Ideologues Worth The Dumpster
For the past couple of weeks there has been huge furor over the remarks made by
the US Presidential candidate Donald Trump, urging the government to impose a
temporary ban on Muslims entering the US. Hashtags like #DumpTheTrump,
#Trumpster, #TrumpDerangementSyndrome #oompaloompa etc. took the internet by a
storm. Vociferous and vehement protests and disapproving statements came from
all over the world, and rightly so. Trumps logic and argument is absolutely
abhorrent and distasteful to put it mildly. What was Donald Trump thinking while
spitting up such egregious filth! Putting millions of Muslims in the US in danger of
economic seclusion, social abhorrence, disownment and hate of people just on the
basis of their religion? Is he nuts or what! Being a target of senseless and
outrageous discrimination, abuse and partisanship at the hands of your own
countrymen and either being barred from entering or instructed to leave the land
you know as home sounds like a nightmare doesnt it?
Unfortunately, it sounds all too familiar back here in Pakistan. Switching to local
news, you see the ironic situation of protests coming from the same faction who
leaves no chance when it comes to racial, religious and cultural discrimination
against Pakistani minorities. One could not help but smirk, with both disdain and
remorse. The irony of the situation and our hypocrisy is truly appalling. What should
have been a moment of self-assessment and soul-searching got buried under the
plethora of oft-heard condemnatory ramblings and pointless remonstrations. And
we were just too busy in establishing the fact that we are better morally, religiously
and culturally from the infidels than to realize that we have been doing pretty
much the same thing for decades and decades now with our minorities.
The recent protest at Hafiz Center, Lahore against the Government after they put
down hate-content outside some shops is a testimony to our sordid and regressive
mindsets. Trump might have his political reasons to suggest such things, or maybe
it is his sheer insanity; but in our case it is actually much more dangerous as people
feel religiously obligated and obliged by such an ideology. I ask everyone who is
against giving basic human rights to this particular faction of Non-Muslims; what
do you want them to do? Would forcing them to denounce their claim of following a
certain religion make you a better Muslim? Would isolating them from your
economic and social circles benefit your country or elevate your religions status in
any way? Or do you expect millions of people to just vanish and vamoose from the
society just because you want them to? So many questions; yet only mindless
hatred and bigotry comes ones way as an answer.
This is the same group of moral police which legalized shameful and outrageous
actions by introducing filth like Second Amendment and Ordinance XX into our
constitution. For the law abiding, tax paying Ahmadis of Pakistan, we have made it
compulsory on state level to declare themselves non-Muslims and their most
revered figure an imposter for any official activity such as making a passport or an
ID Card. The only science noble prize winner has been excommunicated and ignored
in Pakistan because he was an Ahmadi. Leave building roads, universities etc. on his
name, and even the term Muslim has been removed from his grave. Such is the
state of systematic and spiteful persecution we have stooped down to. Imagine the
tumult and resentment it would cause if some non-Muslim country decided to put
such pejorative and derogatory sanctions for Muslims arriving or living in their
country.
The reason given by the traders of Hafiz Center behind this rigid canon of economic
seclusion of Ahmadis is that they are non-Muslims and agents of anti-Muslim
faction. But how can they be sure that in making, advertisement, delivery etc. of
the mobile phones they sell in that plaza, no Ahmadi worker was employed?
Ironically though, the very products they are selling belong to that supposedly anti-
Muslim bloc. From Samsung, to Hawai, i phone, nokia etc., none of these brands
arent even remotely connected to Muslim owners. So they would rather gladly
serve the masters, but when it comes to the agents, their moral and religious
policing commences.
The actual reason behind all this hullaballoo and the mindless rhetoric are the seed
sowers of hate and ignorance. The so called religious clerics who insidiously play
with the minds of the masses by ingraining and imposing their demented versions
of right and wrong. And the choices they bring out are basically unassailable and
inalienable as they are portrayed as divine revelations and commands, and people
essentially have to accept them or be a part of the corrupted and anti-Muslim clan.
The roots of this shockingly submissive and ignorant attitude can be put down to
several things, our defensive and national policies, our degenerative and obsolete
educational culture and system, and more importantly our philosophy of elevating a
certain person and his ideologue to a godly status, and making it a sin on national
level to ever talk about it.
It is about time we start to fight against the hate speech and intolerance that has
been eroding our society from within for decades. We have to challenge the
astonishingly outrageous and embarrassing national attitude and policies towards
our minorities. The armed battle by Pak army against terrorism will only yield
cosmetic and ephemeral changes if we dont warm up the ideological front against
the religious prejudice. We must beat the dogmatic chauvinists at their own game,
and make the common man understand the actual concept of a modern state.
Which incidentally was the model of the state first established by the Prophet (SAW)
himself in Madina; where everyone was an equal citizen with equal rights, let it be
economic and social inclusion or equality of opportunity. Just a mere sift through
Prophets life would bring up countless incidents showing his tolerance, compassion
and respect for the rights and freedom of choice of non-Muslims. What we need is
another Zarb-e-Azb against the Pakistani version of the Trump mindset. We must
become wary of the breeding grounds and incubation centers of the ever increasing
religious intolerance and hate-mongering, before they start spouting out another
breed of Talibans for us to be plagued by and fast!