Reports by Adeel Khan
Live interview by Pakistani news channel on Brexit negotiations.
During her lecture she highlighted the interconnected interdependent nature of present lives in t... more During her lecture she highlighted the interconnected interdependent nature of present lives in the annual DICID-Woolflecture. However, she glossed over the vast inequalities especially in the possibilities of mobility and travel in today's world. She traced back the contemporary problems of lack of innovation and modernity, in the Muslim world, to the colonial experience of subjugation. She was however, not clear whether this was due to reaction of Muslims to the colonial culture of 'modernity' or the colonial interest to keep the Muslim world 'unmodern' and hence subjugated. She is interested in speaking truth to power and authority, however difficult it may seem, if Confucius can do it so can she. Karen Armstrong identifies modernity with a 'sense' of freedom and independence. Those who do not feel this 'sense' do not qualify in her criteria of the modern, even if they have all the riches and possessions of the world. She feels the European enlightenment differed from all other eras since innovations became good for their own sake and ideals that are cherished today found their support in the new industrial conditions of life. Karen Armstrong's understanding of religions seems to be that they offer ideals and ideas, a very modern notion indeed, and not practices. She likes the idea of Lutheran reformation as long as it is compassionate. It was refreshing to hear her planetary thinking tied into a reading of equality and humility from all religious traditions. Having written two popular biographies about Muhammad, she went on to express an intimate connection with him such that she claimed to know the intentions behind the messenger's actions. A very brave claim indeed that few Muslim scholarswould dare to make. She goes on to paint him as a military leader uniting tribes, a common stereotype of Muhammad in Orientalist scholarship. Karen Armstrong was all praise for 'premodern genius and success' of Muslim Empires without seeing how Muslims themselves see the medieval period as a period of grace and being one of God's elects. Karen Armstrong highlighted the approach of reform needed for Muslim and Western traditions. She pointed out that the first thing needed to be done was to find the best of the past, the fount of inspiration. She suggested this should be the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires for Muslims and the European enlightenment ideals for the West. She ended with a cry for compassion based on all the traditions, including ancient ones like the Greek Homeric epic, from where a story of compassion was narrated from the Iliad, followed by a remarkable last sentence with which she ended her exposition 'we become most God-like when we realize that our enemies too have pain'.
I wrote this report in collaboration with interfaith expert scholars from different religious tra... more I wrote this report in collaboration with interfaith expert scholars from different religious traditions from around the world. The event was a rare gathering hosted by the organisation that I work for DICID, consisting of interfaith practitioners with representatives from UN institutions. We attempted to develop a common vocabulary about "Religious Freedoms" based on diverse institutional, cultural and religious experiences.
Since the summary of the proceedings of Group B in the Building Bridges Seminar 2013 will be immo... more Since the summary of the proceedings of Group B in the Building Bridges Seminar 2013 will be immortalized in digits therefore the note taker has attempted to hold together the multiple Christian and Muslim voices of the group he was part of in writing this summary report of the proceedings. This is an attempt at impartiality and the errors therein are the author's, and do not reflect the views of the participants of Group B rather they are inspired by their most valuable conversations. The conversations owe much to a close reading and questioning of the scriptural translations that called for a deeper mutual probing of the Holy Scriptures.
A research report about women economic mobility in Pakistan. A study of bus hostesses of Daewoo s... more A research report about women economic mobility in Pakistan. A study of bus hostesses of Daewoo service in North Pakistan.
Edited Books by Adeel Khan
We congratulate Dr. Ali Mohiuddin Al-Qaradaghi for bringing this valuable scholarship to the publ... more We congratulate Dr. Ali Mohiuddin Al-Qaradaghi for bringing this valuable scholarship to the public and we also laud the tireless efforts of the translator Dr. Syed Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri for the excellent
rendering into English.
No doubt this work will prove a useful guide for Muslims living everywhere and for non-Muslims as well to get an appreciation of the mainstream Muslim position on dialogue.
The usual linguistic attempts at differentiating group identities between us and them are here distinguished from the everyday case by referring to sacred sources and read in such a way that the meanings are completely transformed.
This approach neither calls for an appreciation of the other as he appears in an encounter. Nor does this approach require a radical decentering of the self in order to understand the perspective of the
other. Rather, the main thrust of the book concerns the ethic and aesthetic underlying the encounter with the other as one confident in his own identity. The approach asks for empathy towards the other
based on self-understanding. It does not prioritise the face-to-face encounter over the abstract other.
It is firmly rooted in the interpretative understanding of the scriptural hermeneutics of Islam that led to the development of legal pluralism in the civilizational history of Islamic law. As the translator eloquently interprets from the original Arabic,“If the self itself is non-existent or irresolute, it cannot resist nor can it stand in the face of the Other; one is reminded here of the Quranic view of a Muslim self rooted in firm understanding of the divine.”
This becomes the basis of interfaith dialogue and dialogue in general.
Adeel Khan
Managing Editor - Journal Religions/Adyan
Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue
August 9, 2014
Book Reviews by Adeel Khan
Review of 'Abdelwahab Meddeb, 2005, l'exil occidental, Albin Michel.' published in Religions, 2018.
Review of 'Law and Property in Algeria: Anthropological Perspectives edited by Yazid Ben Hounet' ... more Review of 'Law and Property in Algeria: Anthropological Perspectives edited by Yazid Ben Hounet' published by Journal of Law and Anthropology, 2018.
For Journal Religions, Issue 2, 2011.
Edited Journals by Adeel Khan
Religious cultures tend to understand work
both as a blessing and as a curse; at times
a divine... more Religious cultures tend to understand work
both as a blessing and as a curse; at times
a divine gift, at times a chastising toil. Although
work is first of all a distant human
reflection of the Divine work of creation, it
is also, in the Bible, a divine punishment for
human disobedience: “By the sweat of your
face you shall eat bread, till you return to
the ground, for out of it you were taken;”
(Genesis 3:19).
This two-faced reality manifests as well in
our contemporary age, one in which global
economic exploitation is no less obvious
than exponential creativity and activity.
What is certain is that work concerns have
probably never been as high on the human
agenda as they are today. This is so much
so that it has sometimes been claimed that
work is indeed the new religion of our times,
at least in the largely secularized sections of
the world. In the absence of a clear focus on
transcendence and a consensus on religious
values, professional activity has tended to
fill a vacuum in giving meaning to one›s life,
as well as in connecting one to others in a
network of collaborative tasks. The tremendous,
sometimes indeed vertiginous, commitment,
ingenuity and energy that come
into play in the ever increasingly complex
web of human work throughout the globe,
bear witness to this.
Notwithstanding this transfer of quasi-religious
fervor onto professional endeavors,
there is a sense in which much of contemporary
work has lost its immediate intelligibility,
when it has not moreover been
turned into a source of inequity and exploitation.
This is no doubt a result of the
mechanization, automatization and, in a
sense, depersonalization and informatization
of many professional endeavors in the
age of globalization. Thus, work may often
be equated with a mere economic imperative
of survival disconnected from vital and
ethical concerns, or even a tyrannical necessity
squarely at odds with moral values and
spiritual well-being.
In one way or another, the investment of
work with religious meaning has been,
throughout human history, the rule rather
than the exception. In all pre-modern civilizations
the sacralization of work was a
common place phenomenon. For homo religiosus,
work is action or production, doing
or making, and it involves, in both cases, a
sort of consecration; it has to be performed
“in the name of God”, not only formally and
perfunctorily, but qualitatively and spiritually.
Furthermore, when spiritually integrated,
it entails a transformation of one’s
being, as was amply demonstrated by the
deep and widespread connection between
crafts and spirituality. This held true for individuals
as well as for groups, like guilds,
tribes or castes. Work is associated with
identity, and a people who does not work,
or does not know how to work anymore, or
does not bring to work a sense of care, cannot
but lose its dignity, and ultimately its
true identity. This is not a matter of national
pride or mere formal heritage, but one of
cultural and indeed religious survival. Gandhi
was quite aware of this profound connection
between the spiritual identity of a
nation and the quality of its work, when he
chose the spinning wheel as a symbol of his
campaign of cultural restoration.
Even though work may be integrated within
religious values, it is rarely considered in
and of itself a religious act or a religious
production. Religious action lies primarily
in rites, prayers and moral behaviour.
How do those relate to work? First prayer
and meditation is in a sense a type of
“work”, since it is in all religions not only
an obligation for all, but also a special
vocation for some. Even those traditions
which do not accept monasticism recognize
this, as testified by the status of the
ahl al-suffa in early Islam. Those were
members of the early Muslim community
who spent most of their time in devotional
practices. This demonstrates that humanity
is diverse, and this diversity manifests
in the plurality of vocations (vocatio
means “calling” in latin). The multiplicity
of professional callings, which has been
a result of social and family contexts or
individual qualifications and interests,
is very broad, from farming to the crafts,
from contemplative life to social service,
from military and administrative functions
to teaching and healing.
Secondly, there is something factitious
and suspect about the often alleged opposition
between contemplation and action.
The Quran states that there are “men
whom neither trade nor sale diverts them
from the remembrance of God” (24:37),
thereby rejecting the superficial contemporary
view that prayer would be incompatible
with work, or that the latter
should substitute for the former, or be
“counted” as it.
Thirdly, the quality of religious practices,
and the religious consciousness they
foster or express, is evidently incompatible
with professional dishonesty and an
unethical way of life. Religion is, in that
sense, a school of moral education that
informs professional activity as well as
other domains of life. By contrast, a lack
of consistent connection and integration
between religious practice and professional
ethics cannot but be the sign of a
gravely flawed understanding or treatment
of the former. Beyond such foundational
considerations, any comprehensive
professional ethics would recognize both
that work has something “consecrating”
about it, and that it is not an absolute.
Work ethics takes work as seriously as
it deserves to be, as one of the most significant
dimensions of our life, but it still
subordinates it to higher spiritual and
moral principles and values, thereby affirming
both its power of self-realization
and the limits of its rights and demands. It
ensures that work feeds the soul, but does
not feed on it.
Journal Religions
Family is both the grounds on which religiosity finds its first experimental terrain as well as a... more Family is both the grounds on which religiosity finds its first experimental terrain as well as a hurdle for discovering at times genuine religiosity. Muslim views of eschaton reminds of a time when kin will be running away from each other in order to avoid getting a bad testimony for their treatment in the world. In this issue we will cover a wide array of topics of interest for kinship and religion studies including discouraging a pedagogy of fear, transmission of knowledge and Muslim values, Chinese family values and rituals, challenges in creating American sacred spaces, Philippine catholic notions of kinship, orthodox lore of love and marriage.
Journal Religions
Contemporary versions of the Science/Religion debate tend to repeat similar positions on epistemo... more Contemporary versions of the Science/Religion debate tend to repeat similar positions on epistemology and truth. We try to present in this journal a wide variety of literary and critical views on the ongoing debate between the two domains that question the very division and categorization of difference between them. The attempt is to make the reader question easy binary distinctions between Religion and Science. The methodological tools used by the various authors are both innovative and creative for science studies as well as for traditional religious studies.
Journal Religions
This issue was prepared on the occasion of the Climate Change summit in Doha in 2012. We attempte... more This issue was prepared on the occasion of the Climate Change summit in Doha in 2012. We attempted to get a wide variety of perspectives from world religions as well as from spiritual perspectives and indigenous belief systems. Leading thinkers in the field of religion and ecological responsibility present their views that raise a united critical voice against contemporary unchecked consumerism and exploitation of the earth's resources without replenishing them. They demand to return to pre-modern views of sustainable living with the environment where religions provided the moral framework for such an aesthetic.
Journal Religions
This is a landmark publication on Abrahamic religions views on Justice especially with three arti... more This is a landmark publication on Abrahamic religions views on Justice especially with three articles on Jewish Justice from leading experts in the field, various Muslim perspectives on Justice and a focus on African theological experiences of social and medical justice.
Talks by Adeel Khan
Thank you Arieb Azhar for this very insightful video production. Well done for bringing three som... more Thank you Arieb Azhar for this very insightful video production. Well done for bringing three somewhat different perspectives in dialogue with each other on secularism, it's origins, it's organisational relationship to 'religion'. I would respectfully disagree with the two other speakers (on some grounds very strongly, if there ever would be an interactive dialogue). This is a great first step in inter-generational and bi-partisan communication on these fundamental issues core to becoming an aware, skeptical and aspirational Pakistani.
I would also respectfully disagree with the translation made of 'ilaqai hamahangi' as territorial sovereignty. I was making a claim that Jinnah wanted a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy which irons out territorial differences through parliamentary sovereignty. It's really key to understand this as different from 'territorial sovereignty' which was a late 1946 compromise reached with Nehru. The closest translation would be 'territorial parity'. But for ease of understanding in English even 'parliamentary sovereignty' could be used for future purposes. I surely do not want to come across as a nationalist historian of Pakistan, which I am definitely, clearly, explicitly Not!
https://fb.watch/2VZAOrfYkP/
This is a talk introducing Elia's new poetry collection at the University of Oxford.
This paper argues for a natural science approach to reality in reading Shah Waliullah's Budur Baz... more This paper argues for a natural science approach to reality in reading Shah Waliullah's Budur Bazighah, an arabic philosophical text written in 1730s.
A talk about Religion and Piers Vitebsky at his Festschrift 2016 at Cambridge University.
Introducing Elia in Pakistan Studies conference 2018 at Oxford.
Uploads
Reports by Adeel Khan
Edited Books by Adeel Khan
rendering into English.
No doubt this work will prove a useful guide for Muslims living everywhere and for non-Muslims as well to get an appreciation of the mainstream Muslim position on dialogue.
The usual linguistic attempts at differentiating group identities between us and them are here distinguished from the everyday case by referring to sacred sources and read in such a way that the meanings are completely transformed.
This approach neither calls for an appreciation of the other as he appears in an encounter. Nor does this approach require a radical decentering of the self in order to understand the perspective of the
other. Rather, the main thrust of the book concerns the ethic and aesthetic underlying the encounter with the other as one confident in his own identity. The approach asks for empathy towards the other
based on self-understanding. It does not prioritise the face-to-face encounter over the abstract other.
It is firmly rooted in the interpretative understanding of the scriptural hermeneutics of Islam that led to the development of legal pluralism in the civilizational history of Islamic law. As the translator eloquently interprets from the original Arabic,“If the self itself is non-existent or irresolute, it cannot resist nor can it stand in the face of the Other; one is reminded here of the Quranic view of a Muslim self rooted in firm understanding of the divine.”
This becomes the basis of interfaith dialogue and dialogue in general.
Adeel Khan
Managing Editor - Journal Religions/Adyan
Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue
August 9, 2014
Book Reviews by Adeel Khan
Edited Journals by Adeel Khan
both as a blessing and as a curse; at times
a divine gift, at times a chastising toil. Although
work is first of all a distant human
reflection of the Divine work of creation, it
is also, in the Bible, a divine punishment for
human disobedience: “By the sweat of your
face you shall eat bread, till you return to
the ground, for out of it you were taken;”
(Genesis 3:19).
This two-faced reality manifests as well in
our contemporary age, one in which global
economic exploitation is no less obvious
than exponential creativity and activity.
What is certain is that work concerns have
probably never been as high on the human
agenda as they are today. This is so much
so that it has sometimes been claimed that
work is indeed the new religion of our times,
at least in the largely secularized sections of
the world. In the absence of a clear focus on
transcendence and a consensus on religious
values, professional activity has tended to
fill a vacuum in giving meaning to one›s life,
as well as in connecting one to others in a
network of collaborative tasks. The tremendous,
sometimes indeed vertiginous, commitment,
ingenuity and energy that come
into play in the ever increasingly complex
web of human work throughout the globe,
bear witness to this.
Notwithstanding this transfer of quasi-religious
fervor onto professional endeavors,
there is a sense in which much of contemporary
work has lost its immediate intelligibility,
when it has not moreover been
turned into a source of inequity and exploitation.
This is no doubt a result of the
mechanization, automatization and, in a
sense, depersonalization and informatization
of many professional endeavors in the
age of globalization. Thus, work may often
be equated with a mere economic imperative
of survival disconnected from vital and
ethical concerns, or even a tyrannical necessity
squarely at odds with moral values and
spiritual well-being.
In one way or another, the investment of
work with religious meaning has been,
throughout human history, the rule rather
than the exception. In all pre-modern civilizations
the sacralization of work was a
common place phenomenon. For homo religiosus,
work is action or production, doing
or making, and it involves, in both cases, a
sort of consecration; it has to be performed
“in the name of God”, not only formally and
perfunctorily, but qualitatively and spiritually.
Furthermore, when spiritually integrated,
it entails a transformation of one’s
being, as was amply demonstrated by the
deep and widespread connection between
crafts and spirituality. This held true for individuals
as well as for groups, like guilds,
tribes or castes. Work is associated with
identity, and a people who does not work,
or does not know how to work anymore, or
does not bring to work a sense of care, cannot
but lose its dignity, and ultimately its
true identity. This is not a matter of national
pride or mere formal heritage, but one of
cultural and indeed religious survival. Gandhi
was quite aware of this profound connection
between the spiritual identity of a
nation and the quality of its work, when he
chose the spinning wheel as a symbol of his
campaign of cultural restoration.
Even though work may be integrated within
religious values, it is rarely considered in
and of itself a religious act or a religious
production. Religious action lies primarily
in rites, prayers and moral behaviour.
How do those relate to work? First prayer
and meditation is in a sense a type of
“work”, since it is in all religions not only
an obligation for all, but also a special
vocation for some. Even those traditions
which do not accept monasticism recognize
this, as testified by the status of the
ahl al-suffa in early Islam. Those were
members of the early Muslim community
who spent most of their time in devotional
practices. This demonstrates that humanity
is diverse, and this diversity manifests
in the plurality of vocations (vocatio
means “calling” in latin). The multiplicity
of professional callings, which has been
a result of social and family contexts or
individual qualifications and interests,
is very broad, from farming to the crafts,
from contemplative life to social service,
from military and administrative functions
to teaching and healing.
Secondly, there is something factitious
and suspect about the often alleged opposition
between contemplation and action.
The Quran states that there are “men
whom neither trade nor sale diverts them
from the remembrance of God” (24:37),
thereby rejecting the superficial contemporary
view that prayer would be incompatible
with work, or that the latter
should substitute for the former, or be
“counted” as it.
Thirdly, the quality of religious practices,
and the religious consciousness they
foster or express, is evidently incompatible
with professional dishonesty and an
unethical way of life. Religion is, in that
sense, a school of moral education that
informs professional activity as well as
other domains of life. By contrast, a lack
of consistent connection and integration
between religious practice and professional
ethics cannot but be the sign of a
gravely flawed understanding or treatment
of the former. Beyond such foundational
considerations, any comprehensive
professional ethics would recognize both
that work has something “consecrating”
about it, and that it is not an absolute.
Work ethics takes work as seriously as
it deserves to be, as one of the most significant
dimensions of our life, but it still
subordinates it to higher spiritual and
moral principles and values, thereby affirming
both its power of self-realization
and the limits of its rights and demands. It
ensures that work feeds the soul, but does
not feed on it.
Talks by Adeel Khan
I would also respectfully disagree with the translation made of 'ilaqai hamahangi' as territorial sovereignty. I was making a claim that Jinnah wanted a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy which irons out territorial differences through parliamentary sovereignty. It's really key to understand this as different from 'territorial sovereignty' which was a late 1946 compromise reached with Nehru. The closest translation would be 'territorial parity'. But for ease of understanding in English even 'parliamentary sovereignty' could be used for future purposes. I surely do not want to come across as a nationalist historian of Pakistan, which I am definitely, clearly, explicitly Not!
https://fb.watch/2VZAOrfYkP/
rendering into English.
No doubt this work will prove a useful guide for Muslims living everywhere and for non-Muslims as well to get an appreciation of the mainstream Muslim position on dialogue.
The usual linguistic attempts at differentiating group identities between us and them are here distinguished from the everyday case by referring to sacred sources and read in such a way that the meanings are completely transformed.
This approach neither calls for an appreciation of the other as he appears in an encounter. Nor does this approach require a radical decentering of the self in order to understand the perspective of the
other. Rather, the main thrust of the book concerns the ethic and aesthetic underlying the encounter with the other as one confident in his own identity. The approach asks for empathy towards the other
based on self-understanding. It does not prioritise the face-to-face encounter over the abstract other.
It is firmly rooted in the interpretative understanding of the scriptural hermeneutics of Islam that led to the development of legal pluralism in the civilizational history of Islamic law. As the translator eloquently interprets from the original Arabic,“If the self itself is non-existent or irresolute, it cannot resist nor can it stand in the face of the Other; one is reminded here of the Quranic view of a Muslim self rooted in firm understanding of the divine.”
This becomes the basis of interfaith dialogue and dialogue in general.
Adeel Khan
Managing Editor - Journal Religions/Adyan
Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue
August 9, 2014
both as a blessing and as a curse; at times
a divine gift, at times a chastising toil. Although
work is first of all a distant human
reflection of the Divine work of creation, it
is also, in the Bible, a divine punishment for
human disobedience: “By the sweat of your
face you shall eat bread, till you return to
the ground, for out of it you were taken;”
(Genesis 3:19).
This two-faced reality manifests as well in
our contemporary age, one in which global
economic exploitation is no less obvious
than exponential creativity and activity.
What is certain is that work concerns have
probably never been as high on the human
agenda as they are today. This is so much
so that it has sometimes been claimed that
work is indeed the new religion of our times,
at least in the largely secularized sections of
the world. In the absence of a clear focus on
transcendence and a consensus on religious
values, professional activity has tended to
fill a vacuum in giving meaning to one›s life,
as well as in connecting one to others in a
network of collaborative tasks. The tremendous,
sometimes indeed vertiginous, commitment,
ingenuity and energy that come
into play in the ever increasingly complex
web of human work throughout the globe,
bear witness to this.
Notwithstanding this transfer of quasi-religious
fervor onto professional endeavors,
there is a sense in which much of contemporary
work has lost its immediate intelligibility,
when it has not moreover been
turned into a source of inequity and exploitation.
This is no doubt a result of the
mechanization, automatization and, in a
sense, depersonalization and informatization
of many professional endeavors in the
age of globalization. Thus, work may often
be equated with a mere economic imperative
of survival disconnected from vital and
ethical concerns, or even a tyrannical necessity
squarely at odds with moral values and
spiritual well-being.
In one way or another, the investment of
work with religious meaning has been,
throughout human history, the rule rather
than the exception. In all pre-modern civilizations
the sacralization of work was a
common place phenomenon. For homo religiosus,
work is action or production, doing
or making, and it involves, in both cases, a
sort of consecration; it has to be performed
“in the name of God”, not only formally and
perfunctorily, but qualitatively and spiritually.
Furthermore, when spiritually integrated,
it entails a transformation of one’s
being, as was amply demonstrated by the
deep and widespread connection between
crafts and spirituality. This held true for individuals
as well as for groups, like guilds,
tribes or castes. Work is associated with
identity, and a people who does not work,
or does not know how to work anymore, or
does not bring to work a sense of care, cannot
but lose its dignity, and ultimately its
true identity. This is not a matter of national
pride or mere formal heritage, but one of
cultural and indeed religious survival. Gandhi
was quite aware of this profound connection
between the spiritual identity of a
nation and the quality of its work, when he
chose the spinning wheel as a symbol of his
campaign of cultural restoration.
Even though work may be integrated within
religious values, it is rarely considered in
and of itself a religious act or a religious
production. Religious action lies primarily
in rites, prayers and moral behaviour.
How do those relate to work? First prayer
and meditation is in a sense a type of
“work”, since it is in all religions not only
an obligation for all, but also a special
vocation for some. Even those traditions
which do not accept monasticism recognize
this, as testified by the status of the
ahl al-suffa in early Islam. Those were
members of the early Muslim community
who spent most of their time in devotional
practices. This demonstrates that humanity
is diverse, and this diversity manifests
in the plurality of vocations (vocatio
means “calling” in latin). The multiplicity
of professional callings, which has been
a result of social and family contexts or
individual qualifications and interests,
is very broad, from farming to the crafts,
from contemplative life to social service,
from military and administrative functions
to teaching and healing.
Secondly, there is something factitious
and suspect about the often alleged opposition
between contemplation and action.
The Quran states that there are “men
whom neither trade nor sale diverts them
from the remembrance of God” (24:37),
thereby rejecting the superficial contemporary
view that prayer would be incompatible
with work, or that the latter
should substitute for the former, or be
“counted” as it.
Thirdly, the quality of religious practices,
and the religious consciousness they
foster or express, is evidently incompatible
with professional dishonesty and an
unethical way of life. Religion is, in that
sense, a school of moral education that
informs professional activity as well as
other domains of life. By contrast, a lack
of consistent connection and integration
between religious practice and professional
ethics cannot but be the sign of a
gravely flawed understanding or treatment
of the former. Beyond such foundational
considerations, any comprehensive
professional ethics would recognize both
that work has something “consecrating”
about it, and that it is not an absolute.
Work ethics takes work as seriously as
it deserves to be, as one of the most significant
dimensions of our life, but it still
subordinates it to higher spiritual and
moral principles and values, thereby affirming
both its power of self-realization
and the limits of its rights and demands. It
ensures that work feeds the soul, but does
not feed on it.
I would also respectfully disagree with the translation made of 'ilaqai hamahangi' as territorial sovereignty. I was making a claim that Jinnah wanted a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy which irons out territorial differences through parliamentary sovereignty. It's really key to understand this as different from 'territorial sovereignty' which was a late 1946 compromise reached with Nehru. The closest translation would be 'territorial parity'. But for ease of understanding in English even 'parliamentary sovereignty' could be used for future purposes. I surely do not want to come across as a nationalist historian of Pakistan, which I am definitely, clearly, explicitly Not!
https://fb.watch/2VZAOrfYkP/
In those troughs and peaks of yours
A desert landscape, changing ever more
By the winds, dunes thrown around
But with your skin in my hands
I feel nourished once more
As the sand settles
I see you ever changing as you are
You that I adore
I press my temple on your sandy floor
Yes there I find you once more