Month: September 2011

Bol….Speak The Truth For Your Lips Are Free

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Yesterday I watched the movie Bol.  I found the movie to be both touching and disheartening. It brought forth the naked realities of our society. But more importantly it questioned the role of religion in our society today. Critics would argue that these things happen in all societies, which is very true. However it is only in Muslim societies that the law, Sharia Law, gives criminals a safe haven and moral justification to continue purporting heinous crimes in the name of religion. It blurs the line between a victim and a criminal.

I am a practicing Muslim women, and it dared me to question who are we as Muslims? what is Islam? who is Islam for?  I can no longer buy into the argument that it is not Islam that is flawed but Muslims. If an ideology consistently produces wrong results then the ideology is flawed. If a curriculum cannot prepare students for a test,  and keeps failing them, then you have to change the curriculum, you cannot keep blaming the students.

The Quran itself  does not possess flaws any greater than those in other organized religions or scriptures, however its unique claim that it is for all times and forever has become its greatest flaw. It is the elastic band which prevents Muslims from progressing economically, socially and morally. It keeps pulling us back to 1400 years ago, to standards set for uncivilized, barbaric and depraved Arabs. It has stunted the growth of the Muslim mind and hence Muslim society by claiming to be perfect and forever……in doing so it has taken away the need for any improvement, evolution or growth.  Imagine if the pagans in Mecca 1400 years ago, or other ancient civilizations, had made similar claims that our beliefs and lifestyle are for all times, then Christianity, Judaism, Islam or the civilized world as we know it, would not exist today. For any civilization to continue to grow and progress they have to accept change and continue to evolve. Unfortunately the ignorant Pagans seemed to be more open-minded than  Muslims today are, who cannot accept change or new ideas.

We can no longer mask our weaknesses under the cover of discrimination, conspiracies, and human error. Religion is for Humans, IT HAS NO OTHER PURPOSE. In over 1400 years if Islam has not been able to correct Human errors then it might be an obsolete ideology. Muslims today have to  acknowledge that Islam was for a certain time, place and people  and make changes to address current problems, injustices  and issues that are being faced my Muslims today. Just like all other religions and even some Muslim sects have done. Or we have to face the blasphemous truth that the Quran is a flawed document and not a divine revelation. Because my God cannot be unjust, my God cannot condone killing, hitting and enslaving people, my God cannot discriminate, my God cannot be merciless and my God cannot be an ego maniac…..in any time , ever.

As a Muslim I refuse to accept these false revelations, which have become justifications for punishing, enslaving, marginalizing and killing men, women and children. Our honor is not being compromised by women, eunuchs or gays, it is being compromised by mullahs, sharia law, religious leaders, Islamic republics, and the current Islamic Ideology.  I want to urge Muslims, to think, reflect and question. Stop buying into the dogma. Stop Defending it. Stop justifying it. Stop ignoring it. It is blasphemous to stay quiet…..Bol.

Pakistan….failed state or failed dreams?

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Everywhere I go these  days there is  a mention of Pakistan being a failed state. There is always some news about it on television, or in a magazine . I am not a Pakistani, I am an Indian, yet the mention of Pakistan stirs up emotions in me. It’s failure, it’s moral and economic rape bring anger, a sense of shame and a sadness.

I try and understand why does Pakistan create these emotions in me. I am not from Pakistan and yet I share a strange connection to it. Contrary to what most Pakistanis want to believe, this relation is not a relationship of hatred, envy or jealousy.  It is a connection of shared cultures, religion, genes and maybe even a shared dream.

In (undivided) India, many families had to let go of loved ones, in hope of a better future. I am a product of  such a family, a family divided across the border. Crossing a distance of 30miles (from Lahore to Amristar) in months and years, burdened by visa restrictions, political tensions, fear of war and endless threats.

The creation of Pakistan divided lands, lives and families . It brought the  demise of  a 600 year old legacy of coexistence.  It was a message to the rest of the world that Muslims can not and will not tolerate differences.  Even though Muslims had always been a minority in the subcontinent, they insisted they will not will not be a minority unless ruling. They seemed to have spoken on behalf of all Muslims and in doing so they brought into question the loyalty of Muslims who chose to remain in India or other ”non-Islamic’ countries.

With its conception, Pakistan  not only  promised Muslims a better life, it also introduced the idea of a homogeneous society. Across the world it stirred desires in Muslims for an Islamic Republic.   Its  professed ideology, Islam, was unprecedented as a glue for nationalism, as no nation state had yet been created on the basis of Islam. It introduced the idea that two different groups, with different ways of life,  cannot coexist in one nation and thus should have the right to secede (The Two-Nation theory). These ideas however flawed, traveled beyond borders, throughout the Muslim world.They resonate even today amongst Muslims across the world. However the Two Nation Theory did not take into account the expanse of the phrase “different ways of life”. The phrase “different ways of life” which was coined for Hindus and Muslims, soon encompassed  ethnic and sectarian differences, and continues to plague the Muslim world.

Today when I see the state of Pakistan it makes me angry and sad. It reminds me of the anguish and helplessness my parents, grandparents and many others like them felt when they could not meet their children, siblings, parents and other loved ones. It reminds me of the number of deaths and births we could not share together. It reminds me of the number of celebrations we could not celebrate together. It reminds me of the number of people who lost their lives trying to make this dream a reality. It reminds me of the endless lives which have been claimed due to sectarian, ethnic and religious violence. It reminds me of all those innocent people who continue believing in this dream …..For What?

These sacrifices of emotions and lives were given because they believed Muslims would be physically safe and their religion secure in a new nation called Pakistan. Instead, within six decades Pakistan has become one of the most violent nations in the world. Not because Hindus are killing Muslims , but because Muslims are killing Muslims.  But were Islam and Muslims so weak that they could not survive as a minority presence? Pakistan was not a child of great vision, hard work or principles. On the contrary it was the result of a glorified past and an uncertain future.

Maulana Azad  repeatedly pointed out that Islam cannot be the basis of nationhood; perhaps it required a scholar of Islam to comprehend what an anglophile Jinnah could not. Islam did not save the Pakistan of1947 from it’s own partition in 1971. With the failure of Pakistan the Muslim dream is shattered and the broken glass can be felt by every Pakistani, and every Muslim across the world. Just like the dream, the pieces of glass cannot be contained within Pakistan’s border.  Pakistan is not a failed state……it is a failed dream, a flawed dream.

The pain I feel at the mention of Pakistan is from the shards of glass, which will be felt by all of us a for a long time to come.