Faith is considered as a matter of one's heart, whether its a faith of an individual or a group of people. Being a Muslim and that too in Pakistan, faith has a different definition, its untouchable, sensitive, more public than personal, its offensive, its self defined, its unforgivable, its dangerous, its death and murder, its blasphemous .
Considering the name of Pakistan, as it go by the name of "Islamic Republic", to claim that the State religion is Islam, and the Muslims will be free, so will be the people of other religions and communities, and that is what an "Islamic State" is, but the case is different here, faith is meant to be conquered, it is like a conquest of faiths, the war of faiths, whether you are a Sunni, a Shiite or any other , even if you are a secular godless atheist , you are in conquest.
If you chant "Ya-Ali" ,you will be faced with "Ya-Omer" , if you Say "Ya-Allah" , you will be faced with "Ya-RasulAllah", if you will speak of Bahrain, you will face the questions about Syria, if you will hail Saudi Govt. you will be labelled as a Wahhabi, faith is no more a personal thing, its a public force, a display of power, a display of self recognition in this country.
Lets take few examples, (if you are easily offended over the matters of religion, skip this part or leave right now ), lets start with Muharram, for Sunnis its a month of respect, and historical significance , For Shiites its a month of Sadness, and of both Historical and Religious Significance, for thousands of years this tradition has been followed by Shiites to observe mourning in this month until the 8th of Rabiul Awwal. But the Big Rallies were not the part in history, now to prove their significance huge rallies are carried out, roads are sealed, loud speakers are installed in between residential areas and nohas are played, Sunnis on the other hand do not perform or endorse such activities , then comes the Rabi ul Awwal, 12 Rabi ul Awwal is considered to be the Birth and Death Anniversary of Prophet (PBUH) , though many historians differ over the date of birth, but the "Barelvi" school of thought is bound to perform their birthday celebrations on 12th of Rabi ul Awwal, however Deobandis to not endorse these acts of celebrations , considering history, the celebrations has been taking place since years in the Sub-continent, at first it was just Gatherings of Milaads and Islamic lectures, but slowly and gradually it has become a commercial event, we have now processions, banging loud speakers in residential areas, with each and every in a race to play melodic Naats more loudly .
Our religious scholars claim that there should be unity among the Muslims irrespective of the sect, but when the time comes, the same religious scholars are seen acting against their statements, considering the recent acts of violence in the whole country, the protests against it are based on sects, language and nationalities, since last few years Karachi is on the verge of worst violence of all times where people belonging to every sect, party and cast are being targeted, but in the past few month Ulemas were targeted, this forced Ulema to raise their voice against terrorism and protest, before that there was no word from them, same is the case with the Hazara Community, they are being targeted frequently and now the Shia community of Pakistan has taken a stand to protest against the killings, but this is not the point I want to make, the point is that the leaders of Sunni will only stand when the leaders of Sunni community are targeted, the Shia community will only stand when their community will be targeted, the Liberals will only stand up for minorities, no one will stand for humanity, no one will stand for the killings of all innocent people. We do it because we are taught to act like this, we have grown in a community where our elders and leader explains the pains of own community only. A Sunni is only a Sunni, A Shi'a is only a Shi'a , a Sunni will stand for Syrian Rebels, a Shi'a will stand for Bahraini Rebels, this is where the faith comes at war. Islam asks Muslims to "Come to the common terms", but we defy we defy what Islam says about unity .
If we keep defying our religion, and the glorious teachings of the Quran, then we will never be able to unite the names of Ali and Omar, and the differences will haunt all the future generations
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