Peace on Earth: Bound by a Common And Rich Heritage

By Firoze Bakht Ahmed

Kabir, the inspired poet weaver of northern India, declared that there was neither Hindu nor Muslim, but only man as the embodiment of the Divine.

Sufi texts record that after Saint Kabir died, his followers and fans, both Hindus and Muslims, fought for the right to either cremate or bury his remains. As the quarrel started fanning communal passions, an elder requested members of both communities to cover the saint'sbody and to wait till the next morning. Morning dawned and when the sheet was taken off, the warring communities found that in place of the body, two heaps of flowers were kept. The Hindus cremated the Tulsi flowers while the Muslims buried the Jasmine heap and the problem was over.

Just before the vivisection of the subcontinent, a Muslim peasant in Bengal participated as joyously in the village Durga Pooja as did his Hindu neighbour. In Bangladesh, Hindus celebrated Eid . If entire Muslim villages in Malaysia can watch the Ramayana performed on stage, there is no reason why they cannot do the same in India or include Hindus in tazia processions and Karbala enactments. Bollywood actresses like Meena Kumari, Nargis, Waheeda Rehman and Mumtaz have time and again played the role of a devoted Hindu wife. Who, irrespective of faith, hasn"t praised the bhajans sung in Mohammed Rafi'ssonorous voice or the thumri devoted to Hindu deities by Begum Akhtar?

To the millions who undertake the pilgrimage to the Ayyappa temple in the Sabari hills in Kerala, the shrine of Vavuruswami, who was a Muslim saint, en route to the temple, is a sacred landmark. The dargah is revered and worshipped by all pilgrims who climb the hills singing hymns in praise of Lord Ayyappa and the Muslim saint. It is the prerogative of the Muslim custodian of the shrine to take care of the pilgrims and guide them to Ayyappa'stemple above.

According to Muraqqa-e-Delhi of Nawab Dargah Quli Bahadur, the Mughal emperors consumed only Gangajal. Their celebration of Holi, Diwali and Dussehra is well known. If the rulers were Muslims, the economy was run by the Hindu administrators and officers. Muslim monarchs trusted Hindu accountants. If Aurangzeb had brave Rajput generals, Shivaji, the Maratha ruler, trusted Muslim generals. Sufi saints like Sheikh Muinuddin Chishti, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and Pirs like Haji Malang in Mumbai are revered by all Indians irrespective of the faiths they follow. The rath percolated in the Muslim society as the tazia. Can this history of communal concord be denied?

Reporting the Babri masjid demolition in 1992, the headlines of the The Guardian of London screamed "Hindu terrorism!" By the same logic, can we dub terrorism in Ireland as "Catholic terrorism"? Just because a rowdy section of the Hindu community had demolished the mosque and indulged in an orgy of violence and rioting, the entire Hindu community could not be labelled as terrorists. More than 80 per cent Hindus are secular. Had these level-headed Hindus gone the VHP way, not one Muslim would have survived in India.

Historical records at many south Indian temples reveal that Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali revered some deities at the Hindu shrines. In his own capital of Seringapatnam, the historic temple of Sriranganatha was under the personal care of Tipu Sultan. Hyder Ali once gifted the famous Nanjundeswara deity at the historic temple at Nanjangud in Karnataka state which is known as " Hyder Ali lingam ".

A temple at Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to Thuluka Nachiar, the Turkish Goddess. The deity happens to be a Muslim princess, whose father had taken away Vishnu'simage from a Hindu shrine. The princess had fallen in love with the image and when the Hindu priests guided by a supernatural dream came to take away the idol, she refused to part with it. Finally, ordered by her father to give away the image, the heartbroken girl followed the deity to the temple at Srirangam. There she "disappeared" into the sanctum sanctorum just as it happened in the case of Meerabai in Marwar. In honour of her great devotion to Vishnu, she is worshipped as his consort in the historic temple.

The Hindu and Islamic faiths in this country and their intertwining traditions are all part of India'shoary heritage. They form an Indian ethos that is an amazing conglomeration of multifarious faiths and cultures. For centuries Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians in this country have shared common customs on the occasions of birth, death and marriages. Hence, attempts to alienate these communities from one another can never divorce them from their common culture and heritage and from the ancient ties that bind them together.

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See also: Peace of Mind, Peace on Earth, Life and Beyond, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)