This is the tenth journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote
over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go
to the category Pakistan Journal
you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting
experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well
at least in my opinion).

6/17/2004

After waking up we headed straight for my cousins house. Her
siblings all migrated to the U.S.
and Canada. Her
husband owns a company which exports jeans. He had a really huge house which he
shares with his parents and siblings. He had an armed guard who opened the gate
for us. He didn’t have a wimpy pistol, he had a huge semi-automatic rifle. Her
husband was not very talkative, although he did seem really religious. We took
pictures with her cute little kids. Then we went to two of my aunts homes which
were inside of a masjid. One of my aunts husbands is the imam of the masjid.
From their house you could climb up into the tower from where the adhaan is
given. We went up there to chill. There was a really nice breeze there, since
it was high up. I also finally met my cousin Atif who is studying to become an
alim. My mother had told him a lot about me. So he asks me a lot about what I
am doing and what the organization that I work with stands for. I guess he
wanted to know my aqeedah was, ha… or if I was a part of a sect or something. I
also asked him about what he was studying. He is Hafiz-ul Qur’an and he studied
multiple tafaseer. It turned out that in fiqh they were studying only Hanafi
fiqh. And the tafseer that they studied were from various Indian scholars. It
sort of made sense, but at the same time it was strange. The world is moving
towards becoming a global village. For Indian scholars to say that their brand
of Islamic thought is so developed that just concentrating on studying it by
itself is enough for its students of knowledge is strange to me. But then again
I come from a place where we are exposed to everything. I asked him if they
ever study comparative fiqh on specific issues. He said they do, and he
emphasized that they are taught to respect the other opinions and accept them
as valid opinions. We also had a long talk about priorities within Islam. He
asked me what my analysis was of Islam in Pakistan.
And I told him that I think it is very secular. I said that people have
abandoned Islam, and have left it in the masjid, and have run away from it,
thinking that the closer you are to it, the less material success you will
have. And the religious molvis have captured the masjids and are ruling them by
these same standards by making the application of Islam totally irrelevant to a
person living in this day and age by endorsing a very linear thought which does
away with all technological/modern issues with one word: haraam! And secondly
have focused on the most unusual aspects of faith: its external embodiment. He
totally agreed with me and gave me examples of the very points I was making. It
was really interesting that he asked me what my analysis was, because that’s
exactly what I was doing during the course of my entire trip. I was trying to
analyze the application of Islam in the country. Later on that night our eldest
cousin along with his wife and kids took us out to eat. We went to a really
nice restaurant called “Village” where rich Pakistani people dine. Due to my
stomach being really messed up all I had was chicken soup which was really
good. They had all sorts of food and it was set up buffet style. You could see
the chefs running around with trays of food. There was live music which was men
singing while playing the accordion, which was pretty funny. I took a picture
of that. They had waiters who served the drinks and handled refills. We had a
good time. Atifs brother Asif was also with us, who is one of my favorite
cousins. That night we swung by my grandfathers house so my father could have a
small meeting with him. My parents are always thinking that he is going to pass
away soon because of his health. So they try to meet him as often as possible. Oh
yeah at my aunts house (one of the two) has a son who sings naat! So I made him
do one in English, it was hilarious! On Friday at the masjid after Isha they do
naat for hours and the whole neighborhood can hear over loud speakers.   

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

This is the ninth journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/16/2004

Today we headed for Lahore. My brother in law met us at the airport. My father had his baggage screened and there was a problem because there was a trick pen in the bag which had a battery in it and it shocked people when they tried to press it. They asked him why he was taking it on the plane. We let them (the newly weds) sit together and the rest of the family sat separately. I had to use the bathroom so I went to the one which was closest to me. After I was done doing my duty… er..dooty…er.. dookie… when I came out there was a man waiting for me who informed me that I was using the business class bathroom and in the future I should use the economy class bathroom. I looked in front and saw that the entire business class was empty! By the time everything sank in I was already back in my seat. I thought man, I should have told that guy “Screw You!” I told my father what happened and I said that if I have to go again I will go in that same bathroom, for sure.

When we get there, there is a band of women waiting for us. It’s my mother’s aunt and her daughter in laws. They brought two cars and a driver with them. It turns out that their family is making millions (rupees or dollars? I guess rupees) a month importing efficient (power saving) air conditioners from China and selling them wholesale. Alhumdulilah I guess that meant they’d have AC at their home. They gave us a few rooms to stay in which was awfully nice of them. We also had a huge event at their house on this same night. A catering place brought all sorts of nice furniture which we laid out. Most of my father’s family was not able to attend the wedding in Karachi since it costs so much to go there form Lahore. So we held this dinner to have everyone meet the new couple. I was happy to meet my cousins new husbands who they married like two years ago (one of their kids actually lives at my house). I also reunited with cousins who I had not seen for a long time. I also met people who I had heard so much about, but never had the chance to meet. For example a girl cousin whose entire family came to America (she couldn’t because she had surpassed an age requirement for the family visa). She was very similar to two of her younger siblings who I know really well. They talked about her so much it was like we already knew her. She is married to another one of our cousins and they have two kids. My father’s parents were even brought to the event which made it really special. Since my grandfather is practically bedridden. When he was eating his dinner he was chewing it up sucking the juices out of it and then spitting it out. He is like 94 and he barely knows what is going on. I met many of my aunts whose names I can never remember. They all look like each other which doesn’t help either and there’s like 6 of them (My father has 13 brothers and sisters).

The weather is much nicer here. I tell people the heat in Lahore makes you sweat, while the heat in Karachi makes you cry. Lahore has really nice parts since its so green. Also the traffic and pollution is less than Karachi. In Karachi traffic, people just start honking their horn expecting you to get out of their way (simply because they are behind you).

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

[img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/80.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/81.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/82.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/83.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/84.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/85.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/86.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/87.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/88.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/89.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/90.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/91.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/92.jpg width=100 height=100]

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

This is the eighth journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/15/2004

Today we went to Pizza Hut. Anis Uncle treated us. Finally American food! I chowed down like anything. Finally! American Food! It was so good, especially since we could have meat on our Pizza! I especially enjoyed the smoked chicken pizza. My stomach was good for a while after that. My uncle jokingly said that I got what I needed (or what my stomach needed/craved). After eating that how could anyone go back to eating salan?

 At night it would get so hot I would stand on the street corner trying to catch a breeze. It was so suffocating in the homes that I wanted to sleep right on the streets.

This would be my final full day in Karachi. We had a dawat at night at the Air Cadet Club or something. It was in the army town called ‘defense’ which is heavily guarded and is one of the cleaner areas in Karachi. There are similar areas in the rest of Pakistan. My relative was using his perks again to hold this dinner. I learned that he tests airline pilots for PIA. I also learned there are a few female pilots on staff. When we get to this hall there are army guys at the entrance. The place is blasting AC which is very abnormal for most Pakistani places, except for high end homes and restaurants. The place is really nice in fact. There is a picture on the wall of  Prime Minister Gamoli and my Grandmothers brother. We had waiters serve us. You could tell that the place was high tech because not only did it have toilets but it also had toilet paper. My stomach was so messed up that I felt the need to go but I couldn’t go. My brother in law’s family was there as well. The weather was so bad on the way there that I felt like passing out. I was sitting in the front seat squished with my mother. All cars in Pakistan are manual. So this huge Suziki which has its engine under the seat (which we’re sitting on top of) is really cooking. There’s about 15 relatives of ours sitting in the back military style (two rows lined up against the walls of the van).

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

[img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/64.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/65.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/66.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/67.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/68.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/69.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/70.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/71.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/72.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/73.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/74.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/75.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/76.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/77.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/78.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/79.jpg width=100 height=100]

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

This is the seventh journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/14/04

I realized that I need to conserve space on the pad. Last night we had dinner with my brother in law and his family. All his brothers wanted to meet their new sister in law. It was a pretty cool gathering. The youngest brother (the only one with a beard) wanted to have an Islamic Discussion. He told me that he heard that my mother has issues with the group Dawat-e-Islaami. And that he happens to be a member of that group. Then he asked what’s wrong with the group, and that we should tell him so he can leave the group if it’s not good for him. I didn’t buy his last line and knew he straight up wanted to know what beef we had with his group so he could counter it or clarify his position. So I told him that I had never heard of the group till now so I would need to know what they are all about before I could comment. So then he told me that they are the ones who wear green turbans and they give the prophet (S) the importance that no other group gives him, (I thought they probably give him the importance that no Muslim ought to give him). He also said that the prophet (S) had no shadow. And that he was not a human being and that he was made of nur (unlike us). I explained to him that I can not believe that unless there is authentic information from the Quran and Hadith. He mentioned “Love for Allah and his Rasool” so I quoted the ayah “Say O’ Messenger  if you love me (Allah) then follow me (The Rasool). And tried to explain to him that the true love of Allah and his messenger comes from obedience in application of the Qur’an. My intent was to clarify the role of the Sunnah in the life of a Muslim. He told me that he partakes in Mawlid/Milaad etc.

[The following are Amended comments;  for some odd reason I had not completed this journal entry.. and I had left it incomplete]

While we were discussing we started going back and forth and he was basically regurgitating whatever he had learned from the circles he sits in. What I was doing was presenting information to him which he probably was not well aware of. For example: Allah (S) said that he sent the messengers from amongst their own people. And I tried to prove to him that all the prophets were men, and prophet Muhammad (S) was no different. I mentioned the verse that says that Prophet Muhammad (S) is a man and he will die as all men die. My brother in law asked me to cut out the darse so everyone else could also have a chance to talk. I guess what happened was our discussion had dominated the entire room and everyone just started listening to us. I guess I hadn’t noticed since I had gone so deep in thought. They must have thought I was some sort of Molvi. As if having a beard was not enough of an indication for them. It was sad to see how young people are easily manipulated by these random sectarian groups whose elders and leaders bare little sound knowledge.

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

[img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/60.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/61.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/62.jpg width=100 height=100]

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

This is the sixth journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/13/04

Alhumdulilah my sister is married now, so you know what that means! I’m next hehe. I haven’t been able to write in a few days since I’ve been having a lot of stomach problems. I went to the printers place on the 10th. I spent most of my day with the brother who runs the business. It turns out Shahid Bai mentored him when he was younger and helped him join a Muslim youth group. Wow, What a coincidence.

A crazy situation took place while I was at the printer’s office. My stomach was hurting. I had to keep going to the bathroom after I would eat or drink anything. So I am sitting there and all of a sudden I really had to go. So I asked the brother to show me where the bathroom was. His office was basically in a storefront inside of a small building. So there was a public bathroom there for all of the workers. So he takes me, I do my thing and when I came out he’s standing there. I wondered why he waited for me. So I go back to the office and sit down and I immediately feel the need to do more of my thing. So I tell him now that I know where it is (on another floor) I can go by myself. So I head up there. I go into this one room, its like how we have stalls, they’re just small rooms next to each other. This room was different from the one I original went in. There were no hooks to hang up my clothes. So I was like damn, so I come out trying to find another available room. I go into another one and there are hooks in that one. So I think let me test out the faucet (which is used to fill/refill the lota) to make sure it works before I get stuck in there with no water. I realize that it’s leaking. The knob is made of plastic… I try turning it… and all this water comes gushing out at me (the knob flew out). And I am jumping around in there trying not to get wet. I can’t put it back in… The pressure from the water kept pushing it out! So I come out and look around to see if anyone can help. But everyone is busy doing their thing. So I ask this guy to help me. He comes in and he starts fixing it. I really had to go badly at this point. So as another room becomes vacant I go in there… But there’s no hooks! So I just say forget it. I come out and there is this area with a bunch of sinks. It’s just like a wudu area. I wash my hands and then I’m like standing around thinking how stupid I will look if I don’t go now and go downstairs then have to go again and have to run back up. Then all of a sudden the man who fixed the faucet says to me “Dou Rupee Nikal” which literally means “take out two rupees”. It’s like when you go to high school in Brooklyn and someone says to you “run your pockets son” or “Give me a quarter”. Was I being robbed? Was the guy just a bum? I had a 5 rupee bill so I just said “Take 5” and I bounced. I had like $700 American on me, the last thing I wanted to do is get robbed in a Pakistani bathroom. So I come down and tell the brother about what happened and he laughed. I think it was him who told me that guy cleans the bathroom (by his own will) and expects people to pay him for providing them a clean extcretionary experience. The brother said “You will find a lot of people like this in Pakistan”.

I felt really good that day because the brother told me a lot about the existing state of Islamic Work in Karachi. The mayor of the city is from an Islamic party. And Karachi is the most crime ridden city in Pakistan. The city leadership has been in the hands of the people who have caused the most amounts of problems. Life expectancy here is lower than the other parts of Pakistan because of the horrible standard of living. There is garbage everywhere! Some of the streets smell like sewage. And there is so much pollution. And I thought that New York City was dirty. It’s nothing compared to this! So the brother was literally showing me all the good work that has been done since the new mayor came in 2 years ago. He showed me specific roads which had been paved. He showed me current construction efforts to reduce overcrowding on roads. They demolished these side sidewalks to expand the roads to add more lanes. I got to appreciate Muslims (real Muslims) participating in government actually working for change and improving their society.

I had a  discussion with some brothers on the effects of colonization on the Muslim World. They were comparing the few lands which underwent little to no occupation in the Muslim World to the rest of it. Alhumdulilah I finally had found level headed Muslims in Pakistan! Until this point I had only come across secularist extremists. Some who abandon the deen, and others who manipulate it or don’t do justice to it. i.e. the molvis in the masjid which have marginalized the purpose, function, and real vision of Islam. And have perverted its application to a set of rituals.

The next day, the 11th was Jummah. My stomach had gotten worse but I was looking forward to hearing the khutbah at the Brailvi Masjid (which is pretty bad)… In these last 2 days (Thursday and Friday) Pakistan was really reminding me of hell. Since all these pakis would be going to hell (JUST KIDDING). But the extreme heat was killing us. My mother forced me to stay where she was staying for a few nights. The place was horribly designed. I felt like I was suffocating to death. The only thing that helped me was knowing that inshallah I would be going home in 2 weeks. So when I go to Jummah my stomach is hurting, the heat is really extreme and its causing me to feel really sick. Then the Imam gives the khutbah (or Baiyan I should say) on the topics of the virtues of praying in the masjid, praying, and praying while wearing a Topee and never praying without a Topee. This is the masjid with the loaners. When he started making stuff up I started feeling sicker and angrier. He said if you pray in the masjid on time all your problems in this world will go away. Your business will thrive etc etc. Which is not true. Then he starts saying “What good is your prayer if you are not wearing a Topee?” His khutbah should have been entitled: “Namaz Paro, Topee Pano” which means make prayer and wear a Topee. I only believed the things which he said that I already knew and I discarded everything else. After Jummah I was feeling really sick, I walked with my cousin really far, we were looking for a cold bottle of 7 up. But we had to settle for Pepsi. Since it was Jummah everything was closed. Which was cool. Oh yeah the Imam would sing Hadith in Urdu! It was hilarious! Every time he would say something about the prophet he would sing it! So funny, man it was scary when the entire crowded masjid would do the thing with the kissing of the hands and rubbing of the eye brows during the adhaan. I was complaining to my cousin about the khutbah saying how these molvis just want people to come pray at the masjid. They think that is Islam. The masajid there are only used for prayer and for nothing else. There is no such thing as a Muslim community here, because the people think they are already living in an Islamic State, which is ridiculous. Any Islamic parties or Jamaahs here are branded as sects or as political nuisances. The sects part is true. But I think that the non-sectarian Islamic Jamaahs get a really bad rap because of the common molvis in the corner masjids which have nothing to do with them. Also politics are seen as being dirty and un-islamic. So an “Islamic Party” seems oxymoronic to these people. Then again only 40% of them are literate. The common person here has issues with or misconceptions of the Islamic Work that is taking place in the country. The more educated people are, the better their understanding is of Islam, which makes so much sense since this religion revolved around ilm. I hate to “sound Salafi” but the more these people blindly follow the more lost they are from their true purpose of creation.

After Jummah the brother from the print shop picked me up and took me to eat lunch where I had a discussion with some good Muslim Youth. Every conscious Muslim that I met in Pakistan had the same question for me. They wanted to know how it was possible for Muslims in America to propagate Islam without being persecuted. The reason they asked this question is because from observing our Foreign Policy they came to the conclusion that our country hates Islam and wants to eradicate it from the globe. So based on this perception they were almost shocked to know that Muslims are openly propagating Islam and are building their own communities in America. I explained to them that although we do feel that our community is being unfairly targeted by individuals with certain agendas against us. Overall in society we have our place and have our freedom to practice and even spread our religion. I hope this would help to lessen their Anti-American sentiments and give them a more realistic view of how things work in the West. This must have been the best day of my trip.

I also learned that there was a historical conflict (over the past 20 years) in the city of Karachi where Muslim Student Organizations clashed with a certain organized street gang/political group called MQM/APMSO. The street gang had resorted to using violence and killing people. The Media blamed the Muslim Student groups as well for fueling the conflict. Due to this Muslim Student Groups had this really bad rep (which won’t go away) and had to work really hard to fix their public image by doing solid community based Islamic Work i.e. creating Children’s Islamic Magazines, and offering classes in computer technology.

When I got back to where I was staying that night I was all happy till I saw that the Jamaati hating Auntie had come over. She immediately went off again. She was like “All these Jamaatis have cable at home” (as if having cable is haram- besides who knows how true that even is). And she starts her ranting and raving. So this time I start arguing with her and start shutting her down. I asked the auntie if she had read any “Jamaati” literature and if she ever found anything wrong in it. She said “No”. So then I was done arguing.

The next day (the 12th) was the wedding day. I went to my uncle’s house and napped for most of the day. I was staying at my cousin’s house on the night before it was so hot that I slept on the roof. The next morning my father and I went out trying to find bananas. Since Pakistanis have such a hard time sleeping due to extreme heat their businesses do not open till 11 AM. Plus when the electricity goes out (which is every few hours) the ceiling fans don’t work. I hear Saudi is worse than this (somehow). I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a harsh climate before. Later on we go back out to search for bananas again. But first I go to get a haircut. There is this guy who has a make shift barber shop under a tree. He had his wires for his trimmer wrapped around tree branches. When he was trimming my beard I had to lean back on this chair which was really uncomfortable. There were flies all over the place since there were people selling fruit not too far from there. Then we bought bananas and headed for my uncle’s house. On the way we had to walk through this street which I call “the garbage street”. I felt like I was walking in a landfill. Just thinking about how low the standard of living was… I was becoming sick. My father ate a banana and tossed the peel into the street. I became really angry and I started going off on him (without raising my voice or being rude). He tried to justify it by saying he wasn’t adding to the problem because it couldn’t get any worse. I told him he had just made it worse. I used to think NYC was really filthy. But now I know what filth is. All I was thinking is “cleanliness is a part of Imaan” and these people criticize the West but the West would be more suitable for the actual inculcation of Imaan. Sure we have adhaan on loud speakers and people wear beards, turbans, and Topees. But where is the true essence of the deen? Why isn’t it reflected in the streets? Why is it confined to the masajid? Why do these people expect the government to clean up after their mess? Sure they need a better sanitation system but don’t they realize that the are making themselves sick by littering like this? The issue of air pollution maybe beyond the individual but the issue of litter is absolutely not. Haven’t these people heard of garbage cans? Even in their homes they might have like one small basket in a huge house. There are no garbage cans on the streets. Do these people think that this type of waste will evaporate? In some respects these people are medieval.

Finally the wedding. It was scheduled to happen at 8 PM but people were not expected to enter until 11 PM!! The groom did not get there till about 12! Dinner was at like 1 AM! And the photo shoots took another 2 hours! When people talk about Desi Standard Time I thought that it was a stereotype, it definitely is not. People don’t even come to their offices on time. We had this molvi do the nikkah khutbah, he said if his picture was taken or if the cameramen pointed their cameras at him he would run away. I thought he was nuts. It’s good that he is firm on his beliefs but he needs to wake up. These anti-technology molvis are living in the past. No object is halal or haraam it’s the usage that needs to be look at. I wonder what they think of Quran TV. Oh yeah I forgot cable is haram, so Quran TV must be haram by default.

I realized that in America the Desi Muslim community is no longer hanafi (in the Pakistani hanafi purest sense). Since many of these people blindly follow, they were just following what was happening in their masajid oversees. Now they follow what they see in their masajid in America. In America since we have a mesh of the various schools of thought we have a pretty assimilated application of fiqh. What’s being implemented in all the masajid is various fiqh. So Muslim see Muslim do. Quite frankly from being here I now know for sure I am not a hanafi and Pakistani-hanafi application  is very irritating to me. Reason being that priorities are given to all the wrong things i.e. the Topee. Imam Abu Hanifah was so dynamic. He was a scholar of Ahlul Ray. He always analyzed issues before forming judgments. His example is rejected in his own name over here! Its time for Zuhr now. So I need to be out soon.

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

[img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/34.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/35.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/36.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/37.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/38.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/39.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/40.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/41.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/42.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/43.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/44.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/45.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/46.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/47.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/48.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/49.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/50.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/51.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/52.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/53.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/54.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/55.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/56.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/57.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/58.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/59.jpg width=100 height=100]

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

This is the fifth journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/9/2004

Last night we had a cultural wedding ritual called a Mayo it’s a pre-mehndi mehndi. I bet this was copied from the Hindus. Why can’t people be content with fulfilling the sunnah. Anyways I slept for a lot of yesterday. After Maghrib I was sent to my cousin’s house to pick up my clothes for this event. That was after Maghrib. This event did not start till like 11 at night! Then we wonder why desis in America are always late. They all purposefully did not leave their homes till about 10:30! Which is nuts (for me at least). I also went with my uncle to pick up “cold drinks” which essentially means Pepsi and 7up bottles in crates. We had to buy ice off of the streets. We purchased a slab of ice form this guy for like 100 rupees which is like 2 dollars. This crazy tent was setup for the event right in front of my uncle’s house (fathers cousin). These guys came to make the food on the spot! They made these Kababs on a grill and this team of two make these 3 feet long (in diameter) fried rotis (parratas). I took some pictures of that. The Kebabs were pretty undercooked no one liked it. But the roti was banging. All the kids were dying for second soda bottles. I used my privileges to get mine while all the little kids got yelled at hehe. I met a bunch of my third cousins. My father introduced me to their mother as a “Jamaati” (Which I am not, Although I do support their work). Anyways this lady starts going off on “Jamaatis” saying how they are hypocrites and she hates them. I was like “okay great”. And she kept going on and on. They really need to work on their public image here.

Yesterday I watched something called Q-TV which is Quran TV which is done by this company called ARY which has a few channels which it has started. So on QTV they had this Alim taking questions live. Someone called and asked about the different schools of thought (the 4 imams specifically) he wanted to know which ones we should follow. I don’t think the vast majority of Pakistanis even know who they are, so I was happy that this question was being asked. He gave an excellent answer explaining that all these imams were part of ahlus sunnah wal jammah and that they had different opinions in fiqh and not in aqeedah. He went on to say so you can do taqleed to ay of them. Then he pissed me off by saying “but we should follow Imam Abu Hanifah because he was the best and closest of them to Quran and Sunnah, he was Imam-e-Azam” He killed his answer.. And tossed his personal opinion in there and didn’t even say that it was his opinion. Any of the people watching WILL repeat what he said just like that. “We should follow Imam Abu Hanifah because he was the best”. And the funny thing is that I have actually heard people saying things like that. Yesterday I went to the masjid for a few prayers. At Zuhr time right when I was about to pray I looked up and realized that everyone was wearing a topee except for me… And I am like Yikes! They’ll kill me if they realize. So I leave the ranks searching for a loaner topee. But it was to no avail. So I thought okay let me see if I can find at least one other person not wearing a topee so if they want to come at me I can point at him and make a dash. After prayer everyone sits and waits to make dua. And the Imam MUST make dua out loud every single time. Again I don’t know if this is a Hanafi thing. So I knew no one would not make dua to just harass me. So before dua was over I bounced. I asked my father why he was not combining prayers since he would only be here for two weeks. One week in Lahore and one week in Karachi. And he was like “I think there’s more reward in praying at the set times”. I said “I don’t think so”. And he says “and I don’t want to leave my Sunnah Muaqada because its equal to fard prayers”. I wanted to say “you’re traveling!” But I already felt like I had pestered him enough and that I’d be annoying him if I wasn’t already. People here don’t know about combining prayers although they do know about Qasr (shortening prayers). So it must be a part of Hanafi Fiqh. Thank God I was raised in America with American Muslims (from all over). So I can both shorten and combine it. Even the normalized desis in America do this. Only the staunch Hanafis don’t. I wonder if stuff like this will be taught in the Al Maghrib Evolution of Fiqh Class. It’s so hard for me to explain to my cousins or uncles why I am not going to Asr because I prayed Asr wuth Zhur. To them it’s an abomination or something. And if they don’t know about something it’s automatically wrong, and not only is it wrong it’s also sinful.

I realized that secularism is instilled in these children from when they are really young. Someone had put my Qur’an on top of the TV set (It was the highest spot in the room) So my little cousin who is like 10 says “you can’t put the Quran on the TV that’s sinful” I said “why because you want to watch haraam on TV?” And he nods yes (they watch a lot of Indian movies with singing and dancing). So I said “so why don’t we hide the Qur’an, so then we can watch whatever we want on TV” I was basically saying that is what is already being done. People are concerned about the physical Kitab of the Quran witnessing their sins more than they are concerned about actually committing the sin. Also when I was getting my clothes from my cousins house all the kids were listening to Wedding Music and blasting it. So this one girl says “The Azaan!” So another kid runs to the radio trying to turn it off. Some can say this is a sign of respect, which it is. But if they really think what they are doing is wrong then why do they do it. They have Islamic channels and they have totally haraam channels. Why? So they can switch up according to their nafs. When they want to feel good about being Muslim they can watch some QTV. And when they want to be entertained they’ll watch Indian Movies or love songs or freemixtrous Paki Music videos. Most people here now have cable boxes/service which has about 90 channels. I asked my cousin if it’s regulated. He said the only thing which they take out is nudity/sex scenes from “English Movies” (American Movies). But when my cousins were channel surfing they showed Britney wearing one of her usual outfits performing. My point is that Islam here is such a side thing. It has nothing to do with anything. It is irrelevant to their actual lives outside of going to the masjid to pray. No masjid here has a women’s section. We should send all the “progressive Muslims” here so they can be taken care of. My aunt tried to justify why women shouldn’t go the masjid by saying the usual stuff. I didn’t even want to get into it with her. I did tell her than in America we have space for women in all of our masajid! And the progressive Muslims don’t think were making progress…ha. I’m sure it’s at the university level where this (type of thinking) is different.

One of my third cousins invited me to his house, but his mom was the one who said she hates “Jamaatis”. She had no idea about what she was talking about, but was yapping away anyways. I asked my father why he told her that I was a “Jamaati” and he said “who cares”. I told him people have a bad impression about these political Muslims, no matter how religious they are.

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

[img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/11.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/12.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/13.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/14.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/15.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/16.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/17.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/18.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/19.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/20.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/21.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/22.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/23.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/24.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/25.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/26.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/27.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/28.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/29.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/30.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/31.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/32.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/33.jpg width=100 height=100]

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

This is the fourth journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/8/2004

Okay So I missed a day, can you blame me? well I’ll fill you in anyways. So I left off before I came to Karachi, so I’ll start from there. As we were going to get our luggage there was a man in white uniform who was holding up a sign which had my fathers name as well as my grandmothers name on it. My father asked “Who sent you? So and So?” And I’m just thinking I don’t trust anyone! Why not let him say who sent him! In Pakistan especially in Karachi everyone is in constant fear of getting robbed at gun point. So this guy says “Yeah”. And then I see other men in white uniform who are treating us like VIP’s. The reason is because my grandmothers little brother is some big time air force guy. He was retired from the air force. Then he himself came in and they let us leave with the quickness. He wouldn’t let me carry my own bags and made the guy in uniform do it. At that moment I thought wow all these big time guys really use their power and influence (or at least accept the perks). Any public officer in any country should be a public servant. But sometimes what happens is the public becomes their servants. I’m not saying the guy is not a good guy, he’s really nice… but I call it like I see it.

As we exit the airport I meet my brother in law to be for the very first time. He’s wearing a baseball hat and dress shirt and pants.. that could only mean one thing: He’s Bald! So he takes a look at my shiner and says “And I thought I had hair loss problems” or something like that ha. Right off the bat I could tell that he had a good sense of humor. Upon observing his teeth I thought oh no this guy either drinks a lot of tea, chews tobacco or smokes or worse – all of the above. One thing that I noticed about Pakistanis is that the majority of them don’t give a damn about dental hygiene… well I would make the point about them not caring about hygiene in general but lets stick to this for now. In most bathrooms at peoples houses you can’t find toothpaste… and its not because they cant afford it.. They just don’t know how important it is. There should be a dental revolution here. It should be stressed in the educational system. A few of my cousins never brushed in their lives… I don’t think they will have any teeth left by the time they hit 50.

The first place where we went was my brother in law to be’s house. We met his parents they were seemed pretty nice. I liked most of his brothers. One just popped in for a minute and left. I thought that was kind of weird. But the other guys seemed really cool and hard working. The youngest was running an English learning institute for youth. Two others (twins) were running a gift shop.

After that we went to my cousins home where my sisters were staying. It was really cool reuniting with my family. It had been 5 months since I had seen my mother! My sister, (the one getting married) was really happy to see me (in Pakistan) ha. This reunion was just like the Brady Bunch reunion. Well not just like it… well maybe it was more like the Capone N Noreaga Reunion… No wait it was more like the Jetsons meet the Flintstones… since it felt like we came from the future (America) to the Stone Age (Pakistan). One of my sisters commented that Pakistan is like the 1920’s (in America).

My other sister pointed out to me that over here (Pakistan) the older people, the people in their midlife (40s-50s) were the most important people in the family. While in America as you became older you become more irrelevant. It was an interesting point… but the problem with it is that the young adults have less worth in this society. I could tell by how people talked to me as if I was an inexperienced little kid. I seriously thought my mother has been here for too long when she went through all my clothes and said “I will not let you wear this here”. She told me to button up my shirt because it’s considered “bad” here. So I said “No, I’m from America this is how I dress” why should I conform to their norms. They should get over these petty things. I don’t care if someone wants to judge me according to their false precepts. Anyways, I thought she was nuts for thinking she could tell me how to dress. She had been here for way too long. Maybe parents over there could dictate what their kids wear. I rebelled against that notion when I was in the third grade… I thought I had laid down the law, guess not. My mother didn’t like the watch we got for the bro-in-law-to-be. I told her that she had lost her taste…ha. We paid a decent amount for that thing dang nabbit.

I have to write about Karachi. Karachi is a crazy place. I could tell by the first time I sat in a car… it was even worse than Lahore. Unlike Lahore there were no animals on the main road including horses and donkeys. But it had tons of cars, motorcycles, rikshas, and funkdafied busses. These people barely stop at stop lights. They have no problem driving on the wrong side of a 2 way road. In fact they drive against traffic on the wrong side of a major 3-lane 2 way street (3 lanes on each side) Also there is no real concept of a lane. The only right a pedestrian has is the right to get the hell out of the way before he/she is killed. Cars will honk every 10 seconds. They expect motorcyclists to immediately clear their path if they are in front of them. I had always head that the bigger your vehicle is, the more command you have on the road… now I saw it in person. No one stops if a pedestrian pops out of nowhere on the streets, they keep going. I am surprised I haven’t seen anyone get hit yet. Although I did see a motorcyclist crash his bike and land in the middle of the road. I have seen a family of 5 sitting on one motorcycle, its ridiculous… and the way women sit is sideways, sometimes only holding the man riding by his shirt. Then again in Karachi there is so much traffic you can’t really go that fast (over 40). Although the busses go as fast as they want.

Yesterday morning, well yesterday afternoon I went to a masjid here for the first time. I was walking from where my father and I were staying to where my sisters were staying it’s a good 15 minute walk and stopped to pray at this masjid called masjid Bilal. There I was handed a loaner topee made of straw.. which I was required to wear unless I wanted to be killed, or at least lectured, well at most banned from the masjid. I wish I could tell them… “You guys are hanafis and you don’t even know it!” I inspected the straw hat for lice before I put it on. In this masjid I noticed that when Rasulullah (S) is mentioned even in the adhaan or Iqamah these people kiss their fists, rub their eyebrows, and then kiss their fists again. They all did it suddenly and in sync… and the guy next to me noticed that I didn’t do it. Then this dude starts staring at me. And I am like OH MY GOD what’s going to happen next. I had always been warned to do as the natives do in the masjid… or else who knows what they will think or do to you. Especially in a place like Karachi where there is so much sectarian violence. What if they thought I was shia. There were a lot of Hari Pugurs (Green Turban wearers) present. They hate shias with a passion and have declared them kuffar and think they should be killed. So I just got out of there. One thing I noticed is that these bida doers always talk about this silsila nonsense. They say that they are only following alim-e-deen of the past. Now I know why these Salafis are so against blind following… because as Brother Musa Bryant once wisely said “Shrik happens”. The masjid itself was very nice though. I was very careful about not making massa on my socks because I know Pakis don’t understand that. I don’t know if it’s just hanafi fiqh or what. Its not like I could ask anyone here… they’d just give blanketh reference to the alim-e-deen whose silsila they have been following for so many years. Alim-e-deen who these people can’t even identify. I asked my elder cousin who is like 40 about all this bida stuff and he simply said it’s due to their not being any real people of knowledge around, then of course because of widespread misinformation aka silsila followers just copying each others actions. Also I realized that these people have a very strange figure head mentality of Islamic leadership. They want a molvi to lead them. The person MUST visually fit the bill. He must have a long beard, the older he is the better, or more sound his knowledge is. And as he becomes older his knowledge becomes even more authentic. And we know in Islam this is totally false. Look at the example of Hadrat Ali (r) who was younger than most but had a better understanding than most. I don’t think these people will ever get it. Why should any youth come to them, its much better if they stay away. Then again the majority of this country’s citizens are illiterate, but still in the biggest city you would expect more… but I guess it takes time for change to occur.

I went to an internet café here, it really sucked it was slow as hell, and I couldn’t access my AOL e-mail from it. The water here is supposedly really bad. So I was avoiding drinking it. I was only drinking bottled water that I bought from the store. That plan lasted for like a day. Then my relatives made me “say bismillah” and just drink the tap water. Since then I have experienced some headaches and some mushy goo.

Today is my sister’s mendhi. I hate this cultural crap. All the girls at my cousin’s house have been singing wedding songs and have been listening to music like crazy for the past few days. Which is okay, but I still don’t personally take a liking to it. I am much more pleased to see Wham Bam thank you I’mam nikkah ceremonies (simple) followed by a big waleema. Although I don’t think even my wedding could be small in terms of guests because I would invite EVERYONE. All of YM would definitely have to be there.

Yesterday I went to Tariq Road with my cousin and his wife. It was really cool because they are so chill. We first got me some dress shoes. Got real nice dress shoes for like 35 US. My cousin did a really good job at bargaining. It was funny because all the store owners would say “You can check all the stores on this road, I guarantee my price is the best”. And my cousin would say “Yeah, sure I will check all the stores prices, but I would rather be your customer, and don’t you want me to be your customer?” Then the numbers game would begin. His wife did a good job of saying “that’s way too much” every time any price would initially be thrown out there. The name of the game is making the person come down as low as possible even if you are already getting a good deal. It was really awkward for me because I still can’t count past 13 in Urdu. So I couldn’t understand the prices. My cousin would just whisper to me telling me “it’s too expensive”.

The scene at Tariq Road is so interesting. There are so many kids out there hustling, selling one thing or another. First you have your street vendors selling all sorts of funky snacks. Then you have your beggars walking around with their kids. Then you have people selling things like popcorn on a string to cotton candy, toy snakes, flutes, newspapers, you name it. The shops were the most interesting. The vast majority of the stores were shoe stores and women’s garment stores. It would be heaven (astughfirullah) for girls from America. Thank god there were no American girls with us. Back to the hustlers… You would find stores within stores. People had makeshift storefronts which would really be merchandise stacked on top of each other. There were many little kids running these operations. Some people even would pull their cars up the shopping strip, lay out a cloth over their car and then stack up their merchandise on top of it. I saw this person make a sale of this women’s shoe, he tossed it to his friend and he ran to another store to get the shoe in the right size. There were so many people running so many types of scams/gimmicks. I couldn’t help but think that the beggars here have No excuse. If a little kid can setup shop, why cant they? And these kids were making money! Even if they were selling cheap stuff. Because everyone needs something (supply/demand). It was sad to see so many youth smoking. And you could tell who the drug abusers were. Over here kids all hang out on their block s late at night. They sit outside because it’s just so hot (inside) and they just chat till late night. At the stores during closing time heavily armed policemen would be all over the place. Especially since people would take money out and head home. It’s really dangerous here for anyone who transports cash. They need some armored truck services. I have heard so many stories of people getting stuck up for their families jewelry and cash. When you drive around you see people staring at you, people here have a staring problem. But you have to wonder who is sizing you up to be their next victim. These guys will go fully armed into people’s homes. The police is said to be easily bought off over here. In fact they are known for that. In Lahore I saw a lot of army personnel, those guys are no joke.

Finally I must say I noticed something really strange about the women here. In Lahore I barely saw Hijabis there. In Karachi I saw both hijabis and what I call Burqabis (niqab included). But the strangest thing I saw was drop top Burqabis… sisters wearing burqa without hijab! This was very perplexing for me. Where are the priorities! You wear one long dark black cloth which is something extra to what’s fard because you think it’s the best way to cover okay fine… but how can you neglect what’s mandatory and do what’s not even mandatory and what’s not even recommended or prescribed but is just something which has culturally been adopted! Women wearing burqa and niqab in the context of the Pakistani market place is totally understandable. All of the shop keepers and street hustlers are men, young men who don’t marry till a very late age. And they call every sister who comes to shop “Baji” or “Appa” which means big sister. My sister really hates it because they harass you, trying to get you to buy stuff. In this context, especially if a woman is alone, Burqa and niqab makes sense. But this is where America and a place like Pakistan seem to be parts of two different worlds. In places like malls or department stores more women are the workers, and men are actually barely present. It’s kind of strange how sex based segregation helps to create this environment. Women are essentially banned from having any sales positions. I have seen some women driving… but have yet to see one riding a motorcycle… Judging by how women sit on motorcycles I guess it’s considered improper for women to sit in the position that men would sit in. Another funny thing happened. When we were leaving Tariq Road we got on this bus. I had to jump on to this moving bus. First I was getting on from the front and the driver started yelling at me. The reason was that only women sat in the front and there was a physical barrier between the sweaty crowded men’s section. As you can see a lot has happened in the last day or so. Till next time Peace.

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

[img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/07.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/08.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/09.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/10.jpg width=100 height=100]

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

This is the third journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/7/2004

Once again I find myself on a plane. This time I’m heading for Karachi after having spent about 12 hours in Lahore. Last night there was a sandstorm in Lahore which prompted the pilot of our original plane to reroute to Islamabad. In Islamabad we spent a few gruesome hours sitting on the runway. It was so hot that I literally felt like I was being suffocated. It was 24 degrees Celsius outside at the time and for some reason there was no AC running in the (cramped) economy size section of the plane. When we did arrive I witnessed some very intriguing scenes. The first was waiting for our luggage at baggage claim. It took about 2 hours before our bags actually came out. It seemed as if they were adding a new bag every 10 minutes. What happened next was very interesting. Once you get your bags you have to run them through some screening machines. When you first get to baggage claim there are a bunch of men wearing sky blue shirts with ID numbers on the back. My father warned me not to accept anyone’s help if asked. So these guys basically help people get their luggage and get tips in return. I’m assuming that they were regulated thus the uniforms… So anyways when we were leaving baggage claims to get our bags/luggage screened these “bag carriers” who had like 20 pieces of luggage cut the line. This caused my father to get pissed and he started yelling at the main culprit. He was a young guy, he tried to respectfully lie and say he was already in line. My father got even more pissed. I had to calm him down. I told him don’t beef just make sure we get next. The guy got so scared he wanted to let us skip him. Ha… Then I looked back and I saw this man who was using the services of these “bag carriers” verbally abuse them. He was cursing them out in English, and then switched up to Urdu and a little bit of Punjabi. The bag carrier was simply pleading his case… but the man said “You don’t know who I am!” which caused one of the bag carriers to grab his (own) uniform and say “this is why you are insulting me!”. He was implying that because he was doing a menial job and obviously is NOTHING in society he was being humiliated. I found this to be very gripping. In a country which is trying to somehow break out of third world status, which has some of the worlds most brilliant minds… you find donkeys on the streets!

So it was Fajr time and my uncle spotted us outside. We prayed at the airport in a corner… No designated prayer areas in “The Islamic Republic of Pakistan”’s airports. I was surprised to see that the airport was in really good shape. They employed the usage of marble quite nicely. When I looked around I couldn’t help but notice the billboards. One read “Changing Lifestyles” and it had a man sitting on the corner of a bed while a very pretty (or so she seemed to be/was supposed to be) woman sitting on the bed. She was wearing some fancy clothes… Maybe the Ad was about bed sheets or perhaps I dunno cell phones? This reminded me about the paki girls without haya who I mentioned earlier. And I was noticing that the air-hostesses on this flight, oh and the last one too were all wearing makeup, had their hair out, and all were fair-skinned. I wonder what kind of Paki Bimbo training centers are needed to produce such quality workers. Oh yeah all of them are also unwed and are less than 30 years of age. Hmn… could this be a trend of some sort? That’s enough about PIA for now. Oh wait a minute.. last night in Islamabad when the native paindoos became restless they (the PIA staff) threw on some Music Videos.. in order to pacify them (us). All the videos featured these desi rock stars with class and attitude, each one had long hair, played the guitar and had a soft yet smooth singing voice. Each video revolved around one girl. With long hair, caked up in makeup, had a pretty face (or a face that young girls and guys would find to be pretty). She would be skimpily dressed, but not to the degree where even the most religious molvi in the plane would throw a tirade… well maybe even they have gotten used to it by now.

So last night my uncle and one of my cousins Asif, who is really cool came to get us. Asif is the only person from Pakistan who I actually like to chat with online. Maybe its because we have something big in common. He eats, breaths, and sleeps CODE. We had some high level nerdy discussions about Quality Testing Web Applications. It took us about half an our to get to their house. The effects of the storm were obvious; there were whole trees and billboards which had fallen onto the streets. Upon arriving at their house I first met my grandmother who I hadn’t seen since 1991, and then my grandfather who helped me “read the entire Qur’an”, what desis call doing an Ameen. He is now 94 years old, he couldn’t even remember my name… even though he spent years living with us. His body had become so brittle and the once energetic tableeqi was now confined to his bed from which he spat into a bucket, and he also urinated from there (still haven’t figured out how). His memory faded in and out. I was trying to remind him about the time he spent with us. My father had met him a few minutes before I did and he didn’t even remember meeting him. I had a really good time at their house. My uncle got into long discussions with me about America’s imperialistic ways, extremism, Jihad, and other stuff. His kids were really nice and fun to play with. I really tried to address any of their anti-American views… like one of my uncles asked me “do Americans feel happy about what they are doing to the world?” And I had to explain to him that our country has been taken over by neoconservatives and that many Americans want them out and are protesting against them, and they protested most of their military actions. He was surprised to hear that… this lead us into a long discussion about the weaknesses of the Ummah. Over lunch a discussion on Darwinism had started, in the middle of it the younger of my two uncles said… “Tell me about Wrestling”. He was asking “what’s up with it?” So I thought he wanted to either know if its real or not or he wanted to know its role in American life. So I started answering the first question. It was hilarious because his question came straight out of left field, we were talking about Darwinism! Then he started commenting on Hogan’s comeback. Then the entire family became involved in the discussion. Professional wrestling may be the most viewed American programming in Pakistan. Well maybe second to cartoons like Tom and Jerry. I saw sesame street in Urdu, that was pretty freaky. Now the plane is declining and we are coming closer to reaching our destination of Karachi. Asif explained to me that the Sunni/Shia clashes were just one example of how quickly something can spread in Karachi. He explained that since there are so many “bad people” there, even though the city is so huge… one bad group of people will mimic another’s actions, next thing you know it will be all over the place. I’ve yet to go to a masjid, my grandfather forced us to pray with him. Since he was a tableeqi he loved praying in Jamaah. The only way he could do that is if we accompanied him. Asif actually told me that he never lets them go to the masjid. If he does he gets mad at him. Oh yeah my younger uncle when I told him about Brock Lesnar leaving WWE, he was like “He is my enemy!”. I was like… what the hell… this guy is really into it!

Pictures from this segment of the trip:

[img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/01.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/02.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/03.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/04.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/05.jpg width=100 height=100] [img=http://www.azeemkhan.info/images/pakistan/06.jpg width=100 height=100]

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This is the first journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/5/2004

Third World here I come (sitting on the plane) I can smell the salan already. Actually that’s the aroma of our dinner to be. I can’t believe this plane is hot and stinky. But I should be more patient. I’ve started complaining already. So why am I writing this anyway? Maybe it’s because I’ll be away from the discussion board for three weeks. Or perhaps it’s because I don’t have a laptop to play with. This trip has started off on a very interesting note. My father’s name has somehow magically ended up matching ‘some’ terrorists name. His name is “Mohammad Khan” perhaps one of the most common names in the entire world. One of the port authority police officers suggested that he change his name… Hey maybe I am keeping this journal because I fear that I will somehow lose my precious English linguistic skills. The last time I went over there was when I was 11. When I came back it was the first day of school and I was trying to speak to my friend and for some reason I could not communicate. When I opened my mouth nothing but Urdu would come out. And in my head I was thinking (in English) something is Wrong!!! It’s like I was in the twilight zone. He was just confused and kept saying “What are you saying?” I am thinking that I should set some goals for this trip. This is my first vacation away from work, and also away from the day to day affairs of YM. These last few weeks have served as a crash course in how to run YM’s finances. About four brothers were walked through the entire process. Inshallah everything should go just fine. So what are my goals? I do have a Qur’an that goes from Surah 30 to Surah 114 so I can revise all the surahs that I know. I have an XML book which I was looking forward to completing. I also have a business 2.0 magazine. I also saw some Newsweek magazines sitting in the newspaper rack… I wonder if they are outdated. Oh cool they have a Qur’an channel (Audio) Oh, it’s with Urdu translation… interesting

Goals for the trip
1.    Meet with new brother in law, get to know him, spend as much time with him as possible. I wonder if I can get buddy buddy with him.

Pirates of the Caribbean is playing haha my dad is listening to the Quran channel but he’s watching pirates of the Carribean on my screen… haha… if he wants to watch it he can put it on on his screen and listen to it too… ha…. Okay back to goals..

2.    Memorize or re-memorize 6 surahs which I am shaky on…
Dinner Time…

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This is the second journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/6/2004

The sun rises quickly when traveling to the east. I just re-boarded the plane in Manchester, UK. I just can not stand that snooty British accent. Some people think its cool… maybe it is… only with actors in movies, like that guy in transporter. I met a brother who is studying (doing his PhD) at Michigan State. He was surprised at how good my Urdu was. He told me that he couldn’t wait to get home, and have some desi food. That’s interesting because I am dreading having to eat desi food for 3 weeks in a row! I was also thinking if it was up to me, I would never eat it again. Maybe that’s extreme to say, and for Pakistanis it may even be shocking to hear, but I really prefer other food, especially Italian, Afghani etc. over desi food. What is it about that Masala which drives these people to madness? Aside from the food issue I’ve been thinking a lot about the issue of nationality and citizenship. I know exactly how I feel about America… but how do I feel about Pakistan? I don’t know, it’s a confusing subject for me. Just while waiting to re-board the plane I couldn’t help but notice a few tendencies amongst these Pakistani women, especially the teens and young people. You could see that the “Americanized” girls who had streaks in their hair and wore tight jeans etc. And then there’s the cultural girls with their hair out, caked up in makeup wearing short sleeve Kamezes and shiny clothing… The effects of secularism could clearly be recognized… I understand that there is a very strong culture of Pakistani fashion which dominates the psyche of these young girls. And perhaps there is a huge lacking of Islamic Education (covering complete aurah, not wearing scent in public…) Also Islam is not the main concern on these people’s minds. It may sound judgmental but it’s true.

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