May 28 was a culmination of the hatred and
intolerance that was and is still being fostered by the so-called ulema. These
ulema continue to preach hate in their madrassas, even after the Ahmedi
massacre, and readily distribute hate literature.
When Nawaz Sharif dared to profess solidarity
with the Ahmedis recently, the sentiments of these very ulema got hurt. But then
it is not unusual for them to get hurt easily. After all, they are just too
sensitive…..
As
BBC Urdu reported, leaders of 13 religious parties got together to condemn Nawaz
Sharif’s statement and demanded from him to clarify his status regarding Ahmedis
(message intended: denounce them or face our wrath). People may not know this,
but some ulema have asked Muslims to renew their nikah and declare themselves
Muslim again by reciting the kalima if they had attended the funerals of the
Ahmedis. -- Salma
B Ahmad
By Salma B Ahmad
25 Jun, 2010
Ahmedis have always been a soft target for
persecution. Time and again they have been arrested for greeting someone with an
Assalam-o-Alaikum, reciting the kalima or reading the Holy
Quran
I took my first breath as an infant in a country
whose government and people had already declared me and my community to be
heretics. As a child, I did not realise the implications of the draconian laws
of 1974 and 1984 that Pakistan, my country, had imposed on us. The state had
forbidden us to even profess and defend our beliefs without any
reason.
With age as I learned more about our society, I
started to observe the injustice done to Ahmedis. I still remember that the
subject of Pakistan Studies was a constant obstacle in our path to learn about
true history. It was frustrating to read about the efforts of Sir Syed, Allama
Iqbal, Liaqat Ali Khan, with no mention of the Ahmediyya Jamaat’s contributions
to Pakistan.
The textbooks did not elaborate that it was Mir
Dard — an Ahmedi missionary in London — who convinced Jinnah to return to India
to restart his campaign for the rights of Muslims back in the 1930s. They did
not mention Sir Zafarullah Khan who authored the Lahore resolution, became our
country’s foreign minister and got the Kashmir resolution passed at the UN. They
did not mention Dr Abdus Salam — a Pakistani scientist — who was our country’s
first Nobel Prize winner and a leading physicist of the 20th century. They did
not name a host of Ahmedi generals and soldiers who fought gallantly in the army
in the 1965 and 1971 wars. Moreover, our Pakistan Studies books had no reference
to the anti-Ahmedi laws that were ordained in 1974 and
1984.
As a student, I knew about these injustices
because I grew up in an Ahmedi household. Sadly, while my friends knew that I
was an Ahmedi, they did not know our role in the establishment and prosperity of
Pakistan. They were even oblivious of the anti-Ahmedi
laws.
Ahmedis have always been a soft target for
persecution. Time and again they have been arrested for greeting someone with an
Assalam-o-Alaikum, reciting the kalima or reading the Holy Quran. Their
properties and ‘mosques’ have been confiscated and they have been denied high
ranks in services. Several Ahmedis from different walks of life have also been
murdered brutally as a result of fatwas given by the mullahs and some media
persons. The list of persecution goes on.
May 28 was a culmination of the hatred and
intolerance that was and is still being fostered by the so-called ulema. These
ulema continue to preach hate in their madrassas, even after the Ahmedi
massacre, and readily distribute hate literature.
When Nawaz Sharif dared to profess solidarity
with the Ahmedis recently, the sentiments of these very ulema got hurt. But then
it is not unusual for them to get hurt easily. After all, they are just too
sensitive.
As BBC Urdu reported, leaders of 13 religious
parties got together to condemn Nawaz Sharif’s statement and demanded from him
to clarify his status regarding Ahmedis (message intended: denounce them or face
our wrath). People may not know this, but some ulema have asked Muslims to renew
their nikah and declare themselves Muslim again by reciting the kalima if they
had attended the funerals of the Ahmedis.
Such is the mindset of the ulema who declare
themselves to be true Muslims! Yet, these true Muslims violate the Quranic
injunction: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256), which clearly allows
all of us to practise our respective faiths in peace.
There is ample evidence of the illogical and
child-like tantrums of these mullahs to incite hate against Ahmedis. These
bigots do not refrain from their fiery rhetoric and wajib-ul-qatal fatwas at
every opportunity to promote their vested interests at the expense of Pakistan
and Islam.
Our country is facing a critical situation. I
hope that unlike 1974 and 1984, this time the government would refrain from
appeasing the mullahs and courageously fight the war against hate and
intolerance.
The writer is a freelance columnist based in
Blacksburg, Virginia
Source: Daily Times,
Pakistan
2:02 AM
Sultan Shahin
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