This is for you

This post is for a friend. A friend with a story, a friend with heartbreak, a friend who's going through a very tough phase in their life. This is for you, you know who you are. But this is also for some other people as well, who're going through a rough patch in their lives, I can't possibly name all of them here, but I think all of you know. This is for everyone who's going through the downs in their life. My heart goes out to you all. 

Life is tough. I know that better than anyone. I lost a father when I was 13, a time when a child usually takes their parents for granted, thinking on they're gonna stay in our lives forever. Brought me back to my senses within seconds. Now I'm struggling, not in material matters. But emotional matters. But this does not in any mean your problems are any less insignificant. Your problems are huge in their own way. Your problems are becoming unbearable for you. You're at a point where nothing seems to be right. The world around you is shaking you to your very core. You're not only questioning life, you're beginning to doubt whether you are important, whether your life is worth living, whether anything is worth it, really. 

You're questioning your talents. You do not trust anyone because you've had your trust broken so many times. You are worried, not only about the future but about the past. You worry you are gonna go through life without making a long-lasting impression on anyone. You worry. You don't sleep at night. You barely concentrate on anything. You feel like no one is there for you and no one ever will be. 

I wrote this for you. I just want you to know how important you are. You're important for your family, especially your parents, who are the only two people who will love you unconditionally, even if they don't show it. You have your siblings, who adore you even if they pick fights with you all the time. You have your friends. Yes, a lot of them broke your trust, a lot of them betrayed you, yet others were never true friends. But you have friends who love you to the moon and back. You have friends who can't live without you. You have friends who miss your company and realise instantly when you're not there. And lastly, you have me. I may not be much of an important part of your life, and I may not be able to imagine the pain and hurt you're going through, but I'm still there to try and cheer you up, to make stupid, funny jokes, to listen to you, to tell you you're worth it. And I won't leave. I'm right here. 

You should know how valuable you are to me. Not because I have some ulterior motive, but because I love spending time with you,  I love sharing my thoughts with you, I love having discussions with you. You aren't a waste of space, you aren't a waste of time, your life isn't that invaluable that you just throw it away like it's nothing. 

You should know how special you are.  You don't deserve whatever is happening to you but you should know that Allah does not burden anyone with more tragedies and burdens than they can bear. And all these rough patches are to make you turn to Him and pray to Him and cry to Him alone. Remember Him in your sorrows, He will turn it into happiness so fast you won't know what happened. 

Last of all, I want you to know that do what you believe in. Don't let others step over you. Because belief and faith is the only thing that you really have. Stand firm by it. Stand up for what you believe in. Stand up for yourself. And do what pleases you. (Provided it's not illegal or immoral in any way). Do what you need to do to survive. Write journals, blogs, poetry, take up a hobby, learn a new language, go out and have fun, do what makes you happy. And take every new day as a new step. Take baby steps. Figure your life out slowly, there's no rush. And smile. Soon this fake smile will turn into a real one. 

Once again, I am always here for you. Day and night. 

Feel better soon. 

The life and character of the Holy Prophet (saw) by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad - a humble summary

Yesterday I completed the book, The Life and Character of the Seal of Prophets (saw) (the first volume) written by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad. Even though in no way can I ever do justice to this beautifully written book, a friend asked me to write my thoughts on this book and I just couldn't say no. So here it goes. But before I start, I would firstly love to recommend this book to each and every one of you if you have not read it before. It is such a page turner that even if you don't like reading religious books, you will not be able to put this down until you've reached the end. Secondly, I apologise for any shortcomings because I'm just a mere amateur writer, and Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad's way of writing this book has left no comparison. So please forgive anything i leave out or don't justify correctly, for I am but a mere human. 

This book is about the life of the Holy Prophet(saw) up to the time of migration to Madinah. The time, relating after the migration is covered in the second volume of this book. It starts with the social, economical, climatical, geographical and topographical description of Arabia before the time of The Holy Prophet(saw)'s birth. Arabia was full of all kinds of immoralities and wrongdoings including, worshipping idols, fornication, fighting over petty matters, no respect for anyone especially women, daughters being buried alive etc. It was in this time of sin that the Holy Prophet (saw) was born to Hazrat Abdullah and Hazrat Aaminah. His father, Hazrat Abdullah, passed away before he was even born. His mother, Hazrat Aaminah, also passed away when The Holy Prophet (saw) was just a young child of 6. However this was not the only tragedy to befall The Holy Prophet (saw) for when he was 8, his paternal grandfather, Hazrat Abdul Muttalib, who the Prohet (saw) was quite fond of, and who took him under his care after his parents passed away, left him to go to Allah as well. Thereafter, the Holy Prophet (saw) was taken under the care of Hazrat Abu Talib, his paternal uncle. 

Even at such a young age, the Prophet (saw) was always very trustworthy and was frequently known by the name of 'Amin' - the trustworthy. He was always honest in bis dealings, not caring at all whether he got a profit or a loss out of it. This was the reason why when the Quraish had any kind of dispute, usually the Holy Prophet (saw) would be asked to help settle it, since he would always be fair in his decision. Take the example ofthe rebuilding of the Ka'abah. Every tribe of the Quraish wanted to be the one to place the Hajre Aswad (the black stone) on the wall of the Ka'abah. Therefore, they decided that whoever comes first to the Ka'abah in the morning will settle this dispute. It turned out that the first person to arrive the next morning was none other than the Holy Prophet (saw) himself. Therefore, he was asked to settle this quarrel. So he placed the Hajre Aswad on a piece of cloth and asked every tribe to hold the corners of the cloth while he placed the Hajre Aswad on the wall of the Ka'abah. In this way, no tribe was left out and the dispute was settled peacefully. 

Due to his honesty in his dealing, a woman by the name of Khadijah noticed him and asked him to do her dealings for her. He complied and so she sent with him(saw) a servant of her own as well. When they returned back with profits, the servant of hazrat Khadijah mentioned how honest he had been in his dealing. Hazrat Khadijah was so impressed that she immediately sent a proposal to The Holy Prophet (saw) even though he was 15 years younger than her. Nonetheless, he accepted and they were married. She bore him 4 daughters (Hazrat Zainab, Hazrat Ruqayya, Hazrat Umme Kulsoom and Hazrat Fatima) and 2 sons both of who died in their early age. 

When the Holy Prophet (saw) was around 40 years of age, he started to prefer solitude more and more. He would go into the Cave Hira and meditate there, for days at a time. It was during one of these periods of meditation that Hazrat Jibrail (as) brought The first five verses of Surah Iqra as the first revelation to the Holy Prophet (saw). He was so shaken after the incident that he came home trembling, and asked Hazrat Khadijah to cover him up with a mantle. Then he related the incident to her. She immediately took him to cousin of hers who declared that he was the Prophet that was announced to arrive in this age and that all of his tribesmen would severely persecute him. 

Hazrat Khadijah was the first person to accept Islam. Soon after, Hazrat Abu Bakr accepted Islam as well. During the early times of Islam, where the Prophet (saw) taught people to believe in the Unity of Allah and to stop worshipping idols, he preached secretly until another revelation came asking him to preach out in the open. Soon he started preaching to different tribes of the Quraish, but except for a few people, most of the Quraish just laughed him off, and told him that he should not expect them to stop worshipping the idols that they'd been worshipping for past decades. Furthermore, they started creating problems for the Holy Prophet (saw) and his small amount of followers. Most of the early followers of Islam, with the exception of Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) , were weak or slaves. Their masters would smoulder them using coal, or put heavy stones on them in the scorching heat but not one of them renounced Islam. 

When the Quraish realised that the Holy Prophet (saw) was not going to back down under any circumstances, a delegation of the Quraish went to Hazrat Abu Talib, who was the head of the clan at that time, asking him to stop his nephew from degrading their idols. When the delegation presented itself in front of Abu Talib for the third time, he called upon the Prophet (saw) and asked to stop preaching against the faith of the Quraish. At this the Prophet (saw) that even if The Quraish placed the sun on one of his hands and the moon on the other, he would not stop preaching until Allah Himself took his life away. At that Abu Talib was very impressed and told the Prophet (saw) to preach the word of Allah. 

Soon, when the persecution of the Quraish went to extreme ends, some of the Muslims decided to migrate to Abyssinia. This was done very secretively because if the Quraish found out, they would torture the immigrants to no end. Therefore, they successfully migrated to Abyssinia, whose king, Negus, was very kind to them and they were allowed to settle there in peace. After some time, the Quraish presented themselves in front of the king of Negus, asking them to give the immigrants back because they were preaching the wrong faith. He then called upon one of the immigrants, who told Negus about the preachings of Islam. Negus was very impressed and told them that they could stay for as long as they liked. The Quraish, thoroughly displeased, decided to instigate Nuges against the Muslims and said that they had no love for Jesus (as) and that they do not consider him a prophet of high ranking. When asked, the immigrants tod Negus that they just did ot consider him the son of God, but they had complete faith in him being one of God's chosen prophets. Upon that, Negus asked the Quraish to return and also returned all the presents that they had given to him.  

Soon after, both Hazrat Hamza (an uncle of the Holy Phophet (saw)) amd Hazrat Umar (ra) accepted Islam. Hazrat Umar was actually on his way to kill the Holy Prophet (saw) when he found out that his sister and his brother in law had already embraced Islam. Furious, he went to there home and heard his sister reciting Surah Taha from the Holy Quran. When he heard these words, his heart melted and he immediately went to the Prophet (saw) accepted Islam. When the Quraish came to know of this, they were even more furious because now more influential people were entering the folds of Islam. Thereafter, they decided to completely boycott the Muslims. The document relating to the boycott was hung outside the Ka'abah for everyone to see. The Muslims were forced to live in a valley outside Makkah for 2.5-3 years with nothing to survive on. Sometimes people secretly sent them food but even that was stopped after a while. At the end of three years, the Holy Prophet (saw) received a revelation from Allah that all that is left of that document is the word Allah on top. When the Quraish went and checked, it turned out that ants had completely eaten all of the document except for the word Allah, thereby rendering the boycott void and the Muslims came out of their boycott, free to go wherever they pleased. 

Because of the extreme conditions and because of their old age, soon after the boycott was lifted, Hazrat Abu Talib and Hzrat Khadijah both passed away in the 10th year of Prophethood. The Holy Prophet (saw) was so grieved by the deaths of both his closest family members that he named this year - Aam-ul-Huzn (the year of grievances).  After this, The Holy Prophet (saw) received a revelation in relation to marrying again and as it turns out, Allah wanted him to marry non other than Hazrat Aisha, who was the daughter of Hazrat Abu Bakr. Since she was seven years old at the time, therefore, the decision was made to wait a while longer. Meanwhile, The Holy Prophet (saw) also married Hazrat Saudah in order to prevent persecution and for showing love and harmony. 

After the boycott was lifted, the Holy Prophet (saw) decided to visit Taif in order to spread the message of Islam outside the vicinity of Makkah. When he went there, the chief of Taif not only mocked his message, but also set miscreants of Taif after him who pelted him with stones until he was completely covered in blood. Regardless, the Holy Prophet (saw) still prayed for the people that they may find their way back to the straight path. 

During the period of Hajj, when people from Yasrib (now known as Madinah) came to fulfill their duties, The Holy Prophet (saw) preached to one man the message of Islam. He returned next year with 12 people who were willing to take the Ba'ait on his hand. In e year after that, around 70 people came from Yasrib to pledge allegiance to the Holy Prophet (saw). In this way, Islam was introduced in Yasrib as well. 

When the persecution of the Quraish got completely out of hand, The Holy Prophet (saw) advised his followers to migrate to Yasrib. Thereafter the Muhajireen (immigrants) migrated secretly in groups of threes and fours to Yasrib and since they had left all their belongings behind, the Ansar (helpers, who were the residents of Yasrib), took them under their roofs and gave them food and shelter. After a while, the Holy Prophet (saw) was also advised to migrate to Yasrib because the Quraish had planned to kill him and had even besieged his house. So the Holy Prophet (saw) laid Hazrat Ali (ra) on his bed, and along with Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) escaped from within the reach of the Quraish. They took a different, alternative route to Yasrib so that they would not get caught. During their travelling, they decided to stay in Cave Thaur for three days during which the Quraish came close to almost catching the Holy Prophet (saw) but Allah shows His miracles in beautiful ways. The Quraish were standing right in front of the cave in which the Holy Prophet (saw) and Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) were residing but they never discovered them and went back hopeless. The next morning, the Holy Prophet (saw) completed his journey and arrived in Yasrib from where the calendar of After Hijri starts. 

(I have left out the incidents of Isra and Miraj, and there are so many more incidents that I have missed but if I included everything written in the book, then I could write a book myself and I'm not qualified for that. So it's just a basic idea of how the life of the Holy Prophet(saw) was before Hijrat to Madinah)

7th September, a horrifying day for Pakistani Ahmadis

Today is 7th September, 2013. 40 years ago, on this day, Bhutto took the step of declaring the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan to be non-Muslims and forcefully turning them into a minority, according to the wishes of all the religious extremists, regardless of the fact that Ahmadis had sacrificed their life, blood and honour for the making of Pakistan. 

Ahmadis, after this declaration, were not allowed to offer prayers or call their prayers Namaz. They were not allowed to call their places of worship 'mosques'. They were not allowed to say or print words like 'InshAllah' 'Bismillah' 'Allah' 'Muslims' etc. They were not allowed to preach or carry out their religious activities. They were not allowed to call their Holy Book 'Quran'. They were not allowed to recite the Kalima Tayyaba. Basically, to summarise it, they were not allowed to say or do any thing which would make them look like Muslims. If they made the mistake of doing so, they would have to pay a heavy fine or be imprisoned for 3 years. 

After this horrifying declaration, there could have been protests, there could have been violence by the Ahmadis, there could have been bloodshed. But.. There was nothing. Every Ahmadi was asked to pray vehemently, every Ahmadi was asked to kneel down to Allah, who was the Only One who could help them. And not one Ahmadi objected to that, every Ahmadi was so united under the orders of the Khalifa and the love for Ahmadiyyat, that they did exactly what they were ordered, no questions asked.  This situation was not an easy one to go through, but not one Ahmadi raised a voice of protest. 

40 years later, here we stand. The message of Ahmadiyyat has reached the corners of the Earth and millions of people convert to Ahmadiyyat every year, new countries discover this message of peace and love. All except Pakistan. Pakistan remains the same, proud and arrogant of declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Instead of trying to tone the hate speech, they have heightened it to a level of insanity. Famous journalists, anchors and talk show hosts are inviting people, especially religious extremists to their shows, to promote hatred against Ahmadis. Ahmadis are publicly declared Wajib ul Qatal on television and national newspapers. Banners are seen throughout the country, declaring anyone who talks to Ahmadis or shakes hands with them, to be a non-Muslim as well. Notices are hung outside shops, announcing that Qadianis (a degrading word used for Ahmadis) to not enter their shop because they will not be entertained. Question and answer sessions with religious extremists declare a nikkah of an Ahmadi void. 

This does not end here. Ahmadis are being threatened constantly. In the last 15 days, three Ahmadis have been martyred in Karachi. In 2010, during two attacks on mosques in Lahore, 86 Ahmadi Muslims lost their lives while hundreds more were injured, while the police stood and watched, without providing any assistance. The Tehreek-i-Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack however nothing was done to catch the culprits. In the talk shows that aired afterwards, instead of showing sympathy to the Ahmadiyya Community, the talk show hosts mercilessly degraded the Community and pestered the Ahmadiyya spokesman with questions which were not even related to the attacks. 

Even the dead are not left in peace. In the Ahmadiyya graveyard of Lahore, many graves were exhumed, grave stones were broken. On the grave stone of Dr. Abdul Salam, the Nobel Prize winner from Pakistan and a proud Ahmadi, the word 'Muslim' was chalked. Ahmadis are constantly being threatened that they should convert back to the 'real Islam' or they will have to suffer the consequences. Pamphlets have been spread asking people to not buy goods from Ahmadi companies or they will not be considered Muslims. 

This is just a basic oversight of the life that Ahmadis have to deal with. And yet they do not protest. They do not kill, rape, kidnap or torture anyone because of it. They do not even hate anyone because of it. Why? Because their motto is - Love for all, hatred for none. And regardless of how many abuses, taunts and mockery has been thrown onto them, they will always reply will love and peace, no matter what. Try it and see for yourself, if you don't believe me. 

At the end, I would just like to say something here - we, Ahmadis, we have our Allah to pray to, we have our Holy Prophet (saw) to follow, we have the Holy Quran as a code of conduct for us to act on, we have the Promised Messiah (as) to bring us back to Islam, we have Khilafat that binds us together tightly, that unites us all from all over the world. What do you have? Curses, abuses, killings, torture, hate speech is not going to get you anywhere. And if you say it's in the name of Allah, then know that Allah commands nothing of that sort. It is your own minds and hearts that want to do this, but you just want to brainwash the nation into thinking it is Allah's act. 

So, instead of spewing profanities and hatred on us, just pray and do what your religion commands you to do. It is for Allah to decide who is wrong and who is right, and that decision will be made on the Day of Judgement. You are not anyone to declare who a Muslim is or isn't. You do not know what is in the hearts of anyone. As the Quran says - for you your religion, for me my religion. Let it be. And let Pakistan live in peace. Let us live in peace. You may take away all of our rights from us (most of which you already have) but you will never be able to take our love for Islam Ahmadiyyat away from us. You will never be able to take our love for Allah away from us. And He is the Only One who is Watching and He is the One who will punish the evil-doers. Peace. 

Jalsa Salana at home.

30th August to 1st September 2013 marked the 47th Jalsa Salana UK. 31 thousand people from 89 countries went to this Jalsa Salana, some for the first time, some for the second and some were just regulars of the Jalsa. A lot of people were not able to go because of visa problems, and personal issues. Regardless, MTA International did a fantastic job to keep everyone, who couldn't make it, updated about all the ongoings of the Jalsa.

I was one of the people, who wasn't able to go to the Jalsa Salana. The greatest incentive to go to this Jalsa, other than the religious atmosphere and the spiritual aura, is that one gets to hear Hazrat Khalifa tul Masih the fifth (aba)'s speeches in person, hear his voice, see him and the blessings that revolve around him. Khilafat is indeed one of the greatest blessings that Jama'at Ahmadiyya has received by Allah. So, this Jalsa is attended by a lot of people so that they can see and meet Huzoor (aba) in person. 

Before the Jalsa started, I was excited for the Jalsa, but I didn't feel like I was missing out on it. I mean, I was watching it live, right? But as soon as the Friday Sermon started, my tears wouldn't stop, because I knew that people attending the Jalsa were indeed blessed to be where they were, and to pray behind the Khalifa of Islam. They would be eating from the langar of the Promised Messiah (as). They would be hearing live speeches and see in person, the Khalifa of Islam. 

Soon after, the Jalsa proceedings started, with each session, each speech, each nazm better than the last. Each speech was ending with slogans which echoed throughout the marquee, each nazm ended in tears, each dua ended with a vow to be closer to Allah, Ahmadiyyat and the Khalifa of Islam. Advices and orders were given by Huzoor (aba) to men and women, old and young alike which everyone vowed to follow till their end. Huzoor also boosted the morale of all the Ahmadis facing persecution and constantly requested each and every Ahmadi to make dua a part of their daily lives. 

Then came the time for the Aalmi Ba'ait where the old and new vow to follow the 10 commandments of Ba'ait to the best of their abilities. It is a very emotional process to do Ba'ait at the hand of the Khalifa. When it started, even though I was watching from thousands of miles apart, I could not control my tears. I was literally choking on my own tears while trying to utter them. When the part for repentance came which is "astagfirullaha rabbi min kulli zambin wa atoob o ilaeh", I was literally letting out a waterfall, seeking forgiveness from Allah and begging for His mercy. 

Then Huzoor's (aba) last speech about how we are and will always be Muslims and how no one has the right to call us anything but, was such a powerful speech, I'm sure everyone present would have just awed at the marvel with which Huzoor (aba) presented his speech. Then came the dua and the nazms. Another emotional part of the Jalsa where the people from all around the world do nazm, especially the Africans who have that special tune no one can really pick, and the Arabs with their beautiful recitations of the Qaseeda. 

We owe all of this to the blessings that Khilafat has bestowed on us. If it had not been for Khilafat and Allah's blessings upon it, today there would not be a channel known by the name of MTA International, nor would the message of the Promised Messiah (as) be reaching the corners of the earth. Even if I did feel like I was missing out on yet another great Jalsa Salana, MTA made it posssible for me to hear all the sessions live, and the official Jalsa Accounts on Twitter #JalsaUK and #JalsaConnect made it possible to see pictures of the marquees, the stalls, the food, the preparations, the people excited to show their msgs, the team of volunteers, the guests, and most of all, pictures of Huzoor (aba) during different times of the Jalsa. 

Furthermore, as soon as I begun to feel left out, all I had to do was log into Twitter and voila! 90 of my followers were tweeting Jalsa related tweets, quoting parts of speeches or nazms that they'd heard, or commenting on the Jalsa photos they saw, or asking people, who were present at the Jalsa, about their experience. People were posting videos of Jalsa, pictures of sunset, sunrise, marquees and the food at the Jalsa. People were showing the love all around Hadeeqatul Mahdi. And that was all I needed. To know that we're all in the same boat, and that all we needed was support of each other to boost our own morales. And by the end of the Jalsa, I think all of us were tearing up. Most of it was because the Jalsa had ended but I think part of it was also because our Ahmadi Twitter family had made it through and all of us were together in this one boat named Ahmadiyyat. :) 

May Allah bless Ahmadiyyat even more and may The Promised Messiah (as)'s message reach every ear in this world, and may every soul be forever bound to Allah and Ahmadiyyat - the true Islam. Thankyou Allah for blessing us with MTA without which we would still be waiting for news of the Jalsa. And regardless of the banning of all Ahmadi sites, proxies were used and some other sites were established before hand to ensure that The proceedings of Jalsa were provided to every Ahmadi Muslim throughout the world. And JazakAllah to JalsaConnect and JalsaUK for making us feel like we were not missing out on anything. I hope you will be able to do this on the next Jalsa as well. May Allah bless all your team. 

I would also like to mention here that MTA did an amazing job with showing people all around the world, different religious documentaries and interviews of people who were there at the Jalsa, regardless of whether they were Ahmadi Muslims or not. It made all of us feel we were there at the Jalsa instead of sitting at home, eyes glued to our TV screens. 

MTA ZINDABAD!!

To close this post, I would like to say JazakAllah to all of the people (on my Twitter) whose tweets, I loved throughout the Jalsa because of their live commentaries and prayers and updates, may God bless each and everyone of you. These include tweets in English, Urdu, German, Indonesian, Hindi, Arabic and so many more. May Allah bless all of you, and may all of your hard work pay off in converting someone to Ahmadiyyat through Twitter. 

The unique bond of brotherhood and unity in Jalsa Salana

Jalsa Salana UK is starting soon inshAllah. Ahmadis, whether born or converted, from all over the world, regardless of their age, gender, caste, creed and race are travelling to London to experience this beautiful religious convention. Even non-Ahmadis attend this Jalsa and are always welcomed with open arms and huge smiles. The greatest attraction of all is that they get to see Huzoor (aba) and take Ba'ait on his hand. 

Jalsas are a learning as well as a very emotional experience.  Through the speeches by men and women alike, we learn a lot about our history and the sacrifices that our elders made in the name of religion. We learn about the life of the Holy Prophet (saw), his Khalifas, life of the Promised Messiah (as) and all his khalifas and everyone that has sacrificed his/her life in the name of Islam. We learn a code of conduct, we learn how to deal with life in a way that will make Allah happy with us and us with him. We learn how to do Huqooq Ullah and Huqooq ul Ibad. We get to rekindle our faith and a new fire of devotion starts inside us when attending a Jalsa.

I've attended four Jalsas in my lifetime. Each Jalsa was a different, exciting, and a very emotional experience for me. The best part about the Jalsa, for me at least, (excluding the amazing and highly emotional speeches and nazms) was the unity and brotherhood that you could see all around you. People who barely know each other, would go back home as best friends. People who haven't been talking to each other for years, will not be seen talking to each other amiably in the environment of the Jalsa. The new converts to Ahmadiyyat, who are usually feeling lost and nervous, are made comfortable within seconds. The kids are playing with each other. The Lajna, Khuddaam and Ansaar alike are ready to help out anyone who is in need for it. The old people are always specially taken care of. Everyone is united under the flag of Islam Ahmadiyyat. 

This kind of unity and brotherhood exists only in Ahmadiyyat. You won't find it anywhere else, in any other religion. And it is very prominent on Jalsas. When people who have just kept contact on texts and calls meet each other for the first time. When you're sitting at the Jalsa Gah, listening to a speech, with tears rolling down your eyes, you realise that everyone around you is crying silently at the speech as well. When someone is reading a nazm, and you start realising the meaning behind the nazm. When there is nuge 'Naara e Takbir', and the whole marquee echoes with 'Allah u Akbar'. When everyone is sitting, eating from the langar of Hazrat Maseeh e Maud (as). The feeling inside every heart when Huzoor (aba) walks into the marquee. The nazms at the end of the Jalsa, especially those African ones, which make you sob uncontrollably.

These moments, these memories of the Jalsas can never be forgotten. They have been etched into the hearts of every Ahmadi, regardless of whether they have attended the Jalsa personally or watched it on Television. InshAllah, this year more memories will be made, the brotherhood will tighten even more and the unity we have will be shown worldwide. Even though I am not attending Jalsa Salana UK, I still do not feel left out, because constant live coverage of the Jalsa has been given worldwide through MTA International. So, I can actually feel the environment of the Jalsa, listen to the speeches and nazms while sitting at home. Such is the blessing provided by Allah to the Jama'at Ahmadiyya. i hope and pray everyone has a wonderful time, and we, all of us, learn something from the Jalsa, and better ourselves for the sake of Allah and His happiness. Ameen. My prayers are with all of you. May Allah be with all of you as well. 

Jalsa Salana UK. Zindabad!!

My view of desi shaadis

Weddings. Where a man and a woman vow to be each other's forever, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, in happiness and in sadness, in life and in death... That line seems like it came out of a Christian wedding movie. Well.. This is awkward. Anyway, wedding, who doesn't love them? Meeting people after a long time, hiding from people you hate, the dances, the food, the songs, just the basic environment of a wedding.

I recently attended a wedding of the daughter of mum's friend. And well, I felt obliged to write about it. Because so much happened in it, that it just had to be shared. So here are some of the noticeable things. I wonder if you people notice them too. 

1. The Hunger Games - when the call for dinner is given, people rush to the tables as if they have not eaten for weeks, they forget all formalities and pile up their plates with food like there's no tomorrow. Some of them even manage to put more food on the plate than the plate itself can bear. There are literally mountains made on plates, literally. Why do people have to be so greedy on weddings, I ask you? Why is it that they can not take second helpings, they can not wait for the person in front of them to put food on his plate? People are pushing each other and fighting over who gets the taang ki boti and who gets the thigh, and who gets the boneless boti. It's quite fun to watch - from a safe distance though. You wouldn't want to spill all that food on your clothes. 

2. The formal, awkward small talk - when some relatives or friends or acquaintance are meeting after a long time for no apparent reason, there is always that awkward hi or salam that they do, which leads to an even more awkward conversation. It's hilarious to see how uncomfortable people get, trying to impress the other person, or attempting to get them to envy their own lifestyle with stuff like 'Oh I was going to get eggs in my BMW...' Or something along the lines of 'boys have lined themselves outside my house to get my daughter's hand in marriage.. It's such a tiresome phase..' 

3. The Dances - yes we Ahmadis do not have dances at our shaadis, but the other weddings we attend, do!! The couple dances, the synchronised, amazingly timed dances. Yes, they are fun to watch, okay? So there was this one shaadi I went to, where there was a couple dance coming up. It was pretty well choreographed and the chemistry between the girl and the guy was amazing. Turned out, the girl and the guy were siblings. Why, why would they even thing of doing a romantic, couple dance? It makes me shudder when I think about it even after all these years.

4. The Rishta Aunties - ever ready at every shaadi to check out every girl, weigh out her pros and cons and select her as the bride for the 'chand sa beta'. Some of them even send a rishta on the spot saying they have to 'go abroad and they want their son settled before they go'. Then there are some aunties who literally go to a girl and ask her her age. Then if that girl is too young, they ask her whether she has an elder sister or not.  Most of the girls that the rishta aunties fall for usually end up being married. Time for plan B now. Ask for their younger sisters!!

5. The Girls who think its their shaadi - yes readers, these girls exist. They'll be asking all camera men/women and all photographers to turn the camera towards them, and take pictures of them making duck faces. Never mind that it's not their wedding. Never mind that they're not really even close cousins. But no, they need to have like a gazillion pictures of themselves so that the whole world should know how beautiful they look with their eyes about to pop out of their heads, and making fishy faces.  

6. The Gossip - last, but not the least, the gossip and the comments on how people have dressed up. Something like...

'Oh my, did you see what she was wearing? And oh, that lipstick so does not go with suit. Call the fashion police. '

'Do you see how they're looking at each other? I'm sure they have an affair. They'll break up and then no one will want to marry the girl. '

'Look at how confident she is. Our society is never going to accept a girl as bold as she is. '

'Oh, her hair. I'm sure it wasn't that long and pretty before. She must have gotten extensions. Her family is filthy rich. I should totally ask for her hand in marriage. '

Yes, these things do happen in your average Pakistani wedding. This is why they're such an entertainment. Next time you get invited to a desi wedding, be sure to go instead lf sitting at home. You'll certainly have the time of your life, I assure you that. 

My life as a poor boy

My name is Saif. I'm 10 years old and the eldest in my family. Ever since I was 5, I wanted to study, and grow up and earn money for me and my family. I belong to a poor family, and I have 7 siblings. My mother works all day, in separate houses, trying to earn as much money as she possibly can, so that none of us would sleep hungry, as we have often had to do in the past. My father, on the other hand, is always lazy and drunk and never goes to work. He does not believe that he needs to work when there are so many people in the house who could go to work instead of him. So he stays home and drinks all day. 

My father is addicted to both gambling and alcohol. Whenever my mother comes from work with some money in her hands, he snatches it from her and tells her to cook something for him. When she timidly tells him there is no food in the house, and that this money is supposed to bring home basic necessities, he slaps her hard across the face and tells her to never answer back to him, no matter what. With a bleeding face, my mother goes off in the kitchen, trying to make something for my father, and since there's not enough food for us, all of my siblings and I go to sleep hungry. 

When I was 5, I noticed children my age going to the nearby school to educate themselves. I found this highly interesting and I told my mother I wanted to learn to read and write as well. She sighed and I knew even before she said it, that I would never be able to go to school because we don't have enough money and even if my mother puts together money by working even more, my father will snatch it all away from her. 

When I was 8, my father came home one day, sober for a change, and told me he had big plans for me and that he wanted to show something to me. On going outside, I saw a rickshaw standing in front of our house, completely empty. I looked back to my father in confusion. A smile broke on his face and he said - this is for you, Saif. I will teach you how to ride it, and once you're independent enough to ride it on your own, you should go to the nearby cities and offer your services to people who need to travel. You'll be another source of income for our family. With that, he walked back into the house, leaving me alone, staring at the rickshaw with utter confusion and disgust. 

I sit down besides the rickshaw. I wanted to learn how to read, I wanted to learn how to write. I wanted to be educated enough so that I could get a well paid job and free my mother from my father. I wanted to be someone who wanted to make an impression on the world. And instead, I got this? This rickshaw to earn money? I'm eight, I should be in school right now. 

Two years have passed since then. I wake up early in the morning, go around different cities, take passengers to their destinations. In the two years since, my father has taught some of my younger siblings how to beg. He takes them to busy intersections and sends them towards cars and pedestrians, forcing them to throw their respect on the ground, and beg for money, while he watches from a safe distance. As soon as it's evening, the kids start to turn towards home, and my father catches up to them and takes all their money away from them, and spends it all on gambling and alcohol that same night. This has now become a routine for him. 

My mother on the other hand is old now and can not work as efficiently as she used to. She has back problems and sometimes, sharp pains shoot up in her leg, causing her to stay in bed for days. When this happens, obviously she has to take a day or two off work, and my father hates that because she's not bringing home as much money as she used to. So, he beats her. Sometimes, he uses his hand. Other times, it's a stick. When he's horribly angry, it's a brick. He almost broke her back, this one time. 

As for me, I'm a 10 year old with ambitions to study and a rickshaw to drive. But even I have found a way. From all the money that I earn, I give 70% to my dad, and hide the other 30% safely in a place which I can not disclose here, for fear of father finding out. When I have enough money, I will join a madrassa or a school. We'll see what happens from there on out. And when I have enough money after school, and after getting a job, I will rescue my parents and siblings from my father. That's my promise to you. 

Disclaimer -This is a work of fiction for all intents and puposes.