Air

and will surely test you with the loss of lives. I'll try to be patient and I don't know for how long the image of you being lowered down in the grave will haunt me. I don't know for how long the image of you lying in your grave would haunt me. I don't know for how long the fact that I wasn't there would haunt me. My mind would provide a zillion justifications but heart would suffer. I don't know for how long, as this world can easily deceive one in thinking that we are here forever. In this imperfect world, it was not meant to be. I just have prayers. Just prayers of a sickened, guilty and sinful heart. Even in your death you have given me hope. How much more selfless you could be? You've whispered that it is all going to end soon. Just hang in there for a little while before we meet again. Most probably it is just the voice inside my head. The mind is just playing its old games, trying to numb me to lessen the pain. Why am I even writing this? It gives the same old putrid smell of self praise but I want to. It is my homage. It is my confession. 

Expelling ‘education’ from ‘higher’ education by Dr. Sabieh Anwar

A few excerpts from the article of Dr. Sabieh Anwar.

"The relationship between a teacher and a student has also changed from a spiritual guide and a disciple to that between a service provider and a client."

"imitative migration from the annual to semester system facilitates those who can score well and can keep up with the rapid pace of the semester; while the reflective, thoughtful individuals may be left behind"

"faculty promotion are quantitative and based on superficial metrics that can be easily gamed"

"The foremost element for the moral and cognitive development of students, especially graduate students, requires the teacher’s physical presence and intimate interaction. However, the overly regimented system has left little time in the teacher’s daily schedule to spend with students"

"Social media disrupts this silence time and again and converts solitude into a congregation. Information oozes out drop by drop from the vial of the internet; unable to quench the thirst of the soul"

داستان جاری ہے - ابو الحسن نغمی

آپ اس دنیا میں رہنے کے لائق نہیں ہیں. آپ تو سادھو بن  کر کسی جنگل میں دھونی رما  کر بقیہ زندگی گزار دیں 

What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

"The Harvard Study of Adult Development may be the longest study of adult life that's ever been done. For 75 years, we've tracked the lives of 724 men, year after year, asking about their work, their home lives, their health, and of course asking all along the way without knowing how their life stories were going to turn out.

So what have we learned? What are the lessons that come from the tens of thousands of pages of information that we've generated on these lives? Well, the lessons aren't about wealth or fame or working harder and harder. The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period."

Robert Waldinger: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

Stoikiy muzhik

Rudolf Abel: Standing there like that you reminded me of the man that used to come to our house when I was young. My father used to say: "watch this man", so I did, every time he came. And never once he do anything remarkable.

James Donovan: And I remind you of him?

Rudolf Abel: This one time, I was at the age of your son, our house is overrun by partisan boarder guards. Dozen of them. My father was beaten, my mother was beaten, and this man, my father's friend, he was beaten. And I watched this man. Every time they hit him, he stood back up again. Soldier hit him harder, still he got back to his feet. I think because of this they stopped the beating and let him live... "Stoikiy muzhik". Which sort of means like a "standing man"... Standing man...

And every time Donovan asked why Abel did not worry,

Rudolf Abel: Would it help?

Bridge of Spies (2015)

اچھی چاۓ کی خصوصیات

لبریز، لبدوذ، لبسوذ

Three Reasons to read Classical Muslim Philosophers - Ibrahim Kalin

Pythagoras said famously, we humans can love it (knowledge), not own it. Claiming to "own" true knowledge was seen as pure hubris. One can aspire to gain the knowledge of things, but do so only by acknowledging its transcendent roots.

 We have Ibn Sina's "Eastern/Oriental Wisdom" (al-hikmat al-mashriqiyyah), Suhrawardi's "The Wisdom of Illumination" (hikmat al-ishraq), and Mulla Sadra's "Transcendent Wisdom" (al-hikmat al-muta'aliyah). We also have Abu Bakr al-Razi's "philosophical life" (al-sirat al-falsafiyyah) that defines philosophy as a way of life.

There is much insight and wisdom to gather from the work of the traditional Muslim philosophers to develop a holistic view of the universe

Muslim philosophers confronted the lore of the pagan Greeks and produced a new philosophical outlook. Studying this history in earnest can help us overcome the Eurocentric view of history that has colored much of what we know about intellectual history.

Complete article here.

The Man Who Tried to Redeem the World with Logic by Amanda Gefter

Read here.

The Pursuit of Beauty (Yitang Zhang solves a pure-math mystery) By Alec Wilkinson

Read the complete article here.

“If you become a good calculus teacher, a school can become very dependent on you. You’re cheap and reliable, and there’s no reason to fire you. After you’ve done that a couple of years, you can do it on autopilot; you have a lot of free time to think, so long as you’re willing to live modestly. There are people who try to work nontenure jobs, of course, but usually they’re nuts and have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected. Clearly, Zhang never felt that.”

Confessions of a ‘cultural critic’ - Nadeem F. Paracha

Read complete article here!

"What became to be known as Political Islam is a recent phenomenon. It’s a 20th Century construct that turned faith into a political ideology. Politics is amoral, faith is not. How can the two be mixed?... 

The Muslim Holy Book is a moral guide. It’s not a political manifesto. It gives one pointers and advice on how to live a righteous life, how to use the intellect (aqal) to progress as a human being, as well as a society, and to also appreciate the creations of the Almighty through gaining knowledge about these surroundings... 

The problem in Pakistan, ever since the Zia years, has been that anyone who does not wear his or her faith on their sleeve, or for that matter, across their faces and on their heads, is automatically judged as being irreligious...

The Almighty is a perfect entity who created a fluent universe because an evolving universe encourages humans to use their intellect and intuition to advance as both rational and spiritual beings. Muslims were once very good at doing this... 

To revive this tradition we need a scientific, intellectual, artistic and spiritual revolution. Not a political one. Politics is inherently amoral... 

Jinnah was a pragmatist, adjusting his words according to his immediate surroundings. Jinnah should be accepted as a pragmatist who, today, would have addressed issues like extremist violence and acts of bigotry not as an ideologue, but as a pragmatic statesman who would know that such issues were retarding the country’s economic, cultural and political evolution"

Separation of religion and state

I am a strong believer in transcendental truth of Islam, which in my opinion, encompasses a holistic world-view involving socio-political and moral philosophies. However, in its current state, which is a product of its genetic complexities as well as various martial-laws, political misuse of religion, and complete hijacking of religious discourse by the so-called religious clerisy, Pakistan cannot even move forward towards a transcendental religious ideal which allows men and women to cherish diversity and transform society towards some kind of a moral vision derived from Quran and Sunnah, rather than secular liberal values. 

I believe in the power of narrative and the liberty of each individual to extend his or her narrative into the society. I don't think such a liberty is possible unless we pragmatically move towards state's disengagement with religion, thereby disallowing religion to be misused for political concerns

(Aasem Bakshi)  

سلیم احمد - مشرق

بات مشرق و مغرب کی ہو رہی تھی تو پیشِ خدمت ہے سلیم احمد کی طویل نظم ’مشرق‘ کا ایک چھوٹا سا ٹکڑا رِ سیاہ‘ ۔ یقیناً ایک ایسا ہولناک اور عبرت انگیز مرقع جس کی نظیر اردو شاعری میں شاید ہی مل سکے۔ اہل  نظر اور شعری استعاروں سے شغف رکھنے والے دوستوں کی خدمت میں۔

  (عاصم بخشی) 

                                                                                       

     پالتی مار کے اک سمت ہے وحشت بیٹھی

    منہ پھلائے ہوئے اک سمت عداوت بیٹھی

بغض اک کونے میں بیٹھا ہے جگالی کے لئے

منہ بنائے ہے ہوس کاسئہ خالی کے لئے

آگ کھاتی ہے وہ اک سمت میں نفرت بیٹھی

رال ٹپکاتی ہے اک سمت شقاوت بیٹھی

جہل اک سمت میں کھاتا ہے وہ دانش کے کباب

کاسئہ سر میں اُدھر ظلم وہ پیتا ہے شراب

جام پر جام پلاتا ہے حسد کو کینہ

بے حیائی وہ دکھاتی ہے کمر اور سینہ

ران سہلاتی ہے عریانیِ فطرت اپنی

چھاتیاں ملتی ہے اک سمت وہ شہوت اپنی

ایک کونے میں نظر جس سے اِبا کرتی ہے

دنیاداری کسی کتے سے زنا کرتی ہے

اپنی فطرت کی دنائت پہ گواہی لے کر

زہر کے جام لنڈھاتی ہے جراہی لے کر

کفر وہ بیچ میں مسند پہ ڈٹا بیٹھا ہے

حاکمِ وقت کی مانند تنا بیٹھا ہے

سیر ہوتی نہیں اک ایسی طلب جاری ہے

جام گردش میں ہیں اور رقصِ طرب جاری ہے

غیرتیں ساز بجاتی ہیں دلوں میں رو کر

عصمتیں بھاؤ بتاتی ہیں برہنہ ہو کر

رقص میں جاں پہ شرافت کی عجب تنگی ہے

ضرب کوڑوں کی پڑی ہے سو کمر ننگی ہے

اشک آنکھوں میں سنبھلتا نہیں بہتا بھی نہیں

سر پہ عزت کے تقدس کا دوپٹا بھی نہیں

اور وہ اس کے مقابل میں عیاذاً باللہ

دیکھ کر جس کو تڑپتی ہے جراحت سے نگاہ

رحلِ تقدیر پہ قرآنِ جلی رکھا ہے

طشتِ زریں میں سرِ ابنِ علی رکھا ہے

French Muslim Philosopher Says Islam Has Given Birth To Monsters, Needs Reform

Read complete article here!

"Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Al-Nusra, AQIM, And The Islamic State Are Only The Most Visible Symptoms Of An Immense Diseased Body"

"Inability to establish sustainable democracies that recognize freedom of conscience vis-à-vis religious dogmas as a moral and political right; chronic difficulties in improving women's status...;  the inability to sufficiently free political power from its control by religious authority; and the inability to promote respectful, tolerant and genuine recognition of religious pluralism and religious minorities."

 "Particularly since the eighteenth century – it's past time you acknowledged it – you have been unable to meet the challenge of the West. You have childishly and embarrassingly sought refuge in the past, with the obscurantist Wahhabism regression that continues to wreak havoc almost everywhere within your borders – the Wahhabism that you spread from your holy places in Saudi Arabia like a cancer originating from your very heart. In other ways, you emulated the worst [aspects] of the West – with nationalism and a modernism that caricatures modernity. I refer here especially to the technological development, so inconsistent with the religious archaism, that makes your fabulously wealthy Gulf 'elite' mere willing victims of the global disease – the worship of the god Money" 

"What is admirable about you today, my friend? What do you still have that is worthy of the respect of the peoples and civilizations of the world? Where are your wise men? Have you still wisdom to offer the world? Where are your great men? Who is your Mandela, your Gandhi, your Aung San Suu Kyi? Where are your great thinkers whose books should be read worldwide, as they were when Arab or Persian mathematicians and philosophers were spoken of from India to Spain? You are actually so weakened behind [the mask of] self-confidence that you always display... You have no idea who you are or where you want to go, and it makes you as unhappy as you are aggressive... You persist in not listening to those who call on you to change by finally freeing yourself from the dominion that you have granted to religion over all [aspects of] life"

"How can a civilization so betray its own sacred text? I say that, in Islamic civilization, the time has come to institute this spiritual freedom – the most sublime and difficult of all [freedoms] – in place of all the laws invented by generations of theologians!"

 "Numerous voices that you refuse to hear are rising today in the ummah [Islamic nation] to denounce this authoritarian religion that cannot be questioned... Many believers have so internalized the culture of submission to tradition and to the 'masters of religion' (imams, muftis, sheikhs etc.) that they don't understand us when we talk to them about spiritual freedom or personal choice vis-à-vis the 'pillars' of Islam."

"You must reform [education] them according to [the following] universal principles – even if you are not the only one violating or disregarding [these principles]: freedom of conscience, democracy, tolerance, civil rights for [those of] all worldviews and beliefs, gender equality, women's emancipation from all male guardianship, and a culture of reflection and criticism of the religion in universities, literature, and the media." 

"As we say in French, 'He who loves well, punishes well' – and those who today are not tough enough with you, who want to make you a victim, are doing you no favors. I believe in you. I believe in your contribution to build the future of our planet, to create a world that is both humane and spiritual!

"Salaam, peace be upon you."" 

عنائیت جناب یدِ بیضا

قومیں نہ معاشرتی علوم سے بنتی هیں اور نہ خوابوں اور جهوٹی کہانیوں سے.....سچ کے ساته بهی مسلمان رها جا سکتا هے.... 

بدها کے مجسمے گرائے بغیر بهی اسلام کی خدمت کی جا سکتی هے....زید حامد اور حمید گل کے خوابوں کے بغیر بهی وطن کی خدمت کی جا سکتی هے.....میں نہ ڈالر کهاتا هوں اور نہ کسی ایجنڈے کا شکار هوں...میری اندر کی بے چینی مجهے سچ جاننے پر مجبور کرتی هے..اور سچ جاننے کے بعد بهی میں مسلمان هوں...میں پاکستانی هوں....بس میں نے عقیدت کے بت توڑ ڈالے هیں...میں مسلکی سپاهی بننے کے بجائے ایک مسلمان رهنا پسند کرتا هوں۔

Read complete article here.

Political Islam: An evolutionary history - Nadeem F. Paracha

Read full article here.

It is a 20th century construct and its first prominent expression is believed to be Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, formed in 1927

The rightist side produced tendencies such as ‘Islamic Fundamentalism,’ ‘Islamism’ and ‘Neo-Fundamentalism,’ while the leftist sides came up with ‘Islamic Socialism,’ ‘Ba’ath Socialism’ and ‘Arab Nationalism’/‘Arab Socialism’. Balanced at the centre was Muslim Nationalism. 

Bankrolling of the anti-Soviet ‘Jihad’ in Afghanistan by the US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the 1980s, also became a catalyst that triggered the shifting of political and social influence in many Muslim countries from left-leaning Political Islam to its rightist expressions. 

The ‘political roots’ of this tendency, however, lie in the 12th century, when after three hundred years of open debate in the Islamic world between traditionalists and rationalists (Mu’tazilites), influential Muslim thinkers such as Imam Ghazali insisted that a perfect synthesis (between the two) had been reached and that Islam’s social and spiritual philosophy had achieved completion. 

Incensed by the gradual crumbling of the Mughal and Ottoman empires, a series of reformist movements emerged, advocating ‘a return to true Islam’ which was said to be free of innovation and corruption. 

Pioneering Islamism scholars such as Egypt’s Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb, and South Asia’s Abul Ala Maududi, began interpreting the Quran and other Islamic texts through the prism of modern political concepts and lingo. Qutb suggested that a jihad was required in Muslim countries to grab state power and rid the Muslims from the ‘modern forces of jahiliyya’ (that to him were secularism, Marxism, nationalism and ‘Western materialism’). 

Forces attached to Islamism tried to rebound after the Cold War through the democratic process but they have struggled to initiate effective political and economic reforms mainly due to the fact that they end up creating polarisation and administrational chaos by trying to address solutions to non-religious issues with certain ill-defined religion-orientated alternatives and manoeuvres. They were (on the one end) accused of being apologists of violent Neo-Fundamentalists and of being lukewarm towards 'islamising' the society on the other. 

Unlike Islamic Fundamentalism, Neo-Fundamentalism (Islamism’s less intellectually inclined (and more brutal) cousin) looks to impose laws, morality and piety by force and through armed struggle (and through the creation of an ‘Islamic Emirate’). Apart from the Taleban, Roy also describes outfits such as Al Qaeda and various modern militant and sectarian groups that emerged in its wake as Neo-Fundamentalist (including the recent emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS). It is also devoid of the rich intellectual tradition associated with Islamism, settling instead for radical polemical literature that advocates violent action and an extremely narrow and polemical worldview. 

Islamic Socialism – an ideology that attempted to equate Quranic concepts of equality and charity with modern Socialist economics and (consequently) trigger a cultural, intellectual and political renaissance in the Muslim world – was adopted as ‘Arab Socialism’ and Ba’ath Socialism in Iraq, Syria and Egypt; where nationalist Muslim leaders fused Islamic notions of parity and justice with socialism and Arab nationalism. 

Though known for its usage of Islamic symbolism, Islamic Socialism was anti-clerical, socially liberal and mostly sympathetic towards communist powers – Soviet Union and China. Iranian thinker and activist Ali Shariati expressed revolutionary Islam through Marxist symbolism. He was assassinated in 1975 by the agents of the Shah of Iran.\ 

Islamic Socialism was vehemently attacked and criticised by conservative Muslim monarchies, as well as by those forces associated with Islamism. They accused Islamic Socialism of being a concoction constructed by ‘atheist powers’ (Soviet Union and China), and (according to Maududi) was the ‘Trojan horse used by anti-Islam forces and ideas to enter Muslim societies and politics.’ 

Many democratic political parties of the left and of the right and also authoritarian regimes in the Muslim world can be termed as having liberal views about Islam’s political role. These parties and regimes are highly suspicious of the clergy and repulsed by the political ambitions of Islamism and Neo-Fundamentalism. They encourage ijtihad in matters such as the understanding of the Quran and Shariah, and emphasise that Islam is best served through religious institutions instead of through the state and the government. They also believe faith to be a strictly private matter that should not be soiled by the amorality of politics.

The Problem With Moderate Islam and Why We Need to Redefine Radical - Sohaib Sultan

Read the complete article here.

The idea of a moderate Islam certainly sounds appealing. There is plenty in the Islamic sources and tradition that promotes the virtue of moderation and in praise of the middle way. The Qur’an describes the ideal Muslim community as one that pursues the “middle way” (2:143) and continuously insists on moderation in all spheres of life (7:31 and 25:67, for example). The Prophet Muhammad, in authenticated traditions, specifically warns his followers not to go to extremes in religion and corrected three men from his community who made vows of continuous fasting, night vigil, and celibacy — teaching them instead to follow a more moderate course even in their devotional commitments to God.

But, the problem with “moderate Islam” is two-fold: First, often it is invoked in a very imperialist way by the rich and powerful who just want Muslims to join their bandwagon and make no trouble. The imperialist trend insists that Muslims condemn Muslim fanaticism, but do nothing to oppose the extremist agenda of the military industrial complex that too often (mis)guides American foreign policy or the prison industrial complex, for example, that leads to too many abuses here at home. Second, it is arguably this “moderate Islam” attitude that has led to a quietism in the face of intolerable crimes as political Islam is left to the “radicals” and “extremists.” This type of Islam that is promoted, inside and outside the Muslim community, often insists that Muslims engage in social justice–but not at the risk of their careers or livelihoods–or that Muslims align themselves with the poor and weak in society, but without ever compromising their own personal comfort. In summary, “moderate Islam” has led to an Islam that is just too darn convenient for those who insist on maintaining the status quo. And, thus, “moderate Islam” has lost any capacity among the masses to lead a serious movement for change

 Perhaps, what we need to counter violent radicalism in the name of Islam is not a self-serving “moderate Islam,” but, rather, a counter-Islamic movement that is rooted in and insists on radical love — a radical love that uncompromisingly stands with the truth and with what is truly just; a radical love that urges reconciliation over revenge, peace over power, wisdom over war, asceticism over affluence, service over selfishness, compassion over callousness, and truth over tribalism. 

This radical love is the path that all of the great prophets and sages throughout history preached and practiced. When the Prophet Muhammad chose mercy instead of revenge against the people who stoned him in Taif, or when he chose to form a treaty with his enemies instead of perpetual war at Hudabiyyah, or when he chose to forgive his Meccan oppressors after conquering them — he showed us what radical love really looks like. Yet, when it came time to fighting oppressors and tyrants who insisted on harming innocents, the Prophet was courageous and did not shrink from protecting his people. On the battlefield, though, he constantly prayed that his enemies would change their ways and grieved over their state of affairs. This, too, was a bold example of radical love.

And the day has come when the living envy the dead...

Begin Again (2013)

From the same person who gave us "Once", another good movie. The pace was faster than Once which I liked since it does not let the thing drag. Songs weren't that good but still a good movie as compared to the mindless junk out there. Here is a good track from the movie. "Like a Fool".

P.S. IMDB ratings actually work, I think.

Islamic View on Dogs

Man’s Best Friend? The Islamic View on Dogs. http://t.co/40Nr24hHPF via @suhaibwebbsite
— Aasem Bakhshi (@aasembakhshi) October 11, 2014

Lucy (2014)

 

Humans consider themselves unique, so they've rooted their whole theory of existence on their uniqueness. "One" is their unit of "measure" — but its not. All social systems we've put into place are a mere sketch: "one plus one equals two", that's all we've learned, but one plus one has never equaled two — there are in fact no numbers and no letters, we've codified our existence to bring it down to human size, to make it comprehensible, we've created a scale so we can forget its unfathomable scale.