KASHMIR IN A BURNING SHRINE!

Kashmir has undoubtedly been a valley of saints, and people here love and respect them (which they should do) to their utmost. This love is, what we consider a very important factor in our relationship with GOD Himself, as the mention of HIS righteous slaves invokes HIS mercy and blessings on the one who is mentioning, and this is a means that we seek to gain HIS eternal pleasure. The fact that you can find mosques full of relics at many places in Kashmir (more than anywhere in India, or even in Pakistan, I recon), shouts out the above mentioned observation, and it is indeed a thing to be proud of. But, looking at the ground situation, it reminds me of a saying of the Persians, which later went on to become an infamous idiom, namely padram sultaan buwad, which means our forefathers were Sultans. People used to say this when they were asked about their achievements, thus recognizing themselves with their forefathers, which may seem respectful to a microscopic minority, but in fact was nothing but a sugar-coated insult for their own selves. This is because, their lethargic approach towards life, thus leading them to vacant poetry and flying pigeons, led them to save their faces by hollowly reminding themselves and the questioners of the great heritages that they attributed towards themselves (thanks to their forefathers), the great lands that they had conquered (thanks to their forefathers), the contributions they had made to science (thanks to their forefathers), and so on. It is a total misfortune (although I hate to use the word, but that is the softest I can personally get), that such an ideology has already crept into our (Kashmiris in specific) minds, thus leading us into the practice of a religion, that is practically totally impractical, lethargic, and delusional! We boast of our great heritages, great shrines, and the great people we had in Kashmir, and wail on the losses of 300 year old buildings, cursing Satan, blaming the Indian government, Zionists, National Conference, everyone and anyone for its destruction, when our own youth (the own son of a mother who is cursing the government for the loss of a building) are roaming around on bikes, following girls and killing them in accidents , or our girls (the own daughter of a father who puts a fire brigade truck on fire , for not being able to put out the fire on the building) are performing acts, which I feel ashamed even to mention! The Shrine of Khanyar, housing the blessed relics, of the great saint of Islam, Imam Sayyid Abdul Qader Jilani (ra), was unfortunately gutted by a fire caused due to unknown reasons (to me), and this led to stone pelting in some areas, burning of cars in other areas, destruction of public property in some other areas, random protests against the government, and curses upon everyone and anyone on facebook.!! Some Separatist parties even called for hartaals, the reason for which I personally cant understand. Where I personally am an ardent believer in seeking blessings from the relics of our pious predecessors, on the other hand, I dont understand as to why a day of work must be closed off so as to mourn over the loss of a 300 year old building (when the relics are safe and sound). I remember, some years ago, when some separatist (for the record, I am not anti-separatist) party had called for a bandh on a trivial issue, one of my school teachers, who actually belonged to Chennai said you Kashmiris, literally dont have any work culture whatsoever, and none of us Kashmiri students could think of an answer! Yes! We did lose a heritage site, and it is a sad loss, but at the same time arent we losing our youth (who are more precious than heritage sites!) everyday, each and every moment, when we can clearly see that school going children are becoming chain smokers ,drug addicts and killers? Arent we losing young boys and girls, by letting them adopt the way of people who call themselves civilized whereas their moral level starts from where normal morals end , and letting them prefer such things over what the real teachings of Shaykh Abdul Qader Jilani were?

Arent these GREAT LOSSES too to be mourned upon? Did the mother, wailing on the loss of a 200 year old building and blaming and cursing everybody for such, ever try to emulate the mother of Shaykh Abdul Qader Jeelani or Sayyid Makhdoom (radhiallhu anhum), by giving her son or daughter the teachings that these great women had given to their children, or is she just making their shrines a profit gaining machine, or a slate-board to write up exam roll numbers of her children upon, for their success?! We must realize that where on one side, relics of the blessed personalities are without a doubt, sources of blessings for us, at the same time they are also a reminder for us, about the great personalities they belong to, about their struggle, about their message, and about their way of life, that led them to be such great personalities in the first place. But we choose to neglect these practical aspects, and our preferences are surprising! Unfortunately, our preferences expose our lethargic approach to issues. We are driven by anger, blind hatred, and adrenaline stimulating activities (like kids, not even knowing what azadi actually is, being encouraged for ragda ragda and slogans like pond police: hay hay, where tomorrow they themselves become policemen, or their parents go out and vote!!), and not being governed by assessing grass-root level priorities. The shrine getting burnt down, surely must cause some reaction, but over-reaction, less led by light sentiment , more led by anger and the wish to point fingers at someone and cause ones adrenaline running, is unfounded, and not the teaching of Sayyid Abdul Qader Jilani (alyhi rahmah). It would rather be better that such an incident be marked by us as a warning signal by GOD, because the destruction of blessed relics is considered to be a kind of wrath from HIM by our elders and we came this close to that! Such a warning signal should incite in us the sense of trying to be better (in every positive aspect, and specifically religiously) than what we are today, rather than calling for mournful holidays!! After all, the Bard of the East said Ai Ta`ir e laahooti, is rizq say maut achhi;;; jiss rizq say aati ho parwaaz main kotaahi, O high flying bird, death is better than the bread;;; that causes a possibility of difficulty in flying!. I hope my words do the job I intend them to do, as words that dont incite action are even worse than the bark of a dog! Ruhan Madni Naqash. (Student. Contact : ruhrahi@yahoo.com)