recap

#88 by temporal on September 15, 2005 10:20pm PT
#87:

Islam has prescribed two sets of duties upon a man, one set is called Haquq-ullah (i.e. rights of God) which covers all the praying rituals and then there are Haquq-ul Ibad (i.e. Rights of man)....

also you forgot to mention an important fact.... the latter has precedence over the former

Allah may forgive any oversight by a man or women relating to rights due to Him...but He won’t forgive any abuse of Haqooq ul ebaad

*******

# 93:

a careful read of this post says you are saying the same thing i said in # 88:

first you quote me and then say Absolutely wrong! and a few sentences later you repeat what I said..…As for Huququl-’ibaad, He will not Forgive until the victim has forgiven, and then He may also forgive the victimizer because He has extended this right to everyone.

however by saying the following you are naoozobilah placing the restrictions on what Allah can or cannot do…not to mention an attempt to get into His mind!...naozobillah!

my understanding is this: If there is a violation of Haqooq ul eebaad, an all powerful and Omnipotent Allah says He will take a back seat…He will not forgive the violations of Haqooq ul eebad until the victim has forgiven the transgressor first... this establishes the precedence in no uncertain way

In #95 it appears rather in a convoluted and not straightforward, upfront way urstruly agrees with the precedence of Haqooq ul eebaad over Haqood Allah… "only person who has the right to grant mercy is that man’s victim of back biting…"

***

this precedence business is very relevant and important and in some measure affects the very core of Muslim life….the vested interest in islam by over emphasizing the importance of Haqooq Allah over Haqooq ul Eebaad have been shortchanging the Muslims worldwide…

to understand the import of this allow me to be over-simplistic:

it is more important in Allah’s eyes to be a good corporate citizen, a good insaan

and

if you fall short of some obligations and rights due to Him…it is within his powers to overlook and forgive you when the time comes

in further over simplification: pehlay insaan, phir musalmaan, pehlay Khuda phir Rasool, pehlay taalim phir tafhim
(05/09/16)

***

silence
for ogs


silence






speaks
……R 30;…..volumes


silence






…… ……………overwhelms
…… ;……………stuns
disturbing ears so
used to cacophony


yet the disturbed
relentlessly pursue
deafening silence
their torn ear drums
letting in all sounds
…………………but silence


it smashes
against the rocks
and rides the waves
to return again…..
(05/09/15)

***

this is not going anywhere
out of the still frozen grounds
a young blade periscoped
embraced by the sun
the lonely blade whirled
as the sun took leave
promising to meet again
darkness descended
punctuated by the peek
of moonlight
it got chilly
and the blade shivered
too young to wonder
about injustice, man or animal
when the sun smiled next day
the blade danced again
with warmth and saw
another blade surfacing

today in the september morn
i looked at that spot intently
could not find that blade
(05/09/14)

***

drop to drop
dust to ash

behind the bloom
of spring flowers
virginal laughter
whipped scorn
gushing spring
runs over rocks
and fallen trees

till the drop
carried up
from the ocean
to the mountains
joins the lake
and the sea
the sea
…………of tear drops
behind smiling eyes
inaudible sighs
to the ocean

drop to drop
(05/09/12)

***

Reply to the Question: "How Can You Become a Poet?"
take the leaf of a tree
trace its exact shape
the outside edges
and inner lines
memorize the way it is fastened to the twig
(and how the twig arches from the branch)
how it springs forth in April
how it is panoplied in July
by late August
crumple it in your hand
so that you smell its end-of-summer sadness
chew its woody stem
listen to its autumn rattle
watch it as it atomizes in the November air
then in winter
when there is no leaf left
invent one
---Eve Merriam

***

queries and conundrums

"Are marriage and writing compatible? Co habitable? To be an artist, and create well one must be submerged in his art? at what price? Is it worth it?.. Living according to the social norms? Or should one follow their passion?" zen asked

when i read these questions yesterday i smiled…timeless queries…queries asked by a hundred-hundred minds in a thousand-thousand cities and town since before guttenberg’s invention

"Are marriage and writing compatible? Co habitable?"

yes and no…i will substitute creative work for writing…

in an overwhelming number of cases the conclusion would be no…no they are not compatible…marriage ( or long term serious relationships) demand nothing less than 100% commitment…and the same is true of Art…100% commitment…

but there is a yes to above too…in cases where one of the spouses supports 100% the other’s commitment to ’art’… this does happen….albeit rarely

and in still rarer cases…there is the eternal lifelong tightrope walk between commitment to ’passion’ and to more temporal affairs…fraught with dangers and forever in danger of succumbing into an abyss

To be an artist, and create well one must be submerged in his/her art?

is there any other way?…passion and commitment are hard task masters demanding complete allegiance and subservience…no short cuts…

…at what price?

is there a price that can be assigned to passion and commitment?…how many lives are there that can be put to use?…if you ask the price…you are in the wrong trade…

Is it worth it?.. Living according to the social norms? Or should one follow their passion?"

…I guess there are two queries asked here so will attempt to reply both of them…first from the perch if an artist is submerged in his her art … at a price…is it worth it?…

this is the conundrum every creative person faces…if you look above at the mast of this I-log there is a quotation from ralph waldo emerson… "The hour of that choice is the crisis of your history; and see that you hold yourself fast by the intellect."…the person must look deep within himself and herself and decide what choice to follow

Is it worth it?.. Living according to the social norms? Or should one follow their passion?"

in the second angle…as i understand the emphasis is living according to societal norms…and the subterranean fear alluded here is that of affordability…can one follow the passion and has what it takes to endure the fallout?

good queries…tough choices…no easy answers…life…that bed of roses traversed on strands of cobwebs lined with thorns in full sight of humanity…so the sighs and pains have to be endured with forced smiles…enigma, conundrum, dream and illusion balanced on the tightrope of hope and passion…and there is no looking down or back ….ever! and the ’The hour of that choice is the crisis of your history; and see that you hold yourself fast by the intellect.’
(05/09/11)

***

for daira-naward

sehra nawar’d
yeh chund lamhay
guzarnay dO
ruko, baitho

ginti ki haiN
yeh sa’ataiN
muskuraO

phir yeh lamhay
beet ja’aiNgay
na tum hogay
na shikayataiN

wa’sii sehra
hoga aur yeh
sehra nawar’d
(05/09/10)

***

smile to smile
fibril filament fiber
veins in webs (we) weave

crib to cribbing
journey short

relations and relationships
to bridge and fathom

heavens glint-stars
comfort to thorn
………………some
prick more

washed down with
aged words
stored in celestial casks

mother first
mothering last

cobwebs of copernicuan copulation
traversed
in terror and travesty

veins in webs of words
fibril filament fiber
…………………..we ave
word webs
………………….the new
umbilical cord of present
and past
from smile to smile
(05/09/09)

***

cordstrive
fragrance of
freshly scrubbed bodies
folded in vaults
of memory’s cobwebs
taken out to breathe in
triggered by other memories
saved in reseal-able plastic

cuffed fragrance floating
a flotilla of redeemed memories
navigating an ocean of cobwebs
a faint breeze of a ghost’s wake
rhythmically moving
the curtains of cognition
one moment, one day
………………..one year, one span
………………..one fragrance
wafting

the fragrance of life-
sustaining umbilical cord
placed in jars, destroyed
untiring strive beginning
of a lifetime search
recreating that lifeline
cosmic, invisible
tenuous, tentative, throbbing
a cord that transmits
joy and sadness
and emotions folded in plastic --
shattered laughter shards
suppressed sighs, withheld sobs
that can travel the cobwebs
of this cosmic cord
undaunted
by rains, clouds, discords
again

losing way, dazed
but indomitable spiders
re create that cord

only to fold the memories
at the end of the sojourn
(05/09/08)

***

manoRa -- island and mandir

...as one approaches Karachi from the sea the first thing one sees is the lighthouse of Manora Island...more on this lighthouse and the breakwater built in the 1800s later...

...Manora has a population of approx 25,000 and has three naval ’establishments’...the central chunk of the island is civilian occupied and accessible to the public who come here on holidays on colourful boats from Keamari Port...there is also a much longer road access via hawkesbay and sandspit...

...there is a street in the middle that leads to the beach on the other side of the island...it is lined with shops that sells curios and fish dishes and ornaments...this street reminded me of a similar bazaar scene hundreds of mile south in Kanya Kumari...the street leading to the temple of Swami Vivikananda on a rock at the confluence of Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea...

...just before the beach there is cut off on the right...a small path that leads past a smelly garbage dump to a Mandir..the only surviving Mandir on Manora...

...there is also an abandoned church...

...how they are maintained speaks about our attitude a lot

...the tiny church is in a off limit area…at the foot of the light house...it is barricaded and sealed...

...the mandir is in a public area...its walls and interiors are crumbling...and when i wanted to have a look inside i was gently persuaded not to as it was unsafe...gently ignoring the advise i peeked in...and retreated quickly to stop the ladies in our group from taking a peek...the sanctum sanctorum was being used as a change room by the picknickers...

...M, BS, SS and others were shocked at the gross disrespect...

...there may not be any Hindu families living on Manora Island today...the Evacuee Property Board or the Dept that looks after Minorities’ Interests should look after and protect this place of worship...considering the decibels raised in righteous indignation when something happens to abandoned mosques across the divide this is not an unreasonable demand...

...while this Mandir may not have historical parallels with Babri Musjid....both do have a few things in common...both were places of worship, both were abandoned by their congregations, both were in disrepair...

....sadly this is not an isolated case of dichotomy...there are many more temples and gurdwaras in the interior that are in disrepair or have been annexed or razed...

----------------------

Karachi History

"The area that now consists of Karachi was originally a group of small villages including Kalachi-jo-Kun and the fort of Manora. Any history of Karachi prior to the 19th century is sketchy. It is said that the city called Krokola from which one of Alexander the Great’s admirals sailed at the end of his conquests was the same is Karachi. When Muhammad bin Qasim came to India in the year 712 he captured the city of Debul. It has been said that Debal was the ancestral village of present day Karachi. Although this has neither been proven or disproven.

It was in 1729 that Kolachi-jo-Goth was transformed from a fishing village to a trading post when it was selected as a port for trade with Muscat and Bahrain. In the following years a fort* was built and cannons brought in from Muscat were mounted on it. The fort had two doorways, one facing the sea called the Khara Darwaza or Brackish Gate and one facing the River Lyari called the Meetha Darwaza or Sweet Gate. In 1795 the city passed from the Khan of Kalat to the Talpur rulers of Sindh.

Karachi had gained in position as a major port and was hence becoming an important city. The importance of the Indus and Sindh led the British to capture the city on the 3rd of February 1839 starting an era of foreign rule and colonial subjugation that was to end in 1947. A famous quote about Karachi attributed to Charles Napier is "Would that I could come again to see you in your grandeur!". Napier’s quote would prove prophetic, as it was during British rule that Karachi would grow as it’s harbor was developed. On the 10th of September 1857 the 21st Native Infantry stationed in Karachi declared allegiance to the Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and joined the cause of the War of Independence of 1857 but they were defeated by the British who reasserted their control within a matter of days."***

*...the fort mentioned in above must be the one in the older part of the city...there is another fort built by the talpurs on Manora Island...it has been renovated and well maintained by the PN....it is the headqaurters of the Pak Marines and off limit to the civilians--t
(rev 05/0907)

***

wrote two versions of Khood-kar Zeena…(both still in draft stage)...let me know your input...and when i sat down to do the english version i could not go beyond three lines...think am being lazy:)...

dead escalator
laden
caught on a dead escalator
my thoughts wandered
...................off
to distant lands
millions where
toil day and night
..................hopelessly

Khood-kar Zeena ver 01
is khood-kar zeenay per aye meray khudaya
laooN kahaaN say darmian e hujoom
istada rehnay ki pairON maiN woh sak’at?

ik rOz barqi rau youN bachaa kay jaan
bhaagi taarON kay jaal e gunjaaN say
kay is shehar kay sub khood-kar zeenay
chaltay qadmOn kO taktay reh ga’aye

oos baybus zeenay per bojh-lada chala jO
tO aaya yeh khayal kay awaam watan maiN
natawaaN kaandhON per apnay
un gin’t na’khudaON ka bojh sadiON say
bardasht ker rahay haiN baghair kisi oof kay

main youN pa ba jOlaan
oos khood-kar zeenay per
shikast aashna hu’a

Khood-kar Zeena ver 02
is khood-kar zeenay per
laooN kahaaN say
istada rehnay ki
pairON main woh sak’at?

ik rOz barqi rau youN
ghayab hui sheh’r say
kay sub khood kar zeenay
qad’m taktay reh ga’aye

oos bay’bus zeenay per
bojh-lada chala jO
tO aaya yeh khayal
kay awaam watan maiN
natawaaN kaandhON per
sadiON say un gin’t
nakhudaON ka bojh
baghair kisi oof kay
bardasht ker rahay haiN

maiN youN pa ba jOlaan
oos khood-kar zeenay per
shikast aashna hu’a
(05/09/06 rev)

***

U turns
rah e saf’r maiN aatay haiN
mOR aur nashaib o faraz
turns, twists, ups and downs
aplenty in life’s strive
the only thing
seldom accosted
are U turns
( 05/09/05rev)

***

kash m’kash
um’r tamam guzri
lakin ho na saka
samjhota kabhi
zaalim bootouN
say humara

din bher laRtay haiN
aur shub baahON maiN
guzartay haiN inki
(rev 05/09/05)

***

droplets
from the ocean
Katrina drops on
Lake Pontchartrain
and River Mississippi

dust, toil and tears
wrote stifled sighs
on the drops that will
rejoin the ocean

qatra qatra
qatra qatra
darya darya
aik baykaraaN
samandar

go fana hona hay
her she’h ko
lakin in qatroN
kay bhoj talay kyun?
(05/09/03)

***

On a personal level it is not possible to escape the immensity of the flooding, the sense of urgency and loss, the spread of misery and anarchy. But the overwhelming affect is that of shock. And helplessness followed by frustration.

All this talk of suffering and of helping, of troops and guards sent there along with supplies, of not enough troops sent or money spent in the past, of looting and rapes and murder, of insensitivity of the present administration and its lopsided priorities, of doing enough and of not doing enough, of sending relief and of not sending enough relief: all this is enough to fog the inside of the titanic.
for l

sama’at
parday kaan kay sun’n kardainay wala shor e khamoshi
aflas maiN thar’tharratay kapkiyuN ki shOr o fughaaN
shaakhON say juda zameen per sajda kartay pattON ki shikayat
dabi aahON kay pahaRON ko raizah raizah karnay wali siski
chatanON say jan’m der jan’m do’or rait kay zarrat ka shikwa
saat samandar taire ker mauj ki zar’raat e saahil say gila
shabistaanON maiN jimsON ki bay hunghum o bay hangham raq’s
teesri duniya kay labON ka, zeh’nON ka raag e karbala
azizOn kay bichaRnay per num aankON ka naghma e bay-busi
muskurahat e tif’l labOn per khailnay say pehlay jo hojati hay go’om

kis dil per hoga a’sar in bay-awaaz naghmON ka
nahiN sunay ga, nahiN sunay ga in geetON ka ehtijaaj koi
yeh jaagti, sisakti, khaki faryaadaiN dhulay kaf’n maiN saji
hum aa’ghOsh dharti kay seenay say hoNgi youN chupkay chupkay
khaak khaak hogi, khaak khaak-aashnaa hogi
in bay-aawaaz dastanON kay sunnay ki sak’t
naa’paid hay
nahiN sunay ga, koi ab nahiN sunay ga….
(05/09/01)