SHAYKH ASHRAF ‘ALI THAANWI ra relates that once a person sat next to me to fan me (with a hand held fan presumably). With such love he continued his service however I was not happy as he was not doing it properly. The fan kept coming so close to my face that I feared it would hit my face any time. My fear soon became a reality and the fan did indeed hit my face, and irritated, I told him to stop! The poor fellow stopped and sat down.

This incident brought a thought to my mind; I was not pleased with the man’s service to me as he was fanning me incorrectly and causing me discomfort. Yet he must have been so happy thinking he was rendering me a service and in so doing was pleasing me whereas in reality he was causing me to become irritable. Similarly we become so pleased when we perform any good deeds. We are so certain that Allah subhaanahu wata’aalaa must be very pleased with us. On reflection we will find that what is the reality of our worship??? We cannot even perform our salaat in the correct manner and with presence of heart and mind, yet we are so proud of it believing that we are making Allah subhaanahu wata’aalaa happy!

This was the state of our pious predecessors………what about us?