Tolerance and Mystic Traditions in Plural Society: A way forward to Peace and Prosperity
TOLERANCE, What tolerance is? Do any one of us have any idea what tolerance is? Before wandering in the alleys of your intellectual abilities, I would like to ask you that do we all have a shred of this term in our souls, in our minds, in our bodies. And if someone says yes, let me narrate some verses for him.
The way to elucidate our desire
The way to express our feelings sire
Where people drown in the pain of others
Where emotions drown for the sake of others
Where life is merry
And smiles are cheery
Where no one kills
To become Mr. Perry
Where hues are rare
And blessings are near
Where no one shouts
Due to a fear
Tolerance is something
Which is to be share
Something to love
Something to hear
Tolerance is the consequence of humanity. The consequence of love. The consequence of friendship. But today I’m standing in a society where people are burnt alive as a result bomb blast in a non-Muslim society.Where two brothers from Sialkot are brutally killed just for the guilt of robbery. From religious issues to simple domestic problems, from economical disasters to the breading of children, from politics to racism, from international discussions to a cricket match, we are not tolerant at any stage of our life. And we still expect peace and prosperity.
From the murder of one person to the deaths of 48 million people in World War II, from the dead heaps of people in Afghanistan to the inhumane killing of Muslims in Burma, from Hiroshima to Nagasaki, from Kashmir to Palestine, from Chechnya to Bosnia,from Karachi to Lahore, from Shia to Sunni, from Muslimsto Christiansand from the class room to the auditorium of APS Peshawar, do we witness any sign of tolerance? Any sign of Mystic traditions? What we witness is hues and cries, sobs and screams, shattered dead bodies, shouting people, crying mothers, weeping fathers, shrieking sisters, yelling brothers and a lot of bloodshed.
Yes, tolerance and mystic traditions can bring peace and prosperity in any society and the examples are in front of us. We cannot forget the brutality of Kufar e Makka. We cannot forget the insane deeds of that old lady who used to throw garbage on our Holy Prophet. And what he did? Did he killed her? Did he tortured her? Did he punished her? No. World cannot produce greater example of tolerance than for the deeds of our Holy Prophet. And he brought the most peaceful society in the history of mankind.
But alas, today we have forgot every tradition every teaching. And the results are in front of us. Our brothers are martyred as a result of drone attacks, our fathers are killed in target killing, our people die in suicide bombing, our sons are slayed at the drop of hat, our students become a prey of VIP culture, our journalists lose their lives for writing truth, our mothers are compelled to sell their children, our 8 year old sisters are raped for their innocence, today we are corrupts, thieves, robbers, rappers, killers, bribers, and the best compliment given to us the terrorists.
We’ve forgotthe teachings of Hazrat RehmanBawa from Peshawar, Hazrat Ali Hajweri from Lahore, Shah Rukn e Aalam from Multan, Imam Bari from Islamabad, Hazrat Baba Faridud Din GanjShakkarfrom Pakpattan, we’ve forgot the mystic traditions of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai,and we, we have been barking the wrong tree, we should know that we are not in the pink of perfection we have to realize that we cannot produce storm in a tea cup, and we should ponder on our selves. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly.Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.
