The Greater God?

God is Great.

But you doubt it.

That is why

You pick His fights.

Like He needs

Your arms and feet,

Like you can

Save Him from man,

Like He must

Have you for defense,

Tell me then

Who is your God?

The one you save,

Or you the Brave?

For you have been

Like you're Supreme.

But if you are not

To yourself god,

Then stop the call

Of unasked war.

And let Him deal

Then with people.

He won't hesitate

To love what He creates.

So let Him be

What He is- Great.

The Greater Gods
- By Kayenat Hameed Khan

I wrote this poem on 14th of April as the first reaction to the sad incident of Mashal Khan, a student, brutally killed by fellow students in Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan. I had almost forgotten about my Blogspot and i didn't think of uploading it anywhere then. But the previous day i.e. on 25th of April 2016 we arranged a peace walk in our university campus in remembrance of Mahsal Khan. And i thought anything we do to continues to remember Mashal Khan is worth it. So I thought of posting it.
Mashal was accused of blasphemy, and without any confirmation a mass number of students from different political student federations on the same campus, joined hands in killing Mashal. And Killing him was not all. He was shot. And then beaten up to death because the bullet didn't kill him. And when he finally died. They tried to humiliate his body. And then these young men celebrated, under the slogans of Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great), with Mashal's body lying on the floor in front of them The entire incident, the hideous crime this "mob" did, the fact that all the killers were students and those who gave orders are reported to be the teachers of a University is so painful. It sadly reminded me of "Lord of the Flies" when it was talked about during a conversation in my class.
Mashal's death and the manner of his death and the reactions from across the country has been the news flash in the national news channels, even if it was for a few days. The politicians showed full support with Mahsal's family and condemned what happened to him, even if reluctantly. And the people of Pakistan who continue to remember him, remember him not only for what happened to him, but also for "why" it happened to him. They stand for his cause. Mashal was a humanist, he preferred humanity over any difference and celebrated diversities of every sort among humans (anyone who goes through his Social media accounts will agree on this) He spoke against the corruption of university administration. And he spoke publicly against problems students were facing on the campus. Reports, and confessions of those who got arrested in Mashal's case confirm that the university administration gave the orders to the students to take care of Mashal and his friends.
 But the problem doesn't lie there alone. The motivation used to provoke all the students into killing a fellow student so brutally and then celebrating his death, was framed in a religious outfit. And all of a sudden being responsible for taking a life was not a problem anymore. There's this big question mark on the education system in Pakistan where hate speech is very common and normal in the text books. Mashal was not the first case, neither the last case where a human was killed, by more than one person usually, after being accused of blasphemy and before the trial. With in the next few days of lynching of Mashal Khan, three women killed a man in Sialkot and during the interrogation they accused him of blasphemy. The interesting part was when they said the man had committed blasphemy in 2004 but they never got a chance to kill him then. Believing what they said, these ladies had been anticipating about the killing another human being for about thirteen years. This is what a sick mind sounds like. Something more similar to Mashal's case was going to happened in Chitral where a mentally disturbed person was accused of blasphemy. But the religious cleric of the local mosque did not support the mob and tried to stop them, in reaction to which the mob turned against the cleric too. Police was called, and then the army approached to the mob. This is frightening and very disturbing. If incidents like these continue to happen, i don't want to imagine what my country might become in the next few years.
People of Pakistan are frustrated. There is a strong need of putting an end to the hate narrative. Human life, above all differences, should be taught to be valued. Or better, just stop the hate narrative things may fall down in their own places eventually.
A human killed is a life taken, forever. And when it is done deliberately, that is the most unnatural and inhuman thing a human can do to another human. Nothing justifies it. Religions usually do not promote violence except when they're misunderstood and no law justifies lawlessness except when it is abused.
And let's say that blasphemy is really a sin that needs to be punished. Even if it is so, I still have a few questions in my mind. Who are we to judge, punish, or reward anyone based on their relationship with God? If we are trying to punish someone for a sin they did against God, are we trying to do what God is supposed to do, aren't we messing up our own faiths there? Because it has to be either us or Him, both can not be in charge of punishing and rewarding. And if we can punish, can we reward too? And can we punish everyone on the planet that sins against God? The answer may vary to some. But I believe it's humanly impossible for us to do so. That has got to be God's job to punish us for sins.
Crimes are different. They are against society. And society is supposed to have a system where crimes are less likely to occur. Those who commit crimes can be punished because there are laws for it, in every society. And these laws are to make sure that lesser violence is committed by ensuring that those who commit violence or do something criminal are punished.
And even if blasphemy is a sin that needs a human-punishment/ human reaction, Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) gave a very different reaction to incidents that we call blasphemy. My earlier blogs show how the Holy Prophet(peace be upon him) reacted to those who threw trash at him, mocked him, called him names, threw stones at him, tried to kill him, killed his beloved uncle, made it impossible for him to live in his hometown and did worse to him. He forgave people who might have been hanged in our society by now. He prayed for those whom we in our society would have stoned to death. And he treated them with kindness. And in most cases they apologized, changed and accepted Islam. That was the Prophet(pbuh)'s way to deal with people who fit into our definition of blasphemers. Then what we do in the name of defending religion, does the religion justify it? Does religion need defense anyway? And are we in the right position to judge others?