Will Mother Teresa Go To Heaven?

Put this question to a muslim then see the reaction. The answer most probably will range from the straight-in-your-face 'No she will not, she was a christian', to 'well she did good deeds but only monotheists will go to heaven.' or to the considerate 'she will go to heaven for her good deeds but after expiating herself.'

Now put the same question to the muslim with he himself being the subject: 'Will you go to heaven?' Whatever the answer - how does he know what will happen to him? How can anyone know what will happen to the other person regarding matters of faith?

Problem with muslims is (and not just muslims) that when they analyze people in term of faith, they tend to downgrade the other. How? Consider the case of Ahmadis. They are the 'scumbags' of this earth for most of the muslims - and why? because they believe in a different person as Prophet. Two things come to my mind. 1) How does another persons faith affect my own faith? and 2) How on earth a certain faith can describe the character of another person? Apparently, every mullah should be an angel. Really? I do not think so.

I know God is very clear in Quran - and Books before it that only thing unpardonable is polytheism. But this is my belief since I am the follower of that Book. This in no way should translate in to downgrading of others peoples belief or being judgmental about their character. As to the question whether muslims will enter heaven - God has answered in Quran that this is not the prerogative of muslims only.

Quran 2:62 -Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

Anyone can go to heaven provided they believe in God, do good deeds and know that they will be held accountable for their acts. Yes I know it still is restrictive in nature but that is what I am supposed to believe in. I will explain myself later on this point.

If you would think that only muslims will go to heaven and that would be the end of story - forget it. Muslims today consist of various sects - the umbrella at the top being divided between Shias and Sunnis. Then there are various sub-sects within them and each considers itself the only inheritors of paradise.

So Angeline Jolie, by todays standards, cannot go to heaven for all her brilliant humanitarian deeds because she is not a muslim. Even if she were a muslim, she had to be a syed, shia or sunni (depending on what your belief is) to be entitled for heaven. Tough luck Jolie!

My argument - why fret with who is going to heaven or not when there is no clear distinction between humans regarding matters of faith and certainly when HE says He will judge ultimately? My God, after all, is a creation of my own beliefs. What if there is no Judgment Day and we all get screwed?

So what message do we muslims get from the Quran on this issue? Interestingly Quran informs muslims (and which is the 'moral' of my post) to 'maintain' their opinion of faith and let the matter be decided by God Himself on the day of judgment.

42:15 - Now then, for that (reason), call (them to the Faith), and stand steadfast as thou art commanded, nor follow thou their vain desires; but say: "I believe in the Book which Allah has sent down; and I am commanded to judge justly between you. Allah is our Lord and your Lord: for us (is the responsibility for) our deeds, and for you for your deeds. There is no contention between us and you. Allah will bring us together, and to Him is (our) Final Goal.

109:06 - For you is your religion, and for me is mine.

PostMan's Law of First Interactions

The person will sound very different than what you had imagined the first time you get to hear him/ her.

This Aint Cricket

Well its a case of cow-dung hitting the fan. Only in this case, one realizes that the instance has happened before couple of times and you have been in the same room all along.

Pakistanis are again in the news regarding Match Fixing allegations. Although, to be more specific, these allegations relate to Spot Fixing rather than Match Fixing but still they ultimately lead to match fixing. I lost my interest in cricket way back in 90s when Wasims and Salim Maliks of this world were accused to various things. It was a mix platter perhaps. Wasim's weird acts on fields like Banglore Quarter final. The damning judicial probe in which our 'stars' did not cooperate at all. The judge in the match fixing probe wrote that things were murkier as Wasim only got the benefit of the doubt because Ata ur Rehman changed his testimony. Some of the cricketers were fined. Perhaps it was Ijaz Ahmad, a lobster with weird human like movements who somehow always managed to get his leg before the wicket. Perhaps the loss to Bangladesh in 1999 World Cup nailed it for me.

Anyways. The pathetic performance in cricket field was stunningly acted out according to the script laid out by a certain Mr. Mazhar Majeed. To be fair, these are just allegations and nothing has been proved yet as investigations are still continuing but you never know. Had the investigation been in Pakistan then you would certainly know that nothing would happen. The report will be hidden somewhere, if there are bans and fines then they will be lowered/ removed for the greater good of Pakistani cricket. And that is where the real problem lies.

Various reasons have been put forward as to why Pakistanis 'would' indulge in match fixing. First one being that Pakistani cricketers are not educated. They have not been instilled with the morals and values of a dignified character. I beg to differ. Check our country from top to bottom - and I will not talk of President here. Our educated elite is the most corrupt whether they are generals, judges, politicians, journalists - all educated supposed to be instilled with all the good qualities - still involved in corruption. So education ranks low when it comes to finding the blame.

You can blame the society. Sure. But saying that since everyone is corrupt so what if the players did this? Saying 'this was just a case of spot-fixing, not match fixing! they did not give away the match! It was just 3 balls and had no impact whatsoever on the result of the match!' It is a down right stupid argument. Saying 'even Mark Waugh and Shane Warne did it' does not make it kosher an act! That was wrong. This is wrong. Sure our young cricketers do not have a role model but that does not mean that a negative role model be followed! If three no balls can be allowed then next time its the whole god damn match that will be on offer.

In this context it is said that our cricketers are paid low by the Board. Well give me a break! they earn too much compared to other sport players, they are even better than professionals working in banks! I do agree that 'black money' in cricket is huge. The betting syndicates in India and Pakistan are very active and have loads and loads of money at their disposal. And cricketers are in the target list.

Then there is thing called conspiracy and we Pakistanis just love it. The conspiracy says that Pakistani cricketers (bowlers) were targeted because they were performing really well. Honestly, this is the case of not focusing on why the cow-dung hit the fan but whether the cow-dung was thrown at the fan to slow it down. Ridiculous!

The Pakistan Cricket Board is in shambles led by a person who does not even know where he himself is going. The guy did not send Younis Khan on this England tour because he had a personal tiff with him. Amazing. The management who should have kept a check on players activities was no where.

For me, No Accountability is the only factor that results in the mess that Pakistani cricket finds itself in. Had we been fair to ourselves after the judicial commission report then many cricket
personalities should have been given the necessary treatment. After the debacle in Australia recently, the investigative report should have been released, why the fines and bans imposed should have been detailed. Why the fines and bans were removed should be explained! This is just a joke. And honestly the joke is on us - poor Pakistani fans.

And this sucks more. Why do I believe we will be taken once more for a ride.

Related Posts

- 'No Balls'
- Pakistani Cricket & Erectile Dysfunction
- PostMan's First Law of Pakistani Cricket Motion
- Beavis & Ijaz Butt

PostMan's Law of Lifts - II

As soon as you lift your finger to press the close button of the lift's door (if it feels like its taking time to close), the door will close by itself.

Pakistan - To Do List

Being a member of ArmChair Analysts Party, I am drawing up a To-Do list of what to do with Pakistan in case I become a Prime Minister. I know its a tough thinking assignment but being a drawing room armchair analyst for quite some years now, I have become adept in it. Of course I being of the group that only talks and does nothing in reality to help change the situation in my country, for this 14th August Independence Day, I am offering here my Top-10 To-Do List for Pakistan.

Please feel free to come up with your own Top-10 or Top-15, (Top 5?) if you like, of things to do to Pakistan if you were made the Prime Minister. I am 'thinking' (as usual) that perhaps this may result in ideas that can perhaps be read by someone who can do something to change the situation - perhaps a least bit. Or any good idea that can be picked up by someone to be implemented. Or a list that we can draw up and perhaps (ludicrously) make part of political parties manifesto - assure them that we will vote for them. Some moron is going to win so the wish list could be made a part of every party's manifesto.

The list could be anything that comes to your mind. They can be very practical to totally ridiculous. Ridiculous has a lot of creativity I believe. What I would prefer is a wish list that is with a certain practical implementation of it. So here is my To-Do list.

1 - Disband the Moonsighting committee. Observe the first of ramadan with Saudia to clean up the domestic mess. Trust me its a mess. I am from Peshawar and I live in Karachi so every year I get to taste the best of 'mayhem' in this country. I have witnessed situation in which half of my family was observing fast and half celebrating Eid! Why waste time on such issues?

2 - Rename part of Arabian Sea as Pakistan Sea. I agree with Ardsher Cowasjee.. why not?

3 - Make ISI accountable for their deeds. If they are so good, they should be applauded - if not - made to pay. They can be made to speak through elected representatives, kinda like congressional hearings in US. I know they get a lot of bad PR, let them give a voice too eh?

4 - Make a centralized coordination centre of information sharing for all the intelligence agencies to prevent terrorism attacks. What I have seen is that information of impending terrorist attack is already there but was not shared with all in time thus preventing the loss of innocent lives and loss of capable administrators in form of Police officers or elected representatives.

5 - Make a truly independent authority in Karachi to bring to book the culprits that have created mayhem in the city. We seriously need that in Karachi as lot of innocent blood has been spilled.

6 - Introduce uniform education curriculum all over the country. Yes its a provincial subject but force the provinces to do so. Every Pakistani child needs to have a good education and that requires a good uniform curriculum. Every public and private school should be made to follow it - including medressahs. They can offer 'other' subjects if they wish to but there should be standard minimum for all.

7 - Make Competition Commission of Pakistan a truly independent authority. That should make a lot of cartels wet their pants. This would ensure that Courts do not have to take the suo-moto course which is not right in my opinion. The findings of Competition Commission can be be presented in court and let they decide what the final verdict is.

8 - Ensure that every classified information is declassified after a certain time period. We need to know a lot of what has happened in the past. This should make assignment of responsibility possible and things could come to fore as to why something happened.

9 - Remove the Blasphemy and Hudood Laws from the law books of Pakistan. Remove the condition of 'muslim only' head of state. The Blasphemy Laws are only used to exploit the minorities - there is nothing sacred to them. Regarding 'muslim only' head of State condition, I believe its totally discriminatory since every 'Pakistani' has the right to serve the nation regardless of the faith. I would be better off with a capable 'infidel' ahmadi than a dumb-ass mullah.

10 - Make mandatory on big corporates for establishment of water filtration plants by assigning them districts of Pakistan and make them accountable through elected representatives and media. Clean water should be accessible to all pakistanis and this may lead to reduction in lots of diseases.

So whats your list?

To My Friend

*salute*

if there is any definition, characteristic of an entity called friend... thats her.

PostMan's Law of Child Instinct

The moment you set yourself for meal, your child needs to go to the washroom.

Horrendous

I just received an email forwarding that contained pictures of burnt, charred dead bodies of passengers of flight AirBlue that crashed in Islamabad hills.

What the fuck is wrong with us?

PostMan's Self Analysis

A Man is chained to his prejudices.

Headline of the Day

'Butt open to suggestions' ... (link)

Thank God I know its a caste/ clan.

PostMan's Restaurant Law

The food at the other person's table looks really nice.

Poker - A Game of Chance or Skill?

Some very nice articles in the Economist on gambling. Here is one on whether Poker is a game of chance or skill.

'Most experienced players insist that success at poker is not about luck. David Sklansky, author of “The Theory of Poker” writes that “expert players do not rely on luck. They are at war with luck. They use their skills to minimise luck as much as possible.” In poker, as in life, luck can happen to anyone; it is evenly distributed. Skilled players know how to take advantage of it when it happens to them, and get out of the way when it is someone else’s turn.'

This is not a theoretical point; it is at the heart of a dispute about poker’s future in America, the country of its birth and its largest single market. UIGEA (the enforcement mechanisms of which have only just come into effect, even though the act was passed in 2006) bans financial institutions from transferring funds for bets in which “opportunity to win is predominantly subject to chance.” Poker has been judged to fall into that category'

A 2009 study carried out by Cigital, a software consultancy, analysed 103m hands of one of the main varieties of poker, Texas Hold ’em, played at Pokerstars.com, and found that over 75% of them were decided before a showdown. They thus depended far more on the players’ betting decisions than on the cards dealt. The Poker Players’ Alliance, a million-strong group of aficionados, argued in the South Carolina Supreme Court that “the structure and rules allow sufficient room for a player’s exercise of skill to overcome the chance element in the game.”

Yet perhaps the clearest argument in favour of poker being skill- rather than chance-dependent comes from Mr Sklansky, and it has to do with losing rather than winning. Imagine trying intentionally to lose at a game of pure chance, like roulette or baccarat. It would be impossible. At the beginning of a deal or a roll you have to bet on something. You can no more deliberately play badly than you can deliberately play well. The same is not true for poker, which offers multiple opportunities to make sure you lose.

-Link-

PostMan's Uncertainty Principle

Never criticize another man's belief or faith unless you are absolutely sure about your own.


PostMan's Fact on Uncertainty Principle

No one is sure.



Update on 19th July 2010

'No one is sure - apart from bigots and suicide bombers.'

Countering Hatred

A good one. We have to defeat the monster of hatred if we are to survive in this world.

Egyptian veil martyr commemorated in Germany

DRESDEN, Germany: A plaque commemorating a pregnant heads carved Egyptian woman whose murder in a German court shocked the Muslim world was unveiled on Thursday in Dresden, in the east of the country.
...
During a trial in July last year, 28-year-old Alex Wiens plunged an 18-centimetre kitchen knife at least 16 times into Sherbini, three-months pregnant at the time with her second child. Her son, Mustafa, three years old at the time, watched her bleed to death in the courtroom. Sherbini’s husband, Egyptian geneticist Elwy Okaz, rushed to her aid but was also stabbed repeatedly and then shot in the leg by a police officer who was unsure who was the attacker.

The Russian-born Wiens was acting out of revenge after she had pressed charges against him for calling her a “terrorist”, “Islamist” and “whore” during a dispute over a playground swing.

.. (Link)

Nude Beaches in Pakistan - Expected Social Behavior

(Authors Warning: No pics here! God damn it)

Question: What would be the effect of having nude beaches in Pakistan?

Answer: First thing first.. half of Pakistan would be standing on boundary of the beach trying to get a glimpse of anyone on the beach.

Then someone will make a secret mobile video of beach.. then this video will be forwarded like hell to everyone who is anyone and they'll say 'This is Islamic republic of Pakistan!", "What a shame! this is a Islamic country"- though they themselves will check the pics and videos first till their hearts content.

Civil Uncivility

This is interesting.

America has a well-developed system for getting companies to pay for the damage they do; and BP long ago accepted that it would pay in full. But that was never going to satisfy the country’s corporate bloodlust. An outfit called Seize BP has organised demonstrations in favour of the expropriation of BP’s assets in 50 cities. Over 600,000 people have supported a boycott of the firm on Facebook. Several of BP’s gas (petrol) stations have been vandalised. (Link)

What would you call this act of people? Natural reaction? Compare the same reaction with muslim protests around the globe on Prophet Muhammad issue. Any similarities? or nothing at all?

When muslims protest, call for ban on FaceBook (or to ban facebook), arrange protests or vandalize... they are bigoted and uncivil. Why?

You might argue, and logically too, that the issue involved is different. That what BP did is material and tangible in form of damaging the coastal and sea life of Gulf of Mexico. On the other hand, muslim's protest of Prophet Muhammad issue was just an exaggeration of sentiment. How can one quantify a sentiment. Muslims take their religion way too seriously and since muslim societies do not believe in freedom of opinion, they cant take a opposite opinion. Hence the two issues just do not compare.

I agree.

But wait. What matters most do you think? The issue or the reaction to that issue? Suppose an act X results in reaction Y. Does your analysis rest on ferocity of Y or sensitivity of X?

Taking the case of BP. Since the act is sensitive thats why we accept a harsh and ferociuos reaction against them. Agree.

Taking the case of Prophet Muhammad issue, regardless of the sensitivity of the issue (since its subjective) the opposition camp would have agreed to 'just a protest by muslims' instead of 'muslims vandalizing property'. This should show that the reaction is more of a problem than the sensitivity of issue.

Since when muslims protest and they are called bigoted, ignorant and uncivil, should not everyone who protests be called bigoted, ignorant and uncivil? Or is it concerned with religion only?

Why am I writing this post?

Why Islamic Headscarf Should be Banned in Football

Ahem. The Iranian version of Islamic head scarf to be precise.

I had written a post sometime back when I heard the news that FIFA had banned the Iranian youth women soccer team from playing in a tournament because FIFA does not allow Islamic head scarf. I was pissed off seriously. How could FIFA do that? Racist was the only thing that came to my mind.

Out of no where a gentlemen called Ecclesiastes arrived on my blog and commented. He being an ex-football referee, shared with me some points as to why the head scarf was a danger to the players and had in fact nothing do with being associated to a particular religion. When I inquired him how head scarf was dangerous, he stated "A head scarf is not allowed because an opposing player's hand or foot could become entangled with it and snap the girl's (girl wearing head scarf) neck."

Makes sense doesn't it? Here is a picture of Iran's women soccer team in action.

(Link)

As a muslim woman, many would like to be involved in all sorts of activities that ladies without 'veil/ head scarf/ parda' get involved in - like playing soccer for example. Covering the body does not sound that complicated as they can easily do that. In fact, Nasim Hameed of Pakistan is the fastest woman in South Asia! and she did it wearing a long tights and a bit loose t-shirt. A ta girl!


The issue with head scarves is a bit tricky. Mind you, women dress differently across Islamic world and there could be stark difference in appearance of neighboring country's women as in case of Iran and Pakistan. Iran wont even allow the dress of Nasim Hameed. The Iranians focus on hair too as they believe it should be covered. A Pakistani woman football player can be allowed by FIFA but will ban her Iranian counterpart because of the head scarf.

So how to cover the hair and still be able to play a FIFA soccer match?! I honestly have no idea because I am not much in to women accessories. I can think of a covering for hair only, with probably elastic strings to keep it 'fixed' - lets say, and most importantly a covering that does not join the garment on body (below neck - even neck!) so as to be injurious in situation like getting entangled somewhere and doing the damage. Any suggestions? cuz hey.. I want to see the Iranian women soccer team play in a FIFA match.

And.. will the Iranians budge? I do not think so.

Islamic State of Israel

Israel just had to be a muslim state for the western world to realize what a mess it is.



* how ironic for western and Islamic world.

Solution for Drug Smuggling

"

I keep hearing about the street value of cocaine whenever trafficking or interdiction is talked about but I never get to hear the intrinsic value of the drug. If it were legal to manufacture, what would the price be? This is critical in understanding how to combat the trade and use of this drug.The street value of 1kg of cocaine is $500,000 (from the above text). If the cost to manufacturer (if legal) were say $500, it means that a smuggler can spend more that $400,000 per kg of cocaine in technology, bribes and other such costs and still generate a HUGE profit. That is what ultimately drives the cocaine business. If the profit margins are so huge, it behooves us to come up with better (smarter) techniques to combat cocaine usage (there can be no smuggling without usage).

For example, if say Germany were to setup its own cocaine production and allow addicts to purchase small quantities at a nominal profit, the entire supply-chain of cocaine smuggling would simply atrophy. Alas, we are so gung-ho at appearing to be "tough on drugs" that we have left our capitalist brains behind..."

-Heretic. A commentator on this article

Ensuing Discussion

X: Imagine if cocaine were available cheap how many would be addicted! Aur kuch nai tu $ consideration hi kitnon ko bacha laity hogi! :p (if nothing, the cost of it will make people think befiore using it)

I: Would you use cocaine if its cheap?

X: How many youngsters have u been able to prevent from smoking!? Morphine!?

I: And do you think increasing costs is stopping them with their use?

X: Im just saying the target market will be different & also the no. of users will increase drastically & do u honestly think we can deal with that many addicts!

I: The solution is that sale and production will be ‘legal’. That means reduced production and controlled use

X: As is the case with wines!?

I: I am not talking of pakistan! Nothing works proper here!

X: I was not talking of Pakistan either! V defy all logic!! :p

I: Holland is the country whre drug use is legal. Its no where in the list of drug abusers

X: That’s cuz its legal there!

I: Hence the argument.

Punjabi Taliban & Qadiyani Mosques

Its All In The Name

1 - 'Punjabi Taliban'

Chief Minister Punjab Mr. Shahbaz Sharif was.. umm pissed? ... that the Interior Minister used the term 'Punjabi Taliban' for the militants that operate out from southern punjab in to the mainland of northern punjab. He said that Interior Minister was fanning ethnicity by terming the 'killers, rapist, dacoits and robbers' as Punjabi taliban.

If you ask anyone, pick anyone, who are the Taliban? They will say 'pathans'. Why? Because, quiet honestly, most of them are. The Taliban was a student insurgency, students of medressahs which before them had provided men for the 'holy war' or jihad that Pakistani government undertook (and all of the world helped) in Afghanistan. Our Grand Imam, USA, actively participated in this jihad and defeated the 'evil' USSR. After that, well of course, one wipes his bottoms and leaves. Who stays in shit?

To cut the story short, we as Pakistani citizens are living with our brethren Taliban since then. The current army offensive against Taliban sees them pitted against tribal militants, Mehsuds in particular especially in South Waziristan area. Pakistan army earlier cleared the area of Swat from another deranged fellow called Maulana Fazlullah. The Taliban of Swat used to chop the heads of their oppomnents and hang them in the famous 'khooni chowk' (bloody square) of Mingora city. They all are pathans by ethincity just as their brethren Talibn in Afghanistan.

Joining them in the league are banned secarian outfits like Sipahe Sahaba, Lashkar e Jhangvi etc that are extreme sunni militant outfits that know only one thing in this world - how to target shias. They are, still, operative in southern punjab where they run medresshas and hate propaganda outlets. Alongside them are banned kashmiri outfits like Jaish e Muhammad who saw crackdown against them during days of Musharraf. They too are mostly punjabis.

Now. Why does Shabaz Sharif gets pissed when they are called punjabi and not us when they are taken pathan for granted? (remember I am from Peshawar?) Because we know we have a problem at our hands that needs sorting out. Taliban are killing fellow pakistanis and majority of the affected areas are in Khyper Pukhtoonkhwa and FATA, mainly pathan areas. The ANP is political party that has taken the severest hit having seen its leaders killed - all pathan. Maulana Fazlullah is a pathan and he terrorized the local population - all pathans. Moral of the story?

The moral is that taliban is an idea-based organization, even the word organization portrays a wrong picture because it a collection of nut-acts who share the same goal of 'enemies of Islam destroyed'. It does not matter whether they are pathans or punjabis - they are killers for all intent and purposes. So Mr. Sharif, do not close your eyes and request them 'not to target the Punjab as the provincial government would not take dictation from outsiders (USA).' as this is plain bullshit. Your Minister of Law stood as a partner in recent election with a banned sectarian outfit - who on earth are you kidding? So grow up! and tackle this menace instead of burying your head in sand. There is no issue of ethnicity when they are referred to as punjabi - instead it should make you ponder that the problem is also within you rather than with someone else outside.

2 - Qadiyani Mosques

On 28th May 2010, around 80 qadiyani worshipers were killed when their 'mosques' (yes I am using the word mosque) were attacked by Taliban (punjabi taliban). On the one hand, this was a grotesque act to kill innocent worshipers, it was also hideous to treat qadiyani deaths as some how lesser in value. The 'so what' approach of ordinary pakistanis, since it involved death of qadiyanis, is mind boggling. Not everyone reacted like this mind you, candle light vigils were taken place in Lahore to mourn the deaths of qadiyani worshipers.

The general attitude goes like this as the statement on a discussion board shows:

"There is no reason for a muslim to do hue and cry or protest on qadyani's issue. If it was with Hindus, sikhs, christian or else we all could have sympathy & spoke on humanitarian grounds. But when a group plays with my religious belief & values having malicious intentions, degrace our Prophet (PBUH) and his family, there is no reason for a true muslim to have sympathy or soft corner or protest."

An SMS that I received talked about condemning the Interior Minister for using the term 'mosque' for the qadiyani place of worship because they were not muslims! How great. We, as pure muslims, value other peoples lives by their faith?! How pathetic is that?! What kind of Islam is this?! A place of worship is a place of worship! Not playing politics! Let me show my more superior-in-faith muslim brethren what Quran says...

22:40 - ... if it were not for GOD's supporting of some people against others, monasteries, churches, synagogues, and masjids - where the name of GOD is commemorated frequently - would have been destroyed. Absolutely, GOD supports those who support Him. GOD is Powerful, Almighty.

In a qadiyani worship place, they worship God - not who they claim as their last prophet. Just as we muslims pray to God and not worship Prophet Muhammad whom we claim was the last of Prophets. We hate Qadiyanis, even more than jews, just because they don't practice their faith as we do... and we thus treat them with contempt and utter disrespect. Horrible.

Concern yourself with what you do regarding our religious deeds, not what others do. You are going in your own grave. Let God decide who is wrong and who is right.


Check Other Posts
- I hate You
- Muslim or Kafir?