A month of victory!

In this month of resounding triumph – a testament not only to the global Dawoodi Bohra community but also to the enduring victory of truth – for it is always the truth that in the end prevails – amidst this widespread joy and jubilation, a profound tragedy is felt—the loss of the revered Mazoon Saheb Syedi Aliasger bs Kalimuddin Saheb. His esteemed position as the Mazoon of Dawat ul Haq was intertwined with a deeply personal connection with the momineen, evident through the profound impact of his teachings and the scholarly eminence he embodied. His eloquence of speech and perpetually radiant countenance were nothing short of extraordinary – a rare amalgamation of virtues that becomes increasingly scarce with age. Yet, despite the passage of time, Mazoon Saheb remained steadfast in his principles of warmth, a welcoming demeanor, and unparalleled clarity in imparting knowledge. His presence was akin to a symphony for the senses, leaving an indelible mark until his final breath.

While the loss of Mazoon Saheb is deeply felt by momineen, it is also an occasion to honor and celebrate the enduring legacy of wisdom and values that he so ardently professed.

The sacred month of Shawwal ul Mukarram has been a cause for personal reflection and celebration. Under the resplendent banner of truth and the timeless legacy of wisdom, my educational journey, which commenced at MSB and culminated in the stewardship of the English department, owes immeasurably to the benevolent guidance of Syedi Saheb. Today, I find myself profoundly indebted to the enlightened guidance and nurturing I received at MSB, which I fervently believe paved my path to my association with Al Jamea tus Saifiya in Karachi and Nairobi. My association with these esteemed institutions, particularly the revered Al Jamea tus Saifiya Nairobi, holds a place of utmost reverence in my heart. It is indeed a cherished privilege – one that assumes greater significance given the fleeting nature of our worldly existence. What greater honor could one aspire to than an association with Al Jamea tus Saifiya—the epitome of divine guidance under Al Dai ul Mutlaq TUS Himself?

This month, marked by the announcement of the University of London results, was a moment brimming with pride and humility. I am deeply honored to have been entrusted with the facilitation of 23 remarkable business students, 10 of whom achieved distinctions in their inaugural year, while the second-year cohort garnered 3 distinctions, primarily in the realm of merits. Additionally, I received the divine blessings of Al Jamea tus Saifiya’s orientation, an experience that humbled me beyond words. The tokens of appreciation bestowed upon me are a testament to the abundant grace and barakat I have been bestowed with, for which my gratitude knows no bounds. As an educator most of my life, these blessings embody the very essence of my life’s purpose. This month stands as a luminous pinnacle amidst a tapestry of accolades, a testimony to the boundless mercies of Maula TUS upon me. Alhamdulillah and Shukranlillah.

From AJS- Nairobi

From AJS-Karachi

Humbled beyond words,

Xeynab

The loss of Mazoon Saheb – Syedi Ali Asger bhaisaheb Kalimuddin Saheb

The 16th of every month holds profound significance for Dawat e Hadya, from the Zikr of Syedna Hatim RA to the beloved Zikr of Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin RA, a Maula RA who transformed sand into gold and the Maula RA beneath whose feet lay true gold; both Maula RA departed from this world on the 16th.

Today, on this date we receive another heart breaking news of the passing of the kindest, gentlest soul—a loss of a sacred personality whose every utterance was a precious pearl from the celestial orchards of wisdom. What a profound, colossal loss this event holds for Dawat e Hadya and significantly for the impartation of Ilm e Aale Mohammad. Countless momineen received the nourishment of Asbaak, especially those of Haqaiq. With ease, reverence, and camaraderie, he taught Ilm with such grace that each one of the beneficiary would leave the corridors of his classroom feeling overwhelmed by their upgraded status of their vessels of knowledge.

Two brothers have reunited today in the realm above. It is as if Syedi Saheb fulfilled his promise, ensuring the victory blessed yesterday, and with that insight and accomplishment, Syedi Saheb now rejoices alongside his brother Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin RA in the heavenly abodes.

May Allah grant Syedi Mazoon Saheb Ali Asger Bhaisaheb Kalimuddin Saheb the highest merits in Jannah, and may Allah grant Aqa Maula TUS the patience and fortitude to bear this immeasurable loss. AMEEN

Amate Syedna TUS,

Xeynab

What could be Eid in Gaza?

Genocides have occurred in the past as well, but the difference today is that we are constantly bombarded with information and news about them. Wars and collateral damage go hand in hand…’ such comments are not unheard of. But then…

Can we make that excuse and afford to ignore such atrocities? Living in a time where we are made aware of these events, doesn’t it also imply that we are being held accountable for them? The test we face as witnesses to these grim realities is undeniable.

Reflecting on this, if we are to embrace all the advancements of technology and seize every opportunity which the past ‘didn’t have’, shouldn’t we also embrace the unity it demands in the current times? Is the global interconnectedness only a capitalistic, self-serving thought? Doesn’t the genocide in Gaza break down geographical boundaries anymore? Where is the global perspective in this? If this global perspective can evoke compassion, vulnerability, and a deeper connection to humanity, why shy away from embracing it?

It’s challenging to turn a blind eye to the barrage of images of hunger and acute deprivation that confront us this Eid. The guilt we feel for our comfort is intertwined with a profound humility for the blessings we often take for granted—water, food, shelter, family, and amenities.

In Gaza, people are losing their lives over these basic necessities, essential for human survival. And we are aware, well aware, very much aware and definitely aware! The upcoming Eid is the least to say, a bittersweet one, as we consciously and subconsciously share in this collective pain to humanity, let alone share the same Muslim brotherhood.

Should we be consumed by the temporal and materialistic nature of our world and let life persist with the same sense of helplessness for what lies beyond our control?

As we approach Eid, let us ponder: we celebrate Eid for the 30 days of fasting, breaking our fast each day with gratitude for Allah’s blessings, unlike those in Gaza who fast without knowing when they’ll eat again…

What should Eid symbolize for us this year? What will unite Muslims worldwide in celebrating Eid? And what does Eid signify for humanity in these desperately challenging times?

Xeynab

Even Today

There is a Punjabi couplet that says:

Nabiyaan Di Mehnat Bachani Zimmedari Husain SA Dee

Parhay Durood tay Waikhay Surat Waro Wari Husain SA Dee

My Punjabi isn’t close to commendable but roughly translated it means:

“Imam Husain RA took up the responsibility of saving the endeavours of the Prophets SA

So when you recite the Durood, remember Imam Husain’s SA blessed countenance.”

On the occasion of the last eve of Friday in the blessed month of Ramadan, with hearts heavy that the unceasing showers of mercy, forgiveness, munificence and emancipation are now but for a few days, as we recited the Tasbeeh of Salawaat on the Prophets SA after sunset, here are a few lines on our eternal muse Imam Husain SA. There is no one who prompts me to write but Sayedus Shohada SA and the Husaini Dai TUS:

The Prophets wept as they stepped

Onto Karbala’s dusty dunes

They knew not what made their hearts

Writhe in melancholy tunes.

From Adam Nabi’s SA repentance

To the Ark’s eventual safety

To Essa Nabi’s SA message

Transcending centuries to Maula Ali SA.

The cause of these divine messengers

Lives on even today

There is but one who gave His life

So Salawaat on them we may pray.

Even today.

Amate Syedna TUS

Maryam

Putting the Growth Mindset into practice

The concept of a growth mindset is beautiful, but what’s even more beautiful is how it aligns perfectly with the values our faith and Duat Mutleqeen have always practiced and preached. Carol Dweck is considered the pioneer of this concept, with her renowned book “The Growth Mindset.” Essentially, the concept emphasizes embracing challenges as opportunities to grow and learn, rather than viewing them as setbacks or ego attacks. It encourages individuals to step out of their comfort zones, choose growth and the discomfort that comes with it, and embrace the dynamism of a world subject to constant change. A person who can do this is undoubtedly on a different pace in the cycle of growth itself. This topic is indeed worth discussing during this supreme month, and every day we get to hear some pearls of wisdom about it.

I’d like to illustrate this concept with a simple example, even though it may make us feel a bit uncomfortable. After all, what is a growth mindset if we don’t accept feeling uncomfortable about something we need to change and embrace? Therefore, in choosing to embrace discomfort, I choose growth for all of us. The month of Shehrullah il Moazzam is a month of respite, rejuvenation, and revival for us. It’s the only time I feel we get to spend some “me time” with Allah, where the connection isn’t strained by worldly materialism and the rat race of life.

However, one thing I’ve struggled to make peace with over the years, which is to a certain extent a global issue in our masajids/markaz, is the idea of fixing a sitting place in the masjid. Having said that, there are many considered anomalies who walk into the masjid with the clear-cut attitude of finding the next empty space available to sit. It seems simple, right? No tension, no fatigue, just straightforward business. But as humans, we limit ourselves to the dismal economic concept of scarcity, where we feel that space is limited, and ‘I’ should choose the best place for myself and move heaven and earth to ensure that for the next 30 days, I stay in the safe havens of that zone only. What is regretful is that in the days that offer maximum growth opportunity, we actually stagnate ourselves in the fear zone, the fixed-mindedness that closes us to the growth and learning zone.

What’s disheartening to see is the pain we endure to ensure our fixation with an allocated space, fearing the loss of our literal comfort zones. And it is so contagious that it has unfortunately become an overwhelming culture in our community. We remain subject to anxiety, worries for no reason, the imagination of feeling socially unacceptable, to be felt like nomads without roots or ties to the small societies created around the massive designated space allotted for ibadat takes the better of us. The irony is that for ibadat in Allah’s home, where if nothing else, faith in Allah as the best manager of all affairs is given, we fear and try to take control of His decision in His house by deciding for ourselves our praying space beforehand. This is where we dwell pitifully in a fixed mindset.

A growth mindset challenges this fixation and urges us to accept Allah as the supreme authority of His house, having faith that once we enter His house, He will make space for us. If only we could operate on this higher level, not only would our days of Shehrullah be burdenless, but there would also be an acceptance of each Momin as an equal, deserving equal opportunity like me, like you, like us. This is what the global order is, and this is what the idea of practicing what we’re taught is about for generations.

Let’s embrace each other, enjoy the space we have, have faith in this holy month, and reserve our energies for ibadat in the truest sense, rather than for a physical space in the masjid/markaz where we pray.

Iltemas ud dua

Xeynab

Your Life Was Mine

Today as the 16th eve documentary dedicated to Burhani Remembrances flickered on the screen, my entire life flashed before me. 

“I was 4 years old,” I whispered to Jumana excitedly as reels of Al Jamea Sindh’s iftitah with Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin TUS walking regally down a rolling red carpet brought back the golden days of yore. Memories of Qadambosi bethaks in Adam Masjid enveloped me. Another strong image is of me lying in my mom’s lap in the Taheri Masjid sehan during a waaz at night. The Takht was visible to me even in my drowsy state.

“This was the year Mohta Nani passed away,” I explained to her as Ashara 1417 H came to life, Maula’s TUS unmistakable voice rolling over my senses. 

As the kalaidocope of events rushed forth I was back the National Stadium, in the stands, as thousands thronged for the momentous occassion of Maulas’s 93rd Milad. Hayyul Muqadas Maula TUS sat in a open roof car, His hand raised, surrounded by flowers. I had been recently married then and it was the same trip my sister had had her nikah solemnised.

1425 H- I wish I had known it would be the last time Burhanuddin Maula TUS would grace this land. The last qadam had been in our home and I had been blessed with jooti sharaf. I can still remember that moment, bent at Maula’s RA feet not daring to raise my eyes. I wish I had.

As Maula RA recited His last Salam during Wada majlis my heart squeezed in pain. It is a blessing to be ignorant of what the future holds otherwise it would have been an unbearable moment to fathom. “Close your eyes and call me when you need me,” these last words of farewell have been my talisman that have taken me through all these years.

Those 35 years of my life under His aegis have been measured by my memories of Him-my father, my mother, my guide. His life was mine.  My life and everything that’s in it is His munificence.

Amate Syedna TUS

Maryam

Long Distance

I have been destined to live in long distance relationships. The first time I experienced this was when my best friend Tasneem got married in Mumbai. Hers was the first love story I had a taste of first hand and like all teenagers whose friend gets married right after High School it was a dream.

Yet, the dream broke into harsh reality when I realized that her magical wedding across the border meant that the next twenty years we would be living estranged, our only connection the exchange of Hallmark cards and scrawled letters. We met whenever she visited her parents here in K Town. My few precious visits to India allowed me to spend time with her and experience the incredible hospitality of her family.

Tasneem and I had done absolutely everything together. Whether it meant sitting together in the masjid for prayers or eating in our crazy thaal, going to Snoopy near her home with a side of greasy spicy French Fries to taking a rick to Saddar just to have soup and slims on the roadside; from talking for hours over the phone to watching Dhoop Kinaray for the millionth time—I realized with a jolt there was a yawning hole which her absence left in its wake.

Yet, even today, more than two decades hence, her son a strapping young man, she is the one I message when something major happens.  After Tasneem, so many of my other friends got married in other corners of the globe with just a couple of us left here in our homeland.

My next major long distance was when my sister got married in Colombo. This was huge because Jumana is like my first daughter. We have seen it all together. I have visited her twice in the last 15 years that she has been in Sri Lanka. She has come home a few times as well—for Ashara, to see our ailing father, when my mom was in Iddat confinement and a few more times when Maula TUS was here. Yet, the parting is always hard. It doesn’t become easier. The frenzy of routine numbs the twinge of distance, yet, its always like a part of you is away.

Last week when Jumana suffered from multiple fractures to her ankle and underwent a major surgery after a fall down the stairs, this distance seems to loom ever more –like a tall, unsurmountable wall. As she is in bed recuperating I wish every moment that I could be by her side during this time. Even though it’s a cliché I realize how true it is—long distance sucks!

Amate Syedna TUS

Maryam

The Tenth of Ramadan

In the month when we feel

The grating pinch of unquenched thirst

In the days when the body

Experiences nutrition’s extreme dearth

In the month whose very name

Means hot burning sand

We remember you, My Maula SA

And Karbala’s scorching sand.

On the tenth eve this month

We take your name once again

Recalling the night of Ashara

And it’s unthinkable pain.

Every sip of water

Every morsel, every grain,

That slips down our throat

As the sun sets every day

Reminds us of your valour

And your beloved who lie

Below Karbala’s soil

Giving lessons of sacrifice.

Ya Husain SA we call out to you

Be it night or day

We look towards your Zarih

And Allah grants us what our hearts say.

Be it Rehmat, Maghfirat and emancipation from hell’s wrath,

We attain it all in Your hallowed halls.

Amate Syedna TUS

Maryam

Journaling-It Might Just Save You

I recently called one of my students to my office and asked him if everything was okay. I had been noticing that he hadn’t been himself since some time. Expecting to be rebuked at something he might have done, he was surprised at the train of my conversation.

He didn’t want to make eye contact and I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. So I just decided to exchange a few words with him and told him that I admired his eloquence. I asked him if he had ever written a gratitude journal before. He shook his head. I asked him to try it and I promised I would also show him mine. The next day he came to my office without having to call him and showed me a brand new diary. I grinned with pleasure.

“May I read it?” I asked.

He nodded.

He had written three things he was grateful for and I couldn’t help smiling. It was such a wholesome experience.

The last gratitude journal I began in 2022 is on its last leaves. As I flipped through the pages the last two years flashed before me. Forgotten events came alive. And today as my daughter, who needs some excuse or the other to drag me to the stationery store, took me to buy a present for her best friend, I spotted a lovely peaches and cream diary. I couldn’t resist.

“I need a diary,” I told Jumana but actually it was myself I was trying to convince.

And like a child who has bought her favorite candy to savour I skipped home and began to write on its smooth, first page.

The gratitude journal is something I have spoken about and recommended in every content writing course; in many of my school classes, creative writing sessions and mindfulness trainings; to students whom I feel need to vent; to students who need to make an effort to look for a silver lining. It a way to reflect upon Allah’s blessings at the end of the day; ensure nothing is taken for granted; consciously learn to be optimistic and speak to Him.

In last year’s Lailatul Qadr Munajaat Mubaraka Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS states:

“Oh my Ilah, Your believer is the servant of Aale Mohammed SAW who wins Your happiness by chanting Alhamdolillah Shukranlillah!” (PS: Each couplet of this literary masterpiece can be elaborated at length)

Such a profound lesson! This gratitude journal is one humble way to make Him happy!

Amate Syedna TUS

Maryam

I Write in Gratitude

It’s way past midnight, I havent slept since 17 hours, I had a bite for dinner and I just can’t sleep. Because today was an incredible first for me. It was the day of the Badri Research Symposium — a showcasing of four researches taken up on addiction prevention specifically on the dangers of persuasive ads promoting vaping and nicotine products, passive smoking, rehabilitation and social, emotional and technological interventions. 

When this seed was sown by Zenab Mohammed two years ago I thought it was another one of her spontaneous ideas. (She has one every week).  Yet, because her enthusiasm is so contagious and I hate to say no to the sparkle in her eyes I played along. In the first year we met with failure, yet not one to be dettered so easily she continued to pursue her initiative. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS Maula’s vehement drive against ecigarettes and Moharamat spurred her on even more. She was lucky to have a Science faculty that watered this seed and tonight we all finally stood before a tree that had borne fruit.

Watching the students grow from fumbling novices to the confident young men and women we saw on stage today was the fruit. Out hearts filled with pride.  This is what mentoring meant. To make someone like you. And in my experience these students surpass you. 

I write this post in gratitude for being a part of something so phenomenal as a research journal and presentation at school level. Gratitude for having such inspiring colleagues who bring into culmination everything you dream of. Gratitude for having an opportunity to interact with such talented children brimming with potential. Gratitude for the guests, the cream of the academic circle, who took our the time on a week night to come and cheer on our students. Gratitude for their overwhelmingly kind words that made our day. Gratitude for it all.

Amate Syedna TUS

Maryam