A Call for Islamic Ideology

Pakistan is ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan and lately the Supreme Court of Pakistan has delivered a judgement declaring Riba ( interest ) to be illegal under the Islamic system. Day in and day out we talk about interest free banking system, while it is an irony of fate that there is more then two thousand billion dollars is kept in deposits with foreign banks by the erstwhile champions of the Muslim world. The moot question is, are we sincere about introducing a purely Islamic system based on Quran and Sunah as enjoined in the Objective Resolution of Pakistan. The way in which our country is being governed and the social and economic structure on which the entire society is based provides the answer.

It is not only Riba or interest on loans, which is prohibited in Islam but also the entire mode of our living including eating and drinking is against the tenets of Islam. We are like the Jackdaw who adopted the life style of a Swan and thereby forgot its own way of simple living.

Today’s English daily Dawn ( January 13th.) has published an apology on behalf of Ajinomoto, a Japanese food seasoning giant to Indonesian people specially the Musalmans on the use of Ajinomoto salt which contains Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) this is obtained from pig enzymes and the sale of Ajinomoto has been withdrawn from Indonesian markets, this has caused a crash in the shares of Ajinomoto, the sad part of the story is that the Indonesian President Mr. Abdur Rehman Wahid has advised the protesting Indonesian Ulemas and people not to over react, as the President thinks that MSG used by Ajinomoto in their products are safe to be consumed by the Muslims. In order to maintain their business credibility Ajinomoto Company have withdrawn their other seasoning products like Masako and Sajiku containing MSG pig enzymes. Probably Indonesian President is trying to be more loyal than the King, while protecting and defending the multinational interests in his country.

As we look at International industrial manufacturers. It is evident that Gelatin is being used in almost every food and edible items processing, photography including the space and satellite programmes, pharmaceuticals and animal feed products, and this gelatin used to be manufactured from crushed animal bones scrap irrespective of the fact whether it is Cows’ bones, Pigs’ bones, Dogs’ bones or Rats’ bones. The process of manufacturing gelatin use to be that animal bones were collected from all over the world and stored in the factories in Belgium, France, Germany and UK. At one time Pakistan’s share in export of bone scrap to these countries was seventy to eighty thousands tons per annum at an average price of $ 200/- per ton which was hindered upon with the imposition of 25% export duty on this item. The stored bones used to be lined, then de-lined and finally converted into powder form which was used as Ossein, a base material for the production of different powered gelatin, which forms the base material for production of photography material including the satellite and space programme, pharmaceutical products which use calcium and phosphate from gelatin, X-ray films, most of the tooth paste which also use calcium and phosphate, popular toilet soaps which use in its manufacture tullo instead of local oil which is derived from gelatin, sulphur used in war materials as well as in different food and fruit processing, bone glue is being used in paint material and coating of currency notes and other bonding materials, different concentrated cold drinks and soft drinks where it is used for thickening of solution, branded milk powders and jelly used in ice cream and other sweet dishes, children rubber and jelly based sweets which are very popular now a days, bone meals used for making animal and chicken feed, one of the major cause of Mad Cow disease in European cattle’s, Fertilizers and many many more items of our daily use.

As bone became costlier and costlier every day the industrialists turned to extracting ossein direct from the pig. Consequently the base material of ossein is now obtained from pig instead of bone scrap. Thus the entire production for human consumption manufactured by the worlds leading multinationals is produced from the gelatin obtained from pigs. Thus the Musalmans are administered silent dose of pig every day and every hour in their routine fashionable living; this is the height of our ignorance also.

The Musalmans are today proud of their oil products but none of the Ulemas even thought about the conspiracy hatched by the non-Muslim industrialist to convert the Musalman of the world into pig eating nations. All this fanfare around fast food chains in Islamic countries calls for serious rethinking because the Jews do not eat burgers from Macdonalds and other fast food chains as their religion allows only meet of animals cut in the name of Allah. It is high time now that research centers should be established to extract ossein from alternative sources to form the base material for production of consumer and essential item. Rafhan Maize company in Pakistan has developed a halal gelatin free material from wheat and rice starch, which can be used as replacement in edible and food processing industry. Can our research scientists not develop gelatin free base material for other consumer items?

Violation of Human Right is a matter of daily routine in Kashmir. In this unfortunate land of disputed sovereignty, violation of Human Right is a small word, it is genocide. How long the world conscience is going to dance attendance to the vested interest of the super power; they have to stand at the bar of history not today, surely tomorrow and thereafter. Kashmir is bound to be Independent, some time some day.

The electronic media should also bring to light the violation of Human Rights being committed by India in the small yet peaceful Kingdom of Nepal, whose only fault is that its border touches the borders of India, this state although is a Hindu state but still is suffering from Indian Chauvinism.

Rights and duties are mingled with each other, and one’s right is a duty for the other. So an act bereft of honesty, truthfulness and sincerity will always lead to the infringement of violation of right of the other.

The news is that Mr. Hashim Qureshi, the celebrated stooge of India in Ganga Hijacking drama is coming back to India to more acts of violations of Human Right because he has been the hero of events which led to the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971 and consequently dismemberment of Pakistan. War itself is a violation of Human Right. If every nation and every state have regard of the Human Right, there would never be a war and world would be a peaceful place to live in. Let the civilized nations realize this fact and the thinking intelligentsia to ponder on it boldly bereft of any political, regional or religious expediency.

Mr. Ali Ashraf Khan is a Pakistani Businessman and Ex-Politician who bid good bye to politics in order to concentrate on more useful service benefit of the political intrigues prevalent in the National Political life of Pakistan. He frequently writes for English and Urdu newspapers in Pakistan.