TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

the ramadan of shaikh muĤ ammud zakariyyĀlove and spiritual exertions [mujāhadāt]. The intensity of his reclusion,isolation from the material world, and spiritual exertionspeaked in Ramadan to a level that is unimaginable in this day andage and is only to be found in the accounts and lives of the eldersand predecessors [salaf].In this era, the rise and spread of hedonism has shaken the beliefof Muslims. Love for good deeds has left the hearts and peopleare completely ignorant of the sweetness of ikhlāś, certitude, iĥsān,sulūk, and dhikr of Allah u. As the khanqās became abandoned,the umma became deprived of closeness to Allah u, and as aconsequence, the difference between Muslims and non-Muslimsin appearance, actions and deeds, beliefs and disposition becameblurred.Our state of affairs today is enough to make any concerned Muslimrestless. Only Allah u knows what went through Ĥađrat’sheart as one who embodied the spirituality of the elder shaikhsand was their successor and true representative. When he saw decadencein the umma, as a true experienced [spiritual] physician, heimmediately diagnosed the root causes and knew how to relievethe problem. Therefore, in the last few years of his life, he madeit his one mission in life to revive the name of Allah u and rejuvenatethe darkened hearts with His love. This was the only cureto the sickness and what he had set out to do on his travels. It wasthe crux of all his gatherings and the only thing he discussed in hiscircles. In his letters and correspondence with others, he continuallyemphasized that the gatherings of dhikr be started everywhereand that more and more people be brought into these gatherings.The words, “That You may become Al-Muttaqūn” embodies thereason for fasting in the month of Ramadan and proves that thesyllabus of Ramadan is the most complete and comprehensive forattainment of taqwā and devotion. This is a point Allah u madeclear to Ĥađrat, which is why he spent the month of Ramadan ini‘tikāf. Thousands of people came from different places to sit in hiscompany and illuminate their own hearts. Only Allah u knowshow many people left Ramadan with the nisba of Allah u through80