by B. R. GOWANI
A man drives a truck with signage denouncing the Valentine’s Day in Karachi, Pakistan. PHOTO/Time
A Pakistani girl waits to sell Valentine’s balloons and roses to customers in Islamabad. PHOTO/AP/B.K. Bangash/Time
There is no denying the fact that the Valentine’s Day is just another Western corporate gimmick, like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Secretary’s Day, and other such days, to lighten up, the already lightened up, pockets of people. The corporations have got nothing to do with love. If they really believed in love, they would also give a day off to the workers to express their love in a relaxed mood without any tension of reporting to work.
In the past, any fashion, music, or an idea that originated in the West stood a good chance to be picked up by a certain segment in the Third World. In today’s world, with the social media around, that segment has enlarged and so the Western customs, except the strictly religious ones, are bound to get a popular response.
In Pakistan, the religious groups opposing the Valentine’s day celebrations has termed it as unIslamic. (In the neighboring India, the Maharashtra based fascist Hindu party Shiv Sena has regularly opposed the celebration of the Valentine’s Day.)
In Pakistan, one militant Islamic cleric said:
“In Islam, there is a concept of respecting and loving mother, sister, wife and daughter for 365 days a year.”
How much women in Muslim countries are respected can be figured out by just reading/watching at the news of “honor killing” of women, of Malalas of the Muslim countries, of Saudi women who can’t travel outside the country without permission from their fathers, husbands, brothers, or sons.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s Syed Askari expressed his opposition in these words:
“Valentine’s is against Islamic culture. In our view, relationships are sacred. We have arranged marriages in this culture and people don’t get married for love.”
Woman is a child producing machine; so marry her just for that and keep on producing religious fanatics. This will keep her so much busy that she wouldn’t have the time or energy to think and fight for her rights.
Like their Western counterparts (who are fond of constantly pointing out the ugly aspects of the East), the right wingers in the Eastern countries also never miss a chance to show the Westerners their unflattering side. Askari points out one such aspect.
“Look at the West – people love their dogs but throw their parents out when they get old. We don’t want to be like that.”
But does it mean that Pakistan or other Muslim countries are devoid of this issue? And the answer is no. In those countries, most parents live with their children but it doesn’t mean all of them are happy. Many of them are miserable but live together because they have no other alternative.
The truck in the top photo has a warning by the ninth-century Islamic scholar Ibn Majah that new diseases are born when there is a rise in the “immorality.” The truth is that many of the diseases have been around for thousands of years. It’s just that we didn’t have the science and technology to detect those diseases. Now when the scientists do X-rays, cat scans, and other tests on Egyptian mummies they find out the causes of their sufferings and deaths.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com