Under shadows of guns - Eid in Rabwah

This Eid when I woke up to get ready I was in a somber mood. I knew I wasn't going to the Aqsa mosque (the central mosque) where there would be thousands of people and the sweet smell of perfume would make the cool morning air even fresher.

No. Those days are gone now. When we used to go to our mosques (places of worship) without the shadows of guns. I was going to the mosque just a few houses away from my house due to terrorist threats to the main mosque and why have I been denied this joy? only because of my religion... only because I choose to believe what I feel is right and which is a matter between me and my God... Only because I choose to call this country my home even if I am called a minority, even if my forefathers gave their blood to make this country a reality.

The last Eid we had in the Aqsa Mosque was a few years ago. Seems like a distant memory now. I remember hurrying up to get good parking for my car, getting the children ready and then waiting for ages for the wife to get ready.

There would be a river of ladies and children which would continue even after the khutba and the prayers. The happy faces of children all eager to get home and start collecting their eidies.

Only prayers and happiness is what I remember. No fears and no ill feelings. The Ahmadiyya Jamat is the most peaceful community in the world with negligible crime rate which is reflected by our motto "love for all hatred for none" I just dont understand the animosity and persecution which we face everyday.

When we would finish our Eid prayers a sea of people would get up and roar towards each other and greet one another. Love. all one could see.

Those who have taken away this pleasure should be aware of the punishment of Allah the Almighty. Still we pray for the misguided that may Allah save them, save our country. All I ask is to think. Think without prejudice.

Yesterday it was our mosques that were bombed and 87 martyred. Today its your mosques. Dont we want this bloodshed to end? Surely those who do this in the name of Islam are not muslims and know nothing about Islam. I am not asking you to think of me as right. I am just asking you to respect my right to choose for my self.

87 of our people were martyred. Did anyone hear even one incident of revenge. Don't we know how to hold a gun and shoot? Does anyone know why?

It is because we are guided by Khilfat, a devine leadership which the rest of the Muslim Ummah longs for. So even if all of these pleasures were taken away from us what they could not take away, was our belief and thus they have failed in their objectives.

These dark times will surely pass and then a new dawn will emerge. A dawn of truth and Allah's justice.