My back-door neighbour

" O, o, o...." The father was trying hard to make his baby sleep on his lap. The scenario made me passionate as I had the same feelings 5 years before . The kid was still crying....I shut the back window , pulled the curtains on and returned to my bed. I sighed for a while...."These people are really poor! They don't have any place to live but to occupy other's under-constructed-building for a time being; and one day they will be driven away.......!"

Shhh......with the whirling sound of wind, I got up in the dead of night at 01:30 a.m., there was a haboob (sand storm) going on out side my house. The whole house seemed to be blown away within a moment. Sand with pebbles were scratching away our window glasses, debris were flying around with immense dust...the electricity went out immediately. I jumped out from my bed. There was a hew and cry going on in the nearby houses specially from the tin-shed houses. I stood before my back window, in order to figure out what exactly was going on there at the back of my hired house. I could see nothing but to hear the crying of innocents. I returned to my bed obsessed with thinking,"What will happen to my poor back door neighbour...?"

"Ummu?" younger kid cried out with fear.The mother was almost lifeless to see the severity of storm. She immediately embraced the younger while holding the youngest in the lap. The father was managing the ragged curtain to protect them from speedy sand. "Ah...!" a flying debris just hit the mother's head pushing her aside with daughters. The sound of his falling wife was immediately buried under the sound of the storm. By that time the small kid crept out from her lap and started crawling over the blood of mother in dark. The baby cried out loudly...

The father was still fighting with sandy storm. He could not even imagined her wife being perished away by that time! The younger one was still hiding at her mother's back and peeping out frequently with fear. Suddenly, the father could see a black flying object drawing nearer very fast. Fearing imminent adversary he left the fence at once and started running desperately for his family. But this time the debris hit the baby on floor before his father could reach him. The small body cramped to death immediately. It was just a nightmare for him....he started searching blindly his wife, baby in the dark. The habob took all his lovers away! The father cried out to the sky with cold blood in hands, "Yeah Allah....."

I jumped out from my bed sweating; by then the morning light was playing with the floor. With a subtle steps, I approached to the back window again remembering the legacy of my dream ...

" O, o, o...." The father was swinging the youngest child on his lap while the rest of his family members fell asleep!

I closed my eyes once again with my whole heart contented!

Whom to blame?

"The prices of most of the foodstuffs have already been increased a lot before the Ramadan begins...." the news bar crawls at the bottom of TV screen. I can not figure out why it takes place always right before Ramadan....while claiming ourselves to be true Muslims!

"Babul, have the prices of commodities been increased here?" I inquired our Bangladeshi maid servant working in Sudan.

"No, sir. They don't do that here! You know, my Sudanese boss gave us a lot of food stuffs for this Ramadan." He explained with satisfaction.

I looked at the TV again, people are blaming merchants, government's poor policies etc; on the other hand, the representative from the merchants group are telling different stories narrating all business rules i.e. price increases when demand increases, higher cost for imported foodstuffs and many more.

But what I know as a plain Muslim, Ramadan is for "Self-restraint" which generates from Taqwa(a state of the heart that motivates virtuous conduct and prevents evil action). Combining both fear of Allah and love for Allah lead to Taqwa. So in that case whom do I blame for price hike?

Again fasting in Islam generates various character building factors like obedience to Allah, patience, responsibility as a Muslim to others specially to the poor, self-control and self discipline, purification of soul, afterlife accountability etc. If it is so, did we learn any thing last year Ramadan? Who is to be blamed for?

Is it I? Or you? Or WE?

Do our education system teaches our children to be good human before to be good Muslim? Have you ever heard in any Friday prayers where our religious teachers or moulobhies like to preach, "It is sin to adulterate the food, deceiving by giving less weight, going for price hike unnecessary....?" Have you seen how confusions about religion are infused by our medias without consulting within themselves?

Every where there are something missing in our day to day life! In the holy Quran and hadiths of our prophet Mohammad (pbuh), there are numerous instances where it has been instructed to refrain us from hurting or paining in any form to our neighbours, our other Muslim brothers . Are they not enough for us? We eager to look west to copy or carry out the bad things leaving their good ones which are already there in our holy scriptures 1400 years before!

Hence it is to be WE who should be put into trail, not the above parties alone. Because our shallow knowledge as well as less interest on Islam have made this thing so easy for us to do.

I was pondering all those within myself. I sighed for a while....when I see same drama is being played some other Muslim countries too!

Hafez in Cafe!

It was 12 August 2008. I was on my way back to the office from Qatar Airways. Mr Naser, my senior colleague was accompanying me. It was around 1300 hrs, we were a bit tired after a long journey through busy streets of Khartoum, Sudan. I approached my senior by pointing to GAD Resturant in the Africa Street," Why not to have our lunch over there ?

"It's a good idea!" He nodded his head.

We entered the resturant with good appetite....and all foods seemed awaiting for us! We started having our lunch. In the mid way, I noticed a Bangali appearanced waiter was going past us to the juice corner. He was in uniform. Suddenly he appeared with two glasses of orange juice and started speaking in Bangla. It was amazing to find a Bangladeshi boy right here 3500 km away from Bangladesh! It seemed that I had knew that guy from long before. I was so delighted to see him there.

"When did you come here, my dear?"- I inquired.

"A couple of months before"-he smiled at us.

"What do you do here?" -my colleague asked him.

"I am a waiter here, sir"-he replied.

I asked," What class did you read back in Bangladesh?".

He answered ," I am a hafez (who memorises the Holy Quran)".

"Can you speak Arabic?"-I could hardly resist my temptation. Because I was rather struggling for last four months to learn Arabic and every time I tried I used to be stumbled over the techniques of learning it!

" Yes sir. You know, I lead almost every prayer as Imam (leader of prayer session) over there- right infront of the shop."- he pointed the place. " And I do practice reciting the Holy Quran every day. Well, you are not drinking the juice, sir. Remember you all are my guests today and you need not to pay for the juice!."

"Zamil, you see him; he is a quite fit for the job here. Look at him how easily he is earning for the nation due to his proficiency in Arabic." my senior opined. " I can remember, back in our country, the madrasa (kind of school for the study of Islamic religion and thought, especially the Holy Quran) system was about to be uprooted in the name of terrorism. On the contrary, they are earning foreign currency right from the country like Sudan...where the average temperature is as close as to the radiated heat of an oven!" he continued." But you see they can be made working force for the whole nation....". I losted myself in my daydream.....

" Batches of students of madrasas are reciting and understanding the Holy Quran. Some are researching the Quran and Sunnah(one of the basic sources of Islamic law, based on Prophet Muhammad(pbuh)'s words and deeds as recorded in the Hadith) and are finding the exact meaning of Islam. Some are going outside in order to eradicate the confusions of general masses regarding practised bidah (any type of innovation ), other batch has gone for vocational training. The government agencies are opening many voctional training and coaching centres in the remote areas of the country in order to make them fit for the employment in the Middle East and other Arabic-spoken countries. I could discover them shining like stars...doing extremely good, the name and fame of our beloved country is spreading quickly. The sons of the soil are pouring in thier hard earned foreign currencies for the development of her....our mother country once again started smiling with joy......."

"Zamil, we need to go now"- I was called upon from world of illusion, my colleague was about to stand. I thanked the boy. As I came out from the resturant I could feel his poor wet glance haunting at my back...I jumped into the illusion again......!