Justice Done: No Muslim got elected as MP from Uttar Pradesh

In December 2013, I visited Muzaffarnagar as part of winter relief activities organized by a NGO. I spent time at relief camps and got an opportunity to interact with people, both the victims of the riots and the general Muslim population. The most depressing aspect of the whole visit was, lack of apathy & absolute cold-bloodedness of Muslim MPs & MLAs of Uttar Pradesh, who didn’t contribute anything to the relief activities. Instead, many of them chose to visit foreign countries when the women and children were dying due to severe cold. If any of them Muslim MP or MLA had chosen to raise funds for the victims, within a week, none of the victims would have stayed in open air camps.

It was the sheer arrogance & betrayal of the elected Muslim representatives that caused more deaths of Muslims than in the riots of itself. As per the official reports, more than 70 children lost their lives due to severe cold. On the ground, people mentioned that, over 100 children, women and senior citizens passed away fighting the winter cold in refugee camps.

Five months later, the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh has spoken out. Not a single Muslim MP from Uttar Pradesh has got elected in 2014 National Elections. Uttar Pradesh has around 20% Muslim population and it was expected that, out of 80 MP seats, at least 5 seats would be won by Muslims.

I recollect having this conversation with a Maulana at Meerut. I asked him, what’s the reason, why all the Muslim MPs & MLAs have distanced themselves from helping the people. He mentioned something very funny but profound. He said, ‘elections se pehle, yeh log ghulaam-e-Rasool bolte hain, elections ke baad, ghulaam-e-mayawati ya ghulaam-e-mulayam ho jate hain” (before elections, they call themselves slaves of Prophet (ﷺ) but after elections they become slaves of Mayawati or Mulayam). So, from the results, it has become apparent that, Uttar Pradesh Muslims neither want the slaves of Mayawati nor the slaves of Mulayam.

Another interesting point from this election results is that, BJP which has won over 280 seats, doesn’t have even a single Muslim candidate who has won the seat. So, the whole government doesn’t have even a single Muslim MP.

O’ Allah, grant me victory.

I am at the verge of defeat. I don’t see the spirit of warrior anymore in me. May be, it’s just about to end. It’s like the last breath. The dreams… how can one give up on dreams while being alive?

I am 27 years old now. It’s been 9 years, since I first attempted at unifying quantum mechanics with relativity. It’s been 9 years! And how soon these 9 years have gone by. I feel aged and lost.

I haven’t published a research paper in a while. The ideas have evaporated. All that is left is dead brain cells that are only good enough to lead an ordinary life. How did it happen? How did I lose so much of time without doing anything?

Today… what am I? What happened to all those dreams? Every moment, Allah was kind. I had everything. The hope, the intelligence and the angel. All that was needed was one step ahead. And I failed.

I wish.

I wish I can explain my humiliation. I wish I could scream to describe this suffocation. I stand alone. No one around me even understands my state. This feeling of losing everything. This feeling of being lost in the waves of time. This feeling of being overwhelmed by ignorance.

But it isn’t over. I can’t die in this pain. Death is inevitable. I don’t want to die as a loser, even if I die losing. Whether I succeed or not, whether I stand alone or not… I will fight against ignorance. I will fight for that identity.

Allah has not given up on me. How can I give up?

O’ Allah… I ask for a chance. I ask for help. I ask for direction. I ask for right path. I ask for forgiveness. I ask for victory. I am just Your slave and You are my master. O’ Allah Grant me the knowledge.

Visit to Madrasa-e-Faisul Quran, Kishtapur– Awakening moment

Last Sunday, I visited Madrasa-e-Faisul Quran located at Kishtapur, Pargi about 100 km away from Hyderabad. The story of Madrasa-e-Faisul Quran is amazing and heart touching. Several years ago, a liquor merchant named “Lakshmaiah” was a dominating figure in the lands of Kishtapur and surrounding villages. He had everything except the light of Imaan. He tried to fulfil the spiritual vacuum by consulting various scholars. Soon he came across Maulana Muhammed Hameed Aqil Hussami, who helped him understand the message of Islam. Allah poured imaan into the heart of Lakhmaiah. He took Shahada and took the name “Muhammed Omar Hussami”. After converting to Islam, Omar Hussami faced several challenges. But the imaan in him was so strong, that he overcame every problem with Allah’s help. He made sure all his children receive not only the basic Islamic education but also become Hafiz and Aalim. Meanwhile, Omar Hussami was confronted with the challenge of disappearance of Islam from the small villages due to lack of Masjids and Imams. He realized that, not many Imams were willing to work at small villages around Kishtapur and Pargi. Moreover, the locals of the villages were not in a position to pay salaries to Imams. One solution to this problem was, guiding the local kids to become Hafiz-e-quran.

In 1987, with a conviction that Allah’s help would arrive, Omar Hussami started a Madrasa called “Madrasa-e-Faisul Quran”. In order to start the Madrasa, Omar Hussami gave up all his wealth. In 2013, Omar Hussami passed away. May Allah grant him paradise. Today, his sons and grandsons, who have become Muftis are running the Madrasa. In last twenty six years of service, 175 Huffaz and Ulama have graduated from the Madrasa. By the grace of Allah, today the Madrasa has separate quarters to accommodate more than 200 girls and 300 boys.

To be at this place was one of the most humbling experience of my life. I stood there, looking at the institution created by a great man and the revolution he went through in his life. I felt small and guilty. As I write this, I have tears in my eyes. There is no money… there are no resources… surroundings are hostile… yet, they are able to pull off this monumental feat. 180 Kg of rice is cooked every day to feed the students. They grow onions, brinjals and tamarind in the backyard of Madrasa. Occasionally, they get some funding, with which they purchase rice. What is making these people stand tall against all the hostilities? The answer is simple. Their imaan is much higher than I can imagine. They believe in Allah. They believe that this life is temporary and preparing for afterlife is more important than worrying about the needs of this world. Subhan’Allah.

And here I am, sitting in a chilled room, writing this … and I ask myself… what am I doing with this life? What answer do I have, when I return to Allah? All my life, I have competed with others. During school, I was the school topper. During college, I topped the class and published research papers. When I started working, I was rated highly over others. Neighbours and relatives give my example to their kids. And what a fake world I was living in. Before Allah, I am among those bottom 5% category. Those people, who follow Islam but are of no good. How selfish and short sighted I have been all these years. What is my investment for afterlife? A polytheist, who sold liquor, was able to get such guidance from the book of Allah and Sunnah of Prophet … that he rose to the heights of creating an institution that would produce hundreds of Huffaz and Ulama. His progenies and their progenies become Muftis. What a blessed life he lived! I envy him. I wish I can pull off something similar.

I heard the Prophet saying, "There is no envy except in two: a person whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it in the right way, and a person whom Allah has given wisdom (i.e. religious knowledge) and he gives his decisions accordingly and teaches it to the others."

Narrated by Ibn Masud, Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 24, Number 490

I feel like woken up from a bad dream. It feels like, investing all the wealth in a scam. The true investment is the investment for the afterlife. And I have got nothing allocated to that afterlife fund. I don’t know, how much more life, I have been granted. But I want to make the most of it. I want to grab every opportunity that is out there. I am thankful to the capabilities that Allah has given me and I would deeply regret if I don’t make the best use of it. There is so much to do. There are millions suffering of hunger and poverty. There are millions who are unemployed and exploited. There are millions who are misguided and fooled. There is certainly so much to do. I want to impress Allah. And this life is worth living for impressing Allah. And to start with, let me supplicate Allah through the awesome prayer of Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ)…

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to supplicate Allah: "My Lord, help me and do not give help against me; grant me victory, and do not grant victory over me; plan on my behalf and do not plan against me; guide me, and make my right guidance easy for me; grant me victory over those who act wrongfully towards me; O Allah, make me grateful to Thee, mindful of Thee, full of fear towards Thee, devoted to Thy obedience, humble before Thee, or penitent. My Lord, accept my repentance, wash away my sin, answer my supplication, clearly establish my evidence, guide my heart, make true my tongue and draw out malice in my breast."

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abu Dawud Book 8, Number 1505.

A True Wake Up Call

At around 4:00 PM today, I was driving to Microsoft office, on an empty road between In-Orbit Mall and Gachibowli and I don’t know, what happened, suddenly my bike went out of control. I was driving around 80kms per hour speed and the road was completely empty. I realized that, I am over-speeding as there is a turn is ahead. As I hit the brakes, the back tyre started shaking, throwing me out of balance and the bike started skidding. 15 meters before was a large pit with lots of large stones and around the corner of the pit was a sand dune and some grass. It’s just the matter of milliseconds that I am about to fall in a pit with large granite stones. The heart-beat is stopped and I am putting as much pressure as possible using my right leg on the breaks. The bike doesn’t stop. The bike is skidding and I don’t have any control. There is no feeling about, what going to happen. Typically, in movies, during these moments, you see the face of a beautiful girl fading away… or something like that. But all I could see was those merciless sharp granite stones, that I am about to hit. And few milliseconds later…

Boom. I have hit the sand dune. My one leg was under the bike. I was wearing helmet, so I knew my head was safe. And for few seconds, I went completely blank. I don’t know, what’s just happened. The blazing sun, the weight of the bike on my leg and the shock. I slightly lifted the vehicle to pull-out my leg and lied on back there for few seconds. The front tyre of the bike was hanging in the air and somehow the bike has stopped just before falling into the pit. A car stopped and a person came over to help me. I was gave him a sign that I am alright. He pulled the vehicle aside. As I stood up, there was a strange shiver throughout my body. I could have hit those sharp granites and had the bones of my body broken. I could have bruised by whole body while skidding. And how merciful Allah has been to save me from the danger. All I found was few bruises to my right leg. There is a little swelling now but overall, I guess, I am alright.

Three hours have passed by since the incident and it having a psychological effect on me. If not death, I would have been badly injured. As dramatic has last three days have been, this is the real wake-up call. It’s like, I have been told, “Do what you have promised or make an exit from this world”. Or maybe, Allah wanted to give me a warning that, time is running out, realize the value of the time that I have in hand and make amendments to life. A realization that, “how insignificant I am, when the things go out of control” is slowing sinking in. May be, this is what people refer to ‘near death experience’. In just the matter of few milliseconds, my life would have changed dramatically. But Allah saved me.

Generally, whenever such an incident happens, people speak about, how they have realized, how valuable the people around me are, how they have ignored the relationships and how they would get back to people. Well, I have a complete opposite feeling. I don’t want to describe now, why I have such feeling. I would let some actions speaks on my behalf.

Tonight I would have been in pain at a hospital surrounded by family and relatives, but here I am, all hail and healthy. This is a gift of Allah. I must do everything to make best use of this opportunity that Allah has given me.

My Lord, Increase me in knowledge

Tonight, I am supposed to be partying and hanging out with friends, yet here I am, all alone, thinking about the time that has gone by. The more I look at the past, the more hurt I am, at the way I have spent all these years. In Holy Quran, Allah says

“By the time, surely man is in loss, except those who believe and do good, and exhort one another to Truth, and exhort one another to patience”.

And I look at the time I have spent, I am certainly at loss. So much at loss that, I feel ashamed at myself. Every minute and every day that I have wasted, today appears as the mountains of gold that I failed to make my own. And with time, I am becoming more and more ineffective. The confidence to produce big ideas is diminishing. The ability to self-assure on the possibility of big break-through has drastically decreased. I don’t know, how far I can push myself. Mediocrity has been creeping into my actions and words.

Surely, I have had lot of opportunities in life that I have failed to convert into big. Laziness, distractions, lack of persistence and so on, have all contributed to my failures.

I have categorized the issues that are impacting me and have formulated a plan to overcome them. The most damaging issue has been laziness. Life is too short to be lazy. Following is my plan to combat laziness and distractions:

• · Perform Salah five times a day, on time. Among the thousands of advantages of Salah, one of them is ‘discipline’. Excess the progress after every Salah. I am accountable to every minute I spent.
• · Supplicate Allah to increase knowledge. Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) used to supplicate Allah by repeatedly saying “Rabbi Zidni Ilma” (My Lord, improve me in knowledge”)
• · Supplicate Allah to make me part of His plan. Found this beautiful prayer of Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) in Abu Dawud Book 8, Number 1505, narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to supplicate Allah: "My Lord, help me and do not give help against me; grant me victory, and do not grant victory over me; plan on my behalf and do not plan against me; guide me, and make my right guidance easy for me; grant me victory over those who act wrongfully towards me; O Allah, make me grateful to Thee, mindful of Thee, full of fear towards Thee, devoted to Thy obedience, humble before Thee, or penitent. My Lord, accept my repentance, wash away my sin, answer my supplication, clearly establish my evidence, guide my heart, make true my tongue and draw out malice in my breast."

I pray to Allah that, to accept my prayers and make me a better person.

O’ Allah, the King of the universe, the Master of the universe and the God of all mankind, I am your humble slave. I am nothing but Your creation. To You I worship and to You I ask for help. Make my stay on the earth meaningful. Grant me knowledge to overcome ignorance. Make me powerful to help the weak. I have done things that are unworthy and deeply shameful, O’ Allah, kindly forgive me. You are repeatedly forgiving. You are the best forgiver of Allah. O’ Allah, you have said that, your kindness precedes anger. Don’t make me part of your anger. Forgive my sins and lead me to the right path. Direct me when I am lost and energize me when I am on the right path. Push me away from the distractions. Give me refugee from the evil whisperings of Satan. You are the best planner of all and Your plan never fails. Make me victorious as part of Your plan. I want to make discoveries and inventions. I want to lead this civilization towards knowledge. My Lord, improve my knowledge. Make me the most knowledgeable among the men that are alive.