Preface
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1. By the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. O my Lord! This Your most insignificant servant, was already humble and weak, and now he has become even more feeble and pitiful. O All-Knowing and All-Seeing Lord! Help! Help! O Helper! O Helper! O Lord of honour! The most grievous and lamentable weakness is that I am unable to express even a modicum of gratitude for Your infinite bounties. Alas, if I had wept unceasingly and prostrated myself repeatedly under the sway of heavenly love, perhaps all the dust in my heart would have been washed away by such a humble act. O Divine Essence! We lament our lack of knowledge and our helplessness, which makes us unable to praise You [duly]. O the Compassionate and the Merciful! By Your grace, exert the sway of heavenly love over us, so that whatever childlike praises we may offer You in its ecstasy, may all be acceptable to Your merciful glance. O Lord! Where else would we go? O, my Physician! For the sake of [Your] beautiful names, heal all our physical and spiritual ailments through Your pure and pleasant love! Amin!!
2. O dear friends! I believe that the term "cishq-i samawi (i.e., heavenly love)" is a great reward for all of us. Therefore, we will explain it with heartfelt gratitude that it means the luminous and miraculous ardent love for God, the Prophet and the Imam of the time. Its glorious mention and the indication that it is obligatory are in the heavenly book (i.e., Qur'an). The research and confirmation from the Qur'an and prophetic tradition that 'heavenly love is food as well as medicine for the soul of faith', will indeed delight every sincere lover. O dear friends! May the sacred love for the living and present Imam be blessed for all of you! This very love is the love for the Prophet as well as the love for God. So always remain immersed in this pure ocean of love, for in this very act lies the bliss of both worlds, and in it lies spiritual progress as well as intellectual light.
3. The Name of this Book: There has never been such a long delay in the naming of a book [in the past]. Perhaps there is a secret in this. However, the subjects covered in this book were finally observed, and from the chapter: "The Wisdoms of Heavenly Love", we felt that the most elegant name for this book should be "Heavenly Love". God willing! Our dear friends and honourable readers will also like this name. The reason for this name is not that the entire book is devoted to the theme of heavenly love; rather, its wider meaning and indication is that I have mentioned heavenly love throughout all my writings, especially in my poems. Furthermore, I believe that this [heavenly love] has made my personal world flourish and prosper. Thus, to receive blessings and benedictions, I am giving this blessed name of "cIshq-i Samawi (Heavenly Love)" to one of my favourite books, so that the wise people may, if they wish, do research into the background of this title.
4. The title of this book (i.e., Heavenly Love) invites us to reflect on the following realities: a. The Psalms of Hazrat-i Dawud were filled with heavenly love, both externally and internally; b. In the spiritual resurrection of the perfect ones (kamilin), those who attain recognition (carifin), and the lovers of God (cashiqin), there is a tumult of the trumpet of love; c. A great bounty of paradise is Divine love, which has the name of pure wine (sharab-i tahur) etc.; d. God first created the Intellect, but it was in one of His beloved servants, which means that it is created from Divine love; e. See the importance and eminence of heavenly love in the Qur'an, the Hadith and the sayings of the pure Imams; f. The prophecy made by Hazrat-i Mawlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah in 1940 about the rising of [the sun of] his light of love has indeed come true through the trumpet of love of the army of Israfil; that is why I want to sacrifice myself for them again and again.
5. The Progress of Danishgah-i Khanah-yi Hikmat: By the infinite grace of the Lord of the world, our organisation is progressing by leaps and bounds. Whenever God intends to accomplish a work, He provides resources and means for it. Thus, by His grace and guidance, many great personalities joined this organisation. Some of them were offered camaldari (i.e., office). Later, with the appointment of governors and cilmi lashkar, the organisation leapt forward greatly. It was the English translations of the books that brought about a revolution, and there are translations in other languages as well, al-hamduli'llah!
6. New Dedication – I: My extremely dear, cherished friend, very beloved student, and spiritual brother Amin Kotadia, Chairman of Markaz-i cIlm-u Hikmat, London is very fortunate that his branch has made great progress. He has rendered countless services to this branch, and his angelic wife Maryam also joins him in every one of his services. Their angel-like sons Salman and Abu Zarr are both very dear to me. These adorable children have been expressing wonderful points of religion since childhood, and they are also extremely intelligent in secular education. This family is rich in Mawla's love and in the richness of faith.
7. The name of the respected father of our beloved Amin Kotadia is Habib Kotadia. He was born in India and migrated to East Africa at the age of 10 years. Amin's mother is Rawshan Bano Habib, and she was born in Uganda.
8. Habib Kotadia and Rawshan Bano were married on 14 November 1941 in Kampala, Uganda, in the luminous presence of Namdar Prince Aly Khan. They have five sons and one daughter. Amin's parents are now settled in Canada.
9. Amin's parents are very religious and pious. They are always very regular in their cibadat and in attending jamacat-khanah. In Nakuru, they used to arrive before anyone else to open the gate of the jamacat-khanah every morning and evening. Amin's father was blessed and honoured to serve for a long time as KamaÜiya and Mukhi in various jamacat-khanahs of East Africa. In 1957, Mawlana Hazir Imam bestowed upon him the title of Huzur Mukhi.
10. Mr. Habib Kotadia is a shab-khiz mu'min [i.e., he wakes up very early in the night for cibadat]. He goes to jamacat-khanah very early in the morning and recites the holy ginan with love and devotion. He remembers by heart many profound and wisdom-filled ginans. In Canada, although he lives quite far from jamacat-khanah, he leaves home very early to be in time to attain the bliss of reciting ginan. Amin Kotadia's parents instilled virtuous habits in all their children, the most fundamental of which is pure love for Mawla, al-hamdu li'llah!
11. New Dedication – II: Our young and righteous friend and companion in knowledge, Sohail Rahmani, is a very religious and pious person. I was overjoyed when I met him in the USA. He is a lover of true knowledge and can progress in knowledge. I hope that he will make significant progress and will make a remarkable contribution to the service of knowledge.
12. His father's name is Shawkat Ali Rahmani, and mother's name is Zarina Shawkat Ali. Sohail Rahmani was born on 18 July 1969 in Karachi. His qualification is Intermediate (Commerce). He emigrated to the USA in October 1995. He inherited the zeal for jamacati service and the fervour for religious education from his parents. He served as the KamaÜiya of Chandrat majlis in the Rahmani Garden jamacat-khanah, Karachi. He also served as the Chairman of the Decoration Committee and was a religious teacher at the Al-Azhar night school [i.e., Al-Azhar Religious Education Centre] in Rahmani Garden, Karachi.
13. Sacred Farman and Heavenly Love: Hazrat-i Mawlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah has scattered pearls about heavenly love. It is extremely important for you to study these blessed sayings with devotion and love so that you may attain perfect certainty in this regard. This is because the pure farman of the exalted Imam is the true interpretation of the Qur'an and Hadith for us. Reflect a little on this luminous farman of your pure Mawla (may my soul be sacrificed for him): "Look at the moth! It burns itself with devotion and love when it sees the flame of the candle. They have such ardent love that several moths sacrifice their lives. You should also have such love for God. Be such a lover! Love God, and worship and be enslaved to Him with ardent love". Perhaps you know that there are many holy Mawla's sayings about true love.
14. D. Kh. H. Regional Branch, Islamabad: Thanks be to Allah for His infinite bounties that He, the Beneficent Advocate, the Merciful Patron has bestowed [upon us] many favours. It is also His great mercy that our branch in Islamabad has progressed and is now called "Danishgah-i Khanah-yi Hikmat Regional Branch, Islamabad". Its regional president is Mr. Bazgul s/o Khalifah Aman Ali Shah, who is very pious, a true lover of Mawla and a real darwish. His angelic wife Ms. Mahru has been appointed as an advisor. I have seldom seen such righteous women. The secretary of this branch is Abdul Karim Mahdi s/o Subedar (R) Muhammad Hayat, who is a very talented, honest, gentle and noble person, al-hamdu li'llah!
Nasir al-Din Nasir (Hubb-i cAli) Hunzai, Karachi Friday 14 Shacban al-Mucazzam 1419 AH / 4 December 1998 AD
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