Sometimes seeing old faces takes you back to a version of yourself that no longer exists. A hug and it's warmth that only few provide, their shining eyes filled with love..
What will life be when they will not be around. Time , it says ,is running out...
the academic urge to read a paper and open 23 tabs of cited articles in that paper and then not read a single one of them for 2-3 weeks, and having to nurse the open tabs and never shut down my laptop because I'll definitely get to them the next day.
Why are Pakistanis so joyful and full of pride that Pakistan is mediating US-Israel-Iran war?
1. Pakistanis are deeply anti-Israel. Their emotional investment in the war is not abstract. It is moral, civilizational, and deeply felt. So when Pakistan is seen as stepping into a role that could rebalance power, it aligns with a widely shared public sentiment against Israel and pro-Iran.
2. In a context where citizens often feel abandoned by ruling elites and deprived of meaningful victories, even symbolic moments of moral clarity and state competence carry disproportionate weight. This is symbolic compensation. People attach themselves to moments where the state appears to reflect their conscience, because such moments are rare. Very rare in the case of Pakistan.
There is also a collective release at play. A 'Durkheimian' surge where fragmented individuals briefly feel united by a shared moral position.
Being anti-Israel in this moment is not just political. It is part of a collective identity being expressed together, with clarity and without confusion.
3. A postcolonial lens deepens this further: A people accustomed to being positioned as peripheral suddenly sees its state act with agency on a global stage. That shift from being managed to being relevant restores a sense of dignity.
So the joy is a people seeing, perhaps briefly, a state that mirrors their moral instinct and carries their voice outward.
For those who didn't get the sociological analysis above: We are hospitable people who love attention 😀
A very warm welcome to our dear brothers from #Iran...You have fought like lions..may Allah be with you , grant you victory and eternal success...may you all reunite ummah..may we all be counted in #HizbAllah...Allah's team...
Allah o Akbar!
Today was one of the most horrifying days of my life as an academic. Walking through Iran University of Science and Technology, a top-ranked public university in Iran, I was struck by the devastation. Only last month, this campus was alive with students, bustling between classrooms. Now, parts of the campus lie in ruins, classrooms shattered, hallways choked with dust and shattered glass.
I saw the offices of professors burned. A newly renovated building, where students gathered for programs, for socializing, for life, destructed.
One student, tearfully, told me: “My professor’s office was still burning a little. That’s where I used to wait for office hours. To ask questions. To appeal my grade.”
This is the same university that launched Iran’s Omid and Zafar 2 satellites, symbols of homegrown technological achievement. A week ago, one of its professors was assassinated. Yesterday, they bombed it.
From sanctions to targeted killings, to the bombing of research centers and universities, there’s a clear pattern: de-development & de-industrialisation/ the systematic dismantling of a nation’s indigenous development, its industrial base, its capacity to stand on its own.
We will never forget that as the American and Zionist war criminals blatantly target universities, schools, hospitals/ assassinating professors and killing children, and after 2 years or genocice, western intellectuals are still debating whether or not to pass a symbolic, non-enforceable BDS resolution.
Photos taken by me, full report incoming.
The closing du’as in @yaqeeninstitute’s Ramadan series are so beautiful. I had to screenshot all of the summary comments so I can recite the du’as myself this Ramadan 🥹🤍🧵🤲🏼
Oh my #Gaza, oh my #Iran ...My brave , courageous Muslim brethren...
May the ummah reunite, may the ummah rise..may the traitors amongst us be crushed...
I wondered why we go the extra mile for some, with softened hearts. The Prophet's life answered. Allah's beloved, filled with all knowledge & wisdom, made them feel special & cherished. They surrendered their heart & soul. It boils down to how we make people feel in our company.
We are all so imperfect, yet perfect in our own right..We are all a work-in-progress, yet a universe within our own selves. We are all but a combination of these very opposing forces, ideas, and realities. So who are we? very simple, yet very complex selves.
اگر آپ یہ سمجھنا چاہتے ہیں کہ رسول اللّٰه ﷺ حقیقت میں کیسے تھے، تو یہ دیکھیں کہ لوگ آپ ﷺ کی موجودگی میں کیسا محسوس کرتے تھے۔
آپ ﷺ جہاں تشریف لاتے، وہاں گھروں میں سکون آ جاتا اور ہر مجلس میں محبت اور گرمجوشی پھیل جاتی۔ آپ ﷺ اکثر مسکراتے تھے اور لوگ آپ ﷺ کے پاس خود کو پرسکون اور محفوظ محسوس کرتے تھے۔ آپ ﷺ نے کبھی کسی کی توہین نہیں کی، کسی کو ذلیل نہیں کیا، اور نہ ہی کسی کو کمتر محسوس ہونے دیا۔ آپ کے الفاظ میں نرمی اور آپ کے اعمال میں رحمت جھلکتی تھی۔
جب آپ ﷺ کے ساتھ ناانصافی کی جاتی، تو آپ ﷺ بدلے میں نقصان نہیں پہنچاتے تھے۔ آپ ﷺ نے ہمیشہ معافی، سخاوت اور بھلائی کو اختیار کیا۔ اللّٰه تعالیٰ نے جو بھی نعمت عطا فرمائی، چاہے کتنی ہی سادہ کیوں نہ ہو، آپ ﷺ نے اس کا احترام کیا۔ آپ ﷺ نے کبھی کھانے میں عیب نہیں نکالا اور نہ ہی رزق پر شکوہ کیا۔ عاجزی آپ ﷺ کے چلنے پھرنے سے نمایاں تھی۔ آپ ﷺ نہ تو شہرت کے طالب تھے اور نہ مرتبے کے۔
اللّٰه کی ساری مخلوق میں سب سے عظیم ہونے کے باوجود، سلام کرنے میں آپ ﷺ سب سے پہلے ہوتے تھے۔ جب کوئی آپ ﷺ سے بات کرتا، تو آپ ﷺ پورے وجود کے ساتھ اس کی طرف متوجہ ہوتے اور پوری توجہ سے سنتے، چاہے وہ کوئی بھی ہو۔ آپ ﷺ کے پاس کوئی شخص کبھی خود کو نظرانداز شدہ یا غیر اہم محسوس نہیں کرتا تھا۔
آپ ﷺ نے سادہ زندگی گزاری اور اپنے کام خود کرتے تھے۔ اپنی پوری حیاتِ مبارکہ میں آپ ﷺ نے کبھی کسی عورت پر ہاتھ نہیں اٹھایا۔ جو بھی آپ ﷺ کی صحبت میں بیٹھتا، خود کو باعزت، قدر والا اور محفوظ محسوس کرتا۔
آج کی دنیا کو دیکھیں، جہاں اثر و رسوخ عدمِ تحفظ پیدا کر کے اور دوسروں سے موازنہ کر کے اپنی قدر بیچی جاتی ہے۔ جبکہ رسول اللّٰه ﷺ، جنہیں ہر طرح کی خوبصورتی عطا کی گئی، اپنی پوری زندگی لوگوں کے حوصلے بلند کرنے، ان کے دل مضبوط کرنے اور انہیں یہ یاد دلانے میں گزار دی کہ ان کی اصل قدر اللّٰه کے ہاں ہے۔
اللّٰه تعالیٰ ہمارے دلوں کو اپنے نبی ﷺ کی محبت سے بھر دے، اور ہمیں توفیق دے کہ آپ ﷺ کا کردار ہمارے الفاظ، ہمارے اعمال اور دوسروں کے ساتھ ہمارے برتاؤ میں زندہ ہو جائے۔
Sometimes silence and detachment is not ego; but grief and mourning in our attempts to hide our loss from the world. Losing the trusted anchor, and friends who go far away. Grief and tears, they say, is love and the pain of losing it all.
Some people are once-in-a-chapter people. Some people are once-in-a-lifetime people. They come to teach us how it feels to be believed in; we carry that belief forever. May Allah make their life easy, may Allah also give them once-in-a-lifetime people. But today it feels heavy.
May we insanely fall in love with Allah, over and over again, with every inch of our existence. How lucky to have a friend, a guardian, a Wali like Allah. May this love continue to flourish throughout our lives & may we be counted as believers. Ameen!
ADVICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES :
1. Build a home earlier. Be it rural home or urban home. Building a house at 50 is not an achievement. Don't get used to government houses. This comfort is so dangerous. Let all your family have good time in your house.
2. Go home. Don't stick at work all the year. You are not the pillar of your department. If you drop dead today, you will be replaced immediately and operations will continue. Make your family a priority.
3. Don't chase promotions. Master your skills and be excellent at what you do. If they want to promote you, that's fine if they don't, stay positive to your personal.
development.
4. Avoid office or work gossip. Avoid things that tarnish your name or reputation. Don't join the bandwagon that backbites your bosses and colleagues. Stay away from negative gatherings that have only people as their agenda.
5. Don't ever compete with your bosses. You will burn your fingers. Don't compete with your colleagues, you will fry your brain.
6. Ensure you have a side business. Your salary will not sustain your needs in the long run.
7. Save some money. Let it be deducted automatically from your payslip.
8. Borrow a loan to invest in a business or to change a situation not to buy luxury. Buy luxury from your profit.
9. Keep your life,marriage and family private. Let them stay away from your work. This is very important.
10. Be loyal to yourself and believe in your work. Hanging around your boss will alienate you from your colleagues and your boss may finally dump you when he leaves.
11. Retire early. The best way to plan for your exit was when you received the employment letter. The other best time is today. By 40 to 50 be out.
12. Join work welfare and be an active member always. It will help you a lot when any eventuality occurs.
13. Take leave days utilize them by developing yr future home or projects..usually what you do during yr leave days is a reflection of how you'll live after retirement..If it means you spend it all holding a remote control watching series on Zee world, expect nothing different after retirement.
14. Start a project whilst still serving or working. Let your project run whilst at work and if it doesn't do well, start another one till it's running viably. When your project is viably running then retire to manage your business. Most people or pensioners fail in life because they retire to start a project instead of retiring to run a project.
15. Pension money is not for starting a project or buy a stand or build a house but it's money for your upkeep or to maintain yourself in good health. Pension money is not for paying school fees or marrying a young wife but to look after yourself.
16. Always remember, when you retire never be a case study for living a miserable life after retirement but be a role model for colleagues to think of retiring too.
17. Don't retire just because you are finished or you are now a burden to the company and just wait for your day to die. Retire young or whilst energetic to enjoy waking up for a cup of coffee, enjoy the sun, receive money from your business, visit nice place that you missed and spend good time with family. Those who retire late, spend about 95% of their time at work than with their family and that's why they see it difficult to spend time with their family when they retire but end looking for another job till they die. If they don't get another job, they die early.
18. Retire at your house than at government accommodation so that when you retire you can easily fit into the society that raised you. It's not easy to adjust to live in a location after spending more years at company house or at government house.
19. Never let your employment benefits make you forget about your retirement. Employment benefits are just meant to make you relax, get finished whilst time is moving. Remember when you retire no one will call you boss if you don't have a viable business.
20. Don't hate to retire because one day you will retire either voluntarily or involuntarily.
Hope this will help you look at life positively
#IkoKaziKE