Mob Justice: Not Acceptable

(Part 2)

Dr. Sarfraz Naeemi once said in a conversation with Darvesh that raising a hand against an unarmed person who is not engaged in fighting is by no means jihad. Attacking women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, or religious leaders, priests, or worshippers serving or praying in the places of worship of other faiths is not jihad either; it is terrorism. Destroying or damaging another religion’s place of worship, or even ravaging the fields of non-Muslims or damaging their trees and gardens, is not jihad—it is terrorism.

Today, his son, Dr. Raghib Naeemi, has been saying the same thing: no individual has the authority to issue a death fatwa against anyone on the charge of blasphemy. Even if someone has committed blasphemy, punishing that person is the responsibility of the state or government. Sharia has given no individual, group, or organization the right to take such action.

Today, extremism and fanaticism are rampant in society. Every person seems to want to punish someone himself merely on the basis of an allegation of blasphemy. This is not only against Islam but also an explicit violation of our Constitution and law. Mob justice is unacceptable. It is neither Islamic nor lawful.

The Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology said that our law has already prescribed punishments for various offences—for example, the death penalty for blasphemy against the Prophet, life imprisonment for desecration of the Qur’an, three years’ imprisonment for violations of the anti-Ahmadiyya laws, and seven years’ imprisonment for insulting the Companions or the Ahl al-Bayt. In all these matters, no individual or group has the right to take the law into their own hands or issue any such fatwa.

“My father, Allama Sarfraz Naeemi, was martyred because he issued fatwas against attacks on mosques and shrines and against murder. I also declared the death-related fatwas issued against Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to be un-Islamic and unconstitutional, and I too faced a severe reaction. I received four or five hundred messages that were beyond description. Issuing a death fatwa or taking the law into one’s own hands in an attempt to deliver justice is un-Islamic and unconstitutional.

“If someone has committed blasphemy and you know about it, you still have no right to physically attack that person. Our religious parties have made the issue of blasphemy highly sensationalized and emotionally charged. There are 60,000 mosques in Punjab, while only 439 are under the control of the Auqaf Department. The root of the problems we face must be understood in this context.”

The present decline of our society is painfully shameful and a lesson in itself. Here, a statesmanlike and humane Chief Justice such as Qazi Faez Isa is not only threatened with murder but death rewards and fatwas are also issued against him. Yet even among the powerful, there seems to be insufficient courage to crush this naked display of terror and brutality. How, then, can they possibly provide protection to the weaker sections of society?

When a person holding the responsibility of Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology raises his voice against such fanaticism, he too receives threats. Should those in positions of power not investigate this horrific situation and take effective action to eliminate this blatant form of terror?

Apart from the current Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Darvesh also has deep respect, closeness, and a long-standing friendship with the former Chairman, Dr. Khalid Masud. One often hears similar thoughts from him as well. It is astonishing to see the enormous difference between the approach of our scholars and researchers and the thinking of ordinary clerics in our streets and neighborhoods.

In this unfortunate country, the issue of blasphemy has been made so terrifying that the tradition of interfaith respect and dialogue has been severely distorted. As a result, tolerance, patience, pluralism, brotherhood, solidarity, and compassion have been eroded from society to a frightening degree.

Today, in the name of religion and Islam, things are being imposed upon the public that were not even imaginable during the time of the Prophet or the Companions. Yet these innovations are now being turned into spectacles of chaos and indecency.

From the very beginning of human civilization, the purpose of religion has been to share human suffering and find remedies for it. The creation of God, without distinction or discrimination, has been described as “the family of God” (Ayal Allah).

It has also been said that the person most beloved by God is the one who loves His family, while the most disliked and detested is the one who causes suffering to the servants of God.

Those who, in Quetta and Sindh, have brutally killed innocent human beings while they were in government custody merely on the basis of allegations should read these words and drown in shame:

Salute to the one who responded to abuse with prayers;

who gave cloaks to those who thirsted for blood;

who told the sinners, “They are mine.”