A Fantastic World...

Today , I will tell you a story about a "Fantastic" world...not fantastic in the sense of being "amazing" , rather it is a "fantasy" world that is based on the present world.

There was this country USRael , that was obsessed with dominating the world. USRael strongly believed that he was "The Chosen One" and the President was convinced that God had spoken to him to start Crusades against the Muslims.

USRael decided that the best way to make Muslims fight each other would be to create discord among them based on sects and ethnicity. No point in trying to sell them liquor and Pork as they would not fall for it. But they were very sensitive about sects. This proved very beneficial as Sunni and Shias proved easy targets and there was a big 8 year war among two Muslim countries in which Millions of Muslims were killed. USRael was over joyed. Afghanistan had been a great success too ; not only it finished off USSR but it also devastated Af-ga-nis-tan. Palestine was getting thrashed somewhere too but no one cared about a small strip of land. Meanwhile, the Saudis and other Gulf states basked in their obscene Petro Dollars and were not a source of worry at all. The Ottoman empire had already fallen after WWI which ended there 600 or so years of rule.There was this country Pakistan which really bothered no one since Pakistanis were the biggest bastards on Earth. They cared for one thing only. Money. Given them Money and they would rape their own sisters and mothers.

So , things were running along very smoothly. Then, from the East , a horrible news came. Several news, actually.  Russia, China and N.Korea woke up! Well, they had been stirring for quite a while but USRael was sure they wouldn't pose a threat...but this didn't prove to be the case. This gradually began to hurt US more and more as even Israel wasn't bothered with non Muslim countries. Israel was only after Muslims.

USRael was cracking up into 2 countries. US and Israel. The other countries began to suspect that US was just an empty tin drum whereas Israel was the real culprit that had been invisibly pulling strings and gaining strength all the time. While the world was busy hating and loving US , Israel was busy deepening it's roots in the world's economy. They were everywhere ...from McDonalds to Nescafe , from Nestle to Intel. There was no place where Israel didn't have a stake .....and the Entire world was helping Israel and was in it's clutches. The Muslim Ummah did not exist and could do nothing about it .

Years went by. The Oil dried out . The Shia-Sunni conflict devastated Muslims. Wars and battles ravaged in every Muslim country. There was hunger, disease and famine everywhere. The Wars had taken their tolls on every one. The world had become polarized with Muslim countries scattered at one end and Non-Muslim countries grouped at the other end. Israel was leading the Non-Muslims as not taking a side was not an option. No one could say no to Israel due to it's military and economic might.

Muslims did not have any leader. Yet.

In this absolute darkness , Muslims started turning to Allah like they never had. The hardships made them realize how valuable their Faith was. They stopped taking Islam for granted and started to go into it's details. They dusted the Quran and opened it. They started returning to whatever Mosques were left. They began to repent with tears. They began to mend their ways. They seeked the past that they had lost.

Then slowly, very very slowly, the tide began to turn. No one could tell from which direction the Divine intervention came. It was very gradual and barely perceptible. But it was out there . It was in the attitude of one Muslim towards another Muslim. It was a changed attitude towards life. It was a renewed focus on Quran and Sunnah.

And it was then that Allah fulfilled His promise and sent help in a way which was utterly "Fantastic"

The Silver Lining ...

We , as Muslims in general and Pakistanis in particular , have become very pessimistic. Yes, it is very easy to say "do not lose hope" when you're sitting in a comfortable lounge . It is easy to talk about positive things when you are getting electricity ( even if it's due to a UPS) , when you don't have to worry about water, gas and other basic amenities.

But having all the facilities readily available makes us forget how valuable these things really are and we start complaining at the drop of a hat. We have started to mix up "reality" with "doomsday". We come up with the most negative scenarios imaginable . Yes, I totally agree that things are not good at all. But can we honestly say that we are in a worse condition than the forefathers of Islam ? Are we even close to suffering the hardships they were facing ? There are a lot of Muslim countries , such as Afghanistan , Yemen, Egypt , Iraq and Palestine that are going through extremely tough situations . The Western media has done any an everything imaginable to promote these countries in a negative light . They have been promoted as oppressed countries , they have been promoted as having cruel dictators , they have been promoted as being terrorist states, for having WMDs, for stock piling chemical weapons , for trying to become nuclear states , for harboring extremists.

Please ask yourself , why is the West taking so much pains ? Why is so much being invested through media ? Why so much on wars against these countries? I mean, if Muslims really are that far gone and finished off, then why waste so much resources to crush them further ? We, the Muslims , buy any and everything the Western media sells us . We accept their dictation of Islam being a terrorist religion . We have fallen for their propaganda that Muslim women are "oppressed" and "subjugated". We have totally agreed to Islam being an intolerant religion . We have accepted words like "jihadist" , "Islamist" , "Islamic terrorist" and "fundamentalist" without questioning their rationale.

For example , do we even question that what "Islamist" even means ? What is the difference between "Muslim" and "Islamist" ? What do we mean by "Extremist" and at what stage one ceases to be a "Liberal" and starts becoming an "Extremist"? We have just accepted these words and terminologies because they have been repeated so many times that we have forgotten to question them. Anyone that does question is ridiculed and given insulting labels such as being "narrow minded" , "ignorant" or "conspiracy theorist".

We need to realize that despite being in such dire straits, Muslims are not history . Not yet. We have lost touch with our religion and our history and that is why we feel so insignificant and awed by any and everyone. We are putting too much faith in the wrong places. How many times we have begged for help from "International Community" , I have lost count , really ! How many times we have prayed to Allah with the complete faith that we show in others . It's shirk day in day out for us and yet we expect miracles from Him. We have more faith in our own abilities and mechanism than Lord of the Worlds. What does this say about us ?

If there is darkness anywhere , it is within and not around us. Obviously , the "International Community" would cash this opportunity as much as possible to cure their Islamophobia. Despite being scattered completely , Muslims do hold the "International Media" under awe . The West is more aware of the greatness of Islam that Muslims are. We need to see that greatness in ourselves that the West sees but would never acknowledge.

We need to stop being so mesmerized with the West. We need to realize that Muslims have an amazing history. We need to stop listening to people who taunt us of  "living in the past". Yes, we as Muslims, are VERY proud of our golden past . There is absolutely nothing wrong about reveling in the past and getting motivated from it. We have become too accustomed to thinking negatively. We are too willing to call ourselves failures. We have forgotten how Allah helped our forefathers in the bleakest of situations.

Please, do not lose hope . Do not day dream, either but do not lose hope so much so that you start doing shirk. We are living in a very bleak time but if everything was really that bad as the Media would want us to believe then we wouldn't even have access to any Media ! If someone is working so hard to control your thoughts then you are indeed a worthy opponent .

That is the silver lining. Just put your faith in the right place and see how that silver lining would give way to sunshine in it's own time.

The New World....

When we were kids , there used to be a world that appeared much simpler . There were these two big , huge countries USA and USSR that were touted to be "superpowers" . Then there were countries that seemed to be a world apart and would come up in news here and there , for different reasons , before they would disappear again. "Africa" was a poor country . "Saudi Arabia" was a Muslim country . "Afghanistan" was a barren country. "Malaysia" was a role model Muslim country."Palestine" was some far away country that I had associated with suicide bombers ( it was the first time I came across this term)."Vietnam" was a country where a lot of US soldiers had died in a war In short, each country had some sort of label which was supposed to be it's distinguishing feature. And the two "super powers" were on top of everything. Everything was rather simple looking.

But then , one of the countries decided that it wasn't good enough, really. And there could be only ONE boss to rule over the next of the world ...This tussle had been going on for quite a while between the two Big Ones. It had been going on ever since the First World War ended. It was known as The Cold War. It was a series of conflicts between two "bosses".

To cut a long story short , one of the "bosses" went down after a long struggle and left only one to act as the Big Brother. Now , this Big Brother had a spoilt Little Brother who called himself "The Chosen One". This "Chosen One" strongly believed that we was ultra special and that was something that matched with the Big Brother's thinking. Big Bro had pampered his sibling  a lot and in return, the sibling supported his Big Bro as much as possible.

Life was passing merrily along but Big wanted some change. After the collapse of the the USSR , Big needed someone else to kick around. And guess what he found all over the place ....Muslims....They were really breeding.....and Little had some serious issues with Muslims too. So, together, they came up with a plan. They called 911 . They made sure that from that point onward, Muslims were persecuted and attacked mercilessly. In the past, Big  and Little had been instrumental to fanning conflicts that killed Millions of Muslims. But that really wasn't enough as Muslims were in billions...

So we were introduced to another world , where Muslims were synonymous wit terrorists and hence punishable by death.

Now Big and Little were merrily killing and slaughtering Muslims and weren't bothering anyone else. But to their dismay , non Muslim countries started to question Big's Big Brother Rule too. A lot of these countries were not bothered with Little as they had no religious association with Little's geography. But they did have an issue with Big who had been trying to order them around a little too much. Countries like N.Korea and China really started to show "bad manners" to Big. They just wouldn't lick Big's shoes like so many other countries . Big was angry !. He started to scold the Non Muslim counties as well. But, since they were non Muslims , Big couldn't do much about it.

And to make matters worse , Big's arch enemy from The Cold War , Russia , also woke up! He started to expand. Big had been spying on people a lot , you see. And more than once , Big was caught with his pants down. Big also tried to portray Russia's re-emergence as a human rights crisis . Big portrayed China and N. Korea as oppressive. Big told the entire world that how bad he felt about the people being murdered in Israel ! He showed them pictures of smiling Israelis . He repeatedly promoted Islam as an oppressive religion. But it just seem to get people more and more curious about Islam !

While Big was busy with crusades , his own people were busy betraying it's secrets. Poor Big ! His closet kept flying open and skeletons kept falling out. Big was caught spying on a non Muslim country. Twice !!! So embarrassing. Everything was a mess. Big did have a $1 Billion stockpile in Little's backyard , just in case. But what to do with the fact the everyone was ticked off at US ? Big's biggest Cold War rival had promised 90% debt waiver to Cuba and also decided to open a Cold War listening post there . *Gasp*

Poor , Poor Big ! Things were unravelling so fast. But wait, Big still had his pet dog...Paks. Paks was forever wagging his tale for Master. But Paks was just an "ally" and Big was continually spying on Paks as well. It was no secret that Paks hated Little. So, Paks and Big had a forced relation ship. And Paks was forever being bitten by it's nasty neighbors. One of the neighbours was Big's biggest rival, Russia's , best chum . The other neighbour was Rassia's worst enemy ! And Pak touted to be Big's friend and Russia was Big's enemy too!

This was the glimpse of The New World. That is what we have come to ; from a simple narrative in the start to utter , total, complete Madness. ......

The "Fahashi" syndrome ...

I am the kind of person that is is pretty much unburdened by the material I share online. I am quite reserved and introverted in real life. However , online , I tip quite the other way. Maybe it is to make up for the lack of interaction in real life of maybe it is just due to the freedom that the internet offers , I am quite "vocal" on the internet forums , particularly Facebook and Google+ . I have subscribed to a lot of pages that are related to Science , History , Religion , Fitness ( will get to this one later on) , Models ( female models of course!) , Fictional characters etc etc.

I have the habit of exploring things. If I come across some intriguing bit of information , I would go on line and try to find out more about it. The topics that appeal to me are diverse and range from Cosmos , dinosaurs ,UFOs to the occult , history and religion . I have left no topic off limits as I happen to very inquisitive. Politics and sports are the only topics that hold no interest for me whatsoever , unless there is a hot looking female character involved.

Naturally , I share a lot of my interests online as well. I'll give you an example. I read an article once about "What is on the side of the moon that is forever hidden from us?" What , indeed? I mean , we see the moon every day, right ? So obviously the other side must be similar to the one that we see . Turns out , it is not ! It was quite mind blowing to read this . To think that after all those technological advances , we have only just begun to understand our nearest neighbor in the universe !

How I wish someone else would share the fascination I feel when I come across things like that! As it turns out , information like this holds no interest at all for the majority.

I wonder what would happen if I give a twist to this very phenomenon that makes it "controversial" . Pakistanis love controversies and the particularly respond to anything that has the overtures of  "fahaashi" . Maybe I should have put forward the question : Is the moon fahash ? or : Is it fahash to go for a walk in moonlit night ?

You see , from what I have observed , we are tuned towards "Fahaashi" . Our criteria for responding to anything is based on it's shock value. Fahaashi is something we respond to very well. People would not be awed by the fact that the Universe is 13.1 Billion years old or how incredibly massive it is , but they would immediately respond to the picture of a scantily clad fitness model. They might be offended or they might be thrilled . But it is not possible that they would be totally unaffected .

Why is that ? Obviously , no one is interested in the same stuff. If I am thrilled by animals that live outside volcano vents deep under surface of the ocean, I shouldn't expect everyone else to do so. But then . I wouldn't expect others to be so responsive to the explicit bits of information I dole out more than once in a while. It just does not fit. It shows that all you're flying an aeroplane that has only one meter, called  Fahashi Meter and you're blind to each and everything. In case of Pakistanis , there is the Siyaasat Meter as well , but that's about it.

Maybe that is the reason Muslims ruled for a thousand years. They had achieved a strong balance in their lives. Their very work was an extension to their daily Ibaadats. We , on the other hand, couldn't care less about the Universe around us . We couldn't care about anything , really unless is something controversial. Our senses are dead when it comes to exploring our surroundings. We only feed on "sectarianism" , "politics" and of course , "obscenity" and "immorality" . Who cares about the creations all around us , anyway ?

What's the point of diving beneath the seas and going into the depths of space ? Let's be very vigilant about the "fahaashi"  however , because this is something we can grasp with our feeble intellect and talk about until the cows return home.

I hope that, in the not distant future, the Muslims would be in a world that has much more than fahashi. For the time being , we are vegetables . We have only one lens through which we look at things . When the time comes when we have more lenses to look through , we really wouldn't have time to worry about obscenity and vulgarity as we would be too busy being awed by the dazzling universe Allah has created for us so that we may ponder over it "standing , sitting and lying" ; we would find our selves crying out from the depths of our heart that "O Allah ! verily you have not created anything without purpose." !!

The plight of Palestine ...

I do not know what the word "Palestine" means to most of the people out there. Sure , we do share a lot of Facebook pages highlighting their plight , we "Like" a lot of new articles and other such material on the subject published therein . But at the end of the day , all we do care about are our petty ambitions and interests. Palestine still remains a "far away" land for most of us . And till recently , a lot of us had no idea that The Dome of the Rock ( the golden dome) was not Masjid e Aqsa. This shows how strongly our minds have been conditioned to think by the mainstream Media.

Keeping in view the fact that how Palestine has been the flash point of 3 major religions , Christianity , Judaism and Islam , it is surprising that we know so little about it. To Jews , it was ( and still is) , "The Promised Land" and they have pulled out all stops to get it back. Be it aggressive media campaigning / propaganda or equally ruthless bombing of Palestinians , the Israelis are doing it all. What are us Muslims doing ? For starters , most of us are too willing to equate terrorism with Islam . "In the name of Islam" is a phrase that is too frequently used in the same breath with things like oppression , terrorism , female subjugation  and a horde of other things. Anyone who puts up an argument to defend religion is labelled "rigid" , "fundamentalist" or the all time popular , " conspiracy theorist".

Anyway , I digress. Back to the main topic . What can really be done about a country that is so far away and "exotic" ? Obviously, going over there is not an option unless you are working with a humanitarian organisation that is based there. A lot of people talk about boycotting Jewish products. While this might be possible for some of the items that are "luxuries" (such as McDonalds) , it isn't possible for items that are necessary ( such as Nestle`). And I do not think that even if we boycotted each and every product made by Jews , it could cause them much loss. There was a case of a product that was boycotted by a UK based humanitarian agency which caused the particular product substantial loss, but overall , I do not think it changed much.

No. There is something completely different that seems to be missing here. Jews most definitely won't be worried about whether we do or do not buy Pampers or Nestle`. The story is as old as the history of Islam itself. Jews have not accepted the fact that they are not "The Chosen ones" any more. Their hatred for Islam is as strong as it was more than 1400 years ago.

So what is missing here is the soul of Islam in side us. That sounds like such a cliche` and a very bland thing to say indeed. But does the truth really have to be that complex and elaborate? It doesn't , but we have complicated matters so that it would become easier to get away with more and more that is not allowed by Islam.

Palestinians have not compromised on their values , so they are being crushed by brute force while the mainstream media keeps us informed about casualties of "innocent Israelis" . We, on the other hand , have invented several brands of Islam that would suit our individual life styles.

So, it is not the geographical distances that have made us so insensitive to the plight of Palestinians .It is our distance from religion as well. Our priorities are all messed up. We know the shirt numbers of each player of each team in FIFA world cup , but we would be clueless about how many Muslims have been killed today ?

How do we address this situation ? Everyone is well aware of the problem , even though we may not be aware of the specifics and smaller details. I do not think this problem is going to be solved readily. If anything , it would escalate with time. Name one Muslim country that is not facing serious troubles. Pakistan is among the lucky ones so far to be not ravaged by war and conflicts like Palestine and other countries.

I do not believe there is going to be any solution until and unless we truly try to under stand our religion, Islam. Our understanding would be flawed, yes , and we would continue to stumble about in the dark like we are now. Palestinians are much better than most of us as they have a sense of identity , which we do not possess. Their sense of identity is costing them heavily ,but our lack of the same would cost us even more so if we do not do a reality check.

Palestinians realize too well that they are alone in their struggle . So are all the other Muslim countries that are struggling against various forms of oppression. The least we can do is; it open our eyes and differentiate between right and wrong ; it is a tall order since Muslims have thrust Islam aside and invented our own "rights" and "wrongs".

To cap it all ( if any one made it this far in the narrative) , start reconnecting with religion . And trust me , it pays off if you read Quran with translation even a little bit. I have done so and I suggest you do it too ; you will be surprised how reassuring Quran can be when you do  decide to pick it up !!!!

Hi....
I don't think I need to introduce myself as I would be very much better off with a blurred identity. I am a guy in his late 30s , an Engineer by profession and a lot of other things as well. It's these "other things" that have been prompting me to write a blog for a long time now.I love to read , love the smell of books and love coming across books that have not been "shortlisted" for any prize but are gems on their own. I watch a lot of movies and am a big fan of mystery and horror movies. Thanks to these, I have developed an extremely vivid imagination that can turn a shadow into the most macabre monster imaginable. I love to eat and this is something that has gone out of control ; I find myself "comfort eating" more often than not , which is not healthy at all. I am pretty much introverted although I do have 'bursts' of socialization which do not last very long. I feel exhausted after there bursts . I feel as if I have been doing something I am not just made for . Such encounters never leave me fulfilled the way books do . Even food seems to be more emotionally gratifying than people !

 There seem to be too many ideas going around my head, both wanted and unwanted , that I want to manage. Obviously, the unwanted ideas need to have a exit so the wanted ones can stay behind and turn into actions. If you look at my blogger id , Normanbate , you might have an vague idea as to why I have decided to write a blog !

The problem is , there seem to be little or no exit for these ideas. Take , for instance , my absolute fascination with ...hmmm....the Universe , wildlife , history , ancient civilizations as well the occult and obscure , to name a few. I am fascinated by a lot of things that other people seem least bothered about . That is quite distressing , really. I share a lot on Google+ and Facebook but it seems that the only things that seem to get any reaction from anyone are scantily clad bikini models. I could never figure out why we are not thrilled by the dazzling beauty of this Universe and are so easily "moved" by female  fitness models or other such 'objectionable' stuff.

This is my very first attempt at blogging. I have a lot to talk about but I am clueless as to how to organize my thoughts . So the blog would more like some sort of amorphous animal that would hopefully develop into some kind of structured life form !