No Pain, No Gain

May God acquaint you with some gale Your tides no stir at all exhale — The Student (in Zarb-e-Kaleem) by Allama Iqbal

The above verse from Iqbal’s poetry aptly depicts why we call him the Poet of the East. He touches one’s heart with his unimpeachable character and noble poetry. He was ever so fretful about the shambles of the Muslim nation, especially the passiveness in the conduct of the youth. This is the reason he prayed the Almighty to endow them with a momentum that would stir them to action. He suggested a storm must hit their placid waves.

What actually is the storm? The storm is something that impinges one’s life much. It can change the course of life either being effectual in materialistic facets or on one’s psychological fronts. It can play havoc to some or be a game-changer for the others, at the same time. But one thing is clear – storms create unrest. Storms hit to create energy in the unperturbed waves of a stagnant sea. In otherwise case, the sea is calm and tranquil. It has got no lure for the viewer.

The storm throws you in the battle of survival. Storms create belief in oneself and an ultimate confidence that is unbeatable. The cause of Pakistan stirred the youth and the old of the Indian Subcontinent equally. Long before the Muslims of India knew about their deprivation of their basic rights and the partisan attitude against them, and way before this thought could transform their minds into getting freedom from the prejudiced Hindus, they were asleep in the darkness of ignorance and neglect. Their lives were static and purposeless. To them, everything was just okay. So, they did not shake a leg to develop and prosper. The Hindus grabbed the occasion and deprived the Muslims of their socioeconomic, religious and cultural rights. This was the moment Muslims were hit with a storm – the zeal of achieving a separate homeland where Muslims could practice their religious and cultural rights with liberty and where their socioeconomic rights would be secure.

Creativity is a product of one’s anguish. A painter, who paints something is not a creative person unless he paints something worthwhile while going through a time of suffering and misery.

Some catastrophes strike to change one’s tread of life. There is no smoke without fire. There is no zeal without an ambition. A bed of roses might help you satisfy fundamental needs of life but a bed of thorns can surely help you achieve something worthwhile in life. Comfort zone might not stir you to do something significant in life but the miseries of life teach you how to move forward and win success. Have you ever chewed over the question that why the penurious people triumph over those with deep pockets in various walks of life? How did a boy at a tandoor, (Muhammad Mohsin Ali from Hafizabad) beat his fellows to secure top position in BA exams in 2012? The results of different boards of intermediate and secondary education are also reminiscent of this truly inspirational story; for instance, Afzal, the son of a rickshaw driver from Lahore, gets third position in matriculation examination; Hafsa Ramzan, the daughter of a labourer from Multan, tops the Multan board matriculation exam; Hafiz Muhammad Zaid, son of a driver who gets a monthly salary of Rs 15,000, bags third position in Faisalabad board; Muhammad Umar, the son of a utensils-seller from Bahawalpur secures third position; Maryam Abdul Jabbar, daughter of a studious father, also made Bahawalpur proud while securing third position in matriculation exam in 2017, and the list goes on. No wonder the miseries of life ignited and kindled in them a fire that is extinguishable only when their dreams come true and their passion placated.

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This turbulence obliterates the fine line of discrimination between the rich and the poor. Their scant resources are not an impediment to their progress. That’s why Shakespeare tells that ‘Sweet are the uses of adversity’.

One has to go through trials and tribulations to achieve success because the comfort zone doesn’t allow you to move on in life to be a ‘someone.’ This year introduced men of note serving in the national mainstream. Yusaf Saleem, a visually impaired 25-year-old enthusiastic young boy was appointed Pakistan’s first blind civil judge. His sister Saima Saleem, too, deserves accolades as she was allocated in the Civil Services of Pakistan, becoming the first-ever visually-impaired bureaucrat, in 2007. Stephen Hawking, who was considered an authority on physics and space sciences, was a practical depiction of William Shakespeare’s famous lines ‘We know what we are, but know not what we may be.’

Nick Vujicic is a motivational speaker from Australia. He was born with no arms and legs.

With lives full of endeavours, these men of courage give us the lesson of hope, determination, hard work and passion. On this note, I am reminiscent of Syed Sadiq Hussain Kazmi’s eminent poetic verse:

Don’t fear the intensity of the opposing wind, O, eagle! It only blows to help you fly even higher