Sammilogger

Safai Nisaf Imaan Hai. This is an injunction of Islam. We all know how far we are in this most important aspect of human life. We should be still indebted for great services of ex German Ambassador in Islamabad, Mr Martin Kobler. He stood out amongst diplomatic fraternity due to his love and concern for people of Pakistan. And here we are getting a wake up call from Dr Jens Jokisch, Charge D’ Affaires in embassy of this great nation. I salute his courage and concern that he along with his son opted to go to streets of Islamabad holding a garbage bag and broom in his hands. I at least have my head dropping down in shame that an attribute which we should be teaching to other religions is being taught to us by a friend of Pakistan. I once heard from an elder that if we allocate 100 marks to life, 50 should go to cleanliness as Islam itself says Safai Nisaf Imaan Hai. 25 should go to education as Prophet PBUH said seek education even if you have to go to China. 15 should be allocated to our dealings with each other and 10 to Faith. He said if you allocate these marks to Westerners and Muslims. In cleanliness Westerners will get 45 and we shall stand at 5. In education they will get 20 and we get 5. In dealings they get 10 and we get 5 and in faith they get 0 and we get 10. Over all they will secure 75 and we would be at 25. Isn’t it that our Islam is confined to rituals. We still believe we shall pass in test of life by getting full marks in faith ie 10. Indeed we shall not be forgiven for merely full marks in faith.

A friend of mine once said to me that there are a lot many Think Tanks in Pakistan, we should also have Action Tank. I wish we could join hands to make first ever Action Tank in Islamabad. A Cleanliness Squad. I shall love to follow example of German Ambassador and devote some time in daily or weekly routine to do brooming in streets of Islamabad. Please raise hands.

Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is turning out to be centre stage of rivalry for 21 Century as rightly envisaged by Robert D Kaplan. Since early years of century we are witnessing a Sino- Indian rivalry in IOR with overhang of the US; the sole superpower. China laid out a strategy of String of Pearls which was countered by India’s Necklace of Diamonds. In fact there is a ‘Battle’ for ports going on in IOR. China and India have port each in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Maldives and Seychelles. Duqm Port of Oman is with Indian where as nearby Djibouti is with China. Gawadar is with China and Chabahar with India. Rise of China is being contested by the US and India. Thucydides’ trap is apparently in play which projects likelihood of a conflict once a rising power challenges an established power. China is waxing while US is waning. World should realise that an agitated, reactive and frustrated sole superpower led by a mercurial leader is extremely dangerous. What recently unfolded in Sri Lanka should serve as an eye opener. Trail of involvement of India in the Easter Carnage and reports of US seeing Sri Lanka as future bastion of ISIS have a lot to tell. Sri Lanka and it’s Hambantota Port are strategically most important for contestation between US and China in IOR. US and Israel are also gaining foothold in Oman which is directly opposite Gawadar. Geopolitics is getting uglier in IOR.

As I reflect more on my recent blog, “My Description of Life”, I feel life gives us an innings to play. It presents us certain choices, opportunities and challenges. It leaves to us, how we play our innings ie like Shahid Afridi (bold and aggressive) or like a player who is timid and over calculative. It presents us friends and rivals. It exposes us to good as well as evil. It leaves us to pick gold or trash. Modern life is akin to travelling on a bullet train with quick glimpses of so many things. It’s our choice what we pick and what we leave as a trash. Life will exactly become something based on choices we make. We can make it a blessing or a curse. We come across people, good and bad. Good people teach us how to behave and bad people teach us, how not to behave. Choice still stays with us. However, there is also juxtaposition of our destiny. All is not based on our decisions. Taking a cue from James Redfield’s Celestine Prophecy: An Experiential Guide, no coincidence in life is free of a design. All our encounters and experiences are based on a design; which seems to be nothing but our destiny. So thereby a question, how much is the liberty of action we are blessed? Answer to this question was once given by Hazrat Ali KUW, when he asked the questioner to lift his one foot and then his second. Obviously he could not lift his second foot. Hazrat Ali then explained these are bounds of our liberty of action. To say the least, life is an enigma, hard to describe but at the same time a beautiful gift of Mother Nature.

Islam is the youngest religion of the world. Concept, prophet and book are the best. Why is it so that practitioners are not the best? Where have we gone wrong? Role of religion in a human being’s life in Pakistan is 93 percent which is highest in the world where as, it is lowest in France at 13 percent. By this analogy our society should be 7 times better than that of France, whereas we are not. Basic instincts of all humans are common so these can be set aside. Is it that we have not been taught true essence and spirit of Islam? Is it that we have sublet Islam to obscurantist maulvis? We have confined beautiful concepts of Islam to mere rituals. Sacrifice is confined to slaughtering of animal, whereas while kissing Hajrae Aswad we don’t want to sacrifice. Cleanliness, discipline and mannerism are confined to the mosque. Outside mosque everything is low. Islam is confined to Kalima, prayers and rituals. Hajj is an event which should inculcate, patience, discipline, sacrifice and forbearance. If these were there, there would be no stampedes; unfortunate hallmark of this event. I feel we even misuse our faith. While venturing on a pursuit we stay low on hard work and hedge behind wish of Allah. At the end of pursuit we intentionally do not admit our short comings and find solace in, ‘this was wish of Allah’. On these accounts, Westerners make fun of us. I am reminded of an author who was once travelling by PIA from Peshawar to Kabul to interview Osama bin Laden. He narrated in his book that on taking off, there was a recitation from Holy Quran and responsibility to take the flight safely to destination was assigned to Allah. Further on he commented, ‘seeing condition of aircraft, this was wisest thing to do’. Lately, it is being observed that not all, but many bearded Muslims are committing crimes by befooling people with their facade of religious outlook. I wonder, whether thieves have grown beards or bearded have become thieves? Whatever, the case people with beard are being seen as less trustworthy. How ironic? These goons are maligning Sunnah of Prophet PBUH. If we take into account injunctions of Islam, Holy Prophet PBUH, Quaid e Azam and Allama Iqbal, we are betraying all through our misdeeds. Allah may bless us to understand and follow true essence and spirit of Islam. We shall not be pardoned by Allah merely due to our beards, prayers and Kalima.

What is life? Is it primordial, eternal or temporary? Here I want to focus on worldly life ie from birth to death. It may be very hard to define life. Like beauty we might say description of life lies in the eyes of beholder. Every person will see life through own frame of reference. Having lived little over half a century I feel like attempting to define life. One word that comes to my mind is, ‘struggle’. It is a perpetual struggle. Struggle to assume life, Struggle to maintain life. Struggle to improve life. Struggle to succeed in life. Struggle to create and succeed life. Struggle between good and evil. Life isn’t a motorway. It’s rather a bumpy road. It’s a struggle to circumvent or bypass these obstacles. Life is a struggle in pursuit of excellence. It is a struggle to seek knowledge. It is a struggle to pursue objectives set by oneself. In initial stages of life one is living for oneself and then we grow to live for some one else. Life is a time slot given to us to do our part. Life is an event to play out our destiny. We are programmed to achieve something or be a source for some one else’s achievement. In life we are slaves of destiny. Our body is temporary dwelling for life. The dimension of time blessed to us is defined by ourselves through our resolve, effectiveness and perseverance. Prophets achieve much greater in lesser time than a common human. We take birth from already living systems, are brought up in a set of environment, exploit our faculties, take on various journeys, exhaust our resources, die, and take new form of life. We can also say life is the spirit which keeps our body living. Where does spirit come from and where does it go? It goes back to, from where it comes by abandoning the nonliving part right here on this planet.

In 2005, I had a great interaction with legendary Sahibzada Yaqub Khan (Allah may bless his soul). He asked me about my areas of interest to start a convo. I replied, ‘it was human brain and cosmology’. Then what followed impressed me how great he was. Black holes fascinated me in my college days. As FSC student, I once asked my Physics teacher about Black Holes and he was pleasantly surprised. On the subject, first book I read was, History of Time by Stephen Hawking; another legend (God bless his soul). He was an undisputed authority on the subject. I also benefitted from his books Universe in Nutshell and Grand Design. Scientists once thought the sum total of mass available in universe is not zero which is essential for prevailing equilibrium. Later they discovered there is anti-mass too and these Black Holes are anti-mass.

Couple of weeks ago there were news that NASA is going to release first ever images of a Black Hole on 10 Apr 19. Of course my inquisitiveness multiplied and I was anxiously looking up to the Big Day. Lo and behold it appeared in media on 11 Apr. The information merely signifies immense vastness of universe and correspondingly immense inadequacy of what all science has so far discovered. I have no word to adequately describe smallness of our galaxy, our planet; Earth and Homo-sapiens in this scheme of things. A pygmy black hole located within our Milky-way Galaxy some 27000 light years from Earth is several Million times the mass of the mighty Sun. Another located in Messier 87 Galaxy (55 Million light years from Earth) is 6.5 Billion times the mass of Sun. Isn’t it mind boggling and let me say, so far science only knows a fraction of expanse of the universe. I am reminded of Shakespeare quote from Hamlet, ‘I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space….’ That’s truest description of all the mighty homo-sapien. This should bring us to extreme humbleness keeping in view our true value and worth in Allah’s boundless universe. All praises be to the Great Creator.

Post WW2, US and USSR emerged as two contending superpowers. End of cold war saw USSR wanning and US emerging as sole super power. Ever since then, the US has maintained its hegemony on the globe. To every rise there is a fall. It appears that, US hegemony is being challenged on multiple grounds. At the grand strategy level, China has put US in a reactive mode. Wanning of the super power is definitely going to take time, but how much; remains in debate. George Fiedman in ‘Next 100 Years’ seems overtly optimistic, while contending that next complete century belongs to the US. However, there are indications which can prove him wrong. Farid Zakaria sounds more realistic in his book, ‘Post American World’. At global level there are signs of wanning like; surrendering space in global leadership, being reactive, displaying frustration, losing allies and subordination of countries. In 1991, whole world was with the US, in War against Iraq, in 2001 War against Iraq, half of the world stood by the US, whereas, in 2017, in UNSC on Recongnition of Jerusalem as Capital of Israel no one was with the US. That’s how US has lost in global leadership. If we take homeland issues, there too, the US is fast losing ethical standing. I see practices akin to 3rd world gaining grounds in the US. Daughter of POTUS running office in White House. Trump making his incumbency a must for economic well being of the US and extra ordinary powers to police and intelligence organisations should have been ethically alien to superpower but these are there. In all fairness the US wanning may complete in 3-5 decades. However, a frustrated, agitated and reactive sole superpower led by a mercurial leader is extremely dangerous for the world peace.

Civilizational heritage isn’t essential for a nation to rise. New Zealand is one of the youngest nations. Post act of terrorism, they captivated and charmed the word through their actions. They proved Epictetus right, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters”. We all were amazed and awestruck with response of New Zealand. Jacinda Ardern was there to lead and a vibrant nation was in sync to respond. The empathy, alacrity, passion and unity were par-excellence. What other nations take months and years to do NL did in moments, hours and days. No great game, no vices, no biases, no Islamofobia and no prejudices could hinder this great nation. The people and the leader were crystal clear and rock-solid in testing moments. Hithertofore, relatively less known Jacinda Arden has emerged as one of the best leaders the world has. At the same time the nation living ‘down and under’ has set standards for the world ‘up and above’. New Zealand has left great lessons for us to emulate.

Dr Ellis Silver recently gave a theory, Humans are not from Earth”. He postulates that humans were created on another planet and relocated to Earth. This goes in line with Islamic belief that Prophet Adam and Mother Eve were shifted to earth from another location. I am also reminded of Charlse Franklin who said, “No one gets out of this life alive….” Thus we were sent to this planet with a purpose. Notwithstanding our success or failure, the truest of us ‘the soul’ will shed our body (its temporary abode) on this planet and return to the planet where we were created. Nature took approximately, 13.45 Billion years (from Yuval Harari book, Sapiens) to create enabling environment on this planet for its best creature to survive. This speaks of importance of this creature. Humans are the only specie which has combo of ability to think and communicate. Extremely meagre time period bestowed upon us to live on this planet imposes on us attainment of pinnacle of greatness in very short time. Only one percent of us reach to that level. However, we all see transformation of our personalities for good as well as for bad. Events, books and various exposures transform our personalities. We develop thoughts which transform into actions, these transform further to our habits which define our personality. Based on positive or negative transformation we become on- the-whole good or evil. I for one have been lucky to get more of positive transformation (with sprinkling of negative). First and foremost, an aspect that entrenched in my personality was injunction of Holy Prophet PBUH, ‘leave the place better than how u took over, if you cannot add much, just plant a tree’. I can also name two books which transformed my personality. ‘Defeat into Victory’ by William Slim and ‘Awaken the Giant Within’ by Anthony Robbins. On not so positive side, another book which kept me more of a human rather than an angle was ‘The Company of Women’ by Khushwant Singh. I am at loss to understand whether this book affected me positively or negatively but I stand happy with my transformation Alhamdo Lillah.

Stress savvy modern living is impacting human health. It is said that, “we are what we think”. Stress is created more by internal factors than external. Our thoughts, our desires and our inhibitions contribute in generating stress. Negative emotions like greed, jealousy, ungratefulness, impatience and lust directly impinge upon our state of happiness. In modern living there is a maddening race and competition for materialistic pursuits. Beyond basic needs of humans as defined by Maslow’s Theory of Heirachy, I feel happiness is something which is most essentially required for well being of us. All the physical ailments are compounded by stress and unhappiness. Hazrat Ali (KUWH) said, “the one who is content with his destiny is the most blessed”. This thought has been lurking in my mind since decades, “does money bring happiness?” Happiness in my view is the most important emotion of human life. Money alone cannot bring happiness because money is directly proportional to lust. One keeps on pursuing sufficiency of money. Insufficiency of money gets stronger with more money. The most important ingredients of happiness are contentment, gratefulness and positivity. Lately I came across Yuval Noah Harari book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow which carries a section titled, The Right to Happiness. He says material achievements alone will not satisfy us for long. Indeed the blind pursuit of money, fame and pleasure will only make us miserable. He cites examples of developed countries with highest rise in GDP but no improvement in GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness). He says dramatic improvement in conditions as humankind has experienced in recent decades, translate into greater expectations rather than greater contentment. Thus we should shun materialistic pursuits and feel contended with what ever we are blessed. I am reminded of Stephen Hawking (God bless his soul) who by all standards, physically led a miserable life. In his biography, I was amazed to see him advising others to enjoy what they are blessed and not to regret for what they are not blessed. Allah may bless us genuine happiness. SAMREZ