To be or not to be....?
Yes! That is the question precisely. How did it come about…here are the lackluster details.
A Danish journal published some caricatures in September 2005 which I honestly think are in excruciatingly bad taste. The purpose according to the newspaper’s administration was to explore the freedom of press. But the only thing that it very successfully promulgated was a series of protests all over the Muslim world.
For a moment, let’s forget religion here. It’s about the basic inviolability of any person’s beliefs. We are all entitled to them and no one should have the right to deride what constitutes another person’s beliefs. Its basic decency!
Yes! One can and must explore the origins of religions and make sensible judgments. Most of us are all born into some religion; it is our prerogative to stick to it. I respect other people’s rights to believe in what makes sense to them but I don’t think that anyone has to the right to enforce their beliefs on anyone at all. Not even the most erudite of individuals can claim this right.
This morning many of our regional correspondents reported protest rallies all over the country. Dogar sahib asked me if I had seen the caricatures. I had and I guided him to the source on Internet. Next thing I know, my ex’s uncle who is a qadiani and doesn’t believe in the finality of prophet hood came and stood next to dogar sahib, looking at the cartoons. I knew instantly his purpose. It doesn’t take a 160 IQ to realize why he found them so interesting.
Later I told dogar sahib that he should have been careful. He agreed that he should have been. Then he said to me that just yesterday he was wondering why I was so religious given the fact that I was so young.
I asked him what he considered ‘religious’? He said that since I observe fasts and pray the regular five prayers and cover my head, I am religious. Though I disagree with his criteria of being religious, I asked him what a girl of my tender years should be doing. He said, that the same thing my class fellows are doing which he needn’t explain. I understood his drift to the obvious. I don’t date, I don’t have a boy friend, unlike most other girls, I am working, and though at one point I wanted to get married, I don’t anymore. I don’t spend hours in front of the mirror. I prefer to spend my money over books and traveling rather than buying new clothes and jewelry.
What’s wrong with me?
I know there is an answer to that. But my question really is… What’s wrong with being a believer? Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism are all codes. What’s wrong with following them? Religion and fanaticism are two different aspects. Why is it that we who are educated cannot make out the difference between the two?
Why is it that we are constantly excusing our religion?