An earnest appeal for peace from Pakistan

I received the following appeal for peace from S. A. Rehman, who gives his address as merely “Pakistan”. I reproduce it here to emphasize that such views are not solitary in that part of the world. Most of us have forgotten that there was a serious non-violent peace movement among the Pushtuns of Pakistan in the last years of the British rule: Khudai Khidmatgar, led by Abdul Gaffar Khan. They lasted for a time into the Pakistan era. [Mukulika Banerjee. 2001. The Pathan Unarmed: Opposition and Memory in the North West Frontier. Santa Fe: SAR Press]

From: S.A.Rehman SUB: OUR RESPONSIBILITY IN REFORMING SOCIETY
Dear Brothers & Sisters,
It Is Not Enough To Be Good; One Must Also Show The Right Path To Others Who Might Otherwise Do Evil. God Almighty brought us into existence, endowed us with millions of blessings, granted us uncountable sorts of eatables, provided us modes of relief, respite and adornment so that we could live a comfortable life. As there is no order greater than that of God, therefore, we should get a complete knowledge of His directives and spend our life according to His will, and should not follow the path forbidden by Him. And we should be grateful to Him every moment for the blessings He has bestowed on us.

You know that to eliminate all kinds of vices from the world and to promote good is the responsibility of every person. Everyone amongst us is a caretaker and is responsible for his subordinates on the Day of Judgment. Rulers will be answerable for the citizens of their state, every family head will be accountable for the members of his family and will be asked as to what he did for their reformation, education and better life. He will be asked as to whether he forbid them from adopting the bad ways, and helped them in leading a pious life or not.

The world history reveals that until the people performed the task of commanding the others to do good and barring them from doing evil, the pious people remained dominant in those societies and there was peace and tranquility and satanic forces were subdued. But, when this collective responsibility was designated only to clerics, and the common people ignored this task, in spite of the efforts of the clerics, waywardness spread quickly. A wave of offenses, terrorism, tyranny, evils, sins, ignorance and anarchy engulfed almost every segment of life. Disorder, commotion and chaos were on the rise in the world society, wrecking the peace of all mankind.

The world is facing disaster upon disaster every day and people are expecting a major catastrophe. The deeds that have been forbidden by God are being committed openly. The evils are increasing, while the virtues are fading out gradually. Tyranny, oppression and carnage are going on, liars and cheats are overcoming. Terrorism, bribery, corruption, evil, nudity, vulgarity and wickedness have assaulted the world. It seems we have reached inferno before the Last Day. History tells us that such a situation arises when people are being cursed by God.

It is feared that members of the previous generations will be accountable for their individual deeds on the Day of Judgment, but present generation will be thrown as a whole into hell after a collective prosecution, because the nobles of this generation remained as silent spectators instead of restraining the Wrongdoers, Terrorists and Separatists from committing, cruelty, sins and misdeeds.

The Divine punishment to an ancient civilization seconds this fear. There were three groups during that period. One was of knaves, the second was of the people who did good deeds but did not halt the disobedient from transgression. The third group was of the people who followed the Divine doctrines as well as restrained others from disobeying them. When God cursed the nation, the people exempted from this torment were those who had been observing the limits fixed by their Master and were stopping others from wrongdoing as well.

There is another but similar happening. The residents of a town had been engulfed by an ocean of sins. However, there was a noble man who was always busy in worshipping God, but he did not bother about persuading others to give up their bad ways. When God ordered the angels to destroy the town, He said: " Overturn the town on the person who was anxious to save himself from the Divine Punishment, but was not endeavoring to save others from it".

I advise the virtuous people of the world that they should not only depend upon their prayers to save themselves from the Divine Punishment; rather they should lead the Evil Doers and followers of Satan who have gone astray, to the right path. They should undertake this task against Evil Doers with full determination. Only then will their virtues and prayers save them from the Divine Punishment.

S.A.Rehman
Peace Activist
PAKISTAN