Volume 1 Letter 74

 

 

 

From: Hazrat Sheikh-ul-Hadith Sahib (May his secret be sanctified)

 

To: Hazrat Moulana Yusuf Motala Sahib (May his lofty shadow be lengthened)

 

Date: 10^th Rabi-Uthani 1388/5 July 1968

 

 

 

Dearest Honourable Molvi Hafiz Qari Yusuf Sahib

 

 

 

After the sunnah greeting, I wrote you a letter on 1^st July completely without cause, but the instant I intended to send it Molvi Ismail by means of his clairvoyance suggested that I refrain from concluding it at that moment in case your letter should arrive in today’s mail, he therefore left an empty space and waited eagerly for your correspondence. It was a Monday and upon receiving the mail we sifted it to see if there was any letter from you, not finding any and bearing in mind that I have a class after Zuhr I sealed it and sent it for dispatch. However, after Zuhr Molvi Naseer sent 5 or 6 letters addressed in English, with the influence of Molvi Ismail’s miraculous powers your letter was found to be amongst them and I was very disappointed to have dispatched it. Seeing as you had advised in your letter of your khaloo jaan writing directly I have not as yet responded to your previous letter. I received his letter in yesterdays post and included within was a further letter from you. At present I am dictating a reply for both letters.

 

I was delighted with your Tablighi tour, may Allah accept it, make it a means of blessings and grant you the grace of further such undertakings in the future. In your previous two letters you wrote of your pining for this useless one and your sorrow in separation etc whatever you wrote is accurate inshallah, however, I wish I had glimpsed just ten percent of your enthusiasm that you have demonstrated through these letters during your stay here.

 

I was disappointed that the letters I wrote to Haji Yakub as regards affording you any monies that you may have required were received after your departure. I was delighted to learn that the Jama’at has been working unremittingly for the last five years, may almighty Allah make it a means of blessing for them. Convey my salutations to these friends and may almighty Allah grant them his most bountiful assistance.

 

I was sad to learn through your writings concerning the circumstance of the people there and their pursuit of worldly occupations. Molvi Abdur- Raheem wrote to you instructing you to write a letter of appreciation for the Bombay letters, this is beyond you and he, the heartfelt connection I have felt with both of you is beyond conventional gratitude. It was correct for Molvi Abdur-Raheem to turn down the nikah arrangements taking place here as it is quite possible your khaloo would not have appreciated it. You can assume and surmise that this unworthy-one was present in spirit in London from Friday morning until Saturday evening.

 

I wrote to you in a previous letter and penned the same subject matter to Abdur-Raheem that your waleemah would take place following the announcement and conclusion of your nikah, moreover after the arrival of dearest Abdur-Raheem, since the latter had wrote of coming at the beginning of July. However, on Friday morning my heart was so overwhelmed with joy for you that the very same day I issued written and verbal invitations to friends for a waleemah to take place on Saturday afternoon. At the dinner, together with guests and friends, there were about 200 people. Mufti Mahmood Sahib had arrived, as is his practice, for Thursday night. He intended to leave for Gangoh on Saturday morning, nevertheless I ordered that he remain behind and not leave without dining that afternoon, he subsequently left after Zuhr yesterday. Moreover, Hafiz Surati had arrived Friday morning as per routine and was schedule to leave in the evening, upon my request he returned for your waleemah on Saturday morning at 11 o’clock and departed after Zuhr.

 

You wrote that the occasion of my nikah was after the Friday prayer here, corresponding to Friday evening there, at the occasion of the tea gathering after Maghrib. Since your departure I have discontinued taking the evening tea. I neither take it after Asr nor Maghrib. However, the guests are attended to by Molvi Hashim, may Allah reward him and tea is served after Zuhr in the guest house. Moreover, after the Maghrib prayer on Friday the principal sahib and selected lecturers arrive to partake of the leftover tea from the asr tea gathering.

 

Your marriage has been the foremost thing on my mind since Friday morning, but after the Maghrib prayer I developed a sense of overwhelming heartfelt joy for you and without further ado I ordered freshly made gheewar (a Saharanpuri sweetmeat) which was then promptly presented to the principal sahib and close acquaintances. You are well aware that it is uncustomary for the principal sahib to eat anything impromptu, but when I informed him that your nikah is taking place at that very moment he ate a morsel from my hands with much enthusiasm.  

 

Furthermore, some friends from Bombay and Africa arrived; and Hafiz Surati travelled with them by car arriving after Isha, all were offered some. I informed Hafiz Surati that this is on the occasion of the nikah of your compatriot; he partook of some enthusiastically and urged the guests to eat thereof.   Some was distributed among my close friends, Molvi Ismail, residents of the old madrassah, Molvi Yunus, families of Hakim Ji, Molvi Naseer and Abul-Hasan after Isha which is when I gave some to my family. You friend Hakim Aziz was sent some, first conjointly with others and then again with an express message that this is sent on the occasion of your friends nikah.               

 

I fail to recollect further details, but I am certain that this unworthy-one is at variance with regards to the simplicity of the state that you have written about. May Almighty Allah bless your propitious occasion, grant love between the couple and bestow pious issue. Convey my salutations to your good wife and inform her that I pray from the heart for her as well, as it is on her account that I must bear the parting of dearest Yusuf. I pray most sincerely that Almighty Allah by way of his most bounteous favour protect you from subterfuge and grant you eminence in both the worlds.

 

One significant counsel I care to propound is under no circumstance talk to your wife in a harsh manner, rather counsel her gently time and again as regards to religion and staying resolute in matters of religion. Listen to a reading of my Tablighi Rasa’il from her, subsequently that portion should then be repeated for the rest of the ladies in the household at a convenient time since this will be most beneficial for her. Commence with Hikayat e Sahabah thereafter Fadhail Zikr and Fadhail Sadaqah. With regards to the Sawanih Yusufi, I think if your Khaloo Sahib were to look through it once -------- it would be preferable.

 

I have written a detailed account in relation to the arrival of dearest Abdur-Raheem within Khaloo Sahib’s letter, you may read it. Following your departure this useless-one’s health has been deteriorating quite considerably. The headaches that started after Ramadhan, more exactly after the Haj have increased and the eyes have given up on me altogether, now I can’t see clearly even with a magnifying glass. Any signatures on forms for money orders etc are written from memory, for this reason they are more often than not ruined.

 

Dearest Sulaiman arrives in the second hour of the morning and recites some chapters from Bukhari Shareef to me, even so at various points during the lesson I have to say that I can’t recall such and such kindly refer it to your new teachers. I think I have mentioned in a previous letter that the second volume of Bukhari is now with Qari Muzaffar Sahib.

 

The numbers of guests has increased greatly and are rising; therefore, there is a considerable delay in the morning tea. I manage to get upstairs after the end of the first lesson, at around 7 o’clock or sometimes just after that. If is hot or under sufferance from a headache I have a tendency to come down before 9 o’clock, although occasionally I may delay if it is raining. Only toady there has been a spell of light rain since the morning call to prayer, as a result I am still sat upstairs at 10 o‘clock. 

 

Dearest Shabbir’s ticket etc has arrived from his father; presently he has gone to Jalalabad and after his return this evening he intends for Delhi tomorrow. After staying there a few days he will endeavour to obtain a visa for Pakistan. Upon completion he will travel to Surat, from there he will stop off en-route at Pakistan before performing umra and finally he intends to visit Africa. May almighty Allah enable him to reach his destination with ease also.

I enquired from you in a preceding letter pertaining to the quarters that your Khaloo Sahib has rented for you; do you live there alone or is there someone else with you and now that you are married does your wife live at her residence or with you at your address?

 

In a previous letter you mentioned that your khala will accompany Abdur-Raheem here. There is no allusion to this in any correspondence from Abdur-Raheem, but he does write about his wife and her persistence in accompanying him, she is prepared to put up with the hardships of being here and avows that if you refuse to take me then I will write and complain to sheikh. However, her khala aloneness refuses to allow her on account of isolation.

 

Your preceding letter; wherein you stated the status of the Tablighi work in London, was read out after the Asr gathering. The Principle Sahib and Moulana Yunus have specifically requested me to send you their salutations and in addition Moulana Yunus Sahib has requested for prayers.

 

 

That is all, Salaam

 

 

Hazrat Sheikh-ul-Hadith Sahib

 

Dictated to Muhammad Ismail

 

10^th Rabi-Uthani 1388