The Fear of becoming Aafia Siddiqui...

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas,
One day he was riding behind Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) when he said, “Young man, if you are mindful of Allah, He will be mindful of you, and if you are mindful of Allah, you will find Him before you. When you ask for anything, ask it from Allah, and if you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know that if the people were to unite to do you some benefit, they could benefit you only with what Allah had recorded for you, and that if they were to unite to do you some injury, they could injure you only with what Allah had recorded for you. The pens are withdrawn (from writing Fate) and the pages are dry.” [Al-Tirmizi]

I, as an individual, fear or am told to fear, speaking for and participating in socio-political-religious causes today. The fear is that I might end up like Aafia Siddiqui too.

It comes to my mind the story of Fatima, an Iraqi girl. Fatima became a victim of rape, molestation and outrageous torture, along with twelve other unmarried girls, simply because they happened to be in Iraq when America decided to descend upon them, along with their army and Blackwater (which, by the way, has already entered Pakistan), to give them peace and freedom and security.

Fatima wrote out a letter from Jail Abu Gharaib, Baghdad, back in 2004, reporting this one incidence out of many. Many of us may have read it at that time, felt aggrieved but also thought…what a faraway world such kinds of happenings are…

It also comes to my mind about Bosnia, of back in the 1990’s. It was no religious fanatic state. There was no Osama bin Laden hidden in its mountains and no Taliban roaming around in its state. There women were liberals in skirts with no involvement with Al-Qaeda. Yet, here are a few reported incidents1 of what happened when the Serbs invaded them,
• The bellies of pregnant women were torn apart, their unborn babies ripped out and kittens sewn back into their bellies.
• A twelve-year-old girl was caught hold of and subjected to repetitive oral sex until her tonsils burst.
• Two girls were made nude and locked up in a cage placed in a public place. A placard was placed on the cage, ‘Free Sex’, and any passerby had the liberty to do so.

I wonder what the crime of all these women was…what had they done in line with what Aafia Siddiqui is supposed to have done?

I conclude that one must do the right thing, at the right time, while abiding by the governance laws as well as the Divine Laws and then trust Allah SWT for the outcome.

Please, speak and write for the wrong things that are happening in our country today and in the Muslim world and anywhere in the world for that matter. Visit www.musawemeen.org and find out how you can play a positive role in current affairs.

“The fact is that Allah never changes the condition of a people until they intend to change it themselves.” [The Holy Quran, Surah Al-Raad, Excerpt from Verse 11]


[1] Book: Bosnia ke Jihadi Maedanon mae