Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

So-Called Policemen of Society

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So-Called Policemen of Society

A combination of illiteracy, lack of proper religious knowledge and a sense of living in a society with appreciation of external purity and piety are putting so many people in great confusion and frustration. Some people may call this the stupidity or sheer intentional effort of people to earn social respect and badly criticize them but I don’t see it from this angle for every individual. Rather I feel a kind of pity for them. But with this pity feeling, we cannot help feeling sad, disappointed and angry as their deeds are harming so many who listen to them or get inspired from them.

There are many examples in this regard. The most recent is the issue of Valentine’s Day. It is relieving that the situation in our country is not as bad as it is in some other Muslim countries where people talk of killing those who want to celebrate this Western event. It is partly because of a fact that not so many people are aware of this Day and many more don’t give much importance to it. Even then, there are also present those who want to celebrate this day and also those who want to stop them by force. If we look at some of these Muslim countries, we would find the bleak picture of societal conflict. Our neighboring Pakistan is a good example in this regard. With the increasing number of suicide attacks and extremism in almost every city and town of the country, it is feared that soon there would be attacks on those who talk in favor of Valentine’s Day or criticize those who are talking openly against it.

In this regard, I would like to quote some lines from one of the most influential Pakistani scholars and political expert, Hassan Nisar. Hassan Nisar is famous for his bold remarks and sarcastic criticism of hypocrisy and dualism associated with religion and social behaviors. He writes in a couple of Pakistani newspapers and appears in a program on the most famous Pakistani news channel, GEO News. He is also invited from time to time in programs for his expert opinion regarding politics and a number of social issues. On the occasion of recent Valentine’s Day, he wrote in a newspaper that, ‘This is totally a useless debate as Valentine’s Day should be celebrated or not. It is a personal issue of people and it should be left on the discretion of individuals as if they want to celebrate it or not. Here, the most distressing is the attitude of those who try to become self-assigned policemen of society and interfere unnecessarily and awkwardly in the issues of others. They will keep a check on who is wearing what, who is having a romantic affair with whom and things like these. They think that they have a special permission to interfere in the private issues of others and make corrections. On the other hand, they never interfere in issues like corruption, bribery, stealing electricity and others. It would be in best benefit of society if they take interest in social evils instead of personal issues as large number of people are affected by the social evils.’

Intentionally or unintentionally, there are also present similar self-assigned saviors and policemen in our society who feel it their responsibility in interfering in personal issues of others and not giving due respect to personal freedom. But then two questions arise here; first, are they themselves good enough to suggest corrections for others and are they aware of the sensitivity needed for interfering in other’s issues. In our mosque, on every Friday prayers, an old man of a small stature shouts and asks the people to move to the forward lines and not to keep any space between them. This is a good message but his tone, style and selection of words is so rude and careless that many are angry of him and they keep silent due to his old age, otherwise, they could have given a good answer to this man. Similarly, he pushes the children and even teenage boys below the age of 15 to the lines at the back and becomes a reason for making them feel bad about mosque, the prayers and people present in the mosque.

In the same way, we also see in our workplaces a number of people who offer prayers but with this, they acquire the status of a policeman to keep a check as if who is offering the prayers and who is not. He is found to be continually disturbing others for offering prayers and in cases of his inferiors, he even shouts and uses insulting language. In majority of such cases, people are tired of this person and because of him, their good feelings towards prayers have slightly changed.

The same behavior of some so-called social policemen was noticed on the occasion of Valentine’s Day on a number of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and others. They were asking people to stand against this event and had used offensive language against those who talked in favor of Valentine’s Day. Without having a look at the comments in favor of and against this day, it is again unfortunate that number of people in our society are still high who try to intervene in personal issues of others on the name of religion. In a society like ours, where majority of people are dishonest to their jobs and country, it is like making a fun of religion when people of similar characters should try to implement it on others without proper knowledge. In almost all the comments and posts given on internet, a single fact was badly felt that these posts and comments needed more maturity, compassion and better word selection. On the other hand, it is also a helpless situation that trend of imposing good qualities of religion by a bad strategy not only persists but thrives with every passing day. It is a fact that religion and similar gentle thoughts are related with the internal desire of people and none of it can be imposed by force. If we have to make people realize the importance of religion, it is never going to happen by force. We will have to look for better ideas in this regard.

The present shape of Valentine’s Day is not acceptable to our society and religion. Our religion strictly prohibits the open interaction of young couples. But it is also unwise to conceal this issue by force and taking an extreme path to tackle it. If young minds are getting attracted to this Western celebration, a proper and well-planned strategy is needed so that they should realize all the evils associated with this celebration. They should realize that it is for their own good if they keep themselves away from this. With this strategy, we would be sure that no one’s feelings would be hurt and there will not be any need of shouting or scolding others. Such mature strategy of mutual respect and understanding would bring a lasting and wise solution to this problem.

Be it the problem of Valentine’s Day or other, the society should not be left on the mercy of those who think themselves to be so-called protectors of religion. They need to be replaced with wise, educated, mature and well-behaving people.

(Muhammad Rasool Shah works as Academic Coordinator at Barakat Int’l School, Kabul. He can be reached at muhammadrasoolshah@gmail.com)

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