June 18 , 2010
Are We an Unjust People?
It's like the pot, read Pakistanis, calling the kettle, read Israelis, black. Over 100 Ahmadis were massacred while praying and the protest from the Pakistani nation was individual, muted, minimal and quickly forgotten. Just a few days later Israel kills 20 activists in the Freedom Flotilla and Pakistanis were aflame in cities across the nation, pelting stones at police, burning cars and property. Protestors in Karachi included fully veiled women with children facing water cannons and police batons. Is there something wrong with this picture or is it just me?
I wondered why the news anchor kept calling the Ahmadi mosque a "house of worship" - got a clue, researched it and realized with utter disgust that calling an Ahmadi a Muslim and their houses of worship mosques would indict the journalist under Pakistan's ludicrous Blasphemy Law.
The patron saint of legislating Ahmadis as non-Muslim was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto; all for glaring, personal political motive. Saudi Arabia aided and abetted this then, and its Wahabi/Salafi philosophy of hate continues it. Bhutto's move for political expediency occurred in 1974 and if it was heresy that the ultra-right was afraid of, it was successful in incriminating Pakistan in the state-sponsored homicide of its own people.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan may have taken responsibility for the massacre but there is no shortage of hate-mongers in Pakistan. Muslims and Pakistanis protest when they are profiled in the West. When mosques are targeted we go on overdrive with screams of "this is a hate crime". But at home we give august reception to flakes like Amir Liaquat Hussain who whips up thousands of 21-year olds, in a single sitting, to rise and kill those that are "wajibul qatl" (the ones that must rightfully be killed). Within two days of one such tirade an Ahmadi doctor who served a large segment of an underprivileged population was mercilessly murdered, and his killers escaped with impunity. After another hate speech an Ahmadi physician-couple was brutally murdered. And yes guess again, the killers were not brought to justice.
Our nation's ethos is molded by two glorious men: Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In this anti-Ahmadi vendetta we must wonder what they would think. Would the mercy and fine sense of justice of the most perfect of all men (PBUH) condone the murder of even one Ahmadi? Would the pluralism and principles of Jinnah turn a blind eye to the horrifying massacre of Ahmadis while they knelt to God?
But our heroes are not Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Jinnah. We are a nation adrift. We idolize looters and plunderers, we follow the morally corrupt and we are roused to a frenzy by the hypocritical voices of hate, garbed in beards and turbans, hijabs and niqabs.
Any number of Palestinians can be killed and no one cares; one Israeli or in this case 20 Turks die and there is global protest. Similarly, Pakistanis kill 100 praying Ahmadis and no one cares, but when Israel kills 20 activists, Pakistanis are infuriated. So you are expendable if you are Palestinian or Ahmadi, and Pakistanis can kill one another, no problem, Israel cannot. The " halal for me to drink, haram for you to drink" premise.
But Israel dispossessed the Palestinians and murders and marauds till today. But it does this to an arch enemy. Pakistan allows the murder of its own citizens when actually the state is supposed to be like the love, warmth and protection of a mother.
And the art of political expediency must be learned from Pakistani politicians, in the vein of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. President Zardari made no statement post the Ahmadi massacre, Prime Minister Gilani cloistered himself from the cameras, mum was the word from Imran Khan and zero from Nawaz Sharif. And Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Qazi Hussain Ahmad might as well have been dead themselves or in bliss, who knows. Shahbaz Sharif took the cake: in worried, soft mumblings he referred to the victims as "woh jo mar gaye heyn". Even if he could not dare, terrified as he appeared of committing political suicide, call the victims "shaheed", could he not have had the basic decency to have referred to them in a more polite manner such as "jaan bahaq" perhaps? You see these are the stars that lead the nation.
And the Nawaz brothers were long-term guests of the Saudi nation - blood is expendable, favors must not be forgotten.
While there is an active and violent anti-Ahmadi movement, it is vital for the Pakistani nation to understand that those that believe in the Day of Judgment and "God's justice is finer than the weight of an atom" ( Qur’an 99:7), that ours is a complicit silence. Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear, just because the neighborhood imam has brainwashed us to hate Ahmadis, is making us culpable of a major sin under "amar bil maroof wa nahin anal munkar" (promote the good and forbid the evil, Qur’an 31: 17). Regardless of the evil myopia of the ultra-right each sane, adult Muslim will be called to account for this disconnect: murder and condoning it is a major sin and ostracizing and combating those that deny Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) being the last prophet is not a pillar of faith.
The civilian population should be disarmed immediately. Perhaps with the rising food, petrol and gas prices there can be a food-for-weapons program. Hate-mongering and spreading discord among people should be prosecuted in the court system in an effective and exemplary manner, with punishment that makes the collective hair of the nation stand on end. With the volley of attacks that have occurred on Ahmadis and minorities, as well as terrorism in general, the citizenry must be educated to inform the authorities of unusual developments in their neighborhoods, workplaces and even among relatives and friends.
The Pakistan People's Party must redeem its founder and have the moral courage to reverse the legislation that classified Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Anyone that recites the kalma is classified as a Muslim, the rest is between them and God. No Muslim is in a position to classify another as non-Muslim. My heart says that this is what Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Jinnah would want. Especially of a nation that was created in the name of Islam.
And for the state to legislate belief is ludicrous. Like the verse goes "merey khayal ko bayri pehna nahin saktey" (no one can chain my thoughts).
The vile scourge of terrorism will not end until each and every citizen plays their part. We must first believe that it is wrong to take a life, that jihad is first against one's nafs (base instincts) and the other only in self-defense and never against unarmed non-combatants. And most importantly that the angels on each shoulder and God above are witness to all we do and He promises justice in this world and the next.
Pakistan as a nation must face that it stands in complicit silence and tacit agreement with all that brutalize its minorities. The greatest loss of self-respect is when one falls in one's own estimation. Pakistanis hate each other, harbor fanatics, kill their brothers and condone murder. We deserve to be where we are today.
( Mahjabeen Islam is a columnist, physician and addictionist with a practice in Toledo Ohio. She can be reached at mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com)
