Payami’s Longing for the Rawdah

 بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

There are some couplets that survive not because they are long, difficult, or ornate, but because they say one thing with complete inward honesty.

This short Urdu couplet is one of them:

پَیامیؔ مَوْت سے ڈَرْتا نَہیں، پَر آرْزُو یہ ہے

کہ پَہُنْچے رَوْضَۂ خَیْرُ الْوَرٰی پر، مَوْت سے پَہْلے

Payami is not afraid of death; his only longing is this:
that before death comes, he may reach the blessed resting place of the Best of Creation ﷺ.

A slightly freer rendering would be:

Death does not frighten Payami; one wish alone remains:
before his final breath, may he reach the sacred resting place of the Best of Creation ﷺ.
The couplet is most probably by مولانا محمد مطیعُ الحق پیامیؔ, who is remembered as an Islamic scholar and poet. An accessible biographical note describes him as حضرت علامہ مولانا محمد مطیع الحق پیامی حنفی چشتی نقشبندی مجددی, صاحبِ ضیاء العقائد, an اسلامی شاعر, and connected with کتب خانہ ضیاء العلوم، فیض باغ، لاہور. It also mentions that his resting place is in گھوڑے شاہ قبرستان.

There is also a transmitted attribution that he was the نواسہ, the maternal grandson, of Shaykh al-Hind مولانا محمود حسن دیوبندیؒ. I have not yet found an accessible written source that fixes the exact occasion on which he recited these lines but an oral tradition indicates that he was asked to recite something spontaneously. So the careful way to say it is: this couplet is most probably by مولانا محمد مطیع الحق پیامیؔ; the exact occasion remains to be verified from a fuller written source.

The couple above reminds me that the believer’s heart should not only ask, “How do I avoid death?” Death cannot be avoided. A deeper question is: What longing do I want to carry into death?

For Payami, the answer is clear.

Not a throne.

Not applause.

Not ease.

Not a long list of worldly completions.

Only this:

پَہُنْچے رَوْضَۂ خَیْرُ الْوَرٰی پر، مَوْت سے پَہْلے

May he reach the blessed resting place of the Best of Creation ﷺ before death comes.

And perhaps, in that one wish, there is a lesson for us too.

Before death comes, may our hearts learn what is worth longing for.

Before death comes, may our love become sincere.

Before death comes, may our salām reach him ﷺ with truth.

اللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ.