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Truth shall win ultimately

Sep 24, '08

In the name of Allah the Benificent the Merciful.

Part IV ended with the treaty of Hudeybiah signed between Qurayesh & the Muslims. Apparently it seemed to be a treaty undermining the Muslims. But this truce proved in fact, to be the greatest victory the Muslims had till then achieved.

War had been a barrier between Muslims & the idolaters, but now now both parties met and talked together and the new religion spread more rapidly. In the two years that elapsed between signing the treaty and the fall of Mecca the number of converts was greater than the total number of all previous converts. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wa Sallam) travelled to Al-Hudeybiah with 1400 men. Two years later when the Meccans broke the truce, he marched against them with an army of 10,000.

In the seventh year of the Hijrah the Prophet led a campaign against Khyber, the stronghold of the Jewish tribes in North Arabia, which had become a hornet's nest of his enemies. The forts of Khyber were reduced one by one and the Jews of Khyber from thereon became tenants of the Muslims. It was at Khyber that a Jewish prepared for the Prophet poisoned meat, of which he only tasted a morsel without swallowing it then warned his comrades that it was poisoned. One Muslim who had already swallowed a mouthful died immediately and the prophet himself from the mere taste of it derived the illness which eventually caused his death. The woman who cooked the meat was brought before him. When she said that she had done it on account of the humiliation of her people, he forgave her.

In the same year the Prophet's vision was fulfilled; he visited the holy Ka'bah at Mecca unopposed . In accordance with the terms of the truce the disbelievers evacuated the city and from the surrounding heights watched the procedure of the Muslims. He then withdrew and the non believers reoccupied the city.

In the eighth year of the Hijrah Qurayesh broke the truce by attacking a tribe that was in alliaance with the Muslims and massacaring them even in the sanctuary at Mecca. Afterwards they became afraid of what they had done. They sent Abu Sufyan to Al-Madinah to ask for the existing treaty to be renewed and its term prolonged. But a man from that tribe was already there and his embassy was fruitless.

Then the Prophet summoned all the Muslims capable of bearing arms and marched to Mecca. Qurayesh were overawed. They tried to put up a show of resistance but were overpowered without any bloodshed. The Prophet entered his native city as its conqueror. The inhabitants feared vengeance for their past misdeeds, but the Prophet proclaimed a general amnesty. In their relief and surprise the whole population of Mecca hastened to swear allegiance. The Prophet caused all the idols which were in the sanctuary to be destroyed saying, "Truth had come, darkness hath vanished away", and the Muslim call to prayer was heard in Mecca. Later he appointed a governor of Mecca and returned to Madinah to the boundless joy of the residents there who had feared that now that he had regained his native city, he might forsake them and make Mecca the capital.

The number of campaigns which he led in person during the last ten years of his life is twenty seven, in nine of which there were hard fighting. The number of expeditions he planned and sent out under other leaders is thirty eight. He personally controlled every detail of organisation, judge every cse and was accessible to every appliant. In those ten years he brought an end to idolatry in Arabia, raised woman from the status of a chattel to complete legal equality with man, effectually stopped drunkenness and immorality which had till then disgraced the Arabs, made men in love with faith, sincerity and honest dealing, transformed tribes who had been for centuries content with ignorance to a people with the greatest thirst for knowledge and for the first time in history made universal brotherhood a fact and principle of common law. And his support and guide in all that had been the Holy Koran.

In the tenth year of Hijrah the Prophet went to Mecca as a pilgrim for the last time - his 'pilgrimage of farewell' it is called. There from the Mt. Arafat he preached to an enormous throng of pilgrims. He reminded them of all the duties of Al-Islam enjoined upon them and that they would one day have to meet their Lord Who would judge each one of them according to his/her work. At the end of the discourse he asked, "have I not conveyed the Message?" And from that great multitude of men & women who a few months or years before were conscienceless people the shout went up: "O Allah! Yes!" The Prophet said, "O Allah! Be thou witness!"

(In next two blogs I would endeavor to draw conclusion to this series though the subject will certainly reappear (there is so much to share with such an enlightened audience) in my future blogs, Allah willing. In the immediate next one would be narration of the speech of the Prophet in his pilgrimage of farewell (bidai Hajj) and his passing away from this world. The last one would be a humble effort to present before you the salient features of Islam as it relates to humanity. May Allah bless you all)...

To be continued...

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Sep 23, '08

Introduction to Islam - Part IV

In the name of Allah the Benificent the Merciful.

On the day of the return from the trench the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) ordered war on the treacherous Bani Qurayezah, who conscious of their guilt had already taken to their towers of refuge. After a seige of nearly a month they had to surrender unconditionally. They only begged that the judgement with regard to them be given by one of their tribesmen who had embraced Islam. The Prophet granted their request. But, the judge upon whose favour they counted, condemned their men to death, their women & children to slavery (The bondage did not last long as freeing a slave was ordained as a highly noble deed in the eyes of Allah and the Muslims generously practiced that. As would be seen later at the end of the Prtophet's mission slavery was no more there in Arabia).

Early in the sixth Hijrah the Prophet led a campaign against the Bani' I Mustaliq, a tribe who were preparing to attack the Muslims. It was during the return from the campaign that Ayesha (Radi Allahu Anha), his young wife was left behind in a confusion and brought back to camp by a young soldier, an incident that gave rise to the scandal denounced in Surah XXIV of the Holy Quran(4. And those who accuse honourable women but bring not four witnesses, scourge them with eighty stripes and never (afterwards) accept their testimony-they indeed are evildoers- 5. Save those who afterwards repent and make amends. (For such) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful...... 17. Allah admonisheth you that ye repeat not the like thereof ever, if ye are ( in truth) believers. 18. And He expoundeth unto you His revelations, Allah is Knower, Wise. 19. Lo! Those who love that slander should be spread concerning those who believe, theirs will be a painful punishment in the world and the hereafter. Allah knoweth. Ye know not.).

In the same year the Prophet had a vision in which he found himself entering the holy place at Mecca unopposed, therefore he determined to attempt the pilgrimage. Besides a number of Muslims from Madinah, he called upon the friendly Arabs, whose numbers had increased since the miraculous discomfiture of the clans to accompany him, but most of them did not respond. Attired as pilgrims and taking with them the customary offerings, a company of fourteen hundred men journeyed to Mecca. As they drew near the holy valley they were met by a friend who warned them that the Qurayesh had worn the leopard skin (badge of valour) and vowed to prevent him from entering the sanctuary. On that the Prophet ordered a detour through mountain gorges and the Muslims were tired out when they came down at last into the valley of Mecca and camped at a spot called Hudeybiah. From there he tried to open negotiation with the Qurayesh explaining that he came only as a pilgrim. The first messenger he sent towards the city was maltreated and his camel hamstrung. He returned without delivering the message. Qurayesh on their side sent an envoy who was threatening in tone and very arrogant. Another of their envoys was too familiar and had to be reminded sternly of the respect due to the Prophet. It was he who on return to the city said: "I have seen Caesar and Chosroes in their pomp, but never seen a man honoured as Muhammad is honoured by his comrades."

The Prophet sought some messenger from amongst his companions who would impose respect. Othman (R) was finally chosen because of his kinship with the powerful Umayyd family. A troop which came out of the city to molest the Muslims were captured before they could do any hurt and brought before the Prophet who forgave them on their promise to renounce hostility. Then proper envoys came from the Qurayesh. After some negotiation, the truce of Al-Hudeybiah was signed. For ten years there were to be no hostilities between the parties. The Prophet was to return to Al Madinah without visiting the Ka'bah, but in the following year he might perform the pilgrimage with his comrades. Qurayesh promising to evacuate the city of Mecca for three days to allow his doing so. Deserters from Qurayesh to the Muslims were to be returned, not so deserters from the Muslims to Qurayesh. Any tribe or clan who wished to owe allegiance to either party as allies of the treaty could do so. There were dismay among the Muslims at these terms. They asked one another, "Where is the victory that we were promised?" The truce in fact later proved to be the greatest victory the Muslims ever achieved. It was during the return journey from Hudeybiah that the Surah entitled 'Victory' (Al Fath) was revealed.

Rest in the subsequent blogs...

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Sep 21, '08

Introduction to Islam - Part III

In the name of Allah the Benificent the Merciful.

Part II ended with the Hijrah, the Flight from Mecca to Yathrib (Madinah).

In the first year of his reign in Yathrib the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) made a solemn treaty with the Jewsish tribes, which secured them equal rights of citizenship and full religious freedom in return for their support of the new stste. But their idea of a Prophet was one who would give them dominion, not one who made the Jews who followed him brothers of every believing Arab. When they found that they can not use the Prophet (SM) for their own ends, they tried to shake his faith in his Mission and to seduce his followers; behaviour in which they were encouraged secretly by some professing Muslims who felt that they had been robbed of their local influence that they enjoyed before. In the Madinah Surahs there is frequent mention of these Jews & hypocrites.

Till then the Qiblah (the place towards which the Muslims turn their face in prayer) had been Jerusalem. The Jews imagined that the choice implied a leaning towards Judaism and that the Prophet stood in need of their instruction. He received command to change the Qiblah from Jerusalem to the Ka'bah in Mecca.

The Prophet's first concern as ruler was to establish public worship and lay down the constitution of the State, but he did not forget that Qurayesh had sworn to make the end of his religion, nor that he had received command to fight against them till they ceased persecution. (To nullify the efforts of some vested quarters to portray Islam as war mongering, here are the verses of the Holy Quran, Surah II, Verses 190-193. "190. Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors. 191. And slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Inviolable Place of Worship, until they first attack you there, but if they attack you (there) then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. 192. But if they desist , then lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 193. And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah. But if they desist , then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers.)

After he had been twelve months in Yathrib several small expeditions went out led either by the Prophet himself or some other of the fugitives from Mecca, for the purpose of reconnoitering and for dissuading other tribes from siding with the Qurayesh. One purpose of those expeditions may have been to accustom the Meccan Muslims to going out in war like trims. For thirteen years they had been strict pacifists and it is clear from several passages of the Koran that many of them including the Prophet himself hated the idea of fighting even in self defence and had to be inured to it.

In the second year of the Hijrah the Meccan merchant caravan was returning from Syria as usual by a road that passed not far from Yathrib. As its leader Abu Sufyan approached the territory of Yathrib, he heard of the Prophet's design to capture the caravan. At once he sent a camel rider on to Mecca who arrived in a worn out state and shouted frantically. For the rescue of both wealth & honour a force of thousand strong was soon on its way. Did the Prophet ever intend to raid the caravan? In Ibn Hisham, in the account of Tabuk expedition, it is stated that the Prophet on that one occasion did not hide his real objective as had been his custom in other campaigns. The caravan was the pretext in the campaign of Badr, the real objective was the Meccan army. He had recieved the command to fight his persecutors and promise of victory, he was prepared to venture against any odd as well seen in Badr. But the Muslims disinclined and ill equipped for war would have despaired if they had known from the first that they had to face a well armed force three times their number.

The army of Qurayesh had advanced more than half way to Yathrib before the Prophet set out. All three parties - the army of Qurayesh, the Muslim army and the caravan were heading for the water of Badr. Abu Sufyan heard from one of his scouts that the Muslims were near the water and headed back to the coast plain. And the Muslims met the army of Qurayesh by the water of Badr on the day of 17th Ramadan. Before the battle the Prophet was prepared still further to increase the odds against him. He gave leave to all Ansars meaning helpers (natives of Yathrib) to return to their homes unreproached since their oath did not include the duty of fighting in the field, who left with a heavy heart. The battle went at first against the Muslims, but ended with a signal victory for them. The victory of Badr gave the Prophet new prestige among the Arabs, but thenceforth there was the feud of blood between the Qurayesh and the Islamic State in addition to the old religious hatred. Those passages of the Koran which refer to the battle of Badr give warning of much greater struggles yet to come.

In fact in the following year an army of three thousand came from Mecca to destroy Yathrib. The Prophet's first idea was to merely defend the city, a plan of which Abdullah ibn Ubeyy, the leadre of the hypocites (or lukewarm Muslims) strongly approved. But the men who had fought in Badr and believed that God would help them against any odds thought that it was shameful to linger behind walls. The Prophet approving of their faith & zeal gave way to them. He set out with an army of one thousand toward Mount Ohud where the enemy were encamped. Abdullah ibn Ubeyy withdrew with his men, a fourth of the army. Despite the heavy odds the battle on Mt. Ohud would have been an even greater victory than Badr for the Muslims, but for the disobedience of fifty archers whom the Prophet set to guard a pass against the enemy cavalry. Seeing their comrades victorious, these men left their post fearing to loose their share of the spoils. The cavalry of Qurayesh rode through the gap and fell on the exullant Muslims. The Prophet himself was wounded and the cry arose that he was slain, till someone recognised him and shouted that he was still living a shout to which the Muslims rallied. Gathering round the Prophet they rested leaving many dead on the hillside.

On the following day a stratagem by a friedly Bedawi, who met the Muslims first and afterwards met the Qurayesh worked. Questioned by Abu Sufyan he said that Muhammad (SM) was stronger than ever and thirsting for revenge of yesterday's reverses. On that information Abu Sufyan whose army was no less battered returned to Mecca.

The reverses of the battle of Ohud lowered the prestige of the Muslims with the Arab tribes and also with the Jews of Yathrib. The Prophet's followers were attacked and murdered when they went abroad in little companion. And the Jews despite their treaty, now hardly cocealed their hostility. They even went so far in flattery of the Qurayesh as to describe the religion of pagan Arabs superior to Al-Islam. The Prophet was obloged to take punitive action against some of them. The tribe of Bani Nadir were besieged in their strong towers, subdued and forced to emigrate.

In the fifth year of the Hijrah the idolaters made a great effort to destroy Al-Islam in the War of the clans or the War of the Trench as it is variously called. The Qurayesh with all their clans and the powerful desert tribe of Ghatafan with all their clans gathered an army of ten thousand men and rode against Al-madinah (Yathrib). The Prophet (by the advice of Salman the Persian, it's said) caused a deep trench to be dug before the city and himself led the work of digging. The army of the clans were stopped by the trench, a novelty in Arab warfare. It seemed impassable for the cavalry, that formed their strength. They camped in sight of the trench and daily showered arrows on its defenders. While the Muslims were awaiting the assault, the news came that Bani Qurayezah, a Jewish tribe had gone over to the enemy and the Muslim women, children and the old lerft behind were threatened by them . The case seemed desperate. But the delay caused by the trench had damped the ardour of the clans and one who was secretly a Muslim managed to sow distrust between the Qurayesh & their Jewish allies. Then came a bitter wind from the sea which blew for three days and nights so terribly that not a tent could be kept standing, not a fire lighted, not a pot boiled. The tribesmen were in utter misery. One morning the Ghatafan clans woke up only to find the Qurayesh gone. They too packed their baggage and retreated.

To be continued....

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Sep 07, '08

Introduction to Islam - Part II

The earlier blog ended with the first revelation of the Holy Quran by Allah to Muhammad (SM/PBUH).

When Muhammad (SM) awoke the words remained as if inscribed upon his heart. He went out of the cave on to the hill side and heard the same awe-inspiring voice say: "O Muhammad! Thou art Allah's messenger and I am Jibrail (Gabriel)!" Then he raised his eyes and saw the angel, in the likeness of a man, standing in the sky above the horizon. The angel repeated the aforesaid words. Muhammad (SM) stood quite still , turning away his face from brightness of the vision, but whichsoever he might turn his face, there always stood the angel confronting him. At length the angel vanished and he returne in great distress of mind to his wife Khadijah. She did her best to reassure him, saying that his conduct had been such that Allah would not let a harmful sopirit come to him and that it was her hope that he was to become the Prophet of the people. On their return to Mecca she took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Naufal, a very old man 'who knew the scriptures of the Jews & Christians'. He declared his belief that the heavenly messenger, who came to Moses (PBUH) of old had come to Muhammad (SM) and that he was chosen as the messenger of Allah.

For the first three years or rather less of his mission , the Prophet preached only to his family and his intimate
friends, while the people of Mecca as a whole regarded him as one who had become a little mad. The first of all his converts was his wife Khadijah, the second his first cousin Ali (Ra.). His old friend Abu Bakr (Ra.) was among those early converts with some of his slaves & dependents.

At the end of the third year the Prophet received the command to 'arise & warn', whereupon he began to preach in public, pointing out the folly of idolatry in face of the tremendous laws of day & night, of life & death, of growth & decay which manifest the power of Allah and attest to His sovereignty. It was then when he began to speak against their gods, that the Qurayesh became actively hostile , persecuting his poorer disciples mocking and insulting him. The one consideration that prevented them from killing him was fear of the blood vengeance of the clan to which his family belonged.

The converts of the first four years were mostly humble folks unable to defend themselves against oppression. So cruel was the persecution they endured that the Prophet advised all who could possibly contrive to do so to emigrate to a Christian country, Abyssinia. And still inspite of persecution and emigration, the little company of Muslims grew in number. Qurayesh were seriously alarmed. The idol worship at the Ka'bah, the holy place to which all Arabia made pilgrimage ranked for them , as guardians of it, as first among their vested interests. At the season of the pilgrimage they posted men on all the roads to warn the tribes against the 'mad man' preaching in their midst. They tried to bring the Prophet to a compromise, even offering him the kingship and also tried to obtain the support of his uncle Abu Talib to kill him, but to no avail. The exasperation of the idolators was increased by the conversion of Omar (Ra.) one of their key stalwarts. They grew more and more embittered till things came to such a pass that theyu decided to ostracise the Prophet's whole clan, idolaters who protected him & Muslims who followed him. Their chief men caused a document to be drawn up to the effect that none of them or those belonging to them would hold any intercourse with that clan or sell to them or buy from them. Then for three years the Prophet was shut up with all his kinsfolk in one of the gorges that run down to Mecca. Only at the time of the pilgrimage could they venture out.

At length some kinder hearts among Qurayesh grew weary of the boycott of old friends & neighbours. They managed to bring the document that was placed in Ka'bah for reconsideration, when it was found that all the writing had been destroyed by white ants except the words Bismika Allahumma (In Thy name, O Allah). When the elders saw the marvel, the ban was removed. Meanwhile the opposition to his preaching has gone rigid, he had littlke success in Mecca and an attempt to preach in the city of Taif was a failure. His mission seemed like a failure by worldly standards, when at the season of the yearly pilgrimage he came upon a group of men who heard him gladly.

They came from Yathrib, a city more that 200 miles away which has since become world famous as Al-Madinah, 'the City par excellence'. At Yathrib there were Jewish tribes with learned Rabbis who had often spoken to the pagans of a Prophet soon to come among the Arabs with whom when he came, the Jews would destroy idolatry. When the men from Yathrib saw Muhammad (SM) they recognised him as the Prophet as described by the Rabbis. On their return they told what they had seen & heard and in the next pilgrimage season a deputation from Yathrib entered into a treaty with the Prophet at a place named Al-Aqabah, then returned to Yathrib with a Muslim teacher in their company and soon there was not a house in Yathrib wherein there was not mention of the Prophet. The next year during pilgrimage seventy three Muslims from Yathrib vowed allegiance to the Prophet and invited him to their city. At Al-Aqabah by night, they swore to defend him as they would defend their own wives & children. It was then that the Hijrah, the Flight to Yathrib was decided as the death of Abu Talib, chief protector of the Prophet had made the Qurayesh desperate to kill him. But still they had to reckon with the vengeance of his clan upon the murderer.

Soon the Muslims who were in a position to do so began to sell their propertyand left Mecca unobtrusively for Yathrib.Qurayesh getting the wind of what was going on dreaded of the Prophet who if escaped what might happen. They finally cast lots and chose a slayer out of every clan to attack & kill the Prophet as one man, thus his blood would be on all Qurayesh. As Ibn Khaldun asserts, it was at this time the Prophet received the first revelation ordering him to make war upon his persecuters, 'until persecution is no more and religion is for Allah only'.

The last of the able Muslims to remain in Mecca were Abu Bakr, Ali and the Prophet himself. Abu Bakr, a man of wealth had brought two riding camels and retained a guide ready for the Flight. The Prophet only waited for Allah's command. It came at length. It was the night appointed for his murder. The slayers had set forth for his house. He gave his cloak to Ali bidding him to lie down on his bed, so that anyone looking would think that Muhammad (SM) lay there. Then he left the house, went to Abu Bakr's place and they two went to a cavern in the desert hills and hid there till the hue & cry was past. Once a search party came very close and Abu Bakr exclaimed, "O Prophet !What would happen now, we are only two of us!" The Prophet calmly said, "We are not two, Allah is with us". Then once the danger was apparently over, Abu Bakr with the help of his son and daughter who used to bring them food at late hours of the night, got the camels and the guide and one night they set out on the long ride to Yathrib.

After travelling for many days by unfrequented paths, the fugitives reached a suburb of Yathrib, whither for weeks past the people of the city had been going every morning, watching for the Prophet till the heat drove them to shelter. The travellers arrived in the heat of the day, after the watchers had retired. It was a Jew who called out to the Muslims in derisive tones that he whom they expected had at last arrived.

Such was the Hijrah, the Flight from Mecca to Madinah which comes as the beginning of the Muslim era. The thirteen years of humiliation, of persecution, of seeming failures, of prophecy still unfulfilled were over. The ten years of success, the fullest that has ever crowned one man's endeavor had begun. The Hijrah came as a clear division in the history of the Prophet Muhammad (SM)'s mission, which is evident in the Holy Quran. Till then he was a preacher only. Thenceforth he was the ruler of a state at first a very tiny one which grew in ten years in the empire of Arabia.The kind of guidance which he and his people needed after the Hijrah was not the same as that which they had before needed. The Madinah Surahs differ, therefore, from the Meccan Surahs. The latter give guidance to individual soul and to the Prophet as warner, the former give guidance to growing social and political community and to the Prophet as example, lawgiver and reformer......

To be continued....

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Sep 04, '08

An Introduction to Islam

Muhammad (SM/PBUH), son of Abdullah, son of Abdul Muttalib of the tribe of Qurayesh was born at Mecca 53 years before Hijrah (About 570 AD). His father died before he was born and he was protected fiest by his grandfather Abdul Muttalib and after his death by uncle Abu Talib. As a young boy he travelled with his uncle in the merchants' caravan to Syria and some years afterwards made the same journey in the service of a wealthy widow named Khadijah. So excellent was the report of his behaviour which she received from her old servant who had accompanied him, that she soon afterwards married her young agent, and the marriage proved a very happy one, though she was 15 years older than he was. Throughout the 26 years of their life together he remained devoted to her after her death, when he took othere wives he always mentioned her with the greatest love & reverence. This marriage gave him rank among the notables of Mecca, while his conduct earned for him the surname Al-Amin, 'the trustworthy'.

The Meccans claimed descent from Abraham (PBUH) through Ishmael (PBUH) and tradition stated that their place of worship the Ka'bah had been built by Abraham for the worship of the one God. It was still called the house of Allah, but the chief objects of worship of worship there were a number of idols which were called daughters of Allah & intercessors. The few that felt disgust at this idolatry, which had prevailed for centuries longed for the religion of Abraham and tried to find out what had been its teaching. Such seekers of the truth were known as Hanufa, a word originally meaning 'those who turn away' (from the existing idol worship), but holding the way of truth to be right conduct. These Hunafa did not form a community. They were the agonstics of their day, each seeking truth by the light of his own inner conscience. Muhammad (PBUH) son of Abdullah became one of them. It was his practice to retire with his family for a month of every year to a cave in the desert for meditation. His place of retreat was Hira, a desert hill not far from Mecca and his chosen month was Ramadan, the month of heat. It was there one night towards the end of his quiet month that the first revelation came to him when he was forty years old. He was in a sort of trance when he heard a voicesay: 'Read'. He said, "I cannot read". The voice again said, 'Read'. He again said, "I cannot read." A third time the voice more terrible commanded, 'Read'. He said, "What can I read?" The voice said:

"Read in the name of thy Lord who Createth.
"Createth man from a clot.
"Read: And it is thy Lord the most Bountiful
"Who teacheth by the pen,
"Teacheth man that he knew not"

When he awoke , the words remainred as if inscribed in his heart.

To be continued.....

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Aug 12, '08

Love-Some Strange Phenomenon

This is a story of a movie that my friend saw & narrated to me. Let me have the pleasure of sharing it with you all.

In a remote village in Europe there were a boy and a girl in deep love. Eventually they got married and every passing day their love seemed to grow and people of the village were astonished in so deep love of a couple.

Often there used to be parties in the evening & the couple would enjoy them to the fullest with friends & relatives. The wife had a best friend (girl) and the husband had a best friend (man). They would pass time in group or with each other with joy, happiness & laughter aplenty.

The husband used to go trekking in the mountains & in one such adventure was killed by an avalanche. The other members of the team came back & the young widow was in pain that words can't express. One day the best friend of her late husband came & told her that he too loved her & would like to marry her. But the widow said that she could never place anyone where she put her late husband. Years passed by, many a time that best friend tried to convince her in tieing the knot, but in vain. As many as 30 years went by, both were middle aged, signs of age showing in them.

One day people of the village came running to the house of the widow and said that there had been a landslide and a part of the snow clad mountain fallen down. Inside it is the frozen dead body of her late husband preserved by nature!!! The lady holding her skirt up, in bare feet started running along the village track, tears rolling down her eyes and wind blowing her gray heir. As she reached the site the crowd made way for her & she threw herself upon the man of her love, her shattered dream, her everything. Hugging, caressing and kissing the dead body madly. People consoled her & reminded that before the evening set in, the burial had to be completed. With one last look at him, she carefully opened the chain with a locket from his neck, held it with all her strength in her hands as if the most precious thing of her life. After the burial, slowly and mournfully she walked back along the village track clinching the chain with the locket hard in her hand.

Coming back home she put the chain on a table & sat down by the window as gradually darkness covered the village. Soon the moon lit up and she just kept sitting by the window looking at the world ouside that seemed so empty. After a long time she got up, put on all the lights and lit the table lamp on the table where she kept the chain.

She recollected in flash back how she & her husband put their pictures inside that locket shortly after their marriage. Slowly and most caringly she opened the lid of the locket. She rubbed the moisture from top of the pictures very tenderly and what did she see??? She ruubbed her eyes took it close to the table lamp and truly there was the picture of her beloved man &............. her best friend!!! Holding the edges of the table she sat down on the floor.

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Aug 11, '08

Faith

There was a shepherd in a village and he used to take his cattles beside a river for feeding them grass. But, the grass on his side of the river were worn out while on the other side those were lush green. The river was quite big with strong current. So he couldn't dare taking his cattle swimming across.

On one Friday during the Jumma prayer the Imam of the mosque in his sermon said, " If someone starts any job by saying Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim (In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful), the most difficult task would also become easy by His Grace". Next morning the shepherd took the ropes of his cattles and saying Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim got down into the river and indeed he easily swam across to the other side with his cattles and in similar way came back. After a couple of days some people having seen that wondered if he had any divine or supernatural power, went to Imam of the mosque and brought him along.

Imam Saab asked him how he could accomplish so difficult a task. The shepherd replied, "Imam Saab it's you from whom I have learnt" and told him about his way. The villagers present there requested the Imam Saab to do the same. The Imam in reply said, "OK, if you insist, but do tie a rope around my waist in case I am in trouble."!!!

Often we say something, particularly about religion but can't have absolute faith or do not practice that. But those who can put that unflinching faith are the true believers and are rewarded in this world and will be rewarded in the hereafter.

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