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.

Amrita Pritam - Main tenu fir milaN gi

I start reading Amrita Preetam very late - but chalo der aaye durust aaye.

Aadmi mehboob se bichaR bhi jaaye to aik aas hamesah rehti hai. As Baba fareed said

Kaga sab tan khaiyyo, chun chun khaiyyo maas
Do nena mat khaiyyo, jinhey piyaa milan di aas

Following is her one beautiful poem - her classic. (English translation below by someone)

 میں تینوں فیر ملاں گی- کِتھے؟

کس طرح؟ پتا نہیں

 شاید تیرے تخیل دی چھنک بن کے

 تیرے کینوس تے اتراں گی

 یا ہورے تیرے کینوس دے اُتے

 اک رہسمئی لکیر بن کے

 خاموش تینوں تکدی رواں گی

 یا ہورے سورج دی لو بن کے

 تیرے رنگاں اچ گھُلا گی

 یا رنگاں دیاں باہنواں اچ بیٹھ کے

 تیرے کینوس نو ولاں گی

 پتا نئیں کس طرح، کتھے

 پر تینوں ضرور ملاں گی

 یا ہورے اک چشمہ بنی ہوواں گی

 تے جیویں جھرنیاں دا پانی اڈ دا

 میں پانی دیاں بُونداں

 تیرے پنڈے تے مَلاں گی

 تے اک ٹھنڈک جئی بن کے

 تیری چھاتی دے نال لگاں گی

 میں ہور کج نئیں جاندی

 پر اینا جاندی آں

 کہ وقت جو وی کرے گا

 اے جنم میرے نال ٹُرے گا

 اے جسم مُکدا اے

 تے سب کج مُک جاندا

 پر چیتیاں دے تاگے

 کائناتی کنا دے ہوندے

 میں انہاں کنا نو چناں گی

 تاگیاں نو ولاں گی

 تے تینوں میں فیر ملاں گی

I will meet you again

How and where? I know not.
Perhaps I will become a figment of your imagination
 and maybe, spreading myself
in a mysterious line on your canvas,
I will keep gazing at you.

Perhaps I will become a ray of sunshine,
to be embraced by your colors.
I will paint myself on your canvas
I know not how and where –
but I will meet you for sure.

Maybe I will turn into a spring,
and rub the foaming drops of water on your body,
and rest my coolness on your burning chest.
I know nothing else but that thislife will walk along with me.

When the body perishes, all perish;
but the threads of memory arewoven with enduring specks.
I will pick these particles,
weave the threads, and

I will meet you yet again.

Voices in Schizophrenia

At one point in my career and back home after MBBS, I practiced Family Medicine. It was a different experience. I saw many patients who had active schizophrenia. I read about it a lot and am still not fully cleared; instead, I am baffled - that is why these patients always hear these voices as completely as strangers. One patient told me his voice is like a transmitter talking and always starts a conversation with the words "start initiative." Some patients reported hearing the bell before someone started talking. Some descriptions, discussions, and reports were mind-boggling and intellectual for me. Some of these patients were no non-sense, highly literate people.

Sometimes I wonder, is this a disease, or do people communicate to some alien world we can't see? 

cause?

Recently, one of my patient - who was an active union member at his time, said to me: 

"There is no F****** thing as cause. I learned it the hard way. Now I only fight for myself!"

Psychology of Reward

I was absent as I was traveling and spending time with myself to have a better perspective and account of my life. I spend a lot of time reading and watching Ted Talks. Out of many, I found the following talk from Dan Pink very interesting. It gets interesting as you go forward on video.

Link: https://youtu.be/rrkrvAUbU9Y

Arrows and Words

Today one of my teacher at one of the courses I am taking, said a beautiful thing.

"Arrows are more important than words in the graph, so pay attention"!

(What he meant: understanding the process is more important than the end result)

A tourist in Madina

Taseer Cheema is a Pakistani physician and an Urdu and a Panjabi poet who lives at upstate New York. I bumped to his writings and poetry via Pakistani physician facebook pages. I don't know him in person and never met him, but his writings indeed intrigue me. He posted the following and I was scratching my head with amazement as I never thought of this angle. The whole article was a gem, but I am posting the relevant part pertaining to this post.

 کعبہ میں تو تب بھی چڑھاوے چڑھتے تھے۔ قربانیاں ھوتی تھیں ۔ ھاں یہ فرق تھا کہ ابو  جہل و لہب نے حاجیوں کی سقائ کی۔ ان کو کعبے کا مہمان جانا۔ مگر اب تو حاجی "خریدار" ھے۔ جو کلاک ٹاور میں ٹھہرنے کے لئے خطیر رقم ادا کرتا ھے۔ اب حاجی مہمان نہیں خریدار ھے۔ میں نے کچھ سال پہلے بتیس ھزار ڈالر ادا کئے ایسی مہمانداری کے لئے۔ 

مووین پیک کے ڈائننگ روم میں بیٹھا تھا جہاں سے مسجد نبوی کا صحن دکھتا ھے۔ میرے سامنے چالیس کھانے لگے تھے ۔ جب مڑ کے دیکھا تو مصطفیٰ کا صحن نظر پڑا۔ اندر ایک سونامی وارد ھو گئ۔ لقمہ ھاتھ میں پکڑے کا پکڑا رہ گیا۔ میں نے دیکھا شعبِ ابی طالب میں معدۂِ اطہر پہ پتھر بندھا ھے۔ مقامِ محمود کا وارث فاقے کر رھا ھے۔ قسم رب کعبہ کی اگر وہ ھے تو ، وہ لقمہ گر پڑا۔ مجھے نفرت ھو گئ اپنے آپ سے اور وا رفتہ دروازہ نمبر ۱۵ کی طرف بھاگا۔ مگر اجازت نہیں تھی۔ باھر بیٹھ کے آنسوؤں سے دل بہلا لیا۔ وہ گنبدِ خضرا اور اس کے نام پہ جو فسانے بندھے ان کا ماتم کرتا رھا۔ 

میں ایک انسان ھوں مجھے بھی بت پرستی کی نفسیاتی ضرورت ھے۔ میں اگر گلی کا آوارہ ھوتا تو ھر کسی کو گالی دے کے آوارہ کس کے گذر جاتا اور ٹھٹھا اُڑاتا۔ وہ بت ھے مصطفیٰ کا کملی والے کا۔ وہ جس کو کارلائل انیس گھنٹے کھڑا ھو کے سلام بھیجتا ھے۔ .....

Buraii ki illat

"Sir! aik mushkil sawal poochuN?"

"zaroor"

"Sir khuda na buraii ko kiun paida kiya?"

"Dekho jab tak -  antithesis na ho, thesis synthesis nahi banti
- wese hi agar buraii na ho to - neki se hikmat janam nahi le sakti
- buraii ki illat aur manzil ; hikmat hai

Neki jab taj buraii ke 'conflict' se nibard azma nahi hoti : Jab tak ye wisal nahi hota ; Hikmat janam  nahi le pati

Carl Jung ne kaha tha: "Where wisdom reigns, there is no conflict between thinking and feeling." 

~ Andar ka darya shaant ho jaaye to buraii ki chahat nahi rehti :: buraii apni illat paa ker khud dam toR deti hai

Bus isi 'sukoon'  ke kuuze main la ilaha ka darya band hai

Aik Anokhi Dua

Insaan ko zindagi main baRe ajeeb ajeeb log milte hain. Hamare nana ke aik achhe dost the - hum unhe bhi nana kehte the. Un ki zindagi ka ziyada hissa East Africa main guzra tha - is liye angrezi ziyada bolte the. Aik din ab yaad nahi kiya baat hui ke mujh se bohat khush huwe. Main ne un se kaha, 'nana koi achhi si magar mukhtalif si dua dain" . Unho ne angrezi main kaha:

"We all die one day. I pray the day you die you have no despair around you"

(Hum sab ne aik din marna hai. Magar jis din tumhe maut aaye khuda kare tumhare aas paas maayyusi ka koi saya na ho)

Tab naujawan tha - baat be-maani lagi. 
 - Ab lagta hai ke is se ziyada khubsurat dua ho nahi sakti.

Interesting Urdu literary jab

اُردُو کا ایسا قطعہ جس میں اُردُو کے تمام حروفِ تہجی شامل  ہیں

 نہ ژالہ باری نہ دھوپ پڑتی نہ ٹمٹماتی ہے چاندنی اب 

 نہ کوئی ساغر, نہ آگ برکھا، عجیب طرز فنا چلی اب 

 جدا حلاوت۔ خفا ظرافت، ضعیف ہر شوق، ڈر نہ صدمہ

ثمر جو ذکر حبیب کا ہے یہ تجھ کو عرفی ملا سبھی اب

This is an interesting jab with Urdu. This Rubai (four liners where all lines rhyme except third) has all alphabet of Urdu. Allegedly from Urdu poet Urfi Afaqi, but can't confirm. 

Neither hailing nor sunshine, moonlight  with no show
Neither winecup nor rain fire, a different death wave now
Different flavor, no humor, tired wishes, neither fear nor sorrow
Urfi fruits of taking the beloved's name, you got all now

Urfi - poet name

Pardon my rape of English translation

Ethics in business

Do you know why America's famous video renting chain: "Blockbuster video" bankrupted? Because their income was based on making money on people's late return and late fees. At its peak, it made 800 million just from late fees. But within ten years of it, blockbuster was history. Blockbuster would have survived Netflix with gearing business towards online. They had resources, and they even tried, but they were unable to fix the fundamental flaw of unethical practice, i.e. not charging for service but thrive on peoples' weakness.

The 'blockbuster video' is considered the classic case study of unethical business, not paying dividends in the long run.

Rizq aur Izzat

Weekend pe aik urdu mehfil main jaane ka ittafaq huwa. Wese to poori taqreeb hi: 'marun ghutna phoote aankh' ke musdaq be sar-o-pa thi :: Magar daurane guftagu kisi ne aik achha comment diya

"Uper wale ne insaan ke liye do cheezon ka daan mukammal tor per apne paas rakkha hai - ye us ne kisi ko 'outsource' nahi kiya 
- aik izzat aur dusra rizq 

Woh jise chahe, jitni chahe izzat aur rizq deta hai. Us ka mayaar wahi jaanta hai"

Women and Attention

Urdu ki aik kahwat hai ke: "Aurat aik aesi bel hai jo qareeb ki deewar pe chaRhti hai"

Kehte hain - "Aurat zewar libas ke bagair to ji leti hai - magar tawajjah (attention) ke bagair kumla jaati hai"

Isi wajah se aurat aksar us mard ki aag main jalti rehti hai - jo usey qabile aitnaye na samjhe aur -  'Ignorance' ka dao khelta rahe

On BrahmaN

In India, during the tenth century BC, the Brahmin priests used to hold a competition. Its purpose was to find a formula for the BrahmaN (‘the All’), the ultimate reality, which was not a clearly-defined God.

The brahman was All That Is. A priest would open proceedings by drawing upon his knowledge and scholarship in an attempt to define the Brahman. The other competitors would listen, think and respond, each contribution more learned than the last. But the winner was the priest who reduced the company all to awed silence. And in that silence, the brahman’s presence was felt.

~ As heard from Karen Armstrong (here)

Calcutta

Mother Teresa ne kaha tha:  "Hum sab ko apna calcutta khud dhundna paRta hai"

Kitni achhi aur sachhi baat hai.

Pardah

Ho sakta hai is baat main mubalga ho - magar "underlying message" bohat khubsurat hai

Kehte hain qayamat ke din insaan ko us ki ma ke naam se pukara jaaye gai - Aesa is liye ke - agar kahin koi lagzish hui bhi hai - to us ka pardah reh jaaye.

Agar Allah ko aurat ka pardah qayamat ke din bhi gawarah hai - to hum kaun hote hain - is duniya main kisi aurat ki izzat se pardah uthane wale