LAHORE – Clerics from various sects have reportedly chosen polemic debates as their preferred means of “spreading” Islam in the last few years, debates that are mostly irrelevant and cannot be resolved, serving only to increase the ever-widening sectarian gap. A survey conducted by Pakistan Today revealed that on sale at CD stalls and shops around Data Darbar, Karbala Gamay Shah, Urdu Bazaar and other areas of the city were quite a range of polemic, hate-mongering material produced by the very clerics who are supposed to spread the religion of peace. Harsh, bitter and often personal attacks were leveled against rival clerics in the material with an aim to whip up a following, and thus a sustainable source of income in the form of devotees, the survey showed.
The topics of these so-called debates were more often than not controversial, such as deciding who the “real” blasphemers against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) were, the religious stance on protective amulets (taveez) and infidels, among many others, the survey showed. Such topics are more likely to boost the clerics’ popularity.
Polemics usually recite the Quranic verse “The truth has now come [to light], and falsehood has withered away: for, behold, all falsehood is bound to wither away!” (Al-Isra:81) to claim victory in a manazra.
Jamia Naeemia Principal Dr Raghib Naeemi told Pakistan Today that these debates were taking place not to promote Islam but to promote certain sects and personalities. “Unfortunately all sects have succumbed to their narrow-mindedness. Any learned scholar would not like these polemic debates. Whenever you discuss controversial matters in public, they can do no good,” Dr Naeemi said. Moderates have also raised questions about the clerics and asked them to take up current issues instead of indulging in pointless and irrelevant games of one-upmanship. They said that religious schools were not providing current education, which was providing a basis for such illiterate acts.
Senior lawyer and Pakistan Law College Principal Professor Humayun Ehsan said that these debates could reverse the direction of the progress of Muslims, and they should prefer working on their basic problems rather than irrelevant issues. Mufti Hanif Qureshi, the alleged mentor of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer’s assassin Mumtaz Qadri, is another prominent polemic. Syed Irfan Mashadi, Ashraf Asif Jalali, Saeed Asad, Kokab Noorani, Sadiq Kohati, Talibur Rehman, Ilyas Ghumman, Mufti Shaukat, Rana Arshad Rizvi, Maulvi Tayyab, Abdurrehman Shaheen, Maulvi Abdul Wakeel are also prominent among these fiery crusaders.
