SO WHAT ABOUT THE JAWAB-E- SHIKWAH?

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/07/26/so-what-about-the-jawab-e-shikwa/

So, the Jawab-e-Shikwa, the great poem by Allama Iqbal, poet, philosopher, theorist, and barrister, calledthe national poet of Pakistan and its “Spiritual Father ” for his contributions to the nation, the man whose poetry fired the imagination of the people of this region for more than a hundred years – is it now to read like this?

Ki Muhammad – salAllahu Alaihi wassalum, khatme nabiyeen – say wafa tu nay to hum taray hain

Yeh jahan cheez hai kia, lau o qalam teray hain

Breaks the rhythm somewhat, don’t you think? And yet what is one to do? If you read the whole thing, extra words and all, you sound like Bilawal Bhutto Zardari plowing through a speech in Urdu. If you omit the extra words you stand a chance of being punished, which– if failing to add those words in front of the Prophet’s name is judged to be desecration– means up to five years in jail and up to Rs. 500,000 fine. Thus says the new Punjab Tahaffuz Bunyad-e-Islam (Protecting The Foundation Of Islam) Bill of 2020 which has just made it through the Punjab Assembly. Its Speaker, Ch Pervaiz Elahi recommends a similar Bill be adopted by all the Assemblies across the country.

It makes you wonder what the reaction would be if Muslims in India were required to say, ‘Oh Supreme Being’ every time they spoke of Rama a major Hindu diety. Or to cross themselves every time they spoke of Jesus in a Christian country, or to refer to God only as Yahweh in a Jewish society. Unfortunately, empathy, the ability to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes is not taught in our society today.

There is also the fact that as per this Bill, the DGPR (the Directorate General Public Relations) has been entrusted with the task of checking out printing presses, publishing houses and book stores and confiscating, at any stage, books that infringe the above law. It may also check the records of these places, including their accounts.

The DGPR Punjab is currently under the supervision of Mr Usman Buzdar, the Chief Minister, and Mr Fayyazul Hassan Chauhan, the Punjab Minister for Information and Culture, neither of whose qualifications or talents enable them to judge the contents of a book about religion. What is more the Minister of Information has twice been accused of making unpleasant remarks against religious and other minorities, which itself promotes sectarianism; and of expressing an admiration for the German once Fuhrer. It is doubtful therefore if the victims of this Bill will have a fair hearing until this too, like all other government promulgations, falls by the wayside.

The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) does not require legislation from the Punjab or any Assembly to bear out his character, his worth or his immense achievements. We do not need to speak a string of words after his name to stress the same. Neither are the foundations of Islam so shaky as to require such support. Those who believe in Islam will value its Prophet, and respect every single thing about him. Those who do not will ridicule this latest attempt to enshrine him in words that make it hard for people to speak about him instead of the other way around.

There are many issues waiting to be addressed in this country: there is a dire need to control the further growth of an already unwieldy population, we need to make education– a good education– available to this massive population, and to feed it. There has been an unchecked increase in prices, including for example a more than 60 percent increase in the price of wheat in the Punjab within these last two months alone. We need to drastically improve healthcare including aspects relating to the current Covid crisis we find ourselves in along with the rest of the world, and preparations for any other such crises in the future. We need to somehow rebuild the country after the economic disaster it is facing during this crisis, to protect rights of the citizens of this county and in particular its women and children who face untold abuse every day. We also need to control the various institutions that seem to consider it their job to mind everybody else’s business. This is what the government needs to act upon, leaving God to look after what he has promised to take care of Himself. Asserting the finality of His prophet in such a crude way does not help to unify the people, or to feed them.

The fact that the Prophet is the last one has been said as often as required. Will the Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan and the Chaudhry baradaran saying so too make it any more valid? By allowing people to believe as they will proves the strength of one’s own belief, it does not weaken it. Why must we feel so threatened?

When in one’s childhood we chanted ‘jal tu jala tu ai bala ko taal tu,’ during a blackout, and the power came on in a while, it did not do so because of the chant, but because some transformer somewhere had been fixed and made to work. Unfortunately the people of the country believe it was the chant, and it is in the interests of our leaders not to fix the grid but to feed this belief. It makes life easier. For them, the leaders. They have power generators.

Yeh jahan cheez hai kiya, lau o qalam unkay hain.

For a while.