X
    Categories: Opinion

Op-Ed: When Parents Sacrifice Children’s Dreams for Religion

The parents should not become hurdle in the way of their children, particularly when it comes to their talent and positive capabilities. Very few children are gifted with the talent and not only parents but also the neighbourers and the government should came out with support to nourish the talent of such children, so in return they can feel proud upon their achievements.

But unfortunately some parents for their self interests or sometimes under the influence of some sects of the society instead of becoming supportive to their talented children act in the contrary way which kills the hidden talent of their children in the initial stage.

A fifteen (15) year old Kashmiri boy Mohammed Bin Qasim, wanted to play cricket but his mother wants him to live for Islam, thus he had to sacrifice his passion.

The desire of his mother is not bad, every child should inculcate the religious teachings and a Muslim should follow the true Islam but sacrificing passion is no way justice to the budding cricketer. See, in the world of cricket, there are many Muslim players who follow Islam and also continue with their passion. So, why Qasim can’t do it? One should ask her mother. She should be also asked how the game of cricket will came in the way of her son while following the Islam. Is cricket against any religion or Islam? If yes then why he was earlier allowed to follow it and if not then why such a change in the midway?
According to Asiya her son got emotional on her decision and thought his dreams are shattered but she has told him that he can play cricket as a hobby but don’t dedicate his life for it. The question raises here that if she wanted her son not to play cricket then what she means by hobby? If cricket is wrong in her opinion, then why to allow her son continue it as hobby?
Another point which should come in the mind here is, is Asiya preparing her son to be a future hardliner?
Relevent to mention here that Bin Qasim was selected for the Jammu and Kashmir Under-16 team to play in the national-level Vijay Merchant Trophy tournament 2009.
The team won their first game against Haryana last month but Bin Qasim had a shock when his maternal uncle asked him to pack up mid-way through the tournament and return home, because his mother thinks that the boy should live for a ‘bigger cause’.
His mother is Asiya Andrabi, Chief of the hawkish Dukhtaran-e-Millat.
If her mother wanted her son not to play cricket, then why was he allowed to practice and sent to play in Haryana?
According to Asiya they are not born for bat and ball or, for that matter, to mint money and thinks that cricket is too small a profession.
According to her cricket can give name, fame and money, but is not what ‘they’ are for in this world. They have to work for Islam. Propagate the message of the holy Quran and the Prophet in its true sense, not the way the world looks at it.

Mohammed Bin Qasim’s father Mohammed Qasim Fuktoo, a militant commander, has been in prison since 1994 and is currently lodged in the Srinagar Central Jail.
Andrabi wants to send Mohammed, a class 12 student of science stream, to an Islamic seminary for higher studies and want him to be an Islamic scholar. Andrabi, herself a science graduate wanted her son a second Mohammed Bin Qasim. Yes the Mohammed Bin Qasim Bin Yusuf Althaqafi, an Arab Muslim General who conquered the Sindh and Punjab regions, now part of Pakistan, along the Indus River in the eighth century.
Incidentally, Mohammed’s father Qasim had also played national-level cricket before joining the separatist movement in Kashmir in the early 1990s.

 

Ajmer Alam Wani (Special Correspondent):
Related Post