Society - MAHAMAG Magazine beyond boundaries

Islams bringing bad name for Islams themselves : Malala Yusufzai

“Pakistanis complain that there is Islamophobia, keep saying that other countries are tarnishing the name of their country. No one is destroying the image of Pakistan and Islam. We alone are” Malala Yousafzai.

Deeply pained over the lynching of a student from Pakistan for alleged blasphemy, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai said that Pakistanis alone were responsible for sullying the name of Islam and their country.

Mashal Khan, who studied Journalism at the Abdukl Wali Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was mercilessly thrashed and later shot dead by a vigilante mob of students from the same varsity.

According to the police this vigilante group of students suspected Mashal of publishing blasphemous content online and promoting the Ahmadi faith.

They also attacked another mass communications student, Abdullah, who had hidden in the Chairman’s washroom. The mob smashed the office and beat the boy even as he recited verses from the Holy Quran to prove his faith.

Over the last decades, simply accusing someone of blasphemy has proved enough to trigger a vigilante death sentence. Obviously Pakistan has not got to this

situation overnight. A critical point in this path was the 1974 amendment that officially declared the Ahmadi community to be non - Muslim.

This is not just the case of Pakistan, attacks by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh has increased since 2013. These attacks have been largely blamed by extremist groups such as Ansarullah Bangla Team and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

As of 2nd July 2016, a total of 48 people including 20 foreign nationals were killed in such attacks.

Bangladesh has become a dangerous place for anyone who dares to cross an invisible line set by Islamic extremists intent on silencing dissenting voices with knives and guns.

In the last two years, at least eight atheists and gay rights campaigners have been killed in attacks in the majority Muslim country.

Since 2013, and the onset of the Shahbag Movement and its vision of a Bangladesh as a humane and secular nation the killers’ targets have been free thinking and open minded people.

In between all these, there is Malala’s story. The iron hearted girl who fought against the morons who killed their own people.

The 21st century’s most famous school girl, Malala Yousafzai, was shot in the head by Taliban- and survived. Since then she has opened a school for Syrian refugees, taken on the president of Nigeria, and become the youngest recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2009, Malala began secretly blogging for BBC Urdu under an assumed name. In December her identity was revealed and her fame was further fanned by a short film, Class Dismissed, made by the New York Times. With a growing

western platform, Malala continued to speak out for women’s right to education. Along with many other appearances, she was asked twice to participate on Pakistan’s oldest current affairs TV show Capital talk, a show banned by General Musharraf in 2007.

The programme aims to show both sides of selected topics and was hosted by Hamid Mir, who was himself shot six times in 2014. In 2011, Archbishop Desmond Tutu put Malala forward for the International Children’s Peace Prize.

In the same year she won Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize. Accepting the award, she said that she did not belong to any particular political party but wanted to found her own national party to promote education.

A death threat was issued against her on the Taliban’s radio channel. On October 9, 2012, a masked gunman boarded Malala’s school bus and shouted, “Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise I will shoot you all” He then shot Malala three times.

One bullet hit the left side of Malala’s forehead,

herself as a feminist, but she has become the face of an international movement for a better world future.

Recently, she became the youngest person to receive an honorary Canadian citizenship.

It is miserable that Islam’s themselves are not happy with the restrictions imposed upon them in the name of their Religion. But the people who decided to speak up against these useless restrictions got a better life than before – Malala is an example.

Now, Muslims has begun to react against the orthodox thoughts forcibly imposed upon them by the Religion. This proves that the public is not happy with the actions done by certain people in the name religion and also people strongly object Terrorism.

If Pakistan continues to do this kind of activities, it will be a threat for neighboring nations like India. The relationship between India and Pakistan has further worsened after the Uri attack. With

went through her face and lodged near her spine at the shoulder. Two of her friends were also shot. Following the attack, Malala was left critical condition and comatose. She was later flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, which specializes in war injuries.

There Malala received further surgery as well as intensive, specialized rehabilitation. Contrary to opinion, this was paid for by the Pakistan government.

With a plate in her skull and a cochlear implant for her damaged left ear, Malala continues to speak out on the importance of education. Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013, she was awarded the prize in 2014.

As a passionate advocate for Children’s and women’s education, Malala may not describe

this kind of activities they are bringing a bad name for Islam themselves.

From all accounts, including his posts on social media, young Mashal was someone who upheld progressive values, including women’s rights. He was a poet and a thinker and he questioned the mainstream discourse. Is that the crime he has done?

Free thinking is not at all a crime. But questioning ones freedom is a serious crime. Everybody has rights to think freely and live freely. Religions never force us to do something. It is those who practice these religions force others to follow the impractical laws. Not the extremists, those who stood up against them became heroes. History has proved this.

Dear extremists, always keep in mind, ‘slave will never love his master’. Sarika