Segments of Time in the Sky of Kuwait (1)
(A short story)
Preface: How can we reckon the time we have lived?
.
Do we count it in hours or days, or in weeks, months and years??
I believe it is not by any of that.. It is by the experience we have gone through, and by the lessons we draw from those experiences..
A person's lifetime is defined by those segments he passes through.. Your age may be twenty years, yet you have gone through the experiences of forty years.. so that will be the sum of your life.. indeed, it is the value of your life..
These are some segments of time that I lived during the period of my studies in Kuwait, at the School of the Greatest Messenger (s).. hoping that there may be something of a lesson in them..
(1)
The book (Saluni Qabla an Tafqiduni) walking on two legs!!
The courtyard of the School of the Greatest Messenger (s) in Kuwait is spacious, surrounded by rooms on every side (some of them residences for some of the scholars). The school's sky is open.. and it has a shaded arcade.. It is truly expansive.. You can let your thoughts wander in it.. and be like the Peripatetic philosophers..
You can connect with the sky by your sight, contemplating the galaxies in it..
A shining moon..
And a radiant sun..
And everything that gladdens the soul you find in its building..
An edifice of learning that has long sheltered scholars and jurists..
The doorbell rang..
The Afghan Hajji who works at the school began to get up heavily.. because he is old. He opened the door.. and from outside there appeared a luminous scholar surrounded by awe and dignity..
The Shaykh said: Peace be upon you...
The worker replied to him: And upon you be peace.. Please come in, Your Eminence Shaykh.. your room is ready..
May Allah grant you well-being..
***
Sayed Mahmoud, eighteen years old, in his small room on the upper floor of the school, is leafing through some books.. A movement below reaches his hearing.. for the school is very quiet.. He went out to the arcade and cast his gaze downward, leaning on the railing.. He saw one of the scholars, from behind, entering one of the school's rooms and closing the door upon himself..
Who is this new guest??
That is what went through his mind..
He went down the stairs and asked the Afghan worker: Who came to us today? It seems I saw one of the scholars?
The school worker said in a low voice: Yes, it is Shaykh Muhammad Rida al-Hakimi.
Astonishment struck Sayed Mahmoud.. Who?! .. Is he the author of the book (Saluni Qabla an Tafqiduni)??
The worker: Yes, my son..
Here time went back a little..
Another feeling came over Sayed Mahmoud..
Memories went back.. to when he used to come out of Ahmad al-Omran Secondary School (al-Hoora)..
heading with his classmates.. toward Manama on foot, to pass by the bookshop..
for he used to save his daily pocket money to buy a book at the end of every week..
That bookshop, which was in the alleys of Manama, was called al-Irshad Bookshop.. He goes in and buys the book (Saluni Qabla an Tafqiduni)..
The seller was a man from his own village, and he did not know then that this man would one day be his ʿamm (his wife's father)..
He only knows that he loves him because he lives among books..
How many nights he stayed up with this book..
reading the virtues of the Commander of the Faithful, and his ethics.. his maxims and his judgments.. A book made up of two volumes, depicting the life of the Commander of the Faithful (a) as a movement full of virtues.. It makes you live in the time of ʿAli (a)..
Sayed Mahmoud came back with his memory to the present..
and lived his moment.. He is now in Kuwait.. and the author of that book is with him in one building..
He wished that this venerable Shaykh would come out so that he could see him and sit with him..
He did not rest for a single moment..
When will this Shaykh come out of his room.. Ah.. it is the sound of the adhan delighting the ears..
So he would have to come out at the time of the adhan..
And indeed that happened..
A man came out preceded by an air of awe..
He walked with moderation in his gait toward the washrooms..
He performed the ablution thoroughly.. and prayed the prayer of the humble..
Ma shaʾ Allah.. Sayed Mahmoud had not expected the Shaykh to be of this age.. He is old, his beard ablaze with white, with no trace of black in it.. and his stature is short.. humble in his life, as if he were in perpetual prayer.. Yes, he is in unbroken connection with his Lord..
After Sayed Mahmoud had performed the prayer.. he hurried toward the Shaykh..
Peace be upon you..
And upon you be peace.. May Allah accept your deeds..
Praise be to Allah for your safe arrival..
The Shaykh raised his eyes, smiling.. and asked Sayed Mahmoud: Where are you from?
Sayed Mahmoud: From Bahrain, our Shaykh..
The Shaykh: Ma shaʾ Allah. And how are things with you, and how are the hardship and the injustice.. I have heard that some of my books are banned there..
He told him of the situation Bahrain was in.. and spoke about the books..
Yes, books that relate the creed of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) are banned.. and some books of virtues.. The book Saluni Qabla an Tafqiduni was banned several times.. but they have permitted it recently..
Evening
Sayed Mahmoud went in to the students who were with him—most of them from the Eastern Province, and some of them preachers who had come to Kuwait to ascend the Husayni pulpit in that season..
Have you heard of the arrival of Shaykh al-Hakimi??
Yes, we have heard.. What an excellent Shaykh he is..
What do you think of inviting him to lunch?
The students smiled.. and said.. A good idea, but we know nothing at all about cooking..
He said to them: I know cooking, more or less..
For before my journey.. I went into the kitchen with my mother for many days, and she taught me a great deal..
They said: And we will help you..
And indeed.. the students extended their invitation to the Shaykh, who welcomed it and agreed at once..
Sayed Mahmoud went out with two of the students to the (Dasma and Bneid al-Gar) co-operative, which was near the school.. and they bought the necessities.. meat, rice, some vegetables, and fruit..
Then five of the students went into the kitchen.. all of them working.. one peeling potatoes, another chopping vegetables, and another washing the meat and cutting it..
Lunch was ready.. They laid it out on a long spread.. and put the largest dish at the head of the table, where they would seat the Shaykh, as an honor and a mark of esteem for him..
The time came..
And the Shaykh came. He greeted everyone with his gentle smile.. sat at the table and remembered Allah much.. and began eating..
All the students were watching the Shaykh.. as they ate..
He stretched out his hand and took food with three fingers..
One morsel..
Two morsels .
. Three morsels.. after which he stopped eating..
Our Shaykh.. please, go ahead.. The students raced one another in saying this word to the Shaykh so that he would continue eating his lunch..
He said: All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.. He finished his lunch with three morsels, with three fingers..
**
On the morning of one of the few days the Shaykh spent at the school..
he woke up early.. took his clothes and his turban.. washed them with his own hands.. then hung them on the line.. and his tongue was always engaged in the remembrance of Allah..
Days that Sayed Mahmoud lived with this venerable Shaykh.. He would go out with him to attend the majlis of the late Shaykh Dr. Ahmad al-Waʾili.. and the majalis of Shaykh Murtada al-Shahroudi.. They were full days..
It occurred to Sayed Mahmoud.. that this virtuous Shaykh embodies the ethics of the Commander of the Faithful.. and he would remember what he had read in his book (Saluni Qabla an Tafqiduni..)
Yes, here is the book walking on two legs..
The Departure
The Shaykh packed his belongings, getting ready to travel to Iran, where his family and children were..
The students gathered around him..
One of them said.. We have heard that Sayed al-Shirazi is ill..
The Shaykh said: Yes.. and he has recovered, by the grace of Allah..
The students said that they would write letters to Sayed al-Shirazi on the occasion of his recovery.. for the Shaykh to carry with him, since he was heading to Iran.. And indeed they wrote their short letters..
Sayed Mahmoud addressed the Shaykh: Our Shaykh, these are letters we wished to write to Sayed al-Shirazi; could you deliver them to him..
The Shaykh replied, saying: I will not see His Eminence the Sayed.. I will not be granted the opportunity to see him.. I am heading to my family in one of the Iranian cities..
Sayed Mahmoud said to him: Never mind, even if after a while..
The Shaykh smiled a smile not to be forgotten, for the innocence and radiance it carried.. and said: Give them to me; I will charge some of my family to deliver them to him..
The students bade farewell to Shaykh al-Hakimi.. as if they had been robbed of splendor and awe..
How often he had cheered them and benefited them by his deeds before his words.. His spirit used to clothe the atmosphere of the school in garments of good manners, faith and humility..
Sayed Mahmoud thought about the Shaykh's hesitation in receiving the letters.. and thoughts began roaming in his mind.. but he quieted them with a general answer.. perhaps the Shaykh is meticulous and keen that the letters arrive early..
Shaykh al-Hakimi reached his family.. They received him with the warmth of those yearning for their father.. and the delight of their eyes..
He embraced them with his radiant smile.. before embracing them with his tender chest..
His family gathered around him in his house.. He handed them the letters entrusted to him, and charged them to send them to Sayed al-Shirazi in holy Qom..
Then the Shaykh laid his head on the pillow..
and faced the qibla..
and bade farewell to his family..
then bade farewell to this world..
on a journey to Allah the Exalted..
and his godly soul departed..
For he had an appointment with death among his family.. may Allah have mercy on him.. and settle him in His spacious gardens with the Messenger and his Household..
The news reached Kuwait.. and the students grieved at his parting..
and they knew that his hesitation in receiving the letters was because he had an appointment with his Lord..
And then..
Sayed Mahmoud knew the meaning of that radiance that clothed that unforgettable smile..
The End
