Celebrations vs commemorations

We "celebrate" things which are for happiness and "commemorate" things that bring unhappy memories.
Like Allama Iqbal said
"hilal-e-Eid hamari hansi urata hay"
It seems what we shall be doing now is being sad on Eid days.
Se how many more lives are 'sacrificed' amongst Muslims before Allah will send down somebody to educate such half-educated clerics who teach suicide bombing.

Well folks, I take your leave for the next 3-4 weeks, I may not be able to blog. Keep peace and happiness and blessings of God the Almighty till then.

JUm'ah Journal

This therefore is my 101st blog and though it is being written on sat. morning it is JJ (Jum'ah Journal)
Pakistan and many other countries have Eid-ul-Adha celebration on Friday and I wont go into those arguments in favor and against the actual Yaum Arafah and Yaum-ul-Hajj.
Ordinarily I would go ahead and say Eid mubarak but listening to the massacre in Charsadda I am greatly and sadly inhibited. Like you, I would say, "what can we do?" but it is the most heinous act and I cannot consider this person responsible for so many Muslim's deaths and injury, as a Muslim or a believer. On the Eid day? and while praying in the Masjid?
When will some real Aalim stand up against this stupidity? I dont think anybody believes these acts of violence can be stopped by force (even though many 'great' leaders of today like Bush and Musharraf believe they can, but actual events belie their contension). The Ulama must, not only condemn but actually do something to undo what these little self-made ulama are perpetuating in continuing to teach violence and calling it Islam. All of them know full well what the teachings are and there are no ifs and buts with the aya quoted below (93, of Sura 4).
No killing of innocents, children, older persons, women etc. etc. and if you kill one innocent person who has not killed anybody and who is not responsible for 'fasaad' in earth, Qur'an calls it "as if you have killed the whole mankind" (S.5, Aya 35). Then on top of that, "If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompence is hell, to abide therein for ever and wrath and curse of Allah are upon him...." (S. Nisaa, aya 93)
Would you not shudder at this forceful aya?
Now the lighter side of my blog.
How do you like the handsome (yes despite the clothes this is a male child) fellow's picture in my blog? (courtsy of my son's help) That was 1934 probably March/April.

Jum'ah Journal--Hundredth post

Well, this is my celebration of 100th post on this auspicious occasion , the blessed day of the blessed month and one of the 10 most revered days of the year, culminating in Eid-ul-adha.
This is also called "bigger Eid" or greater eid because of so many things associated with this day especially the Hajj and its five days of events beginning on( yaum-at-tarwiyah) the 8th to the 13th day of zdul-hijjah. (the Eid-ul-fitr is lesser Eid)
The spirit of sacrifice is in the air, physically expressed in slaughtering (sacrificing) an animal like goat or a ram etc. specailly for Muslims all over the world. The real sacrifice is however sacrificing of yourself, something that you love most. Giving of 'yourself' for example to maintain a friendship or a marriage or a family situation, you decide in favour of what is called altruism in behavior, at the same time not losing self respect or respect of others. Doing little things for others for the sake of other's benefit, even if calls for giving of a bit of 'yourself'.
I bring it out mainly because living in USA one gets the impression that most important teaching here is that of getting your rights, period. Even if it treads upon other's, never give up on yours, keep demanding.
Right?, No, it is ignoring "human rights", one must consider other's rights also.
True or not but it is commonly related--- in a battlefield where Muslims wounded were being helped by persons offering them water and the wounded will say, no go to the other wounded man first and by the time the helper gets to the other he also directs to another wounded one who is more desrving (he says) and so on, and then by the time the helper returns to offer the water to the first one he is aldready 'gone'. Sacrifice.
While all the good is being done with sacrificing animals and provision of meat and food etc. I think we must also feel what we can do in the way of sacrificing a little bit of "ourselves"--- our time our beloved things, our conveniences etc. or at least share with others as it gives others a chance to be happy or to feel good. It should give us a spiritual uplift.

Hippocratic Oath is NOT Hipocracy

The state and NC medical board are daggers drawn.
Board wants to punish a physician who witnesses or participates in death of a person (Like in the capital punishment he may be asked to provide lethal injection or whatever.)

I wish to take the liberty of quoting part of Hipocratic oath that the physicians take at the time of embarking upon their noble profession
"...I will use that regimen which according to my ability and judgement shall be for the welfare of the sick and I WILL REFRAIN FROM THAT WHICH SHALL BE BANEFUL AND INJURIOUS, IF ANY SHALL ASK OF ME A DRUG TO PRODUCE DEATH, I SHALL NOT GIVE IT....."

"KUWAIT DOCUMENT" (Islamic code of medical ethics, page 742 in the "Bulletin of Islamic Medicine", Vol. 1 section 6) has the following to say
"The medical profession will not permit its technical scientific or other resources to be utilized in any wau to harm, destroy or inflict upon man, physical, psychological or moral or other damage regardless of all political or military considerations."

(It is evident I am not supportive of Dr. Kwarkiyan's assisted suicide technique)

Jumu'ah Journal-late

Well, Musa just left and I am now trying to recover. He is only 20 months old but we (Both G'parents) get exhausted trying to keep him from getting into things. A bit of help for Umm-e-Musa as she watches us doing what she does more often at home. Aaah, my arms and legs, but it is so very enjoyable. Thanking Allah SWT.
He is politically very sensible. while here he often will pick up telephone and come to me and say"Maan or Dada" (His Dada and Dadi), meaning we call their number so he can talk. Then he gives them the same treatment that he gives us when he 'calls' us from Maryland. (Plays with the telephone and will utter something in "Musa-language" to the delight of his grandparents who like us try to give him an impression we understood his remarkable utterance.) Certainly his vocabulary has increased but many a times Umm-e-Musa has to translate in our ordinary earthly language what he said.' like--"Mooee", means more
"pa' can be anything but usually it meand Pants
"Peez" (please) when he wants us to do something for him.
for further vocabulary you must blog into Umm-e-Mus'a blog (Glittering Caves)
I am looking forward to Visits of Raihana and Issa with their parents.
Three cousins would be like 'three musketeers' keeping us all on our toes
Joys unlimited

Inspirational experiences and Wahi

My friend Ajmal Bhopal wrote something in his blog about an event suggesting that" God still speaks with human beings" which was misunderstood by some.
Since I cannot write in Urdu so I am taking the liberty of writing in my own blog of what I have written and studied about this process. (originally in response to an article that was published by a prof. of Neurology in an esteemed journal of Neurology called "Epilepsia" in 1976.)
First, he (Ajmal) is absolutely right 100% that Wahi has been stopped with the passing of Muhammad Rasool-ullah peace be upon him. Except Mirza Ghulam Ahmad all Muslims believe in that fact even though Mirza saheb also initially believed "La nabiyya b'adee" hadeeth.
That does not mean Allah SWT has stopped guiding people.
Anyway Wahi is a form of divine inspiration meant for guidance of man-kind and is given to those chosen human beings we call Prophets or Nabi and Rasool so that they convey that to the mankind.
Best description of Wahy to understand comes from
1. "Nor does he say (aught) of his own desire. It is no less than an inspiration sent down to him (Sura Najm-53rd, aya 3 and 4.)
2. "....and will put MY words into his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall comman d him to." (Deutronomy 18:18, see in James' version of Bible)
Imam Ibn-el-Qayyim Al-Jauziyyah has written a lot about Wahi and describes 7 known methods of how wahi 'decended' on Muhammad PBUH. (from Qur'an Majeed and Ahadeeth).
(Muslim ulama differentiate between Wahi that is recited (matloo and ghair matloo) and that which is not recited.)
(From Page 330 to 333 Vol III, Seeratun-Nabi by Shibli Nu'mani/Sulaiman Nadawi)
1. Ruya-e-Sadiqa (true dreams)
2. Nafatha fir-Rau' or Ilqaa fil-qalb (Planting some fact into the heart)
3. Salsala-tul-Jars (Sound of Bells ringing)
4. Tamaththul ( Angel appearing in some person's form)
5. Farishtay ka apni asli soorst main nazar aana (Appearance of Angel in his own angelic form)
6. Meraj ka mukalma (Method where God Talked directly to the prophet PBUH)
7. Direct (Bila waasta mukalma) method of talking
Then there are inspirational experiences of other persons which are not wahi as we understand from the above
Examples are
Paul (Saul, initially not a follower of Jesus PBUH but later he says he converted after inspirational experience), For no better word let me call his teachings as "Paulism" rather than true teachings of Jesus PBUH.
Joseph Smith (Mormonism)
Mirza Ghulam Ahmed (Ahmedi or Mirzai religion) who 'claimed' he recieved " wahi"
Iqbal (Allama Iqbal's Poetry called "aamad" is or can be considered a form of non-religious ispirational experience.
And there are a host of other experiences which we can call "Ilham" or 'Kashf' etc. Here I need not go into their exact nature but suffice it to say these are also "divine inspirations" in the sense that these are from God and that there is a hint an "Ishara" for something related to what one is confronted with, rather than a whole set of instructions like we see in Qur'an. Those of you who know the difference between Hadeeth-e-Qudsi and Qur'an would know what I am talking about. This may not be a place for me to write in detail about those ahadeeth. As I said I am refraining from discussion on "Unrecited Wahi"
I would like to remind the science students who know of the "benzene ring" which was the result of a scientist's 'dream' in which he saw six snales joined at mouth and tail together forming ring. I consider that Ilham, and also the thought that formed the basis of Gravitational pull when Issac Newton saw the apple dropping.
Kashf is another word which is also a "hint" which may or may not be direct. You will know the Arabic meanings of that word. Have a look at the descriptions in tafasir as both these words appear in Qur'an (Sura Shams 91st sura aya8 and Surah 16, Aya 54 also seeSura 50 aya 22). The "auliya-allah" claim those 'kashf' which is NOT wahi but a hint on something
I will refrain from the Shaitan's "wasaawas" because many of you have alredy hinted toward that subject. However it is upto the piety of of the derwaish or wali-ullah which helps in differentiating between such "Ilahams and kashf experiences". We also have been told of the stories of some dewaishes and wali-ullahs who were seduced by Shaitan and led away from the 'sirat-e-mustaqeem' and I guess anybody can fall into that trap.
BUT the true Nabi is different who is fully confident and aware of the responsibility of the weight of the revelation (wahi) and 100% clear about it.
I have made some discussion on that subject in the study of Sura Najm which in my understanding is a very remarakble sura about this subject of what wahi is what wahi is not. Interestingly the exalted author of Qura'an, Allah SWT has done Himself a 'differential diagnosis of wahi in the first Rukoo' (especially the mentioning of Lat, Manat and Uzza and the hadeeth-al-Gharaneeq. The real Satanic Verses)
Next the wahi to Musa's mother, Marayam and to the Bee, the meanings are self-evident as that is reference to "fitrat" of Bee and Guidance for the two exalted women mentioned, on the basis of which some would suggest these women should be considered 'nabi' but that raises more questions so I'll not mention any more than saying that it was "Ilqa filqalb".
Lastly let me quote another example of today's experiences how God does speak to human beings.
!. Ask Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens, the English singer and performer) how he became a Muslim
2. One recent Muslimah in our area explains: she was confused about what to believe in the church and where or who God is so one day at home she asked "God give me some indication where should I be guided" She suddenly was hit on the head by a book falling from shelf in her house. The book was a "Qur'an' copy left by one Muslim ex-lodger in their house who had forgotten the book when he left the house some time earlier. Wow, she said. Study then led her to accepting Islam.
I dont know what to call it. It is certainly not wahi but definitely a guidance. Of course there are more examples many of you can come up with. Bhopal saheb's 'story' did not surprise me at all.
Would be happy to answer questions because I have written in summery form.