The Grave

January 2011: There was a hush all over Islamabad. In fact there was a hush all over Pakistan. Mumtaz Qadri had just recently assassinated Salman Taseer for challenging the Blasphemy Law. And the nation was divided into two strong opinions. Some thought that Mumtaz Qadri was an extremist and a killer. While some others thought that Salman Taseer got what he deserved, albeit that the government institutions should have tackled him, but nevertheless Mumtaz Qadri surfaced as a defender of the Prophet’s honor and thus a hero.

But, more important than all this was that almost everybody was scared to give their opinion in public. I asked many, from ordinary citizens to political workers, from the educated to the uneducated, from the young to the old. People would first give a cautious smile, trying to judge what my opinion was. If their opinion matched with my opinion, they would admit to it, else they would try to give a diplomatic answer.

The interesting thing, however, is that it was not the fear of being labeled either a supporter of blasphemy or a supporter of assassination, but the fear of being persecuted for holding that opinion! If one surfaced as a supporter of blasphemy, another Mumtaz Qadri might kill them. And if one surfaced as a supporter of the assassination, they might be intellectually humiliated, shunned socially for life or even ‘picked-up’.

I was on a social visit. My friend’s mother-in-law was sitting on her evergreen couch. I asked her what she thought of Mumtaz Qadri. To my surprise, she almost jumped out of her couch in her enthusiasm and instructing a finger at me, she said ‘He did the absolute right thing. Salman Taseer got what he deserved. When government institutes become sitting ducks, that is when people take law into their own hands…’

I was very happy for her clear-cut, loud and unabashed opinion. I said, ‘Very good Aunty, here, please write me a postcard on this one and I will post it for you.’ Would you believe it that she recoiled back with the same force that she had come out with? And she said, ‘What the hell? Are you crazy? They will pick me up and bundle me away…’

It was very funny, but also very sad. For one thing, people responsible for our protection are now considered kidnappers and persecutors. Second, the phenomenon of enforced disappearances has become so widespread and common that it has made the people spiritually dead. People now seek simply to save their bodies and let their spirits die and hence not say or do anything for a change. Third, people wish for others to do the stunts and revolutions and themselves to enjoy the results and celebrate. They will not even pick up the pen to defend the convicted ‘hero’ behind bars, in torture or facing the death penalty; but will distribute sweets and confetti for the convict’s achievement.

Fear is a natural phenomenon, but we need to handle it maturely. Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas; One day he was riding behind Allah's Messenger Pbuh, who said, ‘Young man, if you are mindful of Allah, He will be mindful of you, and if you are mindful of Allah, you will find Him before you. When you ask for anything, ask it from Allah, and if you seek help, seek help from Allah. Know that if the people were to unite to do you some benefit, they could benefit you only with what Allah had recorded for you, and that if they were to unite to do you some injury, they could injure you only with what Allah had recorded for you. The pens are withdrawn and the pages are dry.’ [Hadith: Al-Tirmidhi, N. 1405]

Episodes like Shahzeb Khan, Nirbhaya and Sandy Hook Elementary School are a stark reminder of the fact that a calamity can hit anyone in this life, be they activists or non-activists.

We evade participation in campaigns and movements to protect ourselves from persecution, imprisonment and assassination. Though to die is easier in comparison to imprisonment, for it amounts to honorary martyrdom and the pain is over in seconds. The only pain remaining is the pain of separation for the family left behind, and even that is much less than the phenomena of imprisonment. It is terrible beyond words and imagination, both for the person and family, to be detained in prisons and torture, especially secret, unknown prisons. And that is exactly what is happening mostly in these times, commonly known as ‘Illegal Detention’ and ‘Missing Persons’.

I read somewhere that perhaps they also know this, that honorable people hope to attain martyrdom in lieu of death as the end of their life, somewhere along the line, and hence are brave to step forward for causes. Consequently, they replaced killing with imprisonment to increase the terror and deflect people from participation. Little do they know that imprisonment and suffering for the sake of Allah Almighty has its own merits and He is the One Who provides solace and endurance to the one afflicted with it. They should have known it, for it is there in the Bible as well,

‘Blessed are those who suffer persecution for living righteously, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My Sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for likewise they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’ [The Holy Bible, Matthew 5:10-12]

Another worthy aspect of imprisonment is that it sets off a massive movement; the imprisoned person’s family, friends and supporters begin a movement for the release of their loved-one, a movement, a struggle, a revolution, much stronger than the revenge sought for the martyred one.

Despite all this, imprisonment and torture is terrible. Yes, imprisonment and torture is terrible. The thought of it pushes one to back off from participation in campaigns, until a noble soldier’s thoughts are fathomed by the foresighted mind…imprisonment is terrible, but the very worst of prisons is the grave, from where there is no escape.

Have we ever imagined? Of dying in the Bad Books of Allah Almighty? Of being whipped-up by the Black Angels at the moment of death as depicted in the Hollywood movie ‘Ghost’ of 1990? I am quite sure we have not. For most of us, deep in our hearts, believe ourselves to be sin-free or at most having trivial sins which The Ghafoor-ur-Raheem, The Forgiving and The Merciful, will ‘definitely’ forgive. In our minds, the only criminals around here are Bush, Saddam, Shahrukh Jatoi and likewise. Little do we realize that in Allah Almighty’s world, the grading is relative. Big people do big crimes and little people do little crimes; Allah Almighty takes to account both. And very few people know that in some situations, to stay mute is also a sin, for which we are punished in this world by becoming the next victim or are punished after death.



Narrated Anas ibn Malik, Allah's Apostle Pbuh said: ‘If I did not fear that you would stop burying your dead one’s, I would have certainly supplicated Allah to let you hear the torment of the grave’. [Hadith: Sahih Muslim, N. 1334]

Let us say, if Musharraf is a criminal for cowering under the US threat and jumping into the so-called war-on-terror, then we are also criminals in our capacity by being silent upon it. He did what was in his jurisdiction and we were supposed to do what was in our jurisdiction; to protest, campaign and refuse. If our excuse is that we feel threatened and scared, well then Musharraf also felt threatened and scared and he felt so on behalf of the whole nation. Then did he do the right thing? There are some who believe that he did the right thing because it is not wise to endanger the whole nation to save a few. Is that so? Well, what about the same people giving raving reviews for the story of the Indian art-movie ‘Mirch Masala’, in which the panchayat, a jury group comprised of elders of the village, decide to handover the attractive woman, Sonbai, to the lecherous Subedar because, using his position of power, he threatens to raze the village to the ground if his demand is not met. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? As the story continues, a simpleton, elderly guard of a factory ends up taking a stand for the protection of Sonbai and thus becomes the hero of the movie. While the panchayat and its supporters are rebuked and considered sissy for giving in to the threat of the arrogant Subedar.

It is for us to decide now, our destiny, of this world and the Hereafter. As quoted by an Internet blogger, ‘The choice is between living to die and dying to live. Choose to live and eventually die, or keep shivering in fear, and die every minute of your life’. My friend’s mother-in-law died her natural death recently, about one and a half year after that flippant episode. She was a good mother-in-law, and may Allah Almighty grant her a good place in Heaven. I wish she had written that one postcard for Mumtaz Qadri, who happens to be still alive, and secured a higher place with Allah Almighty in the Hereafter.

Dowry is Compulsory

You must have heard the word Jahaiz a lot in our society. If it is your girl getting married, the word has an apprehensive foreboding to it, but if it is your boy getting married, then the word has a strange excitement and expectation attached to it, except for those who are honorable, yes honorable.

If you pick up the Arabic dictionary and search for the word Jahaiz, you will find it in two broad meanings; things of need and preparation for something. It could be things and preparation for anything, ranging from travel, wedding, war to death. Yes, a burial preparation is also referred to as Tajheez, evolving from the same root letters as that of Jahaiz.

The literal meaning of Jahaiz thus settled so, we can now move on to the contextual meaning of Jahaiz in our society and its history. Jahaiz has its roots in the Hindu civilization where the bride brought along a lot of household items for her new home. This was her share instead of inheritance. Hence came the concept of Baraat, which comprised of a large group of strong men who would be needed to transport the Jahaiz back to the bridegroom’s place. In Islam, females inherit. And in a Muslim wedding, there is only the Nikah-Rukhsati and Valima. The bride’s family is not even supposed to host the wedding dinner (it is the bridegroom’s responsibility), so how come they became burdened with the responsibility of furnishing an entire new home?

The stance of the pro-Jahaiz Muslim families is this; Jahaiz is Sunnah because Prophet Muhammed Pbuh gave his daughter, Syedna Fatima RA, a date-leaf bed quilt, two cooking pots, a chakki and a Mashkeezah. Researching this topic I found out that he even gave her a house! Jahaiz-supporters say that these things when translated into today’s time automatically become a bed set, sofa set, oven, microwave, dinner set, cooking utensils, chopper, grinder, juicer, water cooler, fridge, air conditioner, heater, carpet, curtains, washing-machine, television, plot and a car. Hmmm, well I agree that when Syedna Fatima RA’s Jahaiz be translated into today’s times, it would transform into modern items, although the domains have been expanded much and newer domains have been added. Okay, perhaps the expansion and addition is also kosher by analogical deduction. Yet, I will prove the unauthenticity of the so-called Jahaiz of our society.

First of all, I will introduce some current technical terminologies in this regard, although all of them are not practiced everywhere or altogether. There is the dowry, the Jahaiz, which the bride is supposed to bring along to her new home. There is the dower, the Haq-Mehar, generally cash, which the bridegroom is supposed to gift to the bride. And there is the bride-price, which the bridegroom is supposed to give to the bride’s chaperon in a way of purchasing the bride. In Islam, bride-price is haram, forbidden, Haq-Mehr is farz, obligatory, and the quest of Jahaiz goes on.

We see that Prophet Muhammed Pbuh took care of fifteen women in his life, four were his daughters and eleven were his wives. He gave dower to his wives and his daughters received dowers, from their husbands. However, with the exception of Syedna Fatima RA, he did not give dowry to any of his daughters nor did any of his wives brought along any dowry, with an interesting exception which we will talk about some other day.

Why was that? Why did he give dowry to only Syedna Fatima RA and not to any of his other daughters? Why did not his wives bring along dowry? What specialty did Syedna Fatima RA hold?

The specialty was Syedna Ali RA.

Syed Ali RA was Prophet Muhammed’s Pbuh paternal uncle, Abu Talib’s son and his cousin. Abu Talib adopted Prophet Muhammed Pbuh when he was an orphan and later Prophet Muhammed Pbuh adopted Syedna Ali RA when Abu Talib passed away.

It seems as if Prophet Muhammed Pbuh provided for Syedna Ali and Fatima RA in the position of Syedna Ali’s foster father and not the bride’s father. There is no other reason for which Syedna Fatima RA could be set apart from the other women in Prophet Muhammed’s life.

And it is so logical. It is so logical for the boy (or the boy’s family if the boy is too young or not self-sufficient) to provide for the newly wedded couple. In Islam and our society, the man is the bread-winner. Consider a man having four daughters and another man having four sons. If we follow the mindless trend of the bride bringing along dowry with herself, then the father of the four daughters would have to work sweat and blood to amass four dowry bulks. While if it is considered the rightful duty of the man, then each of the four sons can earn for themselves and put together a household each, which makes a much lighter and logical burden on each person. Or, even if their father provides for them at the time of the marriage, then each of the sons can later pay back their father when they are well established financially. It is simple mathematics.

However, this would be so boring. We want to celebrate the birth of a son completely and without the taste of any other medicine. It is so boosting to have a baby boy when we envision him earning for us thirty years down the line and his wife bringing in stuff to fill the house when we want to get him married. Tuch-tuch.

It is also cynically amazing that when people demand dowry, either blatantly (flashing a list) or latently (saying ‘whatever you please’), they say that they have nothing to do with the stuff and everything is for the girl’s new home. Hey but where is the new home? Boys generally do not have their own homes at the time of marriage and people are rarely capable of giving houses in dowry, so at the end of the day all the new stuff for a ‘new home’ goes into replacing worn out furniture and machinery of the boy’s family home. 

The last confusion of this tangle would be to ask that if dowry is unsanctioned by Islam, why did not Islam forbid and say haram to ‘gifts’ being given to the bride from her side of the family. It is simply because gifts and dowry are two different things. Dowry refers to basic essentials of living, e.g. fridge, washing-machine, sofa-set, etc, while gifts are generally small, surplus, luxury items; another dress, another jewellery set, another pair of shoes, and so on.   And it would have been very unnatural and irrelevant to forbid gifts to daughters at any point in time. Sons and daughters, whether married or unmarried, both are entitled to gifts from their parents, and with equality, to the extent that Prophet Muhammed Pbuh once asked a man to take back his gift to his son because he had given the gift to only one of his children and not to others.

To conclude, dowry is not just Sunnah, but Wajib, but is a compulsion upon the boy, not the girl. It is the boy’s responsibility to arrange for the living of the new couple, whether he does it on his own or with his parent’s support. Do not call the gifts you are giving to your daughter, dowry, as you are endorsing an unIslamic concept. The girl’s families, where they can, should place themselves in the questioning position rather than the answering position as to what the girl will be provided rather than what the girl will provide. I know it is difficult to imagine this order, but we need to put in an effort to correct the system and it is in practice in the Arab world today. If all girl’s families unite on this stance, the boy’s families will have no choice but to behave because after all, all boys need to get married. 

“All women, other than these, are lawful provided you seek them in marriage with your property (dowry), desiring chastity and not lust. Give them their dower as an obligation for the benefit you receive from your marriage relationship.”

[The Holy Quran, [4] Surah An-Nisaa, Verse 24]

Dear Malala

It was one of the most shocking moments of my life when I heard that Malala Yousuf Zai had been target shot by the Taliban. The shock was so hard because I was pro-Taliban as well as being a great admirer of Malala for the courageous way she had struggled for the continuation of her education since the tender age of eleven.

For a moment and for a few hours and for a few days I thought this is the turning point in my life where I would go from being pro-Taliban to anti-Taliban. I felt like screaming my guts out at them. What the hell have you done? How could you this? You shot a fourteen-year-old?

I crazily read the newspapers, hoping to read somewhere a denial of the responsibility of the attack, by the Taliban. I also crazily searched for Malala’s online diary, said to be written under the penname of Gul Makai on BBC Urdu. What had she written? Had she really been so anti-Taliban, anti-Mujahideen or anti-Islam that they felt it justified to kill her? Wait a minute, where was her diary?

During the search, I read the Taliban’s arguments in one of the columns. One, it is lawful to kill a female if she is committing a serious enough crime, and the reference they gave was an authentic one. Fine, I thought, otherwise all female dacoits, murderers and adulteresses would go scot-free on the grounds of being females. That is not logical. Two, it is lawful to kill a child even, if the child shows serious criminal tendencies. And the reference they gave here was an authentic one as well but, debatable for the reference was related to a prophetic decision of Surah-e-Kahf. I brain-stormed. What could a child possibly do that would justify anyone sentencing him/her to death? I thought to myself, what if a child of age fourteen starts advocating drugs and advocating it very effectively. What is the surrounding neighborhood and society supposed to do? I do not know.

I read Malala’s diary too, or some of it. Strangely, I was unable to find the root link anywhere so that I could read the whole of it. Has it been removed now? Nevertheless, I found references to her diary here and there. From what I gathered, I understand Malala to be a progressive-minded girl with appreciation and criticism for both sides of the fence, the religious and the secular. However, for a God-fearing person, religious dictates are something which should not be criticized in a fearless manner but their form of implementation may be commented upon carefully with due respect to the original commandment. For example, Malala wrote, ‘…women here wear the traditional blue burqa but I refused to wear it on the grounds that I find it difficult to walk in it…’. The words in bold…these are just the kind of words the seculars are looking for, from anyone living in a traditional-religious backdrop so that they can pounce on the story, expose it, ‘glamorize’ it, and propagate to the world how suffocating religious tradition is. Wrong. Tradition can be suffocating but religion is not. For example, religion ordains to veil but does not ordain a blue-colored, arm-less, netted-at-the-eye burqa. That is tradition. Perhaps, Malala could have wrote, ‘…I was not comfortable walking in this kind of a burqa…’. There is also the reporting that she said things like, ‘I am reminded of the Pharoah when I see the beard’ and ‘Burqa reminds me of the stone-ages’.

Then there are a few discrepancies in this whole Malala episode. Why did the Malala shooting happen just after Imran Khan’s peace march to Waziristan against drone attacks, which sparked international debates, polls and a movement against drone attacks? Is Malala really the author of her diary on BBC? Why did the Malala shooter ask prior to shooting ‘Which one of you is Malala?’? Hadn’t he done his homework of seeing Malala’s picture, available easily, prior to heading for his task? Or was the sentence part of a script? I do not think Malala veiled her face so that she could not be recognized.

To me, the Malala shooting has a strange similarity to the Swat flogging video from 2009, which surfaced suddenly and played an important role in halting the peace process and alternating the choice to a military operation in Swat. At that time, many of us were trying to question the authenticity of the video because in it the girl gets flogged and then simply walks off in a normal gait while it is said that one cannot walk straight for a while after being flogged. Of course, all the questioning was shouted out under the pretext of us being conspiracy-mongers and apologists. Today, the Malala incident is being pushed in exactly the same way, but for a military operation in North Waziristan this time.

Alternatively, sometimes it seems as if the advisor to the Taliban or someone with a strong foothold amongst them is an American agent with a deep knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah, for the Taliban sometimes do acts which are extremely harmful for the Muslim cause but they are able to justify them technically with references to the Quran and Sunnah, albeit out of time. In the current scenario, America had been pressing Pakistan hard for a couple of years to perform military operation in North Waziristan. The Malala shooting episode is just the spark America needed to justify their demand, both internationally and nationally. For today, the social media has rocketed to a fifty percent approval towards an operation in North Waziristan.

Also, there has always been this tug-of-war between displaying zealous support for one kind of cause and staying mild or mute upon another. Very few of us give a fair display. The question was on air, ‘Where are the energetic protestors for Malala from the protests of the blasphemous movie protests of just two weeks ago?’ Yes, but Tahira Abdullah, Kishwar Naheed and Attiqa Odho, where were you when America returned Aafia Siddiqui’s son, Ahmed, after keeping him in prison and chained for more than five years without any crime they could mention at all? Today, Ahmed has deformed feet bones due to being chained during his growing years. Where were you then?

To sum up my distributed and disturbed feelings, I feel that the Taliban have done a most terrible thing, if they have done it. I do not think Malala was a threat to Islam, Mujahideen or Taliban, though she might become one now in due course of events. She just wanted to really, really study, was uncomfortable with some practices in her region which were done in the name of Islam and/or culture and reportedly had the wrong attitude towards some dictates of Islam. Even if she was a rebel to Islam, which is questionable right now until her entire speeches and writings are honestly collected on some website for viewers to review, yet she should had been given the margin of her age in which teenagers form all kinds of ideas, mostly rebellious. There are many other prominent personalities of Pakistan who speak much worse. Is it then honorable to attack a vulnerable, defenceless young girl just because she was within reach? Admitted that she being a mature girl, is held Mukalaf (responsible) by Islam, but nevertheless she is very young. And Islam does give room to age factor, with reference to the Hadith which says ‘One who has reached the age of sixty has no excuse (of incomprehension of Islam) left with him’. Its counter meaning is that those below that age might be given a margin of excuse by Allah Almighty in the grave and on the Day of Judgment. Then, how should our judgments be?

And Malala’s dad, sir, were you not aware of the negative designs of the anti-Muslim lobby in the form of planted NGO’s and contorted media coverage? They never make documentaries about the plight of their thirteen-year-old single mothers, but are fast to cover heartening stories from the Muslim world and eastern culture. You should have been wary when they were approaching your daughter again and again and highlighting her plight. May Allah Almighty ease the plight and strengthen your good motives, Ameen.

Malala, I am so sorry. The Muslim nation would sky-rocket if all our youngsters had a love for education like you do. I wish you would not watch ‘Raja ki aye gi Barat’ (fake stories with zero purpose) and instead read about intelligent girls like yourself from the Muslim history, starting from Syedna Ayesha RA. I wish Sir Imran Khan would give you a scholarship into his great university. I hope you get all the education you desire and may Allah Almighty bless you with a purposeful life and a rewarding Hereafter, Ameen.

Disengage Pakistan

 Friendship is between people and countries of equal stature, siilar ideology or common goals. None of the three exist between Pakistan and America. We are a pauper state being bullied around to serve the American interest at the cost of our own people getting killed and our economy bleeding. We are two nations of different faiths and it is not Pakistan’s goal to hijack another country’s natural and financial resources. Then why do we delude ourselves to consider ourselves to be ‘friends’? The relationship is closer to being of that between a man and a dog as cartooned in an American newspaper once.

Ten years ago, America said to us, ‘Either you are with us or against us…if you do not cooperate, we will turn you to the stone-ages’. Very unethically, we turned treacherous (as BBC put it) upon the very people who had fought the Afghan Jihad with us and started killing them or handing them over to America just to save our skin. But Nature has its own ways and plans. Ten years down the line, with no electricity, no gas, industries getting shutdown, flaring inflation and rocketing terrorism, we are fast moving towards the stone-ages despite our ‘cooperation’. Nature has played a well-deserved joke on us. Both history and the Book of Records with Allah SWT will remember this era of inhuman treachery and has already started punishing us for it. Then, can we imagine the lasting punishment in this world and the Hereafter?

This may be our last chance to undo what we did wrong as a nation. We must disengage from our unnatural and gimmick alliance with America like Turkey said ‘No, thanks’ when America pushed Turkey for a similar cooperation back in 2001. If we do not do so to continue getting financial aid, well then how low can we stoop? Do not we remember the end of Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq? And if we do not do so from fear of being attacked, well that is going to happen anyhow in due time because so tells us the prophecies of Prophet  Muhammed SAW.

Woe Unto You, O' Mother

Who raised this child? Who gave him this criminal ideology? Or rather, who gave him this lack of ideology? Who taught him the idea of ‘country-ism’, which is not recognized by Islam? Who taught him that we are a nation divided by geographical boundaries and not an empire of Islam? Who taught him that Muslims on the other side of the ‘border’ are another nation? Who taught him that to support war against ‘them’, if it earned you some International Aid, was national interest? Who taught him this covet materialism? Who taught him that it is okay to sell some of your brothers and sisters, in addition to national integrity and dignity, in order to increase the national GNP?

A child’s first school is his mother. Did his mother teach him that, or was she ignorant herself? A child’s second school is school. Did his teachers teach him that, or were they ignorant themselves? A child’s third school is the society and media nowadays. Did they teach him that, or were they uninformed puppets of the anti-Muslim lobby themselves? Or were they so greedy in the gut that they bought the luxuries of their luxurious life by paying the price of the nation’s ideology, identity and freedom?

When Emal Kansi was handed over by the very same people who had been sheltering him, in lieu of the multi-million dollar bounty offered, Emal Kansi is reported to have said, ‘These people are such that they will sell their own mother for ten dollars’. Someone might object to this brash statement, but the objection might be valid on the amount of ten dollars and not the prospect of selling one’s mother.

For this is pretty much what has happened in the NATO supply-lines case. There was great lamentation upon the killing of the twenty-four soldiers on the Pakistani border. The NATO supply-line was cut-off in retaliation. It was repeatedly said that the retaliation was for the honor of the soldiers killed. However, six months down the line, it all boiled down to negotiating a higher price and taxation upon the land route offered to the trucks carrying NATO supplies against brother Afghanistan.

So the blood of the twenty-four Pakistani soldiers has been settled for a higher land route rent?

Who raised those truck drivers who are celebrating the reopening of NATO supply-lines because their stoves will come alive at the expense of some Muslim lives flaming out? Who raised the person who took this decision? Who raised the person who delivers this decision? Who raised the person who defends this decision?

Indeed, they were once babies in a mother’s lap. Indeed, they were once children in a teacher’s classroom. Indeed, they were once teenagers and onwards; listening, exchanging and forming opinions with their peers, elders and media.

Indeed, this is the result of a criminal upbringing and each one of thy shall be held responsible one serious Day of Judgment.

‘Lo! Each one of you is responsible, and each one of you will be questioned for those under your responsibility…’
[Hadith: Mishkat, Book of Commandment and Judgment]

Imagine. Empathize. Will you be able to defend yourself?

The Acidity of USAID

Our televisions, newspapers and billboards are suddenly flowered with USAID advertisements. Woah! Hold on, what has happened over night?

What has happened all of a sudden that the USAID has become so generous with Pakistan and our authorities are also eager to tell us so? The USAID is promising a boost in the power sector, education and poverty treatment. By any chance, were these entire crises intentionally and artificially created so that America could become the Messiah and descend upon us with USAID? And we wretched folks would take it with grappling hands, beaten brows and grateful eyes. The punch line of the USAID advertisements say, from the people of America to the people of Pakistan…

The dilemma here would be easy to understand if we view the world from the angle of being a global village. That makes each country like a family; a family having its men, women, children, house, livelihood and resources. Now, let us translate the superpower of the world into the village Chaudhri.

First of all, the Chaudhri became the Chaudhri after invading the Red Indians homeland and beating the hell out of them. Some of them were even escorted to no man’s land and dumped there to perish. Was this treatment ‘liberating’ the Red Indians? As the Chaudhri claims for every land it invades today?

Today, the Chaudhri has come to our doors with a basket full of Aid. Have you ever witnessed such benevolence in your entire life? Where the sons of the Chaudhri abduct, imprison, torture, humiliate and repeatedly rape the family’s daughter, Aafia Siddiqui, back in the Hawaili, and then come to the doorstep with a basketful of Aid the next morning? Where the sons and friends of the Chaudhri invade and takeover the family’s humble lands hither and thither, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya and so on, and then come to the doorstep with a basketful of Aid the next morning? Where the personal militia of the Chaudhri, NATO, carpet bombs and drones the family’s children, women and holy sanctuaries ad hoc, and then comes to the doorstep with a basketful of Aid the next morning? Where the brokers of the Chaudhri strike deals with within the family members, the likes of Shakeel Afridi, bribing them into becoming informers and traitors and somebody willing to sell their brothers and sisters, and then come to the door step with a basketful of Aid the next morning? Where the choppers of the Chaudhri maliciously attack sons of the family standing guard at the doorsteps of Salala, cold-bloodedly and cowardly kill all twenty-nine of them with an attack in the dark, leaving them lying stark dead for the morning to come and weep over the horror of their broken mistrust, and then come to the same door steps with a basketful of Aid the next morning?

Oh, how the Chaudhri teases us upon our weakness! Oh, how the Chaudhri agonizes us over our helplessness! Oh, how the Chaudhri inflames us by pretending benevolence!

Oh, how the common man wishes to throw the Aid back in the face!

But, how can the common man do so? The common man never gets that Aid.

This Aid is pocketed by hands at the top. It is pocketed by selfish, ruthless and faithless hearts, who are so short-sighted that they cannot see beyond a few years. They do not realize that history has always disgraced glutton-driven and treacherous leaders in due time. They might delude themselves that they are doing all this in the best interest of
Pakistan, but the fact will remain that what they are doing is not even good for their own souls, let alone Pakistan.

USAID is salt on the wounds of the Muslim nation. Puke upon USAID.

Prophet Muhammed SAW expressed rejection for hateful things in a very comprehensive manner. Following his Sunnah, I say, may Allah’s curse be upon those who initiate USAID, who give USAID, who accept USAID, who transfer USAID, who utilize USAID, who promote USAID and who encourage USAID.

USAID is nothing but a bribery to change public opinion towards drone attacks, NATO supply-lines and Missing Persons phenomena. One should not fall for it and should reject it like an honorable nation.

Missing Persons' Avalanche

Shocking! And unbelievably sad!

The avalanche enveloping the army camp of Gyari, Siachin, is one of the saddest episodes I have witnessed in my life. I was totally speechless when I heard the news. I did not want to do so, but my mind kept imagining how it would have been. It is said that the avalanche hit the army camp around four o’clock in the morning. I thought to myself; perhaps some soldier would have gotten up at that time to say the Fajr prayers. And while he would have been in prayer, he would have heard the howling and eerie sound of the approaching avalanche. I could imagine it because I had heard the sound of an avalanche in a short film presented on GEO TV about avalanches. What would have been the feelings of that soldier in prayers? Or perhaps some soldier would have awakened within his igloo after the avalanche had hit. Perhaps the igloo had not caved in at the moment of the hit and the soldier, unaware of the calamity outside, would have sought to step out as he did so every morning, only to find the igloo entrance blocked! He would have thought, ‘Oh, it is a bit of an ice…!’, but when he pushed against it, he was pushing against an eighty feet high avalanche block! Can you imagine? It is the height of a six-storey building. I feel nostalgia even as I think about it. Imagine that moment for the soldier! Imagine the feeling of suffocation before the actual suffocation began. Imagine his blood running cold at the thought of death. Imagine him thinking of his family at the thought of death. Imagine him, waiting for death…

My heart goes out to the families of these soldiers. I can empathize with their desperation, wistfulness and human helplessness. I can hear the silent screams ‘Somebody, somebody please get my father out from below the avalanche! Somebody, somebody please lift this unbelievable block of avalanche! Oh, is this a terrible nightmare? Where is the technology? Oh no! Is there no technology strong enough to unfold an avalanche this big? …………..God? Where are you? Can you please send someone down here from up there? Oh God, oh God, I do not know who to beg to? Oh Allah, have Mercy…’

And then, embarrassedly, we had to look towards the superior America for help. They sent a team of eighteen to help with the rescue operation. However, today I heard in news that there is no technology yet to deal with this kind of disaster.

Nevertheless, Major General Athar Abbas, spokesperson ISPR, was heard saying, ‘We will do and show all we can do, for we are answerable to the families of these soldiers…’ And, General Ashfaq P. Kayani has said, ‘The hunt will go on till the last soldier is discovered…’ Excellent. These feelings are very honorable.

What would you say if I told you that there is a secret technology in reserve, such that that if it was used, all the near-buried soldiers under the avalanche would immediately become free, free to be back with their families and free to live again?

What would your feelings be for the person who was intentionally not using this secret technology, because another country had issued orders not to? And this person was eating dollars to obey their orders against his own people?

Well, there is a phenomena running within Pakistan (and the entire Muslim world), which is similar to the catastrophic avalanche. This is the phenomena of Missing Persons due to the so-called war-on-terror. Thousands of Muslims are buried under the avalanche of illegal, uninformed and enforced detention. They are in physical, mental and emotional torture just like those soldiers up there. Their families are desperate just like the families of these soldiers. Families of the Siachin soldiers are begging God for mercy, but can you imagine the humiliation of the families of Missing Persons that they have to beg human beings, our own authorities, for mercy?

Rest assured, these families will also go on in their struggle, till the last Missing Person is discovered, for if they are bonded by profession then these people are bonded by blood ties. And if they are answerable to the families of those soldiers…excuse me, but are not our authorities answerable to us citizens as well, who pay taxes and look towards the state for the basic human right of security?

And the secret technology in reserve is none other than Allah’s Mercy in the snow avalanche disaster, while the secret technology in the case of Missing Persons is one simple Executive Order of Release by the Pakistani authorities.

Will the Pakistani authorities use this simple technology to end the misery of Missing Person’s avalanche and invoke Allah’s Mercy for the Siachin disaster, or will we continue to flounder in our blindness and grope for dollars?

My heartache and prayers continues for both, the Missing Persons and their families and the Siachin soldiers and their families, for I am a Muslim whose loyalties lie with Allah and the national interest of Islam and not with any foreign country and some confused, self-deceptive and sinful notion of mutual interests.

Osama bin Laden, Shaheed

It has taken me six months to muster up the courage to write this article, and another six months to publish it. That makes it a full one year.

May 02, 2011: Osama bin Laden was killed on his residential premises in Abbotabad by the American forces.

My heart ran cold when I heard the news. The news was shocking, to say the least, in every aspect. The fact that Osama bin Laden had been living in Abbotabad. The fact that Osama bin Laden had been killed by the American forces. The fact that Osama bin Laden had been alive. The fact that Osama bin Laden was no more.

Who was this Osama bin Laden? Osama bin Laden was of Saudi origin. He belonged to a filthy rich family and lots of brothers and sisters who would go for vacations to Europe. He was a rather shy and sensitive child, and probably that is why he chose the life he did. He must have found it hard to doodle around with a golden spoon in his mouth while the children of the Ummah witnessed the murder of their fathers, the rape of their mothers, their houses being demolished, their facilities being confiscated, their resources being taken over, their independence being enslaved, their religion being scandalized and their identity being wiped out.

Osama bin Laden earned an international recognition when he fought in the front ranks against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan backed by America and front supported by Pakistan. This Afghan Jihad did not belong to Saudi Arab. Osama bin Laden was neither a Pakistani, neither an Afghani and nor an American. So what business did he have in fighting the Afghan Jihad…other than, Islam?

At one time I also got confused about the identity and objectives of Osama bin Laden. One conspiracy theory said that he was actually an American agent, posing as a Mujahid, for every feat of Osama bin Laden gave America more reasons to invade more Muslim countries. However, reading the journalism reports of Saleem Shahzad (after his death) I understood facts from fiction about Osama bin Laden.

We still do not know whether it was really Osama bin Laden or not, killed in the Abbotabad Operation. The interesting thing, however, remains is this; almost all media avenues used the word ‘killed’ for him, and not Shaheed. Benazir Bhutto, Salman Taseer and so many others are entitled to being called Shaheed, but not Osama bin Laden. While, Shaheed is a term specifically coined by Islam for those who die fighting to fortify Islam. Did Benazir Bhutto and Salman Taseer die fighting to fortify Islam? And Osama bin Laden had some other objectives?

As I lay down to sleep that night, it kept disturbing me. The life, priorities and struggle of Osama bin Laden and our political gentry’s past association with him and now slavish celebrations upon his death haunted me. One may differ with his chosen line of action but there could be no second opinion as to the cause and objectives of Osama bin Laden. This was the man who left a life of comfort, riches and luxuries to reside in the cold, barren and rugged mountains of Afghanistan to resist and fight invasion into a Muslim land and raised struggle against all such invasions. Then, why was Osama bin Laden not titled Shaheed?

Yes, of course. To America (now, after Russia had been defeated with the same), Osama bin Laden and the likes of him, are all terrorists. Consequently, we should all obediently pronounce them terrorists as well. We dare not pronounce them anything else for fear of unacceptability among our peers, persecution at the hands of agencies, annoying America, international sanctions and being called terrorist ourselves.

I hate this mental slavery. I hate my cowardice. And I feel fear of Allah’s verse,
"So do not fear people, but fear Me and do not sell my revelations for a petty price. Those who do not judge by the revelations of Allah, are indeed unbelievers." [The Holy Qur~an, [5] Surah Al-Maidah, Excerpt from Verse 44]

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, the author of ‘1492-The Year the World Began’ wrote, “Every hero is somebody else’s villain”. Consequently, every freedom-fighter is somebody else’s terrorist.

Therefore, allow me to say, Osama bin Laden, Shaheed.

Three Bloody Civilians

It really hurts the civilians to hear the phrase ‘bloody civilians’, for the civilians have really loved, honored and revered the defence forces of Pakistan until the recent past. People (except a few) were happy to allow them the major chunk of our national budget. People used to make way and place for them in gatherings. In the war of ’65, people were zealot to empty the city stock of grains and transport halwa poori to the fighting borders, although halwa poori is the last thing a soldier should be eating for it puts one to palatable drowsiness and sleep, but it was the love of the public that made them thoughtless of logic.

All this love was despite the fact that people of the armed forces referred to the civilians as ‘bloody civilians’ in their jokes and idle speech. I do not know the reason why they came up with this phrase for the civilians but this is what I have heard of as long as I can remember it. Despite these degrading remarks, people loved them for the virtue of their profession.

However, all this has changed now. People’s love (except of a few) has changed to shock, hostility and immense anger. And all this has happened post 9/11 when Pakistan joined the so-called war-on-terror and started killing its own people and handing them over to America and even taking booty for it.

People have wanted to voice their thoughts against it. People wanted the defence forces to change their alliance back to Muslims, but they were afraid to do so, for when anyone does so, we have operations like Operation Silence 2007.

Military operations were started in the tribal areas in 2004 and drone attacks have been hitting Pakistan since 2008. But it was finally in November 2011 that a reasonable reaction was given to the aggression of the Americans when the NATO forces attacked an official check-post of the Pakistan army in Mohmand Agency and killed twenty-four Pakistani soldiers. The army went into a rage. The army gave a strong vocal message, boycotted Bonn Conference, shut down its coordination centers along the Western border, evacuated the Shamsi airbase, and cut-off ground NATO supply-lines to Afghanistan to date.

Alhamdolillah, Pakistan finally took offence to aggression, onslaught and violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. I am glad that those twenty-four Pakistani soldiers were of enough importance that the Pakistani army reacted to their death. I am glad that those twenty-four Pakistani soldiers were of enough importance that the Pakistani army took all those steps which it did. I am glad that those twenty-four Pakistani soldiers were off enough importance that a political commission was set-up to redesign Pak-US relations by the name of Parliamentary Committee on National Security.

However, if I dare to ask, were not Fahim, Faizan and Ubaid-ur-Rahman of any importance? They were cold-bloodedly killed in broad daylight by Raymond Davis, an American agent. And he went scot-free off our land back to America. Except for holding him in comfortable custody for about a month and a half, in which chocolates and assurances were smuggled in to him, absolutely nothing more was done to apprehend the killings. No national or international measures of protest or future defence were taken up except for a demand that America must formally enlist all its agents within Pakistan. What good would that be? They would still go scot-free off our land after each of them killing a handful of Pakistanis.

Was this difference of reaction due to the fact that Fahim, Faizan and Ubaid-ur-Rahman were merely three bloody civilians? It cannot be any other reason. It cannot possibly be due to the difference of death counts between the two incidents, because there are a lot more counts in the closet of the civilians. Over a thousand innocent civilians have been killed in the tribal areas at the wave of America and over a ten thousand are ‘missing’.

With much due respect, it is the taxes of these bloody civilians which formulate the salaries, luxuries and ammunition boxes of the defence forces. Although, in the true spirit, talking about money is an insult to the noble profession of a soldier, however, the civilians are left with no choice except to go down to basic mathematics of financial flow, for a humble plea of basic human rights has not earned the civilians any relief from being picked up, beaten, tortured, raped, missing and/or killed.

The bloody civilians have truly become all bloody today.

Celebrating the Prophet's Birthday

I was watching television as it documented festivities gaining momentum on the approach of twelfth of Rabi-ul-Awwal. Rabi-ul-Awwal, the twelfth, is said to be Prophet Muhammed Pbuh’s birthday.

The news report narrated that there was a bit boost in sales of framed Quranic Verses, Asma-e-Husna and Asma-e-Nabi as Rabi-ul-Awwal proceeded. People believe that adorning their walls with these wall-hangings is a source of blessings in homes.

There is also the belief among a section of the Muslims that reciting Darood Shareef (Salutations) upon the Holy Prophet Pbuh, inspires the Prophet’s presence amongst us. That is, the Prophet SAW himself arrives at the gathering where the Darood Shareef is being recited, although he cannot be seen, and for this reason people stand up to honor his presence. The belief is so resolute that people even position a special chair for him to sit and attend the gathering.

Generally, all this is done in the drawing-room of the house, where generally there are also pictures hanging on the walls for which the very same Prophet SAW said,

‘The angels do not enter a house where there are pictures.’ [Hadith Sahih Al-Bukhari, Vol. 3, N. 318]

So does Prophet Muhammed Pbuh enter such a house, which the angels abhor and refuse to enter?

And this is the very same drawing room where our girls and boys dance on the dholki nights of our wedding celebrations…

Consider a wedding set for Rabi-ul-Awwal. In the morning we are going to hold a gathering of Milad and Darood Shareef. And we will set that special chair for our Holy Prophet Pbuh to visit us and honor our gathering in honor of him. The evening is scheduled for a dholki. Now what will we do about that special chair? Are we going to remove that chair? No, but we cannot be so rude! We must keep it there in hope of Prophet Muhammed Pbuh extending his visit and staying on to attend our wedding festivities…

Dare we do that?

Are our dholkis and other celebrations of life kosher enough to be attended by our beloved Prophet Pbuh himself, or do we have some events, dresses and CD’s to hide from him?

Do we please Allah and His Prophet Pbuh by our part-time Islamic and part-time anti-Islamic behavior or do we instigate their anger unknowingly?

As human beings, we hate people who are double-faced, who behave in a certain manner in front of us and in a different manner in our absence, while the irony is that Allah, The Almighty is never absent and Prophet Muhammed Pbuh is also said to be reported about his nations’ actions regularly.

While there is this big debate among Muslims whether it is Islamic and reward-earning to celebrate the Prophet’s birthday in itself or not, however, that is not being discussed here. The point of contemplation is this; assuming that it is downright Islamic and reward-earning to celebrate the Prophet’s birthday, what do you think Allah Almighty and His Messenger Pbuh think about us a nation when our youth celebrates the twelfth of Rabi-ul-Awwal, wearing green bandanas inscribed with Kalimah-e-Shahadah, dancing in the streets to Naats recited upon tunes of Indian songs?

Should we celebrate the coming of the Prophet Muhammed Pbuh into this world by a one-day, at-times-notorious, lip-service, or by living day-in and day-out in obedience to his teachings and model character?

Musharraf and Amazing Trade Avenues

I was completely relaxed about Musharraf’s return to Pakistan and Pakistani politics. I felt sure he did not have a future here anymore. In fact, I even felt cynical at times to his quotes regarding returning.

However, to my great shock, I heard a person speaking of some favorable chances for Musharraf in the Pakistani politics even now. I commented, ‘Well it must be by those wayward seculars who would vote for just about anyone as long as s/he keeps the wine flowing and all that goes along with it…’. To my surprise she said ‘No, but it is because of the economic growth that took place in his regime. People are interested in that’.

Dead silence.

I see. Is that so?

Are there people out there who would like to see Musharraf back despite Musharraf’s great crime of selling Pakistan’s sovereignty, constitution and people for an indefinite period of illegal detention in torture cells? He sanctioned surgical strikes within our North-West border. Does replacing with the word ‘surgical’ make it any different from the November 26, 2011 air strike of Mohmand Agency? He sanctioned ground and air logistic support for war against a neighboring Muslim country, Afghanistan. Ironically, this is the same country for which Jihad was declared by the Pakistani authorities when another superpower had encroached upon it. However, this time, anti-Jihad was in progress. However, the most amazing feat of Musharraf was selling Pakistani citizens along with their children, to American beckoning, and even taking booty upon it! He admitted this, perhaps even proudly, in his book ‘In the Line of Fire’. However, what he did not have the guts to admit was that he truly sold Pakistanis and he lies that they were foreigners. Aafia Siddiqui and many others were Pakistanis whom Musharraf declared otherwise. And I completely fail to understand his jubilance upon taking booty upon this sale. When I try to empathize and wear his boots in an effort to understand why he took the decisions which he did, I still fail to understand why he took money to hand over people for torture, be they Pakistanis or non-Pakistanis. I mean I can understand that I may be a soldier of very weak guts and my knees start to knock when the American foreign minister calls me and says ‘Either you are with us or against us’. And I, in my extreme hurry to ward off any potential danger, I even forget to consult the parliament or senate or even my group of core commanders of the country, and say ‘Yes SIR’, even then why would I take booty upon it? I can imagine myself hiding in a corner and weeping miserably that I did not have the guts to stand up to a foreign, bullish threat and I succumbed to violating the country’s sovereignty, constitution and public security, but, why would I take booty upon it?

One takes booty only upon something one considers absolutely rightful, even dutiful, and one does it with glee. I try to imagine the day Musharraf sanctioned picking up Aafia Siddiqui and her children. Did he manage to sleep that night? Perhaps not, because the payment shipment had not arrived yet…

All those who are pro-Musharraf even now, because of the economic growth during his regime, should immediately make a list of their assets which they can invest in business ventures with Musharraf when he arrives. The list begins; your wife, your children, your brothers and sisters, perhaps even your parents…

All you need is a stone heart and President Musharraf.

In view of your announcement to arrive here in Pakistan to participate back in politics, a most unwelcome to you, Pervaiz Musharraf.