Beauty of the Quran [یہ کالم اسلامیات کے پرچے کی تیاری میں کچھ مدد فراہم کر سکتا ہے]

Nikhat Sattar

ALLOWING our senses to open up to the majesty of the universe, we are struck with its beauty and grandeur. 

The activity of humankind in pursuit of livelihoods during the day and its coexistence with other species, the silence and comfort of the night as darkness engulfs [نگلنا] the world; the companionable sounds of birds with the change of seasons and the rustling of leaves as they swing in the wind; the rows of farms and the colour of fruit, cereal and vegetables that have been sown; the water bodies that provide the lifeline for all living beings; the hills and mountain peaks covered in snow in winter that melts and runs down as fresh water, are but a few signs of the inherent[دائمی] beauty of this world.

In the galaxies, the Quran mentions seven skies, each with its own earth and the lowest sky has been graced with “lamps”: the sun, moon and stars. Each is set in its orbit and revolves within it according to a set of principles. While almost all surahs depict the beauty of God’s creation, it is perhaps Surah Rahman that provides a magnificent picture of the favours of the Most Merciful.

Immersing [گم ہوجانا، محو ہوجان] oneself in Quranic verses brings a sense of peace and tranquillity.

According to a hadith, “God is beautiful and loves beauty” (Al-Mujam Al Ausat, 6902). As per the contemporary scholar Khaled Abu El Fadl, what is a temporary sign of God’s beauty shall perish, but His perennial beauty is eternal (Quran 55:26-27).

What can be a more beautiful manifestation of God’s beauty than the book, revealed to the Prophet (PBUH) to show the people of Makkah and to others the path to beauty, ie the path to God? A miracle in itself, it is beauty encapsulated in the highest of books, revealed to God’s beloved Prophet.

The creation of humans is upon a basic nature or fitra: an instinctive, intuitive understanding of the differences between right and wrong and a desire for justice. When this is developed and man’s arrogance and Satan’s temptations are controlled, humans demonstrate higher and higher levels of beauty. 

The Quran entails[منطقی سوچ مہیا کرنا] us to do ihsan (the best in morality), command the ma’ruf (that which is right) and forbid the munkar (wrong deeds). In each of these commands, the Quran instils the spirit of beauty of our souls. It asks us to be on the side of justice and speak the truth, even if it goes against us and our families.

One of the most beautiful gifts of God to humans only is that of rationality and intellect. By using these qualities and honing them constantly, we gradually become conscious of the beauty of the Quran. Strange as it may sound in an era when intellectual reasoning is anathema [ناپسندیدہ ترین چیز] to Muslims, this is what God has enjoined humans to exercise. “He has taught him speech (and intelligence)” (55:4).

Even for Muslims who do not understand Arabic, the rhythm of the words is evident as they flow into each other, as waves of the sea, or as springs meeting at a point and then expanding into a larger spring. There is a melody, even without the qirah, that strikes at the chords of the heart. Immersing oneself in the verses brings a sense of peace and tranquillity[قلبی سکون], not to be found anywhere else. 

As one begins to understand the structure of its surahs, its coherence, its links to the stages of the Prophet’s life, how some verses are contextual and refer only to those times, and how some are universal and need to be understood with reference to each other, one begins to decipher the meaning of the Sharia being the righteous and beauteous way. Every word of the book holds deeper meanings which are revealed to the discerning [جو ٹھیک ٹھیک پہچان کر سکتا ہو]heart and mind, again and again.

How beautiful is the verse describing wives and husbands as garments for each other; having being created for love and companionship! 

In one single word, protection, confidence, care, warmth and strength have been combined to produce the raison d’être for marriage. Yet, how many people would quote this, instead of insisting upon the juristic interpretation of husbands being managers of wives?

Islamic jurists sought to interpret the verses of the Quran through existing communal and cultural practices. Once these laws were established, they seemed to be set in stone. 

Muslims no longer think, seek the truth or deliberate upon the words of the Quran. Fadl suggests that in our rituals of worship, we often use the political, legal and cultural aspects of religion, while ignoring the ethical, the moral and, by extension, the beautiful.

Weighed down by our biases, arrogance, hatred, we forget mercy and compassion. We forget our search for the beautiful; we forget our search for God.

The writer is a freelance contributor with an interest in religion.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019

Column 2

Hard times & little hope [اس کالم میں جاوید کی غربت کو مثال بنا کر پاکستان کے غریب عوام کی مشکلات کا جائزہ پیش کیا گیا ہے]

Faisal Bari

 JAVED works as a driver. His monthly salary is Rs20,000. He and his wife have four children and his father to support. The seven of them live in a one-room house. He is lucky that he owns the house so there is no rent to pay. His two older children work and make another Rs20,000 between them. He is trying his best to keep the two younger ones in school. The elder ones could not continue beyond middle school.

Life is hard and, though Javed has a very strong belief in God and destiny, he is not very hopeful that his lot is going to change in the near future. But he does hope that, if his younger children get educated, they may be able to have a better life.

He is able to make ends meet with the Rs40,000 that the family earns. But it is unanticipated costs that make life hard. His 70-year-old father fell ill a couple of months ago. In the developed world, on average, he would still be in relatively good health. In Pakistan, he is already pushing the life expectancy average. His diabetes and heart issues landed him in hospital for a week, which put Javed in debt. He has not yet been able to pay his employer back.

Javed has never received any help from the state, nor does he expect any.

A few months back, the hike in gas bills forced Javed to borrow from his friends. Last month, it was the electricity bill that played havoc with his budget. His accumulated debts are now starting to bother him. He does not know how long his creditors will wait, and he has no way of predicting when he will have any extra income to pay back what he has borrowed.

Javed wants to build another room in his house. One room gives little or no space to the seven people who share it. His daughters are getting older and, since they are mostly home, post work and school, they do need more space. His sons spend most of their home-time in the veranda.

But one room will cost almost two months of salary for the household. There is no institution that will give Javed this kind of money. He cannot borrow it from his employer or friends. But, even if he could, he would have no way of paying it back, so how does he even ask anyone?

His eldest child is a motorcycle mechanic. He worked as an apprentice in a workshop for five years and is now quite trained. Ideally, he would like to open up his own workshop and become an entrepreneur rather than continue to work as an employee. But he does not have any capital with which to start his business. He has tried his luck with a number of government programmes and microfinance banks, but there has been no breakthrough so far. Part of the problem is his poor education.

Javed’s eldest daughter works in a beauty salon. She also feels that she could open up a small salon in their locality. But the issue is the same: she has no capital with which to pay the advance for rent and to buy even the minimum amount of equipment that she will need.

Rising inflation, increasing fuel prices, increasing prices of electricity and gas have significantly raised Javed’s level of anxiety. He no longer knows if the Rs40,000 the family earns will be enough to cover even the basics anymore, or what will come next. He has been in his current job for a year and his employer is quite satisfied with him, but there is no job security. The employer could fire him tomorrow if he wanted to. And finding a new job takes time. The last time Javed moved, it took him four months to find a new job.

Javed has never received any help from the state, nor does he expect any. He did not qualify for help from the Benazir Income Support Programme and does not think he is actually poor enough to qualify for that category of beneficiaries. But he also does not see how he can improve his situation without help either.

He needs access to decent healthcare. This is the biggest source of his worry and the major source of recent shocks for him. His father needs regular medical attention. Javed and his wife have also turned 50. His high blood pressure is starting to bother him now. His wife has serious arthritis issues. Having health coverage could reduce uncertainties for him and his family substantially.

Access to subsidised loans or grants, for allowing his son and daughter to start small businesses could open up avenues for major changes in the life of this family. These loans would have to be carefully crafted to suit the needs of these small businesses, and might even have to be subsidised substantially, but they could result in potentially large gains for the family.

The younger children need access to quality education. If they are going to stay in schools, they need an education that will engage and challenge them. They have seen their elder siblings stay in school for seven or eight years and not even acquire basic numeracy, literacy, reading, writing and thinking skills. They feel that if they are going to ‘waste’ their time as the elder siblings did, they would be better off being at home and/or learning a skill. Can the state provide decent school education that this family can afford?

The government’s stated aims include the provision of social protection for the poor and equal opportunities for all. The Ehsaas programme was launched with a lot of fanfare as well. The success of the government will be judged on the basis of real change for Javed’s family.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019

Column 3 [اس کالم میں پاکستان کے بنگلہ دیش اور افغانستان کے ساتھ ہونیوالے کرکٹ میچز کے حوالے سے کچھ تاریخی حقیقتوں کا ذکر کیا گیا ہے۔]

World cup healing?

AAsim Sajid Akhtar

MUCH has been made of the uncanny[پر اسرار] similarities between Pakistan’s ongoing Cricket World Cup campaign and the ultimately successful side captained by the current prime minister in 1992. Then too the team had a pretty dismal start and Pakistani fans had given up on it halfway through the tournament. Cue Imran Khan’s famous cornered tiger’s mantra, some inspired performances, a healthy dose of good luck, and a few wins later Pakistan were world champions. We will know in a few days whether the current vintage[انگور کی فصل، پیداوار] will repeat the dose, but it is indicative of how far professional sport, cri­cket included, has evolved in the ensuing [ایک واقعے کو بعد شروع ہونا] three decades that the teams Pakistan must beat to have a chance of winning the tournament are Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The two countries weren’t even on the roster in 1992.

For most Pakistanis, it scarcely matters who we have to get past to keep the victory march alive. For me personally — and I daresay at least some others in this land of the pure — the fact that the World Cup schedule has thrown up must-win matches with Afghanistan and Bangladesh engenders a whole lot gamut [بڑی مقدار] of emotions that transcend[کسی حد سے آگے ] just a desire for victory.

During the 1992 World Cup campaign, I was a teenager growing up as part of the Pakistani diaspora[ادھر ادھر بکھری ہوئی قوم]. I was discovering my anti-establishment self, but I had as yet not been exposed to revisionist narratives of Pak­istan’s political economy and history. Today, I am a profoundly different being, unable to return to the ignorance of teen-hood, and feel a deep connection with Afghans, Bangla­deshis, Pakistanis and anyone else who has a commitment to speaking truth to power. 

The imperative of truth and reconciliation cannot be denied.

That Afghanistan is playing a Cricket World Cup is itself a remarkable feat. Large parts of the country remain in the throes of violence[تشدد کی تکلیف میں], more than four decades of virtually uninterrupted war having decimated [تباہ و برباد کرکے ختم کردینا]an imitable culture. Pakistan is of course home to arguably the biggest Afghan refugee population in the world, the status of which continues to engender substantial controversy in the Pakistani polity. Most significantly, the establishment has long coveted[خواہش میں گرفتار ہونا] so-called ‘strategic depth’ in Afghan­istan. Many believe that our strategic planners have now abandoned the hare-brained [ill-judged] desire to simulate [imitate] a sovereign country as a fifth province. Yet for as long as this policy has remained intact, it has caused incredible pain and suffering to Afghans, and, as the PTM has demonstrated, to generations of Pakhtuns on our own side of the Durand Line. 

Sadly, recent events suggest that intelligent and independent-minded young people who seek to move on from the history of endless war and indoctrination[printing on the brain] are still considered a threat to Pakistan’s ‘security’ in the highest echelons of power. The fact that social and corporate media alike are awash with conspiracy theories about foreign intelligence agencies — Afghan and otherwise — confirms that much has yet to change. 

When Pakistan plays Afghanistan in the World Cup, perhaps such propaganda will subside for a few hours, and we can be reminded that healing is the only way for societies to move on from the realpolitiking of states. Those who call for truth and reconciliation are right to reject a never-ending spiral of hate and suspicion. It is another matter altogether whether the moral force being exerted by brave and principled voices of peace in both Afghanistan and Pakistan will compel those who wield power to truly move on from the past. 

And then there is Bangladesh. It is remarkable that almost 50 years after the fact, the majority of Pakistanis — who were of course born long after the secession of the eastern wing — are virtually clueless about the shared histories of Pakis­tan and Bangla­desh, and particularly what drove Bengali-majority East Pakistan to move on from the project of Pakistani nationhood. 

This too is a story full of pain and suffering, and successive generations of Bangladeshis have certainly imbibed [learn]their fair share of pain given that their country’s official historiography emphasises bloody national liberation. Yet ordinary Bangladeshis and Pakistan can find much common cause, and at an individual level, many have done so. 

But scaling up, the imperative of truth and reconciliation cannot be denied — our history books still require rewriting and there must be a serious reckoning[کسی (حقیقت کو) سمجھنا] with the exclusionary [which excludes] nature of official nationalism and Pakistan’s political economy more generally (both causes of the eastern wing’s secession). Meanwhile, Bangladeshi society too remains mired [دلدل میں پھنسا ہونا] in a seemingly unending battle about the legacy of national liberation and the attribution of responsibility on ‘collaborators’. 

In the days after the World Cup is over, we Pakistanis will not recall the games with Afghanistan and Bangladesh more than any other. We will celebrate a win, and lament a loss. One hopes that whatever happens, these two games kick-start a long process of healing that all players desperately need.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019

It takes two to tango [یہ کالم شریف فیلمی کی اندرونی سیاسی کشمکش کے بارے میں ہے]

SIGNS are that the powers within the house of Sharif are finding it a wee bit tough to reconcile with each other’s authority. The latest proof of a lack of, or a need for, adjustment came in the shape of a statement by Ms Maryam Nawaz that was found by the rightly inclined to be agitating against the considered view of her uncle, Mian Shahbaz Sharif.

Ms Nawaz had dubbed any possible ‘meesaq-i-maeeshat’, or charter of economy, ‘mazaq-i-maeeshat’ or a joke with the economy. This provided the channels with an opportunity, and they had a field day identifying the breach inside the Sharif fortress — not for the first, nor likely the last, time. The expected twist to this little rift that cast a long shadow over the Sharif dynasty’s internal discipline was given by Ms Nawaz who, as predicted, furnished a fresh statement of her belief in the leadership of Mr Shahbaz Sharif.

The PML-N would have behaved as if Ms Maryam Nawaz’s oath of allegiance to her leader has resolved the small matter. But its desire to stay poker-faced in the wake of the fresh realities aside, there are new centres of powers to be spotted inside the PML-N camp for anyone who cares to see. 

Quite often, mistakenly, the Shahbaz-Maryam situation is compared to the old and successful formula where Mr Shahbaz Sharif and Mian Nawaz Sharif were supposed to be individually, and separately, providing leadership to the PML-N.

The sequence where a remark is passed by one of the authorities within the PML-N and then withdrawn on one pretext or the other has been played just too many times. The strain, or the causes that could lead to one, is increasingly showing.

To begin with, it is unnatural for anyone to believe that two leaderships diametrically opposed to each other over not just strategy but, ‘visibly’, ideology as well can coexist in a party. Quite often, mistakenly, the Shahbaz-Maryam situation is compared to the old and successful formula where Mr Shahbaz Sharif and Mian Nawaz Sharif were supposed to be individually, and separately, providing leadership to the PML-N in the past. 

The attempt to draw a parallel between that long-serving arrangement and the current understanding has been flawed from the beginning, since over all these years of spectacular PML-N victories and occasional setbacks, it was never in any doubt as to who the supreme leader was.

Mian Nawaz Sharif is still that supreme adhesive but his capacity to provide a bonding at every required moment has been grossly compromised by his incarceration. 

Everyday decisions pertaining to running party politics have to be taken by the relatively more free souls existing outside the walls of Kot Lakhpat jail. The process to reach these decisions is most definitely going to shackle the minds of those who make them, given the different directions that Mr Shahbaz Sharif and Ms Maryam Nawaz took as evident in this latest two-pronged, in fact two-faced, PML-N front.

Over the decades, analysts, comprising both, the one with ill intent and the well-wishers, have struggled to break down the ingredients of what went into the solid and lasting partnership between the Sharif brothers. One easy explanation we all relied upon for years was that it was the presence of Mian Sharif, the Sharif dynasty founder, which had kept his sons united. 

When the patriarch passed away during the Sharif exile after the 1999 coup, some readily described it as the moment that was to release Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif from each other’s bondage. It was thought that soon they would embark on their independent journeys determined by the difference in their respective personalities. It’s been some years since the alliance has survived the worst wishes that have been directed its way.

Looking for ever simpler explanations, the major, if not the clinching, reason for the continued partnership between these two politicians with distinct styles was said to be Mr Shahbaz Sharif’s belief in the unshakeable patriarchal system. It was said that he was able to easily replace his father with his elder brother as the leader, propped up on the basis of the respect that those with more recent origins must have for their elders. 

In the most celebrated local tradition of jauris or duos or pairs, allegiance by the younger to the older statesmen is considered absolutely essential, and as recent trends go, the Nawaz-Shahbaz jauri is the most steadfast and the hardest to crack. Many other pairings seemingly unbreakable at one time, have fallen by the wayside; usually such allies were seduced or devoured by interests around them.

Like items in a scheme, this allegiance business is complemented by other matters of convention. In times, when resistance is inevitable against the old forces holding the puzzle together many old things that are not being ostensibly targeted do come under immense pressure to survive. 

And a match between the ostensible and really desirable takes an altogether new meaning when the spotlight is put back on the PML-N in its present state.

Ms Maryam Nawaz is out to challenge — even if some old observers insist that what she has put up is a facade, and a longing for a deal with the establishment is not any less pronounced in her camp in comparison with other power-chasers in the country. 

Her stance is going to repeatedly bring her in confrontation — before anyone else — with the much more softly moving Mr Shahbaz Sharif. And this despite the fact that for all practical purposes the Shahbazian command of the PML-N was replaced with a Maryam takeover of the party some time ago. 

A Shahbaz Sharif having wielded so much authority in his typically flamboyant style ... it is a picture that is most difficult to imagine. There will have to be rationalisation here. One plank will have to retreat. 

The other option is the takeover of the PML-N by one of the two factions after a clash that will be difficult to paper over with high-sounding, conventional lines.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019