Al-Syed Tahir Alauddin - A Model of Islamic Spiritualism

[Asad shaikh]

Islam is a divine movement of peace. The ultimate objective of Islam is to create an atmosphere of justice and kindness at all levels of life, both individual as well as collective. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) is prophet of mercy for whole universe. He is last messenger of Allah. The chain of prophets has completed on his advent. He is prophet for mankind till Day of Judgment. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) left a glorious book (Al-Quran), a prophetic commentary on Quran (Hadith), a noble family (Ahle Bait), and a group of excellent companions (Sahaba) for the guidance of mankind. These are permanent sources of light for mankind. A living saint or scholar is inevitably linked with these sources of light. The prime motive of saints/scholars is to complete the prophetic mission, both intellectually as well as practically. They work at all levels of human struggle; travel on all places of earth, and exists in all moments of time. Earth is always adorned with these noble personalities. The stability, growth, and development of Muslims depend, chiefly, on their persistent efforts towards propagation / glorification of Islam. They are linked with each other, directly or indirectly. They arrive and provide guidance to humanity and Muslims on all aspects of human struggle, now and then.

SIGNIFICANCE OF SPIRITUAL SET-UP & OUR SHEIKH

A person is highly dependent on others in his early phase of life, first 20 years. The next 20 years of an individual are spent on development of a fully matured attitude towards diverse and conflicting life affairs. The second phase of life, 20 to 40, is filled with multiple, multi-layered, and multi-dimensional observations / experiences. It is phase of thinking and rethinking, finally, a person is matured, generally, at the age of 40. A fully matured generation is responsible of all affairs of a nation. However, the life affairs are extremely complex, even a matured individual is, sometime, unable to solve/tackle the riddles of life. A responsible generation, belongs to any temporal-spatial environ, too, has strong tendency or need or demand for some reverent personality for proper and merciful guidance. Quran Translation Consequently, a Divine Mercy is activated and a reverent personality is sent by God for the guidance of mankind, now and again. A transcendental guidance appears in a shape of a prophet or a saint. A divine guidance provides a complete and comprehensive roadmap towards peace and happiness at all aspects of life, material as well as spiritual. The reverent personalities are demand of every individual, followers as well as leaders or young as well as mature. Muslims follow the footprints of the life patterns of reverent personalities. Consequently, a judicious and merciful civilization is shaped. Muslim civilization is chiefly outcome of righteous and noble personalities.

A civilization must face survival/growth challenges. Muslim civilization faced/managed manifold challenges, both internal as well as external, during her lifetime. Islamic World endured hard times and enjoyed glorious periods. A recurrent rise and fall phenomena remained with Muslims, however, a permanent decline or fall or disintegration of Muslims is impossible due to Qaranic verdict about sustainability of Islam and Muslims. In addition, Muslims are stability factor for mankind because they are custodian & follower of last message/messenger of Allah. They have faith on Unity of God and unity of mankind. A recent decline or fall phenomenon occurred with Islamic world at first half of 20th century. The Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1920s due to our collective blunders and conspiracies of imperial forces. The whole Muslim world was facing cruel and inhuman control of Western Powers. Peril of socialism had also come into being and devouring the Muslim world. There were only few waves of awakening among Muslims but it was not possible for any Muslim region/country to live or survive without the shelter of capitalism or socialism. After the so-called World War II, the world has been categorically divided into two imperial blocs - Red (Socialist) & White (Capitalist). At this critical moment of time, there was no politically strong and economically powerful voice among Muslims against this imperial setup. However, according to their traditional approach, the Muslim saints / scholars were doing their work. They were purifying the individuals and developing a thought among Muslims for interlinked structure of Islamic World based on Quranic maxims of Unity of God, unity of believers, and unity of mankind. The struggle was steady and gradual, however, penetrating and stable. It is noteworthy that Sufi struggle is not for hegemony, rather the struggle nurtures peace, affection, and simplicity among her followers. There are many spiritual groups working for purification of self and society. An effective group of saints/scholars that was working (and also presently working) for individual purification and unity of Muslims / mankind was SILSILA QADRIAof Abdul Qadir Gillani(Allah bless his soul).