Some teachings of Hadhrat Khaja Bandanawaz (May Allah shower His Mercy on him)

 

Some teachings of Hadhrat Khaja Banda Nawaz (May Allah shower His mercy on him)

 

The Khaja would offer Salaat Ul Ishraaq after Salaat Ul Fajr and after it, he would have breakfast along with his sons.  After that the Khaja would teach exegesis of the Holy Quran or Hadith and related sciences.  Sometimes, he would give lessons of Jurisprudence as well.

 

After Salaat Ul Zuhr, there would a lecture and often at this time, the Khaja would instruct the disciples as well.  Here we present some teachings of the Khaja.

 

On the perils of (worldly) love

 

The Khaja said:  There are tribulations in everything.  In (worldly) love, there are 2 tribulations, one in the beginning and the other at the end.  The tribulation in the beginning is that in quest of the beloved, the lover is so by sorrow of love that he (or she) is devastated….. The lover cannot think of anything that will unite him with the beloved.  He understands that there is nothing for him except agony and sorrow.  After a period of time, this sorrow becomes his second nature.  Then the lover doesn’t have any pleasure even in agony and sorrow.  His earnestness also goes cold.  The result is that he has nothing but deprivation.

 

The height of the lover’s tribulation is that when he is united with the beloved and he is gladdened by that pleasure and is free of the sorrow of separation, then after some days, this becomes his nature and he doesn’t have any pleasure with the beloved……..The warmth of life leaves that man and he becomes nothing more than a relic.

 

The faith of the parents of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam)

 

Once the Khaja said:  I have seen a strange thing in Tafseer Umm Al Ma’ani.  On the occasion of the Farewell Hajj, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) had sent Hadhrat ‘Ali (May Allah be well pleased with him) for some work.  When he returned, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) asked him:  Do you know o Ali how Almighty Allah has honored me?  Hadhrat ‘Ali (May Allah be well pleased with him) answered:  No, o Prophet of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

 

The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Yesterday I supplicated to Allah for the forgiveness of my parents.  The command was given:  It is Our unchangeable rule that the person who doesn’t believe in My Oneness and in Your Prophethood and doesn’t declare idols as false will not be allowed to enter paradise and will neither be freed from hell.  You please go to such and such a place and call Your parents and Abu Talib.  They will be resurrected from the dead and will come to You.  You call them to Islam and they will embrace Islam.  Then, We will forgive them.  I did so.  I went to that place and called out to my parents and uncle.  They came wiping away dust from their heads.  I told them:  Now you know the truth that I am the Prophet of Allah and Allah is one and only and the idols are false.  They said:  Yes, we know the truth that Allah is one, the idols are false and You are the Prophet of Allah.  Then Almighty Allah forgave them and they went back to their graves happily.

 

The Khaja said:  I have found this only in Umm Al Ma’ani and not in any other book.  This kind of forgiveness was only for them and shouldn’t be taken for anybody else.  This shows the high status of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

 

On intellectuals and their disregard for religion

 

Once after Salaat Ul Chaasht, the talk turned to those intellectuals who have completely disregarded religion and who have made oppressing and exploiting Muslims and poor folk their custom.  The Khaja said:  In the caliphate of Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him), Mugheera was the governor of Damascus.  He sent a letter to Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) on a small piece of paper that I want to write the conditions of the province to you, but don’t have enough paper.  Please issue the order that one ream of paper be issued to me every year or that I get half the skin of a deer from the public treasury.  The Caliph wrote back:  There is no paper or deerskin for you in the public treasury.  You make the point of your pen fine and write succinctly.

 

Mugheera asked the one who had brought back the reply:  Did you see anything in the Caliph which was against the life of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam)?  The messenger said:  Yes.  I have seen him have a whole egg (i.e. egg with yolk) and I have seen him use 2 beds for sleeping.  Hadhrat Mugheera (May Allah be well pleased with him) said:  May Allah forgive me!  I don’t want the governorship of Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him).

 

He announced to the people that he is going back to Madina the next morning and no special preparations for wishing him goodbye, etc. should be made.  The next morning he mounted a camel and went to Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him).  Hadhrat ‘Umar was surprised to see him so changed.

 

He asked him:  What is the matter with you, o Mugheera?

 

Hadhrat Mugheera (May Allah be well pleased with him) answered:  You have left the lifestyle of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

 

Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) said:  I swear by Allah, I have not swerved from it even a little!

 

Mugheera (May Allah be well pleased with him) said:  You have eaten a whole egg and have used 2 beds.

 

Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) clarified:  That night, I was suffering from cold and the doctor had told me to eat an egg with its yolk.  I did so.  That night, I also had some fever, that’s why I spread a blanket beneath me and covered myself with another.

 

About Ism A’adham

 

Sultan Ibrahim bin Adham (May Allah shower His mercy on him) was asked about Ism A’adham (a special attribute of Allah, which if one uses in one’s supplications, they are never rejected).  He replied: If you keep your stomach hungry and the body free of jealousy, then by whatever attribute you call upon Allah Most High, it will prove to be Ism A’adham.

 

The essence of religion is repentance

 

The Khaja said: Repentance is the essence of religion.  Almighty Allah has made a law that if a person spends 10,000 years in disbelief and repents just once and recites the declaration of faith sincerely, then the disbelief of 10,000 years is washed away in the space of a moment as if that person was newly born.  In the same way, if someone spends his (or her) whole life in sin, but repents then all the sins are forgiven and that person will become pure the way a cloth becomes pure after washing it with a cloth. 

 

Repentance is the wealth of the Prophets and the saints.  This is because human beings are nothing but slips and forgetfulness.  Only repentance is their refuge.  The moment one repents and turns to Allah Most High, one becomes pure and radiant.  If repentance wasn’t there, then nobody would have become beloved to Allah.  Everyone has reached their station only through this.

 

About the prohibition of wine

 

It is mentioned in the Hadith that all intoxicants are forbidden.  The Khaja related this Hadith and said:  The reason for forbiddance of wine is nothing but that after consuming it, one loses one’s mind and such a thing must be forbidden.

 

The Khaja also said:  Once a group of Emigrants and Madinite Companions were drinking wine together.  They became so drunk that they drew swords to fight each other.  A bloody fight was barely averted.  After this, the verse of the Holy Quran that one cannot offer Salaat when intoxicated was revealed.  The Companions started thinking whether wine was prohibited only for Salaat times or for all times, as Salaat has to be offered 5 times in a day and if one drinks wine even once in a day, it is not possible to be free of its intoxicating effects for the whole day.  If one drinks after Salaat Ul Fajr, then the effects will linger for Zuhr, ‘Asr and even Maghrib.  Thus, this command should be treated as complete prohibition of intoxicants.  Some days after this, the command of total prohibition of wine was revealed.

 

On youth and its excellence

 

Once, the discussion turned to the strength of youth and its excellence.  The Khaja said:  The tree of life is tender in youth and has just started bearing fruit.  In whatever you desire to take fruit from it, you may.  However, when it grows and crosses the age of 40, then that isn’t the time for its nurturing.  Whatever has happened until that time will remain, the way a dried up stick cannot be green again.

 

[Excerpted from Jawami ‘Ul Kalim]