89. Al-Fajr/The Dawn
I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah
The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.
89:01
a. By the dawn.
89:02
a. And the ten sacred nights.
89:03
a. And the even - the pair - and the odd - alternative forms, the single - of all creation.
89:04
a. And the night as it moves on to give way to the morning.
89:05
a. Is there not sufficient proofs in this for a person of understanding to believe?
89:06
a. Have you not learned from history how did your Rabb - The Lord deal with the People of
‘Ad -
89:07
a. - of Iram,
b. known for their thriving construction industry and great columns?
89:08
a. The like of whom were never created in the lands in terms of their power of assault and strength?
89:09
a. And the People of Thamud - who carved out the rocks in the valley to make dwellings,
89:10
a. and Pharaoh, who exercised full power and might?
89:11
a. They all transgressed beyond bounds in their land,
734 Surah 89 * Al-Fajr
89:12
a. and promoted great social disorder, chaos and anarchy there.
89:13
a. Thus your Rabb - The Lord unleashed different kinds of punishments over them.
89:14
a. Truly your Rabb - The Lord lies in wait!
89:15
a. And as for the human being, whenever his Rabb - The Lord would test him by conferring on him...
The institution of ‘Gift’ (ہبہ) is common in every religion. Every religion promo-tes this practice, as it is a tool to create sense of love and affection between the giver and the receiver. Similarly, Islam encourages its followers to perform it from time to time and spread sense of love and affection. The holy Prophet (Peace and Mercy be upon him) not only ordered the believers of Islam to exchange gifts but also, he himself was habitual of distributing things among the Muslims as gifts. Here, in this article, this exercise of the ‘Gift’ is discussed. Firstly, its lexical and terminological meanings are mentioned and supported with verses of the holy Quran and the traditions of the holy Prophet (PBUH). Furthermore, its need and importance are given consideration. Secondly, kinds of the ‘Gift’ are specified, which are ‘Gift of existing things and non-existing things’. Then the existing things are divided into ‘Devisable and non-devisable items’. In the end the concept of possession in the ‘Gift’ is stated. Along with all this opinions of the five schools of thoughts i.e. Hanafi, Maliki, Shafai, Hanbali and Shia, and their basis regarding possession of the ‘Gift’ are presented.
Title: Post-Independence / Post-Colonial Pakistani Fiction in English: A Socio-Political Study with Focus on Twilight in Delhi, The Murder of Aziz Khan, Ice-Candy-Man and Moth Smoke Since Independence in 1947, Pakistan, as a nation and state, has been grappling with socio-political and economic problems, the issue of national identity and even an existential dilemma. Its postcolonial existence has also been threatened by the failure of its leadership that lacked imagination and vision. Therefore, questions like “Can Pakistan survive?” have often been posed by the political pundits. The subject of this research is how Pakistan’s national texts, particularly creative writings in English, reflect socio-cultural and political transformations since Independence. Ethnically and linguistically, Pakistan is a pluralistic society, but the state has pursued centrist and unitary policies. Islam has been (ab)used to justify the unitary character of the state. Thus state and ‘ideological state apparatuses’ have been in collision with the natural pluralism of its society. Therefore, various conflicts have been raging and boiling over to shake the foundations of the state and the society. The response of Pakistan’s creative writers, with few exceptions, has been ambivalent towards these issues, until a new generation of young writers since early 1990s began to respond more openly and critically. In 1967, Zulfikar Ghose, with the advantage of geographical distance, gave a powerful critique of Pakistan’s new ruling elite in his novel The Murder of Aziz Khan. The same sentiments are expressed by Mohsin Hamid in his 2000 novel Moth Smoke. By analyzing these texts I have tried to show how Pakistan is frozen in time: its socio-political problems still persist with the same frequency and intensity. While analyzing Pakistan’s texts in English, I have tried to make use of the theoretical frameworks expounded by such social theorists as Michael Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser as well as the theoretical underpinnings of larger postcolonial theory. The study has a topical significance as Pakistani writers in English, in my view, after a long period of marginalization, are registering a strong presence in the global academia. This dissertation aims at contributing to the growing field of Pakistani literary studies and the wider English Studies.