Mawlana Shu’ayb delivered a very good speech, and he showed you in regard to the life of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ was alive and is alive. Now, the point about the two lives is that when he ﷺ was present in the dunya, it is called Hayat e Zahiri (apparent life), from the aspect that his life was apparent in front of our eyes. Now he ﷺ has departed from the dunya he ﷺ is in his illuminated tomb, it is not that it is not true life. It is true life, haqeeqi (real), ruhani (spiritual), jismani (physical). His life is Zahiri from those regards, and it is Zahiri according to many Awliya’ and Mukashifeen. Imam e Ahl e Sunnat has stated it like so:

تو زندہ ہے والله تو زندہ ہے والله
مرے چشم عالم سے چهپ جانے والے

You are alive, by Allah! You are alive!
O the one veiled from my physical sight

Now those who cannot see with their impaired sight, it is regarded as Hayat e Batini (internal), Haqeeqi, Ruhani, Jismani. His life is greater than the lives of everyone who is alive.

And Mawlana Shu’ayb has raised many points. And in this regard, he has said many things that are true per se.

الحقُّ مُرٌّ ولو كان دُرّا

The truth is bitter for many people, even though they are pearls.

Ikhtilaf with A’la Hazrat today is the illness of this era. 20, 30, 15 years ago, in India or as far as I have knowledge of, there was no-one who talked about doing ikhtilaf with A’la Hazrat. There were some in Pakistan but they were suppressed. Now, this slogan and these words, about Ikhtilaf are heard here and there.

You have heard the explanation of Maslak e A’la Hazrat. And clear distinction between truth and falsehood is a significant part of Maslak e A’la Hazrat. A’la Hazrat spent his entire life and showed with his books, with his Fatawa and with his actions that a believer, who is the servant of the Messenger ﷺ, and a kafir, who rejects the Messenger ﷺ; Iman and kufr; a Mu’min and a kafir, heretics and Sunni; deobandi, wahabi and Sunni cannot be together. A’la Hazrat RadiyAllahu ‘Anhu emphasised upon this and showed in his poetry and all of his teachings that there can be no unity between Sunnis and ghayr-Sunnis. Today, talks of unity are done with great force and enthusiasm. Unity between Sunnis and ghayr-Sunnis, Sunnis and deobandis wahabis is being celebrated in a practical way. And some movements and organisations are active in this regard. There is Ittihad e Millat, there is Ulama Council. And in some places there is the slogan:

لا سنية ولا شيعية اسلامية اسلامية

No Sunni, No shi’i
Only Islam, only Islam

And some who claim to be on Maslak e A’la Hazrat also take part in this slogan, and they form Ulama Council, they establish Ittihad e Millat. And they aim to unite Sunnis and ghayr-Sunnis. Those who have ikhtilaf, from whom the voice of ikhtilaf comes, have some motives. Those who wish to unite Sunnis and ghayr-Sunnis also say that ikhtilaf with A’la Hazrat can be done. The world can be thrown up, the sky can break and it will break, the earth can break and it will break, Qiyamah will come, however, there can be no unity between Sunnis and ghayr-Sunnis. Whoever conducts this unity, whoever claims this unity, and he who said, “One will not be asked about Maslak in the grave” has lost his Iman, he will lose his identity.

الأمور بمقاصدها
All matters are as per their objectives

Some talk about ikhtilaf for this purpose [to bring Sunnis and ghayr-Sunnis together]

Some speak about ikhtilaf in Furu’ and say, “Maslak pertains only to ‘Aqa’id.” Maslak e A’la Hazrat is not simply ‘Aqa’id. Just as it is the name of ‘Aqa’id, the name of the practices of Ahl e Sunnat is Maslak e A’la Hazrat. And like this, Maslak e A’la Hazrat is not only the name of ‘Aqa’id and practices, rather Maslak e A’la Hazrat is the name of true followers of the A’immah and true Hanafiyyah. He who is truly and firmly Hanafi is the one who is the upholder and bearer of Maslak e A’la Hazrat. Maslak e A’la Hazrat is the identity of Hanafis. Now, he who has to fulfil the desires of his nafs, and these desires of the nafs are not being fulfilled, such as in the issue of TV, the slogan to do ikhtilaf is being exclaimed, and he does not care about the ruling in which he is doing ikhtilaf. Before A’la Hazrat, the ruling that has remained Ijma’i since the time of the Prophet ﷺ to the time of Imam al-Shami, no-one said it was ikhtilafi. Now, whether it is an attari, an individual of Dawat e Islami or an individual of Sunni Dawat e Islami, he cannot do ikhtilaf in the issue of TV - his ikhtilaf is thrown back in his face.

Before today, no Sunni considered cinema permissible. And how will an ‘Alim consider it permissible? Cinema is such an ugly, bad, foul, disgusting thing that those who watched it hid from people. They hid from those who recognised them, from their elders and from their friends. If they would come out of the cinema and we would be coming from the other way, they would turn and walk in a different direction, go into an alley, so be it not that their friend sees them coming out of a cinema. Cinema was considered to be such a foul and disgusting thing, those with sound intellect consider it foul and disgusting even today. Now there is the organisation which exclaimed “Trash the shaytan! Trash the shaytan!” and broke so many TVs; what sort of Nasikh [abrogation] has Ilyas Qadiri found today? What sort of Nasikh has Dawat e Islami found that they talk about Nasikh Mansukh and TV has become permissible, rather, not only permissible but they now keep laptops in the Masjid.

Cinema has not been declared permissible by anyone except mawdudi. Mawdudi’s slogan and mawdudi’s discussion is so elevated that people who claim to be on Maslak e A’la Hazrat, people who take the name of Maslak e A’la Hazrat, people who claim to be Sunni are declaring cinema permissible, and they are joining their voices to the voice of mawdudi and making a mockery and spectacle of the Deen. This is with some excuse that religious programs are shown on it so it will become permissible. In the recent past, the time of Huzur Mufti e A’zam e Hind is not that far gone yet. Many people saw Huzur e Mufti e A’zam e Hind. When the film Khana e Khuda came out, people attacked cinemas, damaged cinemas and set fire to cinemas. Huzur e Mufti e A’zam e Hind issued the Fatwa that making a spectacle of the Deen is not permissible. Today, the consequence of these Fatawa and these licenses is that the cinema has now reached not only every home but cinema has come into Masajid and a mockery of the Deen has been made. Those who do ikhtilaf, the results of such ikhtilaf of theirs are that they are doing ikhtilaf in Ijma’i matters, and they are making Ijma’i matters ikhtilafi. The ikhtilaf of those who breach the Ijma’ (consensus) of Muslims is thrown back in their faces. Nothing of Maslak e A’la Hazrat shall be ruined and nothing of A’la Hazrat shall be ruined. He who breaches it will himself be determined to be against Maslak e A’la Hazrat. And there are some people who have to fulfil their whims and act upon leniency. A’la Hazrat has maintained the identity of true Hanafiyyah. The ‘Ulama’ have settled the issue that you are performing Taqleed of Imam e A’zam. The method of Taqleed is that [you] bow your head [and follow blindly]. We are not on the station that was the station of Imam e A’zam. He was a Mujtahid. Leave Imam e A’zam, we are not of the rank of Imam Muhammad and Imam Abu Yusuf who were Mujtahids fi al-Madhhab. And even below them, going far down from them, we are not even on the station that [we know] which qawl (statement) is sahih (correct), which is da’eef (weak), which is rajih (preferred), which is marjooh (preferred over). We do not have the capacity to determine this. 500 years ago, Imam ‘Ala’ al-Din Haskafi settled the matter that:

أما نحن فعلينا اتباع ما صححوه وما رجحوه كما لو افتونا في حياتهم

Such unprincipled people who do not have the capacity to distinguish between sahih and da’eef - who are merely Muqallids - it is binding upon them to act upon those aqwal that have been declared sahih by their Masha’ikh; let alone issuing Fatawa against it, to act against that oneself is not permissible.

Those who speak of ikhtilaf are such that they are doing ikhtilaf for the whims of their nafs. And I have shown that this ikhtilaf is not with A’la Hazrat but it is ikhtilaf with Sunniyyah in some cases; with Ijma’ of the Ummah in some cases; and it is simply following one’s whims in some cases.

These are the motives and reasons to give the concessions to act upon and to obtain leniency from those aqwal which the A’immah of the Madhhab have declared marjooh and issued a Fatwa that acting upon them is haram and breaching Ijma’. So the consequences of ikhtilaf with A’la Hazrat will be that there will be unity between Sunnis and ghayr-Sunnis, or it will be violating Ijma’ of Muslims, or it will be washing one’s hands of Taqleed, even if that may be a partial manner, and taking on the habit of ghayr-Muqallids. It is necessary upon who is firm upon Hanafiyyah, upon true Taqleed, upon Ijma’ of the Ummah, and upon the Maslak of Ahl e Sunnah wa Jama’at that he recognises Maslak e A’la Hazrat, that Maslak e A’la Hazrat is the name of ‘Aqa’id; the name of the practices of Ahl e Sunnat; the name of following the Ijma’ of Muslims; and the name of adherence to the sahih and mu’tamad aqwal of the Madhhab upon which the Masha’ikh have issued Fatawa – abiding by this is the name of Maslak e A’la Hazrat.

Translated by Muhammad Kalim, Preston