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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Admin" data-source="post: 147490" data-attributes="member: 1">Guru Granth Sahib : A Model For Interfaith Understandingby Dr. KAZI NURUL ISLAM[Dr. Kazi Nurul Islam is Professor and Chairman of the Department of World Religions and Culture at thea University in Bangladesh.]Though all the religions of the world teach love, preach sympathy forothers and encourage Man to exercise utmost self-restraint and havemost profoundly been a source of inspiration for the highest good ofmankind, the world today is torn by conflicts, enmity and religious hatred.In this predicament, a lasting and peaceful society is impossibleunless different faiths are understood in their proper perspectives.Therefore, it is necessary that people belonging to different faithsunderstand each other better. This necessitates a constant dialogueand effort to generate moral and hearty religious thinking.The advocates of all the religions of the world emphasize theimportance of certain virtues and moral values. Only these can fosterunity and cohesion of mankind. But the moral and religious valuescannot be invoked by force. This can be achieved through the exchangeof words, kind words, sincere words and loving words that can reachthe deepest fathoms of the heart.There is no religion without peace and no peace without religion. Wemust admit that peace and religion are complementary to each other.When the good of all is desired with an undivided mind peace willdefinitely be ours. But people belonging to different faiths, in mostcases, have betrayed religious ideals and commitment to peace. Thetime has come when this betrayal must be corrected. And this can beand should be done through knowledge, dialogue and demonstration ofthe fact that love, compassion, selflessness and the inner force oftruthfulness have ultimately greater power than hatred, enmity andself-interest.There was a time when various religions, precisely because of theirown convictions, were unable to cooperate and were even antagonisticto each other. But the times have changed to a great extent.Improvement in the means of transportation has made the earthsmaller. Now religions, in-spite of historic differences, must seekto unite all men for the attainment of world peace. Unless thepeoples of faith come closer to each other the irreligious andantireligious forces will gain the upper hand. And this may lead tothe further breaking up of the moral fibre of the human society. Butat all cost we must preserve the moral aspect of the texture of human society.Religious people represent a vast majority of the peoples of theworld. But unfortunately, we are a confused, divided and silentmajority. The religious people of the world have been quite silentfor long, and their silence has worked against human welfare. Ourdivision, our timidity, and our silence left the mighty forces ofterrorism, fanaticism, racism, poverty, and war unchallenged. Oursilence has been paid for by the suffering of millions, for whom weshould have been advocates, friends, and spokespersons.The time has come when religionists, instead of antagonizing eachother because of what we once thought was a religious conviction,should cooperate with each other in order to contribute to the causeof peace for mankind.Before I explain my own position as to what makes me feel that theGuru Granthh Sahib is a model for interreligious understanding intoday's world, let me speak a few words about the attitude of Islamtowards other religions. I believe, this will help us to understandGuru Granth Sahib's attitude towards other traditions better.Islam seeks to bring about reconciliation between the followers ofdifferent faiths and establish a basis of respect and honour amongthem. Islam can claim uniqueness in that for a person to be a Muslimit is mandatory that he/she must have respect for the people ofothers' faiths, must believe in all the prophets and in all therevealed texts. The Qur'an teaches us that God has sent Hisrevelation to all the people from time to time and no section ofmankind has been left without Divine guidance. Many of the prophetsof the Old Testament have been mentioned by name in the Qur'an, andso also is Jesus, who along with other prophets, is highly reveredand honoured by the Muslims all over the world.It is stated in the Qur'an : "Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allahand that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed untoAbraham and Ismael, and Isaac, and Jacob and the tribes, and thatwhich the Moses and Jesus received, and that which the Prophetsreceived from their Lord. We make no distinction between any one ofthem, and unto Him we have surrendered."If a man belies any one of them, he belies all and if a man confirmsand believes in one of them he must and ought to confirm all. "Onewho does not believe in any one of the Prophets, would be a *****,though he must believe in all the Prophets raised in India, China,Persia Egypt, Africa, Europe and any other countries of the world."But a Muslim cannot definitely say about a particular person outsidethe list of the prophets named in the Qur'an, whether he was or wasnot a Prophet.Muslims are also not permitted to say anything againstthe holy men of other religions.Sikhism goes one step further in its attitude forwards otherreligions and in its world view.Sikhism is a religion which was founded on the principles ofinterfaith understanding, mutual respect and harmony. From the verybeginning the leaders and the followers of this tradition preachedthe principles of interfaith respect, dialogue and understanding. Tobe a Sikh it is mandatory that he/she must respect and accept allother religions of the world and at the same time must protect, guardand allow the free-practice of the customs and rituals of others. TheGuru Granth Sahib teaches its followers to love all creation as God'sown manifestation. Acceptance of all faiths, and interfaith toleranceand understanding are basic to the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib.History of the Sikh tradition shows remarkable consistency in thepursuit of these ideals and in the defence of the right to freeworship of peoples of all faiths.The Sikh Gurus perceived that there was lack of real love among thepeople and, therefore, they always laid great stress upon spiritualpractices and preached the philosophy of one God, the supremeReality. They understood that a new strength and vigour had to beimported into the field of religion and religious practices, it hadto be brought home to the minds of the people that there reallyexisted no differences in places of worship resorted to men ofdifferent faiths.That is why Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and the last Guru, states:"The temple and the mosque are the same, the Hindu worship and theMuslim prayer are the same, all men are the same; it is througherroneous judgment they appear different ... All men have the sameeyes, the same ears, the same body, the same build, a compound ofearth, air, fire and water ... let no man, even by mistake, supposethere is a difference."The Sikh Gurus systematized all the past Hindu and Islamicphilosophies and brought a confluence in an organized manner for thetemporal and spiritual uplift of all humanity without anydiscrimination. Guru Nanak made friends with both Hindus and Muslims.He never discriminated against any one. He treated the whole world ashis own family and all human beings as his brothers and sisters. Heraised his voice against injustice anywhere. Like him, all the SikhGurus were large-hearted. None of them were parochial ornarrow-minded, communal or caste-ridden. They set out for theregeneration of mankind.The Guru Granth Sahib is a unique sacred text in the history of worldreligions. The pattern of this text was conceived and worked out insuch a way that it can integrate various religions and varnas ofIndia, spiritually, religiously and emotionally. Guru Nanak gave theidea of this kind of scripture, his successor Gurus subscribed to itand worked to collect material for most of the Granth.Guru Arjan collected most of the materials and contributed a majorportion of the Granth in the form of his bani and completed editingthis sacred text in 1604 C.E. Guru Gobind Singh added the hymns ofGuru Teg Bahadar to the Adi Granth and then installed it as theGuru-Eternal in 1708 C.E., abolishing the personal guruship thereon.The unique catholicity and egalitarian approach of Guru Arjan isevident in the fact that, other than the hymns of the Sikh Gurus, heincorporated the compositions of as many as thirty men of God,belonging to various castes, creeds, religions and vocations. Amongthem were Jaidev of Bengal, Surdas of Awadh, Namadev, Pipa, Sain,Kabir, Ravidas and Bhikhan of Uttar Pradesh, Dhannu of Rajasthan andFarid of Multan.Kabir was a weaver, Sadhna was a butcher, Namdev a seamster, Dhana afarmer, Sain a barber, Ravidas a cobbler, Farid a Muslim Sufi ... Itmay be mentioned here that Guru Gobind Singh hosted fifty two poetsin his court to translate various ancient texts of India with theobject of unifying the people of the subcontinent through their ownliterature and culture.What a wonderful example of catholicity! What a wonderful instance ofegalitarianism! And what a remarkable endeavour for interfaithunderstanding!! I salute all those who made this possible.Sikhism advocates four kinds of unity: unity of God, unity ofmankind, unity of religions and unity of classes. In fact, theOneness of God and the essential oneness of humanity is the basicteaching of Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak was an advocate for peaceand unity. For all the religions of the world, he envisaged afellowship of faiths. His efforts for creating an atmosphere forworld-reconciliation and world-amity were much ahead of his time.The attitude of the Sikh Gurus towards the leaders or founders ofother faiths and their sacred texts is unique and genuinelypraiseworthy. For instance, the attitude of Guru Nanak towardsProphet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was one of unbounded love andrespect. In a verse which is given in the Janam Sakhi of Bhai Bala,Guru Nanak is stated to have said:dita nur muhammadi, ditha nabi rasoolNanak qudrat dekh ke, khudi ghei sab bhool."I have seen the light of Muhammad (with my mind's eye). I have seenthe prophet and the messenger of God, in other words, I haveunderstood his message or imbibed his spirit. After contemplating theglory of God, my ego was completely eliminated."In the same spirit Guru Gobind Singh said in his Bacchittar Naatak("The Wonderful Drama") that prophet Muhammad was a divine messengerand a great man of religion and faith.Guru Arjan had profound respect for Mian Mir, a celebrated MuslimSufi and had the foundation stone of the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple)laid by him. This instance alone is enough to prove the magnanimityand catholicity of the Sikh Gurus.It may be mentioned here that Muslim scholars had also tremendousappreciations for the Sikh Gurus. For instance, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,the founder of the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam, observed in his SatBachan that Guru Nanak was a treasure-house of divine knowledge andknower of all mysteries. The most famous poet-philosopher of thissubcontinent, Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, in one of his immortal versesexpressed that Guru Nanak was a perfect human being and awakenedIndia from a dormant, dreamy condition to the realization of God.To the Muslims and Christians, Guru Nanak advises: "Practice withinyour heart the teachings of the Qur'an and the Bible; restrain theten sensory organs for straining into evil. Tie up the demons ofdesire and restore faith, charity and contentment, and you shall beacceptable."Guru Nanak vehemently opposes those who criticize the holy books ofother religions. He categorically asks his followers: Do not say thatthe Vedas, the Bible and the Qur'an are false. Those who do notcontemplate them are false. Guru Arjan says :"Neither am I Hindu nor MusalmanThis body and spirit is of Allah-Rama"He also asserts:"Says Nanak! The Guru removeth delusion, Only Allah is Parbrahma."This indicates he had tremendous respect for God variously seen asAllah, Ram and Parbraham; in other words, he loved both the religioustraditions in the same spirit.The principle which underlies the pattern of Guru Granth Sahib isthat every Sikh gives the same reverence to the Sikh Gurus which hegives to the other 30 contributors writers of this sacred text. ASikh bows to the Guru Granth Sahib in reverence and recites the baniof all the writers included with the same devotion and respect. Itmay be noted here that in the Darbar Sahib as well as in all otherhistorical or local gurudwaras, the hymns of all these saints, Gurusand Sufis of India are sung.The followers of the Guru Granth Sahib pay homage to these Muslim andHindu saints ... in addition to the Gurus ... and recite theirwritings with equal amount of faith, reverence and devotion.This is not so and cannot be so in any other religion of the world.Guru Nanak strongly pleaded for an egalitarian society where allpeople could be regarded as equals. In order to eradicate castedistinction and the social stratification based on caste system, hecreated two institutions: Sangat and Pangat. Sangat is the communitycongregation where all people sit together for divine contemplationand prayer and Pangat is the free kitchen where different peopleirrespective of their caste and creed sit at the same level and dine together.The distinction between poor and rich is forgotten, because all sharethe same food at the same place. This was, indeed, a revolutionagainst the inegalitarian society.A successful revolution without a single drop of blood!These Sangat and Pangat not only promote egalitarianism but alsopromote and enhance interfaith understanding.Let me give an example of the gurdwara inside Dhaka Universitycampus. In Bangladesh there is not a single Sikh citizen. Despitethat, on every Friday in this gurdwara, hundreds of people belongingto different religious backgrounds attend Sangat and join Pangat andthese are promoting interfaith understating in this country. Not onlyin Bangladesh where there is a gurudwara, but particularly in Europeand America, the sangat and pangat have enriched the prestige of theSikh community and helped to promote inter-religious harmony.Guru Nanak argues that if God is one, then all the souls coming fromHim are of the same essence. The natural corollary of monotheism isoneness of humanity. All the Gurus regarded the whole of mankind asan organic unity and repudiated the distinction on a mundane plane.They held that the distinction of colour, language or territorycannot and should not form the ground for claims of superiority ofone group over the other.Guru Nanak strongly emphasized the highest common factor in all thereligions of his time which were existing side by side butunfortunately clashing with one another. He conceived the idea of anew type of scripture, formed a wholesome approach and attitudetowards fellow religions and philosophical schools.He provided directions for religious co-existence, philosophicalaccommodation and social integration. As we have already mentionedabove, Guru Nanak did not believe in the false barriers of religionsand rigidities of caste. Some scholars hold that he was an idealMuslim among Muslims and a model Hindu among Hindus. He believed inthe fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man and he not onlypropagated this philosophy but also practiced this vigorously in his life.Universalism is a cardinal value of Sikhism. It is not bracketed witha particular ethnicity or a particular region. The whole earth hasbeen revered by Guru Nanak as "mother earth" and as a result he didnot believe in any promised land or holy land.Sikhism is universal because its primary essential concerns - social,political, cultural and economic - are of a universal nature,embracing humanity as a whole. Guru Gobind Singh held that God cannotbe bound to a particular creed, place or era. He (God) cannot bebracketed with any particular ethnicity. Indeed, He is the Lord ofall the peoples of the world. This makes Sikhism a truly universal religion.In today's pluralistic world, the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahibcan play a vital and constructive role. Sikhism not only acknowledgesand appreciates other faiths but also accepts their validity andintegrates worldly life with the idea of divinity. Guru Granth Sahibseeks to unite people belonging to different faiths and holds thatthe object of religion is not to divide mankind, but to unite it, notto act like scissors and tear asunder the social fabric, but to actlike a needle and sew it together.In today's world we must feel that we are all members of one greatfamily of beings, having different forms of working. We must rememberthat we are all marching towards the spiritual realizations of truth and love.Some in ignorance say, 'My religion is the only one, my religion is the best'.But when his heart is illumined by true knowledge, he knows thatabove all these wars of sects and sectarians presides the oneinvisible eternal all-knowing bliss. In fact, the different faithsare like spokes of a wheel in which God forms the hub. Therefore, letus - all the religionists - radiate towards that hub and find peaceand solace.Guru Granth Sahib, I am quite confident, can be a guiding force tothe world in this regard.</blockquote>

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