And so he walked forth into the Presence of God...
I have religious mood swings on and off...although it is true that I also believe in Allah mian (I hope!) perfectly anyway. Last night, I went to my aunt's place since it was a Taq Raat (an odd night in the holy month of Ramadan), and there I listened to a tiny Dars and offered the Nafal prayer Qayam-ul-lail behind my 13-year-old cousin who is a Hafiz (a Muslim who's memorised the Quran in its entirety). It was fun. I kept a copy of the First Sipara of the Quran in my hand as he recited it (kinda beautifully!) and went through the Translation of the Sipara. Then I had an interesting dicourse with my aunt who's by the way quite an Islamic student, and we talked about many topics we picked at random from the Quran.
I came back and began reading Martin Ling's Mohammad: His life from the Earliest Sources, exclaimed in wonder (as I did when I first read this book) again, loved certain bits of it, and then finally read a paragraph that described how Mohammad used to retire to the cave of Hira in the mountains outside Mecca for meditation and 'some lone time'.
That's when it struck me that I should sit in an Aitkaaf.
Aitkaaf in Islamic terminology (meaning to that effect!) means sitting in seclusion in the mosque or wherever you want away from the world and its unnecessary, material accessories. It's a tradition as old as mankind. All the prophets did this from time to time; so did the Sufis...and it was thus how Mohammad got the first revelation.
Now I have never sat in an Aitkaaf...and since my family and I were just talking about it the other day, and I came upon this para and suddenly thought of sitting myself, I will take this as a sign, and -- my infidel friends! Please say hallelujah -- will sit in Aitkaaf myself starting the 5th of November, 2004. I have grabbed:
The Glorious Quran (Allah Mian)
A set of Saheeh Bukharee, the Ahadith (Imam Bukharee on the authority of various Sahaba's)
A History of God (Karen Armstrong)
A Battle for God (Ditto)
Buddha (ditto)
Mohammad: His life from the earliest sources (Martin Lings)
Kuliyaat-e-Iqbal: The Verses of Iqbal (Allama Mohammad Iqbal)
Colloquial Persian (Leila Moshiri)
A Persian dictionary
Shahab Nama (Qudaratullah Shahab)
ANDDDDDD
The Songs of Rumi (Zafar Iqbal)
Now I understand I'll probably not be able to read half of these in the nine days I have left till Eid. Nevertheless, I shalt try and slay as many as possible...
So, if I'm away and you're unable to find me, look for me in your dreams, in your hearts, in a forgotten corner of a simple mosque. I will stay there and meditate and think and rest and learn persian maybe and find layers upon layers upon layers of Meaning (yeah, in Capital!) in all these magnificent works.
Mayhap I will see or hear something Allah Mian wants me to accost...
Love ya all...
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