The new is, in the least, sad.
And in the maximum catastrophic. Nothing can be worse than a catastrophe.
A young student was lynched on the Campus of Abdul Wali Khan University by hundreds of fellow university students, over allegations of blasphemy.
No one will agree with lynching. Pure catastrophe. But the question that has to be asked and answered is: How did hundreds of young boys and men lose their mind and got drawn into this kind of rage? And why?
Was it just a rumour? A concocted piece of raw mischief?
Or had the unfortunate victim of lynching, allowed his intellect to wander in the area which in our culture, in our tradition and in our faith is strictly forbidden.
I once had a discussion on blasphemy with a foreign journalist. I remember he was from Daily Telegraph London
“The subject of blasphemy in our faith does not fall in the realm of analysis, or rationalization. You can be an atheist. We don’t care. You can be an agnostic. We don’t care. But keep your mouth shut about our Prophet (PBUH). Once we allowed our ears to listen to and our eyes to read insulting or ridiculing remarks about the Holy Prophet (PBUH), the whole edifice of our Deen— our Faith will crumble. If your digestive system gets upset because of absence of an insult or two of our Prophet (PBUH) better go to the nearest toilet — rather than risk facing the wrath of even as cultured a man as ME.”
The man was intelligent. He got the message. And the message to all intellectual adventurers is loud and clear.