Two such instances of commitment of gruesome crimes
in the name of Islam and desecration of the holiest place by the so called
religious men gone wild can be quoted one from the early history of Islam i.e.
only around the 40th Hijra year and the other from the modern days. Then the
members of a ‘puritanical’ Muslim sect who came to be known as ‘Kharjis’ would
murder any one including the companions of the prophet (PBUH) whom they thought
were not following the ‘true path.’ One of their victim was Hazrat Ali who was
assassinated while offering prayers in a Kufa mosque. Four years earlier the
third Caliph Hazrat Usman had been murdered by them at his home while he was
reciting the holy Quran
The Kharjis resolutely stuck to their extremist
views, narrow vision, obdurate mind and a constricted heart radiating hate and
callousness. This is the same attitude that has been reflected by the mindset
of the Hafsa brigade and all those who justify their wrong doings in matters of
religion in clear violation of Quranic commandments. The other such incident is
the take over, of Islam’s holiest site the Kaaba, by a group of wayward Islamic
militants. On 20 Nov 1979, heaviest armed extremists led by Juhayman al Otaibi,
forcibly occupied Kaaba. They alleged that the ruling Al-Saud dynasty had lost
its legitimacy of custodianship of the holy place having become corrupt, ostentatious
and westernized. It was done in the name of Islam despite Quranic injunctions
against bloodshed and violence within the area of Al-Masjid-al-Haram, in
Mekkah. Pakistani forces stationed in Saudi Arabia were called in for
assistance. In the ensuing battle 250 people including Juhayman died and 600
were wounded. Except for one 12$ were publicly beheaded, shown live on TV. The
one who escaped death was the influential half brother of Osama Bin Ladin.
The question is why did they do it? There was no
outward cause that could have prompted them to assassinate Hazrat Au and later
desecrate Kaaba. Oscar Wilde in one of his typical satirical remarks says: The
‘advantage’ of he emotions is that they lead us astray. Religion is also a
matter of emotions which are rquired to be kept under strict discipline:
otherwise the emotions, not the religion turns the person concerned into an
extremist, a fanatic, an unreasonable and an irrational human being.
Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa were taken into possession
by the same creed of religious men who led by the compulsions of an unreal
emotional image of the religion placed themselves over and above every body
else. They put themselves on a high moral pedestal, branded people living all
around immoral and assumed the responsibility of setting things right. Under
the cover of this phony self-righteousness they had ulterior motives to serve
and matters of self-aggrandizement to settle. There was no alternative to deal
with them except the one that was meted out to the Kharjis and men of Juhayman.
The only language they spoke was that of force and the only language they
understood was a force vastly to superior to their own.