Bombs and Beards

i really liked your article, except you sort of threw me off with stating you were entering the zone of a ``chinstrap beard``. From what i understood from your article, was that the beard you are entertaining, is a (and i quote, from wat my father says) ``a full muslim beard``.
my concept of a chinstrap beard, is a thin beard lining from one end to the other along the chin. more appropriately also referred to as a ``line``. this is the type of beard i have. and even with a beard as thin, and small as mine i am still called a ``maulana``. but thas alright, it comes with the package and is almost now is a requirement of post-911 changes.

my nana once narrated to me an instant wen sir syed ahmed khan was asked by someone whether a beard makes a man more attractive or less. sir syed ahmed khan replied that a beard multiplies the effect in either case. a good looking man will look even better with a beard and an unattractive person would look uglier than b4.

thats y i let a beard grow from time to time ;)

Thanks Najia and Iyoz! Yes Najia, I`m trying to do just that. Btw, the name is Farhan.

Iyoz, you said:

And now that its been some time, and believe u me I have let it go wild, I am just keeping it for the fun of it. Long hair and long beard... just to see how ppl would react to it. Really really interesting experience. Has taught me a few things about ppl in general , and a few about some ppl in particular.

My thoughts exactly.

..and like aaisha said.. Thats the spirit! Keep the beard flowing! :-)

Nice article.

I have a beard, and all started out of laziness. As soon as I crossed the *unshaved* zone and steped into the *bearded* zone, i noticed a marked difference in ppls reaction. So this is a summary of the first time reactions :

1) Ppl that are friends, would mostly laugh or be shocked - alwasy asking two questions. WHY and TILL WHEN

2) Ppl that i just know, would be very carefull... some wity one would slip in a sarcastic remark... And honestly.... it took me some time to realize that if someone is saying ``sufi`` or ``maulvi`` then they are talking about me :-)

3) Ppl i dont know,,, well the article covers most of them.

And now that its been some time, and believe u me I have let it go wild, I am just keeping it for the fun of it. Long hair and long beard... just to see how ppl would react to it. Really really interesting experience. Has taught me a few things about ppl in general , and a few about some ppl in particular.

So the bottom line is, when you are looking *normal* then ppl will probably behave *normal* with you. Add a lil bit of hair here and there, and all of a sudden you are an alien from another planet.
Thankfully, most ppl from our part of the world are definitely more tolerant about the appearenc. Probably this could be attributed to the fact that we dont have a strong national/regional outlook or image. Shades of a lot of cultures.

well Irfan! i really do sympathize you for all this, but there is a term called social desent, and that is never gonna change as long as the naure of the society tends to be stagnant, u will be a personna non grata where ever u will go thats for sure , people like u should raise their voice.. maybe that will effect.......

Najia Bashir
karachi

Re #14 by aaisha,

Yes I agree, but the person being interviewed was in a tense situation, and when someone has little time to think and answer reasonably, they resort to the code of their personality imprinted deep inside their mind... which is easier to access and does not involve much thinking by the brain. Thus the interviewers are successful in their attempt of trying to understand the persons inner mind instead of what he would usually portray himself as. So although the interviewers had a biased attitude, they still had reasons for their odd questions.

#11 by ally,

One thing I would like to add is that some bearded men feel pride in being considered holy and actually like being called a Molvi Sahab or Maulana. They think its a great tool to subdue people and make them believe whatever you want them to believe... that ofcourse depends on how confused the person on the recieving end is and how willing his mind is to accept anything from anyone who appears to be holy!

a goat with a beard is still a goat

Re: Paindu,
Thats the spirit!
Keep the beard flowing? erm.....:s

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waisay..a clean shaven guy can be oh-so-boring. not that id prefer a bearded man either. stubble is good.. a french beard is better.

Re #7 by Azure

“but it`s not easy to make everyone understand especially when superpowers are so good at brainwashing majority of the intelligentsia of our country.”
What good do such intelligentsia are then? Gullible enough to ingest anything thrown their way by the West (read US)
abt national security issues vs religious duties...I think it was nothing but the bias of the interviewers that made them ask such a stupid question. Of course when there is an emergency situation, everyone would rush off to attend to it. Surely the rights of fellow human beings would take priority over the rights of Allah. A prayer missed in not that big a deal but if you leave your duty and in your absence something catastrophic happens, you would be accountable in thw world`s as well as Allah`s court for it.

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quite true and funny... i had a beard for a while, cause i was lazy, took it off later... the reactions def are diff... south asian ppl esp, think ur `holy`

veeresh

lemme guess.......and you have a beard. right? A half-bald (aadha ganja) friend of mine has similar views about himself.

I am very careful with people who wear beards - they could be very unpredictable.