We call the Holy Quran our guide yet we do not follow it when it suits us.
LAHORE: This is with reference to Salman Ali Shoaib’s article of February 5 titled “The extremist majority”. No doubt the mullahs have street power and they have no qualms in exercising it. Perhaps this makes the writer think that the majority in Pakistan is lawless and extremist. The problem right now is that people who are in control of theological institutions are the ones who are spreading religious extremism. Our youth are a confused bunch with some embracing western values and others a myopic religious point of view taught by unqualified and biased mullahs. However, neither side knows much about religious extremism and its connotations.
We call the Holy Quran our guide in every aspect of life and know that it is the word of Allah, yet we do not follow it when it suits us. Salmaan Taseer’s sin was to point out flaws in a man-made law and this was manipulated into showing him as a blasphemer. This is religious extremism at its worst.
Moazzam Salim
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2011.
