Pakistan in Media

ISLAMABAD: Around three million Muslims from all over the globe Thursday performed the Haj, one of the most sacred and cherished religious obligations, in the prescient of the Holy Kaaba at Makkah-tul-Mukarma, Saudi Arabia.

They converged in Makkah in a dignified manner by wearing “Ahram”, reciting the praises of Allah Almighty and offering various supplications to Him with their hands raised, in accordance with the practice of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

Local and international TV channels telecast live Haj transmission from Makkah, covering Manasik-e-Haj including Waqoof-e-Arafat, Khutba-e-Haj and prayers of Zuhar and Asr. Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh delivered the Haj sermon from Masjid-e-Nimra. In his address, the Mufti praised the oneness of Allah Almighty and highlighted various aspects of life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

The Mufti said the current situation of the Islamic world could be changed only if the Ummah gets a sincere and pious ruler. He urged the Ummah to follow true teachings of Islam and footsteps of the last Messenger of God to achieve success in the world and hereafter.

He said Muslim Ummah is facing a number of challenges and enemies of Islam are hatching conspiracies against our religion to defame its followers in the world. The Grand Mufti said Islam is the religion of peace, harmony and brotherhood and it has nothing to do with terrorism and extremism. He underlined the need of greater unity among Muslims to tackle the challenges confronted by Ummah.

EVEN four decades after man landed on the moon, this celestial body has not failed to stir controversy in the Muslim world. In Pakistan it acquires an intensity beyond comprehension. With Islamic religious festivals linked to the lunar calendar and no consensus on the criteria to be adopted in determining the start of a new month, confusion reigns supreme on the occasion of Eid and Ramazan. This year matters have reached new extremes. NWFP’s local and zonal Ruet-i-Hilal committees have decided to strike out on their own to meet on Saturday — a day before the central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee is to convene — to give a ruling on the sighting of the Shawwal moon. A proposal that Pakistan should follow Saudi Arabia so that the entire Muslim world observes Eid on the same day has also received a nod of approval from the provincial government.

Conventionally, the physical visibility of the new moon has been used to chalk out the lunar calendar. But given the growth in technology this is not enough to ensure uniformity of the calendar because many astronomical factors — the age of the moon, its angle and altitude above the horizon as well as weather conditions, the height and location of the place where the ‘moonsighter’ is positioned — determine the crescent’s visibility. Since the idea of different parts of the country observing Eid on different days is not an attractive one, and quite understandably so, it is time we agreed on a single principle to determine the lunar calendar. Some have found a solution by following Saudi Arabia’s lead (as is the case for Haj) to create a sense of unity and brotherhood in the Muslim world. Others have laid down clear guidelines for the sighting of the new moon. Whatever we choose must have the weight of national consensus behind it.
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Dawn, Pakistan

By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, 12 Jun, 2009
One can say this comes as a major paradigm shift in US policy towards Muslims in a post-9/11 world. America being a nation of immigrants has always created a powerful enemy to maintain its own unity. Earlier, it was Japan, then Communist Russia and China, and after the collapse of communism it was the Islamic world.

Reaction to Obama’s historic address can be divided into three categories: One, outright appreciation and applause; two, critical evaluation of what he said and guarded optimism about his pronouncements; and three, outright rejection by some sceptics. Some of sceptics even described him as a ‘Christian Zionist’.

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Daily Times, Pakistan
Saturday, June 06, 2009
VIEW: Rafia Zakaria

The extent of the Arab world’s disinterest in American policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan is notable not as much for the alleged hypocrisy it could expose between President Obama’s speech and American policy, but rather in the crude disjunct between the interest and influence of Arab issues on the Pakistani psyche

On June 4, 2009, at around 1:10 pm local time, President Barack Hussein Obama addressed the Muslim world from Cairo University in Egypt. The speech, much touted for days, even months, hit all the right notes.

In the never-ending series of analyses that ensued, expected portions of the speech were praised. Nearly every constituency tuned to the speech, from the Israelis to the Egyptians, was able to find something pleasing. A spokesman from the Israeli government hoped the speech would mark the “opening of a new era”; people on the Arab street praised the scolding President Obama delivered against the perpetuation of Israeli settlements in occupied territories.

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Editorial: Daily Times, Pakistan
Saturday, June 06, 2009

Does President Barack Obama’s speech at Cairo University mark a new phase in America’s relationship with Islam and Muslims of the world in general, and the Middle East in particular? It would be unfair to judge it in the light of the past and equally unfair to reject it in advance because of the past failure in Washington to suit action to the pronounced word. But one has to assess President Obama’s chances of getting his policy guided successfully through the US Congress where vested interests within American democracy have historically contested the authority of the president since President Woodrow Wilson’s failure to join the League of Nations.

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The News International, Pakistan

Friday, June 05, 2009

None can deny that President Obama is a rhetorician the like of which America has not seen for decades. Both Clinton and Kennedy would find him hard to match for sheer eloquence and elegant phraseology - that on the surface is free of ambiguity. His address to the Al Azhar University in Cairo on Thursday was a model of its kind, and was received by an audience who at some points cheered and clapped not unlike those who attended the election rallies that eventually put President Obama where he is today. He knows how to work an audience and from the outset his speech was littered with 'applause points' and phrases that were crafted with tomorrow's headlines in mind.

Cynicism aside, President Obama was in Cairo to mend fences with the Muslim world, sorely battered after years of willful neglect. He made several references to the Holy Koran and called for inter - and intra - faith harmony, making the point that the Muslim world needs to mend a few fences of its own. He said… "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect" …which was nothing less than you would expect, but there was more to it than a little international grooming.

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