The root cause of Takabbur   Hadhrat Thanavi RE said:    “the root cause of Takabbur is not being really cognizant of Allah Ta’ala’s greatness.”

Hadhrat Thanavi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;   “A person’s ego is a great barrier. It cannot be treated without crushing it.”

Hadhrat Thanvi RE has described a unique practical treatment for Gheebat. This treatment is very difficult, but if someone does it Insha’Allah he will be able to quit Gheebat within a few days. He said;   “A practical treatment for Gheebat is that whenever a person commits someone’s Gheebat, he should let that person know that I have committed your Gheebat. Insha’Allah this illness of Gheebat will subside within a few days of this treatment.”

Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah be pleased with him) said;   “If there is a genuine religious need then Gheebat is permissible in those situations, for example, the way Muhaddithin (scholars of Hadith) have discussed the narrators of Hadith. However, if there is no pressing religious need, and the purpose behind Gheebat is only to do gossip and to enjoy it, then in those situations even telling someone’s true flaws (behind his back) is Haraam (unlawful), and saying something untrue without any...

Hadhrat Thanavi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;   “The real treatment of thinking ill of others (Badgumani), undue curiosity (Tajassus), and Gheebat (backbiting) is to adopt Tawazu’ (humility) and remove Takabbur (arrogance, grandiosity) from one’s heart. But until one gets rid of these core spiritual illnesses, until such time he should treat his illness of Gheebat in the following way; (1) reflect and ponder before you say anything, (2) fix some fine on yourself if you do slip up (and...

Allah Ta’ala says in the Noble Qur’an,    “O you who believe, abstain from many of the suspicions. Some suspicions are sins. And do not be curious (to find out faults of others), and do not backbite one another. Does one of you like that he eats the flesh of his dead brother? You would abhor it. And fear Allah. Surely Allah is Most-Relenting, Very-Merciful.” (49:12)

Hazrat Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala bless him) said;   “It has been narrated in a Hadith that if you hear that a mountain has moved from its place then accept it, but if you hear about a person that his internal attributes have changed then do not accept it. This tells us that with Riyazat (sustained effort) a person’s internal attributes do not subside totally, they just become attenuated.”    What it means is that in the Hadith it has been negated that if you hear that a person’s anger has...

Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala have mercy on him) said,   “The crux of Tasawwuf is that when a person is finding it difficult to perform a commandment of Shariah because of a lack of motivation, he should fight that lack of motivation to obey that commandment, and when a person is finding it difficult to resist temptations to commit a sin because of lack of motivation, then he should fight that lack of motivation to refrain from that sin. This is what gives rise to a closer...

Hazrat Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala have mercy on him) further used to say that the aim of treating bad moral values is not to get rid of them completely, as many of these are natural instincts and it is not possible to do so. The idea is to keep opposing them through one’s thoughts and behaviours so much that they become so weak as if they do not exist anymore. This process of enhancing and further developing good moral values, and weakening and attenuating bad moral values, is...

Tazkiyah literally means purifying something. There are many commandments of Shariah which pertain to a person’s body, as in they are carried out physically. Some of them are DOs (اوامر) for example, pray Salah, observe fasting, give Zakat, perform Hajj, etc., and some of them are DON’T’s (نواہی), for example, do not tell a lie, do not do Gheebat(backbiting), do not drink alcohol, do not steal, do not commit robbery, etc.   In exactly the same way, there are many commandments of Shariah...

Hadhrat Thanvi RE further said;   “Along with apologizing, it is also necessary that you praise the person whose Gheebat you had committed, in front of the same people in front of whom you had committed his Gheebat, and clarify that you were wrong.”   This is because you have apologized to him, and have also done Istighfar in front of Allah Ta’ala, but the people in front of whom you had committed his Gheebat are still carrying that bad impression from what you had said. To negate that...

Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;   The Holy Prophet’s ﷺ Sunnah in seeking forgiveness   Once the Holy Prophet ﷺ stood in front of a large gathering of his Companions and said, “if I owe some money to someone, he should tell me and take it from me. If I had hurt someone physically he can either take revenge for it, or forgive me.” One companion stood up and said, “O Prophet of Allah ﷺ, one day you had hit me on my back.” The Holy Prophet said ﷺ, “If I had hit you on...

Hazrat Thanvi RE said;   “Otherwise, with Mujahidah (sustained effort), neither a greedy person’s greed goes away completely, nor a miser’s miserliness, or Mutakabbir’s (person who has Takabbur in his heart) Takabbur (arrogance, grandiosity). However, they do get weakened.”

The bad moral values that exist in a person’s inner-self are called Akhlaq-e-Razilah (اخلاقِ رذیلہ).    Hazrat Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala have mercy on him) has said;   “Salik (a mentee or pupil in Tasawuf) should get his bad moral values rectified one by one by the Shaykh. When one bad moral value becomes attenuated and comes under his full control, then he should start getting the next one rectified. He should not wait for the first one to go away or be eradicated completely as it is...

Hazrat Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala bless him) further said;   “A person will continue to need treatment (for spiritual ills) until and unless these internal desires are completely extinguished, and there is no way of completely extinguishing these internal desires.” Hazrat Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala bless him) said;   “The cure of all negative attributes of a person’s inner-self is reflection and forbearance. Whatever act he is going to perform, first he should reflect on whether it is...

Hazrat Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala bless him) said that;   “Opposing the impulse and drive to commit a sin is called Mujahidah (مجاہدہ) (sustained effort). That impulse arises from some spiritual illness or weakness. The weakening or attenuation of that spiritual illness with sustained effort is called Riyazat (ریاضت).”

Imam Shafa’i’s (RE) remaining quiet before replying   It has been written about Imam Shafa’i (may Allah have mercy on him) that when someone asked him a question sometimes he remained quiet for a period of time and did not reply immediately. Someone asked, “Hadhrat! It has been so long but you have not said anything.” Imam Shafa’i RE replied;   “I am quiet because I am reflecting on whether it is better for me to stay quiet or speak.”

In a Hadith the Holy Prophet ﷺ said;   “The thing that will make people fall face down in Hell most often will be the words that have come out of their mouth.” It is narrated in a Hadith that a Companion (Sahabi) asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ, “O Prophet of Allah ﷺ, which is the most exalted act of worship?” He replied, “the most exalted act of worship is that your tongue always remains active with Allah’s Dhikr (remembrance).” To protect oneself from Gheebat Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have...

In a Hadith the Holy Prophet ﷺ said;   لا طاعة لمخلوق فی معصیة الخالق   “There is no disobeying the Creator in obeying the creation”.

It is permissible to do Gheebat in situations where the primary purpose is to save a person from coming to some sort of harm. For example, a person comes to you and asks that someone wants to marry his daughter, and asks you if you know what kind of person that man is. If you know something about that person which is important in relation to this marriage proposal, then if you tell that person about it with the intention that he and his daughter will be saved from coming to harm, then this is...

The Noble Qur’an says;   “…and do not backbite one another. Does one of you like that he eats the flesh of his dead brother? You would abhor it…” (49:12) Once a Sahabi (companion) asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ, “O Prophet of Allah! If I am doing Gheebat about someone but what I am saying is true, is it still a sin?” The Holy Prophet ﷺ replied, “If what you are saying bad about a person is true and you are telling the truth, then it is Gheebat. But if what you are saying about him is not true...

The Holy Companions used to say, “O Allah, if You had not granted us Taufeeq (motivation) we wouldn’t have received guidance, we would neither have been inclined to give Sadaqah, nor to pray Salah. Whatever good deeds we perform is because of the Taufeeq You have given us, therefore, we thank You for this Taufeeq, and seek forgiveness for our mistakes.”  I heard the following saying of Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) from my Shaykh that if a person says the...

In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that the person who says that everyone else has lost the right path, is the one who has lost the right path himself. 

Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;   “It is permissible that you get angry with someone who commits a sin, but never think of them as being inferior to you. And if you are ever tasked with correcting someone’s behaviour, never think you are better than them. It is possible that they are like the prince and you are just the prince’s tutor. If the king orders the tutor to discipline the prince, it does not mean that the tutor has become superior to the prince.”...