Dressed in white, pure kurta with a suitable headscarf covering his head, he sat on the sofa against a decorative Arabic inscription on the wall featuring 99 names of Allah.
One name is Rahman who is merciful.
Mercy Divine, said the 75-year-old Zubeida Yacoob Khandwani, which encouraged him to find knowledge regardless of the obstacles he had faced.
This is Joie de Verve, positive energy that makes it stand out.
When most septuagenarians close their boots and the prosperous among them also sunbathe in the past glory or memoir pen, this brave grandmother has opened another chapter in her life.
He examined a doctorate against Sufism.
“I will finish a decade ago but for some setback.
My guide, famous Urdu, Bachelor of Persian and Islamic Studies Prof.
Nizamuddin Gorekar (he taught in many institutions, including St Xavier’s lecture in South Mumbai) died, followed by death.
My husband (businessman Yacoob Khandwani and younger brother of former MLA, Chair of the Indian Committee Amin Khandwani), “he said.
Then he fell and broke his arm.
Others may have given up.
But he doesn’t.
Tomes On Sufism, Many Quran Volume and Comments, Journals, History Books Jostors for Space at Khandwani’s House, a Heritage Bungalow (built in 1882) at the Mahim.
“I shifted a lot of books to my office and even in Godown when we ran the lack of space here,” said Son Sohail Khandwani, a businessman, managing the Mahim Dargah trustee and the trustee for Haji Ali Dargah.
A family with a legacy of more than 200 years, it is the fifth generation of Khandwanis who lives in the same house.
Zubeida barely 17 when his mother died and he was married.
He dropped out of school.
Then he graduated in art through a correspondence course and then finished LLB too.
“There was time when my mother, my sister and I was in the same educational complex run by Sindhis in Bandra.
Then it feels a bit embarrassing that my mother and I are students even though we go to different classrooms,” remember Sohail Khandwani.
Actual surprise, remembering Sohail, came when his father decided to do a master in the economic field when his mother joined the MA course in Islamic studies.
Zubeida, also the Secretary General at the Federation throughout India, has been interested in Sufism when he began visiting the Saint Saint Musoleum like Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (Ajmer), Nizamuddin Aulia (Dehi), Makhdoom Mahimi and Haji Ali.
“Sufism is not a new religion.
This is a way of life that makes you tolerant and simple,” he said.