The So-Called Scholars on TV

www.pakpositive.comI was watching TV the other day and had a chance to watch one of the so-called scholars on the TV channel from Pakistan. I was listening to his speech and realized that these people do come on TV and say anything they like. Someone has to do a follow-up on their statements and critically judge their statements so people should realize that what has been said on TV is not always correct.

So, I started to write down his points and in this column, I would also like to answer some of his points. So, let's begin, in the start of the program he said that Pakistan has the highest number of mosques. I definitely say "Alhamdulillah", but does anyone realize what is going on in all these mosques? Truth is that the number of mosques in Pakistan reflects the number of divisions in Islam. We don't like to go in each other's mosque and we give funny names to other muslim brothers going to a different mosque.

We think that we are following the correct way of Islam and others are wrong? My dear, Islam is a name of Unity and Prophet (pbuh) has spent his whole life trying to unite us and what are we doing here? May Allah (swt) protect us from all the bad things and give us wisdom to learn and preach Islam in a proper way.

Later in the program he stated that maximum Zakaat is given out in Pakistan. In banking system of Pakistan, Zakaat money has been automatically deducted each year from the bank account of an individual. To be honest, many people have avoided this by filling out some bank forms and those who pay have no idea where this money goes. No one has come forward and tried to investigate the whole corrupt system. This is why many people pay their Zakaat directly to people they know personally. And I know many would say that why should I investigate?

It is government's job to do that. I agree, but when the heads are corrupt and there is no transparency in the system then who is responsible to fix this mess? We have to come forward and it is our right to know how government is spending all this money, come forward and try to be vocal. 'Transparency International*' has put Pakistan on 25th spot out of 178 countries as the most corruptive country!

Afterwards he stated that Pakistan has most of the Ulema-e-deen (scholars). Have you realized what most of them are teaching? My heart cries when I listen to them, it is not because they attract me towards Islam, it is due to the fact that they try to manipulate Islam and point us in the wrong direction, the direction which benefits only them and not the ordinary man. I have not seen single Ulema (scholar) who has said "let's run a campaign to clean our neighbourhood because tidiness is half of the faith", "let's discuss issues with other mosques and try to resolve them and to be united".

These Ulemas are supposed to be our mentors and lead us to the right direction. In my opinion, Pakistan has only one good thing and that is "Islam" and I'm sure that this is enough if we follow the rulings of Islam correctly. We believe in Allah (swt) and his prophet (pbuh) but do we follow his commands and sunnah of prophet (pbuh)?

In the end he talked about racism outside Pakistan. I would reply by saying that Pakistan is the number one racist country! The reason I say this is because we are not only killing minority leaders in Pakistan but we are killing other Muslims in the name of cast and background. We are spending more time trying to put another Muslim down than helping him/her towards a better life.

It is not a mistake of an ordinary man. We are in this mess today because of ignorance. I believe that of 15 million people living in Karachi, 15,000 to 20,000 are moving around with arms and they have scared people to death because there is no fear of law and there is no value of humanity.

But till when?

Till when will a low-middle class man survive with thousands of issues like electricity, water, food, medical, terrorism and many others? I'm sure he will come out, he has to come out for his family and for the future of his children. Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that 3.7 million votes were fake in the 2008 election. This proves how the system in Pakistan works. We spend more time praising ourselves rather than listening to a positive criticism and then work on that.

We have to start taking initiative. Pakistan has talent but nobody has polished this talent. The whole idea is to bring out positive energy in the veins of fresh blood which should start from schools, colleges and universities where teachers and students have to take a lead and do some community work, for example erasing wall chalks, cleaning a neighbourhood, check for any bad traffic lights, check for any broken street lights, check for ditches on roads, where to put the garbage cans and how to use them, number of bus stops in the neighbourhood.

Politics should be completely detached from schools, colleges and universities, because politics in Pakistan has no meaning so it has to stay away from the young generation. Adults can also take the same initiative, like run a campaign on obeying traffic rules, help elders, do some volunteer work with NGOs to built schools and hospitals in villages, arrange work for unemployed, provide awareness to the people. We spend more time protesting foreign countries' issues rather than working on our own.

Nobody has ever come out on the streets to protest a killing of a civilian, to protest bribery, corruption, and other basic issues.

Today after 64 years of independence, we are still sacrificing our lives for the freedom and a clean nation. Action is not small or big, it is the intention that counts.

I'm sure once you start doing it then you will never stop. Make a difference in your life and in the lives of others because Pakistan Needs You!

*www.transparency.org mullah speechwww.pakpositive.com