Children of Dust_ A Memoir of Pakistan - Ali Eteraz [50]
Then one day several men in the QSC encouraged Saleem to lead isha, the night prayer. It was a great honor when older men, those who were generally expected to lead the prayer themselves, deferred prayer leadership to a youth. This upset Pops very much. He was annoyed that it was in our house that Saleem was being appointed imam. “They should be picking you, because you’re the eldest son in this house,” he said. “But they don’t, because you don’t give them a reason to respect you.” In other words, because Saleem was louder about Islam than I was, he was considered more of a man. Even by my own father.
As QSC grew in popularity, more people came, and when they did, they gave long introductory lectures about their Islamic worldview to prove that they too belonged.
One day Ammi announced that Brother Shuaib, who was a professor at the state university, would come for a session. This was considered a sign of the study circle’s expanding influence, because the professor was a well-regarded member of the community.
When it was Brother Shuaib’s turn to make an introductory spiel, he closed the Quran and set it on his knee. Then he launched into a diatribe against the fifth Caliph, Muawiya. After that he gave a tirade about Muawiya’s son Yazid, who killed Hussain, the beloved grandson of the Prophet, on the plains of Kerbala. “Muawiya the usurper and despot and dynastic tyrant produced a truly vile child!” he concluded with a flourish.
At first no one said anything. Never before had there been such an impassioned introduction by a member. As people thought about his words, they realized that Brother Shuaib must be a Shia, a member of Islam’s minority sect who, unlike the majority Sunnis, believed that leadership in Islam should have been based on biological connection to Muhammad. Shias considered Muawiya and Yazid particularly repellant for spilling the blood of the Prophet’s direct descendants; Salafis, meanwhile, considered Shias to be heretics.
Suddenly Ammi raised her voice from the women’s side. “This is not acceptable,” she said firmly. “You cannot come in here and curse a Companion of the Prophet!”
A surprised look passed over the professor’s face. He fidgeted a bit, wiggled his squarish toes in surprise, adjusted his legs, and then gulped at his hot chai. He had assumed that because the study circle occurred outside of the mosque—where the hard-line Salafis ruled—he would be free to proclaim his Shia opinions. Now, looking around at a room full of angry faces, he realized that he’d miscalculated, as these people were even more hardline. He quickly excused himself and hurried out the door.
As soon as the professor had left, everyone put aside their Qurans and began discussing the (il) legitimacy of the Shia position.
“A Shia isn’t even a Muslim,” one of the aunties thundered. “It’s part of Islam to respect the Companions. Muhammad personally promised Paradise to ten of them. Therefore, we can’t say anything bad about any of them!”
Numerous anti-Shia comments rang out. Prominent among these was the claim that a Jew had founded the Shia sect to divide Muslims. Someone else suggested that Hussain had brought the massacre at Kerbala upon himself because he should have known that fighting a tyrant was hopeless. The evils of colonialism were blamed upon the Shia as well: “Because of the Shia Safavids in Iran,” began one of the younger uncles, who considered himself an expert in Islamic history, “the Sunni Ottomans in Turkey weren’t able to unite with the Sunni Mughals dynasty in India, and this allowed