In the following articles, two Muslim writers, one from Pakistan and one from India, examined the culture of violence in Islamic societies, the extremism of the Taliban, and the failure of Islamic scholars and Pakistani government authorities to confront the extremism being spread in the name of Islam.[1]
In the first article, "Bomb with the Fuse Lit," former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. and to France Zafar Hilaly examined the culture of violence that has seeped into the Pakistani society, urging government authorities to shift the focus of the war against militants from the tribal areas of Pakistan to the heartland of the militancy in Punjab. He noted, "Tackling the challenge posed at the periphery of the country while ignoring [the challenge] in the heart of the nation is myopic. Eliminating the poison without shutting down the factories producing the deadly potion is asinine."
Ambassador Hilaly said that there is no stopping the fragmentation of Pakistani society into various sects and subsects of Shia and Sunni Muslim unless the bases of extremist Islamic groups are eliminated from Punjab province. He also criticized former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab, for turning a blind eye to these groups in the province.
In the second article, titled "Taliban: Thugs or Torchbearers of Islam?" Indian Muslim blogger Dr. Shah Alam Khan looked at the silence maintained by the Islamic clerics regarding Taliban extremism – especially after the Taliban beheaded a Sikh in the Pakistani tribal areas earlier this year. He observed in his blog, on indianmuslims.in, that Islamic scholars in India are vocal when it comes to issues of Palestinians and persecution of Muslims in India's Gujarat state led by extremist Hindu leader Narendra Modi, but that there is silence when the violence originates from within the Muslim community, for example from the Taliban.
Below are excerpts from the article by Zafar Hilaly,[2] followed by excerpts from Dr. Shah Alam Khan's blog:[3]
Hilaly: "There is Only One Religion in Pakistan... [But] As Many As 269 Sects and Subsects"
Zafar Hilaly wrote: "Once upon a time, religion did not matter to get on in Pakistan. On the other hand, a criminal record did not help. Today, by the looks of it, one can have a criminal record and still actually occupy sensitive positions in government or industry. Religion, though, continues to be immaterial; mostly because there is only one religion in Pakistan, the others are extinct, except statistically. But what does count is sect, so much so that one's livelihood, nay, life, may depend on it.
"From courageous and outspoken publications that dot the media landscape amidst much trash, we learn that there are as many as 269 sects and subsects in Pakistan. And that since 1989, sectarian disputes have thus far accounted for 5,400 killed. We owe this malady to the fundamentalism injected into our politics by [former military dictator] Zia-ul-Haq and his Salafist backers. It is not only Shi'ites and Sunnis killing each other but, more so, subgroups within sects that are likewise engaged in slaughter.
"Religious sects and their custom-designed versions of paradise have also proliferated because of the impotence or indifference of the authorities. So much so that their members roam armed and unmolested, with none caring what they may be up to – which is mostly murder and mayhem. Some consider such ideological laissez-faire as our sovereign right, and take umbrage when others protest. More foolishly, others think that a use can be found for such peddlers of hate.
"But, then, violence is common to Muslim political culture; 14 of 37 caliphs were assassinated from 755 to 1258 AD, which is often described as the 'golden age of Islam.' In fact... '90 years of Umayyad rule witnessed hundreds of skirmishes between rival Muslim armies. These included the armed invasions of Medina and Mecca by Umayyad armies, when rocks and flaming arrows were rained upon the Holy Ka'aba until it collapsed.' The fact that such data has been collated by Muslim scholars bothers some, because otherwise they could have dismissed it as 'infidel' cant."
In "The Ummah Today... Unity Is a Fantasy; The Best Example is Afghanistan, Where Devastating Civil Wars... Have Pushed That Area... to the Stone Age"
"Look no further than the condition of the Ummah today, where unity is a fantasy. Of course, the best example is Afghanistan, where devastating civil wars among rival Muslim ethnic groups have pushed that area from the Paleolithic to the Stone Age. And what is one to make of the report, published in Der Spiegel, that the Saudis are so keen that Iran not acquire nuclear weapons that they have consented to a Zionist entity overflying their territory and bombing an Islamic republic?
"Having attended two Islamic summits of yore, where intrigue and hostility were rife and the final communiqués filled with pristine hot air, one can personally vouch for the phantom unity among the Ummah. And one learns from former colleagues that privately, many delegates to these conferences view Pakistan as they would a schizoid with a loaded gun. Certainly, no one who has had the opportunity of trailing behind a Pakistani prime minister visiting Muslim monarchs and presidents and canvassing for support for a cause as morally just as Kashmir can deny how excruciatingly difficult it was to persuade them to agree.
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"But now, of course, in their neighborhoods Pakistanis themselves can bear living witness to just how little love lost there is among Muslims, notwithstanding their common nationality."
"...Punjab is Riddled with Terrorist Outfits, Some of Which are Actually Fighting the Pakistani Army... We Nevertheless Deny that Decisive Action Against Them... Is the Need of the Hour"
"Of course, intra-religious hostility is not a phenomenon confined to Muslims. Christians have an even bloodier history of such wars. As for Hindus, the caste system is, in a sense, the institutionalization of social hatreds. Therefore, why, one may ask, does one need to state the obvious? Because, in Pakistan the obvious is often overlooked or, when discovered belatedly, dismissed as hostile anti-Islamic propaganda.
"With evidence staring us in the face that Punjab is riddled with terrorist outfits, some of which are actually fighting the Pakistani army in Waziristan and elsewhere, we nevertheless deny that decisive action against them, much like that against extremists in the Frontier [i.e. the tribal areas], is the need of the hour. And that is mostly because closet fundos, like, for example, the Sharif brothers [former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif who rules Punjab where militants have their headquarters], are often blind to reality. It is impossible for them to accept that many of those who they claim are well wishers are actually of that species against whom they are sworn to protect the populace.
"They prefer to believe that extremists are merely misguided overenthusiastic supporters who can be brought around by appeals to common sense and an offer of a dialogue and, when that fails, pathetic pleas for restraint on the grounds that they are essentially of the same ilk as themselves. Such groveling by men, who would be atheists if they could be kings, is a sad reflection of the pass we have reached.
"The time has come to act against extremists, wherever they may be located, with far greater determination than at present. And if the will is not there, for fear of the consequences, then a pause to examine the consequences will reveal that courage had better be summoned, or else the Pakistan that our parents traversed blood-soaked paddy and wheat fields to reach [from India at Partition in 1947], with nothing but hope to urge them on, won't survive.
"For if truth be told, the rot that threatens to consume Pakistan has spread not exclusively from the foothills of the Hindu Kush [in Afghanistan] to Punjab... Tackling the challenge posed at the periphery of the country while ignoring that in the heart of the nation, is myopic. Eliminating the poison without shutting down the factories producing the deadly potion is asinine... lest the malaise of extremism spread, causing the plummeting economy to worsen, and more businessmen to relocate, capital to flee and joblessness and crime become endemic, it is perhaps best to bite the bullet..."
Dr. Khan: "The Blood of Innocents in Palestine is Mourned... [But] What Happens When it's Time To Condemn the Most Bigoted and Rabid of Muslims [i.e. the Taliban]?"
Dr. Shah Alam Khan wrote: "The news of beheading of two Sikh youth [by the Taliban] in the Peshawar region of Pakistan has not come as a surprise to the world. What more can we expect from a rabid race of Taliban, born and brought up on the fodder of hate and violence? The news in fact brings to light the hollow rhetoric of the Pakistani establishment when they claim to have contained the menace of Taliban.
"What surprises me is the eerie silence of the Muslim Ulema [Islamic scholars] in the subcontinent (particularly in India) in their condemnation of this cowardly act of appalling brutality. Where are those who leave no opportunity to condemn what is inconvenient to them, no matter how comfortable it might be to Islam in general and Muslims in particular? What happens to all those voices which grow louder at times of trivial issues which they think place Islam in danger? What more danger can await a religion than accusation of the kind which we see after such heinous atrocities? When can the Islamic Ulema realize that acts such as these are the ones which actually put Islam in danger?
"The blood of innocents in Palestine is mourned. The brutalities of [extremist Hindu leader of India's Gujarat state] Narendra Modi's pogrom in Gujarat are mercilessly damned. Then what happens when it's time to condemn the most bigoted and rabid of Muslims? By being mum to the brutalities of Taliban the Muslim Ulema are giving voice to those who perpetrate violence.
"What justification can we give to the condemnation of the likes of Modi and [Israeli leader Ariel] Sharon in future? What message is passed on to those who stand and fight for the cause of underprivileged and minorities in this country? Shouldn't this usual tale of the 'victim becoming the perpetrator' be put to rest once and for all?"
"The Threat from the Taliban is Not Confined to Sikhs, Jews or Hindus; They are Running Amok with a Real Danger to the Spirit of Islam"
"The threat from the Taliban is not confined to Sikhs, Jews or Hindus. They are running amok with a real danger to the spirit of Islam. Non-Muslims across the globe can secure themselves against any Talibani attack. They can build fences, walls and iron shields.
"But what happens to the global Muslim community? What fence can stop the condemnation of Islam in global drawing rooms? What wall can prevent the filtration of pure hate against Islam and its proponents amongst Sikhs? Where do we buy an iron shield to repel the cutting suspicious look against a bearded Muslim at an airport?
"There are many who argue that the Taliban do not represent true Islam. Definitely yes, they do not represent the common Muslim of the subcontinent. But unfortunately they have been made to appear as the face of real Islam in this polarized world. They are the ones who get the media attention and most unfortunately they are the ones who think that' They' represent Islam in their own brutal way. How much we may argue, for an innocent Westerner, Taliban is the face of Islam."
"There is a War between Moderation and Fanaticism, between Love and Hate; The Esoteric Islam of the Subcontinent Faces a Monster in the New, Cruel Definition of the Religion [by Taliban]"
"There is a war between moderation and fanaticism, between love and hate. The esoteric Islam of the subcontinent faces a monster in the new, cruel definition of the religion. It's time we realize this danger before the monster grows too large to restrain.
"The means to contain this ogre are many. Physical force, debate, condemnation, every weapon in the armamentarium should be used. We are already fighting a losing battle. The tacit support of the Pakistani and American establishments at one time has made the Taliban strong. It requires real commitment of the moderate Muslim forces in the region to come out and take the bull by its horns.
"My heart aches for Jaspal Singh, [the Sikh] murdered by a group of thugs who are the so-called torchbearers of Islam. Can we imagine his pain and fear as he was finally dragged to the altar amidst a sea of drolly dressed men chanting 'Allah-o-Akbar?' What all might have gone through his head in his final moments? How detestable he would have been to Islam and its followers? His pain, his trepidation, his final gasps for breath, all for perpetrating the cause of Islam?
"I am sure that that day it was not Jaspal Singh who was beheaded – it was the teaching of Islam that was beheaded in Peshawar, and we all should mourn this death."
[1] The original English of both articles has been lightly edited for clarity.
[2] The News, Pakistan, March 31, 2010.
[3] www.indianmuslims.in, India, February 24, 2010.
