CO-EXISTING WITH AHMADIYAHS – IS IT POSSIBLE?

CO-EXISTING WITH AHMADIYAHS
IS IT POSSIBLE?

Happenings in Lahore

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad with son
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad with son

The Ahmadiyah Prophet Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was in town and visiting men who mattered in Lahore. In most probably a well planned move, he visited many houses in Lahore around 1897 (upto 1903-4). Some very important men lived in Mohalla Chabuk Sawaran, including the famous Chishti family of Lahore. Even a newspaper came out of the area. Baba Hiyadatullah the famous poet was another one of them. The Chinay wali masjid had become a centre for the Quran minded persons and men of letters abounded in the Wazeer Khan mosque. The arrival of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was natural.

I saw recently a book on Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Lahore and was surprised to see the Mohalla of Chabuk Sawaran in it as well as the front of the ancient Chughtai family’s house. Originally named as Mohalla Qazi Saderuddin, the mohalla had a long tradition behind it. The Chughtai brothers were mere children (or not even born) at that time and hardly mattered but the house was occupied by Mian Kareem Baksh Mimar, who belonged to the ancient family of Ustad Ahmad Mimar Lahori. It was amazing for me to know that the Prophet of the Ahmadiyahs had sat on the front of our house more than a hundred years ago. An Ahmadiyah friend told me that as their Prophet had sat there, our family was blessed in all counts.

My step uncle (tahia) Hussain Baksh Chughtai was a well read man, and a holding a Bachelor’s degree from Islamic College, when you could not find educated people around. He was a Royal tutor to the family of the Afghan King exiled in Lahore, and had been given a horse for that purpose by the Britishers. It would have been natural for the Ahmadiyahs to have contacted him too. And talk must have been held with my grandfather Mian Kareem Baksh. No where were they willing to accept any alternative views. My uncle was a Hafiz ul Quran himself and was not inclined to budge from his position. But there were conversions in the mohalla. The Ahmadiyah movement was projected as radical Islam and Lahoris did love radical changes as well. The notion of Prophethood was still not presented then. Mirza Sahib was a well read man and could hypnotize an audience. The Mullahs could not stand in front of him, as they did not rely on the Quran itself. And Mirza Sahib knew more Hadees than anybody else, said some people.The impact was there. Even Dr Allama Iqbal was first moved with the ideas, but later realized the dangers involved in the preaching being done at that time.

Chabuk Sawaran house Lahore
Chabuk Sawaran house Lahore

Mirza Bashir Ahmad and M.A. Rahman Chughtai did communicate with each other. I remember a letter from Mirza Bashir in our archives, in which he invited Chughtai Sahib to embrace the cult of the Ahmadiyah. M.A. Rahman Chughtai was primarily a follower of Iqballian dream, and ardent well wisher of the great thinker G.A. Pervaiz. The thought of such a thing would not cross his mind. But he always befriended everybody. He was not a bigot in any way.

The tradition is with us. Our family firmly believes in the finality of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and can never budge from that position. But we carry no hatred, prejudice on our shoulders for anyone. For us human beings can accomodate other human beings with love and affection. In fact we have so many Ahmadiyah personal friends that it may surprise people to know how firmly we believe in JEHAD and it is a word we can all take our pride. We can send our love to Nael and Nida right here.

The attitude of the Mullahs make martyrs of everybody. But not us. Respecting our views, we respect the views of others too, however different they may be from ours. Yes many Ahmadiyahs are very sweet and well behaved persons. They have their own viewpoints. They still idealize the colonial Britishers as demi-gods. The face of those ruthless Masters shout out at us in various incidents of British rule. I heard an Ahmadiyah say (with my own ears) that he wished that the British came back. That indeed is a fool hardy wish in these modern times. And that certainly is not sincere to Pakistan. Co-existence means restraint. Most Ahmadiyahs only know of Islam and their Prophet as a jump of their faith. Thinking and pondering can clear things!

CONVERSIONS OF ONCES WAY OF LIFE , RELIGIOUS CHANGES IN LAHORE

CONVERSIONS OF ONCES WAY OF LIFE
RELIGIOUS CHANGES IN LAHORE

Lahore the melting pot of Punjab

Abdul Masih Sheikh Salih Chaplain
Abdul Masih Sheikh Salih Chaplain

There is a strange dynamism when a man decides to change his way of life and embrace that of another. The reasons for the same can be a matter of guess, but best understood as the coming in the fold of faith. In Islam, Allah tells us to use our minds for the purpose and the Quran repeats again and again for man to ‘think and ponder’. The rest is history. The first person to embrace Islam was of course Hazrat Khadija, and that was merely because she knew that the Prophet was not capable of telling anything but the truth itself.

Chaplain Abdul Masih Salih
Chaplain Abdul Masih Salih

The first person to embrace Islam in Indian region is reputed to be Cheraman Perumal Baskara Ravi Varma, who embraced Islam at the hands of the Arab traders who came here, in the life time of the Prophet himself, and built a Jamia Masjid in Kerala in the year 629 AD. A remarkable event in all circumstances. Muhammed bin Qasim never imposed Islam in Sind, but gradually the Sindhis saw the culture that was being imposed with it, and they gave their hearts and minds to the person, who did not conquer them, but actually liberated them from the tyranny of rule. The Chach-nama tells us how happy the Buddhist and the Hindus were at looking at the liberator Muhammed bin Qasim right from the start. If the heart of Ladi could be won, so could be the hearts of the fellow citizens! That is why they made a statue of Qasim in the square of their major city when he was no more. Mass conversions took place in the Ghaznavid period and the Indian region was fluxed with lakhs of Muslims in the Sultanate period. Nobody pursued the Hindus for conversion, it was an act of faith with them.

Conversion Certificate 1
Conversion Certificate 1

If thousands became millions, then there was something certainly going on. But we do find cases of Muslims embracing Christianity. To this day we have never heard of a Muslim embracing Hinduism, although it may have been so. The greatest conversion attempts were made by the Monks here to convert Emperor Akbar, but when he died, Akbar recited the Kalma, and that is on record. Whatever he was doing was the work of a clever politician TRICKING EVERYBODY into a false sense of being. Catrou and Manucci could tell us that Dara Shikoh died a Christian, but such calumny is a matter of shame for them, as he was buried in the mausoleum of his ancestor, Emperor Humayoun, in exactly the position of a Muslim grave. The most famous Muslim conversion was of course that of the Chaplain Abdul Masih, whose name was actually Sheikh Salih. Impressed with the Persian translation of Henry Martyn’s New Testament, he not only embraced Christianity, but became a Father himself, and was inviting people from all over Indian region to do the same. It is said that he converted about 50 Muslims and Hindus, but without a short period the whole renounced their conversion.

Conversion Certificate
Conversion Certificate 2

There was a complete record of various conversions done by the Imam of the Badshahi Mosque Lahore. A regular record was created, in which a form of conversion was given to the converted person, with the record of his old name, as well as the new one. On the back of the duplicate receipt was either the signature of the converted, or the thumb impressions, as well as a certificate of the Imam himself. Of the various record lost, the record for the year 1908 is still preserved with us. A total of 187 conversions at least in that year, with full record of them. We publish an image of a couple of these conversions. It is one of the strangest record of all times.

Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji

Today the ‘big bucks’ are in the compound of writers like Irshad Manji and Tarek Fatah, and they are doing their best to amend (to most distort) the image of Islam in the mind of their followers. With heavy backing, they will end up doing less than their plans. There is a NOOR on the face of all those who aim at right and do right. That Noor tells us all! Abu-Jahls are allowed by Allah to exist, for Allah knows that his compassion can touch anybody anytime, and Allah too believes in freedom of expression for all. Indeeed what is about Allah that cannot be praiseworthy? Nothing. Everything about him is purity of infinite dimensions.

Tarek Fatah
Tarek Fatah

THE SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE , CHANGING TIMES OF HYGIENE

THE SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE
CHANGING TIMES OF HYGIENE

A history of dealing with refuse

Etnic raceThe organism of man is related to input of energy requirements for his body, and the expulsion of refuse which his body no longer needs. The history of dealing with refuse is an interesting history of mankind. By design of Allah, the input has savoury smells, and the refuse has unwelcome odours. Various societies dealt with it in their own way, and archaeologists have uncovered the systems with time. In our region Mohenjo-daro was well advanced in its time, with a grand system of toilets. The dead sea scrolls tell us a different story. The monks living in caves had a system all their own. With a shovel in their hands, they would scrape a hole in the dust of the near mountain, squat on it and then fill it with mud. Later they had a pond in which they used to wash their feet. The Romans had public toilets, where men, women sat with each other in open enclosures, and talk their heart out on all subjects. English and French castles have their own tales to tell, where the Royalty were in the habit of defecating where and whenever they wanted. All these are fun for the archaeologist. From the survey of faeces of the dead sea scroll monks, they can research on what the monks ate at that time. Research is not always savoury for all.

Cleaner boysThe Islamic way of life is often quoted in the saying that CLEANLINESS IS HALF OF FAITH ITSELF. That is why the Arabs invented the soap itself. The Muslim way of life including the ritual of regular baths and cleansing of the body. It is said that Europe hated the concept of bathing itself, and Europe existed for 1000 years with out bathing. Their rituals even today are very different from Islamic way of life. When Father Sebastian Manrique was in the palace of Nawab Asif Khan in Lahore in 1644, Emperor Shah Jahan was asked to comment on those Christians of his time. The Emperor including the following in his assessment of them. Shah Jahan said:

“Truly the Franguis would be great people, were it not for three grave faults; in the first place, they are Cafars (people without religion); in the second, they eat pork; and thirdly, they do not wash the parts which replete nature expels the excess of their material paunches.”

Turkish steam baths swept the world, and not only the palaces, but the entire city was full of ‘hammams’ to take baths and cleanse the body. Lahore had plenty of them. A look at the ladies toilets in the Red Fort Delhi tells us the system of the Mughal toilets. Similar ones existed in Lahore. Sir Thomas Herbert, Bart found it one of the most clean cities of the world in 1595 AD, as well as Richard Still and John Crowther in 1626 AD. The best cities of the world included Lahore for its clean and pure air. The system in most houses had ‘gurkis’, or small refuse wells. The refuse used to fall in these dumping holes in the ground. Either the sames were filled up and new gurkis dug, or they were cleaned after a year, or so.

The Sikh times brought in the break up of the the whole systems for reasons understood and at times not known. Out of the blues we have the city surrounded by small huts, houses, or fallen havellis in possession of the SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE. Ugly words were attached to them and ethnical they were termed as ‘Changars’. An ethnic race considered the lowest on the rung of the Hindu ladder of classes, and they were responsible for the dirtiest job of mankind. A few decades ago they could be easily seen, carrying a ‘PARAT’ or iron vessel, and moving from house to house. They would put the shit of every house in their parat and then dump it outside the city, from where it was collected in bull carts, and sold as fertilizer for vegetables sown outside the city. And the Shit-cleaners worked from generation to generation. Lest one may think that it was for poor people, even the description of travelers first class hotels in Lahore paint the same picture. A description given by an English traveler in the 19th century speaks the same story of Falettis hotel Lahore, here a better kind of Swedish basin was used for the purpose.

Tools of trade
Tools of trade

Lahore was serviced in water supply through big and small wells. Water need was also fulfilled by the water carrier (mashquis), who took water to the home of persons in a big hide skin vessel. The Mori system actually started with the making of the PANI WALA TALAB in Rang Mahal area, from where water was taken to the houses by a system of lead pipes. This changed the complexity of the city in total. With it came the Moris, open small gutters, and the bigger MORIS and the final MORI GATE itself. One of the Gates of Lahore is known as MORI GATE, or the GUTTER GATE, from where all the refuse of the city came out. The moat around the city was also used for the same purpose. And people may remember that these kind of MORIS were all there in the city, on which small children were seen shitting all the time. The elders used a small room at the top of the house. The whole city really stank and there was no reason to doubt same.

Lady toilets in Mughal Fort
Lady toilets in Mughal Fort

The Missionaries in our region did excellent work in rehabilitating many of such people. Being treated as human beings for the first time in thousands of years, the ‘Changars’ were ever grateful. Our hats off to these wonderful Monks and Nuns who gave the pride back to this community. Indeed God will bless them for their charity work and putting this community to useful tasks in the society. In the changing system of today, the Plumber remains important and the memory of the SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE ever there

THE ‘WAAR’ IN FILMS – NATIONAL SENTIMENTS AND MISGUIDANCE

THE ‘WAAR’ IN FILMS
NATIONAL SENTIMENTS AND MISGUIDANCE

A rhetoric of propaganda ideas

It is a crazy world. Perhaps it was always like this! Perhaps the dangers are even more in this fragile world. Over the years we have seen films being used as effective mechanism for swaying the minds of the people. The bad guys were once upon a time ‘Chinese’ who were considered yellow and the ‘Russians’ who were considered Red. The colours have no relation with those people themselves. Abusive language was hurled at both countries. That state may be over, when Samuel Huntington started the ‘Clash of Civilizations’.  Islamo-phobia became the catch word in internationsal relations and there is so much Islamic bashing in the world right now, so far from the truth, that one wonders why disharmony is created to further expansion ideas.

One could sense this first in the petty Indian movies being made and the so called Indian hero, lambasting with his video photoshop equipment into some phenomenal superman. It made us laugh, really laugh. I remember in 1971, the Indian war planes over Lahore, and when the Light Ack Ack used to start, the fighters would scramble away. In such a frenzy they dropped a bomb on the ‘Do moria pul’ (a small bridge near Station), instead of the Ravi bridge, and killed a tonga fellow and his horse driven cart. Great achievement for such an act out of the skies for them, but Ravi bridge stood its ground through out the war. Those heros one could kill with ones laughter. Then the Western television and movies started using the Pakistani element in them. From vague references, they started being more specific. Pakistan bashing was on and it was not even subtle any more. I remember in an episode of NCIS LA, the heros battle an ISI agent in Afghanistan as well as Washington DC. Even the idea of drones came in the series. The reference to Pakistan sprung again and again. When RAMBO marched to Afghanistan to drive the Russians away for the Mujahideen, it was great show. But then the Mujahideen became the enemies themselves. I remember President Saddam Hussain of Iraq stating once that War was not like the one Rambo fought in the movies.

Last Resort - A nuked Pakistan
Last Resort – A nuked Pakistan

The preposterous got in way. In the season THE LAST RESORT we see an American Captain of Colorado submarine eing asked to nuke Pakistan and he refuses to do same. Then two nukes are fired on Karachi and Islamabad. NOT LAHORE. Why not Lahore? For Lahore is very near the Indian border, and it was not appropriate to send radioactivity to Delhi itself, directly, even if it was a mere movie. So whoever writes the script, their homework is perfect. The symbolism of NUKING OF PAKISTAN prevails in some minds.

WAAR the Pakistani film
WAAR the Pakistani film

Well finally it seems we have our own answer and we have made the film ‘WAAR’ to highlight the malady of this culture. Well done! Retort was necessary. But then why is the world shrinking for PEACE . The salamati of Islam in telling the world to co exist as fellow beings on Planet Earth even with a different way of life. I think films should preach PEACE but should also show RESISTANCE to wrongs being done by others. The crazy neo-cons are bordering on madness and their threat should be removed by the force of the people itself. The American people are very good people, but inward looking, with  no knowledge of the world. A new phenomena is rising. The American people are looking outward for knowledge and realize for the first time that their media has always let them down. Let us see the friendly American again travelling all over the world, winning hearts and minds of people, through sharing of culture, and appreciation of other ways of life.

DIWAN-BARID OF LAHORE – MY NAME IS BOND, JAMES BOND!

DIWAN-BARID OF LAHORE
MY NAME IS BOND, JAMES BOND!

The Secret Service in Lahore

James Bond

In the spurt of the Ghaznavid conquests in this region, Sultan Mahmud realized the importance of an agency trying to collect information for consolidation of his rule. A secret network was formed and the informers to the Sultan included many Hindu Rajas. Hindus spying on Hindus as well as spying on the representatives of the Sultan, so that the Sultan may receive adequate information for all actions. This was the first Muslim Secret Service of the region. We do not have adequate knowledge of the network but many of the Sultan’s conquests were a result of timely information of gathering events.

Assassins and Spies

When Sultan Muhammed Ghauri was assassinated by the Ismaeli assassins on the bank of the river, near the village of Damyak, on 15th March 1206 AD, it was a failure of intelligence. The Fidai Mulahidah were ruthless in their work had made everyone realize the importance of espionage. A number of other prominent leaders through out the Indian region were caught and murdered in cold blood. Qutb-ud-din Aibeg knew all this well. A very methodical secret service was set by him in Lahore, as he ruled most of his life from Lahore itself. Even when in Delhi, he would come to Lahore for weekends.

Spies of old times
Spies of old times

In a class system like Hindustan, resentments were great. Ethnic played a great role, and there was no unity amongst the various Hindu Rajas. There is an interesting fact narrated in the Chach-nama about Jats and Gujjars. These people were literally slaves and held in utter contempt by the rulers. The historian Peter Jackson himself quotes this:

Qutbuddin Aibeg
Qutbuddin Aibeg

“It (Chach-nama) alleges that Muhammed Bin Qasim, the conqueror of Sind, learned of the disabilities imposed on a local people , the Jats, in the era of the deposed Brahman dynasty. One was that the Jats were to take dogs with them whenever they went out of doors, in order that they might be recognized.”

Grave of Qutbuddin Aibeg 1912
Grave of Qutbuddin Aibeg 1912

When there was so much disparity, how could the society function. One of the reason for the success of the Muslim conquests was that many classes of people were not considered fit to fight a war with enemies. And these were the people who befriended Muslims and how the Rajas lost their hold due to their own ruthlessness.

The formation of Diwan-Barid was inevitable. To execute the functions of the State, a very effective intelligence gathering system was evolved and named as Diwan-Barid. The exclusive group composed of many rungs of life, including Rajas themselves, had the responsibility of gathering information and providingto the Sultan well in time.  We see today that espionage activities in modern times are considered really essential for the survival of a country. More was at stake at that time,and Lahore famous for people of culture, also had its share of the James Bond of those times., History goes on repeating it self and man goes on making the ame mistakes. This is all well elucidated by Tajuddin Hassan Nizami in the times of the Sultan himself.

SARCOPHAGUS IN NAWAB ASIF KHANS MAUSOLEUM

SARCOPHAGUS IN NAWAB ASIF KHANS MAUSOLEUM
IS IT REALLY HIS?

Fresh thoughts on a neglected monument

Asif Khan's Tomb taken by Henry Hardy Cole in 1880
Asif Khan’s Tomb taken by Henry Hardy Cole in 1880

The complex in Lahore with mausoleums of Emperor Jahangeer, Nawab Asif Khan and Empress Nur Jahan is the most unique and beautiful Mughal enterprize of the region. Every Head of State who visited Pakistan was taken to this important site. The tea parties, lunch parties and picnics were all a part of this complex. As the Mughals would have wanted it, a place containing dead bodies was made into a living place of human interaction. In real terms PARADISE itself.

Grave stone of Mughal person
Grave stone of Mughal person

The complex would have remained as it was, if not for the intervention of the Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh in Lahore. Hungry for bricks and marble, he ruthlessly destroyed the complex. It is a real surprise how the small enclosure of Emperor Jahangeer was saved from extinction. Miracle in all ways! If it had remained, the dome of Asif Khan’s mausoleum was no less than the Taj Mahal of Agra, perhaps even grander. Our heritage destroyed by callous people insensitive to the legacy of mankind.

Gravestone
Gravestone

In the compound of the Asif Khan’s mausoleum as well as that of Nur Jahan, there lived an old man, a literal giant of a person, whose presence could scare everybody away from the site. Eventually he died and he too was buried in the compound somewhere. When the British Archaeological Department woke up, they had this compound cleaned of rubble collected over the decades. In the compound of Asif Khan, they came across a sarcophagus of the Royal kind. Immediately thinking of it as being the missing one from Asif Khan’s mausoleum, they put the huge stone outside its verandah. Fenced by barbed wire, it was there outside even in 1907 AD. As time passed, they saw it fit to put it as the Sarcophagus of Asif Khan. But to me there always was an issue?

Sarcophagus Emperor Jahangeer
Sarcophagus Emperor Jahangeer

The sarcophagus at present in Nawab Asif Khan’s mausoleum is not proportionate to its surroundings. It is too small for its grand environment. If we see the sarcophagus of Emperor Jahangeer, it is not only very large, it also has the name of the Emperor on it. It’s identity is hundred percent proven fact. But there are no names on the one in Asif Khan, no dates, nothing. There were two sarcophagus in the Mausoleum of Empress Nur Jahan. One was hers own. The second (often attributed to her daughter Ladli Begum, who is actually buried in the compound of Khusrow in Allahabad, as even seen by historian Dr Abdullah Chaghatai)  was the empty one, the Ashiq Mashooq concept. Designed by Empress Nur Jahan herself, the second sarcophagus represented her lost love Emperor Jahangeer. As a tribute to him, this one would be empty, and there would be no names on the sarcophagus itself. The Sikhs in their frenzy threw things here and there. The sarcophagus from the Mausoleum of Empress Nur Jahan got thrown in the compound of Nawab Asif Khan, from where it ended up as his own sarcophagus.

Sarcophagi Taj Mahal
Sarcophagi Taj Mahal

Then there is another question. The size of the Emperor’s sarcophagus was always bigger than the Queens, as shown in the sarcophagi of the Taj Mahal itself. We attach an image to show the difference between a male and a female’s sarcophagus. The sarcophagus of Nawab Asif Khan should have been much bigger in size, for everything in construction was then related to Euclidean principles, of which both Mir Abdul Kareem and Ustad Ahmad were Masters of those principles of architecture,.

Is this possible? Wishful thinking, merely. Not at all. This is hundred percent possible. But for this we need people who ask questions? Then they get answers. The whole Archaeological department no longer contain the stalwarts of the department. Just mere clerks now getting their pay, and going home. The relation with their legacy long gone.

SULTAN AND HIS SON

SULTAN AND HIS SON
A LAHORE PAINTING DATED 1232 AD

FIRST TIME ON INTERNET

Qutb-ud-din Aibeg and Iram Shah
Qutb-ud-din Aibeg and Iram Shah

The Europeans were treasure hunters. British, German and French teams were scouting the world for treasures of cultural merit and a lot got collected, both legally and illegally, and there was none to stop the White man on his shopping spree. For no one really cared, everyone was in economic strife even at that time. The French collector Vervier came across some objects and art works in Ispahan and bought them.One was a painting dated 1232 AD. The most remarkable thing it was dated and the other remarkable thing it was one of the earliest painting known of Lahore region, and it was dated just 22 years after the death of the Sultan.

The Sultan of course was Qutb-ud-din Aibeg, the Flaming Star of Lahore. And he sits with his wife and three girls and son in law and his young son namely Aram Shah. He was the only Sultan of those times on which the painting fits in every way. The whole family is in picture there. We know that his son in law Sultan Iltutmish also commissioned paintings in the Chinese style from probably Mongol artists who had come to India from Mongolia itself, the Changez Khan School of painting, which is a separate story in itself. Vervier noted the Indian elements in the painting. The stamp of the Lahore School painting was visible there, and highlights the statement of the historian Baihaqi, who said that 200 different professionals came from Ghazni to settle in Lahore. The professionals included even silk lace makers, a fancy profession for those times. And even lion tamers to this region.

Unfortunately the present location of the work is not known, but suffice it must be in some private collection even today. Till we know more, enjoy the Lahore School of Painting. It is also possible that it was attached to a manuscript copy of the TAJ UL MATHIR of Tajuddin Hassan Nizami, the earliest biographer of the great Sultan of Lahore.

THE BONES OF EMPRESS NUR JAHAN, AND A SICK MIND OF A SIKH RULER

THE BONES OF EMPRESS NUR JAHAN
AND A SICK MIND OF A SIKH RULER

Tragedies of Lahore

Nurjahan
Nurjahan

The lure of Nur Jahan is phenomenal. Stuart Cary Welch and his wife Edith were our guests in Lahore in 1981, and he wanted to visit a number of places. The mausoleum of Nur Jahan was one of them. Through the courtesy of Malik Shams (whose son held the contract to entrance), we slipped down a basement into a tunnel, which deep down led to a room, with two iron rings hanging from the ceiling. That was all that remained of Nur Jahan. Yes the mausoleum itself was in ruins from the times o the Sikhs, who had stripped it of its affluence, and although Hakeem Ajmal Khan of Delhi had provided a tombstone way back, things were still something to be in deep mourning.

Nur Jahan's tomb
Nur Jahan’s tomb

The disregard of those in power for the legacy of Pakistan was understood, but not the mind of a sick Sikh ruler, who was so obsessed with the legend of Nur Jahan, that he had the coffins removed, to inspect the so called bodies of the departed Queen. The skeletons were not up to his standards (Contrary to popular thought the second coffin is not of Ladli Begum her daughter, who is buried elsewhere in the Indian region), and perhaps the cloth of the coffin was of interest to him, and he may have put the same in the Toshak-khana of the Lahore Fort (a number of things were found there after his death), but disappointed with the bones, he ordered them to be thrown to the dogs and the wolves in the area. He did not even have the decency to put the skeletons back in the grave and back to the original hanging position. In fact he had no scruples, and it was rumoured that his own mother did not listen to him, and he had her murdered for licentious living.

Tunnel to Nur Jahan
Tunnel to Nur Jahan

Nur Jahan was perhaps the most famous Mughal lady of all times. Her luck was such that from being in a position of eventful death as a baby, she survived all odds, and created a renaissance in Mughal culture. Maker of perfumes, fashion designer, power wielder, she was a legend in her own lifetime. After her political demise, she retired to Lahore and lived a peaceful life here. Even today we come across coins struck in her name in the vast kingdom of the Mughals by her loving husband Emperor Jahangeer. The city she called Paradise treated her like dirt under the dark and dreary span of Sikh rule in Lahore.

Underground Nur Jahan's tomb
Underground Nur Jahan’s tomb

SEXUAL ANTICS ON A MOSQUE’S MINARET FONDLING OF RANJIT SINGH AND MAI MORAN

SEXUAL ANTICS ON A MOSQUE’S MINARET
FONDLING OF RANJIT SINGH AND MAI MORAN

Sikh shamefulness in Wazeer Khan Mosque

Nightmare in Lahore
Nightmare in Lahore

To this day Lahore remembers the antics of Sikh times. Being Lahorite, no one can tell us different. Nor books nor media hype can change history from our minds. Lahoris were sick of the Sikh bandits who were making life miserable for them. Occupied by Lehna Singh, Sobha Singh and Gujjar Singh, Lahore knew no reprieve. The Sikh lords would rob them of their possession, pick up their women, and what not? In those times of trial when people went out of their houses, they had small hidden rooms near the small wells inside their houses. At water level these room were closed from outside. The women folks and children used to enter the rooms. And with each woman, a dagger was left and she was told this straight. Either you can find a dignified death or you can be raped by many men before you welcome death itself. The choice is yours. And when the men came back and found the family in order, they would pray to Allah saying a million thanks for welfare of their lives.

That is why the lanes of Lahore were made so small that only one rider at a time could come into the city and all houses were joined at the top, so that people could escape from roof tops in case of emergency. Lahore knew paranoia as none knew it. In times of the Mongols, Lahore had become a deserted city and was repopulated again in 1420 AD By Syed brothers. Lahore had also suffered famine during the Abdali (Afghan) period when it did not rain for eight years. It is said that people made flour from dry leaves of plants and from that used to cook bread for themselves. Now the Sikh menace had reached its height. The Qasabs (butchers) had attacked Lahore again and again, which resulted in a discarded Delhi Gate (rebuilt in British times by Muhammed Sultan contractor). In this environment, the Sikhs were out of bounds. So the best choice was to invite one of the bigger bandits, and that is why the Keeper of the City’s keys, the Kotwal handed them over to a dacoit of Gujaranwalla, that is Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh camped in the Baradari of Wazeer Khan and entered the city through the Lohari Gate. In a little or no time, he was able to subdue the three reigning dacoits of Lahore, the final giving in, after cannon fire was made on the Lahore Fort, from the minarets of the Badshahi mosque. The city was Ranjit Singhs, for the next 40 years.

The esteemed Khushwant Singh started weaving the tale of a Mahrajah, and was very successful. Every attribute of a ruler was put on the new controller of Lahore. Suffice to say that during his reign, most of the mosques were deserted, and used as a fodder place for animals, or as a store house for ammunition. Besides that about 2000 buildings were stripped of bricks and marbles. The state of mosques was pathetic but then, the AZAN (call to prayer) was not allowed in Lahore for Muslims for something like 70 years. No ‘Allah-Akbar’ in that period. Sikha-shahi had no such scruples.

Victor Jacquemont
Victor Jacquemont

Victor Jacquemont was a French visitor to the Court of Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh complained about his health again and again, and Jacquemont could not understand the implication. Then Ranjit Singh lowered his garments and showed the doctor his genitals. The French man was shocked to see the state of advanced chronic syphilis in the Sikh chief. It was even difficult for the chief to even urinate with the swollen urethra. Doubt my words, check the Letters of Jacquemont yourself. Published in 1834 AD, they affirm, what I am saying here. Plain and simple. Of the fifty children claimed by Ranjit Singh as his own, the proof as that only Kharrack Singh was his own. There was no possibility of any other. To prove his virility, Ranjit Singh showed many consorts to his fellow men. One such consort was the prostitute by name of MORAN, who was called ‘Mai Moran’ in their chronicles.

The love for Moran fixated Ranjit Singh. He was seen frolicking with her all the time. Ranjit Singh would mount an elephant with Moran and roam in and around the city, fondling the breasts of Moran, for the world to see. A number of historians have written about this, but the nightmare in Lahore was, when Ranjit Singh took Moran to the Wazeer Khan mosque (the only mosque still functioning but at a lesser level) and climbed up the Minaret of the mosque. Then in plain view of the city and hundreds of people watching, he started fondling Moran’s breasts in front of the city of Lahore. The tongues started wagging. Lahore was literally shocked! No one had the sort of recklessness ever to destroy the sacredness of the place in a voyueristic adventure, no one liked. This is the legacy of the Sikh times in Lahore. And we can provide copies and references to anyone who wants to know more!

RESPECTING OTHER WAYS OF LIFE, DOES NOT MEAN LETTING OTHERS, TWIST AND TURN YOUR OWN.

RESPECTING OTHER WAYS OF LIFE,
DOES NOT MEAN LETTING OTHERS,
TWIST AND TURN YOUR OWN.

Title: Equal Rights
Title: Equal Rights

The motto of life is simple. We heard it ages ago. Live and let live. Co-exist in peace. Harmony makes the world go forward. An unnecessary remark can injure the pride of another person. Sensitivity and compassion are the lessons of life. Yes, we agree with them. We accept them. We want to follow them. We will try our best to keep this situation alive.

But when other cultures fall into inferiority complex, it is not our fault. We like to give them our shoulders to unburden themselves, but not our backs, so that they can stab us in the name of PEACE. And this is what is happening! If we are vigilant, we are in the right. Egalitarianism is part of our faith. Equality means something to us. But our wretched leaders who represent the worst of our society are embarrassing us all over the world. They do not represent Pakistan. They represent their business interests. Each day they are getting richer and richer, the modern Pharaohs of Pakistan. One day they will not even have Pyramids for their corrupt mummies. Hearts and minds of the people are not won at gun point of barrels. How wonderful were days of the past when people traveled all over the world without artificial borders?

No one should try to take the superior approach. Allah forbids criticizing other ways of life. Judgement is for Allah, not us. Ours is our faith that we believe in the permanent laws given by Allah and we follow them and we change those laws which can be changed by mutual consensus, or ijjtehad. God bless the world!