The cost of being a Shia in Pakistan
KARACHI: A motorcycle rigged with explosives rammed into a bus carrying Shias near the Nursery bridge in Karachi Friday, killing 12 people and wounding 40 in the second such attack in Pakistan’s financial capital in two months.
“Twelve people have been martyred and 40 injured. There are children and women among the killed and wounded,” Doctor Seemi Jamal, the chief of Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, told AFP.
An hour after first attack, a second explosion was heard outside the emergency ward of Jinnah Hospital where the injured were being shifted.
The attacks, in a city largely isolated from bombings concentrated in northwest Pakistan but with a history of sectarian tensions and political violence, underscored the security challenges facing the country.
The bus attacked during the first explosion was carrying Shia Muslim mourners to participate in a religious procession to mark the end of the holy month of Muharram in Karachi, a city of 16 million people.
“The bus was carrying Shia mourners. It was full of people and a motorcycle rammed into the bus. The motorcycle was completely destroyed and the bus was heavily damaged,” police official Shahid Hasan told AFP.
City police chief Waseem Ahmad told reporters that the motorcycle was rigged with an improvised-explosive device (IED). It remained unclear whether the motorcycle was being driven by anyone when it struck the bus.
The attack happened on the bridge of the main Faisal highway in the centre of Karachi, shattering windows in nearby buildings, said an AFP reporter.
Ambulances raced through the streets as volunteers helped to evacuate the wounded and armed security forces patrolled the area, television footage showed.
Following the blast, the main Chehlum procession was stopped at Empress Market by the bomb disposal unit due to security concerns.
On December 28, a massive bombing killed 43 people at a parade marking the holiest Shia day of Ashura earlier in the month of Muharram.
Pakistan’s feared Taliban network claimed responsibility for that attack, sparking riots that caused huge financial losses.
Pakistan has seen a recent decline in militant attacks, attributed both to the success of a US drone war and Pakistani offensives in the tribal belt shadowing the Afghan border where Taliban and Al-Qaeda networks are based.
Source: Dawn
Difference is one thing and everybody has the right but Killing Shias or anybody else in the name of FAITH couldn’t be justified and cannot be supported by any single Verse of Quran or any Hadith. My sympathies with all those who lost their loved ones in this Un-Islamic Act of Barbarity. May Allah bless those who lost their lives in this tragedy of Nursery/Jinnah Hospital Branch. Ameen.
May Allah protect all of us in this hour of trial and tribulation. Aamen.
Killing a Muslim in the light of Quran and Hadith:
Whoever offers prayers as we do and turns his face to our Qiblah and eats the animal slaughtered by us, he is a Muslim for whom is the covenant of Allah and the covenant of the Messenger of Allah; so do not violate Allah’s covenant.” [Sahih Bukhari]
“Ibn Umar related that the Holy Prophet said: If a Muslim calls another kafir, then if he is a kafir let it be so; otherwise, he [the caller] is himself a kafir.”(Sunnan Abu Dawood)
“Abu Zarr reported that the Holy Prophet said: No man accuses another man of being a sinner, or of being a kafir, but it reflects back on him if the other is not as he called him.”(Bukhari)
“Withhold [your tongues] from those who say `There is no god but Allah’ — do not call them kafir. Whoever calls a reciter of `There is no god but Allah’ as a kafir, is nearer to being a kafir himself.” (Tabarani, reported from Abdullah Ibn Omar)
If the above Hadiths do not satisfy then read this!
Usaamah bin Zaid reported,
“Allaah’s Messenger sent us towards Al-Huruqa, and in the morning we attacked them and defeated them. I and an Ansari man followed a man from among them and when we overwhelmed him, he said, “La ilaha illal-Lah.” On hearing that, the Ansari man stopped, but I killed him by stabbing him with my spear. When we returned, the Prophet (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) came to know about that and he said:
“O Usaamah! Did you kill him after he had said “La ilaha ilal-Lah?” I said, “But he said so only to save himself.” He kept on repeating that so often that I wished I had not embraced Islaam before that day. [Agreed upon, and this is the wording of Bukhari]
and in another version in Sahih Muslim about the same incident:
“Did you tear open his heart to see what was in it?” [Muslim]
لهدم الكعبة حجراً حجراً أهون من قتل المسلم
“Demolishing the Kaaba completely is much more preferred to Allah Almighty than shedding the blood of a Believing Muslim.” [Tirmidhi and others]
Reference:
وعن عبد الله بن عمر رضي الله عنه قال رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يطوف بالكعبة ويقول: (ما أطيبك وأطيب ريحك ما أعظمك وأعظم حرمتك والذي نفس محمد بيده لحرمة المؤمن أعظم عند الله حرمة منك ماله ودمه وأن نظن به إلا خيراً) رواه ابن ماجة وصححه العلامة الألباني في صحيح الترغيب 2/630.
ونظر ابن عمر رضي الله عنه يوماً إلى البيت أو إلى الكعبة فقال ما أعظمك وأعظم حرمتك والمؤمن أعظم حرمة عند الله منك) رواه الترمذي.
وأما الحديث الذي أشار إليه السائل وهو (لهدم الكعبة حجراً حجراً أهون من قتل المسلم).
فقد ذكره الشيخ العجلوني في كشف الخفاء وقال [قال في المقاصد – أي السخاوي – لم أقف عليه بهذا اللفظ، ولكن معناه عند الطبراني في الصغير عن أنس رفعه (من آذى مسلماً بغير حق فكأنما هدم بيت الله)ونحوه عن غير واحد من الصحابة أنه صلى الله عليه وسلم نظر إلى الكعبة فقال لقد شرفك الله وكرمك وعظمك والمؤمن أعظم حرمة منك ] كشف الخفاء ومزيل الإلباس حديث رقم 2086.
What we Muslim have forgotten in fervour of gaining some cheap Political Points:
Since we often quote Islamic Scripture against Terrorism and Suicide Attack, read this:
Abu Huraira [RA] reported: Abu’l-Qasim (the kunya of Allah’s Messenger (Sallallaho Alaihey wasallam), said: He who pointed a weapon towards his brother the angels invoke curse upon him even if he is his real brother so long as he does not abandon it (the pointing of weapon towards one’s brother Muslim). [Sahih Muslim]
Abu Huraira reported a hadith from Allaah’s Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) ; (one of them was this) that Allaah’s Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: None amongst you should point a weapon towards his brother, for he does not know that Satan might cause the weapon (to slip) from his hand and (he may injure anyone) and thus he may fall into Hell-Fire. [Sahih Muslim]
My choice in any kind of “Fitnah” would be like this:
Ibn az-Zubayr narrates: My close friend, Abul-Qaasim (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) advised me, “If you reach anything of the tumult (fitnah), go to Uhud and blunt your sword upon it, then remain in your house.” Reported by Ahmad in al-Musnad.
Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] asked: O Abu Dharr, if the people
were suffering from severe death (i e if a man were worth no more than a grave), what would you do? If the people were killing one another, until Hajarat al-Zayt (an area of Madinah) were submerged in blood, what would you do? I said, Allah and His Messenger know best. He said, Stay in your house and lock the door. I asked, What if I am not left alone? He said, Then be one of them. I said, Should I take up my sword? He said, If you did that, you would be joining them in their activities. No – if you fear that the brightness of the shining sword will disturb you, then cover your face with part of your clothing, and let him carry his own sin and your sin. (Ahmad.)
Ahnaf b. Qais reported: I set out with the intention of helping this person (Hadrat ‘Ali) that Abu Bakra met me. He said: Ahnaf, where do you intend to go? I said: I intend to help the cousin of Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him), viz. ‘Ali. Thereupon he said to me: Ahnaf, go back, for I heard Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: When two Muslims confront one another with swords (in hands) both the slayer and the slain would be in Fire. He (Ahnaf) said: I said, or it was said: Allah’s Messenger, it may be the case of one who kills. but what about the slain (why he would be put in Hell-Fire)? Thereupon he said: He also intended to kill his companion. [Muslim – The Book Pertaining to the Turmoil and Portents of the Last Hour (Kitab Al-Fitan wa Ashrat As-Sa`ah)]
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: There will be soon a period of turmoil in which the one who sits will be better than one who stands and the one who stands will be better than one who walks and the one who walks will be better than one who runs. He who would watch them will be drawn by them. So he who finds a refuge or shelter against it should make it as his resort. [Muslim – The Book Pertaining to the Turmoil and Portents of the Last Hour (Kitab Al-Fitan wa Ashrat As-Sa`ah)]
Suicide Attack and Suicide is tantamount to denying Allah, Quran and Judgement Day. No Paradise [Jannah], Virgin [Houri] or any other such belssings from Allah for thoe Muslims who are indulged in Suicide Bombing and Suicide Attack. It is Haraam [Unlawful Act] of the worst kind. The confusion on what is suicide and who may be targeted in war. A small minority of Muslims (who are not in the category of those who have nullified their Islam*) misunderstand the word shaheed (martyr) when it comes to war and the act of suicide. Muslims may engage in defensive wars and if they happen to die in this way, doing it for the sake of Allah, insha’Allah they die shaheed, and as we know, a shaheed may attain paradise. Some Muslims incorrectly think that suicidal bombings during war is not suicide but an act of defensive war. They see it the same as fighting with guns or swords in a war. However, shooting in a war, one goes in with the intention NOT to die. Usingoneself as a walking or flying bomb, one goes in with the intention of killing oneself (and the perceived enemy).
Sometimes a Muslim may have enough knowledge to quote the hadith in which it was said that the companions of Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] would throw their bodies on top of the Prophet and were willing to take a hit for him. However, this does not mean they were intending to kill themselves! This means they were willing to perhaps take an attack to an arm or leg to prevent death to the Prophet saaws. Or that they would shield him and escort him to safety, and by shielding him, preventing the enemy from striking at that moment since the Prophet couldn’t be clearly seen in the crowd. Putting oneself at risk is not the same thing as intending to do an act that would surely kill oneself!
As we know, the religion of Islam is based upon intentions, as we are judged according to our intentions. A good deed is not accepted by Allah if we have intentions other than doing it for the sake of Allah, or if it is not in accordance with Quran and Sunnah.
SUICIDAL BOMBINGS ARE AN ACT OF WAR **AND** SUICIDE and therefore haram (prohibited) since suicide (INTENTIONALLY KILLING ONESELF) is such a terrible sin with terrible consequences. In addition, such Muslims are completely unaware of the ayat (proof) against killing women and children. Ignorance is so sad. And any haram act by any Muslim anywhere, hurts the Muslim ummah as a whole.
Of course if any woman or child is shooting directly at you, it is permissible to act in self-defense to an immediate situation, but (unarmed) women and children cannot be an intentional target during war or any such attacks. And of course, Islam does not support women in military, but it does permit an individual woman to pick up a weapon to use in self-defense if a specific situation dictates that. The general intent is to shield women and children from the brutal fatalities of a war front altogether and to place the responsibility on the men in society to protect them.
Allah and Holy Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] say:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلاً
O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority; and if ye have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and the messenger if ye are (in truth) believers in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more seemly in the end. Surat-un-Nisaa’ [4:59].
Holy Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] said: O mankind, I am leaving two things with you; if you cling to them you will never go astray. The Book of Allah and my way of life. [Al-Haakim, Al-Baihaqi and also in Mautta Imam Malik]
The same Allah and same Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] whom we claim to follow say:
Suicide is when a person kills himself intentionally by whatever means. This is haraam and regarded as amongst the major sins, and likewise included in the general statement of Allaah:
وَمَن يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَآؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا
{And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell to abide therein, and the Wrath and the Curse of Allaah are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him}, [Soorah an-Nisaa, Aayah 93].
He/she [if Muslim] cannot take his own life through a Suicide bomb, again read the above verse.
And it is established from the Hadith on the authority of the Prophet (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) who said:
Indeed, whoever (intentionally) kills himself, then certainly he will be punished in the Fire of Hell, wherein he shall dwell forever)), [Bukhaaree and Muslim].
In reality, the one who commits suicide, generally does so because of his desperate situation, either as a direct result of an act of Allaah or a human being. So you find him unable to cope with that which has afflicted him, and in actual fact he is like one who is calling for help from the scorching heat of the fire. So he has progressed from that which was tough (bad) to that which is worse. And if he was patient, then Allaah would have assisted him in dealing with the difficulty.
Acts of jihad by means of suicide, such as attaching explosives to a car and storming the enemy, whereby he knows without a doubt that he shall die as a result of this action. He is regarded as one who has killed himself (committed suicide), and as a result he shall be punished in Hell, for that which is authenticated on the authority of the Prophet (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam).
[((Indeed, whoever (intentionally) kills himself, then certainly he will be punished in the Fire of Hell, wherein he shall dwell forever)), [Bukhaaree and Muslim]].
And many amongst them do not desire anything except revenge of the enemy, by whatever means, be it halaal or haraam. So they only want to satisfy their thirst for revenge.
Concerning suicide bombings
But as for what some people do regarding activities of suicide, tying explosives to themselves and then approaching disbelievers and detonating them amongst them, then this is a case of suicide and Allaah’ s refuge is sought. So whoever commits suicide then he will be considered eternally to Hell-Fire, remaining there forever, as occurs in the hadeeth of the Prophet, (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam). (i.e., his, (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam), saying:
((and whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, then the iron weapon will remain in his hand, and he will continuously stab himself in his belly with it in the Fire of Hell eternally, forever and ever)). (Bukhaaree, and Muslim)
Because this person has killed himself and has not benefited Islaam. So if he kills himself along with ten, or a hundred, or two hundred other people, then Islaam will not benefit by that, since the people will not accept Islaam. Rather it will probably just make the enemy more determined, and this action will provoke malice and bitterness in his heart to such an extent that he may seek to wreak havoc upon the Muslims.
This is what is found from the practice of the Jews with the people of Palestine so when one of the Palestinian blows himself up and kills six or seven people, then in retaliation they take sixty or more. So this does not produce any benefit for the Muslims, and does not benefit those amongst whose ranks explosives are detonated.
So what we hold is that those people who perform these suicide (bombings) have Wrongfully committed suicide, and that this necessitates entry into Hell-Fire, and Allaah¹s refuge is sought and that this person is not a martyr (shaheed). However if a person has done this based upon misinterpretation, thinking that it is permissible, then we hope that he will be saved from sin, but as for martyrdom being written for him, then no, since he has not taken the path of martyrdom. But whoever performs ijtihaad and errs will receive a single reward (if he is a person qualified to make ijtihaad).”
Allaah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala) says:
وَلاَ تَقْتُلُواْ أَنفُسَكُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ عُدْوَانًا وَظُلْمًا فَسَوْفَ نُصْلِيهِ نَارًا وَكَانَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللّهِ يَسِيرًا
{And do not kill yourselves. Surely, Allaah is Most Merciful to you. And whoever commits that through aggression and injustice, We shall cast him into the Fire, and that is easy for Allaah}, [Soorah an-Nisaa, Aayaat 29-30]
So, it is not permissible for a person to kill himself, rather, he must protect himself in the full meaning of the word. And this does not prevent him from killing in the Path of Allaah and making jihad in the Path of Allaah, and if he is open to being killed and martyred (therein) then that is good.
However, if he opens himself to being killed (in other than the Path of Allaah) then this is not permissible. In the time of the Prophet (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam), one of the brave (fighters) was fighting alongside the Messenger (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) and then he was killed. So the (other) companions said:
((None of us fought as courageously as so-and-so))So, the Messenger (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) said:((He is in the Fire (of Hell)))
…and that was after he was injured and before he died. And this (matter) was difficult for the companions (to grasp). So one of the men followed the injured man and saw him place a sword on the ground – raising its blade and then impaled himself upon the blade, entering his chest and dying (as a result).
So this man (returned) and said:
((The Messenger (sal-Allaahu `alayhe wa sallam) has spoken the truth))
… and they knew the Messenger never spoke from his whims and desires.
(So) why did he enter the Fire having done this action? Because he killed himself and was not patient (at what had befallen him); so it is not permissible for a man to kill himself.
1 – The Prophet said, “The person who participates in (Holy battles) in Allah’s cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostles, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr). Had I not found it difficult for my followers, then I would not remain behind any sariya going for Jihad and I would have loved to be martyred in Allah’s cause and then made alive, and then martyred and then made alive, and then again martyred in His cause.” [Bukhari Narrated by Abu Huraira]
2 – Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw the corpse of a woman who had been slain in one of the raids, and he disapproved of it and forbade the killing of women and children. [Al-Muwatta Imam Malik]
3 – The Prophet said, “Whoever intentionally swears falsely by a religion other than Islam, then he is what he has said, (e.g. if he says, ‘If such thing is not true then I am a Jew,’ he is really a Jew). And whoever commits suicide with piece of iron will be punished with the same piece of iron in the Hell Fire.” Narrated Jundab the Prophet said, “A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide, and so Allah said: My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly, so I forbid Paradise for him.” [Bukhari Narrated by Thabit bin Ad-Dahhak]
4 – We went to pay a visit to Khabbab (who was sick) and he had been branded (cauterized) at seven places in his body. He said, “Our companions who died (during the lifetime of the Prophet ) left (this world) without having their rewards reduced through enjoying the pleasures of this life, but we have got (so much) wealth that we find no way to spend it except on the construction of buildings. Had the Prophet not forbidden us to wish for death, I would have wished for it.” We visited him for the second time while he was building a wall. He said, -A Muslim is rewarded (in the Hereafter) for whatever he spends except for something that he spends on building.” [Bukhari Narrated by Qais bin Abi Hazim]
5 – The Prophet said, “Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself, will be in the (Hell) Fire falling down into it and abiding therein perpetually forever; and whoever drinks poison and kills himself with it, he will be carrying his poison in his hand and drinking it in the (Hell) Fire wherein he will abide eternally forever; and whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, will be carrying that weapon in his hand and stabbing his abdomen with it in the (Hell) Fire wherein he will abide eternally forever.” [Bukhari Narrated by Abu Huraira]
6 – Hammam b. Munabbih said: Abu Huraira narrated to us ahadith from Allah’s Messenger and out of these one is that Allah’s Messenger said: none amongst you should make a request for death, and do not call for it before it comes, for when any of you dies, he ceases (to do good) deeds and the life of a believer is not prolonged but for goodness. [Muslim]
7 – Anas (b. Malik) reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: None of you should make a request for death because of the trouble in which he is involved, but if there is no other help to it, then say: O Allah, keep me alive as long as there is goodness in life for me and bring death to me when there is goodness in LIFE for me. [Muslim]
8 – Allah’s Messenger said, “Do not wish for death, for the terror of the place whence one looks down is severe. It is part of a man’s happiness that his life should be long and Allah Who is Great and Glorious, should supply him with repentance.” [Hadith Tirmidhi Narrated Jabin ibn Abdullah [Ahmad transmitted it.]
9 – There was amongst those before you a man who had a wound. He was in [such] anguish that he took a knife and made with it a cut in his hand, and the blood did not cease to flow till he died. Allah the Almighty said: My servant has himself forestalled Me; I have forbidden him Paradise. [Hadith – Qudsi Bukhari Narrated by Jundub ibn Abdullah]
We are Muslims and Sharian is applied on us so if we follow Shariah then it must be followed wholeheartedly in letter and spirit and when Shariah says Suicide is Haraam [Unlawful] then it is Unlawful. Any Mullah who declare this act of Barbarity a Halaal [Lawful] act is also Kaafir [Infidel]. You dont offer sacrifice of Pig on Eid Al Adha.
Allah is Clean [Paak – Tayyab]and He accept only Clean [Paak – Tayyab] [Muslim].
You dont build a mosque [with clean intentions i.e. Achi Niyat] from the money earned through Haram [Unlawful] Means.
Acts and Actions of Mau Mau Militants, Japanese Kamikazes, Vietcongs, French Partisan of WW II, Irgun [Mossad], Stern Gang [Israeli Zionist Terrorist Group], Hagganah [Israeli Zionists Terrorists Group], Tamil Tigers, or the Leftist Guerilla, are not Hujjat [Proof] for Muslims because they were not bound by Quran and Hadith. Since we claim the lease of Quran, Hadith and Paradise therefore we are bound by the Shariah. Just give it a thought for once that you are basically violating Wahi Ghair Matlu [i.e. Hadith] by imitating Jews, Christians and other Non-Muslims by adopting their Infernal [Jahanami] Methods of War and i.e. Kufr. If Muslims have to go to the War then it must be fought as per the Instructions given in Quran and Wahi Ghair Matlu [i.e. Hadith]
“Whoever imitates a group, then he is from amongst them” *has been derived from two famous books of ahadeeth ‘Mishkaat’ and ‘Abu Dawood’ and is narrated by Hadhrat Ibn Umar (R.A).
“Whoever /imitates/resembles a people/nation is one of them.”
1- Recorded by Abu Dawud
2- Reported by Imaam Ahmad
3- Majmoo’ al-Fataawa by Ibn Taiymia
“Differ from the idolaters.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
“Differ from the jews.” [Abu Dawood]
“Differ from the Zoroastrians.” [Muslim]
The American Indians used to attack and attack at the wagons even thoughthey knew they would be killed – Just to see if they at least got one arrow in. When they kill everything you love, steal your land and try to reduce you to nothing it is better to die (and take some with you) than to live. Patrick Henry told us about it back in 1776. A great man was Samson the first suicidal terrorist. They cut his hair, plocked out his eyes (made him blind) and enslaved him. You know the rest of the story…
Act of Amercian Indians or Prophet Samson [PBUH] is not Proof [Hujjat]. Shariah of the Past Prophets [PBUT] for Muslims after these Quranic Verse are cancelled. For example Prophet Adam [PBUH]’s children used to marry with each other, should we do the same?
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلاً
O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority; and if ye have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and the messenger if ye are (in truth) believers in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more seemly in the end. Surat-un-Nisaa’ [4:59].
After reading the Quranic Verses and Hadith you can decide as who is Ignorant [Jahiloon] regarding Suicide, Suicide Attacks, Suicide Bombing, and Terrorism. Those who declare it completely Un-Islamic Practice ot those who seek justification of an Haraam Act [Unlawful] through a Fatwas of Pervert Mullahs who have no sense of History, Politics, International Relations and I say they have no sense of Quran and Hadith as well.
Read…………………..
Hopelessness [Mayusi] is Disbelief [Kufr].Trials and Hardships [Azmaish Aur Ibtila]:
الم أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَوَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ
Interpretaion of the Meaning:
Alif. Lam. Mim. Do men imagine that they will be left (at ease) because they say, We believe, and will not be tested with affliction? Lo! We tested those who were before you. Thus Allah knoweth those who are sincere, and knoweth those who feign. [AL-ANKABOOT (THE SPIDER) Chapter 29 – Verse 1, 2, 3]
Thus suicide is forbidden in Quran and Hadith.
Given that Allah promised to undertake the sustenance and any delay thereafter or withholding of any of its needs being merely for a trial, then there is no room for a person to take away the life that Allah has created for an important purpose and meticulously sustaining it each second for that purpose. He prohibited the destroying of ones life in any manner as understood by the general meaning of the wording of this verse,
وَلاَ تُلْقُواْ بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ وَأَحْسِنُوَاْ إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
and be not cast by your own hands to ruin; and do good. Lo! Allah loveth the beneficent. [AL-BAQARA (THE COW) Chapter 2 – Verse 195]
وَلاَ تَقْتُلُواْ أَنفُسَكُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا
and kill not one another. Lo! Allah is ever Merciful unto you. [AN-NISA (WOMEN) Chapter 4 – Verse 29]
In fact the taking of even one life is regarded as the taking of the life of the whole of mankind,
ِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَلَقَدْ جَاء تْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِالبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنْهُم بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ فِي الأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ
For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah’s Sovereignty), but afterwards lo! many of them became prodigals in the earth. [AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD) Chapter 5 – Verse 32]
The noun, soul (nafs) in the verse is without the definite particle. In Arabic, an indefinite noun in a conditional clause gives the meaning of generality and comprehensiveness. Thus, the verse is not only concerning the taking of a soul of another person but even ones own life for both are souls created and entrusted to us by Allah. This is not only prohibited but strongly condemned as though he killed the whole of mankind.
The Messenger of Allah (May the peace and blessings be on him) also prohibited it as learnt from the following hadith.
“Whoever throws himself down from a mountain and kills himself, he will be in the Fire of Hell throwing himself down for ever and ever. Whoever drinks poison and kills himself will have the poison in his hand, drinking it in the Fire of Hell for ever and ever. Whoever kills himself with a piece of iron (i.e. a weapon) will have that piece of iron in his hand, stabbing himself in the stomach with it in the Fire of Hell forever and ever.” (Sahih Bukhari).
The pain of suicide is for ever.
A person, who commits suicide, does so believing it an escape from his crisis so he ends his life willing to bear a moment of pain and may throw himself of a cliff. Yet this hadith shows that he actually brings upon himself that pain not just momentarily but again and again in Hell-fire.
But from His mercy He may forgive suicide – so why not stay alive in His mercy.
However, from the mercy of Allah, the Exalted, He may forgive any sin committed by a person no matter how grave or He may punish in this life or in Hell-fire, except for Shirk. Associating partners to Allah (Shirk) in divinity and Lordship is the only sin that Allah does not forgive. The one doing shirk may seek forgiveness from the partner he claims to Allah in divinity but he is seeking forgiveness from someone who doesn’t have the authority to forgive! This principle of forgiveness is established clearly in the Quran,
إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاء وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَى إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
Lo! Allah forgiveth not that a partner should be ascribed unto Him. He forgiveth (all) save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners to Allah, he hath indeed invented a tremendous sin. [AN-NISA (WOMEN) Chapter 4 – Verse 48]
A person who is confident of the mercy of Allah in forgiving him for committing suicide, shouldn’t he have the same confidence that if he doesn’t commit suicide, Allah from His mercy and care will alleviate his hardship and distress? If it takes time, it is no more than a temporary trial.
A day’s worth for a Muslim.
An extra day alive is that much longer to work good deeds to distance oneself from the eternal torment of Hell-fire and a golden opportunity to win a better place in Paradise. It is for deserving of this mercy of Allah and a Paradise which no eye has ever seen, nor any ear has ever heard nor conceived by any mind, it is for this a Muslim is directed to strive every moment he is alive by the favour of Allah. A Believer capitalizes on each breath Allah allows him – only the ignorant would throw away such a bargain!
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
And whoso doeth good an atom’s weight will see it then, And whoso doeth ill an atom’s weight will see it then. [AL-ZALZALA (THE EARTHQUAKE) Chapter 99 – Verse 7 and 8]
Reassurances in Quran and a purpose to live.
Thus a person contemplating suicide finds reassurance in the Quran and purpose for life. He finds an explanation for ease or hardship. He realizes that every hardship expiates for his sins and elevates his rank in Paradise. He thus finds internal peace and pleasure even in external hardship and suffering and strives to acquire or lose the eternal comfort in the Hereafter. The feelings of depression, anxiety, hopelessness and self-loathing diminish as a Believer contemplates on the message of the Quran, reflects on life and patterns the life according to its wise injunctions. Initially, this achievement may be for moments only but with time and following the guidance of the Quran it may become a constant state.
Even the worst moment can actually become the best.
In fact not a moment passes by in the life of a Muslim even if a catastrophe befalls him, except that it can be a success and a bonus for the Believer if he bears it patiently! Even while overwhelmed by grief, anxieties and a desire to finish it all with suicide, merely holding on till it passes away even without doing any other good deed in that state can actually turn that depressing moment into one of triumph and sure success so why resort to suicide then?
The Messenger of Allah (may the peace and blessings be on him) said, “The case of a believer is amazing! Every affair of his is good for him, and this is not for anyone except a believer: if he experiences something pleasant, he is grateful to Allah and that is good for him; and if he comes across some adversity, he is patiently persevering (i.e. has sabr) and that too is good for him!” [Muslim]
In fact we learn from another hadith that,
“When Allah wants well for a slave of His, He hastens the punishment in this world (rather than the severe and eternal Hereafter). And when Allah wants for His slave bad, He withholds from him (the punishment for) his sin until he takes it from him on the Day of Resurrection.” [Tirmidhi]
Thus the one suffering hardship may actually be more beloved to Allah than one who is being left and not punished despite sins and impiety. The Prophet [PBUH] informed, “Nothing strikes a Muslim – no fatigue, illness, worry, grief, hurt nor sorrow; not even a prick of a thorn – except that Allah wipes off due to it some of his sins.” [Bukhari & Muslim]
Even if his world seems to be falling apart.
With a sense of worth for even the smallest good deeds, a believer bears the most trying of hardships reassured that as the Messenger of Allah said, “Verily, the greatness of the reward is with the greatness (or severity) of the trial. Verily if Allah loves a people He tries them (with trials).” [Tirmidhi]
Thus, what may seem to another as his world falling apart in front of his eyes and nothing to live for, a Believer sees in the same an equally great world of unending bliss and comfort being prepared for him or her in Paradise so long as he bears it with patience for although this life is for being tried repetitively,
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
And, behold, with every hardship comes ease: verily, with every hardship comes ease! [AL-INSHIRAH (SOLACE, CONSOLATION, RELIEF) Chapter 94 – Verse 5 and 6]
The relief is near – a guarantee from Allah
If the relief doesn’t come immediately, it’s not far. This, Allah guarantees,
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلِكُم مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَزُلْزِلُواْ حَتَّى يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَعَهُ مَتَى نَصْرُ اللّهِ أَلا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللّهِ قَرِيبٌ
Or think ye that ye will enter paradise while yet there hath not come unto you the like of (that which came to) those who passed away before you? Affliction and adversity befell them, they were shaken as with earthquake, till the messenger (of Allah) and those who believed along with him said: When cometh Allah’s help? Now surely Allah’s help is nigh. [AL-BAQARA (THE COW) Chapter 2 – Verse 214]
So why then would anyone want to commit suicide!!
It is not surprising then, with such compelling reasons to live for and reassurances of help, Allah warned of some of the most severe punishments for the one who ends his own life – a life that in fact belongs to Allah! As the above mentioned hadith of the punishment of the one who committed suicide shows, the self-infliction of the same fatal blow repeatedly in hell-fire again and again, a person who commits suicide hasn’t found an escape from his worries; in fact, it’s just the beginning.
@Aamir Mughal, Post #8 in specific and others in general,
It is precisely this sort of hadis hurling that has gotten us in this mess. For every one hadis that you have posted here, there are other hadises/commentaries/narrations that are used to apostasize the Shias and encourage their murder by State sponsored Sunni extremists, like the Sipah Sahaba in Pakistan. You are not going to convince these powerful factions from stopping their blood thirstiness by quoting hadis!! They have killed thousands of innocents Pakistanis and are behind the killings of Shias, Christains and Ahmedis. They even killed Shaheed Mohtarma!
As for Abu Zarr, he was banished and sent into exile when he protested against the third Caliph (so much for the Golden era) and your choice of a hadis that paints Maula Ali in such a poor light is most disappointing; especially in light of the fact that it is part of a comment chain that is condemning the killings of Shia muslims by those who are the instruments of strategic depth policy and who want to end democracy in Pakistan.
@Ali Abbas
Dear Ali Abbas,
Purpose of posting that Hadith [in post number 8] was not to start Shia Sunni debate. but to extract “Islamic Order” i.e. not to kill and not to be involved in such clashes from any side. I have quoted the Hadith and you are quoting Historical Reference and that can be debated. Is there anything mentioned in that Hadith which is suggesting about the Differences amongst the Companions. That’s why I have avoided commentaries on Hadith just depend on the Text which carry the Order of Allah/Warning from Allah through Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] – If you want debate on History I am ready and you will not be able to answer a single query and that is my promise. Insha Allah. Before jumping for the Gun, read my opening comment on the Tragedy.
I have quoted a Hadith [to save life] and you are quoting History to divert the debate so let me inform you as to how “Scholars” have compiled Islamic History:
“QUOTE”
Now read as to how this Islamic History was compiled and how Traditionalist Religious Scholars view “History”
“QUOTE”
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari: “I am writing this book as I hear from the narrators. If anything sounds absurd, I should not be blamed or held accountable. The responsibility of all errors or blunders rests squarely on the shoulders of those who have narrated these stories to me.” Tabari’s Tareekhil Umam Wal Mulook (The History of Nations and Kings) popularly called “Mother of All Histories” is the first ever “History of Islam” written by ‘Imam’ Tabari (839-923 CE) at the junction of the third and fourth century AH. He died in 310 AH. [Preface of Tareekhil Umam Wal Mulook (The History of Nations and Kings) by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari.]
“UNQUOTE”
“QUOTE”
Ahmed Bin Hanbal says:Three kinds of books are absolutely unfounded, Maghazi, Malahem and Tafseer.” (The exalted Prophet’s Battles, Dreams and Prophecies, and Expositions of the Qur’an). [Ahmed Bin Hanbal as quoted by ibn Rajab al-Hanbali in Dhayl Tabaqat al-Hanabila (Appendage to the Encyclopedia of Hanbali Scholars)]
Hafiz Ibn Kathir says: Had Ibn Jareer Tabari not recorded the strange reports, I would never have done so. [Tafseer Ibn Katheer (Commentary on Quran) and Al Bidaya Wal Nihaya (History – From Start to End)]
“UNQUOTE”
“QUOTE”
Ibn Khaldun says: The Muslim historians have made a mockery of history by filling it with fabrications and senseless lies. (Muqaddama Ibn Khaldun)
Shah Abdul Aziz Dehelvi says: Six pages of Ibn Khaldoon’s History have been deliberately removed since the earliest times. These pages had questioned the most critical juncture of Islamic history i.e. the Emirate of Yazeed and the fiction of Karbala. [Even the modern editions admit in the side-notes that those pages have been mysteriously missing from the ancient original book. [Tohfa Ithna Ashri by Shah Abdul Aziz Dehelvi]
Shah Waliullah Dehelvi says: Imam Jalaluddin Sayyuti’s Tarikh-ul-Khulafa is the prime example of how our Historians, Muhaddithin and Mufassirin, each has played like Haatib-il-Lail (One who collects firewood at night not knowing which piece is good and which one is bad). [Izalatul Khifa A’N Khilaafatil Khulafaa by Shah Waliullah]
“UNQUOTE”
“QUOTE”
Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar [Birth:85 AH 704 CE Death: 150-153 AH (767)]
The earliest is Ibn Ishaq’s Sira, his biography of the Prophet. It is also the longest and the most widely quoted. Later historians draw, and in most cases depend on him. [Uyun al-athar, I, 7, Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (d. 734A.H.)
A contemporary of Ibn Ishaq, Imam Malik [d 179 AH], the jurist, denounces Ibn Ishaq outright as “a liar” and “an impostor” just for transmitting such stories. [`Uyun al-athar, I and ibid, I, 16].
It must be remembered that historians and authors of the Prophet’s biography did not apply the strict rules of the “traditionists”. They did not always provide a chain of authorities, each of whom had to be verified as trustworthy and as certain or likely to have transmitted his report directly from his informant, and so on. The attitude towards biographical details and towards the early events of Islam was far less meticulous than their attitude to the Prophet’s traditions, or indeed to any material relevant to jurisprudence. The attitude of scholars and historians to Ibn lshaq’s version of the stories has been either one of complacency, sometimes mingled with uncertainty, or at least in two important cases, one of condemnatlon and outright rejection.
The complacent attitude is one of accepting the biography of the Prophet and the stories of the campaigns at they were received by later generations without the meticulous care or the application of the critical criteria which collectors of traditions or jurists employed. It was not necessary to check the veracity of authorities when transmitting or recording parts of the story of the Prophet’s life.[Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (op. cit., I, 121)]
It was not essential to provide a continuous chain of authorities or even to give authorities at all. That is obvious in Ibn Ishaq’s Sira. On the other hand reliable authority and a continuous line of transmission were essential when law was the issue. That is why Malik the jurist had no regard for Ibn Ishaq. [Kadhdhab and Dajjal min al-dajajila – Liar and Liar amongst Liars]
His contemporary, the early traditionist and jurist Malik, called him unequivocally “a liar” and “an impostor”[Kadhdhab and Dajjal min al-dajajila – Liar and Liar amongst Liars] “who transmits his stories from the Jews”.[`Uyun al-athar, I, 16-7 by Ibn Sayyid al-Nas].
In a later age Ibn Hajar Asqalani further explained the point of Malik’s condemnation of Ibn Ishaq. Malik, he said,[Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, IX, 45. See also `Uyun al-athar, I, 16-7] condemned Ibn Ishaq because he made a point of seeking out descendants of the Jews of Medina in order to obtain from them accounts of the Prophet’s campaigns as handed down by their forefathers. [ibid.]
“UNQUOTE”
@Aamir Mughal,
Dear Aamir,
Nonetheless, quoting the hadises for an “Islamic order” is completely irrelevant, especially when those doing the killing are also invoking an Islamic order. How about invoking more universalist and humane aspects that stress on tolerance. These killings are the result of a nationalist identity that has been defined on narrow, sectarian grounds. Its the result of policies like the strategic depth doctrine that was formulated and implemented by non-elected political actors.
@Ali Abbas
I have just exercised my right to express and do check the same blog on Iran and death of Irani blogger. Sectarian Division was the last thing on my mind when I wrote the message of condolence above. A piece of advice for you to go and read Iran Contra Scandal before starting a Sectarian Debate with me on this blog because I am very much clear on any kind of Mullah Calamity [whether Sunni, Wahabi or Shia].
News update: Total death toll now exceeds 25
Twin blasts hit Karachi, at least 25 killed
KARACHI: A motorcycle rigged with explosives rammed into a bus carrying Shias near the Nursery bridge in Karachi Friday, killing 12 people while a second explosion inside Jinnah Hospital left at least 13 people dead. Nearly 100 people were wounded in the twin blasts, reports said.
“Twelve people were martyred and 50 injured in the first blast. There are children and women among the killed and wounded,” Dr. Seemin Jamali, Head of the Emergency Department at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, said.
An hour after the first attack, a second explosion was heard outside the emergency ward of Jinnah Hospital where the injured were being shifted. The second blast was also caused by an explosives-laden motorcycle in the hospital’s parking lot that left at least 13 people dead, while many others were injured, a bomb disposal official Munir Sheikh said.
The building of the hospital and three ambulances were also damaged by the blast, which took place ten metres away from the main gate.
Another bomb was found inside a television outside Jinnah Hospital, DawnNews reported. The bomb disposal squad said that 25 kg of explosives were found inside the television.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/metropolitan/04-blast-karachi-qs-07
@Aamir Mughal
Aamir,
I was exercising the same right. Where did Iran come into the picture? If you are implying that I am in favour of the Iranian theocracy and its accompanying human rights abuses of the Kurds, Balochis, Bahais and pretty much anyone who doesn’t agree with the “Supreme leader”, you are dead wrong. My apologies if I misinterpreted your last comment. I am fully aware of the Iran contra scandal and even before of how the mullah regime collaborated with the CIA in releasing the hostages after the Carter-Reagan elections of 1980. I have no interest in starting a sectarian debate with you. I simply feel that quoting hadises is not the best way to make this situation better. As can be evidenced just by our thread, it makes it worst. Today’s tragedy is because the State has (mis)used religion for political ends and promoted non-State actors for their local and foreign policy objectives. The elected govt. is no match for these powerful, non-State actors. Also, do remember that between July 2007 to Feb. 2008, these very non-state actors killed hundreds of PPP workers and activists, including its leader, Shaheed Mohtarma. They are dead against the current democratically elected govt. and continue to massacre ANP elected representatives. They (the Islamist militias) are the scourage of Pakistan and the narrative to counter them lies in the universal secular humanist discourses that respects all religions and accompanying sects as part of one’s personal domain that should be imposed on the other. It allows for every group to commemorate its religious occassions, free from harrasment.
@Ali Abbas
Dear Abbas Bhai,
I am 100% with you on State’s Misuse of Religion and totally disagree with you on Hadith. Agreed with you on Rogues like SSP and other such Takfiri Barbarians and their Ideologies.
Also, do remember that between July 2007 to Feb. 2008, these very non-state actors killed hundreds of PPP workers and activists, including its leader, Shaheed Mohtarma. [Ali Abbas]
=======================
Wrong.
Karachi blasts
Dawn Editorial
Saturday, 06 Feb, 2010
The Shia community has again been targeted in Karachi on a day of religious observance. That one of the targets was a hospital where the dead and injured from an earlier blast had been brought only underlines the distressing reality of terrorism that is breaking new ground in ruthlessness.
If the Muharram blasts last December are any indication, we may not know for many weeks which group is behind the latest attacks. Suspicion, though, is likely to fall on Jundullah, a virulently sectarian militant outfit, four of whose members have been arrested in connection with the December blasts. So last week ended with ethnic violence breaking out in the city and this week ends with sectarian violence — a damning indictment of the city’s security situation that was for months talked up as a relative success.
However, we are not going to lay blame for yesterday’s blasts on a ‘security lapse’. We did not like the fact that the police quickly pointed to the fact that the main procession in the city was not attacked, as though the loss of life elsewhere was any less important. Yet, we understand that it is all but impossible to secure a city the size of Karachi with even the best of resources and capabilities, especially when the focus was on securing a procession similar to the one targeted in December. Karachi suffered again on Friday, but the carnage could have been much worse had the bombs targeted the main procession.
The main problem lies elsewhere: the lack of any political and security resolve to uproot the infrastructure that churns out the ideologically crazed men who want nothing more than to kill the ‘enemy’. Yes, the intelligence agencies and the security forces have been successful in breaking up a number of terrorist cells in recent months, but that is mostly a case of treating the symptoms and not the disease. Where did these men learn their hate? Who taught them to kill and maim? Who are the ideological figureheads? The answers do not all lie in faraway South or North Waziristan or Afghanistan. When Karachi escaped relatively unscathed from the wave of violence engulfing the rest of the country over the last couple of years, knowledgeable observers kept pointing out that the city was still at the mercy of various militant groups that could strike if they wanted to. The infrastructure of hate was never dismantled and now that the terrorists have seemingly decided to open the Karachi front, the city appears as vulnerable as ever.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/14-karachi-blasts-620-zj-04
An intolerant society
By Huma Yusuf
Sunday, 07 Feb, 2010
Coming on the heels of the Ashura tragedy, the two blasts in Karachi on Friday are a reminder that sectarian violence poses one of the greatest threats to Pakistani society. Well over 4,000 people have been killed in the past two decades in sectarian — involving primarily Shias and Sunnis — violence.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks, fingers are pointing at banned sectarian outfits such as Jundullah and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. No doubt, radicalised militants are behind the kinds of anti-Shia attacks we saw on Dec 28, and again on Friday. But the time has come to put sectarian violence in a broader perspective.
Such violence can no longer be denounced as the work of fringe elements, an accident of history or politics. Instead, it must be recognised as a symptom of an increasingly intolerant and divisive society.
Indeed, intolerance is very much a characteristic of Pakistani society, a fact obvious to anyone who follows the media. Take, for instance, the highly sensationalised, racist jibe at Senator Babar Ghauri by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan. Khan resorted to racism as a response to Ghauri’s accusation that he had an illegitimate child. But the ease with which he opted for the race card — and the resounding applause that met his comment — indicates that intolerance is thriving here.
Khan’s one-off insult cannot, however, compare with the consistent intolerance preached by other prominent personalities. Pakistani bloggers have made much of self-proclaimed strategic analyst Zaid Hamid’s Wake Up Pakistan campaign, which is explicitly anti-India. Although the campaign calls for an “ideological revolution” that restores the Muslim identity of the Pakistani state, Hamid’s dream of Radio Pakistan broadcasting from New Delhi has come to symbolise the no-compromises attitude of this particular movement.
Meanwhile, Pakistani grievances against US government policies such as escalating drone attacks and the use of private security firms may be justified. But anti-Americanism is slowly becoming conflated with anti-white sentiments: local websites, for example, publish photographs of any white person spotted here, identifying them as Blackwater or CIA agents.
Similarly, in the last year or so, public disdain for the Taliban has been expressed through discriminatory attitudes towards all Pushto-speaking people, who are being pushed out of jobs and increasingly find themselves the victims of arbitrary arrests and harassment.
Returning to a religious context, there is no shortage of examples of intolerance. Sunni-Shia sectarian violence seems to be on the rise in Karachi. Religious parties and the opposition PML-N hushed up calls for the repeal of the controversial blasphemy laws — long identified as anti-minority — after eight Christians were killed in Gojra last year. In September 2008, popular televangelist Aamir Liaquat declared that Islam sanctioned the murder of Ahmadis. Subsequently, at least two Ahmadis were murdered in cold blood. Need one go on?
The government has fuelled this widespread intolerance by employing vague terminology and heaping all the country’s problems on ‘non-state actors’ and ‘foreign elements’. This language has perpetuated a belief in an amorphous, elusive enemy that is defined by one characteristic alone: not being Pakistani. This allows anyone who believes they can define the traits of a Pakistani (increasingly synonymous with Sunni Muslim) to fill in the vague outline of the enemy with that which is considered the ‘other’: Hindu, American, Israeli, Shia, Ahmadi, Christian, Sikh.
And this practice is no longer confined to political, extremist or media circles: the trend is proliferating among Pakistan’s urban, educated middle classes. Just this week, I heard of two incidents that betray the extent of xenophobia and religious intolerance in our society. After an intense medical examination, a friend was using yogic breathing to compose herself when another patient in the waiting room asked her contemptuously if she were Hindu.
Across town, incidentally in another hospital waiting room, an aunt decided to say her prayers. When she was done, a woman spitefully asked her if she belonged to the Ahmadi community. When she responded that she was not, the woman asked, “how can you not be, if you pray with nail polish on?”
In other words, we now live in a society in which any evidence of divergent beliefs or differing practices invites judgment. Rather than embrace diversity and pluralism, or respect people’s personal choices, we are becoming a people who label, despise and even attack that which is deemed to be variant.
A 2005 International Crisis Group report concluded “sectarian conflict in Pakistan is the direct consequence of state policies of Islamisation and marginalisation of secular democratic forces”. But, as the above examples suggest, sectarianism and other forms of intolerance have gone well beyond the political realm, and are now in danger of becoming social norms.
Indeed, a January 2010 report by the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank, argues that Pakistani society will become more Islamist in the coming years. The report says that religious parties will not win more votes, but will exercise more ‘soft power’ through participation in political coalitions. This power will manifest itself in a move towards ‘Islamic values’, which will be articulated in increasingly conservative and intolerant legislatures; for example, Sharia-compliant laws to govern the banking system, limited women’s participation in the public sphere, public displays of piety, and the further marginalisation of minorities.
This means that the horrors Karachi saw on Friday, and that the country has grappled with for decades, will no longer be the extreme activities of militant groups — they will be an expression of public sentiment. We can already see how incitement to hatred is a prerequisite for representing Pakistanis, while religiously, racially and ethnically motivated violence is becoming intertwined with nationalism.
If our politicians, public figures and media personalities do not make a concerted effort to preach and practise tolerance, Pakistan will continue to head down an explosive path.
[email protected]
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/19-an-intolerant-society-hh-05
The hydra of sectarianism has spread its venomous tentacles all over Pakistan for the past many years since the Ziaul Haq era. But never had the country witnessed this kind of virulent anti-Shia violence. The government must take note of this rising sectarianism and come down hard on the sectarian militant outfits. If we extrapolate a little further, we can see a developing nexus between these outfits and al Qaeda. Iraq saw the same type of sectarianism on Friday when a bomb attack killed at least 23 Shia pilgrims and wounded more than 140 during the chehlum ceremony in Karbala. A series of suicide attacks have seen dozens of Shia pilgrims killed in recent days in Iraq. Authorities suspect al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgent groups are responsible for the attacks in Iraq. The diabolical nexus between al Qaeda and our sectarian outfits cannot be ruled out under these circumstances. The world has to wake up to this universal threat and make concerted efforts to root out these ruthless terror networks. Terrorism transcends all borders and is not limited to any one country now. Both Iraq and Pakistan need the help of the international community in fighting this rising militancy. If this nexus is not nipped in the bud, chaos will follow the world over.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\02\07\story_7-2-2010_pg3_1
It is the job of the intelligence agencies to infiltrate the militant groups in order to pre-empt and prevent terrorist activities all over Pakistan. The trend of reacting after an attack has proved clearly inadequate. The intelligence agencies and security forces have to be much more vigilant if they want to avoid major catastrophic incidents in the country. A counter-insurgency mechanism and strategy has to be devised on a war footing. Lack of preparedness following terror attacks is another issue warranting attention. The transfer of a senior official of the Bomb Disposal Squad after he told a private TV channel that the bomb detection apparatus was useless is unfair. The government must upgrade the apparatus instead of taking such unjust actions.
On another note, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) claiming that Blackwater and RAW were behind the blasts is ludicrous. It is high time these so-called guardians of religion woke up to the grim reality that the militant outfits and the Taliban are Pakistanis. The religious political parties should stop their patronage of the militants and for once think about the well being of this nation instead of passing statements that serve their own vested interests.
Law enforcement agencies claim that the Jundullah militant group is behind the two blasts. The authorities arrested four Jundullah members following the Ashura blast back in December, but claim that many more are present in the city and could have been behind the planning of the recent attacks. If that is the case, the security forces should not waste any more time in finding and arresting the remaining members and also launch a countrywide crackdown against all sectarian militant outfits. We have to remain steadfast in the elimination of militancy if we want peace and prosperity to return to the country. Time is of the essence.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\02\08\story_8-2-2010_pg3_1
This blog or Website is totally inclined towards Shia’ism and i have go through it and found that some Shia fanatics are managing it and they are trying to portray Deovandis as against pakistan or Islam.What about Shia doing the same with Sunnis in Iran??
@Abdullah
Yes, Deobandis were against Pakistan and they were also against the Founding Father of Pakistan i.e. Muhammad Ali Jinnah ]who was first Ismaili and then Shia] and later became Founder of Pakistan.
@Abdullah
Jinnah appointed Sir Zafarullah Chaudhry 1st Foreign Minister of Pakistan and Zafarullah was Quadiyani.
@Abdullah, in Iran, the Balochis, Kurds, Kuzehstani Arabs, Azeris are persecuted by the hardline regime, not on the basis of their sect but on the basis of their ethnicity. The Kuzehstani Arabs and Azeris are also shia as are a significant minority within the Kurds (the Faelli). And as people of conscience, we must all condemn the Iranian hardline theocracy for its human rights abuses. I don’t see any of the LUBP team having any bias. They have been critical of the PPP as well and all the progressive and tolerant people I speak to, both here in Pakistan and abroad are raving about this site. Many including myself prefer this site as opposed to most of the news sites and other blogs; the majority of which represent the elite, anti-democratic sections of Pakistan
@Abdullah, why are you so pre-occupied with some aspects of shias that are being highlighted on this site. After all, we are between 15-20% of the country’s population and kudos to the LUBP for highlight the violence against us that is being committed by the same Islamist groups that are killing Pakistani Christains and Ahmedis, Brehlvis and Sufis, Sindhis and Punjabis, Balochis and Pushtoons! Thank God there is some sane group of individuals who are putting in the honest hard efforts in highligting the cancer that is devouring Pakistan while other news channels are trumpeting the rubbish of anti-democratic sections!
@Ali Abbas
Even if Shias are 1% of the Pakistani population they have every right to live their lives peacefully.
The strings of terrorism are wound around religious seminaries, not all but some, and that is the common consensus of the international community. The government has a choice to make: prefer silence as expediency or invent thousands of reasons for its defence. If foreign hands are really working behind the scenes they should be exposed without taking into account any political considerations.
Terrorism has ripped the country’s social fabric apart and rendered the economic situation unpredictable. There are no two opinions on developing a consensus among all stakeholders in this country, and — most importantly — the clerics of various schools of thought, to play their role in the emerging situation.
The recent blasts in Karachi should have been an eye-opener for those who justify and consider the ongoing Taliban movement as jihad, and also a wake up call for the clerics to do away with their swollen pride and prejudice for the cause of humanity and safety of the nation. They should no longer be silent spectators with this shameless turn in violence and terrorism knocking at our door, sparing no one, not even women and children.
Suicide bombings have killed hundreds of people and destroyed thousands of businesses, leaving behind a trail of bleeding wounds and a sense of insecurity among the people in almost every part of the country.
It is hard to explain whether the blast in the mourning procession was a sectarian attempt or a routine act of terrorism to disturb the peace in Karachi. In the Sindh home minister’s view it was terrorism, while the federal interior minister branded it as sectarianism. Only the helplessness of the people and restraint practiced by them has allowed the perpetrators to get away with this.
The war on terror is being fought on this land and we have to find a solution. Everything cannot be left on the shoulders of the government and the military. No fleet or saviour will come from a distant land to our rescue. All eyes are on the clerics not to shirk their responsibility, but to use their energies, attention and influence, as they are an integral part of society, to rein in the non-state actors.
There is no question of the excuse of any limitation on their part, as the clerics have always asserted their powerful presence in regard to certain issues in the past.
Divided we stand, united we fall —Muhammad Aftab Afzal
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\02\09\story_9-2-2010_pg3_6
Rolling back the tides of hatred
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Kamila Hyat
The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor
It must take quite inconceivable evil to plan and execute the kind of bomb attacks that targeted Shia mourners in Karachi on February 5. The second attack, outside the emergency department of a hospital where those wounded in the first attack were being rushed indicates intricate planning by those who lack conscience and humanity of any kind.
But it is pointless to talk of these qualities. The fact is that, as a society, these have been systematically chipped away from many – indeed most – of us. In schools everywhere children are taught a particular line of belief, one that is intolerant to diversity and which emphasises only the most staid, rhetorical aspects of religion. Distortions that vilify other creeds and other sects occur, most markedly in seminaries but also in mainstream schools – including those that project themselves as the more progressive or enlightened.
The gap between all the various sects has expanded most dramatically since the 1980s, when hard-line schools of thought were actively promoted. They in turn played a part in the emergence of groups such as the staunchly anti-Shia Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan in Jhang, and from within this even more extremist forces such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi with its strategy of extermination, in order to convert Pakistan into a Sunni state. Despite being banned in 2001- 2002, both groups remain intact and active. The LeJ has in fact survived through an organisational structure that emulates that of Fascist groups. It is set up as small cadres of five to eight members each, with one cell unaware of the composition or activity of others. Some of these units have linked themselves to Al Qaeda.
But this is not the principal reason why they are so dangerous. The problem is that from the fringes, extremist thoughts and ideas have, like a giant stain, seeped into the fabric of mainstream society. Technology has aided this. On email and over texting services, extraordinarily virulent sectarian messages are dispatched to tens of thousands. Many seem to accept at least portions of them as true. Awareness of difference based on sects has spread rapidly, and many seem unaware that jokes based on these differences are in bad taste – as ugly as the racist references to ‘Pakis’ or people who are black made in other societies.
We have, for over two decades now, watched the situation worsen. The number of attacks has generally risen – even though the frenzied sect wars of the late 1990s have been partially controlled. Literature by extremist groups is distributed at mosques, at markets and at seminaries. It is no coincidence that those who speak out against the content are often members of the older generation – those who retain the tolerance that marked our past and, unlike their children and grandchildren, are not brainwashed. In many ways those who have never been schooled at institutions that have become places to quash thinking are better off than those who have spent time in classrooms.
All this is, of course, not new. We have seen the change unfold before our eyes. The real question is if there is anything that can be done – and how soon. The point to remember is that the hatred we live with was created. It must then, be rolled back – leaving behind a cleaner surface. In some ways at least this task seems impossible. But hatred may not, after all, be quite as difficult to vanquish as it sometimes appears. Just one generation ago, in the southern states of the US, a brave black woman climbed into the front of a public bus and black parents walked past mobs of angry whites to enroll children at school. It took more years and decades for hatred to diminish; it has indeed still to disappear. It is there, more subtly but still distinctly, at many places. But this is a fact, too, that a black family today occupies the White House. Many young Americans are oblivious to colour. The same is true in Europe where many of the structures of racism have vanished from the minds of the young. Of course extremists exist in these societies; skin-heads and neo-Nazis sometimes rampage through the streets in the cities of Britain and Germany. A fierce war based around religion and colour rages on in France. But these battles take place on the very edge of society. In our country they have become so much a part of the mainstream that we see the expression of hatred almost as a norm. Certainly people find it surprising when anyone demonstrates tolerance for groups that have been vilified and deliberately marginalised, such as the Ahmadis.
The problems we have now are essentially a legacy of the 1980s – even though many of the issues were rooted before then. We need to conceive of plans that over the next two or three decades can bring in change. Through its control over curriculum, and over many other aspects of life, the state can play some part in this. But it cannot achieve what is now a mammoth task on its own. Religious scholars have a part to play as well. So does the media. The fact that so many sections of it are essentially insular and right wing in orientation does nothing to help. There is a role here, too, for popular music and songs. As the anniversary of the birthday of Faiz Ahmed Faiz is marked, perhaps the poets of today can take inspiration from him and set an agenda for social change. Perhaps they should keep in mind that if they fail to do so, the time may come when music of all kinds is silenced. This, after all, doesn’t seem that far-fetched; for months it was banned in Swat, and even today, at weddings in Peshawar, it is played only softly lest the wrong ears hear.
But it is the citizens, too, who must act. Not by risking bullets, but in quiet ways. School heads can be asked why their pupils are taught bigotry that warps minds. Parents can teach children to question, to think and to believe in a future that is brighter than their past. Till such efforts begin, we will not see change and will witness only more horrors such as those outside the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi, and in so many other places before this.
Email: [email protected]
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=223550
I am wondering why alot of air time in electronic media Maulana
Ludhvani is getting ? Almost everyday he is present one or the other talk show
I don’t know what kind of the message media trying to give to the
world. Perhaps media is trying to show that monster like Ludhavani are
actually quite social and even politician meets him for getting his
support. Exposing politician is fair enough but real question is
whether media will question him for his sectarian activities or just
its an attempt to clear his name from alleged hand behind data Darbar
and Eid Milad-ul-nabi attacks in Lahore and Faisalabd respectively.
Media is promoting his as an alternative political force ,fair enough
, but they have to remember according to election commission rules no
party can have name representing as sect , and in case of Ludhianvi
his organization name is representing a particular sect.
Since the advent of Zia ul Haq, Pakistan has been wracked with
violence that is State sponsored and based on the absolute support
provided to an interconnected umbrella group of Salafi militias that
include the Taliban, the Sipah Sahaba and its militant wing, Lashkar
Jhangvi, Jaish Mohammad, Lashkar Tayabba etc. These groups are
provided political safety nets by parent groups like Jamaat Islami and
other shadowy establishment figures like Hamid Gul and Imran Khan. The
Media, lead by the likes of known Taliban sympathizer, Hamir Mir and
the rest of the pack go out of their way to faciliate shows where
Taliban apologists like Hamid Gul, Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain, Haroon
Rashid, Ansar Abbasi and Roedad Khan are given a free reign to divert
attention from the latest Taliban atrocities by engaging in conspiracy
theory mongering. For them, the only obstacle to a complete
Talibanization of society are certain political groups like the PPP
and ANP that are not sympathetic to the Taliban. After Shaheed Benazir
Bhutto, the ANP has had scores of its elected leaders killed for
bravely standing up to the Taliban. However, neither the media nor the
civilian intelligentsia have any sympathy for this segment of the
political class and are mostly on the same wave length as the security
establishment.
The cost of being a Shia in Pakistan
============
“QUOTE”
Gen. Musharraf started a policy of bringing in Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside and settling them down in Gilgit and Baltistan in order to reduce the Kashmiri Shias to a minority in their traditional land and this is continuing till today. The “Friday Times” of October 15-21, 1992, quoted Mr. Muhammad Yahya Shah, a local Shia leader, as saying: ” We were ruled by the Whites during the British days. We are now being ruled by the Browns from the plains. The rapid settling-in of Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside, particularly the trading classes, has created a sense of acute insecurity among the local Shias.” Zia became the first victim of the carnage unleashed by Gen. Musharraf on the Shias of Gilgit. Though the Pakistani authorities have not released the report of the committee, which enquired into the crash of Zia’s plane in August,1988, it is widely believed in Pakistan that a Shia airman from Gilgit, wanting to take revenge for the May,1988, carnage, was responsible for the crash. REFERENCE: Biography of General Pervez Musharraf: His Past and Present http://www.angelfire.com/al4/terror/musharraf.htm
“UNQUOTE”
“QUOTE”
In 1988, there was a violent uprising of the Shias in Gilgit, which was ruthlessly suppressed by Musharraf, who was given the task of dealing with the revolt by Zia-ul-Haq. Musharraf had a large number of Sunni Pashtun tribesmen from the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) led by Osama bin Laden brought into Gilgit. They carried out a massacre of the Shias in the NA as well as the adjoining NWFP areas. It is believed by many in Pakistan that the crash of the aircraft in which Zia was travelling from Bahawalpur in August 1988 resulting in his death was caused by a Shia airman from Gilgit sympathetic to the TJP in retaliation for this massacre. To keep the Shias of Gilgit under control, Musharraf encouraged the the SSP, which had come into existence in the Punjab in the early 1980s at the instance of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to extend its activities amongst the Sunni population of Gilgit and to politically organise them against the the TJP. Since then, there have frequently been clashes between the TJP and the SSP followers in Gilgit, the latest outbreak of such violent incidents having taken place in June, 2001, before Musharraf’s visit to India for the summit talks with Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, the Indian Prime Minister. REFERENCE: Musharraf�s Ban: An Analysis Author: B.Raman Publication: South Asia Analysis Group Date: January 18, 2002 URL: http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper395.html
“UNQUOTE”
The cost of being a Shia in Pakistan
===================================
Real Face of General Musharraf:
And while the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi stand officially disbanded, their most militant son and leader, Maulana Azam Tariq, an accused in several cases of sectarian killing, contested elections from jail – albeit as an independent candidate – won his seat, and was released on bail shortly thereafter. Musharraf rewrote election rules to disqualify former Prime Ministers Mohammed Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, and threatened to toss them in jail if they returned from abroad, which badly undermined both Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League and Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Musharraf has plainly given the religious groups more free rein in the campaign than he has allowed the two big parties that were his main rivals. In Jhang city, in Punjab province, Maulana Azam Tariq, leader of an outlawed extremist group called Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been linked to numerous sectarian killings, is being allowed to run as an independent despite election laws that disqualify any candidate who has criminal charges pending, or even those who did not earn a college degree. “It makes no sense that Benazir can’t run in the election,” says one Islamabad-based diplomat, “and this nasty guy can.” References: And this takes me back to Pervez Musharraf’s first visit to the US after his coup. At a meeting with a group of journalists among whom I was present, my dear and much lamented friend Tahir Mirza, then the Dawn correspondent, asked Musharraf why he was not acting against Lashkar-e Tayba and Jaish-e Muhammad. Musharraf went red in the face and shot back, “They are not doing anything in Pakistan. They are doing jihad outside.” Pakistani neocons and UN sanctions Khalid Hasan This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm. http://www.khalidhasan.net/2008/12/28/pakistani-neocons-and-un-sanctions/ For The ‘General’ Good By Sairah Irshad Khan Monthly Newsline January 2003 http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsJan2003/cover1jan2003.htm – General’s Election By TIM MCGIRK / KHANA-KHEL Monday, Oct. 07, 2002 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,361788,00.html
RIGHT UNDER THE NOSE OF GENERAL MUSHARRAF AND GEORGE W BUSH!!!
In interviews, however, American intelligence officials and high-ranking military officers said that Pakistanis were indeed flown to safety, in a series of nighttime airlifts that were approved by the Bush Administration. The Americans also said that what was supposed to be a limited evacuation apparently slipped out of control, and, as an unintended consequence, an unknown number of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters managed to join in the exodus. “Dirt got through the screen,” a senior intelligence official told me. Last week, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld did not respond to a request for comment. Musharraf won American support for the airlift by warning that the humiliation of losing hundreds—and perhaps thousands—of Pakistani Army men and intelligence operatives would jeopardize his political survival. “Clearly, there is a great willingness to help Musharraf,” an American intelligence official told me. A C.I.A. analyst said that it was his understanding that the decision to permit the airlift was made by the White House and was indeed driven by a desire to protect the Pakistani leader. The airlift “made sense at the time,” the C.I.A. analyst said. “Many of the people they spirited away were the Taliban leadership”—who Pakistan hoped could play a role in a postwar Afghan government. According to this person, “Musharraf wanted to have these people to put another card on the table” in future political negotiations. “We were supposed to have access to them,” he said, but “it didn’t happen,” and the rescued Taliban remain unavailable to American intelligence. According to a former high-level American defense official, the airlift was approved because of representations by the Pakistanis that “there were guys— intelligence agents and underground guys—who needed to get out.” REFERENCE: The Getaway Questions surround a secret Pakistani airlift. by Seymour M. Hersh January 28, 2002 http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/01/28/020128fa_FACT
Mr Amir mogul,wait a second please,you are wrong in some of your speeches,This is a highest time that public should now carry a gun with them,This time no security for any one,and any body,you have to secure your self,Don,t listen to our cowered govt,Do what ever you want,start carrying a weapons with you At least 30 bullets with the gun,any gun,no revolvers,mauzars,cuz some peoples deserve to be killed,or kill.and stop doing stupid ihtejaaj,s these ihtejaaj are all shit,pick up the gun and shoot the bastard straight away,No mercy for them,just shoot don,t argue.you will see some good days after that,kill all bhatta mafia,s who ever is behind them.don,t give the shit,its time for them to die,simple.
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