With Ali’s permission, I am posting his thought provoking and heart-felt essay on passion, Islam, our beloved country and the eternal battle of heart vs. mind. Ali, like yours truly, sides with the heart. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

 

Islam, Heart and Governance

On my way back from Orlando a few weeks ago, I was just going through the various conversations that I had had with different people and groups at APPNA last week.

One conversation that really stuck with me and has been revolving in my mind for the last few days was about the involvement of religion in the politics of Pakistan. This debate about the system of governance in Pakistan has been around for the last 6 decades. Should it be secular or should it be religious. Was Jinnah a secular man or a Muslim who believed in the “Pakistan ka mutlab kya” slogan? In the same conversation I was also advised that I should try to control my emotions when speaking because as a politician I should be able to control my emotions. Well, the answer to the second question is quite simple…Emotions fuel passions and if I was not passionate about what I was doing, I would not be doing it. I strongly believe in the “Politics of Change” . And “Politics of Change” is all about passion compared to “Politics of Power” which is all about practicality and deal making.

Now I am going to try to touch a deeper philosophical and spiritual thought pattern, something that I think is relevant today in our realization of reform stage.

With my two cents being the fact that no movement is worthwhile without a burning passion and all our passions begin and end with Mohammad (SAWW), his progeny and his life-style, thus true Islamic concept being the building block behind every force or reform.

In Islam is what we are born in, in Islam is what we live, in it we die. Whatever our concept of that might be since there are as many dimensions to Islamic thought as there are ways to rational and intellectual thinking. Islam to me is more a religion of the heart than mind. The beauty of Islam is the fact that all points of divergence have to ultimately come to a point of unity and conformity. That all truth seekers no matter which path to spiritual enlightenment they come from, reach a phase in their lives where they are able to see through themselves and hence self-analyze and self-reform…thus attaining the different levels of “Khudi” as illustrated by the great Iqbal. Self- realization is the first step to the ultimate understanding of Allah and our relationship with Him. Of course once again this process of self-analysis and inner reform might or might not come ones way.

The deeper I go into it the more I understand the importance of the heart in all of man’s endeavors. Nothing is possible with an empty heart…if you do not feel it throbbing in side of you like a living volcano when you say “Takbeer”, then all the rest is just mockery. This volcano also erupts in the form of tears when you see your countrymen suffer in natural disasters as the Asian earthquake , the recent floods and similar catastrophes. It explodes in the form of anger when you witness atrocities being committed, specially by the state resulting in the death of innocent lives. All of the above scenarios have one thing in common. They all generate energy that needs to be channalized accordingly otherwise it turns into pure anarchy and chaos , as we see it in our midst today.

This also makes me come to another point and i.e. that Islam is not just a set of rituals, beliefs and sects but a condition of the heart. Our hearts will be weighed on the Day of Judgment and that will be our test. Quran in Surah Fajr says… O Purified soul in complete harmony with his Lord..

So either you are in that self-aware state or you are not. For many people this statement is as clear as life itself. Any intellectually capable person who does not at one point in his life come to this open conclusion has not been given that level of consciousness and hence must be really unfortunate.

Quran also says,” We have enveloped their hearts and they comprehend not…”

To quote Imam Ali “I wonder at the man who observes the Universe created by God and doubts His being”

In the same vein if the teachings of Islam do not touch a heart , they fail to create in it the desired change that revives and rejuvenates the spirit. To quote Iqbal here would be so relevant:

When sons, lacking their fathers worth

Are neither skilled nor sage,

With what deserving can they claim,

Their father’s heritage?

The honored of their times, they lived

For theirs was true iman,

You live disgraced for having left

The paths of Al-Quran…

So to be in true Islam our hearts need to be in a certain medium to reflect and absorb His light. Once in-tune with this light we rise to the spiritual realm that is promised to those who persevere, each according to the longing in his heart.

And for all this to happen, you need passion. Therefore, coming out of the depth and re-surfacing to essentials again, question remains the same and i.e. Why are we so scared of Islam? I have asked this question to many a friend and foe but till today have not heard a satisfying argument. My limited knowledge has come to only one convincing answer. We have been brain washed…OR SHOULD I SAY WE’VE BEEN HEART WASHED. We agree that Islam is a way of life but we still want to question its authority…we agree that in Islam lies our beginning and in Islam lies our end but we are still searching for a way of alternative governance.

In my humble opinion, one needs to look beyond the fearful “Shariah Law” to understand Islam. Islam is practiced and is part of governance in every First World country without these countries being Islamic in themselves . They may not achieve spiritual gains out of it, as we might because of our faith, yet they have implemented every possible fundamental principal of Islamic governance in their system. And we Muslims, who through our Prophet (SAWW) established the First Welfare State in the history of man in Medina, alongside the Jews, are still speculating, contemplating and experimenting where to go today. We need to do some serious soul-searching here.

Now to touch on a little about the past and recent “religious suicide attacks” in our country, understand that extremists don’t become extremists over night….you just don’t wake up one day and say ok I am going to blow myself up….this nuisance is here because of decades of wrong policies of our political and military leaders. You want to fight extremism we must address the core issues. We need to start investing in our people. Start developing infra structure in their areas instead of GHQ’s, start investing in books and libraries instead of guns that are used to kill our own people. Invest in education, invest in hospitals, invest to get the judicial system in order so they can look to the courts for justice, invest in human development, invest in technical institutes, invest in small business loans and invest in welfare projects.

Is this not what Islam teaches us?

Shame on us or shame on them?

Let there be peace!

Let there justice!

 

Ali Zaidi

Member CEC/International Coordinator
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf

(Movement for Justice)