Hypocrites against Blasphemy

I don’t know the punishment of blasphemy. In fact I don’t know when it is blasphemy or when it is not. When it comes to making of cartoons of religious figures, it is blasphemy. But what is the punishment for it? I don’t know. No one knows as it seems. Different religious scholars have different theories. Some favor punishment and others are of the view that ignoring them is the best response.

I don’t know what the punishment is when the blasphemer is non-Muslim.

But I do have certain arguments. People, who were laughing out loud on Pk movie regarding fun made of Hinduism, are the same who are showing approval regarding mass killing of editors and cartoonists in Paris. Isn’t it hypocrisy?

Those who believe Denmark and France are committing blasphemy should also boycott movies like Pk and should condemn where ever there is mockery of religion or holy personalities regardless of any religion.

We don’t need to go into Islamic details to find out where we stand on our personal levels of hypocrisy. We laugh on the most vulgar and abusive jokes of stage dramas, but we get angry when someone abuses us.

Why do we like someone else punished for the actions which we ourselves have as habits? Isn’t blasphemy happening all over Pakistan and other Muslim countries in different forms?

The couple burned in Kot Radha Kishan was not convicted of blasphemy. All those who burned them were actually the blasphemers.

Islam is the religion of peace. Islam teaches us to be respectful to all religions and humans. It frustrates me when people make fun of Islam. I feel gutted. But when others (only some of them) are making fun of our religion, we are killing them in the name of the same religion. Isn’t it a major hypocrisy and a major sin?

How are we going to preach them in future? How are we going to have religious debates with them? And how they will understand us when we have pistol in one hand and fatwa on the other?

Who are we to decide that people need to be punished? And who are we to decide what punishment suits their sins? How are we so sure that that punishment is death?

I feel that we are perpetually stuck in a vicious cycle of self-destruction.

They make fun of us; we react; they make fun of us again. We kill them; they call us extremists. You have to admit; killing is a bit extreme.

Let us assume, for argument’s sake that they are the enemies of our religion.

How are we bringing our religion a good name? We lie; we cheat; we rob; we steal. And then all of sudden we stand up to protect Islam.

If they are the enemies of our religion; are we the friends?

When a movie offends another religion and some ‘sensitive’ people of that religion demand that the movie be banned, we raise hue and cry over that.

If a joke is directed at other religions, we can easily see the humor in it. But when the joke is directed at our religion, it becomes intolerable. Personally, I believe there shouldn’t be disrespect for any religion; be it a satirical or humorous.

We can find no remorse in our hearts for 14 people who are killed because they printed and obnoxious and offensive content. And rows upon rows of hateful messages directed to them do not faze us. We are not ruling France. There is no Caliphate in France. We should have demonstrated our views peacefully. But killing in the name of Islam where the state and government is not Muslim is not the right way. We can teach but we cannot kill. We need to condemn it. Muslim scholars need to condemn it like Nouman Ali Khan did.

Why is it not hate speech when we rejoice in the killing of people?

Why must we comment and dissect and approve or disapprove of people’s actions?

Why can’t the judging be left to God?

Why can’t we practice a little self-reflection?

A little tolerance?

A little love?

I vote for peace; for mutual respect; for patience.

I vote for an end to hypocrisy.

I vote for Islam.

Do you?

She

Everyone is alone. So was she. She used to think about her loneliness. She loved to share her loneliness and misery with her friends and loved ones. Sometimes, she wondered how she was lonely if she had a lot of people to talk about her loneliness with.

This was not all. This is not all. She meant to be different from the others. She was not like most girls. She was not into fashion, jewelry, pearls, curves or attention. She was who she was. She meant to be unique.

And she was.

Her life had been defined… her gender by society and profession by her parents. She was a thinker. She used to think even in her profession. She was known to be a thinker among her friends. But she was lonely.

She remembers what went wrong. It was just a small incident of touch… a touch she didn’t allow, but she was never asked. She was touched where she didn’t feel comfortable.

With fire and fear in her eyes, she couldn’t stop him.

How could she stop him? He was a gentleman. A family member. He is still a gentleman and a family member. He resolves family issues. He is the one who is usually asked to recite naats during gatherings and performing ghussals in family funerals.

That gentleman took the basics of her life away. Her natural feelings from childhood to adolescence to teenage to a girl and to a loving wife; all were taken away. She was not normal. She was alone. She was deprived internally. Nothing had filled the emptiness inside.

How could she tell her newly married husband to stay away from this gentleman? How could she tell someone in the family that the gentleman is not a gentleman? The effects could be long and devastating. She was afraid. She was alone.

A boy came in her life after a year of marriage; a beautiful and healthy lad. That gentleman started to visit again more regularly. His gentleness was the same. She saw the animal. He saw a prey. A new and young prey. She was standing at the same place where she stood two decades back. Because she was alone.

She started to guard her boy like a lioness.

One day; an unfortunate day, her worst nightmare came true. She saw the same fire and fear in the eyes of her lad. That was it. That was enough to bring out the lioness in her.

Was she to blame? Her silence was to blame or her loneliness? Her fears were to blame or her nightmares?

She stabbed the gentleman. She stabbed him again and again and again… until she was done. Her husband was watching. Many relatives were present in the courtyard. They all saw. They all believed that she was wrong. She was mad. She smiled for the first time after her delivery. She laughed for the first time since who knows when.

Of course she was mad. Because she was the only one who knew the truth.

She doesn’t know where she is now. Sometimes she wakes up in a court; sometimes in a jail; sometimes in a ward.

But she doesn’t care because her other half is safe.

Is he?

Aren’t there more gentlemen around?

Done with Blasphemy, Time for Treason

You protest against injustice and you are an activist and want change.

You sit in dharnas to show that the government is based on a corrupt electoral system.

You go on strikes against privatization of public companies.

You protest against the wrong use of blasphemy laws which shows your comprehension and sensibility.

You speak out against killings of minorities, children and women to support peace causes against barbarians.

But if you speak or ask a question about the war on terror, military strategies, military spending, or the intelligence, you are a piece of shit. You are a traitor as you question the very foundation of Pakistan. How dare you?

This is my Pakistan as much as anyone else’s.

I will ask questions when I am dying due to an unknown war, with unknown people, based on unknown money, with unknown motives.

I will ask questions when my General will put me into a situation where murdering women and children is termed as “collateral damage”.

I will protest when I have to kill my own people with my own gun in my own streets.

I have been silenced for far too long.

I remained silent during 1971. I even kept peace when I read the Hamoodur Rahman Commission.

I supported you blindly in the 80s when you created the Taliban and empowered them with weapons for a decade long war against the Soviets.

I ignored your policies in the 90s when you were supporting your Taliban and helping their madrasah system.

Then you started to kill them in 2001.

May I ask what you have achieved in the last 14 years?

I question your capability against people who were empowered by you.

And most importantly I question how you plan to defeat them when they have defeated the Soviet Union, America, and the NATO.

I have a number of serious reservations.

The November 2014 carnage at Wagah Border happened at the third check-post. I want you to punish all the personnel in the first and second check-posts which the bomber crossed easily.

The genocide at Army Public School Peshawar happened in Cantt. There are check-posts on each entry and exit of Cantt. How did the terrorists manage to pass all the hurdles? I want all the culprits hanged along with the terrorists.

There is blood on your weapons. There is blood on your hands. Our weapons have killed children and women in Pakistan. Our bases were given to drones to launch strikes against children and women in Afghanistan.

Who started targeting children first?

It was a military decision to enter into a war which was not ours. Imran Khan was against this notion since the beginning and he was labeled a Taliban sympathizer.

It is time to see the cause rather than continuing to moan about effects. I need you to accept your mistakes. It is time to accept the real reasons that our children are being targeted.

You said that America would destroy Pakistan if we did not support her. Haven’t we self-destructed as a result of this support?

Whether you want to call it treason or any other tag that makes you comfortable; so be it.

My patriotism lies with Pakistan and its people; not with any organization and its personnel.

And Insha Allah, Pakistan will survive; with you or without you.

Come see the Blood in my Streets

I didn’t know my fate would be destined on the leftovers of my father. I saw some of his journals. As I couldn’t read, I burned them. Later on I was charged by a mob with blasphemy. I was burned too. The words in Quran are precious, I know. But my life was precious. The life of my husband was precious too. There was another life within me which was more precious to us than either our lives.

I didn’t burn Quran. Those who burned me burned the Quran.

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I don’t know what came in my mind when I decided to visit the Wagah border ceremony. It happens every day. There are groups of overly enthusiastic patriots standing and chanting on both sides of the border gate. I went to the Wagah border. Then a person helped me cross India, Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and finally we reached heaven. I am very happy here Alhamdulillah.

I hope all of you find some suicide bomber soon.

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I don’t live in DHA, or Cantt, or Bahria Town. I lived in Joseph Colony. Now I don’t live in Joseph Colony. I live in Blasphemy Colony. I am planning to shift to Muslim Town.

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I was ugly but I was lucky to find the love of my life. We got married. My father and brother were angry that I married without their consent. They were angry that my sister was not married happily. They called me to Lahore High Court. They killed me outside the court with bricks.

I am happy that I died in the arms of my father and brother. This was a privilege. I always wanted to die among my loved ones. There were hundreds of people who saw me dying. Maybe my life wasn’t worth much but my death was worth innumerable stares and uncountable headlines.

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I am a Hindu. No I am a Muslim. No, I am a forced Muslim. I have a husband. He is a Muslim. No, he is a Muslim by choice. He converted me forcefully for my well-being here and in the Hereafter. I don’t know what will happen next but I am sure people around me will force happiness on me.

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I am a six year old girl. I didn’t know earlier that I am Shia. So I was kidnapped, tortured, raped, and strangled to death; otherwise I was going to live a sinful life and would make my land impure. I wish they kill my father and mother too so we can be together in the inferno.

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I was pronounced a mental patient but he didn’t care. I don’t know what I said that made him angry. I was already in prison. He was supposed to guard me; instead he helped me escape the prison. He opened fire at me. Unfortunately I didn’t die.

When will I die?

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She [state] was walking and eating, talking and laughing. She was with family. She was working and everything was going well. But now she is doing nothing. All she sees is blood. She walks on blood. She swims in it. She drinks blood and she loves blood.

She bleeds till there is no blood left in her.

I’m sorry Mr. Jinnah! I pronounce her dead.

Walli – Why did the Prophets…?

Like a soul who has a lot of questions and none of the complete answers, I am a meek one. These days the questions which are not letting me sleep are weird. I don’t know why they are coming in my mind and in my nightmares. I don’t qualify for that.

Why Musa A.S. became afraid when Allah transformed his stick into a snake? It was Allah who was talking to him and He said don’t be afraid.

Why Ibrahim A.S. had to fight his Nafs when Allah asked him to sacrifice?

Why the greatest of all the Prophets were confused sometimes when Allah asked them to oblige for some hardest of tasks?

They were Prophets. Talking directly to Allah and getting direct messages. Musa A.S. was the luckiest one to chat with Allah in the relative time. He usually got his replies right at the moment. Not like some other Prophets who had to wait for the divine reply for weeks or months. But then why he questioned Allah’s orders time to time?

In the mainstream human lives, there comes moment when I see people who didn’t confuse themselves before obliging for Allah. I have even read stories of people who didn’t have to fight their Nafs because they were right on track to oblige and sacrifice. But why Prophets… they were too above… so close to Allah…???

I am a human being… graded to the least bit. I am one of those kinds who ask themselves “Who was it” after having a good or bad dream. Was it devil or a jinn? I have a lot of dimensions to think about after every thought that comes in my mind because I am too ordinary to think extraordinary.

But why did the Prophets…? They were talking directly to The Lord.

Alas! I don’t have a Baba Gee to answer my conflicting questions.

Prelude – Walli’s Life of Parallel Worlds

The newspaper said “200 years ago in 1814, a man named Walli was killed while standing against strict tax regulations by the Company.”
Wrong! I saw that incident and it was me who died. But not for standing against the Company. Anyways…
What if I tell you that I am on my deathbed now in 2014?
And what if I tell you that I have to die once more in 2174 while saving someone from The War? That someone is The One for whom I am travelling through all the times of parallel worlds…

Procrastination and Purpose

I wake up early in the morning, wash myself, have a forced breakfast (better than missing it as my doctor said), then a forced driving to reach office (better than being late or absent as my director said)… hence a day starts… a day which some people can only dream of.

On my 9 to 5 job, I spend time doing the least important things. Listening to rubbish supervisors about things we never do. One hour job surrounded within an eight hour day service. Then I question myself why I procrastinate? What else can I do?

I do read articles on internet on avoiding procrastination just to pass time. Liking and sharing procrastination on social media is a trend. It’s a highly-appreciated hypocrisy today.

Evening is the beautiful part of my day. I drive home and enjoy the sunset in the ugly smoke of traffic on busy roads. By the time I reach home, I am too exhausted to do anything… but then start the priorities of relations. Sometimes I do play football on a nearby ground, and sometimes on Xbox. Other times I do have commitments like appointment of my family members with doctors or dentists, visiting relatives, or something… something which requires driving through the road traffics to reach an un-wanted destination.

There is pursuit to reach destination after reaching destination… another of modern-day-internal-chaos.

By the time I reach bed, there is too much smoke in lungs through burning of both nicotine and oil which makes my head heavy. The same exact day is waiting for me which makes me over-excited to sleep well.

Weekend is another part of self struggle. On weekends, I over-enjoy myself by meeting friends, arguing with them on different macro-economic and political topics, life’s shits, cholesterol, lack of exercise, and similar interesting topics. By sleeping late on weekends, I make my Mondays very struggling. The struggle with eyes and head is so hard that I have to share something bad about Mondays on social media to get likes and similar feelings that we all had an awesome weekend.

But where was the “living” part. I don’t get it.

People say you earn “living” by having a good job, bank accounts, savings, good food, happy family, nice car, and house. But I didn’t meet any “living” standards the entire week, month or a year. How can I live with all these commitments around me?

So many commitments and so much procrastination.

Making excuses with friends and family members of hectic routine, while always finding something to pass time… thanks to smartphones and 3G.

Life is highly overrated. If this is the life, then we have to re-think and re-evaluate. Living is totally missing in these living standards. Saving holidays for future which never comes. Avoiding absents to avoid what? Always dreaming of holidays on peaceful mountains but never trying for peace. Always trying to buy expensive materials to impress all expect ourselves, but never trying to buy a cheap peaceful home in north. Why all our priorities are against living and for chaos? Why not internal peace?

Li

The “I” World & Sufi Entrepreneurship

We have divided our lives into disconnected moods, feelings and formats which make it very tough for us to define ourselves. Sometimes while driving or sitting idly, we do think who we are actually? Am I the one sitting in the office working on business analysis, career development and money making? Or am I the one who listens to pop songs and starts jumping? Or am I the one who gets sad while listening to ghazals of Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Habib Jalib? Or the one who reads Sufism and gets deep into my own world of seven continents and four oceans? Who is the real “I”?

We are born to act in different ways in different scenarios. We have to behave and be modest with our parents, as it is ethically and religiously right. We have to be more frank and more interactive among friends so that the whole gathering can enjoy with us. We have to be sad and supportive during funerals while happy during happy events of people around us. Our behavior must have to change in accordance with the situation. It is what we are supposed to do in society. But what about the inner “I”?

Why we enjoy pop songs and gets sad on ghazals? Are we bad listeners!

Why do we have an ultimate feeling while reading one good book, and then next good book (entirely different from the previous one) changes the whole previous aura? Are we bad readers!

One has to leave “I” outside the door of Sufism and spiritualism. “I” has to be left in Islam, Buddhism and other spiritual domains of almost all the religions in the world. We live in an “I” world when others are dependent on us in organizations, offices, games, gatherings, etc. Similarly we try to be in the “us” world when we are dependent on others or want to show association with certain groups.

Sufism is humbleness, knowing oneself, unleashing the “I”, exploring internally and externally, and letting us know ourselves. We can have the same aura within the inside and outside world while anywhere. Sufism and spiritualism are not separated from our working lives. With Sufi approaches, we can have better success in our careers.

A  Sufi Entrepreneur will not focus on his goals but the overall goals of the organization. He will focus on the needs and wants of others, will not insult or embarrass anyone, will go on ethical business means, and will try his level best for win-win situations of everyone. He will earn money, will try to earn more fortune, but will remain within approaches of Sufism. Sufism can be the soul of a successful business. One who listens to Sufi poetry frequently and uses unfair means in business and career development, is perhaps a hypocrite.

Sufi business and Sufi entrepreneurship are related in the modern world today. We should be the firm-one internally regardless of the external set-up. We have to be the same person internally regardless of an external situation. We need to be emotionally stable. As said, a good person is not the one who is good with you at a restaurant, but the one who is good with everyone including the waiters.

Our business education system has to introduce Sufi and Spiritual approaches. The current focus is on career development and making money which is generating humanistic machines running for same materialistic goals in life. Colleges and Universities are hub where one learns about himself. They should remain such hubs of internal prestige where students are taught with a less materialistic (if possible) and more spiritualistic lessons. We need Sufi entrepreneurs in the modern world to end hunger and poverty all over the world.

We need to learn more of the “I” world than the outside world. 

 

And We All Shine On!

When All India Muslim League lost Indian Provincial Elections of 1937, they didn’t lose faith in Jinnah or the league. It was blow on their movement and ideology but they didn’t adopt violent or abusive approach. They accepted the results without complaining about anything, and re-started their homework. In 1940, they had a remarkable Lahore Resolution which set their momentum again, better than before. In 1946, they won 425 seats out of 496 in Constituent Assembly Elections and made a decisive blow on Congress and British Raj.

I don’t want to compare PTI with AIML (All India Muslim League). There is no such intention because there are differences… of time, leadership, momentum, approach, attitude, and acceptance of reality. What PTI is doing after Elections of 2013 is not what AIML had done after Elections of 1937. But this is from where we can learn.

First of all I congratulate PML-N for having a victory in the National Assembly. They have done some homework and were well above in some domains than PTI. For example Nawaz Sharif was way more humble than Imran Khan throughout the campaigns. Similarly, followers of Nawaz Sharif were not as aggressive and intolerant as of PTI followers.

Secondly, PML-N has won, but this does not mean that PTI has lost. PTI has won in majority in KPK and have made their significant impact in Punjab. They were able to get millions of votes throughout Punjab which means they can get more by doing better work in future. Similarly, now they have a practical chance to prove themselves as the best ones by making KPK as an exemplary province of Pakistan.

Thirdly, there is a world outside Facebook and Twitter which is not entirely supportive of the views of PTI. There are villages and backward areas where no one knows about Tabdeeli and Naya Pakistan. Social media is a good approach to work on, but to “clean sweep” there is a significant need to work all over Pakistan… not only major cities and virtual media.

I hope Pakistan will get better in coming 5 years and will prove to be a growing economy. I wanted Imran Khan to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan, not Nawaz Sharif, but now we all should respect the mandate. If I will hope that Pakistan will see that they have made a wrong decision on electing PML-N, then this hope would be on Pakistan’s expense… which is against the ideology of PTI too. We all should hope and work for the growth of Pakistan regardless of the government, and meanwhile we can improve and prove ourselves to be the most competent ones by 2018. Allah has given a chance to PTI in KPK, if not in Pakistan. Now is the time to prove with a blow and let PML-N work federally with best of intentions for the people of Pakistan.

Imran Khan should come forward. He should tell the followers to keep calm and accept the results (which he has done already but not very clearly). There is no need to accept defeat as there is none. It is victory from various angles. All we need to do is change our dimension mentally and attitude practically.

There is no more ANP, APML and PML-Q. People have proved that they don’t trust PPP either. Separatist have lost their seats in Baluchistan. KPK has given their mandate for change and better governance. Sindh has risen against MQM. Punjab has accepted PML-N in the majority and has criticized them where they tried to make their influence. Overall, for me, there is a significant change in Pakistan and people have proven themselves that they can change the destiny of political parties. Now there is a competition between PML-N and PTI. It should remain healthy and PTI should prove itself better than them in all aspects… from behavior to political matters.

Hoping for the best, I accept the results of ECP, except for areas where the majority has come out for re-elections. Overall, the job of ECP was good in the most challenging of the times when terrorism, load shedding, violence, bomb threats, and worse five year tenure was present. Next time, we will be able to have better elections than time In sha Allah.

It’s all a matter of time… an organic process. We wanted evolution, not revolution… and we are on our way!

Walli – Pride & Peace

You are finally here to bury the old man. He was always proud of you two. You gave him pride. He always wanted the three of us to be best in our fields. You became an admirable doctor, and you became an immaculate broker. You two made the name in your fields and the pride for the old man.

He wasn’t proud of me because I wasn’t a genius in education or in career. I didn’t do well in studies and hence ended up as a cashier in the local convenient store. The good news is I got promoted and now I am a shift manager. Don’t sigh! I know it’s nothing as compared to your career hierarchies, but for me it is something.

When you two finished your studies, you moved out as there were not good opportunities in our town. You pursued your careers. While you were gradually ascending in your careers, the old man gradually went down in his health. He became lonely, though I appreciate you were used to come twice or thrice a year which was very kind of you in your extremely busy lives. I know it is tough to find time even for our own children today.

Anyways, old man was diagnosed with the kidney problem, which gradually increased his time span on bed. I looked after him as much as I could. All my time was for him after store hours. I gave him company and he was fondly used to talk about you. We were used to talk a lot about you. You realized his dreams and gave it veracity. You were pride of his life.

I don’t have much to say. I shared days and nights, sorrows and laughs, high times and low times with him. But I was not the pride of his life. I know why but I was unable to satisfy myself and became resentful slowly but surely, I’m repentant. I was with him, I lived with him. His hand was in my hand when he took his last breath; though his pride was associated with you.

But I got the answer today. As soon as I saw you I got my answer. There is no issue that you two were pride of his life, which I wasn’t. But I got the answer for who I was for him. I was peace of his life. He didn’t say it ever but I know now.

A question I am left with is either pride superior to peace or contrariwise? I don’t know the answer yet. But I’m sure I’ll get the answer someday. Let’s go now. It’s time for funeral.

Peace for the old man!