Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
I was reading (or trying to read) the Nuzhut al Khawatir, which M. Ilyas bought recently. Its an amazing work. I was quite surprised there were some great awliya missing, e.g. Pir Mehr Ali Shah, the great Chishti Sheikh of 20th century.
Plus, somebody told me there are mistakes in the Behishti Zewar; is this true? Have you found anything that does not conform with the Hanafi Madhhab? The only reason I ask this is because it is a book read by the general masses, who maybe unaware of such things.
Walaikum assalam,
Every book is bound to have some imperfection, other than the Book of Allah. The author of Behishti Zewar, like Imam Ahmad Raza, was a huge faqih. In some places, though rarely, he may have chosen positions other than those taken by Ibn Abidin, but he and Imam Ahmad Raza were both at the level of Ibn Abidin
Of course, some of the discourse in the section on `aqida is very specific to the Indian Subcontinent and it largely irrelevant to us, as educated people with understanding. When some scholars saw the horrendous beliefs and bizarre superstitions held on to by a lot of the ignorant masses, they used the principle of blocking the means to the bad (saddal- dharai`) to warn them against otherwise permitted actions, because of what they inevitably lead to. So we understand why they said what they said, but we certainly are not bound by it. And we love all those who loved Allah and His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) and followed the sunni path.
Wassalam,
your brother,