Thursday, March 19, 2009

Best of both the worlds

Almost every blog post that I read over the past few months would generate a lot of arguments if the post mentions anything about religion. Hindus would ridicule Muslims, blame them for something and the Muslims would retaliate, explain things and end up ridiculing Hindus, and vice-versa.
My nani is a devout Hindu and my dada was an extremely religious Muslim man. I remember nani teaching me excerpts from Mahabharata or Gita and narrating me some instances from these holy books(she still does it). I remember learning the Gayatri Mantra and Om Bhoor Bhuva Swaha in schools, and then coming home and chanting them in front of my proud nani. It didn't matter to her that I am a Muslim, nor did it matter to me that I am a Muslim chanting these line. For me the meaning of these mantras was more important, rather than the fact that being a Muslim I shouldn't chant them. I still remember them, though I don't chant them now (school assemblies are over!!), and now I can proudly say that I know more about Hinduism than most of the Hindus I have come across.
I also remember my dada narrating instances of Holy Prophets (peace be upon him), reciting Kalmas, and offering namaz, scolding us for not praying 5 times and telling us about the fruits of being a religious and good person.

Often nani would teach me some lessons of life which pertained to one becoming a good human being and I realized that these teachings are there in Quran too. No religion teaches hatred, religion is supposed to be the guiding light of one's life, it can never teach to kill someone. With time I realised that these religions are not that different. Basically they all teach us to be a better human being, to have a pure heart and not be consumed by hatred towards anyone else.

Life is too short to be consumed by hatred. There is absolutely no point fighting over religious issues. The British followed the divide and rule policy and succeeded to achieve their goals. If our country gets divided, it wont be long before we again get ruled by fascist elements.

I am a proud Muslim, but I am prouder of my lineage, because I get to experience the best of both the worlds.

I wish everyone starts respecting the other religions and starts following the principle of 'live and let live.'

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

lets hope so :)

sana said...

its ironical, that after saying that it doesn't matter,

how much a pivot of your identity your religion has become and not just a part of it.

most of your posts and your conversations seem to be just about religion. If you drill the difference so much in your brain, it will refuse to accept that fact that we are human beings before we are disciples of any particular religion.

saima said...

my dear sister... my religion is a part of my identity, no doubt about it.. by the way this is my second post out of 52 which talks about religion..
I am not drilling any differences in my mind, on the contrary i am highlighting the similarities in them.

Pinku said...

It was lovely to read your post...you are so right all religions finally talk about the same basic principals of humanity.

saima said...

thank you pinku :)

Indyeah said...

You did have the best of both the worlds..:)
have read this post atleast twice and loved it:)

saima said...

thank you indyeah :)
love ur blog too!!

saima said...

thank you :) :)

Anonymous said...

Good food for thought , I grew up in Punjab where my mom was posted in an Air Force Station .. I was surprised when in 7th standard i came to know from my friends that Sikh and Hindu were different people, I always thought that sikhs were just in a habit of wearing turbans ... i laughed at myself. Life moved on and moved to Ajmer where i did my graduation ... we were four brothers srudying together me , Dalveer , Jameel and Hanif .. Hanif being our baby bro . We are were genetically different and thats not easy to tell unless you do some complicated tests . Guys there still remember ur as "The Four Bro Gang" .
My life took a different route and I landed up in Army , my first posting terror infested J & K but they were there at home to take care of my sis n mom . They still are.
I tell you when u have been travelling for four days with packed food and loaded weapons in deep jungles fighting terror , u really dont think of people religion we have a common religion , I have been shot at twice Md Iqbal was my scout he warned me in time , I am alive i have seen him in 2 yrs .. may be he is celebrating Ramdan back home in Kerela ..( oh he is a south indian too ...!!) or may be he is still fighting the odds in J&K .

I dont think god's gonna spare us sinners for wht we are doing ... Communal Violence is a sign of weak society .. I think its we woke up to the reality .. we ARE ONE , ACROSS RACES , ACROSS COLOURS , ACROSS BORDERS ..

saima said...

thats something really wonderful Bhavesh...thanks for sharing :) :)

you have been shot??!! thats so scary BUT so brave of you!! your family must be so proud of you :)

I agree with you that God is not going to spare us, but if we- you, me and other like-minded people make efforts to remove the hatred, and we are successful in removing the hate from even one person's mind, it'll be a huge success. For that we musn't lose hope and yes pray that our children don't get to live in a venomous filled environment.

p.s. thanks for visiting :)
But i have moved to wordpress- www.insanityincorporated.wordpress.com
:) do visit again :D

p.p.s I am not a South Indian :)