Rise of Hussain: Night of Ashur & loyal companions

I permit all of you to go away. You are free to depart without any restriction and should take advantage of the darkness of night.

Rise of Hussain: In the valley of Death

On Thursday, the 2nd of Islamic month of Muharram 61 A.H. Imam Hussain camped at a place in the region of Naynava called Karbala. On the following day Umar bin Sad bin Abi Waqqas Zohari reached there from Kufa with 4000 soldiers and encamped opposite the camp of Imam Hussain. Sad belonged to the family …

Rise of Hussain: The story of great Betrayal

After leaving Makkah, Imam Hussain’s caravan was heading towards Kufa. Kufa was the main military headquarter of Yazid’s caliphate. Imam Hussain’s emissary Muslim was already in the city seeking public allegiance for Hussain. Yazid removed the Governor of Kufa and appointed Abdullah Ibne Zayad as the new governor. Ibne Zayad upon reaching Kufa started mass …

Rise of Hussain: Who was Yazid?

The injustice, intrepidity and impiety of Yazid also penetrated into the Muslim ummah".

Rise of Hussain : Causes behind the great battle (Part 2)

After the demise of Imam Ali, the son of Ali and grandson of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) Imam Hassan attained to the caliphate. At this time the Muslim society had assumed a peculiar form. Their strength had been divided almost evenly, and if Imam Hassan had continued fighting against Mu'awiya (the other contender for the …

On Family Secrets and How We Deliver Bad News

“She’d have less to worry about if she knew none of these things. But if she knew none of these things, I reason, she also wouldn’t know me.” At LitHub, Rachel Beanland explores whether or not family secrets are ever justified.On Family Secrets and How We Deliver Bad News

Mystery of grief-stricken hearts

The bereaved person feels if his love towards the deceased person suddenly loses its tangibility which leaves an intense emptiness in the heart of the grieving person.

Fuhash (Obscenity): Where the ritual prohibiting ‘the head held high’ prevails

Pakistan’s legendary poet and thinker Faiz Ahmed Faiz said: Sacrificed be I at the altar of your lanes, my beloved nation, Where the ritual prohibiting ‘the head held high’ prevails Where the votary embarking on pilgrimages Cowers furtively: mutilation of his health and life fears!! Fuhash (obscenity) is perhaps the single most defining, politically used, manipulated, …

Spiritual ethics: Solace in silence

The Imam of wisdom and commander of faithful Hazrat Ali said that increase your silence and your thoughts will flourish, your heart will enlighten, and people will be safe from your hands. He again reiterated in another quote that excess of silence produces awe.  In a detailed sermon, Hazrat Ali said, “Your redressing what you have missed through your …

Lahore: The city of hearts

Lahore has got a special place in every person's heart and this is the reason it will always be the city of hearts and dreams. I spent 20 years of my life in Lahore and cherished every single memory I have, the friends I made there; they are all so uniquely kind and generous. I …

Depleting Indus Delta

Indus delta is also known as the vertebra of Pakistan’s ecosystem and economy, Indus delta is 5th largest in the world and home to the 7th largest mangrove forest. It forms where the mighty Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea, creating a complex system of swamps, streams and mangrove forests. A triangular piece of …

Ode on a Grecian Urn by Keats

Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus expressA flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:What leaf-fring’d legend haunts about thy shapeOf deities or mortals, or of both,In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?What mad pursuit? What struggle to …

Rise of narcissists: The plague that killed poetry

People around me believe I am a cynical person as nothing around me seems to be fit as per the great divine plan and according to the social structure. They say I have the tendency to scrape the rationality out of every single thing. I can’t disappoint them it isn’t my thing. Let’s talk about …

A Psalm of Life by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,Life is but an empty dream!For the soul is dead that slumbers,And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest!And the grave is not its goal;Dust thou art, to dust returnest,Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,Is our destined end or way;But …

Dr Frankenstein or Corona?

The entire world is fighting against corona virus while we the people of Pakistan are still trying to overwhelm the bedlam which has been widely observed in the country. The situation looks very grave as the total number of cases has reached up to 43158 with 923 deaths.  So far, the only death cases media news …

10 life changing books to read before you die

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird is a favorite book of pretty much everyone. The protagonist is a young girl named Scout and except for her father, all the main characters in the book are marginalized by the power structure of their town — a structure that still exists nearly everywhere …

Sandwiched between radicals, rationalists

We the Pakistanis are dealing with a much bigger problem, it isn’t corona, it’s the communal reckless resolve, which is compelling us to drag the people towards a mass suicide. It just takes a man’s obstinacy which mars the difference between faith and cult. People of Pakistan have witnessed it quite a bit, but during …

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for …

Breach of social distancing

The government has recently decided to ease the lock down following less number of cases being reported in the country. According to the top government officials they were expecting a high number of cases which didn’t turn out to be true. AS the government eased the lock down restrictions, a couple of days ago, masses …

A Prison Evening

Each star a rung, night comes down the spiral staircase of the evening. The breeze passes by so very close as if someone just happened to speak of love. In the courtyard, the trees are absorbed refugees embroidering maps of return on the sky. On the roof, the moon - lovingly, generously –  is turning …

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Corona pandemic: Perplexing decisions of clerics

Meetings of clerics on two different occasions have announced that they will resist the imposition of further restrictions on prayer congregations, the statement came following clear instructions by the government to observe the lock down in mosques.The government has already vowed to bring clerics and all religious groups on-board before reaching a final decision on …

Joy And Sorrow: Khalil Jibran

Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow."And he answered:Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.And how else can it be?The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.Is not the cup that hold …

Digging by Seamus Heaney

Between my finger and my thumb    The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound    When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:    My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds    Bends low, comes up twenty years away    Stooping in rhythm through potato drills    Where …