I have been brought up in a family in which religious tolerance. Respect for other religions and the spirit of celebrating all the festivals has been taught from the very beginning, as an essential part of being a Homo sapien. Throughout my life I have celebrated Diwali with my family friends eating Gujiya and burning fire crackers. I have celebrated Christmas at my Convent school, by running after the Santa Claus collecting chocolates, watching and at times being a part of the on stage performance of the birth of Christ, listening to readings from Bible. And I have celebrated Eid at home with my friends eating sewaiyyan. I have thoroughly enjoyed the spirit of being a secular Indian and I am too proud of this upbringing. My dad always instilled in us the higher form of a good believer. He demanded of us, nothing more than a good conduct as a human being. He believes a good human being who refrains from hurting others and taking the wrong treacherous paths, one who avoids being deceptive is better than a highly religious person who is corrupt at the heart, selfish and too boastful of his being nearer to God.
Sacrifice as my father says is the basic mantra of being a good creation of God for Prophet Mohammad too, teaches sacrifice.
I am married to an Indian Army Officer, and it is in the institution of Army that I learned how much more secular I could be. Army is a typically secular organisation keeping all believers in perfect balance with each other. Earlier I celebrated festivals at my friends’ houses, today I celebrate them in their respective holy places like Temple, Gurudwara and Church being an equal part of the rites being performed.
On 10th Novemer 2011 about 5 days ago, we celebrated Guru Nanak Jayanti at the Gurudwara. We participated in the religious ceremony. The “Path” in the Gurudwara was heard with dedication. We ate at the langar with all. The experience was unique. Today I became truly secular. I accepted the rites of the Gurudwara by just being present on the occasion and I in turn was readily absorbed by the Gurudwara as an essential part of the ceremony.
Though I am very spiritual and I bow my head only before ALLAH, in Sajda and to none other than Allah, I very well can be a part of other ceremonies just by my presence.
Ultimate peace is what one attains at any holy place near any altar. I believe that one must strongly adhere to their religious beliefs and happily support the belief of others and respect their rites. That is, what is expected of a homo sapien---the most intelligent creation of God, “the ashraful makhluqaat”.
Mrs Afshan Minhaj
Administrative Officer: Dantak Public School
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