Secret Santa....in the Spirit of GIVING...

The Secret Santa was recently profiled on msnbc. What an amazing thing this is. Something unique in present-day Western society. As the spirit of giving is very much alive in other part of the world--from the Middle-East to South Asia, giving is part of our daily life.

You step out of the home in the morning to go to work or take your lunch break, or leave work to return home. You surely will end up handing out a few rupees to the poverty stricken homeless folk who are commonly found hanging around traffic signals.

This spirit of given is not new, it is in fact something part of all traditions and cultures---whether it be Christian traditions, Jewish traditions, Hindu traditions or the Muslim traditions.

However, due to todays fast pace lifestyle and heightened materialism most of us have forgotten this basic teaching and trait of our respective cultures and traditions. Particularly in Western Society it is a lost tradition, a tradition which corporate marketing/PR engines tend to abuse to there advantage. These corporate entities are like vultures, preying upon a public who are disgruntled, unsatisfied and have a longing for a gentle smile or touch from someone or something. Most people are hungry for emotional gratification, as a result they go out and buy buy buy like there is no tomorrow. All in an attempt to try and satisfy this emotional void within themselves.

Our present-day society is extremely goal oriented, the focus is on action items, running all the time with little or no time to stop and breath. Action item to action item, meeting to meeting, conference to conference, workshop to workshop, and the saga continues. No time to stop and "chill" out, kick back and do nothing. Yes, doing nothing is a great luxury; to be able to do nothing, not even think. Just BE and feel heart beathing within your being, follow your breath as it traverse in and out of your wind pipe.

Thank you secret santa for reminding us the value of life, the value of sharing, the value of giving back. A value which is inherently part of the the Muslim tradition, manifesting itself in the form of Zakat, and Sadaqah.

So here is another commonality Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Bhuddist, etc have. There are more commonalities than differences, whats all the fuss about? Aren't we all one people, sharing one planet, a lonesome planet in the vastness of the cosmos. The only planet for lightyears around that can sustain life as we know it. So what is wrong with us? What is all the fuss about? We as a planet need to relearn the spirit of giving and sharing, a quality which we are born with. Children understand this spirit very well, however as they are introduced to society, through their schools, social circles, clicks, gangs, etc they start to forget. Which is perfectly understandable as one learns very early in life that people are not all that they appear to be. Someone may appear to be very generous, loving or helpful, but can in reality be the complete opposite. People may make you think you are there WORLD for them, but then the very same people will turn around and act as if you are nobody to them.

So this year we should make it our New Years resolution to GIVE. Give back to society, give back to our respective communities. Give to our local schools and homeless shelters. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have several organizations from RAHIMA FOUNDATION, San Jose Education Foundation, Hidaya Foundation, Lets rekindle this spirit of GIVING which is ingrained in our human DNA from birth. It is part of who we are. Corporations have learned that giving back to their respective communities is good for business, good for profits. However, don't give for expecting something in return. Your Return on Investment (ROI) is the inner satisfaction and gratification that will fill up the void within you, the void which many of us try and fill through conspicuous consumption. And don't forget to take time out each day. Take time out and relax, kick back and do NOTHING.

Copyright C. Abdulrahman Rafiq

Babel--A Thought Provoking Film Mired in an Emotional soliloquy

A thought provoking reality film which on the surface of things appeared to have an ad-hoc plot, without any clear-cut goal; the film center, or rather centers were rural Morocco, technologically affluent Tokyo, and the wild-wild west along the U.S.-Mexico Border, south of San Deigo, California.

The film appeared to be a sort of emotional soliloquy, intermingled with disjointed inter-character discourse. Emotions ran awry, at times leaving the audience dazzled and perplexed; wondering what to make of the abrupt and disjointed scene changes. From Morocco to San Diego to Tokyo we are taken on a journey of the human state.

This was indeed an accurate depiction of the present state of affairs in the world today. How an incident such a couple kids playing with their fathers rifle in remote Morocco could turn into an International crisis.

An American tourist being shot by a stray bullet is no trivial situation, it would surely as the movie depicted involve government involvement at the highest level. With next to no first hand knowledge of the incident, the International press are shown to be having a field day concocting theory after theory on what they believed had transpired. As a result pushing the local Moroccan authorities to act fast and brutally to diffuse the relatively volatile situation that appeared to be brewing under the hot dessert sun.

One could argue that the film was a depiction of the 6-degree networking theory, where essentially it was the rifle which resulted in the whirlwind of events. With a Japanese hunter who presented his rifle as a gift to his Moroccan guide, who in turn sold it to a friend, who handed it over to his sons to shoot wild Jackal in the Mountains, to ensure the safety of their goats.

Towards the end of the film, the Japanese hunter made a remark to a cop in Tokyo that his wife didn't jump off the balcony but instead shot herself. Which makes one wonder, was it with this same rifle before his trip to Morocco? Perhaps one of the reasons he gifted the rifle to his Moroccan guide in the first place was to distance himself from the very item that reminded him of his wife's suicide?

In essence had the Japanese hunter not gifted the rifle to his guide, events wouldn't have transpired as they did in the film. The American tourist wouldn't have been hit by the stray bullet, the husband and wife couple wouldn't have rekindled their love and marriage, the Mexican Nanny wouldn't have been deported, instead whould made her journey to Mexico to attend her sons wedding and safely return without alerting the border petrol of her illegal status.

There is nothing such as an isolated event. According to the film every action is surely to have an equal and opposite reaction. Which in Physics is refered to as Newton's Third Law of Motion. As the world grows smaller with the advancement in technology, the effects of this law become more pronounced.

[NY Time Review of Babel] [Babel Official Site] [Biblical Babel] [Yahoo! Movies Review]

Copyright C. Abdulrahman Rafiq

Karachi: Industrialist's son held for cellphone robberies

KARACHI, Nov 13: Police on early Monday morning arrested a son of an industrialist for his alleged involvement in mobile phone snatchings following a shootout on Shaheed-i-Millat Road.

Educated at the Lawrence College in Ghora Gali and the British School, Junaid Abbas, 19, son of Asad Abbas, has up to 200 acts of cellphone snatching to his name, said SHO Aurenzeb of the Ferozabad police station. The snatchings had been carried out since April, he added.

Explaining the circumstances that led to his arrest, the SHO said Junaid deprived some people of their cellphones in the DHA area on late Sunday night.

The complainants informed the police helpline 15 about the incident. The suspects could not be found in the DHA, but over an hour later they were spotted at the Tariq Road intersection of Shaheed-i-Millat Road by a police party.

Following a shootout the suspects were arrested by the Ferozabad police.

They were identified as Junaid Abbas, Altaf, Munir and Rashid. Four TT pistols and 35 cellphones were seized from them, the SHO said.

Munir and Rashid have several cases of murder and possession of illegal arms registered against them at Korangi and Zaman Town police stations.

Junaid owns a floor mill in the Site area where he hired security guards and used them in cellphones snatching.

They also used to dump the cellphones in the floor mill. END DAWN REPORT


This is Pathetic, I could have understood if these were unemployed youth or homeless persons, but an industrialist's son? What on earth is going on? Someone who has access to three square meals a day, a roof over their head, which is more than the average man, woman and child on the streets of Karachi could ever ask for is involved in cellphone robberies. Worse, he has the security gaurds from his flour mill in SITE do the dirty work.

What has the world come to, is there not even an iota of morality and ethics left, or are we so "bighrofied" as a society that that the distinction between right and wrong are increasingly becoming blurred?


Copyright C. Abdulrahman Rafiq

In Memory of a Great Pakistani Patriot: Hasanally Abdur Rahman

There have been countless named and unnamed distinguished individuals whose whole life was spent in service to our great nation. One such individual who is well respected to this day in many circles of Pakistani society is the late Professor Hassanally Abdur Rahman, Barister-at-Law, Founder, architect and the First Principal of the Sindh Muslim Government Law College in Karachi.

Professor Hassanaly A Rahman was born in the Karachi, Sindh in the year 1909 C.E. to a respected professional, legal family of Sindh. He received is early education at the Sind Madressah and Saint Patrick School in Karachi. where after he joined the Aligarh Muslim University. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple, England in 1934 C.E.

At Middle Temple he in a short span of time distinguished himself as a knowledgeable and persuasive advocate and also leader of the Bar. He was one the few Muslim advocates of Karachi, before the 1947 C.E. partition of the Pak-Indo Sub-Continent, to be elected to the office of President of the Karachi Bar Association.

Mr. Hassanally stood for the rule of law, wherein lies the salvation of the nation. He was one of Pakistan’s greatest patriots, and a staunch supporter and follower of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, or Mr. Jinnah, as he would respectfully and affectionately refer to the founding father.

Professor Rahman’s love for Pakistan knew no bounds. As principal of the Sind Muslim Law College, he would make it mandatory that every student at the time of admission sign the “pledge of a law student:”

“I shall serve Pakistan to the best of my ability, and
I shall abstain from creating dissension and hatred.”

The late Professor Rahman was also known as a social and community leader. He served as Vice Chancellor (1964 C.E. - 19XX C.E.) at the Sindh University, Jamshoro. He was the treasurer of the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Secretary General of All Pakistan Educational Society and President, Sind Madressah and S.M. Law College Board. In 1952 C.E., he led the Pakistani delegation to UNESCO and in 1953 C.E. represented the country at the Commonwealth University Conference.

The untimely death of his illustrious younger brother, Mr. Justice Tufail Ali Abdul Rahman, on the 16th of January 1975 inflicted a heavy blow on his health, happiness and law practice; On April 19th, 1982 he made his last appearance at a function hosted in his honour and in recognition of his contribution to the cause of the legal profession and education at the Sindh Muslim Law College.

It was in the year 1986 that this illustrious figure of Pakistan took to his deathbed. The members of his legal fraternity held Mr. Hassanally Abdul Rahman in great reverence; He was well respected by the Pakistan Supreme Court bench and Bar Association. What added to his stature were his polite and gentlemanly manners in court. Though he was an eminent educationists and reputable successful law-advocate, he never developed a false pride to ignore people he had known even slightly and was always the first to raise his hand to say “As Salaam Alaykum.”


*Primary source: Newsletter, Sind Muslim Law College and tit-bits of family anecdotes.
** Visit Hassanally Abdur Rahman's bio on wikipedia




Copyright C. Abdulrahman Rafiq

Pakistan O' Pakistan --Land of the Brave !

The True Pakistan








Karachi: The LIFE Line of Pakistan

Karachi is hurting ! Help--Karachi O' Karachi !

[First published on sv-pak@yahoogroups.com list on Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:24 am, Message #12738 of 12989 ]

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/review/archive/060831/review1.htm

Karachi is hurting...who will help?
Karachi is hurting...Mush, Kamal, CDGK, KDA, DHA, where are you?
Our lives are in your hands...

Oh Karachi is hurting...
Anyone there...HELP....HELP...
Karachi O' Karachi...

You disolve the KMC and divide KHI into townships---claiming this will streamline things. But where has it landed us? Back in the same rut, if not worse Recall the '92 downpour, it was bad...cars floating....but this is worse.

The City of life---the heart of the PakLand.

Mush you call yourself a Karachite---well, sad to say we have seen what kind of Karachite you are, our City, your CIty is hurting. What will you do about it? What have you done?

Please ! Spare me the explaination, I don't want your explaination. Heard enough. No more empty talk---we want results. If you can't produce results, then please go back to where you came from--go back to the barracks, and take your chumcha Nazims and flunky chief ministers and governors with you.

Karachi will survive with or without you. After all we have gone thorugh a whole lot worst over the past years.

From Payya Jaams to bomb blasts to floods---the city has seen it all.
We have survived thus far, will survive again.
For Karachi is the golden city, the city of life, the pulse of the PakLand.

Karachi O' Karachi is hurting, who will help?

Build Karachi, Love Karachi...the City of life !

An ancient city with a rich history... www.historickarachi.com

Copyright C. Abdulrahman Rafiq