http://www.hclinfinet.com/2001/OCT/WEEK3/1/opinioned1frame.jsp
Keepers of the
faith
By Khalid
Hasan
Karachi
On
any given day, you may go through the pages of any Urdu newspaper
published in Pakistan and it is unlikely you will come across many
voices of moderation. The hysteria that you see in the streets
today has been nurtured by what you read in print here. The
language is belligerent and the appeal is directed at our most
primeval instincts.
A good deal of the intellectual and ideological confusion that
grips the nation today is largely the work of these holy warriors
who see themselves as crusaders in print. They thunder forth as
the defenders of a faith which they claim is under challenge from
the infidels, not realising that the course they advocate leads to
the abyss. Their understanding of Islam is superficial and
sentimental.
If there are any balanced and liberal voices in the Urdu press,
they are few and far between. One such is that of the former
left-wing student leader Raja Anwar who writes for an Islamabad
daily, a lone advocate of what increasingly looks like a lost
cause. Just before the US military action got underway in
Afghanistan, he wrote a piece that deserves a wider readership.
The reaction he received was “extreme”, physical threats included.
The truth is that if we are to be saved from the zealots who are
urging that Pakistan go down the tubes with the Taliban, we need
to turn away from these siren voices and take stock of our
situation. What follows is a somewhat shortened version in
translation of what Anwar wrote.
“In 1991, after invading Kuwait, Saddam Hussein challenged
America. Our Punjabi intellectuals, lost in the wilderness of the
past, immediately conferred the title of Salahuddin Ayyubi on him.
Our intellectually paralytic media lost no time in coming with the
‘research’ finding that Saddam was born in the same village as the
great Islamic warrior.
In the days that followed, our newspaper columns turned into
battlefields where new crusades were fought. The result of that
war was the utter destruction of Iraq and the permanent military
presence of American troops in Arab lands.
“Whosoever attacked the World Trade Centre on the morning of
September 11 not only turned thousands of living human beings into
ashes but threw a noose around every Islamic country, including
Pakistan, that will only get tighter with every attempt to move in
the other direction.
Only after the dust has settled, will we know what we lost on that
fateful morning. One thing however is clear. The worst victims of
this event are the nations of Islam. That notwithstanding, some
Punjabi intellectuals, with no interest whatsoever in facts, are
raring to go like frenzied bulls.
“They are not even aware that our country is already in the
greatest jeopardy. They are busy dressing up Islam in an attire
that has no relationship to history or Islamic teachings. A friend
in London has sent me an ‘edict’ from someone named Bilal which
says that all countries that were once ruled by Muslims continue
to belong to them. It is, therefore, our birthright not only to
occupy those lands but also to enslave their inhabitants.
‘In other words, this man, safely ensconced in London, has
transferred the overlordship of all lands once ruled by Arabs,
Berbers, Ottomans and Tartars to the gallants of Punjab. I suppose
it is also now incumbent upon us to reconquer parts of the Balkans
and Russia. It will also be our duty to reclaim all areas in old
Cathay right up to the ‘dust of Kashgar’. As for Spain, victory is
at hand.
“As I write, twenty to twenty-five thousand Punjabi eagles of the
‘shaheen’ variety are waiting to gain political asylum in Spain,
having already taken care to burn their boats. The day this
advance guard gets hold of the right papers, Spain will be ours.
However, the reconquest of India may pose certain difficulties as
the last time it was taken by a Muslim was when Babar defeated
Ibrahim Lodhi, also a Muslim. So who will take it this time?
Babar’s descendants or Lodhi’s?
“Who will explain to Bilal that Islam brought a message of peace,
justice and equality for mankind that springs forth from the Quran?
How does our being Muslim also oblige us to swear allegiance to
the history of Berbers, Khiljis, Mongols, Turks, Uzbeks, Ghaznavis
and Tajiks? They fought their wars mostly against each other. How
have they become Islam’s wars? And how do the areas that kept
changing hands among them become our patrimony?
“The history of Muslim countries proves that Islam was damaged
less by Jews, Christians and Hindus than by inter-Muslim wars for
power and pelf. Is there a count available of the Iranians who
lost their lives during Reza Shah’s White Revolution of 1952 and
Ayatollah Khomenei’s Islamic Revolution of 1979?
From Abdel Karim Kassem to Saddam Hussein, every Iraqi ruler
murdered hundreds of thousands of Kurds, Sunnis and Shias. They
were all Muslims. More than one million innocent Muslims lost
their lives in the Iran-Iraq war while we continued to parade
around with Saddam and Khomeni’s pictures, raising slogans.
“In 1966, Suharto took the presidential palace over the fallen
bodies of 250,000 Indonesian Muslims, a number far higher than
those who died fighting for the country’s freedom. The number of
Palestinians killed by King Hussain in September 1970 was higher
than the number of those who have been killed by Israelis.
‘Muslims killed in Pakistan at the hands of our Muslim police, or
in terrorist attacks in Karachi or during sectarian bloodbaths
elsewhere is much higher than the number of those killed in 1971
in East Pakistan. Afghanistan has been a virtual battlefield over
the last 20 years. Afghan leaders who keep declaring each other
outside Islam’s pale are guilty of the destruction of millions of
Muslim lives.
‘In 1982, Hafiz Al-Asad killed 10,000 Sunni men, women and
children. Not satisfied with that, he levelled their city of Hama
to the ground. And yet all his life, he kept calling for war
against Israel.
“More Muslims have died in Algeria in the last decade than fell in
the revolutionary war against France. Muslims massacred on the
altar of power in Bosnia, Chechnya, Palestine and Kashmir
outnumber those who died there fighting for their freedom.
“We are Pakistanis. The day this earth which we find under our
feet today is no longer there, no Muslim country will offer us
refuge. If you do not believe this, all you have to do is to visit
any Arab country and you will find that despite our being Muslims,
no Arab country grants us citizenship or equal rights. In no Arab
country can we construct a home or even open a barbershop, though
we may have resided there for 30 years.
‘There are more than 50 Muslim countries in the world. They all
have their own armies, their own cultures, their own problems and
their own resources. Some are rich; others are poor like us. Our
great burden is our debt. Is there a Muslim country that is
willing to help us with this load? If the answer is no, then
please for God’s sake, do not make this country the last refuge of
every fugitive from law. Do not make it an experimental laboratory
for Mullahism. Do not turn it into a battling ground of
sectarianism.
“Someone should ask these Hamid Guls, Nasim Begs and Qazi Hussain
Ahmeds just one question. Where is to be found the ‘Ummah’ that
you are so keen to lead?
“Or is it only to be found in Punjab where so deep is religious
hatred today that Shia and Sunni cannot live under the same roof
and Wahabis and Baralevis cannot pray in the same mosque?
“The Gujjars, Jats, Arains and Rajputs no longer want to live in
the same village. Or will we find that Ummah in the desert of
Sindh where every fourth or fifth Mohajir, Sindhi, Pathan and
Punjabi is out to cut the next man’s throat? Or is that Ummah to
be found in the Frontier and Balochistan where loyalties stop at
tribal territorial limits?
“Who is going to unite the Ummah that despite its belief in one
God, one Prophet (peace be upon him) and one Book is divided into
72 sects? For God’s sake, have mercy on this land and its people.
Instead of placing guns in its children’s hands, arm them with
science and technology.
“Instead of slashing one another’s throat, unburden the nation of
its crippling debt. Instead of dreaming dreams of the conquest of
Russia, Spain and Kashgar, show us a way which will make this
Pakistan of ours strong and prosperous. There are fires burning
all around us today. How long will we keep our head buried in the
sands of the past so as not to face reality? Those who are playing
with fire to attain power, may end up being consumed by it. And
they may take the country with them.”
By arrangement with Dawn