musaafir-e dasht

Strange Times By Naeema Akram So Heaven has given us to live in interesting times; we are entering the greatest global crises in many decades; and it is right for Muslims to reflect, taking advantage of these newly long and quiet days… - Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad in ‘A Perspective on the Pandemic’ May 2020 Diary, The world is closing in on me. In fact, it must be closing in upon many people these days. These are strange times. Extremely strange. I never thought I would be among those who would live to see these strange times. Here I am, surviving with the will of Allah – the best of planners. These times would make good stories for my grandchildren, if I live to see them. A virus has taken over the entire world - the Corona, literally the one who wears a crown. There are so many perspectives regarding it; so many conspiracy theories as well. Let’s keep everything, all theories aside. The fact of the matter is that tables have been turned. Our mindless marathon in th...

Abbaji, my paternal grandfather, Hakeem Muhammad Idrees Khan, passed away on 24 Ziqa’ad, 1432 AH (October 23, 2011). He was 88 years old - the last grandparent I had. He studied at the famous Tibyya College , Delhi, and remained a practicing Hakeem throughout his life. Allah had blessed him with so much shifa in his medicine that people used to come from far away places to get themselves treated. He lived an extremely humble life in a small town, Kaloor Kot, situated at approximately 4-5 hours drive from Multan. He was a disciple of his father-in-law, who we all lovingly remember as nanaji – another pious friend of God, Hafiz Abdul Ghafoor rahimahullah, who was given the khilafat by Hazrat Shah Abdul Raheem Raipuri, Hazrat Shah Abdul Qadir Raipuri, and Hazrat Munshi Rahmat Ali Jaalandhari (May Allah have mercy on all of them). Towards the end of Abbaji’s life, we often used to ask him if he was also given the khilafat by his Shaykh ( nanaji ) and he always evaded the question… It w...

Extremely heart-wrenching! Death, indeed, takes us by surprise…

Time never fails to fascinate me. At times it seems heavily impregnated with pain and sorrow. And times, make one feel as light as a cloud. At times you think as to how exactly it would pass. You try to look into the future with bleary eyes and all you see is mist. And yet there is always the hope that someday the mist would clear itself and the future would materialise...  I was just listening to an audio of a lecture delivered by one of our respected teachers almost a month back. A lecture that was delivered to mark our position as graduates of the Department; standing at the threshold of completely new lives ahead. In that lecture, I came across something said by him with which so aptly seems to mark today - December 20, 2009. While discussing death, he said: Every parting is a little death! And I could not agree more... SubhaanAllah! What amazing wisdom Allah grants to some people!   

I just saw a picture of the janaazah of Maulana Sarfaraz Khan Safdar... and I feel overwhelmed. Not by the sight of the masses that thronged his hometown but the feeling as to how meaningful a lives some people spend... Not only their lives are so full of meaning, even their deaths are also never without it! Probably it is for such a death that Iqbal wrote: ...maut kya shae hai faqat 'aalam-e ma'ani ka safar! ****

When death and life seem to be intertwined... Maut ko samjhay hain ghaafil ikhtitaam-e zindagi Hay yeh shaam-e zindagi subh-e davaam-e zindagi -Iqbal Decisions. Life. Times when one has to go beyond one's self. Times when one has to submit. Point where resignation is followed by resuscitation. Point where one has to submit to one's Lord telling Him that 'now, I submit'... for Love's sake. Foregoing love for Love's sake. Giving oneself over to Allah. A point where the limitations of tadabeer are made clear to us. A man's worth indeed lies in the recognition of his worthlessness... Bar tar az andesha-e sood-o ziyaan hai zindagi Hay kabhi jaan aur kabhi tasleem-e jaan hai zindagi -Iqbal

I have been trying to post something on my blog since quite a number of days now. Every time I sign in, I just keep on staring blankly at the screen and then silently sign out. I cannot write. I am trying hard but I still cannot. No, it is definitely not writer's block. I had and I still have so many things on my mind that I wanted and still want to write about but everything now seems to lose its importance. I write. I erase. I write again. I erase again, because one question that keeps on striking my mind is this: 'They words I write, what are they worth for?' And I, have no answer... I feel I am a spectator. A silent spectator, who has no role to play in the drama that is being staged before him/her... ... And yet I know, it is not the case. It is just that pain and helplessness cannot be written in words... Hum dekhain ge Laazim hai ke hum bhi dekhain ge...

Source The world indeed, is a happy place'... Falasteeni Shuhadaa jo pardais mein kaam aaye Mein jahan par bhi gaya arz-e watan Teri tazleel ke daaghon ki jalan dil mein liye Teri hurmat ke chiraaghon ki lagan dil mein liye Teri ulfat, teri yaadon ki kasak saath gayee Teray naaranj shagoofon ki mehek saath gayee Saaray an-dekhay rafeeqon ka jilo saath raha Kitnay haathon se hum-aaghosh mera haath raha Duur pardais ki bay-mehr guzargaahon mein Ajnabi shehr ki bay-naam-o-nishaan raahon mein Jis zameen par bhi khula meray lahoo ka parcham Lehlahata hai wahan arz-e falasteen ka 'alam Teray a'adaa ne kiya aik falasteen barbaad Meray zakhmon ne kiye kitnay falasteen aabaad Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Beirut, '80 For The Palestinian Martyrs Faiz Ahmed Faiz Translated by Daud Kamal Wherever I go, My beloved land, The pain of your humiliation Burns my heart. But there are compensations. Your dignity enhances mine. Your love walks with me. The fragrance of your citrus groves Breathes throu...