Flower mystery(nazir jahangir) Flower mystery

I want to tell you a true story which was revealed to me by my grandfather.

He, while in adolescence, usually used to take a stroll in the big graveyard of Kashmir called ‘Mala Kha’ as it was very near to his house.

One day he, with a friend, while leisurely walking through this graveyard, witnessed a gravedigger digging a grave for a dead body and a coffin at some distance. A huge gathering was waiting for the burial of the dead body. My grandfather and his friend also joined in. Such scenes usually amuse little chaps. While they were watching the grave digging, the grave digger within the grave, not visible to the gathering seated in various directions on the ground, screamed. The crowd was stunned on this unusual cry. Everybody went near the trench to see what had happened. What they discovered inside was another grave, adjacent to the newly dug one, had opened and a lady’s corpse wrapped in a white shroud was sighted. The shroud was clean, as if the dead body was buried a few minutes before. But it was not the reason which could have excited the grave digger. Then what had made the grave digger shout?

The grave digger was pointing with his forefinger towards a bloomed flower which had grown close to the nose of the lady’s corpse and was looking like the ‘dead lady’ smelling its scent. The flower was visibly fresh. This situation struck everybody.

Who was that lady? What was that mystery? Nobody knew.

It may not be out of place to mention here that when a dead body of any Muslim is buried, it is laid in a position so as to face the holy Ka’ba. It was grasped that the lady’s dead body would have turned upside down after burial and as a result her nose touched the soil.

People who were present there, for the time, forgot that a dead body had been brought for burial. Instead the marvel of the flower discovery became the subject of discussion. It was surprising that an old man at some distance had leaned his back to an epitaph all by himself and was moaning and crying. He then became subdued and stood up, cried and tore his garments into shreds. This scene made everyone present there aghast. A few men in the crowd began to console that old man. They wanted to know the cause of his grief. The old man said: “Listen brothers! Listen very keenly. I am disclosing today that secret which I kept hidden hitherto. I had buried this secret in my bosom. But now the time has come to reveal this secret. This lady was my wife…….”

Silence gripped the whole environment. The mob became quiet and calm. Their curiosity intensified. Everybody was visibly eager to know the truth.

The old man continued his disclosure: “she died some twenty years back. We lived together for about seventeen years………” He wiped his tears with the skirt of his garment and continued: ”When I got married to this lady, I was not happy because of my personal reasons. While on nuptials…” again his eyes moistened and he continued with hoarse voice, “I disclosed to my bride my impotence. First she was stunned, but immediately she controlled herself. She asked me why I agreed to the marriage. I told her that shame stood in the way and I could not express the truth. She asked me to suggest a remedy. I asked her to divorce me and insisted on it. She listened calmly and then refused. I still remember her words. She told me with full confidence that nothing can occur without the will of Allah and if Allah had wished suchlike, I should submit to it faithfully. God bless her soul! She assured me that she would never offer any chance for any grievance to me and would prove herself a dedicated and faithful wife. Her words and innocence made me emotional. I virtually begged her to divorce me. I tried my best to convince her that such compromise would ruin her life. Her longings would perish. She was young, pretty and beautiful. Anybody could have accepted her. But my persuasion did not yield any result. She remained adamant on one point that she would never expose my impotence and would not spoil herself hereafter. She deemed the divorce an evil deed. So my impotence remained a secret. We got along with and passed our days peacefully for seventeen years. When I saw this mysterious flower in her grave, I knew it was the will of Allah. God has given her dignity in this world and also in the other world. God bless her soul!”

The old man became silent but the gathering there raised voice “God bless her soul!”

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