It was Friday, third day of the horrific act of terrorism in Peshawar where terrorists had stormed a school and killed 144 people including 132 children, and I was on my way to a nearby mosque to offer Friday prayers. It was third day of the gruesome incident but people still seemed to be in a state of deep shock, mum as if all of them had gone through the terrifying incident themselves. At mosque, the general feeling was quite different than it used to be on normal Friday. It reeked of gloominess.

After the end of prayers, I heard the Imam, the prayer leader, requesting everyone to stay for five more minutes to pray for the martyrs of Army Public School incident. I had already got up by that time and was on my way out as I had an important work to attend to, but then I decided to stay.

Every single person stayed, I noticed.

More than the martyrs, I had their parents and family members in my mind. I especially wanted to pray for them to have the strength to endure such great loss and pain. May God give them peace of mind, and as far as the martyrs were concerned, they were already in heaven, I thought while sitting down.

However, as I sat down, the Imam started talking something about false prophets. I was unable to comprehend why was he discussing that particular issue at that moment. Initially, my hunch was that maybe, somehow, he might relate that issue with Army Public School incident. My hunch was wrong, however. The issue was as unrelated as it sounded. It had nothing to do with the incident.

Then at last he turned his attention towards the main issue for which he had requested everyone to stay. But after few lines of praying, he again drifted away and started condemning all those people who lit candles in solidarity with the victims and their families, to mourn and to record their protest in a peaceful way. He used a very indecent word for them.

Somehow, the issue of lighting candles to protest or to mourn carried more importance for the Imam than to pray for those innocent children who had been slaughtered for no reason. And somehow, condemning the terrorists who killed so many children held no importance but lighting candles to mourn and protest was a bigger threat to society and Islam.

At that moment, I realized how easy it was for an Imam, in the absence of a potent regulatory body, to misuse his authority and spread hatred in the society. I was sure that the majority of people might not have agreed with him, but I was also sure that a minority was giving a lot of importance to what the Imam was saying. But then again, isn’t all our problems due to a minority of miscreants who want to impose their way of thinking on us?

I got out of the mosque and prayed to God alone!

“May God give patience and peace of mind to parents and family members who lost their loved ones. Ameen!”