Imam Hussain (AS) and Karbala: a brief meditation

 Imam Hussain (AS) and Karbala: a brief meditation

"Every soul must taste of death, and We try you with evil and with good, for ordeal. And unto Us will ye be returned."  Qur'an (XXI: 35)

"The Truth (Haqq) left me with no friends."               Imam Ali (AS)

"The ugly is passing accident, while beauty is abiding substance." 

                                                                                           S. H. Nasr
"One word of Truth shall outweigh the world." 

                                                                      Alexander Solzhenitsyn. 

---------------------------------------------------------

Man is body, soul and Spirit.
He lives in time, but he is not of it, he is
a bridge between change and Permanence,
a barzakh between time and Eternity.
His life here is but a passing moment,
nothing more than the "breath of a buffalo",
like the falling petals of cherry blossoms,
whimsical change and cheerless transience.

We have a Center to which we are tied,
and which orients us.
We have a Source, an Origin from which we come,
and to which we must return.

The cursed, the vulgar, the heedless,
cling passionately to the dirt of this world.
Fractured souls, scattered creatures of nafs,
they lust after ugliness, and cherish the worst.

The Noble, the Sage, the Saint---the very symbols
of Truth, Beauty and Goodness--
are luminous beings who "die before dying", primordial seeds
that live on as heavenly flowers, fragrant, full of sweetness.

----------------------------

Satyan nasti paro dharmah

"There is no religion higher than the Truth (Haqq)."     

                                                 Maxim of the Maharajas of Benares

Illuminations # 7 (Urdu)

اندھیرا، اجالا

جدید انسان ہر چیز پر یقین رکھتا ہے لیکن ان میں سے کسی پر عمل نہیں کرتا۔

 (عیسیٰ نورالدین)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

آپ کسی بھی حقیقی معنوں میں تب ہی مہذب ہیں جب آپ جدید جاہلیت جسے اکثر جدیدیت کا پروپیگنڈا کرنے والے تہذیب کا نام دیتے ہیں، کو تباہ کرنے کے لیے جوبھی تعلیمی، ثقافتی، تہذیبی اور روحانی کوشش کر سکتے ہیں کریں ۔ یعنی جہاد۔ طالبان یا داعش کا جدید مغرب سے مستعار لیا ہوا جعلی جہاد نہیں بلکہ الغزالی ، سہروردی ، رازی، ابن عربی اور ملا صدرہ کا روایتی اور مذہبی جہاد ۔ جدید دنیا، اس کا سیکولر تعلیمی نظام اور اس کے مکمل طور پر دنیاوی اور ناپاک ثقافتی اصول و رواج جن چیزوں کو ہمارے لئے گہوارہ سے قبر تک تہذیب، ترقی اور انسانی اقدار میں تطہیر اور نفاست کے طور پر پیش کرتا ہے حقیقت میں وہ پوری انسانی تاریخ کی بدترین قسم کی بربریت کے سوا کچھ نہیں۔

------------------------------------------------------------------------

جلوہ خلوہ کا عکس ہے۔ ہم جو جلوے میں ہیں اس کا انحصار اس بات پر ہے کہ ہم اپنے خلوے میں کیا کرتے ہیں اور کیا سوچتے ہیں۔ ظاہر ہمیشہ با طن کی عکاسی کرتا ہے۔ انسان کتنی ہی کوشش کر لے، چھپ نہیں سکتا۔ اگر ہم اپنی تنہائی میں خدا سے نہیں ڈریں گے، تو ہم اس دنیا کے تمام آقا وں، فرعونوں اورجھوٹے خداؤں سے ڈریں گے اور ان ہی کی عبادت کریں گے۔ یہ ایک ظالم کی بھی نشانی ہے، جو بنیادی طور پر بزدل ہوتا ہے۔ تمام پرانی مقدس کتابیں اور کہاوتیں ہمیں بتاتی ہیں کہ خدا کا خوف حکمت کے حصول کی طرف پہلا قدم ہے۔ اگر آپ اپنے انتہائی نجی اور ذاتی لمحات میں اپنی فطرت ، وجود اور کائنات کے اسرار کے بارے میں غور و فکر نہیں کرتے ہیں، تو آپ کی اندرونی تباہی یقینی ہے، اگرچہ باہر سے آپ دنیا کی نظروں میں سب سے کامیاب اور کامل انسان ہی کیوں نہ دکھائی دیتے ہوں ـ اور جب انسان کو اندرونی یعنی روحانی طورپر نقصان پہنچتا ہے تو پھر وہ جانوروں کے سب سے نچلے طبقے سے بھی بدتر ہو جاتا ہے۔ یہی سب کچھ پاکستان جیسے ملک میں گزشتہ چند دہائیوں میں، خاص طور پر پچھلے ایک یا دو سالوں میں ہوا ہے۔ پاکستان کے بے شرم اور بے غیرت مجرم حکمران طبقات جن میں سے اکثریت کا تعلق صوبہ پنجاب سے ہے ایک شودر مافیا ہے جوبنیادی طور پر انسان نما غیر انسانی مخلوق ہیں جن کا باطن مکمل طور پر مسخ اور بوسیدہ ہوچکا ہے۔ اس بوسیدہ ، بدبودار اندرونی زخم کا عکس پاکستانی معاشرے میں ہر جگہ واضح طور پر نظر آتا ہے۔

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ہم ایک ایسے دور میں جی رہے ہیں جہاں محض سہولت کے نام پر ہر چیز کو بغیر سوچے سمجھے فوراً اپنا لیا جاتا ہے اور بالکل جائز سمجھا جاتا ہے۔ ہر دوسری قدر کو، خواہ وہ اخلاقی، جمالیاتی، فکری یا روحانی ہو، فوری طور پر نظر انداز اور رد کر دیا جاتا ہے۔ سہولت اور صرف سہولت ہی وہ واحد عنصر ہے جو ان دنوں زیادہ تر لوگوں کے لیے اہمیت رکھتا ہے۔ سہولت اب ایک نئے مذہب کی طرح ہے جس کے فالوورز (پیروکار) میں روز بروز تیزی سے اضافہ ہو رہا ہے۔ اس نئے فرقے کے اصول حسب ذیل ہیں:عیش وعشرت خواہ  کسی بھی قیمت پر حاصل ہو، خود غرضی اور مصلحت پسندی، ہر چیز میں کم نظری اور جلد بازی، ہر نئے سماجی رجحان اور فکری فیشن کے لیے پروگرام شدہ ردعمل، بالکل پاولووین کتوں کے جبلی ردعمل کی طرح ، علمی، فنی اور روحانی ہر چیز میں ادنیٰ ترین معیار کو دلچسپی سے اپنانا اور پھر اس پر فخر محسوس کرنا، ہر اس چیز کے لیے شدید ناپسندیدگی، حتیٰ کہ نفرت بھی، جس کے لیے فکری اور اخلاقی کوشش کی ضرورت ہوتی ہےاور جس کے بغیر ہم اپنے آپ کو انسان کہلانے کے حقدار نہیں ہیں ، مسابقتی دشمنی، حسد، لالچ، اور مادی چیزوں کو ذخیرہ کرنے کی لت ۔ سہولت کا یہ فرقہ جو بے لگام ہیڈونزم یعنی خود تسکینی کو فروغ دیتا ہے اس کا سوشل میڈیا کی ڈیجیٹل کائنات میں بہترین مشاہدہ کیا جا سکتا ہے۔ منافقانہ بیان بازی اور ڈھونگ ایک طرف، اس نئے فرقے کا ایک اور بنیادی اصول مکمل کفر ہے یعنی کسی مستقل یا ابدی خیال سے وابستگی سے مکمل انکار۔ اس کا حتمی، بنیادی اصول، اس کی توحید، ہر موسم کے ساتھ بدلتی رہتی ہے، جیسے موسمِ گرما میں گزرتے بادل ۔

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

اس جدید دور میں، ہم جمالیات اور خوبصورتی کے جنون میں مبتلا ہیں۔ اس کی بنیادی وجہ یہ ہے کہ ہم نے بہت زیادہ بدصورتی پیدا کر دی ہے۔ ہماری پیدا کردہ بدصورتی ہمیں ہر جگہ گھیرے ہوئے ہے۔ روایتی، ماقبل جدید دنیا میں، فن اور فنکار کا تعلق سب سے پہلے سچائی (حق) سے تھا نہ کہ جمالیات سے۔ روایتی فنکار ہمیشہ جانتا تھا کہ جو سچ (حق) ہے بنیادی طور پر اورلازماً خوبصورت بھی ہے۔ ’’خوبصورتی سچائی (حق) کی شان ہے‘‘ جیسا کہ عظیم افلاطون نے کہا ہے۔ جدید بدصورتی، جسے اکثر خوبصورتی کے طور پر پیش کیا جاتا ہے اور اس کی تعریف کی جاتی ہے، حق کی تلاش اور اس پر عمل کرنے کو ترک کرنے کا نتیجہ ہے۔

-----------------------------------------------------------------

بدھ مت کے پیروکار کہتے ہیں کہ آپ وہی بن جاتے ہیں جو آپ سوچتے ہیں یا جو آپ سوچتے ہیں، آپ وہ بن جاتے ہیں۔ لہذا، اپنے سر کا اچھی طرح سے خیال رکھیں۔ ہندوؤں کی پرانی مقدس کتاب اپنشد اس سچائی کی تصدیق کرتی ہے۔ نیز، بھگواد گیتا کے مطابق جس نے دماغ کو فتح کر لیا، اس کے لیے دماغ بہترین دوست ہے۔ لیکن جو ایسا کرنے میں ناکام رہا ہے، اس کا دماغ ہی اس کا سب سے بڑا دشمن ہوگا۔ یہی بات اسلام کے عظیم ترین بزرگوں میں سے ایک مولانا جلال الدین رومی نے بھی کہی ہے۔

The System: The Guardians

TGB: Man and Nature (Urdu)

حق، خیر، جمال  

خدا کے گھر کے ایک سے زیادہ دروازے ہیں۔  (عیسیٰ نورالدین)

کچھ لوگ قصوروار ہیں لیکن ہم سب ذمہ دار ہیں۔  (ربی ابراہیم جوشوا)

انسان جانتا ہے کہ اسے مرنا ہے، جبکہ جانور نہیں جانتے۔ موت کا یہ علم انسان کے لافانی ہونے کا ثبوت ہے۔ چونکہ انسان لافانی ہے، اس کی صلاحیتیں اسے اس قابل بناتی ہیں کہ وہ اپنی دنیاوی ناپائیداری کا ادراک کر سکے۔ (عیسیٰ نورالدین)

باہر سے کوئی بھی شخص ہماری باطنی دنیا پر حکومت نہیں کر سکتا چاہے وہ کچھ بھی کرے یا کتنی ہی کوشش کرے۔ جب ہمیں اس حقیقت کا علم ہو جاتا ہے تو ہم حقیقی معنوں میں آزاد ہو جاتے ہیں۔   (گوتم بدھ)

یہ وہم کی طاقت ہے جو ہمیں گمراہ کرتی ہے۔ (افلاطون)

جب آنکھ دنیا کی محبت میں مبتلا ہو جاتی ہے تو دل کی بینائی بجھ جاتی ہے۔ (ابراہیم بن ادھم)

ایک سے زیادہ بار دہرائی جانے والی غلطی ایک شعوری فیصلہ ہے۔ (پاؤلو کوئلہو)

خوشی ایک تتلی کی طرح ہے جس کا تعاقب کیا جائے تو وہ ہمیشہ ہماری گرفت سے باہر رہتی ہے لیکن اگر آپ خاموشی سے بیٹھیں گے تو وہ آپ کے کندھے پر آکر بیٹھ جائے گی۔ (نتھینیل ہتھورن)

لوگ خوبصورت رنگین شیشے کی کھڑکیوں کی طرح ہوتے ہیں۔ جب سورج نکلتا ہے تو وہ چمکتے دمکتے ہیں، لیکن جب سورج غروب ہوتا ہے تو ان کی اصل خوبصورتی تب ہی ظاہر ہوتی ہے جب روشنی اندر سے ہو۔ (الزبتھ کوبلر راس)

جہالت ایسے راکشسوں کو پیدا کرتی ہے جو روح کے ان خالی جگہوں کو بھر دیتے ہیں جو علم کی حقیقتوں سے کبھی آشنا نہیں ہوئے تھے۔   (ہوریس مان)

درد کے دیس میں ہم سب اکیلے ہیں۔ (مئی سارٹن)

مذہبی انسان نجات پانے کے لیے پیدا ہوا ہے۔ نفسیاتی انسان خوش رہنے ، یعنی تفریح ​​اور دل لگی کرنے کے لئے پیدا ہوتا ہے۔ (وولف گینگ اسمتھ)

اس تاریک مابعد جدید، مابعد حقیقی دور میں، مغرب کا غیر مغربی دنیا کے ساتھ تعلق بنیادی طور پر شیطانیت کا مسئلہ ہے۔ اس حقیقت کو مغرب اور غیر مغرب کے باخبر مفکرین نے بالعموم قبول کیا ہے۔ (آشیس نندی)

جہاں انیسویں صدی کی مادیت نے ہر وہ چیز جو اعلیٰ، روحانی اور ماورائی تھی انسان کے ذہن کے لیے ناقابل رسائی بنا دی تھی، وہیں بیسویں صدی کی نفسیات نے نفس کے جہنم کے تمام دروازے کھول دیے۔ جدید انسان ایک جہتی، خالصتاً نفسیاتی وجود کے سوا کچھ نہیں ہے۔ (عبدالواحد یحییٰ)

ایک جدید سیکولر دانشور وہ شخص ہوتا ہے جس نے زیادہ تعلیم حاصل کی ہو لیکن جس کی ذہانت اس کی تعلیم سے کم ہو۔ (آرتھر سی کلارک)

آخری درخت کے کٹنے کے بعد، آخری دریا کے آلودہ ہونے کے بعد، آخری مچھلی کے پکڑے جانے کے بعد، تب ہی آپ کو احساس ہوگا کہ پیسہ کافی نہیں ہے، صرف پیسہ ہی زندگی کا واحد مقصد نہیں ہے۔ امید ہے کہ آپ آخرکار سمجھ جائیں گے کہ پیسہ زندگی کے اس قیمتی تحفے کو برقرار نہیں رکھ سکتا، وہ تحفہ جو خدا نے ہم سب کو، انسانوں اور دیگر تمام مخلوقات کو دیا ہے۔ (شمالی امریکہ میں سفید فام استعمار کے نام ایک کری ریڈ انڈین چیف کا پیغام)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

مابعد جدید ٹرانس ہیومینزم کا نیا زہریلا نظریہ بلند آواز سے یہ اعلان کرتا ہے کہ انسان نہ عبد ہے اور نہ خلیفہ، بلکہ خدا ہے (نعوذ باللہ) ۔ اور ہاں، یہ انیسویں صدی کے اس خبطی شخص فریڈرک نطشے کے پرانے نعرے کا تازہ ترین لیکن کسی حد تک مسخ شدہ ورژن ہے۔

اکیسویں صدی میں ہماری یہ دنیا اپنی تمام بدصورتیوں، اپنی تمام تر سماجی بدحالیوں، ماحولیاتی آفات اور اخلاقی انحطاط کے ساتھ درحقیقت جدید "شعور" کے ایک پروجیکشن کے سوا کچھ نہیں ہے۔ جیسے اندر، ویسے ہی باہر۔ جدید انسان نے اس دنیا کواپنی شبیہ کے مطابق بنایا ہے۔ ہم اسے اور اس کی شاندار "تہذیب" کو مبارکباد پیش کرتے ہیں!

------------------------------------------

اس بلاگ کے تمام قارئین کو عید مبارک۔       (درویش علی)

For more, click:

Bumper Stickers

Illuminations #6 (Urdu)

"The light shineth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not."

----------------------------

"Two men are in me: one wants what God wants; The other, what the world wants, the devil, and death."                          Angelius Silesius

اندھیرا اجالا 

 

آپ کی بیماری آپ سے ہے، لیکن آپ کو اس کا احساس نہیں ہے۔ آپ کا علاج آپ کے اندر ہے، لیکن آپ کو اس کا احساس نہیں ہے۔ آپ فرض کرتے ہیں کہ آپ ایک چھوٹی ہستی ہیں، جب کہ آپ کے اندر پوری کائنات سمٹی ہوئی ہے۔ بے شک تم ہی وہ روشن کتاب ہو جس کے حروف تہجی سے تمام پوشیدہ اسرار کھل جاتے ہیں۔ لہذا، آپ کو اپنے آپ سے باہر دیکھنے کی ضرورت نہیں ہے. آپ جس چیز کو تلاش کر رہے ہیں وہ آپ کے اندر ہے، اگر آپ غور کریں۔  (امام علی ابن ابی طالب علیہ السلام)

"گناہ وہ غلطیاں ہیں جو عمل میں لائی جاتی ہیں۔" (عیسیٰ نورالدین)

جب انسان نے آسمانی اقدار کو رد یا کھو دیا تو وہ وقت کا شکار ہو گیا۔ وقت وہ زوال ہے جو ہمیں ہمارے اصل وجود سے دور لے جاتا ہے۔ (عیسیٰ نورالدین)

"ہم اپنی زندگی کیسے گزاریں گے اس کے بارے میں ہمارا فیصلہ اس بات پر منحصر ہوگا کہ ہم کس چیز کو حقیقی سمجھتے ہیں، یا ہم کن تجربات کو حقیقی سمجھتے ہیں۔" (مارٹی گلاس)

اصل خطرہ یہ نہیں ہے کہ مشینیں ہم جیسی ہو جائیں گی۔ اصل خطرہ یہ ہے کہ ہم اپنی مشینوں کی طرح ہو جائیں گے۔ (اسٹینلے کبرک)

"خدا کے بغیر، سب کچھ جائز ہے، اگر کوئی خدا نہیں ہے، تو میں خدا ہوں."

 (فیودور دوستوفسکی ، اس کی کتاب میں ایک کردار)

"ایک ملحد جو اپنے عقلی مذہب سے گہری وابستگی رکھتا ہے وہ کنویں کی تہہ میں رہنے والے مینڈک کی طرح ہے، یہ مینڈک پہاڑوں کے وجود سے انکاری ہے، یہ واقعی ایک قسم کی منطق اور عقلیت ہے، لیکن  اس کا حقیقت سے کوئی تعلق نہیں۔ "  (عیسیٰ نورالدین)

اگر آپ کوشش کرتے ہیں اور صحیح طریقے سے دیکھنا سیکھتے ہیں، تو کبھی کبھی آپ کو عجیب جگہوں پر روشنی دکھائی دیتی ہے۔ (جیری گارسیا)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

ایک پرانی عرفانی حکمت ہے جو ہمیں بتاتی ہے۔

"جب چیزیں حقیقی ہوتی ہیں تو ان کا کوئی نام نہیں ہوتا۔ لیکن جب وہ حقیقی نہیں رہتے تو پھر ان کو کئی نام مل جاتے ہیں۔"

احسان اور سخاوت کا ہر عمل اس وقت باطل ہو جاتا ہے جب اس کی تشہیر کی جاتی ہے اور یہ منافقت کا ایک سنگین فعل بن جاتا ہے۔ منافقت اور خود پرستی. شرک-

پاکستان میں منظم منافقت کے اس مکروہ عمل کو اس جالندری یزیدی خنزیر ضیاء الحق نے ملک کے بیمار اورکرم خوردہ کلچر کا حصہ بنا یا۔

ہر عمل اب ڈرامہ بازی لگتا ہے۔ ہر احسان درحقیقت نقاب پہنے ہوئے ظلم ہے۔ سخاوت کا ہر عمل خود غرضی اور خود پرستی اور خود کو فروغ دینے کے برے عمل کے سوا کچھ نہیں ہے۔ لوگ اب ہر چیز کے بارے میں مکمل طور پر مشکوک ہو چکے ہیں

پرانے زمانے میں لوگ فطری طور پر اچھائی ، نیکی اور حق پر یقین اور برائی پر شک کرتے تھے کہ کوئی چیز بری ہے یا نہیں، کوئی برا ہے یا نہیں۔ اعتماد کی کوئی کمی نہیں تھی۔ ہر ایک کو دوسرے لوگوں پر بہت اعتماد تھا۔ لوگوں کو دوسروں کے کاموں اور ان کی باتوں پر بھروسہ تھا اور لوگ بغیر کسی معقول وجہ کے دوسروں پر شک نہیں کرتے تھے۔ اب ثبوت کا بوجھ نیکی اور حق کے کندھوں پر ہے۔ جب تک کوئی بھی شخص یا کوئی چیز , بات یا عمل اچھا اور صحیح ثابت نہ ہو جائے ہر کوئی ہر چیز کو فطری طور پر برا سمجھتا ہے۔ ہر چیز اور ہر ایک کے بارے میں شکوک و شبہات کرنا ایک فطری عمل بن گیا ہے، جب کہ بھروسہ ایک نایاب چیز بن گئی ہے۔

----------------------------------------------------------------------

جاہلیت کا نیا مابعد جدید دور جس میں اب ہم سب جی رہے ہیں بنیادی طور پر تین چیزوں سے ناواقف ہونے پر مشتمل ہے: اول یہ کہ یہ نہیں جانتا کہ خدا کون ہے۔ دوسری بات، یہ نہیں جانتا کہ انسان کیا اور کون ہے اور، تیسری، یہ نہیں جانتا کہ زندگی کیا ہے.

مابعد جدیدیت کا یہ تاریک دور حقیقت میں تنہائی اور بوریت کا دور ہے۔  یہ تمام روایتی انسانی خوبیوں کو آلودہ کرتا ہے اور بالآخر انہیں تباہ کر دیتا ہے اور انسانی تعلقات کو ایک کاروبار کی طرح خالصتاً دنیاوی فائدے اور نقصان کے ایک میکانی اور غیر نامیاتی , یعنی بے جان اور غیر انسانی نظام میں  تبدیل کر دیتا ہے۔

چونکہ یہ ایک فرد کی زندگی سے تمام ضروری معنی خارج کردیتا ہے، اس لیے یہ ہر ایک کو اندرونی طور پر،  یعنی نفسیاتی اور روحانی طور پر کمزور اور بے بس کر دیتا ہے۔ اس روحانی بیماری کے زیر اثر ہر کوئی اجنبی کی طرح ہو جاتا ہے۔ لوگ لوگوں کے ساتھ  رہتے ہیں لیکن سب اکیلے ہیں۔ ہر جگہ بالکل تنہا اور قابل رحم غمگین لوگوں کا ہجوم لگتا ہے جیسا کہ ایک امریکی ماہر عمرانیات رابرٹ پٹنم نے لکھا ہے۔

 جب ان اجنبی اور تنہا لوگوں پر آفت آتی ہے تو ان کے پاس کوئی حقیقی اور حساس انسانی نیٹ ورک نہیں ہوتا ہے۔

اس طرح کے غیر انسانی معاشرے میں یہ تنہا اور اجنبی لوگ ایک دوسرے کے ساتھ اسی طرح تعلق رکھتے ہیں جس طرح ایک کسبی اپنے گاہکوں سے تعلق رکھتی ہے۔ یہ قابل رحم گاہک پیسے کے بدلے کئی طرح کی سماجی کسبیوں میں مسلسل اس گمشدہ سکون، کھوئی ہوئی محبت اور کھوئے ہوئے معنی کی تلاش میں  رہتے ہیں --  وہ سکون، وہ محبت اور وہ معنی جسے جدیدیت اور اس کے عصری مظہر مابعد جدیدیت نے تباہ کر دیا ہے۔

یہ کسبی اب ہمارے چاروں طرف ہیں۔ وہ ہر جگہ ہیں۔ وہ مختلف شکلوں میں آتے ہیں اور زندگی کے مختلف شعبوں میں ماہر ہونے کا دعویٰ کرتے ہیں۔ وہ گدھ اور مردہ گوشت کھانے والے جانور کی طرح ہیں، ہمیشہ کمزوروں، سادہ لوحوں یا ان لوگوں کا شکار کرتے ہیں جنہیں آسانی سے دھوکہ دیا جا سکتا یا بے وقوف بنایا جا سکتا ہو۔

یہ کسبی کبھی کبھی مذہبی نقاب پہنتے ہیں اوراپنے عقیدے کی محبّت اور تحفظ کی آڑ میں اس کے خلاف بدترین گستاخیاں کرتے ہیں۔

وہ بعض اوقات "موٹیویشنل سپیکرز" کے روپ میں نمودار ہوتے ہیں اور اپنے مکروہ اورمنافقانہ ہتھکنڈوں سے لوگوں کو لوٹتے ہیں۔

وہ خاکی وردی اور فوجی بوٹوں میں بھی نظر آتے ہیں۔ یہ دجالی خنزیرروں کا ٹولہ قومی سلامتی اور تحفظ کا وعدہ کرتے ہیں لیکن درحقیقت یہ خون چوسنے والے جرائم پیشہ مافیاز ہیں جو معاشرے کے پورے نظام پرایک دیو ہیکل زہریلے آکٹوپس کی طرح قابض ہیں۔

--------------------------------------------------------

جدیدیت اور مابعد جدیدیت کے شدید اور بے رحمانہ حملے کی زد میں روایتی معاشروں میں ثقافتی طور پر جڑ سے اکھڑے  ہوۓ اور روحانی طور پر پسماندہ اور مکمل طور پر منحرف نوجوانوں کے لیے ایک بروقت اور اہم سوال۔

پیارے دوست، آپ کیسے جان سکتے ہیں کہ آپ نے کیا کھو دیا ہے؟ جو آپ نے نہیں دیکھا، جس کا تجربہ نہیں کیا، آپ اس کے نقصان کو کیسے محسوس اور سمجھ سکتے ہیں؟ جدید تعلیمی نظام اور جدید ثقافت آپ کو منظم طریقے سے جس چیز کو فرسودہ سمجھنا اورمکمل طور پر فراموش کرنا سکھاتی ہے، آپ اس کے نقصان کو کیسے سمجھ سکتے ہیں , اس کے نقصان کو کیسے محسوس کر سکتے ہیں؟ 

آخرکار ہم فریب اور جہالت کے ایسے تاریک دور میں رہتے ہیں کہ ہم میں سے بہترین شخص بھی اپنی فکری، اخلاقی اور روحانی صلاحیتوں سے محروم ہونے کے لیے بہت آسانی سے دھوکہ کھا سکتا ہے۔

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

آج کل لوگ اکثر اپنی بیویوں، بہنوں، بچوں، ماؤں کے کلپس انٹرنیٹ یا سوشل میڈیا پرپوسٹ کرتے ہیں۔ ان ویڈیو کلپس میں انہیں اپنی ان خواتین رشتہ داروں کے ساتھ عجیب و غریب حرکتیں کرتے دیکھا جا سکتا ہے۔ سب سے زیادہ احمقانہ، سب سے زیادہ نمائشی اور سب سے زیادہ فحش کلپس سب سے زیادہ ملین ویوزاورلائکس حاصل کرتے ہیں۔ مابعد حقیقت دنیا کا ورچوئل جہنم ایک بہت بڑا، بے ہودہ چڑیا گھر ہے جس میں ان غیرانسانی مخلوقات کو دنیا کے دیکھنے کے لیے رکھا جاتا ہے، اور تماشائیوں کوان بے ہودہ مخلوقات کو دیکھ کر لطف اندوز ہونے کے بعد، انہیں ان جانوروں کی نقل کرنے کی ترغیب دی جاتی ہے۔ یہ تمام درندے جو صرف شکل و صورت سے انسان لگتے ہیں اورایسا لگتا ہیں کہ ان میں تمام انسانی صفتوں کا مکمّل  طورپرخاتمہ ہو چکا ہے مسلسل "میمز" بنانے اور"مزے" کرنے میں مصروف رہتے ہیں!

----------------------------------------------------------- 

ہمارا تاریک دور: آپ کو کبھی نہیں بھولنا چاہیے کہ آپ یا تو روحانی جنگجو ہیں یا بت پرست مشرک۔

Illuminations #5

Illuminations #2

Illuminations #1

The System: Inversion

On Belief

The Post-Real World

The Post-real world as Hell

 The Post-real world as HELL

"Nothing impels thee like illusion"                                Ibn e Attaullah

"You can’t tell if a machine has gotten smarter or if you’ve just lowered your own standards of intelligence to such a degree that the machine seems smart. If you can have a conversation with a simulated person presented by an AI program, can you tell how far you’ve let your sense of personhood degrade in order to make the illusion work for you?"  

                              Jarod Lanier, You are not a gadget: A Manifesto

“In these times a spiritual path is an ark. The great task is to make the flood visible.”

"Our decision about how we shall live our lives will depend upon what we regard or experience as real."
                                         Marty Glass (Yuga, An anatomy of our fate)

“It is the power of appearance that leads us astray.” 

                                                                      Plato (Protagoras, 356D)

We live in a world where everything that is not easily accessible to our lower animalistic self (nafs e ammara) is readily rejected. If it is not "convenient" and "practical", if it does not “pay”, does not satiate our carnal appetites, or if it comes in the way of our comforts and passional cravings, it does not exist, or is even deemed outright evil. The modern masturbatory lifestyle of instant and constant gratification, of limitless acquisitiveness, one-dimensional, surface knowledge, celebration of the mediocre, surrender to the pathological, a total disregard and contempt for quality and love and respect for quantity, and a complete inversion of all that is True, Good and Beautiful in traditional civilizations into the worst forms of degeneracy, is spreading like a plague the world over.

As total creatures of our times, thoroughly immersed in and totally shaped by "the times", lacking all sense of Sacred Time and of Eternity, forgetful of our true origin, center and end--- hence unmoored and rudderless---intellectually and morally malleable to the point that we can be pushed and pulled in any direction by the forces of Darkness, we have traded all traditional sources of authority and wisdom for the toxic ideologies of historicism, progressivism, evolutionism, technicism or technologism and all the other pseudo-philosophies emanating from the grand cult of modern scientism. One must now always go along with and be in tune with "the times” without pausing for a second to ask the reasonable question: “and what should the times be in tune with?” 

Instead of conforming ourselves to what is higher and above us, we bring down the superior and the noble and rub them all into the dirt of the world. All is flattened and equalized. The new priests, who constantly set the moral and intellectual bar low, now wear white coats and not black or brown gowns and turbans. They preach the gospel of this scientism which is a parody of the older, sacred sciences, of the holistic, integral forms of knowing, doing and being. This profane weltanschauung rejects symbolism and metaphysics and tells us that they don't mean anything at all. In their stead, we are offered a reductionist science that is only concerned with the "how" questions and is good at violently torturing and raping the natural world but impotent when it comes to answering the essential questions of existence and reality---the "why" questions. It is a paradigm without First Principles. For it, nature is nothing but an engineering and technological problem which will soon be resolved, just as society can be cured into a utopian paradise by social engineering. In its quest to torture, control and dominate nature, or matter, this narrow and inherently violent mode of knowing and doing has now brought all life to the brink of irreversible collapse. Nature is already responding in kind and every response bears clear signs of the impending apocalypse. To those with discerning eyes or intellect, those who are not drunk with the sheer arrogance of modern scientism, it has become more than obvious that it, nature, will have the final say about the fate of this planet.

Nowhere is this crisis of humanity more visible and felt than in the culture of virtuality. This virtuality is the digital universe of social media, the hyper-real, cyber world of video games, of fantasy and porn movies. It is the Satanic dungeon of the brazenly plagiarizing deviants who churn out humorless memes, diabolic falsities and other such nihilistic fluff. It is the shadow cosmos par excellence, the denatured abode of the increasingly dehumanized tribes of numbed yahoos and bored trolls, of socially awkward, reality-shunning, effeminate, cake eating bozos exploding with impotent rage in front of their glowing screens in darkened rooms. These are the perverts, the narcissistic, psychologically damaged "post-human" creatures whose only link with the real and with reality is a quick trip to the refrigerator or the toilet: the organic body that houses their shrunken souls is just too much of an inconvenience that comes in the way! These are people who are connected and plugged into the totalitarian Megamachine (Lewis Mumford), into the Luciferian algorithms 24/7 and whose nafs get continuously fed by the demonic matrix manufactured and maintained by the Silly-Conmen, the transhumanists and other such techno utopians. The “likes”, the followings, the ego massaging emojis and other signs and symbols that proliferate these devices and machines make sure that the reign of nafs (of the lower, bestial self) continues. Thus, speeding up the destruction of this anti-social, anti-spiritual matrix’s cunningly hoodwinked victims.

According to Charles Upton, in this virtual cosmos "reality" is "simply what is configured by the individual according to his needs, his interests, his fears and his desires. Like Jung's 'collective unconscious', [it] represents not an objective reality, either material or metaphysical, but rather a mass subjectivity with objective consequences. It might be characterized as a form of mass training in solipsism or autistic introversion, whence the proverbial retardation of the 'computer nerd'. Nothing exists but the 'me' and its global tendrils. I am the thinker, you are my thought. The world is my nervous system." The writer Marty Glass once coined a word for this spirit killing illusory world: spiricide.

Says Marty, “In the Computer’s displacement of Truth by information, of knowledge by data, of quality by quantity, of human encounter by interactive software, of thought, understanding, insight and intention by sequences of algorithms, of the inexhaustible richness and subtlety in human discourse by serial yes-and-no statements, the self-consciousness of humanity, of society and of our world, becomes insentient. Consciousness itself becomes inorganic, which is to say dead….Whatever displaces Life can only be Death.” (Marty Glass, Yuga)

With the denial of the Real, of objective Reality, we are left with a pseudo cyber world in which the wars of subjectivities rage on, one enraged "me" battling another vulgar "me" in a hellish conflagration where each one of these relativities aims for its absolutization and supremacy. Without the Absolute, the Truth, man is two (psyche/soul and body/jism) and not three as in tradition/religion (Spirit/Ruh, soul and body) and that means that all is mundane power and everything is decided by this power and not by Haqq/Truth. Ego everywhere, and what is ego if not sheer lust for power? In this sub-human jungle then, since everything is ego and power, the bigger beast will always devour the smaller ones: an unending nihilistic war of solipsists!

The post-real world of the Internet is a simulacrum, or, a simulacrum of a simulacrum (to use Jean Baudrillard’s term), a disintegrated, shadow universe with its own satanic hierarchy where the most elevated denizen is one who has completely emptied himself/herself of all reality. This is a place whose philosophy is completely consistent with the cynical theology of postmodernism which triumphantly leads us “from the Real to the unreal”. It inverts the perennial wisdom in the Traditional/Religious worldview: “Lead me from the unreal to the Real”, supplicates a seeker in the Upanishads   (Invocation, Birhadaranyaka Upanishad).

For more, please click: The System: Inversion, Social Media (Urdu)

And when it rained in old Quetta...

 And when it rained in old Quetta…

“The rain surrounded the cabin…with a whole world of meaning, of secrecy, or rumor. Think of it: all that speech pouring down, selling nothing, judging nobody, drenching the thick mulch of dead leaves, soaking the trees, filling the gullies and crannies of the wood with water, washing out the places where men have stripped the hillside. Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, the rain. As long as it talks I am going to listen.” 

                                                                                     Thomas Merton
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


“You will get wet!…You will catch a cold!...It’s cold outside in this pouring rain… Are you mad? …You have got to be crazy to go out in this weather and do so without an umbrella!” And, so on. These are some of the things they say to me whenever I decide to go out for a walk or for a run in the rain. And almost always, I respond with, “I’ll be OK. I am from Quetta. I am not mad or crazy at all. It’s just that you don’t understand what rain means to me, to someone born and raised in Quetta.”

Like most people of the time, we grew up in an old style tin-roofed house in Hussainabad, Quetta. Up until late 1970s and early 1980s, these houses could be seen everywhere in Quetta. I think they were called “ 7 type houses”. If I am not wrong, the structures became part of the landscape of Quetta after the devastatingly “great” earthquake of 1935 when the city was almost razed to the ground. When it was rebuilt, the rationale for the new materials used in the construction of the structures and especially for the use of the tin based alloy (metal) sheets for roofing was, obviously, their lightweight nature. Although it made sense from the perspective of safety in the event of another calamity, the corrugated metal sheets were not the best choice when it came to insulation, especially against the biting cold in cruel Quetta winters and against the scorching heat in the usually dry summers. But there was one thing about that metal roofing that has endeared it forever to this Quettawal: the almost magical sound---the sheer music---that it produced every time it rained in the old tin-town. Just like the ambrosial smell of the parched earth after it got wet with the first few drops---unique, to be experienced nowhere else in the world, believe me---the sound of the rain drops hitting the metal, starting with a “ting” here and a “tang” there and picking up a rhythmic pace, first slowly and gradually and finally building up into what resembled the beat, roll and rumble of drums that seemed to be emanating from some heavenly percussions festival, was nothing if not inspiring, if not “divine”.
 

A 7-type house in old Quetta 

But there was something about those old 7-type houses themselves, and it was not just their tin-roofs that always became the venue for the ecstatic entertainment scripted, directed and produced by nature itself. There was something about those structures that even now, particularly now, forces one to reflect. Like many other things then, they were inconvenient in many ways, some of which I have already mentioned above. But then we need to understand that convenience was not a principial dogma of a die-for-kill-for worldly cult with irreparably propagandized, thoroughly narcotized and numbed followers who nowadays disregard and sacrifice every other value and virtue at its modern altar. Just observe how our lives have become impoverished in many significant ways as everything has increasingly become “convenient”, "comfortable", "easy" and “efficient”. The ever multiplying modern gadgets and technologies---the tricknologies of distraction, disorientation and eventually of destruction---brazenly encroach, trespass and trample on human dignity and commit subtle acts of vandalism to desacralize, colonize and devour our inner worlds as they rapidly make us slavishly dependent on them. They are like permanent filters between us and reality. They now mediate most, if not all, of our authentic experiences of the world. And we surrender to them happily, only because they are “convenient” and “efficient” and “practical” etc. This irony seems to fall flat on many, especially young, people these days. 

If anything, the old 7-type structures were a reflection of the values of those who built them and lived in them. Those values and virtues, in turn, were the acknowledgement, the affirmation, of the transient nature of this world, of life itself. They were, therefore, the affirmation of Truth/Haqq. Or in other words, there was an acute awareness of the distinction between permanence and transience, between what is Eternal and Essential and what is a mere accident of time and place. For example, in the old times, a village or a town could be destroyed and rebuilt several times over without leaving any destructive ecological footprints. Apart from their ecologically sustainable nature, that in itself was a profound commentary on the impermanent nature of this world and everything in it: earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

They were built with “soft” and humble material (often mud and straw, or wood) because our hearts were soft then, because of genuine human humility viz-a-viz the Absolute. That same humility that was the result of a correct understanding of our fitrah (our primordial nature) and that required that people see their short time here in this world as a moment, see themselves as beings merely “passing through” and not here forever, as created guests who are here to be “tested” by their Creator and Lord, and not as lords themselves. Nowadays, the concrete structures, the brick-mortar-and-steel houses “built to last”, are a reflection of our concretized, hardened hearts. They are monuments to our modern egos, erected with the sole purpose of appeasing and praising the inner idols, the pseudo deities to whom all we obediently genuflect. After all, our living spaces, our houses and homes, are a reflection of who we are and what we cherish and value. They are the embodiments of what we think and know of our origin and end, what we think of ourselves and what we think of others. Just like inside, so like outside, as the old saying goes.

Back to rain. In the old days, rain in Quetta always brought with itself a change in mood, an atmosphere of festival for all ages, from the very young to the old. The young would rush out in the open, play in the rain and get soaked to the bones. Just as the land was always dry and thirsty waiting to be quenched, so were the people of Quetta, waiting and praying for the blessing that came in the form of rain. The falling water from above was nothing if not a blessing, a “rehmat”. In fact, this particular element, water, is one of the most potent symbols used in world literature, especially in sacred scriptures, and nowhere else more frequently and more eloquently than in the mother of all books, the Holy Quran. The Quran compares water, rain in particular, as “life-bestowing Grace”, as “Mercy”, as “Knowledge” (Gnosis/Hikma) and so on. Because rain falls from above, there is in it the element of verticality meaning that “it symbolizes vertical enlightenment coming down directly from Heaven” (F. Schuon). Just like Revelation (wahi) is sent down as an act of Mercy, rain also symbolizes that Mercy. There is a beautiful remark of the great Muslim sage (hakim) Al-Ghazali on the Quranic verse “He sendeth down water from heaven, so that valleys are in flood with it, each according to its capacity" (XIII: 17). Commented the great scholar: “The commentaries tell us that the water is Gnosis (hikma) and that the valleys are Hearts.”

One of the greatest Muslim scholars of twentieth century, Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj al Din) has a very profound chapter on the symbolism of water in the Holy Quran in his book titled Symbolism and Archetype. I can’t resist quoting in some length from that chapter. He writes,

“In the Qur’an the ideas of Mercy and water—in particular rain—are in a sense inseparable. With them must be included the idea of Revelation, (tanzīl), which means literally "a sending down." The Revelation and the rain are both "sent down" by the All-Merciful, and both are described throughout the Qur’an as "Mercy," and both are spoken of as "life-giving." So close is the connection of ideas that rain might even be said to be an integral part of the Revelation which it prolongs, as it were, in order that by penetrating the material world the Divine Mercy may reach the uttermost confines of creation; and to perform the rite of ablution is to identify oneself, in the world of matter, with this wave of Mercy, and to return with it as it ebbs back towards the Principle, for purification is a return to our origins. Nor is Islam—literally "submission"—other than non-resistance to the pull of the current of this ebbing wave.” (Martin Lings)

In the Quetta of old days, although not everyone could comprehend the depth and breadth of the meaning of this sacred element that is a symbol for Mercy and Hikma, among other divine attributes, sent down upon the creation from above like a Revelation, let alone express it like great scholars, everybody could intuit some aspect of the Heavenly Grace and Blessing “each according to his/her capacity”. And that intuition also got expressed accordingly. Rain was a blessing, as I have said. Water, rain, also purifies. This symbol and function of rain, as purifier, is also well understood across cultures and religions. Just as in Islam, so in the old Japanese religion of Shintoism, it has a particular significance. But apart from all these profound metaphysical meanings, rain is also fun and merrymaking. In the old days in Quetta, rain was chai, pakora and samosa. Rain was long walks with friends. Rain was the reason for good company, for conversation and for meaningful time with family and relatives, and so on. I wonder how things are nowadays.

I started this post with an observation of the trappist monk Thomas Merton. Let me end with another of his equally insightful observation. Says Merton,

"Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By ‘they’ I mean the people who cannot understand that rain is a festival, who do not appreciate its gratuity, who think that what has no price has no value, that what cannot be sold is not real, so that the only way to make something actual is to place it on the market. The time will come when they will sell you even the rain. At the moment it is still free, and I am in it. I celebrate its gratuity and its meaninglessness.”        (Thomas Merton)

Propaganda: Glittering Generalities

Propaganda: Glittering Generalities

"The gods in a world of takthir (as opposed to tawhid) are legion. To mention some of the more important ones would be to list the defining myths and ideologies of our times---freedom, equality, evolution, progress, science, medicine, nationalism, socialism, progress, Marxism. But perhaps the most dangerous of the gods are those that are the most difficult to recognize. They have innocuous names like care, communication, consumption, development, education, information, standard of living, management, planning, production, project, resource, service, system, welfare."

                                                                                   William Chittick

“If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.”                                              Philip K. Dick

The power to define is the ultimate power.      (A general postmodern wisdom)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Propaganda is part and parcel of the modern social and political landscape everywhere. Since the early years of the twentieth century when its potential as a “public relations” exercise was first recognized, courtesy of pioneers in the field like Edward Barnays, who was Sigmund Freud’s nephew by the way, it has become more and more sophisticated and subtle over the years, especially with the rise of digital media and SNS etc. But its common or essential techniques have, for the most part, remained the same ever since Nazi Goebbels, the Fascists and company perfected the dark art. One of the early critical analyses of propaganda techniques was carried out by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA). Established in 1937, the IPA lists these common techniques as follows:

• Word games (name calling, glittering generalities and euphemisms)
• False connections or associations (transfer and testimonial)
• Special appeals (plain folks, bandwagon and fear)

The propagandist language of name calling, fear mongering, and the use of glittering generalities serve demagogues and political extremists well. This much is well understood now. Through the pernicious practice of name calling, the “other” (the target individual, social/political/cultural/racial group, country etc.) is vilified and dehumanized. A culture of fear is created, convenient bogeymen are created, frightening and discomforting metaphors and imagery are used to disorient and disarm the gullible masses and make them ready for control and manipulation. The result is a sense of vulnerability in the people. Immigrants, Mexicans, Blacks, Muslims in the USA, Muslims and Africans in EU, and certain sects, ethnicities and minorities in Pakistan are examples. In Pakistan, for example, once an entire sect is named and declared, “kafir”, the way to the “final solution” is paved---the total annihilation of the named and the re-defined is the logical next step which would then be carried out with an urgent sense of obligation, as a pious religious duty that must be carried out with a jihadi zeal. For example, this particular modern propaganda technique of vilification and dehumanization through toxic acts of naming and (re)-defining, so beloved of nakedly ambitious and vile little men and women of this world in general and of the ones in Pakistan in particular----the tyrants and bigots of all shades and orientations but especially the booted duffers----was very effectively used in the numerous decades-long violent “targeted” purges, the sectarian bloodbaths and ethnic cleansings, in a place like Quetta (the hometown of yours truly).
 

This act of name calling, or naming, is, therefore, a potent tool. For example, for the ancients, the very act of naming something or someone was an act of power, of control. To know someone’s name was to have power over them. After all, the ultimate name giver is the Creator Himself. When God told/taught the first being, the archetypal Adam, "the name of things”, He thus gave him power over all creation, made him the ashraf al makhluqaat, the khalifa, the noblest of all creatures. The difference in the modern acts of naming, however, is that since modernity lacks any sense of the sacred, is in denial of transcendence, is a totally negative theology of skepticism/cynicism, where everything is sheer “power” in this world, most, if not all, naming eventually boils down to reduction(ism), limitation, quantification, diabolism (as opposed to symbolism) and eventually to dehumanization. Modern man, after all, wants to be god himself in the absence of the Sacred.

In short: calling someone evil---and doing it repeatedly, day in day out, 24/7, 365 days a year---is, in a sense and for any special purpose and many people, turning that thing into evil. Goebbels the Nazi knew it well . Think of “India” and “Indian” in Pakistan and of “Pakistan” and “Pakistani” in India. On both sides of the border, it is now almost impossible to imagine evil without thinking about one of these categories. In fact, and this is especially true for certain ethnic groups in Pakistan---especially for the people of Punjab, or for the majority of Punjabis---it is not even possible to have a sense of the self, to have a confident identity, without at the same time thinking of the evil “other”, the evil Indian: for these people, the self has been thoroughly defined negatively, as something that exists because, and only because, it is opposed to another entity, the “evil other” (more on this issue later. For now, interested readers may wish to read a related blogpost here).
   

The evil "other"

As a propaganda technique, glittering generalities play a very important role in our current political milieu, both local/national and global. What is a glittering or glowing generality? This is how Wikipedia defines it:

“A glittering generality (also called glowing generality) is an emotionally appealing phrase so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that it carries conviction without supporting information or reason. Such highly valued concepts attract general approval and acclaim. Their appeal is to emotions such as love of country and home, and desire for peace, freedom, glory, and honor. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. They are typically used by politicians and propagandists.”

As vague words, phrases and expressions with loads of (positive/negative) connotations, glittering generalities are what the IPA calls “virtue words” or expressions. Strongly appealing to our emotional faculties, they disable our critical faculties and make us susceptible to all kinds of manipulations. They are constructed and constantly and regularly reinforced through jingles, songs, images, dramas and movies, and catch phrases etc.: think of ISPR sponsored and produced dramas and Noor Jehan, Amanat Ali Khan and now the many Coke Studio patriotic songs. Glittering generalities are words like science, rationality, development, progress, civilization, motherland, fatherland, security, democracy, freedom, human rights, peace and love, sustainable, international community, civil society, community development, grassroots, empowerment, poverty alleviation, LGBTQ, religious, army/fawj/fawji, wardi, The Idara (institution) and so on. These are all abstract in nature, meaning different things to different people and, therefore, amenable to manipulation.
 

Let’s take one of these concepts, sustainable development (SD), a darling concept of the noisy secular missionaries everywhere but especially in Pakistan (the NGO mafia), to see how it works. Sustainable development as a “buzzword” is one of those concepts which are widely (ab)-used by all sorts of individuals and interests, from the ecologically destructive industrialists to slimy politicians, from NGO and civil society jihadists, social justice activists, opportunist environmentalists to compromised (lifafa) journalists, intellectuals, writers and artists. I think nobody has improved upon Lele’s early critique of the concept. He wrote way back in 1991,

“SD is a ‘metafix’ that will unite everybody from the profit-minded industrialist and risk minimising subsistence farmer to the equity seeking social worker, the pollution-concerned or wildlife-loving First Worlder, the growth-maximising policy maker, the goal-oriented bureaucrat, and therefore, the vote-counting politician.”

These noble sounding, fix-all words, these magic wands, are all suspect. In our times, they have become like sacred cows, as their particularly constructed and propagated meanings are vigilantly guarded by the powerful and the influential. Nobody can challenge them without suffering some form of retribution. Exhibit: in recent years, the USA has destroyed at least four countries in the Middle East / West Asia with the help of mere three or four, although very powerful, of these glowing generalities: "democracy", "freedom" and “women’s rights” or "human rights." To challenge these is to invite the scorn and ridicule of the Western and westernized secular-liberal mobs everywhere. Often, these are like empty vessels into which are poured the desires and the interests of the powerful, the oppressors and victimizers. Following campaigns of fear mongering, glittering generalities are then employed to give the frightened, the bamboozled and the vulnerable, a sense of security and often that of superiority. All false, of course.

The avatars of "democracy", "freedom", "human rights"!

Glittering generalities are conversation stoppers. They are thought opium, narcotics that numb and dumb people down. They work in many ways, sometimes in a very subtle manner, subliminally reinforcing the established names and definitions, keeping the domination in place, maintaining the violent and unjust status quo. The whole idea of employing glittering generalities is to stop critical thinking, mostly by discrediting or by outright hiding alternatives. In one commonly practiced version, they lock the victims into simplistic “either/or” dualities, both of which are often the two sides of the same coin. Remember George W. Bush after 9/11: “you are either with us or against us”?

In this series on glittering generalities, I will try to unmask some of the more prominent glittering generalities that are now all around us, polluting the very cultural air we breathe and thrown around by everyone without a second thought. I will try to cast a critical gaze on them and try to see what they mean and try to show their deceptive nature. What I will say will, of course, reflect my own “prejudices”. Think of it as an alternative reading/understanding of these terms, an inversion (or inversion of inversion). The first one is the term “entrepreneur”. Read on in the next post.

For more, please click: Stray crumbs, Bumper Stickers

Overqualified in Balochistan,   Harf e Dervaish #6 (Urdu)

Quetta (a lament)

Life in LGBTQSF+ KaliYuga

Life in LGBTQSF+ Kali Yuga

“Your sickness is from you—
but you do not perceive it;
your remedy is within you—
but you do not sense it;
you presume that you are a small entity—
whereas within you is enfolded the entire universe. You are indeed the evident book, by whose alphabet the hidden becomes manifest; therefore you have no need to look beyond yourself, what you seek is within you, if only you reflect.                                      Imam Ali (AS)

“If your ultimate concern is yourself, if you have spent your life building a monument to yourself, then in biblical terms, that’s idolatry. I think we live in an idolatrous society…I think it is extremely difficult for people to achieve a moral life without community.” 

                    Chris Hedges, TheDecline of Morality and the Celebration of the Self

“Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal.”   Samuel Johnson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Satanic Inversion of Everything: Life in the dark days of LGBTQSF+ Kali Yuga.

Secular modernity inverts. It is first and foremost a thoroughly profane worldview that reprioritizes everything, thereby making the trivial, the secondary and accidental the primary, the essential, and vice versa. It defaces the Eternal, the Sacred and the Transcendent (but, in reality, which it cannot), and elevates the mundane, the temporal, the corporal, the blasphemous. It displaces, even “murders”, God and stands “man”---modern Western (read, white) man and all his pathological imitations in the colored, darker corners of the world---in His place. Once wisdom meant that we be passive viz-a-viz the Transcendent, the Heaven above us, and active against, in constant struggle with, what was below. Modernity has inverted that: now men are passive towards what is beneath them---the hells of the nafs, of the lower self---and at war with what is above. The result? "When you reject a heaven you open up a new earth and many new hells. " (S.H. Nasr)  In traditional parlance, secular modernity is a philosophy of fittna, and, therefore, no philosophy at all but a miso-sophy (hatred of wisdom and not love of it). In its late form as (post-)postmodernism---as the new pornographic jahilliya of 21C---secular modernity as fittna is particularly good, first, at widening and deepening the age-old fissures and fractures in traditional societies and then turning them into the main preoccupations and concerns of those societies. Because it is an utterly cynical weltanschauung with its own caste system at the top of which are its “priestly” opinion makers, an army of beastly “prophets of skepticism” who see only arbitrary power everywhere and in everything, traditional certainties based on and reflecting the perennial values and wisdom are reformulated through intentionally misleading, ideologically motivated re-interpretations which are then promoted and imposed on societies around the world mostly through the local uprooted and deracinated entrepreneurs of those societies----the comprador, the native informants and so on about whom the overtly racist British imperialist Lord McCaulay once said in his notorious speech / minutes on Indian education the following:

"I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation….[Accordingly,]We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect"."

These are individuals and groups who are always ready to make instrumental Faustian deals for any minimum worldly gain offered them by the highest bidders in the globalized marketplace operated by the lords of humanity according to the dictates of ruthless casino capitalism.

Ideology trumps nature: "I am a beast trapped in a human body."

Woke-ism is the new incarnation of this postmodern jahilliya and nothing is more important to it as the violent promotion and full-spectrum marketing of LGBTQSF+ everywhere round the world. Among other things, it is yet another manufactured ideology of the profane worldview of fittna meant to deal a final blow to that most important bastion of traditional societies: the family. In “liquid modernity”, to use Zygmunt Bauman’s term, anything that guarantees stability, continuity, permanence and certainty is the greatest sin of all and must, therefore, be destroyed completely.  

The Great Postmodern Mindfuck

Says my wicked friend, Sardar Kharkaftar of Helsinki: “In this new iteration of the age of jahilliya, make sure that your child (especially male child) sees what is between his or her legs on a daily basis. You may as well encourage them, from time to time, to actually touch and play with what is there so that they know that those reproductive organs are for real. This way, as they grow up, they will not be “confused” as to who they are, sexually speaking. They must be reminded, time and again, that sex is not the ultimate marker of our being, of our identity; it is what human beings do and not  who we are, as the contemporary barbarism of “identitarianism” coerces everyone to believe lest they want to face the violence of its cancel culture! Show them the rainbow whenever it appears in the sky. Explain to them what the rainbow means, what it has always meant, both literally and figuratively as used in traditional literature before the arrival of this new jahilliya, the LGBTQSF+ Kali Yuga. And that the rainbow, first and foremost, appeared up there, in the sky and not on some social activist movement flag promoting hedonistic nihilism.

For more, please click: The System: Inversion, Illuminations #5

 

Counsels of a Wise, Old Woman

 

Aaja marhoom

Counsels of a wise, old woman

(Some words of my great grandmother, our Aaja. In her memory. Khudabiyamurza (RIP))

"No time cometh on you but is followed by a worse."   (A Hadith)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Kibr destroyed the first transgressor Iblis (the Devil/Shaitan) and the haughty pharaohs; it eventually destroys every forgetful and heedless man, too. Observe the worst form of kibr in a heedless man especially when he sits down to eat. ”

(Kibr, in Arabic and other Islamic languages, means: ingratitude, arrogance, conceit, haughtiness, feelings of superiority)

“If a man complains about food and always finds fault with food that is served to him, he is not really hungry. A hungry man finds everything delicious.”

“Never leave the dastarkhwan (the dining or table cloth, the dinner table or the entire meal setting) with a full stomach. Most, if not all, sins have their roots in overeating and/or gluttony.”

“The wise man is a healthy man because for him, wisdom means to know when to eat and, more importantly, when to stop eating.”

“A natural appetite for fruit and yogurt is a sign of good health.”

“A weakness for food and eating is a sure sign of an inferior man.”

“Nobody ever washes the face of a lion in the jungle.”

“True happiness is never talked about, is never sought, and it is always qualitative in nature. It is not about what or how many and how much you have; happiness is not about filling up some void, but it is about remembering and keeping pure the natural, primordial void in us.”

“Happiness that result from insignificant things and acts---small happiness(es)---are long lasting.”

"The difference between a simple person (سادہ) and a simpleton (احمق) is that the former knows that a tree is both roots and branches; the simpleton sees only branches and leaves, that which is visible to the eye but which totally depends on, is only alive because of that which is hidden and invisible, like all real things in life and in nature. So, be simple but not a simpleton. God loves simple people because they cling firmly to one virtue that trumps every other: sincerity." 

“The invisible, the ignored---the "worthless" things in this world----are often the richest sources of meaning in life.”

“One’s character is defined by the way one uses one’s eyes, ears and mouth. The more a person uses the first two of the three, the greater the chances are of him or her becoming a better, wiser person.”

“Observe the world more than talk about it. And do the same for people, too.”

“Always get your priorities right in this world: never confuse the essential in life with the accidental, and vice versa. You can gain this discriminatory intellectual/spiritual skill by always remembering one and only one thing: death.”

“Make sure to pay a weekly visit to the graveyard, preferably on Thursdays. There is nothing in this world that can make a man humble, cleanse his soul and soften his hardened heart than the sight of an old, dilapidated grave and the thought of death.”


For more, please click: On Simplicity, On Noise and Solitude

Illuminations #5, Traditional Food, Overqualified in Balochistan

Zari Gul, Inversion: The rule of the Shudra, Harf e Dervaish (Urdu)

Collapse

 

The System: Inversion

Kaliyuga: Inverted reality in Pakistan

"The triumph of mediocre man brings down the elite." Imam Ali (AS)

"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which established authorities are wrong."    Voltaire

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Pakistan everything is inverted. In 2023, down is up. Back is front. Left is right. Bad is good. Chaos is order. Ugliness is beauty. Falsity is truth. Stupidity is genius. Scoundrels are saints, fools sages, criminals are dispensers of justice and betrayers and traitors are protectors and guardians. Hate is love. War is peace. It’s Kaliyuga in Pakistan.

The Shudra are the unchallenged rulers of the country, enjoying it big time at the top of the heap. Inversion. Quantity is quality. Low is high. Where the head should be, the feet are. These Shudra---the Cheema, Bajwa, Sharif, Chatta, Mian, Chaudhry, Dar, Khwaja, Sheikh, Butt, Kayani, Janjua and the rest of the lowly caste----rule violently and with impunity. The Brahmin and Kshatriya have fled the country. Those who were unlucky have either been disappeared or butchered by the murderously crude Shudra, or are in hiding and practicing one or the other kind of dissimulation. The Shudra have turned the entire nation into an unruly, but always obsequious, herd of casteless untouchables over whom they have been lording it out for more than half a century now. The nail that sticks out quickly and violently gets hammered. That is "quality control" for the Shudra dullards. The diabolic is the symbolic now. Devolution is evolution. Hell is the new heaven. Mediocrity is the highest virtue and bigotry is the noblest. It is 1984, Brave New World and Kafka all rolled up in one in Pakistan of 2023: “Khaki uniform and boots good; everybody else bad, traitor, evil, conspirator, Indian and Yehudi agent…”, is how the Shudra pigs indoctrinate the children and the youth at the rote factories called schools, colleges, madrassahs and universities. 

These lowly, inbreeding parasites are like Midas-in-reverse. Whereas the old King Midas of the ancient folktales turned everything into gold by merely touching it, these nitwits, the boors in boots, do the reverse with their mere touch: they turn gold into dirt. In their seven-decade long period of misadventures reeking with oppression, violence and gore, they have turned a resourceful land into a big garbage dump and its equally resourceful people into a huge rampageous swarm of anomic bigots and murderous fanatics. Inversion. Kaliyuga. Says my old friend Sardar Kharkaftar of Helsinki, "The Shudra half-wits, these khaki usurpers of power in Pakistan, conceived in, and born from, the 'womb of evil' mostly, nay predominantly, in rural Punjab--the Chatta-Chaudhry, Bajwa, Janjua, Mian, Khawaja, Kayani and so on---have turned Pakistan into the insane asylum of the world."

For more, please click: BumperStickers, Traitors, Illuminations

Harf e Devaish#8 (Urdu), Overqualified in Balochistan

Harf e Dervaish#1 (Urdu)