musaafir-e dasht

Me (talking to a close friend, S, very seriously about person XYZ who is related to me, and things that bother me about that person): XYZ is not bad at heart! S: Who is bad at heart in this world? Nobody. A man is neither Satan nor an Angel. Treat them as humans! This surely was a timely reminder!

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...

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...

Countless moments in life go unrecorded. Had it been in my power, I would have wanted to record, hold on to, live with every inspirational moment that comes my way. Alas, time does not stop. Moments, in this world, indeed remain fleeting. Man continues on his journey towards his Lord... This morning, while browsing through a book by Shahnawaz Farooqi, I was reminded of my first meeting with him. The meeting took place a day before my grandfather passed away. We were all gathered in the department for a small scale mushaira that we had arranged and it was around asr prayers when one of my teachers introduced me to Farooqi saheb. One of the things that he said during that meeting is something that I will remember forever. InshaAllah. It gives me hope, but it also gives me a chance to look into my ownself and review my aspirations in life. He said that if, for example, one wishes to conquer the world, Allah blesses him with the capability that would help him achieve his goals. On the...

I had my research meeting with my supervisor today. While commenting on the writing I had submitted to him earlier on, he made a very point which, I hope, will stay with me forever. While asking me to remove certain generalised claims and statements I had made in my paper, he quoted Maulana Shah Abdul Qadir Raipuri (may Allah have mercy on him). Hazrat once said about tasawwuf that according to his knowledge , it was the way through which people have always been reaching Allah. He said he wondered what people think taswwuf was! It was simply a path that led to Allah SWT and His servants have always been treading it to find Him. He further said that he, at least, did not know of any other way that could help one reach Allah SWT. If there was one, he too would have wanted to know about it! The point my supervisor was trying to make was that one should learn humbleness form our elders – he didn’t say this explicitly; this is my understanding of his quoting Hazrat Raipuri’s example at ...

SOURCE So yesterday I found out that one of my greatest teachers was on a short visit to Pakistan. Met him in the department today and there are a number of things that I would like to record here - the words of wisdom - from the conversation some students (including me) had with him. I shall not be quoting the context in which these words were uttered by him because as always all his discourse is meaningful in itself, mashaAllah... So here I go...   جب ملاح یہ سمجھنے لگے کہ  کشتی کو وہ خود چلا رہا ہے تو یہ صورت حال خطرناک ہے... تمام معاملات خود بخود ٹھیک ہو جاتے ہیں جب ملاح یہ سوچے کہ کشتی، پانی اور ہوا سب الله کی طرف سے ہے... Another one... ہمارے ہاں مسئلہ صرف مقصد اور vision کا ہے ... وسائل کا نہیں... جب مقصد مل جائے تو وسائل خود بخود پیدا ہو جاتے ہیں ...

04 July, 2011 You, reader, must be wondering as to where is the preceding account to the one that shall follow. The answer is that I am way too awed to recount the first one. SIGH. InshaAllah, I will try posting snippets from it on and off. Right now I am tempted to record my latest meeting with the Professor J. Yes, that’s what I am going to call him during the course of this post… So, at around 11.30 am, I walked that pebbled path, surrounded with lush green plants on both its side, leading to that comparatively secluded department in the University. Climbed the staircase, which led me to a small waiting area, and told the PA to the Professor that I needed to see him. He handed me a short slip on which I was supposed to write my name and the department I was from. I did. In fact, I additionally mentioned in parenthesis the name of the magazine I was associated with. The PA returned almost after a minute telling me that the Professor J would see me in a short while. Now, he is one s...