By
Aziz Ali Daad, Tr. New Age Islam
14 March
2024
The
Syrian Muslims celebrate Christmas and Easter
Main
Points:
1. In Syria,
blasphemy killings are unheard of.
2. They sing
songs in praise of Jesus Christ.
3. In Syria and
Lebanon, killing for blasphemy is considered un-Islamic.
------
During my
school days, I used to think that all the Muslims of the world are like
Pakistani Muslims. But as I came into contact with Muslim and non-Muslim
societies, I gradually realised that my perception was wrong. My perception
about the Pakistani Muslims has drastically changed. I am compelled to say that
nowhere in the world you will find crazy Muslims like the Pakistanis.
I have not
developed this opinion of Pakistanis as a result of occasional tours but as a
result of my long stay in Lebanon and Syria and my exposure to other Muslim
societies.
I got an
opportunity to observe their behaviour and to interact with the common people
there. The most difficult task that I faced was to explain the Pakistani Islam
and Muslims to them because the issues that were a matter of life and death to
us had no importance with them. I will present some examples.
A few weeks
ago, I tried to explain to.my colleague that in Pakistan, we spent a lit of
time and money to persuade the parents to allow their children, particularly,
girls to get education. My Syrian colleague asked why the Pakistani parents
needed to be convinced to educate their children. I replied that our countrymen
are against education. He asked why? I replied that they say that education,
particularly, girls' education was prohibited in Islam. For that reason, people
even set schools on fire. He was flabbergasted and wondered what Islam it was.
I had a tough time explaining to him the context.
So I said I
could not explain. He was surprised and said that it was strange that I could
write about my country but could not explain it. Any way, before the civil war
erupted, the literacy rate in Syria was 90 per cent and there was not much
difference between the literacy of men and women. Co -education was common
there.
During a
gossip with a friend in a famous cafe on a weekend, the issue of blasphemy came
up. I told him about the blasphemy laws of my country and the killings of Muslims
and non-Muslims over it. He was shocked. He wondered how, in the presence of
the state, the people in the street could kill in the name of religion. Here in
Syria Muslims live along with the followers of other religions but there are no
Islamic laws like this. Indeed defaming other religions is prohibited and
religion-based political parties are not allowed. I said that I could not
explain this too. He said that in Syria, the imam of a mosque did not have the
authority to issue fatwas and that the imam was an employee of the Waqf
department of the government.
Similarly,
when the issue of honour killing came up during a conversation with a lady, she
could not understand the legitimacy of the tradition. I was surprised to see
Muslims celebrate Eid Milad al Majeed (Christmas) and Eid al Fasah
(Easter). To be honest, at first I even doubted that they were Muslims in the
first place because here they did not choke the roads and streets for Friday
prayers. One could not make out who was going to offer Namaz and who was not.
In our country, people keep announcing since the morning that we have to offer
Friday Namaz.
Similarly,
people here do not understand how administering polio doses is linked to Islam.
In short, I have not been able to explain the idiosyncrasies of the Pakistani
Muslims to them.
On a
Christmas in one December, an Arabic hymn sung by a Lebanese girl became viral.
Many Arabs posted comments praising her voice and art. But those making
hate-filled comments were only Pakistanis. A Lebanese acquaintance drew my
attention to those comments. The comments reflected the ignorance and madness
of Pakistani Muslims. In those comments, the Pakistani Muslims told the Arabs
that the lady singer plagiarised the style of reciting the Quran. Some others
considered reciting Arabic hymns in a Christian festival a blasphemy against
the Quran. The Arabs argued that Arabic was a language and not a religion and
the Christians also spoke Arabic. Arab culture is their common legacy.
The
Pakistanis should know that Jesus is praised in Arabic in the birth place of
Jesus, Bethlehem. The genre of the song is called Tarateel in Arabic.
The Tarateel of the famous Lebanese romantic singer Firoze are very
popular. But the Pakistani Muslims are not convinced. They curse the Arabs for
their un-Islamic practices (Bid 'at).
I,
therefore, came to the conclusion that I will not be able to explain the
Pakistani Islam and Muslims to the Muslims of the other parts of the world,
leave aside non-Muslims. In fact, I feel ashamed of introducing myself as a
Pakistani Muslim. Only Pakistanis can issue fatwas against the Arabs for the
'wrong use' of their own language Arabic.
The
devastating consequences of this madness are now evident. Earlier, we observed
the rush of the Maulvis to the Halwa shops (confectioneries), but now
we see mad people gather on the use of the word 'Halwa'.
The other
day, we observed the replay of the scenes of the age of Jahiliyya when a
crowd of religious fanatics surrounded a woman because her shirt had the word Halwa
printed on it. No one bothered to read the word but issued a fatwa of blasphemy
against the Quran. Fortunately, a brave lady police officer saved her. Even Abu
Jahl will hide his face in shame at this show of ignorance by the Pakistani
Muslims.
Halwa in
Arabic means sweet and pretty. Arabs are very fond of sweets. That's why in
Damascus, sweets shops are found everywhere. Earlier the Pakistanis would go
crazy after reading Kalima, now they go crazy after reading Halwa.
In the
video of the police station, the woman is visibly terrified and is apologising
while the faces of the Maulvis sitting there betray the feeling of victory
instead of guilt. Worse, one of the Maulvis asks the woman what her 'Firqa'
(sect) was. I could visualise there not Islam but the Europe of the 15th
century where the priests would interrogate women in the similar fashion and
burn them alive.
If this
kind of Islam continues to flourish in Pakistan, then I am afraid, gradually
Muslims will become extinct and only mullahs will be left there. According to
Ibn Insha, today in Pakistan, people are not baptised in Islam but expelled
from Islam. The version of Islam the Pakistanis have been presenting is very
terrifying. It is devoid of any aesthetics. Islam without aesthetics is
nothing. We should remember the hadith: 'God is beautiful and appreciates
beauty.'
In the
Lahore incident, the woman's wearing the 'Halwa dress' was an act of spreading
beauty. But the mind nurtured in the darkness of hatred hates everything that
is beautiful. It loves not life and beauty but savagery and death. The society
in which the desire of death is dominant devours its own citizens. That' s what
is called human cannibalism.
This Pakistani mindset will put out every single light of rationality and wisdom and push the society into the abyss of darkness of ignorance. The 10th century bind but visionary poet Abul Ala Al Ma'arry once said:
Men are of
two kinds,
One who
have intellect but no Deen.
The other
who have Deen but no intellect.
It is for
you to decide to which category the Pakistani Muslims belong.
-----
Courtesy:
Hum Sab Pakistan.
URL: https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/syrian-lebanese-muslims-religious-pakistani/d/131911
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