IMPRESSIONS

My book “ Impressions” pretends to no originality or much independent scholarship. These are expressions of the fragments of my experiences that I gleaned in my 73 years’ life. It has been written with an aim to evincing the emotions, feelings, longings of a man of a middle /lower middle class, who is born, grew, educated and groomed in a society where ignorance is deeply permeated. The tree of failing owes immensely to the ignorance of Muslim clergy : Mostly it is owing to the malady of our narcissism and the false superiority complex. What’s more we are happy with the retrogressive stance that our religion provides us with everything and as Muslims it is okay for us to be in the Medieval Ages, to have no modern benefits of modern civilization. “ This imperialistic impulse to rule the world is not just visible in the subcontinent; it was felt in the earliest parts of Islam, in the first period of Caliphate, when it was given out to the world that we are the best people, ordained by divine authority, to rule the world.” This attitudehas played a vital role to create mental reservations against the modern knowledge and the wonders of science.

Since the early period of Abbasids with the initiation of ‘Rationalist Movement’ which denies the conservative dogma of the eternity of the Quran, there have been a dog fight between the adherents of creeds and the rationalists in the Islamic world. Both the schools of thought are extremists and are not ready to adopt the strategy of accommodation with each other. One abuses the intellect because it ‘robes man of his wealth’ while the other exiles the believer from the species of man.

Allama Iqbal : “ The essence of religion, on the other hand, is faith; and faith, like the bird, sees its ‘ trackless way’ unattended by intellect which, in the words of the great mystic poet of Islam, ‘ only waylays the living heart of man and robs it of the invisible wealth of that lies within.”

W.K. Clifford. “ Man is a rational animal, and to have blind faith in anything itself exiles him from the species of human beings.”

The wrangling of the champions of “Faith” and “ Intellect” has confused and harassed the common Muslims whose comprehension fails to garner something pleasant and valuable from ‘faith’ or ‘intellect’. It has only helped widening the gulf among the groups in Muslim society with different explanations of some important injunctions of Quran and the traditions of the religion of Islam. I have tried to illustrate how a man of an average intellect belonging to a middle class have to travel a trackless desert of life.

Muhammad Asghar Butt.

M.A {English, Pol. Science}

Government Degree College of Commerce,

Sialkot.

Part 1

Impressions

(Muhammad Asghar Butt)

According to my Matriculation Certificate my date of birth is 14^th February 1937, 14^th February is a romantic day significant with so many love stories. As I am starry-eyed from my childhood, it seems the synchronizing of my birth day with Valentine Day has impact on my nature.

My parents belong to a Kashmiri family. There is a tale relating to my childhood. I was only five or six years, when my father took me to the holy shrine of Da’ta ga’j bakh’sk at Lahore. My father often used to tell a story of my foolishness but sharp memory. This runs as: My father after performing the necessary ceremonies and offering prayers for me and other members of the family betterment and welfare set out home wards adopting a way other than the one we used while going to the holy shrine. I began weeping, without telling any cause of my weeping. On persistent asking the cause of my weeping I told them that they had forgotten the way.

When I became able to recognize the atmosphere around me, I found three sisters and my parents most loving and caressing. Though my parents were with meagre income, yet I was lucky enough to find loving care, compassion and fondness in profusion from every body of the family. I was the only son of my parents, my sisters and parents took me as a special gift from their God. My sisters became disturbed at my late coming to my home. The income of my father was meagre enough to meet the expenses of my study, specially when I joined Murray College for graduation. My two sisters were lady teachers, and they were generous in financing me during my stay at the college. I could not do my B.A; in my first attempt. God is Great : He only knows the secrets of every and all beings. My failure proved a blessing in disguise. I joined Govt. Commercial Centre, Sialkot to learn the art of shorthand and type writing along with preliminary knowledge of office routine. This centre at that time was producing clerical staff to meet the requirements of the Government and private offices. It was very old institution. It was established in 1910. There were only four such post matriculate institutions in the whole West Pakistan. Under 1956 constitution the four provinces of West Pakistan were brought into one unit. These Govt. Commercial Centres were situated at Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Multan and Peshawar. These Commercial Centres were attached with the Government high schools in their respective area under the headmastership of the High Schools. After Marshal Law in 1958, the military regime introduced a commercial-technical oriented education programme with the inauguration of The Directorate of Technical Education to promote the commercial and technical education in the country. Under the new regime the technical and commercial education progressed rapidly. In every district of the country, at least one Institute, equivalent to Intermediate Commercial College was established

First Row: Mr. Abdul Hafeez [teacher] Eshan Huq [Principal]M. Asghar Butt [ teacher] Kh. Yousaf [teacher]2^nd Row Students.

My fate and the commercial education.

I failed in my first attempt to do my B.A;. In order to get stipend, that was given by the government to all the F.As, and upwards to attract the candidates for the commercial education. In 1960, I did my B.A; along with a Certificate in commercial education from the Govt. Commercial Centre Sialkot. My fate began to help me generously. My loveliest and the most compassionate teacher in my life met me here in this Commercial College. The Principal of the College, Mr. Eshan Ul Haq Qureshi, was one of the most honourable and experienced persons in my life. He helped his students to the last extent. He was my benefactor, and I was his most favourite pupil. In making my career I cannot forget his most loving care and persistent assistance. But for his help in this respect, I would not have been the Principal of a Degree College. He helped me in all possible ways.

Mr. Eshan Ul Haq Qureshi.

He was a handsome, impressive young man, fashionably dressed according to his time, when I met him first time. He was able to establish himself as a teacher without difficulty. His greatest quality as a teacher was his devotion to duty, affection for his students and a singular desire to serve others. His main ambition in life was to live as a real teacher and it was due to his ambition that he was never dissatisfied with his circumstances. He was a man of lively imagination and it was his memory and imagination which kept him in good spirits in his eventful life.

He took life “ a walking shadow” {Shakespeare}, a plaything, and played with it well. He was an institution in himself. He took religion, politics, education and employment as dolls to pay with. He enjoyed life to its core. It was his appearance, but I do not know whether he had any grief in his life. He might have, because he was a human being. Towards the end of his life, he had a strong desire to write his memoirs and the history of commercial education during his time. But that he could not do although he had jotted down some desultory notes. He is no more in this world. May God bless him with infinite bounties, amen. My other teacher in this college was Mr. Hafeez Butt. He is a simple, noble and pious man. He is less worldly and more religious man. He nowadays is enjoying the life of a pensioner like me. I pray for his peaceful old age.

I joined Sadiq Govt. Commercial Institute Bahawalpur on 18^th April, 1960. Today is 19^th March 2011, about 51 years has passed. There I met Mr. Arshad Mufti, the Principal of the Institute.

Mr. Arshad Ahmad Mufti was a man of an average ability, but used to boast of his ability and efficiency in teaching short hand. He left many stories attached with him. I would only repeat one of them.

In the examination of 1960, I was appointed as an invigilator. The superintendent of the examination was Mr. Muhammad Ali, his old colleague and enemy. Up to that time, the papers of shorthand were distributed among the students, it was a practice in the Govt: Sadiq Commercial Institute Bahawalpur. And the result had been hundred percent since long time. This time Mr. Muhammad Ali told me to be honest in our duty. His decision certainly was hued and spiced with his enmity with Mr. Mufti, the head of the institute. The dictation of shorthand was given with three speeds, at the speed of 90, 100, 110 wpm. I gave dictation according to the rules, and the result was, all the students failed in shorthand. I expressed my regrets over this ugly situation. He told me frankly that his students could not take dictation less than at the speed of 115 wpm, and the speed of my dictation was less than 115 wpm, and that was the cause of the utter failure of the students. All those who know abc of this art know that it was the biggest absurdity that a man can expect from a teacher of the art of shorthand. However he had a tender heart. He was very kind to me. He daily gave me refreshment of tea. I am very grateful to him. He is no more in this world. I pray to God to bless him with so many blessings. After sometimes the staff of the institute got me in confidence and made me against him. I was entrapped. It was my blunder. There were strains in our relations, and therefore I successfully tried my transfer to Quetta. In Quetta there was my teacher, Mr. Hafeez Butt running the institute. After two months or so he got himself transferred to Lahore.

Mr. Afzal Qureshi took the charge of the College. He was a very gentle man. He always treated me as his younger brother. We became very good friends. I respected him very much. I do no know whether he is alive or dead. My all respects and regards are for him. He will remain in the nearest corner of my heart. My next boss was Mr. Khurshed A’lim Bhatti, he belonged to a country side, and possessed very rough habits and tough tongue. One very interesting story of his knowledge I cannot help to reproduce here. Though he stayed in U.K. for one year for studies, he did not know the use of a telephone. Once so happened that he had to attend a call on telephone. He held the receiver in a wrong way, and began to cry, “ Mr. Bhatti is speaking”. When he failed to hear any voice, he asked me why the voice was not coming from the telephone. I hinted at his mistake.

The staff members of these Institutes were non- gazette. All of a sudden, one Sunday, when I went to the College to collect newspapers and other dock of the office, found a bundle of a gazette notification containing my promotion. I was promoted as an instructor from a junior instructor and transferred to Rawalpindi. It was 2^nd gazette post, and my boss was promoted as Principal, it was class I post and transferred to Hyderabad. I remained at Rawalpindi Institute for one year and then was made acting Principal to open a new institute at Kohat. At that time, 1964, I was hardly 28 years old. In Kohat the people were not zealous to get commercial education. There the strength of the students in this province remained unsatisfactory for a long time. During my stay two important events occurred. During the war 1965, I was in Kohat. Some members of my family came from Sialkot to Kohat to take shelter on account of the bomb drops on Sialkot on 7^th September 1965. We all were sleeping in one room of the institute. The ceiling fan was working. My sister in law felt cold and asked to switch it off. I tried to do it, but the button of a bulb was switched on and there was light not more than a friction of a second because I immediately realized the mistake, and switched it off. Within a very short period a raid of some very rude and rough youngsters was made on the main gate of the building with abusing that all the Punjabis were traitors. They in some way were not to be blamed for this rough behaviour, because there was an air raid at the same time. I was brought to the In charge of the operation to watch the security of the city. He was a very gentle man. He behaved with me very courteously. He asked me to stay there for some time so that the wrath of the crowd might come abated. It was a very terrible experience for me and for my family members.

Other bad experience, I experienced, was a fraud of my clerk who misappropriated seven thousand rupees tampering the documents of the institute. He blamed me for this misappropriation of the government funds. His name is Mr. Inn am Ul Haq. He is the son of my teacher and the brother of my then Hum Zulif. It could be proved a danger to my employment. But in the court trial it was proved squarely that the convict was the clerk of the Institute alone.

In Kohat I found some very strange and nasty practices and traditions. Once my two staff members quarreled on the issue who would pay the fee of a handsome student. In the beginning I could not understand the problem, but later on I was made understand that that was the case of sodomy, and both the teachers were quarrelling to win the boy. I could do nothing in this matter because it was a deep rooted practice in that society. A more strange story I am going to tell you. One member of my staff hailing to Lahore was addicted to drugs. One day, I was told that he was going to marry with a two -in –one (eunuch ). It was a practice in that society; one can marry a two-in-one with all duties and obligations of a marriage.

I was transferred to D. G. Khan Govt. Commercial College. In D..G .Khan, there was a member of my staff who possessed strange habits. He continuously took more than one week the meal consisting of one or the other vegetable. He slept in one small room without using fan in scorching heat of summer. He used to sleep putting her feet towards Kiblah. He said that Namaz is an imitation of behaviour of a camel. The people and the students of D.G. Khan were very conservative and religious minded. The students lodged a complaint against the behaviour of the teacher. I told him that it was not fair and right in any morality to injure the feelings of the others. Hence he should desist from this activity because it injures the religious susceptibilities of the students. He was wise enough and afterwards he never did it again. He proved my right hand in the discharge of my office duties.

Though my family moved with me, yet I soon became fed up with the travel I had to undertake on account of my job far away from my parents. I began to feel homesickness, and tried my best to come to my home city. But all my efforts failed. My dear and most respected teacher, Eshan Ul Huq Qureshi, my reverent teacher, made a plan and executed it successfully. Here in Sialkot Government College was an instructor of Urdu, he was willing to go to D.G. Khan. My transfer became possible on account of his willingness to take my place, and I was transferred to Sialkot as instructor. In pay and other privileges there was no difference because I was at that time acting principal working with my own pay and allowances. I remained here for ten years. In 1978, when again there was Marshal Law regime, the speed of opening of the commercial and technical institutions accelerated. I was ordered to open a new Govt. Commercial College at Narowal, It was then a Tehsil of Sialkot. After one year I was made Principal. At Narowal, I passed about 4 years, when there occurred a confrontation between the joint director and myself at the Govt. Commercial Institute Mian wali . I was appointed as a superintendent of examination to conduct the examination of that year. I did not think it necessary to get the permission from the department. The joint director came there on some official duty. I complained against the department that it was biased to prefer the staff of the technical wing to the commercial wing, and the joint director should be from the commercial wing. The joint director belonged to the technical wing. He was narrow minded and could not pocket such complaint. He resolved to tease me. He immediately called my explanation for doing my duty as superintendent of examination at Mian Wali without getting prior permission of the department. I showed a strong reaction, and quoted so many persons who did their duty without getting permission from the department. In response to it I was transferred to Govt. Commercial College Patoki. In one year there was a change in the directorate, and a very favourable man of my dearest and most respected teacher, Mr. Sheikh Munir, took the charge of the DTE Punjab. My teacher endeavoured successfully to bring me Sialkot. At that time my teacher referred to was on retirement. Meantime I applied for my retirement with the service of 28 years, 9 years earlier than my superannuation. Mr. Munir, the new director urged me not to retire but I remained adamant and went on retirement from Ist May 1988. During my three years stay here I got the institute up graded and made first admission for B.Com classes. I did my best to improve the bad condition of the institute. There was even no arrangement of water to drink and for other purposes. I did all possible things that I could within the meagre means of the Institute. During my stay at this institute, there were some teachers remarkable for their respective characteristics. Mr. Sheikh Nisar was very obedient, courteous and well dressed. I used to say that there were only two persons who had the rights of the title of modern teachers. One was myself and the other was Mr. Nisar. The other teachers did not look modern and efficient from their appearance. There had been a bitterness between myself and the joint director, and therefore I applied for the pre-mature retirement. Mr. Munir was the present director he asked me to withdraw my application for the retirement, but I refused to do so. In this matter my ambition to visit U.K was surging in my bosom, and I did a great blunder not to accept the proposal of the Director. Certainly I lost very much in the matter of finance. After my retirement there occurred so many opportunities of the better pay and other fringe benefits in the technical and commercial education.

My employment in Commercial Education.

Impressions.

I am lucky enough in the field of education and procurement of a job. In the absence of my employment in commercial education, the circumstances coupled with my nature, which is somewhat obstinate, I would have been a member of clerical staff till my retirement. Fate helped me in promoting my education. I feel that I obtained more in this respect than the energy and time I put to undertake the obligations. In brief, this leads me to believe the existence of some mysterious power which played a part in shaping my life as a teacher because I could not even dream to become a member of a teaching staff of an academic institution. However my premature retirement was a blunder. It caused me a lot of loss in financial matter. It was not the unfriendly behaviour of my fate; it was rather the error of my hasty temperament.

My first journey to U.K.

I went abroad in the month of July 1990. My brother in law along with his wife came at the airport to receive me, I left Punjab in a scorching heat, but in Manchester, I found friendly weather and charming scene. When I came out the airport and cast my gaze on the sky I found the clouds in the sky were racing, and under the sky the panorama was more alluring and captivating: the young girls, the daughters of the Eve with disheveled hair, shinning eyes, beaming faces and full to bursting breasts was enough to martyr the sons of the Adam .

We reached Old Ham after a journey of 40 minutes. At home I took refreshment and went to PUB for drink on the suggestion of Mr. Amjid, my brother in law. There at home was also my elder brother in law with his wife, Mrs. Zafar Zora. Both are not in this world. May God bless them with HIS bounties. At the pub there occurred a nasty dispute between the two brothers, and the atmosphere became cloudy. Anyhow I felt here persuaded to state that both the brothers proved to be very petty and miserly . The dispute was on an old carpet that was given to the younger brother by the elder brother. And in this dispute Mrs. Amjid was made the victim of the cruelty of her husband because she brought that rubbish carpet for use in her house. I had to return home because of the foolish and poor attitude of my brother in- law with me.

I stayed there 22 days only with my brother in law and his family. He proved a man of low mentality. He was the most uncivilized and uncultured man in the circle of my relatives. He daily badly abused his wife for nothing. This seemed his food along with his drink. I became disgusted at his behaviour and returned to my home after 22 days. My second visit to U.K. was on account of my elder son. He was there and desired strongly for his family to be there with him. I took his family and reached Manchester airport on 12^th August 1994. When I descended from the plane, I found the rehearsal of the previous panorama.

It is a welfare state. The Government is responsible for food, house, medical care and education for everybody living in the Kingdom with the permission of the Government. My first stay in U.K. was unpleasant . My second stay was pleasant but the force that goaded and impelled me to come back home after 6 months was the fascination and charm of the company of my best friend, Qazi Tariq (late).

My father and his family members:

My father.

His name is Abdul Ghani Butt. He is the son of Hafiz Ghulam Rasool, resident of Qila Soba sing. He migrated to Sialkot City in search of livelihood, stayed with his maternal grandparents. He was a lock maker. Really, it is true that he was advanced than I am in thinking and worldly affairs though he was quite illiterate. I still remember the anecdotes he told me and my sisters in our childhood. In his youth he was a strong man, enjoyed good health. He was very friendly and kind to all his children. He was very hard working, and worked hard for the welfare and betterment of our future. We love him very much. He is not now among us, and we all of us missed him very badly. He lives in our hearts with all our feelings of love and respect for him. He was a good father. He has a ting of mysticism and often absorbed in the sway of it. I have no words to describe his this attitude; he enjoyed ecstatic moods:

“To the mystic, the mystic state is a moment of intimate association with a unique other self, transcending, encompassing, and momentarily suppressing the private personality of the subject”[ Iqbal]. “ The drop slipping into the sea”.[Ghalib]. I think to have some moments of such moods is the supreme achievement of life. And he was blessed with this gift by God.

My mother:

The name of my mother is Begum Noor Johan. She was a very simple woman. She was slim and hardworking domestic woman. She was a very good mother, and has devoted her life for the comforts of her children. We were five brother and sisters: four sisters and one brother, and that is myself. In our society, which is men dominated society, my mother and father never took my sisters a burden, and whole heartedly loved them. I feel it apt to appreciate their attitude. My mother never grudged in any way to bring up her female children. Irrespective to sex she showered the same love and care upon her all children. In a society where it was blasphemy to give education to daughters, my parents took courage to given them education as far as possible. I feel proud of my parents who did all possible to educate their children. I have complaint against the treatment of God who left no efforts to give my father and mother all sorts of pains in their old age. Both of them died in a very terrible condition. To the best of my knowledge and belief they did not deserve such punishment that God very ‘graciously’ awarded to them. They were simple, hard workers and honest to any standard determined by any religion and morality . This has weaken my faith in the justice of Almighty., and had led me to think the truth of the saying of Hardy,” And then the President of immortals ended his sports with Tess”. And Shakespeare’s famous quotation ,” As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods, they kill for their sports” May God bless my mother with infinite blessings, Amen.

My parents’ home.

Impressions

The memoirs of my childhood and boyhood are fragmentary, isolated and simultaneous as one remembers some glimpses of his past life. I feel elated to find myself as one of the luckiest babies who opened their eyes and grew in a compassionate and lovely atmosphere. My parents and my sisters loved me madly and thought that I was a special gift from God for them. There was friendly and lovely atmosphere in every corner of the house. Life felt jealous when peeps through the window of our house. Every member of the family enjoyed the thrills of hearts of the other members of the family for him/her. My mother and father though illiterate, yet enjoyed the fresh air through the open windows of their minds. They were kind, sympathetic and loving with everyone. Though they were poor but possessed generous hearts. I never found any sort of prejudice in them. Although they were true Muslim, yet they never evinced any trace of repulsion for any other faith. They were liberal in all activities of life: this helped a lot in getting tranquility of all kinds in the home. Of course there had been some ripples but no storm in the smooth sailing on the sea of our home life. This wholesome environment spiritual and physical has a deep impact in shaping and colouring my temperament and outlook. I enjoyed complete freedom in my activities throughout my life. There was no restrictions on me whatsoever. Traditional harshness of the elders was alien to our door. The atmosphere of liberty at home in every walks of life made me liberal in my thinking. And I began to love the saying of Holy Christ : “ LOVE THY ENEMY”. Love to all, hate to none.

My family

The ceremony of my marriage with Miss. Rashida took place on 29^th April 1962. One year earlier Naka formalities had been completed. At that time I was in Quetta, and was very much disturbed by my loneliness. I wrote at home that it was not possible for me to wait for a long time without my life companion. I was obstinate on my demand for the early marriage. It is relevant to mention here that to remain solitary had become too difficult for me on account of my very strong and persistent urge for the companionship to avoid my loneliness in a far flung city.

After fifteen days of my marriage, I took my wife with me to Quetta. I reached the city by train while she came by air. Still the beautiful scene of her descending from the ladder of the plane, wearing a beautiful sari, she seemed a fairy and not the creature of this earth, is imprinted in deep recesses of my memory.

My wife Rashida Asghar Butt

She was very healthy, beautiful enjoying good constitution from every aspect of her body. I enjoyed her beauty to my heart content. She was so captivating that I soon forgot all my romances with my previous fiancée. She had been a good partner in my enjoyment of youth. After about one year I was transferred to Rawalpindi with promotion. I now was a gazetted officer. She gave birth to a female baby. Our first child is very beautiful and lucky. My wife is now becoming old rapidly. She has undergone three major operations. She feels pain in her spinal cord. She is not educated. She can read and write only. She had enjoyed along with me her youth very much. I am a liberal man and do not believe in useless restrictions for Purdha etc for women. Moreover I believe a woman is a creator, and merits respect from all corners of the society.

I am the father of two daughters and two sons. All of them are independent and living with their families.

Family

Impressions.

Life is an amalgamation of tears and smiles, is true to my domestic life. I gained much pleasure from my family and also taken to heart much pangs to bear for no fault of mine. My sons did not come up to my expectations in any aspects of life. Though I spent a great part of life in learning and teaching as a teacher and Principal, but my sons could not complete their education. Moreover the bitterness in this matter is that they blamed me for not using ‘ cane’ in their bringing up. Perhaps they are right because my parents never devised a path of my future life. I tested the same formula and gave them much freedom to tailor their own future. It was my wrong thinking. They needed chastisement that I could not know in time. However my family life is better than that of most of my friends and relatives. In the afternoon of my life, I am satisfied with my familial atmosphere. No doubts there had been some inundation to disturb the smooth sailing of the boat of my family life in the past but now the strong waves have subsided and the ebb and flow is normal in my routine life.

Friends

There are so many my friends but I will record only those who have left a deep impact on my life.

Mr. Jamil Qureshi

He entered my life when I was in seventh class in the Government High School, Sialkot. He was a polished boy, but not a good student. He could not complete his education. With the help of his elder brother, he opened a Medical Store. He went to Lahore. We became estrangers. However after a long period we met in Lahore when I was on an official tour. After this meeting we again, for a long time, forgot each other. He is now dead. May God bless him.

Miss Iram: (late) was his uncle’s daughter. She was my student of M.A; English. I got from her his address, and wrote a letter to him. He responded me in good spirits. Thenceforward we remained in communication through telephone. In 2005, my wife was admitted in Al Sheikh hospital, I went to see her, and took the opportunity to meet him. I was struck with grief to see him. He is altogether changed physically, financially and spiritually. He is somewhat handicapped on account of remaining ill for seven years. He has become a staunch religious man. I was stunned to find the conversion from a healthy and liberal man to an ailing and fanatic man. We passed a part of boyhood in a very happy and good days. Often I recall these days, and am refreshed with the sweet memories of those golden days. During our friendship, it was the time of our boyhood therefore I was not able to get food for my intellect or spiritual appetite in his company, however I did draw instinctive joys in his companionship. I pray for his health and welfare. May God bless him with all gifts he desires. Amen.

Mr. Zaidi.

We remained friends for more than five years. He was romantic by nature. We used to go to the hills situated in the beginning area of Cantonment of Sialkot to watch and get spiritual pleasure of the sun setting. He failed in F.A; and therefore our company became somewhat far and between, but anyhow there remained some tie between us. I joined lsamia College, Sialkot, and this also affected adversely the fellow feelings. After doing his graduation he went to Karachi in search of livelihood. I joined Government Commercial Centre, to get education in Shorthand and Typing. This education proved very beneficial in shaping my financial and academic carrier. He met me twice in all these long years. I do not know at this time whether he is alive or not. I pray to God for his health and welfare if he is alive and in case he is no more on this planet, a cozy place in heavens with 72 Hoors for his service of all kinds.

Mr. Qazi Tariq [late]

He remained in the domain of my friendship for more than 35 years till the cruel death carried him away from me and left me with his indelible memories. He was my best friend. He was an educated and intelligent gentle man. He had a throbbing heart and so many times I did see the manifestations of it. He remained bachelor . He had three sisters and two brothers. But at Sialkot, one sister and two brother were staying with him. It is sad to feel that his two brothers and one sister living at Rawalpindi also left him and went to the silent world. His snatching by the relentless hand of fate from me affected me immensely. I began to feel myself somewhat incomplete, alone and deserted. For a time, his shadow haunted me gravely, but as time is a great healer and sympathizer, I with the passage of time returned to my normal life. But however, I cannot forget the happiest time of my life with him. Often his image visits me sweetly and I feel elevated. It is unfortunate that this happiness does not last for a long time and proves short lived leaving behind sadness and despondency.

He has so affected my body and soul that I could not write further on this topic and leave it on some other time when my mood would permit me to undertake such heartfelt tragic event in form of the death of my the most and the closest friend.

Some couplets from his publication under head “

COLD AVENUE “ [Thandhy Gali ]

Mr. Mushtaq

He was the student of my most beloved friend Mr. Qazi who is not in this world. He is well known for his nice behavior with everybody. He is a polished member of my our company. He always respects me. He is now running a business of screens and printing. By virtue of his veneration for me he commands my respect and honour for him. He is a very gentleman. I pray to God for his prosperity in the business and for his good health.

Mr. Ashraf Qureshi

He is an advocate of High Court. He is a gentleman. He was a friend of my friend Qazi (late). He was a prominent member of the circle of my friends. Probably every Sunday these days he comes to visit me at my house to celebrate the memory of our most beloved friend Qazi Tariq. He belongs to a conservative family and is obsessed with old hackneyed thoughts. I feel happy to find that on account of our discussion on the religious matters he is slowly but surely coming out of the mire of the religious quibbles.

Mr. Nasir

He is a junior member of the circle of our friends. He came to Qazi Tariq to get help in his drafting of letters. He was attracted by the fascination of the assistance of Qazi Tariq, and became his admirer. He is B.Com and deals with the cases of income tax etc. He does not believe in traditionally paranoid creeds and antiquated customs and rituals . He believes in the truth of inventions and discoveries of the present day. He venerates more the great figures of the last century like Karl Max, Darwin, etc than the spiritual personalities of the old and the present. He has read modern philosophy and sociology through translation. But like our Mullah he knows less and cries more.

Friends

Expressions

Sir. Francis Bacon a great essayist in English literature defines a Friend and his functions.

“ Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or god”. “ A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fullness and swellings of the heart”. “ a true friend ; to whom you may impart grief’s, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession”.

I am neither a wild beast nor a god. I am among the spices of animals who is called reasonable and therefore need friends “to ease and discharge of my swelling of my heart that eat my heart as they are cannibals”.

I am lucky enough to have my three sincere friends in my boyhood, youth and in the afternoon of life. They gave me all that I needed at different stages of life.

Romance

The female characters and events are real under this heading but the names are fictitious

Miss Moona

She came in my life when I was in 8^th class. She was a girl of average beauty and intellect. She was a J.V. teacher in a government school. I was the son of a poor man. Hence there were scanty chances of tempting a girl for me. I felt myself lucky when I saw a girl was attracted by me in any way. Being a romantic from the tips of my fingers, I was much fascinated by her. Throughout she paid less attention to me, but I took her as my sweet heart. In April 1960, I got an appointment of a junior instructor in the department of Technical Education, and was posted at the Govt: Sadiq Government Commercial Institute Bahawalpur. In some way, I became independent. I forced my parents to ask for her hand. With my persistent insistence, a simple engagement was made in a v. simple way. But luckily or unluckily it was broken. I remembered that day, when my father shed his tears, and I agreed to do whatever they wanted in the matter of my marriage. The episode runs like this: her parents, especially her elder sister, insisted that on marriage we were bound to take with us only 10 members for marriage ceremony, while my parents insisted on more than fifty. This caused a dispute between them. And I surrendered my ‘choice’ to the tears of my father. Till now I could not decide whether my surrender to the wishes of my parents was symbolic of my obedience to my parents and elder sisters, or weakness in my claim of affection for her. She is no more in this world. May God bless her.

Miss Desdemona

I was a student of 9^th class. I used to memorize my lesson on the roof of my house. One day, it was afternoon of the summer, when to take rest from my reading book, I cast my gaze round, I found a very beautiful lass was looking towards me. I was embarrassed to find such unexpected phenomenon. I took courage, and looked at her, she seemed to be pleased from my gesture. This exchange of looks lasted about 30 minutes. The evening fell and made us impelled to part. I was so much confused and embarrassed that I rushed to my elder sister. She encouraged me and tried to shed off my fear. During our love affairs, I did some very childish actions. One day I in enthusiasm sent her a love letter with a picture of heart pierced through with a dagger made of a broken razor. It was caught by her elder brother. Her brother sent me a message to see him in his house. I was warned by her not to meet her brother. But I met her brother and was advised by him to leave the thought of her sister because she was very clever and I could not pull on with her. Moreover their father was very cruel he added , and that I already knew. Now I think that my poverty and inferiority complex accrued from my bad economic condition was the cause of my failure to win her. Poverty is a curse, I experienced this truth awfully. Some one has embodied this simple truth in these exquisite words :

“ Moonlit of 14h moon of Poo ( a cold month/ December ) and the youth of a poor person both are wasted.” , because the moonlight of Poo is not seen by the people for its severe coldness of the atmosphere, and the youth of a poor young person is not appreciated because of his/her poverty. In this world only Lashmi ( goddess of gold ) is worshiped. These girls met me in my youth and have left an indelible impact on my life.

Miss Pamela

A young and healthy girl named Pamela came into my contact when I was the Principal of the Govt. Commerce College. As I am a born aesthete, a lover of beauty in all forms and manifestations, I was immensely tempted by her youth and innocent beauty. I do not know why she fell in love with me. Anyhow amorous affairs began to grow increasingly with the passage of time. Soon our amorous affairs blossomed and then ripen . She permeated into my soul and body, and the same symptoms were visible in her. She was a teacher in a private school. I encouraged and helped in all ways to improve her education for her better future. I feel delighted to find her in a good position as a senior English teacher getting a handsome salary. When our love affairs were on the peak, they got somehow or the other scandalized. She asked me to marry with her immediately. But it was not possible for me at that time. She gave me the happiest movements of my life. We were very close . I am immensely grateful to her for giving me the happiest moments of life. She is one of the most happy part of my memory. MayGodgivehermanyblessings.

Miss Jessica

She is very charming with her long flowing hair and tempting gait. No doubt her very ‘self’ is tearing one’s soul and ready to sting whosoever casts a vicious eye upon them. On the very first day I remained spell bound to see her charming figure. I was martyred when she cast her smashing looks on me. She talked in beauty; she walked in beauty; she behaved in beauty. She appeared to me a paragon of beauty. Once I remained in ecstasy of intoxication to have a peep into the “valley” between her two beautiful hills. The scene is so imprinted in the core of my heart, that whenever it flashes on my mind , I became frenzy and enjoy it to my heart content. It refreshes my mysticism. But there is also a bad aspect of her personality. Perhaps I am wrong, but it appears to me so. She has a stony heart devoid of any feelings for human beings. She loves dogs, cats, jackals and so many other animals and birds , but does not have the capability to feel for the human beings. It is an enigma for me to understand the heart that feels for animals and birds and does not beat for human beings. It is very hard for me to believe the validity of it. She does feel for human beings but she is too strong willed, like Lady Macbeth, to divulge the contents of her heart/ admit her soft feelings for the person who lives in her heart. I feel apprehended that such strong willed persons, like Lady Macbeth might meet their ruination.

I have tried my best to advise her, through insinuations, the consequences of going against the nature of man, because I have tender feelings for her. The following are my indirect suggestions.

My dear Miss,

“Apropos of your comments on my teaching and the suggested punishment, I do not desire to advise you on any subject. You should have grown enough to know the right and wrong. Notwithstanding my intention and desire not to divulge the secrets of my heart to anybody, but I am being goaded by some mysterious power to do it. That my long and ardent desire is to be taught by you, and further I will take your punishment as an antidote for my spiritual health. Please do it; I am ready to pay anything and everything for it. My spiritual health awfully needs chastisement from ‘ some delicate and pretty hand’. I have this passion since long, and do not like not to avail myself of this golden opportunity. God is great. He is granting me this blissful chance. I will pray 101 Nafuls in gratitude to Him, the Almighty and the Beneficent. He knows the secrets of one’s heart.”

Some words in appreciation of her beauty.

‘It was last Sunday, I was going to offer my DHUAH at the graves of my father and mother. On the way, I came across a marvelous beauty going ahead of me. Her charming long hair were playing blissfully with her hips and she was stumbling in intoxication of her beauty. I was awfully charmed to see such heartfelt phenomenon. After a while when I came into my senses, a current of curiosity ran in me to see the front features of the nymph. I took some long steps and found soon myself ten feet ahead of her. I pretended that I had dropped something on the ground, and stooped to pick it. In this way I saw her bewitching eyes, and full to bursting breasts to sting the man who dared cast an evil eye on them.

I, who is well known for my stupidity among my witches, desired earnestly to take her in my arms and let no body dare claim her. I wished her complete possession. I remained crazy for a time to devise ways and means to get my wish be realized. I compared her beauty with that of yours when I felt spell-bound on your fist visit to me. I could not decide which one of the two BEAUTIES merits ascendancy . And then, and then, I was awaken up by ASHAN of the Maulvi, who have been my enemy since my childhood.

Appearance and reality

There is a great difference between reality and appearance. In this connexion, I well remember an event. I and one of my student were watching with great interest a song with dance on the monitor screen. She was standing behind me holding the back of the chair with disheveled hair. I heard the knocking at the door of my academy. I went to know the problem. There was a man who told me that he wanted a tutor for her daughter. I told him that I was ready for this purpose. Then he asked me my method of teaching. I told him that I taught the students textbooks along with grammar. He told me that his daughter is very young, and he had heard my good reputation. He again and again emphasized upon the youth of his daughter and my nobility. He told me that he wished to teach his daughter grammar work himself at home, and after finishing this he would send his daughter to my academy for the preparation of the examination.

Suppose he came to my teaching class and saw himself the scene of a beautiful girl standing behind me and watching a dance with me. What his opinion would have been about my character. This event made me understand completely the philosophy of appearance and reality. The drama of Achy less’ Oedipus and Shakespeare’s Hamlet could not make me comprehend comprehensively this truth of life, as this event did. I deem it appropriate to say that the student was my favourite student, and I took her as my own daughter.

Romance

Impressions

My experience tells me that fair sex is very sweet, charming, captivating and enriching life. Up to the silver jubilee of life, it is very energizing and elevating, but as life proceeds towards its final goal, the thrills of romantic activities begin to fade away. However it left indelible pleasing treasure to enjoy in the noon of life. As Wordsworth enjoys the scene of daffodils in his pensive mood, I also feel relieved from the worries of the world and burden of old age to recall the supreme movements of my youth passed in the company of faire sex. “ A thing of beauty is a joy for every” is true to my feelings I have in evoking my best days of life. I am very grateful to all nymphs whose sweet memory still gives me elevation and ecstatic moods to kill the pangs of my solitude.

Love

Love, emotion explored in philosophy, religion, and literature, often as either romantic love, the fraternal love of others, or the love of God. Bhakti, a Sanskrit term derived from the verb bhaj, meaning “to love, adore, enjoy, eat, or make love to”; it denotes passionate devotion to a Hindu god, primarily Krishna, Rama, Shiva, or Devi.

Love has been defined in many and varied ways : every one defines it in perspective of his/her experience and knowledge.

Rumi a great mystic poet and spiritual teacher of Allama Iqbal describes love in these lines.

Through love thorns become roses, and

Through love vinegar becomes sweet wine.

Through love misfortune becomes good fortune,

Through love burning fire becomes pleasing light.,

Through love stone becomes soft as butter.”

Perhaps it is rightly said that love does not know caste, status, adversity, prosperity and limit of age. It is blind to these factors. What is this, no one can define it comprehensively. It is a passion with depths and heights for which no scale has been invented to measure its depths or heights. And where and how it originates nobody can tell it. It is a mysterious feeling , when, where, and how it takes place in the heart, no history is there to disclose its true nature. Anyhow the effect and impact of it is visible, sometimes conspicuous on its subject. It creates ecstatic moods, and the subject feels supreme moments. Some believe that these movements in life are the real essence of life in this woeful world.

In the perspective of its history, great thinkers have different views. Some say that it is the result of disorder of the brain, and only feeble minds fall to its victim while [Bacon], others believe that it facilitates and helps men to obtain the highest object of life.

Plato one of the distinguished thinkers of the ages says that true or higher love does not contain the instinct of sex., on the other hand Freud, believes that sex is the hub of all mental and physical activities. He goes to the extent that father loves more his daughter and mother loves more her son is because of the motivation of opposite sex. Hence the discovery of Oedipus Complex and Electra Complex has explored new horizons in the human psychology.

My knowledge and experience lead me to the belief that both are correct and both are wrong when they go to the extreme and deny the existence of the other altogether. It is an emulsion of the two. Love or the passion of love if depends entirely on sex then it will soon disappear after the gratification of sex. And if it is founded on mere imagination with no ting of sex, then it will become soon fatiguing and disgusting after some time. A long separation certainly causes forgetfulness otherwise this world will become a hell where everybody is beset with woes and sufferings of all sorts. Therefore to make passion of love persist, both the rudiments are necessary. The imagination makes it more pure by injecting it with idealism and sex makes it more pragmatic by bringing it on the living world.

“ Love is a game: Two can play and both can win”[a nymph]

But I do not agree to this superficial and hollow significance and dimension of the sacred word love.

Love is not a game: In game each contending party tries its utmost to defeat the other, whereas in love the loser is always the winner. The very edifice of love is erected on sacrifice, and whosoever makes more sacrifice on the altar of love is the winner because in response to it he feels elevated, an ecstasy in his soul. A Saint poet says, “ Meda (my) iman be tou (faith is thou); Meda Jan be tou (my soul and body are you; Meda God be tou (my God is you); Meda Ka’ba be tou (my place of worship is you.)”

Another Saint poet says, “ Samoa kara kaba dhus na aye, shada kaba aye yar the’ah gali’ah. Translation:- Which place of worship are you showing me, my place of worship is the street of my friend (yar).

It is not fair to soil the sacred name of LOVE with game. Love creates mysterious feelings that elevate and transcends you and leads you to the world of ecstasy. It purges all your poisons such as jealousy, revenge, enmity and so many similar vices.

In my conception and perception, love is a passion one has for opposite sex. It is unified and indivisible. However for the smooth sailing of the boat of social life, the society has made so many channels for its ventilation: to avoid the hurdles and trammels in the smooth running of social life, different relationships were formed by the sages of the ages among the society. It is obvious that the relationship of fatherhood, motherhood, sisterhood and brotherhood took place first and foremost. Sexual intercourse was forbidden between these relations in order to make family life solid and peaceful. It must be kept in mind that in the beginning man was an animal and he lived as a beast for millions years. And animals have no such relations. The study of physical anthropology and social anthropology strongly convince us that man was a mere animal about five million years ago and it was a mere incident of the discovery of fire that resulted the modern civilization. For detailed study, please read, “On the Origin of Species” by Darwin. The theory of evolution by selection accepted by all the thinking persons, strongly and convincingly tells that social laws and regulations framed by the elders of the society were made under the compulsions of the needs of the time and place Therefore, we without any fear of contradiction, can designate them the social phenomena and not the need of the nature for manifestation in such forms. To elucidate the point the example of marriage in TIBET can be quoted. There a woman can have four husbands and a man cannot have two wives under the law of the country. Sin is geographical says B. Russell. Anthropology tells us that ‘human nature’ differs widely in various communities, for example in some communities the lending of one’s wife to a guest is considered an indispensable part of hospitality. Infanticide has been prevalent in many countries. Even Plato recommended it as a remedy against over population. It is quite in contradiction of marriage laws prevalent in Muslim Countries where a man can have four wives but a woman cannot have two husbands. It is clear that laws and regulations are made in conformity with the needs of time and place.

To throw more light on my thinking on this matter, I feel persuaded to reproduce my correspondence with Miss Mama rah, my student of M.A; class. My first letter sent to her explaining the nature of love is not available with me. I have lost it somewhere.

Following is the reply of my first letter, which I have lost.

Dear Sir,

“ First of all, I’ will define “love” in very simple words, according to my perception:

“Find yourself in another’s heart is definitely love.

Love brings people together, it binds hearts to hearts.

Love is the source of joy and it makes life worth living.

And whenever there is love, there is fulfillment”.

Sir, you said that story of (a) and (b) , (a) stands for your sister; whereas (b) is your wife. But your love for both of them is not of same kind. Why? I ‘ ill go with your own views that two persons cannot think of same level even two sisters have different opinion about the same thing. So how U may think that your love for two different personalities can be same? Though they are same in physique and mind but they have a lot of differences in other personal characteristics. It is up to U what and how U think and feel of (a) and then (b). There is not just the question of different mothers while it is your feelings that counts here and tell U how U should think about your sister and wife. We can agree with William Shakespeare , “ There is nothing good or bad, but our thinking makes it so”.

Exactly it is your own thinking that makes you feel how to love your beloved and how to love your sister ( in spite of having the same characteristics of mind and physique) But I do not agree with Shakespeare in saying that there is nothing good or bad because I think there exists “ goodness” and “ badness”. I’ ill again go through your statement “ If one does something good, one is beautiful and if one does something bad, one is ugly”. If we think, Shakespeare is right in saying ‘ nothing is good or bad’, we are to disagree with Keats “ Beauty is truth and truth beauty, that is all” , because we have no perfect scale of “goodness” as well as “badness”. We have no picture of evil and good before us.

Sir, as for the question of change of view and laws b/w different countries , nations and religions is concerned it is true there is a hell of difference in concept of crime, vice and sin and for this U have exemplified TIBET, where a woman can have 4 husbands in a time but a man cannot have second wife. To be v. honest, if I would apply this law upon me, I know my husband would never permit me for this even I cant survive with this law. There are some things--- might be included in our blood. Sir leave me I think I cannot express my views about this issue properly. ( I ‘m sorry to say) take yourself for a while, could you survive in the same situation?

I think no way. There are some conventions, traditions and priorities of our forefathers and we have to go with them, and we do obey because we know the ways of our ancestors are fit for us. And I think we should be blind of the laws of TEBET like. In fact these laws are MAN MADE. If we go through the teachings of Islam and Holy Quran, Allah has convey the good news for men that they will find untouched nymphs in heaven but--- He had told nothing about women of Heaven. He had kept women in veil, so how can He bear that a woman may have 4 husbands in a time. We must close our eyes for these excessive validities which cannot apply on ourselves. I think we should not include them even in our discussion. There are so many issues that can be raised but our religion restricted to do so or even think of them of which we can’t derive any answer by ourselves. Anyway, we are to go with whatever our forefather believe and teach. That is all I know U would think of me very conservative and narrow minded and I am.

Importance of life.

Shelley is absolutely right in saying “Birth is a tragedy and death is deliverance”. I agree with him and it is a biblical reference too that is basically a punishment that was given to man because of his disobedience to God. OK THANKS HAVE A NICE DAY.

My letter in response to the letter of my student is reproduced hereunder:-

My dear student, reference your definition of LOVE, you are well advised not to confine these tender and subtle feelings/ passions in the narrow dungeon of conventions and hackneyed phraseology and trite preaching. Love, a passion is infinite, it cannot be fettered and imprisoned in the cell of intellect. Notwithstanding a hell of difference in our angle of vision to conceive, perceive and judge a thing, a person or an event, I feel pleased to find the writing capacity in you.

It has no dimensions, but it is omnipresent and lives in all creations, animate and inanimate. Its devotees feel its fragrance everywhere and every time. Wordsworth sees and feels its presence in “sounding cataracts”. Shelley feels its living in Skylark and Keats knows its dwelling in the lips of his sweetheart, Fanny. Scientists find it in the gravity among the stars and planets while a biologist seeks it in the organism of living beings. But a mystic enjoys its sweetness in rapture when he meets his Big Self. Mujnoo finds it in the heart of his Laila. Again I assert the passion of love is integral and indivisible property. It has different channels for its manifestations. Only a throbbing heart can feel and recognize it. Perhaps I feel it, because without its sweetness I feel some v. vital thing missing and find myself lost somewhere in the void. Some are, no doubts, so insensible that they can live without the thrills of it. They are stony heart, and really are stones in property but men /women in forms and shapes.

Now I venture to take the liberty to suggest you not to indulge and get entangled yourself in debatable quibbles, and endeavour to support your arguments with logic and not take an asylum in the anecdotes of your ancestors because the world had changed so much, it is becoming a global village. Our knowledge is tightly tied and related with space and time. Socrates was poisoned because he refused to surrender to the faith and knowledge of his ancestors; Galileo was condemned for blasphemy in religion and he had to undergone a lot of hardships and sufferings. He had to bear unbelievable sufferings because he asserted that the earth is round and not flat as the sacred book Bible tells them, and their forefathers had preached them for centuries. This is so-called knowledge, ignorance of our ancestors. Moreover, the theory of evolution also teaches that one generation gets a lot from the preceding generation and goes ahead adding more knowledge for the coming generation. We cannot ignore the importance of dialectics of Karl Max / Hegel in the study of evolution of man.

As a teacher I feel it obligatory to remind you that my discussion on Love is based on logic and syllogism whereas yours is replete with the sayings of your forefathers and hackneyed dogmas, of course, tinged and flavoured with your beautiful and sweet words. I would be more delighted if you review your patch of views on love E-mailed to me in response to my humble and feeble efforts to imbibe the essence of Love in my pupils, and erect the edifice of your sweet and delicate thoughts on logic and scientific discoveries.

Reference your quotation of Shelley about the life and death, I feel sorry to find a clear contradiction in your attitude to life. On the one hand you are conservative and traditionalist with firm belief in religion coupled with anecdotes of your grandmothers, and on the other hand you agree with Shelley, who asserts that life is a tragedy and death a deliverance. Most probably religious and conservative people are optimist in view of life, because they believe in the life of afterward, where the MOMENS and Momanas will be given all sorts of comforts and luxuries. The MOMENS will be awarded 72 Hoors, the prettiest women with all charms to please them, but I am sorry that I do not know what would be given to the Momanas to gratify their wishes.

I conclude this discussion with my thought embodies in my some verses. It may be noted, I do not know abc of the technique and delicacies of a poem. It may be considered a jumble of words to convey my thought:-

Since long, waiting anxiously to see you in person,

Your image, your dream do not console me,

I grew from flesh and blood,

Spirit is only a part of myself,

My flesh and blood call you in person,

To gratify themselves and bring a new creation,

You in my imagination does not satisfy,

Come, come, to complete the mission,

Higher love is fatiguing, idealism an illusory

It must be imbued with the necessity of senses.

Come, come let us complete the mission,

The mission of God to continue His creation.

Break the shackles of conventions,

Free yourself from trite preaching.

Man is created on the image of God,

Man is His Khalipha on the earth.

When God is free from all limitations,

Then why are we so restricted.

Break the fetters of the rusty traditions,

Create a new world to inhale freely.

God is one, His creation is in twos, let us be one in the ecstasy of love. {Blending of body and soul]

Science defines what could be understood as love as an evolved state of the survival instinct, primarily used to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species through reproduction.

Love.

Impressions

Love is a sacred passion. It deals with serious aspect of life. It has depths of oceans and heights of Himalaya

“Tennyson says that it is the greatest folly of life. But life is incomplete without it.” Bacon views about love are beautiful but purely commercial. He describes” Married love preserves mankind ; love of friends ennobles human beings ; but dissolute and immoral love corrupts and degrades mankind.” Jalaluddin Rumi describes in a different way. He says that “Through love burning fire becomes pleasing light. Through love stone becomes soft as butter”.

Ghalib views about love;

‘ ishq ne Ghalib nikamma kar diya

Varna{h} ham bhi admi the kam ke.

Love has rendered you, Ghalib, of no use.

Or else we, too, were a person of great use.

Plato and Darwin have contradictory views.

Plato insists on ideal love while Darwin erects its edifice purely on sex. My experience and knowledge lead me to believe that love is an emulsion of the urge of sex and the beauty of intellect. If it is mere sex then it must become exhausted with the satisfaction of sex. And if it is mere intellectual beauty then it must not becomes disgusting when it is not hued and tinged with sex for a long time.

Different views about life and death.

Death and Dying, the irreversible cessation of life and the imminent approach of death. Death involves a complete change in the status of a living entity—the loss of its essential characteristics.

In a melancholic mood some mysterious power is goading me to write my view on life. Life and death have been common subject of the thinkers and poets. Religious people have quite mythical views about life. To them this life is a threshold for the next everlasting and eternal life. Hence we should not indulge in the comforts and luxuries of life in this world. The extremists of the view are named as sufies or mystics. All religions agree on this solitary point that this world is evanescent and there is an eternal world after death.

I am a Muslim, and only know the details of the otherworld as expounded by Islam. Scientific approach, based on the perception we get from the five gates of knowledge, quite contradicts the truthfulness of such faith. To have a life of luxury with pure milk and Whisky to drink and to enjoy the warmth of the prettiest women is not acceptable to a man who is hell bent upon to challenge every and each thing which is not supported with physical witness. They do not believe in the validity of,

“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we will”.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. [ Shakespeare]

Rationalists do not believe in mysticism/ spiritualism. Rather they assert : “ Man is a rational animal, and to have blind faith in anything itself exiles him from the species of human beings”.

{ What is life? a symptomatic manifestation of elements.

What is death? Disintegration of these elements.}

………………………………………………………….

“ As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods,

They kill us for their sports”.[Shakespeare]

’ hasti ke mat fireb men ajaiyo Asad

Alm tamam halqa{h} dam-e khayal hai’

‘Be not deceived by the apparent reality of your existence, O! Asad!

The entire universe is nothing but a noose of the snare of thought.’

Shelley

Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822), English poet, considered by many to be among the greatest, and one of the most influential leaders of the romantic movement. Throughout his life, Shelley lived by a radically nonconformist moral code. His beliefs concerning love, marriage, revolution, and politics caused him to be considered a dangerous immoralist who describes life in a very pessimistic way. Law of necessity also plays a great role in his view of life.

“Birth is tragedy and death deliverance”

Shelley was an atheist or a materialist. If he may be said to have occupied any theoretical it was that of an ideal Pantheist.

“The One remains, the many change and pass: Heaven’s light forever shines, Earth’s shadows fly:

Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,

Stains the white radiance of Eternity

Until Death tramples it to fragments—Die”. (Adonis).

His ideal pantheism is somewhat compatible with some of Persian and Urdu poets’ philosophy of God and Universe, famous as UMMA OOST, there is nothing but God. All animates and inanimate objects are only particles of the Big Soul---God and their deliverance is to unite with the original, God.

Pantheism

‘Na{h} tha kuchh to kudda tha, kuchh na{h} hota to khuda hota

duboya mujh ko hone ne, na{h} main to kya hota.’

Translation:-

‘When there was nothing, there was God; had there been nothing,

Gog would still have been.

Drowned because I existed, how would it have mattered if I had not existed?

Comments:- “ When there was nothing, there was God. Had nothing ever existed, God still would have. So, if I had not been created it would have had no impact whatsoever. However, bringing me into existence is akin to drowning me, or putting me through a lifetime of suffering. A remarkable condition of one of the oldest question in philosophy is portrayed here -----why did God create us since He obviously did not need us? Moreover, having created us, why did He make human life a period of insurmountable suffering? What does God get out of seeing us suffer? The theme of the verse describes in its entirety the philosophy of Ghalib about life and its Creator”.

“ God is all, and all is God” ‘ to the mystic the mystic state is a moment of intimate association with a unique other self, transcending, encompassing, and momentarily suppressing the private personality of the subject”. ‘ The drop slipping into the sea’.

John Keats

Although his life ended at age 25, only four years after the 1817 publication of his first book, English poet John Keats is remembered for his melodious, rich verse, and is considered one of the greatest English poets.

The relation between Life and Death has been described very beautifully and delicately by Keats in his famous poem “ When I have fears”.

“ When I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen gleaned my teeming brain,

Before high-piled books, in charact’ry

Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain:

When behold, upon the night’s starred face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace

Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,

That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting love! O then, on the shore

Of wide world I stand alone, and think

Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

The subject of the poem is related with man’s general destiny and life. Man is mortal and he dies before he can fully realize his capabilities in this mortal world. Keats presents the theme of relationship between life and death in a very sublime way. The life of a man is too short to realize his ideals and aspirations.

This thought that life is too short to fulfill the desires of a man is beautifully portrayed in the couplet of Badar Shah Zafar (last king of Mughal dynasty) in the following verses unparalleled in the domain of Urdu literature. The verses are excellent in the expressions of pathetic feelings. It seems as a lacerated heart is pouring out the truth of life which is short and entrapped by the longings of a man.

How superbly Badar Shaw Zafar described the melancholic state of mind in the following verses. It is unparallel reflection of the mind when it is soaked in grief and groans of life

Lagtaa nahii hai dil meraa ujRe dayaar meiN
kiss kii banii hai aalame-naapaaidaar meiN

umr-e-daraaz maaNg ke laaye the chaar din
do aarzuu meiN kaT gaye do intezaar meiN

kah do in hasratoN se kahiiN aur jaa baeiN
itnii jagah kahaaN hai dil-e-daaghdaar meiN

kitnaa hai badnaseeb zafar dafan ke liye
do gaz zamiin bhii naa milii kue-yaar meiN

Rough English Translation

Cannot find peace,

In This heart of mine

in this wreckedland
who has succeeded in this
transitory world

having asked for a long life
I brought back four days
two passed away in yearning
and two in waiting

tell these desires
to go and settle down elsewhere
where is so much space
in the scarred heart

how ill-fated is that
Zafar, for his burial
could not even find
two yards of land in the street of the beloved

…………………………….

Rough English Translation

having asked for a long life

I brought back four days
two passed away in yearning
and two in waiting
…………………………….

Rough English Translation

cannot find peace, this heart of mine,
in this wrecked land

who has succeeded in this
transitory world

………………….

tell these desires
to go and settle down elsewhere
where is so much space
in the scarred heart
……………………..
how ill-fated is that
Zafar, for his burial
could not even find
two yards

………………..

Ghalib and Life:-

sab kahan, kuchh lala{h}-o-gul men numayan ho gai’n

khak men, kya surateh hongi kih pinhan ho gai’n

Translation:-

‘Not all, only a few have become evident as turlips and roses;

What images may lie in the dirt that remain hidden from us? ‘

Comments. “The beauty of tulips and roses illustrates the attractive objects earth produces. Beneath the earth, there are countless hidden and beautiful possibilities that have not yet become evident to us. This verse refers to many faces of dust and dirt and not the faces of buried ones, as often interpreted. One way we know that dirt exists is from its characteristics of supporting flowers and greenery, but there may be many more forms of it that remain hidden from us. We cannot know the many ways God can reveal Himself. Our ability to see things limits us from knowing the reality. A bat cannot see flowers. Does that mean that bat’s worldview is at fault? There are different ways that God reveals Himself to us but we are not capable appreciating them.”

I always remain the window of my mind open for fresh air to come and refresh the chemistry of my thinking without any inhibitions, within or without. And therefore the readers will find me impressed by the thoughts contradictory in their nature. I am convinced that life is too complicated to be comprehended entirely by human beings. The sages of the ages have tried to explain it in perspective of their knowledge and experience with special reference to the time and space. Weather conditions and one’s country contours have also played a great part in shaping and moulding the framework of each and every thinker’s mind.

Hardy’s views of Life and Death

Thomas Hardy provoked readers with his tragic novel Jude the Obscure, a scathing attack on the institution of marriage and sexual repression in 19th-century England.

Hardy’s view of life has been interpreted as pessimism, twilight view of life, determinism, fatalism, agnosticism, atheism, evolutionary, and nihilism. From the various experiences of his life, Hardy encountered the problem of sufferings and hardships in the world “Tragedy should arise from the gradual closing of a situation that comes of ordinary human passions, prejudices, and ambitions, by reason of the characters taking no trouble to ward off the disastrous events produced by the said passions, prejudices and ambitions”.

According to him the evil is external as well as internal. Externally, our environment, and the nature and society, is responsible for our sufferings and sorrows. Internally, instincts, emotions and passions lead us to the tragic end. The emotions and instincts consist of sex impulse or biological necessity and ambition. The emotions and instincts are not formed by man but by the force that created the environment. Thus they also become a part of the environment in which he has taken birth. Although a man tries to control and formulate these instincts by means of his knowledge and intelligence, yet he cannot overcome his circumstances. In his view of life fatalism has a vital role and therefore, perhaps, he is rightly called a pessimist novelist. His view of life is vigorously expressed in his famous Novels Tess and Jew the Obscure. “ No divine power comes to help man in his adversity .” “ God is not in the heaves. All is wrong with the world.”

Hardy’s view of life is explicitly expressed in his remarks about God “ The President of the immortals had done justice and had ended his sport with her”. (Tess}

Ghalib:-

Sages of the ages who left deep impact on following generations.

Plato his views on life and Death.

Plato, one of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece, was the first to use the term philosophy, which means “love of knowledge.” Born around 428 b.c, Plato investigated a wide range of topics. Chief among his ideas was the theory of forms, which proposed that objects in the physical world merely resemble perfect forms in the ideal world, and that only these perfect forms can be the object of true knowledge. The goal of the philosopher, according to Plato, is to know the perfect forms and to instruct others in that knowledge.

His philosophy has dominant role in all the coming views forwarded by the different philosophers. Greek philosopher, a pupil of Socrates, he wrote widely on many aspects of philosophy. In his search for the true nature of knowledge, he proposed the theory that the things we see and touch are merely imperfect copies of perfect entities, called ‘forms’ or ‘ideas’, which exist outside the physical world. One aspect of the theory, that the human soul is immortal, formed an important influence on the development of Christianity and the great thinkers of Islamic world including the great figure of Ghazali.

Charles Robert Darwin { 1809-82 }

His views on Life and Death.

He was a British naturalist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection. In 1831 he sailed to South America in HMS Beagle on a voyage of scientific discovery. The observations he made there led him in due course to put forward the idea that species of animals and plants change over time by retaining certain naturally occurring features which make them better able to survive. He published his theory ‘ On the Origin of Species.’ It conflicts with Bible and mostly all the Scriptures and caused a havoc in the world of religion . But it has to be accepted by all the reasoning persons as a true account of the way species evolve. It is in direct conflict with the legend of the origin of mankind so far much-adorned in the world of so many religions of the present and past. It tells us that our next ancestors are chimpanzees and not Adam and Eve.

It is also a great setback to the “ Paradise Lost” of Milton who has tried “ I may assert Eternal Providence/ And justify the ways of God to men”. How beautifully this verse has clothed the scientific theory about life and death.

“ Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And than is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing.”

{ unparalleled portrayal of life in English Literature by Shakespeare}.

Religions and secular thinkers: Life and Death.

There are so many religions in the world, but among them four are dominant and forceful to mould and reshape lives of the major populace of the world. They have been affecting human’s culture, habits and civilization immensely since the pre-historical period.

This school of thought believes in the blind faith: they believe firmly that there is supra-natural power who has created the universe and is controlling and interfering in lives of people and the running of the world and the universe. The adherents of ‘blind faith’ staunchly assert that this universe and life in it is divine phenomenon.

“ There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we will” [Shakespeare]

“ There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow”.{ Shakespeare}

The other school of thought takes this world a biological phenomenon and considers the essential principles and laws of nature are managers in the functioning of world and the universe. It is their firm believe that there exists no supera-natural power to interfere in the happening of events and in the lives of the people. It is only on account of dynamics : phenomena are the results of natural forces acting upon each other. The universe is the outcome of the BIG BANG explosion.

“ Man is a rational animal, and to have blind faith in anything itself exiles him from the species of human beings”. [W. K. Clifford].

“ God is dead, God remains dead, we have killed Him” [Nietzsche]

It is very important to see Life and Death in the teachings of these prominent religions, and find the views of the rationalists who contradict the verdicts of these religions.

Hinduism

Death, according to Hinduism, is a series of changes through which an individual passes. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes thus the passing of a soul:

‘ When the soul departs from the body, the life-breath follows: when the life-breath departs, all the organs follow. Then the soul becomes endowed with particularized consciousness and goes to the body which is related to that consciousness. It is followed by its knowledge, works, and past experience. Just as a leech supported on a straw goes to the end of it, takes hold of another support, and contracts itself, so does the self throw this body away and make it unconscious, take hold of another support, and contract itself. Just as a goldsmith takes a small quantity of gold and fashions another - a newer and better - form, so does the soul throw this body away, or make it unconscious, and make another - a new and better - form suited to the Manes, or the celestial minstrels, or the gods, or Virat, or Hiranyagarbha, or other beings. As it does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil - it becomes virtuous through good acts and vicious through evil acts.

From the point of view of Hinduism, dying may be compared to falling asleep and after- death experiences to dreams. The thoughts and actions of the waking state determine the nature of our dreams. Similarly, after death the soul experiences the results of the thoughts it entertained and the actions it performed during its life on earth. After-death experiences are real to the soul, just as a dream is real to the dreamer, and may continue for ages. Then, when the soul wakes up after this sleep, it finds itself reborn as a human being. According to the Hindu scriptures, some souls after death also may be born as human beings without going through the experiences of heaven or hell. There is no real break in the spiritual evolution of the soul toward Self-knowledge. Even the soul's lapse into sub-human birth from human life is a mere detour. A dying man's next life is determined by his last thought in the present life. The Bhagavad Gi’ta says: "For whatever objects a man thinks of at the final moment, when he leaves the body - that alone does he attain, O son of Kunti, being ever absorbed in the thought thereof." And the last thought of the dying person inevitably reflects his inmost desire. These different courses after death have been described to warn people against neglecting the path of Self-knowledge, which alone can confer immortality and eternal peace and happiness.

Buddhism

Death and the impermanence of life

In the teaching of the Buddha, all of us will pass away eventually as a part in the natural process of birth, old-age and death that we should always keep in mind the impermanence of life. The life that we all cherish and wish to hold on.

To Buddhism, however, death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of the body we inhabit in this life, but our spirit will still remain and seek out through the need of attachment, attachment to a new body and new life. Where they will be born is a result of the past and the accumulation of positive and negative action, and the resultant karma (cause and effect) is a result of one’s past actions.

This would lead to the person to be reborn in one of 6 realms which are; heaven, human beings, Asura, hungry ghost, animal and hell. Realms, according to the severity of one’s karmic actions, Buddhists believe however, none of these places are permanent and one does not remain in any place indefinitely. So we can say that in Buddhism, life does not end, merely goes on in other forms that are the result of accumulated karma. Buddhism is a belief that emphasizes the impermanence of lives, including all those beyond the present life. With this in mind we should not fear death as it will lead to rebirth.

The fear of death stems from the fear of extinction of foothold in the world and losing one’s identity. We see our death coming long before its actual arrival, we notice impermanence in the changes : we see the approaching of old age and the suffering due to losing our youth. Once we were strong and beautiful, as we go to our final moments of life, we begin to realize how fleeting such a comfortable place actually was.

Karma

According to Buddhism, our lives and all that occurs in our lives is a result of Karma. Every action creates a new karma, this karma or action is created with our body, our speech or our mind and this action leaves a subtle imprint on our mind which has the potential to ripen as future happiness or future suffering, depending on whether the action was positive or negative.

If we bring happiness to people, we will be happy. If we create suffering, we will experience suffering either in this life or in a future one.

This is called the Law of Karma, or the Law of Cause and Effect. Karmic law will lead the spirit of the dead to be reborn, in realms which are suitably appropriate to their karmic accumulations.

Christianity

Christian beliefs about the afterlife vary between denominations and individual Christians, but the vast majority of Christians believe in some kind of heaven, in which believers enjoy the presence of God and other believers and freedom from suffering and sin.

Views differ as to whether those of other faiths or none at all will be in heaven, and conceptions of what heaven will be like differ as well.

A slightly lesser majority of Christians believe in the existence of hell, where unbelievers or sinners are punished. Views differ as to whether hell is eternal and whether its punishment is spiritual or physical. Some Christians reject the notion altogether.

Catholic Christians also believe in purgatory, a temporary place of punishment for Christians who have died with unconfessed sins.

For more specific Christian views about the afterlife, following are doctrinal statements from several different Christian denominations and organizations on the afterlife and brimstone, which is the second Death. We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. We believe that the punishment of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteousness shall be everlasting, according to the declaration of our compassionate Redeemer, to whom the judgment is committed, "These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal Life."

Lutheran Church [ Augsburg Confession [1530]

Also they [Lutheran churches] teach that at the Consummation of the World Christ will appear for judgment, and will raise up all the dead; He will give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without end. They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils. They condemn also others who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed.

Islam

Probably no religion deals in such graphic detail as does Islam with the creation, death, “life in the tomb,” and ultimate fate of humankind. Yet the Quran, the holy book of Islam, itself provides no uniform or systematic approach to these problems. It is only in its later parts that problems such as the relation of sleep to death, the significance of breathing, and the question of when and how the soul leaves the body are addressed in any detail. Popular Muslim beliefs are based on still later traditions. These are recorded in the Kitāb al-rūḥ (“Book of the Soul”) written in the 14th century by the Ḥanbalī theologian Muhammad ibn Abī-Bakr ibn Qayyīm al-Jawzīyah.

The basic premise of all Quranic teaching concerning death is Allah’s Omnipotence: he creates human beings their life span, and causes them to die. The Quran states: “Some will die early, while others are made to live to a miserable old age, when all that they once knew they shall know no more (22:5; i.e., sūrah [chapter] 22, verse 5). Damnation and salvation are equally predetermined: “Allah leaves to stray whom he willeth, and guideth whom he willeth” (35:8). As for those whom Allah leaves astray, the Quran states that “for them there will be no helpers” (30:29). Allah has decided many will fail: “If We had so willed We could certainly cause proper guidance to come to every soul, but true is My saying ‘assuredly I shall fill Jihannam’ ” (32:13).

In this perspective the individual’s fate (including the mode and time of death) appears inescapably predetermined. The very term Islam, Arabic for “surrender,” implies an absolute submission to the will of God. But what freedom does this allow those predestined to continue in the path of error, or to reject God’s will? And if there is no such freedom, what sense was there in the mission of the Prophet Muhammad [sm] and his appeal to people to alter their ways? It is hardly surprising that arguments about free will and predestination broke out soon after the Prophet’s death. The ensuing tensions dominated theological controversies within Islam during many centuries. Questions concerning the meaning of life and the nature of the soul are dealt with patchily in both the Quran and the Ḥadīth. The Quran records that, when asked about these matters by local leaders of the Jewish faith, the Prophet answered that “the spirit cometh by command of God” and that “only a little knowledge was communicated to man” (17:85). Humanity was created from “potter’s clay, from mud molded into shape” into which Allah has “breathed his spirit” (15:28–29). A vital spirit or soul is within each human being. It is associated, if not actually identified, with individuality and also with the seat of rational consciousness. Death is repeatedly compared with sleep, which is at times described as “the little death.” God takes away people’s souls “during their sleep” and “upon their death.” He “retains those against whom he has decreed death, but returns the others to their bodies for an appointed term” (39:42–43

According to dogmatic belief of Muslims two angels coloured blue and black, known as Munkar and Nakīr, then question the deceased about basic doctrinal tenets. In a sense this trial at the grave is a show trial, the verdict having already been decided. Believers hear it proclaimed by a herald, and in anticipation of the comforts of paradise their graves expand “as far as the eye can reach.” Unbelievers fail the test. The herald proclaims that they are to be tormented in the grave; a door opens in their tomb to let in heat and smoke from hell, and the tomb itself contracts “so that their ribs are piled up upon one another.” The period between burial and the final judgment is known as al-barzakh. At the final judgment, unbelievers and the god-fearing are alike resurrected. Both are endowed with physical bodies, with which to suffer or enjoy whatever lies in store for them. The justified enter Gardens of Delight, which are described in the Quran in terms of prevalent, but essentially masculine, tastes (37:42–48). At the reception feast on the Day of Judgment unbelievers fill their bellies with bitter fruit, and “drink down upon it hot water, drinking as drinks the camel crazed with thirst” (56:52–55). They then proceed to hell, where they don “garments of fire” (22:19) and have boiling water poured over their heads. Allah has made provision against the annihilation of the body of the damned, promising that “whenever their skins are cooked to a turn, We shall substitute new skins for them, that they may feel the punishment” (4:56). Pleas for annihilation are disregarded. Although this is sometimes referred to as the “second death,” the Quran is explicit that in this state the damned “neither live nor die” (87:13).

A special fate is reserved for the martyrs of Islam; i.e., for those who fall in a jihād (“holy war”). Their evil deeds are instantly expiated and the formalities of judgment are waived; they enter the Garden immediately. Similar dispensations are promised to “those who had left their homes, or been driven therefrom, or who had suffered harm” in the divine cause (3:195).

A gentler strand in Islamic eschatology produced, over the centuries, a series of reinterpretations or adaptations of the original doctrine, some of whose tenets were even claimed to have been only metaphorical. These tendencies, which stressed individual responsibility, were often influenced by the Ṣūfīs (Islamic mystics).

Life and Death

Impressions

The close study of the four prominent religions that are swaying over the hearts of a major section of the humanity has explicitly support the assertion that there is a wide gulf between the thinking of religious people and the rationalists with reference and context of Life and Death.

From scientific point of view life is a biological phenomenon with no purpose and design while the romantic approach to life and death is that it is divine performance with a purpose. The spread of rationalistic and scientific ideas since the 18th century has undermined many aspects of life and death, The clerics, moreover, although still seeking to exert its influence, has ceased to dominate civil life in the way it once did. Religion that supports life is a Gift of God is no longer the pivot of all social relations as it once was in ancient Egypt and still is in some Islamic countries. The decline of the church is epitomized by the fact that, while it is still prepared to speak of the symbolic significance of the death of Jesus Christ and of human death in general, has ceased to emphasize many aspects of its initial eschatology and to concern itself, as in the past, with the particular details of individual death. In the age of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the elaborate descriptions of heaven, purgatory, and hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy, while remaining beautiful literature, at best raise a smile if thought of as outlines for humanity’s concern.

At the sixth stage of Shakespeare, I am driven to think that the sages of the ages, temporal or spiritual, have made life too complicated to be understood easily and be enjoyed as a right of human beings. We should not much bother about whether it is a biological phenomenon or divine contrivance, we should rather make it better and still more better. The vehement emphasis on the issue what is life has already accrued a tremendous loss to mankind. We should eschew from interfering in the matter of religion and other ideology and let the atmosphere of tolerance and harmony be prevailed among the different societies having different views about life and death. If one believes or does not believe in the life and death, as described by a certain faith or science, leave him to his sweet will. It is still a challenge for scientists and philosophers and religious leaders to define life in unequivocal terms. Defining life is difficult - in part -because life is a continuous process.

Is man independent in carving his destiny

In this context there are two prominent views about the independence and dependence of activities of an individual in the course of his life.

Some philosophers believe that man is independent in the sphere of his activities, the other believe that man is fettered from its very conception in the womb of his/her mother: A man never chooses his place of birth, his parents and his belief. He is helpless in the selection to have a certain DNA and a certain womb to grow. And these two things play very pivotal role in the building of his/her personality and character. He is not free to select his surroundings, schooling and trainings: to select his country/city, teaching place, and friends. These make environment, and environment has a determining role in shaping the character of a man. Behaviorists give more emphasis to the environment than supporters of genetics theory. The close observation life reveals that from any point of view, leaving the religious and mythical tales asides, we can, without any fear of contradiction, come to the conclusion that man is an emulsion of myriad compulsions within and without.

The couplet of Mir, is best to illustrate and elucidate the theory of Pre- destination and Fatalism.

‘Ghalib kuchh apni as’I se lahna nahin mujhe

Khirman jale,agar na[h] malkh khae kisht ko’

Ghalib has very superbly infused the same concept of life in this verse.

Translation:-

Ghalib, there is little to gain from my endeavour;

The lighting burns the harvest if it is not already eaten by the locust.

Fatalism Fatalism, doctrine that all events occur according to a fixed and inevitable destiny that individual will neither controls nor affects. Fatalism frequently is confused with determinism, the doctrine that events are determined by the events that precede them.

According to fatalism, preceding events have no causal connection with the events that follow. A fated event takes place not according to a natural law but in accordance with some mysterious decree issued by some mysterious power, perhaps ages before.

Determinism explains that every event has its determining conditions in its immediate antecedents, which may include the human will, is consistent with a belief in the efficacy of the human will, but fatalism is not.

Fatalism appeared among the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans and today is particularly prevalent among Muslims.

Allama Iqbal views on the subject.

The message of this verse of Iqbal is the best elucidation of the theory of Free Will.

Free will : power or ability of the human mind to choose a course of action or make a decision without being subject to restraints imposed by antecedent causes, by necessity, or by divine predetermination. A completely freewill act is itself a cause and not an effect; it is beyond causal sequence or the law of causality. The question of human beings’ ability to determine their actions is important in philosophy, particularly in metaphysics and ethics, and in theology. Generally, the extreme doctrine in which freedom of the will is affirmed is termed libertarianism.

Life of a man is independent or dependent.

Impressions.

We see that these big minds except the scientists and artists have created problems of manifold, and confusion which had engulfed simple peoples of this unfortunate planet. We should not pay attention to these labyrinths of metaphysics and mysterious interpretations of the world. Best life is a simple life. When we do not know certainly where from we come, then we should not worry where are we to go after death. It is reported that Mao Tse Tung, a great leader of China once said, “ Volumes and volumes of theories have been written about what is life, forget what is it; make it better”. This saying contains great wisdom, and practice of it can save us from so many entanglements in ethical, moral and philosophical quibbles which had destroyed the taste of life. All isms and ideologies should be exiled from the land of mankind except the Humanism which is in philosophy, an attitude that emphasizes the dignity and worth of the individual. A basic premise of humanism is that people are rational beings who possess within themselves the capacity for truth and goodness.

Conception of God.

God, the centre and focus of religious faith, a holy being or ultimate reality to whom worship and prayer are addressed. Especially in monotheistic religions, God is considered the creator or source of everything that exists and is spoken of in terms of perfect attributes—for instance, infinitude, immutability, eternity, goodness, knowledge, and power. Most religions traditionally ascribe to God certain human characteristics that can be understood either literally or metaphorically, such as will, love, anger, and forgiveness.

Many religious thinkers have held that God is so different from finite beings that he must be considered essentially a mystery beyond the powers of human conception. Nevertheless, most philosophers and theologians have assumed that a limited knowledge of God is possible and have formulated different conceptions of him in terms of divine attributes and paths of knowledge. A range of types, each shading into the other, can be abstracted from a survey. In the monotheism of Judaism and Islam, Holy Being is conceived at its most transcendent and personal level. In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, an attempt is made to synthesize transcendence and immanence. In the Asian religions attributes of immanence and impersonal nature of Holy Being are stressed.

Ancient civilization and the concept of God

{From rational point of view}

Whosoever yearns to gratify his curiosity to know how the concept of God emanated and passed through the evolutionary stages and reached us in the present position, is desired to study human history which reveals that supernaturalism has been pervasive in every society, and the concept of God conceived and grew in the womb of superstition and different societies gave the concept its own hue and ting : To the primitive men all experiences were supernatural : it appeared in different forms and manifestations in accordance with the different civilizations of the clime and climate of the respective country.

According to the scientific research and the knowledge of anthropology the conversion of animals to human beings took about 30 hundred thousand years through evolutionary process ; there are two important periods in the primitive history of mankind. The first period is called Stone Age, when man used tools made of stone to get his food and other necessities of life to sustain his existence. It was the period when man began to conceive and feel the environment, the conversion from animal to man had been complete, initiation of awareness of the surroundings began to grow. With the introduction of the use of Iron, man became more sophisticated and he started to think about the manifestations of nature in different forms. He could not understood the nature and function of the objects of nature, and therefore surrendered to them .Questions in his mind were:

[a] What is the character and general structure of the universe in which we live?

[b] Is there permanent element in the constitution of the universe?

[c] How are we related to it?

[d] What place do we occupy in it, and what is the kind of conduct that benefits the place we occupy?

These questions occurred in the mind of the primitive man. When he could not find any satisfactory answers, he created gods, and goddesses to satisfy his passion of curiosity. It is very interesting that in Neolithic Period of his evolution he had more interest with Mother Earth because it provided him with the necessities of life.

We find the earliest thought of religion ranging from one lac to 35 lac, in Iraq, China and in some parts of Europe. One section of these earliest human beings were called Neanderthal, their places of burial reveal their beliefs which concerned mostly with death. It signifies that they believed death as a threshold for the next world, and this has been the basic belief of a religion.

Fifty thousand years ago the Paleolithic Period emerged with its inhabitants called Homo Sapiens, and there were so many female statues from which we get an idea of “ Great Mother” which implies the beginning of life. It strengthens the idea that in the earliest period of the history of mankind the concept of goddess was in vogue. It is evident from this, the first experience of man was that woman is the only source of birth, and consequently the other all producing means would be female. On our planet the Ice Period ended 1000 years B. C. and from 8000 to 6000 B.C. man had learnt the art of cultivation in Near East, and after some thousand years this art spread in Europe, Asia and Africa. This period is known Neolithic Period. The introduction of cultivation created a revolution in the norms and religious life of man. Human history remembers this period with the name of Bronze Age. In this era there appeared big settlements on the banks of rivers. The great Empires of classical religions grew up and nature in different forms and manifestations were being worshipped. The sun was considered the chief god because it is the chief source of life. We have failed to find, in the primitive history, the concept of God as the present religions present.

Religious ethics exhibit equally striking differences.

Some are world-affirming [Confucianism] or world –denying [Buddhism}

In the perspective of history of mankind, present religions seem a newly born children when compared with the span of man’s life : the birth of present religions is a recent phenomenon of nature. It drives us to think that either man for million years lived without the necessity of religion or his life had no affiliation with the present organized religions. The classical religions are essentially linked with the belief in multiple gods, holy kingdoms, forceful theocracy, and sometimes the existence of Scriptures. During this period the worship places were built, and the believers started to worship in the small worship places. Dozens of kingdoms grew at the non coastal area. Every city has its own chieftain the chieftain himself was the god. In the early stage the administration was in the hands of the elders, and it took the form of kingship later on.

A large part of their activities was devoted to the service of ecclesiastical duties. The king occupied the highest position among the clergymen.

Origin of Man.

Scientific point of view.

In this connexion the theory of evolution is very prominent and popular. The core of the term’s meaning is that of rolling out, unrolling or unfolding and thus the term comes to denote movement of an orderly nature which is productive of change of a novel kind. More specially, it denotes the process of change through which something new is produced in such a continuous way as not to violate the identity or individuality of the original entity.

In strict usage, the term implies organic evolution, viz the interaction of a living organism and its physical environment. In rudimentary form the idea had its roots in classical times. e.g. Heraclitus; but before the hypothesis, now inseparably associated with the name of Darwin, could win general acceptance, certain conditions were necessary. It was necessary to supplant the conviction of the immutability of all organic species, based on the theological belief in an act of independent creation. The idea required for its conception, elaboration and verification of an alliance between science and history. It was necessary both to construct a classificatory system of types, and to provide an historical explanation of the course of actual development.

Darwin. elaborated his hypothesis in ‘”on the origin of species”. Referring to the origin of species by means of natural selection, he argued :

(a) that the different forms of life had a common ancestry from which they had gradually evolved, and

(b) that the survivors in the struggle for existence would be those best adapted to the task of obtaining nourishment and avoiding competitor attacks.

The Spirit of philosophy is one of free inquiry. It suspects all authority. Its function is to trace the uncritical assumptions of human thought to their hiding place, and in this pursuit it may finally end in denial or a frank admission of the incapacity of pure reason to reach the ultimate reality.

Mr. Zia Shah [a friend on internet] has very comprehensively given an account of the origin of man. It has attracted my attention. It is presented for study to the readers. It is given below.

The Creation of Man. In the 19th century Charles Darwin put forward a theory that man into being through a long process of evolution and not all of a sudden in one stroke as stated in the Bible. He concluded that the evolutionary process which produced man in his present form probably took millions of years. The second main point in Darwin's theory is that man evolved from lower forms of animal life. In the beginning there existed only small types of animals which during the course of time were followed by larger and larger ones. Eventually one of these kinds of animals developed into man as we know him but it has now become extinct although it can be maintained that a better form of that animal, the missing linkage is represented by the monkey. This theory is based on the fact that ancient human skeletons which have been unearthed in various places show remarkable differences from one age to another in the size or structure of the bones or skull. This is taken to indicate that there has been a slow development and progress of the species from era to era. It is also argued that the embryo in the womb, at different stages of its development, successively resembles a number of lower animals such as a rabbit, fish or something else. This is taken to furnish ground for the conclusion that the stages which the embryo passes through represent, so to say, the stages which man has passed through from a lower animal to that of a human being. A further argument advanced in support of the theory of evolution is that there are a number of similarities which seem to indicate that man and these lower animals are one and the same thing and that the structure of the human body is not an exclusive feature of the human species as it has evolved from the bodies and structures urea such as those shared by the apes.

The second point in Darwin's theory was that man and apes developed from a common link which is now extinct. The basis of the argument is that certain kinds of monkeys have a striking resemblance to man. Darwin surmised that in this chain one link is missing as indicated by the gulf which should not have otherwise existed between man and the apes on one side, and the apes and animals on the other. Since there is a remarkable degree of similarity between man and the apes, and since, on the other hand, a gulf seems to separate the apes from other animals, it appears that some link has disappeared which bridged this gulf---the link from which man and the apes have evolved during the process of time.

Haeckel, after Darwin, was of the opinion that the missing link was an animal which he called Linotile which has become extinct leaving no trace behind it. If this animal, or its remains, could be found then the missing link which breaks the chain of continuity would come to hand and leave no vagueness or uncertainty about the theory of evolution. Thinkers of this kind believe that the gorilla and chimpanzee stand in the line of human ancestry.

Darwin's theory was subjected to criticism by many thinkers who pointed out that the wide gulf separating man from the apes precluded a common ancestry for both. In these differences, however, Huxley found further support for the theory of evolution. He pointed out that the difference found between different kinds of monkeys was greater than the one found between man and the apes. In spite of the wide differences between varieties of monkeys, all were taken and accepted as monkeys. Huxley argued that when differences between different species of monkeys were so wide then why could not man have also traveled a long way from the ape during the course of time? He concluded, therefore, that this gulf did not stand against evolution but on the other hand tended to support it.

More recent research which is supported by Professor Jones and Professor Osborne, tends to conclude that although man has developed through an evolutionary process he branched off from other animals at a much earlier period; and during that time he developed on independent exclusive lines as compared with other animals. In other words, man did not branch off from some kind of ape, as Darwin believed, but a long time before that during the development of animal life.

Archaeologists and anthropologists have found that human civilization has passed through very distinct stages. In the Stone Age man took his first step towards culture and civilization. Since that time he had evolved into a state of only the most rudimentary human existence and, in contrast with other forms of animal life, he did not have the advantage of claws and fangs, he used stones as weapons for offense and defense. Then came the Bronze Age when man made use of this metal. This was followed by the iron age. As a result of excavations archaeologists are agreed that all the stages of his life man has been a bearer of culture of one kind or another.

QURAN ON THE CREATION OF MAN

First I would like to refer to the following passage from the Holy Quran:

“What is the matter with you that you hope not for greatness and wisdom from Allah? And He has created you in different forms and different conditions. See you not how Allah has created seven heavens in perfect harmony, and has placed the moon, therein a light and made the sun a lamp? And Allah has caused you to grow out of the earth as a good growth. Then will He cause you to return, thereto, and He will bring you forth a new bringing forth.” (71:14-19)

A close paraphrase of this passage would be:

O, you human beings! What is the matter with you that you fail to understand that Allah does not do anything unless there is wisdom and purpose underlying it? You yourselves are not ready to accept the assumption that you do things with no aim or purpose in view. Why do you therefore assume that Allah, the Most Wise and All Knowing does things without purpose? Why do you jump to the thoughtless conclusion that He created man with no purpose in view? Why do you fail to grasp the evident truth that your creation has not been the result of a sudden meaningless impulse? It was the result of wise planning and deliberate execution in a succession of stages from one point to another. Do you not see that Allah has created the seven heavens in perfect harmony with each other and similarly the sun and the moon? Also that the earth was one of the stages through which you passed in a process of slow growth to the point of perfection?

This is the description of the origin and emergence of man given in the Quran. The law of evolution working in the universe which Europe claims to have discovered was clearly defined in the Holy Quran more than fourteen hundred years ago that man was not created in an instant in the form in which he is today. God did not make a model of clay and breathed life into it to become the first man. No! Man has reached his present stage after passing through many intermediary stages. Man originated from and on this earth---Allah caused you to grow out of the earth as a good growth.

It is particularly distressing to note, however, that the present day popular Muslim belief has lost sight of the two crucial points that man's creation and emergence did not take place in an instant. He was created from the earth and on the earth. Popular Muslim belief has come to have it that man was created in paradise from where he was put down on earth. It is also believed by a large section of Muslims that God has a bag of souls which, from time to time, He releases singly to become human beings. In view of the prevalence of such foolish fancies that the popular Muslim mind, through some irony, is peculiarly bent upon holding views contrary to the clear teachings of the Holy Quran.

The Quran tells us that the creation of man took place in gradual stages, the underlying wisdom being that through this slow development defects should be eliminated from his constitution and nature.

FIRST STAGE

The next point revealed by the Quran in connection with the creation of man is that the first stage was a condition of non-existence. A controversial subject. The view of the Arya Samajists is that matter from which the universe has been shaped, is eternal. God did no more than to bring the soul to matter together into a close relationship and so man was created. This belief is repudiated by the Quran which teaches that matter is not eternal but it is a creation of God and that man was created. God says in the Holy Quran:

“Does not man remember that We created him before, when he was naught?” (19:68)

Human birth now takes place from the seed of the male. This verse refers to the first original creation of the species, or the first man; it should be carefully noted that the Quran does not say that existence was created from non-existence. It says that prior to the stage when matter and other things came into being, there was a stage when nothing existed. We say that a chair can be made from a piece of wood; or we say that a chain can be made from a piece of iron. Here we have matter in one form which can be utilized to make another article.

Atheists often raise the objection that it is not possible to shape out anything from nothing. This, however, is not what is meant by the Quran. What is meant is that prior to the creation of the universe there was a stage when nothing existed. Then came creation and the creation of man. God has not given knowledge to man as to how this came about, possibly because it is beyond the comprehension of man to grasp. If man could visualize how creation took place then he would be in a position to create man himself.

SECOND STAGE

It appears from the Holy Quran that the second stage in the creation of man was a state of existence when the human body was there but the brain or its active faculties which distinguish a human being from the lower animals were not operative and active as they came to be later. There was, so to say, a human body which was not yet a human being or, in other words, there was the physical human body minus the evolved and perfected human brain or mind. We are not in a position to say whether in this state he was a kind of rock formation or a kind of plant. We can say, however, that he was not yet an animal. The Quran says: There has certainly come upon man a period of time when he was not a thing spoken of. In other words, there has been a stage in the history of man when it was not madhkur, i.e., it was not aware of itself, lacked consciousness at the time and was not capable of recognition. He was a form of being without consciousness and intelligence, not aware of himself or of other things.

THITD STSGE

The third stage in the evolution of man was reached when he attained to a state of being where the production of the species began to take place through the seed of the male planted in the body of the female through sexual intercourse. From this point onwards occurs the almost infinite variety of individual human temperaments. Among animals there are varieties not characterized by sex. God says in the Quran that a stage came in the course of the evolution of man when he developed into an animal characterized by sex, divided into males and females, when his procreation began to take place through the seed of the male which is a characteristic of the higher forms of animal life. His procreation began to occur from a nutrition amshajin, from the male sperm drop embracing a combination of a number of elements. God says in the Holy Quran:

Indeed:

“We have created man from a mingled sperm-drop, that We might try him, so We made him hearing, seeing.”

From this stage his procreation began to be compounded from many elements because his role in the universe was to be many sided which necessitated that he should possess a wide range of qualities.

Fourth stage

The fourth stage came when the human brain reached perfection and characterized by a highly developed form of awareness and intelligence. From having the capacity of hearing and seeing which are qualities also to be found in the lower animals, he became capable of exercising his intelligence to a point where, through a sustained spirit of inquiry and search, inference and invention came within the range of his faculties. Here he rose one very distinct step higher than the other forms of animal life, an animal capable of sustained thought and speech.

These links in the chain of the evolution of man are the initial links of the various stages, The intervening periods between the emergence of these links have not been clearly brought out by the Quran for it is not a scientific treatise on the subject. The Quran refers to these matters which were necessary for bringing out a point of moral spiritual truth, leaving the filling in of the gaps to the human mind.

From Rumi and Iqbal point of view, the origin of man.

“Man saith : “ What ! After, O a, dead, shall I in the end be brought forth alive?” “Doth man bear in mind that We made him first when he was nought”? {19:66:67} “

“It is We who have decreed that death should be among you”. “Yet are we not thereby hindered from replacing you with others you likes, or from producing you in a form which ye know not ! Ye have known the first creation” will you not reflect”? {56:60-2}

“How did man first emerge? This suggestive argument embodied in the last verses of the two passages quoted above did in fact open a new vista to Muslim philosophers. It was Jahiz who first hinted at the change in animal life caused by migrations and Brethren of Purity” further amplified the views of Jahiz. Ibni-Maskwath however, was the first Muslim thinker to give a clear and in many respects thoroughly modern theory of the origin of man. It was only natural and environment generally. The association known as the ‘ perfectly biological evolution, and not a problem to be decided by arguments of a purely metaphysical nature, as of evolution, however, had brought despair and anxiety, instead of hope and enthusiasm for life, to modern world. The reason is to be found in the unwarranted modern assumption that man’s present structure, mental as well as physiological, is the last word in biological evolution, and that death, regarded as a biological event, has no constructive meaning. The world of today needs a Runi to create attitude of hope, and to kindle the fire of enthusiasm for life. His inimitable lines may be quoted here:”

“ First man appeared in the class of inorganic things,

Next year he passed therefrom into that of plants,

For years he lived as one of the plants,

Remembering nought his inorganic state so different;

And when he passed from the vegetated to the animate state,

He had no remembrance of his state as a plant,

Except the inclination on he felt to the world of plants,

Especially at the time of spring and sweet flowers:

Like the inclination of infants towards their mothers,

Which know not the cause of their inclination to the breast.

And the great Creator, as you know,

Draw man out of the animal into the human state,

Thus man passed from one order of nature to another,

Till he became wise and knowing and strong as he is now:

Of his first soul he has now no remembrance,

And he will be changed from his present soul”

{ Rumi – translated by Iqbal}.

Allama Iqbal and Jannat.

After a long discussion on the subject, Allama Iqbal arrived at the conclusion that “ I am, therefore, inclined to think that the ‘ Jannat’ in the Quranic narration is the conception of a primitive state in which man is practically unrelated to his environment and consequently does not feel the string of human wants, the birth of which alone marks the beginning of human culture.”

“Thus we see that Quranic legend of the Fall of Man has nothing to do with the first appearance of man on this planet. Its purpose is rather to indicate man’s rise from a primitive state of instinctive appetite to the conscious possession of a free self, capable of doubt and disobedience. The Fall does not mean any moral depravity: It is man’s transition from simple consciousness to the first flash of self- consciousness, and a kind of waking from a dream of nature with the throb of personal causality in one’s own being. Nor does the Quran regard the earth as a torture hall where an elementally wicked humanity is imprisoned for an original act of sin. Man’s first act of disobedience was also his first act that is why according to the Quranic narration, Adam’s first transgression was forgiven. Now goodness is not a matter of compulsion; it is the self’s free surrender to the moral ideal and arises out of a willing co-operation of free egos. A being whose movements are wholly determined like a machine cannot produce goodness. Freedom is thus a condition of goodness. But to permit the emergence of a finite ego who has the power to choose, after considering the relative values of several courses of action open to him, is really to take a great risk; for the freedom to choose good involves also the freedom to choose what is the opposite of good.”. [ Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam ] Can our religious leaders, Maulana who are described by Justice Kayani.’ are persons who know less but cry more,’ digest this view of Iqbal about episode of Jannat and Adam and Eve’?

About well known views about man, as ‘a Masterpiece of Nature.’

Has anyone seen a group of dogs, train and prepare themselves for a good fight with the other group of dogs living in another locality to snatch and extort their livelihood. But this scene we have been seeing since man has got awareness of the objects of nature round him. The achievements of his ugly efforts are Holy wars under the head crusade wars, attacks on grand Mundar of Hindus, named Soomnath in India. Massacre and bloodbath at the time of partition on the sub-continent. And in the present civilized world the atomic bombs drops on two famous cities of Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the occupation of Iraq by America and a big loss of lives in Afghanistan are boons of civilized society of today.

And still we say that man is a masterpiece of nature. It is strange for a man who has some knowledge about the meaning of civilization. Perhaps Swift is right when he says, “ I hate and detest the animal called man.”. In consonance to the ground realities referred to above there seems no exaggeration in the saying that Man is the worst piece of nature. It needs further explanation. The readers should decide themselves the validity of the statement,

[a] Man is the masterpiece of nature. [b] Man is the worst piece of nature.

Religion.

Definition of religion.

Religion as understood by the people who have scientific attitude to life may be described:- Religions are systems of beliefs, practices and organizations which shape an ethic manifest in the behaviour of their adherents. Religious beliefs are interpretations of immediate experience by reference to the ultimate structure of the universe, its centre of power and destiny; these are invariably conceived in supernatural terms. Any one set of religious beliefs usually includes a cosmogony and a philosophy of history, a psychology and a sociology. Belief in the supernatural entities of a religion is, emotionally, highly charged: the believer imputes a special quality, sacredness, to them and this extends to the directives for behaviour imputed to the supernatural or deduced from its existence. Ritual may include adoration, supplication, and attempts to control the supernatural: the distinction between religion and magic is difficult to maintain. Ritual, further, provides a codex of behaviour about which the believers may organize.

Religious ethics exhibit equally striking differences Some are world-affirming (Confucianism) Chine philosophical and ethical system based on the teaching of Confucius {551-479 BC} Chine philosopher who taught the need for high moral standards, esp. goodness, justice, loyalty and respect for parents and ancestor, others world-denying. Some seek the immediate transformation of the world others disparage the world as a transitory phenomenon, still others justify it as the best of all possible one. Christianity has encompassed, at different places, a number of contradictory ethical attitudes. The relationship of the religious organization to other social structures is, of course, the single most decisive factor in the development of an ethic from the other components of a religious system.( N. Birnbaum}.

Freudian Views about Religion.

‘During the process of our adjustment to our environment we are exposed to all sorts of stimuli. Our habitual responses to these stimuli gradually fall into a relatively fixed system, constantly growing in complexity by absorbing some and rejecting other impulses which do not fit in with our permanent system of responses. The rejected impulses recede into what is called the ‘subconscious region of the mind,’ and there wait for a suitable opportunity to assert themselves and take their revenge on the focal self. They may disturb our plans of action, distort our thought, build our dreams and fantasy or carry us back to form of primitive behaviour which the evolutionary process has left far behind. Religion, it is said, is a pure fiction created by these repudiated impulses of mankind with a view to find a kind of fairyland for free unobstructed movement. Religious beliefs and dogmas, according to the theory, are no more than merely primitive theories of Nature, whereby mankind have tried to redeem Reality from its elemental ugliness and to show it off as something nearer to the heart’s desire than the facts of life would warrant. That there are religions and forms of art, which provide a kind of cowardly escape from the facts of life.”

Religion from Allama Iqbal point of views

“Religion is not a departmental affair; it is neither mere thought, nor mere feeling, nor mere action; it is an expression of the ‘ whole man’. Thus, in the evaluation of religion, the philosophy must recognize the central position of religion and has no other alternative to admit it as something focal in the process of reflective synthesis”.[Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam]

Religion from Professor Whitehead point of views.

“ A system of general truth which have the effect of transforming character when they are seriously held and vividly apprehended”.

Religion from Bertrand Russell’s point of views.

The entire conception of sin and damnation, and of just and omnipotent God, is traditional and inconsistent, for no ‘sinner’ deserves to be punished for what a good at all- powerful God permitted him to do. As Russell says : “ If everything happens in accordance with God’s will, God must have wanted Nero to murder his mother, therefore, since God is good, the murder have been a good thing. From this argument there is no escape”.

Religion from Joosh Meelia Abadi

Reverent Joosh Meelia Abadi is one of the most distinguished figures of Urdu literature : his article in brief without any comments is presented for the readers’ perusal and consideration on the subject. It is so epigrammatic and terse that it is not possible for a common student of literature, like me, to translate it in English. However, I will try to give the pith of the dissertation.

‘ There is no one who can prove this universe could not come into existence without the Omnipotent. It seems that the present concept of God is the figment of a person who first of all made an image of Him. It is our whim that we cannot live without His discretion. The thought that God is the helper of mankind is squarely on account of the propaganda of the religious dissimulators. These spiritual simulators excavated Him from the earth and fed Him with the mystery of Nature and made Him the most superior with the help of their poetic flight. It is not hard to comprehend the motivation behind it for which these hypocrites had brought Him from the solitude and whispered in His ears that you was God. Was He not God before their hinting. If the man is born sycophant by nature, and God is obliged to hear these stupid sycophants. How foolish it is to define or restrict the infinite within the circumference of characteristics. It is common understanding among the people that God makes the others the means of our profits and losses. It is also common understanding among the people that the ruler who shed his responsibility of bad deeds is hated and not loved. But it is strange phenomenon that we think God the most just and compassionate in His nature, kneel down before Him for blessings. The horrible tug of war to snatch the substance of the others is waged since the man has gained awareness, and the poor and the weaker have been being inhumanly exploited by the stronger, and the creator, the master, and the lord of these creatures is looking this spectacle with satisfaction without providing rectification of this wrong prevalent for millions years. He at the same time is considered and worshipped as Just and Compassionate, it is strange and stupid syllogism . In confusion, the people who are determined to prove the existence of God at all costs, define and give Him the nomenclature of Nature. But they at the same time forget that Nature is cruel, immoral, and indifferent, while God, as they preach with emphasis, is all loving, just and incarnate of all virtues. Have not this come into the notice of God, who is Omniscient how many his blessed people are exploiting his name and looting the poor honest people. Is He sleeping in the heavens where the cries of the exploited do not reach or He is enjoying this woeful tamasha.

This seems that the religious dissimulators have been auctioning the name of God and His all belongings in the open market with heavy price and the ignorant and the feared who want to win Paradise are offering their bids according to their desires and financial capacity.”

( for further study pl. consult Tasavaray Khudah by Arshad Muhmood, Page N0,181)

This reminds the saying of Karl Max, “ Religion is the product of fear and greed”. He further said,” Religion is opium, who tastes it remains under its intoxication.”

Religion and innovations

There have been assiduous attempts in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam to make Blind Faith compatible and workable in the changed circumstances. Many innovations and renovations were engrafted with the original philosophy of religion, but the modern inventions and the new avenues of knowledge in the sociology, psychology, science and technology have defeated all such adventures to sustain the zeitgeist of the middle ages, the golden days of the supera natural forces.

Movements launched to make Hinduism workable are Jainism and Buddhism but failed to get desired results.

Movement launched to make Christianity in operation is Protestantism but failed to get desired results

In Islamic world there are so many movements to make it workable and friendly with the changed circumstances but here also the results are discouraging : rather the latest movement launched by Osama bin Ladhum is a great menace to the civilization and peace of the world. Here under are given the prominent efforts to make prevalent traditions, conventions and rituals of Islam sustainable in the new circumstances.

Rationalist Movement

It appeared in the church of Islam during the early days of the Abbasids, bitter controversies raised about the conservative dogma of the eternity of Quran. Rationalists denied it because they thought that this was only another form of the Christian dogma of the eternity of the World; on the other hand the conservative thinkers whom the latter Abbasids, fearing the political implications of Rationalism, gave their support, thought that by denying the eternity of the Quran the Rationalists were undermining the very foundations of Muslim society. Nazzam, for instance, practically rejected the traditions, and openly declared Abu Huraira an untrustworthy reporter. Thus, partly owing to misunderstanding of the ultimate motives of Rationalism, and partly owing to the unrestrained thought of particular Rationalists, conservative thinkers regarded this movement as a force of disintegration, and considered it a danger to the stability of Islam as a social polity. Their main purpose, therefore, was to preserve the social integrality of Islam, and the structure of their legal system as rigorous as possible.

Manhdavi Movement

The laxity and un-Islamic practices among the Muslims created a great concern among the Muslim thinkers in the sub-continent. Sayyid Muhammad of Jaunpur who claimed to be the Mahdi ( one who restore Islam to its original position). came forward and stated that his aim was to insist upon the performance of religious duties and avoidance of that has been forbidden in Islam. The movement led by him was known as the Manhdavi Movement. The orthodox Muslims did not recognise his claim to be the Mahdi and condemned his teachings as heresy. His movement acquired much strength through Sheikh ‘Alai, one of followers of him. Due to his efforts a large number of people came in the fold of the Mahdi doctrine. But he was put to the sword at the Fatwa of Sheikh Mukhdurul-Mulk and the death stood as a bar to the growth and development of the Manhdavi creed.

Shah Waliullah’s Movement.

The history of the Muslims in the 19^th century is the history of struggle for freedom. Since the loss of independence, the Muslims were not only hovering in the domain of uncertainty but also many un-Islamic ideas which sapped their moral strength were taking its place in the minds of the Muslims. It was at that time that some Muslims thinkers thought that unless the Muslims were brought back to the teachings of the Quran and Hadith, it would not be possible to save the Muslims from the impending ruin: they started movement throughout the country in order to raise the moral strength of the Muslims and thereby to prepare them for political make-up. One of the earliest reformers who led the movement in the 18^th century was Shah Waliullah’s. The early movements were religious and political in nature.

Faraizi Movement of East Bengal.

The founder of this movement was Hajji Shariatullah who was deeply moved at the prevailing conditions of the Muslims of Bengal. He dedicated himself to reform the cankerous social evils and to improve the conditions of the Muslims. The aim of his life was to establish the ideal of Islam and to awaken the political consciousness in the minds of the Muslims.

Main features of the movement. He forbade Tazia on the occasion of Muharram and dancing and singing at the time of wedding ceremonies. His movement was also directed against the oppression of the zamindars. He declared the country as Darual Harb ( the land of infidels) where Eid and Friday prayers could not be offered. The movement was a direct Jihad against the then religious oppression and superstition. It infused a new life and brought a great agitation among the Bengalese Muslims.

The Movement of Wahhabism.

Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, was the disciple of Shah Abdul Aziz and the founder of reilgio- political movement known as Wahhabism was the first popular political leader in this sub-continent. It has become the subject of controversy regarding the origin of this movement in Indo-Pakistan. W. Hunter and other writers are of opinion that Sayyid Shahid derived his doctrines from Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab of Arabia who in order to save the Muslims from the moral and spiritual degradation started a movement in Arabia in the later part of the 18^th and the first part of the 19^th century. This argument is not tenable in the face of facts. The teaching of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid differ considerably from those of Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab, from whom Wahhabism derived its name. Sayyid Ahmad Shahid had already formulated his ideas of reform before his departure for Arabia. However, the Wahhabi had been dislodged from Hejaz before his arrival in Mecca. He might have come across the Wahhabi and Wahhabism but the movement as a political force was at the lowest ebb while he was in Arabia. So it is wrong to say that he was influenced by the Wahhabism of Arabia. Over and above, there were many important points of differences between the two schools of thought. The Sayyid’s moderate view on Taqlid and his attitude towards Sufism may be cited as examples. The former flowed middle course regarding Taovesid and Sufism while the latter rejected both absolutely. The teaching of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid may be classified into four heads:

Fight against corrupt practices and innovations.

Attitude towards Taqlid and Ijtihad.

Sufism.

Political Aims and Object

This movement had an indigenous origin. He was influenced in his ideas by Muja did -Alif- -Sani and more particularly Shah Waliullah’s of Delhi and his school.

Quadiani Movement.

Mr. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad tried to introduce innovation in the religion of Islam, but the conservative religious leaders of Pakistan revolted against this moment in 1952 and tried to force the regime to declare the followers of this movement as Kafirs. But the government being impartial in the matter of religion crushed the insurgency with iron hand. Then all of a sudden in the regime of Mr. Bhutto, again this movement started mostly by the elements who were against the creation of Pakistan.. The prominent among them were Jama’tay Islami and Jometul-ullma’y Islam, of Mufti Muhmood . This movement brought great destruction of lives and property. The prime minister proved to be a coward man, and yielded to the demand of these religious leaders and political acrobats and made a legislation declaring the followers of Mirza Ghulam Muhammad as infidels. Henceforward the clergy of Pakistan began to get weight in politics of Pakistan. It proved a watershed in promoting the influence of the conservatives in Pakistan : it gave a massive fillip to domestic fanaticism and extremism. The rationalists and liberal in the religious quibbles were defeated and the antiquated explanations made by the clergymen won the battle.

The latest and the more forceful endeavour to restore the glory of Islam is Iqbal’s poetry and his famous book “ The Reconstruction of Religion Thought in Islam.” There had been so many attempts for the revival of Islam, but it is not time to mention them here on account of the scanty space and time. However I must confess that all the leaders of the different movement described above were honest, assiduous, sincere and committed to the their faith, Islam, but influence of the illiterates and ignorant clergymen on the illiterate and emotional public successfully defeated the sincere enthusiasm of the leaders of these movement. It is not perhaps irrelevant to mention here that in this fight between the liberal and the conservative Mirza Ahmad Sb. had to undergone more tortures because of his more pragmatic attitude in the innovations of the injunctions of Islam.

Achievements of Religions.

In Hindu social set up is based on caste system which is the worst discrimination among the humans. In this system society is fragmented in four classes, and in this way hierarchy is strongly established.

In Christianity :- Spanish Inquisition are the worst slur on the name of religion.

The Inquisition [Holy Office] appointed by the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages to discover and punish heretics, This is a black spot on the name of religion.

Superstitious and Religious ideas very often become cloaks for evil passions. Best examples can be found in the resent killing of the different sections of the same religion in Pakistan and of different religions in India. The story of Babri Musjid in Judia, India, is terrible for its elimination of so many lives and huge destruction of property. More phenomenal terrifying story of killing of human life and the huge destruction of property at the time of partition of sub-continent is the worst of its kind.

The notorious battles of Crusades and the seventeen attacks on Soomnath Mander ( one of the biggest worshiping places of Hindus) are black spots on the human history. All these humiliation of mankind and the destruction of civilization were allowed on the sacred name of religion. All these inhuman and stupid activities are possible because of the different approaches of the different groups of peoples to the concept of God. Different sections of mankind have different concepts of God to pay homage to Him , and fight like dogs to justify their own concept of God., and perhaps to please Him. He is pleased or not but the result to please God is horrible and disgusting.

The infamous terrifying figures of the history are the products of the distorted shape of the religions because all the leaders of the religions never thought inhuman behaviour in any fields of life. They were rather the great preachers of love and services for the poor section of humanity regardless to the faith of the individual. For example Christ says, “ Love thy enemy”. Holy Prophet Muhammad used to do chores of an old ailing woman who was deadly against Islam. Further religion of Islam emphasizes on “ no compulsion in religion”. It asserts that the murder of a man is tantamount to

Bin Laden.

Probably the most infamous part of Bin Laden’s ideology is that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of Jihad. Bin Laden is anti-Semitic, and has delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies : “ These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in the treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the nest. Shia Muslim have been listed along with “Heretics America and Israel, “ as the two principal “ enemies of Islam “ at ideology classes of bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organization. In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs bin Laden opposes music on religious grounds, and his attitude towards technology is mixed. He is interested in “ earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants” on the one hand, but rejects ‘” chilled water” on the other. His viewpoints and methods of achieving them have earned for him the title of a “ terrorist”.

My impressions

There is an awful difference of views between scientists and religious personalities about the genesis of man and his rights and duties on the earth. The core point is that religious believe in 6th sense [intuition]. Its whole edifice is erected on it whereas the scientists do not believe in the 6th sense. They believe only in perceptual knowledge. I am neither a scholar of religion nor science, and therefore I am not in a position to give any opinion on it. However my impression is that these clergymen of the great religions have distorted the quintessence of their respective religion and mislead the illiterate public. They have made the religions more and more complicated and entangled ones. They bring religion in all the pursuits of life. The infamous terrifying figures of the history are the products of the distorted shape of the religions. The founders of all the religions are great preachers of love and services for the poor section of humanity regardless to the faith of the individual. For example Christ says, “ Love thy enemy”. Holy Prophet Muhammad used to do chores of an old ailing woman who was deadly against Islam.

How man would have felt rapture engrossed in the charming and captivating phenomena of nature. These supreme moments in life are the real essence and cream of life. Both the scientists and the clergymen have only robbed man of his most precious assets of life and thrown him in the labyrinths of infinite discussions and quarrels. The endless discussions against and in favour of religion and metaphysics only waylay the living heart of man and robs of the invisible wealth of life that lies within.

The wasteful discussion on a shameful topic “ Padded Bras” is enough to prove that the clergy of today is quite indifferent and insensitive to the problems the country is facing. The country is facing acutely the problems of load shedding, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, corruption and nepotism. The anarchy, target killing and suicidal explosion is rampant in the country, and our Council of Islamic Ideology which is the highest forum to represent the values and significance of Islam is heavily engaged teaching ‘Islam’ to the Muslim women, especially the young girls. The valuable and the most important message to the Muslim girls is given below :-

“Padded Bras are Devil’s Cushions” says Council of Islamic Ideology

Lahore-- The Council of Islamic Ideology met last night as scheduled in light of the protests held last month by JUI and other religious parties against the increasing import and eventual use of padded and colorful bras. The Council also invited shop owners who were in the business of importing and selling female underwear. The Council advised the shop owners to bring lingerie samples, so that the council could see about what the protesters were angry.

Last month the protesters gathered outside an outlet inside Park Towers and occupied the entire floor and chanted slogans against padded bras. They asked the government to put a ban on the import and sale of padded, vibrant, colorful bras and demanded legislation that would outlaw the purchase of any underwear that is not white or beige colored.
“Padded bras are evil as they make the breasts look bigger and perky”, said one of the protesters. “Only devil women show off private parts. Muslim women should be as humble about them as they can. In fact they should be ashamed of their breasts, both of them.” Another protester said that the purpose of underwear is not to accentuate the curves. “…especially of a woman’s body the breast should not look like they belong to a non-virgin even if she happens to be married.” he added.
“Those lacy bras? They are an abomination! Do you even know how they’re made? They’re made in China by underfed and underpaid children. That’s how they’re made.” said a placard that was held by a protester. They chanted slogans as the Mall security stood and watched helplessly while three female customers and two employees locked themselves inside the store. The third employee of the store who was on a break before the protest began, joined the protesters and was cheered up on by the crowd after she announced, “I will not wear these sinful, men-attracting padded bras that make my jugs look juicy.” She then ripped out her bra and threw it on the ground where the protesters stomped on it repeatedly. She was later thrown anabaya by someone in the crowd.
After the meeting of the Council was over, the recommendation was released to the media that says, “Padded bras are Devil’s cushions and he likes to rest of them. The Council of Islamic Ideology is recommending that Pakistani Muslim researchers should try to invent a bra that makes the female chest area unnoticeable.”
Zakir Naik, one of the leading Islamic scholars commented on the situation that if the Pakistani government approves of the funding grant for this research and if Pakistan is successful at making such a bra that makes the chest of women unnoticeable, Pakistan might become the biggest exporter for Shariah compliant underwear. He said that he’d personally sign and send the first of these Shariah-bra to Veena Malik and Ali Saleem.

I feel shamed to read such disparaging and offensive discussion , argument and counter arguments in favour and against the proposition. The decision of the worthy council Padded Bras are Devil’s Cushions is most flagrant against the respectfulness of the fair sex. The Mullahs should think hundred times before giving such shameful verdict. Zakir Nail who claims to be a true representative of the Muslim thought at the international platform is also revealed .

Impressions

To the best of my knowledge and experience I can say without any fear of contradiction that our religious scholars are ignorant of the modern knowledge and inventions. Their learning and grooming has been done in the environment where the luminosity of the modern knowledge and technology is not allowed to sneak a look in it. They are spiritually intoxicated and are fascinated by the Idea of Paradise [ reward] and fearful from the idea of Hell {punishment}.

Narcissism has also affected their behaviour strongly. They are not corrigible by teaching or preaching the ground realities, because they do not live in this world. This world is a threshold for them for the eternal world after life of this world. The recent suicidal bomb blasting are flagrant examples that they are brain washed creatures. However time is a great healer, and with the spread of scientific knowledge the next generations will certainly find the world with more objective eyes.

It is my considered opinion that these ignorant Maul’vis consciously or unconsciously exploit the hostile conditions against the rights of women and distort them in favour of male sex. For example after and before the dawn of Islam women were thought to be sub-human creatures. The system of keeping 4 wives and countless keeps and the practice of slavery were so prevalent that that were impossible to exile them altogether from the fold of Islam. The Holy Prophet gave all possible emphasis to discourage both of these plagues. With the passage of time under the thoroughly changed circumstances these maladies should have been swept away in the embrace of Islamic jurisdiction, but for ignorance and the wish of our clerics to live in the Middle Ages, these problems are still unsolved in Islamic world.

In this connexion I feel anguished to quote the antagonistic attitude towards delicate sex of Maulana Ashraf Thavi ‘s famous book ‘Behisti Zawar {P.235}

“ If a wife refuses for three times to extinguish the sexual fire of her husband for any reasons, the angels start condemning the wife till dawn. This refers to two things,

1. The justification of the inhuman behaviour of a man towards delicate sex.

2. The respect of a woman in ignorant clerics heart.

How disgusting these thoughts are of a famous religious scholar. A very sacred and important duty is assigned to angels is v. fantastic.

Mysterious impact of nature on man.

The primitive man was very simple. He lived on main instincts only such as hunger, thirst, sex and self-preservation. As time rolled on, he became more and more sophisticated. It is a common phenomenon that Nature does not distribute its gifts equally among its tributaries. We find small, big and very big apples on the same tree and even on the same branch of the same tree. How it happens. It is very mysterious process. Somehow or the other the big ones receive more food and enjoy more suitable circumstances, such as sunlight, shadow etc. Similar is the case with man. Some men are born weak physically and mentally while other are born strong both physically and mentally. All great men: spiritual leaders, scientists and artists are born stronger than the others. It is common observation that the weight of body/ brain of born babies are sometimes very much different. Further Genetics and circumstances are the main features in moulding and shaping a man personality and physique.

These great men can be classified into scientists, artists and moralists. In this classification the necessity of the time plays a great role. If we cast our gaze on the world history we very easily find there in the world great men according to the need of that country. The greatest examples can be quoted of Arabia and Greece. There was great need of a mighty man to reform and build a good society by removing the evils from the society and further to inject a new blood to make it violable and energetic. We find the result of it. Thus when the whole of Arabia was groaning under the oppression and torture, injustice and cruelty, vice and superstitions Muhammad the great (Sm) appeared as a morning star on the dark horizon of the Arabs and illuminated the whole world with his great zeal, devotion and the strength of his character. His strength of moral and intellectual character made miracles never seen by the human race before the birth of this unique personality.

Similarly we find Socrates Plato, Aristotle, Zeno and so many other philosophers, physicians and scientists in the Greek society before the Birth of Christ. The Greeks and Romans were at that time much advanced in science and arts, and therefore their land produced scientists and philosophers and not spiritual leaders that the land of Arabs and sub-continent produced.

The big men have deeper perception and conception of the natural phenomena. They conceive and perceive things differently from common men, and their every action became miracle for common men.

Here under are given for study and judgment of a keen student of Psychology, Mr. Ijaz, on my views,

“Mysterious impact of Nature on Man”

Date:Tue,5Apr201117:15:48-0700
From:ijaz_shahid@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Regards..NATUREANDMAN
To:shakespearebutt@yahoo.com;arshad45@yahoo.com
Dear Butt sahib.

I am a humble student of psychology based on the new discoveries of natural sciences, especially of biology. you have made an analogy between the variant sizes of apples of one tree and the difference among the qualities of human beings. Though This is a vast subject and always needs more research but things are no more mysterious as you see them, especially new discoveries in genetics and DNA help us to make some substantial conclusion . a simple analogy of different sizes of apples of a tree would perhaps not explain the complex phenomenon of degree of difference of talents between different members of specie called humankind.

Though the barbarian man lived a simple life on the instincts but not differently as we live on them today, animals live also on the same instincts. This is very important to see where evolution drew the line between mankind and the animal kingdom. Unless this vital difference is earmarked, the whole phenomenon of human development can’t be evaluated. Of course it was human brain whose evolution brought the change. One faculty that brain gestated through countless centuries was faculty of creativity. A faculty that empowered him to change his environment and surroundings. The best of ‘mental’ activity that animals do is the adaptations to live according to their available natural and bodily resources. They can’t change their natural environment to their instinctive needs. With this prime quality of human brain, man was no more left for his existence and survival merely on the vagaries of nature and his surroundings. All sophistication of life that we enjoy today owes to this faculty; to be able to change the environment. Creativity contributed towards the better means of gratification of these instincts. Our barbarian ancestors and we are equal as the centre of all our activities are the satisfaction of our four instincts; hunger, sex, self-preservation/survival and leisure/enjoyment. All indicators of human development and sophistication, without exception are meant for direct , subsidiary or indirect gratification of these human[ animal] instincts. [I try to define instinct in a simple way; an instinct is an inner drive that takes the control of body [bodily resources i.e. organs] for its satisfaction without any external guidance or knowledge. The method of gratification needs not to be taught. As an infant needs not to be told, how to lick the mother’s nipple or which are the hands that ferry the message of safety and comfort. And to tell him what will make him, laugh, sooth and smile. [an example of three instincts; hunger, security and leisure]. Similarly at a certain age [different for different people] the instinct of sex take the control of body without being told or taught to get attracted to the object of his satisfaction.

My question is, is the development or ‘sophistication’ of human life because of which we strut on the earth ,as better than animals, owes to those few individuals, as you cited, that contributed to one specific field of human knowledge? My answer is no. you look around and take any man-made thing , a ball-point or computer, is not an effort of any individual. Millions of peoples sided with this achievement. Nobody knows who, and how many anonymous men contributed to it, with their creative faculty , howsoever small it looked at their times. we don’t even know the names of scientists who with their creative faculty made changes to make a simple calculating machine to present day’s the- most- sophisticated- gadget called computer.

Butt sahib. This, the fraternity of scientists [you named none of them in your list of great people] is solely responsible, from the creation of wheel or any improvement to the billions of modern things in all field of human use. If you want to give any credit, it goes to these common, countless peoples who were ordinary in all respects but great as they were humans. by virtue of being human every member of specie is endowed through evolution with this creative faculty but unfortunately our knowledge of ‘man’ is lacking to recognize its presence. Simply because we don’t see every man to show up this potential. The answer is simple .most of us are not fortunate enough to have access, exposure or chance to our specific and unique arena of creativity. Majority of us even don’t and can ‘t know, under the urgency of bread and butter and social obligations, what the real potential we have. We seem to have been born for pursuing blindfold gratification of our immediate mundane desires , perhaps contributing and making use of a shred of our creativity in entire of our life span. Rarely lady luck knocks at the threshold of some ordinary peoples to put them in their arena of taste and passion for which their brain were wired genetically and then they were acknowledged great people with their miraculous achievements. Have we had exposure to our passions and tastes and conducive environments, what miracle would have not been performed by us , the ordinary people.

Let us wait for the time when like other human rights, presence of unique potential and creativity is acknowledge in every human as the basic one and I am sure the phenomenon of great people would not remain a mystery any more. just imagine if this right is accepted as basic right, like others and we evolved a strategy to exploit it in every human being [the ordinary people] the leaps of human development would know no bounds .

The grand built of human society is not limited or based on men of letters or intellect . it has its roots on billions of creative men who contributed in the field of science, changing the material world around them, the only demarcation, between human and animal kingdom. Science is a continuous process, while the best of philosophy of any time becomes reservoir of stagnant ideas. All scientists base their work on the already known knowledge of earlier scientists. So works of every scientist is proved an added brick to the construct of edifice of human development.

But Butt sahib , I am sorry to argue that all philosophers, with the exception of Marx in one way only, who acknowledged that his ideas would be irrelevant one day, everyone was captive of his eccentric dispositions, declaring them to be final for all times, for all humanity. They understood the world with their limited perspective of unique and individual selves bounded by their peculiar social conditions. That is why we have hardly two philosophers agreed on solutions of any question. Their solution starts and ends considering themselves as the centre of the universe. Their peculiar natures made them different even with their teachers. The different interpretations of one theory by different school of thoughts is not some divine revelations or strength of logic but an indications of specific nature and interests of that individual at his times . Those who gathered power wreaked havoc on humanity to assert their philosophies declaring themselves the holders of ultimate realities. What else is history of mankind but the wars and disasters in the name of ‘ the best philosophy for the sake of humanity’; disguising the mundane interests [plundering the resources for their instincts]. To me the relevancy of these philosophers was well defined by Bertrand Russell in his biography;

‘’ In his last years he spent much of his leisure in writing a book on philosophy…’’

‘’Philosophy seemed to me great fun, and I enjoyed the curious ways of conceiving the world that great philosophers offer to the imagination’’

‘’I take refuge in intellectual activity, which has always been the nature of a dissipation and opiate to me’’.

We all have our own moments of leisure and enjoyment. To find these moments in literary or philosophic readings or discussions is great way to have it, like the men of letters had it but suggesting human development indebted to these philosophers is another thing.

One can be a creative philosopher if like scientists he can raise himself above his biases and ego, beyond his liking and disliking for certain groups or communities. A scientist’s work is always for the benefit of all mankind. And scientific philosophy is that , that does not divide humankind in compartments of any sort i.e races, religions, classes or groups….it is meant to understand and solve the problems of mankind…taking them as one unity……as the science does; through scientific thinking

[Ijaz]

Mr. Ijaz’s comments on my article “The Impact of Nature on Man” are illuminating and comprehensive. But he has ignored completely the importance of men of great potentials and gave altogether emphasis on the collective endevaours to build the social norms and zeitgeist of the society in a certain epoch. I admit the collective efforts of humans are paramount in shaping and reshaping the culture and civilization of a people. But the importance and contribution of the great figures of the history cannot be ignored completely.

There is only one Ram in the history of India.

There is only one Buddha to desire a society : Classless, Casteless and Godless.

There is only one Muhammad who changed the living and thinking style of the inhabitants of Arab Peninsula and left deep imprints on the modern civilization.

There is only one Newton.

There is only one Einstein who explored the theory of Relativity.

There is only on Galileo.

Etc etc

Hence we can say without any fear of contradiction that nature produced great intellects to change the present atmosphere because nature is dynamic. Both the collective efforts of the common men and the individuals combined together have made the present civilization, and we cannot ignore one for the other.

The incentive for virtue is vital with reference to evil and virtue :

The majority of religions to promote the incentive for virtuous life create fear of God and temptation of luxurious life after death. This strategy might be workable for the ancient man, the awareness of the man of today is so cultivated that such negative expedients and temptations have no impact on him. We cannot erect edifice of permanent moral values on the basis of fear and greed. Fear kills the capabilities of man to think correctly and leads man to the path of hypocrisy. Fear and hypocrisy impel such people to adopt double standard in their lives. This is the reason that most of the believers only give lips service to their faith and in normal life they do as the circumstances demand them for their personal benefits. Another result of fear and greed is that the people begin to hoodwink their own creeds. They give more stress on the aspects of religion which are more convenient and profits yielding. They believe that they are exempted from the fear of God after worshipping Him and performing some religious rituals and reserve their rights for luxurious life in heaven. It is a common phenomenon that in the name of sacredness of a religion many pleasing myths have been knitted which the believers accept them as truths without any testimony, inquiry, and impartial analysis. In such situation who care to test these stories of the past. In the name of religion, therefore, fake, based on ignorance stories that grimace the wisdom and awareness are presented in such a way that even the educated people sometimes accept these fabrications as truths because there is no liberty to object to any traditions and practices of the religion. In this context it is strange when there is a problem between two groups of believers , they get support of logic and reason to defeat the standpoint of the other but in reference to their own faith they ban logic and reason to enter the discussion as these are ‘forbidden tree’.

The family tree of the failing is that the relation between God and man has became commercial as the result of greed and fear. It is evident that the objectives of prayers is not to become pious and righteous but to collect ‘ virtues and good deeds’ so that these may be cashed for luxuries of life after death. The pious relation of love and closeness between God and man which springs from core of the heart becomes shallow and mechanical when tinged with the philosophy of paradise and hell. The real passion behind the prayers should be love and not fear. Fear only takes place when we fail to understand fear- inspiring thing. And when you understand it, the fear flies away itself, and a new relation of comprehension begins. To make God a bugbear and distributor of reward and punishment is neither convincing nor desirable. On this subject the advice of Rabia Busri’s approach is appropriable and appealing :

“ One day, she was running through the streets of Basra carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When asked what she was doing, she said," I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of Paradise. They block the way to God. I do not want to worship from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but simply for the love of God."

The Decline and Fall of Muslim World.

There are so many causes for the decline and fall of Muslim world. Here under are given the most outstanding that caused the decline and fall of the most imposing edifice of the Muslim World.

[a] The generosity and fair mindedness of Abdul Mutalib won for him an undisputed position among the Quraysh who recognized his over lordship. Bin Harb, the son of Umayyad, refused to accept his supremacy. The decision of the judges again went against him as it did in the case of his father. Thus, there sprang up a jealousy :

[b] Old Rivalry between the most prominent dynasties : Omayyad and Hash mites.

[c] The great tragedy of Imam Hussein.

[d] Transferring of state authority to one or the other dynasty : the end of relationship of the state authority and the public,

[e] The religious leaders became engaged in most non serious discussion such as whether Ablution dhela should move from the bottom to top or top to bottom.

[a]] The enmity between the Hash-mites and Umayyads constituted one of the main causes for the fall of the Khilafat. The tribal jealousy and rivalry existed even before the birth of Muhammad[Sm]. But the teachings of the great Prophet kept them in check. Abu Bakr and Umar did not belong to any of the parties and as they were engaged in wars with the foreign powers, the tribal jealousy could not raise its head. But the peaceful reign of Uthman allowed the dormant rivalry to raise its head. When the Umayyad supremacy under Uthman was going to be established, the Hash mites could not tolerate. They tried to undo the influence of Umayyads in the empire. With this end in view, they sided with the enemies of Uthman. Had the Hash mites and Umayyads been united at that critical time, the Arab faction which challenged the authority of Uthman would have been crushed. But the enmity between the two had encouraged the enemy and was ultimately responsible for the murder of the Khalipha. With the assassination of Khalipha, the unity of Islam was lost and the gates of civil were opened.

[b] Murder of Imam Hussein in at Karbala was a great tragedy and it created an unbridgeable gulf between the Muslim Millet. Whole the nation was so sunk in the sea of religious quibbles and indifference to the defence of the boundaries that when Baghdad was under attack of the Mongols, religious leaders were engaged in the most frivolous discussion whether the ablution dhela should move from bottom to top or top to bottom. ‘ It is just fiddling of Nero the emperor of Roman when the Roman was burning into ashes.’

2. Narcissism and superiority complex

“The malady I,e. narcissism is civilizational because the thought process of Muslim society everywhere is based on certain misconceptions. For example, the imperialistic impulse to rule the world is not just visible in the subcontinent; it was felt in the earliest parts of Islam, in the first period of caliphate, when it was given out to the world that we are the best people, ordained by divine authority, to rule the world.

There are the two basic concepts of identity that the Muslim civilization preached to its believers----the tribal and the Ummah identity. These two identities do not allow for an analytical or critical thought process. It was the intention of the rulers who conquered the world to keep people less informed and less critical. And therefore the tribal authoritative tradition became the Ummah tradition in which there is no questioning of the elders or rulers or superiors. In such a sate, naturally, narcissisms sets in. The subjugation of mind allows a certain pride to compensate for intellect. The rulers as well as the public are made to believe that they are superior, they need not think or question their identity and should go on aspiring for a world empire as a civilization. This civilization as a whole, ideological as it was, believed that it was very superior, had a right to rule the world, had a duty to wage war whenever there was an opportunity. Unfortunately, in the present day world there is little opportunity and we do not understand that. We are in the habit of thinking that the world is ready to be conquered.”

Allama Iqbal Views. [ Sufism]

The rise and growth of ascetic Sufism, which gradually developed under influences of a non-Islamic character, a purely speculative side, is to a large extent responsible for this attitude. On its purely religious side Sufism fostered a kind of revolt against the verbal quibbles of our early doctors. The case of Sufyan Sauru is an instance in point. He was one of the acutest legal minds of his time, and was nearly the founder of a school of law; but being also intensely spiritual, the dry-as-dust subtleties of contemporary legists drove him to ascetic Sufism. On its speculative side which developed latter, Sufism is a form of free thought in alliance with Rationalism. The emphasis that it laid on distinction of zahir and batin [ Appearance and Reality ] created an attitude of indifference to all that applies to Appearance Reality]

This spirit of total other-worldliness in latter Sufism obscured men’s vision of a very important aspect of Islam as a social polity , and offering the prospect of unrestrained thought on its speculative side it attracted and finally absorbed the best minds in Islam. The Muslim state was thus left generally in the hands of intellectual mediocrities, and the unthinking masses of Islam, having no personalities of higher caliber to guide them, found their security only in blindly following the schools.

On the top of all this came the destruction of Baghdad – the centre of Muslim intellectual life—in the middle of the 13^th century. This was indeed a great blow, and all the contemporary historians of the invasion of Tartars describe the havoc of Baghdad with a half suppressed pessimism about the future of Islam. For fear of further disintegration, which is only natural in such a period of political decay, the conservative thinkers of the Islam focused all their efforts on the one point of preserving a uniform social life for the people by a jealous exclusion of all innovations in the law and Shari’at as expounded by the early doctors of Islam. Their leading idea was social order, and there is no doubt that they were partly right, because organization does to a certain extent counteract the forces of decay. But they did not see, and our modern Ulema do not see, that the ultimate fate of a people does not depend so much on organization as on the worth and power of individual men. In an over-organized society the individual is altogether crushed out of existence. He gains the whole wealth of social thought around him and loses his own soul. Thus a false reverence for the past history and its artificial resurrection constitute no remedy for a people’s decay. “ [Reconstruction of religious thought in Islam ]

Muslims of today in vies of S. Abul A’la Maududi:

“ The Quran came to grant them dignity and power. It came to make them real vicegerents of God on the earth. And history testified that when they acted according to its directions, it demonstrated its power making them Imams and leaders of the world. But now for them its utility is confined to keeping it in the house in order to drive away demons and ghosts, to inscribe its verses on paper and hang it round the neck or wash it in water and drink it, and read the contents unintelligibly to get some blessing. Now they do not seek guidance from it in the affairs of their life. They do not consult it to know what should be our beliefs, what should be our deeds, how should we conduct transactions, what law should we follow in contracting friendship and making enmity, what are the rights on us of our fellow-beings and of our own selves, what is truth for us and what is falsehood, whom should we obey and whom to disobey, with whom should we maintain relation and with whom not, who is our friend and who is our enemy, wherein are honour, well-being and benefit for us and wherein lies disgrace, failure and loss? Muslims have given up ascertaining all these verities from the Quran. Now they ask these things from unbelievers, polytheists, misguided and selfish people and from the evil force in their souls, and follow what these elements advise. Therefore what invariably happens on ignoring God and following the precepts of others, happened to them too, and they are reaping it today in Hindustan, China, Java, Palestine, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and everywhere”. {Fundamentals of Islam P.No.17-18}.

The awareness about the world scenario of the clergymen is faithfully mirrored in the Munir Report. Not to speak of the common Muslim scholar, even the extinguished thinkers of Islam project a gruesome picture of Islam:-

“ A telling comment was made by Maulana Maudoodi who, when asked whether he would permit Hindus to base their constitution their own religion replied : “ Certainly I should have no objection even if the Muslims of India are treated in that form of government as Shudras and Malishes and Manu’s laws are applied on them, depriving them of all share in the government and the rights of citizens”.

The Ulema questioned by the Munir committee were not even able to define a Muslim, which judges to observe. “ Keeping in view the several definitions of a Muslim given by the Ulema, need we make any conclusion except that no two learned divines are agreed on this fundamental?”.

The constitution of an Islamic state has to e based on the Quran, but as early as 1952 the late A. K. Brohi, wrote, “ It is not possible to derive from the text of the Quran a clear statement as to the actual content of the constitution of any sate”. The Munir Report concludes that “ the phantom of an Islamic state has haunted the Musalman throughout the ages, and our politicians should understand that if Divine commands cannot make or keep a man a Musalman, their statutes will not, and not will an ‘Islamic state. “ This was also what Jinnah believed. { I. Iftikhar Murshed – News-papers}

Every thought inherits its decay if not ‘reconstructed’ with new knowledge. [tajad’did].

It is established that there is no such thing as finality in philosophical thinking. As knowledge advances and fresh avenues of thought are opened, other views, and certainly sounder views than those prevalent emerge to take the place of the old. In philosophical language it may be elaborated with the help of dialectics:

‘ it proceeds with a statement called thesis, the imperfections of which are sought to be corrected through studying its opposite, called the antithesis. A new view is then proposed in which the best features of the thesis and the antithesis are harmonized. This is known as the synthesis. This synthesis is further refined by regarding it as another thesis, expounding its antithesis, and so on.

To further elucidate the point the help of Spenser would be beneficial. He wrote ‘ that all organic matter originates in an unified state and that individual characteristics gradually develop through evolution. The evolutionary progression from simple to more complex and diverse states was an important’ process of nature . Therefore the thing which does not fall in the domain of human’s comprehension at present will certainly become understandable through the process of evolution.

Impressions

It is regrettable to find that Muslim world is reluctant to learn any lesson from the history of the Europe. They like to live in the ‘ Middle Ages’ and conveniently ignore the earth shaking changes that science and technology are bringing in the life of humans. They are not going to innovation in any field of life. They even are not giving attention to the thinker of Islam, Allama Iqbal who advised the Muslim to “ reconstruct “ ‘ their religious thought’. The conservatives do not believe in the adoption and adjustment with the changed circumstance. For them time is stagnant in nature, and all events are destined to surface in a fixed time. All the movements to ‘ reconstruct ‘religious thought in Islam’ miserably failed owing to the obduracy of the clerics who wished to remain in the of Middle Ages because it was the glorious period of Islam. It is romantic, essentially backward looking and a menace only when it embarks on disseminating sectarian antagonistic emotions. The nations that delay in adopting the new circumstances lag behind.

The study of Islamic history shows that up to 10th century the religion of Islam remained strong and forceful in all fields of life. It produced scholars, technicians and scientists. They loved to get more awareness and explore new avenues of knowledge. The potentials and dynamism of the Muslim world were strong and robust so far. But gradually with the passage of time these virtues began to wear and tear away. It is unfortunate that the ascendancy of the trite rituals and hackneyed traditions over passion for the service of mankind and the thirst for more knowledge in all fields of life which were considered in the early days of Islam the pearls of the religion were smashed into smithereens by the forceful muscles of the Mullahs.

Philips Hitti eulogized the achievements of the Muslim Spain by explaining the glory of the Capital city: “ It enjoyed miles of paved streets illuminated by lights from the bordering houses, whereas “ seven hundred years after this time there was not so much as one public lamp in London,” and “ in Paris, centuries subsequently, whoever stepped over his threshold on a rainy day stepped up to his ankles in mud”. Whenever the rulers of Leon, Navarre or Barcelona need a surgeon, an architect, a master singer, or a dress-maker, it was to Cordova that they applied. The fame of the Muslim capital penetrated to the distant Germany, where a Saxon nun styled it “the jewel of the world”.

But with the passage of time the vitality of the religion began to sink into the abyss of oblivion because of the persistent denial of our religious scholars to adjust themselves in the changed circumstances. They refused to accept the significance of the new horizons of knowledge opened by science. They even do not feel hesitant to evince their intensive repulsion for the modern technology and knowledge because they think that these efforts of scientists are a direct interference in the sovereignty of God. They are ever ready to issue religious verdicts against every new thing. Their verdicts against Loudspeaker, Watches of all kinds wearing of tie etc are a part of our history.

Allama Iqbal

Iqbal in my view :- Allama Iqbal is neither a genuine poet nor a genuine philosopher but a genuine preacher of the Muslim World.

Definition of a poet:- “A Writer of poems”.

Definition of a poem: “A piece of creative writing in verse, esp. one expressing deep feelings or noble thoughts in beautiful language, written with the intention of communicating an experience”.

[Oxford Learner’s Encyclopedic Dictionary] The stress is on “ creative.”

A poet is an artist who creates something new with the help of words and phrases.

Before commenting further on his poetry, it is well advised to see the true nature of poetry and other forms of art. It is admitted fact that all great literature should be essentially based upon ethical views. But at the same time it is also true that the artist should not be deliberately didactic or blatantly ethical. Further to elucidate : the cult of art for art’s sake cannot hold water. The purpose of art is aesthetic, but the effect is moral in the true sense. Although literature does not aim at making us moral, it profoundly influences our moral nature because it quickens our capacity to realize the hopes and sorrows of our fellowmen as intimately and poignantly as we do our own. By sharpening our finer sensibilities it changes the entire orientation and character of our lives. The imaginative, emotional and moral aspects of our life are closely connected not only with one another, but with our ways of reflecting upon life. Our self ought to be an integrated whole. The renovating power of literature lies in its being able to move and transform our entire nature. The literature of the highest order frees us from torpor and hardened prejudices, rouses our finer emotions and sensibilities, and dilates our imagination by endowing us with the power of getting beneath the skin of others. The moral needs not be a life limited by codes or conduct. It is a life that creates its code of conduct as it moves towards progress and perfection.

The end of poetic art is not to preach but to give aesthetic pleasure. There is the other side of the picture of art which is based upon the concept of morality. We do not mean a system of metaphysics. In the artist’s region, we find no doctrine or injunction. Art helps us with motives, not by indoctrination. The artist conveys the tone and philosophy of our life rather than the systematic logic contained in the book of philosophy. He does not preach directly. He does not argue and discuss; he simply reveals the facts and exalts them by his magnetic ego. Further morality in art is different from dogmatic religion. In dogmatic religion all questions are directly answered and all doubts are endeavoured to be removed. The term morality in art does not connote didacticism, a teacher, a preacher, in the real sense of the word. In fact he is a creator, revealer and an exhibitor. He has the creative bent of mind which can approach truth through its joy, in creative effort. In other words, the artist does not force the reader to particular dogmas. The reader may accept his cult by the spell of his personality which indirectly convey the deepest and profoundest thought of humanity. But the artist is not like an escapist to shirk humanity He repeats, arranges and he clarifies the lessons of life. He disengages us from our experiences and show us the rich realities of life to lead us to the path of eternity. According to Stevenson, a piece of art is “ not as we can see it for ourselves but with a singular change—that monstrous consuming ego of ours, being, for the none, struck out” In other words, the artist’s morality is not ready made. Chesterton feels that the bad fable has a moral, while the good fable is moral. In this manner, we can differentiate between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Pope’s Essays on Man. While the former is moral, the latter has a moral. It is now quite apparent that morality in art does not imply a systematized metaphysics or logic of dogmatic religion or didacticism. Hence morality in art means an insight into the reality, into the mystery of life and into the divine essence. And in this sense that all great art is moral and all great artists are moralists. And in this sense that Goethe, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Milton, Virgil, Wordsworth, Keats, Tolstoy, Minto, Parveen Shakar and Mir Taki Mir, Ghalib are moralists. Iqbal does not come up to this standard because he sings the virtues and excellences of a certain faith, creeds with the dearth of the deepest and profoundest though of humanity, when a genuine artist is the property of mankind. We do not hear the “sad music of humanity” in Iqbal’s poetic art.

In the vision of the above cited discussion, I do believe that Allama Iqbal is a tremendous genius of his time. He has deep understanding of Eastern and Western knowledge. Perhaps he is the solitary example of his time in which a Muslim scholar have Eastern and Western knowledge and used it successfully. At the same time I painfully admit philosophy, science and poetic art demand free inquiry, independent from all sorts of prejudices of faiths, convictions, creeds , likes and dislikes. Free and unbiased investigation in search of truth whether it is physical or psychological is considered the pre-requisite, and without it, any struggle to find truth, in the language of science and philosophy is false and therefore unreliable. Though it is painful, yet it is factual that if Iqbal’s works is fathomed by this yardstick, he is neither a poet nor a thinker because both poetry and philosophy require free flight, not tinged and hued with personal trends. Of course he has written beautiful musical compositions in Urdu and Persian. His supporters feel anguished to find him on most occasions landed in the land of a certain faith and trite conventions and traditions. He has blind faith and ruthless devotion to some thoughts founded on divine authorities quite against physical and psychological truths discovered recently by the great figures in the domain of science, philosophy and humanities. He was born a Muslim, remained a Muslim throughout his life and died a Muslim, though like Milton who in his famous book “Paradise Lost” sometimes strayed from his favourite trodden path:

“Iqbal is of the opinion that the object of his faith is the implementation of a balanced social order based on fundamental human rights which ensures that no one can exploit another. It is precisely for this reason he rejects both Capitalism and Communism as extremist viewpoints and endeavours to achieve the ideals of equality, brotherhood and justice, through the Quranic social order i.e., Iqtisad (moderation) of the Welfare State of the Middle Class”. ( Javid Iqbal’s Ideology of Pakistan).

The opinion and advice in connexion with the Communism and Capitalism is visible in the following extract from his famous lecture he delivered in his address to All Indian Muslim Conference.

“The Faith which you represent recognizes the worth of the individual and disciplines him to give away his all to the service of God and Man. Its possibilities are not yet exhausted. It can still create a new world where the social rank of Man is not determined by the caste or colour or the amount of dividend he earns, but by the kind of life he lives; where the poor tax the rich, where human society is founded not on the equality of stomach, but on the equality of spirits, where an untouchable can marry the daughter of a king, where private ownership is trust, and where capital cannot be allowed to accumulate so as to dominate the real producer of wealth”.

“But one may asks : Who does not know that according to Shari’at the rights of a Christian subject are other than those of a Muslim, or those of a slave other than those of a free man, that women as witnesses must be two instead of one man etc”. ( Annemarie Schimmel).

Iqbal’s Narcissism and Chauvinism.

Taking into consideration that a poet is the property of mankind, and not an asset of a section of humanity, Iqbal shocked the lovers of poetry by soaking and tingeing his poetic talents in the cauldron of a particular philosophy. More regretful aspect of his poetry is that it became the medium of Chauvinism and Narcissism in the place altruistic passion.

Chauvinism Shaheen

Sheen is a symbol of a Muslim having perfect faith in God} : Superman in the language of Nietzsche and Mar’d-e mo’mun in the language of Iqbal. We find a flagrant Chauvinism in the verse cited above. This is regrettable in the world where there is hue and cry for the equality and freedom for every man without the distinction of race, religion and coulour. It becomes more undesirable when we see a black man the President of America, the most powerful country of the world is elected by the citizens of America believing equal political and civil rights for every person without any distinction of religion, race or colour.

Narcissism

Read:“O Lord! These bondsmen have set out in Your path for Jihad. They are the seekers of Your good pleasure. They are mysterious as well as the keepers of mystery. Their true

state and position is known only to You. You have taught them high-mindedness and, now, they will not settle for less than world-leadership and Divine Rule. These proud men listen or yield to no one. Save them.”

Revive, once again, in the heart of the

Momin,

The lightning that was in the prayer of

‘Leave Not’

Wake up ambition in the breasts, O,

Lord!

Transform, the glance of the Momin

Into a sword.

In his epic poem Tariq Ki Dua, Iqbal has heightened the beauty of the Tariq’s prayer by adorning it with the rob of poetry. The poem has read:

“ O Lord! These bondsmen have set out in Your path for Jihad. They are the seekers of Your good pleasure. They are mysterious as well as the keepers of mystery. Their true state and position is known only to You have taught them high-mindedness and, now, they will not settle for less than world-leadership and Divine Rule. These proud men listen or yield no one. Save them

The unwholesome effect of Iqbal passion for the revival of Islam through violence is conspicuous in the Osama Bin Ladhum and his organization Al Qaida.

In the perspective of the facts and figures as detailed above it can be concluded that either I a common reader could not understand Iqbal or he is confused, vague and indefinite, rather self-contradictory.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the following period.

There is no doubt the greatness of a nation depends upon its men, especially upon its heroes. “ Society is founded on hero-worship, “ says Carlyle. The bright star of the history of Pakistan is Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was the will of Allah that the physically weakling son of Poonjah Jinnah would one day be the founder of Pakistan. He was born in Karachi on December 25, 1875.

After matriculation, he was sent to England for higher studies. He distinguished himself over there as a keen and upright student. He qualified from the Lincoln’s as a brilliant Barrister. On his return to India he joined the Indian National Congress. He was the ardent supporter of the Hindu-Muslim unity. But the narrow vision of certain Hindu leaders disappointed him. He decided to join the Muslim League after realizing the deep rooted prejudice against the community of Muslims of some of the powerful congress leaders, among them the most prominent is Petal .

He inspired the Muslims of India with his glorious vision. He worked hard with unwavering determination for a separate homeland for Muslims. The odds were against him. The Hindus, the British and a section of Muslims who claimed the religious leaders of the depressed and repressed community were hostile to him, They called him Kafir and the Pakistan as Karfarsatan ( the land of infidels). Among them the most prominent was Maulana Abul A’la Maududi the head of the Jama’tay Islami. But his penetrating eye led him to the right path, and he grappled with every problem. His aim was high. He soared like an eagle. He organized a Party. Muslims rallied round him. The hostile forces had to beat a retreat.

August 14, 1947, was the day of his triumph. Pakistan appeared on the map of the world. He took oath of the office of the first Governor General of the new country. Muhammad Ali was the true Quaid-e-Azam in the true sense of the word. His health had been breaking down under a heavy pressure of work. He died in Karachi on September 11, 1948. But founders and heroes like him never die. Do they?

The most important aspect of the State of Pakistan was clarified by Quaid Azam in his famous presidential address to the Constituent Assembly:-

“ You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, or caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the State. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of a state. Now, I think, we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”

It may be noted that this address was delivered in the Constituent Assembly, Constitution making body, and not in a public address in which most of the things are poured out for the public consumption. The place is most important, the situation is most serious and the audience is consisting of the cream of the nation. Hence this speech may be taken as policy of the newly born state of Pakistan. This can rightly be taken as the nucleus and hub of the constitution of Pakistan insinuated by the father of the nation.

The focus and core of his address is:-

The State of Pakistan will not be a theocracy because in theocratic states there are distinction of religion. The vision of the father of nation is to see Pakistan immune from such diseases as racial, colour and religious prejudices.

He was born in an educated family, nurtured and grown up in a modern society in a posh area of Karachi and groomed in the Western culture to lead a nation that was depressed, illiterate bankrupt in right thinking and Maulvi ridden badly. He firmly believed in humanism and justice to ever body without any distinction of race, colour, caste and religion. I do believe that his love of freedom, betterment and prosperity of the public was dominant in his struggle in creating a new country. Justice for every one irrespective of caste and religion was embedded in his psyche. I also do believe that he would have showed the same zeal and enthusiasm to free any depressed, deprived and downtrodden community in India. That is why he agreed to leave the demand of separation if the congress leaders would have been a little more liberal to accept the demand of the Muslims to give them 33 percent representation in the federation. But the stalwart leaders of the congress refused to give that just and established concession to the minority. It is my opinion that one of the causes of the partition of the Sub-continent is the bigotry and prejudice of some of the Hindu fanatics but powerful in the Congress. And Muhammad Ali Jinnah rightly understood that the hegemony of the Hindu majority who was already more advanced and active in every walk of life would certainly crush the Muslims minority which is backward, ignorant and beset with the internally religious conflicts. He was a humanist more than anything else. His life style bespeaks his vision for Pakistan. He desired Pakistan a modern welfare state.

No doubt there are some speeches of Quaid-e- Azam that contain his announcements that the constitution of Pakistan will be Islamic, and this contradicts with the policy statement delivered in the first session of the constituent assembly of Pakistan. It probably implies that his announcements delivered in Public meetings were chiefly for the public consumption. However if we suppose that he desired that the new state of Pakistan would be an Islamic state, even then it is not obligatory upon the citizens of this country to materialize his desire against the demands of the time. Everywhere, and all over the world there is a demand of secular philosophical systems in all walks of life. Let us see this matter in the vision of his address in reply to a question as to what would be the economic policy of Pakistan in an interview to a representative of the foreign Press, on 8^th November, 1945, he said ;

“ You are asking me to interpret what the Government will do. But personally I believe that in these modern days essential key industries ought to be controlled and managed by the State. That applies also to certain public utilities. But what is a key industry and what is a utility service are matters for the lawmakers to say, not for me”. In this address the Quaid-i-Azam recommended to nationalize the key industries and ‘ certain’ public utilities.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1970 nationalized key industries, some utilities and we saw the complete destruction in these departments. The policy of industrialization of key industries and utilities proved a tragic event for the health of Pakistan. Its bad effects are still felt in every walk of life. It may be noted that the Quaid was not an economist. He did his matriculation and went to U.K. for studies of law. No doubt he was intelligent, diligent and possessed all qualities of a good lawyer and politician but it is fact he did not study economics and we cannot take him an expert in economic policy for the betterment of the country.. The living nations go with the march of time and do not tread inevitably the path chosen by their ancestors. Every age has its own requirements and we must adopt ourselves according to the circumstances in order to make nation progressive and country viable.

The best example can be quoted of China.

In the mid fifties, the quotations of Moa Se Tung were the best guidance for every citizen of China. People even copy the dress of their great leader. Moa firmly believed in labour and denied the importance of capital, because he thought that natural recourses were the property of the nation. The core point and vital strength of communism is the theory of surplus value which totally denies the role of capital. And the most attractive slogan of the socialists was “ to very body according to his needs and from everybody according to his capacity”. Is it not true that these things have been buried since long and the new generation had altogether banished the quotations of their great leader to meet the requirements of the time. The sagacity of new leaders welcome the Western investment and the culture of the West against the wishes and policy of their great leader. They succeeded to get prosperity and strength because they know the march of the world. Life is dynamic and we must be active to accept the new demands of the changed circumstances.

But our leaders are beating the same drum and sounding the same slogans; they are entangled in the labyrinth of so many thoughts, religious and worldly. We cannot see clearly our path of progress because we are prisoners of hackneyed systems and time bared philosophy. Our daily assignment is to recite the old glory and achievements of the Muslims of Middle Ages. We are blind and deaf to see the wonders of science and hear the call of future. We have altogether forgotten that it is the age of computer and unbelievable changes have occurred. We are still driving the horses of our ambitions. In this situation we should follow the path carved by the developed nations without any mental reservations. The prosperity of the country is more important than futile discussion of Hoodooed Ordinance, Islamic Economy, Islamic Bank , Islamic Bomb, the defence of the boundaries of Ideology of the country and Pakistan the fort of Islam. Such catchwords and strategy were designed and tailored by a dictator on the advice of the fanatic religious leaders who were eager to wreak revenge on the patriots who loved Pakistan more than their lives. They exploited the emotional attachment of the people with Islam and tried to impinge upon the rights of women. The discussion on the merits and demerits of equal rights of men and women is to soil the fair name of mother, sister, wife and daughter. It should be condemned strongly and the advisers of the dictator should be punished for misleading the ignorant and tyrant, Zia.

Pakistan.

It is a country situated in Southern Asia between India and Afghanistan, official language Urdu; capital Islamabad; unit currency rupee. The border is mountainous, and most of the population lives in the main agricultural region in the valley of the Indus. Agriculture, esp rice and cotton growing is the main economic activity. Pakistan became independent in 1947, originally as E and W Pakistan, the two main Muslim areas of the Indian sub-continent. In 1971 East Pakistan became Bangladesh. At present its population is 180 millions.

Is Pakistan a Republic country?

Republic means , “ a ( country with a) system of government in which supreme power is held not by a monarch but by the (elected representatives of the ) people, with elected President. [Oxford Adv. Ency.Dictionary]. The emphasis is that the people or the representatives of the people of a country enjoy sovereignty. The best example of it can be quoted of British Parliament. It is said, “ King in parliament can do each and every thing that is physical possible.” Is our parliament sovereign : can it make any legislation against the injunctions of Quran and Shari’at. No, it is fettered to do it. No law can be made by our parliament which is repugnant to the injunctions of Islam or Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. The irony of the character of the parliament of Pakistan is that “women rights” bill introduced by the Government is still held in abeyance because of the strong opposition of the opposition parties which consist of religious parties and some conservative members of the parliament. Hence by these parameters Pakistan is not a republic.

Moreover a democracy defined by Abraham Lincoln, the 14^th President of United States of America, is “ the government by the people, of the people and for the people”. Is it not a fact that since the birth of Pakistan, every parliament is greatly dominated by some houses hailing from the family of big landlords of the country. Elections are designed with the device of Hobson’s choice to attain the desired results. After three or four years there is a rehearsal made of the same drama by the high profile ranks in the armed forces.

Is Pakistan an Islamic Country.

According to the claims of religious leaders, Islam teaches us brotherhood, tolerance, compassion, good behaviour, the rights of neighborhood and all other virtues that help build a good character. Does, with the exception of v. v. few, the overwhelming majority of Muslims enjoy any characteristics of the above mentioned virtues. The daily bomb blasts in the places of worship of the other sect are being reported . The factories, in the Musjids and Ammam Baras, are being established where the brains of the youth of Pakistan are being washed to slaughter the leaders and followers of the other sect. Has Pakistan not become notorious for producing saboteurs throughout the world. The bomb blasts in any place of the world is attributed to Pakistanis. The Ulema are fighting like dogs over the religious quibbles. The most high profile office representing the Islamic character, the ‘Islamic Council of Pakistan’ is over busied in making religious verdict whether wearing Padded Bras is legal or illegal in an Islamic society. The present scene of violence presents the pandemonium of Hell as described by John Milton in his famous Book “ Paradise Lost. It seems that in Islamic country of Pakistan Paradise [peace and harmony] has lost. Everywhere there is terror of bomb blast in the name of religion. It is all on account of designating the country as a Islamic country and the Fort of Islam. The religious devotees, the most distinguished among them are Talibans and Al, Qaida’s volunteers are right in a way. They maintain that in an Islamic country, the injunctions of Quran and the prevalence of Shari’at should be secured and guaranteed. They desired to make Pakistan a second country of Afghanistan in culture. They want to put it in the Middle Ages in its colour and character when the glory of Islam was recognized. It is a tragedy that the most modern man with a liberal vision, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, carved a new country on the glob of the world and the conservatives are hell bent upon to destroy it in making it the Fort of Islam.

Mr. Bhutto and his Legacy

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his family left a deep impact on the politics, social norms and economy of Pakistan.

Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali (1928-1979), president and prime minister of Pakistan from 1971 to 1977. Bhutto was a charismatic leader who charted a foreign policy of nonaligned neutrality for Pakistan in the 1960s and 1970s. He was ousted from power in a military coup and subsequently convicted of murder and executed. Bhutto was born near Lārkāna, in Sind Province . He was descended from a long-established family of Muslim landlords and politicians. His father, Shah Nawaz Bhutto, became a major figure in Indian colonial politics, receiving knighthood for his work with the British government on issues of Indian self-rule.

Bhutto grew up in Bombay, receiving his secondary education at the elite Doon School. At age 13 he was married to his cousin, an heiress. As a student, Bhutto met Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the future founding father of Pakistan, and participated in the movement to partition India in order to create Pakistan as an independent state for Indian Muslims.

From his new position outside the government, Bhutto began to publicly attack Pakistan’s military for mishandling the war. He also criticized the presence of continued restrictions on democratic institutions in Ayub Khan’s government. In 1967 Bhutto formed the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to oppose Ayub Khan’s regime. He adopted a uniform similar to those worn by China’s Communist Party leaders and called for the introduction of "Islamic socialism" in Pakistan and the commencement of a "thousand year war" against India. Using the title "Leader of the People," Bhutto launched a nationwide tour, agitating against the military dictatorship. He was arrested in connection with these activities in November 1968 and detained for three months. The movement he helped unleash in West Pakistan (coextensive with the country’s current boundaries), in conjunction with agitation for greater autonomy taking place in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), forced the resignation of Ayub Khan in March 1969.

The Pakistani population was divided in its opinion of Bhutto. While a significant segment of the population viewed him as a demagogue who deserved his fate, the majority of the population supported Bhutto’s populist and nationalist programs and viewed him as a martyr for democracy. After Zia died in an airplane crash in 1988, elections brought the PPP back to power, led by Bhutto's daughter, Benazir

Impressions

Bhutto a great intellect with a hazy outlook

Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, came into power on the slogans of Rooti, Kapra and Makan: food, clothing and house to live. But he forgot his words pledged with the poor section of the society and began maneuvering to become the leader of the Muslim world. He in connivance with the eunuchs, the monarchs and other weak persons of the weaker countries held the summit to fight against the West and America. He kicked out his true comrades who were socialists from his party and inducted in it sycophants, the landlords of the poor country.

Mr. Bhutto was a great intellect and might be a precious asset for the poor nation if he honoured his pledges made with his nation during his election campaign. After wielding power, he began to play a big game on the chess of world politics. He began to live in fools’ paradise. He was like Shelley a restless soul,’ beating his wings in void’, and was always on the fight of his imagination to become more and more powerful and famous. He planned to become the leader of the Islamic world and launched a move to make the country more and more powerful by manufacturing Atomic bomb which latter on was branded as Islamic bomb. He held Islamic Summit to get political and financial strength and to make himself prominent in the Islamic world. In my view it was his great blunder. His efforts in this respect made West and America to think him a suspect and menace to their hegemony over the world. He could not comprehend that the real strength of a nation does not lie in its weaponry. He could not see USSR miserable plight in the face of Japan economic power in the world. The strength of a nation was fast shifting from military hardware to economic prosperity. In my opinion after Kashmir the manufacture of Atomic Bomb has given us the greatest loss in the field of economic progress and political imagine making in the comity of nations. His staunch policy for fighting 1000 years to get triumph in Kashmir through war seems childish. China a great force in the world is still non-violent to get a considerable part of his country, Taiwan.

Mr. ZAB was a tremendous intellect but his intellect became hazy to understand the might of the Western World and America. His common malady of being a Muslim is narcissism and superiority complex which drove him to his ruination.

Moreover he was born landlord with domineering psyche : It is fact “ Nature gets the best of Art”. In my views if he remained adhered to his loud and clear promises “ Rooti, Kapra and Makan, no force on the earth could even touch him. His deviation from his declared policy of the state made him suspect among his so many of his supporters, and this is the latent strength of PNA and his foreign foes. Everybody saw distinctively there was no big protest against his gibbet. He had already kicked out or humiliated his true comrades who emphasized to honour his pledges with the people. And his toadies who were inducted in his governance and party kept acquiescence to save their skin.

The assassination of Bhutto through fake court trial under the sway of dictator Zia is a tragedy without any fear of contradiction. But this tragedy may be named Shakespearean tragedy because it is embedded with Bhutto’s flaw of misconception of the strength of the America and , the wickedness and hypocrisy of his toadies who deserted him in the lurch: Mr. Bhutto speeches after the coup evinced explicitly that he was given understanding that his party leaders would get him released with the native and foreign pressure on Zia.

Benazir Bhutto

Bhutto, Benazir (1953 ), Pakistani political leader, who served as prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996. Bhutto was educated at Radcliffe College in the United States and at the University of Oxford in England, where she was the first Asian woman to be elected president of the Oxford Union. The daughter of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (1971-1977), she returned to Pakistan in 1977, planning on a career in the foreign service, only days before General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq staged a coup that unseated her father. Following her father’s imprisonment in 1977, Miss Bhutto and her mother, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, assumed the leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The ruling military regime placed Miss Bhutto under house arrest and then in prison. Released in 1984, she went into exile in Britain until 1986, when martial law in Pakistan ended and political parties were legalized. Supported by tumultuous crowds, Benazir Bhutto again called for fresh elections, resulting in another short prison term that same year. She also had to contend with internal dissension among the anti-Zia forces.

In 1988 Zia was killed in an airplane crash, less than three months after announcing that elections would take place. In the November elections the PPP gained a huge plurality in the National Assembly, and in December 1988 Benazir Bhutto became prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman to hold this office in any modern Islamic state. In August 1990, however, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed her, charging her with incompetence and corruption. Her party was soundly defeated in the elections that followed, and Benazir Bhutto became an opposition leader in the parliament. As opposition leader, attempts to oust the ruling party caused her deportation to the city of Karachi in 1992 and she was temporarily banned from entering Islamabad, the federal capital of Pakistan. In October 1993, following the resignations of Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto was again elected prime minister. However, in 1996 her government was once again dismissed amid allegations of corruption by the president. New elections in 1997 brought only a small number of seats to the PPP, ruining Benazir Bhutto’s chances of regaining her former position. In 1999 the high court in Lahore found Miss Bhutto guilty of taking payments from a Swiss company in exchange for a contract. In addition to a fine and a jail sentence, Miss. Bhutto faced disqualification for office and loss of her seat in the parliament, pending her appeal to the Supreme Court. Miss. Bhutto’s autobiography, Daughter of Destiny, was published in 1988.

Impressions

Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari [ Bhutto Legacy]

I could not find out any reason in the marriage of an well educated lady such as Benazir Bhutto and a blackmailer-vagabond of cinema tickets such as Asif Ali Zardari. And I also feel anguished to ind such an educated lady a plunderer of wealth of a poor nation. It seems the President of the immortals has tricked her to make her plunderer of the wealth of the poor nation. Her big deposits in foreign banks are an enigma to every educated person.

Why the fate maker did play sports with such a delicate lady? Whenever I see her picture I remember Desdemona, who is destroyed by jealously of Iajo, the villain in famous drama of Shakespeare : OHELLO. Miss. Benazir was ruined by the evilness and iniquity of her husband, Zardari.

He fell a victim to a religious fanatic who shot her dead because he thought her Kafir. Her husband Asif Ali Zardari and his accomplices, who are considered by the majority of the people the murderers of Benazir Bhutto exploited the embarrassingly emotional attachment of PPP electorate with her and won the general election.

The period of Zardari is notorious like him, for plunder, favouritism, nepotism, corruption, price hike, load shedding and bad governance. He played well on the chess of politics and defeated many seasoned politicians in acquiring the seat of President.

Why the common men of Pakistan are poor and backward. The main cause of poverty and backwardness of common people is owing to the corruption, nepotism and greed of the politicians, elite, beau racy white and khaki. Pakistan is full of the wealth of mineral, intellect and labour force. It is pity that the politicians in league with the civil and military elite have plundered our beloved country ruthlessly and beefed up their bank accounts in the foreign banks.

It is strange that the elite of Pakistan do not pay income tax and accept other obligations. For example: Hafeez Sheikh, the finance minister who claimed that he would forced the rich to pay income tax etc, but he himself has not paid a penny in context of income tax. More surprising is that our Prime Minister has shown in his returns at the time of election that he is so poor that he cannot afford to have a personal care. The article of an prominent journalist faithfully reflects the financial and mental corruption of the ruling junta.

Arshad Ahmed Hakani is a prominent journalist who wrote an article in Newspaper ,”Jang” which faithfully reflects the miserable plight of common men in Pakistan. He very correctly earmarked the causes of the poverty and backwardness of a big section of the society of Pakistan.

Arshad Ahmed Hakani

The insensitiveness of the people of Pakistan is rightly reflected in the photo given below.

An old woman lies on a City Road on “ Women’s Day [ “THE news” March 9, 2008. ]

The corruption in the higher officialdom and the aristocracy is so deeply rooted that perhaps God could only redress it taking pity on the plight of the common men of Pakistan.

Every politician boasts about the country being a nuclear power is strong enough to face any aggression from outside forgetting the fact that the primary threat to its security is internal, and emanates from pangs of economic deprivation and scourge of terrorist violence which is not susceptible to nuclear prowess. It is chilling to remember the emerging international system finds Pakistan more isolated in an increasingly precarious regional security environment. PPP government in stead of taking this woeful situation seriously and rationalize its policies based on emergent realities is since its inception engaged to save the looted money of the President in Western banks. The other recreation of the incumbent government is to get more and more strength in the Parliament by hook or crook. “ However, the elections have been marred by reports of open vote buying and selling, with fingers being pointed at the PPP for being at the forefront of the dubious transactions”.{Editor- The News- dated March 4, 2012- Senate Election}.

Parliament of Pakistan. It is pandemonium of the chiefs of different tribes, Landlords, retired civil & military beau- crates. They are so insensitive about the real problems of the common men that it is absurd to hope and expect anything good from them. They are wrangling with one another for promotion of their interests.

On 28^th of April 2008, every Pakistani is shocked to hear the news that a large procession of Muslim League (n) leaders reached Dubai to meet and convince the co- chairman of PPP Asif Ali Zardari to agree upon some political matters, when a poor noble person hanged himself because he could not bear the torture from the Bank for nonpayment of a little loan .

A woman in an open bazaar of Multan is selling her four sons because her husband is suffering from cancer and she cannot feed her children. The photo of an old woman who is lying on the Mall Road of Lahore in the opening because she is lonely, helpless soul in the Islamic country when billions rupees are being robbed in the name of Zakat and a huge foreign exchange is being wasted to hold meeting in foreign country to discuss the local problems. The common men in the country are fed up with life because of price hike, injustice and corruption prevalent everywhere, while our leaders are engrossed in the luxuries of gossip that has nothing to do with the common men. The true character of our Parliament.

The members of the Parliament of Pakistan are not real representatives of the inhabitants of the country. Everyone knows that more than 95 percent of population of the country is worried about the next meal, the education of their children and medical care. The price hike of the commodities of daily use has made the life of common men miserable. In such situation it is not possible at all for a common man to fight election for the seat of National Assembly or Provincial Assembly because, it casts billions of rupees. The election has become only a ‘ show’ of democracy. In fact there never have been any genuine election. Our election of National and Provincial Assemblies emerge with Hobson’s choice in the real sense of the word.

The situation is forged sentimentally in these elections in which a person must accept what is offered because there is no alternative other than taking nothing at all. Every citizen knows that election has become in Pakistan an industry. Most of the political leaders have palaces in foreign countries. They keep their money, mostly looted money, in foreign banks. Benazir deposits in European Banks and her palace in U.K. had been main headings of the print media. Mr. Sharif is not also behind in this Sharaft (nobility).

In the perspective of the political history of 62 years of Pakistan, our politicians and elite white and khaki have become so devilish that they have tarnished the fair name of democracy. In their dictionary, democracy can be defined as ‘ the government off the people, far the people and buy the people’. About independence, on the name of which, these dacoits have been looting the country for the last 62 years, I would like to give the opinion of Liaqat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan on the subject of independence.

“ That freedom means freedom only from foreign domination, is an outworn idea. It is not merely governments that should be free but the people themselves who should be free; and no freedom has any real value for the common man or woman unless it also means freedom from want, freedom from disease, freedom from ignorance. [ Address in America]

In perspective of expressions of Liaqat Ali Khan about the freedom and independence of the common citizen of Pakistan we stand now where.

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Part II

I wrote the under given articles on different subjects to my friends of Internet in response to their E-Mails. These articles give a glimpse of my views on different topics and also help to understand more Part I of the book ‘Impression’. It may be noted that I mostly represent a common man of this society who is born, grew, nurtured, educated and groomed in the society which is infested with all kinds of evils. It may please be remembered that Scientific Explanations are given on different subjects that came under discussion and divine side of life is not touched.

Women and their position in our culture.

The ‘ glory’ of our culture is to make fair sex sub-human beings. Their witness is half. Their share in property is half. If a wife refuses to extinguish sexual fire of her husband in the bed for certain reasons, angels begin hurling curses upon her till break of the day {Behisti –Zawar : Maulana Ashraf Thanwi}.

They are not fit for an important position in the government offices. They are inferior, and cannot enjoy the bed of more than one person, while a man can enjoy the warmth of four delicate sexes with the addition of his maid salve countless. In our culture the glory of a woman is in having the status of an animal, remaining within the four walls of the house, and being a machine for procreation of babies. What more is left with our culture to humiliate the half of the humanity. Do my friends tell me?

The instances of some women in the fold of Islam who enjoyed esteem and exaltation are irrelevant because their veneration and honour are not owing to their own entities, rather it credited with some high profile personality. The under given precedents strengthen the views that all the extinguished female figures of Islamic history have borrowed their respective distinction and excellence from some prestigious male sex.

Women did not get better status in Islam. If girls were buried alive before Islam, where did khadija{ra} and hind and every man's mother came from ?

You are not suggesting that men were giving birth then?

Only few people killed daughters after birth, like done in India today and Pakistan.

Aisha RA did not have good status due to being a woman. She had good status (to a certain degree) in spite of it. She was Benazir of her time. Her status was due to her father Hazrat Abu baker.

Point is not that Aisha led a war. Point is that war was against Ali RA and Fatima Zahra Ra. point is that they killed each other. Prophet Mohammad pbuh's immediate relative killed each other.

Hazrat Usman was killed by Hazrat Abu Bakar's youngest son Mohammad bin Abu baker.

Then Mohammad bin Abu Bakar was killed by followers of Ali RA. { his corpse was burnt by them in anger, not sure how he died}

They were all relatives. They killed each other. and they killed each other for power. Not for Allah.

That is a fact and any yelling or argument is not going to change that fact.

Yes, no religion, including Christianity, treats women equally.

Pakistan treats women like trash. You guys have seen only respect of your " mothers". only you respect them. No one else in the society respect your mothers. However there are some Muslim thinkers who encouraged reasonable attitude about tender sex. ” To see God in woman is more perfect than seeing the Divine in any other form “ {Ibn-Arabi}.

It reminds us Shelley’s optimism, “ The trumpet of prophecy ! O, Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

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Islam and its influence/ the achievements were not of religion. The reveries of the present Muslim leaders.

Using my rights of difference with your opinion, I strongly disagree with your views that the religion of Islam made many achievements by bringing a sizeable part of the world under its domination.

Of course up to the early period of 3rnd Caliphate, there was visible influence of the teaching of the Holy Prophet. But the great tragedy of the Kabala abundantly established that the proceeding achievements in the reign of Umayyad and Abbasids were worldly achievements and religious failures. If this account does not win over you, how would you explain the assassination of the esteemed Usman, the fierce battle between revered Ali and Mu’awiyah and between exalted Ali and respected Ayesha and the great tragedy of Karbala.

In India and Spain also the great achievements fall in the lap of the Umayyad and Mughal dynasties. Our close study of history loudly and clearly reveals that there was no Islamic authority during these glorious periods. Rather some periods of Muslim rule are notorious for anti-Islamic injunctions, especially the glorious period of Akbar the great.

In the vision of the above it can be inferred that genuine influence of the religion of Islam and Holy Prophet has been twittering only on lips, and the quintessence of the religion of Islam began to wither after 50 or so years. For further study please consult S. Abdul A’la Maududi’ Fundamentals of Islam Chapter “Who is a Muslim”.

The next period may be called the period of Muslims and not Islam.

“When Mu’awiyah, the 5^th caliph of Islam, announced his decision in the court to nominate his son, Yazid, as his successor, “the courtiers rose, one after the other, to second and support Yazid as the heir to the Caliphate. There were some murmurs of disapproval, whereupon a man rose to his feet, drew his sword a hand-span from the scabbard and said, 'The Commander of the Faithful is that one!' and he pointed to Mu’awiyah, 'And if he dies, then that one!' and he pointed to Yazid. 'And if anyone objects, then this one!’ and he pointed to his sword. Mu’awiyah said to him, 'By God, you are the prince of orators." The nomination was confirmed.”

The sway of Islam and Shari’at has been being vigorously texted in Pakistan since the devilish rule of the most hated president of Pakistan, Zia, and the fall out is obviously chaotic.

Day dreaming of present Muslim leaders.

The distorted position of Islamic teaching are well exhibited in the statement and practice of the present leaders of Islam.

The exhortation of Osama bin Ladhum to the Muslim world is to destroy the prevalent civilization and culture. Al-Zawahir the next great leader of Al-Qaeda projects his actual scheme of things in which Pakistan become a marginalized and weak component of a caliphate without borders, and certainly not a not ‘a Central Asian power’ or a ‘bastion’ of the Islamic world as he professes in his deceit –saturated messages to Pakistan nationals. In this vision of an Al-Qaeda empire, it will be a Saudi or Egyptian caliph who will control Pakistani nuclear assets and over see the country’s governance.

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Secularism is not against religion.

Let us first see the meaning of secular from authentic authority.

" Secular in its most universal usage in social science the term refers to the worldly, the civil, or the non-religious, as distinguished from the spiritual and ecclesiastical. The secular is that which is not dedicated to religion ends and uses. This is the meaning employed in phrases such as ' separate secular schools' and orientation to the secular world. Secular has also come to be used in a way that does not place it in contrast with the religious only. In supporting this usage H.P. Becker writes: the secular is not synonymous with the profane, unholy, infidel, godless, irreligious, heretical, unhallowed, faithless, or any similar terms. Thus culture is secular when its acceptance is based on rational and utilitarian considerations rather than on reverence and veneration. { page 625-- A dic. of the Social Sciences/ Editors Julius Gould & William L. Kolb/ Complied under the auspices of The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization}

Secularism: " the belief that the state, morals, education.etc, should be independent of religion.{page 1331--Chamber English Dictionary}

Secularism : belief that morality, education, etc should not be based on religion {Oxford Adv. Learner's Encyclopedic Dic page 820}

In the vision of the facts and figures given above, we can infer without any fear of contradiction that in the positive sense a Secular State means a state which guarantees religious freedom to every citizen and which, without distinction of religion or race, endeavours to promote the material advancement and welfare of all its citizens.

"The most important aspect of the State of Pakistan was clarified by Quaid--Azam in his famous presidential address to the Constituent Assembly on 11^th August 1947, when he proclaimed :

“ You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, or caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the State. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of a one state. Now, I think, we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”

It may be noted that this address was delivered in the Constituent Assembly, Constitution making body, and not in a public address in which most of the things are poured out for the public consumption . The place was most important, the situation is most serious and the audience is consisting of the cream of the nation. Hence this speech may be taken as policy of the newly born state of Pakistan. This can rightly be taken as the nucleus and hub of the constitution of Pakistan insinuated by the father of the nation.

I feel persuaded to request my dear friend Brig not to bring religion in each and every pursuits of life. It will open the Pandora Box, every one asserts his creeds are true : Every sect wishes to build its own Musjid. There are so many sects in the religion of Islam and consequently there are countless explanations of the verses of the holy book and Shari’at . The question is whose explanations are valid or invalid. Hence let everybody enjoy his civil and moral liberty remaining in his own domain of freedom.

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Political democracy is meaningless without social democracy

To the best of my knowledge and experience the politicians in the backward countries are acrobats and always seem fretting in a state of flux. However they do not miss any opportunity to exploit the hyper sentiments of the people with Islam. They are very nimble to gain maximum of the ignorance of the masses. In the name of democracy they hoodwink the public. In perspective of the feudal and ecclesiastical hold over our society political democracy is meaningless without social democracy because the electorates do not the know the weight of their vote. Only for this reason Allama Iqbal was against Western democracy because in this political system men are counted and not weighed.
Real ‘democracy is a government of the people for the people and by the people’.{Ibrahim Lincoln} But cast your gaze at the democracy in Pakistan Corruption, Nepotism, Price hike and beefing up the Foreign Banks are the ills of this kind of democracy. There is a big gulf between the income of common men and the big guns. There are suicides of the empty stomachs on the one side of picture, and the other side presents more horrible scene where the dogs of the rich are suffering from indigestion . The gift of pseudo democracy in Pakistan is that the whole nation is so sunk in the sea of religious quibbles and indifference to solidarity and prosperity of the state that it is just fiddling of Nero the emperor of Roman when the Roman was burning into ashes.

In backward countries like Pakistan, a few families enjoy authority in political, social and economic domains. Hence in this zone, democracy means: democracy off the people, far the people and buy the people.
The champions of democracy vigorously maintain that only democracy can provide freedom of thought, speech and action. Keeping this into consideration as prime parameters of a democracy, the democracy should conform to the freedom as described by Liaqat Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan.

" The freedom means freedom only from foreign domination, is an outworn idea. It is not merely governments that should be free but the people themselves who should be free; and no freedom has any real value for the common man or woman unless it also means freedom from want, freedom from disease, freedom from ignorance. Do we find any semblance/image in the democracy of the four families in Pakistan.
Remember, in underdeveloped country such as Pakistan, democracy and such catchphrases are a concern of well-heeled not the under fed. The heart of the problem of a poor man in Pakistan is 'freedom' from pangs of economic deprivation and scourge of terrorist violence. The landed gentry and corrupt politicians have joined hands to exploit the ignorance of the public. Whenever there is a danger for the overthrow of their rule, they raise hue and cry of international conspiracy against the existence of the country. I believe there is no international conspiracy against Pakistan. We are not that important an international player to merit that kind of attention. Our system is infested with corruption, lawlessness and deceit. Shrinking economic opportunities made the youth vulnerable to fall into trap of depravity, frustration and bleakness.

What are ground realities with reference to the poverty and corruption rife in the country, are well portrayed in the following photo of an old man and an article of a famous journalist.

“Women’s Day Observed”

An old woman lies on a City road, Photo by Mohsin Raza

The corruption in the in the higher officialdom and the aristocracy is so deeply rooted that perhaps God could only redress it to take pity on the plight of the common men of Pakistan. Here is given an article of a well known political analyst, Arshad Ahmad Hakani.

After reading this article, every sensible man cannot help but pray for the rectification of the corruption prevalent in the higher ranks of officialdom. God bless this poor country and save us from the clutches of the foxes and cannibals.

There is no compatibility between Science and Religion

{Scientific Explanation}

On science depends the progress of the world. At least with the scientific method we can understand a part of truth and apply it to life. In fact we cannot live without science. We must adopt the scientific approach and temper for the welfare of mankind. The rejection of that does not admit of proof and the revision of ideas and theories about facts means a hard discipline of mind. The scientific approach and temper will liberate man. Science concerns itself with possible knowledge. The more we understand life and nature, the less we trust in supernatural and blind creeds. It is woeful that we are partially emancipated so far from the blind beliefs of irrational kind, and still irrational traditions and creeds hold a sway over in the minds of a large section of society. Scientific outlook gives the objective outlook which totally discard bias and prejudice.

On the other hand, irrational activities are concerned with the idiosyncrasies, whims and caprices of the mind. Moreover, it is directly related to human emotions, passions and sentiments. Blind faith does not inculcate the scientific bent of mind. It is based upon the personal whims of the believer. Thus, if we take these two spirits apparently, they are poles asunder.

It Is evident in order to perpetuate your creeds it is imperative to vitalize blindness with caution so that facts could not reach the people. It is a weak and scornful aspect of man that he finds redress of the sufferings of his life in pleasant myths. The faith in supernatural entity and the myths associated with Him perpetuate because it provides a believer with consolation. A believer flares up when one differs with him on the matter of creeds. Punishment is given, censorship is imposed and limited and twisted state education is imparted to keep on the creeds. Once there was a time when to have belief in “ the earth is flat” was reasonable. Then this belief does not bring bad results, but today such belief epitomizes madness. If you think that your belief is levelheaded, you have to prove its validation with logic and nor with coercion and oppression. Further you should be ready to leave your blind belief if it goes against the reasoning. In case your faith is based on creeds, you will feel logic and reasoning are preposterous and you will use force. The believers in the name of faith brainwash the immature minds of the youth of a nation. The behaviour of creeds ridden people is very sheepish because they take advantage of the fact that immature minds are vulnerable to defend themselves. Unfortunately this is in vogue in all the illiterate and backward societies. Rationalists emphatically declare that the world needs scientific truth and not creeds tinged and drenched in belief of supera natural entity.

We cannot ignore the truth “ Man is a rational animal, and to have blind faith in anything itself exiles him from the species of human beings”.

Let us a brief look at Allama Iqbal views on the subject. He gives utmost stress on the reason in ’Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ to give fresh blood to the old explanations of the Quranic verses and Shari’at to meet the challenges of the age of science. He is deadly against blind faith. He espoused whole heartedly the spirit of reasonableness in all fields of life. His famous Lectures on” Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” are a living testimony to the fact that Allama staunchly opposed blind faith.

Iqbal preaches that intellect should be a watch dog of the world of heart to check it from straggling. He lays emphasis on intellectual test to get the veracity of an intuitive and religious experience.

According to it:-

“ A proposition to be true,

“Should be consistent with some chosen

“Corpus of proposition”. :

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Muslim leadership is infested awfully with the malady of romantic idealism:

The Muslims are in habit of day dreaming and often they become successful in realizing their aspirations in their reveries, and then suddenly are awaken from their slumber to find all has lost in the goblet of their desires and longings. There are hundred and one examples of such spectacles, but I deem it apt to give hereunder only a few taking into consideration the scanty time and space .

1. Muhammad bin Tughluq, is a prominent figure in the history of sub-continent. He was considered four centuries ahead of his time. He, being an romantic idealist, did not realize the importance of the difficulties of the time in transportation, and ordered to shift his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad.

2. Introduction of Token currency. Thomas described him “ Prince of Moneyers”. The prevailing scarcity of silver and gold in that period prompted him to issue token currency.

3. He embarked upon the expenditures of Khurasan and Qarachil when he was already in troubled waters at home on account his Idealism in the affairs of the state.

4. Our great leader and father of the nation’s ambitions still echoes in our mind in context of Kashmir “ Kashmir is in my pocket”, and we will demand “ a corridor from Lahore to Decca through India.

5. Colonel Nassir, the president of Egypt, declared at the public platform that there would be no Israel on the surface of the earth within 36 hours in 1967.

6. Our Field Marshal, President of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan attacked occupied Kashmir with the hypothesis that India would not cross the international boundaries, a romantic idealism.

7. The first elected prime minister of Pakistan, Bhutto also dreamed to become the head of the Muslim world, and hosted the second meeting of the Organization of Islamic states with a vision that the labour and technology of this land in conjunction with the overflowing funds of the Middle East would change the balance of power from West to the Muslim world. An aggressive idealism.

8. Our most hated president Zia took the onus upon his shoulders to introduce Islam in the country. Legend has it that he used to visualize himself the Caliph of the Muslim world after the defeat of USSR with the weaponry and economic strength of the West and America.

9. Osama bin Ludlum is the biggest and the latest example. He invited the president of America to come in the fold of Islam, otherwise the Western culture and civilization would be ruined.

10. The local print media reported on March 21^st that in a vides released on jihadist web forums, Khorasani announced that his group sought to overthrow the government, impose Shari’at, seize Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, and wage jihad till Caliphate is established across the world.

In Al-Zawahiri’s actual scheme of things Pakistan would become a marginalized and weak component of a Caliphate without borders, and certainly not ‘ a central Asian power’ or bastion of the Islamic world, as he professes in his deceit-saturated messages to Pakistani nationals. In his vision of Al-Qaeda empire, it will be a Saudi or Egyptian Caliph who will control Pakistan’s nuclear assets and over see the country’s governance

The idea of Promised Messiah has played a role in promoting Narcissism, Chauvinism and romantic Idealism. And the repercussions are before us.

The holy teaching of Allama Iqbal to the youth of the Muslim world is a slur on the fair face of freedom for humans without discrimination of race, religion and colour. Iqbal, the poet of Millat sings the mantra of his religious robust Chauvinism.

In his epic poem Tariq ki Dua, Iqbal has heightened the beauty of the Tariq’s Prayer

by adorning it with the robe of poetry. The poem :-

Read:

“O Lord! These bondsmen have set out in Your path for Jihad. They are the seekers of Your good pleasure. They are mysterious as well as the keepers of mystery. Their true state and position is known only to You. You have taught them high-mindedness and, now, they will not settle for less than world-leadership and Divine Rule. These proud men listen or yield to no one. Save them.”

“Revive, once again, in the heart of the Momin, The lightning that was in the prayer of ‘ Leave Not’

Wake up ambition in the breasts, O’ Lord! Transform, the glance of the Momin into a sword.”

Tariq’s ki Dua, is a passionate Narcissism of Iqbal for the renaissance of the Muslim world. What a true Muslim can yearn except that other nations should live under burden of the yoke of the believers of Islam because other peoples are inferior to the Muslims

Two nation theory / Pakistan and Jamatay Islami. Invincible defence of Pakistan.

What are the contents of two nations theory, or the rationale of the creation of a separate country for the Muslim of India.

1. Hindu were 300 millions in number and Muslim only 100 millions. After the independence, the Hindu majority would dominate Muslim minority. In these circumstances independence from the British rule would not mean independence of the Muslims of India, it would only mean the change of masters.

2. It was apprehended that in case the Muslims did not have their own an independent country, Hindus would dominate their culture and civilization. Further as the Muslims were already backward economically, educationally and industrially, they would become more backward under the yoke and burden of Hindus majority in a democratic system of government where men and women are counted irrespective of their worth of excellence of mind and hear.

3. The Indian sub-continent is so vast that it could easily be divided into two countries, India and Pakistan. The majority areas of Muslims could form Pakistan and the majority of Hindus and other smaller communities could form Hindustan.

In Pakistan the Muslims are in overwhelming majority, and the utilities and philosophy of two nations is an invitation to the minorities living in Pakistan to demand a separate country to save their culture and religion from the onslaught of the fanatics of Pakistan. They can adduce the same arguments with cogency as did the Muslims of India before Pakistan.

After a little more cogitation on the hue and cry of the fanatics, we will come to the conclusion that they are mostly people who belong to the party which opposed the creation of Pakistan. They have now invented three catchphrase to bedevil the country with multifaceted problems. The most prominent of them are:

1. S. Abdul A’la Maududi the father of the Jama’tay Islami and

2. Jummeetul Ulma of Pakistan.

They are still enemy of Pakistan because the core of their policy is that United India is more suitable for the promotion and progression of the Milletay Islamia. They do not give importance to the boundaries/regions because they believe only in one nation/ Millet. They are antagonist to the modern theory of state, that define a state is, consists of four things: territory, population, government and sovereignty. To them only religion is ascendant in the formation of a state.

They in connivance with the other factions which are against the existence of Pakistan are trying their best to undo our beloved country. They have changed their strategy with the changed circumstances. They know well that the most poisonous thing for the country is poverty and deprivation of the modern knowledge. They standing on the rooftops are beating the drums of national pride and dignity when the masses are feeling pangs of economic deprivation and scourge of terrorist violence. They have discovered recipe to ruin the state by chanting the following catchphrases:-

Invincible Defense,

The defense of Ideology of the country,

The fort of Islam.

The Invincible Defense we have seen in the death of Osama bin Latham and in Navy Camp in Karachi. The Defense of Ideology is well being exhibited on the Western borders of the country where Muslims are fighting like dogs to enforce Islam according to their own interpretations. The fort of Islam is being smashed into smithereens in the worshiping places by declaring pagans hailing to the other sect.

These slogans are chanted to deceive the people. With some heinous purpose the currency has been given to the stereotypical thought of the conservatives that there is an international conspiracy against Pakistan. The fact is, there is no international conspiracy against Pakistan. We are not that important for international players to merit that kind of attention. Why should our foe do any effort to destroy us, when we are fragmented within.

The ground realities overtly and covertly indicate that they have designed and tailored the policy to weaken the sinews of the nation and eventually it will die its own death proving that they were right in the opposition against the creation of a new country for the Muslims of India, and that the undivided India would have been more better for the Muslims. They know very well that in the world of today economic backbone should be strong for the progress and prosperity of the country, whereas heaps of arsenal are useless for a country with weak economy. They know it better, and have found it in the destruction of USSR, and are using it to wreak their revenge on the patriots of Pakistan.

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More the seclusion more the sexual corruption.

I simply requested for the comments/feedback on the proposition " More the seclusion, more the sexual corruption”. I gave my views gleaned from the fragments of my study and experience during my stay in a certain province which in my view is more bedeviled with the sexual corruption on account of strict observation of Purdha. In its response, I feel flabbergasted to find ‘ a comprehensive lecture of Islamic studies in the messages of my friends, especially that of Janab Wasti sahib. I would be much obliged if my revered friend Janab Wasti Sb, or any other give me a cogent and relevant rationale to improve my knowledge on the subject. The references from Quran and Shari-at are not asked as the acquaintances of such references a Muslin has from his childhood. The response should be measured and weighed on the touchstone of logic and cogency.

The discussion should remain in the ambit of reasoning, and the religion should not be invoked in all pursuits of life, otherwise Ahmedi , Sunni, Wahabi etc will begin to shim the bells of their own churches.

The traditions, conventions, practices and precepts of all the segments of Muslim society are converged on one point that there is stick Purdha in the religion of Islam. The observation of veil meets the requirements of the time or not is another matter. It is a common phenomenon that in the religious families the second menses of a girl are felt undesirably. There is another question whether we should load a girl of 12/14 with the burden of pregnancy and satchel.

My next question is: should we stop teaching our half the population. I hope my friends will give me a all-embracing reply based on logic and reason avoiding the temptation of putting forward a sheaf of quotations of the divines and references of the holy books. I wish to find a logical response, and not a religious one because it is not discussion on any religious problem. Some prominent Muslim scholars do not approve strict observation of Purdha in the changed circumstances.

I am giving my experience about the ‘ the more seclusion, the more sexual corruption’.

It is as I observed.

Comments on Western culture Criticism.

We are criminal as well sinful.

‘ Anthropology tells that ‘ human nature’ differs widely in various communities, for example in some communities the lending of one’s wife to guest is considered an indispensable part of hospitality. Infanticide has been prevalent in many countries. Even Plato recommended it as a remedy against overpopulation.

It is v. easy to criticize other persons, their beliefs, their civilizations and their opinions, but it is difficult to find the same ills in oneself, one's creeds, one's life etc. You have v. easily narrated the ills in the Western culture, in your opinion, but you eschewed to refer to the scourges in our culture and civilization.

Aristotle, a great Greek philosopher recommends the theory of Catharsis to get rid of mental disturbance. In this backdrop there seems no harm if the women and men of Western culture adopt catharsis to get wholesomeness for their mental and physical health. What we do for catharsis in our lives, you know it well : Mostly the unmarried at the age of 20 or so use artificial means to ventilate/ gratify their sexual tension. More seclusion, more sexual corruption. I have observed it during my stay in different Provinces as Principal of Govt: Commercial Colleges. My pen does not allow me to give description of the heinous activities of men and women of sexually surreptitious corruption in both the sexes. It is sneaky but ubiquitous in the whole society. Two of my lecturers I found fighting to win a beautiful young boy. They appeared to me the true descendents of the community of Prophet loot who desired to fuck angels leaving the beautiful lasses offered to them by Loot[ sm]. Women in our society are not more than sub-human beings, to say the least; they mostly fall victims to male sex. The thorn entrenched in the society is very haphazard for the mental growth and physical health. In Western culture sexual outlet is permitted by the law of the country to avoid mental disquietedness. They may be sinner from our moral point of view but not criminal at all. If the Western are sinners, We are criminal as well as sinners.

The ‘ glory’ of our culture is to make fair sex sub-human beings. Their witness is half. Their share in property is half. If a wife refuses to extinguish the sexual fire of her husband for certain reasons angels begin to fling curses upon her till break of the day. Women are not fit for an important position in the government offices. They are inferior, and cannot enjoy the bed of more than one person, while a man can enjoy the warmth of his four delicate sex with the addition of his maid salves countless. In our culture the glory of a woman is in becoming subhuman within the four walls and a machine for the production of babies., What more this culture has left to humiliate the half of the humanity. Would my friend like to tell me?

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Justice : God/Nature and Man

1. Mr. Bhutto loudly and clearly displayed his complete faithfulness to his boss president of Pakistan, general Ayub Khan. He enjoyed the pleasure of the president very much. He was considered as a right hand of the president. President trusted him very much. But Mr. Bhutto did not feel hesitant to exploit waves of sentiments of the mob against the president after the cease fire. Mr. Bhutto became dead enemy against his” daddy” to get the maximum gains from confused situation. He very adeptly made the people to believe that the president had compromised on the solidarity and sovereignty of the country etc. But he could not get the cat out from the bag when he became prime minister of the country. It remained so far in the bag. The theory of conspiracy proved wrong. Moreover he did not honoured his pledges of Rooti, Kupra and Mukan with the public. He kicked out his old and faithful comrades. In few words he betrayed his benefactor and his public by becoming disloyal and got punishment because God/Nature does not like unfaithfulness/infidelity.

2. Mr. Zia proved more unfaithful to his benefactor Mr. Bhutto who ignoring the seniority promoted him on the highest post in the arm forces. God/Nature could not tolerate perfidy and he was blasted in the air.

3.Miss Benazir remained taciturn on the assassination of his brother for her personal interests, and kept her very kind and loving mother away from politics because Miss. Nusrat wished her son to be the chairman of PPP. God/Nature felt annoyed on her unfaithfulness and Benazir was murdered through the conspiracy of her of her near and dear ones.

I believe God/Nature is ready to get this most perfidious person to visit Gibbet. Remember God/Nature is Omnipotent. It remind me the saying of Holy Prophet,” Do not vilify time, for time is God”.

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My dear friends,

I am sending my views on the subject “ The dilemma of creeds” to you for feedback to improve my knowledge on the subject. Further I request you that you should avoid the temptation to quote divine authority against my views. Your comments should be based on logic and reasons. Thanks

The dilemma of creeds

Russell in his book{ Human Society in Ethics and Politics} writes “ we all claim our creeds are right and the creeds of other dangerous. But I want to emphasize on the point that all creeds are definitely harmful. We may define faith as it is firm creed on a thing which does not have evidence because a thing which is supported by an evidence needs no ‘faith’ or ‘creeds’ for its life. : for illustration, we cannot say that two and two make four is my faith or it is my faith that the earth is round. Established facts need no faith or creeds. We feel the need of faith when we substitute emotions with evidence. The exchange of emotions with proof certainly triggers disputes and quarrels among individuals. A creed cannot be protected by reason, its defence is propaganda and in some cases fight. In the regime of believers the authority imbibes certain creeds in the immature minds of the children and burn or ban the books which are against their creeds.”

A great event in the history of world substantiates its truth :

In 642, Alexandria was captured by the Muslim army of Amr ibn al `Aas. Abd'l Latif of Baghdad (1162–1231) states that the library of Alexandria was destroyed by Amr, by the order of the Caliph Omar.

The story is also found in Al-Qifti (1172–1248), History of Learned Men, from whom Bar Hebraeus copied the story.

Amr writes to Omar for instructions, and Omar replies: "If those books are in agreement with the Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them.

Rationalists strongly rejects the thought that a religious is the messenger of peace and safety. Theocratic governments are always war maniac and promote militancy. It maintains that there is no truth that religion creates cohesion in a society. We find no precedent that a crusade did any positive role for the betterment of mankind. History affirms that religious wars only yield hatred among the followers of conflicting creeds. An article published in The Jan dated 28.3.1990, of Major Muhammad Saed Tawana reveals heart rendering holocaust of sacred wars :-

“ Khalid bin Walid took an oath and said “ I will bleed the blood of my enemy over the river provided God grants me victory.” He silted the throats of 70,000 to fulfill his oath. Groups after groups of the enemy were brought and were ruthlessly slaughtered in the river with the catchword ‘ God is great’. If you want to return your home as a winner, be relentless. Khalid bin Walid followed this guiding principles.”.

It Is unmistakable, in order to carry on your creeds, it becomes imperative to vitalize blindness with caution so that facts could not reach the people. It is a weak and scornful aspect of man that he finds redress of the sufferings of his life in pleasant myths of his religion. The faith in God and the myths associated with Him perpetuate because it provides a believer with consolation. A believer flares up when one differs with him on the matter of creeds. Punishment is given, censorship is imposed and limited and twisted state education is imparted to keep on the creeds. You have to be unreasonable if you have faith in the Scriptures or Das Capital. And if once you become unreasonable, you will feel inclined becoming unreasonable in other matters. You can say that to believe in God is not so harmful. The theologians love to lose themselves in the labyrinths of disputed explanations of the Scriptures. It is not nice here to get entangled in quibbles. It is manifest that its harm corresponds to doubts and it creates in you about the health of your creeds. Once there was a time when to have belief in “ the earth is flat” was reasonable. Then this belief does not bring bad results, but today such belief epitomize madness. If you think that your belief is levelheaded, you have to prove its validation with logic and nor with coercion and oppression. Further you should be ready to leave your belief if it goes against the reasoning. In case your faith is based on creeds, you will feel logic and reasoning are preposterous and you will use force. The believers in the name of religion brainwash the immature minds of the youth of a nation. The behaviour of creeds ridden people is very sheepish because they take advantage of the fact that immature minds are vulnerable to defend themselves. Unfortunately this is in vogue in all the religious countries. Rationalists emphatically declare that the world needs scientific truth and not creeds tinged and drenched in belief in supra-natural entity or any other ism.

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The Decline and Fall of Muslim World.

There are many and manifold causes of the decline and fall of Muslim world. Here under are given the most outstanding events that triggered nosedive the most imposing edifice of the Muslim World.

[a] The generosity and fair mindedness of Abdul Mutalib won for him an undisputed position among the Quraysh who recognised his over lordship. Bin Harb, the son of Umayyad, refused to accept his supremacy. The decision of the judges again went against him as it did in the case of his father. Thus, there sprang up a jealousy :

[b] Old Rivalry between the most prominent dynasties : Omayyad and Hashemite.
[c] The great tragedy of Imam Hussein.
[d] Transferring of state authority to one or the other dynasty : the end of relationship of the state authority and the public,
[e] The religious leaders became engaged in the most non serious discussion such as whether Ablution
dhela should move from the bottom to top or top to bottom.
[a] The enmity between the Hash-mites and Umayyads constituted one of the main causes for the fall of the Khilafat. The tribal jealousy and rivalry existed even before the birth of Muhammad[Sm]. But the teachings of the great Prophet kept them in check. Abu Bakr and Umar did not belong to any of the parties and as they were engaged in wars with the foreign powers, the tribal jealousy could not raise its head. But the peaceful reign of Uthman allowed the dormant rivalry to rear its head. When the Umayyad supremacy under Uthman was going to be established, the Hash mites could not tolerate. They tried to undo the influence of Umayyads in the empire. With this end in view, they sided with the enemies of Uthman. Had the Hash mites and Umayyads been united at that critical time, the Arab faction which challenged the authority of Uthman would have been crushed. But the enmity between the two encouraged the enemy and was ultimately responsible for the murder of the Khalipha, Usman. With the assassination of Khalipha, the unity of Islam was lost and the gates of civil were opened.

[b] Murder of Imam Hussein at Karbala was a great tragedy and it created an unbridgeable gulf between the Muslim Millet. Whole the nation was so sunk in the sea of religious quibbles and indifference to the
defence of the boundaries that when Baghdad was under attack of the Mongols, religious leaders were engaged in the most frivolous discussion, whether the ablution dhela should move from bottom to top or top to bottom. ‘It is just fiddling of Nero the emperor of Roman when the Roman was burning
into ashes.’

     2. Narcissism and Chauvinism : “The malady i,e. narcissism is civilizational
because the thought process of Muslim society everywhere is based on certain misconceptions. For example, the imperialistic impulse to rule the world is not just visible in the subcontinent; it was felt in the earliest parts of Islam, in the first period of caliphate, when it was given out to the world that we are the best people, ordained by divine authority, to rule the world. There are the two basic concepts of identity that the Muslim civilization preaches to its believers----the tribal and the Ummah identity. These two identities do not allow for an analytical or critical thought process. It was the intention of the rulers who conquered the world to keep people less informed and less critical. And therefore the tribal authoritative tradition became the Ummah tradition in which there is no questioning of the elders or rulers or superiors. In such a sate, naturally, chauvinism sets in. The subjugation of mind allows a certain pride to compensate for intellect. The rulers as well as the public are made to believe that they are superior, they need not think or question their identity and should go on aspiring for a world empire as a civilization.   This civilization as a whole, ideological as it was, believed that it was very superior, as a right to rule the world, had a duty to wage war whenever there was an opportunity. Unfortunately, in the present day world there is little opportunity and we do not understand that.   We are in the habit of thinking that the world is ready to be conquered.”An other malady of the Muslim is that they suffer acutely from Narcissism. They are always dreaming   the glorious period of Islam, the Middle Ages.
3   Allama Iqbal Views. [ Sufism] The rise and growth of ascetic Sufism, which gradually developed under influences of a non-Islamic character, a purely speculative side, is to a large extent responsible for this attitude. On its purely religious side Sufism fostered a kind of revolt against the verbal quibbles of our early doctors. The case of Sufyan Sauru is an instance in point. He was one of the acutest legal minds of his time, and was nearly the founder of a school of law; but being also intensely spiritual, the dry-as-dust subtleties of contemporary legists drove him to ascetic Sufism. On its speculative side which developed latter, Sufism is a form of free –thought and in alliance with Rationalism . The emphasis that it laid on distinction of zahir and batin [Appearance and Reality ] created an attitude of indifference to all that applies to Appearance Reality]
This spirit of total other-worldliness in latter Sufism obscured men’s vision of a very important aspect of Islam as a social polity , and offering the prospect of unrestrained thought on its speculative side attracted and finally absorbed the best minds in Islam. The Muslim state was thus left generally in the hands of intellectual mediocrities, and the unthinking masses of Islam, having no personalities of higher caliber to guide them, found their security only in blindly following the schools.
“On the top of all this came the destruction of Baghdad – the centre of Muslim intellectual life—in the middle of the 13th century. This was indeed a great blow, and all the contemporary historians of the invasion of Tartars describe the havoc of Baghdad with a half suppressed pessimism about the future of Islam. For fear of further disintegration, which is only natural in such a period of political decay, the conservative thinkers of the Islam focused all their efforts on the one point of preserving a uniform social life for the people by a jealous exclusion of all innovations in the law and Shari’at as expounded by the early doctors of Islam. Their leading idea was social order, and there is no doubt that they were partly right, because organization does to a certain extent counteract the forces of decay. But they did not see, and our modern Ulamas do not see, that the ultimate fate of a people does not depend so much on organization as on the worth and power of individual men. In an over-organized society the individual is altogether crushed out of existence. He gains the whole wealth of social thought around him and loses his own soul. Thus a false reverence for the past history and its artificial resurrection constitute no remedy for a people’s decay”. [Reconstruction of religious thought in Islam] The verdict of history,” as a modern writer has happily put, “ is that worn out ideas have never risen to power among a people who have worn them out”.

Muslims of today in views of S. Abul A’la Maududi: “ The Quran came to grant them dignity and power. It came to make them real vicegerents of God on the earth. And history testified that when they acted according to its directions, it demonstrated its power making them Imams and leaders of the world. But now for them its utility is confined to keeping it in the house in order to drive away demons and ghosts, to inscribe its verses on paper and hang it round the neck or wash it in water and drink it, and read the contents unintelligibly to get some blessing. Now they do not seek guidance from it in the affairs of their life. They do not consult it to know what should be our beliefs, what should be our deeds, how should we conduct transactions, what law should we follow in contracting friendship and making enmity, what are the rights on us of our fellow-beings and of our own selves, what is truth for us and what is falsehood, whom should we obey and whom to disobey, with whom should we maintain relation and with whom not, who is our friend and who is our enemy, wherein are honour, well-being and benefit for us and wherein lies disgrace, failure and loss? Muslims have given up ascertaining all these verities from the Quran. Now they ask these things from unbelievers, polytheists, misguided and selfish people and from the evil force in their souls, and follow what these elements advise. Therefore what invariably happens on ignoring God and following the precepts of others, happened to them too, and they are reaping it today in Hindustan, China, Java, Palestine, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and everywhere”. {Fundamentals of Islam P.No.17-18}.

The Idea of Hell and Paradise. The idea of Hell [ Punishment] and Paradise [Reward] has so strongly imbibed by our religious leaders in the mind of the members of the Muslim society that this has embedded with the DNA at the conception of a baby in a Muslim family. Punishment breeds fear and reward creates greed. The result is that most of Muslim leaders are greedy and fearful. For instance Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a great leader of the nation was suffering from paranoia : He was a great intellect no doubt, but he succumbed to the threats of Fanatics because he was paranoid by nature. When he became a powerful, elected prime minister of the country, he began daydreaming to bring Renaissance of Islam across the Muslim world. To achieve his mission he held the submit conference of the Muslim countries. Narcissism one of the chief features of a Muslim began to heave in his boson.

Every idea inherits its decay : hence natural effect of downfall, It is established that there is no such thing as finality in philosophical thinking. As knowledge advances and fresh avenues of thought are opened, other views, and certainly sounder views than those prevalent emerge to take the place of the old. In philosophical language it may be elaborated with the help of dialectics: it proceeds with a statement called thesis, the imperfections of which are sought to be corrected through studying its opposite, called the antithesis. A new view is then proposed in which the best features of the thesis and the antithesis are harmonized. This is known as the synthesis. This synthesis is further refined by regarding it as another thesis, expounding its antithesis, and so on. To further elucidate the point the help of Spenser would be beneficial. He wrote ‘that all organic matter originates in a unified state and that individual characteristics gradually develop through evolution. The evolutionary progression from simple to more complex and diverse states was an important’ process of nature . Therefore the thing which does not fall in the domain of human’s comprehension at present will certainly become understandable through the process of evolution. But alas! The Muslim could not learn lesson from the history of Christian Church which as long remained in power, the prosperity and advancement of the West stayed behind. With the dawn of Renaissance, the refulgence of the Church began to diminish, and the recognition of the new vistas of knowledge make the progress and prosperity of the West self-confident.

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A big deception

Our political leaders and military high profile ranks have been beating the drums for the non compromise on the matter of country sovereignty, dignity and self-respect. As for as my knowledge of English and Political Science helps me, they either do not know the meaning of sovereignty and independence of a country or they befool the public purposefully.

Sovereignty may be defined: “ pre-eminence : supreme and independent power : the territory of a sovereign or of a sovereign state”. {Chambers English Dictionary}

The ground realities.

{a} A considerable part of annual budget owes its life and health to the contributions of the donors and loans from the foreign agencies and banks of the country. It denotes the economy which is considered the backbone of a country is not strong enough to bear the burden of the country. And still we cry we will not compromise our sovereignty, is a very strange claim.
{b} A sizable part of the country is under the control of the insurgents hailing to natives and foreigners. Not to speak of the nebulous boundaries of the country, the writ of the government is not visible even in Karachi, which is the biggest and the hub of the country. It denotes these areas of the country are out of the fold of our sovereignty of the state of Pakistan. The latest statement of the worthy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court that there is a fall of constitution in the Province of Baluchistan is scary for every Pakistani. In the presence of these facts and figures the claims of our leaders that they will not compromise on sovereignty of the country, seems ridiculous.
Independence of the country:-

Grounds realities.

With reference to the independence of the country, I would like to make the leaders of the country understand the meaning of the word independence in the light of the address of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prime leader of Pakistan.
" That freedom means freedom only from foreign domination, is an outworn idea. It is not merely governments that should be free but the people themselves who should be free, and no freedom has any real value for the common man or woman unless it is also means freedom from want, freedom from disease, freedom from ignorance." Our leaders are building freedom of the country on the empty stomachs of the common men and women.
Dignity and self-respect of the nation

Ground realities

We are branded beggars among the comity of the nations. Our rulers are often seen from country to country carrying begging bowl for donation, charity and loans. Our rulers have forgotten the blessings of a well known proverb,” Cut your coat according to your cloth”. And “ Honesty is the best policy”. They are hell bent upon to plunder the wealth of the poor country and beep up their accounts In the foreign banks. When they are out of government, you will find them on the rooftops beating the drums of holy catchphrases ‘ service of the people, poverty elevation, elimination of ignorance, rooti, kapra and mukan, but as soon they wield power of the state they start filling ‘ their stores of hunger.’ Pakistan is a strange country where huge buildings are being built, long and luxurious cars jamming on the roads among the groans of empty stomachs. In such situation the word self-respect and dignity appear outrageous from the mouth of our rulers.

Our pride in our achievements:-

Groundrealities
We always beat the drum of our [a] invincible defense of the country [b] Pakistan fort of Islam [3] Defence of ideology.

About the invincible defense of the country.

It is chilling to see the truth of this claim in the light of the recent catastrophe: The Invincible Defense we have seen in the death of Asama bin Latham and in Navy Camp in Karachi.

The Defense of Ideology is well being exhibited on the Western borders of the country where Muslims are fighting like dogs to enforce Islam according to their own interpretations of holy book and Shari’at.

The fort of Islam is being smashed into smithereens in the worshiping places by declaring pagans hailing to the other sects.

International conspiracy

These slogans are chanted to deceive the people. With some heinous purpose the currency has been given to the stereotypical thought of the conservatives that there is an international conspiracy against Pakistan. The fact is, there is no international conspiracy against Pakistan. We are not that important for international players to merit that kind of attention. Why should our foe do any effort to destroy us, when we are fractured within, and are going to meet our ‘destiny’ for our own misdeeds.

Intoxication of democracy.

The sleeping pills are being given to the illiterate public in the shape of democracy. The corrupt politicians, elite, white and khaki and ‘mollycoddled ’ intellectuals are crying hoarse to save democracy from being encroached upon by the empty stomachs. Let us see what sort of democracy is in the Pakistan:-

“The ruling PPP politicians don’t tire of claiming parliament’s supremacy over all other institution; never mind if many members of parliament were elected on forty-percent bogus votes and fraudulent degrees Simply, could a person known for money-laundering and accumulation of illegal wealth ever become either prime minister or president of India/ That’s high standard of accountability and rule.” { Writer is freelance columnist based in Lahore. The News. Iftekhar A. Khan. Sep.1.2012.}.

The price hike of the commodities of daily use has made the life of common men miserable. In such situation it is not possible at all for a common man to fight election for the seat of National Assembly or Provincial Assembly because, it casts billions of rupees. The election has become only a ‘ show’ of democracy. In fact there never have been any genuine election. Our election of National and Provincial Assemblies are Hobson’s choice in the real sense of the word. Four families rule the country. In the light of the above mentioned parliament, we can infer the essence of the democracy in Pakistan : It is a democracy off the people, far the people and buy the people. Is it to be our fate that only the tainted and smeared will rule over us. Remember our whole structure is one of gradation---one class over another. The millions at bottom are exploited by and had to bear the weight of all those at the top. And the at the top took care to perpetuate this system and to keep the power for themselves by not giving opportunities of education or training to these poor people at the bottom of the ladder. How beautifully Voltaire prophesied the ‘ soul and boy’ our politicians : “ They [politicians] have discovered in their fine politics the art of causing those to die of hunger who, cultivating the earth, give the means of life to others”.

Bureaucrats or politicians who are responsible for miserable plight of the common men.

“it is the bureaucracy which has been pivotal in devastating this country. It paved the way for generals and politicians to loot and plunder.” [ A friend of internet].

In reply to the above message received on internet:

The history of Pakistan reveals that politicians in connivance with bureaucrats have been plundering the wealth of the country. I do believe bureaucracy plays a role in the ruination the moral, economic and other ethical values of a nation. But at the same time I do believe, on the strength of my experience that the preponderant onusfalls on shoulders of the politicians. Let us find the truth in pages of the history of Pakistan.

1. Who made concentration of Urdu speaking refugees in Karachi, the capital of the country. This has been creating confusion in the politics of the country. It was Liaquat Khan.

2. Who inducted Ayub Khan in the civil cabinet. A politician or general.

3. Who made country a pandemonium in the early days of Pakistan : Khan Sahib the brother of the Ghofar Khan {Sarhundhy Gandhi} , was the chief minister of the West Pakistan. He refused bluntly to decorate his office with the portrait of the father of nation, because he was still suffering from venomous feelings against the creation of Pakistan. This situation was maligned by the politicians. This shows that the woeful situation caused the imposition of marshal law in the country.

4. The achievements of Ayub Khan are unprecedented in the whole history of Pakistan. Ask the Koreans who came Pakistan to know the secrets of development in all fields of life. I was in technical education, and am a living testimony to it.

5. Who befooled public by the catch words of Root, Kapra and Mukan, everyone saw the dire consequences of befooling of the public. Destruction of economy, education and moral code of life of the people. Who declared 1000 years war against India. Who ordered to manufacture Atom Bomb which proved a heavy obligations on the public exchequer and distorting the image of the country. Who said,” Here we, there you”, and fueled the inimical susceptibilities of the East Pakistan, that culminated in the division of the country. It is a general, or a politician.

6. Who “ gifted” us with the legacy of the present plague in the shape of PPP government. In the perception of Dr. Kader, the father of nuclear bomb of Pakistan, Mr. Zardari should be awarded a degree of PhD in dirty politics. The regime of the civilian has become notorious for corruption, nepotism, steep surge of all items of daily use, sinking the whole country in darkness and beefing up the foreign banks. Who are responsible for a large scale unemployment, empty stomachs ready for suicide, and violence, lawlessness, generals or politicians. Who first ordered bombing on the tribes of the country in 1972.

Bureaucracy by nature is conservative [a friend on internet] Who declared an educated section of the society non Muslims, introduced Friday a holiday and imposed ban on hot drinks. It was liberalism or conservativeness. Who is that, a general or a politician.

It is chilling to remember that Pakistan is ranked third most dangerous place for women in the world. Afghanistan and Congo are our companions. Is this observation of civilian regime or that of a military dictator.

Remember , sovereignty, democracy and other such deceiving phraseology is a concern of well-heeled not the under fed, and taking the verity of this statement, I can say without any fear of contradiction that politicians are more devilish in the activities of plundering and looting the wealth of our nation.

The hue and cry of some of our mollycoddled ‘intellectuals’ contains some truth that beau racy is responsible for the endemic corruption, nepotism and all other scourges that has bedeviled the whole fabric of society but it is hard for me to be convinced that our political and religious leaders are innocent and conscientious, committed and purified from all sort of evils, temporal and spiritual. I firmly believe that the tree of evil is politicians and religious leaders who have planted the country in the quicksand of all kinds risks.

The electorates of the country sent their representatives in the legislative assembly to ameliorate their bad condition of life. It is simply a lame excuse that they are fettered to do any positive work. If they are not in a position to deliver good to the public, what are they doing, to enjoy themselves with the prodigal privileges and prerogatives of exalted positions.

I will be much obliged if “the intellectuals” tell me who gave birth to our most woefully miserable “ intelligent and mischievous” figure in the history of humans, in the form of PPP leadership, generals or politicians.

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Confederation with India or Bangladesh

I agree with the author’s assertion that “If Germany can express its regrets over the Holocaust and international figure like Willy Brandt can kneel down before Poland then why can’t Pakistan admit its mistake and apologize to Bangladeshi people”.

But the whiff of the intention of the author to write this lengthy essay seems to me that he ardently desires to form a federation with Bangladesh which is neither advisable nor pragmatic in the scenario of the present world. The causes of separation of Bangladesh referred to above are not more potential than the causes inherent from the very birth of Pakistan. Please find it from the resolution of Pakistan 1940, which reads:

“ No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.”

Keeping in views the importance of the distance between the two federating units of Pakistan and Bangladesh, cultural and linguistic differences of the existing realities federation will remain always vulnerable to all sorts of windstorms.

But some of the zealous members of Muslim League could not understand the ground realities and desired one state, and passed a revolution in Dheli amending the previous one, and this remained inherent flaw in the constitutional set up of the country.

It is my considered opinion that the confederation with India is more advisable and beneficial from many points of views. In the matter of advisability and feasibility of my suggestion, I reproduce my article for readers and request their candid comments on it to enhance my awareness on the subject.

Federation of Pakistan and Bangladesh/or confederation of Pakistan and India.

One of the intellectuals of my internet friends has suggested to revive the federation of Bangladesh and Pakistan to make both the countries to progress and get a high position in the comity of nations. According to him, this is the best recipe for strengthening and progressing of both the countries.

Some of our intellectuals are too poetic to see the ground realities. I think some of them met uncle Ghalib. Assessing their desires and longings of the visitors Ghalib read out to them this couplet:-

hazaron kh[v]ahishen aisi kih hark h[v]ahis pe dam nikle

bahut nikle mere arman lekein phir bhi kam nikle

[A thousand such desires that upon each one I would rather die,

Though many of my longings were fulfilled, many so remained.]

Let us see impartially the probabilities of confederation in the vision of the following facts and figures and come to the conclusion whether this suggestion of federation of Pakistan and Bangladesh is workable or a mere flight of a crazy man with a burning desire to see a larger Islamic State in the world.

A nation may be defined as a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.

[a] According to the above definition of a nation, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis cannot be a nation because we have different language, culture and different boundaries of territories.

[b] State has four components.

[1] Has space or territory which has internationally recognized boundaries.

[2] Has people who live there on an ongoing basis.

[3] Has a government which provides public services and police power.

[4] Has sovereignty. No other state should have power over the country’s territory.

There is no commonality of territories which is essential to unite a nation. This has already proved in the 1971 war.

In Pakistan we do not have sovereignty because in a considerable area of the country the writ of the government has been challenged. Moreover most of the articles of the constitution are not working in the area which is called Azad territory. They have their own laws to regulate the affairs of the inhabitants.

The other most antagonist attitudes to the sovereignty of the country is that a considerable part of our annual budget of the year owes its existence on the charities and loans from the foreign countries. For this purpose we have to pledge our sovereignty with the donors and lenders. It suggests that heavy loans which have become an essential part of our budget for a long time entails a compromise with the sovereignty of the country. The proof of this is that we cannot go ahead with our programme designed and tailored for the welfare of the people. This is chiefly because of the tragic fact that our elite do not pay income tax etc, and the government from head to the toe is buried in corruption. We due apology, I am impelled to conclude that consciously or unconsciously the author of the article wants to drag the peaceful nation of Bangladesh into the mire in which we are sinking day in day out because of the corruption and misgovern ace of the government.

Confederation is a loose alliance between two or more countries for some purpose. Traditionally Foreign policy, defense and currency are the subjects of the federal government and the rest of the subjects rest with the confederating units. The residual legislating authority usually also rests with the confederating units. In such alliance the culture, all kinds of faiths and other such in heritage are guaranteed and secured.

In the present political, social and economic scenario it is more advisable and beneficial to make such alliance with India,

{a} to get ride of a war which is a Damocles’ sword over the two countries.

{b} To break the backbone of creeds mafia.

{c} In stead of wasting resources to nourish and flourish revenge and enmity among the 1/4the mankind, there would be singing of mantras of love, brotherhood and peace.

{d} A chunk of national revenue is spent on defense and to mitigate the influence of India which is considered the first enemy of Pakistan. By saving a large amount we can exploit it in the furtherance of education and civic amenities. On the contrary we cannot obtain deliverance from the strong shackles of conservatism imposed by the coward political leaders of the country by surrendering to a small section of society

The paramount and wholesome impact of the confederation with India is to redeem the conceited strategy of adventurism as expressed in the following catchphrases.

[2] The defense of ideology.

[2] The invincible defense of Pakistan.

[3] Pakistan a fort of Islam

In light of the facts and figures the wish of with Bangladesh is a poetic thought and should remain so to please the conservatives of both the countries. The slogans that we are Uncles of Islam, have to be abandon for the progress of the country. We should make our country secular to accelerate the speed of progress. Only secularism makes the country a welfare state. Secular state means a state which guarantees religious freedom to every citizen and which, without distinction of religious or race, endeavours to promote the advancement and welfare of all its citizen.

Elegy of the champions of democracy in Pakistan.

“elected governments in Pakistan, despite mandate, light or heavy, from the people of Pakistan are forced to function under stringent conditional ties imposed upon them by the Pakistan army.”

Could the author on honesty and justice say that there had been elected governments in Pakistan since its birth. Is it not true that all the civil governments are fake, conglomerate of four families and rigging of results of the elections. The declaration of Nadara that more than 40 percent are fake voters, is not an eye-opener for the champions of civil government in Pakistan. I can say without any fear of contradiction that all the general elections held under the sway of civil governments were true illustration of Hobson choice.

I do agree with the author:

“The present government adopted a policy of complete subjugation to the military and left no stone unturned to please the men in uniform”.

But why it is so. It is because the present government is not a genuine government. It came into power : {1} through world’s notorious NRO {2} selling the blood of Benazir {3} with the slogans to fulfill PPP stereotyped promises of Root, Kapara and Makan . Had Bhutto honoured his pledges with the public no one could dare cast an evil eye upon him. Mr. Bhutto was hanged because he dishonored his pledges with the poor and paved the path for military forces. History of Pakistan stands testimony to the fact that in civil governments of the country our political, economic and administrative system become more infested with corruption, lawlessness, deceit and economic malaise due to the lust of the ruling dacoits such as PPP leadership.

I have noted carefully adventurous story of the author about the activities of Military in Baluchistan. It contains some facts but does not explain truly the history of the corrupt politicians. I was a lecturer in government Commercial College Quetta and I still relish the peaceful and juice aura of the city in General Ayub Khan era. Hence I do not think it apt to give my comments on it. However I feel it appropriate to reproduce my previous e-mail to make the matter more clear.

Anthropology tells us that ‘human nature’ differs widely in various communities, for example in some communities the lending of one’s wife to a guest is considered an indispensible part of hospitality. Infanticide has been prevalent in many countries. Even Plato recommended it as a remedy against over population.

Have different trends in different people living in different geographical position and in different clime and climate may be taken as essentials of human nature. Therefore, in perspective of the past 60 years in the domains of politics, economics and social logy, we can conclude without an fear of contradiction that Western Democracy may be suitable and beneficial for the literate, advanced and creeds free society but it is poison for the health of the nation of a backward, illiterate and creeds ridden society.

The contents of the most E-mail and views given in different channels denote that some of our intellectuals are hell bent upon defaming the defense of Pakistan for the reasons best known only to them. Certainly they are intentionally or unintentionally espousing the efforts of our foes to disintegrate Pakistan and proved the strength of Indians’ old claim of “ One Nations Theory”. They are singing the mantra of democracy day and night. They are so intoxicated with the word ‘democracy’ that it has become their belief that the worst democracy is better than the best dictatorship. They do not know that the common man has no interest in the form of government, rather he believes “ let the fools contest for the form of government, that government is best that does best. Remember, sovereignty is a concern of well-heeled not of the under fed. Whole the nation has been sinking in the sea of corruption, nepotism, load-shedding and price hike but some of our pseudo intellectuals are crying save democracy of the four families. It seems that democracy in Pakistan is a beautiful lass and her modesty is being encroached upon by the have-nots, and it is the duty of every citizen to save this lass from being kidnapped and molested. I do understand that dictatorship is a slur on the fair name of our country but our fake democracy which emerges from Hobson’s choice is more poisonous for the health of the nation. For example at the departure of the dictatorship rate of $ was 60 Rs, but now the rate is more than Rs.91. Moreover the profitable institutions such as Railway, PIA Steel Mill and WAPADA were giving profits, whereas in the democracy they are going into a sudden nosedive. The plain and simple truth is that ppp government of Pakistan prefers to tread the primrose path of dalliance rather than the steep and thorny way that beckons to the prosperity and betterment of the masses.

I reiterate that I abhor and detest dictator in my beloved country, but the history of these two main parties, Muslim League[n] and PPP emanated from the womb of dictatorship is not encouraging to say the least. Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was introduced to the president Ayub Khan by Sakander Mirza. And Mr. Sharif is an abortive child of dictatorship of Zia.

I firmly believe democracy is the best form of government in the Western Country which are welfare states. But in Pakistan it is more than a deadly poison, and it has been tested and proved a shaving blade in the hand of a monkey. The history of developing countries, such as China, Korea etc reveals that Western democracy does not suit to the backward, poor and illiterate society. We should adopt the political system of China for the progress and property of the country and amelioration of the downtrodden.

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Our martyrs.

The history of the Muslims’ psychology is replete with evidences that they worshiped " the dead" at the cost of living ones. Their other prominent feature is to erect their political, religious and social edifice on the bones of their forefathers .They make them martyrs to buttress their objectives without thinking the significance of sacred term as described in Quran and Shariah.

These days the largest political party of the country PPP after delivering scourges of hike price, monster of load shedding of electricity and gas, the ghost of corruption and stripping off democracy, is digging out its pseudo martyrs from their graves to help them against the wrath of the common men. They are disturbing the souls of their ‘ forefathers’ by imploring them to come to the world to assist them in the troubled waters they have created by themselves with their misdeeds.

Now the question is whether the martyrs of the Pakistan are genuine martyrs or counterfeit. As far my knowledge of Islamic history helps me, the word martyr and martyrdom are very sacred and exalted. Let us see its significance and dimensions in the light of the religion of Islam:

The shahid is considered one whose place in Paradise is promised according to these verses in the Qur'an:

Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord;

They rejoice in the bounty provided by Allah: And with regard to those left behind, who have not yet joined them (in their bliss), the (Martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve.

Qur'an, Sura 3 (Al-i-Imran), ayat 169 – 170”.

The emphasis is on “ who are slain in Allah’s way ”. In order to form any opinion whether our martyrs are genuine or fake, we should first of all get ourselves abreast of the activities and deeds/misdeeds of the martyrs of Pakistan.

1. First martyr.

{1} Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan : His credentials in respect of his foreign policy and his behaviour with the father of nation, Quaid-Azam have been under severe criticism. There is a nasty story of bad performance of the prime minister during illness and at death of the father of nation, the Quaid.

His first address to the American on his tour to the United States of America has been under tirades of his critics as they thought pro American policy entangled the country in the quandary between the two supper powers. It is unfortunate that between the two “great” {USSR & USA} Pakistan fell upon evils days. Pakistan was drawn on the horns of a dilemma due to one track foreign policy adopted by the government of Liaquat Ali Khan.

He was short dead while he was addressing a public meeting to strengthen his political position in the forthcoming election. His assassination is, of course, a sad event in the history of Pakistan. But we cannot named it martyrdom by any parameters determined by our religion. He was not “slain in Allah’s way”, rather was assassinated in the game of politics.

2. Second martyr

[2] Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a tremendous intellect with hazy outlook. He betrayed his political father President Ayub Khan, whom he called ‘daddy’. He played with the emotional attachment of the public with their country. He successfully grappled political power by means of Machiavellian trickeries. He befooled the public with the catchphrases of ROOTI KUPRA MUKAN, but immediately forgot it after wielding power. He began visiting the dreamland and seeing himself the champion of the Muslim world. He held summit of the leaders of the Muslim world for this purpose. He kicked out his socialist comrades from the fold of his party, and inducted in it his toadies. He proved disloyal to the common poor men of the country and to his benefactor Ayub Khan who has exalted him against the opposition of his colleges.

God/Nature does not like faithfulness and was therefore punished for his ‘deeds’.

3. Third martyr

[3] Mr. Zia, the most hated and detested person also proved faithless to his benefactor, Mr. ZAB who had exalted him to make him Chief of Army of Pakistan ignoring the seniority list. He maneuvered to get his benefactor be hanged to save his position. He exercised his influence on the judiciary and got his benefactor/foe visit gibbet through ‘ court’s trial murder’.

God/Nature did not lik disloyalty and he was blasted in the air. He was not “slain in Allah’s way” and therefore cannot be called a martyr.

4. Fourth martyr

[4] Benazir Bhutto was a great lady. A sympathizer of the destitute of the country. She devoted her energies and youth against the dictatorship. But when she became Mrs. Zardari she said farewell to her virtues. Now she was one of the notorious cheaters of Pakistan. There was a pregnant silence in her leaving the case of murder to the winds. She kept her very kind and loving mother away from politics because Miss. Nusrat wished her son to be the chairman of PPP.

God/Nature felt annoyed on her unfaithfulness and Benazir was murdered with the conspiracy of PPP leadership. She was not “slain in Allah’s way” and therefore cannot be called a martyr.

I believe God/Nature is ready to get this most perfidious PPP leadership, to visit Gibbet

Remember God/Nature is Omnipotent. It reminds me the saying of Holy Prophet,” Do not vilify time, for time is God”. Time is eternal, when every thing of this world is in flux and unreliable.

In light of the above facts and figures sponsored with references from the holy book and divine personality, I feel free to state that the martyrs of Pakistan are fake, camouflaged under the ignorance and blind faith of their devotees.

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Romance.

Love.

Love is a sacred passion. It deals with serious aspect of life. It has depths of oceans and heights of Himalaya. Tennyson says’” It is the greatest folly of life. But life is incomplete without it.” Jalaluddin Rumi describes in a different way. He says that “Through love burning fire becomes pleasing light. Through love stone becomes soft as butter”.

sab kahan, kuchh lala{h}-o-gul men numayan ho gai’n

khak men, kya surateh hongi kih pinhan ho gai’n {Ghalib}

Translation:-

‘Not all, only a few have become evident as tulips

and roses;

What images may lie in the dirt that remain hidden from us? ‘

Life and death.

We see that these big minds except the scientists and artists have created problems of manifold which have engulfed simple peoples of this unfortunate planet. We should not pay attention to these labyrinths of metaphysics and mysterious interpretations of the world. Best life is a simple life. When we do not know certainly where from we come, then we should not worry where are we to go after death. All isms and ideologies should be exiled from the land of mankind except Humanism which is in philosophy, an attitude that emphasizes the dignity and worth of the individual. A basic premise of humanism is that people are rational beings who possess within themselves the capacity for truth and goodness.

Religion: “ A system of general truth which have the effect of transforming character when they are sincerely held and vividly apprehended” { Pof Whitehead}.

“ Religion is not a departmental affairs; it is neither mere thought, nor mere feeling, nor mere action; it is the expression of the whole man” .{Iqbal.

Politics: “ They[politicians] have discovered in their fine politics the art of causing those to die of hunger who, cultivating the earth, hive them the means of life to others”.{ Voltaire}

Thursday 25 October 2012

Muhammad Asghar Butt

Rough English Translation

Rough English Translation

having asked for a long life

Rough English Translation

cannot find peace, this heart of mine, in this wrecked land

who has succeeded in this transitory world

cannot find peace, this heart of mine,
in this wrecked land

who has succeeded in this
transitory world