Pashtun Weddings

I love weddings. I'm always, like the annoying girls/aunties you might know, teasing my friends (some of whom are younger than me :D) about when they'll be getting married and all so I can have a wedding to attend. You see, what I find most fascinating is the diversity in weddings from all across the world. My favorite remains Pashtun weddings, though, and I don't know if it's because I'm myself a Pashtana or because the *traditional* Pashtun weddings I used to go to in Swat where I'm from, formed some of the most precious moments of my childhood. I think it's the latter reason. I haven't been to a traditional Swati Pashtun wedding ever since I've come to the U.S., though.

A favorite blogger of mine, LuckyFatima, asked me recently to talk about Pashtun weddings, and I'll try my best to explain here how they work. I think she meant it more like the relationship the daughter-in-law has with her sisters- and mothers-in-law, but I'll talk on that next time.

Okay, so, the thing is, there's no one or same way that Pashtun weddings take place. In Swat, they're one way; go less than 45 miles north or south or east or west of Swat, and the style changes so drastically that you have new ceremonies, rituals, customs, methods, etc.! And, while many Pashtuns claim that each *tribe* has it differently, I assert it's not even by tribe--because the Yusufzai tribe, the dominant tribe in Swat, is found also in Mardan, approximately 100 miles from Swat, but the weddings I've been to in Mardan are almost nothing like those in Swat. And it was Yusufzai wedding I went to in Mardan. So, my point, it varies from district to district, not necessarily tribe to tribe.

On Anti-Pakistan Pashtuns and Pashtun Nationalism

So, I'm getting sick of the whole hatred towards Pakistan, perpetrated primarily by Pashtun nationalists -- not by all but by those who can't figure out what their real purpose for being nationalists is or whose priorities are misplaced. Many with no respect for themselves and other humans (and especially with no respect for other Pashtuns, who love Pakistan) even refer to it as "Porkistan" or "Fuckistan." Really, could one get any cheaper than this? It's often so intense and gets so bitter that it makes me wanna raise a Pakistani flag and yell, "Pakistan Zindabad" (Long live Pakistan), just because there are millions of humans (INCLUDING a majority of the Pashtuns of Pakistan) out there who love Pakistan, who need a country to call their own, to whom Pakistan is more important than their own souls. And they, just like all others claiming to bring justice in their world, are fighting as hard as they can to create a more just Pakistan.

Some Secrets on the "Scientific Miracles in the Quran" Deal

Most Muslims, especially those converting to Islam because of this, might find this disappointing, if not tragic.

It's 2098 words, so pardon the length as I'm pasting it exactly as I see it. It should be available on Academic Search Premier and similar databases.

Oh, and I wanna know why Dr. Keith Moore, whom Muslims quote most commonly on this matter, declined to speak on it for this particular article.

Article title: "Western Scholars Play Key Role in Touting `Science' of the Quran"

Author: Daniel Golden

Strange Bedfellows: --- Some Say They Were Duped To Support

Copyright Dow Jones & Company Inc Jan 23, 2002

Tsunami 2011: 'Cause they're not Muslims. Yeah.

Da chaa kara da sko uba na yee, ao da cha kara tsunamyane yee (some don't have water for drinking while others have tusamis!!!). One of the terrifying and disturbing mysteries of life, I suppose.

I have no words for what's going on there. The fear in the people's eyes, the beatings of the hearts of those doing the recording of some videos here and there, the screams of some and the silence of the ones standing right in the face of death ... it's destructive. My heart goes out to all those being affected and all those who will be affected. This is their Hour, the day/moment when everything is destroyed. I never personally believed that the entire world would end at the same time, the way that traditional Islam suggests. I believe that this is how it happens. Pakistan went through it a few months ago (July 2010)-- and, by the way, the destruction caused by the floods there were worse than that caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Pakistani earthquake, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined! And over 20 million people were displaced, killed, or gone missing. It's a pity it didn't get as much coverage. For more information on the floods in this cursed part of the world, please see "UNHCR - Six months on, flood-displaced Pakistanis return home to reconstruct," and, for shocking information and statistics, please click here.)

The Long Undergraduate Road!

I always enjoy talking about how I entered Islamic/Gender Studies. So here I go again.

In college, I started off as a biology major, totally planning to become a doctor (childhood dream.! No, wait, dream since birth! Consider it Desi influence, eh!). Studied bio for like 2.5 years, studied other things on the way (like philosophy and English), decided I wanted other things instead, fell in love with English, so changed to English. Did English for a semester or so, discovered I wasn't satisfied with it (the kinds of classes offered at my school didn't satisfy my urge), so changed to philosophy. My goal at this point was to become a lawyer :D

SAHAR - The Voice of Pashtuns, March 2011 Issue

SAHAR, an online Pashtun magazine, March 2011 Issue.

Please click here to read.

Previous issues available at this link.

The Status of Doctors in India/South Asia

Hello, folks!

Can someone please help me find some sources on the role/position of medical doctors in India and the rest of the subcontinent? I need it desperately for my thesis on Zakir Naik, who's a medical doctor. (A part of my argument is that he is revered as much as he is because of his position as a medical doctor, and Indians/Pakistanis view doctors as prophets, if not gods. I now need to explain why this is so.) If you can offer some of your own reasoning, that'd be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance.

Reactions to My Good News!

Okay, so, I know some of my readers must be like, "Yeah, yeah, congrats for being accepted and being a "future-doctor," but, please! Quit it already. It's not that big of a deal, all right?" But allow me to explain why this means ALL worlds to me and so much more.

More Good Newssss!!!

Hello again, beloved readers!

It's that time of the year again -- you know, when seniors get acceptance/rejection letters for grants, scholarships, school, etc.! Wellll ... I just got my first acceptance letter, and guess what for!!! (Pardon me for being more excited than perhaps necessary. But this is THE BEST NEWS EVER!!!)... I got into my top-choice school for a PhD in Arabic/Islamic Studies!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW! HOW FREAKING AWESOME IS THAT!! Ahhh ... God, I am so relieved! I'd been freaking out this last month that I hadn't heard back from anyone yet, because my own university selected its PhD candidates for Islamic/Religious Studies over a month ago. So I was really worried.

And, yeah, I don't have a Master's. It's definitely possible to get accepted to PhD programs without a Master's. And, no, you don't have to be beyond exceptional to get in 'cause I'm certainly not. Now I can officially claim to give advice for these kindsa things, no? :D

k, thanks for listening :D

As we say in Arabic, ahamdulillah, alhamdulillah, ALHAMDULILLAH!!! (Praise be to God) Eeeeeeeee!!!!

Being a strong woman?

What does it mean to be a strong woman?

I want to say that the strong woman is the one who stands up and fights for justice because that's not easy to do. So she must have a certain kind of self-confidence and strength necessary to take on such a role.

And I want to say that the woman who lives only in her miseries and doesn't do much about it is not at all strong because, naturally and as humans, we are prone to resisting (in whatever small or big ways possible for us) whatever is unjust to us. So if she fights for herself to be treated justly and well, then she's strong; if she doesn't, she's not strong.