A baby

As I watch my baby sleeping
I saw the pictures of another baby
Cradled in the arms of a rescuer
Sleeping an eternal sleep
Nobody knows who he was
Or who his parents were
Floating on water by a drowned boat
He was an angel gone
Fled to find a safe haven
Only to find rest in death
He calls us to end the wars
To keep other children safe
As tears roll down my cheeks
I wonder how to make this world safe
A safer passage for refugees
A place of dignity when they land
The end of wars so every child has peace
Schools and playgrounds and medical aid
A place where there is no more hunger
No more thirst, no more despair
A place where there is no more pain
But only peace and progress
My Lord please bring about peace
For every baby born or to come

Why this barbarism Egypt?

Just because a Christian man has a relationship with a Muslim woman, is no reason for his old mother to be stripped and paraded naked and houses of seven Christian families be looted and burned. A mob of armed 300 men did this shameful act just because two people chose each other. Every person has a freedom to choose his partner and society and religion has no part in it. Moreover, under any circumstance an armed mob has definitely no role in it. It is shameful that a 70 year old woman was targeted. It is disgusting that houses were burnt and looted. It is a very shameful incident and it is high time to sit back and reflect upon it. This barbaric act clearly shows that the woman had made a better choice, the peaceful community that did not retaliate is better than the hooligans who have no shame and regard for others. Under Islam, it is the duty of Muslims to protect the Christians and have got no right to hurt or abuse them. This act of vandalism is against all human rights as well as all religious tenets.

Islam and racism

Racism is a fact that is present around the world. While both the international and the domestic laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of race or color, nonetheless, instances of such discrimination are a day to day happening. Islam from its very beginning attacked racism and racist tendencies. Quran came out and said that mankind was made into different races and tribes so that people may know each other, meaning thereby, to associate and marry with each other. We have the example of Bilal, the black man whom the Holy Prophet (pbuh) made his moazzin, the prayer caller, instead of the Arabs. Further, we see that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said that a white man has no superiority over a black man nor a black man any superiority over a white man, except in his piety and also that whoever practices racial discrimination or it is exercised for him has taken off the collar of belief from his neck. It means that a person who has racist tendencies is not a believer and will not be treated like one on the day of judgment. Thus, Islam from its very first attacked racial discrimination and advocated the equality amongst all men.

Misplaced priorities

Recently I was reading an article about urban poverty and was more than confused about the concept. To say that a person holding a job, earning a salary that entitles him to be in the tax paying category, is poor just because he spends all his money on luxury items and hence is unable to afford necessities is too far fetched. There is a difference between what are necessities and what are luxury items. A person is poor if he cannot afford the basic necessities, he is not poor if he cannot afford the luxury items and definitely not poor if he is unable to get necessities because he has spent all his money on luxuries. The real urban poor are the slum dwellers, the individuals who are earning than Rs33 a day, who do menial jobs to get their ends meet. The twenty-something who have jobs and are trying to copy the high end lifestyle are not poor. Not eating proper food in order to buy branded clothes and phones or cars is not poverty, it is stupidity. It is being blind to the world. There used to be an old saying of not spending more than what you earn and there is merit in it. Now on social media, one gets to see posts saying what is so middle class. Reusing and recycling things is not so middle class, it is being socially aware and environmentally concerned. And if it is middle class, then everyone should have middle class values. Wasting food at a buffet is insensitive, it is not a matter of pride. There are people who are really poor, who need help. But the bunch of young people who are engulfed in things so vain are not urban poor. They are, if anything, a poor judge of things and lack the basic skills of resource management.