Terraced Fields of Hunza Valley

4 thoughts

1. These are magnificent pictures indeed and they remind me of the following quotes and excerpts:

   “……The Quran tells us that signs of Allah’s Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation – in the heavens and the earth, the night and the day, the clouds and the seas, the winds and the waters….”(Aga Khan IV, Kampala, Uganda, August 22 2007)

   “The Quran very often refers to nature as a reflection of Allah’s power of creation and says: Look at the mountains, look at the rivers, look at the trees, look at the flowers all as evidence of Allah’s love for the people whom He has created. Today I look at this environment and I say that I beleive that Allah is smiling upon you, may His smile always be upon you”(Aga Khan IV, Khorog, Tajikistan, May 27th 1995)

   “Muslims believe in an all-encompassing unit of man and nature. To them there is no fundamental division between the spiritual and the material while the whole world, whether it be the earth, sea or air, or the living creatures that inhabit them, is an expression of God’s creation.”(Aga Khan IV, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, 13 April 1984)

   “Islamic doctrine goes further than the other great religions, for it proclaims the presence of the soul, perhaps minute but nevertheless existing in an embryonic state, in all existence in matter, in animals, trees, and space itself. Every individual, every molecule, every atom has its own spiritual relationship with the All-Powerful Soul of God”(Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954)

   “Islam is fundamentally in its very nature a natural religion. Throughout the Quran God’s signs (Ayats) are referred to as the natural phenomenon, the law and order of the universe, the exactitudes and consequences of the relations between natural phenomenon in cause and effect. Over and over, the stars, sun, moon, earthquakes, fruits of the earth and trees are mentioned as the signs of divine power, divine law and divine order. Even in the Ayeh of Noor, divine is referred to as the natural phenomenon of light and even references are made to the fruit of the earth”(Aga Khan III, April 4th 1952, Karachi, Pakistan)

   “In fact this world is a book in which you see inscribed the writings of God the Almighty”(Nasir Khusraw, 11th century Ismaili cosmologist-philosopher-poet)

   “One hour of contemplation on the works of the Creator is better than a thousand hours of prayer”(Prophet Muhammad, circa 632CE)

   Source:
   http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/02/327comprehensive-quotes-of-aga-khan-iv.html

   LikeLike

   Reply

2. Zikar
   By Dr. Karim Nooruddin Ramzan.
   Look behind those closed eyes
   See beyond that somber face
   Feel the warmth in each breath
   Look at the body sitting up straight

   Rolling of tasbih between the fingers
   Quivering lips, reciting the names
   Bead after bead, again and again
   Completing the loop, repeating again

   How often do I wonder that everything in nature
   Moves in a circle, repeating again
   The breaths that we take, 15 every minute
   The beats of our heart drumming away
   Circulating blood flows organ to organ
   Repeating its course and circuit again
   The movement of limbs forwards and back
   Carrying all humans and animals on track

   How often do I wonder, how seasons change
   Coverings of snow over mountains and plains
   Arrival of spring, heralds colorful terrain
   Scalding summer heat, cooled with torrential rains

   How often do I wonder, when I look at the sky
   A fully lit moon, becoming a faded smile
   In a span of fortnight, it loses its shine
   Emerging as crescent, a new moon each time
   Sunrise in morning which brightens the day
   As night encroaches, eats day light away
   This tussle goes on, as the years pass by
   The light will not win as the dark will not die

   How often do I wonder, when I recall the past
   The circling blinded ox, grinding seeds so fast
   Spinning the wheel and churning the oil
   Feeding the hungry with its hard labor n’ toil
   In the lush green gardens with flowers abound
   Flapping their wings, come humming birds around
   Each flap repeated, to suspend them in air
   Suckling of the nectar, from petals with care
   The fragrance emits and merges with breeze
   The rustling of leaves, sieves through the leaves
   In the drizzle of morning, as droplets descend
   They follow each other to create what is rain
   Pouring down from clouds, as a heavenly shower
   They rose from the water with vaporizing power
   Be those birds or flowers or trees or rain
   Each creates a motion and repeats again

   How often do I wonder, when lost alone in thoughts?
   The creations of Allah from stars to moths
   Each repeating its action in its own formation
   From atomic gyration to volcanic vibration
   From musical percussion to stellar revolution
   From mystics intoxication to momins meditation
   From the tidal oscillation to the blood circulation
   Every particulate matter, single or in collection
   Is engrossed in Zikar, repeating away
   Allah-o-Akbar, Allah-o-Akbar
   Allah-o-Akbar in its own unique way.

   LikeLike

   Reply

3. This meaningful poem by Dr. Karim Nooruddin is most appropriate for this post by Ismaili Mail and goes to the heart and core of the matter.

   LikeLike

   Reply

4. My birth-place, sisooni (now Husaini), of Gojal, Hunza where Pir Sabz Aly (d.1936) stayed for one day, July 1923, en route to CA visit (10 month from Bombay to Bombay) ,on the approval of Imam SMS (AS), via the Mintika Pass .

   LikeLike

   Reply