Fate — Hussain Haider Zaidi

A boy is born and is named Asad Shah by his father, Yasir Shah. Nasir Malik, Yasir Shah's friend, an astrologer, predicts that Asad will rise to the top before suddenly falling to the ground. From a prince he will become a pauper -- not by force but by choice. Yasir Shah, who is shocked by the prophecy, becomes desperate to secure his son's future. He is told by the country's leading occultist that the foreboding can be warded off only if he strikes a bargain with nature in the form of due sacrifice. The first part of the prophecy comes true when, rising roughshod, Asad excels in the corporate world. Each step forward makes him hungrier for success and more ruthless. At the same time, it brings him closer to the apocalypse. Asad's journey continues until he meets Sufi Ghulam Ali, a holy man, and his daughter Sana Ali. They introduce him to a world which hitherto had been unknown to him. Behind the veil of illusion constituting the world of matter and of causation, Asad learns, stands the real world of the spirit and of destiny. Events are not pushed from behind; they are pulled from ahead. Fate is the most intriguing of all the riddles that life sets. Would Asad's life and career crash after the brilliant take-off? Would fate at one blow divest him of the fortune he made over the years? Would Sufi Ali and Sana be able to rescue him? Can destiny, representing a decree of the Almighty, change?