Sultan Suleyman (R) reigned 1520-1566. He was known as the Magnificent and also the Lawgiver. He was a patron of the arts, beside being an established poet. He was the tenth Ottoman Sultan. He was a goldsmith, and wrote poems under the pseudonym Muhibbi.
These poems rhymed in the original.
–
O Suleiman; here’s your crown:
To be generous and kind hearted
Is the pageantry of the throne
If you want to see your subjects happy
Do not be arrogant, think that they may be
better than yourself.
We are all brothers; we must love each other
O Suleiman a true Moslem regards this solemn behest.
Act wisely, but do not remain unknown,
Shelter the good, and be severe to wrongdoers.
To be a tyrant like a Tartar Khan
Doesn’t befit a Sultan.
Staying silent against aggression
Is as good as taking part.
Do not hibernate; be awake on your throne
Our strong hands hold the fate of the World.
We have to fight to earn
The regard and affection of men.
–
I begin in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, and the Merciful
Secret or open, nothing hidden from You
Dear Lord! Heal my anguish-stricken heart
You’re the Wise One who knows a cure for all patience
Merciful Lord! Thanks to you
You made this slave of yours Moslem
Keep my faith till the last breath
Do not let damned Satan come near me
Dear Lord! For the sake of Mustafa, your Messenger
Grant us your bountiful paradise
Dear Lord! At the day of Judgement
Keep Muhibbi, the slave on your side.
–
Dear Lord! Shower me with your grace
Whether there is any remedy other than You I do not know.
Help me, forgive my sins,
Please, help me, forgive my sins.
–
O dear Lord, you’re the Padishah,
You’re worthy of it!
Every padishah takes refuge in you.
You humiliate the one you don’t like
and exalt the one you love.
Shahdom suits you.
You know each of your slave’s secrets.
If I’m a rebel, please don’t withhold your mercy, give us plenty.
No one can claim their innocence.
You’re the just and I live in your just land.
I’m the only passenger on a sorrowful road that leads to you.
Sometimes tears turn my face red
Because of the shame of my sins.
I’m like dawn full of stars,
The smoke of my burning heart veils my eyes.
This black face of mine is like the black ink of my letters.
My hope lies with no one but you
Forgive me, forgive your Selim!
The previous post addressed the general categories of the people, and their authorized actions with regards to the condemnation of wrongs.
Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (R) then addresses the five preconditions for those who believe they are fit to speak about wrongs:
On the five preconditions that must be met
by anyone who intends to enjoin what is right
and fair and to forbid what is wrong and unfair.
Before a person can be considered fit for the task of enjoining what is right and fair and forbidding what is wrong and unfair, he must satisfy the following five preconditions:
1. He must have expert knowledge of what he is going to enjoin and what he is going to forbid.
2. His aim and object must be to win the favor of Allah, to fortify the religion [din] of Allah, and to exalt the word of Allah and His commandment, with no intention of putting on a show, of enhancing his own reputation, or of furthering his personal interests. Only if he is honest [sadiq] and sincere [mukhlis] will he receive support [from Allah] and be enabled to succeed [yuwaffaq], so that he may serve as the instrument by which the wrong can be eliminated. As Allah (Exalted is He) has said:
If you help Allah, He will help you and He will make your foothold firm. (47:7)
Allah (Exalted is He) has also said:
Surely Allah is with those who are careful of their duty to Him, and those who are doers of good [muhsinun]. (16:128)
Provided, therefore, that the person concerned is scrupulously careful to avoid the sin of attributing partners to Allah [shirk], that he refrains from trying to impress his fellow creatures while striving to correct what is wrong, and that he conducts himself with true sincerity [ikhlas] in all his efforts, he will enjoy triumphant success.
If he does not take this approach, on the other hand, he will reap nothing but disappointment and disgrace, humiliation and contempt. As for the wrong he is supposed to be correcting, it will remain quite unaffected, if it does not actually get worse. He will have nothing to show but his own hypocrisy [nifaq], the enthusiastic support of people addicted to sinful disobedience, the willing cooperation of the devils among men and jinn in defiance of Allah (Exalted is He), the abandonment of obedient service to Him, and the commission of unlawful deeds.
3. His manner of commanding and forbidding must be one that is characterized by lenient flexibility and sympathetic understanding, not by boorish impoliteness and harsh insensitivity. To put it even more emphatically, he should approach the task with an attitude of friendliness and good will. He should have a feeling of genuine concern for his brother, considering the fact that he has cooperated with his own enemy, the accursed Satan, who has seized control of his mind, and who has made it seem attractive to him to disobey his Lord and reject His commandment, with the intention of causing him to perish and be consigned to the Fire [of Hell]. As Allah (Exalted is He) has said:
[The devil] summons his party only that they may be among the inhabitants of the blazing inferno. (35:6)
Allah (Exalted is He) also said to His Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace):
It was by the mercy of Allah that you were lenient with them, for if you had been harsh and hard of heart, they would have scattered from all around you. (3:159)
Moreover, Allah (Exalted is He) said to Moses and Aaron [Harun] (peace be upon them both), when He sent them to Pharaoh:
And speak to him gently, for then he may be mindful, or perhaps feel afraid (20:44)
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said, according to the tradition [hadith] of Usama:
It is not appropriate for anyone to enjoin what is right and fair and to forbid what is wrong and unfair, until he possesses three good qualities: [He must be] well versed [alim] in what he is enjoining, well versed in what he is forbidding; gentle Irafiq] in the process of enjoining, gentle in the process of forbidding; tolerant [hallm] in his approach to enjoining, tolerant in his approach to forbidding.
4. He must be patient [sabur], tolerant [halim], long-suffering [hamul], humble [mutawadi'], dispassionate [zail al-hawa], stout-hearted [qawi al-qalb], and disposed to be lenient [layyin al-janib]. He must be a physician [tabib] capable of healing the sick, a doctor [hakim] with the skill to treat a lunatic [majnun], and a leader [imam] who can act as a guide. In the words of Allah (Exalted is He):
And We appointed from among them leaders guiding by Our command, when they endured with patience. (32:24)
[They endured with patience] the insults and injuries they had to suffer at the hands of their own people, in order to sustain, strengthen and support the religion [dm] of Allah, so He appointed them to be the leaders, the guides and the physicians of His religion, the commanding officers of the believers [qadat al-muminm].
In the story of Luqman, Allah (Exalted is He) has said:
[And Luqman said to his son:] “Enjoin what is right and fair, forbid what is wrong and unfair, and endure with patience whatever may befall you; surely that is true constancy [min 'azmi'l-umur].” (31:17)
5. He must be someone who puts into practice what he commands other people to do. He must also be personally free of any guilt, untainted by what he forbids other people to do, so that they have nothing to let them gain the upper hand over him, thereby exposing him to blame and censure in the sight of Allah. Consider the words of Allah (Exalted is He):
Will you bid other people to righteousness, while you forget [to practice it] yourselves? And you are readers of the Book! Have you no sense at all? (2:44)
According to the tradition [hadith] of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be well pleased with him), the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said:
On the night when 1 was taken on my heavenly journey, I saw some men whose lips were being clipped with scissors, so I said: “Who are these people, O Gabriel?” and he told me: “These are the preachers [khutaba] of your Community [Umma], the ones who gave instructions to other people but forgot [to practice those instructions] themselves, even though they were readers of the Book.”
In the words of the poet:
Do not tell others not to do
the very thing you do yourself.
The shame on you, if you act thus,
is very great indeed.142
Qatada (may Allah hestow His mercy upon him) once said: “We have been told that this is written in the Torah: ‘The human being [ibn Adam] remembers Me and he forgets Me, he calls upon Me and he runs away from Me. In vain is what you are trying to do.’”
Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) may have been referring here in someone who enjoins what is right and forbids what is wrong, yet leaves himself out of it; but He (Exalted is He) is More Aware [A lam] of the truth of the matter.
142 la tanha ‘an khalqin wa ta’ti mithlahu—’arun ‘alaika idha ataita ‘azimun.
“O people, by Allâh I have visited kings. I went to Caesar, Chosroes and the Negus, but by Allâh I never saw a king whose companions venerated him as much as the companions of Muhammad venerated Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allâh be upon him). By Allâh, whenever he spat it never fell on the ground, it fell into into the hand of one his companions, then they wiped their faces and skins with it. If he instructed them to do something, they would hasten to do as he commanded. When he did wudû’, they would almost fight over his water. When he spoke they would lower their voices in his presence; and they did not stare at him out of respect for him.” ( al-Bukhârî, 3/178, no. 2731, 2732; al-Fath, 5/388).
Muhammad ibn `Umar said: “(Imam) Malik’s circle was a circle of dignity and courtesy. He was a man of majestic countenance and nobility. There was no part for self-display, vain talk, or loud speech in his circle. His reader would read for all, and no-one looked into his own book, nor asked questions, out of awe before Malik and out of respect for him.”
Is it possible to take the typical second, third, fourth generation Muslim and shoehorn them into the circles described above? What would be their experience?
More than likely it would be filled with boredom, confusion, and criticism all stemming from how very different this circle is than any other gathering they have participated in earlier in the day.
Sitting cross legged is already difficult enough for us, much less being surrounded by air which is infused with odd things such as ‘awe’, ‘nobility’, ‘dignity’, ‘respect’. We don’t know how to handle or envision such words in literature, and we certainly are unprepared to be faced with the practical reality of them.
Which movie prepares us for this environment? Which show? Which video game?
None.
In this void, awkwardness fills us and most peoples chests are pressed with an instinctive reaction to remove ourselves from the heat of uncomfortably.
Surrounded by people that are genuinely devoted to another individual on the basis of their superior knowledge and religious practice is disturbing in a culture which raises us towards complete self-reliance and the total equality of all men in all aspects.
Add a dash of some form of group expression of faith that we are unfamiliar with, and the field is ripe for the ego to rebel.
There are just so many ‘outs’.
The convenient (yet arbitrary) distinction between religious life and the life dedicated to this world, especially when it is intertwined with the buzzword of ‘innovation’ gives us the most convenient of explanations to categorize our reaction.
*I don’t like it, because it feels weird.*
Self knowledge tempers this.
When one realizes the weakness of ones own faith, prayer, worship, it makes it more difficult to come to grandiose conclusions condemning people who dedicate themselves to the same. Humility dictates to us that we aren’t good judges, much less good prosecutors of others.
It is only when one confronts their own bias, in which one finds the reflection of sworn self-esteem and pavlovian pride, that one get past this haze which limits spiritual awakening.
The arbitrary categorization of ‘innovation’ when applied to worldly life vs religion, contains within it the supposition that life is separate from religion. A conclusion which has far hitting impacts.
In this model, watching TV feels quite alright, at least if you try to avoid some ‘bad scenes’. And watching 25 pictures per second on a wall mounted LCD screen is for some reason, so much harder to complain about than having a picture of a holy man who reminds us of prophecy, faith, improvement.
Under this mentality we think: Rock groups haraam? Let us have Islamic pop stars. Let’s have Muslim comedians. Muslim fiction writers. Muslim movie studios. Muslim news channels. All the while, we don’t exclude ourselves to the ‘Muslim’ version of these institutions of mimicry. So they do not help in creating a Islamic culture in the West, what they do is create a bridge of acceptance.
To watch a ‘Muslim pop star’, you still have to enter a concert hall. And to see a ‘Muslim film’ you still have to sit on a couch. There is still a stage for the ‘Muslim comedian’.
These issues reflect the implicit approval by the Muslim community of dramatic shifts away from the cultures which underwent a millenia of Islamization. Instead, we’ve accepted the inclination towards that which has challenged those cultures at every turn.
Islam was so much more than a filter of existing cultures, it brought something new. And these accomplishments are written in sand swept stone of Mughal architecture to the grand prayer halls of the Ottomans, to the poetry of Mevlana Rumi (ks) and the ironic statements on humanity from Nasruddin Hoja (ks).
This system has put the final wall up between knowledge and practice. It’s done this by actually turning Islam away from traditional values and a culture in which people of dramatic faith and unique characteristics were raised and nurtured.
Modern institutions catering to Muslims have been continuing the century old transition from Muslim culture and values to Western ones, all under the name of preaching Islam. And its not always so obtuse and obvious as the recent Azhari ban on niqaab. Pay-as-you-go ‘Islamic classes’ have cloaked an entirely foreign idea of Western style instruction in the mantle of religiosity.
And when examining this issue of cultural adoption, what we have chosen is not hamburgers over curry. We have settled for abandoning circles of dignity.
Prince Bayezid was was one of the sons of Sultan Suleyman I. The Prince is described as being most amiable and accomplished, and beloved by the people and the soldiery, many of the latter accompanying him in his Persian exile.
SHAHI (Prince Bayezid) 969 AH [1561 CE]
With longing food and vain, why should I make my soul to mourn?
One trace of love of earth holds not my heart- all is forsworn.
There ready stands the caravan. to Death’s dim realms addrest,
E’en now the tinkling of its bells down on my ears in borne. [1]
Come then, O bird, my soul, be still, disquiet leave far off;
See, how this cage, the body, is with years and suffering worn.
But yet, to weary, wasted sin-stained SHAHI, what of fear?
Since Thou’rt the God of Love, the helping Friend of those forlorn!
[1] Bells are worn by beasts in a caravan. The meaning is: “The animals are being harnessed for the journey, and I shall soon be off.”
[Translation and notes by EJW Gibb]
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 
