The Fire in My Heart!
Making Allah's World Better --
In Some Small Ways
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Let me be completely blunt and open: I am a Faqeer. And that means a Nobody. A poor and pathetic beggar, driven to throw himself at the doorstep of Almighty of Allah.
And what better home can there be for anyone, least of all for someone like me? That is how I read the Aayat Karimah:
Fa-Foirroo Ilallah!
That is my background, if anyone asks me, or cares to know. And that is my present position and future direction. I wish I could say that is my goal in life, but I am not there yet.
Will I ever be? I don't know!
So, I am all over the place right now -- in all sorts of ways and meanings. Away from computer; away from phone; away from home; and away from everything.
What a man Ghalib!
That most amazing and incredible of poets: wrote in Urdu and in Farsi. Lies buried in Delhi, India, at the feet of Khawja Nizamuddin Awuliyaa.
And has as neighbor Amir Khusro, the man who, in a way, started Urdu poetry -- and a scholar and a master of music.
And each couplet Ghalib penned -- Shi'r it is called -- was a gem that human language -- any language -- can barely match.
Here is one such couplet that applies to me at this time in my life and in my present situation:
Ham Wahaan Hain Jahaan Say Ham Ko Bhi,
Kuch Hamaari Khabar Nahin Aatee!
So simple, so elegant, and yet so profound.
Paraphrase:
"I am in a place from where,
Even I do not get any news about myself!"
Sounds a little bit like Trump Presidency, doesn't it?
But, God Willing, soon all things will be addressed and what needs to be done will be done. It always is.
Even though I am the worst sinner on earth, and even though I am the most incapable and unqualified human being anyone can imagine, my heart is on fire to help the world see what Allah has been merciful enough to show me.
A Heart on Fire! That is what my condition is.
I hesitate to say A Mind on Fire. For that is what the German Genius and Philosopher Nietzsche's was and he ended up almost insane.
And I have things that I need to share with the world -- Muslim and non-Muslim: Anyone who will listen. Anywhere, anytime.
Friend or foe.
In any of the languages God has blessed me to know, to read and to enjoy!
Should I, here, share with my readers, if I have any, what is eating me up, as they say? Or should I just quote this Shi'r, this couplet, from Farsi. And what a couplet, what a Shi'r, it is!
Moraa Dardayst Andar Dil,
Agar Goyam Zabaan Sozad!
Wagar Dam Darkasham Tarsam
Ke Maghze Ustakhan Sozad!
How do I translate this one-of-a-kind gem of a masterpiece?
Especially knowing, as I do, and as I have told you all so many times, that there is no such things as "Translation" when it comes to rendering ideas and thoughts from one language into another?
So, let us just go with what I have been calling "Paraphrase" -- meaning:
Just tell us, as accurately and as faithfully as you can,
what you think it really means.
Paraphrase:
"There is a pain eating my heart,
Which if I speak I fear my tongue will catch fire!
But which, if I do not speak, and keep inside me,
I am afraid will turn the very marrow in my bones to ashes."
Do you see how crude this translation or paraphrase is? Nothing could be cruder. But this is the best I can do at this time.
There are all kinds of translators in the world -- from all kinds of languages into all kinds of languages: Latin, French, Chinese, you name it. I am not one of them. I am nothing but an amateur, and a rank one at that.
So, right now, what is it that is eating me? And what is it that I want to share -- with the world?
Among those things are the following, in the form of certain topics:
1. A program to be conducted in English called "An Evening with Poetry: English, Urdu, Farsi and Arabic.
I wish I could add other languages to the list such as Greek, for example?
Or Chinese? For, who would not want to read the master Lao Tzu in original Chinese?
But did I get the name right though: Lao Tzu? That is the pathetic state of my knowledge! How sad is that!
Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, 1400 years ago, told us to go even to China in the pursuit of knowledge. And here I am, all these centuries later, I cannot even get one Chinese name right.
And what a name it is too, Lao Tzu, for anyone who has ever looked at any of his work!
And what a great master Tzu was, even the mighty Confucius came out awestruck after meeting him.
I say "mighty," not because the great Confucius had great armies or weaponry, like Napoleon the Great, or Alexander the Great, or the great Caesar, or killed a great number of human beings, or conquered a lot of territories, but because of his great wisdom, sagacity and knowledge.
So, what did Allah's Rasul, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, know about China 1400 years ago that we do not know even to this day?
Here is what I think is a Hadith Sharif. Can someone check it for me please?
Inna Minal Bayaani La-Sihraa!
Paraphrase:
"Sometimes, human speech is nothing less than magic!"
2. Another program to be done in Urdu language called: "Sham-e-Ghazal: Iqbal Aur Unki Shairi."
3. And a third program to be delivered also in Urdu called "Sham-e-Ghazal: Ghalib Ki Sha'iri."
I wish I could visit every university campus in the world that has anything to do with Islam and Muslims and work with the students there -- sharing with them what little I know, and teaching them whatever God Almighty has been generous enough to teach me.
I wish I could say this. Maybe I should. But it is not easy to do it. In any case, let me say this: every time I am blessed to be on a campus, and have the opportunity and the honor, to talk to the students and the faculty, the result is simply beyond anything I could possibly imagine.
