Following the Sunnah
Addressed to: Khān-i-Khānān (may Allah have mercy on him)
One should spend this short-lived worldly life in obedience to the Master of Shari‘ah (peace and blessings be upon him), for salvation from the punishment of the Hereafter and the attainment of eternal blessings is linked to the good fortune of this very obedience.
Therefore, zakāh must be paid in full on increasing wealth and grazing livestock, and this practice should serve as a means of guarding oneself against attachment to wealth and animals. In consuming delicious food and wearing fine clothing, one should not seek to indulge the lower self. Rather, eating and drinking should aim to strengthen the body for the worship of Allah.
Fine garments should be worn with the intention of adorning oneself in light of the verse:
“Take your adornment at every place of prayer” (Qur’an 7:31),
meaning: at every ṣalāh. No other motive should be mixed into this intention. And if a sincere intention does not naturally arise, one should at least compel oneself to form it deliberately.
As the hadith states:
“If you cannot weep, then take on the appearance of one who weeps.”
(Related by Sayyidunā Anas, may Allah be pleased with him.)
Always humbly implore Allah Almighty to grant the sincerity of intention and to remove artificiality.
Poetic verse:
He who turned a drop of rain into a pearl,
Can surely grant my tears the honor of acceptance.
Likewise, in all matters, one should act in accordance with the rulings of righteous scholars who walk the path of strict adherence (ʿazīmah) and avoid dispensations (rukhsah). This alone should be considered the means of eternal salvation.