Aliya Anjum<\/p>\n
During the 1980s, General Zia-ul-Haq groomed Pakistan for Jihad. Today, militants stay relevant throughout Kashmir and Palestine.
\nOur clergy lacks intellectual rigour and even our academia is in a self-induced intellectual coma. Violence, being the path of least resistance \u2013 pun not intended \u2013 keeps Islamic groups relevant, resourceful and powerful. Their nuisance value has now metastasized into an existential threat to the state.
\nThe enemy is manufactured through Takfir; to create a black-and-white world with an us-versus-them mindset. Takfir paves the way for Jihad.
\nIn every khutba or mosque sermon, every imam labels all non-Muslims \u2013 especially Westerners \u2013 as kafirs. This strawman argument is very convenient but intellectually dishonest.
\nThe word kafir was first revealed in the Quran in Surah Mudassir (74:10).
\nThe term Kafir is best explained by the intellectual giant Muhammad Asad in his Tafsir. He says: \u201c\u2026..The Qur\u2019anic expression kafir cannot be simply equated to \u201cunbeliever\u201d or \u201cinfidel\u201d\u2026\u2026.. It must have a wider, more general meaning\u2026\u2026 The root verb of the participial noun kafir is kafara, \u201che covered a thing.\u201d It has a connotation of \u201cconcealing\u201d something that exists or \u201cdenying\u201d something that is true. Hence a kafir is \u201cone who denies the truth\u201d in the widest, spiritual sense of this latter term.\u201d
\nAsad explained the wider implication of Kufr. According to him: \u201cIt relates to the existence of God, or to a doctrine in the Divine writ, or to a self-evident moral proposition, or to an acknowledgment of, and therefore gratitude for, favors received.\u201d
\nKufr is the refusal to acknowledge the truth. Then exposure to the truth is necessary for its denial. Before 9\/11, most Westerners had never heard the word Islam or Muslims. Even today, a majority of Westerners have huge misconceptions about Islam as they equate Muslims with terrorism and misogyny. The message of the Quran has still not reached the West. This is why a majority has not intellectually explored it.
\nThis also holds true for China, Japan, Korea and other East Asian nations, Animistic Africans, Indian Hindus and others. Therefore we cannot label any of them as ones who reject the truth. Calling them Kafirs, is grossly unjust and completely wrong. The correct term is non-Muslim, not kafir.
\nThe next erroneous Takfir is that of fellow Muslims.
\nThe Quran strictly forbids forming sects but not only do Pakistani Muslims classify themselves on sectarian grounds but they declare takfir on all others outside their sect.
\nThe first global sectarian divide is that of Sunni versus Shias. Takfir of the Shia sect is commonplace.
\nOnce the subdivision of Islam starts, then it never ends. This is precisely why Allah strictly forbade forming sects. The main competing sects among Pakistani Sunnis are the Barelvi, Deobandi and Ahle Hadith. There are various other sects and classifications such as that of Hanafi and Shafai etc but they are not as confrontational.
\nThe big wigs of these prominent sects are Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman of the Barelvis; Mufti Taqi Usmani of the Deobandis; Sajid Mir of the Ahle Hadith; and last but not the least Sajid Naqvi of Ahle Tashee or Shias.
\nThe book Husamul Haramain or Husam al Harmain authored by Barelvis, declares Takfir on Deobandis.
\nThe Deobandis have a tit-for-tat response in the form of Nuzhah al-Khawatir written against Ahmed Raza Barelvi, the founder of the Barelvi sect.
\nFinally, Talaash e Haq is Takhreej \u2013 a Takfir \u2013 by the Ahle Hadith.
\nThe Tablighi Jamaat is Deobandi and has a significant following among Pakistanis. It\u2019s important to note that it has recently been banned in Saudi Arabia by MBS. The founding of Dawat e Islami by Ilyas Qadri has given the Barelvi sect a new lease on life. Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is also Barelvi. However, due to cultural differences between the Memons of Karachi and the Punjabis, both Barelvi groups are completely different in their aims, aspirations, methodology and politics.
\nTTP\u2019s leader Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud studied at Jamia Ahsan-ul-Uloom and Jamia Yaseen ul Quran in Karachi. Both are Deobandi institutions. However, his version of Islam is a hybrid between Deobandism and Pashtoonwali \u2013 the ancient Pashtoon tribal code.
\nThe TTP suspects Ahle Hadith of hiding ISIS or Daesh members. The TTP has declared Takfir and Jihad on the state, its institutions, its military and its citizens. They justify terrorism through Takfir.
\nThe Quran clearly says: \u201cO you who have attained to faith! Pay heed unto God, and pay heed unto the Apostle and unto those from among you who have been entrusted with authority; and if you are at variance over any matter, refer it unto God and the Apostle, if you [truly] believe in God and the Last Day. This is the best [for you], and best in the end.\u201d (4:59)
\nThe bone of contention among sects is never the Quran or Sunnah. It is always some teaching of the founder of their group or its current leader. The divides can be bridged if the state intervenes to declare only the Quran and sahih hadith as an approved religious texts for reference \u2013 as per the clear directive above from the Quran.
\nSectarian labelling must also be banned by the state. Why should Pakistani Muslims name themselves after the Indian cities of Bareilly and Deoband or any other name when Allah SWT Himself named them Muslims?
\n\u201cHe [All?h] named you \u201cMuslims\u201d before [in former scriptures] and in this revelation\u201d (Quran 22:78).
\nState action would, however, mean that the shop would close down for those who find wealth, power and fame in the business of religion. It would also require hard work on the part of the clergy to reject all deviant teachings in order to start from scratch. Professor Akbar Ahmed, a Pakistani-origin public intellectual concluded in his global research that Muslim exegesis or Tafsir is frozen in the thirteenth century \u2013 at the time of the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 1258.
\nIt is clear that what Pakistani clerics preach, is only deviance and bidah or innovations. Pakistanis are not diligent and industrious hence social inertia is the real obstacle to religious reform.
\nProphet Muhammad is recorded to have expressed extreme rebuke to Usama bin Zayd \u2013 the son of Zayd bin Harris \u2013 when he killed someone despite the person professing his faith in Islam. Usama bin Zayd said: \u201cThe Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: \u2018Did he profess\u201d There is no god but Allah,\u2019 and even then you killed him? I said: \u2018Messenger of Allah, he proclaimed faith out of the fear of the weapon.\u2019 He (pbuh) responded: Did you tear his heart in order to find out whether he had professed or not?\u2019 And he went on repeating it to me till I wished I had embraced Islam that day.\u201d (Sahih Muslim 176)
\nThe Prophet (pbuh) also said: \u201cFaith is that you affirm your faith in Allah; in His angel; in His Books; in His Apostles; in the Day of Judgment; and in the Divine Decree, both good and evil.\u201d (Sahih Muslim 8)
\nSince all sects claim Islam as their religion and they also profess belief in all of the above, Takfir is illegal. This deviant practice is antithetical to faith and must be banned. Any Takfir motion should be routed to a Muslim state council \u2013 which needs to be established. The violent abuse of the blasphemy law must be tackled similarly.
\nThe hijacking of religion for political purposes must be completely subverted through state power. Separatist movements, civil unrest and violent demonstrations by religious groups, jihadi movements, terrorism and militancy cannot be curbed without state action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aliya Anjum During the 1980s, General Zia-ul-Haq groomed Pakistan for Jihad. Today, militants stay relevant throughout Kashmir and Palestine. Our clergy lacks intellectual rigour and even our academia is in a self-induced intellectual coma. Violence, being the path of least resistance \u2013 pun not intended \u2013 keeps Islamic groups relevant, resourceful and powerful. Their nuisance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1423,12587],"class_list":{"0":"post-329386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-aliya-anjum","8":"tag-the-unleashed-religious-genie"},"yoast_head":"\n