Adil Najam
The news is finally in. As expected, the Lahore High Court has lifted the ban it had earlier imposed on the social networking site, Facebook.
So, what is the lesson in all of this? Who gained what in this entire episode? And who lost what?
The essentials of the news, as reported in The Express Tribune, are as follows:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) lifted the ban on social networking website Facebook on Monday. During today’s proceedings, the court demanded gaurantees that such content will not be accessible to users in Pakistan. The court observed that the act would be treated as contempt of court if it is repeated again. Meanwhile, deputy attorney general and PTA representative assured the court it would not happen again.
The court also outlined the government’s responsibility in such cases. The Lahore High Court banned Facebook on May 19 for hosting a blasphemous drawing contest and asked PTA to submit a written reply. Menwhile, the next hearing was adjourned till June 15. The popular social networking website was banned by the Lahore High Court after a controversy over it hosting blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Muslims across the world were offended by a Facebook page which declared May 20 a day to caricature Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Despite a growing surge of protests by Muslims, Facebook had opted not to remove the page. The court had temporarily banned the social networking site Facebook till May 31 across the country. It had issued the order after an Islamic forum of lawyers sought ban on access to the popular social networking site for holding a contest of drawing caricatures on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
SAD CHILDREN PRAY: EVEN INNOCENCE RECOGNISES DEFAMATION (POEM)
Even children
In my homeland
Are praying for God’s help
Against those evil schemers
That are drawing cartoons
And defiling our beloved Prophet Muhammad.
Even sparrows are wailing
As they circle the summer sky
Like joining the little ones
Boys and girls with sad looks
And uplifted hands
Praying to the God of Abraham
Adam, Eve, Moses and Aaron
Elisha, Job, Joseph and Mariam
To send down His wrath from heaven
On the cartoonist followers of Satan.
Soon will the sky thunder and roar
As my poetic heart tells me
And a storm shall devour all those sinners
A storm like an unprecendented Twister
Shall obliterate the defilers of the Prophet
And bring forth a better generation.
© Muhammad Naveed Ahmed
O YE ARABS (POEM)
O ye Arabs
Busy in enjoying life
Wake up ere it’s too late!
Can’t you see
How Islam is being portrayed
By the followers of Satan?
You have hearts
You have minds
But you have become indolent.
Even with wealth
You do not rise for Islam
And revel with wine, horses, women.
Wake up ye!
And do what you can
For Islam and the believers.
If ye don’t
Then one day ye will
Be replaced by better men.
Men who shall
Rise and deal with bigotry
Men like Saladin the great.
© Muhammad Naveed Ahmed
MY CHALLENGE TO THE BLASPHEMING CARTOONISTS (POEM)
I challenge
All those who defile my faith
And draw cartoons
About my beloved Prophet Muhammad
The Prophet of Islam
And God’s mercy to all mankind
To face me in any contest
Involving debate, reasoning,
A televised discussion
On the responsibility that comes
With the freedom of expression
And speech
Or even a public conference
Along with learned men and women
Of all religions, beliefs and ideologies.
I even challenge these cartoonists
Who love to denigrate my beloved Prophet
Who is also the last Messenger of God
Whom we Muslims call Allah
To a duel to death
Whenever they like
At any place they like
Armed or unarmed
The choice of combat is theirs.
But before I make this challenge
A formal affair
I would like to ask these cartoonists
Why and what for do they like to insult
The Prophet of Islam and the Muslims
All around the world?
What is their logic?
Can they explain logically?
We Muslims are defamed worldwide
As terrorists and militants
As people with no tolerance
For people of other faiths.
Yet we have never defiled
Any messenger of God or any prophet
Mentioned in the Holy Bible.
And we have not cast mud on
The followers of the Vedas and Puranas
The Bhagavad Gita or the Ramayana.
We have not at any point in time
Defamed Buddha, Mahavira or Shiva
Rama, Sita, or Shankar and Arjun.
We respect even Confucious
Aesop and Helen and even Bathsheba
We hold the Virgin Mary, Christ’s mother
In the deepest of reverence.
We do not draw caricatures
Of even Hanuman, Bheema or Draupadhi.
We know that this is just not right
In the book of universal human conduct.
Yet we are being defamed and defiled
And our Prophet Muhammad is being blasphemed
More and more with each passing day
In newspapers and magazines
In Norway and other such countries
And of late even on the internet sites
Of “Facebook” and other nefarious pages
Where those who love to have sex with their mothers
Sisters and daughters
And even fornicate, calling themselves gays
And who do not even spare dogs and donkeys
Monkeys and apes
Bears and pigs
Who have no etiquettes about healthy sex
Or even the fear of God in their satan-ruled hearts
To slander and slur the Muslims
And their beloved Holy Prophet:
All…all being done in the name of freedom
Freedom of expression and speech.
Will you wise men and women of other faiths
Sit and observe quietly
If your religious sages and saints
Are made fun of by some zealots among Muslims?
Will you? O, tell me, I pray thee, will you?
Then why not use the same scales of judgement
And stop this castigation of Muslims
And their beloved Prophet Muhammad?
What makes you sit silently and watch the mayhem
Commited by the insane of your communities?
Where has your sense of honour, justice, equality
Liberty and fraternity gone away?
Or have your hearts and minds been sealed
By the devilish suggestions of wealthy satans
Who make you sit on the thrones of power and glory?
Tell me O you wise and learned sages
Saints and bishops
And you too, O you honourable Pope at the Vatican
For how long will you allow this
Vandalism and bigotry to foster and nurture?
How long will this fanatic insolence go on?
Yeah, tell me, if you can, O ye guardians of your faith
For how long will you sit and yawn
Such frenzic insanity against the Muslims worldwide?
Where is your commitment to the Bible gone?
Tell me O you Pope in the Vatican
Is this the respect for all faiths
That you and those who follow you blindly
Preach day in and day out?
Tell me O you Anglican chieftains
Templars and Saxons
Mormons and Methodists
Seventh Day Adventists
And all you other sects
Is this the Christinaity the blessed Jesus taught you?
Is this what hia faithful disciples preached?
Is this what Saint Paul imbibed in you?
Tell me O ye self-proclaimed defenders
Of human dignity, tolerance and righteous morals?
Is this what your faith has taught you:
To mock and ridicule other religions?
And insult the holy men of God Almighty?
Tell me please, and if you cannot
Send your advocates to battle with me
In word, reasoning, dialogue or duel…
…I am ready for each and anyone of you
Wherever and whenever you like.
This is a vow I make
With my Lord God Almighty
And all His messengers and prophets
Most of all this is my promise
To my beloved Prophet Muhammad
On whom be peace and the blessings of Allah
Forever and ever…ever and ever.
© Muhammad Naveed Ahmed
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Right thing to do. This ban was stupid step.”
– “Fully agree – banned should have done on that page only and not on complete facebook”
– “good move”
– “other links which got banned, when they ‘ll be unbanned?”
– “Objective Achieved, Ban Lifted! Good move by LHC!”
– “is ko band ke rehna chaye tha… pir say in ko profit huna shuru hu jay ga ab … kuin k hamray log apni tu koi aise cheez use nai karin gay … ham nay tu apni zuban chor de english k leye tu goro oke koi cheez kaisay chor saktay hain…. from one login they are earning 2.5 dollar imagine kar lo agay …”
– “join http://www.millatfacebook.com”
– “shame 4 facebook”
– “hen a Nation’s sovereignty is compromised by there own rulers, all there is left is to cry and hue. Thanks to Musharaf who brought Zardari.. and..Thanks to Sir. Asif Ali Zardari, soon Pakistan will reach its bottom and then there will be a revolution. Insah Allah”
– “the people who are against facebook, why dont you guys stop using it and leave others in peace!”
– “Sharing you best is Sedhika Jahria, sharing knowledge = intellectual,and emotional development many folds. But the catch is —- it has to be based on facts and truth. merely giving Fatwahs against others, only makes one, into a dwarf of the underworld.”
As others have mentioned, we gained nothing, and made fools of ourselves yet again.
I wish some serious heads in the Pakistani media would come together and make a TV show or something that explains to people (the majority, who are reasonable) how the media cycle works, and how they feed stupidity by giving it so much importance (like Adil outlined in his initial post).