At present, I intend saying something about two spiritual maladies: Anger and casting evil glances. I pray to Allah Ta’ala to enable me to explain properly, to bless me with His special help, and to bless the speaker and the listener with sincerity. What is the meaning of listening with sincerity? It means listening with the intention of practising, not to merely utter exclamations of praise and enjoyment. At the same time, the speaker must not seek exclamations of praise; rather he should seek sighs and moans. Exclamations of praise will not benefit, it is the sighing and moaning [in pain and repentance] thatare of benefit. It is for this reason that Hakeem-ul-Ummah Mujaddid-ul-Millah Hazrat Maulânâ Ashraf ‘Alî Sâhib Thânwî rahimahullâh considered his salvation in “Âh” (sighs and moans). Hazrat has a poem in this regard:

“Âh of what significance were you [addressing himself]? All this is by virtue of the kindness and affection of Imdâd [Hâjî Imdâdullâh rahimahullâh].”

Hakeem-ul-Ummah Thânwî rahimahullâh attributed all his intellectual and practical achievements to his shaikh, Hâjî Imdâdullâh Sâhib rahimahullâh. This means that the mujaddid (reviver) of this era, the author of 1500 books, and the spiritual mentor of senior ‘ulamâ’ negates himself and attributes all his achievements to his shaikh. It is this very thing, which protects man from conceitedness, pride and haughtiness. As for the person who does not have a shaikh, he attributes everything to himself by saying: “I did this, and I did that.” And when there is this self-conceitedness, man becomes disgraced. It was this same illness of self-conceit which Satan was suffering from, and which caused him to say: “I, I.” Senior and great ‘ulamâ’ aligned themselves to a shaikh in order to put an end to this self-conceitedness. History bears testimony to the fact that many senior ‘ulamâ’ who were suns and moons of knowledge selected a spiritual guide and shaikh to obliterate their nafs.

A person cannot be a mentor unless he himself has a mentor to guide him. These days, a person qualifies from a madrasah, puts on his graduation turban, immediately apportions a place for himself as an imam of a musjid, and assumes the position of spiritual mentor for those who attend his musjid. Whereas he himself did not seek guidance from any mentor. How can a person who does not have a spiritual guide for himself guide others? Consequently, such people complain that the ‘ulamâ’ have no respect. As long as a pesh/dammah remains on the word maulwî(scholar), he will not attain respect. In other words when maulwi(scholar)sahib becomes muli(radish)sahib, then he will (literally) have no value like carrots and radish. The word maulwî means “the person of the maulâ”. For example, the word Lâhorî refers to a person from Lahore, the word Peshâwarî refers to a person from Peshawar, the word Lucknowî refers to a person from Lucknow. Therefore, when the maulwî opts for the companionship of the pious servants of Allah Ta'ala and becomes the person of the maulâ (i.e.One who has Allah Ta'ala in his heart) by engaging in the remembrance of Allah Ta'ala , then – inshâ Allâh – the public will have no way of disgracing him. As for those who disgrace and threaten him, Allah Ta’ala shall threaten and warn such a person. The word As-salâm is one of the attributes of Allah Ta’ala. In his book, Rûh-ul-Ma‘ânî,‘Allâmah Âlûsî rahimahullâh explains the word As-salâmas follows:

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“Who keeps His friends (auliyâ’) safe and secure from every thing or person which threatens them.”

(Ruhul Ma’ani, vol. 28, pg.63)

These days the masses are extremely audacious against the auliyâ’ of Allah Ta'ala and the ‘ulamâ’ of Islam. They look at the clock of the musjid and if the imam comes one minute late, they start speaking out against him. They consider the imam to be a steel spout, which can be opened and closed whenever they like. If he is slightly delayed because he had to relieve himself, they ought to wait for him for five or ten minutes. However, the masses treat the imam like a slave.

‘Allâmah Jalâluddîn Suyûtî rahimahullâh quotes the following statement of Rasulullah (sallellaho alaihe wasallam):

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“Honour the ‘ulamâ’ because they are the inheritors of the Prophets.”

(Kanzul Ummal: The chapter on knowledge, vol.10, pg.150)

Rasulullah (sallellaho alaihe wasallam) also said:

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“The one who does not honour our ‘ulamâ’ is not of us.”