Beloved Madeenah

Ai Arze Madeenah kaash ankhon mein tujhe rakh loon

Jannat hai, tu Jannat hai Sarkare do 'aalam ki

"Oh land of Madeenah, if only I could place you in my eyes

Jannat, you are the Jannat of the Leader of the two worlds"

I used to feel upset when I'd hear those naats/nazm/nasheed about people who had seen Madeenah and been to the resting place of Nabi Salla Allahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam, and were yearning to go back. I would think to myself, 'At least they've been there once! What about people like me, who have never been there?!'

But when I listen to the talks of Moulana Yunus Patel saheb, and when he recites the above verses, you can literally hear the yearning, the pain and tears of wishing to go back to Madeenah. Then I came to realize that, yes, the one who has not been to Madeenah yet, of course the yearning will be there. What kind of Muslim with some love for Rasulullah Salla Allahu 'Alahi wa Sallam wouldn't? However, that person has never tasted the faiz and barkat, the sukoon that Madeenah Shareef has to offer. A true 'Aashiq of Nabi Salla Allahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam, one who has tasted the sweetness of Madeenah Shareef, leaving Madeenah would be like leaving ones hometown, no, even more severe, like leaving ones own mother.

So although I have still never been to Madeenah, I now with the fazl of Allah can appreciate how someone can yearn to go back to Madeenah even after being there more than ten or twenty times. What peace can a person have when not with ones beloved? How much more is ones yearning when ones recitations and tears invoke feelings of love and pain in a lowly one like myself?

Tamanna hai ke gulzar-e-Madeenah ab watan hota

Wahan ke gulshanon mein koin apna bhi chaman hota

"My wish is that the rose gardens of Madeenah now become my country

That from within those orchards one garden would be mine"