My favourite PIA story. A Pakistani columnist settled in Europe told me this. He was flying back to Lahore. The pilot of the PIA plane turned out to be the brother of his classmate from college. He invited the columnist to the cockpit and started to complain about his columns 1/n https://twitter.com/sushantsareen/status/1278039735647170560

The columnist was one of those rare Urdu writers who are rational, sensible, even secular. The pilot told him he writes rubbish and said everything in the world happens because Allah wills it. After a long spiel, the pilot said that even the aircraft was flying because Allah 2/n

willed it so. If Allah wanted the plane would crash and if Allah wanted the plane would fly even without the pilot. And then he said he could prove this. By now my friend panicked. This was just after 9/11. Terrified my friend told the pilot that he was a reformed man after 3/n

hearing the sermons of the pilot and pleaded with the pilot to not test Allah. The plane landed and my friend swore he would never fly PIA again. Suddenly I understood why before every flight the PIA announces that the flight will reach its destination, “Insha’Allah”. 4/n

Honestly, even an agnostic like me used to start believing in God while flying PIA. The only reason those planes reached safely was because of God. 5/5