On the Islamic front, one that should give the Muslim nation some hope, there has been a general stillness. Television channels that pander to the Musharaf pro-secularist agenda pile on so called ‘Islamic’ clerics and authorities to not only denounce Laal Masjid, but to also vilify Islamic banners raised in this issue. The Muftis of Pakistan have typically proved their cowardice, and ordered their students not to even demonstrate against government actions. Over 800 Muslims students were barricaded within their compound, being shelled and bombed, and there was only a whisper to be heard from the Islamic circles in Pakistan. Whilst some declared Sheikh Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Raheemullah) as a rebel who had challenged so called Islamically legitimate state authority, others refused to support and echo his call for the implementation of Islamic Shariah in Pakistan.
The main opposition to the Musharaf government at this stage too is a secular one. The APC (All Party Alliance) held in London last week was not a conference whose aim was to establish the Shariah in Pakistan, but instead it sought to remove his military dictatorship and replace it with a ‘civilian’ secularist government. In fact some of the parties being represented at the APC, like the Peoples Party chaired by Banazir Bhutto is one of the most anti-Islamic, pro-Western secular parties in Pakistan. Her absence from the APC was a clear indication that she refuses to be seen negotiating with the MMA, which offers Pakistan a disillusioned Islamic alliance with a blurred Islamic vision. Pakistanis politics is ‘dog eat dog’, Islamic revival and reform is not on the agenda, and every party is looking to personally benefit from the political fall-out.
‘Operation Silence’, an operation blatantly designed to conceal the damage done to Islamic symbols such as that of the Laal Masjid, Qurans and books of Hadeeth and Tafseer continues to this very day deprive the world of witnessing the true facts on the ground. The compound remains closed to the media, and even though the army promises to take the media through a guided tour of the premises, it is clear that a massive cover up operation is being conducted to dampen public opinion against the horrific damage inflicted upon the architecture and human life within the compound. This will undoubtedly morally acquit and even earn some praise for the military.
The Pakistani middle and upper classes, those that have prospered the most under Musharaf’s reforms without doubt are the most anti-Islamic. For them, Musharaf’s vision of ‘enlightened moderation’ is the best way to reconcile between Islam and secularism. This itself contradicts the very foundations of the religion revealed by Allah to His Prophet. The working class of Pakistan are so detached from politics that Islam in a political context is an alien notion to them. The Islam they understand is the Islam of the saint, the maulvi or the embezzler. Islamic governance is not a viable solution as far the majority of Pakistanis are concerned. Tribalism, provincial politics and religious secretarianism have embedded themselves at the grassroots of Pakistani society; the dominance of political Islam is the last thing on the Pakistani mindset. Even though there exist pockets of Muslims in Pakistan who have a vision of Khilafah for Pakistan, they only constitute a small minority of the overall public.
Ustadh Syed Qutb Raheemullah wrote in Milestones ‘Indeed our words will remain lifeless, barren, devoid of any passion, until we die as a result of these words, whereupon these words will suddenly spring to life and live amongst the hearts that are dead, bringing them back to life as well.’
Our final thought goes out to Shaikh Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Raheemullah) and his honourable party, through whose death we ask Allah to raise the banner of Laa ilaha ilAllah in Pakistan. Without a doubt, they have already joined the growing list of Muslim heroes of this young century. May Allah imprint the hearts of Muslim men and women with the memory of this noble sacrifice