Regardless of the blunt denial by Dar-ul-Uloom, Karachi, on the issuance of any fatwa (edict) against Dr Shakeel Auj declaring him a blasphemer and infidel, even a fake fatwa was good enough to run a sustained campaign which ended with his cold-blooded murder. Dr Shakeel was a religious scholar, head of Islamic Studies Faculty at Karachi University and a flag-bearer of inter-sectarian harmony. Denials aside, few facts can’t be overlooked that it was a fatwa on the seminary’s letterhead with appropriate signatures of a mufti (a person who can issue a fatwa). Even if we presume for a moment that it was a fake document, can we weigh the power these muftis and their fatwas carry, which can brainwash normal people to kill anyone as service to their religion. Does anyone remember the first Cabinet of Pakistan? It was starred with personalities from all ethnic and religious communities, but where do we stand today? After the second amendment to the constitution, state presumed the authority to declare who is and is not a Muslim. Later a military dictator further tuned this myopic version of the state authority to decide who is and is not a good Muslim. That was enough for dark forces from the medieval times to take such decisions in their own hands.
Now no one needs state to decide who is a Muslim. Graffiti on the walls in cities and towns and widespread killing of religious and sectarian minorities is what’s written on the wall for Pakistan, a country which came into being to protect minorities.
My question: when we have a Parliament which is a legal entity to make/amend laws and codes and have courts to decide cases/conflicts per laws of the land, then why these seminaries are producing loads of muftis to issue fatwas. It’s complete chaos with Parliament, normal penal courts, Sharia courts, Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), thousands of muftis across the country. It’s really a miracle that Dr Auj was not killed earlier as his views on religion and humanity were well known. How do you like to be killed: by a fatwa, or a ruling of CII?
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
