Introduction

This is a brief collection of a few couplets which portray the love of Allah. They have been taught to us by our illustrious spiritual mentor and guide, Hazrat-e-Aqdas, Maulana Shah Hakeem Muhammad Akhtar Sahib (DB). They are to be read particularly when making zikr, after every ten times of, “La Ilaha il Allah” and “Allah, Allah” for men and “La Ilaha il Allah” and “SubhanAllah” for women.

These couplets enhance the quality, expression of love, and concentration in zikr. It should be kept in mind they are not zikr and are not necessary. They are merely an aid to zikr, but since their benefit is so great, one should endeavor to learn them and say them in one’s zikr and at other times as well.

If a person recites and ponders over the command of Allah, “Fazkurooni Azkurkum” “Remember Me and I will remember you.”, before starting one’s zikr, there will be much more benefit, enjoyment, and concentration in one’s zikr.

If a person thinks that when I make zikr, Allah, the Creator, my Creator and the Creator of the universe, the King of kings, the controller of everything is remembering me, and in fact according to a Hadith, Allah boasts about the one who makes zikr. According to another Hadith, the angels surround the person who makes zikr. One may ask why? The angels who are in the heavens come down to earth? The angels who are in the presence of Allah come to witness the zikr of a human?

This occurs for various reasons:

• The angels are astonished that this person is engaged in zikr without even seeing Allah.

• The angels notice that this person despite of his human need of food, drink, wife, kids etc. he makes time for the zikr of Allah.

• He gets no apparent material benefit, and yet he still makes zikr.

دل میرا ہو جائے اک میدان ہو

تو ہی تو ہو تو ہی تو ہو تو ہی تو

اور میرے تن میں بجائے آب و گل

درد دل ہو درد دل ہو درد دل

غیر سے بلکل ہی اٹھ جائے نظر

تو ہی تو آئے نظر د یکھو جدھر

Dil mera ho jaye aik maidaan-e-hu

Tu hi tu ho tu hi tu ho tu hi tu

Aure mere tan mein bajaye aab-o-gil

Dared-e-dil ho dard-e-dil ho dard-e-dil

Ghair se bikul hi uth jaye nazar

Tu hi tu aaye nazar dekhun jidhar

May my heart become an open field

In which there is no one but you and only you

And in my body instead of water and sand

May I be blessed with the pain of the heart

May my sight be lifted from all else

Wherever I look, may I only see You.

The ardent lover of Allah makes this prayer that his heart be an empty field in which there is nothing and no one, but Allah. Further, he desires that his body be drenched with the pain of Allah’s love. Love is painful but this pain is pleasurable. For example, like that person who is eating something hot and spicy, his mouth is burning, but he is still enjoying and savoring the food. He eats more and more. Likewise, the love of Allah will make a person give up his wrong lifestyle, his sins, to get up for tahajjud, cry is du’as, outwardly this all seems painful but there is great enjoyment in it for the person doing it.

Furthermore, his love is so intense that he does not want to see anything or anyone other than Allah, and that he only sees the manifestation of Allah’s existence in His creation wherever he looks. When a person is blessed with the ma’rifat i.e. recognition of Allah and progresses in this, then he only sees the hidden system of Allah at work.

الھی دل میں میرے غیر کا اثر نہ رہے

سوائے تیرے کسی پر میری نظر نہ رہے

تو کر بے خبر ساری خبروں سے مجھکو

الھی رہوں ایک خبردار تیرا

Ilahi dil mein mere ghair ka asar Na rahe

Siwa-e Tere kisi par meri nazar na rahe

Tu kar be-khabar saari khabron se mujh ko

Ilahi rahoon eik khabardar tera.

O Allah Do not let anything other than you affect my heart.

May my gaze be on none but You.

Make me unaware of all things.

O Allah let me be fully aware of You.

The lover of Allah wants to be exclusive for Allah and he wants the highest level of Tauheed in him. So he asks Allah that he be affected by Allah alone. For his needs, his heart and mind should go to none but Allah. All he wants to know about is Allah.

اللہ اللہ کیسا پیارا نام ہے

عاشقوں کا مینا اور جام ہے

Allah, Allah kaisa pyara naam hai

Aashiqon ka meena aur jam hai

Allah, Allah, what a lovely name…!

O Allah, what a beloved name You have. In fact the “Aah” (expression of yearning, pain or grief due to physical, social, or emotional stress) of a humble servant of Allah is joined to the end of the name Allah. This “Aah” does not exist in any other name of the false gods. This is solely and exclusively the quality of just the name of Allah. What a splendid and majestic name it truly is.

O Allah! Never deprive me of repeatedly taking Your name. A person may be deprived because of sin. It is not because a person doesn’t have time or is too busy to make zikr. In reality, Allah helps the person at a distance due to sin The name of Allah is not so cheap that a person goes on breaking the law of Allah, never feels remorse or regret, doesn’t repent, and is still given the opportunity to take His blessed name and enjoy it also! Firstly, due to sinning, and after being given respite, a person is deprived of the enjoyment and pleasure of zikr, then of other noble acts.

Afterwards, he is deprived of even other acts of worship which may carry over into sunnahs, waajibaat, and even faraaidh. If even after all this, a person still does not make Taubah, his Iman may be in danger.

O Allah! Protect us from sins and give us the taufeeq to make your zikr. Aameen!

اپنے ملنے کاپتہ کوئی نشاں

تو بتادے مجھکو اے رب جہاں

Apne milne ka pata koi nishaan, tu bata de mujhko ay Rabb-e-Jahaan.

Tell me your address, show me some sign to meet You, O Sustainer of the universe.

The lover of Allah wants to always go closer to Allah and therefore always asks for more ma’rifat. The physical, literal meaning is obviously not intended here because that will be kufr. Allah doesn’t have a real address. The love is admitting that I have not gained enough of Your recognition, so grant me more.

کوئی تجھ سے کچھ کوئی کچھ چاہتا ہے

الھی میں تجھ سے طلبگار تیرا

Koi tujh se kuch koi kuch chahta hai, Ilahi mein tujhse talabgaar tera.

Some ask You for something and others for something else. My Lord, I only seek from You Yourself.

Seldom do people ask of Allah by means of du’a, and when they do, they ask for things of this dunya. Then others ask for things of aakhirat. The true and real ardent lovers of Allah only desire Allah and His pleasure. The dunya has no value in their eyes nor does Jannat. What value would Jannat have without Allah! It is for this reason that the Ahlullah ask Allah for Himself.

ہر تمنا دل سے رخصت ہو گئی

اب تو آجا اب تو خلوت ہو گئی

Har tammanna dil se rukhsat ho gayi, ab to aaja ab to khalwat ho gayi.

My heart has bid farewell to all hopes and wishes. Now please come, now I have achieved solitude.

This is alluding to the notion that the heart is where Allah manifests His manifestations. When the heart of a mu’min is occupied with other things like hopes and desires, then Allah will not enter that heart. Allah is King of all kings. He requires a clean and pure heart to settle in. When we, as mere humans would feel offended when people do not honor us, then Allah has more ghairat than all of us. Therefore, clean your heart and mind of everything, and then make zikr and you yourself will see the outcome.

As humans we are often dependent on one another for various things.  Often times we have reasonable expectations from others.  In some ways we put our trust in them so to speak.  Well I have learned a very valuable lesson first hand regarding this.

Not too long ago, I had posed a question to someone.  I had mentioned to them that this is what I had envisioned.  Then I asked them if they would be able to see that come to fruition.  They said, yes, Insha Allah, they will try their best to see that it works out.

From then on afterward, I have been working hard to see that person reach a certain level, to reach the level that I had envisioned.  Not to say that I had put all my trust in them.  I always had my trust in Allah, and at the same time had hope in the individual.  I would stay up nights to pray for this person, and many sleepless nights went in worry and concern over this person only so that they can reach a certain goal.

We plan, and an Allah plans, and whatever Allah plans, happens.  Fate came in between and this person due to reasons may not able to make that vision come to fruition despite relentless effort on our part.  This sort of made me lose a little hope.  I too, am at the end of the day a human being.

I always find solace and comfort in the statements of our elders.  So this situation reminded me of some advice given by Hazrat Mawlana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi (RA).  He said, “Never put your hope in the makhlooq (creation) because they could let you down.  The makhlooq is not perfect, and only Allah is perfect.”

Thinking over this statement has caused me to realize that one should never rely on anyone fully.  It is our job to do our best, and then leave the rest up to Allah.

I pray that Allah grants us all the true realization of trusting and relying upon Allah so that we can become His beloveds.  Aameen!

1. The first thing Shaytaan does is, he takes out the importance of obedience out of us and puts the importance of the dunya within us.

2. The second thing Shaytaan does is he delays the good actions, ex. praying, following the Sunnah, acquiring good company, making taubah etc.

3. The third thing he does is that he makes you rush through any good deed.

4. The fourth level of Shaytaan’s trickery is that he puts riyaa’ in those actions.

5. The fifth level of Shaytaan’s trickery is that he puts vanity in us – ‘ujb, i.e. conceit.

6. The sixth level of Shaytaan’s trickery is that he injects you with the poison of doing things for fame.

Any one of these is sufficient to destroy the reward of the action as well as serve as a means of destruction for the person.

May Allah save us from shaytaan and his evil ploys.  Aameen!

The following is being posted again as a reminder to myself.

I have heard Hazratwala daamat baraktuhum say that humbleness is the key to success in this path of sulook. He said, “Apnay aap ko mitaa do, bas…” One should just simply annihilate himself.

In other words, the mureed should just work and self-annihilation, to destroy his ego that ‘I am also somebody’.

If the mureed gets angry when the shaikh reprimands him or becomes annoyed or agitated, then this is a major sign of arrogance. The mureed must check himself before he wrecks himself! Yes… all jokes aside, but it should clearly be said without beating around the bush.

That mureed, which causes the slightest bit of takleef to his shaikh, will be dangerously heading to his own destruction.

Just look at shaytan’s objection to Allah Ta’ala, when the Almighty commanded him to prostrate to Adam (alaihis salam). No one can argue that shaytan did not have a point. He was logically making sense. “You created me from fire and Adam from dust, so how does it make sense for a superior thing (like fire) to prostrate to something inferior (like dust)?” Sounds pretty I.Q. right? WRONG!

Shaytan was making excuses before the command of Allah because he had his own ego and selfish opinions before his eyes. If the zaalim would have annihilated his selfish ego, and would have put the command of the True Beloved before his eyes, then he would have never objected and disobeyed. Thus, he would have never been eternally cursed.

From this we see that objection, rebelliousness, and questioning the order of righteous authority is actually the innate habit of iblees the accursed and this rises from self-conceit.

Hazratwala (daamat barakaatuhum) also said about self-conceit… this disease actually effects the foolish and naive people. The fool who thinks his shaikh is on his case should ponder for a moment and think, “Will the shaikh ever stop him from something beneficial, or will he prevent him from doing something which is detrimental to him?”

What need does the shaikh get out of going behind anyone’s case? Does the shaikh have no other occupation other than trying to make the mureed’s life miserable? If so… then what does he get out of it?

Subhanallah. In actuality, the shaikh should be looked at with the reverence and esteem that he is the inheritor of the Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) who has been described by Allah Ta`ala to be:

حريص عليكم، بالمؤمنين رؤوف رحيم

“Ardently anxious for you (to be guided and to attain everlasting success through spiritual rectification)…”

“Kind and merciful for the believers.” (Surah Taubah)

May Allah Ta`ala grant us such hearts to see.

-Based on comments from Maulana Tameem Ahamd Sahib (DB)