Anti-madrassa protest?

Extremism can never be justified.
Ironical as it would sound to anyone who knows what Islam is, the term somehow gets linked with it.

But before we go on looking at the issue at hand, lets first understand that Islam is the way to submit to God’s will, and God knowing the way we are created, has made it easy. Islam is easy, makes life easy — not difficult. Islam puts the social order in a state of harmony and tolerance for all.

Unfortunately, people judge Islam based on the people who happen to carry the label ‘muslim’. And when it come to the Muslims, there are so many types – the islamic muslims and the unislamic muslims. Now the Islamic Muslims would be people who are trying their best to live lives on the precepts in the Quran and the Sunnah. Giving their very best to live honestly, to speak the truth, to give charity, to take care of people around them, to stand up for justice…. and so on.

The Un-Islamic muslims come in so many varieties that it is hard to really categorize them, but for simplicity sake, I will just put them into two categories

– one who think they are being very Islamic. And in their twisted understanding of Islam go to extremism thinking this is what is required of them. Very emotional and often very naive, these people generally know very little about Islam (talking of understanding). The faith for them is more or less blind faith, they don’t question, they don’t think.
– the other are those self-proclaimed modernists, who have a twisted understanding of what is required of them for being modern and fashionable. They do carry the label of ‘muslim’ – as they happen to be born in a muslim family. They question everything that doesnt ‘look’ fashionable to them – without really seeking the answers (for if they were really seeking answers, they wouldn’t be stuck in this category).These are the kind of people who would think even wearing a head-cover by a muslim as a sign of religious extremism.

Now, let me not digress from the issue. The issue being that of ‘human rights activists’ in Pakistan protesting against madrassas.

Human rights campaigners said students from the madrassa were “harassing and terrorising ordinary citizens of Pakistan in the name of Islam”, AFP news agency reported.

Reading through the news item a few things are pretty much clear
– the ‘madrassa’ people were supposedly trying to put things right. The woman who was ‘abducted’ by madrassa students (who are girls also), was supposedly running a brothel.
Now if the brothel story is true, I dont quite understand whether such people can ever be referred to as ‘ordinary citizens of Pakistan’.
A wrong should be put right. The woman was released after confessing.

– What exactly were the ‘human rights activists’ protesting against? Do they think that people who run brothels should be just left alone to carry out their activities? Maybe they would think it wrong when their own spouse/someone close to them hurries to such places…

There are two things that make me sad as I think of it.
– The madrassa shouldn’t need to handle such an issue. What is the government of Pakistan doing? With messed up implementation of Shariah laws, which turn people against ‘Shariah’ itself, Pakistan has created enough mess.
– The protestors should have protested against involvement of the madrassa, but should have demanded government action instead.

Pakistan is sleeping. Wake up Pakistan!