Wednesday, August 26, 2009

You have your religion and I have mine...

There is a person I come to know at work that I've been told that refuses to hire girls if they wear the veil. For this person wearing the veil is equal to close mindedness or maybe a sign of oppression or backwardness. On the other hand there is another person who was a potential employer of me... but when he told me that I fit in his company because I'm wearing the veil... I immediately declined the job offer.
In the society you'll find people with and people against...
Now some people who are fasting the month of Ramadan condemn those who don't [referring only to Muslims]... And the other way around...

I'm reading in the-now-popular-book [A New Earth]... - which I don't fully agree with the author's views- and the author says that for a human to feel right he/she has to make someone else wrong. And he says that this is the act of the Ego which we should get rid of. He says that we should accept that there is the Ultimate Truth but we shouldn't claim it as our own... or as our own only... that all religions are equally right and equally wrong...

Putting these ideas next to my earlier observations... I wondered what is the stand to be taken by myself as an individual who believe in what she thinks, does and acts upon...

Then I remembered one of the early Chapters of Quran that we learnt in primary school... it is Chapter 109. This Chapter includes an order from God to Prophet Mohammed as to how he should address those who disbelieve-in God, His Oneness, His Messengers, His Angles, His Books and the Day of Judgment-. God told Mohammed PBUH that he should tell them that he doesn't worship what they worship nor do they worship what he worships... and the bottom line is that [You have your religion and I have mine]...

In this statement you don't condemn the other... you identify them as being different than you and maybe against your own beliefs... but still you grant them their way and grant yourself your way...

This is such a great concept -when used properly-... because you don't decline yourself or I dare say your ego the belief of being right and still you don't hate/discriminate others for being "according to you" on the wrong... You just want each party to be and choose whatever way they want.

I think that any person who chooses to believe or disbelieve in anything does that on a strong conviction. And for that reason their whole being, way of life and ideologies become based on that core belief. And if you think that what you believe is right... then by logic what goes completely against it is wrong.
Having said that I don't think that for everything in life there is only one way of doing things or of thinking about thaem... and for those types of things there can be many rights and many wrongs...
Also the criteria to deal with people on a day to day basis should'nt be in refernece to what they believe in... - or in some cases only in reference to that... -

To sum it up... I think that my stand will be simply to let other people have their own way... and expect from them to let me have mine...
What I believe in, think about, and act upon is Mine...
What you believe in, think about and act upon is Yours...

There is plenty of room on this Earth to all of us...

Friday, August 21, 2009

I know your face...

From among the crowds I can still spot you...
They can mask you... they can put jingles and bells on you... dress you like a clown...
They can hide you behind all the phony make-up and put you up for sale...
But.... I know you...
Your scent is in the air... filling my lungs with dreams and hopes...

You shine through... And I'm happy that I can still see you for who you are...

I know your face...

Ramadan Kareem... to all...