A Letter from the Quaid's Grave

My Dear Children,

Asalamo Alykum,

How are you faring since I left you when you were only one year old ? I was heartbroken to leave you so young, but some things are just not in man’s control. Allah Almighty had some other plans. I was at somewhat peace, that my sister, your mother, Fatima, is there to take care of you. But I was shocked to know, that you people did not treat her very well after me. Why ? What sort of a children are you ?

Like a true father, I still kept praying for you. Hoping for you to fare well. Hoping for you to see right from wrong. Hoping for you to follow the right path. And the prayers did work, for you took many right turns in your historical journey. You chose to help Afghanistan against Russia. You participated in the Arab-Israel war of 1967. You vowed to become a nuclear power despite being bullied against it. And you did it !

I know it has not been easy. You had to tell the world ‘Eat grass if we have to, but we will become a nuclear power!’ Its helping you right now, isn’t it ? You know what ? When I created Pakistan, we were short on a lot of things too. One of the first offices setup, registering immigrants from India, used thorns plucked off trees to be used as common pins to clip pages together. [Chuckle!] So rightly said by my brother Iqbal, نہیں کوئی بےکار دنیا کے اس کارخانے میں . And you know what ? They intentionally, prematurely delivered Pakistan, several months earlier than its due date, hoping for Pakistan to crash in its infancy, and beg to return to Mother India. But it was Allah Almighty, mother of all mothers, like in the famous poem Footsteps, Who carried us through in His Palms. So you see, Allah Almighty would never let you down, unless you let Allah down.

Remember how Musharraf let Allah down ? When he was threatened after 9/11, that Pakistan should join the war-of-terror, or else Pakistan would be returned to the stone ages ? He succumbed to the threats, and yet Pakistan was returned to a semblance of the stone ages. Soon after, you had no electricity, no gas, no finances, and my dear, dear seventy-five thousand children died in the repercussions of a war, which was not ours. [Weep…] Had Musharraf stood strong, Allah Almighty would have saved Pakistan from destruction like He protected Pakistan in the Afghan Jihad and the Palestine Jihad and the Nuclear Jihad.

There are many, who say for the Afghan Jihad, that that was not ‘our’ war, because they have become confused by the indoctrination of man-made county-ism as opposed to God-made nationalism. They confuse what is ours with what is not ours. But see, even if Pakistan would not have supported Afghanistan under Islamic nationalism, it would have had to support it under selfish county-ism anyways. For a giant like Russia, would not have been satisfied by devouring Afghanistan only, just like the Cyclop of the Odyssey. It would have spooned Pakistan next.

Which brings me to the very reason I am writing to you today, my child. Kashmir stands like Afghanistan today. Nay, much closer. For you have declared to the world for seventy years, that Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan. Does it make sense that someone has put down its foot, on your jugular vein, and is jamming down hard, since August 5th, 2019, and you are issuing statements, ‘We will give a befitting response to any misadventure!’. [Cough!] What further misadventure do you want ? Yet, India has not disappointed you. It is doing misadventures yet and again, with the likes of issuance orders of CAA and NRC upon the Muslims of India. Now, what further misadventures do you want ?

Back in the 1970s, you did not wait for Russia to touch the Pakistani border, but tackled it in the battlefield of Afghanistan. India has already set up the war camp in Kashmir. Why are you waiting for India to touch the Pakistani border ? What makes you think that you will be able to defend yourself then ? The nuclear defense ? Well then why cannot it defend Kashmir now ? Why will it defend Pakistan then ? You are wrong. Let me clarify a human misconception on your part. It is Allah who gave you victory in the Afghan Jihad, not America. Remember Battle of Hunain? Today, it is Allah who will give you victory in Kashmir, not the nuclear defense, and nor the Saudi prince, Mohammad bin Suleman. Remember Battle of Badr ? Those are just pawns, by which Allah Almighty moves His Plans. Today, if you defend Kashmir for Allah’s sake, Allah Almighty will defend you. Tomorrow, if you defend Pakistan for your own sake, Allah will leave you on your own. Then, what will be the result, son ?

I leave you to think about it. I do not need flowers on myself in my Karachi tomb. I want to see those flowers showered on you by the Kashmiris, when you enter Kashmir, in sha Allah …

I pray for all of you to become Ghazis, but for the martyrs, I shall welcome them myself.

Take Care, Your Father,

Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

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Sinful Love

I was once sitting in a religious gathering, when the preacher went on to narrate the story of a person. There was this person, who was in love with somebody. So he presents his case to somebody. He expresses his feelings for the girl in such words, ‘I feel a pure love for her …’ but he was cut short right there and admonished, ‘What do you mean by pure love? If your love is pure love, then what is impure love? Tut, tut, don’t you know that love between a man and a woman can only be an impure love. You must seek Allah’s forgiveness for your thoughts and feelings …’ I was aghast. And my mind raced back to Mother Khadijah RA who had fallen in love with Prophet Muhammed SAW. And she had expressed her feelings. And she had asked one of her friends to ask Prophet Muhammed SAW if he wanted to marry her too. What if Mother Khadijah RA had lived in these times? What is the response she would have gotten? What would have been our people’s comments?

Allah Al-Wadood says, that He has put love in the words of the Nikah. It means that even if you are having an arranged marriage, even if you are getting married to a stranger, Allah Al-Wadood will put love between the two of you by the divine bond of Nikah, condition that you have sought Allah Almighty’s consent by Isthekhara. However, some people are blessed by Allah, with the blessing of love even before that. Let me explain it to you by an analogy. If I ask you, how do children learn studies? You would say, school. Or even, homeschool. But there are some children, who have awesome learning powers. They learn so many things informally from nature, surroundings and even sibling’s study! They are usually called god-gifted children. So Allah Al-Wadood, blesses some of us with the gift of love, even before Nikah. As Muslims, our responsibility is to seal that gift with Nikah.

But it is a far cry for our present Eastern society to understand this. The only cry understandable to them is the cry of HAW-HAY to such talk. It baffles me really. For everyone nods happily to the love of parents and children, brothers and sisters, cousins and relatives. And it is easy to identify this love, for it is related to blood relations. You are born, and you know that this is your father, this is your mother, these are your siblings, cousins and relatives, and you are supposed to love all of them. Even if you don’t feel like loving some of them, you are kind of hammered by religious quotes, ethical values and guilt trips to love them. However, there are two relations, which Allah Al-Wali has already decided but kept as surprise gifts for us. One is friends and the other is your soul-mate. We do not know who our friends in life will be, but we find them on our way like the gift packs of Fun House. Our society has its heart and mind open to love for friends as well, but the soul-mate and love idea is still lined up next to wine, gambling and zina.

Soul-mate, huh? Sounds mushy, huh? Why not? Why should I not use the term soul-mate? It is Allah Al-Wadood Himself, who has said that He created everything in pairs. Then see the creation of Prophet Adam AS and Hawa AS. In fact, husband and wife are the first relation that Allah Al-Khaliq created. He could have started the human progeny with a miracle the likes of Sister Maryam AS. But He chose to create a husband and wife to tell that this relation is the basis of life. The seed of life needs to be full of love to grow and off-shoot human beings full of love, capable of feeling love and giving love. Look around you … do you see people full of love? No? Because we have been working on a failing formula. We want every relation full of love (miraculously!), except this one, which produces people who we want to be full of love. I know, I know, you are going to say that nobody condemns love between a husband and wife, we only condemn love between an unmarried boy and girl. Really? Think again. Recall again. I have heard the prayers of many mothers. I have heard the prayers of many fathers. I have heard the prayers of many teachers. I have heard the words, ‘May Allah bless you with … life, health, knowledge, wealth, marriage, children, happiness, deeds, success … I think I would not be exaggerating but I do not remember ever hearing anyone blessing anyone with the blessing of love … something like ‘May Allah Al-Wadood bless you with love …’ Have you?

Oh I know, you would say that love is automatically included in marriage. When we give somebody the Dua of getting married, we are giving the prayer of love. Is it? I am asking, does getting married automatically mean getting love? Look around you … how many marriages you find full of love. Oh no sir, marriage matches are maneuvered very carefully. We here in the East, do NOT want the boy to be in love with the girl, lest he goes blind in love and starts ignoring his family. So the smart plan seems to be to keep them out of love. One might argue, then why do the Eastern moms look for a beautiful, beautiful girl? Hmmm, that is a good argument. But the actual reason is that brides are also considered a decoration piece to be showed-off to relatives and friends at the wedding. And also for the ‘chemical reaction’ to produce beautiful children. Is this an allegation by me? I don’t know, but I can certainly quote a marriage proposal which specified that the girl should be fair, beautiful, tall, have a Computer Science degree but will not do a job. So what do you think they wanted the Computer Science degree for? Cleaning sponge?

So you see, we do not bless our children with the prayer for love. Not even the daughters. We have a different kind of fear for them. Lest they do something shameful. Why did it not cross our minds to teach our children about love and tell them how to handle it? Both boys and girls? I think that is something like wondering why African people do not wear fur coats? Because they have never experienced winters. Likewise we have never experienced love. We do not know the joy of it. We do not know the thrill of it. We do not know the power of it. It is so powerful that it gave Prophet Muhammed SAW a throb, across the years, when he heard Mother Khadijah RA’ sister’s voice which resembled hers. So let me start by myself. I pray that Allah Al-Wadood blesses my children with love. May they find the love of their life. May my children find their soul-mates. Ameen.

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The Woman Who Cheats

In a most recent uproar of a Pakistani drama popularity and controversy, Mere Paas Tum Ho, play writer Qamar has shocked quite a few, including myself. I am not just shocked, but so angry and so incensed. My reply is not just to Qamar, but to the Qamar ideology that plagues all the male chauvinistic pigs, the majority of whom like to reside in the East. I say that it has shocked quite a few and not a lot, because sickeningly, a lot of our Eastern women are also kosher to the male chauvinism, which is in fact the cause of the problem. We mothers, breed little chauvinistic pigs, and then complain of it only when the brunt of it burns myself, my mother, my sister, my cousin, my friend or my daughter … and if the female is on the other side of the fence, I become a smug preacher of male chauvinism, quoting religious quotes out of context or being selective about difference of opinion in Islamic concepts and being adamant about my opinion. 

It was interesting to see the pain in Qamar’s eyes, when he was talking about the infidelity of a woman. A pain that comes from being an extremely sensitive person or having personally been bitten by the ailment itself. Ah! Now you know the pain of infidelity ? I am talking to men in general. I am talking to all of you. I am talking to the bad men and the good men. I am talking to the men who do not cheat on their wives but nonetheless carry a halo on their heads as if they have done a favor to their wife by staying loyal to her. Because our Eastern society gives all the green signals to our Muslim men that it is okay to cheat. Some even go as far as saying that Allah Almighty has created man prone to flirting and cheating because he can never be satisfied by one woman. And that is why Islam has allowed four wives to one man. Well, Mr. Macho! Whose libido is insatiable by one woman, let me remind you of a few good men, long before you, who were more of a man than you, in every sense of the word, manhood. Prophet Adam AS had one wife, Mother Hawa AS. Although at that time, there was a dearth for human reproduction, and Allah Almighty could have easily given him at least seven wives, to be placed in each of the seven continents and start off the world. But no, Allah Almighty did not, because the original recipe of a marital relationship is one to one, one man and one woman. The rest of the arrangements are disaster management situations. Zooming ahead from the first prophet to the last prophet, Prophet Muhammed SAW. He had one wife, Mother Khadijah AS, by personal choice. Even in the last days, when Prophet Muhammed SAW was fifty years-old and Mother Khadijah RA was sixty-five, he was happy with Mother Khadijah RA. In fact, the year she died, Prophet Muhammed SAW heartfelt it as the Year of Sorrow.

Compare this to the half-baked machos of today. The man of today would surely marry another woman when his first wife hits fifty, then a third when she hits sixty-five and the fourth one when she dies at sixty-five, to complete the ‘religious package’, celebration at heart and solace to show to the public. Another popular Urdu writer, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, writes in one of his posts ‘of course when a man is young, he yearns that his wife should die so that he can get another wife …’ Speechless! How would a man feel, if his father says the same about his mother ? Or his brother-in-law says about his sister? Or his son-in-law says about his daughter? In fact, I feel sorry. I feel pity. Not for the wife of such a person but for the man himself. He is so shallow, and worthless, in relationships. The man who is always drooling for another woman, does not know that he is also as unimportant for his wives as they are to him. Once the emotional bonding is amiss, the cat fight is only for securing more or at least an equal share of wealth for self and one’s lot of children. Because when the soul is left thirsty, the body becomes hungry. Hungry, to fulfill the spiritual wanting by material stuffing. While the man feels that they are fighting over him. Ha!

Coming back to Qamar. He says that he is very hurt, that every morning, a man leaves his home for work, entrusting everything he owns in his wife’s fist, and after him, she opens that fist and betrays him. Well, Mr. Qamar! We women also send out our men, entrusting them with the same trust, and he is found flirting around in his office. Worse, out of office! Didn’t you hear about the first divorce case registered after 9/11? Or are your ears for the woes of men only? A wife called her husband in hysterical concern, ‘Honey, are your okay?’. Her husband had worked in the Twin Towers. And the news had just come on that the Twin Towers had been hit. Her husband had left for ‘work’ about an hour ago. Since he had not been in his office, nor in a café with the TV on, but busy with another woman, he had no idea what had happened. Hence, he was caught cheating! And divorced!

But that was America. Had this happened here in the East, the wife would have been told to bear her husband’s cheating with the good patience of a ‘good’ woman. In fact, now that the deed had been done, the cheating husband and cheating second woman should baptize their cheating relationship by the wand of polygamy. No body would say that the two should be punished and stoned to death as is the ruling of Islam in such a case. And if a blame game is to start, the Accused #1 would be the second woman as to why she accepted a married man’s advances? Accused #2 would be the first wife as to why does she not dress up like a hooker to keep her husband hooked on to herself, other than mothering his children and parents? Accused #3 might or might not be the husband. It depends on which part of Pakistan you live in. And what does Islam say? Every verse of the Holy Quran, especially the ones educating about modesty, marital relationships and illicit relationship punishments, begin with addressing men first and women second. Just like if there is a mayor in a city, and a deputy, the mayor is held responsible first. 

Mr. Qamar, you cursed women, such a woman who betrays her husband. Your curse was incomplete and extremely chauvinistic. You misquoted the Quran and I wish you had learnt from the Quran to be inclusive about both men and women. We also curse. We curse the cheating men and the cheating women. And we think that a woman who leaves her husband for a richer husband is as much of a female-dog as a man who leaves his wife for a greater beauty is a dog !

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Pakistan, Kashmir & The 27th

As Modi assaulted Kashmir on August 5th, 2019, we looked expectantly towards Imran Khan to do something as decisive as he used to do in the cricket ground. Whether a bouncer, yorker or spin, but a definite bold out ! We awaited the special dates of 14th August and 6th September, hoping that they might be taken up as inspirational starters and become the Defence Day or Independence Day for Kashmir as well. However, we heard the complacent statement of Khan that he will become the ambassador and spokesperson for Kashmir and present their case to the international community in the United Nations General Assembly in September. A much needed  and awaited political role! But September ??? We thought … well, September is like … too far away … isn’t it ?

With the kind of news pouring in from Kashmir, it seemed like each minute would seem like an eternity to the Kashmiris. And by the 27th of September, the date of the UNGA, much torture, abductions, rape and killings would already have been done! What Imran Khan had been doing since then, holding Kashmir Solidarity Events every Friday, meeting other political leaders regarding Kashmir, and ultimately doing an amazing speech at the UNGA 2019, he deserved all the applaud he got, but unfortunately the timing was a bit out. Not because of Imran Khan himself but because of the political negligence of the previous politicians of Pakistan. As if a child has been in an accident and requires first-aid plus an operation. Nobody gave him the first-aid at the spot and now he has reached the hospital. The time for first-aid has gone by and an operation is wanted now. The time for speeches had gone by and it was time for action now !

Anyhow, we reached the UNGA on 27th September. And Imran Khan rose as a hero of the Muslim world out of it. Enthusiasts like us also halted, thinking … perhaps he was right. He needed to explore all diplomatic avenues first. Just like Jinnah was able to secure Pakistan for us by diplomatic negotiation, perhaps Khan would also be able to secure a free Kashmir this way. But then we reached 27th October. A whole one month since the UNGA speech. Ironically, 27th October also marks the historic date of when the Indian Army landed in Kashmir in 1948. A whole month went by since the UNGA but we did not see any political activity on the international horizon regarding Kashmir. On the contrary, suddenly surfaced an anti-Kashmir political activity, none anywhere else but in Pakistan itself. The Treacherous Azadi March by Fazl-ur-Rahman started out on the very same date, 27th October !

Just when Pakistan was building up a political momentum for the freedom of Kashmir, Fazl-ur-Rahman sabotages the movement by his mantra of Azadi March. Azadi from what is the mindboggling question??? From Imran Khan’s struggle to free Pakistan of IMF debts and dependency by taxation ? From Imran Khan’s struggle for a worldly and religiously educated Pakistan by streamlining the multiple education systems of Pakistan ? From Imran Khan’s struggle to liberate Kashmir ? Definitely this one, considering the Indian media coverage, which otherwise is most definitely anti-Mulla, is now suddenly giving positive coverage to Mulla Fazl-ur-Rahman’s March. But not surprising! Considering the expenses of the March, the demand of PM’s resignation and the aggressive body language … for sure Mulla Fazl-ur-Rahman has become a pawn in the hands of India and the March is being propagated and funded by India itself. Once again, not surprising! His father never did support the creation of Pakistan. Why would the son support the freedom of Kashmir then?

With such an anti-patriotic profile, I wonder who selected him as chairman of the Kashmir Committee? Yes! He has actually been the chairman of the Kashmir Committee for the last ten years. Doing nothing for Kashmir except laughing when questioned about it. And he has been a member of the National Assembly for the last thirty years, doing nothing except occupying the Parliamentarians’ lodges. He actually had the audacity to invite US Ambassador, Anne Patterson, to a dinner in 2007, bootlicking her to have him made the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Huh! Is that how Imran Khan became the PM ? That is actually what is burning the Mullah. When PM Imran Khan took office in 2018, he ousted this good-for-nothing heap of a human being out of the parliament and out of the lodges and sent him packing home. So he burns and fumes and plots and crawls back to Islamabad with his Nonsense March. 

The question is, why would Allah Almighty allow this nuisance to return to Islamabad? Why would locusts descend upon the standing crops of Pakistan? Why would Allah Almighty let the train fire incident happen? Why would Allah Almighty change the political circumstances of Pakistan to become suddenly unfavorable for Imran Khan? Just when Imran Khan was going good and uphill and steam had started to build up for Kashmir? From September 27th to October 27th? Why? I feel that, Imran Khan had given enough time to the world to come up with a solution for the Kashmir Crisis. One month is a great time, considering that the Plebiscite Solution has been on the UN table already for the last seventy years. There is a moment, the right moment, to say Salam, to step onto the escalator, to take-off the flight! But it is only a moment, just a small moment, and if we do not catch that moment, sometimes we are just left on the stem, a caterpillar, never to bloom into a butterfly and waiting to be eaten by locusts.

Most respected PM Imran Khan, I feel that you have now completed all the prerequisites for the Kashmir Cause. You have knocked upon all diplomatic avenues. You have given the world a fair time for contemplation. It is now time to turn to military action. PM Imran Khan, you said in one of your recent speeches, that those asking for war to free Kashmir, are the enemies of Pakistan. Sir, it may be true for some factions, but not true for everyone. You said that going for war would prove the Indian narrative to be true and that is what they want and what they are inciting. Sir, I beg to differ. The Indian narrative is that Pakistanis secretly cross into Indian Occupied Kashmir and stir up a freedom struggle renamed terrorism. Their narrative is not that Pakistan has waged war against them for Kashmir. They do not want it to happen. Most definitely, not. As General Zia-ul-Haq put it to them, ‘You have more to fear than us. If we are destroyed, the world is full of other good Muslims, but if you get destroyed, there is no other Hindu nation and you shall be wiped out’. I feel that the time for peace is up. It is either freedom of Kashmir or war. Else, the anarchy and destruction that we are all avoiding will hit us anyways. It has already been sent to us, en route another route, Fazl-ur-Rahman’s March. All the crook politicians have grouped together to ask for your resignation. Your resignation would be the destruction of Pakistan, with or without a war or civil war. Your resignation would also be the end of the freedom struggle for Kashmir. That is what Fazl-ur-Rahman is here for and will be back again and again, to sabotage the freedom struggle for Kashmir to please India and get titbits of governance in Pakistan in return. Defeat him by defeating India in Kashmir. Allah Almighty, who created Pakistan on the 27th of Ramadan, will protect Pakistan, in sha Allah and Ameen.

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Hameed Gul's Daughter Indeed

Lt. General Hamid Gul happens to be a distant relative. So it gave us the opportunity to touch stone his wife’s journey towards him into eternity as she demised on the 20^th of October 2019. Only to find, his daughter, Uzma Gul absent on the occasion.

We reached around 3 pm, soon after the funeral procession had returned home after the burial. The house was Abdullah Gul’s residence, the son. Perhaps, we thought, the daughter has returned to her personal residence after the burial. We went knocking on her door, a few blocks away. Only to be told by the servant that she had gone to Islamabad. The residences were in Rawalpindi.

‘Why?’ I thought to myself. ‘What could be so important on her mother’s burial day that she had buried her mother and shot off to Islamabad …?’

My husband dialed her son, only to be told that she had gone to join the prescheduled Kashmir Freedom Rally on Jinnah Avenue, Islamabad. My heart skipped a beat … what a daughter !

It was the best Esal-e-Sawab she could have done for her mother. Images of spread white sheets, dried date seeds for Dhikr count and parchments of prayers held in people’s hands, glazed my mind, which I had just come from. She could have cancelled her program in the face of sorrow and tradition. She could have said, next time. She could have sat amongst the condoling crowd, and sought to find solace for her grieving heart for her deceased mother. But she chose to do something for the alive and grieving mothers and daughters of Kashmir.

As I walked back to our car, the red car placard stared out at me. It had been placed on the car by myself a few weeks ago, since the Kashmir Abrogation Issue had surfaced. The placard said,

‘Fear is No Policy … Surrender is No Option – Signed, Hamid Gul’.

These are the golden words, spoken by General Hamid Gul during the Afghan Jihad of the 1980s.

I turned back to look at Hamid Gul’s house. He has been gone since four years. Today his wife has gone too. But his legacy lives on. His words are still quoted, printed and driven inspiration from. Imagine a car or many cars driving around a city where he is no more and nobody asked us to put up his words, but the power of his words find a way back in our hearts and minds and writings to continue to inspire honor and defence.

His son, Abdullah Gul, also heads an organization struggling for the revival of youth. So is Uzma Gul struggling for the nation and Kashmiris right now. May Allah Almighty give bless our works with unity, sincerity and success, Ameen.

Indeed, Uzma Gul proved to be Hamid Gul’s daughter, when she stood in the Kashmir Freedom Rally, after burying her mother the same day. Salute be, to such daughters. I am sure, Hamid Gul and his wife are smiling right now, to be reunited and to have such a brave and nationalistic daughter.

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The Gold Chain

Shameful ! Shameful indeed ! Shameful is what Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed has hung in the neck of Modi !

It is a neck which has smears of blood of Muslims of Gujrat, and now Muslims of Kashmir. The whole world has held its breath in shocked disbelief as Modi abrogated Article 370 from the Indian Constitution by a Presidential Order. Presidential order ? A presidential order ? What do you mean by a presidential order ? Why don’t you be straight and call it a dictator’s command ! Ha ! So much for India being the largest democracy of the world ! A democracy, which disconnects one of ‘its’ states off telephone lines, mobile signals and internet, before deciding its fate instead of consulting it. What kind of democracy needs to instill 7 lac security forces on a population of 125 lac civilians ? Who is the security for ? The Kashmiris or India ? Ooops I mean, the Kingship of India, who inherited Kashmir from Prince Dogar against the choice of people of Kashmir. Is that democracy ?

Seven lac gun-and-greed laced troops versus one-hundred and twenty-five lac stone-and-dislike laced civilians … that means something like 1 Indian soldier for every 18 civilian Kashmiris … woah ! That’s a ratio higher than a classroom ! What are those Indian troops trying to do in there ? Educate and train the Kashmiri youth for state terrorism ?

And then jumps in the Prime Minister of UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Makhtum in his white maxi. Along with the Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who he is even wearing a golden sash ! I thought, in just a minute, he will take out his magic wand, twirl it around and swish the Kashmiris out of captivity. But instead, it turns out to be the strike of Voldemort ! He swoons up to Narendra Modi … love struck … and struck out of all sensibility at the annual trade fiscal figure of US $ 29.78 billion !

There was one Mohammed bin Qasim from Arabia who sailed the Indian waters to rescue a Muslim woman in trouble and fought Raja Dahir. This Mohammed, 1300 years later, pleas Raja Modi to capture his own daughter Latifa from the Indian waters and bring her back to the captivity from which she had escaped. And then honors him. Honors him with the greatest civil award UAE has to offer, the Zayed Medal. What a decline !    

Ah the pain we Muslims have felt to see the show and pomp of this fiscal friendship. The meeting … the warmness … the handshake … the handclasp … the closeness … the honor … the medal … what a dishonor ! Nothing short of prostitution … like a prostitute who sells her honor for a handful of money.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed !                                                   

تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ ﴿١﴾ مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ ﴿٢﴾ سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ ﴿٣﴾ وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ ﴿٤﴾ فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ ﴿٥﴾   القرآن : سورة المسد ۱۱۱

You being an Arab, I do not need to give you a translation of this chapter of the Holy Quran. When the Kashmiri youth was being electrocuted, children abducted from their beds in the middle of the night, women being raped and old people beating their foreheads at this calamity, you honored Modi with a gold chain. May you be rewarded with this same gold chain around your neck in the Hereafter, just like the palm-fibre rope for wife of Abu Jahl, who coerced the evil plots of Abu Jahl and was as Jahil as Abu Jahl. May this gold chain be in your and Modi’s neck together in the Hereafter in the same Fire. May your hands perish too, with which you have honored Modi, whose hands signed the abrogation of Article 370.

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MBK

Hafiz Muhammad Bilal Khan Shaheed ? Muhammad Bilal Khan ? Hafiz ? Shaheed ? Bilal ?

I first met him at Islamabad Press Club in one of the protests for War in Syria. He was a juvenile, energetic lad frothing about here and there in the demonstration field, meeting up with everybody. He asked me my introduction and was appreciative of my commitment to social causes via my NGO. He said, ‘I am with you’. I was rather flattered to have gained an instant volunteer for my NGO, only to find out by the evening that he was already a rising and shining star in the world of journalism much above my humble stature. He shared with me some of his interviews to various channels. I was much impressed by his eloquence in Urdu, journalistic knowledge and assertive aura.

In the days to come, we kept crossing paths upon Geert Wilders, Aasia Bibi, Qundooz Martyrs, and so on. He was always on top of the news, quick to respond and respond by all modern fervor. He already had a Facebook page, a Twitter account and soon opened his own YouTube channel as well. Once again, he spoke and wrote very good Urdu, which is rare to find these days. It was pure, original, powerful Urdu, independent of the crutches of English.

I did find him a notch higher in protests than myself, but that’s okay. It is okay to have a difference of opinion and freedom of expression, within sensible boundaries of course. Somewhere the differences were slight and somewhere the differences were glaring. Sometimes I also did find a touch of the viral male chauvinism of the East in him and I did not hesitate to comment back and reprimand him for it. Once I even threatened him to unfollow his official page. Ma’sha Allah, he had a big fan following. He was bold and adamant to his opinions but still took some care not to offend his followers to the point that they unfollow him. 

I was secretly proud of him, because he was one of the rare. He was brave, eloquent, Islamist and a journalist. A powerful combination indeed ! Was this his crime ? Has he been murdered for this ? Was he more dangerous than Manzoor Pashteen, who is still walking around free and alive ? Bilal’s last post was about legislating respect of Sahaba RA in the Constitution of Pakistan. Did that offend somebody ? Was that terrorism ? He was stabbed seventeen times ! And martyred in the legacy of the very Sahaba RA he defended. His lips were reciting the Shahadah as he was received at the hospital.

He wrote and spoke upon politics, religion, tourism, social issues … a number of topics … but for no reason it keeps flashing before my eyes today a very cute post that he posted one day about how to maintain and carry long locks of hair for boys which he had and are the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammed SAW. He wrote clear, step-by-step instructions as if doing a show for Zubaida Apa and even posted pictures of his hairstyle from different angles.

He was a budding gem indeed, still a student at International Islamic University, Islamabad, who has been snuffed out by those losers who could not tackle him in a journalistic sitting. May Bilal be with those right now, for whom he fought for, Prophet Muhammed SAW and the Sahaba RA. May Allah Almighty give a beautiful patience to his mother, father, fiancée, family, friends and followers.

A mother to a mother, I would like to say to his mother, ‘Allah has accepted your son only too soon … Ameen’, but the Muslim nation has indeed lost a great spokesperson, for there are not many pen like his.

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Yahya, the Baby Warrior

Yahya bin Nabeel was born on a Monday morning. Prophet Muhammed SAW was also born on a Monday morning. It is a blessed coincidence. It was the day Islamabad was shutdown to welcome the arrival of a prince. Was it my prince Yahya ?

Yahya was born a beautiful boy on 18^th February, 2019. A roundish square face, big, gray, shining, shy eyes and a very hairy body that boasted of a promising, handsome youth. Yahya began his life fighting for life in a beeping incubator of NICU, MEDICSi. He was hit by asphyxia during delivery, born with low APGARS and actively resuscitated back to life by superhero Dr. Wafa. He survived dying at birth.

The next alarm occurred within the next twenty-four hours of his birth. He was diagnosed with a malformed heart with non-closing PDA and PFO. Such babies, the doctor said, survive a few days only, if not hours. Another shock for us new parents. The only place he could be treated was AFIC, Rawalpindi, which unfortunately informed that it did not have space for more admissions. However, they said, the baby could be brought in for a check up. Yahya made his first out-of-city trip on the very first day of his life in a small, screaming ambulance with the ventilator and all medical weapons on it. To our happy amazement, the child heart specialist Dr. Maadullah, informed that Yahya had a perfectly formed heart, fit for life and fit to fight for life. There had been a medical misjudgment. We were, once again, a joyful party that night.

The next day dawned, but Yahya was still not brought to me. I, in my recovery room, was now hesitant to see him. With two medical alarms already resounded, I was unsure to see him, to cuddle him and to build an association with him further than the nine months I had already carried him and loved him. I kept myself a hesitant distance away from him from fear of him being snatched away again. However, as I was discharged from the hospital on the second day of the delivery, I could not leave without meeting him. At last, I walked towards the NICU and entered a room full of incubators. As my eyes searched for my new born son, whom I had not seen yet, I saw the tag of B/O Nadia. I moved towards it and looked upon my son in the glass crib, fighting for life, like a little warrior.

Day one turned into day two and day two turned into day three until the count of fifty-seven days. Yahya’s breathing hopped between the ventilator and CPAP and head box for oxygen life support. Each day, we dragged our feet to the hospital, up the same elevator and down the same corridor, for our daily visits. Every few days, Yahya would encounter a critical medical condition, bring us to the edge of nerves and then bounce back to life. Each feat made our feet stronger. Dr. Joza was one of our very special allies. She would illuminate every medical dead end with a ray of hope, hopeful words and hopeful expressions.

On the eve of Tuesday, April 16, 2019, Yahya had a change of heart. His heart stopped. After days and days of waiting for Yahya to be given to us in a warm blanket, he was given to us wrapped up in a cold, white, kafan sheet. I will never, ever forget Nabeel’s body language, as he received his baby’s body. Shoulders bent, as a student receives his graduation degree, as a soldier receives his sword-of-honor, as a father receives his martyred son’s uniform, Nabeel slowly raised his arms to receive Yahya’s body. Without a word to each other or anyone, as if in a trance, we started walking up the corridor, Yahya’s body in our arms. Rooms and doors and lights flashed by. Perhaps nobody noticed us. Perhaps they made way for us. Perhaps they shuddered with sorrow. Somehow we reached the car. Nabeel handed him over to me. I am sure you will never believe me, but pleasure burst through me as I finally held Yahya to my bosom. At last, after fifty-seven days of birth, I was finally cuddling Yahya, tubes and wires free, to myself. I told Nabeel, not to inform anyone, as I wanted this night, alone with Yahya. Just Yahya, Nabeel and I.

Before Yahya’s birth, I had placed a rocking chair in our drawing-room, by the bay window, where I would hold my baby in the evenings and rock him. I had never sat on it to this day. That night I did. I pried open the white-wrap around Yahya. Oh my God, the little darling was still in a diaper. He looked so cute. I opened up his arms, held them around my neck and cuddled him close, skin to skin. And then I spent the night rocking him, caressing him and talking to him, as the warm street light spilled through the trees’ branches onto us. Later in the night, I put him close next to me, and slept my first and last night with him.

I woke up to the sound of my old father at Fajr. He was bending over my son next to me, crying hoarsely. Wistfully, I asked my father if he would allow me to bury my son in the lawn so that I would feel close to him day and night. He refused, requesting me in turn not to bury him by making him see his grandson’s grave every morning. I became mute with a heavy heart.

Oh how the scenes flash by … when I felt the first nausea up in my office, the surge of happiness on the positive strip test, the self care, sometimes not well but not taking any medicines to protect the fetus, the morning sickness, stopping elder children from tumbling over me, hands on tummy, the first kick … again in my office, the recitations’ routine to make the baby’s routine, the countdown, the rush to the hospital at two at night, and the first sight … !

I gave him the Tehneek as I gave to all my children. I gave the Azan in his ear too. Later I learnt that one of his doctors, Dr. Rehan, wondered if he had been given the Azan or not, so he did Wudhu and also gave him the Azan. How grateful I am to him for his thoughtfulness. And there was Aslam Bhai, the head nurse, who always had kind words and compassionate eyes for us. And nurse Nagina, who always had a comforting smile and a ‘Yes’ for us. And Dr. Sughra, who headed Yahya’s team of doctors and counselled us for Yahya’s departure. And ofcourse Dr. Dildar Bhatti, who Homeo treated all the way from Canada via Whats App. This army of doctors and nurses continue to work at MEDICSi while Yahya has said his goodbye and headed his own way.

Yahya was handed over to us, with a page stuck to him, just like nursery children come home tagged with newsletters from their school. The page stated, Date of Birth, Time of Birth, Day of Death … Death ? Yahya ? Dead ?

Nay. Yahya is alive, with the children of Jannah, under the guardianship of Prophet Ibraheem AS. He is our baby warrior, who fought for life in this world for fifty-seven days, and then galloped off to Jannah to have fun always. Some people give their newborns to their relatives, who do not have children of their own. Some people put their children in hostels for classical schooling. Some people send their children abroad for advanced studies. My Yahya has gone to live with one of the greatest prophets, Prophet Ibraheem AS, in Allah’s Jannah. What an honor ! Perhaps we were not good enough for him. Perhaps he was too pure for us. He was planted on Earth to bloom in the Heavens. And thus the golden boy returned to the gold mine. Aslamo Alykum my son. Please recognize me in the Hereafter, hold your arms out to me and make me enter Jannah by your request to Allah Almighty for me. For I have no other solace, other than your intercession, to bear your farewell. I cannot go on, by thinking that you are gone, but to think, that you are, just on the other side of this world … till we meet again, in Jannah, Ameen.

Share the Pain

Aurat March

And the Pakistani society is going mad with grief and anger at the audaciousness of women taking to the streets asking for their rights. Before we go with the flow of condemning those street marchers, let us take a pause … just a brief pause … and reflect …

Why are all these women, from jean clads to Abaya clads, taking to the streets? Are they simply looking for some attention, excitement or thrill? Or they are bored of domestic chores and looking around for some new roles?

Women’s Day has been internationally celebrated since 1909, whence some women took to the streets in New York, America. It is no surprise, because societies and cultures along the times have more often than not suppressed the weak … whenever, wherever and however they could. Be it women, children, slaves … whoever they could get their hands on. However, their all time favorite has been, women.

The episode that triggered the Aurat March in Pakistan in 2018 was when a macho husband in Lahore killed his wife for serving him an inadequately heated dinner platter. How is that?

The defenders might say, that the dinner was just a trigger. The husband was actually pent up with anger over other issues, and the dinner just became a volcanic eruption. Still, is it justified? Issues are dealt with discussion or separation or divorce. Not murder.

The seed of aggressive machoism is sown right in the childhood in the Eastern societies. And its not just about aggression. Its also about giving boys the all-time permit to be lazy, dependent and not take any responsibility till they start a job. And once they start a job … whoa ! Its as if the king has gone to the fields. Everyone is in a flurry to pamper, sympathize and qualify the man as the greatest of hard workers ever.

I thought, it was the man who was the stronger of the two, taking more responsibility, uplifting the other, and that is why he is the Qawam in the Quran. The Pakistani Muslims, however, believe otherwise. They want us to coo and goo and woo him like a baby and allow him to throw a tantrum like a spoilt brat. We women, are happy with the babies Allah Almighty has given us. We want a man, a Qawam, not a baby and his mother, justifying his tantrums. Hence, the Aurat March.

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Population Explosion Dilemma

Most recently, the chief justice of Pakistan has come under the fire line of the religious enthusiasts when he called out the infamous slogan of the 90’s bachae do he achay. He said that the population growth rate of Pakistan is one of the serious future challenges that Pakistan faces and it is a challenge more serious than the water shortage and dams issue. Ironically, some writer somewhere has noted that he himself has five children and questioned why has it dawned upon him suddenly now about the wisdom of population control.

What’s my take on it? Do I believe in the blessings of population explosion or do I believe in the modern and concise ideology of two children to a couple each so that population remains constant throughout times? Hmmm, but what if this theory had been applied since Adam and Eve’s times? There would have been only two humans on Earth at any given point in time to date. Not to mention that they would be brothers and sisters. Eyebrows raised ?

So when should have man decided that enough babies have been produced all over the world now to cover all the habitable areas of planet Earth. As we speed forward from ancient times into the future, we get hinged somewhere around fourteen hundred years ago, whence the Prophet Muhammed SAW said,

‘Marry a woman who has a very loving nature and bears lots of children, for Prophet Muhammed SAW will be proud of the Muslim population on Qayamah’.

Seems like Islam recommends having a big family size. How does it coincide with economics of the family and grooming of the children? For Islam is a religion which is extremely subjective and objective at the same time. It covers all aspects of human life down to the exact SOPs of it by the theory of the Holy Quran and Hadith points. How will the father provide for a big family and how would the mother groom a bunch of children?

Alas! We have left that to Allah SWT. Like our miserable ignorance in so many aspects of religion. We tell our daughters that you are supposed to be obedient to your husbands, but we forget to tell our sons to be obedient to Allah SWT. We tell our sons that you are the leaders of the family, but we forget to tell them that the lead is supposed to be towards Jannah and not slavery for self and family. We tell people that Rizq is pre-destined and will find a way to you but we forget to tell the difference between Tawakul and Tawaakul. Yes, its only an ‘a’ more but it means a world apart.

Tawakul means to make your best effort and then hope for the best of results from Allah SWT. Tawaakul means to do nothing, sit pretty much hand-in-hand and then expect miracles to descend from the skies. They forget that miracles have seized to happen since the closure of prophet hood. Neither were miracles ever intended to feed households for slackers, do exam papers for backbenchers and win wars for those who shout Allah-o-Akbar after beating down a glass of wine.

Having a small family size is simply an outlook towards life, not economics. It has been observed that people who can perhaps afford to bring up numerous children, have only one or two children. And people who have meagre means to support even a couple of children, have around twelve children. The rich are not rich because they have only two children. And the poor are not poor because they have twelve children. They would have been poor with only two children as well. However, the irony is that those having twelve children are usually those whose father is a lazy bum, an addict or a drunkard. Not doing anything else, the guy wants to earn his ticket to Jannah by the afore mentioned Hadith. For if not anything else, it will definitely earn him a bunch of children who can be bullied into child labor or even begging on the streets to earn him enough cash to feed him and his addictions.

Interesting thing is that all recommendations of Islam are supported by scientific facts as well. It takes about a year to deliver a baby and recover from it. Then it takes another two years to feed and wean the baby. Ideally and medically, a woman is not supposed to menstruate during the milk-feeding period, which means that she cannot conceive for a couple of years at least. That makes the natural difference between two children to be of three years. How many children can a woman have even if she has children back-to-back three years apart each? Seven ? Then it is not necessary that conception takes place at all times. How many a times a couple had to wait for years while trying to conceive? Lastly, a woman can choose to interval her children by more than three years … interval, mind you, not close the family process. She might assess herself that she can groom children very well five years apart or seven years apart, and continue to have children at such intervals. Unfortunately, such a thought is rarely found in our society. Those who choose to have a lot of children, are having them even one year apart and end up with twenty children, none properly looked after. And those who choose to have a couple of children, want to have them quickly, so that they can get over the family process and focus back on their career or whatever. Quality children and quality upbringing is hardly an agenda for any one, neither the Islamists nor the so-called modern.

No doubt Prophet Muhammed SAW would be proud of the number of Muslims upon Resurrection, but do you think that Islam, being so quality conscious a religion, would focus on quantity only and not quality? Prophet Muhmmed SAW would be looking for Muslims who have truly lived Islam in their lives and contributed to the Islamic world. Not working towards raising a healthy, hardworking and intellectual group of Muslims, but simply seeking a senseless head count is not Islam’s outlook about a Muslim population that Islam can be proud of. As for the world resources, you and I do not the hold the keys to them. They are in Allah Almighty’s Hands, but for the seekers, not squatters.

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