Is Facebook Catalysing Sectarian Divide?

Nothing divides like religion!

That’s actually just another way of saying nothing connects like it but that’s beside the point. This write up is about the effect Facebook – which is the embodiment of an almost perfect social networking website- is having on the sectarian differences amongst Muslims. My thesis is that, whether by design or by accident, it’s causing the rift between different religious sects to aggravate. How can I say that? Well, part from personal experience and rest from empirical inference. I don’t have any statistical data to substantiate my claim as to how many barelvis were offended by a particular post by a deobandi friend, and with all honesty, facebook is the only likely party to have such data at their disposal. Nonetheless, how did I conclude that facebook is doing this? For that I’ll have to take you to our university days.

Back in the university, there were three broad categories of people when classified for religiosity. There were the ultra liberals who never took religion seriously. Then there were the ultra religious who maintained a very definitive view of life and the hereafter and you could tell them from the others just by looking at them. Then there were the neither-here-nor-there-seeking-best-of-both-worlds kind of people. For they did pray daily, sometimes more than once, but they also had fun, you know what I mean, the ones who offered prayers in cinemas. The liberals hardly had any friends in the ‘mullas’ and vice versa. The third group had good acquaintance in both the others but their friendships were really rooted in their own. Now this ‘moderate’ group- which incidentally this scribe was also part of- had people from all sorts of religious backgrounds. There were sunnis, shias, barelvis, deobandis, salafis, just about as much diverse as it could get. These were the people who didn’t wear their religion on their sleeves and were rather very accommodating to anyone. They weren’t aware, or rather couldn’t care less why barelvis and deobandis call each other what they call each other. Deobandis didn’t know why they were deobandis and barelvis didn’t know exactly why they celebrated Milad. The sunnis went to koonday and the shias attended iftaar parties even though they knew the sunnis will have eaten everything within the 5 minutes gap between the iftar time of the two sects.

Back then, if anyone had to tell someone what barelvis have written in their books, they had to convince them to read the book that had some shocking evidence about how astray barelvis are. Similaraly, a barelvi had to spend hours if not days to school a layman about how divisive the deobandis were. Same goes for shias and sunnis and salafis and so on and so forth.

Years passed by and those people were now mature enough to have formed their biases essential for grown-up human beings.
Then, facebook happened! Here was a unique way to not only find the long-lost friends but instantly share and enjoy with them. Sharing on facebook is unlike any other sharing experience many of us have had in our lifetimes. It’s unlike email, because it’s uncivilized to pepper everyone with everything you like. It’s unlike a delicious bookmark or a youtube like, cuz not everyone’s there. All you need to do to share something is to put it on your wall, on your ‘own’ wall, and your buddies will see if they like. It’s on the back of such amazing ease of use and robustness that facebook has exploded to be the most populous global website, more populous than most countries of the world!

Of all the things people share on facebook, religious matter is the most serious and often either delightful or acrimonious depending upon which side of the argument you are. Now it’s all the easier to share a speech from maulana tariq jameel or a qirat of mishary alafasy or sheikh sudais or shuraim. It’s also easier to share with others the views of dr israr ahmed, or dr tahir ul qadri, or mufti taqi usmani. This ease of use, while very beneficial for their followers and disciples and the neutrals, is also at the root of the problem I want identified.

With all due respect to all the religious scholars, let’s all accept the fact that they’re humans. They’re fallible, although less so than the rest of us but fallible all the same. That being said, most of the videos that are shared are clips from longer speeches and hence are mostly out of context. While their disciples and followers understand fully what a particular metaphor means, an ‘outsider’ is prone to totally misinterpret it. So the human error is magnified by it being out of context and a potential bickering is ready to be had. I don’t even have to give evidence of such instances as it may already be your experience.

To be honest, I don’t think the scholars are fully at fault here, although them being humans their error can’t be ruled out. However, to me it’s the people who publish this material who are the real ones responsible for this growing acrimony. Not everything is for everyone, religious matter more so. Every scholar says and shares things according to the social and psychological status of the audience. It’s not only ethical it’s necessary. So while one thing is said in a hushed tone to some group, the same would be said with vigor to a more accepting audience.

My personal experience is bad enough to share. All I can say is that I and my best mate are hardly on talking terms right now because he likes one scholar and I like another and they both are poles apart. In our university life and even after that, we were never the ones to wear religion on our sleeves so we hardly cared about the other’s background. Now somehow it’s not the case. I have to share part of the blame too but I believe if it wasn’t for facebook, we wouldn’t have known our respects for those scholars runs deeper than our friendship.

I could end this write up here but that would not only be abrupt but unfair as well. Unfair because merely pointing out a problem would only accentuate and potentially aggravate it. My goal is to help not only identify it but rectify it as well. So here are my two cents in that regard.

First, there are those who have been religious since they saw the light of day. Contrary to conventional wisdom, they’re the ones most comfortable in their skins. They’re usually more forthcoming in talking about religion and more accommodating.

There are then those who’re recent ‘reverts’, some of whom become ‘trolls’ as they’re often referred as. They’re the ones who’re coming to grips with their religious fervor and more often than not, their zeal results in an outburst that does more harm than good to the cause of Islam. You’ll find them in all types of schools of thoughts and depending which side they are, you’ll find them labeling everyone in their way as ‘bidati’ or ‘wahhabi’. They want to see their loved ones come their way sooner rather than later and that leads them to yank others’ heads towards religion.

Extremism however, is hardly a virtue when it comes to calling people to Allah. What one needs to identify is their ‘sphere of influence’ and exert pressure only on that. That would be the one we’ll be answerable for. Everything beyond that, is beyond question.

Secondly, it’s easier and more fruitful to give more leeway to other Muslims. To construe everything to infidelity or apostasy is not only counter-productive, it’s meaningless. I’m not denying there are people who say rubbish in the name of religion, what I’m saying is that it has to be seen whether it’s within our sphere of influence or not. Also, there are a lot of times when someone wants to express their love to Allah or prophets (a.s.) or other religious figures but due to lack of eloquence, they end up saying something unintentionally provocative. When judging other muslims’ actions, do keep this in mind. At the end of the day, all of us want to go to jannah. Everyone loves Allah and Rasoolullah (s.a.w.), some more than others, some in different ways than the rest.

The threat that facebook is offering by making every small difference public is also an opportunity. Let’s for once celebrate the amazing diversity Allah has put in our religion that despite having different methods of prayers and different versions of salvation in mind, we have one book, one prophet(s.a.w.) and one Rabb. We stand in the direction of Makkah for prayers and when in that holy place, all of us stand behind one imam. That’s worth thanking our Lord for. Let’s do it!

کنویں کے عوام

ایک دفعہ کا ذکر ہے کہ ایک کنویں میں کچھ مینڈک رہتے تھے. ویسے تو ان کی زندگی میں کوئی مسئله نہیں تھا لیکن ان کا کوئی بادشاہ نہیں تھا.اسی پریشانی میں ان کے دن رات بسر ہو رہے تھے کہ ایک دن کہیں سے لکڑی کا ایک بڑا سا شہتیر آن گرا. زور کا چھپاکہ ہوا اور کنویں میں، جو ظاہر ہے ان کی پوری دنیا تھی، بھونچال آگیا. سب مینڈک ادھر ادھر چھپ گئے. آنکھوں آنکھوں میں ایک دوسرے کو اشارے کیے گئے. ” یہ تو کوئی بہت ہی طاقتور مخلوق لگتی ہے!” “ہاں ہاں اس کو اپنا بادشاہ بنا لیتے ہیں” چنانچہ سب کے سب دست بستہ اس لکڑی کے تختے کے آگے آئے اور عرض کی “مہاراج، آپ کی بہت مہربانی کہ آپ ہماری دنیا میں تشریف لائے.ہم آپ کو اپنا بادشاہ بنانا چاہتے ہیں.” لکڑی کی خاموشی کو رضامندی سمجھ کر انہوں نے اس کو اپنا بادشاہ بنا لیا. روز اس کے سامنے پیش ہوتے اور اپنے فیصلے کراتے.دن گزرتے گئے اور بادشاہ کی خاموشی سے مینڈک بور ہونے لگے. ان کو لگتا تھا کہ بادشاہ کو ذرا دبنگ ہونا چاہیے. اور پھر ایک دن ایک گستاخ مینڈک بادشاہ کے اوپر بیٹھ گیا. پہلے تو سب نے بہت شور مچایا اور اس گستاخ کو سنگین نتائج کی دھمکی دی لیکن بادشاہ کی خاموشی نے ا وروں کو بھی شہہ دی. ایک ایک کر کے سب لکڑی کے اس تختے پر چڑھ گئے اور بالآخر بادشاہ کو “معزول” کر دیا گیا. ابھی اسی ادھیڑ بن میں تھے کہ اگلا بادشاہ کہاں سے لائیں کہ ٹھیک اسی طرح ایک بڑا سا اژدہا نہ جانے کہاں سےکنویں میں آن گرا. پھر وہی زور کا چھپاکہ اور مینڈکوں کی پہلے روپوشی، پھرآنکھوں آنکھوں میں بادشاہ کا انتخاب اورپھر برآمدگی . اب جو مینڈک “تاج پوشی” کے لئے باہر آئے تو بادشاہ سلامت نے آؤ دیکھا نہ تاؤ، جھٹ اپنی رعایا کی طرف لپکے اور پوری عوام کو ایک منٹ میں اپنے پیٹ میں پہنچا دیا. پیٹ میں پہنچ کر مینڈکوں کا کیا رد عمل تھا، اس بارے میں راوی خاموش ہے.

سمجھ نہیں آتا کہ اس کو اپنی قوم کی بدقسمتی کہوں یا انشاء جی کی تحریر کی شگفتگی کہ ۴۰ سال گذرنے کے باوجودان کی اس حکایت کو اپنے عوام پہ مکمل طور پر پورا ہوتے دیکھ سکتے ہیں.کسی سے پوچھ لیں بھائی قیادت کو کیسا ہونا چاہیئے. جواب ملے گا کہ بھائی مخلص ، با صلاحیت اور دیانت دار. پوچھو کہ مسلمان حکمرانوں میں پسند کون ہے، جواب حضرت عمرؓ . پوچھئے یہاں کے حالات کیسے صحیح ہونگے تو جواب اسلام. انگریزی محاورہ ہے کہ اگر خواہش گھوڑا بن سکتی تو ہر فقیر شاہ سوار ہوتا. ذرا ایمان داری سے سوچئے کہ ہمارے کتنے فیصد عوام اپنی دعاؤں میں یہ مانگتے ہونگے کہ اللہ ہمارے صدر وزیر اعظم کو سچا پکا مسلمان بنا دے. کس نے کبھی اپنے ملک کے صدر ، یا گورنر یا علاقے کے ناظم کے پیچھے نماز پڑھنے کی خواہش کی ہوگی جبکہ خلفائے راشدین اور ان کے عمال (گورنر) اپنے لوگوں کو خود نماز پڑھاتے تھے.

گنتی کے چند لوگوں کو چھوڑ کر ہمارے نصیب میں آئے تو ایسے کہ جو یا تو میر جعفر کی اولادوں میں سے تھے (جی ہاں، پاکستان کے ایک صدر صاحب میر جعفر کی اولادوں میں سے تھے!!!) یا جن کو اپنا اتنا ہوش بھی نہیں تھا کہ قضائے حاجت کے لئے کسی بین الاقوامی کانفرنس کے لان کا انتخاب مناسب نہیں . یا وہ جنہوں نے روشن خیالی کا مطلب یہ لیا کہ بغل میں دو کتے دبائے اور تصویر کھنچوا لی یا وہ جن کو اتنا بھاری مینڈیٹ ملا کہ اس کے نیچے آکر وہ ملک کو سود سے پاک کرنے کا نادر موقع گنوا بیٹھے. یا وہ جن کی ایک نہیں دو نہیں تیسری نسل اقتدار کے مزے لوٹ رہی ہے اور لوٹتی چلی جا رہی ہے. ایسا کیوں ہے؟ ہماری پوری تاریخ میں بابائے قوم کے بعد شاید ملک معراج خالد ایک ایسے شخص تھے کہ جو واقعی عام لوگوں کی طرح رہتے تھے . نگران ہی صحیح لیکن وزیر اعظم تو تھے. عام لوگوں کی طرح اکنومی کلاس میں سفر کرتے تھے. اپنے گھر کو وزیر اعظم ہاؤس کا درجہ دیا نہ کہ خود اپنے تام توبڑے سمیت سرکاری محل میں جا بیٹھتے. لیکن کیا ہوا؟ آج کیا کسی کو یاد بھی ہے کہ ہمارے ملک میں محض ١٥ سال پہلے ایسا دور بھی آچکا ہے کہ جب وزیر اعظم عام لوگوں کی طرح رہتا اور گھومتا پھرتا تھا؟

اگر خدا لگتی بات کریں تو اس وقت عوام کا سیاست دانوں پر سے اعتبار مکمل طور پر اٹھ چکا ہے. وہ سیاست جو بنی اسرائیل میں انبیاءجیسی پاکیزہ ہستیاں کیا کرتی تھیں ، آج ایسا لفظ بن گیا ہے جس کے مطلب جھوٹ، دھوکہ ، بد عہدی اور بہتان طرازی ہو کر رہ گیا ہے.یہ وہ لوگ ہیں جو کبھی تو ایک دوسرے کو غلیظ القابات سے نوازتے ہیں، پھر “ملک کے عظیم تر مفاد” میں ان سے اکٹھ بناتے ہیں، اور پھرانہی سے ہاتھا پائی بھی کر بیٹھتے ہیں. پھر مل جائیں گے، پھر روٹھ جائیں گے. غرض جو بھی کرتے ہیں، لگتا یہ کہ عوام کو اس سے کوئی سرو کار ہی نہیں ہے کہ یہ کیا کر رہے ہیں؟ دیکھا یہ گیا ہے کہ ہر کوئی روزانہ TV اس امید پر کھولتا ہے کہ شاید کوئی نیا تماشا دکھ جائے. اور مایوسی نہیں ہوتی. کہیں کوئی قرآن سر پر اٹھا کر اپنے آپ کو معصوم اور دوسرے کو قاتل قرار دے رہا ہے تو کہیں ایسا جواب دیا جا رہا ہے کہ لوگ سوچتے ہی رہ گئے کہ کہا کیا؟ لگتا ایسا ہے کہ ان تمام جماعتوں اور لیڈروں کو پتہ ہے کہ عوام کے چاہنے نہ چاہنے سے کچھ نہیں ہوتا، طاقت کے مراکز کہیں اور ہیں اور ان کو خوش رکھنےمیں ہی اقتدار ملتا ہے. اور یہ جو جملہ ہوتا ہے نا کہ “یار یہ سب ملے ہوئے ہیں” یہ کسی ایک قومیت کے لوگوں میں محدود نہیں ہے. تو ایک دفعہ جی کڑا کر کہ یہ تسلیم کر کیوں نہیں لیتے کہ ہاں بھائی ہماری پسند اور ہے اور ترجیح اور.یہ کہ وہ جو ہم چاہتے ہیں کہ ہم پسند کریں وہ اور چیز ہے اور وہ جو ہمیں واقعی پسند ہے وہ اور. اس سے اور کچھ ہو نہ ہو کم از کم اس دو عملی سے تو جان چھوٹ جائے گی جس میں قوم آج مبتلا ہے.

ویسے قائدین کے اس قحط الرجال کی ذمے داری ایک حد تک علماء پر بھی آتی ہے. انہوں نے خانقاہوں تک اپنے آپ کو محدود کر کے سمجھا کہ حکومت کرنا کسی اور کا کام ہے. ظاہر ہے کہ نظام کوئی خلاء نہیں ہوتا اگر اچھی قوتیں اقتدار پر قبضہ نہیں کرتیں تو بری قوتیں تو آئیں گی ہی. اسلام میں عہدے کی خواہش کرنا اور اس کے لئے تگ و دو کرنا کوئی پسندیدہ بات نہیں ہے لیکن جیسا کہ ہمیں حضرت یوسفؑ کی سیرت میں ملتا ہے کہ اگر متبادل قیادت میں کوئی دیانت دار شخص نہ ہو تو عہدے کو لے لینا غلط بھی نہیں. علماء نے بہرحال احتیاط کو ترجیح دی او رحکمرانوں کو مشوره دینے اور بعض صورتوں میں سرزنش کی حد تک اپنے آپ کو محدود رکھا. اور اگر اسلاف میں تابعین اور تبع تابعین کا طرز عمل دیکھیں تو انہوں نے بھی یہی کیا. لیکن اس وقت میں اور اس وقت میں چند بنیادی فرق ہیں . اور وہ یہ کہ ایک تو اس وقت شریعت کا نظام نافذ تھا. جو بھی برائیاں تھیں وہ بادشاہ یا طبقہ امراء کی حد تک تھیں. دوسرے یہ کہ عوام کا تعلّق علماء کے ساتھ بہت مضبوط تھا. اکثریت کی نظر میں معروف معروف تھا اور منکر منکر.جبکہ آج آوے کا آوا بگڑا ہوا ہے. غرض آج کے اس دور میں جبکہ عوام کی سطح پر شریعت پر عمل تقریبا مفقود ہو گیا ہے،جیّد علماء کے لئے کلمہ حق کو بلند کرنا اور بھی ضروری ہو گیا ہے.

جاتے جاتے اس بات پر غور کر لیں کہ جیسا دودھ ہوتا ہے ویسی ہی بالائی ہوتی ہے. تو جیسی دوغلی قوم ہے ویسے ہی اس کے حکمران. ہمارے نزدیک قائد کو ذرا بھرم باز ہونا چاہیے. جس سے سب ڈرتے ہوں اور جس کے قول و فعل میں بھلے تضاد ہو تو ہو لیکن بات کرے تو سب کو چپ کرا دے. نماز بھلے نہ پڑھے لیکن قرآن کے معنی سمجھا دے بھلے غلط ہوں. اور لیڈر کی شرعی داڑھی کا مطلب تو یہ کہ وہ قیادت کے لائق ہی نہیں.غرض ہم لوگوں کے نزدیک شریف آدمی بیوقوف ہوتا ہے اور تیز آدمی کارآمد. کیا کروں کہ بات اسی کنویں کے مینڈکوں تک واپس آگئی کہ جو شاید”بھولے بادشاہ” پر صبر کر جاتے تو خوش رہتے. اژدہے کے پیٹ میں نہ جانے کیا سوچتے ہونگے. لیکن کیا کریں کہ راوی ایسے بے وقوفوں کے بارے میں چپ ہے!

Homeschooling: Why and How!

Blasphemy Law and The Dilemma of the Apologists!

A few years back there was a huge uproar in the Muslim communities around the world over the Danish cartoon controversy. Protests in some parts such as Pakistan turned violent and angry mobs damaged private property apart from burning effigies of the culprits. This scribe had written a piece- in fact a series of articles- back then urging people to just ignore these insults as, in my opinion back then, that’s the only suitable reply. Apart from that, the series also tried to prove from the Seerah of RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) and Sahaba (r.a.) that they always dealt with blasphemous behavior in the same way.

Well, I have to confess, I was ignorant of our history and I was foolishly wrong!

I guess now that I’ve read and heard a bit of our history (still not all of it obviously), I can tell you that there’s overwhelming evidence that the only suitable punishment against blasphemy to RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) and all the prophets of ALLAH (s.w.t.) is death, and a swift one at that! Not only there’re instances that Sahaba (r.a.) killed blasphemers but they did so with the approval, and in some cases orders, of RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.).

Ka’b ibn Ashraf, Abu Rafay, Ibn Khatal and his two slavegirls, a jewish woman in Medina and lots of others are such criminals that were slain by Sahaba (r.a.) and, as is reported in numerous Hadith, with orders or approvals of RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.). Some were set up, some ambushed, some immediately killed, some properly executed.

The fact that such an important part of Seerat un Nabi (s.a.w.) is one of the most obscure ones is a mind-boggling phenomenon. We’ve been taught in our schools and colleges and higher levels that Islam is a religion of tolerance, that RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) always fought when war was thrust upon Muslims and that RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) pardoned each and every one of his enemies – even the killers of Hadhrat Hamza (r.a.)- on the day of Fath Makka,.

It turns out that we’ve been told only partial truths!

The history that we have been studying in our course book has been contorted; the Truth has been misconstrued. The roots of the current science-centric education system that we are following in Pakistan, can be traced back to two major movements historically: a) Malthusianism[1] and b) the Ali Garh movement[2]. It was with the efforts of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan that Muslims started studying the sciences and English language and his services can’t be denied. Yet, it was also largely due to his influence that Muslims, early after, adopted the already corrupt and infected education system set by British East India Company.

The advent of this modern education in Muslims became the main cause of promotion of a more docile version of Islam. A docile, rather toothless, version of Islam that practices non-violence to the core and goes to war only when war is thrust upon it. While that’s not entirely untrue, it’s not the whole truth either. There are countless examples when the offensive was taken by Muslims and took the Kuffar by surprise. Ghazwa Badr was well and truly the first proper battle between Muslims and Kuffar but what’s not told to us is that there were as many as eight military expeditions sent or led by RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) before the battle of Badr. Each of those expeditions paid dividends and a large area in Hijaz which was earlier under allegiance with Quraish either became a Muslim ally or became neutral. Also, there’re a lot of examples of preemptive strikes out of which the famous battle of Khyber and the battle of Bani Al-Mustaliq are famous. Reading our history in this way casts a totally different light altogether to how we should go about our religious duties. But by and large, these incidents have been obscured by our education system and either inadvertently or intentionally created breeds after breeds of apologists whose life’s work is to deny such important elements of our history.

Some glaring examples can be found in response to the recent case of Aasia Maseeh, the woman convicted of blasphemy against RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.). While there are liberal fascist making raucous noises to repeal the blasphemy law altogether, there are also some apologists, senior opinion-makers in the print and electronic media, who are trying to remind us of the tolerance in our religion, that a mother of 5 children – one of which is disabled- should be pardoned, especially after she says she’s sorry. There are also such daft columnists who see Salman Taseer’s hasty visit with his family to the convicted woman in prison and conducting a press conference there as an act out of empathy. It’s beyond words how disgusted the people of Pakistan are with the efforts of the ruling class to have a convict of blasphemy pardoned, that too on the orders of Pope Benedict, while the same ruling elite is tightlipped over the abduction and illegitimate trial of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

But even if we assume that the government will go the whole nine yards to get Aasia removed to some western country, it seems appropriate at this point to see if pardoning Aasia Maseeh is within the power of the government or not.

Apologists claim that RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) pardoned everyone who ever said anything foul to him. They give the examples of the women who threw garbage on RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) daily, whom he (s.a.w.) had visited when she’d fallen ill. They also give the examples of conquest of Makka (Fath Makka) when he (s.a.w.) pardoned everyone in Makka. They also claim Aasia Maseeh said she’s sorry and has hence repented. They also say that Aasia is a non Muslim and Muslim capital punishment is not applicable to her. They say she’s a women and she’s poor so she should be pardoned. That we should pardon her to show goodwill towards west and thus pave the way to Islam’s preaching.

First of all, the amnesty on the day of the Fath Makka was for everyone, except there was a black list. A list of those who were to be slain even if they were found hanging with the curtains of Kabba, the most sacred of sacred places on earth. Ibn Khatal, as it goes, was found exactly in this situation and still was executed. There were two slavegirls of Ibn Khatal who used to sing absurdities against RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) and they were also in that list. It’s important to note that they were also women like Aasia, they were also non-muslims like her, they probably were also poor, in fact they were slaves and hence had no free will, still they were executed. Ibn Taimiyah says that it shows that blasphemy against RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) is an even greater crime than murder.

Secondly, even if we agree that RasooluLLAH (s.a.w.) pardoned some when he found it appropriate, it should stand as his prerogative and that’s it. Now we can’t pardon anyone on his behalf. Neither the government, nor the complainant.

Thirdly, even if she’s sorry for what she did doesn’t make her crime any milder. It’s similar if a murderer on the death row says he’s sorry, doesn’t absolve him of his crime. After all we’ve just seen that the crime that was perpetrated here was bigger than murder. It’s the verdict of scholars new and old, that the perpetrator of blasphemy should be killed immediately and not to be given a chance.

Lastly, we shouldn’t pardon her to just show our goodwill towards the west. Just to show how tolerant we are. That’s the most absurd excuse to do something equally absurd. If we had dealt with blasphemers in the way of Sahaba (r.a.) lately, our outlook would be a lot more different from it is today. It’s because of this tolerant behavior that any tom, harry or dick could say or write what he likes about our sacred personalities. If Salman Rushdi had been slain back then in the eighties, or Tasleema Nasreen back in the nineties, or the perpetrators of the European newspapers controversy had been killed back then, we would be a lot better off than we are today. Every time something like this happens, our response has grown weaker. And now it has come down to the point where our government is trying to dodge its public to provide safe passage to a convict of blasphemy. I seek refuge with ALLAH (s.w.t.) from the day when our public would be trying to save such a criminal from punishment.

As an afterthought, we probably should agree with the liberal fascists on one thing. That the blasphemy law should be repealed altogether. As it happens, having a law for a crime makes the punishment predictable. And when something is predictable it’s all the more defendable. If there’s no blasphemy law, then public would do justice on its own. The anticipation of punishment would be all the more painful for the perpetrators as the punishment itself.

There would be a Ghazi Ilm Deen Shaheed on every street, every city! 

---

[1] Malthusianism refers to the political/economic thought of Reverend and indirect employee of British East India Company Thomas Robert Malthus, whose ideas were first developed during the industrial revolution. It follows his 1798 writings, An Essay on the Principle of Population, which had a great impact on the way British East India Company managed India; it had a great impact on economic\political\education policies of Great Britain.
[2] Aligarh Movement was the movement led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, to educate the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent after the defeat of the rebels in the Indian rebellion of 1857.

Blasphemy And The Ban on Facebook

Akhtar Sheerani, the poet, is said to be once in a very drunken state and was shouting profanities at everyone present or anyone mentioned. He was in such a drunken state that he probably could hardly tell what he was saying and about whom. It was in such a state that someone around him casually mentioned the name of RasooluLLAH (saw). At this the poet was suddenly outraged, he presumably threw something on the culprit who had mentioned the name and shouted, “do you want to deprive me of the only support I have?”

Ghazi Ilam din’s story isn’t different either; he was the men who killed the blasphemer who was all but set to be free by the law. It is said that when he was told that to have a strong case in the court and to avoid punishment he should deny the incident. And he said, amazed by the ignorance of his educated advisors, “this is the only thing worthwhile I’ve done my entire life, how can I deny this?”

Those, my dear readers, are the responses of two Muslims not known as very practicing ones, but they depict the truest picture of Muslims in general. Muslims may be adulterers, drunkards, usurers and downright sinners, but they can never ever withstand blasphemy against RasooluLLAH (saw). In fact, it’s been witnessed that the lesser a person weighs in practice, the more pronounced are his or her reactions. This is one thing the enemies of Islam have never been able to understand. For ages, centuries in fact, they’ve silently, clinically corrupted our thought process, our intellectual assets, manipulated our intellect from within and outside us. Imposing upon us pseudo-intellectuals who couldn’t tell one set of Hadith from another. But to see if their efforts have been fruitful, they have to run tests. The seemingly disconnected, sporadic incidents of blasphemy are in fact absolutely connected. They are to check if Muslims have left any amount of Ghairat left in them, and probably to their surprise, Muslims are down, but not out.

There are, however, some others who assume an apologetic role towards Islam as if they’ve been trusted with the burden of introducing Islam to the west. They want to picture Islam as a religion of timid, toothless followers who can’t protect their sacred heritage. They’ll never stop mentioning Hudaibiyah on the premise that RasooluLLAH (saw) accepted seemingly belittling terms set by the enemy for peace to prevail. They either don’t know or feign ignorance that when this same pact was broken by the hawks of Makkah two years later, Abu Sufiyan (ra) had rushed to Madina seeking its reinstatement and it wasn’t granted, setting the precursor to Fath e Makkah. Or they’ll mention that no one was to be harmed on the day of Fath e Makkah, only to forget that there was still a black list of men and women who were to be executed even if they were to found behind the veil of Kaaba. They’ll mention the days of Taif when Kuffar used to shout and tease RasooluLLAH (saw) him physically as well as verbally, wheras RasooluLLAH (saw) prayed for them. These apologists forget that when in Madina, he had ordered the execution of Ka’ab bin Ashraf and Abu Rafa, known blasphemers who were sensationally executed in their own dens by Hazrat Muhammad ibn Muslamah (ra) and AbduLLAH ibn Ateek (ra) respectively along with their teams (ra). These are only two of the many instances in which blasphemers were executed. There are other instances when Sahaba (ra) acted on their own and RasooluLLAH (saw) appreciated the actions.

I can understand where these apologetic stances come from, for I used to think the same. The soft image, the moderate type. Unfortunately, that’s what we’ve been fed at schools. That Muslims were always on the defensive, whatever they did was for defending themselves and any and all aggressions were done by the Kuffars. Trust me, when one reads the authentic Seerah books, it is revealed that RasooluLLAH (saw) was always many steps ahead of the enemy, creating opportunities to terrorize them, preempting the attacks in many instances, and employing battle strategies unknown even to the war mongering tribals. We must understand that there’s neither peace nor war in Islam. The goal is to implement the politico-socio-economic system of Islam to the point of making it dominant over all other systems, as mentioned in Surah Saff, Surah Tauba and Surah Fath. If that’s achieved by implementing peace, well and good, but if war’s the solution then so be it.

Coming back to the topic, one of the most striking things in the black list of Fath e Makkah were the names of two slavegirls of Abu Lahb and ibn Khatl. Scholars have called this fact extraordinary because they were woman, non combatant, and on top of that, slaves. Their crime was that they sang improper songs towards RasooluLLAH (saw), which was enough for their executions. On the other hand, Handh, the lady who had desecrated the corpse of Hazrat Hamza (ra) was given amnesty. So it can be safely said that blasphemy is a sin of higher degree.

In this context, when we look at the bans on Facebook and many others, it shouldn’t surprise us. As stated earlier, Muslims can be misguided, but they can’t compromise the respect of RasooluLLAH (saw). As of this point, many have deactivated their facebook accounts, many couldn’t because the site’s already inaccessible. Along with that, sites like youtube, flickr, and wikipedia have also been banned. A surprise, probably erroneous inclusion was that of blackberry services, but other than that, there’s hardly anything that people miss. It’s correct that these sites were the best in their respective domains, but they weren’t the only ones. Already traffic is turning to other sites; it’s a free world isn’t it? It may be argued that only the page could be banned but the administration hasn’t leant a listening ear to those reporting the abusive page, therefore, at least a temporary ban isn’t going to cause anyone to miss much, despite the site’s usability to proclaim the dawah to acquaintances in a shorter and user friendly way. Banning them is hardly a ban on expression; this is symbolic of our outrage against their apathy towards our feelings.

But the fact remains that such blasphemies are becoming more and more in number and Muslims’ responses are becoming much tamer. In an unbiased view, Muslims have brought it upon themselves. They’ve relinquished the Sunnah and mostly only recognize rituals and are comfortable doing them. So much so that in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, almost every ruler has fought vociferously against the abrogation of Riba. Even when the case against Riba was all but won, they found a way to claw back and reversed the decisions with ugly politics. Most of the educated elite are fans of Musharraf thinking he brought liquidity to the economy, whereas he brought more liquid than liquidity to the country, liquor is a commodity freely available these days, thanks to the “abstinent hermit” known as Pervez Musharraf.. 

There’s not a single globally recognized inch in the whole world where Islam is acted upon as the deen. We see it being practiced everywhere as individual Madhab. It’s the fastest growing religion of the world, but as a system, it’s totally dominated. That’s absolutely the responsibility of Muslims who have accepted secondary citizenship and are happy practicing Islam in their lives in whatever limited way they can. It is in this pretext that these blasphemies are done. They check the ferocity of the responses, and go back to the drawing board with a new strategy. They’re supposedly to continue unless they feel the responses are now very timid and then they’ll launch phase II.

Lastly, there’s hardly such a thing as harmless humor in media. Entities like Southpark, The Daily Show and political caricatures will always demean one end of the society to make the other laugh. So when we’re laughing on such things we should understand that such a person doesn’t respect limits and can as well make fun of things we hold sacred.

I hope and pray to ALLAH (swt) that we gather the strength to obliterate all such people who dare point even a finger at our beloved RasooluLLAH (saw).

Ustad e Muhtaram ki Yaad main

For those who ponder

The modern age is the age of professionalism. This is the age when being workaholic is not a disorder but a demand. People now cannot tend to their most basic needs because they haven’t the time to do so. Being ahead from their peers in the rat race remains the ultimate desire of every individual. So much so that to be ahead in life they forsake their basic rights, right to be happy, right to be content, right to be with the family, right to be religious etc. Today’s civilization seems like a giant web which has tied us in invisible strings where we’re supposed to do only three things: Go to work, go home, and prepare to go to work. Even our recreations are a way of supplementing this schedule.

But there are times, when destiny laughs in our face and makes us feel so helpless that we’re left wondering if we had any power all along. It’s at such times that our monotony comes to an abrupt halt. One such instance is when we’re witnessing the funeral of a loved one. At such a time, none of our “most important and most urgent” errands are so much as important as the grief of losing our loved ones. Work can wait then, because we’ve humbly submitted to our destiny.

The same hand of destiny is currently holding an entire continent- who is the flag bearer of atheism in the world- in a state of paralysis. Europe’s air travel has come down to an absolute halt due to hot toxic ash oozing from a glacier.

(Boston Big Picture)

I couldn’t help but laugh at the remark from an acquaintance that “isn’t it ironic hot lava is coming from Iceland!” The volcano, Eyjafjallajökull (Pronounced something like Aiya-fjadla-yeugdul), is a veteran of centuries and since the time of its reawakening last week, has spewed enough fumes and toxic ash into the atmosphere to have spread over almost all Europe.
(BBC News)
That’s why all flights coming in and out of Europe have been seized, leaving hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded at airports, airlines incurring daily losses of over 200 Million USD for accommodating customers, even Germany’s Chancellor has had to make her trip back home from Italy via car. Those who could afford are opting for the Intra-Continent train system, and some have opted for the fairy, converting one industry’s misery into another’s pleasure. The majority of people are those who are left stranded. People who were supposed to be on urgent assignments abroad have had to realign their schedule, they couldn’t have done otherwise. No matter how badly the airlines and the passengers want these flights to take off, conditions are absolutely not favorable for flight and there is high risk of plain crashes with ash blocking the engines. Worse, the glacier is still exhuming its contents and there’s a fair chance it could continue to do so for a month or even more. Worst, it could trigger other volcanoes which are somehow quite abundant in Iceland.

Our businesses run on the premise of predictability. We hope that the world wouldn’t come to end tomorrow. That’s why we leave our loved ones behind everyday to work because we believe that we’ll come back in the evening to see them again. This predictability comes from the laws that ALLAH (swt) has embedded in the universe: law of gravitation, law of entropy, law of aerodynamics, law of surface tension, law of aging etc. ALLAH (swt) declares this tranquility in the Quran as one of His Ayaat.
In Surah Faatir it is mentioned:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُمْسِكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ أَن تَزُولَا ۚ وَلَئِن زَالَتَا إِنْ أَمْسَكَهُمَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّن بَعْدِهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا

خدا ہی آسمانوں اور زمین کو تھامے رکھتا ہے کہ ٹل نہ جائیں۔ اگر وہ ٹل جائیں تو خدا کے سوا کوئی ایسا نہیں جو ان کو تھام سکے۔ بےشک وہ بردبار (اور) بخشنے والا ہے

Lo! Allah graspeth the heavens and the earth that they deviate not, and if they were to deviate there is not one that could grasp them after Him. Lo! He is ever Clement, Forgiving. (41)

On another place it is mentioned in Surah Shoora:

إِن يَشَأ يُسكِنِ الرّيحَ فَيَظلَلنَ رَواكِدَ عَلىٰ ظَهرِهِ ۚ إِنَّ فى ذٰلِكَ لَءايٰتٍ لِكُلِّ صَبّارٍ شَكورٍ

اگر خدا چاہے تو ہوا کو ٹھیرا دے اور جہاز اس کی سطح پر کھڑے رہ جائیں۔ تمام صبر اور شکر کرنے والوں کے لئے ان (باتوں) میں قدرت خدا کے نمونے ہیں

If He will He calmeth the wind so that they keep still upon its surface – Lo! herein verily are signs for every steadfast grateful (heart). – (33)

In Surah Room it is mentioned:

وَمِن ءايٰتِهِ أَن يُرسِلَ الرِّياحَ مُبَشِّرٰتٍ وَلِيُذيقَكُم مِن رَحمَتِهِ وَلِتَجرِىَ الفُلكُ بِأَمرِهِ وَلِتَبتَغوا مِن فَضلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُم تَشكُرونَ

اور اُسی کی نشانیوں میں سے ہے کہ ہواؤں کو بھیجتا ہے کہ خوشخبری دیتی ہیں تاکہ تم کو اپنی رحمت کے مزے چکھائے اور تاکہ اس کے حکم سے کشتیاں چلیں اور تاکہ اس کے فضل سے (روزی) طلب کرو عجب نہیں کہ تم شکر کرو

And of His signs is this: He sendeth herald winds to make you taste His mercy, and that the ships may sail at His command, and that ye may seek his favour, and that haply ye may be thankful. (46)

As it is clear from the above mentioned verses, the laws of nature, no matter how predictable, are subject to ALLAH (swt)’s will. It’s not just that the universe was created by ALLAH (swt) and triggered in a self-perpetuation state. No. ALLAH (swt) is well and truly at the helm of His eternal kingdom. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, cyclones, tremors, and epidemics like dengue fever, cholera and plague are not signs of chaos, but the exceptions that prove the rule. They are but just a way to remind human beings that they’re not left unanswerable and that they’re not indispensable. There were much mightier civilizations than the current one which have been swept clean from the face of this earth in such catastrophes. As if they never were.

For those affected by this current debacle, and for those who’re witnessing it happen, maybe ALLAH (swt) has given a chance to ponder in his Ayaat. We’ve got to take the time out of our busy schedules to look into ourselves and in the universe. Human being has become lonelier and lonelier but the solitude that lets us think about our Creator is still a rare commodity. We should relish this chance. Any calamity that makes us closer to our Lord is not a calamity, it’s a blessing. And smart and practical people grab blessings with both hands!

May ALLAH (swt) makes us one of his dear ones. Ameen

Quranic references from:

Quran Media Player

Quran Explorer

Tanzil.info

Protest against Gillette’s collective shaving event!

One of the biggest signs of a society’s bankruptcy is the demise of its social values. Social values are benchmarks of good and bad, acceptable and rejected, desired and detested and so on. So when society derives these values indigenously from within itself, it’s a living society, on the contrary if it depends on external sources for its values, it’s stagnant! What we’re experiencing today in our society is the latter behavior. We’ve slowly and gradually approached a point where we look towards the west for our benchmarks of good, bad, success and failure, while abandoning those given to us by our Creator, ALLAH (swt). It’s evident in our individual behavior and ubiquitous in our society. It’s a direct result of our society’s submission to the western culture and our ignorance towards our cultural asset.

However, saying so doesn’t mean that our individual has gone so bankrupt that he doesn’t love religion. It’s one thing to ignore something and quite another to not love it. That’s exactly why that despite our lack of application of religion in our personal lives, we’re always in unison against any attempt towards disgracing our religious symbols. Protests against blasphemy are a case in point. The west and its agents try it time and again and keep testing the level of “Ghairat” left in Muslims. They’re relentless in their approach therefore we’re experiencing these incidents more and more.

One such incident was Tuesday’s collective shaving event held by Gillette. The company has been holding such events in other countries and brought this campaign to Pakistan for the first time. As reported from various sources, the event was to break the world record set by India where a few more than 1800 people shaved their faces simultaneously. The idea was to gather 2500 men who’ll do the same at the signal and shave their beards to “bring glory to Pakistan”. Apparently someone from Guinness was also present to verify the validity of the claim. The event was to be held at 6 pm in an ongoing festival of some sort at Karachi Expo center.

This seemingly innocuous event, whose sole aim was manifested to revive patriotism in our youth, was actually an attempt to make a mockery of the sunnah of our beloved prophet RasooluLLAH (saw). Keeping beard is not only the sunnah of RasooluLLAH (saw) and his Sahaba (ra) but also his order to us. Every Muslim child knows this and every adult understands it. But the magic of these multinationals is so profound that they successfully deceived hundreds of young men to scrap this important sunnah from their faces collectively with the stroke of their blades. But were they successful? What followed is a case study of the power of word of mouth and more importantly, the strength of connection of Muslims with one another. An eyewitness account is narrated below verbatim.

“
At around 2 in the afternoon, I got an sms from a close friend of mine mentioning this event. I quickly asked him to confirm it to me as, with no disrespect to him, I couldn’t believe such an event could be held in broad daylight in the heart of the country which achieved its independence in the name of Islam. I asked a few other sources within some religious circles but they expressed their ignorance. Anyway, it wasn’t before 3 when I could log on to my pc and find the event’s specifics online. Truly speaking, I was still not sure if the organizers had the courage to actually hold this event, but there was only one way to confirm. I didn’t know what I would do if I’d confirm it but I just managed to convince myself to go to Expo center. I got at the University road gate of Expo center by 4 and it was, to my bewilderment, deserted as if no event was being held! I moved further and as I turned round the corner, saw some hustle and bustle in front of Sir Shah Suleiman road gate.

There was a mob of around 150 mostly bearded men gathered in front of the gate, there were banners mounted on the building’s fence denouncing the event and the organizers. As I grew nearer, it became evident that a lot had happened already. Although there was a mob gathered there, who seemed to belong mostly from religious schools, but also included individuals who didn’t belong to any religious outfit, there were absolutely no signs of riot or chaos. The mob wasn’t effectively following a leader but it was extremely peaceful. They were chanting slogans demanding stern action against the organizers and that the event be cancelled. As I was approaching the mob, it suddenly began to disperse. On inquiring a gentleman, I was told that the event has been cancelled and the organizers have guaranteed that this promise wouldn’t be broken. On asking which party he belonged to I was told simply that it didn’t matter as all of the people there had gathered purely for the love of the Sunnah of RasooluLLAH (saw), I was literally humbled by this response. Soon after a middle aged cleric addressed without any loudspeaker and lambasted the organizers for their compliance with the Zionist Multinational companies. He also criticized Gillette for their provocative attempt and demanded that their trade license in Pakistan be cancelled. He later demanded the Supreme Court to take notice of the event and punish the culprits. There was another short speech by another young man and then the cleric spoke again. The religious students boarded their bus in the meanwhile and the mob dispersed soon after…“

Listening to this account and watching the video of the protest has revived my confidence in this Ummah, I’m sure you’d share the sentiment. If each individual just decides to do whatever is in his capacity, without thinking whether or not it will make a difference, ALLAH would make it easy for him. These were only 100-150 people, ALLAH knows how many would gather if more time was at hand.

But it must be remembered that no enemy raises his eyes towards any nation who guards its ideological borders. We’ve allowed too much influence by the western and Indian media and it’s hurting us badly.If committing a sin collectively is a sin then we’re all guilty of committing the sin of not struggling for establishment of Islam in this country, which ironically was built in the name of Islam. Failure to do so I’m afraid, will result in even greater threats and those may be too much for our weak nation to handle.

May ALLAH save us from such a fate, ameen.

Inqilab!

Questions to Mothers and Sisters!