The Persian poet Anwari wrote: “Har balaey ze aasman uftad,/Khanaey Anwari ra mee pursad.” (Every calamity that descends from the heavens looks for the house of Anwari.) Everyone tends to consider their own misfortunes more troublesome than those of others and the comforts of others more than their own. This view lies within the individual and can be corrected by their own efforts–i.e., prayer, seeking out and utilising all possibilities for a solution and working hard at that solution. This is reflected in yet another Persian saying: “Jaan-e-man, khud kardai, khud-karda ra tadbir neest.” (My dear, you have asked for it yourself and there is no remedy for what you do yourself.) There is another type of misfortune in which the individual plays no part–for example floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. The Divine edict is that nations are destroyed for their wrongdoings–e.g., the drowning of the Pharaoh and his army and the rain of stones on the disobedient disciples of the Prophets Aad (PBUH) and Samud (PBUH). There is very little that a human being can do to stop or prevent it. It is a Divine (natural) event.
The elderly always used to pray: “Allahumma, ahfizna min kulle bala ad-duniya wal akhira,” (O Almighty, please protect us from the trials of this world and the Hereafter). In addition to praying for protection from natural tragedies, we often also pray to Almighty Allah to protect us from the mischief and atrocities committed by worldly rulers. While natural catastrophes may be considered to be a chastisement for worldly wrongdoings, cruelty and suppression is the means used by rulers.
They usually start off benignly but power often leads to arrogance and a feeling of one’s not being answerable to anyone. Sometimes they prolong their rule by any means, fair or otherwise. These are the people who, according to the Holy Quran, are “deaf, dumb and blind” and who are not afraid of one day having to answer for their deeds. They seem to forget the clear warnings given by Almighty Allah in “Do they not travel through the earth and see what was the end of those before them? They were more numerous than these and superior in strength and in the traces (they left) in the land. Yet all that they accomplished was of no use to them.” (40:82) They surround themselves with sycophants and self-centred companions and carry on with corruption, injustice, nepotism, suppression, cruelty, etc., till they face their appointed time and then it is too late and there is no respite from judgement. Even worse is the fact that, by their deeds, the Divine blessing (barkat) disappears and the whole nation suffers.
A story to illustrate this goes as follows. Once a king and his companions became very thirsty while out hunting. They found a cottage by a field of sugarcane and asked for some water. The old lady went inside and brought out sugarcane juice for everyone. The king asked her how many canes it had required to obtain this much juice, to which she replied that it had taken only one good stick. The king, upon returning to his palace, increased the tax on the sugarcane crop, erroneously believing that the poor farmers were making too much profit. The next year the king again went hunting in the same area and once again went to the same cottage. After quite some time the lady came back with bowls only half filled. The king looked surprised and asked her for the reason of the delay and the half-filled bowls. She replied that the king, being a miser, taxed the people by unfair means, putting an unbearable burden on his subjects. Due to this the Divine blessing (barkat) had disappeared, leading to drought in the country. The king had enough conscience to feel guilty and ashamed and immediately abolished the overly heavy taxes. His kingdom soon thereafter, so the story goes, once more regained prosperity.
In Pakistan we are more or less facing the same situation today. Everything has gone wrong – no electricity, gas, LPG, sugar, flour, etc. And if available, they are sold at exorbitant prices, far beyond the reach of the common man. We seem to have lost that Divine blessing (barkat) due to our wrongdoings.
It sometimes makes one wonder whether the name “Karbala” has something to do with “karb” (pain) and “bala” (misfortune) – a place where a pious, honest, noble person was, together with his family, brutally martyred for the sake of worldly benefits. But Yazid failed to keep the dynasty in his family. All his companions were killed; he himself died within four years of that tragic event. Before dying he nominated his son, Muawiya, as his successor. Muawiya was a pious and religious man and abdicated within three months. Marwan Ibnul-Hakam, Yazid’s minister and a very influential person, became caliph and married Khalid bin Yazid’s mother. He nominated his own son, Abdul Malik, as crown prince, bypassing Khalid bin Yazid. This infuriated his mother so much that, with the help of some court ladies, she strangled Marwan. Abdul Malik ruled efficiently for many years, but Yazid had lost his dynasty, thus paying for his crimes.
People indulge in all kinds of misdemeanours – corruption, manipulation, etc. – to either benefit personally or for the sake of their relatives and/or friends. But fate rolls the final dice. An apt Persian proverb says: “Tadbir kunad banda, taqdir kunad khanda,” meaning, man proposes (plans) and Fate laughs at it. In English they say: “Man proposes but God disposes.” In the Holy Quran, Allah has forewarned that the ultimate judgement/decision will be His.
Corrupt, greedy, tyrannical rulers who do not have the good of the people at heart are a curse. This curse appears in different ways. The Indo-Pakistan subcontinent paid for its lack of integrity by becoming slaves of the British for centuries. With sincere efforts and hard work of some leaders we managed to gain freedom from the British and independence from Hindu domination. But very soon thereafter corrupt practices surfaced. Political intrigues became the order of the day. Noting all this, one poet went on to write:
Mulk Sadeun ki ghulami se to aazad hua;
Tum bhi aazad hue, ehle watan se puchho.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk, Wednesday, March 10, 2010 written by Dr A Q Khan
