IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL
MY VISIT TO
Since the time, I read the fascinating
traveling details of Moulana Maudoodi (RA) in the book: “Ardul Qur’an” [Lands (referred) in the Qur’an] written
by his tour companion Br Asim Al-Haddad, I developed a hidden desire that if I
cannot see all the places where he went, at least I could visit Egypt and see
the places that he visited there. It took him four months to tour all the
places that are described in the Qur'an, presenting the fate of all lost
nations who disobeyed Allah and the Prophets of the time and were
destroyed in consequence. It would be within the context to add that my Tour
programs of historical places have always been rotating around this verse in
the Qur’an: “Do but travel in the land and see the
nature of the consequences for those who did deny (the Messenger)” – [Al-Imran
3: 137]
To fulfill my cherished desire, I requested
my beloved Br Baig who visits
Alhamdulillah, we reached
Next day, December 29, 06, we had our Edul-Adha.
Back in NY we would have it on December 30. Whole day on Ed day different TV
channels were displaying different features of Hajj at Mana, Arafat, and
Muzdalfa and pelting stones over Jamroot along with displaying scenes of animal
sacrifices. I was just watching the Arabic bulletin of Al-Jazeerah. Its news
coverage was good. Our beloved Brother, Dr Samy Ali promised to visit me on
Sunday, Insha Allah, and as per my scheduled program, I was to proceed to
My Ed
day in
1/05/07
The Days that I am passing here are really
memorable in the heart of Majestic Nile, the best gift of Allah to humans on
earth but its people have always been ungrateful to Him from the time
of ancient Pharos to the time of modern despotic rulers. They either worshipped
the inanimate objects of nature in human frame as their gods, adored them
through ages, made their big statues in granite and lime stones all around
or declared themselves as god on earth or god-incarnate. The present
day world, especially the secular West is crazy to have a look of them. As
such, tourist trade is the booming industry of this country and virtually
"all roads are leading" to their temples - the
Alhamdulillah, I returned to
If you peep through ancient history of
mankind, you will find that there were four centers of civilizations
that are the known sources of ancient human history: * the Indus Valley at Mohan Jodaro & Harappa
in Sind. That I visited in detail in February 1957 when I visited West
Pakistan to attend the historical meeting of Arkan [members] of JIP at
Machigoth; * the Second was the Mesopotamian Civilization of Iraq in between
rivers Euphrates and Tigris which I studied in detail from the old history
of Iraq prior to the birth of Prophet Abraham in Ray which now stands as
ruined by American bombardment; * the third was of Romans in Babylon in
Syria and * the Fourth was of Nile Valley which I m visiting now. The
Civilization of Indus Valley, the Mesopotamian and that of
It is very hazardous to go inside of
these temples that have been discovered through excavation deep in the mountain
caves in barren rocks and are now maintained through delicate process to
manifest the human links with its pagan past. It shows that human
arrogance was always there to negate the supremacy of God while posing
himself as human-god right from the very outset of human society. In
consequence, all the pagan-oriented civilizations were destroyed, annihilated
and ruined as the tradition of Allah goes for those people who deny His
authority and the Guidance that came from Him through His appointed Messengers.
Now only their signs and some remnants are visible in these excavations
that remind the man about the consequences of his/her denial to
their Creator and Sustainer. That is why Allah ordains at many places in the
Qur’an: Go and see the world and observe as what happened to the
people who denied His authority and His directives. These human tragedies show
how humans have misused their freewill and gone astray. These tours give the
lesson that man always misused his freedom of choice and suffered a lot in
consequence as he is suffering today due to his arrogance and denying the
authority of God. Human history reminds man to learn that his salvation
lies only in obedience to God. That is the lesson that was crystal clear
before us when I visited these remnants of ancient human history that are well
articulated in the ruins of these tourist’s spots.
But the most fascinating aspect of this tour
is the panoramic majestic view of
Though I visited all these temples but saw
only two from inside in mountain cave. I was most interested to know
about their time and the environment in which they were living in comparison to
the circumstances in which people are living today. I have noted the difference
and seen that though time has changed but the nature of man, the method of
oppression, the denial of human rights, dearth of security and the paucity of
living means of ordinary people are the same as they were there when human
civilization was in its infancy. Human nature has not changed at all and he is
behaving today the same way he was behaving as a primitive man.
The rulers of today in the Muslim world are
rather more cruel than that of the past. The greatest tragedy is that the most
developed and the enlightened nations of Europe and
In this process, I really
enjoyed the flow of
As promised, I composed a poem for my little
"princes" Zahra while visiting Aswan Dam where its man-made
lake, named after President Nasir, stretched over 500 miles in length is
a marvel of nature now to see. It should have been transformed into a
fish reservoir of sweet water for millions to earn their livelihood and a
paramount source of earning billions of foreign exchange.
1/06/07
Today I went to see the
In the evening hours, I went to see Professor
Dr. Ali Shaaban, Dean of the Faculty of African Languages & Translation,
Prof. Dr. M Ibrahim Abu-Ejl, the Chairman of the Department of African
Languages and Professor Dr. Abdel Khaliq an authority on Swahili language. The
meeting took place at the residence of Dr. Shaaban. It was a memorable evening
for me while discussing the position of Ummah in the light of global
hegemonies and the issues that it is confronted with in its wake. Dr Ali is the
Master of many languages like my beloved Brother Dr. Jameel A Siddiqi
Merhoom and he looks like him too in manners, simplicity and depth of
knowledge. Dr Ibrahim is the Master of Swahili. Language that is the lingua frank of many
African countries. I discussed with him the possibility of Dawah though
that language. The prospect appears to be bright.
DR Ali is teaching, Alhamdulillah, my
three books in Azhar's Dawah Department and was well aware of me. My three
Dawah books that are taught in Al-Azhar are:
* The
Commitment; * Methodology of Dawah; * The Greatest Need of Man
When I told him about my Website: WWW.dawahinamericas.com he enthusiastically said he will visit it
tonight. The details of these talks are varied and centered chiefly on
their respective academic achievements. I benefited a lot from these valuable
discussions. I will keep my contact fresh with them, Insha Allah, through
E-mail.
1/7 & 1/8-07
Today was the day to see the historical
features of
From there we went to see the Mosque built by
the famous companion of Rasulullah (S), Amru bin Aa’s (RA) who conquered
Both Masjid and the Fort are built on mountain
top and are always occupied with foreign tourists. I had to walk at least
hundred stairs up and down with support of wall, my stick and Br Baig. May
Allah bless him immensely. This Muhammad Ali was the main instrument in
establishing British influence in
From their we went to see a very big mosque,
"Masjid Refaai" where the dead bodies of King Farook of Egypt
and King of Iran are buried in separate tombs. They are the symbols of
"Ibrah" [Lesson]. Both were ousted from power and they could not get
two yards of land for burial in their respective kingdom ["Du ghaz Zamin bhi na mili kuchai yar
mein"] and their fast friend, the
It was around 2:30 PM and
we were feeling hungry. Our Taxi driver, who by profession was accountant and
driving taxi as a part time job, took us to a common place hotel where
"Kouchri" which is prepared by roasted Masoor, with small pieces of
noddle/spagati, gram and tomato “Chatni”. It was really delicious to
eat. All our kids like Asim, Zaid,
Adeel, Thamina and Rabiaa would have loved it. The hotel was bursting with
customers of all ages. I will ask my daughter-in-law Naila who is expert in
preparing new dishes to prepare it. She would have loved it too.
We then went to see Al-Azhar mosque. It
is quite huge and we saw that the students were sitting against each pillar and
studying their lessons. It was a beautiful scene and the environment where mental
faculties are developed. We offered ASR prayer in congregation. The Campus was
closed and I will go to see it again, Insha Allah, on return from Sharm al-
Sheikh and St Katherine Cathedral where I am proceeding Insha Allah tomorrow in
the morning hours by Egypt Air.
1/11/07
Last
night I returned, Alhamdulillah, from Sharm Al-Sheikh {SAS} at around 2 PM
late in night. It was a memorable trip to be treasured always in life.
I went there on
1/9 by Egyptian Air. It is hardly one hour flight from
This road journey through desert and barren
root to St. Katherine was a
pleasure to see where the mountains are melting into white sand through centuries
old process of decay - form sea sand into mountain and then from mountain again
into white sand. On the way there were villages of Arab poverty stricken Bedouins/nomads.
Security system is strictly tight, as said, for the safety and security of the
sea of tourists. A security man accompanied us in our van throughout this
journey.
St. Katharine is a monastery built by
Greek Orthodox and Russian Christians in about 300 AD around the Tree on which
Moses saw the light and presuming it as fire went there to get some of it for
his family waiting on the way-side. There Allah (SWT) addressed Moses
directly and assigned him the job to proceed to Pharaoh of Egypt: "Izhab
Ila Firaona innaho Tagha" [Go thou unto Pharaoh! Lo he has transgressed.
Ref: Taha - 20:24. For details of this story, Chapter Al-Quasas # 28 is
referred]. There I saw that sacred Tree and it is lush green for ever. It has
been surrounded by a solid stone wall to avoid people’s “attack”. We can see it
but not touch it. I prayed under its shadow by raising my hands to
Allah (SWT} and said: “O Allah! You
called a person passing through the wonders of Sinai; You called him in Your
unique way and appointed him as your “Rasul” [Messenger] to go and correct the
way of life of Pharaoh Ramsses’s II but today there are hundreds and thousands
of Pharaohs on Your earth and there is no Moses nor Your Magic wand that could
destroy their arrogance. O Allah! Give us that light and guidance to face
the Pharaohs of our time”. People were astonished to see my way of
prayers who were standing around the tree. I delivered my humble message
to Allah (SWT), perhaps, at the right place and let us see how Allah responds
to it as He always does. No prayer to Him goes unheard. This is my conviction.
Form there I had every intention to go to Jable
Musa [
However, I took some pieces of rocks of
JM, the history of that Monastery in a booklet which is full of only
"stories" and a small piece of the branch of that sacred Tree that my
Murshid tore before me to share with others.
We returned to Sharm around three PM and had
to stay temporarily for 8 hours in another hotel costing $50/ for resting,
shower and buffet dinner. This hotel is in the heart of Sharm and after dinner
we walked around a big tourist “Bazaar” around it where prices are extremely
high that suit only the foreign tourists [not like me]. My flight to
This is just in short what I could write but
what I have seen and learnt in my 21 days stay in
Shamim Siddiqi
January 31, 2007