It is not easy to save oneself from one’s soul and Satan. A person cannot be reformed without a shaikh-e-kâmil. Had it been easy, why would great ‘ulamâ’ like Maulânâ Thânwî rahimahullâh, Maulânâ Gangohî rahimahullâh and Maulânâ Qâsim Nânautwî rahimahullâh consult a non-‘âlim, Hâjî Imdâdullâh Sahib Muhâjir Makkî rahimahullâh for their reformation? No matter how capable a person maybe, the following saying holds true:

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“The opinion of a sick person is unsound.”

Even when Hakeem Ajmal Khân [a famous physician] used to fall ill, he would consult other physicians for his treatment. Therefore, notwithstanding their knowledge and merit, these senior and great ‘ulamâ’ went to Hâjî Sahib rahimahullâh for their reformation and submitted themselves to him.

On one occasion when Hâjî Sahib rahimahullâh was in Thânâbawan, he placed some bread and potato chilli bites on Maulânâ Gangohî’s rahimahullâh hand and said: “Eat.” Maulânâ Gangohî rahimahullâh says: “Hâjî Sahib rahimahullâh was looking at me from the corner of his eye to check whether I was affected by this and whether I felt humiliated when my shaikh asked me to do this.” He adds: “I then thought to myself that look at my good fortune that my shaikh is subduing my soul.”

Mullâ ‘Alî Qârî rahimahullâh writes that there was an ‘âlim who was also a mufti, orator and muhaddith (Hadîth scholar). He went to his shaikh for reformation. The shaikh said to him: “You will have to give up three things: (1) you cannot issue any fatwâ, (2) you cannot teach any Hadîth, and (3) you cannot deliver any lecture. You will have to spend the entire year in the khânqâh and engage in the remembrance of Allah Ta’alaand there is no condition of one year, you may have to stay longer. As long as I do not permit you, you cannot render any service to Islam nor invite towards Allah Ta’ala.” Mullâ ‘Alî Qârî rahimahullâh writes in his commentary ofMishkât that some fanatical muftis of that time issued the fatwâ of kufr against this shaikh.

Mullâ ‘Alî Qârî rahimahullâh was a great Hadîth scholar and mujaddid (reviver of Islam) of his era. After one year, the shaikh felt that this person’s soul has been subdued. Now whatever talk he delivers will be for the sake of Allah Ta’ala. Whatever book he writes and composes will be for the sake of Allah Ta’ala. The quality of sincerity and devotion has now been created in him. The shaikh therefore gave him permission to issue fatâwâ, teach Hadîth and deliver talks. The talks that he had been delivering for the last ten years had made no impact on the people. But now, the first talk which he delivered after receiving permission from his shaikh was filled with such devotion that all those who heard his talk immediately became the close friends of Allah Ta’ala(they became the auliyâ’ of Allah Ta’ala). Look at how his condition changed within one year of remaining in the company of his shaikh.

“From what state to what state of abundant yearning you conveyed me. You first made me a beloved, then the beloved of beloveds, and then the most beloved of beloveds.”

Maulânâ Rûmî rahimahullâh says:

If a thirsty person searchesfor water, then water also searches for those who are thirsty for it.

When there is an abundance of milk, the mother herself looks for her children [to feed them].

If there is no sincerity, neither will the lecture be accepted, the teaching of Bukhârî Sharîf will not be accepted, nor will the forty days of the tablîghîs be accepted. You should therefore remember the Hadîth about ostentation as related by Hazrat Abû Hurayrah (radhiallaho anho): The person who used to deliver talks is going into Hell, the martyr is going into Hell, and the reciter (qârî) of the Qur’ân is also going into Hell. From this, we learn that they did not have sincerity.