So we were talking about safeguarding the tongue from talking against the auliyâ‘ of Allah Ta’ala. Hazrat Thânwî rahimahullâh quotes from the Mathnawî of Maulânâ Rûmî rahimahullâh who said that if a person interferes with an elephant and irritates it, it might bear this interference and not do anything. But if the person interferes with its calf, the parent will attack the person and stop him in his tracks.

Ten people were walking in a jungle. A pious person who used to receive inspiration (kashf) said to them: “Listen, do not eat the meat of an elephant’s calf.” This pious person received kashf that these people will lose their way and they will fall hungry. He feared that these people might eat the meat of an elephant’s calf out of intense hunger. This concept of kashf is in the control of Allah Ta’ala, it is not under the control of man. If it was under the control and will of man, HazratYa‘qûb (Alaihis salaam) would have known through kashf that HazratYûsuf (Alaihis salaam) is in a nearby well. We learn from this that kashf is not even under the control of the Prophets (Alaihimus salaam). This is a proof that kashf is from Allah Ta’ala. Thus, when Allah Ta’aladisplayed His bounty to Hazrat Ya‘qûb (Alaihis salaam), the latter got the fragrance of Hazrat Yûsuf’s (Alaihis salaam) shirt from thousands of kilometres away.

Nevertheless, we were talking about these ten people in the jungle who lost the way. They said to themselves that they will not eat the meat of an elephant because their pious elder prohibited them from doing so. Several days later, they were overcome by intense hunger. This hunger caused them to lose their senses. Their eyes fell on a baby elephant. Nine of them said that they are going to adhere to the advice of their pious elder and he had prohibited them from eating the meat of an elephant. The tenth person said: “Hey, don’t worry. We are hungry.” He thus slaughtered that baby elephant with his sword and ate its meat. The mother elephant came around at night and found its baby missing. It went in search for its baby and found ten people sleeping at one spot. It went and sniffed each of those ten people. The person who had eaten the baby elephant was sleeping in the centre of the others so that even if the mother elephant were to come for them, it will go for the others first. When they make a noise, he will wake up. However, the mother elephant sniffed each person at a time. When it sniffed the person who was sleeping in the centre, and who had eaten the baby elephant, it recognized the smell of its baby’s blood. It grasped this person’s one leg with its trunk, stamped his other leg with its foot and tore him into two pieces. Maulânâ Rûmî rahimahullâh relates this incident as an advice and says: Look! If you display any shortcomings and commit any wrong with regard to Allah Ta’ala, He will pardon you if you cry to Him and ask Him for forgiveness. But if you cause misery to His auliyâ’(friends), it may well be that He will not forgive you even if His auliyâ’ forgive you.

Allah Ta’aladoes not disgrace any people as long as they do not cause misery to any pious servant of Allah Ta’ala.

Friends, I am therefore saying that you must certainly consider yourself to have faults, but do not look at the faults of others. The masses should not look for the faults of the ‘ulamâ’. The muqtadîs (those offering salâh behind the imam) should not look for the faults of their imam. Instead, they should inquire about him and look at the condition in which the poor man is in, and make du‘â for him.