ZAWIYA-1, ASHFAQ AHMED, CHAPTER 47

It is a fact that every achievement in life needs struggle; and no man can ever achieve anything without it, but to find a Baba (someone Spiritually enlightened) happens to be the most difficult task of all. It is not at all possible for a Baba himself to arrive at your service, while you are on charpoy smoking hookah or slurping tea at your dinner table. To find a Baba, you would need to have some desire, to struggle and work hard. The least you need is to have a strong faith, determination and a sincere wish; because even a flower cannot bloom without a wish. Oftentimes, people ask me to give them the mobile or a telephone number of a Baba, but that’s not the proper way to find them, i.e. through their phone number or postal address.
After you have travelled too far down, you will be surprised to realize that they are actually born from within. They suddenly appear before you. They teach and share with you the secrets of the inside. In a person’s heart, mind and soul, it gives birth to the desire to meet such a personality who in every way is better and more sublime than him/her. Just like ladies like to do make-up, the person’s desire turns to renovating his inside world. But still, the outer make-up of using lip-sticks, nail-polish and mascara etc. should not be discontinued. You should still look good from the outside as well.
Eventually, a stage arrives when he/she does not like his inside world. He/she wishes to do its renovation and make-up, to reach a certain point in life, and to have an association with such a soul that is highly sublime and exalted.

There is this place right near us in India called Bathinda. It happens to be quite a famous city because a very large railway station is located over there. Almost all of the cars at the North of India run through this area. People my age are familiar with the old proverb, “This person has done B.A. via Bathinda”. The reason was that completing B.A. studies over there was quite easy. Any kind of a Molvi taking an English test would receive a disabled form of a B.A. degree. So Bathinda was famous in this regard as well, but in my view the status of this city is much higher.

Some centuries ago at a desert area in this city, some youngsters would gather around and play their age-old games such as ‘Planks swinging’, ‘Wooden swords’ and ‘Lanceolation’. After tiring themselves by playing these exhaustive games, they would lie down onto the sand and tell each other stories.

One day during these sessions, one of the friends mentioned that an ‘Avatar’ has arrived in this World, but we have no information regarding his whereabouts. One friend ‘Rattan-Nath’ asked, “You don’t know  the location?”. He said that he doesn’t know his whereabouts, but the people have confirmed that an Avatar has arrived.

Rattan-Nath started feeling this curiosity and restlessness inside his heart that where has this Avatar landed. And how fortunate would he be if he gets the opportunity to meet him, and how unlucky would he be if he fails to meet him. So he started asking around, and got to know from the elders that he is at the land of Arabs, which is very far away from here. While lying down during the same night, he thought how is it not possible to reach Arabia. He had no resources to go there, but his decision was laid strong. He neither said or announced anything. Neither did he read any book or paper, but in his heart the vision of meeting this Avatar, and becoming the most fortunate person was definite.
So he took a large thick timber, fed it with oil, placed wheat onto it; and to protect himself from wild beasts, made its end-point lanceolated. He took his bag, had two shoes made of thick leather and soles, rested the timber onto his shoulder and went off.

He went on, and on, and kept asking for directions from the people on the way. Some might have invited him as their guest as well. He kept going, completing a journey of months within weeks, and  traversing through Iran; finally reaching Makkah. He desperately tried to communicate through the only language he knew asking about the Avatar. The Makkans were not able to understand him, but through his distress they were able to deduce that someone had told him that the Avatar has left for the city of “Madinah”.
Rattan convinced himself that he has already covered a journey of thousands of miles. A journey of a mere six hundred kilometers is not far. He again started and finally reached Madinah Munawara.

Very few people have known his story and no-one has told this in such detail. Shah Abdul-Aziz Dehlavi (RA) has shared this one sentence in his book, “Baba Rattan-Hindi approached before Hazoor (PBUH), and then it is unknown what happened afterwards”, but guessing through sensibility and prudence we can arrive at the point of certainty that he lived in service to Mohammad (PBUH), and was one of his most beloved people. A way may have been easily made for the language in which Rattan-Hindi used to communicate with Mohammad (PBUH). We have no information about how Rattan lived his life in Madinah, and where he stayed. People also have no information about how long he lived there, but he definitely lived right there.
He had the desire, and became fortunate. Fortunation is born only after desire. Fortunation never arrives at your doorstep if you do not have the desire.

He stayed there as a guest of such a beloved host. You may remember that when Mohammad (PBUH) arrived at Madinah, the Madinan girls climbed on the tops of high dunes and sang with tambourines, “From where did this Moon arrive”. They were so fortunate.

As a fiction writer, I doubt that there was availability of a Commission for Public Service, or an Institution of Public Relations and Folk-Lore, that the girls were informed to climb on top of the dunes and sing.
How fortunate was that one girl who was informed of this from her family. While she was washing the dishes or putting out the embers; she was told that Mohammad (PBUH) will soon arrive here. Soon afterwards, she shared this news with her friends; and it was decided that they will all climb on top of the dunes, and start singing with tambourines when he arrives.

Now when his time of arrival came nearer, they all must have had told each other to move fast and get ready. So what is the nature of such desire? Wherever those fortunate girls were, what high statuses they were wielding. They happily played their tambourines and sang with words that were absorbed by the hearts. When they see Mohammad (PBUH), they feel as if they are seeing a light.
Now what was that place which was accepted by Rattan-Hindi, and how he managed to leave all of his friends, began his journey with his staff, carrying the desire to meet the Avatar, and finally landed in the deserts of Arabia.

Many others have also done research on Rattan-Hindi. A German Scholar is also one who has made the most contribution. Our quite research-oriented friend Mr. Ikram Chughtais told us about the research on Rattan-Hindi in German language. Who was Rattan-Hindi? How did he look? Where did he stay? How long did he stay? When did he leave?

How incredible are such foreigners as compared to us. Rattan-Hindi was also incredible because he did not let himself get included in History. He did not demand that he be recorded in history. When you love Mohammad (PBUH), its unneeded that you announce it; or tell others about it. Only Rattan-Hindi could do that.

When I read about these things, I was never convinced about how such parables are made into existence. I found myself disturbed because I could not find such a pivot-point through which I could trace the path he took. It was informed by the German research that he returned to India on Mohammad’s (PBUH) recommendation. It was obvious that he must have stayed in his village of Bathinda.

My mindset is small. Status is small. Level is low. Even then I asked Allah to help me gain some knowledge in this regard. Pakistan is in existence now, I’m also not able to go to Bathinda, and who should I ask about an event 1400 years ago.

Once I had this intense tooth-ache and my entire day went by in immense pain. We also had no knowledge about a good dentist around. Nonetheless, my Wife took me to meet Doctor Masood at Gulberg. Such high standards of civility and professionalism he had. He was also the doctor of our current cricket team. We became fast friends. We met frequently. He used to come at our residence. We met his Father as well who was once a school teacher, and now he used to ride a bicycle to teach at a tuition academy at the age of eighty.
The Father of such a high level surgeon, teaching for free. He was a good teacher of Algebra. I used to insist him to buy a small car, and he insisted by saying, “No Ashfaq Mian, I travel through bicycle well. Please don’t worry.”

One day during conversation he said that he has been a Headmaster for several years at a Government school in Bathinda. I said Oh Allah, what a person you made me come across. I asked him about any influences there that were linked with Baba Rattan-Hindi.

He said that he has a huge mausoleum over there, and many shepherds visited it. Hindu and Muslim Men and Women also frequently visited it. And this friend you have; Doctor Masood, I did not have a child for 13 years. I was educated, so I never believed in these things that those uneducated ones did.
But one day I visited Rattan-Hindi’s mausoleum and cried a lot. I said nothing, no words at all, as educated and sensible ones are too cautious about polytheism. So I spoke no words, just somehow couldn’t control myself and cried so much. I was aware about his story of traveling to Madinah. Afterwards, I came home. At night I had a dream in which a Hindu-styled white-bearded Baba came and said, “Here, take your baby. Allah has sent this for you.” I asked, “Baba Ji who are you?”. He said, “I am Rattan-Hindi. Is this how you cry needlessly? Have patience. Travel long. Hold a staff and move forward with grace”

The headmaster said that when he held the baby in his dream it was heavy. He said that he did not know stories that were related to journeys and staffs. So I said that I have the required ingredient for this. That was the point I came to believe that those girls who were waiting to greet Mohammad (PBUH) were so fortunate. We are too busy lately. Our hearts and directions both are somewhat busy. We cannot travel on this path, but what we should have is a ‘desire’ in our hearts to travel this path. And when we reach the point of certainty and firm decision, we definitely find our way.

At most we could do is ask for favors from Allah (Wazeefa). Wazeefa is good but this is not the proper way. The way is someone starting from small broken houses, in the direction of the sand dunes. Who had such an idea of being greeted so majestically? He did not read books; but he had the ‘desire’, in the form of a light that lead him forth. He received a high status in this life, and will most certainly have a high status in the after-life as well. In my most private moments I thank Allah and address myself that this would not be achieved by learning and gaining knowledge. It will only add to my know-how, but the paths of love and knowledge are separate.

You may have observed that lately were are on the path of knowledge, because this century is within the Age of Information. We carry the desire to gain more and more knowledge, but the path of love is separate that leads us to a much higher status. And I have come to the conclusion that to obtain the path of love, one must treat others well.
You don’t have to love them, you don’t have to give anything to them. Our Prophet (PBUH) teaches that a Smile is also a donation. Do express it sometimes. Smile while speaking, but we have lost that too. Somewhere there’s envy, quarrel or a fight. Much less love, we have become unable to contribute even a smile. Whenever you express hatred towards someone, glare, and make forehead wrinkles; you actually use 72 muscles in your face. And when you smile, you use only two facial muscles. How easy it is to do, but we are still unable to.

I know all these secrets, but I’m myself unable to do these things. Leaving behind our inside world, we have busied ourselves in collecting and gathering things. But these cursed things are futile, absolutely futile.
Once I had a collection of 1 Lac 13 Thousand Rupees. Now I am at the last phase of my life, and I’m unable to decide how I should spend them. I wish to spend it on myself, by sitting under the sunlight and eating cut radish with sprinkles of spice. But I can’t do that, doctors forbid me.

So just a little bit of love, just a little bit of affection, just a little bit of smile should be shared often times, as cashing this cheque requires no cost.

May Allah grant you ease, and grant you the capability to distribute easiness. Allah Hafiz!