Markets gobble up residential areas

THE civic life of Dera Ghazi Khan city is under a constant threat of growing markets within its residential areas. It is convenient to build a shop in any corner of the city which consists of 50 numerical blocks. Every block has two spacious centres surrounded by houses, for the fulfilment of community life.

The city was planned and erected during the early 20th century by the British when the river Indus inundated the old city which was founded by Haji Khan Merani (the first ruler of the city) after the name of his son, Ghazi Khan, in the 15th century, some 15 kilometres to the east of the new colonial city near the western bank of the Indus.

According to some private historical record, the main architect of the new Dera Ghazi Khan was district engineer Bhagwan Das Aahuja. He provided a spacious city to the dwellers of the old vanished city. He also conducted a survey either on foot or on horse back of the hilly terrain of Sulaiman Mountains, to chart out the road to Fort Munro. The British government granted him cash award and Saropa in a special darbar held for the purpose.

Haphazard economic development led to the growth of bazaars and markets in residential areas. In every block, there is a growing market which is constantly swallowing the residential area.

Neither the district government nor the tehsil government is paying heed to this invasion of commercialism. There is need to draw a plan to protect the residential areas from this menace. The tehsil municipal administration should exercise its rules and regulation to stop the mushroom growth of markets which have upset community life.

The devolution plan has failed to deliver even after more than a year of its inception. The district and tehsil governments could not even settle the accounts of the district, tehsil and union councils. Government employees were also affected by the new system. Dozens of contractors are still waiting for the payment of their dues but district or tehsil governments are unable to clear these for unknown reasons.

The finance wing of the district government is being run by EDO(F), who could not manage the financial affairs of the district properly. The district coordination officer (DCO) and District Nazim also remained least interested in settling the financial matters. The district government has failed to pay for the arrangements made for its monthly sessions by various small firms. These firms refused to provide a sound system and seating arrangement to the district council before its last session, complaining non-payment of rent for the last one year despite the availability of funds.

The members of treasury benches along with the opposition boycotted the last meeting of the District Council as a mark of protest against the non-cooperative attitude of the district administration, including the district Nazim who rarely attends its monthly meeting.

The members asked the district government to pay outstanding amounts to the firms concerned. They staged a walk-out and chanted slogans against DCO, EDO(F) and District Nazim, who was absent from the scene. The Naib Nazim allegedly backed the protest.

Later, the DCO and EDO(F) negotiated with the members and assured them to settle the financial matters of the district government as soon as possible.

However, there is need to spruce up the system and maintain coordination between different tiers of the district government.

The blessings of Ramazan

EVEN before the advent of Islam, it was customary for Arabs to devote a certain period of the year to exclusive worship and prayer. Muhammad Hussein Heykal in his biography of the Prophet has referred to this tradition as “the Arabs annual retreat”, and states that much before revelations began coming to the Prophet, he would each year spend the whole of Ramazan in the cave of Mt. Hira, devoting himself uninterruptedly to his spiritual pursuits in peace, solitude and tranquillity.

The Holy Quran states, “O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off evil” (2:183). The verse i.e. II:187, that follows the ordinance about Ramazan, is of particular significance to the concept of self-denial and offers limitless assurances, to those who fast, “when My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them). I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me...”

The institution of fasting was enjoined upon the faithful in the second year of Hijra Syed Ameer Ali writes. “The institution of fasting in Islam has legitimate object of restraining the passions by abstinence for a limited and definite period, from all gratifications of senses and directing the overflow of animal spirits into a healthy channel.” The regulations about Ramazan in Chapter II of the Holy Quran are coupled repeatedly with an emphasis upon two aspects: (a) facilities and concessions given in respect of fasting (b) spiritual significance of fasting. According to Hadith “when Ramazan commences, the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hell are closed and the satans are chained.”

Thus, fasting has been enjoined and made incumbent upon every Muslim adult but with the condition that he must be fit physically for it. A sick person, one who is travelling, an old person and one who finds the severity of fast hard to bear on account of age or other infirmity are exempt. But for the sick and the traveller this is a temporary exemption, they have to complete the period on other days. “And whosoever of you is sick or on a journey let him fast the same number of other days.” (2:185).

Allama Yousuf Ali, in his commentary on the Holy Quran, writes, “Illness and journey must not be interpreted in an elastic sense; they must be such as to cause pain and sufferings.” On the other hand Allah does not wish to burden, the man who has permanent infirmity, for such a person the Quran States: “And for those who cannot afford it there is ransom, the feeding of a man in need. (2.184).

Ramazan is a month of patience. The object of fast is to attain righteousness, patience in adversity, steadfastness in deprivation and to increase one’s power of resistance. Fasting places everybody — the rich and the poor, the high and the low — on the same pedestal. Both the well-to-do and the less favoured experience in common the pangs of hunger and privation to an equal degree. Fasting infuses in man a great degree of determination and trust in Allah, imparts loftiness to his character and personality.

There is a tradition related by Abu Hazim, that the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) once said, “In Paradise there is a gate named ar-Rayyan through which on the Day of Reckoning those who fast will enter, and through which none but they will enter.” It is said that the Prophet during Ramazan was more generous than the rain bringing wind. Fasting accustoms us to face hardships of life — by renouncing everyday comforts; we give strength to our resolve and increase power of resistance.

It must not be forgotten that the whole purpose of fasting during Ramazan is to promote righteousness, which is a progressive cultivation of spiritual values. The Prophet was very particular and emphatic in drawing attention to this aspect of fasting. He said: “He who abstains from food and drink during the period of fasting but does not strive to abstain and safeguard himself against moral lapses, starves to no purpose.”

Commenting on the moral dimension of fasting, Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar in his book “The Religion of Islam”, writes: “There is also a moral discipline underlying fasting, for it is the training ground, where man is taught the greatest moral lesson of his life — the lesson that he should be prepared to suffer the greatest privation and undergo the hardest trial than indulge in what is not permitted to him. That lesson is repeated from day to day for a whole month, and just as physical exercise strengthens man physically, moral exercise through fasting, strengthens the moral side of his life.”

The verses 26 — 165 in Surah Baqara mention about charity and the high standards it requires. It is here that Allah says: “Kind words and the covering of faults are better than charity.” (II: 263). In the above verse, Almighty Allah places good deeds such as covering the faults of others at the same pedestal as charity. This verse proves that performance of prayers, fasts, Zakah and Hajj must be accompanied by revolutionary changes in the character of an individual. The changes must induce piety (Taqwah), mercifulness, forbearance, forgiveness and also the ability to bury the knowledge of misdeeds of others in our day to day life.

At the core of each form of worship is the objective of developing human qualities in a person. The performance of prayers, fasts, Zakah or any other form of worship must initiate good manners and exemplary behaviour. The Holy Prophet in his life exemplified the aspects of qualitative changes in the personality that a Muslim must usher in his everyday life. The Holy Qur’aan says: “You have indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern of conduct.” (xxxiii: 21). And in another verse, it is declared: “And thou standest on an exalted standard of Character.” (LXVIII:4)

Fasting sanctifies the human personality; it cuts the carnal self to its size: brightens and heightens human virtues; reactivates pious resolves, infuses order, obedience, responsibility, enriches the soul and purifies the body thereby influencing the personality of a Muslim. Allah explains typical behaviour of a Muslim in the verse: “The believer men and women are the protectors of one another. They enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil.” (X:71). In the gravest of provocations, no Muslim is expected to give up just and kind behaviour. Allah has commanded: “Say to my servants that they should only say those things that are best.” (XVII: 53)

Abdullah Yousuf Ali interpreting this verse says, “This command refers to two situations: (1) even to your enemies and the enemies of God, you should speak fair: who are you to judge others. Judgment belongs to Allah alone, for he knows mankind best and your personal knowledge at best is imperfect. (2) amongst yourselves i.e. believers, you should not entertain suspicion but speak politely according to best standards of human speech. A false or unkind word may destroy all efforts of building up unity, because the forces of disruption are numerous than the forces of unity.”

We have forgotten these simple but lofty standards, we need to practise in our everyday life. The Holy Prophet’s entire life was characterized by sincerity and simplicity. He showed complete disdain to worldly comforts. He ate simple foods, dressed conservatively and his apartments were simple blended exquisitely with cleanliness. He cared for his friends and was generous even to his worst enemies. He was extremely polite in speech, sympathetic to the oppressed, loving to the orphans and was fond of children.

Islam reached China in the East and to the gates of Vienna in the West not through the sword; it was the exemplary behaviour of Muslims, which induced people to the fold of Islam. Good behaviour is the biggest requisite of our religion and is the distinctive hall mark of a true believer. During this Holy month of Ramazan, it must distinctly manifest itself in everything we do.

Capturing changing colours of landscape

Memories take one back to about a quarter of a century ago in Bonn, in Germany where as you entered the living room of an apartment on Lenne Strasse to meet the great scholar, Annemarie Schimmel — an Orientalist, to be exact, who has done a lot of work on what is known as Islamics, including Urdu literature, Iqbal, Ghalib and Shah Latif — and to enjoy the aroma of a hot cup of tea prepared by her as part of Christmas celebrations, you will see a canvass full of cows walking past a meadow. These cows and the wide, open background depicted the rural Punjab in simple, soothing colours. Ghulam Rasul, whose painting it was, has now traversed a long way from this depiction of the journey of the cows to the intricate details that seem to be continuously enlarging the vocabulary of the colour in his latest paintings. These are currently on display at his Studio 542 and exhibit a new serenity while capturing the varying shades of the landscape. Cows are still there but they are now in Baltistan, where the artist has remained for quite a few weeks to capture the beauty of our Northern Areas. “Mountains change their colours,” emphasizes Ghulam Rasul, “and one has to be totally involved and observant to capture the real hue,” he points out. Exciting colour combinations and the details can, perhaps, interact only in this manner.

In the thirty-two titles on display one can now find polo ponies, as in the painting, the traditional house of polo player from Skardu, Wazir Mohammad Ali. You have the picturesque landscape with the allegory of the coming rain, harvesting at a height of 8000 feet in Niashow, where you find thatched walls of local cane that provide warmth to the residents and their animals in a two-storey structure. Then there is the beauty of the Kharpocho Fort, and a separate canvass showing the canal constructed; and the pathway that goes to the fort which was constructed by the princess of a local ruler who liked the canal but not the pathway to the fort which endangered the security of the building. Paintings depicting elemental changes and interruptions like, at the mercy of winds and approaching winter, are also there. Some of his old paintings also adorn the walls.

Recipient of the President’s Award for Pride of Performance (1985), Ghulam Rasul holds an MA in Fine Arts from Punjab University and MF.A in painting and printmaking from Northern Illinois University in the USA. He has worked in Atelier 17, Paris with S.W. Hayter in 1984-85. He has held a number of solo and group shows all over the world. He had been associated with the PNCA for a long time, and retired from there as its director-general.

Although he would like to paint for the elite - who obviously can buy his pictures - he would like to reach the common man, he said, and one remembered the master of Urdu gahazal, Mir Taqi Mir, saying:

Sher mere hain sub khawas pasand.

Guftugu per mujhe awam say hai

(My couplets are liked by the elite, but my dialogue is with the common man).

—Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad