Broadly speaking, there have been two opposite reactions to the recent announcement about the purported enforcement of the Islamic shariah in the troubled region of Swat in north-western Pakistan. Some Muslims celebrate it as a major ‘victory’ for Islam and for the group spearheading the agitation, the Tehrik-e Nifaz-e Shariah-e Muhammadi (TNSM). They hail it as nothing short of a great historical development. In contrast, many other Muslims see the development very differently. They consider the movement that supposedly aims at the enforcement of the shariah to be nothing of the sort actually. Instead, they argue, it is a movement led by some tribal leaders who want to capture power and resources by cynically manipulating the emotions and religious sentiments of gullible people. Frankly, this is what I myself believe.
It may be that the head of the TNSM, Sufi Muhammad, is himself not a worldly man and that he is sincerely committed to what he thinks is the cause of Islam. God knows best. However, as far as such radical, self-styled jihadist movements today are concerned, it cannot be denied that the vast majority of their leaders use them as a means for advancing their own personal interests. Stirring up religious emotions, they are able to attract a following among socially marginalized Muslims, who are led to believe that supporting these leaders is the way for them to attain a place in heaven. And then, very often, these people are led on to engage in acts that have absolutely no sanction in the shariah, despite the fact that, ironically, their leaders claim that the enforcement of the shariah is their sole purpose. So, in the case of the Taliban in Swat, we first heard that some of them were forcibly marrying local women against their will. And now news is coming in of these self-styled mujahids compelling the local Sikhs to cough up millions of rupees in the name of jizya. From these two developments one can get a clear idea of what these so-called ‘lovers of Islam’ are really like.
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