But let's also acknowledge that Nadir Ali is not to be blamed here. For far too long, the idea of a 'Good Muslim' has been spreading like a cancer with sickening obsessions stemming from this including staggering ideas of morality, sharam, hayaa and many others. Make no mistake this school of thought has no basis in rationality or cultural roots (structural thinking is something that never existed here).
So poor has been our understanding of what being a Muslim constitutes of - reduced to a beard and a burqa - that we can't even claim to be part of the global Muslim Boys Club, instead reduced to being the Pee Wees who get their kicks from ripping apart the small segment of minorities that simply have the bad fortune to be physically present on this particular patch of the earth.
About time we recognised that this is exactly the part where pre 1947, various religions existed and form our DNA. And still do. But then again maybe that is precisely what the problem is - who likes to delve back to find uncomfortable truths? We're just projecting onto others who don't have the liberty to be who they are because they don't fit into the idea of the Perfect Muslim. And for what? Blessings? What kind of blessings are to be showered upon someone who endangers the life of another? That's not even remotely religious, that's a strategy for murder.
Such questioning leads soft legitimacy to lynching Christians, killing Ahmedis and targeting Shias. Every time someone wonders who is a Muslim or not, any place where a question is asked about someone's faith or a person is gaslit about their own faith, this is all it takes for another human being, another Pakistani to die.
And for what? In this podcast case, views. There is absolutely no other reason why such a question should be asked of someone. But really this is also indicative of how a religion has been manipulated - will this bring in more people to the fold of Islam? Will this encourage Pakistanis to do greater acts of kindness because it was 'only a conversation'? At this point I am eager to see more experiments such as the the car that runs on water than conversations like this take place.
There is clearly something wrong in a society that prides itself on religious identity than its level of humanity. Walk down a street and you can see the grotesquely lack of humanity where a dog's gasping to death is conveniently ignored or a molested child is packed off home, a childhood destroyed forever but expected to carry on as if nothing has happened. God forbid, someone question if anyone speaks up because Good Muslims don't engage in acts apart from preaching hidayat.
No amount of reports, gender index rankings, rapes, lynchings, religious sites' desecration, targeting of minority killings affects us. This example here sums it up - a young man, with a fan following who thinks it is perfectly acceptable to question a female, Christian, actress who will probably never make it as big as say our female, Muslim actresses over why she has a particular faith.
Jinnah has died a thousand times over.
Might as well let him die one more time because death is glory. And that is what is pursued here otherwise how else will we ever become Good Muslims?