By
Junaid Jahangir, New Age Islam
15 June 2021
Just As
Identity Is Important For Pakistani Sunnis, It Is Equally Important For
Pakistani Ahmadis, Ismailis, Hazara Shias, and Others
Main
Points:
1. Identity is important for Muslims. So much
so that Muslim women in western cities refuse to compromise on their headscarf
even in the face of racist and xenophobic attacks.
2. The pressing question for all Pakistanis is
what if the family mercilessly murdered had been Ahmadi?
3. Canadian society has to look deep within to
address what is causing young white men to engage in such heinous racist acts
and crimes.
4. Media stoked spaces generalize and
stereotype Muslims as Caliphate mongering, sharia imposing supremacists.
----
Four Afzaal family members were killed in the London, Ontario, truck
attack. Not shown is the youngest son, who survived. Sana Yasir (Photo
courtesy: npr.org)
----
Many
Pakistanis in Canada were jolted by the gruesome murder of a Pakistani family
in London, Ontario. They wore their colourful Pakistani suits, and they would
have least expected the rage of a white Canadian who mercilessly and
intentionally rammed them to death. People who saw themselves mirrored in that
tragedy held vigils and prayers across Canadian cities. The Prime Minister of
Canada, the Premier of Ontario and other politicians were swift to condemn the
dastardly act and intensified action against the rising tide of racism and
Islamophobia. However, no law can protect Muslims or others perceived as Muslims
against random acts of violence.
Canadian
society has to look deep within to address what is causing young white men to
engage in such heinous racist acts and crimes. Partly, they will have to
address the loss of middle-class jobs due to globalization and technological
change. However, the economics of terrorism does not hold poverty, mental
illness or lack of education as factors behind terrorism. Instead, what needs
to be addressed is the narrative that preys on the perceived grievances of the
people. This means that mainstream Canada will have to address the fears of
young white men on their becoming a minority due to demographic changes, and on
checking the narrative that is stoked by media spaces that generalize and
stereotype Muslims as Caliphate mongering, sharia imposing supremacists.
However,
this on its own is not going to be enough for there are two sides of the same
coin. What this means is that such horrific incidents allow people an
opportunity to look within. Pakistani Muslims too will have to engage in a deep
introspection, as they often do in questioning whether such horrific incidents
are Aazmaish (trials) or Azab (punishments) from Allah. The
pressing question for all Pakistanis is what if the family mercilessly murdered
had been Ahmadi? Would there have been large prayer gatherings across Canada
for them? Would Canadian Muslim institutions have been actively involved in
calling out government institutions for more protection against Islamophobia?
Or would they have side-lined or minimized the incident with ifs and buts?
Alternatively, if the incident had happened in Pakistan, would the Prime
Minister of Pakistan and the Chief Minister of Punjab have come out openly to
visit their mosque in solidarity? Or would the media circus have revolved less
around the oppression visited upon them and more around the inanities of
addressing their mosques as places of worship? Would any Ahmadi have been given
a platform on Pakistani media to address their concerns, or the debate simply
made about the right of Ahmadis to maintain their identity?
People leave flowers and light candles at the scene of what has been
called an Islamophobic terrorist attack that killed four family members earlier
this week.
Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images
------
Identity is
important for Muslims. So much so that Muslim women in western cities refuse to
compromise on their headscarf even in the face of racist and xenophobic
attacks. This is despite the fact that Islam has given facility to Muslims on
rituals and personal laws under extenuating circumstances. So, just as identity
is important for Pakistani Sunnis, it is equally important for Pakistani
Ahmadis, Ismailis, Hazara Shias, and others. This means that to ask them to
give up something that is an integral part of their identity on the pain of
kufr (apostasy) charges constitutes Zulm (oppression). Yet, Pakistanis,
who do not want their identity compromised in the West and who change their
Facebook display pictures to demand respect for the Prophet, are equally
culpable when it comes to stripping the identity of Ahmadis and disrespecting
their spiritual leaders. This then is the deeper lesson that Pakistanis ought
to learn from horrific incidents that befall upon them. Unless of course they
have decided that they alone remain perpetual victims. But being a perpetual
victim is a hallmark of supremacism that is being witnessed through the
Hindutva brigade who remain fearful and dehumanize Muslims in India. In
essence, if Pakistanis wish not to be like the Hindutvavadis, they will have to
stand up for vulnerable minorities amongst them. Perhaps then help will arrive
from ghaib (the unseen) and Pakistanis will have a clean conscience that at
least they did their part.
------
Junaid
Jahangir is an Assistant Professor of Economics at MacEwan University. He is
the co-author of Islamic Law and Muslim Same-Sex Unions. With Dr. Hussein
Abdullatif, a paediatric endocrinologist in Alabama, he has co-authored several
academic papers on the issue of same-sex unions in Islam. He contributed this
article to NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-west/ontario-london-ahmadi-pakistani/d/124975
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