Have Seen Am Seeing
By Maulana Muhammad Aslam Shaikhupuri Sahib

This country of high mountains, vast fields, singing brooks, narrow passes, dangerous gorges; of swaying spruce, oak, pine, and willows; a country full of diamonds, valuable gems, copper, and iron; of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and sulphur; a country of powerful, honourable men; this same country has seen hundreds of revolutions and thousands of great men.

It has heard the footsteps of sahabah-e-kiram who came from the deserts of Arabia to the pastures of 'Ajam to eradicate tyranny, rehabilitate just Islamic laws and root out anti human systems. They came to the doors of Afghanistan in the era of the great personality about whom even strangers said, "If the world had another 'Umar in it, infidelity and idolatry would have been eliminated."

It was certainly the result and effect of the immense sacrifices given by the sahabah and the blessings of martyrs that this soil saw such great persons as Hazrat Ahnaf bin Qays, the icon of knowledge and wisdom Ibrahim bin Adham; the leading scholar of his time, Shafiq Balkhi; memorizer of hadith, Imaam Abu Dawood; leader of the Islamic ummah, Ghazi Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi; the impeccable Sayyed 'Ali Hajveri; the author of the first poetic book on Tasawwuf, the great poet, Hakim Sinai, the sight of whose grave had brought tears to the Poet of the East; the ocean of knowledge,

Imaam Fakhruddin Razi; reformer of the ummah, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti; the carrier of wisdom and learning, Maulana Jalaluddin Roomi; the mentor Khwaja Abdullah Ahrar; the true adorer, author, Allamah Abdur Rahman Jami; the gracious intellectual Shaykh Abul Hasan Mulla 'Ali Qadri ; the champion of freedom Ahmad Shah Abdali; and other god knows how many unnamed mujahid's, Sufis, poets, authors, and servers of Qur'an and Sunnah.

Afghanistan has seen Iranian artistry and literature, the pomp of the Ghaznis, the barbarism of Genghis Khan, the rule of Taimoor and Babur; it was ruled by the Pushtuns and the Safaris, the Abdalis and the Durranis, Zahir Shah too had his chance and so did Dawood Khan.

The greed for wealth and power weakened Afghanistan to such an extent that the British from the East and the Russians from the North started dreaming of conquering it. Observing the extending influence of the Russian Asia, Britain tried three times to capture Afghanistan. It soon realized however, that the mullas and citizens of the country could not be vanquished but the tribal commanders could be bought. They started bribing them; Russia was not to be left behind so it too delivered sacks full of currency to their pets.

Russia did not stop at that but also started brainwashing the military and the beaurocracy. In 1978 the pro Marxist factions of the army carried out a bloody revolution. Sardar Dawood Khan and his family along with the guards of the Presidential Palace were murdered and the communists were divided in two sections. After Sardar Dawood, the communist President Noor Muhammad Turkai and Hafizullah Ameen were also killed. In December 1979 the Soviet army attacked Afghanistan. The country saw a new era of terrorism.

Innocent women, children, and elderly were subjected to severe torture and agony and the distressing tales became a part of history. The Soviet gunship helicopters would land in a village, gather all men, women, old, and young, select some of the women and take them away in their choppers. Then after a few hours they would fling out the dead, mutilated, naked bodies of those poor women. These shameful torments made every honourable Muslim a caged tiger.

It is also notable that Russia had come not only to conquer a piece of land but to bring about a "cultural revolution", that would radically change the Afghan beliefs, ideologies, traditions, and customs. Accordingly one of the steps taken was lobbying on an official level against the Islamic hijab. In a national event the sheet of a covered woman was torn off and stepped on and it was announced, "Darkness will now be banished forever."

The Russian agenda included the point that the mullas be flung out of the vales and mountains of Afghanistan. They could not fling out the mullah but they themselves were tossed out in ignominy. The red storm of communism whipped into the harsh mountains and expired. To bring it to its natural end 1.5 million mujahideen had to give the gift of their lives, hundreds of thousands were the victims of civil war, and 5 million died of hunger.

After the Russian exodus the heavens saw a bizarre scene; the friends of yesterday became sworn of today and the bullets that plunged in Russian breasts were now piercing the hearts of their own brothers. Every commander became a king and applied his own set of rules in his territory. Honour was once again trodden on and naked dead bodies once again received. The seven-member Alliance instead of enforcing the Islamic laws lost itself in worldly pleasures.

Then, out of the blue, a few student of deen got up and in a short span of time they had 90% of Afghanistan under their control and had eradicated lawlessness and chaos in their country. They had not dropped from the sky. They were the same people who had spent their boyhoods and youth among fire and iron. Some had sacrificed their legs, some their eyes, there were none who did not have a medal of war on their bodies. They were simple people who sat on bare ground, wore patched clothes and ate the simplest of food.

They were unacquainted with the intricacies of politics, unaware of cunning games, and far away from romantic dreams. They were true lovers of Islam and hated infidelity. The modern world was not accustomed to the vision of full beards and heavy turbans.

They implemented the rules of the Sharaih that had been stored in closed books. Gangs, terrorism, thefts, murders, all died a natural death. The ministers wore what was available to the common man, they ate what was Northern Alliance had not engaged them in senseless battles they would have changed the course of history and stabilized the Islamic Emirate to an unshakable degree. The foreign powers had their eye on the Emirate. How could they bear an Islamic state on the face of the earth that promised to be the harbinger of Muslim unity and strength? Then the Mongols of the present shaped up the excuse of "Al-Qaeeda" and their bombers filled the skies of the poorest country of the world destroying every living or non -living thing under them.

It will be recorded in history that these aircraft passed through the air of Pakistan to Kandhar, Kabul, Jalalabad, and Mazar Sharif where they rained fire on innocent people. This bombing was done in the name of peace and justice. This justice was handed to the Afghans and now it is being meted out in abundance to the Iraqis.

The land of the Afghans has also seen the pleasant time when there was not one ssdrug trafficker under the Taliban controlled country, ministers and citizens used to sit and pray in the same row, justice was the easiest thing to have, mosques were filled to capacity, the name of Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu 'alaihe wasallam) was alive practically. The honour of daughters was safe, all forms of prostitution were shut down.

Now the land of the Taliban is seeing this era. Every official has been bought and is nothing more than a slave of the west. Immorality is rampant, the cable has made each home a cinema hall, clubs are doing business, lawlessness is everywhere, and people are looted in the light of day. The campaign started in the name of Al-Qaeeda has stretched like chewing gum. Those with a living conscience and who have seen the Taliban era remember the lost past and weep in solitude. those who do not value time and do not value the gifts of Allah only get sobs for their share.