Anyone to whom Allah Almighty has granted a special station will tell you that in his practice of ibadat, he tried to be as consistent as possible. And so, even if he did a small amount, he would do it consistently. I’ve been amazed at what appears to me to be large-scale inconsistency by many of the murids. Some of them would only attend congregational dhikrs occasionally, would not attend dhikrs in the poor areas at all, seldom attend our functions, and so many more things. Those who have been able to achieve so far just do the opposite. They are there every Friday night, work in the poor areas, attend all the functions, organise congregational dhikrs in their homes and so many more positive things.
Of course, many of us are doing tasks which few people know about, but I am talking about the public face of our tasks. Some of you are busy with phenomenal projects like the building of mosques. I do not think that I can describe the spiritual benefits that flow from these projects. But I still want to see your faces at our dhikrs and at our functions, because there are some murids who combine their projects with public faces. You see, when we come together, and this I say very humbly, and I am there, then Mawlana works with your hearts. I do not say that your hearts are not being worked with at other times. But I do not know. I can only talk about what I know. You see, when we look at the Holy Traditions on the assembly of dhikrs and the massive angelic display and Divine Responses, then we would want to have such an assembly three times a day. And, once you have achieved and you become aware of the roles of these assemblies in your achievement, then also you would want to attend as many of these assemblies as possible.
I am not writing this for me. I am writing this for you. If your decision, after reading this letter, is to continue to absent yourself as in the past, then that responsibility is yours. My responsibility is to warn you. The same applies to our functions. It is especially at our functions that all of us from different walks of life come together and socialise. If we consider ourselves brothers and sisters of each other, then this is an essential part of our spiritual functions in our organization. This is because these functions, in their own way, help to break down social barriers; that one is better than the other one socially. I may add here that these social barriers or the barrier of “I am better than you” which is in fact a satanic expression, can destroy what you’ve taken years to build up. I told my son one day: “Remember, just as our Lord gives, He also takes away”. Look at this sentence and ponder: “Remember, just as our Lord gives, He also takes away”. If there is any negative feeling in any one’s heart about a fellow murid for social reasons, then this is a serious matter of concern. If you look at that sentence again, you will see that it has to do with arrogance, and as I’ve said before, one of the most destructive personal characteristics of spiritual growth is this characteristic. Be careful of it.
I cannot stress enough the need for humility in our person-to-person relationships and to use those relationships to link hearts. Many times I go to Valhalla Park very deliberately. I can tell the murids there to come to me. But I do not want them to feel at any time that I think less of them than of others. This is the reason why I go to Delft, to Valhalla Park, to parts of Mitchell’s Plain and to the townships. I need, just like you, these associations with the very poor to help me in what I want to achieve. Each one of us should learn to function like this. Even if you live in the upper reaches of Bishop’s Court, you must be prepared to go to the lowest reaches of Valhalla Park for your spirituality. It is an illusion to think that you can attain spirituality in Bishop’s Court, but it is not an illusion to think that if you sit amongst the very poor and downtrodden in a stuffy little room in Valhalla Park that the hasanat of Allah Almighty is not going to pour down on you. There are so many of us who sit there. Sometimes one on top of the other in small dingy little rooms, cramped in by the poorest of the poor and we call on Allah (ﷻ) with them. There is no luxury there. There are no nice savouries to eat. There are no comfortable seats for me, but there are the hearts of the poor. How did one of these poor people speak about this? “We are privileged, because Allah (ﷻ) is with us”. Have you ever heard this in any of the other areas? I am leaving all the matters with you. I just want each one of you to think very hard about what we are doing, about what our aims are, and where you fit into this very broad picture that I have painted; Alhamdu lillah.
[Letters to Seekers on the Spiritual Path Vol 2 – Unpublished 2012]
