Wali Khan - Flashbacks *Exciting, Funny, Movie-Epic* - Aseerun.org

[h=2]Wali Khan Amin Shah: December 24, 2011 (Flashback!)[/h] 24 Dec 2011




Bismillah,
As a young lad I went to northern Pakistan to help the Afghan people in their struggle, in a small and quite town that used to be the capital of the kingdom of Chitral, I walked down the street from the house where we had our office toward the bazaar in order to buy some grocery, the whole town is on a hill and the streets wind up and down, you don’t find any kind of public transportation and most people walk , I loved the weather there because it was cold and the air was so fresh that I didn’t need coffee to feel alert , all I used to need was to step out and breath!! I was there as a part of a team that was given the task of monitoring the caravans of horses, mules and donkeys as they enter the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, each caravan consisted of thousands of animals!!


Near the border the bank of a beautiful river was my favorite spot, I used to buy my self couple “Nans”(local bread) and eat them after dipping them in the ice cold water, when I finish my job a driver used to take me back to Chitral, in the road I used to listen to the armed guards and the guide as they tell me about the area, the area is rich in history, some locals clamed to be the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander ( known as the Great) who passed through the area during his conquest of Asia, I saw some tribes who were still worshiping Idols in a largely Muslim country, their areas are very mountainous and the roads used to be accessible only in summer.


I used to walk in Chitral to a flat grassy field where I used to watch games of polo, horses were flown by airplanes from all over Pakistan to compete in the championship, there were no stadium or any fences and I used to watch for free!!! The region was an earthquake zone, we used to experience several small shocks a day and the stone walls bare the marks of larger quakes.


One day there, I told the cook to buy us a rooster, not to eat it , but to wake us before down!! It was winter and I was waiting to hear the call of the rooster all night long , I couldn’t sleep well because I was waiting!! But no call came at all, after we prayed the Fajr, and the sun came up I went out looking for the rooster, I found it sleeping!! I tried to shake it and it started calling!! Of course we found another use for it!!


While we were in Chitral an old man by the side of the road was selling some kind of sweets, when he heard the brothers (who were from Medina) he spoke to them in Arabic!! They were very surprised because the old man spoke in the dialect of Medina while he looked just like an old chitrali sweet seller.
The man’s story was very interesting to us, as a twenty something he was still in Medina when a King from Chitral came for Hajj then visited the Masjid of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the King of the small kingdom wanted to hire a teacher for his children from Medina some one who is willing to travel to the little known Kingdom of Chitral, the young man agrees to go and his strange story begins.


The whole region in the foot hills of the Himalaya was a chess board for the two super powers, The British and The Russians who wanted to check each other in the 19th century and early 20th century, in the so called “Great Game”, Chitral was one of the places where battles were fought in that Game, when the World War II ended and India and Pakistan was about to be born as new nations, Chitral was an independent Kingdom, the young teacher lived in the palace and was doing well, until the whole Kingdom was absorbed into Pakistan, the King became a regular guy and the teacher, now married, became a poor guy surviving by selling sweets, his children were adults but none of them spoke Arabic and he hadn’t heard of any of his family back in Medina in more than fourty years.
The brothers promised to help the old man visit Medina after all these years !! imagine the shock when he sees the transformation that took place in his absence, this was in the 1985 and he was , I was told able to visit after few years.
As a young man it never occurred to me that I my self could end up away from Medina for decades, now I see the years fly and I am 2 years shy of my 30th year away from Home!!


To be conintuied…
_________________________________________________________


As-salamu alykum,


I have a bit of good news, yesterday I visited the hearing specialist and received a good hearing aid!!
I am able to hear better now, today I took it ( the hearing aide) in a test drive , out side and actually I heard ( although not clearly) the announcement over the loud speaker that is inside the building!! the windows are closed so to hear anything at all is a huge thing for me, also I asked my younger neighbor to walk next to me and speak in a low voice while he is to my left, he did that and I was able to understand him, before I used to ask him to be to my right always and to speak up specially when we walk outside, we enjoy walking out for hours back and forth and I used to have hard time hearing, the hearing aide is said to have many new technologies like noise reduction and it is fully programmable to help me hear things other old hearing aides were unable to, they said it can detect a use of phone and adjust accordingly, I will see if I call after two weeks by the will of Allah, I lost my appeal to reduce the phone restriction time, so my chance to call comes at January 8 /2012.


I will write again soon, I hope that all of you are fine, it is Saturday December 24 2011, 9:15 pm and in few minutes they will lock us behind the grill away from the computer so it is time to say salamu alykum, please share it with my family may Allah reward you.


Osama Haidar. (Wali Khan)

http://aseerun.org/2011/12/24/wali-khan-amin-shah-december-24-2011-flashback/

Wali Khan Amin Shah: January 3, 2012 (Flashback)

03 Jan 2011


Asalaamu alaykum wa Rahmatullah wa barakaatuh




Bismillah,

During the spring and summer I was busy monitoring the departure of large caravans from “garm chishmah” (the hot spring), I wrote many notes to the headquarters in Peshawar so the Afghan Organizations can get the money that was promised to them when they transport the material from the border into Afghanistan, I was young and struggling to learn the Farsi language, but because they needed my notes, the Afghans used to deal with me on equal terms!!

Some of them were very high ranking in their huge organizations like the Jami’yat , I didn’t choose to be there doing that kind of work but agreed to do it when asked by the elders, but the winter was taking over and the mountain passes were getting blocked one after the other and no self respecting Afghan would start a journey in such weather, especially in the ”Hindo koosh”.


To travel to Chitral we used to go by air, in small planes of the PIA , because it was the only way in winter, the other way is always available (hiking on foot, to climb Lori kohtal in ten hours), I always preferred the airplane, but that winter I failed to book a head of time, so I had to go on foot. When I made it back to Peshawar I found my friends mourning one of our brothers who was basically doing similar things, monitoring caravans and paying for the transporters at a different border point, the brother was very liked and despite being very heavy he was very active, he was shot by robbers who ambushed his jeep after a withdrawing large amount of cash to pay for the transporters.


My arrival in Peshawar was tolerated first by the manager but soon I was told to go back to my post!! I told them there is nothing to do there in the winter, but they didn’t like my reasoning, so they found two brothers who were willing to go there and wait for the snow to melt , in that region it meant six months or more. I was asked to accompany the two brothers to Chitral and to show them around, I agreed. In that age travel was my daily bread!! The two brothers were way more settled than me, both were over 40, married and had children back at home, for them I was a wild 20 something trouble maker!!


When I took them to the house it was covered with a foot of snow, they were told to be careful and not to spend more than the bare minimum!! They took that literally and refused to buy fire wood!! I told them that in order to survive here they needed to eat well and stay warm, but they were feeling guilty and refused, I did my part and wanted to leave as soon as possible, but the weather didn’t help, so I was delayed for few days. The brothers were from Arabia and East Africa and didn’t take well to the high altitude and cold, I felt bad for them but part of me was saying “didn’t I tell you?”.


The brothers were very simple and spent their time reciting Qur’an and learning while happy to obey the orders given to them from Peshawar, that didn’t make sense to me but I admired their sincerity, and they started to change their opinion of me, one of them declared that he didn’t know how or why, but he started to like me, the other one agreed. They were told that I was unruly and that I didn’t obey orders and that’s why they had their initial reservation, but I think that I started make sense to them (; .


Chitral was part of Pakistan but it was vey remote and different than the rest of the country, there even banana (the most abundant fruit in Pakistan) was a novelty, I remember that we used to put banana on the burning charcoals to thaw them enough so we can skin them!!
The brothers were very good in manners and I felt that they were like my elder brothers, but soon I had to leave to Peshawar so I could take the spot of our brother who was killed earlier, my new post was on a less remote area, because of the ambush we decided not to risk having cash around so I only was to send notes and not to give any cash and I was not to stay there but only travel on a case by case basis.


I used to blend in very well after learning a little Pashto and Farsi, I spoke Uzbick language and put it to use with some Uzbick commanders from the north of Afghanistan, I used to marvel at the mountains knowing that my father passed through them with his small family some thirty years ago.
To be continued…
____________________________________
As-salamu alykum, please share this with my family if you can, here they called us to go behind the grills for the day, it is 9:26 pm, so I have to say salamu alykum.


- Wali Khan (may Allah free him)

http://aseerun.org/2012/01/03/wali-khan-amin-shah-january-3-2012-flashback/#more-2783

[h=2]Wali Khan Amin Shah: January 4, 2012[/h] 04 Jan




As-salamu alykum,

I still have four more days before my phone restriction ends, I don’t know why things still very slow here, but I hope soon things will change and I will get some news from my family, I finally got some batteries for the hearing aid, and it is good to hear again!!


The weather is alternating between cold and warm, but doesn’t stay one way or the other for long, our brothers in the SHU are not requesting recreation at all!! It is some times easier to just go to sleep in the morning and miss the recreation while in the Hole, I didn’t have outside recreation from 1996 to early 2001 and then again from 2002 to late 2004, after that I was able to get few hours of fresh air a week.


I didn’t turn down any opportunity to get any fresh air, here alhmdulliah we can walk out and get as much as we want of fresh air, I am worried that the brothers in the SHU will be there for some time and it is extremely important to keep high morale in the Hole, without fresh air and some sun I think it will take its toll on them, may Allah help us all.


I just fixed myself a cup of coffee and am heading out to walk a little. My younger neighbor injured his wrist and we didn’t play any volleyball for five days, even the walk we used to have outside is hurting him because of the cold, I will give him a week or so and he will be back asking for a match.
I will write tomorrow by the will of Allah, so far I got no e-mails or snail-mail, salamu alykum.



http://aseerun.org/2012/01/04/wali-khan-amin-shah-january-4-2012/

[h=2]Wali Khan Amin Shah: January 9, 2012[/h]
As-salamu alykum, I been have busy and unable to sit to write these days, the weather is very unseasonably warm and inside it is very hot!!!


I heard a good news, that a brother who been in the SHU for more than a month might come out to join us again, I ask Allah to make easy on all brothers who are in solitary confinement every where in the world, I also called home on Sunday and today too, I heard that my son was hit by a car but thanks to Allah only injured his foot, his leg is in cast now and that means he will not be able to go to work for couple of weeks, I felt bad because I wasn’t able to speak to him because he is deaf, we are requesting the prison authorities to allow us to get video visits so those of us who don’t have families here or their families are very far and can’t visit will be able to see their families via video, so far the brothers are fighting in the court under the civil law to get that but it is very hard to go to court in civil law suits here, a case can drag on for seven or eight years and it costs too much to maintain the case.


I hope that our little community here gets some new good brothers, we didn’t get a new addition in a while, the brothers are everywhere and some have nowhere else but this unit, every time the unit gets a good brother we feel a little bit of change in the community, some are stuck here for over three years, I have been in this unit for two years, and when we get a new brother we feel new energy.


The different backgrounds and diverse origins is a double edge sword, I say despite the huge differences we managed to sail a relatively smooth voyage so far, our main obstacle is the ban by the authority on any good and positive activity, for example it is ok to come together to play cards and shout and scream or even curse one another but not ok to gather to learn a good thing!!


The whole USA policy on Islamic learning is misguided, they think that more Islamic knowledge leads to violence when it is the opposite, only people with little knowledge are putting this planet in danger, separating the knowledgeable people from the young and knowledgeable is the reason of the chaos, sometimes I say to myself maybe that is by design!! Sometimes I see evidence that it is bad advice that is causing these people to implement such foolish policies.
I got a beautifully hand written letter about the meaning of the “shahada” (There is no god worthy of worship but Allah), I say thank you and may Allah reward you for the reminder. I have to go now, please share this message with my family if possible, salamu alykum.


Leave a comment Posted by aseerun on January 9, 2012 in Letters from Wali Khan Amin Shah, Risala



Tags: Osama Haidar, SHU, solitary, solitary confinement, Wali Khan Amin Shah

[h=2]Wali Khan Amin Shah: January 17, 2012 (Walima!)[/h] 17 Jan



As-salamu alykum, it is 8:26 am, the yard is closed because of the stormy weather and the program area is closed too, that means I have nothing better to do than bothering you guys!! I am still waiting to get any e-mail from someone!!


Anyway I know you all are busy, so let my type and hope some body is going to read and remember me in his or her dua’ , I want to say that last night the weather outside was so beautiful and we played volleyball 3×3 , the games was very strong, the other team had two good players who used to play in clubs before coming to prison, on my side I was playing with two young, full of energy but untrained brothers, in here volleyball is almost a game [exclusively] for Muslim brothers; the non-Muslim inmates don’t like to play it, with an exception of some non-American inmates from Latin America.


I guess volleyball is not popular in the USA, I was trying to see what sport they like and found that they like American football that is so alien to me that I couldn’t relate to it at all, they are so violent and a team can be fifty or more players who can get in and out without limit!! They play burst of 10 seconds or less then stop and start over while wearing their armors .


Yesterday when I wanted to make some sweets for the Muslims after hearing that the marriage contract of my daughter was done on Saturday, I struggled to get the ingredients because I am still on commissary restriction, I wanted the brothers to share with me my happy moment but I had very limited items to make a pastry, so here’s what I did:


I mixed peanut-butter and honey and some hot water until it became smooth then added some mixed nuts. Then worked on the cake. I used oatmeal that is sold with flavors like cinnamon, apple or maple sugar, I poured hot water and mixed it with regular rolled oatmeal and peanut butter then added the little chocolate cookies that I have, after kneading it for an hour, I baked it for 10 minutes in the microwave oven, after that I put the smooth honey-peanut butter- mixed nuts on top of the cake and used the plastic knife to cut it into pieces, then I let it cool down, Alhamdulillah it was good and everyone ate and they liked it too .


I am still waiting for the white robe that I was trying to buy from the outside via special order, I thought that they
took the money but they didn’t, they just froze it so I can’t used until they complete the purchase. This is what is going on in our world at this time, what is going on out there?


I have to go now, Salamu alykum.




Leave a comment Posted by aseerun on January 17, 2012 in Letters from Wali Khan Amin Shah, Risala



Tags: Osama Haidar, prison recipies, volleyball, Wali Khan Amin Shah, walima

Wali Khan Amin Shah: January 22, 2012 (Flashback)

22 Jan 2012


Asalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuh


Bismillah
In the mid 1980s I was helping the Afghan people against the soviets. I was doing many things at once: anything that could help the struggle was on my menu as long as it was not against Islamic teachings. One such thing was to help set [up] schools in refugee camps; to do so, I was traveling all over the North West Agency that borders Afghanistan to inspect the conditions and write recommendations for materials to be given to the organizations which ran the schools.

Also, I used to buy books and school supplies for the schools; these trips allowed me to learn a great deal about the region and the tribes and their customs. I enjoyed the beauty of Swat valley and the breathtakingly clear rivers of Kalam and Droosh. I spent time in Malak and lingered in Bahreen (an area where two rivers meet and converge). I used to accept the trip if I had nothing else to do at that time and a driver with good knowledge of the area was always with me. Some places were so exotic that I used to take my time admiring the whole scene; the only problem for me was the food, so I used to keep it simple: Don’t eat anything or eat only familiar things!!! My time in Peshawar was usually short and I used to hang out with a group of brothers who came there from all over the globe. We used to go to local restaurants and sometimes these restaurants opened only after midnight!!! Because they functioned as butcher shops during the day, and after midnight, they offered Kebab and Curry with freshly baked Nan.

I used to move a lot so I didn’t have a fixed address, but some friends used to offer me a room, sometimes in an office building or a villa. I used to keep my belongings in bags so I could move quickly. In one of such jobs, I was going to buy some mules, horses and donkeys to give to the Afghans who were to use them as pack animals to transport all kinds of materials to the fronts. But this time I had company; a brother was coming with me to help out. The brother was a very good person that I met few weeks before and he had one of the most interesting stories I ever heard: he was raised in Paris as a secular and almost knew nothing about any religion. His mother was a very strong figure in his north African country, so she wanted him to be educated and cultured in the western way of life.

Abdurrahman, as he was called among the brothers, was a twenty something lad who was sick when I met him. I noticed that he was very keen to follow the sunnah of the Prophet peace be up on him. I also noticed that the brothers didn’t like to sleep any where near him!! They said they just felt that a heavy thing on their chest whenever they went to sleep in the same room with him. I didn’t really care much because I always had nightmares and I was used to these kind of feelings. We became friends and he started telling his story. He said that he always felt that he wasn’t alone in his room back in France, so after many researches, he tried to put the pen to the paper and see if he can get whoever is there with him to answer his questions!!

As he held the pen loosely on the paper and started asking, an unseen force used the pen in his fingers to write the answer to his inquiry. Soon they were exchanging information on daily basis. Then one thing led to another and the subject of religion came up; he was told about the major religions and of course Islam was the religion that got his attention. Soon he was practicing Islam by the help of these “Jinns”!! The thing that caught our attention about him was that most of his dreams used to come true in very short time!!
Time and time again he related to us a dream, and we paid attention to the details, and we were blown away with the accuracy. He was of course aware of the Hadeeth that says the most truthful amongst you in his speech is the most truthful in his dreams: meaning that a person who tells the truth at all times will see dreams that will come to be true.

The brothers were always waiting to hear what the brother will say in the morning. Sometimes he said nothing and sometimes told us his latest dream. One day he told us that he saw one of our brothers fall on his face and return!! The brother in the dream was joining a caravan into the North provinces of Afghanistan; the caravan was leaving from Chitral, and we were in Peshawar where the chances of communication were very low. I knew the Chitral area very well, especially the remote area of Garm Chashmah where the journey starts. Because the brother left us more than a week ago, we thought that he would be on his way to the North, but after Abdurrhman’s dream we were not so sure.

The day after we were told about the dream, someone rang the bell while we were having our breakfast. It was the brother in the dream. He told us how he fell and couldn’t carry on with the caravan. When he was left behind by the fast traveling caravan, he had to travel back to Peshawar. This was very unusual thing: anybody traveling to the North during that time used to take long time in preparation as the brother did, and the caravans don’t make the journey regularly, so most of the time the brothers take extra measures to be ready and endure to complete the journey. The brother in the dream was in very good shape and known for his determination, so when we saw that, we knew that it was a true dream. Many other dreams made us nervous; we were living on the edge, some were [even] told about a dream that they might die!!! The dreams were sometimes more complex, two events woven into one, both come true but in two different places!!
I was going and coming like before, but anytime I got a chance, I used to ask about the latest dreams. Alas, the Brother’s strong mother came to Pakistan with her Government’s power and was looking for her son. The Pakistani government put pressure on the brothers and someone lied to Abdurrhman to bring him to a house where his mother and many officials were waiting. They took him away. I felt bad for him because he didn’t want to go back. I didn’t like how he was set up, but my life went on. I always remembered him and his dreams.


Join the Da'wah:

• Share

Like this:

Like
Be the first to like this post.






About aseerun

ADVOCACY | AWARENESS | ART View all posts by aseerun »


Leave a comment Posted by aseerun on January 22, 2012 in Biographies, Letters from Wali Khan Amin Shah, Risala



Tags: Afghanistan, automatic writing, channeling, Chitral, Droosh, flashback, Jinn, Kalam, North West Agency, Osama Haidar, Pakistan, Peshawar, precognition, Swat, Swat Valley, true dreams, Wali Khan Amin Shah




←<<< Wali Khan Amin Shah: January 18, 2012 (Day Off)

Clarification regarding reports of Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s medical condition >>>>→

Asalaamu alykum warahmatullah wa barakaatuh


More exciting flashbacks coming soon in shaa' Allah.

You can find them here: Aseerun.org

Or I will post them soon in shaa' Allah.


To email Wali Khan:

Email al.aseerun [@] gmail dot com with your email letter.
Add us on facebook and twitter to spread Awareness: Facebook | Twitter |

:salamext:


This is him;

Wali Khan Amin Shah: January 28, 2012 (Life In US Prisons)

05 Feb



Bismillah,

I was asked by some brothers and sisters about the life in US prisons, I wish to inform you that I have been in US prisons for seventeen years now, but not every prison in the US is like the other. First they have two different systems Federal prisons and state prisons, they can send a Federal inmate to state prison and vise versa, even in Federal prisons they have many different levels and you can think of it as levels of security, low means that the inmates have more freedom, then medium with less freedom , high is least in freedoms, then they have Maximum which of course the highest level with very little freedom, having said that you have to take in consideration the inmate’s status, there are pretrial inmates, hold over inmates, pre-sentencing …etc

Every institution even in same level of security can be different because the local people who run it have their own way of doing things and they share only the bare minimum of the rules, they have great leeway and discretion, so one thing can be allowed in one prison and banned in the other while both are at the same level of security, then you have different units, some units in the same prison can be totally different. Read the rest of this entry »

[h=1]Wali Khan Amin Shah: February 27, 2012 (Flashback!)[/h]
Asalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh

27 Feb


Bismillah,

My class mate from middle school was very frail and his father was very strict about his time outside their home, we became good friends in high school where both of us took part in the Islamic group that was tolerated by the school, we were having many activities like camping in the outdoors north of Medina, some times we used the ground of the school to have weekend camp (weekend was Thursday and Friday, not Saturday and Sunday!!).


Most of us were in the scout movement too, for my friend that was a major problem, in Saudi Arabia at that time the scout movement used to have a very bad reputation, so it was difficult for him to convince his father about joining the scout movement, but finally he did. I was proud of him and always encouraged him to be more outgoing, for me it was not at the beginning that difficult to go around since my parents were both very tolerant and they trusted the Islamic movement that was flourishing back then, by government encouragement, so I always wanted my friend to have same level of freedom that I enjoyed.
We used to go to the holy Masjid of the Prophet Mohammad peace be upon him, to pray the Fajr prayer, so we used to wake up early and wake any one who is not up yet before the call for the Fajr, after the prayer we used to go to school then after the first 3 classes we used to gather in the prayer area in the school during the thirty minutes between the classes, we used to sit around learning ahadeeth while some prepared the tea and breakfast (beans that we call fool , humus and cheese that is eaten with flat bread).



Many of the sixty or so members of the Islamic group (out of 800 students) used to pray the four Rak’ah voluntary prayer before joining the circle, Mondays and Thursdays we used to fast and gather at sun set at school to break our fast and have some entertainments, like plays or Nasheeds.
The three years I spent in the high school were short but very full of activities, in the last year I was no longer studying but only coming to the school after everyone was leaving . When I went to Afghanistan I missed my friend a lot, he managed to go too but his father came after him and managed to take him back, he was back in the high school trying to calm down the situation, before trying again!!


But I almost gave up on him coming back, his father took away his passport and he wasn’t allowed to get a new one without his parents consent. I went ahead trying to serve as best as I could, many of my school mates who were in the Islamic group showed up at some time or the other, some came in the holidays or during the summer, few of them stayed, one of them was wounded and I was helping him, we stayed in a house in Peshawar where the few wounded among the Arab volunteers were kept.


One day I heard some noise and saw a young man standing in the front door, next to him was a wounded man, we made room for them in the house, the young man and I were both helping our wounded friends, after a few weeks, the two wounded became friends and the young man and I became friends too!!
The wounded brothers became less dependant on us, so we were free to go do something useful, we decided to go back to Afghanistan. The area we were visiting was very tough to reach, so we needed some guide, we went to the border and asked the local office of the Afghani organizations to send us to the area recently attacked by the Russians, and we were told to join a group of men who were going there.
My new friend was from the tiny state of Bahrain in the Persian gulf, he started to relate to me his story as we made our way up the mountains of Konar province in the eastern Afghanistan, at first the weather was fogy and on the cold side, the men we were following took a plastic bag and filled it with cooked rice and some boiled mutton (sheep’s meat), about two hours after we started the difficult climb the Afghan who was carrying the bag called us and wanted to give us our share, we looked around and saw that the other men got their share in their two hands, literally!!



They just opened their palms and the man put the rice on their palms and they started eating it from their palms, I thought that I saw it all before I saw that, now we quickly did exactly as they were doing, the rice was almost frozen, unsalted boiled rice, then we got our share of the mutton, we looked at the men to see what were they doing with their meat, they were doing some thing I never considered before, they put the meat in their pockets!! Just like that unwrapped cooked meat in the pocket, but my new friend and I were quick study , we just put the meat in our pockets and moved on.


The climb was getting tougher by the hour, and as the afternoon brought some bone chilling wind and snow we were struggling to keep up with these mountain goats in disguise . At midnight we made it to the peak!! The last hundred meters were covered with frozen ice, the men started chewing into the tennis ball size meat that we put in our pockets, so we understood that they are preparing to push it to the limit!! As I was trying to carve anything out of my boney portion of meat, my friend from Bahrain was calm and quiet, doing the same and not failing to smile toward me, I liked his endurance so far, he was fit and not younger than me by much, but he had quite a story to tell.


His father was a wealthy businessman and his family was from the Sunni Arabs who trace their roots to Najd the central province of Arabia, he was living in the old house by the sea shore learning from his father the stories of the old times and learning the customs of the true Arabian hospitality, pouring the Arabian coffee to the frequent visitors to their house in the afternoons.


[His name was] Ibrahim, [he] had a friend who was newly joined in the military and they used to sit down near the sea fishing or around a fire at night, they picked up smoking to look tough!! They listened to Bob Marley songs looking for something important to do with their lives!!
One day Ibrahim told his friend about the news from Afghanistan, they shook their heads, one of them said lets go and help them!! The other said yes, one of them said whoever breaks his pledge is not a MAN!!

They knew next to nothing about Afghanistan, they thought that the Russians invaded the country and the government of Afghanistan was fighting back!!

They ran away from their families and from the military and made it to Pakistan, in Karachi they spent a week and found some of their countrymen in training with the Pakistani Navy. After a long journey by the train to Lahore they reached the end of the rope!! They didn’t have a clue where to go next.
One day at the market they heard someone speaking in Farsi!! They asked him how come you speak Farsi? He said he is an Afghan!! They made it into Afghanistan with a group of fighters and some Arab volunteers, then in Logar province they were face to face with the Russian special forces!!
The mud walled compound they hid in was under siege and the fighting was ragging when Ibrahim’s friend was shot in the hand, their Afghan leader was killed along with many of his fighters, the rounds were coming from all directions and then the helicopters were over their heads.
An Arab fighter dug a fox hole under a wall and led Ibrahim and his wounded friend along with the remaining fighters to safety as the helicopters hovered above and the Russians ducked down to avoid the friendly fire!!

Just like that Allah saved them from the almost certain death, after walking for weeks they both made it to Peshawar where we met!!

As we moved to climb down we saw the Afghans putting all they have in a large sheet and after tying it they threw it down!! It was very clear to me that if they did it there must be very good reason for it, looking down I saw an elderly women climbing toward us with her cow!! I was shocked to see her there in the middle of the night, the fighters started to climb down falling down more than once in every step!!


Some how we made it down, my friend and I falling many times on the ice, we were not wearing any special boots and the Afghans were in plastic shoes!! We found from them that we were to go on without them

So we were told to follow a boy who would show us how to go to Shigal Valley!!

Wali Khan Amin Shah: February 29, 2012 (Flashback!)

29 Feb

Bismillah,

As we followed the little boy through the valleys we realized that he was very annoying!! The boy was carrying a sack full of flour on his back, so he was slow and we took turns helping him, when he was carrying the sack he was quiet and not bothering us that much, but after we started helping him he showed us his other side!! We [were] supposed to be going secretly so no one would take notice, but this boy was a portable radio station!!
In every turn he announces that Arabs are traveling with him to Shegal valley!! We tried to convince him not to say anything, he would keep his mouth shut for half an hour then burst again unable to control himself. No secret ever kept in Afghanistan!! This fact is learned the hard way by all who visit or invade the country!! Our journey took us to a very isolated area where a man lived with his family in a little house built from stones, his sheep were kept at night on the roof of the house!!

To get them up there we saw him carry them one by one while climbing a trunk of a tree that he propped against the house, the trunk was cut to be like a ladder, a very crude one, he later brought all of his sheep down to make a room for his two guests!! Yes for us!! We spent the night on the roof cushioned by the layers of manure and a sheep’s skin, it was below freezing, it was so cold that we were unable to move to make Fajr prayer, we watched the sky turn from dark to light and encouraged each other to get up and pray!! After many days of walking and little sleep and living on corn bread, we were almost starving, but the boy was still not done with us!!

He started taking us around to deliver his load and gossip or pick up news from here and there, we demanded to be shown the way to the Shegal valley, but we were unable to know for sure what the boy was up too!! They all were the tribesmen of his clan and those valleys were his backyard!! Two days more and then we were told by some people in the area that we can just walk in this direction and we will come face to face with local fighters, and we were on our own!!
We did exactly that and found that we were actually crossing communist controlled area!! After we behaved calmly and made it into the new valley, we did meet some fighters who we recognized as real Islamic group because we saw that they were Islamicly educated and were practicing the Sunnah, some using the “siwak” and others were wearing the black eye powder “Kohol”, we were relieved to see them.

Later when we reached our destination, we fell under suspicion!! They were not sure how we reached them from that direction, the leader was not convinced that we made [it] on our own, he was thinking we might be spies!! Thanks to Allah, we met there some of the Arab brothers who were very close friends and they managed to calm the leader. The leader was just being careful, after all just few days before our arrival the Russian special forces raided their area and killed a dozen or so of his fighters.

The blood of the killed Russians was still visible next to the landing area of the helicopters that recovered their bodies, we were able to win him over and we were welcomed in the valley. I learned a lot about Ibrahim in few weeks, and we became good friends, little I knew that we would travel long journeys together later, and I never thought that I would be the one who will put him in his grave after a heroic life in the battlefield, but that will be a whole different story, may Allah accept him and forgive me and grant me the chance to see him hereafter, amen.

[h=1]Asalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuh

Wali Khan Amin Shah: April 23, 2012 (Flashback: A Dream that Came True)[/h] 23 Apr



I was in Peshawar, and I saw a dream; a very short one. In my dream I was standing over the body of a shaheed that was wrapped in a white shroud. A wound was clear in his forehead. We were in a room with a little light, people were coming to see the shaheed, and I was looking but not taking part in the whole Janaza. I knew the brother who was in the dream, so when I saw him I told him about it and then forgot all about it!!


I went back to Afghanistan. We were fighting in the outskirts of Jalal Abad, and I was leading a group of fighters. Our mission was to be a light and mobile force, always sneaking behind the frontlines. It was very dangerous so very few would venture there. The brother who I saw in the dream was a teacher, so he wasn’t the type that I expected in such a place.


I was making a final preparation before an attack on communist positions. I needed to go back to take care of something when I heard a familiar voice. But I couldn’t put the picture together; this brother was not supposed to be here. I thought I was imagining, but he came out from behind some trees; he wasn’t alone. With him was another brother, also not the front type, they were supporters who helped the struggle from offices in Peshawar.

We were not in the frontline, but we were going there shortly. The two brothers looked at me: if I don’t take them with me, they would have a very hard time finding their way there, and even if they did, they wouldn’t know what to do. I knew them because we used to meet in Peshawar, so they expected me to take them with me. However, I was going for a very difficult fight, and I was leading about 50 men and had a lot of responsibilities. I asked the brother what they were doing here. He said, “Remember the dream?” !! I said, “Brother, are you serious? We have been here for years, and you want to come like that and become shaheed?” !!


Anyway, I took them with me in the pickup truck. We headed for the area where we hid the truck and go on foot for the 15 or so kilometers. Once there, I divided my group and tried to keep the two brothers with me so I could take care of them. All along the brother was telling me that I have to give the weapon that he is carrying to such and such. I said, “Give it to him yourself“, but he said, “No, I mean after I am gone” !! I said to myself, “This brother really believes that the dream is going to come true!!“


The other brother twisted his ankle, and I had to leave him behind with some fighters, but the brother in the dream came with me. We were waiting for the command to storm the position. It was hot, and we were tired. Three brothers, one of them was the brother in the dream, were on one side, and they only talked about what would they ask for when they become shaheeds!! I thought that they were just overdoing it .
When we started the assault by climbing the hill of the enemy, a shell exploded behind me!! I looked and saw the smoke covering where the three brothers were climbing!! The brother in the dream fell on his face. I went to see him: he had the wound exactly in the forehead and another cut on the face cutting through his eyeglasses!!


The brother was killed right away, but the two other brothers were still alive when I made it to them. The closer one started to come to me, then collapsed in my arms. He wasn’t breathing. I tried to blow air into his mouth, but he vomited a lot of blood. It [the blood] was so fast and massive that I drank some of it!! I was thirsty anyway , I really couldn’t avoid it. I knew he was going away. I left him when his “rooh” left his body.


I went to see the third brother who was in pain and was unable to stand up. With the help of another brother, we managed to get him down the hill where I left him in the care of one brother. I went up again to help another brother who’s leg was broken from shrapnel. I was also busy directing the rest of the fighters so I didn’t accompany the wounded, hoping that they will be alright once the car made it to them to evacuate them to a clinic.
I went back up to get the killed brothers, and there he was in peace, dusty and alone, away from his family and his little children in Peshawar. I looked at his wound one more time: right in his forehead!! I went to the one whose blood became part of me. I tried to see in his lean body any wound. I barely saw a very small wound in his chest, near his heart!!



The wind was blowing and the cover over the bodies of the two brothers was flapping with it. I thought that the other brother made it and was planning to visit him in the hospital, but soon I learned that he too left us shortly after I left him. I was emotional because he was begging me to stay with him, tugging on my sleeve. I was busy and thought he was going to make it. He used to love me so much; I only was able to visit his grave in the mountain.
The brother from the dream was older and left behind a family in Peshawar, so they took him back. He also was well-known, and the Afghan leaders took care of taking his body to his family. There he was washed and put into a shroud. He was put in a room for the people to come and see him before the burial. I knew that room; he invited me many times to eat dinners there, but I wasn’t there for the Janaza. The two other brothers were singles and their families were in Saudi, so they were buried in Afghanistan in their fighting clothes.
*-

I was surprised by the turn of the events. This brother, who was a teacher and very much from the “Peshawar crowd”, came at the right time for me to meet him when I went back for an unplanned trip. If I wasn’t back there [at that time], the meeting would be out of the question. Even if he managed to get to the front, the chances of meeting him was very slim given the realty of the time. For him to come at that time and call my name from behind the trees minutes before my departure; and then for his friend to get a twisted ankle and stay behind; then for him to set out with the only two brothers who would be killed with him and talk about asking for lemonade when they are killed; and for him to get the wound in that exact spot; then for him only to be sent back and put in the shroud in that room with that weak light; and for me not to be part of it but somehow to observe it all; that was very strange. And I was sure that none of that was accidental at all. The dream was short and direct, and the only reversed part was that I was not in that room when he was put for people to see. This dream is one of the dreams that came true almost as I saw it.


These brothers were very special, and I might share with you some of their stories later. In no way have I told you even 5% of what happened, but I only was trying to shed light on the subject of the true dream. May Allah accept them and forgive us all.

[h=2]Wali Khan Amin Shah: April 26, 2012 (Ramadan & Eid in Prison)[/h] 26 Apr




As-salamu alykum,


May Allah reward you for asking about the Eid & Ramadan in Marion USP. I want to give you a brief idea about the subject:


Firstly, in Ramadan Muslims get the Sahoor meal in a paper bag in the evening. It is very meager stuff, and usually the brothers eat it as a snack right away. Then, an hour before Fajr, one brother will be allowed to pass the milk (two pints), and if hot water is needed, he can get us some too.
After Fajr, the doors will open, and the inmates who don’t take part in Ramadan will be called for breakfast, and then for lunch. After that, if we are allowed to pray in Jama’ah like last year, we can then go and put the large prayer rugs and make our Zuhor prayer in Jama’ah. After dinner is served for the others, we can again put the large rugs and pray Asr since no additional meals will be served for the day except for Muslims. We are allowed to keep the rugs in the same place and wait for Maghreb prayer. The food will come fifteen or so minutes before sunset. It is placed on tables (the place where we pray is the same dinning hall), so we can pray first and then we can eat.


They give us the lunch and dinner at once; they only save the trays that are served regularly and give it to us together (no special food for Ramadan). Once we finish eating, if the time allows it, we can pray Isha’ and some Taraweeh. Because Ramadan is coming in summer this year, we might not have time. They usually ask us to leave the hall and go back to the housing unit. There too they give us little time before they lock us in our cells for the day, and the same happens during the month.


After the Eid day is confirmed, we are allowed to make the Eid prayer together and share some food that we can put together from what we can buy from the commissary. Then we might get together again to have some fun and sports or plays. We also share sweets and snacks from commissary; usually we pool our resources because many brothers are very limited in their income. I think that the Muslim community can send money as gifts for Eid to the Muslim inmates they know, and it will be good way to show the Muslim prisoners that they are not forgotten. To tell you the truth, we are not in bad shape; even if we can’t buy much, we still can get by. It is for the community outside, if they would like to share the Eid with us, then it is a good thing. No one is starving here .
We can mimic Baklava (Turkish sweet) and Cunaffah and other sweets from things that are sold in the commissary. We can’t buy sugar but limited honey can be bought. Nuts are expensive but available, and dates or dry fruits are marked up by alot. We can buy halal ground beef (cooked and in pouches), rice, beans and fish, which are used to make the meal for Eid. I hope that I gave you a fair idea about the subject, if you want to know more just ask me!!


Leave a comment Posted by aseerun on April 26, 2012 in Letters from Wali Khan Amin Shah, Risala



Tags: Eid, Prison Life, Wali Khan Amin Shah

Asalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuh

Wali Khan Amin Shah: April 28, 2012 (Flashback: Jungle-Light!)

28 Apr

As-salamu alykum,

I was in the rain forests of eastern Burma (Myanmar), I was following a local guide, with me was a brother who became shaheed in Tajikistan in 1993, we were traveling in two groups with locals, so they suggested that we split in order to be less visible, of course Burma was communist and very hostile to the Muslims whom we were visiting. It was very hot and humid that even the locals were sweating, I on the other hand was having my own monsoon season , I was in the small group that went ahead with a guide who looked ok at the start, but as we approached some farming areas he became very jittery and nervous, I asked what is the matter?

He said these are communists!! Referring to the villagers who were on the two hill tops on each side of us. We started after Asr so we came to that point in the Isha’ time, we were on our bellies in the jungle with every thing that we can’t see crawling on us, it was ok as long as we moved, but when we came in one of the rice fields, which was long and nearing harvest time, suddenly the villagers got wind of us and started to drum their drums as loud as they could!! Then they lit torches and started shouting to each other, I didn’t understand a word but knew that they were alerted to our unannounced visit!!

The guide was terrified by then, he wasn’t moving and I thought that he was able to stop his heart beat!! I urged him to move so we can pass before they come and catch us in that position, but he wouldn’t have any of it!! I didn’t know the area nor the language and didn’t want to go on my own, so I stayed but very reluctantly. The torches were getting closer and closer and the drums louder and louder and more men were joining the search. I glanced at the watch, it was12 am or so!! And they were not going to give up!!

And we were like logs on the ground, they came so close to us that I was ready to engage them with a knife , and our guide was still advising that we stay put!! I looked again at the watch it was after 2 am and soon the Fajr was going to expose us any way!! I told every one that I am pushing ahead and not waiting for no one!! After few hours of hard push into the jungle and climbing a slippery slope we made it into a real wild and untouched jungle of Allah!!
As the light of the day penetrated the thick jungle canopy, I started exploring what happened to my body , I was very tired and weakened, I thought it was because of the lack of food and dehydration, but the red colour all over made me look closer, the first leech I found was easy to remove but I started to find more and more!! All of them just sucking my blood and letting it go!! It felt like sweat during the night but when I examined it it was sticky blood that was mixing with the sweat, who knew what else was feeding on us!!

The locals were more afraid of the large cats like Bengal tigers and the like of it, we were reminded every now and then by their fresh tracks and …… . I was worried about the return route!! Sooner or later we were to return and I wasn’t looking forward to repeat that nights exploit, the guide who followed us after we left him in the rice field, started to think in more realistic way, he suggested that we try to know exactly who are these people!! I thought that was done already!!

The Muslims in Burma are minority and they call themselves Rohingya, I might be wrong in spelling their name but that what I remember, may Allah forgive us, and they are very good Muslims, they are like us, the Turkistanies, they too were made refugees by the communists, so many of them made it to Saudi too, I was in touch with some of them and this guide supposed to know about them!! But apparently he was not that good. I was overtaken by the nature of the jungle, and it is not for the faint of heart, it was very difficult to move and only those made wise by experience and helped by Allah can survive there.
Soon it was the time to go back!! And for our amazement the villagers were good Muslims!! Who helped us back, in Arabic they have a saying that translates something like this “A land will kill who is ignorant of it “. As we made our way back we didn’t tell them that it was us who made them stay up all night (; , but we asked politely, did they notice any thing that night? They said yes, they were chasing away Tigers , I said to myself very close!! I came away from that jungle wiser and have great respect to the people living there, I hope that the recent events in Myanmar will help the forgotten Muslims there. I also met a man who I really felt very bad about his plight,

I will tell you his story in the next E-mail incha’ Allah, salamu alykum.

Whoa, MAsha-Allah.

The strength of this brother is something that makes me envious of him (in a good way). His letters are always full of joy, I didn't expect that at all. Not from a prisoner - masha-Allah.

I really enjoyed reading his emails so much that I posted them in the wake up project site, and responses are actually a lot better there than they are here...^o) yes, very strange...

http://www.wup-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=24377

Also, we tried to bump the COMMON GROUND section with updates from Aseerun here and there. There is a sister on the forum (Bosnevie) who is active on that thread and is a campaigner for Muslim Women in Prison, masha-Allah. here is the thread for that: http://www.wup-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=23897 She makes some really good points in that thread. I think it is worth having a good read bro Qatada.

Thank you for keeping us updated. We all love to discuss the state of the ummah and other things, but that is all I see people doing here. Unfortunately, we need to be more active in campaigning and creating awareness about these issues.

May Allah reward you handsomely for all you efforts akhi,

Scimi

Asalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh

Wali Khan Amin Shah: April 29, 2012 (Flashback: The Young Man’s Story)

29 Apr

Bismillah,
Speaking of stories, I promised you that I will tell you one about a young man I met in my travels. Here it is:

We were traveling in a van that we rented with a driver. We were in Bangladesh!! In the northeast of that country it was afternoon, and we were hoping that we would make it safely to a hospital that we were visiting. Suddenly an old man came out in the middle of road!! He stopped, and the driver did all he could to stop or avoid him, but he hit him or so it appeared to us. All of a sudden the whole village was upon us, and the driver said that we shouldn’t move!!

The men were holding axes!! They said it was a well planned trap to get money from travelers, and that the old man was a good actor. I couldn’t tell if that was true but we heard a lot of that. Anyway, we had to pay . In the crowd we saw a young man who came to us, and when he heard us talking in Arabic, he started speaking in a very clear Makkan accent .

The young man started to tell us his story while trying to stop the people from hurting us. He was not happy being there; he was born and raised in Makkah. Then, Iraq invaded Kuwait!! One can’t see why that would effect this poor man in Makkah, but it did because of a very bad law in Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries. He was just like other people of his community doing whatever he could to make a living in the Holy Land of Makkah when the people started to panic and think that Iraq was going to invade Saudi too!!

So his guarantor fled to Egypt!! Because he had to get his residency papers renewed and under the law he could only do so when his guarantor was in the country, he was arrested and deported to Bangladesh. He tried to make it in the capital but couldn’t find any kind of job in the city, which has more homeless people than many capitals have people.

He was told that in that village that we were ambushed in , that he could find a job and live with a relative. It turned out to be a job in match factory that paid just like my job here in the prison , which means he couldn’t eat but once a day, five times a week. It was very hard for him to learn how to fight for anything and live on the side of the road while struggling to learn the language in a land far away from where he grew up.

When we were leaving, I saw in his eyes the sadness, and I hoped to be able to help him. I was like him, made stateless and pushed away from my people. But I was given more than him by being connected to many people who made it easy for me to go around by the grace of Allah. I looked back as he was waving his hand, and I still think of him and make dua’ for him and many others who suffer injustices in the Muslim world.

Salamu alykum.