Page 21 - Pakistan Link - April 26, 2019

COMMENTARY APRIL 26, 2019 – PAKISTAN LINK – P21

n By Prof Dr Nazeer Ahmed The Aftermath of the Christchurch Massacre, stitutions that had grown up over
Concord, CA a period of five hundred years in
the golden period of Islam were
eldom has a civilization An Opportunity for Internal Renewal - 1 destroyed. Libraries burnt. Ulema
stood at a crossroads as does beheaded. Dams and canals lev-
Sthe Islamic civilization to- eled. Agriculture disappeared.
day. On the one hand, there are Towns and villages became pas-
challenges that the tureland for Mongol horses. In
Ummah has sel- one instance, in the city of Bamyan
dom faced in the in Afghanistan, Genghiz Khan
last 1500 years. On slaughtered all the men, women
the other hand, it and children. Not even the don-
has seldom had an keys were spared; so much so that
opportunity for in- the Mongols called it the City of
ternal renewal as it does today. Sorrow.
Scan the horizon from the And yet, in the midst of this
east to the west and you will notice darkness, Divine light made its
that Darul Islam has become Da- appearance. The Qur’an declares:
rul Harab. The lush paddy fields of Throw the Truth upon Falsehood,
Myanmar weep over the genocide and lo! Falsehood is crushed, and
of the Rohingyas. On the plains it is pulverized. How did the world
of Hindustan, you can be lynched of Islam overcome the challenges
for a rumor that you ate beef. In of the time? What can we learn
the mountains of Afghanistan, from the thirteenth century that
you are as likely to be killed by a we can adapt to this century so
bomb dropped from the air as that we too can experience a spiri-
by a suicide bomber who is your tual triumph?
neighbor. Iraq has become an or- It is not the body that con-
phanage thanks to the devastations tains the spirit; it is the spirit that
wrought by a merciless American surrounds the body, inside and
invasion. In Yemen, a Saudi-led (The Qur’an). The current tra- back to the center. Then came the defeated the conquistadores and out. Oppression brings darkness.
coalition has rained havoc on a vails offer an historic opportunity golden period of Islam when sci- reestablished Muslim sovereignty And at the darkest hour, Divine
hapless population. The horn of for an internal renewal of Islamic ence and civilization thrived until in Southern Spain. It was a period light heralds the onset of a new
Africa has long been embroiled in civilization. Just as we use reaction the thirteenth century. of triumphs. dawn. Moses appears within the
civil and foreign imposed strife. wheels to correct the course of a The challenges faced by Mus- Yet, within the span of a gen- household of the Pharaoh. Justice
In the ancient hills of Syria, you spacecraft that is losing altitude, or lims today are similar in many eration after the year 1200, the triumphs over oppression. Truth
witness a devastated land on its correct the attitude of an airplane ways to those faced by Muslims in Muslim world encountered catas- prevails over falsehood. Human
knees. Westward in North Africa, in a nose dive by applying a torque the thirteenth century. If one was trophe after catastrophe. It is not history revolves around this prin-
you find Libya, a country crushed to a gimbal or an electric pulse to a alive in the year 1200, one would commonly appreciated that the ciple.
by the weight of NATO bombard- control system, a civilization needs Crusades and the Mongol inva- While the political structures
ment. In a vast swath of earth, an occasional correction to keep it Yet, in the midst of sions took place at the same time were destroyed by the Mongols,
stretching from Yangon to Tripoli, on-course its heavenly mandate. this period of trial and the simultaneous onslaughts and the madrassahs burned, the
it is the same story, destruction af- The Islamic civilization has lost its of Christian Europe and the Sha- people of the spirit, those who had
ter destruction. heavenly vision and has veered off- and tribulation, manist Mongols well-neigh anni- stayed outside of the state struc-
From New Zealand to San Di- course. The subject is broad-based, we have also seen hilated the world of Islam. In 1212, tures, were spared. These were the
ego, Muslims feel under pressure. embracing history, economics, so- at the battle of Las Novas de Tolosa, awliyah - the people of the spirit.
Yet, in the midst of this period of ciology, politics, technology and an outpouring Muslims lost Spain. It took a while They were the men and women
trial and tribulation, we have also interstate relations. However, as of compassion, for the Conquistadores to capture who would encapsulate a heart
seen an outpouring of compas- Mevlana Rumi said: You are not comradery and love, Cordoba (1236) and Seville (1248) and transform it in the mold of
sion, comradery and love, from a drop in the ocean, you are the but Spain was essentially lost in its own essence. Every human be-
every corner of the globe. Even ocean in a drop. So, let us drive from every corner 1212. In 1219, Gengiz Khan de- ing has an essence (it is the khudi
those who were not sympathetic into the subject. of the globe. Even scended from Mongolia and in a expounded by Allama Iqbal). A
to the Muslims in the past have A brief excursion through span of two years obliterated more spiritual master grabs a heart and
expressed their abhorrence of the Islamic history shows that the those who were than half of the Islamic world. A molds it in the shape of its inher-
massacre in New Zealand. The Ummah has faced many crises not sympathetic to vast swath of Eurasia including ent, God-given essence.
other day, at an interfaith gather- from the time of our Prophet Mu- the Muslims in the Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turk- In the aftermath of the Mon-
ing in Pittsburg, CA organized by hammed (sas). The passing away menistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan gol devastations there ensued a
my good friend and community of the Prophet was a great crisis past have expressed up to the river Indus, Iran, Iraq, tug-of-war between Christianity,
leader Mohammed Chaudhry Sa- and the Suhaba overcame it with their abhorrence Anatolia and Syria lay in ruins. The Buddhism and Islam for the soul
heb, a Catholic priest got on his the establishment of the Khilafat. Mongols were only stopped on the of the Mongol. The Christians
knee and asked for forgiveness The assassinations of Uthman and of the massacre in outskirts of Jerusalem at the Battle in the fray represented different
from a largely Muslim audience. Ali (r) were big challenges. The New Zealand of Ayn Jalut in 1261 by Sultan Bay- denominations, the Latins from
A Catholic priest on his knee ask- offshoot was the onset of the civil bars of Egypt. So, within the span Rome, the Orthodox of Constan-
ing Muslims for forgiveness for wars. The resultant schisms were be awed at the expansive power of of one generation, the Islamic em- tinople (modern Istanbul) and
the massacre in far-away Christ- never resolved, and they continue Muslim empires. Only fourteen pires that extended from the Gua- the Armenians. For fifty years, be-
church! This is indeed astounding to haunt the world of Islam even years earlier, in the year 1186, Sala- dalquivir River in Spain to the Ya- tween 1252 and 1302, the competi-
in this age of Islamophobia. to this day. The eighth century huddin had recaptured Jerusalem. muna River in India shrank to the tion between the three great faiths
The heavens reveal their Signs witnessed a challenge from Greek Only nine years earlier, in 1191, Ayyubid domains of Egypt and the was in full swing. It was a galactic
through history (“Soon shall We ideas. The challenge was met by the the Ghorids had captured Delhi Mamluke Sultanate of Delhi. struggle, a historical hinge that
show them Our Signs on the ho- emergence of the Hanbali fiqh and and had established the sultanate The destruction was total. would decide the destiny of Eur-
rizon and in their own souls until the intervention of Imam Ahmed. of Delhi in India. Only four years Ninety percent of the population asia and fundamentally alter the
it is clear to them that is the Truth” The Islamic civilization was pulled earlier, in 1196, the Almohad had perished. Political and social in- course of world history.
First Pakistani Wedding at Lincoln’s Inn in Its 600-Year History

British Pakistani couple has made For the family to celebrate the wedding at
history by celebrating their wedding Lincoln’s Inn has been a dream come true for
A at the honorable society of Lincoln’s both religious and nationalistic reasons.
Inn – the alma mater of Pakistan’s founder Burhan Faisal told Geo and The News:
Muhamamd Ali Jinnah. “Along with Lincoln’s Inn own history which
This is the first in the nearly 600 years old goes back to more than 1422 what is signifi-
history of the Lincoln’s Inn that a Muslim Pak- cant for Muslims and especially Pakistanis is
istani wedding utilized the full services of the that The Inn recognizes Prophet Mohammad
Inn and was allowed permission to organize (Peace Be Upon Him) as one of the greatest
the wedding day in their traditional Pakistani law-givers to human kind. There has always
customs. been a genuine appreciation of Islam by the
There is a special context as to why the honorable society of Lincoln’s Inn. The found-
groom Burhan Faisal and the bride Kiran You- er of Pakistan Quad-i-Azam Mohammad Ali
nis were allowed to tie the knot at this historic Jinnah was published a barrister by this Inn in
place. Burhan Faisal is the third generation in 1896.
the family to be published as a barrister by the “Since childhood I have felt an associa-
society of Lincoln’s Inn. His mother was pub- tion with this place. This place holds prestige
lished as a barrister by Lincoln’s Inn in 2002. and history and it appreciates our religion and
His grandfather Chaudry Arshed Ali, who is one of its pupils went on to create a separate
currently practicing as a Supreme court Ad- homeland for millions of people. I am
vocate in Pakistan, joined the Inn in 1970. MARRIAGE, P24
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