musaafir-e dasht

On waking up this morning, I found the following text on my cell. It was sent by a student who is now working at a private university. I liked it because it served as an important reminder. Students too can be very good teachers at times :) We have to be very conscious of the journey we embark on by the choice of Allah Almighty, because very often the splendour of the station itself becomes the destination. Think about it! - Abdul Basit 

“Everyone wants to make enough money to live comfortably, but what does this mean? Should one aim to make millions? Or is this a questionable aim for a moral life? Should one aim at a profession in order to achieve high status? ... The big question: What kind of work will contribute to my becoming a whole person and also contribute to my community...?” - Nel Noddings, Critical Lessons: What Our Schools Might Teach but Do Not (2006) Not an unfamiliar scenario: An adult asks a small child, ‘What are you going to be when you grow up?’ The child looks at his interlocutor confusedly. He is immediately given his options, ‘Engineer, doctor, pilot…’ and the clichéd list would go on to bog the child down with the weighty responsibility of either ‘becoming’ any of these or remain a ‘good-for-nothing’ all his life. If only we could control our formative influences, life would be so much better! If only… Dreams and Desires ‘Dreaming Big’ is the slogan of the modern day world. We ‘...

Imagine: you listlessly go and sit in the company of a pious friend of Allah (SWT). You have no idea what awaits you. You simply go and sit with adab  waiting for the Shaykh to speak. You yourself do not know what is it that you seek. No specific questions. Just utter confusion caused by the rust that corrodes the heart... The Shaykh begins to speak and the first thing he says strikes a chord. You are jerked out of your listless state because that is exactly what you unconsciously wanted to hear in those moments. Those specific answers to unspecified questions... Blessed, indeed, are those moments. It is nothing but Allah's Mercy that He clarifies things for us and brings us back to the focus, to Him! Had this not been the case, we would always be continuing with our lives listlessly... 

There is no better way to start your day than rising up early, offering fajr prayers on time (in the Mosque congregation, especially for males), reciting some Qur’an unhurriedly with reflection, doing some exercise/jogging and eating a healthy breakfast – even if its Sunday Morning! The key to all of this, of course, is going to bed early! -  Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari I realised the truth in this statement today. May Allah SWT help all of us follow a routine that pleases Him SWT. This inconsiderable surely needs to review her daily routine!

For the past eight years, December Fourth has been an important date because of a personal reason. Incidentally, it seems to have become even more significant because of today; I conducted my last exam at the university. The turning point in life had come earlier but today my stint as a teacher finally came to an end. I surely did not want this day to go undocumented. I have mixed feelings. In fact, the day was filled with mixed feelings... The weather has become a wee bit chilly in Karachi so I woke up in Fajr welcoming the change. Hastened to the university at around 8 am and reached the exam room at 9.05 am. The exam started at 9.13 am and then I was all to myself. I spent three hours reminiscing about my life at this university, first as a student and then as a teacher. Memories came flooding. I consciously made an effort to think about all the teachers and my friends who had touched my life in innumerable ways. People I can never pay back. I thought about Asma. I ...

Back here after such a long time. The mind is so jumbled. Not enough clarity so as to be able to write something organised. Major changes in life. Happy about folks. Missing old times. Looking nostalgically at the trees while walking the road that leads to the department. Once friends used to walk that road with me. Then I started traversing it alone. Eventually I will stop walking it in a few days' time (literally, I mean. Metaphorically the road has been taken, alhamdulillah). So many little things to write about. I keep on listing them in my mind all day long and then end up writing absolutely nothing... At the moment what occupies my mind is the conversation I had with a dearest friend yesterday. Years younger than myself, and about to get married, this little friend shared such valuable advice regarding marriage and life in general. She made me realise how blessed we were. Her talk contained such precious reminders that I felt the mist clearing off my mind. Alhamdulillah. S...

September 3, 2012. The change begins. Alhamdulillahi bi n'imatihi tattimussualehaat !

Answers to the questions that keep bugging our minds come from strange places. I have been a little worried about certain things lately, and today I stumbled upon these verses by Imam al-Shafa'i rahimahullah on this blog . The verses have left me speechless. They clarify many confusions and pave way for some clarity, at least, at this point in time. Alhamdulillah. “The intelligent and refined find no rest in dwelling in one place, So leave your homeland and travel far away! Travel and you will meet new people replacing those left behind, And tire yourself out, because it makes life worth living! I have seen that water stagnates when it stands still, Yet when it runs it is sweet and pure. And if the lion left not its land, it would not catch its prey And if the arrow left not the bow, it would not hit its aim And if the sun moved not across the horizon, People the world over would have tired of the sky.” - Imam Shafi

1. It was the spring of 1993 and the Balkan war was sending waves upon waves of refugees to the coastal villages where tourist traffic had died down. The Croatian Government had put up these refugees in tourist resorts whose owners were being compensated by international relief agencies. Bashka Voda was 25 miles from Krilo, a village where Abbas and I had our warehouse from where we took supplies to the Bosnian besieged town of Mostar. The war had opened the eyes of the refugees to their Islamic identity, sadly repressed through decades of Communism in Yugoslavia. They were eager to learn about Islam and relief workers like ourselves were struggling to do whatever we could. Bosnian refugees who lived around our warehouse often came to us for assistance. On one such visit a little girl approached me with a magazine picture showing a person making Salat1. “Can you teach me this?” she said in broken English pointing to the picture, “I love Allah, I love Islam but my father Communist, n...

Ramadan 14, 1433 AH Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, How could I seek the empty world again? - Emily Bronte I set out for the university at around 7.30 am this morning. One of the most pleasant morns in this Ramadan. Alhamdulillah. When I got on to the bus, I was reminded of the book on which I had spent around twenty minutes last night in order to convert and clean up its format to suit my kindle - The Embattled Innocence: Recollections of a Muslim Relief Worker by Suleman Ahmer. After paying my fare to the conductor, I pulled out my kindle from my handbag and started reading the preface and went on to read the first chapter, at the end of which, I was so moved to tears, that I had to shut my reading device off and give myself some time to think, and rethink. By this time, I saw the huge gates of the NED University passing by on my left hand side. I prepared myself to get off at the next stop - my university. In a dazed state of mind, I alighted the bus...

Just came across this excerpt from a book A Sense of Seige: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West   here , about the pseudo intellectuals, which sadly Pakistan is rife with: This is a real tragedy. These intellectuals are unable to question their positions and their assumed mission because they have no intellectual, academic or informative resource other than the West to rely on. Western sources are their only assets; and once their link to these sources is lost, they will be abandoned in the middle of a desert. Sadly, these intellectuals are unable to find the spiritual energy and intellectual courage necessary to save themselves and their countries, to preserve their roots, because that would mean denial of what has become their identity. In this case, “the decisive hour,” as defined by Marx -- a concept that evolved into “class suicide” -- takes place, when a part of the ruling class separates itself and joins the revolutionary class. These intellectuals ultimately expect th...

This is a strange morning. A beautiful one, indeed. While I write in solitude, my folks remain fast asleep. The parents will be travelling to another city today, and they do need proper rest before they set out for the journey. I look outside my window; my vision of the sky is impaired by the thick grey clouds that cover the Karachi sky today. Moonsoon, it seems, is on its way...  Happiness indeed is a gift of Allah (swt), the sweetness of which multiplies specially after one has experienced sorrow.  Sorrow, too is a gift of Allah, for it is sorrow that helps one realise how helpless man is, be it in the times of need or sufficiency. In both the situations man remains reliant upon Allah; there is none but Him who could remove our sorrow; there is none but Him who can lighten up our path.  It takes a moment for the life to get transformed. You do not even realise, and in a split second you find yourself standing at that bend on the road of your life tur...

Life, Literature and Nostalgia By Naeema Akram This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet. -           Rumi Long ago, in my childhood, that is, I remember an elderly man telling me an inspiring tale about Saladin (Salahuddin Ayyubi), the famous Muslim hero. I was told that Saladin had memorised diwaans and diwaans of Arabic poetry. This piece of information got the precocious child in me thinking. I wondered how was that possible? Saladin – the great Muslim general who I had admired because of the stories I had read and heard about his bravery and kindness in my childhood – and poetry seemed like two worlds apart at that point in time. I was precocious, but some questions take their due time before we are blessed with their life-changing answers… I was a science student all my life. Racking my brains with Physics, Chemi...

An excellent elucidation of the matter by Shaykh al Islam, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (May Allah preserve him) posted at ashrafiya.com  - thought-provoking and clarifying many misconceptions regarding Sufism. I would warn the younger Muslim generation about the wrong interpretation of Sufism. It has been widely propagated in the Western world by non-Muslims. They coined the term Sufism. They praise Sufism. They preach sufism. They propagate Sufism. One may think that they do this in service to Islam. However, the reality is that the Sufism propagated by Western writers is quite contradictory to the Shariah. It is quite contradictory to the real essence of Tasawwuf and tariqat. A high ranking western offical visited the Darul Uloom, Karachi. After having a detailed tour observing the teaching activities he commented that he did not see anything about Sufism being taught. It was inquired that what did he mean by Sufism. He replied that Sufism is something relate...

I did not want this day to go unrecorded. Details, I shall write in my personal diary. Here, I shall only say that in all the arduous times of patience, prayers of repentance and tears of regret at letting one's nafs go astray in weaker moments, the Sattar is always there to watch over us. He watches. He listens. He responds... ... He makes you meet an Abdus Sattar - the sabab from the musabbab al asbaab! Whoever fears Allah, He brings forth a way out for him,and provides him (with what he needs) from where he does not even imagine. And whoever places his trust in Allah, He is sufficient for him. Surely Allah is to accomplish His purpose. Allah has set a measure for every thing. (Surah Talaaq, Verses 2-3)

ستیزہ کار رہا ہے ازل سے تا امروز چراغ مصطفوی سے شرار بو لہبی  -اقبال Since eternity till this day, the battle goes on Between the charaaGh of Mustafa and the sharaar of Abu Lahab

I remember somebody once told me that when he was a child, his mother - a woman from a village in Pakistan - used to remain extremely worried about him, as he was a physically challenged child. Imagine the fate of this blessed child of hers! First, Allah made him a daa'i e Qur'an , and then made him immortal by granting him shahaadat . And we, the unlucky ones, left behind... Only to recognise the merit and stature of our Ulama when we are deprived of them... Maulana would be happy for he is united with his Lord now. We are left behind as grieving souls on this earth. Someone very rightly put it today: "the enemy knows (who) our valuable people (are) ... a lot more than we ourselves do!"

Some students, in the last week's session of History of Ideas, were tempted to chalk out comparisons between certain philosophical ideas propounded by the Greeks and some teachings of Islam. Dr Shafi, however, asked us to be on our guard against making such comparisons. He said that we need to keep the two traditions apart as they were essentially different from each other as far as their epistemological sources were concerned. Here, what he meant was that one tradition originated in human reason, and the source of the other was wahi (revelation). Conflating the two could lead to serious error of judgement and thought. The most beautiful thought that he put across was that our tradition was regulated by the paradigm of muhabbah (Love). Being lovers, we do not question the Beloved with a 'why' of inquiry. All we have to do is to carry out the command of the Beloved ... I wonder how our problems would have vanished altogether had we realised this seemingly simple p...

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 Ha...

  Source An 'anonymous' reader has posed a question in a comment which s/he did not want me to publish on my blog. This post is a response to their query (although I do not find myself in the least capable of answering such questions) and, therefore, might evade the understanding of the general readers of the blog as they remain unaware of the context in which it is being written. My apologies for that. The only way to repent for any kind of sin (irrespective of it being big or small) is to do sincere tawba . Just ask Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala for forgiveness keeping His greatness in view. Ask for it in your heart. Ask for it while sitting, standing or reclining. Ask for it after salaah . Beseech Him through the tears that have a language of their own. Implore Him in the solitude of the night when all else are asleep. Speak to Him while being conscious of the fact that He is Sam'i al Baseer (the One who listens and the One who sees!). When you do this, just ...

 Source “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books,” Neil Postman wrote: What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumble-puppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they a...

  Posted at An Noor Once my Shaykh Hazrat Shah Abdul Ghani Phoolpuri (RA) said to me, “Hakeem Akhtar [DB], when you are able to cry during your supplication then realize that your prayers have been accepted.  These tears are a receipt of the acceptance of your prayers. It's such an amazing coincidence that I mentioned this very quote by Hakeem Akhtar Sahab da'mat barakaatuhum to someone yesterday only when I myself was feeling low about something. Seeing it posted on An-Noor today made me instantly say SubhaanAllah! Allah has His ways of reminding us of things we become heedless of. May Allah bless our akaabireen with the best of duniya and aakhirah.

When man is afflicted by a hardship, he prays to Us (at all times), when reclining or sitting or standing. But when We remove his hardship, he just takes his way as though he had never prayed to Us in any hardship that afflicted him. This is how their deeds appear beautified to the transgressors.     (Surah Yunus, Verse. 12) I can see myself mirrored in the above mentioned verse of the Holy Qur'an... It happens at all times. A calamity befalls, and we invoke our Lord in the state of utter helplessness. It is in these moments of hardship that one feels so drawn towards Allah SWT because there is absolutely no one we can turn to. Moments, when life seems to have come to an impasse. Those moments of intense suffocation when it becomes almost difficult to breathe, and all we can think of is none but the Being Who created us. We pray with all our heart and soul. We cry. We beseech. He listens. He responds. Satisfaction ensues. And we, walk away as if nothing had happened...

Just read this excellent defining of the difference between 'needs' and 'desires' here Allah (Most Exalted) says; ‘whereas for the one who feared to stand before his Lord, and restrained his self from the (evil) desire,[79:40] the Paradise will be the abode.[79:41] So, have you seen him who has taken his desires as his god, and Allah has let him go astray, despite having knowledge, and has sealed his ear and his heart, and put a cover on his eye? Now who will guide him after Allah? Still, do you not take lesson? (45:23) ———————————————————————- A need is something that is necessary for an individual to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from desires because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. Desire is a sense of longing for a person or object or hoping for an outcome. ————————————————————————— These desires may be permissible or impermissible. The Shariah decides these limits and their rulings. ...

'It's a lonely thing,' he said, 'you can't avoid it.' 'What?' 'The spiritual path. Everyone is on his own in this.' - The Translator , Leila Aboulela

The Prophet (SAW) said: “ Jibrail (AS) has brought this on my heart that no person will die until he has had his rizq completed on him. Therefore have fear only of Allah (SWT) and ask of Him (SWT) in the best of manner. Because whatever is to be received from Allah (SWT) can be received only through obeying Him (SWT). And Allah (SWT) h as placed mercy and prosperity only in His (SWT) conformity and trust. There’s nothing but gloom in disbelief and disobedience.” [Sunan Ibn Majah]

From ashrafiya.com Sayyidi wa sanadi Shaikh Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) said, ‘These days most of us are preoccupied by the past events or future apprehensions. In doing so we neglect the present.’ An individual inquired, ‘In our era due to technological advances every day chores are done relatively quickly. Hence we have extra time available to us. This usually results in preoccupation with useless involvements including those you mention. How can we utilize time more effectively?’ Sayyidi wa sanadi replied, ‘I repeatedly tell the people the same and ask them what are they doing with the time they save by using these new technologies. An individual has to develop the importance of value of time. Once this importance is developed then it will be impossible for him to waste a single second. Moreover, Allah will give barakah in his time and he will be able to do more work effectively in the same amount of time.’

This post at ashrafiya.com leaves me aggrieved for many personal reasons. May Allah increase Nawab Ishrat Ali Khan Qaisar Sahab in his stations in Jannah. aameen. Verily, we are from Allah and unto Him shall we return.