با یاد تو میخوابم در خواب تو را بینم
از خواب چو برخیزم اول تو به یاد آیی
I sleep with your memories; I see you in my sleep
Whenever I wake up; you are the first to come to my mind.
At times, for the purpose of clearly seeing, one needs to close the eyes. My story serves as a perfect supplement to the above Persian couplet.
In the year 2011, my father sustained a peculiar condition in his eyes in which he lost all control of his eyelid reflex. So much so that we had to lift his eyelids upwards whenever required; and every time, they would drop down after a couple of seconds.
Shattered and devastated, we scrambled to consult numerous eye surgeons who attended to the case stunned. As an immediate measure, they prescribed botox injections since they were not able to comprehend the reason behind the sudden and complete failure of corneal reflexes.
At the same time, we consulted Dr. Pettarusp M. Wadia, among the renowned neurologists in Mumbai. Upon witnessing my father’s state communicating and moving about with his eyelids shut, the doctor observed that the condition is very unusual as it may happen to one in a thousand and that he had never come across a case of this condition with such severity. In a grim tone, he advised continuing with the botox injections.
All that was light in our lives sometime before turned to darkness. As days passed, hope continued to get dimmer and at one point, even a glimmer of it was difficult to see.
Almost a year passed and nothing changed. My father would barely manage to use his eyes a couple of times throughout the day after somebody would assist him in lifting his eyelids up.
I was living in Marol at that time and my father was living with my elder brother in Dhulia. Bearing in mind my father’s condition, it was a norm for me to cry myself to sleep at night.
Just when I could not see any ray of hope, one night, I had a dream and everything changed after that.
I saw myself sitting in Raudat Tahera along with my brother from Dhulia and we were waiting for Moulana Mohammad Burhanuddin’s RA didar. Burhanuddin Moula RA arrived in the miyana shareef with Mufaddal Moula TUS at his side. Moving across the ramp, Burhanuddin Moula RA directed for the miyana shareef to be stopped just where we were standing. Mufaddal Moula TUS remained next to Burhanuddin Moula RA as mumineen did didar.
With tears flowing down my face and hands folded, I wished ‘kaash moula ni qadambosi naseeb thai jai’. At that very point in time, Mufaddal Moula TUS indicated a khidmat guzaar present there to call me and my brother on the ramp for qadambosi.
We stepped up and sat near Burhanuddin Moula’s RA feet. As I was looking at Moula RA in tears, Mufaddal Moula TUS stated: “tamne kai araz karwi che, to karo”. I attempted to present the araz for my father but was unable to utter even a word. Mufaddal Moula TUS leaned towards me and added: “tamara bawaji ni je araz karwa aya cho ye karo”.
Moula TUS was hearing it all.
I further broke down into tears and managed to utter: “moula mara bawaji ne shifa thai”. Upon hearing the araz, Burhanuddin Moula RA turned towards Mufaddal Moula TUS and looked straight in his eyes for a while; no words.
Thereafter, with an assuring gesture on his face, Mufaddal Moula TUS stated: “tamara bawaji ne kaho roz Imam Hussain na ashura na din ni dua allahumma anta thiqati parhe”. In a cracking voice, I uttered: ‘Jee Moula’, presented salaam and shukr najwa, and retreated with pouring eyes. Mufaddal Moula TUS called for me and said: “Bhai aaje aa raqam ni tamne zyada zarurat che, ainda aik din awse teware araz karjo, mein lais”.
I woke up. Everything I saw felt real. I instantly relayed the dream to my father. Little did I know that our fortunes are going to change.
Immediately thereafter, my father started to gain control of his corneal reflexes, and not before long, the condition simply faded away. All those including the doctors who had observed my father’s state knew that my father had witnessed a miracle.
However, a complete transformation of the dream into the miraculous reality of our lives was yet to take place. A few months later, on the 23rd of Zilqadat al-Haraam coinciding 27th of September 2013, Friday, we were blessed with the zyafat sharaf of Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS; it happened in Rauzat Tahera and Mufaddal Moula TUS was present in the precise manifestation as I had seen him in the dream; and this time around, it was my father himself who presented the shukr najwa to Moula TUS who had stated earlier: “mein lais”.
Overwhelmed and unable to utter a word, my father stood in front of Moula TUS; each time he blinked, streams of tears flowed through his eyes, and that is how he conveyed to Moula TUS that he is never going to stop remembering him, not even for a blink of an eye.
Moula TUS listened, placed his haath mubarak on my father’s hands, and with a beaming smile, looked into his tearful eyes ensuring that he is never going to let him slip into the darkness, here and also in the hereafter.
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Zainulabedeen Hussain Bhai Patel
Bangalore, India
In the means of shukr and zikr, anyone who is willing to share his/her’s acquaintance, incident or any experience with Moulana Muqaddas RA or Moulana Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS can mail it to dm@tazkerat.org & md@tazkerat.org
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