Plain Living

Muhammad Yaqub Khan

The Editor

(The Civil & Military Gazette,Lahore July 9, 1951)

Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan´s reported declaration that he would gladly accept a plain “dal roti” feast, provided money thus saved by the host is offered for the relief of distress will be greatly appreciated. What stands in the way of enforcing this most beneficent measure of reforms?

Karachi is a city of feasts. If what the premier has offered on his own behalf is made applicable to all parties, this item of national saving alone should suffice to liquidate the refugee problem in the Federal Capital. While thousands of human beings sleep on pavements and even the Quaid-e-Azam tomb is surrounded by hundreds of huts hardly fit for human habitation, sumptuous parties in the upper section look like a fraud on society. In the capital of an Islamic State, this double social picture – one section rolling in festive orgies, the other grovelling in abject poverty – is a standing reproach to the much-advertised social justice of Islam. State Ministers, officials and business magnates of which Karachi is a hub should find inspiration in Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan´s timely lead and realise their duty towards the starving shelterless masses. What the premier has suggested is, as a matter of fact, the least they owe to the society. The correct Islamic standard demands that so long as there is a single man in the capital thrown on street pavements for lack of wherewithal to keep body and soul together, the upper strata should drastically cut down their domestic expenditure – even to the “dal-roti” level, if necessary.

Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan will be acclaimed as a national hero if he should be instrumental in introducing simplicity in the day-to-day domestic life of the nation. Islam does not approve of ascetism. But luxurious living is equally repugnant to it. In national emergencies, in particular, moderation, even abstemiousness becomes a duty.

The Prophet ﷺ refused to take a roast meat dish and insisted on converting it into gravy to be shared with neighbours.

If Minister of State announce curtailment of their menus to one or two courses, so long as the present emergency lasts, it will have a tremendous effect on the general tone of society. Austerity measures such as sugar-less tea and sweet-less dinners are commonly practised by wealthier nations in war time. A country like Pakistan, a substantial percentage of whose population are tramping up and down the country as refugees, has no justification for lavish expenditure on parties and entertainments. The Prime Minister has given a much-needed lead towards plain living which formed the hallmark of early Islam. The call towards simplicity should be taken up on a national scale and made a regular feature of the nation´s life.

(The Civil & Military Gazette,Lahore July 9, 1951).