Sing what must be sung

“Sing what must be sung, my son”

1. Zardari should not be our President (not because there are yet-unproven criminal cases against him, but because there are proven clinical cases against him)

2. The NRO does not deserve the paper it is written on

3. CJ Iftikhar is only doing what he was supposed to do from the outset. We should keep reminding ourselves: wherever we are, when comes crunch time, we must choose what is right, not what is convenient, in fashion or in stock.

4. Nawaz Sharif and his party will probably be Pakistan’s next ruling party, and that is a bad thing; the sheer lack of options presented to the people is deplorable at best (imagine voting in PML Q or God forbid, MQM??)

5. We must read the Quran daily in our homes, in a language that we understand, and ponder on – if nothing else – the Opening surah of the Quran every time we say it in our fives-times-a-day prayer. ‘Eh Dinasiraat Ul Mustaqeem’ that translates as ‘[O God, ] Show us the right path’. No matter whosoever prays, he accepts the possibility of his erring in his or her judgment. The saints prayed like this, the Sahaaba prayed like this and our Prophet (PBUH) prayed like this. The humility (‘perhaps I can be wrong’) MUST be learned by us all.

6. I am hardly wrong

7. No Muslim should allow any other Muslim to call the Christians living in Pakistan as ‘choras’ – there, I said it. You probably have called them like this yourself, and I know that you have heard someone say it without raising an objection. Next time, someone derogates someone based on their religion, cast, color or creed, choose to respectfully disagree and voice your opinion. People, please, we are Muslims and are supposed to be the epitome of tolerance and decency. White folks showed their ‘educated barbarism’ by using words like ‘niggers’, we use ‘choras’ as the word of choice to derogate and disrespect. Stop it, no God’s servant can have a vocabulary so insensitive.

8. The Almighty God, when revealed the first ever words to the Last Prophet (PBUH), the first word of that first revelation was ‘Read’. People, take a hint. Make reading a habit – it never was my habit and I have only learnt it well after my college days.

9. No one who has half a talent would opt to go for a political career. This, somehow, I don’t know how, needs to change.

10. Whenever shit hits the fan, turn the damn thing off.

11. Do you know your limits? Do you even know what this question is actually asking? Find out and your life will never be the same again, I promise.

12. There is no difference between blogging and writing. A blogger is a writer. But not every writer is a journalist. I am not a journalist, but I thought you ought to know.

13. Pakistan is a beautiful country. Being a professional nature photographer in Pakistan is the easiest job in the world. A few clicks on the mountains of Shogran & siri payae, and the bloody photograph can pass off as a post card from the movies.  Jheel Saif ul Mulook () is just too easy in this regard.

14. Photography is not easy, by the way, and no, photography is not just the ability to operate  a camera.

15. Indifference is a bigger killer than all the diseases, wars and accidents put together.

16. Only actions matter. Your thought and ambitions and fears and whatnots, are all useless. What matters is what you and others around you end up doing. So act now. Ironically, think about it and then act. Focus on action. Even God will not weight your Faith unless it is accompanied with Action (reference Quran). Not many Muslims know this, thinking that intending to do good is good enough. It is not. Never was. Snap out of it.

17. Music is not food for your soul – your soul deserves much, much more.

18. Music, arts etc are not disallowed in Islam – what you end up doing with it (the ‘action’) decides its validity. Intrinsically, pork and alcohol are prohibited, not music and drawings etc.

Which one do you think holds most water, and which one is just bull?