I am a big fan of Quranic Recitation of Al-Afasy. This is first time I am listening him reciting Nasheeds.

I got a bit late to share my thoughts about Mian Tufail Muhammad, the ex Chief of Jamat-Islami who recently passed away. Inna Lillahye Wainna Alahaye Rajioon. While the nation seems disturbed on death of Michael Jackson who also died on same day, nobody noticed much about the death of this learned scholar who introduced me Ali Hijveri(RA) a.k.a Data Ganj Baksh, the author of famous Sufi book Kashful Mahjoob.

I got a bit surprised when I saw that media utilized all skills to pay tribute to Michael Jackson while did not say much about the death of a learned man. Every anchor was mourning as if there is no tomorrow but then I reminded myself that we as a nation hardly pay tribute to learned people and usually ignore them just by remembering other things associated with them. Maybe a foreign  singer is more important for us than a learned person or many people who died in Swat that’s why Sind assembly remained silent for a minute just ignored his death because he was a Jamati.  What else can you expect from an ignorant nation?

I do not know anything about Tufail Sahab. All I know that I am thankful to him that he translated the book in urdu while he was in jail and did a great favor for people like me who were not aware about Ali Hejveri at all. May Allah bless his soul. Ameen.

Image Source: Wikipedia

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Worshippers still flock to the grave of Rahman Baba, a Muslim mystic revered by millions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But they now pray at a mound of rubble and twisted steel — all that remains of his tomb since militants bombed it.

The blast in March was the most high-profile in a recent spate of attacks against Pakistan’s homespun, tolerant brand of Islam by hard-liners trying to replace it with the more austere version espoused by the Taliban, al-Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups.

“This hurts deep in my heart,” said Ihasan ul-Haq, as he looked through a rainstorm onto the ruins of the once ornate, whitewashed tomb on the outskirts of Peshawar, a main northwestern town coming under the influence of the extremists. “And to think they do this in the name of Islam.”

The attack was a sign of the extreme intolerance of the militants and the threat posed by the insurgency to the religious and cultural heart of Pakistan, a nation of 170 million people that the U.S. sees as critical in the global fight against Islamic extremism.

As in other countries where Islam replaced earlier religions, the faith widely practiced in Pakistan is different to that in its birthplace, the Arabian peninsula. While still devout and socially conservative, most Pakistanis follow or are influenced by Islam’s mystical path of Sufism and incorporate local trappings such as visiting the shrines of saints, devotional songs and dancing. Some estimates say up to 75 percent of the country belongs to this group.

However, the extremists take their cue instead from Islam as practiced in the deserts of 7th century Arabia and are opposed to Sufism and indigenous forms of the faith — particularly the veneration of saints — which they consider dangerous deviations. The extremists gained strength in Pakistan in the 1980s, partly on the back of funding by the United States, which used hardline groups as proxies to fight Soviet rule in Afghanistan.

The fissure between the two forms of Islam has left some wondering whether the government or its Western allies could harness the moderation of the Sufis, and any anger they feel toward the militants, against the Taliban’s spreading grip over the nuclear-armed nation. In a study in 2007, the U.S.-based RAND cooperation recommended the United States reach out to Sufis to strengthen moderate networks in Muslim countries, citing as an example Indonesia, another Muslim country where foreign groups have been discreetly helping the moderates.

‘Tolerance of Islam’
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the descendant of a famous mystic and the keeper of his shrine, speaks often of the need to promote Sufism over extremism. But there has been little sign yet of a sustained effort by the government to reach out to the Sufis as allies or highlight how far out of step the extremists are with the country’s religious mainstream.

“If you want to understand the inclusiveness and tolerance of Islam, you have to visit the shrines of Sufis,” Qureshi said. “I believe that if you want to counter terrorism in long term, the strongest weapon is not the Kalashnikov, it is education, it is a changing of hearts and minds.”

But even with their shrines under attack, Sufis are not rising against the militants or even loudly criticizing them.

Some of this silence is due to fear. The Taliban are known to terrorize and kill opponents. Many people also complain that the security forces would not support them if they put their necks on the line.

Another reason is that for many ordinary Pakistanis, anger at the Taliban is offset by anger at the United States for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that many here view as directed against Muslims. Experts also note the Taliban are primarily a political movement, not a religious one, despite how they may present their struggle.

“If most of Pakistan believed what the Taliban believe, the story would be over,” said Daniel Markey, a senior fellow at the U.S Council on Foreign Relations. “So there is something there, but a lot of it has to do with political control. They use the rhetoric of Islam and claim to follow a pure version of it, but this is not a religious issue.”

Red flags
The shrines to the saints, which range from simple tombs tucked away in tiny villages to large complexes in cities that rake in thousands of dollars a day in donations, are found across the country.

They are traditionally visited by men and women — another red flag to the extremists, who believe in the strict segregation of the sexes. Such is the pull of the saints, members of the country’s tiny Hindu and Christian minorities pray at some shrines — and meet no objection from other worshippers.

Many are havens for hashish smokers and dealers. Beggars, fortune tellers, food hawkers, drummers, devotional singers and wealthy folk handing out plates of lentil curry mingle at the most popular tombs, which pulsate with life late into the night.

In Karachi, the country’s biggest city, hundreds remove their shoes each day to climb the steps to the seaside shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, an 8th century saint credited with bringing Islam to the area. Incense fills the air, as families, the young and the old, file past the tomb, pressing their heads against the stone, kissing it and throwing rose petals. Before leaving they take a pinch of supposedly holy salt from a pot on the tomb.

Mohammed Ahmed, a devout Muslim who teaches computer studies, started visiting the shrine after his wife had trouble conceiving. Now with a grinning 1-year-old girl on his hip, he comes each Saturday to say “thank you” to the saint for granting his wish.

For orthodox Muslims, asking any power but God for help is a grave sin that represents a watering down of the fierce monotheism that is at the heart of Islam. But Ahmed sees no sin, jokingly saying that asking for help by way of Ghazi ensures that his prayers get “priority” with God.

‘Like a paradise’
Militants have attacked or seized shrines before, but in targeting the resting place of Rahman Baba, they chose one of the most famous tombs in the region.

Source: AFP

As you know that famous pop icon Michael Jackson passed away yesterday due to heart failure. The news of his death has made a significant impact on Internet traffic. According to TechCrunch, sites like Twitter almost collapsed due to unexpected traffic(due to tweets) since everyone was interesteed to find out reality after the news was broken on TMZ’s Blog. 9 out of 10 topics in Twitter Trends are about Michael Jackson.

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On the other hand social networking world defeated search engines and news agencies again by breaking news before they appear on main stream search engines like Google or Yahoo. It shows a clear impact of social networks on today’s world.

In case if someone wonders why Internet go crazy, Mr.Jackson was one of very very few artists who is famous every where in the world due to his music and break dance styles which got popular everywhere in the world. No matter you were fan of English music or not, almost everyone knows Michael Jackson.

There were rumors that he converted to Islam(Allah knows the best. If he has died as a Muslim then this is one of the best thing he has done in his lonly life) but it could not get confirmed. People believed in him because his brother is a Muslim this is why his brother prayed for him in these words:

And Allah be with you Michael, always. I love you

Image Source: Tech Crunch and The Time

Since every blogger seems willing to make a note about Pakistan’s victory in T20 Worldcup final, I thought twice whether I should make a post about it or not since my sentiments might not be different than others but then I read Usman Samiuddin’s latest piece which made me to say few words about yesterday victory.

As everyone is saying, the last night victory was unexpected since nobody was expecting this victory. But this is not first time. If any of you have followed 1992 Worldcup, you will realize that current situation was pretty much similar to what happened 17 years back. Pakistan unexpectedly reached in Final and won and Imran Khan’s dream came true. Though Younis Khan might not have seen a dream like Imran but he is lucky enough to win a trophy which he never intended to take seriously.Like Imran this Khan also announced retirement(only T20 format) and seems willing to give a chance to Afridi who is already dreaming to lead Pakistani team. Anyway as Usman Samiuddin mentioned that this victory has emerged as a good news for people of Pakistan who have been listening only bad news for years. I know cricket can’t solve miseries of IDPs but as they showed on TV, this victory did bring smile on face of those as well who have been shedding tears for weeks due to ignorant and extreme attitude of two parties who are claiming to defeat each other.

One can feel happy but as I said in my last post that one should not forget that he is not an IDP like few millions people who are struggling for life. A good Muslim always thank Allah when hear some good news rather than dancing on road and forgetting everything as if there is no tomorrow.

Younis and his team did something which made our neighbor to leave the following comment on cricinfo.

It was great to see Pakistan win the cup. Its kind of fairy tale that a Nation which has seen so much tragedies was united by 11 men with a Purpose on the fied. As a Indian I/we defnitely felt little Jealous that our Neighbour has taken the cup which was ours Last Year. But this is not the time to even question the ifs and buts happening in Pakistan and especially its Cricket Establishment. The Joy that these men brought about is to be cherished from Peshwar to Lahore to Islamabad. In Chennai we stand and Applaud.. Well done Friends…

These 11 guys of my nation just give us a lesson that when 11 can get united despite of all problems and culturual and regional differences then why not other Pakistanis? This is a question which I fail to answer myself. Can you?

Pakistanis everywhere are excited as Pakistan plays Sri Lanka for the T20 World Cup on Sunday. Families have meticulously scheduled their chores this Sunday to free up the evening to be enjoyed in front of the TV. The supper might be eaten early in case Pakistan loses and people lose their appetite with it. That is what happened to many people when Pakistan lost to India in the Quarter Final of the 1996 World Cup.

The euphoria has swept everyone—the poor have decided to watch the final live at a dhaba or in front of an electronics shop, the rich in front of their homes and ultra rich in the cafes. Friends have taken time out from their otherwise busy lives to meet up and watch the final together. There are parties planned if Pakistan wins, the sweet shops are stocking up extra sweets in anticipation, the sport shops have already seen their sales go up and the many flower shops will be hoping that the fans will pick up rose necklaces on their way to greet the Pakistan team at the airport. Twenty20 World Cup has already invaded the front pages of the major newspapers. And if Pakistan wins there will be wall to wall coverage.

And, yet the massacre continues in the Swat and the misery of the displaced people of Swat remains. Few more will suffocate under the rubble of a house crumbled by a mortar today and a few more children will breath their last in the refugee camps as the rest of Pakistan tries to contain its excitement. As those who lived a poor but dignified lives stand in a queue to receive their ration of food other Pakistanis will stand in line to buy sweets to be distributed amongst themselves. As the refugees try to coup with another night under the open sky with their dignity shattered and their helplessness exposed to all the rest of the Pakistanis might go to bed content and happy to witness an exhilarating final ending possibly with Pakistan’s victory.

Such is the state of affairs! Tonight is indeed not just another ordinary final. The final gives you an opportunity to take a peek into your character. Will you shed tears of joy when those precious tears should be shed for the dead in Swat? Will you be moved by Pakistan’s defeat in cricket when you should be moved at the scenes of the children, the women, the old and the young living on roadsides as the camps are closed for entry? Will you spend money on sweets when that money should be donated for the refugees? Will you discuss Pakistan’s performance in detail the morning after when you never bothered to discuss the plight of the refugees?

Remember and ask these questions as you watch the match. Remember the superficiality of tonight’s match against the realities of Swat. Remember that as you comfortably watch the game tonight the Afghans are mourning the loss of even more civilian deaths, the Kashmiris are morning the rape, mutilation and deaths of two Muslim women, the Iraqis are mourning the victims of yet another bomb and the two year blockade of Gaza is still crippling the basic life of Muslims there.

If Pakistan wins, in all the euphoria there will be false calls of unity. A win at cricket has never brought the hearts of people together in a meaningful way. The mid-nineties were some of the worst times in some parts of the country which came at the heels of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup victory. There will be false calls of pride at Pakistan’s victory when nothing could be further from truth. When the army of a country is itself involved in ruining the lives of its own people no victory in a final can remove this shame. There will be calls that the victory provides a much needed “distraction from the horrible events”. But ask yourself if this distraction is justified. Is this distraction or another way to become desentisised from the plight of others in the country? There might indeed be a reason for some celebration if the final somehow brings relief to the refugees. But we all know this will not be the case.

So check your emotions tonight and spare a thought for the refugees and others in difficulty. Indeed today Pakistan stand at a peculiar state where one part of it is burning and in a desperate situation and the other parts are ready to explode in joyful celebration. Indeed today our humanity is on trial. Let’s us see how we do at this trial.

Source: via Email

OK that was weird as well as hilarious when Khan saab tried to irritate Kallis in T20 Semis :>

You saw here how the Aussie cricketer took the catch. The sri lankan cricketer in a recent T20 match tried to do something similar but failed but still he was able to save 6 runs.

Catches Win matches and this has always been true. Recently I came across a video in which an Aussie cricketer Adam Voges took an outstanding and unbelievable catch. As the commenter said, he was a genius and yes he was. Unlike many crickters he did not lose his senses as well he knew cricket rules. Surely it happened first time but technically it is a legitimate catch. Watch this amazing catch. Only Aussies can do it.

Hhahah. This is truly classic and true!

via Well Pitched