Thank you for cleaning up this thread. No i totally agree with you, to promote unity Muslims try not to sacrifice Cows, understandable. But to those who want to, there shouldn't be a ban, as it will create a sense of deprivation, a dangerous scenario can be created.
Understandable, but a ban can be taken in a wrong way. All in all i agree with Irfan bhai.
something from my experience both direct and narrated to me.
during Muharram in one city (deliberately not mentioning it due to some sensitivities).. back in the 80s an issue started arising as the Iranian revolution was young and Pakistani shia's were becoming more animated and as a response the Saudi funded elements from Jhang etc were becoming more vocal and violent.
so in one particular Muharram procession route that was setup since partition and before a Deobandi Mosque & Madrassah was built and soon occupied by animated and "active" people who would either spit or throw stones, boiling water from the roof tops on the procession or hurl profanities and mock them.. as usual police & civil authorities were ineffective army was called in to escort the procession.
the shia community was very respectfully requested to change the route to avoid confrontation but the shia community was having none of that..(all the lines of falsafa Karbala etc and I get that). the madrasah / mosque admin was requested to stop provoking the procession and army eventually got the compliance from them after the assurances that Madrassah students and worshippers wont be disturbed by the procession since they complained that the procession was stopping there on purpose and mourners were too loud. a tense moharam went by without incident and next time the madrassah admin got bored and they started Asr Azan's out of time just as the procession was about to pass.. just to show who was Muslim and who wasnt (i.e. praying or beating chest). .. this presented another issue which made the AC and police SP pull their hair out but thankfully shia community offered to stop the mourning.. sit down wait out the Azan, pray on the side of the road (praying With and inside Deobandi mosque ? yea right
.. again two Moharrams went by with only minor disturbances until one time during Muharram duty our unit was ordered to escort the procession on the route..
comes the time when the procession is at that choke point. everyone stops mourning. procession sits down.. mourners busy themselves with drinking or praying on the side of the road as the prayer call sounds from the Mosque ... and suddenly.. a known trouble maker from the procession.. marches up to the front gate of the madrassah and starts beating his chest.. he brushes away other fellow mourners and the policemen look on frozen or silently skipping the scene.. the army escort is at the front and back of a kilometer long procession and as the word reaches them they run to the scene (yes they should have been there already but then this wont have happened). the Azan is ended and someone from the roof top is issuing some fatwas at the general direction of the procession as the trouble maker is triumphantly returning back from the front of the gate with a smug face.
" Tum Hussain a Matam ker rahay thay"?
asks the hawaldar .. and then slaps him square on his face . .. saying that this was no mourning this was pure trouble making and had nothing to do with paying respect to Imam Hussain.. there were nods and shouts of approval from the procession as that trouble maker was taken to one side..and the procession ended at its destination without any further incident. there were rumers floating during and after the night but they all fizzled out.
the point was.. that the shia community in general was complying with the request of the security forces (army) not to give a chance or an excuse to radical madrassah occupants .. but there are always few elements who cause trouble. oh what about the general Sunni community of the city? well they attend the procession and mourning gatherings .. offer food and drinks and rest for the mourners and have mutual respect and harmony with the shia community and it has been always outsiders that came to cause issues.
(note this was narrated to me by a shia member who was appreciative of how army took control of the situation and discouraged trouble from both sides).
relevance to this story?
Indian community shouldn't shove the meat ban on Muslims
and Muslims should also restrain their own trouble makers from purposefully seeking trouble and then slipping away and let other Muslims suffer the outrage.
