Interior Minister recites Surah Ilkhas incorrectly.

Pakistanis are shocked (just shocked I tell you) that their federal minister can’t pray correctly. It says alot about the current state of affairs in the “land of the pure”; they want the instant gratification of the Western way of life (consumption, women, liquor) but there has to be a puritanical Islamic mask to it.

It goes a very long way to explaining the hypocritical perspectives of Pakistanis toward Shariah and other religious ruling; they will agree to it but carry on with their “unIslamic” activities. After all alcoholism and substantial drug abuse is prevalent among the Pakistani middle and lower classes, which is unusual since its the chattering elite who are more into this sort of stuff anyway (traditionally).

I’ve experienced this time and again; the other day I was chatting to a Pakistani back in Lahore, who was moaning about how difficult it was to find a girlfriend there. He ended the conversation since his mother was calling him for breakfast (yes Desistan is like the 50′s) and as I bid him goodbye with a traditional “Khuda Hafiz” (go in the peace of God) he blared back “ALLAH HAFIZ“.

The controversy is that Khuda is a Persian-Zoroastrian name for God, which some Pakistani puritans are finding increasingly “impure” (the land of the pure must be pure after all; sarc mark required) so they’re opting for the traditional Arab name “Allah Hafiz”. Considering “Allah Hafiz” is a fictitious and made up word (the Arabs use Alamaiq); its displacing a wonderful Pakistani (Indo-Persian) tradition.

Anyway going back to topic the chappie was talking about wine and women the whole time but when it came to our greetings; he became a moral puritan. This is time and again a recurring feature among the religious, their need to socially conform and outdo one another in increasingly obscure and irrelevant acts of worship.