Mahboba Andyar: A Poem

correction for my last interact # 9.
Shukriya Barakzai is one of the six MPs who were getting threatening letters (at the time of the news)

You guys are really a great source of learning. Your responses are helping me shape my ideas about my Muslim brothers. Keep writing; and showing yours ... you know what, so that all can see for what you are.

I do hope to save cattle from oncoming trains. It is a noble task to save even one life.
But Quran also tells me that cattle they are and cattle they will remain. No matter what you tell them they do not hear. Their hearts are sealed and their ears have lead in them. So like cattle they keep wandering. So I anguish not for their sake. Duty of a slave is just to do their duty.

I only pray for you. I pray that filth from your brains is washed. But I do not try to tell you what you should do or not – because I take not the position of a judge. There is only one Judge. And that Judge is best Wakeel too. So I leave the disposing of every matter in the hands of the High One. To you your way and to me mine. (lakukm denokum wa liyadeen - 109.6)

Ask yourself one thing if you want to understand a little. Are women in Afghanistan are like the women of Madina when the Prophet was at the helm of affairs. (And even until little after – till the spirit of Islam was corrupted by the Empire of Moawiyas and Abbasis)
Why the heck you cannot see?

Why the heck do you want to enslave women and stifle their striving souls by labels and slanders? So what if she does not run in Hamburg or wherever. So what? The point is why she could not flourish in Afghanistan? Why so many such souls are even not heard of and suffer and extinguished under male tyranny. Granted it happens elsewhere too to different degrees but the deadly combination of religion and male chauvinism is unparallel where hold of fanatics is tight. Have you not heard of the only Afghani woman parliamentarian Shukriya Barakzai who also have to flee the country because she was too outspoken for the liking of male dominated assembly.(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6755799.stm)
(I should have written a poem on that too – I don’t know why it would trouble anyone if something is said in poetry –a damn good point to ponder... hmmmmm)

Now Tahir sb, come up with another dirty trick for Shukriya’s name. I am sad to see something like this coming from you Tahir, You who seem to be immersed in Quranic scripture, will spend energy to split a word to metamorphose it into such filth – it is shocking. Read the verses where Quran says a good word is like a good tree and bad word is like sick one.

The core of every religion including Islam is big- heartedness towards every creature on the earth. One who does not understand this does not understand religion or corrupts it

Or do the 'Mahboba' AND 'Yaar' bits in the name bother you Mr. Max? Clarify please....

Alright, break it up Muscle-mans!

Mr. Quin wants her to run, but you, Mr. Max, only see the Urdu 'runn' in her.

Be fearful of the day Mr. Max, when Mr. Quin will publish an entire newpaper in poetry!

It might go something like this:

The race is on: three, two, and one!
Burqa-clad our darling blindly runs
No one can ban what the Tallys can
They have a head-price on her buns.

PS: Coca Cola, enjoy!

#3 Posted by quin,

I think the best path for you is to dedicate your life to saving stray cattle crossing rail tracks from oncoming trains.

Mr. Keats! Certainly she'll find asylum and do great business in Hamburg.

Exotic, you see, fetch higher fees in those parts.

However, I will take ALL my words back and apologize to you if you ever see her taking part in athletic meets in Hamburg too as she supposedly did in Kabul.

Re: # 4 akcheema,
Thanks. I appreciate Chowk editors' good sense of timing. They held on to it to publish just before Olympics. That's smart.
To me it is always important to learn from others. From their postive thoughts, and not relish in thier foibles. We have heroic figures all around us, but we do not see their soul for what it is. Wordsworth even sees a flower and is overwhelmed; how we do not see a human being in its full grace and are not moved.
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." Wordsworth

Re: # 3; quin

It was a good poem; I read it when you published it as an ilog some weeks ago. And you are right in what you are saying here too. The human condition is that of complexity and self-contradictions .... we see it all around us. Be it some "philosopher" like Iqbal or any other figure throughout history (Islamic or otherwise), much revered by some. Same applies to other mere mortals too. At the end of the day, "it is all about survival"!

Like I said on your ilog before, Good Luck to the girl in whatever she'd want to pursue in life.

So what is your point Mr. Zeemax? Does being anti-taliban mean that he was not being a typical male-chauvinist?
In my poem I have implied clearly she might be seeking asylum. What does this show however? Does this show she might be a prostitute? If she was in another more civilized society where talents of all sorts are encouraged regardless of gender, would she still do the same?
Would she leave her family forever? Did you see the video? Did you not hear the cries of her family? Does your heart beats not with the suffering of humanity?
What you are implying by being curious sir? What you and I have to do with her personal life anyway? Do you not realize you are slandering her just like her neighbour did? In a fair world, you and like of you could be taken to court for libel. But this is not a fair world and therefore heart of Keats had bled and so does mine.
Do you not want to see her sufferings and aspirations and want only to see if she was a prostitute or not? Have you thought why she would aspire for Olympics despite all the insults thrown at her? Why? Do you not think? Do you not realize what you are saying? Like a typical chauvinist male / religionolgist fanatic, seeing a woman no more than a sex object.
If you are trying to give credibility to her accusers on the basis that they were anti-taliban; first what this says about taliban and their likes; second what does this says about you.
I am appalled, doubly.

An excerpt from the TIME link:

"... Italian police are investigating the disappearance, though there are no signs of foul play. Her bags and passport were also gone from her room, a sign that she may have left on her own ... One possible explanation is that the 19-year-old may be seeking asylum somewhere in Europe, following repeated threats and humiliation from Muslim extremists, including false rumors that she was a prostitute. Nick Davies, spokesman for the IAAF, the world track-and-field governing body, said there had been no signs that Andyar was having second thoughts about competing in Beijing. "It was quite a surprise to us," Davies told TIME. "We don't know where she is. All we know is that she and her bags are gone.""

... humiliation from Muslim extremists and false rumors she was a prostitute? Curious, because the naighbour who reported her to the police for prostitution was a Panjsheri anti-Taliban (as described in the Timesonline report link.)

She'll soon reemerge with an asylum application. So keep another bleeding heart poem handy, Mr. Keats!

hhhmmmmm need to think about this piece....