UNVEILING OF STATUE OF MR. JINNAH
We respect our Armed forces of Pakistan and this piece of writing does not encourage anyone to go against them. However, we need to convey few things here which form the basis of our core beliefs as Muslims!
COAS Asim Muneer is hafiz e Qur'an but his ignorance about a very basic concept of Islam was unveiled on 14th August this year when he delivered an address at military academy Kakul at night which was covered live by local TV Channels. On that occasion, a giant statue of Quaid-e-Azam was placed near the academy building while Mr. Muneer continued to speak in front of the guests and also included Qur'anic verses in his speech. He said very boldly about cross-border threats that Pakistan is prepared in the event of any strike on country's security.
Unfortunately, just including verses from Holy Qur'an is not sufficient when you have allowed the unveiling of a statue on the premises. Islam is strict on its basic concepts. Idol-worship started when people after the time of Prophet Nuh (pbuh) started making idols of their Prophets in order to worship them.
A statue of Mr. Jinnah in Pakistan is entirely a wrong practice even if it is just due to how we attach reverence with the persona of the great Quaid. But it is not a Muslim custom and statues of popular and great personalities were never crafted in the period of early Islam. And neither statues of our Quaid-e-Azam Mr. Jinnah were built before in Pakistan. During the rule of PTI government in 2019, when a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was installed in front of Lahore fort, we spoke against that as well!
It's a matter of great shame that our COAS has not realized this otherwise he would never have allowed it being a Hafiz e Qur'an. He should have at least learned from General Zia. In his period, such a shameful act was never put to practice which negates the basic teachings of Islam. What we need is support of Allah and hence we cannot afford such acts.
It is requested that the statue of Mr. Jinnah be removed from the premises of Kakul Academy at once.
May Allah guide all of us - Aameen.
- S Roman Ahsan (6th September, 2023).