The Biggest Smallest Question?

It simply is What do I want?

To some the answer might be very simple. For others it might be difficult. The real difficulty is when you cannot figure out what you truly desire and you get infatuated with every other thing around you. For desire to truly stick with you, must has to solely reside within you and it must not be a mere projection of you identifying yourself with any idea or a personality alone.

Most of us are passing our days of lives in a very superficial way. Not caring about what really matters, spending time in activities that don't add up to anything life and most of all we are not content from inside, because if we were 'happy' we would have been living a completely different life. Why? Because happiness demands authenticity and originality. It is not a mere shadow of someone else's thoughts and ideas. It is free like a bird, like a thought that dazzles your mind, a euphoria that stays for infinity.

This state of contention consumes on one's desires, it is in the way of its fulfillment, it is in the strive of its achievement and it is something that provides the impetus to move forward. The strength and density of this happiness lies within the infatuation itself. It is not ephemeral ecstasy that just passes once and leaves your soul empty and wandering again in search. It becomes part of your soul and it gives you reason to live.

The smile on your loved ones, you comforting your parents, helping someone with sheer altruism and not telling anyone about it, it is in solitude, quietness, in the shadows of self and in the ruins of past, this state is a glowing ball inside you that keeps your spirits high and compels you to push your limits to infinity, to achieve that special place of yours, your purpose. It is this satisfaction, a holy ritual, a satisfaction that is related to the divine that is not physical in any form, that is completely spiritual.

The only unique, expensive and rare thing to find today is such a passion. Conceiving it can make miracles to happen right in front of our bare eyes.

Filling the ideological vacuum

I just read the news here about China’s doomsday phobia about 21st December, 2012. It clearly illustrates the hollowness of character, aim and goal of these people towards life. First let us talk about this so called phobia. To me it all seems the modern superstition that has no logical or spiritual basis. Strengthened by the failures of Nostradamus, these are mere tales to which some, who have nothing to believe in, ascribe their faith.
The news in Asia times has narrated some incidents surrounding this ‘phobia’. China a place where more than one fifths of the world’s population resides, constitutes a fair sample of what the world is going through. It clearly suggests the following things:

1. The people are mostly becoming materialistic divorcing the spiritual side of humans
2. They are unclear of why they are here for?
3. Superstitions are still there in their hearts
4. Atheism, although is increasing very rapidly, still doesn’t provide the ideal of satisfaction and happiness
5. This voluptuous and promiscuous attitudes inculcate frustration in people all around the world (another indicator is the rate of suicides in the East Asian countries)
6. There are no foundations on which to build up the moralities and values of system (sometimes this has given people faith in their old traditions and cultures and they have been able to give economic boost to their countries like Japan and China. But still they cannot provide the true foundations of aspirations for a society)
In this scenario I feel that we Muslims have greatly forgotten our obligation of providing the world with answers to these questions of ideal, purpose and justice. Many have been persevering but like one professor (Tarrun Khanna) said “it is not enough”. [He said it in the perspective of revolution in entrepreneurial spirit of Pakistan. In response on being told of the efforts of ‘akhuwat foundation’ and some other Pakistani entrepreneurs]

What is the ideology of Islam? How does it answer these questions? How can it transform the present turmoil of societies? Is it something doable?
According to my opinion these are some questions that need immediate answers. The works of following authors can provide the answers in detail:

1. The Holy Quran & Sunnah of Prophet (Sallallahu alayehe wasalam)
2. The alchemy of happiness (Imam Ghazali)
3. The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam (Lectures of Allama Iqbal)
4. Quran and Modern Knowledge (Dr. Muhammad Rafi-ud-din)
5. Mahazarat e Shariat (Dr. Mehmud Ahmad Ghazai)
These are the writers as far as I know. But I wanted to write here what my own thoughts and reflections say about these questions and this “vacuum” that needs to be filled. So, here it goes:
1. We are created by one creator Allah (Subhanawatalla) [Nothing surpasses Him in any of the ma’roof qualities]
2. The highest intellect and understanding of this universe was revealed to the prophet (Sallallahu alayehe wasalam) and no one can better judge and do justice except for Muhammad (Sallallahu alayehe wasalam)
3. The purpose of this very small life given to us is to spend it in trying to persevere in the cause of Allah (that explicitly means that the decision of right and wrong, virtue and wickedness lies with the decision of Quran and nothing surpasses it)
4. It also means that people are not slaves of any ideal, concept or action apart from what Allah has revealed
5. This ideal of Allah divorces meaning of worldly endeavors of materialistic desires
6. The true satisfaction lies in the following of natural law, the law of Allah
7. The moralities and values that humans are to follow are not mere dogmas but are the foundations of the spiritual well being of people, they cannot be associated with human wishes and they cannot be evil or wicked in any form for other humans (This well being of soul, values and moralities cannot be attained by any other source)
8. The true happiness is when people realize the purpose that Allah has bestowed upon them and this ‘happiness’ is attained by following Allah’s commandments
9. The commandments are distributed in four elements two of Zahir (Outerself) and two of Batin (Innerself). (‘Ibadat (worship), Mu’amalaat (dealings) , Muhlikat (), Munajjiyat) [The details can be read in ‘Alchemy of Happiness by Imam Ghazali]
10. All the miseries that have befallen humans today can be solved by following the commandments of Allah and this ‘vacuum’ can only be filled with His love and affection that surpasses every other joy and bliss.

“The day that neither wealth nor sons will be of any benefit except for he who comes to Allah with a pure heart.” (Al-Quran, 26:89)

The above were my mere scribbles. I would love to hear your thoughts about this and to know more resources that can help in “filling the vacuum”. And please share about what you feel about “happiness” and “contentment” with regards to modern zeitgeist.

What drives you?

What drives you? Is it the music you hear? Is it the wish of your mother? Is it someone you love? Is it an idea? Is it a movement? Is it your ‘self’? Is it your aim? Is it the prestige that you want? Is it your family? Is it you passion?
What is it? What answer would you get if you question yourself?
What drives me is the idea of doing something and getting myself torn down to pieces and that moment when you say I can’t do it more? That is the point that I love to be in. It fills me with passion and the infinite urge to do more and push the limits. I would really to know what you think about this.

Purpose of Life!

An extraordinary lecture by Dr. Zakir Naik outlining the purpose of life. The whole lecture can be seen here: http://youtu.be/UVdkdjzY2Xs
Here is the model of goal and purpose in life that he speaks of
Your goal should be:
ISLAMIC
I= your goal should be Islamic i.e. it should be based on the foundations of Quran and Sunah
S= It should be specific
L= It should be Lucrative. 1. In the hereafter 2. If possible then in this world.
A= It should be apt and appropriate.
M= It should be measurable. If its measurable then you know how much you are coming closer to your goal
I= Intention should be to please Allah
C= It should be Consistent. If it’s time bound. If it’s not time bound then it should be consistent for infinity

Earth Day!

My little cousin asked me to tell her something to write on “Earth” in 50-60 words. There were many things that wanted to come out from my jumbled up mind. But I stopped, wondered for a moment and reflected; that, I cannot outpour everything. But after a while it came to me to write everything down that came into mind.
Our earth is home for more than 6 billion people. It constitutes of varied splendor of Allah Almighty in innumerable forms and ensures the well being of humans. It has lush green forests, deep blue seas, barren deserts and vast fertile lands. It is in fact an unfathomable resource of tranquility for its habitants. It provides us food to survive, shelter to live, water to rejoice, desire to beauty, passion to struggle, challenge to overcome, compassion to love, fear to dread and many things which are the foundations of not only our physical world but composes the very fabric of cognition and conscience of human minds.
To this blessed life we enjoy for granted, we enjoy a bounteous time on this earth to “pursue our happiness”. Whether it is peace or frustration in our souls, our failures or success, the only thing that compels us forward and makes us think is our compassion and love for others. In this hectic pursuit of our very existence where ‘fittest one survives’ we don’t really bother about our fellow beings, ‘Earth’ which is home to us, weak who we have to support and to ‘might’ which has to be subjugated by morality. In our pursuit we end our lives in a box failing to think outside of it and thus fall into the pit of selfishness.
On this day let us revive that compassion that has been compelling us to evolve and has consumed the resources of our ‘home’ that is always the dearest thing of all. Let us be united, like in our homes, let us rejoice peace, like in our achievements and let us eradicate dread like we lend hands to our brothers and sisters in their distress. Let this ‘Earth’ be ‘home’ to us, let it be the epiphany for those who transgress and haven for those who care.

Learning how to learn

Out of curiosity and my attitude of criticizing i have tried and summed up my reflections and thoughts about the modern educational system. This reminisces of mine have been shaped by some of the most renowned scholars like Allama Iqbal, Dr. Mehmud Ahmad Ghazi, Dr. Rafiuddin and others whom i have forgotten. This post below contains nearly half of what i have written and i will be posting the remaining article shortly InshaAllah.


This article is written as a critique on modern education, its implications and to understand where it has lacked and how we Muslims have to transform education in order to preserve the human moralities and Islamic ideology. This is the first article which encompasses the influences on modern education and its origins. In further articles, it will be tried to come up with some rationale on which to build the structure of modern education which keeps human nature intact with its ethics and preserves the teachings and injunctions of Allah Almighty. There has to be a balance between what we take from the prevailing system in which we Muslims are dominated by another civilization and have to decide what is useful for us and what it is that divides and rules us. Just two hundred years back we were united but now grand walls of utilitarianism stands between us which has in fact nothing to do with us or our civilization.
Contemporary education or modern literacy I believe has harmed, as well as benefited human race. To understand the long lasting effects of modern education we have to go back in history towards its inception. From there I believe we can conceive the idea of what contemporary endeavor of modern education is. For now it is enough to say that it has given us war, bloodshed, imperialism, and nationalism. It has divested the superior human values from us and has evolved human society which is individualistic in nature. Where men are all involved in performing feats of personal gratification in which there is no room for love and care with shear selflessness. It has so far given two major wars or world wars in the human history. This cannot be said the age of enlightenment nor is it the Dark Age. It is a delusion of evolution without any direction. No doubt that science and education of people has given us some wondrous inventions and has laid the foundations of various subjects but these were supposed to make human life easier and were to make them civilized. But repercussions have been disastrous. As humans we are on the brink of making some decisions which will in fact architect our future.
Now let us delve into the influences that modern curricula’s have in common.

Industrialization:

The modern age of industrialization initiated by the Great Britain was founded on the sentiments of increasing productivity, On these grounds it can be said that it was related to greed present in human nature. It can also be linked to increase in population but more or less it can be related to greed or avarice. With this radical change there came a rush of inventions and products that changed the face of human society for ever. Previously wars were fought for land, ownership and money; this is not changed even now, groups or clans for their own sake of safety, protection and survival wage wars on other similar groups(by groups today, I mean Nations and corporations). Today, the businesses are running on the Machiavellian thought and totalitarianism without any bounds and without any ethics. This has created the domination of a system based on money and power. Capitalism whose decline has just been started in Wall Street outlines a system in which the whole of economy stands on the greed of humans for power and beauty, which when stripped off from ethics, results in the bigotry of unequal distribution of wealth.
This system is the sentiment of today’s educational system. The degrees which are now offered are only to sustain this system, to make it robust, and are only for its embellishment. The curricula have failed to give people any higher aim of living. Those who aspire for greater good are themselves restrained to a small local level and have up till now failed to achieve any milestone in bringing a halt to the devastation borne by a vast majority of people around the globe. (We are aware of bombings in Japan, massacre of Hitler, Bloodshed by Communists, Economic Depressions).
Capitalistic ideas must be taken critically and should be renounced as the final word for the economic system of humans. This indicates the revitalization of the sentiments on which the subjects are taught in schools and colleges.

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.

Unending Peace

Crops expanding as far as you can se, silently fulfilling the commands of Allah. Not denying what is expected of them, not transgressing with the purpose of their creation and truly depicting the nature on which ourselves are born and bred. The nature, giving purpose to our creation, like those standing green crops, like those tiny little beads from where they incept their life; growing and taking care of themselves to accomplish their destiny.
It is like a lesson for the more intelligent creations, to learn reasons and will from those little plants about their existence in this unending universe of ours. though stranded in the perseverance of our struggle of living we forget what we are here for, then how come we can create a world which is as comforting and peaceful as those meadows and valleys, those mountains and oceans, those wonders of bounteous nature, spread from the skies to the earth and from all over norths to souths. Confusions, turmoil, miseries, lusts and vanities built in the very fabric of our nature was to be be brought under more civilized and moral part of our conscious instead it has eventually become a beast breathing evil in every soul of today’s beefed up humans.