In the same way that a broken film projector fails to display the full image on the screen, these blind impressions of the beginning [of my life] hardly remain on the forgotten shelf of my memory. How strange it is! The first thing [of my childhood] that I remember is a corner of our house …
‘The Retroblog of Najm Tyabji’ [http://nstyabji.wordpress.com/]
The original essay appeared in two instalments in Tehzib-e Niswan (Lahore) (23 and 30 March 1899). It was then published with a biographical introduction by the journal’s editor, Muhammadi Begum, in a book entitled Hayat-e Ashraf (Lahore: Imambara Sayyida Mubarak Begum, n.d.). The essay has been translated from this source with a biographical introduction to …
Know that, after the performance of religious duties, requirements, and the recitation of the Holy Qur’an, this weak woman who hopes for salvation regards no action as nobler than the remembrance of the spiritual states and stations of the revered saints (may God sanctify their spirits). Therefore, I have spent a portion of my time …
EXTRACT FROM YALI AKHBAR (1898) 9th May [18]98 “Yali” First of all I will beg the reader’s pardon, especially dear ma’s (as she prefers Urdu) for writing in English. I tried in Hindustani but the “kulum” proved a complete failure. I just want to give a brief account of our never-to-be forgotten voyage from …
EXTRACT ONE 26 May 1912: Today was the most important day of life. When I woke up in the morning to offer my prayers, I saw a different atmosphere in the house. My elder female relatives were busy in arrangements for hosting someone. Everyone in the house including its younger as well as elder members …
Extract from Risala-i-Sahibiyah (1640) Translated by Sunil Sharma Since my twentieth year I have had a sincere resolution and firm belief in the … order of the masters of Chisht (may their secrets be sanctified) and the ring of discipleship and servitude to the guiding pir, who is the pole of the saints, leader …
EXTRACT ONE I was weeping inconsolably. Someone was being beaten brutally. The perpetrator was a giant-like monster, while the one being beaten was a tiny, dark-skinned child. I do not remember clearly the people involved as I was very small at the time. But I remember that when the big cane struck it made …
Every human being has the right to write a diary. Neither fame nor anonymity can keep anyone deprived of this freedom. Events, incidents and disclosures comprise the definition of life. If the diary of Macaulay tells us that he spent every moment of his life in some constructive engagement, then the diary of a poor …
[From Hazin’s days of study as a young man] During those days [in Isfahan], of all the strange occurrences and events, there was the passion for a beauty [with such] manner of beautiful qualities, that my heart became maddened. You showed me a trace of the beauty of the friend but / Should this world …
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