A couple of weeks ago, social media burst with the news of a
video of Junaid Jamshed where he insulted the wife (Hazrat Ayesha) of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In this video, Junaid Jamshed insulted Hazrat Ayesha,
trying to prove a point about how women are flawed and defected.
As soon as the video went viral and people started hurling
abuses at him for giving such insulting remarks to the wife of the most revered
Prophet in Islam, Jamshed made a video, apologizing for his remarks, and
claimed that he is a flawed human, and that since he gives lectures thrice a
day, a mistake of this caliber was bound to happen. The video captures him
putting his hands in front of people, crying, and begging them to forgive him
for committing such a horrifying mistake.
While, most of the people believed Jamshed’s apology and
forgave him for the video, I believe otherwise. I believe that he does not get
to make such a horrendous mistake and then get away with it just by making a
video, with tears streaming down his face. I will not even talk about whether
he bothered to ask forgiveness from Allah, because that is a matter which will
remain between the two of them. However, does him being a popular figure mean
that he is exempt from all the sins he commits, just by making a video? Why
then were the other accused persons not allowed a chance to spare a few minutes and
make a similar video? Why was Asia bibi imprisoned and not given a chance to
defend herself? All the accused would have been either alive or free, living
their life normally instead of rotting in jail for Section 295-C which claims: Whoever
by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any
imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or
indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be
liable to fine.
This does not in any way mean that
I support the blasphemy case that has been filed against Jamshed. He has
lowered the status of women in Islam, even though they are given a much higher
status. He tends to degrade them instead of dignifying them. However, all of
that aside, my question is this – why is the blasphemy law not equal for
everyone? Why are people defending Jamshed, and where were they when all the
others were being accused and killed for blasphemy? Why were those perpetrators
never caught?
Jamshed has been known to flee
Pakistan to United Kingdom soon after the blasphemous video went viral. No one
will admit this but everyone knows that he is not coming back anytime soon, not
until this case is closed, not until his own fellow citizens forgive him, and
most importantly, not until everyone forgets about this and finds somebody else
to blame everything on. It does make me think that he is lucky he has the money
and resources to fly away to another country, while Asia bibi, who was also
accused of blasphemy and was arrested and imprisoned, had nowhere to escape to.
The blasphemy laws, giving the
right in the hands of man, to hand out a death sentence or a life imprisonment
penalty, have given liberty to many a people to accuse their enemies of
blasphemy, thereby allowing them to punish them for crimes they might not even
have committed. While our country is called the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
these laws are in no way Islamic and they need to be removed if the citizens of
Pakistan are to live their life in peace.
Well said!
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