On Being Human

Forgive me if I respect people who believe in humanity, who don't shrink from lending a helping hand where required, who are more concerned with other people's feelings then their own, who genuinely consider all people to be equal, who can treat those who are different well - more worthy of respect.

Forgive me if I truly do think God thinks so too. Xainab: Winter of My Discontent - Aug 21/2006

The first part I fully endorse. Do have a problem with the last part/sentence

But this calls for an explanation of sorts. My personal (and wacky) believe is He is the Rub ul Aalameen the master of 'worlds' as enunciated in the most read Surah of all - Al Fateha: and having created earth He has lost interest in it and its inhabitants and has moved on to 'other' worlds.

He was/is kind enough to leave his 'instructions' for the inhabitants. So it is up to us to follow those instructions - primarily be a good human being, be a good corporate citizen and continue on the personal and collective path toward evolution.

The first teacher who taught us alphabets - where is s/he? The teacher did her/his job and pushed us in a certain direction.

yeh kya baat hui?

Well, the onus is shifted on to us to manage the affairs - both personal and collective. And, since He has moved away, it is entirely up to us to select and to pursue the right path. If we miss out, the fault is entirely ours.

***

Since 9/11 Islam is under siege from both sides - from the west for obvious reasons - and from within - the clergy - the mullahs who are using it - rather abusing it for their vested interests.

If my anger is obvious at the mullahs it is no less for ourselves. We who can ostensibly read chose not to. We had shut down any inquiries into the religion we were born into. This results in us becoming a captured audience for the mullahs.

Think of it this way. How difficult could it be to understand al Islam - a religion that came to and was understood by unread bedouins?

Wasn't the central message be good? Be upright, be a good citizen (look after your elders, fellow citizens?) Be a good human being? Instead, we are mired in an incessant pool of dogma and rituals.

The outpouring of western criticism in the aftermath of 9/11 is a welcome sign. Here in T.O. I have seen firsthand a resurgence - specially among the younger generation of Muslims. They have woken up and are at a stage where they are 'asking' questions - challenging the established norms and wisdom of their elders (who had passively bought their faith lock stock and barrel or hadith, shariah and qur'an.)

These younger Muslims are reading and educating themselves into the religion they were accidentally born into: and hopefully in a few generations a more aware and awakened community will come into play (this observation is primarily valid for Greater Toronto Area. And I believe this observations is equally valid for other western cities where desis have settled in numbers.

It is the duty of every able Muslim to read and get to know the religion s/he was born into. Only then we could hope to get out of the clutches of the jaahil mulla. Only then we can hope to march to the progressive and egalitarian path shown us - with tolerance and goodwill for others inhabiting this planet.

Failure is not an option.