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Rashat e Khamah (Majmua Mazameen)

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By : Dr. Shakeel Shifayi Reviewer : Zeeshan Rasool Khan      While we lament the misuse of social media, fact-check its news feeds to ensure cred, and alert people about possible vulnerabilities it can bring, we have scores of people who have made it a medium of information, awareness, and knowledge. Well-known scholar, educationist, writer, and Urdu lecturer Dr. Shakeel Shafayi is a leading technophile who has engaged netizens through his entrancing ideas, which over time have been gathered in the form of a book titled Rashat e Khamah. Rashat e Khamah, meaning ‘writings from pen’, is originally a collection of Dr. Shifayi’s Facebook posts well-liked by his audience. The book spans over 271 pages and is divided into six parts. Starting with personalities, it covers literature, Islamic studies, events from the scribe’s diary, contemporary issues, and accounts of the writer’s trips. Each segment is laden with loads of knowledge, instructions, and constructive proposals that, on the one h
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Kafkaesque and the Man behind it!

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  Sometimes conditions do not favour you and everything goes wrong in your life. You fail to measure up to the expectations of the people. You want to live the life of choice but aren’t allowed. You are expected to fit in the norm set by others’ and your personal preferences are not valued. The things you like with every fibre of your being are unappreciated by society and your parents. There comes a time when you become an object of ridicule to everyone. Your worth and credentials are questioned. You are considered nothing more than a burden. Overall, the things around you change for bad and you find yourself in a deep dark tunnel with no end. You, however, don’t lose the game of life rather you enter into Kafka’s world — wherein enduring pain is only the way to exist even after death. Franz Kafka is a well-known, even the greatest, German writer of the 20th century. He is enlisted among those writers who got accreditation posthumously. Writing about the most neglected part of the hum
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MOLANA MUSHTAQ AH KHAN — THE GREAT SUFI POET.

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                                         Some people leave this world only after leaving an undying legacy behind them. Things around us disappear or change constantly, even our ideas, perspectives, likes, and dislikes witness variation; nevertheless, their ideology survives. Their footprints invite others to follow them. Liking and admiration for them surges with time and memories attached to them do not fade. Molana Mushtaq Ahmed Khan Sahb (1952–2019) is one such personality whose vision, mission, and passion live on to influence people. He was a Sunni scholar, persuasive orator, poet, educationist, and Sufi. Influenced by scholars like Allama Syed Qasim Shah Bukhari and seers like Ali Bab Sahib, Molana dominated the religious landscape of the valley for nearly four decades. His journey started as a teacher from the village of Seer Hamdan Anantnag and culminated after touching the zenith of prominence as Khateeb-I-Millat, Naqeeb-e-Ishq Mustafa SAW, and President Anjuman Tableegul Isl
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Virtual and Real aren't the same !!

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 Zeeshan Rasool Khan Social media is a powerful tool of communication and information. Social media includes Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and X - formerly Twitter. These potent platforms enable people from different areas, states, and countries to connect. It allows people to share thoughts and express themselves. Social media has been effective in bringing tremendous transformation throughout the world. Its role in socioeconomic, religious, and political aspects of the world is uncontestable. Nonetheless, just like every other thing social media has a negative facet and possesses drawbacks ranging from security issues to the spread of misinformation. Besides these, there are some other problems related to it. One of which is associated with the personality of a person. Social media impinges on our individuality. On social media, particularly Facebook, WhatsApp, and X, we often compromise our selfhood. We lose our identity to the virtual community. And this takes us away from ‘oursel
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MAKING SHRINES LEARNING CENTERS

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Visiting Shrines - paying obeisance, and tribute to saints, is ingrained in the Kashmiri society. Although, different religious schools of thought disagree on this matter, yet majority of Muslims believe shrine visiting is a blessed and spiritually-boosting activity. Some people throng shrines not only for spiritual reasons but also to enlighten themselves with knowledge. Knowledge - regarding the saints, their lives, worship, struggles, contributions, and miracles. Being the inhabitant of an area that is close to the shrines of two grandees, disciples of Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani (R.a) viz; Hazrat Zainuddin Reshi (R.a), and Hazrat Baba Bammudin Reshi (R.a), situated at Aishmuqam and Bumzoo Mattan respectively, I occasionally do pay a visit to these places. At Zainuddin Wali's Shrine, which regularly witnesses a gargantuan influx of devotees and visitors, I encountered many devotees so far who wanted to know about the Saint to explore his life. But every time, I saw them being f
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CELEBRATE WITH PURPOSE

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  Zeeshan Rasool Khan Rabi-ul-Awal is an auspicious month of the Islamic Calendar, for the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was born in this month according to the most credible opinion. Though 12th Rabi-ul-Awal is celebrated as the Mawlid (birthday) of Prophet Muhammad, however; the celebrations continue throughout the month. Among Muslims, there are a few sects that disapprove of its celebration, but the majority observe it globally. Those not celebrating it consider it innovation. Many among them disagree with the way of celebration and don’t negate it wholly. They think that Mawlid itself is not impermissible but the activities involved make it so. Also, there is no denying that in certain places, people have introduced some questionable elements to this festival that call it into question. However, if undesirable things are shut out and this event is commemorated purposefully, it can prove to be significant from several perspectives. It will be favorable in achieving many religious and soc
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KNOW YOUR GREATS !

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  HAZRAT SAYYID HAFIZULLAH ANDRABI SAHIB (R.A) After Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions, his descendants, who came to be known as Sayyids, went to great pains to disseminate the message of Islam. They left their native places and travelled to different parts of the world to continue the mission of ‘dawah’. Some settled far away from their birthplaces and later their progeny took surnames based on the places they originated from. It gave rise to various branches of the Syed dynasty like Hamdani, Bukhari, Andrabi etc. emerging from Hamdan of Iran, Bukhara of Uzbekistan, and Andrab of Iran respectively. In Kashmir, the history of Andrabi Sayyids is as old as its Islamization. Available records reveal that a devout Muslim Sayyid Ahmad Andrabi and his son Sayyid Muhammad Andrabi accompanied Mir Syed Ali Hamdani when he visited the valley of Kashmir during the reign of Sultan Qutub-ud-Din -775-792.A.H./1373-89A.D. On the directions of Syed Ali Hamdani, the father and son stayed
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