TheRamadan of Shaykh Al-Hadith Ml ZakariyyaKandelwi by Dr Muhammad Ismail Memon Madani

the ramadan of shaikh muĤ ammud zakariyyĀ
reached Faisalabad at 12 p.m. He stayed at Muftī Zain al-‘Ābidīn’s
‘Dār al-‘Ulūm in Faisalabad. Many of the fortunate attendees
made their presence before Ramadan. Aside from the hundreds
of daily visitors and those that sat for i‘tikāf for less then ten days,
approximately two hundred people sat from the beginning of
Ramadan and five hundred in the last ten days.
My desire to perform i‘tikāf for the whole month of Ramadan
was not fulfilled, but by the grace of Allah u I was able to sit for
the last ten days of i‘tikāf. Though the aura of blessings, spirituality,
and raĥma that envelop the environs of these blessed gathering is
not usually felt by someone like myself, even I quickly became
aware of these spiritual subtleties, though putting them in words
is beyond my capacity.
The first thing that came to mind when I first came across this
fascinating scene was of a river of nūr (light) and people drawing
from this river according to however much is destined for them,
some taking more, while others less.
The Blessed Prophet s said of the dhākirīn,
الَ‏ يَقْعُدُ‏ قَومٌ‏ يَذْ‏ كُرُ‏ ونَ‏ اللَّهَ‏ إِالَّ‏ حَ‏ فَّتْهُمْ‏ الَْلَ‏ ئِكَ‏ ةُ‏ وَغَ‏ شِ‏ يَتْهُمْ‏ الرَّحْ‏ مَةُ‏ وَنَزَلَتْ‏
عَ‏ لَيهِمْ‏ السَّ‏ كِ‏ ينَةُ‏ وَذَكَرَهُ‏ مُ‏ اللَّهُ‏ فِيمَنْ‏ عِنْدَ‏ هُ‏
No such group sits to remember Allah u but the angels drape them, raĥma
envelops them, tranquility [sakīna] descends upon them and Allah u
mentions them amongst those who are with Him. 34
As I witnessed the reality of this hadith with my own eyes, I
began hoping for the forgiveness of Allah u for someone as
unworthy as myself, sitting in this gathering. The blessings and
spiritual effervesence reached their peak in Ramadan. The light of
the daily dhikr and recitation of Qur’an was cascading upon the
gathering and Ĥađrat’s blessed company was rejuvenating hardened
hearts.
34 Muslim, Fađl al-Ijtimā‘ ‘alā Tilāwat al-Qura’n
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