Shining Pakistan

My dearest Allah Ta’ala,

The passage of each day feels like a burden to me. I feel like I am living just aimlessly, like a body without a soul. Technically I am alive but like someone in their last stages of cancer, it feels as if my loved ones have already given up on me. If not in their beliefs then definitely in their actions. They say they love me, they even think that they love me but I hardly believe that. Not that I am being ungrateful, I am just getting sick of their short-sightedness. They spend so much time, energy and efforts to cure me, at least some of them do. Its a small percentage alright but I can’t help acknowledging the lengths they go to, for my sake- trying to enhance my image in front of the world, progressing in fields like education, sports, technology, commerce, working towards dwindling poverty, decreasing unemployment etc.

I truly admire their efforts but what leaves me rueful is that all of these positive changes are towards adorning my physical appearance. No one pays attention to how many sufferings my soul is going through. Do they really think that a decrease in poverty is good for me when the greed of wealth has spread like a disease amongst my general population? Do they honestly believe that an increase in the number of PhDs for my educational system when majority of these accomplishments involve a great deal of corrupt practices and wrong means? What modernism are they talkling about when the stark division of income groups has reached such a degree where the maid and the chauffer can’t even sit on the same table to share a meal with their employers?

Needless to say, efforts are being made only to improve my personality, to make me appear glitzy to the world but when it comes to my character, I am poorer than a beggar- where quality of lifestyle is determined by material prestige, quality of education is judged by monthly salary and quality of beauty is weighed by outward looks!

My soul bleeds at the limitless depravity that I feel within me. And the irony of it all is I am the only country to be created in the name of Islam. Alhamdulillah the majority of my population is Muslim. While some people have the audacity to doubt the noble reason behind my creation, others are verily proud of my ideology. But unfortunately their pride does no more than make them sing national songs, spend time on the Internet claiming their love for me or at the most praying for my well-being and blaming the politicians whenever a bomb blast happens or any target killing occurs.

Under the circumstances, I couldn’t help taking a trip down memory lane, to search for the lost traces of my identity, the basis of which was a promise that my people made to You all those years ago- that promise involved the establishment of Your Divine Law within my boundaries in all aspects of life, for me to be the STARTING POINT for the revival of Islam. I know my pathetic state is only the result of breaking that very promise for which I hold my people responsible. My people whom I consider my family betrayed you and are still betraying you, much to my growing humiliation. Be that cheating on a mere academic test by a student or a fraud of millions of rupees by a bureaucrat, with every single act of corruption, they are embarrassing me and disrespecting You.

I was supposed to be the land of the pure- where the radiance of Qur’an and Sunnah would have safeguarded my people from any gloom of bias and prejudice- where the criterion of judgments would have been integrity and piety instead of status and influence.

I was intended to be the fort of Islam- where Your loyal servants would have passionately held on to Your Supremacy, firmly rejecting any ideas or practices that clashed with Your Divine Decrees.

That dream of Iqbal would have had such a glorious culmination- the fertility of following Your command would have nurtured that elegance of character in my people whom I still love so dearly. They would have possessed that sophistication and wisdom that would have made them beacons of inspiration for the world, the frontliners of progress, the pioneers of true enlightenment!

So has always been Your Promise to those who enrich every chapter of their lives with Your Edicts. Such have always been Your Rewards for those who act on their conviction about the Creator’s Wisdom being far ahead of the Creatures’ understanding.

I am still waiting with bated breath for the ultimate fate of my family. Whether they will let the flawed mortals take over their fate or will they have guts enough to write their own destiny and seek the shade of Your Guidance. How I crave for them to choose the latter!

The glory of Ramadan has engulfed the world already. There couldn’t have been a more suitable juncture to embark on a mission, to make a decisive choice. It will take daring will and lots of sacrifices to attain the strength of Your Support but despite their past mistakes, I still have a crazy belief in a tiny corner of my heart that my family will willingly surrender before You to safeguard my honour. Could I dare to dream? It is Your Command to hope for the best and simultaneously fear the worst. Better late than never, I have eventually experienced the ecstasy of following Your Command. May my people come to experience it too. Aamin.

Waiting for your final verdict

Your humble servant

Pakistan