About

We dedicate this blog, our humble effort, to Ghulam Rabbani. He was a Friend of God, friend of the poor, the hungry, the lonely, the weak, the seeker and guide to many. Just a few of the lessons he taught us were “Eat less, sleep less, speak less and serve more. Always feed the hungry, provide water to the thirsty, remove the wants of the needy and befriend the miserable.”

Ghulam Rabbani came into our lives in a most unusual way, a way that changed our existence completely. To make it clear to you, dear reader, here is an account of that first meeting with the first recipient of that gift.

“I went to a market of Sufis. Once in every so many years there is a gathering of many Sufis at a park in Karachi Pakistan. The public flocks to this park to catch a glimpse of a real Sufi. It becomes quite a festival and even this normally dim side of Karachi was well lit and decorated as if for a feast. Thinking this was going to be one of those gatherings like they have in Northern California where the hippies would get together with some whirling dervish, I showed up in my tie-died shirt, but I was surprised to see it was not like I had thought, it was something different. I arrived too early and the almost grassy park was just about empty. Most of the huge tents were still being set up. I asked around and they all said to come back later. I wandered around a bit and then began to stroll out of the park. On the way out, over by the side, out of the way, there was a kind of broken down tent and outside this tent was a little kinda older guy waving excitedly at me to come over to him. I asked back, “Me?” Why should this guy be talking to me? But he insisted and even came over to me and took me by the arm and gently walked me back to his tent. I sat by his side and listened to him with curiosity. He said: “What is it you want? I can give it to you!” I was surprised, but I had heard there were actually such people walking around in the world who could do just that, so I was prepared. I heard, when one of these people ask, all you have to do is tell them what you want and it will happen!! So I thought about this question a lot and in the end I came up with, “Wisdom. I’ll ask for wisdom, if anyone ever asks me, I’ll ask for wisdom, for with wisdom you can accomplish anything.” “Wisdom.” I quickly called out and the strange master of this broken down tent screamed back at me, “WISDOM, JUST THAT? WHY MAN’S WISDOM IS BUT A PUNY DROP!!! He snapped his fingers before my nose. You stay with me three nights in my tent and you will get your wisdom”. “But I gotta go to work in the morning”, I blurted out. “It doesn’t matter”, he said, “Just come back here at night to sleep.” The first night I ran back to the tent and waited, but nothing happened. The second night too nothing happened. But the third night there was a diplomatic dinner at the consulate and I was obligated to attend, so I thought I’d go back to the tent later on after the dinner. Early in the evening, I was standing by the long buffet table loading up my plate with the variety of delicious eastern foods spread before me. When all of a sudden, right there in front of me, the guy from the broken tent in the park jumps up right onto the top of the table and was standing in between the many bowls of salads. Only now he was just about two feet tall! He called out loudly, “Wisdom! You want wisdom!” Although he was somewhat chastising me for asking for so little, still I quickly became overwhelmed with great joy when I saw him. A joy you can’t explain. I couldn’t contain the joy and I started to cry hysterically. My eyes ran with tears as I stood there with a plate of food in my hand, weeping. Across the table from me stood the ambassador’s wife and a friend. “Are you all right” she called out. Was the food too spicy for you?” Her friend looked at my face and the streaming tears and said “No Madam. It is not the food. It is just that he is a very lucky man. Very lucky.” Lucky that’s it. That’s how I feel, like I found my way through the world through some lucky accident. I returned to the tent the following night, and the man from the tent called out “Where were you last night?” When I saw him I tried to answer, but again I burst out hysterically in tears. He said, “O.K. never mind. Go sit down over there. We have been expecting you.”

Ghulam Rabbani passed on to his Beloved in 1999. He will always be loved and greatly missed by many.