A memorable evening in Delhi...!

I want to share with you an insight which I got from Moulana Muhammad Farooq Khan.

Moulana Muhammad Farooq Khan is the member of Majlis-e-Numaindgan (central council of representatives) of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. He is one of the old vanguards of the Tahreek-e-Islami and resides in Delhi. He has written a lot of books in Urdu and Hindi. He is well versed in both the languages. He has translated Quran in Hindi. But his magnum opus is Kalam-e-Nubuwat, a collection of Ahadith in five, six volumes. He could be easily termed as the living legend in the field of Islamic literature. As I have been reading his books for the past two decades, I feel very close to him. For me, not a day passes without reading Kalam-e-Nubuwat. Besides I have been translating his works in Tamil. Chehal Hadhis has been published as Nabi mozhi Narpadhu.
I have met him on two occasions. Once when he delivered a lecture in an all India SIO meet. Next in his room in the second storey of an non-descript building in Old Delhi. I had made up my mind to meet him when I boarded the train in Chennai. By the grace of Allah, we got ourself free at the last day. My colleagues wanted to roam the historic places in Delhi. I cajoled them and virtually dragged them to the room of Moulana Farooq Khan Sahib. It was a brief meeting but It was a memorable evening. Moulana was sitting amidst books.
What he said could be summed up as the following:

There are three essential needs which mould a personality. Without fulfilling this needs one cannot become a wholesome personality.
The three needs are as follows.
First, You ought to have some thing to do.
One cannot remain idle. It is not human nature to remain idle. Man has to do something. Idle mind is devil's workshop. Men do various things. Men get engaged in various occupations to keep themselves occupied. The list of trades, professions, crafts, jobs and careers never ends. But the best thing to do is to do dawah. The best career option is to get engaged in Dawah.
Second, You ought to have some thing to love.
One cannot live with profession, job or business alone. Day in and day out you do a lot of things. But that is not sufficient to nourish your inner soul. Your heart longs to love and to be loved. Naturally men love. Their love knows no bounds. Men love their wives, their sweet little children, their apparels, their face, their language, their organisation, their country, their matinee idol and the list goes on. But the best of them is the love towards God. Love of God is the supreme thing in life. It is the ultimate. You have to research and find out whom does God love? And strive to become one. Besides you should love your Creator more than anything and everything in this mundane life.
Third, You ought to have some thing to hope.
Man exists because of his hope. He may do a lot of things. He may love his job. He may be passionate about many things. But still he needs some thing to hope. Why does he work? Why does he go to faraway lands? Why does he do so many things? Because of Hope. Because of hope that one day he would get a beautiful palace overlooking the sea shore. Of hope that he would be driving in the latest model of car. Of hope that his offsprings would get decent education. The list of hopes and dreams is simply endless.
But the best thing to hope is hope of falah in the Hereafter.
I still remember the day when Moulana Farooq Khan Sahib conveyed this message in his own style; in his own choice of sweetest, chaste words in Urdu. Br Shabeer Ahmed, present Ameer-e-Halqa and Br Muhammad Yahya of AIITA were with me. I remember the haste with which I jostled down the words in an old diary.

Moulana gave me the diary as I asked him paper to take notes. The diary with notes is with me. I will share with you the other notes when next time, Insha Allah.

A.R.Rahman, Oscar and an open letter

Sirajul Hasan has done it.
I always believed, hoped and expected that he alone could do it.
Siraj Bhai, Siraj Sahib, Sirajul Hasan as he is affectionately called by everybody is the chief editor of Samarasam Tamil Fortnightly.
He is a prolific writer in Tamil and master player of words. Over the years he has developed his own style of conveying his thoughts. It could be described as simply endearing. He is in the field for the past three decades. He was groomed by late Moulana M. A. Jameel Ahmed. He has written three books and a collection of short stories. He is the most soft spoken man in the earth. But he is very shrewd in equal measure. Measure your words when you speak with him.
Now what has he done?

He has written an open letter to A. R. Rahman, the music wizard of Chennai. He has lauded ARR for his achievement. He has expressed his joy, pleasure in his own way. A.R Rahman had declared "Yella pugazhum Allahvukke" (All glory be to Allah!!) at the dias of Oscar arena.
Sirajul Hasan has lauded this spontaneous reaction of the Music maestro. Then he explains the significance of Alhumdulillah...!
Slowly and steadily he has woven the web and highlighted the drastic consequences of Shirk-Inai vaippu.
A.R. Rahman is known to be very particular in offering Namaz in time. Sirajul Hasan mentions this and praises the enthusiasm shown by ARR in offering Namaz. Then he goes on elaborating the significance and importance of the ultimate success - the success in Hereafter.
The final appeal from Siraj is what makes your heart melt.
His words are:

isai vazhiyil payaniththu immaiyin sigarangalai ththottu vitteergal
ini-
irai vazhiyil payaniththu marumaiyin vetrigalai pera muyalungal.

It could be roughly translated as "You have reached the zenith of glory in the path of Music.
Next, in future, Please try to get success in Hereafter"

Oh! I miss Br P. H. Shafeeq Ahmed, the lanky lad from the dusty town of Tirupattur. He is also a gifted writer. Shafeeq writes in English.
More than a decade ago, Ace director Manirathinam produced a stupendously stupid film "Roja" depicting Muslims in a very bad light. At that time too Sirajul Hasan wrote an open letter to Mani Rathinam. The finishing lines of that letter are still embedded in my mind "Today what you have in your hands is a stone..! I pray and hope that a day will come when the stone would be replaced by a flower"
Br Shafeeq translated the letter in English and it was published in Radiance Views weekly, Delhi.
I wish I had Shafeeq at my side. He would have translated the piece in English in no time.
As my hands are full I could not do it by myself. If somebody reading this, wishes to translate in English, he is most welcome.