Ibn-e-Insha's "Lessons in Basic Arithmetic Operations"

Ibn-e-Insha’s “Lessons In Basic Arithmetic Operations” (p. 76, first publication March 30, 1970); translated from the Urdu by Manfred Spencer Alverston & Associates.

There are four basic arithmetic operations between numbers: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

1st Arithmetic Operation: Addition

It is not easy to practice the basic arithmetic operation of addition. Especially in times of scarcity, when whatever you have gets spent and not even a miniscule amount is saved.

Certainly, the rule of addition differs amongst varieties of individuals. For ordinary people, one plus one equals one-and-a-half because half gets taken by income tax.

If you add utilizing the rules of trade, then one plus one equals eleven. By the rules of bribery, the end total becomes much higher for the best rule is always where the end total is as high as it could get, the only hinderance to such a condition being police or law. 

(2nd Arithmetic Operation: Subtraction)

Another manner of arithmetic is purely verbal and this formulation is used to solve a country’s problems. Indeed, it is tried and tested:

“I am Sindhi, you are not Sindhi.”

“I am Bengali, you are not Bengali.”

“I am Muslim, you are not Muslim.”

This is called intentionally sowing the seed of subtraction. This manner of arithmetic has flourished since ancient times.

The overall meaning of subtraction is to deduct. That is to say, take out one number from another number [sectarianism]. Or some numbers get out by themselves [renouncement]. And, further on, few have to be taken out by force [displacement], whilst several have to be ousted by clubbing or judicial decree. 

Remember one thing only, and that is this, that those who accumulate in excess are the very people who also do the partitioning. Human-to-Human, Muslim-to-Muslim, everyday people do not approve of this method of deduction because, in such a methodology, the remainder is zero [extinction of an entire people]. Mankind is left wringing its hands in regretful sorrow [bloodied casualties of war].

(3rd Arithmetic Operation: Multiplication) [Note: Zarb [“beating”] is also a synonym for multiplication in Urdu and Arabic]

The third basic arithmetic operation is multiplication. There are multiple kinds of multiplications. For example, a light blow, strong blow, mortal blow, etcetera. 

Yes! There is another distribution of blows: struck by stoning, beaten with a stick(s), blown away by gunshot. Apart from Allama Iqbal’s Zarb-i-Kalim [Proverbial Interlocutor], the production in multiplication dependence relies on a twofold manifest and that would be how this multiplication formula was carried out and on whom. If you do the multiplication by multiplying one human being times another, the product will remain human, although not necessarily alive. Hence, before solving any multiplication problem, it is paramount to read Pakistan’s Penal Code. 

(4th Arithmetic Operation: Division)

This is the indispensable arithmetic operation. Upon this, all wrangles are formulated. Division means to divide. It’s like visionless people dividing amongst themselves, as the saying goes, the sightless dividing sweetmeats amongst themselves. Another saying, monkeys dividing bread amongst cats, meaning to give favors to relatives repeatedly regardless of consequences. Also in a similar spin on circumstances, another saying, a band of thieves mutually dividing joint stock and yet another, artisans of bribery dividing bribed loot amongst themselves.

“Sharing is to live in harmony,” they proclaim. Even legumes must be shared alongside the brawls, otherwise costiveness sets in. 

It is not so hard to further expound upon the methodology of division: Keep all the rights in your possession, and divide responsibilities onto others. Keep monied wealth in your pocket, and give contentment sermons onto others. And, by the way, if you memorize the multiplication tables alongside these formulations, no soul will ever be able to trace this division. Ultimately, [after partitioning] the wealth of 10 million was divided amongst 22 families in Pakistan.

Was anybody able to trace this division of internal affairs? Did anybody ever get a whiff of it?

Review: End of Chapter Questions

1. How long can a person sustain successive blows?
2. Which of the four arithmetic operations is the following saying an example of? What does it mean? (Example: “Take out a fly from milk”  means to expel someone and is an example of subtraction.) “Those who have sight, they too keep dividing wealth amongst kin.”