Playing a prank is easy especially when your are dealing with a benighted yet zealous horde pushed to streets not by devotion but to carry out destruction perhaps because this alone is their favourite cup of tea. In a not-so-learned city like Faisalabad one evening while returning from work I came across a group of children (12-16 years old); one grasping Israel’s flag & the other a bottle of petrol. This enticed my sense of humor and I approached them inquiring what they are about to do (hell! I do know the answer already). “We are going to burn Israeli flag”, replied the oldest child, not calmly though. “But this is a Afghani flag, you know the same Afghanistan where Mujahids are fighting Jihad against Americans”, I chirped in. Extremely confused he looked around his fellow comrades who appeared none the same. They started talking among themselves. Out of their gibber my ears picked the word ‘shopkeeper’ and now it was my turn to get confused. “Are these enemy flags sold?” I asked. “Yes, we bought it for 8o rupees plus the petrol”, again the oldest answered, this time quite calmly. On the contrary my mild confusion downlinked into raging anger, not for the children but for the shopkeeper who was able to play trickery in the curtain of Ishq-e-Rasool.
They say Pakistanis are very genius people and I do comply with it especially after learning about the cunning entrepreneurship our shopkeepers are able to pull out even under the tense politico-religious demonstrations. That conversation with the minors drastically changed my perspective. Now whenever I see an Indian, Israeli or an American flag burning on television or newspaper I just shrug off any westbound animosity for my inner self keep reminding me “someone, somewhere is getting paid”. Such ‘bud grafting’ of ones business upon religious stem to multiply money, at least I haven’t encountered anywhere but then we are the pious ones, ready to pay to burn the infidel's flag, ready to set fire to someone’s car, ready to wreck someone's property and all of this casting aside the commandments of the very person we try depicting our love for by creating what ...smoke & litter!
Disrespect doesn’t refer to bad-mouthing alone. A son ignoring his father advice too is equally disrespectful, so why not be a part of rally against your milkman selling adulterated milk or against pharmaceutical shop selling fake medicine or against the butchers selling infectious meat or against our political leaders amassing illegal fortunes? Well shame upon us for skipping over these home-grown parasites, the real perpetrators of death and hunger and vainly trying to punish someone living across Atlantic by beating our own policemen and by ruining our own streets. At the end of evening people will drink the same Pepsi they besmirched vastly on Facebook, eat from the very McDonald they shattered glasses of and ask loans from the very banks they claimed were of Jewish lobby. Had the Muslims throughout the world been witty like our previous shopkeeper they would have marched to their parliaments (with equal fervor they currently exhibit) requiring their political leaders to urge UNO and International Court to draft a mutually accepted anti-blasphemy law. Slamming of 50+ presidents at western doors would have resonated into a resolute back-punch to any person, anywhere trying to bash other religions.
Ornamental and visionless is the least I can label this current religious avidity, providing nothing to uplift the shaggy conditions of Muslim Ummah and achieving no end goals; but perhaps acting like a temporary relief drug only to postpone our true agony which is yet to be medicated.
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