Shuhada and Shahadat

The controversy regarding the Shuhada and Shahadat that has suddenly crept up in the country – thanks to media - is the most unfortunate and I think we should bury the hatchet right here. Ameer JI said something (which he shouldn’t have) and the Army and the general public gave their own point of view. That should be the end of it instead of insisting upon "unconditional apology" and the Ameer sticking on to his own guns. Any further raking up the issue is likely to further widen the chasm in the country which could only spell disaster for us a nation. Who is a Shaheed and who is not, is not for them to decide. As a general belief all soldiers laying their lives for their country and cause are assumed to be shaheed. According to Fiqah there are various (nine) categories of Shaheed.  The best among them being to lay one’s life for Allah.  Even in the Indian army any soldier dying on the front is called Sha heed - irrespective of his being a Muslim or Non-Muslim.  Muhammad Rafi's famous song has become immortal in this context and he is not addressing only the Indian Muslims in it:  

"Watan ki raah me watan ke naujavan shaheed ho 

Pukarate hai ye zamin-o-aasamaan shaheed ho 

Shaheed teri maut hi tere watan ki zindagi 

Tere lahu se jaag uthegi iss chaman ki zindgi"

However, Syed Munawar Hassan should have refrained from giving his opinion on such a sensitive matter and his utterances can only be termed as the most unfortunate, most untimely, immature and thoughtless to the extent of being wreck less on his part.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)