faith can move.. more than just mountains...
In continuation with my below post regarding the Jama Masjid blasts, I am here to put emphasis on my earlier argument with a quote from a prominent figure in the Islamic sector in India.
It was a pleasant surprise for me to see my own thoughts reflected in one of the national dailies this morning as a quote from the Imam of the Jama Masjid. To quote-unquote.. he states that they had anticipated something like this to happen and were kind of prepared for it as two explosives were recovered and diffused in time on November 29, 2005 from the campus.
However, what caught my attention, and am sure would catch a lot of other people's attention too, is his stand on the entire incident. "The people behind these incidents at Varanasi and now at the Jama Masjid, are the same. They belong to no religion and are simply interested in provoking people to fight each other - they just want communal riots for their own petty motives", said the Imam in his statement to the media.
The first concern of the Imam at the time of the first explosion was to rush the injured to the hospital and after the second explosion, his priority was to address the people so as to calm tempers down. Thanks to him, what could have ended up in a public outrage, has gone down as an act of terror only meant to harm human life and not a particular community.
It is certainly heartening to see that people who are public figures and leaders in their own right are taking a step in the right direction and thinking in terms of the bigger picture.
A more responsible part here has to be played by the media which does and will always continue to effect people and their thinking. No matter how corrupt we think our political leaders to be, we still have some faith in the media which holds enough credibility to make people react to a certain news in a certain fashion. It is the media, the journalists, the reporters, who make us see and believe in what has happened in the outside world and how the prominent people react to it. The media has made a difference in the past and so it will now. Keeping the faith and keeping fingers crossed.
Keeping the faith...
The unfortunate incident that took place at the famous Jama Masjid in New Delhi yesterday has shaken many a souls. Two bomb explosions, resounded in the mosque and led to a gush of panic through the crowd assembled for the evening prayers. However, what remains the glorious point is the fact that soon after the explosions, the crowd re-assembled in the same mosque to offer the fourth prayer of the day. It is this spirit and the faith that made everyone take notice of the fact that if we want, we can certainly give terrorism a reply by simply keeping our faith strong. Had the same incident been taken down in the negative, it could have led to serious implications. But what followed was mere panic which was eventually brought down by the Imam of the mosque who helped resume normalcy in the area by announcing that things are under control.
Talking of spirit, similar explosions were witnessed in the holy town of Varanasi, where bombs planted in a temple led to loss of life in a place of worship. It was possibly the example set there by the Hindus and Muslims of the town who took nothing in communal nature and went on to play Holi with each other - turning down all political motives and vendetta.
This post is merely dedicated to this spirit of the countrymen, who have now resolved not to be a victim of political games and have realised that they have one belief and it's their faith that will help them win this war against political terrorism.
So, taking a more current example, I now go on to the soul of this blog again... It is never a faith that can go wrong. Had it not been the faith of people who witnessed these two incidents, we could very well be in the midst of communal riots by now. All thanks and salutes to this spirit that has been part of each of the beings in these two incidents, that the incidents were not turned into weapons of hostility and used against innocent people.
Moving on to a more important factor here, an even intelligent step here was on the part of the religious leaders in the respective communities. In both cases, they acted in the larger interest of both the communities and their people respectively, by asking their people to keep the faith and move on instead of going to fetch eye for an eye.
Yes.. this is what we need today. This is exactly what is the need of the hour even in terms of the bigger picture. Loss of life is but loss of human life. And humans across the globe are the same sentimental, attached, emotionally charged creatures - who care for and crave for their families, who want to be loved and appreciated, who need that moment of peace to connect to thier God, who cry at a loved one's loss and feels a vaccum in his life withut the one who's been wronged. We're all the same - then why and how can we make someone else suffer the way we did - when we know how it feels? How can we wrong someone else' dear one when we can't see it happen to our own? How can we do it to each other... Think about it... and read this space for more... and yes.. keep the faith!
