We, the Followers of the Prophet of Mercy (SAW)

Today is 12th Rabi ul Awwal, the birthday of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Once again, a large number of muslims are celebrating his birthday. Many countries have announced a holiday to honour this day. Seminars, conferences and processions will be held, food will be cooked and distributed, and even cakes will be cut, to celebrate the birth of our Beloved Prophet  (SAW).

In the eyes of the enthusiasts and celebrators, those who do not celebrate this auspicious day are committing quite a sin; while on the other hand, Saudi clerics have issued a "fatwa" claiming that celebrating the Prophet's birthday is "haram!!" Not surprisingly, the issuing of such fatwas, playing with such strong words as "haram" and "halal," and condemning those with a slightly different point of view to hell is not a matter of great unease or discomfort for us.

Yet, during all this over-enthusiasm and birthday preperations on the one hand, and issuing of fatwas on the other, do we ever stop and consider HIM (SAW) who we are celebrating or fighting over: the Prophet of Mercy, not just for muslims but for the entire mankind.  The Quran says,

"We sent thee (Muhammad) as a mercy upon the worlds."

Where exactly is this concept of mercy when we are forever ready to send each other, as well as the "non-believers," to "hell" in his name?

We all remember the stories we read, from the Prophet's life, in our course books, which told us about the tolerance and compassion practiced by him, how he forgave the worst of his enemies and the enemies of Islam. There was the story of the woman who threw garbage on him every day, and one day when she didn't show up, the Prophet visited her, and seeing that she was sick, looked after her, as a result of which she accepted Islam. Then there was the story of the conquest of Makkah, when the Prophet forgave each and everyone of the Quraish, no matter how deeply they had wronged or hurt him. Were these just stories, or were we actually supposed to learn something from them?

According to the great poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the spititual father of Pakistan, the Muslim Community is bound through the love of the Holy Prophet SAW. It is this love that works as a binding force between muslims and creates the collective ego, soul or consciousness known as the Muslim Community or the Muslim Nation. Each Muslim's heart is lit by this love, it is the one thing which is common between us. Iqbal says in Rumuz e Bekhudi (Mysteries of Selflessness):

He ... Made of Apostleship a magic ring
To draw around us ; the Community
A circle is, whose great circumference
Centers on Mecca’s valley; and by force
And virtue of that same relationship
Stands our Community unshakable,
Tidings of mercy to the world entire...

...The Prophet, power and strength of soul and heart,
Becometh more beloved than God Himself.
His book is reinforcement to the hearts
Of all believers; through his wisdom flows
The lifeblood of the whole Community...

... In God the Individual, in him
Lives the Community, ... his Apostleship
Brought concord to our purpose and our goal.
A common aim shared by the multitude
Is unity which when it is mature,
Forms the Community; that may live
Only by virtue of the single bond.

A nation bound by such love should be full of mercy, compassion and empathy, for each other, as well as for the rest of the world. If we claim to possess such love for our Prophet, our actions should speak louder than our words. We accuse non muslims of blasphemy every once in a while, we are protesting over cartoons and movies some sick minded individuals make about our Prophet, yet we are the ones committing blasphemy every day, by not practically following his example and showing to the world who Muhammad (SAW) really was. We judge in his name, we are ready to kill in his name; yet we are not willing to follow the message he left for us. If we spend the same amount of time trying to adopt the Prophet's Sunnah - of tolerance and mercy -which we spend putting together a hate speech in his name, we might be doing more justice to this immense love we claim to possess and are eager to celebrate. We are ready to die for him, will we ever be ready to create a new, better world in his name?

Iqbal says:

قوت عشق سے ہر پست کو بالا کر دے
دہر میں اسم محمد سے اجالا کر دے

Raise through Love all lowly and humble to greatness,
Enlighten the world with Muhammad's name!

If we, the descendants of Ibn Sina ( Avicenna), Ibn Al Haitham, Al Kindi, Al Razi, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Farnas, Maryam Astolabi, want to reclaim our lost glory, we must once again tread the lost path, the only path to our salvation, which lies in the Sunnah of the Prophet of Mercy:

کی محمد سے وفا تو نے تو هم تیرے ہیں
یہ جہاں چیز ہے کیا لوح و قلم تیرے ہیں

(To My Muhammad be true, and you shall conquer Me,
This world is nothing, you shall command your Destiny!)

APS - Grief and Hope

A year has passed and 16th Decemeber is here again. Our hearts are again sinking and our minds appear to be reliving the horror of that day.

Indeed, 16th December 2015 was a day that saw an entire nation paralysed with grief, anguish and horror - unable to grasp the reality of it all. For days to follow, streets lay empty, shopping areas deserted - a collective depression engulfed the whole nation. We forgot to laugh, we forgot to share jokes on social media. All we could share were pictures of those children, each one beautiful enough to melt the hardest of hearts.

Such a planned genocide of children had never been attempted before. It was not only an attempt to demoralise the entire nation, but more specifically to psychologically disarm and cripple the soldiers who were engaged in a military operation against these very terrorists. This horrendous atrocity was an endeavour to wipe out their future completely, to leave them nothing to fight for.

However, the innocent martyrs of Army Public School, Peshawar, did what no one had been able to do in years. They revived a sleeping nation, and the world saw that nation unite as it never had before - we finally stood together  - united in grief and united in pain, just like "a single body" referred to in the Prophetic tradition.*

Every mother, young or old, shed tears of grief - for those 132 mothers whose budding flowers were so untimely and mercilessly plucked from their bosoms; and every father undoubtedly felt the anguish of those against whom this atrocity was committed - most of them soldiers - serving or retired - some actually part of the "Zarb e Azb" - the ongoing operation against  those terrosists. There were fathers who came directly from the war front to bury their children who, in many instances, were more than one, and then rushed back with yet more conviction and resilience to avenge those animals.

The political and military leadership rose to the occasion like never before. PTI chairperson Imran Khan called off his months long "Dharna," realising the gravity of the situation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cancelled or postponed all official foreign trips. Within a week of the attack, an All Parties Conference reached a consensus on the need to devise a National Action Plan. On 24th December 2014, PM Nawaz Sharif, in a late night address to the nation announced the formation of the NAP in light of the decisions taken by the APC. The PM said,

" We have to act fast and whatever is agreed we have to implement it immediately...this agreement is a defining moment for Pakistan and we will eliminate terrorists from this country."

As a result of the NAP and the 21st constitutional ammendment which followed, military courts were established in the country, a 7 year long moratorium on capital punishment was lifted, and terrorists finally started getting the death sentences which they deserved. During all these decisions, the nation more or less stood united behind these leaders, no matter how much we criticised, and how impatient we were to see results - yet we all took up a single stance against terrorism. All our delusions were over, the veil had been lifted - there were no "good" or "bad" taliban, and all terrorists, as well as their facilitators and sympathisers, were all equally guilty.

In carrying out and collectively supporting these steps, the Pakistani nation became a "nation" in the true sense of the word. Our spiritual father, Allama Iqbal, says in Javednama:

"What is a nation? But with thousands of eyes to be ONE in vision."

In such a situation, we might not have done extremely well, yet we still did good, better then most nations would have done. Over the past year, the political and military leadership appear to more or less be on the same page, and the nation has offered full support for the military operations being carried out in the country. No one can deny that the security situation in the country had greatly improved, the improvement in Karachi is particularly noteworthy. We have a lot to be thankful for.

I believe most passionately that we are greatly, most immensely indebted to our innocent martyrs and their parents, who by making this unimaginable sacrifice redeemed our nation in a way it could not otherwise have redeemed itself. The soil fertilized with such innocent blood can never, SHOULD NEVER, be corrupted, or sold. When you read about the courage of those brave boys, how so many of them gave up their lives to save their friends, your heart swells up with pride:

یہ کلی بهی اس گلستان خزاں منظر میں تهی
ایسی چنگاری بهی یارب اپنے خاکستر میں تهی

(O that in our autumn‐stricken garden there were flower‐buds like this!
O that a spark like this, dear Lord, could be found in our ashes!)

These stories must be recounted for generations to come. Our children must know that we are indebted to the martyrs of APS Peshawar, in more ways than we can even count. They gave us the will to fight back after we were struck, and as a result, our children are still going to school, our country is still intact, and we are still a free nation - a nation with great potential and the bravest children any nation can boast of:

نہیں ہے نوامید اقبال اپنی کشت ویراں سے
ذرا نم ہو تو یہ مٹی بہت زرخیز ہے ساقی

(But of his barren acres Iqbal will not despair:
A little rain, and harvests shall wave at last, oh Saki!)





*  The Messenger of Allah, SAW, said: “The example of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim