Shar Shah Ghazi Hazrat AlHajj Pir Haroon-ur-Rashid

Speech delivered by

Ghous-i-Zaman, Qutab-i-Daoran, Mamba-i-Jud-o-Irfan, Shar-i-Shah Ghazi

AL-Hajj Pir Harooni-ur-Rashid [May he lives long]

on the eve of the annual sitting arranged for the recitation of the Quran:

17^th , January 2011.

ALHAMD O LILLAH ! teeming millions of thanks to Allah, the Almighty, that the Lord of kingdoms has bestowed upon us His remembrance , million and trillions of blessing [and peace] be upon the Hazrat Muhammad, The Selected One, [peace be upon Him], by the dint of whom the Lord of kingdoms and blessed us with this kindness.

Dear audience Allah, the Almighty, has granted a lofty status to a mother. A disciple, once, visited the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and requested humbly,” O the Messenger of Allah who should be treated with the profound consideration?”  He replied your mother. He repeated the same request, the Holy Prophet replied with the same answer. Again, he asked the third time, “After that, who should be treated with the profound consideration?”  Said that your mother. The forth time He (PBUH) said that your father. A disciple visited the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and told Him that he had carried his mother on his shoulders seven times for hajj, if he had rendered his mother his due. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) replied that you had not rendered her the due of the one night she kept waking up for you for the entire night. These sayings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the ordinance of Allah are the obligations for us. To act upon them is to be prosperous, and the source of excellence and the salvation. It is the same reason that by the grace of Allah, we have arranged the sitting of the recitation of the Holy Quran for the Pure Women [of Mohar Sharif; the Maee Sahiban], for there can never be any other alternative return better than this.

The Holy Quran, about which Allah, the Almight, said

“If this Quran had been sent on some mountain then, you would certainly have seen it bowed, split and crushed to pieces for fear of Allah ……”  

[Sura al-Hashr: chapter No.28; Verse NO.21]

The Holy Quran bears profound stateliness, and is deeply loved by God. It has been the source of righteousness for the entire creation, and reading it pays limitless reward. Therefore, we, by the grace of Allah, deemed it the grand asset to present Allah for the virtuous women [of Mohra Sharif: the Maee Sahiban].

There is a gigantic contribution of these virtuous women [of Mohra Sharif; the Maee Sahoban] to the utter Ummah; they have conferred huge benevolence upon the Ummah of the Messenger (PBUH); the matchless benevolence of Hazrat Aminah (BBUH), who fed the Holy Prophet her milk; the profound benevolence of Hazrat Saadiya BBUH who fed the Holy Prophet  instead of her son; the greatest benevolence of pious woman Hazrat Khadija Alkhubra (BBUH), who sacrificed her entire wealth for the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and greatest of all is the benevolence of the chaste waives of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) who led their utter lives  in the service of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and the matchless benevolence of Hazrat Fatima Alzuhra (BBUH) who had been the beloved daughter of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).  This sitting is arranged for them, who by the dint of the Hoy Prophet (PBUH) served the chain of the Nisbat e Rasooli like my grand grandmother, my grandmother, and my mother. My elder sister, the mother of Yousaf (the nephew of Hazrat Pir Haroon ur Rashid), took great care of mine as a mother does. I was five when she cradled me, and on whose death we felt deeply the necessity of the establishment of this sitting.

Let me narrate you an incident of my grand grandmother, the mother of my grand father Hazrat Khwaja Qasim (BBUH). She had had forty buffaloes. When Hazrat Bawa jee started visiting Kiyan Sharif, the buffaloes starting dying slowly, and all of the forty buffaloes died. Such a judgment is set to be gone through for the true seekers of the path of the righteousness to strengthen their faith and to humiliate the Satan. Therefore, when the last time he paid his visit with a large number of companions, on his return, he thought that he had not had anything to provide at home, how these companions would be served at home. A person was sent from there to the Kashmiri bazaar to a Sikh shopkeeper,Juda, for flour. He gave his silver ring, as a token, to show him and lend flour for them, and return Mohra Sharif as soon as possible. When they reached Mohra Sharif, the food was ready for everyone. Hazrat Bawa jee was stunned himself, and served them the food. After they left, he asked his mother about the arrangement of the food, for he did not leave anything for the guests. There had been scanty quantity of edibles for the family. His mother told that they ate the boiled grass and preserved those edibles for the guests, with the intension to serve them Such are the generous mothers of generosity, who serve the Tareeqat [Spirtuality], not like the one who demand for entertainment and food as a pir or a disciple enters the house, holding his beard; such are not the mothers rather they are the vicious Satans. How those great mothers should have been served? Whatsoever could be done for them is insufficient. In addition, supreme to all returns is to pray before Allah, and the recitation of the Holy Quran is the utmost service for them. This time and this sitting are selected for the reason that all materialist people of the world are indulged into the worldly entertainment on the onset of the New Year; they spent their precious time in rebellious activities of obscenity and vulgarity. We have started the New Year in a way that all of us could have a blessed forthcoming year, so we decided to start the year with the recitation of the Quran to change the lives of the visitors to the Quranic lives, and be triumphant and victorious in both of the worlds. That is why; it is arranged on the eve of start the New Year. The fortunate people do understand its vitality, and attend it by sacrificing; leaving their all engagements, neither the sleep is beloved to them nor any comfort, nor warmth. In addition, do observe that it is a test, and everybody has to go through it. If Allah, the Almighty, bestows upon every thing, He does test. The Holy Quran warns not to think that you would not be tested, you would have to go through it. When the Jihad was decreed obligatory, a disciple requested “O the Messenger of Allah, why the killing was declared obligatory, it would kill both of the parties. You are blessed with the approved invocations, simply pray in such a way that all of the nonbelievers are killed.” He replied, “what would be the yard stick of being honest and hypocrite. Every body would proclaim to be devoted. This test is imperative.” The Romans started the preparation for the venture against Muslims. When the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was informed, He summoned all of His devotees and suggested that the Romans should be defeated at the their home land, we did not want to be attacked there, “ let’s come and get prepared, bring every thing you have , and lets march.” That was a very hard time, with scorching heat and for the ripen crops, it had been the time that the crops were the only source of income. If the crops were ruined, there would be huger and drought for the entire year. However, not even a single disciple talked of reaping and the scorching heat. Moreover, the land they were to invade had also burning season. All of them said yes to the call. Everybody was ready and brought whatsoever he had had with him,  that was the both physical and monetary sacrifice. One of the disciple had nothing to devote, he watered the garden of a Jew for the whole night, presented the wages of his service for the battle. Hazrat Uthman (BBUH) presented nine hundred camels loaded with the articles, and five thousand golden coins. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) was very happy for him. The writers quoted that the face of the Holy Prophet was glowing like the moon, but we do not accept that quotation, for the moon is a matchless object to be compared with the Holy Prophet’s charisma; that face was far more glowing than the moon, carrying the unique charm. Yet that was the time of contentment, moving His (PBUH) hand into the golden coins hither and thither, He (PBUH) was saying that the previous and the forthcoming sins of Uthman were forgiven. Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddque had had forty thousand golden coins, the richest person in Makkah, but he sacrificed every thing in the name of Allah. He saved only six thousand golden coins for the expense of the migration, [from Makkah to Medina] that he would be spending as per order of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). It is a long history that needs a long time to be narrated, but right now let me describe you that Hazrat Abu Bakar had possessed nothing with him at the time of the call for Jihad. When the Hoy Prophet announced to bring anything, he put off his dress and covered his body with sack-fabricated cloth, buttoned with the thorns, and handing over the dress to his slave, directed him to add it, secretly, so that no one should be known, to the articles piled for Jihad. The time of revelation approached and Hazrat Jibrael BBUH visited the Holy Prophet dressed up in the sack-fabricated dress buttoned with the thorns. It had been the stunning sight for the holy Prophet (PBUH), for Jibrael used to visit Him in the dress of the Light. On inquiring for the reason, Jabreal replied to the Messenger of Allah that every single (angels) inhabitant of the Heavens (Ursh) was dressed himself up in the same appearance. Allah has ordered to put on this dress, for He adored the dress of Abu Bakar. The crux of matter is that assessment is an extraordinary thing. So they prepared themselves and marched to invade, carrying nothing, there’d been time of scorching heat and definite danger of damage of the annual income through crops. However, there was no pain in heart of any disciple.

Hazrat Umer BBUH says that in the situation of intense thirst, we used to get water from the stomach of the camels.  There had been no edibles, and nineteen persons had one date. Having chewed by one person, one date was handed over to the other person, and that was how nineteen persons had to do with one date. Nevertheless, nobody complained, no body requested to go back.  Only the hypocrites presented the lame excuses: some one said that he had a patient at house to look after; some one said that his annual crops would be ruined and their children would depart this life by hunger, and few presented such mean things that could not be mentioned here. All of Companions returned with flying colors of success. They were successful in their test, and accepted by Allah. Today, here there is a test of heavy sown fall with chilly cold. You have to wake in cold here, but who would be ready to bear all pains for the sake of the pleasure of Allah. These are the people who are sitting here for any sacrifice: they are ready to endure any hardship: they are ready to face the coldness. Those who left their children, left their houses, and succeeded In the text of Allah. They are blessed with the fulfillment their cordial hopes, Allah will load their laps with the wealth of both of the worlds; their laps would be filled; would be filled, and not a single person would go empty handed.

You would be blessed with whatsoever you desire.

The world would rush to your feet itself.

The paradise would rush to your feet itself.

You would be blessed, whatsoever you desire.

The angels would bless peace upon you, standing on your way. Trees would bless peace upon you . Stones would send peace upon you. Here, come the slaves of the Messenger of Allah.

Here, come the slaves of Allah……….. They are the ones who are successful in My test.

However, be aware; for God’s sake…., for God’s sake……., never let this precious wealth get ruined with any of your action or word. May it not happen that by the dint of any of your action or word this blessed wealth is ruined.

Let us pray now……..

May Allah ,the Almighty, by the dint of His Personality , by the dint of His Words [the Qu’ran] , by the dint of His Beloved Friend Hazrat Muhammad, the Selected One PBUH. By His grace blessed us with His love, blessed us (noble) deeds and blessed opportunity, May He accept it all. And forever, bless us a life of being His Slave, being the salve of the Holy Prophet PBUH, and take our lives, when, May we be His true men and true slave of the Holy Prophet PBUH and on the Doomsday may we be born His true man and true slave of the Holy Prophet PBUH, and save us from any embarrassment.

Now what should I say. All of your desires are fulfilled. Allah has filled your laps, Allah has not remained any deficiency.

I would only pray for you to be blessed with the courage and power to save this blessing of Allah from any harm, and not let be ruined. [Amen]

Translated by :         Maskeen : M. Vaqar Ali

Give One Take Ten

Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin proclaims India the

sister country having profound concern about her bridegroom, as he

further said, “we want a very good match for her. But we are very much

against if that bridegroom could deceive one day."  Perhaps the Russian high-ups and the foreign office bearers are feeling perplexity on the Indian stance of getting in touch with the US, and Moscow would not like too many eggs being put in the “New Delhi-Washington basket”. The recently concluded Russian President Medvedev’s visit re-emphasized the progress in India-Russia strategic partnership in the ten years since it was instituted in 2000. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, flew to New Delhi, to reaffirm the strategic nature of economic ties in the energetic, technological and military areas. Medvedev talked with his Indian counterpart, Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna and with the maximum leader of the National Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi and other politicians. Since the signing of the Declaration on the strategic cooperation between Russia and India, in October 2000, trade increased almost six times and, despite the crisis. This year, this amount may exceed 10 billion USD, while the part of Indian imports of machinery, and Russian equipment transport expanded up to 51 percent last year.

Let’s have a look at the overall geopolitical framework of the relations of India with Russia, where India is, certainly, giving one and taking ten. India with the population of 1,190,340,000, GDP (PPP) $3.526 trillion ($3,176 per capita) and with military expense of $32.7 billion (FY 2009-10)  has deep bilateral relations with Russia of 142,008,838 residents, with GDP (PPP)  $2.687 trillion ($18,945 per capita) and spending  $39.6 billion (FY 2009–10) in defense sector. During the Cold War, India and the Soviet Union enjoyed a strong strategic, military, economic and diplomatic relationship. The relationship began with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Soviet Union in June 1955. Relations between the Soviet Union and India did not suffer much during the rightist Janata Party's coalition government in the late 1970s, although India did move to establish better economic and military relations with Western countries. What had taken years to negotiate in the end 1960s and in 1971 took just about a couple of hours to re-negotiate in end 1992. The new treaty involved strength of a couple of sections that contained remarkable facets of stability of mutual commitments of the Indo-Soviet Treaty, as well as positive developments in Indo-Soviet relations in the two decades thereafter. The Soviet Union had played a pioneering and valuable role in the industrialization of India. This assistance has always been cherished. However, by the mid-1980s, it was evident that the Soviet economy was facing very severe strains. While the world was celebrating the advent of democracy in Russia, the situation in the country in 1992 was chaotic, indeed catastrophic. The Soviet system had collapsed. The economy was in a free fall. The profundity of deprivation and depression were reflected in a massive increase in suicides, a breakdown of law and order, and the emergence of mafia groups. The most terribly affected areas of the economy were the strategic areas of defense productions and research, civilian and military nuclear and space sectors, manufacturing, scientific centers of excellence, health care and food production. During the very difficult years of contrary pulls and pressures, the continuation of cooperation on vitally important Indo-Soviet strategic projects was problematic and uncertain with the new Russia. Reviving Indo-Russian defense collaboration was another top priority. The collapse of the USSR led to the dispersal of hundreds of defense production enterprises in newly independent States, though the majority remained in Russia. Moreover, the virtual stoppage of orders from the Russian Armed Forces, not only for new equipment, but also for minimal maintenance support for existing weapons systems, including all those in use in India, was very bothersome. India tried to shift the focus from one of dependence to inter-dependence; to transform a buyer-seller relationship to that of a longer term partnership, based on joint research and development, co-production and integration of Indian components in Russian weapon systems, including multi-role SU-30 MKI combat aircraft, which has now become main-stay of the IAF, the MIG-21 BIS upgrade program, equipping submarines with modern missiles, initiating actions for acquisition of T-90 tanks. The first major Indo-Russian joint venture for the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile was concluded at the Indian Embassy. As a result, the value of Indian defense collaboration, excluding some major projects, increased 26 fold. The uneven waters were successfully navigated in continuing the process of production of a nuclear submarine. After France went back on its commitment on the supply of cryogenic engines to India, a contract had been signed, on far better terms, with the concerned Soviet state agency. The Russian government conveyed their final decision not to implement this contract, in view of their international obligations, perhaps by the dint of the obvious US pressure, but due to some unorthodox diplomatic measures, a number of cryogenic engines were supplied to India from Russia. In the meantime, there was also significant technological collaboration leading to the development of indigenous cryogenic engines. There were other such cases as well in strategic areas. And it continued to rise thereafter. Defense collaboration was thus not only stabilized but given an unprecedented boost.

Both India and Russia, demonstrate thoughtful diplomatic executions into different realms. The co-chaired by the External Affairs Minister from the Indian side and a Deputy Prime Minister from the Russian side, the Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC) has had 13 sessions so far. To inspect the ways to increase trade, in February 2006, India and Russia set-up a Joint Study Group of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). In Energy sector ONGC-Videsh Limited acquired 20% stake in the Sakhalin-I oil and gas project in the Russian Federation, and has invested about US $ 1.7 billion in the project. The Russian company Gazprom and Gas Authority of India Ltd. have collaborated in joint development. Space is another key sector of cooperation between the two countries. During President Putin's visit to India in December 2004, two space-related bilateral agreements were signed viz. Inter-Governmental umbrella Agreement on cooperation in the outer space for peaceful purposes and the Inter Space Agency Agreement on cooperation in the Russian satellite navigation system "GLONASS". Subsequently a number of follow-up agreements on GLONASS have been signed. In November 2007, the two countries have signed an agreement on joint lunar exploration.

Under the Integrated Long-Term Program of cooperation (ILTP) is the largest cooperation program in the of Science and Technology sphere. Development of SARAS Duet aircraft, semiconductor products, super computers, poly-vaccines, laser science and technology, seismology, high-purity materials, software & IT and Ayurveda have been some of the priority areas of co-operation under the ILTP. To follow the scientific cooperation, in August 2007, a MoU was signed between Department of Science and Technology and Russian Foundation of Basic Research, Moscow. On international terrorism, the foreign offices of India and Russia see eye to eye that there is no justification for terrorism, and this must be fought against, without finding the middle ground and wherever it prevails. Russia has supported the Indian draft at the UN on Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism [CCIT]. They signed a MoU on collaboration to thrash about terrorism in December 2002. In Delhi on 24 October 2006 the fourth meeting of.a Joint Working Group on Combating International Terrorism was held. 

Such diplomatic and strategic pace eventuated positively for New Delhi, and on 17^th Dec. 2010, the Russian Ambassador to India, Alexander M. Kadakin, described terrorism coming out of Pakistan, and urged Islamabad to do away with the 43 terrorist training camps that are known to be operating from its soil. He said that India and Russia know exactly from where the threat is coming from. Moreover, Medvedev decreed India a “strong candidate” to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. China’s Wen said that China “understands and supports India’s aspiration to play a greater role in the United Nations, including in the Security Council.” Russia, the U.S., France, China and the U.K. are the council’s permanent members at present. They hold veto power over any measure.

Contrarily, the vocal expression from the Pakistani foreign office sounds matchless, ‘Major Powers have a responsibility in this regard as discriminatory policies are contributing negatively,’ Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said at a press briefing. Yet depending utterly upon the verbosity would never prop up the sagging regional diplomacy of Pakistan. On the basis of give and take, as said by Mark Twain, “The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy – give one take ten.”, Pakistan could have maximum from its geopolitical strategic position on the face the earth. From a strategic and economical point of view Pakistan enjoys a key position in the South Asia. There are few links by land to the north and northwest because of the large mountain ranges and the climate. However, the Khyber Pass provides a route to Afghanistan and the Karakorum Highway now makes communication with China easier. There are number of passes in Pakistan which join Pakistan with its neighboring countries. Pakistan's coastline on the Arabian Sea is in a central position for trading by sea both with South Asia and the Far East and beyond and with the Middle East to the west. In addition, some of the air routes between west and east pass through Pakistan because of this central position.   

Being optimist, one should hope that the steering minds would craft such policies that could eventuate into having the maximum advantage of the unique gift of God i:e; the geographical position of Pakistan, along with the natural resources of the land.