Hakīm al-Ummah Mawlānā Ashraf Ali Thānwi (rahimahullah) says:
After I had written Tafsir Bayan ul-Quran (his unique Urdu exegesis of the Noble Quran) an Englishman met me very eagerly. He asked, “How much money did you get for this work?” I informed him that I had obtained nothing. Expressing surprise, he said “Then what benefit did you get?” I replied, “Here in this world my Muslim brethren benefit from this work and in the hereafter is the pleasure of the true Lord.”
Hakīm ul-Ummah Mawlānā Ashraf Ali Thānwi was the most prolific author of his time. Some onethousand or so works are attributed to him but he did not use any of his books as a means of income.
After I had written Tafsir Bayan ul-Quran (his unique Urdu exegesis of the Noble Quran) an Englishman met me very eagerly. He asked, “How much money did you get for this work?” I informed him that I had obtained nothing. Expressing surprise, he said “Then what benefit did you get?” I replied, “Here in this world my Muslim brethren benefit from this work and in the hereafter is the pleasure of the true Lord.”
Hakīm ul-Ummah Mawlānā Ashraf Ali Thānwi was the most prolific author of his time. Some onethousand or so works are attributed to him but he did not use any of his books as a means of income.
There are countless incidents from the life of Hakīm ul-Ummah which illustrate his strict adherence to the law of countries/authorities, even if they be non-Islamic countries. One of our teachers in the Jamiyah Dar al-ulum (Karachi) once related an incident from the life of Hakīm ul-Ummah to illustrate this. *A khalifah-e-mujaz (and not 'majaz' as many tend to say!) of Hakīm al-Ummah once came to Thana Bhavan to visit him. He had travelled by train from another part of India to get to the khanqa in Thana Bhavan. When he met Hakīm al-Ummah, the latter, when asking the former of how he was etc, asked him how old his son who was accompanying him was. The khalifah replied that he was x number of years old. Hakīm al-Ummah then asked him whether he had bought him an adult's ticket for the train journey. He replied in the negative justifying it (as many people would) by saying that though the boy was not eligible to travel on a child's fare due to his age, he appeared to be a child. Upon hearing this Hakīm al-Ummah exclaimed "Inna lillahi wa inna ..." and stripped the khalifah of his khilafah or ijazah in suluk (tasawwuf).
*There is another incident regarding Hakīm al-Ummah when he once went to a train station in order to board a train, his luggage turned out to be beyond the allowable weight limit. The station master, knowing very well who Hakīm al-Ummah was, assured him that it did not really matter as he (the station master) was giving him permission to take the overweight luggage on board the train. Hakīm al-Ummah refused to do so asking him that though he was helping him on this journey, would he (the station master) help him (Hakīm al-Ummah) in the ultimate journey - the journey of the hereafter? These incidents are illustrations of sublime taqwa in a modern context - when you know that no one except Allah knows that you are committing a wrong and it is easy for you to justify that wrong.
May Allah taala bless us with such taqwa and sincerity and honesty. Àmen
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