OMG he scolded a kid from the pulpit

Kids around the Shia world are quivering in their beds after Syed Ammar Nakshawani unleashed his fury at an unfortunate tyke during a lecture in Toronto on Thursday.

If you haven't seen it yet, here it is. Just fast-forward to 49:10.

Okay, maybe children aren't peeing their pants just yet, but Syed Ammar's recent episode involving a curious young man bravely exploring different parts of the centre has some people spitting nails at the Iraqi speaker.

"Sit him down, I beg of you!" said a visibly irate Nakshwani towards the end of his talk on Thursday night in front of a packed audience at Bathurst. The seconds that followed must have been more awkward than fishing for meat in the birayni thaali on Eid day, only to find a handful of soggy potatoes.

So here are a couple of pointers that I feel need to be brought up before fatwas calling for the Syed's head on a silver platter are issued by the ulema -e- youtube wa facebook clan.

First of all, men of knowledge, wherever they be from, warrant a certain level of respect. In most cases these people have dedicated a good part of their lives, if not the entirety of it, in servitude to Allah and the Ahlul Bayt.

Didn't Imam Ali (as) say, "To respect the learned is to respect God"? Whether he's studied in Qum or not, one would be hard-pressed to say that Nakshawani does not come under the category of 'learned.'

I have a problem when your average Khalil, Hassan, and Musa come out and say stuff like, "His akhlaaq makes me sick." And believe me when I say, worse has been said about the man.

Suddenly, all those 'nare Haidari' moments are forgotten, and so are all the lives he's changed for the better through his lectures. All we think of is that 'arrogant and rude' speaker from London, who's always asking for money.

Now that I've touched on that often touchy subject of money, let me just say this - you can't put a price tag on changing the course of a youth's life from one of wastefulness, to one of religiosity. It's something only He can calculate.

Money is a small reward for it.

It's also worth remembering that some speakers' main form of livelihood is delivering lectures. Let them charge however much they want for their services! Come to think of it, what a beautiful way of making a living - spreading the message of God and His loved ones to the masses.

And let's not forget the hours of research and preparation that goes into each lecture.

I can imagine that composure and concentration are two key factors when it comes to public speaking. Who knows what's going through Nakshawani's mind when he's dishing out ayats and hadiths quicker than I pray Maghrib when I'm fasting.

The smallest thing could make him lose his train of thought, and as a speaker, he has the right to eliminate (no, not eliminate in that sense) that hindrance as and when it occurs.

Could he have dealt with it better? Probably, but it just wouldn't have been Nakshawani-esque for him to go like, "A humble request to please make that child over there assume a sitting position."

To cut a long story short, I just think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion, and feel something as small as his scolding a kid from the mimbar is not a reflection of the Syed's 'demonic attitude.'

Something like making pillau out of pakoras.

But one thing is for sure: from now on, parents'll be holding onto their kiddos during majlis tighter than ever.

Just my two dinars.