CHAPTER – 5

TWENTY
BESTS

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Turn, O Lord, and deliver me;
Save me because of your
unfailing
Love.
No one remembers You when he is
Dead
Who praises You from the grave?

.... Bible, Psalm 6 : 4-5

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 TWENTY BESTS

 LEADER ► ALLAH ( God)

 GUIDE ► QURAN

 LIFE – STYLE ► ISLAM

 PERSON ► MOMIN (Faithful)

 PERSONALITY ► MUHAMMAD (pbuh)

 ROUTINE ► SUNNAH

 LAW ► SHARIYAT (Interpretation of Qur’an &

Sunnah)

 LYRICS ► AZAAN (Call of Prayer)

 LOYALTY ► IMAAN (Faith)

 REQUEST ► DUA (Supplicate)

 PROTECTION ► FITRA

 OATH ► KALMA

 CONTACT ► NAMAZ (Prayer)

 CONTROL ► ROZA (Fasting)

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 CHARITY ► ZAKAAT (Mandatory Charity)

 TOUR ► HAJJ

 DECISION ► SABAR (Patience)

 WORK ► TABLEEGH (Preaching)

 ACTION ► NEKI (Goodness)

 HOBBY ► DUROOD (Supplicate for Apostle pbuh)

…. Anonymous

An excellent pattern have ye in the

Messenger of God (33 : 21)

And follow the Best,

Of (the courses) revealed
To you from your Lord,
Before the Penalty comes
On you – of a sudden,
While ye perceive not! – (39 : 55)

The Twenty Bests vividly equip a reader with a spiritual roadmap and
puts him on the mistic highway leading to a personal transformation and ultimate
salvation. The love of God, in an alternative state of consciousness, is the
hallmark of these Bests, when God can be mysteriously identified with the
inmost self. To reach this stage there ought to be a systematic destruction of the
‘latent evil’. This would eventually lead one, seeking sense of absorption, in a
larger, ineffable reality. A state as Tennyson (Memoriuym) says: “Our little
systems have their day, They have their day and cease to be: They are but broken
lights of Thee, And Thou, Oh Lord! Art more than they”. Such an state of mind
would then reach to a point where he may feel veils of illusion lifting, leaving
him face to face with Truth.

The Glorious Qur-an for the best says: People have great attraction for
the vanities of this life, women, sons, heaped up piles of gold and silver, branded

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horses, cattle and land. But these are only the convenience of the life of this
world. The best thing to achieve and to strive for is the Pleasure of God. (3: 14).
Oh you faithful! You form the best nations among mankind, for you enjoin what
is right and forbid what is wrong, and you have faith in God. (3:110). God is
your Protector. He is the best of your Helper. (3:150). Oh Children of Adam! We
have bestowed raiment on you so that you may hide your nakedness with them,
but the best raiment for you is piousness (7:26). God alone is your Protector. He
is the best of all protectors and the best of allies (8:40). Apostle Mohammad
(pbuh) says: “All creation is the family of God. Those are the best loved of Him
who serve best His family”.

Who doesn’t want to feel at peace with himself? Who doesn’t strive for
joy, a sense of wellbeing, confidence, wisdom, success, purpose in life and
access to the inner spiritual realm? Here are the prayers like guides to living a
life. They teach us to live everyday as if it is our last day of life. Read the
prayers which the followers of Islam generally call in their communion with
their Lord. They afford an insight in the working of their minds, their thoughts
and feelings, and the very object of their lives. There is no prevarication, no
hiding or suppression of truth, no luxurious display of poetic fancy when man
stands face to face with his Creator, to lay bare before Him his heart, and give
account of his mundane struggles, his achievements and disappointments, and to
ask of Him the things that matter. His prayer, at such a moment, is an expression
of a pressing feeling, and is for that reason naturally simple and direct. The
higher the note that he strikes in his outpouring, the higher is the quality of the
faith that has imprinted itself on his mind, and served as a background to all his
activity. In Islam, the prayer that a Muslim offers whether singly, or in
congregation, whether at the appointed hours of devotion, or at any sudden call
or urge from within to turn to his Lord in the midst of his daily work, is all
imbued in the phraseology of the holy Qur-an or that of the Prophet’s own
utterances preserved in the Hadith. Even when the suppliant expresses himself in
his own tongue, the form of prayer is dictated by same sources. The same
attitude towards his Master, the same conception behind the words used, the
same spiritual atmosphere generated by them are revived in his mind, and
nothing that he says is not covered by the teachings of his holy Scripture and the
example of his holy Prophet (pbuh).

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. Be

cautious, life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
Not able to decide in our life-time which path to take, repentance or arrogance –
the way of Adam or that of Satan. We are betrayed by what is false within –
Meredith, Love’s Grave: Can any fate be more cruel than this? “Is it true then”,
asks Hugo in ‘Les Miserable’, “the soul may be cured, but not destiny? What a

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frightful thing! An incurable destiny”. Gentle Reader! We hope you will share
our perception and pray for thy spiritual advancement, as we wish thee to pray
for us. But hasn’t set such a barrier as “destiny”. Muhammad (pbuh) said; ‘if
anything can change the destiny, it is the supplicate of a suppliant’. – (Tirmidihi).
Thus to say that God has written our destiny on the day – One, so it can’t be
changed, is manifestly erosions thinking. Such people are being lead by Satnic
doubts. The Glorious Qur’an says:

Against them make ready

Your strength to the utmost
Of your power, including
Steeds of war, to strike terror
Into the (hearts of) the enemies,
And others besides, whom
Ye may not know, but whom
God doth know. (8 : 60)

Thus it is ordained that one has to make necessary preparation for an

event and then to leave the consequences on the Lord. It is said that a man came
to the Apostle (pbuh) and said; ‘Shall I leave my camel unfastened and put trust
in God for his care or shall I fasten the animal and then put the trust in Him’. The
Apostle (pbuh) said; ‘fist fasten the animal and then leave it in the care of the
Almighty’. – Tirmidihi).

Gentle Reader! Remember that death unfortunately is inevitable. After

all, nothing, and certainly not life, lasts for ever. Let us pray for thy spiritual
advancement, as we wish thee to pray for us. We end this humble presentation
with a passage (translated) from a legendary urdu poem Dua:

Let us raise our hands in supplication

We who are unaware of the norms of prayer
We who besides the fervour of love
Remember no God, no effigy.”
…. Faiz Ahmed Faiz

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