This is portions of a letter, written to Kilinjullah, who was Kilinj Khan's son, informs us about what we should avoid and what we should do.

May Allahu ta'ala bless thee with the honor of following the brilliant route guided by Muhammad Mustafa "alaihis-salatu wassalam"! O my son! This world is a testing place.

Apparently, the world is decorated with false sequins. It resembles an unchaste woman. Its face is a portrait with attractively dyed hair, eye-brows, and a beauty-spot. Its appearance is sweet. It looks fresh, pretty, and crisp. Yet, in fact, it is like a corpse dabbed with fragrant perfumes. So to speak, it is a carrion, a rubbish heap beset with insects and scorpions. It is a mirage of water. It is like a poisoned sweetmeat. In essence it is ruination, and by nature it is evanescent. It is implacably ruthless towards its sympathizers and pursuers and will inflict the worst types of harm on them. He who has fallen for it is stupid, enchanted. Its lovers are fooled lunatics. He who falls for its appearance will end up in an endless disaster. He who judges by its transient flavor and skin-deep beauty will suffer eternal repentance. Sarwar-i-kainat Habib-i-Rabbil'alamin "alaihi wa 'ala alihissalawat wattahiyyat' stated: "The world and the Hereafter are irreconcilable opposites. If you please one of them, the other will take offense." This means to say that if a person pleases the world the Hereafter will be offended with him. That is, he will attain nothing in the world to come. May Allahu ta'ala protect us and you from the unfortunate state of being fond of the world and sympathizing with those people who, anxious to obtain worldly advantages, trample over their duties as human beings!

My son! You know by now that the world is extremely vicious; but what is (it that we call) "the world'? "The world' means "anything that will lure you away from Allahu ta'ala'. If one's concern for women, children, property, rank or position is excessive enough to make one forget about Allahu ta'ala, it becomes "the world'. It is for this reason that musical instruments, games, malayani, i.e. useless and vain occupations, [gambling, harmful company, porno movies, magazines and novels] are in effect "the world'. So are all sorts of learning and education that are not useful for the world to come. If such subjects as mathematics, geometry, astronomy and logic are not utilized in manners dictated by Allahu ta'ala, [that is, if they are not used for purposes such as contending with disbelievers, surpassing them, and serving humanity], dealing with these subjects is nothing but killing time, i.e. "the world'.

Civilization is ta'mir-i-bilad and terfih-i-ibad, which means to rehabilitate towns and countries and to ensure that all people live in peace spiritually, mentally and physically. Accomplishment of these two objectives is possible if, and only if, Islamic cannon is followed, i.e. by obeying the commandments and prohibitions of Allahu ta'ala. The farther away from Islam, the farther behind in civilization.

Our Prophet "alaihis-salatu wassalam" stated: "A person's busying himself with useless occupations and thus wasting his time is a behavior indicating that Allahu ta'ala does not like him!"

 

Translation of a Persian distich:
Everything named beauty, except love of Allah, whatsoever,
Is poisonous to the soul, even if it is made of sugar.

If busying yourself with occupations approved by Islam keeps you from performing your religious duties termed wajib and fard (or fard), are these occupations still approved and permitted (mubah)? Of course, not! We must be reasonable.

My son! Haqq ta'ala, who is so generous, so magnanimous, blessed you with the exceptionally great honor of making tawba and affiliating yourself to the sohbat of a devoted follower of the Islamic scholars. I wonder if you, under the incessant and combined temptations of your nafs and the devil, and beset among religiously ignorant and malicious friends, have managed to retain that pure state of yours?

With all the various methods of subversive activities carried on by the enemies of Islam for the purpose of misguiding the younger generation, it is not an easy task to survive the trials and quandaries without any impairments. It is the period of youth. In the present monetary affluence, it is easy to satisfy every desire of the nafs, and most of the friends are disingenuous!

 

Translation of a Persian distich:
My dear son! Here is my sole piece of advice:
You are so young, and the alley is beset with vice.

My precious son! You must avoid excess in the free area of mubah. You must use your recreation of mubah only as much as you need. And this little amount you must utilize with the intention of doing your duties as a born slave of Allahu ta'ala. For instance, as you eat something you must intend to provide energy for the observance of Allahu ta'ala's commandments, while dressing yourself, you must have in mind covering your parts of awrat and protecting yourself against cold or hot weather, and you must bear these altruistic motives whenever you are to begin an activity of mubah, [e.g. when you study]. Our superiors preferred (the choice called) azimat, and they kept as far away as they could from the rukhsats. (In other words, they preferred the more meritorious and difficult way and avoided having recourse to the facilitated way.)

Another aspect of azimat is moderation in using the mubahs. If this fortune, this blessing proves to be beyond you, then at least you should not overflow the area of mubah and trespass on the district of harams and dubious acts. Allahu ta'ala, who is very compassionate and generous towards His born slaves, allowed them to entertain themselves within the promenade of mubah. He made so many things mubah. What a gravely insolent behavior it would be towards Allahu ta'ala to leave aside all this multitude of varieties of pleasure that are halal and to indulge into a few forbidden pleasures. Furthermore, He created the same flavor in the halals as well as in the harams; in fact, there is even more satisfaction in the halals.

Aside from the pleasure intrinsic in the various blessings that are halal, what could be more enjoyable than doing something which one knows Allahu ta'ala approves? And what could be more excruciating for a person than the consciousness that his master does not like his conduct? The moments when Allahu ta'ala will express His approval in Paradise will be sweeter than all the other blessings of Paradise. On the other hand, the same moments, as Allahu ta'ala will also manifest His reprimands in Hell, will be more poignant than all the other sorts of torment in Hell.

We are born slaves. We are under the command of our Owner. We are not irresponsible vagrants. Nor are we free to do whatever we like. Let us think well! Let us be wise and farsighted!
Otherwise, on the Judgement Day we will obtain nothing but shame and regrets. The period of youth is the time of making profits. A virtuous person will realize the value of this period and will not waste it. Old age is not a period attained by everybody. Even if one attains, the conditions are not always convenient and favorable. And even if one finds the favorable conditions, then old age is the age of feebleness and senility and what is done then is mostly ineffective. Today, when all the conditions are favorable, when you have the great blessing that both your parents are alive, when you are not burdened with a family to take care of, when you have all the necessary vigor and energy.

The leader of the Prophets (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam' stated: "He who says, "I will do tomorrow,' loses, perishes." It is good to postpone your worldly businesses until tomorrow and always do your businesses pertaining to the Hereafter today. Yet it is a very execrable option to do it the other way round.

During the young age, three enemies of Islam, your nafs, the devil, and harmful company, will try to misguide you. A few acts of worship despite these dissuasive factors will therefore be very valuable. Acts of worship performed during one's old age, even if they are far superior in quantity to the former, will not be so valuable. When the enemy attacks, a minor act of valor on the part of the soldiers will be highly appreciated. During the peace time, however, drills of much wider capacity will not draw so much applause.

My son! Man, who is the essence, the epitome of all other beings, was not created in order that he could entertain himself, play and dance, eat and drink, go about, lead a comfortable life, or to live in luxury. He was created so that he should do his duties as a born slave, obey his Rabb, acknowledge his inferiority, weakness and neediness before Him, trust himself to Him, and supplicate to Him. All the modes of worship taught by Muhammad "alaihis-salam" are useful for people. They have been commanded because they are useful to people, not because they will do any good to Allahu ta'ala. Acts of worship should be done in a sincere and deep feeling of gratitude and reverence. The commandments should be done and the prohibitions should be avoided in perfect submission and with utmost exertion. Allahu ta'ala does not need anything, yet He blessed His born slaves with the honor of His commandments and prohibitions. We, poor
born slaves who are always in need, should express very profound gratitude for this tremendous blessing; and this expression of gratitude, in its turn, means our doing the commandments with the most ardent enthusiasm.

O my son! You know very well that in this world when a person occupying a high position or rank assigns an important task to one of his juniors, the latter will attach paramount importance and value to this task, though he knows that accomplishment of this task will be useful to his senior as well. He will take pride in the task because it has been assigned to him by someone he esteems highly, and will try to accomplish it willingly and with pleasure. Is it not right? How shameful a paradox! Is the greatness of Allahu ta'ala inferior to the greatness of this senior that the commandments of Islam are not observed with such devotion?

We must be ashamed. We must rise from this slumber. There are two reasons for a person's not doing Allahu ta'ala's commandments:
1- He does not believe in Allahu ta'ala's commandments and prohibitions.
2- He slights Allahu ta'ala's commandments. He holds the greatness of these commandments inferior to the orders of people occupying ranks and positions. For whichever of these two reasons, we must think of the abjectness and meanness of not doing the acts of worship.

O my son! Supposing a notorious liar said, "Tonight the enemy is going to make a raid from that direction," would not the people in command reflexively tend towards the wiser preference and begin thinking of their defense forces? Would not they say that one should be prudent, be cautious and on the alert at times of danger though they know that that man is a liar?

The mukhbir-i-sadiq, that is, the ever-truthful, who is well-known for always telling the truth "alaihissalatu wassalam," announced time and again the eternal torments of the next world. They do not believe him. Or, although they believe him, they do not think they should take the necessary precautions to save themselves. As a matter of fact, the mukhbir- i-sadiq has shown the way of saving oneself, too. Then, what sort of iman is it that they do not think as much of the words of the mukhbir-i-sadiq as they would of the fibs of a liar? It will not save a person to be a Muslim, a Believer in words only. The heart itself should believe and develop yaqin. But the present instance would be the last thing to be called "yaqin'. It is not even surmise. Nor, perhaps, is it even a fancy. For it sometimes takes sagacity to take safety measures against an imagined danger.

Despite the eighteenth ayat of Hujurat sura, which purports, "Allahu ta'ala continuously observes your behaviors," they keep committing haram. However, they would immediately stop doing these atrocities lest an ordinary person should see them in the act, even if it were a mere probability. This state has two possible reasons: Either they do not believe in the declaration of Allahu ta'ala, or they just ignore the fact that Allahu ta'ala sees them. One or the other, does either one of these cases signify iman, or disbelief?

My son! You should renew your iman! Our Prophet "alaihis-salatu wassalam" stated: "Renew your iman by saying, "La ilaha illallah.' " Next, you should make tawba and cease from your habits that Allahu ta'ala disapproves. You should avoid doing what Allahu ta'ala has forbidden, i.e. the harams. You should perform the five daily prayers of namaz in jamaat. And, if you can, it will be a great fortune to perform the post-midnight prayer, i.e. the namaz termed tahajjud.
Acts of worship performed on special nights, such as the nights called Juma, 'Arafa, 'Iyd, Qadr, Barat, Miraj, 'Ashura, Mawlid and Raghaib, produce many blessings. (Mawlana Muhammad Rabhami "rahmatullahi 'alaih' states the great Islamic scholar Imam-i- Nawawi "rahmatullahi 'alaih' writes in his book Azkar that enriching one-twelfth of the night, (which makes about one hour), that is, reading Qur'an al-karim, performing namaz, or praying during that time, stands for enriching the entire night. It makes no difference whether it is a summer night or a winter night.)

My son! Man's nafs is stingy, miserly, avaricious. It is recalcitrant towards doing the commandments of Allahu ta'ala. That is why this letter of mine may sound somewhat overemphasized. In fact, our possessions, lives and property are His gifts. Who on earth could have the right to lay hands on something given by Him? Then, zakat and 'ushr must be paid willingly.

We must perform every act of worship enthusiastically. We must be strict in avoiding having others' rights upon us, and in paying them their dues. We must be extra careful so that there should not be any rights or dues left unpaid! It is easy to pay a debt in the world. And it is possible to apologize and have ourselves forgiven by means of kind and soft words. Not so is the case in the next world. Once you get there, it will be very difficult to rid yourself of others' rights, and you will be helpless. [One should be careful about disbelievers' rights, too. A person who lives in a country of disbelievers should not infringe on disbelievers' property, lives or chastity. And he should obey their laws, too.] One should learn Islam by asking those true scholars who know Islam well and who keep the next world in their minds. The statements and books of such blessed people are influential. Owing to their blessed breaths, it will be easy to keep their advice. In places where true scholars cannot be found and dependable books are not available, these fake scholars can be asked questions only when it is inevitable. Yet even in such cases one should not listen to their preaches and speeches.

O my son! What business do we, faqirs, have with the above mentioned lovers of this world that we should be interested in their good or bad behaviors? Allahu ta'ala's Prophet "sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam' has given all the necessary pieces of advice and left behind nothing unsaid.

It is necessary to practice what one hears and learns. A patient may know what medicine he needs. Yet he will not recover unless he uses the medicine. Knowing the medicine cannot cure him. The millions of statements made by all the Prophets "alaihim-us-salam" and the thousands of books written by the multitude of savants "rahimah-um-Allah' are intended for being put into practice. Knowing will not be a beneficent intercessor in the next world, but it will be a document, a testimony serving as a ground for torment. Our master, the Prophet "sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam' stated: "On the Day of Judgement, the person who will suffer from the most vehement and the worst torment is the savant who did not benefit from his knowledge and whose behaviors did not keep pace with his knowledge."

My son! You, too, know that tawba on that day will be futile! For the life you have led away from those who love and never forget Allahu ta'ala has prevented that bud of happiness from blossoming into a flower. Yet the fact that that bud has not decayed indicates that this dear child is an absolute gem who will immaculately respond to tuition. For the barakat of that tawba and attachment, it is hoped that Allahu ta'ala will sooner or later bless this dear child with the path He has chosen and loves. Whatever the cost, do not lose your love for those who follow the path guiding towards (love of) Allah! Place in your heart the earnestness to trust yourself to their care and to be in their company! Entreat Allahu ta'ala to bless you for the sake of your love for those great people and place His very love in your heart and, protecting you against attaching yourself
to the rubbishy concerns of this world, to attract you entirely to Himself!