The government named last Friday as Youm-e-Ishq-e-Rasool and declared it a national holiday to honour Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) as a response to a third-rate blasphemous film that has enraged Muslims all over the world. What we witnessed on the streets of our cities that day could not have been farther from the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH), who is revered as Rahmatul-lil-Alameen. I haven’t seen the malicious film and I don’t intend to see it either. My sense of being a Muslim was hurt more by the violent scenes that were splashed on television screens all day because it was all being done in the name of our Prophet (PBUH). It set me thinking about how to reclaim our religion from the clutches of a small and ignorant minority. And then, a nephew who has lived in the United States for 12 years came to visit and said something that helped me put together the pieces.It was an innocuous remark, but it opened floodgates of a heated argument that brought in clear focus our basic problem. The nephew, who is making good money in his adopted country, was disgusted by the mobs he had to deal with in towns and cities on the highway that day as he tried to reach Lahore. He said: “I just wanted to take the next flight and head back.” On the face of it, he said nothing wrong. I have heard such remarks before, not only from visiting Pakistani Americans, but also from some of my friends here in Pakistan who would like to leave all this mess behind and escape to another land, so that their cushy lives are not interrupted by such uncivilised chaos. But there’s more than one thing that is wrong about this attitude. If we dream of living in a better world, whether in Pakistan or some other country, we cannot hope to do so by ignoring the challenges facing our world today.Is it just a coincidence that the governments in the so-called civilised countries have done nothing to check the unrelenting and malicious campaign to demonise Islam and Muslims originating from their lands and published in their media? Through their selective and distorted application of the principle of freedom of expression, they have chosen to protect, and even support, preachers of hatred in their midst, allowing them to incite hatred and even violence against Muslims by cooking up whatever hateful falsehoods they like about the Messenger and adherents of the faith. Is it not known that the civilised countries under the umbrella of the US-led Nato have attacked, destroyed and occupied Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya on false pretexts? Do we not know what they are doing in Syria? Do we not know who’s next on their list?The tactics of imperial control might have become more sophisticated today, but some things remain the same: the limitless greed for others’ resources and the willingness to use violence to appropriate them. However, the governments in the so-called civilised world, posing to be working for their citizens and using their taxpayers’ money to wage wars, must build a case against the targeted countries, the governments and the people of those countries, to convince their citizens that they are fighting for them and not to protect and promote the financial interests of big business that these so-called democratic governments actually serve. These advanced torchbearers of democracy and human rights must convince their citizens that the people they are bombing are less than human, barbarians that must be suppressed for the protection of their enlightened civilisation.This is not the first time in history that the proponents of imperial control have used this tactic to lull the conscience of their citizens to win their support for unjust wars and to thwart resistance at home. Entire populations of countries, even entire races, have been demonised by governments leading the so-called developed world, so that it does not irk people at home when they see them being killed like flies. And now, it is the turn of Muslims. The factories of hate against Muslims in these civilised countries are protected. Militant groups in the Muslim world are armed by their proxies and agents with weapons and violent ideologies, as has been seen in the Middle East recently. The uneducated and violent reactions led by these groups in the name of Islam are then showcased as evidence of how intolerant and barbaric Muslims are. The blasphemy campaign is just meant to provoke, and as in the case of the recent blasphemous film, the third-rate presentations do not influence the opinion of citizens in the so-called civilised worlds as much as the projection of the mob reaction to such poorly produced blasphemous material, reaction that is covered extensively in their mainstream media. The issue is turned into one involving freedom of expression and how intolerant and violent Muslims are. The ground is prepared for making it acceptable to bomb them into submission.Pakistanis living in these so-called civilised countries and paying taxes to the so-called democratic governments for wars of greed and clandestine operations aimed at creating mayhem in the rest of the world, like their other citizens, need to understand their role in the enactment of this dangerous game that is threatening the peace of the world. What was witnessed on the streets of our cities last Friday was just a scene in this gory drama. It is, perhaps, convenient to just make your money, be entertained by the good life that the so-called civilised world has to offer, and not bother about one’s responsibility. But if people in the civilised world feel disgusted by such reactions, they must scratch the surface, understand the deeper dynamics fuelling it and do something about it.In fact, responsibility is something that we need to understand as well, those of us who live here and were disgusted by what we saw being done in the name of our religion. Just sitting on the sidelines, enjoying cushy lives, we must not let a misguided minority play into the hands of those out to demonise us and not do something about it. We must start thinking about how to rescue our religion from those who pretend to be its most vocal and active proponents, but who in reality are harming it the most.

The writer is a freelance columnist.Email: hazirjalees@hotmail.com