Showing posts with label Religion and Reason. Show all posts

Letter from Jerusalem

Once again I fear violence and bloodshed. How ironical that our holiest month should witness a clash between the Muslims and Jews. How unfortunate that we who have lived in Jerusalem for decades should be barred from visiting the holiest of the holy sites during this month just because we are Muslims. You were lucky to sit amidst cedars and olive trees breathing the sacredness of a divine presence inside the Holy City of Jerusalem when you came last year, a week before fasting began. You and I sat on a bench looking straight at the grandeur of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the actual site where Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) prayed before ascending to Heaven.

The sun was setting, a gentle breeze made the evening more beauteous. You looked heavenwards to see the blue of the sky turn into a riot of colours creating a rhapsody that sent shivers of spirituality down our spines. Yes, you and I sat, silently absorbing its divinity in every fibre of our mortal being. We wanted to take in the totality of the meaning of our existence on earth. It was God around us.

The silence was broken as the azaan called us for maghrib prayers. As if in a trance, we walked to enter the Holy Mosque. I noticed the expression on your face. It was one of awe. The sprawling red carpets wall-to-wall presented an expanse of space. Unknowingly, you wandered off to the male section, thinking that men andwomen could choose to pray wherever they wished. A man standing next to you pointed to the women`s area. He looked irritated. You looked unhinged too! Why have segregation in the house of God, you complained to me. I just shrugged my shoulders. Earlier, remember when we entered the Muslim Quarters that we call Al Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) where Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are situated, you were stopped at the gate and told to cover yourself from head to toe. We went and got an abaya for you to wear.

Prayers being over, I showed you the south end of the mosque. You saw the bullet holes on the pillar. In 1951, King Abdullah of Jordan was gunned down here. His grandson, Prince Hussein, who later became the king, survived due to the medals he was wearing over his chest.

The late King Hussein of Jordan donated the gold, that you saw covering the Dome of the Rock. Our Prophet (PBUH) ascended to heaven during his Night Journey from here.

Last Ramazan, Israeli police stopped the males in my family from offering prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque. The situation was tense as daily fights broke out between Palestinians and the Israelis. Tension continues with deaths on both sides. As Arab-Palestinians, we demand immediate end of Israeli occupation of Jerusalem forcibly conquered in 1967. Clashes have erupted between Muslim worshipers and Israeli police whenever Jewish men have sneaked into the Muslim Quarters. Jews are not allowed there.But the Jews lay claim to Al Aqsa and call it the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

Read A History ofGod by Karen Armstrong to understand how Jews, Christians and Muslims over the centuries have laid claim to Jerusalem as their holy place, and how these three monolithic religions have `shaped and scarred` the city for thousands of years. Recently, you must have read Unesco`s executive board resolution declaring Israel as the `occupying power` where stand Al Aqsa Mosque / Al Haram al-Sharif the third holiest site for Muslims after the mosques of alHaram in Makkah and Al Nabawi in Madina.

While criticism against Israeli occupation of Jerusalem by foreign countries continues, it`s America, where you presently reside, that stands solidly behind Israel. Israel receives the highest military aid from the US. Not surprising, the IS [militant Islamic State groupj has jumped in and is now threatening to attack Israel to `free` Jerusalem. It`s not good news for us Muslims who are already treated with hate and suspicion by the Israeli police. Imagine what will happen if IS was to infiltrate into Israel. It will be a doublewhammy for Arab-Israelis like us. We don`t want the IS thugs to come and occupy us! Last Sunday, I went to the same café where you and I had our falafels. `How is your friend from Pakistan who now lives in America`? She was not wearing the hijab?` remembered Ibrahim, the aging proprietor of the café. `Do write to her from me and ask if she has changed her mind and is now covering her head as allGod-fearing pious Muslim women are supposed to do.` I know that you don`t feel the need to wear the hijab and I respect your decision, but in East Jerusalem, where the Arab-Palestinian population is concentrated, most women, as you must have noticed, have their heads covered. To cover or not to cover one`s head is solely a personal choice. It has nothing to do with being a good or a bad Muslim. So, when next, I visit Ibrahim`s falafel place (the best in Jerusalem!) I`ll tell him that you are still running around without a hijab! On a more serious note, what do you think of `President` Donald Trump? He`s disastrously toxic for the Muslims in America. We too have a `Trump` in the Israeli cabinet. Avigdor Lieberman, the ultranationalist Palestinian-hater, is the new defence minister. He holds the second most powerful position in the Israeli government and hasthreatened to conquer Gaza controlled by the Palestinians to build more settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank. He has called for removing Arabic as an official language. With this extremist at the helm of affairs, the hope of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel is gone.

Oh! By the way, I ran into your friend Ayesha, the manager of the hotel where you stayed last year. She looked concerned, as she`ll have a lot of empty rooms to fill this Ramazan. The possibility of bloody clashes between the Muslims and the Jews will keep tourists away. Last year was different when you came. We walked the ancient alleyways late into the night, enjoying the feel of freedom. There were tourists all around. They too wanted to live in the moment transcendence unequalled in the world except Jerusalem!
"Letter from Jerusalem"
By Anjum Niaz
http://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=05_06_2016_424_002

Prophet Muhammad's Everlasting Promise of peace and security to Christians - St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai

حضرت محمدﷺ کا عیسائیوں کے ساتھ عہد [اردو]

النبي محمد وعد الآخرة للمسيحيين

وَأَوْفُوا بِالْعَهْدِ إِنَّ الْعَهْدَ كَانَ مَسْئُولً

Keep your promises; you will be called to account for every promise which you have made! (Quran; 17:34)

PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S PROMISE TO CHRISTIANS

Muslims and Christians together constitute over fifty percent of the world and if they lived in peace, we will be half way to world peace. One small step that we can take towards fostering Muslim-Christian harmony is to tell and retell positive stories and abstain from mutual demonization. In this article I propose to remind both Muslims and Christians about a promise that Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) made to Christians. The knowledge of this promise can have enormous impact on Muslim conduct towards Christians. Muslims generally respect the precedent of their Prophet and try to practice it in their lives.

In 628 AD, a delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery came to Prophet Muhammed and requested his protection. He responded by granting them a charter of rights, which I reproduce below in its entirety. St. Catherine’s Monastery is located at the foot of Mt. Sinai and is the world’s oldest monastery. It possess a huge collection of Christian manuscripts, second only to the Vatican, and is a world heritage site. It also boasts the oldest collection of Christian icons. It is a treasure house of Christian history that has remained safe for 1400 years under Muslim protection.

The Promise to St. Catherine:"This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.
Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.

No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)."

The first and the final sentence of the charter are critical. They make the promise eternal and universal. Muhammed asserts that Muslims are with Christians near and far straight away rejecting any future attempts to limit the promise to St. Catherine alone. By ordering Muslims to obey it until the Day of Judgment the charter again undermines any future attempts to revoke the privileges. These rights are inalienable. Muhammed declared Christians, all of them, as his allies and he equated ill treatment of Christians with violating God’s covenant.

A remarkable aspect of the charter is that it imposes no conditions on Christians for enjoying its privileges. It is enough that they are Christians. They are not required to alter their beliefs, they do not have to make any payments and they do not have any obligations. This is a charter of rights without any duties!
The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even thought it was penned in 628 A.D. it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person.

I know most readers, must be thinking so what? Well the answer is simple. Those who seek to foster discord among Muslims and Christians focus on issues that divide and emphasize areas of conflict. But when resources such as Muhammad’s promise to Christians is invoked and highlighted it builds bridges. It inspires Muslims to rise above communal intolerance and engenders good will in Christians who might be nursing fear of Islam or Muslims.

When I look at Islamic sources, I find in them unprecedented examples of religious tolerance and inclusiveness. They make me want to become a better person. I think the capacity to seek good and do good inheres in all of us. When we subdue this predisposition towards the good, we deny our fundamental humanity. In this holiday season, I hope all of us can find time to look for something positive and worthy of appreciation in the values, cultures and histories of other peoples.

References

See for example Life and Teachings of Muhammed by Amir Ali, p. 176. click to read it.
Links:

The original charter does not survive, but several copies are now extant in the library of St Catherine, some of which are witnessed by the judges of Islam in order to lend some force to its semblance of authenticity. The traditional explanation which accounts for the loss of the original claims that during the Conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman sultan Selim I in 1517, the original document was seized from the monastery by Ottoman soldiers and taken to Selim's palace at Constantinople.^[2]^[1] A copy was then made to compensate for its loss at the monastery.^[1] On the other hand, it is also possible that the charter was simply renewed under the new rulers, as other documents in the archive suggest.^[3] Traditions about the tolerance shown towards the monastery were reported in governmental documents issued in Cairo and during the period of Ottoman rule (1517-1798), the Pasha of Egypt annually reaffirmed its protections.^[1]

In 1630, Gabriel Sionita published the first edition of the Arabic text, with Latin translation, under the title Testamentum et pactiones inter Mohammedem et Christianae fidei cultores.

The origins of the document has been the subject of a number of different traditions, best known through the accounts of European travellers who visited the monastery.^[1] These authors include the French knight Greffin Affagart (d. c. 1557), the French traveller Jean de Thévenot (d. 1667) and the English prelate Richard Peacocke,^[1] who included an English translation of the text.

Since the 19th century, several aspects of the Achtiname, notably the list of witnesses, have been questioned by scholars.^[4] There are similarities to other documents granted to other religious communities in the Near East. One example is Muhammad's letter to the Christians of Najrān, which first came to light in 878 in a monastery in Iraq and whose text is preserved in the Chronicle of Séert.^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtiname_of_Muhammad

The contents of letter are however generally in line with the special privileges granted by Islam to Christians as People of the Book.

نص العهد: "هذا كتاب كتبه محمد بن عبدالله إلى كافة الناس أجمعين بشيراً ونذيراً ومؤتمناً على وديعة الله في خلقه لئلا يكون للناس على الله حجة بعد الرسل وكان الله عزيزاً حكيماً كتبه لأهل ملته ولجميع من ينتحل دين النصرانية من مشارق الأرض ومغاربها قريبها وبعيدها فصيحها وعجميها معروفها ومجهولها كتاباً جعله لهم عهداً. لا يغير أسقف من أسقفيته ولا راهب من رهبانيته ولا حبيس من صومعته ولا سايح من سياحته ولا يهدم بيت من بيوت كنائسهم وبيعهم ولا يدخل شيء من بناء كنائسهم في بناء مسجد ولا في منازل المسلمين فمن فعل شيء من ذلك فقد نكث عهد الله وخالف رسوله ولا يحمل على الرهبان والأساقفة ولا من يتعبد جزيةً ولا غرامة وأنا أحفظ ذمتهم أين ما كانوا من بر أو بحر في المشرق والمغرب والشمال والجنوب وهم في ذمتي وميثاقي وأماني من كل مكروه فمن نكث العهد الذي فيه وخالفه إلى غيره وتعدى ما أمره كان لعهد الله ناكثاً ولميثاقه ناقضاً وبدينه مستهزئاً وللّعنة مستوجباً سلطاناً كان أو غيره من المسلمين المؤمنين."

تعتبر الجملتان الأولى والأخيرة في هذا العهد حاسمتان، فهما تجعلان الوعد أبدياً وعالمياً. يؤكد النبي محمد (ص) أن المسلمين يقفون مع المسيحيين من قريب وبعيد، ويرفضون فوراً أية محاولات مستقبلية للحد من وعد دير القديسة كاثرين وحده. من خلال أمر المسلمين باحترام الوعد حتى يوم القيامة، يُفشل الصك مرة أخرى أية محاولات مستقبلية لإلغاء الامتيازات. هناك ثلاثة حقوق لا يمكن التنازل عنها.

أعلن النبي محمد (ص) أن المسيحيين جميعهم حلفاء له حيث ساوى بين معاملة المسيحيين السيئة مع انتهاك عهد الله تعالى.

ومن النواحي المثيرة للاهتمام والإعجاب في الصك أنه لا يفرض أية شروط على المسيحيين للتمتع بميزاته. يكفي إنهم مسيحيون، ولا يُطلب منهم تغيير إيمانهم ومعتقداتهم ولا أن يدفعوا جزية ولا تكون عليهم أية التزامات. هذا صك حقوق دون أية التزامات.

ليست الوثيقة معاهدة عصرية في حقوق الإنسان، ولكنها، ورغم أنها صيغت عام 628 بعد الميلاد فإنها تحمي بوضوح حقوق الملكية والحرية الدينية وحرية العمل والأمن الشخصي.

أعرف أن معظم القراء سوف يقولون "وماذا بعد؟".

حسناً، الجواب بسيط: يركز هؤلاء الذين يبغون رعاية الفتنة بين المسلمين والمسيحيين على قضايا تتسبب بالفرقة والنزاع. ولكن عندما تطرح موارد مثل وعد النبي محمد (ص) إلى المسيحيين ويتم إبرازها فإنها تبني الجسور.

وهي تلهم المسلمين أن يرتفعوا فوق عدم التسامح الطائفي وتولد حسن النية لدى المسيحيين الذين قد يكونوا يتعاملون مع الخوف من الإسلام والمسلمين.

عندما أنظر إلى المصادر الإسلامية أجد بها أمثلة لا سابق لها من التسامح الديني والشمولية. تجعلني أرغب بأن أصبح إنساناً أفضل. أعتقد أن القدرة على السعي لما هو صالح وصنعه متأصلان فينا جميعاً. عندما نكبت هذا التوجه نحو الصلاح فإننا ننكر إنسانيتنا الأساسية.

آمل في أعقاب فترة الأعياد أن نجد جميعاً الوقت للبحث عن أمر إيجابي يستحق التقدير في قيم وتاريخ وثقافة الشعوب الأخرى.

St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, Egypt A Picture of Prophet Muhammad's Letter to St. Catherine's Monastery

Dr. Muqtedar Khan | 08.22.2010

This article was published in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette [03.25.2007], Daily News Egypt [03.09.2007], AltMuslim [03.03.2007], Pakistan Link, Middle East Window, Turkish Daily News [04.10.2007 ], OpEd news [03.19.2007],Ikhwanweb [02.11.07], and many other places..

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Courtesy Common Ground News Service
http://www.ijtihad.org/Prophet%20Muhammed's%20Promise.htm

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Minorities in Islamic State: The hand book highlights the rights of minorites...

non-muslims-in-islamic-society.html

حضرت محمدﷺ کا عیسائیوں کے ساتھ عہد [اردو]

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Internet could trigger religious ‘revolution’ as big as birth of Christianity – Lord Sacks

New technology marks turning point in civilisation but so far the voices of ‘anger and violence and hate’ are making best use of it, warns former Chief Rabbi

The internet will transform civilisation as much as the invention of writing or the printing press - even ushering in new types of religion in the world, the former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, has suggested.

But so far religious extremists and terrorists have been quicker to realise the potential of the “revolution” we are living through - leaving moderate voices far behind, he warned.

The prediction came as he was announced as this year’s winner of the £1.1 million Templeton Prize, the world’s biggest annual award, for his work promoting religious understanding.

He follows in the footsteps of the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa and Archbishop Desmond Tutu as the latest recipient of the prize, which recognises efforts to promote “life’s spiritual dimension”.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks next to Jennifer Templeton Simpson, grand daughter of Sir John Templeton and Chair of the John Templeton Foundation Board of Trustees

Speaking in London he pledged to use the money, from a fund set up by the philanthropist Sir John Templeton more than 40 years ago, to expand his efforts to spread a message of tolerance and forgiveness.

He insisted that, far from religion being in inevitable decline amid scientific progress and social change, most of the world is rapidly being “de-secularised” – something he said “nobody expected”.

Technology, he argued, will itself help transform people’s beliefs in a way that only a handful of breakthroughs in the past - from the development of the first hieroglyphics to the introduction of the printing press – have done.

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican
Mobile phones and iPads lit up St Peter's Square as Pope Francis was elected in 2013 AP

He said: “I think we’re at a turning point in the history of civilisation.

“Turning points happen when there’s a revolution in information technology.

“This has happened four times in human history and we’re living through the fifth,"
Lord Sacks
“This has happened four times in human history and we’re living through the fifth.

“Each time there was a revolution in information technology there was a spiritual revolution.”

He said the first of these had been the invention of cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia and hieroglyphics in Egypt which had led to the birth of civilisation itself.

Clay tablets dating from 350 to 50 BC featuring the wedge-shaped ancient Babylonian cuneiform script.

Later he said, the development of the first alphabet, was linked to the emergence of monotheism. The third big turning point was the move away from scrolls to the first codex books which, he said, coincided with “the birth of Christianity”.

“The fourth was the invention of print, which led to the Reformation, and the fifth is the one we are living through now of instantaneous global communication,” he said.

“We have not yet learnt to turn that into a spiritual plus.

“On the contrary, the best users of the web right now are the people of anger and violence and hate.”

Jihadi John
Mohammed Emwazi - Jihadi John - reached a global audience through terror videos

Asked if this meant the world was “on the cusp” of a new form of religion, he replied: “We are in very early days indeed.

“At the moment most of our responses have been dysfunctional.”

"The best users of the web right now are the people of anger and violence and hate,"
Lord Sacks
He added: “The history of Crusades and holy wars is not a happy history and none of us is free of that historic guilt.

“Jews, Christians, Muslims we have all had violent periods in our history.”

But he predicted that the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam would reach a greater understanding - echoing accommodations reached previously by different factions within Judaism and Christianity when they had recognised those they were fighting were fellow believers.

“This is undoubtedly going to happen within Islam in the 21st Century as Sunni and Shia realise that their primary victims are Muslims,” he said.

“They may be Muslims of a different kind but they are primarily Muslims.

“When faiths reach that realisation they say ‘this cannot be the way that God wants us to take’ and then they come up with a solution and it is always the same solution which is the formal or substantive separation between religion and power – not always between Church and State but always between religion and power.

“So we know that will be the solution within Islam but we’re not in sight of that yet, we are in very, very early days.”

He added that religions could learn from atheists and secularists.

“What the spirituality of secularism brings is a refusal to accept religious justification for suffering in the world, for hierarchy in the world, for exclusion in the world,” he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12181281/Internet-could-trigger-religious-revolution-as-big-as-birth-of-Christianity-Lord-Sacks.html

Blasphemy law in Pakistan: The Facts and Fiction

Recently the arrest and imprisonment of Rimsha Masih, an 11-year old Christian girl, by Pakistani authorities in the nation's capital, Islamabad, on charges of blasphemy has created an uproar in international media. No one is bothered to killing of hundreds of Muslims in Burma and Assam in India. While criticizing any law, the local cultural, social and religious sensitivities must be kept in view. The law of the land, sentiments and sensitivities of local population must respected. West has abandoned the Bible and law, they have allowed gay marriages, Holocaust denial is a crime in most of European countries, which seems absurd to many people including Muslims, but its their choice. If some does not like these laws he can't force his will upon them. Pakistan is in state of covert and overt war since 1979, when USSR occupied Afghanistan. The events of 9/11 gave it an other turn as USA also jumped in physically. Innocent people are being killed by US drones on one side and by suicide bombers of Taliban on the other side. This has adverse psychological effects on people, especially lowering tolerance and patience threshold. Moreover the mismanagement, economic disparity and corruption by inefficient governments fully supported by USA and co, has further aggravated the situation. However it does not mean that they are killing fellow countrymen brothers Christians. A person living in peaceful environments thousands of miles away in different cultural environments can not understand. Christians in Pakistan are as much safe or unsafe as any other Pakistani. Rather they are batter off because Muslims are killed in large numbers even while praying in mosques by suicide bombers or by US drones. Some issues are exploited by vested interests out of proportion intentionally or due to ignorance. Effort is being made to put the issue in proper perspective.

Comments/ Opinion:

Blasphemy law and conviction in Pakistan: The Facts and Fiction which every one else must know:

In many societies blasphemy in some form or another has been an offense punishable by law. In the Christian religion, blasphemy has been regarded as a sin by moral theologians; St. Thomas Aquinas described it as a sin against faith. For the Muslim it is blasphemy to speak contemptuously not only of God but also of Prophet Muhammad [pbuh]. The Mosaic Law decreed death by stoning as the penalty for the blasphemer. Under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565) the death penalty was decreed for blasphemy. In the United States many states have legislation aimed at the offense. In Scotland until the 18th century it was punishable by death, and in England it is both a statutory and a common-law offense. It was recognized as the latter in the 17th century; the underlying idea apparently was that an attack on religion is necessarily an attack on the state. This idea probably has been the reason why penalties have been laid down for blasphemy in some secular legal codes.[Encyclopedia Britannica]

The anti blasphemy law was introduced in Pakistan 23 years ago, after prolonged debates, discussions among legal, religious experts, for years which was later approved by the elected parliament for with some changes introduced on the recommendation of judiciary. All aspects including judicial, religious, cultural, social and human aspects were kept in view by the those entrusted with the task. The Federal Shari’ah Court interpreted 295c, to include all the prophet of Allah [ie, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus till Muhammad, peace be upon them all. Hence blasphemy against Moses or Jesus Christ bears same punishment as against Prophet Muhammad [pbuh]. No country in the world can boast of such a comprehensive blasphemy law.

During last 23 years, total 964 cases were registered under this law:

a. Against Muslims 479 cases, 50% of total.

b. Christians, 119 cases, 12%

c. Ahmadi’s [a deviant group] 340 cases, 35%

d. Hindus 14 cases 1.5%

e. Others 12 cases, 1.2%

3. Which religious group is most affected? Muslims 50%, Christians are only 12%.

4. Not a single person has been hanged through judicial process under this law, the conviction by lower courts were set aside by higher courts after judicial process, due to lack of evidence etc.

It is totally absurd to say that this law targets minorities, the statistics show 50% accused were Muslims, Christians being only 12%.

Misuse of any law can not be overruled, we know there are false cases registered for murder, robbery, corruption, rape etc, no one has ever demanded that these law should be dropped. Always efforts are made to improve upon the judicial and investigation process to nullify the misuse of any law.

The case of Dr. Afia Siddiqui is worth mentioning. She was kidnapped form Karachi in 2003 along with her three children, taken to Afghanistan, tried in USA courts: “She was alleged to be carrying inflammable materials and maps of potential targets in the United States “in jars” in her handbag. How big these ‘jars’ were, and how many kilogrammes of explosives were being transported in them was not mentioned to astounded readers. We were also informed that the next day, Dr Siddiqui had been shot in the abdomen “at least once” by an American soldier in self-defence after coming under fire from Dr Siddiqui who had come rushing out from behind a curtain where she was being held “unrestrained” for questioning, and picking up an M4 service rifle that had been left “at his feet” by an American warrant officer, had fired at him. And that but for the timely deflection of her shot by an Afghan interpreter she should have killed the American!!!! Dr Afia Siddiqui is accused of crimes ranging from buying blood diamonds to planning terrorist attacks to being the vilest person on earth. Yet, she was charged in court with what can only be called an impossible crime.

Finally the Pakistani neuroscientist Dr.Aafia Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years of imprisonment by a US federal court in Manhattan, after she was “convicted” of firing at US troops in Afghanistan while in their custody and other six charges brought against her. The world is silent on this human tragedy, but hue and cry to repeal the blasphemy law of Pakistan to save a woman convicted by local courts. What a dichotomy, hypocrisy and dual standards.

Many European countries have law against ‘Holocaust Denial’, is it not against freedom of speech? But it is right of every country to devise laws which they think are beneficial for their people.

Why then hue and cry against Anti Blasphemy law?

It must be understood well that Muslims [practicing or non practicing] love Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him] and Qur’an more than their lives. While disciples of Prophet Jesus Christ [peace be upon him] deserted him at the time of crisis [Mt 26:56, Mr 14:50 ] , the companions of Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him] remained steadfast in critical times and even laid down their lives. Muslims believe and also love all Biblical prophets from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses till Jesus Christ [peace be upon them all], though there is slandering against them in Bible [Genesis;Chapter5-15, Genesis;19:30-38, Genesis;9:20-27, 2 Samuel;11:4, 6-25, 1 Kings 1-11 and 1 Kings;11:4-7, 9-11].

The members of the household of Prophet [peace be upon him] and his pious Companions [Sahaba], especially Four Rightly Guided Caliphs [Rashdun] are next in respect and love. While Christian West has the tradition of slandering their prophets, it is unthinkable in Islam. On the pretext of freedom of expression it can not be allowed to happen come what may!

Every one must respect the law of the land and sentiments and sensitivities of local population. West has abandoned the Bible and law, they have allowed gay marriages, according to the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, no law can be made repugnant to Islam [Qur’an and Sunnah]. This is our country every one must respect the law. Any law can be misused, but there are safeguards, in the tiers of judiciary, that’s the reason in 23 years not a single person was hanged. Asia Bibi, who was convicted in lower court shall get justice, the judicial process must be allowed to be followed.

Mr.Salman Tasir, the so called liberal governor of Punjab took law in to his own hands by rejecting the verdict by lower court, option of appeal in higher courts still exist. He went to police station, held a press conference, declared Asia Bibi as innocent calling it as black law, this was loose talk by a responsible official. Later he retracted and clarified that he was not against the blasphemy law but the execution methodology, which even Dt.Tahir ul Qadri also mentions. But the perceptions do not get changed quickly. President of Pakistan and Governors enjoy immunity, a common man can not hire expensive lawyers to sue Governor Salman Tasir [enjoying immunity], even clear verdict by Supreme court of Pakistan about President Asif Zardari have not been implemented so far. If there is no respect of law, people take law in their on hands, as happened in this case. He violated the law, showing disrespect to court verdict like his beloved President creating ugly circumstances culminating to his death. If we don’t respect court decisions, people shall take law in their own hands, no one wants mob justice or killing on roads. Had the rulers established respect of law, equal for all citizens, some one could have gone to courts, where Mr.Salman Tasir would have been heard about allegations against him and set free if found innocent. [We have precedence of 2^nd Caliph Omar Khattab (r.a) personally appearing in courts to face charges, but Rulers of Islamic Republic of Pakistan are the absolute monarchs enjoying immunity from law, with billions of dollars in Swiss banks and properties abroad.]

Moral:

People should respect the feelings and sensitivities of people of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, refrain from any activity which results in to violence.
Instead of criticising the law and demanding to leave the convicted blasphemer, should arrange good legal team to contest the case in courts. If she is innocent she will get her freedom. Higher courts exercise stringent criteria of witness and benefit of doubt is fully granted to the accused in Islamic law, the reason of no one ever punished under this law in 23 years.
Beware, the Muslims and People of Pakistan can not tolerate any non sense on the matters of their beloved Prophet [pbuh], Holy Qur'an, honourable members of household of Prophet [pbuh] which includes the mothers of Believers and the four pious rightly guided Caliphs under any pretext.

The Blasphemy law should be amended to include appropriate punishments for those who slander honourable members of household of Prophet [pbuh], the mothers of Believers and the four pious rightly guided Caliphs.

Those who falsely accuse some one for blasphemy, should be awarded strict punishment. The misuse of this law should also be considered as blasphemy.

http://peace-forum.blogspot.com/2011/01/blasphemy-law-and-conviction-in.html

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