BaKhabar, May 2010, Page-7

better light a candle than curse the darkness

When a Hindu fundamentalist inspired me … …

- Shakeel Ahmad (shakeeluae@gmail.com)

Amit: “You are a good Muslim, and we face no difficulties in going along with you. Unlike the other guy, Ayub! Oh my God, I feel so irritated just looking at his bearded face! And, why does he have to cover his head with a cap all the time? Can’t he understand he is studying Engineering, and he has to lead a professional life?”
Me: “Hey Amit, don’t you think beard is a natural sign of a man? Have you asked Ayub why he keeps it?”
Amit: “Oh yeah, I did ask him once, and he said it’s prescribed in Islam. I asked him if this was right, then why all Muslims do not keep it. You know what he said? He said, ‘Ask those who don’t keep, that’s something only they should know’.”
Me: “But, have you ever asked a Hindu saint why every sadhu keeps beards? And all those who maintain beard are not Muslims, you never seem to object to them!”
Amit took a deep breath, sighed as if wondering why he never asked a sadhu about it! In fact, he recalled his grandfather also sported a beard that he liked a lot. He told me he could recall Hindu characters in many of the movies sporting beard; he could even recall bearded Amitabh Bachan looking so smart that clean-shaven Salman or Shahrukh could never match. But, as if to extend his argument about Ayub’s beard, he said: BHU

“But, why does Ayub’s beard irritate me? Is it because it’s unkempt? Or, is it because he attaches Islam to it? Anyways, I see you using a tooth brush, like we do, while Ayub uses a twig (miswak, a tooth cleaning young shoot of a tree) which he never seems to be changing at all. How can he use the same twig so long? When I asked him, he said, he just chews off the top used part, and chews the fresh top of the twig, every morning, to make a brush out of it. But, I can see him using the same used part at least five times a day, before he makes wudu (ablution) for prayer. How disgusting! How can he continue to use the same twig? Is it not unhygienic? I think this is what pulls me off. Why can’t he be like you?”
Me: “Amit, how often do you change your tooth brush, dear?”
Amit: “Well, two months. Sometimes, a brush goes on for four or five months as well, until I go home and my mother gives me a new one.”
Me: “How disgusting, Amit! Is it not unhygienic using the same tooth brush for so long?”
Amit laughed his heart out, then asked me why I did not use miswak. I told him I was as lazy as him and found it too much of an effort finding the fresh, soft twigs of trees. I did not want to admit that it was basically my desire to maintain the image of a secular that kept me away from this; otherwise I simply needed to ask Ayub for it, who would happily give me a piece of miswak. Same was true about my clean-shaven appearance and almost everything else about me. I felt proud to be able to respond to such queries related to Islam in a way that made the Hindu class-mates happy. At the same time, I considered Ayub a stupid guy who was not able to do so, and embarrassed us by carrying Islam on his shoulders because of which Hindus got a chance to look down upon us.

Two days later, Amit wanted to discuss Islam with me. I felt so proud, and was sure why he did not wish to discuss with Ayub. He asked me whether the principal difference between Hinduism and Islam was the temple and the mosque, the ways of praying or the hymns used in them, the celebrations of Eid and Holi, or something else. I explained to him that there was more to it than the mere rituals, and it concerned the basic pillars of faith itself. I was lucky as he did not ask me the details. He asked me what kind of idol or idols we keep in our mosques, and how different they are from the idols of temples. Well, I think, the first shock that he received was the response to this question itself. When he heard we did not keep any idols in front of us, and masjids have nothing at all, he refused to believe. I had to take him to a masjid to prove this, but the muezzin and the imam refused an entry to Amit, claiming that non-muslims were not permitted in mosques, and I had a hard time explaining why. Determined not to give up, I took many photographs of the masjid’s interiors, and showed to Amit. He still refused to believe, and I had to wait until I found a video of Eid prayers. Fortunately, I also found an excellent video of prayers being performed in the Haram Shareef, but unfortunately, he considered the very Kaaba as an idol we worshipped.
A week after I had failed, miserably, to convince Amit that Muslims do not keep any idols in their mosques, and they pray directly to God, Amit came back, and asked me for a copy of Quran. It was my turn to get surprised. In my moment of amazement, I asked him why he wanted to read the holy Quran. He said:
“I have been a member of the ABVP, the student political arm of BJP, ever since I joined IT-BHU. Yesterday, I was among the five hundred students of BHU who wanted to burn copies of Quran to protest against the muslim-appeasement policy of UP government (Urdu was made the 2nd official language). Had the proctor not intervened, we would have succeeded in our attempt, but I have been feeling very uneasy ever since. I think this uneasiness is due to the fact that we wanted to burn a book we knew nothing about. In fact, it’s only today that I came to know that this was the book muslims followed, so I would like to know what is inside this book that makes Ayub a fundamentalist, some other Muslims instruments of terror, and Hindus willing to burn it.
IT-BHU was the engineering college where I studied with Amit and Ayub, all of us batchmates living in the same hostel; I was only one of the four muslim students in the batch of over two hundred students. I had to ask for Ayub’shelp, because I had no connections with any muslim organizations which could provide me a copy, nor did I keep any copies for myself as it might have harmed my secularist image. Ayub arranged a Quran with Hindi translation the very next day, handed it over to Amit, explaining him how to handle this holy book, and invited Amit to contact him any time, for any questions that he might have.
It was a moment of reckoning for me. After initial moments of shame for keeping away from the soul of Islam, and leading the life of a hypocrite namesake Muslim, this was the first time in my life, I felt an intense desire to study and understand the holy Quran. Ayub perhaps realized the storm within me, or received some divine signals about it, I do not know, but he did gift me a Quran with Urdu translation which remains the most treasured gift for me even after twenty-six long years. I wonder how a Hindu fundamentalist could inspire me to learn my religion, while my fellow Muslims can’t!

 A
man reached 70 years of age and he faced a disease; he could not
urinate. The doctors informed him that he was in need of an operation
to cure this disease. He agreed to have the operation done as the
problem was giving him much pain for days. When the operation was
completed, his doctor gave him the bill which covered all the costs.
The old man looked at the bill and started to cry.  Upon
seeing
this the doctor told him that if the cost was too high then they could
make some other arrangements. The old man said “I am not
crying because of the money but I am crying because Allah let me
urinate for 70 years and He never sent me a bill.” 

…and if you
try to count the blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count
them… {Surah Ibrahim}      
          

Email: bakhabar@biharanjuman.org 7