Story of the Lamp

“Useless Obedience”

Not very long ago, my friend from Australia (Actually Pakistani but recently shifted there) sent me a lamp as a gift. He also sent the same to another common friend of ours. Australian friend’s strict instructions were:

“Do not fix the lamp by yourself. Wait for Raja (The Other Friend) he will come at your place to do so. You might break the lamp.”

Raja never came because the Australian friend sent both the lamps without bulbs. So first we needed the bulbs for the lamps. According to Raja:

“Bulb for this particular lamp are not available in Pakistan.”

Australian friend responded to this statement of Raja and tried to convince Raja that bulbs are available in Pakistan.

Raja replied with the problem:

“Maulvi likes warm light, and I have ordered warm light bulbs from Dubai. Let them come and then I will set both the lamps before Ramzan.”

Raja never came before Ramzan due to official trip to Karachi, and after Ramzan he got married. I waited for him but that lamp did not get lucky. Before Ramzan it was 1^st week of June and after Ramzan July was almost hitting its 20^th. August, September, October passed away; eventually I forgot about setting the lamp.

Finally, November arrived, my sister told me about a lamp store that should be visited. I needed a lamp for my writing table so I went to that store. The moment I entered that store I saw the exact same lamp which my Australian friend gifted me with strict instructions.

I asked the shopkeeper about the bulb. And he replied with a smile:

“No sir no special bulb and especially not from Dubai. Just simple energy saver Osaka or Philips; not the pin one but the one with bangles (Choori Wala). Get with cool or warm light, depends on your choice. I can fix your lamp if you have any doubts”

From the same store I bought another lamp for my writing table. On my way back home I stopped by an electric store to purchase energy savers of my choice. I set the new lamp on my writing table when I reached home and after that I unpacked the gift from Australia and ignored the strict instructions.

I assembled the lamp within 15 minutes. Now the bulb, when I looked at the holder it seemed different and I thought my friends are right; this holder might require that bulb especially made for this particular lamp. But Thank God, I recalled that lamp in its operational form in the store where I was like half an hour ago. I fixed the energy saver fine and switched the lamp on.

Amazing light, that took more than six months to glow. Really, it made me very happy. I placed it properly and I truly liked the lamp’s everything. The gift was perfect. Thank You Omer! (The Australian Friend). Amazing Warm Light.

Also I thought for a moment that someone has ordered bulbs for the lamp from Dubai. And they are on their way…I still got no news about the lamp sent to Raja (The Other Friend) if it’s working or still packed under some bed. Because, mine was, but not anymore.  

The Man With a Special Sight

There was a guy we met in Raiwind who told us a story of a man who attained the Special Sight through piety.

Special Sight means that the Invisible Veil in front of the eyes is somehow removed or not there anymore.

The guy continued his story;

“That man never used to have food from market. He used to grow vegetables by himself and was careful in arranging meat and chicken whenever he felt the need. After a while he started seeing other people not in the usual way but in the form of animals and other creatures. Some people got the head of donkey and some are dogs. Rest of the body is like normal human beings. Basically he got free of the Veil in front of his eyes. He could not believe it and got very much stressed. Also scared, he reached somewhere before time. There might be some other reason. He consulted this issue with his senior; the senior smiled and asked his servant to bring my brother a cup of tea from the market (Bazaari Chai). After having that tea that man became normal and the Veil was back on like the way it used to be. Finally, he started seeing everyone the usual way.”

During the times of Moses (PBUH), we know that people used to get transformed in to non-human beings due to their sins. Especially we remember the incident of “The Butcher & His Parents”. But afterwards, it stopped happening due to the Prayer of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). We should be grateful to that.

I realized the importance of Bazaari Chai after hearing this story from that Raiwind guy, and also wondered, what if I had met that man in the time of his special sight?