One of the most important questions that we face today is the role of religion in our lives. The international war on terror and our homegrown Lal Masjid have brought this issue in even sharper focus. In the west we are labeled as fundamentalists and terrorists. In our own country most of today's youth is either confused or unconcerned on questions of religion. We seem to be rapidly dividing into two schools of thought; from those who believe it's fashionable to show that religion has no role in their lives apart from paying it the occasional lip service, to those who like to show others how pious they are by observing the basic tenets of Islam and taking it upon themselves to impose them on others. In my view the question that we should ask is not that which group is right, but which is to be pitied more. The lucky ones are those who have discovered religion on their own terms. Who have enough faith not to be swayed by other people's arguments and invested their time and energies in forming their own opinions and answers. But unfortunately, such people are rare to find as the minutiae details of our lives always seem more important and rarely leave us with time to spend time to learn our religion. But I have also come across people who have complete faith but very little factual knowledge about their religion. They are fully practicing Muslims and do not have questions or confusions regarding their faith.
Does this mean absolute faith without actual knowledge can also be a wonderful thing? My grandfather was a learned person whereas my Grandmother was an illiterate simple soul. Yet both had the anchor of absolute faith and belief of Islam in their lives. In times of stress and distress, they only had to turn to prayer or reading the Holy Quran for solace and support.
Faith is a personal thing. But the admission of the existence of the Divine begins with the very fact that we have the ability to reason. The question of why we exist is the core that strengthens our belief system in his Divinity. Koi to hai jo nizam e hasti chala raha hai; wohi Khuda hai. I believe that without acknowledging Allah's (God's) existence and divinity, we would be left rudderless. Allah exists, therefore we exist.
As Muslims most of us who pray do so because we perceive the daily prayers to be either qarz or farz (a debt or a responsibility). It is something that needs to be done, gotten over with. Many a times when I am praying, my mind wanders and mundane things from everyday life crowd it. When I am supposed to be in front of ALLAH having a one to one conversation, sometimes I am only going through the motions. I am sure I am not the only one.
A few months ago I read a very interesting incident by a newspaper columnist. He said that a non muslim in his area converted to Islam and started praying regularly at the local mosque. But he always took a much longer time at his prayers than everyone else. The columnist asked him for the reason for the unusual delay and the newly converted Muslim replied that "you people are fortunate, you were born muslims. You already have a strong relationship with Allah but when I start to pray it takes me time to enter into a state of mind where I am truly in front of Allah's presence. That's why it takes me longer to pray."
As a friend of mine put it are we truly believers or just reciters of the Kalima (Kya hum waqai Ahle Eeman hain ya sirf kalima goh)?
I believe there is also another way to pray, which is the essence, the soul of prayers. Prayers based on a relationship of love between us and Allah. An opportunity to express our love, our admiration to him. To seek his forgiveness and his guidance, his mercy and his benevolence. This is another kind of love.
I think we can all relate to the moments of anticipation and anxiety that we pass through when we are about to meet our beloved. We are on tenterhooks if (s)he is even a little late. Our entire attention is focused on the beloved's arrival. If only we were lucky enough to share the same passion when we are about to meet the one who loves us most, the Creator. But turning the act of prayer from one of necessity to one of love requires a greater degree of faith, an absolute certainty in one's belief.
The journey of faith is always difficult, but this is a journey that each one of us must undertake individually to find our own truths, our own reasons and our faith. Hopefully, some of us will be lucky enough to discover another kind of love.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
FREEEEDOMM!!
So, Pakistan is 60.
Is this, todays Pakistan, what Jinnah and our parents and grandparents fought for.
Yes, these 60 years have had many moments when it seemed that we would fulfil our true destiny. Like the decades of 60's when hopes were high and dreams were bright or the 70's when the Islamic Summit in Lahore seemed to be the advent of a true Islamic renaissance.
Where than, did we go wrong? When did our hopes turn into despair and cynicism. When did we decide to leave Pakistan to its fate and migrate in great hordes to whichever country would take us. When did we lose faith in ourselves and in our country. When did we decide that we would no longer participate in our nation's destiny? By stopping to vote, by stopping to participate in the political and democratic process. By turning into drawing room arm chair critics. Active only in finding fault.
Why are we like putty in the hands of those who decide Pakistan's fate, whether they are homegrown or of the foreign variety. In other words why are we, the great silent majority, SILENT.
The messages that I received on this 14th August were not the messages of hope that you expect from a nation that truly believes in itself. They were critical and anguished. Despair writ large on the destiny that is still not in our grasp.
But here, I have another question. Why is it that 14th August is mostly looked upon as a Holiday, a day of rest. Neither a day of remembrance for the sacrifices during the partition, nor a day of hope and commitment to resolve to do our part in nation building. Yes the advertisements were bigger. Words like Pledge and commitment were boldly written. But thats all there was to it. Paper tigers.
When will we stop criticizing and start participating! Nation building has to be a collective process. By each and everyone of us. Whatever little we can do will translate into a lot.
This is not about whoever is at the helm of affairs of the government, be it Musharraf or Nawaz Sharif or Benazir. We can, each one of us, start the process of change. By ensuring that we help others in need, By taking on the task of teaching, nurturing, mentoring. By organising our communities and those in need and ensuring that progress is not a distant dream for our fellow brethren.
Is this, todays Pakistan, what Jinnah and our parents and grandparents fought for.
Yes, these 60 years have had many moments when it seemed that we would fulfil our true destiny. Like the decades of 60's when hopes were high and dreams were bright or the 70's when the Islamic Summit in Lahore seemed to be the advent of a true Islamic renaissance.
Where than, did we go wrong? When did our hopes turn into despair and cynicism. When did we decide to leave Pakistan to its fate and migrate in great hordes to whichever country would take us. When did we lose faith in ourselves and in our country. When did we decide that we would no longer participate in our nation's destiny? By stopping to vote, by stopping to participate in the political and democratic process. By turning into drawing room arm chair critics. Active only in finding fault.
Why are we like putty in the hands of those who decide Pakistan's fate, whether they are homegrown or of the foreign variety. In other words why are we, the great silent majority, SILENT.
The messages that I received on this 14th August were not the messages of hope that you expect from a nation that truly believes in itself. They were critical and anguished. Despair writ large on the destiny that is still not in our grasp.
But here, I have another question. Why is it that 14th August is mostly looked upon as a Holiday, a day of rest. Neither a day of remembrance for the sacrifices during the partition, nor a day of hope and commitment to resolve to do our part in nation building. Yes the advertisements were bigger. Words like Pledge and commitment were boldly written. But thats all there was to it. Paper tigers.
When will we stop criticizing and start participating! Nation building has to be a collective process. By each and everyone of us. Whatever little we can do will translate into a lot.
This is not about whoever is at the helm of affairs of the government, be it Musharraf or Nawaz Sharif or Benazir. We can, each one of us, start the process of change. By ensuring that we help others in need, By taking on the task of teaching, nurturing, mentoring. By organising our communities and those in need and ensuring that progress is not a distant dream for our fellow brethren.
A Few Random Thoughts
So what to blog about.... these days quite a few things are on my mind.
Stereotypes for example. Why do we stereotype? Because its easy or because we have been conditioned to be judgemental about everyone else and since our metro lifestyles leave us with so little time therefore we make snap judgements.
Remember all those polish jokes or sikh jokes or pathan jokes. In every culture we have whipping boys that we can make fun of. That help us in feeling superior. But the fact is the more I think about it, the more I realize that stereotyping is a sort of safety mechanism harking back to our childhood.
Remember the comic book hero... the world divided in Good versus Evil - all Black & White. Nothing to be confused about ... no greys anywhere. Unfortunately the real world is not like that at all. But since we don't seem to have any time of our own to think things through, stereotyping helps us in coming to conclusions faster and supposedly makes life simpler.
Lets see a Jew will always be money minded. A miser.
An Arab will be a simpleton and in recent times a terrorist.
A Chinese will have no individuality and surely they will soon over run the world.
But stereotyping can be very dangerous. As someone related to media, I have closely observed how stereotyping has been used to create mass hysteria and also to gain political mileage.
The Cold War, besides being an Arms Race diverting much needed funds from human development goals was also a political bonanza for the western and russian leaders. And stereotyping was evident in the way common Americans viewed the Russians with mistrust and vice versa.
And of course the current stereotyping is all about the clash of civilisations. Islam versus the West. Note that I don't use the word Islam against Christianity because it won't serve the purpose of those using stereotyping to utilize the Christian religion among the largely agnostic western audience.
The terrorist fundamentalist muslim is the new bogey. Why is it that on international flights all the "random" checks pull out only the muslim passengers. So who is benefiting from this new bogey. Can't be the Muslims....unless we talk about the leadership of a few of these countries that uses the threat of fundamentalist terrorism to perpetuate their hold on power. Can't be the common man on the streets of any western city....since they feel more insecure and look at any Arab they come across with a great degree of fear. The daily media briefing of some new terrorist threat every second day keeps them worried about their loved ones.
Than who is responsible for changing the world's landscape by stereotyping a great religion. Who is responsible for creating this great divide among the citizens of the world? Who gains from making the world more unstable than any period in recorded history? It is a fact that the rise of the so called Islamist groups and Jihadis is directly proportianal and related to the negative propaganda and degree of physical force used. Why is it that pre 9/11, we never realised that such a huge threat was about to engulf us.
As I said before .... stereotypes can be dangerous things. I routinely meet people from all over the world. I don't see them as Americans, Britishers, Germans, Saudis, Indians or the Chinese.....I see them as Individuals with sometimes great and sometimes not so great personalities, with families and responsibilities. With lives to live and things to do.
I cannot conveniently label all those people under convenient categories and expect to understand them without really paying any attention to the real person.
I think we owe it to ourselves as global citizens to spend a little bit of our time in trying to understand other cultures, other people. To step out of our comfortable coccoons, to take off the stereotype blinders and not fall into the media trap of accepting prejudged stereotypes. With understanding comes tolerance, and tolerance is the only way to lasting peace for all of us.
Even one man can start the chain of change. Can we begin the change to build a positive proactive society, I think we can and I believe we should.
It is our responsibility.
Stereotypes for example. Why do we stereotype? Because its easy or because we have been conditioned to be judgemental about everyone else and since our metro lifestyles leave us with so little time therefore we make snap judgements.
Remember all those polish jokes or sikh jokes or pathan jokes. In every culture we have whipping boys that we can make fun of. That help us in feeling superior. But the fact is the more I think about it, the more I realize that stereotyping is a sort of safety mechanism harking back to our childhood.
Remember the comic book hero... the world divided in Good versus Evil - all Black & White. Nothing to be confused about ... no greys anywhere. Unfortunately the real world is not like that at all. But since we don't seem to have any time of our own to think things through, stereotyping helps us in coming to conclusions faster and supposedly makes life simpler.
Lets see a Jew will always be money minded. A miser.
An Arab will be a simpleton and in recent times a terrorist.
A Chinese will have no individuality and surely they will soon over run the world.
But stereotyping can be very dangerous. As someone related to media, I have closely observed how stereotyping has been used to create mass hysteria and also to gain political mileage.
The Cold War, besides being an Arms Race diverting much needed funds from human development goals was also a political bonanza for the western and russian leaders. And stereotyping was evident in the way common Americans viewed the Russians with mistrust and vice versa.
And of course the current stereotyping is all about the clash of civilisations. Islam versus the West. Note that I don't use the word Islam against Christianity because it won't serve the purpose of those using stereotyping to utilize the Christian religion among the largely agnostic western audience.
The terrorist fundamentalist muslim is the new bogey. Why is it that on international flights all the "random" checks pull out only the muslim passengers. So who is benefiting from this new bogey. Can't be the Muslims....unless we talk about the leadership of a few of these countries that uses the threat of fundamentalist terrorism to perpetuate their hold on power. Can't be the common man on the streets of any western city....since they feel more insecure and look at any Arab they come across with a great degree of fear. The daily media briefing of some new terrorist threat every second day keeps them worried about their loved ones.
Than who is responsible for changing the world's landscape by stereotyping a great religion. Who is responsible for creating this great divide among the citizens of the world? Who gains from making the world more unstable than any period in recorded history? It is a fact that the rise of the so called Islamist groups and Jihadis is directly proportianal and related to the negative propaganda and degree of physical force used. Why is it that pre 9/11, we never realised that such a huge threat was about to engulf us.
As I said before .... stereotypes can be dangerous things. I routinely meet people from all over the world. I don't see them as Americans, Britishers, Germans, Saudis, Indians or the Chinese.....I see them as Individuals with sometimes great and sometimes not so great personalities, with families and responsibilities. With lives to live and things to do.
I cannot conveniently label all those people under convenient categories and expect to understand them without really paying any attention to the real person.
I think we owe it to ourselves as global citizens to spend a little bit of our time in trying to understand other cultures, other people. To step out of our comfortable coccoons, to take off the stereotype blinders and not fall into the media trap of accepting prejudged stereotypes. With understanding comes tolerance, and tolerance is the only way to lasting peace for all of us.
Even one man can start the chain of change. Can we begin the change to build a positive proactive society, I think we can and I believe we should.
It is our responsibility.
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