Let us make a journey, by train, from Delhi to another capital of India, Shamli. Now we shall leave the question as to how Shamli was a capital of India. But we do need its location at the moment. In short it is located on the route you'll take to reach Deoband from Delhi. In fact we shall cut short our journey on the second station after (old ) Delhi. That is Loni. Just out side the Delhi-UP border. From there we shall take a bus in the same direction and land at a place called Rataul. Here you'll not find mango orchards-you'll find mango forests.
"And they shall live in Heaven among orchards."
We have already seen the incident of rivers flowing below orchards. Enjoy the orchards in the present seen. You are in the home place of Dr Nadir Ali Khan. This is in District Baghpat of the the state Uttar Pradesh. Geographically Delhi is surrounded by the states of UP and Haryana.
Dr Nadir Ali Khan has retired as a Reader from the Urdu Department of the Aligarh Muslim University. He comes to the sittings (majalis), when in town and when Qari Amir Hasan Sahab (DB) too is around. Latter is the current Shaikh of the former.
Dr Nadir Ali Khan spends most of his time in Nizamuddin Markaz (Head Quarter) of (Tablighi ) Jama-at, Bangle Wali Masjid (Bungalow Mosque), Do Chhatti (Double Roof).
During his services he refused to apply for professorship. That is thrift. Contemporaries insisted but he held fort. That is the standard the Elders set. If I can sustain my family with the salary of a Reader then I shall not apply for the post of a Professor, they seem to say. No attachment to the honour that comes with a higher academic post.
He, to start with, had correctional relationship with Maulana Muhammed Zakaria Kandhalwi (RA) that has reached Qari Sahab (DB) via Hazrat Ji (Maulana In-am-ul-Haq Sahab) (RA) and others. He has Permission from many Shaikhs to take up correctional responsibility. To do justice to his academic achievements and to his Dawah (that is Tabligh) activities will need a book of its own, or at least a website, so we shall leave that aside. Except for a snippet.
Location : Sir Syed Mosque (Jama Masjid) of AMU
Day : Sunday
Time: Eleven AM
Event : Weekly Gathering (Ijtima) of Jama-at
The speaker sometimes speaks with speed and some times slowly. There are also moments of meaningful silence. Sometimes he cajoles the audience in a deliberately chosen local dialect but at other occasion the Urdu is really chaste. In the spurt of a moment the speech rises to extremely high levels of rhetoric (balaghat).
You get the impression that the speaker must be a scholar of rather high stature. You also get the impression that the author has put the best of his abilities in the service of Lord Most High.
That is Dr Nadir Ali Khan for you.
Damatbarkatuhum.
