Osama Haider
First, read this incident:
A scholar from Ajmer, Maulana Moinuddin Sahib, reached Deoband to meet Sheikh-ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan Deobandi (may Allah have mercy on him). Upon reaching the house, when Maulana Moinuddin Ajmeri knocked on the door, a man came out wearing a vest and lungi. He said to the man, "I am Moinuddin, and I have come from Ajmer to meet Sheikh-ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood Hasan." The man said, "Please come inside, sir." As soon as Maulana Moinuddin Ajmeri sat down in the house, he said, "Please inform Hazrat that Moinuddin Ajmeri has come to meet him." The man said, "You have come in the heat; rest for a while," and started fanning him. After some time, Maulana Ajmeri said, "I told you to go and inform Hazrat that someone has come from Ajmer to meet him." He said, "Okay, I'll inform him now." So, he went inside and brought food. Maulana Ajmeri said to the man, "I have not come here to eat; I have come to meet Sheikh-ul-Hind Sahib. Introduce me to him." The man said, "Hazrat, please have your meal. You will meet him soon." He fed him food and gave him water until Maulana Moinuddin Ajmeri Sahib started getting upset and said, "I am telling you repeatedly, but you are not going to inform him." Then the man said, "Hazrat! No Sheikh-ul-Hind lives here. However, Mahmood Hasan is the name of this humble servant." (Taken from: Islahi Khutbat)
Did you read the incident? Who was this personality? The same personality whom the world calls Sheikh-ul-Hind. Who was the first student of Darul Uloom Deoband and then became the head teacher of Darul Uloom Deoband. Who wrote the translation of the Holy Quran while imprisoned in the jail of Malta. Who was the founder of the great Silk Letter Movement. But did you see his humility? Did you observe his modesty and humbleness? Did you notice that despite having such a high position and being a great personality, how small he considered himself?
We count them among our elders, we are proud of them. We narrate their incidents and biographies in our speeches and writings. But put your hand on your heart and say, do we also have such humility? Do we also consider ourselves inferior? Does our name ever come to our mind without any prefixes or suffixes? How does the heart feel if someone just writes our name, without any titles or affiliations before or after it?
This is not the only incident; there are many incidents scattered in books about our elders, which reflect their humility. But our condition is that we are always intoxicated with self-display, self-praise, and self-admiration. When introducing someone, we introduce them as "Maulana So-and-so," "Mufti So-and-so," "Qazi So-and-so," and we feel the introduction is incomplete without it. When we write a few lines, we ourselves write Maulana/Mufti/Qazi before our name at the end. If someone else takes our name without these titles, we feel insulted. I wish we would adopt the qualities of our elders and act upon the noble saying of the truest human being in the universe, Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him): مَنْ تَوَاضَعَ لِلَّهِ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ (Whoever humbles himself for the sake of Allah, Allah will exalt him). We should convince our hearts that humility is the perfection of servitude and that the secret of acceptance lies in it.