Literary masterpieces

Today I would like to introduce you to two excellent books by two well-known personalities and personal friends. The first is authored by Sirajuddin Aziz, a fine person and a highly competent and successful banker. He is a tall, slim and handsome man. As his family comes from Lukhnow, UP – the cradle of our civilisation and culture – he is every inch a refined and polished gentleman.

As a banker par excellence, he has worked in China, Hong Kong, England, Nigeria, the UAE and Pakistan and is currently president and CEO of the well-known Metropolitan Bank, Karachi (a subsidiary of the famous Habib Bank A G Zurich). The book he wrote is called ‘Essence of Islam’ (published by Mavra Publishers, 60 Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Lahore) and it is a treasury of knowledge on Islam. It has explained the most essential and common principles and obligations of Islam in very simple and understandable terms. It is an extremely useful book and I believe an Urdu translation would be of great benefit to Urdu speakers.

Siraj Bhai has explained in detail such terms as Taqwa, Salat, Sadeqah, the meaning of fasting and Hajj and the significance of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Darood Sharif and supplication and its power. Biographical sketches of Hazrat Ibrahim (ra), Hazrat Ayesha (ra), Hazrat Ali (ra) and Hazrat Haleema (ra) have also been included. Many other topics are covered, such as the role of women in Islam, moral and spiritual discussions on Islam for peace, the foster mother of the Prophet (pbuh), Halima (ra), Ramazan, virtues of recitation of the Holy Quran, other details concerning the Holy Quran, belief in Dozakh and Jannal and resurrection, death and afterlife, repentance and indispensable need of Allah.

Then there is the behavioural dimension with things like rights, duties and obligations, good and evil deeds and their consequences, ideal behaviour, Luqman’s advice, forgiveness, brotherhood, jihad and its true meaning, Ghazwa-e-Badar, justice, character of believers, patience, treatment of neighbours, parenthood, parents’ obligations, gratitude to helpers, mercy, commerce, business and debts, arrogance (takabbur), gratitude (shukr), spirit of Islam and much, much more.

The back flap of the book contains comments by many eminent personalities: Governor Isratul Ebad Khan: “….His writings evince taste of the search for truth”. Gen. Rashad Mahmood: “It will indeed be helpful to obviate misconceptions and misunderstanding about Islam”. H L Shaikh Mubarak Al-Nahayan: “You should be extremely proud of your ability to describe and explain religious belief”. Kassim Parekh: “You have very artfully sketched on the pages the glories of Islam that revolve around Taqwa, Human wellbeing, Peace, Love, Justice, Tolerance and Compassion”.

Tariq Fatemi: “There can be no denying that misunderstandings about Islam, as you have rightly mentioned, are growing in the world over….We should not forget that as Muslims, our actions in both the individual and collective spheres, are also responsible for giving rise to these misperceptions.”

Maj Gen Shahzad Naeem Khan: “I appreciate your efforts in writing this book, which is a fine work on contemporary issues linked with Islam”. Prof Dr Mukhtar Ahmad: “Your commendable endeavor ….. provides its readers with a splendid combination of ….moral and spiritual dimensions of Islam….leaving the readers with motivation for quest of knowledge and research”. It is truly worth the effort to read this excellent book and to benefit from it.

The second interesting book has been authored by my good friend and scholar par excellence, Mukhtar Ali Khan (Partu Rohaila) under the title ‘Dewan-e-Nawab Mohabbat Khan’. It has been beautifully published by Dr Tehsin Faroqui, Nazim Majlis-e-Taraqqui-e-Adab, Lahore. Partu Rohaila is an authority on Ghalibiat and has penned many highly important and informative books on Ghalib and his Persian poetry and letters. According to him, Nawab Mohabbat Khan was a contemporary of the famous poets Mir Taqi Mir and Sauda, and was a very good Urdu poet. He also had very good knowledge of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, while Pashto was his mother tongue and he has a Diwan in it.

Besides all this, he was also a good warrior and a great music lover. His Masnavi (Asrare-Mohabbat, Story of Sassi Pannu) is very famous. Partu Rohaila’s efforts are highly commendable. He is justifiably a Rohilla Pathan. He has not only described the history of the Rohillas, but has also highlighted their services to Islam and the sacrifices made by Nawab Mohabbat Khan, who was the son of Nawab Sardar Rahmat Khan, a very capable and brave warrior. Unfortunately, due to the Mughal Shujaatul Daula’s treachery and some spineless colleagues, he was martyred on April 21, 1774 while fighting the British invaders. Within 30 years of his death, the British occupied Delhi.

Tailpiece: (Nuclear reactors in Karachi) We continue to hear some nefarious propaganda against the two nuclear power plants (K2 and K3) at Paradise Point in Karachi. I had explained, and rebutted it, in detail in one of my columns in this very paper, why the propaganda against their construction was futile.

Here it should be noted how much other countries depend on nuclear power: France 64,000 MW (77 percent), Belgium 6,000 MW (48 percent), Canada 13,500 MW (17 percent), India 5,300 MW, Korea 21,000 MW, Japan 4,300 MW, Rusia 25,000 MW (19 percent), Sweden 19,500 MW (21 percent), Ukraine 1,300 MW (50 percent), England 9,500 MW, USA 100,000 MW (20 percent), etc.

K2 and K3 will produce together only 2,200 MW to give some relief to the people of Karachi. PAEC scientists and engineers have 45 years of experience in running and maintaining nuclear plants efficiently. They are specialised, experienced and competent and these so-called ‘experts’ should not doubt this. Moreover, the French and Chinese have decades of experience in manufacturing and running nuclear reactors and no one should doubt their competence and the precautionary measures they take in manufacturing such equipment. Their reputation is at stake and they will definitely not be willing to take any risks. As I said before, the risks, deaths, injuries and pollution caused by motor vehicles is millions of times more than that caused by nuclear plants.

Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com