I Stand With Ahmed

  By now everybody has talked about Ahmed Mohammad of Texas in the media and everywhere in the world
 The world famous 14 year old boy whose parents happen to be Muslim and also immigrants from Sudan but they are "Americans" or are they?
 Many in media and media-taught Americans would consider them Non-Americans.
"Muslims have no business being in America"
 Whether the "invention" of the boy was  just a hoax is also being thrown out by experts in Engineering and Technology, that the boy just bought an ordinary digital alarm clock and converted into a shape for advancing it as his own invention. There is so much variety of discussions.
 Quite apart from that no body asks questions like:
 Suppose the exact same thing was done by a "John Carpenter" with a pure white skin, would that have been handled in the same way
 The answer would be a definite NO
 I remember an old patient of mine who was highly intelligent and was expelled from is college because he made a "bomb" (A strong punishment for a college boy TEENAGER.) Although I wrote the word here but my name being Ahmad I am hugely conscious of this "four-letter-word"
     Then again if he really had a ""b--b would he so innocently bring it to show of knowing fully that he is a Muslim and not white? Can any Muslim be so crazy?
  Yet all the important and responsible persons keep saying that everything that happened including hand-cuffing the boy was completely appropriate and according to the prevailing laws. Meaning that when there is suspicion of security and the person is NOT White, the "culprit" is a suspect with no rights of a citizen and the people including the police can and should do everything without regard to the rights of individual and nobody has to apologize.
  If you have colored skin (problem and suspicion #1) and your name is Muslim-sounding" (problem #2), you've had it brother
Every educated person knows that
"Religious freedom is constitutionally provided"
The most interesting thing everybody conveniently forgets is that:
 Islam provided religious freedom in Islamic lands and that has been the teaching for over 1400 years  which is still correct though the modern day Muslim countries do not follow that teaching and BTW this is not the only thing present in the American Constitution which complies with Islamic teachings. To an ordinary Muslim like me reading the constitution makes me suspicious that the American founders 'got' all these things from Islamic rules

Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Nine-eleven" targedy and Bin Laden again

Crane Collapse in Makka al-Mukarrama masjid-el-haraam, on Friday 11th Sept. 2015

 The crane collapse is described by the Bin Laden Group"  as "act of God". They are engaged in the construction process (deemed unnecessary and superfluous by me and some others)
  This is  so 'co-incidental' but a powerful reminder of the real 9-11 for which the whole world of Islam and Muslims everywhere are suffering/dying and God only knows how long we will continue to suffer. When I look at that tragedy of Muslims the death of 138 pilgrims who were probably planning to stay for Hajj etc. seems less important (forgive me to say so) May Allah award these Muslims Jannat  and what a great  place for a Muslim to breath his last anyway.


 Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

With Bhutta

 Well you all have that experience
 During hostel living (Medical College) there were lot of experiences like this but wait you first have to know why?
 Among our 'servants'' there were all kinds of traditions. One was that they had jealousies among themselves also such as whose 'babu' or 'doctor'is getting more marks in the exams or who stands first etc. so they could say with pride something about 'their doc'
 Now  when with Bhutta as my room mate we had our servant working for us and he always wanted me to study so that I can get score better than so and so (main competitor was Asif Afandi my other friend). During last days of month when our pockets would be empty here is how me and Bhutta planned
 Say for example we needed some oranges and did not have money. So I would sit in my corner in our room and open my books 'studying hard ' as we knew that pleases our servant. Then Bhutta will call the servant and as he opens the door he whispers to him Doc wants some oranges as he is studying so do not disturb him". Just bring some
  Within minutes we had a bucketful of oranges in our room


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

takbir

As a child I remember going for Eid prayers with my father who said takbir loud and we followed him. I did the same with my children as they were growing up- saying
'Allah-o-Akbar x3 and la ilaha illallah  and Allaho-Akbar Allahoakbar wa lillah-il-Hamd"
 And I hope they will continue to teach their children the same. Of course this repetition  "wird" of takbir is carried on in Masajid after salat for the day of Eid-ul-Fitr and for three days on Eid-ul-Ad-ha and it is a good tradition for men. For women they are supposed to say takbir in whisper.
    Now at this age I have become more aware of WHY (not just because my father taught me so)
  Verse #185 Sura Baqara "Shahro Ramadhan. . . . . . . . wa litukabbir-ullaha ala ma hadakum wa la-allakum tashkuroon"
  And again in Sura Hajj verse# 37: "LanyyanalAllaha. . . . . . litukabbiru-allaha ala ma hadakum wa bshshiril-muhsineen"
 I purposely wrote "arabic form"
 English equivalent is "glorify Allah for this" which in my understanding is ' say takbir repeatedly'
 Allah has given details in these and other related verses about how to fast and what to do at hajj etc. the "how' of such acts of worship and then said "say takbir repeatedly" for what Allah has guided you on. All the beautiful exhilerating acts of worship that enhance us spiritually have been given by our creator and were performed 'in practice' by our great teacher beloved prophet Muhammad SAWS. each and every detail of how to fast how to break how to this and how to that there would be along list.
 Can you beat that?
 Is it not therefore for us to love Allah SWT who taught us all these things? Is it not proper that we should keep repeating these beautiful words and then He Himself told us to do because we are totally ignorant human beings (zalooman jahoola) and He knows that too who taught Adam AS the words to ask for forgiveness after taking the forbidden fruit.
 And that does not do justice to the takbir of Allah SWT like Allama said
"Haq to yeh hay keh Haq ada na huwa"
 I remember this takbir that delighted me tremendously when we were coming out of Masjid-el-Haram after the Maghreb prayer on the last day of Ramadhan (we were at Umrah during the last Ashara) and we hear rakbir- some men were standing in a group and reciting that as we walked toward our hotel to prepare for Eid the following day and travel back to USA.
 So-called routines and rituals of 'religeon' but we only know some of their real meanings


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Aah my friend & partner Bhutta

Zafar Iqbal Bhutta

 The extreme left standing in the group of us five unseparables. The above pictures are from 1956 and 2004

 Yes we have been friends since 1952

 Bhutta as we call him left this world and us sad, very sad for this world.

 A remarkably blunt  fearless Physician and friend, a good father. He was my room-mate for -3 years in our medical school

 Have so many memories with him

 May God rest his soul in peace forgive his sins and award him alJannah

Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

"Mum"

 The following is inspired from my friend "mystic" 's note on "Patricia"

    When in UK  many years ago I was working in a 'peripheral' hospital "House physicians/surgeons including senior and 'registrars' were mostly "foreigners' except one Englishman. We were  all housed in residential quarters  with attached kitchen and some food stuff was supplied by the hospital if someone would not like to eat in the hospital doctors dining room. We were served by maids who would sometime also cook for us Indeed some ladies had learned desi "curry" cooking from female Indian doctors (and yes we could get poories). These maids 'served' doctors very well. One of them was elderly but loved us all and sometimes in bad weather someone from us would drive her home when she finished working. Because of her 'devotion' and love we called her "mum" except one Indian doctor who always called her "Mrs. Thrower' (That was her name) and we all would object to his behavior.
Just one example of her "motherly attitude" and why we called her "Mum":
 One evening one of us complained about the poor quality of fruits being served supplied by the hospital. Next day we got good quality fresh fruits on our table.
 Yes, you guessed it right. Mum bought from her own pocket from the market so that we do not complain any more.


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

"I passed for the black"

I would like my readers to recall the following movies
 "West-side story"
"Gentleman's agreement"
"Imitation of life"
and of course "I passed for white"
 Then see the news of Miss Dolezal about her identity
 She is a white woman who has taken up Black Identity and insists that she is "BLACK" even though both her parents are white. I have no problems, Miss Dolezal you are black.
 She has done some remarkable work for the uplift and justice for the black people in the garb of a black which is worthy of a lot of praise and yes she must be given that credit which I would do. However she cheated us with her general appearance trying to change like curly hair darkening her skin (at least that is visible) etc. etc. That was for a noble cause and that brings to mind a statement:
 " telling lies for a noble cause is not lying"

 This is a free country and there is freedom of speech and a man can call himself and portray as a woman and demand from people to call him a her and likewise a woman can call herself a man and portray as man and insist that everybody call her a him but these people are treated  in medical spheres as "gender identity problems" . however the media call them as "heroes" for having the courage of "coming out of closet" just like the gay and lesbians etc. but Id disagree you require boldness for saying your opposite gender
 The list is increasing in our free society
 I did not know Miss Rachel Dolezal from Adam but now I know all about her.  I feel a movie will be made about it soon and why not: there is "money to be made. That could be called "I passed for the black"
 BUT I wish to say something about "Gentleman's Agreement" (award-winning movie)
 Jews have been looked down upon here in this American Free society for a long time and in this movie Gregory Peck plays a noted Journalist who wants to write about "anti-semitism" assumes a Jewish identity and then writes up on the subject after having had that "personal experience"
 Such movies that deal with Jewish things such as "Fiddler on the roof" are always hit and are made with religious zeal to promote Jewish cause. Most people, the actors directors photographers etc. who make such movies put their 'heart and soul' into it
 Several such movies have resulted in a very positive position of the Jews in this country
 I say that with the background in my mind:
 Will we Muslims have to work on some similar formula in order to improve the damage done by some supposed Muslims on 9/11/2001?

Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

"Monsters inside Me"

 That is a popular topic on the channel of life and health affairs
 They detail with dramatic presentation of the sickness related to parasitic infestations of different types both common and rare ones is captivating indeed but having suffered myself is something else
 Each time I see one I am reminded of my own 'suffering' with Ankylostoma Duodenale (hook worms) that is so common in The Punjab Villages or at least it was during those days when I lived there. I wrote of my experience on Jan 10, 2009 blog if you wish to see it there. The last words may not be completely understood but I do owe some to Ankylostoma, the "monster" was a great help:
 In my final year exam there are two papers in medicine and one of them had a full question on "Ankylostomaiasis" of which I knew everything there is to know about for I had suffered myself so I remembered this quite well and sure enough that was the question I attempted first to write and enjoy because reading it the examiner will consider me to be an A student so the rest of the questions he may not see as critically (i hoped) So Ankylostoma did give me an edge or a step above

Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Older Toasters and Toasting

    Watching older movies such as "Seven year Itch"  (Boy, it was a thrill and a lot of laugh. ) or Shows like Ï Love Lucy"you are bound to see those toasters which throw up the toast after it is done so forcefully that you have to catch it from falling somewhere unclean. It used to be fun when we were in our hostel and bought such fun gadget to make our toasts in the room.
OK While I am at it I may unload this thing too.
 I never quite was able to grasp ''Toasting" by touching glasses of drink in company for good wishes or whatever. I tried to understand it as it is so much part of the Western society. Coming from the East where we did see this happen in some social gatherings of more westernized people and of course seeing it regularly in the movies of the West I thought I should seek out the history but there is nothing convincing as to how this became a custom. Nothing wrong with the custom
In fact it is good and except for the use of alcohol I have no objections even though now alcohol is not necessarily considered essential for toasting any more, any other fluids can be used in the same way.for toasting even  glass of water
  However throwing away the glass after a drink/toasting is another tradition I was not familiar with when I saw in movies I thought it was just showing off of richness (throwing a glass which to me is an expensive thing) of the thrower. I however was surprised when I was still hardly in Med School I had this experience
I was traveling second class from Lahore going to Quetta I had a passenger with me who started drinking beer ( for me that was drinking alcohol bad) After he finished the glass (ordinary glass) he threw it out off the running train. I kept thinking is that some type of tradition to throw the glass (there was no toasting before that as he was just drinking by himself) I had seen some hollywood movies in which they throw away the glass after drinking So naievely I thought it to be some kind of custom?
 To me he just wasted money


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

iDoc/Jacob

Jacob (not his real name) had a huge swollen leg and we called it "Elephantiasis"
 I cannot recall what symptoms brought him into our ward but he was a quiet unassuming man hardly ever complained but we knew he was in pain and discomfort.
 We tried to induce better renal function with medications and even what was called "pyretotherapy". I doubt if it is used much now but his water/renal function would not respond to any treatment. Considering that removing the leg may make him disabled but his general condition may improve and kidney function may get better but the surgeons would not agree. I wanted to send him to another surgeon but Jacob refused saying," I do not wish to see any doctors who do not respect your judgement" I did not realize till then how much respect and regard he had for me
 He, like us (doctors) gave up on treatment and just let it go in the hands of the Almighty or the disease (renal failure) to take its normal course. He was not old but still in mid-thirties. Doctors and Nurses all looked after him and weeks passed his condition worsened.
In the mean time another man with similar name (Jacob ii) got admitted with lot of abdominal symptoms (usually described by him in more dramatic terms) that we were trying to investigate. He became sympathetic to Jacob and we put him next to his bed. He would tell us more about Jacob's problems than his own. Anyway in the long run the day rapidly approached when Jacob lapsed into coma and we knew he was dying. His next bed Jacob ii spent his own money for this Jacob's needs as he was well to do. The nurse called me to check him at the time of Jacob's death and the Jacob-ii was standing there. I examined his heart and lungs etc. and declared him dead and also told J-ii to go to his own bed but he said to me in typical dramatic fashion "you came too late doctor". Jacob ii spent from his pocket all the expenses for transporting his body to his relatives who lived far away and could not come.



Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Transgeder-ism

 I end up making some comments on this LGBT and this again I cannot help so bear with me
   There are more "types' between Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual, such as transvestite as well as all the medically related abnormalities ( sort of -in addition to Psychological abnormalities)
 I know you may disagree with my labeling of "abnormalities'  but that is the way I was taught medicine not too long ago.
 Transgender is a new term for me but I asked Google for clearing up for me but I still have questions how to separate these 'categories' neatly. My interest arose from the news about BRUCE JENNER, whom I had watched get a record number of points to bring home the gold medal for decathelon from 1976 Olympics. His classical muscular athletic body with its remarkable performance to get that gold medal made him an American hero - the best athlete in the world and his subsequent TV and 'acting' opportunities etc. (I did not follow those) were understandable
 Now this news of being a woman after three marriages and six children etc. is certainly shocking to say the least. As if he has "used up all his Testosterone" and at this age (65). How and when he started this  biological/psychological alteration is probably known some to the women he stayed married with, for some years but I would like to hear if a psychologist can 'analyze' him and tell where all this thing comes from. There is no doubt that by his age I would expect the  normal testosterone levels to decline but that may not be the only explanation. Any history of child abuse?
 Partly I think that American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric association are at fault. They both have undergone similar alteration of concepts at least since early sixties (could it be they are a cultural side-effect of "Baby-Boomers"). Of course you can blame me for I am just a few years earlier generation than baby boomers and so acutely aware of this cultural shift. The APA called this and treated as GID (gender identity disorder) which actually it is but soon they changed the disorder to "Gender Dysphoria". The reasons are less scientific and more "insurance companies policies" effect.
 Currently a lot is going on about same-sex marriages in the nation. I am wondering where or to what extent this "personal freedom"  is going to affect the younger generation who are growing up in these times that are prone to shift and change for everything.
 Mind you I treat all the LGBT and the non-LGBT equally for we are all humans and should be treated as such. The demands for same sex marriages and transgenders etc. are genuine and are related to social acceptance as well as  for things like tax purposes here in USA.
  Going back to Bruce/Caitlyn, this person has extraordinary talent for self expression and self marketing. Just one look at this "Call me Caitlyn" and you can see he/she does not look 65. I cant believe it. May be if he/she lives long enough might reconsider like Walter Heyer did. Media have down-played such persons (Walter Meyer-Laura Jensen-Walter Heyer) because of Bruce having broken so many records that "Guinness" writers may have to create a special category for him/her. 

Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Learning Experiences

There comes a time in the life of everyone when you 'graduate' from diapers to using potty and eventually the complete independence in this important personal function, "the art of evacuation of bowels"
Well here is the dialogue for your amusement
   Almost ready to be successful in this important function he is given an encouragement by his grand mother
(.........) when you have done it I'll give you a reward.
 (..........-his older brother who evidently had had the experience )
 Hey! dont make any deals with Ammi (meaning grandma) she will only give you ten dollars

Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Conversion therapy

LGBT continue to make strides and the newest last week I saw the law passed that 'conversion therapy' is against the law.
 Whereas I agree with it to the extent that it should not be forced or applied against the wishes of the individual but it definitely poses a problem for those who would want to be "converted" to normal as would also be those who have some underlying disease/disorder causing to go against the normal biological sex
 I have previously expressed concerns about those gay/lesbians who may have an underlying hormonal or other medical  disorder and would go undetected as they would join the LGBT group like the real ones (who do exist though I do not agree with the statistics of last couple of decades).
 The second thing that bothers me is that there is ethical code disrupted between a physician and patient in the individual; gay/lesbian who needs medical treatment or psychological treatment (What conversion therapy actually is), may wish to seek treatment but would be disallowed by law.
 Human laws are sometimes faulty


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Changing fashions

I have recently observed in the younger generation (teenagers or less) they would wear socks of different colors and or different designs
 At first I thought the child made a mistake but then I saw three times in one week the same in different boys in the masjid. That is not a mistake.(Like the one below)
 One day a Sardarji came wearing a different colored pair of socks so his coworker pointed it out to him
 Sardarji looked puzzled and said
 "Funny I have a similar different colored socks pair at home"


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

My first college life experiences

  I had lived in village and some in city but not 'advanced city' like Lahore until joining College.  I  joined my older brother who had a House Officer's quarter allotted to him  (2 rooms) Each quarter had 4 rooms  (2 upstairs and 2 downstairs) a kitchen and a lavatory. "servants quarters" were separate.  Originally there used to be 8 house officers (for the newly built Mayo Hospital) so 8 quarters were built at that time.
 I started in Islamia College (Railway road) my first year studies (premedical). The road going from Mayo Hospital had to go through "gwalmandi" which early morning was full of bullock carts and other vehicles for sabzi market and there was lot of dust mixed with dried up excreta material of various animals of the carts and tongas. During rain this would change into a huge muddy road from which there was no escape and I had to bicycle through it with my shalwar or pant smeared with mud.
 Next is something familiar to you but was new for me so please forgive me for slightly immodest  descriptions.

     On all my previous places of stay in cities I had not seen any "flush system" water-closets but was familiar only with 'desi tatti' on which you sit on feet. So when I saw this "sarkari tatti" (a name given to me by my sis-in-law, a well-educated lady who "learned" it from her 'less-educated' or less sophisticated neighbor women); with a chain hanging down from a tank near the roof, I studied the structures and tried to make out the functions. I had to figure out what was for what purpose and sure enough as I pulled the chain the flushing act of water was witnessed by me with a relief that I had figured out correctly the functions (feeling proud of myself)
Before the classes begin, every morning, there was P.T. for an hour-- running in the grounds for half to one mile and other exercises. On standing in line according to heights I being hardly 5 ft. (in my first year, yes, and I gained six inches in the following 18 months) ended up standing in the last part of line along with others of my height fellows. That is how most of 'friends' turned out to be 'shorties'


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

From School days

Old rememberances keep popping up from time to time though some prominent ones I have already written down before.
Some extracurricular activities in the "middle school Kakrali" were to maintain some plants watering them and making sure the flowers are OK Each of us was given a bed (Kiari) of small flowering plants - Niaz boze or gainda (if I remember the names). They were placed in safety with surrounding small branches from acacia (babool in Urdu, Kikker in Panjabi) bearing long thorns acting as barbed wire.
 We would also sit down by the side of these flower beds under the shades of trees to have our lunch.  
(Haha,  that brings to mind my favorite lunch -anda,- usually omelette- and paratha-- egg preparations in old Kotla were not well known and my sisters would try frying, omelette and such preparations to my delight)
There were no sports until a Volly ball and net was bought and we had a PT master come in but then the school had been upgraded as high. Games and playing were unknown or unwanted in those school for the schools were meant for learning  from books etc.



Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Late Obituary on Mary

  Exactly six years today 28th January 2009, Mary left this world for the other. Mrs. Mary Gainey was like a second mother to my children Hassan and Ayesha. She called them 'my babies'
 Had hypertension and diabetes which put her in bed in her last days. We got (hired) her a couple of months before Hassan was born. We both were looking after the baby thinking Mary could not look after such a little one. We did not know she was a most gentle, most kind lady and clean in her habits etc.
 Soon Nancy and Nasim (my cousin) visited us from South Carolina to see the 'baby' Mary had a talk with Nancy that "these doctors dont let me touch the baby and I am dying to hold and care for the baby"
 So on Nancy's recommendation we gave the responsibility and from then on Mary was a part of our family. She was an ideal 'nanny' though  we did not consider her as such because she was a most trustworthy person and we considered her as a part of our family and she cared for us like that too. You do not find such persons often in this world. In 1986 when we moved out of Fayetteville and started in Raleigh/Cary NC  I knew we would not be able to find anybody like her so we missed her and used to visit her as often as we could when we would go to Fayetteville. I know Hassan and Ayesha missed her too She was a good Christian, a pious lady


Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات

Freedom of Speech

Please visit my Urdu blog at خیالات و احساسات


 There has been so much talk in all media about the freedom of speech and most people have expressed prejudiced ideas except the pope and his statement is the one which most media will not agree.
 I will however suggest  my readers to watch the movie of "Malcolm-X". It is a good movie. During the initial scenes and when Malcolm is in jail there starts to talk about Christianity and Islam by the reps of Alijah Muhammad. In such frivulous talks somebody says
 "Jesus Kiss my ass" (Naoozdu-billah)
 I did not like it but the idea gets across that these young persons are not going to listen to 'preachers' which is what the director wants to impress us with. Is this also "freedom of speech?
 Strictly speaking as I have said before I would have same objection if they 'cartoon' of one type or other any of the religious persons such as Gautam Buddh, Confucious, Jesus, Moses, Abraham and so on
 But you see the prejudice has always been fresh against the prophet of Islam Muhammad SAWS and over the centuries it is the Christians who have written against Muhammad SAWS. Killing for which is clearly wrong, is NOT going to stop this and frankly I do not know what is going to stop this but the fact remains we the rest of the Muslims all over the world will keep on listening to this hurtful filth

The religion of Islam, its uses and mis-uses

 I know this is an unusual topic but here is what prompted me to talk about it.
 Well, you already know how Taliban and Muslim leaders of all kinds use "Islam" for their political ends and needs. How the terrorists use the same religion for their horrible acts of murder and ruthlessness. It is all in the game I guess
    Omar Shareef, the Egyptian film star who rose to Hollywood heights after movies such as Doctor Zhivago was a Christian but fell in love with an Egyptian Muslim actress and converted to Islam to marry her. However even after divorcing or separating from her he remained Muslim as fart as I know and did not reconvert to Christianity.
 More recently I came across another example, that of Dhermander the Bollywood film star most well known for his role in film "Sholay" . He is born in a Ludhiana Sikh family the name being Dhermander Singh Deol. Got married to a Sikh lady when young and had some children who are already well-known actors but on a film shooting fell in love with another (well-known) actress and according to Hindu law could not marry her so converted to Islam, now having two wives, one Sikh and one Hindoo (I have purposely avoided the names here). I frequently visit Wikipedia to know about stars and such personalities and so I discover such unusual things. Wikipedia lists Dhermander's religion as "Islam" that he converted to in 1979-80 , wow, the convenience.

     Now I am writing additional part 10/16/22

 My reason is finding frequent mixing of Muslim actors and Hindu actresses marrying without changing religion except that of Sharmila Tagore who Married Nawab Patodi and converted and her Muslim name is Ayesha as opposed to their son SaifAli Khan married to Grand daughter of RajKapur  Kareena Kapur (Called Kapur=Khan)

 SRK married Gauri and calles himself strong Muslin+ hindu sikh christian etc. etc. but Gauri is Hindu Children are both or none and yet he says he wants to perforn Hajj with his children even tho they are not Muslim (Hard to believe internet because there is also news of him with photo performing Hajj with Gauri). There is report of Quran Majid along with Hidu moorties placed to gether (aik hi taaq men). That is what bothered me most

 Aamir khan perfoed Hajj with his mother but his wife Hindu Salman Khan may have performed Hajj also with somebody but he has dated many actresses all non-Muslim. Those mixed children go to Mander for Puja as well as make Namaz. May be these actors do read Quran also, who knows

And I could go on examples of other Khans but Yusuf Khan (Dalip Kumar) with Saira Bano went for Umera in old age and of course Dilip recently died. His brother Naser Khan married Begum Para and they had Muslim Children though some married Hindu again

 

Giving Thanks

Happy thanksgiving to all
 That is thanking the Almighty who has given us everything but it reminds us of giving thanks at human levels also. I was reminded of it recently reading an article --The Most UnderUtilized Tool in Making People Happier at Work-- by Chester Elton (and also I discovered he has written books on the subject of how to improve the functioning of your company/employees.)
 That brought back to my mind, an experience  I had during my last days of working as a physician in the VA hospital. Before that let me tell you I support what Mr. Elton has written and actually practiced in my whole life. I always treated my juniors, employees with respect and kindness which won me at one time "The best Employee of the Year" award also.That was when I was my own boss and employed others in my office. This is Urdu for a probable hadeeth I am not sure
اگر کسی کے احسان کا بدلہ اتارنے کی طاقت نہ ہو تو زبان سے اس کا شکریہ ضرور ادا کرو
 A hospital is primarily for the patients who are the reason for all employees of the hospital to be there and I mean all including the sweepers and cleaners as they all contribute to the welfare of the Patients. Physicians are of course also important but that is number two and then Nurses and then may be the administrators.
 there was a need for a short meeting of some of us (physicians) with the administrator  who asked us to discuss the matter at a certain time during the working hours. Of course it is his prerogative to do so but the time taken away from the care of the patients is taxing for the physicians which only physicians can realize. Anyway so we all are sitting and waiting for the administrator at the appointed time but he is not there on time He was five or six minutes late(which is not much but for physicians it is important) and as soon as he sits down he starts blasting us off for what we had not accomplished (not because of our fault) and no excuse, no sorry for being late, no thank you for coming to the meeting, no nothing. (I will say nothing about 'race')
 I was furious in my heart I tell you and I am glad I did not have to answer the uncalled for accusations because if it had been for me to answer I would have definitely blasted him off more than he did.
 Not surprised that he was eventually excused from his job soon afterward because of several other reasons. He did not deserve to be in that position at all. He was only stating his "authority" to us all that "I can do this also, who are you". This is the worst of experiences I have had from "administrators" during my workdays and sure I was glad to retire from the job soon afterwards.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Teachers and their impact on your life

 I will relate my personal experience to illustrate my point.
 I had a history teacher in my early school times whose method of teaching was dull and un-inspiring. In addition, his methods of 'punishments' were disgusting. the result was that I lost all interest in the subject and it remained my weakest subject for the rest of my school period.
 Next, my teacher of Physics (in college) whom we called "theta" was not a great teacher but took interest in how students performed. He did not mind being "nicknamed". He would find ways to encourage you and so he did somehow encourage me as this was my weak subject. The result was that in the final exam my score was highest in Physics out of all other subjects even my fav. ones
 Teachers, how they relate to the students for their betterment do have an important job to perform and no matter how 'large' the class each student should be able to feel that the teacher has a special interest in you because that goes a long way in producing an impact on your life in general and you remember them with respect.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Prohibition of Alcohol

When I came to US , I was frequently made aware of "prohibition period" in USA (1920 to 1933)
I did not understand then why and how such an act could be accomplished in a society that considers behavior of drunken people to be acceptable/normal. I saw many patients with alcohol related problems and socially also I saw the same thing.  

   Actually first time when I saw such behavior I was 'shocked' because I came from a society where such drinking and behavior was considered commensurate with lowlife and for me to see a respectable person behaving that way was simply shocking. Moon-shine. Bootlegging and Speakeasy type of words and their meanings became familiar to me as my rotation in VA hospital started soon. I was aware of alcohol-related problems from my English Medical experience but American experience was different.  So, although from 1920 (1918 law of 1 as the '' dry " period began the medical/health ill effects of Alcohol deceased in USA, the side effects of illegal activities spread into all other illegal activities and instead of control of crime and improvement of morality both got worse (names like Al Capone were products of that period), although social drinking was not disallowed. The Prohibition act ( 18th amendment ratified in constitution 1920) The prohibition was against production importation transportation and sale.

   This is amazing human behavior and contrasts with the religious prohibition in Islam which was extremely effective and lead to improvement of morality etc., like as we are told the people threw away their liquors and wines in the streets of Madina al-munawwara.

 Alcohol remains at the heart of diseases, crimes, road traffic accidents etc. in this country and there is no way to change it. I have witnessed a lot of disastrous effects of this "Ummul-Khabaith"( Mother of all wickednesses/debaucheries)  on individuals and families during my work as a neurologist. May be I am prejudiced because of being a (practicing) Muslim, but the improved morality after 1920 did not last long and worsening behaviors became apparent within a couple of years and movements to discontinue resulted in the 21st amendment to the constitution repealing the 18th amendment passed three years earlier
(The only example in the US constitution where one amendment is repealing another amendment)

Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

An other TV commertial

 There are many TV ads that are about medications or diseases such as"Mesothelioma" and one can get all the information about the disease. Likewise about medications you get all the side effects and toxic effects list given where it ends "consult your doctor" which means that doctors should be talking about it not the commercial but that is how life is in the US of A. I had seen one email years ago about a sign in one of the hospitals in England where the hospital wanted to direct the way to one department. the sign read something like this
"Looking for  birth control, use the rear end"
 I have been watching a TV commercial for complications of the use of "vaginal mesh" (Lawyers want to tell how much compensation you may be entitled to but they tell you a total they have accomplished)
  "850 million dollars, Vaginal settlement"


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Salat-al-Eid and Khutba

Everybody has known that Eid salat is two raka and the prophet SAWS prayed no salah before or after these two raka's yet I see some people come to the place of prayer (for Eid) and offer two raka before sitting down just like they would do it in a masjid.
 One thing however remains unchanged-the Khuba is AFTER the two raka's. (and of course no adhan and no Iqama)
 I am sure you have seen it  always happening that people start leaving after the salat and do not listen to khutba even though it is emphasized that khutba is part of salat. I saw that even in Makkah when I stayed during last ashara in Haram Makka and offered Eid prayer there. (that was an experience too)
 It started happening pretty early because Marwan Bin Hakam when he was praying he tried to change it to Khutba before Salat because he said people leave without listening to it. (But he was prevented from doing so)
 I feel the prophet SAWS knew it and so kept it to one khutba (not resting between two as he always did on Juma Khutba). Some Imams make two kutbas on Eid also But I never saw that in Pakistan. I think prophet was making it easy for us to offer salat-el-Eid and wanted to keep his instructions loose for the Khuba of Eid (purposely?). People might have done that during his time but there is no evidence for it. Maybe I am wrong but considering his concern that he always expressed for making it easy for his Ummah it seems logical to think in those terms. Just think of the Taraweeh prayers how he made it "uncompulsory" for us and yet I see this Ummah flocking to the masajid for these prayers a lot more than they would do for Isha prayers which are Fardh. Amazing human behavior.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Continuation of #19 and Quran

I wish to talk a bit more of Khalifa and also about the 'code" of Qur'an
  I am no expert on "numerology" but the '19' number acting as a "code" (Khalifa's assertion) for Qur'an for purposes unknown to me. We all know that this book, "is a guidance" for those who 'fear' God", so whatever this "code" is doing has nothing to do with it except to say that the number and its effect only increases our faith in God and that this is God's word indeed. Just like some scientists who studied some verses of Qur'an related to  stages of human development in the womb came to such "miraculousness" being only explained by the fact that this is NOT Muhammad (SAWS) 's word. Others who were amazed by other words of Qur'an related to some other aspect of science.  So all I can say that computer analysis leads us to another way of strengthening our belief whether the non-Muslims will accept this as such and revert to Islam depends totally on the Grace of God. The signs of it surround all of us and the truth stands right in front of all of us Muslims and Jews and Christians and Mushrikeen, Hindus and Sikhs etc. The facts are veritable verifiable that have existed for over 1400 hundred years and one more fact (call it "number nineteen") and one more has been added.
 The late Dr. Khalifa, however has gone on too much in his translation of Qur'an in his English according to his way Many words he has chosen are inconsistent with other translators as well as Arabic dictionaries.
 He chose  "hidden Secret" as translation of Muddassir "O you Hidden secret" (Sura 74- why God chose this Sura and not number 76- a multiple of 19 Khalifa is quiet) and its aya number 30  ( and why not verse number 38 which would be double of 19; carries the number nineteen  Mind you I am only criticizing him not the Qur'an or its August Author.) As he says the Bismala 'missed' in sura 9, occurs  'after 19 suras' in sura number 27-- wrong calculation it should have been --9 + 19 = 28. Anyway, I am talking about the translation. So when he translated Muzzammil (sura #73) it is "O you wrapped up" and the four verse in the middle of sura (La tuharrik behi lisanak.....) that refer to God telling the prophet not to hasten in repeating the 'wahi' for God will place it permanently in his memory. Here Khalifa says in foot-note 74:52,
 " God is the teacher of His scripture. However the Qur'an informs us that this is done through HUMAN TEACHERS (capitalization is mine). Thus one man, namely Muhammad was chosen to receive Qur'an, then deliver it to the world."
 See how instead of saying teaching it to the world he omits that word and says "deliver' The typical belief of Hadeeth munkars who give that job of "delivering" like a postman. There are lot of other examples of his translation that he calls "official" and in going through all of it only makes me think  he was a sick man, May Allah forgive him.
Some that I find startling and somewhat hilarious
Khalifa's statement (appendix 18) that when God asked angels to prostrate to Adam all did except Iblees who was ALSO AN ANGEL but when he disobeyed God 'He was turned into Jinn' Translation of "kaana min-al-Jinn" (Sura Kahaf Aya 50). That all other translations of "he was from the Jinns" is wrong. Also he still translates aya 12 of sura al-Araaf "....I am better than he, You created ME FROM FIRE and created him from clay". Hilarious because he says other translators are confused and also he says Muslims have been confused because of "hadeeth" (again goes to  nullify that) that angels are made from Noor (match that?)
 Another things he mocks at Muslims who believe in Hadeeth: Says Salat prayers have been established from times of Ibraheem AS and Prophet Muhammad only "continued" it (the way do it from Sunnah) I believe Allama Pervaiz has his own ideas about Salat and Zakat etc. but just to give you some info why such translation is dangerously riddled with erroneous statements.
 So I discontinued reading his translation after seeing some other  such words and would not recommend it to anyone.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

#19 and The Qur'an

This is  my impression of the whole thing and I pray to Allah SWT to forgive Brother Khalifa and look over his sins. He had a strong feeling against Hadeeth and Sunnah and made no attempt to hide his feelings. The other such person I have known is  Ghulam Ahmed Pervaiz (Interesting that both Ghulam Ahmads are same name one is a new prophet 'the Mirza' and the other is Munker-e-Hadeeth)

  Dr. Rashad Khalifa has written books about his 'discovery' and claims his own English translation of Quran that he calls   "Official" (some schizophrenic tendency?)
 He has a Ph D in Chemistry, married to some local woman probably "convert' to Islam, was Imam of  a Mosque in Tucsan Arizona some years ago and I later heard somebody killed him and also that the mosque was burned. I do not know details. He considered himself to be "discoverer of #19 and its relation to Quran" and claimed that Rasoolullah SAWS did not know it nor did Sahaba because they did not have access to computer which remained for him (so God chose him) to "discover" in 1980, Hijra year 1400
 However we find that the figure of 19 was known to Bahai sect and they have their own "scripture" for following and NOT Quran
 Let me come to the basic "discovery".  There are 19 letters (of Arabic) in Bismillahirrahmanirrahim (Bismalah) and that is correct because the way Rahman and Bism is written in Arabic. (Remember that these traditions of writing were established by those persons who did not know anything about #19) The first revelation "Iqra bisme Rabbik" is written with alif but "Bismalah" is written without alif. Then he claims there is a repetition of 19 and or its multiples in many situations he had quoted and some of them are definitely correct but some are not.
I will give only one example; I have made a thorough check personally
 He claims that as there are four words in Bismala (as it is called)) -- Ism, Allah, Rahman and Raheem
 Each of these in the Quran is mentioned 19 times or in multiples of nineteen such as
" Ism"  - - 19 times  = correct (we have to ignore Bism which occurs three times in Q)
"Allah" - - 2698 times (But according to "Mu'jam-ul-Mufahris" of Fuad AbdulBaqi it occurs 2697 times)
                19x 142 = 2698. This is because the "Allah" of Bismillah of Sura Fateha is not counted by Fuad A-Baqi whereas Rashad Khalifa is counting so that the multiplication is correct. However there are two opinions about the first Bismillah One considers is part of the sura but the other considers it NOT part of Sura because it occurs before every sura except sura number nine. ( Here I may also mention that because it is mentioned in the middle of sura Namal the numer of BISMILLAHIRRAHMANIRRAHIM rmeains 114 -again a multiple of 19 which is correct)
 Next word is "Rahman" it occurs 57 times - 19x3=57. Interesting thing is AbdulBaqi also now includes the Rahman of Bismillah of 1st sura and agrees  with ''57" (
 The late Fuad AbdulBaqi (Egyptian) is writing before the advent of computers (first published in 1938. So he had no idea of number nineteen.
The last word for counting is "Raheem" and it occurs 114 times  (19x6)  counting the first from Bismillah of first sura--that is according to Rashad Khalifa and according to Baqi it occurs 95 times including the one in the first Bismala but Rashad 's book is counting Raheeman or Raheema also which occurs 20 times so making it up to 115 with Baqi and 114 with Rashad because his in book he fails to mention one aya--
missed one --aya in sura 9,  (Hareesun alaikum bil-momineena raoof-ur-Raheem)
 So we see that there is  tendency to count such things to make them fall into the "wanted figure". I will give you, my readers, that this is human. Please read on.
 Now if we go on and see all the other examples he has collected there may be more miscalculations
 He has calculated that the first revelation consists of 19 words . I count them as 20 because he uses ma and lum as one word whereas they are two. Then he goes on to count all the letters of this revelation which comes to77 but he does not use insaan with alif (after seen) so he counts 76 which is a multiple of 19.
 I can go on more examples but all I am doing is bringing out his method of "forcing" his calculation to the multiple of 19. (Amazing thing is he calls Insan writers with alif as wrong, the standard Usmani method))
   I had read an article by a maulana Qudoos who argued about the fallacy of Khalifa's book  and another one who wrote against his number nineteen and its key position for making humans see the miracle of Qur'an (as Khalifa asserts). However they fail to point out real problems and they seem to be more occupied for Khalifa being Munker of Hadeeth (where I agree with them)
 However more recently I have read in a book (Ashara Mubashshara) written by some  "Bashir Sajid" a lot of support in favor of Khalifa and does not mention about his "munker-e-hadeeth position. Actually his writing is what induced me to revisit Khalifa Rashad's books (Translation of Qur'an and "the computer speaks: God's message to the world") which I bought many years ago.
 Looking at the situation yes the number nineteen does have a 'miraculous" repetition in the Qur'an and  our friend Bashir Sajid and the maulana quote some other examples of such miraculous "numbers" which leads me to think that there indeed may be more to such numbers than Khalifa or others are saying.
 However THAT by itself is NOT a proof that this book is indeed a miracle but as many ulama have found the substance, the beauty and so many other things of the Qur'anic language are more convincing that it was Not written by human beings.
 The Maulana makes a point that it is writing of such words in Arabic that makes it 19 letters otherwise there are 21 letters in the Bismala and says that the Qur'an was revealed in oral form, not written form.
 here, I must say that although he is right  it was orally revealed BUT Rasool-Ullah SAWS  clearly DICTATED HOW TO WRITE WHAT, THROUGH THE INSTRUCTIONS OF JIBREEL ALAIHISSALAM. So it  can be said that also revealed in written form i.e. where Rasoolullah SAWS asked the writers to write seen on suad--example "Musaiter" (Sura Ghashia aya 22).
 My last point : I read somehwere that somebody challenged Hazrat Ali RA to give a speech and there should be no word with alif in it. He took the challenge  right on the spot and spoke for some minutes with people and in his whole speech there was no word containing 'alif'.
 So such abilities did exist in those days and the writers of Wahi were no ordinary 'literates' and Sahaba were no ordinary Arab people for they were very proud of their Mastery of language or expression and that is why they called all non-Arabic speaking as "Ajami"- meaning 'dumb", "unable to speak correct Arabic" "Barbarian"
 So I do give some credit to our friend the late Khalifa Rashad even though he made some exaggerated claims but such exaggerated claims you will find in so many people--Like the two Ghulam Ahmeds I mentions in the beginning.
More thoughts next.

Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Mechanical enhancers of deficiencies

 We are born with all capabilities which develop, grow and reach perfection with time as we grow
However after some time of functioning at peak the abilities start decreasing until wihtout some support or enhancing measures it is not possible to function
 Let me clarify with two examples.
 1. Deficiency of vision
2. Deficiency of hearing
   Let us say somebody has Myopia, such decreased visual ability requires scientifically determined lens for assisting the defective lens of the eye to complete the function thereby offset any difficulties.
Similarly if acuity of hearing when decreased requires scientifically appropriate digital or other enhancers of sounds reaching the ear's 'sound receiving apparatus'  so you can hear the speech or music more clearly.
 So far  so good.
 Now consider the equipment used for the two - the visual and the auditory  'mechanical' enhancers
 Glasses: A pair of beautiful, golden frame or other beautiful frames containing the appropriate lenses are worn and the job is done. Here one thing is to be noticed. The frame, its shape, golden or silver or plastic of various colors etc. has its own effect on the appearance of the wearer (his face that is) and thus may enhance the beauty, attractiveness, dignity etc. of the person. 
In the case of ears the device worn looks ugly unbecoming and suggestive of old age etc. So the makers tend to develop devices that stay within the ear canal so that they are not visible. No clear alternative device has been developed so far that will have enhancing effects of dignity or beauty etc.
 For a minor repair of my pair of glasses I visited an "Optical store" or shop today. A young man of moderate height, good physique was trying to choose a frame for his new pair of glasses. He would put one on and will look at this face in the mirror from various distances to make him feel comfortable that what he was going to buy. He had no girl friend/wife/partner with him to advise. 
I was waiting till he gets done and the  technician gets free for  attending me. I tell you he continued that process of looking in the mirror with varying distances changing the frame and repeating the same action until well after 20 minutes when he felt he has found the right one for him. Anyway, I waited patiently until my turn.
What I wish to add here is that I have 'hearing aids" too but since I cant function without them so I wear them regardless of how I look or what these machines do to my appearance or dignity etc. I have therefore 'personal' experience of these uncomfortable, unattractive extra tubes in my ears because "within-the-ear" or smaller ones cannot do the job for me so I have what they call OTE -over the ear type that I have been wearing. 
Then my hearing got worse so much that my right ear hearing aid became insufficient for me. I ended up having to have a Chochlear implant surgery done.- more tubes and wires on the ear and head. So, believe you me, I know what I am talking about.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

More on Killing

  No this is about killing of men (mostly)
 The problem has grown up in Iraq as the US forces grip loosens and I predict the same (not necessarily Sunni-Shia) in Afghanistan
 I could predict that in Iraq when US invaded Iraq or in politically correct term, "freed Iraq" from Saddam Hussain
 Of course US media knew  that too. I am no political genius . The media pundits are now talking a lot about whether to involve militarily or not etc. Lot of high class discussions.
 This is the same thing that Western powers do. I remember when the English retreated from India and partitioned it. They knew exactly what will happen bu they still left because they had no interest in who dies, Muslim or Hindu. Same now USA, they would let the Suunis and Shia kill each other for they have no interest who lives and who dies Shia or Sunni as they are just Muslims.
That is the way I think and unfortunately all this was totally avoidable if the "desert Storm" had not been initiated. You have the freedom to differ from my opinion


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Honor and Killing

 It is quite rightly said
 There is no honor in killing
This in more than 99% cases involves the human female species. Either because reporting and media is much more commonly available or it may be a real thing that rape and killing of women (young or old) continues to increase and some horrible reports come from India. where killing of girls/women for "honor of the family" does not seem to be as common as in Pakistan. There is a general feeling that it exists among the Muslims more and it may be true but it surely is not limited to Muslims, as I remember a sikh girl being killed for "family honor" in London some years back.
 Most horrible killing was recently reported in Lahore in front of the high court on The Mall when a married woman as killed by a father and brother brutally. The police knew and NOBODY did anything about it. The reason: she married by her own choice. (where was her husband--we heard nothing of this love)
 All Muslims read the Qur'an everyday and are aware of the Jahilia custom of killing (buried alive) of female infants.  Sura Takweer, Aya 7 and 8
و اذالموئودۃ سئلت-- بایّ ذنب قتلت
"and when the female infant buried alive is questioned
 for what crime she was killed"
      That killing is till going on inspite of such teachings of Qur'an and several sayings of the prophet SAWS who taught against it during his life. Be it whatever country and whatever culture there is no doubt even here in USA female conceptions are more often aborted than male and the reason is the same "Jahilia honor" of pre-Islamic Arabs and the more recent Eastern countries female killings. Admittedly female conceptions ending up aborted here the reason may not be "honor" but the "male preference" is still practiced in the so-called civilized countries.
Women belong to "weaker sex" or weaker gender and have remained the target for all oppression through all ages and all civilizations. Can it be stopped? I do not think so even though we all lose no time in 'condemning' such killings but beyond that  to me it appears that nothing more can be done. Islamic teachings and awareness (which BTW the West follows more than the Muslims) may certainly reduce it, at leat that is my opinion.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

"Love Affair" with sequencial movies

I have only very recently watched a Bollywood movie called "Mann" (meaning- heart) which is Hindi/Urdu language and I had already seen "An Affair to remember" as well as "Love Affair" (both Hollywood movies) before.
 OK so let me start with the original story written by Leo McCarey and Mildred Crane. It seems to have a remarkable romantic substance basic theme of which is hard core romance between a male playboy kind of 'hero' with additional hobby/passion for painting and a heroin with a role of a singing background both being "firmly engaged" to their respective  persons, when they end up falling in love with each other. The other thing is their rendezvous a special building like Empire state building in NY (India Gate in Bombay, in India) where they are supposed to meet for final act of "wedding", a plan that is fanciful as well as 'disastrous' (You have to watch one of these movies to know what I am talking about).
 In between there are scenes very romantically spread out with music and songs to suit.
 The first film was produced and directed by the writer/conceiver of the story and was called simply "LOVE AFFAIR"  (1939) which it was, well acted by experienced actors Charles Boyer (the king of romantic heroes) and Irene Dunne. Then Mr. McCarey decided to remake it with the same scenes and practically the same screenplay but this one he called, "An AFFAIR to REMEMBER" in 1957. This time the hero and heroin were Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. In my thinking Deborah Kerr's acting was superb and better than similar good acting of Irene Dunne (She is a very talented actress though, dont get me wrong). The other scenes etc. being in color and romance being well-adapted resulted and greater effect on the hearts of viewers and this version is therefore rightly considered as one of the most romantic films of Hollywood. A remake of the "Love Affair" with same or similar scenes and story made by  somebody else in 1994 starring Warren Beatty could not make such class even though the "Grandma" was played by none other than Katheryn Hepburn which turned out to be her last appearance on the screen. (I have seen Love Affair and An Affair to remember both but not the 1994 version)
     Something similar has been taken up by "Bollywood". They say that "Bheegi Raat" ( meaning-Wet or rainy night) was made in 1965 had similar romantic story( Ashok Kumar and  Meena Kumari) with some differences from our 'Love Affair'. But then a more recent movie called "MANN" (heart) is almost exactly the same story even scenes and set in more modern times when ship travels are by far less common, this part of story (Romance begins on the ship and matures on an Island) is skillfully introduced. Heroine again here has done a superb job (I was not familiar with Manisha Koirala) and filled the romantic air so deftly and successfully that she outdid our hero Aamir Khan. I was thinking that some reference should be made that the story was 'borrowed' from Hollywood but that does not seem to be a custom here. Even 'Wickipedia' story given does not mention the Hollywood at all. Maybe some mention should be made, in my humble opinion.
 Drawing upon the many things of Love Affair and An Affair to remember when the players take up the inspiration of meeting on the Empire State Building in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" they freely mention the original within the movie dialogues so the romantic atmosphere remains undisturbed. Interesting to see how romance is connected with tragedy and that is what elevates its position in the human culture, regardless of where it is Hollywood or Bollywood.
 I recently had a chance to see Bheegi Raat and similarities are apparent but this is totally "eastern story"  with only the tragedy part is borrowed and even the presentation is different for the Artist hero - Pradeep Kumar. More about this on my today (Jan 9, 2016) blog where I make some criticism also.

Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Argument

" The force of argument lies in the words you quote and not in the pitch of your throat."
(anon)


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Tattooing Customs

 Where I grew up first (Saugor-India), I did not come across this custom or lets say negligible or I was too young to notice or whatever  the reason. Once I came to Panjab and joined the village school (Kakrali- dt. Gujrat) I found a small tattoo on many foreheads Muslim boys. It was a small hilal and star in one corner of forehead.
The 'corner' needs explanation. Short or very short hair on heads (like we have currently in the US) was customary and may be clean shaved head but one thing was common which I call "taqseem".  To explain the figure of "taqseem" ('division' ) It is not like - with a dot up and a dot down the dash. It was drawn like a broad crescent with the empty belly facing up and its ends on each side have a smaller deep crescent with belly facing out. That is the way we learned to 'divide' without giving you any more details. OK so that is the way hairline of the forehead will be shaved with the sides coming down towards the outer aspects of eyes (I have given you anatomic description, somewhat boring because I cannot draw here).
 I go to a Gym. for exercise everyday and have a lot of people come there with tattoos on the arms chest back shoulders legs, you name the body part and it is there. Nearly all of them are white-skin persons yes men as well as women, (very rarely colored people). This morning on the today show or Morning Joe some discussion caught my attention
 "What do you think of the person/s who have a visible tattoo (of any kind) ?"
I do have some thoughts on this subject but want to keep myself from hurting persons with tattoos.

Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Commercialization of religious acts including the mandatory ones

There is a huge difference between my recent visit to Haramain Shareefain and my first one in 1981. I wish to record some of my feelings here that some may consider objectionable.

  A lot of good new construction has taken away dirt problems and air-conditioned shopping centers have replaced lot of open shops that still exist and are as busy as before but
 food quality has gone down
 Zamzam has been diluted,
K'aba has become overshadowed with tall business buildings mostly 5-star hotels
and most prominent clock tower has been built next to Haram so Kaaba is no more 'the object of worship' but the business is (it seems)
 I did see a new good-looking musalla (Ja-e-namaz) with the picture of kaaba small closer to the feet and the clock tower's top at the place of sajda.
 One would think that most religious Muslims are all filthy rich that can afford 5-star hotels all the Western big Giants, like Intercontinental, Sheraton, Hilton etc. and the poor Muslims now must walk distances from the masjid staying in 'ordinary hotels named in Arabic.
 Dont get me wrong, it all looks so nice and clean and posh that all other religions would envy. At least this way Hajj has become Fardz only for filthy rich Muslims and on poor Muslims it is not mandatory any more. Good for them. However now that everything is on sale it seems this 5th rukn of Islam is undergoing lot of alterations under the Saudi regime. Zamzam is now sold strictly under the orders of Kingdom whereas I clearly remember getting a can of Zamzam at the airport when returning home from Hajj in 1994 'free' and also a copy of newly printed Quran,  all given by the King free of charge as a gift and it was real zamzam not 55% Zamzam mixed with 45% ordinary water
I remember the comment of "Commercialization of "Hajj&Umra" by the new Muslimah who had returned after Hajj and talked to us in our Masjid  (IAR) here. The lady who was a British journalist prisoner of Taliban who accepted Islam, I forget her name.(Yvon Riddley)
Next I see (Future) they will start charging one riyal per Salat in the masjid-Nabawi and may be two Ryals per Salat in Makkah -after all these prayers (Salat) are not ordinary ones each one is equivalent to 50K or 100K salats and Saudis are "Custodians of these places of worship", so they deserve to be materially benefitted
for all the money they have spent on these places. Only Allah knows where all this going to end.

Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Religion and filmland

I have previously made some comments about religious topics/ film-names chosen by Hollywood like the ones that depict the life directly or indirectly of Jesus Christ PBUH
 Muslims have been forbidden to make stories for drama or film of prophet Muhammad SAWS and in a way it is good as it keeps Muslims from entering into this project which can take any form good or not so good and even contemptible.
 However the Christians are free and seem to walk freely in this 'land' with some good and many disastrous results. (some undertakings that were rightly suppressed, like the one suggesting homosexuality, astaghfirullah) and then you are familiar with Da Vinci's Code movie.
 Now I hear another one "Son of God" coming in soon and the controversy has started already.
I hear words like
 "There is money to be made"
 That is the whole motivation and it is not expensive to make such movies.  It is ridiculous that you praise a person giving him so high a position to call him God or son of God and then drag him down to such low human level and choose a handsome white man to pose as such "person". It seems a  despicable idea to me to make 'money' on the religious emotions of the people, and you have freedom to disagree with me. I hear
"That is a powerful story" (Reason for making it into a movie).
So all your religious beliefs are a just a "powerful story"?


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Drones and Groans

Last year some criticism started in our country about the use of Drones particularly for "target killing of "terrorist leaders, in other countries. The number of Innocents killed were calculated by the President as justifiable even though many local people did not agree with him.
 The criticism/groans continues.
 The use is unethical to say the least but what is apparent is that so many innocent children and elderly have lost their lives. I am not going into statistics because in my judgment even a single innocent life taken is too much but then "war" is war and everything is justified  in the end. Such is the power of the powerful.
 I was reminded of this injustice as I read the article about it in Islamic Horizons "Judge, Jury & Executioner". The point is made, do the Americans realize innocent children are killed Nabila and Zubair children of Rafiq-ur-Rehman whose mother was killed but the two children were wounded and survived. They came her for Congressional hearing in Oct. 2013 Only 5 of the 535 members of Congress showed up at the hearing
 Compare that with the Girl who survived Taliban attack, Malala Yusufzai, as to how she and her father were treated. I cannot blame Pakistanis when they tend to minimize Malala's case. Once President Musharraf agreed with Drone attacks allowing USA, nobody seems to be concerned with such innocent killing. They only look at  the terrorist killed or missed.
 When I was in Pakistan Waziristan was a place of attraction for us college/university boys, known for natural beauty but I was never able to make it 


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

iDoc-ALS

  There is hardly any old movie that I have not seen (exaggeration)
 I just watched "Pride of the Yankees", with tears in my eyes frequently (Yes I am rather 'emotional' so to say)
 I practiced Neurology for 30 years and  diagnosed/treated many patients with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) which I had learned in England to call "Motor Neuron Disease". After coming to America (Yes BTW I like "Coming to America"), I learnt that here it is also called
 Lou Gehrig's Disease (for the love of this Base ball player)
 It took me back a few years about one Muslim woman who got this dreadful disease and I 'helped' her to accept and supported her throughout her illness until she died. I would visit her and she would ask me to recite various surahs short as well as long for her. I would stand by her bed in her home and recite S, Rahman, Sura Yaseen, Sura Ikhlas etc. and she would listen. Her children were all supportive too.
 During her last days I had mentally prepared her (somebody else was treating her) disabilities that she is going to encounter so she could dictate as a Muslimah to her doctor what to do and what not to do.
 May Allah forgive her and reward her alJannah.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Meeting old friends/gupshup

Gupshup is the most easily available, highly entertaining, costs nothing (usually), but there is one requirement , the most critical one:
 You have to have friends with similar habits.
 Now living in the West this last part  can be a real problem. Many reasons.  Such as:
As age advances your children leave to their destinations  though some may continue to live with you.
Grandchildren have their demands that you must consider more seriously (you love them)
You retire and so many contacts wither away, people you worked with and saw them daily (nothing extraordinary)
 Way of life in the West is 'individualistic" So unlike say back home there are no neighbors to talk to or just go out and talk to anybody on the road or on a shop or just go someone's home etc. etc.
 These occasions are for "gupshup" also Gupshup needs no topic for discussion or may have many topics in no orderly sequence (does'nt have to be)
 So if now  (with many other restrictions) you find an opportunity for gupshup with old friends you struggle to go for it and one such struggle was my personal holiday where we had had to spend money for this 'mulaqat (Fly from Raleigh to LA) and gupshup and was considered well worth it But only I or my friends understand this as such, so I considered it as my "personal holiday" because in a retired group of persons holiday does not have much meaning. This is 2013 get together in LA

Now today is almost another 10 years later, marking our 70 years of friendship and

all still kicking except Bhutta in our own places not quite capable of flying or travelling

I got a picture of our somewhat demented oldman Zulfi. I am reminded of picture of 5 of us from 

B-batch and other picture of our 11/8/56 picknic where of cource Asif (from A-batch, is also seen. Whenever we visited Gujranwala we always had a sumptuous meal at Asif's place and last time we were there together Frooki starts, "shall we consider Asif to be included in our group?" That was always a joke about Asif that he was 'reluctantly' included in our group. Anyway so we decided to include him in our group (Zesting) While taking away Asif said something and Frooki says Shall we reconsider our decision (to include Asif in our group) 

But then there is a whole story about A-batch and B-batch to understand the meanings of A and B batch

My personal Holiday trip

Alhamdulillah I am back home after my trip which needs explanation.

 Being bored at home one needs to get out, but where to go? So I planned to go by car. For many reasons I changed the program backwards and started from My son's place
 My grandson invited me for his first football game. Said he likes baseball and football. My camera abilities need overhauling so I cannot post a picture of this great football player of our family. BTW I need to be taught for these things by my son but he seems to have forgotten what I had spent in time and energy to teach him. Nothing unusual. That is the way it is here I guess.
 Next "treat" was 2nd B'Day fo Zayd my Nawasa #2 so I went to Burtonsville MD and saw this youngman really enjoy the attention he got from a big family and lots of cousins etc.. Again the pictures I took will have to wait before I can post them somewhere.
 Driving 700 miles from MD. to Illinois, took me two days.
 Firstly weather was cold and through Pensylvania mountainous district with some snow flurries etc, made me nervous but roads were clear and on the whole I made it to Columbus and Dayton by evening.
 Found a very conveniently located "super, inn" before Xing from Ohio to Indiana. From outside it appeared low class motel and I dreaded to go in still took the courage and enter small office An Indian says salam to me but I was sure he was Patel (Nothing against that name, I have worked with smart Dr. Patels many years) because Patels have 'invaded' the Hotel-motel industry of USA.
 I said I will see the room and only then will decide. Sure enough it was a typical Patel room but did not small as bad as I thought. Bed sheets were clean (I had my own blanket and pillow anyway so I took the room). The Following day weather appeared good so I was on the road quickly and had my breakfast near Indianapolis. Texted my daughter (who I left in MD) and my niece (Shabana who I was going to see). By midday I was in Champaign Ill. Snow on the ground but lasted only one day weather cleared the following day and I had fun with Raihana who was not avoiding me now like before (she was shy three yrs earlier when I saw her at ISNA) She enjoyed  my beard, like Imran says she was used to smaller red beard (her dad) ans so she found slightly bigger and white beard a pleasant change. It was good to see them.
 Next on my list was Louiseville Ky. Before going there I have to tell you a surprise treat. Zaheer (my classmate and friend and partner from 1952) announced that he is in California. So Zulfi (my classmate and friend and partner from 1952) who has been in Kentucky made advanced program for "us three". Zulfiqar Haider has 3 sons and 2 daughters. Youngest son is in L'Ville, older one in E'Town and younger daughter also. One oldest (child) daughter is in Edinburgh Scotland. One son in Canada. Zulfi is Shia so I made program to meet him in L'Ville after Ashoora. My original plan was to meet Dr. Waqar who has been in L'Ville for some time and I spent the night there. But Zulfi was only three houses down the road from Waqar as his youngest son also lives in the same neighborhood.  This was all I needed and the children from ETown came over that day so i met them all.
Next day Myself and Zulfi were to fly to California. I left my car there and Zulfi's car took us to Cincinnati at Tasleem's place who just arrived in time from his trip on 16th and we reached 17th evening at his place (Tasleem is our classmate and friend  from 1952). He took us to the airport and Zaheer with his daughter was there to receive us at LAX.. The next 48 hours we talked and talked and roaming on the beach etc. Shared all our dukh-sukh and relaxed. Flew back on 21st to Cincinnati lunched with Tasleem and rove back to L'Ville. Next day Zulfi's third son comes in from Canada and I shared the happiness of Zulfi with his children and grandchildren. Knowing that he is now too busy I took their leave and spent the night with Waqar again and his family. Next day I left 7am, beautiful weather all the way to Raleigh NC temp. 58 F.
Thus ended my personal varied and enjoyable vacation
Cant complain now. Guess what the severe winter storm just waited until I can get home safe and then came the following day the cold but Raleigh NC is still safe from the storm, See more in  my "gupshup" blog further and the picture


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Daleep Kumar at ninety

You tube is a very wide spread place and my visits for various older 'Bollywood' movies introduced me to Yusuf Khan (Dileep Kumar) making Umrah with his wife Saira Bano (Really beautiful daughter of the most beautiful face - "pari-chehra- Naseem of older Bollywood movies) and also seen him at his 90th birthday.
 He was slow with typical Masked facies of Parkinson's (I do not know whether anybody made such diagnosis, probably just old age effect) trying to walk with help. Well I have kind of "grown-up" with him seeing his movies and enjoying his versatility of expressions and specially the "morose expression" of his face which brought him much praise and accolades in his career.(King of tragedy)
 Both of them have aged very gracefully and it is good to see them together. Daleep Kumar the icon of Indian Film Industry and what a remarkable life he has had. Yet seeing his face now made me think as if he had used his face for so many expressions of all kinds as an accomplished actor and is now left with 'no expression'. On the one hand I saw both of them in Ihram during their Madina Munawwara visit and with a red "tilak" on their forehead on some 90th B'day celebration suggesting Hindu culture effect. A contrast so much representative of his name Daleep Kumar and Yusuf Khan


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

So I am 80 today

The great clinical teacher and
writer, Dr. William Osler said:
" Longevity is a vascular question"
  I am glad he did not touch the more sensitive structure like nerves or brain because I may have not liked it. (He was surely a thoughtful fellow) Strictly speaking effects of age are more due to vascular troubles than from real decay or 'senility' of cells in our bodies. I am thankful to the Almighty for keeping my vascular system within normal (almost) and keeping  the 'hardening' to minimum (at least I think so) so that I can function and continue to enjoy what God has endowed me with through His graciousness.
Now I wait for this decade how it turns out and will see you all when I hit 90 insha-Allah
It is time that I should write my thoughts on some kind of perspective on my life but it requires time and patience and this time of the year (Islamic Year I mean) is busy. 4 days from now we have Eid-ul-Ad-Ha and we are spending that time with grandchildren in Maryland so it will be after that.

 Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Nine-Eleven ,12 years on and a Pakistani thought

We go through the repetition of all those horrible events and it still has the same effect on us.
 It is hard to imagine if I was there in the nearby hospital as a physician what would be my own condition mentally physically and professionally.
 Twelve years on- thinking now it is so apparent--the world changed permanently.
 Has there been any event of a couple hours in the human history that has had such huge impact in every way on all the countries and living human beings of the world? I wonder.
 Could all those men who performed this act those who organised and those who engineered etc., have imagined the consequences of this kind? I wonder.
 Were they Muslims or just terrorists under the command of some mentally deranged person? I wonder.
 The weekend before that I was attending ISNA conference where we saw the exhibition of (and the artist Br. Zakaria) Eid Mubarak Stamps. I had felt so proud of being in this country where I was even more free to practice my deen even more than where I was born AND BE APPRECIATED here as a Muslim. Of course, all that feeling lasted only a couple of days. Now I feel ashamed, apologetic worried inferior type of human being as a Muslim and still my pride is far from coming back to me. Will it ever come back? I wonder.
 Now there is a second "Pakistani" thought- We have been observing "sadness" of 11th of September for 65 years now as we lost our beloved leader and founder of our country Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The loss for us ordinary Pakistanis and Muslims of Pakistan (original) is enormous and is getting worse with time which is difficult for non-Pakistanis to understand but FB and other places will be filled with these things about him by young Pakistanis who will not be able to understand why the Governments of Pakistan one after the other ever since have never referred to His speeches his instructions his thoughts about what he wanted this country for and for whom. Some even blame him and funny thing some even hate him (some burned the house in which he breathed his last) and may not show their rancour. He was "a man of principle" personified. A giant leader of Muslims of Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Yes he is missed



Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Dream Speech, 50 yrs on.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. May have no idea when he uttered those calculated words that are still ringing in our Nation
 And very rightly so. I did not even realize it has been 50 years when it all happened. Gifted speakers get more training during their education to take up ministerial work in the Church. God has given us this gift of speech which can be so powerful.
I recall one day before the movie "Malcolm-X was to be released we had a talk given by some pastor
 "Martin and Malcolm"
 They felt that Malcolm was a more powerful leader for the blacks (African-Americans)
 No doubt Malcolm was a very effective speaker Interesting to watch both these powerful leaders were struck down in young age leaving their legacies which are still alive.
 Politically as well as for effectiveness of the movement started by MLK has been more successful and has more far-reaching effects for the African-Americans at least in the USA. "Dream" has almost come true in many ways.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

iDoc/ ethics of War and Peace

 A lot is being said politically
about the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
 The idea is purely political and carries no meaning when it comes to helping mankind in trouble. What does it matter who used it but men women old and young children all suffered the horrible inhuman effects while politicians are religiously trying to figure out the truth whether the news is correct, what are its sources, are they reliable etc. etc.
 Then we here a big man Mr. Kerry who describes the event.
 Then there are discussions what should be the punitive procedure for the Assad regime.
 Not completely unrelated, the Americans, I am ashamed to call myself American in this situation, have done their own unethical stuff in the past.
 Not too distant in the past, there are incredible reports of increased birth defects in childbirths in Iraq- the legacy of "dirty Bombs" used by the American forces (were they experimenting?)
I read early reports of ocular birth defects like no eyeballs in empty sockets or Cyclopes that I have never seen such birth defects which were alarmingly high in childbirths soon after first  attacks on Iraq in early nineties. Some day these reports will come out and there will be political discussions of who and why such bombs were used and yet the perpetrators will never be brought to justice.
 Who cares what happens to people other than Americans. The same attitude that brought out heroes who used the A-bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
 Unfortunately it is the Muslims who used chemical weapons against their own brothers, Muslims. The very Ummah who are supposed to teach the nations of the world the ethics of peace and war. Meanwhile the disaster is hurled on the Muslims who continue to suffer. When will they learn?


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

i-Doc/SS Marriages in Muslims

Biologically speaking marriage is between a male and a female of human species but it is basically from social point of view, a contract in a society and if biology is ignored any two persons can get into this "social contract".
 Since the American society has started recognizing as 'married' even if biologically not appropriate, it seems that Supreme court is right. Law is human here and NOT divine that cannot be changed.
 From medical point of view the principles are not changed. a child can only be born with the help of a uterus which does not occur in a male and an ovum cannot be fertilized unless a male's sperm is provided with or without a sexual intercourse. Of course there are so many biotechnological possibilities that have opened up a new era of families and "family'' concepts are changing but I do not see a woman or her genital system producing sperms or a man or his genital system producing an ovum.
 From family and social point of view what remains to be seen is the children of gay couples and their brought up and their family concepts. Are we going to see no more of a child looking for his/her biological mother as he/she grows up? 
 I doubt that and problems I see for a 'child' who wants to find his/her biological father is huge because the sperm may have come from some bank. (O yes, these banks sell these things, you want a sperm of a huge athlete? or a remarkably intelligent Lawyer? it will cost you accordingly) That does not apply to egg because child has to develop in a Uterus even if temporarily so the "mother" will have to be the "owner of that uterus", the ovum does not matter here.
 I may not live to see those "family problems" but they are bound to come out one day (unless already started  but may be hushed by the gay community, who have powerful lobby))
Such changes spread widely very fast in today's world. So I gather there is a gay Imam and a gay masjid in the USA. The Gay imam conducts Muslim wedding between two persons of the same sex The Imam happens to be a convert, a light colored African-American but he/she can be from any ethnic background. God! what are wee learning as Muslims in our old age.

Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/

Who we ask for Justice

In Pakistan that is
 One Urdu journalist writes about final judgement in Shah Zeb murder case that two persons have been given death sentence and both when they came out showed a V sign to the media that they won?
 The journalist then goes on to say these youngmen belong to respectable families and they are assured of NOT getting death but are likely to get out of Jail soon or sometimes in future so they are 'happy' and confident that they are going to get away with the murder inspite of death sentence by the court as has been happening during the last 5 years of PPP/Zardari rule.
 I am just appalled at this statement and at the happiness of the culprits. As the journalist very rightly says this is making fun of the justice system of the country.
 Then he 'hopes' that the new PM will correct such problems. It remains to be seen but what I saw in the pictures was that
 The president  (Zardari) gave the oath of premiership to the new prime minister and NOT the chief Justice
 Now ordinarily I see no harm there but the difference between Zardari and Justice Iftikhar is  huge-almost like asli naqli. To tell you the truth I do not think Nawaz Shareef has enough guts to change anything.


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/