Nowadays, people tend to discuss how evil politicians are eating away the very roots of our national economy & integrity, conveniently using the guise of ‘democracy’. To many intellectuals this so-called democracy is a roller-coaster ride only for the ‘chosen few’. This ride ends after every four years, after which from among the ‘chosen few’ becomes the new rider. This otherwise persistent vicious cycle may suffer discontinuity at the hands of military which hitherto had only converted it into vicious spiral.
A vicious cycle is self-perpetuating process which returns to its starting point with no improvement from when it was begun.
The term 'vicious spiral' was later coined in the USA to denote a similar process but one which, after proceeding around the loop, ends in a worse position than before.
But let us not delve into matters requiring monstrous researches & heavy thinking, gamut of conspiracies & never ending chit chats. Well at least this provides employment for numerous anchors, gaining popularity & in turn giving away scandals, which further provoke talk shows...Hey! haven’t we just discovered another vicious cycle. This publication however revolves around a more social & trivial aspect of our lives. We will discuss yet another cycle but this must not be termed vicious for It consists not the evil politicians but the spiritual angels; problem is both are ancestral.
Whenever power travels through the channels dictated by kinship & not on the basis of merit, system as a whole starts to degrade & ultimately collapse. Readers may already have deduced that this system refers to ruling political parties of Pakistan but one always turns a blind eye towards our local Mosques & Madrassas which too are governed on the principles of ancestry. For even in politics basic infrastructure for equal opportunity do exists i.e election commission (corrupt it may be) & vote bank (rigged it may be); but those modules are either non-existent or extremely flimsy regarding our local religious institutions. Traditionally or should I say conveniently a specific Maulana along with his family set to govern a mosque or a madrassa as its caretaker. He is provided a free residence usually within the vicinity of that religious place where his gas, electricity bills are shrouded by mosque expenses, which are henceforth paid via charities. This sated life, devoid of major expenses but full of religious admiration is hard to get nowadays; this at least Maulana has wholly realised & has thus ripped apart any merit measuring system that may impede his otherwise win-win strategy. Time passes by & the sacred piece of land is handed over to the progenitors of the parent Maulana, without any fuss & or selection procedure!
Reading books, articles & searching everywhere on internet I have found nothing written about such ‘ancestral angels’, though every time ‘chosen few’ in politics are discussed. Regretfully, intellectuals fail to realise that politicians here in Pakistan seldom meet people on the street & that is only months before their election campaign. It should be inferred that common people are much more impressed by listening to religious lectures recorded & sold on cassettes or CDs, rather than lengthy political speeches. Furthermore, each day at mosque Maulana gets five chances to acquaint with yourself & if you are a practising Muslim you too get five chances to acquaint with himself, even if you are a non-practising Muslim you still get the grand chance on Friday prayer.
It can be sufficed with a high degree of certitude that intolerance in our largely religiously proactive community arises from the bickering these ancestral angels sell frequently; but then again this is the very thing they are good at. Literalism & where needed Sufism is injected in such a verbose way that Islam appears too much incomprehensible such that our simpleton public feels that Islamic understanding is only suited to those having angelic ancestry, little do they fathom that this ancestry never guarantees wisdom.
Dedicated test centers, analytical writing and question-answer sessions can be inaugurated in evaluating the intellect of any person to be chosen as the caretaker of any Mosque or Madrassa. By exploring other rational methods & implementing them strictly, God-willing one day ‘Mein To Dekhon Ga’ that mosques will be brimming with learned beings having diverse academic backgrounds. Only then our people will be provided with ‘food for thought’, our current ancestral angels fail to give.
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