Eid spreads happiness and understanding

Those who have lived and worked in Islamic countries, especially those of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) would have had an educative and rewarding experience.

Non-Muslims would have learnt how, like Muslims continue the daily work at office without even drinking a glass of water from sunrise to sunset; they would have also learnt of self-denial and social service.

Many of us would get out of our homes late in the night during each day of Ramadan to  listen to a lecture or participate in a social welfare activity, be it helping the disabled or  teaching children to read and write English.

In that mood, many would have learnt how Islam was meant to bring people together and let them share each other’s happiness and concerns.

In that mood, they would have reflected on the innate goodness in men and women and praise the Lord for having created a world that was a pleasure to inhabit.

In that mood, they would have realised the pleasure was in giving, not receiving.

Many Non-Muslims would also have come to respect The Holy Quran, and taken its teachings as an intrinsic part of their lives.

Millions of Non-Muslims respect Islam without embracing it as their own religion.

They may not be converts but respect the value of its teachings.

It is often said that every man and woman who fasts during the Holy Month of Ramadan, emerges stronger, with a more intense feeling for fellow beings.

There comes a revelation, year after year, of the need to be humble, helpful and honourable towards the community in which they live.

That in fact is the true spirit of Ramadan.

We live in the hope that Eid-Al-Fitr this year will bring together more people and foster in them the feeling of oneness.

A feeling of oneness is an integral part of Islam.

The Changed scenario

It is unfortunate that recent developments have led some people to ask these questions:

Is Islam a religion that propagates intolerance? Does it condone violence and terrorism? Do Muslims remain outside a nation’s polity and mainstream society? Will they rise to an occasion and be nationalistic in spirit?

These are some of the questions for which answers should be provided time and again, not just as a matter of repetition but as an instrument to reinforce the belief:

That Islam does not promote intolerance.

That Islam does not condone violence and terrorism.

That many, if not all, Muslims integrate themselves into the mainstream society.

That they contribute towards its progress and prosperity.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington DC and several other events that ensued, Islam has been subject to much discussion.

The world has not been the same since that day and never will be.

It is divided into two parts- the larger one with good and moderate people who believe that no religion, including Islam, would encourage the killing of thousands of civilians, and throw their families into endless suffering; and another, small and yet sinister part of terrorists, their promoters and sympathisers who believe that only Islam and Muslims shall inherit or rule the earth.

The battle between the two may go on for a while.

But it is time people of this country at least understood what it means to be a Muslim and what it means to be misunderstood and stood down against for one fault of the individual.

Misunderstood and abused

Hinduism has also been not properly understood by people – not just those of other faiths but by Hindus themselves.

Over the years, the teachings of Hinduism have been misconstrued to mean the opposite of unity and tolerance; everything in fact that was not intended to be a part of a religion which is more than a religion and a way of life.

Likewise, our Muslim brothers and sisters have cause to be concerned over the misinterpretation to which they and their religion are subject to in recent years.

Like every great religion, Islam is, and has been for all but the first of its 1400 years, a varied and fractious faith. Muslims do not differ on essentials such as the oneness of God, the literalness of His word as voiced by Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him), or the duty to perform prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage.

Islam, as we understand it, is a religion that teaches its followers the need to pray and  obey God, Allah the Almighty. That should be the beginning and the most important aspect of human life among the Muslim community.

Because, Islam preaches that obedience to God, fills the human being with the goodness of the divine and makes him or her worthy of living.

There are then other teachings that Muslims are directed to follow.

Islam remains a diverse and broadly tolerant faith.

Putting down terrorists

In Arab countries generally, the ultra-radical fringe seemed to be shrinking. Most Arab governments have long since recognised the threat it poses. Concerted and often brutal policing has decapitated most of the extreme groups.

Some organisations that were once considered dangerously radical, such as Lebanon’s Shia militia, Hizbullah, have moved into the mainstream. Even Egypt’s Gamaa Islamiya, an organisation that wrought havoc in the early 1990s, has renounced violence, although its jailed leader has since wavered.

To most Muslims, the contention of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his followers that God has ordered Muslims to kill Americans is not only silly, but presumption bordering on heresy.

In all but a few cases, the inroads made by Islamism are reflected not in violent extremism, but in an increased religious consciousness. Muslims today are in general more knowledgeable about their faith, more attuned to its demands, and more assertive about their identity.

NZ Muslims

Muslims in New Zealand should consider themselves among the most fortunate in the world, for they live in a country far removed from the controversies of the western world. True, conflicts of opinion do exist among various faiths but by and large, no one ascribes to our Muslim brothers and sisters facets of Islamic extremism or terrorism.

It is gratifying that over the years, the Muslim population, mainly of Indian subcontinent origin (since joined by others), has assiduously followed the tenets of modern ways of living, without compromising their religious or ethnic values.