A person asked Hakimul Ummah Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi, that many ulama are rendering great services to the Deen. How do we know if we are sincere? Hazrat Thanwi replied, “Whenever someone is serving the Deen and he sees someone else also serving the Deen, then he should feel in his heart that this person has lightened my responsibility by taking part in this service.”
This teaching of Hazrat Thanwi can be realized in his khulafaa. Mufti Muhammad Hasan, one of the senior khalifas of Hazrat Thanwi, had founded a madrasah in Lahore by the name of Jamea Ashrafiyyah. One of his teachers had a political affiliation with Hazrat Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani. A year later this teacher established another madrasah in the same locality by the name of Jamea Madaniyyah.
The son of Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Hasan sahib, Hazrat Maulana Fazlur Raheem sahib says that at that time I was a child. When we heard that a teacher of Jamea Ashrafiyyah opened a new madrasah and that too on the same street, we became angry. I went to my father and asked, what is wrong with these people? If they had to establish another madrasah, they should have at least done so in another area. My father asked, son where are you going? I replied that mom sent me to do something. He said, when you return I will give you a lesson on Ikhlaas (sincerity).
When I returned I requested him to teach me. Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Hasan said, Son, tell me, if you had a very heavy load on your head, and it was so heavy that it was breaking your neck, you were in fear of falling or being squashed under its weight and a brother comes along and says, give me half of your load, I will escort you to your destination, is he an enemy or a friend?
I replied, definitely he is a friend. Mufti sahib said, this matter is exactly the same. At first our madrasah was the only one in the entire Lahore city, so the responsibility of catering for the whole city was on our shoulders. Now since this madrasah has been established, the bulk of responsibility has been divided. So is he our friend or enemy? I replied, so then he is our friend, oh father. Mufti sahib remarked, that is exactly how I look at it, that by establishing another madrasah he has done us a favour.
(Translated from a lecture of Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani saheb who narrates it from Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Hasan’s son, Hazrat Maulana Fazlur Raheem.)
Subhaanallaah. They were truly the sincere ones. May Allah grant us Ikhlaas.
