Voice of British Muslim Women

Arfa Yassir, Swindon

Unfortunately the intolerance and polarisation indexes are soaring high across the world, be it Europe, America, Asia or Canada. In my humble observation after the torment of war one lesson of history is whenever a state legislates to marginalise a minority or community it serves as an injection of extremism and polarisation for the social fabric. A well-integrated social fabric is crucial for any country and the world at large.

An American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington in his book ‘Clash of Civilizations’ has argued that in the post-cold-war world conflicts will be oriented around religious and cultural identities and hence global politics will be dominated by this ‘clash of civilizations’ as he terms it. The fault lines between various civilizations will actually be the battle lines. It goes without saying that it is what we see today.

In Pakistan Ahmadi Muslims were considered non-Muslims by law in 1974. In the decades after that tagging people as kafir (non-believer) has become a disease. A Provincial Governor Salman Taseer was murdered after being deemed as kafir for having spoken against the country’s infamous blasphemy laws. In Pakistan every other person for the sake of their life have to publicaly endorse that they are Muslim, they are not Qadiani (a derogatory term for an Ahmadi Muslim) and also not Jewish. Faith is now a matter to be settled in the streets and social media.

State sponsored discrimination sows the seeds of disintegration in a country. Be it ban on religious symbols/outfits, laws against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan or the recent Citizenship Amendment Act in India.

After the unfortunate Christchurch shootings of March 2019 in New Zealand many Muslims all across the globe were pouring with emotion for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and waiting for her to accept Islam. In reality New Zealand government had said no to external and internal forces who wanted to polarise the country and misuse religious sentiment. She, being a committed nationalist, stood for the solidarity of New Zealand not Islam. The gestures were commendable nonetheless.

Government of India seems to not have learned from any of the above situations. The parliament of India on 11^th Dec 2019 amended the Citizenship act of 1955 allowing a path to Indian citizenship for all religious minorities that had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014 except Muslims. State sponsored discrimination! On the positive side people are raising a voice, protesting and stand for the solidarity of their country. But the situation is dreary.

The Promised Messiah (peace be on him) in his last book ‘A Message of Peace’ points out that religious differences lie at the heart of the conflict between Hindus and Muslims and historically such conflicts inevitably  cause bloodshed (1). The Promised Messiah (peace be on him) writes:

‘Muslims and Hindus alike share one thing in common, i.e., we all believe in God, the Creator and Master of the Universe. Also, we belong to the same denomination of God’s species and are referred to as humans. Furthermore, as inhabitants of the same country, we are mutual neighbours. This requires that we become friends to each other, with purity of heart and sincerity of intentions. We should dispose kindly to each other and be mutually helpful. In the difficulties pertaining to religious and worldly matters, we should exercise such sympathy towards each other as if we have become limbs of the same body.’ (p 6, 7)

He also writes:

‘It is essential however that you treat Hindus with sincerity and kindness and let decent behaviour be your second nature. Refrain from all such measures as would cause them pain, except those that are essential or obligatory according to our faith. Consequently if the Hindus sincerely accept the proposition of testifying to the truth of our Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and of having faith in his truth, then what remains regarding the split on the issue of cows can be done away with. Remember if we are permitted to eat something, it does not follow that we have to eat it. Everything permissible is not obligatory.’  (p 30)

This mind-set can in true sense cleanses the hearts from all hatred and helps the world unite and fight against poverty, hunger, illiteracy and climate change rather than fight fellow human beings!

1:  (page 27)