This travelogue has been inked by Hazrat Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad Talha Qasmi Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Damatabarkatahum enlisting his experience during three day travel to the homeland of our ancestors Adam and Noah Peace Be Upon Them in the month of January-2021.
Arranged and Presented by: Sayyed Muhammad Talha Qasmi, Khaadim, Silsila-e-Aaliyaa-Naqshbandiyah, Khanqaah Darul-Ehsan
Bismillah-hir-Rahmaan-nir-Raheem
Kerala State is located in the Southern part of India. It is said that Adam – peace be upon him – descended, when he descended from the Heaven, in this part of the earth, as it is narrated by the son of Abbas – may Allah be pleased with them – about “Tannoor (oven) that water sprang from, in the interpretation of the verse, “حتى إذا جاء أمرنا وفار التنور” (at last, our command came and the oven overflowed)” that it was in India. (Fat’h-ul-Qadeer of Al-Shawkani R.A.)
And Al-Shawkani mentioned many statements in his explanation of the meaning of Tannoor, he writes, “And the eighth statement is that it is a place in India”.
It should be noted that there is a village in Kerala State called “Tannoor” in Malappuram District, India. The relationship between the Arabs and the Malabar was very old, and that a large number of Arab merchants settled in India. Likewise, many Indians inhabited and settled in Arab countries especially Yemen.
When Islam came and the Arabs began to enter Allah’s religion in multitude, people were astonished and amazed to see the difference between those who converted to Islam and those who did not, in business, morals, behaviour and attitude. Thus, they started attracting towards Islam.
To the fortune of the state of Kerala and the region of Malabar, one of its kings travelled to Makkah, embraced Islam and pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Later, he built a Masjid in his capital, which was the first Masjid built outside the Arabian Peninsula in the life of the Prophet – peace be upon him – (as it is known among them).
The bearers of the Islamic message – the companions and those who followed them in righteousness – headed towards this land. They spent their whole lives in the way of spreading the message of monotheism and fragrance of the prophecy of Muhammad (peace be upon him).
It was our misfortune that this region of our country had been separated from others due to the divergence of languages. Muslims in most parts of India speak Urdu. Even though, their local dialects are vastly different, the academic and literary language remains the same. But this does not apply to Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu. Muslims of Kerala take great care of the Arabic language, and most of their scholars speak it spontaneously. This has encouraged me and yearned my heart to visit its scholars and great personalities, living and dead. But the problem that prevented me to fulfil my wish was that I knew neither anyone here nor the places of righteous Sahabah and those who followed them in righteousness. It was really difficult for me to visit without any guide.
But here burst forth a puff of the mercy of Allah, and I found a knowledgeable guide, a virtuous friend, and a gentle and honourable brother. He was none other than brother Fazil Al-Nurani, one of the most distinguished students of Sheikh Al-Mufti Al-Muhaddith Abu Bakr Ahmad, founder of “Sunni Islamic Culture Centre” in Kalikat – may Allah save and protect him –.
The entire story begins, when I, along with a number of brothers associated with the “Naqshbandi and Mujaddidi” chain, went to visit our Masha’ikh (spiritual personalities), living and dead, in Delhi, Kandhla, Thanabhawan, Gangoh, Nanauta, Deoband, Saharanpur and Sirhind. Sirhind was our last terminal.
As we were about to return, there appeared a righteous young man, bright faced and fascinating in talk. Seeing his turban, I realized that he was from Kerala, so I addressed him in Arabic language, and started asking eagerly about the Companions and friends (of Allah) in the state of Kerala. He said that he knew all of them, and in the Masjid he is the Imam of, two great Companions have been resting in their graves from among the martyrs of “the Battle of Badr (the first large-scale engagement between the Muslims and Qurayshite Mecca)”. He even invited me and those with me to visit Kerala. So, we exchanged phone numbers and drove to Delhi.
After the passage of two months, we prepared for this blessed journey. This faithful caravan set off from the Khanqah Darul-Ehsan Bangalore, after the completion of its monthly Majlis (council) on Sunday, 27 December 2020. We headed to Kannur and reached there late at night. And we stayed in a beautiful rest house on the shore of the Arabian sea.
After Fajr Salah, we ambled on the seashore a little, and let the imagination visualise those convoys of faith that moored on these shores, carrying with them the well-being of humanity and the message of faith to lift them from the darkness into the light, from being slaves of creations to be the slaves of the Creator Alone, from the distress of the world to the wasteness of it.
At the breakfast table, we met our brother Fazil Al-Nurani, along with a student of him. He was our guide in travel, so he took us to the graves of some noble members from the family of Allah’s Messenger (S.A.W.S.). We sent peace upon them, recited whatever we could and gifted its reward to them. Then, we moved on.
We performed Zohar Salah in the Masjid of Malik ibn Dinar (r.a.). It is famous that it was built by the honourable Companions (of the prophet) – may Allah be pleased with them –.
We visited many of the righteous friends (of Allah), sent peace upon them and recited Al-Quran, until we arrived at the shrine of Sheikh Ramadhan Al-Naqshbandi, where we performed Asr Salah in his Masjid, and sat waiting for Maghrib Salah. We kept remembering Allah – the Almighty – in our hearts, and felt an unusual spirituality that could not be expressed in words. Until when the Sun set, we performed Maghrib and turned to our vehicles. Shaikh Ramazan’s hermitage and his Masjid is in a secluded place, far from the public street; among fields and farms, dominated by peace and tranquillity.
Then, we turned to the cemetery of Hazrat Tamim Al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him, and sent peace upon him and those who were resting with him from the friends (of Allah) and righteous ones. Here also, the same spirituality touched our hearts that we had felt with Sheikh Ramadan Al-Naqshbandi – may Allah have mercy on him –.
We offered Isha Salah in a Masjid next to this graveyard and headed to Brother Khalid’s house in the town of “Mukkan” and reached there late at night.
Brother Khalid is associated with Silsilah Aaliyah Naqshbandiyyah Mujaddidiyyah, and is a professor at the Medical College of the city.
We spent the night there and rested a little after Fajr the next day. Later we moved to the Sunni Islamic Culture Centre in “Kalikat” and met its founder and supervisor, Al-Shaikh, Al-Murshid, the jurist and Al-Muhaddith Mr. Abu Bakr Ahmad, the deputy general of Ulama-e-Ahle-Sunnah Wal-Jama’ah council in Kerala. – may Allah protect him.
We met him at his office, and he warmly welcomed us and expressed his desire to make our stay at his personal guest house. So we accepted the invitation with thanks and gratefulness.
As he requested us to attend an advisory meeting of Jamiat Ulama-e-Ahle-Sunnah Wal-Jama’ah, we attended it. And the writer of these words delivered a short speech at the request of the Sheikh – may Allah protect him – insisting on the necessity of cooperation between the Ulama-e-Ahle-Sunnah Wal-Jama’ah in the entire country.
During my talk, I pointed out that the Madaris (Islamic schools) and educational and pedagogical centres in the whole country; this centre, and the centre I was graduated from namely Jamiah Darul-Uloom Deoband Al-Islamiyyah, and other Islamic schools and religious centres are the assets of this Ummah and the signs of its glory and dignity.
Our brother and the guide Fazil – may Allah protect him – took us to the “Knowledge City”. It is a gigantic cultural and civilization project, spread over one hundred and fifty acres of land, having a large and beautiful Masjid in the middle, and surrounded by tall buildings for housing, hospital, medical college, law college, a four-star hotel, and a commercial market; some of them are ready, some under construction, and the rest are kept for the near future project. There is no doubt that this project is one of the exploits of Shaikh Abu Bakr Ahmad – may Allah save and protect him –.
We were welcomed in the “Knowledge City” by Professor Dr. Abdul Hakim, the son and caliph of Shaikh Abu Bakr, and the supervisor of this great and exemplary project.
Professor Dr. Abdul Hakim is a graduate from Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and is fluent in Urdu as well as Arabic, English and Malayalam.
After we performed Asr Salah, Professor Abdul Hakim introduced me to the students and the professors of the “Knowledge City” and asked me and my son Mufti Abu Hurairah Faisal Al-Qasmi to address the gathering, so we spoke briefly.
Then we walked about with him and viewed the complete project until the Sun set and we performed Maghrib Salah and went to the shrine of Sheikh Muhammad Abu Bakr Al-Madwoori, denominated as “Qutubul-Aalam”. We sent peace upon him and recited Surah from Al-Quran.
Here the writer of these words taught a number of the new brothers the first lesson from the chapters of the Naqshbandi Mujaddidi chain and gave their hearts a specific attention.
We then turned to “Al-Sahabah” masjid, where (as we were told) Hazrat Rafe and Rifa’ah, – may Allah be pleased with them – have been resting, both of them had witnessed “The Battle of Badr” in the company of the Messenger (S.A.W.S).
In this Masjid, there is a madrasah, named “Madrasatul-Irthin-Nabawi” (the Madrasah of the Prophet’s legacy). The writer spoke and gave to its students an extensive lecture in both Arabic and Urdu languages, so that the members of the accompanying delegation, who did not know Arabic, could understand.
It was very late, almost midnight, and we had walked all day long on our feet for more than five kilometres, so we headed to the guest house of Markazul-Thaqafah, and soon fell into a deep sleep for a few hours until we woke up and performed Fajr. It was our last day in Kerala. So we bathed, changed clothes and had breakfast at the guest house, then attended Shaikh Abu Bakr’s lesson of the book Saheeh Al-Bukhari.
The sheikh greatly honoured this poor guest, so he ordered that a chair be placed next to his, and asked me to deliver some words to the students of the noble hadith of the Prophet (a thousand greetings and peace be upon him) after the end of his lesson. We asked his permission to leave and our hearts were full of love, affection, respect and appreciation.
Brother Fazil told us that his father-in-law had passed away two weeks ago. It so happened that he returned his home driving his car, took his wife’s hand while she was on Musalla (Salah mat), sat with her, talked a little then recited Kalima-e-Shahadah (the second Kalimah to bear witness to faith) and submitted himself to his Creator. He was a pious scholar and an Imam in a Masjid. May Allah shower His mercy and pleasure on him and make his grave a garden from the gardens of Jannah. And grant his family and relatives patience and solace!
We went to his house to advise to patience, then to the grave to pray and recite Al-Quran.
Then we went to Maula al-Duwailah, Al-Sayyid, Alawi Al-Hadrami – may Allah have mercy on him – read some verses from the Qur’an and sent its reward.
And here we bid farewell to brother Fazil Noorani with tearful eyes and wistful hearts. Later, we went to Cheraman Jumah Masjid (the Masjid of the King Hazrat Sherman R.A. – may Allah be pleased with him – and performed Asr there. We visited the Masjid and its righteous inhabitants such as Habib Ibn Malik etc. after this last visit we rode to Bangalore. We prayed Maghrib and Isha in a restaurant of the same state, then we travelled the whole night until we reached Bangalore an hour and a half before Fajr. May the Almighty accept this blessed and missionary journey, and make us from among his pure slaves. May He reward everyone who has honoured and loved us with all the best in this world and the Hereafter. Peace and blessings be upon the best of mankind, our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and his followers, with your mercy, O Most Merciful!
Written by:
A humble slave, needy for the mercy of his Self-Sufficient Lord:
Sayyid Muhammad Talha Qasmi
One of the servants of Silsilah Aaliyah Naqshbandiyyah Mujaddidiyyah, Khanqah Darul Ehsan Bangalore
