The Fallen One

By Farhan Noor (Editor, Critic Magazine)

Your love is so pure, so true, that it makes me hate myself.
I deceive you with my cleverly woven web of lies
All intricately formulated in tears and smiles
To make you feel like a fool
Unworthy of my side
And yet you fall prostrate before the All Mighty, All Powerful
In thankfulness, in gratitude, every single time
When I just look at you in approval & nod
Without contempt, without disdain
Only but for a fiddling while

You apologize to me for my wrongdoings, for my mistakes
Beg for mercy, compassion, and forgiveness
Which I accept but not before humiliating you
Slapping across your sinless face
Denying your very existence
Every passing breath

I have deliberately kept you broken, starved, and tortured
And inflicted you with carrot-and-stick lovemaking
Set you against yourself, your conscience
Left you mutilated, manipulated
Spiritually bankrupt within
And yet, it is you, fondling my hair, caressing me
Praying for my health, wealth, and glory
Every passing breath

With your love so pure, so true, tell me how do I correspond?
I am, after all, the Shaitan, lord of the evil, the fallen one

The Tongue

By Farhan Noor (Editor, Critic Magazine)

How shamelessly thankless we are to Allah! What if He were to treble the size of our tongues and let it hang out like that of a dog’s, shorten it by half, make it fatter and heavier, or tinier and lighter, roll it up like a carpet, or nail it on its head dead as a doormat? What if He were to take away those taste buds and that sense of smell that gives our food the purpose and the meaning and the flavors, the textures, the temperatures, and the sensations for which we crave for and willingly pay money to buy it? Imagine eating peanuts without its saltiness, honey without its sweetness, lemons without its sourness, radish without its bitterness, and meat without its savories—when where daal and murghi, palak and ghosht, halwa and machli, all begin to taste like the tasteless water and the odorless air!

What would drive our appetite and invite our hunger? Carbohydrates and protein, or calcium and vitamins deficiency—think about it! What if He were to take back our tongue altogether and instead leave an empty nest in our mouths? How would we speak? Or swallow our food? Or clean our teeth (for some)? How ridiculously ugly and freakish and frightening would we look in appearance? Imagine knowing for even one minute that you could never talk again! Can Science replace our natural tongue? Say it can—but what cost, time, and effort will it demand from us as compared to that which we applied in getting one from Allah? And how much better will it be for the one that Allah gave us for free as our Caring and Loving, most Cherishing Creator? We resort more faith in Science than in Allah! “Have we not made for him a pair of eyes, and a tongue, and a pair of lips, and shown him the two highways?” [Surat Al-Balad 90:8-10] How do we thank Allah for this priceless and irreplaceable Naimat? We use this same tongue to lie instead of telling the Truth, sing songs instead of reciting the Glorious Quran, slander and backbite, argue and gossip, falsely accuse and allege, insult and abuse, yell profanity, spread rumors, and spend our lifetimes chattering and babbling about empty and godless talks in vanity: is this how it should be?

Imagine there are people in this world who say things which our beloved Creator dislikes the most: associating partners with Him and praising and glorifying them instead of Him, and yet we sit and watch in silence leashing the very tongue which we would not hesitate to use if they were to abuse and insult and say wrong about our loved ones! Such hypocrisy! Such thanklessness! Such wretchedness! Such impiety! Allah tells us in Surah Al-Fussilat 41:33 how to properly thank Him for this particular Naimat: “Who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness, and says: ‘I am a Muslim’?” Perhaps its about time we put our tongues to its proper use.

The I, The Me, The Myself

By Farhan Noor (Editor, Critic Magazine)

I understand, not for the first time, and perhaps why I do, and probably why it grieves me, ails me, and consumes me, day after day, night after night. Perhaps I am no longer the man I used to be let alone the one I want to be or wanted to be. I understand why it happened the way it happened. I understand completely, absolutely, entirely; I understand perhaps because there was nothing to know about—it was all a matter of time, and I knew it, right from the first mistake: when I deliberately misunderstood. Lo, and behold, for, indeed, ignorance is bliss and in that bliss, sinning is sweet. It is. I know because I have bathed in that joy, sunshine and storm. I have, and now I am drowning.

I understand, not that you don’t, how I feel, not because you may or may not be drowning like myself, but because you are like me—a human—a soul entrapped in a body of an animal calling out to an angel. I know you understand exactly what I mean. Or perhaps not. I would rather vouch on my staunchest enemy that too on my life and what more, on my soul, that fallen Djinn Iblees, who we popularly refer to as the Satan. To understand me better, far better, without any beginning, without any end, no holds barred, than I would ever. I confess: I don’t know myself. This thought ascends from the deepest voice in my heart, the very place where the conviction is grown from seeds of belief and knowledge. What more, I have belief, and I have knowledge. But I don’t know myself, not because I am lost, or confused, or wounded, or astray, but because I fear of finding the ultimate Truth about myself. I, after all, am my greatest enemy; am I not? Aren’t we all?

Media Interest Vs National Interest

It has been a while since various posts on this blog has been appearing which attempts to expose the other side of the picture when media gets bias over a particular issue. Click on the label 'Dark side of Media' to find previous posts.

The recent frenzy on the media has prompted the author to write a few lines once again. It apparently seems like that media has gone bonkers over the issue of FamilyGate which has the capacity to takes the CJ of Pakistan into its its fold, or at least affects his reputation at large, if not then its very much capable of distracting the SC from issues of even greater national importance like that of convicting Hussain Haqqani over MemoGate, and bringing all those involved to justice. If the author remembers correctly, then the MemoGate wasn't just about the ambassador of Pakistan in US, but also those who backed him in the process of transcribing the conspiratorial document. This will include the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan as well.

The media is too busy to highlight which matter more to the own interest ... after the recent leak of a recording of behind the scene conversation of Pakistan real state tycoon with two of the famous TV anchors on a private TV channel (Watch Part 1 and Part 2), the journalists are now has some thing more important to take care, that is their own reputation which is going down the drain after this leak. Obviously this issue would be more important then matters of national interest and security.

It was also recently reported by Telegraph (UK) that USS enterprise has approached Arabian Sea as a warning to Iran, however a Pakistani news papers also reported that the Ship has also violated international laws by moving into Pakistani waters. But of course the media has some other important issues to discuss, why we should expect it to educate or mobilize public on issues of national importance? 

Importance of Knowing your History

Random Thoughts ... 

Reading history always force me to realize that those who don't know it, repeat it, particularly the mistakes, and that a nation if is unaware of it's past doesn't have a future either. After reading a few books in a row, and looking at the present state of ignorance of our educated class of their own history, I feel scared ... simply because the level of collective ignorance with our past implies that we don't a future either. Some one once told me the it was one of the tools of colonial power to gain a strong hold on the occupied ones, that they use to disconnect them from their history, and as a result their next generation was intellectually and psychologically under control of the imperialists.

The Zombie Generation

(Random thoughts, unedited, pardon for spelling and grammatical mistakes)



I don't want to repeat the same rhetoric, the same mantra that its now time for change, it's been 63 years of slumber and that it would be too late now for us to recover if we don't respond to the pressing needs, time for inqlab, blah blah blah ... i have no hope for those who intend for a jasmine revolution, which can be brought through drawing room discussion, and facebook comment wars, I have no hope from all those who call themselves qualified and who talks-for-change less, and complain more over the existing state of affairs of the nation, despite having no plans to contribute in the betterment of this country ... no hope from the 5% of our nation who call themselves highly qualified, there inaction instead raise many questions over their qualification instead, as it was assumed that more education renders a person more qualified to serve his country ... but that’s not quite so, at least in case of Pakistan ... go and ask the life's goal of any graduate or post graduate student you know of, ask him what he wants to be in the next 30 years, and you will find a very consistent response, "a top executive of a multinational", "a comfortable life with ones family", "a business which this much turnover per year" ... you would be lucky if you find someone saying "I want to contribute to solve this and this problem of this country" ... ironic isn't it, if this continues, as it would as it seems, I don't see this nation waking up in the next 30 years even, or perhaps would expire on the way, at least with this state of mindset of our next generation.

How come we expect people to stand up and do something sustainable for this nation when most of the qualified lot has nothing in their mind of this sort, on one hand their home is on fire, and on the other they are thinking of renovating their room ... and then we call them educated, highly qualifed lot of this nation .. can someone bring me some stats of how much new business ventures this new qualified lot has started, how much new institutions they have contributed in, and then they complain for lack of jobs in the country ... who will create jobs for them when the ones most qualified are looking for one, instead of creating ones? ... This is just one angle of looking at the situation.

Now why shouldn’t I call them zombies, with out feelings and thinking for the home they live in, this is not just it, if you ask them what is the purpose of your existence, they are blank ... or at best have answers without any basis ... you ask them who you are, or how u define yourself, the answers are again too vague, confused, lack clarity, rather they define themselves with what they do, how they behave, what they have learnt (though ridiculously), instead of who they really are. If you are confused with this, then you need to analyze why you don't have a solid answer to the most significant question about YOU. If we shouldn't call a person with no sense of identity, no sense of purpose, no feelings for the world around him, only for his own selfish 6 inch of existence ... a zombie, then what should I, please enlighten me...

What messed up the 8 million highly qualified educated lot of Pakistan, and washed their egos with sense of identity and purpose? isn't a million dollar question, wouldn't it point toward the root of issue that why we as a nation are like a traveler lost in the desert, desperate for water, food, striping cloths to cool off, is being eyed by many hungry vultures, circling over him, waiting for his last gasp ... where's our destiny? Where’s our sense of purpose? Where’s our sense of identity, which emphasizes both on our purpose and destiny simultaneously...?

Congratulation if you have read this far, as you are the rare species among us who can digest such stuff, considered as crap by our doped masses ... you are different, definitely you are different, unless you haven't been forced by someone to read this one, which is as unlikely as Pakistan getting on the path of progress in the next 5 years.

Oh I shouldn't be this hopeless, pessimistic, though let me make it clear, i am not hopeless at least from myself, and from all those who still feel and have worries for the nation they live in ... though very few they are, drop in an ocean, drop of oils, unwilling to mix with the muddy water of arrogant ignorance, ignorant arrogance, self deception and what not, short of words though I am ...

How do we define the mindset of this Zombie generation, a definition here is required which may in turn help us to identify the zombies as well. Hmmm lets see, a guy / gul who can shamelessly excuse that what a person like me can really do to solve the problems of this country, who would be skilled to kill time and spend their money as unproductively as possible then shamelessly claim that they don't find time and other resources for their country, experts in blaming others at every turn and step they take, who would not come out of this comfort zone to do something for his society, thankless bastards i.e.

The list is of course not exhaustive, but my mind has, not because of the brainstorming, but the audience for whom this brainstorming was, help me, add more to this definition ... sometime I think that isn't this part of Paki's brain, which should be drained? but for some reason my gut doesn't agree ... perhaps because I am one of those idiots who doesn't get hopeless that easily ... but i do get disgusted, and this article surely proves this, no I am not contradicting my self, I am just disgusted by the intellectual filth which has polluted our so called educated class into zombies ...

Where this intellectual filth did came from? we need to identify its source and choke it's flow from reaching our next generation ... is it media, their confused parents, their curriculum or the way it is being taught, and their possible influence reinforced by the social networks, now digitized. I am not going to answer this question here, as this is not the right forum, it would require a scientific research, analysis and reporting...

But I would say one thing ... If you don't know how to define yourself or your purpose, then your enemies (mostly disguised as friends) come and defines you in a way which favors them ... If you don't know your destination, as an individual or as a nation, again your enemies guides you and take you to a point where you never wanted to be in the first place...

Is this the case with you? are you letting someone else to define You and your purpose? If this is correct then you have given the charge to move toward your destiny (read someone else's destiny) to someone else ... you sit in a bus and the let the bus driver decide where you wants to take you, and if the bus isn't going where you want to then you get out of the bus, but if you don't know where you want to go, then it doesn't really matter which bus or route you take, or who you follow!!!

Since the last 65 years is this nation has ever been able to actually agree on to where it is standing and where it wants to go? Perhaps there are as much views regarding the present position and the destiny as much as the population of this country. After listening to this someone would say that we lack leadership who could do this job ... i just can't get this thing straight, how come a nation of 180 million have not been able to produce one 'mai ka lal' who could unite the entire nation on a single vision ... but the reality is right in front of us.

What is the way out...?

I don't know at least now... If you know the way then please mention in the comment section. Please no wishful thoughts...

at least Nadeem seems to have a theory ...