Islamists Are Obsessed Only With Blasphemy Ignoring Other Duties Enjoined in the Quran

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 31 August 2024 The Quran Enjoins On Religious Scholars To Constantly Work For Social Reform Among Various Sections Of The Society. It Asks Them To Work For The Eradication Of Corruption, Slavery, Hording, Mischief, Oppression, Theft, Robbery And Social Inequality And Spread Of Education. But The Religious Organisations And Islamic Scholars Do Not Pay Heed To The Quran' S Instructions And Focus Only On The Issue Of Blasphemy And The Honour Of The Religion. Main Points: 1. Religious organisations protest only against blasphemy cases. 2. They do not raise their voice against social crimes. 3. They ignore their duties towards social reform. 4. They do not demand abolition of slavery rampant in Pakistan. ------ In late 2020, French Prime Minister Macron had said that Islam was in a crisis. His remark had sparked worldwide protests from the Muslims. The Arab countries had boycotted French products while the Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh had staged violent protests demanding the recall of French ambassadors. Public property was damaged and destroyed in Bangladesh while in Pakistan, some policemen were killed in mob violence. The violent protests were organised by religious organisations. Recently, the Supreme Court of Pakistan granted bail to an Ahmadi in a blasphemy case. He was booked under a law that was implemented in 2021 for an alleged crime that was committed in 2019 when the act was not a crime under the law. Still, religious organisations staged violent protests and attacked the Supreme Court of Pakistan. They demanded withdrawal of the bail order. Some organisation reportedly even announced a reward of Rs one crore for one who might behead the Chief Justice. Under pressure from religious organisations and religious leaders, the Supreme Court agreed to reconsider its decision. The ulema presented their arguments in court and finally, the court withdrew its decision. This is one side of the picture. Last year, a 9 year old girl was retrieved from the house of a judge in a very critical condition and was admitted to a hospital. The girl worked in the judge's house as a maidservant and was tortured for a long time by both husband and wife. She was starved by the family and her wounds from the torture were not treated. Another minor girl working as a maid servant in the house of a peer of a Mazar was raped and left to die while bleeding the whole night. The peer was arrested. But the two incidents did not evoke the kind of protests alleged blasphemy cases against the minorities or even the Muslims do. In one case of torture of minor maidservant, another convict judge's punishment was reduced by the court but the religious organisations or the religious leaders did not throng the court and pressurise the court to revoke the reduction of the punishment. This is the general attitude of the religious organisations and religious leaders and scholars of the subcontinent. They are only obsessed with religious or sectarian issues and hit the streets to stage, often, violent protests and ignore their duty towards social reform. Because of this, the moral and social evils have beleaguered the Muslim community of the entire sub-continent. In India, the number of the Muslim inmates of jails are disproportionately high. The Quran enjoins on religious scholars to constantly work for social reform among various sections of the society. It asks them to work for the eradication of corruption, slavery, hording, mischief, oppression, theft, robbery and social inequality and spread of education. But the religious organisations and Islamic scholars do not pay heed to the Quran' s instructions and focus only on the issue of blasphemy and the honour of the religion. In Pakistan, blasphemy laws have been implemented under which the convict may get death sentence. Some Islamic scholars of Pakistan have written comprehensive books on blasphemy and have given arguments declaring even Muslims deserving death for blasphemy. But the same scholars have not written books against slavery or bonded labour giving arguments from the Quran and hadiths. They have not launched campaign against child labour and the employment of minor girls as maid servants and the inhuman treatment meted out to them. In Pakistan, zamindari system has not been abolished and there are many landlords with vast areas of land under their occupation. They need cheap labour for their farms. Therefore, they keep bonded labourers who work without any wages. They even have their private jails where they keep their women and men captive and torture them. These landlords are respected figures of the society and some even become ministers. The religious organisations never take up their cause. These ulema have not written books against mob lynching of blasphemy accused or the destruction of the houses and places of worship of minorities by the Muslim mob. Some human rights activists and occasional YouTubers bring their plight to light but not the religious section who claim to be the messiah and torchbearers of the Ummah. Corruption, black-marketing and profiteering are another burning problems of the Muslim societies. In Pakistan, in particular, these evil practices are at their peak. In fact, corruption has become a way of life for most of the Pakistanis ironically where a large number of religious scholars give sermons on a daily basis. The main focus of most of the scholars are minorities and blasphemy. These scholars cite the Quran and hadiths in favour of death penalty for blasphemy for both the Muslims and non-Muslims but ignore the Quranic punishments for theft (hand amputation), mischief or rioting, dacoity, food adulteration etc. (hand and leg amputation or death). The religious organisations do not demand the implementation of the Quranic punishments for these crimes though these crimes are dangerously high in Pakistan. In Karachi, the most crime prone city in Pakistani, one may even be robbed if he stops his car or bike at the red signal. Therefore, people prefer to cross the signal and pay the fine over being robbed. The crime rate in Pakistan is high because the law enforcing system is itself corrupt In Arab countries, crime rate is low because the law is strong and punishment is hard. The Islamic scholars of Pakistan cite the Quran and hadiths only in cases of blasphemy and not in cases of rape, murder, robbery, child labour, slavery, corruption, bribery, black-marketing and food adulteration. With the high rate of corruption in Pakistan ( Pakistan ranks 4th in corruption), the ulema would have argued in favour of their demand for the implementation of Quranic punishment for crimes but they have never shown any interest in the social reform of the Muslims. The reason for their apathy towards the reform in the Muslim society is that the religious leaders of the Muslims have only cared for their personal interests that comes with their proximity to the political class. In every age, the religious leaders and scholars have maintained a close relationship with the seat of power. In the sub-continent as well, they have not dared to challenge the government in order to protect their bread and butter. For the last two years, the Pakistani people have been struggling to overthrow the oppressive and corrupt regime of Pakistan and the police meted out inhuman treatment to the protesters and even committed rape in custody but the religious organisations and religious leaders have not stood up by them. Instead, they were conspicuous by their absence. Today, the Muslim community of the sub-continent face many problems because of the absence of reformist activities which was the religious responsibility of the religious organisations and religious leaders. They have confined themselves only to sectarian and anti-minority agenda. The political class has taken advantage of their inactivity and exploited their weakness for power and pelf and has successfully used their position and clout to suppress the masses. 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