My heroes - No Edward, No Shahrukh! (Note from admin's diary)

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Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal (r.a)

One day I was sitting with my siblings and as usual having an ignited discussion about Pakistan,  the love and passion for Pakistan, the heroic soldiers of Pakistan, their sacrifices, Adab-e-Rasool s.a.w and Ishq-e-Rasool s.a.w. We took a pause for a while when suddenly one of my sibs asked me a strange question which made me smile, as the question sounded pretty childish but a sweet and deep one. She asked me, "Who will you wish to meet first of all (personality) when we go to paradise?" I stopped for a moment, looked at her with a smile and the next moment, I could hear myself saying, "Undoubtedly the first person I crave to meet in the paradise would be beloved Rasool Allah s.a.ww for he is the greatest of the greats and the role model for every believer." She naturally got amused on hearing this since she had similar wishes.

She continued questioning, "then?" I could clearly feel she is in a mood to have a list from me. I thought for a while and answered, "I would then love to meet my mentors". A vague question mark appeared on her face; she wanted me to tell in detail. I then kept on saying with a smile, "Yes I would ask Allah swt to make me meet my mentors; Allama Iqbal, Quaid-e-Azam and one more great personality for they gave me a direction, a sense of purpose in my life and proved to be my guiding starts and guided me to the only light when I could have been lost in sheer darkness".

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (r.a)

Although today's youth crazily admires celebrities from Hollywood and bollywood and make them their ideal. It's no strange thing to hear now, "I am in love with the Twilight hero -- Harry makes me go crazy -- Shahrukh Khan looks awesome in the new movie etc etc etc" One simple thing I can never understand, why do we mix the dancers and the TV artists with the "HEROES". Acting as a hero in a 3rd class movie doesn't make one hero in the real sense. Dancing and doing other vulgar scenes is by NO means heroic!


Hero in the true sense means someone who has noble qualities and is able to benefit the rest of mankind. As a Pakistani Muslim, Iqbal and Quaid were supposed to be my heroes as taught in our superficial course books  occasionally when taught about national Heroes. Other than that, I had no awareness of what Iqbal and Quaid actually were as I had no means to understand their greatness.
 

Syed Zaid Zaman Hamid

In darkness all around me, the person who shined as a bright star and enlightened my world, guiding me to  eternal light is my third mentor. He is the person who made me love Rasool Allah s.a.w, otherwise we had only superficially studied him (s.a.w) as the last and final Prophet of Allah and not as the person to be loved beyond ourselves. My third mentor is the one who guided me to Iqbal and Quaid who are to be the mentors of every ignited, alive and passionate soul!

I did not know what magic Iqbal had. I was completely oblivious of the greatest visionary, an ideologue, a revolutionary philosopher - Iqbal. What I had been only taught was, "Iqbal is the national poet of Pakistan" and that's it. When it came to paraphrasing Iqbal's couplet, the teachers seemed to have a straight face not knowing the meaning of the complex Kalaam-e-Iqbal to its actual depth. I never knew Iqbal's work is the direct tafseer of Qur'an and Ahadith; a complete guide for the Muslims of modern era. Iqbal had given a fascinating, complete embodiment of a Momin in his kalaam and how a Muslim is supposed to live his life, Iqbal explained well - I never knew. Iqbal had given the key to success as a whole in just one stanza; Ki Muhammed se wafa tu ne to hum teray hain. Ye jahan cheez hai kya loh-o-Qalam teray hain. He gave the direction to the path that leads to Ishq-e-Rasool (sm) but I -- never knew. Sigh.

ترا اندیشہ افلاکی نہیں ہے
تری پرواز لولاکی نہیں  ہے
یہ مانا اصل شاہینی ہے تری
تری آنکھوں میں بےباکی نہیں ہے

Neither did I ever know about the greatness of the man called "Quaid-e-Azam". He won Pakistan for the Muslims of the subcontinent and this is all what I had been taught in the mainstream schools. He was the founding father of Pakistan - A man of great honour and dignity. His extremely wise  advices to the Pakistani nations were only taught us speeches in quotations which I had never seen being practiced in our daily lives, although they were to be adhered to completely as they were from the father of the nation, and no one can think better for a child than a father does. I could never know the "Nigah buland, sukhan dilnawaz, Jaan pursoz" leader before. Besides this, the father of the nation whom even the worst rivals labelled as "Un-corruptible, un-purchasable", the one who was the perfect embodiment of a great leader after the Khulfa-e-Rashidoon, was talked about being a "Paarsi", a "drunkard" and other BS which has no reality. In a nutshell once again I remained in darkness.

Then at a point in my life, Allah decided to bestow his blessings on me and He made me meet a person who later proved to be my third mentor who introduced me to my first two mentors - The Soviet era Afghan Mujahid, a hardcore patriotic defense expert and a Shaheen of Iqbal! Yes that was the time when for the first time I understood what a Shaheen of Iqbal is; what a Mard-e-Momin and mard-e-Mujahid actually are. He in person was not what appealed me. But what appealed and ignited me was the thing that I had always been missing all my life  - The sense of direction. 

قوتِ عشق سے ہر پست کو بالا کردے
دہر میں اسمِ محمّد سے اُجالا کردے

For the first time, listening to someone's words ignited my soul and heart and I felt my duties to the core as a Pakistani and a Muslim, which I could never feel before. For the first time in my life, I felt extremely sad  about my past useless activities and decided to utilize each and every moment of my future life. For the first time, I felt myself defining my goals and aims and decided to serve my homeland with all my capabilities, all my life.

My third mentor is the one who made me meet my first two mentors. He helped me cleaning the vague layer of smoke formed on the sky in darkness and made me able to look at the bright, gloomy, vast sky. He revealed all what was deliberately been kept concealed from us due to his passion and love. He made us know the true essence of Iqbal and made us know the real Quaid from Jinnah. I could never know before what momin's "Khudi" was, what the world is for a Muslim and what a Muslim is for world. He ignited and fascinated my soul, made me optimistic as a whole! Actually he taught me to think, see and feel through the vision of a momin.

نہ تو زمیں کے لئے ہے نہ آسماں کے لیے
جہاں ہے ترے لیے تو نہیں جہاں کے لیے

He made me know about my glorious ancestors, my Khulfa-e-Rashidoon and eventually I began loving them. He drove me back to Iqbal and Quaid and this time the journey was fascinating and benevolent. I met them as fascinating personalites and learned so much about these great men and gradually began admiring them as my heroes as they made me love Allah's beloved and my Aaqa s.a.w.

If I go on writing, it would take all my life and I would still not be able to sum up as the favours done by my third mentor not only on me but thousands alike, are extremely high. What could be more great than being a guiding star for the ones in darkness? Ishq-e-Rasool and Adab-e-Rasool is the ultimate key to success in the world and hereafter. And I am no exaggerating when I say, "My third mentor made me an Aashiq-e-Rasool (sm)"

کی محمّد سے وفا تونے تو ہم ترے ہیں
یہ جہاں چیز ہے کیا لوح و قلم ترے ہیں

Heartiest love and regards for all my three mentors; Baba Iqbal (r.a), Baba Quaid (r.a) and my Baba Jee [Zaid Hamid Sahab]


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