Introduction

Syed Noor Alam Misbahi*

مُبَسْمِلاً وَّ حَامِدًا وَّ مُصَلِیًّا وَّ مُسَلِمًا

Beginning with the name of Allah, praising Him, and invoking blessings and peace.

The need for righteous and pious scholars has existed in every age and always will; for it is these very people who have brought the ship of the Ummah out of the whirlpool of trial and tribulation to the shore of its destination. Yet it is also a bitter truth that, because of a group from among the people of knowledge themselves, dark clouds of tribulation (fitna) have kept gathering over the skies of the Ummah, and in their darkness who knows how many caravans of life have strayed far from the path of life and been lost in the deadly valleys of innovation (bid‘ah) and irreligion. That is why the Quran and Sunnah, showing both sides of the coin, have praised one group and condemned the other, called one the representative of the Most Merciful and the other the representative of Satan. They have then made clear the signs of both groups, so that it is known whom to follow and from whom to keep away. Thus Allah Most High says:

اتَّبِعُوۡا مَنۡ لَّا یَسْـَٔلُکُمْ اَجْرًا وَّ ہُمۡ مُّہۡتَدُوۡنَ ؂

Follow those who ask of you no reward, and who are rightly guided. 1

Follow such people as ask nothing of you in return and are on the right path.

It becomes clear that the scholars of the Hereafter (‘ulama-e-akhirat), being the heirs of the Prophets, do not ask for any recompense in return for their calling and preaching; rather, all their work is done with sincerity, for the sake of Allah and for His good pleasure. The other group, however, called the evil scholars (‘ulama-e-su’) or the scholars of the world (‘ulama-e-dunya), render services that are empty of sincerity and done in obedience to the self.

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1. Surah Ya-Sin, 36:21

*Research Scholar, Department of Persian, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh

Today the common people have no touchstone by which to measure and recognise good and bad scholars; for the signs that were described in the Quran and Sunnah and in the books of Sufism are today in the possession of the scholars alone. So the poor common people take anyone well dressed in the garb of a scholar to be their Khidr on the path and their saviour, and make him their leader; as a result, together with their idol, they too drown in the deep river of evil conduct.

Bahr-ul-Irfan Hazrat Mufti Afaque Ahmad Sahib Mujaddidi (may Allah’s mercy and pleasure be upon him) was a person who greatly cherished scholars. On the one hand, by founding Al-Jamiatul Ahmadia he cultivated scholars in Kannauj, the city of perfume; on the other hand, in order to make scholars of the Hereafter, he vigorously set in motion the work of properly training scholars through remembrance of Allah (dhikr) and meditation (muraqaba). Thus the spiritual gatherings held from Fajr until Ishraq, from Asr until Maghrib, and after Isha have illuminated who knows how many darkened hearts with the remembrance of Allah.

The book before you, ‘Ulama-e-Akhirat’ (Scholars of the Hereafter), is also a link in this same chain. The author says: “The important work that scholars can do after training can never be done by preachers who are not scholars.” In this book, the signs of good and bad scholars are described in an appealing manner from the Quran and hadith, the sayings of scholars and the books of Sufism. Throughout, the author’s own experiences have added colour and polish. If a scholar reads the signs mentioned in the book, looks into his own collar, and accepts the reproaches of the self-reproaching soul (nafs-e-lawwama), he will become a spiritual and godly (rabbani) scholar and be honoured and exalted in this world and the Hereafter. May Allah Most High grant us all the ability to read and to act. Amin, by the rank of the Leader of the Messengers, and his family and all his Companions.

بِإِسْمِہِ تَعَالیٰ

In His Exalted Name.

حَامِدًا وَّ مُصَلِیًّا وَّ مُسَلِمًا

Praising Allah, and invoking blessings and peace.

1. A Muslim of even ordinary knowledge and intelligence knows with certainty that success and salvation in the Hereafter, and the attainment of eternal and everlasting blessings, depend on believing in religion correctly and acting upon it.

What is religion? The Hadith of Jibril shows that perfect religion has three parts: (1) Iman, that is, true beliefs; (2) Islam, that is, righteous deeds; (3) Ihsan, that is, sincerity.

In the light of the Quran and Sunnah, the scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah defined the true beliefs, explained them in detail and wrote them down, and for this a whole independent discipline, ‘the science of beliefs and theology (‘ilm al-‘aqa’id wa al-kalam)’, came into being. In this respect it has been the distinction of the scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah, and a special grace of Allah upon them, that they did not set one part of the Quran against another or create contradictions in it; rather, they believed in every verse, affirmed every letter, and kept everything in its proper place. In contrast, all the false sects also tried to prove their own assumptions and inventions from the Quran and Sunnah, but in such a way that they accepted some of it and denied some.

As for righteous deeds, they are of many kinds. The Quran and Sunnah described them in considerable detail; the scholars supplied further details, divided them into acts of worship (‘ibadat), dealings (mu‘amalat), penal laws (‘uqubat) and so on, and, according to the nature of their proof, classified them as obligatory (fara’iz), necessary (wajibat), Sunnahs and recommended acts (sunan wa mustahabbat), and permissible acts (mubahat). All these details are indebted to the jurists and mujtahids, who accomplished what the scholars of no earlier community had been able to accomplish.

The Quran and Sunnah have laid great emphasis on two further things: first, purification of the self (tazkiya-e-nafs), and second, purification of the heart (tasfiya-e-qalb). The Sufis of deep insight turned their attention to the details of this, and they too did matchless work in this regard. The good character and habits, virtues and noble qualities on the basis of which people are praised in the Quran and Sunnah, and whose praiseworthy attributes are described there, which lead to Paradise and

through which a good and righteous society comes into being; and, opposite them, the bad character and habits and blameworthy attributes on the basis of which people are condemned, from which evils arise in society, oppression and transgression are born, and which lead towards Hell: the noble Sufis (may Allah have mercy on them) described all these in detail. They also explained their source: that they are certain attributes and mischiefs of the self that commands evil (nafs-e-ammara) and the filth and impurity of hearts; and that only when the purification of selves and hearts is attained is the third part of perfect religion, which has been termed Ihsan, achieved.

2. For the sciences of the Quran and Sunnah and those who carry them, the scholars, and for the students who acquire them, Allah Most High and His Messenger ﷺ described countless virtues and merits in the Quran and Sunnah and encouraged their acquisition in many ways. It was the grace flowing from Prophethood that the desire for the sciences of the Quran and Sunnah kept increasing, and the scholars carried out such work of acquiring these sciences and spreading and propagating them as no nation in the world has been able to do. Great mujtahids, jurists, hadith scholars, Quranic exegetes, theologians and others were born, and by virtue of these sciences Allah Most High granted them such honour and dignity in this very world that people turned to them in such numbers that even the kings and sultans of the time were left looking on, envying the honour, devotion and love they enjoyed; and the lofty ranks in the Hereafter of which these elders received glad tidings were granted to no one else.

The Quran and Sunnah have an outward and an inward dimension. Their sciences, their spiritual insights and their realities are countless. This is an ocean without a shore; each person gathered pearls from its depths according to how deeply he dived. Therefore different ranks arose among them that cannot be counted. We divide them as follows. One class came to be of those scholars who combined both the outward and inward sciences of the Quran and Sunnah and had reached the limit of perfection in both. Among them, too, some held the rank of independent reasoning (ijtihad), and some were below them. Then among them were those who served the sciences of the Shari‘ah; their

attention was mostly devoted to deriving and extracting rulings and to spreading and propagating them. They became famous and well known by the names mentioned above. Some adopted the way of spiritual struggle and self-discipline (mujahadat wa riyazat), developed within themselves the capacity for unveiling and inspiration (kashf wa ilham), became aware of spiritual insights and realities through them, and made the guiding of people on the spiritual path and the spreading and propagation of the inward sciences their particular occupation. They came to be known by such names as shaykhs (masha’ikh) and Sufis.

Both classes have been the focus of the devotion of the people of faith, some less, some more. Those who became famous as scholars, through their scholarly and religious services, and those who became famous as shaykhs and Sufis, through their spirituality, their spiritual powers and miracles (tasarrufat wa karamat), their abundant remembrance of Allah and recitation, their God-consciousness and piety, their fear and awe of Allah, their weeping and lamenting, their night vigils, their contentment and trust in Allah, and their distance from the world and all it contains, received abundant offerings of devotion and love. It is the result of people’s attachment and devotion to these classes, and of their high rank, that those who are called scholars and Sufis today are still the centre of the common people’s devotion and love.

The second class is of those scholars who attained perfection in the sciences of the Shari‘ah, or the outward sciences, and remained limited to them. The third is of those who acquired the sciences of the Shari‘ah to the necessary extent, but in whom the inward dimension predominated. These lofty services of the scholars and shaykhs became a cause of the people’s even greater attachment and love.

Just as Allah Most High and His noble Messenger ﷺ described the immense virtues and merits of those who carry and study the sciences of the Quran and Sunnah, so They also described condemnations; and the condemnations described are as great as the virtues. Obviously, just as their benefit is general, abundant and important, so is their harm. They are a cause of the world’s betterment and also of its corruption. They do the work of faith, and they also do the work of unbelief and apostasy. They spread and propagate the Shari‘ah, and they also drive it away. They unite and join the community together, and they also break it apart and spread discord. These classes have always been the ones to whom people turn. Wherever they lead the community,

it goes.

In the light of the Quran and Sunnah, these people became divided into two kinds according to their conduct, deeds, beliefs and views: (1) scholars of the Hereafter (‘ulama-e-akhirat); (2) evil scholars (‘ulama-e-su’).

Ordinary believers do not have enough capacity to distinguish good from bad, to recognise the righteous and the wicked, or to separate the pious from the impious: who is a cause of righteousness and success and who of loss and corruption; who is on the truth and to what extent, and who is not; whose opinion is correct and in accordance with the Shari‘ah and whose is not; whom we should choose as a leader to follow and whom not; who is a guide and who is a highway robber. Leave aside the common people, even many people of knowledge cannot reach a correct and sound judgement in all these matters, as to who deserves the virtues and merits that have come in the Quran and Sunnah and who does not.

Shaykhs: In the present age, the true shaykhs that there used to be no longer exist, except as Allah wills, those whom Allah alone knows. There are many guides, but most of them, outwardly and inwardly, are devoid of the qualities of a spiritual master (pir). Now the aim is the world; everyone seeks honour and wealth, and all are busy trying to make their own coin current. The only concern is to enlarge one’s own circle of disciples. In this business of pirs and disciples (piri-muridi) there are worldly benefits through and through: offerings come in, services are rendered, and praises too. It is comfort upon comfort, luxury upon luxury. That is why everyone is running towards it. Pirs now go from house to house themselves conferring certificates of successorship (khilafat) so that their circle may grow. From most pirs of today, religion is suffering harm instead of benefit. No one tolerates anyone else; the mutual rivalry of the pirs is reaching down to their disciples.

So among them, too, there are factions. Most pirs have their own parties; they have no concern for the training of their disciples. Each one wants his disciples not to pay attention to

anyone else, and all the offerings to come to him alone. So in their private gatherings they often speak ill of others. This has caused harm in many ways.

1. Among the people of faith and the Sunni way, hatred has spread instead of love.

2. Because of this hatred, forbidden things such as malice, rancour, envy, backbiting, tale-carrying, and humiliating and belittling others have come into being.

3. Cooperation in righteousness and piety has ended, whereas the Holy Quran calls us:

‘‘وَتَعَاوَنُوۡا عَلَی الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوٰی وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوۡا عَلَی الۡإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَاتَّقُوا اللہَ اِنَّ اللہَ شَدِیۡدُ الْعِقَابِ’’؂

“Help one another in righteousness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah; indeed Allah is severe in punishment.” 1

Translation: And help one another in goodness and God-fearing, and do not aid one another in sin and transgression, and keep fearing Allah; indeed, Allah’s punishment is severe.

Now the disciples of one are not willing to help another; even one pir’s wealthy patrons are not willing to give donations to others. Every pir wants only his own bag to be filled and all the income to come to his own khanqah.

4. The disciples of one pir are not willing to listen to the sermons and advice of another, nor to read his books; far from sitting in his company, they are not even willing to shake hands with him. We have described a great deal about the consequences and evils of mutual disputes in another writing. These are a few of the obvious harms.

Most pirs today are doing all of this. They are far from acting on the clear rulings of the Shari‘ah and are abandoning prayers. Some are shaving their beards; some have fallen into other offences. The common people cannot recognise all this, and imagine in all of them the greatness of the early Sufis (may Allah Most High have mercy on them). They imagine them to be possessors of miracles and spiritual powers and to have reached Allah. Regarding these pirs,

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1. Surah al-Ma’idah, 5:2

the common people are being deceived in several respects. There are some pirs who are not Sunni in belief, yet they take disciples. And among those who are Sunni, the overwhelming majority are those who know Sufism neither in theory nor in practice nor in spiritual state, though they act on the rulings of the Shari‘ah to some extent; but they pay no attention to the Shar‘i training of their disciples. Obviously, no attainment of spirituality can be imagined from such pirs, nor can any considerable zeal for acting on the Shari‘ah arise. Yes, such pirs do have this benefit, that their disciples remain firm on the Sunni way.

The third kind are those pirs who are Sunni in belief but have weaknesses in practice and are at the level of open sinners (fasiq-e-mu‘lin). Some of them have fallen prey to strange superstitions and present a strange idea of spirituality. Although their disciples too remain on the Sunni way to a considerable extent, out of ignorance and foolishness they put forward strange subtleties, and to cover up their own faults they declare acting on the Shari‘ah to be the business of mullahs. The common people regard all of them as saints (awliya’). There are other kinds among them as well. In short, leave aside the common people, the truth has become obscured even for many scholars.

Scholars: Of those who are called scholars today, some have obtained certificates from madrasas, and others stayed for a short time at some madrasa somewhere and have no certificate at all. The first group comprises several classes in terms of knowledge and practice. There is certainly one class of scholars who, by the standards of the present age, possess a considerable knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah and study and teach them. This is mostly the class of madrasa teachers, who, each according to his capacity and aptitude, hard work and effort, study and repetition, and teaching and learning, are keeping the sciences of the Shari‘ah alive and are engaged in spreading and propagating them. This is still a blessing in this age of ignorance. Within this class there are people of several kinds in terms of deeds and character. One kind acts on the rulings of the Shari‘ah and is free of common base qualities; they neither backbite nor get involved in mutual disputes. Some of them are also writers, and some are content with teaching and instruction alone; by the standards of this

age they are a great blessing. The second kind are those who have many weaknesses in practice, but whose corruption does not spread much to others. The third kind are those who, for some reason, have fallen victim to harms relating to Sufi disposition (mashrab), region and the like, who remain busy refuting and attacking their own people, and who have adopted a way of reform that, instead of reforming, spreads corruption (ifsad). This class has the greatest share in the division of the Ahl al-Sunnah.

Another class of those called scholars is of middling level in knowledge and understands something of the Quran and Sunnah. In terms of practice and of tribulation and corruption, they too resemble the first; and if they are attached to some pir, they are two steps ahead even of their shaykhs in spreading corruption. The third class are scholars in name only, who have the ability to understand the Quran and Sunnah neither directly by their own capacity nor with the help of translations and the like, and who have no desire for knowledge. Among those who have obtained certificates from madrasas and Islamic universities there are many classes, but in some respect we can divide them into these same three kinds. The common people have no instrument by which they can measure or weigh knowledge and judge which of them is a scholar of the Shari‘ah and which is not. This class is far ahead of the senior ones in tribulation and corruption. It knows neither the beliefs of the Sunnah nor true Islam; it has only a few hearsay notions that it has lodged in its mind concerning the distinction between truth and falsehood.

Those Who Hold the Reins of Religion

In most periods of Islam, the reins of religion have been in the hands either of the scholars or of the shaykhs. Today too, it is they who are called religious leaders, and it is to them that the common people turn. Whatever path they lead the people on, the people follow; whatever they declare to be true, the people accept. Knowledge and spirituality are hidden matters. Leave aside the common people, even the elite have no way to know someone’s spirituality and to gain true knowledge of it. Knowing spirituality requires unveiling and inspiration. Regarding scholars in particular, the common people know of no

way by which they could distinguish between a true scholar and one who is not, since all are in the cloak of scholars.

Allah Most High and His Messenger ﷺ know full well which scholar deserves the virtues described in the Quran and Sunnah and which does not. It is among the great favours of the Lord, Majestic and Exalted, and of His greatest Messenger ﷺ that They have told us who is a scholar of the Hereafter and who a scholar of the world, who is a scholar of good and who a scholar of evil, and have described the signs by which we can distinguish good from bad to a considerable extent.

Caution: For success in this world and the next, and for felicity and salvation in the Hereafter, the most important issue today, in the view of this humble one, is the correct choice of a guide and leader. A slight slip in this can cause enormous loss, and a correct choice can bring about felicity so great that it cannot be described. The guide of the highest rank is one who carries perfect religion, that is, who combines the sciences of the Shari‘ah and the Sufi path (tariqa), is filled with zeal for training and for inviting people to Allah, has the ability to bring Allah’s servants to Allah, and is well aware of the objectives of the Shari‘ah. If, along with this, he is also acquainted with worldly success and prosperity, so much the better. Such a person can only be one who is Sunni in belief, steadfast in righteous deeds, adorned with praiseworthy character and pure and clean of base character. Along with this, he should have attained spiritual stations and states (maqamat wa ahwal) in the company of some perfect and perfecting spiritual guide (murshid) in the proper way, and should know how to train disciples (murids).

The guide of the second rank may be considered one who possesses the sciences of the Shari‘ah to the necessary extent, as well as spirituality and Sufism, and the ability to guide on the path (suluk), and who has the qualities mentioned above.

In the third rank can come those scholars of the Shari‘ah who are accomplished in the sciences of the Shari‘ah, who also practise what they know and are free of tribulation and corruption, who know how to do the work of reform instead of spreading corruption, who preach and propagate the rulings

of the Shari‘ah, who encourage and urge those connected to them to act on its rulings, and who are adorned with praiseworthy character. If by good fortune such scholars become available to the common people today, even then a great deal of work for the felicity and success of religion and the world can be done.

If the responsible scholars in the madrasas establish a temperament of reform and training in accordance with the Shari‘ah, if students are given the best Shar‘i training, if practising scholars filled with zeal for da‘wah are produced, and if students of every level receive fitting training, then even scholars of little learning, memorisers of the Quran (huffaz) and imams of mosques can do quite good work for the Shari‘ah, that is, for belief and practice. The righteousness of the scholar (‘alim) is the righteousness of the world (‘alam), and the corruption of the scholar is the corruption of the world. The scholars of the Hereafter are the greatest good, and the scholars of the world and the evil scholars are the greatest evil. Distinguishing between them is a very difficult task. One great service the responsible imams, scholars and shaykhs have rendered is that, in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, they have described the signs by which the two can be distinguished and recognised separately. The scholars of the Hereafter can be chosen for one’s guidance. Hazrat Hujjat al-Islam Imam Muhammad Ghazali (may his secret be sanctified) in the noble Ihya’ al-‘Ulum, and other imams and scholars in certain other books, have described the signs of the scholars of the Hereafter and of the evil scholars. We set them down here in detail; to a great extent they can serve as guidance in the present age.

Scholars of the Hereafter

1. The basic condition for being a scholar of the Hereafter is that he adheres to the beliefs of the Ahl al-Sunnah, because it is the Ahl al-Sunnah alone who are the saved sect (al-firqa al-najiya). It should be known that many sects claim to be Sunni; a claim is one thing and being Sunni is another. There are many of our brothers who do not distinguish between the people of truth and others, who take even the Wahhabis and Deobandis to be Ahl al-Sunnah and give their hands into theirs. They take ‘Sunni’ to mean ‘non-Shi‘a’, whereas these sects do not adhere to the beliefs of the Ahl al-Sunnah. The perfections, qualities, reverence and respect that the Quran and hadith have described for the servants

near to Allah, and the pearls of devotion and love that the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) lavished upon them in practice, are not found among them. The scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah have explained this in detail in their books, so it should be sought there.

2. The second very important and basic condition of a scholar of the Hereafter is that the purpose of learning and teaching knowledge should be the pleasure and approval of Allah Most High, not the attainment of any worldly aim or benefit. Whoever intends anything other than the pleasure of Allah and the abode of the Hereafter has nothing but loss and ruin, and he will be counted among the scholars of the world rather than the scholars of the Hereafter. The scholars (may Allah Most High have mercy on them) say that such a person mocks Allah Most High. His example is that of a man who stands before a king to serve him, but whose aim is to gaze at some of the king’s slave men and slave women. Such a person deserves the utmost wrath and punishment.

Hazrat Sayyiduna Imam Muhammad ibn Isma‘il Bukhari (may his secret be sanctified) mentioned as the very first hadith in his book, Bukhari, the hadith concerning intention, namely, ‘Actions are only by intentions.’ That is, good deeds earn reward if done with a good intention, and otherwise not. It should be known that bad deeds, which are forbidden and impermissible, do not become good through a good intention, while righteous deeds become bad if a bad intention is made in them. For example, this very religious knowledge is among the great blessings of Allah Most High; if it is acquired for Allah Most High and the abode of the Hereafter, a servant cannot count its reward and its religious and worldly benefit. Immense virtues have come in the Quran and hadith for such people of knowledge, and it is an honour that surpasses even the honour of lineage. For its excellence it is enough that Allah Most High and His greatest Messenger ﷺ have described the loftiness, eminence, virtue and merit of such scholars. And Hazrat Imam Bukhari (may his secret be sanctified), by placing the hadith on intention

first of all, instructed teachers and students alike to correct their intentions before teaching and learning. In this connection, a few points should be kept in mind.

(a) In acts that are ends in themselves, that is, those whose very purpose is worship, such as prayer, fasting and so on, intention is obligatory. As for other acts of worship that are means to other acts of worship, such as wudu and the like, although according to the Hanafis intention is not obligatory in them, no reward is received for them without intention either. In short, to receive the reward of any righteous deed two things are necessary: first, faith; second, a good intention.

(b) Whether righteous deeds are at the level of the obligatory or of the Sunnah, voluntary and recommended acts, their reward too is not received without a good intention. So for receiving the reward of every righteous deed, intention is a condition.

(c) Permissible acts (mubahat), whose doing and not doing are equal according to the Shari‘ah, such as eating, drinking, sleeping, conversing with one’s friends and the like, within the limit the Shari‘ah has permitted: if these permissible acts are done with a good intention, they become a means of recompense and reward, and if done with a bad intention, they become a means of punishment and penalty. If someone eats with the intention that his body will have strength and energy through which he will worship abundantly, spread religion and undertake self-discipline and spiritual struggle in the path of Allah Most High, then this very eating becomes a cause of great recompense and reward and leads to countless benefits and advantages. If the body has strength, one can worship according to the Sunnah and abundantly, and can do great work in spreading and propagating Islam and the Sunni way. Running about for da‘wah and preaching, and giving speeches and writing, all require bodily strength. Teaching and learning the religious sciences also depend on bodily strength. Every effort for religion requires strength and energy.

If we correct our intentions, we can earn millions of good deeds in a minute, and the lawful and permissible things that we do for the world, thereby bringing punishment upon ourselves, will themselves become reward. This

relates to eating and drinking, living, clothing, building houses and homes, as well as feasts, weddings, and modern worldly teaching and learning, and so on. Neglecting this becomes a cause of great loss for us in the Hereafter. Scholars and shaykhs should correct their own intentions and also have their disciples and associates correct theirs, and they should lay great emphasis on this in their speeches and the like. Without this they cannot become scholars of the Hereafter. And if bad intentions are made in this same eating, it becomes bad and leads even to punishment. In short, if the strength gained from eating food and other nourishment and strengthening things is used for religion, countless religious and worldly benefits are gained; and if it is used to commit forbidden acts, for oppression and tyranny, and for the world, it becomes a cause of eternal loss.

Bad Intentions

If acquiring religious knowledge is not for the pleasure of Allah and for reward, but for the world, then it falls under bad intention.

Some bad intentions are these: for instance, one acquired religious knowledge in order to earn money by it. For example: if we become one of today’s preachers, we will take such-and-such an offering; if we become a poet, we will take this much; if we become a teacher, we will take so much; if we lead prayer, we will take this much; and so on. It should be understood that although the later jurists have declared it permissible to take remuneration for leading prayer and the like, once remuneration has been taken for a deed and that is the intention, then no reward remains.

The second bad intention is that one acquired it so that he would have honour among people and attain a rank above them. The third bad intention is that people will respect and honour us. The fourth bad intention is that he will repel from himself the arrogance of his contemporaries, so that they do not consider themselves greater than us. Another bad intention is that he will repel harm from his neighbours.

The scholars of religion say that whoever makes such intentions will keep making himself a target of Allah’s wrath, will keep joining the ranks of the evil scholars, and will keep making himself deserving of the threats that have come concerning the evil scholars.

It should be understood that when Islamic governments and Islamic laws and rulings were in force, all the great offices and posts were entrusted to scholars: one was a judge (qazi), another chief judge (qazi al-quzat), another Shaykh al-Islam, another Sadr al-Sudur, and so on. Since both honour and wealth were attached to these offices, most efforts were made to obtain these very posts and offices, and these things also became a cause of mutual envy. Sometimes this led, in proving one’s own superiority and pre-eminence, even to belittling others. In order to prove their scholarly superiority in the eyes of nobles and sultans, some fell into many unbecoming acts, and because of these fell into many forbidden things, such as backbiting, tale-carrying, dishonouring others and so on; and debates and disputations took place every other day. In this way the purpose of knowledge, namely the pleasure of Allah and the reward of the Hereafter, was entirely lost.

Likewise, zeal and devotion for one’s school and way sometimes led to bigotry, and great scholars of all four schools sometimes fell prey to it. Also, those skilled in teaching and instruction often came to hold a bad intention instead of a good one. The particular trick and mischief of the self that commands evil is that it desires its own superiority and elevation. In the classrooms the teachers’ wish used to be to deliver such learned lectures before the students that their erudition would be firmly established. These were all intentions that took people far from the path of truth. It will not be out of place here if we relate the incident of Hazrat Khwaja Abdul Khaliq Ghujduvani (may his secret be sanctified) which the author of ‘Hazarat al-Quds’, Allama Badruddin Sirhindi (may Allah have mercy on him), has described:

In Ghujduvan there was a very great scholar of deep learning. One of his students, impressed by Hazrat Khwaja Abdul Khaliq, became his disciple and began to receive spiritual grace from him. The said scholar came to know of it, and it weighed very heavily on him that he, so great a scholar, should have a student who had fallen into devotion to someone else. So whenever the student came to the classroom to study, the scholar would take jibes at him and at Hazrat Khwaja (may his secret be sanctified). When this behaviour of his went beyond all limits, the student, who had by then become a possessor of unveiling (kashf), said to him one day: ‘You commit fornication at night and then you taunt such saintly people.’ Since the matter was true, it had a very deep effect on the scholar, and he even confessed the offence. He asked the same student: ‘How did you come to know of this offence?’ The student replied: ‘Through the spiritual grace of the one whom you taunt and revile every day, we see those deeds and doings of yours that you commit in private.’ The Maulana’s attitude changed; he now became convinced that Hazrat Khwaja was certainly a saintly man. One day he gathered courage, presented himself before Hazrat Khwaja (may his secret be sanctified), and said: ‘I have been serving students through teaching and scholarship for forty years. Please give it your spiritual attention and tell me whether this work of mine is accepted in the court of Allah Most High or not.’ Hazrat Khwaja (may his secret be sanctified) said: ‘I will submit it, and when I come to know, I will tell you.’ The Maulana kept attending upon him regularly.

One day Hazrat Khwaja (may his secret be sanctified) said: ‘Allah Most High has inspired me: Tell this Maulana that he has never taught even for a single day for Our sake. Whenever he sat down to teach, he would make the intention: Today I will give such a lecture that the students will be left in raptures, the coin of my scholarly greatness will be stamped on their hearts, and they will regard me as the greatest scholar, and so on.’ Hearing this, the Maulana burst into tears, and after reflecting, said: ‘Truly, I have not taught for the pleasure of Allah even for a single day.’

This incident is a lesson and admonition for all the scholars of today. This kind of ploy of the self often

succeeds against great scholars and speakers. Most people, because of the scholarly grandeur of the scholars, show them reverence and honour in such a way that the self takes complete control, and they fall prey to arrogance, self-admiration and the like. Many of them are such that they constantly crave this very reverence and honour; if someone does not show them that much reverence, they think ill of him. Most shaykhs of today are also afflicted with this same calamity. Now the water has risen above the head, and most of the mutual quarrels and bigotries among the Ahl al-Sunnah today are the result of this.

It should also be understood that in our country today we see that students are generally brought to madrasas and Islamic universities by their parents out of religious zeal. These children have no particular religious awareness, nor do they have any good or bad intention. When they grow up in the madrasas and their awareness awakens somewhat, and they see the offerings received by speakers, poets and others, and observe the reverence and honour given to great scholars and shaykhs, their intentions begin to change, and many of them fall prey to this worldly intention and are ruined. In madrasas and Islamic universities such righteous teachers have now almost ceased to exist; so when students need someone to hold on to them, no one holds them, and therefore they go astray. In short, writing and speaking, teaching and instruction, and the business of pirs and disciples, and likewise all other means of service, are being sacrificed to the world, and the desires for fame, honour and wealth keep growing. If the evil of all this had remained limited to this, there would not be so much regret. The most regrettable thing is that their results and effects turn out so bad as to be beyond description, and the mutual discord and disagreement among the people of truth today is the result of this.

It should be known that since intention is the name of the heart’s resolve and is a hidden thing, the scholars have laid down some signs by which it can be known who is a scholar of the Hereafter and who is a scholar of the world or an evil scholar. A few signs are these: