The Continuation of Sayyid Abbas's Story
My mother handled Auntie's arguments in a satisfactory
manner, but the very next day, in order to mollify her, she engaged
a Maulvi/1/
to instruct Ghulam Imam and me. The Maulvi was from somewhere
to the East and had come to Delhi to teach fiqh and hadith./2/
He was well-versed in Arabic and also known in the city as a stylist
in Persian. At first, Mother gave him five rupees per month plus one
meal a day, and he received five rupees per month and another meal a
day from another family and taught a couple of other boys for free.
So in all, he had about half a dozen students. Ghulam Imam and
I studied with him daily for about a year, and during that time we worked
on the remaining two or three books of Arabic grammar and went through
half of a Persian grammar and wrote some exercises. When Mother
taught me, my interest and enthusiasm for learning had increased by
the day; that, however, was not the case with the maulvi. The reason
for this was, first of all, that there was no one studying with me with
whom I could compete. Maulvi Sahib taught the other boys individually,
and Ghulam Imam, who had been studying with me, got sick for a few days
in the middle of the year. After that, he was far behind me in his lessons,
so the Maulvi taught him separately too. Secondly, the
Maulvi was not in the habit of examining us constantly the
way Mother had, so we became careless. In addition to that, you know
how naughty boys of our age could be! While the Maulvi was
there, we kept making signs to each other, and when we were free from
our lessons, we all went to Turkoman Gate to watch the kite flying./3/
Eventually, I became so interested in kite flying that I spent whatever
pocket money Mother gave me on kites, and in no time at all, I forgot
whatever I had learned. The Maulvi must have realized that
this was the case. I had done my lessons well and committed them to
memory each day, and if he posed questions on earlier lessons, I could
answer satisfactorily. But now my performance got worse day by day.
He admonished me several times, but saw that it made no impression on
me. Consequently, one day when I was out, he came over to our house
and recounted my delinquency to a servant, to convey the message to
my mother. He also mentioned my passion for kite flying.
My mother told the servant who brought the message:
'Give Maulvi Sahib my greetings and tell him that as he knows,
my boy is no longer of an age when he can be punished. He is about eleven
years old and, God willing, in a few years will be grown up. Then too,
he has a fairly keen sense of honor, and I am loath to scold him, lest
he take offense. And if, God forbid, he ran away in anger, that would
be worse. I wouldn't be able to live without him. Nevertheless, I hope
that he will listen to what I tell him. As God is my witness, this is
the first time in his life that he has acted counter to my injunctions.
But the times are difficult, and today's children turn against their
parents in no time at all. I will do my best to make him understand
his transgressions. But the boys in whose company he has strayed, they
are your responsibility."
Hearing this, Maulvi Sahib went away.
A little while later, I came home and found my mother, if anything,
more considerate than usual. She did not mention anything, on the contrary,
she seemed very happy to see me. I had heard a rumor that Maulvi
Sahib had come to the house and complained, but after a while, I thought
no more about it. That evening after dinner, Mother sat down according
to her usual custom and started talking about this and that. Khadija
Apa had come over and I was already sitting there. Mother said to her:
"Khadija, dear! You always claim to be
able to answer any riddle. How would you like to try one of mine?"
Khadija responded: "Please! If I understand
it, I will try to answer it."
So Mother said: "Good. Tell me, among God's
creatures, which is the better, human beings or animals?"
Baji Jan/4/
was unable to answer, so I said: "Mother, if you permit me, may
I answer?"
She said: "All right, son. You tell me."
I said: "Human beings are better."
She responded: "Why, son, in what way are
human beings better than animals? Don't animals have eyes to see with
and ears to hear with? Don't they have noses to smell with and tongues
to taste with? Can't they also recognize their enemies? And aren't they
also happy to meet their own kind? As far as I'm concerned, animals
have whatever men have."
I said: "But animals don't have men's understanding."
Mother said: "Actually, animals understand
certain things even better than men. I once read a story about a man
who was out in a boat on a river when a severe storm arose. The storm
drove the boat onto a sandbar with swampy areas all round, so there
was no easy way out. Another man, who had a dog with him, came down
to the river bank, and seeing that the man in the boat was in difficulty,
gave the dog a stick and signaled him to go out to the boat. The dog
understood the man's command, jumped into the river and paddled through
the water in the direction of the boat. When he got near it, he realized
that there was a swampy area between him and the boat so that he couldn't
reach it. So he looked anxiously in the direction of the man in the
boat, who finally understood what the dog wanted. He tied a rope to
a stick that he had, and threw it toward the dog. The dog let go of
the stick he was carrying, snatched the other one in his mouth, dragged
it back to the shore, and gave it to his master. His master then pulled
on the rope which was attached to the boat, and in this way, they were
able to extricate the man and the boat from a difficult situation. Now,
tell me the truth, if you had been in that dog's place, would you have
understood your master's intentions so quickly or been able to convey
them to the man in the boat as well?"
I admitted: "No ma'am. That situation would
have been beyond me. I must concede that animals sometimes understand
things better than men. But how do they compare to man in terms of love
and loyalty?"
Mother said: "Son! a dog's loyalty is proverbial;
everyone knows that! but leaving aside dogs for the moment, even
the partridge has that virture. Your father heard from an Englishman
the story of someone who had taught a partridge to fly anywhere he wanted
it to go. The bird would always come back, even after five or six
days away. When its master fell ill and went into a coma, the bird stopped
eating and taking water. When its master died and they took him away
for burial, the bird flew along behind the funeral procession. When
the people buried the body and went away, the bird kept watch, perched
on a cypress tree nearby. When it was hungry, it went back to its nest
and ate some seed and drank some water, but then went back to the cypress
tree near the grave. This went on for three months before the partridge
too died. So, from this, what can you conclude about which species is
the more loyal?"
I said: "Yes, well, I must agree. But among
humans, there are many other virtues which animals do not have. Do
you find patience and persistence among animals, or discernment and
judgment like ours? We can make things with our hands; can you show
me any handicrafts produced by animals? Whenever we fear enemies, we
consider defenses to preserve ourselves from them; but what do dumb
animals understand of such matters? In addition, we learn whatever we
can learn; what are animals capable of learning?"
Mother said: "That too is incorrect! Of all
those things you have mentioned, there is nothing that is not found
among animals. If you poke a porcupine with a stick, you will note that
he immediatelyrolls himself into a ball for protection. Animals that
want to escape danger will hold themselves very still, just as the proverb
says, 'He who lies low will be safe in the end.' And I have observed
this to be true. Son! As for patience and perseverance and judgment,
just watch a squirrel perched on a tree, eating nuts. First it will
break a nut open and take off the shell, and then eat the nutmeat very
carefully. As for handicraft, you would never be able to make anyting
like a wasp's nest, or a spider's web, or a weaver bird's nest. God
gave the spider such good judgment that if a big fly is caught in its
web, and it sees that the web will break from the fly's struggles, the
spider goes and cuts the the strings of the web around the fly so that
the fly can get away. Further, the wild duck knows the art of self-preservation
better than any other creature. I have heard that when they are flying
in formation and come to a field and want to stop to feed, they first
circle the field several times. Only when they have made sure that there
is nothing in the field to excite their misgivings, will they land.
Then they spend several minutes peering about with their heads up, making
sure there are no strange sounds, before putting their heads down to
feed. The oldest duck will signal to the others to spread out in the
field in some kind of order, and at least one duck will remain on the
lookout. He stands on one foot and does not eat until his turn at watch
is over. Then he will peck at the duck nearest him to take over the
watch. If the second duck doesn't pay attention to this peck, the first
will pluck at his feathers and chatter at him to take him to task. Men
can be no more vigilant than that. Then, what you have said about animals
not being able to learn in the way that men do is obviously the result
of your lack of experience. Dogs and horses can be trained no less than
men. Trained dogs and horses to all kinds of useful jobs in many places."
Finally, when I couldn't produce a satisfactory
answer to her riddle, I said: "Mother dear! Will you then please
tell us what the difference is between humans and animals?"
Mother said: "Son! The difference between
humans and animals is that God gave human beings the power to improve
their minds continuously by studying, so that they can reach any goal
they wish, but the unfortunate animals cannot advance beyond the stage
in which they are. For example, the spider's web and the weaver bird's
nest and the wasp's nest are always the same wherever you find them.
The weaver bird's nest in Noah's ark was just the same as the nests
they build now. But human intellectual development has reached such
an advanced stage that if some primitive man arrived on the scene and
saw the Jama Masjid in Delhi or the Taj Mahal in Agra, he would undoubtedly
think that they were built by magic. By the same token, when a buffalo
or an elephant wants to cross a river, it does so by sheer brute force.
Whereas men, using their brains, learned to build bridges and boats
in order to cross rivers easily, so that one can travel practically
anywhere one likes. Similarly, when a horse is hungry, it goes to a
field and fills its stomach with grass or hay, but a human conjures
up all sorts of original dishes. If someone from the mountains or another
remote region came and tasted the cuisine of Delhi or Lucknow, he would
lick his fingers in delight.
"Once upon a time, humans dressed themselves
in the leaves of trees, but now you see all kinds of cloth imported
from abroad. Furthermore, there were once no sources of light in the
world save the sun and the moon; then came candles, various types of
lamps and lanterns, chandeliers, and so on. Now I hear that in Calcutta,
some learned men from London have recently installed a plant from which
all the houses and shops in the city can be illuminated. Every house
can be lighted the whole night through, and light can reach every nook
and corner, no matter how big the house. Then too, consider the English
invention of matches. Before, if you wanted to start a fire, you had
to find a grass or straw fire and light a lamp from it. Later, people
developed the technique of lighting fires from sulphur, so you didn't
need grass or straw anymore. Now with these matches, it is no longer
difficult to start a fire. All you have to do is scratch the match lightly
against the lid of the matchbox, and immediately you have a flame.
"In earlier times there was no shelter
against the heat. Men had to spend their days under the shade of trees
or in caves in the mountains. Little by little, men learned to build
houses, the roofs and walls of which offered them some shelter. Then
men learned to dig cool cellars. Finally, they devised khas/5/
curtains and circulating fans which, when installed, give you cool breezes
wherever you like. Earlier, in hot countries, there was no way to cool
the water. You had to drink the water as you found it, no matter what
the season. People considered the problem and discovered that keeping
water in close proximity to saltpetre makes it cool. Then they worked
out a way of freezing ice, so that ice frozen in the winter could be
used during the hot and the rainy seasons. But arranging for it was
rather difficult, except for some rajas or nawabs,/6/
or if some very rich merchants got together to undertake it. In this
day and age, however, you can buy a device by spending five hundred
to a thousand rupees, and then have as much ice as you want, whenever
you want it.
"In earlier times, it was tremendously
difficult to travel. You had to take horses or camels, carts or chariots,
which could not go more than fifteen or twenty leagues/7/
per day. When a man had to make a trip of a thousand leagues, it would
cost him a lot of money and time. In traveling, there were many worries
and dangers: The roads were unsafe; there were thieves, cheats, bandits,
and thugs who looted travelers, one could not find a drop of water for
scores of miles. But now, just see how safe the roads are! Wells, canals,
and tanks have been built for water supply; highway robbers have vanished.
Earlier, there was a mail coach service from Calcutta to Peshawar which
took seven or eight days to transport a man comfortably over the distance
of a thousand leagues. Now it is even quicker. I have also heard that
in England they have invented a railroad train that can carry an entire
army 840 miles in the span of a day and a night. If you want to send
a message, you can send words thousands of miles in a single instant. God
knows what kind of magic is in those wires strung along the roads that
permits men to send messages for thousands of miles just as easily as
you and I are sitting here talking. I have also heard about a
development in Roorkee/8/
which I do not understand. There they accomplish, in the twinkling of
an eye, the amount of work which hundreds of craftsmen could not do
in a single day. In short, men have invented better ways of doing everything
imaginable. One cannot say this about animals.
"But what of the man who does not use his
brains, but remains happy with the lot he started with? Is there any
difference between him and an animal? Rather, he is not something less
than an animal? If an animal, from the outset, uses whatever brains
it has to get through life, and if, by contrast, a man who has a good
brain does not use it and gets stuck in a whirlpool and can't get out—which
of these two creatures is the worthless one? For this reason, wise men
have said that there is no greater failure than the man who spends two
days in the same way. That is, it is incumbent upon mankind always to
use their brains and their skills to learn new things, to progress,
to improve. What is known or accepted today will not be so tomorrow,
and we cannot imagine today that we will know tomorrow. So watch out!
Leaving aside the question of future progress, you have actually regressed
from what you knew before! Today, Maulvi Sahib came to the
house while you were out and complained. He said that Sayyid Abbas has
forgotten what he knew; in reciting his new lessons he makes mistakes,
and he is unable to study ahead on his own. Son! Even if you are not
enthusiastic about your studies, have you lost every shred of honor?
Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Before today, the Maulvi never
had to say a word to me about your performance, and I could be proud
of you. But if the Maulvi becomes angry and strikes you or
abuses you, what pride would be left to me? Don't you realize that there
has never been an uneducated man among your ancestors? If you do not
study, how will you be able to show your face in public? Haven't you
thought about your mother's unceasing efforts since the time you were
four and how you are wasting them? Have you considered the possibility
that some time in the future you will want to marry, and if you remain
uneducated, no one will want to give his daughter to you?"
In short, Mother gave me such a tongue-lashing
that I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me, I was so ashamed.
At that point, I was unable to say anything, but the next day, when
it was time to go to the Maulvi's house, I went to Mother with
folded hands and begged her: "If you want me to amount to anything,
then send me to a government school, and if I am ever guilty of delinquency
in my studies again, you may punish me in whatever may you see fit."
Mother liked that idea, and from that very day, she sent me to school.
From then on, my daily routine was to go to the Maulvi's house
from early morning until 9:00 AM and study Arabic and Persian with him
and write out some exercises. At 9:00 I came home and had a meal, and
at 10:00 I went to school. On Sundays, Mother gave me permission to
go hunting in the morning until 10:00, and then from 2:00 to 5:00 in
the afternoon I went to the river with Islam Beg who taught me to swim.
This remained my routine until I was fifteen. I studied mathematics,
natural sciences, geography, history, and English in school. With Maulvi
Sahib, I studied literature. In Persian, I read the Shahnama,
Sikandarnama, and Ain-e Akbari,/9/
and in Arabic, I studied several works of fiqh, hadith,
and tafsir, plus Alf Laila, Nafhat ul-Yaman,
and Tarikh e-Timuri./10/
In addition to this literature, I also learned from Maulvi
Sahib how to write Persian in a good style. In short, whatever I know,
I learned in those five years. But if you really want to know the truth,
it was all because of Mother's efforts that I learned anything at all.
*on to the Ninth Majlis*
= = = = = = = = = = =
/1/ Maulvi:
a learned person, a title not quite equivalent to Maulana in
either learning or status; a schoolmaster or government servant.
/2/ fiqh,
hadith: two branches of Islamic learning, jurisprudence and
the prophetic traditions.
/3/ Kite flying:
a particularly popular winter sport with Indian children, involving
contests in which the boys treat the strings of their kites with glue
and ground glass and then try to cut the strings of others' kites. See
also Sharar, Lucknow, pp. 129-131.
/4/ Baji Jan: big
sister, a pet name for Khadija.
/5/ khas:
a kind of aromatic grass, woven into shades or curtains which
are hung in windows during the hot season. Kept soaked with water, and
with breezes or a fan blowing through them, khas curtains help
keep interiors cool.
/6/ raja, nawab:
King, prince, nobleman, or big landlord. Raja usually refers to a Hindu,
nawab to a Muslim, but not invariably.
/7/ league or kos:
A measure of distance approximately equal to two miles or slightly more
than three kilometers.15-20 leagues would thus be approximately 45 to
60 kilometers.
/8/ Roorkee: seat
of the first engineering college in India and the locale of some early
industrial activity.
/9/ The Shahnama
or Book of Kings by Firdausi, the Sikandarnama or Story of
Alexander by Nizami, and the Ain-e Akbari or Chronicle of Akbar's
Reign by Abul Fazl are classics of Persian literature from different
historical periods, the latter written in Mughal India.
/10/ fiqh,
hadith (see above, note 2), and tafsir (Quranic exegesis)
are different branches of the Islamic theological curriculum. Alf
Laila is the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights);
Nafhat ul-Yaman or The Perfume of Yaman is an Arabic literary
anthology, and Tarikh-e Timuri is the History of Timur (Tamerlane).
These books were common in the vernacular curriculum in India. See Sufi,
Al-Minhaj, pp. 111-116.