Memoirs Part 7

Memoirs part seven

Our stay in Madinah

My father had to look for an apartment to accommodate all three of us. Sheikh Muhammad Nasir Al-Aboodi, the Registrar of the university was kind enough to find us a two-room flat in a newly built three-story building next to Manakha, Madinah’s famous market with a huge taxi stand for journeys to Jeddah, Makkah and various other destinations in the kingdom. My father was introduced to the landlord as a teacher recruited from Pakistan to teach at the university. On hearing this, the man was aghast with surprise. He asked with curiosity and bewilderment; “How come a non-Arab is teaching our sons in Arabic?”.

Sheikh Al-Aboodi replied to this with a Quranic expression;

هَٰذِهِ بِضَاعَتُنَا رُدَّتْ إِلَيْنَا

“This is our own commodity which has been restored back to us”. (Surah Yusuf:65), a wonderful token of admiration from him!

A few months later, we moved to another apartment, again in a second floor flat in an old building, a bit nearer to Bab-e-Majeedi (one of the northern gates of the Prophet’s mosque and owned by a well-known dignitary in Madinah, Syyed Daftardar). One of my late colleagues, Yusuf Kazim stayed with us at the upper storey of the same house.

Now let me talk about various events in the academic years 1964-65:

1. King Faisal’s visit to the Jami’a

King Sa’ud bin Abdul Aziz was forced to abdicate in March 1964 and was succeeded by his brother, Prince Faisal in November 1964. After his enthronement as King, he paid a visit to Madinah, the city of the Prophet (SAW). During his short stay in Madinah he visited the university as well. It was a simple but graceful ceremony in the only hall existing in the campus at that time. There were no extravagant celebrations for the event, only a selection of finely decorated and simple chairs, and sofas for a selected number of students and staff were brought out.

 On behalf of the students, one Indian colleague, Muzzamil Siddiqi, had to deliver a welcome speech. Sheikh ibn Baz, the vice-chair at the time also gave a speech and welcomed the King and suggested to him the title of ‘Amir al-Muminin’. King Faisal was a very intelligent man who acknowledged how great the responsibilities would be if he accepted this title. Therefore, he commented in his speech that he would love to remain a servant to the two sacred places, i.e. ‘Khadim Al-Haramain Al-Sharifain’, and that was the title which lasted throughout his life and continues to be attributed to him today. I remember the famous Arabic Nasheed (anthem) which was reverberating throughout the streets of Madinah:

“Ya Faisalna, ya Faisalna, Allah yuhayee Faisalna, ya Faisalna ya Faisalna”.

King Faisal’s visit was a simple one in contrast to a visit by the dethroned King Saud some previous years ago, when golden coins were showered on the spectators, wherever his convoy passed. It was said that unnecessarily lavish displays of wealth, was one of the causes which led Prince Faisal to dethrone his elder brother.

2. New Friendships

As I had moved to the town, a phase of celibacy had come to an end, and I had to develop more friendly ties with the married couples in Madinah. One of our colleagues, Ghulam Qadir Balochi happened to marry in a family in Madinah which had mixed roots. Among the more close-friends were Nisaruddin Ahmad from East Pakistan, Sirajul Rahman from India and Abdul Khaliq from Pakistan.

In my later life, first in Kenya and later in London, I would be drawn closer to them, as the field of Da’wa got us together once again. Our studies during the day and regular attendance of evening prayers did not allow us to enjoy any recreational activities.

I remember some of the few gatherings we students had together; once at the site of the Well of Ruma and secondly, at a pool of flood waters on our way to the airport, following a heavy shower of rain; a very rare phenomenon in the mostly dry weather of Madinah. The Well of Ruma had a memorable history going back to the times of the Prophet (SAW).

 People in Madinah were short of drinking water, the Prophet (SAW) appealed to the congregation: “Who is going to buy this well which belonged to a Jewish person and declare it a charity for the Muslims? And I announce for him a place in paradise”. That great excellence and blessing was won by Uthman bin Affan, the Prophet’s son-in-law and the third Caliph after the death of the Prophet (SAW). He declared it a Waqf (endowment) for the benefit of the Muslims. His sincerity led this well to survive for fourteen centuries and it is still there in present times.

The fall of rain had always been a jubilant occasion for the inhabitants of Madinah. When a heavy shower poured upon the area, the valleys around Madinah turned into rivulets, and the people flocked to see and enjoy this rare occasion. I remember going to the southern outskirts of Madinah, on the road towards Makkah, where the flood waters were dashing heavily through the valley.

3. Hajj of Summer 1965

During the middle of 1965, I was blessed with performing Hajj for the third time, which came out as a family gathering as well. My elder sister, the only one beside her seven male siblings, had come with her husband and children to stay with us in Ramadan. The stay lasted until Hajj; so the first time we had the opportunity to occupy our own tent in Mina, was during Hajj.

My father’s colleague, Hafiz Mohammad Gundalwi, the esteemed Sheikh of Hadith, joined us with his wife and son Masud. When we were in Mina, after retreating from Arafat through Muzdalifa, I remember how Sheikh Gundalwi lost the trail of his temporary accommodation while coming back after throwing pebbles at Jamrah. He must have passed by the tent more than once, but could not recognise it. His wife was earnestly waiting for him at the mouth of the tent. She must have seen him approaching the tent and then missing it altogether. Again, when she sighted him, he was about to cross over. However, she shouted to him in her native Punjabi; “Now, where are you planning to go?”. The Sheikh halted abruptly, but was much pleased to find his place!

After Hajj, we were standing at the bus station, an open courtyard at the outskirts of Makkah, where my sister and her family boarded a bus packed with pilgrims and destined for Zahran, a town 1500 kilometres away at the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. From there, they had to take their flight to Karachi. In those days, PIA, for which my brother-in-law worked as an accountant throughout his life, would have been operating to Zahran more frequently than Jeddah. With my previous memories of such long journeys, I was feeling uneasy to see my sister on the verge of such a hazardous journey ahead.

4. The dolls incident

In those days, Saudi Arabia followed a strict and heavy-handed approach towards creating a puritan society. A very glossy, illustrated magazine “Al-Arabi” from Kuwait had started its publication. It used to have a very informative article on one of the Arab towns in each issue. Attractive pictures crowned its title. However, it had to go through a very strenuous censorship process, before it could find its place in the bookstalls. Very often we used to see some of its pictures covered by black ink or the whole page was torn apart.

In such a puritanical environment, the street vendors once came out with imported dolls which were very beautifully designed. They were on sale just a few yards away from the gates of the Mosque of the Prophet (SAW) in the open courtyard in front of Bab-us-Salam (The Gate of Peace). For some students, especially in the last year of the Sharia College, this sight was completely intolerable. Subsequently, a group of them targeted these moving carts carrying the dolls and similar gifts and started breaking them and throwing the merchandise on the ground. The courtyard became a scene like that of a battlefield. The local police had to intervene and put the culprits behind bars. Sheikh ibn Baz tried his best to secure a release of the captives, but his attempts were in vain. At the most, they could sit their final exams. The expatriates among them were deported to their countries of origin and the local ones had to linger on for a while in prison.

I however, had not witnessed the incident, but the news spread like wildfire. Among them were several exemplar students who later excelled in the field of Da’wa in Kuwait and some other Arab capitals.

5. Summer vacation of 1965

Accompanying the father, we were back to Karachi after Hajj. By that time, the family had moved to a double storey house in Aziz Abad, a newly-developed area beyond the crowded allies of Liaquat Abad, otherwise known as Lalu Khait.

It was the beginning of September. When the war between India and Pakistan broke out. Indian troops had invaded Lahore, the Punjab capital, where a fierce resistance was triggered, culminating in a repulsion of the Indian army, making headlines across the world. Karachi was far away from the main fighting, but the military airbase at Maripur near Karachi, provided us with an air show where the Pakistani air force had to combat the advancing Indian fighter jets. It was clamour and rattling at daytime and complete blackout at night. The thundering noise of the bombs dropped kept the people sleepless and awake. Thanks to Allah, Karachi had a safe passage during those days of hammering and clamour. Both the Pakistani air force and navy had the opportunity to test its vigour and skills.

As soon as the war was over, my father and I rushed to travel back to Madinah, while my expectant wife remained in her family home at PECH society to witness the greatest maiden experience of her life as a mother.

A few days later, I received the news. She gave birth to twins, named as Abdullah and Abdulrahman. They were both weak and frail and could not survive. Abdullah passed away within hours of his birth. His twin brother joined him after six days. Unfortunately, I was not there to share the moments of grief and sorrow with my wife. As I have not seen them, I seldom remember them coming into this world and then hiding abruptly into eternity. I presented my wife with the saying of the Prophet (SAW), as reported by Imam Bukhari in his collections: Abu Saeed Al-Khudri reported that the women said to the Prophet (SAW): “The men have taken most of your time. So, appoint for us a day from you”. The Prophet (SAW) promised to do so. That day he came and admonished them and gave them some commandments. Among his discourse, he said to them: “Whoever among you send in advance three of her children, they will shield her from hell-fire”. A woman asked; “What if they are just two?”. He replied: “Yes, even if there are just two of them”.

One day during Ramadan, I was at Jeddah airport to receive my wife. To my surprise, there was another lady with her as well. She was the newly-wed bride of Ehsan Elahi Zaheer, who was not aware of her arrival at all. We took her to our rented room in Makkah where I was staying for the last ten days of Ramadan with my father and my mother who had arrived with four of my younger siblings one month ago. Ihsan was alerted by phone and then he was there by the end of the day, coming straight from Madinah!