Adil Najam
This picture is interesting at so many levels.
The official caption reads: “Pakistanplayers pray after winning the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009 round two group stage match between Sri Lanka and Pakistanat Manuka Oval on March 9, 2009 in Canberra, Australia.”
What should one comment on? The achievement of the Pakistan women’s cricket (we have written earlier about Urooj Mumtaz Khan, who was again instrumental in this victory). The significance of the women’s team’s achievement when the men’s team is in doldrums. The fact that this was against Sri Lanka, given the horrible incidents of last week. Or just the gesture of gratitude and prayer (and whether this was synchronized for the cameras or spontaneous!).
I will leave the commenting to our readers.
I put this up, because seeing the picture I felt good at the news. Felt good for our womens’ team. And felt good that at least there is some hope for Pakistan cricket. Most of all, because I think its a great picture.
@Usman Khan
For some mysterious reason, even the admittedly high quality of the exchange between you and Nostalgic left me with the feeling of a rather well-fed goose sometime around All Saints’ Day; an increase in tension and blood pressure, with no clear-cut reason for it. It took more than one reading of your post to realise why:
//Quote//You will find that whenever Muslims have been strong and prosperous, they’ve been less worried about outward and rhetorical religious symbolism. They’ve produced world leading thinkers, scientists and progressive societies and developed rich and vibrant cultures. Realised their religion and spirituality in its true sense without feeling any absurd need to wave it around. They’ve put the guidance in to practical use, instead.
Whenever muslims have faced reverses, failure and a crisis of self-confidence, they’ve ultimately tried to find refuge in hiding behind a bloated, exaggerated rhetoric and facade of religion.//Unquote//
Hmm. Now we definitely don’t want any of this bloated exaggerated rhetoric and facade of religion business floating around, do we? But the bits about world leading thinkers and scientists and progressive societies and rich and vibrant cultures sounds all right, doesn’t it?
That settles it, then.
I think it was some England skipper who was asked about football, and he replied,”It’s a game where two sides play for 90 minutes, and then the Germans win.”
There’s no other explanation for it. You just have to be a football fan.
Great picture!
I have read the points being discussed here and agree to most of what readers are saying.
Bottom line: Islamism will destroy Pakistan, Islam will save Pakistan. Take your pick!
Yes, which is why I mentioned the eras they were in power too… hadn’t heard of the Holy Roman Emperor you mentioned… thanks… I’m off to Wikipedia… :)
Thanks adeel!
By the way, Usman’s mention of Baitullah and Fazlullah made me realize that there probably aren’t two more inappropriately named men around, especially Fazlullah… the Lord probably has a great sense of irony to go with His sense of humor…
@Nostalgic
I can’t help pointing out that the great personalities in question were probably allowed to flourish by the spirit of the times they lived in. They might have been as great, but constricted by their society and the state of the world in general.
Consider Frederick II Hohenstaufen, ’stupor mundi’, Holy Roman Emperor with Arab ministers and advisers, who was one of the very few European crusaders who won concessions and victories purely by negotiation. He was excommunicated for setting out on the crusade, and excommunicated again for negotiating with his foes instead of killing them. What might he not have achieved without two strong Popes as his implacable enemies?
Interesting comments, could it be that these ladies are bowing down to let the some of their fellow countryMEN know that “We too are good muslims and please don’t brand us a bunch of westernized, free thinking, secular women who pounce on any chance of running around like men playing a man’s sport dressed in unislamic clothing”
I am not sure what to make of this picture. I guess if the girls really do want to display their gratitude like this, it is their choice.
A wise man once said that the best form of service to God was not to make a show of it. One could infer that more subtle forms of showing thankfulness are desirous as Allah does not need to actually see us prostrate to accept it. By the way, the wise man’s name is Ali (r.a).
On the other hand, if the girls are saying one of their daily prayers, I guess a mosque or a prayer room is more suited for it than a cricket pitch - unless it was hot inside!
Great conversation between Usman Khan and Nostalgic, by the way. You guys explored so much that was absent in the original post without fighting over it (!), which makes me wonder if Prof. Najam deliberately left it out knowing full well that some of us will pick up these angles in the comments.
Yes, Akbar and Jinnah were special, in very different ways. Yet Akbar had a forerunner in Sher Shah, and Jinnah in Sir Syed. Again, in very different ways. In Jinnah’s case, especially, he took an idea still at its formative stages, and, single handedly, turned it in to a fully fledged reality. It’s not his fault that we, his successors, reversed it. Jinnah, encouraged by what Sir Syed had started, defied the prevailing crisis of confidence. We need someone who can do that today. Otherwise, we’ll see capitualtion after capitulation to the likes of Fazlullah and Baitullah.
Excellent points Usman… the only issue I have is that in the cases of Akbar vs. Aurangzeb and Jinnah vs. Zia, the persona and the intellectual makeup of the man in question had a big role to play in addition to the eras they were variously in p0wer… but I agree with your general premise… it definitely has a role to play in our current obsession with ritualism…