Daily Times

Captain Safdar, the son-in-law of our not-at-all Sharif ex-Prime Minister, epitomises the cancer that continues to spread within our society and shames us all no end. And yet, I am certain, he feels proud of his “courage and staunch beliefs”; to our utter, everlasting disgrace.

Many friends have inquired why I have discontinued my efforts to sell geography to the people. The short answer is that I haven’t; these have merely been put on hold. And the venomous hatred spewed by the Captain (I am hesitant to refer to him as a man, as a human) has simply prolonged the intervening interval. When persons of his ilk speak thus on the floor of the House — they deserve to be taken to task. And I am pleased no end to see that, at least in this instance, mine is not a lone voice.

So very ashamed am I that he is Pakistani; that he is considered part of the human race; that he wore, however briefly, the same uniform that I wore each day with great pride; that he found sufficient support to be elected to Parliament; of what he said, what he personifies and for what he is. And then I am ashamed some more, that he is not the only one of his kind.

If my grasp of things is somewhat lacking, then kindly do enlighten me. But what gave you, the so-called Ullema of today, the right to avenge crimes endured by the Prophet (PBUH); crimes that he chose to let go unpunished? Who appointed you the Guardians of a religion that you have never even tried to understand?

Yet what has proved too much for me is how he not only spoke uninterrupted in the House but how none of our elected representatives dared offer a single rebuttal, a single objection. Indeed, to my utmost horror and utter degradation, there were those who took to thumping their desks to demonstrate their overwhelming approval. How much lower can we fall?

Raoof Hassan’s recent piece for this paper reminded me that Safdar was among those who cheered for Mumtaz Qadri, while the judge who sentenced him to death was forced into exile. Here, too, the good Captain wasn’t alone. Lawyers were seen garlanding Qadri for the murder most cowardly and foul that he committed. And all because Salman Taseer supported a review of the country’s blasphemy laws.

In Europe, the period known as The Inquisition originated in France, somewhere in the twelfth century before reaching its zenith a few hundred years later in Spain. Heresy may be described as “the voicing of an opinion against religious dogma”; particularly within the Roman Catholic context. Dogma, mind you. Yes the Church was dogmatic and if anyone raised their voice against its prescriptions, then they could expect nothing less than severe punishment. Among the definitions of dogma in listed in Webster’s dictionary, the most compelling is this: “a point of view or tenet put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds”. Meaning that questioning the Church in the absence of the latter was punishable by death.

Of the most commonly preferred means of avenging heresy was setting on fire those charged with this unacceptable offence. Yet this, too, reached new heights in Spain. There it was believed that prolonging the death of a known heretic by way torture served to ‘purify’ the soul of the poor wretch. Thus after such painstaking attention to his suffering was he then eligible to pass through Heaven’s white pearly gates?

Yet, we do not lag far behind. Our terrorists believe the same. By serving their manmade God of Wrath through the jihad that they preach — these perpetrators of mass murder believe that not only they, but anyone ‘lucky’ enough to die at their hands, automatically become Shaheeds, firmly on their way to Heaven. Meaning that those who murder us are, in fact, doing us a favour.

I must confess that, like most of us, my knowledge of Islam is little more than rudimentary. So, I would like to make a public plea of sorts. In the history of Islam with which I am familiar, people flung filth and excreta at the Prophet (PBUH), roundly, publicly, and repeatedly verbally abused him and Allah. Did they not? My question, therefore, is this: how many of these foul people were sentenced to death for blasphemy by the Prophet (PBUH), after the fall of Mecca, when he reigned supreme? Or, indeed, by the Khuafa-e-Rashideen during the periods of their rule?

If my grasp of things is somewhat lacking, then kindly do enlighten me. But what gave you, the so-called Ulema of today, the right to avenge crimes endured by the Prophet (PBUH); crimes that he chose to let go unpunished? Who appointed you the Guardians of a religion that you have never even tried to understand?

Does this act of usurping the right that Allah Almighty has kept exclusively for himself — of deciding who deserves to call themselves Muslim and who doesn’t — not deserve to be called what it is? Namely, “Shirk”? The one single transgression that the Prophet (PBUH) and his Khulafadeemed punishable.

Again, please correct me if I am wrong, but if my recollection of Islamic history does not err, Hazrat Bibi Khadeeja, the Prophet’s (PBUH) first wife, asked for his hand in marriage; right? So if this is the case why do you, the so-called learned Aalims of Islam, fail to turn your wrath towards the uneducated, unenlightened and dogmatic (yes, I use this word deliberately) parents who deny women family members the very same? Is it that you claim to know better? Careful, there, fellows.

Yet alas and alack, I know only too well that I cannot shame either your or the Safdars of Pakistan. Their creation is all yours.

And, finally, the thing that leaves me most ashamed is the fact that even though the good Captain’s words — his incitement to hatred — constitute a grave offence punishable by law, not one single person has the temerity to seek such recourse.

Lawyers, too, are equally reluctant to go down this path. I have found but one who has cautiously agreed to do the needful. And even then, I cannot afford his fees.

The writer is a retired brigadier. He is also former vice president and founder of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)

Published in Daily Times, October 15^th 2017.