On 10th September 2020, the Punjab government spokesperson announced that police had arrested twelve men. They are suspected of involvement in the alleged gang-rape and robbery of a mother on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway the day before, when her car stalled, whilst she was travelling with her children. The Muslims erupted in anger on the social media, demanding exemplary punishment for all those responsible. It is horrifyingly clear that the current system, Democracy, is unable to provide security for our daughters and mothers. On 6th September 2020, the burnt corpse of a five-year old girl, Marwah, was found in Karachi on a garbage heap, after her abduction and rape. In January 2018, seven-year old Zainab Ansari was raped and murdered on her way to a Quran class. All too often, the Muslims of Pakistan are shaken by such heinous crimes. Around the world too, Democracy has failed to provide security for women. On 7 September 2020, the world’s biggest democracy, India was shaken after the rape of an eighty-sixyear-old grandmother. As for the global standard bearer of Democracy, the United States, almost one in five women have been raped at some time in their lives.
O Muslims of Pakistan!
In Pakistan and the world over, Democracy has failed to secure mothers and daughters. Democracy has failed because it is a system that sanctifies personal freedom, deeming that the right for sexual gratification must be regulated as little as possible, whether by the law or the state. Democracy has also failed because it relegates religion to the fringes of society and the margins of consideration. It does so even though it is piety for the sake of Allah (swt), accountability before Him (swt) and fear of His (swt) painful punishment in the Aakhira that both controls lusts and prevents oppression of the weak and vulnerable. Thus, instead of the measured regulation of desires and urges,
Democracy has unleashed them in a flood of deviant behavior that angers Allah (swt), including sexual harassment, fornication, adultery and rape.
RasulAllah (saw) said:
“Allah will surely complete this matter (i.e. Islam) such that a traveler from Sana to Hadra-maut will not be afraid of anybody except Allah.” [Bukhari]
It is only through the revival of Islam as a way of life that we will restore the era where a traveler, man or woman, has their honor and possessions protected. As for those who are not restrained from corruption by the atmosphere of Iman that the Khilafah generates through its education, media and social system, they are subjected to exemplary, deterring punishments, ordered by the Khilafah’s judges, who rule by all that Allah (swt) has revealed. Allah (swt) said:
إِنَّمَا جَزَاءُ الَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا أَن يُقَتَّلُوا أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوا أَوْ تُقَطَّعَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُم مِّنْ خِلَافٍ أَوْ يُنفَوْا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزْيٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
“The recompense of those who fight Allah and His messenger, and seek to make corruption in the land, is that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from alternate sides or that they be banished from the land; that is their disgrace in this world and in the Hereafter they will have a great torment.” (Surah al-Maida 5:33).
Indeed the oppression of our vulnerable mothers and daughters is a painful reminder of the urgent need to restore our shield, the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood.
Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan
