Children of Dust A Memoir of Pakistan

Abstract

In Mecca fathers become inclined to give up their sons. In 1980, at the spot where the Prophet Ibrahim oncesought to slaughter his son Ismail after receiving arevelation from God; at the same place where God gave adream to Abdul Muttalib asking him to sacrifice his sonAbdullah; my twenty-two-year-old father-to-be put his headto the floor and entered into a covenant with AllahAzzawajal, the Exalted. “Ya Allah! If you should give me a son,” he said, “I promise that he will become a great leader and servant of Islam!” That accord, called a mannat, made before my birth, singularly and exclusively guided my life for three decades. It conditioned me to serve Islam and it made the service of Islam my condition. In fulfillment of that covenant I studied at madrassas. I rejected the companionship of non-Muslims. I rose up against secularism. I struggled on behalf of oppressed Muslims. And, in the age of terrorism, I sought to become a reformer of Islam