The Astuteness of Khwaja Ahrar, He was a man of wisdom. Though he didn’t receive the formal education of those times, he was well-acquainted with an array of subjects. People would come from far and wide to seek his advice and he would explain a certain matter with inspiring rationality, his perception about worldly and religious matters was quite insightful. He would talk like a philosopher, give arguments like a lawyer and convince like a dervish. Here are some of the popular sayings of commendable Khwaja Ahrar that are indeed a lighthouse to live’s storms. One can always seek guidance and meaning from his words of wisdom!
“It is important to manifest patience with Allah’s trials and tribulations, and even praise these as God’s ordeals are many and one is more agonizing than the other.”
In this saying Khwaja Ahrar addressed the most mind-boggling question that we humans ask ourselves and the God in worst times, Why me? Why is this pain inflicted upon me? Why God is testing me with such misery? Khwaja Ahrar very logically elucidated the fact that in times of trials and ordeals, God is testing the patience of his servants, the Lord wants to see who turns to Him for help and mercy, there are many kinds of pain in this world, loss of loved ones, material possessions, poverty, each test can be more painful than the next so one should always be grateful to God.
In another saying of Khwaja Ahrar he explains, the different states of heart’s simulation
“According to respected Khwaja Al Hakim Tirmidhi, the heart experiences various kinds of simulation. It can’t be felt without cautious management. The connotation of cautious management means remembering and chanting Allah whether one is sleeping or awake. How you remember Allah in your sleep is through dreams.”
This is a very heart touching account of a mystic journey. A traveler seeking the path of God’s love can only find the destination if he/she remembers God all the time. The journey involves forgetting the inner self, desires and everything else. Only remembering the fact that God is all and should not be forgotten even during sleep. Khwaja Ahrar was blessed with the knowledge of interpreting dreams; he could deduce the hidden meanings of dreams and used to give people warnings or news based on dreams.
I heard the venerable Maulana Khamush say, “In everything a person does, it is possible to comply with religious law (Shariah), spiritual path (Tariqa) and realm of reality (Haqiqa).”
He explains it by giving the example of lying, if a person doesn’t lie, he/she would be following the religion, so that contentment would come in, if still there remains a probability to lie but a person avoids it, that would be a spiritual path leading the way. But if lying is avoided from the tongue and heart and it is expected that a person never lies then that is questioning the reality.
Another interest stirring account Khwaja Ahrar gave is as follows:
“One of the great saints once noticed the presence of devil and he was running across the doors of a mosque. The saint looked inside and saw two persons inside the mosque; one was offering the prayer, the other was sleeping. He asked the devil then, why are you here and running around? The devil answered, I came to disturb the worship of the praying man by whispering allusions but I got scared away by the awe of the man sleeping beside him, I had to run away.”
About the time when prayers are answered and deeds are called into account, Khwaja Ahrar said,
“There is a moment, in between the time of afternoon prayer, when it is important to do the best deeds, as it is the time when one is taken into account for the kindest deeds. So doing your accountability, you should see what kinds of acts were done during the night and day, so that one knows the good deeds and the sins. Then you should express gratitude for the good you did and seek forgiveness for the bad and sins.”
Khwaja Ahrar could sense things without even looking at them, many times during meetings and sermons he hinted towards things that weren’t very obvious and the audience used to get amazed at his intuition. That was indeed a gift from God that he could foresee the hidden and the future. But he never feigned pride for such gifts or talents bestowed upon him by the Almighty. He would never misuse his power or miracles.
He gave worthwhile importance to spending time in the company of saints. Whatever he learned over time, he attributed it to the company of great saints.
“There is no one who knows or desires to know the value of being in the company of saints.”
He knew that the masters of spiritual insight would be taught him everything and this is what he told his followers as well, whoever wanted the quest of self-exploration and God’s love must go on a journey and spend time with people who have done the same. During his early childhood and adulthood, he happened to spend time with sheiks and that’s how he learned a lot about universe, religion, and spirituality. He would often quote his teachers to give followers insight into various subjects.
He once said, “One of the greatest saints opined, “Work hard to make sure that you don’t go to grave through your own work.”
This, Khwaja Ahrar explained as everything happens because of God’s will, humans can’t really control anything. So everything that comes your way should be ascribed as God’s will and His judgment and must be accepted with a gracious heart and gratitude.
These and many other sayings of Khwaja Ahrar are golden words that still serve as a light of guidance on matters pertaining to life, spiritual journey and comprehending the religion. The man was an epitome of perspicacity and it’s hard to find many like him!
