There’s one thing that’s most needed in life, without which we can’t survive. And Allah has granted this thing to everyone free of cost.
This one thing is oxygen. Imagine if it isn’t free and you have to buy it from the hospital, everybody would wake up in the morning and bring their oxygen container to home so they can spend their day inhaling it. Life would be full of troubles. If you have a big family, then you have to bring the oxygen for your children, parents and grandparents. In case, you forgot to bring the container for anyone, you shall be blamed for the person’s death. Life would be miserable this way.
But see the process of nature, Allah has given you oxygen supply for free. Whether you’re poor, rich, old, young or you want it or not, Allah will keep providing you oxygen without any charges.
Second most precious thing is water. The 3/4th of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Rain happens and again you don’t need to pay for it. It’s Allah’s system and he will keep granting you with his blessings till your last breath.
Similarly, if you look around, you’ll note how much Allah has blessed you and you still complain to Allah for the things you don’t have. That’s unfair! If you constantly feel negative about your life, no power in the world can make you happy.
This is a short discussion taken from the chapter “Nature of Allah” from the book Zaviya. If you read it whole, you’ll find great incidents of Ashfaq Ahmed which he witnessed when he met with people.
All these incidents will make you ponder on your life and stop you to ask questions like: Are we grateful for our life? Do we help others? Are we egoistic? What’s death?
This book is an evergreen book and must be read by everyone. It will help you to become more human and lead life in a simple way. For example, in one of the chapters, Ashfaq Ahmed mentioned that our problems become bigger when we surround all our lives around it. Day and night we only think about the problems but not the opportunity in the problem. Our lives can become much easier if we don’t think a lot about our problems and focus on the present.
Zaviya by Ashfaq Ahmed is a compilation of his program which was broadcasted on Pakistan Television (PTV) in his late years. He used to feel great when he talked to people and shared with them the life lessons. The book is divided into 3 volumes. From here, you can imagine that Ashfaq Ahmed was an ocean of knowledge. There are some really great books under his name such as Gadarya, Ek Muhabbat So Afsanay, Manchalay ka Soda, Khel Tamasha and many more.
Here are some lessons which I extracted from this beautiful book Zaviya by Ashfaq Ahmed. It might motivate you to read this book:
- Respect people, and grow yourself. Every person, even the janitor or the bus driver, has their self-respect. Never try to hurt anyone.
- If somewhere in your life, you feel like you should die then think that if Allah has brought you this far, you’re the chosen one. If he wants you to live then who are you to end your life?
- Don’t let your desires rule your life. Learn to single it out because with less desires you can lead a happy life.
- Books, degrees and pens never make the person educated, it’s their knowledge and skills. If the electrician knows how to connect the wires to spark the bulb then he’s the master of his profession, he’s educated, and you must respect that.
- Russians have immense respect for their teachers and that’s the reason for their success.
- You’ll never become poor by giving.
- Give love to people and be kind to them, that’s how you can change the world.
- Appreciate people before they die. Everyone can appreciate a dead person but it requires courage to appreciate the living ones.
- Make death a part of your culture. Never forget that you’ll die one day.
- Don’t criticize Allah’s plan, always obey his commands.
These are only 10 lessons. If you read the book, you’ll find 90 more and your life will gradually start changing for good. That’s how books impact your life.
Allah ap ko asaaniyaan ata karay aur asaaniyaan bantnay ka sharf ata karay (May Allah ease your path and give you opportunities to ease other’s path) Ameen!~ Ashfaq Ahmed
Read Also: [Man Chalay Ka Sauda Book Review]
I prefer books and diaries more than phones and Facebook. Soulfully connected to Pakistan. And I passionately believe that I can change the world through blogging.
A great review of a great book by a great author.
No doubt ashfaq Ahmed is one of great writers of his time and a role model for All of us.His book Zavia is a great book to read for everyone who wants to live a happy and contented life.
And no doubt that your review about the book is very excellent and inspiring.It inspires the reader to read the book and gain much more knowledge and wisdom from the book.
Keep it up sister!!
Jazak Allah 🙂
I appreciate your effort but something is lacking. You cannot urge people to read the book by writing this kind of review. I want to tell you that if you read the book again and you will find many more good and amazing rules of life. You haven’t talked about the lesson of giving which The Great author Ishfaq Ahmad told in his book. This is the art of giving and I want to tell you that a good review is always something like that which urge the reader to read the book and also don’t spoil your charm of the book.
As far as the summary of the book is related, you oversimplified it and missed a lot of amazing ideas. I want you to read the book again at least one more time and make this summary better.
Regards.
Thank You for your suggestion.