A New Identity

This Saturday February 28th of 2004 another suicide attacker blew himself up in a Shiite Muslim mosque in a city near Pakistan’s capital. The other night at a party a friend claimed, "I do believe in a secular Pakistan" I understood because my friend, Askari, was after all a Shiite Muslim.

Askari had come to the United States because he knew what it was like to be a religious minority in Islamic Pakistan. He knew of the terror when you entered an Imam Bargah. Ironically, in response to the attacks against Shiites the Imams around the country were demanding a stronger allegiance to the one thing that made Shiites targets of Sunni Islamists: their faith. Askari felt he ought to support a secular country precisely because he was a Shiite. But what would Askari do if the Ayatollah in Iran asked him to wage Jihad against Pakistan? Would he then betray his country?

This is the question I pose to every religious person. What is more important being a Pakistani or being a religious person? What if your religion demanded that you wage war against your country would you do it? Islamist parties are already engaging in sabotage and subterfuge and assassination attempts because their faith demands that they betray their host country and convert it into an Islamic country. If you were a Christian and the Pope asked you to attack all abortion clinics would you kill doctors and the homosexual? If you were a pan-Islamic Muslim would you betray your country’s secrets to Libya or Iran or North Korea?

I proposed this question to some Islamic fanatics who were going to attend an Islamic conference in New York and they answered, "What has your country ever done for you? Think big brother in Islam!" They made me think of Independence Day. I could see the flags we painted on walls. I could see my aunt making homemade gum so she may put paper flags on sticks.

Then there was the point where religion seeped into patriotism. I could see our Imam say during Jummah Khutbah , "We will make this country Islamic, we will snatch the milk from our babies if it can make one bullet for Islam ". I remember reading about Anwar Sadaat and his assassination by the Islamic brotherhood. I remember reading about the Catholic universities where students cheered September 11 and demanded the installation of a Catholic King. Would you betray your country in the service of your religion?

But what was I ? Was I a Muslim first ? or a Pakistani ? I remember the Jamaat Islami inform me that everyone was born a Muslim. Was I born a Muslim? Or was I born a Pakistani? Or was I born a human being? Consider the following identities written in order of priority (from high to low):

- Human being
- Citizen.
- Familial or ethnic loyalty.
- Religious identity.

Perhaps as a religious person you will be offended by this prioritization but pit the identities against the others and see which one wins in your eyes. Take your identity as a human being for example. If two human beings were dying and you could give water to just one who would you give the water to? Will you deny water to a man who does not believe in Allah or Christ? How about the next identity as a citizen? Will you judge people by the passport they carry or will you ask the dying men what tribe or family they belonged to? In my eyes an admirable human being will overlook nationality, creed, religion and ethnicity to treat all people as human beings.

Now take your familial or tribal loyalty. Suppose your religious leader asked you to kill your uncle, your father and your brothers simply because they had refused to believe, would you do it? The Prophet Mohammad asked Muslims to do this exact same thing in order to prove their loyalty and to test their "faith". The Imams ask the same of their worshipers just like God tested Abraham by asking him to slaughter his son. Would you attempt to slaughter your blood because that is what God demands of you ? In Islam the word of Allah and his Messenger (as understood by the Imam) is above the pleas of your brothers and sisters, your father and your mother. Would you kill your mother if you began to believe in someone’s interpretation of religion demanded that demanded it?

But how loyal must you be to your family? Where do you draw the line ? Would you draw the line if you found out that your brother was the Unabomber? Ted kaczynski’s brother did. Supposing you were interviewing for a job would you make your hiring decisions along family lines ? Or would you hire that person because they were the same ethnicity or would you engage in nepotism by hiring your cousin?

You were not born Muslims or Christians or Jews. You were born human beings. They uttered the religious creed in your ear and mutilated your genitals and asked you to ignore your passport and assassinate the leaders of your country and obey religious men half way acrossthe world.

What if you said, "What I say to my God is my business and I shall not harm my family, I shall not injure my country nor any human being just because my religion commands me, I will cherish my family and my country and my humanity above my religion"? What if you said "I will not engage in nepotism nor give preference to my family over my fellow countrymen because I believe in merit and equal opportunity?" What if you said "I will hold my country dear to me but I will also strive for the progress of all humanity"

Wouldn’t that be nice?