Coming Down from the Mountain is a brief and fascinating professional autobiography of 125 pages. Yet it is a smooth and gripping read. I read it from cover to cover and did not lose interest in its engaging text. The reader never misses the smooth flow of the words from the mighty pen of Mr Mahmood Ali Ayub.
With the sheer force of his storytelling, one feels obliged to join his journey from his childhood to teenage years in the village of Alamsher in the mountainous region of Kurram District; later to Mashhad and Lahore, the United Kingdom, and the United States in the pursuit of higher education; witness his hard work winning him a career in the World Bank, and his professional sojourn to various regions that included Latin America, North Africa, and West Africa, and his brave battle with the rigours of life in the twilight of his career.
All this gratifying life and career was not free from painful rigours. We are all destined to have our share of the rigours of this ephemeral cycle of living. The reader feels the intense pain he suffered from losing his young son Ali in an accident and, later, his loving and supportive wife, Mansoura, to an incurable disease. The pain bruises his soul but fails to dampen his courage and fortitude.
He stubbornly refuses to succumb to despair and depression. He plunges himself into the Persian poetry of Hafez Shirazi and Moulana Rumi, delving into the spiritual and mystical dimensions of life while sustaining his joie de vivre by falling back on the support, love, and care of his two daughters, Alia and Mariam, and their children.
Here lies the strength of a traditional family, contrasting with the disappearance of kith and kin for each other in Western societies after adulthood, with the elder generation consumed by loneliness and depression.
Though the entire book is very interesting, I was greatly fascinated by the traditional and customarily well-knit life of tribal people, contrasting with that of their fellow beings inhabiting urban and plain lands. The former embody a stellar character, bound by an ethos of bravery, hospitality, friendship, neighbourhood, and Pashtun-wali.
The family of the author, as reflected by his description, epitomised the peculiar attributes of traditional Pathans, which strongly resemble those of the Brohi and Baloch tribes of mountainous Balochistan. Their love is intense, and the enmity vicious. They would never abandon a helpless asylum seeker and would prefer to die for his honour and life. Grace and honour carry more value with them than wealth. The traditions and social beliefs of tribal people have evolved into close cultural identities, inhabiting contiguous regions and interacting with each other over centuries.
Mr Mahmood Ali Ayub did not fall for the fallacious attractions of the Foreign Service of Pakistan, allocated to him after his first attempt in the competitive examination, and chose to pursue his postgraduate and doctoral studies in the United States. He was still working on his PhD when he received an offer from the World Bank. He accepted it and also completed his doctoral degree. This profession, as already mentioned, took him to various regions of the world, to which he makes fleeting references with insights into the political, economic, and social conditions of these societies.
From his professional autobiography, Mr Mahmood Ali Ayub emerges as a sympathetic member of a world community, desiring to promote a shared and prosperous future for mankind
Nevertheless, I was thrilled by the author’s assignment to the West African countries of democratic Senegal, the impoverished Guinea-Bissau and Niger. The third interesting country within his professional command was the English-speaking Gambia, separated from Senegal by the Gambia River, with good ferry services.
I wish the author could have written more about Senegal’s well-established democracy, secular polity notwithstanding the two widely followed religious sects of Sunni Islam, the role of President Leopold Senghor in the decolonisation of the African region, and the founding the stable democratic culture and representative governance in Senegal; the history of Gore Island, and the Muridiya and Tijaniya sects of mystical Islam.
The Muridiya was established by Ahmed Bamba (1853–1927). He was an erudite scholar, a theologian of immense knowledge and courage, with a burning love for his people and land. He based himself in Touba, a small town at a distance from Dakar. He was a nationalist scholar and a prolific writer. He wrote copious political and Islamic literature in Arabic.
The French were alarmed by his growing popularity. They exiled him to Gabon and Mauritania from 1895 to 1907. He did not relent in his resistance to colonial rule. He was finally allowed to return. He preached non-violent resistance to French colonial rule.
Touba is the most revered city, where drinking, gambling, smoking, and immoral acts are strongly forbidden. The death anniversary of Ahmed Bamba is commemorated annually in the town, which hosts tens of thousands of Muridiya followers.
The second Sufi sect in Senegal, which the author has not mentioned, is the Tijaniya (Tariqa), founded by a Berber scholar and Sharif, Ahmad Al-Tijani, in Algeria and Morocco in 1781. The Tariqa lays emphasis on inner purification and a direct connection with the Divine. It has an equally large spiritual centre.
The message of Shaikh Tijani was spread by his Khalifa, Ibrahim Niasse (1900–1975). The Niasse dynasty, by its association with the Tijaniya Sufi sect, wields immense spiritual and political influence in the country. No political government can ignore these two influential spiritual and political dynasties. President Abdu Diouf, in his first tenure, appointed Mustafa Niasse as his Foreign Minister. What a gentle, cultured, and intelligent man he was.
Gore Island, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, brings back the horrors of the slave trade and shatters one’s belief in the goodness of mankind. The slave trade continues to haunt humanity.
Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, is at a distance of 400 kilometres from Dakar, across the Gambia River, and is known for its exquisite beaches. In the 1980s, it hosted a Qadiani community from Pakistan.
The author has well described the poor political and economic conditions of Guinea-Bissau under President Vieira, who captured power from the founding President, Luis Cabral, in 1980. I visited Bissau in 1985 and observed with horror the afflictions of poverty and deprivation. Many Guinean people seek menial jobs in Senegal and the Gambia. The sex trade is rampant. The Portuguese still hold enormous political and economic sway over the country.
From his professional autobiography, Mr Mahmood Ali Ayub emerges as a sympathetic member of a world community, desiring to promote a shared and prosperous future for mankind. The book is well written and free from editorial errors.