1 Dr Annemarie Schimmel
The name of this most revered German lady bows my head in
Respect as I write about her.
What can be written about her? But for readers some of worldly honors she received are as under
Dr Annemarie Schimmel was a German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam and Sufism. Internationally renowned, she was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992.
A little gist of Awards she received world wide
• ,
She was given other awards from many countries of the world, including the 1995 prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. This award caused a controversy in Germany, as she had defended the outrage of the Islamic world against Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses(1988), a novel, in a television interview.[7] Schimmel's award speech is available online in translation, entitled "A Good Word Is Like a Good Tree."[8]
Among other awards and honors are the following.
• 1965 Friedrich Rückert Prize of the City of Schweinfurt, Germany
• 1978 Foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences[9]
• 1980 Johann Heinrich Voss Prize for Translation from the German Academy for Language and Literature
• 1989 Grand Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1990 Golden Owl award of the German Socratic Society, for outstanding scholarship
• 1992 Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize of the University of Tübingen
• 25 October 1996, Order of Merit of the Republic of Turkey
• 1996 Egyptian Order of Merit for Art and Science, First Class
• 1997 Honorary membership in the Central Council of Muslims in Germany
• 2001 Reuchlin Prize of the City of Pforzheim, Germany, for outstanding contributions in the humanities
• 2002 Do'stlik Order of the Republic of Uzbekistan, for the promotion of friendship and mutual understanding between nations
• 2002 Muhammad Nafi Tschelebi Peace Prize of the Central Islamic Archive Institute of Germany, Soen, a prestigious award for Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue
• 2005 Name engraved in the "Walk of Fame" street in the City of Bonn
.
In my personal view these awards did not do anything to add an iota to the dignity of Dr Schimmel , rather Dr Annemarie Shimmel enhanced the values of these awards by graciously accepting them .
She was an authority on Sufism which is a charmingly vivid color in the rainbow of Islamic traditions which has helped preserve and conserve many civilizations and cultures pursuant to their embracing Islam. She was one of unbiased Westerner scholars who realized that Islam does not repel but absorb and does not alter but preserves the cultures. And she was, perhaps, the only western personality who came close to feel the magnitude of the attachment the Muslims have with their Prophet (here I am not talking about Wahabi / salafi elements who are playing havoc in the name of Islam and which are known as ISIS, Al Qaeda, TTP , Boko Haram , Al-Nusra front , Hayyat Tehrir Alsham and what not). The attachment that Muslims have with their Prophet is beyond the understanding of a Non Muslim. But if someone goes through her book “And Muhammad is His Messenger” he can have a touch or glimpse of that attachment she was able to grasp and depict in that book.
In her last days she was very close to one of the Sindhi intellectual of her own caliber namely “Syed Hessamuddin Rashdi” and when she red Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai , the great Sindhi Sufi poet and Musician , she felt that Sindhi Sufism is essence of all streams of mystic ideologies and , thus , decided to be eternal part of soil of Sindh . She made a will to be buried beside her co-intellectual “Hessamuddin Rashdi” in one of world’s biggest graveyard situated on the Makli Hills in Thatta , the former capital of Sindh .
My humble hands had the honor of touching her feet, at the end of a lecture, in her last days.
May Allah grant her the status in Heavens in accordance with the saying (Hadees) of Prophet Muhammad that “The ink of the pen of an Scholar is more important/precious than the blood of a martyr”
http://ift.tt/2hcXoAO
Sabrina
(Sigh) well, if I abstain from writing about her here, I would be committing dishonesty.
Now I don’t remember the second part of her name which must have been a surname of family name, neither do I remember as to which city in Germany her family used to live as it looked too much unfamiliar to my linguistic capabilities. I tore the piece of the paper bearing her postal address in her zigzag handwriting with my hands decades ago, and the pictures in which we both were shown with our respective families are lost in a tragedy our family had to undergo.
So, when there is no trace of her left with me anymore, why to mention her.
I am bound to mention her as she is also one of the strong references of Germany for me.
But I am not putting her in chronological order as her status for me is so unique. So unique that I cannot put her on the top or in the bottom of any list and the problem is that she cannot be adjusted in the middle either.
So better mention her without making her the part of any list
Either she does not suit to any number or any number does not suit her
I don’t know what the problem is .
But I am bound to mention her.
Because she is my first love.
I met her when I was teenager of 17 years. The study of literature filled with classical love stories and poetry has always been my passion owing to my surroundings. The energy of youth was unbridled and entire horizon of thoughts was at the disposal of weird dreams and imaginations. The fuel of feelings was just waiting for slight spark to ignite the inferno of Love and the spark that arrived was more than just a spark. It was an eternal flame of beauty. The combination of those two resulted in a celestial experience that is, to the date, part of my personality and that still wraps me in divine intoxication whenever I am overtaken by her memories . It was her hypnotic stare with her green eyes that pierced through my entire existence. We were on a family trip to Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar and she was also our neighbor with her parents. Her father worked there and she was there to visit him with her mom. We often had chances to sit together and discuss and laugh a lot when she failed to understand English and I tried to explain with gestures of hands and other signals which further complicate the situation. At the time we were returning home, I dared ask her a farewell kiss and she slightly nodded. She was, perhaps expecting something else but when I gently took her hand and kissed it and put her hand on my eyes which had gone wet till the moment, she was puzzled
.
What, what was that she asked.
We lunatic easterners kiss in this style, the things which are sacred for us
I still remember my words.
To hide the rain that was impatient to break the bound of eyes, I left her sitting there, surprised, and let my eyes flow in the loneliness of room.
I tried to look normal at the time our families were saying a Good bye to each other but I could not look at her. I answered her by looking in some other direction while she was asking about just one thing “Why did you kissed my hand and put it on your eyes” . I shall reply this in my letter to you , I said
I was thinking it was most difficult time of my life, but the difficult time was lying ahead, back at home.
As I reached home, I was completely restless. I was feeling as my soul torn as a silky cloth get stuck in a bush with big thorns and somebody had pulled it with force, mercilessly .
I tried to answer her query . I filled the pages and tore them. Again filled the pages and tore them. That practice remained for some days and at last I promised myself not to tear up the letter. This time I was successful. I posted the letter. Returned home and after few hours I found myself madly searching for the post Master of our town who was the friend of my father just to open the letter box and return the envelop to me. He asked the reason and I had to change version and he laughed a lot . I felt ridiculed and decided to get rid of the problem by tearing the paper bearing her address in smallest possible pieces I could able to do.
That all agony revived itself , intensified manifold, as a letter from Germany arrived in a familiar zigzag hand writing. Well , it was a bombshell. That remained with me till many days, but as the night fell, it used to become alive and active, refusing to sit at one place. I kept it in my drawer and suddenly I felt that it was feeling suffocation. I kept it some where else and suddenly felt it was unsafe there and took it . The game of cat and mouse went on for days . But lets leave it here , end it here.
Well , cutting long story short , the time , the exercise , the folk music and the poetry cured the wounds , healed and consoled me , but the impact of that brief encounter was so profound that when my parents asked me to marry and whether I was interested in any girl, I said them that I am not interested any girl but shall marry any girl with green eyes . The condition of green eyes was only because I wished to feel Sabrina with me. I never met or saw or my wife before marriage. I saw her for the first time in our first night of marriage. She had big , beautiful green eyes .
After marriage I did not hide anything from my better half. Muslim wives are a different breed. They know that Islam allows a man to marry 4 wives at a time and they are not shocked as other women are if a husband marries another woman . She said i know it would hurt me , but I allow you to marry her if you ever find her anywhere . I laughed and replied “you are saying this because you are damn sure that there is no way I could find her, ever.
As I said Germany is not great in weapons only . The Germany is great due to giant personalities found over there too
Lets return to the world of Guns
As I said . theis Gun G3 is is much sought after gun , owing to the myth it is shrouded in , and not everyone has the capabilities of getting it as being a full auto weapon , it requires a special permission , which is given by the Prime Minister himself or any person authorized by him in this behalf and in most cases that person happens to be the Interior Minister of the Fedration of Pakistan. To obtain a permission from PM or Minister of Interior Affairs is beyond the powers and reach of all and sundry hence the G3 rifles , in full auto configuration , in civilian possession are very few in Pakistan and there was no Semi auto version like HK91 or C308 available in Pakistan which could be acquired by the gun Enthusiasts until the Pakistan’s State owned ordnance Factory , Pakistan Ordnance Factory aka “POF” has introduced a Semi Auto rifle , chambered in 308 Winchester based upon “Delayed roller blow back action “on which the original G3 rifle works .
But even after the gun was introduced by a state owned factory , the local gun laws of my province were creating restrictions in its sale in my Province , thus , without waiting the laws to be amended (which is going to take a decade presumably) I decided to get the Gun on a Federal License issued to me. For that purpose , I had to go all the way to the outlet of POF factory situated Town of Wah in Punjab province . But when I took the gun in my possession , I forgot all the exhaustion of such long journey as the gun was no less than a dream come true for a gun enthusiast like me
Before proceeding further in tyo the review, let me share the hard facts about the gun
The ‘Sporter’ cal .308 Winchester has been designed as a hunting rifle with the firing mechanism of G3A3 in semiautomatic mode. The accuracy of the gun has been enhanced with a freely floating extended barrel and a mil standard pictanny rail for mounting telescope.
Caliber 7.62 mm x 51 NATO/.308 WIN
Muzzle velocity 770-790 m/s
Effective Range 600 m
Barrel grooves 4 grooves right hand twist 305 ± 10 mm
lead
Sights: Rear Rotary rear sight with 4 adjustments 100 m ‘V” sight and 200, 300 & 400 m aperture sights, adjustable for windage and elevation.
Front Fixed hooded post front sight
Magazine 5 x round, box magazine
Barrel length 521 mm Length of weapon 1096 mm
(20.5 inches)
Weight of weapon 4.66 Kg (Approx) without magazine
Overall length 42 inches
The Gun
Barrel
As mentioned to above, the barrel is free fluted to enhance the accuracy of rifle . The barrel is robustly chrome lined and to keep it strictly a civilian rifle, the barrel is not threaded. The barrel has 1/12 rate of twist .
Furniture of the rifle
As the pictures depicted above would show, The furniture of the rifle is high quality Black colored polymer which has an excellent metal to polymer fit . There are no gaps and spaces any where between the matal of the gun and polymer furniture.
The stock is a typical G3 fixed stock with two holes to retain the locking pins when field stripping the weapon. The pistol grip has grooves for thumb and fingers. The hand guard is a wide habd gurd and has groove for fitting of bipad and has two channels for resting the legs of bipod .
Trigger
Since this rifle is based upon the G3 rifle and made by the same company /organization (POF) , thus it inherits all good and bad things from its elder sister , the G3 rtifle . The trigger is essentially a combat trigger but it can be made smoother by polishing the internals . Since I don’t have such expertise , thus I have to live with it . The good thing in this is that even being a combat trigger , the rifle is fairly accurate . I presume it ios because of its roller delayed blow back mechanism which delays the recoil and bullet leaves the barrel before the recoil is felt by shooter .
Sights
The front sight is hooded which appeared to me to be resembling to G3 and HK91. The rotary Drum rear sight has 4 adjustments i.e. 100m 'V' sight and then 200, 300 & 400m aperture sights. The rear sights are adjustable for windage and elevation. I have removed the rear sights of my Rifle to mount scope . I was very skeptical about the front sight post to interfere with the scope and even think of removing it . But when I shouldered the weapon after mounting the scope , there was no trace of front sight post and field of view was crystal clear . It was a pleasant surprise for me
Safety / fire control
The safety / fire control lever has two adjustments , ie “S” for safe mode and “E” for semi auto fire mood being a semi auto only rifle . The safety lever is situated on the left side of the rifle and can be easily accessed with the thumb of the right hand . the shooter does not have to remove hand from pistil grip , finger from trigger and sights from target to operate the control . This indicator cannot be swapped to other side to facilitate the left hand shooters and there is merely an indicator on the left side which reciprocates to the movement control lever to show status as safe or fire position .
Magazine .
The rifle comes with 2 five rounder magazine which sit flush in the mag well . The magazine appeared to be dipped in black color and dried . I have never seen any thickly colored magazines in my life . Perhaps it was the reason that the magazines took effoert to be inserted in mag well . But after the magazine is inserted in well, it requires a firm slap at its “seat” to be seated in its place. Such an adamant magazine requires some effort to come out as well. I think it happens due to thick coat of color . The magazine can accommodate an extra round easily so it is actually a “six rounder” magazine . The gun can easily accommodate and operate a regular 20 rounder magazine of G3 rifle
Charging Handle
The non reciprocating charging handle has a plastic cap and is adequately huge. But even then it requires lot of force to charge it . It locks back in a notch and can be released by famous G3 slap. But one cannot not slap it once the scope is mounted. You have to use your thumb to release the charging handle. The stiffness and relatively difficult operation of this component is the inherent flaw/uniqueness of the G3 design that is not going to go anywhere.
Advantages over Western civilian 308 semi auto rifles built on roller delayed blowback action
Since the day made up my mind to to get this rifle , I started to review the fifles based on the roller delayed blowback action and only then I knew that there are many versions of Civilian semi Auto rifles based on roller delayed blowback action such as HK 91 PTR91 , C308 , PTRGI, CETME 308 etc . When I got the rifle I saw many things in this rifle that those western rifles lack , owing to their gun safety laws or the reason best known to the manufacturer , but it was a joy to see this weapon decorated with all those missing bells and whistles which the Gun enthusiasts of US and other countries are never going to get or get them as aftermarket upgrades
The Rifle made on H&K factory tools
The videos I saw on Youtube and reviews on internet shows it to be a plus point if any roller delayed blowback rifle is made by the original H&K factory or any factory which has received the ToT ( transfer of technology) under the license from H&K . Even if some gun is made by the parts made by H&K or under ToT , it is boasted in the advertisement of the gun . So the first and foremost advantage of this gun , over other civilian rifles made on this principle (excluding those who are actually made by H&K ie HK91)is that this weapon is made by POF on same machines which are making G3 rifles under a ToT license agreement from H&K Germany.
Paddle Magazine Release
I have seen the US and the gun enthusiasts of other countries to install the paddle magazine release in theur rifles as an aftermarket upgrade. But this rifle has its paddle magazine release alredy installed in it and it really works too. Besides paddle magazine release, there is a push button magazine release and it is not situated at an odd location where shooter has to take off hand to operate such button . Rather both the magazine release mechanisms are within easy approach of the operator. The new 5 rounder magazines supplied with the gun did not fall free owing to thick coat of paint on them ,however , used regular 20 rounder G3 magazines continue to fall free by activating the both mechanisms
3rd pin to hold trigger group
The Western Gun enthusiasts may never get this feature on their guns due to their insane gun safety laws . I have seen that in western countries , In all civilian 308 rifles made on G3 principle a weird shank is used to hold the trigger group. While this gun has 3rd pin to house and hold its metal trigger group .
Rail to Mount the optics
The shooters of west had to wait for this feature till the manufacturers had , very kindly, and , very recently included this feature in their guns. The reason of delaying / withholding this feature is best known to PTR or century arms , the manifecturer of those respective rifles
. I have noticed that PTR 91 GIR model possess this feature and that model is probably one of most recent models of this sort of guns . Thanks to the genius of the team POF responsible for release of this rifle that it has this very useful feature built in from the very first day and we , the civilian gun owners of Pakistan , who are already short of accessories , are saved from the quest of looking for side / claw mounts
Field Stripping
The method to field strip the gun is essentially the same as ordinary G3 which is shown in dozens of clips on you tube so need not be repeated . However here is the view of “guts” of the gun in field stripped condition
The bolt and the carrier aka “the big one”
I have red some somewhere that in G3 rifles , you can run a full auto bolt in semi auto only rifle but it cannot be done vice versa . I shall request the learned members of thisa forum to look at the bolt and the internals of gun and guide me as to whether it can house a full auto enabled bolt or not. This is just a question posed out of curiosity and I know curiosity kills the cat .
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