Recently, when sitting with friends and other Pakistanis at a gathering in Montreal, Canada, a heated debate started over Jewish conspiracies against Islam and Pakistan. The Pakistanis were quite interested in talking politics, particularly in the context of USA, Afghanistan, and the past history of Islamic rulers, who have been blessed with unwritten hagiographies glorifying their remarkable rule.
The participants, sitting in a well furnished drawing room, framed with calligraphy and numerous photos of holy places in Saudi Arabia, began speaking to me of Jewish conspiracies. From loud and animated voices I learned that Jews do not want Pakistan to be prosperous as it is the only country created in the name of Islam. I put forward my questions in return. And to every question replies bounced back in anger. A sample: Jews have created Ahmadiyya sect, the NRO was the product of Jews, the Jews have infiltrated the political party of Prime Minister Nawaz Shareef and do not allow operation against MQM; MQM is itself run by Jews; Nawaz Shareef has no choice but to increase inflation on the dictates of powerful international Jewry; and that the drone attacks striking Pakistan stem from bad Jewish intentions.
After listening to a barrage of conspiracies and diatribe against Jews, we went for dinner.
Friends took me to a burger shop of ‘Schwartz’, where the word ‘Kosher’ was displayed. Beef Burger was ordered. As I did not know the meaning of the word kosher, I asked friends whether the burger is ‘Halal’? The friends replied in chorus that burger is Halal. I asked them whether the shop belonged to a Muslim owner. They replied no, and that it is the famous Jewish food chain and kosher means Halal.
This was very surprising to me. For at least three hours I had heard about the numerous conspiracies of Jews against the Muslims of the world. With an irritated voice I said that this selling of Halal food also sounded like a Jewish conspiracy. Big laughter echoed in the burger shop.
One person advised me: ‘O’ Baseer do not look conspiracies in everything. Leave this bad habit.”
Prior to my visit Canada, I had the impression that since a large number of Pakistanis had migrated to different parts of Canada, I would be able to listen to views different from what the Pakistani media and political parties generally force upon the local population. However, I found that the majority of Pakistanis in Canada were even more conservative than those living in Pakistan.
Through the numerous discussions I had, I was able to learn that the three most important concerns for most Pakistanis in Canada and also in USA are; 1) Jews (every bad thing in Pakistan has a Jew behind it) 2) Ahmadis, and 3) the rights of gays and lesbians.
There are a good—and growing—number of mosques in North America. Fundamentalist Muslim leaders have found a good place to settle and feel at home, provoking Pakistani expatriates to contribute to Jihad for the implementation of shariah in the country. In one wedding, a Pesh Imam (prayer leader of a famous mosque) was invited to conduct the ceremony in accordance with Islamic ways. He did. However he took a long time to deliver his speech, which I don’t think is in Islam. He delivered a speech full of sermons on how a bride has to follow her husband’s instructions and how the husband has every right in this regard.
The Pesh Imam went on to state that before marriage if the bride and groom have any type of relationship it is un-Islamic (haram). His clear message was that if they have a love affair and met publicly, these were all haram. Titters and hushed laughter rippled back from the audience, as every person knew of the long love affair of the couple.
The Pesh Imam was good friend of the father of bride.
In another meeting with friends and some Pakistanis in Toronto, the issue of jihad became subject to discussion. The jihad discussion went from its basis in the madressas (Muslim seminaries), their curriculum, the hate messages against opposite sects of Islam, production of suicide attackers, and, of course, the sexual abuse of children in the seminaries. The discussants were much more interested in talking about the sexual abuse of budding Muslim fundamentalists or the homosexual stories of Muslim/mosque leaders. Some shared their experiences of youth where they were eye witness to young poverty ridden students being groped and molested by their madressa teachers and some have referred to the stories published in newspapers about sexual assaults in small towns of different provinces.
Everybody was very excited to exchange such stories and make jokes. Suddenly, a pious Muslim said that in his mosque a gay person came and delivered a lecture about Islam, though he was not there at that time. Being a member of the management committee of the Masjid, when he came to know about such an incident he became angry and ordered the cleaning of the mosque. Silence gripped our joyful discussion. Everyone felt he did something wrong, and tried hard to change the topic, as the pious man had soured the mood.
I broke the silence by asking a question that when the Pesh Imam was present at that moment why they not stopped the ‘gay’ person. There was no clear answer, save that it was not wanted that the not mosque become a battle ground. My next question was very irritating to the group. It was about the purity of Pesh Imams, as they are educated from Madressas, where, as we had already discussed, homosexuality is common.
Again, I was made a target, with everyone explaining the positions of their own mosques and their Pesh Imams, but not refuting my allegation that Pesh Imams were from madressas, and not quite refuting how a good number of Pesh Imams would have been spared of such acts of molestation and sexual abuse when they were recruited at a young age. One friend, in a very angry voice, questioned me that ‘you mean we are offering prayers (Namaz) behind gay people and that gays are leading our five prayers every day’?
I simply replied that this is not my conclusion, however, according to your stories and evidences it is apparent that that madressas are producing most Pesh Imams and that there is a endemic practice of child sexual abuse in the madressa, and that, therefore, there must be some truth behind the assertion that not in all but in a sizeable number of mosques Pesh Imams were abused as children and / or gay themselves. It also stood to reason to question whether our prayers were justified if we were following them in Namaz for five times a day.
The participants finally said to me: “Baseer be positive. You always see the dark aspect of things”.
Harsh remarks were uttered against me, such as ‘infidel’, ‘apostate’, and ‘communist’. Some labeled me a blasphemer. Thanks to Allah, they could not go through with the act, as I was in Canada, where there is a strong rule of law, freedom of speech, and the state provides protection and security to every citizen.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and met many interesting and intelligent people. Sometimes when people leave their homes for a foreign land they quickly give up their cultural heritage and this was not the case with the vast majority of Pakistanis that I met. However, I could not help but feel that their belief that the Jews were behind all the evils of the world was somewhat misplaced. There was also a degree of hypocrisy in their attitude towards gays especially considering the very real possibility that many of their Imams are gay. It was also sad and troubling for me to learn that the mosques were being used, as they are in Pakistan, to raise money for Jihad and I saw that as a betrayal of the country which had given them a home.
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