“Zindagi bebandagi, sharmindagi”
The following article came in the Daily Express- an urdu newspaper. Written by Orya Maqbool Jan. The article provides the ray of hope to those who are destitute by the current issues of Pakistan…
http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/Article.aspx?newsID=1100448185&Date=20080720&Issue=NP_LHE
These days all we see is the advertisements from Banks for giving a percentage of interest on your amount in your bank account. The cars on lease, the loan and everything is running on interest based banking system. The worst part is that the banks which claim to be Islamic Banks charge more amount on car lease program than the actual amount and the amount that the non-Islamic Banks are charging you on lease. Though I’m not an expert on all this banking, financing and money matters. But reading the following Hadeeth made me jump out of my skin.
Narrated Jabir Bin Abdullah (RA): In the year of the conquest of Makka, I heard Allah’s Messenger( SAW), saying, ‘Allah and His messenger made illegal the trade of alcoholic liquors, dead animals, pigs and idols.’ The people asked,’ O Allah’s Messenger! What about fat of dead animals, for it was used for greasing the boats and the hides; and people use it for lights?’ He said,’ No, it is illegal.’ Allah’s Messenger(SAW) further said,‘ May Allah curse the Jews, for Allah made the fat (of animals) illegal for them, yet they melted the fat and sold it and ate its price.”
-Al Bukhari
So, back to where I was. And as Allah humiliated the jews just because they didn’t obey the commandments of Allah, just think where are we heading. The whole economical, social and political structure of this nation is built upon Riba, Interest, Hypocrisy and Deciet. Everything that was made illegal for us. And if the jews were cursed because they ate the price of whatever they earned from that one illegal trade, just think how much damage would we be doing to our own self, our own system… And how much injustice are we doing ourselves.
Jews are, as the Quran says, a fallen nation. It’s high time that we should stop following them into the darkest pit of the hell fire… Stop the Riba culture before it’s too late…
Whose war are we fighting?
TO whom are we proudly showing our strength?!
Whose shoes are we licking?!
Maybe too many questions. But the answers are always ambiguous. The masters changed. The confused are becoming more confused. What system is this where justice is not there. And I’m not talking about the lawyers and judge’s movement. If there’s no center in life, every movement is fruitless. And we surely have left that centre a long time back…
The soldiers are fighting a war, they don’t know for whom. Their attacks bring down men of their own. Their lives becoming burdened by the blood they shed of the innocent. They have lost the centre and they have lost the direction and thus they lost their souls to the devil. The devil who watches them from the shadows of their hearts and laughs at them calling on God that,’look, as I’ve promised I’ve made them my fellow dwellers of Hell.” And men, succumbing to the darkness of their souls and hearts feel themselves lost in the world of glamour and drinking deeply of the presentness rather than the consequences…
News flickered on TV from the Khyber Agency. The news people calling them the local “Taliban”. Then the news showed the “shuhada conference” from Islamabad. It’s been one year. One whole year since the Lal MAsjid Incident…
“Mera ik ik Sipahi hai khyber shikan” - the national song blared on the radio. The song mocking the bravery of the soldiers. The soldiers who proudly brought down Lal Masjid. The soldiers that killed innocent women and children. The soldiers that never had the courage to even give those girls, children a proper burial. These are the soldiers who are as strong as the fort of Khyber, stronger than Khyber that they can actually pull it down, break it up.
There were soldiers once, who tied bombs onto themselves and used to lie down the enemy tanks so that those tanks wont touch the sacred soil of their country. There were soldiers once who would give lives just to protect their country, their people. People used to encourage their kids to go into Army and be the one who’d have sleepless night watching the borders ir country… to let their kids on the wall so that the country sleeps soundly under the safety blanket. But now… now… they’re not soo sure…
It all comes down to one thing: When the “Centre” goes, everything else goes with it.
We were just roaming around the city for shopping as my brother’s wedding is approaching. And luckily the driver got to one petrol station for petrol but there was no petrol there. So he went to the other one, it was empty too. Well another person said the others are all closed down. So, we have no petrol in the city. And a city like Karachi, that’s a major set back. It’s the economic hub, with more than half of Pakistan living here. We cannot reach from one end to the other or to the middle within an hour. And we don’t have petrol!
I don’t know if I should be sad or angry. From one point of view I beleive it’s the fruit of the seeds we’ve sown in the past years. How can one forget the atrocities of people on the office against Lal Masjid and Jamiah Hafsa. No matter what stand those people had taken, they were our flesh and blood and how could we have the hearts of stone to let them suffer so much on what the government was feeding us? Innocent girls put to death. How can we, who didn’t raise our voices against such violence, who didn’t do anything to stop that violence, ever think that Allah will be happy for us and would shower His Blessings upon our sinful souls?! Have we asked for His Forgiveness?! Have we tried to lessen the pain of those who lost their loved ones on that occasion? And if not… How can we expect better leaders? better judiciary? better politicians? better economic conditions? better anything?
It’s high time we reflect on our deeds, ask for His mercy and Forgiveness. This burden of sins that we carry on our backs would not let us think, rest and live peacfully. IT will crush our lungs and hamper our breathing. It will be like cancer and would kill us painfully. Better not be ungrateful than we’ve already been and follow those who were sent for us as an example to follow and we may find salvation…
For the last couple of days, there’s been a deep anguish in my heart and the helplessness has made the endurance more testing. And the more I realise the slumber of the Pakistanis including me, the more I feel the terrible fate upon us(not just Pakistanis but the whole Ummah). A few days back NATO forces attacked Pakistan and killed our soldiers and called it ”a mistake”. Then in DAWN today it says that the attack was “legitimate”. And all our ministers could say was that US should share more information with Pakistan…
This is what happens to a country whose youth is more concerned about Music, whose mothers are more concerned about Soap Operas and whose ministers are corrupt and whose general population is directionless.
I was reading Akhiri Chattan by Naseem Hijazi and I realised how we have digressed from the very road which was assigned to us. Though I’m not an expert translator so here’s the foreword in roman. Would take pains and write it in URdu font as soon as possbile.
“Akhiri Chattan ka musawwadah 1946 mein mukammal ho chuka tha. Yeh daastan likhte waqr mein soocha kerta tha ke shayed changezi daur ke moarrakhein ne jin bayanaat se mein muta’ssir hua hoon, tatariyon ke mazaalim bayaan kerne mein mubaalgha aaraai se kaam liya ho, lekin mujhe kia maloom tha ke sirf eik saal ke baad mein apne ghar ko weshat-o-barbarriyat ki uss aag ki lapait mein dekhonge jis ne chand sadiyaan qabl aalam-e-Islam ke behtareen shehron ko jala ker raakh ker diya tha. Changezi daur ka ik muarrikh likhta hai ke agar mein tatariyon ke tamam mazaalim bayaan keron tu darr hai ke aanay wali naslein mujhe jhoota kaheingi, aur aaj mein mehsoos kerta hoon ke mashriqi Punjab mein wehshiyon ke eik grooh ki aanay wali naslien bhi apnay un aslaaf ke karnaamon ko jhutlaengi jinhoon ne wehshat-o-barbarriyat ki tareekh mein eik naye baab ka izaafa kia hai. Mashriqi Punjab ke waqiaat jis qadr alamnaak hain, usi qadr sabaq amooz bhi hain. hum hindustaan mein apni tareekh ke eik faisla kun marhale mein daakhil ho chuke hai. Iss marhale per eik sahih qadam hamein aoj-e-thurayya tak aur eik qadam taht-e-thura tak puhncha sakta hai. Hum agar chahein tu mashriqi Punjab ke shaheedon ka khoon bebasi ke aansoo’oon se dho daalein aur chahein tu iss khoon ki roshnai se Pakistan ka Roshan tareen baab likh daalein. In Waqiaat se qaum ke un dardmandon ki aankhein khil jaani chahiyein jo iss inqalabi daur mein bhi qaum ke har dard kay ilaaj ke liye “taza bayaan” aur “nayi qarardadein” kafi samajhte hain. Agar kal tak unhein koi khushfehmi thi tu aaj woh door ho jani chahiye. Agar quwwat ka jawab mantaq se diya jaata tu tatariyon ka sailaab Bukhara aur Baghdad ko nabood kerta hua misr tak na jaa puhunchta. Woh alfaaz jin ki ta’eed ke liye shamsheer na ho, kisi qaum ki taqdeer nahin badal sakte aur woh qalam jo khoon mein terna nahin seekhta, tareekh ke safhaat per koi paidaar naqoosh bananay se qasir rehta hai. “Akhiri Chattan” hamare maazi ka eik aaina hai aur iss aainay mein hum apnay haal ke khad-o-khaal dekh ker apna mustaqbil sanwaar sakte hain, warna tareekh shahid hai ke qudrat kisi qaum ki siyasi ghalatiyaan maaf nahin kerti. “Akhiri Chattan” mein qaum ke un naujawanon ko paish kerta hoon jinhon ne apnay kandhon per Pakistan ki azeem-u-shshaan tameer ka bojh uthaya hai” -Naseem Hijazi
Lahore, 12th october 1947.
And when I was reading this I realised that we are already swimming in the sea of ignorance. We have forgotten that we were given the responsibilty of spreading the word of Allah and we were given the order to “fight” with those people who fight with us. And today when we are attacked by the outside forces and today when we should unite under one banner of Islam, we have no understanding of the word Islam as it is. We have adopted a luxurious and easy lifestyle. We are afraid to go outside our own so-called protected circles that we’ve given up any thought of hardship that Muslims underwent when they went on Jihaad…
I foresee a fate for this nation, a fate which no one has yet seen if we go on living like we are right now…
But then we should never stop praying and hoping…
“In the present turmoil that our nation is facing, there is much to say in discussions, analysis, accusations, criticisms, predictions, complaints etc. But there is one more thing that we can all do to make a positive contribution–pray. It may seem rather insignificant to many of us, but who knows? Maybe dua is the thing that can change the fate of this nation. Let us all pray for peace and prosperity for Pakistan. Let us pray that Allah make this nation stable, and make its people and leaders the best of His people. (Ameen) Here is a particular Masnoon dua (Prophetic prayer) that I found quite relevant to our times:
With his back bent a little, holding a magazine in one of his wrinkled hands and walking very slowly, he emerged from the corner of the street. He met me on the way and while talking to me, for the first time ever, I noticed how he has faded from the last time I saw him. His brows were dark with the unspoken concerns, the lines on his forehead were telling me a different story all together. The story that made me realise how he has been disappointed through years. And the way his shoulders seemed -heavy under a huge invisible burden -making his back to bend a little, it seemed as he is tired of carrying that burden with him, that he’s disappointed with others for not sharing that burden with him. He realised that the burden he is carrying, the responsibilities that are weighing him down cannot be tranfered to the next generation or the one after that. Being in his eighties he feels that he has lost his identity…
He was a part of a dream. He helped in making that dream a reality. But soon it was shattered but the people who saw this dream with him, continued to hope and pray that maybe someday they would be able to perfect the imperfections of it. Someday they would be able to say that this is the perfect realisation of that dream. But now that he has been through all those transitions, his heart breaks at every moment into more pieces knowing that everyone has failed to understand the beauty and purpose of that one dream that they saw when their lives were at their prime. And now when he realises that he, though outlived his friends, will still never be able to even see one step towards the realisation of that dream his heart breaks altogether into soo many minute pieces that there’s not way they can ever be put together…
It’s not just his story. A young woman, on the eve of migration was separated from her family, was forced to marry in a different religion. She lived in constant torture and agony of not knowing if her parents were alive or were they put to death. She lived in constant hope of reaching that land which was sacred to her. But all the while she was contented that atleast other women have a chance to live a better life in that country. She thought that the land which was drawn on the map of the world by the blood of her loved ones, will provide justice to other people. She thought her sacrifice, the sacrifice of her parents and others would not have gone in vain. On her deathbed, she wishes to go and see, just for once, what that country is like for which they all have sacrificed even their own self-respect…
What was that dream?! “A madman’s dream!” A dream that filled with hope the hearts of men who had suffered ineqaulity and injustice at the hands of Hindu majority and the British Raj. It was a place where they thought they will be able to live their lives according to the word of Allah. A place which would be known as the country etched onto the world in the name of Allah just like Madina, and they took pride in it and they sacrificed their sons, daughters, loved ones in doing that. What is it now?! What happened to that babe which they nourished and nurtured with their own blood? What happened to that justice and equality?! What happened to that law of Allah which was to be implemented?! What happened to that freedom which they wanted- to pray in a Masjid without a pig being thrown at them?!
Pakistan - Islamic Republic of Pakistan. A place where women are tortured to death by the government and we do not raise a finger! A place where Masjid is being attacked by the government and we do not raise our voices! A place where we are subjected to criticism if we follow the way of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) and we cannot explain it to them and the very fact that we need to explain it is unfathomable! A place where we put more emphasis on secular European educational system than our own teachings of Quran and Sunnah and we take pride in it!
Pakistan was a blessing from Allah. And there’s a Hadeeth that if you donot thank for the blessing and do not give it it’s due respect, that blessing will be taken away from you. With a world which is waiting to tear you apart like a savage dog, this haven is slowly being taken away from us…
Nikal ke sehra se jisne Roma ki saltanat ko ulat diya tha
Suna hai Qudsiyon se mein ne woh sher phir hoshiyaar hoga
-Allama Iqbal
“Consciousness is such a burden”
- D. I. S
Oh eye you are not blind, see the grave
And see this world full of distractions and bitterness;
Kings, heads and princes are under the clay
See moon-bright faces in the jaws of ants
From The Ruba’iyat of Omar Kayyam (Translated by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs)
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