Growing up life is pretty simple, things are absolute; things are perfect. There is right and there is wrong; no betwixt or between. If you were raised in the Pakistan of the 80’s then: all Indians were bad, women who wore short sleeves were wicked, no one drank alcohol (ever), there were no homosexuals (at least not in Pakistan), there was no child abuse, Pakistan was the land of the pure, men in green descended to help us win our wars, good people prayed five times a day, no one divorced or if they did, the women were wicked. All evils resided in the West; pop culture, drugs, extra marital relations, nudity. All people except Muslims are condemned to go to hell. These are not generalizations, these were my beliefs.
Imagine the horror I felt when in my twenties one by one all my bubbles start to burst. As I step out of the school room and into real life, I am dumbfounded with the lies and deceit that I have been taught for sixteen years of my academic life. What plagues me more is that although, through some unfortunate circumstances my bubbles are no more, most of the people around me still live peacefully in these cocoons. We do not question the relevance of these obsolete teachings, the teachings that have a way of condemning people and situations in either one bracket or the other. If you question your religion or your country you are labeled a non believer and an unpatriotic person respectively. It is mind boggling easy for us to condemn people; secular humanists as lost souls and left liberals as amoral creatures.
Life cannot be divided in black and white. The fairy tales and the movies will always have a villain; an all out bad guy and the hero a “picture of virtue”. Ever consider that actually we are all bit of both. In each and every one of us resides the tendency to do good and be evil; and in the course of our lifetimes we exhibit both behaviors. There will be triggers that will bring out the worst in us and we will be the villains of our story; then and for other parts or some other people we may be good guys. Can we dispense with our habit of labeling everyone and everything in our lives as either good or bad? Right or wrong. Can we assume that there may be a great shade of grey in the middle, where good and bad become relative terms; relative to scenarios and people who experience them.
It is unnecessary for something to be perfect in order for us to love or accept it. Would we be less Pakistanis if we are taught the real history of this country or if we questioned our hero’s and their motives? Would we cease to be Muslims if we read the real history of our religion and its evolution? Would it not enhance our understanding of who we are as a people and what we really practice and preach? Doesn’t knowing taking away the pain of deceit and mistrust. What if we were to introspect and admit to the evil that lives in all of us and begin to reconcile with the evil that resides in others around us. Can we, in real life, see people in a more tolerant shade of gray, rather than the harsh shades of black and white?
Sometimes great understanding and learning comes from great trials and tribulations. I have seen pious drunks and corrupt saints. I have seen believers who never performed a single ritual in their life. I met with satan cloaked in sheep’s hide, I met sinners who made me believe in God. The lesson I learnt was this: The way to live life is to keep an open mind to the things we experience and people we meet; the knowledge we gain and the knowledge we have. Black and white is great in theory but life is a lighter shade of grey.
“Perfection is not for the pure of soul; there may be virtue in Sin”
- Khalil Gibran
Good read. We need more ppl who use their heads instead being the 'laqeer k faqeers'. I agree with the idea of the gray space of uncertainty(between good and evil). Acceting that space is tolerance, be it religious, political, humanitarian etc. This absolute injustice surely points that the root cause is waywardness from the Almighty.
ReplyDeleteAn awe-inspiring, excellent and true piece.
ReplyDeleteI really like this anecdote I once read:
In old times, there once was a great villain who ran roughshod in a village. He robbed, beat up, and exploited the poor residents. In the same village lived a noble man who was pious and kind, and therefore was loved by the lot. Unsurprisingly, the villain held a grudge against this good fellow. One night, he decided to kill him and called at his door. The criminal asked to be lodged for the night, and the man welcomed him gladly. Before they went to sleep, the robber asked his host thus:
"So, if you were to find a bag full of gold coins, will you ignore them as mere pebbles?" The answer came, "I will be tempted, but knowing it is not my property I will exercise control". He asked then, "If a charming woman asked you out, could you still ignore?" The good man answered, "I will be tempted, but for what my conscience tells me is wrong, I will discipline myself". The host then bid him goodbye and slept.
The robber was struck by these answers. He now understood that the heart of a rogue and that of a saint were the same. The difference is only in making the effort to abide by your conscience and self-disciplining. He was in tears. Although his intention had been to kill this man during the night, he waited until morning and informed him he had decided to embrace the right path.
So yes, we all have proclivities. The only difference is in conquering them or giving in to them.
As we read, Allah created all the creation and then gathered them, and asked them, “Is there any, whom dares to accept ‘this’?” No one did, except the human. He accepted 'that'.
And 'that', in my mind, is the tendency to hang between good and evil. A great weight, accepted he.
sometimes the saint and robber are but one.Thanks for sharing.
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