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When Life Begins --------- ---------
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When Life Begins ---------
what was common in their attitude and chemistry that despite coming
from such diverse backgrounds, this college camaraderie transformed
into a life-long friendship. However, unfortunately in this friendship
Aasmah was influenced by Leila to a much lesser degree and Leila
accepted Aasmah's influence a lot more.
No doubt, Leila was my daughter, but regrettably, she could not
adopt my philosophy of life. More than me, she was influenced by
Jamshaid, my elder son who like her, was also wandering somewhere in
the Plane of Judgement. On one hand, she was spoiled by her elder
brother and on the other by her friendship with Aasmah. Aasmah was
an only child and consequently, had been overly pampered by her
parents all her life. The result was that today she had to receive her
share of heartache. Most children of my era went astray due to the
excessive love and spoiling of their parents.
Children have been dear to parents through all ages. In my time,
however, a unique phenomenon developed. Parents became infatuated
with the love of their children to such an extent that they became their
puppets. Perhaps this was the effect of having fewer children. In olden
days, every household had eight to ten children. Therefore, parents
could not pay more than a certain degree of attention to each child. But
in my time, most households had only two or three children, and the
parents devoted their lives to providing them with every blessing in the
world. They met their undue demands and put up with their tantrums.
They also avoided inculcating discipline in them. They not only tried to
meet their legitimate desires, but also those that were un-due. They
spent their wealth on their children’s education. For the sake of a better
future, they sent them to the West. Tragically, those children never
returned to their motherland and settled in the developed countries,
leaving their old parents alone. Even if that did not happen, the role of
parents in this new way of life was quite limited. However, despite all of
the changes, the parents were happy and took great pleasure in seeing
their children thoroughly Westernized.
In the opinion of parents of my time, it was more important for
their children to learn to speak English in a foreign accent than to know
the fundamentals of their religion. It was more important for them to
get their children educated in pricey educational institutions than to
teach them about faith and moral values. The children learnt the
lessons of self-interest and selfishness from their parents instead of
possessing true love of God, love for his people, a desire to serve
humanity, and work for its betterment. They spent their time watching
television where they received daily lessons in materialism and
uninhibited fulfilment of desires rather than benefiting from the
company of the family elders and learning about modesty, morals, and
etiquettes. The world and success in this world was presented to these
children as the most important goal instead of eternal success.
The concepts of God, religion and Hereafter were relegated to mere
formality and rituals. The ultimate standard of being religious was to
arrange for a Moulvi to teach the child Qur’an in Arabic, and that too
without translation. As far as the meanings of Holy Book were
concerned, the Moulvi would not know them, neither would the
parents, and hence the child would never know them either. If they had
understood Qur’an by reading its translation in their mother tongue,
they would have found that Qur’an was devoid of talk of worldly
materialistic goals just as much as their lives were devoid of the talk of
the Hereafter.
The reason for this may or may not have been understood clearly by
many people in the previous world but was crystal-clear to everyone
today. Time spent in the previous world was in fact not the real life.
That time was merely an examination or an afternoon spent by a
traveller in a roadside cafe. Real Life was about to begin now, a never-
ending harsh reality that was staring everyone in the face today.
As we reached closer, Aasmah saw me. She nudged Leila. Leila
raised her head and looked up. Her gaze met mine. When I saw the
helplessness, horror, and grief in her eyes, my heart felt like being torn
apart. She got up, ran towards me, and embraced me tightly while
crying loudly. She was inconsolable, and the only words coming out of
her mouth were, ‘Papa, Papa”! I kept myself composed with great
difficulty. I felt that if she continued to cry perhaps the self-control
holding my emotions would fail. I said to her as I stroked her hair:
“Stop crying, my child. Did I not repeatedly try to make you learn to
live for this day? Did I not say that the world is nothing but a façade?”
“Yes, you were right, but I failed to see the reality”. While saying so
her sobs became even louder.
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