Two Types of “Perfection”

Maulāna Ashraf `Ali Thānvi rahmatullah alayh says that Hadhrat Maulana Gangohi rahmatullah alayh used to say after all his mujahadat, “I am nothing.” One time he took on oath saying “I am nothing.” Two groups of people in the gathering started to argue whether the oath was valid or not. One party said that the …

Is there any SUNNAT of Cutting Nails?

Question: Is there any SUNNAT of cutting nails? i.e: Is there any day preferred to cut nails or any preferred order of cutting nails or particular day in which it is prefeered not to cut nails. Answer:  Assalāmu `alaikum Warahmatullāhi Wabrakatuh, Pairing ones nails is a sunnah of Nabi salallahu alayhi wasallam. The nails should be paired whenever the …

An Incident of Superb Intellect

Maulāna Ashraf Ali Thānvi rahmatullah ‛alayh mentions that his nephew was very intelligent. One incident of his nephew’s childhood, when he was not even able to wear his pants properly has been narrated: I asked him, “Which language is better, English or Arabic?”He answered, “Arabic”.This was inspite of the fact that the child was studying …

A Yameni Hanbali Sheikh’s first hand impressions of Darul Uloom Deoband

Maulāna Muhammad Anwarī Lā’ilpūrī says that the year in which he was studying hadīth under Hadhrat ‛Allāmah Anwar Shāh Kashmīrī rahmatullah ‛alayh at Darul Ulūm Deoband, ‛Allāmah ‛Ali al Yamanī thumma al Misrī, a hāfidh al hadīth, came for vacation to India. He came to Mumbai and then went to Randheir. In Randheir he met …

Dhikr by the name “Allah” is also a Dhikr

Hadhrat Maulāna Shāh Abdul Qādir Rāipūrī rahmatullāh ῾alayh was a student of Hadhrat ῾Allāmah Shāh Kashmīrī rahmatullāh ῾alayh. He mentions himself that he studied “Mulla Hasan” (1) and part of “Sunan Tirmidhī Sharīf” from Shāh Sāheb rahmatullāh ῾alayh. “While teaching he would jump from one topic to another, and I would have become gher muqallid …

῾Ālamgīr*’s tawādu῾ (humility) and adab (etiquette)

Maulāna mentions that ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh used to write the Qur’ān with his own hands. Once a person saw him (writing) and said that such and such letter is incorrect. ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh changed the letter even though the person was at fault, and (since that correction was incorrect) he took that page out and re-did it correctly once …