Showing posts with label Flood Victim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flood Victim. Show all posts

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Was "Sufi" Abdullah Shah Ghazi a Banu Ummayya General!

Note: Please read this post as a Research Post and not as a Sectarian post, I have just mentioned History as reported by the Historians, purpose of this post is research not to mock or attack any community - KARACHI: Annual three-days ‘Urs’, the birth anniversary celebrations of famous saint Hazrat Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi (RA), will be held from Nov 17 to 19. A large number of devotees are expected to attend the birth anniversary celebrations of the saint, scheduled to be held at his shrine at Clifton here, said a statement issued on Friday. (Daily Times Dated 12 Nov 2011) - During Cyclone Yemyin in 2007, a  female news reporter on a visit to Abdullah Shah Ghazi's Shrine in Clifton Karachi commented on the view of those who visit this shrine for all the worldly and heavenly [life after death] blessings. She said that there is a belief prevalent amongst Karachiites that "All the Cyclones which are supposed to hit Karachi stopped by Abdullah Shah Ghazi and his shrine" I wonder what happened to Shah Noorani of Baluchistan where Muslims go to perform Noorani Hajj? Has his power been usurped by someone, who stops Noorani Baba from saving lives of Innocent people of Baluchistan? Shouldn't Dawn News Channel and thousands of other private TV Channels launch a campaign like famous Singer Fakhar Alam did to help the poor victim of 2005 Earthquake. The Earthquake had hit the area where Shah Ismail Shaheed Dehelvi and Syed Ahmed Shaheed were martyred and buried as well? What happened to their powers? Who suspended the powers of those Saints buried in Thatta District to save the people of Badin and Thatta from this man made calamity [yes Rain is blessings it is the government of the day who should be held responsible for not reaching to the people to help them], or Should we wind up every Rescue Agency in Pakistan and start building Pucca and Plastered Air Conditioned Shrines along Coastal Area of Sindh Baluchistan to save people form Cyclones? Reference: Urs of Abdullah Shah Ghazi from 17th Saturday, November 12, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C11%5C12%5Cstory_12-11-2011_pg12_5

Tuesday, November 15, 2011, Zil Hajj 18, 1432 A.H.
http://jang.com.pk/jang/nov2011-daily/15-11-2011/u87651.htm








Abdullah Shah Ghazi (The Patron Saint of Sindh)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I_H1G8lZXk

As per Dr. Umar Bin Muhammad Daudpota proposes that the real name of Abdullah Shah was General Abdulla bin Nabhan. Who along with another senior commander, Badil bin Tuhafa, had launched a military expedition against the local ruler, Raja Dahir. The assault was a response to the activities of Raja Dahir, who was seen as encouraging pirates to raid Arab shipping. The war is generally attributed to being triggered by a noble woman who wrote to the then Governor of Basra, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, that she had been kidnapped. Al Hajjaj then wrote a letter to the Raja Dahir who replied that he did not exercise any control over pirates in his kingdom thereby triggering a military expedition that ensued at Debal, near modern day Karachi. Later, a second mission was entrusted to a young commander, Muhammad bin Qasim who successfully defeated the Raja and rescued the noble woman and the other muslim prisoners. This version is at odds with first, as it paints a picture of an Ummayad prince. Ummayyads persecuted the progeny of prophet Muhammad particularly the families of the imams in whom was vested religious authority which challenged the former's role as Kahalifas (Caliphs). [Reference: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Shah_Ghazi]

Lets have a look at this claim through History. 
"QUOTE"

Kitab Futuh al-Buldan ("Book of the Conquests of the Lands") by Ahmad Ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri [Died 297 AH 892] - The author of many books in history, geography, literature and other subjects in Arabic. He translated many books from Persian into Arabic. Author of Fatuh ul Buldan, an account of Islamic conquests of different lands, was well known and was published both from Europe and Egypt. He was called Baladary, because he died consuming it (Baladur is a kind of nut) - see Ahmad Bin Yahya Bin Jabir Al Biladuri. Balazry Ahmad Bin Yahya Bin Jabir Abul Hasan  - His chief extant work, a condensation of a longer history, Kitab Futuh al-Buldan (فتوح البلدان), "Book of the Conquests of Lands"), translated by Phillip Hitti in The Origins of the Islamic State, (1916, 1924), tells of the wars and conquests of the Arabs from the 7th century. It covers the conquests of lands from Arabia west to Egypt, North Africa, and Spain and east to Iraq, Iran, and Sind. Reference: Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_ibn_Yahya_al-Baladhuri http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/biography/viewentry.php?id=460

Conquest of Sindh as reported in Kitab Futuh al-Buldan and every Historian quotes from Kitab Futuh al-Buldan.






Late. Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi also spelt Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadvi (Deobandi) wrote in Nuzhatul Khawatir



Abdullah Shah Ghazi was Syed Abu Muhammad Abdullah Al Ishtar from the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from the linage of Hasan Ibne Ali Ibne Abu Talib (May Allah be pleased with him) . According to historian Suhail Zaheer Lari, he was the son of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. Lari, Suhail Zaheer. A History of Sindh. Oxford University Press, USA. 1995. [and OUP Pakistan. 1996.]









"UNQUOTE"

As per Sahih Bukhari and Usd al-ghābah fi ma‘rifat al-ṣaḥābah by Ibn al-Athīr [Biographies of 8, 000 Companions of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)], Hazrat Hamza bin Abdul Muttallib (May Allah be pleased with him) was Martyred in Battle of Uhud more than 1400 years ago but Hamid Mir insist in his alleged column Monday, November 14, 2011, Zil Hajj 17, 1432 A.H. (demise of common sense) that seeking pardon from Hamzah (May Allah be pleased with him) is a must despite of the fact that Hamza (May Allah be pleased with him) is dead and Dead cannot listen and answer. I have been to Saudi Arabia and there is no Shrine of Hamza (RA) but a simple grave.


Monday, November 14, 2011, Zil Hajj 17, 1432 A.H.


QURAN says on Shirk [Polytheism]:

وَإِذْ قَالَ لُقْمَانُ لابْنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ يَبُنَىَّ لاَ تُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيم


English Translation:

And (remember) when Luqman said unto his son, when he was exhorting him: O my dear son! Ascribe no partners unto Allah. Lo! to ascribe partners (unto Him) is a tremendous wrong [LUQMAN (LUQMAN) Chapter 31 - Verse 13]


إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَى إِثْماً عَظِيماً

English Translation:


Verily, Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with him in worship, but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He pleases, and whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin [Women - Surah An Nisa'a - Chapter 4 - Verse 48]


وَاللَّهُ يَقْضِى بِالْحَقِّ وَالَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِ لاَ يَقْضُونَ بِشَىْءٍ إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ



English Translation:


And Allah judges with truth, while those to whom they invoke besides Him, cannot judge anything. Certainly, Allah! He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer. [AL-GHAFIR (THE FORGIVER (GOD) Chapter 40 - Verse 20]


Dead cannot listen:



وَالَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ لاَ يَخْلُقُونَ شَيْئًا وَهُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ

أَمْواتٌ غَيْرُ أَحْيَاء وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ



Those unto whom they cry beside Allah created naught, but are themselves created. (They are) dead, not living. And they know not when they will be raised. [AN-NAHL (THE BEE) Chapter 16 Verse 20 and 21]


إِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَى وَلَا تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ الدُّعَاء إِذَا وَلَّوْا مُدْبِرِينَ



Lo! Thou canst not make the dead to hear, nor canst thou make the deaf to hear the call when they have turned to flee; [AL-NAML (THE ANT, THE ANTS) Chapter 27 Verse 80]


وَمَا يَسْتَوِى الاٌّحْيَآءُ وَلاَ الاٌّمْوَاتُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَآءُ وَمَآ أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِى الْقُبُورِ


English Translation:


Nor are the living equal with the dead. Lo! Allah maketh whom He will to hear. Thou canst not reach who are in the graves. {FATIR (THE ANGELS, ORIGNATOR) Chapter 35 - Verse 22]


وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّن يَدْعُو مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَن لاَّ يَسْتَجِيبُ لَهُ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَـمَةِ وَهُمْ عَن دُعَآئِهِمْ غَـفِلُونَ


English Translation:

And who is further astray than those who instead of Allah, pray unto such as hear not their prayer until the Day of Resurrection, and are unconscious of their prayer. [AL-AHQAF (THE WIND-CURVED SANDHILLS, THE DUNES) Chapter Chapter 46 - Verse 5]


Knowledge of Unseen:


قُل لاَّ أَقُولُ لَكُمْ عِندِي خَزَآئِنُ اللّهِ وَلا أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ وَلا أَقُولُ لَكُمْ إِنِّي مَلَكٌ إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلاَّ مَا يُوحَى إِلَيَّ قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الأَعْمَى وَالْبَصِيرُ أَفَلاَ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ


Say (O Muhammad, to the disbelievers): I say not unto you (that) I possess the treasures of Allah, nor that I have knowledge of the Unseen; and I say not unto you: Lo! I am an angel. I follow only that which is inspired in me. Say: Are the blind man and the seer equal? Will ye not then take thought? [AL-ANAAM (CATTLE, LIVESTOCK) Chapter 6 Verse 50]



قُل لاَّ أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِي نَفْعًا وَلاَ ضَرًّا إِلاَّ مَا شَاء اللّهُ وَلَوْ كُنتُ أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ لاَسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِيَ السُّوءُ إِنْ أَنَاْ إِلاَّ نَذِيرٌ وَبَشِيرٌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ


Say [O Prophet]: For myself I have no power to benefit, nor power to hurt, save that which Allah willeth. Had I knowledge of the Unseen, I should have abundance of wealth, and adversity would not touch me. I am but a warner, and a bearer of good tidings unto folk who believe. [AL-ARAF (THE HEIGHTS) Chapter 7 Verse 188]


وَيَقُولُونَ لَوْلاَ أُنزِلَ عَلَيْهِ آيَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِ فَقُلْ إِنَّمَا الْغَيْبُ لِلّهِ فَانْتَظِرُواْ إِنِّي مَعَكُم مِّنَ الْمُنتَظِرِينَ


And they will say: If only a portent were sent down upon him from his Lord! Then say, (O Muhammad): The Unseen belongeth to Allah. So wait! Lo! I am waiting with you. [YUNUS (JONAH) Chapter 10 Verse 20]


قُل لَّا يَعْلَمُ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ الْغَيْبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ



Say (O Muhammad): None in the heavens and the earth knoweth the Unseen save Allah; and they know not when they will be raised (again). [AL-NAML (THE ANT, THE ANTS) Chapter 27 Verse 65]




ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاء الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيكَ وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يُلْقُون أَقْلاَمَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ يَكْفُلُ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يَخْتَصِمُونَ



This is of the tidings of things hidden. We reveal it unto thee (Muhammad). Thou wast not present with them when they threw their pens (to know) which of them should be the guardian of Mary, nor wast thou present with them when they quarrelled (thereupon). [AL-E-IMRAN (THE FAMILY OF 'IMRAN, THE HOUSE OF 'IMRAN) Chapter 3 Verse 44]



ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاء الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ أَجْمَعُواْ أَمْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَمْكُرُونَ


This is of the tidings of the Unseen which We inspire in thee (Muhammad). Thou wast not present with them when they fixed their plan and they were scheming. [YUSUF (JOSEPH) Chapter 12 Verse 102]


وَمَا كُنتَ بِجَانِبِ الْغَرْبِيِّ إِذْ قَضَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى الْأَمْرَ وَمَا كُنتَ مِنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ



And thou (Muhammad) wast not on the western side (of the Mount) when We expounded unto Moses the commandment, and thou wast not among those present; [AL-QASAS (THE STORY, STORIES) Chapter 28 Verse 44]

Allah solves the problems [mean He is the giver and provider further meaning Gharib Nawaz, Mushkil Kusha, Ganj Bukhsh, Daata, Ghaus-e-Azam nothing but Him is Haqq]



فَتَقَبَّلَهَا رَبُّهَا بِقَبُولٍ حَسَنٍ وَأَنبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنًا وَكَفَّلَهَا زَكَرِيَّا كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا الْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقاً قَالَ يَا مَرْيَمُ أَنَّى لَكِ هَـذَا قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ اللّهِ إنَّ اللّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَاء بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ



And her Lord accepted her with full acceptance and vouchsafed to her a goodly growth; and made Zachariah her guardian. Whenever Zachariah went into the sanctuary where she was, he found that she had food. He said: O Mary! Whence cometh unto thee this (food)? She answered: It is from Allah. Allah giveth without stint to whom He will. [AL-E-IMRAN (THE FAMILY OF 'IMRAN, THE HOUSE OF 'IMRAN) Chapter 3 Verse 37]



وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ اللّهُ بِضُرٍّ فَلاَ كَاشِفَ لَهُ إِلاَّ هُوَ وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ بِخَيْرٍ فَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدُيرٌ



If Allah touch thee with affliction, there is none that can relieve therefrom save Him, and if He touch thee with good fortune (there is none that can impair it); for He is Able to do all things. [AL-ANAAM (CATTLE, LIVESTOCK) Chapter 6 Verse 17]



وَإِذَا مَسَّ الإِنسَانَ الضُّرُّ دَعَانَا لِجَنبِهِ أَوْ قَاعِدًا أَوْ قَآئِمًا فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُ ضُرَّهُ مَرَّ كَأَن لَّمْ يَدْعُنَا إِلَى ضُرٍّ مَّسَّهُ كَذَلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلْمُسْرِفِينَ مَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ



And if misfortune touch a man he crieth unto Us, (while reclining) on his side, or sitting or standing, but when We have relieved him of the misfortune he goeth his way as though he had not cried unto Us because of a misfortune that afflicted him. Thus is what they do made (seeming) fair unto the prodigal. [YUNUS (JONAH) Chapter 10Verse 12]



يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَنتُمُ الْفُقَرَاء إِلَى اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ


O mankind! Ye are the poor in your relation to Allah. And Allah! He is the Absolute, the Owner of Praise. [FATIR (THE ANGELS, ORIGNATOR) Chapter 35 Verse 15]



أَمَّن جَعَلَ الْأَرْضَ قَرَارًا وَجَعَلَ خِلَالَهَا أَنْهَارًا وَجَعَلَ لَهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ حَاجِزًا أَإِلَهٌ مَّعَ اللَّهِ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ



Is not He (best) Who made the earth a fixed abode, and placed rivers in the folds thereof, and placed firm hills therein, and hath set a barrier between the two seas? Is there any Allah beside Allah? Nay, but most of them know not! [AL-NAML (THE ANT, THE ANTS) Chapter 27 Verse 61]



أَمَّن يُجِيبُ الْمُضْطَرَّ إِذَا دَعَاهُ وَيَكْشِفُ السُّوءَ وَيَجْعَلُكُمْ خُلَفَاء الْأَرْضِ أَإِلَهٌ مَّعَ اللَّهِ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ



Nay - who is it that responds to the distressed when he calls out to Him, and who removes the ill [that caused the distress], and has made you inherit the earth? Could there be any divine power besides God? How seldom do you keep this in mind! [[AL-NAML (THE ANT, THE ANTS) Chapter 27 Verse 62]


لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاء يَهَبُ لِمَنْ يَشَاء إِنَاثًا وَيَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَاء الذُّكُورَ

أَوْ يُزَوِّجُهُمْ ذُكْرَانًا وَإِنَاثًا وَيَجْعَلُ مَن يَشَاء عَقِيمًا إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ قَدِيرٌ




Unto Allah belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. He createth what He will. He bestoweth female (offspring) upon whom He will, and bestoweth male (offspring) upon whom He will; Or He mingleth them, males and females, and He maketh barren whom He will. Lo! He is Knower, Powerful. [ASH-SHURA (COUNCIL, CONSULTATION) Chapter 42 Verse 49 and 50]



Allah is the guide not Mohammad [PBUH] or anyone else:


إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ



Lo! thou (O Muhammad) guidest not whom thou lovest, but Allah guideth whom He will. And He is Best Aware of those who walk aright. [AL-QASAS (THE STORY, STORIES) Chapter 28 Verse 56]



أَفَمَن زُيِّنَ لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ فَرَآهُ حَسَنًا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَاء وَيَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء فَلَا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَاتٍ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ


Is he, the evil of whose deeds is made fair seeming unto him so that he deemeth it good, (other than Satan's dupe)? Allah verily sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth whom He will; so let not thy soul expire in sighings for them. Lo! Allah is Aware of what they do! [FATIR (THE ANGELS, ORIGNATOR) Chapter 35 Verse 8]



أَفَمَنْ حَقَّ عَلَيْهِ كَلِمَةُ الْعَذَابِ أَفَأَنتَ تُنقِذُ مَن فِي النَّارِ



Is he on whom the word of doom is fulfilled (to be helped), and canst thou (O Muhammad) rescue him who is in the Fire? [AZ-ZUMAR (THE TROOPS, THRONGS) Chapter 39 Verse 19]


فَذَكِّرْ إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مُذَكِّرٌ

لَّسْتَ عَلَيْهِم بِمُصَيْطِرٍ


Remind them, for thou art but a remembrancer, Thou art not at all a warder over them. [AL-GHASHIYA (THE OVERWHELMING, THE PALL) Chapter 88 Verse 21 and 22]

Lame excuses of those who are ignorant [Yaani Andhi Taqleed]



وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْاْ إِلَى مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ قَالُواْ حَسْبُنَا مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَلاَ يَهْتَدُونَ


And when it is said unto them: Come unto that which Allah hath revealed and unto the messenger, they say: Enough for us is that wherein we found our fathers. What! Even though their fathers had no knowledge whatsoever, and no guidance? [AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD) Chapter 5 Verse 104]


قَالُواْ يَا شُعَيْبُ أَصَلاَتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَن نَّتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَن نَّفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاء إِنَّكَ لَأَنتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ



They said: O Shu'eyb! Doth thy way of prayer command thee that we should forsake that which our fathers (used to) worship, or that we (should leave off) doing what we will with our own property. Lo! thou art the mild, the guide to right behaviour. [HUD (HUD) Chapter 11 Verse 87]


قَالَتْ رُسُلُهُمْ أَفِي اللّهِ شَكٌّ فَاطِرِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِيَغْفِرَ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرَكُمْ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَـمًّى قَالُواْ إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلاَّ بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُنَا تُرِيدُونَ أَن تَصُدُّونَا عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ آبَآؤُنَا فَأْتُونَا بِسُلْطَانٍ مُّبِينٍ



Their messengers said: Can there be doubt concerning Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth? He calleth you that He may forgive you your sins and reprieve you unto an appointed term. They said: Ye are but mortals like us, who would fain turn us away from what our fathers used to worship. Then bring some clear warrant. [IBRAHIM (ABRAHAM) Chapter 14 Verse 10]


قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ أَصْنَامًا فَنَظَلُّ لَهَا عَاكِفِينَ

قَالَ هَلْ يَسْمَعُونَكُمْ إِذْ تَدْعُونَ

أَوْ يَنفَعُونَكُمْ أَوْ يَضُرُّونَ



They said: We worship idols, and are ever devoted unto them. He said: Do they hear you when ye cry? He said: Do they hear you when ye cry? [AL-SHUARA (THE POETS) Chapter 26 Verse 71,72 and 73]

Allah is to be worshipped not the Saints.


إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ عِبَادٌ أَمْثَالُكُمْ فَادْعُوهُمْ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُواْ لَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ



Lo! those on whom ye call beside Allah are slaves like unto you. Call on them now, and let them answer you, if ye are truthful! [AL-ARAF (THE HEIGHTS) Chapter 7 Verse 194]


وَاتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ آلِهَةً لِّيَكُونُوا لَهُمْ عِزًّا

كَلَّا سَيَكْفُرُونَ بِعِبَادَتِهِمْ وَيَكُونُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضِدًّا



And they have chosen (other) gods beside Allah that they may be a power for them. Nay, but they will deny their worship of them, and become opponents unto them. [MARYAM (MARY) Chapter 19 Verse 81 and 82]

Seek Allah’s help directly without any intercession [Tawwassul Aur Waseelay Ka Shirk –Polytheism of Intercession]



وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ مَا لاَ يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلاَ يَنفَعُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ هَـؤُلاء شُفَعَاؤُنَا عِندَ اللّهِ قُلْ أَتُنَبِّئُونَ اللّهَ بِمَا لاَ يَعْلَمُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَلاَ فِي الأَرْضِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ



They worship beside Allah that which neither hurteth them nor profiteth them, and they say: These are our intercessors with Allah. Say: Would ye inform Allah of (something) that He knoweth not in the heavens or in the earth? Praised be He and High Exalted above all that ye associate (with Him)! [YUNUS (JONAH) Chapter 10 Verse 18]



أَلَا لِلَّهِ الدِّينُ الْخَالِصُ وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاء مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَى إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ فِي مَا هُمْ فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي مَنْ هُوَ كَاذِبٌ كَفَّارٌ


Surely pure religion is for Allah only. And those who choose protecting friends beside Him (say): We worship them only that they may bring us near unto Allah. Lo! Allah will judge between them concerning that wherein they differ. Lo! Allah guideth not him who is a liar, an ingrate. [AZ-ZUMAR (THE TROOPS, THRONGS) Chapter 39 Verse 3]

Offering in the name of Saints other than Allah. [Nazar Niyaz, Koonday, Giyarwin Shareef etc.etc.]


إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلاَ عَادٍ فَلا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ



He hath forbidden you only carrion, and blood, and swineflesh, and that which hath been immolated to (the name of) any other than Allah. But he who is driven by necessity, neither craving nor transgressing, it is no sin for him. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. [AL-BAQARA (THE COW) Chapter 2 Verse 173]


إِن يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِ إِلاَّ إِنَاثًا وَإِن يَدْعُونَ إِلاَّ شَيْطَانًا مَّرِيدًا

لَّعَنَهُ اللّهُ وَقَالَ لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُوضًا




They invoke in His stead only females; they pray to none else than Satan, a rebel Whom Allah cursed, and he said: Surely I will take of Thy bondmen an appointed portion, [AN-NISA (WOMEN) Chapter 4 Verse 117 and 118]


حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالْدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلاَّ مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُواْ بِالأَزْلاَمِ ذَلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ الْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِن دِينِكُمْ فَلاَ تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِ الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِّإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ



Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swineflesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke) , and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. [AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD) Chapter 5 Verse 3]

Prophets [Peace be upon them] were humans not Angels.



وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِم مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَى أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُواْ فِي الأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَدَارُ الآخِرَةِ خَيْرٌ لِّلَّذِينَ اتَّقَواْ أَفَلاَ تَعْقِلُونَ


We sent not before thee (any messengers) save men whom We inspired from among the folk of the townships - Have they not travelled in the land and seen the nature of the consequence for those who were before them? And verily the abode of the Hereafter, for those who ward off (evil), is best. Have ye then no sense? – [YUSUF (JOSEPH) Chapter 12 Verse 109]


قَالَتْ رُسُلُهُمْ أَفِي اللّهِ شَكٌّ فَاطِرِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِيَغْفِرَ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرَكُمْ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَـمًّى قَالُواْ إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلاَّ بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُنَا تُرِيدُونَ أَن تَصُدُّونَا عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ آبَآؤُنَا فَأْتُونَا بِسُلْطَانٍ مُّبِينٍ

قَالَتْ لَهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ إِن نَّحْنُ إِلاَّ بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ وَلَـكِنَّ اللّهَ يَمُنُّ عَلَى مَن يَشَاء مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَمَا كَانَ لَنَا أَن نَّأْتِيَكُم بِسُلْطَانٍ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَعلَى اللّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ



Their messengers said: Can there be doubt concerning Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth? He calleth you that He may forgive you your sins and reprieve you unto an appointed term. They said: Ye are but mortals like us, who would fain turn us away from what our fathers used to worship. Then bring some clear warrant. Their messengers said unto them: We are but mortals like you, but Allah giveth grace unto whom He will of His slaves. It is not ours to bring you a warrant unless by the permission of Allah. In Allah let believers put their trust! [IBRAHIM (ABRAHAM) Chapter 14 Verse 10 and 11]



قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَى إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَا إِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاء رَبِّهِ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا



Say: I am only a mortal like you. My Lord inspireth in me that your Allah is only One Allah. And whoever hopeth for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous work, and make none sharer of the worship due unto his Lord. [AL-KAHF (THE CAVE) Chapter 18 Verse 110]


Proof from Sunnah:



Hadith Qudsi:


On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (glorified and exalted be He) said: I am so self-sufficient that I am in no need of having an associate. Thus he who does an action for someone else's sake as well as Mine will have that action renounced by Me to him whom he associated with Me. It was related by Muslim (also by Ibn Majah).


Hadith Qudsi:


On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) say: Allah the Almighty said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great at it. It was related by at-Tirmidhi (also by Ahmad ibn Hanbal). Its chain of authorities is sound.


Hadith Qudsi:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah Almighty has said: The son of Adam denied Me and he had no right to do so. And he reviled Me and he had no right to do so. As for his denying Me, it is his saying: He will not remake me as He made me at first (1) - and the initial creation [of him] is no easier for Me than remaking him. As for his reviling Me, it is his saying: Allah has taken to Himself a son, while I am the One, the Everlasting Refuge. I begot not nor was I begotten, and there is none comparable to Me. (1) i.e., bring me back to life after death. It was related by al-Bukhari (also by an-Nasa'i).


Hadith on Grave/Shrine Worshipping [Qabar/Peer Parasti]:


Holy Prophet Muhammad {PBUH} said: It is better that one of you should sit on live coals which will burn his clothes and the heat should mark his skin than that he should sit on grave. {Muslim}.


Holy Prophet Muhammad {PBUH} forbade that the graves should be plastered or they should be used as sitting places (for the people) or a building should be erected over them. {Muslim}.


Holy Prophet Muhammad {PBUH} said: Do not travel for any mosque except Mecca, Medina and Al-Aqsa. {Bukhari and Muslim}.


Holy Prophet Muhammad {PBUH} said: Do not make my grave a place for festival you just recite Darood as Allah conveys your Darood to me. {Nisai}.


Holy Prophet Muhammad {PBUH} had cursed those women visit graves. {Masnad Imam Ahmed Bin Hanbal, Tirmidhi, and Ibn-e-Maja}.


Holy Prophet Muhammad {PBUH} prayed: O Allah! Don’t let them make my grave an Idol lest it be worshipped. Then said Curse of Allah descended upon those who turned the graves of their Prophets {PBUT} into mosques. {Mauta Imam Malik}.


Holy Prophet Muhammad {PBUH} said: Be warned of the practice of those people who used to turn the graves of their Prophets and Saints into mosques I forbade you. {Muslim}.


“Jabir said : Allaah’s Messenger forbade that the graves should be plastered or, they be used as sitting places (for the people), or a building should be built over them” [Sahih Muslim]


I heard the messenger of Allaah commanding (us) to level the grave. 'Abdullaah Ibn Sharjeel Hasanah said: "I saw ‘Uthmaan Ibn ‘Affaan order the leveling of the graves. So it was said to him: 'This is the grave of Umm ‘Amr the daughter of ‘Uthmaan!' However, he commanded that it too should be leveled." [Related by Ibn Abee Shaybah in al-Musannaf and Aboo Zur‘ah in at-Taareekh]

From Abul-Hayyaaj al-Asadee who said: "‘Alee Ibn Abee Taalib said to me: 'Shall I not send you for what the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) sent me? That you deface all statues and pictures and that you level all elevated graves." [Related by Muslim , Aboo Daawood and an-Nisaa‘ee]



Jundub Ibn ‘Abdullaah al-Bajalee said that he heard the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) say – five days before he died: "Verily those before you took the graves of their Prophets and righteous people as places of worship, so do not take the graves as places of worship. Indeed I forbid you from this!" [Related by Muslim, and Aboo ‘Awaanah]


From Aboo Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: "O Allaah, do not turn my grave into an idol. May the curse of Allaah be upon those who take the graves of their Prophets as places of worship." [Related by Ahmad, Ibn Sa‘d]


Aboo Burdah said: "Aboo Moosaa al-Ash‘aree advised us before he died, saying: 'You should hasten with my janaazah…and do not put in my lahad (a cleavage in the side of the grave where the body is placed) anything that will come between me and the earth, nor build anything over my grave. So bear witness that I am free of those women who shave their heads, tear their clothes or beat their cheeks.' They said: 'Did you hear anything about this?' He said: 'Yes, from the Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam)!'" [Related by Musnad Ahmad Bin Hanbal]


'Abdullaah Ibn Sharjeel Hasanah said: "I saw ‘Uthmaan Ibn ‘Affaan order the leveling of the graves. So it was said to him: 'This is the grave of Umm ‘Amr the daughter of ‘Uthmaan!' However, he commanded that it too should be leveled." [Related by Ibn Abee Shaybah in al-Musannaf and Aboo Zur‘ah in at-Taareekh]



From Abul-Hayyaaj al-Asadee who said: "‘Alee Ibn Abee Taalib said to me: 'Shall I not send you for what the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) sent me? That you deface all statues and pictures and that you level all elevated graves.'" [Related by Muslim, Aboo Daawood, an-Nisaa‘ee]


So if we cannot construct anything on the grave then how can Mazar exist, and when there is no existence of Mazar, where is the question of visiting it. Most of the Muslim Kings who invaded India were disciples of several Sufi Orders [which is itself a Bida'at (innovation) e.g. Mughals were disciples of Naqshbandi Order (their practices are worst kind of polytheism).



Meaning of al-Waseelah:



يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَابْتَغُواْ إِلَيهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ



O ye who believe! Be mindful of your duty to Allah, and seek the way of approach unto Him, [AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD) Chapter 5 - Verse 35]

Waseelah is nearness and the means by which one approaches and draws near to something. In the Islamic context, Waseelah refers to the means by which once can achieve nearness with Allah.

Another meaning of al-Waseelah is a rank and standing with Allah, as is the Hadeeth. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “When you hear the caller to prayer then say the like of what he says, then send blessings upon me… Then ask Allah to grant me al-Waseelah because it is a station in Paradise, which is appropriate only for a single servant from the servants of Allah, and I hope that it will be me.”[Muslim]

The Meaning of al-Waseelah as explained in the Qur’aan The definition of Waseelah, “it is the means by which one achieves nearness to Allah”, has its basis in the Qur’aan.


أُولَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ يَبْتَغُونَ إِلَى رَبِّهِمُ الْوَسِيلَةَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ وَيَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَهُ وَيَخَافُونَ عَذَابَهُ إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّكَ كَانَ مَحْذُورًا



Those unto whom they cry seek the way of approach to their Lord, which of them shall be the nearest; they hope for His mercy and they fear His doom. Lo! the doom of thy Lord is to be shunned. [AL-ISRA (ISRA', THE NIGHT JOURNEY, CHILDREN OF ISRAEL) Chapter 17 - Verse 57]

Abdullah Ibn Mas’oud (radhi allahu anhu) said: “This verse was revealed concerning a group of Arabs, who worshiped a group of Jinn. The Jinn accepted Islam which was unknown to those people who worshiped them.”[Bukhari/Muslim]

Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajr (rahimahullah) said: “The people who used to worship the Jinn continued to worship the Jinn, and the Jinn were not pleased with their worship, since they had accepted Islam. And they were the ones who sought a means of nearness to their Lord…” [Fath al-Baree]

Allah says in the Qur’aan:



يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَابْتَغُواْ إِلَيهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَاهِدُواْ فِي سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ



O ye who believe! Be mindful of your duty to Allah, and seek the way of approach unto Him, and strive in His way in order that ye may succeed. [AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD) Chapter 5 - Verse 35]


Al-Hafidh Ibn Katheer (rahimahullah) reported Ibn Abbas (radhi allahu anhu) saying in his commentary of this verse:

“The meaning of al-Waseelah is to draw closer.”

He also reports from Qatadah: “This is that you draw near to Him by obedience to Him and through actions that are pleasing to Him.”

And Ibn Katheer (rahimahullah) said: “And with regard to what those Imams (Ibn Abbas and Qatadah) said there is no disagreement between the scholars of Tafseer about it… al-Waseelah is that by means of which one reaches that which he desires.”[Tafseer Ibn Katheer].

These two verses and their authentic Tafseers (commentaries) clearly explain that Waseelah consists of seeking nearness to Allah by means of righteousness in order to get closer to Allah. This refutes any other explanation of Waseelah like that of those who consider Waseelah to mean directly supplicating to the dead saints. It refutes the erroneous belief held by the Deobandis of seeking ‘Tawassul’ through the status and honor of the Prophets and saints.

This also refutes the incorrect Tafseer by the Deobandis that…

Moulana Aashiq Ilahi Meerathi mentions in Irshaadul-Mulook, “It is imperative for the Salik (one searching for the path) to have a Shaik-e-Kamil (spiritual guide) so that the Shaikh becomes the companion along this road, and explains the ups and downs and the pitfalls of this journey. Hence, Allah says: “O People of Eemaan! Adopt Taqwa (god fearing) and search for a Waseelah (means) towards Allah.” [Irshaadul-Mulook (Eng. Trans.) p.46.]


Tawassul in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah The correct means of Tawassul are three… Tawassul by means of Allah’s Beautiful Names, Tawassul by means of righteous deeds of the supplicant and, Tawassul by means of a supplication made by a righteous person.


(1) Tawassul by means of Allah’s Beautiful Names Allah says:



وَلِلّهِ الأَسْمَاء الْحُسْنَى فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا وَذَرُواْ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي أَسْمَآئِهِ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ


Allah's are the fairest names. Invoke Him by them. And leave the company of those who blaspheme His names. They will be requited what they do. [AL-ARAF (THE HEIGHTS) Chapter 7 - Verse 180]


Tawassul by means of Allah’s Beautiful Names is to invoke Allah mentioning His Beautiful Names, like saying, “O Allah, I ask you for You being the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy, the Most Gracious, the All-Knower that You grant me safety and well being…” This form of Tawassul is known from numerous Ahaadeeth.

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) would say before giving salaam in his prayer: “O Allah! By Your Knowledge of the hidden and Unseen, and Your Power over the creation, grant me life for as long as You Know that life is good for me, and grant me death when death is good for me…”[Mustadrak Al-Haakim and Sunan an-Nisa’ee]

Once, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) saw a man saying in his Tashahhud: ‘I ask You by virtue of the fact that all praise belongs to You, none has the right to be worshiped but You Alone, having no partner. The Great Bestower of all blessings, O Originator of the Heavens and the Earth. O Possessor of Majesty and Honor, O Ever-Living, O Sustainer and Protector of all that exists. Indeed, I ask You for Paradise, and I seek Your Refuge from the Fire.” So the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said to his companions: “Do you know what he has supplicated with?” They said: “Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) know best.” He said: “By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, he has supplicated to Allah by His Great Name, if He is called upon by them, He responds and if He is asked by it, He gives.”[Abu Dawood, An-Nisa’ee, and Musnad Ahmad]

Anas (radhi allahu anhu) reported saying, when a matter grieved the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam), he would say: “O Ever-Living, O Sustainer and Protector of all that exists, by Your Mercy I beg of Your aid.”[Tirmidhee and Mustadrak al-Haakim]

(2) Tawassul by means of Righteous deeds of the Supplicant



الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا إِنَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ



Those who say: Our Lord! Lo! We believe. So forgive us our sins and guard us from the punishment of Fire; [AL-E-IMRAN (THE FAMILY OF 'IMRAN, THE HOUSE OF 'IMRAN) Chapter 3 - Verse 16]

Tawassul by means of righteous deeds is to invoke Allah by mentioning one’s righteous actions, in which he feared Allah and hoped for His Mercy and reward, while giving precedence to His obedience. Like saying,


رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا بِمَا أَنزَلَتْ وَاتَّبَعْنَا الرَّسُولَ فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاهِدِينَ



Our Lord! We believe in that which Thou hast revealed and we follow him whom Thou hast sent. Enrol us among those who witness (to the truth). [AL-E-IMRAN (THE FAMILY OF 'IMRAN, THE HOUSE OF 'IMRAN) Chapter 3 - Verse 53]



رَّبَّنَا إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِي لِلإِيمَانِ أَنْ آمِنُواْ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَآمَنَّا رَبَّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّئَاتِنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الأبْرَارِ


Our Lord! Lo! we have heard a crier calling unto Faith: "Believe ye in your Lord!" So we believed. Our Lord! Therefor forgive us our sins, and remit from us our evil deeds, and make us die the death of the righteous. [AL-E-IMRAN (THE FAMILY OF 'IMRAN, THE HOUSE OF 'IMRAN) Chapter 3 - Verse 193]


إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِي يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ



Lo! There was a party of My slaves who said: Our Lord! We believe, therefore forgive us and have mercy on us for Thou art Best of all who show mercy; [AL-MUMENOON (THE BELIEVERS) Chapter 23 - Verse 109]

This form of Tawassul is also mentioned in a number of Ahaadeeth of Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam). From amongst them is the famous story of the companions of the cave. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) mentioned the story of three men who spent a night in a cave. A boulder rolled down from the mountain and blocked the entrance of the cave. So, they supplicated to Allah by means of their righteous actions. One of them mentioned his obedience towards his elderly parents, the other mentioned an incident when he refrained from zina (adultery) despite having the means to do so, and the third mentioned an incident in which he was truthful and honest in a monetary matter. Allah, the Exalted, upon hearing their supplication moved the rock from the entrance of the cave.[Bukhari]

(3) Tawassul by means of a Supplication made by a Righteous Person

This third type of Tawassul is to ask any righteous living person to make Du’aa (supplication) for oneself.

Anas (radhi allahu anhu) reported saying: “The people were afflicted with drought in the time of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam), so whilst the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) was giving the Khutbah (sermon) on the day of Jumuah, a Bedouin stood and said: “O Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam)! The livestock are dying and the children are hungry, so supplicate to Allah for us.” So he (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) raised his hands and supplicated and we could not see any trace of clouds. By Him, in Whose Hands is my soul, as soon as he had lowered his hands, clouds like mountains had gathered, and he did not descend from his minbar (pulpit) until I saw rain dripping from his beard...” [Bukhari]

Tawassul by means of a Supplication made by a Righteous Person is also reported from the practice of the Sahabah (radhi allahu anhu). Anas Ibn Malik (radhi allahu anhu) narrates from Umar Ibn Khattab (radhi allahu anhu) that when the people suffered from drought he used to ask al-Abbas Ibn Mutallib (radhi allahu anhu) to pray for rain for them. He used to say: “O Allah we used to request our Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) to supplicate to You for rain, and You would bless us with rain. Now, we ask the uncle of our Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam)
to supplicate to You, so grant us rain.”[Bukhari]

Also the noble Tabi’e, Sulaym Ibn Aamir al-Khabairee, reported: “The sky withheld any rain, so Muawiyah Ibn Abee Sufyan and the people of Damascus went out to pray for rain. When Muawiyah sat upon the minbar he said: “O Allah! We are today asking the best and most noble amongst us to supplicate to You for us, O Allah, today we put Yazeed Ibn al-Aswad al-Jurashee forward to supplicate to You for us.” Then Yazeed raised his hands and so did the people, and it rained until people could hardly reach their houses.[Tarikh Ibn-e-Asakir]

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Flood in Sindh: Destruction of Mirpurkhas & Tharparkar. (Courtesy: Dawn/Express)

I used to live in Mirpurkhas, Sindh, between 1970 to 1975 and believe me it was not Paris nor it was Venice and neither it was Singapore but it was a developing city, peaceful and harmonious and one of the salient feature of that District was "Fruit Gardens and Farms" specifically "Mango Farms"  and what we have in 2011! Lets have a look - KARACHI: Rains damaged about a two-third of the cotton areas in Mirpurkhas, the second largest cotton-growing district in the Sindh. The cotton crop is 70 percent at the dented stage. With only 30 percent of the current cotton crop rated fair or better as of this Friday, crop conditions were well behind where they were at this time last year. Out of six tehsils (sub-districts) of Mirpurkhas, considered rich among cotton belt, Jhudo, Kot Ghulam Muhammad, Digri and Sindhri were affected from recent rains. While Sanghar is the leading district countrywide, Mirpurkhas had been forecasted the second largest cotton producer district in Sindh this year. This year Mirpurkhas was estimated to increase production from 405,000 bales a year ago, official sources said. “The rains were severe, so irrigated acreage in most areas had emergence issues and now irrigated crops are suffering,” source said. Mirpurkhas planted 40,400 hectare of soft commodity this season, much of which has already been harmed by heavy showers. “We have been selling a maund of cottonseed at around Rs 2,500 for the last two month, while the prices elsewhere are higher,” a farmer said. Reference: Rain devastates third of Mirpurkhas cotton crop zulfiqar kunbhar Saturday, September 03, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C09%5C03%5Cstory_3-9-2011_pg5_2 

News Night with Talat - 1 (12th October 2011)



URL: http://youtu.be/H9LPUZWCb3c


The hospital compound is submerged in five feet of water, ambulances have stopped working and the only mode of transport inside is donkey carts. PHOTO: ZEESHAN KHAN/EXPRESS - MIRPURKHAS: Civil Hospital, Mirpurkhas, and the doctors’ residential quarters that surround it, are a bizarre archipelago in a 13-acre sea of rainwater. Gulab, a resident of the Digri Tehsil waded through torrents of floodwater to get to the hospital located in the centre of Mirpurkhas City bearing his six-year-old daughter suffering from pneumonia. Upon reaching the gate, he hired a donkey cart waiting there in order to cross a moat of rain, river and sewerage water only to be told that the hospital is unable to treat chest congestion and he would have to take her to Hyderabad, Lal Batti, instead. From the main gate to the hospital, the water stands at about five feet, while the floor of the hospital is hidden under a layer of muck. The ambulances gave way as water soaked into their engines. A makeshift ramp has been constructed for stretchers and gurneys and a pair of donkey carts have been hired by the hospital to transport their staff inside. The patients, on the other hand, have to pay Rs10 per head for each trip to and from the gate and the hospital. Critical patients – particularly those with heart problems – do not survive the bumpy trip. Though it is the district’s civil hospital, people from the Tharparkar, Sanghar, Umarkot, Mirpurkhas and Tando Allahyar districts all travel here and about 3,000 patients are treated daily. Gulab was turned away from the last functioning ward of the hospital that housed a total of 100 people – doctors included. There are about 1.5 million people living in Mirpurkhas district alone. Like Gulab’s daughter, the majority of patients have to be turned away because the hospital’s supply of medicines and technology has severely been affected. Others simply cannot stomach the filth that fills the wards. Nearby, there is an area known as New Town where there are about six private medical centres. The queues outside these clinics are longer than those outside ration distribution centres as people line up, prepared to pay private bills for medical attention. Strangely enough, the road outside is not flooded – roughly 20 days after the rains stopped, only the hospital compound remains flooded. It is one of the areas, including Mirpurkhas, Digri, Diplo and Sanghar, where water remains. Efforts to drain the civil hospital in Sanghar have been abandoned altogether and an emergency centre in an adjoining shop has been setup to help patients in need of urgent medical care. Meanwhile, the Mirpurkhas hospital management, taluka municipal administration and district management are too busy pushing the responsibility of draining the hospital off on each other to actually make any headway towards getting the water out. Their homes flooded and belongings destroyed, even the paramedics and doctors living in the hospital compound have shifted away. Probably the only upside is that the electricity supply is still up and, during load-shedding, the hospital generators are also functioning. Not to be overlooked either is the dedication of the doctors who wait at the gate for patients, working with what little they have. In the days that have passed since the water flowed down from the saltwater drain to the left of the district, sewerage from the hospital has mixed into the water. The doctors say that the sanitation problem is so bad that they are not even sure what kind of diseases are spreading in the hospital. The most common complaints, after gastroenteritis and malaria, are skin diseases. Swimming through the stew of sewerage, rainwater and mud are fish weighing up to 200 grammes. According to social worker Kanji Dheel, the situation is worsened by certain influential landlords who are draining their agricultural lands and sending the water towards Mirpurkhas City. with additional writing by husna anwar Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011. REFERENCE: In Mirpurkhas, Rs10 is the fare for a donkey cart ride between life and death By Afaq Khan Published: September 28, 2011 http://tribune.com.pk/story/262069/in-mirpurkhas-rs10-is-the-fare-for-a-donkey-cart-ride-between-life-and-death/ 

News Night with Talat - 2 (12th October 2011)



URL: http://youtu.be/N2hW3-88ZA8


The hospital compound is submerged in five feet of water, ambulances have stopped working and the only mode of transport inside is donkey carts. PHOTO: ZEESHAN KHAN/EXPRESS - MIRPURKHAS, Sept 25: Several wards of the Civil Hospital in Mirpurkhas have been closed and 80 per cent doctors and other staff members have stopped coming to work with the hospital premises being under four feet water for weeks. Indoor patients had to leave the hospital without treatment. Hundreds of patients coming to the hospital from Sanghar, Umerkot, Tharparkar and Tando Allahyar have no place to turn to. The municipal and other authorities have failed to drain out water and the wards of gynaecology, paediatrics, surgery, ENT, cardiac and Kidney have been closed. People suffering from gastroenteritis, malaria, skin disease and dehydration are unable to get any treatment. Hospital waste and heaps of filth are lying at different places posing serious health hazards and providing breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. Sondha, Rewa, Nandlal and other patients told this reporter that they had been displaced from their homes and now they suffered from different diseases and had to go to private clinics. Chairman of the Citizen Action Committee Rais Ahmed Khan and Kamran Kaimkhani regretted that the hospital which provided treatment to thousands of people was lying closed because of inefficiency of the district administration, departments concerned, TMA Mirpurkhas and the hospital administration. They urged the authorities to take immediate steps to drain out water from the hospital premises. A FLOODED CITY: Rainwater mixed with sewage and saline water of Dhoro Puran stagnating in the town for a couple of weeks has created a serious problem for the people. Sweepers of the taluka municipal administration were seen breaking some sewage drains to drain out water. Some heavy pumping machines are being used at the railway station roundabout and other places. About two to three feet of water has entered residential areas and inundated the DCO office, food godowns and offices of the excise and taxation department, district food controller and EDO health. Floodwater also hit the offices of the district council, director information, EDO agriculture, anti-corruption establishment and police complex, civil hospital, DIG house, circuit house, police lines, town police station, Sindh horticulture research institute, district and sessions court, Shah Abdul Latif science college and the government high school. ADJOINING AREAS: Jhuddo taluka has been cut off from Mirpurkhas with the main road under six feet of water. Two to three feet of water is flowing through the town and villages on its outskirts. The roads linking Jhuddo town with nearby villages have also been inundated. Distribution of relief goods among displaced people, who are living in the open, was stopped by the administration two weeks ago. On Saturday, some army trucks carrying foodstuff reached the taluka of Jhuddo. Half of the goods were distributed while the rest was snatched by the enraged people. Digri taluka is also under four feet of water. About four to five feet of water is stagnating in the rural areas of the talukas of Mirpurkhas, Hussain Bux Mari and Sindhri. Although some relief goods are being distributed in Mir Ji Landhi, 10 Mile Mori and adjoining villages in the taluka of Kot Ghulam Mohammad, a large number of affected people are not getting any help. TANDO JAN MOHAMMAD: President of the Sindh Chamber for Agriculture, Mirpurkhas chapter, Mir Zafarullah Talpur, told Dawn that the town of Tando Jan Mohammad had been submerged because of a man-made breach in a canal embankment near Digri. He said growers were diverting water towards Khatyan minor, increasing the level of water in Tando Jan Mohammad town. He said that 80 per cent of the people of the town had moved to other places. He alleged that relief goods were being distributed mostly on political basis while a large number of villagers were living without any help. He said four to five feet of water was standing on the outskirts of the town and there was no way to drain it out. REFERENCE: Several wards of Mirpurkhas Civil Hospital remain closed By Qamaruddin | From the Newspaper September 26, 2011 http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/26/several-wards-of-mirpurkhas-civil-hospital-remain-closed.html

News Night with Talat - 3 (12/12/11)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zh5YDTOkgw

News night with talat - 12th october 2011



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdagT5oyFlE

MIRPURKHAS: Monsoon floods that sunk Pakistan’s arable belt for a second year running have piled farming losses clocking up to nearly $2 billion on top of a humanitarian catastrophe facing up to eight million people in the south. Crops of grain, cotton, sugarcane, fruit and vegetables have been submerged and experts say the disaster could worsen the country’s already dismal growth and inflation prospects. (Read: Urgent cause:  FAO to raise $18.9m to save livestock)  “It could (also) increase inflation by two to three percent by the end of this calendar year – from 13 to a maximum of 16 percent,” the official said. Exports are likely to be hit as Pakistan struggles to provide enough food to feed its own population in the wake of the floods, said independent economist Rauf Nizamani. “The floods will certainly affect the trade and may cause a loss of at least $3 billion to the Pakistani exchequer,” Nizamani said, leaving export receipts at $25 billion for the fiscal year. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that nearly three quarters of southern Sindh province’s crops have been damaged or destroyed by the waters, while two thirds of food stocks have also been hit. Sindh’s agriculture ministry said the financial cost of crop losses so far was estimated at 163 billion Pakistani rupees ($1.87 billion). Cotton faces losses of $998 million, income from chilli crops will be down $427 million and both rice and sugarcane will lose an estimated $135 million, said Aghah Jan Akhtar, the ministry’s secretary. One year after the country experienced its worst-ever floods, affecting 21 million people, farmers were again viewing their fields with despair. In Mirpurkhas, one of the most fertile and badly-flooded districts, the branches of the cotton plants were blackened with water damage, and the usually white buds were colourless and droopy. Rice plants that usually bloom above watery paddy fields were completely submerged, while stalks of sugarcane were miserably short at five feet tall. “This catastrophe struck before families affected by last year’s flooding were able to even start recovering,” said FAO Pakistan representative Kevin Gallagher. “The floods and rain deepen the risk of losing more vital livestock assets and for some, missing another opportunity to plant wheat and other essential crops.” “Besides that, we have lost $180 million through the destruction of tomato, onion, banana and other vegetable crops,” he said. Agriculture makes up 23 percent of Pakistan’s GDP and a senior finance ministry official, who did not want to be named, estimated that the country’s overall growth rate could fall from 4.5 to three percent on current trends. Pakistan’s largest agricultural trading customers are the United States, which takes more than one fifth of cotton, textiles and rice exports, and China, which takes 15 percent. (Sindh floods: UN launches international appeal) Badar Khwaja, a farmer in Tando Bago town in Badin district, forlornly pointed at his flooded paddy fields. He had planned to harvest them just one day after the heavy rains began to fall in August. “The rains have destroyed farmers and peasants alike,” said Khwaja. In nearby Tando Allahyar, known for its quality vegetable production, only 2.5 percent of its usual haul is being trucked to market in Karachi, said local grower Qamar Zaman. “The situation is too critical. We normally feed everyone, but now are ourselves hungry finding no one to feed us,” he said. Kunri town in Mirpurkhas will lose the distinction of being one of the prominent chilli production areas in Asia as 100,000 acres of the red chilli crops have been submerged, said provincial agriculture minister Ali Nawaz Shah. “It is yet another blow to our economy,” he said. In a bitter irony for the farmers, their August harvest due to take place before the floods arrived had been delayed due to water shortage. A lack of irrigation on Sindh’s flatlands had already reduced chilli output from one million tonnes 10 years ago to half that in recent years. “Earlier we suffered because there was no water, but now a deluge has destroyed us,” said grower Ghulam Akbar Dars. Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2011. REFERENCE: Agriculture losses: Flooded breadbasket spells economic misery By AFP Published: September 28, 2011 http://tribune.com.pk/story/262280/floods-2011-farming-losses-reach-2b-say-experts/

News Night with Talat - 1 (11/12/11)



URL: http://youtu.be/VoVJp_p-H8Q


MITHI, Oct 9: Thousands of internally-displaced families living in relief camps or on sand dunes in Thar near Naukot and Kaloi have urged the government and relief agencies to immediately provide tents, food, water and healthcare facilities to the affected people. They also called for a comprehensive survey of losses caused by recent rains and flood. While travelling on the Mithi-Vango, Kaloi-Naukot, Naukot-Mithi roads and some link roads and during recent visits to Kaloi, Naukot and some villages and relief camps, this correspondent saw the entire road network destroyed by rains and portions of the Mithi-Vango road washed away at several places. Scores of villages in the irrigated areas of Kaloi, Bitaro and union councils of Diplo taluka have been cut off from Kaloi, Naukot, Mithi, Badin and other areas. The district administration has failed to drain out water from the Santoro Farm area of Naukot town. Its wholesale market of around 300 shops remains closed. Coaches, buses and trucks cannot use the Naukot road to reach Mithi from Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Badin, Karachi or other places. Vehicles are coming to Mithi via Umerkot and Chelhar, which is causing delay in transportation of relief items and other goods. Commuters have to use tractor trolleys or donkey carts to cross the half kilometre of submerged area of Santoro Farm. The authorities have failed to drain out water from the Naukot grid station and power supply to pumping stations for supply of canal water to Mithi remains suspended. The level of water in the Left Bank Outfall Drain, Dhoro Puran and Mehrand Lake near Kaloi continues to be high. Scores of villages around Kaloi, Naukot, Fazal Bhambhro, Nabisar, Talhi, Nafis Nagar, Samaro, Kunri, Jhuddo, Tando Jan Mohammad, Digri, Kot Ghulam Mohammad, Umerkot, Badin and other areas are still submerged in rain and flood water. Almost all the mud houses in these areas have been destroyed, cattle have perished and crops of cotton, sugarcane and vegetables have been damaged. A large number of displaced families is living on the sand dunes of Thar near Kaloi and Naukot or in the poorly-managed relief camps. They are short of food and water and suffering from various diseases. Hundreds of flood-affected people of various villages of Naukot and Kaloi areas are living along the Kaloi-Naukot road with their livestock. Talking to this correspondent in Kaloi, Gomando, Rano, Piro and other haris alleged that landowners were not doing anything to help them in their struggle for survival. They said they had received inadequate ration from an NGO a couple of days ago. “Our Togachi Samo village was submerged at night and we had to abandon it. About 400 families are now living on the road. We got only 40 tents but no relief from the government or any NGO,” said Ayoub, Abdul Majid, Suleman and others. Displaced residents of Ayoub Halo village, now living in relief camps set up in two schools in Kaloi, made similar complaints. They said the camp was dirty and there were no toilets. They are suffering from malaria, diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and skin disease. Ms Hiru, Chibhar Bheel and others living in a relief camp near Naukot fort alleged mismanagement, misappropriation and non-transparency in distribution of relief goods.Meanwhile, Mohammad Khan Loond, finance secretary of the PPP’s Tharparkar chapter, Ali Murad Loond, president of the PPP’s Bolhari union council chapter, and Mohammad Qasim Loond, former nazim of Kaloi UC,said that the district administration and other authorities had ignored the rain-affected areas of Diplo taluka. But district revenue officer Imran Bhatti claimed that the relief operation was going on smoothly and a large number of people living in relief camps or scattered in different places were getting adequate help. He said that the district administration had distributed 15,259 out of the 18,635 tents it had received. Similarly, it had received 106,934 ration bags and so far distributed 73,102 and the process was continuing. REFERENCE: Tharis still awaiting relief on sand dunes By Prem Shivani | From the Newspaper October 10, 2011 http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/10/tharis-still-awaiting-relief-on-sand-dunes.html 

News Night with Talat - 2 (11/12/11)



URL: http://youtu.be/Gj_baJzZCkc


Villagers carry their belongings through floodwater following heavy monsoon rain in Golarchi town in Badin district. PHOTO: AFP HYDERABAD/ISLAMABAD: Heavy rains continued to lash Sindh relentlessly on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 270, as authorities scrambled to cope with rising flood waters, and the UN prepared to launch a flash appeal for international assistance. “At least 270 people have died so far because of falling roofs, drowning in flood waters and outbreak of diseases,” said Sajjad Haider Shah, a disaster management official in Sindh. That figure is expected to rise though, given that 300,000 flood-affected people have so far reported with different illnesses at medical camps across the province, according to statistics released by the department on Tuesday. Tuesday witnessed heavy spells of rains across the province with Karachi, Mithi, Dadu, Tandojam, Sakrand, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas, each receiving between 100 and 190 mm of rain. Chief meteorologist Mohammad Riaz said the figures were a 51-year record, and the rains would continue for the rest of the week. Pakistan’s meteorological department says average rainfall across Sindh is three times normal, with the worst-affected districts of Badin, Mirpurkhas and Thar seeing eight times the usual levels. This year’s rains, though concentrated in Sindh, have already affected 5.3 million people and 1.2 million homes in the province’s 23 districts, with 1.7 million acres of arable land inundated according to the National Disaster Management Authority’s (NDMA) initial assessment. (Read: Floods worsen, 270 killed, says officials) Over 12,000 heads of cattle have perished while millions have been displaced, added Sindh minister for livestock Abid Hussain Jatoi. “Mirpurkhas, Tharparker, Badin and Khairpur are the worst affected districts for livestock,” he added. UN flash appeal The United Nations (UN) would launch a formal flash appeal for meeting the financial requirements of early relief phase in flood-affected areas of Sindh, possibly before the end of September, sources in the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) told The Express Tribune. The UN has already launched a rapid needs assessment and officials from the organization and its allied agencies have completed visits to the affected districts. “On the basis of rapid needs assessment, the UN will launch a flash appeal to seek global financial assistance for Pakistan,” confirmed the local UN spokesperson Ishrat Rizvi. The rapid assessment report is expected to be completed within one week, she added. Last year, the UN had made a $1.9 billion appeal for early relief and recovery phases. Against the overall appeal, around 70% pledges were materialised by international donors, Rizvi said. The need for the flash appeal was triggered after the government declared that it would not be able to handle the catastrophe within its own limited resources. This is the second flash appeal being launched by the UN, the first one issued after last year’s super floods which killed 2,000 people, left a fifth of the country under water and affected around 21 million people. Local officials, however, say devastation in the province is worse than last year. The UN’s World Food Programme agency is working to provide emergency supplies to half a million people while the United States said it is sending food aid for nearly 350,000 and medical assistance for about 500,000 people. Inadequate response Head of the prime minister’s committee on rain damage Qamar Zaman Kaira expressed his discontent over rescue and relief operations being carried out in rain-affected areas. More than 5.5 million people have been affected in lower Sindh and the majority of the people are still stranded in their areas, he said while addressing a joint press conference at the Chief Minister House on Tuesday. Admitting the inadequacy of the government’s response, Kaira said that “only 80,000 tents have been provided to the rain victims while the rest have been living without any shelter.” “It has disappointed us,” he said, adding that the government has contacted tent manufacturing companies to provide an additional four to five thousand tents. Separately, EAD officials said that the government can provide up to 93,000 tents while the country immediately needs another 100,000. Kaira said that they would hold another meeting on Wednesday to finalise relief and rescue efforts. Senators step up Senate Deputy Chairman Jan Muhammad Jamali constituted two special committees, procurement and distribution headed by Senators Seemen Yusuf Siddiqui and Sardar Ali Khan respectively, to work for flood victims in Sindh. (Read: Mitigating Misery – Senators urge special relief package) Senator Haji Ghulam Ali was deputed to coordinate with the chambers of commerce across the country for fund raising while, the special committees will arrange for 6,000 bags containing food items on an emergency basis. The senators raised an amount of Rs11.4 million on Tuesday while lawmakers also extended donations of Rs25,000 each from their next month salary. Some senators, however, asked for the donation to be reduced to Rs10,000, citing non-affordability. WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT BY HAFEEZ TUNIO IN KARACHI, ZAHID GISHKORI IN ISLAMABAD AND AGENCIES. Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2011. REFERENCE: Sindh rains By Shahbaz Rana / Z Ali Published: September 14, 2011 http://tribune.com.pk/story/252034/sindh-rains-govt-scrambles-as-un-prepares-to-launch-aid-appeal/ 

News Night with Talat - 3 (11/12/11)



URL: http://youtu.be/vdqKPONji0w


HYDERABAD: The government is yet to complete its assessment of losses suffered by the agriculture sector in Sindh due to the monsoon rains but officials estimate devastation of around 140,000 acres in Mirpurkhas district alone. According to the official estimates, crops are sown over 205,000 acres in Mirpurkhas. “Up to 80 percent of the cotton crop standing over 40,200 acres has been washed away by the rains,” District Agriculture Officer, Mirpurkhas, Yar Muhammad Khaskheli told newsmen on Wednesday. Heavy monsoon rains caused flash-floods in Umerkot, Tharparkar, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin with the provincial government declaring four of them as calamity hit districts. DCO Mirpurkhas Ghulam Hussain Memon told the local media that nearly 22,000 people have been provided shelter in the relief camps. The rains affected 32 union councils with 24 of them officially declared as calamity hit. According to the DCO, around 200,000 people have been affected by the rains. Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president Sindh Abadgar Board believes that cotton crop sowed over about 1.2 million acres in Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin, Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar districts has been damaged or destroyed. “The price of per acre yield of cotton crop is at least Rs73,000 according to the estimates of Agriculture Research Department.” Cotton, which need less than half feet of water for cultivation, cannot withstand two to four feet water for several days as the plant wilts for want of oxygen. Besides cotton, other crops like paddy, chillies, sugarcane and vegetables have also suffered badly. “Nearly 90 percent of chilli crop cultivated over 17,500 acres, 25 percent of sugarcane crop sown at around 46,600 acres and 90 percent of 40,800 acres of vegetables have been destroyed,” says Yar Muhammad Khaskheli, the district agriculture officer. Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2011. REFERENCE: Crop damage: Rains wreak havoc in Sindh By Z Ali Published: August 18, 2011 http://tribune.com.pk/story/233705/crop-damage-rains-wreak-havoc-in-sindh/

News Night with Talat - 4 (11/12/11)



URL: http://youtu.be/IWs2x3rG0I4


THE recent floods in Sindh have triggered a debate in the media about the role of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) in exacerbating the disaster in the south-eastern districts of the province. Much has been said and written about how the LBOD, meant for the drainage of excessive irrigation water from Nawabshah, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts into the Arabian Sea, has turned out to be a recurring cause of flood disaster since the 1999 cyclone in lower Sindh. The debate focusing on the LBOD issue draws attention towards the much larger issue of `drainage crisis` engineered by international aid through man-made structural interventions in irrigation and drainage in the Indus basin — the only river basin of the country. The portion of land drained by a river and its tributaries is the river basin. It encompasses an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow converges on a single point called the exit of the basin, and eventually flows into an estuary, a lake, an ocean or a sea. The Indus basin is one of the largest basins in Asia. It extends over four countries including China, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Around 56 per cent of the Indus basin lies in Pakistan. The British Raj introduced a modern irrigation system with perennial water supplies through mega structural measures like headworks, weirs and barrages on the rivers. Such interventions in the Indus basin commenced in 1859 with the completion of the Upper Bari Doab Canal (MBDC) from the Madhopur Headworks (now in India) on the Ravi. REFERENCE: Drainage crisis in Indus basin By Azhar Lashari | From the Newspaper The writer works for an international anti-poverty organisation. http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/13/drainage-crisis-in-indus-basin.html  Crop Damages as on 14.08.2011 http://www.pdma.pk/dn/CropDamages/tabid/129/Default.aspx 



However, considerable expansion of the irrigation network in the Indus basin took place in the decades following independence. That expansion was possible because of international aid (read loan). With three storage reservoirs, two headworks, 16 barrages, 12 interlink canals, 44 canal systems, more than 64,000km of canals and 90,000 water courses in the Indus basin today, Pakistan has one of the largest contiguous irrigation systems in the world. The huge infrastructure has made it possible to divert 101 million acre feet (MAF) out of the 154 MAF annual water flow in the Indus basin for feeding the canal system, thereby intensifying irrigation in the country. Out of a total of 52.75 million acres of cropped area, the average annual irrigated area constitutes 40 million acres. Of this, 34.5 million acres are irrigated through the canal irrigation system. But from the outset, the intensive irrigation network has unleashed a range of social and environmental problems including marginalisation of the landless and indigenous people, demographic imbalances tilted in favour of powerful political and ethnic groups, the erosion of flora and fauna, and last but not least, land degradation in the form of waterlogging and salinity. However, the only problem that has attracted the attention of policymakers has been waterlogging and salinity. To fix the problem, structural measures like the Salinity Control and Rehabilitation Project (SCARP), Main Nara Valley Drain (MNVD), LBOD, National Drainage Programme (NDP) and the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) were undertaken. katcha nashaib pucca. The huge irrigation and drainage network developed over one and a half centuries has created an unprecedented drainage crisis in the country. The construction of storage reservoirs, barrages, weirs and other engineering works across and along the Indus rivers has seriously obstructed natural drainage in the Indus basin — both in low-lying ( or ) areas and high lands (). The riverbeds that developed over thousands of years have been squeezed into narrow passages, not allowing peak flood flows to pass smoothly. For instance, the Indus bed previously spanned 14-20km in the plains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, south-western Punjab and Sindh before the advent of the modern irrigation regime that saw the construction of embankments. It has now been reduced to not more than 2km. pucca In addition, the accumulation of silt in reservoirs as well as in beds has further reduced the carrying capacity of rivers, besides increasing water velocity and intensifying bank erosion. Similarly, the development of canal and drainage infrastructure in lands has obstructed the natural drainage of streams and hill torrents that ultimately are discharged into the river basin. REFERENCE: Drainage crisis in Indus basin By Azhar Lashari | From the Newspaper The writer works for an international anti-poverty organisation. http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/13/drainage-crisis-in-indus-basin.html  Crop Damages as on 14.08.2011 http://www.pdma.pk/dn/CropDamages/tabid/129/Default.aspx

For instance, the development of canals branching out from Chashma, Taunsa, Guddu and Sukkur barrages, and the RBOD have seriously complicated the drainage of hill torrents on the right bank of the Indus in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, south-western Punjab and western Sindh. Last year`s floods and the extraordinary torrential rain in Sindh in 2011 have revealed how the drainage crisis of the Indus basin has turned out to be a permanent flood hazard, exposing the people of the country — particularly those living in Sindh and south-western Punjab — to new risks and vulnerabilities. As mega irrigation and drainage projects involve enormous economic costs and technical expertise, international financial institutions (IFIs) have been at the centre of efforts to promote a techno-centric approach to water development in Pakistan. They have played a role not only in complicating the drainage crisis in the Indus basin but also in incurring a heavy foreign debt. The World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have prescribed, supported and funded many mega structures like the Tarbela Dam, Chashma Right Bank Irrigation Project, LBOD, NDP, Chotiari Dam, Taunsa Barrage, the Emergency Rehabilitation and Modernisation Project (TBERMP), etc that are socially unjust, politically exclusionary, economically exploitative and environmentally disastrous. It is high time to find a sustainable solution to the drainage crisis in the Indus basin, besides holding WB and ADB accountable for inflicting death, disease, hunger and livelihood disruptions on hundreds of thousands people affected by last year`s floods and this year`s heavy rains in Sindh. The IFIs must be pushed to compensate the people. REFERENCE: Drainage crisis in Indus basin By Azhar Lashari | From the Newspaper The writer works for an international anti-poverty organisation. http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/13/drainage-crisis-in-indus-basin.html  Crop Damages as on 14.08.2011 http://www.pdma.pk/dn/CropDamages/tabid/129/Default.aspx