On touting religion

My religion is better than yours

The far-from-satisfactory Rawalpindi road infrastructure forces me to spend a lot of my time driving. Luckily, the ingenious truck-art and bumper stickers provide a great mode of escape from ennui to people trapped inside their vehicles. Some of this ‘literature’ is amusing, perhaps because one is in no position, when stuck in a traffic jam, to set a very exacting benchmark for entertainment. I am talking about gems such as ‘If I stop, can you stop?’ or ‘Turst (sic) in God.’ Then you have the cringe worthy category, consisting, for the most part, of very bad poetry; but this too is enjoyable in its own way. And finally there are the deep thoughts and philosophies, usually expressed as pithy one-liners. These are sometimes very thought-provoking.

For instance, the other day, my son read this out loud of the back of a mini-bus: ‘Before being a good doctor or engineer, be a good Muslim.’ He then inquired: ‘Shouldn’t it say, “Be a good human being”?’ I was about to tell him that it was one and the same thing: that a good Muslim was by definition a good human being, but I resisted the temptation to put the thought into words. Thankfully so, because it can take decades to really unlearn anything an eleven-year-old hears from his father.

Now I am not implying that a good Muslim is not a good human being. In theory he undoubtedly is. But of what use to us are theories that can’t account for hard facts? If merely being a ‘good’ Muslim is such a great thing, shouldn’t its fruits be there for all to see? Sadly I don’t see any. And it’s not just Pakistan; I am talking about the whole ‘Muslim’ world. For my part, I don’t see any point in proving propositions to the effect that this or that religion is the answer to all problems. As far as I am concerned, there are good and bad people of all religions (and of no religion at all). On the question of one particular philosophy being better than the rest, while everybody is entitled to his own opinion, there should be no mistake that it will be practice that will settle the issue, not empty slogans. In this world, that is. Let the Almighty worry about the Hereafter.

Coming back to the here and now, and why such slogans are dangerous; the premise that to be a good Muslim is the ultimate goal for humanity has some unfortunate implications. For many, it follows that a non-Muslim can’t be good on account of failing to achieve the above. A few go one step further: that they need to drive the point home publicly, as Mr Abid Hashmi recently did at his Hafeez Centre shop. The subsequent public adulation showered on him proves that there are many who share his convictions even if they lack the courage to do what he did.

A free man is one who is not shackled with agendas of any sort — he is nobody’s mouthpiece. In fact what makes him truly free is the fact that he owes his allegiance to transcendental notions of truth, beauty, and kindness, irrespective of where he finds them. If Jinnah is a hero, while Gandhi is a villain for you, is it because of something to do with their actions or because one was a Muslim and the other a Hindu? Talking of Jinnah, he is on record that the business of the state had nothing to do with the religion of its citizens. Perhaps he thought too highly of the intelligence and ‘goodness’ of his nation to have felt the need to add that religion of fellow citizens was no business of the ordinary citizen either. Do you, reader, hold different standards for Mehmood Ghaznavi and Bhagat Singh; or Aurangzeb and Ranjit Singh? I earnestly hope the answer is in the negative. I shudder at the very thought of my son ever succumbing to religious – or any other kind of – parochial mentality. I want him to be a free man.

The habit of thinking in terms of labels is one steep slope. From Muslim/non-Muslim, it soon becomes Shia/Sunni. From there it becomes a matter of the ‘good’ sub-sect of each. A wise man will neither condemn nor congratulate people grouped together carelessly under one label; no label can do justice to something as complex as a human being. Every human being is unique, and it is grossly unfair to view him in the light of a hastily chosen label. Labels, without exception, fail to account for nuances.

My message to teachers and parents is to please stop producing good Muslims. We already have a surplus of those. What we can definitely do with are more decent, free human beings who don’t feel the need to achieve fulfillment by touting their religion. Proclaiming how great Muslims are (and how rotten everybody else is) would have been in bad taste at the best of times (why advertise an obvious fact?). But as things stand, proclaiming the higher status of Muslims evokes the same reaction from sensible people as do radio and TV ads congratulating the government on its expert handling of all national issues: mirth and ridicule. I don’t think it is ever a great idea to wear one’s religion on one’s sleeve, but if you are a Muslim, this is absolutely the worst time to be brandishing your religion in people’s faces. Or, as a sincere friend would say to another, get your head out of the sand.

I recognise that the prevalent religious fervour will not be giving way to rational ways of thinking any time soon. And definitely not as a result of this rant. At the same time I believe that even the smallest actions have consequences, and that sanity will ultimately prevail. Till that time comes, Allah waalon se Allah bachaye.