Education: An Abysmal Situation In response to the comment about studying Arabic being a stupid activity, I really have to disagree. Because we are a one-track society (as in speak English to succeed), we neglect Arabic. I`m not in any way saing that we should place less importance on English. Muslims wishing for the older days are always crying about how we should speak only Arabic and forget about English, so that our majesty and `hour` may come again, but that, needless to say, is naiive. English is a necessity; I think the concept of Urdu medium schools is itself naiive, but a reality becuase as Noori has brought to our attention very well, English serves to set barriers within our society.

Coming back to the topic of Arabic, I have come to this realization rather ashamedly, becuase in the end, as a Muslim (which the majority of Pakistanis are) it is difficult to appreciate/ grasp/ read prophetically chapters of the Qur`an without complete command over the original language of revelation.

We have fantastic translations and interpretations from scholars; plenty are in print. What strikes me though, is that looking past the `benchmark` translation Abdullah Yusuf Ali produced, many of the translations have been composed by converts of Western origins. These people realized that in order to really understand the sacred guidance the Qur`an provides, they had to learn Arabic, which they did.

I may sound absurd I know, but I think a lot of the misunderstandings, lack of tolerance etc that Muslims today face, are because they are unable to transliterate material from the Qur`an on their own. Each translation has its own viewpoint, and of course there are no hundred-percent analogous languages, therefore `lossy` translation is inevitable going from one medium (i.e. language) to another.

It is however, a terrible thing to force it, because as an instructor, you may know its importance, but students in elementary schools seldom take to foreign languages brilliantly. I think what could be instated is a steady progression of levels of study, not jsut for Arabic but for a language of choice; for we must minimize our inherent judgement of others to a minimum (e.g. ``Why are you studying French? Don`t you know Arabic is the language of the Qur`an?`` types of statements.)

So, I`m all about studying different languages at free will, but I think we all know in the depths of our minds that without fully grasping Arabic fundamentals, we`ll never get the most of our divine guidance.

Chandni Bar It`s best to avoid all of this desi mosh-pit-ness altogether. Head for Fabric on Fridays and Saturdays. IT`ll be worth your 20 quiddles. :)

Cell Phone Blues Re: # 10
In an effort to promulgate the tabs that come with replies to replies further and further to the right, I wasn`t trying to be a schmuck; it was a joke.

Whoosh.

Yep, you missed it.

Cell Phone Blues Re: # 8

Yes, but Vertu`s already been available for a long time...Madonna dropped her 11,000 dollar one and had it written about on BBC last year.

Shame on you for being so behind the times. Tsk tsk...

Cell Phone Blues You know, being an engineering student myself, I can`t help but tell people off, for telling me off, about my lack of cell-phone affinity. It`s interesting to see, furthermore, that the urban Pakistani today has a strange fetish for the `top of the line` mobayl phone, even though the phones and talk times are ridiculously expensive, if indexed relative to salaries. Like your article proves, the best phone was the cheapest one, because that`s all you needed!

I felt quite `paindoo` upon my return to Lahore after a two year hiatus to find people casually sending multimedia messages like pictures etc. But as time went by, I realise that mobile communication itself has fallen victim to Pakistani youth`s frustrations: text messaging and chatting...don`t we have anything better to do with our time...like write replies on Chowk?!

Oh, if anyone finds a silver Samsung with bells, whistles and cute colors on the LCD, please let me know. I borrowed a phone from my mamoo over the summer, which I lost at a shaadi, and still can`t face him with news of its demise...as far as he knows, it was left at my friends apartment who moved abroad! Piddling excuse, but it worked!

Liberal Raiments? Aaisha and everyone else: Salam.

Well, I read through your article, and I definitely agree with you about not labelling people at first sight. I don`t know about you, but I`m alwasy torn when I ask myself what exactly I define as `liberal`, `Islamic` and I guess now more than ever, `secular`.
Sorry I`m bringing religion into this; but I think that Pakistan being a majority-Muslim nation at the end of the day (like it or not) has everything to do with how we, and the general public (lets, for the sake of argument, assume to be generally more conservative than Chowk`s patrons) view sensitive issues such as dressing, etc.
Let me just clarify first, that I`m not going to side with the Maulvi`s view, nor the liberal`s view.
I think with issues such as dressing, skin-baring, etc, there can`t be any hard and fast rules for decision-making. Though you`re absolutely right about not judging people by their appearance, one thing that must be said is that morality is one of themost difficult things to describe. Time-honored traditions of reverence of one people can be seen as absolute superstition or even barbarism by another (Read Wole Soyinka`s ``Death and The King`s Horseman``). When I tell someone ``I think what you`re doing is quite immoral``, it is only validated by the context I and the person I`m addressing are living in.
You can`t expect to see a Zulu tribesman in his minimal clothing and accuse him of exposing his `Aura`, because it is more than likely that your context and his, are very, very dissimilar.
Enter the concept of religion; Abrahamic religion. Religion, as those who understand it to some extent will tell you, is always a way of life. It`s not true just for Islam. In America, it was planned from the moment the US Constitution was penned, that there would defintely be separation between the Church and State. That model is clearly evident today. In my three years as an undergrad here, I`ve come to realise that even within Christianity, there are the `believers`, and the `non-believers`, in the sense that religious (I`m not talking about Orthodox) Christians will always dress moderately. You may ask, what is moderation?
Well, moderation ties in with the concept of morals, which again tie in with the concept of context. But here lies the beauty of religion (I only know about Abrahamic religions, no disrespect intended towards other faiths). Judaism, Christianity and Islam, when interpreted properly, all lay down pretty much the same morals, thereby putting us all in more or less the same context(s). What is considered reavealing clothing by a `conservative` Muslim would, more or less, be considered reavealing by a conservative Christian and Jew.
As an example, back when Israel was not the semi-secular state it is now, Orthodox Jews had made it a routine to take to the bazaars and streets on I think Sundays, and throw rocks at women wearing shorts and otehr `revealing clothing`. Our Maulvis are just as efficient to pelt diatribes out at `inferior` women through their loudspeakers.
Since we (the modern world being overwhelmingly populated by Muslims, Christians and Jews)are all in the same context, our gut feelings DO, don`t deny it, tell us what is revealing and what is not. One could argue that Islam still asks too much of a woman, ``You know,with the Hijaab and all...``, but the hijaab is in essence, the only difference you could see between a conservative Muslim woman and her Christian and Jewish counterparts. Things like the Saudi `abaya`, the desi `burqa`; I`m no expert on Islam, but I have always thought these things to be more regional and ethnic than Islam. We can`t even call them cultural...would we be referring to `religiously` cultural or `ethnically` cultural?
I think the problem that led you to write your piece, and rightfully so, lies with Pakistani society`s wrangle between religious, and ethnic culture (by ethnic I`m implying people indigenous to Pakistan). My sister wears a hijaab, and lives abroad. Abroad, she`ll wear pants, sneakers and anything else anyone else does, and her hijaab. When she`s in Pakistan, she`ll wear her hijaab with a shalwaar qameez. But the moment she puts on a pari of track pants and a sweat shirt with her hijaab in Lahore, she`ll get stares,stares and more stares. See, I guess it IS different. But her argument is that it`s Islamically O.K.; the garb she has on, as long as so-and-so is covered, etc. But the reason for the stares is indeed, society`s unfamiliarty with `Western` dress. Yes, we can all lie to ourselves about Pakistan being a modern nation now, complete with Indus Music and cable TV, but values will take time to change. And even if they do, will they be going in the right direction?
Who will decide? When will they decide? I think you can argue on and on about an issue, but if given proper, respectful insight and thought, the ultimate argument(s) is(are) made by religion. I know that`s very hard for a lot of people to absorb, but hey, this is just MY reply, with my opinion!
Secularity is important, because religion in itself is not halfway as closed as today`s zealots have maimed it to be. However, where do we decide `how much` secularity to add into the brew? I mean, secularity was Attaturk`s hope of removing the `stagnant Islam` the later Caliphs had infected society with, but on its way to recovery, Turkey went a bit too secular, and we all know Turkey approaching dormancy within the Ummah.
Well, that`s where religion comes in. I`m not an expert, but I have enough faith, in faith, to see the answers to lie within. The way I see it, some secular ideas are not too different from divine ones; its just how the religious ones have been interpreted that changes perspectives. The arguments in the holy books, the words of God Himself, make too much sense to me to consider choices otherwise.