We are Muslims". In the name of protecting our religion, we destroyed over 150 houses, dragging out and burning the possessions of the inhabitants of a Christian colony in the Badami Bagh area of Lahore. Although most of the residents had fled before the ransacking of the property, but there were heartbreaking scenes witnessed of women and children screaming in fear as they ran from the mob.
"We are the followers of Holy Prophet Mohammad (pbuh)". We took hold of a Christian cross, lighted a bonfire, and danced around it in triumph.
"We are the protectors of the life and property of the minorities". We came in thousands, carrying with us cans of petrol to inflict maximum damage in the shortest span of time.
"We are the protectors of a faith having 2.2 billion Muslims spread in more than 200 countries". There was organisation, planning, and a determination on our part to drive the Christians out from their homes and, perhaps, harm them. “Are we Muslims?” I doubt.
Edgar Allan Poe, an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, once said: "I become insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." The "horrible sanity" exhibited by the mob was nerve-shattering. Today, I struggle to move my pen to write a few words of sanity, while being immersed in a perpetual unconscious state of prolonged insanity.
The past, like the present, looks so vivid when remembering the words of our Quaid just a few days before the creation of Pakistan, while inaugurating the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, when he talked of an inclusive and pluralist democracy promising equal rights for all citizens, regardless of their religion, caste or creed.
During a broadcast talk to the people of the US on Pakistan (recorded February 1948), the Quaid said: “We have many non-Muslims - Hindus, Christians and Parsis - but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizen and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan.”
The Quaid died long time back and whatever remains of his words, unfortunately, carries no meaning in this age of total fanaticism.
Pakistan was conceived as a country where every citizen will live in harmony, while practicing their individual faiths without interfering in the beliefs of others. It was supposed to equally belong to the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and all other minorities living in it. Pakistanis first! We seem to have lost that concept and essence of our conception.
The Quaid’s vision of Pakistan was in line with the true spirit of Islamic injunctions. But it has now been ignored in favour of misdirected ignorant orthodoxy that is pushing the nation towards complete inhalation. Self-interest infested interpretations of religion has tormented religion beyond recognition, thus turning it into a saleable commodity.
The bigger irony is that the majority is afraid to speak up against this backwardness, which even labelled Baba Bulleh Shah, a Punjabi Sufi poet, a humanist and philosopher as a non-Muslim.
For the ones who understand religion correctly, backed by in-depth study of its injunction, Islam carries within itself an inherent attribute of a code of conduct where the sanctity of all the faiths is preserved, thus forming the very foundation of the Islamic beliefs.
The Quran says: “Had God willed, they had not been idolatrous. We have not set thee as a keeper over them, nor art thou responsible for them” (6:107) and “Do not revile those unto whom they pray beside God, lest they wrongfully revile God through ignorance” (6:108). Islam does not preach coercion of believers of other faiths, as the Holy Quran says: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256) and “(So) for you is your religion and for me is my religion” (109:6).
According to Abu Dawood 3:170, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Beware! If anyone dared oppress a member of minority community or usurped his right or tortured him more than his endurance or took something away forcibly without his consent, I would fight (against such Muslims) on his behalf on the Day of Judgment.”
At another point the Prophet (pbuh) maintained: “Whoever killed a member of a minority community, he would not smell the fragrance of paradise, though the fragrance of paradise would cover the distance of 40 years (of travelling)” (Ibne Rushd, Badiya-tul-Mujtahid, 2:299).
Pakistan’s founders were not fanatics, but poets and intellectuals. We are now living in a country where killing human beings and destroying their life and property using religion as a weapon has almost become a norm.
Look at the plight of Islam today, where there is a focus only on trivial issues, while the real issues like the need for education and learning, as laid down in the Quran and the Hadith, seem to have been forgotten.
What needs to be understood is that someone’s faith is not anything physical that can be eliminated by bullets or silenced by threats. What needs to be understood is that there can be causes worth dying for, but there cannot be any worth killing for. How many more human beings will we kill to "preserve" our religion? Let there be an end to this deafening madness; for else, we are destined to be doomed.

The writer is a PhD in Information Technology, alumni of King’s College London and a social activist. He is life member of the Pakistan Engineering Council and senior international editor for IT Insight Magazine. He has authored two books titled Understanding Telecommunications and Living In The Grave and several research papers. Email: drirfanzafar@gmail.com Twitter: @drirfanzafar