Adil Najam
On this auspicious day, we at ATP pray for peace and goodwill to all.
A couple of days ago we had done a post related to Christmas by celebrating the architectural heritage of Churches in Pakistan. Of course, one needs to go beyond structures and to the core of relations between Christian and non-Christian Pakistanis. It is in the content of that relationship that the essence of true Pakistaniat lies.
This picture, from Islamabad (published in Dawn 24 December, 2006) reminds me of the famous 1947 speech by Jinnah (whose birthday we are also celebrating today), where he says:
Of course, the Santa Clause in the picture is a plastic doll. We still have a way to go towards making the relationship between Pakistanis of various religions – and even of various sects within the same religion – what Jinnah had hope it to be. That is the goal we must keep striving for.
I must confess, my spirit is uplifted today by reading this wonderful op-ed by Karen Armstrong in The Guardian (23 December, 2006), which she starts thus:
In 632, after five years of fearful warfare, the city of Mecca in the Arabian Hijaz voluntarily opened its gates to the Muslim army. No blood was shed and nobody was forced to convert to Islam, but the Prophet Muhammad ordered the destruction of all idols and icons of the Divine. There were a number of frescoes painted on the inner walls of the Kabah, the ancient granite shrine in the centre of Mecca, and one of them, it is said, depicted Mary and the infant Jesus. Immediately Muhammad covered it reverently with his cloak, ordering all the other pictures to be destroyed except that one.
As someone who named one of his sons Eesa (Jesus in Arabic), I can relate also to how she ends her essay:
The Muslim devotion to Jesus shows that this was not always the case. In the past, before the political dislocations of modernity, Muslims were always able to engage in fruitful and stringent self-criticism. This year, on the birthday of the Prophet Jesus, they might ask themselves how they can revive their long tradition of pluralism and appreciation of other religions. For their part, meditating on the affinity that Muslims once felt for their faith, Christians might look into their own past and consider what they might have done to forfeit this respect.
All I can say to this is, Amen and Aameen!
You are right when you say:
“We still have a way to go towards making the relationship between Pakistanis of various religions – and even of various sects within the same religion – what Jinnah had hope it to be.”
The first step is realizing our mistakes and I think your blog is one example of how we have begun to do so. I think that steps like this from ordinary citizens are more important than whatever the government does. Each one of us can do something by simply affirming the principles of fairness, peace and justice in all our lives and at every level from the individual to the global.
whoa, i cant tell which one is the real santa
All religions are the religion of peace. I share with you the prayers for peace for everyone and everywhere.
I think the link you make between the dream of Jinnah and the need for religious harmony as a Christmas message is a very good one.
Karen Armstrong is one of the most important persons we(Muslims) have in the west at the current time. She has written time and time again with a balanced analysis of Islam and Muslims.
I recommend everyone in Pakistan and all around the world to greet our christian neighbours and friends to show our loving and peaceful islamic values
Some are not happy with the promotion of non-Muslim festivities; (http://www.dawn.com/weekly/yworld/yworld1.htm). Incidentally these are mostly children from an English medium (!) school.