Pakistan |
Dr Rana Jawad Asghar
I
t was a weekly Muslim students meeting at
the University of Washington, Seattle. In discussion one female
student remarked that since Bosnians were not good Muslims, that's
why Allah was punishing them. Though I thought it as absurd but
I did not want to start a new discussion, so I kept quite. Few
weeks later at the Friday prayers at the University, one of the
fellow students who was delivering the sermon repeated the same
thing and he also included Kashmir. Though I was furious but I
kept quite again as I did not want to interrupt the prayers and
make a scene. In the next Muslim students meeting, I made it clear
that no one has right to tell any Muslim individual or a nation
that they were lesser Muslims and the hardships they are suffering
are due to their own misdeeds. Though some hard liners tried to
justify their stand but I told them that it is the Allah who knows
who is a better Muslim or not. When someone said that it was not
a big thing to make a fuss on it, I told him that this is the
first part of a vicious circle. First, some of us declare other
brothers as lesser Muslims than us and then we think it is our
duty to make them the 'real Muslim' and if they do not start thinking
exactly like us, we think it as our sacred duty eliminate them
as they are making divisions in Islam.
Every time there is some discussion in our
Islamic circle, I always put forward views of other Fiqahs
and different views of other distinguished Islamic scholars. I
have told them that when I tell you about these different opinions,
it necessarily does not mean that I agree with them, but my whole
purpose is to tell you that there are many shades of Islam. And
we have to be tolerant of others opinion even if it is against
our beliefs.
In Pakistan, we have witnessed the very same
situation. Many years ago, some scholars of both the main sects
directed their energies to write small booklets in which the opposite
side was labelled to be doing very un-Islamic acts... They found
it very easy to make a career out of hate politics. Otherwise,
you need a life long work on Islamic research to become a scholar,
but now a whole new crop of new Allamas and Maulanas
have grown up. They started telling their respective groups that
the other sect is going to dominate the country and that you need
to get up and fight to become the saviours of Islam. Foreign money
started to pour in to spread or block someone's influence and
the battle ground was our country - Pakistan.
In the beginning, moderate and academically
true scholars did not intervene in this politics of hate. Every
one thought of them as few, worthless group of people who can't
do much other than writing a few small secret booklets. Slowly,
these people became more bold and these booklets started to appear
more openly. Big posters declaring each other as Kafirs
started to appear on walls of mosques and imambarghas.
No one dared to remove these posters although majority of us did
not approve of it. Flames were spreading and now, the hate politics
has become a big profit-making business. And with the foreign
money in hand, it is too late and dangerous for anyone to stand
against them. And with such high unemployment and extreme poverty
and illiteracy, there is no shortage of followers. Even the law
enforcing agencies are scared of them and do not dare to enter
their strongholds. Pakistan is an open field for them to hunt
and kill anyone who they think is not a good Muslim.
We the journalists are also to blame. None
of us stood up clearly and firmly against this sectarian violence,
we just played with words. We were also afraid of being on the
hit list or losing a chunk of our readership. We tried not to
get involved in this sensitive matter. Then there were other pressures.
Two very famous journalists and column writers once told me about
the pressure and temptation tactics of these groups. The safe-side
was not to get involved. Newspapers and newsmagazines found it
lucrative to print flashing headlines of these groups just to
make some extra money.
And now flames have reached us. Now it is not
just a news about some killing in a newspaper, everyone of us
now knows personally at least one person who has been murdered
in the name of Islam. Unfortunately, I know many, both Shias
and Sunnis. I had known one very poor Islamiyat
teacher for the last many years. He was my patient and we developed
a friendly relationship. I was impressed that how he was surviving
in his meagre salary and a few tuitions he had, and was also supporting
his old mother and a divorced sister with her children. Always
optimistic, this fellow never discussed any hardline religious
matter with me. Last year, he was killed in a school in Model
Town, Lahore, in front of his students. Reason - he was a Sunni
Islamiyat teacher. I have known another high-level government
officer, who was very honest and despite his very high-level post
was still living in a small house. He had absolutely nothing to
do with any extremist group or beliefs. Last year, he was also
killed, reason - he was a Shia.
After some time, we will witness that people
of same sect will start killing each other because from the very
beginning, it was not a war of religion. It was a war of power.
And in power struggle, there is no father, mother or brothers,
there are only enemies to kill.
Now, we hear that the only solution are Special
Courts who will sentence these terrorists quickly. With rampant
corruption and high inefficiency in our law enforcing agencies,
you don't need to be a fortune teller to guess the results. Judiciary,
in my opinion, is rightly opposing this idea. I don't know why
the vision of our rulers narrows down so drastically whenever
there is a crisis. They all look for scapegoats and quick-fix
solutions. I think, only the independence of judiciary will be
compromised and this is going to be a loss for everyone including
the present government.
What we need is that our religious scholars
of repute and distinguished lifetime achievements on both sides
come forward and fight this wave of terrorism in clear words and
deeds. Their clear message to the masses with the firm action
by clean and law abiding law enforcing agencies is going to provide
the results. Otherwise by hanging some accused (very slim chance
that we will apprehended them) on street corners is not going
to solve the problem because people who are committing these crimes
or even supporting them are doing it in the name of Islam. Cutting
few leaves from a tree of sectarianism and leaving the whole tree
with roots is not a solution. Besides, many people involved may
not be afraid of death, at all, as they are being told by the
scholars of both sides that they are on the road to paradise.