One ambition was fixed in Ali Moeen Nawazish's mind as he made his way through school in Pakistan. He wanted to win a place at Cambridge.
Sitting seven A-levels might easily have done the trick, even though he had started to study some of the subjects only three days before the exam. But he was determined to get some good grades. So he sat another three, and three more. Then another nine. Just in case, he took a couple of AS levels along the way.The result? The remarkable young student, who modestly explains he has 'quite a thirst for knowledge', secured 22 A grades, one B and a C.
When he filled out his university application forms at home in Rawalpindi there was barely enough space to list his qualifications.
His Cambridge dream came true four months ago when he embarked on a computer science degree course at Trinity Hall. Now he is due to win another place - in the Guinness Book of Records.
Ali, 18, said of taking the exams: "I didn't find it particularly stressful. I enjoyed it. I've a thirst for knowledge
"Some of subjects were trickier than others - such as psychology.
"I only began studying for the subject three days before the exam so there was a lot to get in. I was pleased to get an A.
"Physics, maths and computing are my real strong point."
He has since started a degree in computer science at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
He took them at Roots High School in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. All the exams he sat were accredited with either Edexcel or Cambridge International Examinations.
The only subjects in which he dropped grades were Chemistry (B) and General Further Mathematics (C).
Despite his self-imposed workload he found time to play guitar, hold the role of president of his music club, edit his school newspaper and attend a leadership conference at Harvard University, America.
Dr Nick Bampos, a senior tutor at Cambridge University, said: "When we first interviewed him we thought, 'This can't be right'.
"But not only is he really bright, he is really charming.
"We've never heard of any applicant with anywhere near as many A-Levels. It's enormously impressive.
"However, it isn't necessary to get that many A-Levels to get into Cambridge."
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Attack on Rehman Baba is attack on Pashtun identity
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On Thursday March 5th, terrorists from Khyber Agency blew up the mausoleum of the great poet of the Pashtun and put the state of Pakistan on notice once again about their intent against Pakistani culture. The tomb of Rehman Baba was rebuilt as a complex in 1994 and it included other tombs of great Pashtun cultural icons, such as Akhund Darweza. The Taliban had come to the mausoleum and told the devotees that saying namaz at the mosque attached to the grave was “haram”. The administration knew that a strike would take place but did nothing.
Rehman Baba (1632-1707), who appeared on a Pakistani postage stamp in 2005, is an acknowledged cultural symbol of the Pashtun and Afghan people. While Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689) stands together with him as a classical foil, Rehman Baba has moved the soul of the Pashtun far more. He also stands at the root of Pashtun nationalism and has been adopted in the past by all kinds of secular and conservative movements. He marks a significant phase in the development of Pashto language and his lines are often quoted spontaneously by the speakers of the language.
The various schools of thought in the Sufi tradition like the Naqshbandiya, Chishtiya and Qadiriya have claimed him as their own, so great was his appeal among the masses.
In Pakistan, religious culture has been traditionally represented by the Sufi tradition. The culture of the elite, represented by painting, architecture and calligraphy, doesn’t touch the masses whose way of life is reflected more accurately in the collective celebration of Islam’s mystical heritage. The Sufi taught the people how to link their faith with their entertainment and imbue their culture with their religious belief.
It is often said that many of the Muslims of the region of Pakistan were brought inside the pale of Islam by the Sufi who sang of Allah’s divinity in the music and dance he inculcated among them, composed in the classical tradition.It is this culture of the masses that has been targeted by Talibanisation, a new faith born out of the terrorist coercion of Al Qaeda which is steeped in the anti-mystical Saudi-Wahhabi Islam.
The trend towards anti-culture extremism, however, is seen across the Islamic world, much aided in the 1990s by Saudi investment in the spread of the Wahhabi faith. Pakistan’s culture has also been under assault from the Taliban who target the dominant Barelvi school of Pakistani Hanafi jurisprudence as representing the “impure” faith.
In 2006, a large congregation of Barelvi clerics and leaders was suicide-bombed in Karachi where, too, scores of Barelvi mosques have been grabbed by the more powerful Deobandis.Pakistan committed cultural suicide when it allowed a purely Deobandi jihad in Afghanistan after 1996, empowering jihadi militias increasingly under the influence of Al Qaeda.
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