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Preferring a war with Allah? by Abid Ullah Jan - abidjan2@psh.paknet.com.pk General Musharraf is facing two wars. Unfortunately, he sees only one: the coming war with India. Publicly and privately, he went to unimaginable extent avoid it. He doesn’t know that this war would definitely come irrespective of his efforts to avoid it at any - repeat any -- cost. This war only awaits completion of homework in Washington and London. General Musharraf, however, willingly invites the other war, which is intangible, invisible and beyond his comprehension. He goes all the way to get engaged in it. This is a war with Allah. Here comes the extremist again, so would say Musharraf on reading the first paragraph of this article. Whereas the unbelievable extremes to which this government is ready to go, is evident from the Dawn’s report on June 07, 2002. Rafaqat Ali reports that the government “is seeking complete reversal of the judgment which was delivered by the Federal Shariat Court in 1992, declaring all forms of interest-based banking un-Islamic.” This is straightforwardly going to war with Allah because unlike Vajpayee’s waiting for green signal from others, Allah’s declaration of war is unambiguous. He says: "O' you who believe, fear Allah and give up what remains of your demand for usury, if you are indeed believers. If you do not abstain take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger." (2:278-79) The war with Allah is already on. We do not need in depth research or explorations to find out if we are already in the middle of the battleground. We just need to pick up June 6 and 7 newspapers to understand the government moves for maintaining interest oriented banking system in Pakistan. The Federal Shariat Court in 1992, declared all forms of interest-based banking UN-Islamic The Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court on Dec 23, 1999, upheld the judgment and directed the government to eliminate all forms of interest-based banking by June 30, 2002. The government’s move in the war with Allah is to seek reversal of the judgment for which it has removed Maulana Taqi Usmani, who had been sitting on the Shariat Appellate Bench for the last two decades. Under the Supreme Court rules, the review petition could be placed before the same judge if he was available. Moreover, in the presence of Maulana Taqi Usmani, the government appointed two new members of Shariat Appellate Bench without any justification. Further evidence comes from the biased June 7 report in the government-supported English daily. The different tone of the report reveals the government intentions and tactics in its war with Allah. Except the government-sponsored newspaper, none of the other reports used the words “prayer leaders,” “religious extremist,” or held opposition members to the government move responsible for “unruly scenes in the court room.” None of the other reports say the government is determinedly seeking a “complete reversal of the judgment which was delivered by the Federal Shariat Court in 1992.” None of the other reports is based only on the perspective presented by Syed Riazul Hasan Gillani, the government-engaged lawyers for the case. None of the other newspapers ignored comments of Justice Qazi Farooq who cited relevant verses of Holy Qur’an and told UBL counsel, “Don’t fill your stomach with the income of Riba.” This is part of the government’s extremism to avoid facts and ignore reality. Why can’t a government-sponsored newspaper see what others are clearly reporting? The is the only newspaper, which also ignored Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Riaz Ahmed Sheikh’s observations that Islam does not make distinction of classes in the application of its injunctions against the transaction of the interest. This is the only newspaper which ignored to report the fact that the counsel representing the Jamaat-i-Islami in the Riba case submitted before the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court that intelligence agencies were responsible for the rumpus in the courtroom because the government did not want smooth and regular proceedings in the case “for obvious reasons.” This biased reporting from the Pakistan’s oldest daily is tantamount to the fact that the government is determined to force the Supreme Court into declaring Riba as legal. The story by Rafaqat Ali in the Dawn on June 07 is sufficient to disclose the government intentions in the war with Allah and the newspaper intentions to support the government in its endeavors. The war with Allah is already on. Our kissing Vajpayee’s hands are just part of this war. Our systematic humiliation despite accepting all conditions set forth by our enemies is a clear sign of this war. Our tactic in the war with Allah is limited to going up to the Supreme Court to throw away Qur’anic injunctions. Our sleepless nights, filled with the American and Indian horror; our trembling heart, melting with fear of the Indian and US-led Coalition terrorist bombing, and our prostrating ourselves before Vajpayee are, however, some of the unlimited tactics, which Allah employs in his war. Our PTV News (Khabernama) is nothing short of a systematic nightly apology to please Bush and Vajpayee. It is a national disgrace. We may avoid war with India as we have avoided American wrath by supporting its terrorist agenda in Afghanistan. But we cannot avoid war with Allah. Just as innocent civilians are being rounded up and killed in Afghanistan under the label of eliminating the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, more and more coalition forces are being moved into Pakistan. Not only people in the tribal belt, but the whole nation is at their mercy of US-led Coalition. The government can never save, or prove a Pakistani innocent, who the FBI declares as a partner of Al-Qaeda of the Taliban. The Coalition forces in the North West have already controlled the Durand Line; US and UK troops may soon patrol the Line of Control in the East as well. The Coalition forces have already occupied our military bases, reserved complete terminals in the airports and vacated parts of the cities for their use. FBI and other agencies have taken complete control of our federal agencies, which now move and act under FBI and CIA directions. General Musharraf complained of the government’s writ. Where is that writ now as we are occupied from all possible aspects of occupation. Is there any need to go to war with a country that can be humiliatingly occupied without going to war? One goes to war to avoid occupation and losing control. When you lose your faith; when you lose raison de’etre of your existence; when foreign advisors dictate your foreign and internal policies, and when you lose independence simply to avoid a war; what else can the government show you as a benefit for its avoiding physical war -- the daily count of foreign exchange reserves? No sir, it is of no use to the suffering masses. The daily psychological and physical degradation that the Pakistanis go through at home and abroad is worse than death and destruction that is surely to follow any way. And there is no one to stand by us. When you claim on January 12 that we are not tekadar of Islam (responsible for defending Muslims and Islam in far away lands), how can you expect support of other Muslim nations when you are at the mercy of international terrorists? All these are consequences of the invisible war with Allah. We are not at war with India or US. Hundreds and thousands of Muslims getting butchered by Sharon, Vajpayee and Bush is part of our collective punishment in our war with Allah. We are taking this war for granted for it is intangible. But it is real. On the one hand we would go to courts to avoid obeying the clear injunctions of the Qur’an and on the other, as a punishment, we would get into alliances with the terrorist coalitions against ourselves. We would support occupations. We would justify oppressions. We would keep silent over injustices done to the weak and ultimately the same would be done to us in the most humiliating manner. We would fill our stomach with interest and we would remain hungry. We would fill our government coffers with rewards for selling our sovereignty, independence, faith and Muslim brothers, but the number of our poor would keep on increasing with each passing day. We would be the most humiliated losers in the war with Allah. It’s only the eyes we need to see the war that we are embracing and the war that we are avoiding. Concluded. Note: (Non-Muslims would understand the context of this article if they understand the financial and social security system presented by Islam. They would understand the global inequality, the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer only if they understand the philosophy behind prohibition of interest in Islam. The anti-globalisation, anti-IMF and World Bank activists need to study the financial concepts of Islam to understand how comprehensive solutions lie in the simple financial rules set forth by Islam.) Abid Ullah Jan is a columnist for The Statesman, The Nation, and the Pakistan Observer (Pakistan). He is also sub-editor for the Tribune International (Sydney, Australia), and is the Executive Director of the Integrated Regional Support Programme (IRSP). He can be reached at abidjan2@psh.paknet.com.pk
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