The real message

Religious scholars outrightly rejected any kind of fissures against the state and its people

Paigham-e-Pakistan National Conference has made a valid point. It took a leap forward in furthering national cohesion and browbeating radicalism in all its forms and manifestations. It was a cherishing moment as religious scholars from all schools of thought united to stand with the true teachings of emancipation and compassion, and outright rejected any kind of fissures against the state and its people by paranoid and lunatic individuals. By unequivocally declaring armed activity as a rebellion and haram under Islamic tenants, the Ulema have categorically drawn the red line of state-centrism and lawful governance. This message is in need of being disseminated as a national agenda, and efforts made to marginalise and root out elements thriving on the premise of otherness, hate and revulsion.

The national gathering under renowned scholar Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, and other luminaries from across the board sects, remarkably exhibited the highest standards of learning, versatility and communal understanding by calling a spade a spade. Non-state actors in the guise of religious blackmailing have torpedoed the social fabric of the country, and the region, for the last few decades, and their nuisance has been felt in the form of anarchy, bloodshed and intolerance. Thus, the Ulema once again came forward with the rightful thrust to educate the nation that this hullabaloo in sectarian and militarism context is anti-Islam and anti-society. It has merely fueled disgust, and brought a bad name to the great religion of peace. The fatwa is now the law of the land, and any of the characters or elements rising against it must be treated with a punitive arm.

Such endeavours have been there in the recent past too. Last month, the Ulema of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa issued a similar fatwa and shunned activism against the state and lawful government. The chorus is now joined by the Taliban in Afghanistan too, who are in a syndrome of perplexity as they themselves fight on radical misguided elements in the form of al-Qaeda and IS-K. Otherness in the context of belief is an antithesis of humanity, and should not be tolerated at any cost.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2023.

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