HOW I MISS MY DREAM WORLD?

I was only three when I came to Pakistan from India in the company of my late parents in 1947 . My parents and other elders of the family had mixed memories in retrospect some very sweet .But others were very bitter scenes of Partition . My forefathers enjoyed a good and settled life in India.

However , Pakistan became the only home I have known in my life . I have never looked back . My family and I found love here : within the family , in our friends’ homes , in schools , colleges or universities , in hospitals . Nor do I feel any desire to visit India unlike those who write about their visits in ‘’Aman Ki Asha’ to each others’ countries though I read every bit about ‘Aman Ki Asha ‘ . Through the course of my life I have travelled and seen many countries both in the east and the west , Pakistan remains my cherished land . Pakistan always remains in my prayers . I wish the best for it . My family , both immediate and extended , and my friends , will bear my out that I wish that the country must remain a peaceful and a prosperous one .My parents taught me the dignity of honest hard work and achievements through it. However , like others less fortunate , my children and I faced discrimination for most of our lives .

Had the Muslims not struggled under the indomitable determination of Mr. Jinnah , they would have always been in minority in India on the basis of one man one vote . However , after achieving Independence , that great expectations have evaporated whether the form of government was secular , religious , parliamentary or presidential or military . The ride has not been very smooth .

Immediately after partition , Pakistan lost two important leaders viz. Mr. Jinnah and Mr. Liaqat Ali Khan . Had they lived , the mission for which they struggled would have been placed on even keel.

After of the death of Mr.Jinnah , a controversy started whether he wanted a secular Pakistan which still continues . While most governments in Pakistan and its machinery are inclined towards secularism , an overwhelming majority has a Muslim bent of mind . The liberals quoted his speech made on August 11 , 1947 , three days before the country’s independence , to support their contention . Mr. Jinnah , towards the end of his speech said

“ You are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques “

Over the years , the many religious parties or groups , big or small , have muddied the waters. .While a couple of them managed to win some seats in each elections , they have never succeeded to form governments independently . However , their antics annoyed much of the educated middle classes . The youth is thoroughly disenchanted and allergic to them. As a reaction to them , they veered to the opposite direction , the girls wearing jeans and tops and the boys wearing bracelets and strange hair dos . In the absence of an example , they are directionless . In one instance , a young girl disembarked from a chauffeur driven elegant car in a Rawalpindi Cantonment market wearing a dress of see through material .My family and I were shopping there . I remembered Maulana Azad’s prophesy that the youth will turn against Islam particularly in the environment of less ‘dos’ and more ‘donts’. The youth do not have an example for them to follow . Dr. Israr Ahmed , Dr. Zakir Naik and some others are good . The people trust their knowledge and their wisdom .But their circles are limited . Only Dr. Zakir Naik has his own TV Channel .

Each group ,who claim to work for the spreading Islam , live in the own cast iron shell . Some of the members sell their soul to the devil very cheaply in exchange of small gifts of this world . At least five times a day , we ask Allah to show the right path . However , the moment we leave he mosque or our houses , we step into another realm , the realm of Satan , the realm of evil where there is business as usual . If prayers (Salaat ) provides guidance to reform oneself and become a good human being , why are we all going in the opposite direction . Allah’s Commandments cannot be wrong . We must know ourselves: analyse ourselves . Let us admit that we stink . We are morally bankrupt . I am also confused . I am only a commoner.

A delegation from the Export Development of Canada and I were to meet the Joint Secretary (Law) , Mr. Bashir Jehangiri ( before he was elevated to the Bench) at 1 PM . When we arrived at his room , we were told that he was preoccupied with the Law Secretary . We waited for one hour . Meanwhile the call to prayer had been answered by the faithful . Since this was October , the congregation had been arranged in the lawns outside the Pakistan Secretariat . One of the members of the raised a pertinent question pointing towards the two prayer congregations standing very close to each other . I lowered my head in great shame . I said only one word in reply :EGO”. If Allah is one , the Holy Quran is one and the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) is one , there is no reason why Islam should not be one and why the prayer congregation should not be one . Beats logic .

Are Muslims belonging to India , North or South America , South Africa or Tibet inferior to the Muslims of Pakistan . Before partition of the Sub Continent , in the 1920s , 1930s and 1940s , the slogan was Hindi- Muslim bhai bhai . However , after the emergence of Pakistan and within our boundaries , we cant get along with others who might have a different opinion viz. East Pakistan . Why and when did we become opinionated ? Within our immediate families , the father or the mother or real brothers or sisters do not talk to each other . Is it “ Allah Ka Azab “ for our meanness ? Things have become so odious that we were not able to build the Kalabagh Dam and other dams despite our fears of water scarcity in the future years .

A country with high hopes is lagging behind in virtually field in the comity of nations despite being Muslim and which has the Holy Quran to show the right and despite having courageous soldiers and hard working men and women. This is a food for thought for each one of us .

A labourer , who works in a house nearby and who visits my house frequently at night to fetch water for drinking , does not wear warm clothes in this harsh Islamabad weather . On my asking him , he told me that he did not have warm clothes . Allah forbids ,If he falls ill , he might not have money for his treatment .

We never tire from quoting the example of the great Caliph Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) who said that he fears Allah’s wrath if a dog goes hungry on the banks of the River Euphrates . What about this man , this poor labourer , and thousands of others like him who go to bed hungry . According to one estimate , 60% people in Pakistan live below the poverty line . Many families have been compelled to commit suicide because they have no means to feed their children .

Islam is an universal religion . It cannot be confined within the narrow state boundaries . One can live a decent life anywhere in the world without trespassing the limits ordained by Allah , if He Wills. Unfortunately most of us have missed the essence of our deen . Islam teaches discipline .Our Prayers , our Fasts and our Haj all teaches discipline . I liked the pictures of people waiting to board a ferry in New Zealand and the street scenes of Dublin .

Allah’s angels were enough for His Commandments to be fulfilled . But He made man superior to the angels and bestowed upon him the ability to distinguish between virtue and evil so that he should strive to promote virtue and to make every effort to eliminate evil within his sphere of influence .

“ We must learn to live together as brothers or we are going to perish as fools” . Dr. Martin Luther King .

Mahfooz ur Rahman

Islamabad

December 17 , 2013