This has been one of my very controversial writings. I’ve tried to touch some sensitive issues with an open mind. Before I start off my discussion, I want to tell a short story.
One day a pastor went walking in the country & saw a cow looking over the wall. As he stood looking at the cow, he was approached by a member of his church who asked him, ‘Is something wrong, pastor?’
He replied, ‘Well, I’m having troubles.’
The farmer said, ‘Pastor, look at the cow. What’s the cow doing?’
‘She’s looking over the wall.’
The farmer said, ‘Why do you think she’s looking over the wall.’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’
‘She’s looking over the wall because she can’t see through it.’
Moral: There are lots of problems that can’t be solved.
I guess we all have come against some walls that we couldn’t see through. When solutions don’t exist or can’t be found for whatever reason, what should be done? Since life goes on, just like any practical person, we shouldn’t give a shit to it. That’s going to be quite a convenient choice, but there is one problem: it may prick your conscience, if it’s still intact. Naturally I need to talk on it.
I scribbled this passage of Bertrand Russell in one of my writings & I had been lynched by my best people.
“Suppose atomic bombs had reduced the population of the world to one brother & sister; should they let the human race die out? I do not know the answer, but I do not think it can be in the affirmative merely on the ground that incest is wicked.”
It’s the job of philosophers & writers to raise questions, but that doesn’t mean common man shouldn’t use his brain cells at all. I don’t know if human race has all the answers, but questions must be raised. Bertrand Russell is one of my mentors & when people label him as some sick philosopher, I don’t like it. These are the same people who sit back in their houses when they hear cases of incest & rape. Do they think that women & children gain something by creating such awful myths about themselves? Are they attention- seekers or what? Do they get some sort of happiness by besmearing their own life?
In one of the schools in Pakistan, male prostitution was carried on by teachers for 20 years & 20 years is a pretty long time. Students were molested, blackmailed & then they were prostituted. When the case came out in the newspapers, there were people saying that teachers couldn’t be involved in this filthy act. How very convenient!
I read somewhere:
“The most frequently reported type of incest is father-daughter incest. Incest between adults and prepubescent or adolescent children is considered a form of child sexual abuse that has been shown to be one of the most extreme forms of childhood trauma, a trauma that often does serious and long-term psychological damage, especially in the case of parental incest.”
We have convenient answers in our society. Women can’t molest a child. Fathers, uncles, aunties & grandparents can’t molest a child. How can they? We just can’t. That’s what we tell ourselves, cause we like to deceive ourselves. So, my question is: who does this? Ghoulish, morbid, scary creatures from hell! Oh yes Mr. Satan is responsible for every evil. But what about humans? What role do they play? They are only victims. Then who is the culprit?
I also read this piece in which this woman says that she kind of loved this incestuous relationship with her brother for years & she also says there is a difference between abuse & consensual incest. She thoroughly enjoyed it for years & so did her brother. Now I’m not saying that she is right or wrong. I just want to highlight the point that only she could have made: there is a difference between abuse & consensual incest.
The other thing that I want to talk about is black magic. In case if you are too ignorant as to what is black magic, let me tell you one of the definitions that would make it easier for you to understand:
“Black magic would be invoked to kill, to steal, to injure, to cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences to others.”
So, it’s a kind of harmful sorcery associated with the worship of Satan. But who does that worship? Someone who is more inclined to settled quarrels by resorting to such means. I’ve heard that in this century (in which we are very, very modern), people cannot practice black magic. Doctors will immediately give you the answer that it is some kind of disease. Alright. If spells aren’t being cast on anyone, then why do we have Surah Falak & Surah Naz in the Holy Quran? There ought to be a reason, I suppose. Or maybe we accept one thing that suits us & discards another that doesn’t.
Bertrand Russell very beautifully said:
“As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our trouble. Whose authority? The Old Testament? The New Testament? The Koran? In practice, people choose the book considered sacred by the community in which they are born, and out of that book they choose the parts they like, ignoring the others.”
Surah Falak:
Say ‘I take refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak
From the evil of what He has created,
From the evil of darkness when it gathers,
From the evil of women who blow on knots,
From the evil of an envier when he envies.’
Envy can drive one jealous being to any extent. Don’t people murder & throw acid? Don’t people rape & gang-raped? People can stoop down to any level. People go beyond the boundaries, when they want to hurt others. People become damn creative when they inflict pain on others. When people want others to suffer, nothing stands in their way.
It is also very clearly written in Surah Taha:
‘Fear not; surely thou art the uppermost. Cast down what is in thy right hand, & it shall swallow what they have fashioned; for they have fashioned only the guile of a sorcerer, & the sorcerer prospers not, wherever he goes.’
We don’t believe a person who says he’s a victim of black magic, because black magic is something ancient. It cannot happen now. Science has an answer & no, we have no time to think about possibilities with an open mind.
Henrik Ibsen said, ‘I think we are sailing with a corpse in the cargo.’
Human mind hasn’t progressed & if you think, it has, then you’re surely mistaken. Forget about going beyond the passages of Mr. Russell, people don’t even see what’s in front of them. They just want convenient answers & they grab them & go on. That’s why they don’t live; they only exist & occupy space. I’m sure that too is convenient.
The 3rd issue that I want to talk about is that of sluts. How they are being treated in this society! Now we don’t know how does a woman land in that gutter, but we call her foul names. Can all those people who call them names provide them respect in the society? No, they wouldn’t dream of it. In fact the word ‘slut’ is taken as an abuse. I will again quote my favourite philosopher, Bertrand Russell:
“The prostitute has the advantage, not only that she is available at a moment's notice, but that, having no life outside her profession, she can remain hidden without difficulty, and the man who has been with her can return to his wife, his family, and his church with unimpaired dignity. She, however, poor woman, in spite of the undoubted service she performs, in spite of the fact that she safeguards the virtues of wives and daughters and the apparent virtue of church-wardens, is universally despised, thought to be an outcast, and not allowed to associate with ordinary people except in the way of business.”
The issues that I have discussed today are mind-boggling & thought provoking. Please go beyond what I’ve written. Possibility is always there. These are walls that we can’t see through. We don’t have solutions. It has been quite a sensitive write-up. And I have been scared that I won’t do justice to it. I’ve said what I wanted to say. In the process, if I have hurt the sentiments of anyone, I’m sorry. I really am, but I can’t stay quiet like everyone else.
One day a pastor went walking in the country & saw a cow looking over the wall. As he stood looking at the cow, he was approached by a member of his church who asked him, ‘Is something wrong, pastor?’
He replied, ‘Well, I’m having troubles.’
The farmer said, ‘Pastor, look at the cow. What’s the cow doing?’
‘She’s looking over the wall.’
The farmer said, ‘Why do you think she’s looking over the wall.’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’
‘She’s looking over the wall because she can’t see through it.’
Moral: There are lots of problems that can’t be solved.
I guess we all have come against some walls that we couldn’t see through. When solutions don’t exist or can’t be found for whatever reason, what should be done? Since life goes on, just like any practical person, we shouldn’t give a shit to it. That’s going to be quite a convenient choice, but there is one problem: it may prick your conscience, if it’s still intact. Naturally I need to talk on it.
I scribbled this passage of Bertrand Russell in one of my writings & I had been lynched by my best people.
“Suppose atomic bombs had reduced the population of the world to one brother & sister; should they let the human race die out? I do not know the answer, but I do not think it can be in the affirmative merely on the ground that incest is wicked.”
It’s the job of philosophers & writers to raise questions, but that doesn’t mean common man shouldn’t use his brain cells at all. I don’t know if human race has all the answers, but questions must be raised. Bertrand Russell is one of my mentors & when people label him as some sick philosopher, I don’t like it. These are the same people who sit back in their houses when they hear cases of incest & rape. Do they think that women & children gain something by creating such awful myths about themselves? Are they attention- seekers or what? Do they get some sort of happiness by besmearing their own life?
In one of the schools in Pakistan, male prostitution was carried on by teachers for 20 years & 20 years is a pretty long time. Students were molested, blackmailed & then they were prostituted. When the case came out in the newspapers, there were people saying that teachers couldn’t be involved in this filthy act. How very convenient!
I read somewhere:
“The most frequently reported type of incest is father-daughter incest. Incest between adults and prepubescent or adolescent children is considered a form of child sexual abuse that has been shown to be one of the most extreme forms of childhood trauma, a trauma that often does serious and long-term psychological damage, especially in the case of parental incest.”
We have convenient answers in our society. Women can’t molest a child. Fathers, uncles, aunties & grandparents can’t molest a child. How can they? We just can’t. That’s what we tell ourselves, cause we like to deceive ourselves. So, my question is: who does this? Ghoulish, morbid, scary creatures from hell! Oh yes Mr. Satan is responsible for every evil. But what about humans? What role do they play? They are only victims. Then who is the culprit?
I also read this piece in which this woman says that she kind of loved this incestuous relationship with her brother for years & she also says there is a difference between abuse & consensual incest. She thoroughly enjoyed it for years & so did her brother. Now I’m not saying that she is right or wrong. I just want to highlight the point that only she could have made: there is a difference between abuse & consensual incest.
The other thing that I want to talk about is black magic. In case if you are too ignorant as to what is black magic, let me tell you one of the definitions that would make it easier for you to understand:
“Black magic would be invoked to kill, to steal, to injure, to cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences to others.”
So, it’s a kind of harmful sorcery associated with the worship of Satan. But who does that worship? Someone who is more inclined to settled quarrels by resorting to such means. I’ve heard that in this century (in which we are very, very modern), people cannot practice black magic. Doctors will immediately give you the answer that it is some kind of disease. Alright. If spells aren’t being cast on anyone, then why do we have Surah Falak & Surah Naz in the Holy Quran? There ought to be a reason, I suppose. Or maybe we accept one thing that suits us & discards another that doesn’t.
Bertrand Russell very beautifully said:
“As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our trouble. Whose authority? The Old Testament? The New Testament? The Koran? In practice, people choose the book considered sacred by the community in which they are born, and out of that book they choose the parts they like, ignoring the others.”
Surah Falak:
Say ‘I take refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak
From the evil of what He has created,
From the evil of darkness when it gathers,
From the evil of women who blow on knots,
From the evil of an envier when he envies.’
Envy can drive one jealous being to any extent. Don’t people murder & throw acid? Don’t people rape & gang-raped? People can stoop down to any level. People go beyond the boundaries, when they want to hurt others. People become damn creative when they inflict pain on others. When people want others to suffer, nothing stands in their way.
It is also very clearly written in Surah Taha:
‘Fear not; surely thou art the uppermost. Cast down what is in thy right hand, & it shall swallow what they have fashioned; for they have fashioned only the guile of a sorcerer, & the sorcerer prospers not, wherever he goes.’
We don’t believe a person who says he’s a victim of black magic, because black magic is something ancient. It cannot happen now. Science has an answer & no, we have no time to think about possibilities with an open mind.
Henrik Ibsen said, ‘I think we are sailing with a corpse in the cargo.’
Human mind hasn’t progressed & if you think, it has, then you’re surely mistaken. Forget about going beyond the passages of Mr. Russell, people don’t even see what’s in front of them. They just want convenient answers & they grab them & go on. That’s why they don’t live; they only exist & occupy space. I’m sure that too is convenient.
The 3rd issue that I want to talk about is that of sluts. How they are being treated in this society! Now we don’t know how does a woman land in that gutter, but we call her foul names. Can all those people who call them names provide them respect in the society? No, they wouldn’t dream of it. In fact the word ‘slut’ is taken as an abuse. I will again quote my favourite philosopher, Bertrand Russell:
“The prostitute has the advantage, not only that she is available at a moment's notice, but that, having no life outside her profession, she can remain hidden without difficulty, and the man who has been with her can return to his wife, his family, and his church with unimpaired dignity. She, however, poor woman, in spite of the undoubted service she performs, in spite of the fact that she safeguards the virtues of wives and daughters and the apparent virtue of church-wardens, is universally despised, thought to be an outcast, and not allowed to associate with ordinary people except in the way of business.”
The issues that I have discussed today are mind-boggling & thought provoking. Please go beyond what I’ve written. Possibility is always there. These are walls that we can’t see through. We don’t have solutions. It has been quite a sensitive write-up. And I have been scared that I won’t do justice to it. I’ve said what I wanted to say. In the process, if I have hurt the sentiments of anyone, I’m sorry. I really am, but I can’t stay quiet like everyone else.
Nadira Rahman
