A Pearl of Wisdom from Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī

Shāh Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī said:

الْعَالِمُ الرَّبَّانِيُّ الْوَارِثُ لِلْأَنْبِيَاءِ هُوَ الْمُحَافِظُ عَلَى أُمُوْرٍ تَدْرِيْسِ عُلُوْمِ الدِّيْنِ مُرَاعِيًا حُقُوْقَهُ؛ تَوْجِيْهِ النَّاسِ وَتَخَوُّلِهِمْ بِالْمَوْعِظَةِ؛ الْأَمْرِ بِالْمَعْرُوْفِ وَالنَّهِي عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ؛ مُوَاسَاةِ الْفُقَرَاءِ وَطَلَبَةِ الْعِلْمِ بِقَدْرِ الْإِمْكَان؛ِ وَمَنْ أَخَلَّ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ هَذَا فَفِيْهِ ثُلْمَةٌ حَتَّى يَسُدَّهَا

“The pious scholar who is a true inheritor of the Prophets is one who upholds the following: (1) teaching the Sacred Sciences by giving them their due, (2) giving guidance and direction to people and reminding them through exhortations, (3) commanding to good and forbidding evil, (4) and comforting the poor and students of knowledge as much as he is able. Whoever does not do one of these, he is lacking until he inculcates it.”

(Taken from Shāh Walī Allāh’s al-Qawl al-Jamīl)

In Arabic, a “thulmah” is a piece that broke off from the rim of a cup. One cannot properly quench their thirst from the cup because of the broken piece. When one tries to drink, the cup’s contents will spill on him. (Tāj al-ʿArūs, 31:357)