What Next?

He was an International Relations teacher. We the students who had just entered the university were so inspired by his knowledge that most of us almost started considering him to be a mentor. And he always did dutifully discharged his responsibilities as one. Years passed. We no more were students of International Relations but we used to regularly attend his gatherings/sessions where we used to discuss almost every topic under the sun: Religion, Philosophy, History, Psychology, Literature and what not! When the Lal Masjid fiasco was at its peak many of us went to him, too disturbed, about the scenario. We did not know what to think. Who to consider as being right... 

Allah gives His people, His friends an exclusive ability to stay calm in all circumstances - no mater how worse they become. Same was the case with this teacher of ours. All of us refrained from commenting on the situation and kept quiet. None of us agreed with the way a 'rebellion' was being curbed in our country. Nor did we agree to the way those people had demanded the imposition of Shariah but what followed in the form of the wide scale massacre was way too much to bear with. Was it the only way to deal with them? Surprisingly, and quite eerily so, the women NGOs kept their silence too. Probably according to their standards, what was done was no flouting of the women and child rights. Anyway, I do not want to go into the details nor do I want people to bring up this point as a point of discussion in the follow up comments to this post...

So we asked this teacher of ours as to what would follow as a result of the horrendous events that took place in the country. He said that all he could envision on the streets of Pakistan was bloodshed. Horrifying bloodshed of its citizens. It happened. I had forgotten his statement the moment he said it. But when I saw the escalating  rate of suicide bombings in the country, his statement struck me back. I remember how he used to tell us repeatedly that it was time that we Muslims wake up from our slumber. It was time to revolutionise our lives by attaining knowledge and thereby acting upon it. He used to tell us that "it has been eternally decided for Muslims that are NOT going to rise until they come to the ways of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihe wassalam." And as for the social situation in Pakistan, he always used to ask us to stay hopeful about this country of ours because it was destined to play an important role on the history of this world. I still believe in that with my heart and soul. But at the same time, he used say one sentence which came back to me after years today. He used to say: "mere aziiz shaagirdo, Dariye us waqt se ke jab hamay Americans (militarily armed) apne mulk ki saRko~ pe chalte phirte nazar aenge" ... And all his arguments would end up in one single point: "Khudara kitaab se, ilm se rishta joR lijiye, jis din is qaum ke bachho~ ke haathon me~ kitaab aa gai, is qaum ko taraqqi karne se koi nahi rok sakta" and also "apne maahol ka khayaal rakhiye, Allah waalon ke paas uThiye beThiye, aap buhat faaede me~ rahe~ ge."  


There are countless sayings by him that I can quote here. But I would not like to digress anymore. What reminded me of this visionary teacher of mine today? This...