Only those who know the past can shape the future. Through the vital lessons in sacred memory, Hadhrat
Khalifatullah (atba) calls our attention to the grave responsibilities of
today. To confront the challenges being mounted by anti-Islam forces in the
world and to create a just world where the Muslim
Ummah as a whole can flourish, Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) provides
important advices and insights for the Muslim leaders of today. The spiritual discourse
underscores the need for fostering the spirit of unity within the Ummah. This unity can only be forged by
showing healthy respect for the diversity of thoughts and ideas among the
various strands of Muslims today, especially by their States in their
administrative and governance frameworks. Fundamental human rights such as
freedom of speech and expression should be institutionally protected, with no
one being allowed to sit in judgement over the faith/beliefs/convictions of
others. Pointing to the prevailing
scenario of bewildering disunity, deepening sectarianism and intolerance,
creeping injustice and social strife in the ‘Islamic’ world, Hadhrat Saheb
(atba) exhorts the Muslims and their influential leaders to rise above their sectarian
perceptions/ ‘majoritarian’ prejudices against their brethren in faith and to
ensure justice for everyone regardless of their identity or personal beliefs.
Illustrating his point, Hadhrat Saheb (atba)
notes the searing irony of a State (Pakistan) claiming to profess ‘Islamic’
values in its Constitution and the Laws and yet denying the freedom of
conscience and of expression to its own citizens. Unfortunately for the hapless
people of Pakistan, the deadly poison of competitive politics over
religious/sectarian identity has cast its long shadow over the integrity and
fairness of the nation’s governance structures. Of late, the national criminal
law is being wantonly and rampantly misused by thuggish/fascist elements in
society to curtail human rights in the land- they seek to intimidate religious
minorities- including the ‘Ahmadis’; arrest and imprison contrarian individuals
for their personal opinions. Nasir Ahmad
Sultani, the Pakistani Muslim citizen of Ahmadi sect who claims to be a recipient of Divine
revelations in this era, has been arrested by the authorities under the
notorious ‘Blasphemy Law’ and he remains imprisoned even after a year. This is
a clear case of abuse and excess of the legal process. For, the State and the
Law should have no business curtailing the freedoms of thought, belief, conscience,
speech, expression of any individual. It is indeed the responsibility of the
State and the Law to protect the various manifestations of free speech so long
as there is no direct incitement to imminent violence. How should we look at a
Law/State that behaves like a predator than a protector of human rights?
In a society that has politically sanctioned
the murder/lynching of innocents in the name of ‘Allah’/ ‘Honour of the Holy
Prophet’, etc., the imprisonment of a man for his opinions might seem trifle. The
administrative/judicial measure of a period of imprisonment for the accused in
‘Blasphemy’ cases was apparently to ‘protect’ the ‘accused’ from the
blood-thirsty Mullahs who are baying for human blood in public meetings! Such
is the dire state of affairs in Pakistan that the country sits on the brink of
losing its original moorings.
Hadhrat Khalifatullah’s timely appeal for
justice and respect for human rights also contains within it a Divine warning
for the Pakistani society. A society that does not tolerate religious diversity
and respect freedom of conscience of individuals only ends up challenging
Allah’s Grand Order of Things. In the name of their mundane power to define
‘legitimate religiosity’, they are playing ‘God’ and denying justice and rights
of people! When a nation’s leaders exceed the bounds, they ignore common sense
and the lessons of history, only to write its destiny in bloody conflicts and thereby
they finish peace (‘Islam’) in the land with their own hands- see the fate of ‘Islamic’
nations in our times- Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, etc. Indeed it is for
the righteous people-sincere believers- to stand up for the type of society
they want to be, in Pakistan and beyond.