Greetings. Happy Independence Day to all of you Pakistan. A few days ago, a statement by the Foreign Minister Mohsin Naqvi went viral in which he said that Pakistan's 79-year-old system has collapsed. Ever since I heard that statement, I started thinking about what system Mohsan Lakvi Sahib was talking about and how that system collapsed. And to understand this story of the system's collapse, I took out the system's manual and started reading it. So, the first few lines I saw of him were something like this. Where sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Allah. The authority to be exercised by the people of Pakistan within the limits prescribed by him is a secret trust and where as it is the will of the people of Pakistan to establish an order wherein the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people. These are the first few words of the law of Pakistan, that is, the manual of the system. I also teach in Urdu. Bismillah Rahman Rahim. Because only Allah Taala has authority over the entire universe. And the power and authority which the people of Pakistan have the right to exercise within its prescribed limits is a sacred trust. And because it is the will of the people that a system of control should be established in which the state will exercise its authority and power through elected representatives of the people. Now, please do not get involved in the debate about elected representatives because that is not my topic today. The first thing I noticed was that the rule, power, authority and power all belong to Allah Taala. And the authority and power that we have is a trust, a trust that we have received from Allah Taala. Now, to understand how Allah Taala is the ruler and what is the power of Allah, I did not have any better source than the Quran, so I opened the Quran Kareem and tried to understand how Allah Taala is powerful, then I saw Allah Taala describing the style of his rule and power and kingship and authority at many places in Surah Jariyat, Surah Taha, Surah Fatir, Surah Al Inam and Surah Mohammad. In Surah Ziyaat, Allah Taala says, “I have not created the Jinns and humans for any other purpose than to worship Me.” I do not ask for any sustenance from them. In Surah Taha, Allah says, order your family members to pray and stick to it yourself. We do not ask for any sustenance from you. Rather, we ourselves provide you sustenance. Verse number 15 of Surah Fatir: O people, you all are dependent on Allah and Allah is the Self-sufficient. Surah Al Inam Worthy of All Praise Tell me, should I take anyone as my guardian except Allah, the creator of the heavens and the earth, and He feeds everyone, but no one feeds Him. Surah Muhammad Verse 38 And Allah is the only one who is self-sufficient and you are all dependent on Him. Once I was listening to the statement of an elder, he said that in Surah Ilas, Allah Taala has used a word to praise Himself, Samad I tried to understand the interpretation of that word Samad. So this word of three Arabic letters is Saud Meem Dal. But its meaning is so big that it is impossible to understand it or explain it in any other language with such small letters. Samad means a caste which does not need anyone for any of its work and everyone else needs it for all their work. That means Allah's power is such that he only gives and does not take anything. But let's go, Allah Subhana Taala is there. Let's come down a little. Let's talk about Ambiya. So there are many stories of prophets in the Quran. When I started watching, then about Hazrat Noah in Surah Yunus, in Surah Hud, in Surah Shora, about Hazrat Hud in Surah Shora, about Hazrat Yusuf al-Salam in Surah Yusuf, about Hazrat Saleh also in Surah Shora, about Hazrat Shuaib also in Surah Shora and then about Nabi-e Kareem Sallallaho al-Wasallam in Surah Inam, Surah Furqan, Surah Saba, Surah Saud, Surah Shora, Surah Yasin, Allah Taala is repeatedly describing a quality of his prophets and the prophets are seen saying a sentence to their community that I do not ask any reward from you for this service of mine, I have brought the message of guidance for you and I do not ask anything from you in return, so you have seen about Allah Taala that Allah is only giving, he does not take anything. The prophets are also dependent on Allah but do not ask for anything from their people. Without any compensation, they convey the message of guidance to the people and provide them with goods for their betterment. Now you might be thinking that brother, he is talking about Allah Taala and the prophets. We are just ordinary people. So I came down one step further. And I did some research on the life of Khulafa Rashidin and his teachings. So I found a few You Know sayings of Hazrat Syedna Abu Bakr Siddique (RA). At one place he says, O bird, congratulations are for you. You eat the fruit of trees and sit in their shade. And there is no account against you. I wish I were a tree. I wish I were a tree that could be cut down and then eaten. There are two. Third, I wish I were some green grass or fodder among these vegetables which some animal would come and eat. Then he says, I wish I were a hair on the chest of a believing person. Hazrat Umar bin Al Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) says, I wish I were this straw. I wish my mother had never given birth to me. I wish I were nothing. Now this is a common theme that when we look at the role models of Allah Taala, the prophets, the companions and the things that they have for us in terms of power, guidance and governance, we see a common theme and that theme is that power, authority is a trust, it is a responsibility. This is a burden. This is a name to give to people. This is the name of serving the people. And perhaps that is why when we see things from the old times, people used to take their wishes to the courts of kings and powerful people and get their problems solved from them and loved them because they got what they wanted from there. He used to give it to them. He used to gain something from them. So that's why people loved him. Because the job of the powerful is to give. And because that power and authority is a trust, he does not consider it his inheritance or his property. He considers it a responsibility. He uses that power, authority and power to serve the people. But in Pakistan people are afraid of powerful people. Protects the eyes. Be it your parents at home , teachers in school, professors in the university, bosses in the office or big officials of the state. Here, power is combined with fear in a strong way. Oh brother, you are powerful people. When you want to call someone a dangerous man, you basically call him a powerful person. But why is this so? This is very important. This is because the power system in Pakistan takes rather than gives. Power extracts here. Here, the strength lies in moving around with a guard sitting behind the pole. Here, taking protocol at the airport is strength. Getting a permit plot here is power. Here, getting someone jailed is power. Here killing someone is power. Here, dismissing someone from the job is power. Here it is necessary to take protocols, permits, plots, ships and istsna. The examples of good and powerful people that we had in front of us used to say keep doing it and remain afraid. But the powerful people we see around us say keep taking and keep scaring. So then I thought what kind of power is this? Because when Allah Taala is showing us a formula of power. The angels are showing us. Saba Ikram is showing. Big leaders are showing it. Whose stories we tell the world till today. Then what kind of power is this? So then I found a thesis by Hannah Arendt, a German American philosopher. In which he has mentioned Evil Cousin, a very close cousin of Shakti. And that cousin's name is Zulm. It looks exactly like strength. But this is not strength. Now you might be asking what is oppression ? So oppression is a very simple thing. I give this example again and again. The injustice is that this thing is treated as if it is a pen. Its purpose is to write with it. But if I use this pen to dissolve sugar in tea or to poke someone's eye, then I have done injustice to this pen. Now, there is a purpose of the exercise of power which we have seen in our Constitution, our Quran, our prophets and the lives of our companions. But the extractive power we experience around us now is not power. That is oppression. Now it is very important to understand one thing here. And I have said this with great clarity at many places. That we often hear. Especially during Musharraf Sahab's time, we heard a lot that Islam is a religion of peace. Islam gives the message of peace. I say it is not like that at all. Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of justice. And we need to understand that a country which was formed 79 years ago in the name of La Ilaha Illallah. Is there a system of oppression there or is it a system of power? Power is not a bad thing. Power has no morality. Power is a tool. But the correct and righteous use of power is what Allah demonstrated in the Quran and what the companions demonstrated in their lives. It is important to understand one more thing here. How do we misuse power? Recently, Adil Shahid Sahib came in one of our podcasts. Family business consultant. He also teaches at the IBA Centre of Executive Education. He shared a great idea with me. He asked me Faran sahib there is a piece of land on which you live. You say you own it. But do you own it? Did you create that land? Did you create the stones in it? Did you actually acquire the piece of land you are holding on lease for 99 years, or was it created by someone else? Or do you grow the food you eat? Some are farmers, some are suppliers, some are middlemen. And then apart from this supply chain, there is a system of nature. There is sun, there are winds, there is rain, all of which together provide you that food. We have been increasing our pace for the last three-four years. But what good is speed if people don't see us ? There's nothing. So what do I have? And leave aside the outside things. If inside my own body, of which I consider myself the owner, that this is my body. My body is my choice, so what inside that body is under my control? People's heart beats go up and down. Blood pressure goes up and down. Diabetes occurs. There are 10,000 problems. We don't even know. Our own body's own desires are not under our control. Then how are we the masters? To be an owner, there must be complete ownership. We don't have that in this entire universe. When all these means are not ours, then how can the power that has reached us through them be ours ? Then I understood that this is not ownership. This is guardianship. We are not the masters of our children. We are their guardians. We do not own our shop. There are guardians. We do not own this court. There are guardians. We are not the kings of this country. There are guardians. And when a person understands the difference between guardianship and ownership, it becomes a very humbling and helpless experience that I don't have anything. I do n't even have cuffs. That is why a couplet of Rahat Andori Sahab touches the heart very strongly with this topic. Those who are Sahib Masnad today will not be there tomorrow. There are tenants. There is not much house left. Wherever you are sitting today, it is not your property. That is a trust. And you will have to answer to Allah for that trust. When you understand this basic principle of oppression and power, then you understand that each one of us is powerful and perhaps each one of us is also cruel. Long live Pakistan.