Salaat-ul-istisqa, or, as us desis would put it, namaz-e-istisqa, which is the prayer for rain, was offered on the green belt between sectors G-10 and G-11 yesterday morning. It was a fairly small gathering. May Allah accept their prayers and give Pakistan the much needed rain. May Allah accept their prayers and give Islooites lots of snowfall in Murree,.
Traffic Signal: Smashed or Perhaps Thrashed Too
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Not that the lovely Islamabad folk bother to go see the snow. Last I went to see the snowfall , I literally only saw a couple of Islamabad cars. It was all Lahore, Gujranwala and Sialkot lads with their shirts off dancing as it snowed.
Prayers for rain !! When will we come out of 7th century and start living in 21st century ???? The only good news about this is that the gathering was fairly small.
@Kabir Das. You have attacked the beliefs of another faith. in America, where people live in the 21st century, you could be convicted and imprisoned. :)
May it rain soon .. prayers for my dear Isloo and pakistan :)
@kabirdas: matters of faith and religion are not tales of 7th century… we need Allah’s will in every deed .. or dont we?
To my knowledge, there are more believers than atheists in the 21st century
@ AnonymousDesi
Sir, can you give me one good reason why can’t or why shouldn’t we discuss the beliefs of a faith. Do you mean to say that we should also not criticize or discuss the beliefs of the Taliban.
I think no religion should have any special status and above criticism. We should be able to discuss it like we can discuss government policies, manefestos of political parties and conduct of public figures.
You are wrong about America. In America there is freedom of speech plus they don’t have blesphemy laws like us.
@ A for (pine)Apple
” matters of faith and religion are not tales of 7th century… ”
You are right. They are tales of few centuries BC.
“we need Allah’s will in every deed .. or dont we?”
No ma’am sorry to say we don’t. Allah has laid down the laws once for all which govern the running of this universe and everything that is in it.
@ Sufiblade
You are right but the situation is now changing with the spread of scientific knowledge.
If Allah’s will is prevalent in every deed then why are the infidels born infidels? Are they made infidels on purpose because there is class/regional bias?!
And Kabir Das, you are right, the spread of scientific knowledge has in fact taken the irons to religion. Not just Islam, every religion. To think that tantamount evidence has been found on the fact that Darwins theory of evolution through natural selection was in fact a fact so to speak.
But yes, all our nation can do in times like these is pray. Because they are useless to do anything else?… Why doesn’t our nation realize that Pakistan is going to be the 6th greatest hit country by climate change? Yet the Copenhagen conference was not even paid any heed?
Sad I ask you, maybe Mufti Mujibur Rehman thought it’d be better to pray that Global warming doesn’t take place and that in the future if they go to someones house their mithais are scanned to prevent further embarrassment.
@ hashriani
Sir, I just finished second reading of Richard Dawkins book ‘The God Delusion’. You must read it. You would love it. I have now started readig his latest book, ‘The Greatist Show on Earth’. This is about the evidence of evolution. I have read 7 of his 9 books, all about evlution. You must read him if you have not done so already.
I have read the blind watchmaker, the God delusion, and like you I am on the greatest show on earth too :).. Amazing books.
Hey @Kabir Das long time no see. Good to hear from you. But I am afraid that you are preaching to a crowd that is reluctant to use the faculties of the brain that separate humans from the rest of the living beings on this planet.
That aside, since we are now talking of Books, I finally read:
Three Cups of Tea
By Greg mortenson
http://www.threecupsoftea.com/
I picked this book up and put it back on the book store shelf on a number of occasions, finally I bought it during holiday season and since then found it hard to put it down. If you have not read it, then its a MUST MUST read. After a very long time I read something that boosted my pride as a Pakistani, at the same time, “that Man’s” greatness put me to shame and my eyes watered while going through certain passages.
“If Allah’s will is prevalent in every deed then why are the infidels born infidels? Are they made infidels on purpose because there is class/regional bias?!”
Yes they are born in an infidel family (not infidels as u say),and at the same time Allah gives them ‘faculty of the brain’ so that they can think, seek and discover the truth when they grow up.
Right and when they DO discover the truth and find out that it’s all a bunch of hoo hoo laa laa, they are called apostates and are to be killed by stoning?!
Bohat alla.
What truth? Faith is a fire in the heart, like poetry. You cannot prove God, just as you cannot prove his absence. Also, to be fair, you need to look at more documentaries that scientifically show the possibility of existence of a higher being. Cheers and don’t fight
The existence of a higher being has been debated a lot. A lot of documentaries made by creationists in fact tell this. BUT, wouldn’t you agree, if man is as complex as we say he is, and that there is NO chance that it could have just evolved out of nowhere and that man was created by a higher being. Then a complex human created by a complex being, doesn’t that raise the question of who created the complex being who created the complex human?!
Bravo hashriani! way to go man!
@sufiblade. I myself am an unbeliver but am not against those who believe. I am just against those ( unlike you) who are self righteous, close minded and not open to argument. You have the word “sufi” in your nick and I love the Sufi philosophy of “God is within” and its all love. No surprises when sufi’s are termed as heretics by the self righteous crowd.This philosophy derives its roots from ancient antiquities, indeed “Christos” has been around way before the legend of “Christ” itself.
@ Hashriani
” —when they DO discover the truth —-they are called apostates and are to be killed by stoning?!”
Well put sir. The truth must not only be found out but spoken as well without fear and favour.
@ A for (Pine) Apple
At this very moment I am waiting for the CDA bowser to supply some water. What has been the response of God to your prayers for rain. Is he prepared to change his laws for his chosen people or not?
By the way are there some special prayers for the power supply also which you may invoke to provide us some relief on this account.
I am now suffering so much because of the shortage of water that I pray for your being right and my Guru Bertrand Russell being wrong who said in ‘Impact of Science on Society’ as follows:
Quote.
It is not by prayers and humility that you cause things to go as you wish, but by acquiring knowledge of natural laws. The power you acquire in this way is much greater and more reliable than that was formely supposed to be acquired by prayer, because you never could tell whether your prayers would be favourably heard in Heaven. The power of prayer, moreover, had recognised limits; it would have been impious to ask too much. But the power of science has no known limits. We were told that faith could move mountains, but no one believed it; we ar now told that atomic bomb can move mountains,and every one believes it.
Unquote.
Please keep on praying.
Bertrand Russell said a lot of stuff that made a lot of sense.
I quote from Karl Sagan:
“Interestingly as science advances, there seems to be less and less for God to do. Evolving in front of our eyes is the God of the Gaps; that is, whatever we cannot explain is attributed to God. And then after a while, we explain it, and so that’s no longer God’s realm. The theologians give that one up, and it walks over onto the science side of the duty roster.
God has been evolving to a do nothing king, who gets the universe going, establishes the laws of nature, and then retires and goes somewhere else”
Well said.
And to quote one of our own:
Hum ko maloom hey jannat ki haqiqat lekin
Dil ke bhelaney ko Ghalib, ye khiyaal achaa hey
Interestingly our society was much more tolerant centuries ago.
@ Kaami
Sometimes I feel sorry for the God of the gaps. I really do:-)
It may be relevent to quote Richard Dawkins from his book THE GOD DELUSION in this context as follows:
Quote.
The dictionary supplied with microsoft Word defines a deluson as a ‘persistent’false belief held in the face of trong contradictory evdence, specially as a symptom of a psychiatric dsorder.’ The first part captures religious faith perfectly. As to whether it is a symptom of a psychiatric disorder, I am inclind to follow Robert M. Pirsig, author of ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE:
‘Whe oe person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. Whe many people suffer from a delusion it is called Relgion.’
Unquote.
I feel sorry for the God of the Gaps because the gaps shrink as science advances, and God is threatened with eventually having nothing to do and nowhere to hide like an IDP. I also feel sorry for his followers who seem to be worshiping the gaps and praying for rain.
May Allah forgive you guys for this profanation.
Aameen. Sumaameen.
@ Kaami
“And to quote oe of our own”
And few centuries before Ghalib Omar Khyyam spoke so:
And that Inverted bowl we call The Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop’t we live and die,
Lift not thy hands to It for help—for it
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.
This is what pisses me off the most. This is merely skepticism. Instead of going and finding answers to totally rational questions, people have the knack of praying for our forgiveness.
How inventive of them?!
And this is what Al-Razi wrote around the year 900:
“If the people of this religion are asked about the proof for the soundness of their religion, they flare up, get angry and spill the blood of whoever confronts them with this question. They forbid rational speculation, and strive to kill their adversaries. This is why truth became thoroughly silenced and concealed”
So so so true.
@ Kaami
Makes me wonder how come Al-Razi was not killed for not only having said so but much more and much worse beside this ???
According to a news item in today’s The News Intikhab Alam and his charges prayed on Sunday for divine intervention in the form of rain to avert their defeat in the final test match. Their prayers were answered and it did rain on Monday but it did not rain enough to save them from the defeat.
It goes to show God does answer prayers favourably. But it also shows that God apparently is not familier with the rules of the game otherwise he would have sent more rain to do the job:-)
Hey guys! What has been the result of all those Salat-ul-Istisquas. I am still suffering from the shortage of water.
last comment: Feb 4th…been raining since then! Your ‘prayers’ worked, kabirdas :)
Yes, indeed they did but then
Subah dam agar koi baalaa-e-baam aaya to kia aaya