| April 12, 2002 | Friday | Muharram 28, 1423 |
About Pakistanis living in England
Compulsory education and daylight saving
Tolerance in Islam
Multan district Nazim Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi says the new district government system is bound to face some teething problems but it has made considerable progress since its inception against all odds.
AN APRIL resolution that the nation will indulge in saving daylight and compulsory education at primary levels may have confused many of us commoners.
SOME of the so-called intellectuals in the West have started labelling Islam as a religion totally devoid of tolerance. It is argued that Islam lacks the inherent capability to co-exist even with monotheist religions and that is why Muslims have a major share in all inter-civilisational conflicts round the world.
Talking to Dawn the other day, he claimed that despite a ‘horrific’ picture painted by the officialdom, the transition had been remarkably smooth and the notion that doing away with the deputy commissioner would lead to anarchy had proved a fallacy.
He said: “As time goes by, the forces of status quo will be defeated by democratic forces at the grassroots level.” He, however, agreed that the districts had been overburdened with high-ranking officials like executive district officers, district officers and deputy DOs. He said there should not be a straitjacket formula for all the districts without considering their area, population, development needs and economic viability.
He said smaller districts like Leiah and Pakpattan did not need huge establishments as the districts like Multan, Faisalabad and Lahore might require. “Too many offices and officials are a burden on the public kitty,” he said.
Mr Qureshi observed that the police was the most troublesome department to deal with as the head of the district government. He said highhandedness and human rights’ violations by the police had to be checked by making the force more accountable to the public.
On the rising number of dacoities in police uniform, the Nazim said he had held talks with the police authorities on the issue and had directed them to look into the matter so that the blacksheep, if any, in the department could be identified.
Speaking on disparity in development in various parts of the Punjab, he said there was a feeling in south Punjab that people in Lahore had not been very sensitive to the requirements of Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan. This sense of deprivation grew during the reign of Nawaz Sharif. Development funds of south Punjab were diverted to the motorway project and the development of Lahore.
He said policy-making had been the domain of the civil bureaucracy and representation of south Punjab in it was marginal at best. Thus the feeling of neglect in this part of the province was not unnatural.
He said he convened a meeting of district Nazimeen of south Punjab in the beginning of the district government to exchange notes on matters of common concern regarding functioning of the new system and development needs of the area. The Nazim of Bahawalpur volunteered to hold the next meeting but an invitation was still awaited. He said he was willing to re-convene the meeting of Nazimeen from south Punjab if they wanted. “We have to organize ourselves for our rights,” he concluded.
THE Omeed Development Organization and the Actionaid jointly organized a ‘Kissan councillors assembly’ here the other day. The participants expressed concern over the deteriorating rural economy of the country, especially as regards the ‘disposable incomes’ of the farming community.
The adviser on local bodies and rural development, Niaz Ahmad Kathia, admitted that growers had been subjected to exploitation and injustice. He feared anarchy if the farming community was not given the appropriate returns on its investment and hard work.
Economist Prof Dr Karamat Ali opined that human resource should be given due attention to achieve the goal of economic prosperity. He underlined the need for ‘true’ land reforms which should not be confined to the division of lands.
THE governing body of the Multan Development Authority has approved pay scales of its employees at par with the revised scales of federal and provincial government employees.
This will cost the authority Rs15.84 million per annum. The governing body has also granted ownership rights to 236 illegal occupants of the Junejo Colony of the city’s New Shah Shamas Housing Scheme on humanitarian grounds.
The body has decided to rent out the ‘MDA guest house’ which has become a white elephant for the authority.
SPEAKING at the annual get-together and prize distribution ceremony of the College of Professional Studies, Nazim Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced that the district government would give its lands on long-term lease to private institutes providing quality education in the area to establish their campuses.
He said the EDOs of education and revenue had been directed to prepare a summary regarding the available vacant land of the district government in the vicinity of Multan city.
PANDH by Afzal Ahsan Randhawa; pp 216; price Rs200 (hb); publishers, Institute of Punjabi Language and Culture, 24, Ameer Road, Bilal Ganj, Lahore.
WRITER and politician Afzal Ahsan Randhawa is a prolific writer who won the Pride of Performance award in the mid-nineties. He started his literary career in the fifties by writing Urdu poetry about he felt at an early stage of his career that he owed much to his mother-tongue, Punjabi.
He started writing poetry in Punjabi but very soon realized that since the language had been ignored for centuries, it needed prose rather than anything else. Accordingly, he switched over and his first novel, Deeva tey Darya, was published in the early sixties which earned for him a regional award from the Writers Guild which he refused to accept to show his disapproval of the Guild policies towards regional language. This novel has recently been translated into Urdu as well.
Randhawa has since come out with three more novels, including the one under review. He has written Punjabi plays for radio and television also and two collections of his short stories have been published with many collections of poetry.
Pandh was written in 1984 and was serialized by a Lahore-based Punjabi monthly. It has now appeared in book form. Being an MNA, Randhawa was lucky to meet and know the problems of the people working in European countries, particularly in England and this novel is basically about the migrants now living there.
The novel revolves around a girl from Potohar, her family of soldiers and her heart-breaking marriage. But the art of the novelist is to paint the plight of those who had gone to England to make money with the determination that they would return home to their near and dear ones for whom they were even doing menial jobs.
There is Waheed from Jhelum whose mother and father are buried in a Jhelum village and he has no other relatives. He comes every year to the village to place floral wreaths on the graves of his parents. His arrival is keenly watched by the villagers but none of them shares his grief. Khwaja Sattar is from Azad Kashmir whose major problem is freedom for Kashmir. This is a major obstacle in his way to go back to the Kashmir valley from where his parents had migrated in 1947 to Mirpur in Azad Kashmir.
The most important aspect of the story is that one finds a comparison between the socio-cultural values of eastern or Pakistani culture and that of the West and the best instance is that of a French girl who joins the party uninvited and after eating a sumptuous lunch, offers herself in lieu of the bill. Randhawa has described in the prosperity of the West based on the plunder of its erstwhile colonies. There are no direct references to politics or allied issues but he has exposed the darker side of western civilization.
ALLAH SOHNEY KARAM KAMAYA by Maulvi Noor Husain Garjakhi, edited and annotated by Prof Arshad Iqbal Arshad; pp 112; price Rs100 (hb); publishers, Idara Punjabi Likharian, Jia Musa, Shahdara, Lahore.
THE author belongs to a family of professionals who are more and more inclined towards religion. He wrote many tracts on religious themes in Punjabi verse and book under review is his travelogue to Makkah for Haj which he performed for the third time in 1946 when the Muslim League workers had become important for their social work including that for the pilgrims in Karachi from where the latter used to go to Jeddah by ship.
According to the editor, the first travelogue in verse to Makkah was wrongly attributed to Maulvi Mohyuddin of Kasur whose verse guide on Haj was considered as a travelogue. He further refutes that no travelogues to Makkah are included in the Janam Sakhis of Guru Nanak. The first such travelogue was written in 1881 by Faqir Muhammad Arif, a resident of Bonga Ramzan village, close to Lal Sohanra in Bahawalpur, whose verses have been quoted by Muzaffargarh’s prof Sajjad Hyder Pervez in his book, Seraiki Adab di Mukhtasar Tareekh:
Jo kujh safar Baitallah andar qismat sair karaya,
Oh vi ais ich daraj keeta jo nazar munasb aaya.
Another exhaustive travelogue was written in 1922 by the prominent writer and religious scholar, Maulvi Dilpazeer Bhairavi which was in two parts — Gulzar-i-Makkah and Gulzar-i-Madina — and the same year, Ghulam Hyder Fida, a famous marsia writer, wrote a travelogue on Karbala in verse and prose followed by Maulvi Ghulam Nabi of Kalanaur, Lateef Faqir Shemsher Ali Zakir, Hafiz Fazluddin, Muhammad Husain Shahpuri, Noor Begum of Abohar, Fazilka, Haji Chiraghuddin Joneka and Ghulam Rasool Taaib Noshahi which have not hitherto been published.—STM
Daylight saving time is nothing new and most of the industrialized and economically successful societies have been playing with the hands of their watches for a long time. It is all the more important for those Northerners as their average day during winters is very short.
But Pakistan’s average daylight exceeds more than 10 hours as we sit close to the equator. Someone could have informed the President that daylight was rather precious during winters especially in north. Those hands could have moved during winters to satisfy the nation’s heavenly needs. He is not like General Ayub or General Zia that he would not have appreciated something so satisfying. Now we will find no bliss going back in the winters.
But it was a good omen that we have finally accepted every child’s universal right to education by making primary education compulsory. However the social responsibility of the government and the citizens hardly ends there. There remains a lot of apprehension in this regard as so many similar announcements have degenerated into mere slogans.
There are many prerequisites for a successful literacy campaign. For compulsory education we need children and luckily there is no dearth of them. In fact unlike so many European and Middle-Eastern cities, seemingly unable to produce enough of their own and always set and willing to steal and smuggle out some of ours (as camel-jockeys etc) there is no chance of a shortage of children in our city in foreseeable future.
Obviously the second thing that we need for compulsory education is schools and there we may have a problem. A school requires adequate space, building, furniture, utilities and a willing set of teachers along with teaching materials and related supplies.
While plying across the Clifton Bridge, not many may have realized that the city government right under their feet was managing fully-fledged schools. The bell-like structure of the arches is blamed for amplifying the ever-increasing noise of traffic plying overhead affecting the children senses. There are many other schools housed at similarly questionable locations and buildings; close to railway tracks, over storm water drains and even in structurally unsafe buildings.
The defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation used to manage over six hundred primary schools that were later handed over to the five District Municipal Corporations, now transferred to a resource-strapped City government set-up in Karachi. The cumulative budgeted expenditure of the education departments for the year 2001-2002 projects 468 million rupees for establishment and only four and six million rupees for maintenance and development of schools. With most of the private schools out of the reach of commoners unfortunately all we have for the current drive are the government primary schools hardly adequately furnished or supervised, neither having electricity nor fans, running water or functional toilets. The existing pay structure for the teachers is pathetically low and so is the quality of educators.
For compulsory primary education an adequate number of schools may be needed at walking distance or a comprehensive bussing system. Karachi is in no shape or form to be able to provide bussing for primary students as in the West.
At present the primary schools in the city are divided into two groups according to the gender of the students. Even for the system to survive at the present level of output overall management needs massive strengthening.
Needless to say that for a successful mass scale literacy drive various citizens groups, and members of Town and Union councils may need to play a much more proactive role.
For meaningful results the city must develop a cogent plan with long-term commitment, requiring real hard work with no short cuts. Any attempt at quick political gains would surely degenerate the whole exercise into another set of abandoned fancies.
A coherent plan should be divided into several phases. Beginning has to be voluntary and will entail a massive public campaign. One must realize that the target audience may hardly be able to read newspapers. A successful campaign may therefore require massive grass-roots contact.
A detailed census may be needed at the town and union council level to ascertain and quantify the need for space, furnishings, materials as well as number of volunteers and the teachers for the gigantic undertaking. This may also be useful for mobilization of Karachiites, invigorating pride and sense of purpose in most of us.
The exercise is not going to be cheap but the results will not be trivial either. If the job was carried out in collaboration with the stakeholders a new classroom for some 40 children may be constructed for seventy-five thousand rupees.
Classrooms need to be supplied with wooden desks and benches. Wood is also not cheap in our country.
Not long ago, a study conducted for the prime minister of Bangladesh (she had opted to keep the ministry of education as the only additional portfolio) identified the temperament and rash behaviour of male primary school teachers as the reason for high dropout rate of their students. Her decree that in future only trained women would be employed as primary school teachers may have kick-started the literacy campaign. Our City council may hardly be in a position to make such a drastic resolution yet at least some lessons could be learnt from regional experiences.
To test the veracity of the above views, we should first see as to what Islam actually means and how it stands in relation to other monotheist religions. Since faith serves as the basis of all religions, it will be appropriate to start with explaining the meaning and scope of this term in the Islamic context. Faith in the Islamic context was explained by the Prophet as meaning belief in Allah and His Angels, and in His Books, and in His Prophets, and in the Day of Judgment and in the fact that no evil or good can come but by His Providence.
Islam was interpreted by him as testifying to the fact that there is no god but God and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His Prophet, and to perform prayers for five times in a day, and to fast for full month of Ramazan, and to pay zakat and to make, if one can, pilgrimage to the holy house.
Belief in all the Prophets has also been emphasised as the basic requirement of faith by the Quran. As it says “Those who deny Allah and His messengers and (those who) wish to separate Allah from His messengers saying we believe in some and reject others, and (those who) wish to take a middle course, they are in truth not believers.” (4:150,151). It means that when the Quran speaks of faith in Allah, it automatically implies belief in Allah and all His Prophets. As regards Islam, in addition to the six elements of faith, one has also to testify and adhere to the five elements as explained above in order to be a Muslim.
The Quran confirms the authenticity of all monotheist religions and declares belief in their Prophets and Books as an essential element of faith (3:3) (4:150,151). In the same way it expects the followers of other scriptures to believe which means to have faith in Allah and all His Prophets and Books even while following their own rituals and laws (sharia).
As it says. “If only the people of the Book (other scripture) had believed and had been righteous. If only they stood by Torah, the Gospel and all revelation that was sent to them. There is among them a party on the right course but many of them follow the wrong course” (5:65,66). It further says “Not all of them are alike. Of the people of the Book (Other scriptures) are a portion that stand for the right, they believe in Allah and they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. They are in the rank of righteous” (3:113,114). The “party on the right course” in the previous verse and “a portion” in the later verse have reference to those people of other scriptures who believed that Muhammad was the Prophet of Allah.
It, therefore, follows that what the Quran expects from the people of other scriptures is to have faith in Allah and in all His Books and Prophets, including Muhammad, in the same way as it enjoins the muslims to have faith in Allah and all His Books and Prophets, including Moses and Jesus Christ. It does not reject their laws (sharia) nor it exhibits any kind of contempt or disrespect to their laws but rather exhorts them to follow their own laws (5:65,66). It further says “To each among you We have prescribed a law and an open way. If Allah Willed, He would have made you a single people but (His plan is) to test you in what He has given you. So strive in race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to Allah” (5:48).
Not only that the Quran also emphasises the need for cooperation and better understanding between the Muslims and followers of other scriptures when it says “And do not dispute with the people of the Book (other scriptures) except in the best manner, save with those who do wrong, and say to them, we have believed in that which has been sent down to us as well as that which has been sent down to you. Our God and your God is One and to Him we have surrendered as Muslims” (29:46).
When the Romans who were Christians were defeated by the Persians, the Muslims of Makkah got very disappointed as the idolators started joking with them saying that in the same manner as the Persians defeated the believers in the Unity of Allah, they (the idolators) too will defeat the Muslims if they fought with them. During this period a few verses of surah Ar-room of the Quran were revealed which predicted that very soon the Romans will emerge as victors and on that day the Muslims will rejoice (30:3,4).
And the Romans did emerge as victors within seven years as predicted by the Quran. This conveys an important message and that is that common belief in the Unity of Allah by itself can serve as a common bond of co-existence among the people.
There are some verses of the Quran which exhorted the Muslims not to take their patrons and friends from amongst the people of other scriptures (5:51,57). But each exhortation pertained to the peculiar situation prevailing at the relevant time. In fact the conditions at that time were so volatile that the friends of today could be the foes of tomorrow and vice versa. Quranic verses were revealed cautioning the Muslims as to who their friends and foes were at the particular time. For example, another verse said that nearer to Muslims in love were the Christians (5:82). Hence the verses (5:51,57) should not be taken in the sense that the Muslims were forbidden from taking the people of other scriptures as their friends for ever or on account of their religion.
Likewise, the Quran did allow the Muslims to fight with the people of other scriptures but the object was certainly not to force them to accept Islam but was to make them acknowledge the sovereignty of the newly created Muslim state and to pay tax (jizya) as its citizens (9:29). The first caliph fought against those of the Muslims who refused to pay zakat.
The fact that the Quran confirms the revelation of Torah and Bible as the Divine Books (3:3), declares Moses and Jesus Christ as the Prophets of Allah (2:136) and makes it obligatory on the Muslims to believe in all the Books and Prophets of Allah (2:177) provides enough proof that Islam cannot be intolerant to any other monotheist religion at least. This is further evident from the fact that the Quran specifically emphasises the protection of all places where the name of Allah is taken whether they be mosques, churches, monasteries or synagogues (22:40), declares the food of Muslims lawful for the Jews and Christians and that of the Jews and Christians as lawful for Muslims and allows a Muslim male to marry a Jewish or Christian woman without converting her to Islam (5:5).
The Prophet allowed the members of the Christian delegation of Najran to pray in the mosque. In his letter addressed to the four Himyarite princes who had accepted Islam, the Prophet particularly stressed that if a Jew or Christian desired to retain his religion he should be allowed to do so provided he agreed to pay tax (Jizya) (Ibn-e-Ishaque). All the letters addressed by the Prophet to the Christian heads of states or tribes started with due emphasis on the common elements of faith. In the fifty two clauses charter of Madina drawn by the Prophet in consultation with all the communities, the Muslims and Jews were declared as one ummah (Ibn-e-Hisham).
From the above quoted verses of the Quran and historical facts it follows that no other religion has as much potentiality and capacity for tolerance as Islam. If at all there have been some incidents of intolerance, it cold not be because Islam made the people concerned intolerant but could be due to how they took and understood Islamic teachings.
Besides, in most cases either the facts have not been correctly reported or have been distorted in order to malign the Muslims and their religion. In this connection it will be worthwhile to reproduce the observations of Duncan Greenless in the Gospel of Islam as he says “the nobility and broad tolerance of this creed which accepted as God inspired all real religions in the world will always be a glorious heritage for mankind.”