ice_man
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Brigadier (retd) Mehboob Qadir, who was Director General (SPAFO) of Pakistan Armed Forces deputationists to the Saudi Armed Forces from 1998 to 2002, noted in a recent article: Pakistanis together with expatriates from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, etc, are called miskeen by the Saudis. He thought, quite correctly, that the word was used to mean the poor wretch. We use the word for the down and out in Pakistan too.
What hurts is that the Saudis address the white expats of Europe and America as rafiq (friend). What of the concept of ummah, he asks, which means that all Muslims are one nation? He discovers that ummah applies only to Saudis, Iraqis, Egyptians, Yemenis, Kuwaitis Bahrainis, Emiratis, etc., but not to others. Arabs only, it seems, qualify.
The Saudis abolished slavery only recently in 1974. Then why are we miskeen? Is it really abolished though? Arabia of the Bedouins by Marcel Kurpershoek (Saqi Books 2004), records that Saudi Arabia was still tribal and big tribal families employed lavishly opulent slaves riding Land Cruisers who made Pakistanis and Bangladeshis till the fields of their masters.
The dominant tribe is Oteiba that accepted Islam at the hand of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), in 622 AD and remained fiercely faithful to him. Lawrence of Arabia modelled himself on an Oteibi warrior.
For the poor, the Holy Quran has two words: faqir and miskeen. Faqir is a man in need but miskeen is completely down and out. Faqir has less than what he needs; miskeen has nothing. Miskeen literally means, brought to a standstill in one place.
In Hebrew, the word for poor is meesken. The Arabic root skn means that which has lost all movement. The Urdu word saakin (static) is related. Hence, poor is someone who can hardly move.
But the skn root otherwise yields positive words, like peace and tranquillity (sakoon), including the Quranic word sakina (peace) that explains the feeling inside the Ark of the Covenant, expressed in the Judaeo-Christian doctrine of shekinah.
Faqir comes from the root fqr which means spinal vertebra. Derivative word Zulfiqar means that which breaks the spine because it was originally the name of a sword. Etymologically, therefore, Faqir means broken-backed.
Faqir has taken on more meaning. It means also someone who is contented in his need. One important element in mysticism is faqr: the need to be in need. Although it is an antonym of ghani (one who is free of need), it has come to mean something close to ghani. It is, in this sense, that a famous family of Punjab called themselves faqir. My friend and well-known scholar Faqir Aijazuddin has a very firm spine.
The third word for poor is extremely poignant. It is ghareeb. It means someone who has left home or is homeless. And leaving home in ancient times meant going west (gharb). The sun sets (gharub) in the west (maghrib). When we observe the ritual of Sham-e-ghariban during Muharram, we actually mean the nightfall of the homeless.
In Saudi Arabia, the Europeans are called rafiq. It comes from the root rfq, meaning elbow: one who is by your elbow. Friendship is rafaqat. Interestingly, artafaq means leaning on something for support as if raising oneself on ones elbow.
More derived meanings include softness because friendship is such a soft thing. When the Holy Quran talks of Paradise it talks of softness (ease) in this sense. To conclude, the most accurate sense of rafiq is companion.
Pakistan is in the grip of honour. Miskeen is not a good reminder these days.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2012.
Going
What hurts is that the Saudis address the white expats of Europe and America as rafiq (friend). What of the concept of ummah, he asks, which means that all Muslims are one nation? He discovers that ummah applies only to Saudis, Iraqis, Egyptians, Yemenis, Kuwaitis Bahrainis, Emiratis, etc., but not to others. Arabs only, it seems, qualify.
The Saudis abolished slavery only recently in 1974. Then why are we miskeen? Is it really abolished though? Arabia of the Bedouins by Marcel Kurpershoek (Saqi Books 2004), records that Saudi Arabia was still tribal and big tribal families employed lavishly opulent slaves riding Land Cruisers who made Pakistanis and Bangladeshis till the fields of their masters.
The dominant tribe is Oteiba that accepted Islam at the hand of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), in 622 AD and remained fiercely faithful to him. Lawrence of Arabia modelled himself on an Oteibi warrior.
For the poor, the Holy Quran has two words: faqir and miskeen. Faqir is a man in need but miskeen is completely down and out. Faqir has less than what he needs; miskeen has nothing. Miskeen literally means, brought to a standstill in one place.
In Hebrew, the word for poor is meesken. The Arabic root skn means that which has lost all movement. The Urdu word saakin (static) is related. Hence, poor is someone who can hardly move.
But the skn root otherwise yields positive words, like peace and tranquillity (sakoon), including the Quranic word sakina (peace) that explains the feeling inside the Ark of the Covenant, expressed in the Judaeo-Christian doctrine of shekinah.
Faqir comes from the root fqr which means spinal vertebra. Derivative word Zulfiqar means that which breaks the spine because it was originally the name of a sword. Etymologically, therefore, Faqir means broken-backed.
Faqir has taken on more meaning. It means also someone who is contented in his need. One important element in mysticism is faqr: the need to be in need. Although it is an antonym of ghani (one who is free of need), it has come to mean something close to ghani. It is, in this sense, that a famous family of Punjab called themselves faqir. My friend and well-known scholar Faqir Aijazuddin has a very firm spine.
The third word for poor is extremely poignant. It is ghareeb. It means someone who has left home or is homeless. And leaving home in ancient times meant going west (gharb). The sun sets (gharub) in the west (maghrib). When we observe the ritual of Sham-e-ghariban during Muharram, we actually mean the nightfall of the homeless.
In Saudi Arabia, the Europeans are called rafiq. It comes from the root rfq, meaning elbow: one who is by your elbow. Friendship is rafaqat. Interestingly, artafaq means leaning on something for support as if raising oneself on ones elbow.
More derived meanings include softness because friendship is such a soft thing. When the Holy Quran talks of Paradise it talks of softness (ease) in this sense. To conclude, the most accurate sense of rafiq is companion.
Pakistan is in the grip of honour. Miskeen is not a good reminder these days.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2012.
Going
Teaching People in all countries to hate the'' Infidels''(white people) but at home they call them 'rafiq'.
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