The Sehr

The series covers the many stories of real life heroes who are fighting this disease.

Book 1 covers the story of Hamza, a self made millionaire, his enemies had Sehr done on him to destroy him and eventually kill him. Read how Hamza fought back.

                                             Introduction

I Look at the clock at the furniture shop where I work, “Great 6pm and 9th September 2021, nice, today, today I am….today I am going to do it, I can’t carry on this too much I need to kill myself I will kill myself, enough is enough, the failures the embarrassment I need to end my life as this is the only way out otherwise these thoughts are going to destroy me”. As I leave work my manager tells me, ‘See you tomorrow Hamza, Khuda Hafiz.’

‘Khuda Hafiz’, (goodbye and God bless). I look at him and laugh thinking to myself, ”no you won’t because I am going to kill myself today... and if I kill myself today then who are you going to see tomorrow?”

I rush home driving really fast so happy that today is the day I am going to get rid of all my memories and nothing is going to bother me as I am going to be dead in a couple of hours and be relaxing in my grave, goodbye to this damned world and everything that is in it, thank god. I park my car and walk straight to my bedroom. I have a good look around my room. I then take the belt out of my trousers and put it around my neck and tie the other end against the door hanger and drop my body,

“Amazing, I am going to die, now you can’t get me,... enough whispers, I don’t belong in this world, I am going to be in a grave in a couple of moments..happy place.”

I can’t breathe any more but I am happy that it’s only a couple of more seconds, I can’t feel anything anymore, I can’t see anything…but I am happy…,”yes.. yes”,....just then the image of my youngest son comes right in front of me and I stop. 

                             Chapter 1

March 2020, My schedule as a taxi driver got busier and busier as panic buying began at all the supermarkets, I drove customers home from Asda…Covid was announced, and everyone went into a state of panic.

I would scratch my face and my body every time I picked up the customers, my face would feel very hot. As it was early days and no tests had been performed, the passengers I was picking up may have had Covid. My car was sanitised and my door handles were cleaned, families who needed food were allowed to leave, but the lockdown was set to be imposed in two weeks. Everyday there were less jobs as people were only going shopping and nothing else.

The government was going to announce a complete lockdown of all the pubs,clubs and restaurants.

As I am sitting in the car waiting for the next job a list of questions come into my head from nowhere.

“The recession?, how am I going to cover all the bills?, what if there are no passengers how will I pay my rent?, what the hell?, what kind of a hole have I got myself into?, what is going to happen, where will I be able to get my next job?.”

These questions start running in my head as I am parked and I can see people rushing around with trolleys filled with food and toilet paper. The entrance and exit are blocked by cars.

I remember scenes from the horror movies that I had been watching in my life, sometimes I think it is all surreal but when I see people running around I know I am not watching a movie.

At times I felt that there was somebody with me, but then I would just ignore it as I believe my mind is playing games.

I carry on working through the day, it is in the evening I feel very lonely and tired. I stop at Asda to pick up the passengers. I notice one of my cousins who is walking comes out of Asda, It’s Haroon, he looks at me and recognises me, as he walks past he starts shaking his head.

I am thinking why did he not stop and why was he shaking his head.

Zaman, my younger brother is already doing taxi with me so we keep in touch with each other.

We normally talk about our work, sometimes I think about how I have become so close to Zaman, I have never been very close to Zaman although we have been working together it does not seem like that, it seems we have just been together just now. We would normally talk about everything at the taxi parking point area inside Asda car park.

As I am parked outside Asda alongside other drivers in Chelmsley Wood at the parking point for Taxi’s Zaman calls me.

‘Hamza, where are you?.’

‘I am at Asda Zaman.’

‘Oh, Ok, I am coming there as well…it’s very quiet today?.’

As I am parked in the parking point area, I can see Zaman’s car pulling up next to me, he pulls down the mirror,

‘Salaam Hamza, how are you?.’

‘Salaam, how are you Zaman?.’

‘I am good, I just have been thinking for the past couple of days….you are a businessman, you have been a businessman all your life, a millionaire and now you are picking up jobs at ASDA.’

‘Yes, you have been telling me that ten times now, and what else shall I do for the tenth time.’

‘I am just saying….’

‘I've got to go, a job has come up.’

I pick up the passengers outside Asda and put all their groceries in my car boot and drive off.

“Business man? That was a long time ago you idiot”, I start saying to myself while the passenger is sitting in the back.’

The passenger looks at me,

‘You alright driver?’

‘Sorry, yes I am, it’s just my brother always talking rubbish.’

‘Ah, never mind, we all have family problems driver.’

After dropping the passenger off I park my car and start waiting for the another job, Zaman calls me again,

‘Hello, Hamza how are you?’

‘I am good.’

‘What are you doing?’

‘Nothing just parked up.’

‘What about you, you busy?’

‘No Hamza,…just waiting for another job. It has been quiet.’

‘Zaman, you wake up very late and start work very late which is why you are always struggling, this is taxi work you need to start early.’

‘I can’t work that many hours.’

‘Why can’t you work long hours?.’

‘It’s complicated Hamza, you won’t understand.’

‘Ok, the reason I am saying this is because you need to cover your rent, insurance and fuel besides that….your living expenses.’

"I know all that….., just…I am thinking that you should not be a taxi driver, you should be doing a business, you have always been a businessman, watching you drive a taxi, wondering in the streets, this is not you.’

‘I can't be bothered with all of that, that was a long time ago, you have been telling me that for the past 2 weeks again and again, you never mentioned that before, it's getting quite boring now, but now I am curious, are you taking all the right medications because you keep on going on and on about everything.’

‘It’s not that brother Hamza, ahhhh…never mind forget it.’

‘I won’t understand and you will not explain so it’s a dead end, Zaman.’

‘My problems are very deep.’

‘What problems?’

‘If I tell you my problems you won’t believe me, but leave that I am just wondering all day long my life has been as it has been but your life should not be like this you're a businessman you were sitting on a throne in a shop and you sold everything just to become a taxi driver.’

‘I am glad you are thinking and talking because you were not even doing that before, just stuck with Gul Khan all the time.’

‘Gul Khan?....you should say Shaykh (teacher),’ Zaman replies laughing.

‘He ain’t no Shaykh (teacher)... .it's a good job Kismet came and told us the truth about that idiot and his father the fake Shaykh Jamshed Khan otherwise we would never have known who these people really are.’

‘Do you really believe her?’

‘No…I didn’t, but when I asked her to tell me the truth and swear on the lives of her children, she said she will do better than that and read the Kalimah Tayyibah (There is no God but Allah and Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him is his Messenger and Prophet), after she read that I had to believe her, but she never stopped there, she told me that she is going to tell me everything to convince me and I had to believe her.’

‘Hamza she is a clever woman, you do not know that.’

‘So you would not believe her after she mentioned the name of Allah.’

‘I do, I am not saying that.’.

‘So, what are you saying Zaman?.’

‘Just carry on Hamza I will just listen.’

‘Well she took you out of fake Shaykh Gul Khan as well otherwise you were stuck with him forever, I left that creep and I told you to leave but you were saying NO, the next step would have been that bastard would have made you into his slave, he already did, he was making you argue with his close servants, to lower your status, Kismet completely revealed everything….she went deep,had she not told me and mum everything I think we would have been with that Gul Khan forever, the way his father Jamshed Khan, was after only one thing and that was money, he would dupe people into making the followers believe that he was some kind of an Prophet a messiah, Kismet told us that Jamshed Khan told her to teach children in the mosque and also to look after his personal library inside the mosque, one day she said, “I picked up a book and was about to clean it when I stopped, I was was shocked the title of the book was titled Sehr, just then Jamshed Khan came into the room he rushed towards me and took the book off me, “You were not supposed to look at this book,”.

I got really scared because he freaked out that why did I look at this book, he then calmed down because he knew I could not read Urdu, but just to make sure he had to ask the question,

“Do you know what this book is about?”

“Sorry Shaykh, I can’t read Urdu.”

Kismet said she was shocked but still managed to answer him and get herself out of a situation after that she became really scared. She told me she stayed there 12 years and in those 12 years she wanted to leave many times but could not leave because her daughter believed that the Shaykh was some kind of an angel with his long white beard, long cloak and with so many followers who would come and sit next to him in the day time and in the night. Many of the followers would clean his bedroom and bathroom, they all believed he could heal and sort out people's problems but they never knew he was only after one thing and that was MONEY, and now his son is scamming money off people, Gul Khan, he is wearing a long shawl, big hat, another shawl on top of that, long beard, gold plated glasses, beads in his hands, people just can’t see through him, he preaches about Islam all day long hoping to make a million pounds a year, he convinces mostly the elderly and the women because according to his logic they are easily manipulated.

‘Your right Hamza, he was after the money, I remember you telling me that the day he was doing collections and made you give him the money after you gave him the money he got up from his seat took the money which was about £5000 put it under his armpits and walked back to his room like a crooked old man, I also remember when I was in the mosque one guy was telling me that he had a girl killed, I asked him why and he told me that the girl found out that he was spreading the wrong word of Islam and that he was only interested in money, his main aim was to lure the women as when the women came the men would also follow, also the women are the ones who run the house and make all the decisions and have all the money, he also knew women get very emotional about religion than men and they would also offer jewellery, his eyes were set on the jewellery of the women…well his eyes were set on everything…but Sehr…..errm, never knew that creep would go that far.’

‘Well Zaman….I was surprised, it was very strange, a man who sits on a big gold coloured carved chair with a long white beard a big shawl a beautiful Muslim cap in front of him are 30 to forty people sitting on the floor all the time is walking away like a thief, I was gobsmacked to know he reads books on Sehr…in reality that was a sign from Allah to show me this scene, so I can identify who this person really is and remember him.’

‘What else did she say?’

‘Kismet was talking and talking…me and mum were just sitting there with our mouths open wide, to say that we were shocked would be an understatement, Kismet told us one day Jamshed Khan walked into the room, very angry,

‘Look at this letter, ….here read this letter, look at this damn idiot, did you see what he said about me?’

Jamshed Khan was fuming.

‘What happened Shaykh, who is the letter from?’

I grabbed the letter, and quickly started reading it,the letter was from Jamshed Khan’s nephew......his younger brothers son…his nephew was angry at Jamshed because the heir to the Sufism throne was supposed to be his father as per wish and command of his grandfather who was the founding father of the Institute, in the letter he write, “My grandfather was happy with my father because he knew my father would carry on with the legacy of the Sufism tradition in its purest and simplest way without conning people out of money, it is tragic that my father has passed away in a car accident, I am writing this letter that kindly please fulfil my grandfathers wishes by handing over the legacy of our family to myself and my brothers, we would like to carry on our family name and our grandfathers wishes in the name of Allah in the way it should be, to help people and not use our powers to con innocent people, hard working people of their money,”

‘This letter….have you read the letter, look at this damn idiot, did you see what he said about me?,’ Jamshed Khan was fuming.

‘Sorry, Shaykh, I can not read urdu.’

‘Ah yes, I forgot’.....that was my nephew. He is saying I con people out of their money, he is a bastard.......he is not my nephew.......he is a bastard.’

I was thinking what a crooked lying old man, look at the cheek of this man.

A couple of days later my mother came to visit him because in those days he was doing a collection of money for the victims of Pakistan who had died because of the huge earthquake.

Mum came and told him that she would like to donate 700,000 rupees (£5000) for the poor in Pakistan. He was very happy, my mother took a cheque book and wrote him out a cheque and gave it to him.

He took the cheque and replied,

‘Sister, you have made a mistake in your signature you signed it under the line this cheque is not good anymore,

Mum was a simpleton, she said do not worry I will write you another one, she wrote him another cheque for 700,000 rupees, she asked him can I have the other cheque back he said do not worry sister I will rip it up and throw it in the bin, he never did.

After a couple of weeks I went to visit my mother and she told me that she went to Jamshed and gave him the money, she said she asked her mother on how much she gave and she said this is what happened I had to give him 2 cheques because the first one I made a mistake, she said I was fuming I went to the bank…took my mother alongside with me, on the account 1400000 had been withdrawn, she said after that I took my mother drove really fast to meet with the Shaykh, he was sitting relaxed and happy.

‘Jamshed can you give my mother the 700000 rupee cheque back please which you took out after you had promised that you would rip up the cheque but you did not instead you took the money out of her account twice.’

‘WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?.’

I took out the bank statement and showed him.

He was quite embarrassed.

‘I don’t know I must have made a mistake.’

‘I know your mistakes, give my mother her money back.’

He then wrote another cheque out and gave it to her.

‘Your daughter is something’, he replied looking at my mother,

‘What is she made of, she is unique, she is not scared or frightened of anything.’

I looked at him in disgust and said,

‘You should be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of my mum like this.’

She said after that moment I tried to leave many times but my daughter was in an Islamic College in Bury studying and she absolutely adored him and would not leave him and I was stuck because of my daughter, and Jamshed Khan even told her that you can’t leave because your daughter is here, and she adores me.

‘Hamza, did you tell her how you met the great Shaykh Jamshed Khan.’

‘Yes, when she was sitting with mum in the house and you know the way she talks she just goes on and on’.

‘I know, she is non stop Hamza’.

‘Well, she knew that we done bait (swear allegiance spiritually) with Jamshed Khan, she told mum that when you done the bait and started to visit to meet him on regular basis that was good because you were just meeting him and not dealing with him, he later told me that this family is very nice they are good people, the problem started when your husband Dalah started doing the business deal with him, she told mum that you had a shop which you had on for £99,000 on goodwill and £600 per month rent, your husband agreed to give it to Jamshed for £69,000 with a £30000 discount for goodwill gesture, later some of his Mureeds (followers) told him that this man Dalah has robbed you, that shop belongs to the council it is worth only about £20,000, this man has overcharged you he has conned you, Jamshed Khan was fuming, she told mum that I was sitting with him when he told me that Dalah has conned me, “a property so cheap he conned me out of £39000, watch….how I get my money back, I am going to slowly get every penny back I am going to act like a little mouse, watch how I get my money back,” while Jamshed Khan was talking to me I felt scared, my knees started shaking.