Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I The Speaking Tree I December 21, 2014

On December 16, 2014, a group of militants entered the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, and mercilessly gunned down about 150 students and teachers. The terrorist outfit released a photograph of the six-members who carried out the attack. A banner in the background reads as follows: La ilaaha illallah- There is no god, but One God. By this demonstration, the people who carried out the attack have themselves given us the criterion on which to judge their act.

According to a verse in the Quran, killing of an innocent human being is like killing entire humankind.(5:32) In the light of this verse, it can be said that the above incident was equivalent to killing entire humankind 150 times over. Without doubt, there cannot be a crime more heinous than this.

Now, what is the message given by the Quran to grieving relatives? There is a very relevant verse in the Quran in this regard. It says: "Beware of an affliction that will not smite exclusively those among you who have done wrong."(8:25) This is an alarming verse for the relatives of the innocent who have been killed. It is a fact that militancy in Pakistan has been going on for more than 50 years now. However, the people of Pakistan had remained almost indifferent to it as they thought that the militants were targeting others. The Peshawar killings show that remaining indifferent in such matters is not an option. One has to strive to stop these acts, otherwise one would also become its victim.

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According to a Hadith, God commanded the angels to topple a town, because its people were engaged in evil acts. The angels said, 'O God, there is a person living in the town who worships You day and night, and is not directly engaged in any evil.' God replied: 'Overturn the town along with that person, as he did not try to stop his people from doing evil deeds.' (al-Mojam al-Awsat, 7661).

One aspect of the Peshawar killings was that it was carried out by a militant group of that area. The other aspect is that militancy in the area had been thriving since long. But, its people were indifferent as they considered themselves safe. The Quran gives them a warning that indifference in such matters cannot keep them secure. Indifference means indirect involvement, which in God's eyes is as bad as direct involvement.

The relatives of those killed have two choices. One is to fall victim to negative thinking. This, however, means taking the option of psychological killing after witnessing physical killing. Relatives must pray at this time. With reference to children, there is a prayer in the Bible: "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

The other choice is to discover their shortcoming in this regard. Grieving relatives and friends should let go of their indifference, and should make every effort to root out militancy. They must tell the people of their area to abandon the violent version of Islam and adopt the peaceful version of Islam. If friends and relatives of the departed souls do this, then it would be written down in history that these people were able to convert what could have been their minus into a plus to make the world safer for everyone, including our children.