Contrived gap between science and religion

Geocentric and heliocentric schools of thought have played tremendous roles in the world of science and religion. Those scientists, who believed that the Earth is center of Universe ensued geocentric school of thought. Religious dons were among them. And those who believed the Sun is the center of Universe followed heliocentric school of thought.

Paradoxically, Mr. Galileo Galilei (born in Pisa Italy-1564, died in1642, was a highly controversial, rude and ridiculously egoistic in nature,)- who continues to be our all-time favorite scientist inventor, discoverer, revolutionist, or whatever you name it-  took the whole credit for being the sole discoverer of heliocentric system. This was a completely biased approach of the so-called great scientist, never mind! History remained disloyal to those who have contributed truly and sincerely and stayed away from the limelight.

During this whole process, two scientists named Tycho Brahe and John Kepler remained in the shadows; sadly their contributions have disappeared in raped accounts of scientific history, yet their inputs have paved the road to the modern astronomy. Having religious feelings, Tycho Brahe believed in the geocentric and Aristotle’s systems, which he changed afterwards.

The man who carried further the work of Tycho Brahe was John Kepler, who wrote a book regarding structure of the Universe and motions of planets. He shared his thoughts with Galileo, which the later ignored at first and didn’t even respond to John Kepler’s work.  However, later on the so-called scientist woofed that he has already done his research and experiments on the subject matter long ago.

Sketches 

The issue provoked when Mr. Galileo endorsed Nicolaus Copernicus’s (1473-1543) assumption/experiments/theory regarding the ‘new world structure’ which he had thoroughly discussed in his book “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.”  Copernicus believed that the Sun is immovable center of the Universe and the Earth is a planet moving around the Sun. This was a total violation of Ptolemaic system.  Aristotle and Ptolemy were the Duo who came up with Ptolemaic system, which most of us identify as Aristotle’s Ptolemaic System- it was ratified by the religious school of thought.

The real controversy was not that Galileo endorsed or believed in Copernican system, neither any grudge with Catholic Church’s belief. But, there was a thin line that steered an outrageous controversy between the Pop Urban VIII and Mr. Galileo.

The fact is that the Pop was the one who helped Galileo, showered his kindness upon him and brought him into the limelight, which later turned a nightmare to the Pop himself.

Since there was inquisition regarding Galileo’s changing interpretations; therefore, a permanent institution within the Catholic Church had to charge eradication of heresies. The committee of consultants declared to the investigation that the Copernican proposition that the Sun is the center of the Universe was a deviation.

In 1624, Galileo was guaranteed by the Pope Urban VIII Gian Lorenzo Bernini that he could write about Copernican theory as long as he treated it as a mathematical proposition. When Galileo published his book, ‘Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems’, the scientist was called to Rome in 1633 to face the Inquiry again. The famous scientist Galileo was found guilty of deviation for his dialogue, and was sent to his home near Florence where he remained under house arrest for the rest of his life.

The Inquiry allowed Galileo to move to his home in Florence and stay closer to his doctors, until the famous scientist went sightless. In 1642, Galileo died at his home in Florence.

Interestingly, Galileo also wore the crown for being the inventor of telescope, which is not true. It was actually Holland’s (Netherland) famous scientist and philosopher Hans Lippershey who invented telescope, which later on Galileo modified to ease his experimental process.

But, the neutral critics have different opinion in this regard. According to them, the issue was not Galileo’s endorsing Copernican’s findings or deviation from the Church’s belief; It was the guilt with which Galileo couldn’t survive longer, as by nature he was arrogant and highly egoistic person.

When Mr. Galileo realized he couldn’t pay back the Pope for all the support he showered upon him, he then criticized the Pop unduly (in his book ‘Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems’), even directly attacked his personal life. This widened the gap between geocentric and heliocentric schools of thought, which we call the gap between science and religion. In the eastern world they called the gap between East and West.

Arrogance and ego of the so called scientist did a great damage and injustice to both science and religion besides increasing the sourness between the two schools of thought- considered as a beginning of disagreements, polarization among religion and science.

One can read the original post on MountainTV

My crumbling temple

I heard MY temple crumbling!!!!

I heard that, there are ant-holes in the walls and floor of my temple, which causes water seepage  

I heard that, the sparkling flowers of my temple garden have turned comatose, thorns and parasitical plants have grown tall

I heard that, the cats of my temple have left long ago and the rats are twirling everywhere

I heard that, sometimes shadows appears in the moonlight which scares the Dog, which is the only defender of my temple

Karakoram International University, Gilgit       Photo Credit: Anonymous 

I heard that, the birds have abandoned their nests and have migrated to new places, the atmosphere of my temple is saddened, and chirpings of birds are badly missing

I heard that, the curators have turned ostriches and vultures have turned curators

I heard that, the tallest tree of my temple has dried-up, because of termite which used to stand against the Sun, to protect the temple’s beautiful painted walls and doors.

I heard that, the metal road towards the temple has been crushed by huge traffic and giant vehicles, now the visitors have shunned their visits

I heard that, the new sentry is actually a bandit who has stolen some precious books and the golden pen

I heard that, there are ruffians who have been snatching prayer-beads from temple visitors  

I heard that, hyenas appear from nearby jungles; they yowl, search for carcasses and disappear

I heard that, the rats have their group and the ants have their own, so does the hyenas

I heard that, the cobweb is so thick that the visitors hardly see through the windows glass pane

I heard that, when it rains the drops seeps through the roof, which further weakens my temple

I heard that, the strong winds of winter has smashed all the candles against the walls

I heard that, the prayers, and soulful melodies have turned numb

I heard that, the temple bell is soundless as rust has snatched its blare

I heard that, the only nightingale of my temple garden slain by marauders

I heard that, It’s my temple, it’s my university, it’s the KIU which yens for me but I am frail, helpless can't get there, can’t make the hyenas run away, can't kill the rats and bring back the beautiful cats, can't fill the ant-holes to stop the seepage, as they all have grown stronger and stronger with big mouth, sharp teeth, big bellies, and huge in numbers.

I can't even give life to the lifeless flowers and trees as I am not the creator but like others visitors, I want the old days back, with true excitement, and affection. 

One can read the original post on MountainTV

The commandeered Iqbal

I have been listening and reading about Allama Muhammad Iqbal since my childhood; yet the haziness continues buzzing in my subconscious as to whether Iqbal was a philosopher, a Sufi, a Communist, a political icon, a statesman, a poet, a revolutionist or a religious bigot??? A reflection on his life will help us to understand the paradigm shifts and varying moods of his life.
Mr. Iqbal was a student of German Philosopher Professor Arnold, who was a gem in the philosophical sphere of influence. He turned into a refined diamond after completion of his doctorate philosophy, gaining deep understanding of eastern and western philosophies.
At length, gracefully and remarkably, he did analyze Muslim’s eon, but in the end when a layman would rather expect that doctor Iqbal would talk about IJTIHAAD (the use of reason to arrive at a knowledge of truth in religious or other matters), which could have been a pragmatic or futuristic way forward for the Muslims; Iqbal, instead chose to recommend obsolete, 1400 years old solutions.

Sketch of Iqbal       Credit: Anonymous 

Being Hindustani lured him too much; egging him on to come up with “Saare Jahan Say Acha, Hindustan Humara.” Years down the line, the epoch of research and experiments of Muslim scientists inspired him to an extent that he joined the Enlightenment Movement. Iqbal played active part to uphold the brighter side of Islamic ideology and practices.

On the other side, having deep knowledge of a large assortment of philosophies of the East and the West, he cherished Communism and he considered it pro-people’s system. One can witness this element in his poetical thought;

“jiss kheth say dehqaan ko muyassar na ho rozi,

Oss kheth k har khosa-e-gandum ko jala do.”

Since there is no ambiguity in communism, there is always support for underprivileged working class of the society.

Iqbal’s poetic thought “Aikhon Muslim Haram ki Pasbaani K liye, Neel K saahil say layker Ta-b-khak-e-Kashger,” reveals that he wasn’t in favor of the great divide or any bitterness among Muslim Uma.

Shadows of the so called Muslim evangelists followed him ubiquitously; therefore he failed to break the cocoons.

Normally, a poet does not care about fame or appreciation, but Iqbal’s involvement in active politics of the subcontinent kept him in the lime light, which proved to be a knock out of his philosophical ideologies. Iqbal did not sacrifice his fame of being a popular leader, nor did he stand for his true philosophical thought; being ignoramus towards philosophy shoved him out unpretentiously.

The dismayed condition of the Muslim world forced him to write “SHIKWA” (a complaint to God), but he had to face immense pressure, especially from pious, and spiritual, devout, sacred and HOLY Muslim evangelists. The power of resistance was so immense he surrendered and failed to stand his words.

Many religious free-lancers even cursed him and called him Kaafir (disbeliever), Angraizon ka Agent (British agent) – an all-time adored conspiracy theory stuffed mantra of the so-called pious Muslims. Even today, the conspiracy theory is in full practice among Muslims across the world, especially Pakistanis, but with slight change: Yahudiun ya Amrikiun Ka Agent (Jewish or American Agent).

To avoid further damage, Iqbal reluctantly engraved “Jawab-e-Shikwa” (Answer to the complaint-God) that be best described as a trick of tranquility. His damage control move worked wonders and bagged him a colossal appreciation, even from his strong critics.  They even jubilated, like a crazy gone-crazy, over his priceless words and praise.

It was a turning point in Iqbal’s life. He just went with the flow rather than resisting the misinterpretations and conflicts of thoughts. His Islamic teaching extended the gap between science and religion. During the era when there was a dire need of revival of Islamic civilization, he promulgated swordsmanship and chauvinistic beliefs.

“Khudi Ka sir-e-Nihan la-Ilaha Il-Allah” &“Shahadat hay matloob-o-maqsood-e-Momin,” such stirring poetries overshadowed the major and enlightened part of his poetical dimensions, where he debated about social changes, political revival and people.

Running between perplexed ideologies, he journeyed towards Sufism in search of internal peace. Some critics have even called it an escape attempt.  One can see impressions of Maulana Rumi’s poetical thoughts in his words; undoubtedly he did fair justice to his mystical journey.

Maneuvering in circles of Maulana Shiblee, Qasim Nanatwi (at that time he was Chief of Deoband), Salman Nadvi and many others, who were highly influential clerics among the Muslims of subcontinent. He was dreadfully baptized by these clerics, which prompted his holy journey to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In the aftermath of his journey, he unsurprisingly became a unidirectional completely and armored himself with certain Islamic beliefs.

Ironically, he criticized Sufism (which he once cherished), considering Sufism guilty for all kind of damage to Islam and the so called Muslim Uma. Iqbal betrayed Maulana Rumi, Mansoor Hallaj and other Sufis, who he once admired and followed. He then joined the camp of Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi, who was a key influential religious leader of the Wahhabi sect.

Apart from every controversy, I regard Iqbal as a great poet having boundless flair and styles of poetries ranging from Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Iqbal acquired and polished his poetical skills to a greater extent from his famous teacher Daagh Dehlwi, who lived and died famous.

Wo dana-e-subul, khatm-ul-Rusul, Maula-e-Kul Jiss nay

Ghubar-e-raah ko bakhsha, Faroogh-e-waadi-e-seena.

As one can witness his poetic brilliance in a couplet above, such master pieces are hard to ignore, being a rational decrier. But, if I consider him a philosopher, for me he will remain a confused soul.
Such delusional characteristic of Allama Muhammad Iqbal and its interpretations have left this nation muddled.
One can read the origional post on MountainTV

They don’t like Chinese anymore…….!!!!

After 1999 it’s my longest stay here at my beautiful hometown, Gulmit, because normally I used to visit my family for short time. It has been quite long and I can notice many changes in social circle as well as in geographical structure of my village.

Habitually I prefer to sit with old aged villagers during my socialization, out of the notion that I can get a true picture of bygone era and the contemporary one.  Past experiences and diverse history accounts are the key of locals to compare and evaluate huge changes that have enveloped the area over the years.

Currently the reconstruction of Karakorum Highway (alsoknown as Silk Route) is a hot topic among the villagers; in a fascinating encounter with some old-aged villagers I received some interesting information, which was an eye opening for me.

The previous Chinese engineers and labors were so kind, friendly, true and dedicated to their cause, their living standards were admiring, ranging from their hygiene standards to safety precautions. They took good care of nature, the locals and their norms all through the construction of the KKH, the highest paved international road in the world. 

Made in China 

The KKH project was initiated in 1959 and completed in 1979. Sadly there is an immense difference between today’s Chinese and the previous ones, complain the villagers who had also witnessed the KKH project in the 60s and 70s, referring to the Chinese workers currently working on the realignment and improvement project of the highway.

The Chinese engineers and labors working on the highway’s realignment project live like sheep & goats (Chhat-et Khoor rang), as their hygiene is so poor and their ignorant and materialistic life style, said a 70 year old man.

“The new Chinese workers are astonishingly so corrupt,” he added.

They even sell road construction supplies and use low quality materials, which earns them huge bucks. Several people fear that the corruption among the Chinese workers would translate into bad quality of the highway, which they say will result in the road’s reduced lifespan.

“Yemve kikumer mizg be kert, yashetep ska khu saar durzen khe traa-ep yundun,” said a village elder, meaning “even if the Chinese pee somewhere; they’ll take the soil along to China.” This shows the self-centeredness and ravenousness of the Chinese.

Listening to all these interesting discussions, I realized that the locals have come to a point that our kind neighbors are not benevolent to us; neither have they had soft corner for our endangered traditions and pristine, but fragile nature. 

Rumors, and even some media reports, have it that the government of Pakistan is thinking to hand over Gilgti-Baltistan to China on lease. If true, I believe it will be a bad news not only to the people, but to the nature, culture and economy of the area.

One can read the original post on MountainTV

Guns and Roses

Antigun sculpture at the UN

Don’t get me wrong!!!! I am not keen to talk about the Los Angeles based American hard rock band, Guns N’ Roses of 80’s; neither even interested to know the whole lot story about selecting this name for their group.

For me there is a sensitive issue which relates to my subject field and has immense impact on every individual’s life, directly or indirectly, and that is about Guns (weapons of all kind) and Roses (the foolish concept people being protected after holding it). Human being’s inventions have great impact on social life, bad or good depends on their type and intentions behind their usage.

Guns are human beings’ worst ever invention; it started in ninth century when Chinese people used bamboo tubes to fight against Mongol invaders.  From there it gradually ranged to Europe and then with kind support of monetarist vultures it spread all over the World, now almost every fool owns one.

It’s not one feels secure while holding a gun; it rather maximizes one’s fear which leads to a genocidal act. I have a belief that, spending on guns means confirming ones death no matter how good your intentions are. It’s not only third world countries where gun culture is on the rise but the statistics collected by the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes) and Small Army Survey  through its annual crime, guns and drugs survey.

The UNODC has a special unit of data on firearm homicides, where one can read detail information by the size of population and compare it to other crimes. As some major countries are missing from the records- including Russia, China and Afghanistan -but the list takes in the US, UK and many other developed nations.

According to a study by the Small Arms Survey (2007), the US has the highest gun possession rate in the world, and the average is 88 per 100 people. This places the US first in the world for gun possession, but the number two country, Yemen, has considerably fewer possession rates 54.8 per 100 people.  Surprisingly the US doesn’t have the nastiest gun murder rate; this crown fits to Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica. But the fact is, the US is stands at number 28, with a rate of 2.97 per 100,000 people

Digging further deep, Puerto Rico stands at first position the world’s table for arms murders, statistics put all killings at 94.8 percent, which is tailed by Sierra Leone in Africa and Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.

The deep wounds of World War I & II are still fresh; if one looks back and reads unbiased account of these two ghastly acts of human being, one can easily understand that the only motive behind these two wars were, only to get superiority or to get financial gain.

Hitler and his followers carried guns for what they called their cause. Now, the world calls every German a Nazi, which is a matter of disrespect for many peace loving Germans. The French revolution has its own crying stories. If Muslims from any part of the World carry guns (whatever is the motive behind) we call them terrorists, such prejudicial approach pushes the Muslim world in further isolation.

One alarming issue in the contemporary era is the world’s unipolar state, which means power supremacy in single hand; such state is idealized to graft another world war. The biggest mistake Asian countries have done, especially Pakistan, for helping the US to push back Russians (formerly known as USSR) from Afghanistan. That mistake led this world from bipolar state to unipolar power-state.

The Pakistani establishment wore the crown after tearing down the USSR with the help of benevolent CIA. What happened after that? It’s a dismayed image; generations got brutally destroyed in Afghanistan & Pakistan, damaging the economy and infrastructures.

After the Afghan war (post 80’s) gun culture is on high rise in Pakistan; no one ever feels secure here.  Gun owners are not ashamed; rather owning a gun is a symbol of pride for them. People having passion for guns would worry more about not owning one or the new one, but not about the education of their children or the condition of their home economy.

A father (especially in the tribal area) can easily afford weapons, which normally cost more than PKR 1,00,000 but they never send their children to school, which hardly costs them few hundred rupees. And if there is anyone among them who manages to go to school or (God forbid) to college they became directional literate. This presents a pretty dangerous and grim picture of the so-called nation.

One can read the original post on Mountaintv

The Drumbeat

(A psychological analysis)

“One good thing about music is, when it hits you, you feel no pain” Bob Marley

Photo Credit Writer 

Music remained a major source to express one's inner feelings; through instruments, composition, performance, art, fine art, sounds or silence. It has never been a confused or controversial phenomenon as its in today’s world, especially among religious and scientific school of thought.

Photo Credit Writer

The sounds of drumbeat, guitar strings, flute, violin, harmonium etc. is considered to be musical instruments and source of music, which I feel is a partial approach. Confining music with few instruments and practice on specific occasions or area has made it controversial, I believe. 

Elaborating the real soul, music exists everywhere in any shape. One can feel the joy of bird’s chirping, water flows, wind blowing, whistle, traditional, or modern instruments.

The religious school of thought has been using music and musical instruments as a source to preach and convey religious messages. Unfortunately, religiosity has played major part in restricting music, especially to the general mass; whether it’s Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism etc., every religion has an influence, direct or indirect. The denial approach from religious world has done great damage to music.

Photo Credit Writer 

Despite every restriction, music has found its way to reach everyone’s heart and mind. Even the stern religiosity couldn’t stop its access among religious circles.

Undeniably it has been echoing in the high mountains of Gojal valley and people of the area have been practicing music for so long, using various traditional instruments, compositions, or sounds.

It is believed that in good old day’s people of the area frequently used music and its instruments to cheer up or to celebrate any blissful occasion. Nowadays music has been restricted to wedding ceremonies, cultural events or any celebration of historical events/days having limited delineation in mind.

Photo credit Writer 

Unnoticeably the religious social and cultural constraints have done great damage to the people, especially to the youth of the area.  Therefore, youth of the area have been looking for alternatives to celebrate moments of joy and happiness, which sometimes are unhealthy or unethical.

As some bad experiences surfaced during wedding ceremonies or cultural shows, but the drumbeat continues to slog people. One can still witness the hunger for dance moves or singing songs, apart from social or age restrictions. A layman even wants to express his inner within limited time; having in mind the notion that he will not get a second chance in the longer run, such behavior turns brutal sometimes.

Therefore frequent promotion of music at every stage or in any shape will help to normalize human behaviors in the longer run.

You can find the original published post on Mountaintv website

My Birthday MISSIVE

I have never celebrated my birthday nor will do so; like a typical pragmatist who can’t jubilate his forfeiture.

Through this journey of life I did enormous experiments which brought me good or bad results, still life is on the go. A great Urdu poet Qabil Ajmeri has fabulously summarized the entire scenario in a couplet

Jee raha hon iss aitmaad k saath

Zindagi ko meri zarorat hay

Add caption

This year’s birthday is more or less special, it’s not I have some great plans or I have had any outstanding achievement. It is because there is general election on 11th May which everyone believes is going to change the unchanged nation.

I have been hearing haunting Mantras or slogans from different party leaders, workers, and voters for few weeks, like Change (of what kind?? God knows), eradication of corruption (which rather will increase), Rule of law (one can witness rule of lawlessness), rule of true Islam (there are hundreds of true Islamic laws in this Land of pure, God knows which one is TRUE), bilateral talks with Talibans (which always ends with bloodshed and bomb blasts), end of war against terrorism (would rather prolongs, as it’s a filthy money making industry), Justice for all (which is a pimp of rich, and powerful elites) assurance of laymen’s basic right (a right; which a crummy voter lives and dies without) and bla blaa blaaa.

At some point I tried to step back to write down whatever is going in my mind, as I don't have the right to vote (even after 65 years of voluntarily affiliation  with this Land of Pure)not only right of vote but a single representation in Senate or Parliament.

Apart from all nitpicks, criticism, and protests something is happening which is happening for good. At first there is a smooth shift of power, there are huge number of people (no matter decisive or indecisive) willing to vote, a phantasmagorical image of parties and  leaders whether they are leftist or rightist (whoever denies this fact lives in dungeon), the holy militia has planned not to stay in the limelight.

I hope and pray that everything works peaceful as planned by the interim government.

"One should not expect change or evolution whereas civic sense is corrupted"

Kuch Tum Becho Kuch Hum Bechay

Meray Lafz Kam Paday

In memory of Jaun Elia                                                        Didar Ali Jaffrey 

Meray lafz kam paday      In memory of Jaun Elia 

Azaadi-e-Gilgit-Baltistan