Bombs and Beards

i really liked your article, except you sort of threw me off with stating you were entering the zone of a ``chinstrap beard``. From what i understood from your article, was that the beard you are entertaining, is a (and i quote, from wat my father says) ``a full muslim beard``.
my concept of a chinstrap beard, is a thin beard lining from one end to the other along the chin. more appropriately also referred to as a ``line``. this is the type of beard i have. and even with a beard as thin, and small as mine i am still called a ``maulana``. but thas alright, it comes with the package and is almost now is a requirement of post-911 changes.

my nana once narrated to me an instant wen sir syed ahmed khan was asked by someone whether a beard makes a man more attractive or less. sir syed ahmed khan replied that a beard multiplies the effect in either case. a good looking man will look even better with a beard and an unattractive person would look uglier than b4.

thats y i let a beard grow from time to time ;)

Thanks Najia and Iyoz! Yes Najia, I`m trying to do just that. Btw, the name is Farhan.

Iyoz, you said:

And now that its been some time, and believe u me I have let it go wild, I am just keeping it for the fun of it. Long hair and long beard... just to see how ppl would react to it. Really really interesting experience. Has taught me a few things about ppl in general , and a few about some ppl in particular.

My thoughts exactly.

..and like aaisha said.. Thats the spirit! Keep the beard flowing! :-)

Nice article.

I have a beard, and all started out of laziness. As soon as I crossed the *unshaved* zone and steped into the *bearded* zone, i noticed a marked difference in ppls reaction. So this is a summary of the first time reactions :

1) Ppl that are friends, would mostly laugh or be shocked - alwasy asking two questions. WHY and TILL WHEN

2) Ppl that i just know, would be very carefull... some wity one would slip in a sarcastic remark... And honestly.... it took me some time to realize that if someone is saying ``sufi`` or ``maulvi`` then they are talking about me :-)

3) Ppl i dont know,,, well the article covers most of them.

And now that its been some time, and believe u me I have let it go wild, I am just keeping it for the fun of it. Long hair and long beard... just to see how ppl would react to it. Really really interesting experience. Has taught me a few things about ppl in general , and a few about some ppl in particular.

So the bottom line is, when you are looking *normal* then ppl will probably behave *normal* with you. Add a lil bit of hair here and there, and all of a sudden you are an alien from another planet.
Thankfully, most ppl from our part of the world are definitely more tolerant about the appearenc. Probably this could be attributed to the fact that we dont have a strong national/regional outlook or image. Shades of a lot of cultures.

well Irfan! i really do sympathize you for all this, but there is a term called social desent, and that is never gonna change as long as the naure of the society tends to be stagnant, u will be a personna non grata where ever u will go thats for sure , people like u should raise their voice.. maybe that will effect.......

Najia Bashir
karachi

Re #14 by aaisha,

Yes I agree, but the person being interviewed was in a tense situation, and when someone has little time to think and answer reasonably, they resort to the code of their personality imprinted deep inside their mind... which is easier to access and does not involve much thinking by the brain. Thus the interviewers are successful in their attempt of trying to understand the persons inner mind instead of what he would usually portray himself as. So although the interviewers had a biased attitude, they still had reasons for their odd questions.

#11 by ally,

One thing I would like to add is that some bearded men feel pride in being considered holy and actually like being called a Molvi Sahab or Maulana. They think its a great tool to subdue people and make them believe whatever you want them to believe... that ofcourse depends on how confused the person on the recieving end is and how willing his mind is to accept anything from anyone who appears to be holy!

a goat with a beard is still a goat

Re: Paindu,
Thats the spirit!
Keep the beard flowing? erm.....:s

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waisay..a clean shaven guy can be oh-so-boring. not that id prefer a bearded man either. stubble is good.. a french beard is better.

Re #7 by Azure

“but it`s not easy to make everyone understand especially when superpowers are so good at brainwashing majority of the intelligentsia of our country.”
What good do such intelligentsia are then? Gullible enough to ingest anything thrown their way by the West (read US)
abt national security issues vs religious duties...I think it was nothing but the bias of the interviewers that made them ask such a stupid question. Of course when there is an emergency situation, everyone would rush off to attend to it. Surely the rights of fellow human beings would take priority over the rights of Allah. A prayer missed in not that big a deal but if you leave your duty and in your absence something catastrophic happens, you would be accountable in thw world`s as well as Allah`s court for it.

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quite true and funny... i had a beard for a while, cause i was lazy, took it off later... the reactions def are diff... south asian ppl esp, think ur `holy`

veeresh

lemme guess.......and you have a beard. right? A half-bald (aadha ganja) friend of mine has similar views about himself.

I am very careful with people who wear beards - they could be very unpredictable.

Why bearded?

Saves time, mainly. Helps appreciate other appearances, additionally.

Mostly, have you noticed, how urbane bearded men simply seem to have higher confidence levels and risk taking abilities? Look around, the explorers, the thinkers, the change merchants . . .

As for sandwiches in ziplock bags, they also tend to taste the same after a while. Whereas, fresh and rough around the edges, a new experience, every time . . .

SaimaShah, thanks for liking. There are more than one causes for a man to grow a beard. It might come out of his wish to appear more masculine and mature, as is the case with young men entering their twenties. The more religiously inclined lot usually couple their wish to be macho with the inner desire to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and end up with something which transforms them into neighborhood Molvee Sahabs. Societal influence also plays a major role in appreciating or discouraging the religious inclination of a person, and in a country like the Islamic Republic of Pakistan appreciation of the young Muslim is a lot more common, ignoring the fact that he might not have chosen the religious track in the first place, and could be unnecessarily forced into doing something where his mind might not be capable of functioning effectively. Maybe that is why our religious leaders are often considered ignorant and narrow minded with no knowledge of matters foreign to their perspectives.

Unshaven men are more palatable? Ah, thats a relief! :-)

aaisha, the world is becoming more hostile against bearded men everyday... not that they`re pointing at them, calling them names or humiliating them in public (though I am unsure whether or not all that actually happens in the west) but the hostlity comes out in the form of lesser importance for such people and putting them on the `second priority` list where ever some sort of screening out has to be done. For example, I had to give an interview for the position of assistant engineer an engineering research institue. The stuff they asked me was about the beard... why I had it on my face, what compelled me to let it grow and keep the moustache region clean, what religious sect I belonged to. Basically they were checking whether or not the person is an extremist, because that particular research center was sensitive in that matter. Another fellow engineer who belonged to the Sipah-e-Sahaba group was asked even more challenging questions like `what would you do if a nuclear meltdown occurs exactly at Asar time, would you go for the prayer or try to save the nuclear plant`? The poor guy after a lot of thinking answered that he would go and pray. So what I am trying to say is that it becomes difficult sometimes, especially when you are planning to get yourself involved in matters where national security is given prime importance than anything else.

I do agree with you that bearded men should be bold enough to make a difference (hehe, cute) but it`s not easy to make everyone understand especially when superpowers are so good at brainwashing majority of the intelligentsia of our country.

Interesting ``behind the beard`` perspective. While the appearance one wishes to project with a beard can certainly vary (``holy man``, ``intellectual man``, ``not-feminine man``), one thing is for sure: a beard is a means to project an appearance of some kind. This preoccupation with appearances is also reflected in our preoccupation with our ``image`` to the world.

I think we should shift our preoccupation with appearances to substance. That is much harder to do than merely growing a beard or wearing hijab.

He he the world is full of beard people - hope you can resolve your hairy dilemma.

This was way funny! Can totally relate to those reactions. :)

That`s one bearded perspective I had not even thought of! On the spot actually...people do tend to stereotype, put people in a particular category according to their attires/appearances...Haji Saabs, Moulvee Saabs, Mulla jis...I know of a recruting person who makes it a point that he does not hire any bearded men...I know women who are wary of beards....
``Not all beards have bombs hidden in them you know...`` agreed but how do we go about telling the world about it?
one way could be that once men like you decide on a beard, they don`t shave it off because of societal myopias, and by example prove that...``Not all beards have bombs hidden in them you know...``
how about tat now?

Quotes to ponder in the post-911 paranoid America

”Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies. From these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the dominion of the few. . . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
- James Madison, 1795


“I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.”
- Governor George W. Bush, Jr., May 22, 1998