Dear Sir,
Through your esteemed news website I wish to solicit answer from the educated class and the intelligentsia of a question that keeps perturbing me all the time.
Pakistan claims to be the citadel of Islam; it has the highest density of mosques per square kilometer compared to any other muslim country, It has the largest network of madrassahs compared to any other muslim country, It has the largest Islamic Tableeghi organisation in the world, The ratio of prayer goers is highest in Pakistan compared to anywhere else, there are Darse Quran sessions every where regularly even amongst the women folk.
Despite all the realities mentioned above, why is it that Pakistan is highest in the world corruption level index, why is it that Pakistan is known as the epicenter of counterfeit goods production, why is it that Pakistan produces the largest number of adulterated and fake medicines and even exports it worldwide.
The Batkhela bazaar, once the heartland of Taliban in Pakistan, was then and still known as the largest market of counterfeit and adulterated goods production.
Why after all is this anomaly between what we claim and what we are. For a simple unbiased person viewing it from outside, it would appear as if (Naoozu Billah) Islam teaches all this cheating and forgery. If not , then why are we doing all this and making ourselves the target of distrust and disrespect the world over?. — Izharul Haq, Chitral, 06 Nov 2016.
16 thoughts on “Why? Why? Why? !”
It is about this like situation which prompted Sir Allama Iqbal RA to say ” I went to the West, there I saw Islam without Muslims and i came back to the East and I saw Muslims without Islam”.
No body has an answer to your question. Don’t waste your time.
Really thought provoking article and we need to think about this all. Reality is that most of the educated mass will read the article and will forget. No one is ready to stand against all these culprits. Even Dunya News was showing that mice were made QIMA for Samosas to be sold in school.
If we all, being Muslims start understanding our own responsibilities then all wrong doings will be finished from our beloved state. Being a citizen we have to perform our duties well.
thought provoking Mr Izhar..one reason which came into my mind right away after going through your write up is that, we are no practicing the Islam about which ALLAH says, “InnaAlddina Inda Allahe al Islam” , we are separated in many sects, we never practice the true islam, we preach our sects or even protect or defend our sects not islam, non muslims see us as muslims , we see each others as wahabis , sunnis shias etc, so if any one targets islam i run way by saying that he is targeting sunnis, you run away or even enjoy some times by saying he is targeting shias not my sect.
So, we have to be muslims first , we need to accept each other , we need to be united no matter which sect we follow , offcourse its almost impossible to eliminate sectism.so the best way is to be united , have tolerance and patience and work togather to achieve a common goal which is peace,the true meaning of islam.
I hear this argument all the time and it is one of the worst arguments. Totally unrelated to what Izharul Haq asked. What do different sects have to do with corruption? Or what will unity among all sets achieve? Maybe they’ll be united and corrupt united instead of being divided and corrupt. lol.
Mr Ahsan , you have pointed out another issue well, but pray this has got nothing to do with my question. Which sect, sunni, shia, ismaili,wahabi,brelvi devbandi, maliki, hanafi, hanbali, shafi, soharwardy, naqashbandi, druzi, alawi, bla,bla, allows it’s followers to adulterate life saving medicines, pilfer anything you can get your hands on. No, it is not because of sectarianism that we are morally degenerated specially where financial matters are concerned. I want an answer to my question. Saying we must completely enter in Islam is so simple a thing to say. Have the Euoropeans, Japanese, Canadians, Australians, Singaporeans, Malaysians completely entered into Islam? Why do they not do what we do for the sake of money.? Thank you for attempting, but my question remains unanswered.
I was reading in the newspaper today that this year highest number of Umra visas have been issued to Pakistanis. Only yesterday I had watched on TV that according to international survey highest number of counterfeit drugs are produced in Pakistan.– “Kya yeh khula tazaad nehin hai”
I understand the gist of the article urging all Muslims to practice what they preach and to behave morally but we should also be factual when we are trying to educate each other. For example, the highest density of mosques is a honour given to Indonesia with over 800, 000 musajid. As far as the world corruption index, the Pakistan ranks 117 out of 167 on the respected Transparency International ranking for 2015. It is not at the bottom. Obviously Muslim countries such as Afghanistan (166)and Somalia (167) rank as more corrupt but Pakistan is hardly the most corrupt nation on this ranking even among our close neighbours. For example all the Central Asian States from the Azerbajan (119) , Kazakhstan (123), Kyrgistan (123), Tajikstan (136) to Uzbekistan (153) are ranked more corrupt than Pakistan as is our immediate neighbour Iran (130). I have opted not to list the places where there are more fraudulent drugs than Pakistan but that too is an even greater problem in other developing countries and this can be referenced. Again I am not trying to undermine the message of the esteemed writer but I would just advise that we all try to be factual in our writing so as not to undermine the importance of the message.
Why must you compare Pakistan with countries that are in a worse shape? How is that productive? Why can’t we compare ourselves to Sweden of Canada and strive to be like them in terms of transparency?
@ Shahzadi Sofia Baig
Thanks for pointing out few statistics, but let me clarify some e.g you mentioned the highest number of mosques in Indonesia but their population is equally high, whereas I was mentioning the density of mosques per square kilometer their density is less than us specially in our KP and tribal areas where financial sins are the maximum,Indonesia can’t come even close here. You said other countries produce more counterfeit drugs, but a recent CNN report says Pakistan is the champion. The British Ambassador has recently declared on TV that Pakistan is a world leader in Visa fraud business. And if any mention of statistics again, I am not comparing Pakistan with Liberia or Burundi or Ethiopia, after all we claim to be the citadel of Islam,no pygmy. Again as far as crude statistics are concerned I’m never impressed by them. I’ve heard a mullah say ” if you recite Kalma Tayyaba once,your eight million sins will be washed off”.
Anyway If you insist on naked statistics, let me put the word ‘one of the most’ instead of ‘the most’ where it applies.Your valuable input on my comment is appreciated.
@ Izharul Haq,
You are unquestionably right to say the very truth. This is very unfortunate situation which we are facing in Pakistan. Actually the system is not working well. There are a lot of contradictions between what we saying/claim and what we are doing practically, totally theoretical and practical implementation is about nil. It means we are damaging ourselves, damaging our faith, souls, religiously, spiritually and pschycologically.Changes/ Tabdili is needed either from top to bottom or from bottom to top but here both are failed. A big revolution is needed like in Iran, otherwise it is difficult to answer your questions.
Probably the following incident from the life of our holy prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him) may be the answer for your question,
A woman of the Makhzoom family with good connections was found guilty of theft. For the prestige of the Quraish, some prominent people including Asmaa Bin Zaid interceded to save her from punishment. The Prophet (pbuh) refused to condone the crime and expressed displeasure saying,
“Many a community ruined itself in the past as they only punished the poor and ignored the offences of the exalted. By Allah, if Muhammad’s (My) daughter Fatima would have committed theft, her hand would have been severed.”[Sahih Bukhari]
so “let the justice prevail transparently for everyone”.
Thank you Izharul Haq for your moral courage and intellectual capacity to raise this fundamental question. Like you, I am also no bothered by the statistics because the issue is NOT of statistics but of the increasing gap and in fact contradiction between what we preach / claim to be and what we do / actually are. Pakistan cannot and should not be compared with countries such as Indonesia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan or Uzbekistan because the very creation of Pakistan was based on the ideological foundations that it will become a model Islamic state free of all sorts of ‘unIslamic’ and ‘immoral’ behaviours, actions and deeds. Since its creation, Pakistan and its overwhelmingly vast majority Muslim population has claimed to be the most just, fair and morally strong society but unfortunately this claim has not been translated into actions. The same is not the case with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan which have recently got independence from the former USSR and are still struggling to establish their identities. It is not surprising at all, if there is a corruption in these countries because none of these countries have claimed to be the model Islamic state , nor do they have as many mosques, madrassahs, namazis, preachers, missionaries, and pilgrims as we have in Pakistan. Also, there is a reason for some level of corruption in these countries – during the former USSR, people lived in a system where they did not have to save – everything (education, health care, food, shelter, job) was provided by the government. When the USSR collapsed, the people in the newly independent countries had nothing to eat, no savings, and no jobs. Their new governments had no capacity to take care of its people. In such a chaotic situation, one can expect people to do anything for their survival. Similar is the case with Afghanistan which is going through wars for the last 3-4 decades. But what reason does Pakistan have to rank 117 (out of 167) in the list of most corrupt countries? Despite being a democratic country, a nuclear power, and most importantly an Islamic country with overwhelmingly Muslim population, why has it failed to eradicate the menaces of corruption, adultery, theft, killings, gang rap, child kidnaping, and many other sinful acts so prevalent in the society?
One answer (from my point of view) is that we do not ask questions. We are not encouraged to ask questions and when someone like you does ask a question, he /she is considered as ‘weak’ in faith or ‘agent’ of the west. Because we do not ask questions, people involved in the immoral acts and corruption continue to commit crimes without any hesitation. As a result, very unfortunately, we as a nation are heading towards moral degradation. The great Allama Iqbal felt it long ago as he said,
“Sajda-e-Ishq ho to Ibadat mai maza atta hai–Khali sajdo(n) mai to dunya hi bassa karti hai
Log kehtai hai ke bas farz ada kar na hai–aisa lagta hai koyee qarz liya ho Rab se
Tere sajde kahi tujhe kafir na kar de–tu jhukta kaheen aor hai aor sochta kaheen aor hai”
The main problem is that since the time we’re little children, most people told to be afraid of Allah and follow the pillars of Islam strictly to avoid hell. We’re told to do pray out of fear of going to hell. Also, everything is done in Arabic. Prayer, recitation of Quran etc. Most people don’t even know what they’re reciting. Also, there’s way too much emphasis on huqooq-ullah and not much on huqooq-ul-ebaad. Just look at a lot of government employees who do double the corruption right before Ramadan because they won’t be doing it during.
In short, people don’t follow Islam because they want to be better human beings. They follow it to go to heaven. A good human being is the one who does good things to others out of the goodness in their heart, not because they’re afraid to go to hell. A bad human being is the one who does good to others only because they fear hell, not out of the goodness in their heart.
I think we should teach our kids humanity before we teach them religion. Fear of hell won’t get you genuineness, it will get you hypocricy.
With reference to the context, Alhamdu Lillah, we are proud to be Muslim by birth. Almighty Allah blessed us with his most favourite religion Islam but in return, we are not thankful because the blessing we awarded is free of any struggle on our part as was done by the followers of Islam in the begining era.
We have forgotten the golden message of Holy Prphet Muhammad (PBUH) delivered at the time of Hujjatul Widaa that “I am leaving the Holy Qur’an. As far as you act upon the Qur’anic orders, you will be respectable in the world and the day of justice.” And if you leave this Holy book, you will be disregarded in this world and the other to come”.
Today, we have left behind the Holy Qur’an. We feel pleasure to gift our young generation the touch mobile 6×4″ size.
So, how we expect betterment in our life?
I have straightforward Answers to these Problems (Please dont mind if you do not agree):
1. Lack of Education among the masses.
2. Lack of Leadership and Lack of Meritocracy for the Talented People to reach to the Top.
3. Lack of Policy Making Wisdom and Policy Making Institutions.
4. Lack of Responsibility and Lack of Sense of Responsibility; So as lack of Voting Responsibility and lack of Enforcing Responsibility.
5. Lack of Freedom of Expression and lack of logical and analytical dialogue.
Best Wishes!