Shikwa or Shikayat or Complain is an epic poem by Allama Iqbal that he read in April, 1911 at “Anjuman Himayat Islam” (Gathering in Support of Islam) in – where else – Lahore.
It is a poem in which a Muslim person on earth has a litany of complains that he addresses directly to God. This is a unique poem in which a Muslim has the temerity to talk to the Almighty God and tell him that he is not being fair to the people that did the most to spread his word.
The complain can be compartmentalize into two broad areas. First, he complains about how his ancestors did so much and now, after many years, their children have been forsaken by the same Being for whom they fought wars, made huge sacrifices and lived and died solely to spread the name of one God. His generation of Muslims have been ignored by God. And it is a consequence of God’s ignorance of His beloved people, the man feels, that the Muslims are in such an abject state of recession in all departments.
The second complain, a corollary of the first is that God’s benevolence is now being showered on people who do not deserve it. They do not deserve it because they are not the “chosen” people who did so much for God in the past. They are not worthy of the Almighty’s attention as they are boors (nahin mehfil mein jinhain baat bhi karnay ka sh’oor) among other things.
In the 31 stanzas, Iqbal rights about the glorious past of the Muslims, how they conquered the world with their armies and conquered illiteracy with their inventions and ideas. He writes about the brilliant character of the Muslims of the past. And he mixes the history with the sad situation that the Muslims of today find themselves in.
The interesting thing is that this poem is as true today as it was almost a hundred years ago. Muslims are still lagging behind in every field. They remember their past fondly when the Muslim empire was on the its pinnacle and Europe was engulfed in the dark ages.
Iqbal was in Europe from 1905 till 1908, where he got his PhD from Munich, Germany and his Law degree from Britain. When he returned to his home (people used to do that more often than they do it now), his sensitive heart overflowed at seeing how much the Muslims had deviated from true Islam, whereas the non-Muslims he met in Europe imbibed the teachings of Islam without knowing anything about the religion.
His brilliant mind could formulate the reasons behind Muslims’ backwardness all over the world. He could see how people were more concerned about the ceremonies and outwardly show of Islam rather than the true following, the true lesson of the beautiful religion.
But it is not until Iqbal’s second poem – Jawab-Shikwa (The answer to the complain) – that we learn what the Shair-e-Mashriq (Poet of the East) thinks are some of the reasons for the zawal (downturn) of Muslims. And He tells the complainer that Islam is not the jageer (property) of a particular land or people, it is a religion that knows no boundaries and if the Muslims of South Asia have forgotten its teachings, it will continue to flourish elsewhere in the world as its need is still quite critical (hay abhi mehfil-e-hasti ko zaroorat teri).
My elder son contracted flu that has been going around in Ashburn. This morning we took him to the Pediatrician – an Indian lady named Jane – who certified his flu symptoms and told us that it is of type A; they classify types of flu. She said that he should be fine in 3 – 5 days and does not need anything more than a Mortrin to help him recover.
At the elementary school, a day before Friday, they had children vaccinated for the H1-11 (I think) flu, otherwise better known as the swine flu. We did not get our children vaccinated. Obviously, he contracted the flu before that date and obviously, the vaccine could therefore have benefited him.
His brother, for example, who has runny nose is fine.
The question, as it stands, is: to vaccinate or to not vaccinate?
You can have a very polarized discussion from the two sets of groups. Personally, I don’t feel strongly, as is generally the case, but I don’t believe in vaccination. Why? That is a good question.
For one, you get vaccinated against one strand of flu and it does not protect you against the others. Two, I think it is a money making scam, as is everything in this country, to help the pharmaceuticals. By the way, here is another theory of mine: I think that the U.S. – the country, that is – is like a giant casino, Caesar’s Palace, Mirage, Bally’s; pick the one where you lost least amount of money.
What I mean is that in every walk of life, the odds are stacked against you, the individual and always in the favor of the “organization,” just like in the casino. For example, the interest that you earn from the bank on your money is insignificant (around 1% to 2%) versus the interest you pay to the bank for your credit card loans (over 15%, at least). You pay for insurance on your car, but in a small accident, end up fixing the car yourself either because the yearly deductible is too high or you don’t want your insurance premium to go up: pathetic isn’t it!
Anyway, things are stacked against you, that is the point I am trying to make. And charging $40 (I saw the Ad at the Dr.’s) is good business. We are wrongly focused in getting our children to be doctors, thinking that they will make good money; we should be more focused in getting them to be owners of an insurance company or a pharmaceutical; there they will have doctors on the payroll.
I hear Michael Moore’s “Sicko” is about this topic. I guess I should avoid seeing it otherwise my opinions will become more polarized;-)
It is raining right now in Ashburn, VA. But it is not the same kind of rain that visits Lahore. Rain here is a fact of life, life changes to a small extent in that the kids’ soccer matches are cancelled but overall, people go about there business. Rain is like sunshine: a weather fact that is to be looked at and treated like any other facts of daily life.
Now, that is not the case in Lahore. In Lahore, rain is anticipated, it is enjoyed. It is not a matter of fact to be ignored. No, rain is too precious a gift from the heavens to be left unnoticed, like the sunshine that bears down hard on people.
When it rains, people in the offices smile, kids in classrooms want to go and play outside, women want to put on songs and call their loved ones, men – and women – get an urge to eat Pakoras.
People in the offices update their statuses on FaceBook that they are having a great day; they pool in their money to ask the office boys (ah yes, you poor souls toiling in the cubicles in US, the joy of an office boy bring you tea every afternoon is something that you will never have) to run to Main Market in Gulberg (I am talking about our office), and buy an assortment of Pakoras, samosas, bhallay and jalaibis (perhaps not everything at the same time).
When I was in Lahore, we used to find an excuse to eat. My eating buddies were Khalid, Shafiq and Tassaduq Sb and Mansoor, with his taste for jalaybees:-) Our afternoon meetings were injected with this high cholesterol energy food, rain or no rain, and boy was it fun. The fun part for me was not the food itself but the fact that you could get it so readily and share it with friends.
One day, when I do start work again in the US, I guess I will have to learn to forgo that pleasure too.