On 50th Birthday - Prologue

Today, I’m fifty and before you wish me a happy birthday, please know that I’m only concerned about The Meeting.  

Prologue

Fantastic childhood. Love, care and appreciation. Sports, studies  and friendships. Struggle was a routine thing. Curious omissions, odd mistakes and foolhardy adventures were abundant. Religiosity was go to thing, mostly for regrets and returns after honest mistakes and mostly for not so honest mistakes. More than anything else, PTV was shaping the personality of a growing teenager. All in all, a full package of life that 80s could offer.

Along came 90s and felt strong inclination towards political Islam which to this day is closest to my heart and unfortunately it is not to be found anywhere. College life, cadet life and practical life as commissioned officer all appears now like a dream. It had everything except that one thing, the satisfaction. I remember passing out from Sandhurst and feeling so empty and emotionless. But never failed to enjoy a moment or two with friends. Fast forward, two decades in uniform and never felt attached or detached to it. An indifferent journey of reconciling with idealism of training/ manuals and realism of practical life. Realities were harsh, they still are. Doffing uniform and beginning second fiddle in business was like a routine thing because accepting challenges, adapting and working hard was part of my DNA. 

However, today when I look back it all appears unreal. Lights, camera, action and  stage drama kept rolling. Joys and regrets aside, life as whole left me worried. Everything I thought perceived and acted upon, turned out to be false. Whether my understanding of religion, duty to service, politics, patriotism or relations. 

It took me fifty years to conclude life in one line from the Manual: [3:185]

ۗ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ

And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.

For the rest of it, I hope and pray to get things right with above statement in mind for anything and everything I do. May Allah be my guide. Ameen

Only Allah knows the whole Truth. 

On 50th Birthday - Epilogue

Today, I’m fifty and before you wish me a happy birthday, please know that I’m only concerned about The Meeting.  

Epilogue

Moving towards Kauthar: 

I had read a lot about Him. I knew, He won’t judge me. He was so loving and forgiving that he didn’t even judge the hypocrites of His time. I had seen Him in my dream twice in my teens.  It was a unique honour. There was always a connection which grew overtime. I felt immense pressure trying to be a good example for my boys. I felt immense relief when I realised, He was the only perfect Man ever to have walked on the surface of this earth.  So, for my boys, I diverted the standard of perfection to Him. I named my son after Him. I kept beard out of reverence the day I had to visit His city. He was the means by which light of The Book came to me. My life had no meaning without it. Were these symbolic gestures and lip service enough to get me through this?

At Kothar, “Asad Jamal, I recognise you. You used to take my name with respect. You took pilgrimage to my city many times. You talked about me a lot. I’m mercy for both worlds. I wish you success in next phase”. 

The Meeting:

I had so many meetings in my lifetime. With lots of preparation, due diligence, attention to details and at times through calculated risks or sheer bluffing, I would get through them. Even the unsuccessful ones would leave me with lessons for future meetings.  But this one has no room for failure. Am I prepared enough? Will gimmickry, presence of mind or subterfuge work? In my heart, I was scared of The Meeting for only one reason that if this meeting didn’t go down well, where would I go? I knew my say/ do ratio was poor. My desire often overpowered my conscience. I knew the right from wrong, yet I lent an ear to the whisperer. What would I do about all this irrefutable evidence now? I asked for straight path many a times in a day cycle, yet went astray. I did return to Him, yet went away. I procrastinated too much. What would I do now? Where would I go now from here? ‘Hellfire’, yes I heard about the in-satiating inferno. It is regrettable. Not the hellfire but for me being ungrateful. Being disloyal.  Being below par. What a terrible scene, I ended up like Mr Nameless who sat by the fireplace and regretted and me burning inside it. O Lord, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. I have nowhere to go.

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.   

Iran’s symbolic missile attack on Israel

Barring few exception, leadership of entire Muslim Ummah is under Zionist control and Iran is no exception.

1st October, 2024 symbolic missile attack by Iran on Israel was a political action authorised by Washington to achieve the following political objectives:

1. To send a stronger message than in the April 2024 Iranian drone attack to US’ brat Netanyahu with regards to his defiance of Washington and widening the war in the region.

2. To help repair the damage to Iran’s internal and external reputation as a result of its inaction and empty rhetoric against Israel following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, senior commanders of its proxy movements and the attack on Lebanon. For Washington to help the Iranian leadership ease internal pressure from the hardliners and military leadership for action and revenge to restore dignity.

3. Restoring Iran’s leadership and reputation over her proxies, strengthen the smokescreen whilst she helps Israel and the Americans in continuing to dismantle the “Axis of resistance”.

4. The Democrats aim to bolster electoral success via the Jewish vote in the American elections by demonstrating its commitment to the existence of Israel and guaranteeing her security.

Iran finally got the green light and instruction from Washington on the 1st of October 2024, to launch a limited missile attack on Israel after Netanyahu once again humiliated and defied the Biden administration through the Israeli ground invasion in Southern Lebanon a day earlier after Biden had called for an “immediate ceasefire” and “diplomatic solution” between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran which was ignored. 

However, just like the drone strike in April 2024 by Iran, the missile attack was limited, had prior warning given to the United States and Israel in order to prepare for the attack, and like in April the US intercepted most of the missiles with the help of regional “allies” meaning Jordan, Iraq etc. According to the UK Financial Times; “That high interception rate was thanks to the combined efforts of the US and its allies, the tracking of the missiles’ flight paths by US partners in the region, and Israel’s own, highly sophisticated air defences” (2/10/24)

In April, Iranian leader Khomeini had stated that the drone attack on the part of Iran had “concluded” the issue, despite knowing Israel was continuing the genocide in Gaza. The limited political symbolism of the Iranian attack was clear again when the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi posted on X, ““Our action is “concluded” unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation” (01/10/24/.

But the questions remain the same. Why is it “concluded”. Has Israel decided to leave South Lebanon? Agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza? Stopped attacking Beirut?

So the action was clearly symbolic and limited upon Washington’s instructions. Just like in April, when Iran was under pressure to match its rhetoric with action after Israel had bombed her consulate in Syri and killing senior Iranian commanders, the symbolism on this occasion was also aimed at repairing her reputation after it was beginning to collapse both internally and in the wider Arab and Muslim world after the empty rhetoric and inaction following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh on Iranian soil and the successive killing of Hezbollah commanders and the infiltration and dismantling of her command structure by Israel.

According to the FT; 

“But after Nasrallah’s killing it was Iran’s military leaders, bent on revenge and fearful the republic was looking increasingly weak, who won the day at the Supreme National Security Council meeting on Monday, said an Iranian official. With little warning, Iran on Tuesday fired about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, pushing the arch foes closer than ever to the full-blown direct conflict Tehran has been insisting it wants to avoid. “Nasrallah’s assassination was the last straw and Iran has come to the conclusion the Israelis are not going to stop; they are taking harsher measures and now they are going to attack and invade part of Lebanon,” an Iranian official told the Financial Times. “The military commanders persuaded [the council] that if Iran does not [retaliate], it will lose its supporters and it will badly damage its reputation.” (02/10/24)  

Purpose of this piece is that we shouldn’t be overawed by the religious zeal, sectoral alignments and outright Jew/ Israel hatred rather be able to cut through the noise and draw sound inferences from prevailing geopolitical scene. 

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.