He has no one but Allah!

The other day I went to Glasgow. At the train station I went into the WHSmith and began checking through the magazine section. There I saw a book which showed a Christian priest blessing a child. One of the excerpts from the article read: “This child has no one except the Lord.” I hope I quoted it correctly.

When I read this, I remembered that we just think the same way in Pakistan and I am sure this approach is there in many other Muslim countries as well. When someone is in real trouble we say that this person has no one except Allah. Implying thereby that he should be pitied.

In my view this sentence steers us towards “shirk”, rather not to mince my words: It is “Shirk”. Because when we say so we put the people or things right against Allah.

Just think for a moment and decide. Do we need someone else other than Allah for our help? Is someone more powerful than Allah? Can someone from this fickle world take better care of our needs than Allah does? NO! And absolutely no!

Though there are people who help us in this world. There are powers here that we fall back on when there is a problem. But all these things are also sent by Allah. The above sentence that is on the carpet only serves to take these people/things to the status of God na’aoozubillah.

I believe when there is such a situation where there is no one on this earth to look after us only then we should be most happy. Because then there will “only” be Allah. And he will give us / bless us/ help us that befits His status. He is the Ultimate Help. This can be understood in this way that if we go and ask for help from a District officer and then we go, say, to the Chief Minister for help, these two will help us in different ways because of the sources that they have. But if there is only Allah and we look only towards Him and wait for His blessings to come then obviously we will be helped in the best way simply because Allah is the Owner of all sources (Malik-ul-Mulk). He is the Creator of all sources (Khaliq) and he is the the Rehman, the Raheem and the Wakeel.

So if we have no one but Allah for our help then we should rejoice that he has taken in His hands to help us. Though even the worldly help comes from Allah, yet in the case above it is directly related to Allah without any “waseela” in between.

So we are not to pitied. Rather finding ourselves in an identical situation we should be over the moon.

(Please do correct me if you think I am wrong. Jazak A)

Looking Back!

     Looking back I was remembering a teacher of mine who was very strict, a disciplinarian and a ‘hard task-master’. He was a very good teacher though. His teaching method and his skills were amazing. His subjects were English and Pakistan Studies. The way he taught us and the way and the exact time when he tested us it all fit into the picture so well. I said ‘Fit into the picture’ because I treat the whole system - the teaching, learning, exams and the result and all the other constituents like a picture and all these elements building blocks of that picture. Meaning that if we put a piece somewhere it does not belong; it will not fit and make the picture as a whole look disorderly. So, all his ways fit into the picture so well that elegance emerged.

     

     He was such an iron-fisted teacher that some of the students might have attached the adjective “Draconian” with him. We always remained in awe of him. And the one important thing I forgot to tell you that he was my most favourite teacher in school.

     There was another one of nearly the same category. Very strict he was but was no match for the one I wrote about above. This teacher I really disliked. The reason being that I believed he was unjust, oppressively stern and unreasonably so. He did not even let us cough (even if someone was ill and had cough). Yes cough I mean. He thought that students did so intentionally and to provoke him (and some of us did do it to tease him). So whenever someone coughed, they were in for it. Tough luck! Besides he did not let anyone look back (not even for a reason). In his class you had to sit seriously still, without any movement and with ramrod stiffness; no movement – neither this way nor that. You produce any sound that even remotely sounds like a cough and you have invited trouble. There was always pin-drop silence in his class.

     Then there are some government officials whom we give undue respect (if you let me call that behaviour ‘respect’). Once I saw a soldier (a sepoy) supplicating to a principal to give his son admission. And my God what a poor sight it was. He just did not prostrate physically before him. Short of it everything else he did. Now I do not blame him but our system (for those who do know I am talking about Pakistan). Because that system made him do it and that system did not put any force above that principal who could ask him why he behaved the way he did – arrogantly.

     Now think! These people I just talked about neither give us food, nor drink, nor clothes, nor shelter. Nothing! They are nothing if we take a look at this grand system that we are in – the universe. But still we bow to them, we listen to them, obey them like they are the celestial being. Think! At times even we call ourselves their slaves and literally act like slaves. This is abject slavery – slavery to officials, slavery to system, slavery to feed ourselves and our children, slavery to money. You do not need to think hard to know that some rather most of us are slaves to our own diabolical desires. We are so far from ‘life’. We are social animals in the sense animals are. They attack one another and try to prolong their own life by killing the others – the ones in other species if not the ones in their own group. We do the same – unconsciously we believe aggressively and literally in the ‘survival of the fittest’.

Looking at all these things when I think what part of this respect we give Allah, I shudder. Whereas HE is the God – Allah, The Feeding, The Caring, The Sustainer, The Maker, The all-Knowing, The all-Seeing, The Just, The Forgiving, The Rehman, The Raheem, The Hakeem, The Lateef, The Wakeel and The Kareem. There are many more attributes of His that we even do not know. When we pray we are actually somewhere else (if we pray), we do not listen to Him when in actuality whatever He asks us to believe and do is for our own good. Think!

Reason for the Change of Name

I am sorry to those of my friends who found it difficult to find this blog yesterday and today. Because there was a change in the name.

Let me explain! I wanted to give it a name that justified what I wanted to do here. And I wanted to mirror my mental processes here - the way the mind works - making its way from one thought pattern into another (due to something common or uncommon between the two. I haven't been able to find a reason until now :) ). Not all the time though. I wanted to pick and choose and put that material here.

When it came to giving my blog a name getting the right name was really hard. I wanted to name it "stream of consciousness" - taking clue form Virginia Woolf and her novel "To The Lighthouse". But I doubted that I would be able to do so. And I was right. This name was already taken. Not only this name but its different variants as well. So I named it "Streamline of Thoughts"; knowing full well  that "streamline" was a completely different word with a different meaning. But since it sounded in part like the one I wanted I chose it.

Only yesterday it dawned upon me that I could have used 'streaming' instead. Thinking of this I just changed it - conscious of the trouble it would create for my friends.

Now this new name is here to stay, insha Allah (God-willing).

Comment on an Article Related to Sexual Education

Well That's something that is common to all the Muslim World. All these taboos and no discussions about it (sex).

I completely endorse what she says. Talking about sex and discussing its ins and outs is not bad at all. Apparently it's sex in marriage that I am talking about. Islam does not forbids sex education at all, nor the discussion, nor the intimation, nor the sexual love and the like. Until and unless we keep this discussion to those for whom it is necessary and in a married relationship, it is completely legal, Islamic and even endorsed by the Holy Prophet. Here I'll relate an incident. It is a famous one. Though I do not know any references.
Once a companion of the Prophet (P.B.U.H) married and it was a divorced (and older) Muslim lady that he chose to marry. When he (R.A) came to the dearest Prophet, the Prophet asked him, "Why didn't you marry someone your age? You would play with her and she with you."
Now what did the Rehmatullill 'aalameen (means: peace for all the worlds) (P.B.U.H) meant here by playing. Clearly it was enjoying each-others company.
Now about coming to teaching it to unmarried people. In Islam it is the RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS to do this. A mother must tell her daughter about it and how she should approach this. The daughter can even be told how to do it. Otherwise how would she know what Islam in reality says about it. And the father ought to tell the boy.
If the parents do not do this, they are not doing their job. AND THEY WILL BE MADE TO FEEL THE RESPONSIBILITY (the harsh way) ON THE DAY OF QAYYAMAH.
I do understand the sensitive thinking of some of my brothers and sisters to this issue but that is unfounded in Islam. Yes you must be cautious of who you are discussing with (It is an anomaly - the one that baffles me- that we cannot/do not discuss it with our parents and talk whatever nonsense comes to our minds with our 'friends' - the same friends who are as inexperienced as we.) So instead of taking sin on your head SISTERS PLEASE PLEASE DO DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR MOTHERS. And if she thinks that you should not do it even with her than find a teacher (HUGE CARE MUST BE TAKEN HERE), one like "Mama" Widad. And if you cannot do this as well. THEN JUST DO SABR (be patient) until after you get married. And discuss it with your husband.
This is really sensitive because it can go wrong (the discussion and with whom to do this discussion). So the bottom line it all comes down to again is the same old adage which we talk a lot of but do not act upon . And that is: "Teach the women (mothers here). If we teach the women we teach a nation."

This was my reply to an article that got published at MSN Arabia.
Hers is the link:
http://arabia.msn.com/news/middleeast/afp/2012/february/12797013/uae-islamic-love-guru-urges-women-enjoy-sex.aspx
What do you say?

Assalam o alaikum!

The things (I wish they were "things" and as unimportant and inanimate as "things" can be. But these "things" are living, growing, demanding-concern problems that need to be addressed) that are going on these days in Pakistan are jolting. One good news is that three Muslim presidents sat together this morning. Discussed whatever they did but this meeting in itself is a good news because our leaders don't get together like this much. There should be many more meetings like this. Our problems will be solved only when we sit together like brothers and friends.

Another positive "thing" happening today is MQM's women meeting around Jinnah Darbar. It is one of the fresh-air sort of things that refresh our being Pakistani. This really will have a good effect on Pakistani woman especially the of Karachi. MQM needs to do a lot more to win the hearts of people in other parts of the country. Work more for people!

Hafiz Saeed has been banned from entering in Islam Abad for a week with two other of his companions - Ahmed Ludhiyanwi and Abdul Razzaq. they were to attend a rally in the capital. Jama't Addawa maintains that this ban is the result of pressure from the US and that they will appeal against the decision in court, adding further that these leaders will attend the rally as scheduled.

The saddest thing happening is Balochistna problem. Our Government does not look serious in dealing with that problem and giving a solution that is acceptable to the Balochis. The case of missing persons is not to be taken so lightly. Something must be done about it. This something cannot be other than giving them their rights and providing justice to the people of this province. Outside support comes only when we do not give to someone that they deserve.

Assalam o alaikum!

I'll start with a hazy introduction. My readers must have seen the way I began my blog that I am a Muslim. Though our impression on many people in the World is not good yet I thought of starting this blog due to some of the things that are in my mind. I just want to share my thoughts with the World. They will relate to many around the World though the first addressee of these lines will be Muslims and if you ask me to further pinpoint my target people, it is Pakistanis. Yes, I am a Pakistani myself and am hurt by many things that happen around me especially in Pakistan.

This era is thought to be the beginning of End of Times. I myself, taking clue from my dearest religion believe so. I believe that there are many things that need to be done to live up to the standard of a good Muslim and a good Pakistani.

I am dissatisfied by the way we treat one another. I am dissatisfied by the way we speak of/to one another. I am dissatisfied by the way we deal with and behave during a problem that has cropped up in our society.

Islam is the name of peace, again though this peaceful religion is targeted badly these days. It is due to our own  faults and to some extent it is the DEMAND of times that Muslims are ill-treated.

So to cut it short this blog will act as a diary for me. I will come and right here whenever I am sad due to anything that has happened or is happening in Pakistan. I may come as well when I am happy and celebrating. But my main object for beginning this blog is to tell all of us that we are going utterly wrong.

As far as this question is concerned that how it will relate to the rest of the Muslims and the World at large, the answer is that since whatever I will write here will be based upon rules of Islam (I'll try my best), it will concern all the Muslims. And as to the rest of the people it will only serve to show them how we behave and think as Pakistanis. Though many things already reach them through media but many of them - in part or completely- are simply not true.

See you! Assalam o alaikum!
Take care!