Tag: Media

Ethical Marketing …..

Today while driving from my home to office in Karachi, I managed to take the route of NIPA to Hassan Square. On that track, there was a billboard to which my sight came across. I stopped my car on the side of the road and stood still in front of the billboard & kept looking at it for 5 minutes. The only thing my brain anticipated during these 5 minutes was “A BIT FOR CHANGE . . . “.

That billboard was delivering a very important message relating to a forgotten lesson which the religion Islam taught to the “MUSLIM” nation of the “ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN”, a lesson relating to the respect of women. That billboard was saying “Stop Promoting Nudity for Selling Your Fabric”. Then I managed to take a picture of that billboard.

As the summer season has just arrived, the female lawn designers have placed the advertisement on the billboards promoting their products through female and that too without considering the Islamic limits of ethics. The question arises that why does the marketing is portraying a woman as an object? Is there no other way of promoting the fabric without a female model? Will their sales revenue decrease if they only promote the designs without a woman on the billboards?

Most of the people would appreciate this piece of work but some will be labeling it with the conservative mindset. It seems that we have not only snatched the HIJAB of the Muslim female of our society but has also placed them on the enormous billboards. I would like to mention the Quran versus, in which the Almighty Allah, the Creator of mankind and the universe says in Surah Al-Ahzaab, Verse #59:

‘O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (“Jalabib”) veils all over their bodies (screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way that is most convenient that they should be known (as such) and not molested: and Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.”:

It is the time that we must do the assessment of our society that are we following the orders Allah Almighty. This is the time to examine that are we in the limits of the ethics assigned to us by Allah Almighty or we have crossed them all. Islam is the only religion which talks about the female respect and honor They are like the clove of the unopened flowers as they are not pricked by anyone unless they blossom there hidden beauty our of them. In Abu Dawood, Book 32, Hadith # 4091 Ummul Muminin Hazrat Ayesha (Radhiallaahu Anhu) narrated

“May Allah have mercy on the early immigrant women. When the verse “That they should draw their veils over their bosoms” was revealed, they tore their thick outer garments and made veils from them.

The time has arrived that we should move towards a complete Islam rather then following the only versus which are favorable to us. We have to stop this evil or else may be our own next coming generation will be on these billboards. According to the book “Kenz Al-Omal, v. 13, p. 91 & 93” The Prophet (s) said,

“A caller will call out on the Day of Judgment, ‘lower your gaze until Fatima (Radhiallaahu Anhu) has passed.”

Keeping in mind the Islamic teaching & taking the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaih Wasalam, his Ahl e Bayt & Sahabah Ikraam Rizwaanullahe Ajmaeen, we have to explore marketing techniques free from unethical means. Let us secure our Muslim society so that our females may breath again free from embarrassments. The time has come to represent the true image of Muslim not only by words but by conduct. Let us all join our hands to promote this Nobel cause and take another step to free our society from evil.

 

I’m A Liberal Fun-damentalist!

Extremism in any shape or form is wrong, be it religious or secular. Unfortunately, most of the critics tend to focus only on the extreme part of Islam and the people exploiting it for their own interest. They either do not know or deliberately hide the fact that Islam as a liberating religion; something that it actually is! Islam doesn’t stop us from living or enjoying ourselves. It only stresses on acknowledging the fact that I’ve been created by the one and only God-Allah and I am only His slave and answerable to Him only and should try my best to avoid His disobedience. People have rights over me and serving humanity should always be my first priority. Is that too much to ask for?

Our beloved Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is a great example who made smiling a Sunnah! It’s a virtue in itself. He has asked us to gather as much knowledge as possible. What could be more beautiful than that? I’m thankful to Allah that I was born a Muslim and follow a religion that gave women their rights 1400 years ago and made me a princess where a man is responsible to earn for me. Yes, I am free to work too and wow, my man has no right over my money. Doesn’t that sound great?

Yes, I’m free to be educated, free to choose my own groom and no, I cannot be forced to marry someone I dislike. No, my religion does not oppress me. I like hanging out with my friends, dining outside, attending family events/weddings and love sports and gym. I like following latest trends and like every other girl I love cosmetics! And someday I would love to go scuba diving too! Did I mention swimming? I love adventures, hiking and travelling! My all time dream is to travel the entire world before dying!

I’m liberal but thankfully not like the ones you see these days who believe in mocking others religion and beliefs. No, I don’t believe in bigotry and I don’t abuse people or call them “fundo” when they don’t agree with me. No, I don’t make cartoons of other’s religion’s holy personalities and call it “freedom of expression”. There’s something so wicked about freedom of expression, it’s barely used where it should be and actually used and abused, where it’s not really required. If you ask me, it’s a way of creating rifts between people. And no, I don’t blast out whatever comes into my mind without thinking about its repercussions and cover it up with my “right to speak up”. I believe if I’ve got the power to express myself I would rather do it in a more educated manner and when someone tries to defend their opinion, I don’t call them intolerant or fanatic.

I’m liberal but it doesn’t mean I look at everything as a rebel. What is wrong remains wrong and I have no authority to change the rules of the Creator. I’ve seen Pakistan’s English press lately trying to promote things forbidden in Islam by somehow turning it all into legal and permitted. Oh no, don’t mistake me as a liberal who prays five times a day but believes that homosexuality should be legalized. Nor do I stop praying when a brainless person does something dumb in the name of religion. Yes you’ll find  200 blogs for gay and lesbian rights but when it comes to burning the Quran they would rather call it “freedom of expression”. They are willing to write a thousand blogs on Veena Malik’s “boldness” and praise her guts for standing up to a mullah but will not speak a word when it comes to Aafia Siddqui. They are for women rights but Aafia siddiqui deserves no rights. Let her be raped every day, let her be sexually harassed and it is none of our concerns. Sadly, you would be considered a hate monger or a bigot if your opinions are different from theirs and more towards religion. Funnily, you’re likely to be called a modern version of Taliban if you say you’re liberal but want Islam at the same time.

Why isn’t it possible? Why is the world bent upon portraying that we can’t afford to take religion and this world together? Religion is not how some people have defined it to be, it’s actually a way of living. I am not a scholar, but what I have learnt till today is that Islam is the most beautiful change you can bring into your lives if you decide to follow it properly. I’ll try my best to stick to my religion and call a spade a spade and ready to be called a fun-damentalist!

Be Wary of The Headlines


“Muslim beauty stoned to death’’ was a headline, I came across  on a news website.

The screaming headline is a perfect example of yellow journalism gone wild. Unfortunately these dirty tactics of marketing news have become a norm. The news was picked up from British and Ukrainian newspapers which in summary said,

“Aspiring Miss Ukraine stoned to death under Shariah Law by Crimean Radical Islamist. The man was told to be a radicalised Wahabi extremist and the lady was reportedly a Muslim who was given this punishment by him as it is not allowed for women to take part in a beauty contest in Islam”

Sensational and ‘Masalay-dar’ as it sounds, our media didn’t bother to carry out any further research before propagating this piece, as it perfectly fulfils the purpose and agenda they are working on.

A few hours later the headline was amended to ‘’Teenage beauty ‘’ instead of ‘’Muslim beauty’’ and an addendum was added to the article as the original story was absolutely different to what was published. An elementary online research shows:

  1. There are conflicting reports and according to Crimean Police, the girl was not a Muslim
  2. The boy who killed her strangled her and then struck a blunt object on her head which according to the police was her cause of death
  3. The boy was her admirer and was suffering from serious mental health disorder
  4. The only relation of the killer with Islam was that his parents were non-practising Muslims who had never attended a Mosque.

According to Ukrainian Interior Minister, “There was no underlying religious, national or inter-ethical motives behind the murder.”

Big round of applause to Pakistani media which never misses an opportunity to defame Islam, Muslims or Shariah Laws by strictly following the rules of the game. This is in line with the negative stereotyping of Muslims, that western media is bent upon promoting. A threat, a bomb, a killing- a faint link to anyone having a Muslim sounding name, there you go! You have a perfect combination, so publish, propagate and make money.

How many of us know about a police officer killed in an explosion caused by a bomb planted under his car in Northern Ireland (the 2nd of April 2011), or Irish militants warning of a bomb blast in central London just a day before Queen Elizabeth’s first state visit to Ireland (16th May 2011) or the discovery of a bomb in town of Maynooth ,15 minutes away from Dublin and a second suspicious device found at a Dublin tram station (the 17th of May 2011). Of course, it doesn’t carry any material for any media hype as no Muslims were found attached to it.

How many of us remember Marwah Al-Sherbini, a 32 year old Egyptian girl who was called a ‘Muslim bitch and a terrorist whore’ and was killed by a racist in a German court. She was three months pregnant and was stabbed 18 times with a verdict by her killer, ‘you don’t have a right to live’ (July 2009). Has anyone seen our media talking about the plight of Muslims all over the world because of being Muslims’? Of course not! Because those 50 million dollars pledged by President Obama are not to serve that cause.

How many of us saw our media getting furious about Niqab ban in France. Did you see any feminist or human rights NGOs voicing this issue? Did you see any blog or article or even a news showing their fury or concern on Sharon Horgan’s comments on BBC’s ‘Have I got news for you?’ when she calls Makkah as Mecca (hub) of suicide bombers just a few days ago.

I was watching an interview with Yuri Bezmenov on YouTube , a trained KGB agent, recorded in 1985.

He tells “In recent times, 15% of the time, money and manpower is spent on espionage, and 85% is spent on the great brainwashing process called the ideological subversion or psychological warfare. It changes the perception of reality so much so that despite the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions.”

In a nutshell, he lays out four steps to transform the thinking and behaviour of an entire population, namely:

  1. Demoralisation (which takes 10-15 years to brainwash one generation)
  2. Destabilisation (over 2-5 years) where economy, foreign relations and defence systems are rattled.
  3. Crisis
  4. Normalisation (a cynical term which lasts indefinitely and includes violent changes of power and structure and economy)

Demoralization is a task so religiously being fulfilled by our media, print as well as electronic. And you can be a part of it by qualifying to minimum criterion of joining the team which serves the purpose of ‘ideological subversion’. Believe! Pen is mightier than sword but only if your ink is made visible to public and that happens if you fulfil their criteria. So if you have a story (no matter how fabricated), or an opinion (no matter how useless) or you have enough vocabulary to bash the bearded, ridicule the word of God and blame the Shariah Laws, or simply have an obscene picture for an explicit topic like porn, sex, contraception, you are a perfect candidate to become a part of some ‘Sexpress Tycoons’.If you have a video showing a woman is being whiplashed by bearded men and you can stretch a story or add mirch masala to it, you have everything that takes to become a potential blogger or a writer.

I adore my prime inspiration, Malcolm X’s quote where he says,

“The press is so powerful in its image-making role that it can make a criminal look like a victim and make the victim look like a criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppression”

Let’s keep our eyes open to the dirty tricks of the people who are out to sell their news (and Eiman) for a few bags of dollars and helping the confusion grow every day.