Bolo Ali Ali

I was I think 7 or 8 years old when I first heard Sajjad Ali singing ‘Bolo Ali Ali’ on a vacation trip to Karachi and the tune was so catchy that I not only liked it but would also sing it the whole day (I dont torture people any more by singing ). One day I was singing ‘Kiya khaybar Fatah, woh hai mushkil kusha, bolo Ali Ali’ while having dinner when all of a sudden my nana asked: Do you know who was Ali (RA)?

Me: Obviously, he was the Prophet’s (SAW) cousin, a very brave soldier.

Nana: (smiling) Ummm ok and do you know what he did at Khayber?

Me: He was the commander (in a I-know-it-all tone)

Nana: Hmmm and?

Me: And nothing (Ok, I didnt know much after all )

Nana: I mean what happened in the war? Or after that?

Me: Ummm, No (I just had to admit!)

That night, we didnt sleep till around 3. He told us about Hazrat Ali’s (RA) bravery and his fierce fighting skills. For me, it was all like a character in a fiction story: a brave handsome prince, married to the princess of his dreams, living the life of a hero. It then became a custom at home. My nana would tell us stories from Islamic history and I would think of all of them coming straight out of…well yea a fiction story. This continued till his death a few years later…

Fast Forward to 2005

I had just finished reading The Satanic Verses and I was looking for something written in response to it…and there it was, a book called Muhammad by Karen Armstrong. A beautiful book by all means but wen it ended, it left a lot for me to find out because it was not exactly written as a biography but pretty much as to why the reaction was the way it was Rushdie’s book. I wanted a biography and just a day later I was standing in a bookstore with my first ever book on Islamic History and it was again by a non-muslim author but I knew I just had to read it. It was so intriguing that I ended up reading the whole book in less than two days and I was back at the store to get its second part. This time the story was real, about real people, people I loved and admired dearly but didnt know much about. The book series was by a non-muslim writer so it was not something I could depend on solely but the best thing it did to me was instilling curosity in me…

So why have I been talking about this all of a sudden? Well, you guys know of the series of posts that I have been doing lately and I have now decided to take a break cuz its emotionally exhausting for me. This is an unending research. The more I study, the more it fascinates me, the more it confuses me. I might not be blogging at all for a few days…need some time to breathe and wind up some work which I should Got a lot of things to do. I have to make up for my classes over the next two weekends. Further, I have started with the write up of my paper..getting some really good results, need some more stuff to be reported in the paper. Planning to get it done as soon as possible. Btw, N is helping me with the write up (If you are confused as to why I need help, then see this ) . And have a look at this:

(No sympathies for my fiance plz ) Consider yourself tagged. Although the test is basically for married people, it is fun

So anyway, I will insha Allah be continuing not only with this series later but also with this blog pretty soon.I’ll miss you guys…all the rockstars in my life