Shias Vs Sunnis In
Pakistan: Age-Old Sectarianism
Dhananjay Mathur
Shias Vs Sunnis In Pakistan: Age-Old Sectarianism In Islam
The true color of Islam is once again showing its ugly appearance
in Pakistan. No, this time it is neither the usual Hindu
minorities nor the Semitic Christians of 'the Book' who are
getting massacred. This time it is the Shias, people belonging to
a particular sect of Islam.
For people who are thinking now, "But I thought in Islam
there are no sects..", need to smell the coffee and wake up.
Sectarianism in Islam has been prevailing almost since the time of
Prophet Mohammed and when he started his brutal conversion of
pagan Arabs and killing of innocent Jews in Arabland.
Shia and Sunni, although predominantly the two bigger sects of
Islam, are not the only groups which have divided Islam for almost
1300 years. The interesting aspect of this sectarianism is Islam
is that each sect considers its way of life as a stricter, better
and more complete version of the 'original' Islam. The evaluation
of how 'pure' the ethics of an Islamic sect is, primarily lies in
how closely the people of that sect follow the teachings of Quran
and how accurately the male members emulate the life-style of
Prophet Mohammed.
Among the other teachings of Quran, high importance is given to
how much brutal or fanatic an Islamic sect is towards any
non-Islamic (Kufr or Kafirs) group of people. The 'Holy Quran' is
very clear regarding this. To state simply, in Quranic terms the
more fanatic and violent you are towards the Hindus, Christians,
Jews and all the non-Islamic people, a better Muslim you are.
Evaluation of the purity of an Islamic sect also involves how
brutally the male members treat the females of a sect. To be
specific, issues such as how often do the females get beaten up by
their husbands for not agreeing to have sex when wished by him,
whether they are banned from getting any formal education etc. are
given prominence. Regarding all these factors, the Islamic
scriptures (Quran and Hadiths) give specific instructions so that
one can aspire to be a model Muslim by implementing those
teachings verbatim in his daily life. A few verses from Holy Quran
and Hadiths have been provided here:
Quran 4:34 ...As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty
and ill-conduct, admonish them, refuse to share their beds and
BEAT THEM...
Quran 2:223: Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate). So go
to your tilth as ye will...
(Al Hadis, Vol. 1, p. 215) Omar reported from the Holy Prophet who
said, "No man shall be questioned for beating his wife."
In the very next Hadith a woman complained to Mohammed that her
husband beat her while she prayed. Mohammed told her to change her
time of prayer or pray shorter prayers so that her husband could
get on with the joy of beating her. (Reported by Abu Sayeed al-Kodri,
Attest by Abu Daud)
(Al Hadis, Vol. 4, p. 172, No. 34) Ali reported that the Apostle
of Allah said, "There is in Paradise a market wherein there
will be no buying or selling, but will consist of men and women.
When a man desires a beauty, he will have intercourse with
them."
Quran 8:12 Remember Thy Lord inspired the angels (with the
message): "I am with you: give firmness to the believers, I
will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, Smite ye
above their necks and smite all their finger tips of them."
Quran 9:5 "Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the
idolators wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and
besiege them and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent
and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way
free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."
Quran 9:73 Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites
and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their Home: an evil
fate.
Quran 47:4 When you meet the unbelievers in the Jihad strike off
their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives
firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take ransom from them,
until War shall lay down her burdens.
Quran 5:51 Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your
friends. They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks
their friendship shall become one of their number. Allah does not
guide the wrong-doers.
Quran 5:57 Believers, do not seek the friendship of the infidels
and those who were given the Book before you (Christians and
Jews), who have made your religion a jest and a pasttime...
Quran 9:29 Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last day,
nor hold the forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and his
messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth from among the
People of the Book, until they pay the Jiziyah with willing
submission. And feel themselves subdued.
This kind of 'divine' inspiration for barbaric activities and
violence gave birth to something very interesting in the various
sects of Islam. Over a period of time, people of each sect started
believing that only they deserve to be called the 'true' Muslims
since they are the one who are following the 'pure instructions'
of the divine Quran in its completeness. After the death of
Prophet Mohammed, this sectarianism gradually took a solid shape.
Eventually each sect, in their pursuit of so called frenzied
'purity', started loathing the others and engaged in occasional
battles with the other sects. These small fights among sects of
Islam soon took shape of 'Holy War' or Jihad, the same Jihad,
which is usually proclaimed on the non-Islamic people of the world
by Muslims to cleanse the world of Kafirs or non-believer.
Although the fight between Shia and Sunni is age-old, the most
recent and violent examples of this have been witnessed in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Taleban of Afghanistan, which belongs to the Sunni sect of Islam
is an extremist Islamic regime and is noted for its adherence to a
'pure' version of Islam. The word Sunni in Arabic comes from 'Sunna'
or life-style of Prophet Mohammed. Among their other achievements,
Talebanis are respected and revered by Sunni Muslims all over the
world for their systematic massacre of Christians and Hindus of
Afghanistan and their oppression of all local women. What is not
very well known regarding the Talebanis is the massacre they
brought on the minority Islamic sects of Afghanistan.
On September 11, 1998 United Nations declared that Afghanistan's
Taliban militia massacred thousands of ethnic-Hazara people when
they seized the opposition stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif the month
before. Amnesty International also alleged the same and said that
the Taliban massacred around 6,000 Afghan minority Hazaras they
captured areas of northern Afghanistan on August 8, 1998. The
envoys described the killings as a deliberate campaign of ethnic
cleansing by the Islamic fundamentalist militia. Diplomats, United
Nations officials and aid workers say thousands of Hazaras, mostly
males, were killed in front of their families in Mazar-i-Sharif,
capital of the anti-Taliban alliance in northern Afghanistan, when
the Taliban captured the city last month.
A senior diplomat who has interviewed dozens of Hazara families
said: "Young men over 16 were brought out of their houses
into the streets and had their throats slit in a ritualistic
killing. Younger boys had both hands chopped off at the
wrist." An aid worker said Hazara bodies were left in the
streets for days, and people trying to escape from the city were
shot. The aid worker said: "They were mutilating children and
telling them, 'You will never fight us again'."
The Hazaras, who belong to the Shia sect, form around 15 per cent
of the country's 18 million population. They have resisted Taliban
offensives for the past four years from their strongholds in the
Hindu Kush Mountains.
Pakistan is also not far behind in its Islamic sectarian violence.
Pakistan's involvement in Talebani Islamic extremism was exposed
very thoroughly in the last Kargil conflict between India and
Pakistan where Pakistani soldiers were found assisting the
Talebani and Kashmiri Muslim terrorists in the Line of Control.
However Pakistan-Taleban tie up is nothing new. Islamabad had
always allowed young Pakistanis to cross the border to train and
fight in the Afghan conflict, including many members of the
ferociously anti-Shia SSP and Harakat-ul-Ansar. Since the
fundamentalist Taliban swept the Burhannudin Rabbani regime from
Kabul in September 97, fighting has spread from the capital, north
to the mouth of the 100-km-long Panjshir. In October 1997 the
forces of Rabbani's military chief Ahmadshah Massoud
counter-attacked and the war shifted back towards Kabul. Apart
from the 350-plus who died or were wounded, more than 700 Taliban
fighters were taken prisoner and locked up in the Panjshir. Among
them 37 men were found to be Pakistani citizens.
But apparently for the Pakistanis, the involvement with Talebanis
has backfired. In last two months, Pakistan has witnessed numerous
violent fights between the Sunni and the Shia groups. The Nawaz
Sharif government has of course pretended to be innocent and has
said that it has concrete evidence on the fact that people are
being trained in Afghanistan to undertake sectarian killings and
terrorism in Pakistan. "We have with us a solid proof that
there exist training camps in Afghanistan, which are training
terrorists and sending them into Pakistan to kill our
people," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said. "But we have
told the Taliban government and its head Mullah Omar that they
should immediately remove these camps so that sectarian killings
and other incidents of terrorism in Pakistan could be
stopped."
Senior Shia leaders in Pakistan are however blaming the ongoing
onslaught of the Shias in the country on the father of Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif. They also said that the terrorists used in
the Pogrom received their training at the camps for Kashmiri
terrorists. The chief of Tehrik-e-Jaaferia in the Pakistani Punjab
province, Allama Sibtan Qazmi, accused Mr Sharif's father, popular
as "Aba Mian", of instigating anti-Shia violence and
called for judicial and military intervention to protect the sect.
Aba Mian, who is a hardcore Islamic fundamentalist, displayed his
preference towards a 'pure' Sunni Government in 1997 when he
reportedly suggested the name of Mr Rafiq Tarar who is known for
his staunch religious views for the Presidency.
Tehrik-e-Jaaferia's national leader Sajid Ali Naqvi of Pakistan
has refuted Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's claims that the
Taliban were involved in the current spate of anti-Shia violence,
saying the terrorists who wrought sectarian havoc were trained in
Kashmiri militant camps. He also warned the Sharif Government that
the Shias in Pakistan had long restrained themselves and if the
Government continued to ignore their safety, they would have to
arm themselves.
Islam, which was designed by Prophet Mohammed under 'divine order
of Allah', proclaims that the entire world should be finally
converted to a big Islamic nation, which will be governed
according to the Islamic Shariyati law. The 'Holy Quran' has given
specific instructions how to maim, murder and massacre anything
that comes on the way of this ultimate dream of Islam. It is in
deed very interesting to observe that how this very
fundamentalist, violent and extremely narrow-minded view of Islam
has given birth to sectarianism of the worst kind in the Muslim
world itself. I, for one, would not be surprised if this
eventually leads to an end of the Islamic barbarism all over the
world.
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