"A Home in the Dream World"

أَعُوذُ بِاللّٰهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

"A Home in the Dream World"

Every human being spends their life in search of a sanctuary where they can find true peace of mind, contentment, and a sense of refuge. Houses made of brick and mortar can be found anywhere, but the concept of a "Home in the Land of Dreams" is entirely different from the material dwellings of this mundane world. It is not merely the name of four walls and a roof; rather, it is a mystical, serene corner where the human soul finds its ultimate comfort. Man's continuous struggle as the noblest of creations (Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqat) to establish an ideal society in this material world is the ultimate proof of his inherent grandeur.

The Eternal Memory and the First Home of the Son of Adam

The great philosopher-poet, Allama Iqbal, beautifully captured this eternal human journey and the longing hidden within the heart in an immortal verse:

"If anyone understood my grievance, it was Rizwan (the gatekeeper of paradise) alone;

He recognized me as a human being exiled from Heaven."

This deep-seated longing in the human subconscious for a "home in the land of dreams" is nothing but a distant memory of his first home—Paradise. The blueprint of this home drawn in divine scriptures (the Holy Qur'an and the Torah) portrays it as a cradle of eternal peace, flowing rivers, exquisite fruits, and complete freedom from fear or sorrow.

If the reader reflects deeply, they will realize what humanity has lost and what it will regain upon its triumphant return:

1. A home of rubies and pearls, not bricks and stones: According to divine traditions, the architecture of this celestial home features bricks of gold and silver, mortared with fragrant musk. It boasts grand pavilions and tents carved out of hollow pearls.
2. A life devoid of worldly impurities and decay: In that eternal home, there is no old age, no sickness, no fear of death, and no exhaustion. Every inhabitant will remain eternally young, vibrant, and at absolute peace.
3. Delicious and everlasting bounties: Rivers of pure water, unalterable milk, delicious honey, and sealed choice wine (Sharab-ut-Tahoor) flow beneath it. Its fruits are immortal; the moment one is plucked, another instantly takes its place, ensuring an endless bounty.
4. Above all, the tranquility of Divine Pleasure and Vision: The entire atmosphere is completely purified of malice, envy, falsehood, and vain talk. The ultimate reward is divine proximity, the greetings of peace from angels, and the sublime vision of the Lord of the Universe, after which no material desire can ever tempt the soul again.

Every beautiful home we build on this earth is merely an imperfect, fleeting, and temporary imitation—a distant echo of that lost, immortal Paradise.

The Story of the People of Moses: A Tale of Fear and Repentance

This test of finding a home and homeland has been repeated throughout human history. When the Eternal Lord mentioned the nation of Moses (the Israelites), He stated that He had promised them a city of their choice (the Holy Land). However, that nation succumbed to fear and cowardice, failing to answer the divine call to claim their home. As a consequence, they were condemned to wander aimlessly in the wilderness of the desert for forty years.

Yet decades later, when they finally conquered and entered the city after prolonged struggle and warfare, the Divine chose to teach them humility rather than allowing them to celebrate a worldly conquest. The command was: "Enter the gates of the city prostrating (with heads bowed in humility) and say 'Hittatun' (O Lord, forgive us and grant us repentance)." This historical event proves that no city or home can ever become a cradle of peace unless the hearts of those who enter it are anchored in repentance and gratitude.

Madinat-un-Nabi (The City of the Prophet) and Western 'Utopia'

For centuries, human history wandered in search of this ideal home and society, until the Lord of the Universe sent His Final Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him), to build a real "Land of Dreams" upon the earth. This ideal manifested in the form of the State of Madinah. It was an exemplary society built on brotherhood (Muwakhat), absolute justice, selflessness, sacrifice, and an equality that transcended color, race, or lineage—serving as a earthly alternative to Paradise itself.

At its zenith, this pure state did not achieve glory through material conquests or lavish palaces, but through the highest moral reformation of human character, unparalleled in the history of the world:

1. At its peak, wealthy individuals distributing charity (Zakat) roamed the streets, yet they could not find a single impoverished person or beggar eligible to accept it.
2. Such was its harmony that the wolf and the sheep would drink from the same waterhole, and a lone woman carrying gold could travel the vast distance from Sana'a to Hadramaut fearing nothing but God.
3. Such was the peak of the fear of God that the ruler of the time (Umar al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him) would personally carry sacks of flour on his back to the homes of widows at night while remaining hungry himself.

The greatest virtue and immortal validation of this dream state was that the Lord of the Universe did not wait for any worldly historian's testimony. Instead, He chose to bear witness in His eternal Book, the Holy Qur'an, engraving it for all of eternity: "Radhi-Allahu 'Anhum Wa Radhu 'Anhu"—“Allah is well-pleased with them, and they are well-pleased with Him.” No material or political society in human history has ever been blessed with a greater spiritual heights or validation.

Yet, what a tragedy! Due to human shortcomings and material greed, this perfect state survived in its true political and collective form for only about twenty-seven years. Over time, it transitioned from a governance model into a source of purely spiritual grace for mankind. How strange is man, who abandoned this "paradise of servitude" earned through centuries of spiritual and intellectual devotion, only to chase the mirage of pseudo-material progress and imperial expansion. Man made a deeply devastating and losing bargain, dismantling his own beautifully constructed home.

As a consequence of this loss, centuries later, when mankind became entirely hollow and lonely amidst the blinding glare of material advancement, the ache for that lost home resurfaced. In 1516, an English politician, lawyer, and humanist named Sir Thomas More penned a book titled "Utopia". Through this work, he presented a blueprint of an imaginary, ideal, and just society, weeping for that very "home in the land of dreams" that humanity had cast away with its own hands. Ironically, the word Utopia itself means "a place that does not exist anywhere." Thus, the Western world began viewing as an elusive, impossible fantasy what Islam had already manifested as a living, historical reality.

The Curse of Materialism: A Conceptual Comparison of the Fly and the Moth

Today, modern man has become a captive of raw materialism. This is precisely why, despite touching the highest peaks of material prosperity, true peace and contentment remain completely absent from the lives of the vast majority. In his blind pursuit of wealth, man has forgotten that the path to the true land of dreams lies in the purity of his aspirations, not in the rat race of physical survival. The Creator placed a profound metaphor in nature to illustrate this human degradation: the contrast between the fly and the moth.

The grand law of the universe dictates that status and honor are not granted based on mere wishes, but on the capacity of one's aspirations and the standard of their sacrifice. The moth is a seeker of divine light; it destroys its material self in the flame to achieve immortality. Conversely, the entire flight and struggle of the fly revolve around self-preservation, food, and the lowliest of filth.

The tragedy of the modern era is that the vast majority of humanity—including the Muslim Ummah and Islamic nations—has abandoned the path of the moth, despite possessing the perfect historical example of a pure, immaculate, and just state like Madinah. Even with the light of ultimate guidance at their disposal, they have joined the blind race of material prosperity, behaving like the "fly." Even when placed in centers of enlightenment, their focus narrows down to the filth of worldly greed, hoarding of wealth, short-term economic gains, and moral degradation. Ninety percent of human energy is consumed by the lowliest chase of economic survival and gluttony, pulling mankind away from the true lamp of devotion where the soul's peace and the true home reside.

The Caravan of Pakistan: A Laboratory of Experiments and Retrograde Progress

In this historical pursuit of a dream home, the echo of this pure aspiration resounded once more centuries later on the soil of the Indo-Subcontinent. The Philosopher of Islam, Allama Iqbal, envisioned a just Islamic state that would revive the core principles of Madinah, acting as a true sanctuary and a "home in the land of dreams" for the Muslims. To transform this vision into reality, the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, led an unprecedented intellectual and political struggle, ultimately carving out the ideological Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

However, history tragically repeated itself. Barely a year after the birth of Pakistan, the Quaid passed away, leaving the infant state deprived of the moral and intellectual vision of its great architect. Consequently, over the past seven to eight decades, this dream state was turned into a laboratory for all kinds of artificial experiments, political opportunism, and moral decay. The nation was repeatedly led down corrupt and debased paths, bound to the lowliest pursuit of material survival under the guise of temporary worldly benefits.

The consequence of this deviation was catastrophic: peace and contentment vanished, and poverty multiplied due to deep-rooted corruption and economic decline. This happened despite the Almighty's eternal promise in His Holy Word: If you obey Me and My Messenger, I shall grant you material prosperity and descend 'Sakina' (absolute peace and tranquility) upon your hearts. What a sorrowful failure that the caravan of Pakistan kept getting plundered, yet we refused to change our misguided worldly paths, leaving this pure land wandering in the darkness of retrograde progress.

Conclusion

This profound intellectual and historical journey—stretching from the primordial Paradise to the streets of Madinah, Thomas More’s Utopia, the lesson of the fly and the moth, and the struggle for Iqbal and Quaid's Pakistan—teaches us that a "Home in the Land of Dreams" is not an impossible or imaginary fantasy. It is the lost heritage of mankind, which can only be reclaimed when man escapes the blinding mirage of material infatuation and once again adopts the path of the moth: prioritizing divine devotion, ultimate truth, absolute justice, and selfless sacrifice. As long as our societies lack collective justice, equality, and moral values, man may build magnificent skyscrapers and powerful states, but he will remain eternally restless, searching for that peaceful home. The survival of Pakistan and the inner peace of mankind depend entirely on cutting the strings of absolute materialism and returning to that genuine system of devotion and light promised to us by our Creator.

We humans must realize that our purpose is not to turn this temporary world into an eternal heaven, but to live life in such a way—and build a societal system so just—that all human beings can co-exist equally in peace and tranquility. Only then can we become the true claimants of Paradise in the Afterlife, and ultimately find our everlasting home in the true Land of Dreams.