Extremism in every religion and field
Reason for Criticism of Mullahs
Deep grief prevails over Sialkot tragedy. It forces one to spend sleepless nights. People have expressed grief over it in various ways. Horrible videos have evoked anger, grief, and different reactions. Sometimes it seems that extremism is emerging in reaction of extremism. Many people criticized the Mullahs. Analysts made references to religious extremism in Pakistan. The immediate reason is that religious extremism seems to be the root cause behind the Sialkot tragedy. However, the issue needs some more seriousness. We need to pause and take a closer look at its background. One cannot uncover the truth without looking at the manifestations of extremism in and outside the country.
Grief has other titles as well
First of all, it is important to acknowledge that there have been instances of rampant, bloody, and fiery extremism among Muslims over the past few decades; sometimes in the name of the Taliban and at times in the name of al-Qaeda; sometimes in the name of ISIS and at times in the form of Boko Haram, but there are other titles of extremism and its savagery can be seen in other religions as well.
The ordeal of minorities in India
What is happening in Kashmir at the hands of our neighboring country, which is apparently the largest democracy in the world, cannot be called other than state terrorism. According to the latest news, it has become difficult to communicate with the Muslims in Kashmir over the telephone especially from Pakistan. Even if a government official gets a call from Pakistan, it lands him in trouble. There are so many Muslims who have lost their jobs just because they have received a telephone call from abroad, especially from someone who criticizes India’s brutal tactics in Kashmir. Leave the blood-soaked saga of Kashmir aside, if you take a cursory look at the persecution of Muslims in India, you will cry out of pain if you have a heart in your chest. When the brutalities inflicted on human beings in the name of cow vigil will go down in the annals of history, it will be written on its title page that kind-hearted people avoid studying it. Look at the BJP era; will anyone be held accountable for the woes suffered by poor farmers for months. Perhaps, the world is not yet ready to hear the painful story of the Muslims in Bengal, the Christians in Nagaland, and the downtrodden Hindus.
Followers of Buddha have stained their history
The way the Rohingya Muslims were persecuted by the so-called followers of Buddha has no parallel in the entire history of the Buddhists. Stories of the Buddha’s philanthropy and selflessness for the underprivileged have been influencing human souls for centuries, regardless of restriction of region or religion, or nation. The Buddha is revered across the world because of his selflessness, but the way Buddhists demolished houses and mosques and spilled blood of a fellow human is very much painful and agonizing.
Manifestations of extremism in the West
These are the stories of the East, while the stories of the West are equally terrible. All sorts of barbaric acts against Muslims acts of Islamophobia, incidents of burning of the Holy Qur’an, blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) under government patronage, drawing a parallel between the minarets of mosques and missiles, their demolition, and making legislation to prohibit their reconstruction, incidents against headscarves and Islamic hijab in different countries and formation of discriminatory laws and regulations, ban on wearing headscarves in universities, colleges and schools, expulsion from departments, attacks on women wearing scarves—all these incidents are happening there called the free world; where human freedom is trumpeted all the time.
Role of Western governments in the creation of extremist organizations
The leaders of the same free world have, somehow, acknowledged that they are the masterminds and creators of Al Qaeda and ISIL and are patronizing the Taliban. Jabhat al-Nusra [Al-Nusrah Front] is serving their purposes. Although, this is an established fact and an acknowledged reality, yet they link the incidents carried out by the dreaded organizations, created by themselves, to Islam and Muslims.
Creation of Israel and epicenter of extremism
The colonial mindset of the Western rulers planned the creation of Israel, which is the epicenter and axis of all forms of extremism and carnage in the Middle East. Why the people of the East are punished if the Jews were persecuted in the West and why the Palestinians were evicted of their lands and a Zionist state was founded? There is no doubt that this state was created to serve the purposes of the colonial forces and for this, religious sentiments were aroused. Religious fanaticism among the Jews was fanned, and they were shown the dreams of the Holy land of Palestine. However, the fact is that they were pushed to the brink of destruction. Regardless of military or financial aid, the land now called Israel has been finally turned into a landmine. The Jews have built walls around themselves, which are no less than explosives. In the name of a strong state, they are, in fact, surrounded by hellfire. Muslims were not involved in the killing of Jews in Germany or any other Western country, but the seeds of adversary have been sown between them.
Wars in the name of religions
Inter religion and intra religion wars also carry an important chapter of horror and terror in history. Be it the wars among the Christian, or the crusades between Muslims and Christians, or the Shia-Sunni riots, or be it the bloody history of the Ash’arians and the Mu’tazilites—all these are tragic stories of inter-religion or intra religion wars, but the question is whether the fatalities have occurred just in the name of religion? The answer is, no! Instead, wars were fought among nations because of nationalities and regions and differences in languages and civilizations.
Different cards
In our country some people use Baloch cards, some use Sindhi cards, some have found the title of Kashmir and some see the sacred turban of Punjab. The power-hungry people work on evil plans to pitch human beings against human beings. Humans are shedding the blood of other humans in the name of politics, in the name of the state, in the name of rights, in the name of honor, and in the name of religion.
Misuse of sacred names
The intensity of grief increases when the blood is shed in the name of man-friendly leaders and defenders of human dignity. We have already mentioned the Buddha. The holy name of the Prophet, Rehmat-ul-Alamin, is also used for this unholy purpose. Remembering Karbala, the name of a battle against oppression sometimes becomes a crime. We have been watching with open eyes as to what purposes the names of Sahaba and Ahl-e-Bayt were used.
Is the law sufficient?
Some people believe that peace can be achieved through law. We do not deny the need for proper law and its enforcement, but we know that mere legislation cannot stop bloodshed unless a man is capable to recognize his worth and status, respect other people, prefer intellect over emotions, consider himself accountable to God; in other words, humanity awakens and the man realizes that his real status is above the angels and he has been sent down on earth as the caliph of Allah. He is supposed to recognize deceivers and keep an eye on those who misuse sacred titles for unholy designs because they are evil souls and children of Iblis [Satan] who deceived Adam, the Abu al-Bashar. Now the children of Adam need to beware of them, or else the earth can never turn into a paradise.
