Adil Najam
The news is developing by the moment. But the bottom-line is clear. The security forces have taken control of the Lal Masjid from militants after a severe gun-battle. But the story is far from over.
It will continue to unfold. There are too many unanswered questions. They will certainly be asked and discussed threadbare; here at ATP and elsewhere. But the real story of tomorrow remains the same as the real story of yesterday. Can a society that is so deeply divided against itself learn the lessons of tolerance? This question will continue to haunt us well into the future, in multiple shapes, in multiple forms, in multiple contexts.
This is a question that we at ATP have confronted from our very beginning and will continue to confront. But now is not the time to ponder on this. Even though what has happened had become inevitable over the last many days, I am too heartbroken to be able to do so.
Right now I can think only of Muzammil Shah (photo, from Associated Press, above). This photo was taken as he waited for his son who was inside the Lal Masjid. I do not know whether his son was there voluntarily, or as hostage. But I do know what the look of Muzammil Shah’s face means. The more important question is whether his son came out alive or not. I pray that he did.
Analysts – me included – will discuss what happened at length. They will try to understand the meaning of all this. What does this mean for Pakistan politics? What does this mean for Gen. Musharraf’s future? What does this mean for Islam? For Democracy? Does the fault lie with Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his militant supporters for creating a situation that could only end this way? Why did he not surrender? Is the blood of everyone who died not on his head for his stubboness and arrogance? Or, maybe, it is the government that is to blame because it did not act earlier? Act differently? Waited just a few days more for a negotiated solution?
Right now all these questions seem really petty and small. This is not the time for scoring cheap political points. This is not the time for spin.
Moreover, there are too many questions to ask. To answer. The head hurts as you think of them. But the heart hurts even more as you look at the face of Muzammil Shah.
Maybe the only really important question is the one that you can read between his wrinkles: “Why? Oh God, why? Why must things happen this way?”
Adil, great article in The News today and good that they also plug your blog each week ;-)
Prof. Najam you had very good article in The News today. really first balanced analysis I have read of this. Unfortunately now with Islamabad blast some of your fears have become real.
What i really mean to say is that we need not follow any mullah to understand and follow our religion. If we can read and understand our Book we could do better in matters of religio
I disagree with this statement. As I mentioned several time that religion is just like any other knowledge, the difference is that religion is actually knowledge about Allah and associated things. Just like we need teachers in schools and colleges to teach us course subjects,similarly we need mentors/alims to teach us about religion. Without a mentor,one can feel difficulty to understand things. Islam is easy but not as easy that one can just interpret it according to his own interest. The famous Iranian apostate Ali Sina tried to study Islam himself and then he got confused and concluded that Islam is fake thus everything associated with it therefore we must need a teacher to guide us. yes it’s our responsibility to find out genuine teacher and Allah has given us “Khopri” to make difference between who’s good for us and who’s not.
Adnan,,,,,you have repeated and reiterated the saying of someone who said that religion was the root of all evils (or something like that) . True , there are controversies in matters of religious beliefs and it has never been possible for humans to remove them. This anomaly is not typical of Islam but every religion, even the small religion such as sikhism which is also split into sects and you must have witnessed the bloody clash between two of their sects in Amritsar recently.
State will seldom bear the blame as it has power. The weaker force viz religion has thus to suffer the brunt. You could see this aspect in the recent Red Mosque incident. The irrational approach of the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafza led it to bloody catastrophe at the hands of the State. If you go through the history you will note that almost all the wars took place for acquiring power and control over others or resources or territories belonging to others. This is what the West , the USA is doing. Religion, ofcourse is a big stumbling block in their way and these powers are doing everything to overturn it.
What i really mean to say is that we need not follow any mullah to understand and follow our religion. If we can read and understand our Book we could do better in matters of religion. Also, it doesnt behove of a muslim to mock at his own religion just because it is incorrectly or wrongly interpretted by any mullah or mufti….it’s just like someone abusing his own parents. It would be better for those unhappy with Islam to quit it rather than derogate it or spread aspersions over its teachings. I do realize that some of Quranic edicts may seem archaic but rather than taking them literally one must use commonsense and try to get at its symbolic meaning. For example, it states punishment by stoning,,,,,here the ultimate goal is to kill a criminal ,,,,so why fight over the manner of execution? why not use the electric chair or the gas chamber? In all events the criminal would be got rid off.
When it comes to cutting hands of a thief, the hands should be cut as their is apparently no other alternate for ”cutting hands”,,,,,,what’s the harm in it??
mazhar, but ground reality is that it’s the religion which is blamed for every thing. In the movement of church and state separation, it was religion which was blamed rather people who were running state affairs.