Selfish

"And as for man, when his Lord tries him, then treats him with honor and makes him lead an easy life, he says: My Lord honors me. But when He tries him (differently), then straitens to him his means of subsistence, he says: My Lord has disgraced me. Nay! But you do not honor the orphan. Nor do you urge one another to feed the poor…" (89:15-18)

"…It is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer…" (2:177)


There are number of verses in Holy Quran and several ahadiths from Masoomeen (a.s.) describing the rights and duties of a person towards widows and orphans. All the time in majalis and duroos we are listening these things in different ways, sometimes in form of story (waqia) of our Imams, sometimes during masaib when we say that when Hazrat Muslim bin Aqeel was martyred, Imam Hussain (a.s.) called his daughters and showed utmost kindness to them, this sight remained in memory of Bibi Sakina (s.a.) and when Imam Hussain (a.s.) was martyered she was also expecting something similar but Shimar-e-Lain tortured her.

I don’t know about others but personally I never tried to implement these teachings in my daily life. All these stories and riwayat are good in listening and mourning but I never thought to get any lesson from these teachings. Usually, as a financial responsibility I use to assume Khums and Zakat and in addition to that Sadaqa and Khairat. I never thought specifically to help any orphan or widow nor did I contact any organization which is working for that cause.

Current situation around the world and specifically in Pakistan where terrorism is on its highest level and more specifically against Ahle Tashi where every other sectarian group is enemy of Shia Isna Asheris, we have witnessed atleast five bomb blasts just in 40 days in our juloos and surroundings, I asked myself what if I was also martyred in one of these blasts? The slogan Shadaat Shadaat .. Saadat Saadat is wish of every momin person and everyone is ready to accept Shadaat, I am also feeling in same way but few questions were disturbing me a lot. How my family will survive without me? What will happen to schooling of my children? Who will provide living hood to my family? Will my children have to live an isolated life where there is no concept of entertainment, no picnics no gatherings? Who will buy them new cloths on Eids? Who will look after their major and minor needs?

I know all these questions are illogical as Allah (swt) is there to look after my children as he loves them several times more than me, I am just a waseela to look after them and if I am not there, Allah (swt) is “ala kulli shayin qadeer”, Allah will make some other waseela for them but as a human nature and lack of piousness in me, I still think who will be that waseela?

I thought of my friends, relatives, neighbors but I was not satisfied as when I am not doing anything for orphans and widows, how can I expect from others? The only answer to all my questions was “Shaheed Foundation”, although I have no affiliation or contact with this organization but somewhere in my heart I know that they are working for a cause to help families of shuhada so if Allah gives me a chance to list my name as a shaheed, SFP will support my family and all the above mentioned concerns will be looked after by them.

So I thought to be selfish to my family and children and made an investment plan for them, I calculated a monthly premium per person in my family for that plan and every month accumulated amount is deposited in shaheed foundation’s account. The beauty of this investment plan is, there is no maturity date or profit percentage, no one will decide premium amount for you, no one will call you on premium due date, if for any reason you are not able to deposit the installment, no late charges will be demanded. Profit against this investment will never end, either you are in this world or departed from here. It is not a public limited company where profit depends on company’s success and if company is in loss you have to share the loss also, there are no chances of loss in this investment.

People who are interested to avail this investment opportunity are requested to send their full name, complete address and contact no. at

info@shaheedfoundation.org

Let’s become selfish and think for our family only and do the investment for them.

What you say?

Question(s)

Sometimes I just think that what would have happened if all the kufi's had came on the streets when the army of Yazeed maloon brought ahle haram to Kuffa?

Why the people who were claiming to be the well wishers of ahlebait remained quiet at that time? Why no one protested against this act of maloon? No procession was held, no one raised the voice against establishment, and no one supported the noble cause, why?

Either of these two options seems logical, there cannot be any third option, either the people were such innocent or unaware that they didn't knew what was going on, who was prophets (saws) true successor, who was on right path, who was the real imam of muslims, what is the dignity and honor of ahlebait. Another option is that they knew everything but did not have courage to raise their voice and stood up against evil as they were afraid of losing their lives, they prefer to remain in home like a coward just because they thought to be neutral.

Which option seems more logical? If we say option 1 then why did they first sent letters to Imam Hussain (as) and why did they responded on Hazrat Muslim bin Aqeel's call in first place?

Obvious answer is option 2.

Is there anything called neutral? Either you are on right path or wrong path. So if anyone was thinking that he is on neutral side means that he is on wrong path as if you are NOT supporting the truth, ultimately you are helping false.

Were the kuffi’s able to save their lives and property by not opposing evil of their time? Were they able to live a respectful life later on?

People who are aware of little bit history know very well that how Yazid and his supporter dealt with kuffi's afterwards.

Assume we were present in 61 hijra in Kuffa, what would be our decision at that stage, as we were not in that situation so all of us will answer that we would have come on streets to oppose Yazid maloon and his army of thousands without fearing our lives, family, property and worldly pleasures , really?

Are you coming in chehlum procession this year in Karachi??

Modernization

First time when I went in Ashura Juloos with my father, I was 4 years old. Unknowingly I was just observing the entire event. My father asked me to kiss the Alam and I inquired that what is this, he explained me the concept of Alam, and then he described the concept behind taboot, zuljanah, jhoola and other ziaraat. I saw different groups of people doing matam with two hands, I asked my father and he replied with a deep sorrow that once there was a time when some evil people martyred the whole family of Imam Hussain (a.s.) and imprisoned their women and children therefore from that time the lovers of Imam Hussain (a.s.) perform matam and azadari in remembrance of that event.

Next year again I went in juloss, this time I asked my father that I also want to do matam with TWO hands, with my shirt off, I started YA HUSSAIN, after few mins. I showed my chest to my father and asked him that is it getting “red”? With a smile on his face, he replied that it’s getting dark red and I continued matam with more enthusiasm. When we were on way back to home, I just wanted to reach home as soon as possible because I was afraid, if I get late in reaching home, the red marks on my chest will disappear, as I reached home, I took off my shirt and showed my chest to my mother and without any verbal communication, she just hugged me.

As Maula Ali also said that (mafhoom) “Children’s first ibadaat is for RIYAKARI” how true is this!

Time passed by and every year I use to do matam in juloos and majlis in the same way, shirts off and with two hands and purpose was to show my mother and siblings.

By the time I was 14, now I started realizing the tragedy of karbala and riyakari was converted in KHULOOS, this time my matam was for Imam Hussain (a.s.) and his household, when I went back home, I did not showed my red marks to my mother. This continued for several years, I use to participate in juloos from start till end, performed matamdari and the only objective was to pay tribute to Ahylebait.

Soon I was in my practical life, at age of 22. Group of friends use to go in different programs, majalis and juloos. Things were changes by this time and we use to walk behind in juloos, style of matamdari got changed and now we use to do ladies style matam, chatting on different issues and performing matam in a polite way. Soon I realized that the khuloos, I was feeling inside my heart is no more and participation in programs is due to time pass and friends gathering.

I got married and involvement in juloos restricted for few hours only, just to record my attendance and for sake of false satisfaction that I atleast participated. As soon as got on higher positions in my practical life and people started knowing me as a reputed and successful business man, I am not participating in juloos any more, now I go to mehfile-e-murtaza for full day amaal, in a peaceful environment, covered roof, sitting on one place, proper food and water arrangements, I am doing azadari.

I don’t know what I will be doing in next five years, maybe doing online azadari and again participating in juloos with a slight difference, this time it will be a virtual participation, lying on bed and watching live coverage on my television screen.

Protest

There was a time when In Syria, on order of ruler of Syria, his filthy followers used offensive language for Amir-ul-Momineen Hazrat Ali Ibne Abu Talib (a.s.) for many years, they used to curse Hazrat Ali (a.s) from mosques and in Friday sermons. Today most of the followers of Syrian ruler denied the fact but history has recorded that when the ruler signed agreement with Imam Hasan (a.s), one point in that agreement was “Ruler will immediately stop the use of abusive language with reference to Ahlul Bayt (cursing Imam Ali) after Salat of Jumu'a”. His signature on that agreement proved that this was being done and signing the contract means that he agreed to stop that. Still most of our brothers are confused when we ask them to choose any one, either Imam Ali or Syrian emperor, there is no way to opt both of them as a leader, one was on righteous path and other was imprudent, now every individual should do his own analyses to select his Amir-ul-Momineen.

As history always repeats, there is no surprise if a follower of Syrian ruler used offensive language against a follower of Maula Ali (a.s), on January 01, 2010, a wahabi mulla of Saudia Arabia, Mohammad al-Ureifi in his Friday sermon called Ayatollah Sistani an "atheist and debauched". People of Iraq showed immediate reaction and thousands of Iraqis protested the comments by Al-Urefi, Iraqi Parliament also condemned the statements and called on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to speak out against such statements.

Protests were also held in Iran against this statement and all religious leaders condemned these remarks for Ayatollah Sistani. Hojjatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi in Iran in his Friday sermon said:

"Ayatollah Sistani is one of the pillars and pivots of Iraq's Shi'ites, and insulting Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini's photograph and [Iranian Supreme] Leader [Ali Khamenei] and Ayatollah Sistani stems from one trend."

We, the people of Pakistan also strongly condemn this statement of Al Ureifi and demand all brothers and sisters to protest against it.

Perception

Sometimes the actual scenario is very different from the perception we have build in our mind. Just because of certain minor concerns the entire perception is changed against that specific person or place or incident. Mostly these concerns are related to some subconscious signals produced by our mind.

Let me make it simple through one example, if you ask a child that in which school is he studying? And you get an answer “NAYE ROSHNI SCHOOL”, what will be your first perception for that child? Now think this way, same question with another child and the answer is “Karachi State School”, are both answers different from each other? Definitely not, but will your first thought be same in both cases? Definitely not!

Why

Just because, first response of our mind against any object is through our subconscious perception for that object. In above example our subconscious told us that “NAYE ROSHNI SCHOOL” is set as a bad name in our mind and for “Karachi State School” there is no such entity recorded in our mind. After that when our mind does the processing then in second instance we get to the point that both these objects are actually same but with different alias.

More easy example is a story which all of you have heard several times that when a king asked a palmist to predict his future and he replied that “All your family members will die infront of you”, the king order to separate the palmist’s head from his body and when the same question is asked from other palmist, he replied that “You will get a longest life in your family”, and he was rewarded by the king.

You see, both answers were of same meaning but the perception of death is recorded in bad sense and the perception of longer life is recorded in good sense in our minds.

Now let’s come to the point for which I discussed the “perception” theory and its impact. I received a hand bill few days back regarding opening of a “Day Care” center for senior citizen of our community. As a normal person, first response was from my subconscious which was Holy Crap .. one more cultural adoption from west, where we admit old parents to day care center so their interference and interaction is as less as possible in our daily lives. With the same bad perception I discussed this news with another person and same was his response in first instance, as our discussion went on both of us realized that what is the problem if a day care center is started … man this is good, at least there will be some activity for senior citizens and we discussed different advantages of having a day care center for senior citizens of our community, thus both of us got convinced that this is a good happening.

But then I asked myself, why my first response was negative and why I got convinced after discussion? Simple answer, my perception for the word “Day care center” is recorded as negativity in my mind and my subconscious told me that enrolling my parents in a day care center means that I am not willing to keep them with me. I got confused with my reaction so to solve this perception issue I decided to do an experiment. I asked one of my very good friend who is an educated and experienced person a question, “Why don’t you register your mother’s name in senior citizen’s day care center?” as expected I got a very rude reply that “She is not a burden on me”. Then when I asked same question with few more people, amazingly all of them replied in same manner. Then I changed my question “Why don’t you register your mother’s name in senior citizen’s activity club?” to my highest surprise this time all the answers were very positive, people asked whereabouts and details of that club and showed interest in it.

Then I concluded that in our society the word “Day care” is not recorded in a good sense and a negative reaction is shown by the society whereas activity forum/club is taken in a positive sense and people are interested to chase this word.

I am happy that a group of people thought and worked for senior citizens of our community and I pray from depth of my heart for their success and inshallah they will be rewarded heavily in this world and hereafter. Just one simple request which I hope they will take as a positive suggestion, please introduce this center with the name of activity club for senior citizen instead of day care center. This will just cost a reprint of broachers and bill boards but I guarantee you, with this one change you will get very positive response from society and this guarantee is based on a proven experiment.

Thanks and may Allah bless all the participants and organizers of this center.

Well-done!