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My Quintessential Quest - In Search of Truth
By Ahmed Makhdoom, kit no. 97/Ayub
ساٸين سسداٸين ڪرين مٿي سنڌ سڪار؍ دوست مٺا دلدار؍
عالم سڀ آباد ڪزين
شاھ
Sindh – my
motherland, my fatherland – has a remarkable
culture and traditions, and is rightly called the
"Gateway Of Islam," through her spiritual and
illuminating Sufi traditions. I am sharing these
few sentences with you on this Petarian Forums in
order to provide nourishment to my frail and
disturbed soul and nurture my spiritual quest.
It has been my
utmost desire to be amongst those who are striving
and struggling to make this world a better place,
a happy place, a peaceful place and a harmonious,
loving and caring place.
My dream is to know
Truth, see Truth, hear Truth and find Truth. Love
is what I need, love is what I give and love is
what I aspire for. My journey is to seek for the
knowledge of God and His beautiful Creation – seek
and you will find. This journey is my quest - a
perpetual quest, my pilgrimage - an everlasting
pilgrimage, my search - a relentless, unending and
untiring effort.
As a pilgrim for
life, a traveller, a wanderer, a seafarer –
continuing with my quest – I was asked, time and
again, which part of the world did I come from,
where was I born and why I had to leave that
birthplace of mine to live somewhere else in the
world.
This paper is about
sharing with my friends the lessons that I have
learnt and the knowledge that I have gained
through my challenging journeys on board the cargo
ships where I lived and worked as a an apprentice
and than an Officer and a Captain.
At the onset let me
indulge in seeking for your understanding through
this sincere appeal for forgiveness. I am not a
specialist and, certainly, I am not a Master,
which I shall never be. I was a Seafarer and a
wanderer, traveller and wayfarer I remain. My
journey is a pilgrimage of sharing with those whom
I care, respect and love. Yes, qualified I may be,
but expert I am definitely not. Fragile I am,
inadequate I feel. I seek your forgiveness for all
the errors and silly mistakes I shall make and
faults me shall commit in putting forward before
you this humble and modest presentation.
My Journeys, my
wanderings and my travels have always been a
perpetual, relentless and quintessential quest for
Knowledge and learning, because my mentor, my
guru, my guide, that wonderful man from the
desert, Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him)
had always exhorted and advised his people: "Go
forth to learn – seek knowledge wherever it is
found. Go, even though you may have to go to
China, go ahead!"
My Quintessential
Quest started when many years ago in early 1960s –
sailing through oceans, seas, rivers and waterways
of the Earth. As a raw Cadet, an apprentice, a
student, I started acquiring right knowledge,
acquiring right tools – learning all the
principles of seamanship, rules of the Road,
systems of Navigation and mapping Charts, world
weather patterns, climatology and Meteorology and
oceanographic sciences.
Mine was a quest for
knowledge of great Oceans, Seas and International
waterways. Sailing through the Oceans, I worked, I
strived, I struggled, I laboured and I learnt and
learnt. I felt sea sick and homesick and finally
became a hardy, salted seafarer. I sailed on ships
of various shapes and sizes and, of course, of
various uses as well as cargo and goods intakes.
After going through
years of training and education in Naval
Academies, schools and colleges, they gave me a
Certificate of Competency and told me that I was
now a Captain. "You will be known as Master of the
Ship,” they announced. But, I was not sure.
“Am I really the one
that they are telling me what I am?” I
sarcastically asked myself as I stood proud,
powerful, larger-than-life Captain on the Bridge
of the ship, with his equally proud and polished
Officers.
Suddenly, when the
Nature became angry, as the weather deteriorated
with hurricane-force winds, stormy seas and
turbulent waters, I found myself to be such a tiny
person – a mortal human being, after all. I could
not do much to save my ship, millions of dollars
worth of cargo on board and the precious lives of
innocent crew members, despite my years of
training, learning, experience, expertise and
skills. I felt doomed and shattered.
My proud uniform in
tatters, my pride humbled. I did my best trying to
save my ship from the certain death, destruction
and drowning. Did all I could – still nature got
angrier and angrier. Until, I fell on my knees and
begged: “I am so tiny and fragile, You are so
Mighty and Powerful….Oh, Great Lord, wherever You
are, whoever You are; You are the Real Master, the
Extraordinary Captain of the Universe, Help me!
Help me, Oh Dear Lord, Help me.”
And, lo and behold!
Help did surely come. And it came over and over
again for many years as long as I lived and worked
at sea. The ‘tiny’ ships survived, they did not
become Titanics or like any other wreck under the
bottom of the sea or on the shore of the beach.
Yes, the tiny beings on board lived to thank that
Great Captain of the Oceans, that Merciful Master
of the Universe.
Yes, not just this
bearded ‘goat’ who prayed, fell down on his knees
and beseeched God - all other shipmates as well –
Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists,
Zoroastrians, Sikhs, others - yes, all prayed to
One and Only Almighty Lord for deliverance from
the calamities we were in our prayers were
answered and granted again and again – for many
years, on many ships.
Should I take credit
for “My God” alone? Not at all – God is ONE, One
for ALL. Oceans and seas taught me some great
lessons of life. Yes, when nature became angry -
those humbling moments taught me that - there is
more to life than just my own Faith. There are
other Religions, Faiths and Beliefs equally as
powerful and meaningful as mine. There has to be
One Supreme Lord, One God Who answers the call of
all His Creatures, irrespective of the way we pray
to Him, ask Him. Yes, I learnt a great lesson from
the Seas - lesson in Humility, Humbleness and
Harmony, lesson that Humanity is just One Big
Rainbow, although all of us prayed to Him in our
own way.
It is at sea that I
soon realised the reality of life and God’s
wholesome universe. I soon understood the reality
of existence - ours is beautiful life as beautiful
human beings - realization that humanity is so
beautiful, humanity is in so many colours and
hues. Yes, human beings of varied races, cultures,
different religions and faiths and beliefs are
decorating our world, our Earth everywhere like
rainbow decorating sky in so many beautiful
colours all shining, all brightening. This is the
Reality, this is the Beauty of God.
This beautiful
guidance is given in all God’s scriptures. My own
Holy Scripture, the Qur’an (49:13), teaches me: “O
Mankind! We Created you from a single (pair) of a
male and a female, and made you into many nations
and tribes (races) that you may know each other
(not that you may despise each other). Verily, the
most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he
who is) the most righteous of you. And (remember)
God has full Knowledge and is well acquainted
(with all thing, affairs and matters).”
Yes, my Beloved!
Thou art everywhere and in every place with
everyone. I beg you, Oh Lord! Come and sit inside
my heart, mind and souls as well. This is my
Quest, my quintessential quest to Love Thee and
Thee Alone! This is my quest to strive to seek and
to find Thee! And, as my murshid, my guru, my
teacher, my guide Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Saaeen
says:
صاحب تنھنجي صاحبي؍
عجب ڏٺي سون؍
پن ٻوڑين پاتال ۾؍ پاھڻُ تارين تون؍
جيڪر اچين مون؍ ت؎ ميريانٸي مانَ لھان
شاھ
“Sahaba tunhjee
sahibee, ajabu dditthee suun,
Panu bmorreen
paataala mein, pahannu taareen tuun,
Jeikara acheen muun,
ta meiriyaaee maana lahaan.”
Lord! Thy Lordship
and Thy Majesty so supreme!
Creation all
everywhere saw with awe sublime;
Sometimes a tiny
slim leaf Thee drown so low,
Heavy bergs at times
higher above Thee flow,
Lord! If ever in my
heart Thee come and reside,
Honour and respect
shall forever be by my side.
.......................Humbly translated by Ahmed
Makhdoom
With lots of love,
respects and affections, I am your brother,
Ahmed Makhdoom
ڌڻين شاد ۽ آباد رکيوَ
دعاءن ۾ ياد ڪندا
احمد مخدوم |
