Hamiza Mukhtar, the woman who had accused Babar Azam of physical and sexual abuse a couple of months ago, retracted her charges against the Pakistani batsman on Thursday.
In a statement, which she released to the media and is now circulating on the social media, Hamiza said she never ever had any relation with Babar Azam. She said she would take action if anyone in the media puts any of her videos on the social media to malign Babar Azam.
The woman who had made multiple accusations against Babar Azam has now taken her allegations back. pic.twitter.com/l74Q8ObwBY
— Mahwash Ajaz 🇵🇰 (@mahwashajaz_) January 14, 2021
In November last year, Hamiza had accused the star Pakistani cricketer and now captain of Pakistan’s national cricket team of forcing her to elope from her parents’ house and tie the knot with him in court. She said that Babar Azam was her class-fellow in school and they lived in the same locality. She said that Babar Azam proposed her in 2010, but their families did not approve of this proposal.
Hamiza said that later she eloped with Babar Azam on his insistence after he promised that he would marry her. She said that Babar kept her in rented house in different localities of Lahore for four years, but he did not marry her. She said that she ran a salon and she used to meet all of Babar Azam’s expenses.
Injustice shall prevail?
Our patriarchal society’s criminal complicity in condonation of sexually predatory behavior, especially of those in power, and victim blaming mindset are scourging our nation. This criminal support system, be it social or political, not only overlooks, but also facilitates and perpetuates injustice, all in clear defiance of Allah’s command to believers to establish justice at all cost even if the offender be their own flesh and blood: 6:152 فَاعْدِلُوا وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰ. Allah stresses times an again in His book that nothing should deter believers from being just, not any personal grievances or animosity, victims’ religious beliefs, immorality, etc., : 5:8
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَآءَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۖ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ ٱعْدِلُوا۟ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
..’’ O believers! Be steadfast for the sake of Allah and bear true witness and let not the enmity of a people incite you to do injustice; do justice; that is nearer to piety. Fear Allah, surely Allah is fully aware of all your actions.’’
Let alone being a believer, most choose to be humans nominally,and their actions relegate them to the category of most astray, Sura al ‘Araaf, 7:179: ’’… بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ … ‘’
A very disturbing phenomenon is unfolding on social media demonstrating verbal lynching of a woman,Hamiza Mukhtar, seeking legal recourse to have her situation redressed. Trollers are polluting social forums with atrocious vituperations, misogynistic comments, and slut shaming. All this denigration is spewed partly because she alleges sexual exploitation by a national star who is idolized by many and partly because of gender-biased, sanctimoniously puritan mindset that perceives guilt and arbitrarily convicts females in their court of opinion and asserts that their perceived conviction alone dispenses with the need for justice in the court of law. This satanic belief is in direct opposition to Allah’s command that all matters be judged fairly (fair judgment is solely based on evidence not whims and personal convictions),Sura an Nisa, 4:58: إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَن ….. وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُم بَيْنَ ٱلنَّاسِ أَن تَحْكُمُوا۟ بِٱلْعَدْلِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ نِعِمَّا يَعِظُكُم بِهِۦٓ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ سَمِيعًۢا بَصِيرًا .’’…. when you judge between people, judge with justice…. ‘’. Islamic, civil, and even moral laws mandate thorough investigation into any claim according to the rule of law and subsequent dispensation of justice that is based on tangible evidence NOT lineage, fame, wealth, power, character, religion, etc., and hence the adage ‘’law is blind’’ signifying that fair judgment is always evidence based, not arbitrary!
Some validly point out that the confession of zina, validity of which if verified, call for equal punishment for both parties in the court of sharia. True that from sharia’s perspective both would be equally guilty of zina if proved, but the debate here is not about the Zina and its punishment BUT the INTENTION of the male partner and it’s the very intention that aggravates the zina crime a notch up to a sexual exploitation one. A term mutual consent is thrown around to negate the crime of male offender, but condoned is the multifaceted emotional and psychological exploitation of the victim, like false promises of marriage and stratagems to justify the delay in marriage, that not only enabled but prolonged the sexual exploitation.
Women are generally more susceptible to emotional and psychological exploitation because inherently their decisions are emotionally driven. Allah himself makes mention of this innate Achilles heels in women’s makeup in Sura Zukhruf : 43:18 أَوَمَنْ يُنَشَّأُ فِي الْحِلْيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْخِصَامِ غَيْرُ مُبِينٍ …..Allah clearly states here that, ‘’ one who’s brought up in adornments and is illogical in dispute’’, in other words, her emotions dominate her intellect that render her illogical in decision making process. Who better than the Creator Himself (SWT) can understand his creation? Allah decrees zina to be haram and one of the reasons of the prohibition is to preclude sexual exploitation of gullible women by male predators eager to exploit this inherent emotional weakness in female gender for sexual gains! Zina is attractive because it comes without any burdensome concomitants of marital life, like financial, moral, religious responsibilities. It gives them the desired latitude of unmarried life and sexual gratification by the mere practice of dissimulation!!!
Nothing is more detestable in the sight of Allah than a duplicitous, hypocritical speech, like simulating one thing and doing another, and Allah condemns behavior in Sura Saff 61: 3 : كَبُرَ مَقتًا عِندَ اللَّهِ أَن تَقولوا ما لا تَفعَلونَ
Why hypocrisy/ dissimulation is held to be the most abominable thing near Allah? It leads to sins, corruption, and immense detriment to religious and mundane matters; therefore, its punishment is commensurate with the havocs it wreaks. Allah categorically states pathetic state of hypocrites who would be consigned to the lowest stata of hellfire- the highest degree of punishment, Sura, An-Nisa, 4:145 : إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ فِي الدَّرْكِ الأَسْفَلِ مِنَ النَّارِ وَلَن تَجِدَ لَهُمْ نَصِيرًا : ‘’ Surely the hypocrites are in the lowest depth of the Fire’’.
Ours has become the society of predators aspiring zina, a society where end justifies the means, and dissimulation is one of the means to achieve that end. Its despicable how collective effort is made to suppress the conscious opposition and the cases of sexual exploitation so that this rampant predatory trend could go on inexorably!
The aforementioned plaintiff, sought help of law and met the burden of proof standard adequate enough for sessions court judge to order local law enforcement to lodge the plaintiffs FIR, and then stepped in the Lahore high court justice, Asjad Javaid Ghura, to impede the very initiation of legal proceeding against the defendant by suspending the lower courts verdict! What a travesty of justice when an unscrupulous judge blatantly exploits his position of power to manipulate the outcome of the case, such a reprehensible misconduct warrants impeachment!! The prerequisite of justice entails that investigation run its course and justice be meted out without any prejudice, but in this case law seems to be dallying with the lawlessness!
It’s abysmally outrageous to see the mainstream media and higher ups with vested interest in the cricket world colluding in a collaborative effort to suppress Hamiza matter, a mere offshoot of the pernicious societal cancer metastasizing in society. It rarely rears its ugly head in cases where victim dares to go public; epitome of this immoral collaboration of mafia-like culture is the high court’s unconscionable suspension of sessions court order directing police to register FIR against the accused. It’s very telling that some unscrupulous elements of judiciary are blatantly blocking the initiation of investigation into the accusations. It’s high time that the LHC judge be taken to task. LHC judge stands in defiance of verse where Allah encourages that all matters of concern and claims be referred to the authorities ( أُوْلِى الاٌّمْرِ )so that the experts in any given field can verify the authenticity of the claims and dispense justice, sura Nisa: 4:83 ‘’.……وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَإِلَىٰ أُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ لَعَلِمَهُ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَنبِطُونَهُ مِنْهُمْ ‘’
This situation begs a question why this cover up is being carried out on such a wide scale, from local law enforcement’s refusal to register a compliant, High court’s suspension of lower courts order, to national media’s lack of coverage and so on? Who are the power brokers and what they stand to lose if the national star is convicted in the court of law? And would the decree of Allah to uphold justice at all costs be jettisoned as has become the norm in this society? Is justice going to be the causality once again?
Let me conclude this with the historical fact that in all epochs the rife injustice and incriminatory silence of society have been the catalyst inviting Allah’s trials and tribulations on nations collectively not just the wrong doers in particular: sura 8: 25:
وَاتَّقُواْ فِتْنَةً لاَّ تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مِنكُمْ خَآصَّةً وَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ