Showing posts with label Thoughts and Afterthoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thoughts and Afterthoughts. Show all posts
Experiencing Higher Realms through Books
I too have felt that when you read and reflect on certain books, especially of religious, philosophical and metaphysical nature and even about science, astronomy or social sciences, you feel yourself to be in a different world. The mind seems to have escaped from the worldly surroundings and transferred into a much more beautiful and pure world... Its an amazing feeling that is a fruit of piety. For if i'm not in a good spiritual state, my heart would block the soul from "passing out"!
It takes a thinking mind to be Indecisive
Part of being slave of nafs can be mindlessly floating in the flow of neuorotic impulses. I was careful to use modal verb 'can' because one might be very intuitive in one's approach towards doing things, yet free of base impulses that hate focus. I'd like to be that (latter) person though :D
Why am I not perplexed? Ignorance.
Well crises are coming ahead, for sure. An ignorant person is hardly perplexed. When i go into realm of philosophy, political philosophy, and specific issues as well, I'll have to take years to resolve, integrate or critique ideas, philosophies and methodologies... Because i'm not a thinking man with no vocation for knowing things with curosity, i'm floating on the surface and content with it. Isn't this what Iqbal prayed for:
khuda tujhay kisi tofaan say ashna kar day,
k teray behar ki mujoon mein iztarab nahi.
(my very bad translation)
May Allah send a storm your way, (or) May Allah familirize you with a storm
for there's no movement in waves of your water
This reminds me of the intro lines of dark knight rises' trailer: "a storm is coming." The defeated Batman was defeated by his victory. External peace rusted him and destroyed his inner peace. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr describes a momin, true Muslim: "peace inside and always at war outside" to destroy forces of disintegration (or something to that effect). Without feeling the agony, the angst of intellectual crises, i do not know any major Islamic contemporary thinker who could overcome the 'challenges of modernity' that easily. Although for the 'initiated ones', the illusions don't really matter.
i'm in search of a cohesive serenity of mind, action and body, both at metaphysical level and at academic and societal action level. and surely, turning things around for the sake of deen of Allah has been a major aspiration, goal of which is to increase faiz in akhrat, in words of Roomi (ra).
khuda tujhay kisi tofaan say ashna kar day,
k teray behar ki mujoon mein iztarab nahi.
(my very bad translation)
May Allah send a storm your way, (or) May Allah familirize you with a storm
for there's no movement in waves of your water
This reminds me of the intro lines of dark knight rises' trailer: "a storm is coming." The defeated Batman was defeated by his victory. External peace rusted him and destroyed his inner peace. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr describes a momin, true Muslim: "peace inside and always at war outside" to destroy forces of disintegration (or something to that effect). Without feeling the agony, the angst of intellectual crises, i do not know any major Islamic contemporary thinker who could overcome the 'challenges of modernity' that easily. Although for the 'initiated ones', the illusions don't really matter.
These days...
(Although in Punjab we don't such luxuries. Source)
This year, winter has invaded plains of Punjab like real gurrelia force: conserving during the day, letting sun reign whilst at its cyclical twilight; and, attacking with fury at night, knocking out anyone who dares takes his head out of burdensome blankets.
However. Weather is romantic at afternoon. While the greenry hasn't left the corridors of trees, the breeze magnify its beauty, inviting people to come out and enjoy the few gardens and parks Lahorites are blessed with.
It seems that the winter sends open invitation to everyone to come and walk with it, as if to warm it and reduce its own harshness, as if to hug it... inviting people to let loose their consumption of tea and coffee, again to relish in the warm glory of preceding summer, teaching us the importance of complementing with the 'other'...
Throughout the year, i anticipate the lonely walks i'll walk during the cold of the day and at the night, with few around... It is a kind of spiritual retreat after so much meddling with humans in summer nights...
Anonymity: A Way of Life
i've been on holidays for a while and been cut off from distant friends after deactivating my Facebook account during ramadan. Some of my closest friends complained where had i been for so long?! Why am i leading a gumnaam (anonymous or secluded) life? May be i wanted them to say so, thanks to the whisperings of my carnal soul. I confess i had not been on a spiritual quest seeking the company of Allah that i've confined myself to the home, but such a lifestyle is very enjoyable to say the least... i've not really practised khalwa (seclusion) at all - i've spent lot of time on internet, watching videos and playing an online strategy game while ending up spending negligible time on reading books...
Nonetheless, like all others i want to have a certain way of life when i start earning inshaAllah. i wish to be economically independent. i like to be like one of my neighbors, a reporter - (about whose house i'd talk about in the next post inshaAllah) - who's living a seemingly comfortable yet a simple life with beautiful and intelligent kids... A life dedicated to travelling to gain knowledge for the sake of Allah and to quench the thirst of curiosity, may it never die. A life of seclusion with least mixing with people. A life of least activity and most reflection, study, chores, and routine cyclical daily activities that keep adding more and more spiritual light to my home and its dwellers in a mosque-like environment... A life not dedicated to competition with people in riches but in knowledge; not dedicated to piling gold and worldly things, but spreading excessive wealth to those in need... A life of labour and hardship yet peace and serenity in close proximity with natural things, like mud. A life of least acceleration yet tiresome...
Fear of Enemy
i, compared to my father and elder brother, am a bit coward a person, always diffident when it comes to clashes. Not that i'm a peace loving, hit me on the other cheek guy as well. But, i fear an enemy or oppressor who overpowers me by large proportion, and do not find myself really willing to challenge openly that person or party with shuja or courage. Nonetheless, a single person can overcome many if he fears Allah. i read this translation of a verse of Qur'an that just opened my eyes. It also points to the fact that a Muslim is never powerless!
13. Would you, perchance, fail to fight against people who have broken their solemn pledges, and have done all that they could to drive the Apostle away,[1207] and have been first to attack you? Do you hold them in awe? Nay, it is God alone of whom you ought to stand in awe,[1208] if you are [truly] believers!
Translation: Muhammad Asad.
My Entrepreneurial Venture: Long way to go
We've planted a seed of a start-up. We wish it goes a long way. i wanna talk about elements of success and appreciate how "smarter our parents" - in fact smartest!Its all about perseverance some say. Our professor talked about Pakistani businesses. He said that they are not doing any thing brilliant - making fans, constructing houses, etc. Yet making a fortune. They do things consistently over a number of years. Now a days we've this trend where people do one thing, then leave it and move on. When you meet them after 20-30 years, they're still saying, "Ah, i'm going to do something great soon." It never happens, because perseverance is not a part of such entrepreneurs.
As i reflect on our juice cafe. i've been exposed to things related to this business - customer perceptions about food brands, having just-in-time production system, food hygiene & other bio-tech problems, accounting systems for such a business, etc. I've opportunities to grow. I'd better grow in this sector than haphazardly starting another. i can diversify and move to other food and drink items; its essence remains the same. What i can leverage over the number of years by having a staying power, i'm more likely to do innovations and remain more competitive than a start-up.
But that does not mean i cannot or should not start other businesses if i can. The example that i'd give also explains how smarts our parents are, who're doing businesses or remained part of markets over decades. My father today discussed with me the idea of exporting straws produced as by-products from crops such as wheat. He made an accurate calculation of investment and found that one can make 200% profit by collecting this waste which many people here burn (hence increasing its price), making its batches and storing to wait for the time of export. He is mashaAllah already into many diverse markets. One of my friend's father also has done so many things which are herculean. He made that point.
Faith is dynamic
i's coming to after namaz from an adjacent block and found my friend - an MS computer science student at FAST - was coming out of mosque. i stopped and joined him on his way to his home. He talked about his transformation into a pious person. "I never imagined going to mosque for prayers few years back! It wasn't just possible to imagine. Now, here i'm." SubhanAllah! "But sometimes it happens," he continued, "that you cannot concentrate in namaz. You're indulged in studies and during prayer, you're reminded of going back to work. We've to strike a balance between both worlds - this world & deeds of the next. You see, Hazrat Umar (r.a.) said that faith doesn't remain constant and fixed. It has its own highs and lows. Sometimes you're up, sometimes down. May this struggle never end. There's a prayer in Qur'an, probably in Surah Al-e-Imran, in which we pray God not to take back guidance once it has entered our hearts. I make this prayer everytime i say my prayers. May this noor never be taken back from us..." Aameen...
I said to him, "So this means we shouldn't get despair and hopeless." Exactly! That's the whole point," he replied. This was a lesson that came at the right for me. I forgot of this! I started to despair that my condition cannot change and be as same as it was couple of years back... Hope has been revived in my heart of transformation and consistency in eemaan... InshaAllah
I said to him, "So this means we shouldn't get despair and hopeless." Exactly! That's the whole point," he replied. This was a lesson that came at the right for me. I forgot of this! I started to despair that my condition cannot change and be as same as it was couple of years back... Hope has been revived in my heart of transformation and consistency in eemaan... InshaAllah
Fear & Hope
I was standing before water pot put on fire - it was boiling. I saw the bubbles develop slowly but at a fast pace, and i shrank into meditation. I recalled category A industries our professor was telling us about, which operate at temperatures above 5000 degree Celsius. I shrugged at very thought of boiling tea water touching human skin, too painful to imagine, let alone of 5000 degree Celsius. Again i was reminded of what our scholars and pious men and women tell us about when they recite Qur'an and narrate Prophetic hadith - about the destiny of man. There are three different destinies that all of us would share: heaven (inshaAllah), hell, and a neutral place between the two. I thought, looking at boiling water reaching its climax, how to better to fear hell. Fear of one object is better than all fears of this world, which in fact is the fear of one Rabb... Make your deal...
It is very urgently important to mention a fallacy many good Muslims sometimes fall into: they are told not to fear hell, portraying it as human weakness, in fact the perpetrators of such fallacies make fun of those who fear hell and hope for paradise. Some Muslims, unfortunately, are moved by such profane arguments, which are in fact sentimental in nature, and have you reality attached to it.
It is very urgently important to mention a fallacy many good Muslims sometimes fall into: they are told not to fear hell, portraying it as human weakness, in fact the perpetrators of such fallacies make fun of those who fear hell and hope for paradise. Some Muslims, unfortunately, are moved by such profane arguments, which are in fact sentimental in nature, and have you reality attached to it.
Do it! Umer get used to "Do it!"
Before they do it all!
We need to live this dictum as a nation, at least i do... I read an American writer say that people don't like getting out of their comfort zones, hence its true to assume that most of humans don't wanna do things that cause them pain, not the physical pain, but the pain of worry, anxiety, going against the routine, covering an extra mile, etc. We lie when we say we don't get opportunities, 'cause we can easily create opportunities.
For instance, you work for a company: Can you get a world-class professor train your employees for free from a leading world university say from MIT for many hours? We know how much consultants or trainers cost these days; and some of us would laugh at it, admitting their own shyness. Well, a 2nd-year student at my university arranged a 3-hour session to train university employees and faculty via webinar, by a senior MIT professor for free... And he had never met him, he had no relations with him.
Every day Allah creates opportunities of wealth, learning, growth, etc. out of nowhere. Its our shyness and laziness that fails us, and 5 years or 10 years from now we'll regret. May Allah save us from laziness and lack of courage to sail in rough and harsh seas...
We need to live this dictum as a nation, at least i do... I read an American writer say that people don't like getting out of their comfort zones, hence its true to assume that most of humans don't wanna do things that cause them pain, not the physical pain, but the pain of worry, anxiety, going against the routine, covering an extra mile, etc. We lie when we say we don't get opportunities, 'cause we can easily create opportunities.
For instance, you work for a company: Can you get a world-class professor train your employees for free from a leading world university say from MIT for many hours? We know how much consultants or trainers cost these days; and some of us would laugh at it, admitting their own shyness. Well, a 2nd-year student at my university arranged a 3-hour session to train university employees and faculty via webinar, by a senior MIT professor for free... And he had never met him, he had no relations with him.
Every day Allah creates opportunities of wealth, learning, growth, etc. out of nowhere. Its our shyness and laziness that fails us, and 5 years or 10 years from now we'll regret. May Allah save us from laziness and lack of courage to sail in rough and harsh seas...
Liberation for what?
"Proof that girls/women of today are better than yesterday's is that only today girls (who are sitting in the hall) are free to hear what we've said (read: totally vulgar and third-rate slang, dirty jokes, and explicit words); had it been 70s, it won't have been possible for them to listen (=enjoy) to all this and yet not go out of the room."
That was a worthy student who walks proudly on the earth reasoning that he is getting an undergrad degree, although he may devoid of any skill other than speaking on stage. It means that this liberation of women is totally wrong from the Islamic ethical standpoint. If our education has developed an instinct of acceptance of what is out rightly vulgar, and even girls, symbol of bashfulness and chastity, have come to copy men in this regard - shame on it!
Everyone - including opposition or in the audience - had assumed certain premises, like, progress is the epitome of man/woman, that if someone is not progressing, s/he's evil; that all that all education that is being given in Pakistan is good; that goodness lies in awareness, literacy rates, with the number of cars, cemented buildings, hygienic environment, etc. I'm not saying all of this is totally bad, at least many of these things can be wrong to a large extent. However, the government (team which was in favor of the topic) declared that all values are relative! What can most erroneous than that! To say the least, it seems to me that they're contradicting themselves. As it was pointed out that they need to talk about the word better... Wrong assumptions and notions too prevalent in modern world to a fatal degree...
This is what Prof Hassan Askari wrote about in his, Maghrib ya Jadeediyat ki Gumrahiyoon Ka Naqsha ("An Outline of the Fallacies of West/Modernity" - loose trans.).
That was a worthy student who walks proudly on the earth reasoning that he is getting an undergrad degree, although he may devoid of any skill other than speaking on stage. It means that this liberation of women is totally wrong from the Islamic ethical standpoint. If our education has developed an instinct of acceptance of what is out rightly vulgar, and even girls, symbol of bashfulness and chastity, have come to copy men in this regard - shame on it!
Everyone - including opposition or in the audience - had assumed certain premises, like, progress is the epitome of man/woman, that if someone is not progressing, s/he's evil; that all that all education that is being given in Pakistan is good; that goodness lies in awareness, literacy rates, with the number of cars, cemented buildings, hygienic environment, etc. I'm not saying all of this is totally bad, at least many of these things can be wrong to a large extent. However, the government (team which was in favor of the topic) declared that all values are relative! What can most erroneous than that! To say the least, it seems to me that they're contradicting themselves. As it was pointed out that they need to talk about the word better... Wrong assumptions and notions too prevalent in modern world to a fatal degree...
This is what Prof Hassan Askari wrote about in his, Maghrib ya Jadeediyat ki Gumrahiyoon Ka Naqsha ("An Outline of the Fallacies of West/Modernity" - loose trans.).
Extreme Sun, Extreme Man
For past one century, for past one decade, humanity has seen such crises bigger than any crisis in civilizational history, other than the flood of Nuh or such incidents. Conditions in world have become extreme producing extreme reactions by people of any world-view. One important 'out of control factor' is the catalytic effect of Sun's energy on human mind, just as sun plays a predominant - which is too small a word - in every physical happening and variation; just as sun can destroy space satellites, annihilate electricity in Canada, nullify semiconductors - it also tinkers with sensitive electric currents of human brain.
If we see past 250 years of history of sun's activity - its storms, its 'sunspots' (which emit electro-magnetic rays and flares out of it) - it has reached its peak in 20th century (see photo below in which timeline is given along with sunspot cycles). Its heat and energy emissions have become more intense than anytime before. Sultan B. Mehmood, a Pakistani atomic scientist, could not understand why the effects of sun and its magnanimous variations should not be studied on human mind and behavior. This led him to study human history and sun's history, side-by-side, of past 250 years. He penned the book, in 1997-8 (?) and came out with startling predictions which turned out to be remarkably true.
The core prediction was about the rise of agitation, restlessness, aggression and terrorism in next decade; about the physical, earthly disasters we'd see from 2008-2017 along with political turmoil and violence. Studying the 'cosmic effects' of sun spots and sun storms on human mind and moods, he said back then that next decade would manifest extreme human behaviour which if not controlled will create havoc and crises. The bottom line is: if you can have control on your charged emotions, it turns into positivity - creativity, productivity, life, thought and civilization. He adds, "Make the hay while sun shines." Hence, extremism in behavior and outlook, is a major human problem everywhere.
When the attacks of 9/11 took place, intelligence agencies arrested Mr. Method and interrogated, "What you wrote in your book has turned out to be remarkably true. Maybe you are the master-mind behind these attacks." The author only had to say, "When i wrote the book (in '98) I also sent its copies to President Bill Clinton, PM Tony Blair and other heads of state urging them to show leadership to ensure peace." (These are not exact quotes as I am relying on memory.)
The book is written in a very acute scientific manner which is, nonetheless, highly readable by laymen. It is also punctuated by such sections on Sun's role in 'the choice of marriage and children', etc. It has useful advices for people from all walks of life from politicians to entrepreneurs It is very statistically and methodically written with case histories of events occurring in past 250 years both on sun and earth.
If we see past 250 years of history of sun's activity - its storms, its 'sunspots' (which emit electro-magnetic rays and flares out of it) - it has reached its peak in 20th century (see photo below in which timeline is given along with sunspot cycles). Its heat and energy emissions have become more intense than anytime before. Sultan B. Mehmood, a Pakistani atomic scientist, could not understand why the effects of sun and its magnanimous variations should not be studied on human mind and behavior. This led him to study human history and sun's history, side-by-side, of past 250 years. He penned the book, in 1997-8 (?) and came out with startling predictions which turned out to be remarkably true.
The core prediction was about the rise of agitation, restlessness, aggression and terrorism in next decade; about the physical, earthly disasters we'd see from 2008-2017 along with political turmoil and violence. Studying the 'cosmic effects' of sun spots and sun storms on human mind and moods, he said back then that next decade would manifest extreme human behaviour which if not controlled will create havoc and crises. The bottom line is: if you can have control on your charged emotions, it turns into positivity - creativity, productivity, life, thought and civilization. He adds, "Make the hay while sun shines." Hence, extremism in behavior and outlook, is a major human problem everywhere.
When the attacks of 9/11 took place, intelligence agencies arrested Mr. Method and interrogated, "What you wrote in your book has turned out to be remarkably true. Maybe you are the master-mind behind these attacks." The author only had to say, "When i wrote the book (in '98) I also sent its copies to President Bill Clinton, PM Tony Blair and other heads of state urging them to show leadership to ensure peace." (These are not exact quotes as I am relying on memory.)
The book is written in a very acute scientific manner which is, nonetheless, highly readable by laymen. It is also punctuated by such sections on Sun's role in 'the choice of marriage and children', etc. It has useful advices for people from all walks of life from politicians to entrepreneurs It is very statistically and methodically written with case histories of events occurring in past 250 years both on sun and earth.
Sunspot cycles and timeline
One Sinister Enemy of Learning: Fear
Cost/managerial accounting is a major business course which all students of management go through. It is taught by one of most established and expert teacher/scholar in Pakistan. It has reputation of being unaccessible to simple-minded people who lack intellectual rigor. I was afraid of it, thanks to word-of-mouth of seniors. But that's just an external excuse. It was my internal mistake (a cause) that made me nervous about it, as i had to think hard about this course. I enjoyed being in class and solving cases and problem as instructor was there, who was also very accessible to us and went to great length to answer our questions, no matter how stupid. Nonetheless, when it came to self-study, i often had problems breathing well. especially when i attempted to understand its intricate theory and frameworks and tried to apply it complex cases (which is very typical of case method). Data used to be huge and thinking/intellect had to deployed in platoons to tackle any topic in that course. That's why it was fearsome
However, final papers turned to be good due to organized dedicated, directed and group work: this gives us an insight into how to succeed in exams on last day - with a disciplined friend, we systematically chased each chapter and won over it being very consistent over a span of 12-14 hours.
To say the least, this is one of most valuable courses (especially its book) i've have took in business. For instance, one recent grad of my school of management working, although as non-accounting operations management told me how useful this book on managerial accounting had been on the production floor - each day he had to refer to it, literally.
Mr. Van Schenkel, founder and owner of small company producing colour printed T-shirts, has some ideas on why multi-coloured T-shirts are more expensive in production than T-shirts with fewer colours printed on them. Process mapping and accounting data are available to set up an ABC system that will allow to test the validity of Mr. Van Schenkel's ideas and to come to better accounting calculations of product profitability.
It all came back the memory of it as flash back when i was browsing through SSRN.com and found a paper on Activity-Based Cost accounting, which is a hot field in managerial accounting these days. We studied it as well. . I quote the excerpt of the abstract to illustrate my point about uselessness of fear when it comes to learning:
[Excerpt] It is essential to understand that ABC is a method that tries to frame data in a managerial decision making context. Models, figures and theories only have value to the extent that they help us to understand and explain what happens in the company. ABC is an allocation method cum story: it is an arbitrary way to allocate costs - as arbitrary as any other allocation method - but it helps in communicating how the (production) process works and, therefore, tries to upgrade the value of accounting in the decision making process. If, e.g., a good driver is found and if there is statistical evidence that supports the choice of and/or work-floor feeling on such a driver, using this cost driver in the calculations of product (line) profitability makes the accounting much more vivid and important to decision making.
Mr. Van Schenkel, founder and owner of small company producing colour printed T-shirts, has some ideas on why multi-coloured T-shirts are more expensive in production than T-shirts with fewer colours printed on them. Process mapping and accounting data are available to set up an ABC system that will allow to test the validity of Mr. Van Schenkel's ideas and to come to better accounting calculations of product profitability.
You can see how the author is applying theory and making it practical. This is a simple demonstration of higher level of learning: experimentation, application = usefulness. Had been more fearless of the burden of reputation of the course and its demanding nature, i'd have turned out to be a better citizen. And i happy i have learned this insight.
See the example and you'll get just how useful the concepts of managerial accounting is for entrepreneurship, SME's and all kinds of organization. It should be all research (read: play) with all seriousness - I'm not denying pain at all, which is part and parcel of (higher) learning. nothing can help a too fearful and shy a learner in the path of getting useful knowledge. To say the least, one has to be fearless in outlook when s/he approaches knowledge. And habit of tinkering with stuff be encouraged. It's an engineer's attitude, that's why we trust them.
What are your comments?
Dear Rushdie... (A Guest Post)
Copyright. Uni: Sniggers and Sniffles of a moron
(What follows is a response to Salman Rushdie's letter denigrating religious traditions answered by a Pakistani blogger, link to whose blog is given in start of the post. Italics text is Rushdie's words, green is by the Pakistani blogger, "Uni".)
Rushdie: Dear little Six - Billionth Living Person: As one of the newest members of a notoriously inquisitive species, it probably won't be too long before you start asking the two $64,000 questions with which the other 5,999,999,999 of us have been wrestling for some time.
How did we get here? And, now that we are here, how shall we live?
Uni: Dear Rushdi. As one of the newest member of the notoriously sneering species, it is a pleasure to note that you at least admit that the whatever dollar questions remain unanswered - still being wrestled with.
Oddly - as if six billion of us weren't enough to be going on with - it will almost certainly be suggested to you that the answer to the question of origins requires you to believe in the existence of a further, invisible, innefable Being "somewhere up there", an omnipotent creature whom we poor limited creatures are unable even to perceive, much less to understand. That is, you will be strongly encouraged to imagine a heaven, with at least one god in residence.
Oddly, it has occured to you that we the inquisitive EXIST and all on our own... function and procreate, all on our own... the entire universe runs smoothly all on its own - down to the whole factory running within a single cell - all on its own. The fact that you're unable to percieve THIS little piece of clear logic, is what's beyond us poor creatures.
This sky god, it's said, made the universe by churning its matter in a giant pot. Or, he danced. Or, he vomited creation out of himself. Or, he simply called it into being, and lo, it Was. In some of the more interesting creation stories, the singly mighty sky god is subdivided into many lesser forces - junior dieties, avatars, gigantic metamorphic "ancestors" whose adventures create the landscape, or the whimsical, wanton, meddling, cruel pantheons of the great polytheisms, whose wild doings will convince you that the real engine of creation was lust; for infinite power, for too easily broken human bodies, for clouds of glory. But it's only fair to add that there are also stories which offer the message that the primary creative impulse was, and is, love.
Creation stories might be many - yes, but the truth is only one. If you're not convinced by it, cool. But this gives you no right to ridicule all the versions with a singlemindedness worthy of an award, really. You can't prove your theory, even if you're unconvinced by the opposing theory. There are far too many out there who (despite, not having seen it)... believe in God. And you don't find them ridiculing the opinions you hold.
Many of these stories will strike you extremely beautiful, and therefore seductive.
No. That's not the reason why we believe in them. Sorry. Wrong guess.
It is possible that they may at some point come to feel inescapable, not in the way that the truth is inescapable, but in the way that a jail is. They may at some point cease to feel like the texts in which human beings have tried to solve a great mystery, and feel, instead, like the pretexts for other properly anointed human beings to order you around. And it's true that human history is full of the public oppression wrought by the charioteers of the gods.
In the opinion of religious people, however, the private comfort that religion brings more than compensates for the evil done in its name.
Firstly, for people who do believe in God (with their hearts and minds) do not feel the truth to be like a jail, confining them. So wrong guess here again. And secondly, the teaching of human beings that led to this truth, wasn't forced upon us. Nobody pointed a gun at us to believe in God. And thus, the argument that they only did it to order us around, stands totally invalid. The fact is, that evil can take any excuse for committing evil. If religion is one such excuse, then the blame on religion itself is foolish. Go blame those particular people.
As human knowledge has grown, it has also become plain that every religious story ever told about how we got here is quite simply wrong. This, finally, is what all religions have in common. They didn't get it right. There was no celestial churning, no maker's dance, no vomiting of galaxies, no snake or kangaroo ancestors, no Valhalla, no Olympus, no six-day conjuring trick followed by a day of rest. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Your opinion, your opinion, your opinion. We don't consider the creation process as wrong.
But here's something genuinly odd. The wrongness of the sacred tales hasn't lessened the zeal of the devout in the least. If anything, the sheer out-of-step zaniness of religion leads the religious to insist ever more stridently on the importance of blind faith.
It's not blind. As I said (and I'm a believer so I know what I'm saying), the decision is a sound one, made by the heart and mind. If you don't believe that, your problem.
As a result of this faith, by the way, lt has proved impossible, in many parts of the world, to prevent the human race's numbers from swelling alarmingly. Blame the overcrowded planet at least partly on the misguidedness of the races spiritual guides. In your own lifetime, you may witness the arrival of the nine billionth world citizen. (If too many people are being born as a result, in part, of religious strictures against birth control, then too many people are also dying because religious culture, by refusing to face the facts of human sexuality, also refuses to fight against sexually transmitted diseases.)
Weird it is, that you, not having had control of when to enter this world (did you decide your birthday hmm?), and not in control of when you'll leave this world... think it's prudent to think that we all have control over the population size of this planet?
There are those who say that the great wars of the new century will once again be wars of religion, jihads and crusades, as they were in the Middle Ages. I don't believe them, or not in the way they mean it. Take a look at the Muslim world, or rather the Islamist world, to use the word coined to describe Islam's present day "political arm". The divisions between its great powers (Afghanistan against Iran against Iraq against Saudi Arabia against Syria against Egypt) are what strike you most forcefully. There's very little resembling a common purpose. Even after the non-Islamic NATO fought a war for the Muslim Kosovan Albanians, the Muslim world was slow in coming forward with much needed humanitarian aid.
Oh you don't need to remind us about the ''efforts'' of the Muslim nations right now. They are deplorable. But we also know that it's the leaders of these states that are quite oblivious to events around them. Not the common man. If the common man were like this, there would be no flotilla towards Gaza .. knowing that Israeli forces aren't going to give them a red carpet welcome. And btw, the war b/w religions is already going on. And yes, ideology remains the key war instigator even now.
The real wars of religion are the wars religions unleash against ordinary citizens within their "sphere of influence." They are wars of the godly against the largely defenceless - American fundamentalists against pro-choice doctors, Iranian mullahs against their country's Jewish minority, Hindu fundamentalists in Bombay against that city's increasingly fearful Muslims.
If you're calling state laws as wars... then even more weird is that you didn't mention in this list of yours one very very important one... the policies of the state of Israel, the policies of India on Kashmiri Muslims... it's not only the godly who impose their laws. Secular governments do the same thing. If one opinion is unacceptable to you, doesn't mean you go about calling it war and then select a subset of state policies as examples. Puny indeed.
The victors in that war must not be the closed-minded, marching into battle with, as ever, God on their side. To choose unbelief is to choose mind over dogma, to trust in our humanity instead of all these dangerous divinities. So, how did we get here? Don't look for the answer in story books. Imperfect human knowledge may be a bumpy, pot-holed street, but it's the only road to wisdom worth taking. Virgil, who believed that the apiarist Aristaeus could spontaneously generate new bees from the rotting carcess of a cow, was closer to a truth about origins than all the revered old books.
To choose unbelief is your choice, we're open to believing in God, despite you thinking of it as being closed minded. Trusting in humanity can't go side by side with belief in God? Apparently, you haven't read much into history. Imperfect human knowledge was enlightened with scriptures, and this knowledge was the source of illumination for a great number of minds. And then you ask, how did we get here? Didn't you, in the beginning talk about this as a notoriously inquisitive display to ask these questions? Consistent, aren't you?
The ancient wisdoms are modern non-senses.
Live in your own time, use what we know and, as you grow up, perhaps the human race will finally grow up with you and put aside childish things. As the song says, "It's easy if you try."
As for mortality, the second great question - how to live? What is right action, and what wrong?- it comes down to your willingness to think for yourself. Only you can decide if you want to be handed down the law by priests, and accept that good and evil are somehow external to ourselves.
The blind wanderings and backtrackings of modern sciences is also a lot of claptrap, no worries. And sure, go ahead with this logical mode. Hand over the morality reigns to each and everybody's own individual self. So if a thief thinks its moral to steal (because he/she felt it inside that its okay!), then don't blame him. Sure.
To my mind, religion - even at its most sophisticated - essentially infantalizes our ethical selves by setting infallible moral Arbiters and irredeemably immoral Tempters above us; the eternal parents, good and bad, light and dark, of the supernatural realm.
To each, his or her own. We don't (and won't) mock your ideas. Follow what you will, but at least you shouldn't mock the things you don't agree with.
How, then, are we to make ethical choices without a divine rulebook or judge?
You're not supposed to. That's the thing, see.
Intellectual freedom, in European history, has mostly meant freedom from the restraints of the Church and not the state.
The Church men had made the laws that were suffocating mankind. Christianity had nothing to do with it. Even now, the lobbying for doing away with celibacy laws prove that the original teaching did NOT contain celibacy - nothing unnatural is ever promulgated in the main religions.
This is the battle Voltaire was fighting, and it's also what all six billion of us could do for ourselves, the revolution in which each of us could play our small, six-billionth part; once and for all we could refuse to allow priests, and the fictions on whose behalf they claim to speak, to be the policemen of our liberties and behavior. Once and for all we could put the stories back into the books, put the books back on the shelves, and see the world undogmatized and plain.
You mean, see the world in chaos and disorder. Even right now, the world's in disorder because of lack of belief in accountability (yes, even by those who CLAIM they're following religion and do heinous crimes - all acts of people who don't believe in God, Hereafter and Judgement).
Imagine there's no heaven, my dear Six-Billionth, and at once the sky's the limit.
Imagine a Just God, and imagine trying to follow His Teachings, being good to fellow humans and doing good in all spheres of life. The sky is certainly the limit.
(What follows is a response to Salman Rushdie's letter denigrating religious traditions answered by a Pakistani blogger, link to whose blog is given in start of the post. Italics text is Rushdie's words, green is by the Pakistani blogger, "Uni".)
***
How did we get here? And, now that we are here, how shall we live?
Uni: Dear Rushdi. As one of the newest member of the notoriously sneering species, it is a pleasure to note that you at least admit that the whatever dollar questions remain unanswered - still being wrestled with.
Oddly - as if six billion of us weren't enough to be going on with - it will almost certainly be suggested to you that the answer to the question of origins requires you to believe in the existence of a further, invisible, innefable Being "somewhere up there", an omnipotent creature whom we poor limited creatures are unable even to perceive, much less to understand. That is, you will be strongly encouraged to imagine a heaven, with at least one god in residence.
Oddly, it has occured to you that we the inquisitive EXIST and all on our own... function and procreate, all on our own... the entire universe runs smoothly all on its own - down to the whole factory running within a single cell - all on its own. The fact that you're unable to percieve THIS little piece of clear logic, is what's beyond us poor creatures.
This sky god, it's said, made the universe by churning its matter in a giant pot. Or, he danced. Or, he vomited creation out of himself. Or, he simply called it into being, and lo, it Was. In some of the more interesting creation stories, the singly mighty sky god is subdivided into many lesser forces - junior dieties, avatars, gigantic metamorphic "ancestors" whose adventures create the landscape, or the whimsical, wanton, meddling, cruel pantheons of the great polytheisms, whose wild doings will convince you that the real engine of creation was lust; for infinite power, for too easily broken human bodies, for clouds of glory. But it's only fair to add that there are also stories which offer the message that the primary creative impulse was, and is, love.
Creation stories might be many - yes, but the truth is only one. If you're not convinced by it, cool. But this gives you no right to ridicule all the versions with a singlemindedness worthy of an award, really. You can't prove your theory, even if you're unconvinced by the opposing theory. There are far too many out there who (despite, not having seen it)... believe in God. And you don't find them ridiculing the opinions you hold.
Many of these stories will strike you extremely beautiful, and therefore seductive.
No. That's not the reason why we believe in them. Sorry. Wrong guess.
It is possible that they may at some point come to feel inescapable, not in the way that the truth is inescapable, but in the way that a jail is. They may at some point cease to feel like the texts in which human beings have tried to solve a great mystery, and feel, instead, like the pretexts for other properly anointed human beings to order you around. And it's true that human history is full of the public oppression wrought by the charioteers of the gods.
In the opinion of religious people, however, the private comfort that religion brings more than compensates for the evil done in its name.
Firstly, for people who do believe in God (with their hearts and minds) do not feel the truth to be like a jail, confining them. So wrong guess here again. And secondly, the teaching of human beings that led to this truth, wasn't forced upon us. Nobody pointed a gun at us to believe in God. And thus, the argument that they only did it to order us around, stands totally invalid. The fact is, that evil can take any excuse for committing evil. If religion is one such excuse, then the blame on religion itself is foolish. Go blame those particular people.
As human knowledge has grown, it has also become plain that every religious story ever told about how we got here is quite simply wrong. This, finally, is what all religions have in common. They didn't get it right. There was no celestial churning, no maker's dance, no vomiting of galaxies, no snake or kangaroo ancestors, no Valhalla, no Olympus, no six-day conjuring trick followed by a day of rest. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Your opinion, your opinion, your opinion. We don't consider the creation process as wrong.
But here's something genuinly odd. The wrongness of the sacred tales hasn't lessened the zeal of the devout in the least. If anything, the sheer out-of-step zaniness of religion leads the religious to insist ever more stridently on the importance of blind faith.
It's not blind. As I said (and I'm a believer so I know what I'm saying), the decision is a sound one, made by the heart and mind. If you don't believe that, your problem.
As a result of this faith, by the way, lt has proved impossible, in many parts of the world, to prevent the human race's numbers from swelling alarmingly. Blame the overcrowded planet at least partly on the misguidedness of the races spiritual guides. In your own lifetime, you may witness the arrival of the nine billionth world citizen. (If too many people are being born as a result, in part, of religious strictures against birth control, then too many people are also dying because religious culture, by refusing to face the facts of human sexuality, also refuses to fight against sexually transmitted diseases.)
Weird it is, that you, not having had control of when to enter this world (did you decide your birthday hmm?), and not in control of when you'll leave this world... think it's prudent to think that we all have control over the population size of this planet?
There are those who say that the great wars of the new century will once again be wars of religion, jihads and crusades, as they were in the Middle Ages. I don't believe them, or not in the way they mean it. Take a look at the Muslim world, or rather the Islamist world, to use the word coined to describe Islam's present day "political arm". The divisions between its great powers (Afghanistan against Iran against Iraq against Saudi Arabia against Syria against Egypt) are what strike you most forcefully. There's very little resembling a common purpose. Even after the non-Islamic NATO fought a war for the Muslim Kosovan Albanians, the Muslim world was slow in coming forward with much needed humanitarian aid.
Oh you don't need to remind us about the ''efforts'' of the Muslim nations right now. They are deplorable. But we also know that it's the leaders of these states that are quite oblivious to events around them. Not the common man. If the common man were like this, there would be no flotilla towards Gaza .. knowing that Israeli forces aren't going to give them a red carpet welcome. And btw, the war b/w religions is already going on. And yes, ideology remains the key war instigator even now.
The real wars of religion are the wars religions unleash against ordinary citizens within their "sphere of influence." They are wars of the godly against the largely defenceless - American fundamentalists against pro-choice doctors, Iranian mullahs against their country's Jewish minority, Hindu fundamentalists in Bombay against that city's increasingly fearful Muslims.
If you're calling state laws as wars... then even more weird is that you didn't mention in this list of yours one very very important one... the policies of the state of Israel, the policies of India on Kashmiri Muslims... it's not only the godly who impose their laws. Secular governments do the same thing. If one opinion is unacceptable to you, doesn't mean you go about calling it war and then select a subset of state policies as examples. Puny indeed.
The victors in that war must not be the closed-minded, marching into battle with, as ever, God on their side. To choose unbelief is to choose mind over dogma, to trust in our humanity instead of all these dangerous divinities. So, how did we get here? Don't look for the answer in story books. Imperfect human knowledge may be a bumpy, pot-holed street, but it's the only road to wisdom worth taking. Virgil, who believed that the apiarist Aristaeus could spontaneously generate new bees from the rotting carcess of a cow, was closer to a truth about origins than all the revered old books.
To choose unbelief is your choice, we're open to believing in God, despite you thinking of it as being closed minded. Trusting in humanity can't go side by side with belief in God? Apparently, you haven't read much into history. Imperfect human knowledge was enlightened with scriptures, and this knowledge was the source of illumination for a great number of minds. And then you ask, how did we get here? Didn't you, in the beginning talk about this as a notoriously inquisitive display to ask these questions? Consistent, aren't you?
The ancient wisdoms are modern non-senses.
Live in your own time, use what we know and, as you grow up, perhaps the human race will finally grow up with you and put aside childish things. As the song says, "It's easy if you try."
As for mortality, the second great question - how to live? What is right action, and what wrong?- it comes down to your willingness to think for yourself. Only you can decide if you want to be handed down the law by priests, and accept that good and evil are somehow external to ourselves.
The blind wanderings and backtrackings of modern sciences is also a lot of claptrap, no worries. And sure, go ahead with this logical mode. Hand over the morality reigns to each and everybody's own individual self. So if a thief thinks its moral to steal (because he/she felt it inside that its okay!), then don't blame him. Sure.
To my mind, religion - even at its most sophisticated - essentially infantalizes our ethical selves by setting infallible moral Arbiters and irredeemably immoral Tempters above us; the eternal parents, good and bad, light and dark, of the supernatural realm.
To each, his or her own. We don't (and won't) mock your ideas. Follow what you will, but at least you shouldn't mock the things you don't agree with.
How, then, are we to make ethical choices without a divine rulebook or judge?
You're not supposed to. That's the thing, see.
Intellectual freedom, in European history, has mostly meant freedom from the restraints of the Church and not the state.
The Church men had made the laws that were suffocating mankind. Christianity had nothing to do with it. Even now, the lobbying for doing away with celibacy laws prove that the original teaching did NOT contain celibacy - nothing unnatural is ever promulgated in the main religions.
This is the battle Voltaire was fighting, and it's also what all six billion of us could do for ourselves, the revolution in which each of us could play our small, six-billionth part; once and for all we could refuse to allow priests, and the fictions on whose behalf they claim to speak, to be the policemen of our liberties and behavior. Once and for all we could put the stories back into the books, put the books back on the shelves, and see the world undogmatized and plain.
You mean, see the world in chaos and disorder. Even right now, the world's in disorder because of lack of belief in accountability (yes, even by those who CLAIM they're following religion and do heinous crimes - all acts of people who don't believe in God, Hereafter and Judgement).
Imagine there's no heaven, my dear Six-Billionth, and at once the sky's the limit.
Imagine a Just God, and imagine trying to follow His Teachings, being good to fellow humans and doing good in all spheres of life. The sky is certainly the limit.
The Path to National Destructions
The beauty of hadith has been well-defined by a Western author and commentator: Many of these [hadith] seem as if they were written just yesterday to deal with today's problems and issues." (The highlighted part serves as the basis for the fact that Islam is much about social sciences as such.)Today's hadith struck my mind when I was turning pages of Essential Sufism (Suhail Academy Lahore). Please read and share your immediate reflections.
"Generations before you were destroyed because they declined to punish the powerful thieves yet were relentless in punishing the small pickpockets."
Some years ago, my brother's friend hit a plan and attempted to steal his car with one of his uncles. Praise be to Allah, the car was recovered within hours. My parents had the opportunity to take severe legal action beyond registering FIR, and other short-term legal action. But because the "friend" had some social influence, they influenced our relatives to let go of the 'poor souls' who had attempted to steal car by inviting my brother to their place!
Resultantly, we let go of them! Because they were "powerful"! Allah! This is not a suitable example, I know, but the one I know. See Musharaf! Look at Bush! Look at Mr. Madoff, who plundered so much money, yet only house-arrested! Look around yourself in Pakistan... Countless stories that unfortunately show that we're destroying ourselves. If some poor guy had stolen mere 1000 Rs/- surely my father and brother would have forgiven him - but no society would have pleaded in favor him, they'd only suggest penalizing him. Because they beat a pickpocket in a street so brutally why won't they hesitate suggesting breaking his backbone privately... But I still see hope!
wa ma taufiqi illa Billah!
Dynamics of Canonical Prayer
As soon as I enter salat/canonical prayer in Islam, I immediately am transformed from a state of anxiety, irritation, restlessness, and confusion, lack of concentration to a state of utter calmness, inner silence, flow, peace, and harmony. The greatest blessing is that I can’t sin anymore. I’m from the worldliness of ghaflah. I no more am in a state of dreaming or vulnerable to ‘create a dream around my world’ and forget really what my purpose is. People are safe from the bitterness and harmfulness of my tongue and hands.
In fact, whole society, whole world transforms beyond our imagination due to congregational act of salah. Because. As Islamic scholar Mahmoud Ayuob states in his book on Islam that when a believer enters salah ‘time and space are sanctified … whole world is purified [for her/him]’.
Hazrat Umer, second people’s caliph/servant of Islam – and I repeatedly use this example – wrote to all of his governors a letter. And in that letter he started off with what was most essential of him that all his governors must protect and establish – Salah! Sacred rituals revealed to mankind in this final, universal revelation* [listen to Abdal Hakim Murad on 'Islam and West' part 3-4] of Islam are greatest gifts to humanity. Unfortunately, the ‘native Orientalists’ (Shahid Alam’s article, Native Orientalists at the Daily Times) and those whose intellect has been atrophied fail to appreciate the Treasure salah and other rituals are.
* Christianity, first of all, a religion that has historically claimed and to a far degree succeeded to be a universal one, was never meant to be Christianity by its founder Sayyidina Isa (A.S.). He came as a Prophet to Jews. Modern biblical scholarship has proven that beyond doubt. First time I came to know of this apparently less known fact to many Christians was in, What Islam did for Us?, by Tim-Wallace Murphy. Then in works of Karen Armstrong, who even made a TV-documentary, The First Christian, on St. Paul, exposing using historical data how St. Paul made a new religion out of the message of Prophet Jesus.
In fact, whole society, whole world transforms beyond our imagination due to congregational act of salah. Because. As Islamic scholar Mahmoud Ayuob states in his book on Islam that when a believer enters salah ‘time and space are sanctified … whole world is purified [for her/him]’.
Hazrat Umer, second people’s caliph/servant of Islam – and I repeatedly use this example – wrote to all of his governors a letter. And in that letter he started off with what was most essential of him that all his governors must protect and establish – Salah! Sacred rituals revealed to mankind in this final, universal revelation* [listen to Abdal Hakim Murad on 'Islam and West' part 3-4] of Islam are greatest gifts to humanity. Unfortunately, the ‘native Orientalists’ (Shahid Alam’s article, Native Orientalists at the Daily Times) and those whose intellect has been atrophied fail to appreciate the Treasure salah and other rituals are.
* Christianity, first of all, a religion that has historically claimed and to a far degree succeeded to be a universal one, was never meant to be Christianity by its founder Sayyidina Isa (A.S.). He came as a Prophet to Jews. Modern biblical scholarship has proven that beyond doubt. First time I came to know of this apparently less known fact to many Christians was in, What Islam did for Us?, by Tim-Wallace Murphy. Then in works of Karen Armstrong, who even made a TV-documentary, The First Christian, on St. Paul, exposing using historical data how St. Paul made a new religion out of the message of Prophet Jesus.
Yin-Yang: "No Tyranny of the OR"
In Built to Last, authors argue that visionary firms that last and endure all phases a firm can endure and pass the tset of time, don't settle for half-half, for either this OR that. Rather. They're inspired by "Glory of the AND". Like, they give many examples for that and I'll just quote one:: "a relatively fixed core ideology AND vigorous change and movement" (p.44).
They also claim that their principles, glory of the AND just being one, extracted after a 6-year research on 36 different companies, applies well beyond the boundaries of business institutions, rather to all kinds of institutions. They didn't realize this when they authored the book, but by the feedback from all over the book.
In our society we see the shadows of the "Tyranny of the OR" pervading over the hearts and minds of I don't know how many people. Even genuinely good people at heart say, "You can't do a business without playing foul, or in (negatively) clever manner in Pakistan, we'll be doomed if you do that," "People are so mean, they don't even change, You're living in an ideal world." Idealism, that's good, given the evidence the authors of the book, although they call it pragmatic idealism.
They also claim that their principles, glory of the AND just being one, extracted after a 6-year research on 36 different companies, applies well beyond the boundaries of business institutions, rather to all kinds of institutions. They didn't realize this when they authored the book, but by the feedback from all over the book.
In our society we see the shadows of the "Tyranny of the OR" pervading over the hearts and minds of I don't know how many people. Even genuinely good people at heart say, "You can't do a business without playing foul, or in (negatively) clever manner in Pakistan, we'll be doomed if you do that," "People are so mean, they don't even change, You're living in an ideal world." Idealism, that's good, given the evidence the authors of the book, although they call it pragmatic idealism.
Metaphysics and Physics
You've to crack assumptions of people before you come to an understanding of the physical, bare argument or thing being said. It is a scientist's way of doing things; that although you're dealing with the outward/physical you start metaphysically. It is like an eyeglass which greatly affects the way images are formed in the eye, but the presence of which is often not felt or appreciated, so it goes unnoticed. Similarly, a fatwah on a political matter greatly disturbs a modern mind and he commits the sin of compartmentalizing things and often divorcing it from Heaven. This is an unacceptable position for any believer; hence he needs not pay any attention to such rants by moderns whose intellect is so atrophied.
Rationalism or Sentimentalism?
Moderns so much talk about their being Rational that one starts mistaking their so-called objectivity as Objectivity when in the clothes of rationalism it is nothing but an outcry of their nafs and passion of self, which are categorized as nothing but being subjective. They also one other gross characteristic: They criticize "revealed objective truths but rarely turn the barrel of criticism towards their own selves." Remember that Satan swims deeps down in the deep ocean of our heart. To fight him is very difficult. Hence the only way,. according to poet Iqbal, to win over him is to convert him to Islam through Qur'an. Because it is Qur'an which our rope to Heavens.
Perennial Quest of Soul
There's an element in our soul, perennial, that wants to seek out Al-Haqq, Allah, and to experience Him, because it yearns to bow before, worship this Supreme Being. It is so beautiful that all beauties of world combined cannot match its serenity. And Allah does not look at our physical outlook, or we can say at our beauties, wealth, etc., but on our heart is His eye fixed!(Sources: Living Sufism, by S. Hossein Nasr. Iqbal and Quranic Wisdom (?), by Prof. M. Munawar. Al-Quran.)
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