Only for Muslims

This Christmas; let us reinvent Pakistan and create it on the basis of love and tolerance.

Just the other day I was attending a Christmas function, where Father Francis Nadeem, the tireless promoter of interfaith harmony in Pakistan, narrated a very sad story. He said there is a ‘dahi-bhalla’ stall in Lahore’s cantonment area which has a sign saying ‘only for Muslims’. Using this example, Nadeem highlighted the fact that it is not only legal discrimination against the minorities which needs to change but, more importantly, it is the attitude of the people towards them which needs to fundamentally change.

When I was in university studying Indian history, I spent a lot of my time thinking why the partition happened. After all, Muslims and Hindus had lived in South Asia, for over a millennia — what had changed now? Also, as Gandhi mentioned, Hindus and Muslims in India were from the same stock racially and thus hardly different in that respect. Among other factors, one reason stood out as one of the most critical elements in the Partition — intolerance. The Partition happened not simply because Muslims were a separate nation, or that Hindus were a separate nation, it happened because some people (on both the Hindu and Muslim sides) could not tolerate living with each other and, hence, had to be separated. The carnage of Partition — where hundreds of thousands of people; innocent Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and others were killed on both sides of the divide — was a testament to the level of intolerance which had pervaded the society.

Since Partition, the curse of intolerance has not left the subcontinent. It seems that people here are still enslaved by their primordial sense of violence and discrimination. We might have better infrastructure, industry, and the luxuries of modern life, but if we still cannot rise above such basic evils, we have not yet reached ‘civilisation’.

The major religions of the world teach that humans are primarily good beings, who have fallen from the grace of God because of sin. In a way, the struggle for humankind is to undo that sin so that humans might be reconciled to God and live in the beatific vision of God in heaven. Therefore, it is thinking of the ‘self’ in all things (the root cause of Adam and Eve’s sin), which needs to be mastered and curtailed. Intolerance too comes from putting oneself at the centre of the universe, rather than God. Obviously, if God is the centre and we all are His creation, then everyone has to be treated equally and with respect. It is this goal in life that all of us hope to achieve and struggle towards — but it seems that in this Pakistan is still far behind.

It will be Christmas in a few days — which is both a Christian and a Muslim feast. Obviously, Jesus Christ is the central figure in Christianity but, he is also one of the most important prophets in Islam. The Holy Quran says: “We sent Jesus, son of Mary: We gave him the Gospel and put compassion and mercy into the hearts of his followers.” (57:27). Among other things, the message of Christ was of repentance and tolerance. In his famous comment, Jesus said that if someone strikes you on one cheek, present him the other. This was the extreme example of tolerance where even harm was responded to by compassion.

Similarly, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) worked tirelessly to end intolerance in society he was in and tried to ensure that all people could live together in peace and harmony. His efforts at making peace among the various feuding tribes in Arabia, his treaties with Jewish tribes, his excellent relations with Christian kings, are all testament to the centrality of tolerance in his message.

In this season which reminds us of the birth of Christ or Isa; let us reinvent Pakistan and create it on the basis of love and tolerance, rather than intolerance and hatred, and move ahead on our quest to be reunited completely with our Maker.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2011.