Monday, April 10, 2017

"Humility

was the most consistent element in the personal relationships of the shaikhs. It figured prominently in a description of the ideal behavior of the Sufis written by Rashid Ahmad as a young man: "They were to be humble, warm, and forebearing toward others, and completely free of anger, sympathetic and self-abnegating, generous, forgiving, open, happy, informal; trusting in God, satisfied with very little, abstemious, free of anger or envy, unconcerned with status, devoted to keeping their word, farsighted, full of love for their fellows, generous to Muslims." [98]
Barbara Daly Metcalf, Islamic Revival in British India Deoband, 1860-1900. (Princeton University Press, 1982), p. 167.  

"When Muhammad Qasim

heard the Prophet's name he would tremble. [92] When Rashid Ahmad read the Qur'an alone at night, he would be overcome with joy at the sections on God's mercy; and he would weep and shake and appear terrified at the sections on God's wrath. [93] During Ramazan, Shaikh 'Abdu'r-Rahim would be so absorbed in devotion that he would meet no one, but spend day and night reciting the Qur'an.
-Barbara Daly Metcalf, Islamic Revival in British India Deoband, 1860-1900. (Princeton University Press, 1982), p. 166.