Forty Gems of Beauty — Page xv
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, ever Merciful We praise Him and invoke His Blessings on His noble Prophet Author’s Preface to the First Edition I do not know the reason why, but it is true that since my childhood, I have had a sort of natural attachment to the science of the A ha d i th [Sayings of the Holy Prophet] and whenever I read a Hadith, I feel as if I were being transported to the presence of the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him), and being favoured directly with his holy speech. My imagination takes me 1,400 years back, giving me the pleasing taste of spiritual association and companionship with the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him), in the Holy Masjid of exalted Mecca and in the Prophet’s Mosque in sacred Medina and in the lanes of these two exalted cities and in the desert paths of Arabia. Then, for a while, I am lost to the world, breathing in the atmosphere where our most loved master spent 23 long years of his God-gifted Prophethood. But probably the Hadith which impressed my heart and mind the most, both in point of depth as well as extent, relates to an observation of the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him). It has no bearing on jurisprudence nor does it partake of scholastic theology. But to my mind it is the very life of Islam and of spiritual experience. A report says that once a poor Muslim paid his respects to the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him). His forehead bore no imprint of worship or penance, but his heart glowed with the spark of the Prophet’s love, which had lit up a holy lamp in his bosom.