By Shahnaz Bibi
Islam is a dynamic religion which profoundly enunciates humanism, peace, social justice and morality. It has deep penetrating power in every sphere as it is not fixed, stagnated and dormant religion. The pervasive nature of Islam embowered the entire humanity due its universal and golden cannon and principals’. Islam is a tremendous bounty and benediction from Supreme Nature. The cosmopolitanism and pluralistic approach of Islam has knotted the entire humanity in the radiant thread of universal peace and love.
The true spirit of Islam elucidates mutual love; rights of man and equality, Islamic teachings are imbuing with theosophical and democratic norms for the better survival of mankind under the firmament of diversity. Islam strictly rebukes stratification of man on the basis of sect, clan, tribe, geography, language and creed, the best of all us is the one who is most righteous.
No one can blink the fact that Islam fabricated the entire surface of humanity with its dynamic values and comprehensive teaching. It revolutionized not only the peninsula of Arabia but it also entwined all humanity. It has saved the boat of man from the fathom of atrocious tornados of moral turpitude. It was Islam that has saved the face of humanity that has lost in the labyrinth of mundane lust. Islam hoists the flag of universal peace, love and equality. The Charter of United Nations (UN) and Universal Declaration on Human Rights is the refulgent example of the true spirit of Islam but unfortunately there is wide chasm between the practice and theory of Islamic values in our Society.
Pakistan, in its incipient days came under the ominous cloud of orthodox and bigotries which preposterously and blindly misinterpreted the real spirit of Islam and presented Islam as fundamentalist and intolerant religion to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah enunciated freedom of expression of thought and religious freedom in his maiden speech in the Constituent Assembly. The theocratic school of thought impeded in the way of constitutional making process to promote for their own loaves and fishes.
Although the Objectives Resolution passed by Constituent Assembly truly represents the golden principles of Islamic values, the theocratic class started to suffuse their own idiosyncrasies in the name of Islam.
They even created a fuss over the name of the Republic of Pakistan vociferously in practical polity of Islam, democracy and republicanism is the main value but due to their obduracy Islamic nomenclature had been added. It truly highlights the tendencies only slake their thirst of self-imposed Islam which ware presented as orthodox limited and fixed thus it had widen the fissure between Muslims and minorities.
The minorities in the Constituent Assembly were infuriated because they were accepted as a second rate citizen. Even the Muslim member Mian Iftikharudinn bitterly criticized the theocratic cult and said it is the insemination of the seed of sectarian clashes and pulverization of the fundamental rights of minorities.
The mosaic of Pakistani culture is fabricated with the gruesome concept of elitism e.g. Mullahs, business tycoons, feudal lord and religious leaders. These elites interlocked the in vicious cycle to regulate the affairs of states. The political leaders and religious leaders have been interwoven in the fringe of personal interest. The religious leaders use religion under the integument of political interest thus such amalgamated system produce erosion in societal and political and moral ground.
Popular political leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto presented a mandate of Islamic Socialism during his rule. It is an admitted fact that Islam is absolutely against the accumulation and circulation of wealth in a few hands. Islamic values stress the welfare of downtrodden and working class. Mr Bhutto blatantly mixed socialism and Islam according to their peculiar idiosyncrasies thus created perplexities and confusion both in Islam and socialism.
In the autocratic regime of Ziaul Haq, the actual fabric of Islam was torn out. He brazen facedly inseminated the radical and fundamentalist Islam. His notorious policies eulogized the concept of Jihad under the Wahabbi school of thought thus he proliferated strict and brutal concept of Jihad. He supervised huge number of religious-cum-sectarian institutions which were being funded by Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
The process of Islamization introduced by Zia presented a gloomy and deplorable picture of Islam. Hudood Ordinance under family law is considered a draconian law. The apparently military but genuinely theocratic regime of Zia left no stone unturned to present orthodox and insular Islam. Still we are harvesting the venomous fruit of his policies in the form of terrorism and fundamentalism.
Today, we are on the horn of dilemma of sectarianism and extremism and the dreadful echo of sectarian clashes and religious dissension heard everywhere in Pakistan. The extremism in religious thoughts had fostered religious intolerance, on the basis of numerical strength few groups accuse other so called blasphemy .Under the dark shadow of orthodox Islam we became ignorant from the golden and actual face of Islam. Today, Muslim has been lost in the labyrinth of desperation, degradation and downfall we must proliferate the actual teaching and true spirit of Islam and must clean the Augean stable of theocratic and orthodox cult.
(The writer is a human rights activist and freelance writer).