I remember one incident quite fondly. It happened around 3 or 4 years ago. There is a program of Madani Channel, “Faizan-e-A’la Hazrat”. I used to be the producer of the program. So, 3 or 4 years ago, people were messaging me to invite Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat. Other guests also used to participate. It was aired live for 25 days. There was a demand to invite Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat to the program. So, we decided to request his time; 20-25 minutes or however long he could spare. Obviously, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat had many engagements. Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat used to stay in a room behind the Masjid of Faizan-e-Madinah.
I scheduled a meeting and visited him to request him in person as I was hoping to get his time this way. When the meeting was scheduled and I was going there, I was quite nervous as he has a lot of engagements and is my spiritual guide and I had never done this before. It was the first time that I was requesting his time. I was not sure if he was going to agree to come or if it was even okay for me to request his time as he was quite busy and did a lot of work. Anyway, I plucked up some courage and went there. Actually, I was the producer of the program so it was my responsibility to request his presence.
So, I went there and was standing outside Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat’s room waiting for him to call me. After a few minutes, I was called in. I entered the room and said, “Sir, we are doing this program, ‘Faizan-e-A’la Hazrat’.” I told him about the program in detail and asked him to appear live in the program for a little bit; 20-25 minutes or however long he could spare. What I had said was, “Sir, it is your own program.
Give as much time as you want. It would be wonderful if you could come for the whole duration of the program.” First, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat remained quiet for a little while and was smiling, then said… He pointed to the table in front of him that he had a lot of writing work. He said that he had writing work and was busy with it. I said, “No problem.
I understand that you must be busy. I just came to see if you could spare some time.” Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat said there was writing work to be done so I didn’t pursue the topic further and remained quiet. Then I thanked him and started to leave. Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat said, “Son, wait.” He beckoned me close and said, “Son, if I had given up so easily, Dawat-e-Islami wouldn’t be here today.” So, I was a little confused as to what he was trying to say. He himself had told me that he was busy.
Then Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat again said, “Son, when you go to request someone’s time or for any other work, never give up so easily or be convinced so easily. You have to insist and persuade a little and you have to make a little effort. You can’t get everything handed to you so easily, neither have we got Dawat-e-Islami so easily. When Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat said this, I was emboldened by it and said, “Sir, now I am not leaving without convincing you to come.” To this, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat replied, “This won’t work on me. Try it on someone else.”
This is one of my experiences with Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat that I will probably never forget. And the life lesson I learned from this incident -and I implement it even now- is to never give up. You should never yield or back down. You must remain in pursuit. For example, if we look back at the time when Dawat-e-Islami had not yet been founded, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat would visit many such places where he was not allowed to deliver a speech, but we see that, later, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat delivered excellent speeches there with huge gatherings of people. It took some time to get there. The success that Dawat-e-Islami has today, you see that Dawat-e-Islami’s presence is in almost every country of the world.
We have a channel, so many departments and thousands of employees, many non-Muslims are embracing Islam, it didn’t just happen out of nowhere. If Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat had given in to everything at that time, given up and made excuses of the problems he was facing, and there were a lot of problems. Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat has spent most of his life in extreme poverty. He didn’t just face one single issue but many problems. But, Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat never gives up. Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat never yielded. And this is the reason that today, we have such amazing Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat and such an excellent Dawat-e-Islami.
May Allah prolong Ameer-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat’s affectionate shade over us! In conclusion, I recall an English quote and I will end with it. It is said that: Where there is a will, there is a way i.e. if you have the desire and aspiration to achieve something, you will ultimately find a way to achieve it.
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