Volume1 Letter78

 

 

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

 

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

 

Date: 6^th Jamadi Uthani 1388/29^th August 1968                                  

 

Dearest Molvi Hafiz Qari Muhammad Yusuf Sahib

 

After the sunnah greeting, yesterday on Friday a recorded delivery arrived, this useless-one signed for it. There were other registered deliveries but on that particular day a large number of visitors from Calcutta amassed, numbering approximately 100 persons. Dearest molvi Abdur-Raheem and dearest molvi Ismail repeatedly announced jubilation and glad tidings that a letter from Yusuf arrived! A letter from Yusuf had arrived! A letter from Yusuf had arrived! From their statement I was unsure that I wasn’t dreaming for a moment. There were a large number of visitors on one hand and on the other I was convinced I was dreaming; therefore I waited an age in order to awaken from it. There was one sealed envelope which molvi Abdur-Raheem informed me after opening that it contained three letters, one from dearest Abdur-Raheem, Abdur-Hafeez and Molvi Yunus Sahib, these have been dispatched by way of dearest Abdur-Raheem. As far as I’m concerned I was not totally convinced that your letter would indeed arrive.

 

I wrote an air letter to you on the 1^st July, 8^th July I dispatched a recorded delivery letter to your khaloo sahib, 15^th July I forwarded a letter appended to dearest Muhammad’s letter. Between 25^th and 27^th July I received mail from various propagators in whose letter you had placed your token greetings and succinct letters. In response I wrote five separate replies and placed them in with their own, furthermore, what’s really surprising and rather disheartening is that I failed to find a reply to my previous correspondence in any of the aforementioned letters. So therefore, I had come to a decision that since none of my letters arrive in such an esteemed place as London and even if they do arrive they are in all probability not worth considering anyway, hence I saw no point ear grating. But this letter has compelled me to write and I could not bear it any longer.

 

 I proposed sending a registered envelope in order that the replies for the aforementioned three persons are dispatched within, but dearest Abdur-Raheem informs me that he will be writing his reply subsequent to dispatching some books etc; therefore I considered an air letter would be better suited, as these arrive earlier than registered mail.

 

You have written in the very first letter that after consecutively writing several times you were unable to write for 15-20 days. It would appear that there is a patently sizeable difference in time-zones between London and Saharanpur and in the duration of the days and nights. There immersed in pleasures the days and nights must pass by fleetingly, while here they feel drawn-out, that is why for you a day must feel short, whereas folk here get the impression it lasts a month or a year.

 

Your letter written 27^th July did eventually arrive, no subsequent letter has been received here since. Notwithstanding, some snippets were received written in letters from separate individuals. In any case, it’s so considerate of you to take time out to write from your eminent, scholarly and busy ‘round-the clock’ schedule, and from witnessing scenes of celestial wonders. You forever write of your remorse, sorrow, lament and disappointment, I have no doubt whatsoever that you feel remorse and sorrow, but the conduct throughout the duration of your stay does not corroborate this. All my years I have spent collating differences of opinion within narrations, yet to try and reconcile the words in your letters to your exploits throughout your stay here is proving extremely difficult. Nevertheless, I have never differed in praying for your progress, success, and protection from duplicity and the realization of all your worthy aspirations. I most sincerely pray that almighty Allah grants you his good pleasure and love, may he permit you to that which earns his good pleasure and safeguard you from that which merits his disapproval and may the aspirations that you have pinned on this sinner come to be realised.      

 

No2:  Two postal orders for six Pounds were received here. I’m ambivalent as to whether I should show appreciation or unhappiness. Your gift is much appreciated, but I rather think that you were a little hasty. In the course of starting out ones source of livelihood is hardly dependable, then there are the essential household bills to pay, therefore kindly defer sending any monies for at least another three or four years, until such time almighty Allah grants you the blessings of London and its treasures of gold and silver, thereafter you may send without objection. At this time you are still responsible for the debts incurred for the expenses of your journey, hence you need not have sent such a large amount; one or two shillings from the first remuneration would have been cause for much joy.

 

No3: I was delighted to learn that you have initiated regular readings of the books of Fadhail, may almighty Allah by way of his grace and bounty accept this enduring sadaqah. I was also pleased that your khaloo sahib had read the biography of Yusuf in accordance to his capacity, were he to return to it a second time along with some friends then inshallah it will prove most valuable. How excellent is your aspiration that I should lead your funeral prayer, yet you did run away in fear, lest you were obliged to carry the funeral bier of this dead elephant and crushed under weight, but you nevertheless continue to hope that I bear the burdens of Qayamat.      

 

No 4: With reference to your initial waleemah I have written previously that originally I had the notion of giving it at the arrival of dearest Abdur-Raheem and his good wife, just as I had written to you and dearest Abdur-Raheem, but my sense of enthusiasm would not allow me to rest and I gave one prior to the arrival of dearest Abdur-Raheem, the particulars of which I have communicated formerly. Nonetheless, I had written to dearest Abdur-Raheem that atonement would be made upon his arrival and that of his good wife. Accordingly, today on Monday at the advent of the blessed couple your waleemah on behalf of dearest Molvi Abdur-Raheem has taken place. I hosted his meal and that of his wife from myself and the guests were invited on his part. Subsequently, an invitation of waleemah for dearest Yusuf from Molvi Abdur-Raheem was circulated to the aforementioned persons; coincidently a large group of Arabs were also present as were Moulana Al-Haj Ali Mia Sahib, dearest Moulana Al-Haj As’ad Madani and Molvi In’am Kareem Sahib as well as other eminent friends. With the proposal of your waleemah in mind they were all cordially invited at the request of dearest Abdur-Raheem. I kept the invitation letter to one side to send to you, I have at present enquired of its whereabouts from dearest Abdur-Raheem and Ismail but was unable to find it.

 

No 5: Your honourable wife being that pious is something I had envisaged and it had also been in the forefront of my mind.

 

With the eye of approval

 

One may extol the principle of the first line as much as one is inclined, as for the second line one may turn aside or pay no heed to it, all has been experienced. It is a benevolence and gift from almighty Allah that he has given you a virtuous wife, may almighty Allah bless you therein. Do pass on my best wishes to her and inform her that this useless one prays for her from the heart, may almighty Allah augment her fortuitousness.

 

No.7 Seeing this useless-one frequently in your dreams is a sign of the strength of your affection, may almighty Allah make it an avenue for our religious progress, but I believe that the dream in which you are berating dearest Abdur-Raheem means to push our misfortune in the direction of others. Furthermore, with regards to going in Ramadan I am all too aware and so are you that hitherto you were gripped by a fever, captivated by visions of London by day and night and afflicted by an obvious malady. Allah willing this is not the case at present and inshallah nor was it.

 

No.8 The letter was undoubtedly long but not all letters are onerous. He who is reciting the letter is savouring it more than he who is listening and the one who is taking the diction for the reply is relishing it more than the former mentioned. This was in respect to your prior correspondence of 15^th Rabi-ul-awwal which you withheld posting on account of your busy schedule or is it out of sight out of mind.

 

Subsequently I received a brief letter on 18^th Jammed-ul-Uwla, by way of which I was sad to learn that you were unable to receive the address of the sahib of the silken letters. This sahib is the son of Hamid-ul-Ansari Ghazi who resided for many years in London and is presently now in America, even so he still frequently alternates his residence between London and America.  

 

Coincidentally he arrived here and informed me that he is doing research in London on the silken scarf movement; this wetted my appetite for it. I had the address written down by him and then enclosed the address along with your letter within Qasim Sahib’s envelope as I had been informed that of the letters that had arrived that day he was the closest to you.

 

Previously I had written a short letter to Dr Maqsood Sahib and sent it through you in order that perhaps you may become acquainted with each other, what's more since he is Indian there may be an added benefit for you from his medical expertise. I had the notion that you were both in London, it was only later I learned that between you there is a difference of a couple of hundred miles. I received a letter from him a week ago wherein he mentioned that you requested clarification of his address and made an allusion to my letter. He further states that it has been 15 days since he wrote to Molvi Yusuf but no reply has been received and neither has he sent your letter. I wrote to Doctor Sahib to tell him that dearest Yusuf is dreadfully busy and that he has not written to me for sometime either. Since he is now informed of my letter kindly dispatch the said letter.

 

No 9:  What possible council can I give with regards to your accommodation, being so far away, also I’m not totally au fait with your situation there. I will certainly pray that almighty Allah grants you your due and whatever is best for you in this regard. It is imperative to give precedence to wherever the need for religious instruction is greatest over monetary benefit. After the sunnah greeting kindly inform khaloo sahib that regardless of the time spent in this world it is sure to end sometime, on the other hand the life hereafter is enduring. Therefore, with relation to dearest Yusuf I humbly request that effort should be made where there is scope for religious endeavour despite the pay being of a smaller amount, death is indiscriminate and who knows when it will appear. Thus, whatever amount that one may strive for the sake of religion is a boon, money and wealth will aid no one. Virtuous deeds and enduring works of charity will accompany one after death.

With reference to your third letter you mentioned that an individual is prepared to rent you his lodgings, but at the same time you penned that as an alternative to purchasing you have determined to rent instead. However, you have mentioned in the second letter that the required amount for purchasing a house is roughly the combined amount of a few rented houses, so why you have decided to rent, I do not know.

 

No10. Numerous letters have been received from acquaintances alluding to the Gujarat flood, there has been appalling destruction, May almighty Allah have mercy and grant recompense, the particulars of which perhaps dearest Abdur-Raheem will pen in his letter. Following the reports of the tragedy of Chacha Jan I have taken it upon myself and requested friends to pray for his forgiveness and to send posthumous reward to the deceased. This useless-one prays from the heart on behalf of the landlord, may almighty Allah save him from guile and grant him the success of both worlds. Instruct him to recite routinely five rosaries of Durood Shareef with wudhu and facing the qiblah. The dream pertaining to the na’at is very much blessed, the viewer, the viewed as well as the meaning of the couplet is patently evident.

 

No11. It’s my heartfelt wish that the name of the madrassa should be Madrassa Yusufia; it’s my choice so you need not show any humility on your part, otherwise, chose from Khaleelia, Raheemia or Rasheedia.

 

No12. If you should find any sentence strikingly objectionable within my correspondence then kindly forgive.  Occasionally I may write something spontaneously owing to the strength of our connection and on occasion the writer may consider something to be trivial whereas the re4ader might look upon it as inappropriate. Recently there have been numerous dreams that have been seen in relation to my emigration and demise, as a result there has been a marked increased in the number of visitors that are arriving here daily in order to bid me a final farewell. By and large there are in the region of 60 or 70 guests, while on some days there are more, yesterday I heard that there were 150 and they had to be provided for in the madrassa.

 

You had previously penned of your wife’s intention to visit here, I have always held the belief that affluent girls find it difficult to adjust within what is a meagre household. I have relentlessly tried to entertain and to attend to every whim of dearest molvi abdur-Raheems wife yet the poor girl has still not adjusted. Although, try as they might, herself and dearest Abdur-Raheem’s contend this, but I have been teaching the translation of Bukhari Shareef for 30 years, words and their connotations are even now unmistakably lucid. Pass on my sunnah greeting to your Khaloo sahib, Khala sahiba and your wife.

 

That is all

 

The monies you sent in sterling came to 106 Rupees 80 paisa. May almighty Allah bestow upon you a most excellent reward in both worlds. Moulana Ikram Sahib, dearest Talha, Naseer Sahib and Ayub send their sunnah greetings.