Handwriting

My handwriting in Arabic : Ayats(verses) 97-98 from the Quran, Surah(chapter) Al-Mominoon

Translation:

And say, “My Lord! I seek refuge in you from the incitement of the devils

And I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they be present with me.” (at the time of death)

In the beginning of my married life, I couldn’t make out my (late) husband’s writing. Not all of it but some of the words. With time I managed to read his letters. He would send them to me through those who were coming on leave. He would write when he could, sitting in a tent, trying to snatch some minutes between his daily routine.

Sometimes the words would be scribbled upon a small piece of paper– all my love, R.

He wouldn’t write what he was doing, or when he would be coming on leave.

On the other hand his Urdu and Arabic writings were fantastic. Simply beautiful!

My own handwriting has detoriated from my earlier days — but it’s too late to do anything about it.  One reason: I am always in a hurry to do things.
Daily Prompt: Handwriting

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Hindsight

Hindsight
Now that you’ve got some blogging experience under your belt, re-write your very first post.

M͟Y͟ F͟I͟R͟S͟T͟ P͟O͟S͟T͟

FEBRUARY 24, 2013
Beginning
This is my first blog so I will begin with myself. I am a mother of two kids. I am currently on a visit to Riyadh and staying with my daughter. I love it here. I like the Arabs. People around the world are so misguided about them. I like the way they dress irrespective of whether they are rich or poor. The women are in abayas and have their faces covered. I wish I could do the same. I will continue with the abaya when I go back to my country, insha’Allah. I am used to wearing a chador partly hiding my face but I have found that wearing an abaya covers you more. Plus, an abaya leaves your hands free and you are not fiddling all the time trying to cover yourself properly. I am trying to learn Arabic. It is simply beautiful. My teacher with whom I study the Quran in-depth once said, “It’s the language of Jannah”. Here is a picture of where I am staying.

A͟ R͟E͟ W͟R͟I͟T͟E͟

I am finding it difficult to re-write what I wrote a year, and a a half ago. When I wrote my first post I had no experience with writing. It was so exciting to attempt my first write.

I can’t write the same thing all over again. The only thing I can do is to add a bit more to it.

It was my third visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). On the last two visits my husband R had accompanied me. Sadly he was no longer alive, and now through out life I had to navigate my journeys alone.

I had gone to Riyadh for a two week visit, but my daughter made me extend it to two months. My visit was about to get over, when Nola (my daughter) introduced me to the idea of blogging.

If I can go back in time I will forego telling one, or two people about my blog. The only thing I can do is to start a new one with a new name, so those I was foolish enough to tell, won’t be able to read me.

I started wearing the abaya after I came home to Peshawar. I felt very comfy in it. It made me feel safe when I had to do all the outside jobs R did for me. I wore the abaya standing in line to board the flight to Houston from Qatar, prompting the airport officials to tell me that maybe I was standing in a wrong line.

I had to stop wearing the abaya, when it became apparent that I was thought off as a security risk, while flying from one city to another here. It doesn’t get through some thick skulls, that a person bent on mischief won’t stand out in dressing. He or she will try to conform what the majority wears.

I will again start wearing it once I am back in my home country.

I am still learning Arabic one word a day, and has not progressed very far in it; cause the books I bought (to learn it), from Jarir book shop in Riyadh, are lying back home.

One big omission was taking photographs in, and around Riyadh. This time, if I go, I will keep on taking photos of all the lovely mosques, and fantastic buildings I saw there. Riyadh looks marvelous at night time with lighting.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/hindsight/

My Favorite Book

Daily Prompt: Off the Shelf
Take a look at your bookcase. If you had enough free time, which book would be the first one you’d like to reread? Why?

There is one book which I have read many times over, but I still haven’t my fill of it. I started reading it as a child. As a teenager (without anyone telling me) I started reading its translation along with the original words of Arabic.

I have reread it every year of my life many times, always with translation. I feel I am a better person because of it. I have always sought guidance from it.

Every time I read it, I discover a new depth, and meaning to it. I have always found solace, peace, and comfort from it. If I am worried, and open its’ pages, the verse I see confirms to my need at the moment. It’s truly a book of miracles, and a guidance for all humanity.

My favorite book is Quran.

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Learning The Quran

Before learning the Quran, a person has to start with a preliminary book called the Qaida. This has the Arabic alphabets (28 in all) plus the different shapes of the alphabets when they are joined. A religious teacher makes you learn their different sounds. After finishing the Qaida, you start with the Quran.

Normally, parents start with their children at an early age. They hire a teacher who can come and spend time with the child to make him or her learn. Now times are different. It’s easy to connect to a teacher via internet. My learning started at the age of three. A maid servant would accompany me to a nearby mosque. My lessons were thrice a week. I used to dread going there. The moulvi sahib (religious teacher) would be punishing boys left and right (I was the only girl there). Though he was never harsh with me, it was scary for me. Fortunately, my father got posted from that area so my learning came to a stop.

After a longer period, I started again with a lady teacher. My mother would send me to her house twice a week. This lady was a smiling sort of a woman. I don’t think I learnt a great deal from her. After my mother died and I shifted from uncle’s house to live with my father, my school started. Father hired another moulvi sahib to come in the evenings daily, except for weekends. I would be tired from school and homework, and there would come the moulvi sahib. I resented him a lot. Why? Because he would make me recite the Holy Book over and over (there was no escape from it) and my elder brother Lala would go scot free after a few minutes of his lessons. I would be sitting for hours on end (to me the time looked endless) and wanting to go and play.

One day I got so fed up with my teacher I threw my sipara (one of the thirty parts of the Quran) down on the floor. It was a terrible thing to do. I expected dire punishment from him, but he calmly told me to pick it up and went on with the lesson. I don’t exactly remember when I finished learning the Quran. Perhaps I was about seven.

I was eleven when my father gave me a Quran with English translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali as a gift. It was a marvelous gift. To this day, I have not seen a better translation. Before that, I did not know what was written as it was all in Arabic. Reading the Holy Book with translation opened its doors to me. My favorite time was reading the Quran after Fajr (morning prayers). Here, I confess sheepishly, I think as a child the stories fascinated me more than the religious aspect of it.

My childhood reading continued into adulthood. The Quran has always been my mentor, guiding me on the right path. Shukr Alhumdulillah (thanks and praise be to Allah) for giving me this Book. I would have been lost without it. Reading it has always been an uplifting experience for me. The Quran opens a person’s spiritual eyes. I always feel a sense of wonder,joy and elation. I feel truly blessed. There so many people who go through life unaware of what they are missing.

Beginning

This is my first blog so I will begin with myself. I am a mother of two kids. I am currently on a visit to Riyadh and staying with my daughter. I love it here. I like the Arabs. People around the world are so misguided about them. I like the way they dress irrespective of whether they are rich or poor. The women are in abayas and have their faces covered. I wish I could do the same. I will continue with the abaya when I go back to my country, insha’Allah. I am used to wearing a chador partly hiding my face but I have found that wearing an abaya covers you more. Plus, an abaya leaves your hands free and you are not fiddling all the time trying to cover yourself properly. I am trying to learn Arabic. It is simply beautiful. My teacher with whom I study the Quran in-depth once said, “It’s the language of Jannah”. Here is a picture of where I am staying.