Dear
Pervaiz sahib, Hope
you are doing fine. A few thoughts have occurred after reading the letters of
Ziauddin sahib & Nasir sahib that are as follows: A
nice point has been raised by Zia sahib that logically Islam should have been
the superior most monotheistic religion as it has occurred at a later stage of
evolution, however the condition of present day Islamic society is just the
other way around. As a Muslim, Zia sahib has defended Islam by saying that the
present day down trodden Islam is due to the Muslims who have not yet understood
Islam. Now the question arises, what have they been doing for the past 1,400
years? Isn’t it enough time to understand a religion? Islam
or no Islam! I think, initially we sincerely need to see the place of religion
in our lives. The very basic and essential inquiry has to be the understanding
of SELF i.e., ’Who am I?’ All other matters are secondary. The ever-changing
human being is the most important domain to discover. As Nasir sahib has rightly
pointed out that all the religions are future oriented, while a human being
exist in present. How to bridge this gap? If I need to discover myself then this
is the time. Who has seen the future? In fact through organized religions, fear
of the unknown was invested in human beings and they were forced to buy the
dreams of future. Hence, innocent people have been used and manipulated in the
name of God. Actually, the formalized religions have done more harm to the
humanity by dividing the human beings into rigid blocks of blind belief systems.
The rays from the sun of wisdom, which is a common treasure of humanity, are
being deflected away by these blocks. Once
again, rather than getting involved in theoretical concepts like ‘Natural
theory’ or ‘evolutionary theory’, more emphasis should be laid on
experiential learning. We may read about the beautiful colors of a rainbow and
web a theory around it, but to experience it in a deeply shaded atmosphere of
sun and clouds will be a different matter altogether. It reminded me of a story
that a Zen Master was giving a sermon to his disciples. In the middle of it, a
bird somewhere on the tree started singing. The Master stopped his sermon and
stood in utter silence and then left the room. Later in an inquiry to his
behavior, he said that the bird was saying the same thing in a much profound and
beautiful manner that he tried to convey to his disciples, hence he departed. In
this light, Secular Muslim is a disguise used by a ‘natural human being’
living in an Islamic country/environment. He avoids discussing his understanding
in a closed society rather live as a part of that society but with a heart and
mind of his own. I
have heard Zia sahib in the meeting of May 15th and respect him a
lot. Here, I am disagreeing with some of his ideas (chhota mun aur badi baat),
but it is only for the sake of discussion and learning as I am positive that I
can learn a lot from people like him. Please
also convey my regards to Dr. Khalid Sohail. Regards Hasan
N. Mirza Brantford
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