Sanely Insane

2007-11-12T09:05:00.000+05:00

Some kind of fear grips my heart...
And I cannot breathe...

2007-11-07T22:10:00.000+05:00

"You can VOTE, use your Right, and Change The Government!"

You're kidding me, right?!

2007-11-06T20:37:00.000+05:00

I'm still not "vaporised" by the government!

Emergency

2007-11-03T18:56:00.000+05:00

Emergency has been declared. The Free Media, that Musharraf bragged about, is closed down. Musharraf is going to address the nation any time at night.

Somehow when I look at my blog posts, covering the political scenarios, I guess, I'm not surprised. I remember telling my friends that exams might not happen this semester, being omenous considering the political situations becuase of the coming elections and unrest and all. It scares me that how predictable things are. Even if exams do happen, we'll be suffocating to death and writing the exams, leading ourselves to the disastrous future.

May 12th ruined our exams last semester. I remember reading every newspaper, watching every T.V. program. But this... this is like watching the "spectre" in the "colloseum" with Pompeii himself.

Stories and memories

2007-10-26T18:58:00.000+05:00

The Red Sea myths were not supposed to make you laugh, but to make you realise how stories make those places special. Like in Kartogrpahy, the protagonist argues that when you give street names, which were formerly known by the stories, something goes missing.

So, when I roam around in this city of lights, or when I think about the city where I spent my childhood, the names of the roads do not matter, but the moments that we've enjoyed or not enjoyed mark those places. Every place, every corner is like a friend you leave behind, a friend who shared that moment of happiness or sorrow with you. And when you revisit those places, you look at them with affection and the memories become alive again. You may not be able to live all those moments again, but the idea of having those moments, those ordinary moments that now are turned into something special, gives you happiness and joy that you can never express in words, but they make you smile that no one but you can understand.

The Red Sea...

2007-10-24T22:01:00.000+05:00

I still remember when I was a kid and didn't go to school, my elder brother actually used to tell me stories. And they were supposed to scare me. Anyway, once he told me the reason why the Red Sea was red(keeping in mind I spent my childhood in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)...

When you are kids, your bound to have head lice. And my brother once said that do you know what happens when you have lice in your hair?! At night they take you from your bed to the sea and then drown you. That's why the red sea is called the Red Sea because of the blood of all those people who have head lice.

And I actually believed him!!! But then eventually I grew up!

Some years later, some business delegation from Japan came at my father's office and he was supposed to show them around Jeddah. So, while he was at it, the Japanese man said,

"Tell me... I'm very curious. Is Red Sea really Red?!"

...

Tea Addiction!

2007-10-23T08:32:00.000+05:00

The First Casualty...

2007-10-22T00:01:00.000+05:00

It's ironic that the first casualty of 18th October was not a result of the bomb blast. But it was the death of the security guard who was there at the airport. The poor guy suffocated to death and aid couldn't be provided to him because of the huge crowd!

New Look

2007-10-17T19:56:00.000+05:00

Well.. N.A. said that the template of my this blog was crap! So,I changed it! I like this one better...

Every Country has an Army, Pakistan Army has a country‏

2007-10-17T19:32:00.000+05:00

I just got this e-mail. There was a time when people used to look at Army with reverence and respect. That time has long gone!

"Every Country has Army, Pakistan Army has a country"
Besides tens of thousands of Army Men working in
government-owned airline and other government-owned industries here's
list of Army Officers in Civilian Govt. Departments and Government owned
industries and civilian institutions of Pakistan including Universities.
Pakistan should be called "Army Inc."
General Pervez Musharraf (President of Pakistan)
Major General (Retd) Muhammad Anwar (President of Azad Kashmir);
Lt Gen (Retd) Khalid Maqbool (Governor Punjab);
Commander Khalil (Governor NWFP);
Lt General (Retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi (Federal Education
Minister);
Col (Retd) S.K. Tressler (Federal Minorities & Culture
Minister);
Lt Gen. Hamid Javed (Chief Executive's Chief of Staff);
Lt General Muneer Hafeez (Chief of NAB);
Major General Usman Shah (Deputy Chief of NAB);
Major General Shujaat Zameer (Deputy Chief of NAB);
Major General Abdul Jabbar Bhatti (Chief, Regional
Accountability Bureau, RAB,Punjab);
Air Vice Marshal Zakaullah (Chief of RAB NWFP);
Major General Tariq Bashir (Chief of RAB Sindh);
Major General Owais Mushtaq (Chief of RAB Balochistan) ;
Lt General (Retd) Hamid Nawaz (Secretary Defence);
Air Marshal (Retd) Zahid Anees (Secretary Defence Production);
Lt General (Retd) Saeedul Zafar (Secretary Railways);
Major General (Retd) Fazal Ghafoor (Ambassador to North Korea);
Brigadier (Retd) Abdul Majeed Khan (Ambassador to Tajikistan);
Major General (Retd) Salimullah (Ambassador to UAE);
Major General (Retd) Muhammad Hassan Aqeel (Ambassador to
Thailand);
Lt General (Retd) Asad Durrani (Ambassador to Saudi Arabia);
Vice Admiral (Retd) Shamoon Aslam Khan (Ambassador to Ukraine);
Air Marshal (Retd) Najeeb Akhtar (Ambassador to Brazil);
Major General Syed Mustafa Anwar Hussain (Ambassador to
Indonesia);
Lt General (Retd) Muhammad Shafeeq (Ambassador to Bahrain);
Major General (Retd) Agha Masood Hassan (DG of Postal Services);
Major General Farrukh Javed (Chairman National Highway
Authority);
Rear Admiral Ahmad Hayat (Chairman Karachi Port Trust);
Rear Admiral Sikandar Viqar Naqvi (Chairman Port Qasim
Authority);
Vice Admiral Tauqir Hussain Naqvi (Chairman National Shipping
Corporation) ;
Major General (Retd) Muhammad Hassan (Chief of National
Fertilizer Corporation) ;
A Lt. General (Chairman Pakistan Steel Mills);
Lt Colonel (Retd) Akbar Hussain (Export Processing Zone
Authority);
Major General Shehzad Alam Malik (Chairman Pakistan
Telecommunications Authority);
Air Vice Marshal Azhar Masood (Chairman National
Telecommunications Authority);
Brigadier (Retd) Muhammad Saleem (Chairman NADRA);
Brigadier Mirza Babar Aziz (DG NADRA);
Brigadier (Retd) Muhammad Anwar Khan (DG NADRA NWFP);
Major General Raza Hussain (Chairman SUPARCO);
Major General Sabihuddin Bokhari (Surveyor General of Pakistan);
Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema (DG National Crisis Management
Cell);
Air Marshal (Retd) Shafeeq Haider (Chairman Federal Public
Service Commission);
Lt General Arshad Hussain (Member Federal Public Service
Commission);
Lt General (Retd) Jehangir Nasrullah (Chairman Punjab Public
Service Commission);
Major General (Retd) Arshad Chaudhry (Member Punjab Public
Service Commission);
Major General (Retd) Arshadullah Tarar (Member Punjab Public
Service Commission);
Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Aliuddin (DG Civil Aviation Authority);
Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Arshad Saleem (Deputy DG Civil Aviation
Authority);
Major General Zafar Abbas (DG Anti-Narcotics Force);
Major General Syed Haider Javed (DG National Logistics Cell);
Major General (Retd) Inayatullah Khan Niazi (DG Auqaf, the
Deptt. of Historical Relics);
Major General Pervez Akmal (MD OGDC);
Brigadier (Retd) Rizvan Ashraf (General Manager OGDC);
Brigadier (Retd) Ishtiaq Ali Khan (MD Pakistan Mineral
Development Authority);
Major General (Retd) Hamid Hassan Butt (Chairman Pakistan
Railways);
Lt General (Retd) Syed Shujaat Ali Khan (Rector Engineering
University Lahore);
Lt General (Retd) Arshad Mehmood (Vice Chancellor Punjab
University);
Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Sardar Khan (Vice Chancellor Engineering
University Peshawar);
Captain (Retd) U.A.G. Isani (Vice Chancellor Islamabad
University);
Lt General (Retd) Sardar Ali (DG National Institute of Public
Administration) ;
Brigadier (Retd) Maqsoodul Hassan (DG Directorate of Education);
Brigadier Muhammad Ejaz (Home Secretary Punjab);
Brigadier Abdur Rehman (Director Health NWFP);
Brigadier Shadab (Secretary C&W Punjab)
Brigadier Anees (Chairman Punjab Privatisation Commission);
Colonel (Retd) Shahid Qureshi (DIG Sindh Telecommunications) ;
Colonel (Retd) Ghulam Hussain (Secretary S&GAD NWFP);
Brigadier Mukhtar (Home Secretary, Sindh);
Brigadier Zaheer Qadri (DG, KDA, Sindh and not Secretary C&W
NWFP);
Brigadier (Retd) Akhtar (Secretary to Governor Sindh);
Major General (Retd) Imtiaz (Chairman Pakistan Athletics
Federation);
Brigadier Saulat Abbas (DG Pakistan Sports Board).
Brig. Khalid Javed, DG Projects Directorate, NADRA, Islamabad
Col Talmeez Abbas, DG Dataware Housing, NADRA, Islamabad
Maj Tahir M. Alvi DDG, Project Directorate, NADRA, Islambad
Brig Safdar Husain Awan is the Secy (C&W) NWFP Brig Qadri is DG
KDA;
Brig Mohtarim is Home Secretary Sindh
Major General (Retd) Hashmi, Registrar, Pakistan Engineering
Council;
Major General (Retd) Anis Bajwa, Chairman PTDC;
Major Genera (Retd) Asif Riaz Bokhari, NRB;
Brig Muhammad Toseef Uz Zaman Khan, Civil Aviation Authority;
Brig Saeed Ahmed Malik, WAPDA Head Qtrs Lahore;
Brig Muhammad Iqbal, WAPDA HQ Lahore;
Brig Mushtaq Ahmed, WAPDA HQ, Lahore;
Brig Khalid Sohail Cheema, DG Pak PWD;
Brig Shamshad Khan, GM NWFP NHA;
Brig (Retd) Zareen Khan, Project Incharge Ghazi Brotha Dam
WAPDA;
Brig (Retd) Mukhtar Ahmed Tariq, GM Admin OGDC;
Brig (Retd) Muhammad Hamayoun Khan, GM Procurement OGDC;
Brig (Retd) Sardar Javed Ashraf, MD KW&SB;
Brig (Retd) Nisar, IG Prisons (Sindh);
Brig (Retd) Zafar Ahmed Malik, Karachi Building & Control
Authority;
Brig (Retd) Aftab Ahmed, DG PHA;
Brig (Retd) Dilbar Husain Naqvi, MD National Construction
Company;
Colonel Rauf, IG Prisons, NWFP;
Colonel Asif Jamal, MD, Multan Development Authority;
Colonel (Retd) Najam ul Hasan Malik, TMO Rawalpindi;
Colonel (Retd) Hafiz Abdur Rehman Malik, MD WASA, Rawalpindi;
Colonel (Retd) Kanwar Muhammad Sherbaz Khan, GM CS&E OGDC;
Lt Col Muhammad Azim, GM NHA;
LT Col Naqeeb Amjad Malik, Manager CS&E OGDC;
Lt Col (Retd) Aziz ul Haque Mirza, Member (Operations) NHA;
Lt Col (Retd) Hafeezullah Awan, MD WASA Quetta.
Major General (Retd) Shujaat Ali Khan, Ambassador to Morocco;
Major General (Retd) Badruddin, Ambassador to Brunei;
Vice Admiral(Retd) Khalid Mir, Ambassador to Lebanon;
Brig (Retd) Muhammad Nisar, Ambassador to Argentina;
Brig. Sikandar Ali, Director, Anti Narctics Force;
Brig (R) Saeed Ahmad Rafi, Director General, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (He was inducted by Gen Musharraf into Foreign Service as
incharge of overseas polling for Presidential Referendum in April);
Brig (R) Mian Khalid Habib, Chief of Protocol, M/o foreign
Affirs;
Brig Tipu Sultan, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
Group Capt (R) Khalid Aziz Babar, Director General, M/o Foreign
Affairs;
Naval Lt (R) Ghalib Iqbal, Consul General, Toronto (son-in-law
of former Air Chief Anwar Shamim) {Anwer Shamim is a Quadiyani and had
served General Zia {Ameer ul Momineen as per Jamat-e-Islami} , Anwer
Shamim has huge ranches in California, USA, which he
and his brother in Law Khursheed Anwer Mirza made through
trafficking Narcotics during so-called Afghan Jihad {the Time Weekly
that carried this news was banned in Pakistan in 80s}.
Naval Lt (R) Qasim Raza Mutaqqi, Counsellor, Rome;
Col (R) Salik Nawaz, Deputy Chief of Protocol, M/o Foreign
Affairs;
Capt (R) Masood Akhtar, Deputy Chief of Protocol, M/o Foreign
Affairs;
Capt (R) Shaukat Muqaddam, Counsellor, Dublin;
Capt (R) Zaighamuddin Azam Khan, Counsellor, Berlin;
Capt (R) Sohail Ittehad Hussain, Director General,M/o Foreign
Affairs;
Capt (R) Khalid Durrani, Director, M/o Foreign Affairs.
General (r) Jahangeer Karamat, Ambassador of Pakistan in USA.
Brigadier (r) Ejas Shah, Director General Intelligence Bureau.

The above list was of 2002. In 2003, as many as 104 serving and
retired Lieutenant Generals, Major Generals or equivalent ranks from
other services are among the 1,027 military officers inducted on
civilian posts in different ministries, divisions and Pakistani missions
abroad after Oct 12, 1999 military takeover. The number of army
Brigadiers or their equivalent ranks from the Navy and Air Force is even
higher at 160, according to an annexure placed before the Senate
library.

There have been 14 ambassadors and a high commissioner from the
military ranks during this period.

Of these 1,027 military officers inducted on civilian posts, 27
military officers have been given the prized grade of 22 while 62
officers have been adjusted in grade 21. A whopping figure of 150
officers occupy civilian positions in Grade 20. There are 276 officers
between grade 20 and 22 alone. The nature of their jobs varies from
deputation, secondment, re-employment to contract basis. These military
officers occupy civilian posts in a situation where, according to
Incharge Cabinet Division Raza Hiraj, there are 700 'unabsorbed' surplus
civilian employees. There are 33 officers on special duty (OSD) just in
grades between 19 and 21.

The range of fields where military officers are working on
civilian posts encompasses every sector of human endeavour including
communications, education, diplomacy, water and electricity management,
information, post office, jails, local bodies, think tanks, industrial
production, shipping, minority affairs, population welfare, health,
agriculture, railways, highways, housing, labour and manpower, social
and women development, law and justice and sub-sectors of sports from
cricket to hockey.

A close look at the figures shows that these military personnel
occupy 13 posts in the cabinet division, 5 posts in the commerce
ministry, 98 in communications ministry, 113 in the defence division, 52
in the defence production division, 9 in the education ministry, 16 in
the establishment division, 24 in the ministry of foreign affairs, 6 in
the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock. There are 88 military
officers working in the ministry of interior, 2 in the health ministry,
6 in the housing and works ministry, 29 in the industries and production
ministry, 3 in the information and broadcasting ministry, 58 in the
ministry of Information Technology, 25 in the Kashmir affairs and
northern affairs ministry, five in the labour and manpower division, 17
in the ministry of minorities affairs, 39 in the ministry of petroleum
and natural resources, just one each in the ministry of population
welfare, the planning and development division and the ministry of
religious affairs. There are two military officials working in the
revenue division (CBR), 21 in the ministry of science and technology, 72
in the ministry of railways/railway board, 37 in the ministry of water
and power, 5 in the ministry of women development, 6 in the Wafaqi
Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsmen). There are another 37 officers who have
been inducted under the military's 10 per cent quota in civilian posts
over and above these appointments.

In the Foreign Affairs 13 Lieutenants and Major Generals were
appointed as ambassadors in different countries, while one Brigadier and
a Major also got ambassadorial positions.
Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani was appointed as ambassador in Riyadh
(contract expired on October 2002).
Vice-Admiral (retd) Shamoon Alam Khan was appointed as
ambassador in Kyiv (up to August 28, 2003),
Vice-Admiral (retd) Khalid M Mir was appointed ambassador in
Beirut (up to July 2003),
Lt-Gen (retd) Nasim Rana as ambassador in Kuala Lumpur (up to
July 2003),
Air Marshal (retd) Muhammad Farooq Qari as ambassador in
Tripoli,
Lt-Gen (retd) Agha Jehangir Ali Khan as ambassador in Mexico,
Maj-Gen (retd) Shujaat Ali Khan as ambassador in Rabat (up to
September 2003),
Maj-Gen (retd) Fazal Ghafoor as ambassador in Tashkent (contract
expired on April 2002),
Maj-Gen (retd) Salim Ullah as ambassador in Abu Dhabi (up to
June 2003),
Lt-Gen (retd) Mohammad Shafique as ambassador in Bahrain
contract expired on October 2002),
Maj-Gen (retd) Muhammad Hassan Aqeel as ambassador in Thailand
(up to June 2003),
Maj Gen (retd) Syed Mustafa Anwar Hussain as ambassador in
Indonesia (up to August 2003) and Maj-Gen (retd) Sultan Habib as
ambassador in DPR Korea (up to October
2003).
Brigadier Abdul Majid Khan was appointed as ambassador in
Dushambe (contract expired on June 2002), while
Major Badruddin was posted as high commissioner to Bender Seri
Begawen. In the cabinet division,
Maj-Gen Khalid Bashir was appointed as Member (Tech) Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) (up to November 2001),
Maj-Gen Raza Hussain as chairman SUPARCO and
Maj-Gen Shahzada Alam Malik as Chairman PTA.
These inductions were made on regular basis. Similarly, in the
ministry of communications, Maj-Gen Tariq Javed was inducted as National
Highway Authority chairman on November 11, 2000 but was later
repatriated. In his place Maj Gen Furrakh Javed was appointed as NHA
chief on November 5, 2001 on a secondment basis. He already had served
as deputy director general (Dev) in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Likewise,
Maj-Gen (retd) Agha Masood Hasan was appointed as Director
General Pakistan Post Office on a contract basis,
Vice-Admiral Taj Muhammad Khattak was appointed as Chairman Port
Qasim Authority (PQA) on secondment,
Rear Admiral Muhammad Asad Qureshi was appointed as Director
General PQA,
Vice Admiral (retd) S Tauquir H Naqvi as Chairman Pakistan
National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) on contract,
Vice Admiral (retd) S Abaid Ullah Khan as chairman (PNSC)
(contract terminated on October, 2000),
Rear Admiral Bakhat Ali Jumani was appointed as Executive
Director (Ship Management PNSC),
Rear Admiral (retd) Sarfraz Khan was appointed as Chairman
Gwadar Port Authority (GPA),
Rear Admiral Muhammad Nashat Raffi as General Manager Karachi
Port Trust (KPT),

Vice Admiral Ahmed Hayat was appointed on a contract basis as
Chairman Karachi Port Trust (KPT), but prior to him Vice Admiral (retd)
>Khalid Mohammad Mir was serving as chairman. Maj Gen (retd) Mohsin Ahmed
Vahidy was appointed as Executive Directive PNSC Karachi on a contract>basis but he is not serving now, while Rear Admiral Sikandar Viqar Naqvi
was appointed chairman PQA (not serving). Similarly, in the ministry of
defence, Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz Khan was re-employed on a contract
basis as secretary ministry of defence but earlier Lt-Gen (retd) Nasim
Rana was serving in this capacity whose contract was terminated on July
8, 2001. Rear Admiral Irfan Ahmad was appointed as Additional Secretary
(contract terminated), then Maj-Gen Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry was made
Additional Secretary, defence ministry, on secondment basis.

Maj-Gen Javed Iqbal was appointed as Director General Military
Land and Cantonments (ML&C) on secondment but he was later retired.
Later,
Maj Gen Muhammad Jawed was appointed as DG ML&C on secondment.
Maj-Gen Mahboobul Muzaffar and Maj-Gen Sabihuddin Bokhari were
appointed as Surveyor General of Pakistan.
After their retirement, Maj-Gen Tariq Javed was appointed in
their place on secondment basis. Rear Admiral Arshad Munir Ahmed was
appointed Ex-Managing Director Karachi Shipyard (contract expired),
Air Vice Marshal S Javed Raza as Director Pre Engineering PIA,
AVM (retd) Niaz Hussain Director (Engineering) PIA and
AVM Arshad Rashid Sethi as Deputy Director General, CAA (not
working).

In the Defence Production Division, Air Marshal (retd) Zahid
Anis was appointed as secretary D P Division. Earlier Lt-Gen (retd)
Lehrasab was working in his place. Similarly, Maj-Gen Ali Baz was
appointed as Additional Secretary D P Division. Earlier, Maj-Gen Rehmat
Khan was serving as Additional Secretary D P Division. Maj-Gen M
Salimuddin was re-employed after his retirement from the army as Chief
Scientists and Scientific Adviser DESTO in place of Maj-Gen Akbar Saeed
Awan, while Maj-Gen Syed Ali Hamid was appointed as Director General
DEPO on secondment basis while AVM Aurangzeb Khan was appointed Chairman
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex board, Kamra.

In the Establishment Division, Maj-Gen (retd) Rahmatullah was
appointed as Managing Director Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and
Group Insurance. Earlier, Maj-Gen (retd) Inayatullah Khan Niazi was
working in his place. Air Marshal (retd) Shafique Haider was appointed
as Chairman Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) while Lt-Gen (retd)
Arshad Hussain was appointed Member, FPSC.

Maj-Gen (retd) Sikander Shami was appointed as Director General
of Head of Institute of NIPA, Lahore, while Lt-Gen (retd) Sardar Ali as
Director NIPA, Lahore, both on a contract basis. Maj-Gen Muhammad Iqbal
Khan was appointed as Managing Director PASSCO on contract in the
ministry of food, agriculture and livestock, Maj-Gen Ahsan Ahmad as
Director General health on secondment but was replaced by Maj-Gen (retd)
Muhammad Aslam also on secondment/contract in the health ministry.

In the interior ministry Maj-Gen (retd) Zahid Ehsan was
appointed as Chairman Nadra (posted out) while in the ministry of
industries and production Maj-Gen (retd) M Mohsin was appointed as
chairman NFC (national finance commission) on contract. AVM Azhar Maud
was appointed National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) chairman.

In the ministry of information and broadcasting Maj-Gen (retd)
Jamshed Ayaz Khan was appointed as president Institute of Regional
Studies, Islamabad, on contract. In the minorities, culture, sports,
Maj-Gen (retd) Inayat Ullah Khan Niazi was appointed Chairman ETPB
(contract expired), while Maj-Gen Anis Ahmad Bajwa was appointed as
Managing Director PTDC Islamabad on contract. He had already served as
Deputy Chief of Staff to Chief Executive in the Prime Minister's
secretariat. Lt-Gen Hamid Javed was appointed as Chief of Staff to the
President in the president's secretariat.

Similarly in the Prime Minister's secretariat Lt-Gen Ghulam
Ahmad was appointed as chief of staff to Chief Executive in place of
Lt-Gen Hamid Javed.
Maj-Gen Abdul Jabbar Bhatti, Maj-Gen Shafaatullah Shah and
Maj-Gen Muhammad Yousaf were also appointed as deputy chief of
staff to chief executive.
Maj-Gen Haroon Sikandar Pasha was appointed as Director Chief
Executive's secretariat.
Maj-Gen Nadeem Taj had also served as Military Secretary (MS) to
Chief Executive (posted as MS to the president from January 2002).
Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (now Governor Punjab) and Lt-Gen Syed
Muhammad Amjad were appointed as Chairm an National Accountability
Bureau (NAB), while Maj-Gen Abdul Jabbar Bhatti,
Maj-Gen Ijaz Ahmed Bakhshi and
Maj-Gen Ovais Mushtaq Qureshi,
AVM (retd) M Saleemud
Din, Maj-Gen Muhammad Sabir,
Maj-Gen Nazakat Ali Khan,
Maj-Gen Shujaat Zamir Dar,
Maj-Gen Syed Usman Shah and
Maj-Gen Tariq Bashir,
Rear Admiral Ihsanul Haq,
Real Admiral Ubaid Sadiq, AVM Masood Akhtar,
AVM Zakaullah Khan and
AVM (retd) Khuda Dad were subsequently appointed as Director
General, NAB
Maj-Gen (retd) Syed Asif Riaz Bokhari was appointed as Member,
NRB on a contract basis.

Maj-Gen Parvez Akmal was appointed as Managing Director Oil and
Gas Development Company (OGDC) (not working) while Maj-Gen (retd) Syed
Usman Shah was appointed as Director General Intelligence and
Investigation.

In the railways ministry Lt-Gen (retd) Javaid Ashraf Qazi was
appointed as secretary/chairman Pakistan Railways. After his contract
as terminated Lt-Gen (retd) Saeeduz Zafar replaced him. On termination
of his contract, Maj-Gen (retd) Hamid Hassan Butt was appointed as
General Manager M & SPR but his contract too was terminated. Lt-Gen
(retd) Zulfiqar Ali Khan was appointed as WAPDA Chairman on
secondment/contract while Maj-Gen (retd) M Aslam Zuberi was appointed
Adviser in the Wafaqi Mohtasib secretariat (contract expired). Those who
were appointed in the attached departments include Air Marshal (retd)
Sharbat A Changazi who was appointed as Director State Life Insurance
Corporation of Pakistan and Rear Admiral (retd) Ejaz Husain appointed as
General Manager Special Project, Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd.

2007-10-11T21:05:00.000+05:00

The days gone by, and we've moved on. People have changed. Or is it just me?!

Time for me to HIDE!

2007-10-05T13:01:00.000+05:00

So much for my going on and on about the whole BHUTTO-CORRRUPT campaigne. Now I'd have to go underground or else I'd have to spend a lifetime being tortured inside the walls of GauntanamoBay, Cuba!

I started calling Musharraf Busharraf because of his coalition with BUSH but now it has double implications:Bush and Bhutto ( can even go with Benazir)!!!

I didn't say a word! I don't know how to write, speak and think! *whistling*
Lol! Reminds me of the Loony toons!

So the deal between the mush and bibi is on: http://dawn.com.pk/2007/10/05/top1.htm

I'll see you guys around if I'm here...

Shameful acts...

2007-09-27T20:09:00.000+05:00

NO matter who you support in Pakistan's political arena, you will give credit to the late Bhutto for just ONE phrase :

WE WILL EAT GRASS BUT WE WILL BECOME A NUCLEAR POWER!

At least I can respect him for that. BUT his kid turned out to be rebellious. Where she should have supported Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan with her life, she actually plans to give him to IAEA! This is how we pay homage to our heroes. This is how we humiliate them. This is how we become the laughing stock of the world. I'm glad that Quaid-e-Azam died early, or else we would have actually put him on SALE!

Let's go back to the mid '90s. I cannot find the video online, or else I would have loved to show it to you. IT was a documentary aired by BBC showing how Bhutto has hoarded up wealth and has a well furnished home in England and showed documents showing her evil, vile and cunning.And look how easily they themselves have forgotten it, and want to send her back. Hypocrisy is the West's second name(or is it the first!). In those days, there was a video of the song "Ehtesaab", released by Junoon after which Junoon was banned. The video actually shows her glorious time and how people were soo happy when she was around. I see if I can find it on internet and paste it here... (I'm looking)... OH! I found it! YouTUBE!

Anyway, the hero, who should have been given respect, who should have been given an exalted position, who should have been guarded by the soldiers of this country... The Chief of Army STaff, the man himself, put this mark of dishonour upon his own khaki, his claim to have fought wars, and his claim to throne! Honourable President Pervez Busharraf has proven himself to be the traitor to the nation! Go Busharraf, be friends with India, and let our heroes, our sacrifices rot.

Sonay pay Suhaga... Benazir Bhutto, a socialist, hoarder of people's wealth, is going to hand him over to IAEA! This is how she's going thank him for completing one of the wishes of her father. This is how we pay tribute to our national heroes.

In the end. I'm ashamed for having these leaders as the representative of my country. My heart bleeds for the way we are treating Dr. AbdulQadeer Khan. And as someone said yesterday, that we will pay a price, a heavy price indeed, for the atrocities we've done against our heroes. If I ever see Dr. AbdulQadeer Khan anywhere,I know I wont be able to look him in the eye because I was not able to raise my voice, to help him in any way. I'm ashamed of myself.

http://dawn.com.pk/2007/09/26/top2.htm

Some Health Guidelines For Ramadan

2007-09-15T12:50:00.000+05:00

I got this email quite some time ago and I think it's better if I put this here... Atleast, I know you'd read it, N.A.

This article provides useful advice on how to avoid some common problems encountered in Ramadhan. If followed, it would enable one to fast comfortably and enjoy fully the spiritual benefits of Ramadhan.

During the holy month of Ramadhan, our diet should not differ very much from our normal diet and should be as simple as possible. The diet should be such that we maintain our normal weight, neither losing nor gaining. However, if one is over-weight, Ramadhan is an ideal time to normalise one's weight.

In view of the long hours of fasting, we should consume slow digesting foods including fibre containing-foods rather than fast-digesting foods.

Slow digesting foods last up to 8 hours, while fast-digesting foods last for only 3 to 4 hours. Slow-digesting foods are foods that contain grains and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, millet, semolina, beans, lentils, wholemeal flour, unpolished rice, etc. (called complex carbohydrates). Fast-burning foods are foods that contain sugar, white flour, etc. (called refined carbohydrates).

Fibre-containing foods are bran-containing foods, whole wheat, grains and seeds, vegetables like green beans, peas, sem (papry), marrow, mealies, spinach, and other herbs like methie, the leaves of beetroot (iron-rich), fruit with skin, dried fruit especially dried apricots, figs and prunes, almonds, etc.

The foods eaten should be well-balanced, containing foods from each food group, i.e. fruits, vegetables, meat/chicken/fish, bread/cereals and dairy products. Fried foods are unhealthy and should be limited. They cause indigestion, heart-burn, and weight problems.

AVOID

Fried and fatty foods.
Foods containing too much sugar.
Over-eating especially at sehri.
Too much tea at sehri. Tea makes you pass more urine taking with it valuable mineral salts that your body would need during the day.
Smoking cigarettes. If you cannot give up smoking, cut down gradually starting a few weeks before Ramadhan. Smoking is unhealthy and one should stop completely.

EAT

Complex carbohydrates at sehri so that the food lasts longer making you less hungry.
Haleem is an excellent source of protein and is a slow-burning food.
Dates are excellent source of sugar, fibre, carbohydrates, potassium and magnesium.
Almonds are rich in protein and fibre with less fat.
Bananas are a good source of potassium, magnesium and carbohydrates.

DRINK

As much water or fruit juices as possible between iftar and bedtime so that your body may adjust fluid levels in time.

Problems and their Remedies:

CONSTIPATION

Constipation can cause piles (haemorroids), fissures (painful cracks in anal canal) and indigestion with a bloated feeling.

Causes: Too much refined foods, too little water and not enough fibre in the diet.

Remedy: Avoid excessive refined foods, increase water intake, use bran in baking, brown flour when making roti.

INDIGESTION AND WIND

Causes: Over-eating. Too much fried and fatty foods, spicy foods, and foods that produce wind e.g. eggs, cabbage, lentils, carbonated drinks like Cola also produce gas.

Remedy: Do not over-eat, drink fruit juices or better still drink water. Avoid fried foods, add ajmor to wind-producing foods.

LETHARGY ('low blood pressure')

Excessive sweating, weakness, tiredness, lack of energy, dizziness, especially on getting up from sitting position, pale appearance and feeling faint are symptoms associated with "low blood pressure". This tends to occur towards the afternoon.

Causes: Too little fluid intake, decreased salt intake.

Remedy: Keep cool, increase fluid and salt intake.

Caution: Low blood pressure should be confirmed by taking a blood pressure reading when symptoms are present. Persons with high blood pressure may need their medication adjusted during Ramadhan. They should consult their doctor.

HEADACHE

Causes: Caffeine and tobacco-withdrawal, doing too much in one day, lack of sleep, hunger usually occur as the day goes by and worsens at the end of the day. When associated with "low blood pressure", the headache can be quite severe and can also cause nausea before Iftar.

Remedy: Cut down caffeine and tobacco slowly starting a week or two before
Ramadhan. Herbal and caffeine-free teas may be substituted. Reorganise your
schedule during the Ramadan so as to have adequate sleep.

LOW BLOOD SUGAR

Weakness, dizziness, tiredness, poor concentration, perspiring easily, feeling shaky (tremor), unable to perform physical activities, headache, palpitations are symptoms of low blood sugar.

Causes in non-diabetics: Having too much sugar i.e. refined carbohydrates especially at suhur (sehri). The body produces too much insulin causing the blood glucose to drop.

Remedy: Eat something at sehri and limit sugar-containing foods and drinks.

Caution: Diabetics may need to adjust their medication in Ramadan, consult
your doctor.

MUSCLE CRAMPS
Causes: Inadequate intake of calcium, magnesium and potassium foods.

Remedy: Eat foods rich in the above minerals e.g. vegetables, fruit, dairy products, meat and dates.

Caution: Those on high blood pressure medication and with kidney stone problems should consult their doctor.

PEPTIC ULCERS, HEART BURN, GASTRITIS AND HIATUS HERNIA

Increased acid levels in the empty stomach in Ramadhan aggravate the above conditions. It presents as a burning feeling in the stomach area under the ribs and can extend upto the throat. Spicy foods, coffee, and Cola drinks worsen these conditions.

Medications are available to control acid levels in the stomach. People with proven peptic ulcers and hiatus hernia should consult their doctor well before Ramadhan.

KIDNEY STONES
Kidney stones may occur in people who have less liquids to drink. Therefore, it is essential to drink extra liquids so as to prevent stone formation.

JOINT PAINS
Causes: During Ramadhan, when extra salah are performed the pressure on the knee joints increases. In the elderly and those with arthritis this may result in pain, stiffness, swelling and discomfort.

Remedy: Lose weight so that the knees do not have to carry any extra load. Exercise the lower limbs before Ramadhan so that they can be prepared for the additional strain. Being physically fit allows greater fulfilment, thus enabling one to be able to perform salah with ease.

Dr. Farouk Haffejee
Islamic Medical Association of South Africa - Durban

sigh

2007-09-14T23:17:00.000+05:00

I don't know what to write anymore. The state of helplessness, the idea of can't-do-anything-to-make-them-see-beyond-themselves is upon me. All I can do is pray to ALlah that may He make them realise that by fighting amoungst themselves, they are falling for the zionist designs.

http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=10094

Debt Unpaid...

2007-09-12T17:48:00.000+05:00

"Ay Quaid-e-Azam tera ehsaan hai, tera ehsaan"

It was the death anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah yesterday and looking in retrospect... I feel disappointed. Mohammad Ali Jinnah provided us not with just this land but freedom, freedom to bow before one Lord and live life according to the teachings of Quran and Sunnah and this is how we thank Allah. This is how we pay homage to those people who have sacrificed their lives to achieve this small piece of land so that their generations wont have to suffer at the hands of Hindus and others. This is how we've paid the debt by tearing apart one another, colouring the land in red and giving up the very reason of Pakistan, the very meaning of Pakistan.

Today, we have politicians who've hoarded up money of the common people of Pakistan, made palaces in London, Jeddah and other places. The politicians who claim to have worked for Pakistan, yet divided it in sects, races and languages. This is what they've learnt from the British : Divide and Rule. Let the common people fight amongst themselves while we play the bloody game of politics and hoard up as much wealth as we can in the time given. Even the generals need protection from God Knows What and plunging the local people into the madness of sky high prices and low cut dresses.

This is Pakistan after 60 years... The purpose lost... The reason forgotten... And LIFE... just lost not only it's meaning but also it's worth. And this is how we pay homage to the founder of this country, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Broadening my horizon...

2007-09-06T23:02:00.000+05:00

I just discovered that no one actually visits my blog that often or ever. And somehow I thought it wouldn't matter if I shift it to someother place. Well.. I still don't know how to work that blog properly but I guess with time I'll learn.

Wordpress.com is a cool place. And I thought I'd like to write there as well.
So, here's the link:

http://snowysensation.wordpress.com/

I don't have time to manage one blog.. here I'm fooling myself into maintaining two at a time. May Allah help me. Ameen.

Something that Struck me like Lightening...

2007-09-03T20:23:00.000+05:00

The other day I was flipping channels and got stuck at one channel i.e. Peace TV. Anyway, something that got hold of me was Dr. Asrar Ahmed saying that the only reason why Muslims in today's world are in the most embarrassing situation is because we've left Quran.( And he mentioned ALlama Iqbal's couplet alongside it.)

We've left Quran and that is why our lives have become more complicated. We don't read it nor do we try to understand what ALlah really wants from us. We've deluded ourselves into thinking that whatever we're doing is correct, creating differences, dividing amoungst ourselves. The only Book that can dissolve our differences, that can quench our thirst of materialism,that can lead to the straight path, the only path... that Book is Quran.

It's high time we realise that. It's high time that we pray for directions. It's high time that we should dissolve our differences, set aside our ego and follow what's been written in that One Book!

May ALlah guide us all. Ameen

2007-08-28T19:15:00.000+05:00

Finally, I have time to scribble something here...

Something happened last week which was unacceptable for me.

Our teacher couldn't take our attendence in class so she asked us to follow her out of the class and then she'd take our attendence. The rain water accumulated everywhere, she went and sat in the lobby which was dry. The bench she sat on was nearest to our classroom and accidentally was the famous "A.P.M.S.O." bench. (APMSO is the student political wing of MQM.) The student activist of APMSO actually asked the teacher to "LEAVE" right away. The teacher said that she was there to take attendence and would leave in a min BUT the student FIRMLY TOLD her to LEAVE!!!

And then these MQM and APMSO people claim to respect everyone and claim that they are the becharas. And they end up being the dictators and terrorists!

60 years ago...

2007-08-11T12:01:00.000+05:00

The two nation theory claiming that Muslims and Hindus are two different nations and they cannot live under one roof after what they've experienced after the Congress came into power under the British Regime.

Well, the events of Gujrat some years ago confirmed our fears that Muslims are subjected to humiliation and mass murder at the hands of Hindus.

But somehow the present Regime in Pakistan has forgotten the roots of their own identity. The struggle of being acceptable to the western world and the neighbouring Hindu country, the leaders of Pakistan lost their own identity. They have forgotten that one can never please people. Specially hypocrits! People, who call the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq a "crusade" and yet call themselves "secular". It's like We are in denial. Our leaders are in denial.

OH! I just recognized the main Problem of our leaders. They are deluding themselves into thinking that they can bow to these so called western leaders and will have safe haven to live. The delusion that they can do everything to their people and get support from U.S. and that would be heaven for them.

The current bombings in Pakistan on Army people is indicating that people never wanted this from our leaders. The foriegn policy that we've adopted made us enemies of one an other. The Problem lies with the fact that the leaders think they can get some soft corner in the hearts of the Westerners by calling themsleves "enlightned moderates" forgetting no matter what, they'll always be Muslims. It's high time we realise this fact and instead of bowing and posturing in front of the Westerners, bow before Allah. As Iqbal says :

woh eik sajda jise tu giraan samjhta hai
hazaar sajdon se deta hai aadmi ko nijaat

So.. it's high time we realise that Pakistan was made for Muslims on the basis of the ideology of Islam. And without Islam and it's teachings, there would be no Pakistan. It's high time we set our priorities right. It's high time we realise that the Crusaders will never be our friends. And it's high time we give them straight rejections rather licking their boots.

Dil Dil Pakistan...

2007-08-08T22:52:00.000+05:00

Well... August is here and like every year, everyone's in the mood of celebrating the independence day. Though everywhere I can hear national songs, I'm reminded of this very poem of Faiz:

"Subh-e-Azaadi"

yeh daagh daagh ujala, yeh shab gazeeda sahar
woh intezaar tha jiska, yeh woh sahar tu nahin
yeh woh sahar tu nahin, jiski aarzo lay ker
chalay thay yaar ke mil jaye gi kahin na kahin
falak kay dasht mein taaron ki akhiri manzil
kahin tu hoga shab-e-sust mauj ka saahil
kahin tu ja kay rukay ga safina-e-gham-e-dil

jawan lahoo ki pur-asrar shahrahon say
chalay jo yaar tu daman pay kitne haath paray
diyaar husn ki bay sabar khwaab gaahon say
pukarti rahin baahein, badan bulatay rahay
bohot aziz thi lekin rukh-e-sahar ki lagan
bohot qareen tha haseenan-e-noor ka daman
subuk subuk thi tamanna, dabi dabi thi thakan

suna hai ho bhi chuka hai firaaq-e-zulmat-e-noor
suna hai ho bhi chuka hai wisaal-e-manzil-o-gaam
badal chuka hai bohot ahl-e-dard ka dastoor
nishaat-e-wasl halal-o- azaab-e-hijr haram
jigar ki aag, nazar ki umang, dil ki jalan
kisi pay chara-e-hijraan ka kuch asar hi nahin
kahan say aayi nigaar-e-saba, kidher ko gayi

abhi chiraagh-e-sar-e-rah ko kuch khabar hi nahin
abhi giraani-e-shab mein kami nahin aayi
nijaat-e-deeda-o-dil ki ghari nahin aayi
chalay chalo kay woh manzil abhi nahin aayi

Hmmm...

2007-08-02T23:49:00.000+05:00

Was just wondering who is more tolerant... Liberals or Fundamentalists?! Jews or Muslims?! Crusaders or the Jihadis?!

Let me clarify... President Bush called the war against Iraq a Crusade. And if it really is a crusade, they've killed mercilessly and even now are trying to amend their consititutions and dividing them on the basis of sects! Somehow shows how tolerant they are of other nations' prosperity!

Jews... Well.. they cannot tolerate Muslims in Palestine. They kill mercilessly too. And when faced with retaliation, they call the Muslims intolerant.. Two Israelites were kidnapped an year ago by Labenese and they bombed blindly without looking at what their bombs were hitting and they cannot see numerous thousands of Palestinians in their jails. They tend to forget that they have kidnapped the parliamentary memebers of Hamas from their places. They foget that they targetted a crippled man even when he had a hard time talking.

Liberals and Fundamentalists... Liberals are not hesitant to kill the innocent. We saw that recently in Islamabad. Plus one more example is in my earlier post. Shoaib Mansoor couldn't tolerate the change in Junaid Jamshed. Well... the so-called liberals prject the idea of following ones heart and if that following is not upto the liberals' mark, it's intolerable!

Double standards and hipocrisy... And somehow people tend to go with the flow to avoid the harshness of life...

Time

2007-07-28T15:27:00.000+05:00

22 and moving on...

Justice...

2007-07-21T14:19:00.000+05:00

Now that the Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has won the case against the reference from the President, questions remain :

Will a layman get justice now? Would people still die on the doors of the court asking for justice?! Will the poor and weak have a voice against the injustices of rich and strong lords?!

Something to Ponder over...

2007-07-18T23:55:00.000+05:00

On the first day of university after the semester break, while travelling in the public trasport, we were actually dropped off at the Independence Chowk!!! All my friends were hugging and screaming at the very fact that we didn't have to walk all the way to the department from the Silver Jubilee Gate!!! It was the perfect moment of ecstacy for all the students who use either the points or the public transport to get to the university.

It's after an year that they have opened the gates of university to the public transport or even their own buses. Last Ramadhan was the test for all of us. I still remember how we used to travel from the arts lobby to the zoology department in a rikshaw just to get some handouts. We even used to pool in money to get to the gate in the rikshaws. The scorching heat, the sun and the long walk used to tire us before even reaching our classes. Yes the points used to pick up students once they were inside the gates to their departments but for me walking was the better option.

Why were the gates closed?!

It has a long history... I still remember in the first week of university, a sernior told me that even if you hear about a clash, RUN!!! Well... the first semester was not much of a disaster in that sense. But in the second semester, students' political parties had a clash which resulted in closed doors, checking of bags at the gate and the student's university cards, which indeed was thrilling! The after effects were that while having one of our classes, some students belonging to a political group came in and asked the teacher to wind it up!

During the exams of second semester, we went to give an exam and found out that our paper has been cancelled. It was because a student slapped a professor on his face just because that professor refused to give the student the permission to sit in an exam due to shortage of attendance. The teachers' union called off every exam until the student was penalized for three years! And personally, I think the student earned it! Plus it was the first time EVER in the recent history that a paper was cancelled which was followed by the cancellation of exams right after may 12!!!

Well, the thrid and fourth semesters were a disaster. At one time the student clash went soo bad that we actually heard gun shots near the Arts Lobby! And it was since then the gates of university were closed for the public transportation. It didn't help though, we had a number of clashes after that as well.

Someone I know was wondering lately, that there were no one killed by the Jamia Hafsa students in all those years and they faced a major military operation. Karachi University is a hub of clashes, gunfires, injured and deaths, why isn't any operation done against the political groups that intimidate the other students who go there to study. In K.U. they give you soft drinks either in cans or paper cups because a number of students died earlier because the soft-drink-bottles were used as weapons!

You enter Karachi Univeristy and you see a number of Rangers and University guards everywhere. And we have seen the situations where these Rangers are threatened not to touch or involve or even come near the clashes. And as we all know the sudents' wing of the political parties are as deadly as the political parties themselves, Rangers do keep their distance!

And yet these political parties have a right to live and prosper when they have blood of innocent people on their hands and shouldn't be touched?!

To end with a happy note : my mum was complaining about no rains and scorching heat in Karachi even in July. And there's this famous saying that where the soil is stained with the blood of the innocent, Allah does not bless them with rains... it's just Azaab-Ilaahi which hits them! And may Allah give us guidance and save us from His wrath. Ameen.

Army...

2007-07-17T08:23:00.000+05:00

Army was always considered to be the most prestigious institution in our country but now we are having second thoughts. I got this SMS a few days back and it really hits you between the eyes, forcing you to see beyond the crisp uniforms:

"When was the last time our legendary Pak Army faces the army of an enemy country? Was it Kargil when they left dead bodies behind and made good their escape OR war at Paltan Ground of Dhaka where they made historyby becoming the largest surrendering Army in Muslim History. But now thi smafia of property dealers is never going to face an enemy army again. The only use left for this breed now is to lick the feet of their American counterparts."

Addicted!!!

2007-07-15T16:24:00.000+05:00

When Musharraf didn't hesitate to form alliance with U.S. and provided bases for them to kill millions in Afghnistan, how could he hesitate to kill the people in Medressahs or Tank or Bajaur Agency irrespective of the fact that women and children were also killed in great numbers.
He didn't hesitate to kill a number of people in Karachi, why would he hesitate to kill the students in Islamabad?!

Reminds me so much of the novel "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding!

Just a Disaster?!

2007-07-15T00:01:00.000+05:00

8th October 2006 : Earthquake rocked the northern area of Pakistan killing millions of people.

June 2007: Cyclone, floods hit the coastal parts of Sindh and Baluchistan killing millions again

July 2007 : Strom hit the Punjab Area of Pakistan killing several

In less than one year, we came across more than one natural calamity which cannot be a conincidence. It's time to mend our ways before we get the worst of them.

Sigh

2007-07-14T15:56:00.000+05:00

Main ye kis ke naam likhoon jo alamm guzar rahay hain
Mere shehar jal rahay hain,mere log marr rahay hain

Koi guncha ho ke gul ho,koi shaakh ho shajar ho
Wo hawaa-e-gulistaan hai ke sabhi bikhar rahay hain

Kabhi rehmatain thi nazil issi khita-e-zamee’n par
Wohi khitta-e-zamee’n hai ke azaab utar rahay hain

Wohi taairo’n ke jhurmut jo hawa main jhooltay thay
Wo fizaa ko dekhtay hain to ab aah bhar rahay hain

Bari aarzoo thi humko naye khaab dekhnay ki
So ab apni zindagi main naye khaab bhar rahay hain

KOI aur to Nahi hai pass-e-khanjar aazmaai
HAMEE QATAL KAR RAHAY HAIN,HAMEE QATAL HORAHAY HAIN!!!!!!

Obaidullah Aleem

The Way I'm Seeing IT!!!

2007-07-13T16:09:00.000+05:00

Right after the whole Lal Masjid Operation all of us tried to make connections of the whole event with Bugti's episode and then the Lawyers' thing and then 12th May.

So, putting everything aside, I thought why not drag the whole 12th May episode in here. What happened that day?! Secular parties killing innocent people or each other in the streets of Karachi which ended up with a huge carnival and a festival in Islamabad. 12th May episode actually drew attention of all the people towards the weapons the secular parties own and how they can make a city into a battleground. Not one madressah caught in. Not one Islamic fundamentalist Party got blood on their hands! That must have been a draw back for so many higher officials. Something went wrong... Extremely Wrong!

Now, what can one government do to actually counter all that?! Make Villains in a Madressah would be a great idea,no?! Let's hit it! So, right under the nose of the President, a Madressah gets Anti-aircraft guns (which made me think if they are selling them on e-Bay). A Madressah gets weapons and specially bombs! WOW!

Well... at the end of it all, Islamabad is under attack and it was worse than it was in Karachi! The Islamic Fundamentalists are Villains again! And You don't know if there's a guy or a girl underneath a burqa!

What's underneath?!

2007-07-09T18:34:00.000+05:00

Countdown begins, In The Name of God

KARACHI, July 7: Firing the latest round in Khuda Kay Liye’s publicity campaign, the soundtrack of the film was launched at a hotel here on Saturday though the film’s celebrated director Shoaib Mansoor was — true to his reclusive nature — conspicuous by his absence.

Speaking at the press briefing, Imran Aslam, the head of a local television network handling the film’s marketing, said that the picture was a labour of love for Mansoor.

The story deals with the plight of Muslims post-September 11, especially the supposed battle for the “soul of Islam” being fought between the liberal and more conservative strains of believers.

When asked about the release date, Aslam coyly said that a date had not yet been finalised, but a source revealed that the film would be released on July 20 in Karachi.

Interestingly, Shoaib Mansoor has unleashed an uncharacteristically harsh volley of criticism against his former protégé Junaid Jamshed in the statement that accompanied the press kit.

“I felt that a confused man like Junaid had no right to confuse thousands of his youthful followers. I had given him 16 years of my life as a true friend and had played my role in his professional life to the best of my abilities. How could he throw away our 16 years just like that without even consulting me? ...” said Mansoor while discussing the impetus behind the film.—QAM

(source: http://dawn.com/2007/07/08/local10.htm)

I really respect Shoaib Mansoor for his creative abilities. But I guess he could have shown a little compassion and tolerance, and could have respected the choice Junaid Jamshed has made. After all, he is Shoaib's best friend!

Hadith

2007-07-08T14:28:00.000+05:00

Narrated Abu Huraira :
Allah's Messenger (pbuh) said,

"Angels come to you in succession by night and day and all of them get together at the time of the Fajr and 'Asr prayers. Those who have passed the night with you (or stayed with you) ascend (to the heaven) and Allah asks them, though He knows everything about you,"In what state did you leave my slaves?" The angels reply: "When we left them, they were offering the Salat(prayer) and when we reached them, they were offering Salat(prayer)"

Who Rules America

2007-07-04T14:22:00.000+05:00

Last year, during our mass communication's classes, we were supposed to read on the conglomerates of media that rule the world. And surprisingly we came up to this report while searching things on internet. Well, though we know who's ruling the world of media, and people won't listen to me providing that my view would only be too subjective to the fact that I'm a Muslim, so I thought why not paste the link to that site where you can read on that report yourselves.

http://www.natall.com/who-rules-america/

It's a pity that Muslims are forced to think that their viewpoint is subjective and the West's viewpoint is always objective whereas no one can ever be objective in his life. And it's a pity Muslims actually believe them.

One more Cheap Stunt

2007-07-03T15:25:00.000+05:00

Well... Everyone by now would know that the LalMasjid students have opened fire at policemen, injuring two policemen. Probably, the whole country would go against the madressah people but wait... give it a thought...

Why is government collaborating with Lal Masjid?! They never warned the medressah students in NWFP and FATA before blowing them apart?! Why hesitate now?!

Everyone knows who are the suicide bombers... agents of some very prestigious organisations...

anyway, for me... the whole thing is government's cheap stunt wanting to achieve some mortal goals. Well... as they say in urdu: chaar din ki chandni phir wohi andheri raat .

wait and watch...

Confused?!

2007-06-26T02:16:00.000+05:00

You enter a philosophy class and the first question they put forward is: "Who are you?"

Alot of hype was created about the book published recently of Mohsin Hamid by the name of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". And this brought alot of questions in my mind. I keep boasting about the fact that I'm a fundamentalist but what is the defination of fundamentalism? Who has given me the identity? Who's coined the word?! Who has associated it with the Muslims only? Why does it have negative connotations?!

Anyway, the questions are answered but why should I let everyone else know?! Isn't it clear that someone gave it negative connotations deliberately?! Isn't it obvious that the media is running a propaganda against Muslims?! And isn't the whole media under the control of some specific conglomerates who belong to specific religion?! Shhh! it's a secret!

So, back to fundamentalism. As I was reading the book, I had this feeling that maybe the writer or maybe the persona is confused. PErhaps the writer is trying to show that there's a confusion amoungst Pakistanis that they confuse the idea of nationalism with fundamentalism. But these days as being a fundamentalist has religious connotations, we cannot tear both apart. So, probably the writer is trying to show the confusion in the youth of Pakistan or maybe the writer, himself, is confused. I don't want to jump to conclusions but I think atleast I'm more clear in my priorities.

Anyway, so most of the Pakistanis are confused as to who they really are. They don't know how they can be Muslims and Paksitanis at the same time. The idea of nationalism is like a religion to most of the Muslims around the East specially in important places as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh. They have their histories intertwined yet they fail to see beyond their fragile boundaries. The Saudis including the other Arab countries, they are too proud of their oil and wealth. The others too engrossed in hoarding up wealth from their own country men. Individuality has seeped in. Nationalism has made it too deep inside the hearts of men that they have forgotten the priorities that have been put forward to them way back!

So, who am I? A Muslim? A Pakistani? A fundamentalist? An Extremist? A radicalist?! an enlightened moderate?

So, I reached a conclusion. I have my priorities right. I'm a Muslim. Striving to be Completely Obedient to Allah and believe in Completely Submitting oneself to One Lord, Allah.

Reaching beyond the boundaries. And praying for strong heart and praying to make my love for my brothers uncondtional irrespective of their race, colour, creed or nationality. Ameen.

Dark Comedy Continued...

2007-06-20T19:57:00.000+05:00

Well.. so much for my trust in the Government and KESC.

Right after I wrote the earlier post, I was informed that even after the statement being passed by the officials of KESC, there were some parts of KArachi that still were plunged in the dark ages for more than 15 to 16 hours. And that's a limit!

About the KESC statement that load-shedding will not occur at night, Last night I couldn't sleep because of Load-Shedding!!! And I've heard others who are suffering just the same!

Well... I'm planning to start my own road-blocking-and-throwing-of-stones-and-even-burning-the-KESC-vehicles campaigne. Who's with me?!

Dark Comedy

2007-06-19T13:56:00.000+05:00

For the last 3 to 4 months, the KESC and the government, have been claiming that there's shortage of electricity and thus we had prolonged blackouts and power breakdowns across the city.

And then when the tolerance of the people reached the boiling point, they started protesting by burning cars, tyres, KESC trucks, and they've blocked the roads and actually were reported to throw stones at the KESC offices. One can call all of that barbarianism but one should live the hell to experience what they have been going through.

Well their hard work paid off!!! So, now it's once a day and even that is not prolonged. Plus the KESC people have promised that there would be no blackouts at night! WOW!

BUT... WAIT A MINUTE... WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHORTAGE OF ELECTRIC POWER?? WHERE IS IT?! OR WAS IT ALL A LIE?!

Reflection

2007-06-17T12:59:00.000+05:00

I've been reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch ALbom and a lot of things struck me while I was going through it.

It was utterly shocking that the dying professor just because he's close to death can actually relate to the death coming to innocent people in Bosina or other parts of the world. He could only shed tears at them when he himself is dying slowly. I was quite taken aback! I mean such sensitivity comes only just before dying?!

Well... I shouldn't generalize, they do cry over the death of their pets and stuff. They'd call 911 for some stray animal but they would not hesitate to drop bombs over the innocent civillians across the globe.

Oops! I shouldn't digresss... Anyway, in that book the professor talks about the meaning of life. Which is indeeed a huge topic. According to the professor one should only live to love or he/she should die! WOW! I know! And yet it took a deathbed for a professor to come close to the Bosnians who were dying?!

KESC Complaint Center

2007-06-14T05:45:00.000+05:00

Well... I guess it was not enough just to show the effect of KESC in Karachi in my earlier post and being a victim, I'm compelled to add one more sleepless night's agony in here... Hurray to KESC!!!

From 2:30 am to 5:50 am:

1. If you have a generator, turn it on. Your neighbours will hate you because of the noise it creates. It actually is a head-ache!

2. Even when the generator's working, drinking up petrol, you cannot sleep because you know that you have to turn it off if the KESC people turn soft on you. So, you can read, surf the net, watch some DVD and stay awake all night. So, you can catch up with all your friends who have seen more movies than you, or have read more books than you have.

3. If your mother, father, grandfather, child, brother, sister, or anyone else in the family is sick, I can imagine the pain they go through and you go through seeing them in endless pain.

4. Best part is that the KESC complaint centres are not working anymore, so even if you dial 118 and really want to get your frustration out, no one will pick up the phone. No one can tell you how long is it going to be. So, relax and chill.

5. You and your work... hmm.. since you've been awake all night, and haven't slept the night before that, you'll curse and be mad at everyone around you. Since you're working 9 to 5 and sometimes more than the usual hours and whatever salary you get, you end up paying the KESC bills with additional surcharges and still you cannot sleep because there's no electricity. But hey, why pay the double tripple bills?! My mother thinks that everyone should boycott KESC! We're living in hell waise bhi, why pay for it?!

6. The other best thing is when you see the civillians of Karachi protesting against KESC, join them!

Apart from all these things, people who live in apartments and flats around the city are not as lucky as those who live in homes. They suffocate in their small apartments. The food turns stale. The sick gets sicker. And yet we get these long bills of KESC with additional surcharges.

There were pictures of people sleeping on the roads and service lanes in DAWN. And people who live in KArachi, knows how stray dogs roam around in the city unattended. You can make the connections, right?

The President of Pakistan, General Parvez Musharraf, in his interview with Talat Hussain said that the country's getting more advanced.It's progressing by the seconds. There will be electricity everywhere even in small towns. Lifestyle is getting better. "mulk mein taraqqi ho rahi hai"

I wonder if it's progression? or is it digression?
IT all turns around to this : " The President and the PRime Minister and the famous multi-national firm that bought KESC are BIG FAT LIARS."

The funny thing is : I'm still frustrated!

Death

2007-06-11T22:43:00.000+05:00

What is death?

A new beginning...

The Iron Wall

2007-06-06T21:45:00.000+05:00

A documentary worth watching. If pictures are worth a thousand words, this documentary's worth tens of thousands.

Hijab

2007-06-05T22:25:00.000+05:00

Took this off from my friend's blog...

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2007-weekly/iqra-01-06-2007/index.html#3

Karachi's Fav. topic

2007-06-04T12:36:00.000+05:00

There's no end to the cursing and swearing to KESC in Karachi. Last month when we were having exams and even before that when temperatures soared to 40 or 41 degrees, whenever we used to ask our friends and class mates, " What did you study last night?"
Friend 1: Oh! no electricity for five hours! I couldn't study..
Friend 2: I think Robinson Crusoe is jinxed. Whenever I think or intend to do it, electricty goes out!
Friend 3: I'm so tired! We didn't have electricity all night. I couldn't sleep.
Me : It's ironic that government has sold KESC to Seimens, a multinational company, and they're are sucking us up like this! My brother calls Pakistan "andhi" (blind), whoever wants to suck up the blood and wealth of people, they do it without any hinderance! it's like a platter of food for free... come and drain us of all that we have left!

At someone's place, I heard the homemaker telling me, " I buy diesel of Rs. 32,000 every month for the generator! And we get more than that amount of the electricity bill! It's crazy and ununderstandable that there's no electricity half of the day, the rest of the day it's the voltage fluctuation game, sometimes the tubelights won't even light up! and yet we get more than Rs 50,000 bill from KESC!"

You go to the businessmen, who owns factories and shops around the city and they tell you, " We don't get electricity, but we have deadlines to meet and put those machines to work so that we could get food for our families. Yet we pay taxes and electricity bills with SURCHARGES and look the government wants more!! they want us to shut our shops at 8! How can we? People come to us after sunset, when the temperature goes down a bit."

All I want to say is that if powercut has to be there, start it off with the President and the Prime Minister's Houses. And put them in the same situation as the other civillians are. Let them go through the same powercuts of 8, 12 or 16hrs. Let them know how the kids, mothers and the sick go through when they have governments who are talking about America sending them off to "stone-age" and they are doing the same thing. Who needs America?! We have KESC who's doing a better job!

P.S. KESC has increased the unit charge by 20 paisas without prior notice. The bill that you would get would be of 50% more of your earlier bills... so yess... no electricity yet lambe lambe bill...

Monsoon Rains

2007-05-31T18:42:00.000+05:00

There's something about rains that make us look at the brighter side. Whenever it rains, whether in summers or winters, everyone yearns to get all wet in that rain. But Monsoon Rains are special. They bring hope and life in our lives.

When I enter through the gate of Karachi University throughout the year, though it has a wonderful botanical garden now right after you enter from Silver Jubilee gate, it is not that mesmerising. But in the monsoon season, the garden seems to have a new life. The places in University which seems like a part of the Thar Desert, after the rains, turn into a green jungle. The growth of the plants though is wild, uneven but it brings freshness, green-ness and healthy-ness in everyone around! I'm talking about Karachi University in particular because around Karachi, there's not much change visible except in the less populated areas like Gulshan-e-Maymar. Because you see empty plots of land with grass and other plantations sprouting up right after the rains, and not all round the year. I guess that is why the poet said,

"zara num ho tu yeh mitti bohot zarkhez hai saaqi"

And all at once you see around you and you think, "HOW TRUE!!!"
The Imam of Kaa'ba was in Lahore and was leading the maghrib prayer. It was showing LIVE on t.v. And you could see thousands gathered behind him to pray to their Lord Almighty. It seemed as if it was a crowd of Hajj or on smaller scale, of Eid Prayers.

And this reminded me what one of my teachers regularly say that the Muslims just need a proper direction or someone who could tell them the right path. Muslims, in todays world, though are scattered and divided, yet they all would lead the prayer behind the Imam of Kaa'ba. They still hold him in high esteem. The Imam of Kaa'ba, who is not a political figure and yet has soo much influence upon the Muslims of the world, who doesn't give long boring speeches and yet people would love to stand behind him for prayers.

All I could conclude from this is that the Muslims, in Pakistan specially, are fed up with the division of sects, races and on the basis of language. They just need one person who could tell them THE RIGHT PATH and they will follow. The hollowness and the religiosity of the soo many has led them into trivial things which are making them more divided, unfulfilled and yet more weak while the enemy grows stronger on the other side.

Mangoes and Milkshakes

2007-05-28T06:25:00.000+05:00

Mangoes and Milkshakes are one of the best things, we, Pakistanis look for in the summer. Mangoes, being the favourite fruit of almost everyone here, is a whole affair. When you have guests at your place you can simply serve them with mangoes, or milkshake or just cream,condensed milk with mangoes. And trust me, everyone loves them. The mango parties, the mango mela (fair) or just having mangoes after every meal is what everyone looks forward to in the summer here in Pakistan besides the monsoon rains. But...

Inspite of all the sweetness in the fruit, the bitterness of life can not just whither away. It remains there gnawing at you, biting you and injecting more pain and miseries upon your soul. Whether it's the politics of your own country or the sufferrings of the innocent Muslims out there.

"It's easier to look the other way" - Prisonbreak

And perhaps it is... but how can you just ignore that the country, which was built on the very basis of Islam, is just losing it's grip on the very ideology it was built upon? The politicians and the leaders have given into lust of power, corruption and greed for money. It's easier to ignore what they are doing, and moving on with your life. But what would life be without your own country, ideology or religion? It's easier to ignore that Muslims are brutally killed and their lands and plantation taken away from them but they are a part of me and how can I not flinch, or feel the pain? A part of me is burning, the other fighting between themselves, How can I just go on eating mangoes and look the other way?!

The natioanlists are raising their voices, the sects are fighting amoungst themselves and the rest are watching as silent spectators. Looking everywhere and seeing the blood, the selfishness of Muslims is destroying them. They are in huge number, they bow towards the same Ka'aba, and yet so much hatred inside?! OR is there someone else creating and fuelling the whole affair?!

A just question. Because I don't want to fight with my brothers, nor they do. Who comes in to bring those gaps, hatred and absurd theories of dividing us between, sects, languages or the races? This reminds me of the time when I was reading about how in Salahuddin Ayyubi's (the famous Saladin that the West loves) time, the jewish and the christian agents used to come to manipulate the Muslims and used to create the walls and the barriers and corruption into the religion. And this let me thinking;" why is today any different?" Just look around... and see... and pray,

" Oh Lord! Show me things as they are in themselves". Ameen.

THE SCAR

2007-05-24T11:09:00.000+05:00

Living in Karachi, and surviving the May 12 mayhem, I believe I owe my blog one comprehensive post relating to the event plus the after effects. But as this blog belongs to me, and I cannot write in a vacuum so I believe this would be filled with deep anguish and bitterness intertwined with the anger that has been baffling inside me ever since.

I guess everyone watched the whole affair on Television that day. The independent media, for the first time ever, seemed to have gone against the government with such drastic measures. The idea that the civilians were killed, the representatives of the secular parties were carrying guns and killing people just to make sure that the Chief Justice of Pakistan could not enter the city, so that he will not be able to address the Bar council?!

It was quite heart-wrenching to see that the people were dying in the streets of Karachi yet the ruling party's leader, Altaf Hussein, was addressing the people of his rally from London. Not a single gun fire, not a single drop of blood was shed from anyone who was attending that rally but the people who were going to show their solidarity with the Chief justice were welcomed with open fire from the activist of the same ruling party of MQM.

The amazing thing to notice is that not a single policeman or the Rangers were visible on the streets, yet there was a helicopter hovering above the MQM's rally. Quite a show they put up there. We could see how much they cared about the people of Karachi. If the MQM's leader was so in love with the people of Karachi as he claim to be, then why is his party activists have to collect bhatta from shopkeepers around their area. Living in a lavish London lifestyle and holding a British passport, one asks if he's so in love with Karachi or Pakistan, why cannot he just give up his passport and come back. Be a Machiavellian and come and live here. What is he afraid of? that people might kill him (he will die eventually, he is not immortal).or the popularity is not that great as they claim it to be?!

Coming back to the ground realities, people of Karachi were left alone to their demise on May 12, where there was no one to provide them with security, while everyone of us saw how amazing security measures were taken to ensure the perfect, harmonious and celebratory rally of the ruling party of PML-Q in Islamabad. Just in front of the Parliament, everyone could see on Television how the party members were celebrating. For us, Karachiites, it seemed as they were dancing to celebrate the shattered Karachi. For me it was crucial to see what everyone has to say to that rally as I was looking for answers. I was looking for comfort. But to my surprise, each politician be it Chaudhry Shujaat Hussein, Sheikh Rasheed, or Shaukat Aziz (the Prime minister) or the respected leader of this country General Parvez Musharraf, just talked about the upcoming elections, the upcoming budget and the power of people! I was shocked and flabbergasted that the leaders of this country, had to say one phrase to the Dead Karachi and all they cared about was their votes. The election campaign was more important to them then the state security, lives of innocent civilians?! Quite a show they put up there! Bullet proof glasses set up on the dais for the President to address the nation while the financial hub was burning. The general, the army chief who claims that he's been in the two battles, is actually hiding behind the bulletproof glass. WOW! All he could say was that everyone has seen that the power of people is with whom and not just here but even in Karachi( referring to the MQM's rally).

It's quite amazing to see how the West loves Musharraf Sahib just because he's an ally of US on War on Terrorism. It seems as if the patron of the war on terrorism is terrorist himself, killing people, burning their properties just to make sure he Rules. Just to make sure that a Chief Justice cannot reach his destination in Karachi.

It's amazing how the General Sahib is saying that the Chief Justice is making the whole issue politicized but what about him.. giving licence to kill the innocent civilians in Karachi so that they cannot support the Chief Justice?! So that the issue doesn't get politicized? General Musharraf has already made the whole issue politicized and here in Karachi, lost his dignity, integrity, honour and respect. It's so easy for him to address a rally hiding behind the bullet proof wall, with the police and army providing him with the maximum security. I bet he doesn't have the guts to address the nation on the naked streets of Karachi without any bulletproof wall and half the police force of this country.

At least we now know that the General, who's been harping about the Islamic, fundamentalist parties to be the jihadis and the militants who want to shed blood of innocent people, was just a huge LIE. The secular parties and the enlightened-moderate factions are actually the one's who are terrorists. They are the ones carrying guns and killing innocent civilians. They are the ones who do not want independence of Judiciary. They are the ones who are afraid of getting rid of the power. They believe in the motto of "Might is Right" and they use the might to curb the opposition.

One question that will always remain unanswered by the authorities is : Why Is General Sahab So Afraid Of The Chief Justice?!

The other thing that was quite surprising was that on other occasions we see the Police and the Rangers roaming around the city, checking cars and removing the coloured sheets off the widows of the cars, WHERE WERE THEY?! On 13th of may the Ranger's spokesman said on TV that they love this city and will make things better, as they were. But they can never bring back those who were gone. The people who died were fathers, brothers, sons and husbands of someone. Can these Rangers and Policemen ever heal the wounds of those who lost their loved ones? Will the people of Karachi, including me, Ever Trust these Law Enforcement Agencies?! I guess you have to be a Karachiite to know the real answer.

My city's on Fire!

2007-05-13T00:06:00.000+05:00

12th may '07.

Gun fires, bloodshed, fire, dead bodies and clashes. The city of Karachi. It seems as if it necessary to associate all these words with this city of lights. It has been so since the '80s. I still remember in 1995, there used to be a strike every Friday and torching of buses was everyday routine. The gunfires stopped scaring the children, they knew it was time to hide, lay low and no school, no exams and no homeworks for many days to come!

Today, we saw how responsible our city and our country's government is. Where were Rangers or the Police forces when the clashes were taking place?! Where were the saviours when the city was being torn into pieces?!

So, no security for the common people of Karachi and bullet proof, well secured places for President Musharraf for holding his address! Hypocrisy!

Whatever You May

2007-04-12T00:19:00.000+05:00

'Tis probably high time when I should pull up my socks, jammmm my foot in the boots and hit the tracks. It's been quite a while since I've stopped writing here or anywhere else and I can see that the former haphazard scraps here and there on my blog are putting me off already. The whole idea of writing a formal essay given the time I have just before my semester exams is not a favourable idea, I guess.

Things have changed quite a bit since the last time I actually put in an effort to write something in here. I guess I was too concerned with politics, not that I am not now, but I have other things on my mind too. The world politics or just the politics is odious. The more you learn about it, the more you get involved, the more you feel betrayed, decieved and stupid. All the politicians say the same things over and over again, diction might change the kernel remains the same. The powerful want more power and as they say, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". And Thanks to all the powerful men out there, now we know for sure.

Coming back to where I orginally was... hmm... this blog will remain the entity of my stream of thoughts nomatter how haphazard... that keeps the fun alive!!!

Terrorism quiz

2007-02-24T07:07:00.000+05:00

TERRORISM QUIZ

1) Which is the only country in the world to have dropped bombs on over twenty different countries since 1945?

2) Which is the only country to have used nuclear weapons?

3) Which country was responsible for a car bomb which killed 80 civilians in Beirut in 1985, in a botched assassination attempt, thereby making it the most lethal terrorist bombing in modern Middle East history?

4) Which country's illegal bombing of Libya in 1986 was described by the UN Legal Committee as a "classic case" of terrorism?

5) Which country rejected the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to terminate its "unlawful use of force" against Nicaragua in 1986, and then vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling on all states to observe international law?

6) Which country was accused by a UN-sponsored truth commission of providing "direct and indirect support" for "acts of genocide" against the Mayan Indians in Guatemala during the 1980s?

7) Which country unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in December 2001?

8) Which country renounced the efforts to negotiate a verification process for the Biological Weapons Convention and brought an international conference on the matter to a halt in July 2001?

9) Which country prevented the United Nations from curbing the gun trade at a small arms conference in July 2001?

10) Aside from Somalia, which is the only other country in the world to have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?

11) Which is the only Western country which allows the death penalty to be applied to children?

12) Which is the only G7 country to have refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, forbidding the use of landmines?

13) Which is the only G7 country to have voted against the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998?

14) Which was the only other country to join with Israel in opposing a 1987 General Assembly resolution condemning international terrorism?

15) Which country refuses to fully pay its debts to the United Nations yet reserves its right to veto United Nations resolutions?

Answer to all 15 questions: The United States of America

http://www.nidokidos.org/

Valentine's Day Special

2007-02-16T23:02:00.000+05:00

There is a hadeeth of the Holy Prophet(pbuh) that you shouldn't do what non-believers do!
When he migrated to Madinah, people there used to have a festival of two days, he put a stop to it and said that the only festival celebrated by Muslims are the two Eids (Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr).

Now coming back to the present situation, the activities are quite inverted. Eids are not celebrated with much conviction but everyone is hyped up about the Valentine's Day! Red flowers, clothes, teddies and cards everywhere. You switch on your television set and you see women dressed in red solving the love problems of the entire nation! IS this what a Mculim country should be doing?!

Being a Muslim, I know first of all that I shouldn't copy the non-Muslims on such occasions and I shouldn't mingle with the opposite sex! The society we are living in is getting more corrupt and more diseased just by having co-ed schools, colleges and media promoting such culture which is not even a part of our lives.

I got an email two years back that I would like to share it with you on this occasion:

Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions. Allaah has chosen for us Islam as our religion and He will not accept any other religion from anyone, as He says (interpretation of the meaning): “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers [Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]
And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that groups of his ummah would follow the enemies of Allaah in some of their rituals and customs, as it says in the hadeeth of Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him), who narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you, span by span, cubit by cubit, until even if they were to enter a lizard’s hole, you would follow them.”
We said, “O Messenger of Allaah, (do you mean) the Jews and Christians?”
He said, “Who else?!” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari in al-I’tisaam bi’l-Kitaab wa’l-Sunnah, Baab Qawl al-Nabi (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) La tattabi’unna Sanan man kaana qablakum, 8/151;
and by Muslim in Kitaab al-‘Ilm, Baab Ittibaa’ Sanan al-Yahood wa’l-Nasaara, 4/2054)What the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) spoke of has indeed come to pass and has become widespread in recent times, in many of the Muslim countries. Many of the Muslims follow the enemies of Allaah in many of their customs and ways of behaving, and imitate them in some of their rituals and in celebrating their holidays. The matter has been made even worse by the opening up of mass communications between peoples, whereby the rituals and customs of the kuffaar are now transmitted with the glamorous adornment of sound and image from their countries into the Muslim countries, via satellite TV and the World Wide Web (Internet). Many Muslims have been deceived by their glamour. In recent years, a new phenomenon has spread among the Muslim youth – males and females alike – which does not bode well. This is manifested in their imitation of the Christians in their celebration of the Valentine’s Day, which has led the scholars and daa’iyahs to explain the rulings of sharee’ah concerning that, out of sincerity towards Allaah, His Messenger, the leaders of the Muslims and their common folk, so that Muslims may have a clear understanding of this issue and so that they will not fall into that which will undermine the belief (‘aqeedah) with which Allaah has blessed them. This is a brief discussion of the origins, development and purpose of this holiday, and what the Muslim should do with regard to it.
The story of the Festival of Love (Valentine’s Day)The Festival of Love was one of the festivals of the pagan Romans, when paganism was the prevalent religion of the Romans more than seventeen centuries ago. In the pagan Roman concept, it was an expression of “spiritual love”. There were myths associated with this pagan festival of the Romans, which persisted with their Christian heirs. Among the most famous of these myths was the Roman belief that Romulus, the founder of Rome, was suckled one day by a she-wolf, which gave him strength and wisdom. The Romans used to celebrate this event in mid-February each year with a big festival. One of the rituals of this festival was the sacrifice of a dog and a goat. Two strong and muscular youths would daub the blood of the dog and goat onto their bodies, then they would wash the blood away with milk. After that there would be a great parade, with these two youths at its head, which would go about the streets. The two youths would have pieces of leather with which they would hit everyone who crossed their path. The Roman women would welcome these blows, because they believed that they could prevent or cure infertility. The connection between Saint Valentine and this festival Saint Valentine is a name which is given to two of the ancient “martyrs” of the Christian Church. It was said that there were two of them, or that there was only one, who died in Rome as the result of the persecution of the Gothic leader Claudius, c. 296 CE. In 350 CE, a church was built in Rome on the site of the place where he died, to perpetuate his memory. When the Romans embraced Christianity, they continued to celebrate the Feast of Love mentioned above, but they changed it from the pagan concept of “spiritual love” to another concept known as the “martyrs of love”, represented by Saint Valentine who had advocated love and peace, for which cause he was martyred, according to their claims. It was also called the Feast of Lovers, and Saint Valentine was considered to be the patron saint of lovers. One of their false beliefs connected with this festival was that the names of girls who had reached marriageable age would be written on small rolls of paper and placed in a dish on a table. Then the young men who wanted to get married would be called, and each of them would pick a piece of paper. He would put himself at the service of the girl whose name he had drawn for one year, so that they could find out about one another. Then they would get married, or they would repeat the same process again on the day of the festival in the following year. The Christian clergy reacted against this tradition, which they considered to have a corrupting influence on the morals of young men and women. It was abolished in Italy, where it had been well-known, then it was revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when in some western countries there appeared shops which sold small books called “Valentine’s books”, which contained love poems, from which the one who wanted to send a greeting to his sweetheart could choose. They also contained suggestions for writing love letters. It was also said concerning the origins of this holiday that when the Romans became Christian, after Christianity had become widespread, the Roman emperor Claudius II decreed in the third century CE that soldiers should not get married, because marriage would distract them from the wars they used to fight. This decree was opposed by Saint Valentine, who started to perform marriages for the soldiers in secret. When the emperor found out about that, he threw him in jail and sentenced him to execution. In prison, he (Saint Valentine) fell in love with the jailer’s daughter, but this was a secret because according to Christian laws, priests and monks were forbidden to marry or fall in love. But he is still regarded highly by the Christians because of his steadfastness in adhering to Christianity when the emperor offered to pardon him if he forsook Christianity and worshipped the Roman gods; then he would be one of his closest confidantes and he would make him his son-in-law. But Valentine refused this offer and preferred Christianity, so he was executed on 14 February 270 CE, on the eve of February 15, the festival of Lupercalis. So this day was named for this saint. In The Story of Civilization, it says that the Church devised a calendar in which every day was designated as the feast day of one of the saints. In England, Saint Valentine’s Day was to come at the end of winter. When that day came, according to them, the birds mated enthusiastically in the forests, and the young men would put flowers on the windowsills of the homes of the girls whom they loved. (The Story of Civilization by Will Durant, 15/23) The Pope designated the day of the death of Saint Valentine, February 14, 270 CE, as a festival of love. Who is the Pope? He is the “the archbishop, the supreme pontiff of the universal church, the successor of Saint Peter.” Look at this “archbishop” and how he prescribed for them the observance of this festival which was an innovation in their religion.
This reminds us of what Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):“They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allaah (by obeying them in things which they made lawful or unlawful according to their own desires without being ordered by Allaah)…”[al-Tawbah 9:31]
It was narrated that ‘Adiy ibn Haatim said: “I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) wearing a gold cross around my neck. He said, ‘O ‘Adiy, cast aside this idol.’ And I heard him reciting from Soorat Baraa’ah [al-Tawbah] (interpretation of the meaning): ‘They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allaah.’ He said: ‘They do not worship them, but when they permit them something they accept it as permitted, and when they forbid them something they accept it as forbidden.’” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi and it is a hasan hadeeth).
Among the most important symbols of this holiday:
1 – Expressing joy and happiness on this occasion, as on their other major festivals.
2 – Exchanging red roses, which are an expression of love, the “spiritual love” of the pagans or the “love” of the Christians. Hence it is known to them as the Feast of Lovers.
3 – The sending of greetings cards. On some of these cards are pictures of “Cupid”, who appears as a child with two wings, carrying a bow and arrows. This was the god of love of the pagan Romans – exalted be Allaah far above their fabrications and their association of others with Him.
4 – Exchange of words of love and desire in the greetings cards which they send to one another, in verse, prose and short phrases. Some of the cards contain comical pictures and funny words, and they often contain the phrase “be my Valentine”. This represents the Christian concept of this festival after it was taken from the pagan concept.
5 – In many western countries, parties are held during the day and in the evening, where there is mixing of men and women, and dancing. Many of them send gifts such as roses and boxes of chocolates to their wives, friends and those whom they love. Anyone who looks at what is said above about the myths surrounding this pagan festival will clearly understand the following:

Firstly:That its origins lie in the pagan beliefs of the Romans, where it was an expression of the spiritual love of the idols which they used to worship instead of Allaah. Whoever celebrates it is celebrating an occasion of shirk on which the idols are venerated.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Verily, whosoever sets up partners (in worship) with Allaah, then Allaah has forbidden Paradise to him, and the Fire will be his abode. And for the Zaalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers) there are no helpers”[al-Maa’idah 5:72]

Secondly:That the development of this festival among the Romans was connected to myths and legends which no sound mind can accept, let alone the mind of the Muslim who believes in Allaah and His Messengers (peace be upon them). Can anyone of sound mind believe that a she-wolf suckled the founder of the city of Rome and gave him strength and wisdom. Moreover, these myths go against the belief (‘aqeedah) of the Muslim because the One Who bestows strength and wisdom is the Creator, may He be glorified and exalted, not the milk of a she-wolf! The same applies to the myth that their idols could protect them from evil or keep wolves away from their flocks.

Thirdly:Among the ugly rituals of the Romans on this day was the sacrifice of a dog and a goat, the daubing of their blood onto two youths then washing the blood off with milk, etc… This is something that would cause revulsion in anyone of a sound nature, and it is unacceptable to the sound mind.

Fourthly:The connection between Saint Valentine and this festival has been questioned by many sources, and it considered to be far from definite. It would have been better for the Christians to reject this pagan festival in which they imitated the pagans. So how about us Muslims, who are commanded to be different from the Christians and the pagans before them?

Fifthly: this festival was denounced by the Christian clergy in Italy, the bastion of Catholicism, because it was spreading bad attitudes and having an adverse effect on the minds of young men and women.
So it is better for the Muslims to reject it, warn others against it and to fulfil their duty towards it of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil. Someone may ask: why do we Muslims not celebrate this festival?This question may be answered in several ways:

1. In Islam, the festivals are clearly defined and well established, and no additions or subtractions may be accepted. They are an essential part of our worship and there is no room for ijtihaad or personal opinion. They have been prescribed for us by Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Festivals are part of the laws, clear way and religious ceremonies of which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): ‘To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way[al-Maa’idah 5:48]‘For every nation We have ordained religious ceremonies which they must follow’[al-Hajj 22:67]like the qiblah (direction faced in prayer), prayer and fasting.
So there is no difference between joining them in their festival and joining them in their other rituals. Agreeing with the whole festival is agreeing with kufr. Agreeing with some of their minor issues is the same as agreeing with them in some of the branches of kufr. Festivals are the most distinctive things by which religions are told apart, so whoever celebrates their festivals is agreeing with the most distinctive rituals of kufr. Undoubtedly going along with them in their festivals may in some cases lead to kufr. Dabbling in these things, at the very least, is a sin.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) referred to the fact that every nation has its own festivals when he said: ‘Every nation has its own Eid and this is our Eid’ (al-Bukhaari , 952, Muslim, 1892).” (al-Iqtidaa’, 1/471-472)
Because Valentine’s Day goes back to Roman times, not Islamic times, this means that it is something which belongs exclusively to the Christians, not to Islam, and the Muslims have no share and no part in it. If every nation has its own festivals, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said – “Every nation has its Eid” (narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim) – then this means that every nation should be distinguished by its festivals. If the Christians have a festival and the Jews have a festival, which belongs exclusively to them, then no Muslim should join in with them, just as he does not share their religion or their direction of prayer.

2. Celebrating Valentine’s Day means resembling or imitating the pagan Romans, then the Christian People of the Book in their imitation of the Romans in something that was not a part of their religion. If it is not allowed to imitate the Christians in things that really are part of their religion – but not part of our religion – then how about things which they have innovated in their religion in imitation of idol-worshippers?! Imitating the kuffaar in general –whether they are idol-worshippers or People of the Book – is haraam, whether that imitation is of their worship – which is the most serious form – or of their customs and behaviour.

This is indicated by the Qur’aan, Sunnah and ijmaa’ (scholarly consensus):

(i) From the Qur’aan: Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "And be not as those who divided and differed among themselves after the clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment" [Aal ‘Imraan 3:105]

(ii) From the Sunnah: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” (narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawood, 4021)Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah) said: “This hadeeth at the very least indicates that it is haraam to imitate them, although the apparent meaning implies that the one who imitates them is a kaafir, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): ‘And if any amongst you takes them (as Awliyaa’ [friends and helpers]), then surely, he is one of them’ [al-Maa’idah 5:51].” (al-Iqtidaa’, 2/722-725)

(iii) With regard to ijmaa’, Ibn Taymiyan narrated that there was agreement that it is haraam to imitate the kuffaar in their festivals at the time of the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them), and Ibn al-Qayyim narrated that there was scholarly consensus on this point. (See al-Iqtidaa’, 1/454; Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 2/722-725)

Allaah has forbidden imitation of the kuffaar; He has described it as hateful and has warned against the consequences of that, in many aayahs, on many occasions, and in various ways, especially imitation of the kuffaar. Sometimes He does that by forbidding following them or obeying them; sometimes by warning against them or being deceived by their plots, following their opinions, or being influenced by their actions, conduct or attitude. Sometimes He does that by mentioning some of their characteristics that will put the believers off from them and from imitating them. Most of the warnings in the Qur’aan refer to the Jews and hypocrites (munaafiqeen), then the People of the Book in general and the mushrikeen. Allaah tells us in the Qur’aan that imitating and obeying the kuffaar may constitute riddah (apostasy). Allaah also forbids following them, obeying them, or following their whims and desires and bad characteristics.

Prohibition of imitating the kuffaar is one of the basic principles of sharee’ah. Allaah sent His Messenger with guidance and the true religion so that it might prevail over all other religions, and Allaah has perfected His religion for mankind: “This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion”[al-Maa’idah 5:3 – interpretation of the meaning].
Allaah has made Islam cover all (human) interests at all times and in all places and for all people. So there is no need to adopt the ways of the kuffaar or imitate them. Imitation causes defects in the Muslim personality, such as feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, weakness and defeatism, then it leads to shunning and keeping away from the path and laws of Allaah.

Experience has shown that admiration for the kuffaar and imitation of them causes people to love them, have complete faith in them and take them as friends and helpers, and to reject Islam and its people, its heroes, its legacy and values, and become ignorant of all of that.

3. The purpose of Valentine’s Day in these times is to spread love between all people, believers and disbelievers alike. Undoubtedly it is haraam to love the kaafirs.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “You (O Muhammad) will not find any people who believe in Allaah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allaah and His Messenger (Muhammad), even though they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred (people)…”[al-Mujaadilah 58:22]
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Allaah tells us that there is no believer who takes a kaafir as a close friend. Whoever takes a kaafir as a close friend is not a believer. Outward imitation may be taken as a sign of love, so it is haraam.” (al-Iqtidaa’, 1/490).

4. The love referred to in this festival ever since the Christians revived it is romantic love outside the framework of marriage. The result of that is the spread of zinaa (fornication and adultery) and immorality. Hence the Christian clergy opposed it at some stage and abolished it, then it came back again. Most of the young people celebrate it because it lets them fulfil their desires, without thinking of the issues of imitation and resembling that are involved. Look at this tragedy, where they go so far as to commit major sins such as zinaa and the like, by imitating the Christians in something which is part of their worship and which may even be kufr. Some people may wonder, and say, you mean to deprive us of love, but in this day and age we express our feelings and emotions – what is so wrong with that?

We say:

Firstly:It is a mistake to confuse what they call the day with what the real intentions are behind it. The love referred to on this day is romantic love, taking mistresses and lovers, boyfriends and girlfriends. It is known to be a day of promiscuity and sex for them, with no restraints or restrictions… They are not talking of pure love between a man and his wife or a woman and her husband, or at least they do not distinguish between the legitimate love in the relationship between husband and wife, and the forbidden love of mistresses and lovers. This festival for them is a means for everyone to express love.

Secondly:Expression of feelings and emotions is not a justification for the Muslim to allocate a day for celebration based on his own thoughts and ideas, and to call it a festival, or make it like a festival or Eid. So how about when it is one of the festivals of the kuffaar? In Islam, a husband loves his wife throughout the year, and he expresses that love towards her with gifts, in verse and in prose, in letters and in other ways, throughout the years – not just on one day of the year.

Thirdly:There is no religion which encourages its followers to love and care for one another more than Islam does. This applies at all times and in all circumstances, not just on one particular day. Indeed, Islam encourages us to express our emotions and love at all times, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If a man loves his brother, let him tell him that he loves him.” (narrated by Abu Dawood, 5124; al-Tirmidhi, 2329; it is saheeh). And he said: “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, you will not enter Paradise until you truly believe, and you will not truly believe until you love one another. Shall I not tell you of something that, if you do it, you will love one another? Spread (the greeting of) salaam amongst yourselves.” (Narrated by Muslim, 54)

Fourthly:Love in Islam is more general and more comprehensive; it is not restricted only to one kind of love, that between a man and a woman. There are many more kinds of love. There is the love of Allaah, love of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his companions (may Allaah be pleased with them), love for good and righteous people, love and support for the religion, love of martyrdom for the sake of Allaah. There are many kinds of love. It is a dangerous mistake to restrict this broad meaning to this one kind of love.

Fifthly:What these people think, that love before marriage is a good thing, is wrong, as has been proven in studies and by real-life experience. In a study conducted by the University of Cairo, on what they called “love marriage” and “traditional marriage”, the following was stated: In marriages which came after a love story, 88% of cases ended in failure, i.e., the success rate was not more than 12%. But in cases of what the study calls traditional marriage, 70% were successful. In other words, the success rate in marriages described as traditional was six times more than those described as “love marriages”. (Risaalah ila Mu’minah, p. 255). Now let us look at the state of affairs in western societies where Valentine’s Day is celebrated, and ask, what is the state of marriage relationships in those societies, and do these celebrations have any positive effect on interactions between husbands and wives? Their own studies and statistics show the following:

1- In an American study done in 1407 AH/1987 CE, it states that 79% of men beat their womenfolk, especially if they are married…! (al-Qabas newspaper, 15/2/1988).

2- A study carried out by the National American Office for Mental Health states the following:- 17% of women who go to emergency rooms are victims of beatings by their husbands or boyfriends.- 83% of those who have previously been admitted to hospital at least once for treatment of injuries, were admitted as a result of beating.The study added that there are more women who do not go to hospital for treatment, but deal with their injuries at home.

3- In a report of the Central American Agency for Examination [FPT] it states that every 18 seconds there is a woman who is beaten by her husband somewhere in America.

4- American Time magazine stated that around 4,000 wives out of approximately 6 million who are beaten die as a result of that beating.

5- In a German study it said that no less that 100,000 women annually are exposed to acts of physical or psychological abuse on the part of their husbands or the men they live with. The real figure may exceed one million.

6- In France, approximately 2 million women face beatings.

7- In Britain, in an opinion poll in which 7,000 women took part, 28% of them said that they had been subjected to attacks by their husbands and boyfriends. So how can we believe that Valentine’s Day is of any benefit to married couples? The truth is that it is a call for more permissiveness and immorality, and the forming of forbidden relationships. The husband who sincerely loves his wife does not need this holiday to remind him of his love. He expresses his love for his wife at all times and on all occasions.

The Muslim’s attitude towards Valentine’s Day From the above discussion, the Muslim’s attitude towards this holiday should be clear:

(1) He should not celebrate it, or join others in their celebrations of it, or attend their celebrations, because of the evidence quoted above which shows that it is forbidden to celebrate the festivals of the kuffaar. Al-Haafiz al-Dhahabi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “If the Christians have a festival and the Jews have a festival, which belongs only to them, then the Muslim should not join them in that, just as he does not join them in their religion or their direction of prayer.” (Tashabbuh al-Khasees bi Ahl al-Khamees, al-Hikmah magazine, 4/193). Because one of the basic principles of the pious predecessors was al-walaa’ wa’l-baraa’ (loyalty and friendship vs. disavowal and enmity), it is obligatory for everyone who says Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah Muhammad Rasool Allaah to follow this principle. So he should love the believers and he should hate the disbelievers, oppose them, and be different from them. He should know that that will bring immeasurable benefits, just as imitating them causes far greater harm. In addition to that, when the Muslims imitate them it makes the kuffaar happy and fills their hearts with joy, and it leads the Muslims to love the kuffaar in their hearts. If any Muslim girl who celebrates this holiday because she sees Margaret or Hilary or whoever doing so, this undoubtedly reflects the fact that she is following them and approves of their behaviour.
But Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):“O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as Awliyaa’ (friends, protectors, helpers), they are but Awliyaa’ of each other. And if any amongst you takes them (as Awliyaa’), then surely, he is one of them.
Verily, Allaah guides not those people who are the Zaalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers and unjust)”[al-Maa’idah 5:51] One of the bad effects of imitating them is that this makes it look as if there are more of them, as if they have more supporters and followers. How can it be appropriate for a Muslim who recites in every rak’ah, “Guide us to the Straight Way, The way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray” [al-Faatihah 1:6-

7 – interpretation of the meaning], to ask Allaah for guidance to the Straight Path of the believers and to keep him away from the path of those who have earned His anger and of those who went astray, then go and follow their path by choice and willingly? Statistics indicate that Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas in popularity. So it is clear that the Feast of Love is one of the festivals of the Christians and that it is second only to the festival of Christmas, the celebration of the birth of the Messiah. So it is not permissible for Muslims to join in the celebrations of this date, because we are commanded to differ from them in their religion, customs and other things that belong exclusively to them, as is stated in the Qur’aan and Sunnah and scholarly consensus.

(2) He should not help the kuffaar in their celebrations, because it is one of the rituals of kufr, so helping them and approving of what they do is helping them to manifest kufr and make it prevail, and approving of it. The Muslim’s religion does not allow him to approve of kufr or help others to manifest it and make it prevail. Hence Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “It is not permissible for the Muslims to imitate them in anything that is specifically part of their festivals, whether it is food, clothing, bathing, lighting fires, or changing a custom of daily life or worship… To sum up, they should not do any of the specific rituals of their (the kuffaar’s) festival on that day; rather the day of their festival should be just another ordinary day for the Muslim.” (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 25/329)

(3) He should not help any Muslims who celebrate it. Rather it is obligatory to denounce them, because for the Muslims to celebrate the festivals of the kuffaar is an evil action which must be denounced. Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah) said: “Just as we should not imitate them in their festivals, so too we should not help a Muslim to do that; rather he should be told not to do that.” (al-Iqtidaa’, 2/519-520)
Based on what Ibn Taymiyah said, it is not permissible for Muslim businessmen to deal in gifts for Valentine’s Day, whether they are particular kinds of clothes, red roses, or whatever. Similarly, it is not permissible for the one who is given a gift on this occasion to accept it, because by accepting it, he is showing approval of this holiday. One of the daa’iyahs said: we went to a flower shop in one of the Muslim countries and we were shocked to find it completely prepared for this occasion, with red carpets at the entrance, red placards and red decorations. We were met by one of the people who worked there, and we asked him why they had done so much to decorate the place for this occasion. He said that these preparations had begun early, and that there had been very many orders… Then he told us that he had been amazed by that, because he was a new Muslim who had left Christianity. He had known about that before he became Muslim, so how come his customers were Muslims and not Christians?! Other shops ran out of red roses, which were being sold at high prices. When one of the female daa’iyahs entered upon the female students who were gathered in the lecture hall, she was dismayed to find them all carrying something red. One had a red rose, another had a red scarf, or a red handkerchief, or a red bag, or red socks… Alas for the Muslim girls! Among the things that have been seen among the Muslims on this holiday:

1- All the female students agreeing with their friends to tie a red ribbon on the right wrist.

2- Wearing something red (a blouse, hair clip, shoes…). This reached such an extent last year that when we entered the classroom we found most of the students wearing it, as if it was a uniform.

3- Red balloons on which are written the words “I love you”. They usually bring these out at the end of the school day, in an area far from where the teachers can see them.

4- Writing names and hearts on their hands, or just initials.

5- Red roses are widespread on this day. Groups of girls entered their lecture rooms on February 14, each of them wearing something red, with red heart-shaped stickers on their faces, wearing red make-up. They started to exchange red-coloured gifts and kiss one another warmly. This happened in more than one university in the Muslim world, even in an Islamic university. In other words they were celebrating Saint Valentine’s Day.On that day, secondary schools (high schools) were astonished by the large numbers of female students who brought red roses of the finest quality, coloured their faces with red cosmetics, wore red earrings, and started to exchange gifts and warm greetings, in celebration of this day.
Al-Mawsoo’ah al-‘Arabiyyah (the Arabic Encyclopaedia) says that there are special customs for Valentine’s Day, such as printing love poems on cards to be given to relatives and those whom one loves. Some of them draw funny pictures on these cards, and the most common phrase written on them is “be my Valentine”. Parties are often held during the day, where they dance in their fashion. The Europeans still celebrate this holiday. In Britain, sales of flowers reached 22 million pounds. More chocolate is consumed on this day, and companies offer free messages on their Web sites to advertise those sites.Valentine’s Day has come to a number of Arab and Muslim countries, and has even reached the heartland of Islam (the Arabian Peninsula). It has reached societies which we had thought far removed from this insanity. In Riyadh the price of roses has risen in a crazy manner, so that a single rose costs 36 riyals (10 dollars), whereas before this day it cost 5 riyals. Gift shops and card shops compete in designing cards and gifts for this occasion, and some families hang up red roses in the windows of their homes on this day. In some of the Gulf countries, shopping centres and hotels have organized special celebrations of Valentine’s Day. Most of the stores and business places are covered with red. One of the finest Gulf hotels was full of balloons and dolls. Following the customs of the Feast of Love and the pagan myths, the restaurant put on a dramatic production with “Cupid”, the idol of love in the Roman myths, nearly naked and carrying a bow and arrow. He and his cohorts were looking to select “Mr. & Mrs. Valentine” from among the people present. Less expensive restaurants also celebrated this day in their own way. Some stores replaced their regular plates with heart-shaped plates, used red tablecloths and linens, and put a red rose on each table for the man to present to his beloved. The latest Valentine’s Day craze was started by the owner of a gift-shop in Kuwait. He imports (live) French rabbits which are small and have red eyes. He puts a necktie around the neck of each rabbit, and puts it in a small box to be given as a gift! We must oppose these things by all possible means. The responsibility rests with us all.

(4) We should not accept congratulations on Valentine’s Day, because it is not a holiday or an Eid for the Muslims. If the Muslim is congratulated on this occasion, he should not return the congratulations.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “With regard to congratulating others with the congratulations used by the kuffaar on such occasions, it is haraam by scholarly consensus, such as congratulating them on the occasion of their festivals or fasts, wishing them a blessed festival, etc. Even if the one who says this is free of kufr, it is still haraam. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross. It is even worse with Allaah and more hated by Him than congratulating someone for drinking alcohol, or committing murder or adultery, etc. Many of those who have no respect for religion do that, and they do not realize the abhorrence of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for sin, innovation (bid’ah) or kufr exposes himself to the hatred and wrath of Allaah.” (Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/441-442)

(5) We must explain the true nature of this holiday and other festivals of the kuffaar to those Muslims who have been deceived by them, and explain to them that it is essential for the Muslim to be distinguished by his religion and to protect his belief (‘aqeedah) from anything that may damage it. This should be done out of sincerity towards the ummah and in fulfilment of the command to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil. Fatwas of Muslim scholars concerning Valentine’s Day The Fatwa of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) Question:In recent times the celebration of Valentine’s Day has become widespread, especially among female students. This is one of the Christian holidays. They wear all red clothes, including their shoes, and they exchange red flowers… We hope that you can tell us the ruling on celebrating such holidays. What do you advise the Muslims to do with regard to such things?
May Allaah keep you and take care of you.He replied: Celebrating Valentine’s Day is not permitted for several reasons:

1 – It is an innovated celebration which has no basis in sharee’ah.

2 – It calls for people to keep their hearts and minds busy with these foolish things that go against the guidance of the pious predecessors (may Allaah be pleased with them), so it is not permitted on this day to do any of the customs associated with that holiday, whether that be connected to food, drink, clothing, exchanging gifts or anything else. The Muslim should be proud of his religion and not be so weak of character that he follows everyone who makes a noise. I ask Allaah to protect the Muslims from all temptations, visible and invisible, and to take care of us and give us strength. And Allaah knows best. The Fatwa of Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Jibreen concerning celebrating this day He was asked: the celebration of the so-called Feast of Love (Valentine’s Day) has become widespread among our boys and girls. This (Valentine) is the name of a saint who is venerated by the Christians, and this day is celebrated every year on February 14. They exchange gifts and red roses, and they wear red clothes. What is the ruling on celebrating this day, or exchanging gifts on this day? May Allaah reward you with good.He answered:
Firstly, it is not permissible to celebrate such innovated festivals, because this is a newly-invented innovation (bid’ah) which has no basis in sharee’ah. So it is included in the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), who said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours (i.e., Islam) which is not part of it, will have it rejected” – i.e., it will be thrown back upon the one who innovated it.
Secondly, this involves imitating and resembling the kuffaar in venerating that which they venerate and respecting their festivals and holidays, and imitating them in some of their religious practices. In the hadeeth it says, “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.”
Thirdly, the things that result from that, such as partying, idle play, singing, music, insolence, impertinence, unveiling, wanton display, mixing of men and women, and the appearance of women before non-mahrams, etc., are all things which are haraam, or are means which lead to immorality. So it should not be justified as an excuse for relaxation and entertainment, or claims that they will not overstep the mark, because that is not right. The one who cares about himself should keep away from sin and all that leads to it.On this basis, it is not permissible to sell these gifts and roses, if one knows that the purchaser will celebrate these holidays, give them as gifts or otherwise use them to honour these days, so that the vendor will not be sharing in the guilt of the one who does this innovated action. And Allaah knows best. The Fatwa of the Standing Committee The Standing Committee was also asked a question about this holiday:Some people celebrate the fourteenth day of February of each Christian year as the Day of Love (Valentine’s Day), where they exchange gifts of red roses and wear red clothes, and congratulate one another. Some the bakeries make sweets that are red in colour, with hearts drawn on them, and some stores have advertisements for their products that are especially for this day.
What is your opinion?
The Committee replied:It is haraam for the Muslim to help with this festival or any other haraam celebration in any way, be it food, drink, buying, selling, manufacturing, corresponding, advertising or in any other way, because all of that constitutes helping one another in sin, transgression and disobedience towards Allaah and His Messenger, and Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severe in punishment”[al-Maa’idah 5:2]
So the Muslim must adhere to the Qur’aan and Sunnah in all his affairs, especially at times of fitan (temptation and tribulation) and when corruption is widespread. He should be smart and be careful to avoid falling into the misguidance of those who have earned the anger of Allaah and of those who went astray, and of the evildoers who hope not for reward from Allaah and do not show any respect towards Islam. The Muslim should seek refuge with Allaah and ask for His guidance and for help to adhere steadfastly to it, because none can guide except Allaah and none can make us remain steadfast except Him. And Allaah is the Source of strength. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions, and grant them peace. Al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah li’l-Buhooth al-‘Ilmiyah wa’l-Iftaa’ Finally, we offer our brothers the following advice:

1 – They should urge the khateebs of the mosques to tell the people and warn them. They should explain this matter to the imaam of the mosque and tell him when this day is approaching. They should give him a copy of the fatwas of the Standing Committee and of Shaykh Muhamamd ibn Saalih ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah forgive him). Every person should make the effort to contact the imaam of his mosque and tell him about this. Certainly there are imaams of mosques among the brothers so perhaps the responsibility of telling them about this will be discharged when they read this article.

2 – Every teacher should explain the reality of this holiday and warn his or her students about it. They will be answerable before Allaah tomorrow. They should explain that it is haraam by quoting the Fatwaa of the Standing Committee. All that should begin a week beforehand in order to be of any benefit.

3 – Those who go around and check on people and the headquarters of organizations should be notified of any shops which are selling gifts for this day or which put up pictures showing what the gift is or how it is wrapped.

4 – Each person should make his family members aware of this. Whoever has sisters in school or brothers should tell them and warn them about this matter, because many people are unaware of this holiday and what it means. We ask Allaah to protect the Muslims from the harm of temptations and from the evil of their own selves and the plots of their enemies, for He is the All-hearing Who answers prayers. May Allaah send blessings upon His slave and Messenger Muhammad, and upon all his family and companions.
http://www.islam-qa.com/topics/hobb/Valentines_eng.html

Back to School

2007-01-09T08:02:00.000+05:00

After waiting for around 1 month and 8 days i finally got my chance to go to the university again! I was so overwhlemed with joy at the very thought of it that I actually took a bus which dropped me off at NED and took a walk till inside of my department in KU. It was fun. Most of the time when I'm walking all by myself, I usually think about serious things happening around me, my family or politics but yesterday, I actually sang and smiled to myself while walking all the way.

Meeting my friends, hugging them and glad to see them. people gazed at us as if we were some overly excited kids but hey! trust me once you get invovled with university, the very thought of leaving it leaves you in destitute. We had CHAAT and coffee; coffee because everyone was freezing in the open while the cold wind blew about us! (it wasn't that bad but it was COLD)

EEEEE!!! I passed! I came unscathed through the 4rth semester and now have to deal with two more before I get to walk "the walk". (not the walk of fame or shame... rather the walk to my future home.hehe)

And we socialised with the new crew that came aboard. We were quite chirpy then and I'm not so sure about the rest of the semester. Hopefully, we'll do okay.

I'm getting late for the second day... lol

The Al Qaeda tape

2006-09-08T19:57:00.000+05:00

Somethings in life connect in the most bizzare way and yet the puzzles fall into places but I guess it needs a brain to figure out what actually is connecting.

Just after President Bush came into power, we had sept 11 attacks! Why didn't this all happen in someone else's era?! Oh! maybe God wanted it to happen this way because it may reveal something really important that is not visible to the naked eye.

Then Boom! before you know it they're all over Afghanistan. Has anyone ever wondered that when Taliban were ruling Afghanistan, growing poppy was a crime and Taliban eradicated the whole culture of growing poppies from the Afhan soil but hey all those addicts out there... Now poppy is grown legally in Afghanistan, is being smuggled by "some people" to the West and is sold to the general public in dollars and pounds for more than 100% of the original amount! But then who's gaining from it? YOu? or you? obviously not me!

Then opps! Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and I wonder why they were never found? Why when attacked by the coalition forces, Saddam's army didn't use those bombs? Maybe Saddam wanted to use those bombs on something more worthwhile, something more worthy than his country, his people and even his own life!

Well... Forget everything... Why is that whenever the elections are closeby, the video of AlQaeda planning the Sept 11 attacks is released? Maybe it wants more of Bush in power, but why? Maybe the video just wants us to revise what happened to US or maybe it's just a free ticket to eradicate the non-whites off this earth. oh well... we'll see that sooner or later.

Our Hero

2006-09-01T07:19:00.001+05:00

The list of heroes of Pakistan can never be completed without the name Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. One person who made it possible for us to dream greater dreams and hope that nothing in this world is impossible.
The one person, who worked day and night to make this country proud of itself, to provide this country with the ability to stand up to it's huge neighbouring enemy who has been hostile towards it even before the partition and assisted in further dismemberment of this piece of land.

The so-called protectors of the right

2006-08-22T20:53:00.000+05:00

It's not I who's speaking as for now, they themselves are loud enough to be heard! but as It says that they hear it but they don't choose to listen, they watch it but they refuse to see...and they definitely refuse to understand... their minds are stamped!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749566.html

U.S. assures Israel it will not be forced to withdraw from Shaba
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Eli Ashkenazi, and Agencies

An agreement reached between Israel and the United States on the disputed Shaba Farms area, located on Israel's border with Lebanon, enabled a breakthrough in reaching a cease-fire resolution at the United Nations on Friday.In letters exchanged between U.S. and Israeli leaders, U.S. officials assured Israel that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be authorized to determine whether the area belongs to Lebanon or Syria, but that the future status of the territory would only be determined in negotiations between Israel and Farms' rightful owners.A senior government source said that Israel would not be obligated to withdraw from Shaba Farms, even if Annan's investigation determines that they belong to Lebanon.

In the negotiations that preceded the cease-fire deal, Lebanon demanded that Israel hand over Shaba Farms as a "deposit" to the UN, with the small strip of territory later to be given to either Lebanon or Syria, according to the results of Annan's investigation.But Olmert strongly opposed the Lebanese demand, telling U.S. officials that Israel viewed the Shaba Farms as part of the Golan Heights, which was captured by Israel from Syria in 1967. He said that a withdrawal from part of the Golan would require a majority of 61 members of Knesset - a majority he does not have - or a national referendum. In 1981, the Knesset voted to extend Israeli law to the Golan.With Olmert refusing to budge on the Shaba issue, the UN Security Council announced that Annan would determine the exact delineation of area of the Farms and present his findings to the Security Council within 30 days.When Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000, the UN determined that the Farms were Syrian territory and that their future therefore had to be determined in negotiations between Jerusalem and Damascus.A government source said Friday that Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had agreed to the UN cease-fire resolution following last-minute changes to the text. "The various key ministers have voiced satisfaction at the amendments made over the last few hours," the source said. "For implementation by Israel, this now requires a cabinet vote. The idea is that the military offensive will continue until then."Earlier Friday, Olmert issued the order for an expanded ground operation after diplomatic efforts at the UN appeared to be faltering. Another stumbling block was Lebanon's opposition to a more robust contingent of UNIFIL troops and to granting UNIFIL the authority to enforce the cease-fire.Olmert thanks BushOlmert thanked U.S. President George W. Bush Friday for his work on the UN Security Council resolution to stop violence between Israel and Hezbollah, the White House said in recounting the first direct talks between the two leaders since the fighting began.The eight-minute phone call with Bush at his ranch in Texas was initiated by Olmert, said Frederick Jones, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House."The president expressed his view that the crisis was provoked by Hezbollah with the support of Iran and Syria and that we need to ensure that the reach of the Lebanese government extends throughout the country," Jones said.

2006-08-21T14:53:00.000+05:00

The sound of the cries reaches your ears and the pictures of the dead and wounded dances in front of your eyes on your television screens. Children being killed and their bodies being scattered around trigger in your mind the very thought that what if they were yours?

Civillian buildings reduced to rubble, children's voices died beneath that debris and the remaining mourn the death of their loved ones, the cruelty that was sent to them from the sky by the Israeli airforce. Israel, defending it's right to exist?! on what grounds?!

The satellite positioning missles why only attacked a civilian residency in Qana? Why attacked the buses and cars of innocent civillians who were going for safer places? The Israeli genecide against the lebanese people just because their democracy is not in favour of Israel's interests?( Hezbullah being part of their parliament!) Same is the case with Palestinians... They are being punished for practising democracy and choosing Hamas (the freedom of expression I would say)... just because they can't make the Palestinians take back all the votes, they nab the memebers of parliament and send them off to their jails to rott... more than 9,000 innocent civillians are rotting in the jails of Israel but when you nick one or two of their soldiers, they destroy your right to breathe in a uranium free air!!!

Fundamentalist!!!

2006-04-21T10:16:00.000+05:00

Yesturday during a seminar in the I.R department at KU, the honourable spreaker Mr Ikram-ul-Majeed Sehgal, actually said that wearing hijab and wearing ur trousers above your ankles(for men) are minor issues!!! And I couldn't controll the sarcastic smile that formed under my naqab (veil... covering of the face)
What is Islam? Who is a Muslim? Well... Islam is a complete code of life and a Muslim is a person who submits himself to Allah alone and bows before Him alone and when you come under the fold of Islam you're bound to live your life according to the Quran and Sunnah(practices and saying of the Prophet Mohammad saw). So when the Quran says that you have to cover yourself up, then there's NO room for questioning, exceptions or there is no saying NO to all those orders and rules set by Quran and Sunnah.

" And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons..."[Al-Qur’an 24:31]

This is a common mistake people make and say out loud in authority that wearing hijab and naqab are of no importance in Islam but then do Quraniic verses hold no importance in the eyes of such people?
We are labelled as FUNDAMENTALISTS and I'm proud to be called a fundametalist as well. I have no right to distort the Quranic teachings, to disobey the laws of Allah and to disregard His sayings and orders.

Hope!

2006-04-18T22:25:00.001+05:00

The city was on fire! Everywhere you looked, you saw something burning, u heard people screaming and then suddenly everything went black!
The lights revived and life got back to normal. Things got smoooth once again...

This is Karachi. We have experienced the worst violence over the years. People have gone used to bomb blasts, strikes, ethnic violence and then a prolonged holiday because haalaat bohot kharab hain but the same people bring back the life in the deserted streets of Karachi. Even when it's a bloodied strike you will see kids playing in the streets in the evening. Even when the streets are haunted by the shrieking sounds of gunfire, you'll see people laughing on lame jokes. This is Karachi, these are Karachiites... nomatter how bad things are there's still is hope! There still is light, colour and faith that keeps them from going insane...

My hard Work!

2006-03-30T20:03:00.000+05:00

Though the blogs have been banned in this part of the world and the friend who died asking me to join it has left it, im standing by it, hoping that one day... someday.. i'll get my page back. The page on which I really worked( the truth is.. all is written on the spot.. no pre writings). The page that actuallly reminds me that.. maybe.. someday.. I'll write something worthwhile!(My writing skills' teacher will love me for that!)
I ain't going anywhere.. wanna stick to this page!

Bunking again!!!

2006-03-01T19:57:00.000+05:00

Bunking again, but today there was a reason... we were soo fed up with the monotonous writing skills class that four of us bunked it and went to take philosophy's class of Mr. W.S.
To our surprise we didn't see an old man, who wears thick glasses with strict face and thunderous voice which could kill anyone who has sensitive ears. The teacher was quite young and yet very knowledge-able and one of those who make the outsiders feel at home.

Well... What we did was the Difference Principle of John Rawls...which stated that;
1. Equal Freedom of all
2 (a) Greatest benefit goes to the least advantaged section of the society
2(b) Equal oppurtunity to compete.

I'm not going into each detail but this is what we learned .. the first point he suggested actually refers to the freedom to choose from the various choices available to them. Meaning the conception of the "the good" they have can be anything from counting the stars to doing research on drug abuse. Everyone has the freedom to think what's good and what's not and they are given freedom to exercise their own conceptions.
The person who restricts your freedom, or the concept that restricts your freedom.. you tend to run away from that. for example, people idealise players, actors, etc. because they don't question you or restricts you from doing whatever you want to do... but if you idealise a Prophet, you'll have to abide by the things he's gonna ask you and practice what he tells you to... in other words RESTRICTING your FREEDOM of choices... ( the teacher also said that this is the main reason that people in Europe/west don't go to church that much.. because it restricts your freedom).
Anyway, relating it with today's cartoon controversy, the cartoon was a FREEDOM of EXPRESSION to the West BUT what about that Irish dude who's sent to jail for denying haulocast.. why wasn't he not given his right... in the broader perspective the freedom of expression of that Irish was restraining the accumulation of capitalism.. that's why... (I'm thinking of changing my major from English to Philosophy..lol)...
Going ahead... Every conception of "good" is not recognizable.. Who are we to judge what's good or not.. isn't this what Iblees did. He was asked to bow before Adam and he didn't claiming that he'll do what he thinks is right and not what God has asked him to. The concept of determining what's right and what's wrong by an INDIVIDUAL is what Ibleesiyat is...

I'm signing off with the last thought that I have... Allah has provided us with the best of laws for everything.. and last but not the least a question to ponder on by Mr. F."Can human beings ever come up with the holistic understanding of life that comprehensively takes care of all the facets of life?"
Think about it!!!

Around Karachi!!!

2006-02-28T15:06:00.000+05:00

Last night, We (my mum, brother and sister and me) went all the way to see the fawwara (fountain)... the one which i presume to be the same as the one in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Well.. venturing through the streets and main roads of this marvellous city, you come across a whole variety of buildings.. u go passing houses then flats, even Wedding lawns, over the flyovers.. passing Jahangir Road to main Saddar...

Now, Saddar is one place where you find the markings of colonialism in Karachi. The Municipal Building, State Bank of Paksitan.. to the famous Tower and Port Qasim Trust.. there are soo many which are centuries old for example St. Joseph School and College, Frere Hall, Hindu Gymkhana.. etc etc.. anyway, so while roaming around Saddar, you'll see these amazing old colonial-style-built buildings.. which are covered with carbon(the pollution mainly) and still holds a remarkable beauty in them... anyway, moving ahead towards I.I.Chundrigar Road, you'll experience the modern architecture.. with Habib Bank Plaza, Al-Falah Bank and not to forget MCB Tower(tallest building in Pakistan).. and PSO building.. which indeed is remarkable!

Anyway, from the uneven broken roads to mouth watering smooth roads and from the highway to the streets.. Karachi city is what we need!!! With all it's eccentricities and everything.. it's the dearest to those who live here.. Karachi!!! you rock!!!

Some Signs of the Day of Judgement!!!

2006-02-23T06:29:00.000+05:00

Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said:

" The Hour ( Day of Resurrection) will not be established till:

1.two big groups fight each other whereupon there will be a great number of casualties on both sides and they will be following one and the same religious doctrine
2.about thirty Dajjals(liars) appear, and each of them will claim that he is Allah's Messenger,
3.the religious knowledge is taken away(by the death of religious scholars)
4.earthquakes will increase in number
5.time will pass quickly
6.Al-Fitan (trials and afflictions etc.) will appear,
7.Al-Harj,(i.e. killing) will increase
8. wealth will be in abundance - so abundant that a wealthy person will worry lest nobody should accept his Sadaqa(alms giving),and whenever he will present it to someone, that person (to whom it will be offered) will say, "I'm not in need of it"
9.the people compete one another in constructing high buildings
10. a man when passing by a grave of someone will say,"Would that I were in his place"
11. and till sun rises from the west. So when the sun will rise and the people will see it, they will all believe (embrace Islam) but that will be the time when:(As ALlah said)'No good will it do a person to believe then, if he or she believed not before, nor earn good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his or her Faith.'(V.6-158)
And the Hour will be established while two men spreading garment in front of them but they will not be able to sell it, nor fold it up; and the Hour will be established when a man has milked his she-camel and has taken away the milk but he will not be able to drink it; and the Hour will be established before a man repairing a tank (for his livestock) is able to water his animals in it; and the Hour will be established when a person has raised a morsel of food to his mouth but will not be able to eat it."

Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Messenger said,' Soon the river Euphrated will disclose it's treasure(the mountain) of gold, so whoever present at that time should not take anything of it'

I'm Back!!!

2006-02-21T07:08:00.000+05:00

The people screaming with pain is what I hear everyday deep down inside me. That is the only thing I've been hearing since a very long time. The pain, sorrows and injustices that my people are subjected to are unspokenable. Such hatred towards the Muslim World! Such oppression!
The so called "civilized" west doesnot even know what that word actually means. The West creates such a hue and cry when even a cat gets killed but Muslims... the haulocast against the Muslims is on its peak but I guess those human rights activists need some some sleep in order to work better! The scattered bodies, the lost generation, painful living and the racist acts... I guess West has yet to come out of the shell of racism. It's ironic that the people who consider us, Muslims, "extremist" are putting up the best examples of "extremism" themselves and later they wonder,"why do these Muslims hate us?!" Are they blind?! Or they don't have brains to think?!
The pain wthat I feel inside, the restlesness in my heart and the screams that arise from my soul... Who'll do justice to those who have lost their lives, who are crippled for life? or those who may never be able to come out of the mental traumas they are suffering from?!
At last, my forehead touches the ground facing the Ka'aba... the burns soothes, the chaos inside my subsides and all is left is peace and tranquillity...

As the Quran said, "Verily in remembrance of Allah, do hearts find rest"

Today's scenario is chaotic but there's that hope that Quran provided us with more than fourteen hundred years ago... the Hour shall come and Justice will prevail!!!

United Nation's Role

2006-02-13T17:43:00.001+05:00

United Nation's real role according to a friend's younger brother...

1. When two developing countries are fighting... UN invovles a big country to deal with them.. resulting in total chaos!!

2. When one developing and one developed country are invovled in something, UN says alot of stufff BUT doesn't have the power to make a right decision and thus the Developed country destroys the developing one... and then UN arrives asking the world to give loans to that poor country and soooo... the developing country owes huge sum of money to the Developed nations!!!

3. When two Super Powers are in a war... UN becomes invisible!!!

UN ... it doesnt matter if it exist or not.. it certainly ain't yeilding any positive results...

IQBAL

2006-02-12T12:34:00.000+05:00

My blog will always be incomplete without Iqbal's poetry...

"azaadi-e-afkaar se hai unki tabahi
rakhte nahin jo fikr-o-tadabbur ka saleeqa
ho fikr agar khaam tu aazadi-e-fikr
insaan ko haiwaan banane ka tareeqa"

Another verse...

"jo mein sar basajda hua kabhi tu zameen se aane lagi sadaa
tera dil tu hai sanam aashna tujhe kia milega namaz mein"

at another place he writes...

" masjid tu bana di shab bhar mein eeman ki hararat walon ne
mun apna purana paapi hai barson mein namazi ban na saka"

"tar aankhein ho tu jaati hain, per kia lazzat iss ronay mein
jab khoon-e-jigar ki aamezish se ashk-e- piyaazi ban na saka"

-IQBAL

Double Standards!!!

2006-02-10T22:32:00.000+05:00

I was just going through Mr. Khalid Baig's article and guess what i just found out...

The Danish constitution constitutes of these Articles... just take a look...

"Section 266b of the Danish Criminal Code provides:
Any person who, publicly or with the intention of wider dissemination, makes a statement or imparts other information by which a group of people are threatened, insulted or degraded on account of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, or sexual inclination shall be liable to a fine or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 2 years.

And its section 140, which deals with blasphemy, reads:
Those who publicly mock or insult the doctrines or worship of any religious community that is legal in this country, will be punished by a fine or incarceration for up to 4 month."

Do I need to say more?! Do these rules mean anything to them?! Are Muslims not included in the Human Race, where these rules are applicable?! I'm sure if a Muslim would have even uttered a word against them in public, he would have been dealt with strictly!
Why not consider the whole act against the Muslim World?! Why not boycott their stuff?! That's our freedom of expression.. why can't we choose to eat whatever we want to eat?! Why all the freedom is only for the West and not the Muslims?! Why when a nun is covered, she has devoted her self to the religion and when a Muslim woman is covered she needs to be liberated?!

Hum k iss ehed mein jeene ka gumaan rakhte hain...

2006-01-29T08:42:00.000+05:00

Ugly Realities that we either don't want to know or we are not allowed to know...

1. The donors conference was actually a LOANERS conference! ( the World is loaning money to Pakistan to counter the situation in the earthquake stricken areas!

2.America - our ally?! think again!!!

3.More than 5,000 NATO and U.S military forces are in Pakistan in earthquake region which is nearest to the Nuclear Assets of Pakistan...( wonder what they are doing there?! and wonder why aren't we informed?!)

4. Why Americans are after Iran for their nuclear technology when they are signing pacts with India to help them build nuclear weapons?!

5. When Iranian Prime minister has said that they are using nuclear technology to produce power are being convicted of making nuclear wepaons?! The former Indian president said that if they would have to use nuclear wepaons against Pakistan, they will use it, is still trusted and being helped by America?!

6. Why just target Muslim World for having nuclear assets while India,Israel and other western countries including America are enjoying the Nuclear Technology..( dont tell me that Muslims are not responsible.. we've seen the US's responsible behaviour since sept 11. We know that innocent civillians are targetted both in Afghanistan and Iraq)

7. Why arent American's apologizing for attacking Bajuar Agency and killing innocent people, including women and children?! Is Pakistan ever going to take a stand for such harsh treatment against U.S?!

8.Why aren't Muslims doing ANYTHING to help their brothers around the world when Westerners are actuallly hunting them down?! Aren't we supposed to be a protective wall for the weak?! Or are we soo engrossed in this material world and worldly benefits that we don't want to see their sufferrings?!

Though the list goes on and on and on BUT then... this is just the beginning...

2006-01-20T07:12:00.000+05:00

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.
It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

-Emily Dickinson

Back To School!!!

2006-01-16T17:32:00.000+05:00

Okay, i feel reallly lazy and tired! seriously, after these long vacations, where nights and days lost their true meanings, who wants to wake up early and drag herself to universtiy?! But it's good that we're back, atleast my mum's going to be happy that we sleep at night and don't have a reason to sleep till later afternoon!
It seems as if aliens reside in our university as newcomers are what we see throughout the day! Just walking across the lobby takes half an hour, you get to meet someone or the other you really know and they inquiring about ur result, timetable, new teachers( mostly how lucky or unlucky we are to have such and such teachers! the secret: everyone loves the corporate staff!! we miss u missss!!!)
The first class of Literary Forms- u miss your 1st yr's teachers. and somehow or the other you see your grades drowning in the gutter even before you enter your class! I hope we do get good marks in this year as well. The econ teacher is still the same, that's what i've heard BUT.. I don't want HIM!!!
Anyway, the best thing about going back is, you can have as many eik-rupay-kay-samosay as you want! Chemistry-ki-chaat, Irtiqa's tea parties and long walks to get to the silver jubilee gate that you'll hate in summers.. OH! yeah! the washrooms are being renovated! cool! (Irtiqa, I'm sorry but how could i not mention the WASHROOMS!!!lol)
Back to university!! Life sure is beautifull!

Traffic Jams

2006-01-05T14:50:00.000+05:00

Call me Crazy but I love traffic jams... the long drives that become truely frustrated for my brother, who's driving, but they are a dream come true for me. Just imagine sitting on the back seat, not worried what the world around you is upto.. not paying heed to what ur siblings are talking about.. having all the seat to yourself, looking outside yet not looking outside making your eyes seem to be distant from the world in which pain and misery is lasting. The eyes lost in the dreaminess of the creation that the poet creates with his poetry, but the world a mind can create is soo much more beautiful in every sense of the word, so much more fulfilling. It seems as if the time has frozen.. nothing's moving, yet YOUR world is progressing, yet the seeds that u once sow are blossoming into beautiful flowers, and yet you learn to live again as an innocent child that has just learnt how to say "mama".
Taffic moves and you reach home, the world you once created sitting in that car is lost but then you will learn to comb a world of your own again, creating all those imagery in your mind again with a different perspective and ofcourse with a different creative line!

Past

2005-12-22T14:40:00.000+05:00

The depressing self-pitying habit may lead to ur past.. remembering moments that weren't a part of the perfectness that u always wanted in life..Why is it hard to remember the happiest moments yet so hard to forget the dimmest, depressing moments.. specially the moments when you've lost someone.. the moments that remind you that things never go the way you want them to be.. how many times do we regret so many things in life.. but we fail to realize that there was never any other way, our life was supposed to be the way we lived it.. the maybe-s may have been there but to regret.. to regret is like you are questioning ur past.. the past that cannot be changed.. Things do not happen without our Lord's permission.. why question?! We do have our say in things but then there are soo many things that ALlah decides for us in our best interest.. Hope Iwont regret being ... so many things that I am.. so many things that i've decided to do.. so many things i am not doing..
Ending ona happy note.. life's like that.. enjoy doing whatever you do( in bounds.. ) and have fun!

Flashbacks!!!

2005-12-20T20:31:00.000+05:00

Get together... hmmm... brought back so many happy memories from school life.. all those wonderful days, beautiful chilly mornings.. and HOMEWORKS that we used to do in the recess... lol.. all those stupid stuff we did.. remembering all those childish things we wrote to each other, even those stupid autographs that meant soo much but now shows how immaturely innocent we were..lol.( somehow immature doesn't fit here.. we weren't immature but our sentiments were very innocent and childish)
The friends that still mean sooo much though everyone of us is at a different institute.. *sigh*.. I actually what life is from them.. these friends actually taught me how to move ahead in life leaving the Dark and Mysterious self behind...lol.
I guess life has to go on.. u meet some, stick with some and then end up with some.. but then i'm glad i came across all those amazing people in my life.. it wouldn't have been a LIFE without them..

Lost World

2005-12-17T19:31:00.001+05:00

Is it? I mean are we reallly living in a lost world?! just think about it... people don't have any idea where they are heading.. they have lost their values... their thoughts do not go beyong the material world.. the spiritually chaste class is working for money!!.. they don't have a clue to their own identity... they use words of which they don't even know the meaning.. the "cool" factor involves every immoral thing or state a human could achieve.. If u wear clothes that show almost all ur body, u r the fashion DIVA!

I guess we are the lost generation not Generation Y.. Well.. all we can hope for is that people may realize what is the purpose of their lives.. A little directed thinking can do wonders!!!

AAAHHH!!! such optimism.. naeema sure is going to laugh on me!!!