Pearls of Wisdom
Rasulallah SAW stated, “My Ahl al Bayt are like the ship of Nooh – those who boarded the ship attained salvation, those who did not drowned.” In today’s waaz, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS elaborated on this hadith. Using ships as an analogy, Maula TUS explained the importance of tawakkal, steadfastness, and resilience in the face of waves as tall as mountains, and the eternal peace and calm we receive by staying aboard.
Ships have been a primary mode of transportation for many millennia, since the time of Nooh Nabi. Today, the global economy runs on the shipping network that is used to transport goods across the world. We still rely on ships, even in the age of planes and spaceships. Similarly, Imam Ahmad al Mastoor SA likens the human body to a ship, whose captain is one’s soul, whose good deeds are his cargo, who travels along the sea, which is this Earth, and exchanges his goods in return for jannat. During the auspicious days of Ashara Mubaraka especially, we commit our every act and thought, day in and out, toward the huzn and bukaa of Imam Husain AS. Our each tear is precious cargo, with which Rasulallah SAW promised to deliver us safely to our final destination of jannat.
As captains of their ship, each Imam, each Dai, have withstood waves upon waves, ensuring the safety and security of mumineen. When Nooh Nabi built his ship, he was ridiculed; but when a colossal storm brewed, it was only those who chose to board that remained free from peril. After Rasulallah’s SAW wafat, Maulana Ali’s mercy and compassion for muslimeen compelled him not to take up arms, in order to safeguard Islam in its infancy.
When a ship carrying Syedna Abdulqadir Najmuddin RA was battered by a storm, the passengers panicked, fearing that the ship would sink and take them with it. One mumin mukhlis exclaimed that the ship would not sink, for Syedna Najmuddin RA was aboard, and he had not yet appointed a successor.
Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin RA protected mumineen from the overwhelming waves of riba (interest) by establishing Qardan Hasana and upholding Islam’s honor. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS urged mumineen to practice roti-making; while enemies mocked such a pursuit. When the pandemic engulfed the world, mumineen were self-sufficient; those who chose to stay behind looked on with envy, and mumineen’s conviction and faith swelled and continues to do so.
On the night before Ashura, Maulana Abbas Alamdar solidified the determination of Ahl al Bayt and As’haab to remain by Imam Husain’s AS side and fight for him. When battle against armies with thousands of soldiers was imminent, Maulana Abbas AS carried the alam of Imam Husain’s SA army. Finally, on Ashura, when he raced his horse from the Furat toward the camp, even when his left arm and then his right arm were severed, he persevered. His commitment to his Maula never faltered. Martyred in his pursuit, his ship stayed on course, being labeled as the saqqaa. When waves upon waves crashed, Maulana Abbas Alamdar guided mumineen toward steadfastness and conviction.