Dr Tariq Saeed of Mandi Bahuiddin

For Slide Show, click here:

Although my ancestors, five generations back where from places all over the current Mandi Bahauddin District, I had never been to Mandi. Marriages across the river ended way back and senior generation relatives who used to frequent the events of marriage and death passed on with time. I always wanted to be there but it never materialized. 

When Tariq Saeed, my classmate from Rawalpindi Medical College who is from Mandi asked me to visit him a few years back, I decided to take him on his offer. He is a cousin to my Abdalian entrymate Javed Iqbal (who earned the nickname of 'Mandi" early on in eighth grade when he surprised many of city dwellers in Hasanabdal in 1973 that Mandi is a sprawling metropolis in the heartland of Punjab). 

Somehow the plan did not coalesce until now. This May, 2013, I went to Mandi. It was worth the trip. Tariq used to tell me about his clinic and the medical center he had made and  how the rural medicine works. Tariq has always been of the religious bend and had a deep sense of community service; but what I saw was much more than I thought of.

Many of our friends and colleagues we know have started practice in their hometowns. Many have converted their old family houses which are now in the middle of the growing towns into a clinic or a medical center. Tariq has done the same. His family house which his father had built was supposedly outside the center of the town. By now it is in the middle of the town. He raised it to ground, build a four level hospital Shifa Clinic, and has brought in many specialists to the place. He has family quarters on the top floor. But this is not what makes him different. His contribution to the community esp in his ancestral village where he goes everyday, is what is unique to him.

With time, he had moved his family to Islamabad, for their education, so he lives in Mandi alone with his parents. His two daughters are medical students, both married to physicians, one a nephorologist in USA and the other an orthopedists about to start his own practice in Mandi, in Shifa Hospital. His son, not surprisingly, is taken out of school to finish Hifz Quran in two years. After that he will probably go back to the regular school system.

In summers, Tariq commutes weekly on Thursdays to Islamabad, spends the night there and comes back Friday night. That is his weekend off. That is how we decided to travel. He would be in Pindi area on Thursday and I will travel back with him on Friday after the prayers. 

Cell phone has made a big changes in our lives. Tariq has taken the advantage of using the instrument on his daily and weekly commutes to connect with the class mates and everybody else. He is the one in our class who knows most about every body. This is despite the fact that he has no presence on internet, Facebook included.  By US standards it is quite dangerous to call and drive, but he is quite at ease with it.

Travelling on GT road from Pindi to Lahore, one sees the Upper Jhelum Canal and the road along with it, next to Military College Sarai Alamgir. I have traveled on that road hundreds of times during my student years but never thought much about the canal. We make a right turn to head towards Mandi. The new road is now on the east side of the canal, the old one was on the west side. This is the same road where the abandoned car of outspoken journalist Saleem Shahzad was found and his dead body was found in the canal. One can see the effect of the road on the economy and the culture of the side of canal. 

Wider and better roads do bring in prosperity and mobility to the rural areas and that is why building betters roads have led to election victories most of the times. Close to Head Rasul Barrage, we make a turn and lead into Mandi.

The Shifa Clinic is quite impressive, with a ramp going all the way to the top floor. After a short rest, we headed to the dinner with my old Abdalian Classmate Dr Shahid Naseem. click here

http://mbdin.net/index.php/mandi-bahauddin/107-mandi-bahauddin-history

Mandi Bahauddin is one of the relatively new towns made out of an old village Chak 51. It has wide roads. It was laid by the British after the Rasul Headworks were laid, around 1920's.

The next day we headed towards his morning clinic. That is where the rubber meets the road. Tariq's family belongs to a village Gojra some twenty minutes south on the Gujrat Sargodha Road, colloquially also known as the Gondal Bar as mostly Gondals are from there. They come in all forms and varieties, sunnies, shias, Piplias, Muslim Leagueis, winners and losers in elections, it is all within the big baradari. 

Along the way is the newly minted Darbar of Maulana Jalaluddin of Bhikhi now appropriately known as Bhikhi Sharif. His son Hazrat Mazhar Qayyum Shah Mashhadi aka Hazrat Sani Sahib ( the second one) is quite active in politics. The late Maulana was optically challenged but one Ramzan he convinced the population to break their fast at ten in morning, as he had evidence of moon sighting the night before. 

What I saw in Gojra I would not have believed if someone else told me about it. The old family house is converted into an outpatient health facility. We reached there by 830 in the morning and there were at least two hundred patients waiting to be seen. All of them and more would be seen in the next four to six hours. They were separately lined up in men's and women's section. Patients in group of five or ten were seen at a time, either from the male side or the female side. They will be charged a token fee of Rupees 50, given some medications to take, and a pharmacy available for extra medications. This all goes non stop. Tariq does that on daily basis.  

What he earns out of it? A lot of goodwill, peace of mind and spiritual satisfaction. I cannot think of any way I can achieve that in my professional life and felt envious of that. It is not only me, but in my opinion none of the acclaimed specialist friends who have busy and stellar practices in the big cities can claim that kind of satisfaction; a son of soil who is also a healer within the community can do a lot good. God bless him for his work.

Half way into his hours, I left him and moved on. His brother in law and son in law gave me a lift on the ever bumpy road to the Motorway, ( the only link road to Motor way which is still very damaged, even when it was the home territory of Nazar Gondal). Next stop was Faisalabad where an old paternal cousin once removed lives. I had to have a chat with him about the old stories of the family before either of us get too old to talk about it.

Tariq Saeed is one of those thorough gentlemen who are always looking for an opportunity to be of help and comfort to you.He was a gracious host, as always and it was a trip worth it in more than one ways. 

Shahid Nasim Iqbal- Abdalian Entrymate

Meeting after 35 years.

Yes it is Shahid Nasim of Haider Wing.

click here

I met with him in Mandi Bahauddin on Friday May 31st, 2013 after almost thirty five years.

In the last five years or so, many of our age have reconnected to old class mates through internet and social media. Almost everybody I know has either an email group or FB page of their class fellows, of school mates, college mates and professional colleges. Still some manage to remain outside the reaches of these electronic catchers. Shahid Nasim is one of them who is blissfully spared of this media buzz.

It is strange that while everybody knew in the first few weeks of Hasanabdal that Javed Iqbal is from Mandi and that put Mandi Bahauddin on the map for the rest of us, nobody made the connection that his wing-mate Shahid Nasim is also from the same area. Perhaps Shahid was from the periphery of Mandi and not form the great metropolis Javed  led the others believe about his town.

I think Shahid Nasim was the most soft spoken kind gentleman we had in our entry. Tameer may be the close second. We in Jinnah Wing used to see him all the times heading to the masjid five times a day from the very beginning.He was tall and slender, a shy person  who had no particular interest in extra curricular activities except basketball and prayers.

He is a quite person, he was perhaps the only person admitted to QuadeAzam Medical College Bahawalpur. He told me that Zubair was also admitted there but soon got migrated to KE. After graduation he started working in his home area and except for one year he spent in Lahore for a diploma, he is in Phalia. He works in the Tehsil HQ Hospital Phalia and in the evenings has a busy practice in his home village. It is called Sohawa (different than what you see on GT Road). He has grown up kids and I think two of them are in medical colleges. He maintains a second home in Lahore for the kids and is very content to stay where he is.

I think the best quality of life is of those who are able to live a full working life in their natural habitat. For a rurally grown man, there is no more satisfaction than someone kine Shahid who works in his own area, in a purely rural atmosphere, busy to the minute, and earnng good income and a lot more goodwill and satisfaction. Similar is the story of Tariq Saeed (Javed Mandi's cousin and my class mate from RMC) who lives in Mandi and works both in Mandi and his ancestral village Gojra (not the big Gojra) a few miles away. I will write about him in a separate post.

He is a deeply religious man and I was expecting a long beard. While waiting for him in the hotel lobby with Tariq Saeed  I saw him coming and immediately recognized him. He looked the same, and surprisingly without the beard.

We spend the evening there in the restaurant. It was time well spend and worth the effort to reach out to him. His cool quite demeanor was as fresh as it was in 1973. A very contented man, with simple living and clear thinking.

He is not much in contact with the rest of the class. He did meet Ali Razaaq once and is in touch with Mohammad Ali, a fellow Haiderain, who like him is working and living in a small town for most of the professional live. 

Shahid Nasim does not have an email account, does not have time and interest in the Internet and uses the cellphone as the preferred mode of communication. He can be reached at (01192)-3007748106.

The First Muslim by Lesley Hazleton / A Review

When I saw the email that Lesley Hazleton is to appear at our Islamic Center of Long Island for a book reading the next week, I knew I had to go. Two years back she was at our fundraiser when I heard her for the first time. It was a compelling talk. It compelled me to read her book ‘After the Prophet: The Shia Sunni Divide”. I loved the book and mentioned it to all those I communicate with. Those who took my advice and read it, were divided in their opinions. Those more sympathetic to Bibi Fatima thought the author did not do justice to her. On the other hand, hard core Sunni friends did not like the author’s treatment of Bibi Aisha. This affirmed to me that book is good and objective.

Compelled by her success of the book and increasing interest in the history of Islam, she decided to write about the Prophet. She brought her skills of a skillful story teller to this book. Written like a novel, it tries to go into the minds of the characters. What they would be thinking, what would be the surroundings, the sounds, the thoughts, the feelings, the hesitations and the determinations of individuals who are part of the life of the Prophet. It is the story of the time which has be eternalized by the Muslims for all times to come. The interest in his life has pulled many faithful and otherwise into it.

What I liked about the book was the through objectivity of the facts. She mentioned, rather warned it upfront, that it is not a devotional biography. She is not a believer, in fact an agnostic Jewish New Zealander who lived a large part of her journalistic life in Beirut.

In preparation of the book, she spend much time in reading the jist of Ibn Ishaq and al Tabari, read the Quran and many secondary sources. She is attracted to the narrative of Islam and Muslims and has overall a positive attitude towards the Prophet.

I needed to hear that. How an outsider, not influenced by faith or passion, who looks into the mind of the Prophet and tells the story. It may not go well with many who do not want to hear anything short of divine about the Prophet. For others it is a very powerful story of the man we all love to know about more and more.

With time many of the stories we heard growing up about the life of the Prophet are going out of main narrations. It seems that if the whole seerat books are being revised and rewritten. Whatever people think is a bit uncomfortable, people tend to doubt that or outright reject that.

I think of myself as someone who has a decent knowledge of the life of the Prophet and like to collect books about him. I have not seem a book like this which tries to explain, no matter how subjective and flawed her assessment may be, what would have been the reason of what happened at various points of Prophet’s life

For example, she builds this narrative that Prophet grew up as an ultimate outsider and had spend all his life in attempts to be an insider. Orphaned before birth, had no inheritance and taken up by the equally unfortunate Halima as a wet nurse, stayed on for an extra two years with her instead of the usual two and when he came back to his mother, she took on a long and arduous journey to Yathrib, only to get sick on the way back and die. He is raised by his grandfather who had almost killed his father (Abdullah) and that relationship may not have been that congenial. Then Abd Mattalib dies and Prophet's uncle Abu Talib, takes him and put him to work right away as a camel boy. When the Prophet becomes smart enough to ask for marriage, Abu Talib refuses the hand of his daughter.

This is just an example of the early life of a young boy turning into a man, who has to struggle to find a place in the society much harder than an average man of his age. What goes in the mind of that person, is very intriguing and Lesley Hazleton has dared to take on that challenge.

The followings are a few of the points from her book, I feel like sharing.

She refutes many of the events as folk lores and is circumspect of many beliefs we have of the life story.

• The cleaning of the heart and mind of the Prophet as a child. It must be a dream, and many he had in his life.
• 360 idols is perhaps written back in history. It is a ninth century myth. Moreover, they were not Idols,, mostly stones and totem poles.
• Story of Isra and Miraj is probably a spiritual experience. Strangely the whole episode is not mentioned in the Tarikh of Tibri
• The last sermon ie khutba hajjul wida  was perhaps not one sermon but a collection of small speeches to the congregants. (perhaps no public address system for the more than hundred thousand pilgrims to hear all at once) 

I learnt a few new things through her book. If I had known them before, I must have forgotten them. Some of these are as follows.

• Quresh move to Mecca only five generations before the Prophet. They lived in Yemen around Marib Dam, which was destroyed in time due to bad maintenance. Several clans led by Prophet’s ancestor Qusayy adopted the name Quresh, ie those who gather together. They moved north, left agriculture and adopted the Kaaba Sanctuary.
• Story behind the name of Abdul Muttalib. His uncle al-Muttalib abducted him from his widowed mother in Yasrib. He had to hide the identity of his nephew and made him a camel boy on the way back to Mecca. Thereby dubbing him as Adblul Muttalib, the slave of Al Muttalib. The name stuck.
• His father Hashim died in Gaza and is buried there.  
• The pagan chant of Hajj was labbaik allahuman labbaik, lasharikalaka illa sharikun huaw laka (No partner except such partner as you have)
• Hijaz means barrier
• As the head of the Hashim clan, Abu Talib protected the Prophet. After his death, the elderly al Mutim was the interim chief and continued the protection of the Prophet. Then he died and Prophet was left without protection. That was the time, the Quresh plotted to kill him collectively.
• The three tribes of Jews were the part of Palestinian Jews who had fled after the failed rebellion against the Romans in the second century. They were the first settlers of Medina before Aws and Khizraj arrived. Aws and Khizraj arrived from the south at the same time when Quresh migrated north to Mecca
• On the death of Abu Jahl in Badr, the Prophet took two things of his. His dagger and his camel. It was the same camel he brought with him on the abortive trip of Umra which ended in the Truce of Hudaibia. The camel was slaughtered there. 

• There were at least three poets in Medina who were very critical of the Prophet and some zealots killed them and somehow were able to get away with that.
• Two of his wives were Jewish. Zianab and Rayhana (his seventh) from the massacred Qureza Tribe
• Banu Qaynuqa, the first tribe to be expelled, was in fact ordered to have the same fate, which fell on Banu Qureza the last one ie men to be killed, property divided and women and children made captives. There lives were spared when Abdulla bin Obay pleaded on their behalf. That pleading established the principle to which Obay conceded. The decision will be the Prophets alone.
• In the Conquest of Mecca, ten persons were ordered to be killed unless they repent. It included poets and poetesses. Half of them repented and were spared.

She raises a few questions which I find intriguing and do not have a good answer to them.

• Why his mother, Amina Bibi, took a long and difficult journey to Yasrib soon after getting her son back from Halima. The author raises the question that she might be looking for a relative who could take the guardianship of the child, but there is no record. She returns and dies on the way back.
• As a young trader he had made several trips to Damascus and would have been exposed to the cultures and belief systems of the Christians, Jews and Zorastrians.
• Treatment of the Jews at the hands of Prophet was partly because he felt the need to show strength. It sent a strong message to other potential enemies. 
• The same way as Renaissance scholars have a very negative opinion of the 'Dark Ages' and may tend to make them look a lot darker than they were, a similar attitude existed in the late 8th and 9th century  Damascus and Baghdad. That was the time of Muslim peak and the past was reinterpreted as the time of Jahilia, great ignorance, much more of a dark age then perhaps the pagans were before the advent of Islam.

Not everyone will agree with me in my assessment. NY Times have a rather harsh review on the book. click here. Those who look at the personality of the Prophet with a biased prism, whether it is positive or negative, will find faults in the book. For those who wish to blame his name will see too much of a praise and latitude given to him. On the other hand, many of my friends who wouldn't accept anything less than a devotional biography will find it blasphemous.

If for once one is willing to read the life of the Prophet as a man, with all human strengths and potential weaknesses, this book offers a very possible version of his life, thoughts, aspirations, concerns, potential shortcomings and accomplishment.

I think that someone unaware of the person of the Prophet reads this book as the first introduction of him, will come out of the book with a positive opinion of the person who is one of the most misunderstood; by people on either side of the Mohammedan debate.

I highly recommend the book to those who are open to read critical review of their loved ones.

Giving Voice To The Deaf

DEAF REACH

This past weekend Zoha and I attended a fundraiser and thought to share this experience with you.

It was one of the various emails we all get in the inbox about many a fundraiser happening in the community. It was to be at Antun's Hicksville, the All Pakistani Banquet Hall.  Food has become a lot better since taken over by Pakistanis (Read Shaheen).

Zoha received it through the Alliance network. It was about an organization running schools for the deaf in Karachi. As it is an issue close to our heart, we discussed and decided to attend it. I did not think it will be so different than what I would have thought of it.

It was arranged with the help of a local Pakistani organization PACOLI, http://pacoli.net/index.html Pakistani American Community of Long Island. It has been around for a while and has undergone several reorganizations and changes, and is now without any physician in a leadership post, perhaps a first for any Pakistani diaspora organization. But that is besides the point.

Just the fact that a project like that is happening in the middle of our cities is commendable in its own right. The race and ethnicity of the founders is important however. I am surprised at my own ignorance that while we all know and hear about the Greg Mortensons, Todd Sheas, Ethen Caseys and others like them, I had never heard of Richard Geary. And here is this guy who is living in Pakistan for all the times I had lived outside the country, starting an organization from scratch and building it into a state of the art school system for the deaf.   His partner is his wife who again, is an outsider. Amazing story and equally amazing is our ignorance of  it.

Although the world over the old "Deaf" is being replaced by "hearing impaired", the name Deaf Reach has a resonance to it. Perhaps that is the reason the name of the schools is Deaf Reach.  The organization is Family Educational Services Foundation. http://www.fesf.org.pk/ It has a highly interactive FB Page. https://www.facebook.com/deafreachkarachi?fref=ts

It is a touching story of a white American man and his Filipina wife. They had a deaf child. It changed their life in more than one ways. They first started a school in the Philippines and then moved to India. Some stroke of fortune (for Pakistan) brought them to Karachi and somehow it was difficult to go back to India. They decided to stay in Pakistan instead and start a school. There may be more to it, as far as the story is concerned  but the matter of the fact is, that Heidi and Richard Geary have made Pakistan their home. Their initial school of around 12 children have now grown into many schools across Sindh and one in Lahore. They are about to open, if not already opened, a branch in Turkey!

I was moved by the work they do and the commitment they have shown in a far away foreign land. Their own son, unfortunately died in a car accident a few years back when he had moved back to the USA.

Now they have been gifted a land in Rashidabad. Many would know about the Rashidabad and the story of a father and his colleagues in PAF who have created an oasis of education in the desert of Singh in memory of his son Rashid who diverted the plane away to save innocent lives when his plane was to crash and in the process paid with his  life. In Rashidabad they will have a state of the art School for the Deaf.

It was heartwarming to see these young kids, who would have been without much of education or self esteem, now learning Urdu, English, Pakistani Sign Language and skills to be a useful member of the society.

Astonishing to know that a whole KFC opposite Urdu College is run by these hearing impaired children. Amazing.

After the presentation, which was very moving, and left everybody teary eyed, there was a stand up comedian Saad Haroon.

This is the first time the organization is making a reach out to the diaspora in USA. Their funds are collected through I-care Foundation, which I know personally by working with Fatimid, that it is a well reputed organization. 

Over all an evening spend well and worthwhile. Thanks to all the organizers.

And heartfelt thanks to Richard Geary. He can be reached at r.geary@fesf.org.pk .

Donations can be made online by visiting the weblink. http://www.i-care-america.org/family-educational-services-foundation/

Barcelona

For Slide Show click here

The first time I heard of Barcelona was in 1971. I was ten years old and the first Men's Field Hockey Cup was being played in this Spanish city. The name had a musical ring to it. Those were the romantic days of Pakistan Hockey, Tanvir Dar and Rashid Junior. I remember sitting close to the radio and getting excited on the penalty corners of legendary Tanvir Dar.  Pakistan already had Olympic Gold and Asian Cup at that time and had something like a Triple Crown with this victory. Champions Trophy did not exist at that time.

Pakistan somehow managed to be in Semifinals, beat India and then defeated Spain in the finals. This was the last good news in Pakistan before the civil war in East Pakistan would end the year on a most painful note.

Fast forward to 2012.

Our trip to Spain ended with Barcelona.
We had to rent two cars from the AC Marriott Seville to the airport. It is the same road which we had traveled two days back on the way back from Granada. The ride to the airport was 35 Euro each car, a separate amount was added for the telephone handling.

Barcelona looked like a different country from the rest of Spain. Large, cosmopolitan and vibrant. It felt somewhat the same when I went to Karachi during my second year medical college trip from Multan. Large, bustling, diverse and vibrant. People seem to speak a different language and indeed they do. Majority speak Catalan, although everybody understands Spanish.

Hespera Towers is an elegant hotel, it was the best hotel during our stay. Tipu had perhaps arranged for an upscale hotel as the last stop on our tour. The only drawback was the distance from the city center. It is at the end of a subway train line, and takes about half an hour each way.

We had two nights to stay there and enjoyed every bit of it. The city of Barcelona, for the visitors, revolves around two men. Gaudi and Picasso, a gay conservative architect and a womanizer communist artist, . The two famous landmarks ie  the Guadi's place, Park Guell a Utopian community he tried to built at the northern end of the city and the world largest cathedral, still in the making, Holy Family Cathedral, is Sargada Familia are the everlasting gift of Gaudi to the city.

Park Guell reminds one of Disney, a sort of its predecessor and an actual community. The houses, the park and the community center, all idealistic.

Sargada Familia:
Once built it will perhaps be the largest and longest continuously built church in the world. Started in  1882 it will perhaps finish in 2026 or so. It is a 20-21st century masterpiece. We did not have the time to get inside.   It combines the old Gothic style church building architecture with the modern Gaudi concepts of environment. Many of the statues include the four seasons , the farms, vegetables and the flowers.

There are three facades, each with a theme of its own. Nativity for the Birth of Christ, Passion for the Crucifixion, and The Glory Facade for the ascension to the Heavens.

Nativity

Passion:

One of the controversial statue is the Naked Jesus, For close up check here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasirgondal/7911098734/in/set-72157631361600476/lightbox/

The Ramblas:

But the heart of Barcelona is this mile and a half long strip on foot from to. If you have not gone anywhere in the city but take the walk down and up the Ramblas, you have visited the essence of the city. It is one of those stories where the once the worst part of the city gets turned into the most colorful sites. It was the draining pipelines of the city wall and were renovated to form a walkway around it and here it is.

We got off at the station Catalunya. Coming out in the open, there is a big central garden full of fountains, statues,  pigeons and people, Placa de Catalunya.

 A very lively place.
Ramblas is one of many streets which start or end up here. It is like a big circular center. All big stores are here, FNAC, Zara,El Corte Ingles. Cafe Zurich is a nice place to have coffee. We had Saleem's birthday in Hard Rock Cafe here on the second day.

Walking down the Ramblas is traveling through Barcelona in full color. You see everything city is famous for. People of every color and creed, with kiosks lining the boulevard, jugglers playing, artists painting, beggars begging, musicians and dancers performing and onlookers ogling.

Fountain of youth known as Fountain of Canaletes is just south of Catalunya. Legend says that a drink form it ensures a return trip to Barcelona.

Farmers market, La Boqueria is an interesting place. I bought dates from an Asian vendor.

At the end of it is once again Columbus. His towering monument, where he is looking at the waters. Although it was here that he returned from his first trip to the New World, but the future successes in the Americas meant less importance for Barcelona and more for the western ports like Seville  for the future returning vessels.

Beyond the monument is the large shopping area in the Waterfront..



Next day we took the bus trip of the city and it took us to the Gaudi city. This is the architect's own version of a Utopian place, It is on a hill and on looks the city and the Holy Family Cathedral  the most famous art piece of Gaudi. One of his tiles reminded me of Multan.

Picasso's life had quite a few years of Barcelona, His house is now Picasso's museum in the old city. It was a long line and we could not go in there. At the end of that corner is the church of sailors ie Santa Maria Church.

Many Indians and Pakistanis in here. From cab drivers to street vendors. I did not find much of us in Andalusia.

And the next day we left Spain for Geneva.

Sweet memories. Words of Iqbal on his way back from Spain say it well.

ہسپانیہ تو خون مسلماں کا امیں ہے

 مانند حرم پاک ہے تو میری نظر میں 

پوشیدہ تیری خاک میں سجدوں کے نشاں ہیں 

خاموش اذانیں ہیں تیری باد سحر میں 

غرناطہ بھی دیکھا مری آنکھوں نے و لیکن 

تسکین مسافر نہ سفر میں نہ حضر میں 

دیکھا بھی دکھایا بھی سنایا بھی سنا بھی 

ہے دل کی تسلی نہ نظر میں نہ خبر میں 

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References:

1. http://www.asian-women-magazine.com/pakistan/hockey/barcelona-world-cup-1971.php
2. Rick Steve;s Spain 2012
3. http://www.allamaiqbal.com/

Buzkashi Boys and other Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films 2013

The night before the Oscars, we had a chance to see the Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. 

http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/oscar-nominated-live-action-short-films-5/

This is a nice place, and equivalent of an independent movie showcase place, "art movies" as we used to call them back home. This presentation is narrated by Luke Matheny, who was himself a winner in this series in 2011.

It was a unique opportunity to see these shorts just one night before the awards. I have no idea where these films are played or seen. I have never seen one in the theaters  What is there market?

This is my personal take on these.

Death of a Shadow (Belgium/France),  A soldier who died in WWI is given a second lease on life. He has to capture 10,000 shadows of death. In return he will get one hour of life back to be in his own time. The special camera he is given is the one through which one can see the past and can take the picture of the shadow. He wants to go back to be with with the girl who tended him when he was running away from the enemies. Only to find out that the girl was in fact waiting for another soldier who was shot by a firing squad. He goes back and gives his chance to the other man to be with the waiting girl.

Henry (Canada),in French. It is the story of pain of an old main, a great pianist, who is gradually his memory in old age. Keeps on thinking about his wife and daughter. Excellent acting. 

Curfew (USA), A touchy movie of where Richie a failure in life at the lowest point in his life is about to commit suicide. He gets a call from his sister, estranged for years and now in an abusive relationship, to take care of her daughter for the evening.  The acting of the young girl, Fatima Ptacek, is superb, who initially comes across full of herself, with an attitude, but goes through a roller coaster of emotions in those few hours with his uncle.

Buzkashi Boys (Afghanistan). I had heard the interview of the boy actor on BBC and was the main reason I went to see the shorts. A story of friendship and emotions of two preteens, how they struggle to deal with everyday life and dream about their future.  They watch buzkashi riders and get adrenalized. Jawanmard Paiz is the street urchin and is full of energy, a dare devil and is sure to make big. He taunts is friend to climb up vertical stairs in a deserted palace up to the top which his friend Fawad Mohammadi does not. Fawad is a son of a blacksmith, and is cautious but wished to succeed in life. One pays the price and the other gets strength from the fallen friend. Excellent movie, a must see.

Asad (South Africa), Again this is a story of a young boy, living in a shanty town in Somalia, desiring to be a fabled pirate but has to take care of his needy family and becomes a fisherman. A war ravaged land and the universal story of human desire to be happy and succeed. Masterfully done. 

Given a chance to see the shorts, do avail it. I would have voted for Buzkashi Boys, but Oscar went to Curfew. 

Forty Eighth Anniversary of Malcolm X at Shabazz Center

The Transformations of Malcolm X by Tariq Ramadan

Yesterday, February 21st, 2013, was the 48th death anniversary of Malcolm X. Tariq Ramadan was to be there. I have been reading Tariq Ramadan lately, and thought it was a good time to hear him out. I had heard him speak before, and did not want to pass it on.

This was not the first time I have been to the center in the past. Since it opened up in 2005 there had been many events. Five years back CAIR NY had its annual banquet there. But this was the first time I was there for a celebration on the life of Malcolm himself.

The Malcom X and Dr Betty Shabazz Center stands where the Audubon Ballroom existed, the site of Malcolm's assassination 48 years back on February 21st, 1965. After years of neglect it was to be reconstructed by Columbia University when due to the persistence of Betty Shabazz, it was saved and now it is a living shrine to the memory of the two. Downstairs is a welcome lobby with a life-size statute of him (6'4") greeting you. Upstairs is the hall where events are held. It sits on the intersection of 165st street on the Broadway, and is across the Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia Presbyterian system). The same hospital which refused to send paramedics or even the stretcher down the block when Malcolm was shot. 

The hall has life size paintings of Malcolm on the eastern wall. The north and the western wall looks on to Washigton Heights through large windows. There were full size portraits and photos of Malcolm in different familiar poses we have seen over the years, including the fiery speaker poses , praying in the Turkish Mosque and wearing African garbs.

The hall was jam packed with a lot of people younger than me. A few individuals who were present on that day were also in attendance, including his bodyguard and two daughters.

Mark Harding, the Interim ED was the MC. 

The invocation from the Quran was by Imam Talib Abdur Rashid of Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood Harlem. He chose verses 75 and 76 of Chapter 4. aptly chosen for the way of life Malcolm has lived.

And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)?- Men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help!"

Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan.

It was colorful evening with performances by Karen Taylor and Spoken Word by Autum Ashante. She is the one who made headlines a few years back as a child prodigy. One should check her out on youtube. She read a poem which had the Martin King's refrain 'I have a dream" but the rhetoric was all Malcolm's.

Among the speakers were Peter Bailey, a founding member of the Organization of Afro American Unity, the organization founded by Malcolm after leaving NOI. He was present there on the day of Malcolm's death. He was a young man in early twenties at that time. He used to run the newsletter and was excited about the upgrading of the publication to a paper in the coming weeks. He talked about the different exploitation of the Black community including physiological exploitation which still continues.

Two daughters of Malcolm X spoke next, Malaak who was still unborn but still present with her sister and mother in this hall on that day. Ilyasah is the one many are familiar with as the daughter, as she is the public face of the Shabazz family. 

Tariq Ramadan flew in from London for this talk. He has a personal connection with Malcolm. I did not know that from before. His father had hosted Malcolm during his trip to Egypt and while a two years old, Tariq had sat on the lap of Malcolm. After Malcolm's death, the elder Ramadan had help arranged a Haj Pilgrimage for Betty Shabbaz, which she was still pregnant with the unborn twins.

The crux of Ramadan's talk, which was aptly named 'Transformations of Malcolm X",  was the three stages of Malcolm. He made the connection between the Three Metamorphosis of Spirit as portrayed by Nietzsche and the Islamic explanation of nafs.  Nietzsche describes the three stages of human spirit. First is that of a camel, when one is continuously burdened by the load of life, and one endures and endures. Then comes the stage of being a lion. One stands up and roars. Enough is enough and takes a stand. The last is the stage of being a child. Happy and content, at peace with the surroundings and confident of oneself. 

Parallel to that, although not exactly the same are the three types or stages of Human's nafs,  ie self. The first is  nafs ammara. 12:53 ( the (human) soul is certainly prone to evil). At this stage one is full of one's own self of strength, is self centered and takes in all what comes its way. Then comes the stage of  nafs e lawwama 75:2 (the self-reproaching spirit).  It is the fiery stage of struggle and new realizations and how to deal with them. The last stage is  nafs mutmainna 89:27 (soul at peace)  the final stage of peace, with ones own self and with the rest of the world.

Malcolm's life, Ramadan cataloged,  is a journey through these three stages or transformations. It is also reflected in his name and how it changes with each stage. 

First stage of his life, growing up he is Malcolm Little. The given name is a reflection of what was the name given by the European masters to his ancestors once their names were taken away from them. (Taking away of names is one of the most brutal acts of Europeans, elaborated others speakers including Ron Daniels later).  Here in this stage of his life, he is like a camel, taking all the burdens of life as presented to him and trying to carry it all. It is the stage of nafs ammara.

Then he goes to jail and is introduced to the Nation of Islam. This is the opposite of what he had been so far. So far he had been trying to be 'white'. (Some will remember the movie where in the barber's shop in Massachusetts he straightens his hair and asks his friend does he look white?)  Trying to be white has led him into jail. Here he is introduced to the other reality and he becomes the rebel he is mainly known as in the world. He is transformed into the raging lion. This is the nafs lawwama the unrelenting force unleashed on the world in the name of Malcolm X. Here is his new name, X. The unknown. He is taking the label away, as many in NOI did, which the Europeans put on him. He is denying them the privilege of defining him and acknowledges his origins, no matter how unknown they may be to him and his masters. 

Then is the final stage of his life, the last two years, which are not much known in the outside (both Black and Brown) world. Here he eventually grows out of the black supremacy concept of Nation of Islam. He breaks away from them, changes his name again. He travels overseas. Now he is Malik AlShabazz. He performed the Haj and traveled to Europe and Africa. The pilgrimage was a life changer for him, where he sees the universality of the message and realizes that his calling is not in being black or anti white. It is universal. This is the stage of contentment, as a  child of Nietzsche, the nafs mutmainna.

Here is not angry any more. He is still a fighter, but not to take revenge or get even, he is fighting for the right thing for the right reason. 

And that, Tariq Ramadan stressed, is the real message from the life of Malcolm X.

It was here that he was in the initial stages of reorganizing his Organization of Afro American Unity.

Tariq Ramadan's speech was followed by two respondents. One was Ron Daniels once a US Presidential Candidate and other was again Imam Talib Abdul Rashid. They both gave their personal takes on the life of Malcolm and Ramadan's speech. 

It was echoed in all the speeches that the African  community is coming out of the Malcolm vs Martin camp and realize that the ultimate message was similar. It is not true, we were told, that one was all peaceful Christian non violent resistance and the other was all rage and anger. 

It was a nice evening which took me back to the roads I used to frequent much, almost weekly for many years when I was involved actively in CAIR NY. Driving through 125th street, the ever changing Harlem into the Broadway north into Washington Heights, and back on Harlem Parkway. 

Zoha could not join me; last minute rearrangement due to kid's schedules.  I saw old friends and colleagues including Momani's, Aisha Aladawiya and Zead Ramadan. Zead is the chair of Shabbaz Center. Muneer Awad was the silent behind the scene organizer. 

Also had the opportunity to have a nice cup of tea with Faisal Cheema, who threw in chicken legs, Jaleebi and ghulab jamin.

The center is worth visiting at least once. Whenever in town, make an effort to be at the Shabazz Center.