Hafiz of Shiraz once said:
I do not know whether this desire of the poet of Shiraz has come true or not, but I have seen a wine bearer wandering on the banks of the river in Lahore, distributing wine.
Ruknabad was built by Daylmi, and according to Umar Khizr, every sip of its water prolongs life to eternity. He says:
Thousands of praises be showered upon Ruknabad For its pure water that offers eternal life to its drinkers
O wine-bearer! Give me that leftover wine, as you may not find in Paradise the shore of Ruknabad and the beautiful Garden of Musalla.
پتھر کلف اقمم اہپڑوں ںیم رہ رطف
دیپس و رسخ اثم ِل وجد وگان وگں
للہز رانک ابد ام دص ولشح ا لشلاہک رمع رضخ یم دشخب ز
The waste of one glance is profitable enough as it produces a thousand benefits for the heart.
Lahore’s river was not built by Daylmi, and it does not produce wine (zalāl). Soil is mixed in the water just like salt in the ocean. However, the scene produced by its smooth flow, trees on both sides, and the greenery surrounding it is impregnated with every element of beauty, stunning the eyes to the extent that one feels no need to describe it verbally. Even an unplanned glance at it gets fixed to the extent of forgetting to turn the other way, and the tongue immediately speaks out in jubilation:
The water of Ruknabad sprouts from Darrah Allahu Akbar. As for Āb-e-Khizr, it is believed that it emanates from Zulumāt. See how Hafiz found a connection in the verse:
I have never tried to find out the source of this river in my city. I know where it ends. Ruknabad, as Hafiz said, begins from “Darrah-e-Allahu-Akbar”. The river of my city ends with ‘Allahu Akbar’. Of course, it was not created by nature, but in the midst of the stony buildings of the city, it is a place of meditation in the early morning for every meditator. On many early morning visits, I have seen the currents of water rising towards the sky from the depths of the earth when the morning rays fall on its splashes.
Those living in modern cities, for whom the day ends after midnight and the morning rises a little before the afternoon, will not understand it. If they ever stand on the side of the river in the shadow of the sinking stars to see the morning rise, they will know that this is not just a body of water but also the way to reach the Creator of this world.
The new civilization has not only disassociated us from the Qur’an in which facts are adorned with
The cool breeze of morning in Ruknabad of Shiraz Do not find flaws in it, the mark on the face of seven continents
It is different from Āb-e-Khizr which sprouts from Ẓulumāt
As it sprouts from Allahu Akbar.
دل ےک ےیل زہار وسد
اکی اگنہ اک زایں
words, it has also deprived us of the Qur’an whose verses were written in the Scriptures of Nature and which man once recited day and night. Now he wakes up in the afternoon, pours tea into his veins, and reads the newspaper in which he finds all news for him but no news of his own.
In these days and nights, how can he know the wine being distributed on the banks of the river of Ruknabad in Lahore? It reminds me of an interesting poetic verse. Someone had spoken out when he witnessed such a beautiful scene in the morning from such a beautiful place:
For those with insight like us, as proof of the truth, Even if there were no messengers, the morning alone would suffice.
لیے کے حق مہ اےسی الہ رظن وک وبثت
تھی فیکا صبح تو تےہو نہ ارگ روسل