Jehad

In A.D. 622 the Prophet Mohammad and his community of Muslims left the persecution of Mecca and established the world's first Islamic political system in Madina. From this new position they fought three wars with the Meccans and many other skirmishes. The revelations of the Quran that were give to Mohammad during this time delineate the criteria for a permissible, or "just," war. This first verse reflects the more violent period in which it was received: "Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them." Clearly, war is justified when it is a defensive war. Additionally, this next verse is explicitly against aggressive warfare: "And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not love those who exceed the limits."

Some of the verses dealing with war and violence during this time period seem to be more lenient as to when violence would be permitted and condoned. They are referred to as the "sword verses":

so when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie i wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

At first glance this verse seems to advocate violence against unbelievers. But its context is a specific battle in Madina occurring at the time of its revelation, a battle against idol worshippers, not people of the Book, not believers in monotheism. It commands that violence cease if the offenders repent. The second sword verse is as follows:

Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

Although this verse may appear superficially problematical, a close reading shows that it does not advocate violence against people of the Book, only those who reject God and his teachings outright. (let us always be sensitive to the fact that the word "Allah" is simply the Arabic translation of the English word "God" or the Hebrew word "Jehovah". And as a later verse shows, the offenders should be fought only until they cease hostilities toward Muslims, implying that those not initiating hostilities cannot be targeted. And last, if an enemy requests peace, it must be given: "And if they incline to peace, then incline to it and trust Allah; surely He is the Hearing, the Knowing"

Courtesy: Reconciliation ISBN: 987-1-84737-273-4

A year without her

27th December, 2007. The worst day in the history of any nation. 

It was a cold day, nothing much happening, except for the worries that the practice of suicide bombings have touched Lahore as well. Just a couple of weeks ago, FIA building had been hit with a suicide bomber. Many people lost their lives in it. I had a meeting at the clients office, and we planned to go their at the end of the day. My house was quite close to the clients office and I totally forgot that after the meeting I could straightly go home. So rode in a colleagues car and left my car behind at the office. On my way I realized that I have proven to be stupid enough to leave the car behind, as there was extremely ridiculous rush on the roads. 

Some how the topic of politics came in, and the two people sitting with me in the car, obviously NOT her supporters were arguing and blaming everyone in this world for what shit is happening to themselves. I kept my tone low, and tried to explain what my thoughts are about. Anyways, who is going to understand, common sense is not common here.

At clients office the meeting went well. It was almost after 6:00PM when I got a call from my wife. She told me that Mohtarma was in liaqat bagh doing her speech and a bomb has exploded over there. She said she is hanging up to check out what actually happened. We finished the meeting and got out of the clients office. Just half a kilometer away, a colleague of mine got a call from her home. And she announced, Benazir is dead.

I could not believe it, and I couldn't hold it in myself, and i shouted loudly and all the bad words came out of my mouth for those bastards. YES THE ESTABLISHMENT bastards. They killedher, they killed her. But somewhere there was a hope in my heart that may be the news was wrong, may be it was a nightmare. My colleague said she is at hospital and probably no dead yet. It gave me so much hope, as if someone has once again poured the life in my body. But Alas! it was not wrong. She was no more, she was the Martyr.

A year has passed but the heart is still expecting that she might pop up at the TV screen live and say something. Say something to soothe this nation who has probably lost the final hope of a better life. Yesterday they were showing her on every channel, ever where she was there, haunting us with her memories. 

Today I feel helpless and ashamed of the fact that she being a woman sacrificed not only her's but her whole family, and left her kids and husband's life in danger, for whom? for Us. But what I did. Nothing!

I don't want to say big words for her, as everyone nowadays is saying that. All TV channels, even the people who once hated her, are faking but still appreciating the contribution of that larger than life human being. She was actually a super hero, she was more than any super hero.

Today I promise myself, that I will do something, something for the party. Something for the country. So that while she look down on the earth should not feel that she gave her life for nothing, it absolutely should worth it.

Rung laye ga shaheedoun ka lahoo...

10 Million Dollar Shoe

They say, jay wela changa nahi reya tay wela perha vi nai renda. (if the good times didnt remain, bad will neither) But the sad story here is that the wela is perha today. The shoe went up in the air and aimed. It had hatred, it was worse then the atom bomb that fell on Hiroshima, the airplanes that crashed into the twin towers, the truck that smashed and exploded into Marriott islamabad, all those air strikes that killed six lac people in Iraq. Hence its not the weapon that matters, its the intentions that counts. This insult and humiliation might never let him sleep well for the rest of his life,

I guess for this moment Galib once said:

~bohat bay aabro ho ker teray koochay say hum niklay

Life moves and people forget what went wrong with them, sometimes they have to, sometimes they do. But what they never forget is what they did for others. God knows how pissed that gentleman was sitting there who knowingly that he might never be able to see the sunlight again did the act. Worse than a suicide bomb. Probably if the intentions of all the Talibans in this world becomes the same, this world might become a better place to live. From the looks of it, he seems like a decent moderate man, who probably didn't do it cuz one of his family member got killed, he probably did it as he knew the ground realities while filming the news across the country. I once heard this phrase in a movie, and that impressed me a lot. May be if we all understand what it means, we might be able to die contented one day. The phrase goes like:

Apnay jism per chot lagnay per tu kuta bhi bhonkta hai

Insaan wo hota hai jo kisi dosray kay dard ko mehsoos ker sakay

Translation: Even a dog barks if his body is being beaten. A human is the one who can feel someone Else's pain.

And I think he did it. But I am not saying all that to make that person a hero. What he did was probably ethically or morally not correct. As one day all these talibans might even start doing this to the people who they just want to humiliate. Just like they got the idea of suicide bombings from tamil tigers. Journalists, beware, you might have to sit bare feet next time you attend a press confrence :)

For all those to whom it may concern, we need to become human beings first, and then become muslims. As God made Qurran for human beings. It doesnt apply to animals, which I am sorry to say, many of us has become. If you think I am worng, please do apply that phrase of a "dog who barks" on yourself.