Author: rubeel

June 7, 2011 Islam, Thoughts Post a Comment

Friday Prayers

Every Friday I goto Friday prayer alhamdulillah, but I have been seeing something that I feel is so important and we don’t talk about it. We all already know that Friday is the most important day of the week, there are numerous hadith about this and some are below.

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah and Hudhayfah (may Allaah be pleased with them) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah led those who came before us away from Friday. The Jews had Saturday, and the Christians had Sunday. Then Allaah brought us and Allaah guided us to Friday. So there is Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and thus they will follow us on the Day of Resurrection. We are the last of the people of this world but we will be the first on the Day of Resurrection, and we will be dealt with before all others.” (Muslim)

It was narrated from Aws ibn Aws that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The best of your days is Friday. On that day Adam (peace be upon him) was created; on that day he died; on that day the Trumpet will be blown and on that day all of creation will swoon. So send a great deal of blessings upon me, for your blessings will be shown to me.” They said, “O Messenger of Allaah, how will our blessings upon you be shown to you when you have turned to dust?” He said, “Allaah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the Prophets, peace be upon them.”  (Abu Dawood; Classed as saheeh by Ibn al-Qayyim in his comments on Sunan Abi Dawood, 4/273; and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood, 925.)

It was narrated that Abu Lubaabah ibn ‘Abd al-Mundhir said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Friday is the master of days, and the greatest of them before Allaah. It is greater before Allaah than the day of al-Adha and the day of al-Fitr. It has five characteristics: on this day Allaah created Adam, on it He sent Adam down to the earth, on it Allaah caused Adam to die, on it there is a time when a person does not ask Allaah for anything but He gives it to him, so long as he does not ask for anything haraam, and on it the Hour will begin. There is no angel who is close to Allaah, no heaven, no earth, no wind, no mountain and no sea that does not fear Friday.”  (Narrated by Ibn Maajah; 1084; Classed as hasan by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no.  2279)

Some years ago, when I had started working at a university, I was asked by my manager to go troubleshoot a desktop computer in the university president’s office. I went along with my manager and once we entered the office, for some reason we were on our best behavior, Not to make any slight mistake or say something improper. This somehow kicked in and it was due to the fact that the office was of the president and the president was the President of the university. He was the top of the top in the management, him having issue with his computer was a problem for everyone in IT. This could have been similar to anyone where the person could be the president of a company I might have worked for or the director of my division. I realized that when I went to see someone higher up or some customer (who for some reason controlled the company’s main contract) or a customer visiting the office or going for an interview, we are  expected to dress up and be on our best behavior, be presentable (which could mean that you have you have the proper attire, suit with tie, , hair nicely done, no foul breath, mouth wash used, mustache trimmed and beard nicely kept and even your nails are dealt accordingly, so you don’t seem like a person out of a jungle).

There is a hadith about cleanliness being half of the Iman (faith).

Narrated Abû Mâlik Al-Hârith bin Âsim Al-Ash’ari: Allah’s Messenger said, “Cleanliness is half of Faith; the utterance of Allah (Al-hamdu lillah – all praise belongs to Allah) fills the scales of good actions; the utterance of Allah (Glory be to Allah and all praise belongs to Allah) fills the space between the heavens and the earth, and Salât (prayer) is light; and charity is the proof of Faith; and endurance is a light, and the Qur’ân is a plea in your favour or against you. Every person begins the morning ready to strike a deal with his soul as a stake; he either ransoms it or puts it into perdition.” (Muslim)

Now what does this got to do with Friday prayer. Well it has to do something with Salat in general. When we pray, we are infront of Allah. Who is Allah, he is the lord of the worlds, the creator of everything, the owner of our souls and owner of everything between heavens and earth. He is all in all of everything, much more than a president of a university, director of a company, CEO of multi billion dollar company, bigger and important than anything and everything.

So when we go infront of the almight to pray, to beg and to ask for forgiveness, we are usually dressed up like bums. We are not at our best behavior or even presentable, we are wearing dirty clothes, pajamas, sagging pants, long shorts that are not long enough, smelling bad or of smoking, sometimes i have seen people just come out of bed and show up at the moque, sometimes jeans, Tshirt combination, gym clothes or just anything casual that you wouldn’t wear to work at all. Well I can understand people do this at home but for Friday it is a different story. I usually see people on Friday enjoying Casual Fridays at work, I can understand wearing business clothes all week might seem like a burden and casual Friday is an escape from those superficial clothing.

Lets see what we are actually doing, we are dressing up every day for this duniya, to make up points at work, impress the bosses, abide by the dress policy or just because you see customers or are expected to wear those clothes. On Friday we take a step back cuz the expected fact is that Friday is the casual day but while trying to enjoy the life in duniya we end up forgetting that Friday is the best day of the week, like Eid everyweek for us. If we put a little bit effort and think of the day when it is the best day of the week, you are going to be in presence of other Muslims, be closest to Allah during sajda, then you should dress up accordingly. Don’t show up at the mosque like it is a basket ball match or your going for a BBQ.

“O you who believe (Muslims)! When the call is proclaimed for the Salaah (prayer) on Friday (Jumu‘ah prayer), come to the remembrance of Allaah [Jumu‘ah religious talk (Khutbah) and Salaah (prayer)] and leave off business (and every other thing). That is better for you if you did but know!” (Al-Jumu’ah 62:9)

Tomorrow if you are told that you are going to meet the president of the country, I doubt anyone would show up in jeans or jogging bottoms and a Tshirt. Why do we then think differently for Allah, when Allah is much more important for us than anyone else. Just remember that we need him and he doesn’t need us.

It is only Shaitan (Satan) that suggests to you the fear of his Auliya’ [supporters and friends (polytheists, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah and in His Messenger, Muhammad pbuh)]; so fear them not, but fear Me, if you are (true) believers. (Surah 3/Ayah 175)

There is a hadith also but cant find it in Tirmidhi for now

Ibn Hibban narrated “Whoever will seek to please Allah by displeasing men, Allah (The Glorified and The Exalted) will make him independent of the help and favour of men and He Himself will become sufficient unto him, and whoever will seek to please men by displeasing Allah, Allah (The Glorified and The Exalted) will give him in the charge of men. And peace (be with you)!” (Tirmidhi)

April 28, 2011 Islam, Thoughts Post a Comment

Bahrain (a thought)

 

This is a very confused rant which I put down in writing, I just didn’t know how to gather all facts and write them. So just read it.

Initially I had been very much appalled by the news of the crackdown on the Bahraini Demonstrators; I thought, here was another regime that was trying to put down dissent. I was actively posting stories about how bad it was on my face book profile until I decided to take a step back and look at the whole geo political situation. Talked to some of my father’s friends who were working in intelligence in Bahrain and came to the conclusion that this had to happen, otherwise there would be a bigger issue of stability and security in the region.

No one can deny that Iran has some sort of hand in this whole mess up. I was even told and later in the news the same thing came up that there were individuals who were trained by Hezbollah, this is an alarming fact and cannot be taken lightly. Having Bahrain fall in the hands of the Shia run Iranian regime would cause more than just concern. Coming back to Bahrain, there were solid progress being made in the last couple of years about addressing the concerns of the citizens who felt that they have been left out of the economic progress of the country, The crown prince is very forward looking and would have worked to ensure more rights and reform, but the protest put an end to any future hope of such actions. Further killing of policemen and then targeted attacks on South Asians just because some of their countrymen work for the police or are part of the Security establishment further proved that the people behind these were not looking for resolution to their concerns about jobs and housing but were trying to  further destabilize the region so there could be a need for Iran to get involved.

It seems that the demonstrators initially might have had some legit concerns but after a few days, it was just a mob of people who wanted to cause clear harm to Bahrain’s reputation, security and stability. Whatever the outcome will be  in the coming days and any outcry that will result due to the government’s actions will be the doing of the demonstrators. The death sentences handed out today are a clear indication that the government takes very seriously when law and order is challenged and I don’t blame them.

I remember from my time in Bahrain (back in the 90s) that there was another set of demonstrations and riots and they were put down by the government, I had realized how biased the demonstrators were, when we as high school kids were cautioned and scared of going into certain areas as Pakistanis were constantly attacked for being Pakistani (majority of the police is Pakistani). It didn’t come as a surprise what happened this time also.

Whatever the case now, Bahrain is now in a very delicate time period. The people will get some benefit out of this but maybe the steps taken towards reform might be rolled back and will take another decade to be at the point where they were before all this happened. It is now to just wait and see what happens, after all the terrorist elements are cleared up, I am sure the government will take positive steps towards reform but until then don’t expect the government to give in to demands posed by the Iranian establishment through their proxies in Bahrain.

 

 

April 26, 2011 Islamabadi, Pakistan, Politics Post a Comment

Mukhtaran Mai

 

The case and the verdict in Mukhtaran Mai is very sad state of affairs of Pakistan. What is even sadder is that the judiciary is being held responsible for the failure to deliver justice. I may not be an expert but it seems people who are holding the judiciary responsible (liberals, Feminists and other judiciary bashers from the current government in Pakistan) keep forgetting that the judge can only pass a judgment on facts and evidence presented to him/her in the court of law. They have to be unbiased and fair but obey the law to the letter and not let their personal feelings come in between what is proved in the court and what others might think of the issue.

The sad aspect is that the case was originally brought up in early 2002, when Musharraf was in power. Courts took up the matter but as it became very visible internationally, the culprits were arrested and incarcerated for some time. Sadly Police didn’t do a good job at investigation, gathering facts or getting confessions, then our system of feudal took over who wouldn’t want their people get punished for whatever reason. I am not an expert here so won’t try to explain more of what happened.

The bottom line is that in a country where Supreme Court can’t enforce its own decisions will not be able to do investigation or enquiry in case. The police failed (most probably corruption to blame here) in their due diligence and presented a weak case, muddied facts and no solid facts. What is a judge got to do? He can’t read the newspapers, watch CNN, see Mukhtaran Mai get awards and decide the guilt of others but he/she can only judge based on what happens in the court room.

 

March 31, 2011 Thoughts Post a Comment

Friends

Spending my life in parts has left me with no true friends I think. I lived in Pakistan until I was eleven and left all my school friends to move to Bahrain. Then spent my teenage years in Bahrain and made friends there. When it was time to move again, I had to leave all that. I moved back to Pakistan to a new adventure, without Email/Skype/Facebook during those days meant that those friends had better things to do.


Leaving all behind in Bahrain was especially hard as all I knew and learned was in Bahrain. But in Pakistan I did make friends and good friends, but once I settled in and had a social life, I had to move again, this time to USA, to unchartered territory.


USA was specially a different game; I didn’t know anyone or anything. Learning the ropes of life on my own for the first time was hard and kept me busy though. Friends in USA is a different scenario, it was especially along the lines of friends who were opportunist. This meant that whoever became a friend was a friend for a little while until his or her opportunity or personal gain was fulfilled. Then it was off to other people. Also one thing here is that people do tend to move all over the place, so someone you know today might not be in your area for long and might move somewhere else due to job, family or education. This means that they were there for a little while and what you thought was a friend was an acquaintance actually. I can’t think of any true friends that I can fall back on; I do have some friends that I am proud of but they are not here in USA.


I did make one friend who I thought that was a true friend (literally thought that), who I could rely on in my bad times, sadly in my bad times he was the first one to dump and run away from me. It was harsh and hurting, it still hurts but I can say this that he helped me a lot in life so not holding a lot against him. Although I haven’t forgiven him, if I was at fault then that doesn’t matter but if I wasn’t, then I will see him on the day of judgment Inshallah, I am glad he did abandon me as I would have otherwise trusted him with my life, my family and most probably would have been surprised and shocked to see his actions, if I needed his help in worse Times.

Allah is my Lord, my friend, mytrustee and everything at this point but sometimes it is nice to have someone who you can call or sit down to talk to and open your heart. As of now that doesn’t exist and I doubt it will ever be. Time for such friendships have come and gone, it would have helped to stay in one place to have such luxuries. Lack of true friends, cousins or family sometimes truly sucks.


All I just can say

hassbunallah wa ni’mal wakeel

‘Allah is sufficient for us, and how fine a trustee (He is).’

November 13, 2010 Thoughts Post a Comment

First meeting

It was a Friday and I was getting ready to go for Jumah Prayer. This was five days after returning from Pakistan and I was all excited about life ahead. As I worked and the prepared to leave, my company President showed up in my room, I knew him very well and had some serious discussions on religion with him. He came to me and said “Rubeel I want you to meet someone”. He took me the office of the VP, by this time I was very naive about what was going on. As I approached the room, I realized that why would the president want me to meet anyone. Again, I dismissed the idea of some foul play and walked in the room.

There were two men inside the room who asked me to sit on a chair. As my company’s president left the room, I realized that the chair I was being asked to sit on was a corner chair and I cannot walk out of the room even if I wanted to. As this thought flashed in my mind, the two men flashed their badges and introduced themselves as Special Agents with the FBI.

Rest is history 🙁 ……

October 15, 2010 Thoughts 1 Comment

Hate mail and me

Today i received hate mail from some one who i don’t know ofcourse. I have never received any hate mail but the experience is not very nice. It was not a very fun reading of two lines but i have to give it to the person who went through the effort to create an email address with the alias rubeelsux@yahoo.com.

They must really hate me cuz otherwise you can just create an anonymous email address and get done with it but they went through the extra effort to create a custom email address.

October 15, 2010 Thoughts Post a Comment

Politics (A rant)

When i came to the USA some 10 odd years ago, i witnessed the first election in 2000; it was closely fought and very controversial. I looked at the election from a distance as i was working odd jobs and trying to make a living. From what i saw from far was a noble system that was working so well for the people. I would think then that this is the way Pakistan needs to be at, with elections held and results handled so well (although the results that year were decided by the supreme court very much in USA (Gore vs. Bush))

Muslims were very happy with the results, Gore had chosen a pro-israel politician to be his running mate and when bush defeated him, it was all cheers.

Well i am not going to talk about Muslims and USA or anything but coming back to my original point about the noble electoral system, i was fascinated. Later on i got a job where i had to commute 1 hour every day and i would listen to CSPAN Radio every morning. This was in 2003-2004 election season. By this time i have had some time and learned about the political system. As the election got closer, it became clearer that the system was as dirty as i had left behind in Pakistan. Politicians don’t work for their constituents, but they work for the party. Right or wrong, the party line was used to vote on critical issues and decisions that impacted citizens every day.

Attack campaigns and much uncivilized manner of political wrangling, use of lobbyists and many more dirty tricks were used to win elections, defeat bills and play the politics game. It is very interesting for me that in the last 10 years or so, i have seen the American society disintegrate into religious and liberal groups. This division was never this clear before but now it is clearer than before. The ads on TV now a day are based on lies, deceitful statements and religion. Is this is the United States of American or United States of Christian America?

Recently reading a book on a troublesome event in the history of Muslims, Siege of Mecca was about taking over the holiest place for Muslims by extremists, the author in the end had emphasized that after defeating the terrorists/extremists, the Saudi government gave in to their demands and adopted what they wanted to force on the society. It seems that after defeating the confederates in the civil war, the US government had adopted a lot of their extreme agendas and defeating them was nothing but a makeup with the extreme right. I think the reminiscence of those extreme are now part of Republicans.

August 3, 2010 Current Affairs Post a Comment

ہلاک ہونے والوں میں سے قاتل کون تھا؟

ہلاک ہونے والوں میں سے قاتل کون تھا؟

ریاض سہیل
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، کراچی

کراچی کے بارے میں حکومت کی جانب سے کئی فیصلے ہوئے جن میں سے کسی پر بھی عملدرآمد ہوتا نظر نہیں آتا۔

کراچی میں پر تشدد واقعات، ہنگامہ آرائی اور خوف و ہراس میں غروب ہونے والا سورج منگل کو اسی ماحول میں طلوع ہوا۔ صبح کو تمام تعلیمی ادارے، کاروباری مراکز بند رہے اور سڑکوں پر پبلک ٹرانسپورٹ کے ساتھ نجی گاڑیاں بھی نہ ہونے کے برابر رہیں۔

ماہ رمضان کی آمد اور سکولوں کی موسم گرما کی تعطیلات ختم ہونے کے بعد گزشتہ روز بازاروں اور مارکیٹوں میں گہماگہمی تھی۔ مگر آج ہر جگہ ویرانی نظر آئی۔ شہر کے دل کے نام سے پہچانے جانے والے علاقے ایمپریس مارکیٹ میں کچھ پریشان تو کچھ خوفزدہ دکانداروں سے ملاقات ہوئی۔

ان دکانداروں کا کہنا تھا کہ اچانک دو تین لڑکے آتے ہیں اور فائرنگ کر کے چلے جاتے ہیں حالانکہ ان کی دکانیں پہلے سے بند ہیں۔

ان میں اکثر ریڑھی لگانے اور مزدوری کرنے والے تھے جن کو یہ فکر تھی کہ اگر یہ صورتحال جاری رہی تو ان کا گذارہ کیسے ہوگا۔

پاکستان کے دیگر علاقوں میں اقتصادی سرگرمیاں محدود ہونے کی وجہ سے لوگوں کی ایک بڑی تعداد کراچی شہر کا رخ کرتی ہے۔ جس وجہ سے اس شہر کی آبادی غیر سرکاری اعداد و شمار کے مطابق پونے دو کروڑ تک پہنچ چکی ہے۔ اس میں چالیس لاکھ پشتون بھی شامل ہیں۔

دو بندر گاہوں کے ساتھ مرکزی بینک، کئی ملکی اور غیر ملکی مالیاتی اداروں اور کمپنیوں کے ہیڈ آفیس یہاں موجود ہیں۔ سرکاری اعداد و شمار کے مطابق ملکی خزانے میں ساٹھ فیصد آمدن اسی شہر سے جاتی ہے۔

عام تعطیل کے ماحول میں شہر کی کئی سڑکوں پر بچے اور بڑے کرکٹ کھیلتے ہوئے نظر آئے۔ ایک جگہ رک کر میں ان نوجوانوں سے سوال کیا کہ آج دکانیں کیوں بند ہیں تو ان میں سے ایک نوجوان کا کہنا تھا کہ انہوں نے سوگ میں دکانیں بند رکھی ہوئی ہیں اور متحدہ کا ساتھ دیا ہے۔

میں نے ان سے پوچھا کہ شہر میں ہلاکتیں کون کرا رہا ہے تو ان کا خیال تھا کہ اس میں ایجنسیاں ملوث ہوسکتی ہیں کیونکہ ہمیشہ کوئی تیسری قوت آ کر یہ کرتی ہے۔ جب کہ اس نوجوان کے ایک اور ساتھی کا کہنا تھا کہ یہ پورا ٹیم ورک نظر آتا ہے کیونکہ کراچی کے ساتھ حیدرآباد میں بھی ہنگامہ آرائی ہو رہی ہے۔

میں نے ان سے پوچھا کہ شہر میں ہلاکتیں کون کرا رہا ہے تو ان کا خیال تھا کہ اس میں ایجنسیاں ملوث ہوسکتی ہیں کیونکہ ہمیشہ کوئی تیسری قوت آ کر یہ کرتی ہے۔ جب کہ اس نوجوان کے ایک اور ساتھی کا کہنا تھا کہ یہ پورا ٹیم ورک نظر آتا ہے کیونکہ کراچی کے ساتھ حیدرآباد میں بھی ہنگامہ آرائی ہو رہی ہے۔
ان نوجوانوں کے ساتھ موجود دو لڑکوں کی طرف میں نے اشارہ کرتے ہوئے سوال کیا کہ یہ کون ہیں؟ تو ان کا کہنا تھا کہ یہ پشتون ہیں اور ہمارے بھائی ہیں۔ جب میں نے ان پشتون نوجوانوں سے بات کرنا چاہی تو انہوں نے بات کرنے سے انکار کردیا۔

لانڈھی میں ایک پیٹرول پمپ کو جلانے کے بعد مرکزی شہر کے تمام پیٹرول پمپ اور سی این جی اسٹیشن قناطیں لگا کر بند کردیئے گئے تھے جس کے باعث نجی گاڑیوں کے مالکان اور ٹیکسی ڈرائیوروں کو بھی دشواری کا سامنا کرنا پڑا۔

زینب مارکیٹ کے قریب ایک پریشان حال ٹیکسی ڈرائیور نے بتایا کہ پورا شہر بند اور سواری نایاب ہے۔ میں نے ان سے کہا کہ ان حالات میں وہ کیوں گھر سے نکلے ہیں تو ان کا کہنا تھا کہ خوف انہیں بھی آتا ہے مگر کیا کریں پیٹ کے لیے تو نکلنا پڑتا ہے۔

پچھلے ہفتے شہر میں پرتشدد واقعات میں ہلاکتوں کے بعد یکم جنوری سے جولائی تک ہلاکتوں کی جوڈیشل انکوائری، شہر کو اسلحے سے پاک کرنے کے لیے سفارشات کی تیاری کے لیے ایک کمیٹی تشکیل دینے اور رینجرز کا گشت بڑھانے اور چوکیاں قائم کرنے جیسے کئی فیصلے ہوئے جن میں سے کسی پر بھی عملدرآمد ہوتا ہوا نظر نہیں آتا۔

رکن صوبائی اسمبلی رضا حیدر، ان کے محافظ اور عوامی نیشنل پارٹی کے دو کارکنوں کے علاوہ ہلاک ہونے والے کون ہیں؟ پولیس کا کہنا ہے کہ یہ عام لوگ تھے۔ اس سے قبل بھی دو ہزار سات سے لے کر گزشتہ ہفتے تک ان پرتشدد واقعات کا نشانہ عام لوگ ہی بنے جن کے مقدمات اور تفتیش نامعلوم وجوہات کے بنا پر بند کر دی گئی۔

شام کو ایک ایس ایم ایس آیا ہے جس میں پوچھا گیا کہ ہلاک آخر ہلاک ہونے والے پچاس افراد میں سے رکن صوبائی اسمبلی کا قاتل کون تھا؟