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!
Salamalikum,
Adnan, I see what you’re saying. I agree with your general point but I was taken aback about Rumi reference.
Ibrahim Waslam,
I gave reference of rumi in the context that he like others didn’t quit world matters completely and had fought against tataries who had attacked on iraqi land at that time and Sh.Fareeduddin Attar already had lost his life in the battle field. What rumi writes I don’t disagree with you this is why i said that current govt got an excuse to promote rumi’s version of Sufism these days.
Ibrahim, I may be ignorant in the matter of faith but please educate me. Don’t muslims regularly go to Medina and pray at the tomb of Mohammad PBUH? Don’t we have countless duaas where we ask God for his blessings through His Prophet?
In any case, these things are not relevant to the discussion. We were talking about Jinnah’s vision here for Pakistan as a pluristic society, where Sufism and Wahabism can exist together without persecuting each other. Unfortunately, one of these two is incompatible with pretty much any other vision on the face of the earth. It’s anyone’s guess which one !
Salamalikum,
[quote post=”490″]you may call them mushrik and kafirs[/quote]
Where did I call anyone kaafir? Don’t put words in my mouth. Yes, if you go to a grave specifically and make duaa and ask for something, that’s shirk, if you like it or not. Do you know even Indera Ghandi once went upto some pir’s place before elections so that she could win? Why didn’t she come to a mosque if she thought Islam was the right way of asking Allah. The reason is that she didn’t find much difference between what subcontinental sufis do and what hindu pujaris do. Although I don’t follow Moulana Moudoodi but he hit the nail on the head when he once said that in subcontinent Hanafi fiqh hindu shastra bun kar rah geeya hay.
Ibrahim, the discussion at hand is Jinnah’s vision for Pakistan and in my humble opinion, from what little I know, it is easier to reconcile it with the Sufi version of Islam that’s been practiced in this region for centuries than with the extremist strains that currently poison our communities. The Sufi Islam practiced by the Jahil Pakistanis may not be to your liking, you may call them mushrik and kafirs but rest assured that they will not call you by those names, no matter what your position is.