Bismillahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim : Green Mountain School : Tasawwuf

Our visit included a series of talks and a very rewarding tour of the country arranged by Hazrat Khawaja Qutab-ud-Din’s student and travel expert Rashid Minhas, which allowed us to to see many aspects of Pakistan: rural, urban, governmental, educational and religious.

Our first objective in Lahore was to visit the maqam of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh al- Hujwiri. The shrine complex is massive and at the far end is a newly built masjid where we prayed our joumu‘ah.

The courtyard is filled with literally thousands of people praying, meditating or simply lounging about, drinking in the sun. And crowds encircling dervishes singing nasheeds and na’at. As we made our way to the maqam, we had our first encounter with the crowd, the color and the wonderful fragrance of the red roses of Pakistan, which we were to meet many times thereafter.

Our host, Shaykh Hazrat Khawaja Qutab-ud-Din Faridi

At the conference on the following evening which marked the beginning of the blessed month of Rabi’a-l-‘Awwal, Sh. Nooruddeen spoke on the subject of The Cleansing of the Heart in light of the words of Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin
Chishti concerning love for all and malice towards none based on the Word of Allah, “I have not sent you save as a Mercy for all the worlds (people, communities, nations).

Hajjah Noura also spoke about the four Perfect Women, Assiah, Maryam, Khadijah, Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with them, and Hajjah Amr translated. The event went on for many hours, with worship and a qawali session which lasted until salatu-l-fajr.

There were upwards of 5000 people, men and women, who greatly appreciated the talk of both Shaykh Nooruddeen and Hajjah Noura as well as the many distinguished guest speakers who spoke throughout the day.

On our third day in Lahore Hazrat Qutab ud din Allah sanctify his secret also, arranged for Shaykh Nooruddeen to preside and speak at the award ceremony of the all Pakistan Annual week contest of mushairah (poetry) qira (recitation of Qur’an) debate etc. organized by Minhaj ul Quran International Institute, Lahore, under the spiritual guidance of Qudwatul Aulia Sayedina Tahir Alauddin Al-Gilani Some of the students, as well as the faculty and guests spoke and recited the Qur’an as well as beautiful poetry.

Afterwards we toured the Institute and visited the bookstore, which is a large publishing hub for both books and digital material. We found the center not only an institute of learning but of impressive peace and welfare work.

Unique to the Institute is a room in which people only recite salawat 24/7 year round and we were honoured to spend some time with some of them (shown below taking a break on the grounds of the Institute) reciting Darood Shareef.

In Lahore Shaykh Nooruddeen along with Khawajah Qutab ud din Faridi spoke on Radio FM 103 about the conference and on Sufism.

On our fourth day we traveled to Islamabad where Shaykh Nooruddeen spoke to a gathering presided over by by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, and which included university professors, CEO’s members of a number of NGO’s as well directors of various governmental departments and reporters. This talk was arranged by Dr. Ghazanfar Mehdi, a friend of Hazrat Khawaja Qutab ud din.

The audience was enthralled by the speech so much that the senator and the other guests insisted that Shaykh Nooruddeen extend it to double the time he had been originally allotted,

The other speakers, including Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Col. S. K. Tressler, former minister of state, as well as Hajjah Noura all referenced the

speech given by Shaykh Nooruddeen which was a continuation on the theme of his earlier talk in Lahore on the theme of “The Prophet, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, as “A Mercy to all the worlds, all peoples, all communities, all races and nations.” [21:107] Shaykh Nooruddeen coupled this ayat with the necessity for each of us to attend to the “Purification of the Heart” in order to go beyond outer or metaphorical Islam and truly practice the sunnah by extending mercy to all whom we meet with love for all and malice toward none. That evening we had dinner with the Senator and other guests including the dean and faculty members of the Islamic University.

Next morning Shaykh Nooruddeen, on the basis of the talk delivered the previous day, was invited to PTV by the producer P. Batool to be on Current Affairs with the well-known commentator, Imran Ahmed which was broadcast a number of times on All Pakistan TV.

After the show we left on the long and arduous trek up to Murree which took place in fog, rain and, eventually snow.. We had no idea what awaited us, as we could see nothing, until the next dawn when after Saltau-l-Fajr we watched from the balcony of our hotel room the Karakoram Range unveil itself from the mist and we could see across Kashmir all the way to China. Surely one of the most beautiful views on earth.

After descending from the mountains we stopped briefly in Rawalpindi, and then traveled to Gujarat (Pakistan) to visit the Jamia Qadria Aalmia and Shariat Girls College directed by Pir Muhmamad Afzaql Qadri. We were very late due to the roads, and not expecting the tremendous welcome offered us, with flags, salutes, roses, singing and general jubilation from the students.

There are 200 boys and 500 girls at the college, all of whom are boarding free and studying the din to become ‘ulema, huffaz, and teachers in their various villages. Shaykh Nooruddeen spoke briefly to the girls and then met with the boys and men for a talk and dhikr whilst Hajjah Noura and Hajjah Amr spoke to the girls and also participated in the dhikr, which was audible through the speaker system. We were very impressed by the number of students, by their concentration and the scope and ambition of the college.

(below) Shaykh Nooruddeen with Pir Muhmamad Afzaql Qadri and some of the teachers at the Jamia Qadria Aalmia and Shariat Girls College

He is building there a huge center where over 4000 people can be fed and housed on the various occasions of celebration and remembrance. The Center includes a hotel, a hostel for students (a large group of boys already attend school there), large room for cooking and storage, a big masjid, the maqamat of the shuyukh, considerable land and Hazrat’s house and offices.

We returned to Lahore for the last day before leaving for Egypt, during which time we had a remarkable meeting with the father of a good friend in America, Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Raza of Sialkot. His son had suggested that he bring a book gift for the shaykh. Hafiz Raza, after a two and a half hour bus ride from Sialkot, searched Urdu Bazaar, the center of Lahore’s publishing industry, for an open shop on Sunday morning which is the “weekend” in Pakistan. After couple of hours he was successful to find a shop open but the shopkeeper had only books in Urdu. Disappointed he was leaving empty handed when the shopkeeper called him back and handed him the only book he had in English “The Metaphysics of Khawaja Ghulam Faridi”, who was the Pir of the grandfather of Hazrat Khawaja Qutab-ud-Din Faridi.

It turns out that Khawaja Ghulam Farid was a seminal influence on many of the most influential thinkers in the modern western Muslim world including such figures as Shaykh Abdu-l-Wahid Yahya (Rene Guenon), Frithjof Schuon, Martin Lings, Titus Burckhadt and others of that school. This book was a completely unknown treasure which has enabled Shaykh Nooruddeen to connect a number of dots that heretofore were unconnected. Subhan Allah what a gift.

We departed with many good memories and impressions and hopes to return, having established a number of friendships and links that can produce educational opportunities for many in the future, ‘inshaa’Allah. We were especially impressed by the industry and far-sighted determination of those who are working to improve education in Pakistan for both young and old and both men and women, and for the loving care the Sufis spend on their students, their places of worship, and their visitors.

Our Visit to Pakistan, Winter 2007