Mother of Moulana Muhammad ‘Umar Paalanpuri (rahimahullah)

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An Inspirational Woman

Mother of Moulana Muhammad ‘Umar Paalanpuri (rahimahullah) – Part One

 

Moulana Muhammad ‘Umar Paalanpuri (rahimahullah) was a great scholar and famous daa‘iee (preacher) of the recent past. His foreign da’wah travels amount to eighty one, apart from the twenty hajj that he had performed.

Allah Ta‘ala had blessed him with an amazing manner of oration. He would regularly address crowds of hundreds of thousands in one gathering. Thousands would be inspired to repent from their wrongs, change the direction of their lives and resolve to sacrifice their wealth, time and lives for the cause of Allah’s deen.

 

However, the question is: “Who was that great person who had inspired this inspirational personality?” It was none other than … His Mother. He was orphaned at the age of eight, hence she had nurtured him as a single parent.

In fact this great acceptance that he enjoyed was actually her du‘aa and prediction. Once while he was still a student, and was reading some incidents to his mother using an oil lamp, she said: “O my Son! Today I am the only one who is listening to you in this dark house, however Allah Ta‘ala will show you that day when hundreds of thousands would be listening to your lectures.”

 

Insha-Allah in the next three parts we would discuss a few amazing qualities of this great woman. May Allah Ta‘ala make us all inspirational personalities, who inspire towards good and virtue, aameen.

uswatulmuslimah

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Story Time

Mother of Moulana Muhammad ‘Umar Paalanpuri (rahimahullah) – Part Two

 

Though she was not a very learned woman, she would however regularly visit a pious and learned woman in her neighbourhood known as Maryam Khala, from whom she would learn various aspects of deen and imaan. Through the blessings of this pious company, she developed a very high level of fear of Allah Ta‘ala and concern for the Hereafter. Throughout her life she strove to pass on the same fear and concern to her children. She would do this by narrating to them the various incidents of the Messengers of Allah Ta‘ala that appear in the Quraan Majeed. Moulana (rahimahullah) says: "I can still recall my mother explaining Surah Kahaf as well as the incident in Surah Burooj of that wicked ruler who ordered that the believers be driven into a ditch of fire. These incidents were explained to us while we were still little children."

 

Lessons:

1. Pious company has a dynamic effect in conditioning one’s mind and moulding it in the correct direction. Similarly bad company is extremely dangerous in corrupting one’s thought process. One should also bear in mind that companions are not only humans who we can talk to and laugh with. Websites, magazines, social media, the TV and Radio programmes are the new companions of the modern age.

2. Narrating the incidents of the pious is a great tool in the correct nurturing and upbringing of a child. We also need to encourage our children to read authentic Islamic literature, and discourage them from stories and novels that influence them negatively.

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True Values

Mother of Moulana Muhammad ‘Umar Paalanpuri (rahimahullah) – Part Three

 

From a tender age she instilled true values in her children and passed on great lessons to them. Moulana ‘Umar Saheb (rahimahullah) explained the following examples:

 

1. “Since I reached the age of understanding, I can recall seeing my mother performing salaah and crying before Allah Ta‘ala in du‘aa.”

 

2. “When she would buy something for us, she would ask us to share it among ourselves. Then she would carefully observe who was more greedy and who was more generous. Thereafter she would correct us accordingly.”

 

3. “Once she was explaining to us the terrifying conditions of the grave and the questions of the two angels. So I said to her: ‘I have already learnt the answers to these questions’ (as she had previously taught it to us). She replied: ‘This tongue of flesh will not work in the grave; rather the tongue of actions will speak. So do good actions.’”

 

4. “She would say: ‘O my Son! If you wish to backbite anyone, you rather speak ill of me, so that your rewards would come to me and it would remain within our own home.’ What she really meant is that you should not be so silly to backbite others and pass over all your rewards to them.”

 

Lesson: While it is important for a mother to see to the physical well-being of her children, it is even more imperative for her to instil the correct qualities, values and character in them.

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Real Investment

Mother of Moulana Muhammad ‘Umar Paalanpuri (rahimahullah) – Part Four

 

Once Maryam Khala narrated to her the hadeeth regarding the parent of a Haafiz receiving a crown of honour on the Day of Qiyaamah. Hearing this she teared and told her son, Moulana ‘Umar Saheb (rahimahullah): “You must become a Haafiz of the Quraan Majeed and an ‘Aalim of deen.” He said to her: “What will happen to my school education.” This great woman replied: “I am least concerned about that, you need to study the divine knowledge.”

 

All her relatives opposed her saying: “He is doing very well in school. If you have to take him out from school and he only studies deen, he will be dependent on others for his livelihood.” She replied: “You are only concerned about the world. However if he really studies deen, the world would come at his feet.”

 

Notwithstanding the great opposition and financial constraints, she insisted on her son studying deen. When he reached the final year of his studies, she became very ill. Her feet were too weak to support her and she lost her eyesight. Despite all of this, she sent him more than thousand miles away to complete his studies. After a while her condition deteriorated even further and most of her relatives came to visit her (to be at her side during what seemed to be her last days). Finally they all wished to call Moulana, but she refused and said: “If Allah Ta‘ala asks me what I have brought, I shall say: ‘O My Rabb! I am empty handed and have nothing to present before you, besides my beloved son whom I have sent in your path, only for your sake, so that he can be a means of my salvation.”

 

Then a state of drowsiness prevailed over her. As her final moments drew closer, she exclaimed: “I can get a very sweet smell,” although she had lost her smell by then. She then made salaam and smiled. Thereafter she fell unconscious. When she regained her consciousness and was asked what had happened, she replied: “I saw my son, Muhammad ‘Umar, with two angels on either side of him. Hence I made salaam and smiled at my son.” Not long thereafter, this pious woman breathed her last and left this world.

 

After her demise, her son Moulana ‘Umar Saheb (rahimahullah) saw her in a dream and inquired from her as to where she was? She replied in Arabic: “I am in Jannah.”

 

(Reference: Sawaanih Hazrat Moulana Muhammad ‘Umar Paalanpuri (rahimahullah), pgs. 59 - 68 and Misaalee Khawaateen, pgs. 270 – 274)

Lesson: Subhanallah! This is the good death and great reward that Allah Ta‘ala grants the one who sacrifices for His sake. Every mother should have this aspiration of choosing the line of deen for her children, the benefit of which she would receive in this world and the next.