Hum Kyon Hain?

May 30, 2015

There are times when I ask random people 'Hum kyon hain?' No one takes the question seriously and I don't really expect an answer. 

But somehow, this question puzzles me so much that there are nights thinking about the same question and there are times when I say things to my friends like 'yaaar mar jana hai' and 'mar he jana hai to kuch kyon karna hai' based on same thought. I have failed to accept that the purpose of our existence is just to go to school, then college, university, sit in front of a computer 9am-5pm, get married, have kids and live rest of our lives worrying about raising kids on the same pattern. 

Anyhow, I have enrolled for Tafseer course (Translation and explanation of Quran) and one of the reasons I am doing this is to know why do we exist. This blog is about different verses from Quran, which I believe will be helpful for me to understand the purpose of our creation. I will keep updating this as I study more. Inshallah.

O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous - [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you...[2:23-24]

And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" Allah said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know. [2:30]

...And We said, "Go down, [all of you], as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision for a time." [2:36]

For each is a direction toward which it faces. So race to [all that is] good.Wherever you may be, Allah will bring you forth [for judgement] all together. [2:148]

And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient. [2:155]

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June 3, 2015

When I read above mentioned verse [2:148] about racing to all that is good, I kept thinking that 'good' is one vague word, and only if there was some verse which clearly stated what is 'good', and so today I read following verse.

...righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah , the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle...[2:177]

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Sep 11, 2015

Indeed, your Lord is Allah , who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne, arranging the matter [of His creation]. There is no intercessor except after His permission. That is Allah , your Lord, so worship Him. Then will you not remember? [10:3]

It is He who made the sun a shining light and the moon a derived light and determined for it phases - that you may know the number of years and account [of time]. Allah has not created this except in truth. He details the signs for a people who know. [10:5]

Indeed, in the alternation of the night and the day and [in] what Allah has created in the heavens and the earth are signs for a people who fear Allah. [10:6]

Then We made you successors in the land after them so that We may observe how you will do. [10:14]

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Sep 22, 2015

And it is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and His Throne had been upon water - that He might test you as to which of you is best in deed.. [11:7]

And if your Lord had willed, He could have made mankind one community; but they will not cease to differ.Except whom your Lord has given mercy, and for that He created them... [11:118-119]

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Oct 31, 2015

Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed. [18:7]

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Feb 14, 2016

Surah Baqarah, verse 30 stated that Allah made men successor on earth. I recently read in Surah Sad, verse 26 that Allah made Dawood A.S. successor upon earth and being a successor he was asked to judge between people based on truth instead of following his own desires while doing so. This tells us about one of the duties as successors we have to perform in this world.

"O David, indeed We have made you a successor upon the earth, so judge between the people in truth and do not follow [your own] desire, as it will lead you astray from the way of Allah ." [38:26]

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March 7, 2016

"And Allah created the heavens and earth in truth and so that every soul may be recompensed for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged. ." [45:22]

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March 28, 2016

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. [51:56]

And to Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth - that He may recompense those who do evil with [the penalty of] what they have done and recompense those who do good with the best [reward] - [53:31]

Believe in Allah and His Messenger and spend out of that in which He has made you successors. For those who have believed among you and spent, there will be a great reward. [57:7]

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April 6, 2016

[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving -  [67:2]

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April 19, 2016

Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing.Indeed, We guided him to the way, be he grateful or be he ungrateful.  [76:2-3]

Chasing Snow Leopard - High-on-the-mountain Review

1. March 1, 2013 - Abdul Samad Khan all set to give participants Ragra.

2. Those are leopard footprints behind. Yus.

3. When you walk for 7 hours in snow.

4. That is one annoying girl crossing all limits of laziness.

5. He had blue skin. I love the poem :')

6. He felt weird as he hadn't done anything weird as of that moment. So he thought he should just go fall in there.

7. When guys cook

8. Do I need to say more?

9. When Omer Buttar after singing all the way to hotel, finally sang at bonfire.

10. Moaz went all Zainab

11. Idrees. Suhana. Suhana. Idrees

12. The scary eyes guy

13.HE WAS LEADER OF THE DAY

13. Omar starring Aladdin

14. Aviation guy. Too sensitive.

15. We got the best Chai one could possibly get with those limited resources.

16. Best way to save your tower - Don't make one.

17. Destroy them. At their Home.

18. Hamza carried annoying girl's bag all the way

19. Usman Barki doing what he does best.

“Remember this pain. Never come back.”

“Remember this pain. Never come back”. I saved this as a draft in my cellphone when we were heading to Mukshpuri Hotel, Nathiagali on March 1, 2013. 5 hours had passed since we were walking in snow. It was dark and there was no one around to be seen except for 25 of us who had started trekking towards Dunga Gali from Kalabagh. We were supposed to reach the hotel directly by van but because of too much snow the path was not clear and we had to walk. It was pitch dark around us and annoyingly white beneath our feet. All one could hear was sound of ‘me’ slipping in the snow, sound of shoppers that we were using as gaiters, and oh Yes – Idrees’s voice from time to time ‘Hafsa baji, Hajra baji – Are you guys okay?’. He was assigned the leader of that day and we could only reply with a dull voice saying, “Yeah”. I could kill anyone who would talk to me at that time. I guess everyone felt same because no one had really talked to anyone this whole time. Um, except for Zainab. She was talking A LOT.

Around 20 participants including me were part of Chasing Snow Leopard – snow based youth leadership program by Youth Impact. As soon as I heard about this program, the only thing I knew was ‘I AM GOING’.

Hajra and Zainab setting up tent, 

while I am honoring the snow by just standing on it.

The best part I liked about the program was how it integrated the theoretical knowledge with practical lessons. I remember how Abdul Samad Khan explained NOLS Leadership roles and how we were able to identify active follower, designated leader, peer leader and self-leader among us. I find it funny now that I am mentioning the best part of program. When I was asked on 2^nd day during the review session about what was the best part of program as of that moment, I took so long to think about it, and then I went about it like ‘walking from that window to where I am sitting right now was the best part as I could see where I am walking’. Blekh. How lame was that.

Review Session - March 2, 2013
Mukshpuri Hotel, Dunga Gali

After the program ended, all of us were asked to give feedback (good and bad) to each other keeping in view the 3 days of experience we had together. Good things I was told about me included I am Funny rather hilarious (Yeah I know. I don’t get it either), quick learner, caring, nice person, good cook (MY SISTERS NEED TO SEE THIS), courageous, calm, makes good soup (I got to make that packed soup with recipe written on it. Tee haa. And to be honest, it was all water), showed good leadership qualities throughout, brave, friendly, good communication, keen observer.

And then there were guns including lazy (I’m not even sorry), doesn’t take herself seriously, have to make effort to know her, doesn’t talk much, underestimates herself, shy, didn’t engage with group as a whole, lack of coordination, difficult to know, talks very fast, need to get out of her shell.

One gun that I don’t know how I and Hajra avoided was of Wajahat Malik. We were being as girly as one could get. Did I mention that we didn’t really pack right for the program and how we ignored the list sent by Youth Impact? No water proof jackets, no warm layers, no proper socks, shoes and what not? And did I mention that on first night after walking for 7 hours carrying those heavy backpacks, we talked to facilitators that we want to go back? Ekh. We still don’t know how he didn’t push us off that mountain.

There were a lot of lifelong lessons that I learnt at CSL that I would like to share:

1. Every drop of water is a blessing. Save it.
2. When an opportunity arrives. GRAB it with both your hands.
3. Before making tea, make sure the pot was NOT used to cook chicken before. Thank you Moaz for Masala Chai :’)
4. It is okay to be an active follower.
5. When you are afraid of something, but you see people enjoying it. DO IT. You might enjoy it as well.
6. Leave No Trace principles.

I don’t remember when did I remove that draft from my phone, but I have been back there many times, not in snowy season though.

The thing that I feared the most during CSL has happened. I don’t remember the pain.

I sucked, you won’t :)

Just be a friend. Okay? Be supportive.

"Just be a friend. Okay? Be supportive." Pheobe said it. You might have seen this episode from FriendsTV show where Pheobe thought her mother's spirit was in a cat.

In this episode, Pheobe, whose mother killed herself when she was young, gets this strong feeling that her mother's spirit is in the cat which was just trying to touch her guitar. Her friends think that she is crazy and she tries to defend her feeling like this:

"Fisrt of all Okay, there's the feeling. Okay, and for another, how about the fact that she went into my guitar case which is in lined with orange felt. My mother's favorite fish is Orange Roughy. Cats like fish."

Her friends kind of ignore her and her weird talks with her "mom". They let innocent lady enjoy her "mom's spirit" until one day they found out that there is this girl who is looking for her cat (Julio). Ross believes that the cat should be taken back to the girl who owns the cat but other friends do not have the courage to take cat away from Pheobe as they believe cat makes her happy.

But Ross cuts to the chase and tells it straight to Pheobe in candid tone that this is just a cat and should be returned to the little girl. This is how their conversation goes like:

ROSS: No! No! Look--Hey, enough is enough! Look, I am sorry that you feel guilty or whatever about spending time with your new mom, but this is not your old mom. This is a cat! Okay, Julio the cat! Not mom! Cat!

PHEOBE: Ross, how many parents have you lost?

ROSS: None.

PHEOBE: Okay, then you don't know what is feels like when one of them comes back. Do you? I believe this is my mother. Even if I'm wrong, who cares? Just be a friend. Okay? Be supportive.

From the moment I watched this episode and heard these words, I wanted to place billboards of this everywhere. People can be crazy at times, they may sound stupid, they might be doing weird things that may affect them and others adversely. But just be a friend? For once, listen to what someone has to say and do not vomit out all the advises you have in your head. Just listen and nod. Be Supportive.

Having said this, I don't mean you let your friends do whatever they are doing and let them cross all the limits of stupidity. Give them some time, use appropriate tone and replace idiotic idea of happiness with sane idea of happiness.

Stay blessed :)