| July 19, 2002 | Friday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 8, 1423 |
Literary sitting at KPC
A religion of reasoning
THE main argument that the unbelievers used to put forward for not accepting the message conveyed by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was that why did he not display any miracle. In reply the Quran said “And we refrain from sending the signs (miracles) because men of the former generations treated them false (17:59).
THE old amongst Karachiites claim that in colonial times if the Queen’s interest was not threatened the police department was not only just but at times also benign. That is hardly something someone could claim about our present-day police. The cruelty and terror for enforcement of an alien rule could be understandable but such tactics over people of a free nation could hardly be acceptable. Experience has led many to believe that our police stations have become terrifying places and if fear could fix someone our stations could rehabilitate anyone overnight.
Most Karachiites look at these alien dungeons with contempt and probably feel that the lawbreakers and the law enforcers hardly differ in form or character behind those high yellow walls. But that seems to be a reasonable outcome for a society that respects neither merit nor universally accepted laws.
Needless to say that this city has faced un-matchable turmoil and crime during the last twenty years. Crime mainly grows out of socio-economic or political reasons. police may not be able to eradicate any of the above problems yet policemen need training so that they are able to sympathize and provide safety and solace to innocent people. Many concerned citizens have been demanding for a long time the complete overhaul of police especially in Karachi.
Social scientists in general may not contest the assertion that at the end of the day it’s the system and not the individuals that really matter. Yet some may point out that the changes in the system could only be triggered by well meaning individuals. There are many changes taking place in the country and the province these days but some of the positive ones appear to be taking place only at the Sindh police.
Some eight months back the news that the new IG Sindh (still a pretty much an unknown entity) was going around dressed in civvies at night raiding police stations was initially received with a degree of drama and contempt. Either he desired newspaper space or he was so naive that he was unable to realize that he was walking in a dead end street?
In an environment rife with political enticement and nepotism Sindh police then announced its plans to induct Assistant Sub Inspectors (ASI) through Public Service Commission. This was again something that had never happened in the province’s history and obviously attracted some cautious interest.
Then Sindh police announced its recruitment policy for filling of some 5,000 vacancies of constables after six years of ban over employment that stipulates merit only. This may not sound like a big deal to many in the private sector yet the ones who have seen the department function during past many years could possibly appreciate the impossible task. The minimum height requirement for Karachiites was lowered from 5’ 7” to 5’5” and in case of women to 5’0” and the minimum academic may still be ten years of formal schooling yet a requirement to actually pass a written test must have been a major hurdle for the ones wanting to enter from the back door.
The Recruitment Board was reportedly headed by the DIG Training & Recruitment, a respectable CSS officer holding a Masters degree in criminology from a British University, and comprised six other members with varied experience including for first time a psychologist/ Karachi University professor and the Nazim and Naib Nazim along with some apolitical citizens sitting as observers was something new to Safarish-ridden recruiting department of Sindh police. Seen in the above scenario and read with some of the proposed western style changes in the draft police ordinance the suspicious minds cannot be blamed for questioning the motives behind such an exercise. But with literally no scandals marring the induction it appears that these fresh constables may actually be able to read and understand news items appearing in Dawn.
An IG that publicly claims that he has never previously served in the province nor has any connection or relations in Karachi yet takes the trouble to travel in Karachi’s mini-buses to understand the problems of the commuter (something that no other civil servant of this province or a member of any support team may have ever attempted) cannot be all that insensitive to the needs of the residents of this city or the province.
In a force of some 90,000 personnel, 5,000 new constables or few hundred new ASIs may only make a humble impact. Ultimately much will also depend upon their objectives, indoctrination and training for the job. During 1995 Rangers were inducted in a support role for police in Karachi. That was to be an ad-hoc arrangement and police was supposed to fill the gap later.
After several years of provincial government having to pay through its nose for the expensive interior ministry personnel it may be time for the authorities to better utilize that budget.
No doubt in this day age and time there is a need in Karachi for decent policing like any other city of the world. The quality of manpower and resources available to the police also determines the quality of service. There has to be a mega change in the attitude of the police towards the public and the public’s towards the police for some peace and harmony. However grudgingly yet most of the Karachiites would extend support for progressive and transparent steps promising thirty years of a quality policeman.
KARACHI: Senior poet and literary critic Jazib Qureshi was the guest of the evening the literary committee of the Karachi Press Club held in his honour on Wednesday.
Dr Manzoor Ahmad presided over the deliberations and spoke lucidly on the current literary scene while praising Jazib’s hard work and commitment toward literature. Qureshi also recited his ghazels and verses and was hailed with applause by the audience.
At the outset, Rukhsana Saba read out her essay on Jazib’s s collection of verses, ‘pehchan kay aenay mein. It is an omni-bus edition of the poet’s eight collections compiled during four decades. Quoting adulatory remarks from noted critics like Salim Ahmad, Dr Wazir Agha and Saher Ansari, Saba admired Jazib for his poetic images, mixing colour with style and imagination.
The other article came from Ahsen Salim on Jazib’s single volume of critical essays, comprising his six publications spread over 1024 pages, titled ‘Takhliqi awaz’, with a brief but highly encouraging note from Prof Karrar Hussain.
Dr manzoor Ahmad also admired the book for its historical accounts and remarked that Jazib had accomplished a very difficult task, since closeness, at times, blurred one’s vision and intimacy affected judgments. Jazib, he said, had written critical essays with a clear vision.
“Ours is a rich culture, enriched by poetry with every one carrying a poet in them selves,” he said and added that pain and pathos were also a creative force leading one to write highly forceful pieces, as was found in Jazib who had gone through sufferings and experienced life in its adverse form.
Dr Manzoor, however, differed from Qureshi’s study on post-modernism and structuralism borrowed from the West and having no relevance with our literary values and culture. These terms are easily understood in English but the moment these are translated into Urdu, they sound alien and totally irrelevant to our culture.
Dr Manzoor emphasized the role of books in the promotion of culture and advised the younger generation to turn towards books rather than computer, TV and dish.
A brief philosophical discourse came from Hasan Askari Fatemi, a senior member of the club. He welcomed the holding of such meetings. Rashid Noor did the comparing.—Hasan Abidi
The other reason was implicit in another Quranic verse which said “O, Prophet invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and excellent preachings and argue with people in the best manner” (16:125). The words “wisdom”, “excellent preachings” and “argue with people in the best manner” in this verse, among other things, implied the extensive use of knowledge and reasoning in the process of preaching and arguing with people.
In fact, with the revelation of the Quran started a new era — the era of reasoning and enlightenment. We cannot deny the role of miracles because Allah in His Wisdom did give miracles, in one form or another, to the prophets which helped them in carrying out their messages across. But at the same time we have to accept that a miracle has a limited scope of influence and vitality.
Firstly it appeals only to sentiments rather than the reason. Secondly only those persons are convinced by the miracles who actually see them. With the passage of time, people either start forgetting them or questioning their authenticity. Hence, reliance on miracles could not have been an appropriate course for the last of all religions to follow. There was need for adopting a course that could ensure the acceptability of its message at all times to come. That could be possible only by appealing to the intellect, reason and conscience of the people instead of relying on miracles.
Therefore, with the revelation of the Quran, the reliance shifted from sentimentalism and emotionalism to reasoning, reflecting, deducting and understanding. Out of the total of 6666 verses of the Quran about 756 verses emphasize reflecting, listening, pondering, knowing and understanding.
In the past, the word “sign” was used for a miracle. But in the Quran it is used for something definite and within the comprehension of every one. That is why with every reference to a sign there is due emphasis on reflecting and pondering over the sign referred to (30:22). Some of the signs referred to frequently in the Quran are the creation and existence of certain objects that one can see with the naked eyes like the sun, moon and various other celestial bodies (50:6).
Some are the orderly movements and functioning of such objects like the movement of various celestial bodies in their orbits (36:40) capable of being proved by unrefutable evidence. Some of the signs are the clear-cut and verifiable conclusions one can draw from certain creation and their functioning like the maintenance of balance and the resultant harmony one can note while reflecting over the existence of countless celestial bodies (55:7,8). Some are the provision of things in due measure necessary for sustaining life on earth (15:19), (30:40) so evident that they require no proof. And some are the events that have actually happened.
In short all the signs referred to in the Quran are such that their existence or happening cannot be denied. As the Quran says “Say thou: This is my way: I do invite unto Allah on evidence clear as the seeing with one’s eyes” (12:108).
Reflection over the signs, referred to in the Quran, has a twofold object. One is to strengthen faith in the existence and Unity of Allah and the other is to make use of such signs and the conclusions drawn therefrom for the benefit of mankind. For example, reflection over the degree of balance and harmony that exists in the creation tells us about two things. One is that such balance could not have been established and maintained without there being a single and highly skilled Creator and Designer.
According to Charles Townes, a noted physicist who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics, “recent discoveries in cosmology reveal a Universe that fits the religious views that some intelligence must have been involved in the laws of Universe.” The other is that it is because of such balance and the resultant harmony that the system has survived for billions of years. Hence, the first thing one should learn could be to have faith in the existence and Unity of Allah. That’s why the Prophet said that “contemplation over and study of Allah’s creation for a while is better than a year’s prayers.”
According to the renowned scientist Einstein, “God reveals Himself in the harmony that exists in the creation.” The second thing that one should learn could be that the secret of survival lies in harmony and that harmony can be possible only through the maintenance of balance. This provides an excellent example for the people to follow and emulate in their own spheres of activities. According to Martin Lings, “harmony is the imprint of Oneness upon multiplicity, and the Quran draws attention to that harmony for man’s meditation.”
Thus, after the revelation of the Quran, there was no need for any miracle or any thing of that kind. In fact, the Quran itself could be the greatest of all miracles. According to Husayn Haykal, a renowned Egyptian scholar,” history has not reported to us that any of those early companions had entered faith because of miracles witnessed. Rather it was the conclusive Divine argument conveyed through the revelation and the superlatively noble life of the Prophet that conduced those men to faith.” The Prophet himself said that “every Prophet was given miracles because of which people believed him, but what I have been given is Divine inspiration and that which Allah revealed to me (the Quran).”
The Quran while enjoining belief in the unseen (2:3), also emphasises the need for pondering and reflecting over various facets of the creation so that any one having such faith can test its authenticity on the touchstone of reasoning and the conclusion drawn therefrom. It also goes to the credit of the Quran that it gives due importance to the acquisition of knowledge which, among other things, enhances the scope of the process of pondering and reasoning making it capable of being used for the benefit of mankind.
The importance that the Quran gives to the knowledge is manifest from its very first verses revealed to the Prophet which said “read and thy Lord is the Most Gracious Who taught knowledge by pen: taught man that which he did not know” (96:4,5). Soon after the revelation of these verses, another verse was revealed which again stressed the importance of knowledge but in a different way i.e. through the Divine oath by the pen and that which is written with it (68:1). Besides, the importance of knowledge is conveyed to us through a practical example, namely, the outcome of the test to which Adam and angels were put together.
There are also a number of sayings of the Prophet emphasising the need for the acquisition of knowledge so much so that he said that the “Day of Judgment will be the Day on which the knowledge is lifted from the world” (Bukhari). Another Quranic verse which says “O Lord advance me in knowledge” (20:114) conveys the message that there should be no end to the acquisition of knowledge. This was further clarified by the Prophet when he said “go on acquiring knowledge from cradle to grave.”
It also goes to the credit of the Quran that the Muslim scientists and scholars, inspired by its teachings, played pivotal role in the acquisition and dissemination of different kinds of knowledge — a fact that has been acknowledged the world over. According to Robert Brifault “the light from which civilization was once more kindled, did not arise from any embers of Graeco-Roman culture smouldering among the ruins of Europe, nor from the living death on the Bosphorous. It did not come from the northern but from the southern invaders of Europe, from the Saracens (Arabs).”
J.W. Draper in his book “The history of the intellectual development of Europe” observes that the Quran gave science to two continents, Asia and Europe. Will Durant in his book Civilisation Vol-II observes “Islam led the world in power, order and extent of government, in refinement of manners, in standards of living, in human legislation and religious tolerance, scholarship, science, medicine and philosophy.”
The Cambridge history of Islam highlights the contribution of Islam thus “Muslim civilisation acted as a teacher to medieval Europe in virtually all branches of knowledge including philosophy and medicine, mathematics, astronomy and astrology.” That’s why the French biographer of the Prophet, Henry Comte de Boulainvillier, calls him (the Prophet) as the fore-runner of the age of reason and enlightenment.