We all have heard the story of Muhammad Bin Qasim, the young general from the Ummayad Dynasty who took Sind by storm. We all have heard how young MBQ was and how bravely his outnumbered army triumphed over King Dahirs legion. We all have heard how the conquest of Sindh enabled Islam to establish its roots into the subcontinent and blah blah blah what not.

But wait…… is that all to the legend of MBQ? Whatever happened after he had conquered Sindh and Multan? That, dear children, in my opinion is the most interesting part of the MBQ saga.

After toppeling the hindu rule in Sindh and lower Punjab, MBQ started to gear up for a further northern push. During his preperations for the next campaign, the Caliph of the Umayad Dynasty, Al-Walid I died and was suceeded by the Suleman Bin Abd-Aziz. Suleman, being a young man himself was envious of MBQs exploits and loathed his popularity among the local population. And so he ordered MBQ to return to Syria and face trial for treason. Upon receiving this order, MBQ started to pack his bags for a march towards Syria, but his soldiers knew that MBQ marches to certain death, for Suleman is a merciless carnivore who will enjoy seeing MBQ beheaded for treason he did not commit. And so the loyal men of MBQ’s army drew their swords and swore to their beloved general that they would fight the Caliph till death for MBQ is being wrongly accused.  Yet MBQ smiled and told them to sheath their swords, for the last thing he desires is fragmentation of the Islamic Empire on his behalf. And so MBQ, who did not know the meaning of the word “surrender”, conceded to the tyrant Suleman and sacrificed what was rightfully his for the greater good of his clan.

What happened later is disputed among historians. Some say MBQ died during his journey to Syria. Some say that he was tried in Damascus and executed, while some say that he was imprisoned in Mousil where he died due to extreme torture on daily basis.

Hence children, the lesson we learn from the life of this extra-ordinary man is that sometimes conceding takes greater courage than confronting. So the next time you get into a fight with one of your friends or get engaged into an argument with your parents or cannot agree upon something with your spouse, think of MBQ and think what is harder; fighting on or surrendering. And then do the harder of the two.

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 Note: Shahrzad is an Iranian writer/teacher from Tehran. Shahrzad’s blog is one of the most followed blogs on the blogosphere, in her blog Shahrzad offers clear unbiased perspective of an educated and independent Muslim woman. This post highlights the Processions of  Azadari in the Holy month Moharram.

Even after 1400 years, tragedy of Hussain ibn Ali (A.S) and his family is reminded by thousands and thousands ceremonies in Iran.

By start of Muharram, Iranian Shi’as, Sunnis and even other religions, strictly avoid founding any parties and celebrations. It’s the way that all Iranians from any faith show their respect to the martyrs of Karbala. In Urumiyyeh the azeri city in northwest, there are many different communities of Sunnis, Shi’as and Christians who all together participate in Ashoura and Tasu’a ceremonies and cry for Hussain (AS).

‘Shabih Khani’ (enactment) or performing the scenes of Ashoura day is so popular in Azeri and Kurd cities of west and northwest. They share breads, Halwa and hot milk among people and they cook rice and meat for the poor.

In Isfahan there’ve been always very famous ceremonies which have a history of 3 centuries or so. In Khuzistan of southwest, the ceremonies are done in Arabic way which is using ‘Sinj’, ‘ Bough’ and ‘Dimam’. They’re some kind of African musical instruments which came to arabic culture almost since hundreds years ago. They make this ‘Bough’ by horn of bull and it’s so difficult to learn how to play it.

In Birjand of Southern Khurasan, they usually mourn for Karbala in Masajid. On the other hand, In centeral city of Yazd, the ceremonies are started since the first day of Muharram and goes the utmost in the day of Ashoura. When all people gather in Amir Chakhmakh square, an ancient part of the city with a big old mosque. There is a big wooden ‘banner’ which thousand men carry it and turn around the square while others are mourning.

The huge ceremony of Muharram 8 in Zanjan city is also one of the most famous ceremonies in the muslim world. Where people offer thousands sheeps as sadaghat for the poor.

In northern cities, along the Caspian sea, the ceremonies are usually done at night. Every night, one of counties mourn for Karbala event and they move to other counties with flags.

I personally love the ceremonies in Tehran, the capital. Tehran as a very multi-cultural city has its very multi-cultural ceremonies for Muharram too. There are Azeri, Abadani, Kurd, Persian, Gilak, Pakistani, Afqani and many other communities that every one perform the rituals in their own way. But then what you get, is the combine of many people all together from different ethnicity and race.

You may see that even Armenian Christians cook food for the poor in these days. Nobody asks you whether you’re from their community or not. There are many masajid and from any heritage with any language, they stand side by side of together and remember the tragedy of Ashoura.

There are actually many wrong ways of mourning in other countries too which have been banned in Iran. Nowadays, mourning for Hussain is getting really meaningful and special. It’s coming out of just showing off or even wasting tears. It’s becoming more important and effective nowadays.

Innovations which were entered in the ways of mourning during history, have been strictly forbidden in Iran since some years ago. Stupidity of injuring body, using Qammah, heavily hitting, big banners, portrate of imams, blood and clay on face have been prohibited since long time ago.

The fact is we need to announce the true message of Karbala and realise it with the today’s events. Remembering Karbala is really significant, when it become a motivation for youth to go and study Islam, the Islamic history and try to learn about personality of great Muslim characters, from the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to Imams (A.S) and Sahabah(R.A).  It should be a shortcut for muslim youth to recognise the Yazids of this era and Hussains of today.

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A young Iranian Child, Muhammed Husain Rangbast, reciting the incident regarding the attack on Fatimat Al-Zahraa, the Daughter of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing upon him and his family.

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(Note: The post contains some disturbing images, reader discretion is advised for those who cant watch graphic images.)

Israel on Saturday morning launched a massive air raid at Gaza Strip, which according to them was  was targeted at Hamas militants. What was the result:

Death Toll: 225 civilians (mostly women and children) and the number is increasing with every passing hour.

Injured: 700 and more 

From a BBC correspondent:

 I spoke to one man, a civilian, and also a 14-year-old boy who were injured in an airstrike on a police station in the east of Gaza City this morning.

The man said he had been going to work in a clinic when he heard the sound of planes and turned back. But after that he cannot remember what happened - he just woke up injured, with wounds in his hand, leg and stomach.

The teenage boy had blood on his head and was in a lot of pain. He could not even remember his own name. “I don’t even know where I am,” he said to me.

I saw a body too, in the emergency room, with a stick of wood stuck through the chest.

Yesterday I also went into the hospital; the morgue was full and bodies were left in the streets. Parents were scouring the hospital for their children.

I followed one woman who was screaming “my son, my son” as she searched the building. 

So what actually happened in GAZA? May be few pics can give a glimpse:

What was the Civilized world reaction on this act of REAL TERRORISM:

1) WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN GORDON JOHNDROE:

“Hamas’ continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people.”

2) FRENCH PRESIDENCY STATEMENT: 

“He (French President Nicolas Sarkozy) demands an immediate stop to the firing of rockets on Israel and to the Israeli bombings in Gaza and calls for all parties to use restraint.”

 3)BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE STATEMENT:

“The only way to achieve lasting peace in Gaza is through peaceful means. Whilst we understand the Israeli government’s obligation to protect its population we urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties”

“We also call on miltants in the Gaza Strip to immediately cease all rocket attacks on Israel.”

4) ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCE STATEMENT:

“The IDF will continue its operations against terror in accordance with constant status assessments by the IDF Chief of General Staff. This operation will be continued, expanded and intensified as much as required.”

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Any word of sympathy for the innocent women and children who lost their lives and were injured? NOPE! I wonder why? Maybe GENOCIDE against Muslims and Arabs doesn’t count. Maybe!

 And what the Arab and Muslim world has to say on this?

The Amir (Ruler) of Mecca/Medina will continue its ties with the CIVILIZED WORLD, after all beggars are not choosers.

ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY-GENERAL AMR MOUSSA:

“We are facing a continuing spectacle which has been carefully planned. So we have to expect that there will be many casualties. We face a major humanitarian catastrophe”.

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK, QUOTED BY MENA:

“Egypt will continue its contacts to prepare an atmosphere conducive to restoring the period of calm and achieving reconciliation between the Palestinian groups.”

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HASAN QASHQAVI QUOTED BY STATE TELEVISION:

“Iran strongly condemns the Zionist regime’s (Israel) wide-ranging attacks against the civilians in Gaza.”

“The raids agains innocent people are unforgiveable and unacceptable.”

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Conclusion

Unfortunately Palestine will continue to bleed because nobody in the world has anything to do with this forsaken nation and its people. So what have we learned today?

*Hitler and Nazis are condenmed for the Halaucast.

*Pakistan is under lot of scrutiny for the attacks that are yet to be proven.

*Osama and Al Qaeda are the ultimate danger to worlds peace.

*Iran and Ahmedinijad are danger to the CIVILIZED WORLD especially ISRAEL.

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PS: what about the innocent civilian women and childeren in the pics above?

Are they Americans? ==> Nope

Are they Europeons? ==> Nah!

Are they Indian or Israelis? ===> God No!

===============>So WHO Gives a FUCK?<================

Popularity: 26% [?]

The word terrorism is not new for me or my countrymen. Being an ally of USA on “War on Terror”, Pakistan has been subjected to never ending series of violence that is not completely home grown but exported from its neighboring countries and the Middle EastUSA. Because one way or the other Pakistani dies, whether it’s Waziristan where US air strikes hit civilian women and children or Karachi where a freshly brain washed 17 year old blows himself off in public. Majority of the innocent people who gave their lives because of terrorism are Pakistanis. (We all are aware of the involvement of the agencies as well). But a very few Pakistani supported this so called war arrangement made between Musharraf and USA.

When two Pakistanis will talk about terrorism they will either blame the Govt. for their Pro American policies or they will hold religious extremism which has no support in the masses responsible. Osama Bin Ladin is a Saudi national. Zahwari who is alleged for many suicide attacks in Pakistan is an Egyptian national. Similarly many Uzbiks, Tajiks, Chechian nationals are involved in terrorists activities. But how many times Pakistani PM came on the tele shooting baseless allegations and warning these countries to stop exporting terrorism? Because happily or bitterly we all have accepted the fact that terrorism is a global phenomenon and who ever has engineered (or getting all the benefits) from this New World Order – (Post 9/11) we Pakistanis are on the receiving side.

Now where did we go wrong?

* Democracy

a)     Soviet War in Afghanistan: US puppet in Pakistan and our dictator Zia went out of the way to support USA in the first Afghan war. His lame ass excuse was RELIGION.  He implanted the seeds of religious extremism, sectarianism, AK- 47 culture etc.

b)     US-Nato aided War in Afghanistan: US puppet in Pakistan and dictator Musharraf went out of the way to support USA in the present going Afghan war. His lame ass excuse was “Enlighten Moderation”.

It’s amazing how one dictator negates the policy of another dictator but serving the interest and policies of the same Boss. But this is not the topic of today’s discussion. We all are shocked and touched by the tragic events in MUMBAI that killed 150 or more innocents and destroyed the lives of millions who were associated to them one way or the other. We Pakistanis can relate because our life is more then equally effected and is on stake like any Indian who finds itself insecure or terrorized.

But why from day one, when the operation was in progress. Indian media, Government officials started blaming and accusing Pakistan for the whole thing. It clearly indicates the fact that if somebody in India is even hit by a water balloon, Pakistan/ICI will be hold responsible for it. Because we are MUSLIMS + Pakistanis, so go on blame the easy targets, Indian Janta/Public will buy it anyway. With elections around the corner Congress needs to show some retaliation to cover up the loop holes in their system. If they will blame the Indian Muslims; there goes the minority vote So let the villains be Muslims but link them with the infamous neighbors.The did the same in Samjhota Express incidence and we know how it turned out to be

I don’t see no other logical reason because Indians rite now are making anything but sense. They don’t want to buy the fact that there are elements in India that are frustrated, lead a life style which is unimaginably lowest among every other Indian ethnic community and yes I am talking about the Muslims in India that is the largest minority in Bharat and their suffering is twice of the total Indian population.

Some years back a Rajinder Sachar Committee was appointed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. This high level committee was setup for preparation of a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India. Summary of the main points are as follows:

Some points in the reports are:

* In the field of literacy the Committee has found that the rate among Muslims is very much below than the national average. The gap between Muslims and the general average is greater in urban areas and women. 25 per cent of children of Muslim parents in the 6-14 year age group have either never attended school or have dropped out.

* Muslim parents are not averse to mainstream education or to send their children to affordable Government schools. The access to government schools for children of Muslim parents is limited.

* Bidi workers, tailors and mechanics need to be provided with social safety nets and social security. The participation of Muslims in the professional and managerial cadre is low.

* The average amount of bank loan disbursed to the Muslims is 2/3 of the amount disbursed to other minorities. In some cases it is half. The Reserve Bank of India’s efforts to extend banking and credit facilities under the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme of 1983 has mainly benefited other minorities marginalizing Muslims.

* There is a clear and significant inverse association between the proportion of the Muslim population and the availability of educational infrastructure in small villages. Muslim concentration villages are not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus stops.

* Substantially larger proportion of the Muslim households in urban areas are in the less than Rs.500 expenditure bracket.

* The presence of Muslims has been found to be only 3% in the IAS, 1.8% in the IFS and 4% in the IPS.

* Muslim community has a representation of only 4.5% in Indian Railways while 98.7% of them are positioned at lower levels. Representation of Muslims is very low in the Universities and in Banks. Their share in police constables is only 6%, in health 4.4%, in transport 6.5%.

* For the Maulana Azad Education Foundation to be effective the corpus fund needs to be increased to 1000 crores. Total allocation in the four years 2002 to 2006 for Madarsa Modernization Scheme is 106 crores. The information regarding the Scheme has not adequately percolated down. Even if the share of Muslims in elected bodies is low they and other under represented segments can be involved in the decision making process through innovative mechanisms.

* Most of the variables indicate that Muslim-OBCs are significantly deprived in comparison to Hindu-OBCs. The work participation rate (WPR) shows the presence of a sharp difference between Hindu-OBCs (67%) and the Muslims. The share of Muslim-OBCs in government/ PSU jobs is much lower than Hindu-OBCs.

* There are about 5 lakh registered Wakfs with 600,000 acres (2,400 km²) land and Rs 6,000 crore book value.

You can read the total report here.

So if the so called Dakkan Mujahadin is blaming the Indian Govt for their short comings what do we have to do with all this? We are going though a rough patch, what benefit Pakistan would get after destroying the on going peace process with India? The last thing we need is picking a fight which can lead to Nuclear War.

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Translation:“It’s enough that we pray to the same Qiblah“ 

“And hold firm all of you together to the Rope of Allah and be not divided”
-Quran 3:103 

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