True Picture

Every person is mourning on the miserable bomb blast incident of Ashura Juloss in Karachi. Despite of all the grief and sorrow the positive and most encouraging thing was one statement which every single momin was discussing with each other.

“I wish I was also included in list of shuhada of this incident, how lucky they are that they did Ashura majalis in this world and sham-e-gareeban in jannat-ul-firdous.”

Murdabad America, Murdabad Israil, Murdabad Hindustan, Murdabad Taliban

Kindly listen following speeches to get a clear picture of people behind and supporting this incident.

Records/Facts of people behind this incident and supporting this incident (Must Listen)
(Extracted from 13th Muharram majlis in Rizvia Imambargah)

Press conference part 1

Press conference part 2

Press conference part 3

Two Points

This is not a formal article on any specific topic, just wanted to mention two quick points related to Muharram-ul-Haram.

Point 1: Recommendation

In previous blog we were discussing that Azadari-e-Imam Hussain (a.s.) should be source of character & personality building. In current era there are many ways of misguiding a common person specially media, different propagandas are launched from various sources and among those sources unfortunately one source is MULLA (A person who does not have sufficient knowledge of Islam and Rulings of Maraje and with the limited knowledge he starts guiding people, sometimes on your TV screen and sometimes on mimbar).

In comments of previous blog someone pointed towards a true picture of our nature, we are not willing to listen to a person whom we know that he will not tell us any unauthentic thing just because he is not a renowned speaker; we prefer to go to majalis on basis of venues and no. of people gathered there.

Quote

“My personal opinion is, if anyone is listening speeches of any zakir, atleast he should check his background and authenticity of his speeches. In my view if anyone is interested to listen those kind of speeches and majalis through which he can perform azadari and additionally gain knowledge of true Islamic concepts and protect himself from upcoming FITNA of Muslims and specially among Shia Isna Asheri, he should listen to Maulana Sadiq Hasan sahab.”

His majalis of Muharram 1431 are daily uploaded on different websites. Following is one link.
http://lectures.hussainiat.com/Audio/Lectures/Album.aspx?ALID=1157

*Please note that above paragraph is just my personal opinion, it is not necessary that everyone agrees to it.

Unquote

Point 2: Live broadcast

With the advancement in technology, today Alhumdollilah there are many momineen who are working on providing different facilities so that people from all around the world can participate in Azadari-e-Syedushuhada (a.s.). For example many TV channels are broadcasting live majalis, local cable providers are also working for this cause. Many websites are doing live broadcast and this year telecommunication companies have also provided facility to listen live majalis through a conference call. Mashallah, all those who are giving their efforts for Azadari-e-Imam Hussain (as) will be rewarded heavily, Inshallah.

BUT

I am more than 100% sure that none of the organizers wanted to provide this facility with the intention that people should remain at home and listen to those majalis, this service is beneficial if you belong to any of the following criteria.

1. If a person is living at such place especially outside Pakistan, India etc. where there are limited majalis.

2. A person cannot leave home due to age factor, weather condition, political disturbance etc. etc.

3. Health is not permitting him to step out.

4. Women who prefer to go in ladies majalis only.

5. Any other unavoidable circumstances.

What will we say if someone living on 5 mins. walk from Imambargah who is physically fit and is admitting that there is as such no problem for him in going at imambargah, is listening live majlis on TV and when asked for the reason, the simple reply is that when there is one facility available to listen same majlis then does it matter if I listen at home or at imambargah?

Lying on a bed with a packet of chips and listening to masaib-e-Imam Hussain, is this a good way of Azadari?

LABAIK YA HUSSAIN

I exactly don’t remember the source but either I’ve heard in some seminar or read it in some historical book that before formation of Hizbollah when our ulamas were struggling to build awareness among Lebanese Shias in specific, and people of Lebanon in general the best source they used was Majalis/Azadari programs during Muharram-ul-Haram. The speaker/author further mentioned that there was a time when before starting of Muharram, group of ulamas use to arrange special sessions with all the speakers of Lebanon who were nominated to speak in Majalis at different venues, ulamas use to select different topics for them according to that vicinity. Thousands of shia sect followers gather in majalis during this holy month and when every person was listening to same agenda, same idea, same movement, same revolutionized speeches, entire Lebanese society started to respond in favor of this movement. We all know the achievement of Hizbollah, behind this huge success the biggest role was of Azadari-e-Imam Hussain(a.s.).

This was just a short extract from history but after knowing it, I started wondering that Azadari-e-Syedushuhada (a.s.) is not just mourning on incident of Karbala, it is much more than that. Although this blog site is labeled as a fantasy blog by few brothers and sisters but several thoughts ran through our mind which needs some satisfactory answer. Like, after reading the above extract the first and obvious question is are we getting 100% from azadari-e-Imam Hussain? No doubt that core outcome should be mourning and matam on Imam Hussain (a.s.) and his household and we are doing it at good level but there CAN BE couple of different upshot from azadari-e-Imam.

I know it will be the most illogical statement if I say that there should be a group of people based on Ulamas and representative of Marajs who can guide all the speakers of Pakistan in selecting their matter every year, this statement will be labeled as a biggest fantasy of this blog but do we have any other choices to get value added benefits from Ashra-e-Majalis? As I mentioned that main and core motive of Azadari is to condole Janab-e-Syeda (s.a.) and Imam-e-Zamana (a.t.f.s) but other than that our Majalis should be source of character and personality building. At the very least can’t we start on this level that if there are two imambargahs or majalis venue in one area they should coordinate in a way that voice on loud speaker do not coincide? When niaz is distributed after majlis or in juloos the honor and respect of food which is given in the name of Imam Hussain (a.s.) is not spoiled? The noha CDs and cassettes which are released every year should remain nohas which are in honor and remembrance of the biggest tragedy of this universe and dignity of nohas are not hurted? Program of shab-e-dari should be organized with all due respect and there should be distinction between a normal get together and a program which is organized in the name of Ahlebait. Sabeels in the name of Bibi Sakina should not be a friends meeting place with all the abusive languages and immoral acts. When you are driving in a car with your family to attend a majlis, it should be different from an entertainment drive or going to a picnic spot with all luxuries. Is there any need to mention the disciplinary level in our juloos? You know it very well. We must understand that everything from niaz to majlis, nohas, shabedari, sabeel etc. is done in the name of Mazloom who was martyred in a desert with his kids and companions who were hungry and thirsty for three days. We should change our attitude and life style atleast for 10 days. Can’t we??

Mashallah all momineen participate in every program in their reach but if you witness Ashura juloos and compare it with Chehlum juloos you’ll find a huge difference. Chehlum is not a public holiday then too the participation in juloos is in hundred-thousand and Ashura which is public holiday and is of more importance, participation is in thousands only and till evening it remains just couple thousand, this is because there are several different programs by different organizations and people are divided where as on chehlum mostly people participate in MARKAZI juloos.

Dear readers, kindly permit me for atleast one fantasy as usual, if I think that on the day of Ashura, on the street of Karachi during markazi juloos, more than two hundred thousand people are offering namaz-e-Zuhur and after namaz, 15 minutes of masaib-e-Imam and then a huge matamdari where two hundred thousand people are performing matam with one voice and one rhythm ….

This fantasy came true on the streets of Turkey where the quoted figure was 5 hundred thousand people who performed matamdari on the day of Janab-e-Syedda (s.a). Unfortunately we don’t have any leader in our country like Imam Khomeni that on his funeral millons of people were gathered, we don’t have any leader like Ayatullah Khamenai where hundred-thousand people gather during his speech in Friday prayers, we don’t have any leader like Syed Hasan Nasrullah that we respond on his one call and millions are gathered on street of Lebanon ….. We just have azadari, can’t we show our strength and unity to entire world on the day of Ashura were millions of people are gathered with one motive and one voice LABAIK YA HUSSAIN LABAIK YA HUSSAIN

Hajj Resource

Many congratulations to all momineen and mominaat who are going for Hajj this year. My humble request is to remember myself and all other brothers and sisters in your prayers at all Holy places.

Following are some links for manasik-e-hajj and hajj guide which will Inshaallah benefit you during your Hajj.


Manasik-e-Hajj (English)
Ayatollah Al-Uzma Seyyid Ali al-Sistani


Manasik-e-Hajj (Urdu)
Ayatollah Al-Uzma Seyyid Ali al-Sistani


Hajj Questions and Answers (English)
Ayatollah Al-Uzma Seyyid Ali al-Sistani


Hajj Questions and Answers (Urdu)
Ayatollah Al-Uzma Seyyid Ali al-Sistani


Manasik-e-Hajj and Question/Answer (English)
Ayatollah Al-Uzma Sayyid Ali Khamenei


Manasik-e-Hajj and Question/Answer (Urdu)
Ayatollah Al-Uzma Sayyid Ali Khamenei

Kharadar to Defence

People who are regular listeners of Aga Ali Murtaza Zaidi, for them this article might be repetition but the point he highlighted in couple of his speeches is very much considerable and a big issue for Khoja community these days. In continuation of that some clarification and elaboration is stated in this article.

If we go back half century, mostly Khoja community were situated in Bihar colony, Kharadar, Khada Market, Mossa Lane and its surroundings, few families were living in Nazimabad, Korangi and Malir also but Kharadar was considered to be the hub of Khoja community in that era. This was indeed an intelligent decision by our fore fathers that when they migrated after partition, instead of getting scattered and living in isolation, they preferred to live collectively and merged with Sindhi Khojas living in Kharadar town.

With the passage of time and development in Karachi people started relocating from Kharadar and again a very smart decision that they remained on collective approach and get settled in Soldier Bazar, Lines Area, Garden, Guru Mandir and surroundings. We should be very much thankful to Shaheed Hameed Ali Bhojani for his untiring efforts in development of Khoja community on whole and specifically for his projects in Soldier Bazar and surroundings which provided the baseline to Khoja people in making soldier bazaar as a hub of Khoja community.

Third phase was relocation from soldier bazar towards PECHS, Mehfil-e-Murtaza and its surrounding is another Khoja populated area and today we are seeing lot of families moving to DHA.

As there is no authentic data available about division of Khoja families per area we have to make some wild guesses, following graph is a bird’s eye view of khoja families living in different towns of Karachi in my opinion, please note this is just an assumption and it may be incorrect.

With many advantages in collective approach there are few obvious disadvantages which are logical and understandable in all community based areas. Firstly unnecessary rise in property prices, secondly the area becomes very much congested and lastly the houses are getting less spacious. If you compare current solider bazaar with what it was 20 years back, you’ll find huge difference. Series of apartments are being constructed with less open area and small space between two apartments.

On average if today you want to purchase a house in soldier bazaar, a 3 bed room apartment will cost you around PKR 5 million to 8 million. Similarly in PECHS prices will start from 7.5 million onwards. In that price you’ll get a normal apartment but in same price if you move to some other area like Gulshan, Gulistan-e-Juhar or other new areas like Rizvia II etc. you can easily get a 240yards town house with a small garden and open space for parking etc. but it will not suit us because we do not want to live in isolation and specially due to sectarian issues in our city, it is not at all recommended to live in segregations. Also the massive development projects have made the movement in Karachi very easy and the distance are getting shorter day by day.

Solution to this issue proposed by Aga Ali Murtaza Zaidi is to develop a new society for Khoja Community on a large scale basis in some newly developed area. The prices will be low and you can increase your life style also. For example instead of living in congested apartments, in same price or less you can have your own town house with a garden and an open passage with the potential to build 1-3 stories which can be utilized in case of family extension or to generate additional income by renting it.

Now the question is where to start from, in my opinion there can be two models of developing a new society for community. Both are realistic and doable, first one is forming housing authority and they will be responsible for the entire project and second is just to lay the stone and leave the rest on individuals. Let’s look at both approaches.

Khoja Shia Isna Asheri Housing Authority:

A team formed under supervision of Khoja Jamaat or if Jamaat is not interested then a group of investors from Khoja Community can collectively form a team and initiate a housing project on a huge land, there can be commercial and residential plots for Khoja community people in different sections starting from 80yards to 1000yards and similarly commercial plots. This housing authority can work exactly same way other housing projects are working.

Individualist Approach:

For example there is no one interested in first approach, a group of individuals should survey in different areas and identify the vacant land at different locations. All we need is an imambargah and zonal office of KPSIAJ, once the area is allotted for these places, people will themselves purchase lands in surrounding.

We definitely need to look at this issue in more detail as in coming years due to less purchasing power and higher prices in existing community based areas, people will not be able to afford house and unwillingly they will have to move to some mixed areas and concept of collective approach will not extend further.

Think!