Contact Details

Contact Us:

"It is the writers, artists, poets, philosophers & thinkers that make this world a better place more than scientists and engineers. It is because the former category draws its inspiration from arts primarily being sensitive while the latter is mostly devoid of it. Most of the scientific inventions today are redundant as they take their roots from materialism & the world would be a better place without them. The only choice left for people with technical minds is not to become silent victims in the continuous race for designing new appliances and devices just for the sake of proving themselves, but rather to inculcate the spirit of serving humanity..."

'Together We Rise!' - Aims & Objectives:

The objective of developing this platform is to create awareness about the general issues we face as human beings in our day-to-day lives and also about addressing the challenges to Pakistan apart from the World in general. Do not be shy in submitting your comments under any post.

This blog is not created to earn revenue; hence google ads have not been enabled on it. The blog also contains some of the author's original articles from his stay as Sub-Editor in the magazine section in 'THE NATION'.

Dua for the acceptance of all your good deeds:

"Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us. Verily! You are the All-Hearer, the All-Knower."

Rabbana taqabbal minna innaka antas-samee'ul 'aleem. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse: 127)

Not Without Thanks:

I owe the construction of this blog to many of my friends and associates who have supported me over the years. I could not have proceeded further without their moral support. Truth is distorted and nobody can claim to have discovered it (including the author). It is a continuous journey with no assurance of success, yet we have to carry on and pray to Almighty that he shows us the right path. Self-righteousness is a big evil since a person does not even know that he/she is a victim.

Writings, articles & posts of other contributors accepted:

"Together We Rise!" is about "Together We Rise!" Hence original writings, articles & posts of other contributors are accepted here provided they fulfill a certain merit & conform to the following categories (however, we are not paying anything for contributions at the moment). All such contributions will appear under the "Other Authors" category:

-      Positive thinking

-      Human Relationships

-      Measures of Self-development

-      Education

-      Healthcare

-      Good vs. Evil

-      Interviews with people

-      World

-      Pakistan

-      Islam

-      Environmental Protection & Nature Conservation

-      Career

 

All Copyrights Reserved:

Original articles/posts by the authors from "TOGETHER WE RISE" may be copied or reproduced on another blog/website only by mentioning the URL or link of the concerned article post AND not for commercial gains. We reserve the right to take even legal action against the offenders. 

Contact Details:

FOR ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS (ARTICLES/POSTS) AND ANY POSITIVE SUGGESTIONS:

togetherwerise.pak@gmail.com 

Syed Roman Ahsan

| Creative Writer, Analyst & Researcher |

"A Few Seconds Or A Few Hours?"

A Few Seconds Or A Few Hours?

Think about a typical holiday: after months of hard work, you have your two weeks' vacation and arrive at your favourite holiday resort after an exhausting eight hours' ride. The lobby is crowded with holidaymakers like you. You even notice familiar faces and greet them. The weather is warm and you do not want to miss one moment enjoying the sunshine and the calm sea, so without losing any time, you find your room, change into something appropriate and hurry to the shore. At last, you are in the crystal-clear water, but suddenly you are startled by a voice: "Wake up, you will be late for work!"

You find these words nonsense. For a moment, you cannot grasp what is happening; there is an incomprehensible discrepancy between what you see and hear. When you open your eyes and find yourself in your bedroom, the fact that it was all a dream astonishes you greatly. You cannot keep yourself from expressing this astonishment: "I rode eight hours to reach there. Despite the freezing cold outside here today, I felt the sunshine there in my dream. I felt water splashing on my face."

The eight hours' drive to the resort, the time you waited in the lobby, in short everything related to your vacation was actually a dream of a few seconds. Though indistinguishable from real life, what you experienced in a genuine way was merely a dream.

This suggests that we may well be awoken from life on earth just as we are awoken from dream. Then, disbelievers will express exactly the same type of astonishment. In the course of their lives, they could not liberate themselves from the misperception that their lives would be long. Yet, at the time when they will be recreated, they will comprehend that the period of time which appears to have been a lifetime of sixty or seventy years was as if it were merely a few seconds' duration.

[An excerpt from the book "The Truth of the life of this world" by Harun Yahya - www.harunyahya.com]

“Winter Solitude” – by Roman Ahsan

“WINTER SOLITUDE” – by Roman Ahsan 
[Feb. 2010]

Nothing is more distressing than winter solitude. It seems there are demons all around with no one to rescue us. Even our best friends desert us since the world cares less for the pain of others. The birds chirp outside in pairs but our heart does not sing with them. We start going through old photo albums but they further make us slide into the blues with our eyes turning moist. We reach out for some chocolate, and it does feel good for a while but it fails to color our soul. The valley of hope where happiness dances like a butterfly remains far from reach. The more joy we feign, the more tears we have to shed since our soul fails to acknowledge this disparity. Deeply imbedded in our heart is a longing that never goes away. There is a vacuum, a lingering pain, some sensitivity, an agonizing memory and a concern for others that remains unreciprocated. The world does not understand our emotions all the time and loses patience with our constant self-indulgence. Thus we keep receiving one blow after another and an aura of gloominess seems to surround us. We try to cherish our aspirations and dreams but life is too cruel to contribute anything. With head down on the desk, we soak our memories in tears. Suddenly, a feeling of peace overcomes our gloominess. God consoles us and sends His angels. He wants us to repent for our sins and to get ready for a purpose in life. He wants us to leave our tormenting past behind and look forward to a future where we help people around us. People are in pain everywhere, souls are hurting everywhere. If we waste our strength in tears then who will color this world? Should we be so self-centered and have no concern for others? With this we rise from the ground and head towards the outer world. Our horse of courage waits for us there. He just needs the reins of faith to steer him towards the valley of hope. The valley that we now begin to see…….

"Patience in hardships" - by Roman Ahsan

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

PATIENCE IN HARDSHIPS:

[by Roman Ahsan]

Published | Daily News, Karachi |December 2009

Merry weather never lasts forever. Fragrance of flowers dies out in due time. Life is like that! There are several paths that cross our lives. Our limited human vision fails to make us foresee the finality of events that befall us. We let ourselves drift on the waves of life expecting little of the pitfalls that await us because we do not have knowledge of the unseen. Our inability to accept that life has its share of both joys and pains overlapping each other in phases, makes us fail to sustain misfortunes though it is the more sensitive amongst us who fall prey to pain. Only patience and strong faith in the Divine Force can deliver us out of the low periods in life.

It is not possible that life should not contain any sorrow, pain, affliction or calamity. This is due to the reason that there are three kinds of worlds. One is heaven which is the abode of peace and comfort, where there is not going to be any sorrow or pain. The second world is hell, where there would be complete misery with no comfort value. The third is this world which we live in that has both sorrows and joys. However a person might go through more hardships as compared to others for this is how Allah Almighty tests his loved ones. The proper moral values, steadfastness and patience a believer exhibits in the face of these hardships or trials determine his or hers recompense both in this world and the hereafter. As this verse from Holy Qur’an relates:

“We will test you with a certain amount of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and life and fruits. But give good news to the steadfast: Those who, when disaster strikes them, say, "We belong to Allah and to Him we will return” (inna lillahe wa inna ilaihi rajaeoon). Those are the people who will have blessings and mercy from their Lord; they are the ones who are guided. (Surat al-Baqara, 155-157).

God loves us and He loves the soft-hearted people even more so. He does not want to see us in pain, but only as an exchange for the promise of something beautiful in the next world. It is due to these misfortunes that sometimes a person becomes tilted towards God or else a continuous happy life might make him arrogant like Pharaoh. A very fine allegory has been given by a scholar. He says that if we turn over a piece of paper and then try to straighten it, we will never be successful because a crease has been formed in its structure. We will have to turn it completely over to the opposite side for it to return to its original shape. The fact is that the hardships we face in this life are basically trials from God Almighty to purify our souls from sins. We should never ask our Lord for these misfortunes but if they do occur then we should pray that they end quickly and bear them with grace. Apart from that, we should have firm belief that these afflictions are a source of our salvation in this world as well as the hereafter. This is what termed as patience and makes Almighty Allah shower His blessings on us. If we want to know whether a certain adversity is a punishment or a blessing from Almighty Allah, then we should check our attitude. If due to that adversity our bond with God is strengthened then it is in reality a blessing in disguise. On the other hand, if we find ourselves turning less towards God during a certain affliction then it means our Lord is not happy with us and is punishing us.

If a person faces a certain affliction, then by observing patience he/she can earn great rewards from the Almighty. A Sufi saint was once lecturing a group of people. He said that there is no affliction which is in fact not a blessing. Then he suddenly saw that a leper was approaching the crowd whose hands and feet were badly affected due to the disease. The leper requested the saint to pray to God to lessen his problem. Everyone went down in deep thought. Then the saint spread out his hands for prayer and said, “O Allah! The pain of this man here is still a blessing due to the hidden rewards but we humans are very weak, and do not have the strength to bear this pain. Please turn his misery into the blessing of health!”

Prophets’ lives hold great lessons for us. The story of Prophet Ayub (Job in Bible) pbuh is touching indeed where he did not lose his faith and hope in Almighty Allah’s salvation in severe afflictions. He became critically ill for about eight years where a serious skin disease had impaired his whole body except his heart and brain. Allah made his heart free of the disease because that is where his faith lay and his brain was not affected so that his thinking capacity could function normally as before. Prophet Ayub (pbuh) was a steadfast worshipper of Allah and it was his test whether he continued to have trust in Allah or not! He proved to be resolute in his faith, and bore the disease for eight years without complaining to Allah. Eventually, he was relieved from his pain and granted back his health in all glory apart from other blessings that had been taken away from him as a test.

Another story that continues to mesmerize over thousands of years is how Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) pbuh braced one calamity after another with exemplary patience. He was the son of Prophet Yaqub (Jacob) pbuh, and his step brothers were jealous of their father’s love for him since he was endowed with extraordinary beauty besides being noblest in character. Hence he was sold as a slave to merchants from Egypt which became his homeland. He underwent severe trials in Egypt including being imprisoned for about eight years even though he was innocent. With Divine mercy, his fate turned completely around when he was given a high authoritative position at the end by the King of Egypt himself during serious spells of famine.

If we seriously contemplate, we can try to apply these prophetic traditions to our lives today. The lessons of patience and steadfastness make us never give up even in the toughest of situations and to never complain to the Almighty. The fact is that we tend to take good times in life for granted which outlast the bad spells in general. We are not thankful to Allah for His blessings then. Only if we have a consistent belief in Him and manifest our gratitude in the form of good deeds in both good and bad times can we have the strength to sustain low periods in life with comparative ease!

[This article is partially inspired from one of Justice Retd. Taqi Usmani’s lectures]