Rizana Nafeek

by Gulnar Khan

(November 08, Jeddah- Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ever since we arrived in the Kingdom a fortnight ago, we have noticed the pathetic case of a hapless housemaid, condemned to death, dominating your letters page.

From the debate going on regarding the issue, I feel that there is so much misgivings about the death sentence awarded to the maid. We all have heard the saying, attributed to a Roman official, that “it is better that a thousand guilty persons go free than that one innocent person be convicted.”

My heartfelt sympathies to the parents of the little child. May Allah give them the patience and strength to bear the irreparable loss! “The quality of mercy is not strain’d/It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/Upon the place beneath: It is twice blest/It blesseth him that gives and him that takes,” rightly said Shakespeare. Patience, mercy and forgiveness are also virtues enjoined by Islam.


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