In Lalmonirhat, a young man was beaten to death by a mob on rumour of insulting the Holy Quran and later his body was set on fire. It is difficult to say for sure from the reports in the newspapers how the incident started. However, as far as is understood, the young man along with one of his companions performed Asr prayer in a mosque there. After the prayer, he had an argument with the servant of the mosque about something. Some worshipers found his behavior offensive and beat him. A UP member rescued him and kept him at the UP office in order to hand him over to the law enforcement agencies. Someone also informed the local administration and police officials. But, some people propagated this incident in the area. Hundreds to thousands of people gathered and snatched the man from the police and beat him to death.
If this account of the incident is true, it is clear that the unfortunate young man was beaten by a mob, where the local people’s representatives, the administration and the police force became helpless in the face of their frenzy. Did the police force have a scope to use some force? Maybe there was. But in doing so, it is difficult to say for sure that the incident would not have taken a more horrific form. It is possible that there were more casualties in the police-mob clashes.
A man died prematurely after being brutally beaten by a group of fanatics. It is not uncommon in this country to lose one’s life in this way on various charges. You will find in the near or distant past the stories of many innocent or criminal people who lost their lives in this way on different charges like child-lifting, pickpocketing, theft-robbery-snatching, eve-teasing, etc. Here a few overzealous people start the event to present themselves as very active guys, some people fuel it and others jump into the fray with excitement. Things happen like a magic in the blink of an eye so that no one can have any control. Yes, if law enforcement is present at the scene at that very moment, they might be able to use their experience and tactics to control the incident by applying some force.
Such incidents kept happening in the country. In this way, many innocent children of Adam have been brutally killed in an extremely helpless state. But, there should be a resolution to the issue. If you think about it in a cold head, you will see in many instances, these things happen all of a sudden; in most cases, no pre-plan works behind it. But, there are still points to ponder. Even if a man is a criminal, does it fall by any means into the standards of civilization to attack, kick and beat him at random until he dies? Such barbaric behavior is happening everywhere in cities, towns and villages. Where not? Doesn’t that prove that ethnically we are at a much lower level of civilization? Can any of us avoid the responsibility of this barbarism? Doesn’t this show that we have not been able to teach our society as a whole that no one could be attacked in this way?
The people of this country are very religious. Allah, His Messenger (peace be upon him) and the Holy Quran – all these are very sensitive issues for the people of this country. They cannot tolerate the slightest disrespect or humiliation to them. All these are absolutely true; there is no room for disagreement. But we need to have a look at what Allah and His Messenger taught in this regard. The incident is under investigation. What really happened the other day can only come out through a proper investigation. But, even if it’s assumed for the sake of argument that the young man insulted the Qur’an, does the teachings of Islam permit beating him to death? If you have read the Holy Qur’an even a little bit and understood its essence, you will find the opposite teaching in every line of the Qur’an. As an example, I am quoting here a few verses from the Holy Qur’an: “The (true) servants of the Most Compassionate walk humbly on the ground. And when ignorant people address them, they respond saying: Peace.” (Al-Qur’an 25:63). “Those (the pious) who spend (in the cause of Allah) in prosperity and adversity (i.e., in all the circumstances), control anger, and forgive people. Allah loves such doers of good (to others).” (Al-Qur’an 3:134). “If anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or for (the crime of) spreading mischief on earth – it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind. (Al-Qur’an 5:32).
Let us see now what the life of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) instructs us. Opponents have inflicted indescribable hardships on the Prophet (peace be upon him) since the beginning of the spread of Islam, but he has always prayed for them, ‘may Allah grant them guidance!’. He has always been in favor of peace, because he knew that if the environment was peaceful, the appeal of Islam would reach the people effortlessly and that was enough for the spread and victory of Islam. For this reason, he signed the treaty of Hudaybiyyah with his opponents on seemingly insulting terms, despite the dissatisfaction of his companions. As a result, the message of Islam spread quickly due to the peaceful environment. He was the victim of the most severe torture in his life during his visit to Ta’if. Lo! he did not curse the torturers! After the conquest of Mecca, he forgave all those who had persecuted him so much, forcing him to leave the country, and did not feel the need to take revenge on anyone. O Muslim! This is the guidance of Allah and His Messenger. Would you just think, does what we have done in the name of protecting the dignity of the Qur’an goes along with this teaching by even slightest margin?
We have thousands of mosques and madrasas scattered all over the country. Islamic scholars have a profound effect on the commoners. They listen to the sermons of the Islamic scholars and pay special homage to them. At some or other point in the year, Islamic conferences, sirat mahfils, tafsir mahfils etc. are organized in almost all parts of the country, where a large number of devout people gather. To my knowledge, with few exceptions, the majority of the country’s Islamic scholars are peace-loving. They present the sublime teachings of Islam to the people in simple language with the help of the verses of Quran and Hadith in their sermons. How can religious devotees behave in such a barbaric manner in such a country? Do they seem to have received this teaching that it is not protecting the dignity of Islam, rather sending the wrong message about Islam? Who is responsible for this failure? The government, the administration, the people’s representatives or the civil society do have their responsibility here, but since the question is generally related to the correct spirit and perception of Islam, does not the main responsibility fall on the Islamic scholars to explain it to them?
(Dr Mohammad Didare Alam Muhsin is Professor of Pharmacy, Jahangirnagar University).
