Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
The "Awan" Caste Origin
Dear villagers, I wanted to share a bit of myself with you all. I am a Punjabi Sunni girl...oye bhalle bhalle!...hehehe. I pass for being anything from Punjabi to Greek to Persian to Italian/Sicilian to Afghani to Arab. The last thing people say is that I look Pakistani although it is unfortunate since I LOVE my Pakistani culture to death!!!
I am Awan on my dad's side and Rajput Janjua on my mom's. Rajput, as you may know, were the ruling classes before the birth of Pakistan and have mainly native origins. Rajput families in Punjab, Pakistan are known for their wealth and strict standards (which may or may not be affiliated with wealth). Awans are known for being the great landlords owning masses and masses of land, as my family back home does, in vast areas of northern Punjab. Awans practically rule the Rawalpindi/Islamabad and the neighboring districts, and have done so for centuries and centuries back. Awans are also very active in Pakistan's military. That particular region (Rawalpindi/Murree/Attock area) is basically the recruiting and training grounds of our strong, loyal youth. Pakistan zindabad!!!
I think if there are two dominant ethnicities that exist in Pakistan, these are the Punjabis and the Pukhtun (of the NWFP)...fierce, loyal, and possessing raw strength. They make Pakistan what it is today...a raw super power able to crush India and any other enemy in a matter of seconds if it wanted to).
As for my own geneology, here are links I have come across:
www.iranchamber.com
www.bartleby.com
www.peshawar1.com
Paternally, I know that I am Persian in heritage. Names of scattered distant relatives back in the village that my dad's family comes from as well as looks and features attest to that. However, I am not sure how we are also Pukhtun (please check out link #3). I have never heard anything about us having Pukhtun roots. This one guy a while back had mentioned something to the effect but I had dismissed it at the time.
Anyhow, just wanted to share some interesting facts about myself with you all. Thanks for allowing me to do so.
Side-note: The pic above was taken at a dholki party thrown at my house...mere nal bhangra pa lo!...this is me in pink.
(A)
Comments on this journal
Babyj: Thanks for the clarification but dude, you did not say you were referring to the PAKISTANI MILITARY, you said PAKISTAN and again, I would take major offense as I am myself a Pakistani kuri. Next time, kindly clarify what you mean else it can totally be taken out of context.
Babyj and Aragorn: My family and I are 110% against Musharraf who is a total and utter sell out to the US whether it's this Al Qaida business or the state of our supposedly "conservative" and "Islamic" country which he is shoving down the drain. Back in Pak, our Muslim youth are acting, looking, and talking no different than westerners and Indians (and I do NOT mean in a positive way either!) Pakistani values as in the days of our Qaid, Gen. Ayub Khan, and Zia ul Haq were truly exemplary and much needed in contemporay Pak. If only we could have such leaders back in the fold...nostalgia!
Aragorn: No I really wasn't on the up and up on what Musharraf is doing over in the NWFP. Again, as it is I despite the mohajir b*stard with his love for Bush and demoralizing the state of our beautiful Islamic land, Pakistan. As per what you're saying, he is a bigger b*stard then for sacrificing the innocent Pukhtun Pakistanis to serve his own twisted purposes. It is very sad indeed and I can sympathize.
I disagree completely with youir last point...what the heck, a Pukhtun from NWFP can't be Pakistani at the same time??? Come on Aragorn, I thought you were sharper than that. If I applied your logic, I would only be a Punjabi or Pakistani but I'm proudly both. Also, there are numerous well-educated Pukhtuns such as my parents' friends who are just as Pakistani as they are Pukhtun mash'allah. They also realize the struggles that their people have faced in NWFP and send $ back to the homeland to help out in that region. Commendable!!!
To me, a PAKISTANI is what it's all about whether that Pakistani is Punjabi, Pukhtun, Sindhi, Balochi, Kashmiri, or whatever. It is awesome to be into one's own heritage and culture but I don't think there is a need to segregate as a clan.
Hope I didn't offend anyone but these are my views.
This is one aspect of Pashtuns you might not be familiar with. Pashtuns in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan have suffered a great deal due to Pakistan's political intrigues as well as its failure to curb anti-Pashtun prejudice.
When the Pakistani military slaughters rural Pashtuns en masse in the tribal areas for "harboring al-Qaeda" you can't expect us to celebrate. Everyone knows that Musharraf sees it as nothing other than a challenge. He wants to be the first Pakistani statesman to "conquer" the areas of Pakistan which they previously only had nominal control over. The entire "harboring al-Qaeda" excuse is B.S. and anyone familiar with the politics of the region knows it. He's doing it for his own political aspirations.
In more urban areas of Pakistani Pashtunistan you'll find plenty of cheerleaders for Pakistan, but in the more rural and "authentic" Pashtun areas you will not find this sentiment. I have a personal disdain for so-called Pashtuns who have no sense of themselves and are Gung Ho "Pakistanis". They call themselves "Pathans" and have little or no clue regarding Pashtunwali. As far as I'm concerned they are no different than the Lodhi in Delhi who learned a few (wrong) Pashto lines from the Hindi film "Khuda Gawah". I've met Koochis in India who have preserved their Pashto language and Pashtun heritage. Even after living in India for over 50 years they don't consider themselves "Indian" or "Pakistani". They consider themselve "Pashtuns".
With all due respect, please do not demean my heritage. That is all I ask. I would really appreciate that. Afterall, I am not demeaning yours. Thanks in advance, Babyj.
Aya_1: Thanks, soni kuriye (A)
War is a harsh reality! Like you, Aragorn, I greatly admire Salahuddin Ayubi and his victories over the Crusaders, and admire the way he executed the wars with such grace, bravery, and diplomacy. He truly fought jihad and he will always remain a personal hero. However, I agree with Yaad that through time, much of the Crusades (not taking into account the various perspectives they had been studied from) had been romanticized. In contemporary times, wars are waged by utilizing any combination of diplomacy, anger, and sophisticated weaponry. I highly doubt that all wars nowadays are waged with diplomatic efforts followed by the actual war itself. If this is the case, why didn't Dubya use diplomatic means when waging meaningless wars on Afghanistan and Iraq? It doesn't make any sense.
Regardless, Islam authorizes commencing war only in the name of Islam...for the befefit of Islam (as in protecting Muslims, fighting injustice, etc.) As Muslims, we are not urged to instigate war but to fight it fairly as needed. I wholeheartedly support our Islamic view regarding war as it is logical and supports any rational, modern theory on the justifications of war.
Well, you are right. These are events that occurred 1,000 years ago and that's a lot of time to pretty up the details. Nonetheless, considering that the overwhelming majority of information regarding Sal?h ad-D?n (mostly positive) comes from William of Tyre, a friar who considered Sal?h ad-D?n an Antichrist, is significant. The details we have from Ibn Shadd?d and Ibn al-Ath?r, both partisans of Sal?h ad-D?n, are not even as flattering and they do not shy away from relating that before his conversion to piety, he used to imbibe alcohol.
So my point is that there are, indeed, "just wars" and there will be just wars in the future according to the Qur'?n and Sunnah. That's once we clean up the plague of terrorism from among our midst and have a leader worthy of following, insh?' All?h.
I understand that you have not seen one. None of us have since there hasn't been one in our lifetimes. So on that point we are on the same page even if we differ on the remaining details.
You say that there has never been a "just war". I am curious as to what you feel would have been the solution when the Crusaders invaded Palestine, slaughtered entire towns, and literally ATE those they killed. They skewered babies on spears and cooked them like barbecue and ate them. This is a historically recorded fact that occurred in the citadel of Marat.
A "mixture of capitalism and socialism" won't work against a merciless onslaught like that. Such terror must be met with might and might alone. Sal?h ad-D?n spent the entirety of the last half of his life focused on the sole goal of freeing the Muslim lands of the Crusaders. He lived to see that dream and earned the admiration of King Richard to the extent that King Richard offered his sister Joanna in marriage to Sal?h ad-D?n's brother Sayf ad-D?n. When Sal?h ad-D?n finally died there was no money left to bury him. Donations were collected to bury one of the greatest heros of Islam and he was buried in a simple unmarked grave. News of Sal?h ad-D?n's death reached King Richard as he was languishing in an Austrian prison and he wept.
Such were those who waged "just war" and it is none other than the "just war" that makes a hero...and life without heros is quite bland.
Ultimately, its your choice whether or not you choose to believe what the Prophet (sallall?h? `alayh? wa sallam) foretold regarding the future events of the world.
I think your premise of "either or" is a bit flawed because a lot of details are missing. You have established two options which in itself is a fallacious limitation:
1) War
2) A mixture of Capitalism and Socialism.
So it can be:
1) War like the Russians are conducting in Chechnya resulting in mass civilian casualties and war crimes.
2) A mixture of Capitalism and Socialism like what exists in Egypt.
Anyone in their right mind would choose the lesser of the two evils which is, naturally, the latter.
However, what if its like the following:
1) War like the Battle of Hattin.
2) A mixture of Capitalism and Socialism like what Russia is gearing towards...peppered with government sanctioned slavery and prostitution, organized crime, etc.
I would choose the former. The point is and was that war is not always like Vietnam. There is just war and there will be just war that will be fard `ayn (obligatory without exception) upon every able Muslim male.
The point was that according to Islam, war with the unjust of the earth, including India specifically and possibly Pakistan as well, is inevitable.
No one likes war and that's why All?h says in the Qur'?n, "fighting is prescribed to you, though you detest it". Muslims should never love war, but should not hesitate to fight in war for what is right either. The inevitable nature of such wars are doctrine in orthodox Sunni and Sh?`? Islam.
So to simply decry war in toto with peacenik slogans, while admirable, is tainted with a bit too much idealism to be considered realistic.
He (sallall?h? `alayh? wa sallam) said that a Muslim army would descend and conquer them both and drag their rulers in chains. Right at that time, `Is? (`alayhis-sal?m) will have returned in Damascus. By corroborating this Had?th with others on the same subject the scholars of Had?th have postulated that this army will be the same as the army with black flags that rises from Khorasan (Afghanistan).
After narrating the Had?th, Ab? Hurayrah said that if he lives to see it, he would give everything in the world to be amongst that army.
War is not a pretty thing, but it has been a reality of the world since the sons of Adam (`alayhis-sal?m). The duty of a Muslim is to make war for the exercise of justice and not for power. Any believing Muslim must accept that we will fight in war against India and other unjust regimes and we will be victorious, insh?' All?h.
A proud FOB
2. What color is your underwear?
Oh man... tobah!!!! hehe
3. What are you listening to right now?
voices in my head
4. What was the last thing you ate?
Kiwi
5. Do you wish on stars?
No
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Red
7. How is the weather right now?
Beautiful but cold
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
That's private information... LOL!
.
9. How old are you today?
Soooo.... old.... 25
10. Favorite drink?
Mango ice tea
11. Favorite sport to watch?
The Olympic games.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Never
13. Do you wear contacts or glasses?
Contacts
14. Pets?
My cute kittie
15. Favorite months?
Every month
16. Favorite food?
Mantu
19. What was the last movie you watched?
Black
20. Favorite day of the year?
Everyday that I am off. :)
21. What do you do to vent anger?
Dance LOL!!
22. What was your favorite toy as a child?
My prinicess barbie
23. Fall or Spring?
Both
24. Hugs or kisses?
HUGS!!!
25. Cherry or Blueberry?
Cherry!!!!
26. When was the last time you cried?
I rather not say. :)
27. What is on the floor of your closet?
Nothing... I am a neat freak!
28. What did you do last night?
Complained about dumb stuff
29. Favorite smell?
Roses
30. What are you afraid of?
Allah
31. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?
Chicken kabob
32. Favorite car?
A limo LOL!
33. Favorite dog breed?
I don't like dogs
34. Number of keys on your key ring?
Four
34. How many years at your current job?
I've been a FOB my whole life.