- in the name of Allah -


Recently I came across this article on BBC about the killer of a Pakistani governor a few years back being hanged for his crime. Two things just really don't sit well with me at all about this. 

1. the look on the killer's face when he is in police custody  
2. the amount of protests happening against his execution

Why does his look bother me? It conveys the smug self-satisfied face of someone proud of what he's done. Does he have something to be proud of? I think absolutely not. Why? Because if I think back to the example of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), all the times he faced and heard criticism from his own tribe and neighbors, how did he react? Did he wish them death and destruction and pray against them? NO. The Messenger (saw) would pray FOR those who opposed him or did him wrong, because he was a MERCY sent for mankind! The actions this killer of the Pakistani governor are not even remotely resembling that of the Sunnah. Yet he, along with his supporters, think he has done something righteous. How more misguided can one be? The Sunnah would not have been to kill the governor but to make dua for him, to engage him in dialogue and discussion, to try and convey a better sense of the religion. It astonishes me to think that the killer and those who support him would advocate for the killing of an unarmed civilian leader who happens to have an opinion they disagree with. Is the better society a "land of Pak" aims to create, one that stifles the opinions of its officials and keeps them in line with a strict status quo? Not even in the slightest. The amount of ignorance on display here is disgusting and repulsive, shameful and without justification. In any just society, there can never be vigilante killings like this, without a trial, without evidences brought forth. It's just unconscionable. How can anyone portray him as a hero? Do they realize the bounds they would overstep in being like this assassin? 

It really is a sign of our times where so many evil actions are disguised as 'for the religion' and regarded as justifiable. This is not the way Muslims as an Ummah can find their way to Allah and expect Him to be pleased with us. Do those who would speak ill of us or our Messenger (saw) or our Rabb, deserve death at our hands or our prayer for their guidance? Islam was not meant to be a vengeance against mankind, it is a mercy and guiding light to separate the right from wrong. Any Muslim who does not understand this, knows little of the religion they think they follow.