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Imam and Khateeb of Masjid
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Maulvi
Mubarak Ali Shah
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By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui
Maulvi Syed Mubarak Ali Shah was the Imam and
Khateeb of the CCP masjid when I arrived at Petaro
in 1965. He joined the college in 1963 and
retired in 1992.
He was one man who had
an important impact in my tender years
as the Maulvi Sahib of
our mosque at Petaro. Maulvi Mubarak Ali Shah was
Pathan, and lived in the quarters adjacent to the
masjid. His family also lived
there in that room with him.
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Throughout my four years at Petaro, I was very regular
in my prayers at the mosque. Thus, I would meet Maulvi
Sahib 5 times a day along with my formal five times
meetings with Allah.
He was
also the leader of the tablighi jamaat activities at
Petaro. Along with Ghazanfar Bhai (303/Latif),
Farooq Taj Bhai (277/Liaquat) and
Malik Fakhruddin,
518/Latif (my batchmate), I too became closely attached
to the tablighi activities. We would have our weekly
gasht in the houses followed by the address by Maulvi
Sahib after Asr prayers. We also used to
have our zikr sessions once a week after isha prayers which
had a deep spiritual impact on me.
Maulvi
Sahib also used to spend spare time with me to help me read
the Qur’an correctly. We used to have sessions in the mosque
where he would correct me in the art of tajweed.
Maulvi
Sahib was a very simple man. And sometimes simplicity doesn’t
pay in this country. The boys used to love playing pranks on
Maulvi Sahib as he was an easy target.
Since
Urdu was not his native tongue, he would often make
grammatical mistakes. Gender of verbs was his biggest problem.
Thus Allah used to “farmati hai” instead of “farmata
hai”. He also used to take our Islamiyat classes. The
naughty boys would make sure they would distract Maulvi Sahib
towards something they would consider funny and thus we passed
our time. We never really learnt anything about Islam. One of
the ways to keep us jolly was to bring lots of tomatoes to
class from the farm. When Maulvi Sahib would turn towards the
blackboard, tomatoes would fly on to the ceiling fan and
splash freshly made ketchup on the walls or on the shirt of
some cadet. That would be the end of the class with Maulvi
Sahib in a fit of rage. Such is the
fate of our faith and our values.
Maulvi
Sahib’s words in his autograph are golden, where he talks of
1) Faith in Allah (iman), 2) Values and Character (akhlaq),
3) Deeds that are in consonance with Faith (amal), 4)
Not to fear worldly difficulties, and 5) Seeking guidance and
help from Allah alone. Whenever I read this passage, it also
brings a smile to my face, remembering his mix up of genders
in expression. This is also enshrined in his autograph.
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