Road to Paradise

     BY
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.


ŠThe Nation Publications (pvt) Limited, 1997




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