I do not know how the Muslims in other countries live
and the pattern of behaviour is in their lives and how they conduct themselves
in various fields of human activity for example in homes, in the
courts, in the markets, or the airports. However, two incidents happened in the
space of a week. The first incident happened when a senior diplomat posted in
Saudi Arabia told me on my visit there that the Saudi hosts told a trade
delegation which he then was escorting that the people of Pakistan are liars
and cheats. I underwent a similar experience in Jeddah.
The other day, my son, Saad, and I bought quality mangoes at a higher price. But when we tasted them at home, they were mostly mixed: some of them were sweet and some were sour and inferior. Lying and cheating has been the usual pattern of our lives since the country’s Independence.
I am not a scholar of Islam. I am an honest, upright and
straightforward Muslim who values his integrity above everything less. I have
no means of estimating the number of people who read, understood and followed
the Quranic Injunctions. Suffice to say that given our tendency to be dishonest
in everyday life, not many people adhere to them. Of late many reputed Islamic
scholars decried this waywardness in an Islamic society particularly when it gained Independence on an Islamic slogan.
Two prominent Islamic scholars Mufti Nazeer and Mufti Zubair
with the host Aneeq Ahmed were discussing a similar topic, which is
very close to my heart, in a programme aired by the Dunya TV the other morning.
Mufti Zubair counted many failings in our society, both of them agreed that:
- Islam does not mean only prayers (Namaz or salaat), fasting, giving zakat or other forms of charity laid down in the Holy Quran.
- Islam does not mean wearing a cap or any headdress to offer prayers and its removal when leaving the mosque.
- Islam also means the way we conduct our daily lives: the way we deal in the markets as sellers and buyers, in the courts as judges and lawyers and as litigants etc.
Those Islamic scholars referred to the appropriate style of
governance and the people governed in the west and compared to us.
In the recent past, I have written a series of articles on the topics namely:
- “Why Am I Confused Part I?”
- “Why Am I Confused Part II?”
- ”All Art Is A Mirror To Society.”
- “The True Spirit Of Islam Somehow Escapes In Everything We Do; Pakistan, A Place Of Many Contradictions“
The next day following the night of Laila-tul-Qadar, a man
mentioned to me how he enjoyed that night. I told him that a year has
365 days and for a devout Muslim each night is a special night. However, I
told him that a society steeped in sin of which they do not know or do not
care as adulteration in food, how is that when entering a mosque pangs of
conscience do not prick them.
Prayers or Namaz (Urdu) As-salaat (Arabic) are means for
avoiding evil. However, for the last sixty five years we have been praying
for Divine Guidance. Allah is perfect. His Prophets are perfect. His Quran
is perfect. His Prophet and His last Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be
upon him) are perfect. His Injunctions contained in the Holy Quran are perfect.
What are imperfect are man and his way of doing things.
There was a time when kings ruled the countries in Europe.
Battles were fought by the kings or in the name of the king. The kings
and their noblemen lived in luxury while the populace lived in misery.
Robin Hood, William Tell and others were such folk heroes who struggled against
the oppression of the gentry. The rise of fall of Oliver Cromwell and his
Puritans in England and the French Revolution in France led to democracy in
their respective countries. Of course, much blood was shed in the process.
However, a process of evolution in the form of the Industrial Revolution was
simultaneously taking place not only in those two countries but elsewhere in
Europe. However, a reading of authors of that time for e.g. George Eliot’s
“Adam Bede” and Charles Dickens’s “David Copperfield”, Thomas Hardy tells us
that education was not common, Ordinary people could not read even The Bible.
However, gradually educational institutions of renown such as Oxford,
Cambridge, Eton and Harrow were established. European writers of the time,
Voltaire, Rousseau, Carlyle, Mills, Ruskin and Locke helped to mould
public opinion as did Sir Syed Ahmad and Allama Iqbal in India in the past
centuries. Whereas Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi, Ahmed Faraz, Dr.
Wazir Agha and Ashfaq Ahmed Who lived and died in our age. Now the present
generation of thinkers like Orya Maqbool Jan, Bilal Qutab and Zaid Hamid are
molding public opinion.
However, gone are those days when kings and nobility were
powerful? After the end of the Second World War, a new thinking has taken over.
Peace and cooperation has replaced wars. Initially there were six members of
the European Common Market at various stages of economic development with
Germany leading and Italy at the end. However, the fruit of economic
development was visible in a few years to the six members of the ECM.
I am sorry for this detour in the realms of European history and literature. But I wanted to show that society in the west has evolved to the extent that an age of reasoning and enquiry has set. Education, health, quality of food and living standards are high. Licenses of doctors and lawyers are cancelled if they do not treat their clients properly.
The only charge that is leveled against the west is that of
promiscuity and lewdness. That is the prevailing social norm. East is
east and west is west. The twain shall never meet. Be it as it may, there is a
method in the madness. All laws are meant to be followed whether the laws are governing
personal laws or the laws of the state. If President Nixon or Clinton lies to
the American people, they cannot escape punishment irrespective of the weak
social norms.
We say that Islam is far superior to any religion whether
revealed or man made. In this age of enquiry, we cannot even prove
it practically unless we have glorious examples like the Holy Prophet (Peace
and Blessings of Allah be upon him) and his companions (May Allah be
pleased with them) and his immediate followers. We have no such living example
in Pakistan. In the Holy Quran, a mention has been made of major sins such the
association of anything with the Unity of Allah. At the time of the Conquest of
Mecca, 360 idols were found and destroyed. It is said that Hindus make ‘gods’
of anything which is powerful than them. We also make idols from the President
of the country, to the USA and down the line.
A mention has been made in the Quran of the Scriptures which
Allah, in His Divine Mercy, handed over to the Prophet Moses. These Injunctions
are common to every religion, revealed or man made, Read it and compare its
injunctions viz.a.viz. The situation in Pakistan since independence.
‘Human failings’ are going by leaps and bounds in every field. You just
name it and it is found. Ego satisfaction, arrogance, conceit, adulteration in
food and medicines, back biting, lies, stealing, perfidy, larceny, deceit,
division of society from initially West and East Pakistan and later into
provinces, cities, tribes, castes, have and have not feudal lords and serfs,
the latter live in sub human conditions. Their situation reminds one of
the conditions before the French Revolution. Everything Allama Iqbal in his
Jawab-e-Shikwa warned us to avoid is going on in the country made in the
Glorious name of Islam. Everything which Islam forbids is taken place.
TV channels and newspapers in Pakistan devote much time and
space to fashions. Seeing the fashion shows it is difficult, for me
at least, to decipher whether the dresses and models wearing those
dresses, are made for the Pakistani market which is conservative. Ladies are
posting their pictures on media channels such as Facebook which boggles the
mind. It is difficult to reconcile the act with Quranic Injunctions.
Allah coineth a similitude: a township that dwelt secure and
well content, its provision coming to it in abundance from every side, but
it disbelieved in Allah’s favours, so Allah made it experience the garb of
dearth and fear because of what they used to do.
Isn’t it time for all of us to seek Allah’s forgiveness and
His Guidance?
By Mahfooz ur Rahman
Email: rahman.mahfooz.pk@gmail.com
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