Can Reforms and Military courts prevent another “Kasur” tragedy?

Ms Tehmina Durrani, wife of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said in her tweet. “Hand this entire mess to military courts for investigation coz the system is NOT to be trusted unless it is reformed.” I would rather not consider it a simple matter that can be hushed up in military courts and our lives will be normally happy ever after. This incident demands serious thinking. We need to look at every aspect of the society and try to understand why such incidents are even happening.

Other than the military courts approach, we have a reformist approach that Ms Tehmina pointed out in her tweet. Rethinking the tragedy can help us identify many issues where reforms are seriously required. Like it was Kasur that came on limelight and there may be several other such incidents happening (broaden scope). It has being going on since 2006 (being done in an organized way for last 9 years). There were 284 children abused (massive scale!!), the CDs sold for just Rs. 50 (economic reasons), Police was not ready to register cases (incapable law and order system), Media has other things to sell (vision less media), Government politicians are defending the situation (nothing new here!), Opposition is not serious (doing politics), General Raheel Sharif has slept (not part of war on terror), Judiciary is not performing (we have made military courts!!), Education system is not being reformed (too many separate boards), Islamic clerics not giving fatwas (no suicide bombing here),  Awareness programs for child sex not launched (not in priority list), Law making not done (MQM has resigned). This shows that many reforms are required in EVERY section of the society.

It may be shocking to think about the incompetence of our institutions and how difficult it is to reform or revolutionize our society but what is more shocking are the situations of the developed world. We might have this understanding that if the country takes all the steps that I mentioned in the above paragraph (a.k.a the developed world), the problems will be solved. Well, this is unfortunately not true. 

The International business times reports, “In 2012/13, there were 18,915 sexual crimes against children under 16 recorded in England and Wales, according to the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). Included in that figure were 4,171 offences of sexual assault on a female child under 13 and 1,267 offences of sexual assault on under-13 male children”. Another developed nation with all the required per requisites i.e. America has almost the same situation. According to the Children Assessment Centre (CAC) in the U.S, "Even if the true prevalence of child sexual abuse is not known, most will agree that there will be 500,000 babies born in the US this year that will be sexually abused before they turn 18 if we do not prevent it,"

What does this mean? It means that there is a fundamental problem with the very fabric of society. And this is not just our society but even the societies of the developed world. The real problem needs to be identified and solved.

I personally think the problem lies in man-made laws and thinking about regulating physical relationships between humans. Man-made thinking of secularism, liberalism and freedom tends to push human mind across the boundaries of decent humanity. This thought of freedom to do anything and everything that one wants in the social sphere destroys the basic construct of family life and inclines mankind towards experimenting sexual desires in unnatural ways. In other words, this thinking itself is the biggest cause of a person becoming pedophile, incest and homosexual. Freedom to think and satisfy oneself beyond certain restrictions as sacred should never be the fundamental thought in human beings. This is where religion comes in to save humanity from the disaster of social disorder. Religion defines sexual relations in a way which not only secures the human race but also ensures that Humans remain humans and not becomes free animals who can jump over any gender anytime they like.

Apart from the man-made thinking of freedom, another problem lies with the man-made Laws. Man-made laws are, in many ways, unable to regulate human life in the best possible way. Experiments of all developed societies clearly depict that it is impossible to come out of this vicious circle of crisis with the man-made approach. The developed world widely “discuss” what should be the punishment of such crimes. And since they are influenced by the thinking of Freedoms for humanity and tend to be moved by enlightenment arrogance, they tend to be biased in prosecuting such behavior. In-fact in many countries, the debate has turned to legalizing such unnatural human acts.  Here is where once again revelation comes in the rescue of humanity.

Divine guidance on the basis of human thought in matters of social life and divine laws can solve this problem once and for all. And since Islam, among all the religions is the only exception that has preserved its message in the minutest of details and has an aqeeda that is intellectually convincing, I would present its solutions.

As far as thought of social order is concerned, Humans are not free or in other words, not slave to their physical inclinations. Humans are to live their lives as per the commandments of their creator. By any intellectual standards, it is evident that the creator knows best the way its creations should work in the optimum manner. This thought automatically limits human thinking into the folds of humanity and does not wildly roam around looking for absurd solutions. As far as Divine Laws are concerned, Allah has regulated the relationships of humanity between man and women through a bond of marriage. The basic conditions of marriage are: man and women have passed the age of puberty; they are not incest and cannot be of the same gender. Any other physical relationship outside the marriage, whether it be with opposite gender or same gender or children or animals or anything else is Haram (Unlawful) and severely and publicly punishable.    

For example: The punishment of rape and zina is stoning the perpetrator (if he/she is married) and one hundred lashes (if he/she is unmarried) and that too, publicly. Holy Quran in Surah al-Nur, 24: 02-03, says:

“The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.”

This punishment covers the issues of incest as well. While as far as the issue of homosexuality and pedophile is concerned. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “Whoever you find doing the action of the people of Lut, kill the doer and the one to whom it is done”; As for Ijmaa’ as-Sahabah, the Sahabah differed in the style of killing the homosexual; however, they had a consensus (ijmaa’) on killing him. Al-Bayhaqi extracted from ibn Abbas that he was asked about the hadd of the homosexual and said, ‘The highest building in the town is looked for then he is thrown from it upside down, then he is followed by stones.’ It is also narrated from Ali (ra), ‘He is killed by the sword then burnt due to the enormity of the sin.’ Umar (ra) and Uthman (ra) adopted, ‘that a wall is collapsed upon him.’ All these opinions collectively indicate killing, even if they differ on the style of killing. It is stipulated in the hadd of homosexuality and pedophile that, whether doer or the one to whom it is done, be mature, sane and he must have done it willingly. With such severe public punishments, anyone feeling the desire to sexually abuse children or making their videos would think a thousand times. Those who think these punishments are “barbaric” should look at their child and try to imagine him sexually abused. They would soon realize that “barbaric” acts demand “barbaric” punishment.

Therefore, if we rethink the “kasur” incident and look at what the world is facing, we can understand that this problem is no more in the domain of military courts or extensive reforms or educational programs. This issue demands radical revolutionary change in the fundamental thinking of society and the fundamental legal structure which should be based on divine guidance i.e. Islam!!

Why Junaid Jamshed is not the only hypocrite

The recent social media episode on Junaid Jamshed in which he is standing hand in hand with Hadika Kiyani and taking selfies with other female actors enforces a point. The point that liberals love to showcase and that is the hypocritical behavior of certain religious Muslims. Junaid Jamshed is not one person who is doing this, there are definitely many people in our families who can be seen preaching something else and doing something else. In fact it won’t be an exaggeration to say that other than the few, most of the Muslims are living the same lives.

After seriously pondering over this situation, I concluded that it is because of two reasons. First, we are Muslims and as Muslims we have certain beliefs and tend to be bound by divine Islamic laws. These laws are not just related to matters of personal worship but include moral, social, economic and political systems.  Considering this background, one can easily understand that Muslims are generally inclined in following Islamic principles.

But if you look at the society that we are living in, one can clearly see that it does not give a religiously conducive environment. For example: The Muslims believe that “interest” is Haram (unlawful) and it is a “war with Allah” as mentioned in Quran but the whole economic system is being run on capitalist principles of Interest and banking. This is a huge contradiction! Just imagine, a Muslim who believes “interest is a war with Allah” is living in a society where he cannot do anything without being part of this interest based economy. This dilemma of Muslims makes them hypocritical. On one side “the uncle” of family is telling the relative (who is in bank) that you are doing Haram and on the other side when he needs loan to build a house, takes it from the same bank. Similarly, there are Islamic principles of getting married and fulfilling your sexual instincts. However, the society does not allow getting married at an early age (the boy needs to get settled, have a car, a house  and the girl needs to study etc). On the other hand, Islam does not allow girlfriends, partying and pre-marriage relationships as these are considered among the greatest sins which are seriously punishable.  The society however allows venues for fulfilling your instincts using all un-islamic means. Keep this situation in mind and think of a kid of 18 yrs who is not allowed to marry (because he isn’t stable as per the society rules) and who is not allowed to have girlfriend at the same time (because Islam doesn’t allow this).  It is a complete contradiction of one's beliefs. This is the dilemma that our younger generation is living in.

The second reason is that we are not secular. We are not yet ready to learn from the European experience of separating religion from society and confining it to ourselves. Unlike Christianity, Islam gives detailed systems in social, economic and political matters which were demonstrated by the 1300 years rule of the Caliphate. When the Europeans were in this struggle between religion and politics, the Muslims were very much content with religion being a matter of state (Abbasid Caliphate and then Ottoman Caliphate).  Those Muslim Empires were well known superpowers and no one can deny the progress they made during these times in science, technology, literature and politics. At that time there was no contradiction between belief system and the way society was disciplined.

So what solution options do we have now to get out of this dilemma? One; either the Muslim world reject religion in the matters of state and just like Christianity and other religions, stop enforcing Islam on to the society. In this way, they will have no dilemma in taking “interest” or having “girlfriends” or problem with “blasphemy”. And the hypocrisy in words and actions will be wiped out from the society. However, I believe that the Muslims with their firm aqeeda and strong religious obligations and attachment, would not opt for this solution.

The second solution is a more radical one. To get out of this dilemma, create a society based purely on Islamic principles i.e. the one which was seen during the period of Caliphate. Caliphate created a society with an economic system free from interest and build upon zakat, a society where modesty for the women is compulsory, a society where sexual needs are fulfilled as per Islamic guidelines, a society where blasphemy laws are not misused etc. This is the only way Junaid jamshed and his alikes would not be able to attend parties with mix gatherings because there won’t be such parties. And in this way, the "uncles" cannot contradict themselves because there would be no such interest Loan option available.

The bottom line is, either we change our belief system and become secular or we change our political system and be Islamic or do nothing and remain hypocrites!