Category Archives: Community

The Native Returns

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Raza Rumi.

Twenty years ago, I left Lahore. Excited by prospects of quality higher education and the adolescent yearning for freedom, this was a moment that only with age I have understood. A flash that alters the life-path even when one is not aware of it. As I grew up and visited Lahore from a multitude of cities and continents, Lahore’s provincialism and inward-looking ethos irked me. However, the splendour of its lived history and multi-layered present fascinated me endlessly. A false sense of fatalism whispered that my exile was going to cover a life-span.

The last few years were spent abroad: so dejected I was that not living in Lahore would mean living just anywhere. When I decided this summer to return to Pakistan, I was astounded by the reactions from all and sundry. I was told that I am ‘mad’ to have chosen to return to a burning, imploding and crashing Pakistan. Such is the power of global corporate media that even the discerning and schooled Pakistanis have started to believe in the failed state mantra scripted outside Pakistan.

My own parents, temporary residents of Islamabad, scared by the blasts advised me against it. Others from the more indulgent school of thought were aghast with my decision to return to a country where power outages, crumbling urban infrastructure and pollution define urban living. Of all the nightmares cited was that who knows if the country would survive? Such cynicism and unmasked pessimism about Pakistan is always disturbing, yet familiar. My question is when was the country not about to unravel since 1947?

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[Image coutresy: fredericknoronha]

Loser Husbands

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I am no fan of some men. One hears of men who goes on Tabligh all round the year, and destroys his family and future. One also hears about husbands who just sit around and try to dictate the family without moving an inch. Over to Organica.

 My friend works 6-7 days a week. She also is a student at my university. Her husband spends most days at home sleeping. He is “self-employed” and refuses to get a steady job because he likes being “his own boss!” He is also a practicing Muslim brother who regularly attends the masjid and demands his rights from his overworked wife. Sound familiar?

When I first met my friend a little over a year ago, I thought she was a single mom. She never mentioned her husband. She always scrambled between daycare, school and work. She barely had a moment to breath and on most days she turned to her parents for help.

Ironically, I found out later that she is indeed still married. It was when I inquired why she preferred to wear black garments all the time. Her response, “my husband wants me to!”

How does one solve this problem? Not at an individual level, but at umumi level?

(Image coutresy: ex.libris)

King Abdullah is My Hero

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Saudiwoman-

 This morning while waiting at a stop light in the back of my car, I happened to notice that the car in front of mine had a sticker on its bumper that was a ban sign going across a woman driving. It just got to me. Isn’t it enough that we are not allowed to drive but to have someone rub our noses in it with this sort of thing! What difference does it make to that ignorant fool with a sticker if the driver in the car next to him has a female or male anatomy? And to people who say it’s a matter of freedom of speech, I say grow up. Freedom of speech has limits when it infringes on the rights of others. Would it be OK if he had an anti Muslim driving sticker?

Talking in the masjid – Women

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Inner Reflections Transcribed writes about a consequence of segregation and audio/video feeds to the women’s area of masajid:

But over at the women’s side – whoa, it was a proper melee! The women were sitting in their own wee huddles, nattering away about everything and anything. The children were making music of their own in their wee corners. And it made me wonder why this was the case?

If the Imam was in sight, would these women sit and talk as they were? Most probably not. They’d even tell their children off for making a racket
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I would MUCH prefer to be able to SEE the speaker when he is speaking rather than have audio projected into a room. The voice which fills the room acts like background noise and when there isn’t any chance you can offend the speaker (since he can’t see you anyway) by actively tuning out, then talking over him isn’t given a second thought. Ruining the speech/talk for other members of the congregation?

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On the topic of speaker, if you do happen to be in the same room, then to be able to SEE the speaker helps a lot. Having designated seating for women at the back of the hall, where everybody infront resembles ants, or the only view is the back of peoples heads does nothing for me.  On top of which, from such an angle the speaker looks like a fat blur distracts and causes my concentration and attention span to dwindle and deteriorate fast. Yes I used to sit near the front of the lecture hall at Uni for exactly the same reasons.

Are mosques, and MSA’s going to change things around so women have a clear and equal view of the speaker? Or are we to be relegated to spots where a pair of binocular’s and/or a good pair of ears are required?

This is a situation that’s unique to Western Muslim societies, and it will be a mark of maturity of the community to actively address it and solve it to the satisfaction of all parties.

Communal Comics!

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Indscribe writes on how, often, communalism and racism are very subtly packaged.

 Firstly, I did read a few Amar Chitra Katha comics in my childhood. And I have absolutely no problem with a publisher only printing comics on Hindu culture, as I grew up as much on Khilauna (Urdu) and Champak, as much as Nandan, which focused on Hindu mythology.

I loved Nandan and I owe a lot to these magazine. It was Nandan that introduced me to the fascinating Hindu mythology. Nandan chiefly borrowed from Hinduism and avoided Islam but there was nothing that would unsettle a Muslim kid let alone offend his sensibilities.

Similarly, Chandamama, which I loved, was also a magazine that focused on Hindu mythology and the stories of Hindu gods abound. And it was brilliant. On the pages of Nandan and Chandamama, I discovered the world of Rishis, Vidyadhars, Kapaliks, Asuras et al.

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“In Amar Chitra Katha (86) featuring the novel Anand Math, the heroic Hindu Bengali freedom fighters do battle with the evil British officers who command highly stylized but Muslim-looking troops!”…..Strange isn’t it!

Jamia residents foiled “encounter” attempt

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Situation in India has been getting worse and worse lately. Muslims, Christians, and Dalits. Muslims have been under attack in Assam, Gujarat and in most of the Media. Christians were attacked in Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Muslims have been victim of witch-hunt, the following is an example. As expected, none of the mainstream media picked it up.

 The residents of Jamia Nagar today foiled a kidnapping/encounter attempt by some policemen in plainclothes in Shaheen Bagh area under the Jamia Nagar Police Station in Delhi.

It was around 8 in the night when a black Hyundai car with tinted glasses but with no number plates entered Shaheen Bagh. Five persons, maybe ATS sleuths in plainclothes, came out and tried to drag a youth named Amir into the car. He resisted and asked them why they were dragging him. They said they will tell him soon.

As the Jamia Nagar encounter and subsequent indiscriminate picking of locals were fresh in people’s mind, locals began gathering. The plainclothes people threatened them but as mob got thicker, some of them slipped away. The locals, however, were able to catch one who later turned out to be an ASI of Noida Police. The public brought both the policeman and Amir to Jamia Nagar police station.

Hundreds of people gathered around the police station and demanded action against the ‘kidnapppers’. They alleged that their plan was to encounter the person and later declare him a terrorist.

Eid Greetings!

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The Ijtema.net team wish our readers a wonderful Eid! May Allah accept our good deeds, Ameen.

And just to help you keep up the Ramadan spirit all year round, insha’Allah, check out this awesome series of short posts on how to realise the true beauty of Salat. Eleven posts on, and I think it’s still being updated! Subhanallah.