Cogito, Ergo Sum

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My letter "Government action needed against intolerance" is published in the daily "Pakistan Today", on 12 Oct 2017. To read the letter, please click  here . Following is the text of the letter published: Learn how to love Hafeez Center, Gulberg Lahore, is one of the largest mobile and computer markets of the city. However, it is shocking that almost every shop in the centre has a sticker on which the following statement is written: ‘Ahmadis are not allowed to enter. This is not only against the constitutional rights of the Pakistanis, but it is also in contradiction with the teachings of Islam. The National Action Plan of the government suggests strict action against promoting religious hatred, extremism and intolerance. Would our government and law-enforcement agencies take any practical action to clean our society from such hate speech? Muhammad Uzair Bhaur (Lahore)

My letter "Government action needed against intolerance" is published in the daily "Pakistan Today", on 12 Oct 2017. To read the letter, please click  here . Following is the text of the letter published: Government action needed against intolerance  I happened to visit Hafeez Center, Gulberg, Lahore – one of the largest mobile and computer sale centers of the city. I was shocked to observe that almost every shop of the center had a sticker bearing statements that Qadianis were not allowed to enter in those premises. This is not only against the constitutional rights of Pakistanis, but also in contradiction with the teachings of Islam. The National Action Plan of the government suggests strict action against promoting religious hatred, extremism and intolerance. Would our government and law enforcing agencies take any practical action to cleanse our society from such hate speech? MUHAMMAD UZAIR BHAUR Lahore

* Westernism-secularism and Islam are mutually exclusive word-views. In principle a person cannot be a Westernist and a Muslim at a time. * Religous extermists and militants like Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan are violating clear injunctions of Quran and Hadith regarding morality and sanctity of human life. What they are doing is not sin, it is Kufr (denial of their faith). * Keep away from Madrasa and the Maulvi of Madrasa. Both are extremely dangerous for our religion. * Quaid-e-Azam said, “I have one underlying principle in mind, the principle of Muslim democracy. It is my belief that our salvation lies in following the golden rules of conduct set for us by our great law-giver, the Prophet of Islam. Let us lay the foundation of our democracy on the basis of truly Islamic ideals and principles. Our Almighty has taught us that 'our decisions in the affairs of the State will be guided by discussions and consultations.'” (Sibi Darbar 1948)

فرانز کافکا: جدید فکشن کے بانیوں میں سر فہرست Franz Kafka was a German-language author. He was one of the best writers of 20th century. He is among the founders of modern story. Kafka's prose has multivalent nature. It allows for a number of interpretations. Here is an Urdu translation of his parable "Before the Law". قانون کے سامنے فرانز کافکا  قانون کے سامنے ایک چوکیدار کھڑا ہے۔  اس چوکیدار کے پاس دور دراز سے ایک شخص آتا ہے اور داخل ہونے کی اجازت طلب کرتا ہے۔ مگر چوکیدار اسے کہتا ہے کہ وہ اس وقت اسے داخلے کی اجازت نہیں دے سکتا۔ وہ شخص کچھ دیر سوچتا ہے اور پھر چوکیدار سے پوچھتا ہے کہ کیا کچھ دیر بعد اسے اجازت مل جائے گی۔ "یہ ممکن ہے۔ مگر اس وقت نہیں۔" چوکیدار کہتا ہے۔ چونکہ حسب دستور دروازہ کھلا ہے اور چوکیدار ایک طرف ہٹ گیا ہے اس لیے وہ شخص ذرا سا ترچھا ہو کے اندر جھانکتا ہے۔ یہ دیکھ کر چوکیدار ہنستا ہے اور کہتا ہے۔"اگر تم ایسا کرنا ہی چاہتے ہو تو میرے منع کرنے کے باوجود کر دیکھو۔ مگر یاد رکھنا، میں ایک طاقتور آدمی ہوں۔ اور دوسرے چوکیدار مجھ ...

A Brief Biography in Urdu In Pakistan two inflows of history merge with each other. One is religious, having origin from Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. It gives a universal spiritual message for whole humanity. We own it very deeply. The other one is that of the history and culture of our land. We live in Muslim India, which we named Pakistan. This land has a history, along with its culture and traditions, other than that of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. There is no reason to not own this culture and tradition, as far as it does not contradict with our religious teachings. Some (perhaps all) foolish policymakers of Pakistan want to remove our bonds with our secular history. They believe it is good for Pakistan. But weakening of our links with our secular history cannot serve us in achieving our religious goals. This is a brief biography of a praiseworthy son of the land, Krishna, translated in Urdu as an effort to revive our links with our secular history. حضور کرشن جی مہاراج ان شخ...

Here is an interview of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (RA), President of Indian National Congress, with Shorish Kashmiri (Editor Chitaan) in April 1946. Maulan Azad was such a genius visionary that all his predictions regarding Pakistan came out to be true. (It is not necessary that the writer of this blog agrees with the views expressed by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (RA). The interview is reproduced here only to show how Maulana's predictions came true). Q: The Hindu Muslim dispute has become so acute that it has foreclosed any possibility of reconciliation. Don’t you think that in this situation the birth of Pakistan has become inevitable? A: If Pakistan were the solution of Hindu Muslim problem, then I would have extended my support to it. A section of Hindu opinion is now turning in its favour. By conceding NWFP, Sind, Balochistan and half of Punjab on one side and half of Bengal on the other, they think they will get the rest of India — a huge country that woul...

Syrian government's security agents have arrested Tal al-Molouhi for posting poems about Palestine. She was a high school student. She was arrested on 27 December 2009, and has not yet returned. Her family even does not know where she is detained. I strongly protest against her arrest and detention. I request the authorities to release her as soon as possible. Violations against human rights must be stopped now! Here are links of her blogs: http://talmallohi.blogspot.com/ http://latterstal.blogspot.com/ http://palestinianvillages.blogspot.com/

An Iranian court has sentenced a woman to be stoned to death . Reacting on the decision, the Vatican declared Islamic punishment “stoning to death” as brutal . Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the church opposes the death penalty in general. He added that stoning is particularly a brutal form of capital punishment. Bible is Word of God, according to the Catholic Church. Those who have read Bible know very well that “stoning to death” is an established punishment in Abrahamic religions. Here is a verse from Bible in which God ordained this punishment: “Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.” (Deuteronomy 22: 21) This clearly shows that the punishment of “stoning to death” was included in the Law given to Moses (AS). Before criticising a puni...

I wrote this poem back in 1992. آوازوں کا نوحہ آوازوں کو دیکھا ہے نوحہ کناں؟ سبھی کے ہیں لب کپکپاتے ہوئے ہے سیکھا سبھی سے یہ ہم نے یہاں صداءوں کو کر دو صداءوں میں گم برہما نے پھونکا مرے دل میں یہ "آوازوں سے گوندھا ہے میں نے جہاں، حسیں شوخ رنگ اور چنچل صدائیں، سریلی، نشیلی، رسیلی صدائیں، تھیں کچھ زیر لب اور مدھم صدائیں، بلند بانگ آہنگ، سجیلی صدائیں بہت سی آوازیں یوں گرم نفس تھیں، کہ جیسے ہو عاشق کی روح تپاں، بہت سی آوازوں میں خنکی بھی تھی، کہ جیسے زمستاں کی ہو سرد رات آوازیں تو ایسی کہ سن لے جو کوئی تو روح و بدن میں تفاوت پڑے کچھ ایسی کہ ان سے میرے دل میں تھی تڑپتی ہوئی اک نمو کی خلش انہی سے بنایا ہے میں نے جہاں انہی کو تو میں نے مجسم کیا یہ سبزہ، یہ گل، یہ زمیں آسماں آبشاروں کے جھرنے مچلتے ہوئے، کوہ و دمن اور صحرا کی ریگ، انہی سے تو سورج کو گرمی ملی، انہی سے تو پائی ستاروں نے تاب" گلستاں میں کرتے ہیں گل گفتگو دم شب جب سبزے پہ شبنم گرے فلک پرستاروں سے ہو ہم کلام سمندر بھی بھیجیں پہاڑوں کے نام چلتی ہواءوں سے اپنے پیام مگر ہم جو انساں ہیں رہتے ہی...

Ed Decker is a Christian apologist. According to Dick Baer, he wants to sensationalize and shock people. Previously he has attracted people by criticising Mormonism. Now he is criticising, rather vilifying Islam through his biased writings. Recently he has published a book whose very name is blasphemous. Through this blog I want to convey to Decker and others like him, that before criticising Islam, they must first critically analyze Christianity. Jesus Christ (Peace be upon him) never claimed that he is the founder of a new religion: Christianity. Even he never uttered the word Christianity in his whole lifetime. It was Paul, a self-claimed apostle of Christ (Peace be upon him) who was the founder of Christianity. ( Reference ). Gospels indicate that Christ (Peace be upon him) always kept himself under the Divine Laws of Moses (Peace be upon him). He announced that he had not come even to change an iota of the Law revealed to Moses (Peace be upon him). (Mathew 24:35) Though Christ ...

Mela Chiraghan is one of the most popular festival of Lahore. It is actualy " Urs " of a famous mystic Shah Hussain, who is also known as Madhu Lal Hussian. To some, he was a Sufi mystic, and to others he was a Mustaswif (one who pretends like a Sufi for the lust of worldly gains). Here is an Urdu translation of an essay of Yoginder Sikand " Madho Lal Hussain of Lahore: Beyond Hindu and Muslim ". One can himself judge whether he was a sufi or a mutasawif after reading it. شاہ حسین، شہادت پائیں جو مرن متراں دے اگے برصغیر کی تصوف کی تاریخ بہت بھر پور اور طویل ہے۔ برصغیر کے دوسرے علاقوں کی نسبت غالبا ً پنجاب میں اس کی جڑیں سب سےزیادہ گہری ہیں، جنہوں نے یہاں تصوف کے عظیم علم بردار پیدا کیے، اور جنہوں نے عوام کے ذہنوں میں تصوف کا گہرا تاثر قائم کیا۔ آج تک اس علاقے کے ان گنت صوفیاکی اس صوبے اور دیگر علاقوں کے کروڑوں مسلمان، سکھ، دلت اور ہندوبے حد عزت کرتے ہیں ۔ شاہ حسین بھی ایسے ہی صوفی بزرگ ہیں جنہیں ان کی وفات کے چار سو سال بعد بھی کروڑوں پنجابی یاد رکھتے ہیں۔ وہ لاہ...

Today, I received an email, which is an eye-opener. I am reproducing that email here: Please have a reading of the undergiven discussion and give your input. DO WE REALIZE THAT WE ALL ARE MURDERERS?   During the past few days some incidents of “ SUICIDE ” have come to the knowledge of all of us.  Incident 1 A rickshaw driver in Karachi gave poison to all his family members including children of just few years of age and his wife.  He also took poison himself and died.  His children also died and his wife was in serious condition (God knows whether she survived or not).  Reasons Media told that this incident happened due to financial reasons. Incident 2 In another incident a person committed suicide in Lahore .  Reasons Media told that this incident happened due to financial reasons.  Back ground of the DISCUSSION I personally got very much disturbed on these incidents as these were due to financial reasons. These days I get opportunity of having...

Secular people always insist that in the light of 11 August 1947 speech of Jinnah, Pakistan should be a secular country. It is claimed that had he been alive, he would have never allowed the Objectives Resolution to be passed. Following questions rise in every person, having knowledge of history and religion: It is assumed that had Jinnah been alive, he would have not allowed the constituent assembly to pass Objectives Resolution. The question is that how could Jinnah prevent it. Does they want to prove that Jinnah was a dictator and could dictate constituent assembly and could reject will of the nation? Is there any historical evidence to show that Jinnah was a secular person, and wanted secular constitution for Pakistan? Can it be substantiated that Jinnah ever declared that Pakistan will be a secular state, or Islam will not be the highest guideline for Pakistani constitution? Can any reasonable person interpret the 11 August speech of Jinnah as a secular framework for the c...

For the sake of better administration, isn’t it advisable to create these provinces in Pakistan? Punjab It be divided in the following three provinces: Saraikistan Wasti Punjab Pothohar Balochistan It be divided in: Balochistan Pashtunistan (it can be merged in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw) Khyber Pakhtunkhaw It be divided in: Khyber Pakhtunkhaw Hazaristan Sindh It be divided in: Sindh Jinnahpur (consisting mainly of Karachi) Makran

To know how is he spreadingg hatred, please click h ere . In the following blog, I will try to explain the reasons of his spreading hatred: One reason is that the pope is not a well educated man, and had perhaps not read the Bible completely . Had he read the Bible, then in order to favour “rationality”, he should have first criticized Bible and Christian God, before criticizing Islam. The second reason is that the present institute of papacy is heretic and fake. Let me explain it with the help of history. Pope Embraces Islam Peter (may God be pleased with him), one of the apostles of Christ (Peace be upon him) was the first in the series Popes. Popes continued to come one after the other, until the last Prophet (Peace be upon him) started his mission in Arabia. After migrating to Madina, he (peace be upon him) wrote letters to different neighboring rulers, including the Pope of his times. His name was Zaghatar (Arabitised form of his name). On reading the letter of the last...