The Creator's masterpiece

It was the day of all days, the mother of all days. Creation had been completed, the firmament, skies and earth, layer upon layer, sun, moon and planets, high mountains and deep seas, fauna and flora, everything. There were angels perpetually glorifying Him and singing His praise. There were also jinns worshipping Him, equally dutifully.

There was no disobedience to His authority. No defiance of His commands. No questioning His decisions. Apparently it was a perfect picture. Yet there appeared to be something short, something wanting.

The Supreme Being, therefore, decided to create something that would be the best specimen of His power as Creator. This new creature would be called 'human being' (Insan).

Out of the four elements, water and air had been created in a way that they were incapable of taking any form. He created jinns with fire. But even though fire could take shapes and forms, for example, when there is a large fire, the tongues of flames can be seen assuming various forms, yet, it was not solid. It was not tangible. And, above all, it was not submissive and meek and humble.

By contrast, the fourth element, clay, was endowed with all those attributes. Soft and pliable, it could be moulded into any shape. It had neither the arrogant strength of tides and typhoons, nor the destructive force of fire.

In fact, it was because of its humbleness that Allah chose him as His vicegerent on earth. Allah also wished, thereby, to demonstrate that honour and disgrace are for Him to bestow; it is entirely at His sweet Will to lift the status of whomsoever He pleaseth.

The angels and the jinns had been created, earlier; the former with divine light, the latter with fire. Both commanded a superior status to "sticky clay," Both were conscious of their superiority to mere dust (turab). Therefore, when Allah informed the angels that He was going to create His vicegerent on Earth, the angels submitted their case.

"Man," they pointed out, "would make mischief and shed blood, while we celebrate thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)." But, Allah reminded them, "I know what ye know not."

He certainly knew, because He taught Adam the "names of things" which the angels did not know. Convinced, they supplicated before Him, admitting, "Glory to Thee. Of knowledge we have none save what Thou hast taught us."

At last the moment came. It was the highest point in the history of creation, as the Supreme Being commanded a handful of clay to fashion itself into a human shape, breathed into it His spirit, and lo, there sprang a man complete with flesh and blood and bones and limbs, a throbbing heart that would feel pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, and a brain that would discern between right and wrong and make decisions. That was Adam (A.S.), the Father of all Mankind (Abul bashar).

To confirm the superiority of 'clay' over 'fire,' in other words, man's superiority over His entire creation, Allah commanded the angels and jinns to prostrate in obeisance before Adam. The rest, as they say in common parlance, is history.

Iblees disobeyed. He argued insolently and advanced the plea of his superior station in creation, saying, "Thou hast created me from fire, and him (Adam), from clay." Even when Allah pronounced His punishment on him, he was defiant.

Iblees, by his conduct, actually demonstrated the basic features of the source of his creation, fire, which further underscored the wisdom of the divine choice in favour of "clay" (man).

Allah knew the endless potential with which He had endowed "clay." It could be soft and sticky, when wet, which the potter can mould into any shape. At the same time it could be as hard as to sound when struck.

Man, therefore, could be as submissive as angels or as arrogant as Iblees. Man would produce His Messengers and man would also throw up defiant and arrogant people like Pharaoh and Haman.

Therefore, He said, "We have created man in the best of moulds. Then do we abase him (to be) the lowest of the low, except such as believe and do righteous deeds..." (Quran-95:4-6).

"Man," says the Quran, "was created weak (in flesh)." (4:28). Yet, such was his ambition to prove himself worthy as His vicegerent that he literally stepped in where "angels would fear to tread." When Allah offered "the trust to the heavens and the earth and mountains, they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof. But man undertook it." (33:72).

It was a behemoth of an undertaking, for now was to start the process of reward and punishment. The hypocrites and Unbelievers, both men and women, would be punished and Allah would "turn in mercy to the Believers, men and women." (33:73)

Nevertheless, man was now bound to discharge that trust. But, as history is witness, he failed to fulfil the trust. There were, and are, those who reject Him outright, others have made partners to Him and worse, there are those who profess belief in Him, yet, with impunity, disregard His express commands.

Those are the hypocrites, who ae more despicable than open unbelievers and infidels. Therefore they are not only denounced in the Quran, but in the Bible (NT), too, they have been cursed: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (Matthew: 25)

It is an interesting phenomenon. A number of people from amongst unbelievers and infidels, who have received high liberal education and held high stations in society, have willingly and with their eyes wide open, elected to embrace Islam. Cat Stevens, the famous Beetle, comes readily to mind.

Another is Sister Ameena Salimi, a white American, who says she had started her career as a missionary with the particular ambition to convert Muslims to Christianity. Therefore, she began studying Islam. But, as she proceeded, a miracle happened.

She turned up as a Muslim. And today, she is a fervent believer, so staunch and ardent that she gave up not only a happy home and a wealthy lifestyle, but even jobs where she was not allowed to wear hijab.

By contrast, there are those who profess Islam, yet find its rules of conduct too strict to be worthy of compliance. Their argument has an appeal, prima facie. Starting from offering prayers, is it not "too exacting" to forgo the comfort of the bed in the wee hours before sunrise? And as one goes along, there are harder tests of human perseverance; one of them being abstinence.

How trying would it be to refuse a hefty purse for some "picayune" act of omission or commission, or resist the temptation of a drought or two of the liquid that bucks up the spirits, or suppress the natural response to sensual titillations all around!

Yet therein resides the secret of man's superiority over other creatures. He is gifted with will; they go by instinct. Man is expected to strive for the elevation of the soul, which is eternal; not for the pleasure of the flesh, which is perishable.

It is self-control and struggle that gives meaning to existence. Why else would people risk their lives to scale peaks that appear inaccessible, or dive to the bottom of the deepest oceans, explore the wildest jungles, handle most venomous serpents, or experiment with lethal venoms?

None of the world's greatest adventurers, explorers, inventors and discoverers, was a prisoner of the flesh. Sensual pleasures and physical comforts may offer immediate satisfaction, even a momentary, evanescent thrill, but do they at all give a feeling of enduring exultation and bliss?

There are some, among Muslims, who hold (and project) the view that Islam should adjust itself to "occasional" acts of disobedience to divine dictates. Instead, Allah's description of the righteous includes, "those who, having done something to be ashamed of, or wronged their own souls, earnestly bring Allah to mind and ask for forgiveness for their sins... and are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in (the wrong) they have done." (3:135).

The bottom line, therefore, is that salvation is within everybody's reach. Despair of His mercy is forbidden. "Do not despair of Allah's mercy. Verily Allah would forgive all sins..." says the Quran.

But, man must demonstrate the generic qualities of his origin, contrition, humility and submissiveness. Obviously, when affront to authority is not tolerated even by masters, how can it be expected of the Almighty Allah?

Haunting memories of Hiroshima

Japan, itself the victim of a deadly nuclear attack in 1945, suffered an accident to its nuclear industry barely four days after the 54th anniversary of the holocaust perpetrated upon it by the United States.

Four persons were killed last Monday while countless nations the world over were reminding themselves at commemorative meetings of the sufferings of the people in two Japanese cities resulting from the atom bombs dropped on them by American planes in August 1945.

According to reports, the accident in Japan occurred when super-heated steam leaked through a pipe feeding steam in the turbine of the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, situated in the Fukui prefecture, 300 kilometres west of Tokyo.

The pipe according to the owner of the factory, had not been checked since the plant began operating nearly three decades ago. A number of persons were also injured as a result of the leak. The head of the Tokyo-based Citizen's Nuclear Information Centre has strongly refuted the power company's claim that no nuclear radiation had taken place.

All this has happened while Washington was engaged in its favourite pastime of Iran-baiting, contending that its possession of nuclear technology was a risk to the rest of the world.

Japan's nuclear technology is beholden to America's help and expertise, and Japan continues to be a close ally of the US that has no reservations about its (Japan's) known high-level sophisticated technology.

Washington continues to be unfazed by the humiliation it has had to suffer because of the worldwide condemnation of what it did to Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945. To this day, there has been no official expression of regret or sorrow for the crime against humanity for which it was responsible when the nuclear device was detonated over Japan.

The US attempted to take shelter behind the excuse that its action prompted Japan to surrender, which brought the Second World War to an early end. Military experts maintain that the Japanese army at the time was in any case on the retreat and near-collapse. The war could not have gone on much longer and Japan should have been spared the holocaust that it suffered.

Possibly as a reaction to the suffering it was subjected to with the atomic attacks in 1945, Japan has been on a spree of acquiring nuclear technology. It now has about 50 nuclear plants for the purpose of generating power - a constant need of its rapidly growing industry.

Its claim that its nuclear power plants are completely safe has been challenged by its own experts including those associated with the Citizen's Nuclear Information Centre.

They point out that the promises which the Japanese government makes of providing more effective checks whenever an accident occurs in any of its nuclear installations is never fulfilled.

The nuclear attack on Japan in 1945 is universally condemned every year on its anniversary, and this has been happening in Pakistan too as a regular ritual. The extent to which the people's determination to challenge nuclearization is strengthened by the annual exercises is debatable. More and more countries continue to yield to the temptation of acquiring nuclear technology, more often than not by covert means.

They seek a moral justification for their action by arguing that if the five permanent members of the Security Council can openly flaunt their nuclear technology then they too should have the right to acquire the same. The argument is not without logic. The Big Powers should first agree to disarmament before they can exert any moral pressure on the other nations.

Pakistan, too, yielded to the temptation of exploding its nuclear devices in 1998, and defended its action by contending that India had done the same. Unfortunately, a large number of Pakistani writers, intellectuals and newspaper editors also encouraged the authorities not to stop after what India had done.

This writer recalls a panel discussion in Karachi after India's explosion at which the five participants were asked by the compere whether, in the wake of the Indian tests, Pakistan should follow suit. Four out of five participants were strongly supportive of a tit-for-tat policy.

Finally, when Nawaz Sharif did order the explosions to be carried out at Chagai, it was treated as an occasion for national celebration. People in the streets congratulated one another and raised slogans of "Allah-o-Akbar" and "Pakistan Zindabad".

A similar mood of hysteria had gripped the people across the border. Seldom had such a large body of perfectly sane human beings celebrated the fact that they had been able to accomplish their means of mutual destruction.

On both sides of the border, the site for the explosion decided upon was in the least developed part of the country. Apart from anything else, nobody seemed to give a thought to the fact that the amount of money which was invested in making the nuclear device and in exploding it could have gone into providing drinking water, health facilities and children's school facilities to countless families in the two countries.

The potential of a nuclear device to cause incalculable havoc and destruction has been written and talked about over and over again. It seems to be an idle ritual.

However, some like the present writer who have had the occasion to see for themselves something of the aftermath of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima are destined to live with the memory and the accompanying sense of horror for the rest of their lives.

This writer happened to be with an international press group in Japan in early 1946 when the American writer and novelist John Hersey happened to join us in our press conference.

He was serving as the war correspondent of the Life and Time group at the time and was assigned to do a report on Hiroshima. He invited this writer and another colleague, Godfrey Jansen (later the author of Militant Islam and last reported to be living in Cyprus) to join him on one of his first journeys to Hiroshima.

The sight that we were exposed to in the ill-fated city is printed forever on this writer's mind. Countless people on the streets with festering wounds, heaps of rubble of localities totally devastated, children with disfigured faces, tramlines, in what must have been busy bazaars once, twisted out of their grooves. Amidst all the devastation, of course, there were people beginning to somehow eke out a living by selling tidbits and small items of daily need.

There were also makeshift stalls for refreshments. With confidence the shopkeepers assured the visitors that the eatables would not harm them. Children with unwashed and even disfigured faces begged for chewing gum and "chocoletto". Almost every one that one met on the street was only too eager to recount his or her own experience of what happened when hell hit Hiroshima.

At the Hiroshima Day function in Islamabad on August 6, Senator Sanaullah Baloch lamented why a spot in his home province Chagai, was picked on as the venue for the nuclear explosion rendering it inhabitable perhaps forever.

Poet Kishwar Naheed read out one of her poems specially written to mark the tragedy of Hiroshima. Another poem by Fehmida Riaz who could not personally attend the function, was presented on her behalf by one of the organizers.

However, what was absolutely bewitching about the modest Hiroshima Day function in Islamabad was the contribution of children, most of them not much more than eight or 10 years. One of them who gave a solo performance must have been around six or seven years.

The children had painted murals that served as the backdrop. They sang in chorus, condemning the atom bomb and the horrors of war. At the end of the function, they came out and stood near the entrance of the hotel and shouted slogans demanding peace and India-Pakistan friendship.

9/11 panel and US poll campaign

The Sept 11 commission is shaking up the 2004 presidential campaign, helping to make a key political issue of its recommended changes in the nation's intelligence system and reshaping the anti-terrorism platforms of President Bush and Senator John Kerry.

The commission's report criticized US intelligence failures and cited systemic flaws in intelligence gathering. Since the report's release three weeks ago, the lobbying by commission members for action on their recommended policy changes has not only forced Congress and the White House to respond but has driven the politics on one of the campaign's most important issues, the war on terror, according to analysts and advisers to both campaigns.

Mr Kerry has seized on the report to bolster his anti- terrorism message and beat back accusations from Republicans that he is indecisive. He endorsed the panel's 41 recommended policy changes two days after they were issued, called on Congress to skip its August recess to write them into law and asked Mr Bush to extend the life of the commission.

This allowed Mr Kerry to "become the leader on the 9/11 issue" for the first time, a senior Kerry adviser has asserted. Now, the report is the heart of his anti-terror platform and campaign strategy.

Mr Bush, who initially opposed creation of the commission, has dropped his opposition to two of its most prominent recommendations: creation of a national director of intelligence post and of a federal intelligence clearinghouse. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice indicated Mr Bush might also accept giving budget and staffing authority to the new intelligence director.

The president has made clear he wants to go slower than the fast-tracked pace Mr Kerry and the commission members want. The Bush campaign has accused Mr Kerry of blindly endorsing the commission's work for political gain. Kerry is showing his "anti- terror agenda is whatever can get him short-term political advantage," Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman said in an interview.

The commission is set to expire on August 21, but chairman Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, said in an interview that panel members hope to obtain private funding to sustain their lobbying campaign at least through the election. They want to pressure Mr Bush, Mr Kerry and Congress to cement their recommendations into law this year.

Mr Kean and the nine other commissioners plan to appear before at least 10 congressional committees; hold public meetings in several cities, including some in election battleground states; and maintain their presence on television news programmes.

In an interview with the New York Times, Mr Kean said voters should factor candidates' responses to the commission's report into their voting decisions. Many relatives of victims of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks are planning to monitor the presidential and congressional candidates and pressure those who do not aggressively seek to implement the proposed intelligence changes.

Even if the commissioners and victims' relatives recede into the background of the election - which is unlikely considering that the third anniversary of the attack is in the midst of the campaign, and the issue of terrorism is such a dominating one - Mr Kerry is planning to make the commission report a major issue almost every week until Election Day, his advisers say.

The report has resonated with the public, which has led strategists from both sides to say the Bush and Kerry campaigns must contend with the recommendations. The paperback version of the report is a national best seller, a first for such a commission report, and polling shows nearly two-thirds of voters approve of the panel's deliberations.

A Pew Foundation poll conducted a few days before the report was released indicated the commission enjoyed strong and similar support among Republicans, Democrats and independents. A new Gallup poll found two-thirds of Americans want the commission to continue its work.

"Bush has got to act because if, God forbid, something happens, he's to blame" for not moving decisively, said Stephen J. Wayne, a political science professor at Georgetown University. "Kerry is trying to protect himself, too. If there is a terrorist attack ... he wants to be able to say (Mr Bush) did not do enough."

Few commissions have received such high marks from both parties for their investigations, hearings and recommendations. Mr Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic representative from Indiana, set the tone by holding both parties accountable for past failures and current actions.

More important, the commission was dealing with an issue that is dominating election-year discussions and decided to inject itself into the campaign by publicly lobbying for its ideas.

When Bush elevated the alert level in New York, Washington and Newark on August 1, commissioners swung into action, saying the potential terrorist attacks should serve as a wake-up call to candidates to promptly embrace their recommendations.

Not everyone is pleased with the rally-around-the-commission spirit. Allan J. Lichtman, a political historian and presidential scholar at American University, said that calls for a far- reaching, immediate overhaul of the nation's massive intelligence apparatus is "most unwise."

He elaborated that it was a mistake for Mr Kerry to bless the commission's work without more thought given to future consequences. "It shows a lack of consideration of the facts," he said.

Several Republicans and some Democrats on Capitol Hill agree that such a large government reorganization would require greater study and should be put off until after the election. But Mr Kean disagrees, saying that he worries "more about delay, about being put off for another year and (to) a new Congress."

Mr Kerry, more than the president, shares Mr Kean's impatience. The Massachusetts senator is planning to emphasize the issue in the weeks ahead, aides say, by working with the commissioners. - Dawn/ Washington Post Service

Balochistan in focus

Even after the exit of former prime minister, Mir Zafarullah Jamali, Balochistan is in the headlines because of various terrorist activities on its soil. During his tenure there were 'rumours' that he had been opposing military action in Balochistan.

Looking at the nature of the attacks, it appears that these have touched almost all significant and multi-dimensional aspects of society. In the general election of 1970, the National Awami Party (NAP) of Wali Khan group clinched more seats and joined hands with the second political competitor, Jamat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) to form governments in Balochistan and the NWFP.

In 1974, the law and order situation worsened in both the provinces. In 1975, the assassination of a senior minister, Hayat M. Khan Sherpao remained the main reason for banning the NAP by the central government of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Its leaders were jailed.

After certain political manoeuvres, in both provinces, the governments of the PPP were installed. However, the arrangement could not last long and witnessed certain political turns till the imposition of Martial Law of 1977.

In the mean time, the military action taken in Balochistan left a lasting mark, which aggravated the grievances, the province was carrying on since the One-Unit days of 1955.

The Bengali nationalist movement of the eastern wing that eventually led to Pakistan's dismemberment in 1971 inspired the so-called separatist movements of the seventies in the western wing.

The overwhelming cause of that tragedy was the geographical remoteness, which gave birth to misunderstandings and problems. The same is not the case now as all the provinces are contiguous and inter-dependent even for their respective survival.

The MMA has an upper hand in both the provinces. Undoubtedly, it challenges the central government of the Muslim League in certain matters but that kind of challenges do not seem to destabilize any province or the country. Moreover, by making its leading figure an opposition leader in the parliament, the intensity of discontent has been minimized.

Nevertheless, the grave situation offers two perspectives to look at Balochistan. First, is there any indigenous grievance that compels one to act in this manner? Second, is there any outside factor acting - a spill over from any adjacent province or country? The possibility of the existence of a local factor may be because of some sense of deprivation and concern pertaining to gas and Gwadar.

It is the duty of the central government to allay fears of the people of Balochistan in whatever forms they exist. The federal government has to adopt the policy of reconciliation and not of aggression.

Even today, for both Balochistan and the NWFP, the words of the Quaid-i-Azam that he incorporated in his famous Fourteen points in 1929, stand valid: "Reforms should be introduced in the North-Western Province and Balochistan on the same footing as in other provinces".

The possibility of an intervention by an external factor cannot be ruled out. In this regard, the first is the trans-provincial dimension of the issue. That is, the multifaceted terrorist acts may be to divert the attention of the troops from the Wazirastan Operation. The same can be visualized as a retaliatory measure to challenge and engage the troops in the vast area to dilute the concentration in one particular area.

The second is the trans-national dimension of the matter. That is, the same may be to compel the Pakistani troops to leave the western international border relatively unattended, where Kandahar of Afghanistan is not too far.

Since the military operation in the tribal belt has commenced, many fugitives, allegedly belonging to Al Qaeda, have been captured in various cities of Pakistan. Parallel to this development, the election in the US is approaching fast. It seems that the traditional 'October Surprise' of the US election will emerge from the west of Pakistan encompassing the area comprising Balochistan and the NWFP.

Hence, it can be said that till November this year at least, both the provinces will remain in focus as well as a source of trouble for the central government of Pakistan.