Christmas in Moharram
It was a sad Christmas for me this year. I was offended and deeply hurt. I wanted to cry, in fact, weep. That may well be because of my Shia training that helps men break the boys-never-cry jinx and allows them to shed tears when they feel hapless. I was powerless, dejected and frustrated.
The first post on my Facebook page that morning was from an old friend from my college days – a comrade in arms, the student union stuff. We had together cried our throats hoarse so many times, shouting slogans against the obscurantism of the General Zia era. We resisted the one-dimensional identity paradigm that the dictator wanted to force upon us. Drafting charters of demands, banging the doors of corroborating officials, struggling for coverage in the press, organising rallies, and rallying all the ‘factions’ in the universe of our hostel for a common cause. We had lived together so many moments of anxiety, excitement and joy. Those intense and close moments of camaraderie have a lasting impact on your personality. They are deeply etched on your soul, something comparable to what lovers feel when they engrave their names on tree trunks.
And all that stood shattered by just one post – a share from the Dawa website. My friends profile picture had changed some time back. He now keeps a beard. But somehow I was not ready for the shock. The post advised me, and of course other commoners as well, to abstain from wishing anyone ‘Merry Christmas’ as that constituted a kind of partial apostasy, which is nonetheless no better than full-fledged kufr. That’s how the logic goes: Christians believe that Jesus was son of God which in Islam is shirk. Christmas is his birthday so wishing someone on the occasion is condoning of shirk. Simple and plain. But my friend probably wasn’t sure. He did not add any endorsing comment that people generally do while sharing such noble posts: must watch, hit like, subhanallah etc. Maybe he was hesitant, apprehending a slew of negative responses from his old friends who still ‘haven’t seen the light’ and I know for sure that he is not the kind who may draw a sawab or two from people’s ire. It is also quite possible that old friends may no longer be a conscience point for him and he might actually be asking for the permission of his new friends. Is it OK if I wish others merry Christmas? Will it hurt my religious credentials, spoil my eeman? Does it go with my new identity?
The quest for identity for the Pakistani Muslim middle-class has become a simple one-window operation. All roads lead to one stop. There is one solution to all of your problems. In fact, the solution is in over-supply and many a times it has to search for and even invent problems so that its fix-it-all prowess can be demonstrated.
But for Christians in Punjab, religious identity is a totally different kind of phenomenon. They are afraid of who they are and have to adopt ways to hide their identity. You often know them by their first names only: Tariq, Atif, Rashid, and rarely discover their second names: Solomon, Peter, Jacob. Some have tightened the security further by pushing the Christian parts of their names to third place and inserted commonly known Arabic, Muslim names in the second place as well. The names that raise no eyebrows, set off no alarms and trigger no frantic calls to 911 asking if I shake hands with a Christian will my wazoo remain intact or do I need another dip?
Almost all of my non-Muslim friends frequently and spontaneously use mashallah, inshallah. I once asked a bishop if they found this ‘un-Christian’? He told me these are well-meaning Arabic words and that there are so many other such Arabic words in our language, like alwida, shukria, that are not directly associated with Islam. So why object to the usage of some that anyway are harmless. Maybe bishop sahab was being nice to me. The spontaneous usage of such words helps his fellow believers hide their religious identity.
Imagine a fellow passenger in Bus No 61 watching from the window the ‘Paris-like’ new Lahore, strewn all over with flyovers and underpasses, and gleefully telling you, “Pakistan is making progress with the blessings of Khudawand Yasu Masih (instead of mashallah).” That expression might fall under the laws dealing with the subjects of hurt public feeling, incitement of trouble if not outright blasphemy. If nothing else, the situation does deserve an emergency call: Hazrat, is it OK to listen to a mushrik phrase like, Khudawand Yasu Masih without putting up any resistance? Or ought I offer something in compensation, 101 beads, two rakat or what?
The caller will not be disappointed. They do entertain such queries. The people who join the ranks of the pious come covered with the filth of their heretic cultural lives that generally do not observe the lines drawn by religions. They sing, they dance, they make merry and indulge in all kinds of regrettable ‘Hindu-oriented’ customs. They need frequent dousing in the divine detergents. These caustic reagents scrape off all the earthly dirt and remove the stickiest of the stains. The most challenging of these being the guilt that the nuvo riche middle class faces – the guilt of leaving behind in poverty a whole host of people they personally know. The guilt of crossing the class divide and joining the side you once thought is responsible for the woes of the public. Believe me, it is the most stubborn of the stains. It pinches your conscience. It irks and irritates. It gives you sleepless nights and restless days. But it takes the faith laundry one wash, one thorough rinsing to free you of all the cultural dirt, cleanse all guilty stains and put you at peace with the status quo.
So when next time I join a rally against the reactionary force, shouldn’t my placard read: Merry Christmas?
The writer works with Punjab Lok Sujag, a research and advocacy group that has a primary interest in understanding governance and democracy.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Spot on, specially the last para
Legendry singer Mohd. Rafi Sahab had sung so many Bhajans with true emotions and all Indians, hindu or muslims, have given him special space in their hearts because we find him a true human being. Remember, if you follow the religion due to fear or greed, you are not true human but yor are an animal who follows your directions for the same reasons.
We need to be well educated and well informed to understand that what is ‘kufr’ and what is not. In fact people can be very easily misled by any beard guy by telling them that what is ‘kufr’ and what is real ‘eman’ & this is happening in our society. No doubt eman is delicate but no so fragile as decribed by some biased mullahs.
Its not only limited to saying “Merry christmas” some people in our society have stopped meeting their old friends because one fine day some biased religious guy convinced them that their old friend belong to a particular sect and they are not muslim; they should stop seeing them, otherwise under their influence, they themselves will beocme kafir. Message of divide and hate is spreading fast in our society. We all need to become united by being well informed and by being open minded.
This year a SMS was also going around asking people to recite Surah Akhlas on Christmas day and not to forget to widely circulate the SMS. At the end of the day nothing changed except the mobile companies got a bit richer.
Hahaha, good one!
I use Arabic, Urdu. Punjabi, Farsi and Hindi religious words all the time. No such thing as Shirk or murtad in using a word that implies something good. Some religious words said in good faith regardless of language choice and with good intentions should be held in good faith too.
we pakistanis are a bunch of confused lot. Always looking for something to show the world that we do not belong to this planet.
I commend the author. I have always wondered why moderate Pakistanis never speak against extremism. As an Indian Hindu, I have been the the among the first to protest any insults or attacks on Christians or Muslims. This article shows there is still hope for Pakistan and people like the author will play a major role in it.
You stole my words Raju Shah. I think credit not only goes to the writer, but Dawn as well (at least the website) for being so lucid is highlighting everyday issues. I am a Christian and I use “Islamic” phraseology all the time (some of of my fellows are irritated sometimes:P).
Your article was interesting and quite relevant . I could not help but remember the time when we were living in Saudi Arabia and my father had to keep non-shia names for all his children to avoid detection and deportation subsequently. Times have not changed and we are still bent on pointing fingers at others…
I fully agreed because mostly people are very much conservative and they believe what they listen from there forefather and religious scholar !but i think we need to respect to others regions and provided them a happy environment by wishing them on Christmas or Diwali…
agree
Being as a realistic Pakistani i fully agree with you! What i observed in Public, Mostly conservative and uneducated people are doing this practice But now we need to change this thought by respecting other religions
Its a strange article shias living and working overseas even in western countries are busy in moharram gatherings.Shias dont care about Christmas or NewYear in western countries.
Celebrate and Adore all religions, specially if there is any food involved in the festivities!
On a more serious note, why this overthinking on how and why someone uses some term to express their feelings?
I use Jesus! and Subhan Allah to express certain thoughts and feeling all the time. Because these so succintly express what is on my mind. And I use these in the most respectful way.
I fail to see any problem here, unless someone is really overthinking, and has nothing else to do.
Cheers! And God Bless.
its good to here such positive thinking
God Bless You Mehdi
we in India are better . we can wish Marry christmas or Id mubaraq. we have such liberty and we can not allow any one to snatch our freedom of religion and secularism.
kiya baat hai!
Great comment.
I am still wondering, who are these 17 people giving “Thumbs Down” to your comment.
All my muslim friends in India Shia/sunni wish Happy Diwali or merry Christmas. Similarly Hindus wish their Muslim friends during Eid etc… Over the next 10-20 years you are going to see Indian Muslims are going to set the trend for South Asian Muslim culture.
As far as wishing is concerned I get sms from some of my Muslim friends but I have seen many of them reluctant(do not take) to take Prasad or going to some temple. I have been to many mosques which includes Jama Masjid in delhi, Mecca mosque in hyderabad, Maula Ali in hyderabad and many others . I have sat for hours in Panje shah dargah(its a Shia worship place forgot the exact word for it.) in charminar area with my friends.My parents never tried to stop me .I never become a less hindu after that. Even Muslims should let themselves free. Go to a church or temple or Gurudwara and believe me you ll not become a less Muslim but a better human being.
The Qur’an teaches us (16:125 and many other places) that Allah SWT knows best who is on the right path and who is astray. See Sura 4:84 and 96 for giving beautiful greetings. Imam Abu Hanifa said that a person goes out of the fold of Islam by denouncing it or denying its fundamentals, and the Aqeeda (penned by Imam Tahwiya and followed by ahl sunnah wal jamaat) says that “We do not arrogate to ourselves the right to declare anyone who prays towards the qiblah (i.e. Ka’bah) as an infidel.” Go ahead and give beautiful greetings to all who do good and do not harm Allah’s creatures.
I didn’t get the relevance of the article to the article heading. Can someone please explain?
read it again. Everybody else here got the point.
NO Reply… Dawn is doing that very often….
exactly !!!
I don’t disagree with the article but what does it have to do with Moharram?
Fantastic analysis summarizing sorry mindset of middle class Pakistanis !! I only pray to God that make diversity as the only acceptable way of life for everyone & let them respect others beliefs.
good article mr. mehdi we pakistanis have become savages. Shaheed Zia-ul-haq has achieved in distorting the simple minds of Pakistan. Seriously there is no harm in Saying Merry christmas its just Christ’s birthday. Ayatollah Khomenei at exile in France bought gifts for their christian brothers as they were not accustomed to the noise when many interviews were conducted in the neighborhood he was residing, now this is Islam.
good point but please avoid using the word shaheed for Zia the tyrant
it was sarcasm my friend
Please do no0t call Zia -ul Haq as Shaheed. You are insulting the very word. Zia was a villian. He completly destroyed everything that Islamic values stood for!!!
Calling Zia a shaheed gives me some insight into the conundrum in a Pakistani’s mind.
when zia was around, most Pakistanis agreed with him, and he had popular support.
Pakistanis have become a confused lot. Sooner or later this overt religiosity is going to rebound when people see no betterment in their lives despite the ever lengthening beards and all-covering niqabs. This religious intoxication goes against the human grain especially when forced fed by a mullah.
i live in montenegro, and found almost all people saying mashallha when they adore my baby girl.. i dont think our iman should be so fragile!
Well written article!
In Malaysia there is a debate going on if other religions can use the word Allah in their scriptures.The muslims claim that Allah is their right and no other religion can use,while there are religions that refer to Allah and his greatness in their religion.When are you muslims going to have a tolerant and a magnanimous attitude as far as your religion is concerned? Especially when the word Allah is used with great respect
When are you going to say something, anything, nice about Muslims. Do you see such candid articles written about the majority attitude in US, or India. I don’t.
could you please give some reference to this debate so that the readers can view it in detail
When Jesus spoke in Aramaic, he referred to our Lord God as Allah. Let there be no confusion that anyone whether Muslim or not has the God given right to call God , Allah.
the muslims mind set has to change with modern time – they should know they are not in stone age period
Depressing, and of course true. Even last Christmas, there was a plethora of such warnings on Pakistani Facebook pages, telling people not to wish others Christmas because it is a sin of unimaginable proportions. The religious majority in Pakistan NEVER let goes of the chance to draw yet another line between themselves and others from a different faith; the deeper the line is etched, the bigger medal they get for their “piety”. Wishing people on occasions like Christmas or Divali is ofcourse a far fetched idea when they are busy either digging up graves (one can’t be sure the dead are not preaching lies six feet under), making egregious changes to passports, or spraying hateful graffiti on walls.
Dearg Fatima
i am 100 million timesf thankful to you for your analysis & innocent feedabck. though i am from india, mumbai..come across such incidence 100 times…there are same mentality amongst indian muslmis also…hope they will feel feelings of other conmmunities also & this earth wil lbecome heaven
I have many Muslim friends—from Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Egypt, not to mention my native India. Only one of them wishes me a Happy Diwali. The rest are happy to receive my greetings of Happy Id thrice a year, but no, never, could they wish me a Happy Diwali. If they did so, perhaps they would be struck down with an unimaginable disease, I suppose.
I have a acquaintance from Pakistan. Without fail he wishes me on diwali with all those traditional kind of messages “may goddess laxmi……………….”. Surprised ? Even I was. But its fact. We have been warmly exchanging greetings for some 3-4 years.