Vile infamy

Of all the imperatives that forge a nation, nothing could be a more potent recipe for its degeneration and disintegration than one in which human life becomes worthless. Over the decades, the state remained callously unmoved and criminally unfazed as human lives were reduced to a mere statistic.

No words describe it better than the Scott Fitzgerald line: “He was so terrible that he was no longer terrible, only dehumanized”.

What we saw in Sialkot was the macabre rerun of ghastly acts that, over the years, have gone unchecked and unpunished; some have even been glorified. Through the decades of adopting and nurturing negative traits, we have ensured that these traits have meshed into our genetic code. Atrocious and gruesome that the Sialkot tragedy was, that the despicable savagery was meted out to Priyantha Kumara who was a foreign national and our guest makes it all the more reprehensible and unforgivable.

Over the decades, our ruling dispensations have incorporated these seeds of destruction with their conduct and proxy-war policies; we as a nation have taken to its forbidden fruit. The result is a paradox that sees a nation, envisaged by the founding fathers to be one of compassion, harmony and progress, morph into one that is the stark opposite. We have become our own worst enemy. The result sees us murdering and rampaging – a mobocracy challenged by none.

Chaos, deceit and ‘might is right’ rule our lives – not the cardinal sins they ought to be but a way of life. This can be seen everywhere, from the quagmire that is the traffic on our streets, our hospitals, educational institutions, workplaces to the few spots that are our recreational facilities. Even mosques are not spared. From this to the gruesome murder of Kumara – an act of vile infamy, our lives epitomise the prevalent negative image of Islam.

This is the same Islam, a true social order, encapsulated in the life of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) who was, in the words of the Almighty, “sent as a mercy for all the worlds” – not just the Muslim one. It was the same Holy Prophet (pbuh) who was stoned by the people of Taif, the pouring blood coagulating to stick his sandals to his feet. When an angel sought his permission to crush the city of Taif with its surrounding mountains, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) replied “No, for I hope Allah will bring forth people from them who shall worship Him alone”.

It was also the same Holy Prophet (pbuh) who, having noticed no thorns strewn in his path, went to ask about Arwa bint Harb, Abu Lahab’s wife, who used to throw thorny bushes in the path of the Prophet (pbuh) daily. Seeing that she was sick, he wished her a quick recovery. The same Holy Prophet (pbuh) forgave Hind, who murdered and mutilated the body of Hazrat Hamzah, the Holy Prophet’s (pbuh) beloved uncle. How can a follower of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) even dream of murdering, burning and pillaging in his name?

Over the years, rituals have become the tool with which those at the helm of affairs convinced themselves that they were in control. Each tragedy was followed by a charade of condemnations, prompt notices, inquiries and committees; each ended in the perpetrators becoming role models for more dastardly acts.

It reminds one of ‘Dunciad’, an Alexander Pope poem, so striking is the similarity. One is forced to think that when he set about writing it, he might have, by some power of foresight, visualised our societal creeds rather than the literary culture of 18th-century London. The poem’s characters symbolise the decline of truth, learning and morality. Written in couplets with allusions to Virgil and Homer, the poem is about the ascendancy of chaos and the decline of morality, portraying a world where merit and morals are denounced as unwanted traits.

Over the decades, these criminal acts were compounded by the state which acted as a mute spectator, the total failure of our criminal justice system and the glorification of such harrowing incidents. Prime Minister Imran Khan is a proponent of the state of Madina; justice in Kumara’s murder may well be the foundation stone of the promised welfare state. Financial help to his family may never compensate for its great loss but may alleviate the void left by its bread earner.

In no way were the deluded zealots in Sialkot doing anything even remotely connected to Islam. They were marauders, the likes of whom have tarnished the name of Islam, branding all Muslims in a similar vein. It was Malik Adnan who, despite being surrounded by the frenzied mob shielded Kumara with his body till he could, manifested the teachings of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and the essence of Islam.

The writer is a freelance contributor.

Email: miradnanaziz@gmail.com