Our Al Kahaf today is Al Quran

Juma Mubarak. Al Kahf time. 

Whichever out of two you are celebrating today: Hajj Maubarak & Eid Mubarak. 22 years ago Margret Jones, an old British lady sarcastically took a jibe on different moons and eids among Muslims. It seems that her next generation would be smirking on the same issue on some other foreign Muslim (synonymous with terrorist lately) bloke like me. In short, divided eid day celebrations' saga continues to date. Yet, magnitude of this difference is much smaller against unanimity on One God, One Book & One Prophet PBUH. 

Those young men of the cave known in Christian traditions as Seven Sleepers were from respectable social status almost equal to middle class of today's 'classification' of people. Finding out their faith in oneness of God, they were summoned to the court of King Decius (25 CE). They were given choice to denounce their faith or face the music. For them denouncing their faith equalled to giving up everything they had. They opted to take 'refuge' in a cave. Allah swt loved their act of unwavering sincere faith so much that he made them eternal. Every Juma including this Juma, billions including us celebrate their remembrance without actually knowing their names or numbers. So life is not about names or numbers, rather sincerity of intent and action. 

Is our faith under as serious an attack as Men of Cave? Yes, it is and it may get even worse with appearance o Dajjal. So what to do? Which cave should we seek protection in? Apparently, things have changed. Human knowledge, life style and intellectual capacity have attained newer and higher levels. Secondly, those young men didn't have the guidance of Al Quran at their disposal. We have this luxury but take nothing away from those celebrated heroes whose mention Allah swt made sure in his Command Communique (first five Rukuhs of Al Kahf, Surah 18).

Came to this one important conclusion after wondering for years on Al Kahf that 'the cave', 'the protection', and Al Kahf of today is Al Quran itself. Due to evolutionary progression, we are not going to caves for refuge rather the cave (Al Quran) is in our households. It is not an automatic open sesame. We have to show some real good intent to open its door. Once opened, sky is the limit. 

One minor but relevant conclusion from this story is that real test in life is also of middle classish people. The high end are free to run till The Day. The lowest end are the test. The middle ones are being actually tested.

Have a wonderful Eid. While running the knife across the neck of your ram, do recall the epic story of obedience and submission of Ibrahim & Ismail AS, whose sunnah we celebrate today or tomorrow Insha Allah. 

Only Allah knows the whole Truth. 

Strange Pretty Girl

You are huge exception, telling in advance
Special privilege you've got my confidant

Here is a story untold, deserves no one else
More than you to know this unique romance

First time ever went in trance, by a glance
Stange Pretty Girl, who I saw by chance

Location, an inconspicuous market place
The encounter, anything but perchance

Filled my heart with joy I sought but never
Felt, never thought it could, yet it did dance

Love was abundant for me, success galore
Yet she looked like my heart's missing manse

Exuding life as beautiful as life is, she was
Captivating, mesmerizing, that's my stance

So what to do? What a gentleman should
Comfort heart with fragrance of this panse

Days gone by, to my total surprise, saw again
Strange Pretty Girl, in different circumstance

Random things are not so random, it seems
Fate's internvention, not a look by chance

عجیب لڑکی ھو تم
غضب کی حسیں ھوتم
سوئے ہوئے ارمانوں کا
دلفریب انگن ھو تم
محض دکھ نہیں رھی
ہاں واقعی پری ھوتم
دل گداز نظم ھو تم
میرے واحد شاعری ھوتم
مسکراتی ھیں جب یہ آنکھیں
کیا کچھ کہ جاتی ھو تم
جانتی ھو سب اسلئے ھوئی
جس کی ھوگئی ھو تم
درد بھرے اس سمندر کا
دلکش جزیرہ ھو تم
سکون قلب میرے کا
واحد ذریعہ ھو تم
مصنوعی روشنیوں میں
امید کا دیا ھو تم
دل نہیں مانتا کہ رکوں
چلتا ھوں خوش رھو تم

Thoughts that led to the blog 'Thoughts'

Sensitive People are the artists within. Sensitivity takes them above the level of Sense Perception. This triggers a mental intercourse with the Muse. Muse is not a deity, neither could you see it. It is just a vessel dedicated for the carriage of thought from the Divine Source to human mind. Sensitive people or the Artists, should we say, then, express these Thoughts in different ways. The translation of Thought comes to fore in writing (poetry/ prose), speech, painting, invention or any other Act of differentiation.

 We all are sensitive. We all are artists. We all have our own signature expression. The difference is just the degree of sensitivity among our kind. The greater the sensitivity, the greater the Thought and even greater the expression of thought.

Sensitivity has all to do with the Connection. We take so much pain getting a good tariff / package, so that quality of signals, speed of GPRS and voice quality is up to the mark. To establish a good connection, some pain has to be taken and some price has to be paid. Because the quality of thought defines a person, and good quality clear thoughts will only come when the Connection is Good. 

Ostensibly routine and mundane things carry a much deeper signature of expression, which in its purity is matchless. For example, expression of a mother’s love for her child, a father’s concern for provision of his progeny, fearless expression of a child’s imagination, a teacher’s toil to the bring the best out of a student, genuine respect in a student’s heart for his teacher, a doctor’s professionalism and compassion to save life, a soldier’s dedication to his mission may it cost him his life and so on.

Subtle Sensitivity breeds sublime expression. Here, the quality of thought is directly proportional to the “connect” that soul has been able to establish with the Divine Source. For example, the philosophy of Rumi, Bullay Shah’s ‘sachian tay khariyan gallan’, poetry of Iqbal, prose of Wasif Ali Wasif and so on.

The signature expression of thought from mundane to sublime is all Divine. Sensitivity, thought and the art form we adopt to express these thoughts are not the attributes we acquire, rather these are Gifted to us from Someone who has all the knowledge, all the wisdom and all the power.

Stay Blessed

Imran Khan - An exemplary anchor

Imran Khan (Anchor & Youtuber) is the 

only anchor who is blessed with clean and clear mind. His strength is logical analysis, bold approach and truthful reporting. Hardly ever heard regular nonsense from this anchor person which routinely comes out of 'famous' anchors' mouths. He doesn't budge to polical bullies called spokespersons. He seems God fearing and pro Pakistan. It is very easy to tag such people anything but to scribe's humble assessment, he stands out as a lion in the pack of media hyenas. None of the reporter or analyst type nautankis have the guts to carryout probing investigative journalism in this country. Their work is either tipped off by opponents of reported upon party or for blackmailing purposes to trade for their own shenanigans. Our electronic media is littered with mafia anchors, analysts and reporters. Media Mandi is pretty much like any other Mandi in the country e.g. Sabzi Mandi, Machhli Mandi, Heera Mandi etc. Show the currency notes and get the job done. Buyers in Media Mandi are politicians and affluent thugs. Kudos to Imran Khan (Anchor) who is standing up to these Pharoahs. He has taken a very difficult route. May God help him. Ameen

Normally, anchors get noticed through honest, passionate and unbiased reporting. But after raising the stakes, they apply mid-course correction. Imran may may end up like Talat Hussain or Shahzeb Khanzada who did excellent reporting in early years of their career but then  apparently cut a deal with the devil. Or his journalistic journey may come to a crashing halt. For this scenario, already prayed for his safe journey through this tumultuous path.

Have a question for those shedding crocodile tears for Mati Ullah Jan type blots on the name of journalistic integrity, why honest jounalists like Imran are not taken away by namaloom afrad? But its a waste of question to a badly manipulated and fixated mindset. Media is the greatest deception of our time. Just beware.

Only Allah knows the whole Truth. 

Al Waqiah (The Inevitable) by Hamza Bin Asad (Age 11)

Surah Al Waqiah is the 56^th Surah of the Quran and it consists of 96 verses. In the first six verses, Allah swt describes the Day of Judgement. After describing, the Day of Judgement, Allah swt says that there will be three kinds of people; the companions of the Right, the companions of the Left and the forerunners. He mentions that the forerunners will be brought closer to Him in highest heaven. There will be more righteous people in the past than in the later stages of the world. Then it is mentioned that forerunners would enjoy their stay in heaven. People will return to their prime ages. The forerunners will have drinks tastier than wine and their drinks will not intoxicate them. They could eat whatever fruits they desired. They could eat any kind and part of the fowl they wish to have. Then there is mention of women in heaven. There will be fair women like pearls. As a reward for what they used to do, they will not hear any bad words or see bad things. They will only have peace.

In next few Ayahs, Allah swt describes how companion of the Right will live in their section of heaven. They will live among  lote trees without thorns. There will be trees full of fruits and there shades will be extended. Also there will be water pouring out. Fruits and water will be unlimited and they could eat and drink as they like. They will have their beds raised. The women found in this section of heaven will be devoted to their husbands.  They will be of equal ages for the companions of the right. It is worth mentioning that these women will be resurrected in newer and better form.

Immediately after this, there is description of companions of the Left. They will live in fire. They will have boiling water to drink which they will drink like thirsty camels. They will be surrounded by the black smoke. They will be eating from the tree of Zaqqum.

 This passage is followed by direct address to the Prophet PBUH:

“O, Muhammad, indeed the former and later people, are to be gathered together for the appointment for a known day”. [56:49-50]

Above ayahs are followed by a volley of questions like, ‘We have created you so why do you not believe’.  [56:57] After mentioning His greatness, Allah swt says that He created everything, so why are we in denial? Allah swt reminds us to remember Him always. Then He swt swears by the setting of the stars and affirms that the Quran is well protected in Register (Loh e Mahfooz). None can benefit from it except the purified people of soft hearts. Quran is the order of the Lord who is the Creator of the worlds.

Next few verses discuss the time death when the soul reaches the throat. The angel of death at this point in time is closer to the dying person than the people near him. But they can’t see him or do anything about it. However, if the deceased was on the right path, he will go in heaven and the angels will greet him by saying, ‘peace be upon you’. If he will be on the wrong side, he will be drinking boiling hot water and will live in hellfire. Surah ends by verses that this is the truth, so take the name of your Lord, The Greatest.

The lessons for the kids of my generation are that the worldly things have no meaning. Try to do the stuff that will help you in afterlife so you may avoid ending up on the Left side. We should not just recite the Quran but also understand it because it teaches the right way of life that will save us in next life.