Don’t know whether the above is based upon a factual incident. However, my personal observation is that over the centuries, nature of beliefs has changed. This is true for both the Shia and Sunni Islam. Rituals remain but the underlying message has gone. As if the body is alive but the soul has departed.
Many years ago, during one on my visits to Iran, I questioned one of the NIOC officers (son of a Hojjati Islam; a mullah rank just below Ayatollah) as to why the thousands were killed by Ayatollah Khalkhali, nicknamed as hanging judge. His reply was that even if it means that the whole world is destroyed; Allah's will must prevail. No too different from Wahabi and Taliban beliefs that any one who disagrees with their interpretation of Islam should be eliminated.
Unlike what is generally believed; majority of the conversions in the subcontinent were thru the efforts of the Muslim Sufi saints. God forbid, if the practice of Islam had been as unforgiving as evident by the actions of Taliban, most of the population of Pakistan and Kashmir would still be non believers.
This is the reason which led me to conclude that Islam as preached now is not even a facsimile of the mellow and forgiving religion that Allah revealed to our holy Prophet (PBUH) whereby even the arch enemies such as Abu Sufian were forgiven. What we have today is a ruthless dogma.
