Few thoughts, observations and reflections

Some of mine thoughts, observations and reflections; open to agreement or disagreemnet:-)

• For those who are sincere to find, truth is very very near but for those who are not serious, it is at infinity!

• Patience, love, peace, braveness, respect, fairness and justice are the best ways to take revenge.
• Doctors can't treat some invisible wounds of the heart and the soul !

• More Faith drifts away from the heaven to the earth, more things get complicated.

• A couple of cuts on the heart are source of strongness!:-).

• A Faith and religion can't be forced and it must not be.

• If someone claims that he has fully understood females then he has not understood them indeed.:-))!

• There is no limit of faith and there is no limit of denial, there is no limit of truthfulness and no limit of untruthfulness, there is no limit of love and no limit of hate, there is no limit of knowledge and no limit of ignorance, there is no limit of intellect and no limit of foolishness, there is no limit of peace and no limit of chaos, there is no limit of fairness and no limit of cheating, there is no limit of braveness and no limit of fear, there is no limit of care and no limit of cruelty...
• Souls are immortal...

• Justice and Truth are the ultimate winners.

• Right and Wrong are not similar !!

• Climax of atheism is start of real faith :-)!

• Human rights and peace are for all human beings belonging to any nation, group, country, faith or religion ! Protect human beings and do not kill them.

• Human blood is extremly sacred, don't make it so cheap!

• Every human is special and important - don't underestimate yourself but please don't overestimate too :-).
• Human beings are the most precious creation on earth.

• Females are as much important and necessary as males; without females everything will be deserted, empty, tense and sad.

• Females are beautiful and surprising creation!!

• Women are surprisingly sharp at understanding and judging!!

• We forget HIM but HE does not do so !

• HIS love, patience and mercy prevails over HIS anger, no one could/can dictate HIM but HE decided to be like that HIMSELF ! Should we not be grateful then? :-)

• One can't know all realities but one should know what is most important to know.
• Fear, disappointment, hate and prejudice are few of the big obstacles in the way of real learning.

• Creation can be defeated but the Creator can't be! Ok, make another failing attepmt if you don't believe it :-)

• Satan and Co. plan their best but their plans are stupid, weak, empty and rubbish.

• Terrorism in the name of peace is hypocricy :-)!

• Peace comes through peace and not through cheating! We must struggle unitedly and sincerily for it otherwise blood-drinkers will get free hand.
• Heart, mind and soul should work together!
• Natural belief is part of us; now it depends upon us whether we protect it or crush it. Humans are free for a choice.

• If there is no Creator then why do we think, feel and talk about HIM? Do we think/feel about anything which does not exist?

• Those who are planning any conspiracies against humanity and peace must stop otherwise they will be doomed.

• Any religion which supports harm/killing/damage of innocent people must be thrown into sea.
• We must free ourselves of hates and prejudices if we want to know reality.

• Will HE throw me into Hell or bestow me Paradise? this i don't know; I have to follow HIM sincerily in all conditions and times, this i know however.

• Any damage to innocent people is against orders of the Creator then who will like to commit such a blunder to become an eternal loser?!

• Religious corruption is one of the worst form of corruption because it may create distance between the Creation and the Creator!

• Personally i prefer a nice atheist person over a corrupt religious one.

• The Creator must not be blamed for misuse of freedom of choice by the people.

• Shame on some those who plan conspiracies against humanity and peace of the world in the nights! Can't they think anything positive for the people! Shame on blood-drinkers.

• All religions and their followers should be respected and cared.

• No human being can give a faith to or snatch a faith of anybody! It is out of human authority and capacity!

• Very few nations and people have been able to digest Power! Most sink along with it.

• Positive thinking leads to positive actions and vice versa.

• Disappointment and frustration must be defeated. One should treat them like enemies.

• A person who can't respect own self, can't respect others.

Few clarifications

My next post comes soon.

I just want to say few words: if someone at any level, in any country or in any group is unhappy by my words, actions or writing; he/she should contact me directly and share his/her reservations openly. I never claimed to be ultimate truth or champion of truth. I like to stay humble but confident. It is my right, however, to voice my innerself and that i do fearlessly but in respected way. Even then if someone gets hurt by it or does not feel good; let me know. I will take care for his/her wishes. No one needs to plan any dirty plans or conspiracies against me; be brave and fair. I don't like to hide things and like to express openly so i expect similar from others. No one is obliged to agree to my words or thoughts; everyone is free. No one can force someone for a faith or religion nor can anyone snatch faith or religion of someone; it is beyond human authority and capacity!!! So people should stay relax especially the religious fellows.
I know i speak a lot of things and some of them might not be easy to digest for some fellows. What can i do for such people, they should let me know. I respect all religions and their followers and even i respect atheists but at the same time i respect my ownself too. I have right to take a way of life as anyone else on this planet do have. Don't i?
Why am i writing these words?
Well, sometime i feel that some people are not comfortable with me but they can't stop me directly so they might try some silly, ill and dirty conspiracies and plans against me! I am not scared of it however as i know that no one can harm me if the Creator does not wish so !:-)
Here, let me make it clear also that i am totally against terrorists belonging to any nation, group, religion or country. Terrorsim is against the orders of the Creator and that is the highest reason why i am against it. No one is allowed to kill/harm/damage innocent people of any religion, faith, nation or group and i don't have any doubt about that in any part of my body. If i will commit such a crime then i will not only lose in this world but also will be punished in the next life so can i be such a stupid who will fall so low and non-sense? I don't have even faintest of such wish.
It also is not a good way to blame people for crimes without giving them chance to defend themselves legally. Every criminal, belonging to any faith, religion, nation or group, must be punished but after due open and fair legal procedures otherwise things could be manipulated!!
These were few things which i liked to share; my next post comes soon.
Be happy and keep others happy too.
Zaheer

atlast: Muslims of the West (Europe) (part 3)

After a long break, today I try to write about those Muslims who migrated to the West, a very difficult topic really. As, I have already mentioned my writings are based upon my personal observations, talks, exposures, reflections, views and experiences and everyone is naturally free to agree or to disagree to me. In addition to that I would express myself in context of Germany as example since I have been living here. Please do correct me if there would be something incorrect.

I think there are four major categories for the immigrants in West. 1: Workers 2: Asylum seekers 3: Employees 4: Students. First two groups are in majority and are living for a longer period of time while the last two groups are mainly temporary immigrants with exceptions.

Although Workers and Asylum seekers are quite close to each other but still there are quite a few distinctions among them. How do I differentiate between Workers and Employees? Well, I think major differences among them are education and skills although both could be termed as employees, however, I would take both of them as different to figure out their characteristics and lives. Here are few of my observations of four groups of Muslim immigrants, please do bear in mind that it is almost impossible to draw clear boundaries between different types of Muslim immigrants and they do posses many characteristics in common too. Some things are common among all immigrants also.

1: Workers:

• They are among the oldest immigrants of the West (Europe), there is big majority in Germany for example. Male immigrants do dominate in number.

• Majority of them is not that skilled and educated especially if weighted in Western standards. They posses just the simple education and simple rules of how to work and earn money. Here I must make it clear that being not that educated is not a bad thing if one could not get education due to any reasons. Well, frankly speaking I have seen many bad examples among so called educated people also; so I feel a sincere, uneducated and poor human being is much better than a corrupt, educated, and rich one. However, I feel an educated person, in any field of education, feels much more comfortable, confident and open in handling matters of life.

• Quite unfortunately as I mentioned in another post also; a big majority of Muslims is not properly educated about their own religion i.e. Islam. I personally take it as root cause for big majority of internal and external problems of Muslims. In the same way, those working fellows did not posses that standard/type of Islamic education which could help a person in dealing matters at different land and culture. As most of them arrived in West at their young ages and at that time of life many people don’t take religions very seriously. Again, here I am not degrading anyone rather it is what I experienced and observed. Yes, it is true that there have been exceptions and quite well educated individuals also do exist.

• These fellows faced a tough working routines and different social, political and economic environment; different rules and regulation waited for them as compared to their own lands. Social order was influenced by the philosophies which were different than those at their own lands. In addition to that they faced a hard problem in context of communication since at start they did not know local languages, very nice:-). They were mainly expected to work and fulfil their duties and not much else; it makes sense however and I think that they did it to a good extent. Fears of unknown outcomes and unexpected decisions about their fate kept them in a state of uncertainty for much time.

• They faced hard situation of being away from their families e.g. wives, parents, children, sisters, brothers, friends etc. It never has been an easy situation for anyone. I personally feel that there is no alternative to the natural love of our close ones no matter how many other sources of care we might have!

• These fellows could not integrate well due to following main reasons

1. language barriers
2. lack of education
3. tough working responsibilities
4. uncertainty about future
5. shyness and cultural hesitations
6. social differences
7. not much awareness about system; rules and regulations
8. …
   

So they have been kind of separate group and this situation seems to be quite hard. It becomes even harder when one is not able to express and to follow what he/she feels from inside; I personally can’t stop from expressing myself. I, however, feel that situation at that time was naturally hard due to factors and parameters of that time.

• These fellows have been scared of hard questions about religion and religious beliefs by local fellows. The main reasons for this kind of fear had been lesser religious awareness, language un-competency, lack of religious guiders, strong philosophical and logical capabilities of locals, religious differences, few unhappy experiences about religion by the locals and secular trends etc. This was never easy job; so these fellows had to take one out of two choices; either they fight for the survival of their faiths at different fronts like philosophical, logical etc or just become part of the normal flow of life at new place. Most of them took the second choice as they did not have many capabilities to fight and also they were living in a challenging system. As it is never easy to sacrifice personal faith but sometimes few compromises one needs to make, which is part of life. Few make more compromises while others make lesser:-).
• Different effects which this situation has left on this class of immigrants are e.g. they have become more materialistic in priorities which is an obvious thing; their brains revolve mainly around their survival and ways to gain more materialistic benefits. They have learnt to good extent how to face local people, cultural differences, strong systematic rules and regulations, religious differences, home sickness etc. They are healthier now, are able to speak local language, their families back at home are economically better which is source of attraction for others also and they want to go abroad at any cost, have gained some sense of local logical and philosophical trends and standards etc. One thing however has been damaged and that is spiritual and religious aspect since it was time and again crushed. Many of them have lost many religious values, practice and do contradict to religious values although they do have great respect/love for their religion, faith and homelands. These fellows also have to make it sure that they are loyal to the system they live in and the people they live with, this is a natural responsibility. They have to fight for a comfortable place as a personal identity between native nationality and new nationality, native culture and new culture, native religious values and the ones at new place. Such a situation might leave many internal conflicts/contradictions inside a person but also might help in thinking more and getting stronger/patient. As immigrants are able to compare two systems so they are able to think with more parameters and choices, how do they use this facility?, it depends. Well, I am personally in total respect to everyone what he/she takes as way of life since humans are free and they have different challenges.

• Immigrants in general face different types of people in new country and it is natural that one feels a bit shy and afraid of new personalities and things get even more complicated when immigrants see that locals do posses different values, priorities and philosophies of life etc. These things naturally increase shyness and some fears. What results out of it? Immigrants try to restrict themselves to their own people; they miss their homeland and family even moreJ and their thoughts go back time and again to their homelands:-). In addition to that for a person who has spent a good part of life in a different (native) country, it is never easy to be comfortable if he/she gets a very different environment suddenly. It is natural for human beings that past events/things do remain in our brain so this factor also effects. To get trust of locals is never easy and bad acts of some immigrants make it even harder.
• Many of these fellows don’t have good exposure to the international happenings and developments. They feel happy at some work , money and watching TV for example. They are interested normally in work, money, native country, family back at home etc. I think pain they take at start of their journey makes them so.

• Many of them do have wives from the home lands who joined them later while few have local wives too which is an interesting aspect attached to the immigrants in general. Local girls and immigrants have created many interesting stories:-). I have come across quite a few people who got married to local girls mainly for survival at new place and to get nationality etc but frankly speaking this has created mess in many of such cases, why? Some of the reasons which I could figure out are as follows:

1. I strongly believe that a relationship based only upon greed and materialistic benefits and not based upon humanity, love, care, respect and mutual understanding is a weak and narrow relation!
2. lack of religious education/values, lack of practice of religion, contradiction to own values and resulting internal/external conflicts etc create many strange situations. I feel that a person who is his/her self not on a strong and clear faith will most probably create many problems!
3. differences of backgrounds, cultures, religions, life priorities etc which are normal part of life and which should be source of learning in life, in many cases result in chaos due to lack of understanding, some egoism and exaggerated national prides!!!
4. …

Wives of the Immigrants: Well, those who brought wives from the homelands, they lead a different life than those who have locals and this factor plays role in lives of the children also. Non-local wives are mostly house wives:-), they are mostly not as highly educated as local ones and also don’t get that much exposure to the local society. Their main tasks are to run the matters of house and children; they also let their husbands decide about matters not related to home. This is due to both religious and cultural values although sometimes this situation results in abuse of women which is never a fair thing. However, perception of force or oppression of women by the Muslims is not always true either! Many problems to women occur due to lack of religious understanding, wrong cultural norms and human corruption.

On the other hand local wives (Westerner) do lead a different role. They like to have much more independence and like to have their own careers and decisions which is not bad either. I have already mentioned above few reasons for problems in such relations. However, there are few very good examples of this type of relationships, it depends upon individuals. I am personally in favour of all due independence and rights of women no matter where they belong to. Force is not good for any kind of relationship but in case of wife it is even more detrimental. My imagination says that if females are forced to do something against their wish then they teach such a lesson at which one simply starts crying:-), they know many ways to do that:-) .

Children: Children born or those who were brought to new land at their early age might have following characteristics.

1. Normally are more active, confident and comfortable as compared to their parents as they find the new land like homeland, familiar and natural. They are normally quite liberal and might have sometimes differences of priorities with parents. Parents, as in general, want children to be similar to parents but children want to take their own ways, it is also a typical generation gap problem. Here again the lack of worldly and religious education of parents does follow them and they are normally not able to handle children very nicely! Personally I find this situation very painful; I can understand pain and compulsion of parents due to natural love towards children but very unfortunately due to change of time and space and other factors of life, things get complicated. I personally feel that parents should understand that faith can’t be necessarily inherited so children should not be forced rather advised with care and love.
2. As these children normally find themselves quite free and independent due to open environment of the West, they make a lot of experiments themselves. They don’t feel bound to those limits which their parents had faced or still do feel. Many of these youngsters try e.g. current fashions, alcohol drinking, parties etc, which is a natural inclination and phenomenon in West. Quite a few of them are able to stay focused upon their faith and are able to handle fairly their immediate society at the same time too; this could be due to following reasons; a: they get a balanced and proper guidance through their parents; b: they themselves have strong inclination which makes them quite strong faithful; c: some worst/best experiences/people do lead them towards being strong at their faiths etc.
3. I have noticed that most of them are quite intelligent as they have different sources of information and views of the life although get confused sometime. They try to understand advice with great attention if done so with care and love. They don’t like to be forced especially in case of religion which is a good thing. I personally think that two things are total personal choice of a person and no one can force them for it; first is choice of a faith and religion and the second is choice of selection of a life partner for marriage.
4. They, in general, do have love, respect and inclination towards religion and country of their parents which I take as natural phenomenon. However, winds of the time and space and lack of proper guidance strongly effect their inclination. In addition to that they also have to face all confusions arising due to sects, differences among Muslims, International happenings, propaganda, and silly acts of some Muslims etc. In some cases they find mother and father having two different religions which is an interesting situation.
5. Beside all their inclinations and love for the land of parents they love their current land (i.e. West) too. I came to know about few cases where parents took their children back to their homelands because they felt that their children are not sticking to their religion/values and drifting away. I can understand feelings of such parents and I respect their choice but I personally feel that if parents can give proper attention, love, care and guidance to the children then normally things don’t get messy. If children get more friendship, care and respect at home then they will be lesser influenced by the other attractions they find outside otherwise children will drift away and get bad no matter where they do live!!!
6. I personally feel that these young Muslims are like an asset for the Western societies since normally they are very open, neutral, confident, flexible and show great understanding so they should be encouraged and guided to play role for bridging gaps and making integration/understanding easier. Here it should be kept in view, however, that efforts to misguide or misuse or confuse them from ANY SIDE might create awkward situation!!

2: Asylum seekers: Well many things are similar for the Asylum seekers if compared to Working immigrants, however there are few differences. Some of the things which belong to this group are

• They are normally very ill informed about the realities of the West when they start their journeys. They even don’t know where are they going and what will happen to them. Their journey is normally a blind and dangerous one. There are quite a few factors which force them to move at new place which I might mention sometimes later. Many of them even lose lives while crossing borders or due to extreme weathers or due to other calamities etc.

• They don’t know where will they live and who will take care of them. They don’t have those skills which one might need to survive in new country and language skills are also almost nil initially. These fellows are not quite educated ones. They don’t have support of friends or family at new place in most of the cases.

• These people do face quite a few fears and pressures although local systems try their best to accommodate them. There might be cases of crimes committed by the people of this group as they have to survive somehow. Most of them try to get married so that they could get some kind of protection, however many such marriages result not that positive as I mentioned above. Personally I am not that much in favour of such blind, unplanned and dangerous journeys by anyone; it is a kind of suicide. These fellows do have to face extremely tough challenges in religious, philosophical and logical aspects and the difficulty gets even double folded due to insufficient local language skills. They do have great love for their religion inside but are incapacitated by their lacks and normally are unable to defend their faiths/religions. They also can’t speak all what they have in their hearts as they are at the mercy of local system which can thrash them out any time. This situation might bring quite a few strange characteristics in a person e.g. one gets good at pretending, telling lies, some cheating, huge differences between faith and practice might occur etc. There are both good and bad examples as naturally among this group.

• After few years of extreme hardships and training, they are able to understand life at new place. They are able to learn local language, might have a local partner, find few friends mostly from their homeland, find some places of work and earn money etc. Their life is not that social normally and just stay within restricted circle.

• …

3: Employees: This is the class of Muslims which consists of educated and well skilled individuals if analysed in context of Western views. Few examples are researchers at universities and other institutes, at higher posts in big companies etc. These people are not in big number normally. What are they? Of course human being:-)))), let me think.

• More educated, skilled and aware of current setup of the world; again here it does not mean that they are better than other people; good and bad people do exist at every level and in every group. These individuals are normally above 30 years so are quite experienced ones about matters of life.

• These people normally don’t have to pass through all those tiring formalities which are faced by two groups mentioned above as they come to new land with proper contracts, understanding of responsibilities and do get protection and guidance through their employers. These people normally live a managed, focused, rich but a bit limited life. Their working responsibilities make it hard for them to be quite socialized or to get to the roots of the local cultures. Too many bosses are also not good sometimes:-). In addition to that they normally have limited and predefined period of stay and then fly back.

• They, in general, are already married or engaged and have their families back at homeland which they miss extremely at start:-) as they can’t go for dating and waiting and have to stay faithful to their wives:-). However, more they see openness of Western society more they miss their wives and try to control themselves in this difficult situation! They face few hardships, sometimes, in context of family reunion as visa formalities for their families take a good period of time and it is getting even harder now because of current international situation. Anyhow…

• This group though is in general not able to get to the roots of the local culture but they contribute positively in following forms:

1. They create goodwill for the Muslims and local people observe and think that some Muslims are also skilled, educated and peaceful too and not all of them like to terrorise:-)
2. They are able to enhance their professional skills and knowledge and contribute both to their land of current stay and homeland.
3. They earn capital which helps them in fulfilling their financial needs.
4. ...

• These fellows normally are able to defend their faith/religion at logical, philosophical and scientific fronts as their education and skills help them greatly in this context. If one would like to analyse them in context of religious believes and practice then one would find different types among them; quite secular, medium religious and strong religious. Majority of them is, however, good at theoretical aspects of religion.

4: Students: ohh here comes the group of cows:-) including me myself… what about them?

• In general poor, solo and wandering cows:-)

• They also face great cultural shocks at start but gradually do improve because they are normally at their early youth which is period where one learns and is not that fixed in habits; also at that time one does not have many burdens on shoulders which helps in looking at life with a bit relaxed mind. Moving to a new place is normally like a second birth for them. They leave their parents so look for a similar love which they can’t find unfortunately. Now they have to live in a society which is fortunately/unfortunately quite individualistic/materialistic in nature so don’t cry mama papa dear child and be ready for the challenges yourself. Ok, Uncle Tom.

• They do get good support and guidance through their Universities/Institutes so System at new place does not scare them a lot although some fears they do have naturally. They themselves don’t have great know how of the local System; they try to know it through test and trials like children:). No baby this is wood one can’t eat it. Ok, Aunty Lena.

• Most of them are normally bachelor, miss their parents, sisters, brothers and friends they have been living with together. So try to contact them through chat and phone calls and tell them their situation and difficulties and makes them also sentimental.

• Here starts the difficult part of the story; a twist. Poor student is now in a society where dating and waiting is very open, girls and boys are so free, there are not many restrictions from society and parents, ahhhaa, is it really so? He never dreamt like that although he/she heard a lot about openness of the West. So now Student starts taking his chances and gets many smiles in response which are not normal by girls in his homeland. So he thinks that he is going to find a beautiful girl quite soon and will be successful:-). Poor student is so simple. Actually he doesn’t know that a person who is more open is also more aware and confident. If girls smile at you in West, it is due to courtesy and necessarily doesn’t mean that she is in love with you. Also girls are not easy to convince, they are normally extremely careful about having a permanent partner. In addition to that Youngsters in West normally don’t like to get into permanent relationships at the early part of youth; they say that we want to have so called enjoyment first then we will see whom to take as life partner if we felt any need of it; well nice philosophy but… Anyhow, poor student gets into a difficult situation; he finds so many options which look so close but are so far in reality.

• Very interestingly most of them don’t get a life partner at new place! Why? I could figure out few reasons which play some role

1. Shyness and fear of losing their identity/philosophy
2. Differences of cultures and religions. They normally get strong instructions from home that don’t try to go too deep into new culture and stay focused.
3. Uncertainty about careers and futures
4. Lack of mutual trust and understanding
5. They want to have some kind of serious relationship but locals don’t like it so early
6. Current engagements, though weak normally, of both parties
7. Reservations and fears of the locals towards Muslims and Islam
8. Atheistic trends
9. Sometimes they themselves don’t have strong values which sooner or later causes distrust and lack of interest
10. Distrust which is normal part of life and it is true that people do cheat
11. Well, matter of relationship I find very tricky, it is beyond my little mind to solve this equation since there are so many factors which do play role here. I have personally left this matter to God:)
    

Well, very few of them are able to have good relationships; very few sadly.

• Students are normally average at Islamic knowledge and practice with few exceptions but in general are not that bad. Normally prefer to stay with their own friends and people which is a general but natural problem. There are few reasons which hinder from getting social e.g. study burden, earning burden, shyness, laziness, cultural unawareness, social unawareness and coldness of locals sometime, materialistic and atheistic trends of the West and fast and demanding life pattern etc.

• Let me share some of their routine of life, it consists of e.g. study, part time jobs, cooking, sleeping, praying (some are regular while others not and few don’t pray at all), internet surfing, online chatting, movies watching at home, chit chat with other friends, political and religious discussions sometimes hot ones, calling back family and to watch local girls from a distance only:-) etc.

• This group could contribute to the local society since in general they are young, more flexible and open.

• As they have spent their previous lives in a different culture and society so can’t be expected to be totally like Westerners. Past experiences of an individual do play role in his/her decisions and actions consciously or unconsciously. So this bunch of cows needs to be handled carefully keeping in mind their history, culture, experiences and philosophies. I have found them in general quite peaceful and cooperative. They are also not that bad at logical and philosophical fronts.
  
  There are few businessmen and few others like female students which i could not cover here. May be sometime latter.

So it was what I could observe and think about different types of Muslim immigrants, my views and observations are open to any agreement or disagreement. What next? Let me think first.
Keep on enjoying your lives and be happy.

Muslims of the West (Europe) (part 2)

In privous post i mentioned my analysis and observations about the European converted Muslims. Now i would like to write about some of my suggestions that how these brothers and sisters could better meet the challenges of life.

Few humble Suggestions:

1) There should be a group of dedicated (preferably Muslim) people who takes care for the converted Muslims in context of learning, practice of Islam and also in other matters of everyday life. This would make sure that their journey of life remains smooth, positive and on right track.

2) Converted Muslims should learn openly but should stay controlled! They should learn gradually about all the aspects of Islam and Muslims including sects etc. However, it should be made sure in this process that one does not lose him/herself and also does not get permanent confused neither one should make absolute fixed ideas at start rather stay open to learn but be careful, vigilent and selfdecisive. A general study should be made first and then some conclusions.

3) One should not leave for others to come forward and teach rather one should be self active and go for the active learning even if others are passive. It is matter of extreme importance so one can't sit and wait for others always.

4) There should be regular learning and also improvement in practice with every passing day since we get a bit lost if we stay away from Islamic (or anyother) teachings for longer period of time. Our current setup of life is quite busy and we might forget important things if we don't turn to them regularly.

5) Islam should be learnt and judged with eyes and thinking of a Muslim and Human being and not with glasses of a particular nation, group or sect otherwise we get limited in our perceptions, knowledge and decisions. There were and there will always be differences among people so if we want to follow people then we will remain confused. One should listen to all but decide ownself at the end of the day.

6) We should not be worried or disappointed of sects, divisions or bad practices of Muslims. One should stay focused, positive and spirited and in case of confusions one should turn to basics i.e. Quraan and Sunnah. We should not be worried about minor differences of interpretations, it is part of test and life, after some time we start understanding the reasons and facts.

7) One should neither be too suspicuious of others nor should be over relying, we should stay open but vigilent and cool.

8) One should move forward gradually and positively and there should be times when one could reflect with free mind from all pressures and worries.

9) If we can't understand or decide something then we must neither get disappointed nor should be frustrated rather stay calm and keep one learning and praying from Allah almighty for the guidance and help. Those questions which seem answerless to us, get solved after some period of time if our efforts are sincere.

10) Our faith should increase with passage of time, through our observations and reflections. It should be followed by positive actions.

11) Ibadah(worhsip) and spiritual aspect must be made quite stronger since it is battery for our positive actions. It was practice of Prohpets and other Pious people that they have been praying in the nights and during days were able to stay stronger for the obedience of orders of Allah almighty. This is very very important aspect( i.e. worhsip), it not only helps in cleansing of ill effects coming to our brain, spirit and body but also gives us energy and focus. Focus during prayer must be made as pure and good as possible.

12) Arabic langauge should be learnt as quickly as possible since translations are not equal to original content. However, in this context one must not get lost to only cultural aspects of Arabic world or other countries! Goal is not Arabic world rather Islam. There are many non Arab scholars too who have been fantastic in their reasearch and contributions so they should also be read.

13) It is very important that we stay in contact to the Muslim community, it helps greatly in learning, staying focused and getting motivation. After sometime, we start feeling familiar and good but if we stay shy and away from community then things stay similar.

14) One should be very patient and caring towards those fellows who don't share the same philosophy of life. One should neither force them nor tease them. Here it should be made sure that others are not resulting in deviation from the goal of life!!! since we normally trust our friends very easily.

15) Logic and philosophy is only one way to analyse and judge things and not the ultimate way. So one should not remain limited to specific tools in thinking and analysing.

16) Islam is combination of faith and intellect so one should use fairly and rightly capabilities of both mind and heart. There should be maximum and fair coordination between heart and mind!:-)

17) Very importantly one must try to be as humble in front of Allah as possible. This does not mean self denial rather it means realism and understanding. Please, never try to curse Allah or feel dissatisfied from HIM, never ever!!! Sometimes we can't understand the true reasons, since our knowledge is limited so one should not get angry on that occassions.

18) We should not mix actions of Muslims and Islam itself. There can be actions of Muslim followers which are contrary to Islamic teachings so this is fault of people that they don't follow Islam correctly. Islam is religion of peace but generally people are unaware of it so we should be very patient, caring and aware of their sources of information and perceptions of Islam, during our dealings and conversations.

19) Keep in mind that Allah knows best.

20) and Allah knows best.

I hope that i was able to convey something useful to you. These are just my observations and views and one naturally can agree or disagree.

May Allah help and Guide us. Aamin.

In next post i would write about those Muslims who migrated to West/Europe.

Muslims of the West (Europe) (part 1)

Every nation and culture do contain some people who belong to minority or groups which have a different identity than majority. These people do lead a different and interesting lives, which are sometimes quite challenging too.

West has a good number of immigrants and other minority groups including Muslims. I would like to give some insight into the lives of Muslims living in West especially in Europe. My views are based upon my personal interactions, discussions and reflections etc.

There are two main groups of Muslims living in Europe. 1) the ones who are native to the West: most of them converted to Islam, 2) migrators (permanent and temporary). In this and next post i would write about Native Muslims of the Europe then i will write in context of migrated ones.

Native Muslims could be divided into two main groups: First Group the generation which entered the world of Islam somewhere between 1930 and 1980. Second Group the ones who converted to Islam after 1980.

1) First Group: I did not had good chance to learn about this group of Muslims but still some of the things i can share. There are quite a few such people who belonged to different nations in Europe and converted to Islam at some stage of their lives. Some of the points attached to this group of people are as follows.

• Their main sources of conversion to Islam had been books, rare contacts to Muslims and visits to Muslim states
• They had to fight quite hard to sustain with a faith and religion which was not of mainstream. It is never an easy task to take steps in opposite direction of masses.
• they had not many sources for the information about Islam since resources of information and individuals were not in great number at that time. Muslims also were quite feeble and unfocused in those days. So these converts had to fight very hard to learn and also to practice their religion. If those converts had come across a practicing Muslim in Europe, it was like a surprise and gift for them!
• there were even those who converted to Islam but due to many factors, like lack of knowledge, social challenges, lack of guidance and contacts etc, could not hold strongly to Islam. It resulted either abandoning of Islam by them or very weak practice of it.
• The level of the prejudice was naturally higher in that period of time since world was not quite open and networked at that time, in addition to that religious authorities were stronger than today.

2) Second Group: These are the ones who have entetred the world of Islam in last two decades and most of them are young. Some of the important factors about this group of people are

• They have many diverse sources of information and guidance e.g. books, internet, other media, migrated Muslims, easy access and traveling to Islamic states etc.
• they also face similar social challenges as have been faced by older generation of converted Muslims but intensity and nature has been changed.
• main challenge for this group of people have been recent happenings at International level where Muslims are supposed to be part of problems. So this group has to face the normal treatment of suspicions and hate. To face pressure due to such happenings is a bit hard for the ones who are new to the Islam!
• Another big challenge for this group of people has been too much and diverse information. They have to deal with heavy flow of information coming from different diverse sources and it is even hard for the born Muslims to analyze and judge that flood of information. They have to deal against different sects in Islam and sometimes get confused whom to take as true:-)
• they really need to be quite active and alert to withstand many challenges of modern and fast life i.e. career, earning, education, social trends etc. This makes it harder for them to learn and practice Islam. They also get into troubles when environment and needs around them seem to be in conflict with their faith, although in my opinion it happens in many cases because of yet not complete picture of Islam. One needs to learn and reflect well to be able to make connections between Islam and realities on ground.
• Lack of understanding and practice of Islam by born Muslims makes it difficult for them to stay focused and motivated. They sometimes get disappointed when they see Muslims being divided, careless towards Islam, lacking confidence and having inferiority complexes! How a new person will feel if he/she observes that the Muslims are themselves destroying their religion?

Few more Challenges for Converted Muslims and their Characteristics:

• Social dealings: They have been facing difficulty to deal with social setup which has a bit different direction and philosophy of life. In general European societies are not very strong in spiritual aspect and trends are generally materialistic oriented. However, Islam and other religions do give very high priority to spiritual aspect and belief in Unseen. These Muslims have to face opposition and hard questions from their family, friends and other fellows. which is a natural phenomenon. It is one of the biggest challenge to find a life partner(wife/husband) having close/common philosophy of life. Here, females are a bit lucky that they find partners(from a big number of Muslims coming from other countries) but for the males is a bit harder.
• Learning and Patrctice: As mentioned earlier, it is quite hard for the converts to learn and parctice due to many factors. This leaves them into a state where they confess in a new faith but find it difficult to know and follow demands of the faith!!!
• Some Prejudices: As a natural phenomenon, it is always hard to believe and follow a philosophy which majority of a society does not follow!!! This naturally brings them to face few prejudices.
• Question of attachment: It is hard for the converts to find a social belonging and balance. They have to make a good/right balance between national attachment and religious attachment. It is hard task.:-), i know it very well.
• Practices of other Muslims: They get a bit confused and disappointed at some points when they observe the attitude of many Muslims who show ignorance towards Islam and strange behavior. This is definitely an irritating factor. However, fortunately there are quite a few good Muslim examples too which keep people moving forward.
• Suspicious: Converted Muslims don't rely upon born Muslims(mainly migrated ones) and show some sorts of suspicions towards them, it has been my personal expereince too:-). Some of the reasons for it could be
  

1. contradicting actions of Muslims
2. differences of cultures
3. sects
4. lack of Islamic knowledge and lack of broader exposure of it
5. greed and cheating by Muslims e.g. in business or marriages etc. There have been cases where Muslims did get married only to get nationality etc and then left their partner after fulfillment of vested interests, it creates bad feelings.
6. Muslims expect the new comers to be as much dedicated suddenly as an ideal Muslims should but it is hard for a new one, and sometimes he/she feels overly pressurized since he/she can't be immediately like an Arab or Asian Muslim!
7. backgrounds and nationalities do play a role in getting familiar and trusted. Naturally, one feels best with a person belonging to same nation or group.

• Contended, Ambitious and Sincere: They are normally quite contended at their decision to accept Islam and feel quite satisfied internally at it. In addition to that they are ambitious and sincere in learning and practicing new religion and if find proper and correct channels in this context then make very fast and good progress. However, if they stuck in a bad group then might lose track.
• Intelligent: Are normally quite intelligent because, firstly they come to a big decision and it needs a lot of reflection and courage, secondly they learn many cultures and get diverse knowledge.
• Are not Blind followers normally: Converted Muslims normally follow things with maximum understanding, reflection and self conviction. This might not be the case with a born Muslim who takes things as granted ones and normally correct but for a new one it is hard to digest things without understanding. Although it is quite important habit to analyze and understand but sometimes might create problems also. One can't go beyond a certain limit of exploration in case of faith(not because God is afraid of it rather because we get confused there) and for a person having been and thinking in a dominant materialistic world, it is sometimes hard to digest the unseen things or which he/she can't understand e.g. a person who sees only external factors will not easily understand existence and working of Angels.
• Language and Culture: Quraan was revealed by Allah(God) in Arabic language and in Saudi Arabia to the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH), he then taught, explained and demonstrated Quraan to the people. So the best way to learn Islam is to learn Arabic language and Arabic history first. However, this takes time and efforts, Arabic is much different from most of the currently used European/Western languages. Some people also get a bit worried by the huge differences between current Arabic world and teachings of Islam or history of Islam!
• A bit weak at Worship: I observed people (including born Muslims) with different concentration and dedication levels while making worship especially prayers including five obligatory ones. I could not find the exact reasons for it that why some of the Muslims, who are even very logical, knowledgeable and good at practice of Islam, do struggle in getting concentration and strength in their prayers. May be it is because of strong belief on the seen things, system where we live is based upon external and visible factors, prayers are not considered to be very important since one visibly doesn't see loss if not performed, one does not see strong rationale behind it etc.
  

However, beside all the challenges faced and due to their strong/special characteristics there is a big number of converted Muslims including women who stand firm and confident at the path of Islam. There are those who left far behind even the born Muslims in knowledge and practice of Islam. After facing initial challenges and difficulties, which are natural, they really emerge as strong and balanced personalities.

I hope, i was able to give some useful information about the native converted Muslims of Europe. In next post, i would try to mention few of the solutions to the normally faced challenges by converts.

Feel free to comment.

USA and Europe in a special context...

There were few questions raised by one Muslim brother living in USA about the activities/phenomenon of 'home grown' terrorists in Germany. His opinion is given below followed by my point of view on this subject. He writes

“I wanted to ask your opinion on why you think that Muslims of German Origin would think that Islam requires them to commit indiscriminate murder by setting off bombs and how that is likely to attract more Germans to become Muslim? The same question applies to English Muslims doing the same thing in UK!

The strange thing is that here in USA where Muslims have been discriminated against, profiled and the administration is the strongest supporter of Israel and waged aggressive warfare against Iraq, there is hardly any so called 'home grown' terrorist threat so far. Of course I don’t know how long that will remain so if the administration continues on the same path.

What are your thoughts on this and how can we prevent people from making these attacks which are clearly un-Islamic and make life worse for Muslims?”

My point of view goes as follows

“I don't think that any sensible and knowledgeable Muslim will try to attract people towards Islam by any act which itself is against rules and spirit of Islam i.e. the act of harming innocents.

I think we need to look at things in a bit different way.

I feel that people in Europe are freer, logically strong and also more informed about the international happenings than in USA! American media is very intelligently controlled and focused in desired direction(s) while in Europe it provides relatively diverse, neutral and free information. I feel this factor makes people well informed about what injustices are being done across the world.

Here in Europe especially in Germany police is normally very friendly but focused and effective, social benefits are good, life is not as competitive and hard as in USA, people normally are not pressed if they utter truth, judicial system is fairer, crime rate is lesser, political activities are open and well monitored, politicians don't have much chances to hide their agendas and activities: they are much accountable etc. These factors help people in thinking and acting more freely/bravely, so when they come across unjust happenings, they could easily act and sometimes in unexpected/unjustified ways.

There is another factor and that is history. European people experienced many wars in Europe(i.e. at home) and wars make people more careful, sensitive and foreseeable but USA did not had many such experiences. As a result people here in Europe have better feelings for those who are in problems due to wars etc. In addition to that European people have faced many problems in social and religious contexts and they are able to judge to a good extent the misuse of religions, religious feelings and nationalistic feelings etc but still there are chances that individuals could misuse sincere feelings of innocent people and can brainwash them in this environment.

When people have more information and free Will, it could sometimes become a side-effect but on the other hand it is very much necessary for free societies. I think fault is not with freedom, it is injustice which is normally the initiator of bad happenings. So instead of pressing freedom, injustice must be stopped! Secondly people must be educated more about true spirit of Islam. Thirdly, black-sheeps who brainwash people must be identified and punished.”

Every nation has its strengths and weaknesses including people of USA and Europe so everyone should be respected but should also be accountable. What i have written is my personal view and open to any agreements or disagreements by anyone.

In addition to that, in my opinion, there are three big groups who are involved in extremist activities.

1: Those who deliberately want to plan/commit brutal activities against innocent people due to their negative nature, biasing and hostility against others.

2: Those who are not much intelligent and could be easily brainwashed in the name of religion, nationalism, humanity, benefits etc. Such people don’t know themselves about real facts and are misused. This group is quite big since any ignorant could belong to it.

3: Those who play double games i.e. they act as hypocrites. They, for example externally belong to community B, can take money and other benefits from community A and can incite and brainwash people of community B, why? They create an excuse for the attacks of community A on community B, create bad picture of community B and also weaken community B!!! Such a group is almost invisible but is very intelligent and effective normally.

Questions, comments? Feel free.

Pakistan and Extremism (part 2)

Here are few more factors which have direct or indirect connection to "Pakistan and Extremism" factor.

4): Educational System including Madrasahs:
There has been no clear goal of our educational system like our political system. People who plan for the educational system are very few and also incompetent, curriculum is quite old fashioned and schools and colleges are not enough. There is no overall plan and execution strategy. A lot of private and costly educational institutions are spread here and there without a clear goal.
Religious schools(Madrasahs) have a quite diverging goal, their students and teachers normally don't interact much with other people. People normally admit those children in such schools which they think as not very competent and intelligent ones. In some Madrasahs, teachers are themselves not very competent and educated but since here too there is not much control and check and balance so such people could sometimes work without interference. These religious schools are very important for an Islamic society but they need to be managed and controlled in better way.

Solution: Educational system must be freed of politics and incompetent people. An overall goal of education must be decided and executed. Religious schools must be given true attention and should be encouraged to interact more with society and their students must be educated in such a way that they could be more active, confident and productive for the society after finishing their education and they should be trained to have a good level of patience:-)

5): Media: Media is very tricky agent. It has capability to show only those aspects of life which it likes to show e.g. if a city is quite clean but one small part of it, is dirty and a TV shows that dirty part everyday and not the major clean part of the city then viewers would start thinking as if the whole city is dirty.

People normally don't have enough time and resources to judge and confirm all reports coming right in their homes through media and they also can't move to the physical locations to know reality as result media has to be relied upon.

In case of Pakistan, media especially the International media sometimes does not show the real and neutral view. Definitely there are problems in our society and no society is free of problems but it is cheating to keep the focus of the eye of camera only at problems without showing the broader and balanced picture of the society.

Solution: I feel that media should get more positive and neutral. It is not going to bring much positive for anyone if a society is mostly represented as negative and extreme one! People should themselves try to explore real facts and situation through personal contacts and even by visits.

6:) External Invasions and Dictations: Right now, there is tricky situation in those areas of Pakistan which are along the border of Afghanistan. These areas are focus of International community. As i mentioned earlier, Pakistan was a key player in the war of Afghanistan against Russia and people have been fighting there and now these fighters are living on both sides of Pak-Afghan border. Now Pakistan is pressurized to control those old heroes(Mujahidin) of International powers mainly through power and weapons; in case Pakistan does not act upon the orders of "all clean and all wise International powers", they sometimes blackmail and sometimes even invade those Pakistani areas.

This creates much anger among the people of Pakistan due to following reasons: 1) Why do International powers want to only kill those who were once trained and supported by them? 2) why must these people be killed if they would want to live peacefully now, 3) what is the credibility of the intelligence reports of so called all clean and all reliable International powers who made quite a few mistakes in judging situations e.g. in case of Iraq invasion, 4) why should we kill someone without giving him/her chance to defend legally, 5) Muslims are strictly forbidden to kill any innocent person so why should we kill anyone who is not proven guitly in a court, 6) No one is allowed to invade our land or to dictate us like God!!!

I don't defend anyone who is guilty of any crime but everyone must be fairly tried in court without national/religious attachments before being punished. It is basic human right!!

Additionally borderer with Afghanistan is quite lengthy and area is quite rough. It is hard to control 100% movements and filtration there. Situation in Afghanistan is also quite volatile which makes control even harder.

Many of our political/army leaders and bureaucrats have weaknesses which might be misused e.g. some of them have inferiority complex, some of them have record of gross corruption, some of them come as dictators, some others have criminal records, some others are not educated, some others have lust for the power etc. All these weaknesses are sometimes misused by the external and internal powers to get their vested interests.

Solution: Tribal people along the border and the fighters should be handled fairly, intelligently and with sincerity. These people are simple but dangerous machines, they are fearless and volatile, they also have been cheated/misused many times so they don't trust much the all clean all wise powers. I think this issue could be solved through reliable people and dialog. These people greatly respect religious individuals so they should be used. Occasional invasion into Pakistani areas from International forces must be stopped since it makes dialog and peace efforts null!!! Fair, educated and brave politicians are required.

7): Kashmir conflict and India: Many people know Pakistan through Kashmir conflict. This is an old and complex conflict. We are thankful to the Britishers that they left something behind for us which we could permanently enjoy:-). Pakistan has fought quite a few wars with India over this issue. There always have been tussle between two countries. Pakistan became atomic power in this process of winning the race. This kind of permanent state of rivalry has made people quite emotional.
Intelligence agencies of both countries have been quite active to plot interesting games in opposite countries. Politicians and other people with vested interests have been using volatile situation for their personal greed and benefits. People of the Kashmir are really unfortunate ones, they are just between fight of two elephants.

Solution: ..... ???...!!! It is hard to find a good solution to this problem. May be a neutral and reliable International group of individuals must be allowed to analyze the situation and make its recommendations about Kashmir Issue. Don't blame Pakistan for it please, we are not the only ones responsible for all these conflicts :-).

I hope you got some familiarity to few real connections of Pakistan and Extremism.

Although current situation of Pakistan is undoubtedly not very pleasing but it is a transition stage for Pakistani society. There comes to every nation a bad patch and we are currently having our share of tough time but such periods make people more intelligent and strong.

I am quite optimistic that Pakistan is going to play a very positive, important and productive role in International community. The things which we need are patience, time, sincerity and realistic behaviour from others. People would be positively surprised if they knew Pakistan and Pakistanis in a bit more depth and broadly.

Feel free to ask anything you like or comment.

Best wishes,