The driver and guides were due to arrive a 9.00am to take me on to Dina.
Now what seems to have happened was this. Qari Sahib and Mobashir did not stay with me overnight but instead returned to Jhelum - an incredibly long way! They set off at 5.0am in order to come back for me there in Pindi. Despite this early departure they were still an hour late owing to the horrendous conditions out on the roads because of the monsoon.
Anyway, we got into the car and were proceeding down the GT Road when the skies really did open up so that driving at all was highly dangerous and risky. The red soil at the side of the road was being washed away. I noticed that all the panjab rivers I had seen were red owing to the immense amount of muddy silt they were carrying.
We had to stop for doodh-chai and then the car refused to start up again. The car was eventually fixed and we carried on. Later into the journey our car was stopped by four police who had seen my suitcase. I was sitting on the front seat with my case on my lap - it was a very small car! This could so easily have been a bribery incident but, for some reason, we were permitted to pass without paying anything!
The rain kept on belting down but the driver did not slow down in any way. Eventually at 2.40, says my journal, we finally arrived at Pir Mahroof's residence. My journal says the place was known as : Naushapur sharif.
I was greeted to the residence by all the boys. I might not have mentioned that there was a small community of boys living permanently at the residence who were there to learn the Quran. Many had been sent by their parents from the UK. I believe one or two were from Bradford and several from Scotland. I was escorted to the upper floor into an extremely beautiful room and my journal says it had a charpoi, a large wooden circular table and two ceiling fans. I assume this room was one reserved for guests at the residence?
My journal then has half a page of writing in Urdu. I don't recall who wrote it, nor can I understand what is written being a non-Urdu speaker.
I would appreciate a quick translation if anyone would care to provide me with one?
The journal then says:
DURBAR = A place where a pir lives.
MAZAR = A place where a pir is buried
I recorded this since the boys routinely referred to the residence as a DURBAR. My entry that days says the residence was a large building with around 22 rooms. It records that there were 14 boys there learing the Quran at that time. There were two teachers, one cook and a Mr. Mosin Shah was in charge.
The boys lived full time in the residence and reported not being able to go outside the walled compound without permission. They were told this was for their own good. Over the next few days I gathered that the boys were deliberately kept separate so as not to be influenced by the local community.
My journal sets out the boys' daily routine :
3.30am - wake up (teacher) nafal prayers times 12
4.00am- The boys start Quran reading and say Fajr Namaz. The journal says the boys read solidly from 4.00am to 10.00am. Then then had a 5 minute break before beginning Urdu lessons. This lasts until 12.00 noon when there is a break for lunch which is prepared by the cook.
There is a nap for 2 hours before reading Zuhr prayers at around 2.00pm.
My journal records that all 14 of the boys living at the residence were learning to become hufuz (hafiz) The journal mentions Asr prayers and Tilawat. This lasts for one hour.
Apparently there is then a break when the boys may play cricket in the large walled compound, without leaving the residence!
Then comes Maghrib prayers with more Quran reading until 9.30pm.
The journal records that the boys only have sleep for 7 hours and that they will have great prestige when they grow up. From an external point of view it seemed to me that their daily regime was tough, spartan and very demanding but that the perceived spiritual rewards upon reaching adulthood would be considereble indeed?
I appeared to have asked the boys some questions about their life in the residence such as how they were chosen to actually be there. I also asked them what they missed most about the UK and whether they could contact their parents. They told me that once a month they could telephone their parents back in the UK.
I must have asked the boys if they wouldn't mind writing their names for my journal since I have a list of names and ages written in their own writing. Here's who was there:
Tahir Ali (aged 16) : Jameel Ahmed (aged 15) : Abid Hussain ( aged 14)
Kausar Bilal Mustafa (aged 14) : Moh'd Mabashir (aged 14) : Bilal Ali (aged 14)
Raza Muhammad (aged 13) : Tabassam Ishfaq (aged 12) : Imran Akram (aged 12)
Irfan Akram (aged 12) :Rashid Mahmood (aged 11) : Gulam Mustafa ( aged 10)
Rhsan Al Halk (aged 10) : Three names written in Urdu
I obviously asked them all about how they got on with their teacher etc. It's recorded that sometimes the boys get tired and the teacher might let them off a bit. They told me they never got hit with a stick but did get shouted at and had to do MURGEE (chicken position) or QURSEE (chair position). They told me about having to do double MURGEE (head to head)
I was told that Pir Mahroof had, at that time, two wives. One in Bradford and the other there in Dina. This wife had only her own mother there as company. They both lived in complete purdah and could not be seen by any male over the age of 15. I certainly never even caught a glimpse of any females in the residence during my short stay.
I recorded in my journal that I found the boys there 'sweet' in their kindness and humility. This was clearly part of their training for the future. I wrote that there was still some of the 'little boy' in them. They might often speak in curious contradictions. One moment they'd be raving about a Kung Fu film whilst the next they'd be speaking deeply about Islam.
I wrote that there was a narrow walk way round the entire residence and that we spent some time looking out at the colony beyond. I'd noticed many little goats and buffalo grazed on the land outside the compound. All the milk in the residence came from the water buffalo. I was amazed to see these giant creatures willingly moving for a man holding it by a chain.
The sky was still full of clouds and the temperature was not all that warm. I wrote that entry at 7.30pm and said that it was dark. The noise of the crickets chirping outside could clearly be heard. I had written some words and definitions:
Naat = Devotional song with voice only, no instrument
Qawwali = Devotional song with harmonium/tabla
Kush = happy
Koi nehee = no one like him (God)
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