Following interview of Bhai Murtaza Partapurwala, San Francisco, by Mudar Patherya

Sameena and I married in February 1993, shifted to US in 1998 and were childless for eight years. We consulted many doctors (US and Indian). We visited innumerable fertility clinics. We remained a family of two.

 
In this interim, my wife had a miscarriage. On medical advice, we injected her with steroids across five painful cycles (needing four injections a day). On medical advice, we backed off when doctors said that we had injected too many. Their conclusion: give the body some rest and return for more treatment in a year.


Treatment. Treatment. Treatment. Medicines. Medicines. Medicines.

 
Completely dejected. At that time, my family (parents) in India decided to submit an araz for the attention of Aqa Maula; Maulana gave a tasbeeh to be done regularly. Meanwhile, Aqa Maula flew to Houston for Eid e Ghadeer in 2001 and I flew in from San Francisco for the waaz and dua mubarak. We sought time for qadambosi but Shehzada Malekul-ashtar bhaisaheb said that since Maulana had just recovered from a prolonged illness this would be difficult. When I heard this, I started crying …I mean, crying as in actual tears. Shehzada saheb asked me to maano Imam Husain ni ziyarat, Syedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb’s ziyarat and invoke Maulana Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb’s vaseela. I did so immediately. That evening we left for San Francisco.
 

On return, Sameena suggested that we go for a pregnancy check. I didn’t think it was necessary. It had been eight years of marriage so one doesn’t feel that the averages are on our side. But since she had mentioned it, we went. Surprise. She had conceived.

Four months into the pregnancy, my wife called me one evening from her office. Her first words: “We’ve lost the baby!”

 I drove as fast I could, collected her, drove her to hospital ten miles away, she was admitted to the Emergency Room, asked to visit the rest room…and that is when I said this is it. She was bleeding so profusely that her clothes and floor were stained with blood. It was like someone had left the faucet on. With that kind of blood on the floor and everywhere, I took a deep breath and what can you think in what looks like a hopeless situation… when I actually could, I only ‘spoke’ to Imam Husain and Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin and said ‘Tamey maney aa farzand aapu chey, tamej ehni hifaazat karjo’.

 The doctors came half an hour later. One could see the diagnosis on their face. Looked like a clear thumbs down. They suggested ultrasound. It was their way of letting the machines do what they were apprehensive of telling us. And so we went for the scan. And as the doctor put the scanner to the stomach and turned to look at the screen, she was surprised. There was a definite flicker on the screen. Alive! The baby was kicking!

Bed rest for three weeks. Baby born premature. Baby healthy. That’s cutting a long story short.

When we decided to have our second child, Sameena was unable to conceive. The same old routine: treatment, no result, dejection. We concluded that agar naseeb ma hase to apne beeju farzand thase. I didn’t submit an arzi for dua to Aqa Maula because I was a little embarrassed: Maula yeh ek farzand aapu chhey aney mein beeju mangi rahyo chhu.

Around that time, Maulana visited San Francisco. We were busy with our residential renovation as Shehzada Qaeid Johar bhaisaheb was to stay at our place. Then apne Aqa Maula ni ziyafat nu sharaf milu at a one day notice. Maria bensaheb asked Sameena ke tamne Aqa Maula ne kai arzi nathi karvi? Sameena replied ke aap em araz kariye ke Aqa maula ni dua si ek farzand chey aney beeja farzand ni ummeed chey. I had no idea of this araz; only later was I told that Moulana yeh arzi ne haath lagayo, which I presume was his dua.

 Moulana ni safar tamam thayi and within a month Sameena conceived. Our second son was born healthy. I think it was in Yemen that Maula yeh dua keedhi hati ke Khuda-taala mumineen na ghar sona ane chandi si bhari naakhe, yeh dua poori thayi in the form of our two children!

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