Cherished Memories of Africa — Page xxv
xxii Prologue By the Grace of Allah, my lifespan has exceeded sixty odd years, bitter at times, sweet at times, now hot, now cold, with drumbeats of joyous occasions from time to time and endless chains of sorrows and sufferings at other times. Once I enquired an African brother about his age. He said: ‘I am on a bonus these days’. ‘What do you mean by bonus?’ I asked. He explained, ‘You see Allah blessed the Chief of the Universe, Pride of the Creation, and the Best of mankind, Hadrat Muhammad (saw) with life of sixty three years. Therefore, that is the real age of man and anything more than that is a bonus’. Every person faces good and bad experiences in his everyday life. If one starts writing all of those, it will fill hundreds of volumes. I glanced at a book in which the author writes that every person, even if he is a lowly servant, regards his daily incidents as interesting as those of a high ranking government official, a businessman, a national sportsman or any one who has attained the highest level in any walk of life. He writes: a man who was entrusted with the care of rabbits would narrate instances showing his intelligence, courage, smartness and ability to his household and friends everyday. For instance, the white rabbit is very naughty and keeps beating up the little one and I taught it such a lesson today that it sat aside all day with its tail between its legs. Thus whole of his universe revolved around these rabbits. Likewise, I have also made humble effort to write down some anecdotes, in rather inarticulate words, based on my own observations and hearsay information, during the days of my