Ataturk Children’s Hospital in Kabul on May 13, 2020, witnessed one of the most shameful actions in Human history. A newborn girl, the pretty Amina got gunshot from the so-called terrorists.
Though Amina survives with the effort of the doctors and nurses, she has lost her mother. The terrorist attacks the hospital had killed 17 mothers including her mother. A total of 24 people lost their lives in the incident. I do not know if the world has given much importance to this incident for such kinds of brutal terrorist activities have become the part and parcel of our lives.
However, this incident is important especially because it is a heinous act towards women and those infants whom we, especially in Indian culture, consider being protected by any means. Unfortunately, attacks on children have been considered common especially in Islam where they are considered as mere toys for sex and violence. In a civilized culture, protecting women is considered as the highest virtue or rather a responsibility.
Here people who are behind the brutal attack are men whom we call terrorists. Most of their acts towards humanity are supported by their religious text and often brings the boon of heaven after their death. As you know, Jihad, an act of embracing martyrdom is considered the highest virtue as per this religion though they claim themselves as ‘lovers of peace’. Yet the mainstream Islamic jurisprudence continues to maintain that the so-called “sword verses” have “abrogated, cancelled, and replaced” those verses in the Quran that call for “tolerance, compassion, and peace.”
It is beyond my imagination what goes around in the mind of a terrorist when he does an act so! They believe that the action was done for the sake of God and they are proud to the core too. In other words, these brutal acts are the way of worshipping in Islam. When their holy scripture Quran claims that no other scriptures in the world are true, what else they would follow. This fatal poison is being injected to the veins of every Islam born in a Muslim family, many of them turn radicals and terrorists.
I must say that they are born devils, they want to do evil actions and for the same, they interpret/misinterpret their scriptures to support their own evil doings. Even if someone corrects this, they would simply say that others are ignorant about the religion and doesn’t have the right to correct them too. They believe that there exists only one religion named Islam and only one true scripture named as the Quran.
Anyone seeking support for violence in the name of Allah will find ample support in the passages in the Quran and Hadith that relate to Mohammed’s Medina period. For example, Q4:95 states, “Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home).” Q8:60 advises Muslims “to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know.” Finally, Q9:29 instructs Muslims: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel subdued.”
From domestic violence, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting, violence against women and girls is a serious threat to the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of millions of Muslim women from across the world. However, hardly we hear them speaking about the physical and mental torture they receive from men for often they are silenced at gunpoint. It is shocking to note the following Verse 4:34 in the Qur’an.
_Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband’s] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance – [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand._
Perhaps we are helpless, for any reference against the brutal acts of Islam would be turned as anti-Islamic or that which aids ‘Islamophobia’. Nevertheless, as a human being, we can’t maintain silence but have to raise our voice against this, at least against violence against women and children in the world, because they deserve a world that ensures their safety and also the dignity of their lives. May the beautiful Amina forgive us, may those seventeen mothers who lost their lives pardon us.
As I write this, I have tears on my eyes, for I represent a culture that considers women synonymous to Goddess and protecting them is the highest virtue in our lives. Any act against them has to be condemned!
ॐ द्यौः शान्तिरन्तरिक्षं शान्तिः
पृथिवी शान्तिरापः शान्तिरोषधयः शान्तिः ।
वनस्पतयः शान्तिर्विश्वेदेवाः शान्तिर्ब्रह्म शान्तिः
सर्वं शान्तिः शान्तिरेव शान्तिः सा मा शान्तिरेधि ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om, May there be Peace in Heaven, in the Sky,
on the Earth, in the Water, in the Plants,
in the Trees, in the Gods in the various Worlds, in Brahman,
May there be Peace in All, May there be Peace Indeed within Peace, Giving Me the Peace which Grows within Me,
Om, Peace, Peace, Peace, to all.
Swami Madhava Chaitanya
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