On 6 December 2012, marking the 20th anniversary of demolition of the centuries old historical Babri Masjid, ibnlive.in.com invited Syed Shahabuddin, former diplomat, renowned scholar and Convener of Babari Masjid Movement Coordination Committee, for a live chat with its visitors. The chat proved very interesting as IBN visitors, both Hindus and Muslims, put challenging questions and the Muslim leader, who also happens to be Ex-President of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat and former Editor of a documentary magazine Muslim India, answered them in his typically befitting manner.
Out of the 18 questions posed, one question hurled by one Aditya Yanamand runs thus: “For Indian Muslims, is Roti, Kapada & Makaan is important or being strict religious is important? I am asking this question with a view in my mind. India has got Independence in 1947 & from the day # 1 Congress claims it is “Secular”. What is your honest view on this? Don’t you think just to keep BJP away from power, Indian Muslims by and large ignore the development politics and stay in emotive world and thereby vote to “so-called” Secular parties which use Muslims as vote banks?”
Though grammatically erroneous in structure, the question raises many important points. Despite the fact that the Muslim leader answered it there live, we wish to take up the first part of the question here.
To Muslims, living in India or in any other part of the world, this life on earth is transitory and temporal. They believe that people live here for the given span of life; then a time comes when they have to leave this physical world behind. But what they believe in the heart of hearts is that with death life does not come to an end. Death occurs when the soul leaves the cage of human body and flies to the eternal world. It simply symbolises transmogrification of soul from this physical world to the eternal, where a time will come when all human beings – from the first man Adam to the last one till the end of this world – will be reawakened and accounted for their deeds, good or bad, done during their stay on earth. They will be eventually rewarded with blissful life in the Paradise or punished with eternal torments of the Hell according to their well-recorded deeds. And this reward or punishment will be on the basis of justice; no lie or deceit, no bribery or recommendation would work there. And also no escape would be possible.
This is why Muslims prefer being ‘strict religious’, or let’s say being Muslim to the core, to thinking of roti, kapda aur makan (bread, clothes and house). There is no denying the fact that the latter comprise basic needs of an individual or human family. But fortunate are those who think more of acting upon the teachings of Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) than of running after mere loaves and fishes. This is not a question of development. This is a question of ultimate success, both here and in the hereafter.