“A friend should not hide anything from you, and be the same person to you in private that he is in public; he should consider your beauty as his own, and your ugliness as his own; wealth and position should not change him; he should not withhold from you what he has power over, and he should not abandon you during times of hardship.” (Imam Jafar Sadiq (AS) – Mishkat h. 391)
Imran Khan has been giving daily (sometimes twice or three times daily) speeches at the location of the sit-in (dharna) in Islamabad, this is in addition to almost daily TV and newspaper interviews. The talks are, for the most part, centered around the issue of the rigging of elections, and necessity of change in the political/electoral system so that free/fair elections can be held in the country. But he also talks considerably about the necessity of social-cultural-economic changes necessary in Pakistan – and need for the nation to “wake up.”
Given Imran Khan’s background, he tends to idealize western “democracies” – as a model. This is erroneous on his part, and sometimes his idealizing of those “democracies” suggests an incomplete view of just how bankrupt western political systems are also. It would be more useful, if the movement begins to also look at other models, in particular the Latin American nations – whose economic and social conditions were similar to that of Pakistan, but in the past decade or two have made remarkable strides under popular social-democratic governments.
During his talk on September 30th – Imran Khan correctly talked about how debt – and in particular how the IMF is strangling Pakistan, and he recommends people read the book by John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
For those interested in this issue – I’d also recommend that folks listen to President Cristina Fernandez’s speech to the United Nations, where she directly addresses the issue of debt, and economic speculation, based on her own country, Argentina’s experience.
“terrorists are also those who destabilize a country’s economy through speculation.”
Zartaj Gul – a 28 year old woman, a novice in politics, ran for a National Assembly seat in a region of Pakistan dominated by family politics, she did not win, but came third… a remarkable achievement for a first time run. Essentially, in many areas of Pakistan, political seats, so-call parlimentary representation, are considered family heirlooms. This may have been all fine and well – when the middle class was under the domination and patronage of the elites. This has significantly changed over the past few years (for a variety of reason) – many have found their voice and hopes and aspiration in Imran Khan. I’ll be writing more on this change – but I would like to suggest that Pakistan’s population probably breaks down something like this: 2-3% top super top elite – both rural and urban/industrial elites -i.e. top of the pyramid, maybe about 25-30% (maybe less – but not more) middle class – the rest, likely around 70%, are working/peasant class.
The movement that Imran Khan is leading is primarily composed of 25-30% of the country, but I wold also suggest that this class is complex – although middle-class, they are not all that far from the working class of the country – culturally or even economically – more on this in another post…
A movement has been going on in Pakistan for the past 45 days or so… this is the latest massive rally against how Pakistan has been made into a family business, specifically targeting the current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The movement is led by Imran Khan, who has an 18 year long political involvement history in the country, and before that was the captain of Pakistan’s cricket team. While there are many valid questions about this movement, something that is undeniable is how the Azadi Thereek (or Freedom Movement) has captured the imagination of a significant sector of the middle and lower middle class of the country. More in the next few days… as I re-start this blog. The rally below took place earlier today (Sunday, 9/27/2014 in the city of Lahore, estimates suggest that nearly 4-500,000 people attended. A massive rally by any accounts.
A snippet of translation of Dua Iftitah …
The English language has been on the one hand so terribly secularized, that translating spiritual/religious works becomes difficult – because of the negative connotations for just about anything with a religious context. And on the other hand, the language being the prime language of Capitalism, expression of notions of oppression, and struggles for justice, can end up being regarded as quaint… evoking a smile, instead of indignation at the oppressor. Islamic prayers, the Qur’an itself has razor sharp focus on questions of justice and injustice, and responsibilities of M(m)uslims (i.e. those who are on the path of surrender to the Source, to God) in this arena.
Much of English translations are unfortunately either done by those whose first language is not only not English, but their use of the language is primarily in the bureaucratic/paper pushing arena. Or, they are done by technocrats, whose use of the language is primarily in technology, i.e engineers, computerists, doctors etc. The result is, on the one head, we have Islamic literature that can make Allah, and the Prophets (peace and blessings on them all) seem like bureaucrats sitting at some boring office desk giving out orders, or at best, some kind of distant social manager out of touch with the reality of the people. On the other hand the technocrats make the translated literature sound like the prayers are some kind of coding manual, or a formula, or worse an engineering textbook.
It is for these reasons, Muslims really do have to learn another language to begin to understand the beauty of Islam – Arabic, Farsi, or even Urdu… can help. If not that, at the very least consult Quranic concordance such as this online one here … and try to look at the shades of meanings to get some glimpse of what is being conveyed.
“All praise be to God Who provides safety for the frightened ones,
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِي يُؤْمِنُ ٱلْخَائِفِينَ
comes to the help of the ones who perform good works (make peace, reconcile etc.) ,
وَيُنَجِّي ٱلصَّالِحِينَ
promotes the cause of the oppressed (the oppressed masses)
وَيَرْفَعُ ٱلْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ
annihilates the ones who magnify themselves (the arrogant)
وَيَضَعُ ٱلْمُسْتَكْبِرِينَ
destroys rulers, and appoints others instead.
وَيُهْلِكُ مُلُوكاً وَيَسْتَخْلِفُ آخَرِينَ
All praise be to God; the Eradicator of the tyrants (those who use force/compulsion)
وَٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ قَاصِمِ ٱلْجَبَّارِينَ”