Friday, December 4, 2009

Don’t Ever Lower Your Guard


Today was a very sad day for the people of Pakistan in general and residents of Rawalpindi / Islamabad in particular.  The terrorist attack on the mosque in one of the most secure and sensitive areas of the cantonment, that left almost over 40 dead was hair-raising and tragic. Soon after the incident, my telephone started ringing, and news of friends, and their children who fell prey to the attack started pouring in. With tears falling, I heard each news with a very heavy heart – I knew some personally or some were known to my children. A young man hardly in his early 20s, who played cricket with my sons last Saturday, did not come back alive. A “Hafiz-e-Quran”, who perhaps was a better Muslim and a follower than those who claimed to be Muslims killing the less-Muslims.


One of the fallen child welcomed his father who just arrived from Hajj today – perhaps the father asked for something big for his family in Allah’s Home at Makkah and Allah rewarded his blessed son to Heavens – what else could be a better reward and answering of the prayer?
There would be countless anecdotes today to be told, shared and remembered – of the assailants, of the fallen and by those who survived.  But like all other previous attacks, the scars on the souls would take a long time to heal – mothers lamenting death of their sons, brothers and sisters crying for their siblings, sons and daughters remembering their fathers and wives secretly shedding their tears for they lost their bread earners and the life partners today.


But if we sit back and ponder why this happened – the only things comes to my mind – when one is in the boxing ring, the moment one lowers one’s guard, one gets the fatal blow that knocks one out.  What happened today was an act of lowering of guards and allowing the faithful to come and attend the Friday prayers – not realizing that in present times, there are a few who don’t come to pray but to PREY. And the lowering of guards just provided them the right kind of opportunity to knock out dozens with just one blow.
So please don’t lower your guards – ever.

1 comments:

S A J Shirazi said...

Guard against whom? An invisible enemy from within! Hearing about demise of comrades is very sad.

May Allah Karim bless all the departed souls with eternal peace in heaven.