The business of producing 'Kafir' has spread so much that every citizen claiming to be a Musalman could find at least two muslamans calling them kaafir.

An article by Mohammad Hanif Published in Urdu at bbc.com

To prove yourself a Pakistani citizen, when you fill out application form for an identity card, you are asked a question that is not asked of any Muslim living in any other Muslim country. You are not asked if you are mentally healthy, whether all your limbs are intact, if you are a thief or smuggler, number of rapes you committed, ever paid taxes, consider Jinnah as Quaid-e-Azam(great leader) or Kaafir-e-Azam(biggest infidel), whether you send your kids to school or drop them off at a market-place to beg, you believe in socialism or Islamic sharia, if you think of Pak-army as Pakistan's asset or the thief of nation's treasure. You are not required to prove if you are a Hindu, Christian, Parsee(Zoroastrian), Sikh or idol worshiper. The oath-form that is a part of national identity card application, the one we have been filling out for the last 25 years with our signature or thumb-impression, seeks only one sworn testimony that I am not an Ahmadi, not a Qadiani, nor do I belong to their sub-sect, the Lahori group.

Why does a small sect (one that loves prayers, beards and sermons) scare us so much? How do those who say 'Assalam-o-alaikum'(Muslim greeting), 'Bismillah'(begin in Allah's name) or pray in mosques, endanger our faith to such a degree that one could languish in jail for saying 'salam', 'bismillah' or 'mosque'?

How is it that no other Islamic country found their faith or society endangered by this evil spreading out of a village named 'Qadian'?

The attackers of Ahmadi mosques in Lahore were so young that they wouldn't know Ahmadis used to be a Muslim sect before 1974. 35 years have solidified our faith so much that not only we brand them infidel but call them 'kaafir' of the worst kind.

When we refer to Ahmadi mosque as 'a place of worship', we save ourselves from a 3year rigorous imprisonment by following the law of the land, and insinuate that this place is not a temple, church, gurdwara or a synagogue; it is a place of worship where wild pagans and non-believers make fun of the believers in god and prophet. You might be shocked that Ahmadis think they are better muslims, above all others.

Folks who harbor a soft corner for Ahmadis might blame Maulana Maudoodi and Bhutto Shaheed for the situation. True, Maudoodi and other Maulanas registered such a record defeat in the 1970 elections that nobody after them could claim such act, but, within 4 years of their defeat they made history by manipulating the elected parliament into doing something that no military dictator or Amir-ul-Momineen(Head of the faithful) had ever accomplished.

Deserving of contemplation is the fact how something that could not be done in the whole Islamic world, nor did most of the 'lost' Muslim souls ever thought of, became possible in this god-gifted country?

Before Pakistan came into existence, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, addressing a public meeting said, that he wanted this country to be a laboratory where Islamic ideas could be experimented upon. This saying of Quaid-e-Azam is taught in Social Studies and History books at every school.

Successful experiments at laboratory turn out products that are mass-produced. The successful experiment of producing Kafir in the 70s did not stop there. 80s and 90s saw emergence of the slogan, 'Kafir, kafir, Shia Kafir'(Shias are dis-believers). Doctors, teachers, lawyers, traders and intellectuals belonging to Shia faith were so brutally murdered that Ahmadis must have exclaimed, "Thanks god, we are Kafir, not Shia."

Since then, the business of producing Kafir has expanded so much that every citizen who believes to be a 'Musalman' could find two musalmans who think of him/her as kafir. Those who say "Ya Rasool Allah" believe those who chant "Ya Hussain" are kafir. Those who pray with their hands folded think those who let their hands loose during prayers are kafir. Those who wish their offerings at Daata Saheb, consider whirlers at Bullhay Shah as Kafir.

The army used to believe that Taliban are 'Momin'(devout believers), but now they think of them as kafir, or, lead us to believe so. Punjab's government thinks Punjabi speaking Taliban are Musalman and Pushto speaking Taliban are Kafir. Is this a country, o'lord, or a kafir producing factory!

When we declare somebody a kafir by signing or thumb-impressing an identity card form, we open a gate of fatwa(edict) against ourselves.

Since those killed were the worst kafir, praying for their blessing could be seen as 'kufr'(disbelief), but the least we could do is pray for survival of those who are still alive.

Above is a translation of Mohammad Hanif's article "Kafir Factory", posted at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/05/100529_hanif_colmn.shtml