Rabiya_Khan
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One obviously sees a policy shift in Islamabad; from fairy-god-mother America to fairy-god-mother China. One also sees the new policy of ‘state fights its own wars’. Will it solve the problem of terrorism? I don’t think so, because source of terrorism was not which the world and pro-Indian intellectuals wanted us to see as ‘the source’. In this war you have to ‘go after the source’ i.e. the ‘god-mother of terrorism’. Unfortunately the supply of fresh blood to terror outfits is now coming from universities – latest challenge is Ansar-ul-Shariah, it may not be wide spread, yet needs to be tackled carefully. According to media reports it is a mutation arising from the mix of Al-Qaida dissidents and Daesh. The issue is, ‘how to respond to this challenge?’
The narrative required to pacify groups like Ansar-ul-Shariah cannot be imported from USA or its Western allies like the UK. The language of secular social scientists remains counter-productive; it will create a bigger mess than one can clean. It is as if one intends to appease a bull by showing it a red flag. Unfortunately friends in Islamabad and Pindi are not cautious enough on this issue. Let us look at Ansar-ul-Shariah closely.
Ansar-ul-Shariah, as the name tells is a group comprised of the helpers or supporters of Shariah, so far so good, but it is the method through which they intend to support Shariah. They want to remove all opposition to their interpretation of Shariah by killing them. According to media reports this group came into existence in 2015. But this group existed in the past, it was considered to be an offshoot of Al-Qaida dissidents. Upon declaration of al-Baghdadi as the caliph in Iraq, this group started killing as if it was facilitating the advent of caliphate in Pakistan. They justified their violent acts by their own interpretation of Islam; very typical of militant takfeeri groups. Counter narrative based on Islam could be the most effective to neutralize possible recruitment areas of groups such as Ansar-ul-Shariah. The catchment areas of Ansar-ul-Shariah comprises of Salafis studying in universities or those youth who intend to study Islam on their own in order to do something that could help Muslims come out form a situation of disgrace and misery. With innumerable instances of movements in Universities, it becomes difficult to monitor activities of hundreds of thousands of students in the country on daily basis; this in turn facilitates such groups to function undetected for a long period of time. What convinces these groups is a distorted and twisted explanation of some of the verses of Quran, Ahadees of the Holy Messenger SAW, and some historic incidents. The distortion is a narrow alley with definite topography and clear contours; therefore it can be addressed very specifically through literature, and so it can be controlled. What is necessary however is that this should be based on the true understanding of Islam and should be circulated massively that all should know, like text in a curriculum with teachers imparting the knowledge. Therefore there are two things required; 1) true understanding of the specific verses, ahadees and incidents in the shape of written text; and 2) a means to spread it massively in academic institutions, especially, Universities so that recruiting grounds of such groups could be dried.
The thinking behind groups like Ansar-ul-Shariah lies in some specific distortions, let me list the most prominent ones: a) individuals can implement Islamic orders and state is not a pre-requisite for implementation; b) there is no possibility of difference of opinion in Shariah; c) Jihad in particular can take place without the existence of State; d) Caliphate can be enforced on Muslims, without the will of the people; e) any Muslim who decides public affairs from anything other than Quran and Sunnah has become a non-Muslim; f) whoever becomes a non-Muslim can be killed by any Muslim anywhere in the world; and g) blood of any non-Muslim not being protected by Islamic State can be spilled by any Muslim anywhere in the world. These seven issues are the main areas of distortions, if these could be corrected, and detailed verdict about these issues could be made part of a supplement course in all classes from 8th onwards, it would relieve a lot of burden from the law enforcement agencies. Teachers of Islamic Studies in institutions could teach the supplement course. There are clear judgments of all Islamic schools of thought in these issues and if the state organs like Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Education, Higher Education Commission and Ministry of Interior could honestly perform the lead roles to disseminate the right judgment of Quran and Sunnah it will dry the recruitment grounds of groups like Ansar-ul-Shariah. Islamic classical literature has it all, one only has to go for cut and paste. The cyberspace should carry the answers to these questions and this would make life easier. Somehow even the little ‘will’ required to undergo this exercise is found lacking in the government machinery. What an apparatus to fight a war with!!!
Why governments, Ulema, and law enforcement agencies are unable to come up with such narrative and why it has not become part of the text or why it has not been addressed through seminars, and internet blogs or become part of active discussions in chat-rooms is beyond comprehension. Honestly, it seems that there is some force that intends to keep such groups alive. What else could keep the state organs from undergoing such an exercise? Either they chicken out from this action or they knowingly do not intend to do this, so as to keep the law enforcement agencies on their toes and keep the national security situation fragile. In the face of 70,000 casualties and around a $100 billion worth of loss to national exchequer no one seems still bothered to correct the distortion in understanding in a sect of Islam.
Active members of groups such as Ansar ul Shariah cannot be neutralized by counter narrative, however it is always possible to generate immunity in others from getting infected by the virus of terror outfits spread through distorted view of Islam.
The narrative required to pacify groups like Ansar-ul-Shariah cannot be imported from USA or its Western allies like the UK. The language of secular social scientists remains counter-productive; it will create a bigger mess than one can clean. It is as if one intends to appease a bull by showing it a red flag. Unfortunately friends in Islamabad and Pindi are not cautious enough on this issue. Let us look at Ansar-ul-Shariah closely.
Ansar-ul-Shariah, as the name tells is a group comprised of the helpers or supporters of Shariah, so far so good, but it is the method through which they intend to support Shariah. They want to remove all opposition to their interpretation of Shariah by killing them. According to media reports this group came into existence in 2015. But this group existed in the past, it was considered to be an offshoot of Al-Qaida dissidents. Upon declaration of al-Baghdadi as the caliph in Iraq, this group started killing as if it was facilitating the advent of caliphate in Pakistan. They justified their violent acts by their own interpretation of Islam; very typical of militant takfeeri groups. Counter narrative based on Islam could be the most effective to neutralize possible recruitment areas of groups such as Ansar-ul-Shariah. The catchment areas of Ansar-ul-Shariah comprises of Salafis studying in universities or those youth who intend to study Islam on their own in order to do something that could help Muslims come out form a situation of disgrace and misery. With innumerable instances of movements in Universities, it becomes difficult to monitor activities of hundreds of thousands of students in the country on daily basis; this in turn facilitates such groups to function undetected for a long period of time. What convinces these groups is a distorted and twisted explanation of some of the verses of Quran, Ahadees of the Holy Messenger SAW, and some historic incidents. The distortion is a narrow alley with definite topography and clear contours; therefore it can be addressed very specifically through literature, and so it can be controlled. What is necessary however is that this should be based on the true understanding of Islam and should be circulated massively that all should know, like text in a curriculum with teachers imparting the knowledge. Therefore there are two things required; 1) true understanding of the specific verses, ahadees and incidents in the shape of written text; and 2) a means to spread it massively in academic institutions, especially, Universities so that recruiting grounds of such groups could be dried.
The thinking behind groups like Ansar-ul-Shariah lies in some specific distortions, let me list the most prominent ones: a) individuals can implement Islamic orders and state is not a pre-requisite for implementation; b) there is no possibility of difference of opinion in Shariah; c) Jihad in particular can take place without the existence of State; d) Caliphate can be enforced on Muslims, without the will of the people; e) any Muslim who decides public affairs from anything other than Quran and Sunnah has become a non-Muslim; f) whoever becomes a non-Muslim can be killed by any Muslim anywhere in the world; and g) blood of any non-Muslim not being protected by Islamic State can be spilled by any Muslim anywhere in the world. These seven issues are the main areas of distortions, if these could be corrected, and detailed verdict about these issues could be made part of a supplement course in all classes from 8th onwards, it would relieve a lot of burden from the law enforcement agencies. Teachers of Islamic Studies in institutions could teach the supplement course. There are clear judgments of all Islamic schools of thought in these issues and if the state organs like Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Education, Higher Education Commission and Ministry of Interior could honestly perform the lead roles to disseminate the right judgment of Quran and Sunnah it will dry the recruitment grounds of groups like Ansar-ul-Shariah. Islamic classical literature has it all, one only has to go for cut and paste. The cyberspace should carry the answers to these questions and this would make life easier. Somehow even the little ‘will’ required to undergo this exercise is found lacking in the government machinery. What an apparatus to fight a war with!!!
Why governments, Ulema, and law enforcement agencies are unable to come up with such narrative and why it has not become part of the text or why it has not been addressed through seminars, and internet blogs or become part of active discussions in chat-rooms is beyond comprehension. Honestly, it seems that there is some force that intends to keep such groups alive. What else could keep the state organs from undergoing such an exercise? Either they chicken out from this action or they knowingly do not intend to do this, so as to keep the law enforcement agencies on their toes and keep the national security situation fragile. In the face of 70,000 casualties and around a $100 billion worth of loss to national exchequer no one seems still bothered to correct the distortion in understanding in a sect of Islam.
Active members of groups such as Ansar ul Shariah cannot be neutralized by counter narrative, however it is always possible to generate immunity in others from getting infected by the virus of terror outfits spread through distorted view of Islam.
