The beginning of a journey

Alhamdulillah, yesterday, February 12, 2016, I finally defended my PhD thesis successfully. I am grateful to Dr. Zartash and Dr. Ihsan for sparing time for rehearsals and feedback during the entire last week.  Also, Dr. Tariq Jadoon was there in the mock presentation and gave excellent feedback. A special thanks to my sincere friend Kamran Nishat for being there throughout the last week or so. He lent a great and invaluable helping hand. He was there with excellent suggestions just as he has been throughout my PhD studies at LUMS. Irteza was also there with encouragement in the tough last week. A special thanks to Zeeshan Rana, Akeel Faridee, Umar Suleman and Fahad Javed for being there to attend the defense presentation.
I will write more details about it later. One might think that this is the end. In fact, it is a beginning. Conference of this degree symbolizes an expression of confidence in my ability to do independent research. It is not a farewell, but a welcoming ceremony to the club. Hopefully, a spectacular journey of discovery lies ahead. I pray that Allah may help me in that journey more than He has during my PhD, in particular, and in the rest of my life in general.
One last reflection in this post is that I did not feel "that moment" to be one of pride. It was more of a humbling one. In fact, my entire PhD experience has been a humbling one because it made me realize not how much I have learnt, but that there is a vast amount of things that I do not know.