There was a time, unbelievable as it may sound, that listening to music was not considered "haram". Gradually those who consider themselves protectors of our ideology gave fatwas about what would happen in the hereafter to those who listen to music. One was that music players and listeners would have molten lead poured into their ears. Despite all this scaremongering, music in Pakistan flourished and the country produced great singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mehdi Hassan. But perhaps the most popular singer in the subcontinent was the humble Lata Mangeshkar who passed away yesterday, mourned by millions not only in India but in Pakistan as well.
She was so humble that she once called Noor Jehan (the Pakistani equivalent of Lata) her teacher. This was frequently quoted by India haters when I was a teenager. Frankly, I didn't like Noor Jehan's singing that much, Lata was simply unbeatable.
Now that liberal Pakistanis are praising her, the fundamentalists on social media are condemning them for it, claiming that not only Lata was a Hindu but also a supporter of the militant anti-Islamic BJP and RSS. My answer: so what? Why should her religion matter? After all, she didn't kill any Muslim, nor did she say that Muslims should be killed. In fact, she sang duets with famous Indian Muslim singers like Mohammed Rafi, Shamshad Begum and Talat Mahmood also.
In India, on the other hand, famous Muslim actor Shahrukh Khan is being demonized because he said a prayer and then blew the air from his mouth towards Lata's dead body (this is a common gesture among Muslims as well as Hindus of the subcontinent). Rabid Hindus claim that he spat on the body. When you see such hatred for Muslims in India, you have to thank Mr. Jinnah for giving us Pakistan.
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