Iqra's Reflections

There was a stream of water which the villagers feared would destroy the village. A group of villagers tried to block it but it still found its course. There came another group. They also tried to control the water in a different way. The stream of water enraged that it was, still found its way. Now, another group of villagers took up. Instead of stopping the course of water, they redirected it towards the crops and wells. Hence, the villagers stored the water for their crops, animals and the daily use.   amolife.com     Ours is a world of contradictions; salt and sugar, day and night, black and white, good and evil, shadows and light. That is what it is meant to be. What we make out of it, matters. Like the third group of villagers in the above parable. Many try to stop the course of life, not knowing that it will go on anyway, much like the sand in an hour glass.  As the life unfolds, realizations begin. This unfolding, bitter at times, has...

Autumn was about to take a break until next year, handing the stage over to spring. Colorful flowers and lush green newly borns seemed to cherish life. Eyes fell upon the remains of autumn; some dead, dried leaves and bushes hanging. How sad was the sight. Life doesn’t stop, does it? It doesn’t cease to end and begin. Though hard to adjust with these changes, this is the story of our world. A season that brings death to one might be the birth of another. Moments that bring end to a self bring life to another, newer self.     There was a twist. It made me to see another aspect of the phenomena; to this grand opera of nature.  A gale of wind; who would have expected it on such a warm day?   It was ruthless and brutal. Wooing around, enveloping everything, it shed off the dead stems and leaves off the trees and plants. It wasn’t pleasant to the skin neither did I like natures attitude with those dead bodies.   But the wooing wind seemed to look at...

www.wallpaperswide.com It's winter these days and we can't avoid sun anymore... Much like life. Sometimes it gets too cold to stay inside and we have to come out, that's when we get to know and feel the warmth of the sun. Thanks to the cold.

Post 9/11 world seems to be an entirely different world. Ever since, it is home to an even more complex web of conspiracies,  theories, fear and God knows what.  Growing up I have found Islam and terrorism at the heart of every discourse concerning global peace. Connection between the two has been beyond my understanding. It has taken me to Qur’an every time and made me to revise the verses over and over again. But this connection between the two hasn’t made sense to me. It doesn’t, until one starts digging into global politics. The greatest war nowadays that goes on within us as humans and around the globe at large is that of narratives. A session was arranged at the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad, with Stephen Downs and Kathy Manley from the US who have done an extensive research namely ‘Inventing terrorists’ according to which 74 per cent of the terrorism cases prosecuted in the US courts were falsely implicated. Another 20 per cent were of minor natur...