Muslims invited: Pakistan on the brink of Khilafah?

Pakistan on the brink of Khilafah?

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Some years ago certain movements from the Ummah embarked on a campaign to introduce the Islamic system of governance in Pakistan. Their campaign entitled 'Pakistan on the brink of Khilafah', aimed to restore justice and stability to the predominantly Muslim nation, but almost 10 years on, the question remains- is Pakistan really on the brink of Khilafah?

The recent siege at the Red Mosque 'Laal Masjid' in Islamabad proved to be a good measure to gauge public sentiment towards the rise of political Islam in Pakistan. The siege that began on the 3^rd July 2007, sliced through the Pakistani public, and continues to further divide between the secular and the religious.

According to sources from Pakistan, Laal Masjid was founded by a cleric by the name of Maulana Abdullah in the early 1970's. Maulana Abdullah was an esteemed student from the Jamia in Banori Town, Karachi, and the ground for Laal Masjid was approved to him by the military leader Ayub Khan. Under the military dictatorship of Zia ul Haq (1977-1988), Laal Masjid played a significant role Islamicising the Pakistani army. Further more during the Afghan Jihad against Russian, Laal Masjid supported the Muslim cause by extensively providing help and support through a number of means and channels. After the assassination of Maulana Abdullah, the keys of Laal Masjid were handed over to his two sons, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi.

Between 1997 and 2001, Laal Masjid also became a meeting point for then, the legitimate government of Afghanistan – the Taliban. Laal Masjid became a venue for meetings between high ranking officials in the Taliban and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), who sought security in a pro-Islamic, pro-Pakistan neighbouring government in the shape of the Taliban.

The first sparks of conflict between Laal Masjid and the secular military dictator Pervez Musharaf came in 2001, when Pervez Musharaf steered Pakistan directly into the lap of American imperialism and allied his army with America against the government of the Taliban. Laal Masjid held its ground, and whilst many Madaaris ( single: Madarasah) curtailed their support for the Taliban, Laal Masjid maintained its Islamic standard and stood firmly against the Pakistani government. An example of this came in 2004, when the scholars of Laal Masjid declared that those Pakistani soldiers who are killed and defeated by the tribes in North Waziristan were not to be referred to as 'Shuhada' as they were killed whilst fighting the ascendancy of Islamic rule in that region.

More recently, female students from the Laal Masjid establishment of Jamia Hafsa carried out a social and moral cleansing exercise in Islamabad by raiding and reigning in prostitution and racketeering circles. This inflamed the Pakistani government as it not only undermined their authority in the region, but also exposed their disinterest in the preservation of morality in modern day Pakistan. To cap this all, in May this year, Maulana AbdulAziz, the head of Laal Masjid publicly appealed for the implementation of Islamic Shariah in Pakistan.

As the stand off between the pro-American army of Pakistan and the courageous students of Laal Masjid intensified, Pakistanis and Muslims across the world held their breadth to see how this crisis would end.

Whilst the media relayed images and analysis surrounding this debacle to their global audience, the public of Pakistani nationals both domestically and internationally were clearly beginning to pledge their loyal allegiances.

The public, as assessed by both the written press and satellite TV indicated their disapproval of the stance taken by Laal Masjid. Almost unanimously, segments from all the quarters of Pakistani society have condemned the Islamic stand of Laal Masjid and made calls for the surrender and arrest of all those calling for the implementation of Islamic Shariah. Everyone seems to be parroting the same sound bites fed to them by the 'spin' technicians of the establishment. Accusations levelled against Laal Masjid of creating 'a state within a state' have sent shock waves around Pakistan, with many Pakistanis apparently showing their approval of the status quo. It is evident from articles published by the Pakistani press that the nation's sentiments lie with the state authority, who in turn are spurring on public emotion by trying to gain the moral advantage in this fiasco. National newspapers such as the Dawn, the Jang, the Nation, and the Pakistan Observer pressed for a swift military action to end this siege. The priority for them lay in the restoration of normality in Islamabad traffic and economy, little were they concerned about the ideological struggle that was at the very heart of this conflict.

The media, which has a global bias and agenda against Islam continued to use terminology that maligns this Islamic cause. The media played a clever game here; it knew that in order to win over the hearts and minds of a very simplistic Pakistani public, it had to play the card of 'human rights'. So whilst it was clear that all the students in Laal Masjid were united in their noble cause, the media depicted the women and children as 'human shields' who were being held against their will by the Sheikh Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Raheemullah). The army for its part was supposedly mounting a virtuous rescue operation. This shameless and unbelievable lie being churned out by the government through the media was well fabricated but failed to deceive those with in inkling of common sense.

Independent TV channels such as GEO and ARY News failed to relay the facts on the ground without coating there reports with personal bias. In fact every news reader or journalist was adding his or her own spin to events and mismanaging the information to pander to Pakistani government policy. Even though the brutal dogs of Pakistani government pulled the triggers that massacred men, women and children, the media squarely and repeatedly lay the blame of Sheikh Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Raheemullah) . When reporting the deaths of apostate soldiers of the Pakistani army in this incident, news readers would refer to them as Shuhada (martyrs) and when they referred to those killed whilst carrying the true Islamic standard of Shariah and Khilafah, they referred to them as simply Jaan Bahaq (those who lost their lives). So the aggressor against Islamic standards was the hero, and the hero in truth was a caste as the villain.

Analysts and commentators being invited on the media were themselves secular and were using their airtime to promote their own pro-western secular agendas. So members from the Peoples Party of Pakistan headed by ex Pakistani Prime Minster Banazir Bhutto used this event to brown nose America and pledge that their stance towards Islamic revival would be harsher than that posed by Musharaf. The MQM, an ultra secular organisation whose leader resides in the UK under government protection whilst having perpetrating mass murder in Pakistan used this event to cement its relationship with the current dictatorship in Pakistan by offering public support for military action against Laal Masjid.

'When you were propagating it with your tongues, your mouths uttering that of which you had no knowledge, thinking it to be of little consequence, where it was serious indeed before Allah' (An-Nour 24:15)

On the Islamic front, one that should give the Muslim nation some hope, there has been a general stillness. Television channels that pander to the Musharaf pro-secularist agenda pile on so called 'Islamic' clerics and authorities to not only denounce Laal Masjid, but to also vilify Islamic banners raised in this issue. The Muftis of Pakistan have typically proved their cowardice, and ordered their students not to even demonstrate against government actions. Over 800 Muslims students were barricaded within their compound, being shelled and bombed, and there was only a whisper to be heard from the Islamic circles in Pakistan. Whilst some declared Sheikh Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Raheemullah) as a rebel who had challenged so called Islamically legitimate state authority, others refused to support and echo his call for the implementation of Islamic Shariah in Pakistan.

The main opposition to the Musharaf government at this stage too is a secular one. The APC (All Party Alliance) held in London last week was not a conference whose aim was to establish the Shariah in Pakistan, but instead it sought to remove his military dictatorship and replace it with a 'civilian' secularist government. In fact some of the parties being represented at the APC, like the Peoples Party chaired by Banazir Bhutto is one of the most anti-Islamic, pro-Western secular parties in Pakistan. Her absence from the APC was a clear indication that she refuses to be seen negotiating with the MMA, which offers Pakistan a disillusioned Islamic alliance with a blurred Islamic vision. Pakistanis politics is 'dog eat dog', Islamic revival and reform is not on the agenda, and every party is looking to personally benefit from the political fall-out.

'Operation Silence', an operation blatantly designed to conceal the damage done to Islamic symbols such as that of the Laal Masjid, Qurans and books of Hadeeth and Tafseer continues to this very day deprive the world of witnessing the true facts on the ground. The compound remains closed to the media, and even though the army promises to take the media through a guided tour of the premises, it is clear that a massive cover up operation is being conducted to dampen public opinion against the horrific damage inflicted upon the architecture and human life within the compound. This will undoubtedly morally acquit and even earn some praise for the military.

The Pakistani middle and upper classes, those that have prospered the most under Musharaf's reforms without doubt are the most anti-Islamic. For them, Musharaf's vision of 'enlightened moderation' is the best way to reconcile between Islam and secularism. This itself contradicts the very foundations of the religion revealed by Allah to His Prophet. The working class of Pakistan are so detached from politics that Islam in a political context is an alien notion to them. The Islam they understand is the Islam of the saint, the maulvi or the embezzler. Islamic governance is not a viable solution as far the majority of Pakistanis are concerned. Tribalism, provincial politics and religious secretarianism have embedded themselves at the grassroots of Pakistani society; the dominance of political Islam is the last thing on the Pakistani mindset. Even though there exist pockets of Muslims in Pakistan who have a vision of Khilafah for Pakistan, they only constitute a small minority of the overall public.

Ustadh Syed Qutb Raheemullah wrote in Milestones 'Indeed our words will remain lifeless, barren, devoid of any passion, until we die as a result of these words, whereupon these words will suddenly spring to life and live amongst the hearts that are dead, bringing them back to life as well.'

Our final thought goes out to Shaikh Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Raheemullah) and his honourable party, through whose death we ask Allah to raise the banner of Laa ilaha ilAllah in Pakistan. Without a doubt, they have already joined the growing list of Muslim heroes of this young century. May Allah imprint the hearts of Muslim men and women with the memory of this noble sacrifice.

The Muslim nation testifies to Allah that the Shuhadah of Laal Masjid made the ultimate sacrifice for the Tawheed of Allah, and for the Shariah of Muhammad (saw) to fly over the land of Pakistan.

May Allah (swt) raise the Shuhadah of Laal Masjid together on the Day of Rising. May Allah pour upon them His Mercy, and reward them with what they wished for and more. May Allah (swt) protect those taken prisoners by the Tawagheet and protect the honour of our Muslim sisters and mothers who are today in the clutches of these Murtadeen.

"And to Allah belongs [all] honour, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know." [Al-Munafiqoon 63:8]

May Allah humiliate and disgrace the government and army of Pakistan and give each and every conspirator and participant a just retribution for their transgression against His allies. May Allah fill the mouths of all those who defended the Tawagheet of Pakistan with fire and subject them to a terrible torment in the fire.

"They seek to extinguish the Light of Allah with their mouths. But Allah refuses except to perfect His Light , even if the disbelievers hate it. It is He who has sent His Messenger with the Guidance and the True Religion, in order that He may make it prevail over all other religions, even if the polytheists detest it"

(At-Tawbah 9:32-33)

"I lost my brother, my students, for the enforcement of Islamic Sharia...Ghazi and all those who died in the mosque are shaheed...My wife and daughters are in custody but this will not stop us from struggling for an Islamic system." (Maulana AbdulAziz at Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Raheemullahs) funeral).

And our last call is to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.