Zara Abid was a fashion model ....
... like me you probably will not have heard of her if you are not from the Indian sub-continent.
This is partly because she was a model in a part of the world where being a female fashion model is a dangerous occupation .... Yes she was a model in the land of the pure, aka Pakistan.
Now ever since general Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq became dictator of that country, and decided to Islamise the country in the late 1970's and early 1980's, its political and social agenda has been in thrall to the radical Islamists, and so its hard for women in any sphere of life to succeed without some criticisms from that quarter.
But it is doubly so in the areas such as pop music, acting and modelling, where its often a prerequisite to act in a manner that the religious hardliners consider immoral and improper. So if they have any social media accounts (and judging from the all Asian male Facebook 'people you may know' suggestions that I get, women in that region rarely have these accounts set to public view), and lets face it, as a a model or actress etc, you pretty well do have to have these accounts, and also set to public view, they are usually subjected to extensive trolling, by those who feel that its their religious duty to act as moral policemen (its nearly always, but not exclusively men) on social media.
These brave women are very often subjected personal abuse, and even rape or death threats by these trolls. Strangely these seekers of 'impurity', and moral turpitude consider it perfectly OK for them to go searching the Internet for women acting impurely, and don't think that their own frantic search for immoral behaviour is not impure or irreligious in of itself.
Sadly this on-line abuse of others, can still be vitriolic, even beyond the grave, so when sadly Ms Abid was reported as killed in the Pakistan International Airways air-crash of the 22nd of May, 2020, the religious trolls took one more chance to attack her. Comments such as "Allah Pak doesn't like those women who are showing their body parts to everyone and Jannat [heaven] is only for pure men and pure women" were posted to her accounts.
So despite her family, friends and colleagues posting tributes along the lines that called it a "tragedy for the fashion industry", her social media sites were all taken down within a few hours of her reported death. So much for Islamic charity, or even the idea that "The judgement is only Allah's; He relates the truth and He is the best of deciders". [6:57] .... charitable thoughts and behaviour were not on the agenda.
Now this story isn't the only example of this trolling behaviour (which occurs other countries and cultures as well), but this an example of trolling based upon religious ideology (which is rarer outside of Islamic countries). This form of trolling, has in some cases, resulted in the victims having eventually been killed by their own families in Pakistan and India, but its just the latest of a long line of such attacks.
There are women in the West who seem oblivious to the threat that the growth of Islam poses to them and their liberal lifestyles, but it is real. One of the largest groups in immigrants each year to the UK are Muslims from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Muslim areas such as Afghanistan, and Arab countries .... many if not most of whom, harbour these same socially regressive views as the trolls who attack women in Pakistan and elsewhere.
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| Zara Abid - Offended Religious Social Media Posters .... |
... like me you probably will not have heard of her if you are not from the Indian sub-continent.
This is partly because she was a model in a part of the world where being a female fashion model is a dangerous occupation .... Yes she was a model in the land of the pure, aka Pakistan.
Now ever since general Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq became dictator of that country, and decided to Islamise the country in the late 1970's and early 1980's, its political and social agenda has been in thrall to the radical Islamists, and so its hard for women in any sphere of life to succeed without some criticisms from that quarter.
But it is doubly so in the areas such as pop music, acting and modelling, where its often a prerequisite to act in a manner that the religious hardliners consider immoral and improper. So if they have any social media accounts (and judging from the all Asian male Facebook 'people you may know' suggestions that I get, women in that region rarely have these accounts set to public view), and lets face it, as a a model or actress etc, you pretty well do have to have these accounts, and also set to public view, they are usually subjected to extensive trolling, by those who feel that its their religious duty to act as moral policemen (its nearly always, but not exclusively men) on social media.
These brave women are very often subjected personal abuse, and even rape or death threats by these trolls. Strangely these seekers of 'impurity', and moral turpitude consider it perfectly OK for them to go searching the Internet for women acting impurely, and don't think that their own frantic search for immoral behaviour is not impure or irreligious in of itself.
 |
| Paradise Not Easy To Enter If your Innocent Of Any Crime .. According To Some Trolls |
Sadly this on-line abuse of others, can still be vitriolic, even beyond the grave, so when sadly Ms Abid was reported as killed in the Pakistan International Airways air-crash of the 22nd of May, 2020, the religious trolls took one more chance to attack her. Comments such as "Allah Pak doesn't like those women who are showing their body parts to everyone and Jannat [heaven] is only for pure men and pure women" were posted to her accounts.
So despite her family, friends and colleagues posting tributes along the lines that called it a "tragedy for the fashion industry", her social media sites were all taken down within a few hours of her reported death. So much for Islamic charity, or even the idea that "The judgement is only Allah's; He relates the truth and He is the best of deciders". [6:57] .... charitable thoughts and behaviour were not on the agenda.
 |
| Internet Trolls Come In All Shapes, Colours And Sizes ... |
Now this story isn't the only example of this trolling behaviour (which occurs other countries and cultures as well), but this an example of trolling based upon religious ideology (which is rarer outside of Islamic countries). This form of trolling, has in some cases, resulted in the victims having eventually been killed by their own families in Pakistan and India, but its just the latest of a long line of such attacks.
There are women in the West who seem oblivious to the threat that the growth of Islam poses to them and their liberal lifestyles, but it is real. One of the largest groups in immigrants each year to the UK are Muslims from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Muslim areas such as Afghanistan, and Arab countries .... many if not most of whom, harbour these same socially regressive views as the trolls who attack women in Pakistan and elsewhere.
We reap what we sow .....
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