Quran in our Academic plan

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Quran is no doubt a part of our academic plan and is being taught at various levels and I must appreciate the works of the institute Al-Huda (Islamabad) in imparting deeper knowledge about Quran.

But the problem here is that at such institutes elders, who have got interest in learning Quran are more likely to come, and most of us, since childhood, are not taught to be inquisitive about Quran, to explore it deeper with our own understanding and, learn more and more from it. It is no doubt very important to memorize all or portions of Quran but understanding it again and again is very important.

To nurture such mindsets, academic institutes should at school level help students develop interest in Quran and its teachings.

Just like Paulo Coelho in his book "Aleph" writes that no two journeys on the same road are the same, similarly each time we will reflect on the meanings of various verses we would come across new things and would discover new horizons. One thing  more very important is that students should be taught to relate to verses, like when we recite the second verse of Surah Fateha:

ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Translation: The Beneficent, the Merciful.

Having read this students should be taught to relate to it and think of how they find Allah Almighty as beneficient and Merciful and experience sharing and discussions are always very productive for learning. It must very carefully decided that at which academic and mental level which surahs should the children be asked to think about.

One thing very interesting I came across a few days back when someone told me that Quran gives us the evidence that Jesus Christ (Hazrat Eesah A.S.) was not born in December but in fact he was born in October. I was surprised and asked: how? The answer was simple that Merry (Hazrat Maryam A.S.) was asked to shake the tree of the dates to let the dates fall down for her to eat (which means dates were ripe to fall off), and this happens in October in that region and not December! So no two journeys of reflection on the same Surah can be the same indeed!

Letter to Pakistan!

Recently got the opportunity to read Karen Armstrong's book: "Letter to Pakistan". The author is a historian of world religions. It was a delight reading the book, the writer's grasp over religions is fantastic, and the subject of the letter is worth a read. Though it is a letter to humanity in general but it might have been a matter of gesture to address Pakistan in particular. She often visits Pakistan and also came to the Karachi Literature Festival some years back.

What makes Karen Armstrong a good Historian

The fact that she believes that a historian must empty his/her mind of all prejudices and give up their own opinions in order to analyse things in true perspective. And I have gone through some pages of her book on history of Islam where she has proved herself to be free from all negative prejudices that people often have about Islam. She writes:

"Getting to know one another demands that we 'reform' our prejudices, received ideas, and convictions about their cultures, religions and nations, and this can be difficult, because our opinions about others are often bound up with a sense of our own identity"

She further tells that a well known scholar of comparative religion Wilfred Cantwell Smith would ask his students to celebrate all the festicals and Rituals of muslims while teaching Islam!

The Golden Rule

Karen Armstrong believes., rightly so, that 'compassion' is the base of every religion. And that every religion follows the golden rule in different wordings and I would explain it here in my own words that; Not to inflict upon others what you would not like to be inflicted upon yourself. or always treat others the way you want them to treat you. 

She further says that the faith communities who should be solving the problem are actually a part of the problem and fail to recognize and practice their own beliefs. 

In this book she has explained twelve steps towards a compassionate life, in which is even teaches about how to argue and behave in day to day life. 

Some excerpts

"Compassion is not for the timid. We have to get beyond the selfishness and 'me-first' egotism 'all day and every day' to quote Confucius (Analects 15.23)"

"... were condemned by the Quran for kufr (ingratitude). English translations of the Quran often translate Kafir as unbeliever bu this is misleading. The problem was not with the theology of the kafirun but their arrogant behavior... " 

"...Compassion is greater than mere mercy or pity..." 

"But so opinionated are we these days that people often prefer to be right rather than compassionate"  

"Every human being has the potential to become the living breathing mirror of the divine" 

"The last thing anyone intends is the change of mind. We are extremely talkative but we are not good at listening"

The Alchemist-- Waiting for someone to make it's movie!

This is a symbolic book, fiction basically, which explains the story of a young Shepard an ordinary boy who dares to seek out his 'dream'. Dream can be our ambition, a milestone, a stupid wish; as I often wish of being able to play a musical instrument, or can be merely be our struggle, our fight to live a happy life. In this book it is a dream in literal sense as the boy saw a treasure hidden in Egypt while sleeping. So the book conveys how he moves from uncertainty,  that either his dream his worth pursuing or not, to the conviction that he is gaining so much each day in his struggle. As he is not afraid of taking risks and travelling in quest of the treasure no matter how badly betrayed and struck he became in his journey.

It is very important to have an objective and defined goal in life, like the boy has the treasure as his goal, and discovered many other things and learned skills in the process. The parents of the boy (the central character) wanted to send him to the seminary but he stood up against all odds and told his parents that he wanted to travel, ad had to do so as a Shepard as he did not have enough money. So he had decided to realize his dream of travelling. 

At a point the boy says: "Well usually I learn more from my sheep than from books" This was beautiful which meant that we can look around and learn, we can learn from sheep even!

One can seek out God anywhere and everywhere you need not be a priest or a scholar to find God, so the boy while enjoying the beauty of sunshine comments: "I couldn't have found God in the seminary, he thought as he looked at the sunrise". 

As from the story it seems that the sheep would change their location from place to place with him but it was he who was travelling in the real sense! that's why he commented about his sheep: "...they don't even realize that they're walking a new road each day " He also said that sheep only think of food and water and humans also sometimes just think of food and water! and it shouldn't be so!

When you're about to give up hope!

The boy met the king of Salem who told him the story of a miner who had struggled years in search of an emerald but one day he was about to give up hope, at that stage the king magically became a stone and rolled to the miner's foot. The miner with all his anger threw it towards the mine. It was thrown with such great force that it broke the stone that was hit to reveal the emerald embedded in it! Again symbolism can be seen here, the King became the stone which means that God's help comes into action when we try hard to pursue our desires. 

The world's greatest lie!

Paulo Coelho explains it as the greatest lie that everything that happens cannot be controlled by us but our fate alone. Everyone can enjoy freedom like the 'wind' but we just need to discover it. We are not unable to choose our own destiny, we just need to realize this.

"The boy felt jealous of the freedom of the wind, and saw that he could have the same freedom. There was nothing to hold him back except himself"!! awesome indeed!!

Self-pity 

I believe self pity is a crime, and came to know that I share the value with the author. As once the boy when he was in tough circumstances concluded: "He realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of the thief or an adventurer in search of his treasure". So the author asks for an attitude shift from 'poor victim' to 'adventurer'! the much needed attitude shift for a happy life! 

Also it is very important to clean ourselves, like in the book a crystal merchant asked the boy to clean the crystals so that he could clean his thoughts!

The desert and the oasis

It is simply worth a read that how the author narrates the story of the boy travelling in the desert and cannot be explained, its a matter of self reading. He marvelously explains the desert and the caravans and connects them with life seamlessly.

Some Excerpts:

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"

"Its the possibility of a dream come true that makes life interesting"

"sheep are afraid of strangers but children always seem to be able to play with them without frightening them. I don't know why. I don't know how animals know the age of human beings"

"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how others should lead their lives but none about his or her own"

"I'm like everyone else-- I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does"

"Everything that happens once can never happen again, but anything that happens twice will surely happen the third time"

Some loose ends in my post:

I have resisted the temptation of telling where and how the boy found the treasure for those who feel tempted to read the book! and I would suggest (at the end of the post though) that it is far mush better to read the book instead of reading this post! :P 

This book is definitely a MUST READ!

The 'Paulo Coelho' effect!

Having read four fiction books of Paulo Coelho, and reading the fifth, I've been able to figure out the common message in them all. The books I have read are:

1. The Alchemist [requires a separate blog post]
2. The Pilgrimage
3. The Fifth Mountain
4. By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
5. The Valkyries
6. The devil and Miss Prymm
7. The witch of Portobelo
8. Veronika Decides to Die
9. The Zahir

In addition am currently reading "Aleph". I do not find myself worthy of 'reviewing' a book but i can say with confidence that The Alchemist and 'The Devil and Miss Prymm' are a must read! Moreover if someone chooses not to read "The Pilgrimage" still its chapter 'Personal Vices' is a must must read, I would have recommended it for education curriculum but i am not in charge of that! 

Keeping the broader perspective while reading Paulo's books:

His books have lots to say about Christianity and we must read it with a broader perspective and as Karen Armstrong says (in her book "Letter to Pakistan") that if you explore another faith your belief in your own religion will not be 'diluted' rather it would be strengthened. So we must have a broader perspective and go through all the Christianity related stuff and fit it into our own custom religion settings. Further his books are symbolic. For example in his book The Alchemist sheep are sometimes a symbol for human race sometimes a symbol of the inner instincts of the Shepard and so on depending upon the imagination of the reader.

The concept of 'Fight with God' in one of his books:

In his book "The Fifth Mountain" as far as i gather the central character suffers so much in his life as a Prophet that he faces defeat after defeat but he never gives up, later in the book he is referred to be fighting with God. Which means (as I Infer) that he can even fight with God to reach his objective. This must not be taken in literal sense. As a Prophet he fights with all adversaries the tough and trying circumstances one after another and finally does not even get a glorified victory (though not a literal defeat as well) but he has the peace of mind that he 'tried with all heart' and has won many small battles in the larger war.

The common agenda of his books:

1. You should never give up being a child when it comes to 'dreaming' and till the last moment of your life you should be in pursuit of that dream which he calls the 'good fight' in his book "The Pilgrimage". A lot of emphasis is laid on this (in all of his books) as he asserts that one must be open to taking risks in pursuit of your dream no matter how stupid your dream might feel to others. And that pursuit should continue endlessly in tough circumstances.
2. The fear of death is bad but the fear to live is worse! and even worse if you can't speak your dream just because it is not possible. He thinks that we must have the confidence to speak and seek our dreams/ambitions.
3. Luck favors those who have the courage to fight the 'good fight'.  
4. Faith should be as pure as that of children, and your excitement towards even the smallest joys should be like that of children.
5. One should never hesitate in living, speaking and realizing his dreams, the 'excitement' of one's self should be preserved. 
6. Everyone can perform miracles in our own circle of influence and effect. And life is not just 'fate' but its a web of cause and effect.
7. Anything done for good is the manifestation of love.

Some excerpts to remember:

"A warrior accepts defeat. He does not treat it as a matter of indifference, nor does he transform it into a victory. The pain of defeat is bitter to him; he suffers with indifference and becomes desperate with loneliness. After all this has passed he licks his wounds and begins everything anew. A warrior knows a war is made of many battles; He goes on"

 "The best warrior is the one who transforms an enemy into a friend"

 "A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something and to know how o demand with all his might that which he desires"

          --The Fifth Mountain

"We are always trying to convert people to a belief in our own explanation of the universe. We think the more people there are who believe as we do, the more certain it will be that what we believe if true. But it doesn't work that way at all" 

          (No wonder I've been proving Imran Khan the only solution for Pakistan all the time!)

 "Human beings are the only ones in nature who are aware that they will die... Still being fragile, humans always hide from them the certainty that they will die. The do not see that it is death itself that motivates them to do the best things in their life... they would be even more daring to go much further in their daily conquests because they will have nothing to loose-- for death is inevitable"

          --The Pilgrimage

          "We are our own greatest surprise!" (this is was in the context of our own strength)

          --By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

           "When God wants to make a person insane He grants that person's every wish"

          --The Valkyries

Lessons from the roads

There are many similarities between roads and life! no wonder so many poets call it "roads of life" (though poets relate life to a 'book' also)

These are the similarities I've drawn between roads and life:

1. Road is a mix of technique, patience and luck! so is life.
2. There can be sharp turns but we can never turn our car in anticipation. So we should never get worried about issues in anticipation.
3. Sometimes you've to pay the price of other's mistakes. Yes sometimes we do suffer or bump into another car due to someone else's mistake, thats why I included 'luck' in first point. That reminds (as I learned from one of my teachers) me that Allah's name is 'Al-Adal' (The Justice) and not 'Al-Aadil' (The Just) so as far as I conclude Allah is the 'criterion of justice' so He is in himself 'Justice'. Hence we need to keep moving along no matter the tests that await us!
4. An excerpt from Paulo Coelho's book "Aleph" : "Life is the train not the station". So the road should better keep us moving!
5. Anger on the road is an absolute 'NO' , anger means expectations, so have have expectations who pass us by on one of the roads and would probably disappear forever! So we should better understand who is there to share our journey and who is just 'passing by'. So similar to what life offers!
6. Straight roads never make good drivers they say! So is life boring without challenges and courage to meet up with those challenges!
7. Always expect the unexpected from the most known and understood roads, they might have made a new speed breaker overnight!

That's all i have gathered up-till now, as a further advice don't think about all this while driving! :P