Every now and then you will see a Muslim coming out and starts bashing the “Mullah” in Pakistan. My question is that if we hate the mullah so much why don’t we do some thing for that, rather than just ranting against the bigoted mullah.
If we look at the traditional role of mullah in Pakistan, we will see that Mullahs base of support is dependent upon the very people who rant and rave against the Mullah. Let me just give you some direct example. On every birth the “molvi” (traditional Mullah) is there to say the Azan in the ear of the newborn, why, because none in the house even remembers the whole Azan. On every Nikah the Molvi is there to perform the nikah, even at the time of rishta it’s the bloody molvi who “performs” the Istikhara. On every Janazah the Mullah is there to perform the Janazah prayer. On every Khatam shreef, Gyranwi shreef, Quran Khuwani on every bloody ritual you see that the molvi is there. After giving them so much control of our religion you think bashing him is justified? In my view this is the biggest form of hypocrisy and bigotry.
If you really want to change the power structure of the molvi, start going to the mosque, read the Quran, perform the nikah, and lead the Janazah your self, this is when the traditional molvi will get out of the way. But if we are opposing them just because we don’t like the way Islam is or we don’t want to go to the mosque because the molvi is there and we don’t want to challenge the rituals then please keep on bashing. Its very easy to displace the blame.
MiniMe, firstly, I am wondering, when people bash mullahs, can they say who is a "molvi", or a "mullah"? Someone who is in MMA? Someone who has a beard? Someone who prays 5 times a day and tries to follow Islamic rules in life? Someone who wears shalwaar kameez only?
Who is a "molvi" or a "mullah"? In Islam we are all Muslims, there's no concept of "molvis" in Islam.
when blaming everything is an easy choice now....no doubt there r bad elements in mullahs especially i hate idiotic atitude of barelvi alims(fitna)......but there r plenty of good moulanas who r really good in appraoch.....infact we muslims have come under pressure of westwern media and this is wort time for muslims tht we now give galis to our rel;igious scholars
I think for the most part they react politically and slander anybody who is related to MMA as Molvi or Mullah. But they don’t realize that culturally the traditional Mullah in Pakistan enslaves us all.
Irem, politically in the history of Pakistan its the first time ever that there has been a right wing political party in Pakistan who is in-charge of a whole province and the leftist are just surprised, and globally, since its an open season on Islam so most of the lefties are enjoying the ride.
well maula bashing only happens cos of the bad side of them, i have had some bad experiences with some maula's. they do pray 5 times a day and do everything you said but they also do alot of other bad stuff.
most maulas try to force people to do want they want, try try and interfer in other peoples lifes, they beat there wifes, some drink alcohol etc.
my auntie married a maula few years ago, they had a child is well, but now they are divorced, they use to live on top of a mosque where the maula use to work and he use to beat her everyday and once he even picked his daughter and threw her it was not only that, his sisters also use to beat his wife and he didnt do nothing. now they are divorced.
but im not saying all maulas are like that, there are good ones is well, but very few.
Suhaib, good people are always few so why then only bash the bad Mullah why not all bad people, who beat their wives and force people to do stuff, which they don’t want. Dear we should not be selective when passing judgment.
What you have said above has more to do with our domestic issues in our families and has less to do with Mullah bashing.
minime...why are u comparing ordinary person with a mullah? mullahs are suppose to be role models...someone shouldnt become a mullah if he can't even become a good person
and no one is saying all mullahs are bad...but one bad mullah can influence so many ordinary people in a bad way...and those should be criticized
Because I don’t see a difference in between an ordinary Muslim and a Mullah, there is no such thing as that in Islam. Mullahs (traditional molvis) are not supposed to be role models, Muslims are supposed to be role models, especially the one who excel in deen and Dunyah. A traditional mullah just performs some religious rituals and that in my view doesn’t suffice him to become a role model.
molvis should be expert in religion...this is what they study all their lives...so they are basically the teachers....why do we want them to perform azaan or janaza namaz...because they are the experts..they should tell people how to become a good muslim..instead some teach them to become suicider bombers..i believe they are responsible
just like there is hypocrisy everywhere, there has been hypocrisy among Mullahs too...the only diff is that Mullahs are traditionally held in very high regard and are a great part of our culture and society, like Minime said. so when these Mullahs, i.e certain ppl who took up the extrrnal images of traditional maulvis who like SherazCT said above taught religion and were experts in it, and instead of focusing more on their duties as flag berarers of goodness and religion, began doing too many common, worldy or immoral things like everyday ordinary ppl...thats where a divide began...ppl can tolerate an ordinary guy taking a leak on the sidewalk, but if we see a maulvi do it...we go nuts...why? not because ppl just hate them , but because ppl hold that getup, that shalwar kameez, that beard, that knowledge of religion in their hearts very valubale and cant tolerate it going wasted like and ordinary life does...its like if we see a friends parent do smthgn bad, its no big deal, if we see our parents do it, it is! because our parents are supposed to be perfect! we cant come to terms with their bein faulty...muslims hold mullahs respectable, often because in times of worry they are the only connection between man and God for some ppl. that connection is reqd by ppl to be a perfect example of goodness, regardless of how good or bad a common man him/her self is...(thats hypocrisy too...)
so certain elements who either imitated that highly respected image of mullahs to enter the public psyche or perhaps some mullahs really fallen prey to the devil started wandering away from their proper ways and indulged more and more in hypocritic stuff...like going to the mosque 5 times but stealing on taxes, having a beard but also hving a few glasses at night...caused a huge section of society to conclude due to experiences of decades that anyone at all in that 'mullah' getup or image is bad or artificial...obviously thats not true! some bad dont make it allbad. but maybe this is the reason ppl have become so skeptical regarding mullahs roles and motives.
secondly, Irem youre right, theres no such thing as 'mullah' in Islam, just wearing clean shalwar kameez, having a beard, praying regular is associated with mullahism and ppl begin suspecting one, but thats what every muslim should be like, but its not that sadly...
The traditional molvi is never an expert in religion, he is just an expert in performing some rituals and is never a teacher in a true sense. If you think that by sending our children to him just for learning Quran makes him a teacher then I disagree on that as well. As I said Islam as religion doses not make any such distinction between an ordinary Muslim and a mullah, we should all be experts in Islam. Its our mistake that we lack in basic knowledge of Islam and hence the need for the so called experts-of-Islam.
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why do we want them to perform azaan or janaza namaz...because they are the experts
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That’s one of the reasons that you will find very few people who remember azan and how to perform namaz-e-Janazah since we have given these rights to the experts.
I agree there are exceptions for scholars and teachers who for the sake of Jurisprudence and legality of the issue has to be experts in certain aspects of Islamic Aloom but then you will hardly see them performing the daily rituals.
It is not the societal role we are opposed to, indeed Islam is at the heart of Pakistan. But we ask that they not peddle extremist views and call for action that divides our nation and undermines its security.
The Islamist right, as opposed to the ISLAMIC groups, are instrumental in causing all inter sect strife.
when there is a fact tht mullahs dont have played their role effectively..madrassas r not like old times....people have been divided into groups on minor issues....our mullahs lack "diff of opinion"...especially 1 particular sect mullahs.....
i think government should implement strong control over them....and they must have to look after madrassas so students of these madarrasas may also become part of social life...
now there r 12000 madrassas in pak...i think this number should be decreased...banned all those madrrasaes which have been opened in streets and try to bring modern education in madrasas...
abt mullah "bashing"..it is now a typical thing...blame everything on mullahs...
infact our country has suffered more in these "moderate" people which always try to satisfy their god fathers in america,india and isreal
“Moulvi” is same as “Mullah”. used in urdu mostly. also commonly used Imam of a Masjid.
Mini me- there are 3 types of Mullah or Molvis
Most common - they have some relegious knowledge without a proper basic education. with their limited knowledge and in-effciency to lead and teach society they often mislead and make islam as very narrow minded relegion. they may support terrorism as always holy war.
Qualified Scholors : they are truely educated people, they know Islam in indepth details and know how can it be implemented in currect society. Thats the kind i like. e.g., Malik Gulam Murtaza(late)
Political motivated (educated and uneducated): this include both of above who are successful in gaining popularity by their own efforts or they may have been son of a famous Mullah. (Tahir ul qadri, Fazal ur rahman, Sami ul haq, etc)
This breed can toil masses to use for own purpose, posing as its relegious thing, depending on the “kick backs/permits/benefits” they change accordingly, sometime blackmail the bigger group or government. they operate at grass root level through Moulvi(1). hence effective.
we should find a moderately educated if not a PhD in our mosque (but many are political managed hence only favourite ones get chance to serve the community)
though a local moulvi provide services to community, thats apperciated. but his goal is also to present Islam as tolerant and complete relegion to Muslims and non Muslims.
Good topic and post Minime. I posted something similar a while back. You are right all those people who bash mullahs are just hypocrite. These mullah phobic hate every guts in mullah but still these hypocrites can’t without mullahs either. That’s what I wrote.
Are most Mullahs good or are most Mullahs bad............i don't know.......but there are definitely plenty of bad Maullahs.
One very dark aspect of Mullahism is there extremism against each other.They just cannot tolerate the other sects.Declaring each other misguided,innovators,mushrik and even kuffar.
