Clash of Religions and Festivals?

Festivals are synonymous with human civilization: Festivals spreading color; festivals sharing love by giving flowers; festivals where people give and get money, gifts and blessings; and festivals where you fast for 30 long days, before finally celebrating brotherhood. Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and even atheists have festivals. Somehow all religions have similar festivals and though their names are different, they all have the same inherent meaning as can be illustrate by people celebrating Eid and Diwali at the same time with the same fervor and flavor. The main idea of celebrating the festivals is to share love and brotherhood among people.

In my only 16 years of life, I have been fortunate enough to visit many countries and I have lived in a Hindu country (now declared a secular), a Muslim country and a Buddhist country. While visiting these countries I was lucky enough to learn about these nations and their religion and culture. I was accepted with open hands by Muslims in Eid; I was always welcome to celebrate Buddha Jayanti with friends and never failed to have an exciting Christmas. Every year we have special preparations for all of these wonderful festivals even though I personally do not belong to any of the above religion. I enjoy these festivals not because I live with people from these religions; I enjoy them because they are what signifies my life:When I leave a country,its not the textbook stuff that matters,its the culture which I learn from that country which matters. Whenever I go to a Hindu household, I know I have to bend down to take the blessings, whenever I go to a Muslim’s house, I know I have to say ‘Salaam alaikum’ and whenever I go to a Christian’s house, I know I have to say ‘Good Day’. These aren’t fixed rules, which I have to follow; these are customs that I feel I must follow in order to signal to my hosts that I cherish and respect their customs, religions, sentiments and emotions.

It is my belief that many people today have lost the values in their lives. In one of my articles I mentioned how we are losing the value of language. That might not be a proven fact, of course, and I myself might not follow the guideline of which I speak, but culture is something that I have, am and want to follow. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines Culture as a day or period of the year when people stop working to celebrate a special event, often a religious one. Well, I don’t know how true this definition is but I know it is according to what happens today. Are customs just about a holiday? We have been at the verge of losing the value of culture and this is something that is harmful to future generations. We eagerly await vacations on the occasions of Eid or Diwali, but do we ever think of their importance? We want that holiday so that we can get a break from our day-to-day hectic lives and go for a vacation abroad. Friends, if this is our state of mind about the festivals, just imagine what it will be like for our children!

Just as I was pondering on writing this article, something very interesting popped up in my mind: most of the festival names are quite similar in name too. These names are different from the religion of its derivative and though the way of celebration differs, the basic meaning of the festival remains the same. So, just imagine God’s play! We should be learning one valuable lesson from this: God wants to see us live together peacefully. I am not saying we should have the same festival, what I am saying is that we must enjoy each others’ festival. Why not go to a Muslim’s place and wish him ‘Eid Mubarak’ during Eid festival? Why not go to a Hindu’s place and convey him ‘Happy Diwali’? Why treat religion different from yours as inferior? After all, we were HUMANS before we became Hindus, Muslims or Christians! Every morning, I wake up hearing ‘Azan’ -the call for prayers for Muslim devotees. I know that many people (non-Muslims) can’t understand this as a CULTURE. Hindus have a culture of putting ‘Tika’ on their forehead after prayers but I know many people express their irritation over it and make a fuss. Again I say: IT’S A CULTURE!!

Finally, clash between religions have been going on for ages and will go on for many more years to come if we, the young people, do not bother to understand the value of other religions and learn to respect their values and ethos. The world may come to an end if we start clashing over such matters; it will not last as long as we expect it to. Religion is something which we need to respect, be it ours or someone else’s! We usually look down at religions different from ours and then try to make a link between that particular religion and terrorists who work to defame the very foundation of the meaning of the religion. A terrorist is not a MUSLIM, HINDU, CHRISTIAN or BUDDHIST or of any religious sect. A terrorist doesn’t have a religion and that implies to every terrorist. Even if Osama Bin Laden says he prays five times a day or even 50 times a day for that matter, he remains a TERRORIST until he gives up violence and killing of innocent people in the name of ‘Jihad’. He is using a particular religion to kill innocent people and defame the Islam – the religion of peace. Calling yourself a Muslim/ Hindu and killing innocent people is called fanaticism and most of us today forget that! When a few Muslims attack the Taj Mahal, we tend to brand all Muslims as terrorists and when some Hindus blow up the Jame Masjid, we regard all Hindus as terrorists. We need to change our mindset at this point and look at the issue at hand in a very differently light. Forty Fourth American President Barrack Obama has promised to bring ‘Change’ in the international order. I don’t know what kind of ‘change’ he will bring, but I do pray to God that he succeeds in removing barriers created in the name of religion and let common people live freely, without the fear of dark fanaticism and terrorism! Let the world be free from ‘Clash of Civilizations!’

This isn’t one of those ideological articles that I am used to writing. I have prepared this in about 15 minutes and this was a flow which was emotional. I don’t know if you agree with what I have said, but bear one thing in mind: my views will not’ change’!

---