My Humble Tribute to him (PBUH)

He was an illiterate orphan, but he transformed the ignorant society into a mighty and literate civilization and world power of its time. He taught the barbaric tribes the unmatched ethics of war, that they should spare the innocents, noncombatants, women, old aged and children, should not destroy trees, fields, should not kill animals or mutilate the dead bodies. He was a mercy to, even, his enemies. He forgave the ones who treated him in the worst possible ways and never took revenge for personal reasons. He initiated the process to emancipate the slaves and uplifted the status of women and orphans in the society. He asked his followers to treat women like jewels, and give them the respect, care and highest status in the society. In the times, when daughters were buried alive, he guaranteed heaven for a parent who takes care and nourishes daughters. He was a loving, caring and compassionate husband to his wives, whom he did not marry for personal or humanly desires. He was the head of an empire, a leader, who used to patch his clothes and do the housekeeping himself. He taught humbleness, tolerance and compassion to an extent that he declared a smallest act of smiling as an act of charity. 

He was none other than the Last Prophet of Islam, 

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

West, Mocking Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and World Peace

My good and right thoughts are a reflection of my Teachers' Wisdom - Aamir

Yet again !  some ignorant and unwise people from west have tried to mock the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) by producing a movie named 'Innocence of Muslims', and as a result, an impatient and emotional mob killed U.S ambassador and three others in Libya. Alas !

I have always believed that majority of the people in the west are decent and tolerant. They respect others' religious sentiments and sensitivities. This belief is based on my personal experiences and encounters. For example, when last year, a Florida based Pastor, Terry Jones, planned to burn the holy book of Muslims, i was told by one of my friends in Florida that many non-Muslims protested against him and condemned his act. She told me that non-Muslims even joined Muslims to sell the copies of Qur'an. They also joined an event page on Facebook, with the name 'Commit to reading the Qur'an for an hour'. I am quite sure that these tolerant and wise individuals from the west will again condemn the recent acts of mockery against Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).  

The minority in the west, which does not understand and respect these religious sensitivities, needs to understand that Muslims hold respect & love for all the prophets, especially Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), more than anyone, more than even their parents. Mocking the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) will only provoke outrage in Muslims and will disturb the world peace. The reaction from Muslims will always be emotional because of their association with their Prophet (pbuh). Hence, committing such acts, even after knowing the consequences, will definitely be perceived as devilry and equivalent to intentionally creating mischief in the land.  I pray for the ignorance of such individuals. 

To avoid such situations in the future, the western governments and United Nations should enforce laws to protect the dignity of all the personalities, perceived as holy and honorable by religious groups. Every Muslim considers Prophet's dignity as his / her own dignity. West should realize that affronting to one's dignity is as much a crime as hurting someone physically. Western governments should realize that mocking religious personalities is a dangerous trend, which is detrimental to world peace and making laws to condemn such a trend is a need of the hour. Such initiatives by the UN and western governments will be hailed by the Muslim world and the widening gaps between the Muslim world and the west will decrease.

At the same time, Muslims should understand that protesting is their right but in any case it should not go out of hand. God has ordained them to stay upright and just in any kind of circumstances. Killing innocents, breaking and burning the public properties is definitely against the moral limits and manners taught by Islam. Not adhering to these ethical limits, while protesting, only make their case weaker in front of the world. They should remember that their every action should reflect that they are the followers of a Prophet who once said, that 'I have been sent to perfect manners'. 

Today, religion has became more sensitive issue than ever and every reasonable person should be careful and sensitive towards the religious beliefs of others. Lets respect others and their beliefs to gain respect and to co-exist.

Wherever you are be a source of comfort and joy to others. God bless you  

9/11 Atrocity Continues

Its been 11 years since 9/11, an incident which changed the world. Keeping aside, the conspiracies, whoever killed 2000+ innocent people on that day committed a heinous crime. We all stand beside those innocent people and their families. Their pain is our pain and I strongly believe that they will be given justice one day. If not in this life, God will definitely compensate them on the day of judgment.

On the other hand, what U.S did in response, was also nothing less than a war crime. Millions of innocents have lost their lives because of this "war against terrorism". Many countries are facing the worst consequences of this "war" which was initiated by US. Hence, we should also stand beside those innocents and their families in Afghanistan, Iraq and in other countries, who are losing their homes and lives for the crime they never committed.

I believe that the people who did 9/11 and the US, both, have shown cruelty and impatience. The people who did 9/11 committed an atrocity, were cruel and short sighted and intrigued the super power of our time. On the other hand, US, with the sophisticated technology, a great pool of researchers and scientists in the areas of Sociology, psychology and world politics, could have taken some peaceful and just measures to bring justice to the victims of 9/11 and to change the mindsets of the individuals who are against US foreign policies. This way US would have more friends in international community than enemies. 

We need to remember that no blood is cheap, whether of an Afghani or of an American. Lets stand against any atrocity, even if our own people do that. I guess, the world would have been a better place if the people who did 9/11 and, in response, the US would have shown some wisdom and patience. Alas ! i am compelled to say that the 9/11 did not finish on the same day, the atrocity continued ... till today !

Weapons of Mass Destruction, a Blessing or an Inevitable Curse?

They say, “Everything is fair in love and war”, they say “We should keep our horses ready and in the current era, the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) are those horses and hence a blessing”. They say “we are proud to be a nuclear power” (and here, being a nuclear power is primarily about carrying WMD). My serious questions and reservations on such beliefs offend them, so I would humbly apologize in advance.

I question them that how can something be a source of pride when it is inherently bad? how can it be considered a blessing, when it will ultimately break every moral law, kill innocents, ruin the generations to come and destroy the nature?

They say, “Well, we have to keep WMD for our defense, if we don’t, then our enemy will invade and kill us”, they say that “instead of killing innocents, we are actually saving our innocents by keeping these weapons, so we should be proud of them and consider them a blessing”.

I tell them that, without going into the debate of whether a nation’s survival depends on keeping WMDs or world class academic institutions and to cut the dialogue short, I can consider the guided missiles and weapons a blessing, but the most I can say about WMD is that they might be ‘an inevitable curse’ but not a blessing.

They say that, “in older times, wars were fought using weapons which could only kill the combatants i.e. swords. But in the current era, how is it possible that in a war you won’t kill a single innocent soul”.

I tell them that there is a difference between unknowingly killing an innocent, while you were directly attacking the combatants or bombing their bases with guided missiles, and knowingly killing thousands of innocents with weapons of mass destruction. The name explains itself, dear, Weapons of MASS DESTRUCTION.

I say all this because my moral sense and religion tells me that whether it is Love or War, there are moral limits to observe. I wonder whether WMDs will observe any limit. I say all this because my moral sense and especially my religion tells me that killing one innocent soul is like killing the whole humanity and that the sanctity of an innocent soul is greater than the sanctity of the holiest place. I wonder whether WMDs hold such sanctity towards the life of an innocent soul. I cannot be proud of these ruthless weapons, because my religion tells me that even during a war I cannot kill women, young infants, children, infirm or old aged people, people in cloisters, covenant and mutilate the dead bodies. Let alone humans, during the war, my religion does not even allow me to slaughter an animal except for eating purposes. Would you believe that, during a war, Islam does not even allow obliterating a stream, cutting off fruit bearing trees or destroying an inhabited place.

Such are the moral limits preached to me by my religion, Islam. I wonder whether a WMD will observe all the aforementioned limits by differentiating between a combatant and an innocent before killing, surely not. If the inherent nature of WMD is to kill the masses, then with all due respect to your nationalism and patriotic sentiments, I can only call it an inevitable curse, neither a blessing nor a pride. For me, Muslims, even if they carry WMD, should be the first and the loudest ones to urge the humanity and the nuclear powers to demolish all the nuclear weapons from the world. If we won’t do this, then God will not have to bring the doomsday; we will do it ourselves.