He narrates along time ago; long before I ever thought of becoming a
Muslim; before I even had set foot in a Muslim country. I must have
been nineteen years old or so at that time, and live in my father
house in Vienna
I was deeply interested in the science of mans inner life, and was in
practice of keeping by my bedside paper and pencil in order to jot
down my dreams at the moment of awakening. In that particular dream, I
found myself in Berlin travelling in that underground railway they
have there; with the train going sometimes through a tunnel below
ground and sometimes over the bridges high above the streets. The
compartment was filled with a great throng of people; so many that
there was no room to sit down and all stood tightly packed without
being able to move; it did not come on to one of those bridges, but
emerged instead on to a wide, desolate plain of clay, and the wheels
of train got stocked in the clay and the train stopped, unable to move
backward and forward.
All the travelers, and I among them, left the carriages and started
looking about. The plain around us was endless and empty and barren-
there was no bush on it, no house, not even a stone – and a great
perplexity fell over the people's hearts; that we have been stranded
here, how shall we find our way back to where other humans live? A
grey twilight lay over the immense plain, as at the time of early
dawn.
But somehow I did not quite share the perplexity of the others. I made
my way out of the throng and beheld, at a distance of perhaps ten
paces, a dromedary crouched on the ground. It was fully saddled- in
exactly the way I later saw camels saddled in the country, - and in
that saddle sat a man dressed in a white and brown striped abaya with
short sleeves. His Kufiyya was drawn over his face so that I could not
discern His features. In my heart I knew at once that the dromedary
was waiting for me, and that the motionless rider was to be my guide;
and so, without a word. I swung myself on to the camels back behind
the saddle. In the next instant, the dromedary rose and started
forward in along drawn easy gait, and I felt a nameless happiness rise
within me. In that fast, smooth gait we travelled for what at first
seemed to be hours, and then days, and then months, until I lost all
count of time; and with every step of dromedary my happiness rose
higher. In the end, the horizon to our right began to redden under the
rays of sun that was about to rise. But on the horizon far ahead of us
I saw another light; it came from a huge, open gateway resting on two
pillars- a blinding white light- a cool light that steadily grew in
brightness as we approached and made the happiness within me beyond
anything that words could describe As we come nearer the gateway, I
heard a voice a voice from somewhere, This is the westernmost city;
Ibn e Saud said it was truly thy fortune which God showed thee in that
dream. The dromedary its rider was the Right guidance of which Quran
speaks so often. And the rider who did not speak to thee, was the HOLY
PROPHET, upon whom be the Gods blessings and peace, He loved to wear a
cloak with short sleeves. And most books tells us that when He appears
in the dreams of non Muslims his face is covered.Allama Asad is a
close friend of King Saud.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENGLISH Documents" group.
To post to this group, send email to englishdocuments@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to englishdocuments+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/englishdocuments?hl=en.
0 comments:
Post a Comment