Learning humbleness from our elders

I had my research meeting with my supervisor today. While commenting on the writing I had submitted to him earlier on, he made a very point which, I hope, will stay with me forever.

While asking me to remove certain generalised claims and statements I had made in my paper, he quoted Maulana Shah Abdul Qadir Raipuri (may Allah have mercy on him). Hazrat once said about tasawwuf that according to his knowledge, it was the way through which people have always been reaching Allah. He said he wondered what people think taswwuf was! It was simply a path that led to Allah SWT and His servants have always been treading it to find Him. He further said that he, at least, did not know of any other way that could help one reach Allah SWT. If there was one, he too would have wanted to know about it!

The point my supervisor was trying to make was that one should learn humbleness form our elders – he didn’t say this explicitly; this is my understanding of his quoting Hazrat Raipuri’s example at that instance.  Despite knowing that tasawwuf was THE way, Hazrat did not choose to speak in a cocksure manner. Instead he took it all upon himself that it was he who did not know of any other way.

I was deeply touched by this incident, which revealed my own flaws to me. How comfortably we – the inexperienced and the unknowledgeable – indulge in speaking about things in life in an overconfident manner. Our spiritual elders, on the other hand, always speak with immense humility even about those things which they firmly believe in!