The history sometimes fall prey to the label of religions, racism and ideologies.
Philosopher and sociologist deeply influenced by Allama Iqbal, Dr Ali Shariati, says: “Who is an enlightened soul? In a nutshell, the enlightened soul is a person who is self conscious of his ‘human condition’ in his time and historical and social setting, whose awareness inevitably and necessarily gives him a sense of social responsibility.” But the pathological dualism has divided the world and has led to hatred and violence. The most heartening part is to come across legends of interfaith love, peace and sacrifice. Among the countless attributes of Karbala and Imam Hussain (AS) is unifying the humanity for the struggle for a cause as in words of Gandhi “I learnt from Hussain how to achieve victory while being oppressed”. Everybody is all praise for the Hindu community as to promote interfaith harmony they cancelled their religious festival Ram Leela in respect of Muharram. They decided not to perform the burning of the 50 feet high effigy of Ravana at the culmination of the Ram Leela play. If we go in the labyrinth of history, Hussaini Brahmins is an inspiring and historical epic. It is a remarkable example of inter-faith harmony.
The Hussaini Brahmins is a community that has an intertwined link with Hinduism and Islam. It is said that their ancestor Rahab Sidh Dutt has sacrificed his seven sons for Imam Hussain (AS) in 680 AD in Karbala. The rest of the community that came alive hence came to be known as Hussaini Brahmins. They are now spread across Sindh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and other parts of India and Pakistan. They ruled Afghanistan for 120 years. The Dutts observe Hindu rituals including worship of Shiva.
It goes back like this, Rahab Dutt was the chief of Arabian Hindu traders, and he was closely associated with Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and his family as his wish to have a son was materialised after he met Imam Hussain (AS). He expressed his wish for a son to Imam (AS), he told him it’s not in his fate to have a child, he broke down in tears. Upon this, Imam (AS) pacified him and prayed for him to be blessed with seven sons. The prayer was answered and he was blessed with seven sons. All of these seven sons were in Karbala. (The other version says that Dutt set off looking for Imam (AS) along with his sons and tribe. But by the time he reached Karbala Imam Hussain (AS) was already martyred). At that time only in Baghdad 1,400 Brahmins were residing.
After the tragedy of Karbala, the Dutt tribe rallied around Mukhtar Saqafi, the chief of the partisans of Imam Hussain (AS) fought with remarkable heroism and resounded victory against Yazeed. The murderer, governor of Kufa (Obaid Ibn Zyad), was captured and his fort was razed. Rahab Dutt distraught with loss of Imam (AS) left Arabia, Bhurya Dutt stayed behind in Kufa. Part of that town is known as “Dair-i-Hindiya”. Col (r) Ramsarup Bakshi, member of the community who resides in Pune, told Pune Mirror that he is proud of his ancestral link with Imam Hussain (AS). “We are a very small community but this single piece of history is of seminal significance in our lives and binds Hindus and Muslims together. Most importantly we share centuries old bonds between Hindus and Muslims.”
This astounding history of interfaith harmony does not end here. It has many beautiful angles. In Corboda in Muslim times, there was a statue of the Virgin Mary above the gate called ” Bab -al-Qantra”, which led to the bridge over the Guadalquiver, and another such statue over the principal gate of Pachina. Spain carries the mysticism as part of religion. In remote Morisco village, practice of Ashura is still being used during the Good Friday. It may be because few customs may have been inspired by certain influence on these areas
The picture of Christian priest visiting the shrine of Imam Hussain (AS) caught everybody’s attention. This is humanity, a priest from one religion paying tribute to other religion. “Both Hussain (AS) and Christ sacrificed themselves for the salvation of people of their religions; Islam and Christianity,” he said.
The proud moment comes when interfaith harmony demonstration comes from within our own country.
A group of university students in Lahore has formed an interfaith harmony group “Turr Lahore”. They formed the group to create on ground interaction, people to people contact, healthy sharing of ideas, views and beliefs. We tend to fail in empathising in case minorities are targeted and bullied were the word of the group members. Mohammad Murtaza, Faizan and Aon organised the trip to inner Lahore on Ashura as an interfaith activity. Mohammad explained how the national narratives, security apparatus had dominated cityscapes and added nothing to nurture a culture based on diversity. The idea was to be truly able to relate to themselves on the mutual grounds of harmony, acceptance diversity and displaying first hand interaction.
This year 49 people joined the event. It included Germans, Americans and Pakistanis. Attendees, who go to visit the inter-religion activities, now see it in a different light. After one of this activity they mentioned there is more to Ashura than self-flagellation. For Zargham, the experience was profound. “It was my birthday but I felt like this was the right thing to do,” Meherwar told. The astounding project “Turr Lahore” started two years ago. Apart from Ashura, the participants are planning to go to Christmas, Easter and Baisakhi. It is such a remarkable step to show acceptance towards diversity of different religions. Aon said, “Despite all the security hurdles, we just proved where there is a will there is a way. The role of passing judgments while not even being part of something is discouraged.” Shahzaib said” “I faced a lot of difficulty in taking permission from my family, but after participating in the event I was deeply touched with the immense passionate culture. Every religion has their own informational logic behind it.” The organizer, Mohammad Murtaza, narrated how people are visibly shaken aback when they experience Fajr prayers in the inner city on Ashura. Such projects definitely lit the candles in darkness based on hatred. It is an extremely praiseworthy effort in a totalitarian society like ours. The essence of Islam was the role of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) as being the blessing for entire humanity and universe.
While we appreciate some international non-Muslim figures showing solidarity with Muslim minorities on religious festival, we ourselves shy away from acting on what we preach. In the brilliant book titled “Not in God’s Name”, Rabbi Jonathon Sacks points out we need ideas to establish a lasting peace. Peace in the century of technology will be found within ancient texts of holy books if they are read without pre-set ideas. He said Abraham had no empire, no miracles and no army… just a different example of how to believe, think and live.
Prof Dr Kalyan Singh, secretary general Guru Nanak Ji mission, said: “Imam Hussain (AS) is the voice and symbol of every oppressed person, he is the symbol of strength, what we need to understand is to identify the oppressor of our times and raise voice.” He added, “If we keep on preaching hatred for minorities, treat them untouchables and display prejudice, harmony, equality and peace can never be attained. Harmony has to come from the majority of society, as minorities are victimised. He further added that how the minorities are system bound to “face hardships and are still struggling”.
Mosques, churches and temples all burring down human beings are killed, but why? God will sigh and ask ” in your name” will be the man’s answer. Questions, objections and debates can never lead to a settlement only acceptance for the diversity and giving others the right to be different can lead to peace and interfaith harmony. The love and justice both needs to be together for balance. One of the messages of Karbala and Imam Hussain (AS) is to follow the right path with firm belief no matter how small in number and yet display such a mannerism that has an open invites for people from the opponent camps.
We are sowing and reaping seeds of hatred, which is leading to destruction. Harmony, peace and respect are so beautifully narrated by Rumi, “Christian, Jew, Muslim, Shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain and river each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged.”
The writer is a children’s right activist and a former educationist