.

6. The key is to handover oneself unconditionally – today we sit in the company of pious not for progress, because we hold back critical information from the Shaykh – we are reluctant to reveal our faults and seek remedy. Shaytan tricks us into being unfaithful to the Shaykh. He makes one assume ‘What will the Shaykh think of me if  I reveal to him my faults and ailments?’ – Remember the Shaykh looks at all with compassion and has no ulterior motive – he will never look down upon a true seeker – in fact he will treat an honest seeker with more compassion and attention than one who is not open and honest.

7. A patient with a physical illness is honest to the doctor because he wants cure – the same applies with spiritual ailments in terms of cure and remedy.

8. To think the Shaykh will get Kashf (a vision or information) about one’s ailments, or the the Shaykh will make dua and focus his attention on me and my problems will be solved, is wishful thinking. One must become a true seeker and approach the Shaykh sincerely for help – then there will be benefit. Indeed, the Shaykh will make dua and focus his attention provided the seeker is doing his work and following the teachings.

9. Hazrat Maseehul Ummat (Rahimahullah) use to advise that today we are all desirous of the Fayz (spiritual blessings) of the Shaykh – but who really obtains this Fayz ? the one who humbles himself and deposes his inner pride and self love, he truly seeks remedy from the Shaykh and does what he is told – such a person becomes the recipient of the Shaykh’s blessings and progresses rapidly.

10. Life is moving fast – the vehicle of life is in motion – we cannot stop this journey nor can we control its speed or length but what we can do is place our life on the right track –  place it on a path of progress. We find all the coaches that are linked to the main engine of the train reach the destination with the engine – similarly if we are genuinely linked to the engine of spirituality then we will surely reach the destination safely.

11. Hazrat Shafiqul Ummat Moulana Muhammad Farooq (Rahimahullah) use to write regularly to his Shaykh Hazrat Maseehul Ummat Moulana Maseehullah Khan (Rahimahullah) – the letter use to take a while to go and even longer to return, but Hazrat use to say that the moment he had penned his condition and sent the letter, he felt the weight of his condition lightened as though change already taken place by initiating this process of informing the Shaykh of his condition.

12. Sidq means to be honest, truthful and sincere in seeking the Shaykh’s guidance – this a critical station from among all the spiritual stations – Sidq, truthfulness is required in every other action- hence, its acquisition and practice is most critical for a seeker.

13. Today the trend is to inform the Shaykh of our good dreams, good feelings and good thoughts and think the Shaykh will be impressed with us – what will really impress the Shaykh is if we are honest and truthful and seek proper guidance for our ailments – this will be much more effective and beneficial for us in terms of this relationship. 

14. Inform the Shaykh of the way we talk to our wife, our parents, the arguments we have and the harsh approach we have in the home – these are aspects in need of reformation – we should inform the Shaykh about our lack of tolerance with the wife our children our impatience and our bitter speech. The parents and even the wife, if they say something in a high tone, or something unpleasant, it is done out of love – it cannot be out of hatred – it is for the man to realise that the parent’s tone maybe wrong but who is it being said by – this aspect of recognizing the tone of a person, the status of the person speaking, etc. are the qualities of a real human and this is what we need to learn from the Shaykh.

15. When clothes are dirty we remove them to be washed with clean water and detergent – Similarly we need to remove the garb of misconduct and cleanse the garb of conduct – this is the work of the Shaykh – through his teachings and diagnosis he facilities the cleaning of our garments of character and gives us a new set of garments so we may behave correctly.

16. We should also encourage our friends and family towards this concern of spiritual rectification.