Faizan Khan / Agra

Faith can move mountains: a family of Agra has lived this age-old adage in showing its devotion to Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti, the greatest of the Sufis, whose mausoleum at Ajmer in Rajasthan recently celebrated the annual Urs.

Hakim Sarfaraz Ahmed and his family that lives in Kothi Meena Bazaar and they have been regulars at the Ajmer dargah during the Urs. On a designate day, he along with his wife Mojmaa Khatoon  and son Raza ul Mustafa reached the interstate bus terminus only to find the bus services between Agra and Ajmer have been suspended because of the Corona-related restrictions.

Sarfraz Ahmed said there was no way they couldn’t visit the Khwaja Gareeb Nawaz. He decided to take the family on his moped.

It meant that he had to cover a distance of 969 km in three days. In normal circumstances, the journey is not only difficult but also highly uncomfortable.

He spoke to Awaz-the Voice about his passion for the pilgrimage and the journey on the return from the pilgrimage.

He said he had been going to the urs since 1985. It was his first journey on a moped.

“See, we had to join the Urs and call on Khwaja Garib Nawaz at any cost,” he said. With such clarity in his mind, Sarfaraz asks “What is the problem in going on the moped?”

 Hakim Sarfaraz Ahmad is an Unani practitioner. Asked about the challenges of travelling long distance on a moped, Sarfraz said there was no problem in travelling so long. “The diwan (Followers) of Khwaja do not have problems; we didn’t even feel hungry during the journey.” He said the three of them ate only when they found a dhabha on the roadside.

Raza ul Mustafa said they hardly felt any discomfort in travelling to the dargah. “When Khwaja saheb calls one he doesn’t have to face any problem,” he said. The trip was completed in 9 days. On their way back, they took it a little leisurely; son and father took turns to drive for one hour each and took a break for half an hour for resting. The 1932 km route was covered in six days.

Mojmaa Khatoon says that for a believer when it comes to addressing the distance between him and his beloved (Khawaja) distance doesn’t matter. “It’s a decision to go; doesn’t matter how one does it.”

She said the journey on a moped was quite enjoyable as she had always gone on a bus.

 Bazim-e-Khudam general secretary Bhaiya Zahir Hussain said his organization salutes this family since that have taken the original way when the devout would either go on foot or on a bicycle to Ajmer Sharif.