"˜Sacrifice is in the air'

By Amjad Malik

Sacrifice spirit is in the air whilst Muslims of the World are remembering the episode of prophet Ibrahim Khalil Ullah and the obedience of his son Ismail which is celebrated with the similar enthusiasm even after thousands of years. It also entails the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who lay down his life in order to reduce the sufferings and miseries of his disciples and was nailed at a cross by his opponents in command and Jesus left a message of tolerance and forbearance which is remembered by over a billion Christians whilst they celebrate his  birthday on Christmas day on the 25^th December. There is an other sacrifice where around 70 members of a clan fight the invasion of a tyrant and lay down their lives in order to make a political point that right may be a little in numbers but wins in the end, no other than the sacrifice of the Imam Hussain a grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who at no point allowed his family to come in the way of the drive to take his grandfather's religion Islam to the heights of glory. And with that sacrifice the martyrs are remembered with zeal and fervour whilst cursing the Yazeed the oppressor. If we look around similar battles are on going in our surroundings, in our hearts and minds and in the streets all around and this is the time that the message of those sacrifices is remembered and the wisdom of those is appreciated befittingly.

What have we learnt from the sacrifices made by those Prophets as well as their families is noteworthy. Today's man is moving away from the morals and teachings of religion forgetting the lessons projected by those losses and sacrifices where those who laid down their lives for the sake of their cause whether it is Jesus Christ, or Imam Hussain. Irony is that their  followers who are in billions have yet to remember the goodness those episodes preach.  25^th December is the time of quick reminder looking at the whole globe the message brought by those messengers of goodwill, peace and tranquillity to each other and man's rights and responsibilities above than their religious divisions. To Islamic faith your neighbour must not remain hungry whilst you are eating mouth full as well as the message of Christianity about sin of over eating (gluttony) and simplicity and tolerance. If we look around that message is fading away, people are dying every day of hunger in the neighbouring countries of wealthy clans of few and we bothered. Are we concerned that the distribution level of wealth is touching the highest of discriminatory levels and poor is getting poorer and rich is growing richer. In Iraq thousands have died, so as in Afghanistan. Burmese are fighting for their basic rights where as Palestinians are at war with their powerful neighbours despite both believes in the basic human rights whether its Quran or Tenth Commandments. On one hand Hitler in this century killed scores of innocent uninvolved and on the other hand  modern day hitters are searching their victims to slain them on their swords and the message of sacrifice and tolerance and forbearance of those is fading away in those gun shots, tanks and military build ups and invasions.

To me, its very easy to ruin a country with gun power however it is mega difficult to build that country into a peaceful progressive society. As the time of Eid is passing bye and Christmas is in the air I for once am remembering those sacrifices and those detained in Guantanamo Bay without legal advice and representations becoming a victim of torture or those innocent until proven guilty accused who are missing in Europe or Asia and are tortured on the name of War against Terror and the bleak picture of human rights in 21^st century in Pakistan and the detained judges of Pakistan, the incarcerated lawyers and gagged media and missile attacks in northern front of the country which forces me to question the wisdom of today's rulers whether they have learnt any lesson from the struggles of the past for the right cause. I further wish to highlight that the dual between good and bad is a never ending story but history remembers those who make an impact at the time of conflict and try to preach commonsense and keep giving sermons of righteousness and hit the nail aright in order to secure harmony peace and happiness or keep their flags high of their cause despite being in weaker minority against the might. Those who are on right can never be defeated and irony is only the historian decides who was at right by assessing from the scale of repentance afterwards and the support of masses. 

This December when billions are remembering the sacrifices of Ibrahim, Hussain and Jesus Christ, we are right in demanding justice and fair play from the ancient civilisation flag bearers and from the modern super powers that not to forget those sacrifices of their  ancestors for the right cause and their message of peace, goodwill for man kind and tolerance for others and the rulers must try to preserve that message which is far more grater than invading at will. 

Amjad Malik is a Solicitor-Advocate of the Supreme Court  of England

25  December 2007