Intellectual crisis!

A tagline from this drama of HUM TV got quite popular, and I'd often see it in tweets and status messages:

وہ محبت ہی کیا جس میں إلہام نہ ہو ؟

Whenever I got to read this I'd wonder what about Allah's love then? Does he disallow 'إلہام ' now? Or does He still speak? That being a long debate should better be left aside. 

Though I'd prefer to read a philosopher on 'happiness' rather than watching a Pakistani drama (if its a matter of choosing the lesser evil), I just got to watch one episode of this one by chance. They happened to be 'divinely' running away in that episode. I call their running away as divine because it was portrayed as such. They were shown as the warriors of truth, The girl who runs away was shown as the righteous person. Another time when i saw this drama I thought it could not have been love perhaps the girl has some mental problem! 

The only objection I want to present is that Pakistani dramas are tormenting the values of relationships and on top of that trying to re-establish moral values. Since when did betraying your parents (whatever the reason might be) become legal? Since when did running away with someone become not only legal but 'divine'? Since when did elders started blessing the run-away couple? Since when did 'friends' have started to be defined as those who assist you in your love affair? I was surprised and wondered that this is the stuff that must be banned! but we rather want to ban sites! we prefer restricting access to certain sites to save the Imaans of Momineen!

We need to see what we're watching because we might be teaching the wrong things to young impressionable minds. Our entertainment industry is suffering from an intense intellectual crisis. There used to be a time when writers like Ashfaque Ahmad would write quality stuff but now its a creative depression. Perhaps we don't have as many readers and hence not many quality writers.

Further this drama deepens my resolve that the bigger purpose in life should better be 'big' otherwise life leaves you wandering aimlessly in all the worldly, secondary unnecessary and smaller purposes. So we must seek the bigger purpose and the company of those with a 'big' purpose that being journey towards Allah! 

Leadership with Allah's Mandate

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Though I hold my opinion that spiritual leadership cannot be compared with worldly leadership. Spiritual leadership is a whole lot broader and deeper, where as worldly leadership is sometimes temporary, task-bound and more like skill management. Leaders manage 'resources' and in the quest to manage the resources well they aim to deal the psychology of the person as well. Whereas spiritual leaders aim to bend hearts with prayer and setting examples and precedents. This fact makes the two leaderships poles apart.

Secondly another major difference is the relationship of the people with the leader. In spiritual leadership the person is like a mentor and much more, Their love for the leader is bound by the Love of Allah. Furthermore it is Allah who ties the hearts of the people together as a community(the fact also being testified by the Holy Quran)

Still it is a fairly good concept to derive leadership techniques from the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W) Because of the many shades the shade of 'Leadership' stands out bright!

The organization of the book as per my understanding is based on three stages as categorized by the Author John Adair: The first one being when our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W.) was a shepherd, Second When he becomes a caravan leader and leads trade caravans , and finally the spiritual leader (we would preferably call it 'Nabuwwat' or Prophet-hood) Along the way the Author also explains the dwellers of the desert and their ways as a community, He tells about the generosity of the Bedouins, interestingly so the people of the desert had leadership but lacked the sense of hierarchy. It was also interesting to note how the Arabs adored camels and according to the author to Arab's eye there was nothing as beautiful as a well-bred female camel!

"It is no accident that the arabic words Jamal (camel) and Jamil (beautiful) come from the same root"

[Excerpt from the book]

I have also read fiction about travels through the desert and found that a desert is a complete phenomenon, it gives you a mindset and a distinct lifestyle. Therefore the author beautifully explains the Arab-Desert relationship:

"An Arab may leave the desert but the desert never leaves an Arab"

Its a very good book, and everyone who is or has been a part of a team would definitely enjoy reading and relating to this book. The role of the Prophet Muhammad has been very interestingly explained and shows how well the author understands the Muslim community and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W) The Author is a chair of Strategic Leadership at the UN and has written over 50 books in the area of his research. 

Centralization in Allah's system

Looking at the sight of Haj & Umrah one is bound to wonder how we see different manifestations of such movement in nature's system. All the people revolving around the Kabah make you think.

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Start from the solar system and you find centralization in it, all the planets revolving around the sun, now if we go deep down to an atom we find electrons revolving around the nucleus. Consider the human body & we have got centralization in the form of brain controlling everything, also at the level of cells there is a controlling center. So we find centralization in nature's system similarly we have got this centralization in the spiritual system in the form of Prophet-hood and successors (Khilafat) 

So point is that we must consider our motion and journey, it must be around and towards the center otherwise we are going astray, wandering aimlessly and we might feel lost at one time or the other. Those well directed might not ever feel so. Lets strive to have more centripetal force in our life in the form of community, people, Quran, Hadith and so on and so forth.

We should never let go of any thought, wish, person, thing, activity that takes us closer to Allah!

Class Terrorism

I have always thought of a 'classroom' as an amazing place. It is a place where a whole lot of diversity comes together. There is a lot of learning at both ends, i.e. the teacher and the students. There is a certain sanctity of the class environment, the relationship between students and teachers is that of 'spiritual parenting'. It is a place which has to be honored and respected. 

The incident we all have witnessed in Peshawar is a certificate for us that 'shariah' is not our issue in Pakistan. we as a society are starved of humanitarian values. It was extreme disrespect of classroom, educational institute and on top of it humanity! We lack moral values. No we don't lack, we have lost all the moral values, I simply can find such an example in wherein such brutality was carried out. 

It was not just the suffering of those present there, every one can relate to it. We all feel the pain and misery, we all feel sad that the children should not have been the victims of this horrific war. Not to speak of the minds of the survivors, how will they ever manage to come out of it?, how will they let go of the dark memories? No answer at all! May Allah bless the young impressionable minds! May Allah bless their families!

There are endless narratives that we hear and read about the incident, as time passes by one feels further strangled in the horror of this carnage. One can simply not find words to describe it, I honestly feel that even animals are better off than the human beings who can carry out such brutal acts! This is not even terrorism, we need a new word to describe it!

The most troubling factor is that this unmatched brutal incident takes place in an 'Islamic' republic! done by those who uphold the name of the Prophet of the highest stature, Mercy for entire mankind The Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.W. Shameful!

But the question is after all this media coverage, all that we feel, all that people are writing and expressing, will anything change? Will those who occupy influential position do anything? Will we ever think that how have we wronged ourselves as a nation? will it bring about a changes in us as persons? Will  these concerns be addressed?

This post can possibly have to words for conclusion!

The Illuminating Verse!

Since the past one month this verse (part of the verse basically) remains somewhere at the back of my mind somehow, and every mention of نور or light (electricity load shedding even) makes me think about it. The verse is as given below:

Surah Al-Nur verse 36: "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth"

The word نور exists in Urdu, Arabic and Persian. In Arabic it means light, In Urdu it means روشنی (light), تجلّی (transfiguration, manifestation), رونق (Beauty, Gorgeousness)

When we look up the Persian word 'نور' it means light and glory. 'النور ' 'The Light' is also one of the names/attributes of Allah the Almighty.

Light as described by English dictionaries is an entity that stimulates sight makes things visible. Physics suggests it as energy or particles called photons. But the light being mentioned in this verse requires 'vision' rather than 'sight'. Light as a natural agent also requires us to have sight, similarly Allah's light (نور) also requires something from us i.e. vision!

In the spiritual world 'light' is precisely referred to as guidance and 'darkness' (ظلمت) as absence of guidance or "ہدایت" This light is not just illumination or brightness but energy as well! positive energy. So this light has a broader meaning than just illumination, it means that in order to make sense of anything in our world we need to absorb this Noor (نور) according to our capability and willingness. Just like in order to see anything around us we need the light of the physical world similarly through Allah's Noor we can make sense of the things going on around us. Light travels in a straight line for the spiritual path to seek Allah's light we also need to tread the straight path (صراتِ مستقیم)

Light in the broader sense can be understood in three contexts:

1. The light around us
2. The light that is absorbed, i.e. we contain
3. The light that is reflected (ضیاء) (As by the Prophets and spiritually exalted people and through His holy books)

The light around us
A Momin (مومن)  must strive to absorb & retain this light through thick and thin, that is why the color of the flag of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.W. was black! because it absorbs all light, all shades of the light. We require a lifetime to absorb and retain this light. Reminds me of a quote by Rumi:

"The wound is where the light enters your soul"

Well basically this depends upon the person, the wound can also be the place from where the entire light could exit as well! tough and trying situations would have different impact on two different hearts. So a willing heart might find light from any source experience or happening while an unwilling heart might chose to dwell in darkness. But its always around!

The light we absorb
Shown in our thoughts and actions.

Also in Mathnawi it is stated:

The light which shines in the eye
is really the light of the heart.
The light which fills the heart
is the light of God, which is pure
and separate from the light of intellect and sense.
Mathnawi 1:1126-7

The light that is reflected

Allah's light is manifested as divine guidance, Holy books, Prophets, spiritually exalted people who tread HIS path and so on.


Further references of The Light:

Al-Baqarah verse 257 says that there is no coercion in religion, Allah has sent His shariyah to distinguish between right and wrong. and in the very next verse Allah says that:

"Allah is the ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darknesses into the light. And those who disbelieve - their allies are Taghut. They take them out of the light into darknesses. Those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein."

So the believers are promised Allah's help to move out of darkness into the Noor (The light)

In Surah Tauba Allah says:

They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah insists on perfecting His light though the unbelievers are averse thereto. (9:33)

Hence this light is always there around us, willing hearts can absorb it and reflect it as well. Allah explicitly states that no human activity can put this light out, this is an affirming statement for us Alhamdulillah.

This light is the bigger purpose of life, this light is happiness, this light is the real beauty that we need to develop in ourselves and find in others, this light is the objective of life, this light is the destination. This light can be absorbed & retained with total surrender. Only then we can actually 'reflect' the light to others. Just disliking darkness is not enough to travel towards light we need to tread the 'straight path'.

Looking forward to corrections and suggestions!