The God definition

I was born a good 5 years before Babri Masjid happened. The reason why I say this is to give you an idea of timeline of growth of religious fundamentalism and my age. In fact I believe our generation was the gang who grew up with rise of religious fundamentalism.

My parents like million other Malayalis migrated to Gulf for making their dough. Dough was easy to churn out back then as there was no tax, no ‘hangouts to chill’ and good currency conversion. So if you had planned it well, you could retire peacefully and happily by the time you are in your mid 40s. 

Apart from oil Gulf was also a fertile land for the Wahabi version of Islam. You could practice any religion, provided that was within authorized spaces and you didn’t get over enthusiastic about spreading the good news. Getting into a Arab jail was a nightmare as the legal support is almost nil and was expensive, if any.

In the same manner the Christian schools had chapels in their schools here, the schools had a place of worship for the Muslims. The Muslim kids would go for their namaz while we sat silently in class. 

The Churches there were more ‘spirited’, thanks to the minority feeling. We had like 4 worship services every week and to be frank the Christian kids were more well versed in Bible than the ones in India. So from a very young age we had this deep rooted awareness of ‘the only true way’ to salvation. I was also torn in confusion by the Word which asked us to go out to the ends of the World and preach his good word.

And then one day, between the interval of one teacher going out and the next one coming in, I got into a argument with a Muslim friend of mine on ‘the real true God’ Another Christian friend joined in and the debate went on in loud decibels. Today I wouldn’t have indulged in such stupidity. But back then you were innocent, stupid and unmindful of the consequences.

That is when Mr. Rashid, the tall, lanky, dark and handsome Physics teacher (literally) jumped into his class. Mr Rashid was one of the favourites in the school for his characteristic wit and simple method of teaching. He didn’t fail to notice the noise and after the class settled down enquired what the matter was. 

We told him the matter of argument. He sat down, lost deep in thought. We stood there expecting a lashing. Evn then I wouldn’t have mind it as it was for ‘his kingdom’.

Rashid asked the Muslim student what his idea was

“La Illaha il Allah” He condensed his all argument in a sentence

“What does that mean”

“There is no God but Allah”

“What does Allah mean”

“God”

“In other words, there is no God but God. God is not defined by religion”

With that simple words he amplified the scope of ‘God’ and those words still stays with me even after 20 odd years.

There was this another teacher, Mr Khalid, who developed an idea of starting business. He partnered with a friend and put all his life savings into wholesale trading of fruits and vegetables. He was a very nice and affable man with a broad smile which was as attractive as the cologne he wore. Unfortunately the partner cheated him of all his life savings and left off.

The school management was kind enough to let him join back. He was broken in mind. But the spirits never wavered. The guy seemed to have lost his mind and decided teaching God was much more essential than school curriculum. He started teaching us heaven and hell in his usual affable spirits and we kids enjoyed the class for the theatrics and the fact that we needn’t ‘learn’ them. He acted out how he will be carrying us into paradise in his own hands (roughly the way Hanuman carried the mountain).

Soon matters got out of  hands. He started taking lectures on heaven and hell for hours altogether and wouldn’t let the other teachers get in after his hours. He then decided he ought to give us sex education and began lewd description of body organs (which we enjoyed ofcourse). The school management had to kick him out eventually.

Today I can’t help but wonder, if the roles have reversed in our society. Crazy men have gained more access to our space. Religion has encroached philosophy, literature, music and science. Spiritual gatherings are crowded when science halls are empty.