The Edhi spirit must continue!

A commendable humanitarian, philanthropist and social activist, Abdul Sattar Edhi passed away this Friday (May his soul rest in peace). People are paying well deserved rich tributes all over social media. His life , his pain for humanity , his hard work , discipline and simplicity of life style are unmatched. 

This great person has been laid to rest but his spirit and ideology must not be laid to rest at all! We can all play our role in our own capacity. we can all do at least one little thing in life that does not revolve around our own life and our own happiness but it should bring some happiness to other's lives. we all have opportunities and we all have resources for that. Everyone can live for themselves and strive for their own needs and satisfaction but we must think beyond that we must learn from the great life led by Abdul Sattar Edhi. His simple lifestyle is exemplary. No luxury for himsekf or his family. His time, effort resources each and everything was dedicated to Allah's cause. It is simply a pride that such a person was a Pakistani!

In this regard discussions on social media, putting up a profile picture and passing comments would not help to keep the spirit of his life alive, we must translate these tributes into actions!

So called 'Standards'

The motivation for this post comes from a response I got from a friend when asked why she refused a certain proposal. The response was simple

"میرے سٹینڈرڈ کا نہیں تھا"

Meaning it didn't match her standard.

These words made me think about this widely used term 'standard'. Where do they come from? Who sets them? Why do we follow? Is it necessary to meet standards set by the society? Do they bring peace to our hearts?

I could be wrong but as per my personal observation some self-set standards become a pain for people mostly, they loose peace of mind if ever in life they are not able to meet those standards. Even if they do meet the 'standard' ; then what next? 'Higher standards' is the answer! Hence a continuous struggle which effectively helps us loose our peace of mind.

I am not advocating an attitude of total disconnection with world and worldly pleasures. I am not suggesting to revert to life in caves  but I firmly believe that no such standard should become an obsession that does not let us tread His path. We must know we are not going to carry these 'standards' to our graves!

Someone showed extreme astonishment when I showed interest in a dress which was from the previous year, because its against the standard to wear old designs! The 'standard' further says that be the first one and preferably the only one to buy a certain designer item. Pointless objectives!

Personally I would not like to remember my parents as the ones who had such and such big house or such and such car or gave me such and such luxury but the things that persist would be the moral values they left behind. Mothers today do know which school will give their children 'up-to-the-standard' education and english accent, but rarely do they bother to atleast once read the holy Quran with them and explain the translation.

Thankfully Islam releases us from the clutches of false standards and sets only one standard that we have to meet that is 'تقوی' (taqwa: righteousness) A muslim's standards are not about his car, brands , looks or influence but his standards are about his character, morals and dealings with people.

Therefore fact remains; If you ignore the bigger purpose of life you are bound to keep seeking mundane objectives in vicious circles!

So lets set high standards but let them be the right ones!

Is Allah not Sufficient for His servant?

Allah, the Supreme being, is fully aware of the weaknesses and short comings of His creations. Though we may, as humans, over-estimate or under-estimate our powers at times but Allah knows how helpless human beings are, How weak at heart or mind we may become. Also only He knows our true potential. We may become weak when we encounter tough times, We may become arrogant over our sucess but this glorious verse gives us the right attitude in life. Allah states that

أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكَافٍ عَبْدَهُ

[Alais Allahu bekaaf inn abduhu]

" Is Allah not sufficient for His servant"

This is the mind-set and attitude a Momin (beleiver) must maintain in his thought and action at all times. In tough and trying times these affirming words from Allah save us from helplessness and depression and give us peace and confidence. Because we know that neither our skill, planing, worldly resources, people, power or influnece can save us but only Allah can! Hence no matter how tough the situation may be we will not loose hope knowing that Allah will help us find a way.

There is a hadith in Tirmidhi (ترمذی) which states that:

"If you trust Allah with the right kind of tawwakal (توکل) , He will provide you sustenance as He provides the birds- they go out in the morning with empty stomachs and come home in evening with full stomachs"

Allah is sufficient for His Servant for physical needs but also for spiritual needs. He has been sending Prophets to all nations. For complete spiritual nourishement he blessed the world with the Prophet for all nations and all times the Holy Prophet Muhammad Mustafa S.A.W.W. and the Holy Quran.

In times of sucess and acheivements these words help us keep our feet on ground because we owe our sucess to Allah. It is only because of Him that we have been able to do anything at all. As He is sufficient for His servant.

Also this verse no way implies that we stop using our skills and struggle for worldly resources but bear in mind that after putting the best of our effort into something the results may only be acheived with Allah's help. Many times we see in our personal that even though by using everything we have we still cant achieve what we aim because Allah does not will so. And many time we know that we can't do something or something is not possible still we are able to achieve our goal only because of special help from Allah.

If we ponder a little we may see that this verse demands two things from us:

Firstly: to actually believe firmly and realize that Allah is enough for His servant.

Secondly: become a true عبد (servant) so that Allah shows His helping hand for us.

I read in a Tafseer that we must think over Allah's attributes (صفات) This is very important to understand the powers of the supreme being and to make manifest His attributes in our character and have the vision to see His attributes in action around us. For example Allah's attribute الکافی 'The Sufficient' is much helpful in this regard.

To become a true servant we are blessed with not only the complete code in the Holy Quran but also the Quran examplified in the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W) who is a perfect example of a true servant to date. Through these blessings we can color our souls exaclty how Allah wants us to.

If we look at early Islam, who could have said that a one Man from Arab Hazrat Muhammad S.A.W.W. along with a few people will wittness that much sucess? Who could have guessed that this religion would spread to the corners of the earth? Who could have guessed that it would be the leading religion of the world? It was Allah's help, it was His divine support through which Islam saw glory and conqured the world.

History witnesses numerous examples of Allah being enough for His servant. Hazrat Ibrahim A.S. left his wife and son alone in desert as per Allah's order knowing that Allah is sufficient for His servant. Hazrat Yusuf A.S. thanked Allah for his faith even though he was in prison knowing that Allah is sufficient for His servant . Hazrat Mubammad S.A.W.W. never gave up his cause in the strongest opposition and lack of resources knowing that Allah is sufficient for His servant .

Mind your Language!

Everyone who visits Thailand must have felt the language barrier. The Arabs, Europeans and Asians seem to be struggling to get their message through. With their literacy rate well above 90 percent there are few who can communicate in English the lingua Franca.

There is a flip side to this whole scenario. It is amazing how these people respect and take pride in their language. If you say 'hello' or 'hi' at shops or at a hospital or on the road side even you are never responded in English the response is always in their native language.

All products have got Thai language on them, if you buy a local SIM the entire message from your service provider is in Thai language even for tourist SIMs. The cash receipts of point of sale systems are again in their native language. Their channels of news and entertainment are all based on their native language, cartoons even are aired in Thai language. Though being a tourist attraction one can see a lot of foreigners around still they prefer their native language over English.

One wonders how things are back home in Pakistan. We often find people telling the young ones to use Arabic or Urdu counterparts for the words 'thank you' and 'hello'. But the common trend goes against it, here in Thailand I have spent more than a month and never heard a hello or Thank you from anyone in English they use their own language. As a result the tourists pretty quickly learn  basic Thai greeting pronounced something like 'swadika'.

Perhaps they have not been ruled by the British! Perhaps we need some time to gain mental freedom!

وطنِ عزیز کی یاد تھائیلینڈ میں

ملک سے باہر جا کر احساس ہوتا ہے کہ ہمارے وطن کی کیا اہمیت ہے. تھائیلینڈ آتے ہی کچھ بے چینی محسوس ہوئی کہ خدا جانے یہاں بجلی کب کب جاتی ہوگی. پھر یاد آیا کہ اب میں 'بجلی جانے' کے دھچکے اور  'بجلی آنے' کی خوشی سے محروم ہو چکی ہوں. پھر بھی ایک روز جب بارش کی وجہ سے تکنیکی خرابی سے اندھیرا ھوا تو دل کو بہت تسلی ہوئی کہ انکو بھی بجلی کی عدم موجودگی سے پالا پڑا تو سہی. اور اس پر مزید یہ کہ انکے پاس جنریٹرز کا بھی انتظام نہیں! ہمارا ملک اس سلسہ میں کہیں ذیادہ ترقی یافتہ ہے. خدا گواہ ہے کہ کبھی فالتو بتی نہیں بجھائی کیونکہ ہمارے ملک کا دستور ہے کہ بجلی قوم کیلیے بچائی جاتی ہے اور تھائیلینڈ میں میری قوم کہاں؟

 اگرچہ یہاں یوٹیوب پر پابندی نہیں ہے مگر پھر بھی اسلام کو کوئی  بڑا خطرہ محسوس نہیں ہوتا ! البتہ پاکستان بنگلہ دیش اور ہندوستان کے مرد حضرات کو سیلاب حسن دیکھ کر ایمان جانے کا خطرہ ضرور محسوس ہوتا ہے کیو نکہ یہاں خواتین مردوں کی نسبت ذیادہ مختصر لباس میں نظر آتی ہیں. کسی کام سے پاکستان ایمبیسی جانا پڑا تو وہاں ٹوٹی ہوئی کرسیاں دیکھ کر گھر کا سا احساس ہوا. دیوار پر نواز شریف صاحب اور صدر ممنون حسین صاحب کی تصویر دیکھ کر وہ خوشی ہوئی جو اپنے ملک میں کبھی نہیں ہوتی. اور خیال آیا کہ نا حق وہاں 'گو نواز گو ' کے نعرے لگتے ہیں ، جبکہ نواز شریف صاحب اردو بول بھی لیتے ہیں اور سمجھ بھی لیتے ہیں. یہاں تھائیلینڈ میں اتنے عالم فاضل لوگ کہاں.

 یہاں لوگوں کا اچھا اخلاق دیکھ کر انسان سوچتا ہے کہ کیا یہاں کے لوگوں کیساتھ کوئی مسئلہ ہے یا ہمارے پاکستان میں کوئی اخلا قی ترقی ہو چکی ہے؟ بحر حال یہاں لوگ بہت با اخلاق اور خوش مزاج نظر آتے ہیں. یہاں تک کہ سڑک پر سٹالز پر کام کرنے والی بوڑھی عورتیں بھی ہنستی مسکراتی نظر آتی ہیں.وطن عزیز کے دستور کےبرعکس سڑک پر پیدل چلنے والوں کا بہت لہاذ رکھا جاتا ہے.

 ایک روز یہاں ایک ہسپتال کے کارکنان کا احتجاج دیکھنے کا موقع ملا جس کا مقصد تنخواہیں بڑھوانا تھا، اس احتجاج میں پاکستانی احتجاج والی کوئی بات نہیں تھی. نہ تو بلند نعرے لگائے گئے نہ سڑک بلاک ہوئی اور نہ کسی قسم کا شور شرابہ سنائی دیا. نہ کوئی آنسو گیس نہ کوئی شیلنگ. پہلے سے دیے گئے وقت کے مطابق کارکنان وہاں اکٹھے ہوئے ، اپنی حاضری لگا کر دئے گئے وقت کے مطابق واپس چلے گئے. چونکہ یہ مظاہرہ ہماری بلڈنگ کے سامنے تھا اس لیے اسکے اوقات ایک ہفتہ پہلے سے ہماری بلڈنگ کی ہر منزل پر لگا دیے گئے تھے. میرے مشاہدے کے مطابق مردوں کو البتہ  بلا تفریق رنگ و نسل کے گھورنے کی عادت ہوا کرتی ہے غالبا. کمی بیشی ضرور ہو سکتی ہے. پاکستان میں یہ رجحان بہرحال ذیادہ ہے. یہاں پاکستان کے  ٹی وی چینلز نشر نہیں ہوتے جسکی وجہ سے زندگی میں بریکنگ نیوز کی شدید کمی محسوس ہوتی ہے. 

ہمارے ملک کے تمام تر مسائل  اور خطر ناک صورت حال کے با وجود وہ جگہ جسکو ہم گھر کہہ سکتے ہیں اور وہ جگہ جو ہمیں اپنا کہتی ہے وہ پاکستان ہی ہے. دنیا میں اور کوئی جگہ نہیں جو پاکستان جیسی ہو.