Arrival in Jeddah [Getting off the boat,] there was chaos and confusion all around As everyone searched through the luggage looking for their name. As soon as we got off the boat and set our feet on the dock God granted us our first sight of the Arabs. There was a stone kiosk beside the …
City life in Damascus Two-horse carriages can be had very cheaply here, and can also be found at any time. Phaeton carriages and other vehicles are also widely available. In our India, the common people use simple yakkas and tongas, while here fine carriages are the norm. We finally arrived at the doors of the [Umayyid] …
In Medina Now it was time for us to travel to the holy city of Medina. My heart was bursting with happiness. When the dawn of that blessed day arrived, we went down the stairs of the chambers we were staying in and waited for the car to arrive. First, we went from Mecca Mu’azzama …
Slowly the twilight lowered its curtain over earth, cloud-margins bordered, patched and yoked with threads of gold and silver. Mirrored in the bowers of sunset, tiny lake-images of ruby and pools of emerald faded, and a gloomy morose melancholy settled on the earth. Dejection settled over your eyes. Inside you what sun sets, O young …
POEMS (1918) Language For us Turkish is a beautiful tongue, Another tongue, is like night to us. Istanbul speech is The purest, most refined for us. In language the word everyone knows Is considered genuine The word whose meaning can be understood Without a glance at the dictionary. We don’t invent artificial …
The original Urdu text corresponding to both the excerpts below and those available in the related published volume are available above. Life Aboard Ship Gulf of Aden, 14 March 1934: At about 10 o’clock, when I returned to my compartment from my tour of the ship, I found that there was a commotion among …
Sharafiyya daughter of Sa’id the Captain She was born in the year 1260 of the Hijra [CE 1844] and is still living. This biographical subject has events to her name that testify to her fidelity and loyalty; she may be considered to have an odd and wondrous story. I was told of her by one …
At Sea It was necessary for me to take daily walks around the entire ship, for which reason I was privy to ever-new forms of spectacle. Seeing the way that my Indian brothers and sisters travel, I began to think that either these people were going to suffer greatly from the vast quantity of items …
Urdu original text available.
Excerpts of Ummat al-Ghani’s travel account to Mecca, Medina and Syria.
Accessing Muslim Lives