Emotional residue, trauma, spiritual bypassing and illusion of wellbeing

Our nervous system is designed to complete it's emotional reactions to adverse external situations. If somehow we are unable to complete that response in real time, our nervous system will find every opportunity later to complete it. 

Any reminder to the original event in the past will trigger the residual response. 

We try to suppress it again typically because often it is not making any sense, but if we understand that it is not the present event to which our nervous system is reacting, but to some resembling past event, then we may allow and create space for the emotional reaction to complete (with due diligence of course). 

But if we keep accumulating then the over load on our system can create some serious damage in the long run ... 

Often intellectual or spiritual bypassing is used for that purpose! 

Bypassing, is the use of some intellectual gymnastics to distract one self into an illusion of wellness. 

This often involves creating rational justification of the discomfort being felt in our hearts and bodies as a result of some difficult experience. 

We then focus on this rationalization so much that we tend to forget what's actually happening within ourselves. This can create a false sense of wellbeing. 

Spiritual bypassing involves rationalization of some beliefs to force ourselves into this false perception of wellness. 

Bypassing thus evades the natural and Divine process of restoration and healing, which is activated by embracing and by not evading the difficulty of the experience. 

The pain is also not a sign to run away from our internal experiences, its a signal by our defense mechanism asking the higher self to let the healing system to do it's thing. 

If you are feeling pain it's because your system is healing your wounds. But bypassing makes people feel numb, and they perhaps fall into this illusion of wellness ... 

Being spiritual or having a deep connection with the Divine is not suppose to make you emotionally numb or sterile ... it rather creates an internal safe space to experience all the difficult emotions, a space where difficult emotions turns into a catalyst to strengthen the Divine connection, a space where these emotions transmogrify into hope, calmness, peace while also bringing a sense of gratitude ... 

In fact, it has also been observed that often difficult emotions force us into a spot where we don't have any choice left but to find this space inside of us, where we are completely vulnerable and left with no other option except to seek help from the Divine ... and eventually we experience the healing through the Divine light which thus brings a sense of bliss and serenity ... 

But we can't find this space or connect with the Divine if we keep forcing ourselves into a delusion of wellness during moments of pain while pretending to be religious and spiritual, which also prevent us to experience the sweetness of the healing process ...

Intellectual or spiritual bypassing thus prevents us from connecting to our core and thus disconnects from the Divine as well ... 

How to be thankful during moments of pain?

Typically many of us distract or dissociate ourselves into a mental idea of gratitude to avoid the experience of pain to look tough or pretend to be alright or whatever...  

So instead, we need to view pain as an alarm system, like if you have a dog which disturbs your sleep by barking out loud to alert you in case some thief try to enter your house, you don't try to silence the dog rather appraise the dog for alerting you and take the action against the thief ... Same is the function of the pain in the body, it alerts us to take corrective action, its an alarm system which need not be shut down, it's a signal for us to respond to the disturbance in our system. The pain thus serves an important purpose, for which we need to be thankful ... 

There are no false alarms in our body, we just fail to understand the source of the pain, particularly emotional pain ...

Secondly, pain makes us ask for help, particularly from Allah s.w.t. We need to know the limits of our ability, for example, how much activity on a cellular level we can control in the healing process of a cut in our hand. Allah s.w.t designed this system of healing, and we need to give up to the system during the moments of pain, and be thankful for its autonomous activity to restore order in our bodies. 

The moment we realize the extent to which we can control the system to recover from the injury, its the moment when we move into the state of vulnerability. In this moment of vulnerability we can cry for help from Allah s.w.t., and be thankful for the opportunity for that purpose ... 

The sooner we notice pain and surrender to the process (after taking any action which we possibly can) the sooner the Divine system of healing can be activated ... while we wait for the Divine system to do its thing we can be thankful for the past experiences of healing, and be thankful for the outcome of healing in advance ... 

The Dillema of Modern Islamic Finance

By Omar Javaid

I recently participated in 10th International Conference on Islamic Finance and Economics in Doha, Qatar, one of the largest gathering of its kind. I listened/discussed my views with various top experts in the field. I also presented a paper on how Islamic concept of wealth and modern concept of capital differs with each other.

In a nut shell all the discussion on the problems and solution in the realm of Islamic Finance were revolving around the challenges emerging for misplacing knowledge of Islamic Finance in the modern western institutional framework standing on foundations completely incompatible with that of Islam! ...

Question of Reviving Islam in a (Post) Modern Secular World

By Omar Javaid

The tree was dying, and its death came with a little surprise. The stakes were high though and the concerned tried hard to bring it back to life, but there was too much pollution, in the air, on the ground... someone came up with an idea! "Let’s cut it off into pieces and put these pieces inside the machines in the industry, automobiles etc. let’s put some inside the exhaust of the car for example, and the tree would be resurrected! 

This someone obviously 'didn't knew what these machines were/are and had no idea how the very machines had polluted the environment in the first place. Obviously this innocent someone can be forgiven on the basis of his idea, however one need to worry when this idea is being put into practice by lots of follower of that 'innocent someone' and the entire forest is being chopped off to be placed inside the most infertile and non-conducive place one could find. Another lesser brutal example, let’s consider the sports of hockey is dying in this country, so let’s divide the team and place the hokey players in teams of completely different type of sports, let’s say cricket, football, kabaddi, etc. and expect to revive hockey again.

Dissecting the term “Creativity”

By Noman Mahmood

The problem with the word “creativity” is that it is often overused without being understood clearly. Especially in the modern times when creativity is seen as the new iconic academic term for everyone, it is very hard to make them understand and identify the exact connotation of it.

Before proceeding we need to understand the modern common concept of creativity. We can refer to Wikipedia for its definition:

| The use of imagination or original ideas to creating something new; inventiveness |

The definition above that is provided by Wikipedia is a general understanding of this term in modern times, which is to bring out something original through thinking. In simple words a person who produces a totally new thought. In hearing out this definition normally, one can assume it to be very glamorous, but there is a serious error when it comes to the implementation of the process of creativity. But before we understand the problem of it, we have to examine the roots of this particular definition. The idea of the original thought is a byproduct of the philosophy of rationality which actually links back to the starting of the universal thinking in the period of renaissance.

کیا کچھ نہ ہونے سے کچھ ہونا بہتر ہے؟

عمر جاوید

کچھ نہ ہونے سے کچھ ہونا بہتر ہے کے فلسفے کی نسبت سے ہمارے ملک کی مذہبی سیاسی جماعتوں میں اس بات  کا رجہان پایا جاتا ہے کہ ملک کے اداروں میں اپنے نظریے کے لوگوں کو داخل کرکے ان اداروں سے کچھ خیر کی امید رکھی جاسکتی ہے. جیسے جیسے ان اداروں میں دیندار لوگوں کا اضافہ ہوتا چلا جاۓ گا ویسے ویسے وہ ادارہ یا ادارے شر سے پاک ہوتے چلے جائیں  گے. مزے کی بات یہ ہیں کے ویسے تو جماعت اور جمیعت کے لوگ ایک دوسرے کے مدمقابل نظر اتے ہیں لیکن اس نظریے پر متفق ہیں. جمیعت کی پشت پناہی کرنے والے علماءدیوبند بھی شائد اس نظریے سے اتفاق کرتے نظر اتے ہیں.

بظاھر تو اس نظریے کی ابتدا پاکستان بنے کے بعد مولانا مودودی اور مفتی محمود کی تحریک سے ہوتی نظر اتی ہے لیکن کچھ غور کرنے پر یہ معلوم ہوتا ہیں کے وہ دراصل سر سید احمد خان صاحب تھے جنہوں نے اس نظریے کی داغ بیل ڈالی. اگر اس بات کو سہی تسلیم کر لیا جاۓ تو اس نظریے کی عمر کوئی ١٥٠ سال ہو جاتی ہے. اس پورے عرصے میں اس نظریے سے اتفاق کرنے والوں کی تعداد میں خاطر خوا اضافہ ہوا ہے اور آج اک بہت بڑی تعداد یہ سمجھتی ہے کے  نیک اور ایمان دار لوگوں کو مختلف ریاستی اداروں کا حصہ بنا کر ان اداروں کو شر سے پاک  کیا جا سکتا ہے.

Seven Indispensable Career Goals | An Islamic Perspective

By Omar Javaid

When I ask my students about their career objectives and their strategy to accomplish their objectives, I get responses which can only be classified as herd mentality. Many even confuse means as ends, and some even assume ends to conform to the means, “Sir, if I am working in a XYZ industry then what should be my career objectives”? I ask, shouldn't it be the other way around? Is your career for your life, or your life is for your career? If the former is true then your career should be meant to fulfill your life’s goals, isn't it!

The eventual consequences of such confusion could be of staggering proportions! After lots of discussions I have come across that (a) Financial Independence, (b) Respect, (c) Internal Satisfaction, (d) Fulfillment of religious obligations, (e) 360 deg. upbringing of offspring, and (f) Personal Health… are mandatory outcomes of a career and one’s life could get permissible if anyone of these is missing…

One the other hand, I often sees students intends to become filthy wealth, famous & powerful through their careers while completely ignoring the above and assuming as if these can actually somehow bring happiness in their lives, evidence however suggests the contrary...

Let’s shed some light on each of these objectives, how they are fundamentally important to live a fulfilling and meaningful life, and how without anyone of these one’s life might become unlivable.

Strategy to Doctor Islam | Building Moderate Muslim Networks

By Omar Javaid

The famous American think tank RAND (www.rang.org), which seems to have immense influence on global policy framework of the so called developed world, has published a few reports on how to restructure Muslim societies. The notable one is ‘Building Moderate MuslimNetwork’. This report outlines a comprehensive strategy on how to use the Cold War experience to discredit the traditional orthodox interpretation of Islam, and popularize an interpretation which is compatible with modern western ideological framework. 

The phrase ‘War of Ideas’ has been explicitly used for this clash in this report. As the title suggests the idea is to build network of so called ‘Moderate Muslims’ and make them role models for the rest of the public to follow. These ‘Moderate Muslims’ are the ones who believe in Islamic Liberalism or an interpretation of Islam compatible with Liberal philosophical discourse. This would mean that those intellectual, academics, thinkers, politicians, public figures, celebrities, even so called religious scholars who endorse such an interpretation of Islam would be provided with various plate forms and mediums to connect and influence the remaining population through their ideals, beliefs, world view, values, life style, etc, while rendering the traditional and orthodox Muslims as obsolete and irrelevant.

Tanks of Porus: Assumptions Vs Reality

By Muhammad Ali Azlan

King Porus (Sanskrit: Purushottama) was the ancient Hindu King of Paurava, an ancient Indian Kingdom located between the Jhelum and Chenab rivers (in Greek, the Hydaspes and the Acesines rivers) in modern day Punjab, Pakistan, and later of dominions extending to the Beas (in Greek, the Hyphasis). Porus fought Alexander the Great in the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC (at the site of modern day Mong and was defeated. He then served Alexander as a client king.

The Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought by Alexander the Great (sic) in 326 BC against King Porus of the Hindu Paurava kingdom on the banks of the Hydaspes River (Jhelum River) in the Punjab near Bhera. The battle resulted in a complete Macedonian victory and the annexation of the Punjab, which lay beyond the confines of the defeated Persian empire, into the Alexandrian Empire.
Although victorious, it was also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians. The resistance put up by King Porus and his men won the respect of Alexander who asked him to become a Macedonian satrap. Alexander's army is estimated at about 6,000. Depending on the sources, Alexander was outnumbered somewhere from 3:1 to 5:1.

The Irony of being 'Islamic' in the Modern World

By Omar Javaid

From Islamic banks, Islamic Insurance, Islamic Funds, Islamic Economics, Islamic Schools, Islamic Democracy, Islamic Nations, to Islamic Music and Islamic swimwear, lots of things which are foreign to Islamic tradition and history are being introduced in the Muslim world with a label of Islam after a little alterations! The term 'Islamic' itself when attached to another term is a proof of that thing being of foreign origin though a little tweaked! we don't hear terms like Islamic nikah, Islamic baitulmal, Islamic shura, Islamic hajj, Islamic salah, Islamic Madarasah, Islamic Masjid; definitely not! because these are terms from the history of Muslim civilization...

The sudden influx of such 'Islamic' things indicates that many assume Islam's historical experience of managing the socioeconomic and political landscape of a world dominating civilization isn't sufficient enough to help solve contemporary problems!

Some Humble Questions for Ahl-e-Tashee Hazrat!

Some questions for Ahl-e-Tashee Hazrat, please remain cool and help everyone explain the possible answers to these, also point out if these questions are based on wrong assumptions!

1. How many times do we see Hazrat Ali (r.a) saying anything against Hazrat Abu Bakar (r.a), Hazrat Omar and Hazrat Usman (r.a) in his lifetime, let alone revolting against them?

2. Why did Hazrat Ali (r.a) asked his two beloved sons Hassan (r.a) and Hussain (r.a) to protect Hazrat Usman (r.a) when they were attacked by miscreants?

3. Why did Hazrat Hassan (r.a) did signed an unconditional peace treaty with Hazrat Mawiya (r.a.) to end the conflict which erupted after the death of Hazrat Usman (r.a)?

4. Assuming that all sahaba-e-kiram were human beings therefore must have committed some mistakes and sins, also there must be degrees seniority among in terms of piety and closeness with Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)... having said this name one scholar from last two hundred years at least from any school of thought of Islam who can be declared superior than the dust underneath the feet of sahabi of least seniority? if the answer is no then who have the right to dislike or blame any sahabi, even if we assume that some of them did committed some mistake, just for the sake of argument.

5. How can we say that the greatest man in the history of mankind, a messenger of Allah (s.w.t), receiving guidance directly from Allah (s.w.t), unmatched in his wisdom, insight, intelligence etc, remain oblivious that some of his closest companions (on whom ahle-e-tashee hazrat points fingers) are hypocrites, and even got no warning in his lifetime from Allah (s.w.t) about their hypocrisy? Isn't it a great disrespect to the Prophet (s.a.w) himself?

6. What is the source of legitimacy of all the brutal rituals performed during 10th Muharram, is doing all that like following Prophet (s.a.w) or his companions (r.a)? Would Hazrat Hasan (r.a), Hazrat Hussain (r.a) and Hazrat Ali (r.a) would have approved all that? If not then how Allah (s.w.t) will approve the pain and misery caused in all that?

The purpose is to understand the point of view, so kindly provide answers which clarify the above so that the minds of others is cleared!

kind regards... 

How Crime become Contagious through Mass Media

By Omar Javaid

It’s quite disturbing to note that there is an alarming rise in the incidents of rape and molestation of minor girls. It’s hard to imagine how anyone can even think of committing such a heinous crime. Despite the worrisome rise; the news of culprits getting punished by the court of law is seldom heard, may be because criminals either are not prosecuted, or even if they are, their prosecution is not covered by the media like their crimes. Could this unbalanced coverage have somehow contributed in this recent surge in various unfortunate incidents in society, let alone rape?

Malcolm Gladwell in his best seller book 'The Tipping Point' shares findings of a research conducted by David Phillips (a University of California Sociologist) in a case study at the end of his book titled 'Suicide, Smoking, and the search for the unsticky Cigarette'. This research explored any connection between (a) news coverage of a suicide incident and (b) the rise of suicide rates in a city or town during the next few days where the news was broadcasted. The findings are sobering which suggested that there is indeed a significant link between the two! The news did increase the suicide rates…

Income Inequality, Modern Financial System and the Islamic Solution

Shaykh Umar Vadillo

Latest figures shared by the State Bank of Pakistan reveal that the top 24,000 millionaire account holders in Pakistan owns Rs 2,118 Billion. The interesting aspect of this data is that in the last four years, which are presumed to be the worst years for Pakistan’s economy, the number of Crorepati (millionaires) in Pakistan increased by 50% to 36,500 from 24,000 in 2008. The new 12,000 millionaires added about Rs 80,000 Crore (800 Billion) in bank deposits in the last three years. Of course they are not depositing everything. There must be properties and other investments involved which are not included in this figure. (Do I need to remind you how much Pakistani investors love to invest in Property). So if we take that ‘unknown’ figure, I’m sure this club of 36,000 elite millionaires will total way more than 70% of Pakistan’s total wealth.

These 36,000 people represents only 0.02% of Pakistan’s total population of 18 Crore people and yet they hold almost 40% of Pakistan’s total wealth in bank accounts. About 24,423 account holders, having an amount Rs 1 Crore and above, made a total deposit of Rs 1,323 Billion at the end of December 2008. The figure of account holders rose by 12,086 to 36,509 by the end of December 2011, taking the total amount to Rs2,118 Billion. The economic growth during last four years hovers around an average of 2 per cent and one might question about the source of income of these 12,000 people who mysteriously became millionaires while Pakistan’s economy was facing joblessness, security conditions, trade barriers and rising fuel costs.

Facebook Vs. Drones

Many people consider it ironic to condemn west in a language which is western, on a platform created in the west like facebook, on a hardware like computers or cellphones again manufactured and imported from west... on a surface the dichotomy is unmistakable, however on surface only...

The problem is with the inclination of the public to generalize, which we all do in areas where our knowledge is limited. For example, for a layman a plastic is a plastic, however for an expert it is PP (Polypropylene), ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), Acrylic, PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), PC (Polycarbonate), Polythene etc. So how this example explains the problem being discussed here?

Western civilization is a complex phenomenon, its not a single homogeneous mixture of the same kind of people thinking the same thing, having exactly the same objective of invading Muslim lands and committing genocide there (as and when required) etc... There are good people there, and bad as well; there must be some people there who hate Islam, but there are many who have reverted to Islam as well and many more who would be reverting in future! Also west manufacture all kind of stuff including Alcohol and Porn, do all kind of academic and scientific research, and export different good or bad stuff including wars to different places in the world. So one needs to be careful what needs to be opted out from the west and what not.

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w didn't also rejected everything from the previous practices going on in Arabia like those which were not contradictory with the Divine message, and the rest were either altered or prohibited.

Similarly to consider west as a single entity isn't wise, for example a large number of western population have the potential to revert to Islam and when they will do, and it would be really absurd to expect them to reject their whole lifestyle and live in sahara desert in Africa! An intelligent filtering system is therefore needed through which we can categorize constituents of western civilization and their actions as acceptable and unacceptable, in such a way that they are brought into the folds of Islam sooner or latter.

Terry Holdbrooks, the Guantanamo Bay Guard
who accepted Islam. Source: The Guardian

In this regards, the critical ones from the west who has been highlighting their own mistakes can be really helpful. From Howard Zinn, Jean Kilbourne, Michael Moore, Naomi klein, Noam Chomsky, John Perkins, Ron Paul to Medea Benjamin, Alex John etc. are all westerner / Americans who have been critical to the policies of their own governments, corporate sector, military industrial complex, etc... but the weakness in their approach is that they are not sure about the ultimate solution to the problems they are facing there. A westerner, particularly females who reverts to Islam often explains that it was the way they were treated by their own society which motivated them to accept Islam because in Islam they found salvation and peace. Imagine if a guantanamo bay prison security guard has the potential to accept Islam while getting inspired by the detainees then should he be considered as an enemy or an asset?

This doesn't mean that if US govt. for example comes to bomb your neighbourhood then you shouldn't resist, the right to self defence is always your right and responding by stealing weapons from your enemy would also be considered OK if you are out of ammunition.

Same is the case with Indians, while I was raising my eyebrows on our youth when they were watching Chennai Express in atrium cinema despite Indian violation of LoC, then someone argued that why you are using Facebook despite US bombing Muslims across the globe?... this response made the same categorization mistake!... Watching and enjoying Chennai express is an appreciation of a vulgar and obscene culture, values, ideals which is against that of ours and to protect ourselves from influence the same had been the very reason for the creation of Pakistan, in comparison facebook / internet is a medium of communication which can also be used to spread Islamic ideas and values, defend Pakistan's identity, exactly the way it is done these days by social media while countering the anti-Pakistan campaigns by various private news channels; which means watching Chennai Express is something very opposite to using facebook. (just an example)...

Therefore a line needs to be drawn and it needs to realized that it is a "War of Ideas" (see RAND report 'Building Modern Muslims Network') and to win it we need mature and learned minds who know how to differentiate between what is lethal and beneficial in context of making the west realize the solution to their problems which do not exist in their secular and liberal tool box, but in the teachings of Islam.

Islamic Banks, the Problem of Takasur

By Omar Javaid

[Takasur 102:1] The craving for excess wealth (takasur) kept you people neglectful.

[Takasur 102:2] Until you confronted the graves.

[Takasur 102:3] Yes certainly, you will soon realise!

[Takasur 102:4] Again, yes certainly, you will soon realise!

[Takasur 102:5] Yes certainly, if you had believed with certainty, you would not have craved for wealth.

[Takasur 102:6] Indeed you will see hell.

[Takasur 102:7] Again, indeed you will see it with certainty.

[Takasur 102:8] Then, on that day, you will surely be questioned regarding the favours.

This surah of Quran effortlessly destroys the driving force behind capitalism and free-market ideology... the story of this ideal gaining mass acceptance and becoming the driving force behind capitalism started from birth of protestantism, enlightenment movement in Europe etc. 'Theory of Moral Sentiments' by Adam Smith established the very notion of modern virtuous (or ideal) man as a wealthy and powerful. Pursuit of self-interest (which Adam Smith proposed in his 'Wealth of Nations') for this very purpose was also declared as legitimate and preferred in Europe during 17th century. Later the same ideas spread across the world by brute force during colonization period. 

Election 2013: Lessons for Religious Parties

The yesterday's experience has only made me more convinced that JI, JUI and all other religious political parties should leave politics and should join Tanzeem-e-Islami or Tabligi Jamat. Participation in such a dirty game of politics will earn them nothing but stains on their own names and humiliation to the name of Islam...

The entire 1300 years of history is evident and has hardly any single example of ulema-e-kiram taking part in politics. This didn't mean they had no influence on the public. Rather the ulema-e-kiram were the ones whom the public followed. Their influence use to be so great that even the monarchs have to take permission on various policy matters not because of any official binding, but because of the moral authority ulema-e-kiram enjoyed. Just recall the example of Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal r.a. and Shah Waliullah r.a, that despite getting arrested and tortured by the monarchs of their time, they never bent themselves, and the public at large acknowledge their sacrifices, subsequently following them with even more devotion.

They never participated in political affairs themselves, however they had their devotes takecare the political matters or participate in political adventures if needed.

For tons of examples, download and browse this book 'Tareekh-e-Dawat-o-Azeemat' by Molana Syed ul Hasan Ali Nadvi

The reasons for this must be clear by now, in a game in which all the players are united for corruption, any new player cannot win. Even when the empires are on the sides of the corrupt ones, then how difficult it would be to win? Eventually when the only option would be to make an alliance with any of the corrupt players in the game.

This might help them win a couple of matches, but where this would take their credibility? how would it affect their moral authority among the general public? Furthermore the opponents will not let go any chance to throw dirt on your face; humiliating, ridiculing, using derogatory & abusive terms for your opponents etc. all of this is already a part of the dirty game, doing that doesn't suites them, while not doing that and avoid using all other dirty tricks to rigg, cheat and deceive will not get them in the lead... the results are already in front of our eyes.

It is argued that it is necessary to become part of the government so as to stop the same from passing any unIslamic bill in the assembly. The counter argument is would it really matter if the awam rejects a particular act approved by the parliament. It is a known fact that 95% of the public doesn't take financing from interest based banks because it is considered as haraam or prohibited in Islam, despite it is being allowed and supported by the state. (the loans on interest from informal sources is taken by the poor out of desperation and compulsion, therefore we can't count them here)

Let us suppose if drinking, adultery, prostitution, gay marriages etc is made legal by the parliament then would the public be more encouraged to do all these things? Well those who want to do it are doing it already under the cover of law enforcement agencies, and would it really matter if the public at large refrain from it because they consider these things as haraam despite they would be allowed by the law.

The real work which ulema are already doing, is to educate the public, and to get some politicians under their influence so that they may fight the case of Islam (protection of Madaris, etc) in the assembly instead.

They seriously need to rethink their strategy, otherwise the loser in the end would be nothing but Islam, and they would be directly responsible for it.

From Islamic Republic to Democratic Republic of Pakistan

Its 9 pm right now and the date is 11 May 2013, today in the morning Pakistan had its first elections after uninterrupted completion of a democratic (so called) tenure of previously elected government (as it is erroneously claimed to be). Means it is claimed to be the first transition from one democratic government to another. A very small number of crazy people in Pakistan, who understand the real face of democratic system, have not been able to bring up an alternative this with Allah’s will, as yet. I also have been debating against the democratic system since last two weeks with many people online and on social media. The following article is just a collection of those arguments which I gave to the people. I know it’s not going to change anything, however this documentation would help to understand it later that how wrong they were. Because tomorrow it’s simply not the end of the world.

Pakistan is considered to be an Islamic country, primarily because some of the clauses in the constitution demands conformance to Quran and Sunnah of every law passed in the parliament. However it’s also termed as a democratic because the framework of its political institutions are designed to conform democratic norms. Since the interest of the ruling elite of Pakistan is with those institutions, and not how Islamic the laws actually are, therefore practically Islam is nowhere to be seen. But irrespective of ruling elite wants, the fact of the matter is, even if you don’t even know the meaning of Kalima, still you can reach highest position of powers within those institutions, just by mimicking to be a Muslim. This is mainly because the nature of the institutional framework which was installed by colonial powers in the subcontinent, just doesn’t require practicing Muslims, the ideological position of any person is irrelevant, to perform any duty at any position whatsoever.

Religious Parties, Secular Strategies?

11th May is the Election Day. Just a week before, it is being claimed that, we will be seeing the first so called peaceful transition of power from one elected government to another, if all goes well. The religious political parties like JUI and JI are also campaigning at full gear. In Karachi the banners of JI are all over the place, which asks the public 'Aman ko Vote Dain', and that if JI wins all the problems of Karachi or Pakistan will be solved. JI claims to be an Islamic party and claims that the three signs of change are 'Allah, Rasool & Quran'.

For a moment if try to evaluate the claims of JI in the light of Quran and Sunnah then we see nothing but contradiction.

Islamic Banks, Un-Islamic Objectives?

By Omar Javaid

Islamic Civilization emerged and took over the world within a few decades of its birth. It dominated as a superpower for almost 1300 years till it collapsed during the 2nd world war with the fall of Ottoman Empire. Before its demise, lots of revivalist movements within Islamic Civilization resisted and tried all what was possible to prolong its survival, however their efforts weren't enough to breathe life in the lost civilization.

According to Tamim Ansari, three types of revivalist movements emerged, 1^st one which out rightly rejected anything which was foreign to Islamic traditions and demanded Muslims to go back to their roots (Wahabi movement); The 2nd one which recommended to pick up the good things from the western civilization and cleanse it through the process of Shariah compliance (Initiated by Jamaluddin Afghani); and the 3rd one, which rejected the traditional trajectory and proposed to find Islam in the western ways (whose torch bearer was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan)...

URDU | Is Islamic Revolution possible through Democracy by Dr. Javed Akbar Ansari