| Sa’saa’
bin Najiya radhiallahu ta’ala ‘anh was a
Companion of Rasoolullah (sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam).
He was a famous poet and the grandfather of the renowned
apprentice of Hazrat ‘Ali (radhiallahu ta`ala
`anhu), “Farzdaq”. He recounted to Rasoolullah
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam) that while in the
days of Ignorance he had had the privilege of saving
the lives of 360 girls. When ever he got news that some
man had had a baby daughter whom he wanted to bury alive,
he would save the child by giving him two fertile she-camels
and a male camel in return for her life. He then asked
Rasoolullah (sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam) whether
such conduct (done as a non-believer) was of any use
to him.
Rasoolullah (sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam) replied,
“Sa’saa’ is it not enough that Allah
caused you to accept Islam?” Is it little return
for your goodness that you were given the light of Imaan
to brighten your breast?
There was another servant of Nabi-e-Rahmat sallallahu
‘alaihe wassallam, Qays bin ‘Asim Tamimi
(radhiallahu ta`ala `anhu). Most of his life was spent
as a mushrik and he only had the honor of becoming the
Companion of Rasoolullah (sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam)
in his later years. Once in the presence of Rasoolullah
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam) he was forced to
confess, “I have strangled eight baby girls with
my own hands.” Rasoolullah (sallallahu ‘alaihe
wassallam) ordered him, “Free eight slaves in
expiation for each girl.” He said that he did
not have slaves but he did possess camels. Rasoolullah
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam) ordered to give
eight camels away as compensation.
Kabirah bint Abu Sufyan was a mother…….a
mother who buried alive her four daughters. Rasoolullah
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam) ordered her to
free four slaves.
Not only Kabirah bint Abu Sufyan but other mothers too
were guilty of this heart rending sin. Hazrat Ibn-e-’Abbas
(radhiallahu ta`ala `anhu) narrates, “In the says
of Ignorance, whenever a mother was about to give birth,
she used to sit beside a hole (in the ground). If the
newborn was a girl she was buried in it there and then.”
The Quran describes the scene in a strange and compelling
way…. When they were informed of receiving a daughter
their faces grew black with the thought of their ill-luck
and misfortune, their hearts burst with sorrow, they
tried to avoid people for the shame they had gained
by becoming the fathers of daughters. At that moment
they would plan ways to bury alive the small, innocent
little baby girls. The Quran underlines the cruelty
extended to daughters in the days of Ignorance,
“And when the girl buried alive will
be asked which sin was the reason of her murder?”
Had she been a nuisance to someone? Had she been the
cause of misery? Had she murdered someone? What crime
had she been guilty of that she was thus disposed of?
This question will not only be asked of those callous,
idol-worshipping, hard-hearted parents of the days of
Ignorance, but this question will be asked too of the
innocent sisters and daughters, who are crucified on
the cross of “Karo kari” by heartless and
cruel brothers, fathers, and husbands of these days
of “Enlightenment”.
Some of our readers might possibly find these words
a bit strong for they have it in their minds that “karo
kari” means the adulterer and the adulteress who
justify being stoned to death. All our readers are not
aware of the secret atrocities that take place under
cover of “karo kari’ in rural and tribal
communities……it may be personal revenge,
usurping inheritances, blackmailing for the hand of
innocent daughters or sisters.
It is to foil such foul designs that Islam has not allowed
the execution of Islamic Law on an individual basis,
either by a person or group, even though they are highly
respectable and honorable. An Islamic government of
an Islamic state holds the right to mete out Islamic
Laws and then only after thorough investigation of the
case and looking into the social and moral character
of the witnesses. If there is any doubt at any point,
the Islamic ruling will not be implemented.
In our country the opposite is true. A single person
makes himself the claimant, the judge, the jury, and
the executer all rolled in one. No witnesses, no investigation,
no questioning or cross-examination, no probabilities,
no waiting. The Islamic Law annuls the punishment due
to scarcity of evidence or any doubt; here, it becomes
obligatory to punish on a glimmer of doubt…………breaking
the Shari`ah at every step, treading the Islamic Laws
under their feet.
Consider: Hazrat Halal bin Umayyah is a Companion of
Rasoolullah (sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam). He
comes to him and says, “Ya Rasoolullah! I have
seen my wife with another man with my own eyes.”
But what does Nabi-e-Kareem say? Not to go and cut the
virtueless woman’s head off! What does he say
but this, “O Halal! Either present four witnesses
to your claim or you will be punished for slander.”
Halal bin Umayyah says, “I swear by Him who has
sent you with right! I am true in what I say and I am
hopeful that Allah Ta’ala will send some command
that will absolve my back of the punishment”
This conversation is going on when Jibraeel Ameen descends
with the verses of “Li’aan”. (The
details of Li’aan can be seen in books of jurisprudence.)
When the verses for Li’aan arrived, that stipulated
four witnesses for the evidence of the crime, Sa’ad
bin ‘Ubadah from the Helpers (Ansaar) exclaimed,
“Ya Rasoolullah! I swear by Allah that if I see
my wife with a man I will cut her head off instead of
gathering four witnesses.” Hearing him Rasoolullah
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam) turned to the rest
of the Companions present and said, “Do you wonder
at Sa’ad’s honor, when I am more honorable
than him, and Allah more so than me.”
He sallallahu ‘alaihe wassallam meant that honor
does not mean to take the law in your own hands, but
honor means to bow your head to the commands of Allah
Ta’ala for this will protect your honor. Without
doubt none of His commands lack wisdom. If “Honor
killing” had been allowed, God knows how many
“dishonorable killings” there might have
been, covered up as the former. This can be clearly
illustrated in this custom of karo kari. The countless
“honorables” who have illicit relationships
with more than one whore at a time and whose drawing
rooms are dance floors for mujras, keep their sisters
and daughters unmarried for fear of dividing the inheritance.
Some “marry” them with the Quran, some are
tied in the chains of “watto satta”, (marrying
a brother and sister to another pair of siblings). The
amazing thing is the very people who are the authors
of cruelty in their villages and tribes are the very
ones who give stirring speeches on women’s rights
in cities, assemblies, and conferences and put the blame
of oppression and repression of women at the door of
Islam and the Islamic Laws. I am a personal witness
of this hypocrisy and dual policy.
Many of my close relatives live in rural Sindh. I often
visited them in my student days. Near their village
was another village belonging to the famous “Shah
Khandan” which my relatives frequented. They told
me that the sisters of the Shah’s were getting
past their prime with no future marriage prospects either.
The reason being that marriages were traditionally done
as “watto satta”, but their brothers had
obtained foreign wives and so no one in the family was
ready to take the sisters in marriage.
These silent middle aged sisters were now suffering
from various illnesses but unable to communicate their
distress to anyone. I know as a fact that even today
there are representatives of the same family in the
Sindh Assembly who is in the forefront of marketing
women’s rights, but there is a thick veil of politics
and status covering the cruelty being carried out in
their own homes on their own sisters.
This is not the story of one family, no, there are hundreds
of such families who are not what they seem to be. They
are guilty of cruelty themselves while raging in their
speeches against it, they give new blood to this custom
of karo kari while proclaiming themselves the biggest
challengers of such cruelty. There is no dearth either,
of people who speak against karo kari but with it disparage
Islamic Laws too and demand their termination or at
least some “suitable” changes.
As if they think that the Islamic Laws are some man
invented tribal tradition like karo kari that can be
pressed into termination or changed according to whim.
They should keep in mind, whatever the circumstances
or desires; Islamic Laws can neither be annulled nor
changed in the slightest degree. If insistence on institution
and execution of outrageous tribal customs is cruelty,
then demanding to change or invalidating Islamic Law
is also cruelty……….a cruelty that
is a cut above the rest!!
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