Hazrat Choudhry Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan (ra)

Hazrat Choudhry Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan (ra) — Page 53

Urdu because I will not be able to express a special message that I want to impress on the minds of the members in English. ’’ That was just an example of his humility and modesty; otherwise he was blessed by Allah with a good mastery of English. Probably the other reason was that vocabulary in English is not as vast as it is in Arabic or Urdu. Chaudhry Sahib used to state in a lighter vein that English is not a language of spirituality, and one cannot always find suitable words for many spiritual insights and subtleties. Sittings with Chaudhry Sahib used to be very beneficial and enjoyable. He would talk on scholarly points and insightful matters and, when appropriate, tell light jokes and humorous anecdotes. Once, he narrated that during his tour of East Africa, he happened to be in Nairobi. There, he was invited to attend and address the meeting of the local Punjabi Literary Association. He added that, when going there he thought that though they are Punjabi, they would not be free of the imprint of English. Sure enough, every speaker there spoke in English. When at the end it was his turn, he said: “I started my speech in Punjabi