A Few Men Worth Lashing

If we could go past the debate of whether three divorces given in one instance are to be considered one or three, maybe we can focus a bit on the trauma that a woman goes through when her husband tortures her with the pronouncement of the word divorce. I am saying tortured because the intention of the man here is not to make a decision and nor to give a warning, but to play with the emotions of the woman and bring her to subjugation. There are Muslim men here who pronounce the divorce word day and night but do not let go of the wife saying they did not mean it or they were just threatening. Is that considerable?

Consider in the light of the following Hadith,

‘There are three issues that the reality of them is a reality and joking about them is also a reality; marriage, divorce and revoking divorce.’

Then there are those spectators of divorce who are busy in keeping count of the divorce rather than addressing the issue at hand. The point is that divorce by the man is supposed to be a process by which a man can make his wife understand that things have become unbearable for him, and if things are not rectified, he can exit the marriage by giving a suitable absorption time. When he gives the first divorce, it is warning count one. If the issue is not resolved within three months, the divorce matures and executes itself. Both partners are free to marry elsewhere or even remarry each other. Should the first divorce be reconciled by the man within three months, the marriage continues. Should things continue to be unbearable, the second divorce would serve as warning count two. The divorce may mature or revoke as said afore within a period of three months. God forbid, should the dilemma happen a third time, its warning count three, over and out with immediate effect. No more three months chance period together. The man and woman cannot stay together a dime further.

Few of our men know this gradual process of warnings and then the final divorce. It is a method meant to get across a message meaningfully rather than show fist power and give emotional shocks. Yet our men use the divorce word to control their domestic life by a shock-and-control method.

By Islam, three divorces cannot be given all together. A man did so during Prophet Muhammed SAW’s time and Prophet’s face turned red with anger saying,

‘Have people started playing with religion while I am still around?’

However, men continued tempering with the legal divorce process. So Syedna Umar RA used his juristic ruling right of Ijtehad and pronounced the triple divorce effective in implementation, to punish the men who were playing with the fire word divorce. In effect, they got what they gave out, lost their wife who they were trying to terrorize and got the additional punishment of fifty lashes.

Today, the instant triple divorce has become rampant in the society, with the original correct and effective method of divorce unknown to the majority. In jurisprudence, the instant triple divorce is called Talaq-e-Bidah, that is, the innovated divorce. It is a sin, but no one realizes the sin of it anymore, neither it serves as a punishment for the men in our male dominated society anymore, nor do the guilty men get the punishment of fifty lashes anymore.

The Pakistan Family Court needs to rectify two things. If a man files for divorce, the divorce should mature after three months and it should be one divorce only. Currently, the court itself automatically issues the second and third divorce, a month apart each, unfortunately closing the doors of any possible future reconciliation. Secondly, the court should re-implement the punishment  of fifty lashes Syedna Umar RA meted out to men who pronounced the triple divorce. It should be meted out to those men too who keep pronouncing the divorce word day and night and then back out. It is the digital age. The women can record the multiple divorce shouts by the husband on their mobiles and empower themselves against the divorce terrorism.

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Why Not Israel ?

Just like the Jews and Muslims are brothers in Faith, sprouting from one biological and spiritual father, Prophet Ibraheem AS, and two sequels of religious scriptures, the Holy Tablets and the Holy Quran, so are the states of Pakistan and Israel. Pakistan was born in 1947 and Israel was born in 1948, albeit … an illegitimate child.

Pakistan was created or let us say recreated for the resident Muslims of the subcontinent over taken by the British. While Israel was created out of thin air on the land of the Palestinians by transporting forsaken Jews from all over the world to it. It is similar to the scenario that some bullies should barge into Islamabad, start throwing out its residents and taking over their homes. Absurd idea? Well yes, it actually happened in Palestine. First big chunks of Palestine were taken over and then they worked on the details … chucking out Muslim residents from their towns and villages and homes and putting in their own suitcases. It is still going on …

A few days ago, one of our special seat parliamentarians made a speech in the parliament in an effort to resolve the bloody Palestine-Israel issue. She made the following two points.

She said that the Israelis are our brethren and blessed as we bless them in our daily supplications of Darood Shareef. She quoted the phrase of آل إبراهيم. She forgot that in the eyes of Islam, the bonding of religious brotherhood and lineage is based on Faith and not bloodline. When Prophet Nuh AS mounted his ark, he pleaded to Allah Almighty to save his son as he was from his family and Allah Almighty had promised to save his family. At that point, because of the Kufr of Prophet Nuh AS’s son, Allah Almighty replied,

“He said, ‘O Nuh, indeed he is not of your family; indeed, he is [one whose] work was other than righteous, so ask Me not for that about which you have no knowledge. Indeed, I advise you, lest you be among the ignorant.’” [Holy Quran, Hud 11:46, Saheeh International]

Upon realization, Prophet Nuh AS retreated and reproached his plea.

No doubt the Israelis were once the chosen people and favorites of Allah Almighty because of their prophetic lineage. However, when the masses chose to disbelieve, disobey and kill the very same prophets because of whom they were the chosen people, they became the مغضوب عليهم, the cursed upon by God’s anger, as recited in Surah Al-Fateha at least twenty times a day, before the recitation of Darood Shareef, which the parliamentarian was referring to in her speech.

She then quoted the very awe-inspiring episode of change of Qiblah as an argument for the possible division of the holy lands between the Muslims and Jews by Allah Almighty himself. First of all, let it be known that the first ever construction and worship house built on Earth was the Holy Ka’bah, by the name of Bakkah, which submerged during Prophet Nuh AS’s deluge. It was then reconstructed by Prophet Ibraheem AS and his son Prophet Ismail AS and is known as the First Qiblah. Prophet Ibraheem AS’s other son, Prophet Ishaq’s lineage settled in the area of Palestine and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was made their Qiblah. It is known as the Second Qiblah. Prophet Muhammed AS always prayed in the direction of the First Qiblah as it was in his homeland and he loved it for being the first Qiblah. However, when opposition and persecution brought the call of Islam to a standstill in Makkah, Prophet Muhammed SAW was invited by the folks of Madinah to migrate. There, three strong Jewish tribes resided. Prophet Muhammed SAW got the divine commandment to start praying in the direction of the Second Qiblah instead of the First Qiblah. Some narrations suggest that it was for the purpose of consolidating the hearts of the Jews with the Muslims; to remind them that both the scriptures originated from the same God, and hence both the Qiblahs belonged to the same God. Only, one had been abrogated in favor of the other but this was yet to be understood by the Jews. Now the words used by the parliamentarian were ‘Prophet Muhammed SAW did it too please the Jews’. There is a fine line between trying to please someone and trying to comrade someone. Trying to please someone would perhaps imply giving in to them eventually and to comrade someone would perhaps imply to win them over and bring them to your side. Prophet Muhammed SAW was invincible in his cause like all prophets are. He did not act to please anybody but to please Allah Almighty and he followed none other than the command of Allah Almighty. His heart turned towards the First Qiblah over and over again but he continued to pray in the direction of the Second Qiblah for sixteen to seventeen months until finally Allah Almighty reverted the final Qiblah back to the First Qiblah. Now three mosques stood as the holy mosques for the Muslims. The Holy Ka’bah in Makkah, the Mosque of the Prophet in Madinah and the Farthest Mosque in Jerusalem, where Prophet Muhammed SAW on his way to Miraj, the Heavenly Ascent, lead the congregation prayers of all the past prophets, thereby establishing the finality of his prophethood in the lineage of prophets.

Some thirteen hundred years later, the British government aided the scattered Jews to group together from all over the world and bag a country for themselves in Palestine after World War II. It surprises me that the Jews should be aided by the Christians, whose god Jesus, in the opinion of the Jews, is an illegitimate child of the promiscuous non-virgin Mary (God forbid). But then, perhaps it should not be such a surprise as most of the Christians and Jews today have basically converted to atheism and find humor in cartooning their own so-to-say prophets. He who does not respect his own prophet, how can he respect the prophet of others?

Our parliamentarian tried to fish for a solution to the century long Palestine-Israel conflict by some stray fragments of scripture and history, but obviously erred erroneously. Jerusalem belongs to the Muslims, after the holy lands of Makkah and Madinah. We have not, and shall never accept Israel.

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Jews, Christians, Muslims & Qadianis

Anyone having the most basic knowledge of religion and various religions would know that the basic difference between the three biggest religions of the world is prophet hood. The Jews, the Christians and the Muslims all believe in Prophet Adam AS as the first man and prophet on Earth. Then all of them believe in the Noah’s Ark as well. Our children generally learn about different animals by this very popular prophetic story. Then all three religions agree upon Prophet Abraham AS as the fountainhead of spirituality. Even Prophet Moses AS is agreed upon as a prophet. The dissension began when Prophet Jesus AS arose as a prophet and a segment of the society refused to accept him as a prophet. They set themselves apart and termed themselves as Jews. If a person believes in Prophet Jesus AS and claims to be a Jew, does it make sense? Is it correct technically? Would it be acceptable?

The second dissension came when Prophet Muhammed SAW arose as a prophet and a segment of the society refused to accept him as a prophet. They set themselves apart and termed themselves as Christians. If a person believes in Prophet Muhammed SAW and claims to be a Christian or a Jew, does it make sense? Is it correct technically? Would it be acceptable?

The third dissension came when Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani claimed prophet hood after prophet hood had been sealed upon Prophet Muhammed SAW in the Quran as follows,

“Muhammed is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the seal of the Prophets …”

[The Holy Quran, Surah Al-Ahzab, V.33]

People who chose to accept Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani as a prophet, have the right to do so, but they have to coin a different name for themselves just like the Jews, Christians and Muslims did because of their different beliefs. They cannot encroach upon Islam like a chameleon. That is the point of conflict with the Qadianis in the Muslim world. If they accept themselves as another religion like Christians chose proudly to stand apart from among the Jews, and the Muslims chose proudly to stand apart from among the Christians, they would be recognized as an independent creed and rights of minorities would be applicable upon them in the Muslim majority world. Whereas they claim to be the green color, the world bellows down upon us as to where are the rights of the white color for the Qadianis in Pakistan? Confusing, huh?

As to whether Atif Mian had the right to be in the Economic Advisory Council or not, I do not know. By the key principals of Islam, non-Muslims should not be given key strategic positions within the machinery of the state, for they might be used against the state at any point in time. For no matter how strongly we advocate nationalism, religion does play a vital role in political associations after all. Otherwise, how come NATO has twenty-nine members and twenty-eight of them are non-Muslims. They seem like the Ahzab to me mentioned in Surah Al-Ahzab of the Holy Quran. Always ever united and ready to attack Muslim countries, and never showing up in Palestine, Kashmir or Burma. See?

So does membership of the Economic Advisory Council of Pakistan fall into that sensitive category where non-Muslims should not be stationed? A council of Ulema can field that question better. If Atif Mian is an expert economist and his say is extremely valuable for economic decisions, the Ulema are the experts of religion and their say is extremely valuable for religious decisions. As far I know, that is exactly what Imran Khan has done. So chill !

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Jamaat's Car Park

My family and I have been PML-N supporters for as long as I remember. The reason, I guess, was not so much Nawaz Shareef himself but his contrast to Benazir Bhutto, who gave the impression of ‘unIslamic’ modernism. As a moderate-conservative Pakistani family, Nawaz Shareef seemed a better choice to us.

With Imran Khan appearing on the political horizon of Pakistan around year 2000, some of us began to rethink our political choice. Hmmm, what about Imran Khan? Imran Khan, a politician? Can he be? Can he do it? Looking back at his pre-political career, one is forced to consider … Cricket World Cup 1992. Awesome! Then while we were still thinking over Imran Khan, he achieved two more feats … Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and NUML University. Wow! He can really aim and shoot!

Then suddenly, Imran Khan opened a new chapter in the political journey of Pakistan. Accountability of politicians and nabbing corruptions! Prior to this awareness, we would simply judge politicians by their speeches, social impact and at max succumbing to America. We never considered how much money they were putting into their own pockets while in office. Simply never thought of it.

With the anti-corruption movement launched by Imran Khan, we got a new vision of how to assess politicians. As Muslims though, we should have been aware of it prior to his campaign, for we are a nation whose history boasts of accountability for all. Once Caliph Umar bin Khattab RA stood up for a sermon wearing two chaddars instead of the one publically handed out to everyone. One of the Muslims stood up and questioned him upon it. The sermon was halted until the dubious matter was clarified. Caliph Umar RA being a powerful but honest and humble person, accounted the second chaddar as a gift from his son. He did not get offended and neither did he refuse to give accountability. Hence, the small property of a chaddar was accounted for and then the sermon proceeded.

And what not Imran Khan did to create this sense of accountability and political awareness in Pakistan? From speeches to rallies to sit-in protests to sleeping in containers. And he rightly asks ‘Why am I doing this? I have fame to fortune to everything I could ask of Allah Almighty! I do not need to get into this mess … but I am doing this to reawaken Pakistan.’ So he rolled up his sleeves and stepped into a swamp where no mother would like her son to murk around. No decent parents in Pakistan would ever dream or hope or suggest to their child to be a politician. They know it’s a dirty field and a dirty job. So we all sit comfortably in our neat, clean, decorated drawing rooms and criticize politicians while we would dare not enter politics and clean up the mess in there.

The height of his mobilization was the one-hundred and twenty-six days long D-Chowk dharna of 2014, which Imran Khan finally halted in the face of the very tragic APS tragedy. Later, he picked up his protests again and again until he finally called for the Nov 2 Islamabad Lockdown. The Supreme Court and state were cracking and crackling under the pressure of PTI’s endless and relentless civil push for investigation into Panama Leaks against the Shareef family. So just when the iron was read-hot, Siraj-ul-Haq of Jamat-e-Islami coolly walks in and files a petition in the Supreme Court against the Shareef family. Its just like someone sweats and maneuvers a car for a parking place, and just as he is about to drive in, someone else does. It is considered very, very bad civics.

And now that the court process has completed, and the Shareef family has been indicted, Jamat-e-Islami are trying to take credit of the whole struggle. Huh? Imagine if Siraj-ul-Haq had filed his petition prior to the 2014 Dharna? Would there had been any steam in that petition? In fact, now that I think about it, Jamat-e-Islami has been around for decades. Did they ever raise the issue of corruption amongst politicians? Have their political movements have had any steam other than their religious movements? No. I greatly respect Jamat-e-Islami for its religio-political endeavors and had a hard time choosing to vote between PTI and JI in 2013 elections, but really … taking credit for someone else’s efforts, is not good Islamic ethics and strongly condemn the attempted credit stealing by JI.

“O’ you who believe,

Why do you say what you do not do?

Great in hatred is in the sight of Allah

that you say what you do not do.” 

[The Holy Quran, Surah As-Saff, V.2-3]

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