Qari Ziauddin, who teaches Koran to boys in Qari Latif Islamic school, hanged Atif upside down with a ceiling fan in the school after beating him with sticks, which caused his death.

This is the police statement released in the murder investigation of a seven year old blind child who was beaten to death by his teacher for not learning the Holy Quran. This tragic incident took place at a madrassa in Vihari, a town near Lahore.

The barbaric act only intensifies in its gory as the teacher did not even bother to take the poor child to the hospital after his condition went from bad to worse. The boy eventually succumed to his death in that condition and this teacher of our Holy book ran away! He was eventually caught by the police on charges of torture and murder.

This is a shameful and embarassing act from the teacher of a religion that promotes peace and harmony in the world. A blind child who literally did not see it coming suffered at the hands of a Qari who had been educated in the same harsh ways most probably and knew this to be the only way to ‘teach’ and pass on. Perhaps this was not the first time he had laid a hand on a child. Perhaps this time he pushed a little too hard and went over the limit.

But who suffered at the end? An innocent life has been lost to corporal punishment and at what cost?

Two years ago I remember driving by a mosque and seeing a maulvi holding a child roughly by his throat and slapping him mercilessly in the middle of the road right outside this house of God. I remember getting out of the car and shouting him to stop. There were people all around who chose to either stand and watch the thrashing or keep on walking as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. No one objected. No one even looked concerned for the boy who was in tears and crying ‘Mama… Mama’ (Mother … Mother). The maulvi only said that this is the punishment Allah has allowed for the students of his book and he is doing nothing wrong. It was only after I threatened to call the police that he let him go and went inside.

Are we really so blind so as to allow things like these to happen? I don’t believe for a second that it is the will of our creator that his angel-like children are to be beaten raw or to death for not memorizing his book! There is a dire need to educate our maulvis and qaris who think they are doing the right thing by severely beating the children whom parents leave with them for religious teachings.

The time to act on this is now or more kids like Atif might fall victim to this practice.