Intellectual Journey

Intellectual Journey

1990 8 August 13 Intellectual Journey (206) Syed Shafiuddin, one of our regular readers of Al-Risala, belongs to a group of intellectuals. When this group started studying Al-Risala, it proved to be a kind of intellectual journey for them. Experiencing various stages during this mental journey, traversing many ups and downs, they finally reached the point of subscribing wholeheartedly to its views.

Syed Shafiuddin, being a writer of poetry in English, has given very graphic expression to his and his colleagues’ mental journey in the form of a poem, which is reproduced below.

Stages: Impact of ‘AI-Risala’

I am furious and agitated Restlessly coiling, I hiss and flash ... You have struck hard At my raised hood of false pride! I am confused and disillusioned At my own battered and vulnerable position ... You have blown away The smoky citadel and bastion of my misconceptions! I am lost in an endless labyrinth - Unlit and eerie, Desperately searching the way out … You have unmasked the fangs of my guide! Gradually ... very gradually Almost unnoticed, unknowingly step by step Stage by stage The down of TRUTH unveils itself. My anger recedes. My mind begins to clear And 1tread in the direction – A ray of hope is filtering Through rumbling dark clouds ...