En-Noor

“ By the Tasawur of Ism-e-Allah Zaat such sanctification and Oneness are gained that all the inward senses become alive leaving no need of using the outward senses, all the evil behaviours are removed from the being (of the Seeker) and the Noor of Allah radiates from every part of body. The scholar of every knowledge dominates that knowledge. By gaining (The Divine) knowledge all the hidden meanings are revealed at once and the heart transforms into Noor. By the order of The Lord of Universe, a Faqeer is The Master of all the worlds. ”

“ On the occasion of Jehangir's progress the ladies, apart from Noor Mahal, were not immediately in evidence. They "were carried like paraketoes" in cages half a mile behind their lord and master.
The splendours of the lescar, or imperial camp, are described in vivid language by Roe. As if by a magician's wand a vast canvas city had been called into being. The circuit of the whole was little less than twenty English miles, and within its limits were miles of streets with all sorts of shops "distinguished so by rule that every man knows readily where to seek his wants." ”

“ Jehangir, in reply to the remonstrance, told Roe that he "should not be sad or grieved that he had his choice, for that he had no patience to forbear seeing the presents." He did Roe no wrong and as for the King of England he would make him satisfaction. The prince (Khumim) , Noor Mahal, and he, he added, were all one, and as for bringing him anything to procure his favour, it was a. ceremony and unnecessary, for he would at all times hear Roe: he would be welcome empty-handed, for his poverty would not be his fault. He concluded by saying that Roe should not be angry as he meant well. ”

“ It was not long before Roe discovered that the Emperor's favour, though of value as an incentive to him personally, was not to help him far along the road on which he desired to travel. There were pitfalls for him on every side which had to be discovered and negotiated before he could even begin to make progress. The most serious difficulty to be overcome was the anti-English spirit of Prince Khurrum, who was the more powerful as he was in intimate alliance with Asaf Khan, the prime minister and brother of Noor Mahal, Jehangir's favourite queen. ”

“ One may be a son of a Ghous or Qutab, or a Savant, but considering and making a claim of one's self to be a Ghous or Qutab, Mujaddid (renovator) without spiritual knowledge and consent (of the spiritual guide or the Prophet!) is to be a great sinner. Faqir Noor Muhammad of Kalachi tells the recognition of a perfect spiritual guide.
The seeker of the path should test his spiritual guide. He should immediately leave his company as soon as he finds out the spiritual guide is sensual, ardent and self-prone. ”

“ When he reaches there, only then can he recognize his true self which is surely not the physical body made of matter, but the inner soul created from the Noor of Muhammad Sall’Allahu Alayhi Wa’alihi Wasallam. On reaching Alam-e-Lahut, the original home and the actual destination of human soul, the soul finds that closeness to Allah which is required for His Deedar and Pehchan. Here, a person can find recognition of his true self, as well as his Creator’s, that is why it is said, . So, getting the same exaltation is the purpose of human life. ”

“ In the mystic way of The Reality, the Seeker is blessed with the ecstasy of spiritual states due to his Closeness with Allah. Such ecstasy is free of anxiety and wrath and is absolutely peaceful. In this mystic way of The Reality, the physical as well as the spiritual being of a Faqeer is purified by the effects of eternal Zikr and Tasawur of Ism-e-Allah Zaat and is converted into Absolute Noor. ”

“ Every word of such possessor of Noor comes from The Divine Closeness. Quran can be recited by Nafs in Ilm-e-Dawat only if there has remained no voluptuousness of the ill commanding Nafs in the recitor.
The Seeker of Allah who recites Quran by reaching The Divine Closeness during the Ilm-e-Dawat of one day and night or a week, a month, a year or Ilm-e-Dawat of any duration, he ever resides in the world of Divinity which is beyond time and space. Ilm-e-Dawat cannot be called the knowledge of hidden things, because seeing the invisible things with open eyes is an evil, lunatic and ghostly act. ”

“ In his book Noor-ul-Huda Kalan, he says; “the writer of this book Sarwari Qadri Faqeer Bahoo, Fana-Fi-Hoo, son of Bazayad Mohammad, commonly known as Awan, resident of Qilla Shore (Shorekot, may Allah save it from all troubles and chaos) always says the truth.” ”

“ O Erin, my mother Erin, dear land more kind than wise,
I think of thee till loving tears come thronging to my eyes.
Thou hast nourished on thy bosom many sons of deathless fame;
Who, while the world will last, shall shed a lustre on thy name.
While Foyle's proud swelling waters roll past Derry to the sea;
While yet a single vestige of old Limerick's walls there be;
Shall those who love thee well, fair land, lament that feuds divide
The sons of those who for each cause stood fast on either side. ”

“ He won’t die, Nora; but still I’ll break his confidence, darling, and tell it you this evening.—O Nora, Nora! you say you wish to goodness you hadn’t got all these dreadful, wicked, West Indian feelings. You’re brave enough—I know that—no woman braver. Why don’t you have the courage to break through them, then, and come away with Edward and me to England, and accept poor Mr Noel, who would gladly give his very life a thousand times over for you, darling?’
Nora burst into tears once more, and nestled, sobbing, closer and closer upon Marian’s shoulder. ”

“ In reading the letters of the English Nora, I perceive many traces here and there of the Irish Nora, for the Irish Nora was not without a sense of duty, of kindness towards others, but the English Nora seems bent upon a life of pleasure, intellectual and worldly adventures. She delights in foreign travel, and no doubt places feelings above ideas, and regards our instincts as our sovereign guides. Now, when we find ourselves delighting to this extent in the visible, we may be sure that our lives have wandered far away from spiritual things. ”

“ Ingestre leant forward and laid her hand on Nora's. The movement might have been made in confirmation of her husband's words—it might also have had another meaning. It might have meant, taken in conjunction with the almost youthful flash in the dark eyes: "Be of good cheer! The world and life are before you. Grasp both in spite of every one. They are worth fighting for!"
And Nora's clasp responded. Her spirits were at their highest pitch. She was afraid of nothing; the long journey, the foreign country, and its despised inhabitants had no terrors for her. ”

“ THE CONQUEST OF NOLAND.
It would be impossible to describe the amazement of the people of Nole when the Roly-Rogues came upon them.
Not only was the descent wholly unexpected, but the appearance of the invaders was queer enough to strike terror to the stoutest heart.
Their round bodies were supported by short, strong legs having broad, flattened feet to keep them steady. Their arms were short, and the fingers of their hands, while not long, were very powerful. ”

“ At the sound of her name, so uttered by Harry Noel’s lips, Nora rose and stood confronting him with crimson face and trembling fingers. ‘Because, Mr Noel,’ she answered slowly and with emphasis, ‘an impassable barrier stands for ever fixed and immovable between us!’
‘Can she mean,’ Harry thought to himself hastily, ‘that she considers my position in life too far above her own to allow of her marrying{423} me?—O no; impossible, impossible! A lady’s a lady wherever she may be; and nobody could ever be more of a lady, in every action and every movement, than Nora, my Nora. She shall be my Nora. ”

“ Sweeter 'tis to gaze upon
My Nora's lid that seldom rises;
Few its looks, but every one,
Like unexpected light, surprises!
Oh, My Nora Creina, dear,
My gentle, bashful Nora Creina,
Beauty lies
In many eyes,
But love in yours, My Nora Creina.
Lesbia wears a robe of gold,
But all so close the nymph hath laced it,
Not a charm of beauty's mould
Presumes to stay where nature placed it.
Oh! my Nora's gown for me,
That floats as wild as mountain breezes,
Leaving every beauty free
To sink or swell as Heaven pleases.
Yes, my Nora Creina, dear. ”

“ Nora liked him even for his faults. That proud, frank, passionate Noel temperament of his, which many girls would have regarded with some fear and no little misgiving, exactly suited her West Indian prejudices and her West Indian ideal. His faults were the faults of a proud aristocracy; and it was entirely as a member of a proud aristocracy herself that Nora Dupuy lived and moved and had her being. A man like Edward Hawthorn she could like and respect; but a man like Harry Noel she could admire and love—if, ah if, he were only not a brown man! ”

“ AN ARMISTICE LORD LYNBOROUGH walked down to the edge of the terrace; Lady Norah stood half hidden in the shrubbery.
“And that, I suppose, ought to end the matter?” he asked. “I ought at once to abandon all my pretensions and to give up my path?”
“I just thought you might like to know it,” said Norah.
“Actually I believe I do like to know it—though what Roger would say to me about that I really can’t imagine. You’re mistaking my character, Lady Norah. I’m not the hero of this piece. There are several gentlemen from among whom you can choose one for that effective part. ”

“ There, before me, floated the forms of Nora and of Marion, the one all smiles, the other all gloom—the one all jest and laughter, the other silent and sombre—the one casting at me the glowing light of her soft, innocent, laughing eyes; the other flinging at me from her dark, lustrous orbs glances that pierced my soul. I'm an impressible man, I own it. I can't help it. I was so made. I'm awfully susceptible. And so, 'pon my honor, for the life of me I couldn't tell which I admired most of these two fascinating, bewildering, lovely, bewitching, yet totally different beings. "Oh, Nora!" ”

“ He was reminded of his weakness; he was, he perceived, still a little hysterical. He felt that he might weep at her youthful enthusiasm if he did not restrain himself.
"I'm glad," he said, and patted her shoulder. "I'm glad, Norah."
She looked away from him out across the lank brown sands and water pools to the sea. "It was what we have all been feeling our way towards, the absolute simplification of religion, the absolute simplification of politics and social duty; just God, just God the King."
"But should I have said that—in the cathedral?" ”

“ The lady had a beautiful face framed in white hair; she flashed a look on Nora in her shabby gown standing in the cruel sunlight—a wistful, pathetic little figure, with something worth remembering in her eager eyes. The young lady at her side was drawing on a long glove, and Nora saw the sparkle of her pretty rings. In spite of the lady's wan face, it all suggested comfort, and prosperity,' sunshine, warmth; the green things of life seemed to little Nora to be shut in, and to come out of that quaint old garden. ”

“ Ingestre, dying though she was, called back her lost youth and rose to the heights of youth's hope and faith.
Nora took a deep breath.
"What can I do—a woman against thousands?" she demanded.
"Your best—your duty."
"I have tried, and I have failed. I have no power to build the bridge——"
Her mother's eyes rested on her face, and in their depths there was a serene confidence.
"God has given you the power," she said gently. "God has given you an instrument which cannot fail you. My Nora"—her voice failed her an instant—"a little child shall lead them"—she finished from afar off. ”

“ Helmer. But to part!—to part from you! No, no, Nora, I can't understand that idea.
Nora (going out to the right) . That makes it all the more certain that it must be done. (She comes back with her cloak and hat and a small bag which she puts on a chair by the table.)
Helmer. Nora, Nora, not now! Wait till tomorrow.
Nora (putting on her cloak) . I cannot spend the night in a strange man's room.
Helmer. But can't we live here like brother and sister—?
Nora (putting on her hat) . You know very well that would not last long. (Puts the shawl round her.) Good-bye, Torvald. ”

“ Nora gave a little involuntary cry, dropped her looking-glass, and colored crimson with vexation at finding that some one was watching her.
"What ought I to do, I wonder?" Such was the thought that flashed through the young man's mind. He was remarkably quick in receiving impressions and in drawing conclusions. "She is not a French girl, thank goodness, fresh from a convent, and afraid to open her lips! Neither is she the conventional young English lady, or she would not sit on a fence and look at herself in a pocket looking-glass. ”

“ And the forty-seventh person that so enters, be it man, woman or child, rich or poor, humble or noble, shall immediately be proclaimed king or queen, as the case may be, and shall rule all the kingdom of Noland forever after, so long as he or she may live. And if anyone in all the kingdom of Nole shall refuse to obey the slightest wish of the new ruler, such person shall at once be put to death. ”

“ All the heroes of the fantastic adventure are Norman, or become Norman, or play their part in the Norman country.
What a fascinating procession through the ages! What a rousing spectacle was that of all those barons, dukes and kings, starting from such widely opposite points to meet in this particular corner of the world! Beautrelet turned the pages of history at haphazard: it was Rolf, or Rou, or Rollo, first Duke of Normandy, who was master of the secret of the Needle, according to the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte! ”

“ Nora. What do you consider my holiest duties?
Helmer. Do I need to tell you that? Your duties to your husband and your children.
Nora. I have other duties equally sacred.
Helmer. Impossible! What duties do you mean?
Nora. My duties towards myself.
Helmer. Before all else you are a wife and a mother.
Nora. That I no longer believe. I believe that before all else I am a human being, just as much as you are—or at least that I should try to become one. I know that most people agree with you, Torvald, 148and that they say so in books. ”