I had written about Rob Franco’s boat paintings in an earlier post. He offered to sell some of his boat paintings at a substantial discount with 15 percent of the proceeds going towards assisting those effected by floods in Pakistan. There is no better symbol to lift and carry a person over water than a boat.  These paintings reflect the boats typically found in New England coastal waters.  Since I have already written in depth about Rob’s paintings, I will let the paintings do the talking. I have included fairly high resolution images that can be downloaded by clicking on the images. The price list is embedded in the last image. You can leave a comment in case you are interested in buying any of them and I will get you in touch with Rob.

Warm Sand 31x34

Awaiting the Tide 24x30 Oil on Canvas

Resting 36x36

Red sky at night,,,sailor's delight 24x30

Inner Glow 30x40

Stillness 11x14 oil on canvas

Sunrise in Hyannis

Rosy Glow 20x20 Oil on Canvas

Neck n' Neck 24x36

Early Evening Green Harbor 36x36

Alone 22x28

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Today is nearly the middle of Ramadan, a month of reflection and fasting for Muslims. It is also an appropriate time to reflect upon how Muslims are doing in America.  They are certainly getting more than their due share of attention in the media and in the political arena of this country.  One of the purpose of this post is to capture a snapshot of what is happening to American Muslims at this time for posterity. It is my intention to do this every year to gauge the trajectory of how this American group is doing.

While considerable progress has been made since 9/11 to educate the Americans in terms of Islam, the American public is still quite confused as to what Islam really is and Muslim practices like fasting in Ramadan.  With the upcoming mid year elections and strained economy, political leaders have found Islam and Muslims as a convenient scapegoat for furthering their chances of election. One of the positive change is that the current President understands Islam and has initiated different efforts to bring about harmony between the US and the Muslim world.

Even though American Muslims number in the order of nearly 7 million, they lack political and media clout to have their voices heard. 67% of adult Muslims are under 40 and a similar percentage has bachelors degree.  They are not only young and educated but also earn considerably more than the US average. American Muslims have done a very poor job in engaging with the society at large, though this is slowly changing. Our religious community center opened its doors to everyone during its 30th. year anniversary.  It was covered both by Boston Globe and MetroWest newspapers. Most visitors welcomed and encouraged more interaction of this type. On an individual basis Muslims are beginning to use opportunities to open up their homes. In a recent Iftar (breaking of fast) we opened our house to MetroWest journalist and his photographer that resulted in this story.

America by and large is one of the most Islamic countries in terms of values and laws.  I find it easier to remain true to Islamic injunctions than any other country in the world. Unlike Europe that has been Islamophobic for quite some time,  America has resisted such tendencies.  Nonetheless there are some recent tendencies, which if not nipped in the bud could move America in the same direction as Europe.

One of the issues dominating the air waves and press is the Park51 Mosque project a couple of blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan. Time magazine’s recent cover raised questions if America is Islamophobic.

A new TIME–Abt SRBI poll found that 46% of Americans believe Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence against nonbelievers. Only 37% know a Muslim American. Overall, 61% oppose the Park51 project, while just 26% are in favor of it. Just 23% say it would be a symbol of religious tolerance, while 44% say it would be an insult to those who died on 9/11.

President Obama compounded the issue by making somewhat conflicting statements. Sarah Palin had this to tweet about it “Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts”.  Newt Gingrich accused President Obama of “pandering to radical Islam” by expressing support for building an Islamic cultural center which includes a mosque two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks, adding: “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a sight next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.”

Mayor Bloomberg of New York has been a steadfast supporter of the Park51 Mosque project. A journalist wrote “Bloomberg is a former Wall Street Mogul with a passion for the rights of a private property owner. He is a Jew whose parents asked their Christian lawyer to buy a house and then sell it back to them to hide their identity in an unwelcoming Massachusetts suburb. And he is a politician who regards his independence as his greatest virtue.” He delivered a very eloquent defense of the mosque in a recent iftar that can be viewed below and is worth listening to.

Many American Muslims are also not comfortable with the choice of locating the mosque so close to Ground Zero. You can read a couple of relevant posts on this blog here and here reflecting multiplicity of opinions.

The more disturbing news for American Muslims is the Quran burning events initiated by a Florida Church.  Islamic scholar Akbar Ahmad points out the the outrage that this would create amongst Muslims. He reflects on how Islam was revered by the founding fathers of this country.

I have written a number of short posts on this blog titled “Ramadan Days ..” to better educate American and others about the message God is trying to convey in Quran. They are the result of my reading the Quran from the perspective of a non believer and trying to understand the essence of the message. For those wanting to delve deeper they should visit “Corpus Quran“; which is a search-able website and has translations by many renowned scholars.

Ramadan Mubarik to All of my American fellow citizens.

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It is interesting that in reading the Quran there is no mention of a number of things that are commonly intimately linked to Islam. There is no mention of Sharia, Caliphate, Imam or for that matter any preference of forms of governance. The core message seems to be individual responsibility for his or her actions.  Since there is no Imam or organized religion within Islam, it is difficult to talk about separation of State and Religion.  The basic message is of compassion and morals, with legislation occupying a secondary place. Of the Quran’s 6,000 verses, fewer than 700 deal with legislation and only 200 of these are directly concerned with regulation of social matters.

As I had mentioned in my previous post on trajectories where I had listed the setting of two trajectories relating to slavery and women rights,  there are many other dimensions in which God sets the trajectories in. Reinterpretation of these trajectories is called Ijtihad in Islam. Famous muslim thinker by the name of Allama Iqbal had this to say about Reinterpretation in his work “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in
Islam”

Society must possess eternal principles to regulate its collective life, for the eternal gives us a foothold in the world of perpetual change. But eternal principles when they are understood to exclude all possibilities of change, which according to the Quran, is one of the greatest signs of God, tend to immobilize what is essentially mobile in its nature…What then is the principle of movement in the structure of Islam? This is known as ijtihad.

I was struck by a couple of  verses in the Quran that are unusually harsh in the treatment of some sins by modern standards and in many ways seem in dissonance with the bulk of the message of compassion and forgiveness.

As to the thief, Male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime: and Allah is Exalted in power. Quran 5:38

The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment. Quran 24:2

It is interesting to note that these two verses are practiced literally only in Saudi Arabia under Wahabi influence and Iran under the Shia theocracy.  All other nearly fifty  Muslim countries, i.e. with Muslim majorities, do not practice this but have laws that consider theft and fornication as serious sins.  They view these as trajectories.

Another verse that stands out is forbidding of any force in converting people to Islam.

Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things. Quran 2:256

Compulsion is contrary to the meaning and purpose of religion, which essentially is an appeal to beings endowed with free will to affirm and worship their Creator. Intention and volition are necessary bases of all actions (including formal worship), attitudes, and thoughts for which the individual is religiously accountable. Without that basis, accountability has no meaning. According to Islam, actions are not considered religiously acceptable or valid unless they are done with the appropriate intention.

By and large the message in Quran is that of a personal religion with individual at the center. There are some verses that obligate the Muslim society to treat certain sins and infractions seriously. It is because of these verses that Quran is considered by many Muslims as a way of life.

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To all you Pakistanis all over the world, our country is unquestionably faced with the worst crisis of all times. I cannot express the grief and the sorrow that I am witnessing. I want you all to understand that this is worst then the 2005 earthquake.  Do not use the death toll to quantify the scale of the disaster. Believe me the misery and the pain is much much more. The aftermath of the floods will be far more devastating then the floods themselves. Today official figures claim 20 million displaced affected people, but this figure can take a severe climb. As I write this secondary flood warnings are flashing on all local news channels.

I want you to know the story of Mehmood Dost Khan. A middle class businessman of Naushera. he took refuge on his double story house roof top. At night when the flood water exceeded his roof, in a blink of an eye his two year old son and 5 month old daughter along with his wife were  swept away by the raging current into the darkness of the night. All night he screamed there names and cried. He has not seen them since. He remains in a state of denial. The bodies have not been found. Local army officers tell me the bodies could have traveled as far as 200 kilometers.

I want you to meet Tayyaba Bibi, who was found dangling by a tree. She is a 68 year old widow, who remembers that at sunset she climbed the roof of her house, with her son and pregnant daughter in law. Then in a flash they were dragged under water and she lost consciousness. She was rescued by the Pakistan Army, but to date there is no news of her family.

I want you to know 8 month baby Ahmed, who died of hunger in his mother’s arms, waiting for rescue boats or helicopters that arrived at their location 6 days later. It was a group of 16 stranded on a small patch of higher ground.

I want you to imagine the pain of those parents who are totally helpless sitting on road sides with their children. In their eyes there is pain, horror and most of all despair. They do not know where the next meal is going to come from if at all.

Pakistan is faced by the most unbelievable task. These floods are a challenge to humanity.

I want you to understand that the real disaster starts now.

Visit any market in Pakistan and you will witness two things. The rise in prices of food items due to Ramadan, and a second escalation of food prices due to the floods. Yes there many who want to profit from this disaster.

Millions are displaced and awaiting food supplies while you read this email. They are desperate, vulnerable and hungry. They need food, they need shelter and they need medical attention.

Remember we all have to die and we are all answerable in the after life. These men women and children are asking for help through their silent screams. You can choose to listen and do something about it, or delete this mail and forget about it.

Ask yourself one thing. Could this not happen to any of us? Is Karachi, New York, London, Dubai protected from earthquakes, floods or other disasters? Truth is it can happen to anyone of us. It could have been you and me who could have lost a loved one in raging river waters. It could have been you or me standing in the middle of no where praying for a helicopter or boat to take us to safety. It could have been our child that died of hunger. Pause and think.

We have to rise again. All of us. The task this time much bigger and deadlier then the 2005 earthquake.

We must build food cycles, so that a constant supply can be made to the hungry people. You the overseas Pakistanis have to help us build food stocks so that there is no food shortage, and that the profiteers are not allowed to escalate local food prices, which will burden the other 70 percent poor population of Pakistan.

Friends I am merely a human being like all of you. I am not perfect. I am not a very religious man. But I feel the pain and misery of others, and I am constantly haunted by the fear that this could have been us.

So this is what we need to do:

1. Build food cycles by sending food items to Pakistan.
2. Create shelter by sending all weather tents.
3. Set up medical patrol volunteer teams with plenty of medication.

The rehabilitation, reconstruction is a far more daunting task, and it is  best left to the government.

This is what you have to do:

Get a carton box size 15 x 15 x 12. This size has been chosen because it gives us the optimum volume to weight ratio for our purpose.

Fill it with the following:

1. Two 1.5 liter bottles of water.
2. Two packs of sweet biscuits.
3. 12 packs of 200 ml to 250 ml juices.
4. 6 small packets of potato chips.
5. 2 bars of anti germ soap

6. 1 small bottle of insect repellant.

7. 1 box of dates.
8. 1 box of chocolates.
9. 1 sachet of glucose and vitamin energy mix ( ORS)
10. 1 liter carton of milk.

Pack this with extreme love and care, and take this box to a PIA cargooffice. All this cargo will be transported absolutely free of cost onpriority by PIA. As soon as it arrives at an airport in Pakistan. It will be custom cleared on priority and immediately handed over to Pakistan Army and very relevant NGOS like the Red Cross and NCHD. Note the cargo once on board a PIA flight will reach the affected recipient with 36 hours.

Remember the severity and the magnitude is so much that every box counts. If we can build a cycle then nothing like it. But remember requirements will change in the next 30 to 40 days. But the box size will remain the same.

Also please send as many all weather tents as you can send.

Finally please do not send used clothes. Do not send irrelevant donations. Most of all NO MONEY. I have set up this system so that every little bit counts. Let’s make it happen. The logistics are there and you know what to do. You will see me on and off on various TV channels. I will update you all step by step. PIA is our back bone in this operation. If at any stage you have any complains with the PIA people please call Captain Salman on +92-321-2232777. He is the head of the relief operation and our main
contact person in PIA for relief. You can reach me on my email
falam76@gmail.com

Time to rise

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Weeks of wrangling and public media controversy have seen every manner of argument tried and discarded in favor of the next, in order to secure a legal blockage of the proposed Cordoba Initiative mosque project in lower Manhattan, just 2 blocks from Ground Zero.

So far these efforts have met with little success in legal terms and the debate, if we were to grace it with such a name, has finally converged on the moral judgment as to the wisdom or otherwise of putting a mosque so close to the genesis of the Global War on Terror. To be sure, the political right has not lost the opportunity to weigh in, smelling liberal blood and hoping to score points in November. But as Muslims see it, the question it is raising in the American psyche is the following:

Is al-Qaeda an extreme and fanatical rendition of Islam or is Islam just a mild form of al-Qaeda?

The first part is easy. Al-Qaeda’s fanatically murderous campaign is abhorrent to the overwhelming majority of human beings, Muslim or otherwise, and no one could rationally defend the placement anywhere of a monument to al-Qaeda. But the second half of the question is where, as they say, lies the rub.

In peeling apart the onion on the Ground Zero mosque issue, it seems that for a substantial body of American public opinion, we are indeed confronted with the perception that Islam is simply—al-Qaeda Lite.

For such people, terrorism or violent proselytizing is somehow in the DNA of Islam and those indisposed to research or to reaching out, find an ironic comfort in this easy-to-grasp “explanation.”

Yet others, with beguiling erudition, and claims of having “studied” the Qur’an and Islam, quote its verses out of context hoping for only the simplest of minds to be listening. “The Devil has duped over a billion and a half people in the world today and maybe about double that number since Islam’s emergence from Mecca 1400 years ago,” they argue. Coupled with the events of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks, their comments find fertile ground among the paranoid.

Given the propensity to oppose the mosque in poll after poll, Americans nonetheless generally seem to hold that they can understand that Islam is not synonymous with terrorism. However, this perspective cannot honestly be held if Islam’s symbols continue to equate to terrorism. And if they don’t, then we cannot rationally consider such symbols as a source of offense of any nature or scale to anyone. In taking that view, we at least can hold that a mosque near Ground Zero should not disturb the sensibilities it is claimed to have disturbed for many (though not all) 9/11 victims’ families. All we’re left with is the facile argument: “…but it does.”

That those families have borne a tragic loss, must never be forgotten nor belittled. But however hard that loss was, it cannot excuse the conflating of al-Qaeda and Islam. Such a view is particularly insensitive to the Muslim families of the victims (assuming they matter) of al-Qaeda everywhere, which number vastly more than the entire death-toll of 9/11 itself.

If bridging this yawning gap of understanding is in our agenda, then those building such bridges should be welcomed. This is the stated aim of the Cordoba Initiative and unless someone (as the opposition is tirelessly laboring to do) can dig up the dirt  on this initiative or those involved, it’s time to dig up the dirt under 45-47 Park Place and get going.

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The Almighty in Quran set up trajectories of social transformation and not absolute law. This was the balance to make the social change realizable in a society suffering from so many social evils and to make it a source of guidance for all times to come. One of the great misunderstandings over the Muslim history has been the inability to understand this basic fact. I will try to explain this in the context of slavery and woman’s rights.

In Pre-Islamic Arabia women were the target of  infanticide, the burying alive of baby girls, was rife; marriage was not sanctioned ; women did not have the right of inheritance and bequest; they were not treated fairly during divorce; and women were not afforded full control of their wealth. It is in placing the Quran and its principles against the backdrop of such a setting that the reformist spirit of Islam, which restores the true human character, can be seen.

Marriage is the area where Islam has introduced the greatest reform, with no institution of marriage present at the advent of Islam.  The reformist nature of Islam, however, lay not just in introducing new regulations, but also in overlaying new ideas to existing practice.  While the institution of marriage, for instance, did not exist in the traditional form in pre-Islamic Arabia, there were different forms of it that were present. The Quran defines marriage as a contract between man and woman, with both assuming equal, though not identical, places. It sees the institution and the relations between husband and wife not as shameful, but as commendable:

“By another sign He created for you spouses from among yourselves, that you might live in peace with them, and planted love and kindness in your hearts. ” (3:21)

The economic principles detailed in the Quran provided such rights to women that women in the rest of the “civilized” world would have to wait until the nineteenth century for these rights to be recognized and granted. With the advent of Islam, women were granted the right to inherit and bequeath property, have possession and complete control of their wealth and receive a dowry, while married and after divorce.  The economic autonomy detailed in the Quran was perhaps one of the most striking reforms at the time, and still continues to be discussed today.

Slavery, in one form or the other was prevalent in almost all parts of the world. The Old Testament of the Bible, which describes the ancient tales of Israeli society, is replete with many accounts concerning slavery. It can be seen that the tradition of selling people existed during the time of the patriarch prophet, Abraham, itself. (Genesis 17:13,14). It is the commandment of the Bible that prisoners-of-war are to be enslaved (Deuteronomy 20:10,11).  In India, slavery existed as part and parcel of religion itself. The caste system was an inextricable portion of religion.We see the roots of the caste system in the purusha verse of the Rig Veda (10:90:12), the foremost among the vedic compilations which, in themselves, form the most important part of the Shruthi. It was but natural that under the caste system that was based on the reference in the Rig Veda that “the Brahman is created from the head, the Vaishya from the hands and the Shudra from the feet of the Parampurusha”, the Brahman was considered highly and the Shudra of a lowly stature.

The system of slavery was one of the pillars of the economic set-up of Arabia. It’s roots had penetrated much deeper than to enable its eradication by a mere order of prohibition. As a system that had prevailed in the regions where Islam flourished as well as in areas where it did not, not only would it be practically difficult to abolish it, but such a course of action would, far from being effective, be quite harmful, indeed.  Different ways in the Quran led to the slow abolition of slavery.

Create a sense of brotherhood.

The Quran had, firstly, created a notion that both master and slave were brothers, one to the other, by inculcating an awareness that all men were the creations of the same God and were the children of the same parents. “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).” (Quran 49:13)

Create an awareness concerning the rights of the slave.

The duty of the slave, in primitive societies, was never confined to mere labour. He was also doomed to be at the receiving end of his master’s sadistic pleasure-seekings. The most cruel flogging while at work. The Quran commanded that such a state of affairs must change. It instructed in the humane and proper treatment of the slaves. “Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good – to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are of kin, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the way-farer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: for Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious.”(Quran 4:36)

Declared the emancipation of slaves to be an act of righteousness.

By declaring the slave’s to be an existence which had rights of its own, Islam had technically made slavery non-existent. Without stopping at that point, however, it went further by turning to a course of action which would, in time, serve to eliminate the system in a very practical sense indeed. This practical step which Islam had adopted to make slavery virtually non-existent was its act of declaring the emancipation of slaves to be an act of righteousness.

Emancipation of slaves was made the act of expiation for many types of sin.

In addition to encouraging the believers towards its commission by declaring the emancipation of slaves to be a virtuous deed, Islam recommended it as an act of expiation for many types of sin. The atonement for sins like unintentional murder and breaking one’s vow of not approaching his wife was the freeing of one slave. As for those who were not ready to free slaves in expectation of Divine reward alone, the command which made the emancipation of slaves an atoning act for sins committed, nevertheless, made it necessary for them to do so.

The facility of providing the slave with his freedom in exchange of the ransom value was made possible.

Discerning the trajectories in social behavior is in my mind key to understanding the “Spirit of Quran”.  By giving women so many rights instantaneously, where no rights existed, did not mean that they were to be the only rights meant. The emphasis was on equality of men and women.  Even today when Sharia lawyers in general interpret Quran in absolute and talk about female witness amounting to less than male or inheritance not being equal between the two, it seems to me that they are completely missing the point in the Quran. Similarly slavery was being completely discouraged in all its forms. While I have dealt with only two social evils that the Quran attempted to eradicate, there are many other social dimensions that were addressed that need a similar approach to be true to the spirit of the message inherent in the Quran.

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One of the distinct sense that I got in reading Quran was that God is not owned by any one religious group. Instead He relishes belonging to all different groupings.

“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)”. Quran 49:13

Then He goes further on to state that He sends a messenger to all nations and therefore will not judge any nation without having given them adequate warning.

“Surely We have sent thee with the truth good tidings to bear, and warning; not a nation there is, but there has passed away in it a warner“. Quran 35:24

You will not hear this kind of talk from a mullah, rabi or pastor. This would be considered heresy in nearly all religious denominations as they define each other by their differences. Their are unfortunately no Chosen people with God gifted lands as far God in Quran is concerned.  He goes further to state:

“Not all of them are alike: Of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (For the right): They rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. They believe in Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong; and they hasten (in emulation) in (all) good works: They are in the ranks of the righteous”.  Quran 3:113, 114

It seems that the real Quranic definition of a ‘Muslim’ is someone who believes in the Absolute Oneness of GOD Almighty and associates no partners (idols or humans or any other creations) with Him. This makes any Unitarian and Monotheist a ‘Muslim’. That is why Islam is called ‘The Religion of Abraham’, because Abraham, peace be upon him was a true Monotheist and associated no partners with GOD Almighty. So Salvation is not just reserved for the Noble Quran’s Believers only.

To support my statement above, let us look at the following Noble Verse:

“Who can be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to God, does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in Faith? For God did take Abraham for a friend“.Quran, 4:125

If you reflect on what God is really saying to all mankind in the Holy Quran is that He will treat you all equally and will be fair to everyone and each group.  So it should surprise no one that for such a populated region as the South Asian subcontinent, God must have sent thousands of messengers and prophets. The only other Holy book that strikes me very similar to Quran is the Bhagavad Gita.  In it Lord Krishna also said the same thing to Arjuna in the battlefield of Mahabharata:

“Whenever there is decay of righteousness O! Bharatha And a rise of unrighteousness then I manifest Myself!”

“Indeed, We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And we revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the book [of Psalms]” . Quran 4:163

Lord Krishna in Holy Gita describes this as follows-

” But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, fixed and immovable–the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth–by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at last achieve Me. ” Holy Gita 12.3-4

Now lets see what Al-Quran has to say about this:

“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The similitude of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is as it were a shining star. (This lamp is) kindled from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it. Light upon light. Allah guideth unto His light whom He will. And Allah speaketh to mankind in allegories, for Allah is Knower of all things.” Quran 24:35

“Allah – there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of [all] existence. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Most Great” . Quran 2:255

“I am the goal, the Sustainer, the Master, the witness, the abode, the refuge, and the most dear friend. I am the creation and the annihilation, the basis of everything, the resting place and the eternal seed.” Holy Gita 9:18

“Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah , the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous”. 2:177 Quran

These are the reasons you will not see Muslims burning Bibles or painting cartoons of Jesus Christ (PBUH) or Moses (PBUH). God states in multiple places in Quran that as far as He is concerned He wants people to do Good deeds and Believe in Him. The definition of good can be had from the messenger sent to your group. If you did not get it, your heart will tell you.  That is the bottom line.

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Water was not what I had in mind this early in my read of Quran, but with so much going on related to it, I decided to discuss it earlier than later. Water as we know it is the source of life. When NASA sends its probes to different heavenly bodies, one of the key pieces of information is the presence of water. Indeed one of the key recent discoveries recently have been the presence of water on the poles of the Moon and the possibility of it on Mars. So it is not surprising to find multiple references to water in different contexts in Quran.

“We have made every living thing out of water.” (Sura 21 The Prophets, ayat 30).

The Quranic account of the forming of the Cosmos places great emphasis on water, as demonstrated in other ayat in the preceding sura which on the one hand lists heaven, earth, the moon, the sun, night, day etc. as natural factors in the creation of the universe and, on the other, speaks of a single element that infuses life into the universe: water. The Quran immediately asserts, however, that water fills the entire inanimate universe with life: “He is the One Who created Heaven and Earth in six days. His Throne rises over the water”. For certain commentators, this means in effect that water was the origin for both heaven and earth and that Allah drew from it the natural elements as well as all living creatures. Thus every life on earth owes its existence to the element of water: “Among His signs He sends water down from the sky so He may revive the earth with it following its death.” (Sura 30 The Romans, ayat 24). The vivifying property of water is repeated in many ayat: “He sends the winds to bring news so He may let you taste some of His mercy (sura 30, ayat 46)… And any water God sends down from the sky with which to revive the earth following its death and to scatter every kind of animal throughout it. We give it in due measure as a sign to those who are wise” or again “We have sent down blessed water from the sky and We grow gardens with it as well as grain to be harvested and soaring palms which have compact clusters as sustenance for worshipers. We have revived a dead countryside with it; thus will (your) reappearance be”.

The Quran calls for proper governance of water and the equitable sharing of this vital resources when it says: “Announce to them how water must be shared among them; each will have his own special time to drink “ (sura 54 The Moon, ayat 28).

Proper management of water resources is going to be essential for nations to live in harmony with one another. The the climate changes and population increases happening around us, certain regions will gain more rainfall and others less. The glaciers that used to hold water and release them slowly are rapidly diminishing, thereby taking away the natural water retention mechanisms.  Water related issues will be most magnified in the poorer countries. “People in developing countries understand the absence of it,” says John Briscoe, newly appointed Professor of the Practice of Environmental Health at HSPH.  If it doesn’t rain, women who haul water for their families must walk vast distances to fetch it. Without rain, the lights go out in hydro-powered locales. Lack of sanitary facilities in schools deters girls from an education. Indian farmers unable to drill into dwindling aquifers even commit suicide. “Water is not taken for granted,” Briscoe says. “People live with insecurity at every turn.”

South Asia is particularly water challenged region of the world. Northern India’s underground water supply is being pumped and consumed by human activities — principally to irrigate cropland — faster than the aquifers can be replenished by natural processes. This data was published in the August 20 issue of Nature based on observations from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE).

On the other hand recent floods in Pakistan could be the result of global climate change that has already resulted rapid reduction in the size of glaciers in the Himalayas. The combined results of floods, glaciers and lowered water tables require that the nations of the region address the problem of water storage and usage in an equitable manner. John Briscoe warns of potential conflicts in the region should these nations fail to work together in his article titled “War or Peace on the Indus”.

It is quite evident by now that the developed world is not ready to change its habits any time soon in order to reverse the effects of global climate change. The bulk of impact will be on the developing world. They will need to adjust the economic priorities to address the water issues and all ramifications on food and health in a manner that does not effect the adjacent countries.

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Anyone foolish enough to write on war or peace in the Indus needs to first banish a set of immediate suspicions. I am neither Indian nor Pakistani. I am a South African who has worked on water issues in the subcontinent for 35 years and who has lived in Bangladesh (in the 1970s) and Delhi (in the 2000s). In 2006 I published, with fine Indian colleagues, an Oxford University Press book titled India’s Water Economy: Facing a Turbulent Future and, with fine Pakistani colleagues, one titled Pakistan’s Water Economy: Running Dry.

I was the Senior Water Advisor for the World Bank who dealt with the appointment of the Neutral Expert on the Baglihar case. My last assignment at the World Bank (relevant, as described later) was as Country Director for Brazil. I am now a mere university professor, and speak in the name of no one but myself.

I have deep affection for the people of both India and Pakistan, and am dismayed by what I see as a looming train wreck on the Indus, with disastrous consequences for both countries. I will outline why there is no objective conflict of interests between the countries over the waters of the Indus Basin, make some observations of the need for a change in public discourse, and suggest how the drivers of the train can put on the brakes before it is too late.

Is there an inherent conflict between India and Pakistan?

The simple answer is no. The Indus Waters Treaty allocates the water of the three western rivers to Pakistan, but allows India to tap the considerable hydro-power potential of the Chenab and Jhelum before the rivers enter Pakistan. The qualification is that this use of hydro-power is not to affect either the quantity of water reaching Pakistan or to interfere with the natural timing of those flows. Since hydro-power does not consume water, the only issue is timing. And timing is a very big issue, because agriculture in the Pakistani plains depends not only on how much water comes, but that it comes in critical periods during the planting season. The reality is that India could tap virtually all of the available power without negatively affecting the timing of flows to which Pakistan is entitled.

Is the Indus Treaty a stable basis for cooperation?

If Pakistan and India had normal, trustful relations, there would be a mutually-verified monitoring process which would assure that there is no change in the flows going into Pakistan. (In an even more ideal world, India could increase low-flows during the critical planting season, with significant benefit to Pakistani farmers and with very small impacts on power generation in India.) Because the relationship was not normal when the treaty was negotiated, Pakistan would agree only if limitations on India’s capacity to manipulate the timing of flows was hardwired into the treaty. This was done by limiting the amount of “live storage” (the storage that matters for changing the timing of flows) in each and every hydro-power dam that India would construct on the two rivers.

While this made sense given knowledge in 1960, over time it became clear that this restriction gave rise to a major problem. The physical restrictions meant that gates for flushing silt out of the dams could not be built, thus ensuring that any dam in India would rapidly fill with the silt pouring off the young Himalayas. This was a critical issue at stake in the Baglihar case. Pakistan (reasonably) said that the gates being installed were in violation of the specifications of the treaty. India (equally reasonably) argued that it would be wrong to build a dam knowing it would soon fill with silt. The finding of the Neutral Expert was essentially a reinterpretation of the Treaty, saying that the physical limitations no longer made sense. While the finding was reasonable in the case of Baglihar, it left Pakistan without the mechanism – limited live storage – which was its only (albeit weak) protection against upstream manipulation of flows in India. This vulnerability was driven home when India chose to fill Baglihar exactly at the time when it would impose maximum harm on farmers in downstream Pakistan. If Baglihar was the only dam being built by India on the Chenab and Jhelum, this would be a limited problem. But following Baglihar is a veritable caravan of Indian projects – Kishanganga, Sawalkot, Pakuldul, Bursar, Dal Huste, Gyspa… The cumulative live storage will be large, giving India an unquestioned capacity to have major impact on the timing of flows into Pakistan. (Using Baglihar as a reference, simple back-of-the-envelope calculations, suggest that once it has constructed all of the planned hydro-power plants on the Chenab, India will have an ability to effect major damage on Pakistan. First, there is the one-time effect of filling the new dams. If done during the wet season this would have little effect on Pakistan. But if done during the critical low-flow period, there would be a large one-time effect (as was the case when India filled Baglihar). Second, there is the permanent threat which would be a consequence of substantial cumulative live storage which could store about one month’s worth of low-season flow on the Chenab. If, God forbid, India so chose, it could use this cumulative live storage to impose major reductions on water availability in Pakistan during the critical planting season. Views on “the water problem” from both sides of the border and the role of the press Living in Delhi and working in both India and Pakistan, I was struck by a paradox. One country was a vigorous democracy, the other a military regime. But whereas an important part of the Pakistani press regularly reported India’s views on the water issue in an objective way, the Indian press never did the same. I never saw a report which gave Indian readers a factual description of the enormous vulnerability of Pakistan, of the way in which India had socked it to Pakistan when filling Baglihar. How could this be, I asked? Because, a journalist colleague in Delhi told me, “when it comes to Kashmir – and the Indus Treaty is considered an integral part of Kashmir — the ministry of external affairs instructs newspapers on what they can and cannot say, and often tells them explicitly what it is they are to say.”

This apparently remains the case. In the context of the recent talks between India and Pakistan I read, in Boston, the electronic reports on the disagreement about “the water issue” in The Times of India, The

Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Indian Express and The Economic Times.

(Respectively, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Water-Pakistans-diversionary-tactic-/articleshow/5609099.cms,

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/ article112388.ece,

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/india/River-waters-The-next-testing-ground/Article1-512190.aspx,

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Pak-heats-up-water-sharing/583733,

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Pak-takes-water-route-to-attack-India/articleshow/5665516.cms.)

Taken together, these reports make astounding reading. Not only was the message the same in each case (“no real issue, just Pakistani shenanigans”), but the arguments were the same, the numbers were the same and the phrases were the same. And in all cases the source was “analysts” and “experts” — in not one case was the reader informed that this was reporting an official position of the Government of India.

Equally depressing is my repeated experience – most recently at a major international meeting of strategic security institutions in Delhi – that even the most liberal and enlightened of Indian analysts (many of whom are friends who I greatly respect) seem constitutionally incapable of seeing the great vulnerability and legitimate concern of Pakistan (which is obvious and objective to an outsider).

A way forward

This is a very uneven playing field. The regional hegemon is the upper riparian and has all the cards in its hands. This asymmetry means that it is India that is driving the train, and that change must start in India. In my view, four things need to be done.

First, there must be some courageous and open-minded Indians – in government or out – who will stand up and explain to the public why this is not just an issue for Pakistan, but why it is an existential issue for Pakistan.

Second, there must be leadership from the Government of India. Here I am struck by the stark difference between the behaviour of India and that of its fellow BRIC – Brazil, the regional hegemon in Latin America. Brazil and Paraguay have a binding agreement on their rights and responsibilities on the massive Itaipu Binacional Hydropower Project. The proceeds, which are of enormous importance to small Paraguay, played a politicized, polemical anti-Brazilian part in the recent presidential election in Paraguay. Similarly, Brazil’s and Bolivia’s binding agreement on gas also became part of an anti-Brazil presidential campaign theme. The public and press in Brazil bayed for blood and insisted that Bolivia and Paraguay be made to pay. So what did President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva do? “Look,” he said to his irate countrymen, “these are poor countries, and these are huge issues for them. They are our brothers. Yes, we are in our legal rights to be harsh with them, but we are going to show understanding and generosity, and so I am unilaterally doubling (in the case of Paraguay) and tripling (in the case of Bolivia) the payments we make to them. Brazil is a big country and a relatively rich one, so this will do a lot for them and won’t harm us much.” India could, and should, in my view, similarly make the effort to see it from its neighbour’s point of view, and should show the generosity of spirit which is an integral part of being a truly great power and good neighbour.

Third, this should translate into an invitation to Pakistan to explore ways in which the principles of the Indus Waters Treaty could be respected, while providing a win for Pakistan (assurance on their flows) and a win for India (reducing the chronic legal uncertainty which vexes every Indian project on the Chenab or Jhelum). With good will there are multiple ways in which the treaty could be maintained but reinterpreted so that both countries could win.

Fourth, discussions on the Indus waters should be de-linked from both historic grievances and from the other Kashmir-related issues. Again, it is a sign of statesmanship, not weakness, to acknowledge the past and then move beyond it. This is personal for me, as someone of Irish origin. Conor Cruise O’Brien once remarked, “Santayana said that those who did not learn their history would be condemned to repeat it; in the case of Ireland we have learned our history so well that we are condemned to repeat it, again and again.”

And finally, as a South African I am acutely aware that Nelson Mandela, after 27 years in prison, chose not to settle scores but to look forward and construct a better future, for all the people of his country and mine. Who will be the Indian Mandela who will do this – for the benefit of Pakistanis and Indians – on the Indus?

The writer is the Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Engineering,

Harvard University. Email: jbriscoe@seas. harvard.edu

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Before I try to approach the Quran from a rational perspective, it is worthwhile considering if God in the Quran wanted us to approach it this way. Religions in general are a belief systems in which metaphysical and other worldly issues are expounded upon.  Or is it that God wanted it us to take a dogmatic approach in which reason has little to no play. I could not have found a greater emphasis on understanding than the strong words of the following suras.

“Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use reason..” [8:22]

“We have made it a Quran in Arabic, that ye may be able to understand (and learn wisdom)” [43:3]

“Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, and the succession of night and day: and in the ships that speed through the sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and causing all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon: and in the change of the winds, and the clouds that run their appointed courses between sky and earth: [in all this] there are messages/signs indeed for people who use their reason.” [2:164]

These are just some out of many suras that emphasis the path of reasoning towards better understanding of His glory.

Generally it is believed by many Muslims that there is one authentic interpretation of the Quran. It is far from true. Even the closest companions of the Prophet differed from each other in understanding various verses. Also, in Islam, since there is no concept of official church, no one interpretation can command following of a majority of Muslims, let alone all Muslims. There is hardly any major issue on which Muslim ‘ulama (scholars) do not differ. These differences, more often than not, are due to different interpretations of the Quranic text.
It is because of this that every sect or school of thought has its own orthodox and liberal followers. There is Shi’ah orthodoxy or Sunni orthodoxy, Isma’ili orthodoxy or Bohra orthodoxy, Hanafi orthodoxy or Shafi’i orthodoxy and so on. But that’s not all, there are scholars with modern and liberal thinking that are looking at the Quranic text from modern and liberal perspectives. And some feminists or those working for empowerment of women read the Quran from feminist points of view.

Clearly reason and knowledge is based on things that can be seen and experienced.  Our technology has allowed us to see nearly the limits of our universe and left us in awe in its grandeur. Viewing Hubble’s photos put the Earth in a whole new perspective. We are far from being at the center of the universe. As we explore and find answers, many of these discoveries call to question our previous understandings.  And so I will try to approach God’s words in Quran from this humbled frame of mind.

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