The tragic incident on Thursday
March 19, 2015, when an innocent young woman was brutally killed by an angry
mob in Kabul, has received significant attention both in Kabul and outside
Afghanistan. She was beaten to death and later put on fire for allegedly
burning the Quran, an allegation that turned out to be fallacious upon police
investigation. While the incident itself was extremely tragic and inhumane,
what is even more important is the potential implication it has for the future
of the country as a breeding ground for extremist ideologies.
The incident was shocking in more
ways than can meet the eye. To begin with, the beating of a woman by men in
public flies in the face of the once deeply ingrained Afghan cultural value of relating
to women not just as equals to men, but in fact venerating them above men. A
trivial but culturally significant example from Afghanistan’s “Golden Era” as
late as the 1970s will illustrate the point. What would typically have happened
in a bus full of people as soon as a woman came on board? More likely than not,
more than one man would have vacated his seat to allow the woman to sit down. Even
today, women are not expected to wait at the end of the line at government
offices, at airport check-in or in other public places. After all, Afghanistan
was heir to the same Islamic tradition, in which one wife of the prophet, Bibi
Khadija, was among the richest merchants in 7th century Arabia,
while another wife, Bibi Ayesha, was the greatest narrator of prophetic
knowledge.
Secondly, this incident happened in
broad daylight, in a holy place, in the middle of downtown, and most
importantly in the full sight of several armed Afghan police officers, and thus
is not an act that could be easily swept under the carpet. The footage shows
that the perpetrators included young and old, bearded and clean-shaven,
traditionally-dressed as well as in Western clothes, and even reportedly a few
other women. For the extremists, this is their dream come true that even 14
years after the end of the repressive Taliban regime, people’s mentality is still
as susceptible for their misleading message as ever.
So far this has been abhorrent
enough, but what is even more upsetting is the fact that several people -
apparently progressive, open minded and educated - put their stamps of approval
on these barbaric actions. One example is Dr. Muhammad Ayaz Niazi, who is the
Imam, or religious leader, at the Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque in one of Kabul’s
most well-to-do neighborhoods. In his Friday sermon, the day after the attack,
he justified the barbaric act under the premise that when the sacred is under
attack, one does not have time to check for evidence of the alleged offender’s
mental state. Here, he was referring to media reports that said Farkhunda was
suffering from mental disorders. Later it was revealed that Farkhunda’s father
had said this about her deceased daughter under pressure from the Kabul Police
Chief, because not saying so would have put the family’s life also at risk of
the mobs, against which the police was unwilling or unable to provide
protection. Although Dr. Niazi later attempted to take back his words, his
retraction was too little too late. Instead of apologizing for jumping the gun
before hearing the full story, he, rather contemptuously, assumed people
wouldn’t have paid close attention to his words during the Friday sermon - which
has been broadcast all over social media thanks to technological developments -
and he outrightly denied having justified the act at all.
It is important to notice that almost
all those who condemn this act do so on the basis of the fact that a) Farkhunda
was innocent because she did not in fact burn the Quran, and b) Farkhunda was
in fact a practicing Muslim and a student of theology. One could further ask
the question, although not in Afghanistan without fearing a similar retribution
to the one that Farkhunda faced, “what if Farkhunda had indeed burned the Quran
and that she was not a practicing Muslim. Would the society have then justified
the treatment she received?” If yes, which I fear is the likely answer, we have
a lot to worry about, as this would be even worse than what the Taliban regime
would dictate. One need not be a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence to know that
in Islamic (Sharia) law, even the worst offender has the right to be heard by
someone considered competent enough to make such life and death decisions, not
by ordinary people on the streets, half of whom are almost certainly illiterate,
and also unlikely to be able to read or understand the meaning of the Quran
that they claim to be defending. The same Quran that says killing one innocent
soul is like killing all mankind. If Dr. Niazi is right that one must act right
away when the sacred is under threat, then what is the need for the police or
the judiciary or even the religious verdict of an Islamic scholar, i.e. himself?
Such mentality has enormous ramifications for the enforcement of law and order,
and completely undermines the concepts of a civil society. This is not tolerated
in any modern society and this is not condoned according to Islam, which they
all pretend to be defending.
Every coin has two sides and there
is potentially some light at the end of this dark tunnel too. For example, the
news of this event has already spread rapidly both within Afghanistan and
outside its borders among the Afghan Diaspora through social media. The event
has also received significant media coverage within the country, making
headlines for five consecutive days. Both the attack and Dr. Niazi’s remarks
have been denounced throughout the community. Candle light vigils and mass
demonstrations have taken place across the country, with abundant participation
by members of the civil society and especially women activists. In an
historically unprecedented move, Farkhuda’s funeral was carried only on the
shoulders of women to her final resting place, a culturally and socially
significant act that is traditionally exclusive to men. The demonstrators
gather in thousands and demand not only justice and punishment for the
perpetrators, but also naming the street where the incident took place after
Farkhunda. If successful, this is going to be an historic win for the moderates
in a country often represented by the extremists.
Since we now know what sparked the
violence was an exchange between Farkhunda and a Talisman writer (Ta’weez Nawees),
a superstitious practice traditionally believed to use Quranic verses to heal
illnesses and solve many other problems, the practice has come under closer
scrutiny in the last few days, which has the potential to open people’s eyes to
their false promises, often fake prayers and sometimes hurtful practices. It’s
worth mentioning that this and other similar practices, including all kinds of
sorcery, fortune telling, foretelling and magic, are forbidden as understood by
the majority of Muslims, including Muslims in Afghanistan. However, ironically
enough, the practice is widespread and expanding.
One can only hope that the tide of
good will overbear the potential for darkness to the already grief-stricken and
war-ravaged Afghan society.
On a lighter note, although really far
from light, the poet of Fardin Fakher’s song seems to have hit the nail on the head
by wondering why is it that the world is contemplating about the stars and the
planets and we continue to get murdered in utter ignorance!
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