In The Light of Theosophy
[This article appeared in the January 2015 issue of The Theosophical Movement. For more articles published in this excellent magazine follow this link: http://www.ultindia.org/previous_issues.html]
Quran: Killing of an innocent human being is like killing an entire human kind (5:32)
On December 16, 2014 a group of militants entered the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan and mercilessly gunned down about 150 students and teachers. The photograph of the six members released by the terrorist outfit carried a banner in the background which read: “There is no god, but One God,” thus giving us the criterion on which to judge their act, writes Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. He points out that according to a verse in Quaran, killing of an innocent human being is like killing an entire human kind (5:32). In the light of this the terrorists killed the entire humankind 150 times over. There is a very striking verse in Quaran which carries an important message to the grieving relatives. It says: “Beware of an affliction that will not smite exclusively those among you who have done wrong” (8:25). This is an alarming verse for the relatives of the innocents who were killed. We are reminded of the fact that militancy has been going on in Pakistan for more than 50 years, but people of Pakistan remained indifferent to it because they thought that the militants were targeting others. The Peshawar killings show that in such matters one cannot remain indifferent. If one does not take necessary steps to stop it, one runs the risk of becoming its victim.