Brooding over the unending news stories of violence in the
name of Islam (which, ironically, signifies `peace') in which the Terrorist so
often joins the club of Mullahs, one may conveniently interpret the phenomenon
as an expression of the enthusiasm of the devout Muslims. But one has to possess
more incisive perception to distinguish between the way Khalid bin Waleed came
down on the enemies of Allah and the Prophet (sws) and the way a half literate
Maulvi incites his neighbours to mercilessly kill a noble fellow Muslim charging
him with unsubstantiated allegation of blasphemy. Here we have at our hands
undeniable evidence of the alliance of the Mullah with the Terrorist. The
alarming extent to which the situation has degenerated, and with the given
rapidity, it appears to be an exercise in self annihilation, whereas it has been
declared in the Qur’ān that:
"Anyone who kills a Muslim intentionally will be cast into
Hell to abide there for ever, and suffer God's anger and damnation. For him a
great punishment awaits." (4:93)
The Prophet (sws) while explaining the above verse is
reported to have said:
"Do not turn apostates after me by killing each other."
(Bukhari:Sermon of the Last Hajj)
"A Muslim is one whose hands and tongue do not harm his
fellow Muslims." (Muslim: Kitaab-ul-Imaan)
These sayings of the Allah and His Prophet (sws) signify
the sanctity of the life of fellow Muslims. Needless to say that there are
strict directions regarding the sanctity of the lives and property of the
non-Muslims also. Amid this tradition of respect for human life and property we
see the license to kill and plunder, in the hands of Maulvis and their semi
literate followers.
The religious/sectarian organizations have become places
of refuge for notorious criminals. The sectarian violence is often employed as a
cover to settle personal scores by killing their foes and by destroying their
property. They extort money in the name of `sadqah' (donations) for Islam which
is ultimately consumed in financing their crimes and debauches. The Maulvi uses
whatever limited religious knowledge he has to paint a promising picture of
these crimes. The poor leaderless layman, who never bothered to understand the
religion himself and always remained content with the performance of the Maulvi,
commits a crime with peace at heart, never ever reflects on the wrong he has
done and even considers himself to be in the right. This is the most revolting
example of the depth to which a man can sink and degenerate, and the extent to
which he can destroy moral feeling in himself without difficulty of repentance.
The aetiology of this mental sickness can be best
understood in terms of incorrigibly poor standard of the religious `madrassas'
(schools), little religious awareness among common man, dwindling political
stability and failure of the law enforcing agencies. All of these factors put
together have undermined the very social fabric of our society.
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...What little we can do in this context is being
envisaged seriously despite scarcity of means. We are reconstructing the
religious thought on the basis of Qur’ān and Sunnah and its dissemination among
the educated people. We are also embarking upon a new educational system devoid
of the humanizing content of Western materialism and equipped with Islamic moral
tradition. It does not matter whether we succeed or not as long as we continue
to strive undaunted. |