Ashfaq Ahmad says

As I said previously that I don't agree with Ashfaq Ahmad on many matters but still I carry huge respect for him in my heart. I loved his following quote:

ﺟﺴﮯ ﺧﺪﺍ ﮈﮬﯿﻞ ﺩﮮ ﺭﮨﺎ ﮨﻮ ﺍﺱ ﮐﺎ ﮐﺒﮭﯽ ﺍﺣﺘﺴﺎﺏ ﻧﮧ ﮐﺮﻭ،

ﺑﻼ ﺿﺮﻭﺭﺕ ﺳﭻ ﻓﺴﺎﺩ ﮨﻮﺗﺎ ﮨﮯ، ﮐﻮﺋﯽ ﭘﻮﭼﮭﮯ ﺗﻮ ﺳﭻ ﺑﻮﻟﻮ، ﻧﮧ ﭘﻮﭼﮭﮯ ﺗﻮ ﭼﭗ ﺭﮨﻮ،

 ﮐﺴﯽ ﮐﻮ ﺧﻮﺩ ﻧﮧ ﭼﮭﻮﮌﻧﺎ، ﺩﻭﺳﺮﮮ ﮐﻮ ﻓﯿﺼﻠﮯ ﮐﺎ ﻣﻮﻗﻊ ﺩﯾﻨﺎ، ﯾﮧ ﺍللہ ﮐﯽ ﺳﻨﺖ ﮨﮯ، اللہ ﮐﺒﮭﯽ ﺍﭘﻨﯽ ﻣﺨﻠﻮﻕ ﮐﻮ ﺗﻨﮩﺎ ﻧﮩﯿﮟ ﭼﮭﻮﮌﺗﺎ، ﻣﺨﻠﻮﻕ ﺍﻟﻠﮧ ﮐﻮ ﭼﮭﻮﮌﺗﯽ ﮨﮯ- ﺍﻭﺭ ﺩﮬﯿﺎﻥ ﺭﮐﮭﻨﺎ ﺟﻮ ﺟﺎ ﺭﮨﺎ ﮨﻮ ﺍﺳﮯ ﺟﺎﻧﮯ ﺩﯾﻨﺎ ﻣﮕﺮﺟﻮ ﻭﺍﭘﺲ ﺁ ﺭﮨﺎ ﮨﻮ ﺍﺱ ﭘﺮ ﮐﺒﮭﯽ ﺍﭘﻨﺎ ﺩﺭﻭﺍﺯﮦ ﺑﻨﺪ ﻧﮧ ﮐﺮﻧﺎ، ﯾﮧ ﺑﮭﯽ ﺍللہ ﮐﯽ ﻋﺎﺩﺕ ﮨﮯ، ﺍﻟﻠﮧ ﻭﺍﭘﺲ ﺁﻧﮯ ﻭﺍﻟﻮﮞ ﮐﮯ ﻟﯿﮯ ﮨﻤﯿﺸﮧ ﺍﭘﻨﺎ ﺩﺭﻭﺍﺯﮦ ﮐﮭﻼ ﺭﮐﮭﺘﺎ ﮨﮯ- ﺗﻢ ﯾﮧ ﮐﺮﺗﮯ ﺭﮨﻨﺎ، ﺗﻤﮩﺎﺭﮮ ﺩﺭﻭﺍﺯﮮ ﭘﺮ ﻣﯿلہ ﻟﮕﺎ ﺭﮨﮯ ﮔﺎ-

On the roots of Shyr

There is a misconception that poetry is all about radeef and Qafia. Actually, they are all meant to beautify, digestify and simplify the khayal. I received following as a forward and should be shared to know what Shyr and Shyree (poetry) mean. I highlighted the key words:

 شعور خیالات کی آمد اور خیال پر غور اور خیال پر عمل کے مجموعے ھے۔ شعور اپنے ماحول، علم اور تربیت سے تخلیق ھوتا ھے. جو جتنا وسیع مطالعہ ، تجربہ اور تجزیہ کا ریکارڈ اپنے ذھن میں رکھتا ھے اس کا اتنا بڑا شعور ھوتا ھے۔

شعور کا مادہ ھے ش ع ر۔ اسی سے شعر ھے ۔ شعر قطاَ الفاظ کی ردیف اور قافیہ بندی کا نام نہیں ھے بلکہ شعر تب تک شعر نہیں ھوسکتا جب تک اس میں خیال نہ ھو۔  

Tashkent Files

Lately, I am not getting much chance to go out and watch movies in the theater, but I heard about this Indian flick "Tashkent Files," so I made an effort to go and watch this movie. Least to say I was disappointed.

It was a pure character assassination attempt of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. I am not a huge fan of her as she was also trying to perpetuate family politics. Her act of 'emergency' was a shameful act. But she was a smart lady. She won the 1971 war with Pakistan and gave Pakistan a psychological blow which they can never be over with. She gave her life fighting to save Indian Panjab. (Director shamelessly omitted her work for the country). To label her as 'traitor' and 'KGB agent' was very unfair in the movie. Putting out the film at election time put a BIG question mark on the sincerity of the movie maker. Subtly message was given not to vote for Congress.

In one of the interview, the director was bagging to judge movie only from the cinematographic angles. It was a mediocre work even from the camera and screenplay point of view. The script was mostly written from Google search of conspiracy type web pages. Mitrokhin archive itself is controversial. There was no reason to transport the main character of the movie between Dehli and Uzbekistan every 15 minutes like she is traveling to Chandni Chowk. 

Said that Mithun proved himself to be a magnificent actor.

Only two stars as a movie.

Hateli pe Til

"Kiya ye sach hai ke agar aadmi kisi ki duao'n ke hisaar main aa jaye to uski hateli pe kahin - ziyada ter mount of venus - pe aik til ubhar aata hai"

Signs!

(I always believed in 'signs')

Signs are not there just to guide but to provide comfort to humans on ongoing life issues. 

Ever found a fortune cookie or a lucky penny when you feel vulnerable?

Social Media

(Read on the internet)

"To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction and social media overreaction"!

Gurbat aur Ilm ka nasha

Is blog pe main ne aik dost Yasir Gondal ka zikar kiya tha (here)

Aik din Gondal se main ne poocha: "tumhe apne gareeb hone pe gussa nahi aata?"

Us ne jawab diya: "Bhai! gurbat aur burhapa kis ko achha lagta hai, magar main ne jaana hai ke gurbat ka sab se achha marham ilm ka nasha hai, isi liye raat bhar paRa paRa ye nasha kerta rehta hun - aur khub kitbain paRhta hun" 

Universe is funny

I love to ask older people on the lessons they learned from life after 70 or 80 years of living. Today one of my patients gave a very strange answer. He said: "I found universe very funny. If you pay attention, it wants you to smile and sometimes even laugh loudly. When I proposed my wife, my zip was open - and that what she loved - my nervousness. We are still married for 55 years! It's all how you perceive situations".

I found it a different response and felt like sharing!

On Iqbal's Balance and Tuning

I think I was in 11th grade when we read Iqbal's famous poem: "har lehza hai..". One of its couplet (shyr) though I understood the literal meaning conceptually was beyond me.

Qahhariyo  gaffariyo  quddusiyo   jabroot
ye char anasir hon to banta hai muslman

I was confused that what to make of these four qualities in terms of a character.

I referred to our teacher Sir Anees. He was himself an Urdu poet and a well-read person. His explanation was different and I have not found anywhere else but made sense. According to him, this whole poem of Iqbal is about "balance" and "tuning" as he later said in the same poem:

Qudrat   ke    maqasid     ka    ayyar    is    ke    iraade
Duniya main bhi meezan, Qayamat main bhi  meezan

Hamsaaye       jibreele      ameeN     bandaye     khaki
hai     is  ka    nasheman   na bukhara  na badkhshan

 In old mythologies, it was said that the universe is created from four basic anaseer (elements/components): Fire, Water, Air, and Gravel. The four characteristics Iqbal is describing refer to these four components of universe.

Qahhar (furious) = fire,
Gaffar (forgiver) = Water,
Quddusi (Divine/soft/beyong perception) = Air, and
Jabroot (magnificant/standing/huge/mighty) = Mountain/gravel

What Iqbal meant is that the true Muslim is always in tune with the universe, and balances like water balance fire and mountain balance air.

Allahul alam

web

There is always a greater game behind.

Maut aur Aulad

We knew and he himself knew that death is not far.

Magar jab meri us se aakhri mulaqat hui to apni maut ko bhool ker woh der tak mujh se apni bachhi ki batain kerta raha, us ki tasveerain dikhata raha - aur phir bazoo tham ke kehne laga - "us bachhi ke aansu nahi dekhe jaate"

Aur main sochta raha: "Duniya main ye sirf aulad ki muhabbat hi hai jo insaan ko maut se bhi begaana ker deti hai"

Jhoot

(Last 2 weeks were not easy as I had to console many people when a loved one died after a protracted illness)

"Sir! Kiya marte huwe insaan se jhoot bolna jaayiz hai - sirf is liye ke us ki maut sukoon se waqiye ho jaaye"

"Jhoot bolna koi achhi baat to nahi magar maut ka aakhri lamha is qadar giraN hota hai ke agar kahin aram (comfort) ki koi gunjaish nikal aaye to kher hai. Allah baRa raheem hai".

Flying under the Radar

My experience in life tells me that genuine people always try to fly under the radar.

طوائف

طوائف

 آئیے.. بٹھیئے

. نوچیئے.. کھائیے

 اگلیئے اپنے من کا تعفن سبھی

 گالیاں دیجیے

 برہنگی دیکھیے

 سگریٹیں پھونکیے

 بے بہا پھونکیے

 جھاڑیے اپنے بے داغ دامن کو پھر

 تھوکیے.. جائیے..!!

Iqbal's thought on Story of Adam

A Read from Iqbal's famous book Reconstruction of Religious Thoughts in Islam (1930)


The Quran omits the serpent and the rib-story altogether. The former omission is obviously meant to free the story from its phallic setting and its original suggestion of a pessimistic view of life. The latter omission is meant to suggest that the purpose of the Quranic narration is not historical, as in the case of the Old Testament, which gives us an account of the origin of the first human pair by way of a prelude to the history of Israel. Indeed, in the verses which deal with the origin of man as a living being, the Qur’an uses the words Bashar or Insan, not ÿdam, which it reserves for man in his capacity of God’s vicegerent on earth. The purpose of the Qur’an is further secured by the omission of proper names mentioned in the Biblical narration - Adam and Eve. The word Adam is retained and used more as a concept than as the name of a concrete human individual. The following verse is clear on the point: ‘We created you; then fashioned you; then said We to the angels, "prostrate yourself unto Adam" (7:11).

In the sense of the eternal abode of the righteous, Jannat is described by the Qur’an to be the place ‘wherein the righteous will pass to one another the cup which shall engender no light discourse, no motive to sin’. It is further described to be the place ‘wherein no weariness shall reach the righteous, nor forth from it shall they be cast’. In the second episode of the legend the garden is described as a place ‘where there is neither hunger, nor thirst, neither heat nor nakedness’. I am, therefore, inclined to think that the Jannat in the Quranic narration is the conception of a primitive state in which man is practically unrelated to his environment and consequently does not feel the sting of human wants, the birth of which alone marks the beginning of human culture.

Thus we see that the Quranic legend of the Fall has nothing to do with the first appearance of man on this planet. Its purpose is rather to indicate man’s rise from a primitive state of instinctive appetite to the conscious possession of a free self, capable of doubt and disobedience. The Fall does not mean any moral depravity; it is man’s transition from simple consciousness to the first flash of self-consciousness, a kind of waking from the dream of nature with a throb of personal causality in one’s own being. Nor does the Qur’an regard the earth as a torture-hall where an elementally wicked humanity is imprisoned for an original act of sin. Man’s first act of disobedience was also his first act of free choice; and that is why, according to the Quranic narration, Adam’s first transgression was forgiven.