Prestige!

It is the most amazing and most longed for feeling for somebody who has done tiring efforts to create something with passion and conviction and belonging to that idea. It is an ecstasy that wrenches all the happiness from your insides. It up lifts you to a place where you believe that anything is possible and at this moment we must thank Allah because it is always through Him we can find peace to ourselves. It is like all those hardships were nothing close to the reward you get in the form of this prestige. It is what pays back all your efforts and all your dreams. This feeling is your prestige and it is for this prestige that one struggles for. And what you go through at this moment, are the happiest moments of your lives.
If it’s not there then it’s really difficult to bring out the motives in humans to work tirelessly for any idea.
Do share your feelings on this.

Altruism

What are the sentiments of caring? Why the act of doing something for someone beyond your interest is not something we encounter on daily basis? Why is it that we, the members of same species with the same origin, with same ideologies of values, borne by birth by every member of this race, has forgotten to care for others and for that unfathomable amount of love and service one can do for others. Why is it that we are loathed in a race for our own existence? Why is it that we do not have time to stop and think for a moment about our purpose and our responsibility as humans? Why is it that we have degraded ourselves to mere living organisms with no aims other than to strive for our own good and for our interest?
We pass by through wondrous creations of Allah Almighty. We are the ones with highest sense of dignity and honor. We have had valor and strength to conquer through the mightiest of the natural forces. With our intelligence we tamed the wraths of nature we have learned to survive and we have learned to lead our lives with civilization and it has been possible with Allah’s blessings alone. It is the higher sense of beauty and an insurmountable thirst for continuous improvement that lead to the wonders that we utilize every day. I was passing through a bridge in Lahore and I saw the sturdy pillars by which its structure was supported. I wondered in reminisce that it must have taken a large number of labor and a wealth of experience and understanding and calculations to build this structure. The world we see today is built pieces by pieces, deliberately, with planning, and sacrifice. This could not have been possible without the blessings of Allah, Who bestowed that unity which resulted in what we see. This cannot be possible without unity and unity cannot come except from care and love. This love is always without conditions and without bounds. The results can be achieved otherwise, but they will certainly not yield in increase of dignity and honor of human race.
It is altruism that is absent from our society. I see and I experience that everyone has some motives and it is these motives which shape the bases of relationships. It is these motives which compel any person to perform and persevere for anything.
I believe that this attitude excruciatingly extracts the humanity left inside humans. Without which we cannot exist. It is the need of the hour that we revive this passion of selfless service of others by giving what is required by others at the appropriate time at which it is required.

Confidence, Valor and Courage

Why are we in desperate confusion when making decisions regarding our very own personal future? Is it our wavering beliefs or lack of trust in our abilities? Unfortunately, we neither receive guidance nor we have vivid aims and goals. We cannot aspire with enthuse for something until we do not believe in it with full of our faith. This confusion I think has deep roots in our past. Our ancestors were the leaders and we are taught about their chronicles; zeitgeist is a civilization that directly clashes with ours. There is a fight for innate moralities of our society with the dominating influence of economic materialism. The results of this are very clear; delusion, discontent and division among ourselves.

It is really an amazing fact that after so many years of decline and loss of our values, we still have resistance and tyranny against the alienate influences of the west. It makes my belief stronger in my religion and its injunctions. This directs me in believing that the implications of my deen are not withered rather they just need authentic innovation in order to blossom in today’s climate. Our civilization has stood staunch in very grim and harsh conditions in the past; though its current stagnancy is condemn-able but it will eventually come out of this state victorious. As Iqbal and other Muslim intellects have pointed out that this innovative revival of Islamic thought will mark the height of human evolution and will be the final, most admirable feat of mankind.

So, in the past, our belief in one Allah Almighty won us battles and gave us that ‘drive’ to struggle and ‘to conquer the world for good’, today that very belief makes us cowards. In the battle of yermuk only 30-35 thousands were against 2 lakhs. This valor, courage, confidence, dignity, responsibility motivation, and enthusiasm came from where? Did it came from reading the ‘seven habits of the highly effective people’? Or was it something else?

This quest of mine for the answer of this question is still in process. If anyone here has the answers I’ll be glad to hear.

Sands of time

The sun of 2011 was set by vanquishing the stagnant, miserable and dim lights of indolence. The new sun of 2012 rose with the rejuvenation of passion and struggle. What lead the initiation of events in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, marked a point in the sands off history, that whenever there is not enough light for people to see vividly they hope and struggle for the new sun to rise. Sand which trickles down from the narrow tight passages of trial and frustration lays down in the hourglass of nature, that is ready to repeat its course with the same outcome of serenity, attained after a lot of loss and repentance after its struggle.
It is wondrous that with the discreetness of outcomes of our actions which repeat themselves, we are unable to comprehend that what is necessary and what needs to be done. Many notable historians like Toynbee and Ibn e Khaldun have pointed out in history that when the characters of Nations and civilizations rot in the attic of vulgarism and disintegration of moralities takes place, there is a test for people and for civilizations. This predicament leads to a mass movement of people which decides their fate. This increases the pace of history itself and exaggerates its evolution. This movement of people is to undo the past condition and to rebuild the future on the sentiments of esteemed values which were buried beneath the sands of unconscious mind.
These actions, if, are unable to repair the damage of the past endeavors of people, are like sandstorms which disperse the civilizations to anonymity and annihilation. This is also incipient for new civilizations and they breathe fresh air for some time to again fall prey to the holocaust for inception of new life. This has happened with many of the civilizations of the past like Babylonian, Syrian, Hellenic civilizations.
With loss there is repentance, with repentance there comes faith, with faith there is taqwa, with taqwa there is responsibility, with responsibility there is opportunity, with opportunity there is struggle, with struggle there is satisfaction, and satisfaction leads to self righteousness and nafs e mutmainna. This is the way civilizations are built again on the sentiments of vigor and dignity. It’s when people decide to stand firm on ground, to do what is right and to demolish the whims and falsehoods of turmoil. It exalts hope in people and a spark to reignite the yoke of life.
It is uprightness and steadfastness that keeps the balance of universe. Without motion there could be no universe, no life and nothing like struggle would have existed in our lives. In reality, all these truths exist in our lives and these are integrated part of human mind and intellect which certainly cannot be overlooked or be forgotten. It just needs to be revived.

“Relieve yourself of the fear of others,
You are a power asleep; shake yourself awake”
(Allama Muhammad Iqbal)

In the Islamic world as well as other centers of the world social structure of our communities is at a decline, injustice is a norm, discrimination flourishes under capitalism, monarchy with a new hood of democracy is dominant, and people live astray lives in trying to find peace in the delusion of modern notions of society. The zeitgeist has stripped humans off of their religion and faith and has made the material world their supreme commander. Particularly in Pakistan people have become static in their lives, they have befallen in the hands of sloth and luxury. Action which was to endorse their existence, aims which were to keep them alive, and dignity which had to earn their rightful place in society is on the verge of extinction.
Although, we have managed to hold on to the mimesis of our civilization but procrastination, and inability to act, and a dignified character is missing from the souls of our people. Universe is a single truth, so as Allah and so as humans. It’s is the unity and constant change which ensures the existence of our life on the small grain of sand. We have today infinite number of reasons to make a divide among ourselves. It is the oneness of our religion which can unite the pearls in a single necklace of love.
But we are faced with venomous melancholia which forbids us to stand up for right and turn down evil by all our force, to adopt the path of righteousness and to put a halt on the wrong turns. We need to act, we need to volunteer, we need to work, and we need to actualize our selves. We need to revive our Islam, we need to wear our morals and ethics, we need to ponder over our own actions and we need to alter them for good, we need to inspire the lost dignity, we need to care for our brothers and sisters, we have to say no to our selfish desires, we have to work for others, we have to rejuvenate the spirit of selfless service for others, we have to adopt the character of our leader Muhammad (S.A.W), we have to do something or else the sands of time will wipe us out from the face of this world as they did to sixteen of the major civilizations of the past.

خدا تجھے کسی طوفا ن سے آشنا کر دے
کے تیر ے بحرکی موجوں میں اضطراب نھیں

On the question of aims by one of our teacher, blank faces of students were observed and they didn’t surely knew what their aim was and what is it that they are here for. The replies came out like this; I want to be an accomplished engineer; I want to be self dependant and would share the burden of my parents; I would go abroad for study and would come back to Pakistan to serve it; etc. There is a reason that we are Muslims and we need to work for that reason. Unfortunately we have taken our deen for granted and we are not willing to learn what it teaches us and what injunctions imply on us as the responsible young Muslims. A study has revealed that majority of the Muslims are 25 or under, a resource that is passing its lives with no aim what so ever. We were sent down to form the caliphate under Allah’s subjected rule. We were to be His representatives. But we are living our lives in a delusion with no meaning and purpose.
The reason of all this delusion and procrastination is that we are reluctant in acquiring knowledge and are hesitant about our fundamental beliefs and faiths. This ideological weakness and lack of true understanding of Islam has lead to this situation. It is observed that those people who are staunch believers of any idea transpire movement and revolt in people against the stagnated sands. We should relive our past and be confident about our future, we should always remember that we have a resource of true wisdom and knowledge with us and it can contribute to eradicate all the grave misconceptions faced by humanity today. We have to understand that our salvation lies in helping others not by ridiculing them, it lies in understanding others not by leaving them alone in the delusions of the society, our success lies in unity and not in discord. We have to revive the brotherhood, a fraternity which no religion on this earth provides with.
We should act, persevere and incept new horizons for our future while learning from the mistakes of our past. We should unleash the passion which is concealed in our hearts and tame this spirit for the fulfillment of Allah’s commandments only then we will be able to succeed in this world and in the world hereafter. Otherwise there will be chaos and discontent in our lives. Otherwise, hourglass of time will break free our sands and will disperse us in the preposterous winds of delusion.

خدا ےَلم یزل کا دست قدرت تو ، زباں تو ہے
یقیں پیدا کر اے غا فل کہ مغلوب گماں تو ہے

Religion by Iqbal !

Iqbal says about religion in his very famous lectures on The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam that:

“Religion is not a departmental affair; it is neither mere thought, nor mere feeling, nor mere action; it is an expression of the whole man.”

Iqbal says that religion by its root is not just a ‘departmental affair’ rather it is superior to that in every sense, it is actually a belief that subjugates all the actions, notions and aspirations of man. It is not something traditional, not something limited, not something confined to a certain circle of rituals or practices, it is rather something that touches every aspect of human behavior and commands it according to its own will. As Allah says in the holy Quran that:

وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ دِينًا مِّمَّنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُ لِلَّهِ وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌ وَاتَّبَعَ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَاتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ خَلِيلًا ‌[4-125]
And who has a better religion than he who submits himself entirely to Allah? And he is the doer of good (to others) and follows the faith of Ibrahim, the upright one, and Allah took Ibrahim as a friend.

Submitting yourself to something is religion according to this verse. (And surely Allah Subhanawatala knows best)

It is indeed very disappointing that we as Muslim Ummah have taken the zeitgeist for religion as something that is very much confined in its influence, now we are left with only dogmas which we consider as religion while it is not like that. We don’t want to burn our dead why? Because it is not in our religion and we are ‘Muslims’ by religion and the rest of the things we do 24/7 are just taken for granted as being in islam. Actually what we do day and night and months and years and in our whole lives is our religion, what we strive for is our religion, and what we desire for is our religion.

Similarly, Iqbal says that religion is not a feeling or a thought as he goes on to explain the faith we have in our religion that:

"….Yet it cannot be denied that faith is more than mere feeling. It has something like a cognitive content, and the existence of rival parties— scholastics and mystics— in the history of religion shows that idea is a vital element in religion…."

After reading this I have to admit that what Karl Marx said about religion is again just a department of religion in general. In his very famous saying he says that:

“…Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people…”

Yes it might be that when a person is in danger or troubled he remembers Allah and he calls Him with humility and humbleness but when this troubled situation waivers, he again forgets Allah and again embraces the worldly gains and his previous beliefs as his religion.You know from history that the infidels of Makkah did this and did not deny that Allah alone was their creator but when it came to the question of subjugating their lives according to Allah's will and to give away what they had from world made them to flee from the teachings of Islam, they went back to their supposed religion.
In The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, Almustafa the most widely read English poet in the world after Shakespeare and Lao Tzu says says on the question of religion that:

“Have I spoken this day of aught else? Is not religion all deeds and all reflection…?”

Yes, definitely here Kahlil Gibran and Iqbal have the same voice about religion that it is all of our deeds and reflections. This is what Iqbal has rightly said about religion that it is the expression of the whole man. Now, it is up to us to decide what is our expression or our religion. Is it our own self that we have made our expression or is it the worldly gains or is it the country in which we live in is our expression or is it our family??? What Allah wants to be our religion is that:

إِنِ الْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ ذٰلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ وَلٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ‌[12-40]
He has commanded that you shall not serve aught but Him; this is the right religion but most people do not know.