The US Army tried to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr, the widely revered Shia cleric, after luring him to peace negotiations at a house in the holy city of Najaf, which it then attacked, according to a senior Iraqi government official. The revelation of this extraordinary plot, which would probably have provoked an uprising by outraged Shia if it had succeeded, has left a legacy of bitter distrust in the mind of Mr Sadr for which the US and its allies in Iraq may still be paying. The attempted assassination or abduction took place two-and-a-half years ago in August 2004 when Mr Sadr and his Mehdi Army militiamen were besieged by US Marines in Najaf, south of Baghdad.

 With Sadr finally back in Iraq, it will be interesting to see what changes are brought about on Iraq’s political horizon. And here’s another one on the Welch Club… An insight into the recent conflict involving Lebanon…an interesting read…

To understand what is going on with Fatah al-Islam at Nahr el-Bared one would want a brief introduction to Lebanon‘s amazing, but shadowy ‘Welch Club’. The Club is named for its godfather, David Welch, assistant to Secretary of State Rice who is the point man for the Bush administration and is guided by Eliot Abrams. The Welch Club’s major error was when it attempted to influence the Lebanese Army into disarming the Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah. When the Army wisely refused, the Club coordinated with the Bush Administration to pressure
Israel to dramatically intensify its retaliation to the capture of the two soldiers by Hezbollah.
http://www.aimislam.com/news/news/whos-behind-the-fighting-in-northern-lebanon

Just had my last day at the client and the feeling of nostalgia was beyond me. Having spent most part of the past one year of my articles, it suddenly seemed pretty sad-sad to finally leave it. [Although I was thankful that at last I would be going on a new client!  ] Having finally picked up my things and locking the door of my audit room behind me, I suddenly felt my heart heavy and feet reluctant as I moved towards the exit. Flash backs of all the humorous and not so humorous events started to bug me. The late sittings, the tafreeh, the table tennis games, the music, the laughter, the fights, the work pressure all came back to me.

Last year I remember when I was back home after spending 20 days out of Karachi, I experienced the same melancholy feeling although I was glad to be back home. As a kid too, whenever we would go for outings it would always feel so sad-sad while we came back home. I always wonder how I can be happy and then be so sad at the same time?  

 tuluu-e-shams-e-mufaaraqat hai
puranii kiranien naye makaano ke aangano may laraz rahii hien
fasiil-e-shahar-e-vafa ke rozan chamakate zarron se bhar gaii hien
gaye dino ki aziz baatien nigar subahien gulab raatien
bisaat-e-dil bhii ajiib shay hai hazaar jiitien hazaar maatien

(Amjad Islam Amjad)

(Narrated by Hazrat Ali (AS) – to be recited as often as possible)

 بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

 Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which ye worship; Nor worship ye that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which ye worship. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion 

The last verse of the above surah al Kafiroon has always intrigued  me a bit. It seems that as a last resort when the disbelievers became so staunch in their own corrupt beliefs, God just said Ok fine, tell them to stick with there own religion if that’s what they want.  This seems to be the tone of the Holy Quran at a few more places where God just says that let the misguided remain misguided, no help shall ever reach them.   It made me wonder what would have made God adopt this tone? And then I experienced the reason myself. There are people in this world who are so biased towards their own beliefs that their concepts don’t budge even when they are confronted with the open truth. No matter how much you try to convince them out of their ways, they go on becoming stronger in their own beliefs. It hurts! It hurts when you care about someone and teach him/her the virtue and in return get a blatant refusal without any logic or reason. God loves His creation, God loves His Prophet (Saw) and the Prophet loves his ummah. How much our misguided acts and above all OUR REFUSAL TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH hurts God and our Prophet? Maybe this was the reason that God had to adopt the tone. A few more examples: As for the Disbelievers, Whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them; they believe not. Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom. [2:6-7] 

Is it ever so, that, when there cometh unto you a messenger (from Allah) with that which ye yourselves desire not, ye grow arrogant, and some ye disbelieve and some ye slay? And they say: Our hearts are hardened. Nay, but Allah hath cursed them for their unbelief. Little is that which they believe. [2:87-88] 

Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein. [2:57]

The purpose of discussing it in my first post: I plan to share verses from the Quran which have inspired me to judge my right from my wrong. I merely need to show that these inspiration shall only be for those who WANT to be inspired. For those who JUST DO NOT want to accept the truth, the posts shall certainly not benefit. If any of my posts under the topic doesn’t make one think…well then one should judge for himself! Verses from Surah Yaseen that made me cry when I first read themAlready hath the judgment, (for their infidelity) proved true of most of them, for they believe not. Lo! We have put on their necks carcans reaching unto the chins, so that they are made stiff-necked. And We have set a bar before them and a bar behind them, and (thus) have covered them so that they see not. Whether thou warn them or thou warn them not, it is alike for them, for they believe not. Thou warnest only him who followeth the Reminder and feareth the Beneficent in secret. To him bear tidings of forgiveness and a rich reward.

Its sort of a love letter from God and how brutaly are we ignoring this bouqet of love from our lover who loves us more than 70 mothers could ever love!!!

Quranic inspirations shall be my effort to share and post inspirations from the Holy Book which helped shape my life and inspired me to move ahead in life….