Thursday, April 27, 2017

The last laugh

Have you ever watched with anguish the scene in a National Geographic video in which a sweet little antelope is followed by a cackle of bloodthirsty hyenas?

Seems to be the story of our lives these days.

The hyenas have, unfortunately, arrived on our doorstep.  And their only goal is to hurt and insult Mufaddal Moula and mumineen.

Take Mariya Taher, Shaheeda Tavawalla-Kirtane, Insiya Dariwalla, and Aarefa Johari under the Sahiyo umbrella.

Bring in characters such as Masooma Ranalvi, Shabnum Poonawala, Nafisa Pardawala, Farida Ali, Tasneema Ranalvi, Ummul Ranalvi, Zainub Poonawala, Zehra Patwa, Farzana Doctor, Fiza Jha, and Zarine Hashim.

Add to it the likes of Tasneem Raja, Munira Hamza, Maryum Saifee, and Ammar Karimjee and his sister Mariya Karimjee.

Sensing blood, an Isufali Kundawala (a super fan of Taher Fakhruddin bin KQ might I add) has slithered out of the woods with fangs bared to join the feast.

The hypocrisy and ignorance of the World Health Organization on khafz has provided this cast of characters with an excellent way to vent their hatred for Mufaddal Moula.

No, they don’t really care about child welfare or human rights violations. If they did, they would also be decrying child pornography, child abuse, and child abandonment not to mention abortion which results in 700,000 unborn babies legally being put to death in the US every year.

Instead, their goal is to capitalize on the cheap intrigue of sex and the tawdry fascination with female genitalia to gain quick publicity and recognition for themselves.

None of any of this is very surprising.  Didn’t Moulana Taher Saifuddin say that darya ma mauj aaway to su ajab?

But what is ajab is the deafening silence from us, the followers of Mufaddal Moula.  It is easy to chant Labbaika ya Dai Allah in the safety of a waaz majlis where our faith is not being put to the test.  The rubber really hits the road when we must go out into the world and scream it out loud and clear.

And at this very moment we seem to be failing spectacularly.

Our women and young girls are being falsely portrayed as victims of some Islam-sanctioned cruelty.  Anyone can choose to slander Moula where, when, and how they please.  And yet here we are, a coy, muted lot, when the most private of our matters has already become dinner table talk around the world.

It is beside the point that there are countless social media and WhatsApp groups with endless chatter on this subject.  All of our infinite internal discussions are utterly useless if not a single one of us is able to muster the courage to stand up for Moula and for our rights and to call out right from wrong.

The need of the hour is to shout out from the rooftop to the media, to our families, to our friends, to our foes, and to anyone who so much as raises their eyebrows at Moula that

We the Dawoodi Bohras are proud followers of Mufaddal Moula not out of coercion as our enemies dishonestly allege but out of our pure, unrestricted love and devotion for Moula and everything he stands for

All the characters named above are not Dawoodi Bohra, do not represent us, and are deliberately defaming us

Islam is against harm of any kind to all of Allah’s creation

Khafz is an Islamic practice, it is not mutilation, and it is not harmful.

We should also strongly and unequivocally assert the truth that

Mufaddal Moula and we the Dawoodi Bohras are against mutilation in all its forms in accordance with our Islamic faith

The World Health Organization (or any government for that matter) has produced absolutely no data or evidence to show khafz is harmful

Our conformity with the law (that erroneously categorizes khafz as mutilation) is an act of our Islamic duty to be patriotic and to obey the law of the land as taught to us by Mufaddal Moula

Our acceptance of the law does not change our view that the law is unjust, grossly misplaced, infringes on our religious liberties, violates our fundamental human rights, and should be reevaluated.

For the doubters and naysayers, yes I know the current worldview is stacked squarely against us.  But man-made laws and diktats are often prejudiced.  It was not too long ago that Jews in Europe were being killed for their beliefs and in America blacks were asking for the right to drink from the same water fountains as whites.

But truth and justice prevailed in the end.

As Rasulullah(saw) said, haqq is with Ali(as), and that shiato Ali-yin humul faizun.

So to the hyenas out there, snigger away all you want.  The antelope will walk off scot free.  The last laugh will not be yours, Inshallah.

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