THE BOREDOM OF GOD CREATED HUMANITY
The Big Bang was more like a Whisper

God was always there, and will always be there. Many civilizations believe in re-occurring scenes of life. The world ends and then is created again. And others believe in evolving life, janam after janam, as a never ending solution to existence. In the stillness of things, a sign was heard, which scientists call the Big Bang, the Egyptians call the wakening up of the Sphinx of Giza. The first NOOR, the first light. In a lighter vein, we can say that God got bored with an easy existence, and created the MAN, not only as an ANGEL, but to add spice to life, the DEVIL too. And God pitted Good versus Evil, and engendered the Adventures of life. Man added colour to life itself.

A sentence we hear, again and again, is that ‘God created man in his own image’. In the Quranic reference we hear of Man being ‘Ashraf-ul-maklooqat’. But we hear the NINETY NINE NAMES OF ALLAH as being merely 99 behavioral attributes of the Al-Mighty. And one outstanding attribute is of Allah being a ‘Mussaver’, an artist, a designer of infinite dimensions. And we are left breathless as we observe the artistic talents of the Al-Mighty. The world, the universe, everything is so beautiful, it sends shivers through us, as we praise the One and Only God who created so much beauty.

The Artist in God elicits praise in us, as we sing ‘Hamd’ to His creations. The study of God can never be complete without our study of these 99 attributes. And of course there are infinite other attributes which God has hidden from us. If other civilizations study these ASMA HUSNA, they will learn so much about us! God bless Planet Earth!

MORAL DRAIN LEADS TO BRAIN DRAIN
The story of migrations and coming home

The history of migrations is attached to history of civilization itself. When there was no grass in ones pasture, one would move to another pasture with more grass. But never was it like that condition where you did not utilize your own pasture for illusion of better another. Aesop fables add a fable of the Grass being greener in another pasture. Of course economic needs are essential in a society which does not give credence to the loss of moral values in the process. Before Moses brought the TEN COMMANDMENTS everything was possibly fair in love and war. But God set limits to humankind. God made some values permanent and others subject to change with consensus. So the melting pot concept looks very romantic, but there is certainly the involvement of drain of moral values. Losing ones identity in the flood of culture of materialism.
No two areas of the world are alike. Extreme heat at one place, extreme cold at another. One kind of mineral at one place, other kind of minerals elsewhere. God’s intention was to weave inter-dependence so that MAN could mix with each other and live in peace by sharing the bounties of life. But the rich and powerful captured the sources of wealth and not even a trickle down occurred for others. Instead of the touted clash of civilizations, it was an inherent clash of the human psyche itself.

Our best brains were exported outside. True or not! But not before their moral tampering. They could provide succor to others, but their need was more back at home. Waiting for things to get better, they never realized that they had to come back to make things better. Nothing improves on its own, except recklessness. If all the Pakistanis in the world come back and bring their hard earned wealth back home, will there be no change here? Phenomenal changes will occur. Pakistan will be a power to be reckoned again.
I hold a blade of grass. I plant plants in my country. I like to improve my lot of mankind. I like to contribute to nation building. I am obsessed with making right out of wrong. But I am not the first drop of rain. There are many others. Imagine if we could add more, what would be the result? Coming home is the answer to tomorrow.

CROSSING A ROAD IN STRAIGHT LINE
MAKING CHOICES IN LIFE!
The proportionate way results in miracles

Living in Lahore, the first thing we face from morning till night is traffic. It always seem that the world has gone crazy. I have driven a car in this city all my life. And every year I see the ruin of traffic. The policemen who were there for traffic were replaced by fancy traffic wardens. Not one of them are bothered about the plight of people, except to pave smooth way for their Masters, skulking in and around Lahore every day. The Khadim Aala square is best managed, but only for the Khadim Aala, no body else. The cars are driven by paindos (villagers), who have come into the city, after driving cycles in their villages, or donkey carts for that matter. The car can zig zag like a rabbit in any direction, even the opposite one. No one stops at the red light, no one goes at the green light. They are all in some thinking melee of the times. The motor cycles are driven as my uncle used to say, ‘Sitting on one coming out of their mother’s womb and going back sitting on a cycle’. Not a second to get down. A truly lawless reckless way of moving about. And the cycle rickshaws and the rickshaws, and the vans, and even the buses. All hell broken loose!
But what bout the person walking on the road. If not jaywalking, he too is strolling on the roads like a park. Afraid to move forward, afraid to move backward, cartoon like antics. Accidents occur all the time, most of the time.

We are all Muslims and we have read the Quran. Even translations. Every city has a gateway. The Quran itself has a gateway. It is a ‘Surat’ and it is called Sura Fateh. It explains the whole Quran in a crux of literally few lines. Dr Syed Abdul Wadood has given us the most modern translation, explanation of same in some words. The Quran tells us to chose the PROPORTONATE WAY in life. To evolve towards a position that Allah intended for us. Let us then read the Sura Fateh to understand all this:

PONDERING OVER THE BEAUTY, PROPORTION AND PERFECTION OF THE LIVING AND THE NON-LIVING OBJECTS OF NATURE, EXCITES IN MAN A VOLUNTARY PRAISE OF THE ONE WHO SUSTAINS EVERY COMPONENT OF THE UNIVERSE , FROM ITS INITIAL STAGE TO THE STAGE OF ITS FINAL DESTINATION; BY PROCESSES OF SLOW, GRADUAL AND ASCENDING EVOLUTION, INTERRUPTED OFF AND ON BY SPONTANEOUS REVOLUTIONS.

THE SUSTENANCE OF HUMAN BODY IS A GIFT FROM ALLAH, BUT THE NOURISHMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF HIS PERSONALITY IS SUBJECT TO THE DEEDS HE PERFORMS, THE RESULTS OF WHICH ARE UNDER COMPLETE CONTROL OF ALLAH’S LAW OF REQUITAL, IN THIS WORLD AND THE HEREAFTER.
(OUR RABB!) WE BOW DOWN TO YOUR LAWS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR POTENTIALITIES, BY USING OUR CAPABILITIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF HUMANITY, AND WE SEEK YOUR HELP IN SHAPING OUR LIVES WITHIN YOUR PRESCRIBED PATTERN.
GUIDE US TO THE STRAIGHT PATH WHICH LEADS TO OUR DESTINATION IN THE HEREAFTER.

THAT IS, THE PATH OF THOSE PAST NATIONS WHO STRIVED IN CONSONANCE WITH YOUR LAWS AND WON YOUR FAVOURS, ON WHOM YOU BESTOWED POWER ON THE EARTH WITH ALL ITS POMP AND GLORY, WHOM YOU RELIEVED FROM THE BONDS OF TYRANNICAL RULES, WHOM YOU GAVE SUPERIORITY OVER CONTEMPORARY NATIONS OF THE WORLD, AND WHOSE NECESSITIES OF LIFE YOU FULFILLED, PROVIDING THEM A PROSPEROUS LIFE OF PEACE AND PLENTY.
THEY WERE NOT THE PEOPLE WHO HAD DISOBEYED YOUR LAWS AND CONSEQUENTLY CAME INTO THE GRIP OF YOUR LAW OF REQUITAL WHICH GAVE THEM SLAVERY, MISERY, HUNGER, HUMILIATION AND DESTRUCTION.

NOR WERE THEY THE PEOPLE, WHO WERE LED ASTRAY BY FOLLOWING THEIR OWN BASER SENTIMENTS OR BY FOLLOWING OTHER SELF-INTERESTED AND WRONGFUL PEOPLE, LIKE THEIR CHIEFS AND ANCESTORS, AND THUS FELL INTO HARDSHIP AND MISERY.

This is the crux of the Quran. We read it every day and we hardly understand it. And those outside our culture to whom Quran is an enigma, read this and you know the meaning of the Quran. So when you are crossing the roads, remember the Quran and walk a proportionate way. Make it an habit, and see what happens. The miracle by which Nations are made!

A GOLD DINAR ON THE STREETS OF BAGHDAD
Story of honest days

The creation of life itself centers between two extremes. We have positive charge as well as negative charge of electricity. Magnetism. Everything. Mountains or valleys. Single atom or infinity. Extremes make life. In this context Allah also created Good and Evil. The Quran stresses the best way of life as moving forward is based on Truth and Honesty.
A tale has been told from generations and I heard it from my father, as he heard it from his own. The story of the times of Caliph Haroon ur Rasheed, when Baghdad was the richest capital of the world. Everything flowed through Baghdad, the capital of the world. And where the Court of the Caliph, shined in affluence of every kind, the honesty prevailing in his reign was outstanding too. We are told that Caliph Haroon ur Rasheed used to disguise himself as a common man and used to roam the streets of Baghdad to notice first hand the rights and wrongs going on in the society. The principles were rigid indeed. The testing of men’s character paramount to the character of the city.
Trade flew through Baghdad through caravans and merchants from all over the world passed through the city. Buying things, selling things. A merchant had come from far away and found that there was a gold dinar lying on the paved street. He noticed it but did nothing about it. Time passed. The merchant came again to Baghdad the next year and saw the Gold Dinar there where he had seen it before. It did not vex him then but after repeat of a few years, he could not take the anxiety any more. He asked the nearby shopkeepers as to why the Dinar was lying there after few years, where it was originally seen by him.
The shopkeepers answer was straight forward. ‘WE ARE STILL HOPEFUL THAT THE OWNER WHO LOST IT, MAY COME LOOKING FOR IT AND WILL FIND IT WHERE HE DROPPED IT.” This unimaginable honesty seen in Baghdad engendered the character of the Muslims of that time.
Even today we hear of incidents of Pakistanis both at home and abroad, returning money which is not theirs and not even asking for a reward. It is these stories told at bedtimes that engender the character of the nation. Now our bedtime stories are not stories from the Quran or Aesops Fables or even more awe inspiring tales of yesterday. We sleep on the antics of Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Daffy Duck, Mickey Mouse, or even more modern personalities like Courage the dog, or the Despicables. Even more and more horrid characters are being made and the Vampires are the scene of the day. Even the concept of ‘Gay’ characters has been introduced in cartoons as normal. These cartoon characters may be fun but never inspire character building. Merely fun. Okay but the stories in the lap of grandmas built our personalities. I remember tales of Solomon and his remarkable judgement which sent ripples through me. Or Moses whose faith was tested by the Pharaoh between the fire and gold coins. And even mundane stories like the boy who used to shout ‘lion, lion’ in jest, till an actual lion came and ate him up. Yes, those stories built us as we are today. We need to do something about tomorrow too. It is our duty to create story books, stories, to build character of our nation. And we need imaginative Muslim investors to invest in children for a better future not only of Islam but of humankind and Planet Earth itself.

AMERICAN SHUTDOWN AND FAILING DEMOCRACIES
A WORLD OPINION

A poll speaks of only 5% support of the American people of the American congress. Amazing. We are flabbergasted, but we knew it all along. Our National Assembly has probably the support of about 5000 people only, that is the Members and their direct families. The rest are paid employees. The rest of the Nation is cursing them day and night. And they have a deaf ear to all the issues of the people. But we are not in a shutdown. Our business is business as usual. Politicians making money out of the blood and tears of the people. A republican accused King Obama of being a socialist, as that socialism was something of a curse in life. Equality and its value has sunk into the caste system of Hinduism. Born Shudras will remain Shudras and it seems most Americans and Pakistanis are Shudras after all. Neo-cons are the Master Pharaohs of the world, both there and here.
The first time I landed in Washington DC I was amazed at the number of beggars in the city and I tried to photograph some of them and they ran away. And the biggest craze of dish washers was replaced now by a stream of other nations driving taxis in the capital of the world. A Pakistani friend, Manager of American Express, with full facilities, sold his house, everything and migrated to the United States. We found him driving an ambulance, a little above the rung of the ladder. In a few years the hectic life caught up with him and he died a lonely death far from home. The American dream as illusive as ever.
Riches for some, poverty for others. The division does not go away. King Obama is shown in a photograph with his feet on his desk. When will a small child tell the King that he is wearing no clothes. When will the exploitation of the world end? Will it ever end! We are all waiting for Knight in Shining Armour. There are no knights in shining armour. We are ourselves the knights, if we chose to be one.

Americans are such friendly and loving people. Their politicians are doing bad to them, but movements like ‘Occupy Wall street’ show that Americans have realized that if they want to remain the blessed of the world, they have to also revert back to their original values, and ask for implementation of their most beautiful constitution in full spirit.
The developments no longer shock us. We are getting used to depravity all around us. The media is hypnotizing us and we wonder why? Many decades back we found out about SUBLIMINAL CUTS, and we were told that they were banned later. In a movie, a still slice was used to deliver the message direct to the brain. The watcher did not even know how he was programmed. Probably today instead of a mere cut, we are reacting to subliminal sounds, pictures, conditioning us in the Orwell world of the big brother gone berserk. We were already short of using our MIND POWER, now it seems the little we could use,m is being taken away from us.

The Holy Quran tells us again and again THINK AND PONDER. The Mullah keeps preaching rituals to us and has lost his relation with the actual principle of Allah. Once upon a time the Maulvi of the near mosque lived a free life, pathetic in its economic sense. The neighbourhood was there to provide a meal to him, otherwise he would go hungry and just sip a glass of water from a nearby ‘ghara’ or ‘surahi’. Now their standard of life has really changed. Moving in cruisers with many armed guards around therm, they dine at the finest places, travel abroad all the time. And charges for funerals, weddings have multiplied too. And foreign lobbies are willing to finance them anytime for creating anarchy in the society.
We keep on asking again and again ‘God help us!’ But God has told us the way towards salvation, and all Judeo-Christian-Muslim traditions talk of the same things. Of course we stopped listening a long time back. So why expect God to save us?

THE SPHINX OF LAHORE
Mysteries of Lahore deepen day by day

The prejudice against Lahore, somehow or the other, is ages deep. Why? Of course for many reasons which have changed with time. But the last few centuries saw a neglect of Lahore, which became more and more acute. The abundance of knowledge of Lahore was always there but vested interests tried to suppress it all the time. The attitude towards Lahore was different in Sikh times, different in British times, and different in Pakistani period. Hindu lobbies were allergic to give to Lahore the place of the cultured city of the region. The culture of Lahore was phenomenal and swept all Indo-Pakistani region. Our reference to Lahore again and again, was first started by M.A. Rahman Chughtai, the Muslim Master of Modern Civilization. His brother Dr Abdullah Chaghatai took the position of promoting Lahore in his own way. We here at Chughtai Museum projected our own interest in talking of Lahore as Lahoris can do.

Anna Suvorova writes that ‘Laur Laaur ay’ or ‘Lahore is Lahore’, and recounts the legend of the traveler who went for his Haj to Mecca.

This in the words of Carl Ernst goes like this:
“AS THE STORY GOES, AN INHABITANT OF LAHORE WENT TO MECCA ON PILGRIMAGE, AND ACCOMPLISHED THE USUAL RITUALS WITH GREAT SATISFACTION AND DELIGHT. ON COMPLETING THE PILGRIMAGE, HE ADDRESSED THE AL-MIGHTY IN PRAYER, SAYING “GOD! YOUR CITY IS INDEED WONDERFUL AND I AM VERY HAPPY TO HAVE VISITED BUT, IN THE END, LAHORE IS LAHORE’. THIS FRANK AND PERHAPS A SELF-SATISFIED COMMENT, OSTENSIBLY DELIVERED BY AN UNSOPHISTICATED PUNJABI, STATES AN HONEST TRUTH: LAHORE IS THE REAL CENTER OF THE CULTURAL UNIVERSE FOR ITS DEVOTEES.”
This is obviously that Lahorites did not confuse culture with religion. But knew that Islam generated a culture for them.

M.A. Rahman Chughtai, whenever he did sign his paintings, always signed as ‘Abdur Rahman Chughtai Lahore’. There was a need to collect documentation of Lahore and we started a program of archives on Lahore. In the years the collection has mounted and mounted, and except for the restraint of financing, we have not stopped this process ever. Hundreds of manuscripts written in Lahore or written by Lahori writers, paintings of Lahore, artifacts of Lahore, and whatever we could find, here and there. An unknown tapped source was the artifacts which had come from the earth of Lahore itself. Neglected by our people in command, lying here and there, we collected them, not that there was a dearth in our own collection. When we look at this material, one thing is certain, people hardly know about Lahore.

The fascination of modern writers to dump Lahore in the lap of RAMA AND HIS TWO SONS LOH AND KASU IS A FARCE CREATED BY A HINDU WRITER SUBHAN RAI BATALAVI AROUND 1692 AD, AND PROMOTED OUT OF DEPTH BY WRITERS TO THIS DAY. Obsessed to prove that Lahore is a Hindu city, when there is not even one evidence of Lahore as a Hindu city, dating more than 200 years. No temples, no palaces, nothing. Obviously the remains of Lahore prove its Ghaznavid ancestry, although even that is doubted by some crazy writers, like Mir Syed Bokhari.It is our contention that Lahore was founded by the GIANTS OF PALESTINE or the NAU-GUZZAS of the region. A research study on LANGA THE NAU-GUZZA OF LAHORE (Founder of Lahore has been published and can be got from us by writing to us. There is good evidence that this Nau-guzza fled Syria, Palestine area, after David had exterminated Goliath. These giants brought the JEWISH culture to the area and established a market here as a poultry farm and they called it MANDKUKAR or the Market for Chicken. It may be remembered that the term ‘KUKAR’ is not a term for the ethnic KHOKHARS but a term for poultry itself. The Nau-guzza selected the area as it was on the river side and there was a small hill to the same and a jungle to hunt for themselves. Worshiped as gods in the area for their height and strength, and deft practices, they established Lahore as Lahore. Artifacts are being discovered which link Lahore to the Jewish culture and we are writing about it. These same Giants who embraced JUDAISM , then embraced ISLAM, AND THERE WAS A CONTINUITY OF CULTURE HERE. The caves of CHILAS itself prove the entry of these people to the region with its own carvings. And there is so much to research on this aspect of Lahore.

The latest discovery is a SPHINX OF LAHORE. We know that Sphinx is there in Egyptian culture all the time as the greatest sphinx of history is still there to delight the world in its astronomical mysteries. But the Sphinx was also a symbol of Islamic Culture. And we have a wonderful study of these Islamic Sphinxes in the book published by Ebba Koch on the subject.
Suffice that we present the FIRST IMAGERY of the SPHINX OF LAHORE. Enjoy it! That is all we ask of you.

SCULPTURE IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
LIFE SIZE STATUES OF THE CALIPHS
A neglected research study

A hullabaloo has been created in the Islamic world. That Islam is against human imagery. When there is nothing in the Holy Quran and there is no injunction against it, then how comes this is taken as a factual supermacy? Take for instance the CALIPH COINS just a few decades after the Prophet. They reveal the Caliph of Islam on the coin itself. And the practice went on and on. Oleg Grabar gave us a fantastic study of this background and it is worthy to read him oneself. The most beautiful statement of Grabar is that the HOLY KAABA was a museum in itself, for that is where the Prophet (PBUH) instructed people to place the various artifacts collected from all over the world. Sources reveal that not only figurative painting but full size human sculptures were common in Islamic civilization and in every square in the great cities, the sculpture of the ruler was placed there. Wishful thinking! Absolutely not.

We had proof of this from various historical sources. For instance the people of SIND put a statue of MUHAMMED BIN QASIM in their city square, once he was gone. He was so much loved and cherished in the country he had conquered, not only by battles but also by the show of his heart and culture to people. Even the wife (also a sister) of Raja Dahir fell in love with Qasim and married him.The same thing gets repeated elsewhere.

Some time back German explorers took out the remains of ANCIENT MUSLIM CITIES LIKE SAMARA. In QASR el HEIR el GHARABI DANIEL SCHLUMBERGER has written DETAILS OF THE CITY. And behold a life size sculpture of the Caliph was found in the ruins. It is published but rare in view. We here present a first class view of same. As well as a view from another ancient Islamic city. These are very rare. Enjoy. Islam in ijjtehad is the most progressive way of life and says YES to culture, never negates it.

BELITTLING DR ALLAMA IQBAL:
OLD AND NEW STRATEGIES.

A long standing friend revealed his low IQ after a long time. He simply said ‘What was Iqbal?’ in a demeaning way. ‘Certainly not a philosopher, perhaps, yes merely a children poet’. It was a stunning revelation, and he went out blurting his father’s statement, that Iqbal used to write obnoxious verses on his favourite prostitutes of Lahore. Most Mullahs generate an alcoholic impression of Iqbal, and a relative came back from the USA with the knowledge that Iqbal was a murderer too. The Hindu lobby was projecting on their blogs that he was even a murderer of a prostitute of Hira Mandi Lahore. A so called ‘hamdard’ of Iqbal was projecting that when Iqbal said salam to a citizen of Lahore, the man to spite him, uncovered himself by throwing down his dhoti. A famous Pakistani lesbian termed both Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal as homosexuals and then retracted her statement after she lit anxiety in many quarters, and she could not handle the fall out, for in certain quarters abroad, it was a positive thing. Add more and more juicy things. Belittle the message of Dr Allama Iqbal, the founder of the idea of Pakistan. The Iqballian thinking dangerous for the enemies of Pakistan.

The Chughtai Artist house was a meeting place of the best and worst of Pakistan. The writers, the poets, the artists, the bureaucrats, you could see most of the bigger names at home all the time. Hafeez Jullundri would come with his British wife , laughing loud with the artist Chughtai. ‘Abhi to main jawan hoon’, surely. Faiz could emit cigar smoke from his mouth like a chimney gone awry. One could even see Hanif Ramay on his bicycle, coming to get some designs made for his magazine. Qudratullah Shahab spun his magic. Sufi Ghulam Tabbassum much loved. The list is endless and no time to list all of them. Dr Nazeer Ahmad and Dr Muhammed Din Taseer were particularly close. Colonel Majeed Malik could take the nomenclature of being Chughtai’s best friend. Pitras Bokhari also lived nearby, and was a close associate. Of course Agha Babar had his own episodes to trace. Ikram Sahib, federal secretary could talk of the book he wrote on Pakistan and took advantage of Chughtai all the time. Justice S. A Rahman was there too. When the Chief Justice got slapped by the daughter of a famous politician, at a function at Alhamra, it was not an ordinary affair, and S.A Rahman proved that he was a gentle lamb. You name it, we saw them at home. These were the people who promoted URDU as the language of Pakistan, and all of them were fanatics about the modern language of Islam.

A longer time back, after work was done, there was a habit in the house. The three Chughtai brothers, Abdur Rahman, Abdullah and Abdur Raheem would move with Dr M D Taseer and they would all go to the house of Dr Muhammed Iqbal and till late at night, chat their hearts out. The laughter of them would reverberate long distance away. Dr Iqbal would not mutter English, or Urdu, or Persian, but share jokes and pleasures in plain Punjabi. It went on for nearly twenty years. Even at the Round Table Conference in London in 1932, Abdur Rahman Chughtai was there with Dr Iqbal. That is why tears would come to the eyes of Chughtai when he would recount Iqbal. And again and again he could say ‘hazar sal nargis apni bay noori pay roti hai bari mushkal say hota hai chaman may deeda war paida.’
IQBAL WAS NOT A GREEK ARM CHAIR THINKER. He reached the people direct in Badshahi mosque, Sheranawala gate School or Islamia College or elsewhere. He addressed people and people wept at the plight of Muslims all over the wold. Iqbal has channeled the NATIONHOOD of people, indeed he had reconstructed Islam as a religion in his sayings to people itself. People wept with him. And the environment of Lahore was anti-Mullah in all way. The Quranic revolution was going on here in the Chinay-wali masjid Lahore. It ended in Lahore hosting Ghulam Ahmad Pervaiz, the Adviser on Islamic Affairs to the Quaid-e-Azam himself.

To paint such a philosopher in lower light is the mind of wicked foxes and senile crows all over the world. Dr Iqbal was a man par excellence A true Mard-e-momin. His message was simple Islam had got Persianized with time and the Persian version was in vogue here. Iqbal stressed a back to original Islam position, back to the Arab foundation, back to the Quran itself. The people who had distorted Islam through the centuries fumed at the gall of the man trying to bring in renaissance, to undo centuries of Mullah’s mischievous conceptions.

The hypocrisy of promoting Iqbal in Pakistan is evident too. Lip service alone, not a reconsideration of ijjtehad in Islam. Except for permanent values given by Allah, everything else can be changed by common consent. Democracy very relevant here. Pakistan was the first step in telling the world the beauty of the Islamic system to live peacefully in co-existence with the world, without sacrificing an iota of self respect and equality of the nation as a whole. In the end we have to prevail, if not for ourselves, for our salat to Allah Al-Mighty.

MANIPULATING QUAID-E-AZAM ALL THE TIME!
THE NEVER HEARD SPEECHES OF THE MARD-E-MOMIN.

How sad things become? Quaid-e-Azam one of the greatest Muslim of his century, and a reformer par excellence, and Maulana Maudoodi, also termed as a modern reformer, used to call him ‘Kafir-e-Azam’. A reflection obviously of the Mullahs of that time. A group of Mullahs approached Quaid-e-Azam for a grant of Fifty thousand rupees, for which the Mullah community would support the cause of Pakistan. Obviously our Quaid refused the gall of those ignoramus to talk to him like that. The result most of the Mullahs opposed him tooth and nail. And they continue this policy to this day. Opposing Pakistan for Muhammed Ali Jinnah made it. And then Jawarlal Nehru kicked them in their butts and sent them packing to Pakistan to derail the new country.

And then the other side of the coin. The so called seculars in the country. Not knowing even an iota of Islam, they started the hype of a Secular Jinnah. I need not talk in detail of both, and for the Secular question, the best books are ‘Secular Jinnah’ by Saleena Kareem and ‘Pakistan’ by Inam Khawaja. Both expose the tirade of foreign lobbies against the Islamic content of the new country. Justice Munir went to the horrible extent of distorting a quote of Quaid’s by translating a translated version and fitting it in the pattern demanded by his sponsors abroad.

A news startled us today. The American government shut down today in political squabbles, disregarding the plight of it’s citizens. Utterly amazing, but understandable. As long as a pliant public is there, governments will continue to do the impossible- disregard the welfare of the people. I do not think the Pakistani government can ever be shut down, as long as the public remains. Once the public is dead, these brilliant politicians will depart for other homes, and find that they do not enjoy their previous clout at all. Then they would realize what nation-less citizens feel in life. Hazrat Umar used to stroll in disguise amongst the public to find the truth. So did Caliph Haroon-ur-Rasheed. Even Mahmud Ghaznavi had a private network to report to him the feelings of the people at large. Qutb-uddin Aibak embarked upon a grand plan of public rehabilitation. The Sultans and the Kings of this region tried their best to help the general public. Roads, Caravan series, free food boarding and lodging for people, expediting business in well. Just pick up contemporary records and you are startled how misleading is modern hype actually. Schools, colleges all were there. Professionals teaching their trades. Love of aesthetics aside, there was emphasis on mathematics, astronomy, geology, mining, manufacture of goods and Goods and services being done. Inter regional trade going on.Scientists calculating the circumference of the earth itself. Astrolabes measuring position of the stars. Ships and carriages being built. Arms and ammunition, yes, The finest swords in the world, with their own patented steel. Every period tried their best to solve things.And silly ads telling us to learn alif and bay only. And yes all that under KINGS.
In 65 years of Pakistan, the experiment between democracy and other systems have been tried all the time. Yes democracy worked under leaders like Quaid e Azam, and we see him stranded in an ambulance on the street of Karachi, awaiting help. And It was Quaid who told Dr Elahi Baksh that Liaquat Ali Khan had come just to see if he was still alive or not. ‘Tell him I am not dead yet’. I think people are knowing that well that democracy has utterly failed in Pakistan. Today the system will not elect Quaid e Azam himself from a local bodies election. And this Quaid who was fit to rule the entire world and to give his best to all, regardless of caste, color and creed.
Everyone in their hearts know that the greatest progress in Pakistan has been under the three military rules in Pakistan. The so called Parliamentary democracy (held in contempt by Quaid e Azam himself, for he believed in French Presidential system). What Field Marshal Ayub Khan did, no one has been able to do this day. And he resigned as a gentleman, and died a mysterious death in his house. The wife found him dead on his sofa in the morning after a tea session with unknown persons. I need not repeat what he did. From Islamabad the capital, to the water dams all over Pakistan, to progress in every field in the country. Pakistan won at games, sports, events. Musical and dance champions. When President Ayub waltzed in a dance with Queen Elizabeth, or was received by the Kennedys at the US Airport. It was respect that he gave to Pakistan all the time. No one can deny what he did for his country. And President Zia ul Haque is considered a demon now, but his achievements were not the less. He was no intellectual nor could understand any intricacy. But he did learn. He learnt what he did not know. And yes he died a martyred death under all counts. The Pervaiz Musharraf rule with all its flaws was still a brilliant one with his rhetoric of ‘Pakistan first’. Actually it is always Islam that is first and the saying was not Islamic in content. But he held the country intact too.

Once upon a time Kings used to educate their young Princes in art of national governance. The Prince was taught everything, from waging war to writing poetry. Our leaders cannot even sign their names properly with their rustic educational backgrounds and zero knowledge of world. A Prince was supposed to have acquired knowledge through books. I do not find book reading the fascination of any political leader.
Why did the Military fail three times? Because THOSE WERE NOT MILITARY COUPS AT All. They were military interventions at the BEHEST OF THE PUBLIC AT LARGE who got tired of the way things were going in the country. If you want to analyze a Military Coup, look at what has happened in Egypt. There it is a military coup, ousting a party with 65% backing of people. Or what happened in Iran when the government of Prime Minister Mussadaq was removed for the Shahenshah of Iran? Or elsewhere in many countries. Here the Military suffered for it aligned itself with politicians who helped in the failure of their rules. If they had left the admin to themselves, things would never have gone wrong.
Why is it so? For the Military comes from middle class families, with educational background and profound love for Pakistan. Betrayal to the country is not in their folklore. And they go though a rigid process of merit till the end. And then merit stops. And politicians take over.
The Quran speaks of values which are permanent and those which people can change through mutual agreement and majority rule. Democracy is not alien in concept to Islam, but there are limits to the power of democracy, for power and the principles are the prerogative of the one and only one Almighty Allah, and as taught to us by his last prophet, Hazrat Muhammed May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him.
An American lawyer from USA has aptly said that the Constitution of Pakistan was not made by a Constituent assembly and one can find legal issues to question its imposition. But that is not our task!
Our task is to make Pakistan strong, and we have to see why in this century, even our pedestrian cannot cross a road properly, and yet we can still make a nuclear bomb on our own. The disparity between haves and have nots have to be removed for Islam to emerge in the world in its fullest sense. Pakistan Forever! Pakistan Paindabad.