THE ENEMY OF LOVE AND PEACE:

           LITERATE ILLITERATES

                                 BY JAVED ZAHEER

TORONTO: Love and peace are the two most beautiful words in the dictionary of meaning and mankind. They are, no doubt, the essence of life. Our creation is meant for understanding, protection and promotion of this message. Despite this fact, we witnessed the wrath of The Almighty and destruction of the world several times. Even today the world is burning and turned into hell. The cause of this is none other than the literate illiterates.   

There can be no love and peace in the world, unless there is peace in the mind and love in the heart. The fact is that the minds are full of tension and hearts painful and bleeding. The literate illiterates because of their ego, cunningness, jealousy and vested interests can stoop to any lows and do anything, moral or immoral irrespective, and the victims are innocent people. Yes, suffering they are and left with no choices because of their helplessness.

Amongst the most dangerous literate illiterates are the sold journalists and conscienceless media, shrewd policy makers and the cunning and self-proclaimed community and national leaders. They are responsible for making lives of the innocent people miserable. All they can give is pain, destruction and death. And, unfortunately, they have millions and billions of followers.

The sold journalists and conscienceless media are playing the dirtiest and most deadly role. They are poisoning the minds by propagating lies, distortions and criminal approach and promoting the bad guys.

A very reputable and widely read journal of the South Asian community `The Weekly Voice’, published from Toronto, Canada, in its April 2-8, 2004, issue carried a news item titled `Blame It On The Beard!’ I hope carrying the news item was a judgment error of the editor and such mistake should not be repeated. It will definitely harm the reputation, business and circulation of the journal. You cannot defend the error by putting

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the blame on other newspapers, which published it. This is Canada and not India or Pakistan. I am sure `The Weekly Voice’ respects its readers and their sentiments and would not like to humiliate them in any way.

The news item was not an attack on the beard but in fact it was an attack on the faith and religion of the person or persons. It could not be and should not be taken lightly. It also attempted to pit Muslims against Muslims by discussing about both Pakistani and Indian Muslim players----Inzimamul Haq and Saqlain Mushtaq of Pakistan and Irfan Pathan of India.

 The angling and motive behind the news item is very clear----To target and humiliate Muslims. Today you people are targeting Muslims and tomorrow you will ask the Sikhs or others to change their faith, remove their turban or cap, cut their long hair, shave their beards, etc. We cannot allow you to take the charge of others in your hand. Sorry, Sir. No way. Isn’t it craziness to attack faith of others or promote the message of hate and racism?

             I am sure you must be aware but let me clear the confusion and remind you that Islam teaches and preaches only Love and Peace. The Holy Koran is a Book of Knowledge and Guidance and its Author is The Almighty. Despite all attempts nobody till now has succeeded in distorting it. There are 114 Suras and 6239 Verses in the Holy Koran and millions of people including children and elderly have memorized it by heart. These are miracles of Koran.

 The Holy Koran connects the past, present and the future in an amazing way. It contains message for the whole mankind and is for every free thinking and broadminded human being whose goal is to find the truth. Its study will open before us a new dimension of our role as a human being in this universe. If you find a chance to study this book then you will understand the realities and truth about The Almighty, Mankind and Religion. It contains no negative or hate messages and instead shows us the direction for our success and survival.

This was meant to briefly explain to you about Islam. `The Weekly Voice’ is a very popular and respected journal. It is hoped that this journal and all others will do nothing of the sort, which will harm their reputation and hurt the feeling of the people. They would contribute positively in the interest of the people, particularly protect them from the literate illiterates. This is what the objective of the media should be.

The literate illiterates are common species. They are found in the families as well including near and dear ones and cause a lot of damage to the family structure due to their dirty nature. They are neither welcomed nor respected because of their habits and nature and always considered a potential threat. So it’s our job to remain alert against all such elements----whether in our family or society.