Imported Revolution

The bullet proof, bomb-proof, container-led revolution of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri has concluded, thankfully without any loss of human life, but needs some reflection on its course, its aims and results.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri claimed to bring an overnight revolution because people are sick of current corrupt system. The idea seemed fascinating but the problem remained that the concept of changing the system from outside didn’t fascinate many. Unless there is a strong urge of change from within, no one from outside can impose a change. No matter how catchy the slogans are, people don’t bother if they don’t feel an attachment towards it. When he quoted people like Imam Khumeni who were abroad and came back for revolution, he simply forgot to have a look at his popularity and credibility back home. Also, even in exile, Imam Khumeni was actively leading the movement. Nation would always be sceptical about someone who disappeared for good five years and came back to munch away a fruit which has been ripened with a struggle and misery of years.  The tag of support of establishment/hidden hand also proved detrimental for Qadri saheb. His demands and agenda had nothing new and people doubted his real agenda.

A lot has been shared and said about the personal record of credibility of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri. It’s in bad taste to do character assassination; but still it’s a reality that character of a leader does matter towards his words, slogans and ultimately leadership. Commitment of a leader towards his cause is also very important. Security might be a burning issue, but revolutions don’t come in containers.  Also, Qadri took several U-turns from his initial stance and virtually he had to end up with a face-saving agreement. He clearly failed to give a clear vision to his followers and didn’t tell them what the real goal was. People stayed in confusion and lacked proper direction. They still might not know what they were out for in biting cold for 4 nights while the leader and his family stayed in a heated room throughout.

The role of media is disgraceful in this entire situation. Pakistan media lacks direction, professionalism and ethics This revolution drama got passionate coverage further confusing the nation. People were ‘captivated’ for 5 days and entire media was hijacked by the long march but no clear picture was shown to the country. Sensationalism was at its peak which is ruining the society by creating hypes out of nothing, wasting time, nerves and energies.  But few exceptions can be seen, where journalists were very clear in their stance and gave remarkable analysis of the long march.

Thousands of people spent 5 nights in cold weather of Islamabad without proper arrangements and the crowd comprised of people from all walks of life. It signifies that supporters of Dr Qadri, no matter what their number was, were committed to the cause. They were blindly following their leader which is another problem in Pakistan; blind following and no questioning of the leader even if it leads to a blind well. The followers of Qadri sb didn’t listen to any dissenting opinion and they still claim victory despite the fact that they have virtually achieved nothing.

Again, it is very important that what shape we want to give to our movement. If someone compares himself to Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and then shamelessly goes and bows down to those whom he calls yazeedis, nation is simply not going to forgive him. Dr. Qadri was very vocal in calling people names and swearing a lot of times; but all this was actually weakening his cause.

This long march indicated a ray of hope that people are willing to bring change but shallow slogans and inappropriate leadership is the biggest hurdle. Specific goals, thoroughly chalked out agenda and committed leadership is required to bring people back on streets. Also, a lot of people still believe in democratic process and are willing to give it one last chance. If the upcoming elections are rigged and same corrupt politicians appear, we could see the entire episode of long march repeated with much more enthusiasm and probably that will be the final blow to the current system.

But then again, the leadership should be crystal clear about its objectives and should have a strong character, integrity and credibility unlike Dr. Qadri, to whom we can dedicate this urdu verse

عشق قاتل سے بھی، مقتول سے ھمدردی  بھی
یہ بتا کس سے محبت کی جزا مانگے گا
سجدہ خالق کو بھی ، ابلیس سے یارانہ بھی
حشر میں کس سے عقیدت کا صلہ مانگے گا

So following conclusions can be derived safely from the entire episode.

  • No one from outside can forcefully impose a revolution unless the people of country want it that way
  • The character of leader is of prime importance.
  • Establishment always misused used the slogan of religious emotionalism and/or political corruption to intervene but now majority of people think , we’ve had enough of boots.
  • Media can be manipulated by creating a drama with huge funds, but the impact of media is not the final blow.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad – The Sign of Unity of The Ummah

Don’t know how to start … Qazi Hussain Ahmad, former Ameerr of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) left us in deep sorrow and grief and I don’t even have words to express it. He is still living in our hearts and minds.

Like many others, my adulthood was spent in chanting slogans ‘hum baitey kis k __Qazi k’ associating ourselves spiritually with Qazi Hussain Ahmad.  Yeah Qazi Hussain was a spiritual leader as he evoked spirits of millions. He was a dynamic leader and his leadership gave us hope and courage to stand for the truth, no matter if we were standing alone.

Many of us can recall sitting in the company of Qazi Sahab and having simplest meals while sitting on floor. Many more will remember running with the vehicle of Qazi sahab chanting slogans ‘raasha raasha __Qazi raasha’; pushto words which became known to everyone due to Qazi sahab. He was a cardiac patient but his energy was phenomenal.  He travelled across the country from Khyber to Karachi and we  can easily say that he is the only leader who has most widely traveled across the country for unity of the nation, without sufficient security. He is the only leader who visited FATA on regular basis to address congregations but media rarely covered it. His followers and lovers are spread all across the country and there would be no town from Karachi to Khuzdar to Kashmir where you will not find someone loving Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad was an internationally renowned personality and people across the globe knew him for his courage, enthusiasm, zeal and zest. He received a lot of respect from Islamic movements across the globe as they considered him their leader and often he was involved in consultative processes. The role of Qazi Hussain Ahmad in afghan jihad is unforgettable and whenever history will be written for Russian defeat in Afghanistan, it will not be considered complete without mentioning the efforts of Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

I have listened to many speeches of Qazi Hussain Ahmad and every time got a new spirit. He had the immense quality of motivating youth in extremely disastrous and dire circumstances. He led the way for them and was an inspiration. Beaten up by our own police, he faced teargas and baton-charge while leading JI workers in Rawalpindi but didn’t opt for any bullet proof cabin or car. The remarkable courage of Qazi sahib was booming force behind street power of JI. Many still wonder why JI workers are such a force on streets even if they are small in number; the reason is obvious, JI leaders including Qazi Hussain Ahmad are never in bullet-proof bunkers.

He remained Amir JI for good 22 years and then voluntarily left the post because of his ill-health. His struggle wasn’t for his sons or family or personal benefits, but for the sake of Allah and the cause of Islam. It was dire motivation of Islamic revolution which kept him going till the end of his life.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad had a charisma. He used to tolerate difference of opinion in such a manner that despite heavy differences, people across the board used to love him. Tough questions were asked and often people were rude, but polite answers used to satisfy them always. His efforts for unity of Muslim Ummah are substantial and he was quite successful in bringing different sects together. He has shown us a path of unity in Pakistan which we need to follow.

I remember first speech of Qazi Hussain Ahmad when he was elected as member of Parliament in 2002. In few minutes, he beautifully summed up the basic ideology of Islam, though I fear most of our Parliamentarians failed to understand. Stories are long and memories are not going to fade, so I would  finish this piece with verse of Iqbal. Qazi sahab, you may have left us, but you will always live in our hearts.

ہزاروں سال نرگس اپنی بے نوری پہ روتی ہے
بڑی مشکل سے ہوتا ہے چمن میں دیدہ ور پیدا

Foundations of Secular Educational System

Know thy enemy.

“Allah is the Protecting Friend of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein. 2:257

Are we conscious of what we take from the modern-secular thought and its educational system, and what we reject? In fact, are we rejecting anything harmful? Are we deciding hard what is useful for us and what is unacceptable from Islamic point of view? Do we fully know what we’re up against? Not so much.

Our universities and intelligentsia model itself on the contents of western educational system, and are heavily influenced by it. What then are the major components of western, modern educational system which contrast with Islamic worldview? What are its philosophical and practical bases? This is the first article which encompasses the influences on modern education and its origins. In further articles, we’ll try to come up with some rationale on which to build the structure of modern education which keeps human nature intact with its ethics and preserves the teachings and injunctions of Allah Almighty. We invite you to participate in that and broaden our mutual understanding from Islamic point of view.

Setting the Context: Roots of Modern Education

The loss of God is death, is desolation, hunger, separation. All the tragedy of man is in one word, ‘godlessness’ – (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourzah)

Contemporary education, or modern literacy, has harmed, as well as benefited human race. To understand the long lasting effects of modern education we have to go back in history towards its inception. From there we believe we can conceive the idea of what contemporary endeavor of modern education is. For now it is enough to say that it has given us war, bloodshed, imperialism, disbelief in unseen higher order realities, exploitation, slavery to created things, nationalism and list goes on. It has divested the superior human values from us and has turned human society into an individualistic and hedonistic one; where men are involved in performing feats of personal gratification in which there is no room for love and care due to their shear selflessness. Selfishness is at the heart of economics, for instance. It has so far given two major wars or world wars in the human history. This cannot be said the age of enlightenment, rather a dark age to many. It is a delusion of evolution without any direction. No doubt that science and education of people have given us some wondrous inventions and have laid the foundations of various subjects, but these were supposed to make human life easier and were to make them civilized. Ironically, repercussions have been disastrous.

Understanding the context (or the times) is imperative here. We have our differences with Hinduism, but we ought to call to ‘a common word’. Similarities can be startling, like the following predictions of The Vishnu Purana, “a Hindu text dating back nearly two millennia,” which describe the Dark Age or Kali Yuga:

“Riches and piety will diminish daily, until the world will be completely corrupted. In those days it will be wealth that confers distinction, passion will be the sole reason for union between the sexes, lies will be the only method of success in business, and women will be the objects merely of sensual gratification. The earth will be valued only for its mineral treasures, dishonesty will be the universal means of subsistence, a simple ablution will be regarded as sufficient purification…The observances of castes, laws, and institutions will no longer be in force in the Dark Age, and the ceremonies prescribed by the Vedas will be neglected. Women will obey only their whims and will be infatuated with pleasure…men of all kinds will presumptuously regard themselves as equals of Brahmins…The Vaishyas will abandon agriculture and commerce and will earn their living by servitude or by the exercise of mechanical professions…The dominant caste will be that of the Shudras…” (The last point may raise eyebrows. Interestingly, Prophet also indicated that lowly people will be happy people in final days, like these modern singers and movie stars, as per Hamza Yusuf.)

 

Let us delve into the influences and foundations that modern curricula’s globally have in common, in East and West.

Industrialization & Progressivism

The modern age of industrialization initiated by the Great Britain was founded on the sentiments of increasing productivity. On these grounds it can be said that it was related to greed present in human nature. It cannot also be simply linked to increase in population, but more or less it can be related to greed or avarice, and subjugation of extremely poor people who were used as ‘grist in the mill’ of industrialism. (Also because at that time Malthus’ theory argued that “poverty is caused by excessive breeding of the poor,” a factually wrong and disproven dogma still held by anti-poor elites. Hence poor had to be left at the mercy of wolves or corporate elites.) With this radical change there came a rush of inventions and products that changed the face of human society forever.

Previously wars were fought between groups for land, ownership and money. This has not changed yet, only the form has changed (in these supposedly extremely ‘civilized’ times). Groups now are nations & corporations led by war mongering political establishments and Opera going executives. They wage wars on other groups (weaker the better) for their own sake of safety, protection and survival. Their excuse: “we’re here to civilize savages and bring the Light of Democracy.” (Ironically, Donald Rumsfeld categorically said that ‘an Islamic state is not an option for Iraq’ even if people want it!)

Today, the businesses are running on Machiavellian thought, Adam Smith’s principle of pursuit of self-interest and totalitarianism without any bounds and without any absolute set of ethics. Very recently around 20 banks in UK and Europe joined hands to loot and fool the world by fixing certain trading rates (or Libor) that affect all financial transactions, for instance.

All that boils down into the domination of a system based on money and power. Globally, this is translating into the rise of the American Corporate Imperialism, as exposed in Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Capitalism whose decline has just been started in Wall Street outlines a system in which the whole of economy stands on the greed of humans for power and outward beauty. Economics, when stripped off from ethics, results in the bigotry of unequal distribution of wealth and immorality. One of us vividly remembers his economics professor forbidding use of any moral arguments against narcotic drugs; so he had to argue “rationally” in favor of legalizing drugs according to economic analysis!

Industrialism and capitalism is the soul for today’s educational system. (Remember what’s the bottom-line? Dollars & prestige.) The degrees which are now offered are only to sustain this system and to make it robust. The curricula have failed to give people any higher aim of living. Those who aspire for greater good are themselves restrained to a small local level, and have up till now failed to achieve any milestone in bringing a halt to the devastation borne by a vast majority of people around the globe. But quality will prevail over quantity, Allah willing.

Capitalistic ideas must be taken critically and attacked from various angles. We tend to naively believe that this is the end-result of human effort in economic sphere. Surely anyone familiar with economic research at the forefront knows that dogmas of neo-classical economics or capitalism are being challenged bottom-up.

Philosophical Purge

While nineteenth century materialism closed the mind of man to what is above him, twentieth century psychology opened it to what is below him

(René Guénon)

The ‘eclipse of human soul and intellect’ by secular thought has brought disastrous consequences not just at pure intellectual level, but at societal and practical level as well. The change agents have been ‘false prophets of modernity’ (i.e., modern philosophers and theorists). At intellectual level, they’ve lost the traditional, religious view of nature and knowledge, and created false alternatives – the cause of mass misguidance. Not only that, these handful of men have produced this ‘Dark Age’, a material civilization, in which both human actions and intellectual efforts are profane and cut off from Divine guidance. At practical level, though they have discovered in their way great deal of facts about human mind and body, but still paved way to moral degradation, materialism and suffocation of public morality. (We hope to give historical and evidential bases to these ‘bold claims’ of major religious thinkers in future, Allah willing.)

At political level, we have seen destruction by and self-abdication of great many political minds and men: thanks to Machiavelli’s work, The Prince. In his over-rated book, he suggests that for rulers, ethical norms do not matter. In fact, being truthful and honest is inefficient. His dajjalic policies are just another case of modern man’s declaration of independence from heaven. Similar strains on ideologies and humans actions are attributed to Sigmund Freud. These mistaken ideas have in fact formed the basis of human nature, society, economy and government, with harmful consequences for societies and even for individuals who practice it.

Ideas of Darwin and Karl Marx are the nails in the coffin of education. Karl Marx perpetuating Darwin’s theory of evolution into historical materialism (as he was took Darwin’s book as building block for his own theory) suggests in Marx’s Critique of Political Economy that:

“… in every historical epoch the prevailing economic system by which the necessities of life are produced determines the form of societal organization and the political and intellectual history of the epoch; and that the history of society is a history of struggles between exploiting and exploited, that is, between ruling and oppressed, social classes.”

On his funeral, F. Engel summed up Marx’s grand theory about human life on earth:

“Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc; that therefore the production of the immediate material means, and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch, form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore be explained, instead of vice versa, as had hitherto been the case.”

According to him, the structure of society including politics, religion, arts, and philosophy is founded on the basis of economic conditions of prevailing era alone. Economics explains everything in Marxian worldview. Religion and ethical systems are either products of economic realities, or merely tools used to justify a given economic system. Moreover, if a system is exploitative, religion will be used as opium to cancel out resentments of the masses. (Actually, “opium is the religion of masses.”) People often read and are influenced with these writings without being critical, just as Ilich Lenin was influenced and brought up the revolution in Russia.

The curriculum of today take these adulterations as credible and as “scientific facts,” mal-nourishing young minds philosophically. In reality these ideas have exploited the darker sides of human conscience & mind, bringing forth those attitudes which were once considered taboo. “With the sword of furqan,” says one Islamic thinker, “Muslim minds should destroy the idols of western ideologies.”

Revolutions and Wars

“Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service” – Socrate

 

The unrests and revolutions that came in past few centuries have also framed the worldview of education and its outcomes. The French revolution attributes a significant place for wiping out feudalism and is credited with giving birth to liberalism. People overthrow the government of King, the oppressor, to free themselves. This idea found in this revolution gained strength later on and reached in its purest form in the Human Rights Charter.

A sceptic might object: how can this be freedom that a mob can overthrow a king and then take control of everything for themselves? Instead of one king, a state is created for few to rule. They maintain the cycle though: they print the currency, impose taxes, compel everybody to work for material gain, start a competition in the society, bring women out just to boost economy, make children learn things that are not going to matter to them except for increasing taxes and wealth of only a bunch of people. All it does is to make the suffering swallowable for sensitive minds.

This revolution preceded by the American Revolution instills a spirit of absolutist liberty in the approach of institutions of teaching and learning. It also contributes the idea of democracy in the western world and it was through this revolution that basis of modern political thought is inspired. Political theorists and students now advance their thought after considering the universality of the ideas of democracy and capitalism, without analyzing critical the implications of these systems and without challenging its naive assertions.

Similarly, the Russian Revolution and Marxism have brought with it a completely different mindset and values. When these values were first implemented after the revolution, ferocious was the attempt to impose these ideas to the whole world. Nazi Nationalism was another despicable event that took place and failed. Now the world is left with a single dominion of Capitalism awaited to be replaced with something more ideal.

These revolutions have then helped fringe these (and other) concepts of liberalism.

20th century World Wars can safely be attributed to Nationalism (and other psychological diseases and delusions). Education served the warfare. Many of the subjects and fields of study were developed owing to the demands of warfare like Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, and Resource Planning etc. Even the invention of internet is accredited to the needs of military communication after World War II (and to some pure mathematical pursuits too, we must mention).

The overall focus of the education in previous two centuries hasn’t been on the moral grounds, because if it was so people would be enjoying a more safer, indiscriminate and peaceful planet. These so-called “management” and “engineering” fields are nothing but the tools to keep the “system” running and to spread the void between rich and the poor, powerful and the oppressed, from one perspective.

A conscious citizen knows that industrial-military-complex is at the heart of American economy. Those who set up wars, sell weapons and then blame others for mischief are equally responsible and real barbarians.

Anti-Principlism

A brief survey of modern thought and its educational system will show that it’s based on overturning principles, notes Hamza Yusuf, an American convert and preacher. Whereas, he further said, in Islamic educational system, you cannot question those principles. Prof. S. H. Nasr notes that in old days, when Islamic Tradition was fully intact, the intellectual environment was like a sea in which all kinds of fish would swim, with all kinds of colors and shades; but none would question existence of water. No one would doubt unity of God, for instance, but have very sharp differences at the same time. Secular, positivist, modern education attempts murdering this holistic and sacred understanding of knowledge and instruction.

Today, ulema are anathematized for having deep theological differences (when in fact those differences lead to greater synthesis, as per M Iqbal); whereas, the very modernists would dare disagreeing with Quran, and whole of the Orthodoxy developed and perfected by the best generations of Muslims – progressive-academics like Amina Wadud for instance.

Logical Positivism in Social Sciences: Rejection of the Unseen

No understanding of western social sciences (hence its educational system) is complete without delving deep into logical positivism. Western social sciences are based on logical positivism, which rejects belief in and study of the Unseen. An implication of rejection or indifference to the existence of God.

It only studies what can be seen and observed, while rejecting underlying realities like courage, love, goodness, etc. For instance, we cannot see gravity. Hence, we won’t talk about gravity, but we’ll only study its effects. Equations describing its effects will be studied only. (However, physicists don’t bow to positivism much and always talk about such unobservable things as gravity, strings, etc.) Similarly, in psychology, many things are unobservable, unconscious for example. Behaviorists reacted to this invocation of unseen concepts and called for rejecting the study of such areas in psychology. Not many heeds their call anymore.

Unfortunately, despite having failed, logical positivism continues to stick (like a sticky tape) and be taught in many areas. This is evident from its two basic dogmas, which have also taken disbelievers away from light and into darkness:

“S1: Unobservable entities cannot be invoked as explanatory factors. Social science, like the physical sciences, must be built around quantifiable and measurable concepts.

S2. Morals, values, ideals are unobservable and hence unscientific.  Activism, or efforts to create a better society are not part of scientific activity. Social scientists must act as neutral, detached observers seeking to describe laws of motion for human and social activities.” (Source, please read the paper for a detailed description, history and criticism of logical positivism.)

One can appreciate that these misunderstandings are opposite to Islamic understanding of knowledge and method of inquiry. Islam on the contrary is for those who believe in the Unseen, and that invoking unobservables is necessary and only rational to be objective in social sciences.

Media: The Mind Control Machinery

Brainwashing and conditioning doesn’t end with classroom sessions in the afternoon. The very potent one begins afterwards. It can be said that today many are reading, writing, learning, understanding, persevering, and moving forward only for the sake of money and lifestyle. Not for the sake of Allah, which has severe consequences, as evident from pupils’ boredom with the education. Media, advertising and our education reinforces these “ideals.” But the fall is much grave and deeper. The subtleties of men now rest in the hands of some ignorant celebrities and movie stars, or a bunch of business giants who’re controlling and influencing a major portion of the population. These corporations  are centralized and concentrated. A few many firms own large, diverse businesses like magazines, gaming, newspapers, etc. They won’t let research published against them spread so easy.

With its unprecedented influence, media is termed as the fourth pillar of the state and is the most influential tool rampant in the circles of life of contemporary global culture. The “culture” is nothing but the monoculture imported from America (like McDonalds, etc.). It frowns upon facial hairs, turbans, sandy terrains, and everything more natural. At deeper levels, it’s contemptuous towards various manifestations of traditional civilization, especially the latter’s anti-absolute-freedom-to-do stance.

It’s a mind control machine that ‘manufactures consent’, to put it mildly. But it is much more than that, and impacts deeply spiritual state of those who’re exposed to it without caution. Our national identity, and moral growth of individuals is at stake due to this media because it has torn apart the garment of modesty from people’s eyes and it has once again took humanity to those primitive times when there was degradation of feminine gender and immodesty it faced. In Islam, bashfulness is the essence. In modernity, it is a meaningless commodity that doesn’t help.

Conclusion

An education that only makes us honest, efficient, hardworking and loyal to the system can be very deluding. If the system negates the many clear-cut commands of Allah, honesty, efficiency and hard work won’t do any good to the individual and society. This, to us, is the case with education in Pakistan.

Many things must have been left while writing this as this is no short topic it requires deliberate working and understanding of human conscience and zeitgeist of time in order to identify its fallacies. This article is just an effort to compile the thoughts into an organized form to better understand the problem at hand and to convey it to others. We welcome you to amend, add and expand the scope, contents and depth.

The Islamic concept of educational system is based on the spiritual and moral grounds and implies a set of principles which are completely different and in fact in conflict with the contemporary world view of education. The modern education has moved on after renouncing the existence of any other world other than what they perceive and feel, this attitude has casted a curse on society which has sabotaged its moral values. Dignity, courage, austerity, justice, freedom, wisdom, virtuousness, integrity, and absolute sincerity are absent from today’s learned and literate man. Because if it were a part of the education or if education would have taught these moralities; there must have been less suffering by human race.

“To learn is to understand and to understand we need free thought and for free thought we need not to be slaves”

خرد کو غلامی سے آ زاد کر


The above article has been co-authored by Muhammad Umer Toor with Hassan Habib

We Are All Shahzeb Khan

Just like Madame Defarge of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ silently kept knitting the registry of all those condemned to death and punishment, once the simple and humble peasants eventually rise to the massacre of the oppressors, the nature is writing down all the names and crimes of the feudals acting as pharaohs in the land of the pure. Just as the ‘bloody red queen’ of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland uses pigs as her foot rest, flamingo as a mallet, hedgehog as her croquet ball and monkeys as her throne support, feudals in Pakistan enslave the commoners and treat them like animals. You annoy them slightly and the verdict comes ‘Off with his head‘ and job done. Remember the pharaoh who said to Moses ‘I give life and I give death’. These are no different.

Feudalism in Pakistan is a disease, the metastasis of the primary ailment called colonialism. It’s been ages since the imperialists left us but the common man remains enslaved to the feudal lords all across Pakistan. Big lands, property, cars, arms, luxurious pastimes, oppression of the poor, harassment of women and private jails symbolise them. And when these above-the-law feudals become a part of government and legislation, the country becomes a perfect example of anarchy and lawlessness.

Shahzeb, the 20yr old handsome young man, the only son of his parents was killed in cold blood right after his sister’s valima dinner, not on a huge feud but a trivial squabble. ‘You don’t know who I am‘ attitude of the feudal youth driving those lavish cars, surrounded by armed men as their security guards, has replaced the humans in them with devils. Shahzeb Khan is not the name of an individual nor does the killer represent an individual criminal. Shahzeb represents a commoner, who like any brother would be annoyed if someone harasses his sister and would get over it if the issue is settled amicably. He has no right to protest or raise voice against an influential monster and can be cleaned out of the way if need arises, with no one to look for justice.  The killer represents the pharaohs of the society, with their right to attack, grab, harass and then feel humiliated if a ‘kammi-kameen’ makes noise, eventually plucking the weed out of their way. The whole picture of this tragic incident is a portrayal of our intolerant society. ‘You annoy me – i’ll kill you. You disagree with me – i’ll kill you. You don’t know who I am, but i’ll make sure you will as i’ll kill you‘.

Shahzeb killing symbolises a menace which should be dealt with an iron fist. But who wears an iron fist in front of the pharaohs? Yes. The same commoners, the peasants, the ‘awam’ which are painted black in face by an angry zameendaarni who uses the filthiest language for a man of her father’s age and he stands helplessly in front of one ‘bloody red queen’ of the area like a helpless animal. Or, the common man who is beaten and taken to task for annoying another ‘red queen’ by telling her that the bakery is closed and he can’t sell her the cake. Or, you and I who would be creating more Shahzeb Khans in future if we opt to stay silent.

The Color of the Painting

The painting was absolutely stunning. It carried a latent meaning which was profound and deep. It was both intriguing and complex. No single narrative or interpretation could really sum-it-up. It was colorful; you could see all sorts of colors of all sorts of variations and shades.

And there stood the painter gazing at his work and wondering how complex the human mind could really be. It was then that a rather blunt man walked right in the gallery. He saw how people were being fascinated at the sight they were beholding. He too looked at the painting, and, wondering what was so special about it, asked, “Umm… what color is this painting?”

How exactly was the painter supposed to answer this query? Well, he chose not to entertain a question that destroyed the purpose of discourse.  But then his “ignoring” started to be confused with “ignorance”. People started to doubt the validity of his work. Someone from the crowd stood up and with an inspecting look in his eyes, proposed “I think it’s blue”. “Nah… It looks green to me” commented another. And as soon as you knew it, the audience was arguing about the color of the painting. The painter realized soon enough that joining the conversation would be the worst way to tackle the matter. He knew quite well that when you argue with idiots, they bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. So the painter decided to leave the place quietly and search an audience elsewhere.

The states of affairs that run our everyday discourses are not so much different at times. ‘Keeping things simple’ as it goes. We want to see the world in binary terms; true and false, good and evil, us and them, and so on. Boring descriptions of things that take place around us don’t do much entertaining. So we choose to overdose reality with a lot of perspective, and a lot of they-are-out-to-get-us and we-are-the-center-of-the-world narratives.

This has led us to conveniently create a world around us that explains everything easily. The world becomes an obvious statement as soon as it is revealed to us. We know that the world is full of conspiracies and plots, and a whole bunch of stuff, and all the while these conspirators and plotters are busy in their twenty-four hour meticulous schemes just to make sure we can do nothing about it.

But alas, it is the notion that ‘nothing can be done about it’ that leads us to a state that we desire most; a state of zero action. We are betrayed by ourselves into a seat of passivity and helplessness. We are then silent spectators of history waiting for it to unfold as time passes by as if some script has been pre-written by “them”, and everything has already been decided by the big guns.

So why not, I ask, should we indulge ourselves in conspiracy theories, simplistic formulas, and populist rhetoric. After all, it suits our inherently lazy character. Taking charge of our destinies, being participants in a greater scheme of things, and, most of all, being responsible for our fate, aren’t things that one would actually want to do. They require too much blood and sweat.

But all the while that we layback and create convenient narratives about the world, we are also inflicting harm upon others and ourselves. By conceiving enemies we are also creating hate. And worse still, we let ourselves be defined by that enemy and by that hate.

One just has to look at the walls of our cities to see such slogans that say “What relationship do we have with India, but of hatred and revenge” (Bharat saye rishta kiya, Nafrat aur Inteqam ka). But really, can we consider this a healthy attitude? Does our religion teach us to hate other human beings from the bottom of our hearts and hope that they end up with the worst of fates? Is this the message of peace and compassion, as well as universality that our religion teaches?

In the process of our hate-generation, we often forget, as Muslims, that we are actually losing subjects of dawah. Human beings, despite their beliefs, or historical-cultural presence, are all common creations of the Almighty. None are creations of Satan. Neither is anyone essentially evil, as we are all human and the Almighty hasn’t made us that way.

Now enemies need not be looked only for outside, but even in our surroundings, and within ourselves. Have you heard of the Yahood-o-Nasaara theory which can be applied to everything you can put your eyes on? I heard it from a friend. I was wearing this shirt that said ‘Smile it’s a Sunnah’, and I asked his opinion on it. His response was that I was being misled by the Jewish lot as they must be laughing their heads off now that I fell to their diabolical scheme of having me wear a shirt that will sooner or later get dirty and hence insult the Islamic message it portrays.

This line of thinking stems from superficiality and results in irresponsibility. Such irresponsibility is equally demonstrated when we start talking of politics in utopian terms. We start looking for a savior of some sort or a newer ‘system’ based on some fancy word we learnt. And then we talk of change.

Talk of radical “Change” and “Revolution”, and thinking that all out of nowhere, and with the help of one person, party, political movement and so on, things would all become A-OK, is fundamentally misleading and inherently irresponsible.  It’s irresponsible because we shift the focus from ourselves and portray the responsibility on others. Others here being all those things stated above.

To take hold of our destiny and our persons, we must put some responsibility on ourselves. Iqbal talked of the Khudi, or the Self, but have we ever realized such a thing. Is it not an appeal to the individual to change and overcome himself? But be not confused for I’m not talking about the ‘individual’ in the superficial sense. I talk of the individual in the all-encompassing sense; the personal individual, the social individual, the economic individual, the political individual, and so on.

It is the individual who matters. If he decides to make a contribution then it is he who is making a difference. He has to take hold of all spheres of life and reach out to many other individuals. He must learn to be an active participant of history. But all this requires for him to look at the world more deeply. It requires for him to ask the right questions even more so than to reaching the right answers. He must realize that the color of the painting cannot be changed from green to blue. He must realize that if he likes blue that much he must add it to the color of the painting.

What Is The Problem Then?

We have got all the ingredients it takes; we just don’t follow our own recipe.

When I landed in Korea couple of years ago, a Korean lab-mate was there to pick me up. On our way to the university, he was showing me advancements of Korea. It was early morning with temperatures running around -15 degrees Celsius. He showed me decorative lights and asked that do such things exist in Pakistan? In his mind, Pakistan was a poor country which may not have seen the luxuries at all. During the discussion, I told him that we are suffering from an energy crisis so we can’t afford to light so many bulbs these days. He asked, ‘don’t you have nuclear (energy) in your country?’ I responded in a super-emotional tone, ‘We are a declared nuclear state and have test-fired nukes’.  Hearing this he asked a simple question, ‘What is problem then?’

For a moment, I wasn’t able to understand what he was talking about. Then I realized that he was mentioning ‘civil’ use of nuclear energy which as nation we probably have never thought about. I was literally speechless for couple of moments and then a thought flashed in my mind, ‘we lack political will to implement national interest’. Actually, we don’t know what national interest is and have never been taught how to align our personal goals with the national interest.

For the next two years, I cautiously observed Koreans just to dig out the real ‘thing’ in Koreans which made them successful in implementing the original Pakistani plans. What I learnt was that ‘collective interest’ was embedded in their mind-sets through their educational system. From parking a car, to separating trash into recyclable/non-recyclable categories, everyone used to think about the probable impact of his/her actions on others.

So if anyone asks me the same question, my immediate reply would be that we lack the concept of ‘collective/national’ interest.  We are suffering from a deep energy crisis but not solving it because all viable projects have the problem of ‘trust-deficit’. This trust deficit has become such a problem that we are not even ready to listen to each other.  We are suffering from worst lawlessness, corruption and disastrous economy, but as a nation, we are badly divided in these testing times. Reason: we don’t trust our rulers because they are working in their self-interests.

It’s not that we have never learnt the concept of collective interest; the issue is that we have forgotten this concept. Our religion taught us 1400 years ago when Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) said that ‘None of you can be a Muslim if he doesn’t like for his brother, whatever he likes for himself’. We read this hadith and pass on without reflecting upon it.

The solution to all of our problems is only one, i.e. each and every one of us should think about the national interest and should align personal choices with it, only then we can bring a change. Otherwise it will just be shallow words with no actions supporting them. Leaders cannot bring change for us, unless we want to change ourselves.

We have got all the ingredients it takes; we just don’t follow our own recipe (Islam).

Education System: Manufacturing Slaves in Pakistan

“Sticks and drones may break our bones, but fitna would eventually be more lethal”

Few months back, a private channel aired different kinds of ads of success stories in education. We had very heated discussions with our friends on Facebook about those one-sided educational promos, in which only worldly education was being glorified: materialism that helped people gain jobs i.e. ‘success’.  Then, nothing was too startling or alarming about it.  With a very smooth transition, the message has been stepped up to a whole new level.  Now they have come up with a very bold and provocative message:  Taleem k siwa Pakistan ka matlab kaya? (‘Except education, what can be the meaning of Pakistan?’ The message is known to at least 44% of Pakistanis in a survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan.

Pakistan, we believe, was forged in the liberating fire of Tawheed, and any attempt to replace this meta-historical basis is to bring a new idol back into the Kaaba of Muslim consciousness. Pakistan was gained in the name of Allah, apart from other factors, such as economic freedom, etc. Saleena Karim in her thoroughly researched and seminal book, Secular Jinnah & Pakistan: What the Nation Doesn’t Know (2005), has exposed multiple myths of secular academia. Some of these textbook myths paraded as facts are: “Jinnah never used the word ‘Ideology of Pakistan’,” or, “Jinnah vetoed the proposals for an Islamic state’,” or, “Jinnah wanted a homeland for Muslims, not an Islamic state’,” or, “Islam was just a propaganda tool.” Suffice to say that Pakistan’s soul is Islam and its supra-identity is Islamic identity, as formulated by Quaid in following words: “The Pakistan Movement started when the first Muslim put his foot on the soil of Sindh, the Gateway of Islam in India.” Of course our history goes beyond this period, and we do not seek to disown or forget our national heritage; but, we do not believe in the modernist, nationalist notions of nationality/identity based solely on geography or race. Rather, our nationalism is based on a direct link with Heaven and the Final Revelation of Islam.

What has to be understood is that formal education cannot be a complete world-view for a nation. It is just a part of the world-view. Unfortunately, we are obsessed with ‘means and money’ due to ignoring sacred, unifying principles of revelations of Islam. The threat of destroying our values by emulating Western culture is a real one, when in fact, we should be working towards integrating modern forms of knowledge within Islamic framework, stresses.

According Dr. Seyyed H. Nasr:

“There is always a relationship between every form of knowledge and a worldview within which that knowledge is accepted as knowledge. There is no doubt about that. The worldview in all civilizations before modern times came from religion. This is true for every civilization. Hindu universities, Chinese universities, Islamic universities — but as Western influence spreads all over the world, we will begin to emulate Western forms of knowledge, which claim to now be independent of religion. But it was not independent of the Christian worldview. The secularist paradigm which was created in the 17th century is itself a pseudo-religion in that it is a view of the nature of reality. There is no abstract knowledge; knowledge is always within the framework of a worldview, of a way of looking at the nature of reality.”

All education is useless until it teaches you the splendours of yourself. The present education system of our country is exactly the opposite to this phenomenon. We rejoice over the Golden Period of Muslims yet don’t acknowledge the reasons behind that epitome. List all the Muslim scientists, scholars of that time and you will notice a common thread running through all of them. They studied history and nature, in addition to inner experience. Their basis for education was Quran. They took the spirit and matter hand in hand. Fresh avenues of research and studies kept coming forth, unlike our rote-learning culture. What is the basis of our current education system?

What does it tell us about our world, our history as humanity, our role, and our future?  What does it teach us except slavery, materialism, inferiority complex, blind-following, selfishness and hording a lot of money! And that’s just one platform.

Dr Muhammad Iqbal raised serious doubts about the colonial educational system prevalent in his time; and, we have many reasons to believe that the ghosts of that period are still living realities. Ironically, credentials of Iqbal are used to convince us about the benefit s of an alien system of education, whereas his severe critiques are not incorporated. In his paper ‘Islam as a Moral and Political Ideal’ (1909), he argues:

“Education, we are told, will work the required transformation. I may say at once that I do not put much faith in education as a means of ethical training—I mean education as understood in this country … I venture to say that the present system of education in this country is not at all suited to us as a people. It is not true to our genius as a nation, it tends to produce an un-Muslim type of character, and it is not determined by our national requirements, it breaks entirely with our past and appears to proceed on the false assumption that the idea of education is the training of human intellect rather than human will. ”

We venture to say that not much has changed, at least at higher levels of education. Secular western world-view continues to dominate Muslim thought, especially in social sciences and even in the philosophy of science; from psychology to economics to, from pure philosophy to governance systems; although many positive developments  have been  taking place in modern fields of knowledge for past fifty years.

Education in Pakistan should be subservient to the genius of Pakistanis and their aspirations; it should be subordinate to the operating Principle of Tawheed. He further inquiries:

“But what sort of education? …  A form of education which has no direct bearing on the particular type of character which you want to develop is absolutely worthless.  I grant that the present system of education in India gives us bread and butter.  Well, if we succeed in securing a few appointments in the higher branches of service, what then? It is the masses who constitute the backbone of the nation; they ought to be better fed, better housed and properly educated. Life is not bread and butter alone; it is something more; it is a healthy character reflecting the national ideal in all its aspects.” [Emphasis added]

Coming back to Iqbal’s scepticism regarding the presumed “magic” of education: how can we put so much trust in (a more or less) materialistic, job-oriented educational system, and announce it as the purpose of Pakistan, as the solution for all of our ills? We believe that present educational system has many, many resemblances with the  colonial setup  of Iqbal’s era. Even the authors find themselves guilty of giving more thought to bread and butter than pursuit of pure knowledge, which was the hallmark of madrassah system before the colonial invasion, according  to educationist Dr Tariq Rehman. Summing up, Iqbal takes a very brief quiz in basic intellectual, moral and practical life of Islamic history – I miserably failed:

“… How many of us know that Muhammad II conquered Constantinople at the age of twenty-two? How many of us have even the faintest notion of the influence of our Muslim civilization over the civilization of modern Europe? How many of us are familiar with the wonderful historical productions of Ibn Khaldun or the extraordinarily noble character of the great Amir Abdul Qadir of Algeria [20th century hero]?”

Our media, like its global mentors, is expert at propaganda psychology: repeat a lie 1000 times, and it will transform itself into a truth. Perhaps this is what they hope to achieve with this campaign of ignorance, devoid of illumination.  We thank the channel for creating this controversy which has led many into serious introspection about the purpose of Pakistan, basis for education, and our comprehensive world-view, including the authors of this article. It seems to be a blessing in disguise!   This introspection is more needed than ever, given that we are far from achieving various educational goals:  high literacy rate while at the same time integrating modern education within Islamic framework, and creating alternative to discourses based on a-religious and secular worldview.

 

This article is written jointly by Muhammad Umer Toor and Hira Shamim

The Elusive Last Straw

I am such an idiot. I thought we should get that out of the way early.

Remember September?

When the whole blasphemy video issue happened? When the PPP “capitulated” to the religious right?

I remember certain people, who hold sway in the media, people who claim to be on the left, being deeply scarred by all of it. I remember their anger and outrage, and I remember them finally running out of patience with their beloved party.

I remember it being “the last straw”. And I remember believing them.

Silly me!

Corruption, poverty and just plain slaughter that goes on in Karachi every day is not of much concern for the intellectually gifted. It’s the pandering to the religious right, the targeting of minorities and the evil machinations of the military that fuel their fury.

Admirable! And perhaps, why September seemed like a turning point; a last straw. It was and it wasn’t.

September was a last straw that came after many last straws, and many last straws have come after it. Many will come. What will change? Nada.

There might be some noise made when the circumstances don’t allow otherwise, like in September, but most last straws don’t even register. The camel quite obviously is on steroids and the last straw is but a myth.

Proof, you ask me?

Well, what do you know about the Sunni Ittehad Council? Forget that religious parties are inherently against the “we want a secular state” brigade, the SIC also openly supported Mumtaz Qadri. Mumtaz Qadri, in case you have trouble recalling, is the man who killed Salman Taseer. Salman Taseer, in case you have more trouble recalling, is the man certain people remember every day as the hero who fought darkness, the knight in shining armour and other stuff in that category.

Now, there’s been an alliance involving the SIC and a “liberal” party Salman Taseer called his own. Et tu, anyone? Well, no one, at least no one in the “independent” media and hence; no last straw.

Moving on we observe that the independent media doesn’t only exercise its independence by giving the PPP a free pass. Enter Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, hail Nawaz Sharif, the lord and owner of Punjab. There’s a strange kind of love for his highness Nawaz Sharif in our “leftist” press, despite his very Zia-ish roots.

It so happens that the saviours of our Shia community never question PMLNs shady links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, past or present. And whilst PMLN might have entered into a declared alliance with ASWJ again, during the by-polls, chances are that the anchors will talk about the weather when Mr. Sharif graces her show.

Here too the last straw, needless to say, remains unattainable.

What about the military then?

“Military = Evil”. So, Military+PMLN+PPP = Outrage. This is just simple math, right?

Not quite.

All of you will be pleased to know that in light of Supreme Court’s Asghar Khan case judgement, which stated that military was indeed involved in rigging elections, PPP have done the honourable thing.

The party proudly announced that they will not be probing Punjab owner Nawaz Sharif for taking ISI money and the Asghar Khan case was, their words not mine; buried.

The military interference and the ISI money and the stealing of the people’s mandate; all forgiven. Surely this is the bloody last straw?

In your dreams!

So to recap, in the space of a half a week, the PPP and PMLN have combined to

1) Protect election rigging, the famed will of the people.
2) Give cover to military interference and protect culprits in this regard.
3) Form alliances with sectarian outfits blamed for much of the violence against Shias in the country.
4) Form alliances with religious outfits supporting the murder of a sitting governor over the blasphemy law.

And yet no last straw! Actually, no straw at all!

Since 3rd December, when SIC-PPP alliance came to light, till today, here’s how the honest and upright, the “dissenters”, have reacted:

The English media, famous for their knack of spotting ASWJ flags, did not have an editorial on ASWJ-PMLN, nor did these teary-eyed Taseer fans give space to PPP-SIC. The newspapers also abstained from commenting on PPPs general amnesty for military interference.

Not a single one of “always excellent” op-ed writers was bothered by these trivial happenings. In fact the folks in these “newspapers”, God bless their unbiased heart, did not even report the SIC-PPP alliance.

Beyond pathetic isn’t it. Depressing even!

All is not lost though, for these people will find their voices again once the PPP and PMLN are not in the picture.

Now when that happens, and it will happen, I would be thankful if everyone, respectfully, tells them to take their appreciation for Taseer, their concern for the Shias, their disdain for the deep state, alongside that elusive last straw and bury it all for good.

Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself

“Israel has a right to defend itself just like a burglar has, who busts open someone else’s house, not for theft but for invasion, expelling the residents out with force, with a ‘superpower’ fully supporting his actions. Even if the burglar has the most sophisticated weapons, the children of the house fighting for their right to protest against the occupant with stones are surely dangerous militants, terrorists and fanatics”. Anyone who agrees to this narrative and replaces the term ‘freedom fighter’ with any of the three mentioned above, are normal human beings. The rest are too biased to think and discern what’s happening around the world.

“No country on earth would tolerate missiles raining into its territory from outside the borders” says President Obama defending illegitimate Israel’s war crimes, but I add Pakistan and Yemen are exceptions, tolerating American drones on civilians and yes, they do not have the right (or might) to defend themselves.

The most powerful man in the world i.e. President of the United States and the most powerful media backing the Zionist dream, are vigorously portraying to the world that Israel did it all in self-defence (as always), completely ignoring the fact that on 4th of November a mentally ill unarmed man was killed by IDF while approaching the border fence.

Then, on the 13th of October, a 13 year old boy (read militant),  Hamid Younis Abu Daqqa became a threat to Israel while playing football with his other ‘militant’ friends outside his house around 2 kilometres away from the border. This Real Madrid fan with his dangerous dream of becoming a soccer player was a big threat to Israel’s existence.

Then, it all began i.e. rockets from Gaza and the fierce attack from one of the most powerful armies in the world, with the media-supported propaganda on one side, and casualties, killings, amputations and real life emergency on the other.

On November 10, 2012 a mother and a father in Gaza lost their 19 year old son. Matar Abu Al-Atta. Within two hours after Matar was killed his mother overwhelmed by shock gave birth to his little brother.

On the 14th November 3 year old Razan Yousef Arafat, the most beautiful angel I have ever seen was torched to death by an Israeli attack.

On Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, 2-year-old Palestinian Waleed Al-Abadlah was killed in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.

On the 16th of November 10-month-old Hanen Tafesh, was killed in a Gaza air strike.

Then, there was this 11 month old Omar Jihad Misharawi killed by an israeli attack who received a little bit of attention from the world media due to him being the son of BBC journalist.

“An Israeli round hit Misharawi’s four-room home in Gaza Wednesday, killing his son, according to BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who arrived in Gaza earlier Thursday. Misharawi’s sister-in-law was also killed, and his brother wounded. Misharawi told Danahar that, when the round landed, there was no fighting in his residential neighborhood.” ~ The Washington Post

On 20th November two children, Suhaib and Mohammed, and their father Fuad Hejazi were killed in the northern Gaza Strip when an Israeli air strike in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya crushed their home.

These are just some of the 165 people murdered by Israeli strikes. The pictures from Gaza melted every human heart. Yes, I said human, because some hearts are harder than rocks, calling for Hiroshima-Nagasaki like one-off solution for Gaza, (Gilad Sharon, son of Ariel Sharon), some calling for Palestine Holocaust, or some of them shamelessly defending Israeli atrocities as a well-deserved treatment for whoever died in the attacks.

When the efforts of truce were underway, on 14 November Israel carried out the extrajudicial killing of Hamas military chief Ahmad al-Jabbari. One question: Does Israel really want peace with a history of breaking ceasefires, targeting civilians including pregnant women, children and media personnel and sabotaging peace and truce agreements?

There’s a lot of noise in the media about rockets fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv ‘in retaliation’ by the Zionist-loving media, conveniently reporting the rhetoric of 12000 rockets from Gaza to Jerusalem in 12 years. When asked about the casualties the lamest of answers emerge. ‘Israel knows how to defend its citizens while Gaza doesn’t’. No! The reality is that there is no comparison of the scales of ammunition and weapons of mass destruction Israel has against the homemade rockets of Hamas.

ISRAEL has 176,500 armed troops, 500,000 armed reservists, 11,000 armoured vehicles, 3000 battle tanks, 786 aircraft including American F16 bombers, 60 ships, 3 nuclear submarines and 1000s of prohibited cluster bombs. Compare it with the ‘force’ called Hamas: 12,500 troops,
0 armoured vehicles, 0 tanks, 0 aircraft, 0 ships, 0 submarines, 0 cluster bombs but 1000s Qassam and Grad rockets; not to forget the siege, the crisis of food, and shortage of medical and surgical facilities .

The world is out on streets for Gaza. Thanks to social media. The bias of conventional media has made them look uglier than ever and taken the trust further away. People trust independent activists and columnists more than the giant media mouthpieces of superpowers. Just to give you one example out of many. The fearless Harry Fear, the British journalist has been live streaming day in and day out from Gaza. He doesn’t share religion, caste or colour with the Palestinians. But some precious things we all share, like a live, beating, weeping human heart and eyes that see and appreciate the truth.

Long live Gaza

Oh! Did I forget to tell you that many facebook accounts including my own, were blocked due to Gaza pictures? Long live freedom of speech too.

Gaza Bleeds

Israel destroyed in few days what Palestinians built in years. But this War proved one thing __ Israel is not unconquerable. Israel has used its full military power but wasn’t able to defeat the hearts and minds of people of Gaza. Even after such a heavy destruction, the people of Palestine are steadfast and pursuing their dreams of liberation from the illegal occupation of Israel.This is the month of Muharram, a month of sacrifices.  A month which starts with martyrdom of Hazrat Umar (RA) (Conquerer of Al-Aqsa)  and reminds us the battle of Karbala in which grandson of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) was brutally martyred. 

This time, the battle field of Karbala is Gaza. 1.6 million people of Gaza are living in an open prison under Israeli blockade.  Can we think about a life in such a place where basic necessities of life are scarce and is constantly threatened by enemy strikes. 163 were brutally killed in a matter of few days and many more injured, including women and children, but they are not bowing down to Israel. Despite the propaganda of zionists that they are defending themselves, the spilling blood of Palestinians is evident that whats the real truth.

Social media played a vital role in bringing the issue into headlines. Palestinians were very active in it and Muslims all over the world helped them out. But facebook started showing its true face when it started blocking accounts and pages which were posting against Israel. The freedom of speech vanished for those who were standing with the victims of Gaza. But nontheless, brave Palestinians led the campaign  and showed the world the true face of Israel.

The role of of Pakistani media (electronic/print) was much deplorable. They totally remained aloof of the victims of Gaza and when they started airing/printing it, some of them were clearly standing with Israel. International media was expectedly inclined towards Israel. BBC and CNN were showing biased opinions. But it is a reality that entire world cannot be fooled for long by Israeli sponsored media.

USA was as usual on the side of oppressor while UNO kept mum. Israel has violated 65 UN resolutions  till date but no action has been taken against the oppressive country. Human rights organizations are raising voices but zionists and their backers are not listening to it.  OIC is still sleeping. Arab league is useless. So its left to ordinary people to raise their voices, help the poor victims and contribute towards the liberation of Palestine.

Majority of rulers of Muslim Ummah have probably forgotten this verse of Quran. Except Egypt, , Tunisia and Turkey, no one broke silence. Quran says:

“And what is [the matter] with you that you do not fight in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, “Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?” [Quran 4:75]

Not surprisingly, leftist(secular/liberal) elite of Pakistan decided to stand with Israel by taking refuge in the rhetoric that ‘Gaza is too far’ and ‘We have our own problems’. The answer is simple indeed, if we have our own problems, it does not mean that we  cannot talk about injustice and oppression going on in the world. We need to take practical steps to solve our issues, but we cannot ignore the violence going on in our surroundings. So do actions where  they are required (in Pakistan), and at least raise voice for those where you cant do anything more (in case for Gaza).
The most important thing is that we should not forget Gaza now. It should remain not only in our prayers but in our real life efforts. Palestinians need our help to rebuild what Israel has destroyed. They continuously need medical and food supplies. There should be more campaigns like that of ‘freedom flotilla’ for Gaza to help the innocent people. They are victims of brutal oppression and its time that we convert our words into actions.