Let Me Learn From You: Reflections On the Peshawar Tragedy

I remember being beyond tears on 16^th Decemeber 2014. My heart was empty. My mind shut itself because it could not bear to see or hear anything about Peshawar.

In my helplessness now, I am considering just one thing “What can I do? What can we do?” It was so heartwarming to see people coming up with initiatives of vigils and solidarity rallies as proof that humanity really is alive.

But I also know that this warrants something else, something deeper and more permanent. A time will come when we all will be tired of feeling guilty. Human hearts need to heal despite everything. But when that happens, how can we, just this once, channel the amalgam of emotions into a change that can be seen and touched, a change that can be lived in, unlike a change that is only talked about?

The truth is that as much as we blame extremism, as many fingers we point at the killers, we can only bring change once we look to ourselves and see how vulnerable we really are. If we are to argue that ignorance gives birth to religious extremism and intolerance, then how is our ignorance any better? I We think we are better than the terrorists because we are not the ones delivering the killing blows, but what about the discord we create between ourselves that destroys the very fabric of our society? What about men who abuse their wives, believing it is their God-given right to do so? What about families who view daughters as a burden, blaming God for not granting them a son? How can we speak about unity on any level when we barely have good relations with our family and neighbours?

It is not enough to know that ours is a religion that advocates peace in the strongest terms, when we don’t even know or understand the real meaning of peace.

Peace is not the absence of armed conflict. We as a nation claim to want peace, but how can we claim to love it when we create discord amongst ourselves, when we hurt those in ways both subtle and open, just because they may be different from us in any way?

Peace is the Prophet (SAW) entering Makkah after years without any fanfare, without any arrogant pride of a conqueror but with his head bowed. Peace is The Prophet (SAW) visting an old sick woman who used to throw rubbish on him. Peace is him (SAW) joining a passing funeral of a stranger and when being told that the departed was a Jewish woman, simply responding, “Was she not human?”. Peace is how the Prophet (SAW) loved children, how he opened his home and heart for a lonely orphan boy. Peace is the Prohet (SAW), telling his followers, “A true Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims stay safe”

Malcolm X said, “America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem” He was speaking for a different nation and a different issue. However, today I say the same for myself and for my country. We need to understand our religion. We need to take responsibility for our beliefs. Our knowledge is the greatest weapon we can have against extremism. We need to understand the meaning of Peace.

My dear children of heaven, let me ride with you, let me walk with you, let me learn from you! Let me learn, that while you were slaughtered in the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficent, your killers were the actual victims for they lost their souls while you triumphed over them.