Treasure among the ruins...

After the History of Ideas session today, we gathered in Iftikhar Saheb's office for some post-session chit chat, which usually involves gems of wisdom coming from a teacher who we all hold in great esteem. Today, alhamdulillah, he looked elated at the success of these sessions being held. He was happy that  finally the department was displaying some signs of liveliness and intellectual vigour. He said that paraphernalia was not as important as the presence of (good) people around. Further, there was always a possibility of finding good and sincere people even in dilapidated environments (such as that of our department =D)! Then he recited the following couplet by Ahmad Faraz,

ڈھونڈ اجڑے ہوئے لوگوں میں وفا کے موتی

یہ خزانے تجھے ممکن ہیں خرابوں میں ملیں
 

What an apt saying to motivate people like us, who tend to lose heart when faced with even the minutest of difficulties! Then he recounted his first journey on which he was accompanied by another teacher of mine to Hazrat Shah Saheb's (Syed Nafis Shah rahimahullah) place in Lahore. The journey from the railway station to Shah Saheb's place was full of sights that one would never like to witness - dirt, filth and stench characterised the locality through which they walked their way to Jam'ia Madania. Upon entering Hazrat's house, he said, the world, however, was a different place altogether (referring to the spiritual aura of the place). He ended his narration by telling us:   

خزانے  ہمیشہ خرابوں میں ہی ملتے ہیں

An unforgettable lesson, indeed.