Today is World Orphans Day. Like the rest of the world, in Pakistan, we will talk about the rights of orphans and remember them. Little fairies and little flowers will bloom and sparkle today. Surely, even the angels of Allah are dancing with the exchanges of smiles of orphaned children. The children are lucky who are being raised in the laps of their parents. In Pakistan, there are 4.2 million unfortunate children who are deprived of the shadow of a father. Actually, they are not unlucky, but it is necessary to write with a heavy heart that there is no government support or laps available for orphans. As I am writing this, my tears are falling and my heart is helpless, thinking that each orphan child should be met today, hugged, their sorrow should be alleviated, their needs should be met, their smiles should be protected, and their happiness should be doubled. And they should be told that being an orphan is not a sin. Often, being an orphan becomes a feeling of guilt. Therefore, orphaned children should be made to feel that it is a test from Allah and Allah Almighty tests only those whom He loves. The government of two worlds has instructed the virtues of the guardian of orphans and said, “I and the guardian of an orphan will be close in Jannah, and you have joined the forefinger and middle finger to state this.”

In recent years, a video of the Vice President of Faun Foundation Pakistan, Muhammad Abdul Shakoor, went viral in which he stated that “there are 5 to 6 crore families living in Pakistan, and many of them are fortunate enough to celebrate various occasions such as birthdays, Eid, and Pakistan Day. They participate in various ceremonies and events and are happy.” A new concept emerged in recent years that a day should be celebrated in Pakistan for orphaned children, called “Orphan Day.” The UN and Turkey jointly determined the day, and it was decided that from now on, every year on the 15th of Ramadan, Orphan Day would be celebrated. Many organizations in Pakistan have joined hands to celebrate this day and have decided to request from all those who have been blessed by Allah with a happy family, to think especially about the orphaned children in their neighborhoods, communities, and cities. They should remember them, gift them, put a hand on their head, and recall those orphaned children who have achieved good positions in the past or present. Society should make an effort to realize that orphaned children are as important to us as our own children, so that we can build a compassionate society.

The government should announce today that the orphan program will be run properly and every orphan’s data will be collected from all over the country, just like how we collect data for our own children. Their care and welfare should be ensured so that orphans and non-orphans can move forward together. There are many institutions in Pakistan that work for the welfare of orphans, including the Al-Khidmat Foundation. The way Al-Khidmat Foundation has served the earthquake affected people in Tharparker, Cholistan, recent floods, Turkey, and Syria, and is currently supporting people with food and other necessities, is not only admirable but also worthy of pride. Al-Khidmat Foundation, which is currently taking care of more than 22,000 children in their homes, is also providing care for orphans in quality orphanages. Al-Khidmat Foundation’s President, Hammad Attique Malik, has stated that they are dedicated to serving all human necessities from grave to cradle. Al-Khidmat Foundation is working at a national level in seven areas, including disaster management, public health, education, clean water, orphan care, livelihood program, and social services.

Mohammed Arbi established that great and widespread revolution which became a beacon of light in the darkness. He said, “The best among you is the one who benefits others.” The Prophet of Islam laid the foundation for public welfare programs, and service to humanity and public welfare continue to be part of his comprehensive teachings. The strong emphasis given by Prophet Muhammad to various welfare programs and economic initiatives include the spreading of news about the poor, assisting widows, teaching technical and vocational skills, arranging marriages for the needy, providing assistance to orphans, behaving well with the families of those who serve the religion and the nation, spending wealth in a lawful manner, prohibiting interest-based transactions, putting a stop to illegitimate sources of income, and giving directives to prevent extravagance and wastage. Islam teaches us to respect humanity and to empathize with the creation of Allah. It urges us to console and show sympathy for the grief of wives, laborers, orphans, the poor, and the helpless. Therefore, it is necessary that wherever we are, we should practice Islamic teachings, freeing ourselves from the shackles of race, color, religion, and with compassion, equality, and integrity, present a model of solidarity.

The governments of the federation and Punjab announced the distribution of 10 kg of flour per family during the holy month of Ramadan to cover up their shortcomings and shed tears for the poor. Those rulers who are unaware of the poverty of the people can estimate poverty in their beloved country by seeing long lines for the distribution of flour. Obtaining flour for two meals a day by standing in the sun for hours is a difficult task, in which many people have already lost their lives. Betting lives to alleviate hunger is only possible for the residents of our beloved country. In any civilized country, if such incidents occur, the rulers lose their sleep, but here no one cares.

The question arises whether distributing free flour will eradicate poverty from the country. Surely, the answer is in the negative. Since the PTI government came to power, it has even taken away the bread from the poor’s mouths. Those who claim to end inflation have pushed inflation to the highest level in the country’s history. Along with this, the Imran Khan government has put an end to the Ehsaas Program and the Health Program.

The health facilities provided by Imran Khan to the poor were unprecedented in the country’s history, but the people were not appreciating it. Expensive treatment had become accessible to the poor and the health sector was experiencing unprecedented growth. While the number of people living above the poverty line was increasing, the people did not recognize their benevolent rulers. As a result, the health facilities were taken away from the poor.

With the increase in petrol prices, inflation hits the people every fifteen days. The government has no control over the prices. In the blessed month of Ramadan, an immense increase can be seen in the prices of food and drink. The profiteering mafia is collecting its own prices from the people. The markets are under the control of profiteers, free from any law. The poor people are still struggling to survive. The streets are occupied by beggars. All of this is testing the people’s patience.

When the poor do not receive two meals a day, the situation of peace and security becomes uncontrollable, and incidents of robbery and theft increase. People start to try to steal food. The helpless people cannot bear this situation. After the arrest of dacoits involved in the import of stolen goods, people take matters into their own hands and kill them. This is not just public anger. In an incident last week, people in Multan and Karachi caught dacoits and beat them up to stop their criminal activities.

Crop production has been affected up to 7% due to untimely rains and hailstorms, causing a concern of a loss of 23 billion rupees. Opportunities to earn more income by exchanging crops like cotton and rice for wheat have decreased. Despite being an agricultural country, Pakistan will have to import wheat, cotton, and other food items, which will result in heavy expenditure on crop exchange, leading to an increase in prices. The prices of sugar are also rising, and its rate in the market is increasing rapidly due to the government’s flawed policies and severe neglect, with no control over the market. Friendly nations at the international level do not seem to be supporting Pakistan’s weak government, and the IMF program is being delayed due to the failure to meet its conditions. The current Finance Minister, Mohammad Asad Umar, who frequently appears on media like Punjabi movies, has failed miserably to implement and carry out any policy, with his only job being to announce the rising petrol prices for 15 days. His economic dengue has failed to bring any improvement to the country’s economy. The only solution to all these economic problems is to hold immediate and fair, transparent, and unbiased elections. Until transparent elections are held, the economic situation will continue to deteriorate.

The blessed month of Ramadan is underway and there is a strong sense of religious fervor among all four hundred sects in Pakistan. Perhaps no Muslim Arab nation in the world can match the level of religious passion that we Pakistanis possess. Dervish, fundamentally a Molvi (religious scholar), has spent his entire life studying and understanding Islam and other religions of the world. Unfortunately, he is not allowed to write or speak about Islam due to the fact that in our Pakistani religious society, while there are two types of Islam being practiced, one traditional and emotional Islam that has permeated throughout our entire society, the other is a non-traditional intellectual Islam which is foreign to society. If we take an honest approach, the proponents of this intellectual Islam are so weak and insignificant that they may be considered weaker and more insignificant than even Hindus, Christians, or Ahmadis who live here. Because those who hold such a belief are not even willing to grant them the basic rights that they themselves accord to other religious minorities, even on a purely verbal level. In reality, they are not even allowed to advance beyond this point. The truth is that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a kind of hell for religious minorities, where intolerance has reached the heavens.

How intense and how many contradictions exist in our traditional emotional beliefs and theories of Islam! If only the time of peace and tranquility would come when the mystics could openly express their frustrations and relieve their hearts while smashing all these posts. Currently, with a light Islamic touch, I want to move forward. In our traditional religion, from beginning to end, there is a strong emphasis on the theory of unity of God, which means that acknowledging faith in one God alone is the first step in denying all other claimants, regardless of their size. What a beautiful concept of unity and oneness it is, declaring the flag of Tawheed while proclaiming the holiday of others, and raising the flag of Tawheed. Our interpreters have written millions of documents to explain this theory, warning that bowing before anyone other than Allah is unacceptable to any great power, which is also associated with divine and arrogant qualities. Everything can be forgiven, but there is no room for shirk. “These are the words of a great scholar who humbly bows before anyone other than Allah. This statement had a profound effect on our great scholar, Qalandar. This statement is not limited to the Quran or Islam alone; it can also be written with references in the Bible, Torah, Psalms, and the Gospel. It is said that worship or servitude is only a punishment for one existence. Therefore, God should never bow before anyone other than Himself. This can also be called the Abrahamian theory because the pioneers or fathers of all three Arab religious sects, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, were the same.

With this, the debate about the creation of Adam or the story of Adam begins among these three groups. Why did God feel the need to create Adam? Was Adam’s creation an evolutionary process or was he suddenly created out of clay and blown into shape? What other creatures existed in this universe before Adam? Stories of jinn and angels exist, but were they also physically present or were they simply metaphors for the natural forces or divine agents of the universe? Did they have intention, opinion, or power of disagreement? If not, then how did Satan dare to deny them from the beginning of time? What was the nature of the creative quality that differentiated angels from jinn? Many people also argue that if God created humans or other creatures, then who created God himself? Our metaphysical discourse in the story of Adam presents man as a hero in a central and pivotal role. Why was the most beautiful creation like Eve reduced to a lesser role in the story? Was her fate unjustly rounded up to a great extent, or was she simply used as a supplement as a bone or rib was broken and used according to the Holy Bible for this purpose? However, according to pure Islamic traditions, since the rib was crooked, the woman’s nature will always remain crooked with regard to her thoughts or consciousness. After this, The question that has always been raised by the mystic in front of his traditional religious beliefs is that when in all the divine and heavenly religions, the eternal and universal decree was that all creatures can only worship their creator or their creator only, then why is there so much emphasis on the demand in the story of Adam’s creation that God commanded the angels to prostrate to all Adam, and only Satan refused to prostrate before Adam and became a rejected and damned one forever?

The secondary question is also raised that the command to prostrate before Adam was given to the angels, while Satan was not from the angels but from the jinn, so how was this command applicable to him? Another question arises that in the presence of an immutable eternal decree, how can a second definite opposing decree be issued, while claiming that God does not violate his obligations to the universe and nature, so whatever he decrees, he does?

On the one hand, your decree is that no one in the entire universe has the power to deny or deviate from your command, and on the other hand, your decree is also that nothing moves without your command, and you guide whom you will and misguide whom you will, and whom you misguide, no one can show them the right path. So, what is the justification for the disobedience of Satan in the story of Adam?

In any case, the discussion has moved to another topic, but our real interest lies in the fact that when God commanded Adam to prostrate before Him, the spiritual significance of this act should be understood because it is through this command that human dignity and greatness are elevated to eternal heights, and you can understand that the one who denies prostration before human greatness is actually Satan himself. The first demand of human dignity is to respect its will, opinion, or preference, and this approach has been embodied in the UN Human Rights Charter. The UN demands that all the rights mentioned in the UN Human Rights Charter be sanctified and respected not only at the international level but also within their own nations. The concept of democracy and parliamentarianism also emerges with human rights and freedoms. According to the interests of a particular human community, if an institution emerges, it will also be worthy of the same sanctity, greatness, and sovereignty that have been accepted for the entire humanity. It is not the right of any individual, group, or organization, no matter how sacred or powerful they may be in a particular position, to reject the voice of community representatives. When Ataturk announced the delegation of all his authority to the elected parliament that terminated the personal caliphate for the first time in the Muslim world, our national thinker Allama Iqbal had expressed his full support.