You make fun of me because I have many Gods, some in forms of animals.
You have one divine God without a face and yet you all have nothing but hatred for each other.
You tease me for I revere the cow and call me disgusting that I (few) drink its urine.
You hide it that you drink camel’s urine and even wash your hair with it.
You mock the statue of my God in my car.
You have a big Allah sign with diamantes hanging from your car’s rear mirror which dances to the loud music blaring from your radio.
You badger me that I don’t eat meat, how physically weak and ‘unmacho’ that makes me.
You slice the necks of your helpless animals, making death slow and painful and hang them to drain the blood in the name of purification. Macho?
You say you are tolerant and accepting of everyone.
You don’t even let your shia daughter marry a sunni man.
You say I don’t belong in your country and should’ve have stayed in the country next door.
You, your grandparents and your ancestors are from that country. You watch their movies, copy their clothes, and even marry the way they do. And I should go?
You say that you are not treated fairly anywhere in the world.
You burn my holy temple on my day of celebration.
And you say you are better than me? Are you really better than me?
You say God teaches you to be kind.
You say I am dark skinned and refer to me with derogatory names; names that have now become my identity.
You say you preach love.
You don’t let me drink from the same glass as you. For if I do, you throw me in jail. I cook my own food there lest someone poisons me to punish me further for that drink. I live in isolation fighting insanity every day.
You say one who saves a life is like one who saved all mankind.
You deny me medicine on my deathbed until I recite your holy words and accept your God as mine. To save me, I must believe in your God?
And you say you are better than me?
You want me to wish you on your special days to show you that I think it special too.
But you will not sit with me, have a meal or wish me on my day.
You tell me to convert, as it will protect me.
You let a girl set herself on fire because you let her rapists roam free.
You say to cover my face is to be beautiful.
You brought no justice to the woman who had acid thrown on her face and now has to cover it because you shame it.
You scream that I may wear jeans and maybe show too much arm.
But you let that little child marry that old man without a whisper.
You declare you respect women, hold them in high honor.
You rape and then parade a woman stripped naked of her clothes and dignity in front of everyone.
You snap at me and use the word vulgar to describe me.
You marry 4 women (at times kids) at the same time.
You say in death, only God knows the truth and will decide.
You break my tombstone.
You stress how important education is.
Your kids ask who is Abdus Salam.
You advocate that to know your scripture is to know the right way.
You throw me in jail for blasphemy because I touched your holy book to know the right way.
Are you really better than me?
umair ali nayyer said:
This is amazing, a real bitter truth. You have a way with the words Shamilla. Hats off to you
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Mel Olssen said:
You are an amazing writer with crystal clear clarity thinking and you convey the message beautifully. I am your your biggest fan.
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Pooj said:
You are amazing, so brave and courageous. Not to mention eloquent when voicing the views of minorities in this blog entry. I’ve enjoyed reading your other articles also. Think i have a crush on your intelligence. I get really sad when i read about riots and scenes of intolerance. I’m from India and we migrated from Sindh before partition. I’m always curious to read about Pakistan and make Pakistani friends. I was sad to hear about the temple burning but knowing there are such brave and intellectual voices of reason who stand against injustice makes me feel reassured. Thank you Shamila 🙂 ❤ u
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Pooj said:
Sending you lots of warm hugs and good wishes ❤ and i hope world over there are many more people like you. If ever i get to visit sindh or karachi i hope i have a chance to meet you one day.
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Zohra said:
You are one gutsy gal speaking up for minorities in pakistan
and pagal hai tu
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Farrukh said:
A timely story. True and direct.
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Suren said:
Dear Author,
How I wish the children of sub-continent would read this at school and debate what kind of society they would like to be a part of. Not unless one is taught to introspect, critically think and put themselves in another’s shoes, would one learn to break the shackles of various types of conditioning.
Thank you for holding a mirror, and helping us introspect. Hopefully some of us will wipe away at least a fraction of the monster we see in the mirror.
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Asim said:
Amazing. One of the best things I have read in a while.
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Suhail Ahmad said:
amazing.
thank you for writing this
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r said:
Shamila, this is so beautifully written and the emotions captured and spelt out with the utmost honesty and sincerity. I simply love it…….and it also fills me with sadness! There is so much depth here!
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Folotole (@folotole) said:
“Dark Skinned”
Most Muslims of South Asia are actually darker skinned. North Indian Hindus are fairer than Pakistani Muslims,
Hindu Indian Bengalis are fairer than Bangladeshi Muslim Bengalis.
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Dinshaw Patel said:
Shamila, The only adjective that comes to mind is ‘brilliant.’ These days very few things get beneath my skin, but your words penetrated their way to my deepest core for what you said can only be described as the truth.
Dinshaw
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Shamila Ghyas said:
Thank you so much Dinshaw.
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