(Author recounts story as narrated byhis mentor, Dr Muzaffar Ahmad)
“One summer while on his annual vacation, he narrated a fascinating incident that he had experienced in Iran…………………”
In those days Iran used to hire doctors, and while Dr Sahib was on vacation, he received a selection letter from Iran. He accepted the offer and moved to Iran to take up his new assignment. In Iran, he met his dream girl. As the saying goes, “Marriages are settled in heaven and celebrated on earth.” Anyway, Dr Sahib married Dr Shohreh Shakeri, who is Iranian . It was as if the Iranian job offer had contained a concealed love letter as well! This marriage has been a blending together of two human souls, despite differences of language and origin. Their marriage has demonstrated the force of goodness in the fundamental human character, and also the power of love, where different human feelings overcome all barriers. Our correspondence by post continued from Lahijan, Sanadaj and Tehran, the beautiful cities of Iran as those days there was no internet . I have preserved all his letters, which are full of wisdom and guidance. You may laugh, but initially, I would copy each of my notes sent to him for my records, but later I started using carbon paper to do so.
Life is not a bed of roses and smooth. The music of the ink in those beautiful letters from him sing of rhythms of pleasure, as well as sadness, and relate eventful periods in our lives. All those letters could be said to be inscribed on the walls of my heart. To safeguard those precious letters, I have preserved the hard copies for more than two decades now.
One summer while on his annual vacation, he narrated a fascinating incident that he had experienced in Iran. Ibrahim! “I had been provided with a beautiful villa by our hospital while I was working in Lahidjaan. The area was known to be inhabited by non-poisonous snakes called “Kar Mar”(deaf snakes) in the local language. Security personnel on campus were vigilant about them. One day it so happened that, while sipping tea with my family, I caught a glimpse of a snake attacking a mouse. Within a fraction of a second, the mouse’s head was in the snake’s mouth. But the snake seemed to be smaller, weaker and younger. Then suddenly another rather stronger, better-fed and more experienced-looking snake appeared on the scene. It snatched the struggling mouse from the first snake, who quickly slithered away. The poor mouse’s struggles ceased almost at once. While the snake was enjoying its stolen meal in a leisurely manner, the security personnel reached the spot. The half-eaten mouse fell out his mouth. A single stroke of an iron bar on its head put an end to the snake’s meal and its life, and it lay there, completely still.” Dr Muzaffar went on thoughtfully. “Ibrahim! You cannot imagine what a valuable lesson I learnt from this incident. I still think about it from time to time. Even though the weak snake lost its prey, but it ultimately escaped from the fate meted out by the security guard’s iron bar. It made me realise that although life may seem hard at times, it’s entirely possible that God wants to preserve you for something special.
What one thinks is right may, in reality, be wrong and vice versa. Yes, it’s true that all that glitters is not always gold. Also, it made me think that we observed how a helpless being seems tyrannical to another, who in his way, is equally powerless. Just as every creature in creation is powerless before God, which is what Moulana Rumi described centuries ago.
Ibrahim, let me tell you, selfishness is one of the worst and dangerous traits one can ever have! Never be selfish in life,” he concluded. It was as if he was reading pages from the book of nature.
An Excerpt from the Book Bumby Roads authored by Dr. Ibrahim Masoodi
