The Systems of Islah

It's 1:11 am. I am not able to sleep. Please forgive me for my errors. This post may not be as polished as it was supposed to be. I am writing it out of my memory. Currently at the time of writing it, I don't have internet access.

I am not sure, how long will I live. So, I need to share some insights of mine. It may help others.

I have come to know three systems of islah. Out of the three I have been connected with one for the last 9 years. The first system which I have encountered is Tablighi Jamaat. The second system which I have barely tasted is Tassawuf. And the third system which I have theoretically discovered is the methodology of Tanzeem e Islami of Dr.Israr Ahmed Rh.

First of all, I will mention some events of our history to shed some light on the subject of tazkiya and what I have inferred from those incidents and what I have understood so far about this science based upon those events as well as my own personal experiences.

There was a wali to whom came the son of his Shaykh for tazkiyah. He appointed the duty of cleaning washrooms of his khanqah (if I remember correctly). Then he instructed the sweeper of that khanqah to throw trash on that particular mureed intentionally to test his patience. At first such incident that mureed got infuriated and looked with anger at that woman. The shaykh understood that there is pride in his mureed so he isn't ready. Then some days after, again when that woman threw trash the mureed didn't respond and kept on busy in whatever he was doing. Then after some days, again that woman threw trash on him and he came to help her and apologized her if she fell or slipped because of him. The shaykh decided that now is the time to grant khilafah to this person.

In the times of Sahaba RA, they used to sit in the suhbah of Prophet Muhammad SAWS but they also used to get lashed and kicked and abused by the mushriqeen. So they also used to go through this kind of mujahida for tazkiyah.

Now, my question is that in today's islahi system of khanqahs, the mureeds sit in the company of their respective mashaikh and they give a talk and then do collective dhikr. Is this methodology enough to do tazkiyah of a person? Is the suhbah and tawajoh of today's mashaikh so powerful even compared to mashaikh of previous ages that they don't need to make their mureeds go through real mujahida and just talks and dhikr can do their islah? Is the tassawuf being practiced today the same as was being practiced in previous times. Is it according to the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad SAWS and his companions RA?

I have personally noticed that in tabligh if you are sincere and you choose longer trips, then you go through certain mujahidas and difficulties and these mujahidas do help in developing sabr and istiqamah in you. I have also noticed that if tassawuf dhikr is combined with tablighi mujahida then it becomes more powerful and effective. That, if you do tassawuf dhikr during khurooj you get more benefit as compared to doing it in your home or khanqah or masjid.

However, the problem with tablighis is their aqeeda about certain things and fiqhi mistakes of tablighi elders. Also a certain kind of cult mentality can be seen in them. The attitude that only the halaqa of fadhail e amaal is the halaqah of dhikr and only tablighi effort is the work of dawah and deen. And some weird concepts about jihad. If we ignore the aqeedah of Tablighis then I must say that the mujahida which they go through is praiseworthy.

Now, from whatever, I have listened to Dr.Israr Ahmed RH, I have concluded that he was of the opinion that the correct methodology of tazkiyah is only through developing a sound understanding of quran. Now, I do believe that in order to understand the deen and what Allah wants from us, we need to understand and absorb the message of quran with full conviction. However, how can one have his tazkiyah without practical implementation? How can one have tazkiyah by only holding sign boards like the Tanzeemis do when they stand in silent protests against evils of the society? Is Islam just an academic exercise? Is it just a theorectical experience?

So what I have concluded is that one can have true tazkiya by first learning and understanding Quran and Sunnah. Then tablighi effort provided that one avoids their ideological ignorance combined with sufi dhikr is the best methodology of having tazkiya which I have discovered so far. So limiting tazkiyah to khanqah alone is wrong. Limiting muraqbah to sufi meditation alone (and not realizing the fact that contemplating on the hikmah of shariah and deen is also a kind of muraqbah) is also wrong. Limitng the concept of collective dhikr to just taleem of fadhail e amaal or any other religious text is also wrong.

What I want to say is that the current systems of Islah have limited themselves to just routines and customs and have lost the true essence of tazkiyah which is to leave bad qualities and to gain good qualities and character which can't be achieved without ilm and mujahida.

What do you think? Is it the case or not?

The Systems of Islah

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