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am staring in bewilderment at the burnt corpses of the innocent
little twin brothers....
The Divine Power has His own scheme of providing or withholding
offspring, which is without doubt a wisdom-based system. Some
yearning arms remain empty forever; some are given boys, some
girls, and others both. It is another debate that a Mu'min
should have firm belief in destiny, but the desire for boys
is ingrained in the human breast. One can of course pray,
or even wish, but not act in any way that would anger the
Decider of male or female. One hears of couples that get out
of their minds in their wish for a male child, are again and
again swindled by doctors, hakims, quacks, so-called magicians,
but even then never give up hope. Even their trials and tribulations
fail to lead them to the sweet satisfaction of bowing to Allah’s
will. The acquisition of a son seems to them the greatest
gratification and the solution to all problems. Man faces
problems and his nature makes him believe that if this problem
were solved he would be happy and content with no other worries
or desires to bother him; the second, third, fourth problem
leads him through the same feelings and he, designating it
the last one runs to solve it like a mad man. Problems keep
getting worked out but his madness instead of being satiated
gains new heights...the desire for sons is one such desire
that maddens those who are not aware of daughters being a
mercy and dissatisfied with destiny.
But you would rarely have heard a tragedy so sad, that a mother
burnt her lovely innocent children with her own hands. But
we, who are gradually becoming the heirs of the practical,
moral, and social waywardness; immoralities, excesses, lawlessness,
and corruption of bygone nations; are finding such shocking
and heartless acts recurring incidence. A number of unmarried
mothers do such a thing to cover their black deeds, but the
little twins I am talking about were the legitimate children
of their mother. The little angels were not given up to lashing
flames by any other than their own mother who wrapped them
in a blanket, poured kerosene over them and struck a match.
The mother who is a shade of love, a sea of affection, a tower
of greatness, a fortress of adoration, a sign of heaven, the
most beautiful gift of nature, a sweet gentle breeze.........the
mother who gives up her warm and dry bed to her wet child,
becomes a shield in troubled times, provides coolness in the
harshness of the world...no one can even imagine how a mother
who conjures up the music of falling water, the coolness of
stars, and the fragrance of flowers could throw to flames
her own flesh and blood? Imagine it or not but it is the truth.
This did happen at the hands of a mother in the cultured metropolis
of Karachi. A woman named Zahra, laying aside family traditions,
honor and shame, married a handsome, well-dressed, eloquent
man of her choice.
The print and electronic media have afflicted our sisters
and daughters with the disease of idealism. A number of them
knock around on roads, parks, markets, clubs, parties, colleges,
and universities looking about for their ideals. A few meetings
and outward get up are enough to decide them on their “life
partners”, putting aside family background and practical
and moral drawbacks. The parents are taken aback by their
daughter’s imprudence; they beg and cry, try to frighten
her with pictures of future unfaithfulness, with the dishonor
among the family...but she hardly cares and rejects all appeals
labeling them narrow-minded social hurdles; her enemy, and
God knows what. She stands fast on her decision because this
is what she has learnt from digests and tele dramas.
The first few months go by in a dream and she proudly shows
off her love and laughs at the “frights” given
her by her family and relatives. Then the rosy tints fade
and life faces her in all its crudeness, then she starts lamenting
her decision. The well-dressed, handsome, loving man she had
married starts to change. The outer shell sheds and out comes
a frightening, hard, loathsome character. The sentimental,
unwise girl who spurned the love of her parents, the sincerity
of here siblings, and the concern of relatives becomes frightened.
She feels alone in a place where beasts abound and there is
no sympathetic hand to help her out.
And when she is left all on her own with that piece of paper
with “divorce” written on it, she is either compelled
to sell herself or hide her face and beg on roads, or give
up her life, or...like Zahra, burn the beautiful pictures
she herself created. Countless Zahras are regretful of their
decisions after emerging from their intoxication and deceitful
pride...but this regret is of no use.
Come to think of it, this regret should also encompass the
parents who never question their daughter’s freedom,
licentiousness, mixing with the opposite sex, going alone
in parties, making boy friends...but when their honor is at
stake, they shake the sky with their cries.
This regret should also be shared by the untruthful flag bearers
of women’s rights who encourage young girls to elope
and stand against Islamic traditions and who then present
such cases as models for others to follow.
This regret should also be shared by those reformers who have
become negligent of their duty of social reform in their pursuit
of unnecessary debates, indulgence, and desire for wealth.
It is the result of their negligence that has resulted in
the meaninglessness of shame and honor; that has made fornication
easy and marriage difficult, that has advanced dowry and countless
other meaningless customs that has made the easiest of the
Sunnah of Rasoolullah (salallahu alaihi wasallam) the most
difficult.
Until and unless there is a restraint on the free mixing of
the sexes, until the importance of chastity and modesty are
impressed in hearts, until reformers play their roles in society,
unless marriage is freed from unnecessary, self-made, and
ignorant customs, emotionally unstable “Zahras”
will continue revolting against their families; temporary
bonds will continue to bind; shells will continue to break;
bitterness will continue to raise its head; homes based on
lust will continue to break; divorces will continue to proceed;
regrets will continue to be wept over.......but there will
be nothing left except burnt bodies, cracking bones, blackened
corpses, news reports and lamenting newspaper columns!
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